ST. PETERSBURG, FL - MAY 18: A general view of Tropicana Field during the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday, May 18, 2026 in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Alex Zadorozny/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Good morning, baseball fans!
Both American League Division Series continues today with Game 2. As of the time this is being written, Game 1 has not yet been played. Because as always, I write in the past baby.
The visiting Chicago White Sox will take on the Cleveland Guardians at 2:00 p.m. PT, with national radio coverage available on ESPN Radio, and television broadcast available on TBS/HBO Max.
After that, the visiting New York Yankees will go up against the Tampa Bay Rays at 5:00 p.m. PT. This will also have national radio coverage on ESPN Radio, and television coverage on TBS/HBO Max.
This time, I think I’ll also pick who I’m rooting for, since I keep asking you guys to. If you know me even a little bit, you know I’ve got to root for Cleveland! because it would make Taylor Swift happy. And honestly I don’t really have a preference among the non-Yankees teams. But I guess as a non-facetious answer, I’ll go with the White Sox. I feel like that would be a pretty cool story.
SURPRISE, ARIZONA - MARCH 18: Drew Waters #8 of the Kansas City Royals stands on deck during a Spring Training game against the Texas Rangers at Surprise Stadium on March 18, 2026 in Surprise, Arizona. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Getty Images) | Getty Images
There’s another issue, though, that I hope the Royals will delve deeper into as they audit their processes.
Heck, maybe they could even form a task force for the cause:
Solve why so many of their seasons get wrecked within weeks.
Because it’s an ever-hovering albatross that deflates fans and typically has made for too much ground to make up.
Yes, the Royals have been above water through May in two of Matt Quatraro’s first four seasons as manager.
And, yep, the early stumbles are intertwined with broader reasons they do or don’t succeed through the course of a 162-game marathon. And, sure there’s a difference between causal and correlation.
But, geez, this happens over and over and over and over.
Precocious righthander Kendry Chourio pitched at two Class A levels as an 18-year-old. The Royals knew he was ready for the challenge because they observed his pregame routine of studying hitters, reviewing video and developing game plans. “He’s super disciplined (and) he’s very mature for his age,” Royals farm director Mitch Maier said. “Just by the example, he sets on how he takes care of business when he starts, and the poise which he performs with, he sets a good example for everyone who he’s around.”
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 03: A base is seen before being place before game one of the American League Division Series between the Cleveland Guardians and the Chicago White Sox at Tropicana Field on October 03, 2026 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The National League had the MLB playoff stage to itself on Sunday, but while those four teams switch cities, Monday belongs to the American League Division Series, with a pair of Games 2 in Cleveland and St. Petersburg.
Major League Baseball in recent years has started the Division Series round with all four series playing Game 1 on the same day, then will insert an extra off day between Games 1 and 2 for one of the leagues — alternating each year — to ensure that there are as many days with baseball games as possible. This year, the AL got the extra off day between the first two games.
First up on Monday is the Chicago White Sox, going for a fourth straight win to open their postseason, with their first three wins thus far coming on the road. There’s one more game for the Sox before returning home, having to face Gavin Williams and the Guardians in Cleveland on Monday.
Only one run was scored in the opener of Rays vs. Yankees, and New York turns to Cam Schlittler in Game 2 on Monday to try to avoid the 2-0 hole before returning home to The Bronx.
Both games, and the entire rest of the American League playoffs (Division Series and Championship Series) will be televised by TBS.
Monday Division Series schedule
2 p.m. PT: White Sox at Guardians Chicago leads, 1-0 ALDS Game 2: Anthony Kay vs. Gavin Williams TBS (Alex Faust, Ron Darling)
5 p.m.: Yankees at Rays Tampa Bay leads, 1-0 ALDS Game 2: Cam Schlittler vs. Freddy Peralta TBS (Brian Anderson, Jeff Francoeur)
ST. PETERSBURG, FL - OCTOBER 03: Cam Schlittler #31 of the New York Yankees speaks to the media prior to Game One of the American League Division Series presented by Booking.com between the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on Saturday, October 3, 2026 in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Mike Carlson/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
It’s becoming very easy to treat Cam Schlittler as a superhero, the old school television programs that end with the protagonist once again disposing of the villain, with everything present on screen except the ads for cereal are replaced by ones for so-called prediction markets that are rotting the brains of 30 percent of the male population. Throw whatever obstacle at him you want — playoff start, the hated rival, a lineup that refuses to score — and he’ll overcome it. I am at least slightly convinced the Yankees scoring nine runs last Tuesday had something to do with Cam.
Tonight he once again faces his toughest test of the year, tasked with preventing the Rays from taking what would be a strangling 2-0 lead in the ALDS. If there was one pitcher on planet Earth, with full respect to Jacob Misiorowski, that I would trust to lead my team away from that fate, it would be Cam Schlittler.
The what is one thing, and that’s discussed above. The how and why are different questions.
Cam’s disposal of the Red Sox last week was a particularly notable one, as the righty drastically changed his approach to pitching. If you’re standing in the box against Cam, there’s about a 90 percent chance he throws you some kind of fastball, and your job is to figure out, in the 0.4 seconds it takes for that pitch to reach the plate, whether it has rise, cut, or run. That approach has put Cam in the pole position for the AL Cy Young Award, just throw F*** You fastballs all around the strike zone and good things will happen.
Except, against the Red Sox, something changed:
You still get a lot of the No. 1, Cam will never abandon the four-seamer that’s made him one of the three or so best pitchers in the world. He caught the Sox completely flat footed with his curveball though, after the club reportedly spent the entire final regular season in Tampa working off his heaters on Tropicana Field’s Trejekt machine.
It’s hard to tell what’s funnier, that Cam got a 50 percent (!) whiff rate on the bender that night, or that while he edged out eight whiffs he got another six called for strikes. Boston doesn’t have the best lineup in baseball, but they’re still MLB players, and they were bamboozled by the change in gameplan.
And we’ve seen this with Cam before — what makes me so supremely confident in him, and what drives my desire for the Yankees to work out an extension with him the moment labor strife in the sport is resolved is that ability to tweak in-between starts. He gave up four home runs against the Tigers on June 30th, and then just six in the 15 starts and 89.2 innings he threw to close the year. He walked five against the Red Sox on August 28th, a start that could have made us otherwise nervous given his dominance of his hometown team. After that he made five starts to finish up his Cy Young campaign, 30 innings of work, and walked just seven combined.
Then of course facing a Boston team so geared up for velo on Tuesday, Cam quite literally bent the gameplan and pitched the game of his life, again. Mike Trout used to do this, at the height of his powers he would look at a part of his game that wasn’t A+ and just decide to make it A+. Mike Trout is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, maybe the best five-tool talent I have ever seen for an extended period of his career, and I am not quite ready to say that Cam Schlittler is at that level, but damn if he isn’t trying.
But he doesn’t face Boston tonight, he faces Tampa Bay. Instead of the league’s 17th best offense, it’s the sixth best. The Red Sox struck out 21.7 percent of the time, below league average to be clear but three full points higher than Tampa’s K-rate. They do have one thing in common though.
Boston was the worst team in baseball facing curveballs, -7 runs against the pitch. Tampa Bay is the second-worst, -5.7. Now we get into game theory, and perhaps paralysis by analysis. If I know how bad Tampa is against curves, and Tampa just watched the Red Sox get led around Yankee Stadium on a leash made of breaking balls, the Rays have to be gameplanning against a repeat, curve-heavy performance.
Cam’s made three starts against the Rays this year, and has actually underperformed to his own baseline, posting a gaudy 2.81 ERA in 16 innings. He has also struck out seven Rays for every one he walked so, maybe the gameplan is just “do that again.” Then again, he owns the lowest ERA of any pitcher ever against the Red Sox, and became a completely different man when taking them down Tuesday. Maybe we get F*** You Fastball Cam, maybe we get Schlittler on a bender, maybe there’s something else he’s cooking up. The joy of watching Cam Schlittler over the last year and a half has been witnessing the evolution of an ace, and the next chapter comes tonight.
Sep 22, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jordan Westburg (11) throws to first base in the third inning against the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
Good morning, Camden Chatters.
The MLB postseason rolls on, and yesterday brought two quality games in the NL Division Series. The Brewers and Padres played an absolute thriller, one that ended on Jackson Chourio’s dramatic two-run, two-out, two-strike walkoff single off of the unhittable San Diego closer Mason Miller, putting Milwaukee one win away from a sweep. And in Los Angeles, the Braves clapped back against the Dodgers with a 3-2 victory — with their bullpen game defeating Blake Snell — to even the series at one. The NL teams have a travel day today while the two AL Division Series are back in action.
In the meantime, it’s never too early to start thinking about what the Orioles’ roster will look like in 2027, whenever the season may begin. MLB Trade Rumors’ Charlie Wright wrote about Jordan Westburg’s expected return and what it might mean for the Orioles’ crowded infield picture. In the absence of Westburg, the Orioles’ regular third baseman in 2025, the O’s filled the hot corner this season with the trio of Coby Mayo, Blaze Alexander, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who happened to be three of the Orioles’ best hitters. All remain under team control for years to come.
Wright also suggests that the O’s could plug in Westburg at second base, a position he’s played 120 times in his career, as a way to ease him back into action. The Orioles’ current starter at the keystone position is Jackson Holliday, who struggled after suffering a hamate injury in spring training.
That makes five players for two positions. All of them have some warts, though. Mayo’s bat belongs in the lineup but he isn’t really a quality defender. Alexander had a scorching bat in part-time duty but could be overexposed as a regular. Encarnacion-Strand is just a few months removed from being waived by the Reds and can’t be considered a sure thing. And it’s unclear how quickly Westburg will be able to round back into form after missing the entire 2026 season.
It’ll be interesting to see how the Orioles aim to alleviate the logjam, if they try to do so at all. Would they consider optioning Holliday to the minors for the first time since 2024? Will they put Westburg on the IL at the start of the season to give him a little extra time to recover? Or, as Wright suggests, could the O’s try to swing a trade involving one or more of their infielders?
Me, I say just keep them all, unless you get an overwhelming trade offer. These things tend to have a way of sorting themselves out. Last year before spring training, O’s fans thought there was no possible place on the team for Mayo, with Pete Alonso and Ryan Mountcastle blocking him at 1B/DH and Westburg at 3B. And look what happened. Westburg and Mountcastle both suffered injuries that cost them most or all of the season, and Mayo ended up playing 132 games. It’s always nice to have extra depth.
What do you think, Camden Chatters? What should the Orioles’ infield — especially the second and third base situations — look like in 2027?
If it weren’t already obvious by the fact that he played zero games behind the plate in 2026, Ike Irish is no longer a catcher. That’s probably a good thing, considering that he openly hated catching.
The newly acquired outfield prospect hasn’t taken long to Endd-ear himself to Orioles fans. (I’ll show myself out.)
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! The only player in Orioles history born on Oct. 5 is the late right-hander Terry Mathews (b. 1964, d. 2012).
On this date in 1986, Hall of Fame Orioles skipper Earl Weaver managed the final game of his 17-year career, which included 2,541 regular season games, 46 postseason games, and 96 ejections. Weaver, who had retaken the reins of the Orioles in 1985 after initially retiring in 1982, took a loss in his finale, 6-3 to the Tigers. That finished a 73-89 season, which remarkably was the only losing season of Earl’s career.
The Orioles have played 11 postseason games on this date, going an incredible 9-2 in those games. Among the highlights:
In 1966, the O’s opened their first-ever World Series with a 5-2 win over the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Hall of Famers Frank Robinson and Brooks Robinson set the tone for the series with back-to-back homers in the top of the first against fellow Hall of Famer Don Drysdale, taking an early lead that the O’s never relinquished. Moe Drabowsky turned in a brilliant appearance in long relief, working the final 6.2 scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts.
In 1969, the Orioles won Game 2 of the ALCS with their second straight extra-inning, walkoff win against the Twins. Dave McNally pitched a masterpiece, tossing an 11-inning shutout with 11 strikeouts. The Twins’ Dave Boswell was very nearly McNally’s equal, carrying a shutout of his own into the bottom of the 11th, but a walk, a sac bunt, and a pinch-hit RBI single by Curt Motton led the Orioles to a 1-0 victory.
In both 1970 and 1971 on this date, the O’s finished off a three-game ALCS sweep, beating the Twins in the former and the Athletics in the latter. In both cases, it was Hall of Famer Jim Palmer who led the Orioles to victory with a complete game. In the 1970 game, he dominated the Twins with 12 strikeouts and gave up only one run in a 6-1 decision, and in the ’71 contest he held the A’s to three runs in a 5-3 Orioles win.
In both 1996 and 1997, the Orioles finished off the Division Series with a Game 4 victory to advance to the ALCS. In ’96, they outlasted Cleveland in a 4-3, 12-inning thriller at Jacobs Field. Roberto Alomar played the hero, first tying the game with two outs in the ninth on an RBI single, then winning it with a leadoff homer in the top of the 12th. And in ’97, in an epic pitcher’s duel between Hall of Famers Mike Mussina and Randy Johnson, Moose came out on top with seven innings of one-run ball. O’s manager Davey Johnson riskily countered the Big Unit by benching top hitters like Alomar and Rafael Palmeiro in favor of little-used righties, and it worked when utility infielder Jeff Reboulet powered a homer en route to a 3-1 Orioles win.
In 2012, the Orioles won the first-ever AL Wild Card Game in Texas, stunning the Rangers with a 5-1 victory. Journeyman lefty Joe Saunders, who historically had always struggled in Texas, memorably outdueled Rangers ace Yu Darvish by holding Texas to one run in 5.2 innings. Darren O’Day, Brian Matusz, and Jim Johnson followed with 3.1 innings of scoreless relief. Nate McLouth and J.J. Hardy sparked the O’s lineup by combining for three hits and three RBIs atop the order.
And in 2014, the O’s sealed a three-game sweep of the Tigers in the Division Series, eking out a 2-1 win in Detroit. For the third consecutive game, the Orioles defeated a former Cy Young winner, besting David Price after doing the same to Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. Nelson Cruz’s two-run homer in the sixth provided all the offense the O’s needed, backing 6.1 scoreless innings from Bud Norris. Closer Zack Britton kept the tying and winning runs stranded on base in the ninth by inducing a series-ending double play.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - SEPTEMBER 27: Kyle Schwarber #12 of the Philadelphia Phillies hits a single in the first inning during a game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Citizens Bank Park on September 27, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Crazy what happens when the roof is open, huh Milwaukee? Still, I’ve never seen anything like Ty France’s long out on Saturday night in a playoff game. It’s why baseball playoffs are the best.
1921 – New York is host to the first one-city World Series since 1906 and the Polo Grounds is the site for all nine games. Carl Mays of the Yankees needs 86 pitches to set the Giants down on five hits, four of them by Frankie Frisch, as Babe Ruth drives in the first run of the Series in the opening inning of the 3-0 Yankees win.
1954 – Oscar Charleston, one of the greatest players in the history of the Negro Leagues, dies in Philadelphia, days after he had fallen down a flight of stairs. He was 57 years old.
2003 – Chicago Cubs win their first MLB postseason series since the 1908 World Series with a 5-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves in Game 5 of the NLDS at Turner Field
1274 – Around 1,000 soldiers of the Mongol army land on the Japanese island of Tsushima in the first attack of Kublai Khan‘s Mongol invasion of Japan.
1892 – The Dalton Gang ends in a shootout in Coffeyville, Kansas, during a bank holdup; four members are killed, and a fifth is captured.
1947 – Harry Truman delivers the first presidential address televised from the White House.
1969 – TV sketch comedy series “Monty Python‘s Flying Circus” premieres on BBC1.
1973 – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, the 7th studio album by Elton John, is released.
1975 – Austrian Niki Lauda wins the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen to claim his first Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship, winning by 19.5 points over Emerson Fittipaldi of Brazil.
Jonathan Aranda's solo homer was the game's only run and Rays starter Drew Rasmussen took a no-hitter into the eighth inning as Tampa Bay took the all-important Game 1 on Saturday.
Likely AL Cy Young winner Cam Schlittler takes the mound for the Yankees in Game 2 coming off his scoreless outing with 10 strikeouts in the first game of the AL wild card series against the Boston Red Sox, the second year in a row he dominated the rivals in the postseason. Freddy Peralta starts for the Rays in Game 2 after going 5-2 with a 3.25 ERA following a trade deadline deal with the Mets.
Yankees players were able to spend the off day working out at the team's spring training facility in Tampa and manager Aaron Boone didn't have any updates on the status of MVP Aaron Judge, who was left off the ALDS roster as he continues making his way back from injuries.
How to watch Yankees vs Rays: TV channel, streaming
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Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani strikes out during the seventh inning of a 3-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves in Game 2 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium on Sunday. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
That’s weird because normally he’s everybody else’s problem. This man has been terrorizing pitchers and hitters across baseball for years.
But biceps, knee and neck ailments have taken the ball out of Ohtani’s hand this season. And now, anyone who says they haven’t wondered whether the Dodgers should also take the bat out of his hands is lying.
It’s not going to happen, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves, which evened the best-of-five National League Division Series 1-1 heading back to Atlanta for Game 3 on Tuesday.
“He’ll be in there Game 3,” Roberts said of Ohtani, the four-time league MVP and much-celebrated unicorn. “We’ve just got to, again, take good at-bats and expect the best.”
Except anyone watching actually is expecting the worst from Ohtani’s at-bats.
He can’t be right, can he? He’s so much better than this.
Though Roberts reminded us once more: “This time of year ... no one feels perfect.”
Still, Roberts also said, “I haven’t heard anything other than he feels fine. So I don’t know if he’s trying to do too much because he doesn’t feel perfect.”
Ohtani has been far from that. In his final 18 games of the regular season, he hit .157 with an on-base-plus-slugging percentage of .503. He struck out 29 times in 70 at-bats. He hasn’t hit a home run since Aug. 18 and has only one RBI in that span.
He has two singles in the NLDS, but he’s otherwise chasing pitches and chasing his normal self. Turning himself into a pretzel, corkscrewing himself into the dirt.
At this point, it’s cause for celebration when Ohtani simply slaps a single, as he did in the fifth inning Sunday when he poked Dylan Lee’s 95-mph four-seam fastball into left field for his only hit. We’ll take it, take him taking what the pitcher gives him instead of all the flailing and failing we’re seeing.
Because even as a decoy, Ohtani is whiffing badly.
But the Dodgers can’t very well move him down from No. 2 in the order; they’d have to move him out of it entirely. Because if they signal that they don’t have faith in him, who in the other dugout is going to fear him?
Not that the charade is working on the Braves, who in the third inning walked Mookie Betts — now the Dodgers’ leadoff man — on four pitches and then got Ohtani to pop out.
Shohei Ohtani reacts to taking a strike during the third inning against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Usually Ohtani’s presence in the on-deck circle is enough to strike fear into the other guys. Now it’s the Dodgers’ fans who have an uneasy feeling when they hear those familiar Michael Bublé walk-up notes.
Ohtani isn’t hitting, and he’s not getting anything to hit. He’s doing much of the pitchers’ work for them, swinging at pitches outside of the strike zone, stacking undisciplined and unserious at-bats that are unbecoming of the biggest star on the ballclub with three-peat immortality on the line.
Beside a smattering of promising at-bats in the final week of the season against the San Diego Padres, Ohtani has looked like a man fighting himself — and losing.
“If you look at the at-bats, there’s a lot of chase,” Roberts said. “It’s hard to square up, put good swings on balls that are out of the zone. That’s kind of what it boils down to.”
And …
“Certainly [Chris] Sale is going to be tough,” Roberts said.
Oh, yeah. It’s only going to get tougher. On Tuesday, the Braves will start their ace, against whom Ohtani is three for 15 all time.
Thirty-seven-year-old Freddie Freeman has been fighting to find a groove again too — and he seems to have found it, with three hits in his last seven at-bats, including his first home run since Sept. 2 in Sunday’s loss.
And there’s a school of thought that the Dodgers’ Josue De Paula infusion sparked a late-season fire under Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernández.
Could the rookie — who pinch-hit for Tommy Edman and fouled out for the final out Sunday — have a similar impact on Ohtani? Could De Paula possibly do a better impression of Ohtani than Ohtani currently is doing?
We’ll never know. But at this point, we’d sure like to.
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 03: Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the New York Yankees looks on from the dugout during the seventh inning against the Tampa Bay Rays in game one of the American League Division Series at Tropicana Field on October 03, 2026 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Yankees don’t have their backs to the walls just yet, but it’s darn near close after losing Game 1 of the ALDS. They desperately want to avoid going home to the Bronx facing an 0-2 hole, especially with their ace Cam Schlittler toeing the slab tonight. Schlittler dazzled in his Game 1 start against Boston, going 6.1 shutout with 10 strikeouts to continue his dominance over the team’s archrivals. Schlittler had one of the best starts in recent postseason memory to start last year’s postseason, but his follow-up against Toronto wasn’t nearly as sharp and he’ll look to avoid repeating that pattern this time around against Tampa Bay.
We’ve got plenty to go through before we get to Game 2, starting with Josh musing on Schlittler’s arsenal choice ahead of his start after he mixed in far more curveballs than usual against Boston. John takes us back to class with a history lesson on how the league first hammered out a deal to sell the film rights to record the 1911 World Series, Jonathan remembers one-time Yankee Aaron Guiel and his unlikely road to the majors on his birthday, Michael compares the paths of two of the more veteran GMs across baseball in Brian Cashman and Dave Dombrowski, and later on I’ll be back to open up the mailbag for another week of your questions.
Today’s Matchup:
American League Division Series Game 2
New York Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays
Time: 8:00 p.m. EST
TV: TBS/HBO Max, TruTV, Univision
Venue: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL
Questions/Prompts:
1. On a scale between Saturday’s Game 1 and 10, how effective will the Yankees’ offense be against Freddy Peralta?
2. Will we see a redemption game from Austin Wells after his baserunning gaffe?
Dodgers reliever Edwin Díaz delivers during the sixth inning of a 3-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves in Game 2 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium on Sunday night. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
On a night when so much went so wrong for the Dodgers, the sound of trumpets in the sixth inning sounded like just another misplay. Edwin Díaz was coming in from the bullpen, not to the accompaniment of a live trumpeter preceding a save opportunity, but to a recording preceding a middle inning of an uninspiring defeat.
All was not lost, however, for this is what those trumpets heralded: The Dodgers have found their postseason closer.
Is Dodgers manager Dave Roberts ready for Díaz to pitch the ninth?
“Yeah, I think I’ve been very consistent in the fact that I wanted to get him an outing, and this was a big spot,” Roberts said. “He did what he needed to do. It looked great.
“So absolutely, you could see him closing, yes. I could see him closing.”
This should not be breaking news, even with the Dodgers and Atlanta Braves tied one game apiece in the best-of-five National League Division Series. This, after all, is what was supposed to happen.
The Dodgers signed Díaz for $69 million last December and feted him and his family with a lovely press conference, at which president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman anointed the three-time All-Star as the undisputed closer.
“To name someone the closer, you have to be one of the best,” Friedman said then. “You have to be elite and dominant at what you do.”
Then the season started, and Díaz was limited to 18⅔ innings because of elbow surgery and, later, a neck injury. He returned in mid-September, limited to five scoreless appearances before the end of the regular season.
The numbers say he’s back: Add in the perfect sixth inning he pitched Sunday, and he has faced 20 batters. He has given up one hit and one walk and has struck out 11 — that is, 55% of those batters.
In his outing Sunday, he struck out two of three batters, throwing one pitch at 101 mph and two others at 100 mph.
Roberts called that performance “a silver lining” in the defeat.
“I’ve been throwing the ball really well,” Díaz said. “Arm feels good. Body feels great. It’s playoff baseball.
“I was letting the ball rip.”
The Dodgers have been publicly noncommittal about a designated closer. Tanner Scott, who converted 25 of 29 save opportunities in Díaz’s absence this season, got the first postseason shot on Saturday. He gave up a single and a home run to the first two batters he faced.
Roki Sasaki, the accidental postseason closer last year, got his first shot of this postseason on Sunday. He walked the first batter, hit the next, and walked another to load the bases, although he did pitch two scoreless innings.
It is fair to say that Díaz did not face the heart of the Braves’ order. It also is fair to say that, if the Braves feature left-handed-hitting stars Matt Olson and Michael Harris II in a future ninth inning, the Dodgers might let the left-handed Scott work the ninth and deploy Díaz in an earlier inning against a run of right-handed batters. It also is fair to say Sasaki’s October run last year should earn him a shot to close.
But, really, the Dodgers ought to trust Díaz by now without overthinking this.
The only times Díaz has pitched as early in a game as he did on Sunday: twice this September, as he came back from the neck injury; the final day of the 2025 season, trying to keep his New York Mets alive in the playoff chase; in the sixth inning of a seven-inning doubleheader game during the 2020 pandemic season; and three times in his debut season of 2016.
For all his success over the years, the Dodgers are grateful that Díaz did not insist upon returning as a closer. That old bromide about how a player should not lose his job because of an injury?
“We are playing playoff games, so I’m open to coming into any situation,” Díaz said. “In playoff baseball, every inning counts, so if I come in the fifth or the ninth, it would play out the same for me.
“I will treat every inning as the ninth.”
Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas saluted Díaz on his professionalism.
“He knew, when he got to this team, it’s all about winning,” Rojas said. “You put the egos aside as soon as you walk into this clubhouse and you see the best players in the world. It’s really easy for you to put your personal demands or goals on the side.
“He’s been a really good closer, one of the best in our generation for a long time, and it’s a credit to him to keep working hard. Who knows if he’s going to end up closing the last game of the year?”
One step at a time, and the Dodgers took steps backward on Sunday.
Blake Snell, the Dodgers’ starter, barely outlasted Ray Kerr, the Braves’ opener. Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernández misplayed a drive into a triple. Dodgers reliever Kris Bubic heaved a run-scoring wild pitch. The Dodgers were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position.
And, as the tedious and repetitive screaming of in-game hosts begged the fans to make noise yet again, as the game headed to the ninth inning, plenty of fans instead headed to the exits, even with the home team down by only two runs.
Yet something good came out of the evening. The Dodgers found their closer.
BRADENTON, FLORIDA - MARCH 20, 2026: Wyatt Sanford #5 of the Pittsburgh Pirates looks on prior to a spring training Spring Breakout game against the Detroit Tigers at LECOM Park on March 20, 2026 in Bradenton, Florida. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images
Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Wyatt Sanford got going the Arizona Fall League over the weekend, blasting a huge homer in a Glendale loss to the Salt River Rafters. Sanford cranked a cutter to an 100mph exit velocity. Check out the homer:
— Pittsburgh Pirates Player Development Report (@PGHplayerDev) October 3, 2026
Pirates No. 5 prospect Wyatt Sanford hits the first homer of the 2026 Arizona Fall League season! pic.twitter.com/i8pdh0OLzJ
— MLB's Arizona Fall League (@MLBazFallLeague) October 3, 2026
The Desert Dogs ended up losing this one and are now off to an 0-2 start, but Sanford is a name to keep an eye on for the Bucs.
Sanford was taken in the second round of the 2024 MLB Draft, and was widely regarded as somewhat of a light hitter, however, he hit 19 home runs this past season in the Minors, including 17 with Greenboro. He also had a three home run game on May 26, hitting two solo homers and a two-run dinger in a 19-13 win over Hub City.
He did play five games in Bradenton and had two homers in just 22 at-bats. He also dealt with some injuries this season, but the 20-year-old finished his Minor League season with a combined .282 average with 19 homers, 44 RBIs, and 33 stolen bases. He had a .417 OBP, .566 slugging percentage, and a .963 OPS.
While the Bucs don’t exactly have a glaring need for a shortstop, with Konnor Griffin slotted there for the foreseeable future, Sanford is the exact type of infielder that could work as a utility guy and backup for Griffin — strong defense, quick, and improving as a hitter.
You’ll likely see Sanford above Greensboro and in Altoona this coming season, and he’s a name to keep an eye for the future after a strong start to the Arizona Fall League.
The Chicago White Sox take a 1-0 American League Division series lead into Game 2 on Monday, Oct. 5 against the Cleveland Guardians, being played at Progressive Field after an off day Sunday.
The White Sox won 3-0 in the first game of the best-of-five series in Cleveland with a dominant pitching performance and a huge home run from rookie Munetaka Murakami. The series shifts to Chicago for Game 3 on Wednesday and Game 4, if necessary, on Thursday.
"We still like where we're at," Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said Sunday. "We still have a great opportunity ahead of us to even the series tomorrow and go to Chicago with a chance to win it."
Left-hander Anthony Kay starts for the White Sox with Gavin Williams taking the mound for the Guardians in Game 2. Making its first postseason appearance since 2021, Chicago has won all three of its postseason games after sweeping the AL wild card series against the Houston Astros.
How to watch White Sox vs Guardians: TV channel, streaming
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NY Post | Greg Joyce: The Yankees were off on Sunday, but those who wanted to stay sharp didn’t go to Tropicana Field. Instead, they went to their own spring training facility, George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. Some pitchers reportedly threw there, and some position players also used the team’s facilities to work out ahead of Game 2.
“You’ve got a full facility, our training stuff, modalities, things like that, plenty of fields to get whatever space you need,” manager Aaron Boone said on a video call Sunday. “We’ve got Trajekt for guys who want to get on that. And staying in Tampa, it’s a quick, easier back and forth.”
NY Post | Mark Suleymanov: The Yankees dropped Game 1 of the ALDS on Saturday. While they won’t take the field on Monday with the season on the line, it certainly feels like it – losing Game 2 would leave them in a 0-2 hole. “It’s a must-win [game],” former captain Derek Jeter asserted during Fox Sports’ postgame coverage. Tying the series behind Cam Schlittler would certainly give New York the kind of boost they need ahead of two (hopefully) key games in the Bronx.
SNY | Anthony McCarron: Yes, Saturday’s 1-0 loss hurt. However, according to McCarron, the quality pitching showing on the Yankees’ side in the series opener plus “the looming spectre of Cam Schlittler in Game 2 (and Game 5) are all evidence that this ALDS is far from over.” Drew Rasmussen being up one more time is certainly a problem, but the Yanks have the arms to match the Rays. They do need their hitters to, well, hit.
The Athletic | Chris Kirschner: Austin Wells committed what could be a ‘season-altering’ baserunning blunder in Game 1. He hit a double off Rasmussen, the Yankees’ first hit of the night, and thought he had a chance to go for the triple. Kirschner described the moment in the words of the catcher himself.
“I put my head down and went for it,” Wells said. Wells, for a moment, loved his chances. There was one point during his race, however, that he knew he would be tagged out. “This was the chance I was going to take with the game on the line,” he said. “I thought it kicked pretty favorably in my way.”
TORONTO, CANADA - SEPTEMBER 26: Sean Keys #20 of the Toronto Blue Jays hits a single against the Cincinnati Reds during the second inning in their MLB game at Rogers Centre on September 26, 2026 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Nine Jays prospects made the list (in addition to Arjun Nimmala, who’s an Angel now but probably owes his gains to work done while he was with the Jays organization). Only the Cardinals (11) and Dodgers (10) has more of their batters add major strength this year. The team has invested a lot in their strength and conditioning program as part of the redevelopment of the Florida complex, and that seems to be paying off. They’ve been singled out as a top organization in that area by multiple prospect experts, most recently Fangraphs’ Brendan Gawlowski. Below, I’ve briefly profiled each of the nine players who made a jump.
The AA Sluggers: Aaron Parker and Jace Bohrofen
Each added a bit more than 3.5mph, with Parker jumping from 106.7mph to 110.4 and Bohrofen from 105.4 to 109.3. Those are big numbers. BA’s Eli Ben-Porat looked into MLB players’ 90th percentile exit velocities in the 2023 seas on to develop rules of thumb for translating the numbers into power scouting grades. He found that most big leaguers cluster around 104mph, making that a 50 on the 20-10 scale. Each mile per hour is a half grade (5 points). 110mph is an 80, the top of the scale. It’s the land of Yordans Alvarez and Aarons Judge. Parker crushes the ball, and Bohrofen is just behind him in the realm of Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, and, well, Vlad.
Neither player is a top prospect in spite of all that juice, however, because of issues with their approaches and contact ability. Parker got the bat on the ball just under 67% of the time this season, while Bohrofen managed an abysmal 62%. Both represent 20 grade contact, and would surely go down farther against MLB calibre pitching. They each take some walks, but that’s more a factor of wild AA pitching than particularly strong plate discipline.
Both players, then, have an exciting carrying tool but will need major strides in the other aspects of hitting to be able to use it at the top level.
Getting to Average: Dub Gleed, J.R. Freethy, Nick Goodwin, Alexis Hernandez and Jean Joseph
All of these players jumped from between 101 and 102mph to between 104 and 105, or 30-35 to 50 on the scouting scale. Gleed and Freethy were both later picks in the 2024 draft, with the former going to the Marlins in the 9th and the latter the Blue Jays in the 14th. Gleed was eventually the trade return for Leo Jimenez when he was squeezed off the 40 man roster this spring. Goodwin was drafted one year earlier. All three are infielders in the upper minors with above average contact skills, solid approaches, and no slam dunk position. With 35 level raw power that profile is just above an org player, the kind of guy who gets hidden on the back half of a AAA roster. With average power, they have a shot to fit as bat first bench infielders that can add a little actual value in MLB. It’s not a thrilling profile, but you need players of this type. 25 different players took a PA for the Jays this past season. When the time comes, it’s nice to have a player who can offer a little pop at the back of the lineup.
Hernandez is a deep, deep sleeper. He was acquired from the Red Sox in the AAA portion of the 2023 Rule 5 draft, which is typically mostly a way to fill out organizational role players. He’s spent the last three seasons slowly climbing the ladder, culminating in a month at AA this past year. He raised his 90th percentile EV from 102.5mph to 104.9 this season, to solid average. Combined with a swing that generates a lot of line drives up the middle, solid contact numbers and a semblance of an approach, that allowed him to put up a career best 132 wRC+. He’s not a major prospect by any stretch, and you have to take a 23 year old’s results against mostly 21 year olds in A+ with a grain of salt, but a guy who plays all three outfield positions and has some offensive tools is worth noting. This season moves him from firmly an org guy to someone who might see an outfield call up if he can consolidate his improvement with a full season in the upper minors in 2027.
Joseph is younger than the other three, at just 21. He jumped straight to A ball as a teenager in 2024 and has held his own at that level over the past three seasons. After losing some time to injury, he got his first taste of A+ late this year. A .153 BABIP masks a strong performance, as he struck out just 13.6% of the time and launched four home runs and seven total extra base hits in 81 PA. His contact rate took a step forward this season and is now plus. He’s always had a strong approach, and has been noted for some speed in the past (although he moved from centre to primarily right field this year). Pair all that with now average thump, and there are the ingredients for a real player. Keep an eye on him as a breakout candidate next year.
A Young Player Flexing his Potential: Aldo Gaxiola
Gaxiola is a 20 year old who signed as an international free agent out of Mexico without much fanfare in May of 2023. He spent two years in the Domincan Summer League and then last season at the American complex before debuting in real games with Dunedin this summer. It was technically his age 20 season, although with a mid-June birthday he was still among the younger players at the level. That didn’t stop him from posting a 106.9mph 90th percentile exit velocity, which would be comfortably plus at the MLB level. He looks solid and physically mature for his age, but given how young he is there’s potential for 70 or better raw power once he’s fully grown up. Right now, there’s a lot of work for Gaxiola to do if that thump is going to carry him to the major leagues. He chased too much and made too little contact this season, and he’ll need to learn to elevate the ball a bit more to turn his strength into production. As he’s already in the process of moving to first base the offensive bar he has to clear is going to be high. Near-elite raw power is a great cornerstone of a prospect profile, though, and he’ll bear close watching this coming season.
The Top Prospect: Sean Keys
I’ve been beating the drum on Keys all season. He was our #17 prospect entering the season after a decent year at A+, and got a pretty cautious write-up from Matt, noting some issues with swing and miss and defensive limitations that would require him to prove it at every level. Well, prove it he did, launching 14 home runs in just 49 games in a brief stop at AA before producing even better after a promotion to Buffalo. His 165 wRC+ was the best in the entire minor leagues among players who got at least 400 PA. His cameo in MLB went poorly, as he got over-aggressive and posted just a 57 wRC+ with too many strikeouts and few walks. The underlying proof of his talent was still there, though, with great bat speed numbers, a 54% hard hit rate and 10% barrel rate, and a contact rate that stood up surprisingly well to top level pitching. His 107.1mph 90th percentile EV is just confirmation of all that then: he upped his power from solid average to easy plus while retaining the ability to make enough good quality contact for it to play. He’ll need to continue to refine his approach, but I’m a true believer and think he’ll hit enough to be a solid regular even at first base or DH.
