Category: Baseball

Rick Rizzs Happy Totals: 76
Dan Wilson Tough One Tonights: 86
Run Differential: -58
2025: 90-72, +72
2024: 85-77, +69
2023: 88-74, +99
2022: 90-72, +67

wRC+: 102 (10th)
Rotation ERA-/FIP-: 105/98 (19th/13th)
Bullpen ERA-/FIP-: 115/103 (27th/20th)
OAA: -57 (30th)
BsR: -4.6 (24th)

Mariners fWAR leader: Randy Arozarena, 5.6
Mariners bWAR leader: Randy Arozarena, 5.6

Beef Boy Bombs: 23
Josh Naylor SB: 30 for 39
Julio HR-SB: 22-22
Ty France Memorial HBP Counter: Randy Arozarena, 26

Concussions: 2
All-Stars: 1

Last time a 1B stole 30 bases in back-to-back seasons: 1922
Combined Naylor, Cal, Julio wRC+: 98
Combined Naylor, Cal, Julio wRC+, 2025: 143
Cole Young DRS: 16
Cole Young OAA: -5
Combined Refsnyder and Ward wRC+: 29
Randy Arozarena wRC+: 151 (3rd)
Last time a Mariner was in the top 3 in wRC+: 1995 (Edgar, 1st, 182)
Players with six consecutive 20-20 seasons: 5 (Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonds, Bobby Abreu, Willy Mays, Randy Arozarena)
J.P. career rWAR as a Mariner: 21.8 (12th)
Dominic Canzone wRC+ vs LHP: 147

Logan Gilbert K: 205 (8th)
Piggyback starts: 4
ERA in piggyback starts: 2.50
Emerson Hancock 2023-2025 ERA: 4.81
Emerson Hancock 2026 ERA: 3.57
Bryan Woo changeup RV/100: 3.7

Seranthony Domínguez WPA: 1.12
Andrés Muñoz K%: 37.1% (4th of 258)
José Ferrer GB%: 56.2% (18th of 258)
José Ferrer BABIP: .329 (226th of 258)
Eduard Bazardo HR/9: 1.74 (21st of 258)
Matt Brash IP: 16.2

2026 Mariners among the 50 Greatest Mariners: 8
2026 among the 50 greatest Mariner seasons: I don’t know, like, 40th?

Piggyback rides: Randy Arozarena, +1.2 cWPA
A pig in a poke: Cal Raleigh, -1.3 cWPA

Seasons since Mariners’ last playoff appearance: 1

The book is now closed on the 2026 Washington Nationals season. They finished the season 77-85, making an 11 win improvement from last season. This was a true step forward season, but there is still a way to go. James Wood summarized the season well when he told me, “We should be proud of how far we’ve come, but there is still a lot more to improve on”. 

As we wrap up the season, I want to focus on the positives. While there are some areas that will need to be improved, the Nats exceeded expectations. The betting markets are not gospel, but on BetMGM, the Nationals over/under win total was 65.5 games. They were expected to be a bottom feeder team.

Those expectations were not misplaced in my opinion. The Nats were coming off a disastrous 66-96 season, where the final record was flattering if anything. Last season, the Nats had a -212 run differential. Based on that run differential, they should have been a 100 loss team. Instead of adding pieces, the Nats traded their best starter and reliever in the offseason.

Hopes were not high in the offseason. In addition to the betting markets, the local media was bearish on this team. Mark Zuckerman got local reporters to predict the Nats win total, and nobody had the team winning more than 75 games. I was not included in this, but I had the Nats having a similar record to last season.

I was hopeful that improved player development and strides from core players would help them avoid a 100 loss season. However, the Nats just seemed outgunned in a competitive NL East division. Most pundits thought that Blake Butera and his group were in for a long year. 

However, that did not turn out to be the case. It did not take long for fans to realize that this offense was going to be special. Even as the pitching struggled, the bats were firing on all cylinders. James Wood and CJ Abrams both had great seasons, but there were so many different heroes along the way.

We saw so many players take major strides offensively. Luis Garcia Jr. and Curtis Mead took monster leaps before being traded. Jacob Young got to 10 home runs on the season, and that might not even be a top three offensive success story of the year. I thought Keibert Ruiz was damaged goods, but he turned in a career year. 

Even in this last game of the season, we saw the fruits of this offensive turnaround with another breakout star. Andres Chaparro looked like your typical slugger who was too good for AAA but not good enough for the big leagues. He turned into a monster in the second half with an OPS over 1.000 with 12 homers and a .306 average. On the last day of the season, Chaparro hit two home runs to finish his breakout year in a big way.

You have to give a lot of credit to the Nats new hitting coaches. Matt Borgschulte leads the way, but he works very closely with Andrew Aydt and Shawn O’Malley. Blake Butera talked about how those three work so well together and have such complimentary skillsets.

Borgschulte has been a hitting coach in the majors and minors. Despite being 35, he is highly experienced. Meanwhile, Andrew Aydt is an expert on the biomechanics side of things. He came from Driveline and put together plans on how to maximize a hitter’s swing. If anybody needed advice mechanically, Aydt was the guy. Meanwhile, Shawn O’Malley cut his teeth in the Mariners system as a hitting coach. He is also the only one to have big league experience.

This group was such an upgrade on the Darnell Coles operation we saw for years. It shows you that coaching does in fact matter. The 2026 season was truly evidence that it sometimes is on coaching. This coaching staff truly elevated the players.

There were a ton of positives this season, but as James Wood said, this group wants more. Blake Butera felt like he was in two different minds at the end of the season. He knew this was a step forward season, but there was also this tinge of disappointment because he knew it could have been better.

He is already putting together a plan for this team to have another 11 win improvement in 2027. Butera stressed the importance of this offseason. He told me,  “With the strides we made this season, we need to make sure those players come back next season not only the same, but better”.

While players such as James Wood and CJ Abrams had monster years, there are still hitters with more in the tank. On the pitching side, Butera said they have moved in the right direction but they still need to see further improvements. 

For his part, James Wood said that another 11 win jump starts with improving the little things. He told me he wants to find ways to help get the team one or two more wins. Wood also mentioned that he needs to improve defensively and he cost the team runs at times.

With such a young team, if each player just gets a little bit better, it could go a long way. However, this should also be an opportunity for the team to bring in outside help. Blake Butera has downplayed the role of veteran leadership, but he said it obviously would not hurt. I think it would be a real sign of intent to go out and truly augment this core.

For the first time in a while, this team looks to be on the cusp of something special. That run differential, which was -212 last year, was +6 this season. This season was not a fluke, it was a transformational year. However, they will need to capitalize on this success.

Obviously, they will have a big decision to make with CJ Abrams. The Nats shortstop/second baseman has been in trade rumors for a while. That did not stop him from putting together a career year though. He hit 33 homers, stole 34 bases and drove in 106 runs. Hopefully the Nats can build around Abrams and make the playoffs with him in DC.

I think this is possible if the right moves are made. The blown save record was a big talking point this season, and rightfully so. If the Nats can find a way to solve the bullpen puzzle, they could pick up several more wins just by doing that. At the end of the year, guys like Erik Tolman and Jack Sinclair stepped up. However, I still think this team needs a true closer.

With all of the heartbreaking losses, this Nats team had to show their true character. In fact, Blake Butera told me the thing he was most proud of this season was “the resiliency”. He admitted there were times this season where he was not sure how they would respond. 

In Ted Lasso, they talk about being a Goldfish and having a short memory. Butera brought that up and said he has “A bunch of Goldfish”, who can quickly turn the page after a tough loss. Hopefully that resiliency won’t have to be tested as much next year.

There were ups and downs, but this was the best Nationals season since 2019. I know the bar is low, but this was still a lot of fun. After years of concern, I finally feel optimism around the Nats. Now it is time to capitalize on that in the offseason. Thanks for a great season. The best is yet to come under Blake Butera and Paul Toboni!

Lewis Ferguson says he was never close to leaving Bologna this summer amid reports of interest from boyhood club Rangers.

But the Scotland midfielder, 27, does retain aspirations of an Ibrox return at some stage in his career.

Ferguson was released by Rangers at 14 and made his way to Serie A in 2022, via Hamilton Academical and Aberdeen.

He has captained Bologna since 2023 and led them to their first Coppa Italia in over 50 years in 2025.

However, starts became sparse last term under Vincenzo Italiano, making just 17 in the league.

Asked about links to Rangers, Ferguson said: "I had a long think after the World Cup about my future and I was a little bit unsure but nothing was ever that close."

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And he added: "When I went back for pre-season, we had a new manager [Domenico Tedesco] and it was like a fresh start.

"We changed again since [with Raffaele Palladino], so I've had three new managers in the last two months [including Sebastien Pocognoli with Scotland].

"I had a long think about what my future was going to look like and in the end it was still at Bologna.

"I've loved every moment that I've had there. It was just about continuing that journey and seeing where it takes me."

'Always something in the back of mind'

Ferguson, who is under contract until 2028 with the option of a further year, has played every minute of Bologna's five Serie A games so far this season.

His father, Derek, and uncle, Barry, both played for Rangers with the latter captaining and at one stage managing at Ibrox.

In July, newly-installed Rangers manager Derek McInnes spoke of an "obvious link" with Ferguson, having worked with the player at Aberdeen.

On his bond with Rangers, Ferguson said: "It's no secret that I grew up a fan and my family is involved in the club.

"It was a dream of mine as a kid and that's not changed but I don't want to speak about that while I'm a player at Bologna.

"In the future, you never know. It might happen, it might not, but it's always been something in the back of mind."

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World Series champion with the Yankees.
Best friends with Babe Ruth.
Walter Johnson’s kryptonite.

That’s one heck of a three-line resume. It belongs to a diminutive speedster who patrolled center field and held down the leadoff spot for the Yankees in the early 1920s: Whitey Witt.

Witt came to New York via Philadelphia after falling out with legendary Athletics owner/manager Connie Mack. He only wore pinstripes for four seasons, but it was an eventful era, and Witt left his mark on Yankee history. Oh, and to justify that remark about Walter Johnson, for his career, Witt hit .345 off “The Big Train,” with 39 hits in 113 at-bats, with more walks than strikeouts. He did all that against the most dominant pitcher of baseball’s first century and an inaugural Hall of Famer.

Lawton Walter “Whitey” Witt
Born: September 28, 1895 (Orange, MA)
Died: July 14, 1988 (Salem County, NJ)
Yankees Tenure: 1922-25

Whitey Witt debuted with the Philadelphia A’s in 1916 at the age of 20. Immediately a full-time player, Witt struck out more than he walked that rookie season. It was the only time in his major-league career that happened.

By 1921, he really had his feet under him. Witt hit .315 that season while leading the Junior Circuit in plate appearances. Philadelphia, however, was putrid, as Mack had long since dimantled his famed “$100,000 Infield” dynasty that won a trio of championships in the previous decade. These A’s finished the season 53-100-2, good for last in the American League. That offseason, the Yankees came calling. The New York Times reported that the Yanks paid Philadelphia $16,000 for Witt’s services but Miller Huggins, the Yankee skipper, refused to corroborate the price.

1922 was an eventful season for Witt. A fixture at the top of the lineup (he led off 138 times), Witt racked up a .400 OBP, thanks to 89 walks, a number that led the American League. “Get on base and let Babe Ruth drive you in” seems like an all-time great baseball strategy, honestly. He also only struck out 29 times. Imagine a 3:1 walk-to-strikeout ratio in today’s game.

In the final series of the season, Witt was the victim of an unfortunate and scary incident. Playing in St. Louis, in the first game of a three-game set to decide the pennant, Witt was struck in the head by a Coca-Cola bottle, allegedly thrown by a fan. “Knocked me out, and they had to carry me off the field bleeding on a stretcher,” Witt recalled. “It was a really nasty crowd, and after I got hit, a riot almost broke out.”

He missed the penultimate game of the season but returned for the finale and drove in two runs in the Yankees’ 3-2 win that clinched the pennant for the Bronx Bombers. (Days later, the New York Times reported that a 10-year-old boy was the culprit.) It was the Yanks’ second flag in a row after securing their first in 1921, but also for the second year in a row, they were matched up with their Polo Grounds landlords, John McGraw’s New York Giants. The Yanks were dusted in what was essentially a sweep, with only a tie sparing them from full ignominy, Witt held to a 4-for-18 (.222) showing in the Fall Classic.

The following season saw Witt permanently earn his place in the Yankee history books. On April 18, 1923, Witt strode to the batter’s box to lead off the bottom of the first in the Yankees’ home opener… at the brand new Yankee Stadium.

The first Yankee to bat in “The House That Ruth Built,” Witt grounded out. Witt was also standing on base two innings later when Ruth hit the first home run at the new park. When Witt touched home plate, he became the first Yankee to score a run at the Stadium. Not bad claims to fame. He had a career year, hitting .314/.386/.408 with a 107 OPS+ in 146 games, good for a career-high 3.2 rWAR with the Yanks winning their third-straight pennant.

That fall saw Witt win his one and only World Series championship, as the Yanks got their revenge and beat the Giants in six games. Witt later remarked that capturing the title with Ruth, one of his best friends, was the greatest possible thrill.

Witt played two more seasons with the Yankees before they replaced him with Murderers’ Row stalwart Earle Combs. That, of course, meant Witt was in New York long enough to see the ascent of Lou Gehrig, who Witt held in the highest respect.

His Yankee career ended the way it started, with another scary incident. In November 1925, he went goose hunting with—appropriately—Goose Goslin, a Hall of Fame outfielder for the Washington Senators. Goslin’s shotgun exploded, lacerating his left hand, prompting Goslin to forswear hunting until after his playing days ended. He and Witt were supposed to go on a quail hunt the following week.

After bouncing around the minor leagues for a few seasons, Witt went home to New Jersey where he spent the rest of his life. Witt died in his home on July 14, 1988, at the ripe old age of 92. The day before, he’d played a round of golf, a sport he loved almost as much as baseball.

Whitey Witt did not have a long Yankee career. But it was a memorable one. He won a World Series title and was the first Yankee to bat at Yankee Stadium and to score a run there. Witt’s tenure in pinstripes saw him rub shoulders with Ruth and Gehrig and the rest of the legendary figures of the 1920s iteration of the Yankees.

Happy 131st birthday, Whitey Witt.

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

The good news is that the Cubs allowed only 20 runs in the six games over the past week, and six of those were in the 12th inning on Tuesday. So in general, the pitching staff did its job.

The bad news, unfortunately, is that the Cubs scored only 15 runs over the six games, and six of those were on Sunday. They got shut out once.

Hopefully, the pitching staff does well against the Padres and the bats come out of their slumber.

Here’s who was hot and not for the Cubs over the past week.

Three up

After a slow September, Seiya Suzuki had himself a nice week

Coming into the week, Suzuki had batted just .188/.333/.297 (12-for-64) over 18 September games with just one home run and 17 strikeouts.

He came out of that by batting .350/.435/.550 (7-for-20) with a double and a home run in five games played against the Marlins and Red Sox. His 81 walks tied him for third-most on the team this year (with Ian Happ).

Let’s hope he keeps that hitting going in San Diego.

Alex Bregman is just a beast

After the frightening injury a week ago, Bregman didn’t play until Friday and appeared in just two games this week, both against his former team, the Red Sox.

I’d say that .500/.556/1.375 (4-for-8) with a double, two home runs, three runs scored, four RBI and a walk is a pretty good performance from a guy playing with facial fractures.

Here’s his four-hit day Sunday [VIDEO].

Bregman has played in 102 postseason games and hit 19 home runs. That’s the kind of production the Cubs will need going forward.

Pete Crow-Armstrong joined the 40/40 club

PCA went just 5-for-19 and did not homer, though his 45 home runs tied him with Kyle Schwarber for the MLB lead. The last time a Cub had led all MLB players in home runs was in 2000, when Sammy Sosa had 50.

PCA also stole three bases over the week, giving him 41 for the year. Here’s the 40th, at Wrigley Field on Thursday, that got him into the elite 40/40 club [VIDEO].

There’s absolutely no question he should be elected NL MVP unanimously.

Honorable to Shōta Imanaga, who threw six innings in two games this past week, allowed two runs and just one home run, and struck out 10. He could be a very important pitching weapon in the postseason, as could Daniel Palencia, who threw 2.1 scoreless innings in two games against the Marlins and had his four-seamer hitting 100 miles per hour multiple times.

Three down

Dansby Swanson had a quiet week

Swanson, still recovering from his oblique injury that kept him out a month, went 1-for-18 with eight strikeouts in playing five games against the Marlins and Red Sox. He did homer in the game just before that, against the Reds on Sept. 20.

It hasn’t affected his defense, though [VIDEO].

That’s a heads-up play by both Swanson and Nico Hoerner, showing the value of those two in the field. A run scored on that play, but that defense likely prevented a much bigger Red Sox inning.

Edward Cabrera, yikes

Cabrera’s bullpen appearance on Tuesday against his former team, the Marlins, was just awful. He entered the game in the 12th inning with the team down 4-2, still possibly a manageable deficit, and the first five hitters who faced him: walk, hit batter, walk, single, single. Four more runs scored before Cabrera managed to finish off the inning.

He won’t be on any postseason roster and the Cubs will have decisions to make regarding his status for next year and beyond. He’s under team control for two more years.

Nico Hoerner’s bat went quiet

Nico, who had a tremendous start to his season in April, didn’t hit much most of the rest of the season and batted just .200/.304/.200 (4-for-20) in the six games against the Marlins and Red Sox, all singles. It would be nice if Nico’s bat got going in the Wild Card Series.

You can see the heads-up defense he always plays in the video above, taking a throw bare-handed from Swanson. As always, defense will be key for the Cubs’ chances in the postseason.

Good morning.

Shawn McFarland writes that the Texas Rangers finally succumbed to working with a threadbare pitching staff in a season finale loss that left no doubt that there would be no October baseball.

Jeff Wilson writes that the Rangers went 2-4 in their final two series of the year against two teams with losing records to drop the American League West by a game.

Kennedi Landry writes that the Rangers are disappointed with their play this season as they missed the postseason for a third straight year.

Evan Grant writes that, despite being in the worst division in history, it was the big guys who didn’t show up for Texas in the end.

ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle writes that Jacob Latz establishing himself as a contributing big leaguer can be taken as a silver lining for the Rangers in 2026.

And, Bob Nightengale notes that former Rangers general manager Jon Daniels has dropped out of the running for the top decision-making job with the erstwhile Oakland Athletics. Considering the level of talent they deployed in their 9-0 series finale loss to Houston, I can’t say I blame him.

Have a nice day!

The Phillies and the Braves appear to be postseason-linked in the same way that Martin Perez and I are — perhaps not inextricably, but… annoyingly? Yeah, that’s the right adverb.

On the plus side for the Braves, the Phillies are neither particularly good, nor did they really get a chance to set things up for a playoff round. Among the four possible teams the Braves could have conceivably faced in the first round, the Phillies are:

• Last in position player value (26th overall);
• First in pitching value (second overall); and
• Have less combined fWAR (35.7) than the Cubs have position player fWAR (37.8). The Padres are about three wins ahead in terms of fWAR, and the Cubs nine wins ahead, but the Diamondbacks finished about three wins behind. (I would’ve preferred to play the Diamondbacks.)

The Braves dominated the Phillies this year, but the Braves are also aren’t very good on paper (+5.4 position player fWAR, -8.2 pitching fWAR), and a lot of that split in record occurred because these two teams played seven of their 13 games when the Phillies were foundering and the Braves were destroying all (baseball) life on earth during the first two months of the season. So, eh.

The other consideration has to do with the narrative. In 2022, the Braves finished with 14 more in-the-standings wins than the Phillies, and went 11-8 against them during the season, but lost the NLDS, three games to one. In 2023, the Braves finished with 14 more -in-the-standings wins than the Phillies, and went 8-5 against them during the season, but lost the NLDS, three games to one.

In 2026, the Braves finished with six more in-the-standings wins than the Phillies, and went 9-4 against them during season, and… I dunno.

In reality, there’s not too much be drawn from whatever happens in a best-of-three, especially when these two teams aren’t really even all that different. But, it’d probably be less of a weight on my soul if there wasn’t even the opportunity for people to draw a line through three, instead of two, points of anecdata and present as incontrovertible proof of… something. Sure, the Braves could also pull off a pseudo-exorcism of a not-particularly-real demon by just winning a coin flip-ish best-of-three, but I don’t think that’d be as gratifying as “bUiLt FoR oCtObEr” is annoying.

Anyway, what do you think — are you in the, “Yes, let’s play the Phillies!” camp, or somewhere else?

Game 162 doesn’t hit quite like it used to with the proliferation of Wild Card spots, but as long as there are still some stakes, it offers some excitement. Selfishly, I always prefer when the Yankees don’t have stakes and I can just neutrally watch the chaos, which is what yesterday at least partially offered — just with an unnecessarily long stay of execution waiting for a Yankees rain delay to officially turn to cancellation. The AL West Rock Fight between Houston and Texas came to its beautifully dumb, record-low conclusion, and there was still a Wild Card spot up for grabs in the Senior Circuit as well. Beyond that, it was a day of tune-ups.

So while Game 162, Here’s what went on among the final American League contenders.

Houston Astros (81-81) 9, The Athletics (64-98) 0

Well, we’ve reached the end of the long, dumb road of AL West baseball in 2026, where no one had a positive run differential. The Astros are your first .500 division champion in MLB history, beating out the 82-80 Padres of 2005 and the 82-79 Mets of 1973. Those Padres immediately got bounced in a Cardinals sweep, but those Mets upset the Big Red Machine and then took the dynasty Oakland A’s to Game 7 of the World Series, even holding a 3-2 series lead at one point. You just have to get in, and you never know! So while we’ve had our chuckles with this awful division in 2026, look: the Astros will home-field advantage over the overachieving White Sox in the Wild Card Series. If they get past them—which would be no great shock—then they only have to beat an 85-win Guardians team in the ALDS to go to the ALCS, and who knows what happens from there?

The franchise is a cockroach. It was delightful when Detroit dusted them in two in 2024 and when they missed the playoffs outright in 2025. But they’re not dead yet. Technically, they already knew that they were AL West champions a couple innings before the final out of this one because the Rangers lost first to clinch it, but as is probably evident by the score, their in-state rivals were rendered a nonfactor. It’s Houston’s eighth division title in the last decade.

Houston dropped four runs on A’s reliever Brady Brasso in the third, and a pair in the sixth and seventh all but put the champagne on ice. Christian Walker homered and was joined by Jeremy Peña, Yainer Diaz, and Cam Smith with multi-hit games. Yordan Alvarez fell short to Pete Alonso in his Triple Crown bid since the latter led the AL in homers (43) and RBI (113), but Yordan took home the batting crown with a .316. His 6.8 fWAR and 181 wRC+ will likely help him to an MVP as well come November.

Anyway, here’s the Astros celebrating in the A’s visitor batting cages because, well, their clubhouse is literally a minor-league clubhouse and there’s not enough room. That’s small potatoes compared to other things, but we must not be desensitized to the fact that John Fisher made this once-great franchise a joke.

Texas Rangers (80-82) 4, Minnesota Twins (77-85) 6

We’ll keep it snappy here since you already know the story. The Rangers never had a lead to make the Astros sweat at all in this one as offseason addition MacKenzie Gore looked gassed from the jump and cramping forced him out in the third. Chase Silseth gave up a two-run shot to Josh Bell and Minnesota kept the runs coming. They led 5-1 for a good chunk of this one, and though Elías Díaz hit a solo shot for Texas in the eighth, former No. 1 overall pick Royce Lewis went yard in what could be his final game with the Twins. And while Corey Seager went yard for a two runs in the ninth, Andrew Morris fanned Jake Burger and got Ezequiel Duran to fly out to put the Rangers to bed. Their championship 2023 was a high-water mark for the franchise, and yet it represents a true baseball anomaly, as that remains the only season in the past 10 in which they made the playoffs.

Boston Red Sox (87-75) 2, Chicago Cubs (89-73) 6

This game was relocated from Boston to St. Petersburg due to the nor’easter, and the assumption was that they would have to play it because there were NL Wild Card stakes for Chicago. As it turned out, the Cubs were already locked into the No. 5 seed by Saturday night, so they just had to play a meaningless game at the Trop because, well, they were there already, might as well scrimmage?

If anyone was happy about the situation, it was Alex Bregman because he hadn’t had many reps since returning from a scary facial fracture. Bregman clobbered a pair of homers to give Chicago a 3-2 lead by the third, and there the score remained until the ninth, when the former Red Sox third baseman was at it again. An RBI double marked his fourth hit and RBI of the afternoon, and two more runs scored. Unsurprisingly, none of Boston’s primary cast of characters from the pitching staff appeared in this one as they rest up for Tuesday in the Bronx.

Tampa Bay Rays (98-64) 3, Philadelphia Phillies (88-74) 7

The Phillies did their best 1964 Phold impression over the past couple weeks with 10 losses in their last 15 games entering Sunday and four in a row to keep the Wild Card-contending Diamondbacks alive heading into Game 162. They should have clinched days ago! But they kept putting up duds, even against a Rays team that didn’t have anything to play for outside of staying healthy as they await their Division Series for next weekend.

The Phils finally (phinally?) got it together on Sunday with old standby Zack Wheeler on the bump. He fired six innings of one-run ball while his offense woke up after days of malaise, scoring four in the first two innings off Nick Martinez with the last two on an emphatic two-run Kyle Schwarber double. Three more scored against Jesse Scholtens, two on homers by Bryce Harper and Edmundo Sosa. Starter Jesús Luzardo also returned from the IL and contributed a scoreless inning in relief. The party was on at Citizens Bank Park, and like Houston, they rendered their foe’s final score irrelevant (Arizona lost to San Diego shortly after this one went final anyway). They’ll go down to Atlanta and face the Braves in what couldbe another great playoff series between these division rivals; the winner there draws the tough task of dethroning the two-time defending champions in LA.

Cleveland Guardians (85-77) 2, Kansas City Royals (68-94) 3

After clinching the AL Central and a first-round bye on Saturday, the Guardians got to sit in cruise control on Sunday, rest regulars, and make sure no one got hurt. Mission accomplished in Game 162, an unimportant loss in Kansas City. Jo Adell and Daniel Schneemann both homered and likely Game 1 or 2 playoff starter Parker Messick threw three good innings before departing. Vinnie Pasquantino hit a pair of dingers off Austin Peterson to secure the win for the Royals, with his eighth-inning shot putting them ahead at the end of a tough season.

Chicago White Sox (84-78) 4, Colorado Rockies (58-104) 2

The Pale Hose didn’t have much to play for on Sunday either, but they still won because hey, the Royals are bad, but the Rockies are the worst team in baseball and will have the best odds for the No. 1 overall pick in 2027 come Draft Lottery time. Speaking of, remember how the White Sox had the No. 1 overall pick this year? It’s still wild that they are already in the playoffs, even in this unimpressive expanded field. They end the year with a 24-win improvement that would’ve impressed almost anyone anyway. Randal Grichuk and Brenton Doyle both homered to give them the win on Sunday.

The White Sox finished with a record three games better than the Astros, but because seeding rules are seeding rules, they will have to win two out of three in Houston to advance to the Division Series and a date with Cleveland.

The Playoff Field

With the 2026 season officially behind us, Camden Chat will spend the next several weeks reviewing the performances of some of the Orioles’ most prominent players this year.

But before that, let’s pour one out for all the non-prominent players who made an appearance for the 2026 Orioles. The blink-and-you-missed-them, “wait, that guy was an Oriole?” kind of roster fillers who spent only a couple of weeks — or days — with the club before vanishing into the ether.

The Orioles used 60 different players this season, an almost paltry number compared to a year ago when they set an MLB record with 70 (which was broken days later when the Braves used their 71st). So here’s a quick look at the members of the 2026 Orioles who didn’t play enough, made too little of an impact, or just were too darn forgettable to merit an individual post in our upcoming series.

The injury-stricken veterans

For a second straight year, injuries were a key factor in the Orioles’ underperformance. Quite a few players that the O’s were counting on to contribute ended up missing significant time. And one of the cruelest blows came in the first week of the season, when Zach Eflin — who’d made an outstanding return from 2025 back surgery, dazzled in spring training, and won a rotation spot — left his season debut with elbow soreness and was forced to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery after just 3.2 innings of work. For that to happen after he’d battled so hard to come back, you have to feel for the guy. The Orioles might have interest in re-signing Eflin, who should be ready to return sometime early next season.

Also suffering an all-too-early injury was Ryan Mountcastle, the second-longest tenured Oriole (he debuted a week after Keegan Akin in 2020). It was a surprise when the O’s brought back Mountcastle for a $6.7 million deal instead of non-tendering him last offseason, and he was an even worse fit once the Orioles signed Pete Alonso, but the idea was that Mountcastle could serve as a right-handed power bat against lefties. In just his 15th plate appearance, Mountcastle broke his foot while running the bases in April, then strained his oblique while preparing to rehab in July. He never returned, and that’s likely the end of his seven-year tenure in Baltimore.

One guy who did return, quite unexpectedly, was Félix Bautista, whose torn rotator cuff and torn labrum in Aug. 2025 were expected to sideline him for the entire 2026 season. The big right-hander worked his way back in late September, albeit after the O’s were out of contention, and gave up three runs in two appearances. His velocity was noticeably down, but maybe having a full offseason will help him come back stronger in 2027. We can only hope.

The random relievers

The Orioles’ Opening Day bullpen included a number of unheralded names. Two of them didn’t last long. The 35-year-old lefty Dietrich Enns, who’d pitched well down the stretch for the Orioles the previous season, issued 11 walks in 16 innings and was banished to Triple-A. He continued to pitch so poorly with Norfolk — a 6.13 ERA in 31 games — that the O’s never brought him back. And right-hander Yaramil Hiraldo was dreadful, coughing up nine runs and 10 walks in 9.1 innings in three stints in the majors.

Anyone remember Lou Trivino? The veteran righty pitched twice, was bombed for six runs, and then returned to the Phillies from whence he came. Lefty Nick Raquet made four appearances; righty Jose Espada made one. And the O’s employed not one but two right-handers named Cameron: Cameron Foster, part of the Gregory Soto trade return, pitched six uninspiring games, and Cameron Weston tossed a scoreless inning in his major league debut before the Mets claimed him on waivers.

The hapless fill-in catchers

When Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo weren’t behind the plate this year, boy, did things get ugly. We’re going to have a separate post about the disaster that was Carlos Narváez, but a few others also tried their hand, with terrible results. Who could forget the painful experience of watching Sam Huff step to the plate? He had the swing of someone who had never held a baseball bat before. The O’s also brought back Chadwick Tromp for a second straight season, but jettisoned him after he went 3-for-24.

Third catcher Yohel Pozo brought good vibes to the Orioles but spent most of his time glued to the bench. He appeared in only 16 of the Orioles’ 51 games in August and September. We’ll toss Maverick Handley into this category even though he never actually caught an inning for the Orioles this year, making one pinch-hit appearance before the O’s waived him. And the Orioles briefly brought in longtime Tiger Jake Rogers to help their catching situation, but then threw him into the Rutschman trade with Boston after just three games. Rogers ended up playing with four different teams in less than two weeks.

The bench (lack of) depth

The Orioles’ obsession with stockpiling right-handed outfielders for the bench, presumably to match up against opposing southpaws, had one tiny flaw: none of them could actually hit. Rece Hinds may have cemented his status as one of the worst short-term Orioles in history with a truly galling final game last Friday in which he struck out in all five at-bats and committed multiple misplays in the outfield. You can’t make this stuff up. Hinds was 5-for-28 as an Oriole, and if you include his stints with the Reds and Marlins, he was 2-for-28 against lefties. Seriously, do the O’s even know how to check platoon splits? They’re right there on Baseball Reference.

Also failing to deliver against lefties was rookie Christian Franklin, acquired at the trade deadline from the Nationals. His .180 overall batting average in 21 games was bad enough; his .167 mark against southpaws was worse. The Orioles did finally acquire a guy who might’ve helped against lefties, veteran Luis Robert Jr., only for him to get injured after just three games. Their $3 million gamble in claiming him on waivers was a bust.

Long before those guys came along, the first-half Orioles tried their luck with utility man Weston Wilson, who played 19 games and even made three mop-up pitching appearances. He spent the rest of the season with the Mariners, where he was an even worse hitter (and pitched once more, for old time’s sake). But perhaps the most bizarre experiment was that of Johnathan Rodríguez, a marginal minor league hitter whom the Orioles immediately installed as their cleanup hitter on three different occasions. You’ll never believe this, but the O’s lost all three games.

Poor Heston Kjerstad clearly has no future in this organization. The O’s left him in Triple-A almost all season, then went out of their way not to play him once they finally called him up in September. He got just 19 at-bats, with four hits, and could become a 40-man roster casualty this winter.

Three other position players appeared in just one or two games each. Pop quiz! See if you can match these first names — Luis, José, and Michael — to these last names: Barrero, Siani, and Vázquez. Give up? Me too.

Some of the players discussed in this article might find their way back to an Orioles roster in the future. Most of them we’ll never see again. They won’t be missed.

Happy Monday, everyone, though it is a bittersweet one as it is the first Monday of the offseason for Tigers fans. While the postseason will get into gear this week, the Tigers played their final games of the year over the weekend, and even those were a bit of a bummer. Thankfully, the festivities of saying goodbye to one of the greatest Tigers of all time helped create an atmosphere of happiness at the park as fans had an opportunity to send off Justin Verlander and cry a few tears in the process. It was a lovely weekend that reminds us all of the beauty of this game.

We’ll cover the highlights of the weekend in a different post, so here we’ll touch on some broader baseball topics like the first offseason managerial cuts, some previews of the postseason, and looking at what might have been the final game of another old friend, Max Scherzer.

Let’s just jump right into it.

Detroit Tigers News

• Cody Stavenhagen reports on the touching moment when Justin Verlander’s daughter Genevieve, came out to relieve him in his final outing. Of his emotional final weekend, his wife Kate Upton—who worked alongside manager AJ Hinch to coordinate that tear-jerker last moment, said this of Detroit and Tigers’ fans:

“I’m just so grateful for the city and to the fans who love him almost as much as I do.”

• The Tigers had a heartfelt message for fans after a pretty uneven season.

• Our obvious pick to win AL Rookie of the Year.

• The little girl who invented the iconic McGonigoggles got to throw out the final first pitch of the season.

MLB News

• Why does ZiPS seem to hate the Brewers?
• Dan Wilson is the first of the “offseason” managerial cuts and will not be returning to the Mariners next year.
• Looking at the weakest positions on the remaining NL contenders.
• Steven Kwan is bouncing back in a major way for the Guardians.
• Why scouting still matters in the analytics and data era.
• Pete Alonso becomes the first player to win RBI titles in both leagues.
• The Phillies had to get through quite a week to punch their ticket to the postseason.
• If this was Max Scherzer’s final game of his career, he went out on a high note.
• A final look at the regular season stat leaders.
• The Dodgers ended their season with 100 wins, but is Shohei Ohtani going to be ready for the postseason?
• Ranking the lineups of the remaining playoff-contending teams. And we can’t forget the pitching.
• Some of the key takeaways from the 2026 regular season.
• Giants’ manager Tony Vitello reached an MLB-high seven ejections by the final game of the season.
• ESPN’s Postseason Preview.
• Colson Montgomery would rather focus on the “positives” instead of being reminded that he set the record for batter strikeouts this season.
• For the first time in club history the Brewers have elected a team captain, and it will be Christian Yelich. ($)
• A postseason power ranking. ($)
• A revival of the musical “Damn Yankees” is heading to Broadway with Neil Patrick Harris and… the Orioles?

• This is not a good idea.

• Pope Leo playing it coy when asked if he offered a little divine intervention for the White Sox this season.

The regular season is over, the playoff matchups are set, and now the excitement really begins.

Get ready for October baseball as MLB's postseason kicks off with wild card quadrupleheaders on Tuesday and Wednesday. (Even though those games are being played in September.)

The Los Angeles Dodgers have their sights set on a third consecutive World Series championship, a feat last accomplished by the New York Yankees from 1998-2000. But there are several other worthy challengers looking to knock them off.

The Milwaukee Brewers had the best regular-season record in the majors at 103-59, followed by the Dodgers at 100-62 and the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL at 98-64. But as we all know, anything can happen in the playoffs.

Meet the Mets

The Mets played their final game of the 2026 season, putting an end to a team we’ve grown to dislike in various ways and will end up missing as the days and weeks of the offseason pass.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, MLB.com, Newsday, New York Daily News, New York Post, The Athletic

Francisco Lindor connected, at long last, for his 300th career home run and in the process became the first shortstop in major league history to reach the 300 home run/200 steal plateau and the second switch hitter.

Nothing will be set in stone until after the World Series ends, but Bo Bichette can at least envision himself coming back to the Mets for the second year of his contract.

It seemed like a foregone conclusion that the NL Rookie of the Year Award was going to Sal Stewart. Did Carson Benge do enough to swoop in and claim it for himself?

The sole benefit of the Mets being as dreadful as they were, the team’s increased draft lottery odds won’t get to pay off until at least the end of the lockout or, perhaps, never.

Around the National League East

They went right up to the edge of having one of the worst collapses in the history of baseball, but a Diamondbacks loss and a 7-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays has sent the Phillies to the Wild Card to face off with Atlanta.

Jesus Luzardo made his return to the team after three weeks on the sidelines with shoulder inflammation and threw four pitches along with assuring the team he is ready for whatever they need him for in the playoffs.

Ending up just a game under .500, Sandy Alcantara threw the first pitch of the season in March and the final pitch of the season yesterday as the Marlins said goodbye to 2026 with a 5-3 win over the division champion Braves.

Around Major League Baseball

With all playoff spots clinched and the regular season finished, MLB announced the dates and times for the AL and NL Wild Card series.

Now that regular season analysis has come and gone, it’s time for postseason analysis!

He didnt’ quite catch Justin Verlander in career strikeouts, but Max Scherzer went seven innings, struck out seven, and got to yell at his manager one more time in what may be the final start of his Hall of Fame career.

Earlier in the same game, George Springer played his final game of the six-year contract the Blue Jays gave him after 2020 and left to a well-deserved standing ovation.

Old Friend Pete Alonso is the first player in Major League Baseball history to lead both the National League and the American League in RBIs in different seasons.

Setting whatever the opposite of a new standard is, the Houston Astros eclipsed the Rangers and finished their .500 season as the worst team in Major League Baseball history to win their division.

Jacob Misiorowski ended his obvious Cy Young season with some of the best rate stats that we’ve seen since prime Pedro Martinez.

As the Boston Red Sox went to Tropicana Field to finish their season away from the rainy northeast, the Yankees simply canceled their Sunday afternoon game against the Orioles, ending their season at 161 games.

With their win over the Giants, Dave Roberts won 100 games for the sixth time as manager of the Dodgers, putting him one more triple-digit-win season away from being the first manager to even preside over seven such seasons.

At two points on Sunday, Dan Wilson announced that he would not be returning as manager of the Seattle Mariners in 2027 and the team announced that he would not be returning as manager in 2027.

This Date in Mets History

On this date 18 years ago, Shea Stadium closed its doors for good.

This Milwaukee Brewers team is different.

I know people have been saying that for a couple of years now, but I really think this year is different.

This team does the little things. They play solid defense. They rarely make mental mistakes. They score runs and don’t rely on the long ball. They’re disciplined, both by themselves and by Pat Murphy, who has, on more than one occasion, benched a player for not showing hustle.

Rather than analyzing the team over the last 162 games, we can just look at this weekend’s sweep of the Cardinals.

The “why the 2026 Milwaukee Brewers can win the World Series” discussion begins even before Friday’s series opener against St. Louis. Just before the game, the team was forced to place first baseman Andrew Vaughn on the injured list due to illness. Shortstop Cooper Pratt was also scratched from the lineup, as a banged-up Joey Ortiz had to replace him.

Now, Vaughn and Pratt are by no means the leaders of this team, but they’re key pieces nonetheless. But here’s the thing about the Brewers — they’re built for absences like those. More on that later.

Looking at the first inning of Friday’s game, William Contreras — who was pulled late in Thursday’s game against Philadelphia after not hustling out of the box on a botched grounder — hit a grounder into the hole at short and slid into first base. Not only did he slide, but he slid headfirst. Any baseball person will tell you sliding into first is a big no-no, but here’s the thing — Murphy liked it.

It’s not often you see that kind of buy-in from a star player after he’s been benched. I would argue, rather, that most star players would have a negative reaction, especially at the major league level. But Murphy has proven over the last three seasons that he doesn’t care if you’re in your MLB debut or in your 13th season in the majors — you better be hustling and bringing your A-game.

Fast forward to the eighth inning of Friday’s game, and you’ll see another example of why this team is different. Remember how Pratt was scratched from the lineup and Ortiz had to replace him? Well, Ortiz looked a bit rough throughout the game (even while going 2-for-3 with a walk), and he was pulled in a 4-4 tie game. Pratt, who probably didn’t feel the greatest, took over, and while he grounded into a double play in his lone at-bat, the fact that he was able to come off the bench at all is a testament to this team’s depth and “next man up” mentality.

Speaking of next man up, in the bottom of that same eighth inning, with the game still tied at four runs apiece, here’s how the Brewers rallied:

Jackson Chourio single
David Hamilton hit by pitch
Garrett Mitchell sac bunt (reaches on error)
Brice Turang two-run single
William Contreras one-run single
Jake Bauers sac fly
Christian Yelich walk
Pratt double play

How about that? Three hits — all of them singles — but four runs on the board. For most teams, that would be a strange inning, but for the Brewers, that’s basically an everyday occurrence. They finished the season with the third-best OPS in baseball (.744) and scored the second-most runs (832), and yet they had just 154 homers, ranking tied for 28th in the league (and just two ahead of the Blue Jays, who had an MLB-worst 152 homers). That’s insane.

Let’s jump to Saturday now.

Ahead of the second game, the Brewers named Christian Yelich team captain, the first time in franchise history Milwaukee has had a captain. Why? Because this team is different. There are several players who one could argue were deserving earlier in franchise history — Robin Yount and Ryan Braun are the first two that come to mind. But Yelich, who is in his ninth season with Milwaukee, is the first one to get that honorary “C” on his chest. And he deserves it, too.

In the game itself, Dustin May got the start, and he didn’t look great, going three innings with two runs allowed on three hits and a walk. But here’s where the next part of our “why the Brewers can win the World Series” argument comes in — Murphy then gave Kyle Harrison another chance.

Harrison can only be described as dismal since late August. Entering Saturday, his last six appearances (three starts) totaled 9 1/3 innings, allowing 25 runs (22 earned) on 31 hits, nine walks, and two hit batters while striking out 10. But Murphy, who clearly hasn’t fully settled his postseason pitching staff yet, continues to give the young lefty chances. And Harrison delivered.

Harrison went two scoreless innings, throwing 20 of 29 pitches for strikes and allowing just one baserunner via a hit by pitch. He struck out four to earn his 11th win of the season and first since August 18.

The lesson here is similar to the one about Pratt above — that “next man up” mentality is exactly what a team looking to win the World Series needs, and Murphy’s faith in his guys is just the cherry on top.

Then, in the fifth inning of Saturday’s game, Turang launched his 21st homer of the season, bringing in Chourio and giving the Brewers a 3-2 lead they would hold onto for the rest of the evening. Remember how I said the Brewers don’t hit lots of homers? Well, they still have a couple of home run threats — Turang, Chourio, Bauers, to name just a few — and there’s always a time and place for homers. Half of the battle in the postseason is delivering in clutch moments, and the Brewers have guys who can hit both singles and homers, meaning they’re ready for any situation. That’s something the rest of this postseason field might not bring to the table.

OK, last piece of the puzzle: Sunday’s game.

This is perhaps the biggest reason why the Brewers have what it takes to win a World Series: the monster that is Jacob Misiorowski.

Misiorowski went 5 1/3 scoreless innings in Sunday’s regular-season finale, wrapping up what is almost certainly an NL Cy Young-winning campaign. He finished the year among league leaders in virtually every category, including at the top of the leaderboard in strikeouts (252), ERA (1.80), WHIP (0.80), and batting average against (.157). He also drastically dropped his walk rate from a year ago, going from 4.23 BB/9 to 2.27 BB/9.

Lastly, late in Sunday’s game, Chad Patrick was struggling to maintain what was an early 6-0 lead. He entered to pitch the eighth and recorded just one out, allowing two walks and two hits, including a three-run homer to cut the lead to 6-4.

What do the Brewers have a lot of that many other teams don’t? Reliable length arms that can lock things down when other guys get in trouble.

Shane Drohan came in and pitched the final 1 2/3 innings, allowing no baserunners and recording a pair of strikeouts for his second save of the year. In fact, the Brewers had five wins this week, four of which had a save credited to them. Know how many different players got a save? Four. The usual closer, Trevor Megill, Drohan, Antonio Senzatela, and Aaron Ashby. For the season, 10 players had at least one save, and seven players had multiple. MLB bullpens only carry eight arms. That’s a well-balanced bullpen.

This weekend’s sweep of the Cardinals is a microcosm of the 2026 Brewers season as a whole. The Crew is balanced, hungry, and ready to win. They have several players who are in the very early stages of what are hopefully long careers — Pratt, Chourio, Luis Lara, Logan Henderson, Misiorowski, etc. — but they also have veteran leadership in the form of Yelich, May, Senzatela, JoJo Romero, and Brandon Woodruff, who you may have forgotten is still in that clubhouse, even if he isn’t on the field.

This Brewers team can win the World Series. Now let’s see if they can make it happen.

The 2026 season is over and the next step for the Braves could not be more familiar and perhaps appropriate. The Braves will host their division rival, the Phillies, for a best of three Wild Card round setup at Truist Park this week. Both Tuesday and Wednesday games will occur at just after 2PM Eastern, with Thursday’s game to be determined (if necessary). For many reasons, it will certainly be an exciting atmosphere in which the Braves will hopefully find quick and frequent success.

Braves News

Atlanta dropped the series and season finale to the Marlins 5-3 on Sunday. With their fate already determined, Atlanta mainly made sure to preserve health over the season’s final weekend.

Mark Bowman looks at a few key factors that came together over the final week of the season that could impact the Wild Card round for the Braves.

MLB News

Along with the Phillies, the Astros were the other team to finalize their playoff spot on the final day of the season by winning the NL West over the Rangers.

The Mariners had one of the more disappointing seasons in baseball this year. As a result, Dan Wilson will not return as manager in 2027.