Category: Baseball

For me, one of the most memorable moments from the 2010 Texas Rangers playoff run — the season the Rangers won a playoff series for the first time ever, the season the Rangers went to the World Series for the first time ever — is a scene from a play where things went bad for the Rangers.

Specifically, it involves the second inning of Game Four of the ALCS, when the New York Yankees, down 2 games to 1, took the lead in a game that they needed to win to bring the series back to even.

The first ten batters of the game had been retired — six Rangers hitters sat down by Yankee starter A.J. Burnett, four Yankees hitters by Tommy Hunter of the Rangers. The #5 hitter for the Yanks, Robinson Cano, got down 0-1 to Hunter before lofting a fly ball to the wall in right field. Nelson Cruz looked like he might have a play on it, but it was caught by a backwards hat wearing Yankees bro in the first row.

The immediate aftermath of the play was captured in this immortal gif:

I have no idea how many times in my life I’ve watched this. Hundreds? Thousands? I feel like I have watched it at least 50 times just today, thinking about doing this post, and then with it cycling on the screen as I continue typing this post.

I really get so much joy from this gif. I feel like Sam Malone on Cheers with the painting of the dogs playing poker, talking about how he sees something new every time he looks at it. There’s so much going on there, and I wish I could find the old SBN piece — I think by Jon Bois, but maybe by Grant Brisbee or Jeff Sullivan — where he offers up a backstory for each person in the gif, and read it again, and make all of y’all read it again.

Part of the reason that I can get joy from this gif is that, well, the Rangers went on to win the game, and then the series. Kind of like I’d probably find some humor and lightness in another extra base hit over Nelson Cruz’s head that occurred a little over a year later, had the Rangers ended up winning that Game 6 (or the subsequent Game 7).

But at the time, it sucked, and I hated the Yankee bro, and everyone else in this shot — yes, including the popcorn guy in glasses, and the two different kids — with a degree of sports hate that I had previously reserved solely for Dwight Clark and for the 1996 Seattle Mariners.

The hate didn’t last long. The Rangers tied it up in the top of the third, gave up singletons in the third and fourth to go down 3-2, but then exploded for eight runs in the final four innings,* rolling to an easy 10-3 win.

* The Rangers scored five runs in all off of Burnett, the final three coming on a two out, three run home run by Bengie Molina in the top of the sixth, a play that may have inspired my “most momentum-shifting play in baseball” mantra. They scored one off of Boone Logan, one off of Joba Chamberlain, and three off of Sergio Mitre. The only Yankee pitcher who made an appearance and didn’t give up a run was future Rangers great David Robertson.

Texas was up 3-1 in the series, and though they fell to the Yankees in Game 5 behind a bad C.J. Wilson start and an offense that managed just two runs on 13 hits (one of which was a Matt Treanor home run, shoutout to Mr. May!), they rolled over New York in their return to Arlington for the Good Game 6. Colby Lewis — who was incredible in that postseason run — threw eight innings of three hit, one run ball, Vlad Guerrero and Nelson Cruz sparked a four run fifth to give the Rangers a comfy lead, and Neftali Feliz finished it off by freezing ARod on a called strike three:

Seriously, watch this clip again (even though you have to sit through a stupid 15 second commercial because MLB.com has to monetize their video snippets). Remember that feeling? Remember how amazing that was? I still get goosebumps when I watch the Corey Seager World Series home run, and I still get goosebumps when I watch this.

So, yeah, the Yankees bro gif is fun to me. It makes the Rangers comeback, and ultimate series win over New York, all the more delightful.

That said, in the aftermath of last night’s Yankees game-tying homer that wasn’t, I was thinking about the Yankees bro clip, and the timing of it in relation to the Yankees’ recent history.

The 2010 Yankees, you may recall, were the defending World Series champions, having beaten the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2009 World Series four games to two. (Both losses, incidentally, were against Cliff Lee, who shut out the Yankees on two hits over eight innings in Game 3 of the 2010 ALCS. The Yankees, of course, tried to get Lee from the Mariners at the 2010 trade deadline before the Rangers out-bid them, and there was talk that Lee was in the Yankees’ head, much like Mike Scott was in the head of the Yankees’ crosstown rivals in the NLCS in 1986).

The 2010 Yankees were favored over the Rangers, even though the Rangers had homefield advantage. The Yankees had the second best record in the A.L., with 95 wins, while the Rangers had the worst record of the four A.L. playoff teams, at “just” 90-72. The Yankees still had Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte from their dynasty teams, plus high-priced former Rangers Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, stud second baseman Robinson Cano (who the Rangers could have had in the ARod trade, though they picked Joaquin Arias instead) in his prime, C.C. Sabathia fronting the rotation…

And the Rangers…well, they were the Rangers. Yes, they traded for Cliff Lee, and signed an aging Vlad Guerrero to be their DH. But otherwise, they were relying on a bunch of hitters without playoff experience, as well a converted reliever and a guy who got run out of the majors and had to go to Japan in the rotation behind Lee. The end of the 90s saw the Rangers chased from the playoffs by a Yankees dynasty, and the start of the 2010s seemed to be setting the stage for the same thing to happen in a new decade.

Texas ceded homefield advantage one game into the series, blowing a 5-0 lead that included a gruesome five run eighth inning where five pitchers — C.J. Wilson, Darren Oliver, Darren O’Day, Clay Rapada and Derek Holland — combined to retire none of the first seven batters in the inning. The Rangers won big in Games 2 and 3, but when Cano homered off of Big Game Hunter to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead in Game 4, when backwards hat Yankees douche was yelling and posturing and Horatio Sanz’s twin was cheering and the Sopranos extra in the 72 inch waist jeans was yelling “Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!” over and over, it felt like an ill harbinger, a bad omen, the beginning of the end of the Rangers’ magical run.

In another timeline, maybe that’s the case. In another timeline, the Burnett stifles the Rangers in this Game 4, and Wilson’s Game 5 egg is followed up by a slightly less effective Colby Lewis in Game 6, with Philip Hughes avoiding the crooked number in the bottom of the fifth in Arlington and David Robertson and Kerry Wood keeping Texas off the board until Mariano Rivera gets Josh Hamilton swinging with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Rangers fans watching the Yankees celebrate at TBiA before stomping the San Francisco Giants in the World Series.

We aren’t in that timeline, though. In this timeline, the Rangers ended the Yankees’ hope of repeating as champions, of bringing back the Yankees Dynasty. They rebounded from the Cano home run that set off the iconic celebration in the stands, won the game, and won the series.

And the Yankees?

The Yankees are still chasing their next ring. When Robinson Cano hit that home run, Yankees fans felt another title was imminent, and even if, somehow, someway, they didn’t win it all in 2010, it would just be a brief delay of the inevitable, and the next ring would come in 2011 or 2012, with the Yankees surely having accumulated multiple rings by the time the 2026 season ended.

But that hasn’t happened. The Rangers have won more titles since then than the Yankees have. The Rangers have been to three World Series — including 2010 — to the Yankees’ one. Nevermind a Yankees dynasty…New York has found it difficult to get past the divisional round during that time.

Could it be that the Yankee bro’s celebration, caught on camera, along with the fans around him, caught the eye of the fickle gods of baseball? Could it be that the ostentatiousness and brashness of an entitled fanbase, encapsulated in that that shot, caught the attention of the baseball gods, who decided to punish Yankees fans for their hubris?

Despite consistently running one of the highest payrolls in the game, despite being one of the marquee franchises in the game, the Yankees haven’t won a World Series title since. They have now gone 17 seasons without a title, tied for the longest stretch in franchise history since the team won its first title in 1923. Given their payroll, their on-field success in the regular season during that time, you’d have thought they’d have won the World Series at least once in that stretch, right?

Could it be…the Curse of the Yankees Bro?

It’s The Day After and now that we’ve all had some time to really take things into perspective, the obvious thing to do in times like this is to look forward. The good news is that following their exit in the NLDS at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers, it’s pretty clear where the Atlanta Braves need to focus their improvement efforts on. The main question, however, is how are they going to do that in a way that tangibly changes things going forward?

For the most part, the Braves are going to be running it back. In order of compensation, Chris Sale, Austin Riley, Matt Olson, Spencer Strider, Ronald Acuña Jr. (team option), Robert Suarez, Sean Murphy, Jurickson Profar (Yep), Mike Yastrzemski, Michael Harris II, Reynaldo López and Ozzie Albies are all under contract for next season. Dylan Lee, James Karinchak, Joey Wentz, Michael Grove, Luke Williams and Bryce Elder are all eligible for arbitration. Spencer Schwellenbach, Grant Holmes, Drake Baldwin, Ray Kerr, Didier Fuentes, Dylan Dodd and Victor Mederos are still in pre-arbitration so they’re under team control.

Now, it’s tough to imagine what moves can be made considering that there’s a pretty decent chance that the financial landscape of baseball is going to change significantly once the impending CBA negotiations and potentially-looming lockout is said and done with but no matter what, I’d imagine that the 2027 Braves are going to look similar to the 2026 Braves. Atlanta is locked in at catcher, first base, (very likely) second base, third base, center field and (very likely) right field, they’ll have enough starting pitching to fill out a rotation from the names I listed above and their bullpen is likely going to have its key players returning as well.

There’s an opportunity to run it back for the Braves and I’d imagine that Alex Anthopoulos would do so. Again, this is a team that won 94 games and the NL East Division and has made the Postseason in every season but one since winning the World Series in 2021 — and even in 2025, you could argue that the injury bug was the main culprit for how disastrous that season ended up being. This is still a solid core with players who have the potential to break out at any given moment, so there’s no reason to even consider blowing it up. It’s also clear that both Anthopoulos and Walt Weiss value clubhouse chemistry a ton and this clubhouse’s chemistry is arguably as good as it gets around baseball, so that’s another reason to not just cause an earthquake with the ballclub.

With that being said, it can’t be denied that the offense has taken a precipitous drop since their historically-successful 2023 regular season — and it’s not like there have been many changes with this squad since then. The Braves have gone from a MLB-leading 126 team wRC+ in 2023 to a 101 wRC+ in 2024, then 101 wRC+ again in 2025 before sliding down to a below-average 97 wRC+ in 2026. Acuña, Olson, Murphy, Riley, Albies, and Harris were all here in 2023 and the fact that the lineup has declined as much as it has is actually a bit strange considering that there are only two players in that group who are over 30: Murphy and Olson, and it’s not like they’re ancient, themselves.

I hate to do coaching speculation since 1) we’re not privy to their contract situations and 2) we haven’t heard anything suggesting that anybody’s jobs could be in danger but it would also make sense if Tim Hyers’ position as hitting coach could come into question considering the performance. Dodgers pitching staff or not, a Postseason performance like what we saw at the plate from the Braves is going to put the magnifying glass on what exactly is going on with the offense and when it comes to that, Hyers is the one who could end up taking the blame in a big way if the Braves do decide to make a change. That’s purely speculation on my part but also I’m not the only one!

It’s also difficult to envision any trades being made — again, they’re locked in at a lot of positions for a lot of dollars and any trades would have to be of either the blockbuster variety or something at the very fringes. So with that in mind, the way that the Braves could address the situation is the ol’ fashioned way: From within.

As it turns out, the Braves currently have two position player prospects on the farm who just so happen to play the positions that could fill the pressing positional needs for the Braves for the forseeable future. Eric Hartman really made a name for himself during this past minor league season and while the Braves did have him playing center field for the most part, he also spent time manning left field as well. Tate Southisene is another consensus Top 100 prospect who has done a solid job of improving on the farm system this season and sure enough, he’s capable of playing shortstop as well.

Will they be ready in time for the 2027 season? That’s a bit doubtful, considering that both prospects are estimated for a 2028 arrival according to MLB Pipeline. It’s more of a long-term option but those two are coming and they could finally address two inconsistent spots on the roster that have dogged the Braves for a few years now.

The bridge options are appealing, though. I’d imagine that the Braves are going to try hard to bring back Mauricio Dubón for another season considering how valuable he was for them with both his versatility and being able to man the shortstop spot when needed. Left Field may be a trickier proposition — remember, Jurickson Profar was slated to be a full-time DH before he got caught enjoying too much of a balanced and nutritious breakfast everyday for the second season in a row and had to take an unpaid suspension for the entirety of the 2026 season. Yaz is still going to be around but again, he’s certainly a platoon option rather than an everyday option. I’d imagine that they’ll try to acquire another outfielder to form a platoon.

The main reason why I haven’t mentioned trading as much so far is because of the contract status of a lot of the core players and also because again, there’s a lot to consider when it comes to what baseball looks like after the labor war ends. There’s not a lot to speculate on until that’s figured out but again, I can’t see other teams really having the appetite to attempt to “fix” Austin Riley with the contract that he’s on and it’s a safe assumption that the Braves are simply going to try to figure this out internally when it comes to improving the offense as a whole.

It’s a tricky situation to be in if you’re Alex Anthopoulos and anybody in this front office! The team on paper is fine but if they’re going to take the next step and potentially pick up another World Series title during this current window that they’re in, it’s clear that they’re going to need to find a way to hit more consistently — especially in the Postseason. This routine of the bats failing to show up in October for the past few playoff appearances is starting to get honestly tiring and concerning. Even if the level of competition ratchets up during the Postseason, a near team-wide power outage that the Braves sustained shouldn’t be happening as consistently as it does for this team in the playoffs. It also started to rear its ugly head during this regular season as well (remember June?) and it’s become clear that improving the offense should be the main focus going into the offseason.

How will they do that? There’s still a ton of questions to be answered and we’re still a little too early to be getting into specifics. But it’s clear what needs to be done and hopefully we’ll see them make progress on addressing those issues once everybody gets a chance to actually figure it out in the offseason. We’ll see what happens.

Another year, another early playoff exit.

This one feels a little different, as not only could the Yankees not catch the small-payroll Rays in the AL East, they were swept out of the ALDS by their divisional foes. Their World Series title drought is now 17 years — the longest stretch since the Yankees won their first championship in 1923.

Now, they head into an especially uncertain offseason — for both themselves and the sport.

And in his closing comments after Wednesday’s loss, their most important player — Aaron Judge — had a message for the front office: “We’re the Yankees. I feel like they should go all-in and do what they need to do and if we’ve got holes, it’s finding certain players or personnel, whatever we need, we’ve got to go out there and get it.’’ 

Complicating matters is the fact that MLB is almost certainly going to face another lockout when the collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1 and there are fears that it may last deep into next year, with the landscape of the game potentially changing significantly, as the owners seek to implement a salary cap.

With all that in mind, here’s a look at some of the key decisions the Yankees have to consider:

Leadership

The most important issues the Yankees face this offseason are at the top: Does Hal Steinbrenner want general manager Brian Cashman to continue to lead baseball operations? And if Cashman does return, does the longtime executive want to keep Aaron Boone as manager with one year remaining on Boone’s deal?

Cashman endorsed Boone before the Yankees’ season-ending loss to the Rays in Game 3 of the ALDS, saying, “I think Boone’s a really good manager. We’re here for a reason. There’s a lot of reasons behind that. And he’s certainly part of that.”

Boone, following the sweep, said he “of course” expected to return, adding, “Those conversations are for another day.”  

As for Cashman, the last time his contract ended, it wasn’t renewed until later in the offseason.

Free agent position players

The Yankees’ offense went cold in the ALDS without Judge — as well as for long stretches during the slugger’s absence during the regular season. 

Part of that was due to down seasons from Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Trent Grisham.

Grisham is almost certainly a goner, with his production with both his bat and glove deteriorating this season after getting the qualifying offer last offseason.

Chisholm is eligible for the qualifying offer, but it seems increasingly unlikely the Yankees give it to the second baseman, who followed up a breakout year with a rough one filled with mistakes.

Chisholm didn’t start against right-hander Nick Martinez in the clincher, another bad sign for the lefty-swinging infielder.

Veteran bats Paul Goldschmidt and Amed Rosario will also be free agents.

Goldschmidt was valuable as a righty-hitting option at first base and could return under the right circumstances, but Rosario played poorly all season.

Free agent pitchers

The strength of the Yankees, their starting rotation, should remain largely intact, but the bullpen is another matter.

Closer David Bednar is set to hit the open market and is coming off a strong season in The Bronx. He figures to be at or near the top of the list when it comes to who the Yankees look to retain.

Blackburn emerged as a key, late-inning right-handed arm after resigning with the Yankees last offseason, who value his ability to pitch in high-leverage situations. 

Lefties Tim Hill and Ryan Yarbrough have provided valuable innings over the years in The Bronx, while John Schreiber and Michael Fulmer, two late-season signings, will also be back on the market.

Who’s on first?

As we look towards 2027, the only spot in which the Yankees are set in the infield is at shortstop, where George Lombard Jr. appears ready to stick for years to come defensive miscues notwithstanding.

The Yankees could go with Luis García Jr. at first base, but they may also want to open that spot for Ben Rice if Giancarlo Stanton is able to stay healthy and can serve as the DH. Either way, they’ll look to make a change at second, since García can’t play there every day.

Could that be Anthony Volpe, who breathed new life into his career after losing his shortstop job to Lombard, or do they look to sign someone like oft-mentioned target Luis Arraez?

Moving around the diamond brings us to third base, where Ryan McMahon took a big step back with his defense — which was his calling card when he was acquired from the Rockies in 2025. He was also benched against a righty in the postseason, but is owed $16 million next season.

And back to Stanton, what can the Yankees expect from the injury-prone DH who missed almost the entire year with calf injuries?

Their outfield situation appears to be more set, with the always reliable Cody Bellinger in left and perhaps Spencer Jones as the answer in center.

But Heliot Ramos was a huge disappointment after coming over from San Francisco at the deadline and another year has passed and Jasson Domínguez still hasn’t proven he’s an everyday player, leaving his future with the organization in doubt.

Of course, Judge has to stay healthy for any of their roster moves to matter. 

The Yankees overcame his absence to get to the postseason, but they were no match for Tampa Bay without him and clearly aren’t a World Series threat unless he’s in the lineup.

Catching up

The Yankees looked into upgrading the catching spot at the trade deadline, but ultimately stayed with Austin Wells, who was among the worst hitters in the game in the first half of the season. 

He steadied himself at the plate after the All-Star break and was one of the few bats that did anything against the Rays, but they need some help in the area.

They pursued Ryan Jeffers from the Twins at the trade deadline, but he stayed in Minnesota. Perhaps they look to him again in free agency.

Making a pitch

While the rotation is in good shape with Cy Young favorite Cam Schlitter, Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodón and Will Warren all healthy — along with Ryan Weathers and perhaps Clarke Schmidt — there are plenty of questions about the pen.

They could look at Raisel Iglesias, the Atlanta closer that has long intrigued the Yankees, although he turns 37 in January. 

Adrián Morejón, the left-hander the Yankees looked into at the deadline before he stayed in San Diego, is also a free agent.

And then there’s hard-throwing Carlos Lagrange, the fireballing righty the Yankees hoped might provide innings out of the pen, but was unable to recover from a shoulder injury in time to make his debut. 

The Yankees might prefer this news doesn’t spread.

Video emerged from the visitors’ clubhouse on Wednesday night, after the Rays finished their sweep of the Bronx Bombers in Game 3 of their ALDS series, of the winning team singing along to Frank Sinatra’s “(Theme From) New York, New York.”

The Rays, arm-in-arm, with beer showering over them, added one final insult to the Yankees’ playoff injury on their home turf, where they play the quintessential New York tune after wins.

The end of the 3-0 sweep also saw Tampa Bay star Junior Caminero mime a broom while he celebrated on the field, with the third baseman later mimicking former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz’s catchphrase, “Da Yankees lose!”

Invoking a Red Sox legend in this instance is a fitting choice.

Boston famously used the Sinatra classic as a rally point en route to their 2018 World Series title, after Aaron Judge played the tune while walking past the Red Sox clubhouse on his way out of Fenway Park after an ALDS win.

It came back to bite him when Boston blared “(Theme From) New York, New York” after defeating the Yankees in four games — and then again after they defeated the Dodgers to win it all.

Judge later told The Post he had “no regrets” about his decision.

The Yankees captain, who missed the entire playoff run with a calf injury, is once again left watching another AL East team march on. It’s a feeling he’s not going to let himself move on from.

“Just hating every single moment of it,” Judge said of his thoughts when he was sitting in the dugout as the series came to a close. “So I don’t forget it. I was thinking of missed opportunities this season and this series.”

SAN DIEGO — Major League Baseball proposed to the players union Thursday that the regular season be reduced from 162 games to 154 games for the first time since 1960, with teams also playing four split-doubleheaders during the season, ending the season a week earlier than normal.

The reduced schedule, which would provide virtually each team an off day every Monday except for holidays and special events, would begin in 2029 to coincide with MLB’s new national TV package. 

MLB, while wanting to lengthen the division series from a best-of-five to a best-of-seven format (which would potentially add eight games to the postseason), also is proposing once again that the highest-seeded teams in the postseason can choose their playoff opponent. It is similar to the same proposal during their 2021 negotiations when it tried to expand the playoff field to 14 teams, but the union refused because it believed it would promote mediocrity, and they settled on a 12-team playoff pool.

ATLANTA — Usually, booze-soaked clubhouse celebrations are not the time to inquire about potential changes to the lineup.

But when one potential change might have to do with Shohei Ohtani — the Dodgers’ biggest star and most troublesome question mark so far this postseason — then an exception on Wednesday night was warranted.

Yes, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was indeed asked after the team’s Game 4 elimination of the Braves if they were considering benching the slumping slugger after his injury-plagued struggles continued in the National League Division Series.

And while, no, Friedman made clear such drastic measures aren’t on the table, the fact that speculation is even swirling only underscores the tenuous nature of Ohtani’s current situation.

“At some point, it’s going to click for him,” Friedman insisted. “And the other team’s going to be in big trouble when that happens.”

For now, that feels more like wishful thinking for the Dodgers and their $700 million conundrum.

In the NLDS, Ohtani still looked nothing like himself while continuing to play through right arm and left knee problems.

During the four games against the Braves, Ohtani went 2-for-13 with two walks, four strikeouts and a glaring lack of threatening at-bats. He was dropped to fifth in the batting order for Game 3, then moved only to the cleanup spot in the team’s series-clinching Game 4 triumph.

The 32-year-old made a positive impact on Wednesday, drawing a first-inning walk and then scoring after stealing second base and taking third on an errant throw.

After that, however, he struck out, grounded out and watched a fly ball die at the warning track. As a result, he finished the NLDS with a .154 average, second lowest among Dodgers regulars ahead of only Will Smith.

Now, two questions will linger as the Dodgers take their next step in this postseason:

Can Ohtani turn things around?

Can the team still win if he doesn’t?

The former seems much more difficult to answer, with repeated votes of confidence from team officials thus far having yet to materialize in consistent production from the four-time MVP.

After Game 3, manager Dave Roberts was adamant that Ohtani is “going to come to life — it will happen.” When asked the following afternoon what fueled such conviction, though, the answer felt more like a manifestation rather than clear and tangible signs of progress at the plate.

“The misses are better … because they’re to the big part of the field versus hitting a ball on the ground to the right side of the infield,” Roberts insisted. 

“I thought the intent to stay on the baseball was better than it was in Games 1 and 2. So that’s also encouraging,” he added.

But really, Roberts continued, his belief was based on his star hitter’s track record and penchant for catching fire even when it is least expected.

“I feel that just the talent, the care [that he has], it’s going to happen,” Roberts insisted.

Yet, when the skipper returned to the podium after Game 4, he — like Friedman — was back to answering questions about why it hasn’t happened yet.

“He’s scuffling right now, but I really believe that he’s going to come to life at some point,” Roberts reiterated.

What Roberts said next might be more important, especially with the Dodgers entertaining no plans to drop him from the lineup for now.

“It’s just good to know that we can still win a series when he’s not doing what we all know he can do,” Roberts said.

Given how out of sorts Ohtani continues to look, the two-time defending champions might have to do so again in their NLCS matchup with a stingy Brewers pitching staff.

One silver lining: Ohtani was similarly ineffective in last year’s NLDS against the Phillies, going a woeful 1-for-18 with nine strikeouts in that series, before turning around and winning NLCS MVP honors in the team’s sweep of the Brewers, a four-game rout that was capped off by his iconic three-homer, 10-strikeout masterclass in a pennant-clinching Game 4 victory.

But back then, Ohtani was fully healthy, coming off a career-high 55-homer campaign and at full strength as both a hitter and pitcher.

This version of Ohtani offers no such hope of a similar turnaround. He hasn’t hit a home run since Aug. 18. He has just one RBI since then, as well, with his 15-day stint on the injured list in September having failed to rectify his physically diminished swing.

It means, moving forward, the Dodgers will need the rest of their lineup to keep picking up the slack.

They did so in the NLDS, when Max Muncy and Freddie Freeman combined for five home runs, Teoscar Hernández and Kiké Hernández delivered more clutch postseason moments, and almost everyone else from Mookie Betts to Andy Pages took competitive at-bats that kept opposing pitchers under stress.

Whether the team can continue to replicate that recipe might determine its fate in a bid for a third straight World Series title.

Because right now, despite the Dodgers’ adamant claims that Ohtani will eventually rebound this October, he looks incapable of being anything more than a complementary piece of their offense.

Despite what fans intially thought, Ronald Acuña Jr. denied taking a shot at his former Braves manager, Brian Snitker on his podcast “La Bestia” this week.

During Monday’s episode of the podcast with Brewers stars William Contreras and Jackson Chourio, the former asked Acuña in Spanish about the Braves’ coaches and seemed to point to how things have been in the first season without Snitker — though the catcher didn’t name the manager.

“All good bro. They didn’t bother me again. You know that c–ksucker thought he was the king,” Acuña responded as reported by Phillip Feliz, a known Spanish-to-English athlete translator on X.

On Wednesday night after the Braves were eliminated by the Dodgers in the NLDS, the outfielder told The Athletic he did not take a swipe at Snitker in that moment. He declined to name the coach he was speaking about.

“I’m not going to violate that code,” he said via an interpreter. “We were just talking about the past, even things all the way back to the minor leagues.”

Before Acuña finished his next sentence on the podcast, Contreras began to say, “El gerente,” a term that means “manager” in Spanish, but it’s specifically used for a general manager rather than the skipper of a team.

The interpretation led to intense speculation that Acuña’s comment was directed at Snitker. Many questioned Feliz’s translation and went after him online.

Feliz later posted a video defending his translation of the podcast clip, insinuating the Braves questioned him directly.

“I want to make something clear. My job on social media is not to care for any MLB team’s reputation. Want me to care for your reputation? Hire me. Any MLB team, hire me. Reach out to me,” Feliz said on Tuesday morning in a video on X. “If I do that willingly on the timeline, I chose to. It’s not because I’m getting paid to. If you want to question my translations when you don’t even speak the language, you’re a fool.

“You want to question my work on X and question whether I’m a Dodgers spy playing 3D chess because I decided to drop this clip ahead of Game 3 against the Dodgers? You know what’s far more interesting? The fact that Ronald Acuña Jr. himself decided to drop this episode on their off day. Look it up. Their podcast, ‘La Bestia,’ dropped less than 24 hours ago. It wasn’t I fetching for clips to drop, he handed me the clip. As far as me trying to tarnish the Braves’ reputation, I’m gonna let you in on a little secret: I’m rooting for the Braves this series. F–k the Dodgers.

“If you want to question my work on X when my posts get global reach, I need to ensure I’m posting with accuracy. If you believe heart to heart that Ronald Acuña Jr. wasn’t talking about Brian Snitker, go watch the interview [and] come back to me. Go watch the extended clip that I posted [and] come back to me.”

Acuña and Snitker, who held the manager role in Atlanta from 2017-25, had some friction throughout their lengthy time together that included six division titles and a World Series in 2021.

On Aug. 18, 2019 when a 21-year-old Acuña hit a ball to the right field wall against the Dodgers, he didn’t run hard out of the batter’s box and it only resulted in a single.

A frustrated Snitker pulled him from the game.

Similarly in 2025, Jarred Kelenic admired a long ball and was thrown out at second base for trying to stretch the hit against the Twins. When asked if Snitker talked to Kelenic about the decision, he said “Was I supposed to?”

Acuña, 28, who was rehabbing a torn ACL at the time, took to X to comment on the situation in a since-deleted post.

He wrote: “If it were me, they would take me out of the game.”

He later apologized to the manager and his teammates, deeming it a “moment of frustration.”

Following the 2025 season in which the Braves missed the playoffs, Snitker stepped down and moved on to hold a senior advisory role within the organization. Walt Weiss, Snitker’s longtime bench coach, replaced him and tried to push the team past the Dodgers in the NLDS.

Acuña had a quiet postseason, going 3-for-24 through seven games with no home runs nor RBIs. He had an OPS of .425.

It follows a regular season in which he hit .255 with 20 home runs and 55 RBIs across 107 games.

He has not hit a home run in the postseason since the 2020 NLDS against the Marlins. Acuña did not play in the 2021 World Series due to a torn ACL.

Acuña premiered his podcast last month and he has since hosted his father, his cousin and WBC teammate Royals’ Maikel Garcia, and mentalist Michel Gallero on the show.

Welcome to the 2026 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for the Rockies in 2026. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.

No. 47, Kyle Freeland (-0.4 rWAR)

We’ve all heard the cliches.

“Denver native.”

“Went to Thomas Jefferson High School.”

“Grew up 15 minutes from Coors Field.”

“The hometown kid.”

Heck, we’ve heard these so many times that we made an entire bingo card out of them!

But 2026 marked what could be the last time we hear those phrases uttered on the Colorado Rockies home broadcast about Kyle Freeland.

Since he was drafted eighth-overall in the 2014 MLB Draft, Freeland has spent his entire career with the Rockies. He’s had some highs – such as his near-no-hitter in 2018 – and plenty of lows. And 2026 unfortunately marked a low for the left-hander, who not only finished with career worsts in a number of categories, but also finished with a negative rWAR for the first time since 2019.

Freeland was tagged for a career-high 104 runs (100 earned), and his 29 home runs allowed tied a career worst (also 2023). His 6.65 ERA is a career high, and his 75 ERA+ is also a career low, while his 1.522 WHIP is second only behind his 1.581 in 2019. Finally, his 3.72 SO/BB ratio was the highest of his career.

But Freeland also hit numerous milestones in 2026:

• On March 27th against the Miami Marlins, he made his fifth Opening Day start – the most Opening Day starts in franchise history. He also became the first pitcher in franchise history to make three consecutive Opening Day starts.
• On June 1st against the Los Angeles Angels, he passed Jorge De La Rosa (985) for the second-most strikeouts in club history. 
• On June 7th against the Milwaukee Brewers, he set the franchise record in innings pitched, surpassing Aaron Cook (1,312.1)
• On June 19th against the Pittsburgh Pirates, he struck out his 1,000th career batter, becoming the second Rockie to achieve the feat behind Germán Márquez (1,069).
• On August 2nd against the Kansas City Royals, he threw his first-career complete game.
• On September 27th against the Chicago White Sox, he started Game 162 for the second time in his career (also 2017), becoming the fourth Rockies starter to start game No.1 and No. 162 in the same season.

On top of his on-field struggles, Freeland’s season was also muddied by injuries. He spent two separate stints on the injured list – April 15-28 with left shoulder inflammation (retroactive to April 13) and August 24-September 15 with cervical radiculopathy. 

Ahead of his first IL stint, Freeland was pitching well. In three starts, he’d posted a 1-1 record with a 2.30 ERA across 15.2 innings. He hadn’t allowed more than two runs in any of the three starts.

But when he returned, the wheels fell off.

In his first start back against the Cincinnati Reds, he allowed four runs on five hits with one walk and four strikeouts. Two of the runs came off a Spencer Steer home run in the first inning. In each of his first four starts after coming off the IL, he allowed four or more runs while only pitching five complete innings twice in that span. 

May was Freeland’s worst month when he posted a 12.46 ERA across 21.2 innings (five starts). He struggled through June and July, but really hit his stride again in August, posting a 2.52 ERA and 1.08 WHIP in four starts. He allowed four runs on six hits with the two homers on August 19th, but then was placed on the IL again.

In his final three starts, Freeland went 0-2 with a 9.82 ERA across 11 innings to likely end his career in Purple Pinstripes.

It’s unclear at this time what the future holds for the five-time Roberto Clemente Award nominee, as his contract expired at the end of the 2026 season.

But regardless, I will always be a Kyle Freeland Fan.

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

Another October thud, naturally, leads to winter questions, some quite thorny. Where do the Yankees go from here, apart from taking some time to process the ache of getting swept by the Rays in the ALDS? 

That’s consecutive ALDS exits against AL East rivals that were better than the Yanks during the regular season now, so the team must get better. How does that happen? There are important free agents looming, like closer David Bednar, so big decisions must be made. All those will come as the sport sorts through negotiations for a new labor agreement, which will have an as-yet unknown impact on the game’s economics.

Here are five Yankees storylines to follow during the offseason... 

Will Aaron Boone be back? 

The outside debate over whether the Yanks need a new dugout voice rages with every end of season loss (and often long before). Perhaps a culture jolt would be just the thing. But fans’ ire does not fire or hire when it comes to the Yankee manager, so Boone seems likely to stick. 

He’s got one year left on his deal. A likely lockout would give a new manager little time to get set and get to know players. Big-name stars such as Aaron Judge and Cam Schlittler backed Boone after the Game 3 loss. 

There’s also an easy way for the Yankees to talk themselves into letting Boone proceed -- Judge, probably the best hitter in the world, played only 66 games, none in the postseason. Other stars missed significant time, too. In a season of tribulation, the Yankees weren’t good enough, but they still won 93 games and beat Boston in the Wild Card Series. Boone has missed the playoffs once in nine years guiding the Yanks.

What does Aaron Judge’s "all-in" look like?

Judge urged the Yanks to go "all-in" and "go out there and get it" to fill whatever holes the team has going forward. How does that happen, especially in a generally-thin free agent market? The Yankees have some well-regarded young big leaguers who helped them get to the playoffs. 

Do they get creative on the trade market with them and their prospects? Or do they trade peanuts for some team’s bad contract and hope they snag a player who is re-energized in the Bronx? They’d better do something, especially with a lineup that flagged during the season and then produced, well, that October. 

It’s one thing to say that good pitching beats good hitting in the October cauldron, but the Yankees were dreadful on offense against the Rays, batting .130 with a .431 OPS. Even with the team missing Judge, they can’t be that awful. Without Ben Rice, would they have even scored at all? (We’re exaggerating, he only drove in three of the Yanks five runs in the series, but still).

There’s no wiggle room at designated hitter. Rice and Judge, who turns 35 in April, require at-bats there. Giancarlo Stanton has no position other than DH. Maybe they could steal from the Rays playbook and add players with big-time ball-in-play skills to diversify? 

Second thoughts

Jazz Chisholm Jr. is a free agent and Anthony Volpe revitalized his career after being sent to Triple-A and returning with vigor. Perhaps Chisholm out, Volpe in is the easiest way to solve second base. 

It’s pretty unlikely Chisholm returns -- he did not live up to his big talent in his walk year, heard boos at Yankee Stadium, and was so un-vital to the Yankee cause that Boone didn't start him in Game 3 against a righty. 

The Yanks could make him a qualifying offer and get a draft pick when he signs elsewhere. But they’d have to be OK with him returning. He could just grab the $23-plus million and try to reset his free agency with a bigger season on what figures to be a good Yankee team in ‘27. 

Finally, the Yanks’ biggest deadline deal brought them Luis García Jr., a thunderous lefty bat. He played only first base for the Yankees and Nationals this season, but spent the previous three seasons as Washington’s second baseman. He’s played second, but can he play second? Especially for a club that just embarrassed itself defensively this postseason?

Pen notes

The Yanks have done a remarkable job discovering and developing useful relievers for years, but that doesn’t mean they should overthink closer this winter. Bednar is a free agent. The Yankees should re-sign him. He recorded 35 saves and a 2.47 ERA in 64 games during the regular season and added three scoreless postseason innings. 

He’s proven he can handle the New York market, and his entrance song -- "Renegade" by Styx -- sounds cool. 

Beyond Bednar, Paul Blackburn is another key bullpen free agent and he’s coming off an insane platform year -- a 1.69 ERA in 62 games and one hit allowed over six shutout innings in the playoffs. He’s a keeper, too.

Get defensive

We’ll stop short of using the term "run prevention" for obvious reasons, but the Yanks have had two high-profile defensive meltdowns in the postseason in the last three seasons and need to fix their defense. A few Dodgers chirped them after the Game 5 debacle in the 2024 World Series, but that wasn’t humiliating enough to prevent the Yankees from bungling Game 2 against the Rays with another torrent of miscues. 

Another early October exit is, sadly for them, becoming familiar territory. But a near-annual blooper-fest in the playoffs can’t be on repeat, too. If it takes new defensive protocols, more infield practice during the season, more accountability or better defenders, it must stop. 

Angel Martinez has had a horrific 2026 ALDS so far… he should still start in left field tonight.

First, let’s stare at the bleak numbers right in the face. Martinez is 0 for 12 with 7 strikeouts. He is chasing everything and whiffing at everything. He has gone 0 for 4 with runners on base and stranded eight baserunners, including three who were on third base. In positive news, he has been solid in left field and ran a mile to catch a pop-up that Brayan Rocchio and Jose Ramirez lost in the lights in Monday’s games. …But, his -100 wRC+ feels about right… he is a clear negative in terms of helping the Guardians win a baseball game at the moment.

So, why shouldn’t Stephen Vogt make a switch today? Maybe put Adell in right, DeLauter in left and let Nate Lowe DH and David Fry play first base, or vice versa? Maybe make Travis Bazzana DH and get Angel Genao a start at second base?

The reason is because Angel Martinez was one of the hottest hitters in baseball August-September with a 152 wRC+ and a .310/.346/.510 slashline. He is more than capable of getting back on track and the way to do so is pretty simple… I am sure every coach and player around him is saying “Just stay patient enough to make them throw you a strike. Force the pitcher to get the ball in the zone and jump on it.” If Angel can take even one walk or get to even one full-count early in the game, he will give himself the potential to unleash his power on this series.

The options behind Martinez are a big part of why he should continue to start. While I thought it might be nice to give him a chance to enter the game off the bench and start Daniel Schneemann yesterday, neither Schneemann, nor Petey Halpin, nor Angel Genao, nor David Fry are offensive threats of particular note. Genao showed some good contact ability yesterday… Martinez has contact ability if he can just lay off a few non-competitive pitches. Fry’s year-long struggles are well-known, Halpin is defense and speed only, and Daniel Schneemann has a career wRC+ under 80. The time to have added another bopper is passed. Martinez gives the team their best chance of impacting the ball with some authority in his role and should get another chance tonight.

Now, if we are sitting here Friday having somehow won the game, and Martinez is now 0 for 16 with 10 strikeouts… I think then it is time to recognize he’s not pulling out of it with the weight of the playoffs sitting firmly on his shoulders and a breather is probably best. Of course, there is no tomorrow. The Guardians have to win today or they are done. So, it’s a risk to continue to start Martinez… but I don’t think there is a preferable risk to exchange his volatility to pursue.

Angel, you’ve got this. You’ve done it all season long. You’ve seen all these pitchers a dozen times. Take a deep breath and remember it’s not all on you. Spit on some bad pitches and pounce on the first thing you see in the zone and you can redeem every bad game that’s happened before like they never existed. We believe in you.

New York Post may be compensated and/or receive an affiliate commission if you click or buy through our links. Featured pricing is subject to change.

Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve got ourselves a rematch.

Just like last year, Shohei Ohtani’s Los Angeles Dodgers and Christian Yelich’s Milwaukee Brewers are meeting in the NLCS.

And, once again, Pat Murphy’s club has home-field advantage. Games 1, 2, 6 and 7 will be at American Family Field in Milwaukee, WI.

Not everything about this Series is the same, though.

“I think ​it is different this year. … We’re going in to beat them,” Murphy told Fox Sports, referring to his team getting swept in 2025. “We earned it in the ​regular season to get home-field advantage. We’re going in to beat them, we don’t care who they have.”

If you’d like to be there to see if the Brew Crew really have what it takes to dethrone the defending World Series champion Dodgers, tickets are available for all four hypothetical contests in the Cream City.

At the time of publication, the lowest price we could find on seats for any one game in Milwaukee was $224 including fees on Vivid Seats.

Prices start at $144 including fees for fans hoping to attend a showdown at Dodger Stadium.

Ahead of the NLCS, Milwaukee battled with San Diego in a tense, back-and-forth four-game NLDS that saw instantly iconic moments like a clutch Jackson Chourio catch in Game 1, a Jackson Chourio walk-off single in Game 2 and Garrett Mitchell robbing Manny Machado of a home run in Game 4.

As for the Dodgers, the club continued their winning ways in the postseason [Editor’s Note: They haven’t lost a playoff series since the Diamondbacks beat them in the 2023 NLDS] and beat up on the formidable Braves.

Kiké Hernández smashed a home run — the 17th postseason dinger of his career, putting him ahead of Babe Ruth (!) on the all-time list — in the decisive fourth game and stellar offensive performances from Andy Pages and Max Muncy.

We can’t wait to see what comes next.

For more information, our team has everything you need to know and more about the Dodgers vs. Brewers 2026 NLCS below.

What do the cheapest tickets cost for NLCS games in Milwaukee?

A complete breakdown of all the best prices on tickets for every hypothetical game at Milwaukee’s American Family Field can be found here:

How much are the cheapest tickets for NLCS games in Los Angeles?

All of the cheapest potential Dodgers NLCS home game ticket prices are listed below.

How can I watch the Dodgers vs. Brewers 2026 NLCS?

For fans who prefer to watch on the tube, you can catch this nervy series on FOX and FS1.

Both providers listed above can be found on the one-stop shop known as DIRECTV.

Huge 2026-27 concerts

Fans hoping to get a concert or three in this year too are in luck.

After a bit of digging, we found that many of the biggest names in music will be on the road this year and next.

Here are just five of the biggest acts and artists we can’t wait to see live in the near future.

• Aerosmith

• Stevie Wonder

• RUSH

• Robert Plant

• Def Leppard with Goo Goo Dolls

Who else is out and about? Take a look at this list of all the biggest rockers on tour in 2026 to find the show for you.

Why you should trust ‘Post Wanted’ by the New York Post

This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change.

Do you remember as a kid when you would go to the Boardwalk and there would be a sketch artist sitting on the pier somewhere and they would ask if you would like to have your picture drawn? Then they would create a picture with an oversized head and a tiny body trying to ride a bicycle or something like that?

The 2026 Phillies were a caricature. They had a big head and a tiny rest of its body.

They entered the 2026 season knowing they were a top-heavy operation. Offensively, Kyle Schwarber ($30 million), Trea Turner ($27.3 million) and Bryce Harper ($25.4 million) were their big-ticket items, high priced veteran superstars whose job it was to carry the team. They were led by a starting rotation featuring Zack Wheeler ($42 million), Aaron Nola ($24.5 million), Jesus Luzardo ($11 million) and Cristopher Sanchez ($5.7 million), as well as a top closer in Jhoan Duran ($7.5 million). J.T. Realmuto signed a big off-season free agent contract, but was never considered someone who would provide a major impact.

The majority of the roster was a mix of returning veteran bats, some bargain basement outfield additions, and a bullpen that seemed to be a strength until it very quickly became apparent it wasn’t.

Turner was a disaster. Harper and Schwarber were fine, ranking 13th and 15th, respectively, in MLB OPS among qualified players. The rotation was as good as advertised, and the bullpen was one of the worst in the league as the playoffs rolled around. Nearly every returning member of the Phillies regressed from 2025 to 2026.

In the end, the Phillies tried to skate through the season with two “great” position players, three elite starting pitchers, and one elite bullpen arm. The rest was a collection of underachieving veterans who were unable to provide enough value to substantially move the needle.

Simply put, there were not enough solid Major League contributors on the 40-man roster this year compared to the other 12 MLB playoff teams.

This year, the Phillies had three position players worth at least 1.5 fWAR on their roster: Bryson Stott (3.8), Harper (3.3) and Schwarber (2.9). That was the fewest of any team in the playoffs. The Brewers and Cubs each had 8. The White Sox had 7. The Dodgers, Guardians, Padres, Yankees and Rays each has 6.

Pitching-wise, the Phillies had 6 pitchers worth at least 1.0 fWAR: Sanchez (6.2), Luzardo (5.5), Wheeler (4.0), Duran (2.9), Nola (1.3) and Andrew Painter (1.1). The Dodgers had TWICE as many, 12, with the Brewers and Red Sox each having 9. The Yankees had 8. The Braves, Padres and Rays had 7 each.

When you add up all the hitters with 1.5+ fWAR and pitchers worth 1.0+ fWAR, the Phillies had 9 such players, the fewest of any postseason team. By comparison, the Dodgers had 18. The Brewers had 17. The Yankees, 14. Four teams had 13.

Dombrowski will have money to spend this off-season. There will be raises to Luzardo and Sanchez thanks to their well-deserved contract extensions, but there is significant money coming off the books. Dead cash for Nick Castellanos and Taijuan Walker, about $38 million, will be freed up. However, there are no star free agents outside of Japanese imports worth spending big bucks on.

The most likely free agent of note the Phils could sign is outfielder Randy Arozarena, who put up a career year in Seattle this season. They will give the soon-to-be 32-year-old a contract that everyone will be uncomfortable with to play left or right field, and it will probably be the right move. But outside of that, Dombrowski’s mission must be to find more 1.5+ fWAR hitters and 1.0+ fWAR pitchers.

He must balance the roster.

Harper is no longer good enough to be at the head of a top-heavy roster. After a 2025 season in which Dave Dombrowski questioned whether Harper was still elite, Harper was actually worth a little less in ‘26 than he was in ‘25:

• 2025: 132 games, 3.4 fWAR, .261/.357/.487, .844 OPS, 27 HRs, 75 RBIs
• 2026: 162 games, 3.3 fWAR, .269/.380/.485, .865 OPS, 29 HRs, 87 RBIs

We now know what Harper is at 33 years old. He’s slightly less than a 3.5-win player. That is a very fine thing to be and right in line with his very reasonable $25.4 million salary. Schwarber, the team’s other big bat, did not have as productive a season as his previous two:

• 2024: 150 games, 3.2 fWAR, .248/.366/.485, .851 OPS, 38 HRs, 104 RBIs
• 2025: 162 games, 4.8 fWAR, .240/.365/.563, .928 OPS, 56 HRs, 132 RBIs
• 2026: 156 games, 2.9 fWAR, .232/.354/.503, .857 OPS, 45 HRs, 97 RBIs

Schwarber is still one of the game’s most feared power hitters, and when he’s on a hot streak, he can carry the team for a solid month. But he can also go quite cold. He had just a .199 batting average in the second half last year, hitting .172/.330/.379 in September. He will be 34 next year.

When your two best players are streaky and, frankly, do not provide elite production, they need to be supplemented with other players throughout the roster who do more things well than what we saw this season.

It’s well past time to have serious conversations about Bryson Stott, Brandon Marsh and Alec Bohm. Despite another mediocre year at the plate and his annual disappearing act in the postseason, Stott led the team in fWAR thanks mostly to his defensive versatility and baserunning. He would likely fetch a decent price as a trade chip this off-season. After starting the All Star Game last summer, Marsh finished as a player who was barely above replacement-level, with a 0.3 fWAR in 155 games. He should be traded. Bohm, worth 0.2 fWAR despite a better second half, should not be back.

The Phillies can only hope J.T. Realmuto and Trea Turner figure something out this off-season, because while Dombrowski might want to trade them, he won’t find any takers. And despite what you may have read, it is highly unlikely Harper or Schwarber are going anywhere in trades. They control their destiny, although Dombrowski should be willing to listen to any and all offers and present them to his two veteran stars.

Dombrowski has to rely on his pro and minor league scouts to earn their money. They need to comb through the 40-man rosters of every team in the league, identify players who can contribute at the Major League level, and swing some trades. They need to make smarter free agent decisions. That means no more Adolis Garcia-Max Kepler one-year deals to failing, washed-up veterans. This also means bringing aboard guys who are more well-rounded. Guys who play good defense, don’t chase at the plate, and understand what a professional at-bat looks like.

More importantly, they need to load up their system with bullpen arms and stash as many guys with plus-stuff on their minor league teams and on the 40-man as they can. The only minor league reliever to have any significant impact this year was Alex McFarlane, and they waited until late July to get him on the 26-man roster. Getting even 2 or 3 guys who can provide 1.0+ fWAR out of the bullpen as a middle reliever would be a major victory.

This is where champions are built. If there was a big-money free agent that could take over as the No. 1 star on the team, the Phillies would, and should, go for it. But outside of Japan, that player isn’t out there. So, the Phillies will enter the 2027 season with Harper and Schwarber as the guys they’re building around, hoping that Turner re-joins them in creating a Big 3.

Big game hunting is fun, but in the case of this sinking Phillies team, they simply need more competent big league baseball players in the organization to make the top-heavy roster look less like a caricature and more like a real playoff team capable of winning a World Series.

The Dodgers’ NLDS victory celebration Wednesday night featured booze, beer and butt cheeks.

Just after Los Angeles beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-1, at Truist Park in Georgia, they hit their locker room for a postgame party that inadvertently showed off more of one their players than the public had seen prior.

As FS1 cameras focused on the team while it prepped to pop champagne bottles to commemorate yet another trip to the NLCS, a player’s naked bottom was shown live on the network’s broadcast.

The unidentified athlete had gotten undressed behind a plastic curtain and his rear was exposed while a videographer was focusing on Shohei Ohtani.

The scene went unnoticed by FS1 broadcasters, however, social media users were quick to share it on X.

“Whose cheeks were out, bro?” one said.

It’s hardly the first time locker room cameras have accidentally captured MLB players in the buff. In fact, it just happened last month in San Francisco.

The Giants’ social media team shared a video of rookie Bo Davidson celebrating his MLB debut, and briefly, a naked player was caught by their camera’s lens.

The Dodgers certainly didn’t seem to mind the Wednesday night overexposure, as they dumped alcohol on one another for a significant period of time following their big win.

Up next for the team is a series with the Milwaukee Brewers that will hopefully feature more runs than rumps.