Category: Baseball

The Yankees opened this series against the Red Sox with a narrow 1-0 win, but they’d need more offense than that to do well in the scheduled doubleheader lined up on Saturday. The first game was a dud as they got shutout and let the game fully get away from them in the ninth inning, but they bounced back to take the nightcap 9-2 and managed to avoid using David Bednar for a night after pouring it on with five runs in the bottom of the eighth. Now perhaps the most important game of the season lays before them as the final game against the Sox today will determine who wins the season series: with both teams in position to face each other in the Wild Card Round, having the tiebreaker to give them home field advantage for those 2-3 games is a massive deal. The Yankees’ three game lead for the first slot would suddenly be a lot thinner if they lose tomorrow, but if they take it then they’ve got a sizeable gap to work with for the final month of play.

Before we get to the business on the field, let’s go over what’s in store earlier in the day. I’ve got the Rivalry Roundup covering the Rays gaining a half-game after a comeback win, Jonathan recounts the career of Johnny Lindell and his days with the 1940s Yankees on his birthday, and Scott talks to Scranton manager Shelley Duncan after he crossed the 1,000 games managed milestone on Friday. Then after the game, John will pop in to deliver the weekly social media spotlight.

Today’s Matchup:

New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox

Time: 1:35 p.m. EST

TV: YES Network, NESN

Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY

Questions/Prompts:

1. How long of a leash does Will Warren get for today’s game after the bullpen had to work overtime yesterday?

2. How concerned are you about George Lombard Jr. after he exited yesterday’s nightcap with an apparent knee injury?

ESPN: In case you missed the report on Pinstripe Alley, the Yankees had to pull rookie shortstop George Lombard Jr. from the nightcap of their doubleheader against the Red Sox. He appeared to tweak something on a check swing during an at-bat in the second, and though he remained in the game for a couple innings, he was replaced on defense in the fourth. Diagnosed with “right knee discomfort,” he underwent testing; based on initial results, manager Aaron Boone classified Lombard as “day to day.” We’ll have to wait and see if it’s any worse once more is known, but that’s the latest report.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Recovering from 2025 Tommy John surgery, right-hander Clarke Schmidt made his first rehab appearance of the 2026 campaign for the Somerset Patriots. He was joined by fellow Yankee Ryan McMahon, who went down on August 19th with a Grade 2 left thumb sprain.

Schmidt threw 20 pitches, 16 of them for strikes. He pitched 0.2 innings and allowed two hits (one of them being a homer) and two runs, striking out two. The goal is for him to rejoin the Yankees as a reliever in the middle of September, while McMahon should be available sooner than that, likely on September 1st when rosters expand to 28 players. The third baseman will travel with the team out west as they begin their road trip tomorrow in Anaheim.

MLB Trade Rumors | Mark Polishuk: The Yankees signed former top prospect Jarred Kelenic to a minor league contract on Saturday. The 27-year-old outfielder has spent the 2026 campaign with the Chicago White Sox and the Texas Rangers, posting a 76 wRC+ in 83 plate appearances between the two American League squads.

Kelenic was with the Rangers until this week, when he cleared waivers and rejected an assignment to their Triple-A team. After being taken by the Mets with the sixth overall pick in 2018 and being the top prospect traded to Seattle in the Edwin Díaz trade, Kelenic’s career has had more valleys than peaks, and he has been labeled by most as a bust to this point. The Yankees are going to take a look at him as a depth outfielder.

NBC Sports: Manager Aaron Boone announced that Elmer Rodríguez, who beat the Houston Astros on Wednesday, will stay in the rotation for at least one more turn and start on Monday against the Los Angeles Angels. The right-hander, owner of a 4.70 ERA in 23 MLB innings this year with the Bombers, tossed his first quality start against the Yankees’ decade-long nemesis, surrendering three runs in six innings.

MLB Trade Rumors | Connor Byrne: Between Game 1 and Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Yankees designated Justin Topa for assignment to activate left-hander Max Fried, the starter for the nightcap, from the injured list. Topa did his job, giving New York three innings with a 0.00 ERA (he did allow an unearned run) in his short stint with the MLB team, but he became a victim of the roster crunch and his short-term future is now uncertain. He’ll likely be placed on waivers, and if he goes unclaimed, the organization will surely be happy to welcome him in Triple-A. It remains to be seen if he accepts, though.

The Mets’ Luis Robert Jr. gamble could be coming to an unceremonious end — but only if someone is willing to pay for it.

Robert was placed on waivers Saturday, The Post’s Joel Sherman confirmed, giving him 48 hours to potentially land with a contender and still be eligible for their postseason roster.

The outfielder pinch hit in the eighth inning of the Mets’ 6-2 win over the Astros at Citi Field and can continue to play while on waivers.

If a team decides to claim him, they’d owe the approximate $3 million remaining on his contract for this season plus a $2 million buyout.

If other MLB teams decide that Robert, 29, isn’t worth the approximately $5 million, a likely outcome based on his struggles, he’d end up back with the Mets.

They acquired Robert from the White Sox in January, hoping the deal would bring a missing piece for a contending season, but Robert missed time due to an injury in addition to underwhelming at the plate. The Mets spiraled toward a lost year. And then they unsuccessfully tried to trade Robert ahead of the deadline.

Through most of the early-season free fall, Robert was out of the lineup with a lumbar spine herniation. At the time of his injury, which ultimately sidelined him until July 20, he was hitting just .224 with a .656 OPS.

Once he returned, his batting average dipped to as low as .189 — and his OPS as low as .597 — after the Mets’ Aug. 5 game.

And while he’d hit .311 with a .994 OPS across 19 games since then, entering play Saturday, Robert has still collected just 10 homers and 23 RBIs even after his recent uptick in production.

His path to playing time also became complicated. The Mets have received strong contributions from rookie outfielders Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing, who both factor into their long-term future more than Robert.

Juan Soto returned from a left calf strain Saturday, too, and while the Mets will ease him back into the lineup as designated hitter initially, he’ll factor into the defensive equation in 2027 and beyond.

Robert could be owed $20 million next season via a club option, but the Mets — or any team he’s claimed by — would likely pay the $2 million buyout instead.

Their decision to waive Robert could help solve that outfield logjam.

It would also save the Mets money. But if not, if the two days pass without him getting claimed, it becomes just another footnote in a disappointing year, another sign of the Mets admitting an offseason mistake.

This game, with Mitch Bratt starting the second game of a rare Saturday doubleheader before a Sunday off day, felt like it was gonna be a long shot even against the lowly San Francisco Giants, and so it was. Merrill Kelly pitched a gem in the early game to secure us the series split and to pull us briefly ahead of the San Diego Padres for the third wild card spot, so winning this one would have been gravy anyway, but alas, it was not to be.

The Giants started AA hand Yunior Marte today, and he walked Lars Nootbaar to start things off, but Nootbaar was quickly erased when Corbin Carroll hit a hard liner right to Bryce Eldridge at first base for an unassisted double play. Perdomo then rolled over to second for the third out. Bratt, meanwhile, started his day by walking Jonah Cox on four pitches, earning him an immediate mound visit so he could be reminded of where the strike zone actually was. That proved effective enough, as he got through the rest of the first with only eight more pitches thrown, but unfortunately Jonah Cox turns out to be a very speedy baserunner and he stole second and third before Eldridge singled him home with a grounder to left. 1-0 San Francisco

The middle of our lineup sat down in order against Marte in the second, but Bratt settled down quite well in the bottom half, only needing five pitches to retire the Giants. We broke through against Marte in the third, tying the game thanks to a one-out Ildemaro Vargas single followed one out later by a Lars Nootbaar bloop double into shallow left that left fielder Grant McCray dove for and missed. 1-1 TIE

Bratt pitched around a one-out Jonah Cox single (and subsequent stolen base) in the bottom of the third to put up another zero, and then retired the side in order in the fourth, with a total of 44 pitches thrown through four innings. It actually seemed to be shaping up to be a genuinely good and efficient Mitch Bratt outing, despite that first-inning blemish.

Sadly, however, that ended once the bottom of the fifth rolled around. Bratt gave up a leadoff single to McCray and then walked the next batter before a perfect sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position and earned Bratt the hook, perhaps because he’d completed his second time through the San Francisco order and Torey Lovullo felt like that was quite enough. Geraldo Carrillo came in to relieve him and, uncharacteristically, it went rather badly. He wound up going walk-single-single-walk to the first four batters he faced before finally buckling down and recording the final two outs of the inning, but by then three more runs were in and there was your margin of defeat. 4-1 San Francisco

We were well into the Giants’ bullpen at this point, and managed to get another run across courtesy of singles by Max Kelper, James McCann, and Vargas in the top of the seventh. 4-2 San Francisco

Sadly, however, that was all we were going to get, and meanwhile the bullpen was unable to do its usual job of putting up zeros and keeping things close. Derek Law, called up today from Reno and making his first major league appearance since 2024, threw a very nice scoreless sixth but allowed a run to score in the seventh, and Justin Martinez and Dennis Santana combined to allow two more runs (unearned, but runs nonetheless) to cross the plate to take the score to its final resting place of 7-2 San Francisco

Loss Probability Added, courtesy of FanGraphs

Cioppino: None
Rice-a-Roni: Geraldo Carrillo (2/3 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, -19% WPA), Nolan Arenado (4 AB, 0 H, -12% WPA), Ryan Waldschmidt (3 AB, 0 H, 1 K, -10% WPA)

Perhaps because it was the second game of a doubleheader, or perhaps because this one just didn’t seem to be going well from the get-go, we wound up with a rather sparse 159 comments in the Game Day Thread at time of writing. Most of the comments that went red were embedded in existing and often off-topic side conversations, so I’m going to award Comment of the Game to Diamondhacks for this one that, along with being a hilarous callback to a comment from the afternoon GDT, also feels like it works right now completely unmoored from its proper context:

As you wish!

On that note, you will not have the option to join us tomorrow, as we have a rare (and deeply weird) off day tomorrow. So stop by on Monday when we are back home at Chase Field, hosting the Phillies with firs tpitch scheduled for 6:40pm AZ time. No starting pitchers have been announced yet for either club, so I guess it will just have to be a surprise. Have a good Sunday, everyone….sorry that this was the note we ended the weekend on.

On the bright side, even after tonight’s loss we remain tied with San Diego for the third wild card spot going into tomorrow’s off day, and Corbin Burnes pitched two perfect innings in Reno this afternoon, needing only seventeen pitches to record six outs against the Sacramento River Cats, so at least one of the long-awaited rotation reinforcements is getting closer to his long-overdue return.

As always, thanks for reading, and as always, go Diamondbacks!

Another day, another comeback as the Philadelphia Phillies (76-60) took their second straight victory against the Los Angeles Angels (52-84).

Cristopher Sanchez pitched one of his best starts of the season, allowing two hits and a walk over seven innings with eight strikeouts in a no decision.

The Phillies got on the board first against Angels’ starter, Ryan Johnson, in the second inning with lead-0ff single by Alec Bohm, a walk by Bryson Stott and an RBI-hit by Brandon Marsh.

Sanchez, Johnson and company held serve for seven innings until Jonathan Bowlan allowed a game-tying solo homer by Zach Neto in the bottom of the eighth.

Jhoan Duran preserved the tie and brought the game to extras, where the Phillies pulled ahead with an RBI double by Schwarber and a two-RBI single by Trea Turner.

Duran did allow another run to score on a fielder’s choice by Wade Meckler, but held on to put things away on a pair of fly outs.

The Phillies go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon as Zack Wheeler faces off against Yusei Kikuchi.

Twelve days ago, Max Fried landed on the injured list.

The initial reaction was that it could be it for him this year, the second time he’d been sidelined with the same bone bruise in his left elbow.

Less than two weeks later, the left-hander was back on the mound for the Yankees in The Bronx.

Fried looked like himself Saturday night, though it wasn’t a long outing in a 9-2 victory that earned them a split of the day-night doubleheader against the Red Sox. He struck out four, walked three and allowed one earned run over 3 ²/₃ innings while throwing 63 pitches.

“I was sharper earlier than late, but nice to get back out there, get your competitive juices going,” he said. “At the end of the day, us being able to win the game was really big.”

Fried allowed a solo homer to Nick Sogard in the third inning but didn’t let Boston do any more damage. The Red Sox did put two runners on in the third with one out, but Fried retired Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu to end the threat. He ended his evening on a high note by striking out Caleb Durbin and Andruw Monasterio.

“I thought, overall, he threw the ball pretty well, gave us enough there at the start,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I thought he was pretty good overall. He kind of featured everything and had a feel for everything, so that was good to see.”

The one concern with Fried’s outing was his four-seam fastball’s velocity was a bit down. On the year, he has averaged 95 mph on that pitch, which on Saturday was at 93.8 mph. His cutter also was down, from 92 to 90.8. Oddly, his sinker was slightly up.

“It’s not something that I’m too worried about,” Fried said. “I feel like I was still able to make some good pitches, keep them off-balance, and I was feeling good.”

The hope is that Fried is back for the remainder of the season. He said this latest IL stint was the result of one pitch irritating the elbow. He doesn’t expect to miss any more time.

“I feel great,” Fried said. “Very, very confident.” 

As we head into the final month of the season, this year’s past frustrations are just that, past. For all their flaws in construction and execution, the Orioles now have the chance to seize control of their playoff destiny, stack some wins, and grab the third and final Wild Card spot for good. Today, they got two pieces of good news: Cleveland, the team currently holding onto that last spot, just lost, 8-3, to the lowly Royals. The other piece of good news: the Birds just won the series against the Athletics with a hard-fought win in Game Two.

Very little about today’s 5-3 win was easy. It was one of those games where the Orioles scored a few runs early, then had to hang on for dear life while the starter got tired and the bullpen got weird. The O’s posted four runs in the first six innings before Shane Baz, nearly unhittable for five, flagged, walking three batters, giving up two singles, and hitting a guy, all in a dreadful sixth inning. After him, several relievers struggled: Alex Hoppe, Rico Garcia, Cam Sanders, even closer by default by default Andrew Kittredge. But they just held on. And while the offense has been frustratingly touch-and-go all season, Orioles hitters did just enough tonight.

Athletics starter Jack Perkins doesn’t have a ton of experience as a starting pitcher, but he has an interesting arsenal featuring a great changeup and a slider. Perkins started off strong: he pitched a 1-2-3 first inning and faced the minimum in the second, as Christian Encarnacion-Strand walked and Samuel Basallo hit into a double play.

But the Birds opened the scoring in the third, when Perkins walked leadoff man Coby Mayo on four pitches, then fired wildly over to first—he thought Mayo was going to steal?—and the ball got away. Mayo hustled to second, narrowly avoiding being thrown out. A Colton Cowser deep fly moved Mayo to third, setting up Leody Taveras for an RBI situation. Taveras delivered: he cranked a high changeup to center for a ground-rule double. 1-0 Orioles.

After wasting a two-on, no-outs situation in the fourth, the Birds dispensed with the small ball in the fifth, as Cowser took Perkins yard to deep center. 2-0, O’s.

As for Shane Baz, who is leading all pitchers with 14 losses, you wouldn’t know he’s been the O’s’ bad luck charm from how nasty he came out of the gate tonight. His stuff darted all over the place in a nine-pitch first inning. Excellent team defense all night didn’t hurt his chances, either. Still in the first, Baz benefited from CES looked like he was moving at 2x speed in order to ring up Henry Bolte, the fastest guy in MLB by foot speed, on a grounder to third. And in the second, Gunnar Henderson turned in a play that had everyone on the diamond smiling, ranging to his backhand, way behind the basepaths, to field and throw out Tommy White.

In the middle innings, Baz got two timely double plays, the first erasing a Jonah Heim single in the third, the second allowing him to face the minimum in the fourth. He also pitched a three-up, three-down fifth.

The sixth inning ended Baz’s scoreless run and saw both teams put up tons of traffic on the basepaths. First, Jack Perkins exited and José Suárez, an erstwhile starter for the Angels, allowed a three-hit, two-run Baltimore rally with two outs. Dylan Beavers and Coby Mayo (both hot at the plate lately) singled, and Taveras doubled, plating his second and third RBIs of the night. 4-0, Birds.

It felt like a roomy lead, given how unhittable Baz was looking, but the righty ran out of gas quickly, throwing a dreadful sixth inning where he walked three batters, gave up two singles, hit a guy, and loaded the bases with Athletics twice. Considering all that, for Baz to leave with a line of 5 2/3 innings, 5 H, 2 R, 3 BB and, most importantly, a potential W, seemed pretty fortunate.

Yet holding onto a 4-2 lead proved trickier than you might expect—although if you’ve watched this team at all this year, you know that bullpen meltdowns are none too rare. Reliever Alex Hoppe came in with two outs in the sixth and the bases full of Athletics, then threw three straight balls before getting another highlight-reel play from CES to keep the score intact. For a guy in there for his bat, Encarnacion-Strand is playing fantastic defense right now at the hot corner.

More bullpen shenanigans followed, but none proved fatal. Rico Garcia loaded the bases in the seventh, and it took Yennier Cano getting two vintage strikeouts to get out of it. Cam Sanders allowed a third Athletics run in the eighth, and the breathing room was shrinking.

Help came late in the form of Colton Cowser, who manufactured a fifth run with what was as close to a Little League homer as you get, other than the real thing. Cowser scorched a ball 104 mph at Athletics second baseman Zack Gelof. The ball squirted by, and right fielder Lawrence Butler made a terrible throw to first. The ball sailed past the infielder, then stopped at the feet of catcher Jonah Heim, who accidentally kicked it into the dugout. As the hijinks unfolded, Cowser was rounding the bases. He stopped on third, but not for long: a wild pitch by pitcher Elvis Alvarado, facing Leody Taveras, allowed Cowser to scamper home.

A 5-3 Orioles lead felt a lot better, entering the ninth, and Andrew Kittredge was just up to the task. The righty allowed two singles, but got a well-timed grounder to third. CES—who else?—was there to fire to first and close this thing out.

If you’re into such things, check out the latest Wild Card standings, in which your Orioles have moved back ahead of the Blue Rays and the Rangers and now sit just one game back of the third spot.

So, Camden Chat, who is your Most Birdland Player of the night? Shane Baz, who broke the losing streak and got his first win since June 12? The notorious CES, who pounded the ball all night, is hitting .357 in his last week, and made three highlight reel plays? Leody Taveras, who quietly drove in three of the team’s five runs and stood at the plate for the wild pitch that plated the fifth? Colton Cowser, still flashing the power and in the mix for most of his team’s scoring, too?

Seattle’s see-saw season has seen more sawing downward under the sea level of .500 than it has seen not doing that, and coming into today’s game they were sitting seven games below that level. The last few weeks, in small amounts, have seen the Mariners tepidly challenge that perception. Coming into the series in Toronto, the ebb and flow was slightly in their favor with a 6-4 record of their last 10 games. With the loss in game one yesterday, that evened it to 5-5. An oddity of their recent play has been some truly atrocious and at times historically terrible blowout losses sometimes paired with wins that have been either comfortable, or at least objectively less anxiety-inducing.

So with the game one loss being truly, terribly, awful, the wider royal we could hopefully find forgiveness for the optimists among us believing in the possibility that today’s game could be one such win in that pairing. And if you want to take a half glass full approach: it still was (almost) true! For the first almost exactly half of this game the Mariners were not only in the lead, they were shutting out their opponent.

For the first four and a half innings the Mariners weren’t doing so much that everything felt perfect, but it was fine, comfortable, and even a little fun. Also definitively far from perfect tonight, Toronto starter José Soriano would go on to have a Quality Start and then some I’m sure Blue Jays fans also found fine, comfortable, and even a little fun, and the first inning matched that tone. Less than ten pitches and out on contact, the top of the Seattle lineup went down in order. Josh Naylor continued that trend to start the second inning, but Cal Raleigh would follow it up with a very Cal In Toronto thing and give Seattle fans a little bit of the aforementioned fun and Soriano some of the aforementioned less than perfect. It was Cal Raleigh’s 19th home run of the season, and put Seattle on the board first.

Soriano escaped the second after that with a ground out and then a called strikeout to Cole Young and then Taylor Ward. The third would see J.P. Crawford, returned from the IL, single to start the inning. Brock Rodden dampened that moment with a fly-out, and then Randy Arozarena washed it away entirely when he hit into an inning-ending double play. The fourth inning is when fun baseball would dare rear its ugly, threatening head at Mariners fandom once again.

Not at first, of course. Canzone laced a 100.3 mph line-out right at 2B Charles McAdoo, and Julio went down swinging on a 2-2 count to quickly make it two outs. Josh Naylor next landed a single, and Soriano had trouble locating the zone for a few batters and walked Raleigh and Young, setting things up for Taylor Ward. A lot of the conversation around Ward since his mid-season acquisition has been about the lack of a return on that trade, from a double-edged threat of inconsistent health and nearly non-existent offensive contributions when healthy. After his first at bat, this pivotal moment provided perfect opportunity to at the very least muffle those shouts to a whisper, if but for a day longer.

Taylor Ward did not disappoint! It was fun, even! A sharp liner to left and two runners scoring later, and the Mariners were ahead 3-0 on the RBI single.

Next up to bat was Crawford, and he grounded into a force-out to end the inning, but the bases loaded opportunity hadn’t been wasted. Seattle’s rookie year pitcher in only his second game and first road game, Kade Anderson, would now be able to go on in the game with a lead comfortable enough to leave room for anything around Quality.

Kade Anderson never reached that quality start in terms of innings, no surprise given his stated pitch limit of roughly 80 pitches, but he was that good in terms of damage allowed. Anderson struck out the first Blue Jay batter of the day, Brett Batemen, on a 2-2 fastball above the zone, and tackled the next two batters with outs on contact from pitches that were honestly far too middle. Kade only gave up a walk in the third, losing a 3-2 battle to Kazuma Okamoto. Well, lost on the edges, and it could have easily gone his way.

Kade faced four batters in the third, giving up his first hit, a single on a very well executed bunt from Myles Straw, and escaping the inning with an Alejandro Kirk swinging strikeout. In the fourth the Blue Jays would once again threaten the rookie pitcher, with a one pitch George Springer double and a full count Okamoto walk, before he would escape with a fly-out and a pop-out to McAdoo and Clement, respectively.

Anderson would start his half of the fifth inning beautifully, striking out Daz Cameron on three pitches, but the inning would go on to end without him. Myles Straw singled on a meatball slider and Brett Bateman walked on a 3-1 count, and Kade’s night was done as Eduard Bazardo came in. Bazardo wasn’t able to hold those inherited batters, and so Kade’s final line was 4.1 IP, two earned runs given up on three hits, with three walks and three strikeouts, and 54 of his 85 pitches for strikes with eight whiffs.

For what it is worth, Kade Anderson seemed to suffer a little rookie squeeze on his strike zone, with a few pitches that Raleigh could have challenged, but there were also times where Anderson did himself no favors either in being too wild or too center.

As far as I’ve told you so far, for about exactly half of the baseball game, all was overall well for the Mariners. Kade Anderson did about as well as you could expect, Raleigh was properly pestering Jays in their own roost. Then, the second arguably more important half of the baseball game happened, and all of those good things mattered none, at least in terms of outcome.

Of course it didn’t immediately fall off of a cliff. After Bazardo came in he handed Kirk his second swinging strikeout of the night, getting him to swing under a 3-2 fastball on the top shelf. Vladdy then got some 3-2 revenge and worked a walk to make it full with the two inherited batters. Then eternally-annoying-to-the-Mariners George Springer worked yet another full count, this one finished off by a wild pitch from Bazardo that walked in one run by force and with some less than stellar plate coverage from Eduardo himself allowed another to score and bringing the Jays within one run.

José A. Ferrer started the sixth for Seattle, and was the one to give up the lead. McAdoo walked to start the inning but Ferrer recovered enough to get Ernie Clement to line out and Daz Cameron to ground out. Myles Straw worked it full and walked, a phrase I long grew tired of typing, Bateman singled in McAdoo, and Alejandro Kirk finally exacted revenge for his earlier flailings by driving in Straw with a single of his own. Carlos Vargas took over for and finished the inning for Ferrer, and comfortably finished the rest of the game the Mariners needed from the ‘pen, putting in 2.1 innings of work and striking out two without allowing a hit or a walk.

Flowers to Vargas for being one of the lone bright spots in the back half of this game, because it certainly wasn’t the hitting. Soriano finished a full seven innings and racked up six of the Mariners’ ten strikeouts. Silver linings and flowers in the cracks of asphalt floors can do little to distract from the dark cloud that settled over the game though, the reasons for why a close loss felt so toothless. Why a close season feels so lost. The top three of the order (Arozarena, Canzone, and Rodríguez) all went hitless with five strikeouts and only one walk among them. The only hitters with multi-hit nights were Naylor and Raleigh.

Maybe today was the game that was needed to correct that back and forth rhythm into a direction that favors the last month trend towards a playoff appearance. Maybe by resetting the luck halfway through the game instead of in between them, that will allow them to salvage tomorrow’s game from falling victim to another loss and so a series sweep. If that is the case, I will gladly take the joys in the first half of signs of life in Raleigh’s bat and continued proof from Anderson that he could probably hang at this level. However I won’t be surprised if it means none of those things, because in a lot of ways today very much felt like being on the see-saw, because the Mariners falling off today felt exactly like falling on one’s ass.

The Athletics faced the Baltimore Orioles hoping to bounce back from last night’s extra-inning defeat. The Orioles prevailed for a second straight day, winning 5-3 in a close, dramatic Saturday night contest.

Orioles Strike First Again

A’s starter Jack Perkins got his outing off to a good start with two scoreless innings to begin the game. Orioles right-hander Shane Baz matched Perkins with two scoreless innings of his own.

In the top of the third inning, Orioles first baseman Coby Mayo drew a leadoff walk and then advanced to second on Perkins’ throwing error on a pickoff attempt. With one out, Leody Taveras hit a ground-rule double to put the Orioles up 1-0. Perkins recovered to strike out the next two batters and limit the damage. For the second straight day, an A’s pitcher’s fielding error led to a run scoring.

Perkins’ command issues continued, as the fourth inning was the third straight in which he walked the leadoff batter. The Orioles failed to capitalize, as Perkins escaped the two-on, no-out jam without allowing the visitors’ lead to increase.

Orioles In Control

Meanwhile, the Athletics injury-depleted offense struggled against Baz, who needed just 63 pitches to breeze through five scoreless innings. He induced double plays in consecutive innings to wipe out potential A’s rallies. Not letting runners steal or putting on the hit and run are among the reasons the A’s rank near the MLB leaders in ground-ball double plays this season. That plus the team’s hack at every pitch offensive approach explains why the team has not scored more runs this season.

The Orioles scored a second run off Perkins in the fifth inning. Center fielder Colton Cowser hit his 13th home run of the season, a solo shot to center. Perkins finished the fifth inning, stranding two runners after allowing Cowser’s home run. He allowed two runs, one earned, on four hits, walking four and striking out five.

A’s Bullpen: A Mess

Left-handed reliever Jose Suarez replaced Perkins in the sixth inning, making his first appearance since returning from the injured list. His performance raised questions about whether the team would have been better off leaving him at Triple-A, or designating him for assignment.

After allowing two singles, Suarez surrendered Taveras’ two-out, two-run double past a diving Tommy White at third base, putting the Orioles up 4-0. A more agile athletic defender may have stopped that hit from getting down the line, further proving White’s limitations at the hot corner.

A’s Comeback Begins

Seeking another comeback, the A’s loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the sixth against Baz. Right fielder Lawrence Butler drew a bases-loaded walk, bringing home Jonah Heim to put the hosts on the scoreboard.

With two outs, Baz hit Donovan Walton with a pitch, bringing home a run and cutting the Orioles’ lead to 4-2. That was the last straw for Baz, as right-hander Alex Hoppe replaced him out of Baltimore’s bullpen. Hoppe retired Max Muncy to end the inning and keep his team in front.

A’s Awful With RISP

Right-hander Luis Medina maintained his team’s momentum by pitching a scoreless seventh inning. The A’s newest waiver-wire claim, right-handed reliever Chris Roycroft, threw a scoreless eighth inning in his first appearance with the Green and Gold.

In the bottom of the seventh, Heim singled, and then Henry Bolte doubled to give the A’s a prime scoring opportunity against Orioles reliever Rico Garcia. With one out and the bases loaded, Baltimore brought in right-hander Yennier Cano, who escaped the jam by striking out Zack Gelof and Butler on nasty splitters.

The Athletics had another scoring chance in the bottom of the eighth after Orioles right-hander Cam Sanders walked two straight hitters. This time, the hosts took advantage as left fielder Carlos Cortes lined an RBI single to cut the A’s deficit to one.

Case in Point Why A’s Are In Last Place

Heim, who has delivered several clutch late-inning hits for the A’s this season, failed to come through. For the third time tonight, the hosts could not bring a runner home from third with fewer than two outs. Heim swung at a pitch well outside the strike zone, grounding into his second double play of the game.

The A’s frustration from wasting all those scoring opportunities carried over to the top of the ninth inning. Three errors on one play put the Orioles leadoff runner on third. Cowser quickly scored Baltimore’s fifth run of the night on a wild pitch by pitcher Elvis Alvarado.

The A’s rallied in the bottom of the ninth against Orioles reliever Andrew Kittredge. However, it was nothing more than a tease, With the game-tying run on second base, White grounded out to third base to end the game.

Somehow, the Orioles managed to hang on in this game that fully demonstrated why the A’s have not taken the step toward relevance under Manager Mark Kotsay. The Green and Gold made three errors on defense, while wasting several run-scoring opportunities. The Athletics recorded 10 hits, but finished the game2-for-8 with runners in scoring position, leaving 11 on base.

Tomorrow, the A’s will look to avoid being swept at home. Old friend Chris Bassit will start for the Orioles, while A’s left-hander Jeffrey Springs is expected to pitch, whether it is from the jump or after an opener.

In terms of dazzling, Nolan McLean has done so more in other starts this season. He’s generated more strikeouts. He’s produced more swings and misses — the flashy numbers that can fill a boxscore.

But in terms of dominance, in terms of looking like the Mets ace of the future — a label he has thrived with — and powering them to a win, this was vintage McLean, pitching the Mets to a 6-2 win over the Astros on Saturday at Citi Field.

On an afternoon when the Mets welcomed Juan Soto back from a 31-game absence and watched him drive in the go-ahead run, McLean relied on his fastball to scatter just two hits across seven innings and allowed only an unearned run. He didn’t record his first strikeout until the fifth inning, but he only walked one batter and has now allowed just two earned runs across four starts since his Aug. 6 dud.

“Any time you can go deeper into games and not have to use as many pitches, it’s good,” McLean said. “Obviously, like, striking guys out is fun, but so is going seven innings.”

McLean only forced Houston hitters to whiff on six of his 40 swings, but McLean avoided the major swings — and the home runs — that have caused other starts to unravel. With Houston’s aggressiveness, he focused on using mostly fastballs, throwing either his sinker, cutter or four-seam fastball for 76 of his 93 pitches. At one point, McLean retired 20 of 24 batters.

“I think he just recognized they were crazy aggressive,” interim manager Andy Green said.

“He had three fastball shapes, and he could miss barrels and get soft contact and pitch deep into the game — so it became less of ‘I need to punch people out’ and more of ‘how do I get seven innings in that are good for the club today?’

“So he just took the easy quick outs that he could get on the ground and got a lot of pop-ups too at the same time, so he’s special. He can get you out a whole bunch of different ways, and he didn’t even really rely on the spin today. It was a great outing.”

Kodai Senga pitched on consecutive days out of the bullpen for the second time, and in this instance, he survived without allowing a run. Jose Altuve led off with a double and Christian Walker nearly crushed a home run over the center field fence, but A.J. Ewing made an impressive catch — as his back collided with the wall while he maintained possession.

“I went pessimistic quick,” Green said. “I thought it was gone, so it was great to be saved by our center fielder.”

Jonah Tong kept making his case to join the Mets rotation in September — perhaps in place of journeyman Robert Stock — by throwing a complete-game, seven-inning shutout for Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday against Lehigh Valley. He came within one out of an abbreviated no-hitter, allowing a single with two outs in the seventh. Tong scattered two walks, while striking out eight batters, and lowered his ERA to 4.54.

Mark Vientos, who entered Saturday just 2-for-14 through the first five games of his rehab assignment, went 3-for-4 for Syracuse, drove in a run and scored twice.”

Martin Perez has given this Braves team 121.0 important innings of reasonably well pitched and fortunate innings this season. It was far from a lock that he would make the roster and he was even DFA’d, but those innings have been very important to Atlanta’s current position. He hasn’t pitched like a 3.05 ERA pitcher, running a 4.18 FIP and a 4.25 xFIP, but those innings are banked at a 3.05 ERA rate if runs allowed. It’s valuable to appreciate the value of those innings to this team, highlighted by 5.2 innings of one run ball on six strikeouts Saturday.

Braves News

The Braves skated by on a lackluster offensive performance to beat the Rockies 2-1, thanks to fantastic pitching.

MLB News

The Mets placed Luis Robert Jr. on waivers, continuing the trend of quality players being placed on waivers by out-of-contention teams in hope of salary relief and adding an intriguing option to waivers.

Shohei Ohtani’s next scheduled start as a pitcher has been delayed due to knee discomfort.

The Mets activated superstar Juan Soto off the 10-day IL.

While the cost of attending a Major League Baseball game has skyrocketed through the years, a reasonably-priced day at the ballpark isn't impossible.

Most teams sell ticket packages that include food and drink, a great way to save money for a family that just wants the basic concessions. Certainly it's more difficult for teams with tickets in higher demand, but taking advantage of deals or even bringing your own food to the stadium is a great way for fans to save money.

According to Bookies.com's fan cost study – which includes four tickets, a parking pass, two beers, two sodas and four hot dogs – the Miami Marlins' LoanDepot Park is the most affordable, with an all-in price tag of less than $160. On the other end, the two-time defending World Series champion Dodgers are the most expensive at more than $400.

Here's a look at the full list:

All over The Bronx on Saturday night was relief.

From a Yankees lineup that awoke, first with a three-run third inning and later a five-run eighth. From a Yankees, well, relief corps that did not bend. From presumably George Lombard Jr., who exited early with knee discomfort but initial examinations were encouraging. From a Yankees club that escaped a very long day of baseball still stiff-arming the charging Red Sox.

After the lineup could do nothing right against lefty Jake Bennett in the doubleheader-opening 6-0 loss, the Yankees cracked the Boston staff, pounded single after single — 13 in total — to pull away late and rode tired arm after tired arm to a mostly closer-than-it-appeared 9-2 victory in the nightcap.

A total of 91,580 fans watched 18 innings that took 5 hours and 59 minutes to complete, a lot of action for a day that did not alter the race for the top wild card.

The Yankees (77-59) maintain a three-game edge on the Red Sox (74-62), and the tiebreaker — should the teams finish with the same record — will be decided Sunday.

The teams are 6-6 against each other before the series finale. The Rays (81-54) moved 4 ½ games clear of the Yankees.

“It’s going to be big tomorrow to win the series,” acknowledged José Caballero, who added a pair of singles in the nightcap. “We’re looking forward to that.”

There were all sorts of hitting, fielding and decision-making concerns after a Saturday opener in which manager Aaron Boone acknowledged, “We played poorly.”

They played most poorly with their bats, held down by a second Red Sox lefty (Bennett, who threw six scoreless innings) in a series Boston stacked as many southpaws as possible to exploit a Yankees weakness.

The first two games of the series included just seven Yankees hits — Paul Goldschmidt’s Friday home run the only run-scorer — and 20 strikeouts. Of those seven, all were scattered: They had not logged multiple hits in any frame.

That changed beginning in the nightcap’s third inning.

Against righty Brayan Bello, who followed lefty opener Alec Gamboa (1 ¹/₃ scoreless innings), they exploded for the only three runs they would need.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

There were good at-bats, like Caballero’s leadoff single. There was good baserunning, like Caballero’s ensuing steal of second.

There was good situational hitting, like Luis García Jr. just making contact with the bases loaded for an RBI fielder’s choice and Jazz Chisholm Jr. following with a sacrifice fly.

And in the never-ending eighth, there was an onslaught of singles against lefty Raymond Burgos — seven in total, on a night all 13 Yankees hits were singles — in an inning when it was the Red Sox’s turn to play poorly, from a Cody Bellinger bloop into shallow right field that somehow fell to Spencer Jones hitting a ground ball to first and watching Burgos not hustle over to cover the base.

“It’s good to see those at-bats because those are what have plagued us at times offensively, those tack-on runs,” Boone said after the Yankees, who barely had any chances in the opener, went 6-for-13 with runners in scoring position in the second game.

Not that the bullpen needed the cushion.

In what is maybe the biggest series of the season thus far and in a head-to-head battle with the Red Sox that features eight total All-Stars, arguably the most important Yankees on Saturday night were Yerry De los Santos, Michael Fulmer, Paul Blackburn, Tim Hill, Brent Headrick and Brendan Beck, who combined for 5 ¹/₃ innings in which they let up just one run.

After a building-up Carlos Rodón lasted just 4 ²/₃ innings in the opener, Max Fried made it 3 ²/₃ innings fresh off the injured list in the second game, leaving a buffet of innings for the bullpen to eat.

“Got us into the fourth there,” Boone said of Fried, “and then the bullpen was able to make it happen the rest of the way.”

The biggest standouts from the unit were De los Santos — who became the first Yankee since Chad Green in 2021 to pitch in both ends of a doubleheader, finishing with 1 ¹/₃ scoreless innings — and Blackburn, who entered a two-on, no-one-out jam in the sixth and struck out Caleb Durbin and Andruw Monasterio before inducing a flyout from Nick Sogard.

“That’s been him,” Boone said simply of Blackburn. “That’s, in a lot of ways, the game in the balance right there. … He comes in and cuts them up, 1-2-3.”

Box Score

The Brewers kept on rolling tonight. Despite facing a pitcher having a strong month, the Brewers put up an early 3-0 lead, built on it and then held on late. The end result was 5-3 win, their fourth straight win. It also secured their fifth straight series win.

Cal Quantrill of the Rangers entered this start with just two runs allowed in August and one run in his last 19 innings. It took just four batters for the Brewers to match that monthly total. The second batter, Jackson Chourio, hit a solo home run out to right-center field, putting the Brewers up 1-0. It was his 20th home run of the season, coming on his cereal bowl night.

Two batters later, it was William Contreras’ turn. His home run went out to left-center, a 409 ft blast into the bleachers that put the Brewers up 2-0.

The offense would tack on another run in the second inning. Christian Yelich led off the inning with a double to center, then stole third. The next batter, Luis Lara, hit a single to center that scored Yelich, but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. That gave the Brewers a 3-0 lead.

Meanwhile, Shane Drohan pitched what he needed. He started out well enough, striking out the first two batters he faced. He then hit Wyatt Langford with a pitch and allowed a single to Brandon Nimmo, but struck out Ezequiet Duran to end the early threat.

Two innings later, the Rangers mounted another threat. Cody Freeman was hit by a pitch to start the inning, then Corey Seager singled two batters later to put runners at first and second. With two out, Nimmo came up and hit a ground ball to Brice Turang. It was a little too slow to get the out at first, but Turang saw Freeman attempt to score. He threw to Contreras at home instead, and Freeman was an easy out to end the inning.

The Rangers did get one run off of Drohan, a solo home run by Freeman to lead off the fifth. Drohan was nearing his limit after allowing a single to Justin Foscue, but a double play erased him from the bases. Langford drew a walk to give the Rangers another baserunner, but Nimmo flew out to center to end the inning.

Droahn finished the day with five innings pitched on 99 pitches. Most of those came a long third inning, where he needed over 30 pitches to get through the inning. He allowed six hits, a walk, and hit two batters, but only allowed the one run. He also struck out six in the start.

As for Quantrill. he settled in well after Lara’s single. He did not allow another baserunner in his start, recording fourteen straight outs to finish his day. He finished the day at six innings pitched, allowing three runs on four hits with eight strikeouts.

The Brewers couldn’t score again until Peyton Gray entered from the bullpen. They started the inning with four straight batters reaching base. Contreras led off with a single, then an error by Duran allowed Mitchell to reach. Yelich added a single to load the bases and bring up Lara. He singled sharply to left, scoring Contreras but not deep enough to score Mitchell.

Mitchell didn’t have to wait long to score, as Pratt sent a fly ball into mid-left field for the first out. It wasn’t too deep, but it was enough to get Mitchell home and increase the lead to 5-1. They couldn’t tack on another run from there, but now had a four-run lead.

However, the Rangers weren’t done yet. Chad Patrick entered in relief and started with two clean innings, retiring six batters in order. Seager would break that streak by drawing a walk. Two batters later, Nimmo hit a cutter that was right down the middle into the Rangers’ bullpen, closing the gap to 5-3.

Antonio Senzatela was brought into the game after that, and the Rangers got the tying run to the plate after Duran singled. Senzatela locked it down from there, getting two groundouts to end the inning.

The Brewers had a chance to add on in the eighth against Jakob Junis, after Jake Bauers and Contreras drew back-to-back one out walks. They advanced on a Mitchell groundout, but the Rangers chose to intentionally walk Yelich and face Lara. That worked as Junis struck out Lara to end the inning.

Trevor Megill came in for the save in the ninth. He needed just seven pitches to finish the game, getting two flyouts and a groundout to secure his 25th save and the Brewers fourth straight win.

Three batters — Contreras, Yelich, and Lara — had two-hit days. Lara also led the offense by driving in two of the Brewers’ five runs. Chourio, Contreras, and Pratt added an RBI each as well.

The Brewers have a chance to sweep the Rangers and extend their winning streak to five games before a critical stretch against the NL Central. Dustin May is back after his one-pitch start that ended when he took a hard-hit ball off the back of his right shoulder. He will face Kumar Rocker of the Rangers. First pitch is at 1:10 p.m.

In 2022, Major League Baseball adopted the universal designated hitter for both the American and National Leagues. This eliminated the need for pitchers to hit, and changed the strategy of lineup construction and late-inning substitutions.

Throughout this 2026 season, there have been numerous occasions where the Rockies had a player who was hot at the plate but a liability on defense. This made me think: What if Major League Baseball adopted a Designated Fielder?

The premise would be that a player would only play the field, and would not bat. Perhaps he could be paired with the designated hitter, but that would mean you would need to fill his spot in the lineup. That could bring back pitchers hitting, or maybe it would mean a second DH.

Would this be something MLB could adopt? How would the logistics work? Who would be a good candidate for a Rockies’ designated fielder?

Let us know in the comments!

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