It’s the final week of September, and Boston Red Sox fans are officially on Standings Watch.
That’s a welcome change from the past three seasons, when the Red Sox didn’t play any meaningful baseball past Labor Day. But October baseball in 2025 is far from guaranteed for Alex Cora’s club, which sits precariously in the second American League Wild Card spot after dropping its series finale to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday.
FanGraphs pegs Boston’s postseason chances at 90.3 percent as of Monday afternoon. But a lot can change between now and Sunday, a six-game stretch that features two series against current division leaders — the Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers — to finish the regular season.
So, what exactly does Standings Watch entail for the Red Sox? First, we’ll take a look at the Wild Card standings as of Monday. Then we’ll highlight five teams that Sox fans should monitor this week as a tight AL playoff picture shakes out.
AL Wild Card standings
The New York Yankees own a three-game lead over Boston for the top Wild Card spot. If the season ended Monday, the Yankees would host a three-game Wild Card series vs. the Red Sox, with every game at Yankee Stadium.
The Cleveland Guardians and Houston Astros are both just one game back of Boston, however. Only three Wild Card teams make the playoffs, so assuming the Yankees keep the top spot, either Cleveland, Houston or Boston will be eliminated.
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Here’s a more in-depth look at the Red Sox’ top competitors in the AL Wild Card race, sorted from best to worst record:
New York Yankees
Record: 88-68
Games ahead of Red Sox: +3.0
Remaining schedule: vs. Chicago White Sox, vs. Baltimore Orioles
The schedule gods clearly favor the Yankees, who close out the regular season with three-game series against two of the worst teams in the AL. So, barring a complete collapse, New York should have the top Wild Card spot wrapped up by the weekend. (But a complete collapse would be fun, wouldn’t it?)
Seattle Mariners
Record: 87-69
Games ahead of Red Sox: +2.0
Remaining schedule: vs. Colorado Rockies, vs. Los Angeles Dodgers
The Mariners took control of the AL West with a weekend sweep of the Astros and now lead Houston by three games.
Assuming they take care of business vs. the Rockies and take at least one game from the Dodgers, they should win the AL West crown. But they’d slide into the Wild Card race if Houston overtakes them, so keep one eye on Seattle this week.
Detroit Tigers
Record: 85-71
Games ahead of Red Sox: 0
Remaining schedule: at Cleveland Guardians, at Red Sox
The Tigers are a sneaky team to watch. The Guardians are on an absolute tear (10-1 in their last 11 games), and if they win this upcoming series with their AL Central rivals, the Tigers will bump down to the Wild Card race.
That could set up a weekend showdown vs. the Red Sox at Fenway Park (Friday to Sunday) with massive implications for Wild Card seeding on the line.
Cleveland Guardians
Record: 84-72
Games behind Red Sox: -1.0
Remaining schedule: vs. Detroit Tigers, vs. Texas Rangers
As mentioned above, the Guardians are coming in HOT. So if you’re a Red Sox fan, you may want to root for Cleveland winning its series vs. Detroit to bump the Tigers — who are 1-9 in their last 10 games — into the Wild Card mix.
If the Tigers win their upcoming series vs. the Guardians, the Red Sox will need to take advantage with at least one or two wins in Toronto to maintain their narrow lead over Cleveland.
Houston Astros
Record: 84-72
Games behind Red Sox: -1.0
Remaining schedule: at Athletics, at Los Angeles Angels
The Astros had a brutal weekend, but they shouldn’t be completely ruled out, especially with two series against the AL West’s cellar dwellers to finish their season. It’s worth noting, however, that Houston is just 4-5 versus the A’s this season and 6-4 versus the Angels.
The good news for Boston: The Red Sox own head-to-head tiebreakers over both the Astros and Guardians.
For a while it looked as if the kid pitchers might save the season and even make a deep October run more feasible. But now, with a Wild Card berth slipping away from the Mets, the instant success of their three rookies in recent weeks is beginning to look more like a consolation prize of sorts for what suddenly looms as a disappointing finish.
Albeit an important one, to be sure.
That is, if the Mets’ collapse leaves them out of the postseason, at least they would go into the offseason feeling as if they have the makings of a dominant starting rotation next year and beyond.
Such is the sense of hope the trio of Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat, and Jonah Tong provide for Mets fans in what otherwise could be a long winter of demanding answers from David Stearns as to what went wrong this season.
"If they don’t get there, there’s no way to sugarcoat it," an MLB scout said on Monday. "With their payroll and the high expectations, missing a six-team postseason would be a major failure. But those young pitchers would give them something to hang their hat on as far as changing the conversation.
"They’ve been impressive, to different degrees. You need to see more but I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that potentially they give you a high-ceiling nucleus for a starting rotation."
That’s the consensus opinion from scouts and evaluators I spoke to in recent days, as well as former pitchers Ron Darling and Dan Plesac, for this story after McLean, Sproat, and Tong have lived up to the hype as highly-touted prospects in recent weeks.
Without them, especially McLean, the Mets almost certainly would be out of the Wild Card race, as the rest of the rotation has fallen apart, due to injury and underperformance.
For that matter, if the Mets do still find a way into that third Wild Card spot, Darling didn’t hesitate when I asked him on Sunday at Citi Field about who the starters should be in a Wild Card series.
"McLean is the best option and Sproat is right behind him," Darling said. "Maybe (David) Peterson would get the nod just because of the experience, but the question you have to ask, if you’re being honest and not trying to do some tactical BS, is who gives you the best chance to win. Right now it’s the young guys.
Sep 20, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Nolan McLean (26) pitches in the third inning against the Washington Nationals at Citi Field. / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
"With McLean it’s obvious, but Sproat has impressed me too. I thought he was going to be Spencer Strider, 100 percent on every pitch, gripping it and ripping it. There’s a lot more nuance as far as the art of pitching, that I’m really happy to see."
Darling referred to McLean’s impact as "obvious," and indeed his performance to this point, with his 1.27 ERA in seven starts speaks for itself. But it’s the way he pitches, combining mound presence with his ability to create movement with various pitches, that has so many observers falling hard for him.
Plesac, for example, pitched in the big leagues for 18 years. And he’s been an analyst at MLB Network for 17 years, breaking down success and failure on a nightly basis, so he’s pretty much seen it all. Yet he’s so captivated by McLean that he gets some ribbing for it from his colleagues.
"From the first time I saw him pitch I was ultra-impressed," Plesac said by phone recently. "One time on our show I was going on about him to the point where (host) Greg Amsinger says, 'Geez, you’ve got a man-crush on this guy.'
"I just love everything about the way he pitches, his poise, his ability to throw breaking balls behind in the count, his slow heartbeat that keeps the game from speeding up on him. He is so advanced for a guy who just got to the big leagues. As a former pitcher, he’s the guy I want on the mound in a big game."
To that end, Darling makes note of McLean’s background as an all-around athlete good enough to be recruited as a quarterback by Oklahoma State, where he red-shirted at the position for one year before deciding to play only baseball – as both a position player and pitcher.
"His maturity on the field stands out," Darling said. "There’s something to be said for a kid who played big-time football as a quarterback, a leadership position. He has a presence about him that you don’t see often for a guy who just reached the big leagues."
Scouts I spoke to echoed such sentiments.
"He’s a scout’s dream," was the way one put it. "You don’t need a radar gun to evaluate him. He throws hard but he doesn’t chase velocity. His ability to spin the ball separates him but he also gets great movement on his two-seamer. He knows what he’s doing out there, setting up hitters, pitching to spots. He’s fun to watch."
As such, the Mets might just have a true No. 1 starter for years to come. Sproat doesn’t generate quite as much excitement from observers, but he too has elite stuff, and as Darling noted, has shown nuance, demonstrating an ability to change speeds and throw his breaking stuff for strikes, in addition to his upper-90s fastball velocity.
Sep 19, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Brandon Sproat (40) follows through on a pitch against the Washington Nationals during the first inning at Citi Field. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Speaking of both Sproat and McLean, Darling said, "At their level of experience, these guys can spin it as well as I’ve ever seen. David Cone was the best guy I ever saw at being able to spin the ball, and I’m hesitant to put them in that category already but they remind me of him."
And then there’s Tong, the youngest of the three rookies, at age 22, with only two starts at Triple-A before being called up. His inexperience has shown at times, to the point where he had that rough start against the Texas Rangers, failing to get out of the first inning, but in that regard his strong bounce back start last week against the San Diego Padres was an important sign.
"He showed some backbone," said Plesac. "I know what that’s like, being out there as a young pitcher and nothing is working for you. The speed of the game at the big league level is so different than the minor leagues, and when you compound that with coming up late in the season in a pennant race, it’s hard.
"That’s why I was so happy to see him bounce back. I think he’s got a gigantic ceiling. It just might take him a little longer to get there than the other two guys. He has to attack the strike zone. When he does that, and he’s using all his pitches, you see the swings and misses he gets with his fastball."
Adds a scout:
"Tong has real deception with that delivery, the Tim Lincecum delivery. He’s got that big induced vertical break that everyone talks about now that gives his fastball the extra ride at the top the zone. He found out big league hitters can hit that pitch, though, if they’re sitting on it, so he needs to be able to throw his curve ball and changeup for strikes. When he does that he may be able to dominate the way he did in the minors."
All in all, then, there is plenty of reason to believe the young trio can have long-term success.
For one thing, as Plesac noted, "You watch all three of them and one thing I notice is when they miss their location, for the most part they don’t miss over the plate. They miss off the plate, to the side of the (catcher’s) glove. They’re not just spraying the ball all over the place, relying on velocity.
Sep 18, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Jonah Tong (21) pitches against the San Diego Padres during the first inning at Citi Field. / Brad Penner - Imagn Images
"Whoever has worked with them coming up through the Mets’ system, especially McLean and Sproat, they deserve a pat on the back, because those guys certainly learned how to pitch in the minor leagues. And the experience they’re getting in these high-pressure games right now, it will be invaluable for them going into next year."
So even if this season ends in failure, emergence of this young pitching may be remembered for launching a new era for the Mets. It doesn’t always work out, of course, for anyone who remembers the much-hyped Generation K of the early ‘90s, or even the 2015 staff that seemed to offer so much promise beyond the 2015 World Series.
But Darling was quick to point to the success of the 1980s, when he was part of the young pitching group that included Doc Gooden, Sid Fernandez, and Rick Aguilera, that helped usher in a championship era.
"I think the Mets are in a good spot going forward with these young pitchers," Darling said. "This organization has always had waves of good pitchers. I think that’s how people felt in ’84, and that turned into something special.
"It’s not often that they all pan out, but I wish that for these guys. They have the ability. Everybody talks about the need to make adjustments as hitters see you more, but I never felt like I had to make adjustments. I felt like if I took care of my own house, my stuff was good enough, and these guys should feel the same way. The hitter should be inconsequential to these guys if they execute pitches -- that’s how good their stuff is.
"I mean, right now, you’d have to see all three of them in the rotation next year."
That’s an enticing thought. It’s also worth remembering that Christian Scott showed similar promise as a rookie in 2024 before needing Tommy John surgery, and could be part of that high-ceiling future as well.
With that in mind, an executive from an AL team made perhaps the most salient point about the big-picture state of the Mets, regardless of what happens in this final week of the season.
"More than ever," the exec said, "the most precious commodity in the game is young, home-grown starting pitching, and to have three young guys come up at the same time and get results in high-leverage games and show the potential for long-term success. ... that’s at the top of every organization’s wish list."
Here are five things to watch and predictions as the Mets and Cubs play a three-game series at Wrigley Field starting on Tuesday at 7:40 p.m. on SNY.
5 things to watch
Mets no longer control their playoff destiny
Entering play on Saturday, the Mets had a 2.0 game lead over the Reds for the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League. That lead is now gone.
By losing back-to-back games to the woeful Nationals on Saturday and Sunday, the Mets are tied with Cincinnati -- but it's the Reds who hold the tiebreaker after winning the season series.
The Mets would not make the playoffs if the season ended today, and now need help to get in.
The Reds play three games at home against the Pirates starting on Tuesday before traveling to face the Brewers for three. The Pirates have the third-worst record in the National League, and have scored just 561 runs this season -- worst in MLB. Meanwhile, the Brewers -- who have clinched the NL Central and are on pace to finish with the top seed in the NL -- could have literally nothing to play for this coming weekend.
After facing the Cubs, the Mets travel to Miami to face a Marlins team that is 9-1 over its last 10 games and still mathematically alive for a playoff spot.
Sproat, who toes the rubber on Thursday had a hiccup in the third inning of his start on Friday. But New York's outfield defense cost him two runs in the frame. He rebounded from it with a strong fourth inning to cap his start.
While Nolan McLean has stolen the show while being both dominant and ultra reliable, Tong and Sproat have performed admirably while showing flashes of excellence.
Center field, especially on the defensive side of things, has been an issue for the Mets down the stretch.
On Friday night, it was Jose Siri who had what should've been the third out of the third inning bounce out of his glove and took a poor route on a hit later in the frame, allowing it to get by him.
On Saturday, it was Cedric Mullins who misplayed the carom of an 11th-inning hit off the wall, leading to an inside the park home run in New York's loss.
Is help on the way?
May 28, 2024; New York, NY, USA; New York Mets right fielder Tyrone Taylor (15) makes a catch for an out during the third inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Citi Field. / Vincent Carchietta - Imagn Images
Taylor, who is truly elite in center field, could be activated ahead of Tuesday's game.
Cubs have nothing to play for, and they've been playing like it
Chicago has been eliminated from contention for the NL Central title, and they're basically locked into the top Wild Card spot.
There's a chance they drop to the second Wild Card, but it's unlikely -- they have a three-game lead over the Padres with six games to go.
And the Cubs have been recently playing like a team with nothing at stake, getting swept in a four-game series by the Reds that helped land the Mets in their current predicament.
This is not to say that the Cubs won't be a tough opponent. They will be.
But it's hard to see a scenario where their starting pitchers are pushed or where their key relievers are asked to shoulder a ton of the load.
Cade Horton has been elite
The 24-year-old Horton starts the series-opener, and the Mets will have their work cut out for them.
Horton has been phenomenal over the last three months.
He had a 1.52 ERA in July and a 1.20 ERA in August, and has a 1.10 ERA in three starts in September.
Horton has allowed zero or one runs in 10 of his last 11 starts.
Predictions
Who will the MVP of the series be?
Pete Alonso
Alonso's power surge should continue at the friendly confines.
Which Mets pitcher will have the best start?
Jonah Tong
Tong found the best version of himself against the Padres.
Which Cubs player will be a thorn in the Mets' side?
Seiya Suzuki
It hasn't been a huge season for Suzuki, but the power threat is real.
PHOENIX – Kyle Schwarber is a pending free agent—and he’s having a career season at just the right time.
The 33-year-old National League MVP candidate is one of the top hitters available on the upcoming market. He boasts a Major League Baseball-leading 129 RBIs, and with 53 homers so far this season, he’s only the second player on the Philadelphia Phillies to hit 50 homers in a season. Ryan Howard owns the Phillies homer record with 58 collected in 2004.
“[Schwarber’s] had by far the best season of his career,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said in an interview this weekend at Chase Field, where the National League East winners dropped two of three to the Arizona Diamondbacks. “It’s an MVP-type season for an MVP-type person.”
Schwarber was voted MVP of the All-Star Game in Atlanta on July 15 when he came off the bench to win the first home-run swing-off in All-Star history, deciding the game for the NL.
“He’s impressive,” D-backs starting pitcher Zac Gallen said. “His season has been unbelievable. Every time he’s in the batter’s box, he’s a threat to leave the ballpark.”
Schwarber is among the greatest players in recent Phillies history, joining the likes of Howard, Mike Schmidt, Jimmie Rollins, Chase Utley and Bryce Harper.
“It’s an honor, it’s a privilege to be compared with them,” Schwarber said in an interview. “It’s something you don’t take for granted. All of it. My mind doesn’t process it really well because I’m so attuned to what we’re going through right now.”
Schwarber will hit free agency along with Chicago Cubs’ Kyle Tucker, New York Mets’ Pete Alonso, Boston Red Sox’s Alex Bregman, New York Yankees’ Cody Bellinger and Toronto Blue Jays’ Bo Bichette as the top hitters on the market.
Alonso, Bregman and Bellinger—all Scott Boras clients—can exercise player options for 2026 built into their respective contracts without the burden of the qualifying offer affecting their free agency again. There’s no double jeopardy as far as the qualifying offer is concerned; a player can’t be tagged with it twice.
Schwarber, in contrast, was not tagged with the qualifying offer in his first two runs at free agency in 2020 and 2021. But this time, he will certainly get one from the Philles, who’ve made it clear they want to re-sign him, though there have been no substantive talks since spring training.
“We need no motivation when it comes to [signing] Kyle Schwarber,” Phillies owner John Middleton recently told a group of media. “He’s great. We thought he was great when we signed him years ago. He’s been great for us ever since. We love him. We want to keep him.”
The Phillies signed Schwarber to a four-year, $79 million contract prior to the 2022 season, a bargain as the prices on the market have grown ever since. Prior to Philadelphia, Schwarber played briefly for the Nationals and the Red Sox, and he was just a kid with the 2016 Chicago Cubs when they won the World Series for the first time in 108 years.
“Pretty much my entire tenure with the Cubs prepared me for where I am now,” he said.
Schwarber will have three problems to overcome this time around in free agency: his age, his lack of flexibility defensively and the qualifying offer.
Schwarber is well into his 30s, and teams recently haven’t signed players of his age to long-term, big money deals. For example, Joc Pederson, a left-handed DH, and a recent World Series winner in Los Angeles and Atlanta, signed with Texas this past winter for two years at $37 million heading into his age 33 season. The above offensive players on the market are all younger.
On the field, Schwarber is also full-time left-handed designated hitter, while the other free agents on the market excel at their various defensive positions. He’s only started 13 games in left field since 2023 and eight this season, DH-ing 291 times including 144 this season.
If Schwarber is anxious about all of this he’s not acting like it. His focus is not on free agency.
“For me here it’s just about trying to help the team,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of success the last three years and that’s the best part about it. We all have expectations for each other. We all hold us accountable for how we play and go about preparing for it.”
The MVP races in both leagues have come down to four magnificent players: Schwarber and Shohei Ohtani in the NL, Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh in the American League.
Ohtani and Judge are the favorites; as defending MVP holders, they should repeat. Ohtani will continue to do so as long as he pitches for the Los Angeles Dodgers and hits 50 homers. He has 53 at this writing, a 180 OPS+ and 7.2 WAR.
Judge is out of this world playing right field and DHing for the New York Yankees with 49 homers, a Major League-leading .326 batting average, a 209 OPS+ and a 9 WAR.
Raleigh set records for a catcher and switch-hitter this season with 58 homers for the Seattle Mariners.
Schwarber? He has a slim chance of winning in the NL with his 149 OPS+ and 4.4 WAR, but will get plenty of votes.
“I always say any time there’s a personal feat I’ll think about that when I’m done,” he said. “That’s when I can sit back, probably have about 20 beers, and look at my career when it’s over and, go ‘Wow, you got to accomplish a lot of really cool things.’”
With six games remaining in the regular season, the Mets are looking to nab the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League.
The Reds hold tiebreaker over the Mets due to winning the season series. The tiebreaker between the Mets and Diamondbacks is TBD, and will likely be based on intradivision record since the two clubs split the season series
Here's everything you need to know ahead of play on Sept. 22...
Reds: 80-76, tied with Mets for third Wild Card
Next up: vs. Pirates, Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. (Brady Singer vs. Johan Oviedo) Latest result: 1-0 win over Cubs on Sunday Remaining schedule: 3 vs. PIT, 3 @ MIL Odds to make playoffs: 41.6 percent
Mets: 80-76, tied with Reds for third Wild Card (Reds hold tiebreaker)
Next up: @ Cubs, Tuesday at 7:40 p.m. on SNY (David Peterson vs. Cade Horton) Latest result: 3-2 loss to Nationals on Sunday Remaining schedule: 3 @ CHC, 3 @ MIA Odds to make playoffs: 51.7 percent
Diamondbacks: 79-77, 1.0 game back of Reds and Mets
Next up: vs. Dodgers, Tuesday at 9:40 p.m. (Brandon Pfaadtvs. Shohei Ohtani) Latest result: 9-2 win over Phillies on Sunday Remaining schedule: 3 vs. LAD, 3 @ SD Odds to make playoffs: 6.4 percent
Giants: 77-79, 3.0 games back of Reds and Mets
Next up: vs. Cardinals, Monday at 9:45 p.m.(Justin Verlander vs. Michael McGreevy) Latest result: 3-1 win over Dodgers on Sunday Remaining schedule: 3 vs. STL, 3 vs. COL Odds to make playoffs: 0.2 percent
Dodgers injured starting pitcher Roki Sasaki runs in the outfield before a game against the San Diego Padres in June. The Dodgers' dreadful bullpen might force Dave Roberts into using Sasaki as a reliever in the playoffs. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
There’s desperate, and there’s desperate to where you’re looking for Roki Sasaki to be the answer to your team’s late-inning problems.
The same Roki Sasaki who hasn’t pitched in a major league game in more than four months because of shoulder problems.
The same Roki Sasaki who posted a 4.72 earned-run average in eight starts.
The same Roki Sasaki who last week in the minors pitched as a reliever for the first time.
The Dodgers’ exploration of Sasaki as a late-inning option is a reflection of the 23-year-old rookie’s upside, but this isn’t a commentary of Sasaki as much as it is of the roster.
The team’s bullpen problems have persisted into the final week of the regular season, and the potential solutions sound like miracles, starting with Sasaki’s audition for a postseason role as a reliever.
Sasaki pitched twice in relief for triple-A Oklahoma City, touching 100 mph in a scoreless inning on Thursday and retiring the side on Sunday.
Manager Dave Roberts said Sasaki would rejoin the Dodgers for their upcoming road series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The earliest Sasaki would be available to pitch would be on Wednesday.
With only six games remaining in the regular season, Sasaki figures to pitch no more than twice for the Dodgers before the playoffs. That being the case, do the Dodgers plan to use him in high-leverage situations to learn how he performs in late-inning situations?
“We’re still trying to win games, and this would be his third outing in the ‘pen, first in the big leagues, so not sure,” Roberts said.
Then again, what’s the alternative? Continue to run out Blake Treinen?
The most dependable reliever on the Dodgers’ World Series run last season, the 37-year-old Treinen was re-signed to a two-year, $22-million contract over the winter. He missed more than three months of this season with a forearm strain and hasn’t rediscovered the form that made him a postseason hero. Treinen is 1-7 with a 5.55 earned-run average for the season and has taken a loss in five of his last seven games.
Treinen cost the Dodgers another game on Sunday when he inherited a 1-0 lead, only to give up three runs in the eighth inning of an eventual 3-1 defeat.
Roberts was booed when he emerged from the dugout to remove Treinen, but whom did the fans want the manager to call on to pitch that inning instead?
Tanner Scott?
Kirby Yates?
Alex Vesia is the most trustworthy bullpen arm, but if he pitched the eighth inning, who would have pitched the ninth?
Dodgers pitcher Blake Treinen, right, reacts after giving up a bases-loaded walk in a 3-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Roberts acknowledged he was basically reduced to holding out hope that when the postseason starts Treinen would magically revert to being the pitcher he was last year.
Wouldn’t it be unsettling to have to count on Treinen without seeing him pitch better in the regular season?
“Certainly, I’d like to see some more consistent performance,” Roberts said. “But at the end of the day, there’s going to be certain guys that I feel that we’re going to go to in leverage [situations] and certain guys we’re not going to.”
Evidently, Treinen is still viewed as a leverage-situation pitcher.
Roberts said: “My trust in him is unwavering.”
There aren’t many other choices.
Maybe Will Klein, who was called up from the minors for the third time last week. Klein struck out the side on Saturday and gave up a leadoff double in a scoreless inning on Sunday.
Maybe Brock Stewart, who has been sidelined with shoulder problems for the majority of the time since he was acquired at the trade deadline. Stewart will rejoin the Dodgers in Arizona.
The playoff picture is unlikely to change for the Dodgers between now and the end of the regular season, as they are four games behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the No. 2 seed in the National League and three games ahead of the second-place San Diego Padres in the NL West. Nonetheless, Roberts said he was unsure of how high-leverage innings over the next week would be allocated, which spoke to the degree of uncertainty about the bullpen. Should these innings be used to straighten out previously-successful relievers such as Treinen and Scott? Or to experiment with unknown commodities such as Sasaki and Klein?
Just a couple of weeks ago, the door for Sasaki pitching in the playoffs was locked and bolted. The Dodgers have been rocked by the dreadful performance of their bullpen, so much so that a door that was once slammed shut is now wide open.
HOUSTON — Seattle’s Cal Raleigh hit his MLB-leading 58th home run on Sunday night, a two-run shot in the second inning against the Houston Astros.
The Mariners were up 5-0 after a grand slam by J.P. Crawford in the second when Raleigh, who was batting left-handed, connected off Jason Alexander for his home run to right field to extend the lead.
The shot comes a night after he passed Ken Griffey Jr. for the franchise’s single-season home run record with his 57th homer. Griffey hit 56 in both 1997 and 1998.
Raleigh has also surpassed Mickey Mantle’s MLB record of 54 home runs by a switch-hitter that had stood since 1961. He has also set the MLB record for homers by a catcher this season, eclipsing the 48 hit by Salvador Perez in 2021.
Raleigh is five home runs ahead of Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber, who are tied for second place with 53 each.
If you want to believe the fates are somehow conspiring against the Mets as their wild card berth slips away, Jacob Young’s two spectacular catches at the center field wall in Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Washington Nationals, one that included kicking the ball skyward to keep it from hitting the ground, played into that narrative.
As Carlos Mendoza said in amazement, “I’ve never seen that before.”
But if you’ve been watching these Mets play some dreadful baseball in recent days, weeks, even months, from their bad defense to boneheaded baserunning to the bats going silent far too often, you know that’s the furthest thing from the truth.
It’s not fate. The Mets have played poorly for much of the last three months — 17 games under .500 since June 13. And now it appears they’re also collapsing under the weight of trying desperately to avoid the embarrassment of missing the postseason with their star-studded roster and their gazillion-dollar payroll.
In short, there’s really no other way to put it: They’re giving it away.
How else to explain losing two of three games to the lowly Nationals at such a crucial point in the season, and playing raggedy defense when their focus should be as heightened as possible.
How else to explain failing to muster any real offense against Jake Irvin, one of the worst starting pitchers in the majors for the last several weeks, as evidenced by his 9.36 ERA over his last seven starts. Or the inability to score against the Nationals’ bullpen, whose 5.60 ERA coming into Sunday ranked dead last in MLB.
How else to explain all the defensive and baserunning miscues lately, to the point where a week ago Mendoza admitted, “We’re not playing good fundamentally right now.”
All of it only happens to a team as talented as these Mets when they’re playing tight, squeezing the sawdust out of the bat, trying not to make mistakes rather than playing freely.
And now the prospect of a full-blown collapse is more real than ever, after the Cincinnati Reds won their fifth straight game on Sunday to pull even with the Mets for the third wild card spot — but not really even, since they own the tiebreaker should the teams finish with the same record.
So in truth the Mets are suddenly behind, to the point where even winning their final six games, three in Chicago against the Cubs, and three in Miami against the Marlins, wouldn’t get them in unless the Reds cooperate.
In the Mets’ clubhouse on Sunday, Brandon Nimmo was doing a group interview when the Reds’ score went final, and he was asked if he could believe the Mets were now out of playoff position.
“Yeah, I can definitely believe it,’’ he said. “It’s been happening right in front of our eyes.”
Yes, the Mets have been sliding for weeks, letting teams like the Reds, the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the San Francisco Giants back into the race. And the closer those teams have gotten, the worse the Mets have been playing.
On Sunday, in fact, in what the Mets had to feel was a must-win game, they met the moment with a litany of mistakes early that contributed to a 3-0 deficit by the second inning.
There was Juan Soto getting picked off first base. There was a throwing error by Francisco Lindor that helped fuel the Nationals’ three-run rally. There was a fumble of a routine ground ball by Pete Alonso for another error.
There was also Sean Manaea giving up a two-run home run to a light-hitting backup shortstop named Nasim Nuñez on a flat fastball, which led reporters to ask him why, as Mendoza said, he again wasn’t able to elevate his fastball.
Said Manaea, after several seconds of thought: “I don’t know.”
Even with all of that, the Mets’ worst mistake in some ways, and one that epitomized their play of late, was Cedric Mullins’ lack of awareness on the bases that proved costly.
It happened on a weird play in the fourth inning: with Luis Torrens on second base, Mullins’ fly ball down the left field line at first appeared to be caught by a diving Daylen Lile. But as he hit the ground, the ball came out of his glove, and according to Mendoza, third base umpire Jeremie Rehak made a safe sign, indicating the ball was in play.
With the ball in plain sight on the ground, and Lile writhing in pain, Torrens took no chances and went back to tag up, then ran all the way to score as the ball still stayed untouched on the ground. Mullins, meanwhile, said he saw no signal from the umpires (nor did first base coach Antoan Richardson), and because he saw Torrens tag up, “my assumption is that it was an out.”
So he lingered around first base, watching Torrens run. Meanwhile, Mendoza said, “We were all screaming from the dugout” to go to second. Mullins didn’t hear them, and only noticed when he finally started to go back to the dugout himself. At that point, umpires had called timeout, and though Mullins did go to second (he was tagged out, though Mendoza said they would have challenged), the play was ruled dead and Mullins was awarded first base.
Clearly Mullins should not have assumed, since he didn’t see a signal, and instead kept running. And it mattered when he was immediately doubled off first on Lindor’s line drive to Josh Bell. When Soto followed with a double to the right field corner, Mullins’ mistake loomed even larger.
Had the Mets’ offense come to life at some point, of course, the play would have been a footnote. Instead, it potentially had a major impact on the outcome. Another blunder that has become far too common for this ballclub.
And so now the Mets are up against it. In their quiet clubhouse the players insisted they still believe. But the tone of their comments shifted as the chasers now.
“We put ourselves in this position, we’ve got to find a way out of it,” said Lindor. “If we want to be where we want to be, we have to play better.”
“We can turn it on in an instant,” added Nimmo.
At this point, though, it’s hard to believe they can merely flip a switch. They’ve been a mediocre-to-bad team longer than they were a good one on this long and winding road of a season.
And most significantly, no matter what they do, they now need help.
Dodgers pitcher Emmet Sheehan delivers during a 3-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday afternoon. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Half-filled duffle bags littered the floor of the Dodgers' clubhouse Sunday afternoon while a jumble of suitcases stood inside the locker room door.
Sunday’s 3-1 matinee loss to the San Francisco Giants, a game which featured another late-inning bullpen meltdown, was the last chance to see the Dodgers at home during the regular season and 46,601 people brought tickets to mark the occasion, pushing the team’s attendance above 4 million for the first time.
But the vibe wasn’t so much “goodbye” and it was “we’ll be right back,” since the team and its fans are expecting to return to Dodger Stadium to open the National League playoffs next week. Even the retiring Clayton Kershaw made that point when he briefly addressed the crowd before the game.
“Remember, we’ve got another month left,” he said. “So we'll see you at the end of October.”
That may be a bit ambitious. But barring disaster — never count out the Dodgers’ bullpen — the team is guaranteed at least two more games at home this season. The Dodgers will hit the road Monday for their final six games of the regular season with a magic number at three, meaning any combination of Dodger wins and Padres losses totaling three will give the team its 12th West Division title in 13 years — and the Dodger Stadium playoff dates that go with it.
“Our head right now, to be honest, is on winning this division and going forward,” manager Dave Roberts said. “I just want to win the division and get to the postseason.”
The team missed a chance to move a big step closer to that goal Sunday when it wasted another brilliant performance from right-hander Emmet Sheehan, who held the Giants to a hit over seven innings, retiring 15 in a row at one point.
Sheehan, who didn’t allow a runner after hitting Andrew Knizner to open the third, matched a career-high with 10 strikeouts. But for the third time in four appearances that wasn’t good enough to get the win after reliever Blake Treinen gave up three eighth-inning runs to turn a 1-0 lead into a 3-1 loss.
And that left Roberts to once again profess his faith in a pitcher who has taken the loss in four of his last five appearances and given up 11 earned runs in his last 5 1/3 innings.
“I've got to trust what I'm seeing, and not solely bet on the person or track record,” Roberts said of Treinen, who is 0-5 with a 11.57 ERA in seven innings this month. “We all need to see a couple good outings but most importantly, I want to see his confidence up. And to be quite honest, I think that right now he's just not as confident in himself as I am in him.
“The main thing is that we got to get that confidence back.”
That didn’t happen Sunday when his brief appearance turned a pitchers’ duel into batting practice.
Giants’ starter Trevor McDonald, who was making his first big-league start, nearly matched Sheehan through six innings before tiring in the seventh. Max Muncy opened the inning with a walk — the only one McDonald issued — and moved to second on a two-strike single to right by Andy Pages. Michael Conforto then looped the first pitch he saw into left field to score Muncy and end McDonald’s day after 89 pitches.
The Dodgers could get no more, however, with pinch-hitter Tommy Edman lining into a double play to end the inning. And that proved costly when Treinen (1-7) came out of the bullpen to give up three consecutive hits, the last a run-scoring double from pinch-hitter Patrick Bailey.
Three batters later, Willy Adames drew a bases-loaded walk to give the Giants the lead, an advantage they extended to 3-1 on Matt Chapman’s soft grounder to short.
Dodgers pitcher Blake Treinen, right, speaks with pitching coach Mark Prior and catcher Dalton Rushing after giving up a bases-loaded walk Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The Dodgers went quietly after that, with a pair of Giant relievers holding them to just a hit over the two innings, spoiling the day for a sun-splashed crowd that made history by pushing the Dodgers’ home attendance to a franchise-record 4,012,470.
The Dodgers, who averaged 49,537 fans a game in 2025, have led the majors in attendance the last 12 years — excluding 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced teams to play behind closed doors. But the most they had drawn in a season previously was 3,974,309 in 2019.
The Dodgers are the fifth team to top 4 million, joining the Blue Jays, Rockies, Mets and Yankees, but the first to do so since 2008, when both New York teams did it. Colorado holds the major league record having sold 4,483,350 tickets during it inaugural season in 1993, when it played at an 80,000-seat football stadium.
“Like every season it's been up and down, an emotional year. And for these fans to show up every day, it's incredible,” Roberts said. “There's a reason why I feel that we have the best fans in sports, and the numbers speak to it.”
The Dodgers rewarded that loyalty, with their 52 wins at home this season ranking second in the majors. What they weren’t able to do was clinch the division title in front of their fans.
But if they can do that on the road this week, they’ll be right back home for at least two more games at Dodger Stadium in the playoffs.
Notes
Right-handers Brock Stewart and Roki Sasaki both pitched scoreless innings in relief for triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday in their final rehab appearances before the postseason roster is set. Stewart struck out one and gave up a hit, throwing nine of his 15 pitches for strikes. Sasaki did not allow a runner, striking out one of the three batters he faced and getting strikes on five of his eight pitches.
Both pitchers will join the team at the start of the road trip in Arizona, as will right-hander Brusdar Graterol, who threw a bullpen Sunday. It’s a sign of just how uncertain the Dodger reliever corps is that Graterol, who hasn’t pitched all season, is still a possibility for the postseason roster spot. Graterol made just seven regular-season appearances last year but pitched three times in the World Series.
BALTIMORE (AP) — Ben Rice’s tiebreaking grand slam in the top of the 10th inning lifted the New York Yankees to a 7-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday, keeping the pressure on first-place Toronto in the AL East.
New York remained two games behind the Blue Jays — who won at Kansas City — thanks to Rice, who had four hits and drove in five runs. His shot to right-center in the 10th off Keegan Akin broke a 1-all tie. Jazz Chisholm Jr. added a solo homer and Anthony Volpe an RBI single before the inning was over.
Kade Strowd (0-1) took the loss after striking out the side in the ninth and walking Aaron Judge to start the 10th.
David Bednar (6-5), one of six relievers used by New York, got the win.
Samuel Basallo homered in the fifth for the Orioles, and Rice answered with an RBI single the following inning.
Baltimore starter Kyle Bradish allowed a run and two hits in six innings with nine strikeouts and two walks.
New York rookie Cam Schlittler permitted a run and three hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out six and walked one.
Key moment
Immediately before the grand slam, Rice hit a dribbler toward third base that rolled just foul. That would have scored one run had it stayed fair, but it would have also been an easy force play at third for the Orioles. Given another chance, Rice cleared the bases.
Key stat
It was the ninth grand slam of the year for the Yankees, tying Arizona for the major league lead.
Up next
Both teams are off Monday. The Yankees send Luis Gil (4-1) to the mound Tuesday night against the Chicago White Sox. Baltimore begins a home series against Tampa Bay.
By losing again Sunday and dropping their crucial three-game series to the lowly Washington Nationals, the Mets now find themselves in a tough spot with six games left to play in the regular season.
They are currently tied with the Cincinnati Reds, who completed a four-game sweep of Chicago Cubs on Sunday, for the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League. But the Reds hold the tiebreaker over the Mets by winning the regular season series and would make the playoffs if the two teams finished with the same record.
Knowing what's at stake in the coming week, Carlos Mendoza said the club needs to do everything it can during this final stretch.
"We got to keep going," Mendoza said. "We got six more and a lot can happen. That's where we're at."
The manager is still confident in his players, believing they are often "one hit away" and adding that anything "could happen."
"You look at the talent there, we're one hit away, making one play, making one pitch. We're close," Mendoza said. "We just haven't be able to get that last hit like I said, to make that play when we need to, or to execute a pitch. It could happen."
Sean Manaea added: "Just looking around at everyone in the room, I feel like the veteran guys have been in this situation before. Maybe not the exact situation, but we've been in some precarious situations before. The young guys have been stepping up. I think combination of that is good. I think if anyone can do it, it's us."
Acknowledging that where the team is in the standings is on them, Francisco Lindor said it's their responsibility to figure out a way to win.
"It comes down to winning," Lindor said. "We've put ourselves in this position, so we've got to find a way to get out of it. And that comes down to winning. We just got to win ballgames."
Brandon Nimmo shared a similar message about the position the team is in, saying they need to "pick ourselves back up" and "put it all together."
"It's been happening right in front of our eyes, so yeah, I can definitely believe it," Nimmo said. "We're down to the last week of the season and our playoff hopes are in front of us. We've got to play winning baseball and put it all together.
"It's come and gone during the season, so we just need to pick ourselves back up and win some games down the stretch here."
The Mets are off Monday and then begin a three-game series with the Cubs on Tuesday and then finish the regular season in Miami against the Marlins over the weekend. Their odds to make the postseason are currently at 63.2 percent, with the Reds at 31.5 percent, per ESPN.
What a cool request! Trout had already agreed to give Alberto — who attended the game with his wife and two children — three signed bats and two signed baseballs in exchange for the ball he crushed.
While Trout signed the balls and bats in the dugout long after the game had ended, Alberto politely asked him while making a throwing motion with his right arm, "You mind if we play catch with a ball on the field?" the three-time American League Most Valuable Player didn't hesitate, saying, "Yeah, you want to do it?" Alberto grabbed his glove.
The fan who caught and returned Mike Trout's 400th home run ball had one small request from the 3-time MVP.
A post on the MLB.com X account shows Alberto tossing the ball back and forth to Trout, who catches it with his bare hands while wearing his cap backward. At one point, Trout says something to Alberto's young son, who is watching in awe.
And no wonder. Shortly before Trout hit No. 400, Alberto told Trout he'd turned to his son and said, "He's got a lot of power." No kidding, enough to drive the ball deep into the left-center field stands. Alberto caught the blast with his bare hands.
It was Trout's third home run of at least 485 feet since Statcast began tracking long balls in 2015, the most of any player. The 34-year old outfielder in his 15th season became the 59th MLB player to reach 400 homers and the 20th to hit them all with one franchise.
The No. 400 ball clearly had more monetary value than the signed balls and bats, but nowhere near the value of a career 500 home run ball or, say, the home run the Dodgers' Freddie Freeman hit to win Game 1 of the 2024 World Series — which was sold at auction for $1.56 million.
The home run was meaningful to Trout, who admitted to feeling pressure as he approached the milestone. It was only his second long ball since Aug. 7.
He also recognized that catching the ball and returning it to the player who belted it was meaningful to Alberto, who likely has already done what dads do — play catch with his children.
"Once they get older and realize, that'll be an awesome memory for the dad to tell the kids, to experience that," Trout told reporters. "I know how I felt when I went to a ballgame with my dad."
The Mets lost 3-2 to the Washington Nationals on Sunday at Citi Field, and in doing so, also lost the series 2-1 against a team with a record of 64-92, the second-worst in the National League.
On Sunday the Mets fell behind 3-0 in the second inning and couldn’t put together a comeback against the pitching staff with a 5.33 ERA, the second-worst in the majors.
Here are the takeaways...
-- The blame for the loss has to fall mainly on the offense, but maybe the Mets should have stayed with what worked last time regarding their piggybacking plan.
They flip-flopped Sean Manaea and Clay Holmes, opting to start Manaea because of the Nationals’ lefty hitters at the top of the lineup, and it backfired. The left-hander gave up three runs in the second inning, two on light-hitting Nasim Nuñez’s home run to left field.
Overall Manaea didn’t look sharp, and Carlos Mendoza was quick to pull him with no outs in the fourth when Robert Hassell reached on Pete Alonso’s error at 1B. For the day, Manaea threw only 50 pitches, allowing four hits and no walks, while striking out three.
It had to be disappointing for the Mets because Manaea had given reason to believe he’d turned a corner of sorts, pitching well after his talk in the tunnel two starts ago with Mendoza.
Holmes did pitch well as the back half of the piggyback plan, throwing 3 2/3 scoreless innings.
-- There was plenty of reason to think the Mets’ offense would have a big day. Starter Jake Irvin has been one of the worst pitchers in baseball in recent weeks, at least statistically. In his seven previous starts before Sunday he had a 9.36 ERA, having given up 34 earned runs. He also had a road ERA for the season of 6.15.
And though Irvin had pitched well against the Mets in D.C., he was 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA at Citi Field. Yet the Mets managed only two runs against the right-hander in 5 1/3 innings.
Even so, the Nationals needed 11 outs from their bullpen, which started the day with worst bullpen ERA in the majors, at 5.60.
-- The Mets made all sorts of mistakes early that contributed to falling behind.
In the first inning, Juan Soto was picked off first as he tried to get an early running start on a steal attempt. In the second, Francisco Lindor made a bad throw that contributed to the Nationals’ three-run rally.
In the third, lack of awareness on the bases by Cedric Mullins proved costly. With Luis Torrens on second, Mullins’ fly ball down the line at first appeared to be caught by left fielder Daylen Lile going into the wall, but the ball fell out of his glove as he hit the ground. The ball was in plain sight on the ground, as Lile writhed in pain from a knee injury, and Torrens came around to score.
However, Mullins stood near first base, seemingly thinking the ball had been caught, even while watching Torrens score. He only ran to second when teammates yelled at him from the dugout, and by then umpires he called timeout due to Lile’s injury. Had he kept running he would have been allowed to stay at second, and that proved costly when he was doubled off first base on Lindor’s line drive to Josh Bell. It looked worse when Soto followed with a double to the right field corner.
In addition, Alonso made an error on a routine ground ball in the fourth inning, and though it didn’t cost the Mets a run, it continued their trend in recent days of playing sloppy baseball.
Game MVP: Nasim Nuñez
The Nationals’ backup shortstop came into the game hitting .185 with two career home runs in 151 plate appearances, but he hammered a fastball from Manaea over the left field wall for an early 3-0 lead that stood up.
Pete Alonso got a nice hand before his first at-bat of the game in the Mets' last regular-season home game of the year at Citi Field pic.twitter.com/pVoDwy8WPQ
Ending the season on a high note, Mets prospects Jett Williams, Ryan Clifford, and Carson Benge all homered for Triple-A Syracuse (77-73) on Sunday in a 9-0 win over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.
Williams blasted his seventh home run at the Triple-A level in the top of the third inning, giving Syracuse a 2-0 lead.
Joining in on the fun, Clifford and Benge went back-to-back in the top of the sixth inning to go up 5-0. Luke Ritter and Kevin Parada also homered in the win.
He slashed .281/.390/.477 with 29 doubles, five triples, and 37 RBI over 94 games in Double-A, earning a promotion in the middle of August. In addition to the seven homers in 34 games with Syracuse, Williams also recorded five doubles and two triples with 15 RBI. He hit .209 with a .718 OPS in Triple-A.
Clifford, SNY's No. 6 prospect, ends his 2025 season with 29 total home runs, 24 of them coming in Double-A, and 93 total RBI. He made the jump from Double-A to Triple-A at the same time as Williams and Benge after posting an .848 OPS with Binghamton.
Benge, viewed as the No. 3 prospect, racked up 15 home runs in his first full professional season across all three levels of the minor leagues. He dominated Single-A with a .302 average over 60 games and was quickly promoted to Double-A at the end of June. The 22-year-old kept it going with a .317 average over 32 games with Binghamton before his August promotion to Triple-A.
Tyrone Taylor, playing in his second rehab game with Syracuse while recovering from a hamstring strain, went 1-for-5 with an RBI-single in the seventh inning. Carlos Mendoza said prior to Sunday's game against the Washington Nationals that the team would make a decision on the next steps for Taylor after he played.
PHOENIX – Small ball, long ball, ugly ball. It was all there early in the series finale between the Phillies and Arizona. Philadelphia supplied the ugly, the Diamondbacks the rest as they cruised to a 9-2 win.
Arizona, which had 15 hits on the day, batted around in the second inning, when they scored five runs off starter Ranger Suárez. They loaded the bases to begin the inning without a ball leaving the infield. Tim Tawa hit a chopper to third that Alec Bohm bobbled and threw late for an MLB single. Jordan Lawler walked and Jorge Barrossa laid down a perfect bunt. Katel Marte’s single scored two before Corbin Carroll launched a rocket to the rightfield seats for his 31st home run of the season and a 6-0 lead.
“They made me pay for all the pitches that I left in the zone,” Suárez said. “Ending the season healthy. There’s one more start before the post season so I just want to pitch as well and end the season on a high note. Pitch better, think a little bit better when I’m on the mound and just perform a little bit better.
“That’s what we work for (the playoffs),” said Suárez. “That’s why we have such a long season ahead of us every single year to get to October and perform in the postseason. It is exciting. We want to perform in the playoffs. I think we’ve lacked a little bit the past couple of years. We all want to perform there. That’s what it’s all about. We want to get it done this year.”
If Suárez needed to get an ugly performance out of his system before the playoffs begin, this one was it as he gave up six runs and eight hits in the first two innings alone. He was done after four innings and 79 pitches.
“He had a 33-pitch second inning, basically is at 80 pitches after the four,” said Rob Thomson of removing his starter. “Down 6-0, I just wanted to take care of him. They’ve got a lot of speed and other than Carroll’s home run, I don’t think they hit many balls that were hard off of Ranger. They’ve got a lot of speed.”
There was little excitement provided by the Phillies – perhaps the Eagles used it all up – as they could do nothing of significance against Arizona lefty starter Eduardo Rodriguez, who allowed no runs in his six innings. They did score two in the eighth on a single by Nick Castellanos that drove in J.T. Realmuto, and a bases loaded walk by Weston Wilson. Third baseman Alec Bohm remained hot since his return from the injured list on Friday, as he was on base five times with a double, three singles and a walk.
“He’s been great,” Thomson said. “I’ll probably have to move him up. He’s on everything. Maybe that healthy shoulder is really helping. He’s swinging the bat good. We had plenty of opportunities today. I think we were 1-for-14 (with runners on). Casty had the base hit. We had plenty of opportunities we just didn’t come through.”
There were some signs of a pulse in the sixth when pitcher Tim Mayza plunked leadoff hitter Katel Marte after Jorge Barrosa hit his first major league home run and celebrated circling the bases a bit too much, but nothing came of it. Later in the inning, Carroll stole second base for his 30th swipe of the season, becoming the first player in Arizona history to have 30 homers and 30 stolen bases.
The Diamondbacks got another run in the seventh when Tim Tawa belted a 2-2 slider from Orion Kerkering to the seats in leftfield. Kerkering gave up two more hits in the inning but got out without any more damage. They closed out their scoring by getting a run in the eighth off Jhoan Duran, who was simply getting in some work having not pitched since Tuesday.
“I talked to Duran and I said, ‘If you don’t pitch today, you’re going to be off six days going into Tuesday. Do you want an inning?’ And he said yes. So that’s why we pitched him in the eighth. I asked the same thing to David (Robertson) and he said, ‘Not necessarily.”
The Phillies have an off-day Monday before facing the Miami Marlins on Tuesday to start a three-game series. Cristopher Sánchez will get what could be his last start of the regular season as he prepares to be the Game One starter for the Phillies when they begin the playoffs.
Though his performance may not have showed it Sunday, Suárez is ready for the postseason.
“I feel better overall, if you want to compare it to last year (at this time),” Suárez said. “I’ve been feeling better overall after every single start. Whatever is best for our team to win, (starting) Game Two, Game Three, Game Four. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help this team win.”
