Teruaki Sato, the 27-year-old star of the Hanshin Tigers in Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), has been posted to free agency, per multiple reports.
Sato won the NPB's MVP award last season, recording a triple crown with a .306 batting average, 39 homers, and 106 RBI.
The lefty slugger is a natural third baseman who also featured sparingly in both left field and right field in 2026 and has never played a game of professional baseball at first base.
However, it's been rumored that the Mets are among a few teams interested in signing Sato to play first base to solve their well-documented issues at that position.
All 30 MLB teams will have a 45-day window to negotiate with Sato. Additionally, once he signs to an MLB ballclub, the Hanshin Tigers will receive receive a to-be-determined “release fee” based on the value of Sato’s contract.
Sato joins SP/RP Kaima Tara, SP Hiromi Itoh, and 3B Roh Si-Hwan as international free agents who were posted by their respective teams in the NPB and KBO League (South Korea's professional baseball league).
Roh, just 25, is another intriguing option for both the Mets and Yankees to consider if they're seeking to boost their offensive production from a corner of their infield. In the last four KBO seasons he's spent with the Hanwha Eagles, has hit 116 homers in 538 games played.
In order for Roh to join an MLB team, however, that ballclub would need to match or exceed the $21.3 million annual value of his current contract with Hanwha.
Round 24 of voting was the last of 2023 (we did not do an actual wrap for the voting, but Jordan Sprinkle ended up being our final pick), and the full archive.
We are starting the Top 100 Prospect countdown on the same day as our first poll, with the goal of running a new poll every day. At that rate, we should get through 35 Votes before the Top 100 meets our polling, giving SSS readers 35 chances to weigh in on our Top 100. From there, we will stop the polling and run through the remaining players, finishing up as all players report to camp in mid-February.
As of now our countdown will start with Jarold Rosado as our Mr. 100 this year. We’ve customarily turned over the Prospect Vote to the next round as soon as the top vote-getter seems to have an insurmountable lead, but if there’s a rout, we’ll call it in a day. In order to get as many votes as possible in, we’ll try to wait no longer than two days before the next round.
For 2027, after the White Sox had a top overall pick for the first time in almost 50 years, our staff ballots were almost unanimous in picking one player as the top White Sox prospect. Do you agree?
Four players from last year’s Top 10 Prospects have lost their prospect status due to MLB service (Braden Montgomery at No. 1, Noah Schultz at No. 3, Hagen Smith at No. 4 and Sam Antonacci at No. 7). As an indication that there is some continuity in the system, four players on last year’s initial ballot appear in this year’s as well. With Mason Adams having been traded, that means just one player, Christian Oppor, performed poorly enough to drop off of our initial ballot.
Six of the 10 players on this first 2027 ballot played in the White Sox system in 2026, including two who made their major league debuts during the season. As to be expected drafting so early, we have four 2026 draft choices rounding out on the first ballot.
This year, the grandfather of our Top 100 is Tanner McDougal, marking his sixth year on our list and having moved from No. 21 to 22, 26, 63 and 6 so far. If all goes well, it will be his last, as he’ll see significant MLB time.
All right, let’s have some fun. And get voting!
What presumably would be a cakewalk for No. 1 overall draft pick Roch Cholowsky took a quick turn, as immediately Caleb Bonemer built an insurmountable edge in the voting. While eight of our nine votes on the masthead opted for Cholowsky, you have all dealt that preference a firm rebuttal, awarding him 46 of 65 votes (71%):
Bonemer was our No. 2-voted prospect in 2026, and came in at No. 26 in 2025, his first year on the ballot.
A year ago, our top-voted prospect was Braden Montgomery, and given his early promotion in 2026 that Vote turned out to be prescient. In 2025, Brooks Baldwin won in a massive upset, drawing 37% of the vote. In 2024, Colson Montgomery took the crown. In 2023, Oscar Colás was the winner. In the 2022 vote, it was Norge Vera in the top spot. In 2021, Andrew Vaughn was our top pick. Luis Robert Jr. took the honors in our initial 2020 vote.
After calling it early, resurgent infielder Javier Mogollón is the first player to join the ballot. Bring on Round 2!
South Side Sox Top-Voted White Sox Prospects for 2027
William Bergolla Jr. Shortstop Age 22 2026 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 15 2026 high level Charlotte (AAA) Age relative to high level -5.1 years Overall 2026 stats (ACL/AAA) 11 games ▪️ 0 HR ▪️ 9 RBI ▪️ .444/.524/.556 ▪️ 2-of-4 (50.0%) SB ▪️ 5 BB ▪️ 4 K ▪️ 1.000 FLD%▪️ 0.6 WAR
The epitome of a “Chris Getz player,” Bergolla offsets his Punch-and-Judy bat with deft baserunning, a killer glove and incredible plate discipline. Well young for his level, this legacy player (dad, also William Bergolla) has cut through the White Sox system like butter since his acquisition at the 2024 trade deadline (from Philly, for Tanner Banks). After getting some heavy run in Spring Training 2026, Bergolla was on the fast track to Chicago before a collision with left fielder Sam Antonacci in an April game for the Knights gave him a serious bone bruise in his leg; after a lengthy stint on the IL, Bergolla broke his injured leg in his first rehab game in the ACL.
Billy Carlson Shortstop Age 20 2026 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 7 2026 high level Kannapolis (Low-A) Age relative to high level -1.3 years Overall 2026 stats (ACL/Low-A) 60 games ▪️ 0 HR ▪️ 21 RBI ▪️ .252/.380/.335 ▪️ 14-of-16 (87.5%) SB ▪️ 41 BB ▪️ 59 K ▪️ .976 FLD%▪️ 1.5 WAR
It was a star-crossed pro debut for the 2025 first-rounder, who broke his left thumb in May and was later shut down for the season with a skin infection on his left leg. Let’s hope Carlson can get right for 2027, as the crush of blue-chip shortstops in the system (led by, of course, 2026’s overall No. 1 pick, Roch Cholowsky) could end up drowning him. Positives? Honestly, in his cameos at the plate Carlson flashed more pop to the gaps and on-base ability than expected.
Roch Cholowsky Shortstop Age 21 2026 high level Winston-Salem (High-A) Age relative to high level -1.0 years Overall 2026 stats (NCAA) 60 games ▪️ 21 HR ▪️ 60 RBI ▪️ .320/.452/.636 ▪️ 36 BB ▪️ 36 K ▪️ 3.2 WAR
The first overall No. 1 pick for the White Sox in almost 50 years saw his debut at Winston-Salem cut short, to just nine games, by right wrist tendinitis and soreness. The White Sox shut him down on August 22, which is somewhat of a setback for a player regarded as “majors-ready” out of the draft. A bit dismaying was his sloppy defense (five errors in those nine games), betraying his rep as the obvious choice to man short once he makes it to the South Side.
Jaden Fauske Center Fielder Age 20 2026 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 11 2026 high level Kannapolis (Low-A) Age relative to high level -1.3 years Overall 2026 stats 118 games ▪️ 4 HR ▪️ 48 RBI ▪️ .250/.388/.360 ▪️ 46-of-56 (82.1%) SB ▪️ 94 BB ▪️ 125 K ▪️ .948 FLD%▪️ 2.8 WAR
A year ago, we were not certain where Fauske would play, as a high school catcher announced at the draft as an outfielder-only. That proved to be the case in his first professional season, but what ho, Fauske saw more time in center than right field. And with quicks that saw Jaden snatch 46 bags in 118 games, the youngster might well stick in center.
Tanner McDougal Right-Handed Starting Pitcher Age 23 2024 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 33 2025 SSS Prospect Poll ranking N/R 2026 SSS Prospect Poll ranking 6 2026 high level Chicago (MLB) Age relative to high level -6.2 years Overall 2026 stats (High-A/AAA/MLB) 2-3 ▪️ 27 games (7 starts, 3 finishes) ▪️ 50 IP ▪️ 4.86 ERA ▪️ 53 K ▪️ 34 BB ▪️ 1.480 WHIP ▪️0.2 WAR
The good news is that McDougal was enough of a core piece to be promoted to Chicago in the second half of 2026. The bad news … well, where to start. McDougal’s presumptive march to the South Side rotation was stopped dead early in the season, when he was sidelined for weeks with forearm tightness. While the injury was thankfully not severe enough to necessitate a second TJS, Tanner was a relief arm for the rest of the season and not a stable one at that. His brief cameo in Chicago saw him rack up one out along with three walks.
Javier Mogollón Second Baseman Age 21 2026 high level Winston-Salem (AA) Age relative to high level -2.0 years Overall 2026 stats (Low-A/High-A) 91 games ▪️ 14 HR ▪️ 57 RBI ▪️ .262/.368/.448 ▪️ 36-of-44 (81.8%) SB ▪️ 53 BB ▪️ 123 K ▪️ .965 FLD%▪️ 2.5 WAR
The diminutive (5´8´´, 160) infielder wowed in rookie ball and though his climb has slowed, Mogollón has steadily risen up our ranks, from No.62 in our 2024 Top 100 to the cusp of the Top 10 today. That said, he’s seen two straight seasons shortened by hamstring issues. At least in 2026, Mogollón was able to return before season’s end, providing a clutch bat coming that provided a .313/.389/.813 slash and eight RBIs en route to sweeping to a SALLY title.
Cole Prosek Third Baseman Age 19 2026 High Level Magnolia Heights (H.S.) Overall 2026 stats (H.S) 41 games ▪️ 18 HR ▪️ 79 RBI ▪️ .545/.678/1.177 ▪️ 62 R ▪️ 7 SB ▪️ 31 BB ▪️ 12 K
Coming to Chicago as a second-rounder, Prosek seems more highly-regarded by evaluators than the guy picked ahead of him by the White Sox, low first round choice Landon Thome. That’s a curious thing, but Prosek dominated his prep competition even more thoroughly than Thome. Plus, while the White Sox regard Prosek as a second baseman, his prep time was spent significantly at the hot corner, and he has experience behind the plate as well.
David Sandlin Right-Handed Starting Pitcher Age 26 2026 high level Chicago (MLB) Age relative to high level -4.2 years Overall 2026 stats (High-A/AAA/MLB) 7-2 ▪️ 24 games (22 starts) ▪️ 1 CG ▪️ 1 SHO ▪️ 109 2/3 IP ▪️ 3.36 ERA ▪️ 115 K ▪️ 48 BB ▪️ 1.231 WHIP ▪️ 1.8 WAR
Sandlin entered the season late to the White Sox organization after coming over from Boston as the “real piece” of the Jordan Hicks deal. And it didn’t end up mattering much that he was perhaps the No. 10 starter in the organization as the balls rolled out for play in March, because Sandlin was the sole reliable starting pitcher to be promoted throughout 2026, and his numbers were scalded a bit (-0.3 WAR) by being the reliever who had to wear it when Will Venable’s gaffe saw Noah Schultz prematurely pulled from a game back on August 7. As much hype as there will be to wedge Hagen Smith, Noah Schultz or Grant Taylor into the 2027 rotation, Sandlin should have the inside track for a spot.
Landon Thome Shortstop Age 19 2026 High Level Nazareth Academy (H.S.) Overall 2026 stats (H.S) 7 HR ▪️ 29 RBI ▪️ .545 AVG ▪️ 49-of-50 (98.0%) SB
How crazy is it to have two high school teammates (Thome and Jaden Fauske) on our first ballot of the voting year … or any ballot, ever? The White Sox were so hot to dip back into Nazareth’s roster that they dealt promising 2023 first-rounder Jacob Gonzalez to Pittsburgh to acquire the draft pick to snag him; clearly the club was not confident Thome would drop into the second round. Unlike his father, Hall-of-Famer and White Sox adviser Jim, Landon is better regarded for his speed and defense than his ability to put the ball over the fence. Slugging will come in time for junior, however.
Joey Volchko Right-handed starting pitcher Age 21 2026 high level University of Georgia (NCAA) Age relative to high level +0.1 years Overall 2026 stats 11-2 ▪️ 18 starts ▪️ 1 CG ▪️ 95 1/3 IP ▪️ 3.68 ERA ▪️ 119 K ▪️ 46 BB ▪️ 1.343 WHIP ▪️ 2.1 WAR
This big-armed righty can touch 100 mph with his fastball, but wildness concerns might have precipitated Volchko’s drop to the White Sox in the third round in spite of MLB ranking him as a second round (68th-best) talent. He’s a big-game pitcher who dragged the Bulldogs to their first College World Series win in 18 years with a complete-game effort over the University of Texas. There’s a chance Volchko ends up as a high-leverage bullpen arm, but he will get every chance to stick as a starter.
Adric at Oracle Park, 2026 | Michael Elizondo / True Blue LA
The 2026 season has come to a close with a flop that will likely only be remembered in Milwaukee. Locally, the 2026 NLCS will be seen as the end of an era, as cracks papered over for a couple of years finally burst open in a way that probably felt cathartic by proxy in Toronto and the Bronx.
Today is not a day for that postmortem examination of what went wrong. Today we don’t cry that it’s over; we smile because it happened at all. No one is guaranteed a tomorrow, but one can look and wonder at the joys of yesterday. Although it never hurts to laugh at ourselves.
Mild spoilers for Lanterns, but I was trying something new from a bit of the show that made me chuckle.
On the anniversary of arguably the greatest game ever played, we return to that fateful night through the penultimate game of the regular season, when my mother wanted to visit Oracle Park for the first time.
By Timely Ferry
As someone who has lived in this part of the Bay Area for almost two years, after a year-long sabbatical near Fresno, I admit I don’t take as much public transit as I used to. But one way to get to Oracle Park I had always wanted to try was by ferry. A dedicated game-service ferry arrives about an hour before game time and leaves exactly twenty minutes after the last pitch for about $30 round trip.
The selling point for this ferry is that it drops you off and returns from a port literally right by Oracle Park. There is regular service between Vallejo and San Francisco, but San Francisco’s ferry terminal is about a twenty-minute walk from Oracle Park.
As for ferries, I have been on two in my life: a slow ferry that went from Belfast to Glasgow and back for a day trip I took after my job at The Parades Commission was essentially completed, where I had haggis for the first time (I liked it). Did I get up to any Catherine Breillat-esque shenanigans on the brief crossing? No, as it was too brief a crossing.
Here, we have an hour-long ride where, if you arrive soon enough, you get a seat on calm water and the chance to buy snacks.
Guess how I know about the exactly twenty minutes part? Yeah, we missed the return trip. For future reference, for best results with the special Vallejo ferry service, either try to leave the ballpark early or sit in the bleachers. If you miss that special return ferry, you will need to get to the Ferry Terminal by local train or by walking the Embarcadero.
As for the game, Mom wanted to go because she knew of the impending lockout and wanted an excuse to come see me, and by extension, Oracle Park. For anyone keeping track besides me, she’s now at seven ballparks and hopes to go to Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore next year, assuming we get some semblance of a schedule.
She would have liked more time to explore the stadium, but we had fun seeing bits of San Francisco that she wouldn’t have seen otherwise. When I first moved to the Bay Area, I lived on Harrison St., about a ten-minute walk to Oracle Park. It’s funny how things go full circle sometimes.
My buddy from law school, Louie, joined us, and we had a good time. Louie was with me that very first game in Oakland back in 2021, which ended up starting this entire baseball adventure. Nowadays, we just go to a game in San Francisco when the Dodgers are in town.
One Year Out
One year ago today, arguably the greatest baseball game ever played was started. It didn’t finish until 1 am local time. I tried to soak in as much of the atmosphere as possible by getting to the ballpark three hours early after a nap.
For the first time, I have included the playlist I have created of the major moments I recorded from Game 7 of the 2025 World Series. It’s funny, considering how stressful this game was for everyone involved, I was generally calm throughout, determined to have a good time.
The kicker is that the only thing I feared last year was a result similar to Game 3 of the 2026 World Series: a game that snowballed into a laugher in a hurry. Whereas Tropicana Field was rocking with away fans, a shocking development I know, the thing that stands out at Rogers Centre that night was how quiet things got at the end.
Not “Tokyo Series quiet,” where you felt like you were committing a sin if you were talking to your seatmate, but the answer to a question: what does a domed stadium sound like when all the air gets let out?
One thought I had on the tarmac when I flew back to San Francisco the next day was: how could baseball top what I just witnessed? The short answer: it couldn’t. My adventures in 2026 were personally memorable, but unlike other years, the memory of a game from a different season took up all my mental bandwidth.
If pressed, the Yamamoto almost no-hitter stands out, as does the first game after the All-Star Break: the duel between Roki Sasaki and Gerrit Cole in New York. Unlike other years, this season melded good and bad, and it carried its own weight.
Game 7 feels like yesterday and years ago at the same time. Nothing has measured up since, and that’s okay because generally nothing could measure up like that. Yamamoto throwing a perfect game would have been an interesting discussion, but Mookie Betts and Tristan Peters made that point moot.
No nightmare trip where everything went wrong, and no blissful romp where everything went right. There are worse ways to describe a campaign. I get the temptation to try and cling to this moment, but all things must pass.
What’s Next
With the upcoming MLB lockout and the completion of my first complete trip around the MLB circuit, starting in 2021, the most frequent question I get is what’s next. The short answer is wait and see, but I think I have come up with something interesting for 2027. Regardless, my travels will be limited to what I have in mind and my annual trip with Mom, hopefully to Baltimore.
On a programming note, I usually publish my annual update of On the Road with Eli (zondo) and Adric around the start of the year, which serves as the omnibus update containing all the Guide entries in one place. Generally, we publish a new entry when the Dodgers return to a place I have been.
So far, we have 26 MLB entries, plus an extra entry for Sutter Health Park.
In a normal year, one would expect two entries: Philadelphia and Arlington (first visit since I went in 2025). But with the pending lockout, I am going to tweak the formula, and I need your help. Four entries remain to finish the Guide: Arlington, Houston, Philadelphia, and the Bronx.
For the next 30 days, please vote in the comments for which of the four remaining cities you want to see next. The city with the most votes on December 1 will be the next entry, most likely out by Christmas; then we’ll release another entry every three to four weeks, starting with the second-most votes, until we finish. The goal is to publish the final ranking once baseball returns.
Please leave your votes in the comments. As always, thank you for coming along virtually with me on my travels in 2026.
TUCSON, ARIZONA - OCTOBER 10: Jarlin Susana #91 of the Washington Nationals pitches during a game between the Salt River Rafters and the Scottsdale Scorpions at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium on Saturday, October 10, 2026 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Arizona Fall League gives minor league players another chance to hone their craft against top competition, with all 30 clubs sending prospects and those players split into 6 teams. Last year’s AFL standout for the Nationals was Seaver King, who posted a 1.030 OPS in 79 plate appearances, foreshadowing a huge breakout in 2026. The Arizona Fall League is also where King credits current Tigers shortstop Kevin McGonigle for helping him simplify his approach at the plate.
This year, the Nationals have 9 players who have been participating in the Arizona Fall League as part of the Salt River Rafters. I want to take a look at 3 of these players and why their current performances in the AFL are worth paying attention to:
RHP Jarlin Susana
The hot ticket prospect for the Nats in the AFL, Susana has been lighting up the radar gun as he often does for the River Rafters, touching 102 MPH consistently. In 16 innings so far, Susana has posted a 4.50 ERA, not the best by any means, but the underlying metrics all support Susana being one of the toughest pitchers to face in the minor leagues.
Jarlin Susana is putting in WORK in the Arizona Fall League ☀️ 🌵
The Nationals righthander (BA's No. 51 prospect) has eight strikeouts and one earned run allowed through 5.2 IP so far this fall.
Additionally, the 103.8 mph fastball Susana threw in his first AFL start was the… pic.twitter.com/mNlC7MnEUB
Susana’s Stuff+ of 113.7 is the 3rd best among all AFL pitchers, and the best of all pitchers with at least 25 hitters faced. His swing-and-miss stuff looks as sharp as ever as well, with his 30% whiff rate and 36.4% chase rate ranking near the top among all AFL pitchers. His command hasn’t been an issue either, with his 12.5% walk rate being above average among all AFL arms.
Susana has gotten into trouble when hitters make contact, with a rough 45.5% hard-hit rate currently, but his stuff is so good he makes it hard for hitters to hit the ball how they want to, as shown by Susana’s barrel rate of 0% currently in the AFL (barrel rate considers both how hard the ball was hit and the launch angle of the hit, for reference). If Susana pitches like this at Triple-A to begin 2027, he’ll find himself in the big leagues rather quickly.
C Kevin Bazzell
The Nats’ third-round pick in 2024, Bazzell had a rough 2025 campaign, posting an 87 wRC+ in 84 games at Low A, but 2026 was a nice rebound for the backstop from Texas Tech, as he posted a 125 wRC+ in 66 games across High A and Double A. Bazzell has now picked up in the AFL right where he left off during the season, as he has a 1.078 OPS in 45 plate appearances for the River Rafters.
Power has never been the strongest part of Bazzell’s game, but it’s been showing up some in the AFL, with a .181 ISO and .545 SLG. Bazzell’s calling card is his on-base ability, and he’s shown why so far in the AFL, as he currently has a .364 AVG and .533 OBP. The 23-year-old catcher will likely open next season at Double-A, and has a chance to be knocking on the door of the big leagues by year’s end if he can continue to hit as he has in 2026.
OF Teo Banks
The Nat’s 18th-round pick in the 2024 draft out of Tulane, Banks hasn’t shown much so far in his minor league career, with a 29 wRC+ in 65 games in 2025 and a 90 wRC+ in 92 games at High A in 2026, but he’s shown up big time so far in the AFL, with a 1.064 OPS in 71 plate appearances.
Banks makes a deposit 💸 @nationals prospect Teo Banks hits his fourth home run, a two run shot to make it a 10 run lead! Banks hit six in 92 games in 2026. pic.twitter.com/LaN2J9q5tL
Banks’ struggles often stem from his plate approach, as he currently has a 30.9% chase rate in the AFL, but all his other tools are looking sharp, with a 16.1% whiff rate and an 88.1 MPH average exit velocity. When Banks is able to keep the swing-and-miss in check, his raw power allows him to do damage, and he’s doing that so far in the AFL for the River Rafters. 2027 will be a critical year for Banks to prove he can hit professional pitching consistently, and his performance so far in the AFL is encouraging
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - MAY 19: Ketel Marte #4 of the Arizona Diamondbacks celebrates with teammates after hitting a walk off three-run home run against the San Francisco Giants during the ninth inning of the MLB game at Chase Field on May 19, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Kelsey Grant/Arizona Diamondbacks/Getty Images) | Getty Images
As promised on Wednesday, the SnakePit Awards get under way today, beginning with the Play of the Year. This is always fun to put together, because I basically get to spent a couple of days assembling highlight reels. However, there are bound to be examples which escaped my attention, and that’s why we have this pre-ballot thread. As well as filtering down the nominees, it’s also your chance to make a pitch (pun, for once, not intended!) for any candidates which may have escaped my attention. Typically, we will have five nominees, and these usually include one home-run, two infield plays, and two outfield plays. But I am prepared to hear arguments to the contrary! Here’s how this will work.
Go to the comments section.
If your choice is already mentioned there, give it a “rec”.
If your choice is NOT mentioned, copy paste the FULL description, and leave that as a new comment.
If it’s not listed, I’d recommend posting a link to a video. The MLB Video Search tool will be very helpful: here are 186 plays for your consideration!
Duplicate nominations will get deleted.
Mid-week, I’ll tally up the recs, and use those as a guide towards a list of five or so nominees.
Home-runs
Ketel Marte walks off the Giants – May 19
Ketel Marte blasts one 452 ft. At night. In San Francisco – May 26
Geraldo Perdomo gets an inside the parker – July 19
Ryan Waldschmidt walks off the Dodgers – August 7
Ryan Waldschmidt walks off the Cubs (WP +85.5%) – August 25
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. throws out Myles Straw at second – April 18 [for some reason, MLB wouldn’t let me include this one in the reel below – you can see it here]
Tim Tawa’s incredible backhanded running catch – May 1
Tommy Troy robs Jacob Young of extra bases – June 6
Jordan Lawlar makes a stellar play in center – June 12
Lourdes Gurriel Jr.’s home run robbery – July 3
Ryan Waldschmidt’s great leaping catch – July 27
Corbin Carroll ROBS a home run! – August 7
Ryan Waldschmidt’s rolling grab in the 4th – August 14
Lars Nootbaar’s leaping catch at the wall – August 19
The left-handed workhorse made his major-league debut with the Mets in 1967 and was an All-Star the following year and in 1969 as the "Miracle Mets" defeated the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles in the World Series.
"Kooz" played 12 seasons with the Mets before he was traded to the Minnesota Twins in a deal that sent 22-year-old reliever Jesse Orosco to New York. Koosman later pitched for the Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies before ending his career after the 1985 season at age 42.
We are saddened to share the news that Jerry Koosman has passed away. We send our thoughts and prayers to his family. pic.twitter.com/8zriJmxCBe
Over 19 seasons in the majors, Koosman posted a record of 222-209 with a 3.36 ERA and 2,556 strikeouts in 3,839⅓ innings.
In the postseason, he won both of his starts in the 1969 World Series against the Orioles − going 8⅔ innings in Game 2 and throwing a complete game in the clinching Game 5.
He also went 2-0 as the Mets returned to the World Series in 1973, winning Games 2 and 5 again. However, it came in a losing effort as the Mets were defeated by the Oakland A's.
He is still the winningest left-hander in Mets franchise history. He is a member of the team's Hall of Fame and had his jersey retired in 2021.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The AL champion Tampa Bay Rays exercised their $20 million option Saturday on ace pitcher Drew Rasmussen.
Tampa Bay picked up the 2027 club option on Rasmussen’s contract rather than pay him a $500,000 buyout. The two-time All-Star can become a free agent after next season.
Rasmussen earned a $5.5 million salary this year as part of an $8.5 million, two-year deal he and the Rays agreed to in January 2025 to avoid arbitration. But the 2027 option price increased from $8 million to $20 million because Rasmussen remained healthy throughout the 2026 season and made at least 28 starts, making the contract worth $28 million over three seasons.
The 31-year-old Rasmussen went 16-5 with a 2.67 ERA in 30 starts during the regular season, helping the Rays to an AL East title. He was 2-1 with a 2.20 ERA in five postseason starts as Tampa Bay won its third pennant.
Rasmussen started Game 5 of the World Series against Milwaukee on three days’ rest and left trailing 1-0 after pitching four innings. He took the loss as the Brewers won 4-1 to clinch their first championship.
In his first playoff start this year, Rasmussen took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the New York Yankees and struck out 10 on the way to a 1-0 victory in the Division Series opener.
Rasmussen threw a career-high 172 innings this season and 28 2/3 more in the postseason. He has had three major elbow operations in his career, including Tommy John surgeries in 2016 and 2017 and an internal brace procedure in 2023.
He is 46-22 with a 2.83 ERA in 160 major league games, including 111 starts, over seven seasons with Milwaukee and Tampa Bay.
On Friday, the Rays declined mutual options on starting pitcher Nick Martinez and outfielder Cedric Mullins.
BALTIMORE (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles declined outfielder Luis Robert Jr.'s $20 million club option for 2027.
The Orioles claimed Robert off waivers from the New York Mets on Aug. 31, assuming an obligation of roughly $4.9 million from the Mets — the remainder of this year’s salary plus a $2 million buyout of the 2027 option. The Chicago White Sox had picked up his $20 million option for 2026 before trading him to the Mets last offseason.
Robert played only three games for the Orioles before landing on the injured list because of hamstring issues. He’s struggled to regain the form he showed when he was an All-Star in 2023.
This year, Robert hit .221 with 11 home runs and 26 RBIs in 61 games.
Baltimore also announced Saturday that right-hander Albert Suárez and infielder José Barrero cleared waivers and elected free agency, right-hander Codi Heuer accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk, and right-hander Colin Selby was also assigned to Norfolk.
Jerry Koosman, long regarded as the greatest left-handed pitcher in Mets history, died Sunday after a long illness, the team announced. He was 83.
The complement to Tom Seaver in a rotation that carried the “Miracle Mets” to an improbable World Series title in 1969, Koosman posted a 140-137 record with a 3.09 ERA in his 12 seasons with the club.
Koosman’s No. 36 was retired by the Mets in 2021. Seaver and Dwight Gooden are the only other Mets pitchers with retired numbers.
Overall, Koosman – who also pitched for the Twins, White Sox and Phillies – went 222-209 with a 3.36 ERA in a major league career that spanned 19 seasons.
Former Mets player Jerry Koosman attends a pre-game ceremony to retire his number 36 at Citi Field on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021. Bill Kostroun/New York Post
After finishing second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting in 1968, the lefty helped cement his place in Mets history by going 17-9 with a 2.28 ERA for a team that shocked the baseball world, first by winning the NL East, and later by upsetting the Orioles in the World Series.
“We don’t have World Series rings without Jerry Koosman,” former outfielder Ron Swoboda told The Post on Sunday. “We had Seaver and Koosman, but if we didn’t have both of them, I don’t think we’re wearing World Series rings.”
Koosman’s “nastiness” was appreciated by teammates. Swoboda recounted a game against the Cubs late in the ’69 season in which Tommie Agee got knocked down by a pitch leading off the bottom of the first.
Mets starter Jerry Koosman pitches against the Orioles in Game 5 of the 1969 World Series. Getty Images
“Everybody looked at everybody else and said, ‘Watch this,’ ” Swoboda said. “And Koosman went out there and Ron Santo was leading off the top of the second and Santo got the best fastball Koosy could throw right at his earlobe and he spun around and somehow got his right arm in front of his face. It hit him on the forearm, and it sounded like he broke it. Santo screamed like a guy whose arm was just broken. Fortunately, it wasn’t, but the message was clear: knock this crap off or somebody gets hurt. And it did, it ended all that.”
Koosman started Games 2 and 5 of the World Series and was the winning pitcher in both. In Game 2, he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. He allowed one earned run over eight innings.
In Game 5 (the clincher at Shea Stadium) he pitched a complete game and allowed three earned runs in the 5-3 victory.
Jerry Koosman (l.) and Tom Seaver (r.) pour champagne on each other after the Mets win the 1969 NL East. Bettmann Archive
In two starts against the A’s in the 1973 World Series, he went 1-0 with a 3.12 ERA. The Mets lost the series in seven games.
Koosman stayed with the Mets until 1978, when the team – following Seaver’s trade to the Reds a year earlier – honored a request and traded him to the Twins.
Koosman served a six-month prison sentence for tax evasion in 2010. Koosman, who was charged with not paying up to $90,000 in federal taxes from 2002-04, said he researched federal tax laws and concluded they applied only to federal workers, corporate employees and District of Columbia residents.
“I guess it’s a combination of being naive and not being able to understand law as I read it or was told,” he said.
"Humbly thankful that they thought that much of me to retire my number," he said before his ceremony five years ago. "I know I’m joining a great crew that's already had their numbers retired. I don't know that I deserve it, but I guess we're gonna get on with it."
Koosman's MLB career featured the Mets (1967-78), Minnesota Twins (1978-81), Chicago White Sox (1981-83) and Philadelphia Phillies (1983-84).
He was a two-time All-Star (1968-69) and key member of the Mets' 1969 World Series team alongside ace Tom Seaver .
"Jerry was so underrated because Seaver was there, too," Duffy Dyer, the former Mets catcher and Koosman's teammate from 1968-71, told SNY's Anthony McCarron in August 2021.
"His fastball had really good movement and he threw hard. I always thought he was tougher to catch because you didn't know how his fastball was going to move each time -- cut, sink or rise. It was such a great pitch."
"Seaver's wingman, Koosman -- whose No. 36 was retired in 2021 -- was a force in his own right during the 12 years he spent with the Mets from 1967 to 1978 -- posting a 3.09 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in over 2,500 innings," SNY's Danny Abriano wrote March 20.
"His most dominant stretch came from 1968 to 1971, and included tossing a complete game in Game 5 of the 1969 World Series as the Mets won their first title."
Koosman was born Dec. 23, 1942, in Appleton, Minn. He made his MLB debut April 14, 1967, with the Mets and last appeared in the bigs as a member of the Phillies Aug. 21, 1985.
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 15: José Caballero #72 reacts as Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees dumps water on him to celebrate Caballero's walk off two-run hit in the ninth inning of the game against the Los Angeles Angels at Yankee Stadium on April 15, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by New York Yankees/Getty Images) | Getty Images
We can all easily remember a bunch of big plays from the 2026 season that came at crucial moments, and either helped the Yankees win or cost them in a loss. However, there is another way to look back at some of those moments beyond just racking the brain to recall them.
Win Probability Added is a statistic that measures how every play in a game changes the statistical likelihood of a team winning. As we continue through our end-of-season obituaries on this most recent campaign, I wanted to see how our memories of the biggest plays match up with what WPA says were the most impactful ones. Here are two lists—one of the best plays and one of the worst—of the biggest WPA changes from the 2026 Yankees’ season.
Rosario ended up having a disappointing season considering all he was re-signed to do was be a platoon bat. However at the start of the year, it seemed like he could be that and more, and this was a major reason why. Having already homered on the day, Rosario stepped to the plate in the eighth with the Yankees down 3-2. Facing former Yankee Mark Leiter Jr., Rosario took a pitch into the second deck in left field, despite facing a pitcher opposite-handed from the ones he was supposed to crush.
For reasons I can’t entirely pinpoint, this ended up being the biggest play of the regular season according to Championship Win Probability Added, as it increased the Yankees’ World Series odds by 0.44 percent. However, I definifely understand how it changed this one game so much. Trailing the Nationals in the top of the ninth, Chisholm stepped to the plate with a runner on and one out against another former Yankee (albeit briefly), Matt Krook. He crushed one down the right-field line, as it stayed fair to give the Yankees a lead somewhat out of nowhere. Austin Wells chipped in with another homer later in the inning, as the Bombers hung on after that.
Having taken a 3-0 lead early, the Yankees had managed just three baserunners from the third through eighth innings, losing the lead to the Angels in the process. With familiar punching bag Jordan Romano on the bump for the Halos, however, they had a fighting chance. Chisholm singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth and Wells drew a walk. Both were then going when Caballero dropped a single into center field. The hit-and-run ended up being quite helpful. Chisholm probably would’ve scored anyway, but thanks to some nifty sliding, Wells managed to just beat the tag, flipping the score on one play and giving the Yankees a walk-off win.
As you might be able to tell from the rest of these lists, most of the big WPA swings come on events in the eighth, ninth, or extra innings. This one, however, cracked the list despite coming in the seventh. Ryan Weathers had been excellent on this day, keeping Baltimore off the board for six frames. He came back out for the seventh and got one out, but also gave up a single to Adley Rutschman and a walk to Tyler O’Neill. Aaron Boone then went to Brent Headrick. While the southpaw had a very good season, this happened on the third pitch he threw, eventually costing the Yankees the game.
Even good closers blow games on occasion. While he’s not at a Mariano Rivera level or anything, David Bednar has been very good for the Yankees in his 1.5 years in the Bronx. However, this was a day to forget. Holding a three-run lead, Bednar allowed two singles to the Mets in the bottom of the ninth, but then bounced back by getting the next two outs. At that point, Bednar just needed one thing not to happen, it’s just that said thing then did. The Yankees got the game to extras after that, but ended up losing in the 10th.
The biggest WPA swing in a game involving the Yankees was in fact one that went against them.
After a pitchers’ duel left the game 1-1 going into extra innings, the Yankees did the somewhat impossible and scored a run off Mason Miller in the top of the 10th. They had already used closer Bednar to get the game to extras to begin with and sent out the normally reliable Paul Blackburn for the bottom of the inning. Blackburn started the inning by winning a six-pitch battle over Xander Bogaerts. However, on the very next pitch he threw:
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JUNE 12: Spencer Strider #99 of the Atlanta Braves walks from the bullpen before the game against the New York Mets at Citi Field on June 12, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Steve Avery. Kris Medlen. Craig McMurtry. Brandon Beachy. Multiple generations of nascent Braves starting pitchers saw promising — and at times, dominating, big league careers — destroyed by injuries.
Is it too early to apply that same label to Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Spencer Strider? Maybe, but his 2026 added another season of validation to that narrative. Once one of the most electric arms in baseball, 2026 just further clouded Strider’s outlook and viability as a useful big league arm going forward.
How Acquired
The Braves drafted Strider in the fourth round of the 2020 draft out of Clemson University. After an amazing rookie season in which he started in the bullpen and helped the Braves overcome a slow start with four months of dominant starting pitching, the Braves signed him to a hefty $75 million, six-year extension that includes a club option for 2029.
What were the expectations?
After making his MLB debut the season after he was drafted, finishing second to teammate Michael Harris II in the 2022 National League Rookie of the Year vote, and then being selected as an All-Star and finishing fourth in the NL Cy Young Award in 2023, Strider missed most of the 2024 season due to an elbow injury.
After dealing with a hamstring issue, he returned to make 23 starts in 2025. That season was much more of a mixed bag despite Strider being healthy-ish enough to throw 125 1/3 innings: Strider put together a 106 ERA-, 111 FIP-, and 102 xFIP-, which are basically fourth starter numbers. More frustrating was that he had a dominant eight-start stretch from mid-June through late July where it looked like he had turned the proverbial corner and returned to his high standard of effectiveness (67/75/69), but then horribly regressed the rest of the way (130/131/123 over his last ten starts).
As a result, the expectations were variable, uncertain, and headache-inducing. The hope was that he’d go back to something resembling 2022-2023, or at least that eight-start summer stretch. The fear was that he’d look like the aggregate fourth starter he was in 2025, or worse. And, of course, the possibility of missing a bunch of time with another injury also loomed.
Preseason projections kind of split the difference in terms of a point estimate of average-y starter performance, but that was an average of a bunch of highly disparate and volatile outcomes.
2026 results
Strider was on pace to start the season in the team’s rotation, but an oblique issue landed him on the Injured List prior to the end of Spring Training. He was activated on May 3, but managed just a month and a half on the active roster before inflammation in his pitching elbow sent him to the shelf on June 13. Four days later, the Braves transferred him to the 60-day IL and the writing was pretty much on the wall, as Strider didn’t return.
This wasn’t a story of a promising return cut short by another injury. Rather, Strider largely struggled, with a 126 ERA-, 129 FIP-, and 104 xFIP-. Again, fourth starter numbers pitching-wise, with a finger pushing down on the scale given how homer-prone he ended up being across his eight starts and 39 innings.
By FIP, he had four good starts and four horrendous starts. By xFIP, he had three dominant starts, one meh outing, and really struggled to pitch well four times. Thanks to all the homers, he finished with just 0.1 fWAR.
What went right?
His strikeout rate went up a bit from 2025. A lot of people clamored for Strider to add more pitches to his arsenal; in 2026, he (perhaps, because he was forced to) threw his curve and changeup a combined 25 percent of the time, setting career highs in usage for both.
It’s hard to pick a highlight from his season. Perhaps it was his third of the year, where the Braves won 3-2 while Strider put up a 4/3 K/BB ratio in 5 1/3 innings — no Red Sox runs scored while he was in the game (though he was charged when an inherited runner scored). Perhaps it was his start against the Reds, where he flashed a great 8/2 K/BB ratio… though got BABIPed en route to getting saddled with a bunch of singleton runs (one in four of the five frames he pitched) and the Braves lost 6-4. Or, it was when he actually looked a bit like his old self with an 8/2 K/BB ratio in a six-inning scoreless effort in a blowout win over the Dodgers. Those were really the only highlights.
What went wrong?
Getting labelled as injury-prone isn’t something any player wants, but Strider’s past three seasons have been littered with arm, core and leg issues. In 2026, Strider saw his fastball velocity dip to basically 95 mph which was two ticks below his 2023 average. He struggled with walks and allowing home runs. He also failed to average five innings in his starts. His arm angle was three degrees below what he managed in 2023, though at least it was three degrees higher than in 2025. The pitching models rated his stuff as third- or fourth-starter quality. He struggled to miss bats, and to hit the zone. It was, in aggregate, kind of a mess.
Things all came to a head in his last start of the season, on June 12 against the Mets. He pitched three innings, gave up three homers, and the Braves were in a giant hole by the time he departed. It was more frustrating because after he gave up back-to-back homers to Bo Bichette and Juan Soto in the first, the Braves battled back to tie the game… only for Bichette to pop him for a grand slam in the next frame. It was an ignominious end to a poor season.
After Strider was lost for the season, the Braves attempted to make a Trade Deadline deal with the Texas Rangers for starting pitcher Jacob DeGrom, according to multiple reports. The prevailing rumor was that Strider would have been the package heading to Texas, or at least part of it. DeGrom voted the trade, thus Strider remained with the Braves. While we don’t know if the rumors are true or just reporters trying to connect nonexistent dots… to the extent they are, it suggests a substantial turnaround in how the Braves think about Strider, as well as Alex Anthopoulos’ prior stated commitment to not trading players that received long-term extensions. It’s a pretty disappointing state of affairs either way.
2027 outlook
As noted, Strider is inked through 2028 at $22 million per season, with a team option (also at $22 million) for 2029 (with a $5 million buyout). There are substantial questions about his future, both in terms of health and expected performance, that will be present whether the Braves have him in their 2027 plans, or decide to move on via a trade of some capacity.
A great as Strider was in 2022 and 2023, he’ll have started only 33 games across the last three seasons, with a disappointing 114/116/103 line in aggregate, whenever the 2027 regular season begins. Should he finally be able to pitch at the level he did earlier in his career, the Braves will have one less question about their rotation. But — and that is a but as massive as Strider’s quads — it is fair to question if his injury issues would allow him to be either durable or dominant, much less both.
There’s always the possibility he could transition to the bullpen, but given the financial commitment the team has in him and the starting rotation’s needs, that seems more like a last-gasp move versus an optimal one. It’s not like Strider has pitched so well recently that the issue is just leveraging his effectiveness in shorter stints, given that he hasn’t showcased much effectiveness.
Furthermore, given the team’s rumored willingness to include him in a trade, it is fair to wonder if Atlanta might try to use him and his salary in an attempt to improve elsewhere, given that Strider is only 28 years old and there is still the tantalizing potential that another organization might gamble on.
Unfortunately, this comparison of Strider and Medlen is one that seems more apt with each passing year.
Projections haven’t counted out Strider yet, given that 2026 was a relatively small sample. Still, he’s now slipping into below-average territory with a central estimate of being a shorter-stint starter over about 20 starts. Even that seems pretty optimistic given that he’s only managed 1.0 fWAR in his last 170 innings, but given how good he was, you can see how some deference is being paid to his earlier-career performance.
When I got this photo, it had the filename “1969wrigley.”
I knew with 100 percent certainty, even before beginning sleuthing, that this photo was not taken in 1969. How did I know that? Because the Astroturf tarp that covered up the empty center field bleachers and became a hitters background was installed in 1967, not to be removed until Tribune Co. bought the Cubs in 1981.
Okay, definitely not 1969. Let’s narrow things down, then. Here’s a larger version of the photo (tap or click to enlarge further):
It’s almost certainly a Sunday because there are no “NITE GAME” indications on the board. Could be a Saturday, as most games in that era on Saturdays were day games, but occasionally there were a few Saturday night games in other cities, so I began with the assumption that it’s Sunday.
The clock shows just before 1:30, but the game has already started. My Wrigley game time history article shows you that weekend games didn’t start before 1:30 until 1965.
All right, now we’ve got it narrowed down to 1965 or 1966. It’s the bottom of the first inning. The visiting team has a hit, but didn’t score in the top of the inning. There’s no one on base and nobody out, so the leadoff hitter is batting. That has to be Don Landrum (1965) or Adolfo Phillips (1966). I couldn’t quite read all of the board matchups, except that it was clear that the White Sox were in New York. So I sent the photo to Mike Bojanowski. Here’s what he sent me back:
Sox are definitely playing in NY, first inning complete, Yankees did score in the first. I think the Cubs’ opposition is the Braves. The Mets are in LA; St.Louis, KC, Detroit, Cleveland, are all at home, looks like Boston is at Washington, Baltimore at KC, Pittsburgh is a road team.
That narrowed it down. There was only one game that matched all of those in this time frame. It happened Sunday, May 29, 1966. The Cubs were hosting the Braves. Felipe Alou singled for Atlanta in the top of the first, the one hit shown on the board.
Adolfo Phillips is the batter for the Cubs. He has clearly just made a hit to left field; the baseball-reference play-by-play indicates that he doubled. So that’s what we’re looking at here. Phillips took third on a throwing error by Braves left fielder Rico Carty (who would play for the Cubs briefly in 1973). He scored on a ground out by Glenn Beckert. Phillips also scored in the seventh for the Cubs after being hit by a pitch, stealing second and going to third on a wild pitch. Another Beckert ground out made it 2-0.
Fergie Jenkins started this game for the Cubs. He had been acquired (along with Phillips) in that big trade with the Phillies just a few weeks earlier. Of note: This game was Jenkins’ first start as a Cub at Wrigley Field (he’d started against the Braves in Atlanta eight days earlier for his first start with the team). Atlanta scored its first run in the top of the eighth when Mack Jones stole home, and tied the game in the ninth on an inside-the-park home run by Eddie Mathews. Mathews had hit a ball down the line in right field, but Billy Williams, playing right that day, had thought it hit the wall on the fly and was foul. But first-base umpire Bob Engel called it fair, and by the time Billy caught up with it, Mathews had circled the bases.
The game went to extras and Ron Santo led off the bottom of the 10th with a walk-off home run — the second day in a row he’d done that. The Cubs won 3-2. The win improved the team’s record to… 12-27. They were, as you know, pretty bad that year (59-103).
So this was a game filled with interesting happenings. Just another little slice of Cubs history from 60 years ago.
1996: Pedro Martinez of the Montreal Expos pitches during a 1996 season game. Pedro Martinez played for the Montreal Expos from 1994-1997. (Photo by Jeff Carlick/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The biggest story of this offseason is the impending lockout. In exactly one month, the MLB collective bargaining agreement will expire and no deal between the owners and players is in sight. That means we are likely to get a work stoppage. The only question is how long will it last and how many games will be lost.
Major League Baseball has a long history of CBA disputes, and there was actually a World Series cancelled because of one. That was back in 1994, and that is exactly what we will talk about today. The 1994 work stoppage is a big reason why the Washington Nationals even exist in their current form.
All of baseball was hurt by the 1994 stoppage, but no team suffered more than the Expos. At the time of the August 11th stoppage, the Expos had the best record in baseball at 74-40. This was the Expos best shot at winning a championship in franchise history, and 1994 had been the year the team was building towards. Here is a great thread on the story of that 1994 season.
In 1994, it seemed that the stars were aligning for the Montreal Expos. They had the best record in baseball, and a World Series title was a real possibility. Then…it all ended with a players' strike. This is the story of the Expos 1994 season.
— Craig Baird – Canadian History Ehx (@CraigBaird) August 12, 2025
The roster was absolutely stacked with young talent. That team featured the likes of Pedro Martinez, Larry Walker, Marquis Grissom, Moises Alou and John Wetteland, who were all 27 years old or younger. As a smaller market club, they would not be able to hold on to all these players forever, but the mid-1990’s was setting up to be the golden age of Expos baseball.
However, the lockout killed all of Montreal’s momentum. There were no playoffs that season, which played a role in the Expos having a bit of a firesale. Larry Walker left as a free agent, while Grissom, Wetteland and key starting pitcher Ken Hill were all traded. In 1995, the Expos went 66-78, and the franchise never recovered. They never made the playoffs before moving to DC following the 2004 season.
It is a sad story, but it is also a big reason why the Nationals exist today. I am sure a team would have come to DC at some point, but who knows what that would have looked like if the Expos won the 1994 World Series. When you talk to players on that team, they are convinced they would have gotten over the top. This topic was discussed in the Who Killed the Montreal Expos documentary that came out on Netflix.
“They had the best chance of winning the World Series (in 1994).”
As we enter a work stoppage, that 1994 strike is a cautionary tale. The players and owners were actually fighting over a salary cap, just like they are going to do now. In that negotiation, neither side budged for months and it cost baseball dearly. At the end of the day, we did not get that salary cap. Hopefully this lockout can be worked through much quicker.
Baseball is in a much better spot than it was about 5 years ago. Rob Manfred is far from a perfect commissioner, but most of the rule changes he has implemented are working very well. The pitch clock was truly revolutionary in my opinion. It would be a huge blow to see all that progress wiped out due to a lockout.
Make no mistake, if the 2027 season is shortened in a serious way, or god forbid it is wiped out, the sport would suffer massively. It would hurt the smaller market teams the most as well. We saw that with the Expos in 1994.
Just over 10 years after their magical season was prematurely cut short, the franchise was playing its last ever games. Of course, this worked out very well for DC sports fans because it led to the Nats. However, there is still an element of tragedy involved as well.
Sept. 29, 2004: MLB team owners officially voted to move the #expos to Washington. The move sent shock waves throughout the baseball world. 31,000+ showed up for the last home game, about 20,000 on short notice. Tears flowed before, during and after the game. pic.twitter.com/37hS15iR4j
If there is a long term lockout, there are definitely franchises who could go down a similar death spiral. As we enter another CBA feud, the owners and players need to look at the history and see how painful this can be.
Even though the franchise did not exist in its current form, the 1994 work stoppage is a defining moment in Nationals history. It set the stage for the Expos moving to DC and becoming the Washington Nationals. At 11:59 PM on December 1st, the MLB CBA expires. This will be the story of the offseason, and as the years go by, we will see what the long term consequences of this clash will be.
ST. PETERSBURG, FL - OCTOBER 19: José Ramírez #11 of the Cleveland Guardians looks on during Game Six of the American League Championship Series between the Cleveland Guardians and the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on Monday, October 19, 2026 in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Hey, there isn’t really any baseball news going on right now but Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz start their trial tomorrow, so that’s fun.
Make sure to check out Matt Seese’s article and Jakhob Clady’s article and Jake Brahney’s article from yesterday..
