Category: Baseball

Detroit Tigers (72-79) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (75-77)

Time/Place: 3:07 p.m., Rogers Centre
SB Nation Site:Bluebird Banter
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network

Outfielder Scott Bandura's first games in Major League Baseball this week included a reunion with the player who made him part of Little League World Series history.

When Bandura was in the lineup for the San Francisco Giants in their 10-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday, Sept. 16, so was Mo'ne Davis. The first girl to throw a shutout at the Little League World Series in 2014 wanted to be there for the catcher who was behind the plate during her memorable run through Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Bandura and Davis are longtime friends and teammates, even now with Davis playing for the Los Angeles Queens of the Women's Professional Baseball League. Davis was able to attend Bandura's game in St. Louis because the inaugural championship for the WPBL begins Wednesday in Springfield, Illinois.

gambit – noun

a chess opening in which a player risks one or more pawns or a minor piece to gain an advantage in position

Now, if your mind immediately went to the Marvel Comics character and you were confused, fair enough. Here’s the clip you likely thought of, so we can all feel better and get to the heart of the essay.

And for the record, Freddie Freeman is hardly a minor piece, but giving up a major piece for tactical advantage is called a sacrifice, which wouldn’t be appropriate given the circumstances here, as Freeman returned to the lineup for the September 15 game against the Cincinnati Reds.

A funny thought occurred to me while watching Freddie Freeman these last few months:

“Where did his power go? He sure seems like he’s hitting into more double plays than I remember.”

Looking at Freeman’s stats for the year, apart from the power and RBI numbers being down a bit, nothing looks amiss. Honestly, I originally dismissed the feeling that something was wrong because Freeman was hitting up a storm for about a month after the All-Star Break.

There wasn’t much power behind it, but when someone has a slash line of .367/.402/.411 over 24 games starting from the All-Star Break, pointing out fault feels like searching for a fly in the ointment. Yes, Freeman only had four doubles, eight RBIs, and nearly three times as many strikeouts as walks, but the overall body of work looked pretty good.

Freeman had a solid couple of games in Denver where he hit for doubles power and used the entire field. However, since the Denver series, where Freeman was hitting for average, he’s just not.

When you aren’t hitting for either average or power, alarm bells tend to finally ring.

Power drained

On September 9, Freeman was kept out of the lineup for right knee soreness and was considered day-to-day. To his credit, Dave Roberts did mention Freeman’s slump on September 9.

Roberts said there was no one incident that caused Freeman’s knee soreness, but he believes it has impacted his performance at the plate lately.

“Freddie does a really good job of hitting against his front side, and then when you can’t do that with your front side, your right knee, then you’re compromised,” Roberts said. “I see there’s a lot more swing-and-miss the last few days. That’s just not who he is.”

In the 18 games since the Colorado series until the start of play on September 15, Freeman has a slash line of .215/.338/.292. He does have his only home run of the second half, and his strikeouts-to-walk ratio is about 1.5/1 instead of 3/1 earlier in the year.

The problem is more of the eye test: Freeman is starting to finally look, and maybe move, like his age.

The splits on Baseball Savant from last year to now tell a pretty glaring tale: if you want to beat Freeman in 2026, go low and in. Also, Freeman feasted on center-cut pitches last year, not so this year.

I’m not a hitting expert, but having a diminished knee would make it harder to rotate to hit stuff middle in. On the September 13 broadcast of the finale against the Miami Marlins, Dontrelle Willis pointed out how Freeman is compromised rotationally generally, as pitches he would normally drive the other way are being weakly hit.

Even after Freeman hit a career-high and now league-high in double plays on Sunday, the Dodgers are not seriously entertaining putting Freeman on the injured list, per Katie Woo of The Athletic:

“I think it’s one of those things where we’ve got to manage it … just pick spots to give him an off day here or there,” Roberts said. “Again, we’ve just got to make sure he’s at optimal health when we finish the season. So I think that he might not love it, but giving him a day off here or there might be beneficial.”

The Dodgers don’t believe an IL stint is necessary. Instead, Roberts is working in frequent off days. That’s rare for Freeman, who hasn’t played in fewer than 147 games in any season as a Dodger. Freeman had a scheduled day off over the Dodgers’ previous nine-game homestand and also served as the designated hitter twice in that span. He wasn’t in the lineup in the last game of the homestand on Wednesday, and following a team travel day, he also sat out Friday’s game.

[Emphasis added.]

Freeman insists he feels fine.

Freeman hitting into two double plays and having a key miscue that contributed to the season and series loss to the Miami Marlins seems to indicate otherwise. It’s worth noting that Freeman hit another tailor-made ground ball to second on a pitcher’s pitch in his final at-bat that likely would have turned into another double play had Mookie Betts not doubled earlier in the frame.

At least, Roberts isn’t buying Freeman’s diagnosis.

“Just talking to him today, he said he felt good,” Roberts said. “Obviously, the swings don’t indicate that, don’t validate that. On the defense, he’s obviously not moving as well as he’s used to.

“I think that he’s doing anything and everything he can to prepare. But yeah, the last week, it’s pretty obvious that he’s not himself in the box.”

Freeman won’t be in Monday’s starting lineup, Roberts said, but should play Tuesday…

[Emphasis added.]

Much like the sense one had when watching the Americanized remake of the original 1954 classic Gojira, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, one would expect a sense of deja vu right now, even with character actor Raymond Burr long dead.

Japanese Original, American Remake

I am typically not one to mince words, and I shall not do so here. Along with Dustin Nosler of Dodgers Digest, I was dead on the money regarding the Dodgers’ malpractice in not acting decisively on Ohtani and his reluctance to admit injury in the face of personal dogma of success.

I argued that the Dodgers had bungled spectacularly, and events worked themselves out to prove my initial hypothesis correct on all fronts. Now the team has backed itself into a corner regarding Ohtani.

Contrary to what some might think, I did not enjoy being right. Frankly, I am correct often enough that I do not need the constant validation, unless it comes from either the Dodgers broadcast team or national media. (In which case, gimme.)

On September 11, Katie Woo of The Athleticwrote an op-ed recently that pulled few punches:

Nobody is blameless in the Shohei Ohtani injury saga. Not the Los Angeles Dodgers’ front office, which should have been more proactive in protecting the team’s biggest star. Not Ohtani, who downplayed the severity of his symptoms. And while hindsight is always 20-20, there were warning signs throughout the last few weeks that suggested a stint on the injured list was the safest course of action if the organization wanted to give its prized star the best possible chance at healing in time to begin the Dodgers’ quest to win three straight World Series.

As the Dodgers prepare to be without Ohtani until Sept. 23 at the earliest, their biggest concern has become a reality. When Ohtani — who is expected to be placed on the injured list on Friday — does return, there is no guarantee he’ll be in optimal condition for the postseason.

[Emphasis added.]

Um, excuse me? To quote one of the finest bits of media from the 2010s, I get to channel Chris Taylor for once and declare the following:

I know, Ms. Woo means nobody relevant, but words matter, and any excuse for referential comedy is a good one.

“I think that if it were a postseason game tomorrow, (Ohtani) would be in the lineup,” manager Dave Roberts said Wednesday afternoon, hours before announcing Ohtani would be placed on the IL. “I think that now you’re talking about two weeks, 14 days. I feel that that’s substantial. He’ll be in a much better place than he was today. Is it going to be to 100 percent? Probably not. But I do think that with this time that we’re taking now he’ll be in an adequate spot to finish the season.”

Adequate is a far cry from healthy. It is fair to question how Ohtani was handled in the second half. Should he have attempted a pitching comeback, knowing his physical health was limited? Should the Dodgers have stopped that push sooner, or placed him on the injured list earlier? In their first season of managing Ohtani as a full-season two-way player, there was always going to be some trial and error. That was acknowledged from the start of the season by both Roberts and president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. And in fairness, there was a cognizant effort to keep Ohtani as rested as possible, including a season-long six-man rotation and an attempt to maneuver Ohtani’s starts to line up on games prior to a team off day, when possible.

Hindsight is generally 20/20. I am sure if the Dodgers were armed with foreknowledge in a do-over, they would not have Ohtani’s best pitching starts of the year be in Houston and San Francisco … in May.

At the risk of retreading previously covered ground, we shall conclude this portion with Roberts’ regret, especially considering that Ohtani tweaked his arm in his last played game and did not immediately tell anyone about it:

Looking back, it is something Roberts wish happened a week ago.

“I think if we look right now, here today, I would love to go back and put him on the IL,” the manager said. “But I did feel at that moment in time, we all felt that giving him four days was sufficient. He was agreeable. Getting him out there on Monday with the hope that he would be able to play tonight. But where we’re at right now, sure.”

The Dodgers should have followed their own advice or learned from their handling of Ohtani to send Freeman back to Los Angeles for ten days before arriving in Cincinnati.

They didn’t.

The Dodgers have calculated that whatever value Freeman can generate in the waning days of the season is greater than the potential benefit of having Freeman recuperate for ten days, having three days against the already-eliminated San Francisco Giants to use as a tune-up. Hence, the title of this essay: the Freeman Gambit.

Yesterday’s game showed promise, even with a couple of moments that made one grimace. Freeman talked about how his three-hit performance likely ensured he would play on September 16.

Fabian Ardaya of The Athleticreported Roberts’ comments on the health issues of players like Ohtani, Freeman, and Edgardo Henriquez after the Dodgers clinched their fourteenth consecutive postseason appearance:

“I think right now it’s front of mind, it’s not great,” Roberts said. “But I will say this: Once you get to October, athletes have a magical way of feeling better. It happens every single year, where there’s that extra adrenaline that athletes get when you get to the postseason.”

The Dodgers still boast what is likely baseball’s most talented roster and an established track record of postseason success that might be enough to make history. That was the heart of Roberts’ toast: that the Dodgers have not yet played their best baseball.

They still can.

“We just haven’t really gotten everyone all synced up at the same time,” Muncy said. “So it is a scary thought to think what we could possibly do if we did that. So hopefully that’s still ahead for us at the right time.”

Whether the Freeman Gambit pays off over the next two weeks before the upcoming postseason tournament is an open question. Gambits are risky, even when they work.

Just win, ok?

I hate weekday day games, but today it is ok. I kind of needed a day of letting the little aches and pains ease off. Most of the time I think I’m still 30, but occasionally

But it would make my aches feel better if we win.

GO JAYS GO

Wednesday afternoon’s game against the Cleveland Guardians might be the biggest one of the season for the Chicago White Sox.

The South Siders entered play on Wednesday just a half-game ahead of Cleveland in the AL Central standings, and with meeting representing the final game between the two teams this season, it was an opportunity for Chicago to put some distance between their rivals in the division.

It was also a chance for Tommy Pham to try and get back into the lineup.

Pham, acquired by the White Sox in a trade back on September 1 with the Philadelphia Phillies, has only appeared in a handful of games this entire season, and entered play without a hit to his credit all year. He was also placed on the 10-day injured list back on September 6, due to a left calf strain, after appearing in just one game for the White Sox.

But the veteran outfielder bumped into White Sox general manager Chris Getz in the elevator on Tuesday night and made his pitch, telling Getz he was ready to play:

As luck, or the baseball gods, would have it, Pham came to the plate with a pair of runners on for the White Sox in the top of the fifth inning, with two outs. Chicago trailed 2-0.

But with one swing of the bat, it was 3-2:

That’s right. Hours after convincing his general manager that he was ready to play, Pham recorded his first MLB hit of the season, a go-ahead three-run shot for the White Sox in perhaps their biggest game of the season.

So there is a lesson here, friends. You are your own best advocate. Speak up for yourself. Make that elevator pitch.

Even if it is a literal elevator pitch, like Pham did.

It has been a week filled with an odd sort of pride for the player development wing of the Cincinnati Reds organization. Whether they felt their seats getting warm, or not, we do not know, but this week revealed the news that team isn’t planning a major overhaul of baseball operations this winter despite another woeful season in just about every big league category.

All this as the prize of their process over the last half dozen years, Elly De La Cruz, soars while playing the best baseball of his still-young career.

Wear that one on your lapel, player development and scouting. This one you have earned.

The rest of the Reds offense, though, has flopped at an epic rate. Yesterday’s loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers means that in 4 of their last 6 games the Reds have either a) been shut out completely or b) Elly drove himself in for the team’s lone run scored. The players they’ve chose to deploy up and down the lineup outside of Elly, Sal Stewart, and the second half surges from Eugenio Suarez and Tyler Stephenson simply haven’t gotten the job done at all for most all of 2026, particularly of late.

Through that frustration came the news yesterday that the Baltimore Orioles were going to roll out a lineup featuring Rece Hinds at leadoff and Christian Encarnacion-Strand batting cleanup. You may recognize those names. You may also recall one Jose Barrero, who was added to Baltimore’s taxi squad on Tuesday after bashing 23 homers at the AAA level before Norfolk’s season came to a close.

CES wasted little time making sure folks noticed his day yesterday, homering off New York Mets lefty Sean Manaea in his first PA of the game.

For the season, CES is hitting .266/.317/.485 (.802 OPS) across 184 PA, his 9 homers and 10 doubles fueling a 125 OPS+. Those aren’t too dissimilar to the .270/.328/.477 (.805 OPS) marks he put up in 241 healthy PA with Cincinnati in his rookie year in 2023 before a wrist injury seriously screwed with his swing. On top of that, Baltimore is regularly leaning on him at 3B – not 1B – while the Reds have since thrown money at Jeimer Candelario, Ke’Bryan Hayes, and Eugenio Suarez to try to solve the hot corner since CES debuted.

(Is this where I mention the Reds rank dead last as a team in Defensive Runs Saved this season? That’s probably worth a totally different article altogether.)

Anyway, it has hardly been a rose-smelling season for the Orioles at 74-78, but one thing they’ve been able to pull out of this murk and mess is another promising young, controllable player cast aside by a different, impatient franchise. That’s precisely what teams who are trying to build themselves up on the cheap need to find, and in this instance the Reds gave one away for just about the most ridiculous reasons imagineable. For those who think JJ Bleday has ended up being ‘found money’ for Cincinnati this year, well, imagine if Bleday hit better and played a more premium defensive position, because that’s what the Reds gave away this year, too.

The Mets have placed Robert Stock -- initially Wednesday night's scheduled starter against the Orioles -- on the 15-day IL due to numbness in his fingers.

Xzavion Curry was called up to replace Stock on the roster, and will start Wednesday's game.

Additionally, Daniel Duarte was placed on the 15-day IL due to a hamstring strain, with Jefry Yan called up to replace him.

Duarte appeared to injure himself while covering home plate on a wild pitch in the 10th inning on Tuesday night, but remained in to finish the inning.

With the regular season ending on Sept. 27, Stock and Duarte will not return this year. 

Duarte stood out for the Mets after their trade deadline sell-off, posting a 2.12 ERA and 0.80 WHIP while striking out 30 batters in 29.2 innings, and will likely enter spring training next year as an option in what should be a revamped bullpen. 

The Atlanta Braves are inching closer to clinching the division with their magic number at five with their win last night against the Chicago Cubs.

It appears that the Braves will not catch the Dodgers for the second seed and first round bye, which is likely why the decision was made to bring up JR Ritchie to pitch this evening in the spot where Chris Sale was originally supposed to start to keep him rested. The last thing the Braves need right now is a fatigued or injured Chris Sale.

Ritchie has appeared in fourteen games so far this season to include eight starts. He pitched 58.0 innings of 4.50 ERA ball. This led to him getting sent back down in early August, but he has been fantastic in AAA as of late. Two starts ago for the Stripers he went 6.2 innings and amassed fifteen strikeouts to one walk. In his last start he went 6.0 innings where he struck out nine to one walk. He still struggles with the long ball, giving up three in his last two starts.

Of the eight starts at the MLB level Ritchie made this year, one of them was against the Cubs way back in May. It was arguably one of his best starts. He only went 4.1 innings, but he held the Cubs to two hits and one earned run, but he walked three.

It will be interesting to see how many innings he goes this evening because outside of his seven-inning debut, he never pitched more than 5.1 innings with three of his starts not even reaching 5.0. However, in the minors he has been working on longer starts pitching between 5.1 to 6.2 in his last four starts for the Stripers.

Since the Cubs have only faced Ritchie once in a short start, no player has more than two at-bats against him. The two players who were able to get a hit off him were Alex Bregman and Carson Kelly.

Shota Imanaga will be taking the mound for the Cubs and he is having a solid year. It has not been as great as his rookie campaign but is right on par with his performance last season in terms of ERA+ and FIP. He has pitched 162.1 innings and is on pace to pas his career high of 173.1 if he gets two more starts in. He holds an ERA of 3.88 and a WHIP of 1.121.

Imanaga had a rough first half in terms of ERA. Through his first thirteen starts his ERA was up to 4.74. Since then, he has settled down and carries an ERA of 3.13 over sixteen starts. He did pitch against the Braves and JR Ritchie in May where he gave up two earned runs on five hits over 7.0 innings. The Braves won that game 4-1.

Ozzie Albies leads the Braves in at-bats against Imanaga with twelve, and it is no surprise that he has been successful with a 1.334 OPS since Imanaga is a LHP. Matt Olson has eleven at-bats against Imanaga and carries a .455 average and 1.136 OPS in that span. Drake Baldwin has also been successful in six at-bats holding a 1.333 OPS to include a HR. The rest of the team has either not faced Imanaga before or has struggled.

Last night the Braves exposed that the Cubs’ bullpen has been one of the luckiest in MLB this season if we look at their ERA against their expected ERA (xERA). Their season xERA is in the bottom four in MLB, while their actual ERA is in the best twelve.

If the Braves can get to the bullpen early, that is where they can do the most damage. It seems that all season long, the bullpen is there the Braves make most of their offense happen in general, but against the Cubs, it is especially true.

First pitch is at 7:40 EDT.

Game Info

Game Time: Wednesday, September 16th, 7:40 pm EDT

Location: Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL

Watch: BravesVision

Radio/Audio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan

In 2025, the Cubs crossed the three million tickets sold line for the first time since 2019, and wound up with a paid attendance of 3,017,983, or 37,259 per date.

That included two “home” games at the Tokyo Dome which had paid attendance of 42,365 and 42,367, above Wrigley Field’s current capacity of 41,649. For the 79 dates at Wrigley Field in 2025, the Cubs sold 2,933,251 tickets, or 37,129 per date.

They won’t get to the three million mark this year, as with four dates remaining the paid attendance figure stands at 2,828,000, which is 172,000 short of that milestone. The Cubs would have to have paid attendance of 43,000 or more for the last four dates, which isn’t going to happen. They’ll probably wind up around 30,000 or so short of three million, so the average Wrigley crowd, which is currently 36,727, will also come up a little short of last year. The 2026 figures to date rank sixth in MLB in both total and average, behind the Dodgers, Yankees, Padres, Blue Jays and Phillies.

The team’s performance is going to wind up about the same this year compared to last, so what are the factors driving this small decrease?

In my view, it’s got to be the weather, which has been pretty awful all summer in Chicago — cooler than usual early in the season, then rainy for the last several weeks.

In 2025, the Cubs had 22 paid crowds at Wrigley of 40,000 or more, including two that crossed the 41,000 mark. This year there have been just 12 paid crowds of 40,000 or more at Wrigley Field, and the largest was 40,706, June 20 against the Blue Jays. (I think it’s pretty safe to say that none of the remaining four dates will have a paid attendance of 40,000 or more.)

Additionally, the Cubs had five weekdays in March and April this year with crowds of under 30,000. Last year they had four such dates — and if the schedule is played out as listed in 2027 (NARRATOR: “It probably won’t.”), there will again be five of those.

Of course, we all hope there will be more than just four dates remaining at Wrigley Field this year, and that the Cubs will at the very least host a Wild Card series at the end of September/beginning of October.

You can sign up for a Postseason ticket presale at this cubs.com link through 11:59 p.m. CT on Sunday, Sept. 20. Good luck!

As Pete Alonsoreturned to Citi Field as a visitor for the first time on Monday night, it was easy to predict the kind of adoration he would get from the fans pregame and before each of his times to the plate.

And looking around Citi Field just before first pitch hammered the above home, with most Mets fans -- many of whom wore Alonso jerseys -- on their feet and chanting for Alonso when he was introduced before the game and before his first time up.

But things took a bit of a turn during the game.

While there were loud "PETE ALONSO" chants, there were also "FIRE STEARNS" chants that were borne out of them, which shouldn't have come as a huge surprise since this was the first real chance fans had to clearly voice their displeasure in unison at the team's decision to not retain Alonso.

Something that was actually surprising happened in the top of the third inning, when boos rained down after young right-handerJonah Tong walked Alonso in what was his second time up.

Tong, whose outing that night was his best as a big leaguer, was overwhelmed a bit last season in his first taste of the majors after being called up out of necessity. So to hear boos directed at the Mets after he walked Alonso in that spot (with fans hoping for Alonso to instead smash his 300th career homer) was a bit unnerving. 

For the remainder of the game, the fans stood and chanted for Alonso (and against David Stearns) each time he came up, and many of them streamed toward the exits following the top of the eighth inning when Alonso struck out in his last at-bat. The Mets were trailing by just a run at the time, but those who left at that point seemingly decided to bolt because it was unlikely Alonso would be coming back up (and he did not, with Baltimore sealing its 2-1 win an inning later).

On Tuesday night, things took an even wilder turn.

Following another game where Alonso was showered with love and Stearns was the target of taunts, Alonso strolled to the plate with one out in the ninth inning with Kodai Sengaon the mound and the Mets leading, 3-2. On a 2-0 count, Senga's ghost fork caught too much plate at the bottom of the zone, and Alonso demolished it -- sending it well over the left field fence at 109.6 mph. 

The response from the Mets fans was thunderous, and didn't stop until Alonso took a curtain call, which was not lost on the Mets' players after the game.

"I’ve got nothing but respect for him and love him to death," Sean Manaea said. "But as a team, as the 2026 Mets, I know we have definitely underperformed. But the guys in here work their ass off every single day. And to have that kind of reaction to an opposing player, could be anybody, is crazy to me."

While Manaea was taken aback, Senga wasn't bothered -- at least outwardly.

"If it wasn't Pete Alonso -- there are other great hitters that are playing for the Mets and are playing elsewhere -- but because it is him, it didn't bother me," Senga said through a translator. "It just shows how much he was loved... how much he meant to this organization." 

Even though the reaction by the fans to Alonso's game-tying blast was rare, it wasn't without precedent.

On Aug. 9, 2006, Mike Piazza returned to Shea Stadium as a Padre for the first time since leaving as a free agent.

That night, Piazza blasted a solo homer off Pedro Martinez in the fourth inning, which cut New York's lead to 4-1. As they did on Tuesday night with Alonso, the fans asked for and received a curtain call from Piazza.

In the sixth inning, Piazza hit another solo shot to trim New York's advantage to 4-2. He was cheered again. But the feeling from most in the stands right after (I was in attendance) was that enough was enough. It was time to refocus on the current Mets, who won that game, 4-3.

The differences between the reaction to Piazza and the reaction to Alonso are myriad.

For one, the Mets' win over Piazza and the Padres that night improved their record to 68-44 as they continued to steamroll toward the NL East title.

Second, the writing was very much on the wall during the 2005 season that it would be Piazza's last in Queens. He had a career-low OPS that year as he played just 113 games, and was replaced behind the plate in 2006 by Paul Lo Duca, who was an All-Star that year.

Third and most importantly, there was no fan anger toward the front office or boos for the current team mixed in with the love that was showered on Piazza.

The only other return comparable to Alonso's and Piazza's was the first game back at Shea for franchise icon Tom Seaver after he was shockingly traded to the Reds in the "Midnight Massacre" deal in June of 1977.

On Aug. 21 of that season, Seaver came back and mowed down the Mets while tossing a complete game.

Since I wasn't born until the 80s, I can't speak to what the reaction was that day. But the video tells the story, and it's one of fans loudly saluting Seaver before the game and even cheering for him when he retired Mets players -- including Steve Henderson.

Getting back to the reception for Alonso and the vitriol that has been directed toward the front office the last couple of nights, what stands out the most is that it will be an unresolved situation after Alonso and the Orioles leave town.

The Mets will enter this offseason again looking to replace Alonso's production in the lineup, and it will be Stearns at the helm as they attempt to do it.

Lost in all of this is that aside from a few of Stearns' moves (including letting Alonso go while not adequately replacing his production and relying too much on Jorge Polanco and Luis Robert Jr.), most of the Mets' decision -making this past offseason was sound. Yes, not having Alonso has mattered, but their 2026 campaign was done in largely because of long-term injuries to irreplaceable players who had been the picture of health throughout their career (Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto) and a number of worst-case scenarios playing out.

But it's understandable why many fans remain angry, disillusioned, and laser focused on the absence of Alonso, who endeared himself to the city during his seven seasons in Queens.

The prediction here is that fans will get over this (if not necessarily forgive Stearns) if the team returns to the postseason in 2027. But there is a long way to go between now and then, and the wound is still fresh.

This morning, we asked whether the Red Sox were ready to give Romy Gonzalez another chance. From his point of view, he’s ready to go. After acknowledging that his initial rehab was rushed in an attempt to get back on the field, he now says “I’m ready whenever my name’s called… I’ve always been extremely confident in what I can do… I think I’ve showed that over the past two seasons.” (Christopher Smith, MassLive)

Speaking of rehabbing power-hitting infielders, what’s Curtis Mead up to?

I’m not sure “light” tee work at this stage is going to have him ready for the postseason in time, but you never know.

Unfortunately there’s one player who definitely won’t return from injury in time. Justin Slaten, who was initially on the IL with elbow inflammation, has been shut down for the season. Moreover, it looks like the issue might be more serious than initially thought. “There’s some degenerative changes in the flexor mass,” Chad Tracy said. “So that’s substantially different news.” He’ll receive a plasma injection to stimulate healing, and, unfortunately, this sounds like something that could require surgery eventually. (Hayden Bird, Boston.com)

Things are progressing for Garrett Crochet, though. He threw thirty pitches over two simulated innings yesterday. “Everything went well,” Chad Tracy said. “That was the most volume he’s had, so we’ll see over the next couple of days how he feels and go from there.” (Tim Healey, Boston Globe)

Hopefully Crochet can work his way back like Trevor Story, who is well aware that he has doubters amongst the Red Sox fanbase and media. “You see a lot of that stuff, but I really try to channel it into an energy in a way that I can use,” he said. “At the time, I wasn’t trying to pay much attention to it, but people would bring it to me, and I decided how I was going to look at it. I just tried to channel it into when I do come back, and it’s all about the playoffs, and it’s all about winning this thing at the end. That’s where I put my energy and focus.” (Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic)

If Crochet does return and returns strong, then maybe the Sox can prove this poll of 16 MLB executives — only three of whom called the Sox the “team to beat in the AL” — wrong. (Jesse Rogers, ESPN)

We have not had many of these this season, but yesterday was a great night for the Nationals bullpen. They tossed four scoreless innings, only allowing one hit and more importantly walking nobody. There were plenty of heroes last night, but Yovanny Cruz is the one I want to talk about today.

The flame throwing Cruz was the first man out of the bullpen last night. He gave the Nats 1.2 innings of fantastic work. It was by far the best version of Cruz that we have seen in DC. His stuff was nasty like it always is. However, he showed much more pose and strike-throwing. Cruz also unleashed a new weapon with his sinker.

In most of Cruz’s 8 outings as a National, he has struggled to get ahead of hitters and establish his fastball. While Yovanny Cruz throws 100 MPH, his 4-seam fastball shape and command are not very good. That makes the pitch play down from its high velocity.

In August, Cruz lost confidence in his heater. Things reached a boiling point in a blown save against the Mets where he threw 13 straight sliders to end the game. Shortly after that outing, Cruz was sent to Triple-A to fix some of his issues. So far, it seems like the demotion has been a blessing in disguise for Cruz. His fastball was 100 MPH, but it was simply a bad pitch.

Last night, Cruz was pounding the zone with his fastballs. The plural in fastballs is a big deal here. Before being sent down, Cruz only had one fastball, his 4-seam. The pitch had triple digit velocity, but that alone was not enough. With his 4-seamer getting natural run anyways, a sinker always felt like a natural fit.

In his last couple outings, Cruz has shown that sinker quite a bit. Last night he actually used it more than his 4-seam. It worked like a charm and gave Cruz a new weapon. Just like his 4-seamer, Cruz throws his sinker in the triple digits. However, his sinker has much more run. It bores in on right handed hitters. He used the pitch to get Alec Bohm to weakly ground out.

While the 4-seamer may remain in his arsenal, I think the sinker will become Cruz’s primary fastball as he gains comfort with the pitch. It suits the way he throws and he gets a lot of movement on the sinker. The pitch also compliments his slider very well.

Before getting demoted, Cruz only really trusted his slider. The 27 year old had good reason to trust the pitch too. It averages 91 MPH and has filthy downward movement. He locates it reasonably well and gets a lot of whiffs. That slider is truly a special pitch, but he also needed a fastball to compliment it.

In Rochester, finding confidence in his fastball was the mission. Not only did he add the sinker, but his fastball command has looked sharper as well. Cruz has not been afraid to challenge hitters in the zone with his heater. Before, there were a lot of non-competitive misses with his fastball, but that was not the case last night.

Cruz actually did not strike out any batters last night. Honestly, I think that is a good thing in some ways. He was on the attack and forced hitters to beat him. While they made contact, the Phillies did not make any good contact against Cruz. It was all ground balls and lazy fly outs. 

There were also not any walks, which is the most encouraging thing. In his first stint with the Nats, Cruz was very wild. He walked 6 batters in 5 innings during his August spell. Since coming back from Rochester, he has looked under control and relaxed.

Hopefully he can finish the year strong and take this success into next season. Cruz has all the stuff in the world, but he needed to fix a couple things. The early returns since coming back to the big leagues suggest he has made some tangible changes.

Not only does he have a new pitch, but Cruz also looks more confident and composed on the mound. If everything clicks for the flame-thrower, he can be a big piece in the Nats bullpen next season. For now, he remains a wild card, but at least he is back on track and improving.

It’s been a nice start to the week in the Yankees’ home-away-from-home. On Monday night, they clinched a postseason berth with a 7-3 win against the Twins. On Tuesday evening, they fielded the proverbial “hangover lineup” of sorts and still cruised to an 8-1 victory behind a strong start from Max Fried and plenty of strong performances at the plate.

On today’s getaway day game in Minneapolis, Carlos Rodón leads the Yankees’ effort for a sweep. His most recent start against the Mets was perhaps the best of his season, as he held down the crosstown rivals for one run in 6.1 innings—with eight strikeouts to just one walk. For Rodón, who has for various reasons not pitched deep into games as routinely as he did in 2025, a second straight start of six or more innings would be an excellent sign as he prepares for the postseason.

The Twins, now 4-9 in September, will look to young righty Zebby Matthews, who has turned in an uneven campaign on the hill this season. His past three starts have been illustrative of the step-forward-step-back tendency which has tormented many a young hurler. On August 30th, he twirled an absolute gem, pitching into the ninth inning against the rival White Sox with just one run allowed in a win. His next appearance, also against Chicago, was a far more pedestrian five-inning, four-run effort. Then last time out, he failed to escape the third inning in Detroit—walking four batters and surrendering five runs to hit the showers early.

While the Yankees rested a few of their starters for last night’s contest, including Aaron Judge, it didn’t prevent them from running up the score. Today, Judge returns to the lineup card, hitting third behind DH Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger, who led the way with three hits and a homer last night. Cleanup hitter Luis García Jr., Spencer Jones, and George Lombard Jr. will make up the middle of the order, with Ryan McMahon, Austin Wells, and second baseman Anthony Volpe (it’s still weird to say that) pulling up the rear.

How to watch

Location: Target Field, Minneapolis, MN

First pitch: 1:40 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, Twins.TV

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY), TIBN, The Wolf 102.9 FM, LosTwins.com (MIN)

Online stream: MLB.tv (out-of-market only), Gotham Sports App

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