NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 29: Sonny Gray #54 of the Boston Red Sox arrives ahead of Game One of the American League Wild Card Series against the New York Yankees on September 29, 2026 at Yankee Stadium in New York, New York. (Photo by Maddie Malhotra/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Red Sox are up against the wall. Cam Schlittler, once again, shoved against the Red Sox in game one, throwing 117 pitches in a 6.1-inning shutout before handing it over to the bullpen. Paul Blackburn and John Schreiber shut the door, keeping the Red Sox off the scoreboard to win game one, 9-0. Coming into this season, the winner of game one has won 15 of 16 Wild Card series since playoff expansion. The only exception is the Yankees over the Red Sox last season.
If the Red Sox want to keep their season alive, it comes down to Sonny Gray. Let’s think about it in innings. The Red Sox used five relievers on Tuesday night: Erik Miller, Greg Weissert, Alec Gamboa, Wyatt Olds, and Brayan Bello.
Erik Miller was excellent immediately after being acquired, but his September, as well as his career-long control issues, should reduce him to only low-leverage spots. Greg Weissert can potentially provide an inning, but he’s not an arm to trust on back-to-back days in a sticky spot. Alec Gamboa and Wyatt Olds were both late additions to the roster, and neither looked particularly up to the job in game one, while Brayan Bello has never pitched two days in a row in the major leagues.
That leaves Ranger Suarez, Garrett Crochet, Garrett Whitlock, Aroldis Chapman, and Jake Bennett as the unused pitchers, alongside today’s starter Sonny Gray.
Ranger Suarez is set to start game three. Garrett Crochet is a complete unknown. He hasn’t pitched since April, and he was ineffective when he was on the mound. If he’s healthy, I’d expect him to be able to get outs, but who knows where he’s truly at health-wise. Garrett Whitlock has been one of the best relievers in baseball, but his longest outing of the season is 1.1 innings. He’s only thrown more than 30 pitches once this season, and it came in an outing in which he walked two hitters. Extending him for more than one inning could be a tricky proposition. And then there’s Aroldis Chapman. Chapman, like Whitlock, has been fantastic, but hasn’t got more than three outs in a game this season. If you put those three arms together and assign two innings to Crochet, that’s four innings. Of course, given the stakes, they could extend Whitlock or Chapman, but their effectiveness after three outs is a relative mystery. If you want to give Jake Bennett an inning or two, you could, but he doesn’t seem like an arm they’d go to unless they were trailing, and there’s no need to eat innings in a do-or-die game.
The offense was, at least in terms of scoring, the worst in baseball in September. Roman Anthony was lost in the middle of game one, and the rest of the lineup couldn’t touch Schlittler. If I were a betting man, I wouldn’t put money on them putting a lot of runs on the board against Max Fried. If they want a chance to win the game, they’ll need to keep the Yankees off the board, and with the lack of quality innings in the bullpen, that means getting length out of Sonny Gray.
Gray has been the Red Sox best starter by ERA this season. He’s gone at least six innings in 22 of his 29 starts. In two starts against the Yankees, he’s allowed three earned runs over 13.2 innings pitched with 12 strikeouts and 3 walks. Despite a 14-year career, Gray has only thrown in six postseason games. In those six games, he has a 3.26 ERA, but has only pitched more than five innings once (an 8-inning shoutout for the Athletics against the Tigers in 2013). For the Red Sox to win today, they need Sonny Gray to turn in one of the best postseason performances of his career.
Fortunately, Chad Tracy can unload the clip in game two, because in playoff baseball terms, game three might as well be in six months. The Red Sox need to play every card they have to keep the season alive, but Sonny Gray keeping the Yankees off the scoreboard for as long as possible is the key.
DETROIT, MI - JULY 09: Athletics Zack Gelof (20) slides into the railing trying to catch a foul during game between Athletics and Detroit Tigers on July 9, 2026 at Comerica Park in Detroit, MI (Photo by Allan Dranberg/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Happy Wednesday, everyone. Except, maybe, for the Detroit Tigers. News is emerging that Zack Gelof of the A’s is suing the Tigers for lost potential earnings after he missed a month of play from an injury he sustained in Comerica Park’s outfield. We’ll have more on that below, but it’s not exactly how the Tigers would like to start their offseason, certainly.
We’re also into the Wild Card games now, so news is going to be all postseason all the time. We’ll have more of that in the coming days as the final postseason picture takes shape.
For now, though, let’s get right into the news.
Detroit Tigers News
Well this is… interesting.
Zack Gelof is suing the Detroit Tigers after missing “30 days of work” following an injury from attempting to catch a fly ball
The lawsuit says that the collision tore his uniform and caused a deep laceration beneath his right kneecap that missed his patellar tendon. He was… pic.twitter.com/k7cTemOkRD
Sam Blum has more information on the lawsuit, in which Gelof cites that his injury at Comerica Park “will adversely impact his future earnings.” The lawsuit suggests that the exposed piece of metal that Gelof ran into was not something that he could have anticipated encountering. “Not in a professional stadium, where everyone else involved are making 10s of millions, if not hundreds of millions of dollars off the performance of these athletes,” his lawyer said. Gelof missed a month of play following the injury.
AJ Hinch shared his feelings about Kevin McGonigle’s incredible rookie season.
BALTIMORE, MD - SEPTEMBER 06: Baltimore Orioles pitcher Kyle Bradish (38) walks off the mound during the game between the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles on September 06, 2026, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, MD. (Photo by Mark Goldman/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
If you had been told back in March that the 2026 Orioles season would include Kyle Bradish making 29 starts for the Orioles and receiving a five-year contract extension during the season, you would probably be picturing something exciting happening. Things did not quite work out that way. There were ups and downs for Bradish’s first full season back after his Tommy John surgery, and by the time his season ended slightly early due to a sports hernia, Bradish was just about exactly average.
You may have set your hopes higher. I think the Orioles certainly did. It’s not like these were the first starts Bradish made after his surgery. He got in six games at the end of the 2025 season and every indication there was that he would be picking up where he left off before having to get Tommy John. Batters couldn’t hit him very well. He had an excellent strikeout rate, was controlling the walks and home runs at acceptable rates. It wasn’t crazy to believe that Bradish would be able to return to top-of-the-rotation form.
The Orioles were counting on being able to get a quality 1-2-3 out of Bradish, Shane Baz, and Trevor Rogers. Other writers will be covering those other two guys on different days. As far as Bradish, by the time his season came to an end, that just wasn’t what he was. The strike rate was down substantially, the walk rate increased, the home run rate had a bit of a jump.
It all added up to Bradish posting a 4.12 ERA for the season – an ERA+ of 99, or 1% below league average for a pitcher. Peripheral stats such as FIP, the ERA-analogue stat that tries to subtract defense from the equation, had Bradish at a 4.35. The Orioles, I believe, wanted more than this. They needed more.
To be sure, it is good that Bradish ended up among the 65 MLB pitchers who threw at least 150 innings this year. By not missing many starts until the end of the season, that avoided exposure to depth options like Cade Povich, and by averaging more than five innings per start for the season, Bradish also (mostly) avoided contributing to seeing guys like Keegan Akin or Yaramil Hiraldo pitching in the fourth or fifth inning.
These are not trivial problems to avoid, and yet… of that list of 65 MLB pitchers who tossed 150 innings, Bradish came in 47th. It could have been worse. It’s just that it needed to be better. The Orioles did not commit to the next five years of Bradish at $18 million per season for a 4.12 ERA.
The signs were there from as soon as Bradish’s first start that he wasn’t going to be picking up right where he left off last season. Walking three batters while failing to get through five innings against the Twins back on March 28 turned out to be more like the typical 2026 Bradish start than any of us would prefer. He took the loss because the offense only scored one run in the game. Of course, that fact was also more like the typical 2026 Orioles offense than any of us would prefer.
Seven starts into his season, Bradish was sitting on a 5.03 ERA and he had walked 21 batters in only 34 innings. That’s a tough way to win, and naturally he wasn’t winning. His record was 1-4, and the O’s were just 2-5 in those starts. By season’s end, Bradish himself had a 7-14 record, and the Orioles were 13-16 in games that he started. With apologies for beating this same drum yet again: The team needed more than that to be successful this year. Mike Elias bet part of this season’s chances of success on getting more than that, and he just didn’t.
It wasn’t just Elias betting on Bradish in a big picture way. This also included times where the manager, Craig Albernaz, decided that he was going to count on Bradish to get one more batter rather than bringing in a reliever. One such time, particularly memorable to me because I was baking in the sun in Cincinnati watching it play out in person, Albernaz let Bradish, already past 100 pitches in the eighth inning, stay in for one more batter. That batter hit an RBI double, expanding the O’s deficit that day from 2-1 to 3-1. They ended up losing, 3-2.
There were stretches in there where you could believe that a fully healthy Bradish will be better than this. From May 8 on through to August 15, a stretch of 17 starts, Bradish had a 3.18 ERA. It wasn’t exactly as good as his pre-surgery outings, not quite as many strikeouts and not quite as few walks but still: That would have done the trick, if he was that over the full season.
The Orioles are being their usual cagey selves over when exactly Bradish suffered the sports hernia; the results look like maybe his five starts were disrupted by that. That added close to half a run to his season ERA. We’d probably feel a bit different about Bradish’s season if he closed out at 3.65, which is what he had after his August 15 start. That would be a fine baseline to bring into next season, with hopes of improvement on that.
Instead, like so many other things to do with the 2026 Orioles, we must simply hope for better without there being a ton to hang that belief on. Maybe the most important aspect of this hand-waving has nothing to do with how Bradish pitches at all and everything to do with whether the front office and coaching staff assemble at minimum a competent defense behind him. Bradish was one of the more heavily-victimized pitchers by bad defense: He was on the mound for 12 of the team’s 88 unearned runs. This doesn’t even count plays that weren’t scored as errors but an MLB player should have made.
I don’t want to act like the defense is too much of an excuse, though. Bradish has a rough-looking Statcast page, and none of that stuff cares about his defense. That’s so much blue. In this, blue is bad. What it looks a whole lot like on here is that Bradish’s curveball and slider were not up to the form he has showed previously. That seems like the avenue for improvement. The fastball isn’t the problem: He’s working with the same pre-surgery velocity and close to the same pre-surgery movement. Whether he can improve those other pitches, I just don’t know.
It is going to be even more important for the outlook of the 2027 Orioles that Bradish, heading into his age 30 season, pitch better next year. Trevor Rogers is almost certainly going to depart as a free agent, and the chances of Elias bringing a pitcher of the caliber of what Rogers showed in 2025 and from June onward in 2026 are slim. The top of the rotation will be counting even more heavily on Bradish and Baz doing good-to-great things that they did not do over the full 2026 season, as well as Brandon Young repeating his surprise 2026.
BALTIMORE, MD - CIRCA 1988: (L) George Bell #11, Lloyd Moseby #15 and Jesse Barfield #29 of the Toronto Blue Jays poses together for his portrait prior to the start of a Major League Baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles circa 1988 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland. Moseby played for the Blue Jay from 1980-89. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Thirty-Seven Years Ago
The Blue Jays clinched first place in the AL East by defeating the Orioles 4-3. A dramatic three-run rally in the eighth inning erased a 3-1 deficit and sealed the win.
Here was the starting lineup:
Lloyd Moseby CF
Mookie Wilson LF
Fred McGriff 1B
George Bell DH
Ernie Whitt C
Kelly Gruber 3B
Nelson Liriano 2B
Junior Felix RF
Jimmy Key started but was limited to four innings, surrendering eight hits and three earned runs, with no walks and six strikeouts. Frank Wills provided four shutout innings of relief, giving up just one hit. Tom Henke closed out the ninth for his 20th save.
The eighth inning proved decisive. Nelson Liriano worked a walk against Dave Johnson, prompting a pitching change. Kevin Hickey entered and walked pinch-hitter Manny Lee, with Rob Ducey pinch-running. Mark Williamson then replaced Hickey. Lloyd Moseby sacrificed both runners into scoring position. Mookie Wilson singled in a run, Fred McGriff drove home the tying run, and George Bell hit a sacrifice fly to give Toronto the lead.
Tom Henke made quick work of the ninth, striking out two to secure the victory.
The Blue Jays ultimately fell to the Athletics in five games in the ALCS.
That roster featured some impressive performances:
Fred McGriff, at 25, posted a .269/.399/.525 line with 36 home runs. Critics pointed to his 92 RBIs, suggesting that with fewer walks (he drew 119), he could have reached 100 RBIs.
Tony Fernandez endured a down year, finishing at .257/.291/.389.
Kelly Gruber contributed a .290/.328/.448 line with 18 home runs.
George Bell batted .297/.330/.458, adding 18 home runs and 104 RBIs.
Dave Stieb went 17-8 with a 3.35 ERA in 33 starts, though he completed just three games.
Jimmy Key finished 13-14 with a 3.88 ERA.
John Cerutti posted an 11-11 record and a 3.07 ERA.
Mike Flanagan went 8-10 with a 3.93 ERA.
Todd Stottlemyre finished 7-7 with a 3.88 ERA.
Tom Henke recorded a 1.92 ERA and 20 saves.
Duane Ward notched a 3.77 ERA and 15 saves.
Eleven Years Ago
The Blue Jays clinched their first playoff berth since 1993 by winning the opening game of a doubleheader against the Orioles, securing the AL East crown.
I’m not doing a recap…you guys saw it. Marcus Stroman was unhittable. Our offence was great. And the Orioles helped out by not being able to field.
Some quick points:
8 innings of 1-run ball from Marcus Stroman…how amazing has he been? He’s gone through so much; he deserves this.
We scored 15 runs on 18 hits and 10 walks.
Ryan Goins was 5 for 5 with a double and a beauty of a bunt single.
Revere, Donaldson, and Pillar each had 2 hits.
Encarnacion hit his 37th home run, getting RBI 107 and 108.
Bautista and Smoak hit home runs in the top of the 9th.
The GameThread for game two has to go up in just a few minutes, so I’m going to end it here, and the new GameThread will go up.
Give a JoD to all the players, to Gibby and to Alex. And let’s take one each for ourselves.
We dropped the second game of the doubleheader (played in the rain), as Gibby rested the regulars. Here was our lineup:
Pompey CF
Pennington LF
Carrera RF
Colabello DH
Hague 1B
Thole C
Kawasaki 3B
Barney 2B
Diaz SS
Some of those names barely register from their time with the Jays.
R.A. Dickey tossed five scoreless innings (allowing only two hits and no walks), but the bullpen surrendered eight runs.
After a thrilling ALDS win, the Jays dropped the first two games but rebounded to take the next three (Jose Bautista starred, driving in five runs with a 0.41 WPA in the series). However, Toronto fell to the Royals in six games in the ALCS.
A few birthdays to note today, though none warrant a full post:
Trent Thornton turns 33 today. Acquired from the Astros for Aledmys Diaz, he pitched in 108 games (36 starts, including some as an opener) over five seasons with the Jays, compiling a 7-14 record and a 4.77 ERA. He’s spent the last year and a half with the Mariners.
Hagen Danner turns 28 today. He logged just 0.1 innings for Toronto in 2023 and spent much of this season injured. Here’s hoping he’s healthy next year and can contribute to the bullpen.
Craig Kusick would have turned 84. He passed away in 2006 at 57. He played 23 games for the Jays in 1979—his final MLB season. Previously, he spent seven years with the Twins. The first baseman finished his career with a .235/.342/.392 line in 496 games.
Bryan Bullington turns 46. He threw six innings for the Blue Jays in 2009, appearing in parts of five seasons and 26 games overall.
Curtis Goodwin turns 54. His final two games of a five-year Jays career came in 1999. He played 431 games in the majors, batting .248/.307/.302.
Brian Moran turns 38. In 2020, he pitched one inning across two games for Toronto. Over three seasons, he logged 11.1 innings—but this guy is a big fan:
May 19, 2022; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Royals hitting coach Alec Zumwalt during the fifth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports
The offense struggled at key points. The Royals got off to a slow start this spring with a 22-37 record entering June. The club posted a .650 OPS in May as the offense couldn’t get into an early season rhythm.
Things started to turn around down the stretch. Rookie catcher Carter Jensen began to ascend behind the plate and Jac Caglianone tapped into his immense power. Both players won the American League Player of the Month award.
Yet, the Royals couldn’t overcome their early strugles. It’s easy to point to down seasons from Bobby Witt Jr., Maikel Garcia and Vinnie Pasquantino, among others. The trio dealt with injuries at different times, which zapped their production.
What I believe this move signals is that the Royals feel there’s more to come from their offensive performance. I can’t disagree there, but the club would be better served to finding two or three productive bats from outside the org. The Picollo Era has been marked by awarding too many plate appearances to too many sub-mediocre hitters.
Zumwalt has been in the sights for a segment of this fan base for the better part of two seasons. I get it. When a team underperforms—and the Royals have certainly underperformed—there needs to be accountability. Owner John Sherman’s guy is Picollo. Picollo’s guy is Quatraro. So someone on the coaching staff needs to take the fall. Or be reassigned.
Philip Ruo at Royals Keep evaluates Royals hitters the Royals picked up last season, like Isaac Collins.
In one respect, Collins succeeded in solidifying left field. Collins accounted for 78% of the plate appearances from Royals left fielders in 2026. He also provided a noticeable improvement in offensive production with a slash line of .214/.321/.324 with an 84 wRC+ and 0.2 fWAR. However, his wRC+ and fWAR rank second-to-last and last among qualified primary left fielders. Collins was brought in for his on-base skills and plate discipline, but he saw a noticeable decline in his xwOBA from .322 in 2025 to .294 in 2026, which places him in the 15th percentile in the majors.
After taking the first game of the series in dominant fashion, the Yankees look to take care of business tonight in the Bronx. The Bombers hand the ball to veteran lefty and ace Max Fried. What can Fried do to follow up on Schlittler’s gem in the opener and send Boston home for the winter? Let’s preview Game 2 of this Wild Card Series.
Fried’s body of work was spectacular, but limited in 2026. In 20 starts this season, he posted a 2.80 ERA and a 0.994 WHIP, racking up 104 strikeouts over 112.2 frames while holding opponents to a meager .201 average. In his last two starts of the regular season, Fried dominated Minnesota, going seven strong innings of one-run ball on September 15th, before stumbling slightly against the Rays on September 22nd, when he took a loss after allowing four runs over 6.2 innings.
The 32-year-old Fried squared off with the Red Sox twice during the 2026 regular season. Back on April 22nd, he abandoned his windup mid-game to pitch entirely from the stretch and went eight dominant innings in Boston, striking out nine and giving up only three hits.
Fried’s most recent encounter with the Beantown Boys was on August 29th, when he was coming off the injured list. In that game, he tossed 3.2 frames of one-run ball to help the Yankees to a 9-2 victory. Even though it was last year, we’d also be remiss if we didn’t note that Fried fired 6.1 innings of shutout ball against Boston in the 2025 Wild Card Series opener.
When facing left-handed starters like Fried, the Red Sox usually counter with a lineup heavily anchored by switch-hitters Adley Rutschman and Nick Sogard, alongside right-handed bats Willson Contreras, Ceddanne Rafaela, and Trevor Story. With Roman Anthony leaving Game 1 with an injury, we will have to wait and see what the Red Sox do to try and get some offense. Few Red Sox hitters have many at-bats vs. Fried, but Story has gone 5-for-22 with two home runs off Fried.
Boston counters with right-handed Sonny Gray. The former Yankee has put together a great season as a 36-year-old. After logging an 18-5 record over 29 starts with a 2.72 ERA, a 1.15 WHIP, and 149 strikeouts in 169 innings, many Red Sox fans would argue “their guy” should be in the down-ballot Cy Young race. Gray is coming off a masterful performance against the Guardians on September 23rd, firing six scoreless innings while earning his 18th win. Over his last three starts, he has surrendered six earned runs across 18.1 innings. Gray attacks hitters with a heavy dose of four-seam fastballs paired with hard-sweeping sliders and multi-quadrant breaking balls.
Gray had one meh start and one really, really good start against the Yankees in the regular season. His numbers ended up at 1-0 with a 1.98 ERA in two starts. He outlasted the Yankees in the Stadium on June 5th, giving up three runs over 6.1 innings for a 5-3 win, though the Bombers did tally eight hits in that game. He followed that up on June 28th with a big personal performance, taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning and recording his 2,000th career strikeout.
However, Gray has not faced this Yankees lineup and arguably faced the Yankees this season when they were at their worst.
Meanwhile, the Yankees’ playoff roster is finally the chess board Brian Cashman has tried to provide Aaron Boone with for years, even if the team is still missing the most important offensive piece on the roster. With a right-hander on the bump to start the game, I expect the Yankees to roll a lefty-heavy lineup out of the starting gate despite Gray’s splits showing he has been just as effective versus lefties as righties.
My bold prediction is that Boone will start two right-handed bats tonight in George Lombard Jr. and Amed Rosario. Rosario is 7-for-24 lifetime vs. Gray, while Ryan McMahon is 1-for-11 — though the contact-oriented Fried has generally preferred to have the more defensively adept McMahon at the hot corner. The good news for the Yankees is Trade Deadline acquisition Luis Garcia Jr. is 4-for-10 with a home run, and Game 1 hero Ben Rice is 3-for-7 with two home runs. Those are good for a 1.200 and 1.841 OPS, respectively. Trent Grisham might not start, but he has also hit Gray well, sitting at a .500 average in 10 at-bats with a home run and a 1.445 OPS of his own. The cherry on top is Spencer Jones is also batting .500 against Gray with a double sprinkled into those three hits. Maybe this is all Small Sample Theatre, but it’s worth considering.
The Red Sox have lefties galore on their staff and, in an elimination game, will have to lay all their cards on the table. If you decide to keep score at home, I would recommend a pencil tonight and be ready for lots of scratches through the lineup card, as each pitching change could very well be met with a counter in the batter’s box.
As the Mets enter the offseason, they'll be facing a familiar challenge: put together a team that can get them back to the playoffs for the first time since 2024.
David Stearnsand the front office failed in that regard last offseason, due in part to the drastic changes that were made to the roster and coaching staff. There were other things at play, including long-term injuries to Francisco Lindor and Clay Holmes, some worst-case scenarios playing out, and an over-reliance on bounce backs.
This time around, the Mets will almost certainly have much less turnover, but that doesn't mean the overall result in 2026 wasn't an abject failure.
New York had a 34-31 record after the All-Star break, which was a big improvement after things spun out of control in the first half and led to a trade deadline sell-off.
But the most important developments for the Mets after their dismal start? The emergence of Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing, the impressive return of Christian Scott, the moxie and performance of Zac Thornton, and some good late-season signs from Jonah Tong.
The above should give the Mets confidence that they're in solid shape when it comes to their lineup and a chunk of the starting rotation. They have an emerging young core to complement their more established stars, and potentially have high-upside players coming soon from the upper levels of the minors. But serious help is still needed this winter.
Specifically, the Mets need to add external help at first base, address the DH spot, bolster the bullpen with multiple new arms (including a back end option), and -- most importantly -- find a pitcher who profiles at the very top of the rotation.
In both 2025 and 2026, the Mets were done in, due in large part to not having enough starting pitching depth. And it can be argued that they left themselves short one legitimate starter both times. That can't happen again, so New York should be focused on pairing a new prospective ace with another addition who profiles in the middle or back of the rotation.
About that ace ... it's not difficult to figure out that it should be Tarik Skubal.
In one of the weakest free agent classes in recent memory, Skubal stands out even more than he ordinarily would.
Fresh off back-to-back Cy Young awards, the 29-year-old Skubal posted a 2.72 ERA (2.51 FIP) and 0.96 WHIP while walking just 1.5 per nine innings and striking out 186 batters in 158.2 innings in 2026.
Aug 28, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) throws a pitch against the Detroit Tigers in the third inning at Comerica Park. / Lon Horwedel - Imagn Images
Skubal's season was briefly interrupted by NanoScope surgery on his pitching elbow that kept him out of action from April 30 through June 13. But he continued to be dominant upon his return. After having a 2.70 ERA (2.11 FIP) over his first seven starts, Skubal had a 2.73 ERA (2.66 FIP) in the 19 starts he made post-surgery, with 10 of them coming after he was dealt to the Dodgers at the trade deadline.
During Stearns' end-of-season news conference on Monday at Citi Field, he was asked multiple times about the Mets' offseason plan for adding pitching, but unsurprisingly didn't offer much when asked in a roundabout way about a possible Skubal pursuit.
"I do think it is necessary for us to add to our rotation," Stearns said. "We can do that in a variety of different ways. We've talked about this plenty before -- you'd always love to add to the top of your rotation, any team would love to do that -- over the long term, what we need to do is develop pitchers at the top of our rotation, and I think we are proving we can do that, and we'll continue to do that."
While Stearns refused to make any declarations about the type of pitcher the Mets would go after, it is pointless to read into that.
For one, Skubal is still under contract with the Dodgers, and no executive is going to talk about going after a player who is on another team.
Second, and even more importantly, no exec is going to tip his or her hand entirely and risk wrecking leverage ahead of possible negotiations.
While Stearns (smartly) won't say it, I will: The Mets should make Skubal the centerpiece of their offseason plan, using the resources at their disposal to add one of the most talented pitchers in the sport to slot in front of Nolan McLean.
The Mets' biggest need this offseason is at the top of their rotation, with Skubal a nearly perfect way to fill that need. And Skubal will cost only money, since the midseason trade from Detroit to Los Angeles makes him ineligible for a qualifying offer and the draft pick compensation it would've required from any team that signed him.
When discussing Skubal and the Mets, it's obviously instructive to consider Stearns' philosophy when it comes to signing pitchers to long-term deals. Specifically, he has not shown much interest in signing pitchers in their late-20s or 30s to those kind of pacts -- and that philosophy is generally a valid one.
For every long-term, big-money deal to a pitcher 29 or older that works out (Max Scherzer's seven-year deal with the Nationals looks incredible in retrospect, and the Yankees' deal for Max Fried is aging well), you can point to a whole bunch that didn't or currently aren't (Patrick Corbin, Jacob deGrom, Jordan Zimmermann, Felix Hernandez, Corbin Burnes).
As far as how Stearns has operated in the past, it's fair to throw what he did in Milwaukee out the window given the payroll constraints he was working under.
Jun 26, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns speaks during a press conference before a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field. The club earlier today parted ways with manager Carlos Mendoza (not pictured). / Brad Penner - Imagn Images
But except for a serious pursuit of then-25-year-old Yoshinobu Yamamoto ahead of the 2024 season, Stearns' main forays into the free agent starting pitching market with the Mets have been measured:
Sean Manaea: Three years, $75 million Clay Holmes: Three years, $38 million Frankie Montas: Two years, $34 million Luis Severino: One year, $13 million Griffin Canning: One year, $4.25 million
Of those signings, Holmes was the biggest success as the Mets turned him back into a starter after he spent years in relief. But that success resulted in Holmes being set to opt out after the second season of his contract, which led to New York trading him at the deadline.
During his time leading the Mets' baseball operations, Stearns has been reluctant to offer deals to starting pitchers (except Yamamoto) that exceed three years. When that is your philosophy, the risk is obviously lower. But sometimes a calculated risk is needed.
When it comes to Skubal, there is risk. In addition to the minor surgery he had this season, Skubal underwent flexor tendon surgery in 2022 and had Tommy John surgery in 2017.
Skubal is also likely to receive the biggest deal ever for a starting pitcher when it comes to average annual value. Maybe his age (30 when next season begins) and yearly value of his deal will make the years easier to stomach, but something like $400 million for eight years is easy to imagine.
There's also the looming lockout and new CBA to consider.
While it's difficult to envision the players caving on a hard salary cap, it's fair to believe the new CBA will include stiffer penalties for teams that exceed the luxury tax thresholds.
But even after considering all of that, it's still reasonable to conclude that the Mets should go after Skubal with gusto -- that he should be the exception to Stearns' rule, maybe with a slight nudge from owner Steve Cohen.
Things could always go sideways, as they often do with long-term deals for older starting pitchers. But there's no reason to think Skubal won't be exceptional for the first half of any deal he signs, which would also theoretically line up with a World Series window the Mets will hope to be entering.
When you look at Skubal, who combines one of the best arsenals in baseball with perhaps the best command in baseball (and whose metrics look like this), the biggest risk for the Mets would be not going all-in on him.
SAN DIEGO, CA - SEPTEMBER 29: Fernando Tatis Jr. #23 of the San Diego Padres celebrates at home plate after scoring in the seventh inning during Game One of the National League Wild Card Series presented by AbbVie between the Chicago Cubs and the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Meet the Mets
Jefferson Rojas is nearing the majors, but his hopes could be stalled by a potential lockout.
Joel Sherman wrote a guide to the Mets’ offseason, covering the big questions and potential targets.
Freddy Peralta won the American League Pitcher of the Month honor for September, and David Stearns credited Tampa Bay for doing what the Mets were unable to achieve with Peralta.
Around the National League East
The Phillies announced their complete Wild Card series roster.
The Braves beat the Phillies 5-3 in the first game of the Wild Card series. Austin Riley hit a three-run home run off of Phillies closer Jhoan Duran in the eighth inning to seal the victory.
Paul Casella compiled a list of four key takeaways from the first game between the Braves and the Phillies.
Around Major League Baseball
The White Sox beat the Astros 6-3 in the first game of their series and made it look easy.
The Yankees completely dominated the Red Sox 9-0 in the first game of their Wild Card series, with plenty of help from Massachusetts natives Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice.
The Padres bashed their way to a win in a 8-0 beatdown of the Cubs, and Michael King’s seven innings of one-hit baseball sealed the deal for the Padres to take the lead in the Wild Card series.
Britt Ghiroli is dreading this postseason, as the looming lockout could stop games for an indeterminable amount of time.
After years as baseball’s worst hitter, Austin Hedges has been experiencing an offensive renaissance at 34 years old.
The Minor League Baseball award winners were announced Monday evening.
There’s a way each postseason team could eventually go the distance and win the World Series.
Aaron Judge was officially left off the Yankees Wild Card series roster, but he’ll continue his rehab in hopes of being activated for a potential American League Division Series.
Giancarlo Stanton and Garrett Crochet could perform some postseason heroics after being added to their respective teams rosters.
Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue
A Pod of Their Own returned with their 2026 season postmortem.
Linus Lawrence listed the different former Mets playing in this year’s postseason.
Lawrence also wrote a guide to the postseason with reasons why a Mets fan might want to root for each team.
Steve Sypa published the Prospect Report Card for September.
Payton Tolle had just retired Paul Goldschmidt for the third time on one pitch, running his pitch count to a manageable 83 with two outs in the fifth inning Tuesday, when Chad Tracy decided he’d seen enough.
With Boston trailing by one run and Ben Rice, who doubled in the first inning, due up next, the manager opted to remove his pitcher who had settled into the pitching duel by that point.
And it backfired in horrible fashion for Boston.
Red Sox manager Chad Tracy talks with Payton Tolle on the mound during the fifth inning in game one of the American League Wild Card Series against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx on September 29, 2026. Getty Images
Lefty reliever Erik Miller immediately surrendered a long solo homer to center field to Rice — the first of his two against Boston relievers — and it completely changed the tone of the game in Boston’s 9-0 loss to the Yankees in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card series at Yankee Stadium.
“Not just the pitch count necessarily, but you’re trailing already, you’re moving through the third time,” Tracy said. “Rice had already hit a double in the gap off of him, and you have a nice lane there for Miller, and obviously he got him. Just felt like it was the time to go.”
This postseason marks Tracy’s first calling the shots and moments like this one Tuesday night are what ultimately can swing series.
Sure, Boston did not score, but being down 1-0 to Cam Schlittler and the Yankees bullpen is a vastly different world than trailing by two entering the seventh.
Tolle allowed four hits over the first nine batters but settled down to retire eight of the next 10 batters and navigated a two-on, no-outs situation in the fifth while trailing 1-0.
Red Sox pitcher Erik Miller (67) reacts as Yankees designated hitter Ben Rice (22) rounds the bases on his solo home run during the fifth inning of Game 1 of the ALWild Card Series at Yankee Stadium, Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
He began the sixth by retiring Austin Wells on six pitches and then sitting down Goldschmidt, leaving him certainly with room to possibly navigate six innings if he worked effectively.
Tracy, though, opted for a new look in Miller, ending Tolle’s day after 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball.
“I thought he threw the ball well,” Tracy said. “They did an effective job of grinding the count up as well. He had traffic. They put traffic on him. He was able to navigate his way through that. I think he competed extremely well for the time that he was out there and gave us what he could.
“I think the number being up there in the mid-80s, still trying to get through five, probably higher than what you normally see with Payton, and to be expected in an environment like this. But I thought he competed his butt off.”
Miller, a midseason trade acquisition, struggled to end the regular season and those issues carried over to the postseason when he fired a middle-middle 97-mph heater that Rice hit out to dead center.
Tolle said that as a competitor, he felt he could have gone longer but understood the decision due to the strength of Boston’s bullpen during the regular seaosn.
Boston is now one loss away from a second straight early postseason exit at the Yankees’ hands.
“Wasn’t good enough,” Tolle said. “They had a good plan and I threw a lot of balls … just didn’t feel like I could command the zone, kind of let some at-bats get away from me. A lot of pitches.”
He added about the bullpen: “Those guys picked me up a lot this year.”
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 29: Austin Riley #27 of the Atlanta Braves hits a three-run home run against the Philadelphia Phillies during the eighth inning in game one of the National League Wild Card Series at Truist Park on September 29, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It was an exciting afternoon at Truist Park as the Atlanta Braves defeated the Philadelphia Phillies 5-3 to take Game 1 of the National League Wild Card. Chris Sale got the start and was brilliant. In 6.1 innings, he recorded nine strikeouts and issued one walk. He was charged with three earned runs.
The Atlanta offense had some tough breaks and was unable to put together timely hitting until later in the game. However, that changed when a Michael Harris II single and a hit by pitch had two on for Austin Riley. Riley launched a homer to right center field to give the Braves the 5-3 edge.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 29: Payton Tolle #70 of the Boston Red Sox walks back to the dugout after being pull against the New York Yankees during the fifth inning in game one of the American League Wild Card Series at Yankee Stadium on September 29, 2026 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Happy Wednesday, OTM! If you’re reading this, that means the sun did rise once again after a horrific game one loss to the New York Yankees last night. My question to you today is simple: do you still believe? The offense is putrid, Roman Anthony is hurt again, and the Yankees have Max Fried lined up to start. Signs are bad, but as Payton Tolle said, he hasn’t heard a fat lady sing. I’m sure if he walks around New York City for long enough, he’ll find one, but he probably wouldn’t find one who’s omniscient and only sings in conjunction with the end of a baseball playoff series. If he did, he should bring her to American Idol or something. America’s Got Talent, maybe? I don’t know, I’m just vamping.
Are we going to win tonight? Do we have any chance at pulling this series out? Talk about this and whatever else you want, and as always, be good to one another.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 22: Josue De Paula #95 of the Los Angeles Dodgers singles during the second inning against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium on September 22, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images) | Getty Images
While eight teams battle it out to see who will advance to the Division Series, the Dodgers are among four teams using this time off to prepare for October baseball.
After winning an even 100 games in the regular season, the Dodgers secured a first-round bye and will await the winner of the NL Wild Card matchup between the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies. While the Dodgers continue to add the finishing touches to their postseason roster, there are some lingering questions as to which players will be a part of the team’s depth chart.
21-year-old outfielder Josue De Paula made his presence known while filling in for the then-injured Shohei Ohtani, slashing .323/.500/.581 across 42 plate appearances before he was sent down to Triple-A Oklahoma City. Sonja Chen of MLB.com believes that both De Paula and utility man Hyeseong Kim can make an impact on the postseason roster, with the former being relegated to pinch-hit opportunities due to his lack of big-league experience in the outfield.
Of course, De Paula is capable of playing the corner outfield, but we only saw him play six innings in left as a Dodger. And given how important defense is in the postseason, I doubt we will see him in the field unless it’s an emergency.
The month of September has given Shohei Ohtani plenty of time to prepare for his third consecutive postseason run with the Dodgers. The Dodgers still have another three days to prepare for the NLDS, and Ohtani is using this time to get his swing in the right place, per Chen.
“Everything is feeling great physically,” general manager Brandon Gomes said on a Zoom call with the media on Tuesday. “The swings, once he came back, overall were in a good place. And using these five days to continue to get reps and feeling good into this series is really important. But feels like he’s in a great spot.”
Freddie Freeman had his power zapped in the second half of the regular season, hitting just one home run while posting a slugging percentage of .339. Freeman dealt with patellar tendonitis in his right knee, but entering the NLDS, he said that he’s feeling a lot better, reports Jack Harris of the California Post.
“I truly feel good right now, physically,” Freeman said on Tuesday, during a video conference with reporters ahead of the Dodgers’ first pre-National League Division Series bye week workout. “So it’s on me now to figure out the mechanics of the swing in the next five days. And I have all the confidence in myself that I will figure that out by [Game 1 on] Saturday.”
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - SEPTEMBER 25: Cole Carrigg #16 of the Colorado Rockies at bat against the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field on September 25, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jayden Mack/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Greetings, friends!
The postseason is officially underway after the first day of Wild Card action. The games were electric, but it’s also interesting to see how teams constructed their rosters. Injured pitchers who hadn’t started for a while made rosters, while Aaron Judge was left off the roster for the New York Yankees. It’ll be interesting to see if any teams can move on to the division round today.
Meanwhile, the Colorado Rockies got some good news to cap off the 2026 season as MLB announced Cole Carrigg was named the National League Rookie of the Month for September. It was the third time a Rockies rookie earned the award this season after TJ Rumfield won the award twice.
Now, here’s what’s going on for the Rockies and the league.
Yankees traded TJ Rumfield to Rockies — And he matched 1926 MLB record | heavy.com — Rumfield’s rookie season was definitely one for the record books as he led the National League in OBP, the first rookie to lead his league in that category in 100 years. It’s interesting to think that because of Ben Rice’s breakout for the New York Yankees last season, Rumfield’s opportunity opened up in Colorado.
Affected by Altitude Episode 227: 100 Once More | Rocky Mountain Rooftop — Evan Lang and I recap the end of the 2026 and what went wrong and right. We also talk about the great seasons for Hunter Goodman and Rumfield before saying goodbye to Kyle Freeland and naming our September Players of the Month!
Around MLB
Here is why each playoff team could win the World Series | MLB.com — The beauty of the chaos of the MLB postseason is that truly anything can happen. Every team that makes it to the dance has a chance to win the whole thing, so the writers at MLB.com share those reasons.
O’s to renovate LF upper deck at Camden Yards, add social space | MLB.com — Every offseason, teams turn their attention to renovations and alterations that could be made to the ballpark. The Baltimore Orioles, who have moved the outfield walls a couple of times over the years, are building what I can mostly relate to a “Party Deck” in left field.
Would Jose Iglesias ever return to the MLB? Yes, with 1 condition | Today.com — Former Rockies infielder Jose Iglesias has transitioned his music career into a stint on Broadway. While his post-baseball pursuits are going well, he’d still be interested in returning if a team ready to compete for a title came calling.
Despite once seemingly having no path toward big league playing time, Ethan Anderson’s impressive 2026 campaign saw him rise to the top of Baltimore’s catching prospects and put him on the doorstep of the major leagues.
This time last year, catcher was perhaps the most logjammed position of any in the Orioles organization. Adley Rutschman was the established starter coming off his fourth (albeit injury-riddled) season in the majors. Samuel Basallo had arrived in Baltimore at the end of August to start his promising big league career. Backstop was simply not a major position of need for Baltimore, and as such, it seemed like there was no real path forward for any minor leaguer.
Fast forward a year, and things have changed in a big way. Rutschman suffered through another injury-laden first half before being shipped off to Boston in a blockbuster trade. Basallo missed some time with his own injury issues and only projects as a part-timer behind the plate going forward. Injuries to the established catchers mean the Orioles once again cycled through backstops, with Chadwick Tromp, Sam Huff, Carlos Narváez, Yohel Pozo and Jake Rogers all seeing action behind the plate for Baltimore.
While Pozo and Narváez are still under team control for a couple more seasons, their lackluster offensive games mean that the role of Basallo’s running mate should be an open competition. And no minor leaguer, after 2026, is better positioned to take advantage of that opportunity than Anderson.
The former 2024 second-round pick out of Virginia spent most of the year with the Baysox in Double-A and established himself as the heartbeat of Chesapeake’s lineup. Compared to what he’d become, the 23-year-old switch-hitter got off to a relatively quiet start. Over the first month of the season, he hit a strong .302, but only put up one home run and four total extra-base hits en route to a SLG (.397) lower than his OBP (.429)
In May, those numbers would flip. Anderson started showing off his power stroke during the second month of the season, swatting 7 homers along with 3 doubles as he put up an improved .484 SLG. However, his average dipped down to .220, while his OBP dropped to .317. Overall, his first two months of the year reflected a respectable minor league hitter, but one who was still figuring some things out offensively.
Everything truly clicked for Anderson starting in June. In 21 games that month, he again launched 7 long balls, but added to that power with a .286 average, a .368 OBP and a strikeout rate that decreased from 26% to 14 percent.
Throughout the second half of the season, Anderson continued to wear out minor league pitchers. After missing most of July with an ankle injury, he returned in August and embarked on an epic hot streak. Over his final 25 games of the season (split between Frederick, Chesapeake and Norfolk), Anderson slashed .333/.390/.604 (.995 OPS) while hitting another 8 home runs and continuing to keep his strikeout rate under 20 percent.
Perhaps most encouraging was the cup of coffee Anderson had in Norfolk to end the season. In five games, the former Virginia Cavalier picked up a hit in all five contests, hit his first two Triple-A home runs and proved even a step up in competition couldn’t slow him down.
Anderson finished the season with a final triple slash of .288/.375/.544, a .919 OPS, 14 doubles, 24 home runs, 55 RBIs and a 22.1% strikeout rate. Of his 344 ABs, 303 came for the Baysox and 21 of his 24 long balls came against Double-A pitchers. Of the Orioles’ Top 30 prospects, only Wehiwa Aloy and Aron Estrada (25 each) hit more home runs than Anderson.
The switch-hitting Anderson also shows promise from both sides of the plate. He has more power against left-handed pitching, with 18 of his 24 homers coming from the right side and a slugging percentage that’s nearly 100 points higher. However, as a LHB against RHPs, Anderson hit .306—compared to .280 against LHPs.
Having already made his way up to Triple-A, Anderson will likely split time with Creed Willems behind the plate to begin next season. Both Anderson and Willems have the same problem; each has a strong offensive profile for a catcher, but questionable defensive skills that make it uncertain if they can stick behind the plate long term.
Anderson did play 500 defensive innings at catcher this past season, compared to 207 innings at 1B. If he can continue to hold his own behind the dish, Anderson should be first in line to replace Narváez in Baltimore next season. The Orioles have had some success in developing catchers defensively, as Basallo was graded as a below-average defender in the minors but showed major strides as a receiver over his first big league season.
A year ago, Anderson would not have been worth monitoring going into 2027, as he’d likely just be another Willems—stuck in Triple-A all season. But with Rutschman gone and the need to pair Basallo with a catcher who can play 75+ games, Anderson is now on a short list of players who could make their debut in 2027.
Happy Wednesday, everyone! The postseason is officially here and Wild Card games are underway. While we wait to see how the final postseason picture develops, we’ve got loads of little news tidbits, including deep dives into how all the teams are shaping up, and how all the different MLB experts predict things going as we head towards the World Series.
Plenty to get into so we know which storylines to keep an eye on this October, so let’s just dive right in.
Zack Gelof is suing the Detroit Tigers after missing “30 days of work” following an injury from attempting to catch a fly ball
The lawsuit says that the collision tore his uniform and caused a deep laceration beneath his right kneecap that missed his patellar tendon. He was… pic.twitter.com/k7cTemOkRD
