Category: Baseball

Happy Sunday everybody. Here take these links. No really, take them. Take them quickly. You have to go! Right now! Run! RUN!

In Mariners news…

• Carlos Mendoza, who earlier this week joined the Phillies coaching staff, reportedly withdrew his name from consideration as the next Mariners manager to accept his new job. One would certainly hope, and perhaps expect, that a manager job would be more desirable than an assistant coach job, and this news does not inspire a ton of confidence in how the search is going.

• Adam Jude at the Seattle Times laid out five of the core questions that the organization has to find answers for before the lockout starts.
• A handful of players formerly on minor league contracts elected free agency earlier this week, including infielder Miles Mastrobuoni.

Around the league…

• The Rays big bats led the way in their Game 4 win over the Guardians last night to even the series at two games apiece. Game 5 is in Cleveland today at 2:08 pmPST on TBS.
• Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto may spend less time behind the plate next season, as it seems his thirteenth season behind the plate really took a big toll on him. Realmuto himself seemed to cite the responsibilities of ABS challenges as being especially draining.

There were a lot of problems with the 2026 Mets, a depressing and lengthy list that we don’t need to rehash here. The bullpen, however, was not one of them. Prior to the trade deadline, the Mets’ relief corp posted a 3.82 ERA with a 3.79 xERA and 15.1 K-BB%. That latter mark ranked 4th in baseball, and those numbers get even better if you remove Devin Williams’ contributions.

Brooks Raley was a big part of that success. Over 41.1 innings, the 38-year-old posted a 2.45 ERA with a 2.37 xERA. For most of the year, he was a highly effective 7th inning or setup man in Carlos Mendoza’s and then Andy Green’s arsenal.

That performance certainly earned Raley some advocates among Met fans, but was more a classic instance of a decent reliever having a hot couple months rather than someone ascending to elite status. Raley’s stuff metrics remained just okay. His slider is a plus pitch, but everything else was effectively slop. He survived more on weak contact than a particular propensity for whiffs, and his 15.0% K-BB% ranked an unremarkable 75th among relievers. The writing was pretty clearly on the wall for some sort of regression.

Enjoyably but unsurprisingly, said regression hit after Raley was shipped down to Philadelphia. He posted a 7.94 ERA over 11.1 innings with the Phillies, was a significant contributor to what would’ve been one of the most epic late-season collapses of all time, and was ultimately left off the postseason roster for the Wild Card round. Funnily, there wasn’t really a huge change to Raley before and after the trade; this was effectively the same pitcher just getting wildly different results. That’s baseball, Susan.

Now, the Mets surely would’ve preferred to be in a position where Raley’s strong first four months actually helped them reach the postseason, but they were able to parlay that performance into a couple interesting prospects. John Spikerman is a speed and OBP-oriented 4th outfield prospect, one who saw an uptick in exit velocities before the trade and actually hit for more after joining the Mets. To be clear, this took his power from “none” to “a bit below average.” That’s enough to make him an actual prospect who could play a bench role at some point in the next season or two.

Luke Gabrysh, meanwhile, continues to show some truly disgusting stuff; he had the best slider in MiLB per Stuff+, and had one of the ten best arsenals overall. Public facing stuff metrics are imperfect (and vastly inferior to what teams are using at this point), but these sort of numbers mean a lot more than his minor league ERA and indicate that the Mets got a potential steal here. Expect him to feature somewhat prominently in this offseason’s list process.

So yes, the Mets did not get exactly what they wanted out of Raley’s hot four months. But they made the best of a bad situation, leveraging an unsustainable performance to pick the pocket of a division rival at the deadline. Hopefully Gabrysh and Spikerman can twist that knife further for the Phillies in 2027 and beyond.

Carlos Mendoza’s disappointing finish in Queens did not keep him out of the running for another managerial gig.

The ex-Mets skipper, who was fired midseason following the club’s disappointing 34-47 start, was a candidate for the Mariners’ managerial vacancy, according to ESPN.

Despite Seattle’s interest, Mendoza ultimately withdrew from consideration to join Philadelphia as third base and infield coach.

After parting ways with Dan Wilson at season’s end, the Mariners, along with the Astros, are one of two teams in search of a new manager.

Mendoza, 46, spent more than a decade in various roles with the Yankees, including infield and bench coach, before taking over as Mets manager ahead of the 2024 campaign.

He oversaw a memorable 2024 squad that rebounded from a tough start to make a surprise run to the National League Championship Series, where they fell to the Dodgers in six games.

The Mets surged out of the gate in 2025, only to suffer a second-half collapse that saw their playoff hopes vanish on the final day of the regular season.

A plethora of injuries and a 12-game losing streak in April sank New York’s season, leading to Mendoza’s dismissal in late June and the hiring of Andy Green.

The Mendoza-led Mets went 206-199 during his two-and-a-half seasons at the helm.

Mendoza now joins the Mets’ National League East rival’s revamped coaching staff in the wake of another early postseason exit.

Philadelphia surprisingly retained Don Mattingly as manager but parted ways with hitting coach Kevin Long and infield coach Bobby Dickerson — paving the way for Mendoza’s hiring.

The Phillies finished 2026 with a fielding run value of -20, seventh-worst among all MLB teams, according to Baseball Savant.

Among Mendoza’s challenges will be working with $300 million shortstop Trea Turner, who posted an abysmal defensive season, leading to a “mandatory” warning from team president Dave Dombrowski to improve or be moved off the position.

“If he plays [shortstop] like he did in 2026, he can’t,” Dombrowski said of Turner. “And he totally understands that.

“We’ve already given him some information ourselves that we think could be helpful. Of course, Carlos Mendoza will be responsible for working with him.”

MLB free agency cannot begin until the season concludes after the World Series, but the San Diego Padres are not waiting for the end of this season before they start building for the future. It was reported on Saturday that San Diego had agreed to a minor league deal with Japanese pitcher Tatsuya Nogami.

Lincoln Zdunich of Gaslamp Ball said the numbers on Nogami are limited, but he is an intriguing prospect with a multi-pitch arsenal. When the Friar Faithful get to see Nogami in action is unknown, but Zdunich thinks there could be a chance he gets an invite to Spring Training to see what he can do against top-level MLB talent.

Young controllable pitching is something the Padres have lacked in recent years due to a multitude of mid-season trades. Nogami provides that if he can be developed in the San Diego system under pitching coach Ruben Niebla.

This may not be a big-name, flashy signing but it is a start.

Another player who could see an opportunity to show what he can do is Alex McCoy, who has shown the ability to crush the baseball at the minor league level. Cheri Bell of Gaslamp Ball says the problem is he is still very much a swing-and-miss candidate. McCoy has been getting some headlines in the Arizona Fall League and could be someone to watch in the minor league system as the Padres push him to show more at each of the next levels.

Padres News:

• Ethan Salas made his long-anticipated MLB debut with the Padres at the end of the 2026 season, but that does not mean he walks into 2027 as the starter behind the plate.

Baseball News:

• The Tampa Bay Rays took Game 4 of the ALCS from the Cleveland Guardians and tied the seres, 2-2.

• Here is the information you need for where and when to watch Game 5 of the ALCS.

I’ll admit that there was a strong urge to tune out of the postseason once the Rays swept the Yankees in the ALDS. With the Dodgers and Brewers on a collision course in the NLCS, LA having swept the Brewers in the same round last year, and two of the stingiest teams in the Rays and Guardians set to square off in the ALCS Frugality Bowl, there was a feeling of inevitability that the Dodgers would match the Yankees as the only teams to three-peat in the last half-century. However, there was a different buzz emanating from this year’s Brewers squad, and four games later I know who I’ll be rooting for to win the World Series. Here are the reasons I want the Crew to be the ones lifting their very first Commissioner’s Trophy in less than two weeks’ time.

They swept the Dodgers! David* vanquished Goliath, the upstart rebels unseated the Ancien Régime. Selfishly as a Yankees fan, it is reassuring to know that the Yankees will remain the only team in over 50 years to win three World Series in a row. But I think it’s a win for the sport that the perennially contending Brewers finally defeated the new Evil Empire in baseball. And they didn’t just find a thermal exhaust port to blow up the Death Star, they blew it out of the sky with overwhelming firepower.

*The Dodgers were understandable NLCS favorites, but I suppose a team with 103 wins can only be so accurately described as ”David.”

They have two of the most exciting young players in the sport! On his day, Jacob Misiorowski is the most dominant starting pitcher I’ve seen since the 92 supernatural innings from Jacob deGrom in 2021. Between the regular season and postseason, he has thrown over 1,200 pitches 100 mph or faster and threw the fastest pitch by a starter ever at 106 mph, redefining what we know about the limits of pitcher velocity. Jackson Chourio keeps finding new ways to amaze this postseason. Leadoff and walk-off home runs, spectacular defensive plays — we are truly watching a superstar born before our eyes.

They’re not some Punch and Judy slap-hitting squad, they hit bombs! Or at the very least, they’ve picked an opportune time to really start hitting bombs after finishing second-to-last in the majors with 154 home runs. Milwaukee leads all postseason teams with 10 homers, many of them coming in pivotal spots to change the lead or supply valuable late insurance runs. They are proof positive of the winning formula in the modern postseason: shutdown pitching from top to bottom and timely home runs.

This team has grit! They overturned a deficit in two out of their three wins against the Padres in the NLDS and then came from behind to win all four games in their sweep of the Dodgers. Each night it seems like someone different coming through with the game-winning hit.

They deserve to be there! This isn’t a Guardians team sneaking into the playoffs by winning a laughable AL Central with a mid-80s win total. And it’s not like I’m going to root for the Rays because, well… it’s the Rays. This is a Brewers organization that has led MLB in wins the last two seasons and has won their division five out of the last six seasons. They routinely put themselves into advantageous positions in the postseason through their consistent pole-to-pole regular season performance, something the Yankees have not done enough the last 14 years.

How cool would it be to watch history made before our eyes! The Brewers are one of five teams to never win the World Series, having only made it there in 1982 and falling to St. Louis. There are baseball fans throughout Wisconsin who have been starved of a World Series contending team since the Braves bolted for Atlanta over 60 years ago (the Braves’ 1957 title was Milwaukee’s last baseball champion). It’s beyond time that a proud, often overlooked fan base gets their day in the sun.

I like how they’ve assembled their roster! They are a shrewd combination of homegrown talent, blockbuster trades and deadline moves to shore up holes, and under-the-radar acquisitions who they polish into impact players. They are a model organization when it comes to identifying and drafting talent, player development, and recognizing players that other teams are not getting the most out of.

Two of their best players this postseason have tremendous redemption stories. Jake Bauers and Trevor Megill were effectively out of jobs after several replacement level or worse seasons. Bauers refined his approach** to become the Brewers’ definitive offensive threat with 26 homers and a 142 OPS+. He was one of the most productive hitters in baseball and is absolutely raking this postseason. Megill has not allowed a run this October as the team’s closer.

**To get ahead of the point, yes, Bauers was a Yankee in 2023, but the Brewers themselves did outright Bauers off their big-league roster after 2024, making him a free agent. They gave up on him, too! But they did ultimately get him back on a minor-league deal, he became an above-average bat for the first time last year. The rest is history.

Owner Mark Attanasio could easily follow the examples set by Pittsburgh’s Bob Nutting and Miami’s Bruce Sherman and pocket the revenue sharing dollars that are meant to be reinvested into payroll. But he genuinely seems like an owner who has shown a committent to winning over the bottom line. Although past stars like Corbin Burnes and Freddy Peralta were traded a year before free agency, he has at least occasionally accepted the risk of gettin burned by large expenditures, Christian Yelich and Brandon Woodruff his team’s two highest-paid players yet providing little value. He understands that is the cost of business.

The Brewers occupy the smallest TV market of any MLB club yet spend more on payroll than ten other teams. While every owner, Attanasio included, is capable of allocating more into their rosters, that the Brewers’ percentage of revenue invested into payroll is commensurate with teams like the Dodgers and Yankees while the Rays and Guardians lag far behind is commendable.

I don’t want to get too deep into the weeds that the three teams left standing play in three of the smallest TV markets and sit in the bottom-third in payroll and the implications this has on the upcoming CBA negotiations. What I will say is that the owners’ battle plan has coalesced around the stance that a salary cap is necessary to preserve the competitive balance of the sport.

In sweeping the Dodgers, the Brewers struck a blow to this line of reasoning. Even if only a temporary disruption of the Dodgers’ hegemony over the sport, the run by the Brewers, Rays, and Guardians could not have come at a better time for supporters of the union. When combining team culture, payroll investment, and style of play, I feel the Brewers are the most deserving of the three to win the World Series.

No, I didn’t forget. Of course I am also rooting for the Brewers because Gary Sánchez plays for them. He occupies a cherished part in my Yankees fandom and I would love to see El Gary get a ring.

Even though the NLCS is over and the ALCS is starting to wind down, it’s easy to look at both rosters and wonder what might be. Each roster is littered with players that would be great on any team, but that’s not what we’re here for.

Which player, from any team that was in the NLCS or ALCS, would fit best onto the Phillies?

For me, the answer(s) are easy: Jose Ramirez and Junior Caminero. Handling third base for the next five-ten years from the right side (in Ramirez’s case, either side) would be of tremendous benefit for a team that truly needs someone to take it over.

After committing to the rebuild that was staring them in the face for a few seasons, the St. Louis Cardinals kicked off the transition with a solid 2026 campaign. By most accounts, the Cardinals outperformed preseason expectations, but many fans still believe that a successful season ends with at least one game in October.

That is a tough line to walk as a fan and a writer about the team. I want the Cardinals to go 162-0 and win the World Series every year, but in down stretches, I also understand the need for selling off veteran assets for young prospects. However, I am anti-tanking in pretty much every scenario, especially in baseball where the best draft picks are hopefully debuting within 2 seasons of being selected. Even in a rebuild, a front office should be able to put up a .500 team that allows for interesting conversations as the season progresses.

The Cardinals had a .500 or better team for much of the season, even if it was due to a combination of factors that had the team playing at an unsustainable rate. Expected stats aside, it was reality when the Cardinals were nine games over .500 multiple times and looked to be putting together a postseason contender with a roster of mixed experienced players all in their 20s. While I never expected the Cardinals to buy aggressively at the deadline, there was an opportunity to improve serious areas of concern that would in no way, shape, or form change whatever timeline Chaim Bloom decides to set.

Cardinals’ overperformance in 2026 may set unrealistic expectations for 2027 season

By the end of the year, it was obvious the Cardinals would not have what it takes for an extended playoff run if they made it to October, but neither did the Cubs who were supposed to be title contenders. The White Sox came off of three straight 100 loss seasons to win a mediocre division and did so with a team not too dissimilar from the Cardinals. The Southsiders showed what I hoped Bloom would realize, and that is the fact that even small upgrades can pay big dividends without being the “shortcuts” he keeps referencing.

The last line may be unfair to Bloom, but he has mentioned his unwillingness to “take shortcuts” from their long-term plan which hopefully will end in a 12th World Series title. Cutting corners in this scenario would probably mean spending hundreds of millions in free agency for veterans in their primes at positions the Cardinals already have young talent. After a 2026 season of runways at third base, center field, and the bullpen, Bloom can easily afford to commit resources to those spots without taxing the future.

Thomas Saggese and Blaze Jordan seem to be players with solid MLB futures, but neither profile as the 30-homer third baseman who plays solid defense the Cardinals need. Jesus Baez has been outstanding and is at least a year away, so that clearly looks like a hole at third base without a close answer. To me, Saggese could become the 2027 version of Jose Fermin and still see plenty of playing time while Blaze could have an early role at third, first, or DH.

If the Cardinals opted to invest in a one-year veteran stopgap in 2027 to hold the fort down for Baez, what is Chaim Bloom really risking? Bloom has kind of said that the team is not going to be playoff-ready next year, but why not? With two-thirds of the lineup locked in, spending money on a couple spots instead of a handful should be much easier and, honestly, expected for me. On any team with clear needs, an offseason goal should be to satisfy those needs as effectively as possible. The Cardinals have taken the cost-effective way rather than use a performance-based strategy, and that makes little sense to me.

The same can be said for center field, where Nathan Church is surely fine there but the Cardinals could find an upgrade at a reasonable cost. In the bullpen, Bloom (I hate to say this) took the lazy way out and continued to give Oliver Marmol the same few guys to work with while the rest of the bullpen was overworked. In any other team truly looking to compete, so many guys would have been out of the job and maybe would not even be able to sign on elsewhere. Despite that, we got to see multiple relievers stay on the 40-man roster for no other reason than cost savings.

The Cardinals spent plenty of the season five games or more over .500 and sitting in an exciting spot during the 2026 season. They outperformed expectations but despite the clear faults in the roster, Bloom was comfortable speaking of how the future was more important than supplementing the career seasons he was seeing put in front of him at Busch. Alec Burleson and Jordan Walker were the best run producers in the league while JJ Wetherholt and Masyn Winn put up historic numbers up the middle. Even with that happening, Fermin, Ramon Urias, and Pedro Pages were getting regular at-bats with the bullpen featuring just a couple supplements from outside the organization.

The reasoning was always the same, the Cardinals needed to figure out what they already had on the roster. While that argument was acceptable for me for third and center, the bullpen is a spot that is going to differ every season no matter the contention window. Replacing someone like Chris Roycroft with Ryan Fernandez and Matt Pushard is an unserious move for the postseason at a spot on the roster that has the least impact on a club long-term.

Why were we too quick to accept the fact that Bloom can make no wrong and his strategy is the best way? I know much of this article has sounded negative, but I am 100% behind Bloom and still understand most of the long-term vision. Where I do not know if I will ever see eye-to-eye is why there was a refusal to cash in on Burly and Walker while supplementing Andre Pallante and Kyle Leahy in the rotation with one-year rentals. The Dustin May move was a match made in heaven and the success of that move makes me more upset that type of investment could not have been made among two or three more bullpen arms.

Bloom paid May a total of $10 million for half of a season of work and netted a fantastic return by all accounts. If Bloom had decided to also throw $10-15 million into the bullpen, he could have found some decent talent with no risk. Worst case, you cut ties with a few million dollars on a team that did not have real postseason aspirations. Middle case, you get a solid half season run and flip the reliever for more prospects or cost-controlled players. Best case, these arms cut away a dozen of the 38 blown saves from the Cardinals bullpen and Busch Stadium is packing the place instead of offering free tickets in hopes people show up.

Even with all of those disappointing shortcomings for me, the Cardinals appear to have a core that won 77 games this past season. Bloom is truthfully a fan of the team and wants to see success, but now I want that 77 win total to be his new baseline for success. Of course, wins do not tell the entire story of a season, but with a 162-game sample size, the record more often than not matches the performance.

I am going into the 2027 season expecting a run at .500. Is that exciting? No, but it shows a push in the right direction. The Cardinals could have easily clinched a winning record with just a tiny bit more effort towards clear roster needs, but the supposed shortcuts would have been so detrimental to the future that St. Louis would never see another championship.

To wrap this up, I am not upset with the way the 2026 season went. I never expected this team to win less than 70 games, but there was definitely some meat left on the 77-win bone. We will never know if an additional $30 million would have made a difference for the Cardinals 2026 season, but with all the talks of payroll buying championships, it seems that spending more money would increase the chances at postseason success.

— This probably seemed much more negative or accusatory than was meant to be, but I do think I am in the right to feel frustrated at some of the non-activity by the front office. I am not saying I wanted to ship away Liam Doyle and Rainiel Rodriguez for a win-now move at the deadline, but saying goodbye to some Double-A depth for major league talent is a defendable move in nearly all circumstances —

Thanks as always!

One of the benefits of watching your team continue in the playoffs is that you don’t have to think about the holes in your team until you exit. And once you do, you begin the arduous task of considering how it all went wrong. Dealing with the holes in the team can be pretty straightforward. Figuring out why the Braves failed in the playoffs however, is nearly an annual stomach-churning tradition. Some of those failure reconstructions can live on for 35 years and longer. Or at least, you’re not allowed to move on. Oh, hi Lonnie. Anyway, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it, especially with the impending lockout.

Braves General Manager Alex Anthopoulos has a lot to chew on over the offseason. Which is handy I guess, because it will be a long one this year. He has a string of injured starting pitchers. He has a twice-suspended left fielder who is allegedly not returning phone calls. He has question marks over (at least) half the infield and a right fielder who has trouble staying on the field.

And then there’s Tim Hyers, the architect of several shabby opposing starter approaches and an opposite field hitting obsession. He’s only under a two-year contract that has expired. Anthopoulos praised the work of the offense this season, pointing out how they were top 10 in a lot of categories. Internally though, he can’t be pleased with it. And also, I’m not going to the bank with anything Alex says just after the season ends. The Braves have turned themselves (and their hitters’ swings) inside out trying to deal with the flabby, draggy, distance-killing baseballs over the last few years. And the results have not been good enough to back a resilient pitching staff.

So what changes will the Braves in-house evaluations bring? I can’t imagine how Hyers stays. His instruction appears to be not clear, not followed, or not helpful. I wouldn’t consider Jurickson Profar out of the left field conversation just yet when you consider what the Braves tolerated with Marcell Ozuna. Also, prospect Eric Hartman is looming in Double-A. So I’m not sure they’ll go big in left this offseason. Shortstop might be a different story. They also need to address the injury situation, whether that’s replacing on-field talent or off-field medical personnel.

Lots of problems, only one post to solve them.

Meet the Mets

Mets top prospect Jefferson Rojas launched a pair of homers last night in the Winter League; the 21-year-old Dominican is 4-for-7 overall in his first two games with Cibao.

Around the National League East

Former Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was a candidate for the Mariners’ managerial job before withdrawing his name to become the Phillies’ third base and infield coach, per reporting from ESPN’s Jorge Castillo.

The Phillies plan to reduce J.T. Realmuto’s catching workload in 2027, Dave Dombrowski told reporters.

MLB Trade Rumors published their offseason outlook for the Atlanta Braves.

After missing a large chunk of his first full professional season due to injury, Marlins prospect Max Williams is making up for lost time.

Jessica Camerato of MLB.com took a look at three Nationals prospects who could make their debuts in 2027.

Around Major League Baseball

The Rays evened up the ALCS at two games apiece by beating the Guardians 7-3 in Game 4 at Progressive Field.  Jonathan Aranda drove in a pair and Yandy Díaz sealed the game with a two-run homer in the ninth.

Twelve of the past 16 teams to clinch the pennant first lost in World Series. But will the extra rest help the Brewers?

Katie Woo and Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic examine what’s next for the Dodgers.

As a reporter who covered the end of the Yankees’ dynasty in 2001, Tyler Kepner of The Athletic asserts that the Dodgers won’t stop winning, but things may be different from here on out, like they were for the Yankees.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Brian Salvatore reviewed Kodai Senga’s 2026 season, which ended with a transition to the bullpen.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 2006, the Mets defeated the Cardinals in Game 6 of the NLCS to force a decisive Game 7.

34 years ago

Remembering a Classic Blue Jays Comeback: Game 2 of the 1992 World Series 34 years ago

In the ninth inning, with the Blue Jays trailing 4-3, Ed Sprague delivered a dramatic pinch-hit home run, propelling Toronto to a thrilling victory in Game 2 of the 1992 World Series.

Game one saw the Blue Jays fall 3-1. Jack Morris surrendered three runs in the sixth, while Toronto could only muster a single run—a Joe Carter home run—against Braves ace Tom Glavine, who threw a complete-game four-hitter.

David Cone, acquired from the Mets on August 27th for Jeff Kent, took the mound in Game 2. While Cone’s autobiography is an excellent read (though it covers little about his Jays tenure), his outing that day was tough—he allowed four runs (three earned) over 4.1 innings.

Atlanta struck first in the second inning. David Justice walked, stole second, advanced to third on a Manny Lee throwing error, and came home on a wild pitch.

The Braves added another run in the fourth as Sid Bream walked, Jeff Blauser singled, and Mark Lemke drove in Bream with an RBI single.

Toronto tied the game at two in the fifth. Pat Borders walked with two outs, Lee singled, and both Cone (helped by the designated hitter rule not being in effect in Atlanta) and Devon White hit singles to bring home two runs. Cone’s hit must be among the most impactful by a Blue Jays pitcher.

The Braves reclaimed a two-run lead in the bottom of the fifth. Deion Sanders singled and stole second, Terry Pendleton walked, and Justice singled home Sanders, ending Cone’s night. David Wells relieved and surrendered a sacrifice fly to Brian Hunter.

The Jays cut the deficit to one in the eighth. Roberto Alomar doubled, Carter singled, and Dave Winfield drove in Alomar with a single. That ended John Smoltz’s night after 7.1 innings (8 hits, 3 runs—2 earned, 3 walks, 8 strikeouts). Lefty Mike Stanton got Olerud to pop out, and Jeff Reardon struck out Kelly Gruber to end the threat.

In the ninth, Reardon induced a lineout from Borders. Derek Bell pinch-hit for Lee and walked. Ed Sprague then pinch-hit for Duane Ward and, on the first pitch, launched a home run over the left-field wall, giving Toronto its first lead. That homer easily ranks among the most important in Blue Jays history.

Tom Henke was called upon to close, but the save was anything but routine. With one out, he hit pinch-hitter Lonnie Smith, who was replaced by pinch-runner Ron Gant. Otis Nixon flied out to center. Gant then stole second with Deion Sanders at the plate, who proceeded to walk on a full count. Ultimately, Henke induced a pop-out from Pendleton to secure the win.

The Blue Jays tied the series at one and returned to Toronto, eventually winning the World Series in six games.

Toronto’s bullpen was outstanding, delivering 4.2 hitless innings: Wells (1.2),Stottlemyre (1), Ward (1, earning the win), and Henke (1, with the save). The Braves managed just five hits but drew seven walks.

Offensively, the Jays collected nine hits and four walks. Remarkably, Cone contributed two of those hits (and an RBI); no other Blue Jay had more than one hit.

Jays of the Day would have been Sprague (.669 WPA), Cone for his batting (.154) and Henke (.187).

Other award: Cone for his pitching (-.273), Olerud (-.273, 0 for 4, 1 strikeout) and Gruber (-.181, 0 for 4, 3 strikeouts).

Here is the home run:

The Pittsburgh Pirates are wasting no time in the offseason, already making moves to firm up their Minor League rosters, when it was announced over the weekend that they signed outfielder and Gibsonia native Kyler Fedko to a two-year Minor League contract.

Fedko is coming off of a torn ACL and MCL, but he expects to be back in action getting healthy somewhere around February. That means he will likely still be rehabbing when the season starts, but he is expected back on the field sometime this year.

The 27-year-old was drafted in the 12th round by the Minnesota Twins in 2021. They DFA’d him back in September, allowing the Bucs to snatch him up on a short deal, which has now been upgraded to this two-year contract. Fedko originally played at Vicentian Academy in McCandless and for the University of Connecticut before starting his pro career.

He also has a fair bit of power. He hit .274 with 17 homers and 54 RBIs this past season for St. Paul, while he also hit 28 combined homers and 82 combined RBIs in double and triple-A in 2025. He had one brief call up to the Majors last season, where he went hitless in 16 at-bats. Nevertheless, the Bucs certainly like a hometown kid story, and they can always use a little extra bat pop, so this move makes sense in that regard.

The Dodgers are on the outside looking in to see how the fates of three remaining teams in the postseason play out. While the 2026 World Series gets underway, the Dodgers will now be focusing on how they will operate either before or after the impending lockout.

Nine players that were on the 2026 team will be reaching free agency; the biggest name of the bunch being left-hander Tarik Skubal. One of the biggest questions surrounding the Dodgers’ offseason will be whether or not they bring him back in the fold, and what price they’ll have to pay to retain his services. Sonja Chen of MLB.com lists the questions the Dodgers will have to answer, including Skubal’s future with the team.

The Dodgers parted with two Top 100 prospects — MLB-ready starter River Ryan and outfielder Zyhir Hope — in addition to right-hander Brady Smith in exchange for up to three months of Skubal. They weren’t the only team willing to spend big on a talent of Skubal’s caliber, and the same will be true when he hits the open market for the first time.

Although the Dodgers were unsuccessful in their hopes for a three peat, both Skubal and Blake Snell still believe that their championship window is still wide open, notes Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times.

“I don’t feel that at all,” Skubal said. “It’s hard to win the World Series, and this group has done it the last two seasons. Obviously, not this year, but … I think that this group is incredibly talented. And the preparation and the work ethic that this group has — I don’t buy into that narrative.”

Said Snell: “We’re only getting better.”

Jack Harris of the California Post gives Shohei Ohtani an “F” grade as a part of his end-of-season report card, with his turbulent second half and postseason derailing what looked to be another MVP-caliber season.

To be clear: The two-way star was the second-best player in the National League this year, hitting 30 home runs and posting a sub-2.00 ERA in 14 starts on the mound. Even in a relatively down year for him, he finished fifth in the majors in FanGraphs’ version of wins above replacement. He remains, undoubtedly, MLB’s foremost star player and the Dodgers’ most potent weapon.

But that is why the way his season finished was such a failure.

Miguel Rojas will no longer take the field in a Major League Baseball game, and he took the time to appreciate all of his teammates following their NLCS Game 4 defeat to the Milwaukee Brewers, per Cary Osborne of Dodger Insider.

“They changed my life,” Rojas later said, his eyes still pink from his speech to his teammates. “I truly and honestly say that from the bottom of my heart. The last couple years here for me, it’s been the most amazing time of my life in baseball, and I grew so much with this group. I grew as a man, as a father, as a player, as a leader, as a teammate. And I just wanted to say thank you to every person here in this organization for giving me the opportunity to be myself and to kind of help change the culture of this club.”

Today’s Reflections

Good morning.

A rainout in Cleveland?!? What, did they NOT think of putting a dome on Progressive Field???

Well, if they did, those 17 magical moments wouldn’t have happened that November night. So, I guess it’s an even trade in the end.

I appreciate your reading.

*means autoplay on, (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments.

• Tyler Edmunds (OnTapSportsNet): The Brewers Are Going to the World Series, and I Honestly Don’t Know How Much More of This I Can Take. “A Cubs fan’s open letter to baseball, the Brewers, and the baseball gods who clearly have a sick sense of humor.”
• Jordan Campbell (Cubbies Crib): Cubs may have a Randy Arozarena opportunity that their spending plans could complicate. “The Cubs get a loose connection to Randy Arozarena, but the reality of the move is complicated.”
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib): Former Cubs star Kris Bryant gets another ominous sign about his MLB future from Rockies. “All signs point to the former NL MVP’s career being all but over.”
• Andrew Wright (North Side Baseball): Seiya Suzuki’s All-Around Brilliance Will Force the Cubs to Put Their Money Where Their Mouth Is. “In what may have been his final season as a member of the Chicago Cubs, Seiya Suzuki saved his best performance for last.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): Q&A: PCA reflects on MVP-caliber season, embracing Cubs history. “Crow-Armstrong said he was excited to meet one of his childhood heroes, Alfonso Soriano. Also in the tunnel was Slammin’ Sammy Sosa — the most prolific home run hitter in Cubs history. The season Crow-Armstrong compiled for the Cubs in 2026 looked a lot like some that those two enjoyed. Leadoff homers. Stolen bases.“
• Doug Schwamb (Chicago Cubs On SI): What Does a Successful Cubs Offseason Actually Look Like? “The Chicago Cubs have some moves to make, but what is a realistic offseason plan for them? There are some different ways to approach it.”

Food For Thought:

Tommy Castro (born April 15, 1955) is an American blues, R&B, and rock guitarist and singer. He has been recording since the mid-1990s. His music has taken him from local stages to national and international touring. According to The Chicago Sun-Times, Castro plays “Memphis soul-drenched R&B…top-of-the-line blues.” Tom Callahan of Blurt added, “Castro has a soulful voice, searing guitar and is an excellent songwriter and vocalist. If you close your eyes you will be convinced that you are listening to Otis Redding singing in 1967…tremendous.”

Castro was born and raised in San Jose, California. Castro began playing guitar at the age of 10 and was influenced and inspired by electric blues, Chicago blues, West Coast blues, soul music, 1960s rock and roll and Southern rock. His style has always been a hybrid of all his favorite genres. He names Mike Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop, Eric Clapton, B. B. King, Buddy Guy, Elmore James and Freddie King as guitar influences and Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett and James Brown as vocal influences. He began playing professionally in Bay Area cover-song bands in the 1970s. In the 1980s he joined the Warner Bros. Records‘ band The Dynatones. In San Francisco, he began playing with North Beach musicians in the 1980s. He cited Johnny Nitro and Johnny Ace as early mentors at that stage in his life.

Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series.

We’re more than half-way through the month of October, and one half of the World Series matchup has been decided.

There will be no three-peat.

The Milwaukee Brewers, getting their revenge for how they bowed out of the playoffs last year, did something that seemed unimaginable at the start of this season. The Brew Crew swept the dreaded Los Angeles Dodgers—with their gargantuan payroll and roster loaded with future Hall of Fame talent—in the National League Championship Series. In doing so, Milwaukee now has their sights set on winning their first title in franchise history as they prepare for the team’s first World Series appearance in 44 years.

The Brewers now await the crowning of the American League champion to be their opponent in the Fall Classic. The Cleveland Guardians—looking for their first World Series win since 1948—and the Tampa Bay Rays—looking for their first World Series win in franchise history—have the series tied up at two games each and have guaranteed their seasons will continue until at least Monday night.

Meanwhile, the Colorado Rockies look to continue their rebuild after another 100-loss season. The first change of the off-season in pursuit of that goal came last week with the firing of pitching coach Alon Leichman after just one season.

With that being said, here’s what our staff here at Purple Row had to say this week:

To Read: Scaling the Rocks

• Monday:Monday Blues & Brews | Sam Bradfield
• Tuesday:Rumors are rampant | Renee Dechert
• Wednesday:Speculating for the Rockies’ future | Skyler Timmins
• Thursday:Gold Gloves and hot seats | Cory Cohen
• Friday:Ding dong the Dodgers are dead | Joelle Milholm
• Saturday:The Brewers look inevitable | James Riggenbach

To Read: Rockpiles

• Monday:Jack O’Dowd’s Arizona Fall League selection caps off a whirlwind first season in affiliated baseball | Sam Bradfield
• Tuesday:Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer discusses offseason work, areas for improvement, and the White Sox | Renee Dechert
• Wednesday:What can the Rockies learn from past pitchers about success at Coors Field? | Skyler Timmins
• Thursday:Should the Rockies re-sign any of their departed starting pitchers? | Cory Cohen
• Friday:‘Moneyball-like’ ways of Rays and Brewers offer blueprint to Rockies‘Moneyball-like’ ways of Rays and Brewers offer blueprint to Rockies | Joelle Milholm
• Saturday:Where could the Rockies find more pitching? | James Riggenbach

To Read: Ranking the Rockies, 2026

• No. 45:Sterlin Thompson | Cory Cohen
• No. 44:Braxton Fulford | Renee Dechert
• No. 43:Ezequiel Tovar | Zeke Perez Jr
• No. 42:Chad Stevens | Skyler Timmins
• No. 41:Zac Veen | Sam Bradfield

To Read: News

• Colorado Rockies news:TJ Rumfield named a Gold Glove award finalist | Cory Cohen
• Colorado Rockies news: Colorado Rockies fire pitching coach Alon Leichman | Evan Lang

Weekly Discussion Topics

Who do you want the Brewers to face in the World Series, and ultimately who do you want to win it all? For the Rockies, how do you feel about the Leichman firing? Do you believe more departures will follow?

Let us know in the comments!

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Hello, friends.

There are 157 days remaining until the next scheduled Orioles game. We will probably not know whether a game will happen on that day or not until something like 110 days from now. Many of the days between now and then will have apocalyptic rhetoric about whether there will be a 2027 season at all. It’s going to suck for fans.

For now, the 2026 season remains to be decided. Milwaukee is sitting around waiting to find out who they will play in the World Series. The Brewers will probably be trying to stay sharp; they won’t play another game until Friday regardless of when the series ends between the Guardians and Rays to determine the AL representative. When the World Series is over, no later than Halloween, we can start to find out what will happen with the offseason.

Cleveland and Tampa Bay will play another one in Cleveland today. Game 5 was pushed back to today due to Friday’s rain in northeast Ohio. That is set to begin at the unusual time of 5:08 Eastern. The series will not end tonight. The Rays fought to even the series up on Saturday night. The Guardians cannot clinch in front of their home crowd. They can only hope to take a lead back to the Trop.

I am mildly hoping the Guardians are the winners in the series, but I’m not sad about the Rays winning last night. Cleveland had former Oriole Shawn Armstrong as an opener yesterday and then ended up using seven different pitchers on the way to a 7-3 loss. It offends me on an aesthetic level to see bullpen games or openers in the playoffs. If you don’t have starting pitchers that can even get you five innings in the postseason, you don’t deserve to move on. Deserve has nothing to do with it in baseball, not the regular season nor in the postseason. But for last night, the Rays had a real starting pitcher and they won, so, good for them.

Orioles stuff you might have missed

Five surprising occurrences from the 2026 Orioles season (School of Roch)
Number one is that the Orioles catching duo of Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo was separated in the middle of their first full season together. I’m still surprised Elias pulled the trigger on that one.

As Orioles look to improve outfield production, will a trade be the avenue to do that? (Steve on Baseball)
Looking at the list of this offseason’s available outfield free agents pushes the needle strongly towards yes.

A possible unexpected Orioles 40-man roster decision (Orioles on the Verge)
The prospect enthusiasts at the Verge are stumping for reliever Yaqui Rivera, which would keep hope alive for the Orioles getting any MLB value whatsoever out of the Cole Sulser/Tanner Scott trade.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Nothing of particular consequence has happened on this day in Orioles history. Until the team makes a deep postseason run in the three wild card era, this is not going to change.

There are a number of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2025 outfielder Jordyn Adams, 2007-08 pitcher Garrett Olson, 1992-98/2000-01 pitcher Alan Mills, 1995 pitcher Terry Clark, and 1977 one-game pitcher Ed Farmer.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: toy retailer Frederick August Otto Schwarz (1836), baseball Hall of Famer Candy Cummings (1848), longtime Canadian prime minister Pierre Trudeau (1919), rock’n’roller Chuck Berry (1926), tennis legend Martina Navratilova (1956), movie martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme (1960), jazz legend Wynton Marsalis (1961), gold medal skier Lindsay Vonn (1984), and actor Zac Efron (1987).

On this day in history…

In 1597, Spain’s King Philip II had a third armada launched with the aim of invading England. Although some forces were actually landed from the armada in Cornwall and Wales, this endeavor was ultimately no more successful than the previous two attempts to invade.

In 1748, the War of the Austrian Succession came to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, a treaty that was notably concluded without any Austrian participation. The result of the treaty was Austria losing a lot of territory to Prussia, which had begun the war in 1740 by refusing to accept a woman, Maria Theresa, as inheriting the throne of Austria.

In 1851, Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick was first published in London, although at this point it was simply called The Whale.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on October 18. Have a safe Sunday.