ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - JULY 08: Gerrit Cole #45 of the New York Yankees delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on July 08, 2026 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Sweeping the Red Sox with two blowout wins was a joyous occasion, not to mention the tangible positive impact of setting up your rotation for the ALDS. The Yankees can begin the series against the Rays with Gerrit Cole as the Game 1 starter, which is only fitting considering Cole’s regular-season campaign in 2026 began and ended against the Rays, both times with a quality start.
Making his postseason debut this season, Cole will get the ball after nearly a week and a half off, his longest time between starts since returning from injury. In three appearances against the AL East champs in the regular season—the most he had against any single team—Cole averaged six innings and delivered a 2.50 ERA, enjoying success against a team not known for its home run pedigree.
Having last played a competitive meaningful game well before the end of the regular season, the Rays will set out to prove there is no rust in their game with Drew Rasmussen starting Game 1. Who better to represent what the Rays are all about than Rasmussen, acquired for the power-hitting Willy Adames as a swingman/backend starter, only to turn into one of the more dominant starters in the AL?
The postseason scenario and all that it entails could be seen as an opportunity to test the Rays’ resolve when it comes to their ace. Rasmussen was already dominant last season—part of what held him back from entering the conversation with the big boys was just how carefully managed he was by the Rays, who only let him reach or surpass 90 pitches twice in 2025. This year, Rasmussen has done that 17 times, including a career-high 114 pitches in a win over the Yankees just a couple of weeks ago—one in which perhaps the Rays gave a sign of their intentions with a trial run. With this extra leeway, Rasmussen managed to pitch 22 more innings than last season despite having one fewer start (31 to 30).
Rasmussen’s ability to go deeper into games than what we’re accustomed to seeing not only from him but also from the Rays as a team is of great value—especially if we are to read into regular season numbers. As much as the Yankees may have a better rotation, perhaps the biggest advantage in this series is in the bullpen. While New York had the second-lowest bullpen ERA in baseball, Tampa was only number 14. The key here, particularly looking at the postseason and a matchup with the Yankees lineup, is that the 95 home runs allowed by the Rays’ bullpen represented the third-highest mark in the bigs.
Then again, this is a Tampa team with the benefit of off-days between each of the first three games. One can only imagine how aggressive they might be willing to go with the likes of Bryan Baker, Cam Booser, and Kevin Kelly. While Baker is the closer, Booser gets the nod as the X-factor for the Rays in Game 1 and this series as a whole—the Yankees were 1-for-10 against him in the regular season, the one being an Austin Wells home run.
Booser’s importance stems from a complete lack of southpaw options for a team whose only other left-hander who finished the season on the active roster was Steven Matz. Garrett Cleavinger was cleared to be a part of the ALDS roster, but his 2026 numbers were quite bad, with an 89 ERA+ in 41.1 innings.
Unlike the Red Sox, all the Rays’ top starters are right-handers, allowing Aaron Boone to utilize his lefty-heavy lineup without fear, starting in Game 1 against Rasmussen. And if Booser can’t shut them down out of the bullpen, Tampa all of a sudden has an incredibly difficult mission to contain Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger, Luis Garcia Jr., and company.
There’s not much to say about Game 2 or the Wild Card Series overall.
Nico Hoerner was the only hitter to consistently rise to the challenge of the Padre pitching. Hoerner went 2-for-4 in each game with a double and RBI in Wednesday’s game. Seiya Suzuki was 2-for-7 with a run scored over the two games.
There wasn’t anything worth talking about regarding the pitching staff.
Not-very-deep-or-analyzed thoughts about the state of the team going into 2027:
There will probably be a lockout.
The coaching staff: …… Not ready to cut Counsell, but wouldn’t be upset if they did. There will be some movement in the staff, however.
I would love to re-sign Seiya, but now is his time to go get his bag and the Cubs won’t match, so good luck. I feel the Cubs and Ian Happ will part ways.
This would be a great reduction in production, but ride into the regular season with some combination of Pedro Ramirez, Matt Shaw and Kevin Alcántara into the OF to start and hope Josiah Hartshorn will be ready in the second half. Very few quality FA OFers, so it is not worth it to overpay for anyone out there.
Pour all that “new” money and spend it in every facet of the pitching staff. Top two SP, a closer and a very good high-leverage RP. “Well, what about the strike and all those high-dollar guys sitting out?” Any time off is less wear on their arms. Plus it would give Justin Steele and Cade Horton more time to get ready. Cheer for a strike? Maybe it would help the Cubs.
Again, just off the top of my head stuff, no numbers or targets — just a basic set up for improvement for the team in the future. Nothing in stone. Probably way off.
I appreciate your reading.
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Tyler Edmunds (OnTapSportsNet): The Cubs Didn’t Just Lose — They Quit. “The Cubs didn’t just lose the series on Wednesday night, they quit. The “magical” season ends on a whimper.“
Steve Greenberg (Chicago Sun-Times): Cubs’ total playoff no-show let — and left — everybody down.. ““I’m just feeling pretty disappointed in myself,” Pete Crow-Armstrong said after going hitless in two wild-card games against the Padres. “But that’s for me to work on.”“
Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): Don’t Stop Him Now: The Breathtaking Brilliance of Pete Crow-Armstrong, One More Time. “Picking a favorite highlight from the season Pete Crow-Armstrong just had is functionally impossible. Any time you alight on one, another thrusts itself at you. Let’s sit with a few of the best, as a balm for the disappointment of a summer that gave way to fall too soon.”
Leroy Carr (March 27, 1904 or 1905 – April 29, 1935) was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. Music historian Elijah Wald has called him “the most influential male blues singer and songwriter of the first half of the 20th century”.
After his parents separated, Carr moved from Nashville to Indianapolis, Indiana with his mother. Carr was a self-taught piano player. After dropping out of high school, Carr travelled with a circus, and in the early 1920s served in the U.S. Army. Carr returned to Indianapolis and worked in a meat-packing plant. He was married and had one daughter. Carr was convicted of bootlegging and served a year at the Indiana State Penitentiary. His light bluesy piano combined with Scrapper Blackwell’s melodic jazz guitar attracted a sophisticated black audience. The two recorded with Vocalion Records beginning in the 1920s.
Francis Hillman “Scrapper” Blackwell was an American blues guitarist and singer. Best known as half of the guitar-piano duo he formed with Leroy Carr in the late 1920s and early 1930s, he was an acoustic, single-note picker in the Chicago blues and Piedmont blues styles, with some critics noting that he veered towards jazz.
Blackwell was born in Syracuse, South Carolina, on February 21, 1903 as one of sixteen children. He claimed to be part Cherokee. When he was quite young, his family moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, where he spent most of his life. He was nicknamed “Scrapper” by his grandmother because of his fiery nature. Although largely self-taught as a guitarist, Blackwell was later influenced by the recordings of Willie Harris and Blind Lemon Jefferson, and probably by the East Coast Piedmont style of his birthplace. He didn’t consider himself a professional musician until pianist Leroy Carr persuaded Blackwell to record with him
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ATLANTA, GA - OCTOBER 01: Signage in Truist Park during the Philadelphia Phillies versus the Atlanta Braves in game 3 of the National League Wild Card Series on October 1st, 2026 at Truist Park in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Wild Card series wrapped up on Thursday and now we’re onto the divisional rounds, which will give us our fist look at the Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians. These series will feature some old friends, and has there are a lot of storylines to keep up with.
Here are some Rockies storylines from the first week of the offseason, as well as some from around the league:
Dodgers’ Ohtani admits he won’t be fully healthy in playoffs | ESPN — Shohei Ohtani has been fighting left knee and right biceps injuries, so this could be a story to keep up with in the postseason. The Dodgers have a ton of depth even without Ohtani, and are still favored to threepeat, but it’s definitely something to watch.
Yankees’ Aaron Judge Undergoes Experimental Blood Treatment In Desperate Bid To Return | Yahoo! Sports — Another storyline to watch is that of Aaron Judge. Judge has been battling hamstring injuries for most of the season, but was available to play against the Rockies a few weeks ago. The headline is slightly misleading, stating, “But the shot he received is a fairly new medical innovation, known as platelet-poor plasma (PPP), and it is so groundbreaking that it is still considered relatively unproven by the healthcare industry.”
Miz and Miller in same series? Postseason velocity records beware! | MLB.com — Zach Sweet writes, “Fifty-six pitches. That’s the most triple-digit heat any postseason series has produced since pitch tracking began in 2008.” That happened during the 2016 Giants-Cubs NLDS. And Jacob Misiorowski has thrown four more this season by himself. And Mason Miller is second in that arms race. Good luck to any of the batters in this series!
MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - SEPTEMBER 25: Jordan Walker #18 of the St. Louis Cardinals rounds first base after hitting a solo home run in the seventh inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field on September 25, 2026 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images) | Getty Images
In Chaim Bloom’s end-of-season press conference, he was firm on his stance that the Cardinals would not take any shortcuts in building a team that could contend for division titles and World Series championships. Watching the Cubs get swept out of the playoffs in two games was quite enjoyable, but was also a good reminder of how silly the current playoff structure is. But whatever. Those are the rules, so the only way to avoid the fake playoffs and get a real series is to win the division with a top-two record in the league.
Building a team that can compete for a division title is not a theoretical target. The Brewers happen to play in the NL Central with the Cardinals, so the path to reaching this goal runs through Milwaukee. If your goal is to beat another baseball team in a baseball game, a critical component of the exercise is to have better baseball players on your team. Unfortunately for us Cardinals fans, the Brewers have had really excellent baseball players over the last few years.
Today, I am going to go position by position and diagnose which franchise has the edge in 2027 and long term. For this exercise, I am focused entirely on players already within the respective organizations. This is not an argument for or against the Cardinals acquiring outside help, but rather just a snapshot of the current talent pools. When I am thinking about the long-term outlook of a position, I am mostly focused on the current major league roster and upper-level prospects. Both the Cardinals and Brewers have super deep and talented farm systems, but it is too early to start making plans around Trevor Condon or Ricki Moneys. Finally, this post got pretty long, so this will only cover the position-player side of things.
The Brewers posted a team FanGraphs WAR of 26.1 this season, outclassing the Cardinals’ 15.6 WAR. Let’s dive right in and get to work.
For space, not all players are listed, so the player total will not equal the positional total. Def is the FanGraphs defensive value plus positional adjustment.
Catcher
The Brewers had a significant edge on the Cardinals during the 2026 season thanks to the excellent all-around play of William Contreras and a surprisingly effective offensive season from Gary Sanchez.
The catcher position looks to be one of the more tenuous ones for Milwaukee moving forward. Contreras is under contract for only one more season and seems like a prime candidate to be traded in the offseason. Sanchez will be 34 next season and is not under team control (mutual option). The Brewers have two organizational top-30 prospects at the catcher position in Jefferson Quero and Marco Dinges. Quero was previously a top-100 prospect at some outlets, but had a down 2026 season with a below-average Triple-A batting line. He looks like a poor man’s Jimmy Crooks to me. Dinges is a power/bat-first prospect with only 58 Double-A plate appearances and does not project as a starting-caliber player.
The Cardinals are primed to give Bernal the starting job with Crooks or Pages serving as the backup and Ivan Herrera as the third catcher. Of course, Rainiel Rodriguez may factor in at some point in 2027. With all the comments from the front office about getting Rodriguez positional versatility, I am starting to think that he is more likely to break in as a corner infielder. This makes sense to me for a couple of reasons. The obvious one is the depth of options at the catcher position. The other reason is that he might simply be outhitting the catcher position. There is a real chance that he is a top-10 hitter in MLB and a potential cornerstone for the franchise for the next decade. Do you really want to risk the wear-and-tear of the catcher position on a bat that elite? I am not sure I do.
With or without Rodriguez behind the plate, the Cardinals should have a big edge over the Brewers over the next three seasons. William Contreras has declined by WAR the last three seasons and is getting to the older side for a catcher going into his age-29 season. Still, he is a stud and Bernal is more upside than a guarantee, so the Brewers get a slight edge for 2027.
2027: Brewers, slight edge
Long term: Cardinals, big edge
First Base
The Brewers produced the best first-base offensive output in baseball with the platoon of Bauers (career 88 wRC+ coming into the year) and Vaughn (career 102 wRC+ coming into the year).
Give the Brewers as much credit as you want for the production they got out of these two, but this level of performance is almost certainly unsustainable. Bauers is a free agent and Vaughn has one more year of team control. The Brewers do have an enviable amount of upper-minors corner bats on the way. Andrew Fischer hit 48 home runs between High-A and Double-A. He may stick at third base, but was given time at first as well. He looks like an extreme version of Joshua Baez, if you can imagine that, with a 33% strikeout rate and 37% whiff rate. Blake Burke hit 30 home runs in Double-A as a 23-year-old and Luke Adams cracked out a 149 wRC+ as a 22-year-old in Triple-A. None of these prospects are considered top-100, but all three have a chance to be problems in the future.
The Cardinals have Alec Burleson under team control through 2028. If he is around, he will get the vast majority of the playing time for at least the next two seasons. Jack Gurevitch and Deniel Ortiz are a tick behind the Brewers’ trio in prospect pedigree, but both have starter upside at first or third base. The big thing in the Cardinals’ favor is all of that catching depth could spill over into first base with Rodriguez and Bernal already playing the position.
I like the Cardinals’ first-base setup in 2027 and going forward. The Brewers have enough prospect depth to make it interesting, but the Cardinals have the best player in Burleson, solid prospect depth with Ortiz and Gurevitch, and the leftover catchers to fill in as needed.
2027: Cardinals, big edge
Long term: Cardinals, slight edge
Second Base
Turang has improved every season of his career and put up borderline MVP-caliber numbers in 2026.
Both teams are set at second base for the foreseeable future. I am guessing that when the 2027 player projections are released, Turang and Wetherholt will be within a half win of one another. Turang is under team control for three more years while Wetherholt is locked in with the Cardinals for eight more seasons. Between these two players, you would much rather have Wetherholt going forward just because of the contract situation. Things are more complicated when you start looking at the minor league depth. The Brewers have a bunch of middle-infield prospects on the way that could slide over to second base. Still, assuming that baseball’s number one prospect, Jesus Made, sticks at shortstop, none of them would be projected to outperform JJ.
2027: Even
Long term: Cardinals, slight edge
Third Base
Joey Ortiz played like prime Nolan Arenado across 50 games, and the Cardinals went a full season without an answer at the hot corner.
Ortiz is not a prototypical third baseman, but he has had excellent production at the position over the last three seasons. With Cooper Pratt in as the primary shortstop until the prospects arrive, I assume Ortiz is going to get the majority of his playing time at third. He is under team control for three more seasons. If either of the aforementioned Andrew Fischer or Luke Adams can make it work defensively, they could challenge for playing time as early as next season as well. Jett Williams is a former top-100 prospect who played plenty of third base in Triple-A, but he had a down season offensively and looks like a utility bat moving forward.
You know all the names that are in play for the Cardinals. If the season started tomorrow, we would get some combination of Saggese and Blaze Jordan. Jesus Baez might start making top-100 prospect lists this offseason and is the most obvious potential fit in the upper-minors. Gurevitch and Ortiz could also be in the discussion at some point, but neither is the type of prospect you pencil in. This is where I start to get excited thinking about whether Rainiel Rodriguez could handle third defensively. If my theory is correct that he might be hitting his way off of the catcher position, it would be a huge deal if he could play third base rather than DH and first.
Neither team has an obvious long-term stud at the position, but the Brewers have a much higher floor with Ortiz. Jesus Made could also be an option at third if his defense does not surpass that of the incumbent shortstop, Cooper Pratt. Luis Pena is the Brewers’ second-best prospect and is ranked in the top-20 on most national lists. He could be their long-term preference at third, but looks like he still has a lot of developing to do. Scouts love Pena because of his tools and the exit velocity numbers he has posted, but he has yet to crack double-digit home runs in a season and has not done much offensively above Low-A. He is only 19 and has already made it to Double-A, but until he puts up actual numbers, I will not be too worried about him.
2027: Brewers, big edge
Long term: Brewers, big edge
Shortstop
Even in a down season, Winn provided enough production to comfortably outperform the Brewers’ mix of shortstops.
The Cardinals pretty clearly have a present advantage at the shortstop position. Cooper Pratt is only 22 and put up a really solid season, but he did have some BABIP luck and looks to be more solid than exceptional defensively. While the Cardinals have the advantage today, the Brewers pretty clearly have it moving forward. Jesus Made is the game’s top prospect and could debut as early as next season.
2027: Cardinals, slight edge
Long term: Brewers, slight edge
Left Field
Chourio is still just 22 and is inching dangerously close to superstar status.
Chourio is under team control through 2033 and appears to only be getting better. It is not realistic to project Joshua Baez to match or exceed his production, but it would be a big deal if he could at least close the gap.
2027: Brewers, big edge
Long term: Brewers, big edge
Center Field
The Brewers have a good center fielder and the Cardinals do not.
Mitchell is a high-strikeout guy who has posted a career 115 wRC+ thanks to a .382 career BABIP. He has a volatile profile and is only under contract for two more years. Luis Lara broke out in Triple-A as a 21-year-old, but struggled a bit after being called up. He signed a long-term extension and is under team control for the next ten years with club options. Lara is not a sure thing either, but he should have a reasonably high floor thanks to his speed and contact ability. The next-best prospect in the pipeline is Braylon Payne, who made it to Double-A as a 19-year-old. He has swing-and-miss problems, but a ton of upside with 70-grade speed, plus defensive grades, and above-average power.
This feels like a position in which the Cardinals could quickly close ground, but they are signaling that they are going to stick with Nathan Church to start next season. After that, you are waiting for Josiah Ragsdale, Tai Peete, or one of the teenage prospects to emerge. Despite the relatively uninspiring depth in Milwaukee, I would still give the Brew Crew the edge both now and moving forward.
2027: Brewers, big edge
Long term: Brewers, slight edge
Right Field
Jordan Walker’s solid season was enough to give the Cardinals their first decisive win for the 2026 season.
The Brewers will surely have better production next year with either positive regression from Frelick or putting Lara in right field full time. Still, you would much rather have Walker and his upside than anyone the Brewers are likely to run out over the next few years.
2027: Cardinals, big edge
Long term: Cardinals, big edge
Designated Hitter
Both teams had disappointing seasons from their primary DHs, but at least the Cardinals were not paying theirs $26M.
Yelich is under contract for two more seasons and for once, this control is a disadvantage for the Brewers. He is a good bet to rebound some, but is unlikely to be worth his salary as he enters his age-35 season. The previously mentioned corner-infield prospects could help provide some production in the future. Josh Adamczewski is a top-100 prospect who is seen as one of the best pure hitters in the minors but a below-average defender. He only has 66 games in Double-A and is just 21, so he is probably a few years away from being a major factor.
It is hard to project DH value because you do not know if teams are going to use the position as a rotating way to give guys a day off, or have a mostly full-time DH. Herrera is a good bet to be one of the best DHs in the sport for the next three years of his team control. This, combined with Yelich’s contract, gives the Cardinals the edge now and moving forward.
2027: Cardinals, big edge
Long term: Cardinals, slight edge
Advantage by Position
Takeaways
The Cardinals could have a huge advantage at the catcher position as early as next season if the Brewers trade Contreras.
I give the Brewers the edge at the shortstop and third base positions long term, but a lot of that is based on teenage prospects that might be overrated. Made and Pena have not posted numbers in line with their prospect rankings. If they do not live up to the hype, the Brewers will be in trouble.
The biggest single position advantage now and in the future is Chourio in left field. Unless Baez turns into a 3+ WAR player pretty quickly, this is going to be tough to overcome.
Outside of Chourio, the Brewers’ outfield is really not scary in the short or long term.
Christian Yelich is the only bad contract on either team, eating up almost 20% of the Brewers’ payroll. That is a real advantage for the Cardinals.
Where Rainiel Rodriguez fits in positionally could change the picture a ton.
Alright, so where does this leave us? Based on my assessment, the Cardinals and Brewers should have the same number of positional advantages next season. Turang outperformed his expected stats and likely just put up his career year. Bauers is a free agent. Ortiz, Mitchell, and Vaughn all crushed their projections and are likely to regress. You could see some bounceback from Contreras, Yelich, and Frelick and continued improvement from Chourio, Lara, and Pratt. Any time a team wins 103 games, they are all but guaranteed to have some regression the next season. There is plenty of uncertainty on the Cardinals’ side too. No one knows what Walker will do next. Burleson’s 2026 will be tough to beat. I would expect better seasons from Winn and Herrera. Baez has such a low bar to clear from the left fielders he is replacing that he alone could make up a ton of ground. A full season of Bernal should be a huge improvement too.
We obviously haven’t begun to address the pitching side with this comparison, but on the position-player side, the Cards are a center fielder and third baseman away from being right there.
The Los Angeles Dodgers' 2026 postseason begins at home on Saturday, Oct. 3, hosting Atlanta in Game 5 of the best-of-five National League Division Series as the back-to-back World Series champions chase a third in a row.
No NL team has ever won three consecutive titles and the last Major League Baseball team to do it was the New York Yankees from 1998-2000. The Dodgers got a bye to the NLDS with the second-best record in the NL, while Atlanta had to win a hard-fought wild card series against their rival to advance.
Trade deadline acquisition and back-to-back Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal makes his first postseason start for the Dodgers, who last played six days ago. Skubal went 5-2 with a 2.61 ERA in 10 starts after the joining the Dodgers and the 29-year-old is a free agent this winter, expected to sign a record-setting contract.
"Everybody's got one goal at hand. I fit right in with that," Skubal told reporters. "I think everything that I try to do is try to win as many baseball games as I can. I'm excited to start doing that in October."
Where to watch Dodgers vs Braves: TV channel, streaming
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NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 30: Willson Contreras #40 and Wilyer Abreu #52 of the Boston Red Sox celebrate after Contreras' solo home run in the sixth inning of Game Two of the American League Wild Card Series presented by AbbVie between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday, September 30, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by Mary DeCicco/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The Red Sox clearly weren’t couldn’t hit enough this year and the Yankees exposed that in glaring fashion in the postsesson.
Boston added a real bat last offseason in Willson Contreras – who produced an All-Star season and did homer to produce one of just the two runs the Red Sox scored in the Wild Card series. Contreras alone clearly wasn’t enough, especially after the spaced-out departures of Rafael Devers and Alex Bregman from last year’s team.
Caleb Durbin had a nice summer improvement. Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu each get ridiculously hot for a few weeks. The potential still remains in Roman Anthony despite a frustrating injury finish to the season. But as a sum of the parts, the Red Sox took a massive step back offensively in 2026.
They scored just two runs in the series. They’ve scored just 11 in eight postseason games dating back to Game 4 of the 2021 ALCS (more of a historical trend than current lineup analysis but you get the point). Most notably in a trend I’ve followed for awhile, Boston finished outside of the top-10 in team OPS for the first time since 2017. Clearly, there’s a lack of slug and lack of clutch production among the group.
To me, two real problems stand out when I consider the lack of production in the postseason:
Red Sox in the 2000s
14 years with Ortiz as primary DH 45 playoff wins, 3.2 per season
5 years with Martinez as primary DH 17 playoff wins, 3.4 per season
8 years with neither of the two as primary DH 2 playoff wins, 0.25 per season
I totally agree that historically the Red Sox operate best with a full-time DH with power – though Craig Breslow and his theory of versatility disagrees. And for as important as Rafaela and Abreu have been with their gloves and regular-season production, Boston needs them to step up in October to have any chance of real advancement in the coming years.
So, how do you fix it? Because that’s the hard part. Boston can use right-handed power, but where can the difference really be made?
The Red Sox really don’t pay for free-agent bats anymore (a year of Bregman does not qualify to me). Even if that approach changes, the headlining names in an underwhelming class this offseason are Randy Arozarena and Seiya Suzuki.
Could this be the lineup whenever the Red Sox next take the field?
Roman Anthony, LF
Adley Rutschman, C
Randy Arozarena, DH
Willson Contreras, 1B
Wilyer Abreu, RF
Ceddanne Rafaela, CF
Caleb Durbin, 3B
Curtis Mead, 2B
Franklin Arias, SS
It seems like this could finally be the offseason where the team and Jarren Duran go in different directions for a fresh start on both sides. Is Trevor Story on the roster come next year – or whenever the sport commences a season again? Whatever the scenario is, outside of DH, the Red Sox don’t have a position that’s open to fill when pursuing offensive additions. They’re ultimately going to need to make hard decisions about players already on the roster to move on from and identify real talent that can produce when it matters. And likely turn to another daring trade. Because ultimately that’s what the need for improvement comes down to. The Red Sox did enough to qualify for the postseason in consecutive years – the first time they did so since 2016 through 2018. That can’t be good enough on its own anymore after two disappointing exits.
The lineup will be the central point of roster construction this winter. What’s your confidence level the Red Sox are ready to go to war offensively next time baseball resumes?
October’s baseball bazaar is just getting started. Narratives are barely in script development. Yet things are about to pick up with four fairly compelling Division Series matchups.
And the window for pivotal players to emerge has opened.
Perhaps the plot will stick to the main characters, and Shohei Ohtani and Junior Caminero and Jacob Misiorowski will steal the headlines, dominate the search engines and/or artificial intelligence summaries.
Yet the difference may come down to players who have not yet seized the spotlight, fading into the tapestry of a 162-game season yet now with an opportunity to break out in a larger way.
Herewith, four players who could decide the American and National league Division Series:
Rays-Yankees: Victor Mesa Jr.
He doesn’t even have 100 major league games under his belt. But goodness, can Mesa impact a baseball.
It’s been six years since Randy Arozarena took over the COVID bubble playoffs with a stunning power display of 10 home runs in an 18-game span. We are not expecting that from Mesa. But it’s safe to say he’s the Rays’ latest reclamation project to pay off.
Mesa hit 14 home runs in just 79 games, slugged .498, posted an .803 OPS and 128 wRC+. Sure, he’s never done that over a full season.
But he doesn’t have to.
Mesa’s on a heater in this moment, with a .355/.410/.605 line and four homers in September. And he will enter these playoffs bereft of expectations. Caminero is the Rays’ MVP hopeful, Yandy Díaz the swole and savvy veteran of past playoffs, Chandler Simpson the blazing speed merchant.
Mesa bats seventh. Kind of the perfect place to chill out and ambush a pitcher hopeful he’s navigated the teeth of the Tampa Bay lineup. We’ll see about that.
If you’re on your lunch break and looking for something to zone out on for a few minutes, get a load of this 18-pitch at-bat between Peters and Guardians ace Gavin Williams.
Williams led the AL with 248 strikeouts, but in the sixth inning of a scoreless game, Peters literally ended him, by fouling off 12 pitches and driving Williams’ pitch count from 95 to 113 before drawing a walk. The White Sox took the lead that inning and maintained their AL Central lead, though the Guardians would claw back and win the division title.
Now, the Central rivals square up again. And there couldn’t be a greater contrast than the teams’ pitching staffs: Cleveland will attack Chicago with two studs, Williams and Game 1 starter Parker Messick, who could be AL Rookie of the Year after posting a 2.56 ERA and 6.3 WAR.
The White Sox, with no such aces, will keep the bullpen door open constantly, a mix-and-match that worked well in their wild-card wins at Houston. That approach will be tougher.
No, the best asset the White Sox may have is their quietly potent lineup neutralizing Messick and Williams and lengthening the bridge to dominant closer Cade Smith. Enter guys like Peters, who almost serves as a second leadoff man in the No. 6 hole, after Miguel Vargas and Munetaka Murakami and Co. have had their bite of the apple and before the Flyin’ Montgomery Fellas (Braden and Colson) and Game 2 wild-card hero Chase Meidroth dig in.
Peters posted 47 extra-base hits, plays a stellar center field and, like many of the above White Sox, fills a role akin to a deluxe glue guy. He yielded to defensively gifted Brenton Doyle in the Game 1 lineup against Messick, but this is a roster that will use every corner of it to best the Guardians. And this time, if Peters manages to wear out Williams again, the stakes will be much higher.
Dodgers-Braves: Matt Olson
Not exactly a dark horse pick here. Yet for a four-time All-Star with a 54-homer season and the longest current consecutive games streak to his name, the man could use a little more shine.
And also a trip to the NLCS.
This is Olson’s seventh postseason. Three ended at the wild-card level, the other three in dispiriting Division Series defeats, two of them against the Phillies. Now, the Braves will have to break serve against the two-time defending champion Dodgers.
And L.A. will start Tarik Skubal out of the gate, with a slew of southpaws – Blake Snell, Justin Wrobleski, Evan Dreyer, Alex Vesia, Tanner Scott – ready to attack Olson.
Yet Olson, among the more chill dudes you’ll ever meet, isn’t fazed by much. And his platoon splits are downright chilling: A .500 slugging percentage and .823 OPS against right-handers, .506 and .824 against lefties.
He will be unmoved by Skubal and the half-dozen or so other southpaws L.A. will throw at him. And it’s not lost on him that while he’s beloved in Atlanta, the club’s most recent World Series title came with Freddie Freeman manning first base.
Freeman always gets the lion’s share of attention when it comes to the Great First Base Swap Of 2022, and he’s earned it. But perhaps it is Olson’s turn to command the spotlight and remind folks that while Freeman got two more rings in L.A., the guy who replaced him has been plenty good, too.
Brewers Padres: DL Hall
Certainly, it can be tiresome when clubs trade a well-accomplished player before they reach free agency. Well, the saying goes, better get something for him.
That’s not necessarily the case every time. Yet when it comes to the Milwaukee Brewers it makes a lot more sense.
Because they certainly have a knack for turning those guys into something.
So it went when they dealt former Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes to Baltimore as his walk year began. They received Joey Ortiz, now a valued infielder and their primary third baseman at the moment.
They also received Hall, a former first-round pick who clearly wasn’t going to reach the starter ceiling that got him drafted yet also didn’t have the raw stuff associated with a high-leverage reliever.
Yet the Brewers certainly found something in him.
On a team with Misiorowski as the headliner and Trevor Megill and Abner Uribe providing late-inning electricity, Hall bridges the gap. The man posted a 1.91 ERA and 1.04 WHIP across 61 1/3 innings this season, and his role has only gained greater import as the season wound down.
Simply, the Brewers are going to try and win a championship with two starting pitchers – The Miz and Logan Henderson – and then the rest is TBA. What they do anticipate are significant contributions from virtually every member of the staff they roster.
Situational kills, multi-inning bursts, high-leverage, high-wire acts – Milwaukee needs it all. And Hall, 28, can provide it all: He recorded at least four outs in 20 of his 47 appearances, and just one or two in seven more. He’s a little more vulnerable against righties than lefties, but a .558 OPS against will not set off alarms.
And he gave up just one homer to lefty hitters this year. Jackson Merrill and Jake Cronenworth will probably see a lot of him. And he may compel Craig Stammen to empty his bench earlier than he’d like, possibly leaving the Padres short in the later innings.
It’s a stealth weapon. But over five games, one that may pay dividends time after time.
Sep 30, 2026; Cumberland, Georgia, USA; The postseason logo is seen on the dugout railing prior to game two of the Wildcard round between Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves in the 2026 MLB Playoffs at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
LOS ANGELES — After two days of four playoff games during the wild card round, Saturday gives us one more day full of baseball on Saturday to start the Division Series round in both the American League and National League.
“Hopefully everyone is drinking a lot of water and staying hydrated,” Skubal said Friday. “It’s going to be a hot one.”
But the first game of Saturday is in Cleveland, with the Guardians facing the Chicago White Sox in a true division series. The other ALDS is also an actual division series with Drew Rasmussen and the Tampa Bay Rays hosting Gerrit Cole and the New York Yankees.
Saturday ends with Robbie Ray and the San Diego Padres on the road to face likely NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob Misiorowski and the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.
Fox Sports has the NL playoffs this year, with TBS televising the AL side.
After Saturday, there’s one more chance for a day with four postseason baseball games. If both National League series don’t end in sweeps, next Wednesday, October 7 will feature two NLDS Games 4 and two ALDS Games 3.
Saturday Division Series schedule
10 a.m. PT: White Sox at Guardians ALDS Game 1: Hagen Smith vs. Parker Messick TBS (Alex Faust, Ron Darling)
1 p.m.: Dodgers vs. Braves NLDS Game 1: Tarik Skubal vs. bullpen game Fox (Joe Davis, John Smoltz)
3:30 p.m. PT: Yankees at Rays ALDS Game 1: Gerrit Cole vs. Drew Rasmussen TBS (Brian Anderson, Jeff Francoeur)
5:30 p.m. PT: Padres at Brewers NLDS Game 1: Robbie Ray vs. Jacob Misiorowski FS1 (Adam Amin, Adam Wainwright, A.J. Pierzynski)
LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 30: A detail shot of the main entrance to Dodger Stadium prior to Game One of the National League Wild Card Series between the Cincinnati Reds and the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday, September 30, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers open their 2026 postseason run on a sweltering Saturday afternoon, hosting the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium.
Tarik Skubal will start for the Dodgers in Game 1, the team’s prized trade-deadline acquisition set to make his seventh career postseason start. Amazingly, all six of his playoff starts with the Detroit Tigers were on the road, and he did quite well, with a 2.04 ERA and 56 strikeouts against only six walks in 39 2/3 innings.
“Usually when I walk out onto the field in a playoff game, it’s usually received with a lot of boos. So I’m excited to get some cheers in there for us,” Skubal said Friday. “And to pitch at home, I think it’s going to be a ton of fun in front of this atmosphere.”
The Braves haven’t yet named a starting pitcher and will likely go with a bullpen game on Saturday.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 04: Spencer Torkelson #20 and Kerry Carpenter #30 of the Detroit Tigers celebrate after defeating the Seattle Mariners in game one of the Division Series at T-Mobile Park on October 04, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) | Getty Images
MLB Trade Rumors published their estimates for 2027 raises for arbitration eligible players on Friday. Their system is based on a model created by Matt Swartz that inputs all the relevant historical data on arbitration salaries both agreed and arbitrated to generate an estimate for each player. MLBTR has been using it for over a decade and generally has a strong reputation for general accuracy.
The Detroit Tigers have 11 players due a raise in 2027. The Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Guardians, Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners, and Tampa Bay Rays all have more than 11 players due an arbitration raise. Four other teams have 11 players exactly in line for a raise.
A good place to start getting a grasp on the offseason is through these estimates, a list of impending free agents, and an understanding of each club’s payroll and 40-man roster situation. For example, the Brewers and Rays are both generally small payroll clubs. The fact that they’re in the top seven teams in terms of players due a significant raise says that they may have some payroll issues this offseason, and could be pretty active in trading players away as they get more expensive. Of course we have to get into their projected 2027 payroll to really know if they’re facing a problem as most of these raises are very small, and they may have money coming off the books elsewhere.
The new CBA negotiations are going to weigh heavily on teams’ calculations as well. Other than in his first months on the job back in 2022, Scott Harris has shown absolutely no interest in the trade market, dealing away or acquiring talent only when he has to around the trade deadline, so who knows if he’ll even be thinking about trades this offseason, but there will probably be plenty of opportunities once the CBA is settled.
As noted by MLBTR (read the full 30 team breakdown here), service time data isn’t finalized by the league yet, and there may be some minor adjustments to come. We also don’t have the Super Two cutoff date that can alter the equation for a few specific players. For now, this is the best estimate we’re going to get. We’ll list the player, their age and service time, and then their 2026 salary followed by MLBTR’s arbitration estimate for 2027.
Will Vest-31 (5.100 years): $3.950MM —>$4.4MM
Zach McKinstry-31 (5.099): $4.2MM —> $5MM
Matt Vierling-30 (5.026): $3.255MM —>$3.7MM
Riley Greene-26 (4.110): $5.0MM —>$9.3MM
Spencer Torkelson-27 (4.076): $4.075MM —>$7.7M
Kerry Carpenter-29 (4.057): $3.275MM —>$4.1MM
Tyler Holton-30 (4.047): $1.575MM —>$2.4MM
Beau Brieske-28 (4.007): $1.157MM —>$1.5MM
Reese Olson-27 (3.123): $818,100 —>$1.5MM
Wenceel Pérez-26 (3.000): $803,400 —>$1.4 MM
Parker Meadows-26 (2.169): $805,300 —>$1MM
Using FanGraphs’ Roster Resource, the Tigers final estimated payroll for 2026 was $205M, whereas in 2025 that number was $155M. The Tigers spent right up to the luxury tax threshold back in the spring, but by dealing away Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize’s remaining salary, they ended up well under the limit. That was important as to not affect their draft position in a year in which they’re due a Competitive Balance Round A selection as a revenue sharing club. That’s the round where they drafted Kevin McGonigle in 2023, as well another really exciting young hitting prospect in Michael Oliveto in 2025. With a few sizable free agent contracts coming off the books, Scott Harris and Jeff Greenberg should also have plenty of payroll flexibility.
Looking through the arbitration eligible list, the only players that are locks to return are Riley Greene and Reese Olson. Greene remains a real bargain, and the larger question in his case is whether the Tigers front office is even interested in an extension. If not, perhaps Greene could even end up traded in 2027. Meanwhile, Olson is still super cheap and the Tigers need starting pitching, so that’s a guaranteed keeper as well.
Most of the rest are seeing only small increases in their arb years. I added their ages to the list, because that’s often instructive. Are the Tigers going to pay 30-year-old Matt Vierling an extra half a million after two seasons where he was barely on the field? It’s not impossible but it seems pretty likely he’s gone with only one position in the outfield not spoken for and Ben Malgeri a younger, more well rounded version of Vierling. Wenceel Pérez isn’t getting a big enough increase to worry about, but again the Tigers need some roster spots open, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Pérez was released either. His eyesight is the more pressing concern at the moment and we wish him the best. Parker Meadows’ defensive ability is such an outlier that the Tigers might decide to keep him and see if he can finally get right, but with Max Clark in center field and Ben Malgeri, Brett Callahan, as well as Zach McKinstry and to some extent Javier Báez all able to play the position, perhaps they’ll finally just move on from Meadows as well. More likely they bring him to camp and see how it goes.
The Tigers will see if Will Vest can get back from the stress fracture in his elbow as he’s still inexpensive and the needs in the bullpen are so glaring. For similar reasons and lack of expensive, the Tigers will probably hang onto Holton and Brieske. They are starting to develop enough left-handed relief pitching that maybe they’ll shop Holton for something else, but that’s going to be a very small scale deal if it were to happen. It’s not easy to have too many lefties, generally.
The two biggest questions on the current roster are whether the Tigers will keep Kerry Carpenter and Spencer Torkelson. The latter continues to produce to a modestly above average degree at the plate, but by the standards of a first baseman that’s not terribly compelling production. Torkelson’s struggles on ground balls and the fact that the Tigers have some other candidates to play first base all say that Torkelson is far from certain to return. He’s actually a decent little trade chip if the Tigers do decide to move on, as his power and plate discipline all say he should be a better hitter than he is. Probably there’s a team out there that believes they can get more production out of him.
On the other hand, the Tigers have just Dillon Dingler, Hao-Yu Lee, and Eduardo Valencia holding things down as the right-handed bats should the Tigers part ways with Torkelson. Of the young players they can look to for help, it’s basically down to Ben Malgeri and John Peck. Torkelson for $7.7M doesn’t sound so bad in that light. The Tigers should just stop considering him their full-time first baseman, and they took some steps toward that posture in September.
Kerry Carpenter is another whose time in the organization could be coming to an end. The Tigers can certainly keep him into whatever kind of spring camp we have next year and then decide, but the injuries and one-dimensional nature of his game all say he’s going to be of limited utility. He’s also 29 and dealing with a case of plantar fascitis that didn’t resolve after months of rest and rehab. That’s sometimes a hard injury to fully resolve as players get older. The Tigers could certainly use him in a limited role as a part-time DH, considering the number of inexperienced outfielders they have available, but all of those outfielders are major upgrades defensively as compared to putting Carpenter back in right field very often.
His situation probably depends on his medicals in the spring, and he’s another one that certain teams might look to as a minor trade acquisition if they need some low cost power from the left side. Carpenter does still have three options available and a decent highlight reel, but right now he’s a part-time DH with a bit of a difficult medical history.
The Tigers ended the season with nine players on the 60-day injured list. Space will have to be opened back up on the 40-man roster for each of them. Expect at least a few to be released or possibly moved in trade.
LHP Bailey Horn
RHP Reese Olson
RHP Burch Smith
RHP Will Vest
INF Trey Sweeney
OF Kerry Carpenter
OF Parker Meadows
OF Wenceel Pérez
OF Matt Vierling
This offseason, Gleyber Torres, Jack Flaherty, and Kenley Jansen are headed to free agency, so they’ll come off the 40-man to open three spots, but they’ll still need to clear six spots to keep all their 60-day guys, and they’ll also need to protect Josue Briceño and Max Anderson from the Rule 5 draft in December, or whenever the draft happens this offseason. The 40-man certainly has plenty of players who could be lost with negligible impact.
We saw a new look Tigers team over the final 6-8 weeks of the regular season as many of the names we’ve mentioned here were on the injured list. It’s time to move on from some of them, let the new breed take over, and use available roster spots to add some supporting cast, most particularly serious relief help, this offseason.
It looks like a pretty quiet offseason is in store for the club in free agency. Acquiring one of the top relievers available should be a priority, and every team wants more starting pitching depth, but don’t expect much until the new CBA is in place. Even then the free agent market doesn’t have many interesting fits for the Tigers. Their focus should be to sort out their roster, especially in regard to the bullpen, right field, and first base, add some pitching help, and then be ready to pounce if the new CBA causes payroll and roster issues for other teams that the Tigers can exploit. They have payroll space and plenty of prospect depth should the front office decide to get active in a market for trades and free agents that should be fairly frenzied if the expected lockout goes as long or longer than last time around, and comes with significant changes to payroll structure around the league.
The best baseball happens in October. It's time for the best teams to make their mark and etch their name into history.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were the second-best team in the National League this season and, after a first-round bye, are ready to get their best-of-five NL Division Series with the Atlanta Braves going.
The Braves are coming off a three-game NL wild card series against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Braves were one of the few teams that LA struggled with throughout the regular season. Through six meetings, the Dodgers have beaten the Braves just once. Atlanta has outscored Los Angeles 26-15 and the Braves swept the Dodgers in their last three-game series at Truist Park in August.
However, luckily for LA, the Dodgers have home field advantage in this round.
The first two games will be played at Dodger Stadium. The series will switch to Atlanta for Game 3. If a Game 4 is necessary, the teams will remain in Atlanta. If there is a deciding Game 5, it will be held in Los Angeles.
Here's a look at the NLDS schedule between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves:
NLDS Game 1: Atlanta Braves at Los Angeles Dodgers
Date: Oct. 3
Game Site: Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles)
Start time: 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT
TV/Stream: Fox
NLDS Game 2: Atlanta Braves at Los Angeles Dodgers
Date: Oct. 4
Game Site: Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles
Start time: 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT
TV/Stream: FS1; FOX Deportes; FOX One
NLDS Game 3: Los Angeles Dodgers at Atlanta Braves
Date: Oct. 6
Game Site: Truist Park in Atlanta
Start time: 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT
TV/Stream: FS1; FOX Deportes; FOX One
*NLDS Game 4: Los Angeles Dodgers at Atlanta Braves
*= if necessary
Date: Oct. 7
Game Site: Truist Park in Atlanta
Start time: 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT (subject to change)
TV/Stream: FS1; FOX Deportes; FOX One
*NLDS Game 5: Atlanta Braves at Los Angeles Dodgers
*= if necessary
Date: Oct. 9
Game Site: Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles
Start time: 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. ET (subject to change)
There's no time like October in baseball. It's the race for the coveted World Series pennant in the MLB postseason.
The San Diego Padres advanced to the National League Division Series to face-off against the top-seeded Milwaukee Brewers in a best-of-five game series beginning Saturday, Oct. 3.
The Padres found their way to the NLDS by defeating the Chicago Cubs in the National League wild card series in a 2-0 sweep. The Brewers were resting as they were awarded a first-round bye with the top record in the NL.
San Diego should feel confident going into the series with the Brewers. Each hosted a three-game series at their home ballpark. The Padres when 3-0 at Petco Park during the regular season, however on the road at American Family Field in Milwaukee, they lost the series 2-1. Overall they won the season series 4-2.
The five-game series begins with back-to-back games at American Family Field, then the series shifts to the West Coast at Petco Park in San Diego for Game 3 and Game 4, if necessary. A deciding Game 5 would be played back in Milwaukee.
Here's a look at the NLDS schedule between the San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers:
NLDS Game 1: San Diego Padres at Milwaukee Brewers
All times Eastern, unless otherwise noted; *= if necessary
Date: October 3
Game Site: American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Start time: 8:30 p.m.
TV/Stream: FS1; FOX Deportes; FOX One
NLDS Game 2: San Diego Padres at Milwaukee Brewers
All times Eastern, unless otherwise noted; *= if necessary
Date: October 4
Game Site: American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Start time: 4 p.m.
TV/Stream: FS1; FOX Deportes; FOX One
NLDS Game 3: Milwaukee Brewers at San Diego Padres
All times Eastern, unless otherwise noted; *= if necessary
Date: October 6
Game Site: Petco Park in San Diego, California
Start time: 6:30 p.m. (PST)
TV/Stream: FS1; FOX Deportes; FOX One
NLDS Game 4: Milwaukee Brewers at San Diego Padres
All times Eastern, unless otherwise noted; *= if necessary
Date: October 7
Game Site: Petco Park in San Diego, California
Start time: TBD
TV/Stream: FS1; FOX Deportes; FOX One
NLDS Game 5: San Diego Padres at Milwaukee Brewers
All times Eastern, unless otherwise noted; *= if necessary
Date: October 9
Game Site: American Family Field in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 22: Drew Rasmussen #57 of the Tampa Bay Rays pitches during the game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, September 22, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by Jonathan Pensiero/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
After a thorough dismantling of the Red Sox in a Wild Card sweep, the Yankees are riding high. Their offense torched Boston’s pitchers, scoring 18 runs on 26 hits and swatting four homers in the two-game set. Next up is another division rival, the 98-win Tampa Bay Rays.
Tampa’s starting rotation finished second in the AL to the Yankees in ERA, though they did so in 56 fewer innings and with 176 fewer strikeouts. They’re expected to hand the ball to the perennially-underrated Drew Rasmussen in Game 1. The 31-year-old has posted a sub-3.00 ERA in each of his six seasons with Tampa, though a couple of those have been severely shortened by injury. He made 30 starts this year and tossed a career-high 172 innings, going 16-5 with a 2.67 ERA while leading the league in WHIP (0.913) and K:BB ratio (5.44). He finished the season particularly strong, allowing six runs over his last six starts. Of note, he threw a career-high 114 pitches in his last outing of the season, hinting that Kevin Cash, the notoriously short-leashed Rays skipper, may be looking for his ace to shoulder a larger burden than usual.
Like Cam Schlittler, Rasmussen’s top three pitches are all fastballs: a cutter, a four-seamer, and a sinker. All three have been lights-out; opponents hit .205 and slugged .326 against the cutter this season, the best they fared against any of the three. He mixes in a changeup that he threw 354 times without allowing an extra-base hit and, less frequently, a curveball and a sweeper. The only item missing from the two-time All-Star’s portfolio is postseason excellence — he’s made just one playoff start, back in 2021, in which he allowed three runs in two innings before getting the hook.
Cash has remained noncommittal on how he’ll deploy the rest of his pitching staff. Freddy Peralta, Nick Martinez, Griffin Jax, and Ian Seymour were Rasmussen’s rotation-mates and all are expected to feature in some capacity. After a nightmare first half with the Mets, Peralta rebounded nicely with the Rays. The right-hander went 5-0 with a microscopic 0.79 ERA over his last six starts of the year, earning AL Pitcher of the Month honors for September while regaining the form that saw him finish fifth in NL Cy Young voting last year and firmly entrenching himself in the playoff picture.
Martinez was one of the best value signings of the offseason, winning 15 games along with a 3.10 ERA on a one-year, $9 million deal. The 36-year-old faded a bit down the stretch, allowing 20 runs in 42 innings across his last eight starts, and it’s fair to wonder if his career-high 180 innings have caught up with him. The Rays converted Jax from a reliever to a starter midseason and the results were strong. He had a lower ERA in the rotation (3.14) than in the bullpen (8.00) but threw 75 pitches or more in just six of his 23 starts. None of those came in his five September appearances, meaning he’d likely be used more as a bulk arm than a true starter if he does get an October start. Seymour also began the year in the bullpen, though he topped 90 pitches six times after moving to the rotation. He’s the only southpaw of the bunch, a fact which could either make him an attracting starting option or a valuable multi-inning reliever against a Yankees lineup featuring a bevy of lefties. So, too, does the fact that he faced the Bombers in his final start of the season and shoved, holding them to one baserunner in five scoreless innings.
With the addition of a superfluous starter or two, the Rays’ bullpen will be a deep, veteran group. Bryan Baker is the team’s shutdown closer, posting a 1.44 ERA that trailed only Toronto’s Louis Varland among qualified relievers while tying for the MLB lead with 41 saves. His .203 BABIP is an outlier, though, suggesting some confluence of good luck and playing into a defense that graded out as the best in the AL by DRS. The last time Baker blew a save was back on May 13th. He relies primarily on a four-seamer against which opponents hit .125 with no home runs this season and a changeup that sits more than 10 mph lower.
Cash’s top setup option is Kevin Kelly, who appeared in a club-high 71 games. Kelly pitched to a 2.44 ERA on the season but struggled down the stretch, allowing seven runs in his last eight innings of work. Behind those two, the pecking order is less clear. Cam Booser has been the most effective lefty in the ‘pen, recording a sub-2.00 ERA in 41 innings. Fellow southpaws Garrett Cleavinger and Steven Matz had down years after strong 2025s, as did right-hander Cole Sulser. Casey Legumina is another righty option, as is Tyler Wells, who allowed three earned runs in 18 innings after coming over from Baltimore at the trade deadline.
Wells and Cleavinger ended the season on the IL with forearm tightness but each pitched an inning in a scrimmage Tuesday and could be in play. Tampa’s bullpen ERA of 3.99 is more middle-of-the-pack than the performance of its starters, but they still have clear lanes to get through the late innings.
In looking at the Rays’ pitching corps as a whole, Rasmussen looms large as their greatest differentiator. He’s a tough matchup for any team, but if the Yankees can get to him tonight with their third starter on the hill, they’ll do a great deal to puncture the Rays’ confidence and derail their winning formula. After Game 1, the Yankees will likely need to contend with a kitchen sink approach from Cash, who can be expected to make aggressive, matchup-based moves to put his pitchers in positions to succeed.
Mar 31, 2022; Clearwater, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski looks on from the stands in a game against the New York Yankees during spring training at BayCare Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
Today begins the Division Series around the game and the Phillies are home. Should we be shocked by this? Maybe not, but Wednesday’s game sure made the reality a bit harder to swallow.
Celebrities and royalty have flocked to Dodger Stadium, which will also host the Olympic tournament as baseball returns to the Games for Los Angeles 2028.
And you can get a glimpse of the Hollywood vibe as the Dodgers continue their quest for a World Series three-peat in the MLB play-offs this weekend.
After earning a bye for the first round last week, it is time for the Dodgers to join the post-season party and they will be part of an MLB double-header live on the BBC.
Saturday's coverage begins with the Chicago White Sox visiting the Cleveland Guardians for the start of their American League Division Series (18:00 BST).
You can then experience all the sights and sounds from Dodger Stadium, one of MLB's most iconic venues, as the defending champions begin their National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves (21:00 BST).
Who has been watching the Dodgers?
Opened in 1962, Dodger Stadium is the biggest MLB arena with a capacity of 56,000, and this year 'Dodger baseball' has been one of the hottest tickets in town.
For the past two years the team's total home attendance has passed four million. This year they set a franchise record of 4,034,219 - an average of 49,805 fans per game.
Actors Brad Pitt, Will Ferrell, Bryan Cranston, Jason Bateman and Rob Lowe are all regulars at Dodger Stadium, while Justin and Hailey Bieber have been spotted at multiple games.
NBA star LeBron James and NFL quarterback Justin Herbert both attended last year's World Series, along with Sydney Sweeney, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Who will show up this weekend as LA hosts games one and two of the best-of-five series against Atlanta?
Having briefly been based in LA, Pierre Ducrey - sports director for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) - has also watched numerous games at Dodger Stadium and is "quite familiar with the atmosphere it can deliver".
"There's so many Dodger fans and they're very passionate about the team," he told BBC Sport. "They have an incredible venue and one thing I do know about baseball is this is the perfect home for a baseball tournament."
The Dodgers aren't the only show in town. The LA Lakers are one of the biggest franchises in basketball's NBA, as are the LA Rams in American football's NFL.
The Rams won the Super Bowl in their own stadium in 2022 and are favourites to win the NFL's championship game when it returns to SoFi Stadium next February.
The stadium hosted eight World Cup games last summer and anticipation is growing that LA is set for a third straight World Series later this month.
"This is a city that lives and breathes sport and the Dodgers are a perfect example of that," said Ducrey. "The popularity of the franchise in LA cannot be underestimated."
The Dodgers secured the second seed in the National League after finishing the regular season with 100 wins and 62 losses.
The Milwaukee Brewers were the only MLB team with a better record (103-59) yet the Dodgers are favourites to win the World Series, ahead of the Brewers and New York Yankees.
The Dodgers have continued to make big-name signings, with pitcher Tarik Skubal the latest in a mid-season trade, and their recent success has got fans dreaming of the franchise's first-ever three-peat.
"The Dodgers are in a very good period," Ducrey added. "There is a big momentum for them, but the team would still be immensely followed whether they're successful or not.
"There's a very long history behind it, and a very big tradition for baseball in Los Angeles."
How do the MLB play-offs work?
Only five MLB players hit more home runs in the regular season than Matt Olson [Getty Images]
Although Ohtani is a rare two-way player, the Dodgers' leading home-run hitter will not pitch again this year because of injuries.
Skubal is expected to start on Saturday and face Matt Olson, who led Atlanta with 41 home runs in the regular season and added another in Thursday's series-clinching win over the Philadelphia Phillies.
Either the Dodgers or the Braves will face Milwaukee or the San Diego Padres in the National League Championship Series (NLCS) - one step from the World Series.
Sixth seed Chicago have already upset the Houston Astros in the other half of the play-offs and either the White Sox or Cleveland will face the Tampa Bay Rays or Yankees in the American League Championship Series (ALCS).
The winners of the ALCS and NLCS will meet in the World Series, which is scheduled to begin on Friday, 23 October.
