Category: Baseball

As the month of August was coming to a close, the Yankees added two veteran right-handed pitchers to help them survive the season’s final push: Michael Fulmer and John Schreiber. While we all can hope that Ryan Weathers, Clarke Schmidt, and Fernando Cruz can return, be effective, and give the ‘pen some much-needed depth before the October lights start to shine, I thought it would be a good time to examine what these two journeymen bring to the table.

Fulmer was once a trade rumor darling that Yankees fans heard plenty about. It might have taken years and a lot of lost shine, but as always, Brian Cashman eventually got his man. Fulmer began this season on a minor league contract with the San Francisco Giants after spending the 2025 season bouncing between three organizations while trying to return to form. The veteran missed all of the 2024 season after having UCL revision surgery, essentially Tommy John light, in October of 2023.

In 2026, Fulmer pitched well in Triple-A Sacramento for the Giants, posting a 2.98 ERA with 10 saves over 37 appearances. The team never gave him a call-up despite their struggles and released him in early August. Fulmer then signed with the Angels and tossed 3.2 scoreless innings across three relief appearances while striking out four. The Angels DFA’d Fulmer after getting a few players off the injured list, and he signed with the Yankees on August 26th. The Yankees are his seventh organization in the last two years alone.

The former Rookie of the Year is now working primarily with a cutter that sits at 89 mph. Fulmer attacks righties with a sweeper that comes in at 81-84 mph, tunnels well with his cutter, and has an elite spin rate exceeding 2,800 RPM. You might remember this pitch, as it was the one he used to freeze Yordan Alvarez for his very first strikeout in a Yankee uniform.

Righties have not been an issue for Fulmer, as they have an .501 OPS before play on Wednesday, but lefties have gotten the better of him, posting a 1.012 OPS. Most of that damage by lefties was the result of his four-seamer getting crushed. When going after lefties, Fulmer has used the cutter and is now using his changeup.

Never before a staple in his arsenal, Fulmer’s changeup is now averaging 14.9 inches of horizontal tailing action alongside 10.2 inches of vertical drop. It effectively falls off the table away from lefties. Fulmer’s changeup has an xBA of .074, and it appears to be a developing weapon for the veteran. With the Yankees, Fulmer has tossed 5.1 innings, giving up two earned runs while striking out six with a WHIP of 1.50.

Fulmer’s days of fireballing four-seam fastballs are over. However, this would not be the first time the Yankees picked up a player with an elite pitch metric and then allowed Matt Blake to craft sequences and tinker with usage rates to find success. After the journey he has had, it is easy to cheer for the guy.

Schreiber had a less dramatic pathway to pinstripes. After making 55 appearances for the Royals, the team decided to cut the veteran, free agent to be, in a mix of a cost-savings and see-what-we-got-elsewhere move by Kansas City. Schreiber is a nightmare for right-handed hitters due to a low or even, nine-degree arm angle. This true sidearm release point creates an incredibly unique visual approach and is like watching an old wooden rollercoaster whip around a corner.

In a much larger sample size against MLB hitters, Schreiber has faced 107 lefties and righties before play on Wednesday. Lefties have posted a .992 OPS, while righties have a .405 OPS. None of his pitches have elite profiles, and his underlying metrics are mostly what the kids would call, booty. However, he has gotten decent results, and though they might not be pretty or stuffing the cool new stats, he has a 3.42 ERA in 52.2 innings worked.

One super cool thing to note: Schreiber’s sinker moves 15 inches to the right, while his sweeper moves 15 inches to the left. These pitches look identical for the first 25 to 30 feet until they take off in one direction or the other. Schreiber’s best pitch this season has been his four-seamer, which has an xBA of .185. This pitch and its tunnel/movement compared to his sinker he also throws creates the illusion that the ball is “riding” over a hitter’s hands.

Since getting out of the Kansas City last-place heat, Schreiber has appeared in four games as a Yankee. In those three games, he has tossed 4.1 innings of hitless baseball with a WHIP of 0.46. I always like having a guy who is different coming out of the ‘pen, and I personally cannot imagine going from facing one of the Yankees’ big four starters to this guy in the same evening.

Here is to hoping these veteran journeymen can help the bullpen navigate the end of the season. They might not be the high-powered, high-strikeout arms many crave out of the ‘pen, but if they can get outs and pass the ball off cleanly, they’ll get the job done nicely.

Mariners 3, Rangers 2

• So, apparently, the Rangers don’t want to score runs for Cody Bradford.
• Bradford made his seventh start of the season in this game. He had his second straight outing where he only went four innings, which isn’t great.
• Bradford picked up the loss, and is now 0-5 on the year.
• Bradford’s first start in the majors since 2024 was a 4.1 inning outing in a 6-0 Rangers win.
• The Rangers have lost all six starts he has made since then.
• In those six starts, they have scored four runs twice, one run once, and been shutout once.
• One of the three runs Bradford gave up in this start was on an RBI single by Taylor Ward.
• Ward, you may recall, was acquired by the Baltimore Orioles from the Anaheim Angels in the offseason, in exchange for Grayson Rodriguez.
• Rodriguez, in case you are wondering, has put up a 6.28 ERA in 17 starts for the Angels this year.
• Anyway, Ward was dealt to the Mariners at the trade deadline by Baltimore.
• In 24 games for the Mariners, Ward has slashed .115/.216/.141.
• It was a trade deadline deal that didn’t really work out for Seattle.
• Ward has 5 RBIs in 24 games for Seattle, and 6 runs scored, and 9 hits.
• He had one of each in this game.
• Tyler Alexander and Trevor Williams and Robby Ahlstrom handled the final four innings,.
• I’ve seen more of Trevor Williams than I was hoping to since the Rangers signed him.
• Both Rangers runs came on solo homers, one by Jake Burger, one by Corey Seager. It would have been preferable for there to be a runner or two on base when one or both of those homers were hit, but twas not to be.
• Cleveland and Houston both lost, at least, meaning the Rangers didn’t lose any ground to the teams they are chasing in the division race and the Wild Card race, respectively.
• So that’s something.
• Cody Bradford hit 89.9 mph with his fastball, averaging 88.4 mph. Tyler Alexander touched 93.0 mph with his fastball. Trevor Williams’ fastball reached 91.5 mph. Robby Ahlstrom topped out at 96.6 mph with his sinker.
• Jake Burger had a 109.6 mph fly out and a 105.1 mph home run. Brandon Nimmo had a 106.5 mph single and a 104.5 mph single. Ezequiel Duran had a 105.6 mph groundout. Elias Diaz had a 102.0 mph fly out. Corey Seager had a 100.4 mph home run.
• Okay, everyone think really hard about a Rangers win in the finale. We are going to will them to victory.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are in the final stretch of their push to get to the end of the season, and while they are winning much more as of late, they have to do their best to stay ahead of the Atlanta Braves for the second seed in the NL as they are still dealing with injuries to key players.

Wednesday night’s game saw both Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman out of the Dodger lineup, with and Ohtani headed for the injured list. Jack Harris at the California Post has more.

The earliest Ohtani can return from the IL is September 23, with five games remaining in the regular season.

Meanwhile, Freeman is dealing with a knee issue, and the team is hoping that by giving Freeman the night off before an off day, he will be able to return to the lineup on Friday in Miami.

Bill Shakin of the L.A. Times writes about why the Dodgers need that first round bye, of course with their injuries being first and foremost, and that the team would benefit from giving their aging stars the most rest possible before their portion of the playoffs begin.

Sonja Chen of MLB.com further discusses Freeman’s sore knee and how the team don’t see an IL stint for him at the moment.

“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.”

As stated, the team will rest Freeman Wednesday, have an off day on Thursday, and will assess on Friday. He could also sit that first game of the Marlins series in Miami, but Dave Roberts said Freeman going on the IL is “absolutely not” a possibility.

1927
With a 11-1 loss in the nightcap of a doubleheader in Washington, the White Sox began a 12-game losing streak, which remains tied for the fifth-longest in franchise history. The South Siders came into the game at a respectable 65-68, but losing 15 of 20 to end the season dumped them down from 30 to 39 1⁄2 games off of the pace in the American League.

The last-season collapse also started a streak of nine straight losing seasons — by far the longest stretch in team history. The White Sox, in fact, had only suffered back-to-back losing seasons once in the first 29 years of team history.

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1930
Future Hall-of-Famer Luke Appling made his White Sox debut. It was the start of the legacy of great Sox shortstops, which would include Chico Carrasquel, Luis Aparicio and Ozzie Guillén. 

Appling went 1-for-4 in a 6-2 loss to the Red Sox. 

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1939
With a 5-1 loss to Detroit in the opener of a doublheader, White Sox hurler Johnny Rigney saw his 11-game winning streak snapped. The righthander hadn’t lost since June 30 (and in that, a complete game defeat yielding just one earned run), throwing 117 innings to a 1.92 ERA, 2.81 FIP, 1.051 WHIP and .198 opponents average. Ironically, the winning streak came on the heels of a five-game losing streak for Rigney.

For the season, Rigney had a 3.70 ERA (129 ERA+), 3.28 FIP, 1.335 WHIP, 4.5 WAR over 35 games/29 starts and finished 20th in AL MVP voting.

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1954
Paul Richards, one of the greatest managers in club history, resigned to accept a dual position of general and field manager for the Baltimore Orioles. Richards was the man credited with turning around the fortunes of the franchise in 1951 with his aggressive running/pitching/defense philosophy. White Sox pitcher Billy Pierce called Richards the smartest manager he ever had. Richards was also credited with turning around Nellie Fox, helping transform him into a very good hitter. 

Richards left because the White Sox were not willing to give him a multi-year contract extension or a raise, and because of personal disagreements he had with GM Frank Lane. Marty Marion, who had just retired after 13 years in St. Louis playing for the Cardinals and Browns, replaced Richards.

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1967
Coming off of two straight losses to the Tigers and in danger of falling out of the pennant race, Joe Horlen threw a 6-0 no-hitter in front of 23,625 fans at Comiskey Park.

White Sox second baseman Wayne Causey saved the no-hitter with a grab of a smash up the middle off the bat of Jerry Lumpe in the ninth inning. Causey’s throw just nipped Lumpe at the bag. Horlen hit a Tiger and another reached base on an error, but other than that he was perfect on the afternoon. Horlen got Dick McAuliffe on a ground ball to shortstop Ron Hansen for the final out of the 12th no-hitter in White Sox history.

Rookie Cisco Carlos then shut out Detroit, 4-0, in the second game, vaulting the Sox right back into pennant contention, just 1 1⁄2 games off of the lead. It was the last time in franchise history the White Sox threw doubleheader shutouts.

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1976
Nolan Ryan struck out 18 White Sox in a Angels 3-2 win at Comiskey Park. Chicago rallied to tie the game, 2-2, in the bottom of the sixth, after a walk to Jim Essian, a single by Jim Spencer and a two-run double from Jorge Orta. Two more walks (Ryan had nine in the game) loaded the bases with two outs, but Alan Bannister popped out to right field to end the threat. California came right back during their next bats to take the lead, on a run-scoring double.

Ryan finished strong, striking out the final five White Sox batters he saw in the game, but only after loading the bases again in the eighth inning.

Also, it was on this day the White Sox activated 52-year-old Minnie Miñoso, making him an active player in the majors for his fourth decade. He would make his season debut in the next day’s game.

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1977
White Sox pitcher Wilbur Wood tied an AL record by hitting three Angels hitters in a row, in the first inning of the club’s 6-1 loss at Anaheim. With two out and a man on, Wood hit Dave Kingman, Don Baylor and Dave Chalk.

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1981
The White Sox purchased Jerry Hairston from the Mexican League, where he had played for almost four full seasons after having been sold by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hairston was a third round pick of the White Sox in 1970 and saw his first five seasons in the majors on the South Side.

The outfielder was brought back to Chicago mainly in a sub/pinch-hitting role, the latter at which he truly excelled. The White Sox kept him in uniform until 1989. He finished his career with 94 pinch-hits, not far behind the all-time AL leader, Gates Brown, with 107.

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1983
White Sox Triple-A affiliate the Denver Bears completed a sweep to win the American Association title. The club was skippered by Jim Mahoney, and had finished the regular season 73-61. The offensive environment at Mile High Stadium and in the American Association in general led to some gaudy offensive numbers for the Bears, as 11 of their 15 batters on the season boasted an OPS better than .800; conversely, just two of 14 pitchers kept their ERAs to less than 4.00.

While many of the players on the Bears roster did make the majors, none had consequential careers, with the closest such players being Daryl Boston and Joel Skinner — unless you count end-of-career reliever Al Hrabosky, pitching in his last pro season.

The Bullpen is not a problem long-term

I think most of you know this, but the bullpen is a 2026 specific problem. That isn’t to say that the Cardinals shouldn’t try to improve it in 2027, that isn’t to say they shouldn’t make changes. But bullpen doesn’t really work like other positions. Third base and centerfield are bad this season and thus they are a problem that needs to be figured out long-term. Bullpen is exclusively a short-term position, even when it’s good.

And there are hidden gems. I’m a believer in second half Gordon Graceffo, who has been an entirely different pitcher from the first half. He is on a speed run to have a reasonable strikeout rate by the end of the season by striking out every other hitter whenever he can. If 2nd half Graceffo is 2027 Graceffo, he is a true weapon. Luis Gastelum got off to a slow start and has had a few too many homerable pitches, but he is striking out over 30% of hitters with a reasonable walk rate. If he pitches anywhere close to his 3.03 xFIP next season, he’s another weapon.

Cade Winquest did not pitch well today at all, but it was his 6th career game. He struck out 34.8% of hitters in the minors and had an average walk rate. He also had an over 50% GB rate. The Cardinals need two of those things to translate and he’s a good reliever. (The Ks, the walks, or the groundballs). And of course, the starting pitchers. Maybe it’s Matthew Liberatore, maybe it’s Cooper Hjerpe, maybe it’s Tekoah Roby, maybe it’s Ixan Henderson, I mean I could go on. Whether it’s for innings concerns, or a true move to the bullpen, there will be starting caliber pitchers whose stuff will play up in the bullpen next season and in seasons beyond.

Bullpens are random. Consider that a good thing for the Cardinals and their future. A move or two and this could be a good bullpen next year and I’m not taking crazy pills because that’s just how baseball works.

George Soriano’s Struggles

There has been an emerging narrative that I’ve noticed that George Soriano is struggling because he is reaching career high in games pitched. He has, after all, not had a very good second half, most recently helping to blow a six-run lead to the Giants yesterday. It’s one of the easiest narratives in baseball, guy struggles because he is worn out.

I don’t buy it. I’m sorry I don’t. I think fans desperately want to believe this to be the case, because they think he’s a better pitcher than he is. I acknowledge that not all innings are created equally. I acknowledge that he has appeared in a career high amount of games pitched. I even acknowledge that sometimes high leverage innings can stress out your arm more than low leverage innings. It’s just too easy though. Let’s look at his history.

He was first moved to relief in the middle of the 2022 season. He appeared in 8 games, started 6 of them, at the AA level, but only threw 29 innings. He got promoted to AAA and pitched 47 innings in 32 games. He threw 76 innings in 40 games pitched in 2023 overall. The next season, he became a true multi-inning reliever. He pitched 17 games and threw 25.1 innings in AAA, and in 26 games at the MLB level, he threw 52 innings. Overall, he pitched in 44 games and threw 77.1 IP.

Moving onto to last season, he threw in 29 games at AAA, throwing 42.2 IP. In his MLB time, he pitched in 24 games and threw 36.2 IP. Combined, that makes it 53 games and 78.4 innings pitched. I don’t know guys, he’s not pitching in as many games, but this is about as heavy a workload as you’re going to get from a reliever in 2026. I know they weren’t high leverage, but that is a LOT of innings.

On top of that, his 1st half performance wasn’t really supported by advanced stats. He struck out 21% of batters and walked 9.6% of them, which was “good” for a 4.44 xFIP. He didn’t really allow homers (3.90 FIP) and had a .225 BABIP. Things have obviously gone in the opposite direction in the 2nd half. Before yesterday’s game, he had a 4.03 xFIP and struck out 26.7% of batters (more walks too) in the 2nd half. But he had a .346 BABIP and 6.52 FIP because the home run luck dried up.

His season BABIP is still just .275 so one could argue he’s still getting lucky on balls in play during the season as a whole. He’s been unlucky on homers, but his career rate is 16.9% and his season rate is 14.9% so based on 179 career innings, he’s going to allow a few more homers to leave the park than expected. Too small a sample size of course, but perfectly in line with his career.

He has a career 4.51 xFIP, his ERA on the season is now 4.50. I just think this is who is guys. He’s just gotten to this place in a very strange way. I just find it difficult to buy into this narrative. You could not more perfectly design a reliever more “ready” to throw a lot of innings and in a lot of games than Soriano. It’s just easy to miss that because his stat page doesn’t show the minors unless you seek it out.

Also his struggles this year are easily explainable. He can’t get right-handed hitters out. In 2026, he has a been a true reverse splits guy. Left-handed hitters hit for a .263 wOBA and strike out 26.6% of the time with an 8.4% BB rate. Right-handed hitters hit for a .386 wOBA with a 19.2 K% and 14.4 BB%. That’s season stats. Also might I remind everyone: the first batter Soriano faced yesterday, he induced a weak groundball that’s an out for probably 90% of batters but Jonah Cox has 99 percentile sprint speed, at 30.1 feet per second. He had a .090 xBA. He suddenly does his job if someone slower is batting. Unfortunately, baseball is cruel.

The Stopgap for 3B is Here, it shouldn’t be for CF

The two weakest positions this season have been third base and centerfield, both from players initially seen as a potential long-term answer. The Cardinals should move on from Nolan Gorman, but in the meantime, I actually think Thomas Saggese and Blaze Jordan showed enough in 2026 to keep the spot open for them. Obviously, they’re both right-handed so this isn’t a platoon situation, but with Saggese’s ability to play other positions, and then Blaze occasionally platooning with Alec Burleson, there’s plenty of PAs for both.

And I say this not really believing either is the answer. But that’s okay because I think the answer is in the organization. I don’t know which specific player is, but I would be surprised if there’s not a long-term answer among Saggese, Jordan, Jesus Baez, Deniel Ortiz, and even Raniel Rodriguez maybe. I don’t necessarily think any one of them is a good bet at 3B specifically, but taken collectively, you got to like the odds.

Saggese should be a good defender at 3B, and projection-wise, he should have between a 90 and 100 wRC+. His minor league history suggests there may be more there offensively. He is 25 next season. He is the perfect stopgap option. But we aren’t even completely depending on him. Jordan is 24 next season. He had a 137 wRC+ in AAA and a .317 xwOBA and displayed better than expected defense. Do I buy the defense? No, but I’m intrigued to see more. He has earned more opportunities. These are great stopgap options.

However, I have no idea what to do with centerfield. I am fully out on Nathan Church being a starting centerfielder. Obviously, his offense has been disappointing. He is good at not swinging and missing. That is the extent of his positives as a hitter, at least how he’s played in 2026. Go to his Statcast page, it is bleak. Everything but K% and whiff% is blue. He is 3rd percentile in chase%, 8th percentile in average exit velo, 20th percentile in bat speed, 12th percentile in hard-hit%.

It’s hard to see that kind of profile and see a route to becoming a good hitter. If the Cardinals plan to go into next season with him as a starter, they need to have a serious talk with him about not chasing. Of all the stats, that is the only route for optimism. He was never this extreme and he did hit the ball hard, but Alec Burleson went through this. Just hammer that home. Wait for your pitch more. In the best version of how this could go, him selectively choosing better pitches to hit improves all his batted ball metrics.

But I’m not making him the starting CF if I’m in charge. Like I said, Burleson’s Statcast page was never this bleak so it feels like I’m hanging onto a lot more hope and wishful thinking to think Church will improve to that extent. He’s still on my team next year. I tell him he has to earn back a starting spot. Not chasing is the way to do it, if results follow, you will get your job back. Outfield is one of those positions where everyone gets hurt, so he will still play.

Of course, who the hell is starting if not Church? Certainly nobody in the organization. I don’t want to go the Victor Scott route again. It seems like the Cardinals have moved on anyway. I don’t think Joshua Baez can play CF. I can read War and Peace faster than it will take Chase Davis to adjust to a new level, so I don’t think he’s the answer to our 2027 problems. In the absolute best case scenario, I suspect Josiah Ragsdale is going to have Joshua Baez’s season next year. (They slow cook him and wait until August)

My main point is that I want to attempt to compete. I’m not asking to go all-in. I feel like Saggese/Jordan is an attempt to compete. Running it back with Church is a rebuild kind of move. Just give me somebody who has an okay chance to be good. It’s not like we’re swarming with outfielders in the near term, all the backups right now are literally infielders. In the offseason, I will probably look for an answer to this question.

Good morning, baseball fans!

My life has been in shambles for the past few months, between my day job, life, and the dumpster fire that is both reality and the San Francisco Giants 2026 season I’m just flying at the speed of light and trying to hold on.

Which is why it has taken me until now to stop and really come to terms with just how much it sucks that Mike Krukow will be retiring after this season.

Mike Krukow IS Giants baseball, to me. He and his broadcasting partner Duane Kuiper have been calling Giants games for the vast majority of my life. I literally cannot remember a time before we had their delightful banter, inside jokes, crowd observations, life observations, and excellent baseball commentary.

There’s never been a bad Giants game under their watch, because they could turn even the most dull and lifeless game into one of the most memorable broadcasts you’ve ever heard. Even if they rarely commented on the actual game in question.

Somehow, I always expected that they would retire together when the time came. And somehow, despite the fact that I know how time works, I still always assumed that that time would be at least twenty years away. When I pictured the (ever unlikely) scenario of retirement, it always included a fruity beverage on the beach with the sounds of Kruk & Kuip calling a game. They were going to call games for all of time, if I’d had my way.

But we seldom get our way in reality. So all I can do is be forever grateful for the time we’ve had with Mr. Krukow on the call, and appreciate every bit of time we’ve got left this season.

What are your favorite Mike Krukow-isms and memories?

The Colorado Rockies only have 17 games left in the 2026 season. If they played football that would constitute an entire season. Instead, because they play the marathon that is baseball, these final 17 games may seem inconsequential.

It’s true that the Rockies are eliminated from the playoff race, so in a sense, the remaining games are inconsequential. If we’re being honest with ourselves, though, the Rockies have been realistically eliminated from postseason contention for the past half decade, and there have still been plenty of reasons to watch them play.

There may not be too many games left, but that doesn’t mean the final three weeks of the season won’t provide opportunity for some entertainment. Let’s take a look through the remaining schedule, series by series, to wring out every last inch of exciting baseball before the long offseason (and possible lockout) arrives.

The Detroit Tigers Series

I’m not going to lie: The existence of this series almost scuttled the premise of this entire article.

There’s very little specifically interesting about a late-season matchup between the Rockies and the Detroit Tigers. Both teams are outside of playoff contention, they aren’t division rivals, and the number of former Rockies on the Tigers is limited (unless you’re still a big Tyler Kinley fan).

The Tigers, while they may not have much connection to the current Rockies, do employ the clear frontrunner for American League Rookie of the Year. If the only baseball that you have time to watch is Rockies games, this series will be your one chance to see Tigers rookie shortstop Kevin McGonigle play before taking home the 2026 AL RoY award.

That being said, if you are afraid of how many times the broadcast booth may struggle to pronounce McGonigle, this would be the one series remaining that you wouldn’t be missing too much if you skipped.

The San Diego Padres Series

This four game series against the Padres is the Rockies best opportunity to play spoiler.

The Padres started off strong with an 18-7 April, struggled to stay around .500 in May through July, before turning things around with a 17-11 August. As things stand, the Padres are 78-68 just barely holding on to the third wild card spot in the National League with a half game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

They come to Denver hoping to keep their lead and reach the postseason for the fifth time in the past seven seasons. So far this year the Rockies have been beaten by the Padres in eight out of their nine games, making even a tie in this four-game set seem like a longshot. All that losing, however, would make it even more wonderful if the Rockies are able to eek out some wins against their division rival right at the end when it matters the most.

Besides, when these two teams play, anything can happen.

The Seattle Mariners Series

With their poor play since the All-Star break, it’s possible that by the start of this series, the Seattle Mariners will also be mathematically eliminated from the playoff hunt. Unlike the series against the Tigers, however, there are still some side stories to look forward to.

First and foremost, the Saturday game will feature the unveiling of Todd Helton’s statue outside Coors Field. As with the Larry Walker statue unveiling earlier in the year, Helton is expected to be in attendance for a pre-game ceremony. The club has not announced any other media appearances yet, but Walker was on the broadcast the night of his statue’s unveiling, so it seems likely that a similar appearance for Helton is in the cards.

Join us for a celebration and statue unveiling of Rockies Legends Larry Walker and Todd Helton!

ON SALE NOW ➡️ https://t.co/vwNVCiBM4Apic.twitter.com/vpnx8HqM3W

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) January 24, 2026

Additionally, the final Friday home game of the season means one last chance to see the Rockies play in the pastel colors of their City Connect uniforms. The previous green City Connects were only in use for three seasons and 2027 will be the third year of the current generation. Given the uncertain status of the 2027 MLB season, it’s entirely possible this is one of the last chances to see the sunset inspired jerseys donned in game.

The Arizona Diamondbacks Series

As with the Padres series, this could be a chance for the Rockies to play spoiler in the playoff race. Unlike the Padres, I have never gotten the sense that most Rockies fans hold much ill will towards the Diamondbacks.

More importantly, we’ll all get to see Nolan Arenado who is potentially on the cusp of his third trip to the playoffs since leaving the Rockies before the 2021 season. Seeing Arenado playing meaningful baseball this late in the season should provide a wistful well meaning bit of nostalgia all by itself.

That being said, the current season series between the Rockies and Diamondbacks sits 4-6 D-Backs. A Rockies sweep of this three game set would push them ahead in the season series. The Rockies have already won their season series against the San Francisco Giants, adding a second NL West team that they were able to best would be a nice consolation prize at the end of another long season.

The Chicago White Sox Series

In 2026, the Rockies have shown progress towards righting the ship after an abysmal 119 losses last year. It has, however, shown that the climb back up to being a competitive team remains steep. Ending this transitional season against the breakout Chicago White Sox, and getting to see Brenton Doyle for the first time since his mid-season trade, is perfect.

The White Sox represent hope in the form of an example that it is possible to quickly become an exciting baseball team again after a historically bad season. Even if, by the time of this final regular season series, the White Sox have dropped out of the lead in the AL Central or even the wild card race, seeing the turnaround the franchise has made since their 121 losses in 2024 is exactly what we as Rockies fans need.

The energy in the southside of Chicago, win or lose, will be a preview of what’s possible for the Rockies within the next few seasons. It will be the perfect hopeful send-off for the 2026 Rockies into a pivotal and uncertain offseason.

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On the Farm

Triple-A:Albuquerque Isotopes 8, Reno Aces 5

Jack Mahoney (No. 15 PuRP) started the game for the Isotopes and managed to get through four and two thirds innings with 87 pitches. Mahoney was pulled after allowing four runs on seven hits the final of which was a two-RBI line drive from Jose Fernandez. While it wasn’t a stellar performance on paper, given the running scoring environment of the Pacific Coast League and the fine performance from the Isotopes bullpen, it was enough to get the job done.

At the plate the Isotopes lineup took an early lead on an Edouard Julien two-run double in the first inning and continuously added to that lead throughout the rest of the game. All told the Isotopes scored in six separate innings on a whopping 13 hits and six walks. Five different Isotope hitters collected extra base hits but the star of the game were the aforementioned Julien, who reached base four times, and Sterlin Thompson (No. 16 PuRP) who was a triple shy of the cycle.

Double-A:Hartford Yard Goats 4, Somerset Patriots 0

Both Jose Quintana and Kyle Freeland set the tone for this game in rehab appearances. The Yard Goats as a whole followed their lead en route to their 65th win of the season.

Quintana started the game and threw two innings in which he only allowed a single and a walk. Freeland took over to start the third inning and threw three scoreless of his own. While Quintana only managed a single strikeout, Freeland collected five in his three innings of work. Connor Staine finished out the final four innings of the game while only allowing three hits and a walk but no runs.

At the plate the Yard Goats got things started early. Jared Thomas (No. 8 PuRP) was hit by a pitch as the first batter of the game and eventually came around to score after a Jacob Humphrey double and a fielder’s choice hit into by Braylen Wimmer. Hartford would rest on that one-run lead throughout the majority of the game until tacking on another couple in the eighth on a two RBI single from Roynier Hernandez (No. 29 PuRP). Thomas would go on to drive in a final unnecessary insurance run with a single in the ninth.

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Yankees may regret trading TJ Rumfield, who ‘absolutely’ knew he could star for Rockies | The Athletic ($)

As the Rockies were preparing to visit Yankee Stadium earlier this week, Brendan Kuty of the Athletic was reflecting on the offseason trade that brought TJ Rumfield to Denver from New York. Rumfield himself appears to have been surprised by the deal at the time as he was, at the time, focused on forcing his way onto the Yankees roster despite knowing that he was blocked by incumbent first baseman Ben Rice.

Strike 2: Manager Don Baylor knew why avoiding 100 losses mattered | Mile High Sports

The Rockies attempt to avoid a fourth straight 100 loss season will come down to the final few weeks of the year. Mark Knudson reflects on the Rockies first manager, Don Baylor, and why keeping the fledgling expansion team from reaching that mark was a key focus of his.

Breaking Down the WPBL Playoffs | Baseball Prospectus ($)

In non-Rockies baseball news: The WPBL regular season came to an end this past weekend! Bradley Woodrum did a deep dive on all four teams as they entered the postseason on Wednesday. There’s been a lot of good narrative writing about the WPBL so far in it’s inaugural season but this piece applies a level of numerical analysis we, as baseball fans, have grown accustomed to having access to. Very worth the read whether you’ve been watching the WPBL or not.

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

Well, Foster Griffin did not show why the Guardians got him last night. After a disastrous, eight run, third inning the Guardians fell too far behind the Orioles to be able to rally a comeback. The Guardians fell 5-9 to the Orioles. At least Chase DeLauter hit a home run in his first game back.

Uh, yeah. Welcome back, Chase DeLauter.#GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/hfJEyXx3WF

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) September 9, 2026

Thankfully both the Blue Jays and the Rangers also lost, keeping the Guardians spot in the Wild Card race secure for another day.

The Yankees hit their first grand slam of the season last night.

Bobby Witt Jr. hit his 18th homer last night, which was the difference in a 5-2 win over the Diamondbacks

In the fifth inning, D-backs reliever Michael Soroka left a 94.9 mph sinker over the heart of the plate in a tie game. It seemed like a customary get-me-over fastball after Soroka walked Carter Jensen on six pitches.

Soroka looked for strike one. Instead, Witt was ready as he belted a three-run homer over the left-field wall. It was his 18th home run as the Royals took a 5-2 lead and never looked back in Wednesday’s series finale. They won by the same score. The Royals (65-82) finished their nine-game homestand on a high note. The offense scored early after being limited the previous two nights.

Royals rookie Carter Jensen also had a big night. He blasted his 23rd homer and now sits one shy of matching Bob Hamelin (24 homers in 1994) for the club’s rookie record.

Tony Gonsolin made another rehab start last night for Omaha, and it went really well.

Tony Gonsolin tossed five scoreless innings in his third rehab outing for Triple-A Omaha on Tuesday night, another step in what the Royals hope is a path back to the big leagues by the end of the year.

Gonsolin worked around three hits and a walk and struck out two, needing 64 pitches (42 strikes) in Omaha’s win. His next start is scheduled for Sunday with Triple-A, and then the Royals will evaluate whether he’ll continue his rehab or potentially slot in Kansas City’s rotation with two weeks left of the season.

“We’ll see how that one goes,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “Obviously, Monday will be a day off across the board for them, and we have that day off as well [in Houston]. We’ll be able to see what happens at that point.”

Angeibel Gomez is predicted to be the Royals top prospect in 2028.

In an ideal world for Kansas City, this is a tough call for the club by 2028 with Gomez and 18-year-old righty Kendry Chourio each having legit claims to their prospect throne. Signed for $2.9 million in January, Gomez is on a rocket ship after hitting .361/.467/.653 with nine homers and a 19/28 K/BB ratio over 47 games in the Dominican Summer League in his debut season. His power has played in games quicker than most 17-year-olds, and his bat-to-ball skills from the right side have been better than advertised. Gomez could jump several dozen places in the Top 100 by ‘28 if this level of performance carries over stateside.

With record setting heat all throughout the Royals 9-game homestand, Anne Rogers of MLB.com talked about how the Royals players handled it.

Carter Jensen won AL Player of the Week

Mike Gillespie of Royals Keep talks about how good David Shields has been this season.

Kevin O’Brien of Royals Keep ponders how Nick Loftin fits in with the 2027 Royals.

Quad Cities is up 1-0 in their best of 3 playoff series against the South Bend Cubs, with game 2 being played Thursday night.

The Brewers beat the Cubs to clinch their 4th straight NL Central division title.

The Pirates and White Sox had a benches clearing incident.

George Lombard Jr. of the Yankees hit a grand slam last night, making him the youngest to do so for the Yanks outside of Mickey Mantle

The Tampa Bay Rays are on the doorstep of getting back to the playoffs for the first time since 2023.

Elly De La Cruz homered for a 5th straight game.

Jose Altuve recorded his 2,500-career hit.

The Orioles rallied to beat the Guardians in a huge AL Wild Card race contest.

Jackson Merrill had a huge game for the Padres as they battle for the final NL Wild Card spot.

Drake Maye threw 3 interceptions, as the Patriots lost 13-10 to the Seahawks in Super Bowl rematch to kick off the NFL season.

Here is your song of the day: Highland Cathedral by The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards

Today’s Reflections

The gripes are legitimate. But there has to be something positive out of these last two days of back-to-back 4-3 losses, and losing the year-long series to the Brewers.

That is — for these two games, the Cubs proved they can hang with the Brewers. The Team Up North was taken to the brink of defeat each time, with the same Achilles heel occurring against the Cubs.

In both games, the team had taken the lead TWICE against the mighty Brewers, only to come up short at the latest point in each game.

In the latest example of “THE DECISION” since LeBron’s, first, second, third (?) time, Craig Counsell Monday had to decide, without either a closer or a dependable eighth-inning reliever, which way to go: Let an exhausted Matthew Boyd, with his fastball having dropped around three miles per hour, go back out to mound in the eighth; let Boyd only face one batter max, or start the inning with Zeferjahn. Zeferjahn had been building confidence in his last few outings, and putting “Z” in at the top of the inning would have given him a fresh start instead of a tremendous increase in leverage. The latter occurred, “Z” crashed and that rolled into Webb also entering in a poor situation.

It was being stuck between a rock, a hard place, and being encased in amber. Probably the only spot we would be in agreement with is that Boyd went a batter too long. However, what were the better options? They aren’t there. Nevertheless, when he left the game, Boyd pitched an excellent game, leaving with the lead, 2-1, having scattered seven baserunners and struck out seven.

The levers were pulled correctly (as best possible) Tuesday. David Peterson did not have a great game (4.1 IP, nine baserunners with four strikeouts). But he somehow did leave the game with the game locked at 1-1 against Jason Misiorowski. After Peterson left after a single and a walk, Trent Thornton provided a strikeout, then was backed up by the defense with a strike from Seiya Suzuki to nail Jackson Chourio at the plate.

After two innings from Aaron Civale, Ryan Rolison had a rough go of it, but the Cubs went into the ninth with the score still tied. After the Cubs took a 3-1 lead, they gave it back. Jacob Webb was in to close the game and was one strike away from chalking up a Cubs win, but to give up a game-tying, two-run home run to Chourio. The Brewers won in the 10th.

The points are — I’ll be positive and say that there is no consistently effective bullpen work. Or I can be real and also just drop the work “consistently”; and there’s a big gap up-and-down the line between the two bullpens. However, this is what the Cubs have and they still kept pace with the Brewers in these two games. There can be some blame on Counsell for the execution of Monday’s game (and I hate going to this easy scapegoat), but the blame is on Jed Hoyer expecting all the bullpen cards would have fallen into place by this point. They still may, but time is almost out and there’s not much that can be done about it.

The offensive stars are PCA, who not only picked up his 41st homer, but added three more stolen bases to improve his chase numbers to 41/36. Pedro Ramirez was 2-for-6 with two runs scored and a solo home run. And Carson Kelly had a huge pinch-hit two-RBI double in the ninth Tuesday to put the Cubs up, 3-1.

Complimentary Starting Pitcher Solo Home Run*

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

Tuesday’s Game Stories:

• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune {$}): A strike from victory, bullpen issues cost Chicago Cubs in a 4-3 loss to Milwaukee Brewers in 10 innings. “Holding on for the win would have moved the Chicago Cubs above the Philadelphia Phillies for the first wild-card spot in the National League.”

• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): Webb takes ownership of latest blown save, is ‘tired of letting the team down’. “The sting of what just took place on the field remained in the few, blunt words (Jacob Webb) offered, but the Cubs’ reliever was not going to avoid accountability.”

• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Another Cubs bullpen meltdown has manager Craig Counsell searching for answers. “Cubs relievers have contributed to two straight back-breaking losses, bringing up uncomfortable questions for their manager.”

• Jeff Agrest (Chicago Sun-Times): Jacob Webb blows another save before Brewers walk-off Cubs in 10 innings. “No one is walking through the Cubs’ clubhouse door to save the bullpen. “These are our guys,” manager Craig Counsell said. “They’re the guys we’re going to rely on. We’ve got to figure it out.”

Jacob Webb's last 3 save chances:

2-run walkoff HR (2 outs in 9th)
2-run walkoff HR (2 outs in 9th)
2-run game-tying HR (2 outs in 9th)

He's the only MLB pitcher to allow a game-tying or go-ahead HR w/ 2 outs in 9th in 3 straight save opps (since saves became official in 1969). pic.twitter.com/PdsS8SNgE3

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) September 9, 2026

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Monday’s Game Stories:

• Sean Holland (Cubs Insider): Chicago Cubs Score and Recap (9/7/26): Brewers 4, Cubs 3 – Late Lead Slips Away. “With the bullpen’s struggles, Craig Counsell tried to squeeze one more inning out of his starting pitcher.”

• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): PCA slides closer to 40-40, but Cubs drop season set to Brewers. “With the loss, the Cubs dropped to 4-7 on the year against the Brewers, giving the season series to Milwaukee.”

• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Enhanced Box Score: Brewers 4, Cubs 3 – September 7, 2026. “Terrible loss. Again.”

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Assorted Pitching Stories:

• North Side Baseball: Panic Time For Cubs Bullpen? “With the postseason around the corner, where’s the concern level with the Cubs bullpen?”
• Jordan Campbell (Cubbies Crib): One ugly stat exposes why the Cubs can’t seem to solve their never-ending Brewers problem. “It seems the Cubs finally ran out of time to fix this issue.”
• Casey McAleer (DaWindyCity): Chicago Cubs waste another strong Matthew Boyd start in painful Brewers loss. “The veteran left-hander carried a one-run outing into the eighth, but Chicago’s late-game problems erased another dependable performance.”
• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): Craig Counsell’s Mystifying Monday Screwup Continues a Troubling Trend. “Ryan Zeferjahn failed in the clutch on Monday afternoon, costing the Cubs a game they needed and had a chance to win. But the more worrisome mistake was made by his manager, before the righty could even take the mound.”

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Assorted Hitting/Team Standings Stories:

• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Dansby Swanson’s Oblique Recovery Continues on Schedule. “If Swanson is able to play in a couple rehab games early next week, it’s at least conceivable he could return at some point during next weekend’s Reds series in Cincinnati.”
• Jeff Agrest (Chicago Sun-Times): Cubs have no animosity toward Brewers, even with another 2nd-place finish looming. “Hot take: The White Sox-Brewers rivalry in the early days of the American League Central was much hotter than the Cubs-Brewers rivalry of today.”
• Elias Schuster (Chicago Cubs): Cubs Hold Crucial Advantage as NL Wild Card Race Tightens. “The Chicago Cubs are hoping to outright secure the top Wild Card spot, but thy can find some comfort in knowing they have already clinched a few tiebreakers.”
• Jordan Campbell (Cubbies Crib): NL Wild Card standings prove Cubs are getting sickeningly familiar Brewers reminder. “Not great.”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune {$}): Column: This Cubs-Brewers series could have been key for NL Central. Now it’s just another bump in the road. “In this MVP season for Pete Crow-Armstrong, very little of his “MVPing” has been at the expense of the Milwaukee Brewers.“

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Assorted Stories:

• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Who Was Jiggs Parrott, ‘Worst’ Player in Cubs History? “With Pete Crow-Armstrong chasing down Rogers Hornsby‘s 1929 11.0 fWAR in 1929 as the best single season in Cubs franchise history, I got an itch to see who has the worst season on record.”
• Sophie Sherry (Chicago Sun-Times): White Sox beat Cubs 56-48 — in Chicago ballpark arrests in recent years. “Fans have mostly been charged with battery and trespassing, the Sun-Times found. One man ran onto both Wrigley and Rate fields, in one case holding a sign that read “Jesus is Lord.” Another man started a brawl outside of a Sox game after he was caught urinating on a car.“
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): A Loss That Sticks to Your Ribs, Achievements and Entertainment, Vaughn, Ohtani, and Other Cubs Bullets. “Every loss this time of year for a Cubs team in a race is gonna stick with you a bit.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): PCA reconnects with young fan, trades him a signed bat. “The sign read: “Hey Pete! I’m your biggest fan from the Smokies! I have a Javi Báez auto 1/1, I want to give it to you. Want to trade ‘4’ a bat? GO CUBS GO.”“
• Ken Rosenthal (The Athletic {$}): Kevin Gausman’s trade-day drama, Muncy’s redemption and the Brewers’ historic run. ““I kind of knew at that point. I’ve never been called up to the front of the plane before,” said Gausman, a 14-year veteran.“

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Food For Thought:

Williamson’s first recording session took place in 1951 for Lillian McMurry of Trumpet Records, based in Jackson, Mississippi. It was three years since the death of John Lee Williamson, which for the first time allowed some legitimacy to Miller’s carefully worded claim to being “the one and only Sonny Boy Williamson”. When Trumpet went bankrupt in 1955, Williamson’s recording contract was yielded to its creditors, who sold it to Chess Records in Chicago. He had begun developing a following in Chicago beginning in 1953, when he appeared there as a member of Elmore James’s band. During his Chess years he enjoyed his greatest success and acclaim, recording about 70 songs for the Chess subsidiary Checker Records from 1955 to 1964.

In the early 1960s he toured Europe several times during the height of the British blues craze, backed on a number of occasions by the Authentics, recording with the Yardbirds (for the album Sonny Boy Williamson and the Yardbirds) and the Animals, and appearing on several television broadcasts throughout Europe. Around this time he was quoted as saying of the backing bands who accompanied him, “those British boys want to play the blues real bad, and they do”. In 1963 while in London, on one or possibly more occasions he recorded 2 songs in front of a live television audience for the UK regional television folk and blues music series Hullabaloo, presented by the Scottish folksinger Rory McEwen. Sonny Boy took a liking to the European fans, and while there had a custom-made, two-tone suit tailored personally for him, along with a bowler hat, matching umbrella, and an attaché case for his harmonicas.

HOT DOG ASSEMBLY COMPLETE 🌭 pic.twitter.com/H3fJoVtmme

— MLB (@MLB) September 6, 2026

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

Yesterday, the Red Sox made what I consider to be a rather significant announcement in setting up their rotation for the upcoming weekend series against Kansas City:

Red Sox rotation versus the Royals this weekend…

* Friday: Sonny Gray
* Saturday: Ranger Suarez
* Sunday: Payton Tolle

Gray and Suarez get flipped, with Suarez pitching eight days after his most recent outing.

— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) September 9, 2026

This matters because the Red Sox now have exactly 15 games left. That’s three perfect trips around the rotation when coupled with off days scheduled on the 14th, 21st and (if they make the playoffs) 28th. In other words, the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 starters this weekend align perfectly to be the No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 starters for the Wild Card series with an off day each trip around the rotation also baked in.

So while nothing is official, the Red Sox going Gray, Suarez, and Tolle during the next three games kind of feels like them writing down their initial playoff starters in pencil. One one hand, I get it: Gray has been their most reliable starter all year, Suarez has a career 1.48 ERA in 42.2 career postseason innings, and Tolle feels like the logical remaining choice from there.

But what do you guys think? Do you worry about potentially handing the ball to such a young, inexperienced pitcher in Game 3 of the Wild Card series for the second year in a row? Does Ranger Suarez stumbling against both the Yankees in that game in New York on August 30th and against Japan in the World Baseball Classic in March make you question his ability to still automatically turn it on when the postseason starts?

Talk about this and whatever else you’d like on this well deserved Red Sox off day (they’ve played 54 times in the last 56 days), and, as always, be good to one another!

Hello, friends.

The Orioles yet linger, never quite doing enough to fully drop out of the picture and never quite doing enough to remain in the inner reaches of the race either. Wednesday’s 9-5 win over the Guardians meant the O’s got the series win against Cleveland, the team they’re chasing for the wild card. They probably needed a sweep to really, truly have much hope, but, as the cliche goes, it ain’t over til it’s over, and for now it ain’t over. Check out Tyler’s recap of the game for more of the lovely totals.

Both the Orioles and their next opponent, the Blue Jays, have the day off today. Each of these teams will resume their wild card quests in Toronto on Friday. The Orioles sit three back of the Guardians with 15 to play. The Jays are a mere one game back. There will be another series between these teams a week and a half from now. Those six games will go a long way towards determining whether one more AL East team can get into the picture.

At a minimum, the Orioles need to go 4-2 to keep their hopes alive. They might need to go 5-1. 4-2 gets them tied with the Blue Jays, and gives them the head-to-head tiebreaker against Toronto for the season. However, there’s still the Guardians to get past, and the Rangers too (1.5 games back). There’s nothing left that the Orioles can do except hope those teams lose. Texas concludes a series against the Mariners today, then heads to play the Diamondbacks. The Guardians will be playing the Twins this weekend.

Whatever the Orioles try to pull off, they’re going to have to do it without Blaze Alexander, who hit the injured list yesterday with back soreness. Alexander is not only the only .300 hitter on the team, he’s also the sole .270 hitter around. It’s also not yet certain how many days the day-to-day status for Gunnar Henderson will last. Manager Craig Albernaz said of Henderson before yesterday’s game, “He’s pretty banged up.” Disappointing though Henderson may be this season, the lineup is not improved by having Jackson Holliday at shortstop and Jeremiah Jackson at second base.

We’re running a poll this week asking how far you think the Orioles will be from the postseason when all is said and done this year. Have you voted yet? I’ll make it easy for you and embed it right here:

It is still hard to know what to make of these guys. Maybe they’ll play well enough to get close enough that each and every one of the frustrating, stupid losses that they have racked up through this year will hurt. Maybe they’ll hang around about where they are now. Maybe they’ll fall farther out. Maybe they’ll pull off the miracle. Any of the above could happen! Some seem more likely than others.

We’ll find out how the story continues on Friday night. Chris Bassitt is the scheduled starter for the Orioles in the 7:07 game. As of this writing, the Jays have not listed a starter.

Orioles stuff you might have missed

Part of Samuel Basallo’s learning curve? Dealing with failure. (The Baltimore Banner)
Another baseball cliche is that it’s a game of failure, and how a player handles that is going to say a lot about what kind of player they are.

Albernaz on Mayo: “Coby is the one I’m most proud of” (Steve on Baseball)
What Coby Mayo is doing against lefties this year is really something. If he wants to start doing better against righties too, that would be great. He homered off a righty last night, which is certainly a nice way to do better.

What happened to Merv Rettenmund? (Baltimore Baseball)
In the ongoing Orioles history series by longtime Baltimore sports scribe John Eisenberg, he considers an oft-overlooked player, Merv Rettenmund, who once seemed like he might be on a star trajectory and didn’t end up going that far.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2021-2024 pitcher Mike Baumann, 2011 outfielder Matt Angle, and 2007-09 reliever Danys Báez. Today is Báez’s 49th birthday, so an extra happy birthday to him.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: voodoo legend Marie Laveau (1801), baseball Hall of Famer George Kelly (1895), golfer Arnold Palmer (1929), actor Colin Firth (1960), baseball Hall of Famer Randy Johnson (1963), and ballerina Misty Copeland (1982).

On this day in history…

In 1547, English and Scottish forces numbering over 50,000 combined fought the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, a decisive English victory that proved to be the final full-scale battle between these powers before they eventually united.

In 1813, the British fleet on Lake Erie was defeated by the American navy in the Battle of Put-in Bay, which kept the lake in American control for the remainder of the War of 1812.

In 1943, Nazi forces occupied Rome after its allied Italian government entered into an armistice with the Allies days previously.

In 1977, convicted torturer and murderer Hamida Djandoubi was executed by guillotine, the final time that method of execution was employed in France.

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And that’s the way it is in Birdland on September 10. Have a safe Thursday.

Well, last night was certainly one of the weirdest Phillies wins of the season. It appeared at times as though both teams were actively trying to lose through the first six innings. But then as it so often happens, Kyle Schwarber put things on the right track with a monumental home run, this time a rally-capping grand slam.

It can’t possibly be weirder today. After all, the Phillies always play perfectly normal mid-week afternoon baseball games.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Recent baserunning mistakes have once again brought a weakness of the Phillies to the forefront: losing on the margins. ($)
• The Inquirer has created a handy one stop shop for all your Phillies postseason race needs, including updated magic numbers. ($)
• It’s time to end Orion Kerkering’s high leverage innings.

MLB news:

• Aaron Judge may have just returned from injury, but he’s already frustrated with the Yankees plan of easing him back into action.
• Speaking of the Yankees, they placed Jazz Chisholm Jr. on the injured list yesterday with a sprained thumb.
• Denzel Ward of the Cleveland Browns has joined Travis Kelce as a minority investor in the Cleveland Guardians. ($)
• Hope is slipping in for Angels fans after the news of Arte Moreno finally selling the team. But it likely won’t last. ($)

On Tuesday night, the Brewers pulled together another come-from-behind victory, this one in dramatic fashion, and they then completed a sweep of the Cubs on Wednesday evening. With the sweep, the magic number to clinch the NL Central is down to five. The magic number for a postseason berth is down to four, though it is effectively lower since the two teams currently fighting for the last spot (the Diamondbacks and Padres) still have games remaining against each other. It’s just a matter of time now before those spots are clinched. While there’s still work to do, the team can also start setting themselves up for the postseason. Let’s take a look at what they can do in these next couple of weeks.

Remaining Schedule

Unlike last season, when the Brewers were playing opponents who were fighting for a playoff spot in the last week of the season, the Brewers have it a bit easier this time around. With the season series against the Cubs done, here are their remaining five series (all three-game sets):

• vs. Reds (8.5 GB NL wild card three)
• @ Pirates (5.5 GB NL wild card three)
• @ Orioles (3 GB AL wild card three)
• @ Phillies (Currently NL wild card one, 3 GB in NL East)
• vs. Cardinals (6.5 GB NL wild card three)

The Reds, Pirates, and Cardinals are nearly out of the playoff race, barring a massive winning streak. The Orioles could still have a chance at an AL wild card spot, but their chances are also fading. The Phillies are the one team that will almost certainly be fighting for their postseason seed when the Brewers come to town. While there are not any easy wins, the schedule is very manageable.

This does not mean that the Brewers can take any of these series lightly. They only have a two-game lead for the top record in the NL and in all of MLB, but they do hold the tiebreaker over the second-place Dodgers. They also have a 5.5-game lead over the Braves, though that tiebreaker would come down to intradivision record since the two teams split the season series 3-3. There’s still business to take care of until that postseason seed is decided.

Prepping the Rotation

One important piece of preparation for the postseason is lining up the postseason starters so they are ready to go. The good part of this is their likely top two starters (Jacob Misiorowski and Logan Henderson) are already in position to line up for the start of the postseason. With off days plentiful over the last couple of weeks, shifting them to a five-game schedule becomes easier, especially with some other questions developing in the rotation. Here is how they would line up if they pitched every fifth game:

Jacob Misioroski

• September 15 @ Pirates
• September 20 @ Orioles
• September 26 vs. Cardinals

Logan Henderson

• September 16 @ Pirates
• September 22 @ Phillies
• September 27 vs. Cardinals

This would allow both to pitch right until the start of the postseason. Both can make starts through the end of the regular season, and then be ready to pitch the opening games of a National League Division Series. It’s not set at all, though. They still need to secure a first-round bye, but for now, keeping them pitching on a regular schedule is the best way to secure that. The schedule also allows for a bit of flexibility. Misiorowski or Henderson could move up a day and still pitch on regular rest, or get extra rest and skip the last series if necessary. The Phillies series could also affect these plans if the Brewers don’t want the Phillies to get an extra look at these starters, but that is less likely because their playoff seed may not be locked in until the last series of the regular season.

The main question for the rotation is what the Brewers will do after those two starters. There’s not an easy answer here right now. The other starters in the rotation all have question marks heading into the last weeks of the regular season. Kyle Harrison has struggled badly in his last three starts and may be heading to the bullpen. Shane Drohan is hitting his innings limit and also could be in the bullpen. Dustin May had two rough starts, and while he appeared to be pitching better in his last one against the Reds, rain cut it short, and we didn’t get a full look at him. Robert Gasser has stepped up in his recent starts, but he may be more suited for short starts in the postseason. Brandon Sproat is back on the roster for now, but has been pitching shorter starts in the minors and once again struggled with his command late in Wednesday night’s win out of the bullpen. Brandon Woodruff is the wild card, still not in a position to count on in the postseason, but could become a factor later on if his throwing goes well.

What this could mean is the Brewers will deploy these starters in shorter bursts in the postseason. They could use two starters in a game and have them pitch two to three innings, not pitching through the lineup more than once. To effectively do this, they could split up Misiorowski and Henderson in the rotation. Use Misiorowski in game one and Henderson in game three, then piggyback two starters in games two and four. They can also mix openers in as well when needed. It’s not the traditional postseason rotation, but the Brewers can make it work. It would be similar to what they did last postseason, where they used openers and deployed Misiorowski as a long reliever. What the Brewers need to see in these next few weeks is where each starter is at. Each one will get a couple more starts before the postseason, at best. They have plenty to prove in those starts, especially if it’s the difference between making the postseason roster and sitting on the bench.

Resting Injured Players

It’s deep in the season, and players are dealing with the aches and pains of a long schedule. The Brewers have been dealing with their share of injuries, and making sure the team is as healthy as possible will be a major focus.

On offense, the key injury right now is to Jake Bauers. He’s been the team’s main power threat for most of the season, and they will need him for a postseason run. However, he’s been more limited while he’s been recovering from shin splints. While he played in four straight games before getting the day off on Wednesday, he only started one of them. In the other three, he entered the game later as a pinch-hitter. This is going to be one of the primary injuries to watch in the next few weeks. An IL stint could be considered, though the Brewers appear to favor workload management for now.

Brice Turang is another player to watch over these next few weeks. He has been dealing with a knee injury, though it has not kept him out of the lineup. In the last four series (going back to the Rangers series), he has started every game except one. The good news for Turang is that he’s starting to look better again. In his last six games (five starts plus a late-game replacement), he has eight hits and six walks in 25 PA. He has bounced back from a rough August and is hopefully strong again.

There are also a few relievers on the IL. Grant Anderson (right biceps inflammation) and Bryse Wilson (low back strain) are currently on the IL. Wilson is expected back in mid to late September, but Anderson’s status is still up in the air. Rob Zastryzny is also back on a rehab assignment after multiple setbacks. Zastryzny has not pitched a game for the Brewers yet this season, though he was on the active roster for a couple of days. He is another wild card for the postseason. He is not eligible to come off the 60-day IL until next week, and at best might get a week on the major league roster before the postseason. Would the Brewers put him on a postseason roster despite not pitching in the majors at all so far this season?

Conclusion

The Brewers have made it clear that they will not take anything for granted when it comes to a postseason spot. While they have something to play for, they will give their full effort and take care of business. There’s still plenty to play for in these last few weeks. While they will continue to fight for their spot, they also have enough of a lead to start thinking about the postseason. They can start looking at some adjustments to make sure they are ready when the postseason begins.

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders:W, 4-1 (7) at Rochester Red Wings — all tied up again atop the International League standings

LF Jarred Kelenic 1-4, 1 RBI, 1 SB
SS Max Schuemann 1-3, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 K — Volpe was scheduled to play short before the Jazz injury news
C J.C. Escarra 2-3
2B Marco Luciano 0-2, 1 BB, 1 K
DH Yanquiel Fernández 0-3
3B Tyler Hardman 0-3, 2 K — inserted into the lineup after Schuemann shifted over to short
1B Ernesto Martinez Jr. 0-2, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 SB
RF Kenedy Corona 0-3, 1 K, assist
CF Duke Ellis 2-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, 1 K, 1 SB

Brendan Beck 5.1 IP, 0 R, 3 H, 1 BB, 6 K (win) — 2.74 ERA in 24 starts, setting up for a larger role in the majors next year
Bradley Hanner 0.2 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 1 BB (hold)
Yerry De los Santos 1 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 K

To the MAX 🔋📈

413 ft. | 106.6 mph#RepBXpic.twitter.com/gmHNvRA0Oh

— SWB RailRiders (@swbrailriders) September 10, 2026

Double-A Somerset Patriots:L, 0-4 vs. Hartford Yard Goats

CF Jace Avina 1-3, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 CS
SS Core Jackson 0-4
2B Roderick Arias 0-4, 2 K, fielding error
C Omar Alfonzo 0-4, 3 K, throwing error
RF DJ Gladney 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K
3B Coby Morales 2-3, 1 BB, 1 K
DH Manuel Palencia 0-4, 2 K
1B Josh Moylan 1-3, 1 K
LF Cole Gabrielson 0-3

Dom Hamel 6 IP, 1 R, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 K (loss)
Clarke Schmidt 1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 K — fourth appearance in rehab assignment, second straight scoreless outing
Yerry Rodriguez 1 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 1 BB
Trent Sellers 1 IP, 1 R, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K

Clarke Schmidt fanned TWO batters in a scoreless inning on @MLB rehab! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/8l2Kp4mCBq

— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) September 10, 2026

High-A Hudson Valley Renegades: Season over

Low-A Tampa Tarpons: Off-day, Florida State League Division Series resumes with Game 2 today

Florida Complex League Yankees: Season over

Dominican Summer League Yankees: Season over

Dominican Summer League Bombers: Season over