Category: Sports News

The Tampa Bay Rays are in the World Series. For years, before a change in their ownership situation and an agreement for a new ballpark that will likely increase attendance, there was the latent threat of relocation, though. Would that relocation have come with a rebrand — a new team name and identity that fits where team moved to? Who knows. Montreal Rays… or a resurrection of the Montreal Expos? Who can say.

On the flip side, we have the Athletics. They’ve moved, they’ll move again, they’ve moved many times before. But they stayed the Athletics.

And, of course, expansion is coming… but that’s not the same thing.

Even recent relocations in other sports haven’t seen this kind of makeover (though maybe some have, I can’t recall). The Rams, Chargers, and Raiders are still the Rams, Chargers, and Raiders. There used to be more relo-and-rebrand, like the Oilers-into-Titans and Hornets-into-Pelicans-but-wait-the-Hornets are back.

But, I think the last one in baseball was Expos-into-Nationals in 2005, and before that, it was… Senators-into-Rangers, right?

Anyway, do you think we’ll see this in baseball again? Or will everything become chained by nostalgia/continuity with only new teams getting new brands?

This year’s World Series has multitudes of compelling angles to it. That could be said any year, but this year it feels more significant as we await the beginning of the series tomorrow when the Tampa Bay Rays take on the Milwaukee Brewers.

Obviously, the biggest storyline is that neither of these two teams has ever won the World Series in their franchise’s history. Therefore, we are guaranteed to be crowning a first-time champion. There’s the relative “obscurity” of the two teams to some casual observers, but in reality, they were the two best teams in baseball throughout the regular season, and both entered the postseason as the number one seeds in their respective league. Some may look and see a lack of “star” players on the roster, but that downplays their collective talent as juggernauts and the budding stardom of younger players like Jackson Chourio and Junior Caminero.

No matter how you look at it, it’s shaping up to be a great series, at least on paper. However, it has big shoes to fill, as last year’s series was one of the most compelling in recent memory and has been called one of the best ever, as it was a back-and-forth affair that ultimately went to extra innings in Game 7. It was likely pure torture for both fan bases involved, but it was riveting entertainment for the rest of us. Sometimes, it’s fun to just sit back and enjoy a great World Series even if your team is not involved. Sometimes the level of play is just so entertaining to watch that it reminds you why you love baseball in the first place.

So, what was your favorite World Series to watch as a neutral observer? Where would you rank last year’s edition? What does this year’s series need to do to top last year?

Alright, every year we consider going back and reviewing our preseason prospect reports to see how well the player did, and whether they’re trending up, down, or neutral at the end of the year. This happens as a matter of course as we study each player’s season and consider what we got right or wrong before diving into the next full system collection of scouting reports for next year, but maybe it’s worth a quick look back right now while memories are fresh.

We’ll start with the 11 players at the bottom of the list, and then switch to 10 players each over the four review articles to come. Keep in mind that we’re starting at the bottom with the fringe prospects. These are all longshot bets, so don’t be discouraged. Most of these players struggled, and that’s generally how it goes. On the other hand, the Tigers had a lot of young players break out of the Complex League this year, while a few others came out of nowhere. The farm system doesn’t boast the true blue chip prospects now that Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark have graduated, but it’s also a much deeper prospect pool than the Tigers have had before with a lot of positive signs finally from the international free agent side of the ledger.

Obviously, this is a review of our preseason reports, so this brief series won’t touch on some of the top prospects the Tigers acquired at the deadline nor in the 2026 amateur draft. We also don’t really get a good look at anyone until they reach Single-A Lakeland, so 2026 breakout players from the Complex League like RHP Jhonan Coba, OF Jesus Pinto, SS Angel de los Santos, LHP Carlos Rodriguez, and others won’t come up here either. Those names will be prominent in our next round of preseason scouting reports, however. Likewise, Zyhir Hope, LHP Kash Mayfield, and RHP Brady Smith were all nice additions to the farm system from the Skubal/Mize trades, but we’re just going through the preseason rankings right now. Hope and Mayfield in particular could be a big part of the Tigers future, and we’ll certainly cover them in depth this offseason.

This is mainly just to see how each player trended by season’s end. The original preseason report is linked to each player’s name here for comparison.

41. RHP Yosber Sanchez

Of this group, Sanchez was the only one in the 40 future value tier and that was a risky bet on his potential. The rest are in the fringe 35+ FV tier of players.

Sanchez’s stock was in decline after struggling to make the jump to Double-A in 2025. His control needed to show improvement, and some minor injuries and inconsistent velocity led us to point to this season as the year in which the now 25-year-old needed to make something happen.

Unfortunately, it was another year of struggle. Sanchez couldn’t get back to the 99-100 mph that got him on the radar originally, and he continued to struggle with control. He stumbled to a 5.89 ERA/5.13 FIP with the Double-A Erie SeaWolves as a result. Sanchez is still typically in the high 90’s with solid fastball shape, and his slider is still flashing above average, but with subpar extension he really needs to be comfortably 98-99 mph to really overpower hitters. Unless his fastball command really progresses, there just isn’t enough margin for error with the heater to consider him a future high leverage relief prospect.

Sanchez gets a solid share of both strikeouts and ground balls, and he’s still young enough to have a shot at a breakout that could get him quickly to the major leagues, but after two years of minimal progress it looks unlikely at this point.

Stock: Down

42. LHP Gabriel Reyes

There’s a reason these guys are deep down on our list. They’re longshots, but they do have a developing major league caliber tool or two. Southpaw Gabriel Reyes was another minor disappointment this season, continuing an unfortunate trend over the past two years and spending much of the year on the injured list.

Reyes was signed by the Tigers out of the Dominican Republic in 2020 as an 18-year-old. It took some time for him to get to A-ball after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2023. He returned with strikeout rates over 30 percent, solid control, and fairly impressive stuff for the Single-A Lakeland Flying Tigers in 2024. His slider was nasty, if erratic, and the fastball was starting to pop mid-90’s from an angle that seemed to give young hitters a lot of trouble. That was all enough to put a 40+ grade on him. I really liked his potential as a future backend starter or reliever. Reyes then had a tough 2025 where he struggled in camp and was held back in extended spring training for a little while. Needing to get a move on and show better control, he failed and couldn’t even crack the High-A level in his age 21 season.

The 2026 season was even worse for Reyes. He got to High-A but was really wild and his velocity was more erratic as well. That proved a precursor to injury and in late May he hit the injured list and never returned. That early peak when he was 20-21 and touching 95 mph with a funky angle, a filthy sweeping slider, and consistent strike throwing was really promising, but everything has backed up over the past two seasons, including his health. He was always on the small side and while he’s added a little muscle he hasn’t really filled out as hoped. He’s still only 23 years old, but a major transformation is going to have to happen to get him back on track.

Stock: Down

43. RHP Joseph Montalvo

This right-hander was acquired for reliever Andrew Chafin at the 2024 trade deadline in a deal with the Rangers. Montalvo’s fastball was a little light at that point, but he boasted a good slider-changeup combination, advanced command, and good extension, while his slender frame and good overall athleticism pointed to future stuff upgrades as he filled out. He had the look of a future backend starter as he filled out a little more and added a little velocity to his typically 93 mph fourseam fastball.

He was an arm well worth taking a chance on for a reliever rental, but again things have gone pretty poorly here. Montalvo struggled in 2025 and eventually had Tommy John surgery. Presumably, if things have gone well we’ll see him back on the mound in 2027, but there isn’t much else to report. He’ll be 25 next May, so if there’s going to be a bump in velocity it’s going to have to show up next spring after his rehabilitation. Montalvo has a pretty good mix of secondary pitches, and it’s certainly possible he returns from rehabilitation with a little more velocity and durability both and eventually takes the next step, but it’s been a rough go since the Tigers acquired him.

Stock: Down

44. OF Nick Dumensil

This 22-year-old center fielder was the Tigers 8th round pick in 2025, and showed really good plate discipline and solid raw power in his brief post-draft debut. There were a ton of questions about the hit tool, so despite the speed-defense-raw power combination, we could only give him a nod as a fringe prospect considering the tiny sample of games played. That turned out to be pretty accurate during his full season debut with the Single-A Lakeland Flying Tigers, though Dumensil missed plenty of time to injury as well, appearing in just 59 games.

Dumensil’s plate discipline proved worse over a full season. His 24.3 O-Swing percentage in 2025 turned into a 32.3 percent mark in 2026. He still took his walks, posting a solid 11.6 percent mark, and his 23.2 percent strikeout rate wasn’t bad, but he got himself out on a lot of pitcher’s pitches and put the ball on the ground too much to tap into his power. He’s still very likely to reach average or a little better raw power, but his approach, discipline, and ability to pull more balls in the air all need to improve in 2027 as he makes the jump to High-A to get to it in-game more consistently.

He was a bit of a speculative addition to our list back in the spring and will be on the cutline when we re-rank the Tigers prospects this winter. Still, he’s another example of the Tigers finding a few undervalued, athletic players in each draft with some hitting ability and solid all around tools. The system is deep in this type of player, and if just 1-2 break out they’ll have a pair of solid all-around major leaguers. If not, they should at least build a deep homegrown bench. Dumesnil just has a long way to go to reach a point where he looks like one of the likelier candidates.

Stock: Neutral

45. RHP Preston Howey

Now 24 years old, Howey attracted some minor attention in 2025 as he suppressed home runs really well and saw an increase in velocity from the 92-94 mph he arrived in pro ball with, up to 94-96 mph with a bit more in the tank when needed. The problem was that he didn’t miss enough bats and his cutter was pretty inconsistent. However, he showed solid control for a first year player, got a ton of pop-ups, and kept the ball in the park. That was fairly impressive for a college reliever who the Tigers were experimenting with in a starting role.

Unfortunately, the experiment ended as Howey worked exclusively as a reliever this year, and the upgrade in breaking stuff and whiffs didn’t arrive. While Howey is out working in the Arizona Fall League, the lack of progress will see him bounced off the list this winter. Once again, we’re dealing with wild cards this far down the rankings in the first place. This one didn’t hit, but he’ll have the 2027 season to try and make progress and break through into the upper minors. Right now he’s trending like his best, realistic outcome is a middle reliever but that feels very unlikely at the moment.

Stock: Down

46. UT Woody Hadeen

One player who did take a step up this year was utilityman Woody Hadeen. The 24-year-old switch hitter broke into Double-A this season and continued to hit and steal plenty of bases while playing quality defense pretty much anywhere you want to put him, though he played less center field this season and was mostly deployed at shortstop and second base.

Hadeen posted a 15.2 percent walk rate and a 17.9 percent strikeout rate in 57 games at High-A this year. He then moved up to Double-A Erie and his marks held up reasonably well. He walked 11.9 percent of the time, striking out 19.5 percent of the time with the SeaWolves.

Hadeen puts the ball in play quite a lot, plays pretty good defense in the middle infield, and has enough speed to wreak some havoc on opposing defenses with soft tappers, choppers, and if the Tigers decide to lean into trend finally, more bunts. He’s an okay candidate to become the type of pesky hitting, versatile defender with speed that the Brewers and Rays are rounding out their rosters with if he can continue working on those pure hitting elements. Still, he does all his best work left-handed, negating the switch-hitting angle, and his lack of power makes this a very hard road. If can maximize his strengths and just find his way to more gap power, he may yet make a nice 26th man on someone’s roster for a while.

Stock: Up

47. RHP Carlos Marcano

I kept this 23-year-old, Venezuelan right-hander on the list this season because I’ve always liked his mechanics, his strike-throwing, and his sinker. His 2025 season was plagued by a shoulder injury that cost him several months of the season. However, he returned late in the year throwing 95-97 mph sinkers, a significant uptick in velocity. With a solid changeup and mediocre breaking stuff, Marcano still had plenty of work ahead but looked like a potential depth starter, or role reliever in development. Not exciting, but the extra gas and good sink gave him a major league caliber weapon to work with.

Unfortunately, his control was suddenly the problem in 2026, and he didn’t make any notable progress with his breaking stuff. His outings were kept short, and that felt like a bad sign. Eventually he hit the full season injured list with an apparent arm injury in late July. We don’t have specifics on the injury, but either way Marcano is another who will probably slip off the rankings this winter unless some positive news about his status emerges. He’ll be 24 next season, so there’s time but for now the development trendline is heading the wrong direction and he was on the fringes of the system to begin with.

Stock: Down

48. RHP Eric Silva

Eric Silva was the Tigers return in 2024 when they traded Mark Canha to the San Francisco Giants. The reliever has shown a nasty, high spin curveball along with flashes of improving velocity, but despite good strikeout rates he’s battled injury and control for two seasons now. In 2026, he moved up to Double-A and spent a little time at the Triple-A level as well, but despite a healthy season, his results continue to be wildly erratic.

There have been short stretches where Silva has been close to sitting 95 mph, but for most of 2026 the 24-year-old was right back in the 92-93 mph band where he was sitting when the Tigers acquired him. Like most of the low ranked prospects here, he has a weapon that could carry him to the major leagues if the rest of the package came together, but there’s really been no progress of note in two seasons. I’d say his time is up without a truly stunning breakout in terms of velo and command of his fastball.

Stock: Down

49. INF Jude Warwick

One player who does continue to look interesting is the now 21-year-old middle infielder. As mentioned in his profile, Warwick was one of the earliest examples of the Scott Harris led front office supplementing their overslot bonuses by taking inexpensive, undersized but athletic types with some feel to hit. The Tigers were able to land the Downers Grove High School grad in 2024 for just $247,500. Snatching up talented prep shortstops with speed and a quality bat is wise policy at that price.

Of course, there was also a reason Warwick wasn’t a big bonus prep shortstop. He handled the Complex League really well last year, but through 129 games at the Single-A level he’s still trying to deal with the pitching and striking out quite a lot. On the plus side, the juice started to show up this year as he posted several balls over 109 mph off the bat. Warwick has plus speed and now looks like he should get to average power. He also plays a pretty decent second base and shortstop, though there’s plenty of work ahead to refine his defensive game.

With an O-swing rate over 30 percent and a strikeout rate of 28 percent this year, it’s going to take a nice breakout in his hitting ability to keep progressing up the chain as a legit prospect. Still, if he’d gone to college he’d be on draft boards for next summer. Warwick is ahead of the curve as a result and his secondary tools are pretty nice. We’ll have to see if he can take the next steps with his bat, but he’s starting to fill out with some good muscle and will be well worth keeping tabs on next year.

Stock: Up

50. 1B/3B Cristian Santana

The now 22-year-old Santana has been slowly bouncing down through our rankings for a half decade. As a teenager he was a potential third baseman with power who showed good control of the strikezone. That’s still the case, but Santana’s pull happy, uppercut approach just hasn’t been refined much at all the past few years. He finally reached High-A this year and mashed 16 home runs, but he continues to strike out a lot while making a ton of weak outs in the air.

Santana’s 15.3 percent walk rate at High-A illustrates his solid discipline, and his 26 percent strikeout rate isn’t egregious. He continues to post good on-base numbers but his batted ball profile rarely results in singles, and he’s consistently been just under the Mendoza line. The Tigers have tried to level him out at the plate, but Santana continues to hit over 50 percent of his balls in the air, with 30 percent of them pop-ups.

He has raw power, plate discipline, and a solid enough glove to be alright at third and first base, where he played this year for the West Michigan Whitecaps. But this extreme three-true-outcomes style of hitting has resisted the Tigers attempts to improve his swing mechanics and quality of contact. Hopes of a big breakout are pretty faded at this point, but he did just enough this season to stay tuned for 2027.

Stock: Neutral

51. RHP Jatnk Diaz

Diaz’s fascinating ride to getting drafted back in 2023 left me with a soft spot for him. He was so raw coming out of high school, where due to COVID red tape he was unable to play and instead trained himself to pitch on his own through instructional videos, that I figured he deserved two years just to actually learn how to pitch. Progress has been really slow, unfortunately.

Diaz’s muscular, six-foot-four frame promised velocity, but while he was occasionally touching 96-97 mph in high school max effort side sessions, his cruising speed in pro ball is still typically in the low-90’s. He does get a lot of weak contact and keeps the ball on the ground with a mix of sinkers and fourseamers, along with a fringy curveball that needs to be thrown harder, but his control is still missing in action. Efforts to develop a changeup are going better, but the slider they’re working on with him is still a work in progress.

Diaz’s limited experience was a good reason to give him a few years to settle into pro ball and really just to learn how to pitch, but there’s really nothing to write home about happening at this point. If he starts repeating his delivery, throwing more strikes, and fulfills the promise of his physique with significantly more velocity, he’ll become interesting again, but at this point he’s a pretty non-descript young org arm and really needs to make major progress next year to keep his pro career afloat.

Stock: Down

For the 36-year-old Albert Suárez, it’s a minor miracle that he’s still with the Orioles’ organization. And that’s not because we’re now two years removed from his breakout 2024 campaign. Nor is it due to the fact that he’s only pitched 64.2 innings in two seasons since 2024, less than half the innings he put up in ‘24 alone. No, it’s a minor miracle that Suárez is still with the O’s because Baltimore has tried to get rid of him so many times.

Fine, that’s a bit of a tongue-in-cheek explanation of the Orioles’ relationship with Suárez and how the two kept coming back to each other in 2026. And yet, usually when a player is designated for assignment five times in his career, it’s because teams are not particularly fond of that player. In Suárez’s case, the O’s DFA’d him five times just this season.

The veteran right-hander from Venezuela still managed to pitch in every month of the Orioles’ season, but his stints with the big league club came in bursts. Suárez began the season in Norfolk, but was recalled on April 1st. He then made five multi-inning appearances across the first month of the season before his first DFA on April 26th. He briefly became a free agent, was resigned to a minor league deal on April 30th and then recalled back to the big leagues on May 1st.

Thus began the yo-yo nature of Suárez’s season, with him constantly bouncing between Baltimore, free agency, Norfolk and back. He pitched 2.2 innings in a 7-2 loss to the Yankees on May 1st before being sent to Norfolk for the next three weeks. The 16.2 innings he tossed for the Tides this year were the most innings he’d thrown in the minors since 2018.

Suárez had two fairly long continuous stretches on the major league roster. A whirlwind end of May saw him recalled on May 19th and make one appearance on May 24th before his second round of DFA. He returned to the Orioles on May 29th for a long while. Between May 30th and August 20th, Suárez pitched 17th times for Baltimore, racking up 34.1 IP, a 4.72 ERA, a .263 BAA and 28 strikeouts.

The reason Suárez continued to be an unsung hero for the Orioles was his willingness to eat innings in games that were often lost causes. Between June 3rd and August 6th, the industrious Venezuelan made 12 appearances for Baltimore. In those 12 games, Suárez entered as early as the 4th inning and as late as the 8th inning. Eleven of the 12 times he pitched more than one inning. However, the Orioles lost all 12 games, though Suárez did not take the loss any of those times. Across the whole season, the O’s were 6-22 in games when Suárez pitched, though the 36-year-old had a personal record of 3-0.

Suárez took one last round trip on the Norfolk Express to end the season. The veteran was designated for assignment for the fifth and final time on September 6th before ultimately resigning with the Tides on September 12th. The O’s would recall him one last time on September 24th, when he pitched four scoreless innings in the Orioles’ 10-2 win over the Yankees. It was the righty’s best outing of the season, as he helped see out the Orioles’ last win of 2026.

Whether we’ve seen the last of Albert Suárez in Orioles black and orange is hard to know. The pending possibility of a lockout for the 2027 season could punish Suárez more than most. Should the labor dispute cancel all or most of his age-37 season, we could see Suárez simply retire after a largely fruitful three-season stretch in Baltimore.

Should we have a season in 2027, Suárez still has value to the Orioles. With Keegan Akin and Andrew Kittredge potentially heading out the door as free agents, Suárez’s workhorse nature is something the O’s should still welcome in their bullpen. Gone are the days when Suárez was in consideration for a spot in the rotation, as all 28 of his appearances in 2026 came out of the bullpen. Still, a reliever who can always throw multiple innings is a valuable piece.

And yet, Suárez also feels like a player the Orioles should naturally outgrow as the team evolves. The right-hander feels like the pitching version of Jorge Mateo. Like Mateo, he had one impressive season for Baltimore, one that earned him a longer tenure on the roster. But also like Mateo, Suárez lacks the upside the Orioles need in their players to push the team over the barrier of contention.

No one in Birdland will be upset if Baltimore brings Suárez back in 2027. The same way no one was upset each time the Orioles DFA’d, resigned and recalled him in 2026. But the hope is that the front office will address the pitching staff in such a way that Suárez is no longer a necessity. The hope is also that the Orioles win enough games next year that the role of designated mop-up pitcher isn’t required.

Colson Montgomery wasn’t about to change his swing.

Not when the Chicago White Sox shortstop was approaching a record no batter wants. Not when his strikeout total climbed past some of baseball’s most notorious free swingers. And certainly not when the same approach that produced all those swings and misses had also delivered 31 home runs.

The 24-year-old believed one swing could change a game. Shortening his stroke, even with two strikes, wasn’t part of his plan.

“I’m not a finished product by any means,” Montgomery told MLB.com in September. “It’s one of those things you have to accept.”

By season’s end, Montgomery had struck out 227 times, surpassing Mark Reynolds’ previous major league record of 223 set in 2009. It was a dubious distinction in an otherwise memorable season that helped carry Chicago into October.

But Montgomery’s record was only part of a much larger story.

Across Major League Baseball, strikeouts have transformed from an outcome hitters once desperately tried to avoid into an increasingly accepted consequence of an offensive philosophy built around power, patience and hitting the ball in the air.

For the White Sox, that philosophy produced one of the American League’s most productive offenses.

It also helped bring their season to an abrupt end.

In five American League Division Series games against Cleveland, Chicago struck out 75 times, the most ever in a Division Series. The Guardians recorded 21 strikeouts in a 2-0 victory in Game 5, setting a major league record for a nine-inning game. Not a playoff record, but a record never matched in any nine-inning MLB game, ever.

The White Sox had gone from chasing a championship to chasing pitches they couldn’t hit. 

THE PRICE OF POWER

Montgomery’s record-breaking season illustrated the complicated relationship between strikeouts and offensive production.

His 31 home runs and 87 RBIs made him a dangerous presence in Chicago’s lineup, even as his .197 batting average and 227 strikeouts demonstrated how difficult consistent contact had become.

For Montgomery, the solution wasn’t necessarily changing the mechanics of his swing. It was changing how he approached each opportunity.

“You get what you focus on,” Montgomery says. “I feel like if you sit there and you are focusing on striking out all the time, you are probably going to get more of that stuff.”

The reasoning reflects a broader philosophical shift in baseball.

Rather than simply trying to put the ball in play, many hitters prioritize pitches they can drive with authority. Modern hitting instruction emphasizes exit velocity, launch angle and swing decisions — the combination of recognizing a hittable pitch and delivering a swing capable of producing damage.

A fly ball hit at an optimal launch angle can clear the fence. A weak ground ball, even when successfully put into play, frequently becomes an out.

But the pursuit of harder contact can create a difficult trade-off. Hitters trying to elevate the baseball may develop swings with more upward movement, while pitchers increasingly attack with high-velocity fastballs, breaking pitches and changing speeds.

The result can be more home runs, but also more empty swings.

White Sox hitting coach Derek Shomon acknowledged the concern while explaining that the reasons behind strikeouts matter as much as the totals.

“I would be sitting here lying to you if I’m OK with strikeouts,” Shomon told MLB.com in September. “No one is.”

Shomon said the organization evaluates whether strikeouts result from chasing pitches outside the zone, missing hittable strikes or making poor decisions with two strikes.

The challenge is reducing those failures without eliminating the aggressive approach that made Chicago’s offense successful. 

A CENTURY OF CHANGING EXPECTATIONS

For much of baseball history, striking out was relatively uncommon.

Hitters were expected to protect the plate, shorten their swings with two strikes and make pitchers rely on their defense. Contact was considered a fundamental part of offensive success.

That philosophy gradually changed as hitters and organizations began placing greater value on walks, extra-base hits and home runs.

Statistical analysis reinforced the importance of reaching base and hitting for power. Meanwhile, improvements in pitching velocity, pitch design and bullpen specialization made simply putting the ball in play increasingly difficult.

In 2026, major league teams averaged 8.38 strikeouts per game, compared with 8.36 in 2025, according to Baseball-Reference. Although the increase was small, the modern figures remain substantially higher than those of earlier generations.

The distinction is important: Baseball is not necessarily experiencing a new annual strikeout record, but it continues operating in an era in which a team striking out eight or nine times per game is ordinary.

For an individual hitter, that environment has changed the definition of an acceptable offensive performance.

A player can strike out 200 times and still provide significant value through walks and home runs.

For the White Sox, nobody embodied that contradiction more dramatically than Munetaka Murakami. 

MURAKAMI’S DISAPPEARING CONTACT

Murakami’s first season in Chicago offered a striking example of how tremendous power can coexist with prolonged offensive struggles.

The Japanese slugger finished with 35 home runs, 77 RBIs and 92 walks, helping anchor a White Sox lineup that scored more runs than any other American League team.

But he also struck out 196 times in 454 at-bats, a staggering total for one of Chicago’s most important hitters.

His struggles became especially pronounced during August.

Murakami struck out 46 times that month while hitting five home runs. From August 5 through September 3, he recorded 45 strikeouts in 101 at-bats, meaning nearly 45% of those official at-bats ended without a ball being put into play.

By mid-September, the slump had deepened. Murakami was hitting .095 with 50 strikeouts in his previous 95 at-bats — more than half.

Yet he continued drawing walks, demonstrating that patience and the ability to make contact are not necessarily the same skill.

“There’s always good times and bad times throughout the season,” Murakami said through interpreter Kenzo Yagi in September. “It’s really important just to keep focusing on the approach every single day.”

The numbers raised a difficult question for Chicago: How much swing-and-miss can an offense withstand before its power becomes insufficient?

During the regular season, the answer appeared to be quite a lot.

In October, it was considerably less. 

WHEN CONTACT BECOMES EVERYTHING

The White Sox entered the postseason with 776 runs, 211 home runs and an American League-leading 589 walks. Their offense was built to create opportunities, work counts and deliver game-changing swings.

Against Cleveland, however, those opportunities increasingly disappeared.

In Game 3 of the ALDS, seven Guardians pitchers combined for 19 strikeouts in a nine-inning game, then a postseason record. Three days later, Cleveland shattered that mark with 21 in Game 5, as Guardians starter Gavin Williams struck out 12 batters over 5 2/3 innings, carrying a no-hitter into the sixth.

Chicago finally threatened when Miguel Vargas drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Murakami stepped to the plate with an opportunity to change the game.

Instead, Cleveland reliever Erik Sabrowski struck him out on five pitches.

It was one of four strikeouts for Murakami that night. Andrew Benintendi also struck out four times.

Chicago finished the series with 75 strikeouts, an average of 15 per game. Cleveland’s pitchers surpassed the previous record for a five-game postseason series … by 11.

For White Sox manager Will Venable, the issue wasn’t simply hitters expanding the strike zone.

“I thought it was less about chase and more about being attacked in the zone and swing and miss in the zone,” Venable said after Game 5.

The difference is significant.

Plate discipline is frequently measured by whether hitters swing at pitches outside the strike zone. But a hitter can make the correct decision to swing at a strike and still fail to make contact.

Against Cleveland, Chicago’s inability to connect with pitches inside the zone became a defining problem. Venable acknowledged that the outcome ultimately came down to the most basic element of hitting: putting the ball in play.

For a team built around power, patience and offensive production, it was a painful reminder that none of those strengths matter when the bat never meets the baseball. 

A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO TWO STRIKES?

The question facing Chicago heading into 2027 isn’t whether Montgomery and Murakami should abandon their power, but whether the White Sox can preserve that power while developing a more adaptable offensive approach.

Situational hitting becomes especially important with runners in scoring position, when a productive out, sacrifice fly or ground ball to the right side can help manufacture a run.

A strikeout provides no such opportunity.

With two strikes, some hitters shorten their swings, widen their stances or focus on making contact rather than producing maximum exit velocity. Others refuse to sacrifice the mechanics that generate their power.

Montgomery has made his position clear: His game is built around the possibility of changing the scoreboard with one swing, and he believes that ability is worth protecting.

Venable has supported that outlook, emphasizing Montgomery’s contributions rather than allowing his strikeout record to define his season. But Cleveland exposed the limitations of relying on damage without enough contact.

After the season-ending loss, Murakami acknowledged that the White Sox would need to learn from their first postseason experience together.

“We are still a very young team,” he said through Yagi. “We have to learn from our experience here and then bring that to next year.”

That education may begin with a deceptively simple lesson: Baseball’s modern offensive revolution has demonstrated the value of hitting the ball harder, higher and farther — but when a season comes down to one swing, sometimes the most valuable thing a hitter can do is simply make contact.

Meet the Mets

What does the Mets’ offseason timeline look like now that the World Series and offseason are almost upon us?

Devin Williams had a subpar season in Queens as the Mets’ new closer and they will need more from him going forward.

Between Williams’s struggles and the sell-off of this year’s bullpen, should the Mets sign Padres reliever Adrian Morejon?

Around the National League East

Randy Arozarena could be an intriguing option for the Braves this offseason.

The Phillies are one of the teams that could go after ace Tarik Skubal if they trade away some of the pitchers already in their rotation.

The Nationals could move star C.J. Abrams to the outfield next season after struggling defensively at short.

Around Major League Baseball

While the Brewers and Rays seem similar on paper they also have some fundamental differences.

Tampa Bay and Milwaukee do not have a significant payrolls proving to other small market teams they can be successful without spending big.

Shohei Ohtani won’t require surgery on his knee or arm and the Dodgers expect him to pitch next season.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman agreed to a contract extension since owner Hal Steinbrenner believes the players are the reason for the team’s playoff failures.

A sports bettor in Ohio has been banned from all state gambling facilities after he made violent threats against Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Brian Salvatore reviewed Luis Robert Jr.’s injury-plagued season.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 2000, Roger Clemens infamously threw a piece of shattered bat at Mike Piazza.

The temptation was too great. I had to do it. I thought of the idea of writing a point-counterpoint on who to root for in this World Series first. I was going to make a sincere effort to make an argument for both teams. I came up with my headline. And then I realized no matter how good of an argument I came up with, I would end up saying root for the Rays, and most Cardinals fans would say that, and I thought that stating the obvious right off the bat would be fun. And then I physically could not bring myself to write more. I tried to enter a bunch of spaces to fool you into thinking that was all I wrote, but that wouldn’t hit the same. So there you have it. Hopefully that is still up when you read this (I’m posting this 30 minutes later)

The Brewers and Rays matchup appears to be breaking people’s brains, because I have somehow seen multiple people earnestly claim this is a win for the anti-analytics crowd. Analytics does not mean strikeouts people! It’s using data to gain the upper hand. These are possibly the two greatest organizations at doing that. Just because they have some old school players does not make this matchup into one of two teams facing off who spurn analytics.

In theory, if we ignore the divisional component of this matchup….there’s really no reason to root for one over the other. They have very similar arguments. Low payroll, small market, very well-run for years, no championships ever, best team in their league, plays fun baseball, like as alluded to above, even old school fans will like both teams. If the Brewers were in the NL East, I’d have a very difficult time picking one.

Why the Brewers

• If I’m being completely honest….. Milwaukee the city deserves a championship way, way, way, way, way, way more than Tampa Bay. As an anti-teams moving fan, Tampa Bay should frankly move. They don’t get any support at all and they’ve been good for years. Like half of Florida roots for other teams, because they didn’t grow up in Florida. I won’t be rooting for the Brewers for reasons you’ll see later, but like this is a very tempting reason! It’s why I won’t be mad if they win.
• Tampa has this reason too but…. it’s time. I did not root for the White Sox, because I felt like them winning it this year would be jumping ahead of the line. Their organization has not been run well enough to deserve a ring. They weren’t good enough this year to deserve a ring. On the flip side, Milwaukee has certainly had one coming. Their collective play the past 10 or so years should have a ring at some point. It’s like how the Cardinals deserved a ring in 2006 even though the 2006 Cardinals did not. The organization deserved it. Just like the Brewers.
• They were the best team. Frankly, best regular season team who isn’t a big market who has never won is a much easier rooting interest than we ever get in the World Series. Of course literally of those things apply to the Rays.
• The National League was light years ahead of the American League and the championship should probably go to an NL team to accurately represent the 2026 season.

Why the Rays

• Here’s my number #1 schadenfreude reason: for the purposes of the rivalry, we kind of need them to not win so that the trade can become the next Lou Brock trade. Which really isn’t a good comparison because in that time period, players didn’t have free agency and both players the Cardinals gave the Brewers will be free agents (that they won’t resign). JoJo Romero has been about as good as advertised, Dustin May has not. The Brewers winning the World Series means they won’t give a shit if Josiah Ragsdale wins two MVPs for the Cardinals. Them not winning the World Series? Kind of feel like it’d be their Marcell Ozuna trade. I don’t have a problem with the Brewers and yet this evil fan in me can’t help but root for this outcome.
• It’s time. The Rays have been a well-run organization for much longer than the Brewers have and the Brewers have been well-run for a pretty long time at this point! On top of that, they’ve already lost two World Series in the past 20 years. They’ve gotten right on the brink, tasted it and lost. By this made-up metric, they deserve it more than the Brewers.
• They were the best team. I am a weird neutral fan in the playoffs. Because I have a hyper-specific set of criteria for who I want to win if it’s not the Cardinals and somehow both the Brewers and Rays qualify. If it’s a team who has won too much, I don’t want them to win. If it’s a team I don’t feel like is very good, I don’t want them to win. So they have to be a great team, but not a perennial great team, and oh yeah it can’t be a team I already hate (I have never liked this modern version of the Phillies, and while I want to blame it on 2022, that’s not why. I don’t have a good reason. I have never wanted them to win the championship for reasons I’m not totally clear on. It’s not even the fans. At least not specifically.)
• This Timeless Ticket scandal is very bad vibes for the Brewers. If you don’t know the story, 10 years ago, fans could buy a “Timeless Ticket” and they bought it for $1,000. I believe they got to go to a certain number of regular season games, but also could use this ticket to get the “best available” at any playoff game. Well the “best available” was not exactly what they were offered, but a 400 level seat. Well it was deemed best available by the organization.
• By that some token, Brewers owner Mark Attanasio was interviewed recently asking why baseball needed a salary cap when baseball is in a great place and two teams like this are in the World Series. I know a lot of you are for the cap, but that’s not why I’m listing this here. He said “it’s been 44 years, and there’s a sense in the community that it could be another 44 years” and whether nor not you agree with the cap, I think this is a very stupid thing to say on the eve of playing a World Series. There had to be a better way to make this argument.

But really, it’s mostly the trade. I want that to be a sore spot for Brewers fans for years to come.

Could Cardinals have gotten this player?

Alright, let’s play a game. I’m going to highlight some players, and then show how they were acquired by that team. In theory, at that time, could the Cardinals have gotten that player instead? What would it have taken? Some of these will require incredible hindsight, I’m guessing most will.

Christian Yelich – I would imagine so if the Cardinals had more patience. Yelich wasn’t available at the time the Cardinals traded for Marcell Ozuna. In theory anyway. But instead of trading for the guy coming off a career year, let someone else trade for him, and wait for Yelich to become available. Does require a little bit of hindsight I suppose because Yelich being available wasn’t a sure thing. I don’t know if the Cardinals would be willing to pay the price either. Despite the return for him not doing anything, they were in fact great prospects at the time. Ironically Zac Gallen and Sandy Alcantara might not have been good enough prospects for Yelich. This would be a very interesting alternate reality.

Brice Turang – drafted two picks after Nolan Gorman so yeah. And I’m bringing him up specifically because he was also drafted out of high school. But from the draft stuff I read about Turang…. he sounded dangerously like Pete Kozma. Didn’t work out that way of course. But if you removed the names, and then in the upcoming draft, had to pick between Turang’s profile and Gorman’s…. most of us are falling for Gorman again.

William Contreras – I mean it would have been nice to have been gifted him for essentially for free because the Braves decided they didn’t want Contreras anymore when they got Sean Murphy. Everyone knew the Cardinals needed a catcher. I doubt the Cardinals were interested because Contreras’ defense was not good at the time – the Brewers cleaned it up, although after that initial season, I hadn’t realized he’s basically an average defender. But still that’s way better than he was with the Braves. Cardinals could have been that third team I’m pretty sure.

Joey Ortiz – Realistically, I don’t think so. He was in the Corbin Burnes trade. The Cardinals didn’t have a Corbin Burnes after the 2023 season.

Trevor Megill – Yes definitely. The Cardinals go after a bunch of guys like this, most don’t turn into him. Terrible with the Cubs in 2021, claimed off waivers by the Twins, he was pretty solid, but had a not very good ERA. Didn’t make Opening Day roster in 2023, was absoltuely terrible in AAA, Twins gave him to the Brewers at the end of April for a PTBNL who hasn’t made the majors and they unlocked the elite reliever in him. But the process of getting him is not really any different than the Cardinals getting George Soriano.

Yandy Diaz – I guess, though he was part of a really strange deal. He was in a three-team trade with the Guardians and Mariners. The Rays didn’t believe in Jake Bauers – on the Brewers now funny enough – so they traded him to Cleveland. In return they got Cole Sulser and Diaz. Cleveland also got Carlos Santana and traded Edwin Encarnacion and a draft pick to the Mariners. Diaz was 27 at the time with no position and had a grand total of 120 PAs as a good hitter. He would not have stopped the Cardinals from getting Paul Goldschmidt and probably not Nolan Arenado either since he wasn’t a good defender at 3B. I’m not sure he lasts that long on the Cardinals even if they do trade for him given those two facts and that he wasn’t great in 2021.

Junior Caminero – Here’s another one involving the same types of teams. Caminero was traded for Tobias Myers, who was 22 and on the verge of the majors – except Cleveland sold Myers before he ever made the majors. Caminero was coming off his DSL season, so this is your Yordan Alvarez trade. Myers ended up on the Brewers and was traded with Freddy Peralta to the Mets. Peralta is now with the Rays.

Victor Mesa Jr. – I imagine so. He came into the season as the 44th ranked prospect in the Rays system by Fangraphs. He was traded for a DSL prospect. One not ranked particularly high in the Marlins system.

Bryan Baker – Yes, he was traded for a draft pick last deadline. Not sure it would have been well-received considering he was a 30-year-old mediocre reliever (or so it seemed) at the time, but yeah the Cardinals could have done it.

I mean yeah pretty much anybody in the bullpen could have been acquired, cheap teams acquire their bullpen cheaply.

Other interesting note: Ace Drew Rasmussen for the Rays was part of the return for shortstop Willy Adames. I mentioned Bauers originally came up as a Ray.

Former Cardinals section

Brewers – Dustin May, JoJo Romero – the aforementioned trade that is making me root against the Brewers

Rays – Richie Palacios, Ryan Vilade, Steven Matz – Palacios for Andrew Kittredge, Vilade was a waiver claim, and Matz was a free agent.