Happy Friday, everyone! As we enter the weekend, we will soon know which team will join the Brewers in heading to the World Series. In the meantime, we look at how Shohei Ohtani busted his HR slump at the exact perfect time. We also look at how Jake Bauers pulled through for the Brewers with an incredible at-bat in a clutch moment.
We’re also starting to see some of the early moves of the postseason as the Astros part ways with Joe Espada, and other teams make additional moves to their managerial staff and teams start to make contracts with players.
The league-wide batting average this postseason is .212. The average fastball is 96.2 mph. Hitting is hard. In the postseason, it's Sisyphean. To better understand why, we spoke with Joey Votto and Alex Bregman, two of the purest hitters of this generation, for their insight. pic.twitter.com/F47YD2dcU8
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 15: David Hamilton #6 of the Milwaukee Brewers rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run in the ninth inning during Game Four of the National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, October 15, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The League Championship Series round rolled on Thursday with a slightly modified schedule. MLB had to preemptively move the third game of the ALCS up from a 6 p.m. ET start time to 1 p.m. ET due to ominous weather in Northeast Ohio and that slightly tweaked the start time of the NLCS as well (though that remained a clear night game). It’s important for MLB to get these games in without messing with the offday schedule too much, and while it was unfortunate that some fans in Cleveland likely couldn’t go to the third game with the new time, it’s hard to count on weather for the rest of this week near Lake Erie, too.
Hopefully ALCS Game 4 goes off without a hitch tonight! I would definitely like to see that LCS continue as soon as possible. Here’s what went on yesterday though.
National League Championship Series Game 4
Milwaukee Brewers 6, Los Angeles Dodgers 4 (Brewers win series 4-0)
Man, I can’t believe that happened. I thought that despite the mismatch in people’s minds, the Brewers were a lot closer in talent level to the Dodgers in 2025 and simply played like dogs for a week while getting swept in a mostly uncompetitive series. And yet even I didn’t think that the Brew Crew had a vengeance sweep in ‘em.
The Hall of Famer has it right. That’s the word to describe these Brewers: relentless. They played a tough series with the Padres to send them home in the Division Series, only to get matched up with a Dodgers team that is extremely similar to the one that dusted them in 2025.
Their response was to drop a hammer on ‘em and return the favor, even with the Dodgers throwing great starter after great starter at them. Two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal lost a 2-1 nailbiter in the opener. Already-established playoff legend Yoshinobu Yamamoto got grounded into submission, departing after recording just eight outs in Game 2, a 7-4 Milwaukee win. Back in LA on Wednesday, the Brewers shook off mostly excellent work from another two-time Cy in Blake Snell, blasting back-to-back homers against him in the seventh immediately after the Dodgers had taken a 2-1 lead. This damn team was resilient, and the 6-2 win had them up 3-0 in the series.
So why would the Brewers be intimidated in Game 4? Sure, Tyler Glasnow was sharp early on, and sure, Shohei Ohtani had at last broken out of his injury-affected slump to belt his first homer since August 18th, a 428-foot tank off former teammate Dustin May.
Milwaukee trailed, 4-0, and Dodger Stadium was in a frenzy. If they survived Game 4, then they could at least dare to dream with Skubal, Yamamoto, and Snell lined up for the next three and it at least being unlikely for all three to again falter.
The four-run lead looked safe … until it wasn’t. (Ask the 2024 Yankees about seemingly comfortable leads vanishing on the brink of elimination.) The Brewers began to chip away in the fourth, when Brice Turang’s one-out walk was followed by consecutive automatic doubles from William Contreras and Jake Bauers. Glasnow might have stranded Bauers by getting Christian Yelich and Garrett Mitchell to ground out, but the lead was sliced to 4-2.
Glasnow was then knocked out in the fifth following a manufactured run created by a Sal Frelick walk, a stolen base, and an RBI single by David Hamilton. Evan Phillips came in to walk the bases loaded, and when Alex Vesia tagged in, he didn’t have the plate either. Bauers battled him for a walk to bring home the tying run.
JoJo Romero relieved May with a scoreless fifth, and in the sixth, Dave Roberts turned to one of his high-leverage relievers early to keep the game knotted. Instead, Mitchell took Tanner Scott yard 409 feet away.
The Brewers were in front, and even with chances, LA was kept off the board. Kyle Tucker hit a one-out double in the sixth; Romero got Teoscar Hernández to ground out and fanned Max Muncy. Aaron Ashby took over in the seventh, allowed a leadoff double to Andy Pages, and stranded him. Kiké Hernández bunted Pages to third, Ohtani went down on three strikes, and Mookie Betts bounced to short.
The Dodgers had a third consecutive inning with a two-bagger in the eighth, courtesy of Will Smith. Ashby was nails, with Tucker lifting a shallow fly to center and Teoscar striking out. When Teoscar went down, it was truly the last gasp. Hamilton homered off Edwin Díaz in the ninth for an insurance run and Ashby polished off his three-inning save, getting Kiké to line out to Jackson Chourio to end it. He threw shutout ball in 5.2 innings across five days of the sweep.
With that, the Brewers have won their first National League pennant and first flag since winning the 1982 ALCS over the Angels with “Harvey’s Wallbangers.” The 2023 Yankees legend Bauers was named NLCS MVP for his excellent at-bats across the sweep, and Milwaukee will now be looking to end its drought as one of five franchises to never win it all. They’ve been around for nearly 60 years without a trophy and Milwaukee hasn’t seen a title since the Braves beat the Yankees in 1957 before moving to Atlanta.
Also hey, in addition to Bauers, old friend Gary Sánchez gets to take in the World Series stage! He’s the Brewers’ backup catcher and an occasional pinch-hitter. Good for El Gary, I still love that guy.
Maybe this year is finally the year for the Brew Crew. No matter what, with the Dodgers done and dusted, we’re guaranteed to either get a first-time champion (Milwaukee or Tampa Bay) or the end of the longest current championship drought (Cleveland, 78 years). Congrats to the Brewers, and bye-bye, Dodgers. They must reckon with an aging offense that hit a paltry .185/.270/.250 in the series, with Freeman, Betts, Smith, Teoscar, and Muncy combining to go 11-for-70 with no homers and 17 strikeouts (plus Ohtani dead quiet until Game 4). The three-peat dream is over, Skubal is a free agent, and they’ll just have to see what’s next.
American League Championship Series Game 3
Cleveland Guardians 3, Tampa Bay Rays 2 (Guardians lead series 2-1)
The Guardians got off to a fast start in the ALCS against the favored Rays by swiping home-field advantage away from Tampa Bay with a win in Game 1. After the Rays countered by taking Game 2 to split the first two at the Trop, the setting shifted to Progressive Field in Cleveland. I don’t know if I’d necessarily predict the Rays dropping three in a row to the Guardians, but by taking Game 1, Cleveland at least created the possibility of ending the series in front of their own fans with wins in Games 3, 4, and 5.
Outside of the Tampa Bay clubhouse, no one really wants to return to the Trop, and credit to the Guardos for getting that dream started on the right foot with a narrow 3-2 victory in Game 3. They entered with the pitching advantage of American League strikeout king Gavin Williams against Griffin Jax, so regardless of the outcome of the next two games in Cleveland, it was important for them to take this one.
Williams was heavily used in the ALDS against the White Sox with two starts and a relief appearance, so manager Stephen Vogt said that he would be using him carefully in Game 3. That proved to be the case, as while Williams looked sharp in five innings of two-hit ball with nine strikeouts and just one walk, his afternoon ended after just 70 pitches. It probably didn’t help that both of the hits he allowed came in the same inning, when he nearly worked around a leadoff double by Yandy Díaz. Williams fanned Jonathan Aranda and Junior Caminero; indeed, he struck out the side in that inning, but not before Victor Mesa Jr. walked and Chandler Simpson laced a two-run triple into the right-field corner.
Cleveland had taken a 1-0 lead in the second when Nathaniel Lowe doubled in Jo Adell after the latter’s leadoff walk, but the Simpson triple made it 2-1, Tampa Bay.
Although the Guardians had their chances against Jax, they went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position, stranding Lowe in the second and José Ramírez in the third. The game changed, however, on one bad pitch from Jax. Patrick Bailey led off the fifth with a Baltimore chop for an infield single. Next up was the unheralded Petey Halpin, and on a 2-2 pitch, Jax threw a sinker that caught way too much of the zone:
Halpin didn’t miss the mistake, taking it 385 feet deep to right-center field for a go-ahead, two-run bomb.
The score was 3-2, Cleveland, and there it stayed thanks to dynamite work from the much-used Guardians bullpen. There was no margin for error and some dangerous hitters in Tampa Bay’s lineup who the Yankees unfortunately understand can take anyone out (OK maybe not Simpson, but he did his specific job yesterday anyway). Daniel Espino blew Caminero and company away in the sixth, Erik Sabrowski pitched a perfect seventh of his own, and while Hunter Gaddis allowed a double to Richie Palacios among the three batters he faced in the eighth, rubber-armed Cade Smith entered and struck out Díaz in a 10-pitch battle.
The Rays did Smith and Vogt a favor with a pretty uncompetitive final frame. The Canadian righty did less work in that inning than he needed in one at-bat against Díaz, retiring Aranda, Caminero, and Mesa on eight pitches. Game 4 is supposed to be tonight at 8 p.m. ET, but again, we’ll see how the weather cooperates. Nick Martinez is aiming to even up the series for Tampa Bay, while a possible bullpen game will try to put Cleveland a win away from its first Fall Classic in a decade.
Anthony DiComo breaks down Bo Bichette’s upcoming decision about the opt-out clause in his contract, and like the rest of us, he concludes that it’s likely that Bichette will opt in.
Lauara Alabnese takes us behind the scenes for a look at the people who orchestrate all of the various things that Mr. and Mrs. Met wear and use during games at Citi Field.
The Brewers completed a sweep of the Dodgers with a thrilling come-from-behind 6-4 win in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series in Los Angeles.
Speaking of thrillers, if you’re into well-pitched, low-scoring playoff games, the Guardians’ 3-2 win over the Rays in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series yesterday afternoon was tailor made for you.
Petey Halpin, an outfielder who got just 195 plate appearances in the big leagues this year in Cleveland, hit a decisive two-run home run in the fifth inning, turning the Guardians’ one-run deficit into a one-run lead.
Brewers first baseman Jake Bauers was named NLCS MVP, a well-earned honor after he put up a .986 OPS in the series and came through with multiple big hits.
Despite their reputation for small ball in the regular season, the Brewers walked, struck out, and hit home runs very frequently in their NLCS victory.
Miguel Rojas, who began his major league career with the Dodgers before spending eight years with the Marlins and returning to the Dodgers for the past five seasons, announced his retirement following the Dodgers’ loss.
Shohei Ohtani, who led off for the Dodgers last night despite his recent struggles and hit a three-run home run in the second inning, isn’t sure if his knee and biceps injuries will require surgery this offseason, but he plans to return to pitching next year.
Jayson Stark took a look at Ohtani’s struggles, which began in July and, three-run home run last night aside, continued throughout the Dodgers’ playoff run.
Before the Dodgers’ elimination, Max Ralph took a look at how their pitching would line up if they were to pull off a comeback after trailing 3-0 in the series.
Two years ago today, the Mets were blown out and shut out by the Dodgers in Game 3 of the NLCS, but on this date in 1969, the team won the World Series for the first time.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 14: Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers looks on from the dugout during the ninth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers in game three of the National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium on October 14, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Good morning!
The Dodgers are done in 2026.
After winning back-to-back World Series titles, the L.A. streak is over. It doesn’t mean the dynasty has ended, but it’s definitely damaged and aging.
The Milwaukee Brewers are going to the World Series for the first time since 1982 and will be playing the winner of the Rays-Guardians ALCS series for what could be their first World Series win.
A new team representing the National League — what a beautiful thing.
On the home front, the Rockies made a change to their coaching staff on Thursday. It’s too soon to know if there will be more changes on the horizon, but it will be interesting to keep an eye on.
The Colorado Rockies made their first offseason change on Thursday when they fired pitching coach Alon Leichman. The Rockies still finished with the worst ERA in MLB at 5.59. The starting rotation was even worse at 6.28 ERA — also dead last. As of Thursday night, the Rockies hadn’t made the move official and there is no word on who will replace him.
This video highlights the work of Edwin Perez, who serves as an interpreter for the Colorado Rockies. When members of the media interview Spanish-speaking players, Perez helps interpret the questions and answers. Perez has been with the Rockies for two years. He grew up playing baseball, but he changed directions in high school when he realized he didn’t have what it takes to be a pro baseball player. He switched to broadcast journalism, but really found his home when he found the Rockies and could use his bilingual skills.
Scott Roche breaks down Cole Carrigg’s impressive rookie season in the context of being named the Rockies best player under age 25, according to Bleacher Report. Roche also mentions the breakout season of another rookie, TJ Rumfield, who is 26 years old. Carrigg turned 24 in June and had an impressive season at the plate and defensively in center field.
Although this is an indirect Colorado Rockies story, it’s a good one nonetheless. Kaleb Geiger grew up in Colorado playing baseball and dreaming of playing for the Rockies. He played in college, but changed gears when it didn’t look like his path to playing professionally would come to fruition. After learning he had the athleticism to possibly excel in another spot, he grabbed a rugby ball and played for the American Raptors in Glendale, Colo. He now plays for the New England Free Jacks of Major League Rugby and has also kitted up for the USA Eagles.
Jake Bauers is having the best season of his career and he put an exclamation point on it with this award. He drove in six runs and was clutch in Thursday’s win to complete the sweep. The craziest part of this story is finding out that the Brewers haven’t had a LCS MVP before despite winning the ALCS 44 years ago. Even though they beat the Angels in that series, Angel Fred Lynn was named MVP.
Petey Halpin hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning to help lead the Guardians to a 3-2 victory on Thursday over the Rays to take a 2-1 lead in the ALCS. Cleveland starter Gavin Williams continued to be a strikeout machine as he recorded nine strikeouts in five innings.
There really aren’t enough praying mantises in baseball stories. One landed on Jackson Chourio’s shoulder during Milwaukee’s NLCS game against the Dodgers on Wednesday. Chourio made a great diving catch and then noticed his new friend on his shoulder. The praying mantis stayed with Chourio for a bit. It’s worth watching the video.
It’s not a very flashy free agent class this offseason, so Tim Britton looked back at the top free agents, as well as the worst and best deals for the last 10 years. The Rockies made the list for two of the worst deals in the last 10 years and I’m confident you all could guess which players own that. The Rockies also gave up some of the best free agents when they couldn’t or wouldn’t re-sign them.
ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 22: Shane McClanahan of the Tampa Bay Rays looks on from the dugout during a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Tropicana Field on September 22, 2024 in St Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Mark Taylor/Getty Images) | Getty Images
We take a break from your regularly scheduled playoff baseball to talk about 2027. Assuming there is no lockout and baseball proceeds as usual, MLB Trade Rumors have dropped their projections for salary arbitration results for players next season, of which the Rays currently have a whopping 17 eligible.
Tampa Bay Rays Player (years.days of service): Salary projection
Shane McClanahan (5.158): $6.6MM
Nick Madrigal (5.137): $1.1MM
Tyler Wells (5.132): $4MM
Cole Sulser (5.096): $1.9MM
Taylor Walls (5.092): $3.5MM (Rays hold a $3.1MM club option)
Griffin Jax (5.091): $5.7MM
Garrett Cleavinger (5.060): $3.7MM
Nick Fortes (4.149): $3.4MM
Bryan Baker (4.049): $4.1MM
Ryan Pepiot (4.005): $3.1MM
Kevin Kelly (3.156): $2.6MM
Richie Palacios (3.156): $2MM
Edwin Uceta (3.150): $1.5MM
Manuel Rodríguez (3.139): $900K
Jonny DeLuca (3.085): $1.7MM
Jesse Scholtens (3.032): $900K
Jonathan Aranda (3.030): $4.1MM
In total, this is just over $50 million in player salaries. It seems likely not all of these Rays players will make it to the 2027 roster, as the Rays could move on from various names through dismissal or trade, but it’s a helpful projection in considering what new ownership might want to do in their second year paying players.
Today’s article is the final of a 3-part series, broadly investigating expected results for a team that can boast the kind of young talent that the Reds have in Elly De La Cruz and Chase Burns, who combined for over 10 WAR and made up roughly 1% of the team’s overall payroll. We’ll start by highlighting five teams that both had similar players in value and relative cost to the 2026 Reds.
2019 Chicago White Sox (72-89, finished 3rd in AL Central, didn’t qualify for postseason)
Top Hitter: Yoan Moncada, 5.1 WAR, $575K salary
Top Pitcher: Lucas Giolito, 5.4 WAR, $573K salary
Combined salaries: 1.3% of team payroll of $89.4M
Injuries:
Lost Carlos Rodon (a 2 WAR pitcher the year prior) for all but 34 innings in 2019.
Free agent signing Jon Jay was a way below average outfielder in 2018. He lost roughly 4 months to injuries in 2019.
The team lost a bevy of relievers for large chunks of the season, but none who were significant contributors the year before.
Summary: There are stories out there about the number of injuries the ’19 White Sox had to deal with, but the data tells a story of a team that was only modestly impacted.
Dead Weight:
None that I can find.
Surprising Breakthrough:
The point of this section is to examine if the two best players on the team were projectable. In other words, was there reasonable expectation during the offseason last year that these two would be as good as they were?
Yoan Moncada played a season and a half at second base for the White Sox in 2017-18. 2018 was a full year of him hitting for a 714 OPS and contributing 1.3 WAR. He had been a consensus top 10 prospect across all of MLB for a couple of years before that. Still, I don’t think anyone would have guessed that a 2019 move to third base would have also coincided with a 200 point jump in OPS and a nearly 4 win increase in value.
Similarly, Lucas Giolito had also been an elite prospect who demonstrated a massive leap forward in 2019. The 2018 version of him allowed the most earned runs in MLB and he posted a 69 ERA+. He might have been the worst pitcher in baseball, who then transformed into one of the best, placing 6th in Cy Young Award voting in 2019, with a 134 ERA+ across 176 innings.
Position Player Depth:
The White Sox were very good at catcher (James McCann, 3.6 WAR) and shortstop (Tim Anderson, 4.2 WAR), and serviceable at second base and centerfield.
Conversely, the right field platoon of Jon Jay and Ryan Cordell was easily the worst in the league.
Overall, their position player group was a bottom-third outfit in MLB.
Starting Pitcher Depth:
Pretty bad. Giolito was the breakout star and Ivan Nova was a league average pitcher but the rest of the rotation descended quickly into madness.
Particular shout-out to Dylan Covey who managed an ERA just a shade under 8 but still was able to convince his manager to send him to the mound in 18 different games.
Relief Pitcher Depth:
Very good as a unit, anchored by Alex Colome and Aaron Bummer.
Did the 2019 White Sox fail to prepare appropriately for the combination of Yoan Moncada and Lucas Giolito?
Not even close. The team was a 62 win embarrassment the year before and Moncada and Giolito came somewhat out of nowhere, despite the heralded prospect status that both had enjoyed. This was a franchise that was very clearly in rebuild mode, and two seasons later, when the White Sox won their division with 93 wins, they still featured Moncada and Giolito, along with wunderkind Luis Robert Jr and mainstays Jose Abreu and Carlos Rodon. Moreover, they increased payroll dramatically as the youngsters matured, adding catcher Yasmani Grandal and starting pitcher Lance Lynn, who both played prominent roles in the division winning season.
***
2000 Milwaukee Brewers (73-89, finished 3rd in NL Central, didn’t qualify for postseason)
Top Hitter: Geoff Jenkins, 4.5 WAR, $282K salary
Top Pitcher: Jeff D’Amico, 5.0 WAR, $175K salary
Combined salaries: 1.3% of team payroll of $35.8M
Injuries:
Jeff D’Amico had a shoulder surgery that cost him all of 1998 and basically all of 1999. He started 2000 on the DL, didn’t appear until May and missed most of June. He was still the team’s best pitcher by far.
Starting pitcher Jamey Wright also began the year on the DL and didn’t make his season debut until late May.
Otherwise, the team appeared to be largely free from significant injuries although the data isn’t very complete/reliable on this.
Summary: Except for the part about their best pitcher only making 23 starts in 2000, the Brewers appeared to have about as good of injury luck as a team can hope for.
Dead Weight:
The Brewers traded for Jamie Navarro before the 2000 season. Navarro was in the final year of a 4 year contract and he was set to make $5M in 2000, or about 14% of the Brewers’ team payroll. He made 5 starts, to the tune of a 14.95 ERA and was released on the final day of April.
Surprising Breakthrough:
The point of this section is to examine if the two best players on the team were projectable. In other words, was there reasonable expectation during the offseason last year that these two would be as good as they were?
In 1999, 24 year old left fielder Geoff Jenkins played 135 games, hit 313/371/564 for a 135 OPS+ and was valued at 4.6 WAR. In 2000, Jenkins played 135 games, hit 303/360/588 for a 137 OPS+ and was valued at 4.5 WAR. To essentially repeat his ’99 season was easily imaginable.
As for Jeff D’Amico, his injury history has already been touched on. His prior seasons (1996 and 1997) were relatively unremarkable. He finished 7th in the ’96 Rookie of the Year voting with a 5.44 ERA. He was only marginally better in 1997. Then the shoulder injury that stole away two full seasons. There was nothing to suggest a breakout campaign in 2000.
Position Player Depth:
Outside of left field, the Brewers weren’t *good* anywhere, although they were solidly competent/average at C/1B/2B/SS/RF.
They were particularly bad at 3rd base (Jose Hernandez) and centerfield (a rapidly aging Marquis Grissom).
Overall, their position player group was a bottom-third outfit in MLB.
Starting Pitcher Depth:
Pretty bad, outside of D’Amico. You need to give your eyes a minute to adjust to the era of steroid-ball, but the staff had an aggregate ERA of 5.05, which includes D’Amico’s masterful 2.66 ERA season. But…an average ERA, adjusted for era and ballpark was somewhere just north of 4.5, so you could squint and see mediocrity. That said, more than half the team’s starts were taken by pitchers who were replacement level or worse.
This is a Reds’ article, ostensibly, so we’ll shout out Jimmy Haynes, who wowed scouts and fans with an unusual accomplishment: 199 innings, 100 walks, 88 strikeouts. The Reds liked what they saw and would sign him a couple of years later.
Relief Pitcher Depth:
10th ranked bullpen in the majors, even despite trading away closer Bob Wickman at the deadline.
Did the 2000 Brewers fail to prepare appropriately for the combination of Geoff Jenkins and Jeff D’Amico?
Let’s start with this. The 1999 Brewers won 74 games. They hadn’t been an above .500 team since 1992. And they clearly couldn’t have seen the breakout season of Jeff D’Amico coming. However, there were a couple of moves that backfired:
They traded their best player (Jeff Cirillo) and an average starting pitcher (Scott Karl) for Jimmy Haynes, Jamey Wright, and Henry Blanco. In doing so, they filled an extra rotation slot but got worse, especially given that three days later they signed Jose Hernandez to man third base. Cirillo had been excellent for three straight years, but was nearing free agency.
They traded Alex Ochoa, a solid hitting 4th outfielder still in his prime, to the Reds for Mark Sweeney, who would be worth 0.0 WAR for the Brewers over the next two years.
What I find notable is that they were budget conscious, and were willing to make difficult decisions (e.g., jettison Cirillo), but didn’t fully commit to a rebuild effort. One can almost hear the echoes of what was whispered around the Reds’ trade deadline “efforts” in 2026: they were willing to move guys but only for “major leaguers”. In sum, they didn’t fail to prepare for D’Amico because no one saw that coming, but there was a general failure to have enough solid players on the roster to take advantage of the surprise breakout. Languishing in no man’s land for years, the Brewers would reach the postseason next in 2008.
***
2008 Chicago White Sox (89-74, finished 1st in AL Central, lost in ALDS to Tampa Bay)
Top Hitter: Carlos Quentin, 5.3 WAR, $400K salary
Top Pitcher: John Danks, 6.4 WAR, $400K salary
Combined salaries: 0.7% of team payroll of $121.2M
Injuries:
3rd baseman Joe Crede lost most of the second half of the season to back injuries. He was having a solid season.
Starting pitcher Jose Contreras tore his Achilles tendon in August, ending what was basically a league average season.
None of the other starting pitchers missed a start all year and the other 8 starting position players all logged more than 500 plate appearances
Summary: The injuries they did suffer were costly, but as a team, this was a season on the fortunate side with respect to missed time.
Dead Weight:
Basically none. I’m tempted to include the fact that the Sox traded for a 38 year old Junior Griffey mid-year, paying several million dollars for the privilege, but he didn’t really hurt the team at all.
Surprising Breakthrough:
The point of this section is to examine if the two best players on the team were projectable. In other words, was there reasonable expectation during the offseason last year that these two would be as good as they were?
Carlos Quentin had been a top 20 prospect in the league, but middling seasons with the Diamondbacks caused them to give up on him, making a trade with the White Sox before the 2008 season. His 5.3 WAR in 2008 represents more than half of his career WAR. 2008 was a surprise to everyone, including Carlos’s mother.
John Danks had been a good prospect, but never cracked the top 50 in the most reputable rankings. In his rookie season of 2007, he struggled across 139 innings to the tune of a 86 ERA+. He did have over 7 K per 9 IP, however, back in a time when that meant something. He had a live lefty arm and was probably seen as projectable by the team, although it would have been folly to expect a 6 WAR season.
Position Player Depth:
Chicago was a good team for reasons almost entirely to do with their pitching. Except for the left field manned by Quentin, the Sox were league average or worse at every single position
That said, they were a league average team hitting wise (102 OPS+), and their collective health meant that they had very few automatic outs in the lineup from day to day. Their worst hitter (Orlando Cabrera) still provided enough value with the glove to be worth 2.6 WAR. There were no stars, but they were solidly professional from top to bottom.
Relative to the rest of the league, they weren’t very good at catcher, first base, or centerfield (Pierzynski, Konerko, Swisher) and the position players ranked in the bottom third of MLB.
Starting Pitcher Depth:
Very good and deep. Danks had the best season, but Mark Buehrle was the established ace and he had a very good year (121 ERA+). Remaining starters Javier Vazquez, Gavin Floyd, and Jose Contreras gave very few games away.
This was the 2nd most valuable rotation in the game.
Relief Pitcher Depth:
Also very good, led by Bobby Jenks and Matt Thornton, each of whom contributed more than 2 WAR to the ledger.
Did the 2008 White Sox fail to prepare appropriately for the combination of Carlos Quentin and John Danks?
No. The 2007 White Sox only won 72 games, but they knew who they were. To wit, four-fifths of the starting rotation and the top two bullpen firemen were exactly the same, year over year. However, there were six position regulars who posted a WAR value below 1 in 2007:
Tadahito Iguchi (2B) was traded before the ’07 season ended, making way for the team to sign Cuban Alexei Ramirez.
Juan Uribe (SS) was demoted to a bench role, although he ended up filling in for the injured Joe Crede in the back half of 2008. Before the 2008 season, the White Sox traded pitcher Jon Garland (who was good!) for Orlando Cabrera.
Josh Fields (3B) played out of happenstance, namely Joe Crede’s injury troubles. Crede was healthier to start 2008 and Fields was sent to the minors.
Scott Podsednik (LF) was released, which made room for the Quentin trade that worked out beautifully.
Jerry Owens (CF) was…well, nothing really happened to him, but the White Sox traded for Nick Swisher so they wouldn’t have to play Owens. Swisher had a bad year in 2008.
Jermaine Dye (RF) stuck around and got just as much playing time. This was probably a function of a highly paid aging ballplayer being untradeable. The White Sox got a bit fortunate that he bounced back in 2008.
All told, not every move was a home run, but I find it fascinating that the White Sox were aggressive in looking to correct so many of their 2007 deficiencies. It can be noted, fairly, that the White Sox were a big payroll team at the time, ranking 4th in MLB in both 2007 and 2008, but spending money and addressing gaps are two separate skill sets and the White Sox were good at both. There’s no way that they saw the success of Quentin and Danks coming, at least not to that magnitude, but they were definitely building a foundation with a high enough floor to take advantage of the surprise breakouts. You could say that they made their own luck, to coin a phrase that has never been used before.
***
2001 Houston Astros (93-69, finished 1st in NL Central, lost in NLDS to Atlanta)
Top Hitter: Lance Berkman, 6.5 WAR, $305K salary
Top Pitcher: Wade Miller, 5.3 WAR, $241K salary
Combined salaries: 0.9% of team payroll of $60.4M
Injuries:
None to speak of, as best as I can find.
Dead Weight:
Jose Lima was paid $6.25M (or more than 10% of the Astros payroll) to throw 53 innings of 7.30 ERA baseball at which point the Astros had seen enough, sending Lima (and plenty of cash) to the Tigers for Dave Mlicki.
Surprising Breakthrough:
The point of this section is to examine if the two best players on the team were projectable. In other words, was there reasonable expectation during the offseason last year that these two would be as good as they were?
Lance Berkman had been a top 20 prospect in the league and in his rookie season in 2000, posted a 949 OPS en route to a 6th place finish in Rookie of the Year voting. I’m sure team management was expecting improvement in year 2, both due to increased playing time and familiarity with the level, but probably didn’t pencil in a 4.5 win improvement.
Wade Miller had been a good prospect, but never cracked the top 50 in the most reputable rankings. In his rookie season of 2000, he struggled across 105 innings to the tune of a 97 ERA+. He did have over 7 K per 9 IP, however, back in a time when that meant something. He had a live arm and was probably seen as projectable by the team, although it would have been folly to expect a 5+ WAR season.
Position Player Depth:
Berkman was the breakout star on an offense that was already stacked. Future Hall of Famers Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio were no longer in their primes but they were still well above average baseball players. Moises Alou was “merely” a future Hall of Very Good candidate and he, too, was in his post-prime-but-still-very-productive phase.
The only spots the team was below average was at catcher, third base, and shortstop (Ausmus, Castilla, Lugo), but only Ausmus could be considered bad.
The overall position player ranking was 7th in MLB.
Starting Pitcher Depth:
The Astros’ rotation was 6th best in the game although they employed a boom-or-bust approach. Youngsters Wade Miller and Roy Oswalt paced the group, with veteran Shane Reynolds also contributing strongly. Those three combined to start roughly half of Houston’s games and the remainder of starts were handled by pitchers who generally ranked as bad or worse.
Relief Pitcher Depth:
The team also had the 6th best bullpen in MLB, led by Billy Wagner and Octavio Dotel.
Did the 2001 Astros fail to prepare appropriately for the combination of Lance Berkman and Wade Miller?
They did not. The Astros were division champs from 1997-99 before a down year in 2000. Their offense was essentially locked down from year to year. Bagwell and Biggio were never leaving and their other best players (Alou and Richard Hidalgo) were also brought back. The team’s main moves were to give Berkman the full time LF spot (supplanting the disappointing Daryle Ward) and to jettison pitcher Chris Holt to make room for Roy Oswalt. Oh, and closer Billy Wagner came back healthy from an injury-riddled 2000.
In short, this was a veteran team with a not-too-distant history of success who identified and gave opportunities to young prospects who had already shown quality at the big league level or, in the case of Oswalt, were near the top of the league prospect rankings.
***
2009 Los Angeles Dodgers (95-67, finished 1st in NL West, lost in NLCS to Philadelphia)
Top Hitter: Matt Kemp, 4.9 WAR, $467K salary
Top Pitcher: Clayton Kershaw, 4.7 WAR, $404K salary
Combined salaries: 0.9% of team payroll of $100.4M
Injuries:
Starting pitcher Hiroki Kuroda had an eventful year, managing an 8-7 record around an April oblique injury and an August concussion caused by a line drive to the head.
Otherwise, the team appeared to largely be healthy.
Dead Weight:
In 2006, Jason Schmidt was an all-star. That offseason, the Dodgers signed him to a three-year, $47 million contract for which they received fewer than 45 innings. He was worth roughly 15% of the Dodgers payroll in 2009 and appeared in four forgettable games.
Surprising Breakthrough:
The point of this section is to examine if the two best players on the team were projectable. In other words, was there reasonable expectation during the offseason last year that these two would be as good as they were?
Matt Kemp put up a 3.9 WAR season in 2008 at age 23, before gradually improving to 4.9 WAR in 2009. There was nothing extraordinarily surprising about his 2009 season.
Baseball Prospectus ranked Clayton Kershaw as the #5 prospect in baseball before the 2008 season. That year, as a 20 year old, Kershaw struck out 100 batters in 107 innings and posted a nearly league average ERA. He was already decent at age 20 and I can’t imagine that a 4.7 WAR season in 2009 was shocking to anyone.
Position Player Depth:
It was a really deep team. The only position LA was below average at was first base, and James Loney only barely fell below league average at that spot.
More to the point, all eight every day starters put up at least 2 WAR in 2009
The overall position player ranking was 3rd in MLB.
Starting Pitcher Depth:
The Dodgers’ rotation was 9th best in the game. While Kershaw was the best on the team, there were very few starts given to pitchers who weren’t at least league average. The team was deep with quality arms, bolstered by a couple of pickups at the trade deadline.
Relief Pitcher Depth:
The team had the 7th best bullpen in MLB, with a young trio of Jonathan Broxton, Ramon Troncoso, and Ronald Belisario anchoring the unit.
Did the 2009 Dodgers fail to prepare appropriately for the combination of Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw?
No, of course not. The Dodgers had been to the postseason in three of the previous five seasons and the addition of Kershaw and the improvement of Kemp was a re-loading of sorts. Additionally, three of the Dodgers’ worst four players in 2008 (Brad Penny, Angel Berroa, Juan Pierre, and Jeff Kent) were not relied on either in practice or theory, as Penny, Berroa, and Kent left in free agency, creating an addition-by-subtraction element to the team’s construction.
******
OK, let’s try to wrap this thing up.
The 2026 Reds got exactly 25% of the required WAR necessary to field a 90 win team from two players who accounted for a combined 1% of the team’s payroll.
They needed 42 WAR to be a “good” team. They achieved 17.6 WAR. Given that WAR replacement level is a 48 win team, we saw the equivalent of a 66 win team on the field this year. That they actually won 75 speaks to a measure of luck and good fortune that I don’t think we’re ready to honestly tackle just yet.
The math, once again, leads to the conclusion. If you need 42 WAR and you get two players contributing 10 WAR off the bat, you need 32 WAR from the remaining 24 roster spots. A bunch of those are back up catchers and bullpen arms and utility infielders that will never contribute much. Said differently, what differentiates the teams who can take advantage of young all-stars and those that can’t are the number of average-to-good players on the team. “How many 2+ WAR players do you have?” is a very useful benchmark.
In 2025, the Reds had 8 such players:
Andrew Abbott fell from 5.4 WAR to 1.4 WAR year over year. This was an extreme regression that centers primarily around a loss of control (his walk rate nearly doubled). The “why” behind this probably requires a deep dive, but this kind of drop off was genuinely surprising.
You could nearly rinse and repeat with Nick Lodolo, dropping from 4.7 WAR to 1.1 WAR, driven by a more-than-doubled walk rate and innings missed due to a recurring blister problem.
Hunter Greene had 4.2 WAR in 2025 and then his arm fell off.
Elly De La Cruz added 2 WAR to his 2025 figure of 3.6.
Brady Singer was a 3 WAR player in 2025 and then sub-replacement in 2026. This time the culprit was a home run rate that nearly doubled.
Tony Santillan contributed 2.9 WAR in 2025. In 2026, he was the kind of pitcher for whom injuries helped limit how bad his stats would be.
TJ Friedl was a 2.4 WAR player in 2025 and then sub-replacement in 2026.
Finally, Nick Martinez contributed 2.2 WAR in 2025 and became a free agent after the season.
One way to look at the above is to lament the bad luck. They brought back seven of the eight quality players from 2025 and all but one got worse. And a lot of them are young! This isn’t a story of older players falling predictably off the cliff.
As it turns out, 8 players at 2+ WAR is exactly the right benchmark. Of this season’s playoff teams, the average number of 2+ WAR players is 8.4.
So, back to the Reds. They had 8, lost one to free agency, but signed Eugenio Suarez, who was over 3 WAR last year. Mission accomplished!
Let’s look at last year’s 8 players through a slightly different lens:
This, in a short little table, basically demonstrates the difference between bWAR and fWAR. fWAR, particularly for pitchers, is calculated on stats that are more projectable. A significant portion of the 2025 Reds success was based on numbers that were highly unlikely to repeat.
Did anyone in the front office see this coming? Who knows. Did the 2026 Reds get unlucky? Yes. Were they designed to fail? Also, yes.
The 2026 Reds had two breakout stars to whom they paid relatively little. They had $140M of additional payroll with which to build around De La Cruz and Burns. They finished in last place, yes. But why?
The team failed to anticipate obvious negative regression. The team had obvious spots of weakness at 2nd base and 3rd base and failed to adequately address either. The team has been bad in the outfield forever and at present do not employ a single outfielder who can be projected to even sniff league average.
The two most relevant teams in the five that I examined earlier are the 2000 Brewers and the 2008 White Sox. The ’00 Brewers were caught in a pattern of trying to not bottom out while not having a discernible plan. Call it “banking on hope”. The ’08 White Sox aggressively addressed their weaknesses from a year before while integrating young talent at the same time. Call it “having a strategy”.
Did the 2026 Reds fail to prepare appropriately for the combination of Elly De La Cruz and Chase Burns?
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 11: The Baltimore Orioles select Eric Booth Jr. seventh overall during the 2026 MLB Draft at Pennsylvania Convention Center on July 11, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Orioles went into the 2026 draft with a clear candidate in mind, it seems: southpaw, speedster, outfielder. At #7, they selected Eric Booth Jr. out of Oak Grove High School in Hattiesburg, Mississippi—a high schooler, but a very toolsy one. At #46 overall, the Birds then chose Ty Head, a lefty bat with great control of the strike zone. Both Booth and Head got a taste of pro ball this summer, and in a small sample size gave us a little to chew over.
Start with Booth. A big-bodied lefty, Booth makes the rare high schooler selected with the top pick by Mike Elias. Well, considering that the other one was Jackson Holliday, it seems that the O’s don’t mind their high schoolers, but they’d like them to be pedigreed. Baseball runs in the family for Booth Jr., sort of: Eric Booth Sr. turned down the Blue Jays as a 34th-round pick in 1993, then went to Southern Miss and returned punts.
In four seasons at Oak Grove, Booth hit .441/.612/.803. MLB Pipeline had him sixth in the class and its top outfielder. He was committed to Vanderbilt, but the Orioles signed him on July 18 for $7,324,700. Will Robertson, the Orioles’ VP of domestic scouting, raved about Booth’s “huge engine” after the pick.
Booth’s best tool is his speed. Pipeline grades it a 70, and Baseball America calls him an 80-grade runner. He gets from home to first in a little over four seconds. He ran a 6.33-second 60-yard dash at the East Coast Pro showcase, the fastest time there. Pipeline gives him a 55 overall, with 55s on the hit and field tools and 50s for power and arm.
His swing is the part that gives some pause. His setup is unconventional, with his hands away from his body, so his left-handed stroke can look choppy. BA mentions a “deep hand press.” Even so, he makes consistent contact and barrels the ball. BA credits him with “elite hand-eye coordination and bat speed.” He won the home run derby at the 2025 Perfect Game All-American Classic. Pipeline thinks he could hit 20 to 25 homers a year if he smooths out the swing and lifts the ball more often. In center field, he still needs to improve his reads and routes, and the same goes for his basestealing instincts. His arm used to be his biggest weakness, but he has worked it up to average.
The Orioles took Ty Head 46th overall, in the second round, out of NC State. He was one of the better all-around players in the 2024 high school class, and is said to have had a chance to have gone in the third round but for his intentions to join the Wolfpack. Head broke out as a sophomore this spring, going on to hit .291/.460/.556 with 14 homers and 26 steals, with just 23 strikeouts to 57 walks. Baltimore went a little over slot to sign him for $2.43 million.
Head is a little harder to read as a pure prospect. Pipeline gives him 50 for hit, 45 for power, 60 for run, 45 for arm and 60 for field, with a 45 overall. On approach alone, he’s one of the most disciplined hitters in the class. He attacks strikes, rarely chases, and almost never swings and misses, especially against fastballs. But he was a career .283 hitter in college and did little damage in ACC play. Scouts blame his big leg kick, with potential to throw off his timing and produce weak contact. But if he straightens out his timing, he has the pull-side power to become a solid hitter with power, to boot. Defense is the safer part of the profile. Pipeline calls him a “no-doubt center fielder” with plus range, and BA rates him the more polished defender of the two. He has 20-20 upside.
As for the debuts, Booth signed in mid-July and was assigned to the FCL Orioles before playing his first official games at Low-A Delmarva in mid-August. He hit .284/.390/.328 in 18 games (82 PA) there. The on-base skills showed up right away, as he walked 14.6 percent of the time. The power didn’t show up yet. He had three doubles and no homers, and he struck out 23.2 percent of the time. He stole only 3 bases in 5 tries, which shows the baserunning still needs work. That’s about what you’d expect from someone who had just turned 18 and was facing full-season pitching a month after his draft.
Head made more noise, perhaps befitting his greater seasoning in college. He hit .321/.400/.491 with two homers and eight steals in 15 games at Delmarva. That was enough to get him a September promotion to High-A Frederick, where he played six games before the season ended. There he hit .278/.381/.278 and added four more steals. One thing to watch is the strikeouts. He struck out 20 times in about 82 pro plate appearances, which is a far higher rate than his college numbers. That’s very little data, but it’s worth watching for a hitter whose whole case depends on his contact skills.
Mike Elias has been nothing if not consistent in his drafts, prioritizing left handers who can play up-the-middle, especially shortstops and outfielders. Eric Booth Jr. and Ty Head fit right in this mold. Despite their relative youth, both have indicators that their talent is worth relying on. Booth has the higher ceiling; Head could move faster, with a potential ETA by 2029. If both hit their ceilings, however, the Orioles may have finally found a long-term answer in the outfield.
CLEVELAND, OHIO - OCTOBER 15: A general view of signage prior to game three of the American League Championship Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on October 15, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Good morning, baseball fans!
The 2026 MLB Playoffs continue today with the league championship series. At least one of them, anyway.
As of the time this is being written, neither of yesterday’s games have concluded, though the Tampa Bay Rays have an early lead over the Cleveland Guardians. Who knows if they will keep it. Well, I guess YOU know because you’re reading this in the future. Either way, that series will continue today.
If there is any goodness left in this world, that will be the only game today because the Los Angeles Dodgers will have been swept by the Milwaukee Brewers last night. But things seldom play out the way we want them to. So that series might continue today as well.
I’m not sure how the ALCS start time would be affected if that is the only game today, so I’ll try to get in and update this in the morning if I get a chance.
In the meantime, this is what is ostensibly on deck for today:
First up, the visiting Rays will play Game 4 of the ALCS against the Guardians at 3:00 p.m. PT. As of the time this is being written, neither team has named a starter for that game. But it will be broadcast on TBS/HBO Max, with national radio coverage available on ESPN Radio.
If necessary (and I hope it’s not), the NLCS will continue in Los Angeles tonight at 6:00 p.m. PT. No starting pitchers named for that one yet either. But it will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1/Fox One, with national radio coverage available on ESPN Radio.
If there are two games today, let’s discuss the ALCS and who we’re rooting for over there. If there is only the one game today, let’s celebrate the Dodgers loss instead! Sure, it’s a little tacky, but we have to find joy where we can in this life.
LOS ANGELES — They couldn’t move at first, almost in a state of shock, then looked around at one another, gasped and finally started making their way to the middle of the field.
It happened.
Really, it happened.
The Milwaukee Brewers, the Lil' Team that Could, pulled off one of the most stunning four-game sweeps in baseball history Thursday, ousting the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, and ending their title dynasty at Dodger Stadium with a 6-4 victory.
The Brewers, for the first time in 44 years, are going to the World Series, with Brewers play-by-play announcer Jeff Levering screaming over the air: "The Brewers win the pennant! OH MY God, the Brewers win the pennant! The World Series will go through Wisconsin."
Bauers was quitting baseball just two years ago, returning only to get health insurance coverage for his pregnant wife, and now he was the best player on a field littered with all-stars and future Hall of Famers in Dodgers uniforms.
Then, there was Brewers manager Pat Murphy, a collegiate coach at Arizona State and Notre Dame, who spent eight seasons as Brewers bench coach under Craig Counsell, only to be promoted when Counsell bolted for the Chicago Cubs’ riches. Now the two-time NL manager of the year, is standing on the stage holding the NLCS trophy, grabbing the mic and addressing the frenzied Brewers' fans.
"They have a bunch of Hall of Famers," Murphy said, “but we have a lot of gamers.
"And the gamers won."
Mic drop.
Oh, did they ever, beating the mighty Dodgers in every facet of the game, in front of 49,104 stunned fans at Dodger Stadium, the site where their season abruptly ended last year, a story made in the shadows of Hollywood.
"To do that at Dodger Stadium, against a team that good, that poised, that rooted in tradition, the Hall of Famers they have on the team, the types of people they have on the team," Murphy said, "that’s no easy task.
"But we just did."
Believe it, Milwaukee, for the first time since the days of the Harvey’s Wallbangers, you’re going to the World Series.
"I think they’re drinking," he said, laughing. "They’re drinking just like us. I kid you not. They’re drinking."
Hey, you better believe it, with all of Wisconsin celebrating as if the Green Bay Packers just won the Super Bowl, never believing this could actually be a reality.
Not against the mighty Dodgers, a team with more than twice the Brewers' payroll and enough hardware to fill a Milwaukee brewery.
"Let's be honest," Murphy said, "nobody had us coming in here doing it. Then, the fashion that we did it, got behind and won. You know that thing for me. That's that tells the character of a team."
The Dodgers were up 4-0 in the second inning when Shohei Ohtani hit a three-run homer, and Dodger Stadium was literally shaking, believing that Ohtani found his superman cape again, and would ignite a historic comeback from their three-games-to-none deficit.
"I thought, 'Oh my God, we just woke up a giant,' you know what I mean?" Murphy said. "You don’t wake the giant up, and we woke up the giant. I’m like, wow, we’re going to have our hands full. He’s one of the greatest players that ever lived.
"Most teams would lay down. But these guys wouldn’t be denied."
Not a soul on the Brewers bench panicked, knowing they had come back against the Dodgers all series, so why not again?
"There was never a doubt we were going to come back and win the game," said Bauers, who answered with a two-run double in the fourth inning. "Not a single one. We’ve been doing it all year."
Said DH Christian Yelich: "This place was going crazy, and we’re like, 'Hey, just stay together. Let’s chip away. This is going to be a great story when we win it.'"
While the Dodgers never scored another run the rest of the game, the Brewers got two runs in the fourth, two more in the fifth, a solo homer by Garrett Mitchell in the sixth inning – his second off a left-handed pitcher in two nights after hitting only two off lefties all season – and another solo by No. 9 hitter David Hamilton in the ninth.
Now, with the Brewers on the verge of completing the stunning sweep, the Dodger Stadium security informed Brewers owner Mark Attanasio, GM Matt Arnold and the rest of the front office staff to start making their way down to the field before the start of the ninth inning. Sorry, they weren’t about to jinx anything. They stayed put, watching 22-year-old Jackson Chourio catch the final out.
It was over, and the only sound at Dodger Stadium was the shrieks and celebration of thousands of Brewers’ fans, including one of their most famous alumni, outfielder Ryan Braun, a Brewers Hall of Famer.
"It was incredible to witness," Braun said. "I mean, we went against one of the greatest teams in history, right? Like, that is an incredibly talented team with arguably the best starting rotation ever assembled. They have countless Hall of Famers. Guys that are among the best players that have ever played the game. We have a lot of guys that nobody had probably ever heard of until they started watching our nationally-televised games this series.
"And to sweep that team, I don’t think anybody believed that it was a possibility. I’m thrilled for them, man. I couldn’t be more excited. I couldn’t be honored to have been a Brewer. Watching this team play, just brought me and all the former Brewers so much pride…
"This means so much."
Braun, who spent his entire 14-year career with the Brewers and went to the postseason five times, got to the NLCS twice (2011 and 2018). Milwaukee pushed the Dodgers to Game 7 in the 2018 NLCS, but it was L.A. that went to the World Series, while the Brewers stayed home. Again.
Now, here Braun was, watching history unfold before his eyes.
"I mean, 44 years of hope,," Braun said. "Forty-four years of heartbreak. Forty-four years of believing that we would have our moment. And that moment has arrived."
Former MLB commissioner Bud Selig, whose family owned the Brewers for 35 years before selling the franchise to Attanasio, and will throw out the ceremonial first pitch in Game 1 of the World Series, was ecstatic watching from his home in Milwaukee. Hall of Famer Robin Yount, who will also throw out the first pitch, was elated watching from his home in Phoenix, and will also throw out a Game 1 ceremonial first pitch. There were tens of thousands of Brewers fans celebrating on the streets and at watch parties.
But perhaps the night meant the most to Yelich, the Brewers’ team captain, who joined Milwaukee in 2018 and signed a franchise-record extension in 2020. Now here he was, watching all of his dreams and aspirations spectacularly arrive on one glorious night in his hometown.
He was the one, according to Murphy, who told this young team, filled with 15 players with three or fewer years of service, early this season: "You better start believin’, because you know we’re going to the World Series."
"I mean, Yeli changed the culture here," Bauers said. "This is the better part of 10 years of work for him to really change this organization. I’m sure this is surreal for him."
Yelich, who was being ushered from different TV sets with FOX and ESPN after the game, finally was alone with his family, soaking it all in and celebrating the greatest night of his career.
"We’ve had our season end here on this field a couple of times," Yelich said. "And we just knew coming into spring training that if we wanted to accomplish our ultimate goal, that we were going to have to play this series against this team. It didn’t catch us by surprise that we were here. We just didn’t wake up and find ourselves here. We were ready for it.
"Obviously, the regular season and the postseason are two different things, but we proved to ourselves all year that when we played our version of baseball, and played the way that we were capable of, we were a really hard team to beat and capable of making a deep postseason."
Now, the Brewers are bracing themselves for a glorious welcoming reception when they return to Milwaukee on Friday, with the city already in a frenzy, and the World Series starting a week later.
"I don’t know if you told me as a kid that this would be a thing that happened," Yelich said. "I don’t know if I’d believe you. It’s pretty crazy. It’s just an awesome moment. I haven’t even taken it all of the way in. It’ll be something that probably hits me later.
"But it’s cool to see the crowd, giving people memorable life moments. We understand who we’re playing for, what it means to the city, and know they’re going to be stoked. The atmosphere has just been amazing. We still got a ways to get to the ultimate goal, but man, it’s going to be awesome."
This is a story that will be told for generations in Wisconsin, with Brewers' fans celebrating this team’s accomplishments for years, just like Cubs fans with their 2016 team, Royals fans with their 2015 team, White Sox fans with their 2005 team and Dodgers' fans with this dynasty.
It’s a beautiful rags-to-riches story, but how in the world can you possibly explain it?
"You can’t," Murphy said. "You just can’t. People that are interested will look into it, and see it for themselves.
"Hopefully, they write about it, and get it right."
CLEVELAND, OHIO - OCTOBER 15: Daniel Espino #41 of the Cleveland Guardians pitches in the sixth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays in game three of the American League Championship Series at Progressive Field on October 15, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) | Getty Images
“He was the prototype for what they wanted us to be…They showed us a video of him striking out 15 people in Akron…they’re like ‘this is what we want you guys pitching like’.” – Parker Messick
“He’s, like, one of the best people ever…I saw him in Spring Training of ‘22, and I was like this is the best pitcher I’ve ever seen.” – Tanner Bibee
Mason Horodyski of News 5 Clevelandhas been along for the ride with the Guardians this season, and within this season-long journey, he, along with many others, including the esteemed Zack Meisel, have helped capture the sights and sounds of the odyssey of Daniel Espino. Many of the quotes you will see are from Mason’s social media pages.
On April 23, 2022, Daniel Espino struck out 14 batters in five innings in Double-A Akron. Just six days later, Espino made what would be his final appearance of the season. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine he’d go over three years before doing that again. Espino hit the injured list, initially with patellar tendinitis, but a sore shoulder created a longer, more drawn out complication. On May 2, 2023, the meteoric rise of a former first rounder and baseball’s fastest rising pitching prospect was struck down in an instant. Espino underwent right shoulder anterior capsule surgery, and his life changed forever. Espino would undergo another surgery on the same pitching shoulder to the same capsule, as well as his labrum, the following May, and the once burgeoning future ace of Cleveland was staring down the barrel of his career possibly ending.
On September 20, 2025, after 1,241 days, multiple surgeries, and an intensive rehabilitation process, Daniel Espino took the mound in a game once again. Espino pitched two-thirds of an inning in Columbus, notching his first strikeout in over three years, and the tears were visible from the moment he walked off the mound.
An emotional Daniel Espino walks off the mound after his first live action since April 29, 2022. pic.twitter.com/XoC2OuCxGX
Coming into Spring Training, there was palpable hype surrounding Espino. It was the first time in four years that he’d be entering a Spring camp healthy, working on actual development rather than focusing on just rehabilitation. It culminated in a pair of outings, and his second outing generated a lot of buzz. Espino ran his esteemed fastball, once capable of touching 101, up to 98, striking out three Padres. That ended Espino’s Spring Training outings, but the sense of positivity and proximity stirred.
For much of the early portion of 2026, Espino was on a very strict workload. He never pitched more frequently than every third day in Columbus. When June came around, Espino was pitching well. His command was touch and go, largely due to the inconsistent workload his injury history had forced upon him, but Espino went from touching 98 mph in Spring Training to sitting 98 in Triple-A. On June 12, Codi Heuer was sent down to Triple-A, and the single most significant debut since Francisco Lindor was about to happen; Daniel Espino finally got his call. On June 17, Espino made his debut against the Brewers, relieving a struggling Gavin Williams. He faced Garrett Mitchell, and in five pitches, Espino struck him out with a fastball. 99.5 mph. Espino then faced Cooper Pratt, and Pratt met the same fate, also via the fastball. 100.3 mph. After getting David Hamilton to fly out and as Espino walked off the mound, the camera panned to Espino’s emotional mother, cheering for her son.
Espino was asked about his reaction to finding out about his promotion.
“Crying. I was crying a lot. It’s been…” Espino had to pause, noticeably choked up, “…it’s been emotional days.”
Espino lost his father, Danilo, in 2023 to prostate cancer, and if you ask Espino, every bit of positive attitude and perseverance he displayed during his battle back to the mound came from the heart and strength his father showed during his battle with cancer.
Espino’s first trip around the majors was mostly successful. The only blip came in Houston when he surrendered his first home run. It’s also notably the first time in his career he had pitched on just one day’s rest. Even still, Espino was still largely on a strict protocol as the Guardians continued to both preserve and track the health of that right shoulder. On July 3, Espino was sent back to Columbus in favor of fellow rookie Franco Aleman. Espino, now with a taste of MLB on his tongue, went back to Columbus and dominated. From July 5 to September 1, Espino posted a 2.00 ERA across 18 innings, and in August, he ran a 31.7% strikeout rate. On September 3, as rosters expanded, Espino was recalled, and immediately the workload thickened.
Espino was asked to go multiple innings in a couple of his outings, and he even opened a few times. In his first appearance back, Espino tossed two scoreless frames in the 7th and 8th innings against the Tigers in a game Cleveland won via walk-off from Travis Bazzana. Cleveland, now in the thick of a division chase, was calling on Espino in all kinds of roles. Stephen Vogt and co. wanted to see how Espino could handle the different situations, including opening for Joey Cantillo in a must-win game in Boston where the Guardians blanked the Red Sox, 1-0, and then turning around the next day and pitching in Kansas City, his first back-to-back ever. Espino passed both tests with flying colors. Of course he did, it’s Daniel Espino.
Cleveland’s medical and training staff are as good as it gets, and Espino will tell anyone who listens about just how important they were in his recovery. They, along with the hard work from Espino himself, something that his coaches and teammates will tell anyone who listens about, saw Espino make Cleveland’s ALDS roster against the White Sox. His role was unknown, but his success as an opener for Joey Cantillo made the decision for him to start Game 3, with Cleveland down 0-2, an easy one for Stephen Vogt.
“You bet on the person in times like this,” Vogt stated, “and obviously we’ve seen his stuff, but what Daniel’s been through, there’s nothing that’s gonna rattle him or shake him.”
Espino pitched in Game 1, relieving Parker Messick with a runner on in the 5th inning. Espino induced a crucial double play to keep the deficit at 2-0. Espino surrendered a run in his Game 3 opening, but the bats picked him up this time, and Cleveland went on to win the final three games of that series, advancing to the ALCS against the Tampa Bay Rays.
Enter Game 1 against Tampa Bay, and the bullpen trust tree of Stephen Vogt thus far this postseason consisted of getting the ball to Tim Herrin, Erik Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis, and ultimately, Cade Smith. However, a looming seven game series meant Vogt had to extend a branch down from that tree for the sake of his best arms, and Daniel Espino grabbed on. After Foster Griffin surrendered two defense-aided runs in the 1st inning, he got through the next three frames strongly, but with the top of the Rays lineup looming, Vogt wasn’t going to let Yandy Diaz, Jonathan Aranda, and Junior Caminero see Griffin again. Vogt brought in Espino for the 5th inning to face Tampa’s terrifying trio. This fireman role had largely belonged to Colin Holderman, but wrist surgery took Holderman out of Vogt’s dealing deck for the entirety of the Postseason, and someone had to step up.
Espino toed the rubber to face former Cleveland first baseman Yandy Diaz. First pitch fastball, 97.9 mph above the zone. Diaz swings and misses. Second pitch fastball, 98.3 mph up and in the zone, fouled off. Third pitch fastball, 99.1, swing and a miss, strike three. Aranda was up next, and he worked a 3-2 count, but a 90.1 mph slider from Espino had Aranda looking foolish, and he struck out as well. Then came Junior Caminero, the infamous former Guardians prospect, destined for a top-5 AL MVP finish. Espino wasn’t phased at all. A first pitch curveball missed badly, so Espino and catcher Patrick Bailey adjusted.
No changeup, no curveball…you know the rest.
Espino rifled off four fastballs, each one higher than the last, all 98+ mph, and Caminero stood no chance, striking out to end a pivotal inning. This was the first time that trio had struck out consecutively all season, and of course it was against Daniel Espino.
Stephen Vogt has a newfound fireman, and it happens to be the guy with the best fastball on the team. Espino, after years of uncertainty, finally made it to the big leagues, and after months of preservation and experimentation, has found his role and is thriving just in time for the biggest games of his life.
Game 3 found Espino in a familiar spot. After Petey freakin’ Halpin gave the Guardians a 3-2 lead with the bat flip heard ‘round the world, Vogt pulled Gavin Williams and went to Espino for the 6th inning, again for Diaz, Aranda, and Caminero. Espino induced a weak flyout from Diaz, touching 101 on the out pitch. He didn’t throw a fastball under 100 the rest of the inning. Espino overpowered Aranda into an 0-2 count and induced a foul pop-out. It was once again his time with Caminero. In three pitches, Espino announced himself firmly to the national stage, blowing fastballs of 100.6, 100.6, and 100.3 past Caminero, each fastball higher than the last, with Caminero striking out swinging at a ball by his eyes.
Espino mean mugged his way off the mound, bridging his scoreless frame into scoreless outings from Erik Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis, and ultimately Cade Smith. The Guardians now have a 2-1 lead in an ALCS few people gave them a chance of winning, but that’s exactly how this team wants it, and those are the odds Daniel Espino has been proving wrong for four years now. Guardians pitching coach Carl Willis marvels at Espino, both as a pitcher and person.
“He’s a man that has a tremendous amount of faith,” said Willis to Horodyski. “…He’s stepped up to every challenge, and we’re seeing it evolve right now. It’s not only a blessing but it’s really exciting to watch, and hopefully we’ll be watching it for a number of years.”
Despite setback after setback, Daniel Espino has become exactly what every Guardians fan dreamed he could be: a valuable piece to this team’s future and in October. Parker Messick called him “the prototype”, and he will serve as that in every possible way for this organization. Espino’s recovery path has proven to be foundational for fellow multi-arm surgery prospects in Justin Campbell and Jacob Zibin, but the human being that Daniel Espino is and how he handled adversity will serve as the blueprint for his teammates, present and future. As Espino settles into his new role, the Guardians find themselves two wins away from where The Prototype’s big league career began: on a mound in Milwaukee.
What we don’t know: What the future holds, in what could be a turbulent winter for the Dodgers and for all of Major League Baseball.
Here are four things we don’t know about the Dodgers, but well worth keeping an eye on:
Shohei Ohtani
Just three short months ago, we wondered whether Ohtani would win his fifth most valuable player award and his first Cy Young Award. Has the time come for the Dodgers to consider curtailing his pitching?
As the Dodgers trudged through the playoffs, we endured daily drama over where in the lineup Ohtani would bat (first, second, fourth, fifth or sixth) and what he could produce despite playing through multiple injuries.
We’ll soon get a better understanding of those injuries, and whether rest, rehabilitation and/or surgery might be recommended for each one. We’ll also get a better sense of what the future might hold for Ohtani as a two-way player, and for his potential to perform at an elite level on both sides of the ball.
Ohtani said he plans to resume pitching next year. He is 32. He just completed his 14th professional season.
Ohtani has pitched more than 132 innings once since 2016, when he was 22 and playing for the Nippon Ham Fighters.
In his three seasons with the Dodgers, this was the first that did not involve rehabilitation from elbow surgery. He started 14 games before a knee injury prevented him from pitching any more this season.
Payroll
Dodgers pitcher Tarik Skubal walks off the field during Game 1 of the NLDS. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Major league owners are poised to shut down the sport this winter, in pursuit of a salary cap designed to restrain the Dodgers, since they won’t restrain themselves.
The owners’ initial proposal set a salary cap of $245 million next year. The Dodgers already have $347 million committed to 14 players next year, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts.
Under a cap, the owners have promised a transition period to account for existing commitments, and an actual negotiated cap could be higher.
Even if the players do not agree to a cap — and they insist they won’t — whatever economic system that would emerge from collective bargaining would be almost certain to make it painful for the Dodgers to spend so freely.
Whatever the case, the Dodgers could face the kind of difficult roster choices they often have papered over with money this decade. Two closers for $141 million? Good luck with that.
And would they be able to fit soon-to-be free agent Tarik Skubal into their payroll? Skubal might well sign before the lockout is expected to start in December, but there is nothing agent Scott Boras loves more than pitching a marquee free agent to a new owner. The two other Southern California teams — the Angels and San Diego Padres — both have one.
Age
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, left, and general manager Brandon Gomes have decisions to make about their aging roster. (Luke Hales / Getty Images)
When Andrew Friedman made his name as the general manager of the Tampa Bay Rays, he did it in large part by taking advantage of one market inefficiency within the American League East: He beat up on the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees because they were stuck with rosters crowded with aging stars on big contracts. The Rays couldn’t have done that even if Friedman had wanted to.
He didn’t want to do it too much in Los Angeles, because it compromises roster flexibility. But, after seven National League West titles and no World Series championships, ownership went all in: Mookie Betts (12 years, $365 million), Freddie Freeman (six years, $162 million), Ohtani (10 years, $700 million), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12 years, $325 million), Tyler Glasnow (five years, $137 million), Blake Snell (five years, $182 million), Will Smith (10 years, $140 million) and Kyle Tucker (four years, $240 million).
It worked: three rings in six years. Now the bill comes due.
The Dodgers fielded the oldest group of position players in the major leagues this season. Ohtani and Betts are under contract through their age-39 seasons; Smith will be 38 when his deal’s up, Yamamoto and Max Muncy 37, Snell 36, Glasnow 35.
Something to watch this winter: Freeman is 37, signed through next year. He would like to play until 40 and finish his career here. That would take a two-year extension. Would the Dodgers say no?
Ownership
Mark Walter’s insurance empire is under investigation by federal authorities — and the subject of discussions with state regulators — over allegations the businesses he controls failed to properly follow laws designed to protect investors.
Walter’s company has denied wrongdoing, and neither Walter nor his businesses have been charged with a crime. He is, however, a defendant in multiple civil lawsuits in which insurance policyholders claim he and several of his companies committed fraud and breach of contract.
Walter may need more than $20 billion to satisfy regulators by recapitalizing insurance companies. He abruptly sold the Lakers in August, in a deal that valued the team — not just Walter’s controlling interest — at $12.5 billion. He and fellow Dodgers co-owner Todd Boehly also sold a small stake in English soccer club Chelsea FC last month for about $1.27 billion, the Financial Times reported. It is uncertain how Walter would provide the rest of the money for recapitalization.
“Regarding the Los Angeles Dodgers, to be clear, the team is not being sold,” Walter’s holdings company said in a statement last month.
It is uncertain whether a resolution with insurance regulators would satisfy the Department of Justice, which reports to President Trump. In July, when the Dodgers visited the White House, Walter presented Trump with an official World Series championship ring with his name engraved on it. He also sold the Lakers to former Disney chief Bob Iger and venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law.
Major League Baseball is monitoring the situation and could conduct its own review after the state and federal matters are concluded.
Sep 10, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; General view of the helmet used by the Milwaukee Brewers before the start of the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-Imagn Images | Stan Szeto-Imagn Images
Greetings, Brew Crew Ball community. You can now call them, for the first time ever, your NL Champion Milwaukee Brewers! How about that series? We’ll have plenty of time to discuss things as we await an AL Champion, with the World Series set to begin in Milwaukee on Friday, October 23.
Feel free to use this thread to chat about (almost) anything you want: video games, food, movies, non-baseball sports, the Brewers, you name it. As long as it’s appropriate and is allowed by our moderators, it’s fair game here.
Happy birthday to Rodney Scott, and a mighty host of others.
Today in baseball history, in 1971 – In the World Series, Brooks Robinson drives in Frank Robinson in the 10th inning of Game 6 to give Baltimore a Series-tying 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pittsburgh’s Roberto Clemente does all he can to win the game single-handed. Stranded after his 1st-inning triple to the wall in left center, his 3rd-inning solo shot puts Pittsburgh up, 2-0. All of Clemente’s offensive contributions notwithstanding, the reason the game reaches extra innings is his defensive gem in the bottom of the ninth, a no-look, one-hop strike from Memorial Stadium‘s right field corner, 310 feet away, to catcher Manny Sanguillen, preventing the runner at first, running on contact on Don Buford‘s two-out double, from even attempting to score. By extending the game, Clemente’s throw will force Baltimore’s best player, Frank Robinson, to win this game with his legs, challenging the arm of centerfielder Vic Davalillo on two consecutive plays. In doing so, Robinson tears his left hamstring and aggravates an already damaged right Achilles tendon, and other stories as well.
1923 – Soon after Babe Ruth receives his World Series winner’s share of $6,160.46, insurance agent Harry Heilmann, who beat Ruth for the batting title by ten points, sells him a $50,000 life insurance policy. Beneficiaries are Mrs. Ruth and adopted daughter Dorothy.
2011 – The Cardinals complete their very unlikely run to the World Series by beating the Brewers, 12-6, in Game 6 of the NLCS at Miller Park. Series MVP David Freese opens the scoring with a three-run homer off Shaun Marcum in the 1st, but the Brewers once again manage to chase the Cards’ starter early, scoring four runs off Edwin Jackson in two innings.
2017 – The Yankees notch their first win in the ALCS by defeating the Astros, 8-1, in Game 3 at home. Three-run homers by Todd Frazier and Aaron Judge help New York build an 8-0 lead by the end of the fourth, and they cruise from there as CC Sabathia is the winner over Charlie Morton.
1492 – Christopher Columbus‘ fleet anchors at “Fernandina” (Long Island, Bahamas).
1577 – Francis Drake sights land in the Philippines after crossing the Pacific Ocean aboard the “Golden Hind”.
1901 – Booker T. Washington and his family are invited to dine at the White House with Teddy and Edith Roosevelt, prompting condemnation from the South.
1909 – In his fourth title defense, Jack Johnson knocks out Stanley Ketchel in the 12th round at Mission Street Arena, Colma, California, to retain his heavyweight boxing crown.
1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis begins as US President John F. Kennedy is shown photos confirming the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
1968 – Americans Tommie Smith (gold, 19.83, WR) and John Carlos (bronze) famously give the Black Power salute on the 200 m medal podium during the Mexico City Olympics to protest racism and injustice against African Americans.
1985 – Intel introduces the 32-bit 80386 microprocessor chip.
2023 – Model of a Star Wars X-wing Starfighter used in a “Star Wars” film sells for over $3 million from the collection of Hollywood model maker Greg Jein.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - OCTOBER 01: Dominic Smith #8 of the Atlanta Braves is tagged out by Trea Turner #7 of the Philadelphia Phillies during the fourth inning in game three of the National League Wild Card Series at Truist Park on October 01, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Edward M. Pio Roda/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Halfway to Halloween. Halfway to the World Series matchup being decided.
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 15: Aaron Ashby #26 and William Contreras #24 of the Milwaukee Brewers celebrate after advancing to the World Series by winning Game Four of the National League Championship Series between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Los Angeles Dodgers at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium on Thursday, October 15, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Good morning, Camden Chatters.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are no more. For the first time in three years, some other team is going to win the World Series.
The Brewers completed an emphatic four-game sweep of the two-time defending champions last night, rallying back from a 4-0 deficit to stun the Dodgers in L.A. one last time, a 6-4 decision that punched the Brewers’ ticket to the World Series for the first time since 1982.
The Brewers had been one of only three teams with a longer World Series drought than the Orioles (1983). Now that list is down to two: the Pirates, who last made it there in 1979, and the Mariners, who have never gotten to a World Series since the birth of the franchise in 1977.
Congratulations to the Brewers, a truly well-rounded team who had the best record in baseball during the regular season and have continued to prove their dominance in the playoffs. They can really hit, especially in the clutch. They play defense. They play good fundamental baseball. Their bullpen is sensational. And they’ve got the presumed NL Cy Young winner, Jacob Misiorowski, atop their rotation. It really feels like this year is the best chance they’ve ever had to finally win their first championship.
As for the Dodgers, I don’t think anyone will be shedding a tear over their elimination. Probably not even Dodgers fans. When you win two World Series in a row, you don’t get to complain when you can’t get a third. Although maybe I would feel differently if it were the Orioles in that situation. I’d love the opportunity to find out!
Meanwhile, in the ALCS, the pesky Cleveland Guardians took a 2-1 series lead over the favored Rays with another splendidly pitched effort. I will admit that I fully expected the Rays to run away with this series, considering the 13-game difference in their regular season records and the fact that Cleveland barely edged out a morass of mediocre teams in the final weeks of the season. But the Guardians got hot at the right time, going 9-2 in their final 11 games before rallying back from a 2-0 deficit against the White Sox in the Wild Card Series.
Can the Guardians pull off the upset? I wouldn’t hate that. I don’t have any particular disdain for the Rays (and their roster full of former Orioles), but those Cleveland fans have suffered for nearly 80 years without a championship, so it’d be nice if they can keep that dream alive for another round. Game 4 is scheduled for tonight at 8 PM ET, but the dicey weather forecast in Cleveland could put that in jeopardy.
In this case, all of the scout’s insights on O’s prospects are basically, “The Orioles screwed this guy up” and “This guy needs a change of scenery.” Not exactly encouraging!
Kudos to Rich Dubroff for answering this succinctly in two paragraphs, as opposed to the novella-length response I would’ve had to this question.
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Three former Orioles were born on this day: second baseman Jonathan Schoop (35), pinch-running specialist Mike Dimmel (72), and the late left-hander Don Hood (b. 1949, d. 2023).
Today marks the 43rd anniversary of the Orioles’ most recent World Series title. On this date in 1983, the O’s blanked the Phillies in Game 5 of the Fall Classic, 5-0, to win their third championship in franchise history. The Orioles had only five hits in the game — three by Eddie Murray and two by Rick Dempsey — but two of Eddie’s hits were dingers, as was one by Dempsey, the World Series MVP. Orioles starter Scott McGregor took care of the rest, tossing a five-hit shutout, which ended with Cal Ripken Jr. memorably squeezing Garry Maddox’s line drive to shortstop to kick off the celebration.
On this date in 1971, the Orioles stayed alive in the World Series with a dramatic, walkoff win in extras in Game 6 in Baltimore. Trailing 2-0 in the late innings, the O’s tied the game on a Don Buford solo homer in the sixth and a Davey Johnson RBI single in the seventh. After Dave McNally — pitching in relief — escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top of the 10th, the Orioles walked it off in the bottom half, as Frank Robinson walked, hustled to third on a single, and aggressively rushed home on a Brooks Robinson sac fly to win the game, tearing his hamstring in the process.
The Orioles also played World Series games on this date in 1969 and 1979. We don’t need to get into those.
