Category: Baseball

PHOENIX — So much for that.

A day after the Dodgers snapped their season-worst seven-game losing streak, they picked up another “L” on Sunday, losing 4-2 to the Diamondbacks.

Manager Dave Roberts challenged his hitters to play up to their talent level, but what he got was more of the same, as LA was kept in check by Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez.

The Dodgers were limited to two runs and five hits over seven innings by Rodriguez, and they finished the game with six hits.

The two-time defending World Series champions scored seven runs in their three games in Arizona. They have averaged five runs per game, but that number has dropped to 3.2 over their last nine contests.

“I think this series it was very clear that we weren’t hitting the fastball, and we were exposing ourselves to the changeup with the secondary specifically,” Roberts said. 

The Dodgers will start a couple of two-time Cy Young Award winners in Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell over the next two days when they host the Royals, but the quality of their pitching won’t matter if they continue hitting like this.

“Are the Royals going to exploit the fastball that we’re not hitting and the changeup below?” Roberts said. “I don’t know. But we have to make adjustments. I think, for me, that’s sort of what I see as a group — we’re just not making adjustments.”

Justin Wrobleski put the Dodgers in a 4-0 hole after two innings, but the bullpen kept them in the game. With the team down by two runs, Andy Pages led off the eighth inning with a single, only for Freddie Freeman to ground into a double play.

The Dodgers have grounded into 99 double plays this season, the most in the majors.

“It’s baseball, ups and downs,” Freeman said. “We’re just going through it. No one’s worried here.”

Roberts shared his sentiments.

“We’ve still got a really good ballclub,” Roberts said. “There’s certainly [no] panic.”

That doesn’t mean there isn’t urgency.

Following his team’s 2-1, 10-inning win Saturday, Roberts demanded more offensive production.

“I think it’s hard to win when your margin for winning is a razor’s edge,” he said. “It’s not like guys aren’t trying, but it’s a tough way to pitch when you have to be perfect.

“We’re just better than this. As we always say, it’s not a try league. We gotta get it done.” 

Fernando Tatis is hot and the Padres are riding the wave.    In a rubber match affair on Peacock, San Diego won by a final score of 7-2.     The loss means that Houston still hasn’t claimed a series at Petco since 2015.   

It took Tatis until May 30th to register his first home run of the season.    However, after Sunday Night, he now has 11 for the year and has hit 3 home runs in his last 5 games.    In the bottom of the fourth inning, Tatis would deposit a change up from Cristian Javier (L, 1-3) into the left field stands, putting the Padres ahead by a score of 4-2, and they’d never trail again.     For the night, Javier would go five innings, allow 8 hits and 4 earned runs.   

One bright spot in the loss was Daulton Varsho.    Varsho entered Sunday night on a 2-18 skid since joining the club at last week’s deadline.    He would launch his first home run as an Astro with a two out, two-run blast in the top of the 2nd inning.    

The homer brought home Taylor Trammell.     That was really the only costly mistake that pitcher Randy Vasquez (W, 8-6) would make.    Vasquez was pulled after just 62 pitches over the course of 5 innings.    

A pair of former White Sox would do damage in later innings.    In the 6th, Gavin Sheets would launch a solo shot off of AJ Blubaugh.     In the 8th, Austin Hays would connect on a 2-run dinger off Bryan King, which brought in Jase Bowen, making it 7-2.     The Padres would hit 4 home runs on the night.    All runs were scored via the long ball for the ballgame.    San Diego would retire 22 straight Astros hitters.    

In terms of the rotation, Manager Joe Espada indicated that the club for the next couple of weeks would “just kind of go day to day”     Hayden Wesneski will open the Giants series at Oracle Park tomorrow night.    First pitch is set for 8:45 CDT.    Wesneski has won his first two outings since returning from Tommy John surgery.     

Odds & Ends:

All three contests in San Diego were complete sellouts.    Sunday’s crowd was announced at 40,160.  

Christian Walker’s 11-game hitting streak has come to an end.    

Even with the loss, the Astros still maintain their division lead as the Mariners and Rangers each lost on Sunday.    

Billy Amick may not be among the most highly-regarded prospects the Mets acquired in their trade deadline sell-off, but he’s certainly already making a name for himself in the organization.

The power-hitting corner infield prospect has been on an absolute tear with Binghamton since coming over from the Twins as part of the A.J. Minter deal.

Amick launched a three-run shot in the bottom of the sixth on Sunday afternoon, helping the Rumble Ponies to a weekend series sweep and their seventh consecutive victory. 

The youngster also drew a walk and stole his third base of the season.

Amick has now homered five times over his first seven games with the team, driving in 13 runs and racking up an impressive 1.387 OPS over that span.

Two of those home runs came in back-to-back innings on Thursday, giving him his fifth-career multi-homer game. 

Amick has struck out 11 times through 24 AB's, but he's also hitting .333 and has reached at a .429 clip. 

The 23-year-old slugger they call “Billy Barrels” is now up to 28 homers on the Double-A season, which puts him among the top-10 of all minor leaguers. 

While he has some flaws to his game, there’s no denying Amick has some big-time pop. 

It’ll be interesting to keep an eye on how that translates as he continues to progress through the system. 

The Dodgers are a problem.

They’ve won three World Series since 2020, including the last two in a row, and built a roster that keeps pushing the limits of what a superteam looks like. They spend big, develop talent, maintain a deep farm system and just added Tarik Skubal for good measure.

Everyone worries about the Dodgers in October.

The NL West has been dealing with them for much longer.

LA has won 15 division titles since 2000 and 12 of the last 13, with the 107-win Giants of 2021 providing the only interruption.

Way to go, Giants!

This year, LA is 8.5 games ahead of Arizona and 24.5 games ahead of Colorado.

When you share a division with the Dodgers, you don’t get to wait until October to worry about them. You check the standings all summer and, more often than not, there they are at the top.

So let’s combine forces.

Build the NL West superteam!

Take any players currently on the Rockies, Diamondbacks, Giants or Padres, using the current FanGraphs depth charts, and build a 26-man roster.

The first goal: beat the Dodgers’ current fWAR total.

The rule: spend less than their current 26-man roster.

Spotrac lists the Dodgers’ total 2026 payroll at $312,015,118. For this exercise, we’re only counting the salaries of the 26 players currently listed on the FanGraphs depth chart.

Here’s the target:

Los AngelesDodgers

I understand the Dodgers’ injured list is basically a superteam of its own — Will Smith, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow aren’t even included here, and Shohei Ohtani can pitch. But we’re taking one exact slice in time: the 26 players on the Dodgers’ roster right now.

Using the Dodgers’ current FanGraphs depth chart for fWAR and Spotrac for 2026 payroll salary:

Starting lineup

Bench

Rotation

Bullpen

Dodgers 26-man fWAR: 31.8

Dodgers 26-man payroll salary: $229,724,327

Build 26 players from the other four NL West teams. Stay below $229.72 million and, as a first measure, get above 31.8 fWAR.

Then comes the more interesting question: Is your roster actually built to beat the Dodgers in October?

fWAR is a good checkpoint, but a short series brings matchups, bullpen leverage, defense, speed, platoon advantages and roster flexibility into the equation. A lower-fWAR player can still make sense if his skill set gives you a better chance against this particular opponent.

Build the 26 you’d want to take down LA.

And yes, more Rockies gets extra credit.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks! 

Athletics' shortstop Jacob Wilson just engraved his name into Major League Baseball history books, breaking an all-time record at his position.

In the the A's 4-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, Aug. 9, Wilson extended his 2026 streak of consecutive games without an error to 71. But his errorless streak dates back further than the start of this season. Wilson has now played 111 consecutive games without an error, breaking the all-time MLB record for shortstops.

The 24-year-old surpassed former Baltimore Orioles shortstop Mike Bordick, who set the errorless record in the 2002 season in games played between April 11 and Sept. 29.

Bordick had 544 consecutive errorless chances while Wilson's streak is at 323. The A's shortstop committed his last error in a 6-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants on July 6, 2025.

J WILLY DOESN'T MISS.

Jacob Wilson now holds the record for the longest errorless streak by a shortstop in Major League history! pic.twitter.com/YpYmDh1u6C

— Athletics (@Athletics) August 9, 2026

“It’s a special day for me, but at the end of the day, we got our first series win in a long time against a great opponent,” Wilson told reporters after the game. “We’ve got to keep that ball rolling.”

On a day where Wilson etched his name into baseball history, his focus was on the team performance.

The A's snapped a 12-series losing streak which was tied for second longest in team history. Their longest streak was between May 22 and July 26, 1979 where the club lost 14-consecutive series going 0-19-1 over a 20-game stretch.

Wilson finished the game going 1-for-4.

For the third consecutive series, the Giants have won the opener and lost the last two. 

While quality pitching, along with some shoddy defense, couldn’t sustain itself over the entire game on Saturday, blame for Sunday’s extra inning 3-1 loss rests solely on the shoulders of San Francisco’s hitters. 

After Willy Adames’s 5th inning solo shot on Friday night, the offense had laid nothing but eggs against Detroit pitchers. Jackson Jobe and Co. held them scoreless yesterday. A couple of fortunate breaks on balls in play and a throwing error helped the Giants complete their only circuit of the bases against a dominant Troy Melton (fun fact: he’s a former teammate with Casey Schmitt at SDSU). But when the game came down to the wire, the final 7 hitters from the 8th to the 10th innings did this: ground into a bases loaded double play, then strike out six times. 

Over the last 21 innings of this series, the offense scored just one run.

A run that was nearly enough for Logan Webb, who stifled a hot Tigers team over 8 innings. The work was fast too. Webb pitched at a brutal pace and attacked the zone with 66% strike-percentage. From his main trio of offerings, the sweeper was Sunday’s star. He leaned on it heavily on his first trip down the order, and overall, nearly half (14 of 30) of his breaking balls went for called strikes. Clearly Detroit hitters were sitting on the change-up and sinker and Webb played coy with those main offerings, withholding them early in the count, feathering them in more and more the deeper he got into the game.   

Webb’s outing was a masterclass in control and a middle finger to the present epoch of powerball throwing. He struck out only one batter, earned just 3 swings-and-misses. That miniscule whiff total doesn’t matter when you nab 24 called strikes. He’s throwing bricks anyway, they’ve got a larger surface area than a baseball so contact is easier, but boy does it suck to hit. Just ask Kevin McGonigle how his hands feel after putting this 2-2 sinker into play.

While Webb arguably won the game within the game against Melton, he did flinch first. Or rather the defense behind him flinched first. Two ground balls off the bats of Zach McKinstry and McGonigle wriggled under gloves and found their way into the outfield to put runners on the corners for their first scoring opportunity of the game. They’d squeeze out a run when Gleyber Torres rolled into a double play, and the inning ended soon after with a weak bloop out in foul territory. While first blood came in the 6th — as it did with Roupp vs. Jobe — it’s tough to pin the damage on Webb considering he allowed three ground balls and a pop up in the frame. So it goes for a man who lives and dies by the ball in play. 

Webb would stick around for two more innings of work. He’d bag his lone strikeout of the day in the 7th, give up his lone extra basehit and then strand that runner at second in the 8th, keeping the game tied at one run apiece. 

He, and Dylan Smith, who struck out the side in the 9th, did everything within their power to make this a winnable game for the Giants. The bats just couldn’t muster another run. 

A large part of that was thanks to opposing arm, Troy Melton. 

After making his season debut on May 24th, (right elbow inflammation made him miss the first couple months) right-hander Melton owns the lowest ERA among starters in the Majors. He had put together scoreless 7 IP performances in his past two starts, and going into Sunday, opponents were hitting .169 off of him with a .191 BABIP. Though he throws hard and leans on his four-seam fastball a lot, he doesn’t rely on the strikeout. He can rear back and gun it when he needs to, but similar to Webb, it’s weak contact and low walk rates that keep him out of trouble. Tunneling the cutter off his four-seamer has been a recipe for success — it also helps that he’s got a bunch of other stuff in his back pocket. He got Devers multiple times swinging over a splitter. He dropped a couple of curveballs into the zone just for fun. 

Melton held the Giants scoreless for six frames. They weren’t all peaches and cream. Drew Gilbert ripped a two-out triple in the 2nd. Back-to-back lead-off singles by Adames and Devers had the Giants within shouting distance of home in the 4th. But Melton dug deep and dispatched Basabe on four pitches, buzzing him with a knee high 98 MPH four-seam for a strike three that so confused the second baseman that he challenged the call.

Gilbert, who had a solid game at the plate, scooped a 1-2 cutter out to right fielder Zach McKinstry who hosed Adames with a perfect throw. 

The Giants wouldn’t get another runner on base against Melton until Devers’s next AB in the 7th when he led off the frame by flipping a cutter into shallow left field.

Off the bat, Devers watched rather than ran, thinking it’d float foul, but not only did the wind push the ball back into play, it found safe pastures between two oncoming defenders.   

The single could’ve been a double, but it really should’ve been an out. Tough beans for Melton who got pulled after the hit, and credit the Giants, specifically Basabe, for making it count. 

Against reliever Kyle Finnegan, Basabe would make up for Devers lack of hustle by beating out a potential double play ball. He then swiped second base and advanced to third on an overthrow by back-up catcher Valencia, setting him up to tie the game on Gilbert’s soft grounder to third. 

That run was the team’s first in 18 scoreless innings, and while he wasn’t on the mound when it happened, the run snapped Melton’s streak of 19 scoreless innings pitched. 

After Webb kept Detroit off the board in the 8th, the Giants appeared to have the momentum with a couple more lucky breaks on balls in play. Christian Koss’s line drive just eeked over the glove of Torres to lead off the 8th against lefty Drew Sommer. Bryce Eldridge then fought a hand-numbing fastball off his handle for an infield single. A crappy at-bat from Jung Hoo Lee, including two failed bunt attempts, was redeemed by Willy Adames working a walk to load the bases and force a runner over to third with less than two outs. 

But the river of cheap hits ran dry, and Detroit’s big southpaw prevailed, getting Devers to ground into an inning-ending double play while keeping the go-ahead run off the board.

There wouldn’t be another ball put in play for the Giants.

Not so for the Tigers.

Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow made his second minor league rehab start this week, throwing 47 pitches in 2 2/3 innings on Sunday night for Triple-A Oklahoma City on the road against the Salt Lake Bees, an Angels affiliate.

Glasnow struck out two and allowed a run on one hit and one walk. The run came on a wild pitch in the first inning. Both baserunners against him stole second base, one each in the first two innings, a classic case of a rehabbing pitcher paying almost no attention to baserunners while trying to reach a specific goal.

Glasnow on Sunday averaged 95.9 mph on his 17 four-seam fastballs and induced five swinging strikes in his outing, starting on four days rest for the first time since July 23, 2025 with the Dodgers.

On Tuesday for Class-A Ontario, Glasnow needed only 16 pitches to complete two frames, and manager Dave Roberts told reporters that day at Wrigley Field in Chicago that Glasnow completed a third simulated inning in the bullpen following that first rehab start.

The plan is for Glasnow to stretch out to at least four innings before the Dodgers make a determination of his readiness to return to the major league rotation. His last start for the Dodgers was May 6, out the last three months with back spasms.

Dodgers rehabbing starting pitchers this week were matched up with other major league starters multiple times. Glasnow on Tuesday with Ontario pitched against Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove, and Nick Pivetta also pitched for Lake Elsinore later in that game as well. Blake Snell in his final rehab start on Tuesday also went up against Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who started again on Sunday against Glasnow.

Snell is slated to return to the Dodgers rotation on Tuesday against the Kansas City Royals at Dodger Stadium, after three months of his own on the injured list.

There’s no denying the Yankees lineup is a mess.

But if their batting order gets it together in time for October, Cam Schlittler showed again in Sunday’s 2-1, 10-inning loss to Atlanta that he looks to be up to the task of shutting down a postseason-worthy lineup.

And that’s whether he’s at home or away from the Stadium.

After a poor performance in his last start, which came in The Bronx against St. Louis, Schlittler, unprompted, said, “Things have been a lot easier on the road. I feel like I’ve been dominant on the road and haven’t been able to do that here. And it’s frustrating. At some point, we’ve got to make an adjustment, and I’ve got to perform in front of the fans.”

Heading into Sunday, Schlittler was 8-2 with a 1.10 ERA in 14 road starts on the season, compared to 2-4 with a 4.32 ERA in 10 starts at the Stadium.

Versus Atlanta, Schlittler rebounded from what Aaron Boone called “arguably his worst” start of what’s been an outstanding season.

Coming back from a start in which Schlittler allowed a season-high five walks — as well as four runs — in just three innings against the Cardinals in a home loss, he returned to ace-like form in The Bronx against the Braves on Sunday, giving up one run in seven innings, while striking out 11 and not walking a batter.

“There’s a big chance that stuff is a coincidence,’’ Schlittler said of the difference in performance away from home compared to the Stadium.

Asked why this one may have been different, Schlittler said, “I was more locked in. It was a day game against a really good team and was able to limit distractions.”

But he wasn’t able to help the Yankees get a victory.

Because of the Yankees’ continued struggles to score runs, Schlittler found out that even though he was just one pitch away from a masterpiece, it was enough to put the team in a hole.

He whiffed five of the first six batters he faced, overpowering Atlanta’s lineup with fastballs.

The right-hander pitched around a leadoff double by Mike Yastrzemski in the third and had struck out Matt Olson twice in his first two at-bats.

After sticking to the outside part of the plate in the first- and fourth-inning matchups with Olson, Schlittler changed up his approach a bit in the seventh. Schlittler fell behind 2-0 with a pair of sinkers, before leaving a 100 mph four-seamer over the middle of the plate.

Olson hammered it out to right-center for the game’s first run.

“He was able to clip it,’’ Schlittler said.

But as far as the rest of the 25-year-old’s performance went on another sweltering day at the Stadium, the Yankees were encouraged.

“Cam was dominant,’’ Boone said. “Up there with as good as he’s been all year, which is saying something. He was excellent.”

He had double-digit strikeouts for the third time this season. Each time he’s accomplished the feat, he’s done so without issuing a walk.

“I tried to be more locked in and in control of what I can control,’’ Schlittler said. “I had a good mentality and routine.”

He just couldn’t help the Yankees lineup.

The trade deadline has come and gone, with minimal change. Did their opponents pass the Diamondbacks with their trades and moves?

C. Wesley Baier: I might be one of the few online pundits to have had a positive take on the trade deadline. I don’t think the Dbacks NEEDED to make a move. Skubal and Mize haven’t made a difference for the Dodgers and Padres yet. I think they’re still in a strong position to make the playoffs.

Makakilo: With the Cubs solidly in the first NL Wild Card position, the Diamondbacks are fighting for the second and third Wild Cards. At the trade deadline, the Padres, Phillies, and Pirates made more positive impact than the Diamondbacks, but the Pirates are 5 games down & look to be out of the race. The Diamondbacks will have pitchers returning from the injured list. All things considered, three teams have about-the-same chances at the last two NL Wild cards: The Diamondbacks, the Phillies, and the Padres.

Spencer: I think the Cubs got significantly better (pending health). I think the Padres did well enough considering their money isssues. I still like our chances.

Ben: I liked the moves the Cubs and Padres made to their pitching staff, but I’m less impressed by the approach the Phillies and the Pirates took. I think we all knew that Hazen was going to mostly stand pat and hope that the injured players the team has would be the final boost needed to reach the postseason. That bet might pay off eventually, but the expected news of AJ Puk being shut down for the season certainly hurt, as does Paul Seward suddenly becoming a massive liability.

ISH95: I wouldn’t say they passed, necessarily. The Padres may have, but the Cubs already were ahead of us, and honestly so were the Phillies. Personally, I think an argument could be made the Arraez trade was actually a loss for the Phillies because it moved Harper back to the outfield, but that’s neither here nor there. So no, I don’t think the road forward has changed much.

Justin: Yeah, they definitely did more and had better deadlines. It is what it is.

Are you happy with Nootbar joining the team? Will he help fill one of the many needs the team had going into the deadline?

C. Wesley Baier: Not happy it cost Sandro Santana and Daniel Eagen, but he filled a need, and it appears he brought good vibes to the clubhouse too.

Makakilo: Although he is a left-handed batter that the Dbacks needed, my initial impression was disappointment. Perhaps my impression was too hasty. Jim McLennan pointed to an X post that stated that Nootbar is better than 66% of batters in creating bases. Baseball Savant shows that he will stress opponents’ pitchers with his 87th percentile Chase rate and 73rd percentile Whiff rate. This season, his defense in left field is perhaps slightly above average (+1 OAA & -1 DRS). His last season of arbitration is 2027, which may or may not have value.

Spencer: Honestly he’s long been a player I haven’t loved and found overhyped. Early returns with him in Sedona Red have that opinion changing. I hope he fits a good niche.

Ben: Unless he can also pitch, he will likely not fill all of the holes the team had prior to the Deadline. I think he’s a solid pickup who has always oozed promise and enough team control to make it possible for him to achieve it. But he’s yet another outfielder on a team that has as many as five and maybe even six possible players roaming the grass on the roster in Carroll, Waldschmidt, Troy, Kepler, Barrosa, and eventually Gurriel Jr. Those final three are all non-tender candidates for next year, but that’s not the case for the other three. Now, it’s possible some or one of them could be flipped to shore up another area of the roster, but as it stands, it could get complicated.

ISH95: I’m not not happy. I’m just not thrilled about it either. Nootbar is exactly the kind of subverting expectations move Hazen loves to play with filling a need, so it doesn’t surprise me, but he’s just kind of there. Not much different than Max Kepler, but hasn’t been given a ban from the post season. So that’s a plus I guess?

Justin: I don’t really have an opinion. He’s a new Dback so Go Nootbar.

How much will not winning the series against the Padres come back to haunt the Diamondbacks?

C. Wesley Baier: Too early to tell. Find out in September.

Makakilo: As of the morning of 8 August, the Padres were 2 games behind the Diamondbacks. These two teams play a 3-game series at the end of September. The winner of that series will have the tiebreaker (more wins when these two teams played). Although every win is great, my optimism is at a reasonable level that the Diamondbacks will edge out the Padres for a NL Wild Card position.

Spencer: It won’t.

Ben: While splitting the series with the Padres certainly hurts, I think going 0-3 against the Cubs and Mariners (so far) will prove to be more critical than the Padres series. I’m just thankful they’ve finally been able to beat up on the Rockies – something the team has struggled to do in the past.

ISH95: Of course, we won’t know the answer to this until either the end of the season or the Diamondbacks clinch a postseason berth, but missing an opportunity to make it so going 1-2 in the final series against the Padres gives you the tie breaker is a big loss. We’ve seen how all-important those tie breakers can be, and making it harder to get one is unfortunate.

Justin: Going into that series I honestly looked at it as “4 games off their calendar” if we split. Which we did.

The Dodgers are in freefall. Is there hope that we might avoid a threepeat?

C. Wesley Baier: No hope at all, but the division might be in play now.

Makakilo: My series preview pointed to favorable pitching matchups (based on July/August performance) and that in some games the Dodgers don’t score enough runs (and look at their negative point differential in their losing streak). As I write, the Diamondbacks have won the first game of the series, which is reason to continue my optimism.

Spencer: No. Their entire team is designed to have a really good April and September-October. They are right on track.

Ben: While the odds are certainly high on the Dodgers, the oddsmakers are still favoring the field over LA, which isn’t shocking given how strong the NL is this year. We’ve all also been witnesses to the randomness that playoff baseball can be so I think there’s an excellent chance we avoid it – and thank goodness we can.

ISH95: Maybe I just grew up reading too many Gandalf the Grey speeches, but there is always hope. Anything can happen in a seven game series, and even superteams can go cold at the wrong time. At the end of the day, however, this is nothing more than a reminder that they are in fact humans, but nothing changes beyond that. They are still the team to beat, still the standard, and still probably going to win the World Series.

PHOENIX — Just a week ago, the Los Angeles Dodgers fought back against the belief that they automatically wrapped up their third consecutive World Series championship at the trade deadline with the acquisition of Tarik Skubal.

These days, the Dodgers are battling the idea that they’re suddenly an old, broken-down team that will have to fight for its lives just to win the NL West.

Funny what eight losses in nine games, including 15 of the last 24, can do to your perception.

"There’s no concern in here," Dodgers veteran All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman said Sunday after the Dodgers’ 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. "We’re a good team."

Any more questions?

The standings will show that the Dodgers (70-48) still have a comfortable 7 ½-game lead in the NL West over Arizona. They have the third-best record in the National League. And they are on pace to win 96 games, three more than a year ago, when they won their third World Series title in five years.

But yet, this is the same team that has been nothing more than mediocre for nearly two months, going 21-21 since June 19.

Is there any concern, bordering on panic?

"Well, I don’t think there’s any concern," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "We still got a really good ballclub. There’s certainly not panic.

"I think for us, it’s just finding a way to win a game, and win consistently. I think that’s the focus versus, you know, what type of emotions you’re feeling. That’s just not helpful, regardless."

Stop us if you’ve heard this before: Craig Kimbrel is back in the Major Leagues.

The well-traveled righty is joining the Royals, who will be his 12th MLB team, according to The Post’s Jon Heyman.

Once Kimbrel does get on the mound in Kansas City, he will then have pitched for more organizations than all but five pitchers in MLB history.

Edwin Jackson and Rich Hill both toed the mound for 14 teams each, while Octavio Dotel and Roosevelt Davis pitched for 13 teams apiece.

Kimbrel, a nine-time All-Star, turned 38 back in May and has made 33 Major League appearances in relief this season for the Mets and Rays, respectively, the former of whom oversaw 14.

He initially signed with the Mets on a minor league deal in January and put up a 6.00 ERA with the team, subsequently clearing waivers on May 25 after being designated for assignment days earlier.

He signed with the Rays on May 26 and recorded a 3.06 ERA until he was designated for assignment one day before the trade deadline on August 2. He cleared waivers again on August 6.

Kimbrel, who has a career ERA of 2.67, has put together a 4.78 ERA across 104 games played with five teams following his last All-Star bid in 2023.

At his peak, he was a fringe Cy Young contender, recording top-five finishes in 2012 and 2013 while closing for the Braves, and accumulating five seasons where he placed in top-10 of Cy Young voting, the last of which came in 2017 while with the Red Sox.

Once one of the most feared closers in baseball — with 440 career saves, fifth-most in MLB history — Kimbrel is looking to extend his career for one more run, joining the 49-70 Royals, who are 10.5 games out of playoff contention.

Kimbrel won a World Series title with Boston in 2018 and was part of a deep run more recently in 2023, where he and the Phillies pushed the Diamondbacks to a seven-game series in the NLCS.

Baseball feels more organic when Nancy Faust is in a booth with an organ. Her presence in the ballpark this afternoon, which precluded the usual barrage of pop songs, crowd-stimulating noises, and things that my dad would refer to as “canned bullshit,” set the tone for what turned out to be an improbably fun day at the ballpark as the White Sox staked themselves a season-high four-game lead in the AL Central with a 5-2 win over the Guardians.

This is a Sox team that has made its hay with youthful energy. But even without the thumping bass that typically blasts from Rate Field’s PA system, the action on the field and the feeling in the stands was as vibrant as ever. When it appeared that Cleveland would put a damper on the 30,000 strong crowd’s supportive push with three straight hits and two runs against Davis Martin to open the game, the Sox responded with three consecutive hits of their own to start their part of the action.

The Sox only managed to get one run out of their hit parade, though. For a moment, when Guardians starter Joey Cantillo punched out three consecutive hitters to escape the early jam, it seemed as if the building momentum had been stifled.

Then the tarps came out.

One two-hour rain delay later, it felt like it didn’t matter. When Tim Herrin took the ball for Cleveland in relief of Cantillo, it was a whole new ballgame. Herrin did his job, but his successor Craig Yoho couldn’t. For the second straight day, the Guardians had grabbed themselves a 2-0 lead before falling victim to a big crooked number from the South Siders. After taking an inning to warm up, Miguel Vargas, Randal Grichuk and Braden Montgomery all reached base in succession with two outs before the other Montgomery broke things open with one swing of the bat.

For most of the last half-decade, the thought of 20,000 Sox fans waiting out a two-hour rain delay while trailing would have been nigh-unthinkable. The ones who stood tall through the pause were also rewarded by witnessing Hagen Smith’s long-awaited big league debut. He lived up to every bit of the scouting report, throwing just 25 of 48 pitches for strikes (and even fewer in the zone) and walking four over two innings. He also struck out three, drew whiffs on 33% of the swings against him, and kept the opponent off the board long enough for the Sox offense to take control of the game.

That’s not a location chart that’s going to get it done long-term, but he got away with it today, which is hard to be mad about in a big league debut. Despite having all pitched just yesterday, Sean Newcomb, Bryan Hudson and Jordan Hicks once against answered the bell with aplomb, keeping Cleveland off the board for three more innings.

One critical piece of last night’s bullpen picture was missing, as Grant Taylor was clearly unavailable, leaving Trevor Richards to handle the ninth inning. As Richards walked two of the first three hitters he saw in the ninth inning, flashbacks circulated of the righthander’s two-for-one blown save(s) in Boston earlier this week.

Magnifying the unease was the man who stepped to the plate as the tying run as a wild pitch sent the baserunners to second and third.

They’re playing Cleveland. You already know who it was.

Maybe this Sox team really is different. Perhaps the ghosts of Josh Naylor have been exorcised. Richards stiffened his back and got José Ramírez to fly out to Brenton Doyle in center field, allowing a meaningless run to cross over in the process. It subsequently took just a single pitch to get Rhys Hoskins to sail one straight into Braden Montgomery’s glove, securing a 5-3 win for the good guys, and a four-game lead over both the Guardians and the Twins. Detroit now occupies second place alone at 58-60, 3 ½ games behind.

If the conclusion to this week’s series in Boston felt like a missed opportunity to make a statement that this isn’t a team that’s going to go away down the stretch, I’d gauge that this weekend did well to compensate. The Sox offense has been touch-and-go as the league enters a sudden dead-ball era, the way the offense and pitching alternated picking up each other’s slack over the course of these three games was encouraging in the big picture. Nobody’s going to mistake the White Sox for a juggernaut, but with Smith and Tanner McDougal — who appeared ready to make his own debut had Richards not been able to work out of his own jam — providing real bullpen upside, I’d have a pretty big pit in my stomach if I was a rival AL Central team.

The Sox have a rest day at home tomorrow before welcoming the Cincinnati Reds for three games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. It would be prudent for them to use that rest day wisely, as this series also kicks off a stretch of 16 consecutive game days, a gauntlet that could very well decide the fate of the division.

The highly-anticipated Pope Hat giveaway set for Tuesday night has already sold out, and the thought of newly-minted ace Sean Burke toeing the rubber with 40,000 Catholics-for-a-night roaring behind them in pursuit of an extended division lead can’t help but tickle the imagination. That’ll be followed up on Wednesday with Luis Castillo’s second turn through the rotation on the South Side, with Thursday’s starter yet to be announced. The first two are set for 6:40 p.m. CT, while Thursday is a 1:10 matinee contest.

MVP
Colson Montgomery: 1-for-3, HR, 3 RBI

Runners-Up
The Bullpen: 8 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 7 BB, 8 SO
Brenton Doyle: 2-for-5, 2B, R

Cold Cat
Luisangel Acuña: 0-for-4, 2 K

Runners-Up
Davis Martin: IP, 2 H, 2 ER, BB
Braden Montgomery: 0-for-3, BB, 3 SO, 4 LOB

The Cubs activated right-hander Ethan Roberts off the injured list and assigned him to Iowa.

Right-hander Vince Reilly was moved from Triple-A Iowa to Double-A Knoxville.

Iowa Cubs

The Iowa Cubs were one-hit by Indianapolis (Pirates), 2-0.

Josh Fleming started for the I-Cubs and took the loss after allowing one run on four hits over three innings. Fleming struck out two and walked no one, although he did hit one batter.

Shelby Miller started a rehab assignment in his first appearance of the year. Miller pitched one inning and allowed one run on two hits. He struck out two and walked no one.

Hoby Milner then pitched the next two innings in another rehab appearance and was strong, giving up no runs on just one hit. Milner struck out one and walked no one.

Second baseman Ben Cowles had the only Iowa hit in the second inning. He was 1 for 2 with a walk and a steal.

Kevin Alcántara went 0 for 3, ending his 42-game on-base streak.

Knoxville Smokies

The Knoxville Smokies were put out by the Chattanooga Lookouts (Reds), 6-5.

Kevin Valdez was outstanding for six innings, giving up just one unearned run on three hits. Valdez struck out six and walked just one.

The bullpen, however, was not outstanding. Marino Santy gave up three runs on the seventh and while Grayson Moore retired the side in order in the eighth, he opened the ninth with a single, a strikeout and a walk.

With runners on first and second, one out and a one-run lead, Frankie Scalzo Jr. was summoned from the pen. Scalzo retired no one, allowing a single, a bases-loaded RBI hit batter and then a walk-off RBI single.

Left fielder Carter Trice hit a solo home run in the fourth inning, his 13th on the season. Trice was 1 for 3 with a walk.

Shortstop Karson Simas went 2 for 4 with a steal. He scored one run and had one run batted in.

Center fielder Kane Kepley went 1 for 3 with two walks. He stole his first two bases in Double-A as well, giving him 52 on the year. Kepley scored twice and had one run batted in.

South Bend Cubs

The South Bend Cubs creamed the Cedar Rapids Kernels (Twins), 13-1 in a game that ended in the eight inning because of “inclement weather.”

Ethan Flanagan pitched the first four innings and surrendered one run on three hits. Flanagan walked three and struck out five.

Adam Stone pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning and got the win because Flanagan didn’t go five. Stone did not have a strikeout.

Cole Reynolds got the three-inning save, allowing no runs on two hits. Reynolds struck out one, walked one and hit one.

First baseman Josiah Hartshorn hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning. It was his 13th with South Bend and 18th overall. Hartshorn went 2 for 4 with a double, the home run and a walk. Hartshorn also stole a base. He scored two runs.

Center fielder Alexey Lumpuy was 3 for 5 with two steals and three runs scored.

DH Logan Poteet was 2 for 5 with two RBI.

Right fielder Geuri Lubo went 1 for 2 with a walk, a sac fly and three RBI. He scored one run.

Catcher (and 20th-round pick) Brennan Hudson got his first pro hit. Hudson doubled in a run in the third inning. He was 1 for 3 with a walk.

Everyone in the South Bend lineup had at least one hit.

Hudson’s first pro hit.

Hartshorn hammers it.

Myrtle Beach Pelicans

The Myrtle Beach Pelicans netted the Columbia Fireflies (Royals), 10-1.

Starter Anhuar Garcia pitched four innings, allowing just one unearned run on two hits. He struck out seven and walked just one, but he did hit one batter.

Next, David Bracho pitched three scoreless innings and got the win. He allowed two hits. He struck out two and walked no one.

Right fielder Ethan Conrad hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning, his fourth with the Pelicans and fifth overall. He also had a three-run double in the fourth inning, giving him six total RBI in the game. Conrad was 3 for 6.

Second baseman Fernando Cruz doubled twice and had four hits in a 4 for 5 game. Cruz scored two runs and had one RBI.

Left fielder Derik Alcántara was 3 for 5. He scored twice and drove in one.

Center fielder Caden Sorrell went 2 for 5 with a double, a walk and a steal. He scored one run.

Conrad’s three-run double.

Conrad’s home run.

Billy Amick has already made a name for himself. 

The Mets prospect has continued his tear in Double-A since joining the Mets organization, hitting his fifth home run in seven games in the Rumble Ponies’ 4-3 win over the Hartford Yard Goats on Sunday. 

The infielder joined the Mets organization on July 31 when he was acquired as part of the deal that sent pitcher A.J. Minter to the Twins.

His three-run blast on Sunday came in the sixth inning and broke a 1-1 tie that put the Rumble Ponies up 4-1 at the time. He also has 13 RBIs for the Rumble Ponies.

The home run hit by the man they call “Billy Barrels” went far over the wall in left field and he now has 28 home runs at the Double-A level in 2026. 

“It was a fun week for sure. Everybody was getting on base and we were all having good at-bats,” Amick said while being interviewed on the field after the game. “Everything kind of came together. Ended up with six wins, so that’s all you can ask for.” 

Amick was given not one but two postgame Gatorade showers in celebration of his home run. 

The 23-year-old was been taken by the Twins in the second round of the 2024 MLB Draft and he played for both Clemson and Tennessee in college. 

He was limited to just 59 games in 2025 due to injuries. 

The Rumble Ponies have won seven games in a row and will be off Monday before they start a six-game series with Portland.

Record: 63-56. Pace: 86-76. Change on 2025: +6.

Not sure if we have a guest recap today. I didn’t hear back from the scheduled recapper, and didn’t see them in the GDT either. So just in case, I’m going to throw up a quick one for now: if a proper recap shows up, this one can quietly wander off into the sunset. I think it’s definitely worth marking the fact that today was the first time since 2018 that the D-backs have won the season series over the Dodgers. Now, it’s still highly likely to be nothing more than a moral triumph. Los Angeles are still 7.5 games ahead of Arizona, so there’s unlikely to be any need for any tie-breaker. But it still indicates this team is certainly playing them tougher than some previous years.

And few players deserve that “tougher” label than Eduardo Rodriguez, who threw 115 pitches over seven innings of two-run ball. It was certainly needed, on a day where the team effectively had four relievers off the board. That was a full ten pitches more than any Arizona starter this year. The last time any D-back threw more was more than nine years ago, Robbie Ray tossing 122 on June 30, 2017. [Of course, Randy Johnson passed that number on an almost everyday basis: twenty-one times in both 1999 and 2001] E-Rod scattered five hits and two walks, with nine strikeouts and improved his record for the year to 11-4.

The offense jumped out on Justin Wrobleski early, putting up a crooked number in both the first and second innings. After a Geraldo Perdomo walk to start the game for the D-backs, Ketel Marte cranked his twentieth home-run of the year into the left-field bleachers, for a quick 2-0 lead. In the second frame, a Ryan Waldschmidt bunt [let’s take the arguments as read, shall we?] caused an error which brought home a run, and a Corbin Carroll double gave Arizona a 4-0 advantage. The offense largely shut up shop thereafter. They went 0-for-14 against the Los Angeles bullpen, and were 0-for-7 with RISP. But it was definitely a case of “good enough.”

The Dodgers pulled runs back in the third and sixth, but a Freddie Freeman double-play in the eighth, when he represented the tying run, was the end of their real threat. Kevin Ginkel, much-maligned in some quarters, came in for the ninth, notched a 1-2-3 inning with two K’s for his first save of the year, reducing his season ERA to 3.60 – pretty respectable, I’d say. There should be some relief (literally) arriving for the team, with the news the D-backs have signed Zack Littell, the former Nats pitcher, likely to act as a long-man in the bullpen. They just have to pay the prorated MLB minimum, Washington covering the rest.

Click here for details, at Fangraphs.com
Spiderman: Eduardo Rodriguez, +23 %
Mary Jane: Ketel Marte, +14%
The Green Goblin: Corbin Carroll, -11%

Comment of the Thread to Roy Batty, for his empathy with the lifestyles of the rich and famous.

We’ll be cheering on the Astros tonight, since they face the Padres. A win for Houston would put Arizona two games clear of San Diego, though just about everyone else involved in the NL wild-card race won today. Tomorrow, the Rockies come to town for a three-game set, with the first pitch at 6:40 pm. The game looks to see the return of Michael Soroka, so I hope he can continue the fine form he showed before having to go on the injured list. See you there!