Category: Baseball

Good morning, folks…

Evan Grant, Time Cowlishaw and Kevin Sherrington make their predictions for the four LDS series that kicked off yesterday.

Ty France’s potential go-ahead homer for the Padres in Milwaukee hit a roof cable and ended up being caught by Jackson Chourio for an out. Sam Miller noted, as an aside, that the Padres’ #2 hitter in NLDS game one was a player who was released in August…by the Padres.

That player? Former Texas Ranger Dustin Harris.

David Laurila has his Sunday Notes column up at Fangraphs.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Cardinals fans and fans across the country.

Happy Sunday morning one and all.

This one is going to be even more interesting after this is over, because Tuesday when we do this one again, I am very interested to see where people are.

Going into the Arizona Cardinals matchup with the New York Giants they are 2.5-point favorites according to our friends at FanDuel Sportsbook, the first time this season they are favored, so will that play into things if they somehow do not win this game?

Let’s take a look at how you all voted this week in our Reacts polls.

The Cardinals and their fans are going the wrong direction in terms of confidence in the direction of the franchise, but wins are the only thing that will get fans on board.

Meanwhile, the reason they are so concerned is because of the Arizona Cardinals defense.

It is interesting how most people, specifically the hardcore fans, saw this defense as the issue all along, so are you more discouraged than you expected to be with the defense?

I am interested to hear your reasoning before they kickoff in a couple of hours.

The Phillies have been eliminated from the playoffs. I didn’t expect anyone to be happy about that, but it certainly seemed like some fans had a bit of a “I told you so” skip in their step about their failings. Even if you dislike the president of baseball operations, hoping that his moves fail is bizarre behavior. (I assure you that calling Dave Dombrowski “Dumbrowski” is extremely clever, but you don’t have to constantly remind us of how clever you are by doing it every time you talk about him.)

Obviously, the team wasn’t good enough this season, and that ultimately falls on Dombrowski’s head. But it feels like people are a little off on why they’re angry with him. The biggest criticism I’ve seen is that they took a team that failed the previous four seasons and “ran it back.”

They mostly did run it back, but that’s because they are largely locked into their core. Really, most people didn’t actually want to break up the core. Instead, they wanted to turn over much of the supporting cast like J.T. Realmuto, Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh, Jose Alvarado, Orion Kerkering, and others.

The problem is, replacing over half the lineup and revamping almost the entire bullpen in one year isn’t really feasible. I suppose it is feasible, but the problem is that the presumption is that you’d replace those players with better players, and that’s the tricky part.

Free agency was largely a wasteland this past offseason. For example, nobody besides Realmuto’s agent liked the team giving him a third year, but he certainly looked like the best option at catcher heading into 2026. Don’t think I don’t remember the “Sign Victor Caritini and platoon him with Rafael Marchan” talk.

I know some people wish the team had signed Pete Alonso and moved Bryce Harper to right field. But after seeing Harper play right field the past two months, does anyone – including Harper – want that to be the norm over the next five years? And there’s also a strong possibility that Alonso’s five-year contract ages poorly.

The same issue existed with Luis Arraez. Arraez did have a good year defensively, but he also showed us why a multiple-time batting champion was readily available in free agency.

Next, take a look at the outfielders who were available in free agency, and you see it wasn’t a pretty picture. The big-ticket guys were Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger, and it seems like both of them were heart set on going to the Dodgers and Yankees respectively. You could make the case that the Phillies should have made a press to sign Bellinger instead of re-signing Kyle Schwarber and maintain some positional flexibility. But does that swap change much in the big picture?

Aside from that, the available players largely consisted of veterans like Austin Hays, Harrison Bader, and Rob Refsnyder.

Perhaps the Phillies could have been clever with trades, but they were sorely lacking in viable trade chips. Both of their top prospects – Andrew Painter and Aidan Miller – had some red flags attached, and they were already counting on both Painter and Justin Crawford to fill spots on the major league roster.

That brings us to the real problem: The farm system is not providing them with nearly enough. It would have been nice to plug in a home-grown player into one of the outfield spots and have him be a positive contributor, but instead, we got Crawford. (I know Crawford has his defenders, and this merits a separate article. But ask yourself this question: What is Crawford good at?)

Andrew McFarlane was a great addition to the bullpen, but the Phillies needed far more than just him from the farm. What we got was Gabriel Rincones, Jr., Alan Rangel, and Felix Reyes.

When Dombrowski was hired, he had two missions: Get the major league team back into the playoffs and rebuild the farm system that was a disjointed mess before his arrival. He succeeded on the first part, but it sure doesn’t look like he accomplished the second. And unless he can make progress on that front soon, his successor may soon be hired with the same directives.

We had some fun games yesterday. The vile Yankees were shut out by the slightly less (?) vile Rays. The vile Dodgers staved off a comeback attempt by vile Atlanta. And not especially vile Milwaukee and Chicago won fairly close games against also not especially vile San Diego and Cleveland. In the Rays game, we got the curious spectacle of a no-hitter-bid-ending double where the batter made the third out stretching for a triple, meaning Drew Rasmussen left the game without having had a hit on base.

Today we only have the NL games. The Padres and Brewers go at 4:00pm ET, and the Barves and Dodgers are slated for 8:00. Michael King (12-10, 3.21) will take on Logan Henderson (11-3, 2.47) in the early game. Blake Snell (4-1, 1.90) will go for LA in the nightcap, while Atlanta hasn’t announced a starter yet.

Josh Hart was going through it on Saturday night.

The Knicks star, hoping his Yankees can repeat what he and his teammates did a few months ago, shared his roller-coaster of emotions during the Bombers’ 1-0 ALDS Game 1 loss to the Rays in which they recorded just one hit.

Hart was excited at the start, writing “Let’s go Yanks!” on X along with “Let’s get it 4-5,” referring to starting pitcher Gerrit Cole.

With Rays ace Drew Rasmussen mowing the Yankees down early, Hart tried to remain positive.

“Alright let’s put some hits together!” Hart wrote.

As the innings wore on, Hart appeared to be getting nervous that the Yankees would be on the wrong end of history.

“Please don’t get no hit,” he wrote.

And he said what every Yankees fan must’ve said when catcher Austin Wells finally broke up Rasmussen’s no-hitter with two outs in the eighth, only to get easily thrown out at third trying to stretch a double into a triple, ignoring third base coach Luis Rojas’ signal to stop at second.

“WHY ARE YOU GOING FOR THIRD??” Hart wrote in his final thought shared about the game.

Wells said after the game that he didn’t see Rojas’ signal until after he had passed second base, and he “was already committed” to trying to get to third.

“You have to take risks. But in that situation, obviously the risk was wrong,” Wells said.

The Yankees, who swept the Red Sox in the best-of-three wild-card round, will try to bounce back in Game 2 on Monday, when their soon-to-be Cy Young winner Cam Schlittler takes the mound.

Their Aaron Judge-less lineup will have to get more than one measly hit, though, to get back to The Bronx with a split.

Hart, meanwhile, is in the middle of training camp as the Knicks prepare to defend their first NBA championship in 53 years.

Choosing how much to take from a single game in the postseason is a challenge. Tarik Skubal did what you expect from baseball’s most talented pitcher. The Dodgers out-homered the Braves three to two with the superior offense. Kyle Tucker hopefully started his redemption tour with a homer in his first playoff affair for the Dodgers. And the Game 1 win came on a scorching-hot day in Los Angeles.

Traditionally, what might be described as a commanding win comes in a blowout result or with a team overcoming glaring obstacles. For this specific matchup, the Dodgers might have managed to secure one over the Braves without any of that, simply by materializing well-established facts regarding these two clubs.

Through the middle of the sixth inning, the Dodgers led by just one run after Sean Murphy delivered Atlanta’s first and only blow to Tarik Skubal with a solo shot. The Braves generated some action in that inning, but Skubal stranded a pair and helped the Dodgers maintain the lead. With all of their offense in the first half of this game coming from Teoscar Hernández’s two-run shot, punishing a mistake-breaking ball in the fourth, the Dodgers’ hitters were playing down to their competition.

The game had gotten shorter, and it was still close, but the moment it became dangerously close with Murphy’s homer and the subsequent trouble Skubal ran into, the Dodgers turned on the jets—giving themselves the cushion to eventually survive a ninth inning scare. Instead of a shutdown inning, the Braves saw the game slip from their hands, allowing a pair of homers in the bottom of the sixth.

The Braves made it close against Tanner Scott in the ninth with a two-run bomb by Ozzie Albies. Even then, it’s not as if Scott were the recipient of unwavering trust from Dave Roberts, a reflection of this bullpen’s depth. In fact, he didn’t even wait and see if Scott could finish the game without allowing the tying run to get an at-bat, bringing in Evan Phillips for the final out. Under normal circumstances, an elite closer has a little more faith than getting pulled because of a single bad pitch, but then again, it’s not a one-off occurrence.

With the scoreline showing 5-3, the prevailing sentiment is that Atlanta played as well as it could have against a dialed-in Skubal apart from one shaky inning, and it still wasn’t enough. While Mookie Betts reached base a couple of times, it was Hernández and the bottom of the order getting it done for Los Angeles. It’s the bottom of the order, but that’s only because someone has to be there, because we’re talking about the likes of Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy. It feels redundant at this point, but the depth to be able to reasonably hit Muncy — the franchise leader in postseason home runs — in the eighth spot is absolutely unparalleled.

Contrasting the depth of the two clubs, Murphy’s home run was the only hit recorded by a batter in the lower half of the Braves lineup. Scott’s troubles in the ninth will be a sticking point, but Skubal’s sixth-inning woes allowed for other bullpen names to come in and prove themselves in this setting. For this one, it was Brock Stewart and Alex Vesia contributing key outs, but for the next one, it could very well be Edgardo Henríquez and Kris Bubic, both of whom warmed up but didn’t enter this game—evidently trusted in high-leverage spots.

Today represents the first minor league recap of the Arizona Fall League, as the league got underway yesterday. The Braves action got underway with Briggs McKenzie returning from injury to make the start.

Salt River Rafters 9, Glendale Desert Dogs 4

• Briggs McKenzie, SP: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 3 K
• Logan Samuels, RP: 1.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
• Owen Hackman, RP: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K
• Tyler LaPorte, RP: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

Boxscore

Briggs McKenzie made his first appearance since June 25th and got off to a strong start, though his command was a bit scattered the entire time. In the first inning he got two strikeouts swinging with his fastball and changeup, and also a weak infield ground ball. In his second inning he got another strikeout and weak ground out, but allowed a run via two walks and two singles, though was taken out of the game as his pitch count for the inning approached 30. He did return for the start of the third inning, getting a pair of fly outs and a hit by pitch before leaving the game. In total he threw 49 pitches with 31 being for strikes.

Briggs was relieved by Logan Samuels, who allowed an unearned run on three hits and a walk with one strikeout. Tanner Bauman came in and allowed five runs (three earned) over a third of an inning. Owen Hackman pitched an inning and two thirds, allowing a hit and a walk. Tyler LaPorte went an inning and a third, allowing an unearned run on two hits and a walk with three strikeouts.

The first day of the Division Series is done and recency bias is working on me big time because I am struggling to see how any of the four 0-1 teams can overcome the deficit in these five-game series. I’ve always said the MLB playoffs are the best playoffs because it isn’t necessarily who has the best team, but who has the hot hand. “Momentum” is a vastly overplayed sentiment, but, I’ll be good and gosh darned if I can envision any of the 1-0 teams failing to advance. I do so love being wrong though.

Happy Sunday everyone. Go Hawks!

In Mariners news…

• Josh Naylor reflected on his first full season with the Mariners and admitted that he didn’t perform up to his own standard.

Around the league…

• I find myself in my day-to-day life remembering a specific phrase. It was a phrase that I’d certainly heard before I heard it in this specific context, but the way FilmJoy delivered “no one knows what they’re doing” cemented the notion very firmly in my brain. Some things remind me of it more than others. My service industry day job gets me thinking about it almost every day, but that doesn’t have the same meaning as it does when an entire industry of supposedly smart people are collectively wrong about one thing. That one thing was Munetaka Murakami, whose entire market was tanked by everyone whose job it is to see the forest getting Blair Witch level lost in the trees.
• What you’re seeing in the video below is footage of the only hit the Yankees had against Drew Rasmussen in yesterday’s game. It doesn’t take a ton of scrolling to find people on the timeline questioning Austin Wells’ decision to go for third, but all I can think about watching him hit second base is how base-rounding is a lost art. A perfect cut of the bag probably still wouldn’t have gotten him to third before the relay, but it certainly would not have hurt his chances. Am I forcing a narrative here? Maybe, but it’s my publication, leave me alone.

• Who could’ve foreseen that the best player traded at the deadline this season would be able to single-handedly swing a playoff game? Oh everyone could? That was the whole thing he was sold on? Got it got it got it.
• Unconfirmed reports of Padres fans carrying garden shears trying to attain access to the catwalks at Miller Park in Milwaukee. Stay tuned here for updates on the rumors I’m starting.

• Houston may have made the playoffs this season, but the Astros roster heading into 2027(?) leaves a lot of questions that a new general manager are going to have to answer, in addition to a potential manager vacancy.

Nick’s pick…

• This video makes me want to rewatch Jaws. I don’t know what that says about me, but it’s the truth.

The Yankees’ postseason run had seen them erupt for nine runs in both of their Wild Card Series wins over the Red Sox, but they were completely shut down by Drew Rasmussen in Game 1 of the Division Series. The Rays’ ace tossed eight shutout innings and had a no-hitter going through 7.2 innings before Austin Wells ripped a double down the line to finally break that up… only to get thrown out trying to extend it into a triple. Gerrit Cole took the hard luck loss allowing a solo homer to Jonathan Aranda in his five innings of work, and that was your ballgame.

Elsewhere, the Division Series kicked off across the league, so let’s see what the rest of the field accomplished on Saturday night.

AL Division Series Game 1

Chicago White Sox 3, Cleveland Guardians 0
(Chicago leads, 1-0)

Call it divine intervention, but these White Sox are looking to go on a deep run after sweeping the Astros in the Wild Card Series and they went out and stole Game 1 from Cleveland on the road. Parker Messick enjoyed a fabulous first full season for the Guardians, pitching to a 2.56 ERA in 186.1 innings, but his Postseason debut didn’t go as well. He managed to work around a pair of baserunners in the first inning and then cruised through the second and third, but in the fourth Miguel Vargas led off with a single bringing Munetaka Murakami to the plate. Messick gave him a first-pitch sinker up and in the zone, and Murakami deposited it 440 feet out to right field.

That would be all the run support Chicago’s pitching staff needed as they worked their second bullpen game of the playoffs well enough to shut Cleveland out. Hagen Smith was the opener and provided 2.2 innings, issuing three straight walks in the third to end his outing before Bryan Hudson entered and got him out of that jam. Jordan Hicks took over to start the bottom of the fourth and got two quick outs before issuing a walk of his own, passing the baton over to Anthony Kay. Travis Bazzana greeted him by ripping a double out to right field to put runners in scoring position, and Kay walked Austin Hedges to again load the bases with two outs before Brayan Rocchio bailed him out by flipping a middle-middle sweeper harmlessly into the glove of Braden Montgomery.

Kay would get through the fifth without further incident, turning the ball over to Grant Taylor to start the sixth. Taylor delivered on some postseason magic, pitching four shutout innings to more than earn the save going deeper into a game than he had all season by more than a full inning. Taylor struck out six along the way and allowed just a pair of hits, a double and a single in the sixth and seventh respectively. Along the way, his offense gave him some more breathing room as Kyle Teel walked in the seventh and Colton Montgomery doubled to bring him home and make it 3-0. Taylor had it well in control though, ending his marvelous appearance by striking out the side in the ninth.

NL Division Series Game 1

Los Angeles Dodgers 5, Atlanta Braves 3
(Los Angeles leads, 1-0)

The two-time defending champs opened up their October with Tarik Skubal on the mound, and their deadline acquisition delivered six strong innings of one-run ball. Sean Murphy was the only one able to do any damage to the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, launching a home run to lead off the sixth, but despite a couple of walks issued after his at-bat the rest of the Braves couldn’t rally to hang a crooked number on Skubal. They needed a bigger spark too, because LA was already up when Skubal closed out his night and the lead was about to grow further.

Atlanta chose to go with a bullpen game after needed to go three games deep to best the Phillies in the Wild Card Series, and Dylan Dodd was their choice for the opener. Dodd was one of their best relievers this year, pitching to a 2.54 ERA in 49.2 innings, and he gave them a shot to go toe-to-toe with the champs by tossing three shutout innings. Unfortunately, the pitchers that followed him couldn’t say the same. Victor Mederos was tasked with the fourth inning once Dodd’s day was done, and after getting Will Smith to fly out he walked Freddie Freeman on four pitches bringing Teoscar Hernández to the plate. Hernández got a cutter over the middle of the plate and punished it, putting the Dodgers up 2-0.

After Atlanta answered with their run, the Dodgers were back at it in the bottom of the sixth. Hernández singled ahead of Kyle Tucker, playing his first postseason game for Los Angeles after a season to forget following his massive four-year, $240 million contract in free agency. Tucker got hot in September though, and he started his October off with a two-run bomb to extend the lead. Max Muncy stepped up two batters later and got involved in the home run parade with a solo shot to make it 5-1 Dodgers.

The game wasn’t over yet, however, as Atlanta gave Dodgers closer Tanner Scott their best shot. Ronald Acuña Jr. led off the finale frame with a single and Ozzie Albies crushed the first pitch he saw for a two-run blast to bring the Braves within two, but Scott calmed down from there. He recorded two consecutive outs before Dave Roberts went back to his bullpen and got Evan Phillips to face Mauricio Dubón. Phillips tossed every pitch he knew down and away to Dubón but he laid off enough to work a lengthy walk and took second base on defensive indifference. Phillips finally closed out the game by getting Austin Riley to ground out, securing the 1-0 series lead for LA.

NL Division Series Game 1

Milwaukee Brewers 3, San Diego Padres 2
(Milwaukee leads, 1-0)

The Brewers were heavy favorites for their opening game of the postseason with Cy Young favorite Jacob Misiorowski on the mound, but The Miz wasn’t his usual sharp self in his first career postseason start. The Padres struck first with three straight singles in the second inning to plate the first run of the game, and brought home another as Jake Cronenworth grounded out to first for a fielder’s choice with the throw home coming late.

Milwaukee had their ace’s back though, getting those runs back in the third inning. Facing Robbie Ray, the Brew Crew got a leadoff single ahead of Jackson Chourio, who launched one for a game-tying two run blast. After a pair of walks and a single loaded the bases, the Padres were forced to pull Ray after just 2.2 innings, but Milwaukee couldn’t convert any more as Bradgley Rodriguez escaped the jam with a groundout.

Misiorowski only lasted four innings in this game, but the Brewers’ bullpen held firm despite needing to get 15 more outs. Milwaukee used five relievers to get it done, and they allowed a fair bit of traffic to exist with three hits and three free passes, but the Padres couldn’t convert going 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position overall. Meanwhile, in the seventh inning facing Adrian Morejon with two outs William Contreras brought the crowd to their feet with a long ball to straightaway center.

The two home runs were just barely enough for Milwaukee to take this one, Trevor Megill coming on for the four-out save, but both sides had to draw deep into their bullpen to try and take the opening game.

After a wild opener, the Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres are back in action for Game 2 of the National League Division Series on Sunday, Oct. 4.

Milwaukee overcame a 2-0 deficit in Game 1 to win 3-2 after William Contreras’ go-ahead solo homer in the seventh inning at American Family Field.

Logan Henderson (11-3, 2.47 ERA) starts for the Brewers while right-hander Michael King (12-10, 3.21 ERA) goes for the Padres.

“It always feels good when Michael's on the mound,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “We felt good when he's on the mound all season. He's definitely been our leader on the pitching staff.”

With the San Diego Padres trailing the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 in the top of the ninth inning, Ty France stepped to the plate with one on and one out facing Brewers closer Trevor McGill. France connected on what looked like a sure two-run home run, which would have put the Padres in the lead, but the ball hit one of the roof trusses and deflected into the field of play where it was caught by Milwaukee left fielder Jackson Chourio. The play was ruled an out, and after a couple of umpire meetings and a replay review, the call was confirmed and San Diego was down to its final out. Jackson Merrill hit a well struck line drive to right field, but the ball was caught by Luis Lara and the Padres suffered a 3-2 loss to the Brewers in the series opener of the National League Division Series.

Milwaukee took the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning when the San Diego bullpen faltered. Adrian Morejon took the mound in the bottom of the seventh and recorded two outs against the first two batters he faced. William Contreras stepped to the plate and battled Morejon before he eventually won the at-bat when he connected on a solo home run on the sixth pitch of the plate appearance which gave the Brewers the lead. Morejon then allowed back-to-back singles before he got the final out on a strikeout.

The Padres had an opportunity to tie the game in the top of the eighth with runners at the corners and two outs. McGill who came in to face Fernando Tatis Jr. was able to get out of the inning with a three-pitch strikeout of one of the hottest hitters in the San Diego lineup. The Padres returned to the plate in the top of the ninth and Dustin Harris led off with a single to right field. Manny Machado followed and like Tatis against McGill, he went down on a three-pitch strikeout to set the stage for the dramatic plate appearance from France.

San Diego had plenty of opportunities to add to its two-run lead that came up empty. The Padres left 12 runners on base and finished 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position in the game.

San Diego will try to draw even in the series when Michael King takes the mound against Milwaukee today at 1 p.m.

Padres News:

• Xander Bogaerts is trying something new, although he is reluctant to talk about it. His new split-grip approach at the plate has been paying dividends for him and the Padres over the final month of the season.

• Thomas Conroy of Gaslamp Ball said the Padres hitters needed to carry the momentum from their Wild Card Series into the NLDS against the Brewers. San Diego did that, outhitting Milwaukee 9-7, but two home runs handed the Padres the loss.

• All the talk before the game was how the Padres would handle Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski and truth be told, they acquitted themselves quite well, scoring two runs off the flamethrower and forcing him out of the game after four innings.

• The Padres announced their roster prior to the NLDS opener against the Brewers and it was unchanged from the roster they had against the Chicago Cubs in the NL Wild Card Series. After the roster was released San Diego announced Walker Buehler was headed to the playoff paternity list and Randy Vasquez was being added to the roster in his place.

Baseball News:

• Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen dominated the New York Yankees en route to a shutout win.

• Tarik Skubal led the Los Angeles Dodgers to a series-opening win over the Atlanta Braves.

• The Chicago White Sox remained hot and opened their series against the Cleveland Guardians with a win.

The Dodgers secured their first postseason game of the year on Saturday, powering three home runs to back a strong start from Tarik Skubal in a 5-3 win over the Atlanta Braves.

It was the first time that Skubal was able to pitch at home in a postseason starts, as all of his four playoff outings had come on the road during his time with the Detroit Tigers. Skubal’s lone blemish on Saturday came via a Sean Murphy home run in the top of the sixth inning, but he went on to strike out seven hitters over six innings of one-run ball.

He did this while also battling a heat wave that struck Los Angeles, but the weather didn’t play a factor into how he addressed his Game 1 start, notes Sonja Chen of MLB.com.

“It’s hot. No denying that,” Skubal said. “Every team’s playing in it, right? They’re playing in the same conditions we are. It doesn’t really matter. It shouldn’t really impact how you are mentally or how it’s going to impact how you pitch. Just go out there and play baseball and try to drink water.”

The 2026 regular season wasn’t too kind to Teoscar Hernández, as a hamstring injury cost him a month’s worth of time while having his power zapped until a torrid September. Now that the real test has begun, Hernández has found his October-self yet again, crushing a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning on Saturday to start the scoring.

Hernández spoke with announcer John Smoltz about his ability to switch gears in October and be the guy to get the big hits in key situations.

“I think the focus is different. In the regular season, you try to have a good game in three at-bats. I think in the playoffs, it’s just pitch-by-pitch. For me, it doesn’t matter what I do in the at-bats before, I will try to focus on the one I’m taking.”

Max Muncy continued to etch his name in the company of Dodgers greats, as he crushed his 17th career postseason home run on Saturday, setting a new franchise record for home runs in the postseason, writes Thomas L. Murray of the California Post.

Kyle Tucker was a disaster when playing at home this season, but he started to rectify his Dodger Stadium struggles with a two-run home run that made the difference in Saturday’s win. Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times notes in his latest column that Tucker has a chance of becoming the unlikely hero of the NLDS.

Now that the St. Louis Cardinals season is over, it is now fair to look at the entire year together and evaluate the team’s performance rather than grading the season with games left to play. According to basically every respected outlet that produces baseball content, the Cardinals and their fans should be ecstatic for how this season went.

Admittedly, there were plenty of times during the season that the Cardinals were upsetting or disappointing, even when they were playing well above preseason expectations. The team sat at nine games over .500 multiple times but could never hit that double digit, the trade deadline left some to be desired, and their September performance made it easier to check out than I had hoped. Even with this, the Cardinals kept me engaged, entertained, and hopeful by the end of the 162-game season.

The Cardinals surpassed 2026 expectations and set a solid foundation for the future

Since the season is over, I decided to go back and find any preseason predictions built around the Cardinals team and see if expectations met reality. Based on what I could find, I would say that even with me expecting them to surpass the atrocious 68.5 win total given at the start of the year, the Cardinals did indeed surpass what I was hoping for. It was fun to check things out from early in the season, especially opening weekend when I wrote about blown leads and comeback wins. Sounds like the first three games of the year really set the tone.

Every year over at Redbird Rants, Josh Jacobs asks the team to put in their preseason predictions around Team MVP, breakout players, and bold predictions. Looking back at my own thoughts, it looks like the Cardinals played exactly like I expected but there was still some meat on the bone. Starting with Team MVP, I decided to go with DJ Burly Biscuits as my choice. In my write up, I spoke to his consistency, continued trend of improving, and being the leader of the team. I predicted .275 with 25 homers and 80 RBIs and I think we all would have taken that from Alec Burleson. Instead, he decided to go out and surpass all those numbers AND lead all of baseball in RBIs. I’ll count this prediction as a big, fat W for me.

Moving on to breakout players, I think I am officially taking Masyn Winn off of my players to watch list but still believe in him as a main fixture for the Cardinals organization. For the third year, I predicted Winn to put it all together and hit a dozen or so homers, swipe a few more bags, and bring that batting average back up to .270 or so. As much as I nailed the Burly prediction, this one was well on the other side. I do not know what to expect from Winn next year, but I have jumped ship on my 20/20 predictions and am now just hoping for .250 with 10 homers and to stop playing through injury.

Pitching wise, I think I hit the nail on the head but still think I expected a bit more in order to call it correct. I decided to roll with Dustin May as my breakout pitcher even with him being a lock to be traded at the deadline. For May, I wrote that “it is unfortunate that we are only going to see him for a few months, but this could be the season that May fans have been waiting for”. Well, we did only get to see him for a few months and he did put together a decent season before getting dealt to Milwaukee. The second half of my prediction was that he would be a difference maker for whoever acquired him (netting the Cardinals a nice return), so I will say I was close but no cigar in total.

My bold prediction was indeed bold… I went back to the well with Masyn Winn while also putting faith in Victor Scott II, which I never had in general for him. I predicted that these two and JJ Wetherholt would combine for 100 stolen bases after the team finished near the bottom of the league in that category for too long. All three players stole bases in the season’s first week and had me feeling good. But then reality set in for VSII, Winn was unable to consistently get on base and run, and Wetherholt was too busy hitting homers or getting driven in that he did not steal as much as I had hoped. It may not be these three again, but I do need the Cardinals to get more aggressive running the bases.

Finally, it went to record and final standings. I will again give myself a passing grade because not only did I nail the 77-85 record on the head, I also was correct in my fourth place finish in the division. Where I missed was saying the rest of the division was mediocre and the Brewers were the best team in baseball with the Cubs getting to make a cameo in the postseason. Adding on that the Pirates finished above .500 and the NL Central was one of the better divisions in the game.

As I was looking for my predictions, I also found a couple stories from the year as it progressed relating back to the beginning of the year expectations. Early in April, I asked the question if the Cardinals would improve the bullpen if they continued to compete. The team continued to compete but they definitely did NOT address the bullpen that was doomed from the start. A month later, I then asked if we were allowed to be disappointed by the Cardinals this year. In the quarter checkpoint of the year, the Cardinals remained competitive but definitely had some holes that continued to be an issue throughout the season.

Now that the dust has settled on the Cardinals season, how did they do compared to your preseason thoughts? Did you expect them to be the worst team in the majors like the experts or were you one of the few optimstic ones?

Thanks as always!

Meet the Mets

“I was happy over there. Obviously I wasn’t in the spot that I wanted to be with my numbers…but this is baseball,” said Freddy Peralta to the media of his journey from New York to Tampa Bay after Game 1 of the ALDS. “Everything changed when I got traded. I’ve been treated here as a king, and I feel really good about it. They work on me really well here. For me, and my family, this is a great opportunity to be the pitcher for the second game of the ALDS.”

Mets prospect Cole Mathis—one of the many players the Mets acquired at this year’s trading deadline—is debuting a new hitting stance in the Arizona Fall League.

There is no greater disconnect between fanbases in New York than the one between the two New York baseball teams, writes Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post.

Around the National League East

The Braves’ bullpen game strategy fell short, as the Dodgers took Game 1 of the NLDS 5-3 behind six innings of one-run ball by Tarik Skubal.

The Dodgers are forcing the Braves to make a tough decision about Chris Sale; will Atlanta start him in Game 2 after he was deployed on Thursday for the final four outs of the Wild Card Series or will they save him for Game 3?

Evan Macy of PhillyVoice reviews ten things the Phillies must change this offseason.

The city of Washington DC is looking at legislation to authorize bonds to generate $380 million for an “extensive” renovation of Nationals Park, per reporting by the Washington Business Journal. It is unclear how much the Nationals would contribute to the project.

Around Major League Baseball

Aaron Judge’s lingering calf injury has kept him off the Yankees’ ALDS roster.

The Yankees certainly could have used Judge’s bat, as Drew Rasmussen carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning in front of a sold-out Tropicana Field to put the Rays ahead 1-0 in the ALDS.

Game 1 of the AL Central ALDS matchup also was a shutout, as the White Sox blanked the Guardians 3-0.

The Brewers won a nail-biter in Game 1 of the NLDS, defeating the Padres 3-2. The Padres took an early 2-0 lead off Jacob Misiorowski, who only managed to record 12 outs, but Jackson Chourio tied the game with a two-run homer in the third inning and William Contreras went deep off Padres setup man Adrian Morejon for the decisive blow in the eighth. This game truly had everything, as a potential go-ahead home run in the ninth off the bat of Ty France struck a cable running across the roof of American Family Field and redirected itself into Jackson Chourio’s glove like an act of divine intervention by the home ballpark.

Will Leitch of MLB.com reviewed one storyline for each of the four playoff National League teams ahead of Game 2 of the NLDS.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 1999, the Mets beat the Reds in a decisive Game 163 behind a two-hitter by Al Leiter to send the club to their first playoff series in 11 years.