Category: Baseball

Good morning, Purple Row!

After gathering feedback and doing some deliberating, we’ve decided to make last week’s Rockpile experiments permanent. Since the minor league season has ended, today will be the final daily Pebble Report, but we will continue to post a separate links roundup every morning.

Once the MiLB season starts up again, we will see if we want to keep the links separate or fold them back into the Rockpile. But that’s a future Purple Row problem.

In the meantime, here’s what’s going on with the Rockies and around MLB. (It was a busy weekend!)

Rockies News & Links

• Feltner growing into new ‘piggyback’ role after Sugano’s strong start | MLB.com — Ryan Feltner competed with Chase Dollander during spring training for a chance to make the starting rotation. Feltner beat out Dollander for the rotation spot, but as the season has gone on, Feltner has been used out of the bullpen twice (three times after yesterday’s game). And both times have been his best outings of the season. Thomas Harding asks the ‘cerebral right-hander’ for his thoughts on his new potential role, as the Rockies continue their pitching experimentation.
• Rockies slugging prospect Condon caps career year with Triple-A homer (of course!) | MLB.com — Charlie Condon (No. 2 PuRP) has had an up-and-down (though mostly up) season in Triple-A after making a case for himself not only to make the Opening Day roster out of spring training, but also to be promoted numerous times throughout the season. He ended his season on a high note, though, with a home run in the final game of the season. Look for my end-of-season interview with him as tomorrow’s Pebble Report Spotlight!
• Helton humbled by permanent reminder of his greatness at statue unveiling | MLB.com — After unveiling a statue of legend Larry Walker on August 23, the Rockies unveiled another one of legend Todd Helton. Thomas Harding recaps the Hall of Famer’s remarks on the honor.
• Renck: Rockies legend Todd Helton gets a statue that perfectly captures his greatness | Denver Post ($) — Troy Renck offers his thoughts on Helton’s statue unveiling, remembers the Hall of Famer’s career in Colorado, and recalls how Helton got to be as great as he was.
• Zac Veen’s discipline implies career revival is on the way with Rockies | Denver Gazette ($) — Zac Veen was recalled to the Rockies in mid-August and has been performing much better at the big-league level than he did during his first cup of coffee in 2025. Kevin Henry chronicles Veen’s mini-renaissance and looks towards the outfielder’s potential future with the franchise.

Around Baseball

• Nolan Arenado grand slam lifts Diamondbacks in home finale win over Yankees | Arizona Sports — Nolan Arenado has had a career revival in Sedona Red this year, including hitting a go-ahead grand slam that ultimately proved to be the game winner against the Yankees on Sunday. He has hit 27 home runs this season, the most he’s had since 2023.
• Umpire Laz Diaz calls out ‘nasty’ MLB climate as he ends storied career | USA Today — Laz Diaz is one of three umpires who are retiring at the end of 2026 after taking a buyout from MLB. The others are Angel Hernandez and C.B. Bucknor. Bob Nightengale got an exclusive interview with Diaz as he finishes up his career, which covers the evolution of the game as well as some of Diaz’s more memorable moments.
• Cubs’ Alex Bregman undergoing tests after ‘terrible accident’ | ESPN — In a scary moment on Sunday, Alex Bregman was hit in the face by a foul ball while he was standing in the on-deck circle. Bregman underwent X-Rays and CT scans, and it has not yet been determined if he’ll fly back to Chicago with the Cubs, who just finished up a series with the Cincinnati Reds. But Bregman posted an update on Instagram saying he was OK, which is great news.
• ‘Stayin Alive’ Red Sox cap turnaround, clinch playoff spot | ESPN — The Boston Red Sox have been an excellent story in 2026, as they were 15.5 games out of first place on June 24th and have gone 52-25 since to clinch a playoff berth. According to the article, “The Red Sox are the fourth team to make the playoffs after being 14-or-more games under .500 in a season in the World Series era (since 1903). Two of the three previous instances made the World Series, with the Boston Braves winning it in 1914.”
• Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper diagnosed with throat cancer, started treatment last week | The Athletic ($) — Long-time Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper was diagnosed with throat cancer and has started undergoing treatment. This comes on the heels of Mike Krukow’s retirement announcement. Kuiper will be unable to call the Monday and Wednesday games of the Giants’ final season, but he’ll call Tuesday and the final series against the Dodgers.

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The bullpen blew another lead as the Royals dropped the series in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

“I feel bad for the guys because they really competed hard and we could have won all three games,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “In games like this, people always remember the big hit late in the game, but usually these games are won or lost earlier, and we didn’t capitalize on some opportunities. It was a tough weekend and a tough road trip. We didn’t play our best.”

The bullpen also blew a lead on Saturday.

“We go with Cruzy there and we really have a lot of confidence in him,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro told reporters in Pittsburgh. “He’s been throwing the ball well and Lowe just had another big hit for them.”

Jaylon Thompson writes the Vinnie Pasquantino capped off a hot series with a pinch-hit home run.

Captain Salvador Perez started Sunday’s game at first base. The Royals are rotating Pasquantino, Perez and Jac Caglianone in the batting order down the stretch. Pasquantino made the moment count. He finished 5-for-9 in the three-game series and has now homered six times in his last 20 games.

“My role is changing a little bit, so trying to get use to that,” Pasquantino told reporters in Pittsburgh. “Felt pretty comfortable. You kind of know in those situations you want to be aggressive. You want to try to get a good pitch to hit. See the situation in the game and try to make something happen.”

John Perotto at MLB.com writes about how Carter Jensen set the club rookie home run record.

However, Kansas City’s loss didn’t completely dampen the evening for Jensen. The 23-year-old catcher’s 25th home run, a solo shot off fellow rookie Bubba Chandler in the third inning, set the franchise single-season rookie record. Bob Hamelin had previously held the mark since 1994, when he connected 24 times in a strike-shortened season. Hamelin, known as “The Hammer,” won the American League Rookie of the Year Award.

“It means a lot to me,” said Jensen, who’s enjoying a milestone-filled season in the leadoff spot. “There is a lot of hard work that is put into this. I don’t think this is the end of my story. I’d like to think that it’s just the beginning. It’s been a really fun ride, especially to take it with such great teammates and coaches.”

MLB Pipeline lists a breakout prospect for each team, with Justin Lamkin for the Royals.

Lamkin showed signs that a breakout was coming in his first Spring Training, and he carried that into the season by moving past High-A Quad Cities after only six starts and striking out 15 over 11 1/3 innings in his first two Double-A starts. His regular season ended there with a shoulder strain, but he’d shown enough when healthy to become Kansas City’s third-ranked pitching prospect. He’s slated to appear in the Arizona Fall League, and his 91-94 mph fastball and 80-83 mph slider (the latter of which had a 55 percent whiff rate in ‘26, per Synergy) along with his above-average control will gain a bigger audience.

On Monday, Kansas City’s Special Committee for Legal Review will review the petition requiring a public vote for a downtown stadium.

The Athletics will interview former Royals executive Mike Groopman for their GM opening.

Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman is sent to the hospital after a foul ball hits him in the face while in the on-deck circle.

The Red Sox, who fired their manager earlier this year, clinch a playoff spot.

The Braves sweep the Astros to clinch a playoff spot.

What does the playoff bracket look like right now and what are the tiebreaker scenarios?

Will Aaron Judge be available for the playoffs?

Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan will miss the last week of the regular season.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson is unlikely to return next year.

The Orioles are unlikely to make changes with executive Mike Elias or manager Craig Albernaz.

How did the Nationals significantly improve their farm system so quickly?

The Giants have 16 players on the 60-day Injured List, which will make for some interesting 40-man roster decisions.

Olivia Miles breaks Caitlin Clark’s WNBA rookie scoring record.

College football fans are falling out of love with pregame shows.

Could Canada join the European Union as an “associate member”?

A study shows quick cancellations are hurting streaming viewership.

An autonomous plane makes a cross-country flight.

Your song of the day is Her’s with What Once Was.

Welcome to week 26 of our 2026 NL Central Power Rankings — let’s rank some teams!

1. Milwaukee Brewers (98-58); 5-1 this week; Clinched NL Central

The Brewers just keep rolling, with another 5-1 week as they took two of three from the Pirates in Pittsburgh before sweeping the Orioles on the road, guaranteeing a winning road trip with three games to go.

Jackson Chourio, Bo Naylor, and William Contreras all homered this week, while Joey Ortiz led the team with seven hits, including a double and a triple. It was a fairly balanced attack overall, as 12 players had at least one RBI, led by three apiece for Chourio, Christian Yelich, and Cooper Pratt.

Robert Gasser led the rotation with one of the best starts of his young career, working seven scoreless in a 1-0 win on Saturday night, allowing just three hits and three walks while striking out a pair. Jacob Misiorowski made two short starts, totaling eight scoreless innings with a team-high 11 strikeouts. Shane Drohan, Chad Patrick, Antonio Senzatela, Garrett Stallings, and Abner Uribe all had scoreless weeks for the bullpen, totaling 13 2/3 innings with 17 strikeouts.

Milwaukee now wraps up the road trip with three games in Philadelphia before returning home for three games with the Cardinals next weekend.

2. Chicago Cubs (87-69); 4-2 this week; Magic Number of 1 for NL Wild Card

The Cubs had a solid week against the Braves and Reds, taking two of three from both to move to 87-69 on the season and putting them one step closer to clinching a playoff spot, as their magic number sits at just one, meaning they need a win or a D-backs loss to lock things up.

Pete Crow-Armstrong is just stat padding his NL MVP victory at this point, slugging four homers, swiping two bags, and driving in nine as part of a 10-hit week to lead the Cubs. Six others added a homer apiece, including Michael Conforto and Seiya Suzuki, who each had six hits on the week.

David Peterson, Shota Imanaga, Kevin Gausman, and Matthew Boyd all turned in solid starts this week. Peterson led the way with a pair of victories, allowing two runs over 12 innings with 14 strikeouts, while Imanaga went six innings with one run allowed and eight strikeouts. Gausman went 5 2/3 innings with two runs allowed and six strikeouts, and Boyd went five innings with two runs allowed (one earned) and four strikeouts. Daniel Palencia, Colin Rea, Caleb Thielbar, and Ryan Zeferjahn totaled 7 1/3 scoreless innings for the bullpen, striking out eight.

Chicago closes out the regular season with a three-game set at Wrigley against the Marlins before visiting the Red Sox for three games over the weekend.

3. Pittsburgh Pirates (79-77); 4-2 this week; Eliminated from Postseason

The Pirates started the week with a pair of losses against the Brewers but bounced back to win four straight, salvaging the finale against Milwaukee before sweeping the Royals.

Brandon Lowe slugged four homers and drove in eight this week, while Oneil Cruz and Rafael Flores added two homers each. Konnor Griffin tied Cruz and Flores with nine hits this week, with three doubles and four RBIs.

Wilber Dotel turned in the best week among Pittsburgh’s “starters” as he worked as the opener and made two relief appearances, totaling 4 2/3 innings with one run allowed and four strikeouts. Brandon Eisert, Antwone Kelly, Mason Montgomery, and Yohan Ramírez combined for 15 1/3 scoreless innings in relief, striking out 17, with Montgomery picking up three saves.

Pittsburgh wraps up the regular season with three games against the Cardinals at PNC Park before three games in Detroit against their interleague rivals.

4. St. Louis Cardinals (76-80); 2-4 this week; Eliminated from Postseason

The Cardinals had another rough week, going dropping two of three to both the Giants and Nationals to wrap up their home slate for 2026.

Iván Herrera helped guide St. Louis to a win on Sunday with a pair of homers as part of a six-hit week, while Leo Bernal and Alec Burleson also homered this week. Bernal also led the team with nine hits, driving in four.

Quinn Mathews turned in a pair of solid outings, totaling 13 2/3 innings with four runs allowed and 11 strikeouts. Matthew Liberatore also had a quality outing, going six frames with one run allowed and two strikeouts, while George Soriano and Ryne Stanek led the bullpen, totaling 2 2/3 scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

St. Louis spends the last week of the season on the road, as they’ll visit the Pirates and Brewers for three games apiece.

5. Cincinnati Reds (72-84); 2-5 this week; Eliminated from Postseason

The Reds are just waiting for the 2026 season to come to a close, as they’re coming off yet another rough week, losing three of four to the Dodgers and two of three to the Cubs in their final homestand of the season.

Elly De La Cruz led the offense with two homers and a double as part of a seven-hit week, also swiping three bases. JJ Bleday, Dane Myers, and Sal Stewart also homered, with Stewart’s six hits ranking second on the team.

Andrew Abbott had the best start of the week, which isn’t saying much, as he went just 4 2/3 innings with one run allowed and five strikeouts. While the rotation had a rough week, the bullpen fared much better — Tejay Antone, Graham Ashcraft, Brock Burke, Luis Mey, Emilio Pagán, and Tony Santillan totaled 15 scoreless innings, striking out 15.

Cincinnati closes out the year on the road, visiting the Braves and Blue Jays for three games each.

This is about to get ugly! While the Red Sox are virtually locked into the second AL Wild Card spot and will spend the upcoming week preparing to face the Yankees, the Chicago Cubs — Boston’s opponent this weekend — have major playoff seeding implications on the line.

With just six games to go, the Cubs and Padres are tied with a record of 87-69, just one game ahead of the Phillies, who are 86-70. All three teams are battling for the top Wild Card spot on the NL side of the board, and with it, home field advantage in next week’s Wild Card series. In other words, the Cubs will probably have to play all 162 games before they know where they’ll be situated for their Game 1. And wouldn’t you know it? Amid that uncertainty, here’s comes Mother Nature to inject an entirely new level of chaos.

Below is the overnight run of the EC-AIFS model, and it’s showing (as it has for the last several runs) an intensifying, retrograding nor’easter backing into Boston at the end of the week, and then lasting through the entire weekend.

This is potentially a slow moving, multiday, high wind, heavy rain, coastal flooding event. And no, it’s not some rogue run or outlier solution. The EC-AIFS is one of the best performing models in the business, and some other guidance is actually showing an even stronger storm than this. For instance, here’s what the European and ICON models are showing:

We already went into detail on Saturday here at Over The Monster dissecting why a harsh solution like this was not only possible, but also pretty likely. However, if you want the short version, take a look at the linked up ridging in the image below stretching all the way from the central Atlantic through northern Quebec. This is an enormous blocking pattern, which prevents energy exiting off the east coast from escaping. In time, the trapped energy consolidates, becomes an organized storm, and has no choice but to retrograde back towards the east coast as it builds strength because it’s again blocked by the Canadian High.

Regardless of the details, I can’t stress enough how messy this is going to get for the Red Sox and Cubs if a storm remotely close to what these models are showing materializes.

The Red Sox will have no interest in playing these games at all, particularly with Payton Tolle, Sonny Gray, and Ranger Suarez set to go on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday against Cleveland before the weather moves in. That will serve as their final tune up before the rubber meets the road against the Yankees on Tuesday, September 29th.

The entire National League however is — in all likelihood — desperately going to need these games to be played to untangle their Wild Card puzzle. And if we get a massive wash out, the imbalance of the “give a damn” meters between these two clubs is going to be an enormously bad look for MLB.

The Red Sox will be (rightfully) furious if they have to do something like play a make up double header on Monday the 28th, and the Phillies and Padres are going to be (also rightfully) furious if they lose out on home field and have to go to Wrigley because the Cubs got free wins at the finish against a club that absolutely didn’t care about the games.

Either way, MLB is about to have quite an ordeal on its hands, and they may want to start thinking about backup plans right now to prevent an all out fiasco as the season comes to a close.

The weird marathon/sprint that is the baseball season approaches its end. And there is still unfinished business. The Rays, Yankees, and Red Sox have all clinched playoff berths. and Tampa Bay is on the cusp of locking down the AL East, as soon as Tuesday should they beat the Bombers.

The AL Central and AL West, however, could go right down to the wire as Cleveland and Chicago in the former, and intra-state rivals the Astros and the Rangers in the latter, fight for the division. In all likelihood, the third and final Wild Card spot will come from one of those clubs as well, though 2025 AL champion Toronto vaguely lurks as well in the waning days of the season.

Tampa Bay Rays (95-60) 5, Boston Red Sox (84-72) 1

The Rays just keep on winning. Sunday, they came out of the gate strong, putting up a four-spot in the first. A walk, a single, and a hit by pitch loaded the bases with no one out, setting the stage for Jonny DeLuca to double in a pair of runs. That was technically all Tampa Bay needed but they notched two more on a Chandler Simpson single before Boston could finally record an out, let alone escape the frame. Simpson, for his part, sits at a .309 average after Sunday, leaving him well within striking distance of toppling Yordan Alvarez for the AL batting title depending on how the final week plays out.

The win was Tampa Bay’s 55th at home this season, setting a new franchise record for home wins as they continue to enjoy the resurrection of the Trop. The victory, combined with the Yankee loss in the desert Sunday, moved the Rays to six games up with seven games to go, all but settling the question of who will win the American League East this season. For their part, the Red Sox did end up punching their ticket to the playoffs and celebrating at the Trop anyway, backing in when Houston lost to Atlanta.

AL Rock Fight

Chicago White Sox (80-76) 8, Detroit Tigers (73-83) 1: Chicago needed this win. After leading the AL Central for a considerable chunk of the season, they find themselves looking up at Cleveland. A loss would have left them two games back headed into the final week. But five pitchers combined to hold Detroit to a single run and six different Pale Hose drove in at least one run.

Cleveland Guardians (81-75) 1, Athletics (61-95) 0: What a season for Gavin Williams. The Guards’ righty spun seven innings of shutout ball on Sunday, picking up his 14th win of the season in the process. His nine punchouts give him 244, pacing the Junior Circuit. For Cleveland, the win keeps them in front of Chicago, setting the AL Central up for quite the dogfight in the final week of the season.

Texas Rangers (78-78) 2, Toronto Blue Jays (77-79) 7: A four-run seventh inning decided this one as the Blue Jays kept their faint playoff hopes alive, knocking Jacob deGrom out of the game before he finished the fifth. They remain a long shot at three back of Chicago for the Wild Card. Meanwhile, the loss leaves Texas clinging to a one-game lead over Houston as the AL West also looks like it could come right down to the wire.

Houston Astros (77-79) 2, Atlanta Braves (92-64) 4: The Braves are doing their best to keep the nightmare scenario (the Astros weaseling their way into the playoffs then going on a heater) from coming to pass. A Mike Yastrzemski three-run dinger in the sixth was the decisive blow. The win also clinched the NL East for Atlanta, something not a single Pinstripe Alley writer predicted prior to the season (the Phillies? What was I thinking?).

Baltimore Orioles (75-81) 0, Milwaukee Brewers (98-58) 3: That’s probably all she wrote for the 2026 Orioles after seven Brewers’ pitchers, including “The Miz,” combined to shut them out. Sunday’s loss leaves them in a formidable hole in the Wild Card race. There’s lots of time for post-mortems but a quick look at the OPS of the Orioles’ young core makes it clear that a combination of regression and failure to launch have a lot to do with their disappointing season.

AL Standings

Entering the last week of the Major League Baseball season, 13 teams are still alive for October, and not one of them would be considered a totally complete team.

The Milwaukee Brewers have the best record in baseball but just one starter behind its ace it can actually trust. The Tampa Bay Rays are on the verge of clinching the top seed in the American League but have a lineup that goes cold at the bottom of the order almost every night. And a few teams, like the New York Yankees, are staring down injuries that can make or break their October.

Last season proved how a fatal flaw can come back and bite a team in October.

The Brewers had the best record in baseball in 2025 then scored one run a game and hit .128 in a four-game National League Championship Series sweep by the Dodgers. It was the lowest batting average in a postseason series of at least three games in MLB history. Their power outage was not a fluke. Milwaukee finished the year in the bottom third of the majors in home runs, covering for it all season with contact and speed. The flaw was there, buried under 97 wins, and it was exploited once the bright lights came on.

Here’s the one fatal flaw that could end each contender’s season:

MLB POSTSEASON FIELD: Who has clinched berths and who's on the verge?

Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays have the best record in the American League (95-60, through Sept. 20) and need only a win or a New Yankees loss to clinch the AL East and home field advantage through the ALCS. Their flaw is buried at the bottom of the order. The seventh, eighth and ninth spots in the lineup rank 24th in the majors in OPS. Taylor Walls is hitting .219 with a .609 OPS in 52 games. Jorge Mateo has a .397 OPS in 23 games since Tampa Bay acquired him. The Rays have been burned by this flaw before. In 2023,the bottom of their lineup went 3-for-17 with no runs scored in a two-game sweep by Texas in the Wild Card Series, part of a 33-inning postseason scoreless streak.

New York Yankees

The Yankees lead the majors with a 3.08 bullpen ERA, but Aaron Boone trusts exactly three relievers with a game on the line: closer David Bednar and setup men Brent Headrick and Paul Blackburn. Every reinforcement behind them has left doubt in Boone’s mind. New York traded a struggling Camilo Doval away at the deadline instead of adding to the pen, then lost Fernando Cruz to a partial UCL tear in late August. Ryan Weathers, the next man up, hasn't pitched since Aug. 23. Blackburn and Headrick had already thrown 79 and 73 innings heading into Sunday’s game, more than typical setup men carry into a pennant race, let alone October. History carries a warning for the Yankees here. Cleveland’s bullpen led the majors in the second half of 2016, but manager Terry Francona rode just two trusted arms hard, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen, through October. Both were spent by Game 7, and Cleveland ended up blowing a 3-1 World Series lead. One bad week from the bullpen and the Yankees are heading to the golf course instead of the World Series.

Boston Red Sox

Boston clinched a playoff berth Sunday, Sept. 20 depite losing and hold the second AL wild card at 84-72, but its bullpen depth beyond three arms is the real question. Justin Slaten is done for the season, a degenerative elbow injury discovered too late to fix with anything but rest. Tyron Guerrero has been out since Sept. 1 with shoulder inflammation. Closer Aroldis Chapman, 34 saves and a 1.95 ERA, is nursing lat tightness, which already forced Garrett Whitlock, an ERA near 1.80 himself, into save situations he's never handled before. Boston gave up infield prospect Marcelo Mayer in August just to get reliever Erik Miller. That's how thin the bullpen was even before the injuries hit.

A thin bullpen is a real weakness in October, as the Orioles showed in 2023. Felix Bautista suffered a season-ending elbow injury just weeks before the playoffs and Baltimore went on to be swept in the American League Division Series.

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox lost their lead in the AL Central, and part of the reason is a red flag for the playoffs. If they get in, the worry is that their rotation can't get through a lineup twice. Sean Burke went six innings against Detroit on Sept. 19, the first White Sox starter to complete six innings since Aug. 21. That's nearly a month of bullpen games in disguise. Trade deadline pickup Luis Castillo got pulled from the rotation entirely and moved to relief after his outings collapsed. His replacement, rookie David Sandlin, has an ERA near 7. Anthony Kay has been yanked early in four straight starts. Sean Newcomb, who carried the bullpen for months, has allowed runs in five of his last six outings. Chicago fell out of first place in the AL Central for the first time since early July, and it wasn't the offense that let go.

Cleveland Guardians

Cleveland's bullpen has no safety net. Closer Cade Smith has carried the group all year, but Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, the two relievers who were supposed to set up in front of him, haven't thrown a competitive pitch all season. Both are on unpaid leave while awaiting a federal trial on pitch-rigging charges – now pushed to November – which puts them out for the postseason, too. The relievers brought in to cover that gap keep breaking down. Colin Holderman aggravated a wrist injury on a rehab outing Sept. 17. Shawn Armstrong, out since July 25 with a calf strain, isn't eligible to be back until Sept. 23. Cleveland is leaning on arms with no October track record to hold leads under the most pressure of the year

Houston Astros

Houston's bridge to Josh Hader has collapsed. The Astros trail Texas by one game in the AL West with six left, and the two setup relievers who were supposed to get games to him are both hurt. Steven Okert, their best setup arm, hasn’t pitched since Sept. 1 with a hamstring strain and won’t be back before the postseason ... if there is one. Enyel De Los Santos joined him on the injured list Sept. 19. That leaves Bennett Sousa, who has a 5.27 ERA and control problems, and Bryan Abreu, who blew a save the same day in a loss that knocked Houston out of a playoff spot. That’s two hurt setup arms and a shaky one left standing. That is not a formula for October.

Texas Rangers

The Rangers lead the AL West by one game over Houston, but the bullpen behind Jacob Latz wasn't built for this. Texas lost two relievers for the season – Carter Baumler and Jalen Beeks – and designated veteran Chris Martin for assignment in August after a 7.00 ERA. That left Latz, a converted starter, as closer by default. He converted nine consecutive saves before blowing one against Boston on Sept. 18. Days later, Skip Schumaker had nobody left in the pen and had to use starter Nathan Eovaldi for relief innings, then Jordan Montgomery for more two days after that.

A starter coming out of the bullpen isn’t that crazy in the playoffs, but a bullpen held together by starters filling in is a screaming warning siren.

Atlanta Braves

Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep both had season-ending elbow surgery in late August – Schwellenbach's second in under a year. Bryce Elder had knee surgery in September. Reynaldo López has been on and off the injured list twice, most recently Sept. 15. That is four rotation arms gone and leaves Chris Sale, 14-9 with a 2.18 ERA, and Tyler Mahle, sharp since he arrived from San Francisco, as the only settled postseason starters Atlanta has. The Braves have tried this before. In 2013 they lost Tim Hudson and Brandon Beachy to injuries, went into October with only Kris Medlen and Mike Minor as trusted starters and rode 37-year-old Freddy Garcia to a Game 4 exit in a 3-1 NLDS loss.

Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies traded for Jhoan Duran for just this time of year, and he hasn’t disappointed. The problem for Philadelphia is getting to him.  Orion Kerkering, their setup man for most of the year, got optioned to Triple-A on Sept. 19 after an ERA above 8.00 since the All-Star break. Jonathan Bowlan, who took over the eighth inning, is playing through a groin strain. What's left is rookie Alex McFarlane and September call-up Max Lazar in the highest-leverage innings of the year. Philadelphia holds the last NL wild card spot at 86-70, a game behind the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres, with no margin for what comes next.

Milwaukee Brewers

Milwaukee may have the best record in baseball – 98-58 through Sunday – but they run out of starters really fast. Jacob Misiorowski is a bona fide ace and the likely NL Cy Young winner, and Logan Henderson has quietly gone 10-3 with an ERA near 2.50 behind him. After that, it's question marks. The Brewers traded Freddy Peralta in January then lost Brandon Woodruff and Quinn Priester to season-ending surgery. Kyle Harrison was supposed to be the answer behind Misiorowski. He had a 2.57 ERA before the All-Star break. Since then, it's over 7.00, including four earned runs in one and two-thirds innings against Pittsburgh on Sept. 17. Deadline pickup Dustin May is an unproven fourth option with little margin for error. The best record in baseball still needs pitching to win a series.

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs will take the best offense in baseball into October – 835 runs scored through Sept. 20, the most in the majors – and pair it with the pitching staff most likely to give a game away. Chicago's pitchers have allowed 227 home runs, also a league high. Cade Horton needed Tommy John surgery in April and won't pitch again this year. Ben Brown was shut down for good in September with a neck injury. Justin Steele hasn't started a big league game since April 2025. Deadline addition Kevin Gausman has a 5.04 ERA in eight starts as a Cub. Clay Holmes had a 1.55 ERA in his first five Cubs starts then allowed eight earned runs in 4⅓ innings against Miami on Sept. 6, leaving Craig Counsell still deciding whether he trusts him in October. It’s happened to a loaded lineup before. The Dodgers scored 906 runs in 2023 – the second most in baseball that season – then watched Lance Lynn set a playoff record allowing four home runs in one inning as Arizona swept them out of the NLDS. Even the best offense in baseball can't outscore its own pitchers giving up home runs like this.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers' bullpen problem is bigger than one bad closer. Edwin Diaz posted an 11.85 ERA before a neck injury, then came back Sept. 18 after a rehab stint so bad he retired two of eight batters in one outing. Dave Roberts didn't give him the ninth inning back. His replacement, Tanner Scott, isn't clean either. He blew a save against Miami on Sept. 13, his fourth in 26 chances. Setup man Edgardo Henriquez, who has a 2.85 ERA, went down with a back strain Sept. 14 and won't pitch again this season. A bullpen implosion has cost the Dodgers before. The 106-win 2019 team kept turning to Joe Kelly until he finally served up a series-ending grand slam. Los Angeles clinched its fifth consecutive NL West title with a bullpen nobody trusts yet.

San Diego Padres

Luis Rengifo was hitting .291 with a .784 OPS when he tore his ACL on Aug. 29. He is done for the year, and so is the San Diego bench really. Gavin Sheets has been out with a foot injury since late August. Ramón Laureano's absence has stretched deep into September. The Padres are tied with the Cubs and one game ahead of the Phillies for wild card positioning but sitting on the wrong side of the tiebreakers to both teams. They are filling in with September call-ups instead of players they built the roster around, and there isn’t much season left to figure out if that holds up. The 2012 Yankees tried that when they lost Derek Jeter to a broken ankle in the ALCS opener; they got nothing much from the bench options and were swept by Detroit hitting .157 as a team.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: One fatal flaw on each MLB contender that could derail long playoff run

When Chief Editor Patrick Creighton approached me in March about contacting former Astros greats for a “Legends Series”, I originally thought we’d feature a player per homestand. However, what materialized was an avalanche of activity. By the time the dust had settled, 35 men spanning every era joined us exclusively at The Crawfish Boxes to tell their unique stories. With the regular season winding down we highlight some of the more memorable quotes. Enjoy.

Danny Darwin on being called “Dr. Death”:

“Oh My God! Nolan always called me that. If someone hit a home run off me, I would really stare them down and I didn’t even realize that I was doing it.”

Enos Campbell on toughest pitcher he ever faced:

“I hit the s**t out of Steve Carlton and he knew it too! The toughest guy for me was Steve Rogers up in Montreal.  Steve broke all of my bats. The guys would be laughing because I always took 6 bats for him.”

Ty Gainey on Day 1:

“Yogi Berra was a funny guy. On my first day at the dome, he told me that they put the grass down before they put the top on. I just looked at him. He was funny.”

Nolan Ryan on what would happen if a manager attempted to place him on a pitch count:

“Well, I would have to visit with him and see why he thought that and why that was best for the team.”

Casey Candaele on Jeff Bagwell’s greatness:

“Jeff Bagwell never missed a 3-0 pitch. He knew where he wanted his pitches and he’d only swing at pitches that he knew he could handle.”

Steve Finley upon learning the news of being dealt to Houston:

“I was playing basketball at Cal Ripken Jr’s house in his gym when I learned of the trade. I was in a little bit of shock. I had bought a place downtown because I knew that Camden Yards was coming. The Astros opportunity was the best thing that happened in my career.”

Trever Miller on his favorite teammate:

“I came up with Jose Lima in Detroit. We had a guy that would serve soup in the Fall League. One day the man pours the soup into our bowls, Lima says something the man doesn’t like and he takes the giant soup spoon and hits him right over the head with it.”

Bill Dawley on pitching in the Dome:

“One night the count is 2-0 on Dale Murphy, and I just thought because the Dome was so massive that I’d throw him a fastball on the outer half. Dale hits it over the fence. That was the first run I ever gave up.”

Triple-A: Syracuse Mets (38-37/43-31)

LEHIGH VALLEY 5, SYRACUSE 3 / 11 (BOX)

What a situation we had coming into this one. On the last day of the season, Syracuse found themselves a half-game behind the Rochester Red Wings, having surged late in the season and won five in a row and eight of their last ten; with a win, combined with a Rochester loss, Syracuse would improbably have their postseason ticket punched.

The two teams played concurrently, certainly scoreboard watching. Early on, things looked in Syracuse’s favor, with Jose Ramos launching a two-run homer in the second to give Syracuse a quick 2-0 lead and the Buffalo plating three runs of their own to take a 3-0 lead. By mid-innings, things changed; The IronPigs tied the game up at two apiece and Rochester took a commanding 12-6 lead.

The Syracuse game ended up going into extra innings and the Mets ended up losing this one 5-4 in the eleventh after leaving bases loaded in the tenth, but it ultimately didn’t matter, as Rochester wrapped things up with a 15-7 victory over the Herd, ending the second half with the best record in the International League in the second half and a date with the Memphis Red Birds in the International League Championship Series.

And with that, the 2026 season has come to an end. It’s been a tumultuous season, with a lot more downs than ups, but we’re Mets fans and that kind of par the course, right? There is light at the end of the tunnel, don’t get me wrong, and maybe it’s closer than we think. Or maybe it’s not. Either way, the journey is the fun part, right?

As always, I thank everyone who reads and is a part of our daily Mets Daily Prospect Report discussions. The massive amount of work I put into our minor league content wouldn’t be worth it if I didn’t know that everyone out there was reading. We have plenty more lined up in the next few weeks, from season reviews to weekly Arizona Fall League updates, with everything culminating in the 2027 Top Prospect list in January. Until then: #LoveTheMets #LoveTheMets

·  CF D’Andre Smith: 0-5, RBI, BB, SB (11)

·  3B Jefferson Rojas: 0-6, 2 K

·  RF MJ Melendez: 1-4, 2B, BB, K

·  DH Eric Wagaman: 0-4, BB, 2 K

·  1B Billy Amick: 1-5, R, 2B, 2 K

·  LF Jose Ramos: 2-4, 3 R, HR (4), 2 RBI, K, HBP

·  C Hayden Senger: 0-3, 2 K

·  PH Kevin Parada: 0-1

·  SS Zack Short: 1-4, BB, K

·  2B Christian Cairo: 2-4, RBI, BB

·  RHP Xzavion Curry: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K

·  RHP Saul Garcia: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

·  RHP Kevin Herget: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

·  RHP Dylan Ross: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K

·  RHP Cameron Weston: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, BS (2)

·  RHP Brian Metoyer: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, L (5-2)

·  RHP Tyler McLoughlin: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

Double-A: Binghamton Rumble Ponies (27-42/34-34)

NO GAME (SEASON OVER)

High-A: Brooklyn Cyclones (25-40/32-34)

NO GAME (SEASON OVER)

Single-A: St. Lucie Mets (33-33/25-39)

NO GAME (SEASON OVER)

Rookie: FCL Mets (24-33)

NO GAME (SEASON OVER)

STAR OF THE NIGHT

Jose Ramos

GOAT OF THE NIGHT

The fact that the baseball minor league baseball season is over

Free of charge for the discerning reader.

Happy birthday to Jeremy Jeffress*, and a mighty host of others.

Today in baseball history, in 1934 – The Deans shut out the Dodgers. After Dizzy gives up just three hits in a 13 – 0 victory, allowing no hits until the 8th, Paul wins a no-hitter, 3-0. Diz says: “If’n Paul had told me he was gonna pitch a no-hitter, I’d of throwed one, too,” and 1997 – The Cubs beat the Phils, 11-3, but Curt Schilling racks up eight strikeouts to match J.R. Richard for the most Ks by a National League righty (313). He’ll finish with 319 strikeouts. Ryne Sandberg, in his final game at Wrigley Field, is 2 for 3 before leaving for a pinch runner in the fifth. He makes a curtain call in the seventh when Harry Caray sings “Take Me Out to the Ball Game“, and other stories as well.

Today in baseball history:

• 1901 – Tom Hughes of Chicago and Boston Beaneater Bill Dinneen pitch 16 scoreless innings before the Orphans score in the 17th on an error, hit batter, force out, and a single by Clarence Childs. Each pitcher gives up eight singles. This will stand as the longest shutout ever by a Cub pitcher. Hughes fans 13 in 17 frames.
• 1903 – Christy Mathewson, pitching for the third time in four games, keeps the Giants in second place by beating Chicago’s Clarence Currie, 8-3. For Matty, it is his 30th win of the year.
• 1916 – Tris Speaker goes 4 for 6 and drives in a run as Cleveland edges Washington and Walter Johnson, 3-2.
• 1928 – At St. Louis, Boston’s Red Ruffing smashes a three-run homer in the seventh and pitches the Red Sox to a 5-3 win over the Browns.
• 1966 – The players almost outnumber the fans at Wrigley Field, as the Cubs draw just 440 for a game with the Reds. Chicago wins, 9-3, behind Ken Holtzman, with Sammy Ellis taking the loss.
• 1973 – At Los Angeles, Tony Perez has five hits to lead the Reds to a 4-1 win over the Dodgers. Tony’s last hit is a three-run homer in the 10th.
• 1981 – Steve Carlton fans 12 Expos in ten innings to break Bob Gibson‘s National League strikeout record (Carlton now has 3,128), but the Phillies lose to the Expos, 1-0 in 17 innings.
• 1985 – In a Boston 7-6 win over Detroit, Wade Boggs ties Tris Speaker‘s club mark of 222 hits with a single in the second inning. His fifth-inning single, his 185th, sets a new American League record for singles, breaking the mark set by Willie Wilson in 1980. Wade will end with 187, a mark that will stand until 2001.
• 1992 – Oakland P Dennis Eckersley becomes the second pitcher in history to record 50 saves in a season as he preserves the Athletics’ 6-5 win over Chicago. The White Sox’ Bobby Thigpen had 57 saves in 1990.
• 1999 – The Red Sox defeat the Blue Jays, 3-0, as Pedro Martinez fans 12 for his 22nd win. He joins Randy Johnson as the only pitchers to strike out at least 300 in both leagues, and breaks Roger Clemens‘ club mark of 291 strikeouts.
• 2000 – In a 10-3 victory over the Marlins, Expo right fielder Vladimir Guerrero establishes a franchise single-season home run record by hitting his 43rd round tripper.
• 2001 – A crowd of 41,235 at Shea Stadium witness the return of baseball to New York City for the first time since the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Mike Piazza‘s eighth-inning home run gives the Mets a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Braves.

Cubs Birthdays:Jeremy Jeffress*, Doug Davis, Jim Todd.

Today in history:

• 1780 – Benedict Arnold gives British Major John André plans to West Point.
• 1915 – Cecil Chubb buys the prehistoric monument Stonehenge for £6,600 and later donates it to the British nation.
• 1955 – In his last fight, undefeated world heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano KOs light heavyweight Archie Moore in the ninth round at Yankee Stadium, NYC.
• 1970 – “Monday Night Football” created by Roone Arledge, premieres on ABC. Final score: Browns 31, Jets 21.
• 1976 – Asylum Records releases “Small Change”, the fourth studio album by singer-songwriter Tom Waits; his best-selling album until 1999, features the songs “Tom Traubert’s Blue” and “The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)”.
• 1985 – Michael Spinks beats Larry Holmes in 15 to become Heavyweight Boxing Champion.
• 1993 – Melissa Etheridge releases her breakthrough second album “Yes I Am”, featuring the single “I’m the Only One”.
• 2004 – Green Day releases their album “American Idiot” in the US.
• 2017 – Discovery of the first brainless animal that sleeps, the jellyfish Cassiopea, with research published in “Current Biology” by Caltech scientists.

*pictured.

The Detroit Tigers wrapped up their seven-game road trip with an 8-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field, dropping the four-game series to the home team, three games to one. The end of the regular season is mercifully near as the Olde English D returns home to wrap things up.

Next up, the Motor City Kitties head home to welcome the Washington Nationals to Comerica Park for the penultimate series of the summer starting on Monday. The three-game set is one of two in which the Tigers will host National League opponents — a strange way to end the schedule.

Making his Detroit debut in the opener is right-hander River Ryan, who was acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Tarik Skubal trade at the deadline. In the 28-year-old’s two appearances for the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, he posted a solid 3.86 ERA but a disturbingly high 1.71 WHIP over just 4 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits (one home run) and a walk while striking out four of the 20 batters he faced.

For the Nats, left-hander DJ Herz will be making his 2026 debut after missing two years recovering from Tommy John surgery. Since the 25-year-old returned to action last month from a June setback, he has a 4.24 ERA over 17 innings in six minor league starts, getting up to 65 pitches in his final appearance; he should be good for about four innings of work.

Take a look below at how these two pitchers performed back in 2024 — the last time either saw major league action.

Detroit Tigers (73-83) vs. Washington Nationals (73-83)

Time (ET): 6:40 p.m.
Place: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
SB Nation Site:Federal Baseball
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network

Game 157: RHP River Ryan (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. LHP DJ Herz (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Player	G	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	FIP	fWAR
Ryan (2024)	4	20.1	22.2	11.1	50.0	3.36	0.4
Herz (2024)	19	88.2	27.7	9.4	36.4	3.71	1.7

RYAN

HERZ

No games today means the Phillies can’t break my heart once again. With only three games on the schedule for MLB in total today, a lot of teams are getting set before the final sprint to the end of the season. Luckily, the Phillies will be stress free all week!!!

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• It’s totally in the realm of possibility for the Phillies that Jesus Luzardo returns to the team for the playoffs as a reliever ($).
• Orion Kerkering was sent to Lehigh Valley after his latest brutal outing. Funnily enough, Lehigh Valley’s season is over.

MLB news:

• Laz Diaz did his final game of his umpiring career on Sunday. Know what he won’t miss? Umpiring baseball games.
• A few teams clinched things yesterday. The Braves took the NL East while the Red Sox grabbed a playoff spot.
• Speaking of the Red Sox, two of their assistant GMs interviewed for the job with the Sacramento A’s.
• Alex Bregman had to leave the Cubs game yesterday after being hit in the face by a foul ball while in the on deck circle.

Hello, friends.

The Orioles are diving into an unfilled pool as the 2026 season moves towards its end. They really had a chance as this month began. It’s important not to lose sight of that. It really happened. They held a wild card spot as the calendars turned to September. Very little has gone right since then, and now they’ve just gotten shut out in consecutive games while getting swept by the Brewers. A much better team, to be certain, but still: The Orioles, even with their current roster and all its problems, could have done better than this, and they didn’t. So, here we are.

Now, the Orioles must run the table and sweep their final two series just to have a .500 record for the season. Otherwise, this will be back-to-back losing seasons. It’s a failure of a season. This cannot be overstated. They failed for the second year in a row. We put up with the 2019 and 2020 and 2021 Orioles and what we got was fun baseball from June 2022 through June 2024 and that’s it. The guys who were supposed to get them to good places are not doing that.

Mike Elias should be fired. It appears he won’t be fired, unless David Rubenstein is just letting Elias go around and make changes while still planning to fire him. These do seem to be real and necessary changes. Something has gone wrong with player development, and there will be a new head of player development next year. Something seems to have gone wrong with the team’s use of analytics, and there will be a new person in charge of that next year too.

Will it be enough? I don’t know. I’m not optimistic. I never am optimistic about the Orioles. We should have been seeing decisions like this a year ago. If I was the billionaire owner of the Orioles, I’d have wanted to see different things done after one flop of a season. He and I are motivated by different goals. Instead, the Orioles wasted another year of having Gunnar Henderson on the team, in part because they apparently can’t figure out how to have their amazing superstar player continue to play at a high level. They played so badly that they “had to” trade Adley Rutschman (who, to be sure, is still hitting quite poorly for Boston).

The Orioles still aren’t mathematically eliminated, even after getting swept by the Brewers. It is only a matter of time. They are five back of the White Sox with six to play, with the Astros and Blue Jays also to pass. You could have sketched out thin hopes if the Orioles had won two of three here in this series, but, again, they were swept. It’s over. It won’t be mathematically over today, because the White Sox have the day off. It could be over by Tuesday.

What a disappointment. There are so few Orioles to feel good about heading into next year as the season winds down. They’re going to have their work cut out for them this offseason. I don’t know that Elias is going to be up to the task.

Orioles stuff you might have missed

Bautista on return: “It feels incredibly satisfying” (School of Roch)
He got to pitch in a game yesterday. It could have gone better. The Orioles didn’t push him too hard, so he left after 19 pitches and two-thirds of an inning pitched, with one run allowed. The command wasn’t there, nor was the old velocity. We won’t know until next year if either returns.

Not the best time for the Orioles to announce Albernaz is returning (Baltimore Baseball)
The Orioles didn’t quite pull a “lose 30-3 right after the interim manager is named full-time manager” on Albernaz, but that was a bad weekend by the team and Albernaz was involved in some of what was bad.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1971, Dave McNally pitched a complete game shutout as the Orioles beat the Yankees, 5-0. This was the 20th win of the season for McNally, marking the fourth straight year where he won at least 20 games. There hasn’t been a 20-game winner in the whole of MLB since Spencer Strider did so in the 2023 season.

In 1984, Jim Traber sang the Star-Spangled Banner before making his MLB debut as the day’s designated hitter. The Orioles lost the game to the Red Sox, 8-0. Traber himself had one hit in four at-bats.

One lone former Oriole has a birthday today. Happy 40th to 2011-12 reliever Zach Phillips.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: author H. G. Wells (1866), composer Gustav Holst (1874), animator Chuck Jones (1912), movie maker Jerry Bruckheimer (1943), actor Bill Murray (1950), and musician Lindsay Stirling (1986).

On this day in history…

In 1435, the Kingdom of France and the Duchy of Burgundy signed the Treaty of Arras after an attempt at a larger treaty with England fell through. One result of the treaty is that Burgundy switched sides in the Hundred Years’ War, leading to English decline of its French possessions. Joan of Arc might have wished for Burgundy to switch four years sooner.

In 1780, infamous early American traitor Benedict Arnold delivered the plans for West Point to the British military.

In 1937, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien had its first publication. “Hobbit Day” in celebration of the book is typically held a day later, however, as September 22 is the birthday for both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.

In 1981, after a unanimous approval by the Senate, Sandra Day O’Connor became the first woman to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on September 21. Have a safe Monday. Go O’s!

Last Week’s Results:

• Tuesday: Brewers 5, Pirates 1
• Wednesday: Brewers 5, Pirates 4
• Thursday: Pirates 7, Brewers 4
• Friday: Brewers 6, Orioles 5
• Saturday: Brewers 1, Orioles 0
• Sunday: Brewers 3, Orioles 0

Division Standings:

• Brewers 98-58
• Cubs 87-69 (11 GB)
• Pirates 79-77 (19 GB)
• Cardinals 76-80 (22 GB)
• Reds 72-84 (26 GB)

Last Week:

• Brewers 5-1
• Cubs 4-2
• Pirates 4-2
• Cardinals 2-4
• Reds 2-5

Top Pitching Performance of the Week

Yes, Jacob Misiorowski did throw eight scoreless innings while striking out 11 and walking just one to bolster his Cy Young case. But at a time when it feels like the Brewers’ starting pitching rotation is falling apart, one player has fought against late-season fatigue and is pitching better now than he has at any point in the season: Robert Gasser.

Even without his strikeout stuff, Gasser twirled a gem on Saturday night as the Brewers beat the Orioles 1-0. In seven innings, Gasser allowed only three hits, and while he had more walks (three) than strikeouts (two), he did what he needed to do to get outs. Gasser has now allowed just five earned runs over his last five starts (26 1/3 innings, giving him a 1.71 ERA in that span) and will almost surely be starting in the postseason for the Brewers in a couple of weeks.

Top Hitting Performance of the Week

The Brewers’ bats did finally cool off a bit after they were scorching hot for the first two weeks of September. The team still played great, though, and the Brewers ripped off a second consecutive 5-1 week despite less impressive offensive play. While there were still a few standouts, I’m going to go with Cooper Pratt in this spot. Pratt hit .400 (6-for-15) with a couple of walks (.471 OBP), and while all of his hits were singles, he was timely and knocked in three runs, including two RBI knocks in Sunday’s 3-0 victory over the Orioles. Pratt was also active on the basepaths and stole four bases in five attempts, making him 17-for-20 on the season. Pratt is now hitting .282/.350/.371 on the season, basically right at league average in terms of OPS.

A couple of other shoutouts: Jake Bauers led the regulars in OPS this week — he had only three hits, but two of them were doubles, and he also walked five times, giving him a .500 OBP in 16 plate appearances. Let’s also hear it for Bo Naylor, who popped his first homer as a Brewer when he went 1-for-3 with a dinger and a walk on Thursday.

Injury Notes & Roster Moves

• Bryse Wilson and Grant Anderson, who are both on the injured list at the moment, began rehab assignments at Triple-A Nashville this week, Wilson on Tuesday and Anderson on Wednesday.
• Rob Zastryzny, who has spent most of the season either injured or attempting (and mostly failing) to come back from injury, was designated for assignment on Thursday. He cleared waivers and was assigned to Triple-A Nashville on Saturday.
• Colton Gordon, who the Brewers picked up in “the Lance McCullers Jr.” trade in mid-July, was recalled from Triple-A Nashville on Friday, while righty Garrett Stallings was sent in the opposite direction. Gordon has not pitched yet for the Brewers.
• Brandon Woodruff has been throwing at 105 feet. Further evaluations are coming. I don’t think this is happening, but stranger things have happened, right?

On Deck:

• Monday: Off Day
• Tuesday: @ Phillies (5:40 p.m.)
• Wednesday: @ Phillies (5:40 p.m.)
• Thursday: @ Phillies (5:05 p.m.)
• Friday: vs. Cardinals (6:40 p.m.)
• Saturday: vs. Cardinals (6:10 p.m.)
• Sunday: vs. Cardinals (2:10 p.m.)

BALTIMORE — Jason Benetti’s 26-week road show was coming to a close in a couple hours, and as he held forth in his broadcast booth at Camden Yards, Orioles analyst Ben McDonald and Milwaukee Brewers color man Tim Dillard sat a few feet away from him, cramming for NBC’s final Sunday Night Baseball broadcast this season.

Preparation is the backbone of broadcasting, yet the relatively daring format for Sunday Night Baseball is forged on plunging into the unknown.

Rather than a fixed two- or three-person booth, NBC charged back into baseball by tabbing Benetti as their play-by-play man and paired him with announcers from each team, placing the glue guy in between a pair of expert voices.

Every week, there’d be no guarantee of chemistry. No chance to develop continuity. And plenty of chances for unfamiliarity to send the broadcast off track.

McDonald and Dillard might not have known it, but this is Benetti’s kind of thrill ride.

“I have to bring it not knowing what they’re going to bring and see how it coalesces. It’s like the job of a lifetime in so many ways,” Benetti tells USA TODAY Sports. “You get so many perspectives. I don’t know how many people watched all 26 of our Sunday nights.

“But if you put the range of that 26 up against any other series, it’s such a dazzling array of information and prisms through which you can see the game.”

Yet Benetti is the final medium through which those thoughts will pass. And it’s hard to consider this grand experiment anything but a rousing success.

NBC’s takeover of Sunday Night Baseball from ESPN resulted in a 62% increase in ratings, according to the network. While audience metrics have shifted over time, the series produced five games of at least 3 million viewers, the most for Sunday Night Baseball since 2010; a Yankees-Red Sox matchup drew 4 million viewers, the most-watched SNB game since August 2011.

The un-measurables might be more impressive.

NBC tabbed Benetti, 43, the TV voice of the Detroit Tigers, to carry this franchise. And told him to go out and vibe with a roving cadre of 31 color analysts, ranging from Hall of Famers (Andruw Jones) to former MVPs and Cy Young Award winners (Albert Pujols, Orel Hershiser, Roger Clemens) to utility players and spot starters (Lou Merloni, Mike Bacsik) to irreverent voices (Hunter Pence, John Kruk).

They did provide him some pieces of furniture, such as All-Star first basemen Joey Votto and Anthony Rizzo, giving Benetti the task of integrating broadcast newbies into a highly-watched fixture in NBC’s canon of Sunday night sports offerings.

“When you’re at a higher level than everyone you’re talking to – and Jason is more prepared than anyone, knows about what’s going on with the game right this very second – he can say less and figure out where he fits in and leave things to the other people he’s working with,” Votto tells USA TODAY Sports. “That, to me, is why he delivers such good results when he’s doing his work.

“To be able to be flexible enough to handle a couple former pitchers, transition to a couple position players, transition to a couple guys who never played the game, and be able to adapt, fit in, it’s not easy to do. But Jason does it quite well.”

In a sense, it’s a gig he’s been training for most of his life.

Live, from New York

Ask Benetti which broadcasters shaped his worldview as a youth growing up near Chicago, and he cites ESPN’s freewheeling NFL Primetime with Chris Berman and Tom Jackson and the many Chicago Bulls games that landed on NBC during Michael Jordan’s heyday.

“It seemed like Marv (Albert) did every Bulls game,” says Benetti of his fellow Syracuse grad.

But before Boomer and Marv, Benetti mentions a far greater cultural influence: Saturday Night Live.

“I’d sit there and watch it with my parents and memorize skits,” he says of growing up in Homewood, Illinois. “That was the thing we had to watch together.”

Nowadays, cultural touchstones are harder to come by. With streaming and social media constant competitors, and Big Football overshadowing every other sport, establishing a fixed beachhead for a sport like baseball is a massive challenge.

Taking a chance or two certainly can’t hurt.

“That’s how Saturday Night Live made its mark on the culture. It just became a thing,” says Benetti. “You hear ‘Live from New York,’ and everyone knows how to finish the sentence.

“We don’t have writers. But we do have guest stars every week. And it’s about putting them in the best position.”

That showtime element probably broke through best on Aug. 30, when a Reds-Cubs matchup put the cheery Rizzo in the booth alongside Jeff Brantley, the salty 63-year-old Reds analyst who goes by “Cowboy.”

Votto lurked by the Reds dugout. The byplay was constant, an energy often missing from any sports telecast, with Votto’s oddball confession he’d never eaten nachos causing a moderate hubbub on social media.

“I felt like Brantley-Votto-Rizzo was just one instance of like, the Peyton Manning (Saturday Night Live) United Way commercial. You don’t know until it happens,” says Benetti. “I hope, over the course of time, however long we have this and have everybody rotating in here, which I love dearly, I hope people will realize it’s a place you go where we don’t have writers, but you know you’re going to get something different.

“And there will be Easter eggs over the course of time.”

Votto says he’s constantly impressed by the pointed and thoughtful questions Benetti poses to managers in pregame production meetings, while processing the information in a manner that informs.

“He loves the sport. He’s an excellent listener,” says Votto. “And he knows how to take those strong skills and turn it in-game: ‘We’re coming into your house. You’re going to get to know me. And we’re going to have a good time together.

“‘But we’re going to make sure we stay on point with the game.’”

Enjoying 'the human experience'

That’s where Benetti’s broadcasting come-up helps. He called college basketball for ESPN and Fox Sports for more than a decade, putting him alongside the late, great Bill Walton and the still-rambunctious, 86-year-old Bill Raftery, among many others.

Walton, he says, taught him the art of letting the wheels wobble a little bit, yet never stray off the road.

“Bill was the kind of guy who was, ‘Just go. Go. The only way is forward.’ There was so much expertise and creativity in his mind,” says Benetti. “You’re not going to make factory-built parts with Bill Walton. And this show, to me, is the same way. You’re going to get something custom-built. In some way. I don’t know what it is. But it’s going to be that night, and it’s probably not going to be replicated.

“Because when are you going to get Ben McDonald, Tim Dillard, Joey Votto all in the same place together? Probably never. So, you might as well let ‘er rip. Do this game in front of you with these people around you.

“And enjoy the heck out of the human experience.”

The strange bedfellows can create spontaneity. Rangers broadcaster Mike Bacsik and Tigers analyst Dan Petry discovered, on the air, that they had a mutual friend. The combos can cross eras and baseball generations, and, Benetti says, conjure “thoughts they would have never expressed if the other person had not stoked that fire in their mind.”

“You discard the pretense of ‘broadcasting.’ You’re just doing this game and it’s not going to be the regulation thing people expect, with two people in a booth, this regular cadence. The best moments are the ones I never would have dreamed.”

The show isn’t quite over for NBC, which will broadcast the four, best-of-three wild card series beginning Sept. 27. It’s highly likely Benetti and the A crew will be on the Yankees-Red Sox series, with a second series on NBC and two more on Peacock.

It’s the first of NBC’s three-year contract to air Sunday Night Baseball, before Major League Baseball takes all of its broadcast rights to market after the 2028 season. Labor conditions willing, Benetti already has his eye on Act II.

“As we hit the finish line, Season 2 is right in my mind, right now,” says Benetti. “What is the evolution going to be? Because that’s how you have to see it. Everything is competition for everything else.

“But entertainment’s entertainment.”

Votto certainly understands that. The likely Hall of Famer has, as Benetti puts it, “has a little Andy Kaufman in him, in a good way. Because he’s always so immersed in the topic he’s doing.”

Yet it was Benetti who smoothed the transition for Votto, along with nearly three dozen parachuting analysts, creating compelling broadcasts more often than not.

“He’s easy to be around,” says Votto. “Sarcastic. Sharp. I feel challenged by him. I think that’s why it works for me.

“And I couldn’t imagine working with someone better.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 26 weeks, 31 analysts, one rock: How NBC 'Sunday Night Baseball' stayed on point

In a season where the American League is redefining "quality," it's only appropriate that a team exemplifying "mid" is going on a little warm streak at just the right time.

In short: The Texas Rangers are probably going to the playoffs.

They have never been more than three games above or six games below .500. Their greatest player – Corey Seager – has not yet played in 100 games. Yet by winning a series against the Toronto Blue Jays this weekend, the Rangers largely control their own playoff destiny, with two routes to get in – the AL West title or the last wild card.

And their productive and timely spurt pushed them up four spots to No. 14 in USA TODAY Sports' power rankings.

The Rangers more or less eliminated the Blue Jays this weekend and now face a tricky but not untenable final week: Three games against the improved New York Mets and three more vs. the Minnesota Twins. They'll take a one-game AL West lead over the Houston Astros into this final lap, and therein lies the danger: The Houston Astros finish with four games against the Athletics in Yolo County and own the tiebreaker over Texas.

Yet they're also just two games behind the Chicago White Sox for the final wild-card spot. Texas – now 76-76 – needs to just win, baby, even if doing so consistently has been a challenge this season.

A look at our updated rankings:

1. Milwaukee Brewers (-)

• One hundred wins? It will probably happen this week.

2. Los Angeles Dodgers (-)

• Teo, Tucker and Mookie are heating up and Ohtani is gearing up. Yeah, don't waste your time worrying about these guys.

3. Tampa Bay Rays (-)

• Three walk-off wins put a death grip on the division.

4. Atlanta Braves (-)

• Ronald Acuña Jr. has seven homers and a 1.096 OPS this month and looks like he could carry these guys a while next month.

5. New York Yankees (-)

• Still not wise to sleep on these guys, even sans Aaron Judge.

6. Chicago Cubs (-)

• Finishing strong down the stretch, kind of like their third baseman's horse.

7. San Diego Padres (+2)

• On a 13-1 heater. But are they the team "no one wants to face" come playoff time?

8. Boston Red Sox (-1)

• Trevor Story has a .343/.361/.486 line since coming off the IL.

9. Philadelphia Phillies (-2)

• The lineup is flaccid, the bullpen practically nonexistent, the rotation down its best starter. We miss anything?

10. Arizona Diamondbacks (-)

• Hanging on for dear life – playoff hopes and manager, both.

11. Cleveland Guardians (+1)

• Jose Ramírez has passed 1,000 RBIs – and just three away from 300 homers.

12. Chicago White Sox (-1)

• They've reached the "watching your child ride a tricycle across four lanes of traffic" stage of the season.

13. Pittsburgh Pirates (+4)

• With one start remaining, Paul Skenes' adjusted ERA has been cut almost exactly in half (226 to 114) from his Cy Young season.

14. Texas Rangers (+4)

• They were four games under .500 a little more than a week ago. They'll begin the final week of the season in first place.

15. Houston Astros (-1)

• Too often, Yordan Alvarez bats with no one on base. That's no way to win a Triple Crown.

16. Miami Marlins (-1)

• The Sandy Alcantara save was pretty cool but also a little weird?

17. Toronto Blue Jays (-4)

• With season on line, came up very small against Tigers, Rangers.

18. St. Louis Cardinals (-2)

• Playoff drought stretches to four years, longest under current ownership.

19. Baltimore Orioles (-)

• Weekly ritual: Pete Alonso does something cool, everyone else looks confused.

20. Detroit Tigers (+2)

Their +75 run differential is better than five likely playoff teams.

21. Washington Nationals (+2)

• Cade Cavalli contract extension shows ownership has a pulse, if nothing else.

22. Seattle Mariners (+2)

• In half a century, they've reached the playoffs in consecutive seasons just once (2001-2002).

23. New York Mets (+2)

• September window dressing, or is their serviceable play indicative things are turning around?

24. Minnesota Twins (-4)

• Byron Buxton's hip surgery has estimated recovery time of six months.

25. Cincinnati Reds (-4)

• Acquisition of Oswaldo Cabrera likely means end of TJ Friedl's career in Cincinnati.

26. Kansas City Royals (-)

• Carter Jensen sets both team rookie home run (25) and extra-base hits (60) records.

27. San Francisco Giants (-)

• They've used 67 players this season, 18 for eight games or less.

28. Los Angeles Angels (+1)

• Grayson Rodriguez went two years between quality starts. Now he has three in the past six weeks.

29. Athletics (-1)

• Penultimate season in Yolo County will conclude with four games against Astros, chance to play spoiler.

30. Colorado Rockies (-)

• Progress? Team ERA down to 5.62 from 5.97; home runs allowed drops from 251 to 215.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB power rankings: Remember the Rangers? Texas has playoff bid in reach