Category: MLB

How’s that for a curtain-raiser on this Postseason run for the Atlanta Braves? The best way that I can describe how that first game went down is to paraphrase a quote from my favorite professional wrestler of all time. The only thing that’s for sure about the Postseason is that nothing’s for sure.

That’s the only proper way to explain what happened with the two biggest hits of this game from both sides. J.T. Realmuto coming through with a go-ahead triple for the Phillies in the seventh inning, despite having finished the final month of the regular season with a wRC+ of 8 (eight) across his final 21 games and 79 plate appearances. Austin Riley delivering a go-ahead, opposite-field homer after the wretched game and rough series that he had been having.

It’s the Postseason, folks. You’ve just got to expect the unexpected!

“That’s how it usually goes when these two teams play each other,” explained Weiss when he started off the press conference. “Just goes to show you that when the playoffs start, everything starts at zero. Nothing that happened in the regular season really matters and it’s a clean slate. Austin Riley has been a great player in the Postseason play.”

Obviously, the star of the show on this particular day was Riley, himself — though Chris Sale did draw a laugh out of the presser by playfully lamenting that he’d been asked the majority of the questions (and Riley fist pumped in response). When I asked Riley about what he was looking for in that particular moment against Jhoan Duran (especially with the shadows in play), he figured that he just needed to be ready for any potential mistakes and as it turned out, he got one (100-mph heat notwithstanding) right in the middle of the plate.

“You just try to push him out and push him up,” explained Riley. “You’re not going to get very many mistakes against those back-end guys. It was definitely tricky. You typically only get one [mistake] an at-bat and you can’t miss it and I was fortunate enough to put a good swing on it.”

This was yet another example of the Braves coming through in a late-game, high-leverage scenario at the plate. They’ve done it a ton of times this season (especially at home) and the fact that the Braves were able to come through in late in the contest was perhaps the least surprising development. I asked Walt Weiss a bit of a follow-up question to Matt Olson’s remarks on Workout Day about how the team has woven the late-game heroics “into their DNA” and Weiss agreed with Olson’s sentiments.

“I’ve said this before: I feel like when the stakes are highest and the challenges are the toughest, that’s when we’ve been at our best,” explained Weiss. “It’s been that way all year long. Whether it’s looking like we’re going to give away the division and then going on a run again, facing a rough road trip, coming back home and having to play the Dodgers and sweep ‘em, even going into Philly with the division on the line, we played well in those two series late in the season.”

“Our guys just rise to the occasion,” continued Weiss. “It’s a good group — I’ve been talking about the group all year. It’s a great room and this is what you get when you have that kind of heart and that kind of culture.”

Had the Braves not come through with some more heroics, the big talking point likely would’ve been Chris Sale being taken out in the seventh inning with one out and runners on the corners in favor of Didier Fuentes. When he was asked about it by the media, Weiss defended the decision.

“I thought Sale was outstanding,” started Weiss. “There in the seventh inning, I felt like [Sale’s] tank was emptying there and we had our best reliever [Fuentes] ready to go so I went and got Chris. [Fuentes] ended up giving up the two runs but I take [Didier] in that spot every time.”

When he was further pressed on what he saw during Sale’s final inning, Weiss continued to defend the decision. “I saw the stuff start to tick down a little bit,” explained Weiss. “The near-home run from [Bryce] Harper, the knock from [Bryson] Stott, the velocity was down and we had our best reliever ready to go for the bottom of their lineup.”

“I take [Didier] 99 times out of 100. Believe me: I give the longest leash for good reason. I’ve let him go this year and usually to the point where he’s got to give up the runs before I take him out but I just saw with my eyes that the stuff was ticking down and that the tank was empty.”

For what it’s worth, Chris Sale was totally behind the decision that his manager made in that moment. “We have faith and trust in each other,” explained Sale when he was asked by the media about being taken out for Fuentes. “Didier’s the right guy for that situation. I don’t think there’s anybody that’s watched our team play a single game this year that wouldn’t agree with that.”

“He felt bad about [giving up the run] and I said ‘Hey man, sometimes we need help too. That’s why this is a team game.’ That’s why you never feel out of it and you never point fingers. He’s saved this team countless times and when he gave up that run he was like ‘Man, my bad.’ I just said ‘Listen man, this is baseball, this is the Postseason, this is sports. Sometimes we need some help too.’

Sale himself was busy finding some serious heat while he was on the mound, as he once again reached 100-mph on the radar gun during this contest. It’s incredible to see him reach that mark during this season like he’s been doing recently — which is funny because all the way back in March, he stated that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d thrown that hard. I asked him about how it felt to be able to reach abck and find that at this stage in his career and as usual, Sale was effusive towards his personal supporting cast.

“I pride myself on my work ethic and determination,” started Sale. “I’ve said countless times and I’ll say it until I’m blue in the face: This isn’t me on my own. I have an incredible team in my corner. From the guys in the weight room to our training staff, the pitching coaches, the catchers — it takes a lot for that to happen. I’m just thankful to be in that position to be able to do that but again, there’s a lot of people propping me up to be able to accomplish that.”

As Sale mentioned earlier, it’s all about the team and it’s clear that this team is pulling in the same direction from all corners of the squad. Weiss mentioned during his press conference when he was asked about Riley’s makeup behind-the-scenes that “you couldn’t tell if he was the leading MVP candidate in the National League or if he was struggling. He’s the same guy everyday.” That’s the type of mentality that you need to succeed in such a mental marathon of a sport as baseball and clearly, it was Austin Riley’s turn to make a strong kick towards the finish line in this particular game.

There’s still one more win that the Braves need to nail down before they can start packing their bags for Los Angeles but at least they now have two more chances to do it — and to do so in front of their home crowd, no less. We’ll see what twists and turns pop up during Game 2 but for the time being, the Braves can rest easy on this particular even in knowing that they managed to snatch the upper hand out of nowhere. You never know who’s going to be a Postseason hero and it’ll be exciting to see who comes up big for Atlanta going forward during this playoff run.

Yesterday brought sweeping changes to the Mariners coaching staff on the heels of a disappointing 2026 season. Jerry Dipoto, in meeting with the media, described the need for a “culture reset” in the organization, noting specifically the sense that the big-league club had gotten away from organizational principles preached in the minor leagues.

“The performance on the field this year has made us question a lot of the things that we are doing at the major league level, and I will say multiple of our major league players who came through our system have referenced what they learned in player development that that got abandoned in the big leagues this year. And not just the players who came up for the first time, but we have a host of players who’ve come through our system, and they saw a difference. We need to get back to to what we believe is a Mariners baseball process.”

Dipoto expressed particular consternation about the defense – with reason, as the Mariners were the worst defensive team in baseball from wire to wire, never improving – not just as violating the vision of “crisp, efficient Mariners baseball” but also because of the additional strain the poor defense put on the pitching.

“A starting pitching staff who attacks the strike zone and has the ball put in play is harmed by by the lack of range and positioning of our team,“ said Dipoto.

Perhaps this is why the pitching coaching staff escaped the ax that fell on many of the other coaches, as the organization cleaned house so the new manager will be able to install a hand-picked staff. Pitching coaches Pete Woodworth and Trent Blank will both return, despite a pitching staff that also underachieved this year – as the offense started to turn things around late in the season, the rotation fell apart, posting the worst WAR in baseball down the stretch. But despite the setback, Dipoto still believes in the Mariners pitching philosophy and in Woodworth and Blank’s ability to enact that vision with the big-league club. In answering a question about why those two remained on staff, Dipoto cited past performance, specifically their “goodness over time” and the “unquestionably awesome” nature of the quality of the pitching programs which has allowed all 13 members of their pitching staff at any given time to succeed.

“From 2021 until mid-season of 2026, we’re one of the three or four best pitching staffs, one through 13, in MLB. We don’t want to take three months and and use that as the criteria to ruin a program that has been the backbone of what we’ve done for for a decade.”

The key to the pitching core’s success, beyond programs that work, is their communication with players. Dipoto spoke extensively about communication issues in the organization, from the breakdown in expectation of standards in the front office to how it was borne out in the clubhouse and on the field. Personally, Dipoto took responsibility for his own breakdown in communication with the pitchers regarding how the “piggyback” strategy was implemented – while pointing out it was actually a success on the field, he spoke with regret about the failure of how it was communicated to the players, and how that breakdown in communication was indicative of a larger organizational failure.

“The way [the piggyback strategy] was communicated, the way it was received, and the drama around it was part of what I think was a bag that we were carrying around with us all year and couldn’t shed, and the piggyback is one piece of that. I could come up with 10 other things that were contributing factors, but we need to communicate more clearly. And we talked about this with the players during that piggyback period, that we handled the kickoff of that as poorly as you possibly could from a leadership standpoint.”

One exception to that organization-wide communication issue is and has been the pitching staff, which is why the piggyback drama stood out so starkly. But Dipoto reasserted his full-throated support behind Blank and Woodworth as messengers.

“Those guys communicate incredibly well,” said Dipoto. “Our pitchers love them for what they what they provide. Trent has all the TLC in the world and the ability to keep guys healthy and moving forward. And Woody is as good a messenger as exists in that clubhouse space.”

That doesn’t mean there isn’t work to do to get the pitchers back on track, however. Cal Raleigh, in his season postmortem, talked about how Mariners pitching might have gotten too predictable, noting how aggressive he saw teams – even ones that aren’t usually aggressive – in attacking the first pitch, and saying pitchers have to do a better job of executing strike one and less thinking about throwing strike one.

“It’s not not necessarily all the time about winning your 0-0s, your 1-1s. It’s about executing a pitch and how can we get this guy out,” said Cal.

For Dipoto, the problem wasn’t necessarily with strike one, but with strike three. Over the course of the season, Mariners pitching took a moderate step back in strikeout percentage and strike-to-walk ratio this year, but if you isolate it to just the last two months of the season, Mariners pitching fell to middle of the pack in K% percentage and 28th in average allowed – only the A’s and Rockies were worse.

“We’ve had a culture of relentless filling of the strike zone. That’s what we do. We get ahead, we stay ahead, we work ahead,” said Dipoto. “Where we struggled this year was we struggled in our two-strike execution, particularly in the second half of the season. It’s something our pitchers are aware of. All of them have talked about it openly in private discussion, and we know that’s an area we need to focus on moving forward.”

But Dipoto views this as a fixable problem, not a systemic one, echoing almost exactly what Cal Raleigh said about an over-focus on winning the counts and losing the bigger picture.

“It’s something that kind of happened over time. We got so focused on winning our 0-0s and winning our 1-1s that we forgot that was only a proxy for the greater goal, which was finishing the at-bat. Our prompt became the goal at times, and and that’s not what we were ever intending. And again, we let it get away from us. And perhaps you know, new eyes, new voice, new thoughts can stop that from happening the next time.”

So it sounds like the new manager will also have the job of working with a pitching staff already steeped in the organizational culture and help them refocus. Add it to a long list of tasks for whoever that person might be.

Chicago White Sox manager Will Venable went for a challenge in a strange situation in Game 1 of the American League wild card series against the Houston Astros.

After Chicago's Sam Antonacci grounded out to Jose Altuve in the fourth inning, Venable argued the Astros second baseman violated the shift rules, which require infielders to be on the dirt when the pitch is delivered. The video shown on the broadcast made it hard to tell if Altuve's cleat was touching the grass. The call stood.

"So that comes from the replay – (Bryan Johnson) and the replay center who is aware of all those things and looking closely at all those things. With two challenges, we talked about it before the game, before the series, that we want to go ahead and be aggressive. And so he noticed something immediately, that Altuve was on the grass to start," Venable said after the game. "The problem with it is it's just a really hard call to get overturned, but worth it with two challenges there. So I thought it was a really good challenge, really good pickup by BJ, and it just didn't go our way."

The rules, part of the 2023 package that also brought the pitch clock and bigger bases, require two infielders on each side of second base, with all four on the infield dirt when the pitch is delivered. Teams can't slide a fielder onto the outfield grass for a better angle.

This was very odd 🤨

The Chicago White Sox challenged whether Jose Altuve's heel was on the outfield grass before the pitch, which would make him ineligible to field the ball.

After review, the call stands.

Thoughts? 🤔pic.twitter.com/xCNbwTQolo

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 29, 2026

Players adjusted quickly. There were 26 violations in the rule's first season, two in 2024 and one in 2025.The penalty got tougher along the way. It started as an automatic ball. Since 2025, if the violating fielder makes the first play on the ball, the batter gets first base, runners advance and the fielder is charged with an error.

According to MLB's official count, there were only two challenges in the 2026 regular season for shift restriction violations.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: White Sox make bizarre challenge in MLB playoff game vs Astros: What happened?

When it comes to Red Sox vs. Yankees, the past is always an overarching theme. Many times, it even towers over the present, and for good reason. The curse, the comeback, the history, the fights, and the ever accumulating list of October showdowns echoes through every game.

But tonight, it’s also about the future clashing with the present. 23-year-old Payton Tolle faces off against 25-year-old Cam Schlittler is a game primed to the be the opening salvo for the next era of epic baseball between Boston and New York. Both are young, both are flame throwers, and both seem likely to be at or near the top of each of these rotations for years to come. Tonight, they’ve been matched up in a clash of titans where the winner will instantly push the other’s team to the brink of elimination. Such is life in a best-of-three Wild Card series.

Lineup wise, the Red Sox will have Roman Anthony leading off, but they have him at DH instead of left field. This means Jarren Duran is in left – where he botched a huge play in Game 2 last year at Yankee Stadium — and if Chad Tracy pinch hits for Duran late, they’ll have to do some roster shuffling to realign the deck. That’s a big story to watch out for late.

Also of note, Adley Rutschman bats second in front of Willson Contreras and Wilyer Abreu. This will create some very interesting platoon decisions for the Yankees when Schlitter runs out of gas as Rutschman has looked better from the right side of late. I also find Caleb Durbin batting ninth in front of the Anthony, Rutschman and Contreras part of the lineup interesting.

The Yankees meanwhile are going with Anthony Volpe over Jazz Chisholm at second base, Spencer Jones over Trent Grisham in center field, and Amed Rosario over Ryan McMahon at third. I would expect a bunch of mixing and matching here if the Red Sox bring a righty into the game. The Yankees went with 16 position player on the playoff roster, so there will be no shortage of combinations they can turn to as the innings wear on.

Those storylines, and a bunch of others that haven’t even hatched yet are about to play out over the next few hours. Hold onto your butts! Red Sox vs. Yankees starts now!

⚾️ First Pitch: 8:00pm — Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York (Hell).

📺 TV: NBC (and streaming on Peacock)

📻 Radio: WEEI, ESPN Radio, SiriusXM, iHeartRadio

Join us in the game thread below!

The San Diego Padres host the Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of the National League wild card series on Tuesday at Petco Park, with each team looking to take a huge step towards the next round.

It's a rematch of last year's wild card series, won by the Cubs at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Right-hander Michael King will start the opener for the Padres, with southpaw Matthew Boyd taking the mound for the Cubs.

"Very professional lineup," King said of the Cubs' offense. "They were first in runs this year and it shows."

The Padres are trying to get back to the World Series for the first time since 1998 and are in the postseason for the fourth time in five years, undoubtedly the most successful spell in the franchise's history.

“It's a new year, it's a different year," Padres third baseman Manny Machado said. “Obviously, that stung last year for us. They played better ball than us last year. This year's going to be a little bit different. "

Follow for live updates:

Where to watch Padres vs. Cubs: Channel, streaming

First pitch between the Padres and Cubs is scheduled for 10 p.m. (ET) on Tuesday, Sept. 29.

• Game time: 10 p.m. ET
• TV channel:NBCSN
• Streaming: Peacock

Watch the MLB Postseason on Peacock

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Padres vs Cubs LIVE updates: Score, highlights and where to watch MLB playoff game

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Somehow they did it. The San Diego Padres won 90-plus games for the third consecutive year, making the postseason each of those seasons. In his rookie year in the manager’s chair, Craig Stammen has continued this club’s regular season success (in spite of his pitfalls). It’s been a stellar 2026 campaign for the Friars, and it all comes down to this.

It’s easy to make the argument that this is the most defining game of the Padres’ chase towards the World Series. Since the inception of the Wild Card round in MLB, only two teams have ever come back from losing Game 1. In a three-game set, anything can happen. In a roaring Petco Park, with their ace on the mound, San Diego will need to earn the win over the Chicago Cubs.

Taking the mound

Matthew Boyd (CHC) v. Michael King (SD)

Despite getting knocked around by San Diego in both of his starts this season, Boyd has the potential to dominate in the series opener. Across two starts against the Friars (9.0 IP), Boyd has surrendered eight runs on 16 hits and two walks. His first start was a slugfest that San Diego eventually won. The second was a slugfest that Chicago won out.

The Padres’ lineup (108 at-bats) has a career .315/.339/.500 slash line versus the left-hander. Of hitters with 10-plus at-bats, Manny Machado has the most success with a .450 batting average and 1.255 OPS (20 ABs). The question for Chicago is whether Boyd can keep up. In the past, he’s been picked up by the Cubs’ stellar offense. If they can’t solve King, Boyd might easily be outdueled before anyone realizes what’s happening.

King has long been the obvious option for the Padres in this role. He pitched just one inning out of the bullpen in the 2025 playoffs after returning from the injured list late in the season. But King dominated in 2024. In Game 1 of the NL Wild Card series versus the Atlanta Braves, King struck out 12 batters over seven scoreless innings. If he can replicate that against Chicago tonight, it would be massive for San Diego’s chances.

Surprisingly, King hasn’t faced the Cubs yet this season. That could give him an edge over Chicago’s potent lineup. He’ll need to mix it up and keep hitters guessing to work deep into the game. King’s been incredible down the stretch, pitching to a 2.84 ERA in his last 15 starts (88.2 IP). That said, he’s coming off of a tough start against the Los Angeles Dodgers (5 ER, 4.0 IP). How he bounces back from that will determine how the series plays out.

Batter up!

The Padres’ lineup has consistently posted fantastic numbers throughout the final month of the season. The question is if that can continue. The Friars scored five or more runs in 16 games in September. The offense will need to keep that rolling to avoid another early exit at the hands of Chicago.

1. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
2. Dustin Harris, LF
3. Manny Machado, 3B
4. Ty France, 1B
5. Jackson Merrill, CF
6. Gavin Sheets, DH
7. Xander Bogaerts, SS
8. Luis Campusano, C
9. Jake Cronenworth, 2B

Sheets seems likely to retain sole DH duties since returning from the injured list. Campusano could take over some of that role if Freddy Fermin or Ethan Salas are behind the dish, but Sheets will be limited due to his foot still being somewhat injured. The slugger launched a mammoth home run (17) in the regular season finale on Sunday afternoon. His resurgence could be huge for the Friars.

Relief corps

It’s imperative that San Diego wins this game, meaning it’s all hands on deck until they advance or go home. Jason Adam, Griffin Canning, Yuki Matsui, Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon, David Morgan, Bradgley Rodriguez, Wandy Peralta and Randy Vásquez should be the options out of the ‘pen for the Padres.

However, Robbie Ray could easily fill out a bullpen role for San Diego. That seems unlikely, given his lack of working in bulk relief. Ray will seemingly be left off of the roster until a potential NLDS matchup with the Milwaukee Brewers. The bullpen could easily be the turning point for San Diego in this series. In a three-game set, all the Padres need is a lead going into the seventh and a win is all but guaranteed.

Major League Baseball on Tuesday announced the broadcast schedule for the first few days of the Division Series, and Game 2 of the Dodgers’ NLDS at Dodger Stadium will be played under the lights on Sunday at Dodger Stadium. As for Game 1 on Saturday, that depends on who wins the Cubs-Padres wild card series in San Diego.

Keep in mind, the Dodgers won’t be playing the Cubs-Padres winner in the NLDS. The Dodgers will play either the Atlanta Braves or Philadelphia Phillies. Atlanta leads Philadelphia 1-0 in their best-of-3 wild card series.

If the Cubs win the wild card round, the Dodgers on Saturday will play at 6 p.m. PT in Game 1 of the NLDS in a game televised by FS1. If the Padres win the wild card round, the Dodgers will play Game 1 at 1 p.m. PT Saturday and be televised by FS1.

Either way, Game 2 on Sunday at Dodger Stadium is set for 5 p.m. on FS1. The start times for rest of the Division Series will be revealed later this week, after all the wild card series have been decided.

Fox Sports will televise the entirety of the National League playoffs as well as the World Series, which means every game the Dodgers play this October will be televised by Fox or FS1. Announcer assignments haven’t yet been announced by Fox for the NLDS.

Game	Date	Location	Time (PT)	TV
1	Sat, Oct 3	Dodger Stadium	1 p.m. or 6 p.m.	Fox or FS1
2	Sun, Oct 4	Dodger Stadium	5 p.m.	FS1
3	Tue, Oct 6	Atlanta/Philadelphia	TBA	Fox or FS1
4*	Wed, Oct 7	Atlanta/Philadelphia	TBA	Fox or FS1
5*	Fri, Oct 9	Dodger Stadium	TBA	Fox or FS1

Saturday is the opener for all four Division Series, while the two American League series have Sunday off before resuming on Monday with Games 2. That leaves Sunday as a two-game day for both National League series.

Saturday, October 3 schedule

• ALDS Game 1: Astros/White Sox at Guardians, 10 a.m. PT (TBS)
• NLDS Game 1: Cubs at Brewers or Braves/Phillies at Dodgers at 1 p.m. (Fox)
• ALDS Game 1: Yankees/Red Sox at Rays, 3:30 p.m. (TBS)
• NLDS Game 1: Padres at Brewers at 4:30 p.m. or Braves/Phillies at Dodgers at 6 p.m. (FS1)

Sunday, October 4 schedule

• NLDS Game 2: Padres/Cubs at Brewers, 1 p.m. (FS1)
• NLDS Game 2: Braves/Phillies at Dodgers, 5 p.m. (Fox)

Monday, October 5 schedule

• ALDS Game 2: Astros/White Sox at Guardians, 2 p.m. (TBS)
• ALDS Game 2: Yankees/Red Sox at Rays, 5 p.m. (TBS)

Yankees manager Aaron Boone provided some updates prior to Tuesday's Wild Card Game 1 in the Bronx...

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How close was the captain to a Wild Card return?

Aaron Judge was grinding his way back from his right calf injury in an effort to get onto the Yankees Wild Card roster, but in the end, he ultimately missed the cut. 

Judge was able to take live batting practice on Monday's off day in the Bronx. 

Boone said that the team has been encouraged by what they've seen from him to this point, but after meeting with the training staff, they felt he wasn't there yet.

"Yesterday was a significant step for him, and a sign that he's shown some real improvement over the last couple of weeks," the skipper said. "We had an honest conversation with the trainers last night after the workout, and I just felt like he wasn't quite ready to be what he needs to be for us."

Judge will continue to progress his way back, and the hope is that these next couple of days will be valuable for him if the Yankees are able to advance past the Red Sox into the ALDS. 

"He is doing everything he can to get better and heal as quickly as possible," Boone emphasized. 

With Judge remaining sidelined, though, New York will lean on trade deadline addition Heliot Ramos to handle the bulk of the playing time in right field against Boston's lefty-heavy pitching staff. 

Tuesday will mark the first postseason game of Ramos' five-year big-league career. 

"I just want to gain everyone's trust," the 27-year-old outfielder said. "Judge, his presence, the type of player he is, nobody can compare to that -- but at the end of the day, I'm me, I know I'm ready for it and I'm ready to go."

Grish and Big G back in the mix

While Judge wasn't ready to roll, the Yanks will receive two of their regular back for the series. 

Both Giancarlo Stanton and Trent Grisham were able to return from their respective injuries after making significant progress in the closing weeks of the regular season. 

Grisham, out since Sept. 4 with a hamstring strain, is a full-go.

As for Stanton, Boone said that it's "awesome" seeing the big man back in the mix having been sidelined since late-April due to a calf strain and numerous reaggravations of the injury. 

"It's been a really tough year for G on the injury-front," he explained. "I give him a ton of credit -- after this last setback a month ago he could've just taken his ball and gone home, but he's just never stopped -- even through the frustration of a couple setbacks he's never stopped working to be some kind of option."

Even with all of the down time, Stanton's bat should play, as he's continued hitting throughout the year.

Don't expect to see him out there too too much in this series, though, as he'll likely only be limited to pinch-hit duties with the makeup of the Yanks Wild Card roster.

"It's a bullet off the bench, and it's a pretty dynamic one," Boone emphasized. "He feels ready to go, I know he'll handle the moment mentally and emotionally, and hopefully he has a big swing or two in him."

Stanton's had his share of big swings in his Yankee playoff career, racking up 16 HR and a .939 OPS over the years.

Weathers misses the cut

Like Judge, Boone said that it was a "tough call" to have to leave lefty Ryan Weathers off the WC roster.  

Weathers has been making tremendous progress returning from a forearm strain over the past few weeks, and looked healthy throwing his live BP session on Monday. 

Boone decided, however, they were better off playing things safe. 

"He threw one live going into yesterday, so had he been on this roster he wouldn't have thrown that yesterday, and I felt like we would be really limited with what we have going with 10 pitchers," Boone explained. "I felt like I probably would've had one inning with him in this series.

"So I feel like he needed that next one, and obviously there are no guarantees, but if we are able to advance I feel like he'll be in a good place to really be able to impact us moving forward."

Weathers has been sidelined since late-August due to the forearm flexor strain. 

The Braves have not had a good time playing the Phillies in the postseason recently. Austin Riley had a nightmarish 2026 season. While the end of this story isn’t yet set down in ink, the first intonations of a ritual chant could be heard on Tuesday afternoon, as Riley hit a monstrously-important three-run shot and the Braves grabbed the driver’s seat in their three-game set.

Before we get to a full recounting of events, it’s “important” to internalize that this was a crazy back-and-forth affair. The Phillies jumped ahead, the Braves tied it, the Braves jumped ahead, then the Phillies jumped ahead, and then BAM, Austin Riley made his way to the top rope, and delivered a knockout below. (Can you knock out demons? Ask Doom Guy, I don’t know. Why don’t they just talk to the Phillies?)

Brb gonna go watch this over and over again #LetItFly https://t.co/3EwUQCn4XX— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) September 29, 2026

The Braves have done a few things well this season. First, they have employed Chris Sale. Second, their bullpen has been pretty great, especially in terms of guys like Didier Fuentes. Third, they have played good defense. None of those helped the Braves as much as they could have today, as the Phillies pulled ahead while Fuentes was pitching thanks to a defensive problem. But, who cares. Riley came through, and the Braves have a 1-0 lead.

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Okay, let’s go sequentially now. This game was weird, much like the Braves’ season. A lot of weird stuff happened. Let’s go.

Chris Sale’s day started with strikeout-walk-strikeout. In a 2-2 count, Sale threw a quite high 99 mph fastball around letter-high to Alec Bohm, and the latter jacked it to the left side of dead center. If the Braves were playing Bohm straightaway or to pull, Michael Harris II catches the ball, but he started on the same vertical “plane” as Ozzie Albies playing Bohm to pull, and couldn’t flag it down. 1-0, Phightins. A routine fly to center two pitches later got Sale back in the dugout.

The Braves basically can’t hit the Phillies version of Jesus Luzardo, and surprise surprise, they did not hit the Phillies version of Luzardo in this game. It didn’t matter that Luzardo hadn’t had a start since early in September and had thrown a four-pitch inning two days ago. The Braves had nothing, really. Fortunately, the Phillies basically couldn’t do anything about Sale, either. The next two frames had no action.

Mauricio Dubon started the bottom of the second with a bloop double to left, and then stuff got weird. Harris bunted for some reason, but okay, runner on third. Albies followed with a walk. Luzardo, Riley, and Riley’s passive trait, “WPA Vortex” (why did you take that trait, Austin?!) then resulted in something I’ve never seen before: Luzardo threw a pitch high and tight. Riley shrunk back, and the ball hit the knob of Riley’s bat… and bumped into fair territory. Dubon was dead to rights off the third base bag, and the Braves looked like they squandered an opportunity, until…

…Mike Yastrzemski, in there at DH despite a lefty on the hill given the Braves’ spare parts backend of the roster, jumped at a first pitch sinker and rolled it weakly back up the box for a seeing-eye, game tying single. Luzardo followed with a full count to Ha-Seong Kim, but struck him out on a pitch inside.

And then, it was more rolling for Sale and Luzardo. The Braves got a couple on in the fourth — this time, Riley got legitimately plunked and the knob of his bat wasn’t involved. Yastrzemski only managed a weak flyout, though.

Sale struck out the side in the fifth, working around a two-out roller double down the line. Luzardo also kept chugging, with just a hit-by-pitch of Ronald Acuña Jr. in the bottom of the inning. In the sixth, there was a Kyle Schwarber single off Sale, and a scary moment where Bryce Harper almost hit a two-run homer but hooked it foul, but nothing else. And, in the sixth, the Phillies finally removed Luzardo — 77 pitches, five innings, a 6/1 K/BB ratio, two hit-by-pitches, and one very fortunate knob job.

The Braves wasted no time celebrating a lack of Luzardo. Harris singled with one out, and Albies wrapped his heavy bat head around a 99 mph, belt-high fastball from Alex McFarlane. The ball was nearly a homer, but instead, it hit a leaping Derek Hill in the wrist at the wall, turning into a go-ahead triple. Did the Braves score Albies? No, they did not. Riley grounded out, and Yastrzemski, now getting to face a righty, struck out.

It was a short-lived lead. Sale came out and struck out Hill, which featured a bizarre sequence where the NBC broadcast completely fell apart and seemed to have no idea who was batting, what the count was (even beyond John Kruk, who seemed to lose track of those things over the course of the game). That could’ve been a humorous aside, but it turned sinister. Sale clipped Bryan De La Cruz for his second plunking of the day, and then Bryson Stott, after trying to bunt, blooped a single on a way-inside fastball to put runners on the corners.

That was it for Sale: a 9/1 K/BB ratio, two hit-by-pitches, and not much else. One strength had done its business, and now it was time for another: Didier Fuentes. Except, it didn’t work out that way. Fuentes did get pinch-hitter Justin Crawford to mishit an in-zone 3-1 slider and pop it up to shallow center, keeping the game tied. But, on a 1-0 pitch, J.T. Realmuto lashed a 99 fastball on the outer portion for what was called a “triple.” It wasn’t really a triple — Acuña ran over to cut the ball off but failed to glove it, allowing Realmuto to get to third. Would Stott have scored anyway? I have no idea. Fortunately, we don’t need to debate this because of Big Boss Austin Riley. Fuentes escaped the inning, but the Braves were now down.

The Phillies did a weird thing. They brought in mega-closer Jhoan Duran in the seventh. I get it. The top of this Braves lineup is, on paper, the only scary thing. Duran ate the Braves alive in the bottom of the seventh, or nearly did. He only threw 12 pitches, but the last one was a 3-1, down-the-pipe, batter licks his lips (his own lips, not Duran’s) splitter, and Acuña took a huge hack… but got under it, and the 106 mph exit velocity only went 369 feet for an easy flyout.

Dylan Lee had no trouble in the eighth, and the bottom of the frame started with Curt saying, “oh, this is one of those games” in our internal Slack, as Matt Olson hit a screaming liner right into Duran’s glove. That sentiment continued, as Dubon tried to bloop a ball to right, but it was caught.

And then, the fun began. Harris singled, his third hit of the day, on a bouncer past the mound. (Trea Turner threw the ball away, but it didn’t matter.) Duran then walked Albies. Or hit Albies. I don’t know, his 3-2 pitch missed badly and the Braves challenged but uh, I guess the box score says he got hit. And then, Austin Riley time. Remember that WPA Vortex trait? I guess he somehow got out of it, because, well, this was the biggest hit of the Braves’ season so far:

AUSTIN RILEY GOES DEEEEP! 💣 #BravesCountry

“Riley rattles one out of here as he gave it a ride. And the Braves take the lead in the 8th!”@IngramRadio | @BravesRadioNethttps://t.co/EwnYfup4yCpic.twitter.com/dRasGvxEwh— 680 The Fan (@680TheFan) September 29, 2026

He knew it. The stadium knew it. The Phillies fans that hate their team for some reason (look, no real shade, we have a ton of those here too) knew it. 5-3, Braves.

The ball was apparently wind-aided. It didn’t matter; it would’ve scored both Harris and Albies anyway with two outs, and the Phillies didn’t plate another.

Raisel Iglesias slammed the door. Well, I guess it was more like, “he was there while some other guys shoved it shut.” There was a leadoff single by Brandon Marsh, but De La Cruz followed by rolling a sinker right to Dubon at short for an easy double play. (Dubon moved over to short after Dominic Smith pinch hit for Ha-Seong Kim earlier in the game.) After a brief, four-pitch battle with Stott, an easy fly to left resulted, and just like that… the exorcism was begun in earnest.

Both Riley and Albies had struggle bug seasons, but came through in a big way, with two big extra-base hits a walk, and a hit-by-pitch between them. (Also that weird off-the-knob thing.) The top of the lineup did basically nothing, 0-for-11 with a hit-by-pitch and three strikeouts, but it didn’t matter with Riley in the house.

The series continues tomorrow as the Braves will try to get an old priest and a young priest onto the field and advance to the next round.

Jesus Luzardo, who’s last start was back on September 7th, pitched five innings of one-run ball. It was easily the best-case scenario given how things could play out.

The Phillies’ offense entered this postseason ranked 28th in wRC+ and was without Luis Arraez, who was their cleanup hitter before a brutal sprained ankle took him off the postseason roster. Despite that and despite facing Chris Sale, who is nearly a lock to finish in the top five for the National League Cy Young race, they tacked on three runs. It was probably the best-case scenario.

Despite all of that, the Phillies just couldn’t muster enough to take down the Braves in game one. While
Cristopher Sánchez takes the ball for game two, 15 of the 16 Wild Card series entering 2026 went to the team who won game one. The Phillies could win the series still, but it would take a lot.

Everything seemed to go the Phillies’ way in the first. Sale was not sharp, struggling to land the fastball in the zone and get a strong feel for his unhittable slider. Kyle Schwarber worked a one-out walk that took seven pitches. After a Bryce Harper strikeout, Alec Bohm crushed a head-high, 99.1 mph fastball right after the head of a sprinting Michael Harris in center field. Schwarber scored easily without a competitive throw.

Luzardo’s first inning was like clockwork but the second inning featured trouble. He struggled to land his fastball in the zone for strikes and had no feel for his sweeper and changeup. He hung a changeup to Mauricio Dubón, who smoked a double down the left field line to lead off the inning.

After a Michael Harris sacrifice bunt, Ozzie Albies worked a five-pitch walk with Luzardo struggling to throw competitive pitches. He got bailed out against Austin Riley, who saw a fastball going right to his hands, only to hit the knob of the ball and squirt right to Luzardo. Dubón made a very smart play at third, getting into a rundown that allowed Albies to get to third with two outs.

On the very next pitch, Mike Yastrzemski punched a seeing-eye single right past Bryson Stott’s glove and the Braves tied it at one.

Neither Luzardo or Sale would run into issues for nearly the remainder of their outings. Sale coasted with the fastball and slider with an occasional changeup. There was an Edmundo Sosa double in the fifth with two outs, but JT Realmuto went down swinging to end the threat.

It was the Phillies bullpen that started to bring offensive life into this game. Don Mattingly’s first guy out was Alex McFarlane, the rookie right-hander with an overpowering fastball, who’s command has gotten better and better with almost every outing.

With one out, Michael Harris went to left field on a 101.6 mph sinker, tailing away from the strike zone for a single. On the third pitch Albies saw, he smoked a 99.3 mph fastball to dead center field but Derek Hill mistimed his jump and the ball went right off his wrist. Albies got to third easily and Harris ran home and the Braves took a 1-0 lead.

With one out and a runner at third, McFarlane was able to settle down, getting an Austin Riley groundout and a Mike Yastrzemski strikeout.

The Braves sent Sale back out for the seventh and almost immediately looked gassed. With one out, Bryan De La Cruz was hit by a slider and Bryson Stott punched a fastball into right field to put runners on first and third.

Mattingly went to his bench, asking Justin Crawford to come up in a big spot against Braves right handed Didier Fuentes. Both were rookies who made the opening day roster and play roles in both teams getting to this point, albeit Fuentes was significantly better.

With a 3-1 count, Crawford hit a pop up on a slider and the runners stayed put. On the second pitch JT Realmuto saw, he punched a 99.4 mph fastball right over Matt Olson’s head and down the right field line. It took a weird hop on the lip of the grass, which Ronald Acuña Jr. could not handle. Both runners scored and the Phillies took the lead with nine more outs to go.

Jhoan Duran came in because the Phillies have no other options. Asking Duran to get six, maybe even all nine outs is a task almost any reliever would fail at. But this is where the Phillies are at. There was no one else.

He worked quickly through the seventh inning and got the first two outs of the eighth with a manageable pitch count. It seemed like Duran was ready to potentially give them all nine outs for the Phillies to steal a game, and potentially steal a playoff series they have no business being in.

With a 2-0 count, Michael Harris swung at a splinker, that chopped right over Duran’s head and Trea Turner had no chance to exchange the ball from his glove and fire an out to first base. After that infield single, Duran hit Ozzie Albies on a backfoot curveball that put two runners on.

After a lengthy review to decide that it clearly hit Albies foot, Austin Riley stepped into the batters box looking for a fastball. He got that fastball, only at 99.9 mph but it wasn’t 102 like Duran was throwing earlier. Riley got the barrel to hit, 104.6 mph off the bat and barely over the large right field wall that swung the series. The Braves took a 5-3 lead and the Phillies went down in the ninth.

It will be easy to blame Duran for that, blame Mattingly for that, or whoever. The Phillies bullpen entered this series with two trusted relievers. The aforementioned Duran, who had a 1.82 ERA over 59.1 innings as the Phillies’ closer and Alex McFarlane. Both of them allowed runs, Duran allowed a three-run homerun.

However, the Phillies were asking for trouble when the best possible plan called for both of them to successfully pitch multiple innings to win a playoff game. Neither could and the Braves are in the drivers seat with a 1-0 lead in a best of three.

It didn't take long for the chaos of the MLB postseason to rear its head again.

Game 1 of the NL wild card series between the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies went from a pitcher's duel between Chris Sale and Jesús Luzardo for the first five innings into an offensive back-and-forth over the final four frames. Philly took a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh on a JT Realmuto line drive that Ronald Acuña Jr. fumbled with in right field as Bryan De La Cruz rounded the bases and scored the go-ahead run from first. Realmuto was officially credited with a triple.

Then, in the bottom of the eighth, Austin Riley stepped up for Atlanta.

Michael Harris II started a two-out rally with a single to short. Ozzie Albies then reached first after a low knuckle curve from Jhoan Duran hit his back foot to set the table for Riley, who took Duran deep to right field on a first-pitch heater down the middle for a three-run blast.

AUSTIN RILEY
GO-AHEAD THREE-RUN HOMER
ATLANTA IS GOING WILD 🤯 pic.twitter.com/XrPQnazvVO

— MLB (@MLB) September 29, 2026

Raisel Iglesias made quick work of the Phillies in the top of the ninth to hold onto a 5-3 Braves win. They're now one win away from punching their ticket to the NLDS, where they'd face the NL No. 2 seed Los Angeles Dodgers.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Watch Braves' Austin Riley deliver dramatic go-ahead home run vs Phillies

I am an optimist.  My definition of Diamondbacks success is reaching the playoffs.  Today, my thoughts are making a rare walk through the dark side to address what kept the Diamondbacks from success.

Let’s look at eleven reasons.  My view is that 4 reasons had no negative impact, 3 reasons had low negative impact (perhaps one win), and 4 reasons had high negative impact.

No Negative Impact.

1. Trade Deadline Moves Compared to the Phillies.

“We can sit here and kick ourselves for the trade deadline and say we could have done more…” Derrick Hall interview on Arizona Sports

A table in this AZ Snake Pit article (4 August) showed that at the trade deadline these two teams needed the same things (starting pitcher, relief pitcher, and a left-handed batter).  Phillies did more to address their needs by acquiring two relief pitchers (Caleb Kilian and Brooks Raley), as well as second baseman Luis Arraez.  The Diamondbacks acquired Lars Nootbaar.

Surprisingly, it could be argued that Nootbaar made more impact than three acquisitions by the Phillies.  The following list is a top-level view of the impact of these players.

• D-backs, Lars Nootbaar: 113 OPS+
• Phillies, Caleb Kilian: 37 ERA+
• Phillies, Brooks Raley: 58 ERA+
• Phillies, Luis Arraez: 82 OPS+

The Diamondbacks trade-deadline acquisition was the only one who performed above average.

2.  Torey Lovullo.

“I know there are Torey critics out there, but look at the job he’s done…This year is probably his best year, even with his 2023 getting to the World Series. … He’s done a terrific, terrific job this year…”  Derrick Hall interview on Arizona Sports

My view is that this season had more challenges than any of his previous seasons; and despite the challenges he nearly led the team into the playoffs.

3.  Drama & Distraction of Ketel Marte.  The Diamondbacks lost two of three games while Marte was on the restricted list. However, I would attribute those losses to poor pitching with 9 and 11 runs allowed in the losses.  Furthermore, my view is that Torey Lovullo handled the situation masterfully to prevent any impact. 

4.  Season Record was 6-7 Vs Padres.  Blame could be placed on losing the last two games of the season against the Padres.  The Padres are a great team, worthy of the playoffs.  The win-loss record is about what I would expect, even if the Diamondbacks reached the playoffs. 

Low Negative Impact.

5. At Chase Field, Too Many Losses to Rockies.  In away games, the Rockies won 26 and lost 55.  At Chase Field, the Rockies did better with 3 wins and 4 losses.   If Chase was an average venue, the Rockies would have one less win (and the Diamondbacks one more win).

6. The Padres Win Streak.  From 6-20 September, the Padres won 13 of 14 games.  That put them ahead of the Diamondbacks in the race for a Wild-Card position.

7.  Inconsistent and Poorly Performing Players at First Base. 

This season, the team Wins Above Average (WAA) at first base was negative 2.4.  This season, Ildemaro Vargas had the most games at first base (74 games).  This season, he seemed to mostly share the position:

• April/May, shared with Jose Fernandez
• June, shared with Pavin Smith
• July/August, shared with Tim Tawa and Tyler Locklear
• September, shared with Tim Tawa and Pavin Smith

For more detail, see this AZ Snake Pit article, which will be posted next week.

High Negative Impact.

8.  Losses in 1-run Games Compared to the Phillies.  The Phillies lost fewer 1-run games than the Diamondbacks (16 vs 21).  My view is that difference accounts for a 5-win difference between the teams. 

Another view is to compare the percentage of 1-run games lost.  The Phillies lost a smaller percentage of 1-run games (39% vs 43%).

9.  In June and July, Injuries to Starting Pitchers.  Albeit, significant injuries happened prior to June and July, those two months were the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.  The following list shows the impacts.

• Corbin Burnes, about June, tore his Teres Major which delayed his return to 8 September.
• Ryne Nelson, 16 June to 16 September, returned as a reliever.
• Michael Soroka, 20 June to 5 July, worse ERA upon return; Dbacks lost 5 of 7 games.
• Zac Gallen, 9 July to 7 September, returned as a reliever.

10.  Heavy Use of Young and Inexperienced Bullpen Pitchers.  Two examples stand out:

Jose Cabrera, 24 years old, instrumental in 3 losses: 27 June, 3 July, 26 September.

Mitch Bratt, 22 years old, instrumental in 2 losses: 25 July, 11 August.

11.  Decline in Performance of Three Batters.  The following list shows this season’s decline for three outstanding players:

• Ketel Marte, 2025: 147 OPS+, 2026: 107 OPS+
• Corbin Carroll, 2025: 143 OPS+, 2026: 120 OPS+
• Geraldo Perdomo, 2025: 138 OPS+, 2026: 110 OPS+

Summary.

There were four main reasons why the Diamondbacks missed the playoffs:

• Five more losses in 1-run games compared to the Phillies. 
• In June and July, four starting pitchers were injured (Burnes, Nelson, Soroka, and Gallen).
• Heavy use of young and inexperienced bullpen pitchers.
• Three batters declined (Marte, Carroll, and Perdomo).

Rooting for long, grueling, exhausting contests

With a compression sleeve on his throwing arm underneath a cheeky t-shirt in support of Game 1 starting pitcher Cam Schlittler, Yankees left-hander Max Fried attended a news conference on Tuesday afternoon as he prepares to start Game 2 against the Boston Red Sox.

Max Fried is wearing his Cam Schlittler shirt for his press conference today pic.twitter.com/TLG5RqHu62

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) September 29, 2026

Fried missed a chunk of games during this past regular season due to a left elbow issue, first back in May and then again in mid-August.

Thankfully, unlike ailing Yankees captain Aaron Judge, the star is good to go for the team's AL Wild Card series against Boston.

In fact, the top four arms in New York's starting pitching rotation — Schlittler, Fried, Gerrit Cole, and Carlos Rodón — are all healthy entering the postseason.

"This was the goal, to make sure that we were in a good, built-up, healthy position going into the playoffs," said Fried. "It's a credit to the training staff, the coaches, and obviously, the rest of the team who picked us up when any of us were out [injured]."

"We're really excited to go out and try to win a World Series... we didn't get here by accident."

Fried is no stranger to the champagne showers of the Fall Classic. During his time with the Atlanta Braves, he spun a championship-clinching performance of six shutout innings against the Houston Astros on the road in Game 6 of the 2021 World Series.

Fried's most recent playoff outing for the Yankees was in Game 2 of the 2025 ALDS on the road against a different AL East rival, the Toronto Blue Jays.

In that game, Fried lasted just three innings, allowing seven earned runs on eight hits, a game which the Yankees went on to lose 13-7. 

New York won just a single game of that best-of-five series, swiftly eliminated from the postseason by last postseason's eventual AL pennant winners.

"Anytime you don't end the season holding up the [World Series] trophy, it doesn't sit well with you," Fried lamented, reflecting on his performance against the Blue Jays. "Starting in spring training, you sacrifice time that would be spent with family to go out there with a group of guys and have the goal of winning it all."

"When you come up short, it's tough, given how much you've put into it, so it was definitely something that fueled me last offseason when I was working on my own."

Depending on the outcome of Game 1 of the Wild Card, Fried will be tasked with either salvaging the season or clinching a sweep over their fiercest rivals in Game 2.

He claims that he'll be dialed in, regardless of the situation.

"It's the same," Fried declared. "Any time I take the ball, whether it's the regular season or the playoffs, I have the feeling that we have to win today's game."

Just two years ago, the Chicago White Sox etched 121 losses in the record books to mark the worst MLB season in modern history. Fast forward through another turbulent season in 2025, and the South Siders suffered three straight 100-loss seasons, albeit with a more positive second half as several of the organization’s promising prospects began to make a difference while others worked on improving their approach. Many White Sox fans assumed it would be a moderately-improved season in 2026, knowing that the Good Guys had officially moved on from the failed 2021 roster, and pretty much every baseball journalist and projection model expected the same.

The South Side clubhouse was aware that no one was expecting them to make any noise this year with so many prospects breaking into the big leagues, and after a rough April it another season in the second division might be the case. But with 36 comeback wins and 11 walk-offs, Chicago showcased the elite talent that was cooking up at 35th and Shields, along with a resilience that never counted them out. The White Sox were seven games worse than .500 in mid-April, and at their best were nine games better in late August, spending a total of 96 days atop of the AL Central. Despite ultimately earning a Wild Card spot rather than a division title, the White Sox still made history with their 84 wins by qualifying for the playoffs after three consecutive 100-loss seasons.

As the South Siders head to Houston for a three-game Wild Card series against the AL West champion Houston Astros, looking for revenge from their 2021 ALDS defeat. With the MLB postseason comes playoff rosters, and the White Sox released theirs earlier today, announcing that they will be carrying 12 pitchers, two catchers, five infielders, and seven outfielders. The two most notable players who did not make the roster were righthander Trevor Richards, and catcher Drew Romo, who both spent a significant time on the South Side this season and were key contributors. Jake Rogers will slot in as the backup catcher behind Kyle Teel, and as one of the bigger surprises, Tommy Pham will be joining Chicago rather than adding a 13th pitcher.

Today’s game will be the first time in postseason history that both teams will be leveraging an opener to start the game, likely sending baseball traditionalists — and many White Sox fans — into a tailspin. Chicago has used an opener 31 times this season, and in their defense, it has gotten them this far. Is there still concern that the pitching depth might not be enough to make a deep playoff run? Sure there is. But we are working with what we got, because GM Chris Getz chose not to spend on another starter at the trade deadline, and the starter that he did trade for isn’t even on the playoff roster (Luis Castillo).

With that, lefthander Hagen Smith will make his first career postseason start, and will be his second appearance as an opener since joining the White Sox. Smith tossed 28 innings in 18 games with the South Siders in 2026, posting an excellent 1.29 ERA to complement a 0.964 WHIP while striking out 41 batters at a 37.3% strikeout rate, which was the fifth-highest in all of baseball (minimum 20 IP). The overall though process behind the opener today is to attempt to shut down the top of the order right off the bat, as the first three hitters for Houston (Jeremy Peña, Yordan Alvarez and Isaac Paredes) all have weaker splits against left-handed pitchers compared to righties.

Sox fans wondering why they're rolling out Hagen Smith to start against the Astros?

The Astros' top 3 hitters (Pena, Alvarez, and Paredes) fare better vs RHP than LHP.

Why wouldn't you try to steal a PA vs RHP for those guys? Make Altuve, Diaz, Walker etc beat you. pic.twitter.com/O86oGgoCcF

— Sean Sullivan (@papamoon92) September 29, 2026

Recency bias also doesn’t help defend the opener, as we’ve had a couple of brutal outings recently with Chris Murphy and Bryan Hudson. However, with how strong Hagen has been since being called up, there’s more optimism with the strategy this time around. After Smith, it’s probable that righthander Erick Fedde will take over as the bulk pitcher, and he has been one of the more consistent arms that the Sox have had down the stretch.

As for the lineup, the South Siders are working with the right-handed pitcher AJ Blubaugh on the mound for the Astros, with the batting over heavily favoring left-handed hitters. Given the RHP matchup, Sam Antonacci will maintain the leadoff spot, with Kyle Teel and Miguel Vargas rounding out the top three. Andrew Benintendi will take over as the DH, though it’s still possible we see Randal Grichuk sub in at some point depending on the Astros bullpen situation. The main change between the typical batting order is that Colson Montgomery will be slotted into the 9-spot considering his struggles at the plate recently, though he’s still a sound shortstop with more than 30 bombs on the season and he could run into one any time.

For the Astros, Blubaugh will be opening for the first time in 2026 after coming out of the bullpen for all 64 appearances this season. The righty owns a 3.66 ERA in 96 frames with a 1.229 WHIP, though he doesn’t strike batters out at as high of a rate as Smith does. Blubaugh has posted 96 Ks with a 23.4% strikeout rate, though he also has walked batters 10.5% of the time, which could be beneficial for a White Sox team that ranks sixth in MLB in walk rate (9.5% BB%).

The South Siders have only defeated the Astros twice in seven games this season, and they’ve seen their fair share of Astros power hitters. In order to be successful tonight, the key will be to control the top of the order and keep them off base as much as possible. Outside of Alvarez, Peña, and Paredes, you can’t sleep on José Altuve, who owns a career .842 OPS in the postseason.

Because MLB can’t make anything easy, tonight’s game can be viewed either on NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) or on NBC’s streaming service Peacock. We also have extra details in our broadcast guide for the week, but at least they made it easy enough to remember that we play at the same time for the next few days, and we still get to listen to Steve Stone in the broadcast. First pitch will take place at 4:00 p.m. CT at Daikin Park, and it’s time for a White Sox winner.