It was a nail biter, but the San Diego Padres came away from it with a seven-game win streak and back-to-back sweeps for the third time this season. It was a great game to cap off the sweep. Ethan Salas finally notched his first big-league hit with a triple in Oracle Park, Fernando Tatis Jr. went 3-for-4 with two RBI and Manny Machado launched his 27th home run of the season.

The Friars will now turn to the Colorado Rockies to round out their penultimate road trip of the 2026 season. It’s a four-game set in the hitter-friendly environs of Coors Field. With the way the Padres have been swinging their bats lately (37 runs in their last six games; 6.2 runs per game), they should have no problem keeping the good vibes rolling.

Taking the mound

Tomoyuki Sugano (COL) v. Casey Mize (SD)

Sugano has been surprisingly good in the hitter-friendly confines of Coors Field. That said, he’s still pitched to a 5.30 ERA. But that number goes down to 4.96 at home compared to 5.64 away. It’s an interesting split to have when Colorado is known for being a hitter’s dream.

The righty has been particularly awful recently. In his last seven starts, Sugano has pitched to a 7.71 ERA across 35 innings pitched. In his last three starts, he’s surrendered a whopping 14 runs (16.0 IP). If San Diego’s recently potent lineup can take advantage of that, they would be well on their way to their eighth straight win.

Since joining the Padres, it’s no secret that Mize has struggled. He’s posted a dismal 6.34 ERA in his first seven games. Much of that is believed to be due to a groin injury that Mize has been pitching through. It was reported earlier this week that that injury was the reason many scouts decided against Mize, lowering his trade stock.

But Mize is coming off of a pretty decent start. He hurled five innings of one-run ball against the Washington Nationals on Tuesday. He entered the sixth inning and allowed two to reach base before manager Craig Stammen pulled him for Randy Vásquez. Vásquez promptly gave up a two-run double, allowing both of Mize’s runs to score. If not for that, it would have been viewed as a gem.

Batter up!

The ball was flying out of the stadium in San Francisco. The Padres’ lineup went a blistering 34-for-113 in the series with 11 walks. Of that group, none has been hotter than Jackson Merrill. The center fielder has been on an insane tear lately, hitting .429/.433/.929 with a 1.362 OPS.

1. Fernando Tatis Jr., 2B
2. Dustin Harris, RF
3. Manny Machado, 3B
4. Luis Campusano, C
5. Jackson Merrill, CF
6. Austin Hays, DH
7. Xander Bogaerts, SS
8. Jake Cronenworth, 1B
9. Samad Taylor, LF

It seems likely that Ty France could return this series from the paternity list, though the Padres haven’t announced if that will be for the series opener. It very well could be, with France slotting back into the fourth spot in the order. If it does, it would likely bump Campusano down to the sixth spot.

Relief corps

Nick Pivetta worked a solid four innings, giving up two runs. After that, it got shaky. Kyle Hart pitched a two-run fifth inning before David Morgan struggled to get out of the sixth. Wandy Peralta finished the sixth and pitched a perfect seventh inning. Randy Vásquez endured a shaky eighth inning before Yuki Matsui slammed the door in the ninth.

The Friars got exactly what they needed: rest for their high-leverage relievers. The group had been taxed after pitching in Games 1 and 2. That will leave them available for the series opener in Colorado. Griffin Canning, Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon and Bradgley Rodriguez will be the freshest arms for San Diego, with Canning first out of the ‘pen if Mize doesn’t make it through at least five innings.

I spend a lot of my spare energy trying to defend Stephen Vogt in my mind, but I was at a loss after the Guardians’ loss on Saturday to the Twins.

Ok, so, the Guardians decided prior to the game that they wanted to get through three innings with Daniel Espino and Franco Aleman. Aleman has been the worst reliever on the roster and just got demoted today. The point of an opening reliever is to make sure a good reliever gets a chance to pitch meaningful innings, not to make sure your worst reliever faces the bottom of the order, but ok, I get it. Aleman came in to face #8, #9 and #1. If he gets into trouble, you have Cantillo hot and get Aleman out right away.

…Except Cantillo was throwing early in the pen and Aleman just. Kept. Pitching.

Started the inning by getting a pop-out, great. But, then he allowed a homer to debuting rookie Emmanuel Rodriguez. It turns out a 95 mph fastball down the heart of the plate was a poor decision.

Luke Keaschell then followed with a 5-pitch at-bat ending in an 80 mph line drive that just fell in front of Angel Martinez. I think this is where Vogt and I diverged. Surrendering an 111 mph homer and then a weak contact single is a nightmare to a rookie pitcher like Aleman who has shown some signs of not being able to maintain composure. Maybe Cantillo was not quite ready yet, but it sure seemed like this was the moment to go and get him.

Instead, Aleman throws a wild pitch… immediately… and then surrenders a 60 mph bloop single to Brooks Lee. Now, Vogt HAS to get Aleman out. From the wild pitch to the SECOND bad-BABIP event, it’s time. Yet, Vogt trusted Aleman getting weak contact and left him in to face Kody Clemens who crushes RHP. Clemens got an 83 mph line drives single in front of Kwan to score another run. Another weak contact single. Ok, surely, this is enough. Get Cantillo in here.

Folks, Stephen Vogt left Aleman in for FOUR MORE BATTERS. I just cannot for the life of me figure out why. Yes, he struck out Josh Bell which seems to have fooled Vogt into thinking he had righted the ship. Yes, his pitch count was still low. Yes, he did not surrender a hit over 93 mph after the Rodriguez homer. It still seems unconscionable to leave Aleman in after this run of events and allow him to HIT two Twins batters before finally getting Cantillo in to end the inning. By then, the damage was done and the Twins had scored the four runs they needed to win the game.

In order for the Guardians to make the playoffs and have a chance in those playoffs, Vogt cannot afford any more of these errors. He has to adjust to the game unfolding in front of him and not allow numbers to cloud his feel for the ability of his pitchers to handle a situation, or let his ideal plan get in the way of adjusting to new circumstances.

I think, as a whole, Vogt makes great pitching decisions as far as getting guys in and out of games. I know opener games are tricky. But, I hope what happened with Aleman on Saturday was a one-time mistake and that it will not be the one game the Guardians needed to make the postseason because I still can’t quite figure out how Cleveland’s manager was the last to realize that Aleman had to be removed.

Well, there’s not much to say about this lineup. David Peterson throws with his left hand. The Braves don’t have Lane Thomas on hand anymore, so it’s basically your standard lineup with Sean Murphy and Ha-Seong Kim bringing up the rear.

This is the same lineup the Braves used in what ended up being that 12-2 game against the Phillies. Given that Peterson probably won’t last long given his inefficiency, the Braves may be hoping for a similar result.

I guess I’ll talk about Ozzie Albies. He’s hitting cleanup for the 21st time this season. His season is basically tanking. He started out with a near-.400 wOBA in April while running an average xwOBA, had a poor May, an okay-ish June, and then ran another huge xwOBA overperformance on a bad xwOBA in July. Since then, it’s been absolutely grim. In August, he had a .275 wOBA and .283 xwOBA. In September, he’s down to a .212 wOBA and .218 xwOBA. As has also been the case for a while, Albies is no longer terrorizing lefties. In his first seven seasons, he had five where he hit lefties super-well, and one of the ones where he didn’t was a tiny-sample 2020 where he was hurt. In both 2024 and 2025, his xwOBA against lefties dwindled to an okay .325ish. This year? He’s down to .282. He’s only posted an xwOBA at or above .300 against lefties this season in April and July. In September so far, it’s .171. There’s not really that much time for Albies to change the script of his season, but this is a really disappointing follow-up to 2025 and it’s going to be the third straight year where Albies turns in an underwhelming season.

Anyway, should we do batter versus pitcher while waiting for the Cubs to post their lineup? Sure, I guess. These guys are very familiar with Peterson, after all. Amazingly, neither Drake Baldwin nor Mauricio Dubon have ever faced Peterson, and Kim only has four PAs against him, but everyone else has somewhere between 12 and 30. Ronald Acuña Jr. and Matt Olson have destroyed Peterson in their careers, and Riley’s been fine, but everyone else has struggled a bit. Add this all up, and you get a .318 wOBA and .347 xwOBA in 141 career head-to-head PAs.

As for the Cubs, well…

Most of these names are probably familiar to you — except perhaps Pedro Ramirez, a switch-hitting 22-year-old top prospect called up partway through the year. Ramirez hasn’t hit all that well (.290 xwOBA), but because he’s on this Cubs team, he’s massively outhitting it to an above-average batting line.

Bizarre baseball quirk: each team has only used their lineup for this game once before, and in both cases, that team had a 12-2 win when doing so.

Are the Cubs familiar with Reynaldo Lopez? Kinda, but not really. Everyone but Ramirez has faced him at least once, but only Alex Bregman has faced him more than nine times. The history, though, is brutal for Lopez — the lowest xwOBA among the octet is .349. Put it together, and it’s a .360 wOBA and .432 xwOBA… but in just 43 PAs. Let’s hope that head-to-head picture improves after today, though it could conceivably improve and still be a brutal beatdown by the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

After blistering through the minor leagues, Kade Anderson’s big-league career is off to a slower start. In his first three games, he gave up a combined nine runs and an uncharacteristic seven walks, struggling with command and playing more defense than offense in his at-bats. It’s unfamiliar territory for the champion collegiate who spent this past year setting records in the minor leagues, but for now, there’s nowhere to go but through. Anderson spent this year proving he hasn’t got anything else to learn at Double-A, and there’s little developmental value in sending him to the bounce houses of Triple-A; even if the Mariners wanted to send him to Triple-A for some seasoning against the hitters there, there’s only a week left in Tacoma’s season. With time running out on the Mariners’ own season, Anderson finds himself in a position those of us in the working world can relate to all too well: fake it until you make it.

The arrow is trending up after Anderson’s most recent outing against the Rangers, his best start to date as a big-leaguer: six innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts and just one walk. The single free pass is the metric to hone in on as an encouraging sign that Anderson is getting back to the version of himself that dominated at Double-A. At his best, Anderson gets ahead in the count early with his pinpoint command and ability to coax poor contact, forcing batters to react to him rather than the other way around. There were signs of that in his outing against Toronto, as well, where he was ahead of hitters for his first few innings despite not having perfect command of his four-seamer, missing armside up with the pitch a little too often.

Unfortunately, development often isn’t linear, and Anderson’s next outing against the A’s was his worst yet. He missed locations, one particularly egregious one to Gelof resulting in a first-pitch homer, shook his catcher Cal Raleigh multiple times (once resulting in a walk), got into some long battles with hitters, issued a four-pitch walk, and wasn’t able to land his curveball for strikes. A shell-shocked Anderson faced the media after his five-inning, four-run outing, calling his performance “unacceptable.”

Fortunately, development often isn’t linear, and Anderson followed up his worst performance as a big-leaguer with his best one yet. He credited his improvement largely to an improved mentality, inspired partially by his catcher Cal Raleigh, who said something to Anderson after he’d given up an early home run to the Rangers’ Jake Burger – Anderson declined to say exactly what, but said the adjustment allowed him to be more aggressive in the zone.

“The best pitchers trust their stuff, and the dudes that have the most confidence are the ones that are getting the most whiffs and getting deep into games,” said Anderson postgame. “It was more of a mentality [change], like, attacking guys. It felt like when I made that adjustment, my velo shot up, I was throwing things more aggressively in the zone. It felt like at some points I was trying to over-locate like throwing something by a dude, and I think that was the biggest game changer.”

“It felt like I was out there pitching again.”

“Fake it until you make it” maybe isn’t where the highly decorated pitcher expected himself to be a month into his big-league career, but Anderson is fortunate to have both Raleigh, his veteran catcher, to guide him, and a fellow former SEC pitcher who knows a little bit about struggling at the next level in Emerson Hancock.

“I mean, I’ve been through a lot,” said Hancock jokingly when asked about his mentorship of the young pitcher.

“It’s just part of every person’s journey of what they go through. Like y’all experience different things, whether it’s injury, success, failure. And that’s what’s cool about this game. It’s a challenge. It’s ongoing. It’s a daily commitment and practice. So it’s all just part of the journey.”

The uber-competitive Anderson is maybe not entirely soothed by Hancock’s reassurances that it’s all just part of the journey, but he’d do well to heed what Hancock has learned about managing his energy and not getting too high or too low – hard-won lessons for Hancock that have come through years of struggle and his own non-linear development before arriving this year as one of the steadiest hands in the Mariners rotation.

“There have been times when you get super fiery and focused, but I also think as you go on and you play more, you’re like, all right, I’m learning more about myself, and you ask yourself: What do I need? How am I feeling when I’m thinking this way, or when I’m flowing?” said Hancock. “So I think you learn that about yourself, but there’s also other games where you flip the switch and say, you know what, I want this one. I’m ready for this one. So it’s a balance.”

That’s a balance Anderson will continue to navigate over these last few starts remaining in the 2026 season. But he’ll have plenty of support in doing so, not just from the coaching staff, but from his peers, as well, pulling on relationships that began being built in the spring.

“It was fun getting to know him during camp, like with all the guys we draft,” said Hancock. “It’s fun. That’s what I think makes a good organization, that you can establish that relationship with the guys early on. That way when they get here, it’s not so crazy to them. I’ve leaned on the older pitchers that we have, and you try to pass it down and help the next guys out.”

Eventually, it will be Anderson’s turn to pass on his hard-fought knowledge to the next pitcher, his own understanding of the journey. For now, he’s just trying to take it one day at a time. Fake it until you make it.

The Brewers are at a difficult point with Kyle Harrison. The postseason is just two weeks away and one of their most trusted arms for the majority of the season is going through a rough patch that has weakened the team’s ability to trust him when he’s out on the mound.

In the first half, Kyle Harrison looked untouchable, and was maybe even on pace to earn some Cy Young votes, though still well behind the ace of this Brewers staff, Jacob Misiorowski. Harrison had a 3.01 ERA and it was looking like the Brewers had once again fleeced the Boston Red Sox for a quality starting pitcher.

Then, right before the All Star Break, Harrison landed on the IL with a bout of forearm tightness. He missed nearly a month and returned on August 5. Ever since returning, Harrison has not been the same.

The fastball, which generated elite movement and traits, lost some velocity but more importantly lost the vertical break and movement that made it so difficult for hitters to pick up. That has made him more reliant on secondary pitches, but those, especially his slurve, are most effective playing off the fastball. That combination has led to a lot of hard contact.

Over his last 7.1 IP, covering his last three outings, Harrison has allowed 23 hits and 17 earned runs. His ERA has jumped from 2.79 up to 3.98 for the season, more than a full run increase in just three games.

The Brewers, sensing that Harrison’s stuff had fallen off and he was not the same pitcher he was prior to the IL stint, tried to move him to the bullpen to keep him in shorter stints, protect him, and perhaps help the stuff tick up knowing he didn’t have to empty the tank for 80-100 pitches.

At least for the first bullpen outing, that plan didn’t work. On Saturday against the Reds, Harrison came out of the bullpen for the 8th inning with a 13-5 lead, a more than comfortable lead and low-leverage situation that should build confidence and give him some runway to work through problems. However, Harrison ran out of runway quickly.

The velocity ticked back up and was sitting 96-97 MPH for most of his outing, but the location and movement was still lacking and Harrison left a couple fastballs right down the middle and they were hit hard. He was able to generate some soft contact, but those balls fell and in four batters faced, all four batters reached base. Pat Murphy had to pull the plug.

“Look, Harry, we’ll get this straight. This will happen. You’re going through a rough patch, we’ll get it straight. I mean, he gave up two balls off the fist, he did give up two hard contacts with misplaced pitches, but we’ll get it straight.” Pat Murphy said of what he told Harrison after the outing.

Murphy still has confidence in Harrison, and pitchers certainly do go through rough patches. Though this is certainly a tough time to be going through one as Murphy has to evaluate his trust tree as he gets ready for a postseason run. Having one less pitcher you can trust puts the Brewers in a far more difficult position.

They do have some time to get him through this rough patch and figure things out, but not a lot of time. The move to the bullpen signifies that he’s not likely to be a length starter when it comes to a postseason series, nor should he be at this point. It’s hard to fathom almost considering how he looked in the first half of the season.

“It could point to a little bit of fatigue. It could be a delivery issue. It’s hard. It’s very, very, very hard. A basketball 3-point shooter, if all of a sudden he’s not hitting a shot, everybody goes into like ‘what is it?’ And then you find a little thing in the mechanics and maybe that’s really not it, but it’s an outgrowth of maybe a lack of confidence, and it affects your physical a little bit. So I think you got to suggest some things, you got to work through some things, and he’s got to get himself through it.” Murphy said.

As for where the Brewers go from here, an option down to Triple-A to figure things out appears to be off the table. The minor league season is ending soon and Harrison is in a far different situation than Brandon Sproat, who also struggled out of the bullpen when the Brewers were trying to find a way to make him effective. Plus Murph’s vote of confidence that they’ll straighten things out would lead one to believe they will stick with him.

The most likely answer is that Harrison continues in the bullpen, trying to find him some mop up duty in low leverage to build some confidence, especially while Bryse Wilson is still trying to come back from his back strain. Perhaps there could be some shorter starts, working in tandem with someone like Chad Patrick to make it through six innings or so with those two guys.

Pitching coaches Chris Hook and Jim Henderson will continue to work with him and suggest some things and try to straighten things out. Even if they can’t get his fastball back to what it looked like pre-injury during this final stretch run, they can try to come up with some way to mix and match his arsenal to make him more effective. There’s two weeks left for the Brewers to determine how much they can trust Harrison before October comes around. If he can’t prove he’s trustworthy heading into October, there’s a good chance Harrison will get left off the postseason roster(s).

Ah, the Guardians and White Sox. For the AL Central Lead in mid-September:

The White Sox are 76-73 with a +34 run differential. Since the trade deadline, they are ninth in team wRC+ at 103, 18th in baserunning runs above average at -0.2, 17th in Defense at -3.8, 27th in starting pitcher ERA at 5.99 (5.35 FIP), and eighth in bullpen ERA at 3.46 (3.93 FIP).

The Guardians are 76-74 with a -7 run differential. Since the trade deadline, they are tenth in team wRC+ at 102, 19th in baserunning runs above average at -0.4, sixth in Defense at +2.3, 21st in starting pitcher ERA at 4.61 (4.21 FIP), and second in bullpen ERA at 2.99 (3.37 FIP).

These have looked like evenly matched teams through much of the year but the White Sox have eked out some close ones and lead the season series 6-4. Winning even one game this series gives them a great shot for the division because of the tiebreaker. Winning two all but guarantees it. No pressure, Guardians!

Matchups:

Game One, Monday, 6:40PM ET: Williams, RHP 3.73 ERA (3.40 FIP) vs. Opener Sean Newcombe LHP 2.61 ERA and Burke RHP 3.49 ERA

Game Two, Tuesday, 6:40PM ET: Griffin, LHP 5.94 (4.12 FIP) with Cleveland vs. Martin, RHP 4.62 ERA (4.12 FIP)

Game Three, Wednesday 1:10PM ET: Messick, LHP 2.60 ERA (3.18 FIP) vs. TBD but likely Fedde, RHP 3.92 ERA (5.24 FIP)

Since the trade deadline, the White Sox are led by Randal Grichuk 190 wRC+, Edgar Quero 188 wRC+, Tristan Peters 174 wRC+, Kyle Teel 146 wRC+, Miguel Vargas 136 wRC+, Sam Antonacci 115 wRC+, and Chase Meidroth 112 wRC+.

Since the trade deadline, the Guardians are led by Chase DeLauter 160 wRC+, Angel Martinez 144 wRC+, Steven Kwan 136 wRC+, Travis Bazzana 111 wRC+, and Jo Adell 104 wRC+.

Will José Ramírez be able to help at all this series? Will Jo Adell hit RHP? Will Foster Griffin turn in a decent start and Gavin Williams and Parker Messick continue to dominate? These are the questions for which the answers will determine this pivotal series for the Guardians. Get out to the ballpark and cheer on your team, Cleveland fans!

The Red Sox were on the cusp of the World Series in 2003. They made history in 2004. They lost to the eventual World Series Champion Chicago White Sox in the 2005 ALDS. Heading into 2006, with acquisitions like Coco Crisp, Mike Lowell (after the fact at least), and Josh Beckett, expectations were high.

As late as the week of August first the Sox were tied with the Yankees atop the AL East. However, over the final two months of the season a tough 9-21 August and bounceback 13-14 September would leave the club at 86-76. This would be good enough for third place in the AL East, one game behind the Toronto Blue Jays and 11.0 games behind the first place Yankees.

In 2006, the division winners in the AL would be the Yankees (97-65), Twins (96-66), and Athletics (93-69). The Detroit Tigers would snag the single Wild Card with a 95-67 record thanks in part to a strong debut season by Rookie of the Year Justin Verlander. The Sox clearly weren’t close to the Tigers that year. But what if there were two more Wild Cards?

Unlike a lot of years, the AL Central was really good two decades ago. The next best record in the league would be the defending champion White Sox at 90-72. Following them would be the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at 89-73. Then the Toronto Blue Jays finished at 87-75 and, finally, the Red Sox at 86-76. So the expansion to three hypothetical Wild Cards in 2006 would still have left the Jays and Red Sox on the outside looking in. But three or four more wins? Was that an impossible task? Especially if you know there are Wild Cards to be had?

Craig Breslow himself took the loss in a 7-5 defeat against the Yankees. The offense scored 5 runs off Randy Johnson while, uh, starting pitcher Julián Tavárez allowed just 4. Closer of the future Craig Hansen would get credit for a blown save and then Breslow would give up 2 more runs in 0.1 innings. Unlike the sweep in August at the hands of their rival the 2006 Sox took three of the four games this round.

Saturday September 30th was a 3-4 loss for Boston to the Orioles. Tim Wakefield allowed 3 runs in 6.0 innings. Lenny DiNardo and Bryan Corey each tossed as inning of scoreless relief. Mike Timlin was summoned for the save and allowed 2 runs while recording just 2 outs. This game wasn’t thrown away. And it’s one of the easier cases to be made for flipping around the record.

October 1st, the final day of the regular season was a 5.0 inning rain-shortened complete game “no-hit” outing for Red Sox legend Devern Hansack. It was, unfortunately for him, not ruled a no-hitter. Would they have figured out another starter? Tried to move because of the downpour?

Maybe the Sox simply weren’t ever going to pull it off in 2006, no matter how many Wild Cards were available. Every game could be looked at as a what-if if we wanted to. But this season would be a race in 2026. We’d have been following it at the start of September. Instead the story was the Sox were injured and slumping. The division is tight. The AL East is made up of too many good teams, they can’t all make the playoffs!

Someone on reddit was thinking the same thing. And their finding says it all:

Since 1994 the AL East has had 6 instances of 4th place team finishing at least .500 (rest of league has 8) and 5 times the 5th team finished with 75+ wins (rest of the league has 7)

As of today the Blue Jays are at .500 with a 75-75 record and the Orioles, while 6.0 games under .500, aren’t too far off the pace even in 5th. The other fourth place teams – Tigers, Athletics, Nationals, Cardinals, and Giants – are all under .500. The Houston Astros are leading the AL West with the same record that has the Blue Jays on the outside looking in for even the third wild Card.

Despite having the second best record in the American League, the Yankees would have claim to the Wild Card under the 2006 rules while the Sox would go home. The dramatic 15-game winning streak. The 9-game streak. The trade deadline. This year’s whole turnaround would be lost in the wash. Which isn’t to say the postseason is all that matters – it’s not. Baseball is great because of the regular season.

With 82 wins in the books and 12 games to go the 2026 Red Sox are likely to win more than the 86 games they won 20 years ago, but the race would have been over in August.

I’ll probably think about this during what could be a long lockout. All the baseball we’re missing.

There’s just 13 games left in the Yankees’ regular season, and they still remain four games behind Tampa Bay for the top spot in the American League. Failure to surpass the Rays would throw the Yankees down into the Wild Card Round for the second straight year, and into a gauntlet where they’d play against the Red Sox before getting a shot at Tampa again all for the rights to play in the ALCS. There’s still a four-game set with the Rays to be played in the Bronx next week, but if they can’t make up some ground beforehand it’ll require an outright sweep to move the needle.

Tampa’s results are unfortunately out of their control otherwise, but the Yankees have been doing their part by winning in bunches of late. The team handled the Rockies and took two of three from the Mets, all while welcoming back their captain Aaron Judge from the injured list. Now they’ll hope to get him enough time in the batter’s box to become the Aaron Judge of old in time for it to matter the most, but the rest of the lineup still has to play their part and the pitching staff has to make it to the finish line. Ben Rice has answered the call of late, hitting for a .934 OPS in his last 15 games with 12 runs scored, and Cam Schlittler continues to dominate as he puts the finishing touches on a historic Cy Young campaign for the franchise.

There’s still so much to figure out over these last two weeks of play, and it can’t be helped if eyes start drifting towards October with the postseason looming. How much can the Yankees afford to ease Judge back into the lineup if they want him ready to go for Game 1 of their first series? Is Anthony Volpe going to win himself a last-minute ticket back into the team’s plans with his play covering for Jazz Chisholm Jr.? And how concerned should we be that Gerrit Cole is dealing with a long ball issue again? If you have questions like these, or anything else on your mind, send ‘em in for a chance to be featured in our Yankees mailbag.

Answers will run on Friday afternoon. All questions received by the night of September 17th will be considered. You can leave your submissions in the comment section below or by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

CINCINNATI –– With his already career-worst season reaching nightmarish new depths, Kyle Tucker was pulled aside recently by Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

The topic of conversation: The $240 million outfielder’s playing time over the rest of the season.

Externally, of course, calls had been mounting for Tucker to be platooned, if not outright benched, as his numbers continued to plummet amid an ongoing second-half slump.

Internally, however, the Dodgers had decided to double down on their faith in this offseason’s marquee free-agent signing.

Thus, the message Roberts delivered was simple.

“I told him, I’m gonna ride or die with him,” Roberts shared this weekend.

In that exact phrasing?

“I did,” Roberts joked. “That was my young term phrase.”

On this day, Roberts had reason to laugh. The previous two games, Tucker had finally offered signs of life at the plate, posting back-to-back performances with three hits and a home run. Over the last week, Dodgers hitting coaches believed they had finally found a breakthrough with the left-handed slugger’s swing, one that (at least temporarily) cleaned up some mechanical flaws that had hampered him all year.

Alas, in Tucker’s 2026 campaign, no turnaround was ever going to be that simple.

Over the two games since, he has gone 0-for-8 again, including a strikeout with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth on Sunday. On the season, his numbers remain unthinkably disappointing, with a batting average of .226, an OPS of .692 and an almost negligible 0.3 mark in wins above replacement.

At this point, it is all adding up to a lost season for the 29-year-old, who is threatening to become one of the biggest free-agent flops in at least the sport’s recent high-priced history.

And yet, the Dodgers aren’t wavering from their commitment to keep playing the four-time All-Star, rolling the dice “talent level” and “proven track record,” as Roberts cited, by keeping him in the lineup for the long haul.

“I was prepared, the organization was prepared, to give him as much leash as we possibly could to work through some things, and I do think that now we’re starting to see the fruits,” Roberts said. “So I see no other reason why we would pivot from running him out there every day.”

The only caveat Roberts offered: “I guess, to that same point, until you can’t, right?”

Trying to identify the root cause of Tucker’s dismal season has been about as easy as discerning his emotions through his stoic and reserved facade.

The one thing everyone has agreed on: “It’s purely mechanical,” as co-hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc told the California Post recently. “His swing plane is pretty unique, but it’s just not working the way that it used to.”

The problem, as Tucker himself conceded last month, has been finding an answer or adjustment that works. 

“I feel like I’ve tried just about everything,” he said. “And every time I feel like I’m turning a corner, I get hit with a roadblock.”

Tucker’s swing has always been atypical, both in the way he “lays the bat back” in his stance (which, according to fellow hitting coach Aaron Bates, leads to a longer path in which “his margin for error is a little smaller”) and how he strides through the ball (launching off his back foot with an almost Scottie Scheffler-esque follow-through).  

When it’s all synced up, it makes him one of the most consistent hitters in the game; reminiscent to some evaluators of a modern-day Ted Williams.

But when it’s not…

“I think it’s a slippery slope,” Bates said. 

Only now, the Dodgers are hoping they have found a way to potentially end the slide.

For much of the year, Bates said Tucker was struggling to replicate his old, inside-out swing path. Instead, he was “cutting down and across the ball,” preventing him from squaring up heaters or adjusting to off-speed pitches. According to MLB’s Statcast system, his rate of “barreled” balls has fallen almost in half as a result, from 10.8% last year (and 12.9% in 2024) to 6.3% this season.

Their initial attempt at a fix was having Tucker cycle through old drills and mental cues he had used in his career previously. Only this time, those old band-aids failed to make a difference, leaving a player who once always had offensive answers toiling with only growing mechanical questions.

Why that is still confounds the Dodgers. Theories have ranged from a slow adjustment to his new surroundings, to potential lingering side effects from the hand fracture he played through last season with the Chicago Cubs.

“It definitely seems like things kind of shifted after [that],” Van Scoyoc said, noting that Tucker also struggled down the stretch in 2025. “So it could be that, but it might not be. We don’t exactly know.”

What was clear was the need to try something different. Thus, there has been constant trial-and-error in Tucker’s elongated batting-cage sessions of late.

Last week, something finally clicked. As Bates described it, Tucker found comfort with the thought of a “no-roll swing” –– where instead of flipping his hands at the end of his follow-through, he keeps them more square to the big part of the field.

“Guys who throw right-handed but hit lefty, it’s something they struggle with sometimes, because the right side of their body is the dominant side,” Bates said, noting that the team has made similar adjustments with Tommy Edman, Alex Freeland and Dalton Rushing this season. 

In Tucker’s case, the cue helped flatten his swing.

“He was missing pitches he thought he needed to get on top of,” Bates said, “and needed to think about swinging high instead of swinging down.” It has also kept his barrel in the zone longer, allowing him to re-adjust to off-speed offerings (one of his great strengths as a hitter for most of his career) while better squaring mistakes left over the plate (like the hanging inside sweeper he belted for a grand slam on Friday).

“There’s a lot more room for error hitting the ball, because you can hit it deep and go the other way or catch it out in front and pull it a little bit more,” Tucker explained. “Just trying to be consistent with that and be as long through the zone as possible.”

Whether it proves to be a genuine breakthrough, or just another false start in a season that’s never gotten going, the Dodgers are willing to keep taking the time to find out.

After all, while Tucker’s regular season is beyond salvaging, Van Scoyoc maintained that “he can find it in one swing and then go on a run.”

Thus, they will “ride or die” with him the rest of the way, despite the dismal struggles the last five months have wrought.

“I mean, the numbers probably are what they are, but we’ve got a lot of important games coming next month,” Tucker said, eyeing what he hopes will be validation in the playoffs. “That’s the most important thing … As long as you win the game and kind of contribute to that in some way, that’s all you can really try and do.”

Added Roberts: “If you perform at the right time, all is forgotten.”

As we finish off this season, players are looking to establish themselves and make statements entering 2027. That is especially true on the mound, where there are only a few guys who have locked down spots for next season. One pitcher who has impressed in his late season audition is Riley Cornelio and I wanted to talk about him a little bit.

Cornelio has had a few different opportunities at points this season. In total, he has thrown 27.2 innings across 14 outings. Cornelio initially got called up in late April, but his only extended runs have been in July and now down the stretch in September. Early in his big league career, Cornelio looked a bit overwhelmed, but that is starting to change as he gets more experienced.

Riley Cornelio’s go-to pitch is his slider. It is a true bullet slider that looks like a fastball before dropping off the table. Everything about Cornelio’s arsenal is built around getting to that slider. When Cornelio can execute his slider, it is game over for hitters. We saw that in his excellent opener appearance yesterday.

When you look at the data on Cornelio’s slider, the numbers are pretty ludicrous. The pitch generates an insane 53.2% whiff rate. Among pitches thrown at least 200 times, Cornelio’s slider has the 4th highest whiff rate of any offering in baseball. Mason Miller’s slider, Adrian Morejon’s changeup and Erik Miller’s slider are the only pitches that generate empty swings at a higher rate.

That pitch is Cornelio’s crown jewel. He has always had a nasty slider in his bag. The key is making everything else work too. For most of this season, control has been a big issue for him. Cornelio’s 17.7% walk rate is a big reason why he has a 4.88 ERA despite having a premier swing and miss offering. He also allows a fair share of hard contact.

It is worth noting that Cornelio’s command has looked noticeably better since he was last re-called in early September. We only have a 3 outing sample, but Cornelio has only walked 2 hitters in 7.2 innings this month. Honestly, I think his 17.7% walk rate is a bit of an outlier.

Throughout Cornelio’s career, his walk rate has consistently been between 10 to 11%. That is not amazing by any means, but if he can replicate that in the big leagues, he will be effective. I also think there is one recent tweak he made that will make throwing strikes a bit easier.

For most of his career, Cornelio has been a two-pitch guy. His fastball and slider are both good pitches, with the latter being fantastic. However, it is tough to survive in today’s game with just two pitches. That is especially true given that Cornelio’s slider is more of a chase pitch.

Midway through this season, he added a cutter. We saw glimpses of the pitch at times, but he has fully unleashed it in September. This year, Cornelio has thrown his cutter 8.5% of the time. However, in September that number spiked to 23.9%. The pitch is used to bridge the gap between his fastball and slider, which is working wonderfully.

That third shape makes the hitter’s decision much more difficult. The 90 MPH cutter sits right between his 85 MPH slider and 96-97 MPH fastball both in velocity and movement. It is a really good addition to his arsenal and I think it could take him to the next level.

I think Cornelio now has the arsenal to thrive as a 1 inning or multi-inning reliever. He looks really comfortable as a 2 to 3 inning opener, so that could be a home for him. However, with a whiff rate of 35.5% this season, I would like to see what he could do in late innings next year.

The ability to generate whiffs is the highlight of Cornelio’s game and he truly does it at an elite level. In his last 300 pitches, Cornelio has generated 56 whiffs, one of the best marks in all of baseball. For context, Cade Cavalli is right behind him at 55 whiffs.

As you can see, I am bullish on Cornelio, but he is far from a finished product. The command will need to be better for him in 2027. Issuing 22 walks in 27.2 innings is just not good enough. Given his history of mediocre but not awful command, there is some hope on that front though.

When Cornelio first came up, he felt overwhelmed by the moment at times. There were moments where his mound presence was shaky. If he wants to be a late inning arm, that cannot happen. To his credit, Cornelio has gotten a lot better at that and looks like a much more confident pitcher.

Riley Cornelio’s surface level numbers do not jump off the page, but I think he is a sneaky breakout candidate. What he has been doing in his last few outings is highly encouraging. In his last 7 outings, Cornelio has a 2.77 ERA. With his filthy slider, new cutter and hard fastball, Cornelio has what it takes to be a quality big league arm.

A lot of the guys who have been put in the Nats bullpen just do not have the necessary talent. I do not think talent is a problem for Cornelio. For him, it comes down to three C’s. The three C’s are command, confidence and cutter. All three of those things could lead him to a big year next season.