Shane Pinto says the Sens need to find a way to bring Thursday's third period performance into their game in San Jose on Saturday afternoon (Senators YouTube).
Foegele suffered a lower-body injury in Tuesday's 4-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights and is expected to miss an extended period. Burakovsky was injured in Thursday's 6-5 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings, while Hodgson received his suspension for a vicious hit on Kings defenceman Brandt Clarke.
The three absences left the Senators with just 10 available forwards, forcing them to turn to Belleville for reinforcements.
Tomasino brings considerable NHL experience to the lineup. The former Nashville Predators first-round pick has played more than 200 NHL games and has been producing offensively in Belleville, collecting 11 points in 10 games this season.
Bourgault, a former first-round selection of the Edmonton Oilers, has also been off to a strong start with nine points.
Senators Looking to End First Losing Streak
For the first time this season, the Senators find themselves on a losing streak, although Thursday's thrilling comeback in Los Angeles provided at least one encouraging sign.
It was a remarkable comeback that salvaged a valuable point from a game that appeared completely lost.
Still, the Senators have some defensive issues to address. Since losing starting goaltender Linus Ullmark to injury, they've surrendered 20 goals in four games. Granted, four of those were empty net goals against, but that still tracks to a goals against average of 4.00 in game since Ullmark was hurt.
The Senators enter Saturday's game with an 8-5-1 record, good for third place in the Atlantic Division. They'll be looking to turn the momentum from Thursday's comeback into a much-needed victory.
Cozens Rounding Into Form
Saturday's game will also be an opportunity for Dylan Cozens to continue his success against the Sharks.
Cozens has 11 points in 11 career games against San Jose, including five goals.
He's also picked it up after a sluggish start. After just three points in his first 11 games, he now has five in his last three.
Shark Week
San Jose enters Saturday's game with a 7-6-1 record, good for fourth place in the Pacific Division, with a 5-3-0 home record.
The Sharks are coming off a 3-2 comeback victory over the Vancouver Canucks and have already enjoyed success against the Senators this season.
The teams met just nine days ago, with San Jose winning 6-2. The result included two empty net goals in a game the Sens dominated for long stretches but couldn't score.
Macklin Celebrini continues to lead the Sharks offensively with 16 points, while Will Smith has six goals on the season.
The Senators have historically enjoyed success against San Jose, holding a 24-19-4-2 record in the all-time series.
Modest as it is, the Sens are on their first losing slide of the season, but they still haven't lost back to back games in regulation. They would like to steady the ship before heading to Anaheim for Sunday night's game.
But much of that will depend on one of their backup goalies stepping up. The disparity between Ullmark and his backups so far borders on the outrageous.
Puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET at SAP Center in San Jose.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 30: Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers complains after he thought he got fouled by Brandin Podziemski #2 of the Golden State Warriors at Chase Center on October 30, 2026 in San Francisco, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Coming into the season, the point of emphasis that drew the most attention was the added focus on push-offs by offensive players. However, through the opening week-and-a-half of the season, it’s been the theatrics on the other side of the ball that have been punished.
Flopping technical fouls have been the flavor of the week for the Lakers. Starting with a post-game fine levied on Ziaire Williams last weekend, the purple and gold have become very familiar with the new point of emphasis.
After being the victim of Scott Foster’s antics that featured a trio of flopping technicals in quick succession against the Blazers, Tony Brothers strolled into San Francisco and created his own drama, including the most erroneous flopping call yet.
Jarred Vanderbilt is hit with a flopping technical, as Al Horford drives on him and unintentionally steps on him, on the way (with replays) pic.twitter.com/zeQjF0nyCg
Later on in the fourth quarter, another sequence drew the ire of the Lakers as Brandin Podziemski attempted to draw a foul with a particularly theatrical sequence. But not only was no common foul called, but neither was a technical foul for flopping.
It’s all added up to some head scratching for the Lakers and head coach JJ Redick, who spoke about the flopping technicals after Friday’s loss to the Warriors.
“We all recognize we want the offensive players to stop fouling,” Redick said, referencing himself and fellow coaches around the league. “All of our flopping fouls have been defensively. The reality for the officials, each crew is so different and what they interpret is so different. I think the consistency – the explanation I got for the Podziemski play was there was contact. But if you look at our flopping fouls that we’ve been called for defensively, there’s been contact. Whether or not there’s contact is irrelevant.
“We’re looking for something theatrical and extra. So if that’s not a foul and then throwing yourself back, I would assume that, to me that’s kind of the definition of flopping. Again, that was the explanation I got was there was contact. But, again, there was contact on a push off when Ziaire moves his hands back because they called it an offensive foul. So, there was contact but I guess the consistency, we’re still searching for it.”
The problem with these flopping technicals is that not only will different officials consider different things flopping, as Redick said, but it’s also never going to be called consistently. The Lakers went multiple games before a flopping technical was given to them, then saw it called in a flurry of games.
There is no standard flopping motion as there is with other violations. For example, you know when a player goes over the back or when a defender reaches in for a steal and hits a wrist or arm.
With flopping, though, it can take so many forms and, thus, some officials may view some movements as flops and others not as much.
In theory, it’d be great to get flopping out of the league. But right now, they’re not addressing the issue that existed but, instead, are creating a new one.
NEW YORK — Sandy Alcantara was blocked from becoming a free agent by the Miami Marlins, while Michael King went on the market Friday and Bo Bichette decided to keep his contract with the New York Mets.
Starting pitchers Sonny Gray and Nick Martinez also will become free agents after their teams declined mutual options.
Miami exercised its $21 million option on Alcantara rather than pay a $2 million buyout, a decision that guarantees the pitcher $75 million over six years as part of the deal he agreed to in November 2021.
A 31-year-old right-hander, Alcantara was 13-11 with a 3.87 ERA in 33 starts and three relief appearances this year, his second season following Tommy John surgery.
King, also a 31-year-old right-hander, is a free agent for the second straight offseason after declining a $28 million player option in favor of a $5 million buyout. He agreed in December to a deal guaranteeing $75 million over three seasons that allowed him to end it after one year and $22 million. He was 12-10 with a 3.21 ERA in 32 starts.
King was among 14 new free agents Friday, raising the total to 155 in the two days following the World Series. About 40 more players potentially could go free by Monday, the deadline for exercising options.
Bichette agreed in January to a $126 million, three-year contract with the Mets that included a $40 million signing bonus, a $2 million salary for 2026 and $42 million player options for both 2027 and 2028.
A two-time All-Star shortstop in Toronto, Bichette shifted primarily to third base in New York, where Francisco Lindor plays shortstop. The 28-year-old Bichette hit .260 with 18 homers and 78 RBIs for the disappointing Mets.
AL champion Tampa Bay declined mutual options on Martinez and outfielder Cedric Mullins.
Martinez, 36, had a $20 million mutual option with a $4 million buyout as part of a $13 million, one-year contract. He set a career high for wins, going 15-6 with a 3.10 ERA in 31 starts and became a first-time All-Star, then went 1-1 with a 2.81 ERA in four postseason appearances that included a start in Game 1 of the World Series.
Mullins, 32, hit .205 with 15 homers, 48 RBIs and 21 stolen bases. He had a $7.5 million, one-year deal that included a $10 million mutual option with a $500,000 buyout.
Boston declined a $30 million option on Gray, who gets a $5 million buyout payable in five $1 million installments on each Jan. 15 from 2027-31. If the Red Sox had exercised the option, Gray could have opted out and received the $5 million as a buyout payable on the same dates.
Gray, a right-hander who turns 37 next week, agreed to a $75 million, three-year contract with St. Louis in November 2023 and was traded to Boston last November. He tied for the major league lead with 18 wins this year and posted a 2.72 ERA, his best in a full season.
Dustin May, who started Game 4 of the World Series for Milwaukee on Tuesday, went free when he declined a $20 million mutual option with the World Series champion Brewers in favor of a $500,000 buyout. May agreed to a $12.5 million contract with the Cardinals in December and was acquired by the Brewers at the Aug. 3 trade deadline. The 29-year-old right-hander went 7-9 with a 4.70 ERA in 31 starts.
Chicago Cubs left-hander Matt Boyd and catcher Carson Kelly declined mutual options.
A 35-year-old left-hander, Boyd agreed to a $29 million, two-year contract before the 2024 season that included a $15 million mutual option for 2027 with a $2 million buyout. He became a first-time All-Star in 2025, going 14-8 with a 3.21 ERA, and was 10-5 with a 3.91 ERA this season.
Kelly, 32, gets a $1.5 million buyout rather than a $7.5 million salary as part of the $11.5 million, two-year deal he reached in December 2024. He hit .258 with 10 homers and 58 RBIs in 120 games this year.
Baltimore declined a $25 million mutual option on pitcher Zach Eflin and owes a $2 million buyout as part of a one-year contract guaranteeing $10 million. The right-hander made one appearance, on March 31, and had Tommy John surgery on April 8, his 32nd birthday.
First baseman Josh Bell became a free agent after his $10 million mutual option was declined by the Minnesota Twins. He gets a $1.25 million buyout as part of a $7 million, one-year contract. The 34-year-old hit .255 with 21 homers and 96 RBIs.
Minnesota also declined a $13 million mutual option on right-hander Joe Ryan, who gets a $100,000 buyout as part of a $6.2 million, one-year contract. Ryan remains under club control and is eligible for salary arbitration.
The Athletics declined options on infielder Jeff McNeil and left-hander Jeffrey Springs.
McNeil had a $15.75 million club option with a $2 million buyout as part of a $50 million, four-year contract he signed with the Mets after leading the major leagues with a .326 batting average in 2022. The 34-year-old was acquired in a trade last December and batted .264 with nine homers and 59 RBIs.
Springs’ $15 million team option was declined in favor of a $750,000 buyout, completing a $15 million, four-year contract he signed with Tampa Bay. The 34-year-old left-hander, acquired by the A’s in a December 2024 trade, was 4-14 with a 6.18 ERA in 29 starts this year and allowed an AL-high 35 home runs.
Kansas City declined a $13 million option on reliever Carlos Estévez, who gets a $2 million buyout as part of a $22 million, two-year contract. The 33-year-old right-hander led the major leagues with 42 saves in 2024, then made just one appearance this year during an injury-decimated season, allowing a game-ending grand slam to Atlanta’s Dominic Smith on March 28.
Estévez was placed on the injured list April 1 because of a bruised left foot, strained the rotator cuff in his pitching shoulder during rehab and had shoulder surgery in September.
Kansas City exercised a $2.5 million club option on right-hander Tony Gonsolin, a 2022 All-Star with the Los Angeles Dodgers who signed in mid-August for a prorated portion of a $1 million salary. He had right elbow surgery in August 2025, made four minor league injury rehab appearances for the Royals last Aug. 26 to Sept. 17 and returned to the major leagues when he allowed five runs over 2 2/3 innings against the Chicago White Sox on Sept. 22.
Houston declined a $5 million team option on Ryan Weiss and owes a $500,000 buyout as part of a $2.6 million, one-year deal he signed after two years with Hanwha in South Korea. The 29-year-old right-hander was 0-3 with a 7.62 ERA in two starts and seven relief appearances, then was optioned to Triple-A Sugar Land on May 5 and spent the rest of the season at Triple-A.
Robert Stephenson’s $2.5 million option was declined by the Los Angeles Angels. A 33-year-old right-hander, Stephenson signed a $33 million, three-year contract before the 2024 season and pitched just 10 innings over 12 games during the deal. He had Tommy John surgery in April 2024, returned to make a pair of appearances for the Angels in late May 2025, then went on the injured list with right biceps inflammation. Stephenson made eight more appearances in late August and September, was bothered by thoracic outlet syndrome symptoms during the offseason and had ligament and flexor tendon surgery this April.
It wasn’t supposed to be that way. The plan was for Jacob Fowler to storm in and take the Montreal Canadiens’ starting job this year. Despite a good training camp, the Florida native was sent down to the Laval Rocket, a victim of the circumstances and the fact that he is in the second year of his ELC and doesn't need to clear waivers. Little did he know, though, that he would only have time to play two games with the Rocket before Samuel Montembeault got injured at practice on the eve of his first game of the season. His call-up came at a time when Jakub Dobes was having a crisis of confidence of sorts and not playing his best hockey, giving Fowler a golden opportunity, which he grabbed with both hands.
Since joining the Habs this season, Fowler has a 6-1-0 record, a 1.54 goals-against average (fourth among all goalies and second among masked men who have played at least five games), and a .942 save percentage (second among all netminders). Those are fantastic numbers, but a deeper look at his game with NHL Edge shows his season start is even more impressive.
At 5-on-5, he has a .939 SV, the fourth-highest total in the league, which isn’t surprising given how confident the Canadiens are playing with the Florida native in net. It feels like the Habs believe they’ve got nothing to fear when he’s backstopping them. A looser team means a better team, even if the Sainte-Flanelle is currently playing without important players like Nick Suzuki and Ivan Demidov.
The Canadiens’ keeper leads the league in mid-range save percentage this year with an impressive .982 and ranks fourth in high-danger save percentage at .885 among goaltenders who have played at least six games this season. In his 46-save shutout against the St. Louis Blues, he saved an incredible 18 high-danger opportunities; that’s the most among all goaltenders in a single game this season.
The Habs penalty kill has been impressive of late, and Fowler is a big part of it. When the Tricolore is down a man, he has a .950 SV, fourth-best in the league.
Those are impressive numbers, and if the youngster stays the course, he will no doubt receive votes for the Calder Trophy. As things stand, Toronto Maple Leafs’ Gavin McKenna leads the rookies in scoring with 11 points in 15 games, but Boston Bruins’ James Hagen is hot on his tail with 10 points in 14 games, and two other players have nine points (Vegas Golden Knights’ Trevor Connelly and San Jose Sharks' Ivar Stenberg). McKenna isn’t running away with it.
In the year Lane Hutson won the Calder Trophy, he scored 66 points in 82 games, and the runner-up was goaltender Dustin Wolf of the Calgary Flames, who posted a 20-16-8 record, a 2.64 GAA, and a .910 SV. The last goaltender to win the Calder was Steve Masson in 2008-09, when he posted a 33-22-7 record, a 2.29 GAA, and a .916 SV. Fowler currently eclipses those stats, and he’s miles ahead of the other rookie netminders. The New York Rangers’ Dylan Garland ranks second in GAA (2.69) and SV (.899). Granted, it’s still early, but if nobody separates themselves from the lot among the skaters and Fowler holds the starting job in Montreal and leads the team to the playoffs, he’ll be a serious contender.
SAN FRANCISCO — Steph Curry dribbled through his legs and then jabbed hard to his left, sending Luka Doncic flying onto the ground. Curry stepped back, seemingly stunned that his closest defender was on his butt. He swished a 3-pointer.
Curry put both hands over his head. He shimmied his shoulders.
It was poetry. It was vintage Curry. It was the embodiment of joy.
“I didn’t expect it to get that nasty,” Curry said in his postgame interview with Amazon Prime Video after the Warriors’ 112-95 win over the Lakers. “It was one of those [moments] you kind of got to keep your composure. I remember James Harden used to do the shimmy to get himself open back in the day. I don’t know. I haven’t been that open in a long time.”
Doncic was still on the ground as Curry elevated midway through the third quarter. The league’s leading scorer was dropped by the greatest shooter of all time. Curry is still him.
The Warriors have now won three games in a row, including turning a 25-point deficit into a 17-point lead on Friday. They’re finding their groove. They’re fueled by Curry’s joy and a sprinkle of something new: his palpable acceptance that this isn’t going to last forever.
He’s engaging the crowd. He’s putting on a show. He’s savoring this.
“I just love this game,” Curry said. “All my mannerisms are all over the place because I’m just having fun. In those moments, especially at this stage of your career, you’re just appreciative of the ability to keep playing at this level. And I want that joy to continue until I’m done.”
We’re seeing glimmers of what Warriors basketball was at its peak. It comes in spurts, such as in last season’s play-in win over the Clippers when Curry went into a flow state, scoring 35 points, and Draymond Green transformed into a full-blown defensive beast, holding Kawhi Leonard to two points in the fourth quarter.
Curry breaking Doncic’s ankles was another example of that. It was a master at his craft making us all shake our heads and smile. It was the type of moment that will be memorialized.
When Curry is having fun, we’re having fun.
And when he’s having fun, the Warriors are dangerous.
Steph Curry warms up before a season-opening game between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. London Entertainment
They’ve turned things around following a sluggish 0-3 start to the season. Against the Lakers, Curry had 31 points, including going 8-for-14 from deep. That performance followed a 44-point, eight-rebound, six-assist stunner from Curry in the Warriors’ 119-114 win over the Timberwolves on Wednesday.
Curry is the master of the show. But the team is getting contributions from everywhere.
Yaxel Lendeborg is putting on a Rookie of the Year campaign, though he had a quiet six points and one rebound in his much-hyped showdown against Doncic following their trash talk in the teams’ season opener on Oct. 21. On a night in which Lendeborg was a nonfactor, the Warriors’ bench outscored the Lakers’ reserves, 50-7.
… Making things even more interesting: Jimmy Butler and Moses Moody will return in a few months.
Could the Warriors actually be good?
Everyone had counted them out, something Curry rejected.
When a reporter asked Curry on Warriors media day about the team not being expected to make the playoffs, he balked. “That’s how bad? Not make the playoffs? It went from championship to —.” Curry then put his hands up and uttered a few lighthearted “damns” as he walked out of the room.
At the time, his reaction was funny. But, hey, maybe we erroneously overlooked the Warriors. Maybe we erroneously overlooked him.
Steph Curry warms up before a season opener between the Golden State Warriors and the Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. London Entertainment
The runner’s knee that caused the 38-year-old to miss 27 straight games last season is looking bionic. He’s shining. He’s refusing to accept the reality that he’s aging or the narrative that the league’s modern-day dynasty that won four championships in eight years from 2015-2022 is flailing.
When Curry is on, he’s still the best show in the league.
Lendeborg didn’t hesitate when asked to describe Curry’s play on Friday.
“The stuff he was shooting and making, it was just like what are you doing?” Lendeborg said. “How are you even doing that? The people on the bench call him a sicko. I don’t even know. It was astonishing. Dude doesn’t get tired. He dribbles like that all day and doesn’t get tired.”
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, right, confers with head coach Steve Kerr in the second half of an NBA basketball game in Denver, Monday, Oct. 26, 2026. AP Photo/David Zalubowski
Lendeborg — and everyone else who watches Curry — is regularly left stunned.
It has been that way for the last decade. And even though he’s about to turn 39, that hasn’t changed.
Curry dropping Doncic amid a 42-point swing was epic. It was instant basketball lore. It was the league’s legendary shooter teaching its current superstar a history lesson on national television.
Cold shooting from the Lakers. Steph Curry’s highlight-reel-worthy plays, including eight 3-pointers.
And turnovers.
Austin Reaves (15) once again struggled with taking care of the ball. NBAE via Getty Images
Lots of turnovers.
The Lakers committed a season-high 22 turnovers against the Warriors, sparking easier shots in transition against a defense that wasn’t set.
The biggest culprit of the Lakers’ lack of ball security was star guard Austin Reaves. He finished with eight turnovers against the Warriors, the same number of turnovers he had in Wednesday’s win over the Clippers.
Reaves didn’t hold back when it came to assessing his performance.
“I was terrible again,” he said postgame. “That’s it.”
Austin Reaves was honest about his performance. NBAE via Getty Images
Reaves entered Friday coming off his worst game of the season so far.
The sixth-year guard had 16 points on 6-of-16 shooting to go with eight turnovers in Wednesday’s road win over the Clippers.
Against the Warriors, he didn’t perform as poorly but came close.
Reaves had 21 points on 9-of-19 shooting to go with five assists and four rebounds, but he once again struggled with taking care of the ball.
Austin Reaves will need to handle two-on-the-ball defensive coverages better. Getty Images
Reaves struggled early with the Warriors’ defensive pressure and strategies, recording six of his turnovers in the first half.
His three turnovers in the second quarter, which the Warriors won 38-15 to tie the game at 53 after the Lakers led 40-15, were especially costly.
“Just bad — we were bad,” Reaves said. “That first group that started the second was bad. And like I said, it starts with me, so I’ll be better.”
For Reaves, getting better means handling the more defensive coverages with more poise.
And for the team, it looks like building chemistry over the regular season will help avoid situations they found themselves in that led to turnovers on Friday.
“I mean, it’s real, but it doesn’t give that second unit an excuse to be pretty terrible,” Reaves said. “And that starts with me. And I’ll watch the film, try to be better. You got to learn on the fly and pick up things quickly. But as I said, I have to be better to start that.”
CALGARY, CANADA - OCTOBER 08: Morgan Frost #16 of the Calgary Flames and Brett Kulak #27 of the Colorado Avalanche battle for the puck during the third period at the Scotiabank Saddledome on October 08, 2026 in Calgary, Alberta. (Photo by Leah Hennel/Getty Images) | Getty Images
For the first time in twenty-four years, the Colorado Avalanche are hosting a game on Halloween!
Tonight will be a rematch against the Calgary Flames, who have been heating up of late with five wins in their previous six games.
Colorado Avalanche (7-5-1)
The Opponent: Calgary Flames (6-7-0)
Time: 8:00 P.M. MDT/10:00 P.M. EDT
Watch: ALT, ALT+ (Avalanche Local Broadcast Area), ESPN+, NHL Center Ice (Outside Regional Broadcast Area – US), SN, SN+ (Canadian National Broadcast)
Listen: Altitude Sports Radio KKSE-FM 92.5 FM
Colorado Avalanche
In their previous outing the Avalanche, looking more Dr. Jekyll than Mr. Hyde, defeated the visiting New Jersey Devils by a 5-2 decision on Wednesday night, avenging their loss at the Prudential Center eight nights earlier. New Jersey, playing in the second game of a back-to-back series, started goaltender Jake Allen (newly-acquired goaltender Connor Hellebuyck played the previous evening in Dallas, earning his first win with New Jersey), who gave up five goals on forty-five shots. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped twenty of twenty-two shots for his sixth win of the season.
Nicolas Roy, who had missed the previous six games with injury, returned to the lineup, registering an assist on Nazem Kadri’s go-ahead goal in the second period. Defenseman Josh Manson, however, did not finish the game. Head coach Jared Bednar announced yesterday that Manson would miss eight weeks with an ankle injury.
Manson’s absence paves the way for increased usage for defenseman Noah Juulsen. Juulsen, who has played eight games for Colorado this season, has made a surprising but positive impression with Bednar.
“I love his attitude,” Bednar said to reporters Friday. “He wants to do anything he can to help. He’s a real positive guy, and he’s played great for us, so, yeah, we’re going to need him, obviously, with [Manson] being out for eight weeks.
“It’s nice to have. We’ve had a lot of years here where we’ve just had six ‘D’ here, and our seventh is a recall guy, and it’s nice to have him here because he’s with our group every day, you know? There’s no bringing guys up to speed, he just jumps right in and continues to play well.”
It’s likely that Blackwood closes out the home stand and Wedgewood starts when the Avs go on the road next week. They kick off another back-to-back pair of road games on Monday in Chicago before heading to Columbus the following day.
MacKinnon still leads all skaters in points (22) and assists (14). Artturi Lehkonen leads the team in goals (10).
A win tonight can pull the Avs within one point of second-place Utah (who won’t play until Sunday) in the Central Division standings. The Avs won the opening game of the season series against Calgary on October 08.
Projected Lineup
Forwards: Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Nečas Gabe Landeskog – Brock Nelson – Nicolas Roy Jaden Schwartz – Nazem Kadri – T.J. Hughes Parker Kelly – Fedor Svechkov – Logan O’Connor
Defense: Devon Toews – Cale Makar Brett Kulak – Sam Malinski Noah Juulsen – Brent Burns
Between the Pipes: Mackenzie Blackwood Scott Wedgewood
Calgary Flames
Calgary’s start to the season was anything but hot: they lost six of their first seven games of the season, including a 7-3 loss on home ice to Colorado on October 08. During their most recent four game homestand, however, things started to heat up. Thanks to stellar play by goaltender Devin Cooley, Calgary swept all four games, which featured victories over Minnesota, Toronto, and the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes.
Unfortunately, Cooley’s heater came to an abrupt end this past Wednesday after sustaining an injury from a collision with Edmonton’s Colton Dach. Calgary wound up losing by a 4-0 decision, but rebounded last night on home ice with a 6-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken. Goaltender Dustin Wolf recorded his first win in over two weeks, saving twenty-five of twenty-seven shots against.
Calgary, who has been without left wing Jonathan Huberdeau after he underwent hip resurfacing surgery last season, is seeing the injuries continue to pile up. Left wing Samuel Honzek, who last played against Colorado, is listed as week-to-week. Brennan Othmann also was injured during the Edmonton game after a fight with Ty Emberson.
With Cooley also listed as week-to-week, goaltender Arsenii Sergeev has been called up from the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers to back up Wolf. Maxim Tsyplakov, who had been a healthy scratch for Calgary’s previous five games, returned to the lineup against Seattle.
With Wolf playing on Friday, signs point to Sergeev making his first start of the season tonight. Sergeev has only one prior NHL start in his career, a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on April 16 last season.
When asked last night how much confidence he might have in Sergeev’s abilities to step up while on the road, head coach Ryan Huska said, “He did a really good job last year when he came up and played a game for us. He made a lot of saves that he probably shouldn’t have made, so I have a lot of confidence in his ability.”
Joel Farabee and Matt Coronato lead all Calgary skaters in points (14). Rookie Matvei Gridin leads the team in goals (5), while Coronato leads the team in assists (11). Right wing Adam Klapka leads all Calgary skaters in penalty minutes (37), second only to Ottawa’s Nick Cousins (42) across the League.
Tonight’s game is the start of a three game road trip for Calgary, and marks their only visit to Denver. They return home to the Saddledome for a three game homestand on Thursday.
Projected Lineup
Forwards: Joel Farabee – Mikael Backlund – Matt Coronato Aydar Suniev – Morgan Frost – Yegor Sharangovich Matvei Gridin – Martin Pospíšil – Ryan Strome Maxim Tsyplakov – Jonathan Castagna – Adam Klapka
Defense: Kevin Bahl – Šimon Nemec Jake Middleton – Zach Whitecloud Yan Kuznetsov – Zayne Parekh
Boston, MA - September 1: Boston Red Sox pitcher Jedixson Paez departs the game in the fourth inning. The Boston Red Sox played the Seattle Mariners at Fenway Park on September 1, 2026. (Photo by Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) | Boston Globe via Getty Images
Before we begin looking ahead to 2027, OTM is looking back at 2026, highlighting some of the biggest, strangest, and most memorable moments of a memorable season. Today, we look at a game that came to symbolize the team’s limp September.
We were still coming down from the high. 32-5 was a bit in the rearview on the first day of September, but Fenway was still rocking every night, as it had all summer. I was fortunate enough to be there for the first game at home after the Summer Solstice, when the Red Sox beat the Yankees to start that 37-game stretch. I was unfortunate enough to be there for the Jedixson Paez game, which was the unofficial end to my summer and, in many ways, the Red Sox 2026 season.
The Sox arrived at Fenway for a quick three-game home series, coming off losing 3-of-4 in the Bronx. Now four games behind the Yankees in the standings, with four weeks to go, the odds were not in their favor to flip the fourth and fifth seeds to get a home game at Fenway for the first time since 2021. That being said, this had not been an ordinary season, and if the team played with the same sense of urgency in September as they had with their season (and jobs) on the line all summer, it could be done. Hell, they had just made up 14 games in the standings in six weeks’ worth of games, cutting a 14.5-game deficit to the Yankees on June 25th down to a 1/2 game apart on August 7th. Four games should be child’s play.
In the first game against the Mariners, the Fenway Magic continued. Boston trailed 8-5 entering the bottom of the eighth inning, around the time that Tarps Off in the crowd usually peaked. Julio Rodriguez overran a fly ball; combined with three RBI from Trevor Story (including a walk-off in extra innings) and another improbable W was in the books.
And then the calendar turned to September.
“Wait ‘til you see this place. It’s complete madness, every night,” I told my friends who hadn’t been to a game with me at Fenway since the Spring. They were treated to a Jedixson Paez start. Sure, the Red Sox needed to build an extra rest day in for the starting pitchers who were approaching, or had already surpassed, career highs in innings. But they were still in a pennant race and had won plenty of games when they were underdogs on paper for months. The urgency will still be there, right?
The game started in the same way that it usually did – with a Mickey Gasper home run in the first inning. It tied the game at 1, his seventh home run in two weeks, sandwiched around a Bad Karma demotion. Then, in the top of the second inning against Paez, the Mariners went: Double, Single, Walk, Sac Fly, Single, 3-run Home Run.
6-1 Mariners. No one getting loose in the bullpen!
Top of the 3rd: Groundout, Single, Single, Single, Walk. No one getting loose in the bullpen! They’ve thrown in the towel!!
Paez gave up two doubles in the fourth inning before mercifully being replaced by Wyatt Olds in an 8-to-1 game. Final line: 3 2/3 IP, 10 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 HR.
The ‘pen did what they did for most of the season. They allowed just one run over the remaining 5 1/3 innings and would have kept the team in the game for a comeback, as the Sox added runs in the late innings to force closer Andres Munoz into the game to close out a 9-6 win for the Mariners.
As September unfolded, the Paez start was a microcosm of a month where the team was never able to get their foot back on the gas pedal. Health was prioritized all month, while, somehow, they got more unhealthy. The team didn’t care about many of the games, so the crowd didn’t care about many of the games, and the energy rarely returned to the park, finishing 12-12 on the month. Their final win of the season was a Friday Night at Fenway where, of all people, Jedixson Paez was recalled to throw five shutout innings and was credited with the win in relief. It was a great moment of redemption for a pitcher who unfairly had his debut in Boston turn into a circus that he hadn’t asked for.
Grabbing the best ticket in town on September 1st treated you to the 2026 version of the Kyle Barraclough Game. Refunds were deserved for the 35,758 in attendance. For whatever reason, I haven’t gotten mine yet.
MIAMI, FLORIDA - MARCH 14: Teruaki Sato #7 of Team Japan hits a RBI double in the third inning during the game between Venezuela and Japan at loanDepot park on March 14, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Gene Wang - Capture At Media/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Continuing the series, let’s move to the outfield.
Ah, the Phillies outfield. Long a wasteland of offensive ineptitude, 2026 saw the unit begin with questions in all three spots and end with….questions in all three spots. Try as they might, they just can’t seem to get themselves to make a roster have three outfielders at the same time that one would feel comfortable with in any situation.
How dire did it get?
“Bryan de la Cruz was hitting fifth in a playoff game” dire.
With the offseason approaching, the team is left with more questions yet again and finding itself having few answers from outside the organization. Fixing this years long issue will require creativity and usage of resources that they may not feel comfortable with. Yet if they do not, there will likely be still more questions as the season goes on.
Who they have
A lot of the “who they have” section will probably be decided after the deadline passes on whether or not the team should offer arbitration to eligible players. Three outfielders that the team currently has under team control – Brandon Marsh, Bryan de la Cruz and Derek Hill – can be tendered a contract by the team, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will be tendered a contract. It’s likely that Hill will be as his rather meager projection is more than palatable ($1.5 million) for someone who profiles well as a fourth outfielder. Giving an offer to de la Cruz doesn’t make much sense as it would unnecessarily lock up a roster spot on a guaranteed deal, but who knows.
The real question is what are they going to do with Brandon Marsh. Offering him a contract to be a platoon player would cost the team ~$9 million, but nontendering him means losing him for nothing. His crash and burn to a promising 2026 season muddies the water a bit on that question of whether or not to bring him back, but it has become a very real puzzle piece that they need to figure out.
Then there is Justin Crawford. Is he a center fielder? Is he better suited to left field a la Chandler Simpson? Is he trade bait? Figuring out where to actually play him will go a long way to determining what they will chase in free agency or the trade market.
Oh, wait, what’s on the farm you ask?
<tumble weed passes by>
Free agent options
Welcome to the land of opportunity!
“What opportunity?”, you ask. Why, the opportunity to either finally address a long festering issue with the Phillies’ roster by acquiring a real, honest to goodness solution to their outfield problem once and for all, the opportunity to patch over the issue once again with cheap, hope for the best band aids or the opportunity to once again do nothing at all and roll with what is currently on the roster.
Teruaki Sato – This list probably begins and ends with Sato. The Phillies have been looking to tap into the Japanese market for years, even offering Yoshinobu Yamamoto more money than what he eventually signed for with the Dodgers, only to come up short in each venture. This year, there is a feeling that they will not be denied. There have been multiple reports of Preston Mattingly personally going overseas to scout Sato, an indication of just how serious they are about bringing him aboard.
Seiya Suzuki – If the Phillies are truly interested in bringing in a consistent performer in an outfield corner, the Phillies could do worse than offering Suzuki a deal. He’s as metronomic as it gets at the plate, posting a wRC+ of 118 or higher in each season since he has come stateside. Twenty home runs hit in all but one season as well. He’s right handed and would be as perfect as it comes. The problem? He’s probably a DH and the team has one of those. Granted, he is coming off of his best season as a right fielder defensively, which is huge for him and his trying to create a market as an outfielder, but as someone that will play most of 2027 as a 32 year old, does anyone really believe he’s going to remain a solid option with the glove? Are the Phillies willing to shell out serious money to be on that?
Randy Arozarena – If Suzuki was consistent, what does that make Arozarena? He too has posted a wRC+ higher than 114 in each of the seasons he has played since his debut and is coming off a season in which he put up a 151. He hits for power, he has a decently patient approach and even steals some bases. He’ll play all of 2027 as a 32 year old and is a great option to give the Nick Castellanos to……as long as they don’t care about defense. Because boy oh boy is Arozarena a butcher with the glove. He makes Castellanos look positively average in the grass.
Ian Happ – If there was a “Big Three” as far as outfield free agents, Happ would definitely be the third. He provides a decent amount of skill at the plate – power, patience, on base ability – while not killing a team with his glove. His 107 wRC+ this year was his lowest in five years and brings up a question about his long term capability. One would have to assume he’ll be after a multi year deal, but as he’s the same age as Suzuki, the Phillies need to wonder if they’d want to attach themselves to that kind of player for a long time. Being a switch hitter makes him maybe slightly more appealing than Arozarena, but that would splitting hairs. He’s a good player, but for how much longer?
Taylor Ward – By now, you know the story with Ward: he’s right handed, can stand in left field and gets on base a lot. Except that once he was finally (mercifully?) traded this August, he kind of cratered. Like, cratered in a way (.125/.238/.148 in 101 plate appearances) that one has to at least wonder if there is anything wrong with him. He’ll still get a solid contract, but boy howdy did he hurt his market.
Jake Bauers – The post-World Series glow with Bauers is going to get him paid. He was really good this past season with Milwaukee and an even more good postseason. The thing with Bauers is: do you really think he’s even an outfielder? He played some left and right with the Brewers this year, but looked much better suited to being a first baseman. He might be able to shift around with the Phillies like he did with the Brewers, particularly with the stated plan of getting Schwarber more time at 1B and Harper some time in the outfield. This might be something to consider.
Ramon Laureano – We are entering the land of “one year deals” with these next few. Each one could have something good to say about them as well as something bad. For Laureano, he’s right handed! Woo! His biggest problem is health. He never seems to be able to stay on the field.
Cedric Mullins – If you’re going to sign Mullins, might as well just see if Justin Crawford can continue to develop.
Lane Thomas – Listen, if you want Lane Thomas, just sign Taylor Ward. It’s probably a better usage of that kind of money anyway. Granted, bringing Thomas aboard would be cheaper than Ward, but the latter, over the past three seasons, has been significantly better at the plate than the former. They both hit lefties well, though Ward has better power, which means Thomas would be a better choice if the desire is to have him strictly as a platoon bat.
Adolis Garcia – I mean….
Trade options
Is anyone going to trade an outfielder? The position just posted its second worst wRC+ in the last twenty years, so one would think that if any team had a player that was even remotely capable of playing good outfield defense and being competent at the plate, that team would hold onto him like grim death.
Predicted outcome
For the first time when considering what the Phillies plan to do with addressing a team need at a position, I really, truly don’t know what they are going to do.
Back in 2023, it was clear that the Phillies needed a shortstop, so seeing all the available options that year made it pretty clear they weren’t leaving free agency without someone. They ended up with Trea Turner. When they have needed a starter or a reliever, they have done so.
Now that they have a chance to do something about the outfield, I just don’t know which direction they are going to go. Will they go with only defense, offensive production be damned? Are they going to do the inverse, forgoing the leather in favor of helping an offense that could use an outside boost? It’s just so unclear what they plan on doing.
My crazy idea is to peddle Gage Wood for a similarly close to the majors outfield bat, preferably a right handed one. The natural inclination is to look west at the Dodgers, who seemingly have a plethora of outfield bats bottlenecking at the Triple-A level. While I wouldn’t exactly trust that the Phillies can develop a player at the major league level as a bat, that was before they decided to re-do their hitting instruction program. Now, I’m a little more optimistic. Of course, that would mean parting with someone is considered depth for their rotation, something they don’t have a lot of, which would make it a crazy idea in the first place.
My prediction would ultimately be that they keep Crawford and Hill in some capacity, trade Marsh and sign two other outfielders, one being a starter and the other being a quasi-starter. Who that starter is will remain TBD, but I’ll say it’s Sato.
This photo is significant for a number of reasons.
First, it shows two members of the Houston Astros visiting Wrigley Field in the first year the team from Houston was called that. They’d renamed from “Colt .45s,” often shortened to just “Colts,” to mark the opening of the first MLB domed stadium, the Astrodome, in 1965.
The players are Joe Morgan and Nellie Fox.
And so, even though we can’t see the Wrigley Field scoreboard in this photo, we can absolutely narrow this down to one specific date.
Morgan was a rookie in 1965, though he had played briefly in September callups in 1963 and 1964. Fox played for Houston in 1964 and 1965. But we already know, based on the uniforms, that this is ‘65.
In those days, all teams played 18 games against each other, nine home, nine road. The Astros were at Wrigley Field for a four-game series from May 7-9, 1965. But the ivy is too full in the photo for it to be early May.
The Astros were also at Wrigley Field for a four-game series from Aug. 20-22, 1965, the Aug. 20 date a doubleheader from a June 29 rainout.
But Fox had been released by Houston on July 31, ending his career.
The June 29 date was part of what was supposed to be a two-game series. Thus, this photo had to have been taken on the other date, Monday, June 28, 1965.
The Cubs won that game 7-2. Morgan went 1-for-4, a home run off Cubs starter Larry Jackson. Fox batted for Houston starter Dave Giusti in the sixth inning and singled. Giusti would later become an ace reliever for the Pirates, starring for them in the 1971 World Series, and posting a 2.97 lifetime ERA with 15 saves in 73 games against the Cubs. He pitched briefly and ineffectively for the Cubs in 1977 before retiring.
Morgan was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1990. Fox, who died of cancer in 1975, way too young at 47, was elected to the Hall by a Veterans Committee vote in 1997.
It’s been a sometimes confusing week for the Boston Celtics.
Derrick White looked baffled when he got MVP chants Tuesday night inside TD Garden while shooting free throws against the Brooklyn Nets. Payton Pritchard came to the sideline on Friday night after two dominating first-half stretches against the Chicago Bulls and found a smiling Joe Mazzulla waiting with a hug.
Smiles and hugs? From Mazzulla?
It turns out the secret is pretty simple. Respond to the coach’s challenges, and you might just get an in-game squeeze.
Pritchard grabbed only three rebounds, but one in particular jumped out to us during his first-quarter takeover. Pritchard tracked a long rebound and launched himself between both teammate Hugo Gonzalez and Chicago’s super springy Matas Buzelis to secure the ball.
Pritchard then broke out the other way in transition, accelerated past one Bulls defender, and took a bump from another while delivering an and-one layup that had Boston out front 40-21.
For the second time in a week, Pritchard had delivered a double-digit quarter against the Bulls. He finished the first quarter with 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting and added 2 steals on the defensive end. Pritchard went on to finish with a team-high 30 points on 9-of-17 shooting over 34:45.
“Joe challenged me and I feel like, in the first four games, my defensive activity and my rebounding has been poor,” said Pritchard. “So [Mazzulla was] challenging me to to step up in that area and I think the hug was for me to be like doing that and him being thankful I’m doing it … We’ve been through a lot together and so it’s just great to keep it going, and then I stepped up to the challenge in that area.”
Despite his size, Pritchard has routinely ranked as one of the best rebounders on the offensive glass for his position. He’s been a bit more middle of the pack among point guards on the defensive glass, but that rate has plummeted to a career-low 5.4 percent to start the 2026-27 season, or nearly half his career rate.
That one tough rebound in traffic on Friday night was a reminder of how being active on the defensive glass can help fuel Pritchard’s overall output.
What’s more, Pritchard was credited with defending a team-high 14 shot attempts against the Bulls, who shot just 35.7 percent when he was the primary defender, or 7.9 percent below expected output.
“I think in tonight’s game you saw the absolute best version of him,” said Mazzulla. “Now, that takes a ton of energy — not going to be able to do that every single night. But the sky is the limit for him. And, as we continue to grow as a team and he continues to grow as a player, being able to be a complete player on both ends of the floor really helps us take it to a different level.”
While further gushing about Pritchard, Mazzulla added: “I like pushing him.”
For one night, all that pushing led to an embrace.
There is never any rest for the weary in the NBA. After a thrilling 98-93 win over New York, their second over the defending champions on this young season, the Sixers are back in action less than 24 hours later on the road against the Charlotte Hornets.
It’s reasonable to expect a much different looking Sixers team for this game. After missing last night’s Knicks win with patellar tendinopathy in his left knee, it’s hard to imagine Jaylen Brown will be available to play. Joel Embiid and LeBron James both played in the front end against the Knicks, so it feels likely neither of them will be available either.
Charlotte is still waiting on Kon Knueppel, Coby White and Grant Williams to make their season debuts. They could also have more guys out of the lineup having also played Friday. They lost to the Wizards in Washington, falling to 3-3 on the season.
The Sixers went 2-1 against the Hornets last season but with the Sixers adding Brown and James and the Hornets trading Lamelo Ball, these teams are way too different to take anything from that. In a very small sample size and without one of their best players, the Hornets are currently profiling as a drastically different team.
At the time of writing, they are 30th in points scored per 100 possessions, a number skewed by their 79-point performance in Washington. They’re 10th in points allowed, according to Cleaning the Glass. They’ve won all three of their games by seven points or less. Two of their three losses have been by 15 points or more.
Fresh off a contract extension, Brandon Miller is averaging 25.6 points per game this season but is just shooting 39% from the field. Even potentially without LeBron and Brown, the Sixers seem as equipped to handle talented scoring wings as ever. Dean Wade is coming off a phenomenal night guarding OG Anunoby.
Assuming Embiid doesn’t play, Adem Bona and whoever else fills the center minutes could have their hands full with Naz Reid. As the starting center on his new team, Reid has averaged 17 points per game shooting 43% from the field and a scalding 42% from three on seven attempts so far this season. Ryan Kalkbrenner, their backup, could also give them problems just by being a long seven-foot-one.
This should be a fast paced one, with the Sixers also wanting to fly up and down the floor with their guards running the show. VJ Edgecombe should be in line for his first real high usage game of the season. He’s been great as a glue guy but has only scored over 15 points once this season. The only thing he hasn’t done well so far is shoot the ball. He’s shooting just 29% from three this season, but hit a massive triple from the top of the key to help seal that win against the Knicks.
Even against a team like Charlotte, the Sixers will need big games from both members of VJ Maxx, or potentially another heater from Anfernee Simons to sweep this back-to-back. It will take a village to fill center minutes for the time being, assuming Embiid isn’t available.
Game Details
When: Saturday, October 31, 6:00 pm ET Where: Spectrum Center, Charlotte, NC Watch: NBCSP/PCK-PHI Radio: 97.5 The Fanatic Follow:@LibertyBallers
It will be the second game missed this season for both Curry and Green, as they sat out the Warriors’ loss to the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 24.
Curry missed two months at the end of last season with a right knee injury, and the Warriors are taking a cautious approach early this season by keeping the 38-year-old from playing in both games of a back-to-back.
Curry is averaging 29.2 points on 47.7 percent shooting from the field and 44.0 percent shooting from 3-point range in five games this season.
Green is averaging 3.0 points, 7.2 assists and 5.2 rebounds in five games this season.
After facing the Clippers, the Warriors host the Suns on Monday night, with Curry and Green likely available.
UNITED STATES - JUNE 19: Baseball: St, Louis Cardinals Randy Flores in action, pitching vs Tampa Bay Devil Rays, St, Petersburg, FL 6/19/2005 (Photo by Tom DiPace/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
I usually wait at least a night to comment on huge news items like this. Immediate reactions bring rash statements one way or another. Ultimately, there are three competing narrativs when it comes to the hire of Randy Flores as general manager and all three narratives have kernels of truth in them. So, all of them are right and all of them are wrong perhaps in equal measure. Essentially, we have the glass half full approach, glass half empty approach, and the middle ground approach. We will look at each one by one.
Glass Half Full
If one looks at the failures of the Astros organization in recent seasons, one can look no further than the disintegration of the minor league system. Obviously, there are a number of factors that play into that. Every major league team lost much of the 2020 draft due to COVID. Then, the league took the Astros first and second round picks for two seasons because of the sign stealing scandal. Then, you have to account for losing prospects in trades to keep the championship window open.
So, saying the Astros’ farm system was terrible is not a complete indictment of Dana Brown or James Click before him. However, Flores comes over primarily with a player development background. Baseball America ranked the Cardinals as the number second overall farm system in MLB coming into 2026. In full disclosure, that ranking was higher than the Cardinals had been in recent seasons likely due to their sell off of veterans prior to the 2026 season. Baseball America had them ranked towards the middle of the pack for much of the previous decade where they ranked as low as 20th and as high as ninth. The Astros never ranked better than 24th in the same time.
Fangraphs had the Cardinals ranked fourth last season. So, multiple sources considered the Cardinals to be among the best farm systems in baseball in 2026. Flores began his work in 2015 officially, but was already gaining marks for innovation before he joined the Cardinals. That would seem to compliment the Driveline executives the Astros just brought in. It is impossible to know whether any move will be positive in the moment, but at least Flores was sought after by other clubs. He had interviewed in Baltimore and was listed as a prime candidate in Anaheim as well. This is as opposed to Dana Brown who was not a candidate anywhere other than Houston before he was hired.
I hate to make this comparison because it is unfair to Brown, but his hiring felt similar to the Houston Texans hiring David Culley. Again, this isn’t to say that Brown was as large a buffoon as Culley clearly was, but they came in with similar resumes. They were assistants that no one considered to be head coach or general manager material. Flores is at least a guy other people think should be considered for a head job. So, that would make him the Astros version of DeMeco Ryans.
Glass Half Empty
This ends up being a public relations mess for Jim Crane and the Houston Astros. Most of the last week was spent focusing on assistant general manager Matt Kleine. Kleine was one of the key deputies in Milwaukee and was reportedly the Astros number one candidate throughout the last week or so. Of course, this is when solid reporting starts to feel a little like quicksand as people look at rumors, innuendo and then add two and two to get seventeen.
What we know for a fact is that Kleine recently signed a four year contract extension with the Brewers. Exactly when that extension was signed and the exact terms of the extension we do not know. We do know that getting him would have required a buyout. From here, we go back into speculation mode. There were reports that Kleine wanted more money. There were other reports that he wanted the title of President of Baseball Operations. There are further reports that he wanted more autonomy. All of these things could have been true and none of them could have been true. I suspect that there is some kernel of truth to all of it, but we don’t know the details. So, we don’t know exactly what kept an agreement from taking place.
We also don’t know how committed the Astros were that Kleine was their number one choice. This will be a key area for them to clean up during the introductory press conference on Monday at 10 AM. Crane will need to sell the media and fanbase on Flores being their choice. I suspect that sell job will fall short. I’m not sure there is any satisfactory way to explain to a fanbase that expects results that you were unable to get your guy. That means selling Flores and selling him hard.
As someone more plugged in than most, I am not sure the analytical chops that Flores brings to the job. It is easy for him to sell himself on the results the Cardinals farm system has experienced, but how does that translate to the rest of a baseball operation? Kleine seemed to be a little more involved in the other day to day operations in Milwaukee, but that could be a misplaced perception. Only time will tell of course.
The Reality Based Narrative
This might be what we would call the marriage between the glass half empty and glass half full approach. I start by asking a couple of governing questions. Is the organization in better hands today than it was before the decision was made? In other words, is Randy Flores destined to be better than Dana Brown? Of course, I can’t say for sure, but the reasonable answer would be yes. A part of that calculation would have to be all of the recent hires the Astros have made around Flores to help with the player development and analytics side of things.
I think most people would agree that we would all feel more comfortable if the general manager made those decisions on staffings that work directly for him, but the Astros don’t operate that way for whatever reason. At the very least, Flores gets to be intimately involved in picking a manager. So, while it would be projection, we would have to say that the Flores/future manager combination will be superior to the Dana Brown/Joe Espada combination. That of course has to include all of the hires the organization has made in the last couple of weeks.
The second governing question is whether anything fundamentally changes in the way things run under Flores. I have no idea at this point and no one does. That is the reality. We don’t know if Crane will trust Flores more and give him more decision making power. Maybe Flores being a former player gives him an upperhand in terms of communicating a vision that Crane and Jeff Bagwell can buy into. Maybe Crane will never trust an executive again to have more autonomy. We just don’t know.
If I were to harbor a guess, I would guess he has more authority than Brown had in 2026. I think Crane knew he was moving on from Brown and just didn’t want to pull the trigger yet. In that scenario, you wouldn’t empower a lame duck much power to do anything really. Of course, that raises all kinds of questions as to why you are allowing someone you don’t believe in to continue doing the job, but we can set those questions aside for now. The point is that Flores has more immediate power than Brown did at the end of his tenure. How much more power? We are in no position to know.
This will be an important question as there are tons of decisions that could be made. Some of those decisions involve potentially dealing away valuable assets. Will Flores be empowered to do it? Will he have to clear each decision through Crane and Jeff Bagwell? Will Crane completely refuse to consider that option at the outset? We really don’t have answers to any of those questions yet. Until we know it is impossible to really give a full answer on this hire.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - SEPTEMBER 30: Bryce Harper #3 of the Philadelphia Phillies reacts after a home run against the Atlanta Braves during the eighth inning in game two of the National League Wild Card Series at Truist Park on September 30, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Ah, Halloween. On this glorious intersection of Allhallowtide and capitalist consumerism run rampant, we herald in the year’s final days by celebrating all things spooky, as we let ghouls, goblins, and children dressed up in overpriced costumes run wild in one last day and night of outdoor tomfoolery before the cold darkness of a lockout-lengthened winter sets in.
In the spirit of this haunting-filled day, let’s look back at the last few years. While, perhaps understandably, we tend to focus on the Yankees’ recent history, many of the decisions made over the last couple of years have been influenced by actions — or the lack of action — taken by the team as long ago as a decade. Which moves have haunted the Bronx the most in recent years? Let’s take a trip down memory lane.
Austerity in 2018-2019
To some extent, everything comes back to the 2018-19 offseason, when Manny Machado and Bryce Harper were free agents. Following a year in which the Yankees won 100 games but were absolutely shellacked by the eventual champion Red Sox team. That Bombers team had an aging Brett Gardner in left, Didi Gregorius out for months due to a torn UCL, and a ton of uncertainty in the infield — Luke Voit’s breakout was fun, but there’s always reason to be wary of an age-27 breakout at first base; meanwhile, a young Gleyber Torres and Miguel Andujar had finished second and third in the AL Rookie of the Year voting, but there was reason to skeptical of Andujar’s performance at the plate and his ability to stick at third long-term. In short: the Yankees were good, but not so good that they couldn’t benefit from adding a superstar in his age-26 season, and lo and behold, not only were there two of them out there on the market, both were interested in donning the pinstripes — and Harper was supposedly even willing to learn first base to do it.
So naturally, the Yankees prioritized getting under the luxury tax, and well, since then, they’ve had problem after problem that could’ve been solved by literally having paid one of these two guys — especially Machado. Concerns about Andujar turned out to be warranted, and then he tore his labrum. It’s only now as a part-time player over the past two years that he’s finally been able to carve out a role for himself. Gio Urshela was really good replacing him during the #NextManUp campaign, and followed that up with a solid 2020, but soon regressed into the journeyman utility player he had been. The Josh Donaldson experience? A disaster. DJ LeMahieu? The first contract worked, but he soon became always injured. Oswaldo Cabrera? Although a fun player, never more than a fill-in. Jazz Chisholm Jr.? A second baseman out of position. Ryan McMahon? Somehow a brief improvement before an ugly 2026. Sure, Machado’s contract is now a bit of an albatross, as he’s owed $39 million through 2033, but that’s the result of the extension the Padres signed him to, not the original deal.
The biggest excuse given for not seriously pursuing Harper in 2018 was that he was an outfielder, and the Yankees had plenty of depth there. Well, Father Time came for Gardner, injuries caught up to Giancarlo Stanton and Clint Frazier, and Aaron Hicks experienced a severe and sudden decline. Since 2019, the Yankees have traded for Joey Gallo, Harrison Bader, Alex Verdugo, Juan Soto, Trent Grisham, Cody Bellinger, and Heliot Ramos in order to fix their outfield — and that doesn’t include the small army of players acquired simply to get injuries, such as Mike Tauchman and Jake Bauers, or the multiple prospects who have failed to stick. The team sure could’ve used Harper in any of those stretches … oh, and as it turns out, he’s a decent enough first baseman, too — yet another position that has been a bit of a revolving door.
Sure, the Yankees may currently be fine at the first base/DH spot and have their corner outfield set, but let’s be real, each of the last few seasons has ended with Hal Steinbrenner on the podium saying the team needs to be more consistent at the plate, and either one of these two would have gone a long way towards remedying that problem.
The Shortstop Problem
In the days following the 2014 season, the main question surrounding the Yankees was, “How are they going to replace the legendary Derek Jeter?” The solution, as it turned out, was rather easy: Didi Gregorius, a young shortstop acquired from the Arizona Diamondback as part of a three-way deal in exchange for Shane Greene. While it wasn’t quite as seamless as the DiMaggio-to-Mantle transition in the 1950s, Sir Didi went on to become a fan favorite — and, at least during the juiced ball era, a veritable middle-of-the-order bat.
Unfortunately, once Gregorius’s years of team control ran out after the 2019 season, the Yankees embarked on a years-long merry-go-round trying to replace him. First, the team turned to former top prospect Gleyber Torres, who had performed admirably filling in at shortstop when Gregorius was injured but was clearly most comfortable at the keystone — something that was clear to anybody with eyes after the 2020 season; the team then had to keep him at short after re-signing LeMahieu instead of making a harder push for Francisco Lindor. When that, rather predictably, failed, the team had to use Urshela and the anonymous Andrew Velazquez there down the stretch in 2021.
Rather than trying to sign Carlos Correa to the pillow contract he ended up getting from the Twins or making a play for future Rangers World Series MVP Corey Seager, the Yankees then swung a deal for Isiah Kiner-Falefa (not a bad player, miscast as a starting shortstop on a contender). When that went bust, they then handed the keys over to another top prospect who profiled more as a second baseman while in the minors, Anthony Volpe. The 22-year-old beat out fellow acclaimed up-and-comer Oswald Peraza, but neither were truly up for the job. Despite some stretches of time in which he looked to be taking the next step offensively — and a Gold Glove in what was admittedly a down year for AL shortstops — that ended as well as the Torres experiment. In the meantime, they opted not to pursue a shortstop in free agency, leaving them with no other options.
Will George Lombard Jr. help get the Yankees out of their post-Gregorius cycle, and finally allow this ghost to reset? I’m hopeful, but it remains to be seen.
The Devin Williams Conundrum
Once the Yankees signed Max Fried during the 2024-25 offseason, the rotation seemed to be a bit overflowing with arms, especially lefties. As such, the team decided to package Nestor Cortes with Caleb Durbin, a relatively minor infield prospect whose stock had risen during the 2024 season, and sent them both to the Brewers in exchange for arguably the best closer in baseball, Devin Williams. It was a move that, at the time, made sense: Clay Holmes was departing in free agency, the team needed another bullpen arm, and at the time, Nasty Nestor was behind Fried, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Luis Gil, and Clarke Schmidt in the rotation pecking order.
This move, though, has already had major consequences — and will continue to do so, for the foreseeable future. First, the injury bug hit the Yankees rotation hard in 2025: Cole missed the full season with a torn UCL, Schmidt was gone for the latter half, and Gil made just 11 starts. The team was forced to rely on Marcus Stroman, who they had tried to dump that winter, and Ryan Yarbrough, who was signed as a bullpen arm, for 17 starts (oh, and both of them also hit the shelf). If it wasn’t for Cam Schlittler’s breakout and the trio of Fried, Rodón, and a rookie Will Warren making 33 starts apiece, the season would’ve been a disaster; and while Cortes himself spent much of the year injured, the psychological part of trading away what would have been sorely-needed depth stung.
To make matters worse, Durbin has developed into a solid third baseman with a league average bat, who finished top-three in the NL Rookie of the Year vote in 2025 before getting shipped to the Red Sox over the winter. Although he’s no superstar, his 4.4 rWAR/2.8 fWAR would have been miles better than the replacement-level play the Yankees got at the hot corner this season.
Had Williams been a dominant closer, this would have been an OK pill to swallow. Except … he was easily the second-worst closer the Yankees have had in recent years, and probably the worst when you factor in only the performance on the field.
Aroldis Chapman
The list of baseball-related things my Boston friends and I agree on is very short. Johnny Damon was fun to watch. The Mookie Betts trade was a disgrace. Aroldis Chapman sucks.
Yea, that’s pretty much it. From a purely baseball perspective, the decision to trade for Chapman was great — the prospects the Yankees sent over didn’t really amount to anything. The decision to trade him to the Cubs was even better, as it introduced Gleyber to the Bronx and brought Adam Warren back where he belonged. The decision to sign him again that winter was…defensible, even if I didn’t exactly love the idea of spending big money on a reliever during what I expected to be a down year (remember, expectations heading into 2017 were low). So why does this move haunt the Yankees? Well, because I absolutely despise the fact that he ever donned the pinstripes, and hate the fact that, if I ever need to look up his stats on Baseball Reference after he retires, there’s a solid chance the site will use a picture of him in a Yankee uniform as his profile picture since his seven seasons in the Bronx represents—and will likely forever represent—his longest tenure with any one team.
