CHICAGO, IL - SEPTEMBER 26: Hunter Goodman #15 of the Colorado Rockies celebrates after hitting a home run in the third inning during the game between the Colorado Rockies and the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field on Saturday, September 26, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Lawrence Brown/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Good morning!
For fans of teams that missed the playoffs, this week is the time for reviewing the 2026 season, a time to look to the future outlook of each organization and dream of what steps each team could take to one day eventually play October baseball again.
Over the course of the week, almost every Rockies-specific news site has published their own form of 2026 review or offseason preview piece. There are plenty of opinions on what the Rockies need to do moving forward, and you have the opportunity to read them all!
If you’d rather stay connected to the present, however, playoff baseball has begun! Outside the Rockies-specific media ecosystem, analysis of the Wild Card round has begun. Even if the Rockies aren’t a part of the field again this year, there’s nothing better than engrossing yourself in the theater of playoff baseball.
Rockies News & Links
Questions facing the Colorado Rockies after fourth 100-loss season | Mile High Sports — As the Rockies finish up 2026 and begin looking to the 2027 season, Drew Creasman lays out the major questions the franchise will need to answer moving forward. Creasman goes over everything from the uncertainty the new ownership rumors have brought to what it will take for fans to come back to the ballpark. It’s a useful initial primer on the state of the franchise.
Rockies 2026 postmortem: Until Colorado figures out starting pitching, losing will continue | The Denver Post ($) — In Kyle Newman’s look forward at the current state of the team, he identifies pitching as the key component that the team will need to focus it’s efforts on improving. Credit is given to the start of a productive lineup that began forming in 2026 but makes it clear that that will not be enough on its own to turn the organization’s fortunes around.
How Rockies reach MLB playoffs in not-so-distant future | Kevin’s take | The Devner Gazette ($) — Kevin Henry has a more optimistic view of the Rockies current outlook than some. Henry compares where the Rockies are with how the Chicago White Sox were able to reach the playoffs just two seasons after a historic 121 loss season in 2024 and sees a potential blueprint for the Rockies to follow. Even with the precedent of possibility having been set, Henry acknowledges the challenges ahead in terms of improving the teams pitching staff to be playoff caliber.
The 2027 Free Agent Tracker Is Here! | Fangraphs — While the playoffs are underway for the best teams, the rest of the league is able to start looking ahead to the possibilities for next season. Every year Jason Martinez and the team over at Fangraphs maintain an incredibly useful reference tool showcasing all available free agents. Take a look and start dreaming of next year.
How 2026 MLB Playoff Rosters Were Built | Baseball America ($) — Now that the playoff field is set, J.J. Cooper does a comparison of how the players on each roster were acquired by their organization. It’s a fun piece that shows winning teams can be constructed in all sorts of different ways without any specific avenue of player acquisition being the prevailing best path.
Astros players blast their own fans for booing, not showing up to playoff loss | The Athletic ($) — The Houston Astros managed to just barely earn a trip to the playoffs with a .500 record which happened to be good enough to win the American League West. Their recent history of dominance had set their fans up to have higher expectations and so began booing the team during their game one loss to the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday. The Astros players were not pleased with this believing that they’d just played their hearts out attempting to get to where they were. A fascinating situation that Chandler Rome breaks down with a multitude of quotes from those involved.
Everybody Except the Yankees Is Doing Wild Card Roster Construction Wrong | Fangraphs — The optimal way to construct a roster is a complicated topic with a multitude of factors to consider. Michael Baumann argues that the way the New York Yankees have chosen to trim their pitching staff heading into the Wild Card round is not only different from the rest of the field but an advantage based on the dynamics of a short series.
Okay. The appearance of San Diego native Joe Musgrove in the ninth inning, to the screams of a chanting crowd, was pretty cool.
And that was the only enjoyable part of Game 1 of the Wild Card game versus the Padres. “Enjoyable” because by that point, Cub fans that were still watching were like any other neutral observers.
The gameplan was obvious for the Padres: Swing at everything that Matthew Boyd threw. Ten of Boyd’s first 11 pitches were swung at, very productively. They were just looking for the right changeup to flutter by. From the mound, the Padres plan was pound, pound, pound sweepers at the Cub hitters.
The result: Two first-inning home runs, an RBI-double and a third home run for a 4-0 Cub deficit. Then to start the fifth inning, unexpectedly, Javier Assad put himself in an immediate jam, loading the bases with two outs. Ryan Rolison allowed those three inherited runners to score. At 7-0 and still needing the third out, the game was beyond being over.
I hate Sunday Morning Quarterbacking, but at the moment the second home run was hit, it occurred to me, “Craig Counsell went with the pitcher he knew best, not necessarily the best pitcher to put out there.” I’m sure that he would vehemently deny this, and I could be as far off as possible, but it was a thought I had.
Michael King was extremely effective with his sweeper early, then with his mix of pitches, went into the seventh inning without allowing a hit. It was an impressive performance.
The only possible offensive leader was Nico Hoerner. He beat out a infield single to end the no-hit bid in the seventh, then singled to load the bases in the ninth. The Cubs managed three hits in the game and were given four walks, but struck out 11 times.
Since this will be posted after Game 2, there’s not much for me to say in a rah-rah fashion. I just hope I have two Cubs wins to write about for Saturday’s article.
I appreciate your reading.
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Randy Holt (North Side Baseball): Chicago Cubs’ Game 1 Loss Revealed the Playbook Against Their Top Hitters. “The Cubs found themselves losing just about everywhere in the box score against the Padres in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series. Worse, the Padres emerged with a clear plan to stifle the team’s top two hitters—unless the duo can adjust right away.”
Vinnie Duber (Chicago Sun-Times): Facing elimination, Cubs starting playoff-tested Kevin Gausman in Game 2 vs. Padres. “With their season on the line, the Cubs will turn to the headlining piece of their trade-deadline haul, giving the ball to Gausman, who made six playoff appearances a year ago, including two in the World Series.”
William Rory Gallagher (2 March 1948 – 14 June 1995) was an Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. Regarded as “Ireland’s first rock star”, he is known for his virtuosic style of guitar playing and live performances. He has sometimes been referred to as “the greatest guitarist you’ve never heard of”.
Gallagher gained international recognition in the late 1960s as the frontman and lead guitarist of the blues rock power trio Taste. Following the band’s break-up in 1970, he launched a solo career and was voted Guitarist of the Year by Melody Maker magazine in 1972. Gallagher played over 2,000 concerts worldwide throughout his career, including many in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. He had global record sales exceeding 30 million.
During the 1980s, Gallagher continued to tour and record new music, but his popularity declined due to shifting trends in the music industry. His health also began to deteriorate, resulting in a liver transplant in March 1995 at King’s College Hospital in London. Following the operation, he contracted a staphylococcal infection (MRSA) and died three months later at the age of 47.
Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series.
SPRINGFIELD, MO - APRIL 08: Liam Doyle #19 of the Springfield Cardinals pitches during the game between the Tulsa Drillers and the Springfield Cardinals at Hammons Field on Wednesday, April 8, 2026 in Springfield, Missouri. (Photo by Kaylee Vaughan/Minor League Baseball via Getty Images)
Sadly, we have reached the last minor league update of the 2026 season. These are a bit time-consuming, so I suppose it’s not that sad for me, but it’s just another reminder that there’s no more baseball to follow. Technically, the AFL is there, but it doesn’t scratch the same itch. At least this year there’s some interesting prospects to follow.
Cijntje played his first game at Memphis on July 19th and a day later was my first half update for pitchers. He had better stats at Memphis than Springfield, so score one for the scouting department on knowing when to promote him.
We all knew he had good AAA stats when the Cardinals decided to promote him to the big leagues. So instead of the full season stats, why not share how he did in September in response to getting demoted? Better than Nolan Gorman, that’s for sure.
Tink Hence, RHP – 24 (#10 VEB prospect)
Didn’t pitch after July 19th, was very bad when he did pitch. Had surgery of some sort. Not even Jeff Jones knew what surgery he had, so your guess is as good as mine.
Ixan Henderson, LHP – 24 (#16 VEB prospect)
Only ended up pitching in one game at Memphis after a monthlong rehab process. He walked four and struck out none, although he didn’t allow a run. He was shut down after that one start however.
Once again, his Springfield stats predated my halftime update, so I don’t feel the need to share those stats as well. It was only a 106 wRC+, but did come with a somewhat low BABIP. He also got hurt in his last game at AA, missed some time, played rehab games in the lower levels and when he was deemed ready, was sent to AAA.
At some point, I’m sure I’ll cover a player who wasn’t promoted midseason. Easier on me not to have to transcribe stats for two different levels though. He didn’t really pitch better in Memphis, but it would be accurate to say he didn’t miss a step.
This 17th rounder adapted fairly well to his midseason promotion to Memphis – of course – with the exception of a really high BABIP. Whether unlucky or not, his pro career started in 2025, so hard to complain about a 17th rounder with mediocre stats in AAA.
Ledbetter’s season started extremely slow, but he recovered in the 2nd half. His xwOBA was just .299 (actual wOBA .343), so safe to say the batted ball metrics aren’t supportive of him.
I will repeat it is amazing how long it took the Cardinals to send down Fernandez last season, but once they did, he became persona non grata. He was okay in Memphis, better in St. Louis, but I never really got the impression the Cardinals ever wanted to use him.
Sandro Santana, LHP – 21 (Traded in a package for Lars Nootbaar)
Well, the Mason Molina part of the Phil Maton trade is working out really well at least. Not so much this part of the trade. But it was for 2 months of Maton so feels like found money either way.
Does not include his two postseason appearances. Pitched 3.2 IP with 8 Ks and 5 BBs with one earned run and then later 5 IP with 6 Ks and 2 BBs and no earned runs. Kind of surprised, even with the playoff innings, that he didn’t throw more innings. Followed up a 95.2 IP college season with 111.2 IP.
I should have posted his stats in the last update, because he only actually pitched in one game in Springfield. It was a very good 4 inning appearance with seven strikeouts and one walk and no runs allowed.
Franklin also threw 6.1 IP in the playoffs with 9 strikeouts and one walk. I do not know why they don’t just include playoff stats in their overall stats, I get it for the majors, but not the minors.
He didn’t really pitch better in Springfield – he wasn’t great in his two postseason starts, although he did strike out 7 in one of them. But he certainly pitched well overall as a 19-year-old in AA, which is crazy.
Daniel Eagen, RHP – 23 (Traded in a package for Lars Nootbaar)
Eagen also pitched 9 innings with 12 strikeouts, 2 walks, and 2 earned runs in the playoffs. Pitched noticeably better overall in his five starts (and seven appearances) as a Cardinal.
I’m in a pickle, because I can’t say anything in the vicinity of negativity in these posts, so I will just say factually speaking, he had a 92 wRC+ in High A and his 3.9 BB% would not rank very highly on the MLB leaderboards.
Josiah Ragsdale, OF – 22 (traded in a package for Dustin May)
In the first half, he had a near identical hitting line in High A, but he actually had a much better BABIP than in Springfield. Because he struck out less and had more power in AA.
He made 14 starts in High A, which featured a much higher strikeout rate, but also a higher walk rate. Hunter Dobbins and Fajardo were also in the trade for Contreras, so think of Aita as a bonus.
Honeyman seems to have gotten injured on July 21st, played in a week’s worth of rehab games a Low A a month later, appeared in precisely one game at Springfield at the beginning of September and then missed the rest of the season.
I should have listed him in the lower level section, but he did actually get promoted to AA for the last 10 games of the year (and the playoffs). He must have been on a hot streak, because he absolutely killed it in Springfield with three homers in 10 games for a 177 wRC+.
He rose from the dead in High A, delivering unexpected power, so power to him for being average at AA. He also seems quite good defensively from the few games I watched.
He spent the first half of the season in High A and all you need to know is that he wasn’t really that good – he had a considerably lower strikeout rate. Hopefully, something clicked.
He proved too good for High A almost immediately, but AA proved to be more of a challenge. In the context of the run environment, these are closer to mediocre numbers than they might appear.
SARASOTA, FLORIDA - MARCH 20, 2026: Joseph Dzierwa #67 of the Baltimore Orioles pitches during the seventh inning of a Spring Breakout game against the Boston Red Sox at Ed Smith Stadium on March 20, 2026 in Sarasota, Florida. (Photo by Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images
Disappointment is the usual thing for Orioles fans when it comes to starting pitching prospects. This long predates Mike Elias’s tenure as general manager of the team, or even his predecessor Dan Duquette. Sometimes people come up with names for groups of them like the much-ballyhooed “cavalry” of Dave Trembley’s time. Call them what you will, so frequently these guys have just ended up getting hurt or not being as good as evaluators thought, or some of both.
I mention all of this before saying one word about Joseph Dzierwa because all of that was on my mind before we were all introduced to him by the Orioles bringing him into some spring training games early this year. It’s true that Dzierwa is the highest-drafted pitcher taken by Elias yet, a second-round pick from the 2025 draft taken out of Michigan State, and that was worth noting all on its own. Yet at times in recent years it has seemed like as soon as people take notice of an unheralded Orioles starting pitching prospect, he implodes. This happened last year to Keeler Morfe, and this year to Esteban Mejia.
After impressing in those spring training games, Dzierwa smoothly carried that over into the regular season. The team assigned him straight to High-A Frederick for his first real pro action; he didn’t debut after being drafted last season, an increasingly-common decision teams make with their pitchers.
Within about two games, it was clear that I was going to have to quickly absorb how to spell and pronounce Dzierwa to do my job of writing and talking about the Orioles. (Per the Keys media guide, the pronunciation is JER-va.) Dzierwa introduced himself to the minor league world by striking out nine batters over a six inning start – with only 79 pitches thrown! – against Texas’s High-A affiliate. He went seven innings the next time out, and by the middle of May, he’d recorded three different games where he struck out nine opposing batters.
It wasn’t just the strikeouts. People weren’t doing much of anything when facing Dzierwa. He walked one or fewer batters in seven of his eight starts with Frederick, and he was sitting on a 2.21 ERA and 0.811 WHIP when the Orioles decided it was time to challenge Dzierwa with Double-A. That’s a decently aggressive move for a guy who just got drafted last year. Dzierwa went on to pitch 18 games for Chesapeake after that promotion and he posted a nearly-as-good 2.29 ERA at that higher level.
Under the hood, this was a bit less impressive than the High-A totals. While still striking out more than a batter per inning, Dzierwa’s strikeout rate did decline against more advanced hitters, and the batting average of his opponents improved. Still, these were great results, so much so that I’m surprised the Orioles left him at Double-A rather than giving him a few Triple-A starts to close out his season.
Dzierwa was a deserving selection to the All-Star Futures Game roster for the 2026 season. Future Orioles acquisition Anthony Eyanson was one of Dzierwa’s teammates for that game. They were reunited at Chesapeake for Eyanson’s final six starts of the season.
Prospect outlets took notice of the 6’8” lefty as the season went along, some more than others. The end-of-season MLB Pipeline prospect list has Dzierwa checking in at #86, the third-highest of five Orioles on that outlet’s top 100. The report sounds nice:
Dzierwa showed real ability to limit walks in college and can pinpoint his entire arsenal wherever he wants, pounding the strike zone and also working the edges well. … His foundation of size, two potentially plus pitches and command gives him one of the highest floors in the Orioles system as an almost surefire starter, with the development of a reliable breaking pitch determining whether that’s in the middle or the back-end of a big league rotation.
I am taking note that even an often-optimistic outlet like the MLB-owned Pipeline is not projecting out from Dzierwa’s minor league numbers that this is a future ace in the making. When you start to hear about a “high floor” that probably also doesn’t mean “high ceiling,” and in this case, Dzierwa doesn’t have the kind of fastball velocity that’s just going to blow away hitters, nor are they confident in his breaking arsenal enabling him to get such elite results against higher-end hitters.
This assessment is shared across other reports. At FanGraphs, where Dzierwa was the #12 player on their preseason-but-posted-in-May list, the main thing they take from him is that he is a lefty with good changeup command, a type of player who tends to be a good big leaguer. They’re not as big on his potential to go higher in a rotation, either, describing him as a “quick-moving no. 4/5 starter.” That kind of player doesn’t hit the top 100 there, where upside gets greater weight.
Among some of the warts that hold his ranking back for the FG evaluation are – like Pipeline – questions about the breaking pitch development, as well as thinking that Dzierwa doesn’t use his height to generate elite extension towards home, which would help his fastball velocity play higher than it actually is.
Talking about a no. 4/5 starter means you’re saying a guy who’s going to be as good as Dean Kremer. That doesn’t launch many prospect rockets into space. Dzierwa may start to look more like that as he faces Triple-A hitters and eventually MLB ones, but in the meantime… man. Batters facing Dzierwa this season batted a combined .186/.246/.289.
That’s dominant. You can’t hope for much better from any 22-year-old pitcher in his first full pro season, no matter what round he was drafted. Many teams are probably now wishing they had been paying closer attention to that 2025 Michigan State team. If you get a solid back-end-of-the-rotation guy with a second round pick, you’ve done very well for yourself. That’s why it was frustrating for many years when Elias wasn’t even trying to get pitching prospects in higher rounds.
Dzierwa is making a good case for why that should be done more often. Things could hardly have gone better for him this season. Hopefully, he has the opportunity to continue to show that quality by opening up at Triple-A in 2027.
CLEVELAND, OHIO - SEPTEMBER 16: Petey Halpin #0 of the Cleveland Guardians hits a three-run home run to right center field in the sixth inning to give Cleveland a 5-3 lead against the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field on September 16, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Russell Lee Verlinger/Cleveland Guardians/Getty Images) | Getty Images
This Saturday at 1PM the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago White Sox will be facing off in Game 1 of the ALDS. It will be the first ever postseason match up between the two clubs. The game is sold out, but for those who have tickets, the team is asking for another post season “red out”. So be sure to don your favorite red jersey, perhaps the free Austin Hedges jersey to bring the ultimate vibes to game 1.
As of the time of writing, the starter has not been announced for Cleveland and likely will be announced later today or tomorrow.
To prepare for the ALDS with the week off, the Guards had a light workout day yesterday and will workout and take BP today and tomorrow. Stephen Vogt and some of the players also spoke with the press today.
"When it comes playoff time, they pack the house"
"Definitely a home advantage when we have Progressive at full force."#Guardians Stephen Vogt and Steven Kwan on having a home field advantage here in Cleveland for the ALDS#GuardsBall@WEWSpic.twitter.com/ur2PB27TGg
After Hunter Goodman had a two home run game to secure the loss for the White Sox, helping the Guardians win the division, a Guardians fan on Twitter led the charge in donating to Hunter Goodman’s preferred charity. This one tweet quickly snowballed into over $22,000 donated from Cleveland fans to a wonderful organization in Denver that provides clothing to children.
A losing season didn't stop the Rockies from changing lives. When Hunter Goodman's two homers helped Cleveland clinch its division, fans responded by flooding a Denver charity with $22,000 in donations — and the timing couldn't be better:https://t.co/Zzpz5VXlAfpic.twitter.com/UE56e7gASg
NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 12: Ben Rice #22 and Cam Schlittler #31 of the New York Yankees high five during the game against the Seattle Mariners at Yankee Stadium on August 12, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by New York Yankees/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Game 1 of the AL Wild Card series between the Yankees and Red Sox was, at one point, much closer than the final 9-0 score suggests. It wasn’t until the seventh inning that New York was able to build a three-run lead over their archrivals. Turns out that given how dominant starting pitcher Cam Schlittler was, they didn’t even need that many runs.
As Jack Curry stated, Schlittler literally and figuratively threw Boston a curveball by adding more hooks to the mix and throwing off their game prep and rhythm at the plate. He wrapped up his night by tossing 6.1 dominant, scoreless innings with just two hits and a walk, striking out 10. Schlittler, however, wasn’t the only star of the Bronx night. Fellow homegrown players Ben Rice, Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, George Lombard Jr., and Spencer Jones were all over the box score and the action, too.
You can very well say that the Yankees’ homegrown talent can make or break their postseason run. They will certainly represent the backbone of it, particularly if they advance and they can add three-time AL MVP Aaron Judge to that group.
Rice put on the fireworks by going 4-for-5 with a double, two homers, two runs, and six RBI. That’s 11 total bases and a triple shy of the cycle for those counting at home. Most of his hits were clutch, too: his first-inning two-bagger put a runner in scoring position with one out, his solo blast in the fifth doubled the Yankees’ lead, his seventh-inning single drove in Spencer Jones and made it a 3-0 ballgame, and his eighth-inning grand slam put it out of reach for Boston. Not bad for a night’s work.
But there’s more. George Lombard Jr. went 3-for-4 with two runs scored for the Yankees, too, injecting some life into the middle of the lineup. He was also sure-handed defensively, boosting his confidence ahead of what’s coming.
Anthony Volpe started at second base and had some very well-hit batted balls, going 1-for-3 on Tuesday night. He also put down a perfect sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the eighth to move runners to second and third base when the game was 4-0, and the team was looking for insurance runs. Whether or not you agree with the strategy of giving away an out, the execution was perfect.
Then, you have the eighth- and ninth-hole hitters, both homegrown, too: Spencer Jones and Austin Wells. They combined to go 3-for-6 with three runs, two RBI, and a walk. The outfielder went 1-for-3 and crossed home plate twice with one base on balls in a start against a lefty, and the backstop went 2-for-3 with a run and two RBI. Wells actually drove in the first run of the game, and Jones scored the third one in the bottom of the seventh on Rice’s single.
The homegrown stars played a flawless game. No fielding errors, steady defensive play, and a bunch of timely hits. If they keep playing like this while getting enough support from the rest of the roster, the Yankees will be very hard to beat. Of course, there is — hopefully at least — a lot of baseball to be played, and one game doesn’t tell the whole story. It did tell us, however, that these guys mean business, and that they are prepared to leave it all on the field.
Now that we know the Yankees’ postseason run advances past the Red Sox, the hope is that fellow homegrown players Judge and Will Warren play a big role, too, in addition to the aforementioned names. The talent that the Yankees have drafted and developed in-house can, evidently, be very impactful in the outcome of short postseason series.
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - SEPTEMBER 26: Cody Freeman #39 and Jake Burger #21 of the Texas Rangers celebrate the win against the Minnesota Twins after the game at Target Field on September 26, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Rangers defeated the Twins 6-2. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Morning, all!
The Houston Astros have been swept from the playoffs, marking a need to enter the offseason with a need to rebuild.
Chris Young is also entering the offseason using rebuild coded words, like ““address the makeup of this team.”
The problem is that the team doesn’t really have much salary coming off the books and have double the number of arbitration eligible players, so there likely isn’t a lot of money to address the team’s many problems.
Sep 30, 2026; Cumberland, Georgia, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Andrew Painter (24), designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (12), catcher J.T. Realmuto (10) and outfielder Brandon Marsh (16) celebrate after a win against the Atlanta Braves in game two of the Wildcard round for the 2026 MLB Playoffs at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
After a rollercoaster of a ballgame yesterday, the Phillies lived to fight another day, forcing this series with the Braves to a decisive Game 3. Not enough can be said about the performance of 23-year-old Andrew Painter who threw three scoreless innings in relief to win the game. That’s the kind of stuff that makes everyone forget his early season struggles and can grant a young rookie a boatload of confidence. No matter what happens today, Painter answered the call when the team needed him most.
BRONX, NY - SEPTEMBER 30: Luis Garcia Jr. #26 of the New York Yankees hits a solo home run in the fourth inning during the New York Yankees game against the Boston Red Sox in game 2 of the American League Wild Card Playoff Series at Yankee Stadium on September 30, 2026 in the Borough of the Bronx, New York. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
It doesn’t get much better than The Rivalry, especially in postseason baseball. Having this series for the second year in a row is a true treat for the game of baseball, even if this one was much less cinematic than the last one. There’s something poetic about a guy making his postseason debut in this rivalry, something we saw across the board with guys like George Lombard Jr. and Spencer Jones this year, and even Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice last year. It’s not just rookies who can experience this; vets can too.
Take Luis García Jr., a seven-year major league vet. He might only be 26 years old, but he’s experienced plenty of empty Octobers as a big leaguer, being unlucky enough to make his big league debut for the Washington Nationals in 2020, just after their World Series championship.
He played 708 games as a National, all in the regular season. He never experienced a competitive team. So imagine the joy he must’ve felt when he, a Yankees fan growing up in the Dominican Republic after being born in New York City, was traded to the contending Yankees in early August ahead of the Trade Deadline. Was the fit a bit wonky? Sure, but on a team that was drowning offensively, any help was nice.
He did well as a Yankee down the stretch, albeit trading blistering hot and ice-cold stretches. He got a raw deal entering his first-ever postseason as a big leaguer with his struggles against left-handed pitching and the presence of Paul Goldschmidt as the steady platoon bat at first base. Hence, he spent Game 1 on the bench, except for one at-bat against Wyatt Olds in which he hit into a double play with the bases loaded.
Game 2 was going to be his opportunity, at least in this series. With Ranger Suárez looming in Game 3, if the Yankees couldn’t close out their biggest rivals, this was the only game he knew he was going to have at least three at-bats to set the tone for his postseason legacy. You could tell he was dialed in from the start, as even when his first at-bat ended in an out, it was laced at 108.5 mph right at Wilyer Abreu in right field. All good, just need to get more air under it.
I’m not sure if that was his prerogative in his second at-bat, but that’s exactly what he did off Sonny Gray to break the ice in the fourth, walloping a 1-2 sweeper that stayed just high enough for him to belt it over the fence for a short porch homer to give the Yankees a lead they would not relinquish.
In his next at-bat, he was put into a tough situation. A quick hook by Chad Tracy saw Boston’s nasty lefty, Erik Miller, come into the game in a big spot in the fifth inning. Aaron Boone could’ve made the call to put Paul Goldschmidt in, but he elected to stick with García. Whether it was his personal trust in the matchup or acknowledging a higher-leverage situation was possible against a guy like Garrett Crochet or Aroldis Chapman, we’ll never know. García smacked a 0-1 sinker into left field for a single, but the inning ended on an aggressive send by Luis Rojas. That kind of swing is what you love to see in a tough matchup.
He wouldn’t come up again in any type of leverage, but would add another scorched single off a demoralized Garrett Whitlock at the end of a six-run sixth inning. All in all, García finished 3-for-5 with the home run, one of several great outings on the roster, but it was the tone he set with his fourth inning home run that earned him these honors.
When you’re playing a team facing elimination, it’s absolutely necessary to throw the first punch so they start to feel the pressure. Both Max Fried and Gray were on their game to start, so it was clear that whoever could make one of them blink first would be on their way to a Wednesday night win.
For García, his homer that broke the ice put even more pressure on a comatose Red Sox offense that only felt like they had life after Willson Contreras’ first-row homer with two outs in the sixth. Even then, the Yankees buried two of Boston’s best pitchers, Crochet and Whitlock, in one of the best offensive innings of the season immediately after.
This was an absolute mugging of a series. One where the superior team, with home-field advantage, played like they were disgusted they even had to share a field with the team on the other side, knowing they were better than this. Starting on Saturday, they’ll truly get a chance to prove they are better than the Wild Card team they were through 162.
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - SEPTEMBER 23: Chris Bassitt #40 of the Baltimore Orioles looks on during game one of a baseball doubleheader against the Toronto Blue Jays at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on September 23, 2026 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Hello, friends.
There are 174 days remaining until the next scheduled Orioles game. We are about two months away from the point where the league’s owners will get greedy and lock out the players in a negotiating tactic that the commissioner himself likened to shooting the players with a .45. At that point, there will be a giant question mark as to when the next MLB game will be played, with nothing firm again until a labor deal is reached.
There will be at least one playoff game today. Perhaps only one. (This is being finished off before the west coast Cubs-Padres game has wrapped up.) Yesterday’s postseason action saw the White Sox dispatch the Astros and the Yankees wipe the floor with the Red Sox, each completing the two-game wild card series sweep.
Good riddance to a .500 team that made the postseason. That team advancing would have been a shame. So long to the Red Sox. Too bad for Adley Rutschman still remaining winless in the playoffs in his career. Maybe next year. The Phillies did even out their series by beating the Braves in extra innings. I honestly don’t care who wins that series. My wife, who hates Bryce Harper, wants the Phillies to lose.
It’s an interesting article because most of it consists of players are actually on the record talking about issues under their own names. Beat writer Andy Kostka says that he spoke to 10 players, and by my counting, there’s exactly one anonymous quote here, with a small number of additional anonymous paraphrases. Getting guys to speak frankly, even in just a general way, is good work by him.
One thing that stands out is that most of the quoted players here are either guys who arrived in 2026, are about to be free agents, or both. There is a lot of Blaze Alexander, Pete Alonso, Chris Bassitt, and Trevor Rogers. There are no direct quotes from guys like Colton Cowser, Gunnar Henderson, and Coby Mayo.
A dramatic example of how it had to be the new arrivals offering leadership is recounted by Alexander, who explained that there had been an early August players-only meeting initiated by catcher Carlos Narváez. As Alexander related things to Kostka, it took Narváez mere days of being around the Orioles to recognize some similar problems to what plagued his old team, the Red Sox, early in the season, and after apparently explaining some of that (Alexander didn’t say exactly what,) he conluded, “The players, it’s up to us.”
This was, according to the article, one of four or five players-only meetings called through the season. Whatever people were trying to get going just wasn’t taking. In a quote that was already widely shared on social media before this article was published, Pete Alonso laid the blame squarely on the players:
“We need to do a better job as players. That’s what it boils down to. At the end of the day, you can have all the help, all the coaching, all the information, but it’s about getting it done between the lines, and collectively as a group, we didn’t do that.”
Bassitt’s quotes in this article also hit on the players needing to be the ones who step up. He said that it needs to be the key players the team has invested in – specifically naming Alonso and Henderson for position players and Shane Baz and Kyle Bradish for pitchers – who set the standard not just at the major league level but all the way down into the minors. Bassitt’s message is that everyone in the organization should feel like, if you’re not doing it the right way, you’re not going to make it to the majors or stay there for long.
Among the problems were players “going through the motions” (again, you’ll be disappointed if you want him to say who) in drills rather than actually trying to use them to sharpen up. That’s also in what Bassitt said.
I am again left wondering about first-year manager Craig Albernaz, who needs to be sat down in the conference room like in Office Space with the two Bobs and asked, “What would you say… ya DO here?” If there’s an obvious effort problem in the drills, what was the manager doing about it? Apparently not enough for things to stick. And if he can’t make it stick, why is he here?
One could wonder the same, to some degree, about Mike Elias. What does it say about the organization that, now eight years after he has been hired, there is still not a top-down standard all the way down to the lowest levels of the minors, such that players have good habits instilled all the way up the ladder and arrive at the major league level with fewer of these problems? That’s a colossal screwup!
If I was the billionaire owner of the Baltimore Orioles, I would not count on Elias being the guy to fix that mess, even if, belatedly, he has identified some of the deficiencies. Yet it seems that Rubes is giving him another year to sort it out. One thing that can be said about Elias is that he did shift gears in building out his roster for 2026, and it’s clear there are changes coming to the front office as well, even if the guy at the top is staying the same. Will it be enough? I don’t know. But, he’s clearly not stubbornly plowing ahead with a failed plan. Critiques of the O’s situation should acknowledge that.
Orioles stuff you might have missed
With Mike Elias still in charge, the Orioles remain stuck (The Baltimore Banner) The Banner’s hot taker is back from covering the Ravens in Brazil to weigh in on the end-of-season presser and the state of the organization generally, musing whether Mike Elias is like Sisyphus. I might apply the myth differently, myself. Mike Elias is the guy rolling the boulder back down the hill every night so Sisyphus has to do it all over again.
Looking at important context to this year’s minor league numbers (Orioles On The Verge) The folks at the Verge are looking at minor league park factors to see whether or how much that should change what to think about some Orioles prospects and how they did this season.
2026 All-Prospect team includes Eyanson, Dzierwa (MLB Pipeline) There might really actually be a wave of interesting Orioles pitching prospects right now, for the first time in the Elias tenure.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 1997, the Orioles beat the Mariners in game 1 of their division series, scoring five runs off Randy Johnson and four more off reliever Mike Timlin on the way to a 9-3 victory. Mike Mussina allowed two runs in seven innings to get the win for the O’s. This game featured six future baseball Hall of Famers. It was a stacked series.
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2025-26 two-game catcher David Bañuelos, 2018-25 outfielder Cedric Mullins, 2026 two-game reliever Lou Trivino, 2011 three-game pitcher Mitch Atkins, 2000-01 pitcher Chuck McElroy, and 1956-60 infielder Bob Boyd.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: Boeing founder William Boeing (1881), Bonnie and Clyde outlaw Bonnie Parker (1910), 39th president Jimmy Carter (1924), actress Julie Andrews (1935), baseball Hall of Famer Rod Carew (1945), actor Zach Galifianakis (1969), and gymnast/social media star Livvy Dunne (2002).
On this day in history…
In 1791, the revolutionary French Legislative Assembly had its first session. More radical members were seated on the left side of its hall, where more conservative or reactionary members were seated on the right. This is the origin of “left” and “right” as political descriptors, which has continued with some evolutions on into today.
In 1903, the first modern World Series game was held, taking place between the Boston Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Boston triumphed in what was then a best-of-nine with a 5-3 series victory. Pittsburgh took Game 1, though, by a 7-3 score where Cy Young was the losing pitcher.
In 1938, Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland region was annexed by Nazi Germany. This action was permitted by the previous day’s agreement in Munich, which European leaders at the time believed would prevent a war on the continent. This agreement is not so well-regarded today, rather instead an infamous instance showing that appeasement of a dictator never works.
In 1971, Walt Disney World opened in Florida. At its pre-COVID peak, Disney World was drawing nearly 60 million attendees annually. It’s just recently rebounded to about 50 million annually. (Exactly 11 years later, EPCOT Center, part of the Disney complex, opened to the public.)
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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on October 1. Have a safe Thursday.
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - SEPTEMBER 28: Brice Turang of the Milwaukee Brewers attends Monday Night RAW at Fiserv Forum on September 28, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Michael Marques/WWE via Getty Images) | WWE via Getty Images
On Monday, MLB revealed their All-MLB ballot, and we covered the Brewers who were included. This is a fun exercise for me, because I’ve been keeping my own personal All-MLB teams for years, since before it was an official thing that the league did (they started bestowing the honor in 2019).
My own personal teams don’t look exactly like the ones MLB uses—they specify outfield positions instead of just choosing three outfielders, I only include one starting pitcher and one reliever, and if the situation calls for it, I’ll throw in a Wild Card selection (this is where I’ve put Shohei, and when I’ve gone back to look at historical seasons, that designation can be used for great two-way seasons). In my own exercises, I also used a “DH” spot not for a player who necessarily actually played most often at designated hitter, but instead I just gave that position to the next-best offensive player who did not make it at any other position. These choices were made mostly because I made All-MLB teams for each season going way, way back to before there was a DH, but I still wanted to honor players who sometimes had truly great seasons but were edged out because, for example, Jimmie Foxx and Lou Gehrig were playing the same position at the same time.
In any case, I’ll stick to the “rules” that MLB has put forth for this exercise, but I’ll rank my pitchers based on preference, so you’ll know which two would’ve made my personal team. I’ll also add that I’d include Shohei as a two-way player this year in my “wild card” pick; it was a “down” season for him, but he was still awesome.
On to the selections!
Catcher: Gabriel Moreno, Diamondbacks
Moreno was a big-time prospect a few years ago—he was the #7 prospect via Baseball America and MLB Pipeline before the 2022 season. He’s been a solid player as a pro—DRS really likes his defense, and he had a solid 108 OPS+ across 316 games in his first four (really three plus a handful of games near the end of 2022) seasons.
This year, he broke out offensively. He won the NL batting title by hitting .311, he hit for decent power, with 16 homers and 33 doubles, and he walked at a solid 10.4% rate. Moreno’s 143 OPS+ was the best of any catcher with real playing time this season by a pretty solid margin, and he played in 130 games, all of which led to 6.7 WAR via Baseball Reference. FanGraphs is a little more down on his defense, but he still led all catchers with 5.4 fWAR. Even if Dillon Dingler is a way better defensive catcher than Moreno (FanGraphs thinks so, Baseball Reference doesn’t), there was a huge gap between the two of them offensively this year, and this was a clear choice.
A nod also to Madison product Drake Baldwin, who basically recreated his Rookie of the Year campaign from last season. For stretches, he was Atlanta’s best offensive player, and that team won 94 games.
First Base: Pete Alonso, Orioles
Alonso played in 161 games this year; he’s played in at least 152 games in every season he’s been in the big leagues except 2020, when he played in 57 of the Mets’ 60 games. In his first season in Baltimore, Alonso was as good as he has ever been. He hit 43 homers and knocked in 113 runs, both of which led the American League, his second time leading his league in each stat category. His 149 OPS+ was the best of his career, and by WAR he had either his best (5.0 fWAR is a career high) or second-best (4.9 bWAR, slightly behind his 53-homer rookie season) season. Alonso is not a perfect player, but he’s become a metronomic source of 40-ish homers, and don’t look now, but he’s got a real shot at hitting 500 in his career despite not debuting until he was 24.
The players with the best case behind Alonso are both also in the American League East: the Yankees’ Ben Rice and the Red Sox’ Willson Contreras. Contreras, a BCB favorite, had what was probably his best overall season: he set career highs with 27 homers, a 153 OPS+, and 4.6 bWAR/4.0 fWAR. Rice, in just his second full season, carried the Yankee offense in the absence of Aaron Judge and hit 41 homers with a 146 OPS+ in 154 games.
Brief shout-outs to three other guys who had really good seasons but were a tick below the others mentioned here: the human metronome, Matt Olson; Rafael Devers, who after a drama-filled 2025 season quietly put together a monstrous offensive season in San Francisco; and Milwaukee’s own Jake Bauers, one of the nicest stories of the year.
Second Base: Brice Turang, Brewers
This is an easy one, and not just because Turang is Our Guy. Via bWAR, Turang was the second-best position player in baseball with 7.3, and while FanGraphs doesn’t view him as favorably (5.9) he’s still way ahead of the second-place player who is actually a second baseman (Brandon Lowe, 4.9; Fernando Tatis Jr. did play 50 games at second base this year, but that would be stretching it).
Turang, as we all know well, is just a complete player. He posted a .268/.366/.450 batting line (124 OPS+, 128 wRC+), showed power (37 doubles, 21 homers), knocked in runs (100 RBI), stole bases (19 stolen bases at a 79% success rate), and played defense that seems likely to win him the second Gold Glove of his career. No other second baseman—really no infielder in the league this season—can boast that diverse a skillset.
It also just wasn’t a great year for second baseman in the non-Brewers division. Lowe was quite good—he hit 35 homers and knocked in 96 runs, and the numbers suggest he played the best defense of his career; his 5.4 bWAR were a career high. St. Louis’s rookie megaprospect JJ Wetherholt played great defense and held his own at the plate, but he fell off quite a bit down the stretch and finished the season as basically an exactly league-average hitter. Luis Arraez was really bad after switching from San Francisco to Philadelphia, which tanked any chance it looked like he had early in the season.
Third Base: Junior Caminero, Rays
Ah, finally, a tight race. Caminero was fourth among third basemen in fWAR if you include Detroit rookie Kevin McGonigle, who split his time almost exactly evenly between third and shortstop, but I’m going with him here because those four are very tightly packed and because it’s a bit of a “team success” choice. The Rays spent most of the season as the clear best team in the American League, and Caminero was their best player.
Caminero—who was only 22 for much of the season!—has become one of the best offensive players in baseball. He hit .276/.360/.524 (144 OPS+) and popped 42 homers while knocking in 101 runs and walking 79 times. Sure, he’s the undisputed champion of the double play (it was his second consecutive season leading baseball) and he’s probably somewhere between “mediocre” and “pretty good I guess” defensively. But the man who was once traded straight-up for Tobias Myers is a bonafide star who will hit his 100th career homer well before his 24th birthday.
There’s a very real argument for Alex Bregman here, and who knows, if I wasn’t a Brewers fan I might have gone in that direction. Bregman started badly but hit .304/.389/.658 over the season’s last two months, and by defensive WAR on Baseball Reference, he had the best season of his career. He finished with 5.8 bWAR, the best season he’s had since he was a legitimate MVP candidate in 2018-19.
On the South Side, Miguel Vargas had an outstanding season for the White Sox, serving as that team’s “veteran presence” even though he’s only 26. He hit 31 doubles and 33 homers, stole 22 bases in 24 tries, and just had an all-around great season. But defensively he was worse even than Caminero, and he’s a pretty clear third for me. I’ll discuss McGonigle a bit more in the shortstop section.
Shortstop: Bobby Witt Jr., Royals
This is another hard one!
Witt might be getting a little bit of a legacy vote, here. He’s been what I’d consider the league’s best shortstop for three years running, now, and while this season wasn’t quite as good as either of the last two, it was still in the same universe. Witt hits (.281 batting average), hits for power (18 homers, 33 doubles), runs (45 stolen bases in 53 attempts), and plays great defense (he’s got a good shot at winning his third straight Gold Glove). None of the other players who Witt is contending with here do everything quite as well as he does. Via WAR, Witt is second among shortstops via Baseball Reference (6.7) and first on FanGraphs (7.0).
There is stiff competition, though. First, let’s talk about McGonigle, who led American League position players in bWAR this season. A rookie, McGonigle led the AL in plate appearances and hit .278/.376/.430 (126 OPS+) with 18 homers, five triples, and 28 doubles, and he walked 95 times, which added a lot of value. He’s not nearly the baserunner that Witt is, though, and there’s some disagreement about his defense; the DRS based BRef numbers think he was outstanding, while the OAA based FanGraphs numbers think he was merely “okay.” This disagreement is enough for me to give the edge to Witt, who was almost as good a hitter but was pretty clearly better as a runner and fielder.
Elly De La Cruz is also in this conversation. The Reds’ shortstop had his best season by far at the plate, where he hit .283/.365/.515 with 30 homers, 30 doubles, 5 triples, and 30 stolen bases (he was a fan of round numbers, I guess). He was caught stealing a lot, though (eight times), and his defense did not grade out all that well. Still, FanGraphs had him with 6.4 WAR, second to Witt.
The last guy I want to mention here briefly is Otto Lopez. He was definitely behind these other guys, but it was a great season nonetheless—Lopez is a good defensive shortstop and he hit .305 and led the majors with 191 hits, and was a menace on the bases (34 steals in 39 tries).
There’s also no “team success” consideration here: all four of these guys played for disappointing teams who missed the playoffs. So in that respect, it’s an even playing field!
Left Field: Randy Arozarena, Mariners
By happenstance, it just so happens that the three best outfielders in the league this year slot nicely into a left-center-right alignment, so I can stick to my non-generic outfield preferences while also choosing the three guys I’d have picked anyway if I was doing the MLB style “OF” that appears on their ballot.
Let’s start with Arozarena. The Mariners were an immensely disappointing team this year, but that can’t be put on their left fielder. Arozarena has, at times during his eight-year career, looked like a superstar, but he’s never really been able to sustain it for a whole season. That changed this year. He hit .281/.381/.484, by far the best batting line of his career, and he hit 34 doubles and 26 homers while playing in the extremely pitcher-friendly T Mobile Park in Seattle. His 113 runs scored led the AL, and he added 26 stolen bases, giving him his sixth straight 20/20 season (surprising to me!).
The guy who should get this second-team selection is a familiar face: Jackson Chourio. Chourio was fourth among all outfielders in fWAR this season (he is a more modest eighth in bWAR), and he played only 127 games; if he’d played the 154 games that Arozarena had, this very well may have been his award. He’s got a real case purely as an outfielder to make that second team, but if you’re strict about left field, I think he’s a pretty obvious selection.
Center Field: Pete Crow-Armstrong, Cubs
This is an extremely obvious choice. Via Baseball Reference, Crow-Armstrong’s 9.8 WAR were 2.5 more than any other position player in the league, and via FanGraphs, that gap was 3.6 (10.6 to Witt’s 7.0). Sarah Langs tells us that he was the first player under Statcast (since 2016) to finish in the 99th percentile in all of batting, fielding, and baserunning run value; I wonder if that would still be the case if we had Statcast for another 100 years prior to 2016. He led the majors in homers, led the NL in OPS+, stole 41 bases, and was arguably the top defensive player in baseball. It was a truly historic season.
Even if PCA’s season was only “great” instead of “historic,” there was no one else close in center. The next best options include Ceddanne Rafaela, who was only a slightly above-average hitter but played excellent defense, Andy Pages who started out incredibly strong but faded a bit in the second half, and Michael Harris II, who is a good but imperfect player.
Right Field: Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres
There could be some debate here, because our two major sites have vastly different views of Tatis’s defense. FanGraphs views him as solid defensively at both right field and second base this season; Baseball Reference has a similar view of his defense in the outfield but saw him as atrocious at second base. Of course, we’re choosing a right fielder, so even if Tatis was bad at second base, maybe it shouldn’t be a huge demerit against him here, even if it weighs down his WAR numbers (4.3 bWAR vs. 5.4 fWAR).
If we can’t agree on defense, let’s look elsewhere, then: Tatis, who played in 159 games this season, finished with a 131 wRC+ despite not hitting a home run until May 30th, one of the season’s weirdest stories. They kept coming once he hit them and he finished with 25 homers, 83 RBI, and 38 stolen bases (though he led the NL in CS with 13). He was San Diego’s best player as the Padres turned their season around, and he hit .295/.372/.563 in the season’s final three months.
If Tatis is not the answer here, the other contenders probably include the Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki, who has become a consistently good hitter, or Boston’s Wilyer Abreu, another player who has vast differences in defensive value between BRef and FanGraphs.
Designated Hitter: Yordan Alvarez, Astros
Alvarez was the best hitter in baseball this season, and it was not close. Alvarez’s OPS+ this season was 190; second place was Crow-Armstrong at 156. The gap between Alvarez and PCA was the same as the gap between PCA and 35-year-old Nolan Arenado.
The numbers are eye-popping. he led all of baseball in every slash category (.316/.432/.601). Despite walking more than anyone else in the league (109 times), he still managed to lead the AL in total bases (341). He was intentionally walked 33 times; the only player to be intentionally walked that many times in the last 17 years was Aaron Judge last season. He didn’t quite finish with the triple crown—he was probably walked too many times, and finished second in the AL to Alonso in homers and RBI—but he was in that race the whole season.
The only other player to really mention here is Ohtani, who played 19 fewer games than Alvarez and had his worst offensive season since 2020, posting “only” a 143 OPS+ while hitting 30 homers. Combined with the excellent pitching he was able to do when he was healthy, Ohtani still had a notable season, but this was clearly Alvarez’s spot.
Starting Pitchers (5): Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers; Cam Schlittler, Yankees; Dylan Cease, Blue Jays; Chris Sale, Braves; Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies
This wasn’t all that hard for me to choose five, though there are several other guys right on the outside, who I’ll list in a moment. Misiorowski I have covered; he would be my All-MLB pitcher if, like I traditionally do in my personal lists, I only chose one pitcher.
Schlittler was incredible for the Yankees, and deserves some real consideration for American League MVP. He led the AL in ERA and you’ve likely heard that he set a Yankee record in starts in which he allowed zero or one runs (21), and that doesn’t include three starts in which he allowed more than one run but only one of them was earned.
People haven’t been talking about Cease much because the Blue Jays were incredibly disappointing in their pennant defense this season. But Cease, a former Cy Young runner-up, had his best overall season, in my opinion: in 169 innings, he had a 2.40 ERA (184 ERA+) and AL best 2.56 FIP, and he led the AL in hits per nine, homers per nine, and strikeouts per nine.
Sale is going to the Hall of Fame—he had a borderline case even before he joined the Braves three years ago, but his three seasons in Atlanta, which have come from age 35-37, have been masterpieces that locked him in as a bonafide inner circle Hall of Famer. He was every bit as good this season as he was when he won the pitching triple crown and the Cy Young in 2024, he just had the misfortune of being in the same league as Misiorowski.
The last spot becomes a little complicated. Sánchez is ultimately my choice; he was the leader by a lot in WAR by a pitcher on Baseball Reference this year, with 8.1, but there’s some controversy in those numbers—they’re heavily buoyed basically because the Phillies defense is bad. He does also have an innings advantage on the other players I’ve mentioned here; Sánchez’s 207 innings are second this season only to Miami’s Sandy Alcantara, a pitcher who wishes so badly that he could’ve pitched in the 1970s when the Atlanta Braves would’ve let him throw 375 innings. Sánchez’s rate stats aren’t quite as good as the rest of these guys, but they’re still great—2.91 ERA, 2.80 FIP, 5.13 strikeouts per walk—and he played a major role for a Phillies team that needed someone to step up.
The other players who could be considered for this last spot and should be on (or in consideration for) the second team include Sánchez’s teammates Jesús Luzardo and Zack Wheeler; the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto; Cleveland’s Parker Messick; Tampa Bay’s Drew Rasmussen; Boston’s Sonny Gray; and Arizona’s Eduardo Rodríguez.
Relief Pitchers (2): Mason Miller, Padres; Louis Varland, Blue Jays
Miller was the most unhittable reliever in baseball this year; he had a 1.67 ERA and 1.17 FIP, struck out a mind-boggling 16.6 batters per nine innings (129 in 70 innings), and allowed only 4.8 hits per nine innings, and he tied for the NL lead in saves with 38.
Varland, playing for a worse team, had “only” 35 saves. But he pitched a ton for the Blue Jays (78 innings in 71 outings) and pitched to a 1.27 ERA, the best for any player who threw more than 45 innings this season, and backed it up with a 1.83 ERA. Varland had 97 strikeouts to 23 walks and was just a solid presence all season for a team that needed him.
There are a couple of tough cuts. Bryan Baker’s advanced metrics aren’t as good—he had a 3.07 FIP—but he tied for the major-league lead with 41 saves and had a 1.44 ERA, better even than Miller. Jhoan Duran had a 1.82 ERA and 1.42 FIP, struck out 84 batters, and walked only 10 (a minuscule 1.5 per nine innings). Garrett Whitlock and Abner Uribe were both great in setup roles, Cade Smith tied Baker’s league-leading saves mark, and the ageless Aroldis Chapman worked to another outstanding season as Boston’s closer.
The full list:
C: Gabriel Moreno, ARI 1B: Pete Alonso, BAL 2B: Brice Turang, MIL 3B: Junior Caminero, TBR SS: Bobby Witt Jr., KCR LF: Randy Arozarena, SEA CF: Pete Crow-Armstrong, CHC RF: Fernando Tatis Jr., SDP DH: Yordan Alvarez, HOU SP: Jacob Misiorowski, MIL SP: Cam Schlittler, NYY SP: Dylan Cease, TOR SP: Chris Sale, ATL SP: Cristopher Sánchez, PHI RP: Mason Miller, SDP RP: Louis Varland, TOR
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 30: Cody Bellinger #35 of the New York Yankees celebrates in the clubhouse after defeating the Boston Red Sox in game two of the American League Wild Card Series at Yankee Stadium on September 30, 2026 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Caleb Bowlin/Getty Images) | Getty Images
You can’t take anything for granted in the playoffs, especially a short series like the Wild Card. In the short time that it has existed, the Wild Card Series has humbled several teams that stood a head above the rest of the first-round field by record, and it’s had a habit of favoring teams that strike first — all but one series has seen the team that wins first advance, with only their own performance in last year’s Wild Card Series against Boston standing out (though the Phillies still have a chance to change that this year). Playing in it is meant to be a punishment, a risk, and it has acted accordingly, but the Yankees faced little challenge this time around in embarrassing their archrivals to open the postseason.
The Red Sox kept it close early again on Wednesday, and there was definitely some tension for the first hour or so of each of these two games, but much like Game 1 as soon as Chad Tracy went to his bullpen it became a party for the Yankees’ offense. A plethora of batters contributed this time around, from Luis Garcia Jr. getting it started with a solo home run to George Lombard Jr. coming up with an RBI knock as the lone right-hander starting in last night’s lineup to Austin Wells and Ryan McMahon providing productive outs before Cody Bellinger delivered the death blow with a three-run porch job: the entire offense had a part in the dismantling of the Sox bullpen.
Sonny Gray commented after the game that he wasn’t pleased with his manager pulling him in the middle of the fifth inning set to face the top of the order for the third time with the score still 1-0, and perhaps he and Payton Tolle could both make that argument after they were forced to watch the game unravel right after they left, but at the end of the day the Red Sox offense was completely flummoxed by the Yankees’ pitching and the dam that was Boston’s bullpen seemed destined to burst eventually. Cam Schlittler reasserted his dominance over the Sox on Tuesday, but Max Fried took the baton and continued shoving with six innings of one-run ball to make it miserable on Boston. The Yankees were the better team, evidenced by the record entering play before this series as well as the results during it. Now the team with the second-best record in the American League will get to move on, and they couldn’t have drawn it up any better.
Critically, New York won this series so handedly that they can effectively line themselves up again for a fresh start against the Rays instead of needing to scramble towards their next destination like they had to last year. Needing all three games against Boston in 2025 pushed them into the scenario where they had to start Luis Gil in Game 1 of the ALDS, the first of several unsuccessful moves that didn’t pan out as their pitching simply couldn’t handle Toronto’s bats. This time around, they’ve got Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon both waiting in the wings and can make a decision on which of them they want to start opposite Drew Rasmussen before slotting their presumptive Cy Young winner Cam Schlittler in for Game 2. Since Cole was named the ALWCS Game 3 starter ahead of time, I’m going to assume they’ll stick with him for Game 1, and if you told Aaron Boone before the season started that you could guarantee him he’d get to start Cole, Schlittler, and Fried in a row to open the ALDS he’d probably take that deal, even if it didn’t come with home field advantage. The blowouts also allowed the team to avoid taxing their bullpen, Boone tossing Brent Headrick and David Bednar to close out Game 2 simply to get them some work with minimal stress involved.
Nothing is guaranteed in the playoffs, but the opportunity for the Yankees right now is massive. Their offense picked the perfect time to break out and did so without Aaron Judge, who may or may not be active for the ALDS (for the sake of his health, he probably shouldn’t play yet but it’s only going to get harder to tell him no). Their pitching looked as lights out as they have all year, and the biggest road block on the American League side of the bracket is now directly in front of them in another short series. Win this one, and all that stands in your way of returning to the World Series is the winner of an AL Central matchup between two of the weakest teams in the whole dance. You can’t get caught looking ahead, but the path is right there. The Yankees didn’t break a sweat denying the Sox from playing in October, and it may have just been the jump start they were looking for all year. We’ll see how well they can carry this momentum into the Trop on Saturday.
We’re basking in the high of the Wild Card sweep to open the day, as Michael gives us his Player of the Game from the Game 2 victory. Jeremy then previews the ALDS matchup against the top-seeded Rays, Andres discusses how the young core has made their mark on this postseason run already, and Peter recaps the action around the rest of the Postseason as two other Wild Card Series wrapped up alongside the Yankees. Nick reminisces on the man who patrolled center before Burnie arrived in the Bronx in Roberto Kelly on his 62nd birthday, and then Peter will return to break down Cam Schlittler’s latest postseason gem in the Sequence of the Week.
CBS Sports: Yankees right-hander Clarke Schmidt tried his best, but the timing just wasn’t right. According to manager Aaron Boone, the former first-round draft pick will be shut down for the rest of the postseason as he couldn’t quite recover from his right biceps neuritis, the injury that landed him on the list before the end of the regular season. The focus will now shift to Schmidt being ready for the start of the 2027 campaign.
NY Post | Greg Joyce: Aaron Judge is in the middle of a battle against time and his own body to be ready for the AL Division Series. On Wednesday the captain and three-time AL MVP was in Somerset, where he was scheduled to get some live at-bats with a group of players staying ready in case they are needed, such as Luis Gil, Eli Morgan and Justin Topa. There’s still a couple hurdles for Judge to clear, including running the bases, but he’s got a few more days to make his case before the Yankees finalize their ALDS roster.
MLB.com | Jonathan Mayo & Sam Dykstra: The always exciting Arizona Fall League starts this weekend on Saturday, and MLB.com went through every organization’s sleeper prospect. The Yankees’ representative is right-hander Antonio Gómez. The former catcher now has a potentially deadly fastball-slider combo on the mound and has shown the ability to touch the triple digits with the heater. He is still very much a project, but there’s a lot of potential in his arm.
NY Daily News | Gary Phillips Ben Rice is a Statcast darling. Even when he struggled in 2024 as a rookie, he boasted elite barrel, chase, and walk rates. His personal page Baseball Savant was full of red in 2025 and 2026, which is fitting because he is one of the most data-driven and analytical hitters on the Yankees.
“He’s a little more analytical in how he processes the opponent and what they throw and what their specific pitches do,” Boone said. “He has a really good knowledge and idea of that, so he’s really good at developing his plan on a given night.”
“He dives into the numbers because I think that’s a tool that is helpful for him. He dives into a lot of the shapes and the movement of pitches, he dives into certain counts and how guys will attack him or pitch him,” added Judge. “He just eats that up.”
It’s safe to say the approach seems to work for him.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Pinch-hitter Gavin Sheets blasted a two-run homer, five Padres pitchers combined on a five-hitter, and San Diego swept the Chicago Cubs out of the NL Wild Card Series with a 4-1 victory in Game 2 on Wednesday night.
Xander Bogaerts drove in the first run for the surging Padres, who followed up their 8-0 victory in Tuesday’s opener with another dominant mound performance. The Cubs led the majors in runs and the NL in homers this year, but they managed just eight hits — seven singles — over 18 innings against San Diego’s inspired staff.
Ethan Salas drove in a run while becoming the youngest player to catch a postseason game in major league history for the Padres, whose 20-3 surge since Sept. 5 has them looking like a threat in the NL. With their fifth playoff series victory in the past seven years, the Padres advanced to face the MLB-best Milwaukee Brewers in an NL division series this weekend.
“It’s our entire group coming together, finding ways to win ballgames over and over,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said between puffs on a cigar in the Padres’ beer-soaked clubhouse. “This feels great, but we’ve already been to this part before, and we’re all so hungry to go farther.”
One year after the Cubs eliminated the Padres in three tough Wild Card games at Wrigley Field, the Padres reversed the result in two romps before frenzied sellout crowds at Petco Park.
“It’s nice to finish in two,” manager Craig Stammen said. “Saves our bullpen a little bit, and we can decide who’s going to start Game 1. We haven’t decided that yet, but it definitely sets us up better with two days off. Get those guys fresh and ready to go.”
Nico Hoerner had half of the Cubs’ hits in the series, and he drove in Chicago’s only run in the fourth inning. He also got their only extra-base hit of the series with a ninth-inning double off Mason Miller, but the Padres’ vaunted closer calmly finished the save and set off another massive celebration on the field.
“It didn’t go well here,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “We just didn’t play well enough. They’re playing really well. We just couldn’t get anything going offensively, obviously. Look, when you’re in this position, you’re going to be disappointed. You’re going to feel unfulfilled, and that’s just dominating everything you feel right now. Maybe as you reflect, I think I can get to some better places. Right now, that’s all I feel.”
Probable NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong and veteran slugger Alex Bregman struggled mightily atop the Cubs’ lineup in San Diego, going a combined 0 for 15 with a walk and eight strikeouts over these two games. Bregman played just over a week after he was hit in the face with a foul ball.
“Those were the two guys we marked as we don’t want those guys to beat us in this series,” Stammen said. “We tried our best to set up our pitching to handle them. In the first game, we were just lucky we got out to a bigger lead. It’s a lot easier to pitch to those guys with a bigger lead.”
After hitting two homers in the first inning of Game 1, the Padres waited until the second inning of Game 2 to take a 2-0 lead. Ty France led off with a double off Kevin Gausman and scored on Bogaerts’ single before Salas hit a line-drive flyout to center, scoring Jackson Merrill.
Salas, the prized 20-year-old prospect recalled Sept. 1, also became the youngest player to appear in a postseason game for the Padres.
Chicago finally scored when Seiya Suzuki singled and eventually came home on Hoerner’s ground ball to center off Nick Pivetta. Stammen immediately yanked his starter in favor of his intimidating bullpen, and Bradgley Rodríguez escaped a bases-loaded jam.
Rodríguez also pitched the fifth to earn the victory in his postseason debut.
“Those guys, they’re so good at what they do,” Pivetta said. “It was a pleasure to watch.”
After Bogaerts’ double chased Gausman in the fourth, Sheets crushed a 100.8 mph fastball from Daniel Palencia into the right-field bleachers. Sheets, the fan-favorite outfielder who is playing with a nagging plantar injury in his left foot, delivered his second career postseason homer and his first since 2021 as a White Sox rookie.
“That was one of the cooler home runs I’ve ever seen,” Merrill said.
The shot was the Padres’ first pinch-hit postseason homer since 2005, and their long-suffering fans’ cheers rattled the park.
Up next
Game 1 of the division series is Saturday in Milwaukee. The Padres took four of six from the Brewers this season, even sweeping a three-game series at Petco Park in August.
Phillies vs. Braves hasn't disappointed, with Games 1 and 2 featuring late-inning home runs that have paved the way for a winner-take-all NL Wild Card Game 3 on Thursday, October 1 at 8pm ET on NBC and Peacock.
Find out how to watch Thursday's Game 3 between the NL East rivals below.
CC Sabathia believes the Phillies have all the momentum going into Game 3 of the NL Wild Card against the Braves, while Eric Hosmer has his eyes on the game’s pitching plans.
Phillies vs. Braves Game 3 2026 MLB Wild Card schedule and first pitch time
Head to Peacock and NBCSN for a 30-minute pregame show starting at 7:30pm ET. First pitch is scheduled for 8:15pm ET at Truist Park. Fans can expect a 30-minute postgame show on Peacock and NBCSN following the game's final out.
Who won Games 1 and 2 of the 2026 MLB Wild Card between the Phillies and Braves?
The Braves came away victorious in Game 1 after stunning the Phillies thanks to Austin Riley's late-inning home run. Philadelphia answered with a statement of its own in Game 2, where back-to-back jacks from Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper paved the way for an eventual go-ahead HR from Alec Bohm in extra innings.
The 2026 MLB postseason began with a classic bout between two NL East rivals, where the Braves powered their way to a thrilling Game 1 win over the Phillies at Truist Park.
How to watch 2026 MLB Wild Card Round on NBC and Peacock
NBC, Peacock and NBCSN are the home for this year’s MLB Wild Card Series. You can sign up for Peacock here, available to enjoy on a variety of devices. View the full list of supported devices here. Wild Card games on NBC will also be available on Peacock. NBCSN is available on YouTube TV, Fubo and Xfinity.
