Category: Baseball

Tuesday night’s game against the San Diego Padres was reminiscent of the 2024 playoffs when the Dodgers were forced to employ a bullpen in the NLDS to keep their playoff hopes alive against those same Padres. Both outcomes were the same, with the bullpen shutting down the Friars and getting a big win.

That postseason saw a lot of bullpen usage, and in this one the Dodgers are stacked with starters. Still, the bullpen is always a big part of the postseason.

As Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic points out, 41 days ago manager Dave Roberts was asking the media what choices did he truly have to deploy in the ninth inning of games. Now, he could have several options.

Edwin Diaz, the closer they paid handsomely in the offseason, has not had a great season. He’s been on the IL twice and had an era over 11.00 at one point this summer. But since returning from his latest IL stint, he has faced 11 batters, struck out six and only allowed two to reach base.

“I think it’s one of those things where if you’re one of the 12 pitchers on a postseason roster, you’re in the trust tree,” Roberts said “He’s put himself right smack in that conversation. Given all that he’s had to go through this year to right the ship is a big credit to him.”

Roki Sasaki is also someone who will be in the mix for the ninth inning spot. He has also just returned from his own IL stint, pitching with dermabond on his blister. He allowed two singles, but worked around them for a scoreless inning in Tuesday night’s game. He will appear in Friday night’s game as he continues to work towards a spot in the bullpen that will likely vary as the postseason goes on.

Tanner Scott has been the Dodgers’ most reliable arm out of the bullpen this season, and Roberts has remarked how it would be nice to be able to use Scott in high leverage spots that may not come just in the ninth inning.

“I think if there’s an opportunity, for example, for Tanner to pitch a high-leverage inning in the seventh or the eighth inning, it’s just hard to pass that up if he’s the best option right there,” Roberts said. “You just don’t know where the ninth inning is going to be.”

Roberts also added that the team is sitting in their best position with regards to the bullpen as they have ever been. Evan Phillips and Brock Stewart round out the current options, and the team hopes that Edguardo Henriquez can recover from his back issues to appear in the playoffs. With the starters this team has overall this may be the best pitching staff the Dodgers have ever sent to the playoffs.

We’ve spent much of the last week discussing how the Red Sox won’t be playing much baseball in Boston this weekend thanks to an impending nor’easter. But what if I were to tell you it’s also still possible (however unlikely) that they might not be playing much baseball in New York next week either?

Don’t worry, it’s not weather related this time. Instead, it’s because there’s still a bizarre, long shot scenario teetering at the edge of the table where the Red Sox could fall to the No. 6 seed in the American League.

At first glance, this seems impossible. At 85-73, Boston is four games clear of the White Sox with four to play, and even if the Red Sox were to lose out with the White Sox winning all of their remaining games, Boston also holds the head to head tiebreaker by virtue of their 6-0 record against the South Siders this season.

So, it’s over, right?

Wrong!

There’s still one monkey wrench that can flip the board, and that’s Cleveland’s presence. If the 82-76 Guardians win the rubber game at Fenway Park today and then also end up in a theoretical 85-77 tie with both pairs of Sox at the end of the weekend, all sorts of kooky stuff happens.

First of all, in a three-way tie scenario where one of the teams is not in the same division, the tie to determine that division (in this case the AL Central), takes precedent, and must be broken first. Well, guess what? The White Sox hold the tiebreaker over the Guardians, which means if the Red Sox end up tied with both of them, Chicago takes the division, leaving Boston to face off against Cleveland in the tiebreaker for the final seeding.

Right now, the Red Sox hold that tiebreaker over Cleveland thanks to their 3-2 head to head record. However, if the Guardians win today, that becomes 3-3, and the tiebreaker flips to the Guardians on interdivision record. In other words, Cleveland would go to the No. 5 seed, the Red Sox would land in Texas to play either the Astros or Rangers (whoever wins that wretched AL West division) as the No. 6, and Guardians would get shuffled all the way over to New York to play the Yankees.

On one hand, this is far fetched. But if you break it down piece by piece, it becomes one of those things that gets less and less ridiculous the more you look at it.

Let’s start with the Red Sox. They will be throwing Ranger Suarez today against Cleveland, who will counter with Daniel Espino. With the way Suarez has been throwing the ball the last few times out, that looks like a Boston win at first. But remember, the Sox used both Whitlock and Chapman last night, meaning they might not want to push them too hard and go there again today. Additionally, Suarez’ start is coming exactly five days before Game 1 of the Wild Card series, which means they’ll probably pull him after 75 or 80 pitches like they did with Sonny Gray on Wednesday.

Break it all down, and the Guardians are probably going to get a shot at the weaker part of the Red Sox bullpen they didn’t see today. Throw in Ceddanne Rafaela and Willson Contreras possibly not playing, and all of a sudden this becomes a hard game to predict.

From there, the Red Sox are likely going to play a double header against the Cubs on Friday, trying to get as many games in as possible before the nor’easter arrives. Well, as we’ve discussed all week, the Cubs are going to need those games as they fight for seeding in the NL Wild Card race. They enter play today one game behind the San Diego Padres for the top Wild Card billing. Meanwhile, the Red Sox will be done with the Payton Tolle / Sonny Gray / Ranger Suarez part of the rotation for the regular season and will probably be throwing Patrick Sandoval in one of these games. Is it really that hard to see the Cubs taking both ends of that double header?

Meanwhile, back in Chicago itself, the White Sox would need a sweep at home over the weekend to keep any chance of this crazy scenario alive. Well, guess what? They’re playing the Colorado Rockies. And not just the Colorado Rockies, but the Road Rockies. The worst team to ever do it!

Years ago, when I was over at Purple Row, I wrote about how the game is rigged against the Rockies, and how they face a literal competitive disadvantage because of a Coors Hangover Effect that happens when their hitters travel. On that note, the 2026 Road Rockies have been striaght trash! They’ve already been swept in 28 percent of their series this year, and have lost ten games in a row away from Coors Field. They’re so bad, they haven’t won a road game since August 26th!

The point here is that it’s not that hard to see how they could go into a rowdy atmosphere in Chicago this weekend and get their doors blown off. The White Sox are just one game behind the Guardians for not only the AL Central crown, but also for the No. 2 seed and a bye, so they will almost certainly be throwing all their resources at this race right down to the wire.

Of course, they also have to win their game in Kansas City this afternoon to even get this lunacy off the ground, but if they do that, you don’t have to squint too hard to see how this snowball might start running downhill. Again, all this silliness probably gets quashed in the net 36 hours by one of several candidates, but if we’re still sitting here on Saturday morning and the possibility of all this still alive, things will get really, really weird, really, really quick. And that’s before you throw in the weather with the Red Sox possibility waiting through days of rain to play Game their 162.

Can you imagine if they have to come back on Monday and play one last game against the Cubs and they can literally pick their path with a loss (through Texas and the AL Central winner) instead of having to go through New York and Tampa?

It’s nuts, and it would be nothing short of a bonkers scenario. But this is the 2026 Red Sox, and bonkers has kind of been the theme of the season. We’ve already seen some of the worst Red Sox baseball of all time at Fenway Park early in the season, a historic winning streak to fuel a remarkable turnaround, a team that has a penchant for playing well with plane problems, and now a huge nor’easter threatening to upend the schedule. If there was ever a year where something this daft might play out, wouldn’t it be this one?

Then again, Kansas City might beat the White Sox in a handful of hours and everything you just read will be rendered moot. Man I love wacky baseball!

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

It’s Sept. 24 and the Orioles are, technically, still alive in the postseason race. Will wonders never cease?

The Orioles’ elimination number remains at 1 after a productive Wednesday in which they swept a doubleheader against the Blue Jays to close out their Camden Yards schedule for 2026. Combined with a White Sox loss in Kansas City, it remain mathematically possible for the Orioles to claim the third wild card spot. All they need is to sweep their final series at Yankee Stadium while the White Sox lose every remaining game against the Royals and Rockies. Oh, and also the Orioles would have to leapfrog whichever of the Rangers and Astros doesn’t win the AL West.

Simple, right? Might as well start printing the playoff tickets now.

OK, OK, I get it. It’s not happening. The O’s will be eliminated, possibly as soon as tonight. But it’s nice that they didn’t have to suffer that ignominious fate in front of their home fans. They played a pair of well-played games — and officially knocked the defending AL champion Blue Jays out of playoff contention — to end their home season on a high note. Check out Mark Brown’s recap of the opener and Tyler Young’s write-up of the nightcap.

The twin bill demonstrated what the 2026 season could have looked like for the Orioles if they’d been clicking all year. The O’s got some effective starting pitching performances from unlikely sources, especially Trey Gibson, who tossed the finest outing of his major league career with 6.2 shutout innings. Their bullpen was solid, with six different relievers delivering scoreless outings. And Pete Alonso did Pete Alonso things, crushing his 41st home run and later leading the entire O’s team onto the field to acknowledge the fans before they left town for the year.

The Orioles ultimately are going to come up short for a litany of reasons that we don’t need to rehash here, but they’ve got a chance to finish the season at .500 if they take all three games from the Yankees this weekend. If not, they can at least try to sustain their recent competent play and hopefully bring some positive momentum into the 2027 season, whenever it might begin. For now, that will have to do.

Links

Holliday to undergo surgery on left wrist; Basallo to concussion IL – MLB.com

The Orioles’ two youngest players saw their disappointing 2026 seasons come to an end. If there’s any hope for a turnaround next season, it’s guys like this who are going to need to take a step forward.

Kyle Goon: The threat of a lockout looms over 2027. But in home finale the Orioles spark positive thinking. – The Baltimore Banner

The possibility of having games wiped out in 2027 is upsetting for so many reasons, not the least of which is: what the heck am I going to do with my time? Are you telling me I’m supposed to get another hobby? Get outta here with that.

Is it too late for the O’s to re-sign Trevor Rogers beyond this season? – Steve Melewski

It’s not too late until Rogers puts pen to paper with another team. Which might not happen for a while, considering the aforementioned lockout.

Would an Orioles general manager under Elias have autonomy? | MAILBAG – BaltimoreBaseball.com

I can venture a guess. The O’s have gone more than a year (and counting) without bothering to fill the GM role, so it sure seems like it’s not something Elias values highly.

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Five former Orioles were born on this day, including Rafael Palmeiro (62), one of the most prolific sluggers in O’s (and MLB) history. Palmeiro had two stints with the Birds in his 20-year career, hitting 223 of his 569 major league homers as an Oriole. He would be in the Hall of Fame if not for, well, you know. Happy birthday, Raffy.

Other former Orioles with Sept. 24 birthdays include infielders Travis Ishikawa (43), Jesse Garcia (53), and Kevin Millar (55), and the late outfielder Curt Motton (b. 1940, d. 2010).

On this date in 2000, Orioles ace Mike Mussina pitched a masterpiece in what turned out to be his penultimate start in an O’s uniform. Mussina dominated the Red Sox at Fenway, throwing seven scoreless innings and racking up an eye-popping 15 strikeouts without walking a batter. The Orioles managed to get him a win by scoring a run in the top of the eighth on Gene Kingsale’s sac fly, and closer Ryan Kohlmeier escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the ninth to secure the 1-0 victory.

Random Orioles game of the day

On Sept. 24, 1984, the Orioles won two games for the price of one, sweeping a doubleheader against the Yankees at Memorial Stadium. Mike Boddicker led an easy 8-1 victory in the opener with a complete game, scattering 10 hits — all singles — and allowing only one run. The O’s also had 10 hits but turned them into eight runs, with John Shelby, Gary Roenicke, and Mike Young all homering.

In the nightcap, the Orioles pulled off a thrilling come-from-behind victory, scoring five runs in the bottom of the eighth to erase a 6-2 deficit. An error by Yankees reliever Jay Howell opened the floodgates for a Roenicke RBI single and a Benny Ayala three-run homer. Cal Ripken also homered in the game. Reliever Nate Snell worked a scoreless eighth and ninth for the victory. The doubleheader sweep gave the O’s and Yanks identical 83-73 records, though both had long since been eliminated from the AL East race.

The Phillies will have to play at least one more game before they can officially punch their ticket to the postseason. Last night’s brutal showing with runners in scoring position made sure of that. But today is another great day to clinch.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Tuesday’s win provided a possible blueprint of what the Phillies postseason strategy will be. ($)
• The Brewers being in town means so is former GM Matt Klentak. He sat down with Phillies Extra to discuss acquiring some of the key pieces of this current Phillies team as well as Milwaukee’s pursuit of Tarik Skubal.($)
• You know Brad Lidge from his perfect 2008 season as the Phillies closer. You may not know that now he is an accomplished archeologist. A fascinating Q&A with the former relief ace. ($)

MLB news:

• A forecasted nor’easter this weekend is already wreaking havoc on the scheduling of three games at Fenway Park with crucial postseason implications for the National League.
• Shohei Ohtani returned to the lineup last night as his health looms like a specter over the NL postseason field.
• Who are some players about to play in their first postseason that could end up going down as heroes?

You can’t say the Dodgers didn’t give the rest of the National League West a chance.

It wasn’t a great chance, certainly. But consider this: The Dodgers spotted their division rivals 157 games before rolling out their varsity lineup.

The Dodgers clinched the division a week earlier. They still could win 100 games.

On Wednesday, with that preferred batting order making its season debut and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound, the Dodgers fielded the 10 men you might well see in Game 1 of the playoffs next week.

Or, as the Dodgers might say, Opening Day.

The Dodgers can say their schedule starts in October, and their goal is for everyone to be healthy and effective then. But that presumption depends upon the supporting cast: the boys of summer that might never play come fall but must play well enough so that the stars can play postseason ball.

“It’s just the depth,” Freddie Freeman said.

Everyone has depth, to some degree.

“We’ve got really good guys that can cover guys when they get hurt,” Freeman said. “You’re going to go through injury bugs over the course of the year. It’s on people to step up. We’ve got some guys that are on the bench that can fill in.

“You have guys that can potentially be playing every day on some other teams.”

In April, Mookie Betts and Tommy Edman were on the injured list. By the time both men had come off the injured list, Teoscar Hernández and Will Smith were on it. By the time Hernández and Smith had returned, Andy Pages was on the injured list, soon to be followed by Shohei Ohtani.

Rookie infielder Alex Freeland has more at-bats than Smith. In roughly the same number of at-bats, backup catcher Dalton Rushing has more home runs and a higher OPS than Smith, the starting catcher.

The Dodgers rank second in the majors in OPS.

Four Dodgers pitchers started at least 20 games, but Yamamoto is the only one projected for the playoff rotation. Emmet Sheehan and All-Star Justin Wrobleski each started more games than Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, combined.

Eric Lauer, who had won once in six starts for the Toronto Blue Jays, won six times in an eight-start stretch for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers rank fourth in the majors in earned-run average.

“We’ve had more injuries than we would have liked this season, but with that came opportunities for guys that gained a lot of valuable experience,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said.

“Now, going into October, we feel like we have a chance to have a roster as representative of the talent level we have as you can reasonably expect.”

The Dodgers buy depth, right?

“I won’t say anything about that,” Friedman said.

They buy everything else. And what other team would spend a combined $10 million on utilitymen Kiké Hernández and Miguel Rojas?

How about the farm system? The Dodgers traded three prospects for Tarik Skubal, the best player available at the trade deadline, and the league website nonetheless ranks the Dodgers’ farm system as the best in all the land.

So, we’ll ask again: What about buying depth?

“Obviously, we have a very high payroll,” Friedman said, “but I think leaving it at that diminishes the incredible work that our scouts, our baseball ops, our player development, our Latin American scouts — our entire department — and the success they’ve had in their respective areas, and how it’s all come together.

Read more:The Dodgers’ Josue De Paula can hit. Now he’s out to prove he can play defense, too

“I think it really minimizes it in a way that’s not fair to excellent people doing excellent work.”

That excellent work includes 97 wins, so far, from the 53 men to play for the Dodgers this season. On Wednesday, finally, the Dodgers had their A team: Freeman, Edman, Betts and Max Muncy starting in the infield; Teoscar Hernández, Pages and Kyle Tucker in the outfield; Smith at catcher; Yamamoto at pitcher; and Ohtani at designated hitter.

One of the charms of baseball is a cliche: Anything can happen — in a single game or in a short series. The Dodgers lost to the San Diego Padres on Wednesday. The A team is 0-1 this season, with October to go.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Most fans are aware of both the legend and the reality of Chicago White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper. And we as White Sox fans have committed so much of him to memory, most prominently “Coop’ll fix ’em” and the four straight complete games that polished off the 2005 ALCS.

So recounting his resumé is not the objective here, although I’d be remiss not to at least mention that the dominant 2005 rotation was largely of his making, from tutoring Mark Buehrle on his way up to the majors to creating the force that was Jon Garland to looking under the hood and tweaking the engines of Orlando Hernández, Freddy García and José Contreras to unleash their bewildering stretch of greatness on baseball’s biggest stage.

During my relatively brief time writing for and covering the White Sox — nearly Cooper’s entire, uncommonly-long 18-year tenure as pitching coach — I rubbed elbows with him, and get to know him a bit. So this is not an obituary, but a remembrance.

Three snapshots really stand out to me when remembering the man, and the first is not a pleasant one.

In Toronto in late May, anticipating soon having six starters to fit into five rotation spots, I’d written that Mark Buehrle could be the White Sox starter to take a short shift in the pen. Not should, but based on a slow start to the season, Buehrle’s consummately-amenable nature, and the fact that any “demotion” to the pen would last a turn or two before inevitable injury struck down one of the six starters, could.

When Coop saw me in the clubhouse, he was mad. Clutching a copy of my feature, he undercut me with defense after defense of Mark, All-Star this and Opening Day starter that. Was Don wrong? Of course not. Was he taking a spec piece probably intended to provide off-day copy by a writer interested in throwing ideas out there to see what stuck and perhaps blinded enough by a 5.12 ERA to miss a 3.88 FIP a bit too seriously? I … think so?

Honestly in the moment I felt both pride that Don was reading me, given that part of the them vs. us nature that pervades a clubhouse is the team pantomime that writers covering the team are not part of the White Sox “us,” nor can they pay enough attention to any one of us as to influence any decision-making. But also, there was bemusement that my feature had gotten him so riled. From there, with the knowledge that the White Sox were acknowledging me as a voice to reckon with, I could be a little more mindful of corralling my wildest ideas — but also take advantage of the existence of a wider communication pipeline that had opened, not just with players but Ozzie Guillén and his staff.

Rewind to 2010, and a trading deadline that saw the White Sox nab Edwin Jackson from the Arizona Diamondbacks, a pitcher everyone and his uncle knew was a key chip to flip to Washington to acquire GM Ken Williams’ most desired target for the second half, Adam Dunn. While the drama surrounding Nats GM Mike Rizzo upping his demands at the last minute and Williams’ colorful disgust over Rizzo’s unprofessionalism, Cooper steered us to another scoop.

The dugout was white-hot with front office disgust and true limbo for Jackson, by then already an MLB journeyman on his way to residence on a record 14 different teams, when Don tapped me and ESPN’s Doug Padilla out from the dugout and onto the infield for an impromptu hype session. With rapture in his eyes, Cooper explained how he knew he could “solve” mechanical issues that were keeping Edwin down in his career (earlier that very summer, EJax had thrown a very wild no-hitter, epitomizing his incredible potential and aggravating reality all in one start). Knowing Coop had already worked his magic with several pitchers on the South Side, both Doug and I came away convinced that the best days of Edwin Jackson were ahead. (And real talk, Jackson’s 30 starts in Chicago from trading deadline 2010 to deadline 2011 were worth 4.2 WAR, by far the best stretch of his 17-year career in the majors.)

But truly, my core memory of Don Cooper was sitting in the visitor’s dugout at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, water lapping at our ankles during one of those infamous torrents tearing through the middle of our country. Our conversation had started on the dugout steps, the game already delayed by drizzle, and as the drops pelted more aggressively we chose not to tear off and into the clubhouse or press box, but shift to the bench, and continue talking. I am not certain why that happened; perhaps as I was a relative newcomer to the White Sox beat Don was curious to get to know me, but I don’t think that was the case. It was two guys, just interested in talking for a while.

Recorder off, notepad mostly unscribbled, we had a casual conversation that likely started with me trying to mine Don for “all” of his pitching guru secrets but mostly spun into talk of family (inside the clubhouse and out) and distant career aspirations. Knowing of many pitchers/pitching coaches who successfully managed, as well as his impeccable reputation at the time, I brought up the topic of managing in the majors. Truly, my feeling was that it was only a matter of time, if Don wanted it, before he left Chicago to move into managing at Triple-A or straight into the majors; I was resigned to the fact that he wouldn’t be a White Sox coaching lifer. And Don did confirm, in a modest way, that he had considered it, and remained curious to see whether his leadership of arms could extend to stewardship of a full roster.

How interesting it turned out to be that by the end of 2011, his first (and as it turned out, only) managerial opportunity was with the White Sox, after Ozzie Guillén abandoned the team for Miami and right-hand man Joey Cora was then instructed to pack his bags as well. Not once thinking I was going to help spur Don into raising his hand for the interim gig by texting him “now’s your chance” and encouraging him to make sure the White Sox knew he wanted to be considered for the top job in 2012, that was in fact what happened.

Of course, Don’s response to that text, well remembering the encouragement I’d given him to aim higher during our damp dugout discussion months earlier: “Who is this?”

Always joking, always keeping it loyal, always keeping those outside of the 25 in the clubhouse on their toes.

Baseball, and especially those who were lucky enough to experience the sport through your eyes and words, will miss you, Don.

The Chicago Cubs scored more runs than anyone in baseball this year and their offense is still the strongest in the field by both raw production and park-adjusted numbers. Even with Alex Bregman questionable after taking a foul ball to the face.

Milwaukee has the best record in baseball, but fewer home runs than any other team playing in October, and by a wide margin.

The Yankees have as much raw power as anyone in this field, and none of it will matter much if Aaron Judge isn't healthy enough to be in the lineup, and right now, there's no guarantee he will be.

The Dodgers have more star power in one lineup than anyone else in the sport, if Shohei Ohtani, Will Smith and Kyle Tucker are all healthy by the time it matters, which right now, they aren't.

And Houston might have the single best hitter of any team in this field, Yordan Alvarez, an MVP candidate having one of the best seasons in baseball, attached to a team still fighting just to make the playoffs.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are about to complete their best season in a decade, but it’s still far short of their goals to compete for a World Series. Though this year is coming to a close for the Buccos, there are several things they can try to do next season to finally get them over the hump and back into the playoff picture.

Consider a pitching coach change

The rotation of the Pittsburgh Pirates was supposed to be their marquee position group in 2026, but instead it fell as flat a pancake on the griddle. There were too many stretches this season where the Pirates’ starters could not get things going. Ace Paul Skenes was uncharacteristically inconsistent, citing that his involvement in the World Baseball Classic may have hindered his outings during the year.

“Usually, that time of year, you’re kind of ramping up and it’s a little bit slow. You can kind of get onto the slope and find your body,” Skenes said. “One live [batting practice], you’re topping at 97 [mph], and then the next you’re 98, 99. And that wasn’t the case this year. … Looking back, I don’t think that really helped.”

The Carmen Mlodzinski saga did not help matters either, and when it was apparent that he wasn’t going to be in the rotation longterm, he too fell apart. Bubba Chandler did not effectively build on his experiences as a rookie last season to improve this season and was largely average for the Pirates, while veteran Mitch Keller looked outmatched and over the hill throughout the year before landing himself on the IL.

The bullpen of course was a disaster all year round too, and only got slightly better after some very aggressive moves at the trade deadline. However, that would prove to be too little too late as the pitching staff began to watch their wheels fall off. First year Pirates’ pitching coach Bill Murphy was not a welcomed addition to the Pirates’ staff, following the organization’s decision to not bring back Oscar Marin. Murphy’s squad blew 16 saves and was all over the place. This group, specifically the starters, is far too talented to have taken such a large step backwards since last season. Perhaps the Pirates would be best suited with another man at the helm of the pitching staff.

Find a consistent presence at catcher

The Pirates have tried, tried and tried again to find their every day catcher for years now. The writing should be more clear than it is, but they really need to think about cutting ties with someone like Henry Davis. Although he’s arguable the best defensive catcher on the team, he’s been and continues to be a liability on offense, to the point where part of the team’s strategy is to get him to bunt instead of pulling balls.

Despite the struggles, General Manager Ben Cherington envisions a future where Davis, Rafael Flores Jr. and Endy Rodriguez are all on the Pirates’ roster and being key contributors .

“We believe all three can be primary catchers on a Major League team,” Cherington said of Davis, Flores and Rodríguez. “The offensive side of Henry’s game hasn’t been at the level we anticipated it would be. It doesn’t mean it won’t get there. We see a guy who’s not striking out, who’s hitting the ball hard and generally making contact. Sometimes guys like that are only an adjustment or two away from putting up much better numbers. We all know the defensive side of his game is a strength.“Flo has come up and really looked like a big piece of the lineup offensively. He’s done some really good things defensively, too. … We see it as a strength going forward. I just hope that group of three continues to challenge each other.”

Now not every catcher is going to be hitting in the .300s like Arizona’s Gabriel Moreno, but Davis hitting .169 is a serious problem. There are enough talented catchers in Major League Baseball these days where there’s no need to keep an anchor attached to your roster. Undoubtedly the organization is trying to at least break even on the former first overall pick, but his defensive prowess might not be enough to keep Davis on as a Bucco.

Remain aggressive on the market

This team is close. At the very least, the Pirates are far closer than they’ve been in a long time. A lot of 2026’s success is a result of last winter. They made a splash trade for Brandon Lowe, Mason Montgomery and Jake Mangum with Tampa Bay. They signed Ryan O’Hearn to a multi-year contract. It is imperative that the front office keep their feet on the gas pedal and not dial back and settle into old ways.

The Pirates need to add one more above average hitter to their everyday lineup. If they can find another hitter in the trade market or free-agency that can deliver on a 20-25 home run season, that instantly puts the team in a far better situation moving forward. If they can add another veteran presence while also resigning Brandon Lowe, 2027’s squad could enter as one of the most dangerous lineups in baseball.

Not to mention this young core is already looking like one that with enough time can grow into something very exciting. Konnor Griffin could be a generational superstar, Esmerlyn Valdez has emerged as a serious power threat at the plate, and Nick Gonzales quietly performed far beyond expectations in 2026. This is not the time for the Pirates to blow things up or to stay stagnant. With one or two more pieces, this team can build off of this season accordingly and take this platform to the next level in 2027.

What do yinz think the Pirates should do to get over the hump? Let us know in the comments!

I do feel a little bad for Ben Rice and Ryan McMahon. Yes, Tuesday’s nightcap rendered yesterday’s Yankees/Rays game largely irrelevant, but these guys are still playing for pride out there. Rice zoomed into a tie for the American League lead in homers, joining a trio of others at 41, and McMahon showed signs of life with the bat for the first time in what’s felt like ages, driving in a run with a single before curling a grand slam around the right-field foul pole. The Yankees are so desperate for something from third base that they’re probably going to give the inexperienced Anthony Volpe a look in at least a one or two of these final few games; McMahon needed to show signs of life.

But no, none of the game stories from the Yankees’ 9-2 win on Wednesday matter much. So, Aaron Judge. On Tuesday, manager Aaron Boone said that he didn’t expect the captain to be available for the Wild Card Series. Pretty reasonable, considering that almost all calf strains take a few weeks to recover from and he only hit the IL effective September 17th. However, the man wants to play in the Wild Card Series even with a busted calf! In fact, he disputes that the strain that Boone described as “moderate” is not exactly, well, moderate. “What’s moderate for others is not moderate for me,” he essentially says.

In Yankee days of yore, conflict between players, managers, and the front office was far from unusual. They didn’t call it “the Bronx Zoo” because of Sparky Lyle’s sometimes-walruslike mustache (though it was luxurious). Compared to both then and what you occasionally see in other leagues, it’s nothing. In the post-Derek Jeter vanillassance days though, this is what passes for acrimony. And at minimum, it is a storyline to follow as Tuesday’s Game 1 of the Wild Card Series creeps closer.

The Yankees will have until early Tuesday to finalize their roster. So is there a world where it even makes sense to put Judge on there, even if he’s compromised? Despite the man’s insistence, I think that it is safe to say there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that he’s going to be in tip-top shape, let alone manning his customary right field. But could it still make sense to throw him on there?

It’s a tough situation because if this was another year, then there might be a possibility to hide him at DH, even if he can’t run (which: no, don’t try that Aaron). Even with his pal Giancarlo Stanton injured and trying for his own long-shot bid, the DH spot is occupied by a legitimate option. Ben Rice is tied for the AL home run lead and is fairly locked in there Luis García Jr. and Paul Goldschmidt sharing time at first base in a platoon-ish role. Rice is Rice, García has 27 homers against righties, and Goldy has a .990 OPS against southpaws. Obviously, healthy Judge is better than all of them, but that’s not who we have. As much as I like the guy, it’d be foolish to start the guy who most recently hit .174 off the IL with K’s in over half his at-bats over any of them. I really believe that.

There is one possibility where it could maybe work. Judge can’t start, sorry. He might have merit as a pinch-hit option, lurking in the background for the Red Sox to consider in any late-game moment. By the numbers, no, he wouldn’t be much of a challenge. And yet it’s extremely difficult for pitchers to square that thought with staring down No. 99 in the batter’s box. It’s harder than one would think to simply throw strikes, let alone when a three-time MVP is hitting. Even the threat of him looming on the bench could mess with the right coach’s strategy.

So suppose you buy into this. Is there roster space for him? I think it might get tight if we’re in later round, but one could squint and see it for the best-of-three Wild Card Series. You really don’t need that many pitchers if you have three real starters. And even if you throw in the three most reliable relievers (David Bednar, Paul Blackburn, Brent Headrick) as well as both the fourth and fifth starter and some flyers on other arms, you’ll still be covered. The bench is bigger and teams sometimes even carry a third catcher for this. Is this wild card of Judge being intimidating in the box and on the bench worth the trade-off for a designated pinch-runner, extra utilityman, or a J.C. Escarra cameo? Maybe. Maybe.

The concern is that playing it too fast and loose with these gambles could have consequences on Judge’s 2027 if this turns into something really bad (and the soleus muscle is a tough one). The man’s not young at this point in baseball terms. The safest path is indeed probably just to tell him to take it easy. He won’t, but that’s why tough decisions have to get made. Although everyone wants to have their Kirk Gibson Pinch-Hit Moment, far more often than not, it’s just not in the cards.

What do you think?

Today on the site, Madison will run through the Rivalry Roundup as we officially bid farewell to one particular nemesis from last year. Nick will argue why potentially missing Judge for the Wild Card Series shouldn’t doom the Yanks, Jonathan will celebrate the birthday of a South Side fan favorite who closed out his career in the Bronx, and Peter will break down some excellent work from Carlos Rodón for his Sequence of the Week.

Today’s Matchup:

New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays

Time: 7:05 p.m.

TV: YES Network, Rays.TV

Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY

ESPN | Jorge Castillo: From the man himself! Aaron Judge spoke on the record with ESPN ahead of last night’s game and said he intends to be in the lineup for next week’s Wild Card Series, and in the postgame, he sounded displeased with manager Aaron Boone describing his calf strain as “moderate.” For whatever it’s worth, Meredith Marakovits of the YES Network said on the telecast last night that this actually wasn’t all that dissimilar from what Judge was saying over the weekend in Arizona; the difference is that this came after Boone’s comments on Tuesday, when he said he wasn’t expecting Judge to return by then.

The Yankee captain is eligible to come off the IL in the season finale on Sunday versus Baltimore, but after the team spent most of the early part of the week downplaying expectations of him appearing in the first round of the postseason…both sides can’t be right.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: The Yankees have a little under a week to round out how they want to approach the Wild Card Series, and the first two questions pertain to the roles of Anthony Volpe and Ryan McMahon seem to be getting slightly clearer. Volpe was taking grounders at third ahead of Wednesday’s game with the Rays, and Mac has gradually placed himself in the near-unplayable category (big night at the plate last night notwithstanding). Volpe’s never been at third before as a pro, and it’s fair to question whether he has the arm strength, but he’s hit better than McMahon since returning and the Yankees need runs.

Also in this article: Giancarlo Stanton hasn’t given up on contributing to the 2026 playoff run just yet. He and Trent Grisham were working out on the field at Double-A Somerset. Grisham’s eyeing the Wild Card Series to get back from his hamstring injury, but Stanton is at least trying to make himself a pinch-hit option.

New York Post | Matt Ehalt: Garrett Crochet has dominated the Yankees since coming over to Boston, but the lefty hasn’t appeared in an MLB game since April 25th of this year. The rehabbing southpaw is hitting 96 in bullpens though, and while he likely won’t start for the Red Sox in the Wild Card round, it’s entirely possible Boston has one of the more overpowering arms in baseball ready to go in the bullpen.

FanGraphs | Michael Baumann: The Yankees spent more of the year without Aaron Judge than with him, and will play at least the first round of the postseason without him as well. Losing the game’s best hitter would hurt any team but New York especially seems to struggle in a Judge-less offense, scoring a full run less per game when he’s IL’d against when he’s in the lineup. Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger now face outsized pressure next week, as often the only two representative hitters on the club should Judge not actually return.

CBS Sports | Todd Feurer: A melancholy happy trails to Don Cooper, best known for spending 33 seasons as a coach with the White Sox organization including 18 as the MLB pitching coach, up through 2020. Cooper also spent part of the 1985 campaign on the mound for the Yankees, and took home a World Series ring on the South Side in 2005. Don Cooper was 70 years old.

Cam Schlittler is on his way to the AL Cy Young, but that has not yet guaranteed him the start in Game 1 of the AL wild-card series next week.

As of Wednesday, the Yankees were still working through their plans for the rotation in the first round of the playoffs, with Aaron Boone only willing to go as far as saying Schlittler would pitch in one of the first two games.

Asked if the Yankees were lining up Schlittler, who is slated to start Thursday against the Rays, for Game 1 of the wild-card series, Boone said, “not necessarily,” reasoning that whoever starts Game 1 or 2 would still be able to pitch Games 2 and 5 of a potential ALDS.

“There’s like three or four different iterations of it, really, whether you go Cam or Max [Fried] Game 1 or 2, and then where you fit Carlos [Rodón] and Gerrit [Cole] in,” pitching coach Matt Blake said before the Yankees’ 9-2 blowout win over the Rays on Wednesday night at the Stadium. “There’s a bunch of different iterations of those four guys across three games that could make sense, depending on who you’re playing and what that means coming out of the rest here into potential rest in the next series. But obviously you got to win the wild card.”

Schlittler, who owns a 1.94 ERA, would be pitching on his fifth day if he started Tuesday’s Game 1, likely against the Red Sox. Cole, who started Wednesday night, would be on his sixth day, while Fried and Rodón would be on their seventh day.

Blake acknowledged that “in a vacuum,” the Yankees would prefer their starter to be going on his sixth day, “but I don’t think that would necessarily dictate where they throw necessarily.”

“Whatever makes sense strategically we’ll probably go with because they’ll all have adequate rest,” Blake said. “Cam would be on the shortest for Game 1, but reasonable.”

Cole, who returned from Tommy John surgery in May, picked up the win Wednesday night to finish his season with a 10-9 record and a 3.61 ERA.

Fried has a 2.80 ERA and just got to his full clip of pitches Tuesday in his fifth start back from the IL, while Rodón dominated the Rays on Tuesday to lower his ERA to 2.67.

“Obviously you’re looking at the whole body of work, but the last month or so is pretty telling of where guys are at physically and what they’re capable of doing down the stretch,” Blake said. “But there’s also with Gerrit, it’s not just the month, it’s knowing who he is. Carlos is obviously throwing the ball really well, Gerrit’s an historically good pitcher, threw the ball well in Arizona.”

The 2026 season refuses to die.

Josh Naylor walked off the Astros 6-5 in the 10th inning on Wednesday to keep the Mariners longshot playoff hopes alive. The Mariners entered the bottom of the inning down a run, but drew three walks to force the Manfred Man across to make it 5-5. Naylor followed with a bloop single to secure the win.

The game was broadcast on national television because the series figured to have playoff implications way back when ESPN set their schedule. Technically, that wound up being true. The Mariners entered the day still in the race but facing elimination. They need to win out and for the Astros and Rangers to each lose out to force a three-way tie at 78-84, which somehow would give the division to the Mariners. What are the odds? Well, FanGraphs this morning said literally 0.0%, so certainly not high. Even with the win, they still need 12 consecutive results to go their way, in a season where absolutely nothing has gone their way. This made ESPN’s coverage feel less like a postseason preview and more like an autopsy of a living corpse, as their analysts interrogated every nook and cranny of failure that got the Mariners to this point.

George Kirby got the ball in his final start of the year. He imploded in the third, giving up four runs on a walk, a double, a single, a double, and a home run. It was the type of inning we’ve seen plenty from Kirby in 2026, where he’s cruising, showing great stuff, generating whiffs, then suddenly unravels at the first sign of trouble. It’s always on a weird play, too. The single in that sequence was a bizarre grounder down the line line that skipped over the bag and glanced off the umpires ankle and into left field for a run. I mean, if anything, this helped Randy Arozarena get to the ball quicker, so it was hardly a transgression. But flukey play you rarely see followed by extra bases and runs seems to how this year has gone.

It’s been a weird season for Kirby. Or “was” a weird season. It was surely his worst as a big leaguer. The “why” isn’t unclear. His repertoire hardly changed. His stuff hardly changed. I can’t find anything discernible in where he threw the ball. Batters just seemed to have him figured out, neither whiffing nor chasing, waiting to pounce on the occasional mistake left hanging over the plate. It’s surprising because he’d taken a notable step forward last year in the late summer after his return from the injured list. Like so many of his teammates, 2026 represents an inexplicable step back in an otherwise strong career. I guess we’ll see if he figures it out by next year, if he’s still in Seattle.

The Mariners, to their credit, got some runs back in the bottom of the third. Lazaro Montes led off with a walk, J.P. Crawford singled behind him, and Randy Arozarena walked to load the bases. Dominic Canzone followed with a 112-mph line drive single to right field to score a pair of runs. Julio picked up another run with a double to cut the lead to 4-3. 

They tied the game in the fifth inning on a Randy single, a Randy steal, and a Canzone single. That duo has made up so much of the offense this year, and they were the main reason the Mariners were in this game at all. 

The game sat tied for a while for a while form there. Jose Ferrer pitched a clean inning. So did Gabe Speier, Carlos Vargas, and Seranthony Domínguez. The Mariners bullpen was great in this one, racking up seven strikeouts over four scoreless innings in regulation. 

Then it was the bottom of the ninth. Dan Wilson called on Taylor Ward to pinch hit for Montes to face Josh Hader. This wasn’t a popular decision because Ward has been terrible since joining the team at the trade deadline. But platoons are platoons are platoons. Ward nearly ended the game with a hard line drive that went just foul. He followed it up by dropping a bloop single into right, briefly getting him off the hook. But it was all for not, as Hader picked him off at first to end the threat.

Ward couldn’t find any place to hide after that. In the 10th inning, with the Manfred Man on second, Yainer Diaz roped line drive to right. Ward ranged over and gave it a diving effort but couldn’t quite get there, allowing the ball to roll the fence for an RBI triple to give the Astros a 5-4 lead.

That brought the Mariners back up in the 10th with the Manfred Man on second. The Astros left Hader in the game despite having already thrown 19 pitches in the ninth. He walked Arozarena on seven pitches. He walked Cal on six to load the bases. He dotted Julio up and down and all around, but Julio battled, fouling off pitches eventually taking a tough slider out of the zone for ball four. The walk forced in a run and tied the game at five. Hader’s next pitch (number 44 on the night) was a sinker way up and out of the zone to Naylor, whopoked it into center for the game winning run.

Again, the Mariners are still technically alive entering the final weekend of play. They face the Angels at home for a four game series. The Astros face the A’s in Sacramento. The Rangers have one more against the Mets then go to Minneapolis. The Mariners need all 12 results to go their way.

The sound alone gave a jolt to the ballpark.

For too long, Dodger Stadium hadn’t heard anything like it.

In his return from the injured list on Wednesday night, Shohei Ohtani came up in the bottom of the seventh inning and put a charge into a ball that went soaring through the late-summer night sky. 

Ohtani had squared it up, connecting on a 99 mph fastball from San Diego Padres right-hander Bradgley Rodriguez. He sent it scorching off his barrel, recording an exit velocity of 103.4 mph.

For a brief moment, Chavez Ravine roared in anticipation.

But then, Padres center fielder Jackson Merrill settled under it. The 384-foot drive died at the warning track.

In the Dodgers’ eventual 5-1 loss to the Padres, the swing was a reflection of where Ohtani finds himself at the moment: By all accounts, much improved from the visibly diminished state he was in before going on the injured list with right arm and left knee injuries; but also, still not back to his completely normal self with the start of the playoffs less than two weeks away.

“He certainly feels way better,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said pregame. “I think just getting as many at-bats as he can and that rhythm and timing back before we head into October is going to be really helpful.”

In his comeback game, Ohtani got four trips to the plate. He singled in the first inning on a 99 mph line drive to right. He drew a six-pitch walk in the third, showing improved plate discipline than he had during a dismal couple weeks leading up to his IL stint. 

But he also struck out with the bases loaded in the fourth, squandering the Dodgers’ best chance to erase an early deficit by fanning on a full-count sinker from Padres reliever David Morgan (after having what initially appeared to be a run-scoring walk earlier in the at-bat overturned on an ABS challenge).

Then, after his flyout in the seventh, he went down swinging again against Padres closer Mason Miller in the ninth to wrap a 1-for-4 showing.

“He looked good,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It just felt like he wasn’t sped up at all, and I think he came out of it pretty well.”

The most encouraging thing, of course, was the way Ohtani looked.

He wasn’t shaking out his arm. He didn’t have any awkward one-handed finishes with his swing. And while his drive in the seventh didn’t clear the fence, it still marked the hardest contact he had made with a ball in almost six weeks (when measured by exit velo).

“I think if you look back at the last couple weeks when he was active, he wasn’t really getting to that pitch,” Roberts said. “I think tonight showed that he’s in a good spot physically.”

The question now is how much more Ohtani can improve before, and then throughout, October –– with the Dodgers remaining cautiously optimistic that the worst of his season-long health saga is finally behind him.

“There’s no question [his injuries] affected him,” Friedman said. “And I think the fact that he feels as good as he does right now is certainly encouraging. Now, it’s about making sure that holds.”

Indeed, before going on the IL, Ohtani was a shell of himself offensively.

He had gone 6-for-his-last-52 before finally being shut down. He was showing visible signs of pain and subtle deficiencies in his swing mechanics. Any flickering hopes of him returning to pitching this season were also finally blown out.

“A few weeks ago,” Roberts said, “you could see that he couldn’t hit a fastball, he was underneath everything, and that it was a slower swing.”

For one night, at least, the Dodgers saw progress.

But that doesn’t mean Ohtani is back to 100%.

Roberts was careful to temper expectations before the game, noting that “it’s been a while since he’s played.” 

Friedman also highlighted some of the lingering uncertainties surrounding the 32-year-old slugger, saying the Dodgers would closely monitor how Ohtani feels after taking “game-intensity at-bats” again.

“These aren’t things that there’s a clear answer to,” Friedman said when asked what version of Ohtani the Dodgers anticipate seeing in the playoffs. “I think everyone, this time of year, is dealing with some stuff.”

That might be true. But two weeks ago, Ohtani was clearly in a worse-than-normal spot.

That’s why he went on the IL. It’s why he missed six of seven games even before that. It’s why Wednesday felt like such an important test, with only five games remaining in the regular season for him to find “some rhythm and timing” with his swing entering the playoffs, as Friedman put it.

“It’s go-time for all of us,” Roberts said beforehand. “I can’t really speak to if he’s going to hit a homer tonight, but I do think that there’s going to be a heightened focus. So I think he’s in a good spot.”

For now, the Dodgers will take him simply looking better.

Astros 5, Mariners 6

Mariners Win: Julio Rodríguez, +0.46 WPA
Rewrite: George Kirby, -0.18 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day