San Diego’s clubhouse was somber, with players reflecting on the season after exchanging handshakes and hugs.
“They are so special,” Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. said about his team after going 1 for 3 with a home run and a walk. “We went through so many ups and downs this year. We became one (after) we went through every battle and just stuck together. It was an enjoyable group to play baseball with.”
The Padres showed some fight late in the game with the outcome still in doubt.
All-Star closer Mason Miller avoided disaster in the seventh inning. The Brewers produced a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases before infielder Cooper Pratt lined out to center field, allowing Miller and the Padres to escape the inning.
Miller threw 13 strikes in 21 pitches, allowing two hits while striking out one in the inning.
"We had a couple of big pitches and a couple of big swings that didn't quite go our way," Padres general manager A.J. Preller said. "I thought Manny's ball was going out tonight."
Machado also appeared confident that the ball was headed over the fence, dropping his bat and blowing his bubble gum before it was denied by Mitchell at the wall.
It was a déja vú moment for Machado, who had a home run ball robbed by Adam Jones in a memorable World Baseball Classic moment nine years earlier in the same ballpark.
Milwaukee rode starter Robert Gasser and reliever Aaron Ashby for most of the game to help preserve its arms for the NLCS against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who advanced by beating the Atlanta Braves Wednesday.
Ashby finished with three strikeouts while throwing 22 strikes in 38 pitches across three scoreless innings. He replaced Gasser, who pitched the first four innings of the game.
Gasser, a former Padre, allowed three hits and an earned run while striking out three in 56 pitches across four innings.
"You’re not going to win it every year," Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove said. “Only one team can win it. … It never feels good (to be eliminated from the playoffs) but I guess as time passes and you gather your thoughts, you can look back at the positives of the season.”
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - OCTOBER 06: Yoshinobu Yamamoto #18 of the Los Angeles Dodgers prepares to pitch during the fifth inning against the Atlanta Braves in game three of the National League Division Series at Truist Park on October 06, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Roberts wasn’t thrilled with the Dodgers’ offensive effort in Game 2 of the National League Division Series, a 3-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves. So, with the series tied and his team set to face one of the best pitchers in the sport, the manager wanted to send his hitters a message.
“It was just to kind of try to put them in a mindset that it’s an elimination game, to challenge them to be more exhausted emotionally because they’re playing every single pitch,” Roberts said. “I wanted Chris Sale to know he was in a fight. I think we accomplished that.”
Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s latest brilliant postseason start on Tuesday earned the praise of Gabe Lacques of USA Today, who notes how Yamamoto is earning his place alongside many notable historical postseason stalwarts.
“Yama is the Dodgers’ rock and his three-year exploits – a 2.14 ERA, 58 strikeouts to 13 walks in 63 innings – are, era-adjusted, growing just as impressive as the Koufaxes and Pettittes and Bumgarners,” Lacques wrote.
DENVER, CO - AUGUST 31: A general view as Hunter Goodman #15 of the Colorado Rockies bats against Cade Povich #37 of the Baltimore Orioles in the first inning at Coors Field on August 31, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Good morning!
With the Division Series in full swing, we’ve have entered their slowest news cycle portion of the year for non-playoff teams. Most of the focus is, rightfully, on the exciting and meaningful games being played each night to electric crowds.
Keeping up with the games each day is enough work all on its own!
Around the edges, though, we cand start to see talk of plans for next years team as well as the tail end of retrospectives on 2026 around the web. There’s enough tidbits squirreled away in various articles that it’s easy to miss some enlightening info on what the Rockies plans are.
Luckily, Purple Row is here to help you avoid missing out on all the goings on in baseball.
Rockies News & Links
Paul DePodesta on 2026 Rockies: ‘I’m sort of very dissatisfied with some of the results’ | Denver Post ($) — The end-of-season press conference from the front office on Tuesday confirmed much of what Rockies fans already knew about how the season went but also hinted at the team’s offseason plans. Kyle Newman breaks down the President of Baseball Operations Paul DePodesta’s quotes most relevant to constructing the 2027 roster. Of particular note is DePodesta’s assurance that the Rockies will be pursuing free agent starting pitchers that are want to take on the challenge of pitching at altitude and investing even more resources into development personnel.
Colorado Rockies arbitration projections and tender decisions | Just Baseball — As we head into the offseason, Zach Cioffi put together a great resource to set expectations for the club’s arbitration class and Rule 5-eligible players. Take a look to better understand the decisions and circumstances that the front office will need navigate in the coming months.
Colorado Rockies 2026 MLB draft report card | Baseball America ($) — Carlos Collazo runs through the Rockies draft class from this season now that most of it has had a chance to debut in the minor leagues. The names at the top of the draft that you’d expect to see are highlighted, but 14th-round pick Lorenzo Carrier is the name I wasn’t expecting to see mentioned as much as he was. Carrier’s raw tools mixed with his strong professional debut have Collazo intrigued.
Here are each organization’s Prospects of the Year | MLB.com — The MLB Pipeline crew sorts through each franchise’s top performing prospects of the 2026 season. Rockies fans shouldn’t be surprised to see Cristian Arguelles and Jackson Cox getting the nod for Colorado, but there’s still a ton of info on other prospects from across the league that you may know less about.
King for a night: Heroic performance keeps Padres alive in NLDS Game 3 | FanGraphs — If you weren’t able to catch the San Diego Padres Game 3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night, you missed out. It was a tense tight game from start to finish, but the ending put an appropriate cap on the night. After Mason Miller was announced as having been moved to the paternity list just a few minutes before the start of the game, the Padres bullpen plans came into question. Game 1 starter Michael King answered the call and shut the door. If you missed it, this piece from Ben Clemens is a great recap.
Experimental outfield positioning rules in Arizona Fall League | Fangraphs — Eric Longenhagen reports on the latest round of rules experimentation by MLB in the Arizona Fall League. This year the league is piloting a system for tracking outfielder positioning at the start of a play via Hawkeye cameras. A display is visible to the on-field umpires showing whether the outfielders are in an allowed starting position. The system appears to be in its early stages of experimentation with MLB playing around with the exact positioning and tolerance for straying. Something to keep an eye on!
Phillies’ manager search might land on Don Mattingly after Alex Cora opts to sit out 2027: Sources | The Athletic ($) — Mere days after being eliminated from the playoffs, the Philadelphia Phillies are looking to next season. After manager Rob Thomson was fired in April, Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski attempted to bring Alex Cora to Philadelphia. After that attempt to bring Cora on board failed, bench coach Don Mattingly was elevated to the manager position. It looks like Mattingly could again be looked at as the backup option for Dombrowski according to Matt Gelb and Jayson Stark.
While watching the Yankees’ four-error performance Monday night …..
It made me GREATLY appreciate the Cubs defense we enjoyed this season.
I appreciate your reading.
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Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Cubs Probably Fall Short on Tarik Skubal, Still Need to Get ‘Dude’. “Between the truncated initial free agency period, the unknowns of the next CBA, and their general reluctance to play at the top of the market for premium pitching, adding one of the best arms on the planet seems anything but likely.”
PCA-Mania:
Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Pete Crow-Armstrong is (Obviously) a Finalist for the 2026 Hank Aaron Award. “It’s how you wind up with a 10+ WAR season, but it still blows my mind that defensive superstar Pete Crow-Armstrong also happened to be among the best of the best bats in baseball this year.”
Sam Caulder (North Side Baseball): Assessing the Cubs’ Pitching Pipeline Heading Into the Offseason. “Pitching depth (or, rather, the lack thereof) became a major storyline for the Cubs in 2026, and their young arms could play a big role in preventing similar issues down the road. Here’s a look at some of the most intriguing pitchers in Chicago’s pipeline.”
Andrew Wright (North Side Baseball): Chicago Cubs Minor League Pitchers Of The Year. “With the season in the books, let’s take a look at what Chicago Cubs minor-league pitchers shined this season.”
Eddie Shaw (March 20, 1937 – January 29, 2018) was an American Chicago blues tenor saxophonist, arranger and bandleader. He led Howlin’ Wolf’s band, the Wolf Gang, from 1972, both before Wolf’s death in 1976 and subsequently.
Shaw was born in Stringtown, Mississippi. In his teenage years, Shaw played tenor saxophone with local blues musicians, such as Little Milton and Willie Love. At the age of 14, he played in a jam session in Greenville, Mississippi, with Ike Turner’s band. At a gig in Itta Bena, Mississippi, when the then 20-year-old Shaw performed, Muddy Waters invited him to join his Chicago-based band.
In Waters’s band, Shaw divided the tenor saxophone position with A.C. Reed. In 1972 he joined Howlin’ Wolf, leading his band, the Wolf Gang, and writing half the songs on The Back Door Wolf (1973). After the singer’s death in 1976 he took over the band and its residency at the 1815 Club, renamed Eddie’s Place. Shaw led the band on Living Chicago Blues Vol. 1 and Have Blues – Will Travel (1980) and recorded albums with different backing for Isabel Records, Rooster Blues, and Wolf Records.
Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series.
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - SEPTEMBER 19: Trevor Rogers #28 of the Baltimore Orioles celebrates during the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on September 19, 2026 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Cardinals will not be getting Tarik Skubal. I know this, you know this, the most delusional and optimistic Cardinal fan you have ever met knows it too. In theory, every other free agent starting pitcher could be on the table. In theory. I’m not saying it’s a high percentage chance, but it’s enough of a chance that we should probably talk about them this offseason. Skubal is a 0.1% chance. Another writer can take a crack at writing about Skubal. It will not be me.
That starts with arguably the second best starting pitcher on the free agent market, Trevor Rogers. Rogers comes with some warts and is definitely not as good as you want someone with the label “second best starting pitcher on the market” to be, but he is certainly within the Cardinals’ price range. Rogers is the age that you want a free agent to be as he will be 29-years-old next season. That is frankly doing a lot of the work towards making him the next best after Skubal.
However, let’s not underrate Rogers. In his last 48 starts, spread across two seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, Rogers has been worth 7.3 fWAR, which is pretty easily in top of the rotation territory. He’s been a pretty extreme home run/flyball percentage beater, which would be more concerning if Busch Stadium wasn’t the home park of the Cardinals. It is still concerning however, because in 2026 at least, his home run luck is the difference between him being an above average pitcher and top of the rotation.
Rogers is a fastball pitcher, and in fact has three different fastballs according to Statcast. The one he uses the most is his four-seam fastball, which he throws 93.8 mph on average. He throws it 46.9% of the time, so he leans on it pretty heavy, but it seems like it is best utilized up in the zone or above the zone. It produces a whiff about 25% of the time and he gets a strikeout 19% of the time it’s used in a 2-strike count.
And then at this point, it depends on if the batter at the plate is right-handed or left-handed. Because for right-handed batters, his changeup is pretty easily his second-most used pitch. Of his 551 changeups he threw, 89% of them were against right-handed batters. So it’s barely a pitch when a lefty is at the plate. So against righties, he wants to throw the four-seamer high and the change low or below the zone. Pretty old school strategy. His change isn’t typically used as a strikeout pitch though, putting away hitters only 10% of the time on 2-strike counts in which he throws it.
His third most used pitch is his sweeper and he does not appear to change his usage based on what hand the batter is, which is a little surprising for a lefty. This is his strikeout pitch. It produces a whiff 31.7% of the time and produces a strikeout on 23.9% of 2-strike counts, the highest of all his pitches. His sinker replaces his changeup against left-handed batters. So he uses the sweeper at about the same 14% rate against lefties, but abandons the change in favor of the sinker. You’d think he’d want to throw the sweeper more against lefties. He also throws the cutter more against left-handed batters.
If it’s a right-handed batter, he’s primarily fastball-change with a few sweepers to throw off your game. Against left-handed batters, he pretty much uses three different fastballs and sometimes a sweeper. Whenever he throws the sweeper, it’s effective, so maybe they figured out that throwing it less makes it a more effective pitch. It was an even better pitch in 2025 with a 39% whiff rate, so maybe he just doesn’t have a feel for it in some games.
As for how effective these pitches were, well it’s safe to say his fastball is truly an elite pitch. It was in 2026. It was in 2025. He used it a lot for a reason. It was worth one run per 100 pitches thrown and it was actually worth 2.4 runs per 100 pitches in 2025. Hitters have trouble with his four-seamer. His change took a nosedive this past season, although it was a very good pitch in 2025. I don’t quite know why, but it was as bad of a pitch for him as his fastball was good in 2026. His sweeper is not terribly far behind his fastball, being worth 0.8 runs per 100 pitches in 2026 and 2.7 runs per 100 pitches in 2025. His sinker is a perfectly average pitch and his cutter might be a bit better than that. You don’t mind a fastball heavy pitcher if the fastball is this good.
He is not necessarily the safest pitcher when it comes to health, but looking at his stat page, it’s not as bad as it looks. He made 25 starts in 2021, missed the minimum 10 days from a back spasm and later missed half a month from a family emergency/family death of some sort. He had back spasms again in 2022 and later his season ended about a week early from a lat strain. He still made 23 starts. He missed nearly all of 2023 from a left bicep strain. In 2024, the Marlins traded him to the Orioles and he actually made an additional 5 starts in AAA, so he made 30 starts that season. His 2025 season started late, but I think he made too many starts for it all to have been rehab, because he had 7 starts in AAA in addition to his 18 starts at the MLB level. Basically with the exception of 2023, he’s made about 25 starts per season.
The big question for Rogers, for me at least is: is this HR/FB% thing for real? He was a 4 fWAR pitcher last season, but his ERA was only 4.03 and his xFIP was 3.92. In fact, for his career, his ERA is closer to his xFIP than it is to his FIP. This was also the case last season. Fangraphs might be overrating him in two different ways: there’s the obvious way in which we can expect a higher HR/FB% moving forward and then there’s the other way where he might have a worse ERA than his FIP for whatever reason.
With that said, Oriole Park at Camden is a pretty great place for hitters to hit homers. On Statcast Park Factors, it rates as a 109, which makes it the 6th best park for homers in baseball. He was also in a division with the Yankees (2nd place), Jays (10th), and Rays (12th). Fenway is surprisingly bad for homers. I suddenly understand the Sonny Gray season a lot more now. Anyway, Busch Stadium was literally dead last, so it would be odd if he didn’t at least continue to have his career 9.1 HR/FB% by moving to a much more favorable pitcher’s park.
So what we have is a 29-year-old left-handed starter who has been a little bit inconsistent. His official rookie season got him placed 2nd in Rookie of the Year voting thanks to a 2.64 ERA and 4.3 fWAR in just 25 starts. He wasn’t a good pitcher again until four years later when he had changed teams. He at least has the benefit of repeating his breakout 2025 – although I don’t know if you can call it a breakout if he already had a great season before that.
Last season was frankly a little odd. I mentioned his FIP was a lot lower than his ERA, and most of that was from a below average 69.3 LOB% (left on base), so runners ended up scoring more often than expected once they reached base. His career LOB% of 71.7% is more in line with the average rate that pitchers have. And his 84.2 LOB% in 2025 was always unsustainable (as well as his .226 BABIP).
Rogers will get tagged with a qualified offer and thus the Cardinals would lose a draft pick if they signed him. I know that’s already a deal breaker for a lot of you. When I write these profiles, I’m not advocating to sign them. I’m working it out myself in fact. I actually do like the fact that he has a very good fastball that he can lean on all the time. Makes it feel more likely he can continue. And there’s some potential future where he leans on his sweeper more, which at least to me seems underutilized. Who am I to argue with success though?
If there wasn’t an incoming lockout, I’d say Rogers was virtually guaranteed for 5 years on this deal, but teams may operate differently in the coming months. The qualified offer will also assuredly hurt him. He didn’t come saddled with a qualified offer, but Eduardo Rodriguez signed for 4 years, $80 million entering his age 31 season. Rodriguez didn’t have the floor that Rogers reached, but he wasn’t super consistent himself and had little injuries along the way as well. Feels like Rogers should be able to beat that. Of course, QO attached and lockout incoming very much complicate things for him.
Quick and dirty estimate for his price. I’m going to list him as a 2.7 WAR pitcher. Fangraphs depth charts has him with 3.2 over 181 innings, but that inning total would not be his projection. I think 150 innings is reasonable given his history. If that is to be believed, a “fair” price for him over a 5-year-contract would be 5 years, $85 million. He should get more than Rodriguez, but he also didn’t have a QO attached which is a big deal.
The tough thing with Rogers is that he feels like a very small step removed from being essentially average. I don’t know how many more peak seasons he has in him. I would take the 2025 and 2026 version of him absolutely. I don’t know how much longer that pitcher will exist. Rogers is the first free agent starting pitcher I have taken a deeper look into and I feel like I need to see the others first before I make a determination on if I want Rogers. So my official answer right now is I don’t know, but I don’t love that I’m not thrilled at the idea of him for 5 years, $85 million.
TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 12: Luis de Leon #81 of the Baltimore Orioles pitches during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on September 12, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Orioles signed pitcher Luis De León out of the Dominican Republic in December 2021. His signing bonus was just $30,000. A high-strikeout, high-walk pitcher, De León struggled in the Dominican Summer League in as a 19-year-old, but slowly began working up the ranks of the minors. By the end of 2025, he had worked his way up and finished the season with three games with the Double-A Baysox.
The 2026 season brought big changes for De León. He returned to Double-A and made 19 starts with disappointing results. Now 23, De León struck out nearly 30% of batters but walked over 11%. He had a good ground ball rate, but allowed a ton of baserunners.
Despite his troubles, De León was promoted to Triple-A Norfolk on August 1st. He made three starts at that level before the Orioles moved him to the bullpen. The move made sense. De León didn’t look capable of rising above the starting pitchers in Baltimore, and the Orioles needed bullpen help. With his hard slider and strikeout ability, the bullpen seemed like a good place for him. He made just four bullpen appearances with Norfolk before being called up to the big leagues.
It was a rude welcome for De León, who was inserted into a high-leverage situation on his first day. He gave up a home run, took the loss, and probably felt like a real Oriole for doing so (I kid…or do I?). He also took the loss in his second career MLB game; he took the loss again after Yennier Cano allowed his inherited runner to score. After watching the first two games of his time, I was ready for De León to go back to the minors to work on some things.
But then, things got better. De León got into six more games before the end of the season. He gave up four hits and two walks. He didn’t allow another run. It was a very small sample size, but he started to look like a good pitcher. His emergence was a nice part of a mostly frustrating end of season.
So what is in store for De León next year? The Orioles might try him as a starter again, with a longer stretch at Norfolk. But I believe his future is as a relief pitchers as he has continually struggled as a starter in the minors. A hard-throwing lefty is valuable out of the bullpen, and De León gained about a mile per hour on his fastball as a relief pitcher in the majors.
De León has the talent to succeed; it’s just a matter of if he can control the strike zone. He did so in his 10 MLB games, though it’s foolish to draw conclusions from 9.1 innings. If you were going to, you’d also have to worry about his strikeout rate being half what he had in the minors. Even so, the performance was a nice early audition for next year, when you expect he’ll get the chance to make the team out of spring training.
Until the recent influx of talent into the farm system, De León was the highest-ranking pitcher on the Orioles’ prospect lists. Back in May, FanGraphs ranked him as the team’s third-best prospect overall, with this to say about him:
De León still has command-related relief risk and a bit more because of his fastball’s vulnerability against righties, though it eats lefties alive. His delivery is atypical for a big league starter and it detracts some from his strike-throwing, but it also makes hitters uncomfortable
…
[W]e know De León can hold big velo across as lot of innings and that his secondary stuff (especially his splitter) can finish hitters.
MLB Pipeline placed De León as the #8 prospect in 2026, with the following to say:
De León has always had inconsistent command, and his control can unravel when his mechanics fall out of sync. But his stuff plays up when he’s repeating his delivery and staying on top of his release, and he’s shown improvement in the free-passes department, slicing his walk rate every season as he’s matured. If he can consistently throw all of his pitches for strikes and limit the walks, his weapons give him the ceiling of a mid-rotation starter, with the raw stuff to impact a big league bullpen even sooner.
He fulfilled that last part, but time will tell if he finds his way to being a competent starter.
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 07: Jackson Chourio #11 and Cooper Pratt #12 of the Milwaukee Brewers celebrate the 3-1 win against the San Diego Padres in game four of the National League Division Series at Petco Park on October 07, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Angeibel Gomez and Kendry Chourio were named the Royals Prospects of the Year, by MLB.com.
It’s not common for a player to earn organizational hitter of the year honors after a Dominican Summer League campaign, but Gomez’s season (.361/.467/.653, 156 wRC+) was too impressive to look past, and the Royals thought enough of him to make him the second-youngest player ever to compete in the Arizona Fall League.
One of the best pitching prospects in the game pitched like it as an 18-year old across two levels of A ball, topping all Royals with at least 90 IP in ERA (2.48), BAA (.193), WHIP (0.89) and K/BB (5.35).
Carter Jensen was named first team, All-Rookie team by MLB.com as well.
Jensen made the Royals’ Opening Day roster as MLB’s No. 18 overall prospect and immediately showed he was one of the better all-around catchers in the game. He ranked third among all backstops with a 3.7 WAR and fourth among all rookies with 27 homers as he slashed .239/.323/467. The Kansas City native also made great strides on defense, where he showed off above-average framing skills and pop times.
David Lesky looks are what went right for the Royals in 2026.
Philip Ruo of Royals Keep looks back at last year’s pitching acquisitions.
Kevin O’Brien gives out his awards to the Northwest Arkansas Naturals.
The Brewers and Dodgers will meet in the NLCS again this season.
Manny Machado was robbed of a potential tying homer.
HOUSTON, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 29: Isaac Paredes #15, Jeremy Peña #3, Jose Altuve #27, and Christian Walker #8 of the Houston Astros look on in the sixth inning against the Chicago White Sox in game one of the American League Wild Card Series at Daikin Park on September 29, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Kenneth Richmond/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Making a list of all the things that should be on the Houston Astros offseason agenda:
Hire a GM
Dana Brown is now out of the organization. The idea of a caretaker GM who can just keep the machine running is long gone. They need a team builder. A visionary with a plan of what the team should look like, how it can best function, to bring it back to true prominence and once again be a real World Series contender.
Extend or replace Joe Espada as manager
The fact the organization hasn’t yet decided on Joe Espada’s fate is simply cruel. He’s been a loyal employee for 9 years, beloved by coaches and players. He deserves to know if he is staying or going. Many of the coaches’ fates are tied to Espada’s fate, and stringing them along isn’t right. Make the decision, and the either get Joe in on the GM meetings or let him get to interviewing elsewhere.
Extend or trade SS Jeremy Pena
The Astros really should have landed this extension last season, and maybe they were going to before Pena switched agents and hired Scott Boras. Boras likes to take his guys to free agency.
Pena is the team’s catalyst at the top of the lineup. They really have no in-house replacement defensively or offensively. Carlos Correa came here to play 3B, and we have no idea what the result of his torn ankle ligament will have on his mobility. Playing shortstop will put the most strain on Correa’s body. Their young shortstops in the minors aren’t ready yet, with their best prospects still in A ball.
Is Pena the next guy in the line with Biggio, Bagwell and Altuve s an Astro for life, or is he the next guy in line with Springer, Correa, Bregman, Cole and Tucker who were great players with championship pedigree who were allowed to walk away?
Find a new home for 1B Christian Walker
This is not meant to be a Walker hit piece. Simply, the Astros have too many infielders and not enough spots, and Walker is the most expendable. Whether its Isaac Paredes at 1B or Carlos Correa at 1B, or maybe even Jason Schiavone at 1B, it cannot be Walker again next season. The HR and RBI are valuable, but the awful average, low on base, the strikeouts, the missed opportunities – he just hasn’t lived up to expectations and Paredes has exceeded expectations. When Correa has been healthy, he has performed, and his injury this season was a complete freak accident.
They will have to eat significant money to move Walker, but since he only has one year left on his deal, it should be reasonable enough to make this move. They will have to work with him on a new home as he does have a limited no trade, but this relationship needs to end.
Adjust the responsibilities of Jose Altuve defensively
Altuve is a franchise icon, but Father Time started winning the battle with future Hall of Famer in 2026. Altuve’s defense regressed badly, and his offensive stats are better when he DHs than when he plays 2B. He needs to be alleviated of the toll playing the field takes on his body to keep his bat at the best level he is currently able to perform at.
This means Altuve should be DHing half the games he plays. That means Yordan Alvarez will need to DH only half the games he plays, and not the overwhelming majority. Yordan’s offensive numbers are actually even better when he plays OF, Altuve is better as a DH.
To get Jose through 3 more years relatively healthy, help him on his quest for 3000 hits, and keep him at his potential best, this needs to be the play forward.
Sign a legitimate outfielder who can hit
After season in which the offensive production the Astros got from their outfielders was disgracefully low, they need to find at least one legitimate outfield bat. Ideally, this person can at least play a capable LF. They cannot be a total slug in the field.
They will need a CF who can really go get it, and they have a few options in their system who could be that guy if they can get their bats straight. The team had hopes for Zach Cole last season, but he followed his breakthrough season with a disaster of a year, though he seemed to finally find his bat in September. It’s possible they could experiment more with Cam Smith in CF as well. Whoever plays CF has to be able to cover a lot of ground, because adding Yordan to the field for 70+ games will put extra area to cover for their CF. Getting another OF who can really hit will be important this offseason.
Find a number two starter
They tried Mike Burrows, he failed. They tried Tatsuya Imai, he failed. They hoped Cristian Javier would have returned to his 2022 form, but he has not and maybe won’t ever.
This team needs a real number 2 starter behind Hunter Brown. Adding a legit 2 along with Hunter, Javier, Wesneski and Lambert allows you to make a competition for the final spot, and not be stuck with multiple pitchers who failed you in 2026.
Extend or replace Bryan Abreu
Despite his brutal start to the season, Abreu was very solid from May 1 on. There’s a good chance he wants to go on the free agent market and get a chance to be a closer somewhere on lucrative multi-year deal. So re-signing him is unlikely.
If Abreu leaves, they need a new 8th inning bridge to Josh Hader, and turning that over to either AJ Blubaugh (inexperienced) or Steven Okert (whom they have to re-sign as well but is far more likely) isn’t going to suffice. They need a legitimate high leverage reliever to be the new setup guy.
Solidify the bullpen
Blubaugh is likely to have a more important role in the pen, as a single inning reliever who will probably have some high leverage. Blubaugh could possibly be the new 7th inning guy.
The team needs to re-sign Okert, who established himself as the team’s stopper this season. He was crucial to the team as the guy who slammed the door to stop a rally, regardless of the situation or inning.
They could likely have other young/inexperienced arms in the pen like Logan VanWey, Miguel Ullola, and Roddery Munoz. With all those young arms, they need some veterans with experience, and they need to be capable of at least being a mid-leverage guy.
I don’t expect all of those young guys to be in the pen, and I do expect at least one of the starting pitchers who doesn’t make the rotation to be in the pen as a swingman/long reliever.
It’s a long list. Let’s see how many of these things they actually get through.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 07: Anthony Volpe #11 of the New York Yankees reacts after scoring a run against the Tampa Bay Rays during the fourth inning in game three of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium on October 07, 2026 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Once again, the Yankees season ended not with a bang, but a wet fart and a whimper. This current era of the Yankees under the helm of Aaron Boone just cannot seem to get out of their own way in the games that matter most. For whatever reason, be that mentality, clubhouse culture, individual makeup, what have you, these teams largely perform during the regular season but wilt when the lights are the brightest. There are no quick or simple solutions; it doesn’t feel like something you can fix with an addition here or a managerial change there.
Before we attempt to solve this existential crisis of identity, perhaps we can dull the throb of our open wounds by remembering the final positive moment of what was a more painful than pleasurable Yankees’ 2026 season. Our Player of the Game from ALDS Game 3 goes to Anthony Volpe.
Volpe endured a brutal fourth season in the big leagues. He missed the first month-and-a-half while rehabbing from an offseason surgery to repair a partially torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder. He found playing time hard to come by upon his return with José Caballero performing decently enough at short. He hit to roughly his career averages while managing to rein in the errors for three months, but with the Yankees desperately needing an injection of energy amid a late summer swoon, he found himself demoted to Triple-A for five weeks with top prospect George Lombard Jr. making an immediate impact upon his MLB debut.
A mechanical tweak in the minors seemed to unlock something, and he tore the cover off the baseball to force his way back to the majors. In his final 14 games he posted a 95 wRC+ while taking reps at second and third, creating an opportunity to be added to the postseason roster. He appeared in just two playoff games but made the most of his opportunity, going 3-for-7 with an RBI.
Following Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s mental lapses in Game 2, the Yankees had to make a change, and Volpe got the nod to start at the keystone. His first opportunity to bat came with two outs in the second of a scoreless game. Lombard stood on second following a one-out single — the Yankees’ first baserunner off Nick Martinez. To put it bluntly, the approach wasn’t great. He took a called strike one on a cutter that just nipped the top rail of the strike zone, but then chased a sinker in off the plate to quickly fall behind, 0-2. He fouled off a four-seamer off the top rail to stay alive, but then was miles early whiffing through a mistake changeup that Martinez grooved middle-middle to strand Lombard at first. To be fair to Volpe, you can understand why he was early swinging at that changeup after seeing three straight elevated fastballs. However, in the playoffs you have to punish the limited number of mistakes you get, and Volpe failed to do so here.
Volpe’s next opportunity arrived in fourth. Ryan Vilade reestablished the Rays’ one-run lead with a solo shot off Max Fried in the top half. Lombard led off the bottom of the frame with a single, but an Austin Wells GIDP immediately erased it. This time, Volpe was able to work a deeper count, spitting on a sinker and a changeup just off the corner low and away and fouling off a sinker on the corner just under his hands while also missing another mistake from Martinez, fouling off a center cut 2-1 sinker. Martinez attempted to climb the ladder with a four-seamer, but it was one high fastball too many. Volpe made the necessary adjustment to his swing path and lasered a line drive single off Martinez’s back to keep the inning alive and force Martinez to exit the game with the trainer. That proved to be a critical blow in more than one sense as Spencer Jones ambushed lefty reliever Ian Seymour for an opposite field double, Volpe racing home from first to score the tying run.
The next AB is the one that cemented Volpe as the Player of the Game. The Rays hit their second home run of the night off Fried in the sixth, this one a two-run blast from Victor Mesa Jr. to grab a two run lead with four innings to play. Lombard reached for the third time, this time on a successful ABS challenge to earn a one-out walk. That brings Volpe to the plate facing a tough matchup against hard throwing hybrid starter/reliever Griffin Jax.
Jax attempts a get-me-over breaking ball to steal a called strike one, but the sweeper lands low for ball one. It appears Volpe completely sells out for the fastball on the next pitch, because he spins on a 96 mph sinker off the plate inside, getting the bat head out early to pull the ball with power in the air to left. The deep fly ball was initially ruled a game-tying two-run home run as it appeared to barely scrape over the wall in left just over Mesa’s leaping attempt. However, the side angle replay view definitively showed a Yankee fan in the first row reach into the field of play and deflect the ball into the crowd. The Yankees had to settle for an RBI double to cut the deficit to one.
In his final AB, Volpe struck out swinging in a seven-pitch AB against AL saves leader Bryan Baker to lead off the ninth as he once again whiffed through a pitch in the heart of the zone. It was a disappointing end to a battle of an AB as Volpe was late on the heater and got his barrel path all wrong after seeing three changeups and guessing wrong. All the same, the Yankees do not score two of their three runs if not for their much-maligned infielder.
On a personal level, I am really happy for Volpe that he was able to contribute in such a meaningful way in the Yankees’ final game of the season. There has never been any doubting that Volpe cares or the work he puts in. As a homegrown shortstop from the New York metro area, there is a subsection of the fanbase that will never be satisfied with anything less than Derek Jeter levels of production.
That is not to glaze over the undeniable shortcomings in his game. After four straight seasons posting a wRC+ between 82 and 88, we can say with more than a little confidence that we have seen Volpe’s true talent level as a below average bat. He lacks the range and arm strength to be much better than league average with the glove at short.
However, his commitment to helping the team however he is asked should be commended and opens doors for him to be a net asset in the future. Even in limited reps, he looks way more comfortable at second than at short, and if the mechanical adjustments from his demotion stick, it is not out of the question that he could approach league average production at the plate.
Despite the valiant fight back, the efforts to extend the season fell just short. For the third year in a row, the Yankees were forced to watch their postseason opponents celebrate on their own home field in Yankee Stadium. The question for the offseason and indeed a fundamental question for ownership and the front office is whether this is an acceptable outcome. Does simply making the playoffs qualify as a successful season? It depends who you ask.
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - JUNE 13: General Manager Mike Elias of the Baltimore Orioles watches batting practice before the game against the Los Angeles Angels at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on June 13, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Hello, friends.
There are now 167 days until the next scheduled Orioles game. Developments this week are a further signal that the chances of the 2027 season beginning as scheduled are not 100%. The Orioles, as you’ve probably already heard, laid off a bunch of business operations and game day staff, including the person who performs as the Oriole Bird.
The Baltimore Banner’s sources offered what I think is an obvious falsehood that this is unconnected from the coming lockout. That’s laughable. Every owner knows they are going to lock out the players on December 1. The commissioner himself likened this negotiating tactic to shooting the players with a .45.
Cutting whatever expenses they can when they are about to interrupt their actual baseball revenue is another way they are hoping to gain leverage to inflict enough pain upon the players that the players are forced to accept a bad deal in the coming labor negotiations. These greedy people do not care whose lives are disrupted along the way to that destination, be they team employees or fans.
They have tried various schemes to expand their own coffers before they do the lockout as well. Consider this year’s new business of forcing season ticket plans to be either 20- or 40-game plans instead of the old 13- and 27-game plans. One supposed “perk” of the expansion is that you could sell back roughly a third of your tickets for credit next year. Oh, how convenient! Now the Orioles have that money in the bank whether there are games or not.
There is nothing that you or I can do about any of this except to use what little platform that we have to say that it sucks. It sucks that the team has done this. The easily-guessed cynical motives for doing it suck. They are bad and they should feel bad. They will not feel bad, and that also sucks.
For now, there are a few more weeks of playoff baseball to divert some attention from that reality.
The Dodgers wiped out the Braves last night. I’d like to see their quest for a three-peat halted as soon as possible. I’ll have to wait for the NLCS. Brewers-Padres finished after I went to sleep, but that series is either over or traveling today, leaving the spotlight on the American League. I hope the winner is up to the task of keeping LA out of the World Series.
The Guardians were able to keep themselves alive by winning on the road yesterday, avoiding a sweep with a 9-3 victory over the White Sox. Chicago can still finish off Cleveland with a win today. That will be the only game happening today, since, fortunately for all of us, the Yankees were eliminated in a sweep last night. What at one point seemed to be the tying run was taken off the board on replay due to fan interference with a home run. Let us all shed a tear or two as we wonder what might have happened if this replay existed in 1996.
Orioles stuff you might have missed
Jon Meoli’s information about the Orioles general manager search (The Baltimore Banner) Meoli’s reporting is that “the candidate set includes up-and-coming player development leaders from other organizations” – which is what I want to hear – and then this goes on to add, “to help reinforce (manager Craig) Albernaz’s agenda of raising the standard.” If that was and is the skipper’s agenda, he did mighty poorly in enacting it in year 1 in the organization.
Are Orioles shortcomings a matter of focus or talent? (Steve on Baseball) Steve Melewski notes that the veteran players on the team strongly suggested, without naming specific names, that it’s more about focus than about talent.
Could Coby Mayo play in right field? Jim Palmer floats the idea. (The Baltimore Sun) Prospect writers have been banging this drum almost since Mayo was drafted, and the Orioles have steadfastly refused to make any attempt to implement it. Could that change before next season?
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 2012, the Orioles evened the ALDS against the Yankees with a 3-2 victory that saw Wei-Yin Chen pitch well, Chris Davis deliver a two-run single, and Mark Reynolds drive in what proved to be the game-winning run in the sixth inning. This left the best-of-five series at 1-1.
In 2023, the Orioles did not even the ALDS against the Rangers. Texas obliterated Grayson Rodriguez and had a 9-2 lead after three innings. Though the O’s made it interesting late, with an 11-8 final score, the bad outing from Rodriguez just dug too much of a hole for them to get out of. The series left Baltimore with the O’s in a 2-0 hole.
There is one current Oriole who has a birthday today. Or have they designated him for assignment lately? No, he’s still on the 40-man roster. Happy 37th birthday to Albert Suárez, who takes his revolving door a lot better than I would. Former Orioles who were born today: 2021 three-game pitcher Manny Barreda, 2005 outfielder Keith Reed, 1988 pitcher Mike Morgan, 1972-74 infielder/outfielder Enos Cabell, and 1960 two-game pitcher Bob Mabe.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: World War I ace Eddie Rickenbacker (1890), author Frank Herbert (1920), civil rights activist Jesse Jackson (1941), actress Sigourney Weaver (1949), and singer-songwriter Bruno Mars (1985).
On this day in history…
In 1871, a series of fires broke out across the Midwest following months of drought. Among these was the Great Chicago Fire, which killed over 300 people and left as many as 100,000 homeless in its aftermath.
In 1918, then-Corporal Alvin York led an attack against a German machine gun nest that led to 35 enemy soldiers killed and another 132 captured. York, eventually promoted to sergeant, received the Medal of Honor for this action. Six of the 17 Americans who were in York’s patrol were killed in the fighting.
In 1956, Yankees pitcher Don Larsen pitched a perfect game in Game 5 of the World Series, giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven against the then-Brooklyn Dodgers. It took seven games to settle it, with the Yankees, unfortunately, going on to win Game 7 by a 9-0 score.
**
And that’s the way it is in Birdland on October 8. Have a safe Thursday.
ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 01: Philadelphia interim manager Don Mattingly (8) talks with infielder Alec Bohm (28) prior to the start of the Philadelphia Phillies versus the Atlanta Braves in game 3 of the National League Wild Card Series on October 1st, 2026 at Truist Park in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Would you or anyone you know be interested in managing a major league baseball team? If so, you just may be qualified to take on the job in Philadelphia! Preference shown if your name includes “Alex” or “Don” or if you hold Canadian citizenship.
The New York Yankees’ World Series drought extended to 17 years on Wednesday when the Tampa Bay Rays ended their season with a sweep in Game 3 of the ALDS on Wednesday night. The Yankees have plenty of missed opportunities to think about over the offseason after scoring only five total runs in the series, but a fan interference call that robbed New York of the potential game-tying run in the bottom of the sixth inning will linger as the biggest sliding doors moment of the series.
There were two outs in the frame when Anthony Volpe stepped up to the plate. On a 1-0 count, he drilled a ball to left field that was originally called a home run. As pandemonium took over Yankee Stadium, the umpires reviewed the play and determined a fan caught the ball before it cleared the fence. The play was ruled a ground rule double with the runner on first base scoring. That would be the final run of the game on either side. The Rays beat the Yankees, 4-3, and it’s possible it could have been a different game with the fan interference.
Ultimately, it looks like the umps got it right, and awarding the Yankees with even one run on the play was probably a little bit generous. We’ll never conclusively know if Volpe’s ball would have gone over the fence, though. Watch the play here and judge for yourself:
After replay review, the Yankees pull within a run on Anthony Volpe's RBI double! pic.twitter.com/6Fua0LNVBQ
Every baseball fan of a certain age immediately thought of Jeffrey Maier when they saw this play. It was 30 years ago when the 12-year-old Maier reached over the wall to grab a Derek Jeter fly ball before it cleared the fence, which was ruled a homer. The Yankees went on to win the World Series. This time, they were caught on the wrong side of fan interference — though, again, you can make the argument that the runner from first may not have scored depending on how it all played out without the interference.
Here’s another angle. To me, it looks like the umps made the right call — but I can’t say it with 100% certainty. Would this ball have gone over the wall? Judge for yourself:
MLB statement from the Replay Center: “After viewing all relevant angles, the Replay Official definitively determined the spectator interfered with the ball over the field of play. The ball would not have left the playing field nor would it have been caught. The call is OVERTURNED, there was spectator interference and no home run. Additionally, the Replay Official scored one run and placed the batter-runner at second.
The fan was escorted out of Yankee Stadium after the play:
Yankees fan escorted out after interfering with Anthony Volpe's game-tying HR turned RBI double. pic.twitter.com/P38XeZZQiZ
The reality is that the Yankees blew a golden opportunity this season. The American League was down all year, and New York clearly had the best pitching rotation in the league. Aaron Judge’s injury certainly hurt, but the Yankees’ payroll is still $308 million compared to just $95 million for Tampa Bay. The team with the No. 3 payroll in baseball shouldn’t be getting swept by the team with the No. 28 payroll under any circumstances.
Yankees fans were not happy after the game:
That is an absolute failure from the Yankees. They wasted a World Series caliber rotation in a weak AL. They didn’t show up against two AL East rivals in back to back DS. They’re celebrating on your field again. Embarrassing.
The Tampa Bay Rays (28th in payroll) beat the New York Yankees (3rd in payroll) in the ALDS, winning every game! Time to lock out the players so we can create a league where small market teams can compete with big market teams.
— nugget chef (mayor of the 209) (@jayhaykid) October 8, 2026
The Rays advance to the ALCS to face the winner of the Chicago White Sox vs. Cleveland Guardians series. The Yankees are home for winter.
Dave Roberts and the Dodgers could celebrate Wednesday, but there are concerns to address before facing the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS. (Mike Stewart / AP)
As Dave Roberts delivered his victory address, dressed in a gray cap and a gray T-shirt that commemorate a triumph the Dodgers consider merely a speed bump on the road to the main event, the manager was not shy.
“There is no more talented team than the Los Angeles Dodgers,” Roberts told his players amid clubhouse floods of champagne and beer. “This is the best organization in sports, top to bottom. We’re smarter. We’re better. And we’re tougher.”
“This one is going to be special,” infielder Miguel Rojas said. “We have the motivation of winning three times in a row. That’s all we can think about right now. It’s never going to be easy in baseball. You have to go through tough things. But this team showed it before, and it showed it in this series.”
Indeed it did. Rojas joked — or maybe he was not joking — that everyone expects the Dodgers to win every game by 10 runs. In this four-game series, they outscored the Braves by a total of six runs, and no game was decided by more than three runs.
Now come the Milwaukee Brewers, the team that put up baseball’s best record this season, in a rematch of last year’s NLCS. The Brewers also put up baseball’s best record last season, and the Dodgers swept them in the NLCS.
Nothing is guaranteed in October, not even the Dodgers in the World Series. For the Dodgers, here are four positive signs and four warning signs:
Green flag
Mookie Betts is happy to have a couple of extra days off before the NLCS. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
The Dodgers have the oldest group of position players in the league, so they cherished the bye that gave them five days off before the division series. By eliminating the Braves without needing the full five games, the Dodgers afforded themselves three days off, rather than one, before the league championship series.
“It is huge, to get us a little rest,” said shortstop Mookie Betts, who turned 34 on Wednesday. “We’re all old. So we need a little rest going into these postseason games. They’re a lot. They’re a lot more than what people think.”
Even better: Since the Dodgers did not need Tarik Skubal to start a Game 5 in the division series, they can start him in Game 1 of the NLCS, followed by Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2. The Dodgers need four victories in the NLCS, and that rotation clears the way for Skubal and Yamamoto to combine for four starts in the series.
Red flag
Hitting home runs is nice, but you’re unlikely to win a postseason series on home runs alone. In the first three games of the NLDS, the Dodgers scored all their runs on home runs.
In the series, they went one for 16 with runners in scoring position.
“It speaks to the multitude of ways we can win a game,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said, “but, from a quality of life perspective, it would sure help if we could cash some of those opportunities in. So that’s obviously something that stands out.”
Mitigating factor: The Braves went one for 23 with runners in scoring position.
Green flag
Max Muncy reacts after his solo homer in Game 4. (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
The Dodgers and Braves each hit 204 home runs this season. In the NLDS, the Dodgers outhomered the Braves, 8-2. Max Muncy hit three to do it all by himself.
The Braves scored eight runs in the four games, including one in each of the two games in their home ballpark, and collected a total of 18 hits. Michael Harris II had six hits in the series; none of his teammates had more than three.
The Braves batted .145 in the series.
“Let’s be real, right? Our postseason is going to rely on our pitching,” Muncy said. “It always is. It always will. You’re not going to go out there and get 15 hits a night in the postseason. You’re just not.
“So, if you can limit the amount of runs the other team is getting, you’re going to do a pretty good job. Our pitching staff was unbelievable this series. For us to continue on, it’s going to rely on the pitching staff.”
Red flag
Just as the Dodgers got to set their NLCS rotation by ending the NLDS early, so did the Brewers. So, just as the Dodgers get the chance to start Skubal, the Brewers get the chance to start flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski, the presumptive NL Cy Young Award winner.
Misiorowski beat the Dodgers in his lone start against them this season, a 4-1 victory in which the Dodgers collected five hits — three by players who did not appear in the NLDS: backup outfielder Alex Call and backup catcher Hunter Feduccia.
Mitigating factors: Kyle Tucker and Will Smith did not play that day.
Green flag
Dave Roberts has more postseason wins than anyone other than Joe Torre. (Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
Roberts has won more postseason games than any manager except Joe Torre — the man who managed the New York Yankees teams that were the last to three-peat (1998-2000).
This season was not smooth, but the NLDS displayed Roberts’ ability to integrate young players (Josue De Paula), long-injured players (Edwin Díaz, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow) and October players (Kiké Hernández) into key spots for a postseason series, as well as to get Shohei Ohtani to buy into batting as low as fifth after not batting lower than second in three seasons with the Dodgers.
It is not just about the “high-end talent,” as Friedman likes to say, or the money, as opposing fans like to say.
“Equally as important was the depth of talent we have,” Friedman said, “and the number of guys that had an impact on this short series, I think, speaks not only to the depth of talent but also to their level of preparedness and Doc’s willingness to use them in key spots, and the trust he instills in them.”
Red flag
The Dodgers got production from the bottom of their order in the NLDS: Tucker and Andy Pages came alive, the three home runs from traditional October hero Muncy, a home run from traditional October hero Hernández, even a clutch walk from rookie De Paula.
That still leaves a problem that cropped up time and again over the regular season and again in the NLDS: inconsistency atop the lineup.
Betts, Freddie Freeman, Ohtani, Teoscar Hernández and Will Smith combined for 13 hits in the series and a .176 batting average.
Green flag
Kyle Tucker seems to have rediscovered his batting stroke. (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)
In the month of July, Tucker never had a four-game hitting streak.
In the month of September, he had one.
In the four games of the playoffs, he has one!
Baseball!
That could be much more than a statistical oddity. This season, we heard more about his contract (four years, $240 million) than his home runs (17, a career low in a full season) his strikeouts (105, a career high) and his on-base-plus-slugging percentage (.715, just below Atlanta utility man Mauricio Dubón).
If Tucker sparkles in October, no one will remember the regular seasons, and Dodgers fans will remember him fondly forevermore. Ask Mickey Hatcher.
Red flag
The Dodgers still don’t know what to reasonably expect from Ohtani, gritting out the postseason despite discomfort in his left knee and right arm.
In 13 at-bats in the NLDS, Ohtani had two singles and struck out four times. He scored his only run of the series Wednesday, when he walked, stole second, took third on one error and scored on another error.
Ohtani still has not hit a home run since Aug. 18. The Dodgers prefer to say Wednesday’s game shows he can impact the game with his speed, and with his power threat.
“He’s the best player in the world,” Friedman said. “And at some point, it’s going to click for him, and the other team’s going to be in big trouble.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 07: George Lombard Jr. #96 and Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees react after being defeated by the Tampa Bay Rays in game three of the American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium on October 07, 2026 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The 2026 season is officially in the books for the New York Yankees. They were 93-68 in the regular season, swept the Boston Red Sox in the Wild Card Series, and then promptly got swept by the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS. It’s the second straight year only going this far into the Postseason, both times getting bested by a rival that took the division by storm after sitting near or outright in the cellar the previous year, and it stings much like every elimination does even if it felt like a foregone conclusion heading into Wednesday night.
The actual game feels more like a backdrop to the opening dialogue of what will be a tedious and lengthy offseason, but let’s get through the facts of the matter first. Max Fried took the mound looking to extend his team’s season by one more day and instead took the loss as he kept surrendering the lead back over to Tampa Bay. The back-breaker came in the sixth as a two-out single rocketed just past Fried’s head to extend an inning where he finally looked in control, and moments later he coughed up a two-run shot to Victor Mesa Jr. Aaron Boone went out to collect his starter after that, but he got out of the dugout one batter too late to make it matter.
The offense was slow to get going against Nick Martinez, but they posted their best collective effort of the ALDS for what it’s worth. Ben Rice went 1-for-4 and knocked in the first of the Yankees’ three runs in the third inning, Spencer Jones walked twice and drove in the second run with a double in the fourth, and Anthony Volpe had a two hit night including a fly ball to the wall in left that a fan illegally brought over the fence briefly making us all think he’d tied the game. Volpe would have to settle for an RBI double after review, but it was nearly the biggest hit of the season and he deserves his flowers for showing up after Aaron Boone inserted him into the starting lineup looking for a spark of life. George Lombard Jr. also deserves to be in the positive side of the ledger after going 2-for-3 with a walk and run scored, rebounding well defensively after the disastrous Game 2 performance that he played a role in.
Unfortunately, the Yankees had no home runs in the cards compared to the Rays launching a pair of them, and the long ball was the difference maker last night. They also got nothing from the remaining five spots in the lineup: Luis Garcia Jr. had the only hit of the bunch, Austin Wells had a quiet 0-for-3 night after being one of the only bats alive in the Trop portion of the series, Cody Bellinger completed a dreadful ALDS showing with an 0-for-4 capstone, Jose Caballero didn’t find his footing with the two at-bats he got starting at third, and then there was Trent Grisham. The Yankee center fielder got placed in the leadoff spot by Boone ahead of Rice to work some tough at-bats and get potentially get on board for the team’s offensive MVP to have someone to drive in. Instead, mirroring the results he gave the team all season after accepting the qualifying offer over the offseason, he proved inadequate for the role he was suddenly given — 0-for-5 with three strikeouts including whiffing badly to end the game with the tying run on base and Rice standing in the on-deck circle.
I don’t want to be too harsh to Grisham in that spot specifically — he’d been out for all of September and clearly wasn’t adjusting well trying to jump back into the lineup. He probably shouldn’t have been given the task of leading off, but Boone felt he had to do something different after the offense minus Rice looked so atrocious in Games 1 and 2 and perhaps cooked too hard. Speaking of Boone, there will be plenty of discussion in the coming days about his performance this season and in October specifically and whether it is time to part ways. The manager remains an incalculable part of the equation in building a baseball team, but while the team and staff are clearly fans of his its hard to overlook the amount of disappointing results the Yankees have had under his stewardship. Many will say its time for a new voice if nothing else, and I can’t exactly argue against that even if I doubt it will come to it. The organization likes him, and they don’t see these failures as critically as those outside the org do. I can’t make a split second decision on how I feel about him — I thought he did a solid job guiding the team through one of the worst regular seasons they’ve had offensively in the Judge era, but the same flaws keep dooming them every postseason and they’ve just never looked capable of beating a team that they weren’t definitive favorites to beat. The possibility of losing Matt Blake should they part ways with Boone is very real though, and I think he’s one of the few coaches in the game that are genuinely game-changing to have on the staff.
There will be months and months to debate this and more about the Yankees, as they’re officially in offseason mode now. Several people said that the season really ended on May 31st, when Aaron Judge went on the IL with his rib injury, and they weren’t exactly wrong. The team nosedived offensively without him, and even though they were also rocking the best pitching staff they’d fielded in decades it wasn’t enough to balance the scales in the end. The me that watched this team throughout the summer probably would’ve been surprised they even won a round in the playoffs, but damn if I didn’t buy back in on fool’s gold with how they looked in the ALWCS. Boston was obviously a worse team than Tampa Bay, but the Yankees had torched Tampa’s bullpen in the season series as well and had found a winning formula wearing down Boston’s starters to get to that soft underbelly of a ‘pen. They couldn’t do the same here, getting worked over by Drew Rasmussen in Game 1 before failing to do much against the bullpen even after getting into it relatively early in Games 2 and 3.
It’s a bit maddening to say over and over again, but the Yankees’ season ends with them having tripped over their own shoelaces. Tampa was the better team this series, but I don’t think they looked unbeatable by any means. The prize was there for the taking, and they just couldn’t come close to rising to the occasion. Another ALDS flameout is in the books, and they’ll have to live with an extremely unsatisfactory showing being their lasting legacy.
Today the postmortem begins some closure as Peter provides the Player of the Game honor for Game 3, and then Kevin has the playoff roundup featuring the Dodgers and Brewers advancing to the NLCS. Jonathan covers Ping Bodie’s brief Yankees career on his birthday, and then Peter will return to go over how Gerrit Cole battled in his Game 1 start for the Sequence of the Week.
