Category: Baseball

The Seattle Mariners, one of baseball’s greatest disappointments this season, are calling up the minor league’s most dominant pitcher in an effort to reverse their fortunes.

Kade Anderson, the left-hander making a mockery of Class AA hitters all season, will be called up to start their Saturday, Aug. 22 game in Seattle against the Chicago Cubs, ESPN first reported.

Anderson, 22, was the third overall pick in the 2025 draft out of LSU, and in his first full professional season has proven almost untouchable. He’s struck out 135 in 93⅓ innings while compiling a 10-1 record and 1.06 ERA in 18 starts.

The Reds were handed one of their most brutal losses of the season on Thursday.

With Cincinnati holding a 5-4 lead over the Cardinals with two outs in the ninth inning, St. Louis shortstop J.J. Wetherholt lofted a ball to left-center field, which appeared to be an easy out for center fielder Dane Myers to track down.

But as Myers drifted toward the ball while calling off left fielder TJ Friedl, the ball deflected off his glove and rolled back to the warning track, allowing the Cardinals to score two runs and regain the lead.

After throwing the misplayed ball back into the infield, Myers appeared dumbfounded while crouching in the outfield.

The Cardinals’ offense then exploded with another four runs in top half of the ninth before the Reds responded by putting four across in the bottom half.

Cincinnati’s comeback attempts were ultimately foiled after Matt McLain hit a hard line drive to St. Louis outfielder Jordan Walker with the bases loaded to end the game, with the Cardinals sealing the 10-9 victory.

Myers owned up to the blunder while speaking to reporters, saying that he and Friedl had talked about plays in the gap beforehand.

“Shaded over a good bit. We had talked before the play. Anything in that gap with how we were shaded was supposed to be mine,” Myers said, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. “So, I know the sun may have been tough.

“Pretty loud for the last out of a game. I called him off and just didn’t make the play.”

Reds skipper Terry Francona likened Myers’ game-altering error to a simple baseball mistake.

“TJ looked like he was fighting the sun and I was kind of glad that Myers called him off,” Francona said. “Just didn’t look it into his glove. Just glanced off.”

Thursday’s loss gives the Reds a 61-67 record, and they sit seven games out of the final National League wild-card spot with just over a month left in the regular season.

BALTIMORE — Although the Yankees were due to play a key game at Camden Yards on Thursday night, the most important swings of the day may have come in The Bronx, where Aaron Judge started hitting off a tee.

Aaron Boone noted the advancement in Judge’s recovery from the fractured rib that’s kept him out since the beginning of June.

“It went well,’’ the manager said before the Yankees topped the Orioles 6-1. “It will be good to see him [Friday] when we get home.”

Initially restricted to limited activity, Judge had moved on to playing catch and, more recently, swinging in a pool.

But if there’s any real chance of Judge getting healthy and performing up to his normal standards before the end of the season, the Yankees will have to keep an eye on the calendar.

He’s already been sidelined for nearly three months and will need time to get back into playing shape when he’s completely healthy.

Another injured outfielder, Cody Bellinger, played his first minor league rehab game Thursday with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after being out with a hamstring strain since suffering the injury July 25. He served as the DH and went 1-for-3.

Bellinger will likely need more than one rehab game before his return, but the Yankees haven’t ruled out a potential return this weekend at the Stadium against Toronto.

Without Bellinger, the Yankees have been forced to play Spencer Jones and Heliot Ramos more than they would like.

Boone said Giancarlo Stanton has continued his running program as he works to get back from the calf injuries that have kept him from playing since April.

Ryan McMahon didn’t play Thursday after suffering an injury to his left thumb while sliding into second base during Wednesday’s win.

The third baseman said he expected to get another scan of the injury Friday in The Bronx, but as of Thursday, no IL stint was deemed necessary, and initial X-rays showed nothing was broken.

José Caballero started at third base in McMahon’s place.

Since the Yankees were unable to pick up a catcher at the trade deadline, Mitch Garver likely is their best option if they decide to replace Ali Sánchez as Austin Wells’ backup.

Garver, released by the Mariners earlier this month, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees, and Boone said the veteran right-handed hitter has made “good strides” after working with the organization’s catching group in Tampa, Fla.

He’s been with SWB for a week, but Boone said “nothing’s imminent” in terms of Garver potentially being called up to The Bronx.

Right-hander Ben Hess, the Yankees’ fourth-best pitching prospect according to MLB Pipeline, was placed on the 60-day IL.

Hess, 23, was the first-round pick in 2024 and was limited to 56 ²/₃ innings at Double-A this season.

The Seattle Mariners are calling up left-handed pitcher Kade Anderson to make his first big league start on Saturday, August 22nd against the Chicago Cubs. The long awaited debut comes following a road trip where Seattle struggled to contain three potent offenses, scuppering their chances of upsetting a few of the best teams in baseball and making up ground in the American League West.

Anderson has not been merely lights out so much as vantablack with Double-A Arkansas in the Texas League. Anderson is all but universally viewed as the top pitching prospect in baseball due to stellar stuff, plus command, and a dominant résumé from his time on campus at LSU up through this summer with the Travelers. Some evaluators have even placed him as the best prospect in all of baseball, full stop.

His 1.06/1.78/2.67 ERA/FIP/DRA are mildly aided by a very friendly home field for pitchers in Dickey-Stephens Park, but what has aided them more is Anderson being an absolute monster. He has dominated every lineup he has faced, from veteran-filled rosters 4 to 6 years his senior to highly regarded prospect groups, including a star-studded Tulsa Drillers team that features several of the top prospects in baseball as the AA affiliate for the Los Angeles Dodgers. What’s been particularly standout is his consistency – Anderson has allowed more than two runs just once on the year in 18 starts (a five-run outings in mid-May). He’s allowed more than one run just two other times, with two runs in starts against Double-A Amarillo (San Diego’s affiliate) and at the launching pad of Springfield (the Cardinals affiliate). In his 93.1 innings, he’s had 135 strikeouts against just 13 walks and a single hit by pitch.

Anderson utilizes a deep bag of tricks, all of which he commands excellently. His fastball doesn’t explode on the radar gun, but there is some aspect of deception in Anderson’s lanky delivery that lets it get on opposing hitters far quicker than one would expect. He complements those heaters with a nasty mid 80s slider that is his best out pitch, breaking tightly and befuddling hitters of either handedness. Anderson also utilizes a beautiful big curveball which frequently buckles knees and freezes hitters, alongside a firm change up that completes a gorgeous compass rose of movement profiles.

Watching Anderson, it’s been reasonable to say he is one of Seattle’s five best starting pitchers, even in a rotation that for much of the year has been a strength. It’s been defensible to continue letting the existing starters have their run considering each has big league success they can point to, but the timing of Anderson‘s promotion cannot be decoupled from the passing of the recent service time deadline. With under 45 days to go in the service time calendar, Anderson will maintain rookie eligibility in 2027, keeping him eligible for the prospect promotion incentives rewards without risking an additional year of closer proximity to free agency.

President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto recently stated there was no intention to have Anderson come up and work in relief. Mariners fans should know by now not to take any public comments from Dipoto as gospel, but the level at which Anderson has performed is meritorious of a rotation look. Seattle has been cautious with him in terms of innings, rarely letting Anderson face opponents more than twice through the order, which is a point worth monitoring when considering his numbers. But even in outings frequently kept around five frames for that reason, Anderson has been hilariously efficient and effective.

Last night the Nats got carried by their ace Cade Cavalli. They also got enough offense thanks to a monster night from Andres Chaparro. The Nats will look to claim a series win with their second best starter on the mound. After some recent road struggles, a series win would be a nice way to get back on track.

CJ Abrams is out of the lineup in this rubber match with an ankle injury. Nasim Nunez will be playing shortstop while Jose Tena plays second base. Brady House will be at third base for Jorbit Vivas and Dylan Crews is back in the lineup in center field. Andres Chaparro and Abi Ortiz are both in the lineup again. Andrew Pinckney will also get a somewhat rare start. Andrew Alvarez has been excellent lately and will look to keep that up.

With a lefty on the mound, we will see a lot of the faces we saw in game one. Jake Burger, Justin Foscue, Danny Jansen and Cody Freeman all return to the lineup. Most of these guys are short-side platoon bats. The Nats will see an old friend on the mound tonight. Jacob DeGrom dominated them with the Mets for many years, but now he is in Texas and still throws heat.

Game Info:

Stadium: Globe Life Field

Time: 8:05 PM EST

TV: Nationals.TV and FS1

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

A series win would be very uplifting for a Nats team that has struggled lately. With Alvarez on the mound, they have one of their hottest arms. Hopefully they can get enough done offensively. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!

LSU’s ace from the 2025 College World Series championship team has finally received his Major League call up. Kade Anderson is on his way to Seattle to make his professional debut on Saturday vs the Chicago Cubs.

The left-handed stud has been magnificent in his first year of minor league baseball in 2026. He has spent the entire season with Arkansas Travelers, the Mariners AA team.

In 18 starts, Anderson has posted an ERA of 1.06 with a record of 10-1. In 93.1 innings pitched, he’s allowed just 47 hits while striking out 135 and walking just 13.

All of his stats are elite, but having a WHIP of 0.643 and strikeout to walk ratio of 10.38 is absurd. He’s been untouchable, further proved by his .147 batting average against. He leads the minor leagues with a strikeout rate of 40.5%.

Anderson had worked his way up to the #1 overall prospect in Seattle’s organization. As for overall, he ranks #3 in ESPN’s prospect rankings and #5 for MLB Pipeline.

Although he threw 38.1 innings as a true freshman in 2024, he was returning from Tommy John surgery that held him out for his entire senior season at St. Paul’s High School in Covington, Louisiana. He had success in midweek games, but his experience in the SEC was full of trouble.

As a true sophomore, Anderson began the 2025 season as the Tigers ace and never looked back. His 12-1 record helped lead LSU to a National Seed and a national championship. He pitched to a 3.18 ERA through 119.0 innings of work, while leading the entire country in strikeouts with 180 and walking just 35.

Due to his age, Anderson was a draft-eligible sophomore and was selected #3 overall by Seattle in the 2025 MLB Draft.

First pitch for the Mariners-Cubs game on Saturday is 6:15 central and will be nationally televised on FOX.

Washington Nationals @ Texas Rangers

Thursday, August 20, 2026, 7:05 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / Rangers Sports Network)

The Shed

LHP Andrew Alvarez vs. RHP Jacob deGrom

Go Rangers!

At first, Evan Phillips didn’t get what the big deal was.

Tanner Scott’s “BBL” nickname?

“I thought it was just completely organic,” Phillips said.

Not quite. At least, not initially.

Last year, Scott had a disastrous debut season as the Dodgers’ closer. He signed a $72 million free-agent contract, then posted a 4.74 ERA with 10 blown saves, four losing decisions and a career-worst negative-0.6 mark in WAR, according to Baseball-Reference.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the campaign also culminated in fittingly futile fashion. During the National League Division Series, the left-hander developed an infected abscess on his … uh … backside. He was removed from the team’s playoff roster after rushing to the hospital for what manager Dave Roberts described at the time as an emergency excision procedure.

“Last year sucked,” Scott said. “That’s what I say every time someone asks.”

In other words, it was an all-around, pain-in-the-butt experience.

However, 2026 has gone markedly better for the former All-Star reliever. He has cut his ERA by more than half, owning a 2.28 mark entering Friday. He is unexpectedly leading the team in saves, going 18-for-20 in a ninth-inning role that was supposed to belong to new signing Edwin Díaz before he suffered his own string of injuries. In Roberts’ estimation, “he’s been our most consistent reliever, by far.”

And as a result, a very-online corner of the club’s fan base found a peculiar way to praise him.

Tanner Scott’s nickname takes a life of its own

Early on in Scott’s rebound season, some social media users began tagging him with the “BBL” nickname –– a Brazilian Butt Lift joke that played off his season-ending medical issue last fall, as well as the transformation he’d undergone since.

It was sophomoric humor, no doubt, a niche internet meme that largely went unnoticed outside of Dodgers-centric communities on Twitter.

But then, when Scott faced Seattle Mariners slugger Cal Raleigh last month, team broadcaster Stephen Nelson took the acronym mainstream, slipping it into his SportsNet LA commentary with a twist.

“It’s the Big Dumper,” Nelson said, in reference to Raleigh’s iconic nickname, “against BBL: Big Bad Lefty, Tanner Scott.”

Before long, the clip had caught the attention of Dodgers players. Those who weren’t attuned to the phrase’s original meaning –– including Phillips, one of Scott’s close, longtime friends in the sport –– quickly learned and latched onto the bit.

“There’s some backstory to the Twitter world, the meme world,” Phillips laughed this week. “It’s amazing.”

So much so, Phillips commissioned an order of T-shirts emblazoned with the BBL moniker, dozens of which have since been passed out around the clubhouse. 

Phillips made sure to use the PC version of the nickname in the shirt’s design, with the letters spelling out “Big Bad Lefty” in a crossword-esque pattern. The accompanying photo, though, uncoincidentally shows Scott in the middle of his wind-up, with his leg lifted and posterior prominently featured.

Scott’s take on it all?

“It’s fun,” he told the California Post with a sheepish grin this week.

Indeed, for as juvenile as the jokes may seem, the 10-year veteran has been a surprisingly good sport about it.

Scott laughed about the clubhouse shirts, saying he was a fan of them because “Evan’s my friend.” He noted that his wife, Maddie, has found another novelty tee online of “me with a giant tush.” This offseason, Scott even poked fun at himself on Instagram, captioning a photo of him holding the World Series thusly: “Put everything BEHIND me,” he wrote, alongside a peach emoji.

Not every player would embrace such attention so light-heartedly, of course, especially when the comedy is referencing something as dispiriting as his 2025 season.

Scott’s attitude, however, is exactly part of the reason he has been able to stage his sudden turnaround. 

He didn’t let himself get hung up on last year’s failures. He was able to flush his frustrations and reframe his mindset. And now, with the help of some offseason mechanical tweaks that have eliminated last year’s habit of too often missing down the middle, he has rediscovered his “inner confidence” as one of the sport’s premier left-handed relievers, as Roberts noted this week.

“He’s very good at not letting the noise affect him,” Roberts said. “He doesn’t run from struggles.”

Entering the stretch run of this season, it has made Scott the most important arm in the Dodgers’ banged-up bullpen.

With Díaz back on the injured list, he has a chance to re-establish himself as the team’s primary closing option.

This week, Scott authored an auspicious return to the role in the wake of Díaz’s neck injury, recording a four-out save on Tuesday night in Colorado then a scoreless 10th-inning save to complete a series sweep over the Rockies a night later.

And, as Phillips unintentionally quipped while discussing Scott’s resurgent performance, it might be giving new meaning to the BBL nickname –– with Phillips highlighting the way his teammate has “bounced back” this season.

“Baseball is a game of really tiny adjustments and subjectivity and nuance and –– all these words that Tanner would never use,” Phillips joked. “But just his ability to show up each day and get after it and do what he does, that’s part of what makes him so good.”

Hopefully once the book is complete on the 2026 regular season for the Atlanta Braves, this will have been the last time we have to talk about the Braves suffering a sweep. They were able to avert the disaster against the Diamondbacks but as it turned out, they needed to be prepared to walk into a snakepit in Minnesota instead of against the actual snakes.

We knew this would be a tough week for the Braves in terms of travel but the opening series of this road trip at least seemed like it would be an opportunity for Atlanta to have a somewhat productive start to the trip on paper. Instead, things ended up going sideways in the Twin Cities and the Braves were forced to go into salvage mode once it was time to go to Chicago. So how did these four tough games go? Let’s get into it.

Monday, August 17

Twins 4, Braves 2

It’s pretty difficult to win any given game when you’re down 4-0 by the time the middle of the lineup has to hit and it’s especially difficult to do so when the offense has been struggling a bit. That was the task that was laid in front of the Braves on Monday night after Martín Pérez’s scoreless inning streak was blown up in the very first inning of this particular start.

The first six batters for the Twins all reached base safely with hits and the sixth hit in particular was a Kody Clemens single that made it 4-0. From that point forward in the first, Pérez sat down bottom third of Minnesota’s lineup in order but the damage had surely been done by then.

Atlanta had some very quick innings until the fifth inning, which is when Austin Riley led off the frame with a single, Drake Baldwin joined him on the basepaths with a one-out double and then Ronald Acuña Jr. brought them both home with a looper to left that ran Bailey Ober from the game. Any hope of further damage being done to Minnesota’s bullpen was snuffed out immediately, as Atlanta only picked up one more hit after Acuña’s double and the two-run deficit turned into a two-run loss.

Tuesday, August 18

Twins 4, Braves 1

Atlanta once again had to deal with a first-inning deficit. This time it was “only” two runs after Josh Bell feasted upon a hanger from Tyler Mahle for a two-run blast. That ended up being all that Zebby Matthews needed while he spent nearly six innings on the mound, as the Braves were unable to really string anything together against ol’ Zebulon. Drake Baldwin seemingly provided a spark with a solo homer off of Matthews in the sixth inning. Baldwin’s solo shot made it 2-1 and with Tyler Mahle bouncing back from the rough first inning, Atlanta was right in the thick of it — the offense just had to keep hitting.

The offense did not keep hitting. Once again, Minnesota’s bullpen proved to be too tough for the Braves to deal with as Atlanta only had one baserunner after Baldwin’s dinger. As such, Ryan Jeffers’ two-RBI double in the eighth inning was essentially the dagger for the Braves in this one as that three-run lead for Minnesota may as well have been thirty with the way Atlanta was performing at the plate.

Wednesday, August 19

Twins 6, Braves 4

Well, the good news is that the Braves didn’t fall into a first-inning hole in this game. The even better news is that they actually showed some serious life at the plate in this game, what with Ronald Acuña Jr. hitting a game-tying RBI single in the fifth inning and then the Braves responding to a three-run fifth inning from the Twins with three runs of their own in the top of the sixth. A Lane Thomas RBI single, a sacrifice fly from Ozzie Albies and a balk (that was largely induced by Mauricio Dubón’s movements on the basepaths) helped the Braves keep pace with a Minnesota squad that could seemingly pick up any crucial hits that they needed — no matter the quality of the contact of the batted balls.

The seventh inning ended up being the turning point as once again, Minnesota delivered some timely hitting. Josh Bell smacked a double in the seventh off of Victor Mederos and Dylan Lee was called upon to help clean up the mess. He did no such thing, as Kody Clemens knocked one into right for a go-ahead single and then Brooks Lee added some insurance (following an intentional walk of pinch-hitter Ryan Jeffers, who hilariously went right back to the bench for a pinch-runner) with an RBI single of his own to make it 6-4.

Once again, the deficit was too much for Atlanta to deal with and for the third straight game, Yoendrys Gómez finished things off in the ninth and doomed the Braves to just their second series sweep loss of the season.

Thursday, August 20

Braves 2, White Sox 0

Following a series loss to the Diamondbacks and getting swept by the Twins, Atlanta found themselves limping into Chicago for this makeup game. Fortunately, the Braves were able to get some much-needed relief in this middle-portion of a unique road trip thanks to Grant Holmes coming up absolutely huge. Now granted, the pitching for Atlanta wasn’t the problem during the series in Minnesota but when you consider how Holmes fared during the series at home against Arizona, this was truly a sight for sore eyes.

Holmes ended up pitching an extremely strong six innings where he carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, along with three strikeouts. I’d imagine that if Holmes didn’t have a no-no going, Weiss lkely would’ve pulled him earlier than he did.

Instead, Holmes left a two-runners, nobody out situation for Didier Fuentes to clean up. Fuentes came up huge in his own right by striking out the next three White Sox batters he faced in order to leave both runners stranded and preserve a great line for Holmes as well. It may have been a missed opportunity for Chicago but it was the type of moment that this Braves team desperately needed with the way things have been going recently.

Anyways, the big hero at the plate for Atlanta in this one was Austin Riley. Atlanta only scored two runs but both of the RBI came off of the bat of Riley, who plated Mauricio Dubón with a double in the third and then added some insurance in the seventh with an RBI single that brought home Michael Harris II. Following Holmes’ exit and Fuentes’ amazing relief appearance, Dylan Lee shut Chicago down in the eighth and then Raisel Iglesias pitched a smooth 1-2-3 inning in the ninth in order to preserve a one-hit shutout for the Braves. Wow.

I’m going to be honest with y’all: Before these four games kicked off, I figured that the Braves would be totally capable of taking the series against Minnesota and probably end up dropping the game against Chicago. That goes to show you that in the words of a former Atlanta Braves commentator, you just can’t predict baseball. The power went out for the Braves in Minnesota (for the most part) as the Twins ended up bouncing back from a sweep at the hands of the Phillies in order to sweep the Braves, themselves. Then Atlanta turns around and produces a one-hit shutout against one of the top offenses in the American League. That’s baseball for you.

It’s also tough to predict baseball on a long-term scale — or even a week-to-week scale. At this time last week, it felt like the Braves were beginning to once again run away with the NL East after a series win over the Mets put Atlanta up 9.5 games on the Phillies in the standings. From that point forward, the Braves lost five of seven while the Phillies (of course) began a six-game winning streak on August 13 (starting with the Twins because, again, of course) and now the deficit is back down to five games. That’s still a decent-sized buffer for the Braves to play with but it’s also a reminder that this race could still have some more twists and turns left in it if the Braves aren’t careful.

The trip only gets tougher for the Braves now, as they’ll be heading up to Milwaukee where they’ll have their work cut out for them. It starts on Friday with Chris Sale being matched up with Jacob Misiorowski in a marquee pitching matchup and it’ll end on Sunday in Williamsport, Pennsylvania with the Little League Classic. Then there’s only one off day of rest for the weary before the Dodgers come to town. Needless to say, business is about to really pick up over the next few days for the Braves and hopefully, the results will look more like what we saw in Chicago than in Minneapolis!

The Mariners lost 7-4 to the Brewers on Thursday following another bad outing from a starting pitcher.

George Kirby got shellacked in the first inning. The Brewers sent 10 batters to the plate and scored six runs. Single, walk, double, single, single, double, double, and the game was essentially over. Kirby didn’t get much better from there, though more of the Brewers hard contact found gloves in the second and third innings. After a one-out single in the fourth, Kirby’s day was done with the game 6-0. His 99.3 mph average exit velocity allowed was tied for the fifth highest by a starting pitcher in 2026. This isn’t what you want: 

I’ve struggled to understand Kirby’s season for months now. He hasn’t been very good. The walks that showed up last year are still there, but the extra strikeouts have disappeared. He was getting tons of grounders in the first few outings of 2026 — a nice comprise for the drop in whiffs — but those are gone now, too. I don’t see anything different in his pitch mix. The “stuff” models still think he’s got the same out of zip. Just now he’s struggling to put away batters with two strikes. He can’t throw the ball over the plate without it getting crushed. And he can’t throw the ball out of the zone because batters aren’t fooled enough to chase. He’s just kind of… bad.

Kirby’s slump is part of an unfortunate trend for many Mariners pitchers right now. The lineup’s mediocrity and The Dan Wilson Conspiracy continue to steal the headlines for this disappointing season, but the team’s relative collapse over the last two months mostly lands on the pitching. They are dead last in the majors in fWAR since the All-Star break. They’re on pace to finish below average for the second year in a row. It’s fair to wonder if pitching is still a strength of this org. It might even be a weakness.

The pitchers who followed Kirby kept them in the game, preventing another 22-0 massacre like Tuesday night. José Ferrer did well to finish out the fourth and get out of the jam. Then Michael Rucker followed and was fantastic, dare I say “again.” He threw 2 2/3 innings, struck out four, and allowed no hits. He generated whiffs on six of 15 swings, and chase on seven of 17 pitches out of the zone.

I love this final at bat against Garrett Mitchell. Rucker starts him off with a cutter for a called strike, which was a lucky call. But after wasting a curve, he pumps 97 mph on the top rail and Mitchell comes up empty. Then he drops the curve again, this time below the zone, for a swinging strikeout. Filth.

These plots from FanGraphs help illustrate how much separation exists between those two pitches. Not only is there a big difference in movement, the fastball and curveball sit almost 15-mph apart. Batters can’t sit and adjust — they simply have to guess. They guessed wrong on Thursday.

Rucker has been maligned this year as an unwitting pawn in the great battle to be as mad as possible at Dan Wilson. It’s not really fair, because Rucker has been solid — his FIP- is down to 81, second best on the active roster after Muñoz (72) and well ahead of Eduard Bazardo in third (96). Given the Mariners bullpen has been one of the five worst in the majors since Rucker joined the team on June 12, there’s never really been an occasion where Wilson wasn’t justified in bringing him in. It’s the latest example of why I refuse to buy into The Dan Wilson Conspiracy as an explanation for most of the Mariners mess in 2026. Generally, the players at his disposal haven’t been very good. Rucker is a rare exception.

Speaking of which, with the Mariners down 6-4 and most of the bullpen having pitched the night before because Logan Gilbert couldn’t throw more than five innings, Wilson was forced to use journeyman Jhonathan Díaz in the eighth. He gave up a home run to make it 7-4, which put an already unlikely comeback further out of reach.

The Mariners offense wasn’t too bad in this one. They walked six times, collected six hits, and had several hard hit balls. They scratched across two runs in the second and two more in the fourth, so most of the game was played under the pretense of competition, even if it never felt that way. The most notable thing that happened was Taylor Ward drew his first and second walks in a Mariners uniform; he was acquired at the trade deadline as a walks machine, then went his first nine games in Seattle without one. But it wasn’t enough. The power wasn’t there, and the singles and walks weren’t sequenced to score. With two outs in the ninth, Julio scorched a 111-mph line drive to centerfield that Mitchell flagged down to end it 7-4 — a close-ish game that never was.

The Mariners ended their big scary road trip at a surprisingly decent 4-5 record, with a few impressive wins tucked between some of the worst losses in franchise history. They’ll face the Cubs this weekend and the Phillies early next week. I’m not going to do analysis about their standing, because the season is over. But they’re really not far back, and the schedule lets up after this homestand — the Mariners have the easiest strength of schedule remaining. I’m not sure I care to see a team that can’t hit, pitch, field or run the bases in the playoffs. But I don’t care to see that in the regular season, either, and I’m still watching.

The New York Rangers and Hartford Wolf Pack have announced an extension to their affiliation agreement. 

The agreement runs through the end of the 2028-29 season.

“The Rangers organization is pleased to continue its successful relationship with the Wolf Pack organization and the city of Hartford,” said Wolf Pack General Manager and Rangers Associate General Manager Ryan Martin. 

“We look forward continuing to provide our players with a first-class experience in Hartford, and to giving the great fans of Hartford an opportunity to see our prospects as they continue to develop and graduate to the Rangers.”

The Wolf Pack became the Rangers’ American Hockey League affiliate in 1997 after the Binghamton Rangers relocated when the Hartford Whalers departed for North Carolina.

Through their 29-year existence, the Wolf Pack won the Calder Cup once in 2000 and have reached the playoffs 17 times. 

“We are beyond thrilled to continue our long-term partnership with the New York Rangers in Hartford,” said Peter Luukko, co-chairman of Oak View Group’s Stadium and Arena Alliances. 

“Hartford is a premier market in the AHL, and the relationship between this franchise and the Rangers is one of the most successful in league history. This coming season marks 30 years of this partnership, and we cannot wait to continue growing our brand both on the ice and in the Greater Hartford Community.”

The start of Thursday's game between the Yankees and Baltimore Orioles has been delayed due to inclement weather at Camden Yards. 

With first pitch originally set for 6:35 p.m., Baltimore announced that the start of the three-game series finale has been pushed back to 6:55 p.m.

First pitch is scheduled for approximately 6:55 p.m. https://t.co/cjJSYYY7S6

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) August 20, 2026

Right-handed Gerrit Cole is expected to be the starter for the visiting Yankees.

Cole has been outstanding in August. In three starts, he's pitched to the tune of a 1.93 ERA and 1.07 WHIP across 18.2 innings, tallying 19 strikeouts.

Baltimore will be hoping to avoid a three-game sweep at home following their controversial 5-3 loss on Wednesday night. At the time of writing, the Orioles are 1.5 games behind the Minnesota Twins for the third and final AL Wild Card spot. 

The O's are slated to send out 29-year-old righty Kyle Bradish, who has compiled a very respectable 3.65 ERA across 24 starts this season.

Thursday Finale in Baltimore. #RepBXpic.twitter.com/ahuDrkuOqa

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) August 20, 2026

Aided by a controversial fair/foul call on a long Pete Alonso fly ball, the Yankees picked up a win on Wednesday night, assuring them of a series victory on the road in Baltimore. Tonight, they’ll try and sweep the Orioles before heading back home to face the other AL East birds.

To try and finish off that sweep, the Yankees will sent Gerrit Cole to the mound. Cole has been on a strong run of late, with a 2.57 ERA and a 2.33 FIP over his last eight starts. The Yankees have only gone 4-4 in those games, mostly thanks to the struggling offense, but Cole has certainly done his job in keeping them in games.

Speaking of said struggling lineup, José Caballero will get the nod at third in for Ryan McMahon after the latter left Wednesday’s game early with a hand injury. Other than that, the starters are the same as yesterday, albeit in a different batting order.

As for Baltimore, the recently-extended Kyle Bradish will get the start. For the season, Bradish has been a bit up and down, but he’s been solid of late. In his three starts in August, he’s allowed just five earned runs in 15 innings.

Here’s all the information you need to know to catch tonight’s action, and we hope you’ll come join us in the game thread!

How to watch

Location: Oriole Park at Camden Yards — Baltimore, MD

First pitch: 6:35 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES Network (NYY), MASN (BAL)

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY), 98 Rock 97.9 FM, WBAL 1090 AM (BAL)

Online stream: Gotham Sports App, MLB.tv (out-of-market only)

For updates, follow us on BlueSky, Twitter, and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

As you know, the Cubs have made a habit out of exciting walk-off wins this year. They’ve had 12 in all, which is tied for second-best in franchise history. The team record of 14 was set in 1930, a year where the team came agonizingly short of a second straight NL pennant. The 2015 Cubs, a club you likely remember well, had 13 walk-off wins, as did the 1932 Cubs. (Incidentally, the MLB record for walk-off wins in a season is 17, set by the Pirates in 1959 and tied by them in 1977.)

This is the story of a walk-off win by those pennant-winning 1932 Cubs. I figure with an off day today and a late-night game tomorrow in Seattle, we could delve deep into franchise history for this story.

Let’s set the stage. The 1932 Cubs had been in first place most of June, then fell out of the top spot early in July and held second place until three straight walk-off wins over the Braves put them back in first place right around this time of year, Aug. 16.

They lost to the Braves Aug. 19, but still led by two games, in a tight race with the Dodgers.

This is the story of the game the next afternoon at Wrigley Field. The Cubs trailed the Phillies 5-2 going to the bottom of the ninth. The first two Cubs that inning were routine outs. Then Johnny Moore singled and Marv Gudat walked, bringing Gabby Hartnett to the plate as the potential tying run.

Here’s how Hartnett’s at-bat was described by Edward Burns of the Tribune:

Hartnett, who had fanned in his three previous trips to the plate, took his stance. Gabby slammed a hard grounder to Friberg. The ball caromed off Barney’s shins and bounced into center field. While G. Davis was rushing in to effect a recovery, Moore scored, Gudat reached third and Hartnett stopped at first. Jurges forthwith was put on to run for Hartnett.

They don’t write ‘em like that anymore, that’s for sure.

The next batter was Mark Koenig, who the Cubs had acquired from the then-independent Triple-A Mission Reds of the Pacific Coast League just two weeks earlier. Koenig, a star with the Yankees in the late 1920s, had fallen off a bit in production and had been sent by the Detroit Tigers to Mission for cash considerations before the 1932 season began.

Koenig had gone 4-for-7 in his first four games as a Cub, starting only one of them, and had been 1-for-3 in this game before he came to bat in the bottom of the ninth, representing the winning run.

Here’s Burns’ description from the Tribune of what Koenig did on the very first pitch:

It was as pretty a line drive homer as anybody ever saw at Wrigley Field. If any Cub player had touched Mark as he rounded the bases he would have been called out. But there was no physical demonstration as he passed third in front of the Cub dugout. But the minute he hit home plate he was embraced by half a dozen Cubs. Then the ushers had to drive back several hundred fans, each of whom apparently wanted to carry Koenig to the clubhouse.

It was a different time.

This was the first win of what became a 14-game Cubs winning streak, which is the second-longest in franchise history, behind only the 21-game streak in 1935. The 14-game streak helped the Cubs solidify their hold on first place; when it was over they had a 7.5-game lead and would eventually win the NL pennant by four games.

Koenig never was really accepted as a Cub, according to his SABR biography:

“I never fit in with the Cubs players. They only voted me a half-share of the World Series. I had six tickets for the games and they were all behind posts. Guy Bush must have had one hundred tickets. I knew damned well we couldn’t beat them.”

But for one day, Koenig was a Cubs hero. His three-run walk-off homer that gave the Cubs a 6-5 win over the Phillies in front of about 16,000 at Wrigley Field happened 94 years ago today, Saturday, Aug. 20, 1932.

After coming within one game of sweeping the Rays over the weekend, the Orioles are now the team in danger of being swept. This series is a letdown no matter what, but a win tonight would help things. Not just in the standings, where the Orioles are currently 1.5 games out of the final Wild Card (behind four teams), but also for our mental well-being.

It won’t be easy. I mean, it’s never easy. But tonight the Orioles must face Gerrit Cole. Cole has been limited to 15 starts this season as he returned from Tommy John surgery, but they have been good. He was a 3.22 ERA overall; since July 1st, it’s just 2.57. So that will be a challenge.

Some good news: Pete Alonso is back at first base! Alonso and Samuel Basallo are switching spots tonight, with Basallo DH’ing. Tyler O’Neill is getting the night off, though I expect we will see him if a lefty reliever comes in.

Pitching for the Orioles is Kyle Bradish. Bradish battled through six innings against the Rays over the weekend. He allowed just two runs but walked four and had a lot of traffic on the bases. Bradish’s strikeouts have been down this season, I’d love to see him with rack up 10 or so tonight.

Orioles lineup

Jackson Holliday (L) 2B
Pete Alonso (R) 1B
Gunnar Henderson (L) SS
Samuel Basallo (L) DH
Christian Encarnacion-Strand (R) 3B
Dylan Beavers (L) LF
Leody Taveras (S) RF
Colton Cowser (L) CF
Carlos Narváez (R) C

Yankees lineup

Trent Grisham (L) CF
Ben Rice (L) DH
Heliot Ramos (R) LF
Luis García Jr. (L) 1B
Jazz Chisholm Jr. (L) 2B
George Lombard Jr. (R) SS
Spencer Jones (L) RF
Austin Wells (L) C
José Caballero (R) 3B

Let’s go O’s!