Category: Baseball

Hey, I did say in my Up Next for this game that I liked the pitching matchup. I think I probably envisioned a stronger performance from Shōta Imanaga. I’ll hat tip Aaron Civale for his performance in this one, saving a lot of bullpen and also being very effective. I understand and respect that he’ll seek out an opportunity to continue starting somewhere next year. That’s surely the right move, but if he ever wanted to embrace a swing man role for the Cubs organization, I’d welcome it.

I always love when I can physically feel my opinion on something changing as I’m watching a game. For so many years, I was so much about the sanctity of 162 games and for trying to make as many of those games be complete games as possible. Part of the experience of baseball are the milestones, be it single season or career. And also, they let an extended stretch of history be marred by steroids. Numbers were shattered. Hitting records fell to the way side. Players extended their careers and put up historic numbers.

Now in this new era, starters throw a continually dwindling number of innings. The roster shuffle has dozens of players in and out of roster spots. There appears to be an increase of the incidence of what I’ll call soft injured list time. A kind of soft fraud type of manipulating roster limits and trying to save bullets for the postseason. More and more every pitch is a max effort pitch and so almost all counting pitching stats are drifting towards unbreakable.

With this era of max effort, it is clearly a waste of precious ammunition to have a guy throwing batting practice fastballs while they run out the game. Well, at least having an ordinary pitcher do so. Now, we see a larger and larger number of position players pitching. And, they also don’t want those guys getting hurt, so we aren’t seeing guys who were pitchers at some point earlier in their career throwing some reasonable effort pitches at 60-75 miles per hour. Nope, we’re seeing the kind of pitches you’d see thrown to your seven-year-old child’s team seeing live pitching for the first time.

This has now contorted to the point where Carson Kelly was called on to throw an inning of relief, rather than tax anyone to try to protect a 17-run lead. I don’t think before the last year or two I could remember a position player getting action on a team winning by a large margin.

Just like that, I wouldn’t be disappointed if a team were allowed to throw up the white flag and put an end to the game. I don’t think there is an urgent need to do so or anything, but I have no need to ever see these late-inning situations where there is nothing vaguely competitive happening. I certainly don’t think ending a game early is any more of an abomination than the ghost runner in extra innings.

While on the one hand, customers pay to see a whole game, also you do sometimes end one due to weather. Also, if I’d paid to see this game, I’d have probably left no later than middle of the eighth when it was clear there was nothing competitive left to happen.

For me, I find it unfortunate. The Cubs are trying to prepare themselves to try to make a deep run in the playoffs. You could feel the Mariners pulling back in the middle inning of this game and there were some pretty poor attempts at fielding that contributed to the lopsided score.

Yawn. At least it was another win. The Cubs have posted an amazing number of these one-sided games. With the outburst, the Cubs ended the night with the most runs scored in baseball, nosing ahead of the Nationals who have played one more game. They’ve also sneaked into the OPS lead for all of baseball. This has been a really special group this year. It would have been terrific if they had a healthy pitching staff. Hopefully they can pull a respectable group together from this scrap heap to try to make a playoff run.

Three Positives:

• Ian Happ had the big blow of the game, a grand slam. He had two hits, a walk, drove in five and scored two. Season line now at .218/.327/.420 (109 wRC+)
• Pedro Ramirez did take advantage of silly baseball, but I’ll still hat tip three hits, three runs and five driven in. He did most of that damage in silly ball.
• Pete Crow-Armstrong had two hits and a walk. Stole a base, hit another homer. Drove in three and scored two. When all is said and done this is going to be the greatest season in the history of baseball’s oldest team. For all of the things the Cubs haven’t been through the years, they still have some really magnificent baseball seasons in their history and he appears headed to blow past all of them.

Game 131, August 23: Cubs 19, Mariners 2 (75-56)

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Ian Happ (.352). 2-4, HR, BB, 5 RBI, 2 R, DP
• Hero: Aaron Civale (.256). 4 IP, 13 BF, H, 2 K (W 1-0)
• Sidekick: Michael Conforto (.096). 1-2, HR, RBI, R

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Shōta Imanaga (-.229). 2 IP, 14 BF, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 R (1 ER), 4 K
• Goat: Nico Hoerner (-.066). 1-4, DP
• Kid: Carson Kelly (-.047). 1-5, RBI, R, DP

NOTE: Carson Kelly’s WPA is solely reflective of his batting and does not include his pitching. 23 of the 96 “events” in this game scored .000 WPA, including all of those while Kelly was pitching. The first of those was Seiya Suzuki’s single in the eighth. Ian Happ’s bases-loaded walk a few batters later was the last one that scored any WPA.

WPA Play of the Game: Ian Happ’s grand slam in the third inning. (.390)

Mariners Play of the Game: Josh Naylor batted with a runner on first and no outs in the third inning, the Mariners down three. He singled, ending the day of Imanaga. (.065)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Game 130 Winner: Tyrone Taylor 16-14 over Alex Bregman (37 total votes). Apologies for not listing David Peterson, who was a valid choice.

Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)

The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.

• Pete Crow-Armstrong +28
• Alex Bregman +25
• Trent Thornton +13.5
• Carson Kelly +12.5
• Javier Assad +12
• Seiya Suzuki -11
• Edward Cabrera -12.5
• Jameson Taillon -13
• Dansby Swanson -17
• Caleb Thielbar -18.5

Scoreboard Watching: Phillies win (two back of Cubs). Marlins win (eight back). Dodgers win (five up). Padres win (four back). Diamondbacks win (six back). Braves win (one up) over Brewers (six up). So the Cubs gain one back on Milwaukee to end the week. One impressive weekend for the top half of the NL. Only the Cubs and Braves lost their series and the Braves lost theirs in Milwaukee (and Williamsport).

Up Next: On to Arizona to face the Diamondbacks who I noted are six back. They are fourth in the Wild Card chase, two out of the last spot. They’ve split their last 10 games and have a +9 run differential. This one is a battle of two guys who most of us expect to be better. Kevin Gausman (6-11, 4.58) makes his fourth Cub start. He’s failed to escape the fifth in his last two. He actually beat the D-backs as a Blue Jay back in April. He allowed two runs on seven hits and a walk over six innings.

Merrill Kelly (8-11, 5.37) starts for Arizona. The eighth round pick of the Rays in 2010 (251st overall) is 1-3 with a 5.35 over his last seven, so he’s been pretty consistently bad. He’s allowed six earned runs in each of his last two starts and he hasn’t finished six innings since July 9. The Cubs beat him back in May, putting up six earned runs on eight hits and three walks in 4.1 innings. Michael Busch had two hits, including a triple, drove in four and walked in that one.

Diamondbacks relievers have thrown the fourth fewest innings and in turn have the least number of strikeouts. But even if you look at K/9, they are still 27th out of 30. They are 22nd out of 30 in WHIP. So this isn’t a great bullpen. That said, despite the low number of innings (and moderate number of wins), their bullpen is tied for the 11th most holds. They can be beat late, but are no pushover.

Let’s make it two straight wins against a pitcher having a rough year.

The Nats once fearsome offense is now searching for answers. They only scored 20 runs across their 9 game road trip. The team is in desperate need of any spark. If they don’t want to bring up Seaver King, Trey Lipscomb is another player who deserves a shot. 

Entering the 2024 season, Lipscomb had a lot of hype going into the year. He had a solid year in the minors and was pushing Luis Garcia Jr. for the starting second base job out of camp. Lipscomb did not make the team, but quickly got promoted following an injury.

Simply put, Lipscomb fell on his face in his first MLB stint. He hit just .200 with a .500 OPS in 61 games. After that disastrous spell in the show, Lipscomb faded into oblivion. He only posted a .697 OPS in AAA last year. That resulted in the then 25 year old being DFA’d and going unclaimed.

The Nationals have announced the following roster moves:

-Trey Lipscomb cleared outright waivers, and he has been assigned outright to Triple-A Rochester.

-The Seattle Mariners claimed Ryan Loutos off of outright waivers.

— Nationals Communications (@NationalsComms) November 6, 2025

Having gone unclaimed, Lipscomb was back in the Nats system. However, as Rochester manager Matt LeCroy put it, Lipscomb had suffered a setback. This offseason, Lipscomb worked on becoming twitchier and more athletic. That work has really paid off as he is swinging the bat faster and hitting the ball harder.

The improvements in Lipscomb’s quality of contact is pretty crazy. Last season, his average exit velocity was 86.2 MPH, his 90th percentile EV was 103.6 and his max EV was 109.7. This year those numbers have jumped to 89.9, 105.4 and 114.4, a truly remarkable increase for a player who is not that young. 

Predictably, the increase in exit velocities has come with a serious boost in power. Lipscomb has 27 home runs in 110 games this season, the most in the Nats system. Before this year, he had 30 homers in 339 MILB games. The 26 year old has just added a whole new element to his game.

Trey Lipscomb HR #27💣 pic.twitter.com/Ql2oAZ6wyJ

— Nats Of The Future (@NatsOfTheFuture) August 22, 2026

With the way the Nats infielders are hitting right now, I think it is worth giving Lipscomb a shot even if there are some concerns. When you look at his profile, there is one pretty massive red flag. Lipscomb’s chase rate this year is 43.2%, which is really bad. For context, even the free swinging Luis Garcia Jr. is only chasing 38.4% of the time.

There is a pretty good chance that this flaw is just totally debilitating at the MLB level and Lipscomb is just one of those Quad-A guys. However, the Nats are in a position to find this out for sure down the stretch. We know what Jorbit Vivas and Nasim Nunez can do, why not give Lipscomb a shot. With his massive increase in power he has certainly earned it.

Lipscomb might be the most extreme example, but the Nats have done a phenomenal job unlocking power in the minor leagues this season. By my count, the Nats have 5 minor leaguers who are already at 20+ homers, which is very impressive. It really feels like this new regime specializes in adding power.

Remember Trey Lipscomb?

He has 26 HRs at Triple-A this season. He's one of several Nats minor leaguers who has put up stellar totals at AAA without getting an MLB look this year.

Crazy what the new staff has done regarding power development with some of the system holdovers. pic.twitter.com/ziCt16lxKQ

— Grant Paulsen (@GrantPaulsen) August 21, 2026

However, at the big league level it just feels like the Nats are stuck in the mud. With James Wood and CJ Abrams out, the Nats are in need of new blood who can energize this weary team for the last few weeks of the season. The Nats need to avoid total collapse, and calling up red hot and confident hitters like Trey Lipscomb could be part of the solution.

Dana Brown is out as general manager of the Houston Astros.

Brown – who has held the position for just over 3 ½ years – was coming to the end of his contract at the conclusion of the season, but he and the team announced on Monday, Aug. 24, that they have "mutually agreed to part ways."

"Over the past four seasons, Dana has helped our organization win two division titles and has led our baseball front office through key scouting, draft and development efforts," team owner Jim Crane said in a statement. "On behalf of the Astros, I want to thank him for his commitment, energy, and contributions to our organization."

The team said Crane will oversee baseball operations as assistant GMs Charles Cook, Gavin Dickey and Connor Huff, and senior adviser Jeff Bagwell take over Crane's duties.

The move comes with the Astros tied for first place in the American League West division, but with a sub-.500 record of 65-66. That's also despite an MVP-caliber season from designated hitter Yordan Alvarez, who leads the league in all three Triple Crown hitting categories with a .320 average, 36 home runs and 90 RBI.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Astros shake up leadership, part ways with GM Dana Brown

Blake Treinen continued his minor league rehab assignment with a scoreless inning on Sunday for Oklahoma City, his fourth scoreless outing in four tries, first with Ontario and the las three contests in Triple-A.

Treinen struck out two in a scoreless eighth inning on Sunday, working around a leadoff single. The right-hander pitched on one day rest, after having two days of res before his previous wo games. Treinen is on the 60-day injured list with right elbow inflammation and last pitched for the Dodgers on June 19.

Player of the day

Emmet Sheehan seemed to find his groove again in Triple-A, including six scoreless innings on Sunday with nine strikeouts, allowing only a double and two walks. Sheehan induced 14 swinging strikes, including seven with his slider and five with the four-seam fastball.

Emmet excelled this afternoon😤

6.0 IP | 1 H | 0 R | 2 BB | 9 K pic.twitter.com/eR7BSOG1Zy

— Oklahoma City Comets (@OKC_comets) August 23, 2026

Sheehan on Sunday retired 14 straight at one point before a two-out double in the fifth for Sugar Land’s first hit of the game. Sheehan faced three hitters with a runner in scoring position on Sunday and retired them all, with a strikeout and two balls that never left the infield.

It was the first game in 11 days for Sheehan, who was called up to the Dodgers for two games last week for relief coverage but was not used. Sheehan’s last two starts with the Comets (August 12 vs. Albuquerque, Sunday at Sugar Land) have totaled 11 2/3 scoreless innings and 17 strikeouts,

Triple-A Oklahoma City

After nine innings of zeroes on both sides, Matt Gorski singled home the free runner in the Comets’ 10-innings win over the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Astros).

The game was scoreless so long thanks in part to plays like this from Zach Ehrhard in right field.

Ehrhard goes up to make the grab! pic.twitter.com/woCqvkeUpW

— Oklahoma City Comets (@OKC_comets) August 23, 2026

Double-A Tulsa

Three crooked-number innings cooked the Drillers in Sunday’s loss to the Amarillo Sod Poodles (Diamondbacks).

Tulsa tried to come back with home runs in each of the final three innings. hat included a solo shot from Josue De Paula, one of his three hits on the day. De Paula’s 25 home runs and 59 extra-base hits this season are right around double his previous career highs (30 extra-base hits in 2024, 12 home runs in 2025).

HOMER NO. 25 FOR JOSUE DE PAULA 💣 pic.twitter.com/M6wmX3ToKx

— Tulsa Drillers (@TulsaDrillers) August 23, 2026

After missing seven games on the injured list, Mike Sirota returned Sunday to play all nine innings in center field. Sirota walked and was hitless in three at-bats.

High-A Great Lakes

Samuel Munoz hit a two-run home run in the 10th inning for the only scoring in the Loons’ win over the Fort Wayne TinCaps (Padres). That followed nine innings of excellent, scoreless pitching, just like for Triple-A Oklahoma City.

For the second day in a row, a 2025 Dodgers draftee struck out seven in three-plus innings for Great Lakes. After Cam Leiter on Saturday, on Sunday it was Jacob Frost, who walked three and allowed two hits in his 3 1/3 innings of relief.

Starter Tyler Gough struck out four in two scoreless frames. In two months since joining the Loons, Gough has a 1.96 ERA and 34.2-percent strikeout rate in 36 2/3 innings.

After struggling mightily with Double-A Tulsa — with a career-questioning 30 walks and 14.94 ERA in 15 2/3 innings — former first-round draft pick Maddux Bruns spent 11 weeks on the development list before returning to game action in High-A on Sunday. Bruns followed Gough with two strikeouts in two scoreless innings, allowing only a single and walk.

Class-A Ontario

Kellon Lindsey showed off his power and speed on Sunday night in the Tower Buzzers’ rout of the Inland Empire 66ers (Mariners). Lindsey had four hits, including a home run, drove in four, and scored three runs. He also stole two bases, the third time this season the former first-round draft pick had a home run and stolen base in the same game.

Luis Gamez struck out nine in four scoreless innings of relief for the win, allowing only a single and walk.

Joendry Vargas, playing third base on Sunday, had three hits, including a double, with three RBI.

Sunday scores

• Oklahoma City 1, Sugar Land 0 (10 innings)
• Amarillo 7, Tulsa 4
• Great Lakes 2, Fort Wayne 0 (10 innings)
• Ontario 11, Inland Empire 1

The week ahead

• Oklahoma City vs. El Paso (Padres)
• Tulsa at Midland (A’s)
• Great Lakes vs. Lansing (A’s)
• Ontario at Stockton (A’s)

Good morning.

Evan Grant writes that the Texas Rangers are turning to Ezequiel Duran to be The Solution in a year of consistent inconsistency for the under .500 AL West leaders.

Kennedi Landry writes that the Rangers were able to claim a series and winning homestand behind yet another solid effort from Cal Quantrill.

Grant writes about the return to the big leagues for Logan O’Hoppe, whom the Rangers are hoping will be a change-of-scenery addition.

Landry writes about deadline acquisition O’Hoppe arriving after finding confidence following a month-long stint in Triple-A.

Jeff Wilson writes that, with the lineup going even quieter than usual, it was the rotation that held it down for the Rangers to win a homestand.

Grant notes that Jake Burger avoided an IL stint after taking a heater flush to the wrist that knocked him out of Saturday’s game.

And, with Sebastian Walcott leading the way, Jim Callis ranks the Rangers just inside the top ten among farm systems with the best infield prospects.

Have a nice day!

Sean Murphy is not having a great time — he apparently suffered through a debilitating hip injury for years, and finally decided to call it quits in a lost season and get surgery. He returns, and a week later, has his finger fractured by a swing. Fast forward right about three months, and he’s re-activated, but this time to serve as a very platoon-y bat amidst a stretch of the team not facing that many southpaws.

On top of that, his stats this season are super-gross: a .138 wOBA and a .159 xwOBA. It’s only 42 PAs, but it’s probably not helping him have a great time.

To say that he’s not in any sort of rhythm is an understatement. In those 42 PAs, he’s running by far the highest chase rate of his career, but also the lowest rate of swinging at strikes. Put those together and woof. But, I also noticed something else, partly due to the fact that Murphy only has one hard-hit ball in his last 11 balls in play. To summarize:

That’s a… very slow swing now. It’s been declining as it is, amid injury, but in this tiny-sample 2026 we have so far, that’s a collapse.

I can think of three big-picture reasons:

1. There’s still some lingering injury-related stuff that’s preventing him from taking the hacks he used to, except in limited situations.
2. Either in combination with his lack of “sync” and horrible pitch recognition thus far, or separately for whatever reason, he’s slowing things down (to little avail).
3. The bat speed collapse isn’t deliberate, but just an extreme reflection of Murphy not being “ready” at the plate. (The thing I don’t like about this one is that his swing rate on pitches nowhere near is so high that it doesn’t seem to make sense, but it’s a possibility.)

If Murphy were doing his usual massive cuts thing, and missing the pitch by a bunch, that’d be one thing. And, if he were doing that while not really recognizing balls versus strikes, yeah, okay, he’s had a long layoff and is barely playing these days. But the lack of bat speed suggests something physical or deliberate, and that’s on its own plane of concern.

I will also say, unrelated to this, that even if bat speed concerns were allayed, he’s got a long road to go, as evidenced by his looking strikeout last night. Two outs, some guys on base, Murphy takes four pitches and gets a 3-1 count. Walking won’t help that much because the Brewers can make a pitching change to preserve the platoon advantage. Murphy has already seen the sinker from Grant Anderson, it was two of the last four pitches. There’s another one on 3-1, and it’s a good pitch on the bottom edge, but… Murphy takes it. And then, on 3-2, Anderson changes to a four-seam grip and fires a ball in the exact same location and… Murphy takes it. Yeah, that’s not bat speed, but it might be related — why isn’t Murphy swinging on 3-1, but also not on 3-2 when he gets a very similar pitch?

Anyway, what do you think?

A lot can change in 427 days, especially if your name is Kade Anderson.

That’s exactly how many days were between his final collegiate start and his MLB debut. Since that final appearance in a Tiger uniform, Anderson won a national championship, got drafted #3 overall, breezed through AA baseball to become the top prospect in baseball, and then got called up to the Seattle Mariners to make his MLB debut.

Waiting for him at T-Mobile Park was the Chicago Cubs with a record of 74-55. With a lineup full of good right-handed hitters, they would present one of the toughest matchups possible for a rookie to debut against.

If there was one thing that we learned about Kade Anderson in his time at LSU, he’s the last person to shy away from competition. This is the same guy who sat in a press conference following a 16-9 game 1 victory vs West Virginia in a Super Regional with a face that was beet red with frustration for his own performance because he allowed 7 runs on 9 hits.

He has a high standard for himself and that’s why he didn’t even spend a full season in the minors. The lefty told everyone that he was going to be much better the next time and he did just that. Anderson showed up to the College World Series in Omaha and, between two starts, combined for 16.0 innnings pitched, 6 hits, 1 run, and 17 strikeouts.

He’s a competitor and there was no doubt that he’d be ready for the moment on Saturday afternoon in Seattle.

In his 1st inning, Anderson got through Pete Crow-Armstrong and Seiya Suzuki fairly easily. Then, former LSU shortstop Alex Bregman stepped in to the batter’s box. After 2 balls, the southpaw fought back with back-to-back strikes to even the count. Bregman then fouled off 3 straight pitches and they were in the midst of a Tiger-on-Tiger battle. Anderson threw a beautifully executed changeup on the outside corner to get a swing and a miss and took round 1 in a matchup that made all of Baton Rouge proud.

After getting through the 2nd and 3rd innings with only a walk allowed, Anderson finally gave up his first hit on a bloop single to Suzuki to lead off the 4th. It didn’t phase him, as he retired Bregman, again, followed by another strikeout and a ground out.

Chicago finally got to him in the 5th, as they began the inning with a walk, a steal, and a single to set up runners at 1st and 3rd and no outs. A sacrifice fly would bring in Anderson’s first run allowed, but that was followed by a double play and as we saw him do numerous times in purple and gold, he pitched out of trouble.

With a reliever warmed and ready in the bullpen, the Mariners sent him back out there with just 72 pitches. Crow-Armstrong doubled to lead off the inning, but another double play quickly erased the danger. So we thought. It was time for round 3 with Bregman. The Golden Spikes finalist, World Series champion, and 11-year veteran is just too good to see the pitch that Anderson threw him. A first pitch changeup that was dead center of the zone quickly got turned around for a 415 foot homerun and that was part 1 the “welcome to the big leagues moment”. Part 2 came on the very next pitch when Michael Busch clobbered a 408 foot hanging slider out to center field and that would be it for the debut of Kade Anderson.

He walked off of the mound shaking his head and frustrated with his final two pitches, but as he looked up, all of the Mariners fans in the stadium were on their feet to give a rousing ovation. Regardless of how the debut ended, it was well-deserved.

The smiles returned later that night, though. Anderson looked poised to get the loss on his record as Seattle went to the bottom of the 9th down 4-2 and recorded two quick outs to start the inning. Following a double and an RBI single, Randy Arozarena stepped to the plate having already homered in the 1st and robbed a homerun for Anderson in the 3rd. On his second pitch of the at-bat, the veteran left fielder deposited a ball over the center field wall, won the game for the Mariners, and let a cheerful Anderson off of the hook.

After the game, he was asked how were his jitters going in to his debut, despite having pitched in some huge games across his collegiate career.

Anderson said, “I feel like I’ve had opportunities to pitch in some pretty big games. I’ve used those games to help me through this one. Obviously, there’s going to be some jitters, but I feel like I controlled them pretty well.”

While LSU isn’t the MLB and Charles Schwab Field in Omaha isn’t T-Mobile Park, it’s hard to argue that Kade Anderson could have been any more prepared for that moment based on his time as a Tiger. It’s a testament to him, his family, his work ethic, attitude, etc., but it’s also a massive nod to Jay Johnson and the staff at LSU for the work they do to prepare their athletes for the big leagues.

Anderson is just the latest example. Paul Skenes, Dylan Crews, Grant Taylor, Tommy White, Gage Jump, and Paul Gervase are all currently on active MLB rosters and each played for Johnson. That’s 7 players in the MLB in just 5 years as the Tigers head coach.

Sitting there in a post-game presser following LSU’s national championship in 2025, Johnson delivered delivered one of his most viral quotes.

“If you’re a pitcher and you don’t want to come here right now, you’re out to lunch. You’re not thinking clearly, because that’s three dudes that pitched in the series that are all going to be in the Major Leagues within 18 months.”

Those three dudes were Kade Anderson, Anthony Eyanson, and Chase Shores.

Scratch one off of the list, because Kade Anderson has arrived.

His next start, assuming Seattle follows the typical 5-man rotation schedule, looks to be on Friday night against the Blue Jays in Toronto, but that is very subject to change.

Stay locked in with ATVS to follow Anderson’s young journey, as the 22 year old now looks to settle in to a routine.

Late August, early September. The Phillies are headed out west to have three series in which they are playing teams that have given them trouble in the past. First, to Seattle to face the Mariners, then down the Pacific coastline to see the Los Angeles Angels, followed by their own house of horrors in Phoenix against the Diamondbacks.

Of these three, which one worries you the most? The obvious answer is Arizona since they have rarely played well there, but they are coming off a big time high, traveling across the country and play a game in Seattle this evening. It screams of a letdown series even if the Mariners have been disappointing this year. Maybe it’s the one we’re all overlooking in Anaheim.

If they can get through this going at least winning four of the nine, I’ll be happy.

As part of Sunday night’s Little League Classic festivities, Commissioner Rob Manfred appeared on the ESPN broadcast to announce the date and matchup of next year’s LLC in Williamsport, PA.

The Cubs will face the Toronto Blue Jays in that game, which will be held Thursday, Aug. 19, 2027 in Williamsport, in a change from past years (including this year) when the game’s been played on a Sunday.

The 2027 schedule released last month shows the Cubs in Toronto from Friday, Aug. 20 through Sunday, Aug. 22. This will move that Friday game to Thursday in Williamsport and then the teams will have Friday off before continuing the series at the Rogers Centre on Saturday.

In keeping with the tradition of this annual event, Major Leaguers from both the Blue Jays and the Cubs will attend Little League World Series games earlier in the day on August 19, demonstrating their commitment to helping grow the game at the youth level and engage with young fans. Later that evening, Little League World Series players and their families will fill Journey Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field for the Little League Classic game.

As you likely remember, this will be the second time the Cubs will participate in the LLC. They were also in the 2019 version of the game, in which they defeated the Pirates 7-1. Here’s the BCB recap of that game.

This game is always fun for the players participating and it’s great for all the Little League kids who get to attend. Cubs outfielder Michael Conforto played in the Little League World Series in 2004, and is one of three players to appear in the Little League Baseball World Series, Men’s College World Series and Major League Baseball’s World Series, along with Jason Varitek and Ed Vosberg.

I look forward to seeing this game, which will be on ESPN and Sportsnet Canada at 6:10 p.m. CT next August 19… presuming we have a normal season in 2027. Fingers crossed.

All season long, the Orioles have tread water. Their win-loss record has never gotten better than two games above .500 (on April 13) or worse than nine games under .500 (July 8). That type of mediocre form has been enough to keep them in the conversation for a playoff spot, but with just a month of games left to play, they will need to find another gear if they are going make a genuine push for the postseason. This upcoming road trip is their opportunity to pull ahead.

Starting on Tuesday, the Orioles will begin a three-city road trip that takes them to St. Louis, Sacramento, and Denver for nine games against the Cardinals, Athletics, and Rockies, respectively.

The Cardinals are a solid club, boasting a 66-66 record. They have no hope of catching the Brewers in the NL Central, and even the wild card feels like a pipe dream. The Cards are 5.5 games out of the final wild card in the NL. But it’s not impossible for them to bounce back from their current three-game losing streak to go on a run and sneak into the playoffs. The Orioles will need to be careful with them.

The Athletics and Rockies, though, are a different story. Entering play on Monday, these are the two worst teams in baseball. The A’s, at 51-80, are at the bottom of the AL while the Rockies, at 50-80, are at the very bottom of the entire league.

Things aren’t trending better for either team. The A’s are 11-34 since the start of July. They have slipped from three games back in the division at the time to 14 games back now. The Rockies were awful back in May (8-20), improved a bit in June and July (21-29), but have fallen apart recently. They own a 7-13 record in August, which includes an active six-game losing streak.

Why are these two teams bad? It’s pretty simple. They can’t pitch. The Rockies’ 5.54 ERA is the worst in the sport, and the Athletics’ 5.47 mark is second-worst. Even if you slice and dice by rotation vs. bullpen it doesn’t get much better. The Rockies rotation has a 6.18 ERA while the Athletics is 5.35. In the bullpen it’s the Atheltics that are worse (5.66 ERA) while the Rockies are somewhat serviceable (4.80 ERA).

On paper, even the flawed Orioles should have an advantage in the series against these two bottom feeders. But that doesn’t guarantee anything. The Orioles have already lost two of three to the Athletics this year when the two teams met at Camden Yards back in May.

What makes this upcoming road trip even more vital is what follows.

The Orioles wrap up the series in Denver on Wednesday, September 2. The final out there will probably be recorded sometime around 6 p.m. ET. Then, they have to take the 3.5-hour flight home, find a way to get some rest, and then be at Camden Yards and ready for a 7:15 p.m. ET first pitch on Thursday night against a Red Sox team that will have probably already been in Baltimore for several hours before their hosts even arrive.

That game with the Red Sox will begin the final 22-game stretch of their season in which they will play four against Boston, three with Cleveland, six against Toronto, three with Milwaukee, and three against each of the New York teams.

The only perceived “break” in there is the series with the Mets, but even they have been better recently. Every other opponent is at least in the playoff mix with something to play for, whether that be seeding or even getting into the tournament in the first place. If the Orioles performance on the season to this point is any sort of guide, we can expect them to put up a fight against these competitive clubs, but hoping for any sort of streak seems foolish.

But it’s not only the Orioles schedule that we have to worry about, it’s also the schedules of the teams that the O’s are battling for that final wild card spot. An easier path likely means the Orioles need to play just that much better. The news isn’t great on that front, unfortunately.

According to Tankathon, the four easiest remaining schedules in Major League Baseball this season belong to the Twins, Guardians, Blue Jays, and Mariners.

Seattle has the easiest road, thanks in part to a down year for the AL West. Of their 31 remaining games, 17 of them are against the Angels, Athletics, and Rockies.

Toronto is second-easiest. As records exist today, none of the clubs left on their schedule have a .500 or better record. That’s particularly good for them, since they are 33-42 against such teams this season.

To be fair, it’s not as if the Orioles’ remaining schedule is the absolute toughest. They rank 20th on Tankathon, and while clubs like the Guardians or Blue Jays are daunting given the context of the standings, these are still flawed, sub-.500 teams that the Orioles could theoretically take care of.

So, what sort of performance should the Orioles be aiming for?

FanGraphs projects the standings for the rest of the year. They believe that in order to get into the AL playoff field, a team will need to finish with an 81-81 record, exactly .500. They also expect the Orioles to go 15-16 in their final 31 games, ending up at 78-84, last place in the AL East and just three games out of that final wild card spot.

That sounds entirely possible and reasonable. The Orioles have provided no evidence to suggest that they are a better than .500 club. Even when they briefly held a playoff spot earlier this month, they still had a losing record. Bucking that trend, going on a run, and leap frogging several teams that have an easier path from here is not what we should expect to happen. There’s a reason that Baseball Reference gives the O’s just a 9% chance of making the postseason at this point.

But that’s why we play the games. The Orioles could change the math by going on a tear out west, otherwise continuing to tread water, and then taking care of business against the Blue Jays in September. Most of the other games are window dressing.

Slowly but surely, the Dodgers are getting the band back together.

Tyler Glasnow is going to be activated off the 60-day injured list on Tuesday to start for the first time in 111 days. By this weekend in Detroit, Shohei Ohtani might pitch for the first time since July 3, even if he starts out one inning at a time.

The Dodgers plan to be aggressive with Ohtani’s progression on the mound, with an eye toward postseason readiness. From Fabian Ardaya and Kaie Woo at The Athletic:

Ohtani could still build up to five-inning starts by October, Roberts said. If Ohtani keeps his standard once-per-week pitching schedule, he could get up to four or five (if he starts Sunday, with the regular season ending Sept. 27) starts in actual games before then.

“To then have the opportunity, the flexibility to insert Shohei to build up like he did last year, I think, is of huge benefit both ways,” Roberts said.

Eric Lauer figures into this week’s plan by being available out of the bullpen during the Tigers series, possibly following Glasnow on Tuesday. Then Lauer will likely follow Ohani on Sunday in Detroit. Bill Plunkett at the Orange County Register has more.

Links

• Will Smith last caught for he Dodgers on June 5, missing nearly four months with neck inflammation. But after ramping up baseball activities, including facing Ohtani in a simulated game on Saturday at Dodger Stadium, Smith will start a minor league rehab assignment with Oklahoma City on Tuesday, per Sonja Chen of MLB.com.
• When Edwin Díaz returns from the injured list after neck inflammation, he won’t be in the closer role, and will have to work his way back into high-leverage roles. “I’m good with the decision because I know I haven’t done my job,” Díaz told Dylan Hernández of the California Post. “If I’d done my job, I’d be pitching in the ninth inning.”

Even analytical fans can be overcome with emotions. The last ten days have been brutal. If we remove the opener of the Mariners series, we saw the Astros got a combined 2-6 in the span of eight days. That was against a collection of teams where they probably were hoping for a 6-2 run. They blew late leads, the offense sputtered at times, and the starting pitching continued to struggle to get through the fifth inning. Even the normally reliable Yordan Alvarez seemed to hit a snag throughout much of the run.

I hate to boil things down to simple math, but this is usually where my brain goes. There are essentially six months in a baseball season. It’s obviously grossly simplified to assume four weeks in a month, but we could probably add one week in there to account for the extra days. That means there are 25 weeks in a season. The last homestand accounts for slightly more than a week’s worth of games. 162 divided by nine equals 18. 18 is a nice round number.

To put this in perspective for most Houston fans, 18 essentially corresponds to the number of weeks in an NFL season. So, imagine if the Texans’ offense failed to show up for a particular game. I know that’s not hard to imagine. Imagine if they had held a lead into the fourth quarter and squandered it. Imagine if their defense simply got torched on a particular Sunday. What would the conversation be like?

Obviously, the conversation would likely depend on when that particular loss occurred. If it occurred in a random regular season game in October it would likely be a cause for concern, but no one would be quitting on the season quite yet. If it were the opening week of the season there would be some doom and gloom, but most people would realize it was just one game in a long schedule. If it occurred in January then obviously the season would be over.

This is where we find ourselves as Astros fans. We have experienced one terrible week of baseball. They have had worse this season. It doesn’t seem like it but the first road trip was an unmitigated disaster. There have been stretches at home that have looked just as awful. So, the key to sound analysis is to take a step back and keep a level head about these things.

The question we should ask is whether there is anything from these nine games that we can extrapolate to the much larger whole. I think there are a few through lines we can look at and pencil them in as areas of concern moving forward. These are things the next general manager and manager need to consider when the 2027 season opens (yes, I am assuming they are both gone).

The lineup is too shallow

Let’s do the math. We know Yordan Alvarez is great. We know Jeremy Pena is an all-star level player. We know Christian Walker overall has had a nice bounce back season. Isaac Paredes is also approaching career highs in OPS. That’s it. This lineup has four average to above average hitters when compared to the league average (as defined by 100 OPS+). That simply ain’t going to get it done.

Certainly, others have shown flashes of brilliance. Jose Altuve is a Hall of Famer in waiting, so he will have stretches where he looks like one. Cam Smith is obviously a physically gifted player and he will have stretches where he looks like a future all-star. Yainer Diaz even had a stretch earlier where he looked like his former self. That is why this offense can look great at times. Yet, on a nightly basis you are counting on the same four guys to hit. What happens when one or more of them aren’t hitting?

Moreover, if you have four guys that are clearly head and shoulders above everyone else then shouldn’t those four guys be the top four in your lineup? There are too many games when random people like Daulton Varsho are batting cleanup. Again, this is simple math. Who are your best hitters? Where they can hit in the lineup to get more opportunities?

The rotation is too shallow

Everyone here remembers the Jake Odorizzi days. Most fans would not remember them fondly, but they likely are misremembering things. Odorizzi was famously very effective two times through the order. The third time through things all went to crap. When Dusty Baker finally realized what he had then Odorizzi became a lot more effective. The Astros have a couple of those guys in their current rotation. Cristian Javier looks like one of those guys. Kai-Wei Teng was one of those guys when he was a starter. You could say Hayden Wesneski looks like one of those guys too.

Tatsuya Imai is also one of those guys as a starter. When more than half of your potential rotation are guys that are only effective two times through the order you are going to tax your bullpen. In my last lab, I suggested leaning into that. Obviously, that is a short-term solution to a long-term problem. You can’t go through a 162 game schedule without that blowing up in your face. You could credibly claim that it did on the last homestand.

Javier’s overall effectiveness has actually surprised me. I thought he was cooked earlier in the season. However, you are setting yourself up for problems if most of your starters are not capable of going beyond five innings. Heck, just getting to the fifth lately has been a struggle. In terms of short-term fixes, the answer is only Mike Burrows and hoping Ethan Pecko can go deeper than he did last time out. Neither of those are appetizing solutions. Still, when you do nothing at the deadline, your options are going to be limited.

The future is unwritten

If we have learned anything as Astros fans it is never to write them off in any situation. They taught us that in 2005 and throughout the current dynastic run. They are going up against the New York teams this week and that seems like a recipe for disaster. Still, this is when they usually have played their best baseball in the past. We can hope for it again. 3-6 is a horrible nine game stretch at home, but it is essentially one game’s worth of action in NFL terms. We wouldn’t write the Texans off after one week and we shouldn’t do that with the Astros even if the last nine games really makes us want to.

Meet the Mets

If you didn’t enjoy the first walk-off loss of the weekend, I have very bad news for you.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, Faith and Fear in Flushing, MLB.com, Newsday, New York Daily News, New York Post

Thankfully, the Mets mission to become Dodgers East hasn’t’ resulted in any financial crimes to this point.

For A.J. Ewing to come out clean on the other end of his slump, he can just look to his fellow psychopath and Nolan McLean as roadmaps.

Though it ultimately meant nothing, as most things do, Jared Young’s game-tying hit was the latest in a long stretch of timely hits by the first baseman.

If the Mets aren’t entertainment enough, some guy in the stands hit a flying leg drop, Matt Hardy-style from two rows up on some unsuspecting brawler.

Around the National League East

In the Little League Classic, Michael Harris II and the Braves gave the kids a show, beating the Brewers 4-2 in a 22-hit contest.

Down to their last strike, the Phillies scored six times, capped off by a Kyle Schwarber walk-off home run, and defeated the Cardinals, 6-4.

The Nationals continued their long descent to The Mets Zone of the NL East, falling to the Marlins for the third time in a row, this time 6-2.

Proving that walls are just a temporary obstacle, Jacob Young clambered up the Marlins’ left-center field wall and started a double play.

Around Major League Baseball

Shohei Ohtani is likely to make his grand return to the mound during the Dodgers’ next homestand.

Barely a week after Pete Crow-Armstrong became the first player in eons to start a game with a homer, end that same game with a homer, and start the next game with a homer, Randy Arozarena has matched him.

The first of two statues to be revealed at Coors Field this summer, a 15-foot-tall bronze Larry Walker was revealed outside the main gate in Denver.

Inside the stadium, Jimmy Herget was stung right on the UCL by a bee on the mound and went on with his business.

With his 120th consecutive day on the injured list in the books, Garrett Crochet has lost his option to opt-out of the remainder of his contract after the 2030 season.

As they continue their wild card push, the Diamondbacks lost one starter voluntarily and one to injury as they designated Zack Littell for assignment and placed Michael Soroka on the injured list.

He may be the best pitcher on planet Earth, but that doesn’t mean Jacob Misiorowski is immune from getting dunked on by a pre-teen in a game of ping pong.

During the Little League Classic, Commissioner Rob Manfred revealed the Blue Jays and the Cubs to to be the participants in the 2027 edition of the game next August.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 2015, the Mets set a new franchise record with eight home runs in a single game against Philadelphia.

The Jays have this Monday off (and next Monday). Having Monday off is a good thing. I’ve always liked holiday Mondays.

They have 30 games left (and fortunately enough, no 17-game streaks without a day off.

They are a game and a half back of the last Wild Card spot. And would have to jump two teams to get there. I don’t know how many they would need to win to get there. I figure 20-10 would do it pretty easily. 18-12? Likely. Maybe even 17-13. Much worse than that? I don’t know.

They have three against the Rangers and three against the Guardians. Winning those series would help.

I’m mostly hoping it is a fun ride.

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Anyway, use the thread, as always, to discuss anything you’d like.

Maybe long movies. I saw The Odyssey and Spider-Man this week. I guess they want you to feel you got your money’s worth. I enjoyed both and made it through without needing the washroom. I’ve hit that fun age that if I drink anything within like 6 hours of going to bed, I’m up three times during the night.

Or a favourite moment of the season up to this point. I’ve enjoyed seeing the young guys come up—Bateman, McAdoo, Valenzuela, Cameron, even Tiedemann for his 1.2 innings.

Or talk about what you plan to do with the last month of summer. Me? I don’t know. I tell myself I’m going to pick up my guitars more, but, with baseball and this place, my sitting on the couch time is pretty much filled. So, it is tough to add more ‘sitting on the couch time’.

Anyway, use the thread to talk about almost anything.

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And….we could really use another voice or two on the site. What would be nice is if we could find someone or someones who could do a morning post on weekdays to take some of the morning pressure off me. When you are out here in Calgary, well, a morning post is up around noon Eastern. There is always a point in the season when burnout starts to show. Anyway, if you think you would like to help out, let me know. My email is in my profile.

The Braves are likely very glad Monday is finally here and an off-day can be used as a needed break and reset. Thankfully, the Braves were able to get a badly needed win in the 2026 Little League Classic on Sunday night. This allowed for Atlanta to avoid a sweep to the Brewers, and also have a positive note to end on after a wild last few days. After ending the road trip playing in four different cities in five days, Atlanta can now return home for another big series against the Dodgers.

Braves News

As the Braves switched up the lineup a bit, Michael Harris II proved to be huge from the leadoff spot, including the final run of the game coming via a home run that was clearly wanted from the Little League crowd.

Despite their recent travel and struggles, many on the Braves seem truly delighted to experience the Little League Classic.

Reynaldo Lopez had a fairly positive showing as he began a rehab assignment in his return from injury.

MLB News

The Phillies won their ninth straight game, as the NL East is once again a close race.

Jazz Chisholm helped the Yankees win on Sunday.

Mike Soroka went to the IL for the Diamondbacks.