Category: Baseball

ATLANTA – This was never about redemption.

Or so Andy Pages said.

“I don’t even think of what happened last year,” Pages said in Spanish. “What happened, happened.”

The way Pages viewed it, his miserable offensive performance on the Dodgers’ World Series run last year wasn’t something for which he had to make up.

The experience, Pages said, made him the player he is now.

The player he is now drove in the runs that sank the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night and sent the Dodgers on their way to a 4-1 victory in Game 4 of their National League Division Series. 

“Tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “Andy picked us up huge with a big hit.”

The best-of-five series over, Pages walked around the visiting clubhouse at Truist Field in a commemorative gray shirt that was soaked with cheap sparkling wine and beer. A pair of goggles covered his forehead.

“Special,” he said. “Special.”

The journey here started a year ago, when Pages batted just .078 in the postseason. By Game 5 of the World Series, he was on the bench.

But Pages said he considers that World Series to be a wonderful memory, and not just because he made a game-saving catch in Game 7 as a defensive replacement. 

“Because we won,” he said.

And rather than sulk over not starting the last three games of the World Series, Pages decided to use his failures to guide his training.

To be the kind of player who could be trusted in big games, Pages figured, he had to become a more selective hitter.

Improving his eye by stepping in against an artificial pitching machine called a Trajekt Arc, Pages made his first All-Star team this year.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

A broken hand in late August nearly derailed his season, but Pages did what he could to remain sharp. Before he was able to swing a bat again, Pages was stepping in against the Trajekt Arc again.

Pages returned for the final week of the regular season and batted .333, which is why what happened next was shocking.

In the first two games of the NLDS, Pages was a combined 0-for-7. What was worse than the numbers was how he looked. He looked lost. He looked desperate.

Pages’ ABS challenge privileges were revoked after a particularly unwise effort to turn a called strike into a ball.

At this point, manager Dave Roberts acknowledged he was concerned.

However, Roberts said, “This is one of those things where I’m gonna continue to give Andy leash. I believe in him. I feel that for us to win the World Series this year, we’re gonna need him to be an active part of our team.”

Pages rewarded Roberts with a two-hit performance in the Dodgers’ Game 3 win.

In Game 4, Pages stepped into the batter’s box with the game on the line.

Seventh inning. Two outs. Bases loaded. Game tied, 1-1. Fireballer Ryan Suarez on the mound.

Pages worked a full count.

Suarez threw him a 99.7-mph fastball on the inner half of the plate and Pages banged it up the middle.

Two runs scored, and the Dodgers were suddenly ahead, 3-1.

“I was waiting for that moment,” Pages said. “I prepared a long time for that moment, and thanks to God I was able to get the result.”

He prepared for the moment. He dreamed of the moment. 

But he didn’t try to visualize it.

“I think that when you think too much about something, it doesn’t happen,” he said. “You have to let things happen.”

Did he ever.

Redemption, evolution, call it whatever you want. 

Pages finally had his October moment in the batter’s box.

Earlier this year I took a look at two positive examples of teams that had been in the Colorado Rockies position and seemed to have turned things around. The Miami Marlins turned a 100-loss team in 2024 into an almost .500 squad in each of the last two seasons while the Chicago White Sox have taken their team to the playoffs just two seasons after losing 121 games in a single season.

Coming into the season, the Athletics looked like they were perhaps on a similar upwards trajectory. Coming off an abysmal 50-112 record in 2024, the A’s had won more games in each of the past two season. They had what looked like a young core of exciting hitters and a shiny new ballpark being built in Las Vegas. It appeared as though the franchise was on the upswing.

Instead, the Athletics fortunes took a dive back into the same lowly tier of teams that the Rockies currently occupy and lost 98 games.

As important as it is to diagnose what has caused teams to have success and emulate them, it’s equally as important to consider the circumstances that have led other teams to continued failure.

So, which portions of the Athletics troubles can the Rockies learn from?

Don’t abandon your fanbase

First, we have to get the obvious factor out of the way since it has little bearing currently on the Rockies. The largest factor looming over the Athletics organization is unique to their franchise.

Owner John Fisher chose to move the team away from Oakland, its home for decades, after failing to secure a sweetheart deal with the local government. This has left the team in a transitory period for the past two seasons where they have been playing in a minor-league ballpark in West Sacramento.

In theory, they only need to stay there for one more season until they move to their currently under construction, new ballpark in Las Vegas.

This doesn’t change the fact that they have sacrificed all good will they had with the people who had previously attended their games. Fisher cut off decades of attachment from the people of Oakland in order to move somewhere that he wouldn’t need to pay as much of the construction costs for a new stadium.

Ultimately, this transitional period may come to pass, and the team’s new roots in Las Vegas could eventually prove strong. It is, however, a wild gamble that has had clear negative effects on the team in the short term before even considering the emotional cost to the people of the Bay Area.

The team’s temporary ballpark in Sacramento has been a frequent source of complaints from players accustomed to Major League-style accommodations. There have been rumblings for the past two offseasons that the ballpark has been a stumbling block in attempting to convince free agents to sign with the team.

Beyond the players, the lack of seating at the small ballpark has meant that their attendance numbers have been dramatically lower than all other teams for the past two seasons.

These are not factors that directly result in wins and losses on the field, but they are certainly additional hurdles to overcome in attempting to put together a winning roster. This has been, and remains, an entirely self-inflicted problem.

The most extreme version of this problem is not one the Rockies have come close to matching. Their ownership has not made any public rumblings of being dissatisfied with their home in Denver or Coors Field. If anything, the team’s yearly attendance has seemed relatively immune to their poor play on the field throughout much of their history.

That being said, the Rockies attendance has started to dip over the past few seasons. After ranking ninth in all of Major League Baseball as recently as 2021, the Rockies have slipped in the attendance rankings every season since. In 2026 they ranked 18th in the league.

They have a long way to go to reach the utter lack of fan support that John Fisher A’s currently have, but they should be careful not to take that for granted in the long term.

Don’t underestimate the importance of depth

In 2025, the Athletics lineup was one of the most exciting in baseball:

• Veteran slugger Brent Rooker played all 162 games and hit 30 home runs for the third straight season.
• Catcher Shea Langeliers proved that his breakout 2024 wasn’t a fluke by hitting 31 home runs of his own.
• Tyler Soderstrom finally made good on his prospect pedigree with a 120 wRC+ while learning a position entirely new to him.
• Rookie shortstop Jacob Wilson hit the ground running and was both second in the Major League batting title and American League Rookie of the Year races.

Second, that is, to the A’s other rookie star Nick Kurtz.

The fourth overall pick in 2024 (one after the Rockies selected Charlie Condon), Kurtz rocketed through the minor leagues and made his debut at the end of April the following season. In his rookie season, Kurtz was not only unanimously voted Rookie of the Year but also his .290/.383/.619 slash line earned him American League MVP votes.

With all five of these players and bounce-back candidate Lawrence Butler under team control through at least 2028, the A’s had an offensive core to envy at the conclusion of the 2025 season.

So what happened in 2026? Injuries exposed a lack of depth.

Every player named above other than Butler spent at least some time on the injured list in 2025. To make it worse, Langeliers was the only one of these players to avoid an elongated stay on the 60-day injured list.

Without a consistent showing from this offensive core, the rest of the team’s faults were on full display. Their lack of pitching talent could not be papered over by mashing home runs the way the front office had drawn it up. A lack of major league baseline talent available in their depth chart was exposed as soon as the their core started going down.

Essentially, they had no fallback options to keep them afloat.

For the 2026 A’s, the plan was to let the exciting lineup core mash and hope that would be enough. As soon as a couple of the key players went down, there was no one else on the team to keep it from sinking back to a nearly 100-loss season.

The Rockies roster is a bit different than the Athletics was heading into last season.

The Rockies have managed to cultivate someexiciting potential core offensive players in Hunter Goodman, TJ Rumfield, and Cole Carrigg, but they don’t yet have anyone that will factor into the MVP race. The Rockies have not been able to cultivate nearly the ceiling that the Athletics did over the past two seasons.

On the flipside, the Rockies front office has made it a point since they were installed last offseason to “raise the floor” of the roster. The additions of players like Willi Castro, Mickey Moniak, Troy Johnston, and Connor Norby are the sort of depth moves that the Athletics failed to make.

While the front office looks to find more upside, they would be wise to also continue adding even more complementary pieces lest they fall into the same trap as the 2026 A’s.

Spend some money

Many of the 2026 Athletics roster problems could have easily been solved in the offseason had they been willing to do one thing: Spend money on free agents.

The team entered last offseason having had their pitching staff put up the 22nd worst fWAR in the Majors despite having employed Mason Miller for the first half of the season.

How did they address this obvious roster weakness? They signed notable aces Aaron Civale, Mark Leiter Jr., and Scott Barlow all for a total of less than $10 million.

That’s not to take anything away from those specific players — a team can never have enough competent big leaguers. (See the first section about not having enough depth.) If the team had already been fielding an expensive roster, simply supplementing it with small deals around the edges like those is both understandable and commendable.

The A’s, on the other hand, only spent a total of $95 million dollars on their 2026 payroll.

With the fifth-lowest payroll commitments in the league, the Athletics decided that the best way to bolster their feeble pitching staff was to sign a handful of depth arms and hope that their small collection of highly touted prospects would be able to make the leap sooner rather than later.

It wasn’t an impossible plan. All of the Athletics most highly rated pitching prospects (Gage Jump, Kade Morris, Jamie Arnold, Wei-En Lin, and Braden Nett) started the season in Double-A or higher.

The future core of their rotation was on the cusp of the majors, so why spend money on high-priced free agents just to block those young players?

Pitching prospects, as it turns out, are not guaranteed to remain healthy, much less live up to their potential. Jump and Morris both made their Major League debuts in 2026, but neither managed an ERA below 5.47. Arnold only just made it to Triple-A to end the season. Lin and Nett both missed significant time to injury. (Lin is still out recovering from Tommy John surgery.)

All told, the youthful wave of reinforcements to an abysmal pitching staff failed to materialize fast enough to matter for the 2026 season.

Had they simply spent money to bring in a handful of short-term stopgaps via free agency, perhaps their team as a whole could have weathered the injuries on the lineup side a bit more. Given that their division was won by the .500 Houston Astros, they would not have needed much to become legitimate contenders.

Instead, they sat on their hands during the winter and continued their modus operandi of moving forward with the cheaper internal options.

The Rockies, heading into this offseason, face a similar choice, albeit within a different specific context. They can either pump money into addressing an abysmal starting rotation, or they can play around with some marginal upgrades and wait for a wave of pitching prospects.

The problem for the Rockies is that they really don’t have an identifiable wave of pitching talent in the minor league system anywhere near what the A’s had coming into 2026. Ensuring that Chase Dollander has a spot in the rotation when his arm is healthy is not reason enough to avoid bringing in outside talent.

If there are quality starting pitchers willing to come to Denver for just money, the front office shouldn’t be scared of spending.

Conclusions

While the 2026 Athletics and the 2027 Rockies aren’t exact mirrors of one another, there are enough similarities to learn from.

Ultimately, the Athletics rise to prominence was stymied by ownership level decisions that hamstrung their front office. For the Rockies to avoid taking a similar step backwards it is on ownership to not settle for good enough. They should instead continue to empower the front office to make whatever moves they believe will improve the team and not take half measures.

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This site discussion was sparked by a couple of posts on BlueSky by Mike Petriello and Céspedes Family BBQ. Mike pointed out that this year’s .206/.286/.341 hitting line in the playoffs is, while atrocious, somehow not the worst postseason hitting line by OPS in the divisional era – it’s 5th after some truly wretched seasons of hitting in the 70’s and 80’s.

CFBBQ posted some recent close historical comps to the this year’s postseason slash line, featuring none other than Your 2024 Mitch Garver (.172/.286/.341). Is this good?

Lookout Landing staffers met to discuss whether this something that merits action from MLB, and what steps could be taken to remedy the balance of the modern game. -NV

Ezra: Maybe they should move the mound back a little bit.

John: I genuinely think so, and I think they should shrink the allowed glove sizes significantly. It’s a much less visible change, but is something they’ve done before on a couple occasions and has a positive impact without being quite as obvious from a viewing perspective.

Ezra: Interesting, I’ve never heard that before but I’d be intrigued to see that implemented.

John: For pitchers, I do think there’s merit to a slightly larger glove so they can’t have their pitches tipped, but also…I kinda think that’s fine.

Here’s an article on it being a big issue during the early 90s and the positive impact it had that kinda got washed out (or at least became impossible track) due to the rise of steroids. In 2016, MLB allowed an expansion in glove size from 12 to 13 inches, which is, as far as I know, still the rule. Going down to 11 or 12 incheas would be really beneficial and also allow truly elite athletes to shine even more in the field.

Ezra: Since I saw the rise and fall of Tim Anderson I’ve come around more on moving the mound back. Bat speed is so important to being a good hitter these days, and all it takes is a little bit of skill deprecation and your career could be over, whereas for pitchers, Tommy John isn’t the death sentence or crapshoot it used to be, throw as hard as you want, sit for a few months and potentially come back throwing harder. I know it’s not that simple, but I feel like ya’ll get what I’m saying.

Nick: In that vein, I’ve heard that moving the mound back actually made breaking stuff even harder to hit, with another foot to move.

John: I’ve heard people make that case, I remember Kyle Boddy saying it. I think there’s some logic to it, but I think the tradeoff is if that were the case, curveballs would be nastier than sliders, and we’ve just spent like 15 years seing sliders take over for big breaking curveballs. And firmer changeups taking over for bigger breaking ones. Now, there are sweepers and splitters that’ve come into some vogue and use, but to me that’s agian more just natural ebb and flow, and reduced effective velocity is ultimately a help for everything.

Nick: That’s a good point. But, counter-counterpoint, sliders taking over for curveballs may not indicate that less movement+more velocity is inherently better, but something else about pitch shape and arsenal construction strategy. Plus, with an extra foot to move, the hard slider gets the benefit of a more difficult-to-hit shape while also benefitting from the extra velo. I’ be curious to see if lowering the mound again isn’t more effective.

John: I could see it being the case, but I think more time to make the decision on the swing and to calibrate the flight path is going to always be easier for a hitter.

Note: The Atlantic League tested a 61’6” mound in 2021. Any effects were of little note.

Ezra: I don’t think MLB will change anything though, because it’s the home runs that sell tickets and as long as they got guys going 30-30, 20-40, 50-50, or hitting 60+ they’re probably not going to are.

John: I think that this doesn’t inherently damage homers. Teams aren’t gonna put the lid back on understanding homers are exponentially better than other hits mathematically, but making it more viable to have a high average is what makes the game more compelling (specifically the ball being interestingly in play more).

Nick: I agree, the surge in homers has way less to do with selling tickets and way more to do with MoneyBall.

Ezra: Yeah, I think the image of having multiple .300+ hitters on the All-Star Team could be really valuable in terms of raising interest among the more dedicated fans.

John: I honestly think beyond just highly dedicated fans, it’s a valuable showcase of the sport’s variety that draws people in. It’s fun to watch hits and steals, and correspondingly, great defense (or bad defense get exposed!).

Nick: I’ve seen more than enough of bad defense being exposed this year, personally.

This could be the last MLB season with a “qualifying offer,” as it’s termed in the labor agreement between owners and players. It’s possible an entirely new system will be created.

Until then, the current labor agreement runs through Dec. 1 and so qualifying offers will be made, and accepted or rejected, under that agreement.

We now know the amount of this year’s QO:

That’s up 5.1 percent from last year’s figure of $22.025 million.

Last year, 13 free agents were given a qualifying offer. Four of them accepted the offer: Trent Grisham, Gleyber Torres, Brandon Woodruff and Shōta Imanaga. The Imanaga acceptance was said to have surprised the Cubs front office, but in the end, Imanaga produced reasonably well for the $22.025 million, making 32 starts, posting a 3.77 ERA and 1.096 WHIP, and 2.0 bWAR. The 35 home runs he allowed were a problem, of course, and whether Imanaga returns to the Cubs remains to be seen. He cannot get another QO, as a player can get only one.

There are three Cubs who might get qualifying offers this year, so let’s look at each of them.

The first is obvious. Seiya Suzuki has been an outstanding player for the Cubs for five seasons and had another productive year in 2026, batting .270/.368/.473 with 26 home runs and a career high 5.1 bWAR. His right field defense was improved both by the numbers and by the eye test.

Suzuki will get a QO and almost certainly reject it to test the open market. There have been reports that the Cubs aren’t likely to re-sign him, which would be a mistake. They should do everything possible to keep him.

Ian Happ, who’s also been a productive Cub for many years, will get a QO as well. Happ’s 2026 season wasn’t quite as good as his previous years, with a slash line of .218/.326/.412 with 24 home runs and 2.9 bWAR. The .218 figure was a career low. He did continue to play good defense and likely wins another Gold Glove, but the batting line was that low largely because he just stopped hitting left-handers. He batted just .145/.217/.267 in 144 PA against RHP and by season’s end, was being platooned.

The Cubs will still likely give Happ a QO. It’s not that much more than the $20 million he made in 2026. And he just might take it, trying to rebuild his value before hitting free agency again next winter — possibly under a new FA system.

The only other Cub who might rate a QO is Matthew Boyd. Boyd was injured for much of 2026, making only 22 starts, but was reasonably productive for much of the time he was healthy. His year was only worth 1.0 bWAR and he’ll turn 36 in February, so he probably should not be given a QO, in my view. There’s also a mutual option for $15 million for Boyd or a $2 million buyout, and the Cubs will almost certainly pay the buyout.

There aren’t any other Cubs pending free agents who would rate a QO. Some are ineligible because they received one in the past (Imanaga) or were traded during the year (Clay Holmes, David Peterson, among others). As a reminder, teams have until five days after the World Series ends to extend a QO, and players then have about 10 days (the date will be officially set later) to decide whether or not to accept.

Of Suzuki, Happ and Boyd, who would you give a qualifying offer?

Happy Thurday.

We only get one playoff game today, the Guardians and White Sox play game four. White Sox are up two games to one. It is an 8:00 Eastern start.

The Rays beat out the Yankees in three games. Yay Rays.

The Dodgers beat out the Braves in four games. You disappointed me Braves.

The Brewers beat out the Padres in four games. Please, Brewers, beat the Dodgers.

We have a couple of days left in the Haiku voting. Get your votes in.

There isn’t much for Blue Jays news.

The Athletic has a story saying the Yankees should fire Aaron Boone.

But the symbolism was hard to ignore. Boone has spent his entire Yankees existence coming up short in October, and here he had inadvertently planted his main attraction in an Aaron Judge-less cast 37 feet away from a potential Hollywood ending.

The complaint is that Boone had Ben Rice batting second and then he was one batter away from hitting at the end of the game, when he would have been the tying run. I’m a bigger fan of blaming the players than the manager.

Aaron Judge said:

“He puts us in the right position to succeed,” Judge maintained, “especially in a season like this where I am banged up missing 100 games.” Judge mentioned all the other injuries Boone had to work around and said, “He’s definitely had our back and is the guy.”

Judge turns 35 near the start of next season (if there is a start to next season). He spent most of this season injured. And he doesn’t have a World Series ring. I’m ok with him never getting one.

Shi Davidi wrote about Kazuma Okamoto and how big a star he is in Japan. I can attest to that. I wore a Blue Jays cap in Japan and people wanted to talk about him all the time (expect for when they wanted to talk about how we lost the World Series to the Dodgers.

The story suggests that Okamoto will make it easier for the Jays to sign other Japanese players. I’m not sure that is true, but ok. I’d imagine Japanese players will sign with the team that offers them the best deal, like anyone else.

The Jays do have some questions to answer before next season:

• Is Ernie Clement an MLB second baseman, or do they need to find someone else?
• Do they count on Anthony Santander to play outfield next year?
• Is Spencer Miles a starter or reliever?
• Is Ricky Tiedeman a starter or reliever? Likely reliever I’d guess.
• Do they want to sign a full time DH, or do they want to use the spot to rest players?
• And, of course, can Vlad be Vlad again?
• Do they take Myles Straw’s option? That’s an easy one, no. Do they try to sign him again?
• The Jays, and all the other teams, will be wondering what the salary cap (or tax, or whatever they call it) will look like next year?

Getting swept at home had the Yankees devastated in the clubhouse. 

Yankees manager Aaron Boone described a dejected group Wednesday night after losing 4-3 in Game 3 of the ALDS at Yankee Stadium to complete a sweep at the hands of the Rays.

“The ending is terrible,” a solemn Boone said after the game. “There’s no easy way. It’s a broken clubhouse. What you go through as a team, as a family over the last eight, nine months getting ready for this. It’s just the worst.”

Boone shook up the Game 3 lineup, choosing to sit Jazz Chisholm Jr. in favor of Anthony Volpe, who played well, including hitting what appeared to be a game-tying home run that was called back for fan interference. 

The manager also put Trent Grisham in the leadoff spot despite being ice-cold with the bat over the last month.

Grisham went 0-for-5 in the decisive Game 3, and 0-for-11 in the ALDS, and was nursing an injury for much of September. 

The final out of the game wound up being a Grisham strikeout with Jazz Chisholm Jr. stranded on second base representing the tying run. 

They enter the offseason with loads of decisions to make, including Chisholm Jr., who is due to be a free agent this offseason. 

The Bronx Bombers will need to replace his production as his season ended uncomfortably, with him being benched to start Game 3 before he took over for Jose Caballero. 

“No comment. Next.” Chisholm Jr. said when asked how it felt to be benched. 

The Rays move on to the ALCS to face the White Sox and Guardians for the right to face the winner of Dodgers vs. Brewers/Padres in the World Series. 

Meanwhile, general manager Brian Cashman has a lot of work to do, though baseball also has its own problems as the sport deals with a potential lockout.

Los Angeles Dodgers star pitcher Tarik Skubal didn’t pitch in his team’s NLDS-clinching Game 4 win against the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday night.

But he still stole the show postgame, given his beer-soaked celebration tactics during two live interviews.

In one interview with Dodgers reporter Kirsten Watson, Skubal was asked about the celebration to come and said, “I can’t f****** wait.”

Then he chugged the two beers he was double-fisting, most of which missed his mouth and ran down his chest.

The celebrations continued moments later, when Skubal did a wild interview with Dodgers SportsNet LA reporter David Vassegh.

“I’ve got another beer in a place where it shouldn’t be,” Skubal said to Vassegh. Their interview paused so that beer could be thrown and poured on everybody in the vicinity, Vassegh included.

As Vassegh struggled to re-gather himself, Skubal said, “The game is speeding up on you, it is speeding up on you.”

Then Skubal got another beer poured down his back and said, “What’s running down my pants right now is so cold.

“It’s because these f****** guys!” he added before turning to throw more beer at the teammates behind him.

After Vassegh and Skubal gathered themselves once again, Skubal was asked how much the Dodgers meant to him and said, “It’s a great team. The culture they have here, the preparation, the expectation to win, I love being a part of it.”

Everybody associated with the Dodgers loved Skubal being a part of it, as well.

If this is how wild celebrating the NLDS is, it will be fun to see how Skubal would celebrate a World Series championship.

After the Yankees were eliminated in the ALDS by a division rival for the second straight season, Aaron Judge delivered a message to Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman.

“We’re the Yankees. I feel like they should go all in and do what they need to do,” Judge, who did not play in the playoffs due to a calf strain, said after the Yankees’ 4-3 Game 3 loss to the Rays in The Bronx Wednesday night. “If we’ve got holes, if it’s finding certain players or personnel, whatever we need, you got to go out there and get it. That’s why I signed back here to play with the Yankees is to fight for a championship every single year and to go all in. That’s what I do every offseason is get ready to give this team and this city everything I’ve got, so I expect them to do the same.”

Judge, the three-time MVP who turns 35 in April, has five years left on the nine-year, $360 million contract he signed after testing free agency following his historic 62-homer season in 2022.

Asked if he feels the front office has gone all in enough, Judge turned more diplomatic.

“It’s tough to say,” Judge said. “I want to trade for everybody, sign everybody every single year, but I know that’s not realistic. They give us a winning team every single year, but that’s not good enough here in New York. We’re the Yankees. You’ve got to go out there and expect championships and go all in every year. So I’m excited to see what they do.”

The likelihood of a work stoppage, with the players and owners locked in bitter CBA negotiations, looms over MLB’s offseason, but the Yankees have major questions on some free agents and others.

Jazz Chisholm Jr., David Bednar, Trent Grisham, Paul Goldschmidt and Paul Blackburn are among the Yankees players whose contracts are up.

The Yankees will also have to decide if they’ll stomach one final year of Giancarlo Stanton, where Anthony Volpe, Spencer Jones and Jasson Dominguez fit in, and whether to move on from third baseman Ryan McMahon.

Apparently, Ronald Acuña Jr. is in his feels.

The 28-year-old superstar deleted any Atlanta Braves-related content from his Instagram account after Atlanta lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS. He also changed his profile picture to a black photo with “desconectado” written in gray, which translates to “disconnected” in English.

There’s no way of knowing exactly where Acuña Jr.’s emotional state is at. Some on social media are claiming he does this every offseason, while others are suggesting this is proof the star wants out of Atlanta.

Acuña Jr. hasn’t done the bulk delete on his X account. Then again, he hasn’t been active on that platform since the 2026 season began, aside from one post about his home country of Venezuela.

Regardless, Acuña Jr. didn’t do much to help his team topple Los Angeles. He produced a .133 batting average with just two hits, one RBI, and four strikeouts across four NLDS games.

He was also booed by Braves fans during Wednesday night’s 4–1 loss. After the game, he said that fans were within their rights to boo him because he “didn’t do anything” in the series, per FOX’s Justin Felder.

The Braves have a $17 million team option on Acuña Jr.’s contract this offseason, so he would need the franchise’s blessing if he were to leave Atlanta.

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Francesco Stephano Pezzolo was born in San Francisco, California, in 1887. That man would later be known as Frank Stephen Bodie and, eventually, Ping Bodie. Bodie felt the need to change his name out of fear of being mocked and discriminated against for his Italian heritage. The Ping portion of his name came from the sound of him hitting baseballs with a legendary 52-ounce piece of lumber, and the Bodie part he adopted from a town in California that was special to him and his family.

Frank Stephen “Ping” Bodie

Born: October 8, 1887 (San Francisco, CA)

Died: December 17, 1961 (San Francisco, CA)

Yankees Tenure: 1918-1921

There is not much recorded on Bodie’s childhood, but he came into the public eye around 1905 while playing baseball in the California State League at just 17 years old. The young ballplayer was moved all over the field and played for a variety of independent league teams before catching on with the San Francisco Seals in 1908.

With the Seals, Bodie stopped bouncing around positions and started primarily roaming the outfield grass. During the 1910 season, Bodie had a breakout season for the Seals, hitting an unheard-of 30 home runs during the deadball era. The power surge placed the young right-handed hitter on the radar of every big league club. In September of 1910, Bodie was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the Rule 5 draft.

After that impressive season, Bodie was invited to spring training and broke camp with the White Sox in 1911 but found himself mostly riding the pine. After the team started slowly on offense, owner Charles Comiskey publicly criticized the team and called out the offense. Allegedly, the rookie Bodie, with true American-Italian bravado, walked right up to the owner the next day and told him he could be the answer to his problems if he could get him in the lineup. The rest, as they say, is history. In 145 games as a rookie, Bodie slashed .289/.348/.407 with four home runs, good for a 2.8 WAR.

In Chicago, Bodie rose to fame due to his powerful swing and big personality. A showman and entertainer at heart, the press fell in love with the humor and charisma Bodie brought to the ballpark every day. After a successful rookie year, there would be no sophomore slump. In 1912, he hit five more home runs and slashed .294/.358/.407. For the second straight season, he was tied for the team lead in home runs as the White Sox finished just above .500 for the second straight season.

The 1913 season was a weird one for Bodie as he set his career high in home runs with eight. Those eight long balls were good for third in the league. However, Bodie’s average dropped to .264, and for the first time, his slugging finished below .400 at .397. The decline did not stop for Bodie in 1914. A season-long struggle caused conflict with manager Jimmy Callahan. After Bodie finished with a .229 batting average and three home runs, the White Sox sold him back to the Seals.

Despite his big league success, Bodie accepted going back to the Pacific Coast League. Bodie completely dominated for the next two seasons. The Philadelphia Athletics needed offense and signed Bodie ahead of the 1917 season. Bodie did not disappoint, slashing .291/.356/.418 with seven home runs, good for third in the league again. The Athletics finished the season 55-98-1. Bodie would later joke that he was the only ticket in town other than the Liberty Bell that year. In March of 1918, the Athletics traded Bodie to the New York Yankees for George Burns, who was a Yankee for as long as it took the paperwork to process after being purchased from Detroit only to be flipped.

Bodie’s age-thirty season was his first in pinstripes, and he slashed .256/.319/.358 and finished seventh in the league with three home runs. Unfortunately for Bodie, the Yankees did not fare much better than any of his previous clubs, finishing the 1918 season 60-63-3. However, he started the legendary run of San Francisco Italians in the Bronx.

Both Bodie and the Yankees turned things around in 1919. The club went 80-59-2. Bodie slashed .278/.334/.406 with six home runs. The turnaround might have been due to the fact that Bodie scored a big win in an eating contest in April of that year. In a publicity stunt, Bodie competed against a Jacksonville Zoo ostrich named Percy in a spaghetti eating contest. Legend has it that Bodie won on the 11th plate as Percy could not finish his, and Bodie finished it for him.

The Yankees made a splash following the 1919 season by acquiring Babe Ruth. Bodie got the honor of being Ruth’s first roommate on the Yankees for the 1920 season, a role that he absolutely loved due to the extra attention brought his way from the presence of Ruth. The Yankees went 95-59 on the year, and Bodie had one of the best seasons of his career, slashing .295/.350/.446 with seven home runs.

As much fun as 1920 was, the 1921 season saw the good times finally run out for Bodie as his production fell off the table. In 31 games, Bodie hit .172 with no home runs. In August, the Yankees traded him to Boston. New York went on to win the American League pennant that year but fell in the World Series to the Giants. After the season was over, Bodie refused to go back to the Red Sox and returned home.

Not yet done with baseball, Bodie played in the minors for another seven years. After retiring from the game, he took up work as an electrician in Hollywood. For over thirty years, he worked on sets and got roles as a bit actor with Universal Studios. At age 74, in his hometown down by the bay, Bodie died of lung cancer.

Happy birthday, Ping!

Max Muncy doesn’t need divine interference to produce massive postseason moments for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But a prayer doesn’t hurt—especially when done with a personalized candle.

Muncy hit a solo home run in the ninth inning of his team’s Game 4 NLDS 4-1 victory against the Atlanta Braves. This was the 19th postseason home run Muncy has hit with the Dodgers, further extending what’s already a franchise record.

Moments before this home run, the game’s broadcast showed Dodgers rookie outfield Josue De Paula holding what looked to be a candle with Muncy’s image plastered on it.

Dodgers fans have noticed this candle before. Shortstop Alex Freeland has been seen holding it in the dugout in the past, and fans on social media posted videos of him holding it at times during Wednesday night’s game.

A closer look at the candle shows that is has Muncy’s image wearing a white Dodgers jersey, a white clerical stole (a band of cloth worn around the neck) with Muncy’s No. 13 and the Dodgers’ logo on it, and a gold “FUNKY” chain.

The 36-year-old is also holding a baseball in his right hand on the candle.

The Dodgers’ vibes are feeling immaculate right now.

After a resounding 9-3 victory to avoid a sweep in the ALDS, the Guards have forced a game 4 and have their most consistent starting pitcher lined up to pitch on regular rest. Today we’re going to look at the keys to the game for the Guards to force a winner take all game 5 Saturday in Cleveland.

MVP Messick and the Closing Crew

The first key is Parker Messick needs to be his best self. His fastball in 2026 was one of the best pitches in all of MLB going by run value, and he was the Guardians’ most valuable player by fWAR in 2026. He threw 4.2 innings in game 1 and really only threw 1 bad pitch. Unfortunately it ended up being sent 440 ft by Murakami. If you can get a similar outing from Messick of 5 innings and 1-2 runs, that’s going to put you in a good position with the bullpen to finish out the game. 

Cade Smith only needed 19 pitches to get 6 outs in game 3. He should be available again tomorrow. Erik Sabrowski did not pitch in game 3 so he also should be well rested for game 4. We know Daniel Espino can pitch on back to back days, and given he didn’t pitch game 2, he should be available as well. Tanner Bibee can be a useful new(ish) look for an inning or so against the bottom part of the White Sox lineup. Tim Herrin has shown so far that he can be a weapon too, along with Shawn Armstrong (who only threw 5 pitches in game 3). I wouldn’t be afraid to go to any of them to help bridge the way to Smith.

If Parker can at least get through 5, you only need those pitchers to get you 12 outs combined, and any extra outs beyond that from Parker just ease the burden.

Give Gaddis a Breather

I wouldn’t pitch Hunter Gaddis in a high leverage spot again in game 4. He’s had too many blow ups recently, and the performance in game 3 almost ended the season. He needs a break.

I also would consider starting someone other than Angel Martínez. His ABs have been quite poor, and his inability to take a walk looks especially exploitable in postseason games. Both Daniel Schneemann and Petey Halpin give you better defensive options, but you could also move Adell back into the outfield, have Travis Bazzana as DH, and put Angel Genao at second base.

I’m less tied to the benching Martínez option because he has been very good as a hail mary chance at a homer or other key hit near the bottom of the lineup, but right now I’d seriously consider giving someone else a look. Putting another LHH in the lineup given how many LHP the White Sox like to use is risky, but I think at this point it’s a risk worth considering.

Keep the Defense Locked In

So far in this series, the Guardians have played a very clean game defensively every time they’ve taken the field. Travis Bazzana has looked as competent as ever as a second baseman, and José has made some dynamite plays out there so far as well.

One thing we know about postseason baseball is every extra out and every extra base runner is just one more chance to lose hold of a game. Continuing to minimize those opportunities for the other team reduces the burden on the offense as well.

Patient Opposite Field Approach

The offense broke out today by staying patient and not being afraid to take a base hit the opposite way. In game 3, the Guardians drew 10 walks and had RBI opposite field hits by Steven Kwan, Jo Adell, José Ramírez, Angel Genao, and Bryaan Rocchio (who had 2 different opposite field hits in game 3). Chase DeLauter and Patrick Bailey also had opposite field singles, and even Nathaniel Lowe hit two well struck line outs to Miguel Vargas at 3rd. 

Staying patient, waiting for their pitches, and not being afraid to just take that single up the middle or the opposite way are the things this offense does when they’re at their absolute best, and it’s an approach that will annoy and wear down opposing pitchers. An already taxed Chicago bullpen can’t afford to be overworked too much more.

That being said, it also wouldn’t hurt to get a ball or two out into the cheap seats. 

These are your strengths if you’re the Guardians. Parker Messick has been your guy all season long. It’s time to lean on him and trust him to be Parker Messick. Play solid fundamental defense, and use those 4-5 hitters playing every day with great eyes at the plate to make their pitchers throw as many pitches as possible. If you can do all these things, you have as good of a chance as possible to play at least one more game at home this season.

First Half Record: 27-42 (6/6 Eastern League Northeast)

Second Half Record: 34-34 (4/6 Eastern League Northeast)

The 2025 Binghamton Rumble Ponies were a dominant team, winning a franchise-record 90 games (45 in the first half and 45 in the second half) during the regular season and capturing their fourth Eastern League championship after beating the Erie SeaWolves two games to one. The 2026 Binghamton Rumble Ponies were much less dominant, as much of the talent that had brought Binghamton’s championship had moved on.

The team ended the first half of the season in last place, winning only 27 games, their worst stretch since the second half of the 2022 season, when the team won only 25 ballgames. Following the trade deadline, things picked up for Binghamton. Promotions and newly acquired talent prompted the Rumble Ponies to go on an incredible run in the second half that included a ten-game winning streak and saw the team set a new franchise high for most runs scored in a single nine-inning game (23).

At the end of August, the Rumble Ponies played a series against the Reading Fightin’ Phils with playoff implications. Coming into the series 2.5 games behind Reading, Binghamton lost the series four games to two, losing ground in the standings. They won their next series against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats to stay on Reading’s tail, but in the last week of the season the margins were simply too thin, and they were eliminated from playoff contention midway through the week.

TEAM MVP

Nick Lorusso: 84 G, 313 AB, .243/.319/.495, 76 H, 18 2B, 2 3B, 19 HR, 32 BB, 88 K, 9/10 SB, .274 BABIP

(Runner Up: Chris Suero)

A Monroe, Connecticut native, Nick Lorusso did not go far after graduating from Masuk High School, where he was a three-sport star in baseball, basketball, and football, attending Villanova University. He had an immediate impact for the Wildcats, becoming school’s first player in 25 years to be named Big East Freshman of the Year after hitting .302/.409/.425 with 8 doubles, 1 triple, 4 home runs, 2 stolen and 28 walks to 31 strikeouts while simultaneously posting a 6.05 ERA in 41.2 innings on the mound with 59 hits allowed, 15 walks, and 32 strikeouts. His sophomore year, 2020, was a lost season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Lorusso hurt himself even before the year was cancelled, and as a result, he only appeared in 10 games at the plate and made 3 appearances on the mound.

Fully healed when the 2021 season began, Lorusso continued building on his breakout freshman campaign, hitting .306/.380/.370 in 29 games with 4 doubles, 1 home run, 1 stolen base and 16 walks to 25 strikeouts. After going undrafted, the infielder entered the transfer portal hoping to find a program that could get him drafted by an MLB club. His Villanova career concluded, Lorusso hit a cumulative .294/.392/.392 in 88 games with the Wildcats, with 14 doubles, 1 triple, 5 home runs, 3 stolen bases in as many attempts, and 52 walks to 62 strikeouts.

The infielder transferred to the University of Maryland for the 2022 season and the fourth-year junior ended up having a critical role on a team that scored the second-most runs in college baseball that year. Appearing in 62 games, the 21-year-old hit .322/.409/.562 with 17 doubles, 15 home runs, and 37 walks to 55 strikeouts, setting career highs in virtually every offensive category. He also contributed on the mound when called upon once again, posting a 6.52 ERA in 9.2 innings, allowing 11 hits, walking 4, and striking out 8. He played for the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League that summer and then returned to Maryland. He had an equally impressive 2023, appearing in 61 games for the Terrapins, hitting .379/.446/.765 with 20 doubles, 2 triples, 26 home runs, 3 stolen bases, and 34 walks to 46 strikeouts. His 105 RBI led the NCAA, and in just two seasons, he became the Maryland RBI career leader, driving in 175.

The Mets drafted Lorusso with their 9th round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, coming to terms with him for $50,000, well below the MLB-assigned slot value for the 276th overall pick, $175,100. The organization assigned him to Low-A St. Lucie and he appeared in 26 games for them, hitting .169 /.250/.270 with 7 doubles, 1 triple, 2 stolen bases in 3 attempts, and drawing 9 walks to 27 strikeouts. He was promoted to High-A Brooklyn to start the 2024 season and spent the first few months of the season there, hitting .267/.365/.469 in 70 games with 14 doubles, 3 triples, 11 home runs, 8 stolen bases, and 40 walks to 61 strikeouts. He was promoted to Double-A Binghamton in mid-July, but his season came to an abrupt halt a few days later after he was hit by a fastball in the hand during an at-bat, breaking it. The 24-year-old remained in Binghamton when the 2025 season began and spent the entire year there. It was a down year for the infielder, as he hit .241/.312/.368 in 112 games with 29 doubles, 7 home runs, 8 stolen bases, and 41 walks to 108 strikeouts.

The organization had Lorusso remain in Binghamton to start the 2026 season and he had a better time adapting to Double-A pitching, appearing in 84 games for the Rumble Ponies and hitting .243/.319/.495 with 18 doubles, 2 triples, 19 home runs, 9 stolen bases, and 32 walks to 88 strikeouts. He was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse at the beginning of August and ended the season there, appearing in 29 games and hitting .217/.314/.337 with 2 doubles, 3 home runs, 5 stolen bases, and 11 walks to 24 strikeouts.

The 6’1”, 215-pound infielder stands square at the plate, crouching slightly and leaning out over the plate with his upper half, holding his hands high at the eyes and wrapping his bat behind his head angled at 1:30. He swings with a slight leg lift and very little load and weight transfer. Lorusso has “slider bat speed”, consistently performing well against breaking balls over the course of his career while enjoying less success against fastballs; he is able to fully extend and turn on slower pitches and tap into his power, but has less time to react and barrel fastballs. While he does strike out at an elevated rate, it is mostly due to his propensity to swing-and-miss at pitches outside of the zone; against pitches in the zone, Lorusso has shown the ability to make an exceptional amount of contact, though this includes a lot of poor in-zone contact, reflecting a low SEAGER score.

Defensively, Lorusso has spent most of his time on the field at third base, though he has also seen a significant amount of action at first base, and has even played a bit of second base this past season. A former pitcher whose arm can reach 90 MPH, he has the arm strength, accuracy, range and instincts to man the hot corner, but may eventually be forced off the position as he further matures with age loses some of that youthful athleticism.

TEAM CY YOUNG

Jonathan Santucci:19 G (19 GS), 68 H, 42 R, 36 ER (3.57 ERA), 45 BB, 120 K, .314 BABIP

(Runner Up: Carlos Guzman)

Left-hander Jonathan Santucci was ranked 12th on the Amazin’ Avenue 2026 Mets Top 25 Prospects list this past off-season on the strength of a 2025 season that saw him post a 3.06 ERA in 117.2 cumulative innings with the High-A Brooklyn Cyclones and the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies. The former Duke standout, who was drafted by the Mets in the 2nd round of the 2024 MLB Draft, had enjoyed a decent amount of success in the ACC, but professional baseball is a different beast from collegiate baseball, and Santucci transitioning so seamlessly was an exciting prospect.

The left-hander began the season with the Rumble Ponies, hoping to build on the successful 58.0 innings that he spent there in 2025, and certainly did. Appearing in 19 games, Santucci posted a 3.57 ERA in 90.2 innings, allowing 68 hits, walking 45, and striking out 120. Combined with his 2025 stats, the southpaw had a cumulative 3.20 ERA in 140.2 innings with Binghamton, allowing 101 hits, walking 63, and striking out 183.

At the beginning of August, the left-hander was promoted to Triple-A Syracuse and finished the season there. He struggled in his first few starts before settling in, and ended up posting a 5.24 ERA in 34.1 innings over 8 starts, allowing 34 hits, walking 21, and striking out 43.

With so many successful innings in Double-A under his belt and already pitching in Triple-A, it is only a matter of time before Santucci makes his MLB debut. The left-hander has the stuff to succeed in the majors, with an MLB-caliber fastball and an MLB-caliber slider, but the rest of his repertoire and his ability to command his pitches leaves a bit to desire. He complements his fastball-slider combination with a curveball and a changeup, and while neither are bad pitches, neither are particularly good either. Combined with the fact that the southpaw is likely going to need to refine his command in order to better match up against MLB bitters, and while Santucci’s call-up is not in doubt, his ultimate as a major leaguer role may be.

Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuña Jr., Mookie Betts, and Matt Olson; the list of quote-unquote star players who weren’t able to impact the NLDS in the way we’ve grown to expect from them is long. With these ultratalented hitters held quiet, the chances of a high-scoring series were slim, and in the end, the team with the better complementary group got the last laugh.

The series-clinching win in Game 4 followed the pattern of the Dodgers’ previous two victories in this series, perhaps even more aggressively given just who had to step up to carry this team forward in Andy Pages. As it was the case throughout the series, the top of the order was nowhere to be found, with the first four hitters reaching base only once via walk, finishing the game 0 for 15.

A few defensive errors on both sides made this a 1-1 game, as neither offense could muster up any action. Sure, Tyler Glasnow had command problems that let five Braves earn a free base via walk, but Michael Harris Jr.’s leadoff hit was the only base hit he allowed the whole game. Tyler Mahle was even more impressive, keeping his pitch count in check to work into the seventh inning without suffering the walk problems that plagued Glasnow.

Max Muncy and Kiké Hernández had their moments earlier in the series; it was now up to a complementary piece that grew into a more important role this season, only to see—at least prior to this game—his postseason issues resurface, keeping him down in the order.

Pages, who, at the start of this game, had a batting average below .100 across the last two postseasons, faced a difficult challenge against Robert Suárez with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh inning of a tied game. The center fielder prevailed with a go-ahead two-run single to make it 3-1. After recording just one RBI in 62 postseason at-bats, the Dodgers’ All-Star center fielder helped this team avoid a winner-take-all Game 5 by securing a series win on the road.

It is not about revisionist history to claim we all knew Pages would eventually rise to the occasion. Everything about his postseason record points to that not being the case. It is about acknowledging that in the crapshoot that the baseball postseason can be, it’s comforting; it makes sense that the team whose depth is one of its biggest strengths can count on it to outproduce the opposition, as star hitters on either side aren’t able to get the job done.

Pages’ hit will take the headlines, but he only had that opportunity due to the positive impact of another young outfielder. Whether it’d be to try to take advantage of a potential eagerness to prove himself or because he lacked the ideal command—still tired from that Game 2 outing—Didier Fuentes fed Josue De Paula only one strike in a five-pitch at-bat with two outs and a runner in scoring position. De Paula flashed his terrific eye, worked a walk, and passed the baton to Tucker, who would also be walked, bringing in the bases loaded and the favorable matchup for the Braves of Suárez versus Pages.

De Paula was up in that situation against a tough righty, pinch-hitting for one of this team’s postseason heroes, Kiké Hernández, because for a while now, Roberts is pushing all of the right buttons—the Dodgers manager seems to be honing in on an uncanny ability to know when to go with the numbers but also when to trust his instinct. It helps, though, when you have a hitter as talented as De Paula who’s able to come off the bench for just one at-bat. A move you can make because Tommy Edman’s flexibility off the bench as the defensive replacement allows you to prioritize offense late in games.

The Braves held the Dodgers stars quiet, and the same was true on the opposite end. And with it, the Dodgers group, with the likes of Hernández, De Paula, Muncy, and Pages, had more to give, helping the reigning champs take the series in four.