TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 14: Toronto Blue Jays Infielder Andres Gimenez (0) reacts during the MLB regular season game between the Detroit Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays on September 14, 2026, at Rogers Centre in Toronto, ON, Canada. (Photo by Julian Avram/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Jays and Tigers play at 3:00 Eastern.
The Jays, either during or after last night’s game, decided to change around the starting pitching plans for the rest of the way.
Today Scherzer still starts.
Thursday off-day.
Friday Dylan Cease, instead of Arrighetti and bullpen.
Saturday Jose Soriano
Sunday Arrighetti/bullpen.
And, Max, no pressure, but you need to get us some innings tonight. I really expected some pitching moves this morning. I’m still expecting them, but they better announce them soon.
The team figures Trey Yesavage will join the roster again Sunday or Monday and will take part in a bullpen day. And Shane Bieber is hoping to be back before the end of the season too.
As much has the bullpen day exploding, the offense has to start doing offensive type stuff. They have run up against a couple of good pitchers in this series, but they are going to have to figure out how to hit guys, even if they are good.
This is the lineup that is going to try to score today:
Today’s Lineups
TIGERS
BLUE JAYS
Kevin McGonigle – 3B
Brett Bateman – CF
Hao-Yu Lee – 2B
Nathan Lukes – RF
Colt Keith – DH
Vladimir Guerrero – 1B
Riley Greene – LF
George Springer – DH
Dillon Dingler – C
Kazuma Okamoto – 3B
Max Clark – CF
Josh Smith – 2B
Spencer Torkelson – 1B
Ernie Clement – SS
Brett Callahan – RF
Brandon Valenzuela – C
John Peck – SS
Myles Straw – LF
Keider Montero – RHP
Max Scherzer – RHP
Kevin Glew tweets that W.P. Kinsella died 10 years ago today. Beyond Shoeless Joe, he wrote a number of books I enjoyed. We got to meet him, a book store near us had a night with him and he was everything you’d want him to be funny, personable, and full of interesting stories.
And it is Tim Raines birthday. He turns 67 today. He is one of those guys to whom I owe some of my baseball fandom. He showed the value of getting on base, getting into scoring position. He came up as a second baseman, but those were the days when base runners tried to take the second baseman out of the game. The team knew he was too valuable to put him in a spot where guys were trying to take out his legs.
He also taught me that teams sometimes focus on the wrong things. They moved him to center field when Andre Dawson left the team. He was great, but his throwing arm wasn’t great. Instead of blaming the crappy players on the team for not winning, they blamed his arm and moved him back to left. Bad teams often blame the wrong things for losing.
HOUSTON, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 15: Hunter Brown #58 of the Houston Astros pitches in the first inning against the Kansas City Royals at Daikin Park on September 15, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) | Getty Images
In last night’s 4-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals, Hunter Brown went the first 5 innings for the win, allowing 1 run on 2 hits, walking 3 and striking out 10.
After the game, Brown spoke to reporters and acknowledged that Astros pitching guru Brent Strom taught him a new pitch:
Hunter Brown unveiled a new slider tonight: "I got a new one. Strommy taught me that one and it was pretty good. He told me I've got to think of a name for it. Kind of brought out the cutter again and then started throwing this downer, slider thing — half curveball."
TAMPA, FL - FEBRUARY 26: Clarke Schmidt #36 of the New York Yankees smiles before a spring training game against the Atlanta Braves at George M. Steinbrenner Field on February 26, 2026 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by New York Yankees/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Yankees reinstated Clarke Schmidt from the 60-day injured list ahead of today’s series finale in Minnesota. The team also optioned right-handed reliever Bradley Hanner to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and designated Oswaldo Cabrera for assignment.
It’s the end of a long road back for Schmidt, who hasn’t pitched on a major league mound since July 2025 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. At the time, Schmidt was in the midst of establishing himself as one of the Yankees’ best starters, running a 3.07 ERA across 164 innings between 2024 and 2025.
Schmidt won’t have enough time to build up to a starter’s workload prior to the postseason, but he has a real chance to make an impact in the Yankee bullpen. He’s been used in one-to-two inning stretches in the minors, where his fastball has sat around his customary 94 mph. Beyond David Bednar, Paul Blackburn, and Brent Headrick, the Yankees have little set in stone in their bullpen, leaving a wide opportunity for someone like Schmidt to grab a meaningful role with a strong showing in the final two weeks of the season.
The Yankees had to manage their 40-man roster as a result of this move, and Cabrera was sadly the casualty. Schmidt coming off the 60-day IL necessitated clearing a spot on a full 40-man. Cabrera, who has spent most of the season at Triple-A after recovering from a gruesome knee injury last year, drew the short stick. The Yankees could have plausibly transferred Fernando Cruz to the 60-day IL, but instead opted to keep hope alive for a return from Cruz.
It was a surprising move, considering that Cabrera seems likely to be claimed by another team after batting .288 with a .790 OPS this year at Triple-A.
He played three games for the Yankees this season, but has spent most of it at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after finishing off his comeback from a grueling broken ankle that he suffered on a slide home last May in Seattle.
“Very difficult,” manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday at Target Field. “One of the parts of the game that are tough. You’re fortunate to come across – and I feel like I’m blessed to have a lot of guys on this team that you just admire and respect and love doing the job with on a daily basis, and Oswaldo’s right there at the top of that list. Just who he is, how he goes about things, how he treats people, the competitor he is, the teammate he is. So those are hard things all the time.
The Yankees designated Oswaldo Cabrera for assignment on Wednesday. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
“The good thing is Oswaldo’s come back from a very difficult injury and had a really good year down in Triple-A, he’s playing really well. So, hopefully this is just one of those things. I’m confident Oswaldo will go on to have a very good career and hopefully it’s still with us.”
The 27-year-old utilityman still has another minor league option remaining after this season, increasing his value if a team should claim him.
The Yankees could have gone another route to open a spot on the 40-man roster, but doing this preserves as much pitching depth as possible while also leaving the door open for Fernando Cruz to pitch again this season (instead of transferring him to the 60-day IL as he attempts to come back from a partially torn UCL).
Cabrera’s path back to the Yankees had also become more difficult with the addition of fellow utilityman Max Schuemann, Anthony Volpe adding some defensive versatility before being recalled and José Caballero already serving as a superutilityman in the big leagues.
Clarke Schmidt of the New York Yankees reacts after Nick Kurtz of the Athletics scores on his three-run homer in the sixth inning on Saturday, June 28, 2025, at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, NY. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
Cabrera entered the organization in 2016 out of Venezuela, making him the second-longest tenured member behind only Aaron Judge.
ARLINGTON, Texas — Jacob deGrom told the Texas Rangers before the trade deadline that he wanted to stay and believed the team could make the playoffs.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner is doing his part down the stretch, even while pitching through mild groin tightness.
DeGrom struck out eight in five innings as the Rangers opened a series of playoff contenders with a 4-2 win over Boston to stay within a game of AL West-leading Houston with 11 games left. Texas (75-76) remained 1 1/2 games behind Cleveland for the third and final wild card.
“It’s what you play this game for. You play to win and go to playoffs, and hopefully win a World Series,” deGrom said. “That’s what we talked about in the spring and set goals. And we’re right here in a playoff race.”
The 38-year-old right-hander (11-9) took his regular turn in the rotation five days after 12 strikeouts and no walks in six scoreless innings of one-hit ball at Seattle — a game Texas lost. That also was when he felt his groin tighten while covering first base on a grounder.
During his bullpen session between starts, deGrom said he only threw 10 fastballs, then added it only might have been nine.
“If it was April, May, that type of deal, I’m not sure I would push it,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “He’s like, I’m ready, give me the ball and I’ll give you everything I have, and he’s doing that. I know he doesn’t feel 100%. He’s not even going to tell me that it’s probably worse than he’s even telling me.”
On his last pitch against the Red Sox, with the bases loaded in the fifth, deGrom got Adley Rutschman on an inning-ending groundout. Boston had two runners after the first two pitches of the inning, on a hit batter and catcher’s interference, before a sacrifice bunt and then a two-out walk.
DeGrom retired the first seven batters he faced before Caleb Durbin’s solid single in the third. No. 9 batter Nick Sogard followed with a liner over the wall in right field for a homer that got the Red Sox within 4-2, on a pitch deGrom felt went where he wanted it.
“I was like, all right, that’s all they get,” said deGrom, whose groin again tightened on him throwing a fastball in the second inning but didn’t get any worse.
“I think it’ll be something we’ll be able to manage and get out there in five days,” he said.
Hours after the trade deadline on Aug. 3, the Rangers dropped a series opener at home to San Francisco. It was their season-high sixth loss in a row. They had just been swept in a three-game series at Houston, going from a half-game division lead to 2 1/2 games behind the Astros.
The Rangers then won four in a row, a streak capped by deGrom’s nine strikeouts in five innings against Baltimore in his first start after the deadline, when at least one contending team had inquired about the availability of the pitcher with a full no-trade clause.
“He’s just setting an example to the entire team, just about how he’s going about it right now. Showing up, maybe not feeling 100%, but he’s going to give you his best effort every single time and doing it how he is doing it,” first baseman Jake Burger said. “It’s impressive, and I think that signals to the whole entire team.”
Texas hasn’t reached the playoffs since winning its only World Series title in 2023, which was deGrom’s first season after signing a five-year, $185 million contract in free agency — a deal that has a conditional option for 2028. The Rangers won all six of his starts by the end of that April before elbow surgery that kept him out until the final three games of the 2024 season.
PITTSBURGH — The best pitcher in baseball on the team with the best record in baseball isn’t sure how exactly the Milwaukee Brewers keep doing this.
Asked how a team that works on the fringe of baseball’s middle class has turned Champagne celebrations into a September ritual, Jacob Misiorowski shrugged.
“I couldn’t tell you,” the 24-year-old ace said. “You know, I’ve been trying to figure it out all year.”
The search will continue into October. The Brewers (94-57) won their fourth straight NL Central title when they rode their flame-throwing star and a couple of timely hits from role players Luis Lara and Joey Ortiz for a 5-1 victory over Pittsburgh.
When Atlanta rallied past the Chicago Cubs about 30 minutes later, there was a roar that seeped through the cinderblock walls outside the visitors’ clubhouse at PNC Park. Bottles were popped. Cigars were lit. Beers — Miller Lites, of course — were chugged.
This part of the journey never gets old, not even for Christian Yelich, who has been a fixture during Milwaukee’s run of eight playoff appearances in nine years.
“We’re a good team,” the three-time All-Star and 2018 NL MVP said. “This is what we set out to do every season at the beginning of spring training. We just keep playing our game.”
Brewers win with a smart, unselfish style
Milwaukee doesn’t overwhelm opponents with power or gaudy stats — outside of Misiorowski’s stream of 100 mph-plus fastballs — and instead relies on singles, smart baseball and a selfless approach.
The Brewers gave Pittsburgh a glimpse in the second inning. Jake Bauers led off with a single to right field, advanced to second on a groundout and sprinted to third on a wild pitch. Lara followed with a fly ball to center field deep enough to allow Bauers to dash home.
Just like that, Milwaukee was up 1-0 with the NL Cy Young favorite on the mound. While Misiorowski didn’t think he had his best stuff on a night he tossed five scoreless innings to drop his ERA to an MLB-best 1.89, it hardly mattered.
“It’s just the boys grinding, them doing their jobs and putting a run across the board,” Misiorowski said. “So that’s all I can ask for.”
A lot of times, it’s all he needs. The Brewers don’t just, as Ortiz put it, “single you to death.” They largely avoid the mental mistakes that can make all the difference during the 162-game regular season.
The proof came in the fourth when the Pirates put together their only significant rally. Pittsburgh had runners on first and second with one out when Rafael Flores hit a sharp grounder that glanced off Milwaukee third baseman David Hamilton’s glove and rolled into the outfield. Pittsburgh’s Nick Gonzales stayed at third rather than race home after a mix-up with third base coach Tony Beasley.
In the chaos, the Brewers caught Pirates designated hitter Ryan O’Hearn in a rundown between second and third for the second out. Misiorowski got Spencer Horwitz to fly out and end the threat.
It’s been like that all year. It’s been like that most of the last decade.
“I think we do a really good job of knowing how to win, creating a winning culture and everybody knows, like, every night it’s time to win,” Yelich said.
Yelich believes that culture starts with the ownership group headed by Mark Attanasio and trickles down to general manager Matt Arnold to manager Pat Murphy to a roster whose payroll of around $140 million is 19th highest in the majors.
The other National League teams that began the day in playoff position — the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta, Philadelphia, San Diego and the Chicago Cubs — all are inside the top 10.
Brewers no longer are overlooked around the majors
Given the Brewers’ success since their renaissance began in 2018, it’s hard to paint them as underdogs.
“I wouldn’t say they underestimate us anymore,” Misiorowski said. “I think we’ve gotten to a spot where they kind of see it.”
The Pirates, who are on the cusp of having their playoff drought hit 11 years, certainly have.
“Other teams are definitely looking at what (the Brewers are) doing ... because they haven’t spent the money that the Dodgers have,” Pittsburgh manager Don Kelly said. “Money doesn’t always buy wins or championships. It’s a game that we’re playing. You have to go out there and play good baseball, and the Brewers have done that consistently over the last few years.”
When Ortiz was a rookie in Baltimore in 2023, he remembers sitting around with teammates wondering “how was Milwaukee winning these games?”
Now he knows. And no, there is no secret sauce. Just good baseball.
“It’s just competing, focusing on the stuff we can control, worrying about today and nothing else,” he said. “I feel like we just have a bunch of competitors on the team who want to do what we can to win. I don’t really think we think too much.”
While the Brewers have locked up the division, they’re hardly finished. The next step is trying to hold off the Dodgers for the No. 1 seed in the National League and the home-field advantage that comes with it.
For all of Milwaukee’s success, one thing the club hasn’t done is translate it into an extended October stay. The Brewers are still searching for their first World Series appearance since 1982. Yet they keep giving themselves a chance. They’ll take it.
“I think we stick to our plan and stick to who we are,” Ortiz said, “and try and be the best at what we can do.”
ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 13: Ray Kerr #58 of the Atlanta Braves pitches in the fifth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Truist Park on September 13, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/Getty Images) | Getty Images
There were a few overarching themes in play in the first half of September for the Braves:
They are still great at accumulating more wins than warranted by their production
They are also great at beating the Phillies
The two things above have made them overwhelmingly likely to win the division for the first time since 2023
The schedule was very tough, and they did okay-ish
But, this team still isn’t playing well by an objective measure
Put the above together, and the Braves went 7-7 in September’s first half. That 7-7, though, was well-scattered, as they went 4-3 against the Phillies, capturing the tiebreaker and more or less cementing their spot atop the division unless they suffer a late September collapse and the Phillies actually get it together enough to win a bunch of their remaining games. Still, as I describe below, this hasn’t exactly been a triumphant ride to the division title. Yeah, the schedule has been a gauntlet, but the Braves are once again winning games moreso than doing a bunch of stuff that leads to winning games.
How did the Braves do recently?
As noted, they went 7-7. 12 of those 14 games were against contenders, but they went 6-6 in those games while also going 1-1 against the Nationals. In terms of game-by-game odds, yeah, they should’ve gone 7-7. One thing this stretch featured was their two lowest-win odds games of the years, both in Philadelphia. They did indeed lose both of those games. To date, the Braves have lost all four of their games where their pre-game odds were below 40 percent, and have gone 11-5 in games where their pre-game odds were above 60 percent. In some ways, this feels intuitively “right” to me, even if there’s no real reason why that shuld be the case.
Production-wise, it’s more or less the same story. The Braves finished 23rd in position player fWAR in the first half of September, including 22nd in offensive inputs and 21st in offensive inputs. They finished 17th in pitching fWAR, with relative ranks of 11th, 21st, and 21s in ERA-, FIP-, and xFIP-, respectively. Both the rotation and the bullpen were basically in that same place. With their total of 1.0 fWAR each in the position player and pitching buckets over these 14 games, the Braves “should have” gone 6-8. They went 7-7. Surprise, surprise, they did it again.
Ranks aside, the September numbers are underwhelming so far: a 91 wRC+ with a marginal xwOBA overperformance, and a 93/106/107 (again, ERA-/FIP-/xFIP-) pitching line. That doesn’t feel like a team that has largely survived a September gauntlet to nearly sew up a division crown, but here we are, as we have been.
How are the Braves doing on the season?
Well, again, they have MLB’s fourth-best record. It looks like they’ll finish with 94-95 wins, unless something strange happens. They are almost certain to win the division, but very unlikely to catch the Dodgers or Brewers. Right now, though, they’re 20th in position player fWAR, though they’re at least 13th in xwOBA and seventh in team defense (park effects ding their offense, while xwOBA isn’t park-adjusted). It’ll feel strange if/when they win the division with a sub-100 wRC+, but again, here’s where we are.
Amusingly, for all the droning and hand-wringing about the pitching both in the offseason and at the Trade Deadline, it’s actually been pretty good. The Braves are up to tenth in pitching fWAR, with an average rotation and top-ten bullpen. The rotation’s line is 89/102/98; the bullpen’s line is 81/93/97. Perhaps one reason the Braves win a lot of games relative to production is that bullpen ERA-x/FIP gap: it’s easier to win when you allow relatively few runs, and fewer runs than you “should,” late in the game.
The Braves do have the league’s fifth-best run differential, but are only ninth in BaseRuns. Only three teams have outperformed their BaseRuns more than the Braves, but one of those is the Phillies, so ha ha ha, I guess. The disparity with WAR-wins is a currently-insane 12. There’s more to say about the wins versus WAR-wins and BaseRuns versus WAR-wins differentials, but not here.
How are the hitters doing?
At this point, I don’t really even know how to say anything new.
These last 14 games were a stars-and-scrubs effort. Mike Yastrzemski and Ronald Acuña Jr. did some great stuff and got fortunate. Drake Baldwin was solid. Mauricio Dubon and Ha-Seong Kim were also there. Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies basically went full-on tire fire. Michael Harris II and Sean Murphy didn’t help. That’s the team, and that’s not great.
For the season as a whole, you basically have the team’s front four doing stuff, and everyone else…not doing doing stuff. Dubon has at least provided value via defense and versatility, but the back half of the starting crew has been pretty damaging to the team’s production. It’s still kind of amazing the Braves are where they are given the table above.
The wOBAs and xwOBAs have largely normalized for everyone. There’s a bit of “Albies has stolen the mojos of Baldwin and Acuña” but not much.
That said, and totally in keeping with this season as whole, guess who led the team in WPA for these 14 games among position players? First, Murphy, and then Kim just 0.01 WPA behind. Both guys had two huge games as part-time players. The Braves will take it.
How are the pitchers doing?
It was a good two weeks for HR/FB for the starters. Grant Holmes and Martin Perez were big beneficiaries despite problematic peripherals. Chris Sale and Tyler Mahle were worse than they have been peripherals-wise, but the lack of homers helped. The less said about AJ Smith-Shawver and Reynaldo Lopez at this point, the better.
The season-long stats are largely familiar to y’all at this point. Sale and Mahle rule, Perez has been decent, Holmes still doesn’t really have the juice to be an average-y starter, and so on and so forth.
Reliever-wise, Didier Fuentes was a beast these two weeks, but when is he not? Ray Kerr also reappeared and was surprisingly really good in a longer relief role. Kerr, in particular, managed three multi-inning outings, and earned shutdowns in two of them despite them being medium-leverage appearances. Between Kerr and Suter, the Braves seem very wealthy in “lefties who can avoid having to use multiple relievers to mop the game up,” which is not a super-useful thing to be wealthy in, but will probably help give guys rest that they may or may not desperately need down the stretch.
See you at the end of the season. Hopefully there’s no reason to skip one of these, though the short turnaround to the Wild Card round is awkward.
If you have any thoughts on how to amend these for next year, or do something different as a check-in, I’m all ears. These were in some ways easier to do than my old monthly recaps, but somewhat less fun though maybe more informative. That said, I don’t know if I have the time to do the old monthly recaps anymore, but maybe next year will be a lot easier than this year.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - SEPTEMBER 15: Gabriel Moreno #14 of the Arizona Diamondbacks during the fourth inning of the game against the Miami Marlins at Chase Field on September 15, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Marlins defeated the Diamondbacks 4-2 in 11 innings. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Cardinals Made Right Move Trading Nootbar So far, this has been a win-win sort of trade. Arizona has benefitted from an improved Nootbar. St. Louis has benefitted from the promotion of Baez to fill Nootbar’s place on the roster and the pitching prospects have picked up right where they left off at the deadline.
The good news there is Crisantes hitting his third home run since joining the Reno Aces. The bad news is, they lost the game anyway. The worse news is, the Diamondbacks organization has probably seen Drey Jameson play his last game for them.
Drey Jameson appeared to intentionally hit Sterlin Thompson in the 8th inning, causing both benches to clear.
Jameson and Reno manager Jeff Gardner have been ejected.@Aces | #Dbacks
Additional note to that. Jameson missed Thompson with a 98 mph fastball that went behind the hitter. But, Jameson isn’t a quitter, so he went back to the well and threw another 98 mph heater at Thompson. Jameson has reportedly already been suspended.
Other Baseball News
Pete Alonso Hits 300th HR in Victory Over Mets Alonso, the longtime Met, launched his 300th career home run against his former club. That did nothing to dampen the standing ovation the Citi Field crowd gave him for achieving the feat.
MLB Teams with Potential 2026 Managerial, Front Office Changes The consensus seems to be that Mike Hazen is probably safe, given his multi-year contract and the fact that Arizona is still in contention for the playoffs. There is less certainty about Lovullo, whose contract expires at the end of the season. The looming 2027 lockout is likely to play a major part in some decisions, including potentially the retention of Hazen and Lovullo.
OMAHA, NE - JUNE 26: Paxton Kling #28 of the LSU Tigers reacts towards the end of the game against the Florida Gators during the Division I Men’s Baseball Championship held at Charles Schwab Field on June 26, 2023 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images) | NCAA Photos via Getty Images
The participants in the Arizona Fall League from the Texas Rangers’ organization were announced yesterday. The are Rangers farmhands who will be playing for the Surprise Saguaros are:
C Julian Brock
RHP Alejandro Chiquillo
IF Casey Cook
RHP J’Briell Easley
RHP Jesus Gamez
RHP Jacob Johnson
OF Paxton Kling
RHP Mason McConnaughey
It is a collection of players that is light on big time prospects and heavy on guys who missed a decent chunk of the season.
Johnson was the team’s 11th round pick out of Pearl River Community College in 2025, Johnson split the 2026 season between the complex league and low-A Hickory, though he went over a month without pitching in June and July. The 20 year old put up a 2.51 ERA in 43 innings over 14 appearances, striking out 48 and walking 12. He is ranked #22 on the Baseball America top 30 Rangers list.
Kling, a 7th rounder who spent two seasons at LSU before transferring to Penn State for the 2025 season, was the Rangers’ 7th round pick in 2025. A righthanded hitting center fielder with speed, Kling was slashing .261/.400/404 for high-A Hub City before a broken wrist landed him on the injured list for over six weeks. After struggling initially upon his return, Kling slashed .412/.574/.441 in his final 10 games at Hub City, and was promoted to Frisco last week, where he’s playing center field for them in the playoffs. For the season he slashed .243/.383/.361 with 57 walks and 102 Ks in 401 plate appearances, and is #19 on the BA Rangers list.
McConnaughey, a 22 year old righthander, was the Rangers fourth round pick out of the University of Nebraska in 2025, but didn’t make an appearance in game action until the end of June due to recovery from Tommy John surgery. McConnaughey put up a 3.48 ERA in 20.2 innings over 8 appearances between the complex league and low-A.
Cook, the Rangers’ third round pick in 2024 out of the University of North Carolina, missed the bulk of the 2026 season after undergoing shoulder surgery in February. In 47 games between the complex league and Hub City, he slashed .181/.310/.349.
Easley, 24, is a righthanded pitcher signed as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Kansas who the Rangers signed in March, 2025. He pitched mostly for Hub City but moved up to Frisco for the final week of the season and the playoffs. Easley was used as a reliever in the second half of the season, and for the year had a 5.43 ERA in 58 innings over 32 appearances.
Brock, 25, was the team’s 8th round pick in 2023 out of Louisiana-Lafayette. He split the season between Frisco and Round Rock, putting up a .197/.312/.332 slash line in 68 games.
Chiquillo, 23, split the season between the complex league and Hickory, putting up a 4.79 ERA in 56.1 innings over 17 appearances.
Gamez, 23, made 42 appearances for Hub City this year, with a 3.74 ERA in 43.1 innings, striking out 69 and walking 47.
CINCINNATI — Shohei Ohtani hit off a tee in Los Angeles and remains on track to return before the end of the regular season, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
“Shohei hit off the tee and felt good, too,” Roberts said. “Don’t know what’s in store for tomorrow, but I know that there’s going to be a consistent build-up. Don’t know when the time of return to play is, but today was positive, and hopefully we can just keep building towards that.”
Ohtani has been on the 15-day injured list since Sept. 8 with right biceps inflammation. His swings were his first since going on the IL.
The four-time MVP is not traveling with the team, but has been working out and getting treatment.
Roberts hopes Ohtani will play in a few more regular-season games. The Dodgers already have clinched a playoff spot.
“Whether it happens or not is to be determined, but I do expect him to be back to play in some regular season games,” Roberts said. “I don’t know how many.”
The magic number for the two-time defending World Series champions to clinch their 13th NL West title in 14 years is down to one.
The Phillies on Wednesday announced opportunities for fans to acquire tickets to potentially watch playoff baseball at Citizens Bank Park.
“The energy at Citizens Bank Park during Red October is unlike anything else in sports, and it’s all thanks to the best fans in baseball,” Phillies senior vice president of ticket operations John Weber said in a release.
Tickets to a possible Wild Card series will go on sale on Sept. 18 with tickets for the National League Divisional Series going on sale a week later on Sept. 25.
Additionally, fans can register for a chance to buy tickets to see the Phillies should they make it to the National League Championship Series or the World Series.
The Phillies are currently 5.5 games back of the Braves in the NL East, but they’re second in the Wild Card standings and just a half-game behind the Cubs as of Wednesday afternoon.
However, the Phils’ 5-8 start to September has the team just a half-game up on the Padres for the third Wild Card spot and 2.5 games ahead of the rest of the field. With 11 games left on the schedule, it’s all to play for.
With Clarke Schmidt being activated off the 60-day IL as he returns from Tommy John surgery, the Yankees are creating room on the 40-man roster by designating utility player Oswaldo Cabrera for assignment.
Cabrera was then claimed by the Cincinnati Reds, ending his time with the Yankee organization after five seasons in The Bronx.
Cabrera played just three games for the Yanks this season as he spent the majority of the year with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes Barre, where he was hitting .288/.345/.444 in 122 games while getting starts at all four infield positions and both corner outfield spots.
The 27-year-old appeared in 304 games at the big league level, posting a .232/.292/.343 slash line for a .635 OPS. In 15 postseason games, Cabrera tallied three hits in 34 at-bats with a .420 OPS.
As for Schmidt, he has been out since July 3 of last season, when he was diagnosed with a torn UCL that required Tommy John surgery that also included an internal brace procedure.
Schmidt had a 3.32 ERA (3.95 FIP) and 1.09 WHIP in 14 starts last season before going down with his injury.
In another notable move on Wednesday, hard-throwing pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange was activated off the IL in Triple-A.
Lagrange, who had been dealing with a right shoulder sprain, last pitched on June 28.
NEW YORK — Pete Alonso hit plenty of memorable home runs for the New York Mets.
This one came at their expense — and still earned him a curtain call in Queens.
Alonso launched his 300th career homer, a tying shot in the ninth inning against his former team, and Coby Mayo’s inside-the-park homer in the 11th sent the Baltimore Orioles to a 7-5 victory at Citi Field.
“There’s a lot of history here with me,” Alonso said after receiving a beer shower from his Baltimore teammates. “It doesn’t matter where and when, I just want to help the team win. I’m just really, really happy for us to come back the way we did.”
The Orioles were two outs from a defeat that would have dropped them four games behind Cleveland for the last American League playoff spot when Alonso hit a 414-foot solo drive off Kodai Senga to tie the score 3-all.
A pumped-up Alonso, who hit a club-record 264 homers for the Mets before signing with the Orioles last December, fired his bat toward the Baltimore dugout and shouted in excitement. He rounded the bases as the Citi Field crowd of 28,097 — down from 35,800 for the slugger’s return — roared.
Fans chanted his name until Alonso emerged from the dugout for a curtain call. Then chants of “Fire Stearns” began, aimed at Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns.
“Everyone in the dugout was saying go out there,” Alonso said. “And they were right.”
Said Orioles manager Craig Albernaz: “The dugout was fired up for Pete for a lot of different reasons. It was cool to get an acknowledgment from the crowd.”
The rare curtain call on the road continued an outpouring of support from Mets fans for Alonso over the past two nights — and apparently annoyed at least one of his former teammates.
“As the 2026 Mets, I know we have definitely underperformed. But we are — the guys in here work their (tails) off every single day and to have that kind of reaction to an opposing player — could be anybody — is crazy to me,” said New York pitcher Sean Manaea, who started the game. “Again, I’ve got nothing but respect for Pete. But yeah, just never seen anything like that before.
“Pete’s not here,” the veteran left-hander added. “He’s just not here. So, I know everybody loves him. He’s the man. But, yeah, he’s not here. So, to see the reaction from the fans like that, I don’t know, it’s just different.”
Alonso became the third player to hit his 300th home run against a team for whom he played in 1,000 or more games. Willie Horton hit No. 300 with Seattle against the Detroit Tigers in 1979, and Torii Hunter did so for the Tigers against the Minnesota Twins in 2013.
Alonso received a two-minute tribute video before the Orioles’ 2-1 at Citi Field. He was showered with a thunderous ovation before his first at-bat minutes later, when he was accompanied to the plate by “Layla,” one of his walk-up songs, as “Welcome Back, Pete!” flashed next to his picture on the scoreboard.
He got standing ovations before each of his final three plate appearances as well, when rookie pitcher Jonah Tong was booed after walking Alonso in the third, and warm receptions prior to his first three at-bats.
“I appreciate all the support for all the years I’ve been here, all the life I’ve lived here,” Alonso said. “Obviously, they’re recognizing that and they appreciate that. It’s a two-way street. Really appreciate it.”
Alonso was given his home run ball by the trio of Long Islanders — Michael Shaw, Nick Maldarella and Chris Makarius — who teamed up to catch the milestone drive, which caromed off the second deck of stands in left field and fell into the first deck.
“On the way here, we were saying we’re going to catch his 300th home run,” Maldarella said. “And sure enough, man. It’s crazy.”
Maldarella and Makarius said they each got a hand on it before sharing it with Shaw.
“Never leave a man behind,” Shaw said.
Alonso signed a bat and a ball for each fan in return. He also signed the shirts they were wearing — an Alonso Mets jersey for Shaw and Makarius and a Carlos Delgado shirt for Maldarella — and offered them tickets and batting-practice access at Camden Yards in Baltimore next season.
“Thank you, guys,” Alonso said to the trio outside the visitors’ clubhouse. “You guys are so kind. Thank you so much.”
Alonso also posed for a group picture and for photos with each person individually.
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 15: Cristopher Sánchez #61 of the Philadelphia Phillies pitches against the Washington Nationals during the first inning at Nationals Park on September 15, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It has the feeling of it all unraveling, doesn’t it?
First, it was the announcement by the Phillies on Tuesday afternoon that starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo, the very best pitcher in the sport for more than three months now, was being placed on the 15-day IL with shoulder inflammation that the team hoped would subside in time for him to make his next start.
While the team and Luzardo say they are confident he will be ready for the playoffs, it’s fair to be critical of that. It’s never good news when your best pitcher’s throwing shoulder is too sore to throw a baseball two weeks before the postseason.
The Phillies were 18-3 in his last 21 starts. Since May 14, Luzardo’s 1.93 ERA was second in the Majors, his 164 strikeouts ranked third, he was second in innings pitched (135), his .191 opponents’ batting average was fifth and his 0.98 WHIP was seventh-best.
It is a critical loss as the Phillies battle three other teams for one of the NL’s three wild card slots.
Then, the Phils followed that news by playing a dispiriting game against the last place Nationals in Washington. The bats were largely silent, Cristopher Sanchez had yet another lackluster start, and the bullpen gave up a big hit late in a 6-3 loss.
The Phillies are 4-8 in their last 12 games after a raucous August, further cementing the Jekyll and Hyde nature of this sometimes-great, sometimes-awful group of veterans.
They benefitted from outside help on Tuesday night, with the Cubs, Padres and Diamondbacks all also losing, but the whole thing feels exceedingly tenuous right now.
Is it time to panic?
Cristopher Sanchez, who earlier this year spun 50 2/3 scoreless innings, the third-longest mark in MLB history, has a 6.87 ERA over his last three starts and a 5.06 ERA in his last five. He has given up 8 or more hits in 4 of his last 6.
It’s a bad time for Sanchez to lose his way.
The lineup’s early-August dalliance with discipline has disappeared entirely, with a league-worst 6.4% walk rate in September, but this isn’t about one inopportune cold streak. The lineup has a season-long OPS+ of 90 that is the worst in baseball.
That’s right, according to that metric, there is no offense in baseball worse than the Phillies’. They have just three players with a slugging percentage over .400 (Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Brandon Marsh), and Marsh’s .412 is barely over that mark. He’s also been, statistically, the worst player in baseball since the All Star break. Only two players (Schwarber and Harper) have at least 20 home runs.
So if you’re expecting the Phillies to slug their way through October like they did in ‘22, think again.
And then there’s the bullpen. Their 4.33 ERA is 21st in baseball, and there is no one you feel good about coming out of the ‘pen with a late lead and the game on the line, outside of Jhoan Duran. He’s not infallible, nor should he be expected to be.
Tuesday night’s game against the Nationals was a prime example of what ails this team. This was a matchup the Phillies simply had to win.
They had Sanchez, one of the best pitchers in baseball over the last two years, facing a decent but no longer spectacular Nationals lineup. The Phils’ offense, meanwhile, went up against a 23-year-old left-handed rookie named Jackson Kent, who after five innings had given up just three runs. He has a 6.40 ERA.
The Nationals have the worst bullpen in baseball, setting the all-time blown saves record last week. They pitched four shutout innings against the Phillies’ lineup of free swinging stars.
Sanchez vs. a rookie with a 6.40 ERA and the Major’s worst collection of relievers. In a pennant race.
The Phils had to win that one.
It’s fair to remember things felt like they were falling apart in September of 2022, too. They went 11-14 in the season’s final month and 3-3 in early October ahead of the playoffs, ultimately sneaking in as the third wild card. After a brutal three-game sweep at the hands of the Cubs in Wrigley Field in late September, the Phillies had lost 10 of 13 and appeared on their way to blowing a chance to break an 11-year postseason drought that had become the longest in the National League.
But they righted the ship at the last moment and snuck into the tournament. Magic happened.
That team succeeded in October without the weight of expectations on them. This team, even if they enter as a road wild card team, will not have the grace of being an underdog. No matter how they get into the playoffs, the only thing that will make anyone happy is a World Series.
The trend lines aren’t good. A season-long underachieving offense, a starting rotation that might be falling apart, and a bullpen no one trusts does not establish a championship foundation.
The back and forth has happened so often that it’s not even really disconcerting anymore. This team can be so good. But it’s really fragile. It can evaporate in a hurry. Tuesday night’s game was one that against a lesser opponent probably would have been a win going away. The Cubs generated a ton of traffic early and did produce three runs, but they just couldn’t get over the hump. Martin Perez’s start reminded me of a Javier Assad start. There were runners all over the place and you kept feeling like the Cubs would eventually punch through and win an easy one.
Kevin Gausman was very good early and so everything just felt right in this one. In his sixth inning of work, Gausman was victimized by a two-run homer by Ronald Acuña Jr. He certainly wasn’t the first and won’t be the last to be on the wrong end of one of Acuña’s homers. He couldn’t get out of the sixth and then this is where the game got weird.
Before I continue on, a couple of disclaimers. I am a big Craig Counsell supporter. Secondly, even if I were a moderate (or less) supporter of Counsell, I’d still recognize that the Cubs bullpen (and often their pitching staff in general) has been so bad that there aren’t really any great options. So I get it, he’s trying to figure out a way to stack his Jenga blocks in such a way that they don’t immediately fall over. I can remember some recent National and Phillie seasons where they had combustible bullpens. I can remember the Cubs having some season with really unreliable closers. But I can’t remember the last time where the Cubs didn’t really have anyone dependable down there. Even in the lean years, there is usually a dependable arm or two down there.
So I get it. But he used Daniel Palencia to escape the sixth. That was obviously a key out with just a one run lead. Then he went to Jacob Webb. Webb allowed a second Braves two-run homer, to Ozzie Albies. He’s victimized a few people in his day too. Webb is such a cautionary tale for not getting too locked into a guy too quick. Webb had about as good a two-month stretch as any reliever you’ll see. But since he blew his first save, he’s been a dumpster fire. You don’t really learn about relievers until after they’ve had that first failure. Relief pitching is all about bouncing back from disappointment.
Then Craig Counsell went to Edward Cabrera. Cabrera was exactly what he’s been this year. Tantalizing at times. But just not able to finish the job. He ultimately allowed a two-run homer to Drake Baldwin. The Braves safely executed the clear strategy against the Cubs. Make their starter work. Keep the game close. Beat them late. To the Braves credit, they went to infield in very early in the game and indeed got a ground ball and threw out a runner trying to score.
All this game needed was either Marcell Ozuna or Freddie Freeman to show up and homer to really drive home echoes of four or five years ago. Those guys are long gone, but this felt like so many games against the Braves in recent years. Of course, it really felt like a 2026 Cub game too. The pitching staff just giving up too many homers.
Anyway, back to my original point. I would understand if you didn’t want Cabrera’s first relief appearance to be in a messy spot. And yet, they did eventually bring him in with two outs and a runner on second. So you had Cabrera in the chamber and you were ultimately willing to use him with traffic. So why wasn’t he the first one out of the pen in this one? Had the three relievers the Cubs did use done their job cleanly, Ryan Zeferjahn would likely have been on an island by himself to close this game, having thrown the day before. The other Ryan, Rolison also threw Monday and also threw Saturday. I don’t love the sequencing of the bullpen. Also, when they all allow two-run homers (Palencia did not), it doesn’t matter a ton.
Three Positives:
Matt Shaw was the clear offensive star in this one. He had two singles and drew a walk. He scored a run.
Kevin Gausman threw 5.2 innings and allowed only two runs, striking out six.
Michael Busch had a single and a walk and scored twice.
Game 152, September 15: Braves 6, Cubs 3 (84-68)
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
Superhero: Matt Shaw (.136). 2-2, BB, R
Hero: Pedro Ramirez (.135). 1-4, RBI
Sidekick: Kevin Gausman (.110). 5.2 IP, 22 BF, 5 H, 0 BB, 2 R, 6 K
THREE GOATS:
Billy Goat: Jacob Webb (-.363). 0.2 IP, 5 BF, 2 H, BB, 2 R (L 6-5)
Goat: Pete Crow-Armstrong (-.140). 0-5
Kid: Nico Hoerner (-.124). 0-4
WPA Play of the Game: Ozzie Albies’ two-run homer with one out in the seventh gave the Braves a one-run lead. (.370)
Cubs Play of the Game: Pedro Ramirez batted with runners at first and second with no outs in the second, the game scoreless. He grounded to short and Mauricio Dubon fielded and tried to get the force at second but threw the ball away. A run scored and it put runners at the corners.
Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 151: Pete Crow-Armstrong 46-45 over David Peterson. One person voted for Carson Kelly and might have robbed us of a split. Probably just about as rare of an occurrence as a unanimous vote.
Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)
The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.
Pete Crow-Armstrong +24.5
Alex Bregman +24
Carson Kelly +16.5
Ben Brown +13.5
Michael Conforto +13
Jameson Taillon -13
Seiya Suzuki -15
Nico Hoerner -16
Dansby Swanson -17
Caleb Thielbar -17.5
Scoreboard Watching: Hat tip to the Brewers winning their fourth straight NL Central title. That is one of the most well run organizations in baseball. The Phillies lost and remain half a game behind the Cubs (and would lose a tiebreaker). The Padres lost, snapping their long winning streak. They remain 1.5 games behind the Cubs. The Diamondbacks lost a t0ugh one in extra innings and are four games behind the Cubs.
Up Next: The third and final game of the series, winner takes the series. The Braves will at least split the season series with the Cubs, having won three of the first five. The Cubs have been very good against NL playoff hopefuls. Only the Brewers have won their season series with the Cubs. The Cardinals and Brewers are the only NL teams who came in with winning records against the Cubs. The Braves join that group. The Rockies, Giants and Nationals all split their series with the Cubs. There is some illustration of the up and down performance of the Cubs in these numbers. Doing well against all but one of the best teams but only breaking even against the worst teams.
Shōta Imanaga (10-10, 3.88) starts for the Cubs. He’s won back-to back starts, bouncing back after several rough ones. He lost to the Braves in May despite allowing two runs over seven innings of work. 23-year-old righty JR Ritchie (1-2, 4.50) has appeared in 14 games, making eight starts. He hasn’t pitched in the majors since August 2. He went four innings and allowed two runs in that one, a start. He’s fully stretched out, twice pitching six or more innings this month in the minors. On September 6, he struck out 15 in 6.2 innings. He only walked one. So he is dominating at Triple-A. At the major league level, he’s allowed 36 walks in 58 innings. He started against the Cubs in May. He allowed a run on two hits and three walks in 4.1 innings.
