Category: Baseball

Shohei Ohtani kept his message to fans short.

“Thank you,” he wrote in an Instagram caption.

The 2026 season was by far Ohtani’s most disappointing campaign in a Dodgers uniform. His first two seasons in LA ended with World Series titles, but Ohtani’s third year ended in collapse.

There’s plenty of blame to go around for Dodgers’ early exit in the postseason, but the team’s mismanagement of Ohtani will remain a focal point in why one of the best rosters to ever be assembled in baseball fell overwhelmingly short of the Fall Classic.

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Ohtani dealt with multiple injuries in 2026 and could have very well been shut down in the summer to ensure better health come October. But that never happened.

Instead, the Dodgers let Ohtani continue playing until it became painfully clear the injuries had derailed his offensive production.

The 2027 season will be a key turning point for the Dodgers as the offseason is sure to bring changes in LA. But Ohtani has made it clear that he intends on remaining a two-way player next year.

The Dodgers will have to create an efficient plan for the aging Ohtani to do so, especially considering the implications his workload will have by October.

Ohtani hit 30 home runs and sported a sub-2.00 ERA, but his season ended in catastrophe because of the way his health was managed throughout 2026.

Dodgers fans are inevitably disappointed with the results as a three-peat seemed feasible given the star power on the roster. But the talent wasn’t enough to even muster a win over the Brewers in the National League Championship Series and that’s something the Dodgers will have to wrestle with in the coming months.

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Cardinals on My Time is back for the winter in a little different capacity! With the offseason and winter looking questionable at best and the Cardinals sitting in an awkward spot, I decided to take the opportunity to expand my podcast a little bit.

Since writing all things St. Louis Cardinals for the past few seasons, my attention around the league has significantly dwindled and I cannot have that happen. Rather than just reading through articles or trying to find new podcasts, I decided to bring the external talent to me and then share it with those of you who are in the same boat. I am fortunate enough to do that through the platform called MILLIONS, which is where I will be hosting my LIVESTREAM podcasts before publishing them later on normal platforms.

In my MILLIONS debut, I was joined by Jessica Kleinschmidt who was previously of MLB.com and NBC Sports covering the Athletics. Through our conversation, I quickly realized she was the perfect person to have one and discuss the impending winter of negotiations and hearsay. Jessica is a self-proclaimed CBA professional, so it was great to hear information from someone with ties to players and owners while also discussing what could happen this winter.

CBA talks are going to go to an interesting place during the MLB offseason

In the episode, we covered plenty but I really wanted to get into comparing the make up of both the A’s and Cardinals. The more Jessica talked, the more it seemed like these are teams sitting at a similar point in their building for the future. The Cardinals obviously have Chaim Bloom as POBO, but yesterday the Athletics also announced their own POBO, Taylor Smith, who had similar lineage to Bloom and is probably going to do things that look like what we saw in St. Louis.

When we spoke CBA, we got into what the lockout will mean for the fringe 40-man players and the Rule 5 draft. Jessica and I are both smitten by Rule 5 stories and hope that the process stays in some capacity, but it will be interesting to see how teams around the league handle their player protections by the 40-man deadline. The negotiations will probably get messy with a lot of players vs. owners conversations happening beyond the salary cap commercials we are already seeing during game broadcasts.

Finally, Jessica teased that she is going to be diving deeper into her Athletics coverage in some capacity, but could not announce the full details just yet. By the end of the episode, I was glad to have expanded from rehashing the same Cardinals conversations we hear every week and get some more look around MLB. If you enjoyed the episode, make sure you drop a like, comment, and/or subscribe on your favorite platform!

On Thursday at 6pm, I will be having Double-A pitcher Michael Watson on MILLIONS and prospect guru Kareem Haq will help me lead the conversations. I will be posting a link to that stream on my socials but if you follow on MILLIONS, you will get notified when we go live.

I hope to have plenty more for you all in the near future. Thanks for sticking with me!

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

The Guardians are not in a World Series, so a certain number of Guardians fans are playing everyone’s favorite game, “Blame the Manager.” Is that fair?

First, I think we should all acknowledge a couple truths. Stephen Vogt has won three division titles in three years, leading two striking comebacks to do so the past two years. He has led his team to two ALCS appearances in three years. He has done so with limited resources on the roster through no fault of his own. If you would like the Guardians to fire Stephen Vogt or trade him to Seattle, please, and I say this as respectfully as possible – touch some grass, find a God of your choosing, and learn ball.

Now, just because Vogt is a great manager does not mean he is incapable of mistakes. Let’s take a look at the four most common objections I have heard to Vogt’s managing this postseason:

Objection 1: He Overused Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, Erik Sabrowski, Daniel Espino and Shawn Armstrong:

Cleveland pitchers threw 97 innings this postseason – This group of pitchers who made up Vogt’s circle of trust threw 42 of those innings. In those 42 innings, they put up a 2.57 ERA, a 3.05 FIP and a 9.64/2.14 K/BB/9. Let’s be clear – if a given pitching staff puts up those numbers for any playoff series, you would expect to win that series. However, if we stop the count before last night, this same group of players threw 36.2 of the teams 89 innings and put up an incredible 1.72 ERA, 2.34 FIP and 10.31/1.96 K/BB/9.

Guys, we all know that Smith, Gaddis, Sabrowski and Armstrong were overused. We know that Espino probably saw Caminero one too many times. But, the reason it happened was because it was still Vogt’s best shot at winning this series. He recognized his best weapons and put them in position to carry him over the top. Smith and Gaddis ran out of gas at the very end (notably, Armstrong and Espino remained extremely effective), but this is because Vogt was lacking the weapons he needed to reduce their usage, not because he was attempting to run them into the ground.

Aside from the disappointment of Parker Messick being unable to provide something like his regular season output (likely due to some combination of inexperience and fatigue), I find myself left with the most regret that Colin Holderman was hurt. I would very much like to try this Tampa Bay series again with a healthy Holderman able to take some of the innings that ended up going to Hunter Gaddis and/or Cade Smith. But, that’s something we will never know. For 2027, I have hopes that the team can make Slade Cecconi a high leverage option and that Daniel Espino will take another step forward as a high leverage guy, as well as counting on a full recovery for Holderman. If the group that is currently here can stay reasonably healthy (and, probably replace Tim Herrin with a veteran lefty), I really like their chances of not running Smith, Gaddis and Sabrowski into the ground to try to advance in a round of the playoffs.

Note that many of us armchair managers on social media were predicting disaster having Armstrong pitch for a fourth time against the Rays… and he said through the top of the order again. If pitchers execute, reliever familiarity doesn’t help much. And, that was the plan in going to the Guardians’ best pitchers so often.

Bottom line – this group of pitchers pitched a ton of innings because, even with the risk of fatigue, they were Vogt’s best chance at winning baseball games given the options he had. The one area I would like to see Vogt and the team experiment with, here, is trying to make sure their best relievers face different parts of the order when entering… but this often conflicts with the handedness advantage. I’m not convinced the idea of reliever familiarity penalty trumps the handedness advantage… or the idea of putting the guys with the best stuff in the game as much as possible. Vogt’s moves here, thus, track with a good process leading to an, unfortunately, bad result.

Objection 2 – He Should Have Started Angel Genao Over Brayan Rocchio:

Angel Genao finished the season from mid-August through September with a 40 wRC+. Brayan Rocchio is now an established major league player, while still young, and has to be counted on to put up a good at-bat and come through with a hit in a big spot at some point, leaning on his usually solid contact skills. Brayan Rocchio failed at almost every juncture. He was successful at almost every juncture as a hitter in 2024. That’s baseball for ya. But, Vogt had no option on the roster clearly better than Rocchio at shortstop, both fielding and hitting. I would like Genao to get a shot to win the shortstop job in spring training (which will probably be in MAY, but, whatever…), but for right now, sticking with Rocchio was the best choice.

Some folks will point out that Vogt pulled the rip cord on Angel Martinez. Vogt, rightly, recognized that Martinez is a lefty-masher option and that Petey Halpin is more of a threat vs. LHP than this current version of Angel. It also allowed him to get the benefit of Kwan’s defense in left and the potential benefit of good centerfield defense from Halpin (Halpin did not provide particularly excellent defense, but the potential was worth a shot). Genao has not proven himself against either LHP or RHP, so going with the established and experienced option to take those at-bats in Rocchio was the right choice, for now. Should the team have been more aggressive about pursuing a right-handed hitting veteran to play shortstop against LHP and take the bench role from Genao for these playoffs? I think so, but I also barely even raised the possibility of that at the trade deadline. I can understand why it wasn’t a priority, but the options Vogt was left with led to sticking with Rocchio.

Objection 3 – He Should Have Given Tanner Bibee a Start:

Why didn’t Bibee get a start? The answer is simple: Bibee had a 4.36 ERA/4.52 FIP, a 7/2.4 K/BB/9 and gave up a 12% home-run/fly-ball rate in 2026. In September, Bibee had an ERA of 7.36 and a 4.83 xFIP. He was giving up a lot of loud contact. The team decided that Bibee would become their “break-glass-in-case-of-emergency” pitcher for a game that went into extra innings. At that point, relying on his veteran moxie and experience would be the best option available, despite his inability to miss bats and penchant for surrendering the long-ball… but not before then.

Folks, I simply can’t argue with the reasoning. It’s statistically sound. Now, would I have, personally, objected to handing Bibee the ball for game six and saying, “Give us all you got?” Absolutely not. I would have appreciated the boldness and dealt with the consequences. But, it’s incredibly likely those bombs off the bat of Diaz and Caminero just would have happened earlier in the game. Maybe it would have been easier for me, emotionally, to see Bibee competing and getting smacked around than Smith or Gaddis running out of gas after great performances these playoffs… but that doesn’t mean my feelings should have guided the process. Also, the bullpen game for game six was actually more effective than it seems. Herrin gave up an 85 mph sure fly out that beat an outfield shift and a bad jump from two outfielders for a double, Cantillo gave up a 69 mph fly out to Caminero that would have avoided any damage in his outing, and, heck, Caminero hit a foul-pole homer off a splitter six inches inside off the plate. The Rays deserve credit for all this… but I don’t think game six was a disaster in terms of pitching plans from Vogt and the Guardians AT ALL.

Objection 4 – He Should Have Stuck with Foster Griffin Longer in Game One and Four of the ALCS:

We have now come to the one objection I find to be of the most merit in criticizing Stephen Vogt, and the place where I think he and the team’s decision-makers probably find themselves with the most regret this morning. Griffin pitched 10.1 innings in these playoffs and put up a 3.48 ERA/0.78 FIP with a 13/0 K/BB/9. Folks, those are ace-type underlying numbers, to be honest. Yet, repeatedly, Vogt only allowed Griffin to face a lineup approximately one time through the order. Why? During the season, Griffin had a 2.35 ERA first-time-through-an-order and a 4.41 ERA second-time-through-an-order. I promise you that this data is exactly what was on Vogt’s mind when he would remove Griffin… as well as mentioned above, his knowledge that his five best options to navigate a lineup outside of Gavin Williams resided in his bullpen.

I think we can now say, after seeing the bullpen on fumes in game six, that it would probably have been a good risk for the Guardians to allow Foster Griffin to go deeper into games in these playoffs, specifically in game four of the ALCS to try to save wear and tear on the bullpen (specifically avoiding a second inning from Matt Festa later in the game). With that said, this would have required Griffin, with his issues second-time-through, facing Yandy Diaz again. Griffin had a 4.04 FIP against right-handed hitters this season and Diaz has a career 145 wRC+. Junior Caminero, quickly coming up after Diaz, has a career 152 wRC+ against LHP. Griffin vs. these two players second-time in a game is a very bad matchup. However, if you can give yourself a chance at avoiding the second Matt Festa inning, it is a risk you might take and see if Griffin can work around these two. At the same time, if it goes extremely well, all you do is probably give yourself a reason to use Smith, Gaddis and Sabrowski in game four when they actually got rest. So, I don’t think the outcome of this series changes, but I do think Vogt and the Guardians need to steel themselves to try to get a little more from their starters the next time they make the playoffs, consequences be darned. May fans who watch a Guardians’ starter get lit up second-time through an order in the future remember Matt Festa for two innings and Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis on fumes. There is a damned if you do, damned if you don’t aspect to this decision.

Some folks feel similarly about Joey Cantillo. Friends, Cantillo had a 3.6/10.8 K/BB/9 in the playoffs. He was perpetually one pitch from disaster and Vogt did well keeping him from making that pitch. Exposing him to more opportunities would not have made sense.

Bottom Line:

There are, of course, other potential objections: should the team have bunted more? Attempted more steals? More hit-and-runs? It’s hard for me to argue that this offense should have intentionally put themselves at risk for making more outs. Should Jo Adell have made more starts in right field? Both Adell and DeLauter are not good fielders at the moment. Should Patrick Bailey have caught Messick in game two of the ALCS? Maybe? I can find good logic and sound reasoning behind every decision Stephen Vogt made this series, even in the places where I might have wanted a different choice. …That’s all you can ask of a manager.

In summary, my argument is that the Guardians have a very good manager, not only of the clubhouse but of in-game decisions. We just need to give Vogt more weapons in his arsenal to avoid another disappointment next time he puts this team in position to make a World Series run. Dolan and Blitzer, do whatever you can to keep this man helming the ship here forever.

As a society, we love endings — we celebrate graduations and retirements, we turn the season finales of our favorite television shows into social gatherings, we flood the movie theatres and turn the culmination of Marvel’s Infinity Saga into the biggest communal experience in the history of cinema. While our love of endings isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it does sometimes cause us to pay less attention to the journey than it deserves. These days, Marvel movies get judged as good or bad by fans almost entirely based on how “necessary” they are to the leadup to Avengers: Doomsday. The groundbreaking prime of Game of Thrones, which has transformed fantasy television as a genre forever, often gets forgotten in the uproar of a final four episodes that can at best be described as divisive. And, in sports, the highs and lows of an eight-month baseball journey gets forgotten amongst the irritating week known as the American League Divisional Series.

It’s the journey that I want to reflect on today — or rather, my own personal journey through the 2026 season. You see, heading into the season, my brother and I set a goal for ourselves: to, at long last, make it to 20 Yankees games this season. This is, of course, a reasonable goal only because we both work near subway lines that lead directly to the Stadium, and have work schedules that allow us to reach 161st St. before first pitch rather easily. Because of this, we can take advantage of, for example, somebody selling field level tickets on Stubhub for $10 because the forecast has it below freezing by the third inning.

While Mother Nature did her best to keep us from our goal, we did in fact manage to make it to 20 games this year — just barely. And, as we have been reviewing the season over the last few days, I have thought about all the cool stuff we experienced live this year, and how these experiences, filled with quite a few firsts, reflects a journey that goes beyond statistics on a page, or a postseason disappointment.

Opening Day

So many diehard fans that I know love going to Opening Day, and honestly, I get it. For the first time since the previous autumn, baseball — real, meaningful baseball, not spring training — is back. And yet, actually attending Opening Day was something I never truly considered: baseball is the one sport that still does Opening Day, not Opening Night (let’s just ignore that Netflix business that happened in San Francisco), and as a teacher…well, it’s not exactly acceptable to take days off for leisure. This year, though, the Yankees’ home opener fell on Good Friday…which meant school wasn’t in session. My brother maneuvered his schedule so he could take the day off, and we headed to the ballpark to watch Aaron Judge and Ben Rice go deep, Will Warren spin 5.2 innings of two-run ball (the first of eight or nine Warren appearances we attended), Cody Bellinger make a miracle catch, and the Yankees down the Marlins, 8-2.

In a lot of ways, Opening Day felt very much like a normal game, or at least it did, after the pregame introductions. Still, it was probably the largest, most engaged crowd of the regular season. I still get chills thinking about the excited murmur that went through the crowd when the PA announcer said, “Number 45” during the introductions, and the entire stadium realized that Gerrit Cole, still rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, was in attendance. And I absolutely got a kick out of the fact that, after Aaron Judge and the aforementioned Cole, the biggest cheer the Bronx reserved was for…Matt Blake. Hey, the fans know who is important (side note — Brian and Hal, pay that man!).

Knicks in Five

On the diamond, Wednesday, May 6th was a fairly miserable day. Corey Seager hit a first inning home run off starter Will Warren (hey, I did say we saw him a lot), the Rangers jumped out to an early 6-0 lead before Judge homered to drop the deficit to five, and it was raining on and off before it began pouring late. Yet, it was one of the most fun games I attended this year. Because as the rain came down, everybody in the seats hopped up into the concourse, and began to watch the televisions as Jalen Brunson and the New York Knicks went on a late run to down the Philadelphia 76ers, 108-102 in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Stadium was buzzing to such an extent despite the lack of drama on the field that, standing in right field, Judge kept looking up at the crowd with a confused look on his face until a young kid braved the rain, ran down to the wall, and yelled to him that the Knicks were winning; a thumbs-up was the response.

As it would turn out, that would not be the only Knicks-themed game I would go to. On June 17th, just a few days after downing the San Antonio Spurs and winning the Knicks’ first title in 53 years, Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart were invited to Yankee Stadium to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. As Knicks fans and Villanova alumni, my brother and I of course jumped at the opportunity to go, and we were joined with us by a buddy of mine who is a Knicks fan despite growing up in Arizona. So imagine his excitement when Paul Goldschmidt, who spent the first eight years of his career with the Diamondbacks, belted a three-run homer off Tyler Davis in the fifth inning. A pretty memorable first visit to Yankee Stadium, huh?

On the Road

It had been a long time since I had gone to see the Yankees on the road — since before COVID, at the very least. This year, though, the Yankees headed down to Philadelphia at the end of July, and so, this year, we took the Amtrak down to the Land of Brotherly Love to catch a game with college friends. As it would turn out, that would be the day that LeBron James announced his intent to sign with the Sixers, which injected a bunch of energy into what was already expected to be a dynamic crowd.

And we were treated to one of the best games I have attended, honestly ever. The first batter to reach base for either team? Paul Goldschmidt, who led off the top of the fourth with a solo home run. The first time multiple baserunners were on base at the same time? When the Yankees loaded the bases in the fifth, but they failed to get a runner across the plate. Between Cam Schlittler and Jesús Luzardo, the starting pitchers combined for 14.1 innings, allowing just seven hits and one walk while striking out a whopping 21 batters. Earlier this week, Matt noted that this was, according to GameScore, tied for the Yankees’ most dominant performance of the season, and well, the Yankees needed every inch of that performance.

Schlittler’s dominance (and Brent Headrick’s Houdini-esque escape in the 8th) only tell half the story, though. New Yorkers travel well, and Philadelphia is only ninety minutes from Penn Station by Amtrak. Sure, Citizens Bank Park wasn’t exactly Yankee Stadium South in the same way that the Wells Fargo Center (or whatever they call it now) becomes MSG South during the NBA playoffs, but the crowd was very much divided — and with such a close game, the tension was so thick it could be cut by a knife. 10/10, would absolutely recommend doing if you have the chance.

Amongst the Creatures

Yankees/Rockies isn’t exactly a primetime matchup, really ever, so naturally, my brother and I were more than happy to grab some well under-priced tickets on Stubhub and go on a Wednesday night in September, right before the school year truly got underway. We weren’t exactly paying attention to where the seats were — we got them fairly last-minute, so we just saw the price, the fact that they had access to the Pepsi Lounge (hey, the food in there is fresher than most other spots in the Stadium), so we were as surprised as could be when we realized that we were not simply sitting in the bleachers, but amidst the Bleacher Creatures, just a few spots down from the guy in charge of the Roll Call.

The game itself wasn’t much to write home about. Warren put together a good outing against a meh opponent, and the Yankees lineup struggled to get anything going against Rockies starter Tomoyuki Sugano. Well, except when they got two outs in the third. A single, a double, and a walk later, and suddenly George Lombard Jr. came to the plate with the bases juiced…and he responded with the first grand slam of his career — and the first grand slam of the season. The Stadium, of course, went nuts.

What I remember most from that game, though, isn’t the grand slam, but a revelation I had. Ever since Nick Swisher, I’ve heard quite a bit about the relationship between the right fielder and the Creatures, but never quite understood it. There was quite a bit of…I don’t want to call it banter, exactly, between them, but it was clear that Aaron Judge recognized many of the season ticket holders, and would occasionally react to them. And apparently, you know who spent a lot of time interacting with them, relative to his time in the Bronx? Juan Soto. I now get why they treat him like jilted exes.

Double Trouble

The final weekend of the season was, to put it bluntly, a disaster. Thanks to an impending storm, Saturday night’s game — CC Sabathia Day — was moved to Friday afternoon and turned into a single-admission doubleheader. It ruined Josh Hart bobblehead day, as fans who bought tickets to get it (guilty as charged) but who couldn’t get off of work (I don’t teach on Fridays this semester, so I was good) lost their chance…and that’s before we got into the ballpark. Sabathia got to see his number retired in front of half a dozen fans; ok, I’m exaggerating, but when the right field bleachers aren’t able to sustain a “Thank you, CC” chant, you know the crowd is just, well, not there. To top it all off, the Yankees were an absolute disaster in the first game, going on to lose 10-2 in a game that wasn’t even that close. The second game was much better, but by that point, I’d been on my feet for hours (I didn’t go to my seats, as they were in the upper 400s, but instead watched the game from the various terraces throughout), the storm had started to dump buckets of water on us, and frankly, the game was meaningless.

Nonetheless, it was an awesome day. As I noted in the Five Worst Defensive Plays of the season post last week, I got to check “inside-the-park-homer” off my baseball bucket list. I got to watch CC Sabathia get his number retired — the first Yankee whose entire career in pinstripes I saw to receive the honor. Sabathia and Hart each threw a strike from the rubber as their ceremonial first pitches (in truth, I think Hart’s was a tad better). I talked baseball with some random fans throughout the ballpark, including some who remember going to the original old Yankee Stadium, before the renovations in the 1970s. And, for the first time ever, I was recognized by a student “in the wild” (i.e., not at school); trust me, hearing “Wait, Mr. Griffin?” outside of the confines of the school building will throw you a bit — and I’ve been told that feeling never quite goes away, either.

Game 162

The Yankees only played 161 games this year, with the single-admission doubleheader that Friday night being the final two games of the season. Nonetheless, they did at least go through the motions of pretending that they would play that Sunday. When I got to the Stadium, it was clear from the jump that, while Major League Baseball may have insisted they try, in the off chance that the Yankees and Braves met in the World Series (hah! — but yes, had that occurred, this game would have mattered for home field advantage), the Yankees had no intention of playing. The security guards outside knew they weren’t playing. The workers at the concessions stands knew they weren’t playing. The grounds crew…I can’t say for certain, because I never actually saw the grounds crew actually spend any time on the field, but I’m going to guess they knew, too. For their part, the Yankees never even submitted a lineup (which unfortunately robbed Elmer Rodriguez of one day of service time). Even so, we waited for three hours in the rain.

So what did we do for three hours, you may wonder. That’s right — we watched football! The Yankees put the Giants and the Jets up on the scoreboard, split-screen, thus turning Yankee Stadium into the biggest sports bar in the city, and they only officially cancelled the game once Jevon Holland came down with the game-clinching interception in the end zone. My guess is, they figured everybody who was left would simply go across the street to the bars to watch football, so they might as well make that sweet, sweet concession money, which…uh, fine. Go spend that money on Teruaki Sato, Hal!

Down Goes Boston

The season began with my brother and I attending our first-ever Opening Day, so it was rather fitting that it would end with our first-ever postseason game — and fortunately, our first-ever series clinching win. A season ticket holder that we know wasn’t able to use his tickets to Game 2 against the Red Sox, so he sold them to us (rather than use Stubhub) in order to ensure that Yankee fans would get the seats.

I had heard over the years that October in the Bronx was different, and I had some semblance of what that means — I vividly remember hearing, and more truly, feeling the Stadium rock while driving home from New Jersey on the Deegan during the 2019 Wild Card Game. Nothing, however, truly prepared me for the vibes inside the Stadium. The best comparison I can make, to be honest, is the student section of a Villanova basketball game (from back in the days of Brunson and Hart and Mikal Bridges, i.e., when they were dominant). From Tino Martinez throwing out the ceremonial first pitch to walking out of the Stadium as something that rhymes with “Buck Foston” echoed throughout the Stadium.

Closing Thoughts

I could, honestly, keep going — from watching Amed Rosario sprint back to the dugout in 30-degree weather just minutes before hitting a game-changing three-run homer back in April to the statistically improbable fact that the 4 train only won two of the 19 possible subway races. For the sake of the editors, and for the sake of the readers, though, I will stop here…well, after one more thing. All indications are that this winter will yet again be one of the longest we have seen, with Rob Manfred and MLB’s leadership dead-set on union-busting for the second time this decade. As the hot stove goes dark, and the baseball diamond sits idle, it is this journey that I will miss, and these memories that I will cling to, not the disappointment of Judge and Stanton missing so much time this year, or the heartbreak of an early postseason exit. Because while I desperately want to see the Yankees host another parade down the Canyon of Heroes, I always return to baseball not for the postseason, but for the months-long journey there — and all the friends and memories we make along the way.

The Dodgers will have to retool the roster after falling short in its quest for a three-peat.

The Brewers swept the back-to-back World Series champions in the National League Championship Series, which was certainly not ideal, but now comes the hard part for the Dodgers — addressing the 2027 season and beyond.

Winning three consecutive championships would have cemented the Dodgers dynasty, but after NLCS elimination question, the team faces daunting questions on the future of the franchise. The Dodgers have a handful of key players hitting free agency this offseason, including reliever Alex Vesia.

After Tarik Skubal, Vesia is the Dodgers’ second-best free agent. The left-hander has been a staple of the Dodgers bullpen since 2021, but doesn’t know if he’ll be back with the team next year.

Vesia took to social media to thank the fanbase and address the uncertain future he faces.

View this post on Instagram

“By far the hardest year of my career. It’s hard to put into words what this season was like. Personal battles with confidence, expectations and highs and lows mentally. I can’t thank my teammates enough for picking me up on down days and dealing with my crazy ass on my high ones,” Vesia wrote in his Instagram caption.

“I don’t know what the future holds, but I do want to say thank you to Dodger Nation for showing me so much love over the past 6 years, especially this year. I’m just a man on a mission!”

The 30-year-old posted a 2.64 ERA across 72 appearances this season. If the Dodgers decide to move on from Vesia, he will certainly be missed by fans that have come to know him as a familiar and friendly face in the bullpen.

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Four days after the Milwaukee Brewers finished off their sweep of the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series, the Tampa Bay Rays on Monday night won their American League Championship Series by dispatching the Cleveland Guardians in Game 6 at Tropicana Field.

The Brewers last played in the Fall Classic in 1982, when they were an American League team, and have been around as a franchise since 1969. The Rays did not exist until 1998, and this is their third World Series, along with 2008 and 2020.

Neither the Brewers nor Rays have won a championship, which gives the 2026 Fall Classic a rarity — the first championship matchup featuring two teams who have never won a World Series since the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Kansas City Royals in 1980.

Game 1 of the World Series is Friday night at American Family Field in Milwaukee, with every game of the series a 5 p.m. PT telecast on Fox.

Today’s question is simple — Who are you rooting for in the 2026 World Series? Let us know in the comments below.

Welcome to the 2026 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for the Rockies in 2026. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.

No. 39, Blake Adams (-0.2 rWAR)

The Colorado Rockies have gotten several years of minor league production out of right-handed pitcher Blake Adams, but whether he fits in their major league rotation remains a question mark.

The University of Arkansas turned Kansas State prospect was selected in the 13th round of the 2022 draft by the Rockies. In college across both universities, he started 15 games and appeared in 10 others, posting a 7-6 record, a career 5.75 ERA at the college-level, and 101 strikeouts in 98.2 innings pitched.

Since then, he’s logged innings across all levels of minor league ball and slowly risen the ranks. He debuted with the ACL Rockies with 5.1 innings over five appearances in 2022. He split 2023 between the Single-A Fresno Grizzlies and the High-A Spokane Indians, before moving between Spokane and the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats in 2024.

He remained in Hartford for 2025 before the next call-up to the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes in 2026. In 2026 with the ‘Topes, he posted a 3-6 record in 21 games played with two games started. He logged 61.1 innings of work, posting a 7.48 ERA and a 1.745 WHIP.

His numbers in Triple-A highlight an unnerving trend: They’ve gotten worse with each level he’s climbed. Skipping over his very limited rookie league innings, Adams had a 2.60 ERA in Single-A, 3.68 in High-A, up to 4.76 in Double-A, and then 7.48 in Triple-A.

That said, also evident is a lack of consistency within each of those levels. His ERA, win-loss record, strikeouts and walks over nine innings, and WHIP have fluctuated each year, typically improving after his first year in a given level.

Although Adams earned promotions through the Rockies’ farm system, his performance became less reliable as he approached the majors. His brief improvement in Double-A was encouraging, but his struggles in Triple-A suggest that he still has work to do.

In 2026, he finally got the call. With some roster shuffling around Kyle Freeland’s move to the injured list, the Rockies selected Adams’ contract in late August.

He got roughed up in his only big league appearance, making his MLB debut in August in a rough 13-3 loss to the Washington Nationals. He entered in the seventh inning, giving up two runs in the frame. He attempted to start the eighth inning but was pulled after allowing a three-run home run and following that up with a walk. In all, he posted one inning of work, giving up five earned runs on five hits with one walk.

Overall, Adams’ minor league numbers are modest. a 21-23 record, a 4.52 ERA, a 1.307 WHIP, and 367 strikeouts across 394.2 innings. His strikeout rate of 8.4 per nine innings is respectable, but his overall run prevention has been more inconsistent, particularly against advanced hitters. His 2026 season was challenging, raising questions about whether his arsenal of pitches can hold up against major league hitting.

Adams has lots of experience, but as a whole, it suggests more of an organizational depth role than an MLB prospect with starting rotation or even relief utility. Provided he improves his command and consistency, bigger sample sizes at both the Triple-A and MLB levels will tell us more about how long he could stick around in the big leagues.

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Aaron Bummer has truly had a fascinating career. If we’re judging solely by the eye test, he’s had the type of career that makes you wonder if he just walks under ladders, breaks mirrors and hangs out with black cats all the time because of his hilariously high BABIP-against numbers and the fact that he still remained productive regardless of the bad luck. Bummer made it through two seasons with the Braves while still being a pretty solid reliever — though 2024 was clearly better than his 2025.

With that being said, things finally hit the wall for Bummer in 2026, as he ended up not being too much of a positive factor for the Braves during his time here. It’s time to check out how things went for Bummer and the Braves in 2026.

How Acquired

The Braves initially picked up Bummer in a trade following the 2023 season that sent Riley Gowens, Nicky Lopez, Braden Shewmake, Jared Shuster and Michael Soroka. Following the 2024 season, the Braves restructured their deal with Bummer and he ended up making $3.5 million for 2025 and was set to make $9.5 million for 2026.

What were the expectations?

Based on the contract restructure, it was clear that the Braves figured that Bummer would play a key role in the bullpen and bounce back from what was a rocky (and injury-affected) season in 2025. Remember, Bummer ended up going down for the season with shoulder inflammation during August 2025, following a pretty strange year in which he was asked to do a lot of things he didn’t usually do, like pitch long outings and make starts that saw him stay in the game until he was falling apart. Did those things cause his shoulder injury? It’s hard to say. In any case, maybe the expectations should’ve been lower considering that that’s a pretty tough injury to come back from in a lot of cases. Still, Bummer made the Opening Day roster and was put in a position to take on some quality innings early on in the season.

Projections-wise, his outlook was basically a repeat of his 2025 (0.4 fWAR in 54 innings). That was actually substantially worse than his prior performance (1.1 fWAR in 55 innings as a Brave in 2024), but was probably a good gauge given the injury situation.

2026 Results

Bummer just never looked right during his time with the Braves, which only lasted through mid-May. In the occasion where he didn’t give up an earned run, he still looked shaky at best getting through an inning or he likely surrendered a run from the situation that he inherited. This wasn’t a case of bad luck affecting him like it had in the past — Bummer was just unable to get any type of good results while he was here. He only ended up throwing 15.1 innings the for Braves this season and finished with an ERA of 7.63 (182 ERA- and remember, 100 is league average) and a FIP of 8.64 (208 FIP-, again, 100 is league average). Nor was this a case of some sort bad-results-only thing, as his xFIP was 6.05 (144 xFIP-).

The nadir came on May 18, which is when the Braves sent him out there while down 6-0 just to hopefully eat an inning. He did eventually finish the inning but that was only after he walked five batters and gave up two homers and a single on his way to surrendering six runs across 11 batters faced. Bummer was released two days later, then the Cubs signed him to a minor-league deal on May 27. He opted out of that deal on July 17, signed with the Royals on July 20, which is where he made two appearances for Kansas City in early-August. He gave up three runs in each of those appearances and was promptly sent down to Triple-A following the second appearance. Bummer elected free agency on August 7 and that was the last time he’d been seen near a big league organization.

What went right?

He pitched a scoreless inning against the Dodgers on May 8, so that was cool. The Braves didn’t win that one but it was certainly an outing to be proud of, as he sat down Shohei Ohtani, Will Smith and Freddie Freeman in order with three straight fly-outs. Though, given how Bummer succeeds, even that kind of tells you there was an issue, since giving up contact in the air really hasn’t been part of his game.

Bummer did manage to record two shutdowns (to five meltdowns) on the season, but just like the Dodgers outing, they didn’t feel right. His highest WPA outing of the year came back on April 10: Bryce Elder had given up the go-ahead run to the Guardians and departed with the bases loaded and two out. Bummer came in and got a pop to shortstop to end the game; the Braves then turned the game into a blowout in the next inning, hitting three homers in the span of eight batters.

To find an actual throwback Bummer outing, you have to go to April 24. The Braves had just turned a deficit into a two-run lead, and Bummer was asked to face Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper. Both grounded out meekly to second: Schwarber after a 12-pitch battle and Harper on the first pitch. Then, there was an infield single before Brandon Marsh flew out. That was probably Bummer’s best outing-in-a-close game of the year.

What went wrong?

Other than that, this was a nightmare season for Bummer. His velocity continued to drop precipitously and that was likely due to the fact that he hadn’t fully recovered from his shoulder ailment in 2025. Baseball Savant’s metrics aren’t the be-all, end-all of player evaluation but if your page is looking about as blue as a Toronto Maple Leafs home game, that’s not great at all!

The only thing that went remotely well for Bummer is that he was still inducing ground balls at a pretty high rate but that doesn’t really mean much when the average exit velocity is still sitting around 92 mph. It was also a notable drop — from 60 percent in 2024 and 53 percent in 2025 to 45 percent in 2026. Bummer also gave up six home runs in 2026 — he did that in just under 16 innings pitched, while it took him 109 2/3 innings to give up five homers across the 2024 and 2025 seasons. His strikeout rate was the lowest of his career, his walk rate was his highest since 2023, and his HR/9 had absolutely skyrocketed. In a cruel twist of fate, his BABIP was as low as it had ever been but perhaps it was proof that there was nothing that Bummer could blame this on but himself and the injury issued that he tried to work his way through. It just didn’t work out for Aaron Bummer in 2026.

It’s hard to pick a low point in a few weeks full of them, but April 13 could do the trick. The Braves had just battled back from a three-run deficit to tie the game, and on came Bummer for the fifth. There were two groundball singles, and then Agustin Ramirez whacked a three-run homer and the game descended into a Marlins blowout. Bummer hadn’t been pitching well to that point, but he had actually managed to avoid getting charged with any runs… but that outing was kind of the dam starting to show some cracks and the deluge eventually washed him off the roster.

2027 Outlook

Aaron Bummer is a left-handed reliever, which means that someone out there is going to give him an opportunity to pitch for them if he even shows remote signs of returning to form. It’ll all depend on whether or not he can actually get over his shoulder injuries and get back to his style of success. If that happens, then it wouldn’t be particularly shocking to see him latch onto another organization at some point. If not, then this may have been the last we see of Bummer in the big leagues since his velocity and command had both dropped to a point where any major-league caliber hitter would be able to do some serious damage against him.

Either way, it speaks to how weird this Braves team was. Bummer figured to be an important part of this bullpen, only ended up throwing just under 16 innings and Atlanta’s bullpen ended up performing at a high level, regardless. Man plans while the baseball gods laugh. Hopefully Bummer will be able to make a comeback in the future — it just likely won’t be with the Braves.

While he’ll probably get a shot, he was so bad in 2026 that his outlook is pretty much “below average reliever” at this point… which is really just an average of “no longer playable” and “recovers from shoulder injuries and is back to his old self.” Sure, someone will take a flier with little financial commitment, but banking on a reliever coming off shoulder woes and an awful season is even riskier than banking on a reliever where neither of those things are true.

With the departure of Pete Alonso last offseason, the Mets' first base situation became unsettled for the first time since 2018. 

New York attempted to address it in part by signing Jorge Polanco, whose ultimate role probably would've been to be the designated hitter pretty often. But Polanco struggled badly as he attempted to play through an ankle issue that eventually resulted in season-ending surgery, further complicating things.

While attempting to patch first base together, the Mets turned mostly to Jared Young (74 starts at first base) and Mark Vientos (58 starts), and also gave Brett Baty a look there (16 starts).

Throughout the course of the season, Eric Wagaman, Christopher Morel, Gabriel Arias, and Luis Torrens also saw time at first base.

As David Stearns and the front office strategize, what seems apparent is that there will be some external help added this offseason to bolster first base.

Whether that's a bigger free agent addition or a lower-cost right-handed hitter who can platoon with someone like Young remains to be seen. 

Who are the Mets' options at first base for 2027, and how should they proceed? Let's break it down...

The Internal Options

Jared Young

After bouncing around a bit over the first three seasons of his career, playing 44 combined games for the Cubs and Mets between 2022 and 2025 (Young spent part of the 2024 season in the KBO, posting a 1.080 OPS in 38 games), Young emerged as a key lineup cog for the Mets in 2026 in what was his age-30 season.

In 103 games, Young slashed .266/.330/.429 (.759 OPS, 113 OPS+) with nine homers, 17 doubles, and three triples across 342 plate appearances before his season ended in scary fashion on Sept. 17 at Citi Field, when he suffered a concussion during a collision at first base with Nolan McLean.

There are numerous things Young does well, including impacting the baseball and limiting strikeouts, but it's fair to wonder whether he has enough power to be the regular first baseman on a team that is expected to contend.

Young hit just nine homers this past season after hitting a combined six home runs over 44 games for the Cubs and Mets from 2022 to 2025. In the KBO in 2024, Young mashed 10 homers in 38 games while slugging .660. But the competition in the KBO is not viewed as stiff, so those numbers need to be taken with a big grain of salt.

Another mark against Young is that he hasn't fared well against left-handers in his big league career, with a .674 OPS. This past season for New York, Young's OPS against lefties was just .606.

Brett Baty

Stearns talked Baty up after the season, and it feels like he'll be part of the equation in 2027 -- whether it's as a semi-regular presence at first base or second base or as a possible super utility player.

But while Stearns remains bullish on Baty's potential, he has been clear about the need for more consistency.

With both Young and Baty being left-handed hitters (and Baty posting a .500 OPS against left-handed pitching in 2026), it's possible Baty is viewed more as a second base option or as a fit for the aforementioned utility role.

Jorge Polanco

There are three huge asterisks when it comes to Polanco.

The first is that his health is in question following season-ending surgery, with Stearns having no illusions about what to expect going forward.

The second is that his production in 2026 was dismal. Polanco posted a .431 OPS in 135 at-bats, though it's fair to believe a lot of that had to do with his physical limitations.

The third is that even if Polanco is healthy and productive in 2027 (two enormous ifs), he probably won't be a regular presence at first base given his recent health issues and lack of experience at the position.

Another potential option is Vientos, who is arbitration-eligible this offseason. But when you combine Vientos' worsening offensive production and continued fielding issues, it feels more likely he'll be traded or DFA'd this offseason than be a serious candidate for playing time at first base.

The External Options

Teruaki Sato

Sato will be posted by his Japanese team relatively soon, giving interested MLB teams the ability to sign him before the expected lockout begins on Dec. 1.

For the Mets, Sato would be a huge swing. And his upside is tantalizing.

Sato, 27, won the Triple Crown in Japan this year after slashing .306/.383/.609 with 39 home runs, 40 doubles, 100 runs scored, and 106 RBI in 143 games for the Hanshin Tigers. He hit .278/.345/.579 with 40 home runs, 34 doubles, and 102 RBI in 139 games in 2025 as he won the Central League MVP award.

Primarily a third baseman and outfielder in Japan, there are those who believe Sato's best defensive fit in the majors is first base, which would obviously work perfectly for the Mets.

While Sato's power is undeniable, there are questions about his swing-and-miss tendencies, which are not dissimilar to the ones that surrounded Munetaka Murakami before he signed with the White Sox. Sato fanned 164 times in 143 games this past season for Hanshin. While that strikeout rate is not alarming, it would figure to go up in the majors.

For reference, Murakami struck out 196 times in 127 games this past season for Chicago. In his final season in Japan, Murakami fanned 180 times in 143 games.

Ty France

In 133 games for the Padres this past season, the righty-swinging France slashed .295/.363/.502 (.865 OPS, 139 OPS+) with 21 homers and 24 doubles. Was it an aberration or a late breakout from a player in his age-31 season?

A look at France's advanced metrics shows serious improvement in his average exit velocity and hard-hit percentage, so what he did this season wasn't a fluke. At the same time, it's fair to expect some regression given the player he was before 2026.

What's not in question is how good France's first base defense has been the last two seasons. He won the NL Gold Glove in 2025 after being in the 96th percentile in OAA, and followed that up by being in the 93rd percentile in OAA in 2026.

A tier below France is Jake Bauers, who had a similar mid-career eruption, posting an .874 OPS in 144 regular season games for the Brewers.

Alec Bohm or Paul Goldschmidt

The Mets could theoretically add the righty-hitting Bohm or Goldschmidt to share the first base job with Young.

Bohm (.816 OPS against left-handers in 2026) and Goldschmidt (.967 OPS against lefties in 2026) aren't bad options, but the fit for Bohm would be curious given his poor defensive metrics and the fact that he remains an everyday player -- something he should not be with the Mets if signed.

***

A look at the Mets' roster right now shows that they're set at all three outfield positions as well as shortstop, catcher, and third base (unless Bo Bichette surprises nearly everyone and opts out).

At second base, the answer will almost certainly come internally in the event Marcus Semien continues to falter.

That leaves first base and designated hitter as the logical places where improvements can be made this offseason, but Stearns has never seemed eager to clog up the DH spot (except for New York's brief flirtation with Kyle Schwarber last offseason). That would leave first base as the spot to upgrade.

While New York could conceivably make first base work by adding a right-handed hitting complement to Young, they shouldn't be aiming to just get by.

The goal here should be to make a serious improvement and make the position a plus, whether that comes in the form of Sato, France, or someone else who isn't yet on their radar.

At this point, anytime there’s a post that features a photo of Ray Davis, it doesn’t bode well, does it?

I’ve kind of put off doing this, because I don’t want to think about the Texas Rangers’ payroll situation for 2027, or their budget, or the looming lockout, with Rangers owner Ray Davis reportedly being one of the salary cap hawks on the ownership side.

That being said, we are going to take a look at the Rangers’ current payroll situation this morning. As always, Cot’s Contracts is our invaluable source for most of this information.

As a sidenote…the past few seasons, when we have done this exercise, we have looked at both the actual payroll and the payroll for luxury tax purposes, in order to get a handle on where the Rangers are relative to the luxury tax thresholds. Given that the organization has made it clear that ownership is not going to spend close to the current luxury tax levels,* there’s no reason to deal with that.

* With the CBA expiring, we don’t know what the luxury tax threshold will be in 2027, or even if there will be a luxury tax anymore. However, if the luxury tax threshold moved up at the same rate it did throughout the expiring CBA, teams with over $247M in luxury tax payrolls in 2027 would pay the luxury tax. Each team pays roughly $20M in player benefits and the pre-arb bonus pool, so that would mean a team could get to approximately $227M in player payroll without paying the tax, in that scenario.

Texas currently has five players under contract for the 2027 season:

Jacob deGrom — $37,000,000

Corey Seager — $31,500,000

Nathan Eovaldi — $24,000,000

Brandon Nimmo — $20,500,000

Danny Jansen — $8,000,000

In addition, the Rangers have $1M due to Kyle Higashioka to buy out his mutual option for 2027, and $1.25M due to Jakob Junis to buy out his mutual option for 2027.* There’s a mutual option with Joc Pederson, as well, but no buyout.

* Mutual options are almost never picked up, since a club is either going to decline the option as being more than they are willing to pay, or a player is going to decline the option because they think they can do better on the open market, or at least want to explore their options.

Those commitments total $123.25M.

The Rangers also have ten players who are arbitration-eligible for 2027. Those ten players, along with their projected arbitration salaries in 2027 (per MLB Trade Rumors), are as follows:

MacKenzie Gore — $8,700,000

Jake Burger — $6,900,000

Josh Jung — $5,200,000

Ezequiel Duran — $4,000,000

Wyatt Langford — $3,300,000

Logan O’Hoppe — $3,100,000

Jacob Latz — $3,000,000

Evan Carter — $1,700,000

Cody Bradford — $1,300,000

Robert Garcia — $1,100,000

In looking at this list, there are only two players who I see as being potential non-tenders — Jake Burger and Logan O’Hoppe.

The Rangers got Burger two offseasons ago for three prospects who the team doesn’t miss (and who don’t appear in the current BA Marlins top 30 list), and he’s given the team two cheap seasons of middling performance at first base. $6.9M is in the ballpark of what middling first basemen cost on the open market — it does not, at first blush, appear to be the sort of discount against market value you hope to capture with players in their arbitration years.

Complicating things for Burger is that Sebastian Walcott is knocking on the door. Were it not for his elbow injury, which cost him most of 2026, Walcott may have already kicked the door down and staked a claim for a major league job. Still, his strong performance over the final couple of months, when he returned to action (though primarily at DH), as well as his Arizona Fall League performance, would suggest he may be a viable option for an infield job in the majors in 2027.

The Rangers could move Josh Jung — who graded out as below average defensively in 2026, and has been underwhelming with the glove the past three years — to first base, opening up the third base position. The hope, I imagine, would be for Walcott to earn the spot in spring training, with Cody Freeman, Justin Foscue (who would be at second base, pushing Ezequiel Duran to third base), and an NRI or two also vying for the job.

That would theoretically make Jake Burger expendable. Of course, the Rangers still don’t have a DH, and we all know about the durability concerns with Jung, so a team that isn’t pinching pennies might see Burger as having value as the DH and backup first baseman.

My guess is that the Rangers look to sign Burger to a modest raise from the $3.2M he made in 2026 — say, $4.5 to $5M — and let him know he’ll be non-tendered at the November 20 contract tender deadline if he doesn’t agree. It would make for a difficult decision for Burger, who is old for an arb-eligible player (he turns 31 in April), has a skill set and profile that doesn’t tend to be financially rewarded by the market, and who would be on the market for less than two weeks before the lockout hits.

As for O’Hoppe, the Rangers got him from the Angels, along with Chase Silseth, for little other than taking on his salary (which was offset by the Rangers dumping Josh Smith and his salary in the subsequent deal with the Jays, and if you’re curious, MLBTR projects Smith as getting $3.875M in arbitration this year). The DMN reported just this past week that they view him as a long-term project on defense, which would suggest that they are interested in keeping him around and working with him. Given the lack of catching depth in the upper levels, keeping O’Hoppe around, even as a third catcher who you can option to the minors, would make sense, if you think the defense is salvageable.

O’Hoppe made $2.63 million in 2026. My guess is that the Rangers do with O’Hoppe what I am guessing they do with Burger, offering him around $2.5 million — perhaps on a split contract — and non-tendering him if he doesn’t accept. Catchers are always in demand, but with the concerns about O’Hoppe’s receiving, I don’t know what the market for him would be like, and he could end up landing in the pile of fungible veteran catchers who get NRIs every spring.

To head off any comments about Gore being a non-tender candidate, he’s made 96 starts over the past three seasons, is lefthanded, and has quality stuff. He’d get more than one year at $8-9 million if he were a free agent. And that’s without even getting into the fact that the Rangers traded five prospects for him last offseason, and non-tendering him would be an admission of failure that I don’t think the front office wants to make.

So let’s assume that the Rangers keep all ten of their arb-eligible players, at the MLBTR projected salaries, except for Burger and O’Hoppe, who we would slot in at $5M and $2.5M, respectively.

That would put us at $159.05M for 2027 payroll. Add in roughly $12M for the rest of your pre-arbitration players rounding out the active roster and the 40 man roster, and that’s a $171.05M payroll

To put this in perspective, Cot’s has the Rangers’ 2026 year-end payroll at $191.7M. So if the Rangers were to keep payroll static, they’d have $20 million to spend this offseason.

That is not a lot.

On the other hand, the lineup and starting rotation don’t have a lot of holes right now. You’re bringing back all your starters in the lineup except for Pederson at DH, though if you are moving Jung to first base and Burger to DH, that problem is solved.

You probably want a righthanded hitting outfielder who can play center field to either platoon with Evan Carter, or push him to the bench if he continues not to hit, though they could opt to put Duran in the outfield — at least against lefties — and use Justin Foscue or Cody Freeman at DH. Or, hell, they could let Burger go and put Foscue at DH, now that I think about it.

And you also need a backup catcher, unless you decide you’re confident in O’Hoppe, though if they have Jansen and O’Hoppe and feel like O’Hoppe is a potentially viable backup option, they could just go with some veteran NRIs and, if O’Hoppe doesn’t have the Chopp-es behind the plate in Surprise, have one of them back up Jansen.

The rotation currently features deGrom, Eovaldi, Gore, Jack Leiter, Kumar Rocker, and Cody Bradford. The latter three all have questions and concerns, but overall, I don’t see the Rangers spending money on adding starting pitching. There will be your usual collection of NRIs brought in as depth, of course, but I can’t see the Rangers going out and spending money to add a middling innings eater, given where things stand now.

The bullpen, of course, is the bullpen, and once again, the Rangers will be going out into the market to get cheap, functional arms. That said, they are bringing back Garcia, Silseth, Jacob Latz, and Peyton Gray, which would represent half of their projected Opening Day bullpen. Young, Fenstermaker & Co. will probably need to add three or four relievers, and will likely do it, as they have the previous couple of seasons, on the cheap.

So if the Rangers are looking at a 2027 payroll in line with what they had in 2026, they don’t have a lot to spend, but would be able to fill the holes.

The problem, of course, is that the Rangers don’t have the financial resources to make any real upgrades or improvements to the roster in this scenario. They’d essentially be running it back — something that the front office seems to have signaled they don’t want to do. If they want to upgrade a spot, they’d likely need to increase payroll from 2026, make a trade that would cost prospects and/or current major league pieces, or move one of the four veterans with large salaries in an effort to re-allocate those funds elsewhere.

Its a conundrum. And its made all the more difficult by the pending lockout, and the uncertainty of the future financial landscape with a new CBA.

Good morning, baseball fans!

The 2026 MLB World Series is now set, as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Cleveland Guardians to join the Milwaukee Brewers.

This feels like the perfect match-up for a feel-good World Series. Neither team has ever won a championship, despite many recent playoff appearances. So it’s kind of fun to go into the series not really having a strong preference, and feeling good about either winner.

Game 1 of the World Series will take place in Milwaukee on Friday night at 5:00 p.m. PT, airing on Fox.

How are you feeling about this World Series match-up?

The Royals’ Double-A affiliate the Northwest Arkansas Naturals had a tough year. They went 57-79 on the season. Overall, it was a very rough season in Arkansas, but who carved out a good year?

The good from the position players:

Luke Pelzer is a fast-moving guy and a name to keep an eye on. The 23-year-old outfielder was drafted in the 17th round of the 2025 draft out of Illinois-Chicago. Pelzer was great over a short period of time in Columbia in 2025. This season, he started in Quad Cities, where he was unreal, slashing .337/.404/.506 in 69 games. He had 18 doubles, 7 triples and 4 homers. He walked 30 times and stole 28 bases. Then once he got the promotion, he played in 42 games in Northwest Arkansas, he slashed .337/.414/.405. He had 7 doubles and 2 triples, walking 20 times and stealing 14 more bases. Defensively, Pelzer played all three outfield spots, but mainly left field, where he posted a .993 fielding percentage.

Spencer Nivens is another outfielder that put together a solid season. He missed some time due to an injury, but over 104 games slashed .280/.365/.446 with 29 doubles, 4 triples and 9 homers. He also walked 55 times, compared to 75 strikeouts, while stealing 17 bases. It was Nivens second full season in Northwest Arkansas, and all of his offensive numbers improved, he should be in Omaha to start next season. Defensively, he played all three outfield spots, but mainly left field, where he posted a .992 fielding percentage.

Sam Kulasingam put together a solid 2026 campaign, slashing .249/.370/.396 over 127 games. Kulasingam had 24 doubles and 12 homers, stealing 30 bases too. The 25-year-old, 2024 draft pick out of the Air Force Academy had a solid first year in Double-A. Defensively, he played first, second, third, left and right field, but got the most starts at third base.

Brett Squires and Carson Roccaforte had awesome seasons, I know, but they will be highlighted next week in the Storm Chasers season in review.

The good from the pitching staff:

25 different guys made an appearance this season for the Naturals. It was such a mixed bag on the pitching staff, because guys like Drew Beam and Hunter Owen showed great flashes, but their overall numbers were discouraging. Beam threw 129 innings, the most on the team and won 9 games, but finished the season with a 6.49 ERA. Owen had a mix of starts and relief appearances and finished with a 5.94 ERA in just 94 innings but struck out 108 guys and showed true hit and miss stuff. Those are two names I’d say to keep an eye on, but I would just like to see more consistency next season.

Frank Mozzicato also falls into this category of a mixed bag type of season; he was downright awful as a starter but was rather ok as a reliever. Mozzicato finished the year throwing 71.2 innings, with an 8.04 ERA, but struck out 97 batters. Although, he walked 72. Overall, the minor league numbers throughout his career aren’t really encouraging. Mozzicato, if he sticks around might be tried as a full-time reliever next year, which somewhat piques my interest, to see if he has something. His velo was way up in relief.

Hunter Patteson, the 26-year-old lefty, who finished out in Omaha, had solid numbers in Northwest Arkansas. He threw 99.2 innings, with a 4.52 ERA, striking out 83 hitters, while walking 48. Opponents hit .240 off him.

Before he was hurt for the rest of the year, Justin Lamkin was exceptional. He split time between Quad Cities and Northwest Arkansas but was great in both stops. He threw a total of 39.2 innings, striking out 53 batters, walking just 14. Over 8 starts, he posted a 2.04 ERA. Opponents hit just .168 off him and he had a WHIP of 0.93. Lamkin, the 22-year-old lefty out of Texas A&M, the 71st overall pick in the 2025 draft is one to keep a very close eye on.

All these guys will start next year in Double-A again most likely (except Nivens), but I could see some of them quickly moving up, especially with the crop coming up from Quad Cities. Putting all that together, I think the Naturals should be the team to watch next season, as they should have a lot of fun, young talent.

2026 stats: .230/ .289/ .424, .713 OPS, 108 wRC+, 0.4 fWAR (121 G, 505 PA), -17 OAA

So begins the individualized account of the 2026 Giants. The atomization of failure. The Bummer Parade. The team failed because many of its players failed — a core that weighed-down rather than carried. Adames is first alphabetically and fittingly first to be scrutinized, because as the recipient of the Giants largest free-agent contract, the first major Free Agent signing during the Posey Era, the veteran shortstop should be considered the grand marshal of this dejected march.   

Before arriving in the Bay, Adames spent his career with the Tampa Bay Rays, a team currently wrestling it out with the Guardians for the American League Pennant, and the Milwaukee Brewers who just proton-torpedoed the Death Star to blast into their franchise’s first World Series appearance in 44 years. He played in the postseason in five of his first seven seasons. HE was in Eden, a winner’s paradise with upwardly-mobile clubs, but now, since signing with the Giants, he’s “east” of it. 2025’s 81-81 record was the first time Adames was a part of a non-winning team, and now he’s tasted a losing record for the first time in his career.

“It sucks” was the blunt assessment Adames provided after receiving an injection in his strained left elbow that ended his season a month early. The not-winning certainly hurts, but I imagine there’s an even harsher burn felt when Adames considers the fact that Milwaukee has earned the best record in baseball in consecutive years since he left. His absence to their success is correlation not causation (probably), but that logic is sheer armor in the cold loneliness of a sleepless night as the demons descend. 

We are our own worst critics, and I’m not here to pile on, just reiterate a known fact: The 2026 Giants were bad in part because Adames was bad. His Win Probability Added was in the negatives (-1.68). He led the Giants position players last year with a 4.4 fWAR, but in 2026, that number plummeted to 0.4 — the lowest mark of his career (including the 60-game 2020 season), and good for just 11th on the team. Lower than injured back-up catcher Daniel Susac (1.0), who logged nearly 350 less plate appearances. Lower than Jonah Cox (0.6) who started the year in Double-A Richmond and played in nearly half as many games at the Major League level. 

Horrid defense is partially to blame for Adames’s fWAR being so low. Generally defensive statistical numbers are best at reflecting the extremes. Pete Crow-Armstrong’s MLB-leading 26 Outs Above Average mark feels appropriately illustrative of how good he is with a glove. Then, on the other end of the spectrum, there’s Adames. His  -14 Fielding Run Value was the lowest of his career and the second lowest of all position players across the Majors. His -17 Outs Above Average also found itself in the dark basement of the league’s 1st percentile, tied with Washington’s shortstop CJ Abrams. 

These numbers resonant. They feel accurate and true. Adames was a bad shortstop, and the free fall started from the very beginning. The first time Adames handled a baseball in 2026 he botched a double-play attempt behind Logan Webb by spiking his throw to first base, allowing a runner to score. 

10 of his 18 errors on the season were from his arm. To be fair, some of these were not egregious misfires, but unnecessarily challenging short-hops in front of a trio of inexperienced first basemen like Rafael Devers, Casey Schmitt, and Bryce Eldridge. One could argue, as I have in the past, that as the Ringo of the infield, the first baseman is there to support the genius of the other three. But that assumes a level of exceptionalism. While Matt Chapman and Luis Arraez fielded their position at a high, somewhat inspired, level, Adames operated on a much lower plane. Range was a serious issue. In different positional alignments, shaded towards third base or second base, Adames struggled to cover the holes that were created by these shifts. He looked stiff, often disjointed, and out of rhythm with himself.

A persistent back issue helps explain this defensive regression. The injury not only hampered Adames’s movement during play, but managing the pain also cut-in to his usual pre-game preparation. Between plate-appearances and between innings, Adames would be seen with his lower back swathed in a cumbersome cummerbund-like compression heat wrap thing in a desperate attempt to keep the issue at bay. Though the discomfort never officially led to a stint on the injured list, it caused periodical in-game exits and periods of forced rest, before he went on the IL in the final month of the season with an elbow strain.

121 games was Adames’s lowest games played total (excluding 2020) since his rookie year in 2018. He had missed just three games over the last two seasons. 

Offensively, there’s not much on the surface that show a significant difference between his performance in 2025 and 2026. Sure he didn’t hit 30 homers again, coming up nine short, but he also logged 180 less plate appearances. His batting average and slugging percentage held pretty much steady from the previous year with some nominal increases.

His wRC+ season dropped from 108 to 98 — a drop best explained by his .289 on-base percentage (.311 wOBA), his lowest of his career.

Walks were a struggle. This was a team-wide epidemic, but on an individual level, you could argue that Adames set the tone as an early choice by Tony Vitello to hit lead-off. Over the first month of the season Adames, dealt with another painfully slow start, posting a 68 wRC+. A good portion of those plate-appearances came at the top the batting order where he walked just seven times in 139 PA with an overall .259 OBP.

Now Adames isn’t known for his disciplined approach at the plate, but throughout his career, he’s been much better at getting on base than what he showed in early 2026, and 2026 in general. His BB% fell from 11.7% in 2025 to 7.3%. Maybe this dip was the result of him trying to embody the Luis Arraez, contact-oriented batting philosophy espoused in the pre-season, but I think his persistent back discomfort held sway here as well. Hitting is hard enough when confident and healthy, so when a hitter isn’t feeling 100 percent, or doesn’t have complete faith in their lower half, their hitting becomes reactionary and defensive. They lunge at pitches to fight them off, or try to cheat by swinging earlier, thus becoming susceptible and exposed to opposing pitchers secondary offerings.

This was the energy emanating from Adames for so many plate appearances. He looked off-balance, on his heels, and not in control. His swing decisions cost him. He chased more out of the zone and made more contact on pitches that weren’t strikes. He swung the bat more overall but took more of the pitches he should’ve swung at. More often than not the count wasn’t in his favor, which led to him seeing fewer straight four-seam fastballs than he did last season — and he did less with the four-seamers he got. He maintained similar consistency with bat speed and launch angle, but overall his barrel-rate and hard-hit rate dropped.   

Despite the all-around rough year — probably the worst of his career — don’t expect any major changes to Adames’s role on the team in 2027. Buster Posey is still confident in his abilities at short, which is not surprising however delusional some fans might consider that to be considering his injury, his age, and the wealth of younger options on the roster and out on the farm. A move to the right side of the infield is definitely on the horizon for Adames (or a move to another team in the offseason??), but to be searching for a replacement now feels a bit reactive. I buy the bad back narrative, and he’ll benefit from extra time provided by the probable lockout will give him.

That being said, patience should be in short supply in 2027. That should be posted above the clubhouse door for every Giants player to see. For Adames in particular, all the good will from the 2025 season is now gone. His annual salary will jump to around $30 million in the third year of his seven-year deal, making him the second highest paid player per year on the roster behind Devers. That’s a lot of cash. And with great cash comes great expectations. His ebullient personality is a nice fit for “heart-and-soul” of the club, but a cheery smile isn’t going to float him through another sub-par year.   

Adames should be feeling the heat.