ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 30: Matt Olson (28) of the Atlanta Braves hits an RBI single in the first inning during the Atlanta Braves versus Philadelphia Phillies game 2 of the National League Wild Card Series on September 30, 2026 at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Only one game today, but it’s a goodie. Winner-take-all. One team’s season continues on to the next round to take on the Dodgers. The other begins their offseason far earlier than expected. We love do-or-die games here at Athletics Nation, and tonight’s matchup between the Philadelphia Phillies and their division rivals the Atlanta Braves should be a great way to spend your Thursday evening.
Phillies at Braves (5:00 PM EDT)
The Braves have left-handed reliever Ray Ker (0-0, 1.97 ERA) opening the game for them tonight. He’ll likely be only asked to handle the first inning or two before making way for the bulk pitcher, right-hander Grant Holmes (10-6, 3.44 ERA). The former A’s prospect has blossomed with Atlanta over the past couple of years and now will be asked to soak up the middle innings of a must-win contest for his squad. No pressure.
Philadelphia meanwhile has a more standard approach to tonight’s starter. They’re sending out longtime Phillie Aaron Nola for the critical Game 3. The former Cy Young finalist is far past his heyday when he was constantly putting up ace-like numbers. While those days are long behind him he’s still capable of tossing a gem every now and then. The Phillies need vintage Nola tonight if they want to advance to take on the Dodgers.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 30: Alec Bohm #28 of the Philadelphia Phillies runs the bases after hitting a home run against the Atlanta Braves during the tenth inning in game two of the National League Wild Card Series at Truist Park on September 30, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Edward M. Pio Roda/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Wednesday brought an entertaining day of games as most of the Wild Card matchups wrapped up. The Chicago White Sox rolled over the Houston Astros 7-2 to take the series and will head to Cleveland to face the Guardians next. The New York Yankees offense continued to torment the Boston Red Sox 9-2 and will head off to face the Tampa Bay Rays. The San Diego Padres then finished off the Chicago Cubs with a 4-1 victory and will now square off against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The only game slated for today is between the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves. The Phillies pulled off a 4-3 victory in extra innings to even the series. Now, it’s do-or-die to see which team will move on and face the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Here are the details:
Philadelphia Phillies (1-1) at Atlanta Braves (1-1) — 6:00 pm MDT
Pitching matchup: Aaron Nola (7-12, 4.67 ERA) vs. Ray Kerr (0-0, 1.47 ERA)
TV/Radio: NBC/Peacock, ESPN Radio, MLB Gameday Audio (Phillies and Braves local radio feeds)
ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 11: Matt Olson (28) of the Atlanta Braves slaps five with coach Tommy Watkins (84) after hitting a solo home run in the 1st inning of the Friday evening MLB game between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies on September 11, 2026 at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Hello, October. We would like more Braves games this month.
The Braves will don the Friday home red uniforms tonight in order to bring those dominant vibes to this Wild Card series finale. Whatever it takes – just win today.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 30: Alec Bohm #28 of the Philadelphia Phillies runs the bases after hitting a home run against the Atlanta Braves during the tenth inning in game two of the National League Wild Card Series at Truist Park on September 30, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Edward M. Pio Roda/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Welcome to OCTOBER BASEBALL.
We have for you another Thursday baseball discussion thread, but this time, featuring 100% more playoffs! Which, of course, means no Royals 🙁
Only one game today as three of the four Wild Card series ended in sweeps yesterday.
First, the White Sox knocked out the Astros. Crane’s Boys are out! No great shock.
The Yankees disposed of the Red Sox last evening. Not much of a series as the nonJudgemental Yankees smoked Boston to the tune of 18-2 over two games.
Lastly, the Padres swept the Cubs, winning last night 4-1. I hope you agree with me that the playoffs just became 10 times more enjoyable with the Cubs eliminated.
The only series left is Philadelphia vs Atlanta. The Braves took game one on Tuesday 5-3 with three runs in the bottom of the eighth. Last night, the Phillies scored twice in the top of the eighth to tie the game at 3-3 before winning it in extras, 4-3. Alec Bohm, somewhat of a local kid—went to high school in Omaha before attending Wichita State—hit a home run in the top of the tenth to give the Phillies a lead it would not relinquish.
The pitching matchup will be Aaron Nola for the Phillies against Ray Kerr for the Braves.
Nola, a 12-year vet, all with Philadelphia, finished the season only 7-12 with a 4.67 ERA (3% below league average) and a 4.87 FIP. He also allowed the most home runs with 37. This will be his 12th career playoff start.
The Braves counter with Ray Kerr, more of an Opener than a Starter. The 31-year-old lefty only opened one game for the Braves this season, which was his last outing against the Marlins. He fared well, going three innings in which he walked one, allowed two hits, but didn’t give up any runs. He only pitched in nine games this season, but in that limited action, which totaled 18-and-1/3 innings, he sported a 1.47 ERA, 3.97 FIP while striking out 11 and walking two.
More importantly, Kerr faced the Phillies twice in September, and held them scoreless over both outings. In those two appearances, he pitched 6-and-1/3 innings, allowed two hits while walking zero batters and striking out five. None of his four inherited runners came around to score.
Kerr has never before pitched in the playoffs.
You can catch the game on NBC or Peacock at 7:00 p.m. CDT.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 26: Rafael Devers #16 of the San Francisco Giants reacts as he rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run during the fifth inning of their game against the Cincinnati Reds at Oracle Park on August 26, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) | Getty Images
On March 25, 2026, the San Francisco Giants began what would quickly prove to be the worst season in franchise history. You don’t need me to explain all the things that went wrong, but don’t worry: it’s a long and cold offseason, so I will in due time.
A few hours before that horrific journey got underway, I published an article with 26 predictions for the ‘26 season. Now, more than six months later, I can say with confidence what so many of you have uttered to me in the comment sections of articles over the years: you should not listen to a damn word that comes out of my mouth.
The smartest thing I said in the 5,000 blabbering words came before I even got to the predictions. I stated in the intro that the bulk of the predictions were optimistic, justifying it as such: “Because if you’re a Giants fan who doesn’t have optimism on March 25, when will you have it?”
If only I knew just how true that question would be. Tucked at the start of an article where I look as capable of intelligence as Sam Hentges looks capable of accepting the queer community, I accidentally dropped the smartest sentence I’ve ever written. Go figure.
I thought I should revisit those 26 predictions. Publicly reflecting on past predictions is not something I often dabble in, because 10% of the time it looks braggadocios and 90% of the time I’m just admitting to being bad at my job, which my bosses have informed me I should stop doing. But in a season where the bad news rained down from the ownership suites to the front office to the coaching staff to the players to the broadcast booth, it seemed only fair that I get in on the action.
So here are my 26 predictions, starting with the one I got the most wrong, and ending with the one I got the most right (yes, there were a few accurate predictions).
Feel free to tell me how dumb I am in the comments. Just don’t expect me to learn from it.
Tier 6: Seriously, why do you ever listen to me?
These are the predictions that are so wrong they defy explanation.
For years, my sister and I have had an idea wherein I let her write a game recap for me. To paint a picture of my sister’s understanding of sports: once she texted me from a bar bathroom saying she was being hit on by a college football coach, and wanted to know if there was any intelligent talking point she could bring up. I told her to mention the new rule wherein if the shortstop runs backwards into the goal you get extra points. I figured this was such a ludicrous joke that she would know immediately that I was teasing her. She called me an hour later to berate me for embarrassing her in front of an attractive man. This is a true story.
Anyway, we’ve both long thought it would be funny if she wrote a recap for me, on account of her knowing absolutely nothing about sports. It would be entertaining and, no doubt, stupid. The following predictions are so bad, that I had to stop and think about if I let her moonlight for me in this article. Sadly, she did not.
26. The Giants finish second in the NL West and make the postseason
I’m gonna go make a cup of tea. You can have these 10 minutes to guffaw audibly.
Okay, I’m back. Still laughing? Damn. I deserve that. I’m laughing too, honestly.
The Giants, of course, missed the playoffs. Not only did they miss the playoffs, but they missed the playoffs by 23 games. Worse yet, they missed out on second place in the NL West by 26 games. There were only four teams in the Majors — including the Giants — that were 26 games behind first place, and the Giants were 26 games behind second place, in a division where second place was the second-furthest away from first place.
In other words, this prediction really could not have been more wrong. Let’s move on.
25. Gregory Santos will be their best reliever
My stubbornness really showed itself with this prediction. I was adamant that the Giants signing Santos — once one of their top prospects — to a Minor League deal was one of the best moves of the offseason. I held that stance even when he struggled in Spring Training and even when he started the year in the Minors and even when he struggled in the Minors, and even when he was called up and almost immediately optioned.
And then he was designated for assignment with no corresponding move. Just removed from the 40-man roster because the Giants would rather have 39 players than employ Santos. Not only that, but he didn’t even get to make me look smart, because no one else picked him up.
Santos ended the year with five innings pitched, one strikeout, a 3.60 ERA, a 4.50 FIP, and 0.0 fWAR. Which, in fairness, did make him one of the team’s best relievers.
24. Bryce Eldridge has a distinctly mediocre season
Before you all call me a hater, I contextualized this as a mostly good thing. I ended my blurb on Eldridge by saying, “He’ll see pitches and gameplans that he’s never been exposed to before. He’ll struggle to tread water. And if he holds his own, just at an average level, that will be a sign of how good he is, not how bad he is.”
I stand by that. If Eldridge had posted a league-average wRC+ of 100, I would have been very encouraged and optimistic about who he would be in 2027.
Instead, Eldridge looked more than comfortable. He looked like a veteran in the batter’s box, controlling at-bats, controlling the zone, outsmarting pitchers, drawing walks, and hitting for both average and power. His 131 wRC+ ranked 25th out of 205 Major League hitters (minimum: 400 plate appearances), directly ahead of Fernando Tatis Jr. and Kyle Schwarber.
If I was going to be wrong about a prediction, this was the one. So at least there’s that.
23. Willy Adames and Rafael Devers start the season hot
There was a lot of fear-mongering surrounding Adames and Devers going into the season. Adames has a history of slow starts, got off to a brutal opening to his Giants tenure in 2025, and was having a rough Spring Training. Devers had been fairly awful in his first month with the Giants, and looked lost in Scottsdale.
I thought nothing of it. Spring Training means so little, and I figured these two established sluggers would hit the ground running when the season began.
Instead, when April came to a close, Adames was hitting .197/.240/.352 and Devers .207/.248/.289. And the season was essentially over.
22. Luis Matos has a big year … somewhere
I wrote this shortly after the Giants designated Matos for assignment. My thought was that a bad team would claim him and give him some run. I recognized there was little reason for optimism, admitting that, “This is not rooted in anything analytical: it’s really hard to look at Matos’ stats and underlying metrics and find a reason for optimism. Instead, it’s just a vibes and hope-based bold prediction, that the Matos who has shown flashes over the years finally puts it all together.”
Well friends, I regret to inform you that he did not. Matos was not claimed by a bad team that would give him some steady run, but instead by the playoff-bound Milwaukee Brewers, who gave him all of 21 plate appearance before designating him for assignment. This time he wasn’t claimed, and he was outrighted to Milwaukee’s AAA affiliate, where he posted a measly 77 wRC+ across the year.
Tier 5: No one ever accused me of being smart
These predictions are wrong. Incorrect. Inaccurate. Just plum not right.
But they’re not as brain-meltingly idiotic as the last batch was. Those first five are enough to bar me for life from applying to the BBWAA. These ones are just wrong, but less embarrassing.
21. Logan Webb throws multiple complete game shutouts
In hindsight, this was even bolder than I imagined. Webb entered the season having thrown just two complete game shutouts in his career, and I thought he’d get to that mark multiple times this season alone. Not only did Webb not have multiple complete game shutouts, but no player in the Majors threw multiple complete games, period. Forget the shutout. No one even went nine innings on more than one occasion.
Webb did throw one complete game, but, hilariously, it was a loss in which he only had to pitch eight innings.
20. We get more bullpen heat
As I mentioned, I wrote the initial predictions article on Opening Day, which meant the Giants had already informed me of some of their thinking for the year. They had released the Opening Day roster, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that both Keaton Winn and Caleb Kilian had made the cut. With Joel Peguero rehabbing an injury and Santos tuning up in AAA, I thought this was the year that we see some modern gas from the Giants bullpen.
Instead, they traded Kilian and Erik Miller. They broke Winn by pitching him three games in a row, an atrocity from which he never recovered. Peguero made it through just 11.1 innings before suffering a season-ending injury. Santos never panned out. The closest heat in the Minors, Will Bednar, saw his velocity take a tumble as he was demoted down to AA. Blade Tidwell was used primarily as a starter.
And as such, only the late-late reunion with Camilo Doval left the Giants with any notable heat coming out of the bullpen at the end of the season.
19. Tony Vitello doesn’t get thrown out early on
Before the season began, there was a common thought that Vitello would be quick to get ejected, given the energy and fire that he brings to managing. I thought it would be the opposite: that Vitello would be so conscious of wanting to be in the fight with his players that he would view an ejection as an abandoment.
I’m still not sure I’m wrong, given the quotes he’s had after his ejections. But even if he views it that way, his actions suggest otherwise. Vitello was thrown out in just the 10th game of the season, and led the Majors with seven ejections on the year.
18. They have five 20-homer hitters
This one ended up looking tremendously dumb, as the Giants fifth-best home run hitter this year was Drew Gilbert, who had just 11 blasts. They had only six players clear the double-digit mark, and I thought five would get to 20?!?
You can see the vision. Devers and Adames were locks. Matt Chapman and Heliot Ramos were likely to get there with full, healthy seasons. All it would take was one player popping, be it a leap for Casey Schmitt or Jerar Encarnación, or an early promotion for Eldridge.
As it was, just three players hit the 20-homer barrier, and only just, as Adames and Schmitt both had 21.
17. We see Tim Lincecum
Can you blame a boy for hoping?
16. Someone plays 160 games
This one was trending towards accuracy. Only an out-of-the-blue Devers injury reveal kept him from getting to the mark for the second straight season. As such, he ended up 12 games shy of 160, and this prediction ended up looking dumb. The Giants only had six players who appeared in 100 games, which is pretty jarring.
Tier 4: Wrong, but not idiotically so
I had to make a new tier just to hide how many of these I got wrong. The incorrect predictions take us all the way into the top 10, so I’m hedging on the predictions where yes, I was wrong, but by a slim enough margin that I don’t look foolish. In a few instances, I’m even technically right, but spiritually wrong. It’s a purgatory of sorts.
15. Heliot Ramos rebounds in the right ways
I’ve always been a fan of Ramos, and I’ve always been a believer. One of the things about Ramos’ game that has inspired confidence from me has been his ability to make offseason adjustments.
When he was struggling to make an impact in the Majors, while going outside the zone and hitting balls straight into the dirt, he spent an offseason controlling the zone and lifting the ball. When he broke out as an All-Star on the back of hitting lefties at a historical pace, but struggling against righties, he spent the winter learning how to hit right-handers. And when he came back last year with a renewed ability to hit righties, it was accompanied by a huge step back in his slash line against southpaws, and an even larger step back in his defense.
So I thought this year he would address those things, and improve his defense while getting back to his lefty-mashing ways. And by the letter of the law, I think this prediction was right. He raised his Fielding Run Value from second percentile all the way to … third percentile. Although honestly even that is overselling it, since it’s probably just due to less playing time this year.
Ramos did rebound against southpaws, as he hit posted a 150 wRC+ against lefties. But the performance against same-handed pitchers suffered, and ultimately Ramos was not only a much worse player this year than last year, but he was also traded.
14. ABS has no impact on Patrick Bailey’s defense
ABS definitely impacted Bailey’s defense. After three consecutive seasons of being 100th percentile in both framing and fielding run value, Bailey dipped to 79th and 84th percentile, respectively. I don’t think the new technology hurt the Gold Glover as much as many people feared, and it seems there were other things going on that led to his defensive decline. But ABS certainly had some negative impact.
13. They have three All-Stars
The Giants had two All-Stars, which I guess makes this prediction 66.7% right. Or maybe it only makes it 50% right, since each team is guaranteed at least one All-Star. Luis Arráez was a lock for the team, and Webb made it even though he probably didn’t deserve it.
You can envision a world where they had three All-Stars, though. If Robbie Ray’s heater started a few weeks earlier he could have wiggled his way on. Schmitt and Jung Hoo Lee certainly warranted some consideration, and if Devers had played his season in reverse he would have easily made the team.
12. Rafael Devers is a Gold Glove finalist
MLB hasn’t announced the Gold Glove finalists yet, so technically this one isn’t wrong yet. But given that Devers didn’t grade out very well by any defensive metric, we can put this one in the “wrong” bin.
Still, I think in spirit this prediction had some accuracy to it. Devers had some bad moments, but he also had some excellent moments at first base, and looked like he could hold down the position for years to come (though it still remains to be seen how the Giants will handle time at first with both Devers and Eldridge). Perhaps I’m just desperate to find something to paint in a positive light, but I was impressed by Devers’ defense this season.
11. They figure out second base
On the surface, this one is very, very, very wrong. The Giants traded away their All-Star second baseman, and ended the year by cycling through a combination of five backups who risk being DFA’d this offseason, while mixing in a center fielder here and there.
And yet, no one expects the Giants to pursue a second baseman this offseason, because it does feel like they have all the options they need. Whether it will be Schmitt, Marcelo Mayer, or a rotating cast that includes Jonah Cox remains to be seen. The Giants are a long ways away from figuring out second base, but they surely think they have the answer. Now they just need to figure out what it is.
Tier 3: I’m right … kind of
This small tier has the predictions that I’m not really sure about. They’re kind of right, but they’re kind of wrong. We can debate them … hypothetically speaking, of course. Hopefully we all have better things to do than actually debate these.
10. They swing another big deadline deal
This one is technically correct, but I’m not sure it’s accurate in spirit. The Giants made a number of big deals at the deadline, to make nothing of the Bailey trade in May.
Here’s how I described the prediction: “I don’t expect the Giants to redo the Devers trade this summer, and take Bryce Harper or Fernando Tatis Jr. off someone’s hands, though I’d love to see that. But I still think they make a big trade. Likely that means giving up a few of their best prospects for a young, cost-controlled talent, but if they struggle in the standings, it could mean parting ways with some of their MLB-level players, and really re-upping the farm.”
If you squint they did the latter, but I don’t think the trades they made quite qualify. Ramos, Kilian, and Miller were the only players under contract in 2027 that they traded and, especially with the season Ramos was having, none of those names are particularly notable. I think to call this prediction accurate, the Giants needed to have traded one of their core players, or one of their core prospects, and Bailey was too early to be a deadline deal. We’re dealing with semantics here.
9. Daniel Susac survives the year, but…
I labeled this one as a double prediction: “I think Susac survives the year and plays well, but [Jesús] Rodríguez also becomes a huge part of the team at some point, be it as a second baseman, a third catcher, a fourth outfielder, or a super-utility player. There’s room at the table for both of them.”
Susac didn’t really survive the year in the literal sense, given that he suffered a season-ending injury, but he survived the year in the baseball sense, in that he was not returned to the Athletics as a Rule 5 rejectee. And he even enters the offseason as the team’s starting catcher, though truthfully, I’m not entirely ready to declare that he played well.
Rodríguez, however, did not establish himself this year, in part because of his own injury. It’s a little bit hard to parse this prediction because I was assuming that Bailey would still be the franchise catcher, and Susac and Rodríguez would be battling for a backup role.
8. Adrian Houser is replaced
Houser was, indeed, replaced. In mid-June he was moved from the rotation to the bullpen. But, amid a slew of trades and injuries, he kind of returned to the rotation late in the year. In his fourth-to-last game of the season, he pitched five innings, but the Giants used an opener. In his third-to-last game of the season, he started and pitched six innings. In his second-to-last game of the season, he entered in the third inning and pitched five innings. And in his final game of the season, he started before leaving early with an injury.
So this one is kind of a shrug.
Tier 2: I’m right, but you’re not impressed
I only got seven of my 26 predictions right. That’s a pretty nice batting average though, so I can’t be too upset.
Still, it’s pretty easy to get predictions right if that’s your main goal. All you have to do is hug the trunk of the prediction tree, and never step out onto any limbs. Rafael Devers will hit a home run and Logan Webb won’t get traded and The federal government will intervene with the Giants over inclusive hats were all obvious things. I could have included them in my predictions post and upped my winning percentage.
Instead, I tried to at least be a tiny bit bold. But in a few cases, I took the easy way out. These are the correct predictions that probably elicit a “well, duh” from you.
7. There are more Tommy John surgeries coming down the line
This was my lone prediction that was unequivocally negative. And it brings me no joy that I was correct. It seemed that the Giants unparalleled luck with avoiding Tommy John surgeries couldn’t last forever, and when Hayden Birdsong kicked off the spring by needing TJ, I assumed it was just the first domino falling … or the second one, if you want to go back to Randy Rodríguez late last year.
It took awhile for the other dominoes to fall, but fall the most certainly did. First Trevor McDonald, and then Carson Whisenhunt, and finally Tidwell. You could see it coming a mile away, but it doesn’t make it any more enjoyable.
6. Kyle Harrison dominates them
For a while this year, it started to look like the Harrison-for-Devers trade was backfiring in a big way. Devers spent the start of the season looking like he forgot how to hit baseballs, while Harrison made a very strong bid for the All-Star game.
Their trajectories reversed as the season went on, with Devers being the third-best hitter in all of baseball from the start of May until the end of the season, while Harrison fell apart down the stretch (after his first August start, Harrison had a 2.84 ERA and a 2.91 FIP; he ended the season with a 4.20 ERA and a 4.03 FIP).
But along the way, the most predictable thing happened: Harrison dominated the team he grew up rooting for, and was drafted and developed by.
On June 2, the Brewers hosted the Giants. Harrison took the mound sporting a 6-1 record and a 1.57 ERA. He only pitched 5.2 innings in the game, but still struck out 12 batters, while allowing just six baserunners and one run. And you weren’t even mad.
5. The rotation looks worse entering the offseason than last year
This wasn’t exactly a bold prediction either, what with Ray and Tyler Mahle both set for free agency, even if the Giants hadn’t traded them. The hope was that some of the youngsters would become reliable enough options that San Francisco would have the bones of a solid rotation entering the offseason, but sadly that didn’t happen. Not only that, but Webb took quite a step backwards, while Landen Roupp struggled following a strong start to the year.
Last winter, the Giants entered the offseason with a rotation that had question marks. This winter, they enter it with a rotation in shambles.
4. The bullpen will look dramatically different at the end of the year
This was an obvious one, for two reasons: three key bullpen contributors (Jason Foley, Sam Hentges, and Joel Peguero) all began the year on the Injured List, and bullpens always have a lot of turnover.
But they don’t always have this much turnover. As evidence, I present a blurb from this original prediction: “I think the eight arms in the ‘pen for Game No. 162 will have more than 50% turnover from the octet that will be behind the outfield wall at Oracle Park tonight.”
I said that forgetting that the team gets an extra arm because of the September rules, and I still dramatically undersold it.
Of the eight bullpen arms the Giants started the year with, four ended the year injured (Winn, Brubaker, José Buttó, and Matt Gage); two were traded (Miller and Killian); one was released (Ryan Borucki), and one was in AAA (Ryan Walker). Exactly zero of the Opening Day relievers were available to pitch in the final series of the year.
Tier 1: Even a broken Brady is right three times a year
We’re left with just three predictions. Three out of 26 that make me actually look like I potentially know a thing or two.
And you know what? I’ll take it.
3. They have a top-five farm by the end of the year
This was one of the predictions I most wanted to get correct. And admittedly, it took a lot going right for me to get there. Had I been correct about my most egregious prediction — that the Giants would make the playoffs — then I probably would have been wrong about this prediction, because the Giants don’t climb to the elite ranks of farm systems if they trade away Jhonny Level and Bo Davidson instead of trading for Ramon Marquez, Henry Lalane, Joniel Hernandez, and so many others.
Despite graduating Eldridge, the Giants are widely viewed as a top-five farm system now, and there’s no shortage of reasons why. They’ve made excellent trades, they’ve signed big-name international free agents, and they’ve developed players well. The future is exciting, which is good because the present sure ain’t.
2. Harrison Bader and Luis Arráez go in different directions
It’s hard to imagine a prediction being more right than this one, and I’m not even sure if the No. 1 prediction on this list is more right. The reason this one isn’t a spot higher is simply because I hedged my bets.
I didn’t say that Bader will be awful and Arráez will be great; I just said that one of them will struggle, and the other will excel.
My reasoning was fairly simple. There were reasons to be excited about both players (strong defense and an excellent offensive year in 2025 for Bader; preternatural contact skills for Arráez), and reasons to be exceedingly skeptical (poor underlying metrics with no history of sustained offensive success for Bader; awful defense and downward-trending offense for Arráez). There seemed to be a good chance that one of those gambles would work out, and one would not.
I had no idea how intensely that would be true. Bader’s first (and likely last) season with the Giants could not have been more of a disaster. He was one of the worst players in all of baseball when on the field, posting a 49 wRC+ with mediocre defense, while accruing a whopping -0.4 fWAR in just 30 games. He dealt with multiple injuries, and then officially lost his season when, while rehabbing a foot injury, crashed a scooter into a fire truck in the marina in the middle of the night. The Giants docked his pay for the second half of the season, and will almost certainly look to void his contract for 2027.
Arráez, on the other hand, did the opposite. He rejuvenated his defensive reputation, going from a tire fire at second base to someone who will almost surely be a Gold Glove finalist. His spiraling offensive production course corrected, as he posted a 121 wRC+ with the Giants (though that number went tumbling down the stairs with the Phillies). He led all Giants players in fWAR (3.8) despite playing in just 105 games before being traded. He represented the team at the All-Star Game and brought them back an impressive haul at the deadline.
Bader was the Giants worst player this year and Arráez their best. I’ll pat myself on the back for this one. But not as much as for the next one…
1. The Giants have more debuts this year than last year
In hindsight this doesn’t look like a particularly bold prediction. But if you go back to the start of the year, it was far from obvious. The Giants hadn’t protected a single player from the Rule 5 Draft, and as such had just two players on the 40-man roster — Susac and Jesús Rodríguez — who had yet to debut. Buster Posey had earned a bit of a reputation in his first year for being very cautious with promotions, not just in the lower levels of the Minors but from the Minors up to the Majors. And the bulk of the AAA talent that seemed ready to contribute — Eldridge, Gilbert, Whisenhunt, and Tidwell — had debuted the year prior.
So it wasn’t all that easy to see how the Giants would have more players debut than the six that played their first MLB game in 2025.
But my goodness did they. And I put this prediction at No. 1 on the list because they blew past my prediction entirely, and mocked it as they did so.
In all, the Giants had a hilarious 18 different players make their MLB debut this season (and that number should have been 19, but they did Zach Morgan dirty). 18!
For this year, this prediction made me look smart. Just don’t expect me to try it again next year.
ATLANTA – While the Phillies tried to extend their season Thursday night against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park, their Delta 757 charter sat 23 miles away at Hartsfield-Jackson International airport.
A win would send the Phillies west, to Los Angeles and a second straight National League Division Series matchup with the Dodgers.
A loss would send them home, to Philadelphia and another long, cold winter.
It didn’t take long to figure out which way the Phillies would be heading. Aaron Nola was tagged for three runs in the first inning. The Phillies never recovered. Their season came to an end in a 6-2 loss to the Braves in Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series.
For just the second time in franchise history, the Phillies qualified for the postseason five years in a row, matching a team-high streak first reached from 2007 to 2011. The Phils won the World Series in 2008, but have not since. They made a surprising run to the World Series in 2022 but were beaten by the Houston Astros in six games. They were a win away from returning to the World Series in 2023 only to collapse and lose Games 6 and 7 of the NL Championship Series at home to Arizona. Since then, they have gone the wrong way, losing in Division Series (their first round of play) in 2024 and 2025 and now in the Wild Card Series.
Meanwhile, their core group of high-priced veteran players has gotten older.
Heading into the offseason, the Phils have many questions, first and foremost: Will Don Mattingly return as manager in 2027? He took over, with an interim tag, for Rob Thomson after the team got off to a 9-19 start in April.
The Phillies played .590 ball (79-55) under Mattingly, but president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski tried to hire Alex Cora when he let Thomson go, and he seems likely to try again in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.
If Cora comes on board, he will be taking over a team of highs and lows, one with an inconsistent offense that is seemingly up one month (see August) and down the next (see September). He will be taking over a team that lacks pitching depth, both in the starting rotation and the bullpen. Both weaknesses reared their head in recent weeks as the Phils had to scramble to make the playoffs, using ace Zack Wheeler on the final day of the regular season, a circumstance that prevented him from starting Game 1 of the postseason.
Jesus Luzardo pitched well in Game 1 and the Phillies held a 3-2 in the seventh. With few trusted arms in his bullpen, Mattingly went to his All-Star closer, Jhoan Duran, in the bottom of the seventh. Duran got through that inning but gave up the lead on a three-run homer in the eighth and the Phillies lost, 5-3.
They bounced back to win a wild Game 2 Wednesday in 10 innings on the strength of three late home runs and the clutch pitching of Cristopher Sanchez, Alex McFarlane and Andrew Painter. They seemed to have momentum heading into Game 3.
But the momentum disappeared quickly as Nola had big trouble throwing strikes.
Just three of his first 13 pitches to open the game were strikes. He fell behind Ronald Acuna Jr., and Matt Olson, the Braves’ Nos. 2 and 3 hitters, with 3-0 counts and eventually walked both. He then fell behind Michael Harris II, 2-0. Harris hit the next pitch, a sinker down and out of the zone, over the right-field wall for a three-run homer.
Nola did not make it through the second inning. Tim Mayza got the final out of the frame before handing off to Wheeler in the top of the third. The Phillies’ brain trust opted not to start Wheeler on three days’ rest. He’d never done that before. They reasoned that Nola’s best chance of succeeding would be to stay in a starter’s role.
“We’re going to need Nola in this game,” Mattingly said before the game. “Starting him gives us the best version of him.”
The Phillies weren’t sure Wheeler would even be able to pitch until he tested himself by playing catch before the game. He ended up pitching four innings but was not particularly sharp. He gave up three hits and walked three. One of those walks turned into a run when Ozzie Albies stroked a two-run homer in the fourth to give the Braves a 5-0 lead.
Later in the game, Olson hit the Braves’ third homer of the night, a solo shot against Jonathan Bowlan in the seventh.
Atlanta used lefty Ray Kerr as an opener. He pitched 3 1/3 innings and did not allow a run. The only hit Kerr allowed was a single to Kyle Schwarber in the first inning. Kerr then struck out Bryce Harper.
Grant Holmes, Robert Suarez, Didier Fuentes, Dylan Dodd and Chris Sale finished off the Phillies. Sale, the Braves’ ace lefty who started Game 1, entered with two outs in the eighth and struck out Harper.
Before the 2019 season, Harper signed a 13-year, $330-million contract with the Phillies. He came looking for a parade down Broad Street. Eight years later, he boarded a flight back to Philadelphia, still looking.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 30: Alec Bohm #28 of the Philadelphia Phillies runs the bases after hitting a home run against the Atlanta Braves during the tenth inning in game two of the National League Wild Card Series at Truist Park on September 30, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Edward M. Pio Roda/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Phillies at Braves
First pitch: 8:00 PM EDT TV: NBC/Peacock Probable pitchers: Aaron Nola, RHP (PHI), Ray Kerr, LHP (ATL)
Here’s all the info you need for tonight’s Wild Card Series decisive game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves. The series is tied 1-1.
Aaron Nola, RHP vs. Ray Kerr, LHP
The Braves are going with a bullpen game. Kerr, a lefthander, is obviously starting to try to neutralize the LH power hitters at the top of the Phillies lineup. Not sure who their bulk guy will be.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 29: A general view of Wild Card Abbvie on deck circle before the game between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies in game one of the National League Wild Card Series at Truist Park on September 29, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Edward M. Pio Roda/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It’s the deciding game 3 between the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves Thursday afternoon. RHP Aaron Nola will start for the Phillies while the Braves will give the ball to LHP Ray Kerr. First pitch is scheduled for 7pm central time and the game broadcast will be available via NBC/Peacock.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - SEPTEMBER 24: Angel Martinez #1 of the Cleveland Guardians celebrates with his teammates following the win over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on September 24, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Cleveland Guardians secured a spot in the 2026 playoffs with the win over the Boston Red Sox. (Photo by CJ Gunther/Getty Images) | Getty Images
In just a couple days, we will know the Guardians’ 26 choices for their ALDS roster. But, that won’t stop the impatient among us from guessing ahead of time!
Most choices are obvious:
Patrick Bailey and Austin Hedgees – Catchers
Nathaniel Lowe and David Fry – First Basemen
Travis Bazzana and Angel Genao – Second Basemen
Brayan Rocchio – Shortstop
Jose Ramirez – Third Baseman
Angel Martinez, Steven Kwan, Chase DeLauter, Jo Adell, Petey Halpin – Outfielders
Daniel Espino, Tim Herrin, Hunter Gaddis, Erik Sabrowski, Shawn Armstrong and Cade Smith – Relief Pitchers
All of these players will make the roster. So, who gets the final four spots?
That leaves four positions.
Tanner Bibee, Foster Griffin, Slade Cecconi, Matt Festa, Daniel Schneemann, Rhys Hoskins, Craig Yoho, Franco Aleman and Austin Peterson would seem to be the top remaining options.
If Hoskins is healthy, I suspect he will make the roster to provide an additional right-handed hitter against Hagen Smith, Anthony Kay, Bryan Hudson and Sean Newcombe. Is he healthy? Supposedly, he is scrimmaging. Is he going to actually help vs. LHP? The jury is definitely out there. But, I have a feeling he will make it.
So, who gets the last three spots? Who SHOULD get them? With the depressing news that Colin Holderman is out, I think one answer should be Foster Griffin. Griffin has a 3.08 FIP against LHH. He should be a weapon to be deployed against left-handed hitters and seen as more reliable in that spot than Tim Herrin for the ALDS, given that the team will not need his services as a starter. He is the perfect pitcher to deploy with 1 or 2 runners on and 1 or 2 outs, given his penchant for getting groundballs, if a lefty is at the plate.
Ok, so two spots left. I think you can make a strong argument for Slade Cecconi, Tanner Bibee and for Daniel Schneemann. Is 14 positions players and 12 pitchers the right mix, or would it be helpful to have an additional left-handed bat on the bench? It is not going to be Kyle Manzardo as there have been zero signs that the team wants him back, at least yet. Would the team pull a 2025 Chase DeLauter and bring Ralphy Velazquez up as a bench bat? I WOULD BE SO HAPPY IF THEY DI… but, I don’t think that’s likely.
If the goal isn’t to get a serious left-handed bat to pinch-hit against Grant Taylor late in a game, then I vote Tanner Bibee and Slade Cecconi to fill out the roster. Both have experience, both have moxie and both can give you a really good inning of work if needed. In fact, I think the team should consider moving Espino to the back end of the pen and making Cecconi Cantillo’s opener for game three. I don’t oppose Schneemann making the roster but I do think if they want a left-handed bat, they should choose someone with consistent home run power. I know Schneemann provides a ton of defensive versatility and pinch-running skills, but, if that’s what they want, they should probably pick Schneemann over Halpin, and I don’t see them doing that.
So, there you have it. Add Rhys Hoskins, Tanner Bibee, Slade Cecconi and Foster Griffin to the names listed above and that’s my prediction for the ALDS roster.
AUSTIN, TX - MAY 30: Infielder Adrian Rodriguez #24 of the Texas Longhorns hits the ball during the NCAA Division I Regional game between Texas Longhorns and Tarleton State Texans on May 30, 2026, at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin, TX. (Photo by David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
By Austin Humphrey
Adrian Rodriguez is done switch-hitting, at least for now. The Texas Longhorns junior shortstop is staying on the left side of the plate, and he’s learning he doesn’t need nearly as many swings to get ready.
Rodriguez hit exclusively left-handed down the stretch of Texas’ 2026 run to Omaha while managing a left-hand injury that has followed him through his first two college seasons. The Longhorns plan to keep it that way heading into 2027.
Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle said Monday the doctors and specialists Rodriguez saw recommended rest, and that batting right-handed bothered his left hand more than batting left-handed did. “With that rest, the best thing for him, at least at this point in his career, is to just hit on one side of the plate,” Schlossnagle said.
Switch hitting also meant twice the workload. “When you’re a switch hitter, it’s double the work, and whether you’re doing 10 swings in a day, you’ve got to do 10 from each side, or whether you’re doing 1,000, then it’s both sides,” Schlossnagle said.
The decision came through what Schlossnagle called “a series of conversations” over “a very long amount of time.” They involved Rodriguez, members of his family and Troy Tulowitzki, the former major-league shortstop who is now a star assistant for the Longhorns. Tulowitzki’s credibility, built in this case around his ability to “recite off examples of major leaguers that he’s played with” who have done more with fewer swings helped convince Rodriguez to stick with a reduced-volume approach from the left side. The goal was getting everyone on the same page “because we want him to feel supported by everyone around him,” Schlossnagle said.
Part of that process meant changing how Rodriguez prepares. Schlossnagle described telling his star shortstop that “if some guys need 200 swings before a game to be ready, you need two and you’re ready to go,” even if that’s not an exact swing count.. “A lot of players find comfort and confidence in their work ethic,” Schlossnagle said. “I think he still has that.”
The hand has interrupted Rodriguez’s development more than once. His trouble dates to March 2025, when a pitch against Missouri fractured his left hamate. He finished his freshman season batting left-handed and had surgery that fall to insert a staple. The hardware came out around the end of March 2026 after inflammation that Schlossnagle attributed to an apparent reaction to nickel and cobalt. Rodriguez missed eight games after the procedure and returned against Alabama on April 17.
Even before the full switch, the left side was doing more damage. In an April 30 scouting report, Prep Baseball’s David Seifert listed a .461 slugging percentage for Rodriguez batting left-handed and .244 batting right-handed. The report didn’t include at-bat totals for each side, so those numbers are a midseason snapshot rather than a final split. By June 8, Burnt Orange Nation reported, Rodriguez was hitting exclusively left-handed because it caused less pain.
During Texas’ NCAA tournament run, Rodriguez went 19-for-31 (.613) with 16 RBI in eight games. His best afternoon came June 15, when he went 5-for-5 in a 14–2 elimination-game win over Alabama and hit for the third cycle in Men’s College World Series history. His sixth-inning home run completed the cycle, and his seven RBI tied a single-game event record.
That afternoon will be the easy reference point next spring, but his full season is a steadier measure of what Texas brings back: a .327 hitter with 18 doubles and 47 RBI in 53 starts.
So far, the hand has held up. “I haven’t seen any flare-ups. Certainly going to knock on wood about that,” Schlossnagle said. He added that it would be nice for everyone, Rodriguez most of all, “just to play a season without taking a swing and knowing that if you miss the ball, it’s going to hurt.”
Schlossnagle also said Rodriguez has “some clarity in his own mind about who he is as a player” and pointed to “so much success left on left.”
As for getting the Omaha version of Rodriguez every day, Schlossnagle kept his expectations simple.
“I just want to see him healthy and confident and smiling,” the Texas head coach said. “When he’s doing that, he’ll be just fine.”
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 29: Mauricio Dubon #14 of the Atlanta Braves reacts after a double against the Philadelphia Phillies during the second inning in game one of the National League Wild Card Series at Truist Park on September 29, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
So, here we are. One team is going to be having a champagne shower and booking a flight to Los Angeles for the National League Divisional Series and one team will have to face the cold, dark (and in this case, uncertain) offseason having to deal with the extra sting of having been eliminated by a divisional rival.
I think we’re all hoping that it’ll be the Atlanta Braves getting on the plane instead of the Philadelphia Phillies and if it’s going to happen, they’re going to need Ray Kerr (and Johnny Wholestaff, really) to come up huge and keep Philadelphia’s lineup quiet while the offense gets to work against Aaron Nola (and, well, Philadelphia’s whole pitching staff as well).
Obviously, the spotlight is on Kerr who will be making his fourth start and first-ever Postseason appearance. It’s been a long and winding road to get here for Kerr and now the Braves will be leaning on him to make it happen for them on the mound in a winner-take-all situation.
Walt Weiss was asked in the pregame press conference about how Kerr is approaching making this big start and agin, his history is definitely a factor in making sure that the moment doesn’t become too big for him. “Ray is a pretty easygoing guy. He’s got a great story, too, if you haven’t seen it,” said Weiss. “He’s overcome a lot of things in his life. He’s very grateful to be here and I’m sure really excited about the start.”
As far as the strategy goes, Weiss made it pretty clear what he had in mind when he was asked about that as well. “[The Phillies have] obviously a pretty tough left-handed top of the order,” explained Weiss. “Ray has thrown the ball well against these guys, and it’s been recent. I think two different outings within a week, three, three-plus each time, scoreless, did a nice job. Keeps a right-handed starter away from that top of the order for a minute. Ray has thrown the ball really well, he’s done a nice job for us.”
He was also asked about when he came up with the idea and it seemed like one of those ideas that came as a matter of circumstance. “I would say the last week of the regular season, just starting to look at some scenarios,” stated Weiss. “Look, we’ve lost all these starters. We lost three more starters toward the end of the year in Elder and Martin Pérez and Reynaldo López. We started to think a little bit creatively because we knew we might run into something like this. So it was good. It was good that Ray got that start under his belt.”
Meanwhile, the other big move of the day is that Dominic Smith has been given DH duties for this one, despite only receiving liited at-bats and playing time over the course of this season. Obviously his at-bat to end Game 2 didn’t exactly engender a ton of confidence amongst the Braves faithful but Weiss is feeling confident that Smith can come through when called upon.
Weiss was asked about why he thinks Smith can come through for the Braves tonight he explained that it was mostly due to the matchup. “Dom has got a lot of history against Nola. Not saying he’s dominated Nola or anything, but he’s had his fair share of success against him, a lot of at-bats,” said Weiss. A lot of the underlying numbers for Nola favor left-handers against him. Dom has been a big part of our success.“
“Look, he hasn’t had a lot of at-bats recently because when [Sean Murphy] came back, Murph was doing the lion’s share of the catching, which made Drake [Baldwin] the DH, and Dom was the odd man out,” stated Weiss as he also explained why Dominic Smith hadn’t received many ABs in recent times.
“…in the latter part of the season, I was using that DH spot to get guys off their feet, Ronald [Acuña Jr.] in particular. Several times he was the DH, [Ozzie] Albies was the DH. So Dom was the odd man out,” continued Weiss. “But [Dominic] is a professional hitter. He was instrumental in our early season success. He was one of the guys carrying us the first couple months of the season, and his at-bats got limited. Obviously the production was limited.”
Weiss continued to talk about the decision to start Smith and went back to his early-season results as an example (while also admitting that the Game 2 AB was rough). “But even when I’ve used him as a pinch-hitter, it’s almost always a quality at-bat. Tough at-bat yesterday, tough circumstances against a guy throwing 100, but I still felt good about Dom in the box yesterday. He just typically gives you a good — it’s usually a deep count by the time the at-bat is over. He can draw a walk. He uses the whole field. And we just needed a single right there. I thought Dom was our best option to get a single right there. Like I said, he’s a professional hitter.”
For what it’s worth, Dominic Smith has 11 hits in 41 plate appearances and has hit .268/.286/.488 with six doubles and a homer against Nola over the course of his career, so maybe there’s something there. Also, I’d imagine that Smith would be out of there once Nola is out of there (unless Dom just delivers a Big Dominic Smith Moment at the best possible moment) so this doesn’t feel like something we’re going to see for the full nine (or so) innings. Either way, it’ll be fascinating to see how this goes for Smith and the Braves.
Either way, the Braves are still feeling loose and confident heading into Game 3. When Mike Yastrzemski was asked about what the vibe of the clubhouse was like ahead of this big elimination game, Yaz stated that there was still a fun atmopshere in the clubhouse despite so much being at stake.
“It feels like any other day right now. I don’t know if you like to hear that or not, but that’s just the reality of things. It’s another game,” stated Yaz. “There are repercussions at the end of the game, but for us to play our best, it has to be just another game. Because if we start thinking about things and overanalyzing how a pitcher is going to throw, what a hitter is going to be looking for, that’s how you get locked up in those moments. Trusting our preparation, trusting all the work we’ve put in the whole season is the way we’re going to be able to play loose. Guys like Ozzie and Ronny and [Mauricio Dubón] that are laughing and having a good time and bringing out the best in everyone, that’s what they’re going to be doing today because that’s how we operate.”
Mauricio Dubón also seemed pretty loose and confident, though he’s always come off that way in my experiences with him and just observing him around the ballpark. When he was asked about the game moving to 8 p.m. ET, he stated that he was excited about being able to play in front of a full house in primetime. “The vibes are good. It’s the only game that’s being played today. Everybody is going to be watching. Phillies and Braves fans hate each other. So it’s going to be really fun,” said Dubón.
When I asked him about being able to deliver in those big, two-out, high-leverage sitautions, he explained to me that it was all about focus and stepping up in the moment. Just getting the job done, man. If you don’t do it, somebody else will. They’re going to bring somebody else to do it,“ explained Dubón. ”I think the sense of urgency, just try to get the job done. You don’t need a three-run homer to deliver. One at a time is going to be really important right there. If you get it, great. If not, just try to bring one in.“
So while they’re loose, the squad appears to be focused as well. They’re professionals and they know what’s on the line. Ultimately, everybody knows what’s at stake and they know that they’ve got to either produce or go home. It’s that simple. Hopefully once we reach the end of the night, we’ll be here discussing a joyous night at Truist Park instead of a bummer. We’ll see what happens!
HOUSTON, TEXAS - SEPTEMBER 30: Jeremy Peña #3 of the Houston Astros salutes before game two of the American League Wild Card Series against the Chicago White Sox at Daikin Park on September 30, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Houston Astros/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Houston Astros 2026 season ended much the way it existed all season long: unfulfilled promise, frustration, some excitement that ended in disappointment. The unfulfilling season capped off with an unfulfilling ending.
So many issues that the Astros had to work through this season exposed their lack of major-league caliber depth. It unfortunately coincided with some older players losing their stare downs with Father Time.
So where do the Astros go from here (position player edition):
A) Make a decision on Jeremy Pena.
This is the most important offseason decision the team has to make. Are they willing to pay Jeremy Pena and make him the next Astros lifer, following in the footsteps of Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell and Jose Altuve? If they aren’t, will they look to maximize his value the way they did Kyle Tucker, or will they let him walk for nothing as they did most recently with Alex Bregman and Framber Valdez?
Paying him a long term deal (which Astros owner Jim Crane has been loathe to do for anyone) comes with the risk of Pena experiencing a significant performance drop-off towards the end of the contract. Pena just completed his age-28 season, and has one more year of arbitration before he hits free agency.
If they were to write him an 8-year deal that included eating up his final year of arbitration, it would take him through his age-36 season. Jose Altuve just completed his age-36 season, and it was by far the worst season of his career. Altuve is also a franchise icon. Pena could be in the same vein when you consider his resume (All-Star, Gold Glove winner, ALCS MVP, World Series MVP, World Series champion, team leader) and his current importance to the team. Pena is a team leader, offensive catalyst, and their clear best defender at the position (despite his occasional mental lapses in this injury-marred season).
If they were to trade him, they could get a Kyle Tucker-esque return, which has proven to be a very strong return for the Astros. Paredes is a top-3 bat on the team with a tailor-made swing for Daikin Park, Cam Smith developed more power this season and is some pitch recognition from becoming an All-Star, and Hayden Wesneski has turned into a solid middle-of the-rotation pitcher. They may even be able to get more for Pena because he plays a premium position, has the postseason pedigree, the leadership pedigree, and his contract demands won’t be so absurd per year that only 3-5 teams can consider him.
The only thing they cannot do, especially with the team not being a World Series contender, is have him play out the season and walk away for nothing at the end of the year. That would be franchise malpractice.
B) Find a trade partner for Christian Walker.
Walker isn’t Jose Abreu. 29 HR and 87 RBI don’t grow on trees. He did post a 103 OPS+, so he was slightly above league average as a hitter, despite the low batting average (.226) and low OBP (.299). His defense was also still above average, as his 3 Outs Above Average (OAA) were tied for sixth-best in MLB.
But there are too many strikeouts, too many GIDPs, too many missed RBI opportunities. Finishing his age-35 season, it really looks nearly identical to his age-34 season that had many questioning if Father Time had called him with bad news.
The Astros have an infield log jam, and either Isaac Paredes or Carlos Correa are both superior options to Walker at 1B at this point, and both are more productive and on better contracts.
Walker’s comments regarding Astros fans after Game 1 of the AL Wild Card series against the Chicago White Sox didn’t win him any fans, either. I am a firm believer that once a player takes shots at the fans, it’s time for them to go. This is especially true with underperformers who have not had any major accomplishments in the team uniform.
C) Settle the positions of Isaac Paredes and Carlos Correa.
Paredes has 1B experience, but has played more 3B. While he is not an elite defensive 3B by any metric (-3 OAA, tied for 31st), his defense has not been a real negative factor impacting games for the Astros in either of the past two seasons.
Correa is a superior defender at 3B, but his tendon injury must be accounted for. If the tendon injury limits Correa’s ability to play 3B, whether it’s lateral movement or ability to charge balls or throw on the run, moving Correa to 1B should be an option on the table.
Correa would be a big target at 1B (he’s 6’3”), his ability to snag short hops at 3B should translate to his ability to pick short hop throws at 1B, and his natural athleticism and high baseball IQ should translate to his learning a new position easily. While it would make sense to have the better defender at 3B, if Correa has a potential physical limitation, playing him at 1B would make more sense. Additionally, just as Correa wanted to move to 3B to make playing easier on his body, a move to 1B would take more burden off him physically. As demonstrated this season, the Astros really need Correa’s bat in the lineup.
D) The Astros have to change how they manage the DH spot.
Yordan Alvarez made just 24 starts in LF this season, his fewest in which he played a full season. He also maintained his reputation of hitting better when he plays the field. The presumed favorite for AL MVP this season hit .305 with a .422 OBP and .997 OPS as a DH. As a LF, he hit a ridiculous .376 with a .476 OBP and 1.239 OPS.
Essentially as a DH Yordan is an All-Star. As a LF, he’s Babe Ruth.
Jose Altuve has become nearly unplayable at 2B this season. He was an MLB-worst -10 OAA. His limited range was on display in the first inning of Game 2 of the AL Wild Card game vs. the White Sox when he was unable to get to a ground ball while diving that Nick Allen would have gotten to standing up. Father Time really came for Jose Altuve this season, and the franchise icon just couldn’t beat him back down.
Altuve made 127 starts at 2B this season, and only 7 at DH. While it’s a very small sample size, Altuve posted a .689 OPS as a 2B and a .922 OPS as a DH.
Those numbers on their own don’t say much, but when we add them to last season’s splits, the picture becomes clearer.
In 2025, Altuve played 63 games at 2B, and posted a .759 OPS. He played 45 games in LF, and post a .742 OPS. In 49 games as a DH, his OPS was .816. Altuve’s numbers are better when his body is fresher.
This should demonstrate that the Astros need to stop making Yordan a full-time DH, and have him share the spot with Altuve.
Altuve clearly needs more DH time, and hits better there. Alvarez, while a poor fielder due to limited range, brings a ton of offense and power to an OF that was incredibly weak at the plate in 2026. Also, it turns out, Alvarez is superhuman at the plate when he plays the field.
Alvarez has never played more than 56 games in LF, and now the Astros need to ask him to play about 75. They also need to ask Altuve to drop to about 75 games in the field. It’s a big ask of both players, but it seems like the best way to manage both of them going forward and maximize their success.
Boston Red Sox pitcher Sonny Gray (54) is pulled from the game in the fifth inning during Game 2 of the Wild Card game against the New York Yankees, Wednesday, September 30, 2026, at Yankee Stadium.
Sports talk host Craig Carton first reported on WFAN on Thursday that the league had looked into it.
While the Yankees walloped the Red Sox to complete the sweep, plenty of baseball fans noticed what appeared to be a strange substance on Gray’s neck when he was on the mound, raising plenty of questions.
Gray appeared to touch it at various times while on the mound, and baseball fans were quick to point out the discoloration on the right side of his neck.
Carton said on air that he was told by Major League Baseball that it was on top of the situation and that the umpires had checked his hat, glove and hands after every inning he pitched.
“He was checked after every inning. The spin rate was not up at all compared to his starts throughout the regular season,” Carton said. “They did a full check because, obviously, if you’re watching the game, like we all are, you saw the right side of his neck was discolored.”
Gray pitched 4 ⅔ innings and allowed only a solo home run to Luis Garcia Jr. before he was pulled from the game at 70 pitches.
Boston Red Sox pitcher Sonny Gray (54) is pulled from the game in the fifth inning during Game 2 of the Wild Card game against the New York Yankees, Wednesday, September 30, 2026, at Yankee Stadium. Robert Sabo for New York Post
The veteran right-hander seemed to question the decision to pull him from the game.
“I think I’m the best pitcher in the American League going through the order the third time. I think that’s a fact. I would have liked to live or die with me in that moment, but that’s the competitor I am,” he told reporters. “You can probably ask the guys and they felt the same way. I felt strong. I felt confident.
Boston finished 26th in the majors in home runs. The Cubs built a rotation with the idea the lineup would cover up the warts. Houston needed a club-record 19 starting pitches to get through 162 games.
The postseason found the fatal flaws.
Here's what sank each team and what it will take for them to get back stronger next fall.
The Cubs lineup was supposed to carry them. For six months, it did.
Chicago led the majors in runs and hit 220 home runs. Pete Crow-Armstrong joined the 40-40 club. Most nights, the lineup covered up the Cubs fatal flaw: pitching.
The rotation was flawed from the start. Shota Imanaga allowed 34 home runs, the most in the majors. They tried to fix it by acquiring Kevin Gausman, who posted a 5.04 ERA after the trade, and Clay Holmes, who had never started a postseason game.
The plan was to outscore everybody and it lasted for one inning. Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado homered off Matthew Boyd in the first inning of Game 1. Michael King took it from there.
The Cubs went 8-for-62, a .129 batting average over the two games.
The fix starts on the mound. Imanaga, Gausman, Boyd and Holmes are all headed to free agency, so Chicago is rebuilding the rotation. Help is coming, just not soon. Cade Horton, who finished second in 2025 Rookie of the Year voting, had Tommy John surgery in April. Justin Steele, a 2023 All-Star and under contract through 2027, will be back from his second elbow surgery. Jaxon Wiggins, the Cubs' top prospect, can hit 100 mph, but also had a 7.83 ERA in Triple-A.
The Cubs have to spend on a stopper, one starter they can rely on and give the ball to for Game 1. They need to go all in on a pitcher, so why not go for broke with Tarik Skubal, the two-time American League Cy Young winner. He is going to be expensive, but he turns them into a contender.
Why Boston Red Sox lost to New York Yankees
Willson Contreras' solo homer in the sixth inning of Game 2 ended a streak of 26 2/3 innings without a run for the Red Sox.
Boston scored two runs in two games.
The offense looked a lot like the one Boston had all season. The Red Sox finished 23rd in the majors in runs and 26th in home runs. Against the Yankees, they managed seven hits in 18 innings.
The lack of runs shaped everything else.
First-year manager Chad Tracy pulled both his starters, Payton Tolle and Sonny Gray, with two outs in the fifth inning and Boston trailing 1-0. He said he felt he had to be aggressive because the team could not score.
He managed like one run would beat him and with the lineup he had, it could.
The fix is getting what general manager Craig Breslow dealt away in 2025 and hasn't replaced: a middle-of-the-order power hitter - or two.
Brandon Lowe, who hit 35 homers for Pittsburgh, is a free agent they could probably get at a bargain. Boston also needs more from players already on the roster. Jarren Duran's production has dropped two years running, and Roman Anthony needs to stay healthy.
He had a 2.68 ERA over an eight-start stretch late in the season, the closest thing Houston had to a sure thing. The White Sox scored four runs on him and chased him in the first inning. The offense rallied to within a run, but the bullpen couldn't hold it and the season was over.
Houston's rotation spent most of 2026 on the injured list. Brown strained his shoulder in April. Tatsuya Imai and Cristian Javier went down within weeks. The Astros were 20-31 by mid-May and used a franchise-record 19 starting pitchers. Their starters carried a 4.97 ERA, 28th in the majors, into September. The staff walked 628 batters, the most in the American League.
Yordan Alvarez is the only reason the Astros were able to pull out the American League West title with an 81-81 record. He won the AL batting title at .316, hit 42 homers and led the majors in on-base and slugging percentage. He is under contract through 2028. Since he signed a six-year extension in 2022, the Astros have won one playoff series. They are wasting his prime without pitching.
The fix is two dependable starters to slot in behind Brown. Imai can opt out of his three-year, $54 million deal. Mike Burrows had a 5.99 ERA before he went on the injured list. Javier has been up and down when healthy. None of them is a sure thing for 2027.
Michael King has an opt-out after this season. Though he missed chunks of time with a thoracic-outlet nerve issue and a knee inflammation, he just threw a gem in the wild card round.
