Category: Baseball

In the end, the Yankees really did run it back. 

From the bulk of their offseason all the way down to a repeat October exit in the ALDS against the division foe who was simply better than them all season. 

For the 17th straight year, the Yankees will not be World Series champions, this time falling woefully short of a 28th title as they were swept out of the ALDS in three games by the Rays in a 4-3 loss Wednesday night at a sold-out Yankee Stadium. 

After the Yankees lineup let them down in Game 1 and their defense joined in to fail them in Game 2, their bats were held in check once again in Game 3 and Max Fried could not limit the damage, resulting in an all-too-familiar feeling in The Bronx. 

“It’s the worst fricking feeling in the world,” said manager Aaron Boone, whose voice was heavy after leaving a clubhouse full of hugs and goodbyes. 

The playoff run ended with Aaron Judge watching from the dugout, the Yankees unable to get deep enough to give their captain a chance to return from a right calf strain that he suffered in mid-September. After they survived the three-time MVP missing over half the regular season with a right rib stress fracture, the Yankees could not do the same in October, so Judge was one of the last ones left in the dugout watching another team celebrate on their field once again. 

“Just hating every single moment of it,” Judge said. “Thinking about the whole year, thinking about missed opportunities in the season, in that series, things we could have improved on, things I can improve on.” 

And so, a year after they bailed out of the ALDS in four games against the AL East champion Blue Jays, the Yankees played their way into another early exit, entering another offseason in which they will face more questions about how they might finally end their drought — if and when baseball is played next year with a labor battle looming. 

Boone, who has guided the Yankees to plenty of regular-season success across his nine years at the helm, has a year left on his contract. But with the repeated playoff failures of his team, will he get a 10th season? 

Brian Cashman’s contract is up, though the longtime GM still seems likely to return barring a stunner from Hal Steinbrenner. 

“[The front office] gives us a winning team every single year, but that’s not good enough here, in New York,” Judge said. “We’re the Yankees. You got to go out and expect championships and go all in every year. So I’m excited to see what they do.” 

After clobbering the Red Sox in a wild-card series in which they never trailed, the Yankees never led against the Rays. They mustered all of five runs across the three games, their lineup outside of Ben Rice coming up small. 

“They outplayed us, plain and simple,” Rice said. “Outpitched us. Outhit us. It’s really that simple. … It’s a failure. We weren’t able to get the job done.” 

Rice was on deck in the ninth inning when Trent Grisham — taking over the leadoff spot for Rice in Game 3 with Boone trying to get men on base in front of Rice — with the tying run on second, chased a pitch well out of the zone to end it. 

Twice after the Yankees had tied the game, Fried gave up a home run to hand the Rays the lead back. The second came in the sixth, when Fried hung a sweeper and by the time Victor Mesa Jr. put a swing on it, the left-hander had dropped to his knee because he knew what was coming. Mesa’s two-run shot sailed high and far into the right field seats, giving the Rays a 4-2 lead. 

In the bottom of the frame, the Yankees briefly thought they had tied it on a two-run homer from Anthony Volpe that had the building shaking. But replays showed a fan reached over the left field wall to interfere with the ball that was not going to clear the fence, and after a crew-chief initiated video review, the play was ruled an RBI double to make it a 4-3 game. Spencer Jones then struck out to strand Volpe at second. 

A few innings later, it was the same song and dance inside the Yankees clubhouse. 

“This is my fourth season, it’s been four too many times having this taste in my mouth,” Volpe said. “At this point, I don’t even think ‘motivated’ is the right word. I think it’s just pissed off. … I just feel like there’s too many chips added to your shoulder that it just feels like enough’s enough.”

San Diego Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a solo home run off a pitch by Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Robert Gasser in Game 4 of the National League Division Series at Petco Park on Wednesday, Oct. 7.

It was Tatis' eighth postseason career home run in 22 games.

The home run served as a quick response to the Brewers' run scored earlier in the inning. The game is tied at one.

The Padres find themselves in a must-win situation for a second consecutive night after losing in the first two games in the series in Milwaukee.

Super El Niño 🔥 pic.twitter.com/K5ev3Y1CDA

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) October 8, 2026

Moments before the Padres and Brewers started Game 4 of the NLDS, San Diego had a former legend kick things off.

Former Padres pitcher Jake Peavy was joined by former infielder and coach Tim Flannery on Wednesday night, and the two opened the game by performing the national anthem.

As Flannery kicked off the anthem, started strumming his guitar and singing, Peavy was standing right beside him and was participating in the song.

When the two were nearing the end and sang, “O say does that star spangle, banner yet wave,” they received a large round of applause from the San Diego fans who sold out Petco Park.

For Peavy, playing music has become a passion he’s fully embraced in his post-playing career, as he performs in a band called “Jake Peavy & The Outsiders.”

It’s also not the first time Peavy has combined baseball and music at the same time, as he was spotted playing an electric guitar during a live broadcast between the Mariners and Padres last May.

Peavy played eight seasons in a Padres uniform until he was traded by the team in the middle of the 2009 season to the Chicago White Sox.

In 2007, Peavy had a Cy Young season for the Padres, when he won 19 games and pitched with a 2.54 ERA, while having 240 strikeouts.

Peavy was a back-to-back World Series champion when he played for the Red Sox in 2013 and the Giants in 2014.

In 2023, Peavy was inducted to the Padres Hall of Fame.

As San Diego is taking on Milwaukee, they are hoping to even the series at after avoiding elimination in Tuesday night’s 4-3 win.

The on-field celebration was so brief you could have missed it, as appropriate for Game 62 in Phoenix as a clinching Game 4 of the National League Division Series. The clubhouse histrionics were soggy, the words from Miguel Rojas and Dave Roberts poignant as ever, befitting a journey that’s now reached 166 games. Yet the booze fountain slowed after a 10-minute burst.

When you win your eighth consecutive postseason series, are aiming for your third consecutive World Series championship, all part of 14 consecutive trips to the playoffs, there’s a certain mastery in toeing the fine line between “act like you’ve been there” and appreciating just how very hard it is.

The Dodgers know. And this particular romp through October is about to get much more difficult.

The Atlanta Braves made the Dodgers aware of their own mortality for about 36 hours of this National League Division Series. And then a Braves team that was outmanned in the best of times but significantly diminished after surviving a wild card series folded in the face of all that deluxe Dodgers depth.

This NLDS ended Wednesday, Oct. 7, when the Dodgers pushed across three runs in the final three innings to register a 4-1 victory and eliminate Atlanta in four games.

It was workmanlike, “grindy,” as they like to say, in some ways an ideal level of rigor to begin this playoff run. Yet the Braves’ ample resistance was, due to their three-game survival of their wild-card series against Philadelphia, compromised.

To steal a metaphor from Atlanta’s exurban ballpark, the Dodgers Beat the Freeze. But in the National League Championship Series and, perhaps, World Series to come, they’ll no longer have a head start.

“We understand that the job’s not done. We have eight more wins. Stay focused,” Roberts told his team. “There’s no more talented team than the Los Angeles Dodgers. We’re smarter, we’re better and we’re tougher.”

Probably all true. Yet it’s fair to wonder if “better” applies when it matters most – right now.

The Dodgers won 100 games, yet a bevy of injuries and ailments that dogged them in the latter portion of the season seemed evident against Atlanta.

Anthony Volpe had his 2026 postseason moment... and then it was taken away.

The Yankees infielder, starting at second base, got around and launched a blast off Griffin Jax to left field. The ball kept carrying as left fielder Victor Mesa went back to the wall and jumped. However, the outfielder could not snag the ball as it went into the stands to the delight of the Yankees fans in the front row. Mesa immediately looked up into the stands before staring back onto the field to indicate he thought the fans interfered with his attempt.

The umps called it a home run on the field as Volpe rounded the bases, seemingly tying the game at 4-4 in the sixth. The call was reviewed by MLB and after a lengthy delay, they ruled there was fan interference. However, instead of calling Volpe out, MLB ruled Mesa would not have been able to come down with the catch and awarded Volpe second. They also allowed George Lombard Jr., who was on first and running with two outs, to score, cutting the Rays' lead to 4-3.

MLB released this statement regarding the ruling.

“After viewing all relevant angles, the Replay Official definitively determined the spectator interfered with the ball over the field of play. The ball would not have left the playing field nor would it have been caught. The call is OVERTURNED, there was spectator interference and no home run. Additionally, the Replay Official scored one run and placed the batter-runner at 2B.”

Spencer Jones came up next and struck out, stranding Volpe at second. 

Anthony Volpe makes it 4-3 with an RBI double. The play was initially ruled a two-run home run, but was overturned upon review due to fan interference. https://t.co/qGMiKDUrRY

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) October 8, 2026

The run being taken away proved to be costly, as the Yankees ultimately fell 4-3 and were swept out of the ALDS.

"I thought they did a good job with it," Aaron Boone said of the call after the game. "When he hit it, to my eye looking out there, I was a little concerned right away because it felt like something, I wasn't sure. And then seeing the replay and seeing it unfold, I thought they did the right thing. I thought they got it right."

Despite missing out on a moment, Volpe doesn't put the Game 3 loss on that one call. 

“We lost. That’s what we’re dealing with now. That’s just what happened," Volpe said after the game. "We had more opportunities, had much more innings left. We just didn’t come through.”

A fan in left field just cost the Yankees a run in an elimination game.

Anthony Volpe drove a 1-0 sinker to left field with two outs in the sixth inning of Game 3 of the American League Division Series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium. The stadium went nuts thinking it was a two-run, game-tying home run.

Instead, replay showed a fan reached out and the ball hit his outstretched arms before falling over the left-field fence. Underneath, Rays' left fielder Victor Mesa Jr. was trying to catch the ball and immediately complained to the officials.

After a replay review, it was ruled fan interference and a double. The Yankees pulled within 4-3 and Spencer Jones struck out to strand Volpe, the tying run on second base.

The Rays held on to the one-run lead to secure the Game 3 win and a spot in the AL Championship Series.

The replay officials said it was "definitively determined the spectator interfered with the ball over the field of play. The ball would not have left the playing field nor would it have been caught."

After replay review, the Yankees pull within a run on Anthony Volpe's RBI double! pic.twitter.com/6Fua0LNVBQ

— MLB (@MLB) October 8, 2026

Yankee fans have seen this before, but with the opposite result.

On Oct. 9, 1996 in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series against the Baltimore Orioles, 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier reached over the right-field wall at the old Yankee Stadium and pulled Derek Jeter's eighth-inning fly ball into the stands. Umpire Rich Garcia called it a home run, which tied the game. Orioles right fielder Tony Tarasco said he was about to catch it.

There was no replay to fix it. The Yankees won in 11 innings on a Bernie Williams homer, took the series and won the World Series.

Maier gave the Yankees a home run. Wednesday's fan took one away.

Ronald Acuña Jr. had a chance to save the Atlanta’s season, but he didn’t. And Braves fans were letting him have it.

Before the Braves season ended with a 4-1 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Reggie Chatman Jr. posted a video on X of fans at Truist Park pouring down boos on Acuña Jr. after he squashed what would be the Braves’ final chance to save their season.

When Acuña Jr. stepped up to the plate, Atlanta was already down to their final two outs of the seventh inning, but were given a spark after center fielder Michael Harris hit a double towards right field.

Acuña Jr. came up in the next at-bat and immediately swung at the first pitch he saw, which allowed the Dodgers to escape the inning.

Acuña Jr. walked back to the Braves dugout, and the boos began.

The reaction by the Braves fans caught the internet by storm as Chatman Jr.’s post had garnered 46,800 views within an hour after it was posted.

@Lary5Shot commented on the post and said, “That Ronald Acuña trade notification is gonna hit like CRACK. Get this JABRONI OUTTA HERE”

Acuña Jr.’s performance in the postseason was being compared to a prop as @tartbuilds posted a photo of a “wacky inflatable tube man” standing in his place.

His mentality towards the season was also being called out as @RMurray43 commented, “That dude does not want to be here. He was checked out after the WBC.”

The NLDS was a rough go for Acuña Jr. as he collected only two hits in the series, while striking out four times.

Before the opportunity to be Atlanta’s hero, the Dodgers tacked on two runs that were courtesy of Andy Pages, who snapped a team drought of 0-14 when runners were in scoring position.

In the eighth and ninth innings, the Braves went down easy as they were retired 1-2-3.

For Acuña Jr., Wednesday night could’ve potentially been his last time wearing an Atlanta uniform, as he has a club option heading into the offseason.

Thirty years later, another Jeffrey Maier made an appearance in The Bronx in an attempt to save another October game for the Yankees. 

But unlike Oct. 9, 1996, when the young fan aided what became a home run from Derek Jeter, replay review exists in 2026. 

In the sixth inning of a game the Yankees trailed by two, a fan reached over the left-field seats and turned a long drive from Anthony Volpe into a game-tying, two-run home run — until the league’s replay center took a look and determined the ball would have stayed in play if not for the overaggressive fan’s hands. 

“Crazy,” said Volpe, who watched the replay, hoped for the best, but was awarded an RBI double that cut the deficit to one. 

Spencer Jones then struck out to keep the Rays ahead by the game’s final score: The Yankees were 4-3 losers, ending their season in a sweep at the hands of the Rays. 

On the field, umpires originally signaled a home run from Volpe, who had rounded the bases and went through a line of high-fives in the dugout before the play was reviewed. The fan celebrated with the ball while left fielder Victor Mesa Jr., who had risen to attempt to catch it, looked up toward the crowd as if wondering what had just happened. 

“After viewing all relevant angles, the Replay Official definitively determined the spectator interfered with the ball over the field of play,” MLB said in a statement. “The ball would not have left the playing field nor would it have been caught. The call is OVERTURNED, there was spectator interference and no home run. Additionally, the Replay Official scored one run and placed the batter-runner at second.” 

The season ticket-holding fan was quickly ushered out of the stadium by security for interfering with the play. 

“I thought they did a good job with it,” manager Aaron Boone said. “When he hit it, to my eye looking out there, I was a little concerned right away because it felt like something, I wasn’t sure. And then seeing the replay and seeing it unfold, I thought they did the right thing. I thought they got it right.” 

A few decades ago, the fan would have been hailed as a hero as Maier was. Thirty years ago Friday, Maier’s name became famous in the area and beyond when the 12-year-old — attending Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS between the Yankees and Orioles — crept his glove over the wall in right field and intercepted a long drive that Tony Tarasco likely would have caught, ruled a home run that helped give rise to the legend of Jeter.

Roger Clemens has a new award to add to his collection.

The two-time Yankees World Series champ was informed on Wednesday that he would be receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, when introducing President Donald Trump at a rally in San Antonio, Texas.

“We’re giving him the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Trump said.

Clemens, an 11-time All-Star and seven-time Cy Young Award winner, was caught off guard by the revelation.

“Well, I’m stunned, number one,” he told the crowd. “And again, 24 years, y’all. This supersedes anything that, obviously, I’ve done in my playing career. And to get it from this man, this president, there wouldn’t be another president I’d want to get [it] from.”

The Texas native played 24 MLB seasons, the first 13 with the Red Sox before spending two with the Blue Jays. He then came to The Bronx for five seasons, went to Houston for two and returned to the Yankees for one last go around in 2007 at the age of 44.

“The Rocket” racked up a bevy of awards along the way, including the 1986 American League MVP as well as twice winning the pitching Triple Crown (1997, ’98).

Trump called Clemens, who ranks ninth all-time with 354 career wins, “maybe the greatest pitcher of all time.”

His statistical achievements weren’t enough to get him into the Baseball Hall of Fame, as his candidacy was tainted by alleged steroid use — he was mentioned 82 times in the Mitchell Report in 2007, though he never tested positive for the banned drug.

Still, Clemens, who never achieved more than 61.6 percent of the vote needed for the 75 percent threshold needed for entry into Cooperstown, remains eligible through the Today’s Game Committee.

If he does make it, he’ll join a unique club of fellow Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients that includes the likes of Babe Ruth, Vin Scully, Yogi Berra, Ernie Banks, Stan Musial, Frank Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson, Mariano Rivera and Joe DiMaggio.

Trump has given the award to numerous athletes during his presidential terms, including Ruth and Rivera, as well as Tiger Woods, Roger Staubach, Jerry West and Connor Hellebuyck, after the goalie’s gold medal-winning Olympic effort in February.

Before this season started (and even before the Postseason started) the big question concerning this 2026 Atlanta Braves team was whether or not they would have enough pitching (particularly in the rotation) in order to find a way to be successful.

94 wins, an NL East title, a Wild Card Series win and a Divisional Series exit later, we now have the answer: Yes, they had enough pitching. Even when the rotation was strained to its very limits like they were during the Postseason, there were no terrible blow-ups during this run. Chris Sale gave it all he had, Tyler Mahle performed admirably and the bullpen was about as good as you could ask them to be without being just straight-up perfect.

Instead, the autopsy for the 2026 Braves will reveal that at the end of the day, a good ol’ fashioned lack of hitting is what eventually doomed the Braves. Now granted, it’s pretty tough to go through the crazy boss rush of starting pitchers that Atlanta had to deal with across both the Wild Card and the Divisional Series and expect them to just turn it on like the ‘27 Yankees but it’s also rough to see this team go out like they did at the plate.

Key pieces of the core of Atlanta’s lineup had an absolute nightmare in this series. Austin Riley went 0-for-13 with six strikeouts. Drake Baldwin went 1-for-14 with five strikeouts. Matt Olson went 2-for-16 with six strikeouts. Ronald Acuña Jr. went 2-for-15 with four strikeouts. Sure, the Dodgers have an absolute conveyor belt of strong pitching but plain-and-simply, that won’t cut it in the Postseason.

“The Dodgers have something to do with that. They’re going for their third straight world championship for a reason. Their arms just keep coming at you,” stated Walt Weiss when he was asked about the lack of hitting during this series in particular. “…You have a lot of unsung heroes a lot of times in the postseason, and sometimes guys struggle. It’s obviously magnified because you’re playing under a microscope. But I think that we struggled with runners in scoring position. So did the Dodgers. The games were really tight. I thought we gave them all they could handle. But it’s a good team over there.”

Usually any type of struggles of hitting with runners in scoring position is overblown and you could’ve argued that too, as Weiss did mention that the Dodgers had a tough time hitting with RISP, themselves. With that being said, 0-for-23 with RISP is not going to cut it. Two of the RBI that Atlanta had in this series came from the Dodgers basically donating it via pitches that went awry while the Braves had a runner on third. The clutch hitting (particularly in the latter innings) just wasn’t there for Atlanta in this series and it ended up playing a major role in what sent them into the cold and especially uncertain offseason coming up.

With that being said, it’s hard to call this season anything other than a solid success. Again, they won 94 games (in weird fashion but still) and won the division. Any time a blue flag goes up on the light tower outside of the seats in right-center, it’s a solid season and one you take to the bank. The pain and disappointment is certainly palpable but some perspective from the disappointment reveals that this isn’t a season that the Braves should just flush away — definitely not like the train wreck that was the 2025 season.

“Of course [we’re] disappointed,” said Weiss when he was asked about the tough ending to the season. “You always are when you’re not the last team standing. There’s only one team that goes home happy at the end of the year.”

“But I’ve talked about how proud I am of this group all year. And that doesn’t change,” continued Weiss. “It’s a privilege to manage this group. And the way they compete and the way they pull for one another, the things that we overcame this year, I mean, really impressive. And it’s because of the guys in that room. It was a privilege to manage those guys.”

I asked Weiss about what he could take away from his first season back at the helm of a big league ballclub and he was reflective on how things went. “It was great. It was a lot of fun for me. Everything that we went through, and we basically went wire to wire to win the division. And I always say that’s the toughest one to win because it takes six months,” explained Weiss.

“Now it’s the ones in the postseason that are more special when you win those. But winning a division is tough to do, and we basically went wire-to-wire. A lot to feel good about. You don’t ever feel good about losing. Like I said, there’s only one team, when the season’s all said and done, that’s happy. There’s only one out of 30.”

Indeed, that type of perspective is crucial when it comes to baseball and it’s a small comfort to take with you as another long season comes to a close. With the offseason locking as uncertain as ever, it’s very important to take stock of the good just as much as it is to address the bad. There are going to be a lot of questions about the core of this team (particularly in the lineup) but at the same time, it’s been exciting to see a revelatory season from Michael Harris II and it was certainly encouraging to see him continue that into the Postseason.

The end of the season always stinks (especially with what awaits the baseball world this Winter) but the Braves can at least take it on to the house knowing that this ended in October with a divisional title instead of September with a completely lost season. The wait for another World Series title continues for another season and now it’s on Alex Anthopoulos and Atlanta’s front office to figure out a way to fix what ended up ailing this team in October. We’ll see what happens, y’all.

As the Dodgers are set to advance to the NLCS for the third year in a row from a 4-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves, Andy Pages did something that the Dodgers haven’t done in a long time.

Bring home runners in scoring position.

Pages’ two-RBI go-ahead single in the seventh inning was the first time in the series they had a hit with runners on base.

Coming into Wednesday, the Dodgers were 0-14 with runners in scoring position, as they’ve relied heavily on the long ball.

Through the first two games of the series, Pages was hitless and was enduring an 0-7 cold streak. In Game 3, he had two hits, then had another two-hit performance in Game 4, putting his series average up to .286.

The Dodgers’ first run in Wednesday night’s victory came after Shohei Ohtani scored on an error by Mauricio Dubon, when the ball bounced off his glove.

After Pages gave them the lead, the Dodgers added an insurance run when Max Muncy hit a solo home run over the right field fence.

Starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow pitched 4 2/3 innings and gave up only one hit, while striking out five batters.

The Braves threatened in the sixth inning, when Ozzie Albies hit a leadoff double off of Alex Vesia. Manager Dave Roberts brought in Edgardo Henriquez to retire the next three batters he faced and pitched two more outs in the seventh.

Edwin Diaz came out to close the ninth and needed only eight pitches to pick up his second save of the series, as he had one strikeout and ended the game by getting Austin Riley to fly out towards right.

It’s game 4 of the NL Division Series as the Padres will try to force a game 5. Walker Buehler will get the start for the Padres while the Brewers will depend on LHP Robert Gasser. First pitch at Petco Park is scheduled for 9pm central time and the game broadcast is available via Fox/FS1.

CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox were never going to roll through the postseason unscathed.

Oh, it was tempting to imagine it, what with the sweep of the Houston Astros in the wild-card round and opening the ALDS by taking two games off the Cleveland Guardians at their ballpark. The hitters were providing timely offense, the pitchers were stifling opponents, and no stage is proving too big for a team as chill as it is young.

It all seemed to be setting up perfectly for the White Sox to come back to Rate Field and clinch their first postseason series at home since 1906.

Baseball is rarely that tidy, however. After a 9-3 loss to the Guardians in Game 3 of the ALDS on Wednesday, Oct. 7 — a game that wasn’t even as close as the score indicated, to be honest — the White Sox have to find a way to channel that enthusiastic oblivion that’s served them so well in this historic season.

Game 4 is Thursday, Oct. 8.