Category: Baseball

With Cleveland and the Athletics starting in a rain delay, it made for some late afternoon baseball. Gavin Williams took the mound for the Guardians and was on his usual stuff, despite the delay. At the end of the seventh inning, Gavin had only thrown 89 pitches and struck out nine, giving him sole possession of most strikeouts in all of MLB. Jacob Misiorowski, who holds second place, is due to start later today and will reclaim first place barring catastrophe. Gavin ended his night having gone 7.0 innings of scoreless ball. He allowed three hits and a walk and struck out nine. In the top of the sixth, Gavin Williams had a pick off at first for the final out of the inning.

The sole run came in the bottom of the fourth. José led the inning off with a double on a grounder to right. With one out and José on third, Jo Adell hit a swinging bunt that gave José plenty of room to score. There was a bit of a disagreement with the A’s coach, who argued that Adell interfered with the throw to first. The home plate ump and crew chief wanted none of it, ejected the manager, and the game played on.

In the top of the sixth Angel Genao made a great running throw record the first out of the inning.

Hunter Gaddis came in for the top of the eighth. Gaddis struggled with the wind a bit and put two runners on, both in scoring position. With two outs and two on, Vogt went to Cade Smith for the final out. Smith made quick work with a three pitch strike out. Smith closed out the game and looked to be in his full form. He made two quick outs to start the inning, but couldn’t get the final out. A single up the middle was just to hard for José Ramírez to get off to get the runner out at first. It didn’t matter. Cade Smith earned his 39th save of the year, striking out the batter for the final out of the game.

The pitchers were perfect, Vogt pulled the right strings at the right time, and the hitters out hit their opponents. Sure, the weather may have robbed Lowe from an extra base hit or a home run, but this was a game they should have won and they did. Steven Kwan went 3-for-4, José went 2-for-4, and DeLauter went 1-for-3 with a walk. The White Sox are 1.5 games back and also started in a delay today. The current magic number is six to take the division title home and one week of baseball left to do it. Meaningful baseball in September is always a grand time, here’s hoping to lots of champaign in the team’s near future.

The 2026 Colorado Rockies have struggled, among other things, to win rubber matches. They are 6-14 when trying to win a series this year, but 3-1 in their last four, which suggested improvement and possibility.

Today’s match against the Seattle Mariners, however, left the Rockies 6-15 in rubber matches as the visiting team managed a 2-1 win, despite a late-game threat from the Rockies. Outfielder Dominic Calzone scored both of the Mariners runs.

With the loss, the Rockies fall to 57-99 while the Mariners are 73-83 with their playoff hopes living to see another day.

The offense went (mostly) cold on a warm fall day

The Rockies offense struggled to figure out Mariners starter Kade Anderson, and it did not find its footing in a low-scoring game until the ninth inning. by then it was too late.

Although it seems impossible given the Rockies recent history, neither team scored in the first inning.

The Mariners remained hitless after the top of the second while the Rockies tallied two hits, one from Cole Carrigg followed by another from Adael Amador. However, the Rockies were unable capitalize after a terrific play from Mariners third baseman Brock Rodden that ended the inning.

After that, though, Mariners starter Kade Anderson settled in and struck out the side in the third.

In the fourth inning, the Mariners got on the board when Tomoyuki Sugano walked Randy Arozarena and allowed an RBI single to Dominic Calzone that scored Arozarena.

Fun fact: With his 106th run, Arozarena now leads the American League.

Sugano followed that by walking Cal Raleigh, but a Julio Rodríguez grounder fed into a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning. Still, the Mariners had a 1-0 lead.

As for the Rockies, they did not have an answer for Kade Anderson, who retired 10 consecutive batters. After his four-seamer, Anderson relied on his changeup and curveball, downplaying his slider to downplay the effects of elevation on the pitch.

Ryan Feltner entered the game in the sixth, taking over for Sugano. Given his last two outings that found him in a piggyback role, the question was whether he could repeat those performances with an eye toward a permanent move to the bullpen.

JB Crawford hit a single and was brought home by Calzone, who was responsible for both of the Mariners runs as they extended to their lead to 2-0.

In the Rockies half of the sixth inning, Jake McCarthy notched a triple, his 13, and also extended his on-base streak to 22 games.

With two more triples, McCarthy will tie Dexter Fowler’s record for most triples by a Rockie.

However, Norby and Hunter Goodman followed McCarthy’s triple with two Ks, and the score remained 2-0 Seattle.

In the seventh inning, Julio Rodríguez hit a lead-off single; however, Feltner kept him from scoring.

Kade Anderson left after the seventh inning and a terrific outing. He finished the day with 7.0 IP, allowing no runs on three hits. He did not issue a walk, struck out seven, and had 14 whiffs on 84 pitches.

“He pitched well. That was impressive,” Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said after the game.

In the eighth inning, Schaeffer sent in Troy Johnston to bat for Jordan Beck and face Seranthony Domínguez. Johnston hit a single, but the Rockies were unable to capitalize, and the score remained 2-0 Mariners.

Jimmy Herget pitched the ninth. Although it looked like he had perhaps given up a home run Cal Raleigh, the ball went foul. Despite some traffic on the base paths (that included a Josh Naylor caught-stealing), Herget did not allow a run.

For the ninth inning, Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz entered the game.

After Norby flew out, Hunter Goodman launched his 39th homer of the season.

Suddenly, the Rockies were down by just one run.

Rumfield stepped the plate and, echoing the certainty of death and taxes, took a walk.

However, Muñox left with an apparently leg injury. Eduard Bazardo entered the game in his place with Zac Veen coming in to run for Rumfield.

Carrigg struck out, and the Rockies were down to their final out.

As Amador stood at the plate, Veen swiped second. Then, Rockies second baseman walked, and it was catcher Brett Sullivan’s turn.

He struck out to end the threat, and the Mariners won the game and the series.

Their final line was one run (earned) on five hits. They walked twice and struck out 10 times. The Rockies were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, and they left six runners on base.

In addition, the Rockies now have 25 one-run losses.

“They bring it every day. Today, obviously not enough,” Schaeffer said.

Tomoyuki Sugano (菅野 智之) had another solid outing

It was another day at the office for Sugano.

He was outstanding through the first three innings when he did not allow a walk and struck out four on 35 pitches. The Mariners finally had their first baserunner in the fourth when Randy Arozarena walked and only managed one run on his watch.

As for final numbers, Sugano logged 5.0 IP including one run (earned) on one hit. He walked two and struck out five on 72 pitches.

“I thought it was a nice bounce-back game for Sugano,” Schaeffer said. “He was efficient.”

After the game, Sugano commented that he felt like he pitched well. He said he wanted to go longer and that he was a surprised to leave so early in the game.

“Minimum, I thought I could have gone seven,” he said.

The bullpen kept the Rockies in the game

It was another solid outing from an exhausted Rockies bullpen.

Although Ryan Feltner was less sparkling that he’d been in his two previous outings out of the bullpen, he kept the Rockies in the game. His final line was 3.0 IP with one run (earned) on two hits. He walked one and struck out one on 61 pitches.

”It’s something different for him. It’s a different feel,“ Schaeffer said of Feltner coming in from the bullpen, noting that he’s learning a new job.

The ninth inning went to Jimmy Herget, whose final line was 1.0 IP, one hit, no runs, and no strikeouts.

Up next

The Rockies have an off day before welcoming the Arizona Diamondbacks to Coors Field on Tuesday.

First pitch is at 6:40 with Kyle Freeland in what may be his last Coors Field start as a Rockie. He will face a yet-to-be-named pitcher.

And that’s it for me in terms of 2026 game coverage. Thanks, everyone, for following along!

Longtime San Francisco Giants play-by-play announcer Duane Kuiper announced on Sunday that he has been diagnosed with cancer.

San Francisco’s mayor, Daniel Lurie, showed his support for Kuiper with an X post on Sunday afternoon that read, “San Francisco is with you, Kuip. Wishing you strength as you take on treatment. We’re all rooting for you.”

The reaction from Lurie was a direct re-tweet from Kuiper that read:

“I was recently diagnosed with throat cancer and began treatment last week with my doctors at Stanford Medicine. This cancer is unrelated to the one I experienced five years ago, and I’m optimistic that it will be successfully treated,” Kuiper wrote in a statement.

“I’ll miss the broadcasts tomorrow and Wednesday as I continue treatment, but I’m looking forward to returning Tuesday and this weekend to celebrate my partner, Mike Krukow, and his remarkable career as he calls his final game before retirement.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the care I’m receiving and for the tremendous support from my family, the Giants organization, my broadcast partners and so many others,” the statement added.

Kuiper has been in the Giants’ broadcast booth since 1986 (aside from one year working for the Colorado Rockies) and spent four seasons playing for San Francisco. He has become a Bay Area icon and one of the most beloved members of the organization.

Lurie speaks for all of San Francisco with this heartfelt sentiment about Kuiper.

The Milwaukee Brewers are going for a series sweep in Baltimore tonight, as ace Jacob Misiorowski will toe the rubber for Sunday Night Baseball, Milwaukee’s first Sunday night game since the MLB Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, one month ago.

The Brewers, at 97-58 on the season, have also officially tied their franchise record for wins in a season at 97. With one week to go in the regular season, they’ll have seven chances to set a new record, and they’re also just three wins away from the first 100-win season in franchise history.

The aforementioned Misiorowski is looking for his 16th win of the season tonight in what is likely his penultimate start of 2026. The NL Cy Young frontrunner, Miz is 15-5 with a 1.89 ERA, 2.19 FIP, and 243 strikeouts across 166 1/3 innings, totaling 5.9 bWAR. In his last outing against the Pirates, he went five scoreless innings, allowing five hits and a walk while striking out seven. This marks his first career appearance against Baltimore.

Opposite Miz is right-hander Brandon Young. Young, 28, is also in his second major league season. He’s made 26 starts this season, with a 9-4 record, 3.65 ERA, 4.57 FIP, and 118 strikeouts over 145 2/3 innings. He went five frames against the Mets in his last outing, allowing one run on five hits and five walks, striking out six. This marks his first career appearance against Milwaukee.

After a travel-day-esque lineup in Saturday’s 1-0 win, the Brewers are rolling with most of their regulars tonight. Jackson Chourio is in his usual leadoff spot, followed by Brice Turang, William Contreras, and Jake Bauers. Joey Ortiz moves into the No. 5 spot, followed by Christian Yelich, Cooper Pratt, Garrett Mitchell, and Sal Frelick.

Tonight’s game is televised exclusively on Peacock and the NBC Sports Network, with the radio broadcast available, as always, on the Brewers Radio Network. First pitch is slated for 6:20 p.m.

Kade Anderson had his best-ever performance, and the Mariners extended their suffering another day.

The Mariners beat the Rockies 2-1 on Sunday in an uneventful game that was neither short nor long, exciting nor boring, meaningful nor insignificant. It was a baseball game between two bad teams, with just enough happening to be better than the offseason ahead. With the win, the Mariners take the series and avoid elimination entering the final week.

Anderson was the selling point for this one. He was fantastic for the first time in the majors. On the one hand, it came against the league’s worst offense. On the other, it came at the league’s launching pad in Denver. However you prefer to qualify it, Anderson was excellent in a Big League start that counts for real. He threw seven scoreless innings, allowed just three runs hits, and walked none while striking out seven. Most importantly, he got tons of chase out of the zone and picked up a career-high 14 whiffs: 

It was good to see. Anderson struggle in his first five starts in the majors, with a 5.33 ERA and 4.44 FIP. He hadn’t shown an ability to throw strikes or miss bats or prevent hard contact or keep the ball on the ground. That’s not abnormal for a rookie, especially one who threw all of 93 innings in the minors and none above Double-A. But a strong outing Sunday — and hopefully one more against the Angels next week — is a nice confidence booster entering the offseason.

On the other side, the Mariners were getting perfecto’d through three innings, and I was getting a bit nervous that I’d need to put some effort into this recap. Thankfully, they figured out Tomoyuki Sugano in the fourth. Randy Arozarena drew an eight pitch walk, and Dominic Canzone singled up the middle to bring a hustling Arozarena around to score the game’s first run. It looked like the Mariners might have a big inning in the works after Cal Raleigh walked, but Julio grounded into a double play to end the threat. The Mariners got a second run in the sixth inning, this time off Ryan Feltner. J.P Crawford singled to lead off, and Canzone doubled him home.

That was it for offense in this one. I’m not really exaggerating. I have listed three of the four hits and two of the three walks the Mariners collected in this one. Lazaro Montes walked in the seventh and Julio picked up an infield single in the ninth, if you want me to be thorough.

I was done with the recap, then Andrés Muñoz gave up a home run to Hunter Goodman in the bottom of the ninth to make it 2-1. After a walk, Dan Wilson came out with the trainer in tow. Muñoz left with an injury, and Eduard Bazardo took over. Bazardo struck out a batter, walked a batter to put the winning run on base, and struck out another batter to end the game.

The Mariners are still technically alive. The Rangers and Astros also lost on Sunday, so their “tragic number” remains at two. That puts the dagger in the hands of the Astros in Seattle next week.

Alex Bregman walked off the field Sunday, Sept. 20 with a towel pressed to his face and blood running down his cheek. The Chicago Cubs third baseman was hit in the face by a foul ball as he waited in the on-deck circle in the top of the fourth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball park.

Bregman was taken to a local hospital for further testing after the scare in Cincinnati. After the 9-1 win, Cubs manager Craig Counsell told reporters the ball hit Bregman in the cheekbone, which is swollen, and left a cut on his face. Bregman was evaluated for broken bones.

It happed with two outs and the Cubs leading 5-0. Michael Busch checked his swing on a 1-2 pitch from Reds right-hander Luis Mey, and the ball ricocheted toward Bregman. He dropped to the ground immediately, clutching his face, then got up and walked to the clubhouse under his own power. There was no official diagnosis.

Alex Bregman was hit in the face by a foul ball off the bat of Michael Busch while on deck in the 4th inning. Matt Shaw came in to PH.

We wish Alex a speedy recovery 🙏 pic.twitter.com/4uqCRQvHwE

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) September 20, 2026

Bregman heating up

Before the injury, Bregman had done damage to the Reds. He drove in a run with a first-inning single, then walked and scored in the Cubs' four-run third inning.

The 32-year-old is hitting .260 with 26 home runs, 88 RBIs and an .801 OPS this season. He signed a five-year, $175 million contract with Chicago last winter. The three-time All-Star won two World Series with the Astros.

On the board early courtesy, of Alex Bregman! pic.twitter.com/oSIvSWvve8

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 20, 2026

What's next for Bregman and the Cubs

The timing is the problem for Bregman and the Cubs. Chicago is on the verge of clinching a playoff berth, needing just one win or an Arizona Diamondbacks loss to lock in wild card spot. If Bregman needs time away, the Cubs have Matt Shaw and Pedro Ramirez to fill in at third base. Neither has Bregman's experience in a playoff race.

Any fracture would change the outlook considerably. Facial fractures around the cheek bone or eye socket can sideline a player for weeks, and a hitter usually has to be cleared before he can face live pitching again.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cubs' Alex Bregman hospitalized after getting hit in face with foul ball

Mariners 2, Rockies 1

Italian food: Kade Anderson, +0.51 WPA, Dominic Canzone
Italian food discourse: The rest of the lineup, -0.48 WPA

Game Thread Comment of the Day

Jays 7 Rangers 2

Bullpen days seem dependent on how the ‘bulk guy’ does. Someone has to do more than a inning, they aren’t going to run 9 guys out there, doing an inning each. Long men tend to (how to put it politely?) not be the best arms. If they were good, they would be starters.

Today we got two guys that went more than an inning:

• Spencer Miles ‘opened’ and went three innings without giving up a run, with four strikeouts. They seem to have given up on the idea of managing his innings, and we won’t know if that is a bad idea until later, but he’s been terrific.
• Spencer Arrighetti threw 2.1 innings. He did give up a couple of runs (on a Jake Burger home run, Brett Bateman almost pulled it back into the park) but those things are going to happen. It was Burger’s 27th home run, so he’s hit them off a lot of pitchers.

After that it was short guys:

• Mason Fluharty gave up a hit and a walk, while just getting one out in the sixth.
• Paul Sewald got the last out of the sixth.
• José Rodríguez, pitching in his second MLB game, threw the seventh. He gave up a single and had a strikeout.
• Tyler Rogers got the eighth give up just a single in the eighth.
• Louis Varland pitched the ninth, even with the big lead. Course he hasn’t pitched in a few days, might as well use him.

Offensively, we got everyone involved. We scored:

• One in the first: Brett Bateman started the game with a walk. Vladimir Guerrero singled him to third. Nathan Lukes brought him home on a sac fly.
• One in the third: Lukes had a one out single. An out later, Sean Keys doubled him home.
• One in the fifth: Bateman again started the inning with a walk. Myles Straw singled. Keys walked to load the bases.
• Four in the seventh: Bateman started this one with a double. Straw walked. Lukes singled in one (Lukes was asked to bunt, failed twice and then singles. Bunts are stupid). Charles McAdoo doubled in two more. Andrés Giménez singled in the seventh run (108.4 mph line drive).

The team had 11 hits. 10 different Jays hit, with Lukes being the only one with two hits.

It wasn’t all good news. Vlad came out of the game with back tightness (after getting a single).

And before the game, we were told that Dylan Cease is being shut down with a tired arm. They are saying it is possible that he could start at the end of the season, if he recovers quickly, but it seems unlikely that the last couple of games will mean anything.

Jays of the Day: Miles (0.16 WPA), Keys (0.14), Bateman (0.13) and Sewald (0.09).

Other Award: Arrighetti (-0.09) and Clement (-0.08).

Tomorrow the Jays start their last road series of the season vs the Orioles. Six games left. They still vaguely have a chance, but just seeing some good ball before the long cold lonely winter (as George Harrison said).

The Texas Rangers scored two runs but the Toronto Blue Jays scored seven runs.

After winning several games where it appeared as though the Rangers weren’t exactly the favorites, today The Shed dwellers had the opportunity to sweep Toronto with their remaining best pitcher Jacob deGrom on the mound versus a bullpen game for the Blue Jays.

This felt like one that the Rangers should have taken to further grab hold of their season with just a week remaining. The magnetic pull of .500 baseball is simply too strong for this squad, however. deGrom was nowhere close to his best, unfortunately. deGrom believes in his club but doesn’t deGrom’s groin or hip or leg or whatever believe in him?

This Rangers team in particular seems to be quite momentum dependent, which means an early lead feels like a requirement for them to have a good day. Maybe Chris Young put together a big group of sulkers, I don’t know. deGrom has been pretty poor at helping them facilitate that this season as he’s been prone to allowing first inning runs.

Indeed, it was 1-0 Blue Jays after the first inning today as deGrom walked the leadoff man who eventually scored the game’s first run on a sac fly. It became 2-0 Jays in the top of the third when deGrom allowed a two-out RBI double to some fella 20 games into his career sporting a .196 batting average.

After the Rangers showed a little life and tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, deGrom came back out and walked the leadoff hitter again and after a couple singles, including one that put Toronto ahead, Skip Schumaker had seen enough which meant another long day for the bullpen.

deGrom finished what is likely his penultimate start of the regular season going 4 1/3 innings on 82 pitches while allowing three runs on five hits with four walks and just two strikeouts. While that’s not good enough for a guy you were hoping could stabilize the staff after cobbling together innings all week, it’s clear that deGrom is also among those who are hobbled. It’s all cobble and hobble right now instead of full speed ahead for the sudden AL West leaders.

Though the Rangers got a couple of big double plays to wiggle out of danger to keep the game close over the next few innings, and even saw a couple of rallies die without tying the score, eventually the dam broke for a bullpen that will be especially glad to see a day off scheduled for tomorrow.

Though still just a 3-2 game into the seventh inning, two of the more trusted arms for Texas — Tyler Alexander and Chase Silseth — combined to allow four Blue Jays runs in the top of the frame and that was that. It’s worth noting also that even if deGrom had been better and put together are lengthier, more deGrom-expected outing, the Rangers also only scored two runs and those two runs came on one swing of the bat.

There was plenty of failure to go around.

Anyhow, here’s the good news: The Astros were swept by the Atlanta Braves so the Rangers retain their lead in the American League West by a single game. Still, it feels like they missed a big chance at adding to that lead and making their route to the playoffs a little more feasible with a dud in today’s finale.

Then again, it was either padding to their scant lead or being .500 again so we knew where this was headed.

Player of the Game: Jake Burger hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning that had tied the game before Toronto broke down deGrom and the Texas bullpen and sank the Rangers’ shot at sweeping an AL East squad for a second time on this homestand.

Up Next: The Rangers will take their final scheduled rest day of the 2026 season before beginning their final home series of the regular season on Tuesday night against the National League’s New York Mets.

PHOENIX – Trent Grisham could be on the Yankees’ playoff roster, but he almost certainly will not play in a regular-season game before then.

The Yankees are not planning to activate Grisham off the injured list during the final week of the regular season, partly because he still has boxes to check off in his return from a hamstring strain and partly because of complications in how they construct their playoff roster.

“I know he’s trending to be close, but the activation might be a little complicated,” manager Aaron Boone said Sunday morning at Chase Field.

The issue is that if the Yankees activate Grisham during the regular season, they would either have to option a player to Triple-A or designate someone for assignment to clear a spot on the active roster.

Optioning a player would make them ineligible to be recalled for 10 days (or 15 for a pitcher), meaning the Yankees would not have access to them for the AL wild-card series and potentially the ALDS.

Max Schuemann is expected to be sent back to Triple-A to make room for Jazz Chisholm Jr., who could come off the IL as early as Tuesday, but clearing another spot gets more difficult if everyone stays healthy.

The question then becomes whether the Yankees want to have Grisham on their playoff roster fresh off missing three-plus weeks on the IL, coming back to an uncertain role.

Spencer Jones has taken over center field duties in his absence and hit well (even with some hiccups defensively), especially against left-handers.

With Aaron Judge trending toward missing the wild-card series, Heliot Ramos figures to start in right field against the Red Sox’ left-handers. Could Grisham start in center field against a righty like Sonny Gray, with Jones moving to right field, or be a left-handed pinch-hitting option off the bench?

Before the Yankees have to make that decision, Grisham needs to finish off his running progression to be cleared physically.

“He’s been doing quite a bit,” Boone said. “He’s pretty deep into his running progression, hitting and doing baseball activities. So he’s getting pretty close.”

I’ve written virtually every Sunday gamethread this year as some variation of, “hey, the Sox have a chance to win this series! That would be pretty cool!”

As the meme goes…

I love the competition of the race, but I’m also kind of sick of it, simply from inexperience. I can’t be the only one who bit their nails to the nub with every pitch of that Cleveland series thinking to myself that I truly couldn’t remember the last time White Sox baseball made me that nervous. I love it, but I also forgot the unmistakably unique type of crushing that comes from being on the wrong side of “Team A gets cold and Team B gets hot at the most important point in the season.”

As I wrote last week with regards to the Sox pitching, I’m comfortable with dancing with who brought us here, which in this case is Davis Martin, who’s looked quite solid since his August IL stint. The length that we were getting from him earlier in the season isn’t there, but he’s still allowed just three earned runs in 16 innings since his return. Every game is a must-win at this point, and I suspect that if the White Sox can pull through, it’s going to be because Sean Burke and Martin nutted up when it counted, as they did for so much of this season.

A.J. Hinch isn’t exactly putting a Murderer’s Row out there, especially with another game tomorrow. If the Davis Martin Hype Train is once again picking up steam, this shouldn’t be too much of an impediment to what could be his first quality start since June.

That last quality start of Martin’s also came against a pre-deadline Detroit lineup that still had designs on the playoffs. The Sox will also have the potential advantage of seeing starter Troy Melton for the second time in a month or so, after dinging him around a fair amount back in August to end his Cinderella start to the season.

Time to take care of business. If they can’t, it’ll be hard to argue that they deserve to keep playing beyond this coming week.

First pitch was scheduled for 1:10 p.m. CT, but has been indefinitely delayed due to rain doing rain things. Whenever it does get going, it’ll be broadcast on CHSN with Len Kasper and Darrin Jackson on the call over the radio waves on WMVP AM 1000. See you in the comments!

I’ve written virtually every Sunday gamethread this year as some variation of, “hey, the Sox have a chance to win this series! That would be pretty cool!”

As the meme goes…

I love the competition of the race, but I’m also kind of sick of it, simply from inexperience. I can’t be the only one who bit their nails to the nub with every pitch of that Cleveland series thinking to myself that I truly couldn’t remember the last time White Sox baseball made me that nervous. I love it, but I also forgot the unmistakably unique type of crushing that comes from being on the wrong side of “Team A gets cold and Team B gets hot at the most important point in the season.”

As I wrote last week with regards to the Sox pitching, I’m comfortable with dancing with who brought us here, which in this case is Davis Martin, who’s looked quite solid since his August IL stint. The length that we were getting from him earlier in the season isn’t there, but he’s still allowed just three earned runs in 16 innings since his return. Every game is a must-win at this point, and I suspect that if the White Sox can pull through, it’s going to be because Sean Burke and Martin nutted up when it counted, as they did for so much of this season.

A.J. Hinch isn’t exactly putting a Murderer’s Row out there, especially with another game tomorrow. If the Davis Martin Hype Train is once again picking up steam, this shouldn’t be too much of an impediment to what could be his first quality start since June.

That last quality start of Martin’s also came against a pre-deadline Detroit lineup that still had designs on the playoffs. The Sox will also have the potential advantage of seeing starter Troy Melton for the second time in a month or so, after dinging him around a fair amount back in August to end his Cinderella start to the season.

Time to take care of business. If they can’t, it’ll be hard to argue that they deserve to keep playing beyond this coming week.

First pitch was scheduled for 1:10 p.m. CT, but has been indefinitely delayed due to rain doing rain things. Whenever it does get going, it’ll be broadcast on CHSN with Len Kasper and Darrin Jackson on the call over the radio waves on WMVP AM 1000. See you in the comments!

Earlier this month, Shohei Ohtani was ruled out from pitching again this season.

But on Sunday, a pitcher from his high school alma mater scaled the mound at Dodger Stadium.

Yuuri Teramoto, a first-year student at Hanamaki Higashi High School, threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the Dodgers’ series finale against the San Francisco Giants. Teramoto plays on Hanamaki Higashi’s girls baseball team.

Teramoto was one of 50 high school students chosen by Iwate prefecture to visit the United States as part of an exchange program. This is the 150th anniversary of Iwate’s founding, as well as the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Teramoto’s first pitch was caught by Iwate native Roki Sasaki, who is from the coastal town of Rikuzentakata and lost his father in the tsunami.

Teramoto is from the southern island of Kumamoto but said she was in part inspired by Ohtani to attend high school in Iwate, which is on the northern part of Japan’s mainland.

“He’s someone I admire,” Teramoto said in Japanese. 

Like Ohtani, she added, “My dream in the future is to go to the United States.”

Hanamaki Higashi is also the high school alma mater of Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi and Miami Marlins prospect Rintaro Sasaki.

Teramoto said her team practices using a pitching machine donated by Ohtani.

“We used the machine every day and we’re very grateful,” she said.

Among the homegrown arms in the Mets rotation, Jonah Tong still has the most to prove.

Flashes of dominance have emerged from the 23-year-old rookie, but consistency is lacking. This was evident again Sunday, when the right-hander fell into an early hole, and his team never recovered in a 7-2 loss to the Phillies at Citi Field.

“I think I need to do a better job,” said Tong, who allowed two runs in the opening frame. “Especially, that first inning set the tone, but I feel like I competed well through it. But my job is to limit the damage and go out there and keep competing.”

Nolan McLean, Christian Scott and Zac Thornton have all performed at a high enough level to begin next season in the rotation. The wild card is Tong, who has pitched to a 4.21 ERA in six appearances this season. In three starts since his recall this month from Triple-A Syracuse, he’s pitched to a 4.60 ERA.

On Sunday, he allowed four earned runs on five hits and four walks over 4 ²/₃ innings, departing after 95 pitches. It followed a start against the Orioles in which he did not surrender an earned run over six innings.

“I don’t think he was far off today,” interim manager Andy Green said. “The changeup has been really good for him since he’s been up. He’s got a lot of strikeouts with it. … Even if he doesn’t have the greatest feel for that, we have got to find a way to reintroduce that and keep that a part of the mix. That pitch is very important for him.”

Green was asked about Tong’s chances of cracking the rotation to begin next season.

“He definitely has a chance,” Green said. “I think we have kind of painted the landscape for a lot of young guys that [the front office] is likely to go sign some people. We’ll have a lot of guys who have established themselves at that point in time, so the chance is heightened if he pitches really well, if his stuff gets better, if the strikes are there. I think all those things are possible for Jonah.”

The Mets, who split the four-game series, completed their 2026 home schedule at 36-45. They will play at Texas and Washington this week, with six games to conclude the season.

Tong walked Kyle Schwarber in the first inning and watched the Phillies DH score the first run on Luis Arraez’s sacrifice fly. Alec Bohm’s RBI single widened the Mets deficit to 2-0. Bryce Harper also singled in the inning.

Trea Turner’s RBI double in the third inning extended the Phillies lead to 3-0 after Schwarber walked leading off. Arraez’s RBI single gave the Phillies their fourth run.

“Some credit to Schwarber’s two walks,” Green said. “They weren’t walks where the pitcher has lost it. They are battle walks where he fouled off a number of pitches. The first and third [innings] started that way, and that’s where the runs came.”

The Mets were overmatched by Cristopher Sánchez, a National League Cy Young Award candidate who allowed two earned runs on six hits over 6 ¹/₃ innings with six strikeouts. Sánchez began the day with a 7.5 bWAR this season — the highest among all pitchers.

Bo Bichette homered in the sixth for the first run against Sánchez. Brett Baty delivered a pinch-hit RBI single in the seventh that sliced the Phillies lead to 4-2.

Kodai Senga allowed three runs in the eighth and was removed after recording only one out. The right-hander’s appearance was his first since Tuesday, when he surrendered Pete Alonso’s 300th career homer — a game-tying blast in the ninth inning.

With a chance to secure the division title, the Braves had a challenging pitching matchup, with Martin Perez on the mound vs Hunter Brown and the Astros.

Baserunners were scattered early, with a Baldwin walk leading off the game and an additional error in the top of the first, followed by three soft singles in a scoreless home frame. The scattered baserunners continued with no runs until Jose Altuve drew first blood with a solo homer in the 4th inning.

Ronald Acuna created a chance for the Braves in the fifth that Olson was unable to convert and the Astros came right back with two singles and a walk against Perez to load the bases with one out. Unfortunately, that was the end of Martin’s outing, as Victor Mederos entered the game and escaped with a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning. A walk from Harris and a very fortunate double from Dubon gave the Braves a huge chance to make good on Mederos’ good work with men on second and third with no outs in the sixth. Ozzie made good on that threat with an RBI single, before Mike Yastrzemski broke things open with a three-run homer.

Next out of the bullpen for Atlanta was one AJ Smith-Shawver and he looked quite good. AJ touched 100 on the radar gun and struck out two Astros in a 1-2-3 frame. He got the seventh and once again recorded two strikeouts in a scoreless frame, this time working around a ground ball single. An effective Smith-Shawver out of the bullpen would be a nice addition to the Braves’ bullpen, especially as a multi-inning option, as they only have two real playoff starters.

Ray Kerr entered the game in the eighth and allowed a shallow homer but otherwise kept the Astros off the board with one strikeout and two groundouts. Dylan Dodd got the ninth with no further run support and a 4-2 lead.