BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - SEPTEMBER 11: Erik Miller #67 of Boston Red Sox pitches during the top of the seventh inning of a game against the Kansas City Royals at Fenway Park on September 11, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Edward Monigan IV/Getty Images) | Getty Images
When I look back on the 2004 ALCS, the most visceral moments — and by “visceral” I’m talking about the moments I felt in my bones, the ones that changed my body chemistry as I was watching — had nothing to do with David Ortiz. They had nothing to do with Curt Schilling, either, or Johnny Damon, or even Dave Roberts. No. Those moments belonged to Tim Wakefield and Curtis Leskanic (cue Johnny Pesky voice: “Leskanic, you son of a bitch!”).
Leskanic’s moment came in Game 4, which he entered with 2 outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th. Leskanic had a 5.89 ERA in 2004. He walked 6.2 batters-per-nine. He was not remotely close to the best reliever on that team, but he was, unfortunately, the best option in that moment. Somehow, he got Bernie Williams to fly out to end the threat in the 11th. Then he returned to the mound in the 12th and worked around a leadoff single to keep the series alive. I still don’t understand how he did it.
Wakefield’s moment came in Game 5 (with a hat tip to his staff-saving bullpen work in Game 3). He entered the game in the 12th inning and, without Doug Mirabelli to pitch to, proceeded to throw the 43 most stressful pitches in the history of baseball. There were 3 passed balls in the 13th inning alone, including one that allowed Gary Sheffield to take first base after he’d struck out to lead off the inning. Jason Varitek looked about as comfortable behind the plate as someone waiting for the results of an STD test.
Wakefield did survive the 13th, of course, and went on to throw a relatively uneventful 14th. But the emotional scars that inning left on me are real. I’ve never felt like that watching a baseball game and I never will again.
October baseball is amazing. And October baseball is also terrible. And it tends to be at it’s most amazing/terrible when a shaky reliever is on the mound, desperately trying to keep his team in the game. So for that reason, I need to make something clear to Craig Breslow and Chad Tracy (assuming they kept reading past the STD joke): I want absolutely no part of Erik Miller in the playoffs. You can’t do it. Let him do anything — LITERALLY ANYTHING, UP TO AND INCLUDING PINCH HITTING — before you let him pitch in the late innings of a close game.
Erik Miller has struggled with control his entire career. Earlier this season, when he was still with the Giants, he walked 3 batters while recording just a single out. He walked 6 batters over a stretch of 2 cumulative innings back in May. Hell, in the very first appearance he made in his career, he walked 2 and allowed 3 earned runs without recording an out.
For a while there, he looked like he’d figured something out. He only walked 3 hitters in his first 11 games with the Sox. With Miller looking elite, it was easy to dream on a 7-8-9 combo of Miller, Garrett Whitlock, and Aroldis Chapman effectively shrinking every game in the playoffs to 6 innings.
But it’s pretty rare for a pitcher who struggles with control the way Miller does to suddenly figure things out in the middle of a season, no matter how much you believe in the pitcher-whispering powers of Andrew Bailey. And, suffice it to say, the wildness is back. He’s issued 9 walks over his last 7 innings and was a key culprit of both last night’s loss and the loss to the Rangers last Wednesday.
So I’m out. I can’t do it. I can’t watch Erik Miller in the postseason. Give him the next 5 days to try to fix whatever is going on with him. If he can’t, then turn to Tyron Guerrero instead. Or Tanner Houck. Or even Garrett Crochet, regardless of whether he can get his velocity back. They’ll all be better options than Miller. I barely survived Wakefield in 2004 and my heart health has only degraded since then. Tread carefully, Chad.
The club enters play Wednesday with wins in its last five games. It’s already earned its most wins (80) since 2018 and could plausibly reach its fourth-best win total since 1992 if it can win three games by Sept. 27.
Most franchises would be embarrassed to trumpet stats like that. Turn on a Pirates broadcast between now and the end of the season, though, and you’ll find boundless enthusiasm about the year that was and the direction of the franchise that last changed baseball operations leadership nearly seven years ago.
The Pirates win their 80th of the year, 2-0 over the Cardinals. They've won 5-straight for the first time since April.
If you're under the age of 34, the 2026 Buccos, at worst, are the 5th best Pirates team of your lifetime.
That’s the Pirates’ pre- and post-game flagship radio show host previewing the petroleum-based glow that the front office will welcome its fans into the embrace of in the weeks to come.
Never mind what team president Travis Williams set as the bar before the season when he said the goal was to reach the MLB postseason. “Period. Full stop.” Never mind that they’ve already been mathematically eliminated for several days and functionally eliminated for nearly two months.
Now glacial progress is enough for celebration. More than that, it’s historic, if you were metaphysically born both three and a half decades ago — and yesterday.
The Pirates won 69 games the year Neal Huntington was fired as general manager in 2019. If they get to 83 by the end of the week, that’ll be 14 games of progress over a seven-year odyssey with Huntington’s successor Ben Cherington.
In between, they’ve lost 100 games twice, posted six losing records and come no closer than – as of Sept. 23 – seven games of reaching a National League playoff field that’s expanded by two teams since Cherington was hired.
At that pace, they’ll approach the 100-win mark the Milwaukee Brewers are nearing in about a decade. Their division rival has already clinched a fourth consecutive NL Central title in a media market two thirds the size of Pittsburgh while spending approximately $40 million more on its roster, per Spotrac.
Management will get away with that company line, too, because the fan base has essentially calcified into three camps.
The cynics stopped buying tickets years ago and have about as much influence on production as Statler and Waldorf as a result. The Pirates will finish somewhere around 25th or 26th in attendance and draw nearly a million fewer fans than they did in their last playoff season in 2015.
The casuals are happy to make the pilgrimage once or twice a summer to enjoy their IC Light Mangos with a pleasant view of Downtown Pittsburgh. They’re content to conceive of PNC Park more as a baseball theme park than a competitive venue.
Then there are the cockeyed optimists who will excuse practically anything because they “love baseball” as a substitute for the therapy they should have sought years ago to resolve whatever trauma results in perceiving this particular team to be an escape.
Bob Nutting has made more than enough bilking the latter two camps over his 19 years as principal owner to graduate from a local rich guy to a billionaire. So there’s no real need for him to reach too far for the excuses.
Injuries are one. Shortstop Konnor Griffin, power-hitting outfielder Oneil Cruz, first baseman/outfielder Ryan O’Hearn and starter Jared Jones all missed significant time. Other organizations might have cultivated the depth to weather the attrition that every team faces over a six-month season. This one will want you to believe it got a uniquely raw deal, even as it sits fifth in runs scored anyway despite the absences.
The unforeseen regression of Paul Skenes is another. The NL’s reigning Cy Young winner has seen his ERA balloon from 1.97 in 2025 to 3.91 in 2026. If only he’d continued throwing like the greatest pitcher of all time indefinitely, the Pirates would be right there. The plan would have been brilliant. Alas, Skenes has pointed to his World Baseball Classic participation as disruptive of his training regiment.
And, of course, the sport’s economic structure is always a crowd pleaser at this time of year. Nutting has bemoaned the collective bargaining agreement with players that he voted in 2023 because it enshrines an inherent economic disadvantage. The Pirates paid $106 million for their roster this year, per Spotrac. The Los Angeles Dodgers will pay $378 million, more than three times what the Pirates do.
Ipso facto, this mediocrity will do until the owners conquer the players in new CBA talks this winter to institute a salary cap – and some kind of logic that explains why it’s the Dodgers’ fault that the Pirates can’t compete with the Brewers despite facing the same disadvantages.
Cherington’s job therefore appears to be safe. After all, he acquired rental Brandon Lowe last winter and got a 30-homer season as a payoff. He’s responsible for the successful first-round selections of Skenes, Griffin, Nick Gonzales and Seth Hernandez, the next great hope for the rotation currently ranked the No. 7 prospect in all of baseball. He developed starter Braxton Ashcraft into becoming an All-Star. And he’s presided over the unexpected power delivery from former prospects Esmerlyn Valdez (17 homers in 72 games) and catcher Rafael Flores Jr. (10 homers in 44 games.)
All is well if you don’t think too hard about actual results and instead spend the summer enjoying broadcaster Joe Block’s statistical fun house, where the implicit message at any given time is that half the team could be headed for Cooperstown.
Only Pirate with a longer single-season, consecutive-game extra-base hit streak than rookie Esmerlyn Valdez: pic.twitter.com/65v2y1T7QF
Only younger player than #Pirates Esmerlyn Valdez in MLB history to have both an RBI and extra-base hit in 8 consecutive games (and he wasn't a rookie) pic.twitter.com/Oe5yc0RhHs
Konnor Griffin joins Hall-of-Famer Jake Beckley (1888) as the only #Pirates to have 15+ steals and 15+ extra-base hits in their Age 20 season (or younger)
Major League Baseball, fearing that a storm could postpone at least one or two games of the three-game series between the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox, are discussing the possibility of having the two teams play a doubleheader Friday at Fenway Park and a single game on Saturday – concluding the regular season a day early – an MLB official told USA TODAY Sports.
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because no decision has been finalized.
The two teams have each told MLB that they would prefer playing a doubleheader Friday instead of a potential makeup game on Monday, just one day ahead of the postseason, with the Red Sox already clinching a berth and the Cubs’ magic number at one entering Wednesday.
The series is much more important to the Cubs and the NL wild-card race than the Red Sox, who have all but mathematically clinched the No. 5 seed in the AL with a wild-card matchup against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
The Cubs, however, are in a three-way tie with the Padres and Phillies for the National League three wild-card spots with 87-70 records. The team that finishes with the best record among the three would be the No. 4 seed, and host the best-of-three wild-card series beginning Tuesday. The No. 5 seed would face the No. 4 seed on the road while the No. 6 seed would play Atlanta at Truist Park.
The Cubs have the tiebreaker advantage against the Phillies and Padres if they finish in a tie.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 18: Cesar Perdomo #83 of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning at Dodger Stadium on September 18, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The San Francisco Giants wrap up their penultimate series of the year against the Minnesota Twins this afternoon.
Taking the mound for the Giants will be left-hander César Perdomo, who enters today’s game with a 3.72 ERA, 4.96 FIP, with 12 strikeouts to seven walks in 19.1 innings pitched. His last start was in the Giants’ 8-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday, in which he allowed two runs on six hits with a strikeout and three walks in four and two thirds innings.
He’ll be facing off against Twins left-hander Connor Prielipp, who enters today’s game with a 4.94 ERA, 3.76 FIP, with 125 strikeouts to 42 walks in 120.1 innings pitched. His last start was in the Twins’ 3-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday, in which he allowed just two hits and two walks with eight strikeouts in seven innings.
LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 09: Yoshinobu Yamamoto #18 of the Los Angeles Dodgers looks on during the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Los Angeles Dodgers at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday, September 9, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Nicole Vasquez/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Imagine losing by seven to your division rival only to see them bring in, the following game, their best hitter and pitcher of the past two seasons, both of them championship-winning campaigns. Well, that’s exactly the situation the Padres find themselves in, facing a Dodgers team that’s one win away from securing a top-2 seed and a bye straight into the NLDS—a Dodgers team with Shohei Ohtani on his way back from the injured list and Yoshinobu Yamamoto putting the finishing touch on yet another splendiferous campaign.
Rewind one year in the calendar and try to imagine a scenario in which it’d be reasonable to claim Yoshinobu Yamamoto might have a hard time as the following act to a bullpen game. Because that’s where we’re at as Yamamoto readies to face a Padres lineup that was shut out by the Dodgers’ bullpen—perhaps one final dominant performance from this unit in the regular season that has flourished despite some major setbacks.
Shutting out any offense isn’t an easy task; doing it against one that had scored seven or more runs in each of their past five games—regardless of the quality of pitching they faced during that period—is all the more impressive from this team’s bullpen. The bar has been set very high, but Yamamoto would not have it any other way, coming off three straight outings completing seven innings and also with a brilliant track record against the Padres this season—a team that, after tonight’s game, he’ll have faced more than any other (4 starts) in the 2026 campaign, so far holding them to just three runs in 20 innings.
As far as Ohtani’s return, instead of focusing on how the lineup will look with the reigning back-to-back NL MVP and who bats where, now is the time to enjoy Mookie Betts’ glorious September form—particularly how it helps relieve some pressure from Ohtani and other star hitters on the team. Speaking of great form, Betts has two homers in just 12 career at-bats against tonight’s Padres starter, Robbie Ray.
The San Francisco Giants' social media team accidentally posted a video with a nude player in the background of the clubhouse, which was deleted shortly thereafter.
The video was highlighting the postgame return to the clubhouse for Bo Davidson, who made his MLB debut on Monday night, becoming the first Giants player to record a hit, steal a base and score a run in their first game.
But when the door to the locker room opened for Davidson to enter, an unknowing teammate was briefly caught unclothed on video. The player dashed to cover up and get out of the shot, but the Giants deleted the video about 15 minutes after it was posted, according to multiple reports.
Under rookie manager Tony Vitello, San Francisco is missing the playoffs for the fifth season in a row and has failed to put together a winning record since 2021.
The countdown to October means different things across Major League Baseball.
Some teams are battling for division titles, playoff berths and postseason seeding. Others have already been eliminated from contention and turned their attention toward the offseason. With just days left in the regular season, there's still room on the bench for a few more clubs to join them.
Here's every MLB team that has been mathematically eliminated from the 2026 postseason race.
The Seattle Mariners have been eliminated from wild-card contention but are not yet mathematically eliminated from winning the AL West. The Mariners hold the tiebreaker over the Houston Astros but lose the tiebreaker to the Texas Rangers. Seattle is five games behind Texas and Houston with five to play, giving it an elimination number of 1.
The Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays have an elimination number of 1 in the AL wild card race. The two AL East rivals continue a three-game series at Camden Yards with a doubleheader on Wednesday.
In what will likely be his last regular season start for the Atlanta Braves this season, Chris Sale will be facing off against Andrew Abbott and the Cincinnati Reds.
Chris Sale is not the front runner for the Cy Young award, but will most certainly get some second and third place votes with his 2.18 ERA, 30.3 percent strikeout rate, and league leading strikeout to walk ratio of 6.13. Sale also leads the NL is best HR rate of 0.5 per nine innings, and best walk rate in the NL of 4.9 percent.
Side note, Chris Sale has the best career strikeout to walk ratio of all-time. Sale has also pitched 157.0 innings thus far this season, which is hurting his Cy Young chances to guys like Jacob Misiorowski. It could be argued that he has passed his fellow competitor Cristopher Sánchez, but Sánchez has a whopping 200.0 IP which is second in MLB behind Sandy Alcantara.
The Braves got a scare yesterday when Ronald Acuña fouled a ball off his shin, but luckily all the tests came back negative. The Braves have already clinched the division so a loss to the Reds yesterday was not a huge deal except the chances of a playoff bye are quickly fading. The offense looked bad again, so hopefully they can catch a spark again before the playoffs take off.
No Braves player has faced Abbott more than five at-bats. Ha-Seong Kim has a HR in his four at-bats and Ozzie Albies has a .600 average. Michael Harris has struggled to an OPS of .400 in his five at-bats, and Mauricio Dubón and Mike Yastrzemski are hitless in their three at-bats. Austin Riley is also hitless in five at-bats.
It is hard to make any type of prediction on such a limited history, but we can look at Abbott’s numbers and see his 4.70 ERA is approximately eleven percent below average and his 1.472 WHIP is the worst of his four year career. This season he has struggled with walks giving up 4.2 per nine innings. The Braves need to be patient this even and take advantage of his weakness. It is no secret that the Braves struggle in the walk department. Their 7.7 percent is the third worst in MLB. To be fair, they strike out at a lower rate than the average team this season, but walks get runners on base to knock in.
The Reds are in the bottom six in RP ERA this season. The Braves have feasted on RPs all season long. The key to the game tonight seems to be be patient against Abbott because he gives up a lot of walks. Get to the bullpen, and strike. Chris Sale should keep the runs low to make this a pretty easy win on paper. The question is how many players will be resting today, especially with a high likelihood that Acuña will be letting his leg heal.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 15: Joey Ortiz #3 of the Milwaukee Brewers celebrates his two run home run with William Contreras #24, to take a 2-0 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers, during the second inning at Dodger Stadium on August 15, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers have both clinched playoff spots, and both are currently on pace to be the top seed in their respective leagues. They have done it despite each having a lower payroll than the Royals. The Brewers spent $145.6 million – less than half what the last place Mets spent – while the Rays had the third-lowest payroll in baseball at $96 million.
Whether those financial limitations will limit their postseason success remains to be seen. But there is no question the Royals should be looking at what both teams have accomplished during the regular season. After two modest winning seasons, the Royals have regressed badly into a last place finish. Tampa Bay and Milwaukee have shown that it is possible to win a lot of games without spending like a large-market team, a model the Royals should try to emulate.
A different approach to offense
The Brewers are second in baseball in runs scored while the Rays are eleventh. They have scored runs despite a lack of power. The Rays are tied with the Royals for 22nd in home runs, and the Brewers are dead last. Instead, they score runs the old-fashioned way – by hitting the ball on the ground, getting on base, and stealing bases. Batting average has become a bit passé, but the Brewers and Rays are tied for tops in baseball in that category.
How are they hitting for average in an era where batting averages are near historic lows? First of all, they put the ball in play. While strikeout rates climb, the Rays lead baseball in contact rate at 81.8 percent, while the Brewers are ninth. The Royals are fourth in contact rate, yet don’t score as many runs. Why not?
The Rays and Brewers put the ball on the ground. The Brewers lead baseball in groundball rate at 46.9 percent, the Rays are fifth. The Royals are second-to-last at 39 percent. The Royals moved in the fences, and while it has led to more home runs, the team is not suddenly putting the ball over the fence at a high rate. The Brewers are hitting .260 on ground balls (second-best in baseball), while the Royals are hitting .258, not far behind. But the Brewers have over 300 more plate appearances that have resulted in a ground ball. Meanwhile, the Royals are hitting .203 on fly balls and have the second-most plate appearances that have resulted in a fly ball. If your flyballs aren’t leaving the park, they’re likely not helping much.
The Brewers and Rays also hit for average by using all fields. As the league has increasingly become pull-happy, they have made a habit of going the other way. The Brewers are deliberately letting the ball travel deep before making contact, as measured by their bat orientation, allowing them to slap the ball to the opposite field. They have the lowest flyball pull rate in over a decade. And as Mike Petriello writes, by using all fields, the Brewers make themselves impossible to defend against.
A higher batting average combined with a healthy walk rate gets at what teams need to win – runners on base. The Brewers lead baseball with a .340 on-base percentage and have the highest walk rate at 10.6 percent. They have just one hitter with at least 150 plate appearances with a walk rate under 8 percent (Sal Frelick at 7.8 percent). The Royals have five such hitters (Jac Caglianone, Starling Marte, Michael Massey, Kyle Isbel, and Salvador Perez). The lone Rays starter with a low walk rate is Chandler Simpson, who is hitting .309. The Royals have historically eschewed the ability to get on base as a skill. They have finished in the top half of the league in on-base percentage just twice in the last 20 years, with one of those coming when they won a championship in 2015.
When runners get on base, they wreak havoc on the bases. The Rays and Brewers are both among the top four in baseball in stolen bases. Seven different Brewers players are in double digits in steals.
The Royals have been seemingly chasing more home runs. It makes sense, home runs score runs immediately! But home run hitters are expensive. The philosophy of Moneyball was to zig while others zag. If high-contact, opposite-field, groundball hitters who can run are undervalued and can help score runs, the Royals need to be on that train.
The point isn’t even that this is the approach the Royals should follow. It’s that they need to be ahead of the curve. There are many different ways to score. The Brewers and Rays are showing that taking a different approach than the big-market teams can succeed.
Find gems in other organizations
Hall of Fame executive Pat Gillick frequently talked about the “many rivers” that teams must find talent in. Teams that win without high payrolls can’t rely on expensive free agents as their primary means of improving the roster. Instead, the Brewers and Rays are looking for underrated players in other organizations and acquiring them through shrewd trades, minor league free agency, waiver claims, and the Rule 5 draft.
Jake Bauers and Andrew Vaughn were each first basemen for other teams that had failed to live up to expectations. The Brewers acquired each in separate trades and this year they lead all teams in offensive production from first base. All-Star closer Trevor Megill was acquired from the Twins for a non-prospect. Chad Patrick, a 2.1 rWAR reliever, was acquired from the A’s for journeyman infielder Abraham Toro.
The Rays have been equally shrewd. They grabbed former Cuban outfield prospect Victor Mesa Jr. from the Marlins for a lottery ticket prospect, and he has become a 2.8 rWAR player in just 74 games. Reliever Kevin Kelly was a Rule 5 pick. Starting second baseman Richie Palacios was a journeyman acquired from the Cardinals for veteran reliever Andrew Kittredge.
But their biggest steal came at the expense of another smart organization, the Guardians. Little reported at the time, the Rays acquired a hard-hitting 18-year-old infielder for a promising young pitcher named Tobias Myers. The hitter blossomed with the Rays development team, and now Junior Caminero is an MVP candidate.
There is no silver bullet to finding talent. The advantage comes from being willing and able to look everywhere. You can see the Royals trying to do this in a lost season as they rotate different arms into their bullpen, looking for a solution. But it shouldn’t take a losing season to look for more talent. The Brewers and Rays have built organizations that constantly search for players they believe are undervalued, then rely on their scouting and development departments to figure out what they can do with them. They don’t need every bet to pay off because they keep making bets.
Sell high on players
What is perhaps most surprising about the success of the Brewers and Rays is that it has come after they recently traded away some major parts of their rosters. Last winter, the Brewers traded star pitcher Freddy Peralta, starting third baseman Caleb Durbin, outfielder Isaac Collins and reliever Nick Mears to the Royals. The Rays traded All-Star second baseman Brandon Lowe, outfielders Josh Lowe and Jake Mangum, and pitcher Shane Baz over the offseason.
The Caleb Durbin trade is perhaps the best example of how the Brewers operate. Milwaukee acquired Durbin from the Yankees in 2024 after selling high on All-Star closer Devin Williams and shipping him to New York. Durbin then had an excellent rookie season, finishing third in NL Rookie of the Year voting after hitting .256/.326/.404 with 11 home runs, 53 RBI and 18 stolen bases. Rather than becoming attached to a player they had just developed into a valuable major-leaguer, the Brewers traded Durbin to Boston this winter for pitchers Kyle Harrison and Shane Drohan and infielder David Hamilton. Harrison and Drohan are now part of Milwaukee’s pitching staff, while Hamilton has contributed as a versatile infielder. In other words, the Brewers essentially turned one year of Devin Williams into a major-league closer’s replacement, a promising young starting pitcher and additional organizational depth.
Not all of these trades have produced immediate major-league value for either organization. Many of the returns consist of prospects who are still in the minors or players who have made relatively little impact in the majors. The Brewers also sold high on Isaac Collins after one surprisingly good rookie year, but they received Angel Zerpa from the Royals, and he has been hurt most of the year.
And yet the Brewers and Rays haven’t fallen apart. They have continued to win because their organizations are built to absorb the loss of established players, while building for sustainable success over the long term. In recent years, the Rays have traded away Isaac Paredes, Randy Arozarena, and Jason Adam, while the Brewers have traded away Williams and Corbin Burnes. They are constantly adding players, developing them and creating enough depth that they can afford to trade from the major-league roster when the opportunity arises.
Trading players away when their value is at its greatest takes being realistic about future projections and player evaluations of your own team. In finance, the disclaimer is “past performance is no guarantee of future results.” That applies to baseball player performance as well.
Develop a great farm system
The Rays and Brewers also demonstrate why a strong farm system is about more than finding the next superstar. Building depth gives an organization options. Both teams have been able to trade established major leaguers, graduate prospects to the big leagues and use prospects in trades to address major-league needs without exhausting their supply of talent. The Rays traded eight prospects from their Top 30 at the deadline this year to acquire Freddy Peralta, Liam Hicks, and Tyler Wells, yet MLB Pipeline still ranked their farm system second in baseball afterward. The Brewers have graduated several players to the majors this year and traded prospects while still maintaining one of baseball’s deepest systems.
How do they do it? Neither organization relies solely on high draft picks. Milwaukee hasn’t had a top-10 pick since 2017, yet MLB Pipeline ranked its system #1 entering this season. Cy Young favorite Jacob Misiorowski, a fireballer who grew up in the Kansas City area, was selected with the 63rd pick in the 2022 draft and is already a two-time All-Star in just his second year. Cooper Pratt was a sixth-round pick out of high school in 2023, and he is already their starting shortstop. The international scouting department signed star outfielder Jackson Chourio to a $1.8 million bonus when he was just 16 and the organization has been aggressively spending in Latin America. Baseball America writes that it is “hard to find a team that has done as well as the Brewers in Latin America over the last five years” despite avoiding some of the highest price free agents in that market.
“We have to be hyper-transactional. We have to always have a pipeline of talent that we can infuse into the big league level. Every offseason brings new faces and I think that getting to know those players, it’s exciting to see them and get them acclimated in camp here.”
Organizational depth creates flexibility. The Brewers and Rays have each been hit by injuries this year. Brandon Woodruff and Quinn Priester have missed significant time from the Brewers’ rotation, and Chourio and Sal Frelick each missed significant time. The Rays have missed outfielder Gavin Lux and pitchers Shane McClanahan, and Ryan Pepiot. Those injuries are inevitable over the course of a 162-game season. What separates organizations is how well they can absorb them.
The Royals aren’t going to suddenly become the Yankees or Dodgers. Their payroll will always have limitations, and those limitations make it even more important that they maximize the resources they do have. There is no “one secret trick” that will lead to winning. It takes a complete organizational approach, great talent identification, and a willingness to constantly look for ways to improve. This offseason will test whether the Royals can get closer to that approach or whether they will continue to backslide into obscurity.
Sep 2, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; General view outside of Coors Field before the game between the Baltimore Orioles Colorado Rockies. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
I figured this would be Max Scherzer’s last MLB start, but the Jays are talking about having him start (on short rest). I don’t see the point. Why would that be an idea? Is it some idea he can pass Justin Verlander for eighth on the all-time strikeout list. Verlander is 10 ahead of Max.
I guess it doesn’t matter, Max will have long rest before his next start. I wonder if he is thinking of another season?
Vlad is out for game one, but apparently might play in game two. Again I don’t see why, give him an extra day.
Well…..cross that out, Vlad is now in the lineup for game one batting second.
Yohendrick Pinango, Chase Lee, CJ Van Eyk and John Klein are all with the team. One or some of them could be active for game two. I’d imagine Pinango would be dependent on Bateman’s status. Van Eyk would be the one who could give them the most innings, so I’d say he’s the most likely to be active for game two.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 16: Chris Bassitt #40 of the Baltimore Orioles in action during the game against the New York Mets at Citi Field on September 16, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Evan Bernstein/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Today is almost certainly going to be the day that the Orioles are mathematically eliminated from the postseason. It could happen as soon as this first game of their doubleheader. The tragic number is one. Next time the Orioles lose, it’s over. Next time the White Sox win, it’s over. Chicago doesn’t play until 7:40. The Orioles could lose twice before the White Sox game finishes. Maybe they will surprise us and win both games, which would be fun because then they will have eliminated the Blue Jays, whose tragic number is also 1.
Separate from anything that’s going on with this game itself, I think it’s a real insult to fans to pull a split doubleheader on the last home date of the season. They should have just done a single admission. It’s not like these are two sellouts where they would have a hard time squeezing everyone in. Paid attendance for both games might barely reach half capacity of the stadium; Monday’s game had 12,067 tickets sold. Alas, here we are.
There is not much that the Orioles can do over their final five games to make this season feel like anything other than a failure. That cake is baked. They have to run the table just to reach .500. That sucks, relative to preseason expectations.
This doesn’t mean they can’t play fun games in these five games and make us happy we watched that game. If Pete Alonso hits a couple more homers, Gunnar Henderson and Coby Mayo continue hot streaks to end their seasons, and so on, that could make the idea of next year feel a tiny bit better than it did after the team flopped at the beginning of this month.
The Orioles snuck one more roster move in ahead of the doubleheader. Samuel Basallo is now on the concussion injured list. Heston Kjerstad is back on the active roster.
News unrelated to this starting lineup: Jackson Holliday told reporters that he is having surgery on his left wrist next week. According to manager Craig Albernaz, it’s a TFCC tear. That stands for (I just Googled and learned this) a triangular fibrocartilage complex tear.
Orioles lineup
Dylan Beavers – LF
Pete Alonso – 1B
Gunnar Henderson – SS
Coby Mayo – DH
Christian Encarnacion-Strand – 3B
Colton Cowser – CF
Jeremiah Jackson – 2B
Leody Taveras – RF
Carlos Narváez – C
Chris Bassitt is the starting pitcher for the first game of the doubleheader. That means it’ll be another old guy starting pitching matchup: The Jays are starting Max Scherzer.
Sep 22, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Tigers center fielder Max Clark (15) hits s single against the Washington Nationals in the sixth inning at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Detroit Tigers (74-84) vs. Washington Nationals (74-84)
Time/Place: 1:10 p.m., Comerica Park SB Nation Site:Federal Baseball Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network Pitching Matchup: LHP Framber Valdez (10-11, 4.06 ERA) vs. LHP Richard Lovelady (3-4, 3.86 ERA)
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - SEPTEMBER 18: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees walks in the dugout during the ninth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on September 18, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Yankees defeated the Diamondbacks 9-2. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Aaron Judge will not play in the Wild Card Series next week. The Yankees spent a good chunk of Monday laying cloud cover for the announcement that was all but confirmed Tuesday morning. Aaron Boone told us the superstar has a moderate grade — which is not a medical term — strain of his calf, in particular the now-infamous soleus muscle, and a PPP injection would leave Judge off his feet for the next couple of days.
Judge himself had been far more coy than the inner circle of journos was willing to be, swearing he would be available for the team in the postseason. Maybe he genuinely believed that; pro athletes aren’t necessarily known for their introspection. Maybe he’s just incredibly canny with his responses; we’ve seen before that he’s perfected the non-answer to the degree that he could be a US Senator upon retirement. Either way, it’s become clear that Judge gets to operate under a different set of rules than the other guys on the roster.
It wasn’t long before we learned that Max Fried didn’t have any tendon damage, but instead a bone bruise in his elbow. We knew that Jazz Chisholm Jr.‘s thumb sprain was reasonably minor almost immediately, and indeed Jazz was activated from the IL while I wrote this. We get detailed info dumps on the physical health of men we’ve never met seemingly on demand, except from Aaron Judge.
I’m not sure we should fault him for that either. It’s always been a little weird that we know so much about these people’s bodies. If I call out sick from my day job, my boss is not allowed to ask what’s wrong with me unless there’s reasonable evidence that I’m abusing the system. Even if I need to go on short-term disability there are rules and regulations around what exactly is shared with my employer. Professional athletes are not regular boring employees like me, of course, but then again the reasons often trotted out for why we know the intimate details of a stranger’s anatomy so well are folly too.
Michael Kay on his radio show Monday lamented the gambler, which is ironic because he does a pretty good job in the YES booth of downplaying the DraftKings ad reads he’s compelled to give. People are going to be betting on these games and they deserve to know the exact medical diagnosis of players we were all pretty sure weren’t going to be playing anyway, the Voice of the Yankees says. I don’t care about the gambler, and any moral hazard caused by someone within the Yankee org taking advantage of insider information would be resolved by not letting people bet on every single pitch thrown in an MLB season.
As to the fanbase and general interest in the last week of the season, as well as a Wild Card Series that is shaping up to be more of a whimper than a bang, the compelling factor is whether Aaron Judge will play or not. We know he won’t. Having the exact grade is irrelevant, Judge ain’t gonna be there. The exact grade of the strain will determine whether or not the Captain is back for a potential ALDS showdown with the Rays, but if you lose two of three to Boston next week, the grade of the strain becomes irrelevant again.
This isn’t to downplay the annoyance people can find in Judge’s coyness, but rather to encourage other players to adopt it. We need to know someone is hurt, and how long to reasonably expect them to be unavailable, since that informs whether someone might buy a ticket or tune into a given game. It’s probably a good idea to schedule out possible rehab assignments, as MiLB teams rely on those attendance boosts from a big-leaguer making appearances. That’s about it. I don’t need to know about the exact degree of testicular torsion from the backup catcher.
NEW YORK— Three months ago, Andy Green had no aspirations of managing the New York Mets.
Now, he’s got a three-year deal in the dugout to produce better days ahead.
In a surprising change of direction, Green went from interim Mets manager to full-time skipper when the club gave him a three-year contract. New York made the announcement before starting its final road trip of the season against the Texas Rangers.
“I think Andy is the perfect person for this job,” president of baseball operations David Stearns said at a pregame news conference in Arlington, Texas.
“I think Andy brings to us an ability to connect the organization in ways that very few people could. He allows us to connect front office to dugout. He allows us to connect minor league to major league, and he provides us a level of continuity that we need right now, and a level of stability and belief.”
Green, who managed the San Diego Padres from 2016-19, had been running New York’s farm system before taking over as interim manager when Carlos Mendoza was fired in late June. At the time, Green said he wasn’t particularly interested in becoming a manager again, citing the desire to keep spending time with his three daughters and saying he viewed his interim role on the bench as more of a responsibility to the club than a personal opportunity.
“At the outset, I wasn’t even entertaining that idea whatsoever,” Green said.
Stearns said Green would return to a front-office role after the season, a stance the executive stuck to even as the last-place Mets (72-85) improved their play on the field and several rookies who rose through the minors under Green such as Carson Benge and Nolan McLean flourished in the big leagues as well.
“Andy has connected with and pushed our players to perform, despite the disappointment of the season,” Mets owners Steve and Alex Cohen said in a statement. “Over the last several months he has brought discipline, accountability and positivity to the clubhouse, attributes we were seeking in our next manager.”
And even as the struggling Mets unloaded a bevy of veteran pitchers leading up to the Aug. 3 trade deadline, Green found himself enjoying the steep challenges of his job on the bench and in the clubhouse.
“It was a tough time. It was trade deadline, we weren’t necessarily winning baseball games. There was a lot of conversations that had to be had with players to help walk them through difficult chapters,” Green said. “And I started thinking, if I have such a passion for the hard times, I’m looking forward to the good times.”
After he talked things over with his family, Green’s wife and teenage daughters encouraged him to pursue managing full-time again if the opportunity arose.
“As time went on, it was just an overwhelming sense of joy and purpose being in the dugout and belief that something within me can help,” Green said. “So it became pretty obvious as time went on.”
Stearns said Green called him during the first week of September and let him know “his passions had changed,” and they were now in the dugout as manager.
“So that got my head spinning a little bit. I digested that over the course of the last couple of weeks. Andy and I have had a number of conversations,” Stearns said.
In the end, the Mets committed to Green and chose not to conduct a full search for a new manager this offseason as Stearns had said they would.
“I think it’s a wise decision, a good decision, and I’m looking forward to the next couple of years,” star shortstop Francisco Lindor said. “He’s made a good impact in the clubhouse.”
“Over the course of the season, it became evident that the next manager of the New York Mets was already in place,” Stearns said in a statement.
Coming into the season, the Mets had lofty expectations for a franchise without a World Series title since 1986. New York opened the season with baseball’s highest payroll at $358 million and was projected to pay an additional $124 million in luxury tax.
But the Mets underperformed early and were beset by injuries to Lindor, Juan Soto and others. They were 34-47 at the midpoint of the season when Mendoza was fired on June 26. The team is 38-38 since Green took over following a 6-3 victory over Texas.
“The last three months I think there’s been progress,” he said before the game. “We’ve got more to do.”
The 49-year-old Green, a former major league infielder, went 274-366 as Padres manager and finished with a losing record in all four seasons. Then he spent four seasons as a bench coach with the Chicago Cubs before joining the Mets in 2023 and serving as senior vice president of baseball development.
Now, he becomes the 26th manager in franchise history.
“Certainly when I came down here three months ago, didn’t anticipate this day at all. Wasn’t anything that I was thinking could happen,” Green said.
“I think it’s just an indication of where my family has pivoted over the last three months. They’ve seen my passion rise and I think above anything else, it’s right to acknowledge the players in that clubhouse because they’ve rekindled in me a love that I had for being in the dugout.”
SEATTLE — Houston Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez gained some ground in his chase for a Triple Crown.
He still has plenty of work to do this week.
The AL MVP front-runner went 2 for 4 with his 41st home run and three RBIs in the Astros’ 7-0 win over the Seattle Mariners. Alvarez hit an RBI single in the first inning, was intentionally walked in the second and then belted a 386-foot homer in the eighth with a 109.5 mph exit velocity.
“At this point, I keep wondering why guys are pitching to him,” Houston first baseman Christian Walker said. “He just seems to come through in every moment. He’s dangerous at the plate right now.”
Alvarez, who is quiet and shows little emotion, orchestrated a team meeting after the Astros (78-79) were swept by Atlanta, squandering their lead in the AL West. His performance was much-needed to put Houston in a tie with the Texas Rangers atop the division with five games left this season.
“He’s been backing it up all year,” Astros manager Joe Espada said.
Alvarez’s two-run shot to right field tied him with Junior Caminero of the Tampa Bay Rays for the American League lead with 41 homers. Alvarez is first in batting average at .314 — five points ahead of Tampa Bay’s Chandler Simpson — and he has 102 RBIs, six behind Baltimore Orioles slugger Pete Alonso for most in the AL.
Alonso drove in three runs with two homers against Toronto, but the teams were rained in Baltimore because of bad weather. They are scheduled to play a split doubleheader.
Alvarez has six homers since Aug. 1, and the 29-year-old designated hitter has eight RBIs over 17 games in September. He’ll need more to become baseball’s first Triple Crown winner since Miguel Cabrera in 2012.
Alvarez leads the AL in slugging percentage (.601), OPS (1.032), total bases (329) and walks (106). Logan Gilbert intentionally walked Alvarez in the second inning, which was the 33rd time for Alvarez this season, already a franchise record.
It’s been a historic season for the four-time All-Star after he was limited to 48 games in 2025 because of a broken hand and an ankle injury.
If he wins the AL MVP award, the Cuban slugger will join Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers as the only players to win an MVP award while primarily serving as a designated hitter. Othani was close to winning a Triple Crown in 2024 after leading the NL in homers (50) and RBIs (130), but his .310 average fell just short to Luis Arráez’s .314.
