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Mets Notes
Pete Alonso is hitting .340/.385/.623 with eight home runs in 117 plate appearances over 26 games dating back to Aug. 26
In 10.2 innings over nine appearances this month, Edwin Diaz has allowed one run on five hits while walking three and striking out 17
Jonah Tong was stellar in his last start, allowing one run (unearned) on four hits while walking none and striking out eight
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With five games remaining in the regular season, the Mets are looking to secure the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League.
The Reds hold the tiebreaker over the Mets due to winning the season series. The tiebreaker between the Mets and Diamondbacks will likely be based on intradivision record since the two clubs split the season series.
Here's everything you need to know ahead of play on Sept. 24...
Mets: 81-76, 1.0 game up on Reds and Diamondbacks for third Wild Card
Next up: @ Cubs, Wednesday at 8:05 p.m. (Jonah Tong vs. Matthew Boyd) Latest result: 9-7 win over Cubs on Tuesday Remaining schedule: 2 @ CHC, 3 @ MIA Odds to make playoffs: 66.8 percent
Reds: 80-77, 1.0 game back of Mets
Next up: vs. Pirates, Wednesday at 6:40 p.m. (Paul Skenes vs. Hunter Greene) Latest result: 4-2 loss to Pirates on Tuesday Remaining schedule: 2 vs. PIT, 3 @ MIL Odds to make playoffs: 21.3 percent
Diamondbacks: 80-77, 1.0 game back of Mets
Next up: vs. Dodgers, Wednesday at 9:40 p.m. (Ryne Nelson vs. Blake Snell) Latest result: 5-4 win over Dodgers on Tuesday Remaining schedule: 2 vs. LAD, 3 @ SD Odds to make playoffs: 11.7 percent
The Cleveland Guardians' Austin Hedges, left, and Steven Kwan celebrate after scoring in the seventh inning of their win over the Detroit Tigers. Photograph: Sue Ogrocki/AP
Gavin Williams posted a career-high-tying 12 strikeouts and Daniel Schneemann drove in two runs Tuesday as the host Cleveland Guardians rallied for a 5-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers to forge a tie atop the American League Central.
The AL Central race could be seen as an epic comeback by the Guardians or a huge meltdown from the Tigers, depending on your allegiances. The Tigers had led the division since 23 April and had a 10-game lead over Cleveland as recently as 6 September. But the Guardians have the best record in MLB this month (17-5) while the Tigers have lost seven straight games and 10 of their last 11.
Williams allowed two runs on four hits and walked only two to outduel Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, who gave up three runs (one earned) on four hits while fanning eight and walking three.
It was a shaky outing for Skubal, who has been excellent for most of the season. After he hit Cleveland’s David Fry in the face with a pitch, he looked shaken and threw a wild pitch to George Valera, who replaced Fry, allowing Cleveland to score. Skubal also had an error – he inexplicably tried to make a blind throw to first between his legs – and was also called for a balk in the sixth inning as the Guardians rallied for three runs to take a 3-2 lead without hitting a ball out of the infield.
“We did a lot of uncharacteristic things, and it’s hurting us,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said after the game.
Fry was taken to a local hospital for observation after being hit by the 99 mph pitch and Skubal admitted the incident had affected him.
“Really tough,” said the left-hander. “I’ve already reached out to him. I’m sure his phone is blowing up. I just want to make sure he’s all right. Obviously, he seemed like he was OK coming off the field and hopefully it stays that way.”
With the victory, the Guardians now have a better head-to-head record against the Tigers this season and own the tiebreaker over Detroit should the teams finish joint-first in the division.
“I feel like we’ve been this way for a couple of series now,” Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler said. “It’s not quite pressing but we definitely feel some of the pressure and we’ve got to mitigate it. We’ve got to eliminate it. We’ve still got to find ways to stay loose, focus in and hone in on what we need to do and go out there and do it.”
The teams play each other again on Wednesday and Thursday before the Tigers complete their season with a series against the Red Sox and the Guardians face the Rangers.
SAN FRANCISCO — In the top of the second inning Tuesday night, Logan Webb threw a 2-2 slider to Victor Scott II that just missed the outer edge of the plate. As it hit Patrick Bailey’s glove, the Giants catcher subtly moved his hand a couple of inches. Scott bent down in disbelief and shook his head as home plate umpire Malachi Moore called him out.
Two innings later, Webb threw another slider up and away. This one found its spot, although not by much. According to the unofficial strike zone box on the broadcast, about half the ball was in the zone and half was out. Crooks briefly glanced back at Moore as he was called out.
A year from now, both of those pitches might lead to a brief stoppage of play.
The ABS (automatic balls and strikes) system was approved by Major League Baseball on Tuesday, and the man who framed both strikeouts early in Tuesday’s game might be the big leaguer who is most impacted. Bailey is the best pitch-framer in baseball and it’s not particularly close, but starting next opening day, opposing hitters will have a way to fight back.
Had Scott been able to challenge Tuesday, he would have gotten a 3-2 opportunity instead of a slow walk back to the dugout. Crooks would have been tempted, too, although he would have been proven wrong.
The ABS system will dramatically alter the game, and Bailey said Tuesday that he’s not quite sure what it will mean for his future. He is hitting .224 with six homers, but his defense is so elite that he has been worth 3.2 fWAR this season, which ranks third among Giants position players.
“I don’t think any of us know what this really looks like in a full year,” Bailey said Tuesday. “I’ll try to be the best I can be and just figure it out.”
It has been an open secret within the game that ABS would arrive in 2026, and on Tuesday, the Joint Competition Committee approved a challenge system similar to one that has been used at Triple-A since 2022 and was tried in 2025 spring training games. The final result is actually pretty simple.
Every stadium will have 12 Hawk-Eye cameras set up to track each pitch and if a pitcher, catcher or batter disagrees with a ball or strike, he can tap his hat or helmet. Teams get two challenges every game and will retain successful ones, with an extra challenge in every extra inning if a team is out by the 10th.
The rulings themself will resemble the system that has been used in tennis for years. After a challenge is announced by the home plate umpire, a graphic will be shown on the scoreboard displaying the exact location of the pitch compared to the batter’s measured strike zone and whether it is in fact a ball or strike. That part of the system figures are particularly popular.
Imagine it’s a Friday night at Oracle Park and 40,000 fans are on their feet in the eighth inning. Logan Webb throws a close pitch to Shohei Ohtani that is called a ball, but Bailey knows he saw it correctly and he taps his helmet. The anticipation at the ballpark will only be additive to the game experience. MLB estimates that challenges will take 15 seconds total, but in spring training it often was much quicker.
“Fans are going to love it,” predicted Bryce Eldridge, who experienced ABS in Triple-A this year.
Not every player will feel the same way. According to USA Today, seven teams opposed the ABS system in player voting, and it is sure to be embarrassing for some. Giants manager Bob Melvin has asked questions of Triple-A manager Dave Brundage and said he anticipates having to put in some rules at some point. There are bound to be some players who are challenge-happy and costing the team by being wrong too often.
“You’re going to find some guys that you’re going to tell them, ‘If you miss today, you’re not going to get (permission to challenge) tomorrow’ or something like that,” Melvin said. “And then you’re going to have other guys that are going to be really good at it. Next spring we’ll feel that out and see who is and who isn’t.”
What has been discovered in the minors is that pitchers are surprisingly bad at calling their own games. In spring training, they were correct just 41 percent of the time, per ESPN, while catchers sat at 56 percent and hitters were a 50-50 coin flip.
Bailey said it’s much easier for him to track while catching than hitting, and there’s nobody better at it. Per Baseball Savant, he has been worth 25 Catcher Framing Runs. The next closest catcher is Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk at 14 and the gap was just as wide last year, when Bailey led the Majors at 23 and Seattle’s Cal Raleigh ranked second at 13.
Bailey is so far ahead of the pack that he ranks second overall in Catcher Framing Runs since tracking began in 2018 — despite the fact that he didn’t debut until 2023.
“He’s the best, he’s as good as it gets, and he understands it, too,” Melvin said. “He knows all the numbers and what his pitchers can do and where he needs to go to get strikes. It makes a big impact.”
In theory, Bailey’s skills should still give the Giants a nightly edge. Melvin figures teams will save one challenge for the eighth or ninth inning, so they’ll have limited opportunities early in games to try and catch Bailey in a successful frame job. Bailey noted that there are plenty of times when he feels he caught a strike but the umpire disagrees, and he figures to be pretty good at challenging, given his feel for the strike zone.
There will also be some gamesmanship, although nobody is quite sure what that will fully look like yet. Bailey might find that there is a new edge to be found by goading hitters into challenging calls that were correct in the first place. Regardless, the Giants and Bailey will benefit from the fact that challenges are limited.
“I certainly don’t think a good framer goes away unless it’s wholesale (robot umps),” Melvin said. “I think, still, his value is going to be high.”
Bailey is hopeful that’s the case. He chose his words carefully Tuesday, but also left no doubt that he’s not thrilled that ABS has arrived. He has said in the past that it will be bad for catchers overall, and it certainly adds a bit more pressure to perform with the bat.
While some front offices have placed framing above all else in recent years, at least part of that advantage is going away. It will take some time to figure out just how much it impacts the Giants and their own catcher.
“I don’t think it’s going to take away the value of framing,” Bailey said. “You still have to be able to get calls and keep strikes (as) strikes. At the end of the day, I think it’s just going to be really valuable to know the zone.”
Bill Russell, who played nearly 2,200 games and managed for parts of three seasons with the Dodgers, works as an umpire observer for Major League Baseball. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The fourth in an occasional seriesof profiles on Southern California athletes who have flourished in their post-playing careers.
An outstanding outfielder in his first three major league seasons, Russell moved to the infield full time in his fourth year. It was a disaster.
“It was something I lost a lot of sleep over,” said Russell, who led the majors with 34 errors that year. “After the season, I just collapsed for a few weeks.”
Then he picked himself up and went to work on getting better and in his second year as a shortstop he led the majors with 560 assists, led the National League in defensive WAR and made the first of three all-star teams.
He went on to play more games for the Dodgers than any player in Los Angeles history.
It was a remarkable career, one that hardly needed a second act. But even after he left the stage, Russell never left the theater. Six months after his last at-bat — he struck out as a pinch hitter in the final week of the 1986 season — Russell was back in uniform as the team’s bench coach.
He later managed in the Dodgers’ minor league system, replaced Tommy Lasorda in that job at the major league level and, for the past 13 years, has worked in the team’s community relations department, coaching youth camps and appearing at schools, fan fests and other events. Since 2002 he’s also served as an umpire observer, partly because the job gets him a good seat behind the plate at Dodger Stadium.
If the team were to a pick a Mr. L.A. Dodger, someone emblematic of the team’s history and values since moving to Southern California, the soft-spoken, humble Russell, a Dodger for nearly half a century, would have to be in that conversation.
But it was his dedication to mastering the switch from the outfield to shortstop — becoming the first prominent player since Honus Wagner to make the move — that literally changed the direction of the franchise. If he hadn’t made it work, the Dodgers may never have had the courage to turn a minor league outfielder named Davey Lopes into a second baseman, where he became Russell’s double-play partner.
If he hadn’t made it work, the Dodgers may never have tried pushing a scatter-armed third baseman named Steve Garvey across the diamond to first, opening up the position to Russell’s right for Ron Cey. The resulting infield of Garvey, Lopes, Russell and Cey played together for 8 ½ seasons, longer than any quartet in baseball history, winning four pennants and a World Series.
“Each one of us had different talents,” Russell said. “It was tough at first but all of a sudden we started having success. It’s four brothers.”
From left, Ron Cey, Bill Russell, Davey Lopes and Steve Garvey pose before an old-timers game at Dodger Stadium in 2013. The infield quartet won four pennants and a World Series together. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
Now Betts, a six-time Gold Glove-winning outfielder, has mastered the move too, helping the Dodgers to the cusp of their 12th division title in 13 seasons. However if Betts perfected the shift, Russell pioneered it.
“He was a great athlete,” said Steve Sax, Russell’s double-play partner his last five seasons. “He was maybe the fastest guy in the organization. The whole genesis of being able to move guys around was the thought they’re so athletic, why can’t they make the transition?
“And he proved that to be true.”
At 76, Russell is nearly four decades removed from his last of his 2,181 big-league games, all with the Dodgers. But he’s still fit, not far off his playing weight of 175 pounds. And while he was once among the fastest players in the majors, he now moves at a purposeful saunter rather than a sprint. Wire-rim glasses crease his once-boyish face and the mop of straw-blond hair he once tucked under his cap has gone white, leaving him looking more like a college English professor than a once-iconic athlete.
"I just enjoyed going to the park and being with the guys. They just make you feel young again," said Bill Russell, who turns 77 in October. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
What hasn’t changed is his love for a game that has been his life and for a team that has become his family.
“I just enjoyed going to the park and being with the guys. They just make you feel young again,” said Russell, who often wears a wry smile that suggests he’s in on a joke no one else knows about.
“Billy’s very special,” said Peter O’Malley, the Dodgers’ owner and president throughout much of Russell’s career.
“He was stable. Popular with the fans for sure. He deserves more credit that he’s received.”
Russell grew up a short drive from both the Missouri and Oklahoma state lines in the kind of nondescript Kansas town where everybody knew their neighbors and hard work wasn’t a virtue, it was an expectation.
The middle child in a family of five children, he attended a high school so small it didn’t have a baseball team. So he played basketball during the winter and baseball on sandlots and with American Legion teams during the summer. He was the kind of player scouts once described as “an athlete,” meaning he was smart enough and talented enough to excel at any position, though the Dodgers listed him as an outfielder when they selected him in the ninth round of the second amateur draft in 1966.
He gave most of his $14,000 signing bonus to his parents, minus the money he needed to buy a second-hand Chevy like the one his best friend drove.
Russell shot up the minor-league ladder, playing just 221 games before making the jump from Class A Bakersfield to the majors in 1969, doubling in his first big-league at-bat.
The adjustment from the minors to the majors was far easier than the change from the tiny mining town of Pittsburg, Kan., to the technicolor sprawl of Southern California.
“Coming to Los Angeles, you’ve got to be kidding me. A big city like this?” said Russell, who had rarely traveled more than 30 miles from Pittsburg before signing with the Dodgers. “My town was only 10,000 people so I had to grow up fast.
“I’m 20 years old, I’m in the major leagues and the minimum salary is $10,000. It wasn’t even $1,000 a month. But that was more money than I’d ever thought of. And I’m playing in Hollywood.”
After playing 18 seasons with the Dodgers, Bill Russell managed the ballclub from 1996-98. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Playing exclusively in the outfield, too, although Monty Basgall, a fellow Kansan and the former minor league infield instructor who scouted Russell as an athlete, was already plotting the move to shortstop, the most challenging defensive position after catcher.
“Shortstop is a difficult position,” said Derrel Thomas, a former teammate who played everywhere but pitcher during a 16-year big-league career. “A lot of people don’t give Monty Basgall any credit for what he did helping with the infielders.”
After some preparation in the instructional league and the minors, Russell made his major league debut at shortstop on the final day of the 1970 season, then played 47 games as a middle infielder a year later. But the move didn’t become permanent until Russell’s fourth season when he replaced an aging Maury Wills.
“I wasn’t in a position to say anything, really,” said Russell, who still speaks with a noticeable Midwestern accent.
“I had doubts about it, no question. But I figured my longevity in the big leagues, if I had [any], would come with moving to the infield.”
In fact, the move nearly ended his career. Russell made his first poor throw seven games into the season and by the all-star break he had as almost as many errors as extra-base hits. By then, he was also looking over his shoulder, expecting the Dodgers to put an end to the experiment.
“I’m surprised they didn’t,” he says now. “The fans got involved too. It wasn’t a standing ovation when I was coming back to the dugout after making some errors.
“At that time people brought transistor radios to the stadium. You could hear [Vin Scully] doing the game. I could hear him say something about me at shortstop. Talk radio was just coming on board and they were on me. It was a lot of negative stuff.”
“Maybe I was too dumb, I don’t know,” Russell said with a shrug. “I never thought about giving up or going back home. What am I going to do back home? I did say to myself, ‘I'm going to show these people I can play this position.’
“And I did. For 13 years.”
Through hard work and determination, Russell turned his fielding from a liability into an asset and the Dodgers began to win, reaching the World Series four times over the next nine seasons. And while Russell never won a Gold Glove — he twice led the majors in errors — he finished in the top five in fielding percentage by an NL shortstop three times, was in the top five for putouts four times and in the top three for assists six times.
He was understatedly brilliant, so much so that Cincinnati Reds’ shortstop Dave Concepcion once mocked Russell’s critics saying he didn’t know who the best fielder was “but I sure watch Bill Russell in the playoffs a lot.”
“He would never quit. Never,” O’Malley said. “Making that transition at the major league level, he deserves extraordinary credit for that.”
Almost lost in the focus on his defense was the fact Russell was a tough out, hitting better than .271 six times and excelling in clutch situations.
“That went all the way back to high school,” said Russell, who hit the shot that took his underdog team to the final of the Kansas state tournament. “It’s just a calmness. You can’t describe it. You can’t teach it. It is something that comes over you and you get a calm feeling that you’re going to succeed.”
As a high school infielder at Arroyo High in El Monte, James Baker was given his choice of uniform numbers. He didn’t have to think long before selecting one.
“I wore No. 18,” he said. “Because of Bill.”
It was the same number he had worn in Little League and American Legion ball.
“He was Mr. Clutch,” Baker, 61, said of Russell. “He was the dean of the infield.”
“The great thing about Bill Russell,” added Rick Zubiate, 57, Baker’s brother-in-law “is he wasn't flashy. He made all the plays he was supposed to. Not only that, he had a presence and he commanded everybody around him to be better and expect more of themselves.”
Russell may be little more than a face on an old baseball card to Generation Z. But for children of the ‘60s like Baker and Zubiate, he remains the archetypal Dodger, one with a Dodger Blue resume that is unassailable. Which is why Baker and Zubiate braved rush-hour traffic last week to drive to Ontario, where Russell was appearing at an event for the Dodgers’ newest minor league affiliate.
“I loved him,” Baker said after asking Russell for an autograph.
And what’s not to love? He played more games and has more World Series at-bats than any player in L.A. Dodger history. He trails only Willie Davis and Garvey in hits and only Clayton Kershaw has matched Russell’s 18 seasons at Dodger Stadium.
Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, right, hugs Bill Russell in the dressing room after the Dodgers beat the Phillies, 6-5, in Game 3 of the 1977 NLCS. (Associated Press)
But he also managed in the team’s minor league system, was the bench coach under Lasorda for seven years, then managed the big-league team for parts of three seasons, posting the fourth-best winning percentage by a manager since the franchise left Brooklyn. And he still pulls on his old uniform — with the bright red 18 over his Dodger blue heart — several times a year to join former teammates including Garvey, Sax and Steve Yeager in reminiscing with fans at fantasy camps and clinics.
“We have fun out there,” he said. “People come from all over the country. [It’s] like you’re still involved in the whole scene of being a major league player.”
If the speed and power of Willie Mays is synonymous with the San Francisco Giants and the style and grace of Ted Williams is emblematic of the Boston Red Sox, Russell’s blue-collar work ethic and country-boy humility is the embodiment of the Dodgers since they moved to Southern California.
“Quintessential Dodger?” O’Malley said. “Absolutely right. From start to end, he deserves the credit. He was respected and liked by everybody.”
Russell stood out, O’Malley said, partly because he blended in.
“He was quiet,” he said. “But keen sense of humor. If he wanted to make a point or be heard, he could nail it with a comment. It was pretty darn funny.”
Yet Russell’s silent excellence often went unappreciated. A .263 lifetime hitter who had fewer home runs in his career than Shohei Ohtani has this year alone, he received just three Hall of Fame votes the only time his name appeared on the ballot. For a time, even his loyalty to the Dodgers went unrequited; for years after his last game as manager Russell felt unwelcome at Dodger Stadium, the result of a toxic stew of bruised egos, Machiavellian maneuvering and corporate mismanagement.
It began midway through the 1996 season when Lasorda, the manager who had groomed Russell in the minors then won with him in the majors, had a heart attack. A month later Lasorda stepped down and Russell took over on an interim basis, guiding the Dodgers to a playoff berth.
That earned him the job full time but it didn’t earn him unquestioned support throughout the organization. The low-key Russell was a striking contrast to the colorful and bombastic Lasorda, more Mr. Rogers than Bobby Knight.
“He’s named the manager following Tommy. That’s not easy,” O’Malley said. “And he did it in his own way.
“But things didn’t work out. Following Tommy was not an easy task.”
Critics who had preferred hitting coach Reggie Smith, Mets manager Bobby Valentine or triple A manager Mike Scioscia — all former Lasorda pupils — over Russell quietly worked to undermine him and 74 games into his second full season as manager, Russell was fired by the team’s new overlords at Fox, who also sacked general manager Fred Claire, replacing him with Lasorda.
By then a major rift had developed between Russell and his former manager, who privately questioned Russell’s performance to management and publicly questioned his qualifications to manage. As a result many pointed fingers for the firings at Lasorda, who strongly denied being involved.
Bill Russell observed umpires on behalf of MLB during Sunday's Dodgers-Giants game at Dodger Stadium. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Either way, the relationship was irrevocably broken.
Russell left with a .537 winning percentage over parts of three seasons, a better mark — albeit over a far shorter span — than the one that took Lasorda to the Hall of Fame. After firing Russell, the Dodgers never made the playoffs under Fox, with the seven-season postseason drought matching the team’s longest since the late 1960s-early 1970s.
The hard feelings have softened some with the passing of both time and Lasorda, who died in 2021. (Russell, pointedly, was not invited to the funeral; Scioscia, Valentine, Garvey and Cey were.)
“I knew him better than anybody. I was like his son,” Russell said earlier this month, sitting at a patio table near the neat two-bedroom Valencia house where he’s lived for 20 years.
“I don’t want to bad mouth him but he wanted to keep managing. He just couldn’t accept not being there. That’s just the way it was.”
The slight wounded Russell, who took off his Dodger uniform for what he thought would be the final time. O’Malley, who was in the room when Bob Graziano, the former banker Fox put in charge of the team, fired the manager, invited Russell back to the stadium later that season. But the place where he had grown from a boy to man wasn’t the same.
So he went on to work as an advisor with a team in Taiwan, spent a season as bench coach in Tampa Bay and managed in the minors for both the Rays and Giants.
None of it felt comfortable.
“I was in the Dodger organization 30 years,” he said. “To go somewhere else, it wasn’t right.”
After managing the Shreveport Swamp Dragons to a last-place finish in the Texas League in 2001, he returned to Southern California — and Dodger Stadium — as an umpire observer for Major League Baseball, a job that lets him sit behind the plate and watch games.
As if he could imagine doing anything else.
“He’s brought a different perspective because he played at the highest level and he managed,” said Matt McKendry, MLB’s vice-president of umpire operations. “But, you know, Bill loves being at the ballpark and if he wasn’t doing what he’s doing for us, I think he’d be at Dodger Stadium almost every night anyway.”
Because for Russell it’s never been a stadium. It’s home.
It’s been a steep learning curve for Mets owner Steve Cohen, just as it is for most successful businessmen who buy professional sports franchises.
Since purchasing the team from Fred Wilpon in late 2020, Cohen has tried to buy his way to a World Series title, spending $1.57 billion on players, as accounted for by Major League Baseball’s luxury-tax system. That’s on top of the $2.4 billion he paid for the franchise.
What does he have to show for it? Mostly a bunch of early postseason exits, and a team this year spending the final days of the season trying to make the playoffs after frittering away a big lead to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Even after a furious comeback to win 9-7 in Chicago last night, they’re11 games behind the NL East-winning Phillies and only a game up on the Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks for the final NL Wild Card spot. Both the Reds and Diamondbacks own the head-to-head tie breakers over the Mets.
Last season, the Mets lost in six games to the eventual World Series-winning Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series. And they had to survive a three-way tiebreaker on the last day of the regular season to clinch an NL Wild Card spot to get that far.
That’s not a huge return on investment, particularly this season.
“This [year] has been a grind for this entire group,” David Stearns, the club’s president of baseball operations, said last week at a press conference in New York.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way, but the second half of this season has echoes of the Mets’ “worst team money could buy” squad of 1992. On June 12, the Mets had the best record in MLB at 45-24 with a 5.5 game lead over the Phillies. It has been all downhill ever since.
“When you’re sitting where we were in mid-June, we would not have expected to be in this spot, no question about it,” Stearns said, stating the obvious. “We’ll have time to evaluate and diagnose and do all of that stuff [after it’s all over].”
To be sure, the Mets could recapture come of last year’s magic and still make the playoffs. But that was the antithesis of this season when they went 19-9 from Aug. 28, 2024, on to barely clinch a Wild Card spot. This year, they are 7-12 in September, losing eight in a row at one point and haven’t shown much of a pulse.
Put it all in the pot.
Cohen’s record of sustaining his managers and baseball ops leaders is a lot like firing hedge fund personnel who do not perform. No matter what it costs him, he could bring in a whole new crew.
He’s had four heads of baseball ops and three on-field managers in the five seasons he’s owned the team, which may indicate trouble for Stearns and manager Carlos Mendoza. Billy Eppler lasted three seasons as general manager. The veteran Buck Showalter was fired after the Mets hosted and lost a three-game Wild Card Series to the San Diego Padres in 2022 and failed to make the playoffs in 2023.
Mendoza, who’s overseen a club playing 35-52 ball since its June apex, has to be on very thin ice. Stearns built a team that has hit the fifth-most homers in the league at 215 but has a 17th-ranked pitching staff with a 3.99 ERA. He, too, has to be accountable.
Milwaukee, which spent about $200 million less than the Mets second-ranked payroll of $340.6 million, has a pitching staff with the second-best ERA in baseball at 3.61. The Brewers have won 15 more games than the Mets and have the best record in MLB.
Cohen has certainly thrown money at it. Under his watch, the Mets’ payroll has ranked fourth, first, first, second and second. Last offseason he outbid the New York Yankees, signing Juan Soto to a 15-year, $765 million contract that will take him through 2040 when he’s 40 years old.
After a slow start adjusting to a new team, Soto has had another MVP-caliber season with 42 homers, 104 RBIs, a .931 OPS, a 163 OPS+ and a WAR of 6.3, the last number in the Shohei Ohtani range. He swiped his 36th bag on Tuesday night—an improbable feat for a not-so-fleet-footed player.
But when the Mets broke spring training at Port St. Lucie, Fla., this past March, their five projected starters—Clay Holmes, Tylor Megill, David Peterson, Griffin Canning and Kodai Senga—were earning a combined $38.7 million this season. That’s $12.3 million less than the $51 million paid to Soto alone.
That worked fine into June until pitchers started to go down, but now only Holmes and Peterson are still healthy. The Mets are using young starters Nolan McLean and Jonah Tong to carry them down the stretch.
The Mets didn’t retool their rotation in the offseason after losing Luis Severino and Jose Quintana from last year’s team. They added free agent Holmes, the Yankees closer, and converted him to a starter. Sean Manaea opened the season on the injured list because of a right oblique strain sustained in camp and didn’t return until July 13. He failed to replicate last year’s 12-win season and has won only two games.
Even with that predicament, the Mets didn’t add any starting pitching at the July 31 trade deadline. They did add to the bullpen, acquiring relievers Ryan Helsely, Taylor Rogers and Gregory Soto. But that hasn’t staunched a meltdown of late and 27 blown saves. Helsley, the former St. Louis Cardinals All-Star closer, has been awful with an 8.47 ERA in 20 appearances. Should Stearns have been even more proactive?
“If I knew how our season was going to play out? Absolutely,” Stearns said.
Those are the decisions Stearns is paid to make. As Cohen continues to navigate his own learning curve, you can bet the owner is evaluating.
It looked as if Tuesday night's pivotal game against the Cubs was going to get away from the Mets after David Peterson's poor start, but the bullpen buckled down and allowed New York to complete the comeback win.
The Mets used six relievers, including Edwin Diaz for a six-out save, to lock down a 9-7 win that vaulted the team back into a playoff berth.
"Huge," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of his bullpen after the win. "Starting with [Huascar] Brazoban and to be able to get us through the fifth. Then you start matching up. [Ryne] Stanek was good, [Gregory] Soto was good. [Tyler] Rogers came in, walked a guy ended up scoring with a single, and then going up for a second up… and then [Brooks] Raley getting the lefty with two guys on and then Sugar with two innings there, shutting it down. Huge."
Peterson could only get four outs before Mendoza had to pull his starter. Although the southpaw only tossed 42 pitches, with a playoff spot on the line with just six games remaining, Mendoza was playing Tuesday like it was the last day of the season. He said so himself after the win, stating that he can't think about tomorrow's game and that he is only dealing with the current game. He managed like that, being aggressive with a rested bullpen and it paid off.
The bullpen allowed just one unearned run heading into the fifth when the Mets' offense came alive for five to tie the game at 6-6. Although the bullpen gave back the lead after the Mets scored the go-ahead run in the sixth, the relievers gave the team enough for Francisco Alvarez to hit his go-ahead homer in the eighth.
Once the Mets had the lead, Mendoza was sticking with his closer.
"Where we’re at now, we’re gonna to continue to push those guys," Mendoza said. "I just thought, tie ballgame, top of the order coming up for them, we had our guys coming up for the ninth, I needed to give our offense another chance to score runs. I’m glad Alvy hit that two-run homer there. I start with Diaz, once he was pitch efficient, I checked with him, he’s like “let’s go” and I gave it to him."
Diaz said they approached him before the game that he may pitch in the eighth inning if needed, and once he got through his first frame and Alvarez hit the home run, the Mets closer was ready to close it out.
"I was really fired up. After seeing that homer from Alvy, it was big," Diaz said after the game. "I came out, shut it down and then came on in the ninth to get the last three outs quick. It was pretty fun. It was great. It was a battle, back and forth… It was a really great game for both teams."
"At times, it’s been a struggle for those guys," Mendoza said of his bullpen. "But we believe in them."
Peterson was probably happiest with the bullpen's performance on Tuesday. After he couldn't get out of the second, the bullpen picked him up in a big way and the 30-year-old was grateful.
"Amazing team win – can’t say enough about the bullpen, they stepped up big and I don’t have enough words to show my appreciation for what they did," Peterson said. "They picked me up big time, the offense picked it up and kept us in the game… this is the team that we have and we’re gonna stick together and guys are gonna pick each other up and I’m extremely grateful and proud to be a part of this group."
Tuesday's win puts the Mets one game ahead of the Reds, who lost earlier in the evening, for the third NL wild card spot. With five games to go, the Mets will continue to lean on their bullpen as they try and navigate the end of the regular season with question marks in their rotation. But with Diaz always looming at the end of games, the Mets have a shot to end the season on a high note.
"We just gotta finish strong and see what happens on the last day of the season," Diaz said. "Just get outs. I think every guy in the bullpen knows what he has to do to get outs. Today we saw it, the bullpen did a really good job. From Brazoban to me, we did a really good job staying in the game and at the end we got the win. Tomorrow we got a game with the same mentality – when they give us the ball, just go out there and compete, get outs and try to win the game."
David Peterson on his outing tonight vs. the Cubs:
"Weird one but a tough one. Amazing team win. Can't say enough about the bullpen, they stepped up big. I don't have enough words to show my appreciation for what they did. They picked me up big time" pic.twitter.com/RzntuFjlju
Arizona's Tim Tawa celebrates after scoring the walk-off run to beat the Dodgers. (Chris Coduto / Getty Images)
Shohei Ohtani entered uncharted territory in his final pitching start of the regular season, shutting out the Arizona Diamondbacks over a season-high six innings in the Dodgers’ 5-4 walk-off loss Tuesday night.
The question now, with the start of the playoffs looming: When will the two-way star toe the rubber next?
After a season spent mostly in rehab mode as a pitcher, building his workload inning by inning as he slowly worked his way back from a second Tommy John surgery, Ohtani has checked every box in his recovery and looks primed for what will be his first career postseason pitching outing.
On Tuesday, his fastball was elite once again, topping out at 101.2 mph and accounting for five of his eight strikeouts. The rest of his seven-pitch mix kept the wild-card-seeking Diamondbacks off balance, resulting in just five hits (all singles) and no walks.
Most of all, the right-hander was also efficient, needing only 91 throws to work past the fifth inning for the first time this year.
“Over the last three or four starts, there's been a ramp-up of intensity and performance,” manager Dave Roberts said of Ohtani, who has given up one run in 19 ⅓ innings over his last four outings to finish the regular season with a 2.87 ERA in 15 starts.
“I think that was his plan.”
Now it's up to the team to make a plan for its postseason pitching rotation and figure out exactly where Ohtani fits within it.
Roberts has virtually guaranteed that the reigning National League MVP will be used as a starter in next week’s best-of-three wild card round (which the Dodgers are all but assured of playing in, even if they sew up an NL West division title that has a magic number of three.
And as things stand, Ohtani would be lined up to go in Game 1, after the team moved his weekly pitching schedule this month to have him start on Tuesdays. Coincidentally or not, Game 1 of the wild-card round would be next Tuesday.
The reasons for opening that series with Ohtani on the mound are obvious — from his electric stuff, to his penchant for performing in big moments, to ensuring he does pitch in a series that could end in only two games.
However, Roberts insisted team officials “don't know yet” how their postseason rotation will be ordered. Between the ever-present concerns about managing Ohtani’s two-way workload, and the team’s other wealth of starting options in what has been a resurgent rotation over the last month, there’s debate to be had about how to best maximize their $700-million superstar.
The Dodgers could, for instance, opt to start the wild-card series with Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Games 1 and 2, and save Ohtani for a potential Game 3. The benefit there: Ohtani could focus solely on his duties as designated hitter the first two games, and wouldn’t be required to play the day immediately after a pitching start (he is hitting only .138 in such games this season, and the Dodgers have made an effort to get him starts immediately before off days in recent months).
Because Ohtani isn’t as built-up as the team’s other starters, delaying his start could also ease the burden early in the series on a shaky bullpen, which coughed up a 4-0 lead Tuesday after rookies Jack Dreyer and Edgardo Henriquez combined to surrender three runs in the seventh, and closer Tanner Scott blew his 10th save in a two-run ninth punctuated by Geraldo Perdomo’s walk-off single.
The Diamondbacks' Jorge Barros tied it 4-4 with a sacrifice fly before Perdomo's two-out heroics off Scott, who hit the leadoff batter, issued a walk and gave up a sacrifice bunt to set up Arizona's comeback.
“I think it just kind of gives us some options,” Roberts said of having Ohtani potentially lined up for a Game 1 start. “But the likelihood of him starting a playoff game in that first series is very high."
Whenever Ohtani takes the mound again, the Dodgers are hopeful that concerns about his pitching stamina will be somewhat assuaged.
Up until this week, the team had a hard cap of five innings for whenever Ohtani took the mound. For the sake of his health, they were reluctant to waver from it, even when Ohtani had a no-hitter through five his last time out, against the Philadelphia Phillies.
Prior to Tuesday’s series-opener at Chase Field, however, Roberts said that “if all goes well,” Ohtani would pitch into the sixth inning and that his leash could be further loosened in October after recent conversations between the player and club.
“I feel really good with the conversation I had with Shohei about how today could potentially play out,” Roberts said pregame. “This is me talking to the training staff, talking to Shohei, feeling like we've got a really good base now.”
Once the sixth arrived Tuesday night, Ohtani made Roberts’ decision easy. He had yielded just three hits to that point (one of them, a comebacker that got him in the palm of his glove in the third). The Dodgers had a comfortable early lead, after Teoscar Hernández homered in the second and belted a two-run, two-out triple in the top of the sixth (catcher Ben Rortvedt added a run with his first Dodgers homer in the seventh).
Five batters later, Ohtani’s night was done, the right-hander stranding a pair of sixth-inning singles by getting Gabriel Moreno to line out to center and retire the side.
The next time he takes the mound, it will be his first time pitching in a postseason setting. Whether it comes in Game 1, or later in the best-of-three wild card series, will now be up for the team to decide.
Bullpen reinforcements
The Dodgers have at least one bullpen reinforcement coming in this series, with rookie right-hander Roki Sasaki set to be activated on Wednesday in his long-awaited return from a shoulder injury.
However, the status of trade deadline acquisition Brock Stewart remains in question. Though Stewart completed a recent minor-league rehab stint, and was with the team in Arizona on Tuesday, Roberts said the club is still “making sure he feels good” after missing the last six weeks with a shoulder injury. It is unclear if he will be activated this week, as originally expected.
“[We’re] making sure he's put in a position to feel good if he is activated,” Roberts said. “That's no guarantee … We'll know more tomorrow."
Before Tuesday’s game, Stewart threw an extended flat-ground session in front of a team trainer and general manager Brandon Gomes. The three talked for several minutes once Stewart’s session was complete.
Every game matters for the Mets in the final week of the regular season, and that means tough decisions are going to have to be made, including who will start games down the stretch.
David Peterson was the Mets' best pitcher in the first half of the season, but has struggled mightily of late, including Tuesday against the Cubs, where the southpaw had one of the worst starts of his year. Peterson got just four outs, allowing five runs on five hits and two walks, but the Mets made a furious comeback to win 9-7.
The win catapulted them back into a playoff position and gave the Mets control of their destiny. However, Peterson's night almost sank those chances.
"Tough night for him, not able to fill the strike zone the way we wanted to, the way he wanted to," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of Peterson's start. "Three-ball counts, got behind hitters and then when he came in, they made contact that found holes. the walks. Again, we’re going to need this guy. I know it’s been a struggle; it wasn’t a good one today, but our job is to continue to support him and he’s going to play a big role here in the next few days. Counting on him. He’s got to flush this one, and be ready for whenever we give him the ball again."
Over his last seven starts, including Tuesday, Peterson has pitched to an 8.07 ERA, allowing at least three runs in each of his last five starts. Those performances have now put Peterson's spot in the rotation in jeopardy. Peterson is slated to pitch Sunday in the regular season finale in Miami, but when Mendoza was asked about whether the lefty will come out of the bullpen instead, the skipper said it's a possibility.
"Where we’re at nowadays, we got to take it one game at a time," he said. "Maybe he starts a game, but we have to get there."
Peterson tossed just 42 pitches before Mendoza pulled him so he could be used out of the bullpen over the weekend, and Peterson does have experience as a reliever. When Peterson was asked if he's concerned about his role on the team, the 30-year-old remained focused on what's best for the team.
“I’m not concerned at all," he said. "We gotta win every game possible and I will do everything that I can to help this team win ballgames.”
Mendoza has had to juggle starters and the bullpen a lot of late. He's already used Sean Manaea and Clay Holmes out of the bullpen and may have to do the same for Peterson. The Mets have already announced Jonah Tong and Nolan McLean will finish up the series in Chicago. Brandon Sproat will pitch a game in Miami, but the probables for the other two games are still up in the air.
But the second-year manager remains confident in his pitchers, including Manaea and Peterson, in whatever role he needs them to fill.
"We’re going to get the best version of themselves pretty soon," Mendoza said. "It’s all hands on deck when you talk about who is going to start, who is going to come out of the bullpen. How can we get 27 outs and give us a chance to win a baseball game? I know those guys will step up; it’s been hard for them, but I wouldn’t be surprised if those guys get us big outs for us pretty soon."
NEW YORK — José Caballero's RBI single with two out in the ninth inning scored Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees rallied to beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 Tuesday night, securing their eighth playoff appearance in nine seasons.
With the win, the Yankees (89-68) moved within a game of AL East-leading Toronto (90-67) and reached the postseason for the 60th time in team history. It was New York's second victory in 61 games when trailing through eight innings.
Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells opened the ninth inning with singles off Brandon Eisert (3-7). After Trent Grisham bounced into a double play, Judge drew his second intentional walk of the game. Cody Bellinger followed with a walk and Volpe scored on a wild pitch by Eisert. Caballero then punctuated a nine-pitch at-bat against Steven Wilson by looping a single that dropped in front of center fielder Brooks Baldwin as Judge scored the winning run.
Caballero was mobbed at first base by his teammates and doused with water by Paul Goldschmidt and Austin Wells as he conducted his postgame interview.
Colson Montgomery hit a two-run homer in the sixth off Luis Gil to give the White Sox a 2-1 lead.
New York faltered in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings before Caballero delivered his biggest hit as a Yankee.
Gil, auditioning for a spot in New York’s rotation, allowed two runs and four hits in six innings.
Austin Wells had an RBI double in the second for the Yankees, who are 20-8 in their past 28 games.
Chicago rookie Shane Smith allowed one run and five hits in five innings. He walked four and tied a career high with eight strikeouts.
Luke Weaver (4-4) stranded a Chicago runner in the ninth before the Yankees rallied in the bottom half of the inning.
Judge drew his 33rd and 34th intentional walks, extending his team record.
New York LHP Max Fried (18-5, 2.92 ERA) starts on Wednesday. The White Sox have not named a starter,
The Mets beat the Chicago Cubs in a back-and-forth slugfest at Wrigley Field on Tuesday night, winning by a score of 9-7 and ascending back into the playoff picture.
Here are the takeaways...
-It was a game of momentum swings all night between the two ball clubs and New York had the first punch after Francisco Lindor led off the game with a solo shot on just the second pitch to give the Mets an instant 1-0 lead. The home run was Lindor's 10th leadoff blast of the season and 29th overall, putting him one shy of his second 30/30 season for New York, where he would join Juan Soto and become just the third pair of teammates to accomplish the feat in the same year.
-The momentum quickly shifted in the bottom half of the inning after a crucial misplay by Soto cost David Peterson and the Mets two runs. With runners on second and third and two outs after a leadoff single, stolen base, walk and another stolen base, Peterson got Carlos Santana to lift one to right field that had plenty of air underneath it and looked like it would end the inning. However, Soto kept drifting back and was ultimately unable to catch it, which allowed Chicago to take the lead on what was ruled a double that had a 17 percent hit probability, per Statcast.
-After his defense let him down in the first, Peterson had no one to blame but himself in the second, where he allowed another three runs on three hits and a walk to put his team in a 5-1 hole. With each game of such importance this week, manager Carlos Mendoza pulled his lefty after 1.1 innings to try and keep New York within distance.
Meanwhile, Peterson's struggles have boiled over (9.72 ERA this month after a 6.68 ERA in August) and his role on the team moving forward has to be questioned.
-Jeff McNeil had a devil of a time in the fourth inning. The second baseman recorded two throwing errors on consecutive batters, which brought home another run for the Cubs to give them a five-run lead.
-When all looked lost, the Mets' season may have been saved, at least temporarily, by a Dansby Swanson error in the fifth inning. With a runner on first base and one out, Francisco Alvarez grounded one to shortstop that looked like an easy, inning-ending double play. But the ball went over the glove of Swanson, which put runners on second and third and gave New York a huge chance to capitalize with the top of the lineup coming up.
Lindor drove in a run with a groundout before Soto walked to bring up Pete Alonso, who wasted no time and cracked the first pitch he saw high off the opposite field wall, just barely missing a three-run homer. The long single did make it 6-3 and kept the line moving for Brandon Nimmo, who ignited his team by launching that three-run shot after all and tying the game. Nimmo's clutch home run was his career-high 25th of the year and he also set a career-high in RBI (91).
All five runs the Mets scored in the fifth were unearned, thanks to Swanson's error.
-Having come all the way back to tie it, New York took the lead in the sixth on a two-out RBI single by Lindor after McNeil started the two-out rally with a double followed by a walk to Alvarez. Lindor finished 2-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored and now has an 11-game hitting streak as he looks to guide the Mets back to the playoffs.
-The momentum swung back in the Cubs' favor in the bottom half of the inning, much like it did for New York in the top half: with a two-out rally. Nico Hoerner started it with a single off Gregory Soto, which brought in Tyler Roger,s who walked Ian Happ. Seiya Suzuki took advantage and swung at the first pitch for a game-tying single.
-Unwavering throughout the entire game, the Mets went back in front in the eighth. Brett Baty's single started things off, but it looked like it would be another disappointing inning after Starling Marte popped up a bunt attempt and Pete Crow-Armstrong made a diving catch on McNeil's bloop to center field.
However, Alvarez called game with a monster two-run blast to put New York ahead, 9-7.
-In desperate need of this win after the Reds lost to the Pirates earlier, the Mets went to Edwin Diaz for a six-out save and he answered the call about as well as anybody could have hoped. The closer retired all six batters he faced and struck out five of them, including striking out the side to end the game and put New York back in the playoff picture for the time being.
Game MVP: Francisco Alvarez
You could go a lot of different ways here, but Alvarez's home run was the game-winner, and potentially season-saver, that New York had been looking for all season.
After completing their comeback against the Chicago White Sox, 3-2, on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, New York has stamped its place into the 2025 MLB postseason. While the Yankees are guaranteed at least a wild card spot, they still have eyes on the division. Entering play Tuesday, the Yankees were 2.0 games behind the Blue Jays for the AL East crown before Toronto fell to the Red Sox, 4-1, moments after New York's win.
The Yankees will now enter play on Wednesday just 1.0 game behind Toronto.
Toronto holds the tiebreaker against the Yankees, so if both teams end the season with the same record, the Blue Jays will win the division.
The Yankees finish the regular season at home, with two more against the White Sox before hosting the Orioles for a three-game set this weekend. The Blue Jays play two more against the Red Sox in Toronto before welcoming the Rays for three this weekend.
Last season, the Yankees won the AL East en route to an American League crown before losing to the Dodgers in the World Series. With a new-look team, manager Aaron Boone and reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge hope to make it back to the Fall Classic and this time capture their first championship since 2009.
The Yankees clinched a playoff berth after Jose Caballero's walk-off single completed the ninth-inning comeback as New York defeated the White Sox, 3-2, on Tuesday night.
The Yankees lineup was held in check for the majority of the game, but the bats came alive in the ninth inning. Anthony Volpe led off with a single before Austin Wells followed with a single of his own. Trent Grisham hit a liner up the middle, but the White Sox were able to turn two. The White Sox intentionally walked Aaron Judge for the second time to give Cody Bellinger a chance to at least tie the game. Chicago left-hander Brandon Eistert walked Bellinger, but the final pitch was thrown to the backstop, allowing Volpe to score and tie the game.
Caballero battled to hit a bloop single on the ninth pitch of the at-bat to score Judge.
Here are the takeaways...
-The Yankees got the scoring started in the second after a Jazz Chisholm Jr. walk, stolen base, and an Anthony Volpe single put runners on the corners with one out for Austin Wells. The Yankees' backstop hit a double down the right field line to plate Jazz and put the Yankees in front. But that's all they would be able to get off of starter Shane Smith.
The White Sox's lone All-Star this season allowed one run on five hits and four walks but struck out eight batters across his five innings.
-The offense had trouble getting to the White Sox bullpen until the eighth, when Ben Rice hit a one-out single and was replaced byCaballero. Giancarlo Stanton nearly missed a two-run homer, but it was caught at the warning track. Chisholm followed with a screaming single in the corner that put runners on the corners with two outs for Amed Rosario. After a wild pitch allowed Jazz to get to second, Rosario stared at strike three to end the threat.
-Luis Gil got off to a tough start, tossing 27 pitches in a scoreless firs after he pitched to full counts to all four batters faced. But he would settle down, retiring seven straight batters at one point. But things changed in the sixth whenGrisham andJudge had some miscommunication in the outfield that allowed a one-out hit. Colson Montgomery followed by smashing a two-run shot over the right field wall to give Chicago the 2-1 lead. It was the one blemish on Gil's ledger that allowed just two runs in his six innings of work.
Gil allowed two runs on four hits and two walks while striking out just three batters in his six innings (89 pitches/57 strikes) of work.
-The Yankees bullpen did its job, keeping the score close in hopes of a comeback that would eventually come. Here's how the 'pen did on Tuesday:
Fernando Cruz: 1 IP, 1 H
Tim Hill: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 K
Luke Weaver: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 K
-After his big game in the series finale in Baltimore, Rice continued his hot hitting, going 3-for-4 with a double.
Matt Shaw is in his rookie season with the Cubs.Photograph: Matt Dirksen/Getty Images
Chicago Cubs third baseman Matt Shaw said he has no regrets after missing a game with playoff implications to attend a memorial for Charlie Kirk.
Shaw missed the Cubs’ game at the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday to go to the memorial for the rightwing activist, which took place in Arizona. The Cubs lost the game 1-0. They are aiming to secure the top wildcard slot in the National League, which would give them home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Shaw’s absence was also a boost for the Reds, who are in a battle with the New York Mets and Arizona Diamondbacks for the final wildcard spot in the NL.
Shaw was asked about his decision on Tuesday, before the Cubs’ game with the Mets. Kirk’s widow, Erika, invited Shaw to the memorial and the infielder said he felt it was his duty to attend. Kirk was from the Chicago area and got to know Shaw when they lived in the same apartment complex in Arizona. Shaw said the pair bonded over their Christian faith.
“My connection with Charlie was through our faith,’’ Shaw said. “And that’s something that drives me every day, the reason why I’m able to do what I do every day, and that’s something I’m extremely thankful for. I know without my faith and without the many blessings I’ve been given in my life that I wouldn’t be here, be able to talk to you guys, able to help this team eventually go and win championships. That’s something I feel really, really blessed about, so whatever backlash comes is OK.”
The Cubs were not allowed to bring in a replacement to their roster for Shaw as he was ineligible for the bereavement list, which is reserved for players who have lost family members. The rookie said he had talked to his teammates and manager before making the decision to attend.
“For him to go and be a part of a celebration of life and grieve, from a human level, I understand it,” Chicago’s veteran outfielder Ian Happ told the Chicago Sun-Times. “We’re baseball players, and that takes up a ton of our life, but there’s a huge human element to this game, and it’s really hard to lose a friend and really hard to lose someone you’re close to.”
The Mets’ popular play-by-play announcer, Gary Cohen, gave his thoughts on the SNY broadcast for Tuesday’s game.
“I don’t want to talk about any of the politics of it, but the thought of leaving your team in the middle of a [wildcard] race for any reason other than a family emergency, really strikes me as weird,” said Cohen.
The Cubs selected Shaw with the 13th overall pick in the 2023 MLB draft. He is batting .224 in his rookie season with 12 home runs. He was back in the Cubs lineup to face the Mets on Tuesday but his team gave up a 6-1 lead in a 9-7 defeat.
