Category: Baseball

All things come to an end, and on Saturday we witnessed a really poignant ending to the career of one of the greatest pitchers and greatest Detroit Tigers of all time. Justin Verlander, with minimal preparation and no buildup, took the mound against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Comerica Park, and managed to turn back the clock one last time. It wasn’t a great outing, but it was a very solid one as Verlander tossed 5.1 innings of two-run ball with six strikeouts. There was certainly nothing left in the tank when his wife Kate Upton, and manager A.J. Hinch, sent young Genevieve Verlander to the mound to take her father home for keeps. There also wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

The game is the game, and it keeps on moving. An extremely disappointing 2026 season for the Tigers is now over, and our attention now turns entirely to assessing where things went wrong, and how the club can turn things around in 2027 as we face a very difficult and uncertain offseason.

On Sunday afternoon, something far more important to the Tigers franchise and its future was in play as River Ryan took the mound as he begins the work of getting back into form after a few injury plagued seasons. Fans can’t control anything, but even we know that you have to be about the process over the results, and you can only really look backwards for a little while. The phrase, “we’ll get them next year,” is a rueful joke as much as anything else when times are hard, but it does embody something fundamental about being a sports fan, and about life in general. In so many ways, the lessons sports teaches are intertwined with all the lessons life tries to teach to everyone.

There’s no reason to weep too much over the retirement of an extraordinarily wealthy athlete with an incredible career behind him, and a lovely family to focus his full attention on. Objectively we all know this. We’re sad to see Verlander ride off into the sunset as one of the all-time great Detroit Tigers, but in some ways these things really aren’t about the individual athlete. They have their own distinct perspective on their lives and careers. This is more about us as fans of the game.

Sports and the legacies of their greatest practitioners and teams articulate the passing of time for all of us as sports fans. We think about where we were, and maybe more precisely, who we were, when we first recognized that a Justin Verlander or a Barry Sanders was a generation defining talent. We remember the performances, the big moments, the highs and lows, but we each remember them within the context of our own lives and memories. Some of the sadness we feel in a moment like Saturday’s is much more about our own sense of the passing of time, the passing of people from our lives, the way this old world just keeps changing.

For younger fans, this can all just feel too sentimental and nostalgic as they prepare to try and conquer the world in their own ways. For all of us who’ve already fought some or most of our battles, a little nostalgia is natural and appropriate. Justin Verlander’s presence in the game frames whole eras of our lives at this point.

For myself, Justin Verlander was a major force in actually getting me back into baseball. Growing up in the 80’s, the 1984 Tigers’ World Series championship team was the defining sports team of that whole era, only giving way to the Bad Boys era Pistons at the end of the decade. I grew up pitching and playing shortstop, wanting to be Alan Trammell and Jack Morris. But owner Tom Monaghan was apparently satisfied with one World Series title, and rarely did they sniff another opportunity.

By the early 90’s my family had moved out of state at a time when Sportscenter was still new, and it was difficult to follow your favorite teams from afar. Between the Tigers slide into mediocrity, the frustrations of the first decade and a half of Mike Ilitch’s ownership, the strike, and then the steroid era, baseball pushed me away. Of course, I was in my early 20’s then with plenty of other interests to occupy me as well.

It wasn’t until 2004-2005 that I really came back to the game, partly driven by Trammell’s presence as manager, but also by the Tigers attempts to turn things around after the catastrophic 2003 season. But it was in 2006 that a young rookie starter with a ridiculous level of arm talent started making waves, and it was initially watching Justin Verlander that rapidly drew me all the way back into a full-on obsession with the game.

The next few seasons featured frustration as Verlander tried to overcome a habit of slow starts to his seasons followed by furious finishes. The first no-hitter of his career on June 12, 2007 against the Brewers served notice, but the Tigers were collectively spinning their wheels. The global financial crisis of 2007-2008 took its toll on the region as it did everywhere, and the Tigers were disappointing in the wake of the painful 2006 World Series loss to the Cardinals. There were some rough years for many in 2007-2009. The pain of Game 163 against the Minnesota Twins broke some in the fanbase for years to come.

Many feared that Dave Dombrowski would never get the roster mix right and build a consistent winner. That Jim Leyland just didn’t have enough feel for his pitching staff anymore. Even the acquisition of Miguel Cabrera didn’t seem to make enough differences. At the same time, something else happened in 2009 as Verlander put together the first of his many Cy Young award worthy seasons. While he still struggled through March and April as usual, for the first time he was pretty dominant the entire rest of the way, topping 240 innings with a 3.45 ERA and a 2.80 FIP with the highest strikeout rate of his career to date.

For myself, after moving back to the Detroit area after over a decade on the west side of the state, that was the first season I ever saw him pitch live, and must-see-JV was already a thing before it became a slogan. Over the next few seasons I made a point of catching Verlander starts whenever possible and became more and more invested in his struggles to finally put everything together for a full season.

We know what came after that, as Verlander embarked on a good season in 2010 and then ultimately leveled up into an absolute monster in his AL MVP and Cy Young winning 2011 campaign. He finally developed the slider that would become a trademark pitch for him, and he also perfected his three gears approach to pitching, realizing he could get early outs at 92-93 mph, ramp up into the mid-90’s the second time through the order, and then empty the tank from 96-101 mph the rest of the way, even far beyond 100 pitches per outing. We may never see something like that again.

No-hitters suddenly seemed like a likely enough possibility that fans went to pieces when he gave up his first knock in the fourth inning. On May 7, it became a reality as he blanked the Blue Jays for his second no-no. Another one seemed possible at any time, but instead the third wouldn’t arrive until 2019 with the Astros when he blanked the Blue Jays in the Rogers Centre for the second time. Verlander became the face of baseball on the pitching side during those years. He was on the cover of video games and doing commercials. He felt like the ultimate diva style ace, hyper competitive, cocky verging on downright surly at times, approaching every start like a prize fight with himself as the reigning and defending champ.

By now I was long since fully hooked on baseball again, and pitching specifically, watching and reading everything I could find on pitching mechanics and pitch development. The timing was great, as for three years, Verlander wasn’t just the ace of the Tigers, he was the most consistently dominant pitcher in baseball and doing things rarely seen in the game. The combination of command, velocity, breaking stuff, and durability was hard to process, with few precedents in the game before him.

Yet the Tigers still couldn’t get it done, despite an enormous amount of talent and a lot of good times and spectacular individual performances. Miguel Cabrera finally put it all together in 2012-2013 and was the best hitter in baseball. By 2012, Max Scherzer was running with Verlander neck and neck, and ultimately surpassing him while the latter’s velocity slipped in 2014 and his body barked at him all season long.

At the end of that season, Scherzer went on to a spectacular five year run with the Washington Nationals. Cabrera had peaked only to immediately start a process of physically breaking down that would only accelerate in the years ahead. Verlander too appeared to have finally passed his peak in his ninth full season in the league. He was into his early 30’s now, and by that point it’s hard not to expect a rapid decline in performance in the not too distant future.

Right about then, I started writing for Bless You Boys, and suddenly Justin Verlander was my subject. The timing was good. I was convinced he had another full act in him and in 2015. Verlander, at the urging of then girlfriend Kate Upton, spent that offseason working with Dr. Annie Gow, a physical therapist who helped him restore his flexibility, strength and mobility. He came into 2015 spring training highly optimistic and early reports indicated that his velocity was back. Then came an injury, initially reported as a triceps strain, but which was actually a lat strain instead. For the first time in his career, the Tigers horse, as Jim Leyland would refer to him, went on the injured list. Verlander had already had two full acts in his career, the early years to 2009, and his run from 2010-2014. There had to be a third. As it turned out, there was far more than that to come, but no one could’ve but Verlander himself could’ve predicted it at the time. He did always say that he wanted to pitch into his 40’s until the wheels came off. Well here we are.

Skepticism over a return to form in 2015 reached a fever pitch in May and into June as Verlander was unable to get on the mound. Finally, the rehab work began and he made a start with the Toledo Mud Hens at the beginning of June. Afew of us here at BYB, including former site manager Kurt Mensching, went down to see his second rehab start in Toledo. This will always remain a vivid memory for me.

Prior to the game, as Verlander warmed up in a Jurassic Park themed jersey down the third base line, looking quite out of place, the big board showed the Belmont Stakes, where American Pharoah won the first horse racing Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978. Verlander took the mound sitting 94-95 mph, and carved through most of the Cleveland Triple-A squad with ease. He looked very good. The one exception was this skinny little shortstop who cranked a solo shot off one fastball and roasted a very hard hit single his second time up. Francisco Lindor would go on to become quite a player, to no surprise for anyone paying attention that day. What was key though, was that Verlander looked good, and so I was loudly opining on the site about a huge resurgence coming the rest of the season.

Betting on Justin Verlander rarely steered me wrong. I had him on a dynasty league team from 2007 until I finally and somewhat painfully dropped him last season. It’s Justin Verlander, so of course he went on to be the best pitcher in the American League and probably all of baseball again in the second half of the 2015 season. His velocity started ticking back up to the high 90’s peaks. The breaking stuff was crackling. He was back.

MLB debuted Statcast that summer, and sure enough, Verlander was up at the top in terms of spin rates and riding action, as predicted. There was plenty to write about as we tried to digest this huge inflow of new information about the game, and Verlander was an ideal outlier specimen to study, trying to understand exactly how to optimize pitches with spin.

On August 26th, we were back to old times as Verlander took a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the Angels, only for Chris Iannetta to drop a line drive on the chalk of the left field line, one of the more crushing hits I can remember by an opposing team outside of the postseason. Pablo Sandoval still has the most devastating blows against Verlander from the 2012 World Series Game 1, obviously. The point is, Justin Verlander was back, and while I was already convinced it was coming, I never could’ve imagined it would be 12 more seasons, most of them still great, until he finally hung up his spikes.

And while Verlander was back in form, one couldn’t really say the same about Miguel Cabrera and Victor Martinez. Max Scherzer had left in free agency after the 2014 season, and things were just never the same again. There’s another life lesson. You can go back in life, in all senses of the phrase, but when you get there it won’t be the same because you are no longer quite the same person either.

2016 was another real disappointment for the team as they crumbled down the stretch. On the Verlander front it was still great to watch Verlander build on 2015 and put together another Cy Young award caliber season only to be robbed by two Tampa area reporters who didn’t even cover baseball at that point. Kid Rick Porcello took home the hardware, and Kate Upton, by now engaged to Verlander, let fly with the legendary tweet that sent old Twitter into a frenzy.

Still, by 2017 it was clear that the magic was gone from the Tigers. Verlander’s magic was still running strong and his last second trade to the Houston Astros on August 31, 2017 was the final blow of that era. Many Tigers fans cheered the bittersweet sight of him winning his first ring with another club, but what gnawed at me was seeing the Astros ditch his twoseam fastball entirely and help him reach a new level of performance. I have always wondered how much greater his career could’ve been with better coaching and more information. In 2018 and 2019, he was better than ever, finally taking home another Cy Young award in 2019 and racking up 300 strikeouts in a season for the first time. By then, his future Hall of Fame credentials were long since assured.

Finally, after 14 years of greatness, Verlander’s UCL gave way in 2020. The Astros cheating scandal, and the entire culture of that front office in those years, tarnished his ring. Jeff Luhnow was banned for life. AJ Hinch was fired. Verlander’s career seemed to be coming to an end in a fairly dark place and time and he took some deserved heat from hiding of most of the Astros’ conduct. You had to wonder if Verlander would ever be the same, and if he would ever get another chance. We probably should’ve known better. Reinvigorated by the birth of his daughter, he rehabbed back into peak form and stormed back in 2022 to his third AL Cy Young award. He would go on to his second World Series title with the Astros.

By this point, Verlander was rarely on the minds of most Tigers fans anymore. The Astros didn’t pursue him too hard that offseason, and instead he signed a large short-term contract with the Mets, rejoining Max Scherzer for a half season. He was traded back to Houston at the trade deadline with Steve Cohen footing some of the bill, played there in 2024, and then left for a quiet but solid season with the San Francisco Giants in 2025. There were times where it felt like Verlander might make a brief fit for the Tigers one more time, but when that didn’t happen, it felt like chances of a reunion were probably done.

Instead, we did finally get that reunion. It didn’t go the way anyone hoped, but here at the end of his career, I’m still very glad he returned to Detroit. His reaction to coming home made it pretty clear that his heart never really left the Motor City, and that despite his success in Houston, he always viewed himself as a Tiger first and foremost. His wife is from Michigan. He got his start here. He became Justin Verlander here. In his own comments about the team, the fanbase, and the city, you can see him processing everything I’m writing about here, reminiscing on both the good times and the bad, feeling older for noticing how much time has passed and how much things have changed.

Verlander will hopefully go on to a long and fruitful retirement and finally be a full-time dad. His stature in the game is unassailable, and the way things are trending, we’ll never see his like again. His words over the last week have made it all but a certainty that his preference is to go into the Hall of Fame as a Tiger. We’ll see how that turns out when he’s eligible in five years. Expect the number 35 to be retired and added to the outfield walls, and in time a statue will be added on the concourse. Detroit does not forget its legends.

It’s entirely normal too to be skeptical about all this adulation. This is a more cynical era that the days when players like Babe Ruth and Willie Mays made their legends. But if Justin Verlander isn’t a baseball legend to future generations than who will be? He was hyper-competitive, he understood what he owed to the fanbase and to the game, there was never any drama, he took relatively team friendly extensions twice and never showed the slightest inkling of leaving until the Tigers forced his hand with a deadline decision at a time where they were clearly going into teardown mode. And most importantly, Justin Verlander was one of the greatest pitchers of all-time. He was everything you could ask and more from a Detroit athlete.

Verlander wasn’t able to give us that final act this season. But he was able to dig down and provide one more beautiful performance and a memory that will stick with many of us forever. For all the young fans out there looking for their Justin Verlander, a player that will help define an era or two for them in their lives and as sports fans, I hope Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark achieve this level of stature, accomplishment, and longevity in the game for you all, and not just for the Tigers’ benefit. Even for the greats, it’s hard to have multiple great eras in a baseball career. Don’t take it for granted if we’re so fortunate. A career like Justin Verlander’s may never be seen again.

Thanks for everything, JV.

October is near. Do you know which Major League Baseball team you trust?

Welcome to a postseason where virtually every participant is looking over their shoulder, wondering if their two-man rotation can hold up, if their moribund lineup will wake up, if their shaky bullpen can hold up.

Little wonder that in a season that produced the first .500 division champion in major league history that the participant in MLB’s popular bracket challenge will have their flaws. On paper, anyway, one team has far fewer than the rest.

Yet they’re also due for things not to go their way.

With that, ranking MLB’s playoff teams by best chance to win the World Series:

1. Los Angeles Dodgers

Of course it’s more fun to go faux contrarian and anoint someone else the favorite. We’re not that silly.

For a minute, it seemed the trade for Tarik Skubal was kind of ho-hum. Very quietly, the dude was not quite as dominant as his previous AL Cy Young Award campaigns. But he is locked the hell in again, posting a 33-6 strikeout-walk ratio his last five starts. Simply nobody can match up with Skubal and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to start a playoff series.

Beyond that, Tyler Glasnow has struck out 49 in his last 34 1/3 innings. Blake Snell has all of October to work his way back into form. And did you check out the September OPS for Teoscar Hernandez (.998), Mookie Betts (1.136) and Kyle Tucker (.919)?

Sho-who? This three-peat would be far less dependent on the great Ohtani.

2. Tampa Bay Rays

They were two-and-out in their past two playoff appearances, but now the Rays have graduated beyond the wild-card series and await the Red Sox-Yankees winner. They narrowly won the season series against both clubs and acing this ALDS test might be their stiffest challenge in getting to the World Series.

Like many lower-revenue, highly-analytical clubs, there’s always the question of whether their act will translate to the postseason. Will a club that ranked 22ND in home runs run into enough balls? Will their contact-happy offense keep things moving or prove ineffective against nastier stuff?

And will No. 2 starter Nick Martinez continue his All-Star run, or will his lack of punch (just 109 strikeouts in 180 innings) be a liability?

These are all the question marks. They don’t take away the fact this is a fantastic team, one that’s proven the class of the AL over six months.

3. Milwaukee Brewers

No, really, we mean it this time: This, this 2026 season, this is the year for the Brewers.

Don’t look now, but this is the eighth postseason in nine years for the Brewers, a title-less run nearly akin to the ‘90s Braves or the Dodgers from the previous decade. Yet no one openly wonders what’s wrong with the Brewers in October or if they’ll finally get to a World Series, already.

But those diminished expectations come from the lower-revenue, plucky-Midwesterners leitmotif assigned the Brewers. And on the other hand: The more times you get in the tournament, the better your chances of winning.

And these guys have Jacob Misiorowski, impending Cy Young Award winner, ready to unleash from Game 1. Whether they can bridge the gap from Miz to the rest of a pitching staff that will be relied on 2 through 13 is the major question.

Enjoy Misiorowski’s explosive fastball. Then pull up a chair and get to know DL Hall and Shane Drohan and Abner Uribe real well. You’ll be seeing a lot of them and their ability to get outs will likely determine if this 103-win joyride will continue.

4. New York Yankees

If you’re staring at every other postseason game wondering why starters are going two or three or four innings, Yankees games might feel like comfort food.

Even moreso than the Skubal- and Yamamoto-led Dodgers, the Yankees line up four deep in their rotation, with the strident and cocksure Cam Schlittler leading the way in Game 1 against the Red Sox. And then it’s Max Fried, and Gerrit Cole, and Carlos Rodón, with Will Warren swinging into a handy long guy/spot starter situation. Kind of nice!

Yeah, pitching will have to be their backbone because Aaron Judge almost certainly won’t be around for the wild-card round, or perhaps any stage of these playoffs. Still, despite a fair amount of slug in the lineup and that starting rotation, it will come down to how effective their relievers can be in multiple appearances.

New York Post | Greg Joyce: The Yankees will hand the ball to Cam Schlittler in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against the Red Sox, the team announced Sunday. After reportedly considering opening their playoff run with Max Fried on the hill, they instead chose their presumptive Cy Young Award winner. “He wants the ball, and he’s ready to go,” manager Aaron Boone said simply. Fried is now lined up to start Game 2, with Gerrit Cole in wait should a Game 3 be needed. 

Daily News | Gary Phillips: ($) Despite his hopes of returning for this week’s Wild Card Series, Aaron Judge has not engaged in baseball activities since injuring his calf on September 16th. “I know he was on the treadmill a little bit yesterday, so not a whole lot yet,” said Boone of his star’s progress. Judge and his manager did not see eye to eye when discussing his injury last week, with the Yankees captain pushing back on the idea that he would not be ready for the first round.

Associated Press: The Yankees’ season ended at Game 161, with a rainout Sunday that will not be made up. This weekend’s nor’easter caused Saturday’s game to be rescheduled to Friday, but with the playoffs looming there was no time to reschedule Sunday’s affair. With a win in that game, they would have been the first franchise in history to finish with the same record (94-67) in three straight seasons. The Yankees had played 162 games in all non-shortened seasons since 2002.

Playbill | Meg Masseron: A revival of Damn Yankees is coming to Broadway, with Neil Patrick Harris set to star. Previews will begin on March 24, 2027, the day before the Yankees are set to start their season. The production was announced Sunday at a press conference at Yankee Stadium.

Introduction

With the regular season now over for both Major League and Minor League Baseball, I think now would a be good time take a look at the best individual performance at each position in the Diamondbacks farm system. For the sake of the reader and my own sanity, we’re going to look at just the starting battery and infield corner positions today, otherwise this would be a very long read.

Before I do that, I want to congratulate the D’Backs Double-A affiliate, the Amarillo Sod Poodles, on winning the Texas League Championship. Winning a championship is great for the development of the younger players on the team, especially those who might not have had the best individual season this year. That said, about half the players mentioned in the next few articles will be players on that team.

Starting Pitcher

David Hagaman is the clear and obvious answer for the best starting pitcher in the Diamondbacks farm system in 2026, and the pitcher most likely to actually be named the Dbacks MILB pitcher of the year. There really isn’t much competition, especially knowing the context behind the numbers.

Hagaman, who was acquired in last summer’s Merrill Kelly trade, started the year assigned to high-A Hillsboro in the pitcher friendly confines of the Northwestern League. Across 15 games, Hagaman put up 71⅓ innings with a 3.03 ERA, 4.10 FIP, and 4.15 xFIP. Adjusted for the League that works out to a very impressive 61 ERA- and a slightly less impressive 84 FIP-. His 10.85 strikeouts per nine innings and 28% strikeout percentage are very impressive as well. That alone might not be enough to make him pitcher of the year, but what he did after being promoted to Double-A Amarillo, in the much more hitter friendly Texas League that cemented him as the organization’s pitcher of the year.

Hagaman started seven games, putting up 35 ⅓ innings with a 2.55 ERA, a 3.22 FIP, and a 3.79 xFIP. His strikeout percentage went up to 32.4% and 11.72 strikeouts per nine innings. He also walked less batters, going from 10.7% to 8.5%. In the hitter friendly Texas league, that translates to a 43 ERA- and a 75 ERA-. Hagaman did struggle with walks though in his post season outing in the Texas League division series and the championship to a lesser extent. It’ll be interesting to see if he returns to Double-A next season, gets promoted to Triple-A Reno, or possibly even has a chance at making his MLB debut with a strong showing in spring training. My first article going in depth on Dbacks pitching prospects has a scouting report if you’re interested in reading more about him, which you can read here.

Catcher

Gabriel Moreno has won the NL batting title, which I’m pointing out now because it really helps show just how strong the Diamondbacks organization is right now at the catching position from top to bottom, and how many of them had very good seasons this year, which is how this turned into another multi part series.

The Dbacks reinforced that position of strength after using their first round pick on a well regarded college catcher, Ryder Helfrick, who went on to have a solid professional debut in the Low A level California League. Despite putting up a solid triple slash line of .245/.327/.521 with a 104 wRC+ in just 24 games, that’s just 24 games, so he’s not the All Star here.

Jhosep Villarroel put up eye popping numbers in his 47 games this summer, but he’s also a 17 year old in the Dominican Summmer League, so you have to take these number with a massive grain of salt, which is why he’s not my All-Star but another honorable mention. That said his numbers are REALLY good, it’s just a small sample size and he’s very young. Combined between the two Dbacks DSL teams he hit .303/.500/.485 with a .493 wOBA and a 148 OPS+. Villarroel will almost certainly make his stateside debut with either the ACL Dbacks or Visalia Rawhide next season, which will give us a much better chance to evaluate him as a prospect.

It’s also not Alberto Barriga, who tore up the pitcher friendly Northwestern League for 40 games, hitting 259/.345/.490 with a 113 wRC+. The reason he’s not is that he struggled in the extremely hitter friendly Texas League after being being promoted, hittng just 237/301/362 with .302 wOBA and 55 wRC+ in 57 Games. He’s one of the players mentioned in the intro who I think will benefit a lot from the experience gained in Amarillo’s championship run. Barriga’s probably the most unique of the catching prospects here, so I am really looking forward to seeing how he adjust next season.

Ivan Luciano has a very solid argument based on his above average play in 2026. Luciano spent the majority (85 games) of the season in Visalia, where he hit 264/.375/.441 with .372 wOBA and a 109 wRC+. In the 12 games in Hillsboro after being promoted, he hit .279/.380/.465 with a .383 wOBA and 122 WRC+. Combined across the two levels, Luciano put up a solidly above average tripleslash of .266/.376/.444 with a .374 wOBA and 111 wRC+. One of his teammates (at the beginning of the season) has a much stronger argument based on his numbers, and that’s Carlos Virahonda.

Carlos Virahonda started the year with 48 games in Visalia in which he hit .273/.359 /.508 .383 wOBA and 115 wRC+. He was then promoted to High A Hillsboro and in 50 games, and a in much more pitcher friendly league, where he’d hit .272/.393/.468 with a .391 wOBA and a 127 wRC+. He’d then finish his season playing in four games with Double A Amarillo, where he’d go 4 for 15 with a pair of doubles and a homerun, while getting plunked three times to give him a .267/.389/.600 and a 134 wC+. In 108 games combined across all three levels, Virahonda hit .272/.377/.493 with 18 HRS, a .388 wOBA and a 122 wRC+. To cap it all off, he also had a fantastic post season with Amarillo, playing a key role offensively.

If you’d like to read a more in depth look at the catchers, check out this article from earlier this season.

Third Base

Danny Serretti could have easily been an all-star at second base, but he had slightly more innings as a third baseman. There also really aren’t any other obvious candidates at the position, unlike second base which is just as stacked as catcher, so we’re sticking Serretti here. I had an article focused on Serretti’s background prior to this season, which you can read here if you are so interested.

Serreti spent a lot of time going back and forth between Amarillo and Reno, even coming back to play a key role in Amarillo’s championship. In 74 games in Amarillo he hit 272/.418/.510 with a .413 wOBA and a 124 WRC+. In 35 games in Reno, he hit .316/.421/.513 with a .419 wOBA a .357 xWOBA, and a 129 wRC+. His walk percentage fell slightly from 17.8% to 14.9%, but I’d attribute that to the higher batting average, which is backed up by his strikeout percentage staying within .3% of each other, with Serretti striking out 22.4% in Amarillo and 22.7% in Reno. As a whole, Serretti finished his season hitting 287/419/.511 with 19 homeruns, 11 stolen bases, a .415 wOBA and a 126 wRC+ in 109 games.

The only other third baseman in the same ballpark (at times literally) was LuJames Groover, who was above average in Reno but struggled at the MLB level in 2026.

First Base

Finally, at least for this week, we have another position with a single clear and obvious choice.

Manuel Pena broke out in a big way in 2026, hitting 26 homeruns in 61 games with Amarillo, while also putting up a triple slash line of .311/354/.673 with a robust .428 wOBA and 134 wRC+ in the first half of the season . After being promoted to Reno he’d cool down significantly, but overall in 112 games he would hit .305/.345/.555 with a 108 wRC+ with 31 HRs. The only other first baseman who had better numbers in the Dbacks farm system were Pavin Smith and Tyler Locklear and I don’t think anyone reading this wants to hear more about either player.

That’s it for now! Next time, I’ll look at the middle infield and outfielders.

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WASHINGTON — Francisco Lindor wanted to get it over with before this season concluded. 

Hitters seldom go to the plate trying to hit home runs, but Lindor was in that mode Sunday and succeeded. His second-inning blast served as career homer No. 300 in the Mets’ 6-4 loss to the Nationals. 

The Mets shortstop had been sitting at No. 299 since Sept. 12, when he homered twice against the Yankees. 

“I wasn’t trying [to homer] the past couple of days, I was just trying to have good at-bats,” Lindor said. “And then today I said, ‘I am going to try to hit a home run.’ It doesn’t work out that way all the time, but today it did. Some way it worked out, so it’s not something I am going to take into next year.” 

Lindor, who missed two months with a calf strain, finished his season with 21 homers and a .732 OPS. 

“To hit 300 [homers] you have got to be healthy for a long time,” Lindor said. “The trainers here, in Cleveland, my people, have helped me a lot to stay on the field. It seems like it’s a day for me, but it’s for all these people that wish me to be better day in and day out that made me better.” 

Sean Manaea allowed five earned runs on seven hits and one walk over six innings to conclude his season with a 4.78 ERA. 

The lefty said his focus this offseason will be building up velocity. Manaea struggled this season to maintain consistency with his fastball. 

“At least having that for spring training, at least from the [start] and then my breaking ball,” Manaea said. 

Manaea appeared on the right track at midseason — he had a brutal three months to begin the season — but concluded with a 6.35 ERA over his final seven starts. 

“I would say [this season] was a disappointment — we didn’t as a team do what we needed to do,” Manaea said. “I personally didn’t need to do what I needed to do. There were flashes of some really good times. There was also a lot of negative things. Overall, I would say it was a disappointment.” 

Carson Benge went 3-for-5 for a third straight multihit game. He batted .462 over his final 10 games this season. 

Ronny Mauricio finished his season with a bang: He blasted his third homer in two days.

If that was the end for Max Scherzer, he went out exactly how you’d expect.

The 42-year-old three-time Cy Young winner emptied the tank in what could have been the final start of his Hall of Fame career Sunday, throwing 114 pitches over seven innings in the Toronto Blue Jays’ 5-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

And he did it on just three days’ rest.

The eight-time All-Star allowed just one earned run on six hits, walked one and struck out seven in his final appearance of the 2026 season.

“That was amazing,” Scherzer told reporters postgame. “The adrenaline starts kicking in, the fans start getting in, and that’s when I could start feeding off of the crowd here at the Rogers Centre. I really could just reach back and just felt like I was unlimited.”

The game also prompted one memorable scene for the final chapter of Scherzer’s career.

While already at over 100 pitches on the afternoon, Blue Jays manager John Schneider walked toward the mound as if he were finally coming to take the ball.

Scherzer quickly turned him away, which popped the audience at the Rogers Centre.

Schneider instead turned around as the former ace powered through the rest of inning.

“If that doesn’t sum up Max Scherzer, I don’t know what does,” Schneider said afterward.

Classic Mad Max.

He finished the inning and walked off the mound to a standing ovation, tipping his cap as teammates waited for him outside the dugout.

It looked like a farewell, and it might have been, though nothing is yet official.

Scherzer has not announced his retirement and said Saturday that he will wait until the offseason before deciding whether to return for a 20th major-league campaign.

“I’ve talked to everybody in my inner circle, and we all kind of feel the same way,” Scherzer said. “We don’t need to make a decision today. Get to the offseason and just see how things unfold.”

He also noted MLB’s forthcoming contentious labor negotiations between the league and the Players’ Association, which has left many predicting a lockout at least to begin the 2027 season.

“We’ve also got a lot of uncertainty next year with all the labor issues,” Scherzer said, “so you just don’t know how the season’s going to happen or unfold, or what opportunity is going to be in front of me.”

Scherzer’s seven strikeouts brought him to 3,557 on his career, ninth-most in MLB history and three behind longtime teammate Justin Verlander, who made the final start of his own career Saturday.

The game Sunday marked Scherzer’s 501st appearance and 492nd start.

He ended the 2026 season with a 5.74 ERA and a 4-9 record on the year.  

A year after Dan Wilson led the Mariners to the American League Championship Series, he is out as manager of the club. 

Wilson had announced that he would not be returning to manage the club after the Mariners’ season-finale win over the Angels. 

“This season has been very difficult, and of course the results have not been what any of us had expected,” Wilson said. “As a result, it was concluded that today is my last day as manager of the Seattle Mariners.”

The Seattle Times reported that Wilson informed the Mariners he was moving on prior to the start of Sunday’s game. 

The team also confirmed the change in a statement released on Sunday evening, thanking Wilson for his time with the team and saying that after “much discussion” between president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and Wilson, “it was concluded that a new direction is best for 2027 and beyond.”

“I want to thank Dan for his efforts over the past two years and specifically recognize his role in our club advancing to Game 7 of the ALCS in 2025,” Dipoto said in a statement. 

“I’ve appreciated the opportunity to lead this team the past two years,” Wilson said in a statement. “While this season has not gone the way any of us expected, I’m proud that the players in the clubhouse showed up each day to try and compete and battle in each game they played. I’m confident that the 2026 season doesn’t accurately reflect the talent, passion and desire of our players and know that bright things are ahead for this group.”

Wilson had been a catcher for the Mariners during his playing career and took the role of manager after Seattle let go of Scott Servais in the midst of the 2024 season. 

The 57-year-old helped Seattle reach the ALCS while finishing the regular season 90-72 and winning the American League West. 

The Mariners did not play to the same level of success in 2026 and missed the playoffs with a 76-86 record. He went 187-171 overall.

Wilson said postgame that the club has some interest in moving him to a different role in the organization and he would discuss it with his family.

Through the ups and downs of a full 162-game season, it’s still hard not to be romantic about baseball.

As this afternoon’s game put a bow on the 2026 Colorado Rockies season, we want to hear about the things — big or small — that are on your mind. With the team marking a 15-game improvement and with several young players emerging as core lineup pieces, there were plenty of fun moments and strong individual or team performances.

As we head into the long offseason and immediately start the countdown to spring training, which 2026 memories are sticking with you?

• Is it an overall performance? Like Hunter Goodman’s hot start into the home run race, TJ Rumfield making a name for himself in the Rookie of the Year conversation, or Tomoyuki Sugano mastering Coors Field early in the season and getting up to double-digit wins.
• Maybe it’s a specific game or milestone? Back to Goodman, seeing him hit his 40th (and 41st) home run yesterday was big. Jake McCarthy had a day back on August 8th, becoming one of a few players with four hits, two homers, and two stolen bases in a game. Connor Norby notched his first career grand slam in the 13-1 win over the Washington Nationals on August 26th. The Rockies being on the right side of a 20-burger was nice too, when they beat the A’s 23-9 out in Las Vegas on June 14th.
• Maybe an overall vibes thing? The emergence of the purple home run jacket was a great time.
• Was it a Coors Field memory? Attending both the Larry Walker and Todd Helton statue unveiling games are up there for me, as is getting one last hot dog combo from Diamond Dawgs before Joyl Watkins’ retirement after being a ballpark staple for 31 years.

Let’s dwell on some of the good things from the year. Give us your favorite memories, moments, performances, and players in the comments!

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Twins 6, Rangers 4

• And that’s that.
• I wrote that Saturday’s win against the Twins was a reminder of what the Rangers can look like when they are playing well.
• Sunday’s season finale, though, was a reminder of what the Rangers looked like overall in 2026.
• The starting pitcher struggling physically, unable to give you innings.
• A makeshift bullpen leaned on too heavily, that ultimately couldn’t get the job done.
• A starting lineup missing a couple of key bats, that was quiet for much of the game before rallying late, only to see the comeback fall short.
• Having a chance until the end against underwhelming opposition, but still not being good enough.
• It was a minor miracle the Rangers were still in the race until the end. Not just in the race, but in control of their own destiny with a week left to go.
• And they lost two consecutive series against teams playing out the string.
• The Rangers never quit. You had guys playing hurt, guys battling to get back, a flawed team that hung in there and didn’t give up.
• They just weren’t good enough, even in a division where no one finished above .500.
• MacKenzie Gore hit 94.4 mph with his fastball, averaging 93.2 mph. Chase Silseth touched 97.5 mph with his fastball. Robert Garcia’s fastball maxed out at 94.6 mph. Tyler Alexander touched 92.2 mph with his sinker. Jakob Junis’s fastball hit 93.8 mph. Jordan Montgomery reached 92.6 mph with his sinker. Cody Bradford’s fastball maxed out at 90.0 mph.
• Brandon Nimmo had a 105.7 mph single. Elias Diaz had a 104.1 mph home run. Corey Seager had a 104.0 mph home run. Ezequiel Duran had a 101.1 mph groundout.
• 162 down, and none to go.

When news that Mariners manager Dan Wilson would not return in 2027 broke on social media, a significant portion of the fanbase was ecstatic, seeing Wilson as one of the primary culprits in the team’s dreadful season where they fell significantly short of expectations. (The portion that wasn’t celebrating was mostly complaining that the move didn’t also include firing Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto.)

But the mood inside the clubhouse was very different.

“I really haven’t wrapped my mind around it yet,” said Cal Raleigh.

Players were alerted that an announcement might be forthcoming when they got their daily schedule texted to them with an added team meeting prior to Sunday’s series finale, which the Mariners won 7-3. Wilson managed the game, knowing it was his last, including two mid-inning defensive changes to allow fan appreciation moments for both J.P. Crawford and Randy Arozarena, both of whom are set to become free agents this season.

Postgame, he read a statement to the media in which he called it a “very difficult day” – a variation on the oft-memed Wilson phrase “tough one tonight” – and said he was still processing the decision.

“We love this city, we love the community, and we appreciate the organization for what it has meant to the family since coming here as a player in ‘94,” said Wilson, on behalf of himself and his family.

He wasn’t the only one still processing the decision. Bryan Woo, normally one of the most eloquent clubhouse interviews, was uncharacteristically fragmented in his thought process.

“You build a relationship with a guy like that,” said Woo. “It’s really difficult to see him just wear everything this year. I know just by the interactions afterwards and right now, kind of, everyone’s going through the shuffle. The interactions with him and seeing the relationships that he meant to everyone in this clubhouse and the building…yeah, it’s hard to describe.”

“You never want to see people you love struggle, but people that you also know are very high character people, people that you know are about the right things, it goes hand in hand.”

Raleigh was more blunt.

“I feel terrible. I feel responsible. I think every guy in this clubhouse does,” said Raleigh.

For as shell-shocked as players seem to be, though, for most of them, this isn’t their first time seeing a manager fired. They understand the business of baseball.

“It’s a business, and that’s unfortunately what happens when you don’t perform,” said Raleigh.

“Big league managers, you wear so much of what goes on throughout the season,” said Woo. “If the team does well it’s because of the players; if the team struggles it’s because of the coaches or the managers. He wore it so much this year, and it’s tough, man…I think we as a group, we failed him much more than he failed us.”

Taking a slightly different approach on the business side of baseball, Julio Rodríguez took aim at those who consider themselves armchair managers.

“It’s a tough job. I feel like we can all just sit on the couch and think, oh, we can do this, we could have done that. There’s always a lot of things around that. But I think he’s a great guy who helped us get better in different ways. And I will always have love for him, the person that he is.”

Wilson, for his part, didn’t seem surprised, although he was visibly emotional, holding back tears while giving his statement.

“I’ve been in baseball a while, and this is what happens. Managers shoulder the blame, shoulder the responsibility. This is obviously difficult, and my family and I are still processing it.”

Him and his players, both. Today is for processing. Eventually, much further down the road, Wilson will look towards his future – he said there have been discussions of him remaining with the Mariners in a role, maybe similar to the player development work he was doing earlier – and the players will learn who their new manager will be. They hope whoever it is, that person will share some of Dan Wilson’s qualities.

“He always treated me with respect,” said Julio. “That’s how he was with the guys. I’m just happy I got to know him better as a manager and a person too, and I wish him the best.”

When Bryan Woo was asked about his favorite quality about Dan Wilson, he was quick with an answer.

“His authenticity. His genuineness.”

“The only thing that you can ask for in terms of a relationship like that is truth, and that’s what you got from him every day. I don’t want fluff. I don’t want bullshit. I want the truth, whether I like it or not, and he’s always there to give it to you. That’s a huge part. I think it is for everyone, but for me specifically, I just want truth. Whether I like it or not, or whether anybody hears it and they like it or not, that’s a big pillar for sure.”

For the youngest player in the clubhouse, losing the only big-league manager he’s known hits a little differently.

“It’s sad,” said Cole Young. “I had a lot of fun playing for him. Playing for him – it made me want to go out there and give it my all, every single pitch. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out, but I can say I gave it my all and tried my hardest.”

For the player who has arguably the deepest connection with Wilson, Cal Raleigh has a different set of feelings to process, losing both his long-term coach and likely his longest-tenured teammate in J.P. Crawford.

“You spend so much time with these people and you invest yourself in them – Dan, J.P., these are all people I’ve known since I’ve gotten into the organization. It’s hard. It’s hard turning that page. Both these guys have meant so much to us, and it’s just…yeah. It’s hard.”

It has been a hard one this season. Hopefully whoever takes up the helm of the listing SS Mariner next year has an idea for how to get back on course – but in a way that still feels authentic and genuine, respects the players as people, and inspires players to want to go out and give their all and try their hardest, and doesn’t mind shouldering the blame when and if things go wrong. Tough job tonight (and every night).

The Mets' 2026 season is a difficult one to analyze.

A year that started with World Series aspirations for a roster led by veterans devolved to the point where then-manager Carlos Mendoza was fired at the end of June -- a month before a major trade deadline sell-off jettisoned not only pending free agents but players who were under contract beyond 2026.

Injuries (especially ones to Juan Soto andFrancisco Lindor) were one of the main reasons the season spun out of control, and the freak injury to Clay Holmes in May when the team was starting to find its footing was an extra twist of the knife. 

But in addition to the injuries was a whole lot of underperformance and sloppy play. And there were questions in the aftermath regarding whether the Mets simply underwent too much change between 2025 and 2026 -- not just in terms of the players who were brought in but the mostly new coaching staff that oversaw them. 

A silver lining was the team's inspiring late-season performance, which coincided with Andy Green taking over as manager (interim and then full-time) and the club having somewhat of a new identity as Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing emerged as key contributors, Zac Thornton made an impact in the rotation, and Kodai Senga shifted to a late-inning relief role. 

As the attention shifts to the offseason, president of baseball operations David Stearns and the front office will attempt to assemble a roster that can get New York back to the postseason for the first time since a magical NLCS run in 2024. 

Beyond player moves, there are other key storylines to keep an eye on, including a potential lockout that could begin on Dec. 1.

Here are five things to watch...

Is Tarik Skubal a target?

The Mets' failures in 2025 and 2026 can be traced back to a number of things, but chief among them was a lack of starting pitching depth.

It's the main reason the 2025 season went haywire, and it helped cause an insurmountable hole to dig out of in the first few months of 2026.

Heading into 2027, the Mets have two young, homegrown, high-upside locks in the rotation (Nolan McLean and Christian Scott), one veteran who profiles as a potentially solid back-end starter (Sean Manaea), and one intriguing option coming off a successful first taste of the majors (Zac Thornton). There's also Jonah Tong, whose upside remains high despite an up-and-down 2026 campaign. 

It can be argued that in the last two offseasons, the Mets have left themselves one starting pitcher short. So an ideal scenario this time around would be adding two rotation cogs, including one who can profile at the very top of the staff.

Luckily for the Mets, one of the best pitchers in baseball will be a free agent this offseason.

Skubal, who was traded from the Tigers to the Dodgers during the year, will be entering his age-30 season in 2027 and will not be attached to a qualifying offer, perhaps making him a perfect fit for the Mets.

In the past, Stearns signing the top pitcher on the market (who might get the biggest deal ever for a starting pitcher when it comes to both average annual value and total dollars) would be a major upset -- Stearns' reluctance to shell out long-term contracts for starting pitchers 30 or older is real. But Skubal is the kind of pitcher you make an exception for. And Stearns is entering a prove-it offseason.

Perhaps it would take a nudge from owner Steve Cohen for the Mets to go all-in on Skubal, but it's hard to argue against a serious pursuit.

Who's on first?

One offseason removed from letting Pete Alonso leave to sign a five-year deal with the Baltimore Orioles, the Mets will once again attempt to replace him.

Jorge Polanco, who was signed last offseason to be part of the solution when it came to making up for Alonso's production, had an injury-riddled year that required season-ending ankle surgery. Polanco has one more year on his deal but is a major question mark, possibly making him a DH-only option next season -- if his health allows.

The Mets could possibly turn to Jared Young at first base, but his lack of power (just nine home runs in 103 games in 2026) and struggles against left-handed pitching (.606 OPS against lefties in 2026) are two reasons why that might not be ideal.

With the Mets not having any first base prospects close to contributing in a serious way, their best bet could be the free agent or trade market.

Of the big league free agent crop, the most intriguing option could be Ty France.

But the highest-upside option is 27-year-old star Japanese slugger Teruaki Sato, who is expected to be posted this offseason.

The labor battle and possible fallout

Barring an unexpected breakthrough in CBA negotiations, the owners will lock out the players on Dec. 1.

This could have massive ramifications both before and after.

The expectation of the lockout beginning on Dec. 1 could set off a rash of free agent and trade activity between the end of the World Series and Nov. 30, potentially changing the dynamic of the offseason.

Then there's the result of the expected lockout.

While it would be a huge surprise if the players acquiesce to a hard salary cap, it's likely that the new CBA will have stiffer penalties for teams that exceed the luxury tax thresholds.

That would have an impact on teams like the Mets, Dodgers, and Yankees, and add another wrinkle to this offseason.

The bullpen plan

The Mets traded pending free agent lefties Brooks Raley and A.J. Minter at the deadline, but didn't stop there, as they also dealt Luke Weaver (under contract through 2027) and Huascar Brazoban (under team control through 2029).

With the back end of the bullpen gutted, it provided runway for rookie Nate Lavender and 29-year-old Daniel Duarte to shine. Meanwhile, Dedniel Núñez rounded back into form after some early hiccups following his return from Tommy John surgery. So the Mets have some strong options as they rebuild the relief corps.

It remains to be seen how Senga will be deployed next season, but it's hard to envision a more sensible thing than keeping him in a relief role, where his fastball-ghost fork combo plays up.

Then there's Devin Williams, who has two years remaining on the contract he signed last offseason and might be best suited for a setup role.

As is the case with the rotation, the Mets could use an anchor in the bullpen. Beyond Adrian Morejon, the free agent class isn't rich with elite back-end arms, so New York might have to get creative.

Coaching staff changes coming?

Speaking last week while announcing the removal of Green's interim tag, Stearns said the future of the coaching staff would be discussed after the season.

Of the new coaches added ahead of the 2026 campaign, pitching coach Justin Willard, hitting coach Troy Snitker, and bench coach Kai Correa were the most high-profile.

Since those coaches were hired before Green, and given the early struggles that doomed the Mets' season, it's fair to wonder if there will be changes.

WASHINGTON — Bo Bichette knows the first half of this season was played, but maybe for good reason he doesn’t recall many details.

“It’s all a blur,” the Mets third baseman said before his team concluded the season with a 6-4 loss to the Nationals on Sunday.

The Mets finished 74-88, last in the National League East, and were all but eliminated from the postseason race by late June, prompting manager Carlos Mendoza’s firing. The Mets improved after the All-Star break — and particularly following the Aug. 3 trade deadline, under new manager Andy Green. The question is, can the 27-22 post-trade deadline surge serve a building block for next season?

“It’s what you take away from it culturally and individually,” Green said. “You can’t play with the weight of unmet expectations on your back and expect good baseball to happen. I think you have to take that with you into next year. I think you have to take a resolve that we’re not going to be in this spot again.”

Freddy Peralta, Clay Holmes, David Peterson, Luke Weaver, A.J. Minter, Brooks Raley, Huascar Brazobán and Tyrone Taylor were key names for the Mets when the season began. All were traded as part of an overhaul that allowed the Mets to receive a better look at players such as Jonah Tong, Nate Lavender and Daniel Duarte, among others.

And a rookie class highlighted by NL Rookie of the Year candidate Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing and Nolan McLean solidified. “I think that this [winning] has gotten us a lot closer, and it feels much more like a team,” Ewing said. “It feels like this is a family.”

The Mets will have pitching holes to fill in the offseason and questions persist about first base, but Bichette (who can opt out) sees a team that possesses a solid nucleus.

“We’ve proven that this group has enough talent to compete with anybody,” Bichette said. “But obviously it’s different doing that for an entire season. But I think this team has proven that it has everything it needs to win. I think that the organization, the fans, should feel really good about the team.”

Green noted that players pulled for each other. Such camaraderie was evident with young pitchers who were removed from the game returning to the dugout rather than retreating to the clubhouse.

“The guys jelled together with each other,” Green said. “You’re talking about a group that top to bottom genuinely likes playing baseball with each other and had a good time in the second half. That’s a productive thing to have. It’s not always necessary that you love everybody you work with to be productive, but it is a good thing that’s going on in there.”

Even so, the Mets are absent from the playoffs for a second straight year despite having the second-highest payroll in the game in both seasons.

“I think the bitter taste that exists in every player’s mouth right now should drive us to a very productive offseason, so I think you can take little bits and pieces from each one of those things that set you up better for success next year,” Green said. “Ultimately, it’s individual ownership over a collective goal that we need to take from here.

“We’re counting on each person in that clubhouse, every veteran to perform at their best level, every young guy to take a step forward, every coach to get better, me to get better. I think we’re collectively looking at life that way. We’re going to be counting on everybody.”

It wasn’t pretty, but the Astros are back in the postseason. 81-81 was good enough to win the American League West for an eighth time in 10 years, so now the Astros will host the Chicago White Sox in a best-of-three Wild Card Series starting on Tuesday.

The Astros will have to submit a 26-man roster Tuesday morning, and there will be some difficult decisions. Complicating matters further, the team doesn’t have a general manager, so who gets final say if there is a disagreement over who should be carried?

Here’s my pass at projecting the 26 players Joe Espada will have at his disposal:

Pitchers (12)

Hunter Brown, Hayden Wesneski, Peter Lambert, Ethan Pecko, Miguel Ullola, Josh Hader, Bryan Abreu, AJ Blubaugh, Bennett Sousa, Bryan King, Logan VanWey, Josh Hendrickson

Most teams carry 12 pitchers on their Wild Card Round roster. Some teams will carry as few as 11 pitchers, including the 2024 Astros, and there might be one team that carries 13. 

I have the Astros carrying 12, mostly because it looks like Game 1 will be a bullpen game after the team elected to use Peter Lambert for two innings on Sunday, and it’s not exactly easy coming up with 12.

Enyel De Los Santos and Cristian Javier are ineligible because of their recent placements on the injured list, while Ronel Blanco is ineligible after he was optioned to Triple-A before Sunday’s game. 

The last spot came down to Hendrickson and Tatsuya Imai. Hendrickson, who made his major league debut this week, threw pitches of significance, while Imai did not, so Hendrickson gets the nod.

Catchers (2)

Yainer Diaz, Cristian Vazquez

No explanation needed. 

Infielders (6)

Christian Walker, Jose Altuve, Jeremy Peña, Isaac Paredes, Nick Allen, Raynel Delgado

Outfielders/DH (6)

Yordan Alvarez, Cam Smith, Taylor Trammell, LaMonte Wade Jr., Nelson Velazquez, Lucas Spence

11 of the 12 were easy picks. Remember, Daulton Varsho is ineligible because he was placed on the IL this week, while Jorge Barrosa is ineligible because he joined the organization after the September 1 deadline. The last spot came down to Delgado and Joey Loperfido. I went with Delgado for two reasons:

1. Insurance for Isaac Paredes, who wasn’t moving great on Sunday after fouling a ball off his knee on Saturday. Delgado would give Espada a little extra flexibility to run for Paredes late in games, while still having Nick Allen available as a replacement for Jose Altuve.
2. The Astros might want to use Allen as a bat off the bench. He doubled in his only at-bat on Sunday, a game he entered slashing .333/.371/.491 in the second half. He posted a .308 batting average with an .821 OPS against lefties for the season, and he was 2 for 5 with a walk as a pinch hitter. He would seem to be a much better option against lefties than Nelson Velazquez.

We got extra baseball on the final day of the season — which afforded the Giants relief pitching enough space to revert to their well-established baseline. The story for 9 innings was that Game 162 was the least 2026 Giants game of the 2026 season, mostly because of how well pitched it was. Tied in the 9th, the romantics allowed themselves to daydream, envisioning a big fly, a slow rising final shot for Mike Krukow to narrate, his third home run call in 36 years as a color-analyst. 

That’s not the world we live in. A walk-off send-off blast just isn’t reality — at least not this year, not for this version of the Giants. Christian Koss, though he circled the bases in the 8th, thinking he tucked a solo shot inside the left-field foul pole, the call was walked back and ruled foul upon review. That phantom 2-1 lead faded from the board, like it never happened, like it wasn’t even close. 

That moment was the death rattle. The last, belabored gasp of this season. A home run turned into strike one. Strike two and strike three followed soon after. A couple innings later, with the Giants down to their final out, Koss was at the plate again, trying to swing out of a four-run hole.  

What was an uncharacteristically impressive all hands on deck performance by the bullpen for 9 innings went up in flames in the 10th. Two quick outs were followed by two quick cement mixers served up by Duncan Davitt and annihilated by Alex Call and Andy Pages. 

Before that four-run nail-in-the-coffin, the mighty Dodgers had been subdued by nine different arms. A slew of slingers picked from scrap heaps and called in from far off fields on the farm went off script and held their own.  

Carson Seymour didn’t give a homer in the 1st. Sam Hentges, in maybe his best moment in a Giants uniform, stayed focused and cut through the hubbub of Tony Vitello’s ejection by getting Mookie Betts to swing through an elevated fastball before fanning Freddie Freeman to end a threat in the 3rd.

Jonah Cox went horizontal behind Braxton Roxby to steal a single from Freddie Freeman in the 5th. Marcelo Mayer’s slick pick punctuated Jason Foley working around a lead-off double by Tommy Edman in the 7th.     

LA had gone hitless in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position. They managed just six hits and one run, unearned on a sacrifice fly way back in the 4th.

Unfortunately, one run, on a first career RBI single by Scott Bandura, was all the Giants offense could manage against the parade of LA relievers as well.

Opportunities to add on presented themselves, but Bandura’s knock was San Francisco’s only hit with a run in scoring position in ten at-bats. Singles by Bo Davidson and Victor Bericoto to lead off the 4th went nowhere. In the 7th, Marcelo Mayer’s first hit as a Giant set-up runners at the corners with nobody out, but another opportunity to inch out ahead slipped away as both Drew Cavanaugh and Turner Hill fell victim to Bobby Miller curveballs.

The second-coming of Camilo Doval carried the tie through to the bottom of the 9th, putting himself in line as the pitcher of record if the bats were to come alive before the 27th out. They didn’t, and by that time, all the pitching good will had been spent. Never give a good team more chances to beat you. The Giants did, and the Dodgers said thank you kindly and claimed their 100th win of the year while handing San Francisco their 97th loss. 

This is the first time in their 144 year history that a Giants team has finished a season with a 65-97 record. It’s their worst finish since 2017’s 98-loss season.