CINCINNATI, OHIO - SEPTEMBER 17: Kyle Tucker #23 of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits a home run during the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on September 17, 2026 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Fittingly, in a game in which the Dodgers secured the NL West crown, they did so in the dominant manner in which they’ve won this division—this season and in many other campaigns—beating the Reds 8-2 in the final game of this road trip.
There are plenty of games in the regular season in which you can pinpoint a couple of pitches—mistakes that were hit and others that weren’t—to argue a game could’ve gone the other way. Well, this was not one of those times, as Brady Singer could not buy a strikeout against the Dodgers, throwing less than half of his pitches inside the zone, which led to plenty of walks. And the walks were the least of his problems, as whenever Singer threw anything in the zone, it was getting hit and hit hard.
Before Elly De La Cruz could even enter the batter’s box for the first time, the Reds already trailed the Dodgers by a pair. In the top of the first, Kyle Tucker took advantage of a Freddie Freeman walk and hit a two-run bomb, crushing a low sinker right in the middle of the zone.
Because the Dodgers stranded a couple of runners who got on base in the first after that Tucker homer, the right fielder would already come back to hit again in the next frame. Tucker made it a 4-0 game with an RBI double following a Freddie Freeman RBI sac fly.
Seemingly trying to push through Singer’s struggles, the Reds kept him in there, and even in a scoreless third, the signs of trouble were evident—multiple hitters reached base, and a Josue De Paula lineout over 100 MPH was doing the heavy lifting for that only zero Singer put up on the board. It felt inevitable that in the following frame, it’d turn sideways quickly. The first six hitters to come to the plate in the fourth all reached safely, including Tucker with his third hit in as many at-bats. Josue De Paula’s RBI single made it 7-0, and Singer finally got the hook, by that point already nearing 100 pitches on the day.
As the Reds starter was running on fumes in a feeble attempt to contain the Dodgers’ offense, Justin Wrobleski was cutting it loose, as only a pitcher who knew he was in for a shorter outing would do. Sitting at 96 mph+ on his fastball and sinker—a tick and a half over his season average on the former—Wrobleski faced nine hitters and retired them all, dominating through three before handing it off to the Dodgers’ bullpen to maintain a seven-run lead. Blake Treinen contributed one inning that had the Reds’ only run—a Sal Stewart long ball—before Landon Knack came in to complete four scoreless frames, enjoying the momentum of a commanding lead to keep the Reds from making this a close contest. The final inning was left to Seth Halvorsen, who went from taking the loss yesterday to finishing the NL West-clinching game, allowing just one run—quite the turnaround for the former Colorado Rockie.
With a single, a double, and a homer after four, Tucker had multiple chances to become the first Dodger to hit for the cycle since Cody Bellinger did it back in 2017 as a rookie. He even crushed one into the gap in left center, but the Reds’ defense played it cleanly, forcing him to not even be able to try a bold move by going to third—already looking gassed from all the running around the bases he had to do.
In the ninth inning of a 7-1 game, the Reds did what they should know better than to do against the Dodgers—they let a left-hander pitch to Miguel Rojas. The Dodgers’ veteran infielder didn’t forgive this offense by tacking on a run with a solo shot, his fourth of the year, all against southpaws.
The Dodgers rush back home because the Giants await, with a three-game set starting on Friday night (7:10 p.m. PT) in an exclusive broadcast on Apple TV. Tyler Glasnow starts, hoping to shake off a couple of rusty starts against the Twins and Marlins, while César Perdomo makes only his fourth appearance in the big leagues.
Kyle Tucker, their $60 million-a-year-man who was rarely heard from the first five months of the season, homered for the fourth time in his past eight games and drove in three runs as the Dodgers thumped the Cincinnati Reds 8-2 Thursday, Sept. 17 at Great American Ballpark to clinch the division title with nine games remaining.
The Dodgers (93-60) hold a four-game lead over the Atlanta Braves in the race for the No. 2 seed in the NL and a first-round bye. Atlanta holds the head-to-head tiebreaker so Los Angeles must finish a game clear of the Braves to avoid playing in the wild-card series.
The likeliest scenario is the Dodgers playing host to the winner of an Atlanta-San Diego best-of-three in the NL Division Series. They most certainly won't have Shohei Ohtani, the pitcher, in this postseason and they may not have Ohtani the hitter near the height of his powers, or even at all.
Yet they will carry the deadliest 1-2 pitching combo - 2025 World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto and two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal - into the postseason tournament.
And they'll also have, it seems, a sentient Tucker.
The 29-year-old right fielder who signed a four-year, $240 million deal was batting just .221 with a .671 OPS on Sept. 8. Thursday, he went 4-for-5 with three extra-base hits, capping an eight-game stretch in which he went 12-for-29 (.414) with four homers and a 1.566 OPS.
The @Dodgers are NL West champions for a 5th straight season!
His outfield mate, Teoscar Hernández, has been similarly potent, boosting his season OPS by 68 points thanks to a .385/.492/.712 line over his previous 15 games. They need the lineup length right now with Ohtani resting due to right biceps and left knee injuries.
Should the four-time MVP return, and lefty starter Blake Snell's groin scare is truly just that, the Dodgers should be well-stocked for October.
For now, their preliminary accomplishments are well in hand. This is the Dodgers' fifth consecutive division title and the lone runner-up finish in this 14-year run came in 2021, when their 106 victories were one fewer than the San Francisco Giants' 107. They probably won't get to 100 wins this year. But they certainly were good enough - and hope that holds true in October, too.
CINCINNATI, OH - JUNE 20: Casey Janssen #44 of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches in the ninth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park on June 20, 2014 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Toronto defeated Cincinnati 14-9. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Casey Janssen turns 45 today. He has always been one of my favourites, and a favourite among readers of this site. Long before I joined, the site even interviewed him back in 2008.
Janssen was selected in the fourth round of the 2003 draft out of the University of California, during the J.P. Ricciardi era. That year, the Jays picked David Purcey in the first round, with Zach Jackson, Curtis Thigpen, and Adam Lind all chosen ahead of Casey.
Janssen made his Blue Jays debut at the end of April 2006, stepping in after A.J. Burnett landed on the DL due to complications from his 2003 Tommy John surgery. Casey started off strong, going 3-2 with a 3.12 ERA in six May starts, but struggled as the season progressed, ultimately finishing 6-10 with a 5.07 ERA.
In 2007, a string of pitching injuries shifted Janssen to the bullpen, where he became the setup man for closer Jeremy Accardo. He finished the year with 24 holds, 6 saves, and a 2.35 ERA in 70 appearances. While he only struck out 39 batters in 72.2 innings, he excelled at keeping the ball on the ground and consistently got the job done.
Casey missed all of 2008 and the early part of 2009 due to a torn labrum. The Jays tried him as a starter upon his return, but after five rough outings and a 6.23 ERA, he transitioned back to the bullpen for good, where he remained a key contributor for the next five seasons.
Between 2010 and 2014, Casey appeared in 279 games, recording a 2.99 ERA and 83 saves. He served as the team’s closer from 2012 to 2014 and currently ranks fifth on the franchise’s all-time saves list and fifth in games pitched by a Blue Jays pitcher.
You might recall that he battled a bout of food poisoning over the All-Star break, which likely contributed to a difficult second half. After a solid start to the season, he posted a 5.70 ERA following the break.
Following the 2014 season, Janssen signed with the Nationals, but struggled in 2015, leading the team to decline his option for 2016. He was briefly with the Padres and Red Sox organizations, but never made it back to the majors. In 2017, he continued his career in the Mexican League.
I’m not exactly sure why Janssen became such a favourite here, but he was undeniably effective. I always enjoyed his distinctive follow-through, especially the pronounced bend in his lead leg that brought him so low to the ground. It also helped that he seemed like a genuinely good guy.
Marcus Semien turns 36 today.
In 2021, Marcus played all 162 games for the Blue Jays, slashing .265/.334/.538 with 45 home runs and 15 steals. He earned both the Silver Slugger and Gold Glove awards for second base and finished third in MVP voting.
The Jays finished that season 91-71, which was only good enough for fourth place in the AL East.
Afterward, Semien signed a seven-year, $175 million contract with the Rangers. Before this season, the Rangers traded him to the Mets. He’s not having a great season there.
Over his 14-year career, Marcus has hit .251/.319/.429 with 267 home runs and a 49.9 bWAR.
Happy Birthday, Marcus.
On this day in 2019 (seven years ago), Cavan Biggio hit for the cycle—just the third Blue Jay to do so, joining Jeff Frye and Kelly Gruber.
His game unfolded like this:
– Strikeout in the first
– Two-run homer in the third
– Single in the sixth
– Double in the eighth
– Two-run triple in the ninth, part of a four-run inning that secured the win
He also stole two bases, scored three runs, and drove in four.
The game took place in Baltimore. I noted in the recap that the announced attendance was 9,280, but estimated that about 9,000 were disguised as empty seats. The Jays won 8-5.
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - SEPTEMBER 15: Max Fried #54 of the New York Yankees pitches against the Minnesota Twins during the first inning of the game at Target Field on September 15, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It wouldn’t have been a proper Yankees-Twins series in Minnesota without a game that devolved into extra-innings madness. The Yankees failed to cash in multiple bases loaded opportunities and so missed a chance to sweep, falling farther behind the Rays in the standings. Nonetheless, the Bombers took care of business in the first two games of the series, and it is from the middle game that we pull our candidate for Sequence of the Week.
We join Max Fried with two outs in the bottom of the fifth on Tuesday at Target Field. The Yankees have a 3-1 lead courtesy of a Cody Bellinger two-run homer and George Lombard Jr. RBI single. However, the Twins are threatening to cut the lead to one with Emmanuel Rodriguez on second with a two-out double. That brings the number nine hitter Austin Martin to the plate, a batter Fried absolutely wants to retire to avoid the lineup turning over with a runner in scoring position.
After going almost all fastballs the first time he faced Martin, Fried looks to steal a called first-pitch strike with a backdoor sweeper.
After seeing mostly hard stuff that moved away from him, you can understand why Martin would give up on this pitch early given how far from the strike zone it is initially aimed. Fried sweeps in a dandy on the outer half for called strike one.
Establishing that backdoor breaking ball for a called strike forces Martin to respect any pitches that start away, even those that look like balls out of the hand. This opens up a host of possibilities for Fried, including the changeup low and away for chase.
This is a pretty well-executed changeup out of the zone down and outside. It looks like it is aimed at that corner of the zone before fading away from the hitter. You can see Martin was initially tempted to chase the pitch — a product of that first pitch backdoor sweeper — before holding up for an impressively disciplined take.
With Martin taking against that last pitch away, Fried and Ali Sánchez feel that there is an opening for another backdoor sweeper.
Another decently executed pitch, just a little too low to nip the bottom of the zone for a second called strike. It is worth noting that Martin showed some willingness to offer before backing off, so that outside pitch is still open for chase opportunities.
Not wanting to fall any further behind in the count, Fried throws his first fastball of the encounter. However, unlike the four-seamers and sinkers he threw Martin in the first AB, this cutter breaks toward the hitter instead of away. Therefore, if the hitter succeeds in reading fastball spin out of the hand, a backdoor cutter that starts off the plate away should freeze Martin.
That is precisely what happens, Fried pinpointing this cutter with precision on the corner up and away. Martin leaves the bat on his shoulder, only to watch the pitch cut across the black of the plate for called strike two.
Now that he has established his fastball in the zone and has the count leverage in his favor, Fried has an opening to climb the ladder with the cutter hoping for a chase and whiff under a pitch elevated above the zone.
Even though this offering misses the top of the zone by about a foot, it’s not a complete waste pitch. Fried has reset the hitter’s eye level for the fastball up, which should open the door for a breaking ball down and in.
That is just what Fried’s thought process is with the count full. He doesn’t need to give in with a fastball with first base open, knowing that it will be very hard for Martin to lay off a breaking ball that looks like a strike out of the hand.
Now this is what you call a back-foot sweeper. The pitch looks like a strike for much of its journey toward home until the lateral sweep really seems to accelerate in the final 15 feet. It’s just where you want to land a pitch like this, close enough to the strike zone to extract the chase but close enough to the batter that he is not able to pull in his hands in time to make contact.
Asked after the start what positives he would take away, Fried cited breaking ball command and an economical pitch count to go seven strong on just 88 pitches, the first point certainly highlighted by this sequence.
The Yankees desperately needed this start from Fried, not only to boost their chances of winning this particular game but also as a sign of continued build-up from the recurrence of his left elbow bone bruise. Fried labored in the start before this one, needing 80 pitches to complete 3.1 innings. Seeing him back to his best when it comes to pitch efficiency and damage limitation has to be encouraging as they formulate their postseason rotation plans.
DETROIT, MI - SEPTEMBER 12: Tanner Gordon #29 of the Colorado Rockies pitches against the Detroit Tigers during the second inning at Comerica Park on September 12, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The offense fell flat for the Colorado Rockies as Mason Adams struggled on the mound, leading to a 9-3 victory for the San Diego Padres. The Rockies will now look to settle for a series split in their final match-up against the Padres in 2026.
Tanner Gordon (1-4, 5.55 ERA) takes the ball for the Rockies, still trying to figure out a role with the Rockies. Since rejoining the rotation on August 21, Gordon has had two brilliant starts surrounded by three not-so-great starts. In his last two outings, he has allowed nine runs on 18 hits in 8.2 innings of work. Specifically, he allowed four runs on 10 hits in four innings against the Detroit Tigers. A familiar issue is that Gordon may throw a lot of strikes, but he gives up a lot of contact and that gets him into trouble. He doesn’t walk many and can get a modest number of strikeouts, but if he isn’t inducing the kind of contact that leads to groundball outs, things can get away from him in a hurry.
This will be Gordon’s first appearance against the Padres this season. He has made three previous starts in his career, going 1-1 with a 4.60 ERA. He made two starts in 2025, allowing seven runs on eight hits over 9.2 innings of work. He had 14 strikeouts against two walks, but was stung by four home runs. The Padres have a knack for hitting the ball hard, especially at Coors Field, so that will be something that Gordon has to be mindful of.
Michael King (11-9, 3.03 ERA) makes the start for the Padres. It’s been business as usual for King since his transition into a full-time starter when joining the Padres in 2024. In 175 innings of work, he has 148 strikeouts against 66 walks while opponents are hitting just .215 against him. King has been an effective workhorse all season, working at least six innings in all but nine of his 30 starts. He’s been on a hot streak lately, allowing just three runs over his last four starts, all of which came in seven innings. King’s command can get shaky at times, but he combats that with a strong strikeout ability and by getting weak contact.
He last faced the Rockies on July 28, allowing four runs on six hits over six innings. In five career appearances against Colorado, King has a 5.54 ERA over 26 innings of work. He has given up five home runs while striking out 30 against eight walks. A free-swinging Rockies offense will need to make him work and find a way to square up the ball like they did Tuesday night.
DENVER, CO - SEPTEMBER 14: Manny Machado #13 of the San Diego Padres celebrates his solo home run with Jackson Merrill #3 in the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on September 14, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) | Getty Images
San Diego Padres (83-69) at Colorado Rockies (56-96), September 17, 2026, 12:10 p.m. PST
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The Cubs took two of three from the National League East division-leading Braves at Wrigley Field, winning the series. Once again, likely NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong led the Cubs offense with two home runs and a triple, but as has often been the case this season he’s had company with another teammate having a big game. On Wednesday night that backup act was Alex Bregman who put on an offensive show of his own [VIDEO].
In addition to hitting his 26th bomb of the year, Bregman added a triple and a double on the night. It was just another great night at the ballpark for the 32-year-old third baseman who has a 5 fWAR season in his first year with the Cubs, the first such year for him since 2022. Bregman has really turned a corner since the All Star Break, as you can see from his splits below:
Half
G
PA
HR
R
RBI
SB
BB%
K%
ISO
BABIP
AVG
OBP
SLG
wOBA
xwOBA
wRC+
First Half
94
431
9
45
41
2
11.4%
15.3%
.119
.267
.241
.336
.359
.312
.310
97
Second Half
56
250
17
43
47
1
9.6%
13.6%
.318
.294
.305
.384
.623
.427
.340
174
It’s been a pretty big turnaround since mid-July for Bregman and it’s mostly apparent on the power front. You can see that in both the Isolated Slugging (ISO) above but also just in the home run tally with Bregman almost doubling his home run total from the first half in 180 fewer plate appearances. But what really puts these numbers in perspective is the league context. Below you can see the top 15 players in MLB by fWAR since the All Star Break (is it any wonder the Cubs lead the league offensively with three guys in the top 15?):
Name
Team
G
PA
HR
R
RBI
SB
BB%
K%
ISO
BABIP
AVG
OBP
SLG
wOBA
xwOBA
wRC+
WAR
Pete Crow-Armstrong
CHC
57
269
23
52
52
13
11.52%
26.02%
.389
.280
.269
.357
.658
.419
.400
169
4.4
Alex Bregman
CHC
56
250
17
43
47
1
9.60%
13.60%
.318
.294
.305
.384
.623
.427
.340
174
3.4
Elly De La Cruz
CIN
57
253
13
44
30
12
12.25%
25.69%
.258
.375
.303
.387
.561
.406
.402
156
3.2
Fernando Tatis Jr.
SDP
55
248
18
45
43
12
10.48%
14.11%
.311
.287
.301
.379
.612
.416
.432
169
3.1
Jackson Merrill
SDP
56
236
15
36
45
7
4.66%
21.19%
.279
.344
.315
.349
.594
.398
.422
157
2.9
Gabriel Moreno
ARI
53
239
9
31
43
2
10.46%
14.23%
.227
.331
.314
.385
.541
.396
.360
151
2.7
Steven Kwan
CLE
54
245
2
40
14
4
13.06%
9.39%
.081
.385
.351
.437
.431
.389
.348
153
2.5
Alejandro Kirk
TOR
46
188
8
15
32
1
11.17%
11.70%
.164
.328
.321
.394
.485
.377
.340
145
2.3
Pete Alonso
BAL
56
246
16
32
37
3
10.98%
22.76%
.259
.326
.292
.386
.552
.401
.424
163
2.2
Ty France
SDP
53
227
9
29
33
0
9.69%
19.38%
.205
.367
.323
.396
.528
.398
.344
157
2.1
Seiya Suzuki
CHC
55
254
9
45
33
2
16.54%
22.05%
.214
.317
.262
.390
.476
.380
.352
143
2.1
Rafael Devers
SFG
52
226
18
39
46
0
13.72%
22.12%
.337
.278
.275
.376
.611
.413
.367
165
2.1
Ezequiel Duran
TEX
56
232
7
28
32
4
8.19%
24.14%
.174
.336
.271
.341
.444
.343
.303
122
2.0
Randy Arozarena
SEA
56
251
14
44
30
4
10.36%
21.12%
.237
.289
.265
.367
.502
.377
.334
151
1.9
Carter Jensen
KCR
52
221
11
32
25
1
14.48%
26.24%
.280
.263
.226
.344
.505
.366
.355
134
1.9
Qualified hitters, select stats
Bregman hasn’t just been good in the second half, he’s been the best hitter in baseball by some metrics. The above chart is sorted by fWAR but if it were resorted by wRC+, a stat that measures hitters run production off a league and park normed baseline of 100, Bregman would rank first, followed by a virtual tie between Fernando Tatis, Jr. and PCA. Bregman is also pacing the field in wOBA, a fancy on-base percentage that gives hitters more credit for extra base hits.
Bregman hasn’t just turned it on in the second half, he’s returned to vintage Bregman. In fact, by the end of 2026 a glance at his slash line will show 2026 as his best season by fWAR since 2022. His process in scrutinizing his at bats and making adjustments is obvious to anyone watching him study the tape in the dugout after an at bat, but if you’re more of a chart type you can also see the adjustment below:
You can see how Bregman’s wOBA and ground ball rate are inversely correlated pretty clearly in this chart. As Bregman has hit the ball in the air more, he’s gotten better production. The results speak for themselves [VIDEO].
It’s a good sign that the Cubs offense has kept rolling as they past the mid-point of September. With nine games left to play, they’ll need Bregman, PCA and Seiya Suzuki to keep setting a torrid pace offensively as they try to out hit their pitching woes down the stretch and into the Wild Card round.
Now, a heavily upvoted shitpost from the Diamondbacks subreddit, and a Tweet by one of the most toxic members of fandom may not seem worth bothering about. And they probably are not. But it does reflect a general feeling that September is the cruelest month for Arizona fans. It is true that this is the fourth consecutive season where the team could be seen as imploding. There was the “backing into the post-season” meme from 2023, missing out by a narrow margin in 2024 and 2025, and while the story of this year has yet to be completed, at the time of writing the team is on the outside of the NL playoff picture. Never mind that their record would be winning two of the three divisions in the AL…
So, first stop. Is there any truth to the perception?
The reality
TL;DR No.
The team’s performance in September over the past few years is not particularly better or worse than their performance the rest of the year. Indeed, the last time the D-backs had any kind of losing record in September was in 2022. Here’s their performance by each calendar month since the beginning of the 2023 season:
Mar/Apr: .517
May: .495
June: .551
July: .495
Aug: .554
Sep/Oct: .511
The overall win percentage in that time is .521. Based on that, over the 3.5 seasons and 92 September games, you would expect their record in the month to be 48-44. It is actually… 47-45. If that’s the “choking” demanded for the narrative, it’s an underwhelming one. Now, I also hear, “The meltdown is when they need to win the last few games to make the wildcard they lose.” So let’s take a look at each recent season specifically, and see what actually happened.
2023. Well, the above doesn’t exactly support the idea of a meltdown, does it? On September 13, Arizona had just a 30.7% chance of making the post-season. But they were about to go on an 8-2 run which included sweeps against both the Cubs and Giants. The former was particularly huge. They came in to Chase Field on September 15, with a 2.5 game lead over the D-backs, and left three days later, behind Arizona and broken. Including that series, Chicago went 5-10 the rest of the way, and their odds cratered from 58% to zero in five days. Now that’s what I call a genuine September meltdown. Losing the last four games, as the D-backs did? Irrelevant, as the subsequent playoffs proved.
2024. This is the season where I would say there is the best case for a meltdown, and it’s likely where the myth began. Though September as a whole was hardly a disaster, Arizona going 13-13. That, however, perhaps felt like a meltdown after the Diamondbacks went a stellar 35-17 in July and August. With seven games to go, the D-backs were three clear of the Braves. However, they’d lost the tie-breaker. Arizona went 2-5, while the Braves went 5-2, and the rest is history. But four of those games were against the Padres and Brewers, who were ahead of us in the standings. It included a loss by the odd run in nineteen in Milwaukee. A win there and the meltdown myth never gets started. That’s the margin we’re talking about here. Maybe we should be blaming the team which started 4-7 that year, not the one which finished 6-5.
2025. For there to be a “meltdown” in September, I’d say there has to be a significant chance of success there to begin with. But the highest chance of the D-backs making the post-season that month was only 12.3%. The last day it was even twenty percent – still an outside shot – was back on July 19. Sure, as in 2023, they finished the year on a losing streak: five games this time. But also as there, that ignores the good run the Diamondbacks went on immediately before that, winning seven of nine. They’d have needed to go 4-1 thereafter to reach the playoffs, for an overall 11-3 record over the last couple of weeks. Not doing so, going “only” 7-7, is hardly a meltdown.
Why the difference?
What I think is interesting is why some people choose to think the D-backs collapse, when the facts really don’t particularly support that as a narrative. I think part of it is actually a back-handed compliment, in that this is the first time, literally in a generation, where the D-backs have been consistently competitive for several years in a row. Put it this way: nobody cares very much right now about September meltdowns over at Purple Row, despite the Rockies playing 42 points worse after August 31. Below, you’ll see the team’s winning percentage through 136 games, which is there or thereabouts around the end of August (save for 2020, when I used the number through 35 games).
The 2023-26 run is the first time the Diamondbacks has been above .450 (the line highlighted above), through that point in the season, for five consecutive seasons since 2003. It’s the first time in over twenty years where Arizona have had four seasons in a row with meaningful baseball in the second half of this month. We’re not used to having September baseball that matters. Or, at least, it seems to. The reality, of course, is that wins and losses count exactly the same. If you’re looking for a reason why we “backed into the playoffs” in 2023, the 8-16 record of the D-backs in July is a far bigger explanation than anything in September.
Maybe fans remember failure better than success? Just ask Byung-Hyun Kim. Or this season, where we’ve had perpetual complaints about D-backs’ LOBsters. They actually score a higher percentage of baserunners than 23 of the 30 MLB teams. Or demands the Diamondbacks do a better job with a man on third and less than two outs, when only three teams bring those runners home at a higher rate than Arizona. I’m not sure if it’s a result of baseball being a game where a 30% success rate at hitting is considered elite, and 70% of baserunners will be stranded. It goes against studies which have shown team victories tend to be better remembered.
Yet here we are, some recalling meltdowns that barely happened. Of course, some people simply have a narrative to push, e.g. “Torey sucks!“ and will make up whatever history they want to support it.
Conclusions
“My job is to get us to the playoffs. What happens after that is f___ luck.” — Billy Beane
The reason he said that is because baseball has the biggest element of random chance in any of the major sports. The difference in the spot where ball meets bat, between a game-ending fly-ball and a game-winning home-run, is so small as to be beyond the bounds of human skill. Sure, some are better at it than others. But even Mark McGwire hit a home-run fewer than every ten at-bats. A baseball game is a series of chaotic and inherently unpredictable events. Over a season of 162 games, less so. But the smaller you shrink that, the greater the odds of something unexpected.
If we presume a 26-game month, there’s a better than even chance that a .500 team will lose at least four games in a row. It’s about a one-in-three chance for a five-game losing streak, so having one is basically meaningless in terms of “proving” anything. The problem is that, when a season comes down to the last few games, you’re basically in “playoffs before the playoffs”. Take 2025, where the D-backs would have needed to win four of the last five games to make it in. At that point, to quote Beane, what happens is “f___ luck”. It’s really not up to Torey very much. And you can expand the principle backwards.
The Diamondbacks are, let’s be honest, not going to compete for the division title any time soon. The Dodgers simply have too many competitive advantages. From having the reigning MVP on their books for $2 million this year, to that Godzilla-sized television contract, alone worth more than all of the D-backs’ revenue streams combined. While the scales of balance have the Dodgers’ thumb pressing down on one side, all we can hope for is to compete for a wild-card spot. And four years in a row, Torey Lovullo has got us there, successfully negotiating the shoals of injury and MarteGate to have the team playing meaningful baseball into late September.
Maybe it’s just me, but realistically, it’s hard to demand anything more.
TORONTO, CANADA - SEPTEMBER 16: Center fielder Myles Straw #3 of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates hitting a RBI single during the third inning against the Detroit Tigers at Rogers Centre on September 16, 2026 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Happy off-day. I don’t know about anyone else, but I am happy to have an off-day.
I am happy we have meaningful baseball to watch in September. If you go back a month or so, I didn’t think we’d get that, so this is a bonus. It would be nice if we could be consistent, but this is the hand we’ve been dealt. When people ask if we are going to make the playoffs, I’ve been saying ‘no’, but I’d be happy to be wrong.
So, what do you think? Do you think the Jays will pull it out? Are you just enjoying the ride? Is it too much of a rollercoaster?
It has been a weird season—so many pitching injuries. We seemed to have too many starters at the start of the season, and now we are having two bullpen days every five. The team seems to be doing its best to be careful with the pitchers, but we have several older pitchers with a lot of innings on their arms. And a handful of young arms who are being pushed harder than they’ve ever been.
And, of course, so many guys not hitting. Too many guys not hitting, starting with Vlad, of course, and going pretty much down the whole roster. Other than Brett Bateman, it seems everyone has had long slumps (and he hasn’t been around long enough to slump). I have said before that I believe in changing hitting coaches every year. Not that it is fair. Not that it is the coach’s fault. And it would be a lousy way of doing business. But I believe players sometimes need to hear things a different way. Even if they are saying the same things, which they pretty much will.
But none of it is the coaching. The coaches didn’t get dumb over the winter.
I said, in the game thread, that I zone out when people try to tell me how easy hitting is. Anyone who thinks it is easy hasn’t watched a curveball with a bat in their hand.
Anyway, what do you think? Will the Jays pull it off and make the playoffs? And are you enjoying the ride? Or is it too much of a rollercoaster?
The 2022 12th-rounder missed the entire 2025 season due to Tommy John surgery and didn’t crack the Jays’ preseason Top 30 list as a result. He looked revitalized after rehab, however, and finished with a 2.50 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 117 strikeouts over 82 2/3 innings across the Single-A, High-A and Double-A levels, and he jumped into the Top 100 when it became clearer that he had the stuff to back up the results: a 93-95 mph heater with improved velo, two whiff-inducing breakers in a slider and a curveball and an improved offspeed option in his mid-80s splitter.
Even as the major league team has been inconsistent, the Blue Jays have had a very successful year on the farm. They graduated several key contributors to the major league team, including Brandon Valenzuela and Spencer Miles, who have drastically outperformed their prospect rankings. Johnny King and Nolan Perry took major steps forward on the mound, and Sean Keys and Charles McAdoo did at the plate. Ricky Tiedemann also finally returned and reached the majors.
They traded their top prospect Arjun Nimmala, but got back a team-controlled starter. They also boosted their depth, acquiring Dasan Hill from the Twins and Brett Bateman from the Cubs. Bateman has been a revelation and has taken over the leadoff role that they’ve struggled to fill all season. Overall, the good far outweighs the bad with this system, and they are positioning themselves to bounce back in 2027.
Tomorrow we start the next ‘most important series of the season’. Three games with Texas. I’m thinking a series will would be good and a series loss might be the end of their chances. They have 9 games left. They are a game behind the Rangers, and 1.5 behind the White Sox, 2 games the Guardians. And they need to pass two of those teams.
Tomorrow Dylan Cease starts. Saturday José Soriano. And Monday, some version of Spencer Arrighetti and the bullpen
BOSTON, MA - SEPTEMBER 13: Payton Tolle #70 of the Boston Red Sox and Adley Rutschman #31 talk during the game between the Kansas City Royals and the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sunday, September 13, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Joe Sullivan/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Any baseball season has its share of ups and downs, but the 2026 Red Sox take the cake for extremes. For today, I want to break down the rollercoaster into three parts, with a particular focus on the last two.
In the first 78 games of the season, the Red Sox were horrible, going 32-46.
In their next 37 games, they were historically fantastic, going 32-5.
However, in their last 37 games, they’ve slipped into a mediocre malaise, going 18-19.
To be fair, these last 37 games come with all sorts of caveats: The first handful are guaranteed to be filled with losses because whenever you divide these things after a hot streak, you always draw the line right where the wins end. The team also seemed to run out of gas a little bit after expending so much energy in July to get back in the race, and then lately, they’ve been resting guys and trying to get things aligned for the playoffs.
But it’s the last caveat that really muddies the waters here. Not only does it obscure how good Boston might have been in September if they had to fight to the finish line, but it also poses a tricky, potentially season ending question if the Sox get this wrong. Can you just turn the magic back on whenever you want?
On one hand, we’ve already gone deep into why the Red Sox are doing the correct thing on paper in punting September thanks to the ridiculous setup MLB has for the postseason structure. However, watching these games every night after the highs of July and August is jarring. That “it” factor, whatever it is — real or perceived — is gone. Maybe it was going away anyway, but now that the Red Sox have turned it off somewhat intentionally by prioritizing rest over results, it feels like watching a hangover.
I guess what I find so uncomfortable and unsatisfying about watching this play out is that in July and August it felt like the Red Sox saved their season, and they very much did. But what does that even mean anymore? Historically, it meant you were going to get a September chock-full of meaningful games. Now, you get a sleepwalk September with a short Wild Card series that may or may not yield a glorious October run. Maybe I’m just getting old, but I don’t like that.
I want urgency in volume, and I’m nervous that after all that work, all that winning, and all those storylines that played out all summer, it’s possible the Red Sox only play two truly meaningful games after Labor Day (Game 1 and 2 in New York on September 29th and 30th). Doesn’t that feel odd?
Now of course, if they win that Wild Card series, it’s awesome! The doors to October truly open and the matchups on paper keep getting more and more favorable until / if they reach the World Series. But man, it’s such a strange dynamic. We could be living in a world where we’ve already seen the last meaningful win of this crazy 2026 Red Sox season weeks ago. Or, we could be living in a world where the last meaningful win of the 2026 Red Sox season is still be weeks away. Bonkers!
The only thing we know for sure is that we’re right in the middle of September, and there’s no urgency as the games click down. Then all at once, twelve days from now, all the urgency will hit at once like a tsunami, and the Red Sox will need to instantly recapture that magic they had all summer. Can they they do that? Can they emerge from this cocoon of complacency all at once? I don’t know.
They’re certainly doing everything they can to load the guns and the set the table for that happen, but I don’t know if you can just flip a switch like that in this sport. With each passing day, it feels more and more like this is either going to work like a dream or be a complete disaster. The magic is either going to regenerate in full force and last well into October, or it already left for good in August. We just don’t know which until we wake up when September ends.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - SEPTEMBER 12: Joc Pederson #3 of the Texas Rangers stands in the dugout before the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on September 12, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Texas Rangers have faced lefthanded starting pitchers in their last three games.
That’s kind of unusual. Those three games represent 6.5% of the games the Rangers have had this season against lefthanded starting pitchers, despite representing a hair under 2% of the total games the Rangers have played so far this season.
The Rangers have had 46 games against lefthanded starters this season, and 106 games against righthanded starters. The odds that any given three game stretch from this season for the Rangers would feature three lefthanded starting pitchers is around 1 in 36, or a little less likely than Danny Jansen hitting a home run in any given plate appearance.
We are conditioned to think of this as being a Bad Thing for the Rangers, due to their seemingly years-long struggles against lefthanded pitchers. That has not been the case in the year of 2026, however. The Rangers have a 768 OPS against lefties this season, compared to a 696 OPS against righthanders.
They have especially excelled against lefties this month, with a .383 wOBA that is first among all major league teams. The Yankees are second, at .382, the A’s are at .366, the Padres at .360, and everyone else is at .351 or lower.
For the season as a whole, the Rangers are fourth in wOBA against lefthanded pitchers, at .337, nine points ahead of Boston and the Reds, who are tied for fifth. What makes this all the more remarkable is that the Rangers were 29th in wOBA against lefties at the end of April, at .263 (just one point ahead of the Phillies, in last), as well as at the end of May, when their .280 wOBA against southpaws was ahead of only Seattle (.276).
Since the beginning of June, though, the Rangers have a .360 wOBA against lefthanders, second best in the majors, behind only the Cubs. For the past three-plus months, the Rangers have been raking against lefties, and lagging (.300 wOBA, 29th in the majors) against righthanders.
Sorry, all that isn’t really on topic, but I got interested in the numbers and went down a rabbit trail.
What matters if that the Rangers are facing a righthanded starting pitcher tonight — Boston Red Sox veteran Sonny Gray. And that means that the Rangers are going to have to figure out what to do at their DH spot against a righthanded pitcher.
A stray comment a few days ago sent me down a separate rabbit trail looking at whether the Rangers DH their backup catchers more often that other teams. I worked on a post on it for a while, looking at how often catchers were DHing for every team in the majors this year, until I got bored about halfway through my research and stopped.
However, in the interest of being eco-conscious, I will share what I wrote about the Rangers’ DH situation in 2026 in that mostly-likely-never-to-be-completed draft post:
(This is the start of the deep dive on the Rangers DH usage from that post. I’m also not updating the data, which was accurate through Sunday, but don’t include the last two games, because I don’t feel like it.)
The Rangers have had a total of seven games started at DH by catchers* this season — three by Elias Diaz, two by Kyle Higashioka, one by Austin Wynns, and one by Danny Jansen.
* I’m not counting Logan O’Hoppe, who had six starts at DH, because he was up to be the righthanded DH rather than be the backup catcher, as evidenced by the fact he has one more inning behind the plate for the Rangers than I do.
Diaz’s three starts all came against lefthanded starters, with two coming in a three game span against the A’s.
Higashioka’s two starts both came against lefthanded starters. One of them was in the 14 K Reid Detmers game, and I’d forgotten how jacked up the Rangers’ lineup was that day:
McCutchen — LF
Foscue — 2B
Nimmo — RF
Burger — 1B
Duran — 3B
Jansen — C
Haggerty — CF
Higashioka — DH
Helman — SS
Wynns’ one start was his final game with the Rangers, and was also, weirdly, not only against the A’s, but against Jacob Lopez, who was also the starter in one of Diaz’s games at DH.
And Jansen’s start was against Eduardo Rodriguez, a lefty.
So this seems to be less of a “the Rangers love starting their backup catcher at DH” situation and more of a “the Rangers’ righthanded bench options are limited.” And we see that manifest itself at the DH position because the Rangers platoon at DH, with Joc Pederson starting at DH against righthanders and whatever righthanded hitter happens to be hanging around and not otherwise in the lineup starting at DH against lefthanders.
We thought that the 2026 Texas Rangers had solved their righthanded bench bat situation with the signing of veteran Andrew McCutchen and the return of kinda-veterany Sam Haggerty. McCutchen was no longer a viable everyday guy but had slashed .267/.353/.389 against lefties for Pittsburgh in 2025, while Haggerty had slashed .318/.376/.435 against lefties for Texas in 2025. Texas seemed to be in okay shape, as McCutchen could DH against lefties, Haggerty could play center field, Pederson and Evan Carter could avoid southpaws, and all figured to be well.
Except McCutchen had just a 602 OPS against lefties in 50 plate appearances before being released in late May, while Haggerty put up a 404 OPS in 36 plate appearances against lefties this year before being released ten days later. Both players, incidentally, were even worse against righthanders.
Justin Foscue became the righthanded bat of choice against lefthanded pitchers. In my mind, he’s the righthanded compliment to Pederson at the DH spot, and it seemed in my mind like he’s been the regular DH against lefthanded pitchers this season.
So it was quite a surprise when I went and looked and saw Justin Foscue has just 11 starts at DH this season.
Only 11 starts at DH for Foscue! Even with him not coming up until May, it seems like there should be many more than that.
Part of it is simply a numbers game…the Rangers have faced only 44 lefty starters this season, so no one was going to rack up a huge number of DH starts against lefties. But still, you’d expect Foscue to have more than 25% of those opportunities.
And Foscue has started most of the time when the Rangers have faced a lefty, starting 34 times against lefthanded pitchers. Its just that most of those starts have been with Foscue playing second base, rather than DH, either because Corey Seager was injured and they needed someone to play in the infield, or Josh Jung was injured and they needed someone to play in the infield, or Ezequiel Duran was playing in the outfield and they needed someone to play in the infield.
Aside from Pederson and Foscue, who have combined to start 105 of 150 games at DH (Pederson also has nine starts at first base and one start in right field), and the seven catcher starts at DH, the Rangers have gotten nine starts apiece at DH from Andrew McCutchen, Wyatt Langford and Brandon Nimmo, six from Logan O’Hoppe, four from Corey Seager, and one from Alejandro Osuna. If everyone is healthy, your playoff lineup probably has Pederson and Foscue platooning at DH, but during the regular season the DH spot against lefthanded pitchers has been kind of a revolving door based on who is healthy and who Skip Schumaker wants to get a half-day off at the DH position.
(We now resume with words typed today.)
The last time the Rangers faced a righthanded pitcher, on Saturday, Joc Pederson was the DH, as he has been in almost every game started by a righthander this year. Pederson ended up leaving the game after being hit in the hand with a pitch. Initial x-rays were negative, but a subsequent follow up revealed a small fracture.
Normally Pederson would go on the injured list while waiting for the swelling to go down and for the fracture to heal. But it is crunch time, the Rangers are in a playoff race, and Pederson has been a significant contributor for the Rangers this season, so the decision was made to give it a few days before a decision was made. Monday’s off day and the string of lefty starters meant that there were four full days between Pederson getting hit and the Rangers having a game that he would normally start.
Pederson has said that he is going to try to play through the injury, and was working with the team medical staff to reduce the swelling in his hand enough to allow him to grip a bat properly so he could test his pain tolerance when he swings. This afternoon, when lineups are released, will likely be our first inkling as to how that has gone.
If Pederson is not able to DH, the first option would seem to be Alejandro Osuna, who was called up in place of Cam Cauley the day after Pederson’s injury. Osuna is a lefthanded hitting outfielder, and is someone the Rangers could simply plug in in place of Pederson, should they wish.
Another option would be to put Nicky Lopez into the lineup at second base. Ezequiel Duran has been playing second base against most righthanded pitchers of late, while manning center against lefties. However, with Josh Jung just having returned from his calf injury, and the team cognizant of the time Corey Seager has missed this season, Skip Schumaker could DH one of those infielders and have Duran play third base or shortstop, respectively. Seager has started every game since sitting the finale in Sacramento a month ago, and has been the DH in only one of those games, the finale in Chicago on August 26. Jung has started at third base in all four games since being activated this past Saturday. This may be viewed as an opportunity to get one of those two a partial day off while keeping their bat in the lineup.
The Rangers could also opt to use Justin Foscue or Cody Freeman instead of Lopez as the Pederson replacement, whether at DH or at in infield position so an infielder can DH. Foscue has not hit righthanders well this season, though — he has a .177/.214/.304 slash line with 3 walks against 23 Ks in 84 plate appearances. Freeman, meanwhile, has a 493 OPS against righthanded pitchers, and has been mostly relegated to late inning defensive replacement work over the past week.
I will also note that Kyle Higashioka has been out on a rehab assignment with Round Rock since September 4. Higashioka has only been used at DH, which would suggest that the flexor strain that landed him on the injured list is such that he’s to ready to be used at catcher yet. If Pederson were to go on the injured list, the choices to replace him on the active roster would be Higashioka, who will have to be activated from his rehab assignment by September 24 anyway, or Cauley.
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 10: Dario Reynoso #6 of the San Jose Giants looks on against the Stockton Ports in the bottom of the second inning in the Cal Division Series Game 2 at Excite Ballpark on September 10, 2026 in San Jose, California - Region AMER. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Wednesday wasn’t a great day for the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball teams. The Low-A San Jose Giants lost the California League championship and, with that, we’ve worked our way from seven teams down to two. That two will quickly become zero, as AAA Sacramento is playing their final series of the year, while AA Richmond is in their playoff run.
Here’s everything that happened on Wednesday, with one of our final Minor League roundups of the 2027 season.
All listed positions in the roundup are the position played in that particular game.
News
The High-A awards were announced on Wednesday, and the Eugene Emeralds positively cleaned up. Eugene had 4 players make the Northwest League All-Star team: shortstop Jhonny Level (No. 3 CPL), who was named to the team as a utility player after getting some time at second base, outfielder Dakota Jordan (No. 5 CPL), LHP Jacob Bresnahan (No. 11 CPL), and RHP Ryan Vanderhei. That’s impressive work, but it doesn’t stop there!
Level was given arguably the most important honors in the league, as he was named the Top MLB Prospect in the Northwest League. It’s the 2nd year running that Level has been bestowed with that honor, after earning it in the Arizona Complex League in 2026.
But winning an award twice in a row won’t impress Bresnahan who, remarkably, was named the Pitcher of the Year in his league for the 3rd year running! My goodness! Let’s hope he keeps that honor up all the way into the Majors.
In addition to those four All-Stars, manager Jacob Heyward was named the Northwest League Manager of the Year, as he continues to look like a future MLB manager.
AAA Sacramento (78-65)
Sacramento River Cats lost to the Reno Aces (Diamondbacks) 3-2 Box score
A fairly uninteresting loss for the River Cats, though there were some things to note. The biggest thing to come out of this game was the return of left fielder Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL). When Davidson fouled a ball off of his foot last week, and needed help walking off the field, it certainly looked like his season was over, and even allowed you to be concerned about his offseason work and Spring Training. But thankfully, it was announced that he had a contusion rather than a fracture and, just a few days later, he was back in the lineup.
Davidson didn’t play particularly well, as he went 0-4, but it’s just great seeing him healthy. Had he not suffered that minor injury, he might be in the Majors right now instead of Scott Bandura, not that I’m upset about Bandura getting that opportunity!
The lefty slugger, who is a lock to be added to the roster as a Rule 5 protection, now has 4 games to hit 2 home runs, which would make him the Giants first Minor Leaguer with 30 home runs since Adam Duvall in 2012.
Davidson wasn’t the only River Cat to struggle at the plate, as Sacramento had just 4 hits on the day. Half of those came off the bat of third baseman Parks Harber (No. 17 CPL), who is doing a decent job bouncing back from his slump to end the year on a high note. The righty went 2-4 in this game, while bashing a triple and striking out once.
Harber hasn’t been quite as dynamic lately as he was when he first got to AAA, but he has been swinging the bat well, which is a very welcome sight. After an 8-game stretch in late August and early September where he hit just 1-34 with 0 extra-base hits, 4 walks, and 12 strikeouts, Harber has responded with a 10-game run where he’s gone 13-39 with 3 extra-base knocks, 6 walks, and 12 strikeouts. Love to see players work through struggles, and it’s brought him back to a positive line overall, as he has a .781 OPS and a 109 wRC+.
Second baseman Zane Zielinski made his AAA debut, as he was moved up to help out the depleted Sacramento roster. It was a sterling debut for the 2024 underslot 9th-rounder, who hit 1-2 with a double, a walk, and a strikeout.
It will be interesting to see where the Giants put Zielinski, who recently turned 25, when the 2027 season rolls around. He’s a very good defensive infielder, which has made the team comfortable moving him up levels to cover roster holes. But he has really struggled with the bat this year, posting a .657 OPS and an 82 wRC+ with High-A Eugene, and a .551 OPS and a 47 wRC+ with AA Richmond.
Right fielder Victor Bericoto (No. 35 CPL) continued his rehab assignment and hit 1-4 with a double and a strikeout.
Another very rough start for RHP Trystan Vrieling, who has quickly learned a hard lesson about the quality of AAA hitters and the environment of the Pacific Coast League. Vrieling, a 2022 3rd-rounder who came over in the Camilo Doval trade, needed exactly 100 pitches to get through just 4.2 innings, and while he only gave up 3 hits, 1 of those hits was a home run, and he walked 6 batters on the day, leading to 3 runs on his stat sheet.
The one good part of Vrieling’s performance was that he struck out 7 batters and, interestingly, that’s been a trend for him. He’s been completely beaten up in 4 starts since his promotion, giving up 31 hits, 14 walks, and 19 earned runs in just 17.2 innings, good for a 9.68 ERA and a 5.84 FIP. But he does have 25 strikeouts during that time, which means he’s sitting on 12.7 Ks per 9 innings in AAA … after that number being just 8.3 in AA this year. Hopefully that’s the start of something, but in all likelihood it’s just fun with sample sizes.
The bullpen, however, was great, as RHPs Braxton Roxby and Alex Carillo, and LHP Nick Zwack combined for 4.1 scoreless innings. Roxby gave up just 1 hit in 2.1 innings, with 2 strikeouts, as he looks to stay in the organization’s plan after being added to the 40-man roster recently. Zwack pitched a perfect frame with a strikeout; after having a rough August, he’s yet to allow a run in 5 September appearances.
Low-A San Jose (eliminated)
San Jose Giants lost to the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres) 13-2 Box score
And with that, San Jose’s splendid season is over. The Baby Giants posted the best record in the California League this year with an 80-52 mark, and ended the regular season with 20 wins in their final 22 games. They cruised through the Division Series, and looked unbeatable. And then they ran into the Storm in the Championship Series, and their otherwise sensational season came to a sad trombone of an end.
It was a sloppy game all around. San Jose had 5 errors on the day, and their pitchers issued nearly as many walks (7) as strikeouts (9). The hitters, meanwhile, had 12 hits, but only converted them into 2 runs, the result of 3 deadly sins: hitting into 2 double plays, going 1-15 with runners in scoring position, and striking out 15 times. Yep, that’ll do it.
It was a particularly rough end to an otherwise magnificent season for shortstop Josuar González (No. 2 CPL), though it wasn’t the worst game imaginable. González did hit 1-4 with a double (1 of just 2 extra-base hits on the day for San Jose), and drew a walk. But he struck out once and committed 2 costly errors.
After injuries sapped some of his playing time and he cooled off a little at the end of the year, I suppose there’s a chance that González returns to San Jose for the 2027 season, though I certainly think he should be in High-A Eugene.
Nice games to end the season for second baseman Lorenzo Meola (No. 23 CPL), third baseman Dario Reynoso, and first baseman Jeremiah Jenkins. Meola hit 2-4 with a hit by pitch and a strikeout; Reynoso went 3-5 with an error and a strikeout; and Jenkins hit 2-4 with a double, a walk, and 2 strikeouts. I would expect all 3 to be in Eugene when next season gets underway.
The pitching was as bad as it could be, though I suppose that’s hardly surprising. San Jose used their ace, RHP Argenis Cayama (No. 13 CPL) in Tuesday’s no-hitter, and their electric duo of RHP Keyner Martinez (No. 10 CPL) and LHP Leandro Rodriguez were unavailable after pitching on Sunday. Add in the fact that RHP Jackson Flora and LHP Jordan Gottesman were moved up to new levels to end the year (the former to AA and the latter to High-A), and San Jose was thin on options.
They went with LHP Ricardo Estrada, who struggled his way through 2.2 innings. The 24-year old from Mexico gave up 4 hits, including a home run and 2 doubles, while also walking a batter, which tagged him for 3 runs (he did have 4 strikeouts, though).
Estrada, who spent 4 years in the DSL before coming to the states last year, spent all of 2026 with San Jose, where he posted a 4.12 ERA and a 5.77 FIP, with 8.4 strikeouts and 5.1 walks per 9 innings.
From there, things got even worse with the bullpen, with the next 4 arms all giving up multiple runs (RHP Ben Bybee, who allowed a hit and 2 walks in 2.1 innings, had both of his runs be unearned due to the aforementioned shoddy defense).
The lone bright spot on the pitching front was the final arm to take the mound for San Jose: LHP Beau Bryans. Bryans, who was the team’s 7th-round pick in July’s draft, was making his professional debut. It was a very short debut, as he only faced 1 batter, but he struck that batter out!
Welcome to the pros, Beau … now go enjoy the offseason.
Thursday schedule
Sacramento: 6:45 p.m. PT vs. Reno (SP: Duncan Davitt) Richmond: 3:45 p.m. PT vs. Erie (SP: Jackson Flora)
TORONTO, ON - APRIL 16: Giancarlo Stanton #27 of the New York Yankees runs to first base in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on April 16, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Giancarlo Stanton’s less-than-stellar speed is widely known throughout the baseball community. During the Yankees’ pennant run two years ago, Bob Costas went viral in the baseball community for bringing it up at every possible opportunity as the Bombers took on the Kansas City Royals, noting that “it’s not his fault” because repeated lower body injuries had sapped him of his speed and athleticism. Fans of MLB: The Show recognize him as arguably the slowest player in the game, with a speed rating in 2-3 range. And, of course, when we check out the Statcast data, we see that Stanton’s 23.8 ft/s ranks sixth-worst in the league, better only than Sandy León, Jose Trevino, Christian Vázquez, Alejandro Kirk, and Salvador Perez — i.e., five catchers.
Earlier this week, I was scrolling through the Statcast data on Yankees baserunners, and I thought to myself, “Just how fast are these players?
You see, back in high school, I was on the track and cross country teams (if you’re reading this, hi coach!), and because of that, I generally think of sprint speed based on 200, 400, and 800 meter dash times. And so, I decided to take the sprint speeds of a few prominent Yankees — Stanton, Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, Spencer Jones, and George Lombard Jr. — and calculate what their times would be in these races would be.
Realistically, these numbers aren’t perfect — a runner’s times generally don’t scale perfectly linearly, like they do here, because each race requires something different: a 200-meter dash is an all-out sprint, a 400-meter dash is a sprint where you run out of gas midway through and try to die slowly, and an 800-meter dash is the stepchild of a sprint and distance race in which you have to sort of pace yourself, but not too much. For most people, this results not in your personal time increasing linearly, but the initial targets you aim for at the beginning of your career increasing linearly or slighly above linearly (e.g., 30 seconds for the 200, 60 seconds for the 400, and 2 minutes and ten seconds for the 800). Even so, these numbers do tell a bit of a story, particularly when we hone in on the one most comparable to a sprint on the basepaths: the 200-meter dash.
Not surprisingly, the speedsters on the team have phenomenal projected times: 22 seconds would not have qualified for the NCAA championships earlier this year, but was only about a second to a second and a half off the slowest time in the championship race — not bad since, you know, they neither train as sprinters nor wear a track singlet, which is much more conducive to running than a baseball uniform. But this was not all that unexpected, at least to me. What caught my eye, on the other hand, is the player whom I talked about in the introduction, Giancarlo Stanton.
Compared to professional athletes, Stanton is slower than slow. (Although he did steal a base this year!) Compared to the average person, on the other hand? A 27.5-second 200-meter dash time would have been perfectly average in a high school track meet — it certainly wouldn’t get you a medal, but considering the fact that the first major milestone a freshman sprinter aimed for was a 30-second 200, it wouldn’t put you at the back of the pack, either.
Oh, and Stanton is doing this as one of the slowest players in the game, one who jogs more than he runs, using legs that have been hampered by years and years of lower body injuries.
At the end of the day, does this mean all that much? Not really — after all, we’re not competing in professional sports, and professional baseball players don’t train to run on a track. Nonetheless, it’s yet another reminder that, no matter how they might look on television or from the third deck of the ballpark, professional athletes compete at a level that we can barely even fathom.
Feb 16, 2023; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga (34) pitches during spring training workouts. Mandatory Credit: Rich Storry-USA TODAY Sports
The Phillies’ magic number to clinch a playoff spot is six. In theory, four games against a last place Mets team is a great opportunity to lower that number even further. But considering the Phillies’ history – and especially their recent history at Citi Field – does anyone think that this weekend is going to be easy for the Phillies?
The Mets come into the game having lost four in a row, but with no postseason ahead for them, they’ll probably treat this series as their personal playoffs, welcoming a chance to put a damper on the Phillies’ postseason hopes. As poorly as the season has gone for the Mets, they’re schedule to throw viable starters this weekend, and they still have some hitters in their lineup who can make life difficult for Phillies’ pitching.
At least the Phillies won their previous series at Citi Field this season. It’s bad enough going there needing to win a few games, but it would be horrible if they still had that lengthy losing streak at the stadium hanging over their heads.
Opposition research: Kodai Senga
Kodai Senga’s tenure with the Mets hasn’t gone the way they envisioned. He was terrific in his first season after coming over from Japan, going 12-7 with a 2.98 ERA in 2023. Since then, he’s been frequently injured and inconsistent when he has been able to pitch.
He got off to an awful start to 2026, with a 9.00 ERA after five starts, prompting a trip to the Injured List. He wasn’t any better upon returning, giving up eleven runs over his next two starts.
Watching Kodai Senga pitch is a cruel form of torture. He is absolutely awful in every way @Mets
The Mets moved him to the bullpen, and early returns on that move weren’t any better. Finally, in August, with closer Devin Williams going to the Injured List, and Brooks Raley sent to the Phillies (they can have him back), the Mets decided to try Senga as their closer.
Somehow, it seems to have worked. Reducing his pitch arsenal, Senga has been far more effective. He’s racked up the strikeouts and secured his first seven save opportunities.
Kodai Senga sets down the Giants 1-2-3 in the 9th!
That streak ended when he blew one against Pete Alonso and the Orioles. (It’s telling that perhaps the happiest the Citi Field crowd has been all season was when one of their opponents hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning.)
Pete Alonso just demolished his 300th career homer, 414 feet off Kodai Senga. "Pete Alonso!" chants broke out immediately at Citi Field, and Alonso gave a curtain call… in a visiting ballpark. pic.twitter.com/80cihYVWxV
Senga has expressed a desire to move back to the rotation, which may cause tension between him and the Mets this offseason. But for now, the Mets appear to have an actual go-to guy if they’re leading in the ninth inning.
Hating on the Mets
It will be interesting to see if the Mets try to spend their way out of this mess during the offseason. Then again, it’s partly due to the Mets’ high spending ways that we’re likely headed to a lockout next year. It’s one thing to allow your horrible moves to hurt your own team (because Mets fans deserve to suffer), but they’re also hurting the sport itself.
On the other hand, if the Mets want to keep saving the Phillies from making Bo Bichette-level mistakes, I say let them have at it!
Trivia
Last week’s answer: Trea Turner is the only Phillie to have multiple multi-home run games at Truist Field. He hit two in one game on July 5, 2024 and again on June 27, 2025. Nobody came up with the correct answer.
This week’s question: Since Citi Field opened in 2009, two different Phillies players have recorded six RBI in a single game there. Name either of them.
Additional thought about the series
It seems certain that the Phillies will start Aaron Nola, Andrew Painter, and Cristopher Sanchez in three of the games this series. As for the fourth? Your guess is as good as mine.
They might go with a straight bullpen game (didn’t work out so well when they tried that in Atlanta), or call up Nestor Cortes, although he isn’t exactly stretched out and probably can’t be counted on for more than three innings.
Nestor Cortes is in consideration to join the Phillies this weekend in New York.
Here’s how he’s fared in the Minor Leagues so far:
As for other options from the minors, they could try giving Alan Rangel or Brian Keller another try (both have been dreadful since being demoted) or maybe see what Chuck King can do. He was the IronPigs’ pitcher of the year, but that isn’t saying much since he’s a 28-year-old career minor leaguer who had a 3.97 ERA in AAA.
In other words, there are no good choices here! It would be great if the Phillies’ offense could pick up the pitching in that game, but the offense has had plenty of struggles of their own lately.
That bullpen game might be a scheduled loss, but the Phillies hope that Sanchez’s start on Sunday isn’t. They really need their lefthanded ace to move past whatever has ailed him in recent outings and get back to striking everybody out with his changeup.
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX - APRIL 03: Brandon McPherson #35 of the Corpus Christi Hooks pitches during the game between the Frisco RoughRiders and the Corpus Christi Hooks at Whataburger Field on Friday, April 3, 2026 in Corpus Christi, Texas. (Photo by Kyra Blundell/Minor League Baseball via Getty Images)
Another day of minor league baseball is in the books. See the results below.
AAA: Sugar Land Space Cowboys (72-73) lost 5-0 (BOX SCORE)
McPherson started for Sugar Land and went 4.2 innings allowing 3 runs, all unearned. The pen allowed a couple of runs as Las Vegas extended their lead. The offense had a rough night collecting just one hit as Sugar Land fell 5-0.
Note: Schiavone has 30+ HR and 30+ SB this season.
