Category: Baseball

The Phillies and the Braves appear to be postseason-linked in the same way that Martin Perez and I are — perhaps not inextricably, but… annoyingly? Yeah, that’s the right adverb.

On the plus side for the Braves, the Phillies are neither particularly good, nor did they really get a chance to set things up for a playoff round. Among the four possible teams the Braves could have conceivably faced in the first round, the Phillies are:

• Last in position player value (26th overall);
• First in pitching value (second overall); and
• Have less combined fWAR (35.7) than the Cubs have position player fWAR (37.8). The Padres are about three wins ahead in terms of fWAR, and the Cubs nine wins ahead, but the Diamondbacks finished about three wins behind. (I would’ve preferred to play the Diamondbacks.)

The Braves dominated the Phillies this year, but the Braves are also aren’t very good on paper (+5.4 position player fWAR, -8.2 pitching fWAR), and a lot of that split in record occurred because these two teams played seven of their 13 games when the Phillies were foundering and the Braves were destroying all (baseball) life on earth during the first two months of the season. So, eh.

The other consideration has to do with the narrative. In 2022, the Braves finished with 14 more in-the-standings wins than the Phillies, and went 11-8 against them during the season, but lost the NLDS, three games to one. In 2023, the Braves finished with 14 more -in-the-standings wins than the Phillies, and went 8-5 against them during the season, but lost the NLDS, three games to one.

In 2026, the Braves finished with six more in-the-standings wins than the Phillies, and went 9-4 against them during season, and… I dunno.

In reality, there’s not too much be drawn from whatever happens in a best-of-three, especially when these two teams aren’t really even all that different. But, it’d probably be less of a weight on my soul if there wasn’t even the opportunity for people to draw a line through three, instead of two, points of anecdata and present as incontrovertible proof of… something. Sure, the Braves could also pull off a pseudo-exorcism of a not-particularly-real demon by just winning a coin flip-ish best-of-three, but I don’t think that’d be as gratifying as “bUiLt FoR oCtObEr” is annoying.

Anyway, what do you think — are you in the, “Yes, let’s play the Phillies!” camp, or somewhere else?

Game 162 doesn’t hit quite like it used to with the proliferation of Wild Card spots, but as long as there are still some stakes, it offers some excitement. Selfishly, I always prefer when the Yankees don’t have stakes and I can just neutrally watch the chaos, which is what yesterday at least partially offered — just with an unnecessarily long stay of execution waiting for a Yankees rain delay to officially turn to cancellation. The AL West Rock Fight between Houston and Texas came to its beautifully dumb, record-low conclusion, and there was still a Wild Card spot up for grabs in the Senior Circuit as well. Beyond that, it was a day of tune-ups.

So while Game 162, Here’s what went on among the final American League contenders.

Houston Astros (81-81) 9, The Athletics (64-98) 0

Well, we’ve reached the end of the long, dumb road of AL West baseball in 2026, where no one had a positive run differential. The Astros are your first .500 division champion in MLB history, beating out the 82-80 Padres of 2005 and the 82-79 Mets of 1973. Those Padres immediately got bounced in a Cardinals sweep, but those Mets upset the Big Red Machine and then took the dynasty Oakland A’s to Game 7 of the World Series, even holding a 3-2 series lead at one point. You just have to get in, and you never know! So while we’ve had our chuckles with this awful division in 2026, look: the Astros will home-field advantage over the overachieving White Sox in the Wild Card Series. If they get past them—which would be no great shock—then they only have to beat an 85-win Guardians team in the ALDS to go to the ALCS, and who knows what happens from there?

The franchise is a cockroach. It was delightful when Detroit dusted them in two in 2024 and when they missed the playoffs outright in 2025. But they’re not dead yet. Technically, they already knew that they were AL West champions a couple innings before the final out of this one because the Rangers lost first to clinch it, but as is probably evident by the score, their in-state rivals were rendered a nonfactor. It’s Houston’s eighth division title in the last decade.

Houston dropped four runs on A’s reliever Brady Brasso in the third, and a pair in the sixth and seventh all but put the champagne on ice. Christian Walker homered and was joined by Jeremy Peña, Yainer Diaz, and Cam Smith with multi-hit games. Yordan Alvarez fell short to Pete Alonso in his Triple Crown bid since the latter led the AL in homers (43) and RBI (113), but Yordan took home the batting crown with a .316. His 6.8 fWAR and 181 wRC+ will likely help him to an MVP as well come November.

Anyway, here’s the Astros celebrating in the A’s visitor batting cages because, well, their clubhouse is literally a minor-league clubhouse and there’s not enough room. That’s small potatoes compared to other things, but we must not be desensitized to the fact that John Fisher made this once-great franchise a joke.

Texas Rangers (80-82) 4, Minnesota Twins (77-85) 6

We’ll keep it snappy here since you already know the story. The Rangers never had a lead to make the Astros sweat at all in this one as offseason addition MacKenzie Gore looked gassed from the jump and cramping forced him out in the third. Chase Silseth gave up a two-run shot to Josh Bell and Minnesota kept the runs coming. They led 5-1 for a good chunk of this one, and though Elías Díaz hit a solo shot for Texas in the eighth, former No. 1 overall pick Royce Lewis went yard in what could be his final game with the Twins. And while Corey Seager went yard for a two runs in the ninth, Andrew Morris fanned Jake Burger and got Ezequiel Duran to fly out to put the Rangers to bed. Their championship 2023 was a high-water mark for the franchise, and yet it represents a true baseball anomaly, as that remains the only season in the past 10 in which they made the playoffs.

Boston Red Sox (87-75) 2, Chicago Cubs (89-73) 6

This game was relocated from Boston to St. Petersburg due to the nor’easter, and the assumption was that they would have to play it because there were NL Wild Card stakes for Chicago. As it turned out, the Cubs were already locked into the No. 5 seed by Saturday night, so they just had to play a meaningless game at the Trop because, well, they were there already, might as well scrimmage?

If anyone was happy about the situation, it was Alex Bregman because he hadn’t had many reps since returning from a scary facial fracture. Bregman clobbered a pair of homers to give Chicago a 3-2 lead by the third, and there the score remained until the ninth, when the former Red Sox third baseman was at it again. An RBI double marked his fourth hit and RBI of the afternoon, and two more runs scored. Unsurprisingly, none of Boston’s primary cast of characters from the pitching staff appeared in this one as they rest up for Tuesday in the Bronx.

Tampa Bay Rays (98-64) 3, Philadelphia Phillies (88-74) 7

The Phillies did their best 1964 Phold impression over the past couple weeks with 10 losses in their last 15 games entering Sunday and four in a row to keep the Wild Card-contending Diamondbacks alive heading into Game 162. They should have clinched days ago! But they kept putting up duds, even against a Rays team that didn’t have anything to play for outside of staying healthy as they await their Division Series for next weekend.

The Phils finally (phinally?) got it together on Sunday with old standby Zack Wheeler on the bump. He fired six innings of one-run ball while his offense woke up after days of malaise, scoring four in the first two innings off Nick Martinez with the last two on an emphatic two-run Kyle Schwarber double. Three more scored against Jesse Scholtens, two on homers by Bryce Harper and Edmundo Sosa. Starter Jesús Luzardo also returned from the IL and contributed a scoreless inning in relief. The party was on at Citizens Bank Park, and like Houston, they rendered their foe’s final score irrelevant (Arizona lost to San Diego shortly after this one went final anyway). They’ll go down to Atlanta and face the Braves in what couldbe another great playoff series between these division rivals; the winner there draws the tough task of dethroning the two-time defending champions in LA.

Cleveland Guardians (85-77) 2, Kansas City Royals (68-94) 3

After clinching the AL Central and a first-round bye on Saturday, the Guardians got to sit in cruise control on Sunday, rest regulars, and make sure no one got hurt. Mission accomplished in Game 162, an unimportant loss in Kansas City. Jo Adell and Daniel Schneemann both homered and likely Game 1 or 2 playoff starter Parker Messick threw three good innings before departing. Vinnie Pasquantino hit a pair of dingers off Austin Peterson to secure the win for the Royals, with his eighth-inning shot putting them ahead at the end of a tough season.

Chicago White Sox (84-78) 4, Colorado Rockies (58-104) 2

The Pale Hose didn’t have much to play for on Sunday either, but they still won because hey, the Royals are bad, but the Rockies are the worst team in baseball and will have the best odds for the No. 1 overall pick in 2027 come Draft Lottery time. Speaking of, remember how the White Sox had the No. 1 overall pick this year? It’s still wild that they are already in the playoffs, even in this unimpressive expanded field. They end the year with a 24-win improvement that would’ve impressed almost anyone anyway. Randal Grichuk and Brenton Doyle both homered to give them the win on Sunday.

The White Sox finished with a record three games better than the Astros, but because seeding rules are seeding rules, they will have to win two out of three in Houston to advance to the Division Series and a date with Cleveland.

The Playoff Field

With the 2026 season officially behind us, Camden Chat will spend the next several weeks reviewing the performances of some of the Orioles’ most prominent players this year.

But before that, let’s pour one out for all the non-prominent players who made an appearance for the 2026 Orioles. The blink-and-you-missed-them, “wait, that guy was an Oriole?” kind of roster fillers who spent only a couple of weeks — or days — with the club before vanishing into the ether.

The Orioles used 60 different players this season, an almost paltry number compared to a year ago when they set an MLB record with 70 (which was broken days later when the Braves used their 71st). So here’s a quick look at the members of the 2026 Orioles who didn’t play enough, made too little of an impact, or just were too darn forgettable to merit an individual post in our upcoming series.

The injury-stricken veterans

For a second straight year, injuries were a key factor in the Orioles’ underperformance. Quite a few players that the O’s were counting on to contribute ended up missing significant time. And one of the cruelest blows came in the first week of the season, when Zach Eflin — who’d made an outstanding return from 2025 back surgery, dazzled in spring training, and won a rotation spot — left his season debut with elbow soreness and was forced to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery after just 3.2 innings of work. For that to happen after he’d battled so hard to come back, you have to feel for the guy. The Orioles might have interest in re-signing Eflin, who should be ready to return sometime early next season.

Also suffering an all-too-early injury was Ryan Mountcastle, the second-longest tenured Oriole (he debuted a week after Keegan Akin in 2020). It was a surprise when the O’s brought back Mountcastle for a $6.7 million deal instead of non-tendering him last offseason, and he was an even worse fit once the Orioles signed Pete Alonso, but the idea was that Mountcastle could serve as a right-handed power bat against lefties. In just his 15th plate appearance, Mountcastle broke his foot while running the bases in April, then strained his oblique while preparing to rehab in July. He never returned, and that’s likely the end of his seven-year tenure in Baltimore.

One guy who did return, quite unexpectedly, was Félix Bautista, whose torn rotator cuff and torn labrum in Aug. 2025 were expected to sideline him for the entire 2026 season. The big right-hander worked his way back in late September, albeit after the O’s were out of contention, and gave up three runs in two appearances. His velocity was noticeably down, but maybe having a full offseason will help him come back stronger in 2027. We can only hope.

The random relievers

The Orioles’ Opening Day bullpen included a number of unheralded names. Two of them didn’t last long. The 35-year-old lefty Dietrich Enns, who’d pitched well down the stretch for the Orioles the previous season, issued 11 walks in 16 innings and was banished to Triple-A. He continued to pitch so poorly with Norfolk — a 6.13 ERA in 31 games — that the O’s never brought him back. And right-hander Yaramil Hiraldo was dreadful, coughing up nine runs and 10 walks in 9.1 innings in three stints in the majors.

Anyone remember Lou Trivino? The veteran righty pitched twice, was bombed for six runs, and then returned to the Phillies from whence he came. Lefty Nick Raquet made four appearances; righty Jose Espada made one. And the O’s employed not one but two right-handers named Cameron: Cameron Foster, part of the Gregory Soto trade return, pitched six uninspiring games, and Cameron Weston tossed a scoreless inning in his major league debut before the Mets claimed him on waivers.

The hapless fill-in catchers

When Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo weren’t behind the plate this year, boy, did things get ugly. We’re going to have a separate post about the disaster that was Carlos Narváez, but a few others also tried their hand, with terrible results. Who could forget the painful experience of watching Sam Huff step to the plate? He had the swing of someone who had never held a baseball bat before. The O’s also brought back Chadwick Tromp for a second straight season, but jettisoned him after he went 3-for-24.

Third catcher Yohel Pozo brought good vibes to the Orioles but spent most of his time glued to the bench. He appeared in only 16 of the Orioles’ 51 games in August and September. We’ll toss Maverick Handley into this category even though he never actually caught an inning for the Orioles this year, making one pinch-hit appearance before the O’s waived him. And the Orioles briefly brought in longtime Tiger Jake Rogers to help their catching situation, but then threw him into the Rutschman trade with Boston after just three games. Rogers ended up playing with four different teams in less than two weeks.

The bench (lack of) depth

The Orioles’ obsession with stockpiling right-handed outfielders for the bench, presumably to match up against opposing southpaws, had one tiny flaw: none of them could actually hit. Rece Hinds may have cemented his status as one of the worst short-term Orioles in history with a truly galling final game last Friday in which he struck out in all five at-bats and committed multiple misplays in the outfield. You can’t make this stuff up. Hinds was 5-for-28 as an Oriole, and if you include his stints with the Reds and Marlins, he was 2-for-28 against lefties. Seriously, do the O’s even know how to check platoon splits? They’re right there on Baseball Reference.

Also failing to deliver against lefties was rookie Christian Franklin, acquired at the trade deadline from the Nationals. His .180 overall batting average in 21 games was bad enough; his .167 mark against southpaws was worse. The Orioles did finally acquire a guy who might’ve helped against lefties, veteran Luis Robert Jr., only for him to get injured after just three games. Their $3 million gamble in claiming him on waivers was a bust.

Long before those guys came along, the first-half Orioles tried their luck with utility man Weston Wilson, who played 19 games and even made three mop-up pitching appearances. He spent the rest of the season with the Mariners, where he was an even worse hitter (and pitched once more, for old time’s sake). But perhaps the most bizarre experiment was that of Johnathan Rodríguez, a marginal minor league hitter whom the Orioles immediately installed as their cleanup hitter on three different occasions. You’ll never believe this, but the O’s lost all three games.

Poor Heston Kjerstad clearly has no future in this organization. The O’s left him in Triple-A almost all season, then went out of their way not to play him once they finally called him up in September. He got just 19 at-bats, with four hits, and could become a 40-man roster casualty this winter.

Three other position players appeared in just one or two games each. Pop quiz! See if you can match these first names — Luis, José, and Michael — to these last names: Barrero, Siani, and Vázquez. Give up? Me too.

Some of the players discussed in this article might find their way back to an Orioles roster in the future. Most of them we’ll never see again. They won’t be missed.

Happy Monday, everyone, though it is a bittersweet one as it is the first Monday of the offseason for Tigers fans. While the postseason will get into gear this week, the Tigers played their final games of the year over the weekend, and even those were a bit of a bummer. Thankfully, the festivities of saying goodbye to one of the greatest Tigers of all time helped create an atmosphere of happiness at the park as fans had an opportunity to send off Justin Verlander and cry a few tears in the process. It was a lovely weekend that reminds us all of the beauty of this game.

We’ll cover the highlights of the weekend in a different post, so here we’ll touch on some broader baseball topics like the first offseason managerial cuts, some previews of the postseason, and looking at what might have been the final game of another old friend, Max Scherzer.

Let’s just jump right into it.

Detroit Tigers News

• Cody Stavenhagen reports on the touching moment when Justin Verlander’s daughter Genevieve, came out to relieve him in his final outing. Of his emotional final weekend, his wife Kate Upton—who worked alongside manager AJ Hinch to coordinate that tear-jerker last moment, said this of Detroit and Tigers’ fans:

“I’m just so grateful for the city and to the fans who love him almost as much as I do.”

• The Tigers had a heartfelt message for fans after a pretty uneven season.

• Our obvious pick to win AL Rookie of the Year.

• The little girl who invented the iconic McGonigoggles got to throw out the final first pitch of the season.

MLB News

• Why does ZiPS seem to hate the Brewers?
• Dan Wilson is the first of the “offseason” managerial cuts and will not be returning to the Mariners next year.
• Looking at the weakest positions on the remaining NL contenders.
• Steven Kwan is bouncing back in a major way for the Guardians.
• Why scouting still matters in the analytics and data era.
• Pete Alonso becomes the first player to win RBI titles in both leagues.
• The Phillies had to get through quite a week to punch their ticket to the postseason.
• If this was Max Scherzer’s final game of his career, he went out on a high note.
• A final look at the regular season stat leaders.
• The Dodgers ended their season with 100 wins, but is Shohei Ohtani going to be ready for the postseason?
• Ranking the lineups of the remaining playoff-contending teams. And we can’t forget the pitching.
• Some of the key takeaways from the 2026 regular season.
• Giants’ manager Tony Vitello reached an MLB-high seven ejections by the final game of the season.
• ESPN’s Postseason Preview.
• Colson Montgomery would rather focus on the “positives” instead of being reminded that he set the record for batter strikeouts this season.
• For the first time in club history the Brewers have elected a team captain, and it will be Christian Yelich. ($)
• A postseason power ranking. ($)
• A revival of the musical “Damn Yankees” is heading to Broadway with Neil Patrick Harris and… the Orioles?

• This is not a good idea.

• Pope Leo playing it coy when asked if he offered a little divine intervention for the White Sox this season.

The regular season is over, the playoff matchups are set, and now the excitement really begins.

Get ready for October baseball as MLB's postseason kicks off with wild card quadrupleheaders on Tuesday and Wednesday. (Even though those games are being played in September.)

The Los Angeles Dodgers have their sights set on a third consecutive World Series championship, a feat last accomplished by the New York Yankees from 1998-2000. But there are several other worthy challengers looking to knock them off.

The Milwaukee Brewers had the best regular-season record in the majors at 103-59, followed by the Dodgers at 100-62 and the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL at 98-64. But as we all know, anything can happen in the playoffs.

Meet the Mets

The Mets played their final game of the 2026 season, putting an end to a team we’ve grown to dislike in various ways and will end up missing as the days and weeks of the offseason pass.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, MLB.com, Newsday, New York Daily News, New York Post, The Athletic

Francisco Lindor connected, at long last, for his 300th career home run and in the process became the first shortstop in major league history to reach the 300 home run/200 steal plateau and the second switch hitter.

Nothing will be set in stone until after the World Series ends, but Bo Bichette can at least envision himself coming back to the Mets for the second year of his contract.

It seemed like a foregone conclusion that the NL Rookie of the Year Award was going to Sal Stewart. Did Carson Benge do enough to swoop in and claim it for himself?

The sole benefit of the Mets being as dreadful as they were, the team’s increased draft lottery odds won’t get to pay off until at least the end of the lockout or, perhaps, never.

Around the National League East

They went right up to the edge of having one of the worst collapses in the history of baseball, but a Diamondbacks loss and a 7-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays has sent the Phillies to the Wild Card to face off with Atlanta.

Jesus Luzardo made his return to the team after three weeks on the sidelines with shoulder inflammation and threw four pitches along with assuring the team he is ready for whatever they need him for in the playoffs.

Ending up just a game under .500, Sandy Alcantara threw the first pitch of the season in March and the final pitch of the season yesterday as the Marlins said goodbye to 2026 with a 5-3 win over the division champion Braves.

Around Major League Baseball

With all playoff spots clinched and the regular season finished, MLB announced the dates and times for the AL and NL Wild Card series.

Now that regular season analysis has come and gone, it’s time for postseason analysis!

He didnt’ quite catch Justin Verlander in career strikeouts, but Max Scherzer went seven innings, struck out seven, and got to yell at his manager one more time in what may be the final start of his Hall of Fame career.

Earlier in the same game, George Springer played his final game of the six-year contract the Blue Jays gave him after 2020 and left to a well-deserved standing ovation.

Old Friend Pete Alonso is the first player in Major League Baseball history to lead both the National League and the American League in RBIs in different seasons.

Setting whatever the opposite of a new standard is, the Houston Astros eclipsed the Rangers and finished their .500 season as the worst team in Major League Baseball history to win their division.

Jacob Misiorowski ended his obvious Cy Young season with some of the best rate stats that we’ve seen since prime Pedro Martinez.

As the Boston Red Sox went to Tropicana Field to finish their season away from the rainy northeast, the Yankees simply canceled their Sunday afternoon game against the Orioles, ending their season at 161 games.

With their win over the Giants, Dave Roberts won 100 games for the sixth time as manager of the Dodgers, putting him one more triple-digit-win season away from being the first manager to even preside over seven such seasons.

At two points on Sunday, Dan Wilson announced that he would not be returning as manager of the Seattle Mariners in 2027 and the team announced that he would not be returning as manager in 2027.

This Date in Mets History

On this date 18 years ago, Shea Stadium closed its doors for good.

This Milwaukee Brewers team is different.

I know people have been saying that for a couple of years now, but I really think this year is different.

This team does the little things. They play solid defense. They rarely make mental mistakes. They score runs and don’t rely on the long ball. They’re disciplined, both by themselves and by Pat Murphy, who has, on more than one occasion, benched a player for not showing hustle.

Rather than analyzing the team over the last 162 games, we can just look at this weekend’s sweep of the Cardinals.

The “why the 2026 Milwaukee Brewers can win the World Series” discussion begins even before Friday’s series opener against St. Louis. Just before the game, the team was forced to place first baseman Andrew Vaughn on the injured list due to illness. Shortstop Cooper Pratt was also scratched from the lineup, as a banged-up Joey Ortiz had to replace him.

Now, Vaughn and Pratt are by no means the leaders of this team, but they’re key pieces nonetheless. But here’s the thing about the Brewers — they’re built for absences like those. More on that later.

Looking at the first inning of Friday’s game, William Contreras — who was pulled late in Thursday’s game against Philadelphia after not hustling out of the box on a botched grounder — hit a grounder into the hole at short and slid into first base. Not only did he slide, but he slid headfirst. Any baseball person will tell you sliding into first is a big no-no, but here’s the thing — Murphy liked it.

It’s not often you see that kind of buy-in from a star player after he’s been benched. I would argue, rather, that most star players would have a negative reaction, especially at the major league level. But Murphy has proven over the last three seasons that he doesn’t care if you’re in your MLB debut or in your 13th season in the majors — you better be hustling and bringing your A-game.

Fast forward to the eighth inning of Friday’s game, and you’ll see another example of why this team is different. Remember how Pratt was scratched from the lineup and Ortiz had to replace him? Well, Ortiz looked a bit rough throughout the game (even while going 2-for-3 with a walk), and he was pulled in a 4-4 tie game. Pratt, who probably didn’t feel the greatest, took over, and while he grounded into a double play in his lone at-bat, the fact that he was able to come off the bench at all is a testament to this team’s depth and “next man up” mentality.

Speaking of next man up, in the bottom of that same eighth inning, with the game still tied at four runs apiece, here’s how the Brewers rallied:

Jackson Chourio single
David Hamilton hit by pitch
Garrett Mitchell sac bunt (reaches on error)
Brice Turang two-run single
William Contreras one-run single
Jake Bauers sac fly
Christian Yelich walk
Pratt double play

How about that? Three hits — all of them singles — but four runs on the board. For most teams, that would be a strange inning, but for the Brewers, that’s basically an everyday occurrence. They finished the season with the third-best OPS in baseball (.744) and scored the second-most runs (832), and yet they had just 154 homers, ranking tied for 28th in the league (and just two ahead of the Blue Jays, who had an MLB-worst 152 homers). That’s insane.

Let’s jump to Saturday now.

Ahead of the second game, the Brewers named Christian Yelich team captain, the first time in franchise history Milwaukee has had a captain. Why? Because this team is different. There are several players who one could argue were deserving earlier in franchise history — Robin Yount and Ryan Braun are the first two that come to mind. But Yelich, who is in his ninth season with Milwaukee, is the first one to get that honorary “C” on his chest. And he deserves it, too.

In the game itself, Dustin May got the start, and he didn’t look great, going three innings with two runs allowed on three hits and a walk. But here’s where the next part of our “why the Brewers can win the World Series” argument comes in — Murphy then gave Kyle Harrison another chance.

Harrison can only be described as dismal since late August. Entering Saturday, his last six appearances (three starts) totaled 9 1/3 innings, allowing 25 runs (22 earned) on 31 hits, nine walks, and two hit batters while striking out 10. But Murphy, who clearly hasn’t fully settled his postseason pitching staff yet, continues to give the young lefty chances. And Harrison delivered.

Harrison went two scoreless innings, throwing 20 of 29 pitches for strikes and allowing just one baserunner via a hit by pitch. He struck out four to earn his 11th win of the season and first since August 18.

The lesson here is similar to the one about Pratt above — that “next man up” mentality is exactly what a team looking to win the World Series needs, and Murphy’s faith in his guys is just the cherry on top.

Then, in the fifth inning of Saturday’s game, Turang launched his 21st homer of the season, bringing in Chourio and giving the Brewers a 3-2 lead they would hold onto for the rest of the evening. Remember how I said the Brewers don’t hit lots of homers? Well, they still have a couple of home run threats — Turang, Chourio, Bauers, to name just a few — and there’s always a time and place for homers. Half of the battle in the postseason is delivering in clutch moments, and the Brewers have guys who can hit both singles and homers, meaning they’re ready for any situation. That’s something the rest of this postseason field might not bring to the table.

OK, last piece of the puzzle: Sunday’s game.

This is perhaps the biggest reason why the Brewers have what it takes to win a World Series: the monster that is Jacob Misiorowski.

Misiorowski went 5 1/3 scoreless innings in Sunday’s regular-season finale, wrapping up what is almost certainly an NL Cy Young-winning campaign. He finished the year among league leaders in virtually every category, including at the top of the leaderboard in strikeouts (252), ERA (1.80), WHIP (0.80), and batting average against (.157). He also drastically dropped his walk rate from a year ago, going from 4.23 BB/9 to 2.27 BB/9.

Lastly, late in Sunday’s game, Chad Patrick was struggling to maintain what was an early 6-0 lead. He entered to pitch the eighth and recorded just one out, allowing two walks and two hits, including a three-run homer to cut the lead to 6-4.

What do the Brewers have a lot of that many other teams don’t? Reliable length arms that can lock things down when other guys get in trouble.

Shane Drohan came in and pitched the final 1 2/3 innings, allowing no baserunners and recording a pair of strikeouts for his second save of the year. In fact, the Brewers had five wins this week, four of which had a save credited to them. Know how many different players got a save? Four. The usual closer, Trevor Megill, Drohan, Antonio Senzatela, and Aaron Ashby. For the season, 10 players had at least one save, and seven players had multiple. MLB bullpens only carry eight arms. That’s a well-balanced bullpen.

This weekend’s sweep of the Cardinals is a microcosm of the 2026 Brewers season as a whole. The Crew is balanced, hungry, and ready to win. They have several players who are in the very early stages of what are hopefully long careers — Pratt, Chourio, Luis Lara, Logan Henderson, Misiorowski, etc. — but they also have veteran leadership in the form of Yelich, May, Senzatela, JoJo Romero, and Brandon Woodruff, who you may have forgotten is still in that clubhouse, even if he isn’t on the field.

This Brewers team can win the World Series. Now let’s see if they can make it happen.

The 2026 season is over and the next step for the Braves could not be more familiar and perhaps appropriate. The Braves will host their division rival, the Phillies, for a best of three Wild Card round setup at Truist Park this week. Both Tuesday and Wednesday games will occur at just after 2PM Eastern, with Thursday’s game to be determined (if necessary). For many reasons, it will certainly be an exciting atmosphere in which the Braves will hopefully find quick and frequent success.

Braves News

Atlanta dropped the series and season finale to the Marlins 5-3 on Sunday. With their fate already determined, Atlanta mainly made sure to preserve health over the season’s final weekend.

Mark Bowman looks at a few key factors that came together over the final week of the season that could impact the Wild Card round for the Braves.

MLB News

Along with the Phillies, the Astros were the other team to finalize their playoff spot on the final day of the season by winning the NL West over the Rangers.

The Mariners had one of the more disappointing seasons in baseball this year. As a result, Dan Wilson will not return as manager in 2027.

Good morning! There is no baseball today. Normally that’s a sad phrase to read and write. But when you’re gearing up for the playoffs, a day of rest isn’t the worst thing in the world. Especially when you’re gearing up to face the Yankees in the playoffs.

Having said that, we can all acknowledge that these Sox-Yankees series don’t have quite the same bite that they used to. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. The world is constantly changing. And the reason these series once felt so draining is that we used to be terrified of pinstripes. We used to watch with cosmic certainty that the Yankees would find a way to come out on top, no matter what.

Suffice it to say, that’s not the case anymore. I’m worried about the 2026 Yankees because they’re a good baseball team with a strong starting staff and they’re standing in between the Red Sox and the World Series. I am NOT worried about the 2026 Yankees because I’m convinced they are agents of Satan. Like I said, the world is constantly changing.

So how much do you really hate the Yankees today, and how have your emotions evolved?

Talk about the rivalry and whatever else you want in this space and, as always, be good to one another.

The Dodgers finished the regular season with an even 100 wins, after a sweep of the San Francisco Giants over the weekend at Oracle Park. It’s the sixth time the Dodgers have won in triple digits under manager Dave Roberts, along with 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023.

In the first 132 seasons in Dodgers franchise history, before Roberts, the club won 100 games six times — 1899, 1941, 1942, 1953, 1962, and 1974.

Forty-nine of those 100 wins in 2026 came on the road, including all three in San Francisco over the weekend coming with the Dodgers wearing their gray jerseys with “Dodgers” on the front. Here’s the breakdown of the Dodgers’ 2026 road performance, broken down by uniform choices:

The Dodgers’ next road game will be Tuesday, October 6 in either Atlanta or Philadelphia.

Links

James Tibbs III was named to the Pacific Coast League All-Star team and was in contention for league MVP after his stellar campaign, hitting .287/.409/.532 with 30 home runs, 32 doubles, 109 runs scored, 107 RBI, and 108 walks. He and outfielder Zach Ehrhard — both acquired from the Boston Red Sox for Dustin May at the 2025 trade deadline — were instrumental in guiding Oklahoma City to both a PCL championship and winning the Triple-A championship game on Saturday.

Tibbs spoke with Rob Terranova of MLB.com about his time so far with the Dodgers organization:

“They wouldn’t have traded for me if they didn’t believe in me,” he said. “And I’m just forever grateful for the people who helped me develop my game thus far. There’s so many biometrics and weight training involved, there’s no stone left unturned here. They really emphasize being an all-around player, and that means getting the most out of your swing, defense, baserunning and going into every at-bat with a plan. It just allows me to be confident in what I need to do to be successful.”

Clayton Kershaw will be part of the NBC Sports broadcast team for the wild card series between the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs at Petco Park. Kershaw is an analyst along with Jim Deshaies and Mark Grant for the series, with Dave Flemming on play-by-play.

Old friend Kenley Jansen ended his season with the Detroit Tigers — his fourth team in six years since leaving the Dodgers — with 498 career saves, third on the all-time list. Jansen, who turns 39 on Thursday, talked with Julian McWilliams of CBS Sports about wanting to come back in 2027 to get his 500th save and beyond, and how Jansen’s perspective has changed since the death of his mother in 2025.

Michael Wacha reached the 200-innings mark this year, writes Jaylon Thompson.

“Yeah, getting to that 200 mark is definitely a cool feeling,” Wacha said. “It’s always been a goal of mine as a starting pitcher to reach that number. And yeah, definitely a cool memory that I’ll have.”

Wacha gave up six runs — although only two were earned — in what turned out to be an 11-5 loss on Saturday to the Guardians.

“You know, he’s battled some things just like everybody does throughout the course of the year,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said pregame. “And having your body go through the rigors of pitching this many innings. But, he’s never wavered, and he takes a lot of pride in it. And we’ve seen him continually evolve year after year.”

Jackson Stone has more.

“He’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever been around,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “Professional, gives you everything he’s got. I know he was frustrated with the results tonight, but you look up and he’s out there in the seventh. … I love the guy. Love everything about him, love the way he competes.”

He also writes that Carter Jensen continues to set rookie records.

He’s now homered 20 times while batting leadoff and playing catcher, which is eight more such home runs in a career than anyone else in MLB history. 

That’s not your normal catcher.

“He’s driven. We talk about it all the time. He works, he’s committed, he wants to be better,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “I know he’s had a really good season. I mean, anytime you pass Mike Piazza in something, that’s pretty impressive. We talk about his growth on the defensive side of the ball as well, but overall, he still wants to be better. He’s not satisfied.”

Here is what this year’s MLB postseason bracket looks like.

Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler will start Game 1 of the Wild Card series against the Red Sox.

How the Tigers blindsided Justin Verlander with an emotional send off in his last game.

Kirby Yates makes his first career start in his final MLB game.

The AL West is officially the worst division in baseball history.

Francisco Lindor becomes the second switch-hitter with 300 home runs and 200 steals.

Dodgers pitcher Blake Treinen will miss the postseason.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson won’t return next year.

Jarren Duran has the worst 20/20 season in modern baseball history.

The Mariners surprise longtime broadcaster Rick Rizzs with a tribute in his last weekend before retirement.

MLB is talking to the White House about playing a game in a national park.

Longtime White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper died last week.

Remember Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez, ten years after his death.

Scientists detect radio signals coming directly from a planet outside our solar system.

An Indian-Pakistani restaurant in a Houston strip mall makes more Uber Eats deliveries than any other restaurant in the world.

Some Brits want to get rid of the big fuzzy hats at Buckingham Palace.

Your song of the day is Wolf Parade with Fine Young Cannibals.

The Yankees gained an extra day of rest with a nor’easter canceling Game 162 against the Orioles on Sunday. It means they’ll have two days off before opening their 2026 playoff odyssey Tuesday night against the Red Sox in the AL Wild Card Series. Boston has one less day of rest after losing to the Cubs, 6-2, on the final day of the regular season. Earlier today, my colleague Josh provided a preview of Boston’s top-of-the-class pitching staff, and now we’ll look at the offense.

The Red Sox were seemingly dead and buried on June 24th after dropping two of three to the last place Rockies. They sat in last place at 32-46, 15.5 games back of the first-place Rays, listless after the ground-shaking April 25th firing of longtime manager Alex Cora. But then a four game sweep of the Yankees at Fenway catalyzed one of the most stunning mid-season turnarounds in recent memory. They won an astonishing 27 of 30 games between July 3rd and August 7th to seriously threaten the Yankees’ position in second place. This owes a lot to, as Josh covered, a pitching staff that was fantastic all season long. However, the sudden emergence of impact hitters from the margins of the roster deserves as much of the praise for ultimately getting them into this playoff series against the Yankees.

Before we look at the individual players, we should recap how the offense in aggregate performed across the whole season. They finished middle of the pack in terms of OPS (.718), wRC+ (99), stolen bases (107), and fWAR (20.3). They hit the fifth-fewest home runs (162) in the league while striking out and walking at a roughly league-average clip. And as the Yankees deal with uncertainty over Aaron Judge’s availability, the Red Sox just got their own star slugger back just in time for this series.

Willson Contreras missed eight games after being struck on the hand by a pitch, but returned to the lineup in the final game of the regular season. The longtime Cardinal seemingly had a point to prove all season after getting traded to the Red Sox over the winter, and he was far and away Boston’s best hitter, slashing .276/.387/.518 with a team-high 27 home runs, 81 RBI and 4.1 fWAR, his 152 wRC+ third in baseball among hitters with at least 500 PAs. He thrives against fastballs and anything on the outer-half, his one weak spot up and in.

Roman Anthony appeared poised to step up as the league’s next superstar after a breakout rookie campaign, but a torn finger ligament limited him to just 54 games. He returned with two hits against the Yankees on August 30th and posted a 123 wRC+ in his final 24 games, though he finished with just five home runs in 240 plate appearances. Like Contreras, he loves to crush the fastball, but is certainly vulnerable to breaking balls from righties and changeups from lefties low and away.

Before the season started, the outfield was expected to carry the offense. Despite Anthony missing most of the season, the outfield still produced the bulk of the position player value. Ceddanne Rafaela posted his first above-average campaign by wRC+ (108) while maintaining Gold Glove defense in center but did deal with some right leg injuries in the final weeks of the season. Wilyer Abreu didn’t quite take the next step that many expected him to but still produced plenty of value by matching his career averages by batting .248/.327/.446 with 24 home runs, 76 RBI, and a 112 wRC+, though his defense regressed significantly from its usual sterling standard. The pair do the bulk of their damage against the breaking ball so expect a heavy diet of fastballs inside to Abreu and away to Rafaela.

All this being said, the story of the Red Sox season and in particular the turnaround in fortunes has been the transformation of other teams’ castoffs and their own borderline MLB players into impact contributors, not dissimilar from the Yankees’ next-man-up movement in 2019. Chief among them was Mickey Gasper, who was claimed off waivers over the winter and was optioned multiple times early before exploding for a 130 wRC+ in 67 games (though will miss this series with a biceps injury). One-time Yankee Jahmai Jones thrived in a platoon bench role, posting a 184 wRC+ in 179 plate appearances, almost exclusively against lefties.

Caleb Durbin was a sturdy three-win player who batted league average. Former Yankees first round pick Anthony Seigler was a revelation for 49 games at second posting a 102 wRC+, though his availability is threatened by a wrist injury. Nick Easton floundered in his first two big league seasons but was good for a 104 wRC+ in 65 games.

There are some softer landing spots in the lineup. Adley Rutschman never quite adjusted to life with the Red Sox with just a 77 wRC+ in 31 games after moving to Boston at the deadline and could yield playing time to Connor Wong behind the plate. Jarren Duran endured a miserable campaign at a 70 wRC+ in 150 games and likely played himself out of a starting role in the playoffs. Trevor Story could only a muster a 68 wRC+ in 63 games of another injury ravaged season.

For Boston, the question becomes whether this accumulation of injuries to position players leaves them blunted for this series. That being said, their main protagonists are all available just in time, Contreras, Anthony, Abreu, and Rafaela representing a potent threat at the top of the lineup. If the Yankees can limit the damage done by those four they’ll be in a good position to advance.

We did it, folks.

We made it through another 162 games of Rockies baseball.

While they limped to the end and ultimately finished 58-104, there were plenty of glimmers of hope for the future (as well as many reminders of why they finished with a fourth-consecutive 100-loss season).

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be running our “Ranking the Rockies” series as well as continue to bring you as many updates as we can about the team.

But in the meantime, here are some updates from a busy final weekend of the MLB regular season!

Rockies News & Links

• Goodman reaches 40-HR milestone, and Rockies want more | MLB.com — Hunter Goodman finished 2026 with 41 home runs, becoming the first Rockie since 2019 to accomplish the feat. Thomas Harding caught up with the slugging catcher after the milestone on Saturday night.
• Condon’s full season, new mindset crucial for ’26 development | MLB.com — Charlie Condon (No. 2 PuRP) finished 2026 by being named the PCL’s “Top MLB Prospect” and an All-Star. Thomas Harding caught up with the top prospect, as well as some of his Triple-A coaches, about his 2026 season.
• Coors Field employees, regulars pray MLB avoids lockout | Kevin’s take | Denver Gazette ($) — With an MLB lockout likely looming on the horizon, Kevin Henry checked in with some folks who will also be affected: Folks who work at Coors Field, including ushers, concessionaires, custodial staff, security staff and others.
• The Rockies are the fifth MLB team to lose 100 games in four straight seasons. Here’s a historical comparison. | Denver Post ($) — It was another down year for the Rockies, who made dubious history once again with a fourth-consecutive 100-loss season. Kyle Newman breaks down how this season fits in a historical context.

Around MLB

• Here are the Triple-A All-Stars and award winners for the 2026 season | MLB.com — As mentioned above, Condon was named an All-Star and “Top MLB Prospect” for the PCL. Alongside him, Zac Veen (No. 6 PuRP) took home the MVP award and Sterlin Thompson (No. 16 PuRP) was also named an All-Star. Veen became the first Rockies prospect to earn MVP honors since Joshua Fuentes in 2018.
• Tigers’ emotional Justin Verlander leaves final career start to hugs | ESPN — In case you weren’t watching the Tigers-Pirates game on Saturday, it marked Justin Verlander’s final MLB start. And just warning you now: Have tissues handy!
• Brewers buck tradition, name Christian Yelich first captain in club history | The Athletic ($) — Christian Yelich has been a stalwart for the Brewers since they traded for him during the 2017-2018 offseason. The Brew Crew rewarded him by naming him Captain, one of three active players to don the title (Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Salvador Perez of the Royals). If the Rockies decided to name a captain, who would it be?
• Dan Wilson will not return as Seattle Mariners manager | ESPN — The Seattle Mariners struggled mightily in 2026 after 2025 saw them nearly make the World Series. Unfortunately for Dan Wilson, that meant the end of his tenure. He was promoted to manager on August 22, 2024 and went 186-171 in 357 games at the helm.
• Alonso becomes first player to win RBI title in both leagues | MLB.com — After 10 years in the New York Mets organization (six in the Majors), Pete Alonso signed a five-year, $155 million deal with the Baltimore Orioles in the offseason. He had a productive year, slashing .267/.363/.522 with 43 homers (1st in the AL) in 161 games with the O’s and became the first player to win the RBI title in both the National and American Leagues.
• Here are the final stats leaders from the 2026 season | MLB.com — TJ Rumfield won the OBP crown in the National League (and MLB), but doesn’t get a mention in this particular article.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

When Trey Gibson took the mound for the nightcap of the Orioles’ September 23 doubleheader against Toronto, there was little reason to expect much. The 24-year-old was only there because Baltimore’s rotation had run out of healthy arms: Kyle Bradish was sidelined with a sports hernia, and the Orioles needed an extra starter for the doubleheader. Gibson’s big-league résumé to that point did not inspire confidence: a 7.36 ERA and a 1.91 WHIP in seven tries. One fantasy site called him a “high-risk option.”

Then he threw 6⅔ scoreless innings against a Blue Jays team that had still harbored playoff aspirations that morning. The righty allowed three hits and two walks, and struck out seven. It was the best start of his young career by a country mile, and perhaps, looking ahead to next season, a statement that there could be more where this came from.

Obviously, one start isn’t a season. So what did the rest of Trey Gibson’s 2026 actually say?

Gibson came into this season a former dark horse who was already building a name for himself. An undrafted free agent, Gibson was pitching for the collegiate summer team the Chatham Anglers when the Orioles signed him to a minor league contract in 2023.

Then, over parts of three seasons, Gibson’s star began to rise, capped off by 2025, when his 166 strikeouts across three levels led every pitcher in the system, resulting in his being named the organization’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

Thus Trey Gibson had a head of steam entering this spring. But it turns out, MiLB is one thing, and the dance is another. After six starts at Triple-A Norfolk, the Orioles handed him the ball at Yankee Stadium on May 3. He went 4⅔ innings and gave up three runs, two of them on homers. May was respectable overall for him: a 3.65 ERA in three appearances, including 5⅔ innings of one-run ball against the Rays.

June, however, was not. Over five starts Gibson got walloped: a 9.58 ERA, with opposing hitters averaging nearly .300 against him. Sure, there were OK indicators, stuff-wise: he struck out 25 in 20 2/3 innings, including eight at Dodger Stadium. But it was still ugly. This stretch was capped off, in a manner of speaking, by a June 30 outing against the White Sox where he posted this line: 2⅔ innings, seven hits, six walks, eight runs. Ouch. Back to Norfolk went Gibson, and it wasn’t clear he’d be invited back to the big leagues at all this year.

Back at Triple-A, at a surface level, Gibson actually got worse as the summer went on. He had a 3.55 ERA from March through July and a 5.27 ERA in August and September. But if you look closer, you’ll also see a walk rate that got cut in half (4.3 BB/9 through July, and 2.0 in August and September) and an uptick in strikeouts (though this had never been a problem for the righty). Gibson, during his struggles this summer, had lived too much in the zone and allowed too many hits. But by cutting down the walks, he made himself a different pitcher.

I’m not saying the Orioles were onto this when he was called back up for one last big-league start this season; by all appearances it was purely a move of necessity, when Kyle Bradish went down with a hernia. But as you now know, Gibson’s scoreless outing was a revelation, and certainly a moment he demanded to be taken seriously as a starting pitcher candidate.

What does Gibson’s season tell us, as we close the book on a lost season for the team as a whole and look ahead to 2027? Obviously, cautious optimism has to be the right answer. One start in nine tries is not much to go on. Also it came against a Blue Jays team that had been already eliminated from postseason competition in Game One of the doubleheader that day. And it’s true, Gibson is striking out fewer hitters than he used to. In 2025, when he was the organization’s Jim Palmer Minor League Pitcher of the Year, he was a strikeout machine, with 12.4 whiffs per nine innings across three levels. At Norfolk this year it was 8.0 early in the season, and slightly rebounded to 9.0 per nine over the last two months. In nine starts as a big leaguer, he averaged 8.4.

One more interesting thing about Gibson. A mounting complaint about the Mike Elias regime is the failure to draft pitchers. Gibson is, in a way, no rebuttal to this at all, because the Orioles signed him in August 2023 after he went undrafted! (This was just after a stretch in which, by BirdsWatcher’s count, Baltimore didn’t draft and sign a single pitcher in the first four rounds from 2019 through 2022.) On the other hand, Gibson provides strong evidence that the Orioles can develop pitching, alongside 14th-rounder Michael Forret and Luis De Leon, who signed for $30,000. That’s a point in the front office’s favor, at least.

Trey Gibson was signed as a relative unknown, and he still remains such. He has a 95-mph fastball, a great work ethic, an ability to miss MiLB bats, one great MLB start to his name, and that’s pretty much it. But if you’re looking for an interesting contender for a spot in the 2027 starting rotation, you can’t overlook Trey Gibson.

The 2026 season is officially over. Overall, I’d call the season a success, although it sure doesn’t feel that way. If the Cardinals had the same exact W-L total, but went 15-9 instead of 9-15 in September, I feel like the vibes would be much different. From ownership’s standpoint, they are probably happy it went the way it did, because the attendance barely took a hit and I feel like if the season started poorly, it would have taken a bigger hit.

The way to view the season – maybe any season really – is to think about where the team was at the beginning of the season. If you were given the rough details of what happened in that season, would you be happy with how the season went? It is absolutely not a universal yes – I’ve seen the comments lately – but I feel like most fans would have been happy with this season.

It’s not about the win-loss record. I mean sure, I think solely focusing on win-loss record would still produce quite a few yeses – Any betting market or projection system did not have the Cardinals with 77 wins and a few of them were a lot less wins. Granted, some of us – me included – called out the projection systems that saw 70 wins or less, but nonetheless I don’t think any foresaw 77 wins.

Here is one way to look at it: the Cardinals made entirely future focused moves last offseason – they traded their of their best players and Nolan Arenado. It’s ironic actually. The Cardinals have spent a few seasons trying to be just good enough to make the playoffs but not making the playoffs and when they finally pivot, there’s a pretty decent chance they would have made the playoffs if they didn’t trade their best players.

Of course it doesn’t work like that. Nolan Arenado had a resurgence because he got away from Busch Stadium. I don’t think it happens here. Third base was so bad though that he would have been an improvement no matter what. And Brendan Donovan probably has to be healthier for this playoff hypothetical to truly work. And Willson Contreras was also likely hurt by Busch Stadium – Fenway seems like a great park for him. I’m comfortable saying Sonny Gray could have had his season here though.

But at best, they’re where the Phillies are right now, and we’re kind of trying to get away from that. The whole argument against that strategy is not that it won’t sometimes work, it’s that you’re counting on a team with the flimsiest of odds to win a World Series when that’s the entire goal. We want to be the Brewers, not a team barely making the playoffs. This year was the first step to trying to make that happen.

This season was originally meant to be about individual players and the development they took. For the players not expected to be a part of the future, their value is primarily in what trading them will bring the Cardinals. For players expected to be part of the future or hoped to be part of the future, the goal was that you could pencil them in for whatever position they play and then move onto the next problem.

In that respect, the Cardinals had a few questions answered. They don’t need to look for a 2B. JJ Wetherholt is their long-term second baseman, solidified with the extension he signed. His defensive performance gives him a higher floor than we imagined and his offensive performance portends great things despite a not great 2nd half. He had a low BABIP but a high xwOBA, and his minor league BABIPs were all fairly high. He doesn’t strike me as a Matt Carpenter type where he will just underperform his xwOBA because he’s not really a warning track kind of hitter.

They also successfully replaced Willson Contreras and we’ll see if there’s an incoming extension, but possibly the 1B of the future in Alec Burleson. He was legitimately half a win better purely because he played first base competently and maybe even great instead of attempting to catch flyballs in left field. You know how bad you have to be defensively when moving to first base increases your WAR. There is also significant value in Burleson showing 2025 was not a fluke. And the underlying offensive numbers may suggest Burleson hasn’t reached his peak – he had more power, walked more, and had a higher xwOBA than 2025.

Also I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get to him, but Jordan Walker happened. Especially with my hypothetical posed at the beginning of this, I don’t think just about any of us expected his 2026 to happen. Remember when he had a terrible spring training? Yes, he has flaws in his game and superficially it looks like his defense has gotten better, but it really kind of hasn’t, but he finished his season with a 120 wRC+ and 2.8 fWAR. Whether you’re in the minority in wanting to trade him or think he’s the future, either way you have to call him a huge success – even if you want to trade him, he suddenly has a lot more trade value.

That’s three positions that are more clear than at the beginning of the season. I’ll throw in two more, albeit a bit more unproven: Leonardo Bernal is the catcher of the future and Joshua Baez is the LF of the future. These were uncertainties and I might argue Baez is still kind of an uncertainty thanks to his plate discipline numbers, but it’s hard to argue with 7 homers and 7 doubles in 29 games. If you told me that Joshua Baez would have a good enough 2026 that all of us would feel comfortable penciling him in for 150 games in 2027, I would have taken it in a heartbeat.

Bernal was a bigger surprise. Sort of. Given his offensive history, I would not have predicted that he’d have zero trouble adjusting to the majors. He was always crazy young at each level, so there was a reason his offense was merely a little above average, but it’s a guarantee those type of prospects will adjust to MLB pitching. Bernal looks more like the catcher of the future than I think even the Cardinals expected when they initially called him up. Bernal has in the short term answered an important question: who to trade? Answer: not Bernal and I’m way more comfortable trading both Jimmy Crooks, Pedro Pages, and even Ivan Herrera because of Bernal.

So five positions were answered thanks to this season. Two of them were pretty good bets (Burleson, Wetherholt), one of them was more of a matter of which player (catcher), but the other two positions were massive, huge question marks. We didn’t know if Joshua Baez was going to be another Moises Gomez. Minor leaguers have career seasons much the same as ones who make the big leagues. And getting anything out of Walker would have been considered a success, much less an All-Star appearance and a 20-20 season.

Starting pitching wise, it mostly went well, but there was no equivalent to “oh wow we have a Gold Glover at second base???” Just a moderately successful season, but no new ace appeared. Dustin May delivered two huge prospects at the deadline, which was the entire reason he was signed. Andre Pallante completely bounced back to such an extent that I think people will get very frustrated with me if I end up writing an article suggesting he should get traded, and I would have had very little pushback if I proposed that 5 months ago. Kyle Leahy actually looks like he can start now, which I viewed as very unlikely.

And now the bad stuff. If you want to put on the rose-colored glasses, third base gave us what we asked for. We got an answer. Nolan Gorman is not it. He hadn’t gotten a chance to play at the position the Cardinals drafted him at and to his credit, he proved significantly better on defense than expected. But he’s still lost without a paddle on offense. However, this was not a huge disappointment. He was coming off back-to-back 87 wRC+ seasons. I think I had reached a point where even a true Gorman bounceback would have me wanting to trade him – because I simply did not trust him to repeat it. Maybe I’m too burned by Tyler O’Neill.

They did not find the 3B of the future, but there are at least candidates in the system, none greater than Jesus Baez. Baez hit 41 homers this season if you include the minor league playoffs and while I’m sure the homers are inflated by whatever is going on with the ball down there, he hit 14 last year. You can’t just write off his season because of the ball. The 21-year-old Deniel Ortiz also had a very quiet good year. Both of them should be in Memphis next season. Blaze Jordan went from a player left off the 40 man roster to a player who forced his way into 58 games, prematurely ended by an injury. My point is only that if the MLB situation at 3B went as poorly as possible, at least the minor league portion went significantly better than expected.

I don’t have a lot of positive things to say about CF – call me the Nathan Church skeptic – but even then the minor league developments were extremely positive. Tai Peete looks like a very shrewd pickup in return for Donovan and Josiah Ragsdale just had a 145 wRC+ across two levels and will likely be in Memphis next season (Alexaner Frias is too far away for this type of post). Yes, what people hoped from Church is a significant departure from what they got and in that sense, one could call this the one position that looks to be in a worse position than at the beginning of the season – but I never fully bought into Church so I’m not sure that holds true for me.

And of course Matthew Liberatore. I mean the best you can say is that he actually did raise his strikeout rate and by quite a bit honestly. That is a fact. After that it entirely depends on how the Cardinals perceive that kind of improvement for his future. Either it means he can find swing-and-miss stuff, but can’t be a starting pitcher – certainly the majority opinion for the fanbase. Or he’s very close, but needs to clean stuff up. As a Liberatore apologist, I wouldn’t discount the second possibility – we literally just experienced this with Andre Pallante. But I don’t actually know where the Cardinals stand and if the bullpen is his future, I think it would improve the bullpen instantly.

As this is an overall positive post, I won’t spend too much time on the bullpen. I’m not going to put lipstick on a pig. But bullpen is a short-term problem. It is always a short term problem. You can’t trust it even if it’s good. In the context of looking forward, this happens to be a good thing coming off a very poor season. There’s nowhere to go but up. If your second baseman is below average one season, if you run with the same guy the next season, you can be pretty sure it won’t go well. If your bullpen is below average one season, you have no idea how they will perform the next season. The Cardinals will try different pitchers and the pitchers they have might see a random jump – maybe Cade Winquest is the closer next season. Amidst all the advanced analytics we have, bullpen is still as unpredictable as ever.

All in all, whatever doubts I have about how this upcoming offseason will go – they should absolutely capitalize on the excitement and goodwill they have and actually make moves to improve the 2027 team and not just future teams – at this very moment, I am happy with how the season went and the direction the Cardinals are going in.