Category: Sports News

With their 5-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Monday, Sept. 7, the Los Angeles Angels are now officially the first American League team eliminated from postseason contention.

The 18 remaining games on their schedule are now rendered meaningless. Even if they were to win out, they would only be able to reach 72 wins, a game shy of the Cleveland Guardians, who currently hold the third spot in the AL Wild Card race at 73-72.

But while this marks the 12th consecutive year that October baseball won't be played in Anaheim, Halos fans finally have reason to look towards the offseason with some sense of hope. Through several of their 44 losses at Angel Stadium this season, fans in the outfield bleachers took the "tarps off" trend to another level and vigorously chanted for owner Arte Moreno to sell the team. He's done just that.

New owner Stan Kroenke took the team off Moreno's hands in a reported $4 billion purchase, putting an end to 23 years of an ownership that was widely considered among the worst in professionl sports. Kroenke, who also owns the Los Angeles Rams, Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and Arsenal FC – all of which have won championships this decade – is expected to add the Angels to his portfolio once the sale gets approved by all 30 MLB owners sometime in early 2027.

It's a good time for a reset within the franchise, too, possible pending lockout aside.

Manager Kurt Suzuki is on a one-year contract; there's a good chance he'll be gone in 2027. Former St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak was brought in as the Angels' interim general manager after Perry Minasian was fired in June and quickly began making moves towards laying a foundation for the team's long-term future by trading away seven players ahead of the Aug. 3 trade deadline. The return of prospects in those deals, headlined by shortstop Arjun Nimmala, shot the Angels organization up from 28th to 17th in MLB Pipeline's farm system rankings.

More recently, Mozeliak promoted Matt Swanson and Michael Lord to assistant GMs as part of a restructuring of the scouting department. Mozeliak has yet to decide if he'll return next year, but the moves he's making now will help whoever is in charge, regardless of whether it's him or a new hire.

Here are the three biggest questions facing the Angels this offseason:

The Dodgers and Reds continue their series, and Tarik Skubal makes his second start of the homestand. Because these two teams play again next week in Cincinnati, Skubal will likely start twice against the Reds.

Left-hander Nick Lodolo starts Tuesday for Cincinnati.

Tuesday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Reds
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Start time: 7:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

The week the Yankees hoped would one day come — without any guarantees — after three months has finally arrived. 

The only question now is which day the Yankees will fill the 6-foot-7, 282-pound presence that has been sorely missing since the beginning of June. 

Aaron Judge is primed to return to the Yankees as early as Tuesday against the Rockies in The Bronx — Aaron Boone did not rule it out — though it could be Wednesday or Thursday if they choose to give him a few more days of ramping up with facing live pitching and the Trajekt machine. Neither of those was available to him over the last week as he joined the team on its West Coast road trip to check some of the final boxes in his rehab. 

But the long-awaited day is nearly here. 

“Best player in the world,” manager Aaron Boone said over the weekend, summing up the potential impact of his captain’s imminent return. 

The back-to-back AL MVP will jump right back into a playoff race. The Yankees trail the Rays by four games for the division — and are two games clear of the Red Sox for the top AL wild card — and survived his absence, entering Tuesday 45-39 since he last played despite dealing with other injuries during that span. 

“We’re still in it,” Max Fried said Sunday. “Obviously we’d love to be playing better, [and] we’re motivated to keep going and fight to try to win the division. But anytime you get your best player back, it’s obviously a huge boost.” 

On Monday’s off-day, Judge was set to face live pitching for the first time in his ramp-up, after spending the last week taking on-field batting practice, hitting off high-velocity pitching machines and standing in on bullpen sessions to track pitches. 

All of that, plus having the Trajekt machine at his disposal back at Yankee Stadium, is likely to allow Judge to skip a rehab assignment in favor of being activated sooner, despite the lengthy absence. Because of that, the Yankees may ease him in over the next few days as he finishes off his buildup. That could mean a day off after his first game, playing five to seven innings in the field and/or serving as the DH. 

But the Yankees will welcome him back in any form with open arms, after their lineup spent a large chunk of his IL stint struggling before finally starting to break out of it over the last few weeks. 

“He’s our captain, best player in baseball,” Fried said. “To have him back in the lineup is obviously a huge boost. We’re definitely a better team when he’s in the lineup.” 

The Yankees opened a spot on the active roster Sunday night, when they optioned Elmer Rodríguez to Triple-A, though it was unclear if it was for Judge. They will still need to open a spot on the 40-man roster to activate Judge off the 60-day IL (plus Clarke Schmidt at some point in the next week or two), which would make it surprising if they replaced Rodríguez with a pitcher who is not currently on the 40-man roster (i.e. Eli Morgan). But of their healthy 40-man pitchers in the minors, only Brendan Beck is eligible to be recalled Tuesday, which added to the Judge intrigue. 

The last game Judge played was May 31, when the Yankees beat the Athletics to improve to 36-23. They started 10-5 without him before sputtering during a 4-14 stretch into July. But they began to break out of the malaise from there, even as they were still not scoring much, as they leaned on the strength of their pitching staff to weather the storm. 

During that time, they have also withstood injuries to Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham (twice), Austin Wells, Ryan McMahon, Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Ryan Weathers and more, plus multiple setbacks for Giancarlo Stanton that have kept him out since late April. 

From June 1 through Sunday, the Yankees lineup ranked 26th in runs per game (4.06, compared to the 5.17 they were scoring with him); 29th in batting average (.227, compared to .243 with him); 27th in OPS (.681, compared to .770 with him); and 29th in WRC+ (90, compared to 116 with him). 

But now, they are on the verge of reintegrating one of the game’s most fearsome hitters at a critical time. 

“I feel like we’ve played pretty well here over the last several weeks,” Boone said. “Certainly we’ve had long stretches where the offense has struggled, and I think a big part of that is not having your guy. But I also feel like that’s ticked up here in the last couple weeks where we’ve really started to play better offensively. Certainly look forward to getting our guy back.”

The St. Louis Cardinals wrap up their west coast swing with a 3-game series vs the San Francisco Giants starting Monday night. Michael McGreevy is the starter for the Cardinals while the San Francisco Giants will give the ball to RHP Logan Webb. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10pm central time and the game broadcast will be available via NBC/Peacock.

1. Bryan Torres (L) 2B
2. Iván Herrera (R) C
3. Alec Burleson (L) 1B
4. Jordan Walker (R) RF
5. Leo Bernal (S) DH
6. Nolan Gorman (L) 3B
7. Joshua Báez (R) LF
8. Thomas Saggese (R) SS
9. Nathan Church (L) CF

When Dodgers manager Dave Roberts went over the weekend plan with Shohei Ohtani, he circled Monday as a potential date for him to return to the lineup after four days off to address lingering aches and pains, including a recurring biceps problem.

On Sunday, that plan was finalized. And Ohtani did indeed grace the top of the Dodgers’ lineup Monday as they opened a three-game series against the Cincinnati Reds.

Roberts will, however, keep a close eye on Ohtani.

“I don’t want to say it’s day to day, but I am very curious to see how he comes out of tonight to then make the decision for tomorrow and ensuing days,” Roberts said. “We’ve put a pin in throwing and just having him focus on the hitting, the running, keeping his legs good and doing whatever it takes to help us win.”

Read more:Shohei Ohtani set to return to lineup; Mookie Betts powers Dodgers past Nationals

By “put a pin in” it, Roberts meant that the Dodgers didn’t have a timetable for when Ohtani might throw again, making it likely that he won’t pitch again this year. But the Dodgers aren’t ready to fully rule it out.

Roberts said he hoped tabling throwing, at least for now, could help Ohtani’s offensive production.

“That’s one part of the thought, to sort of take the pitching off of his plate and really try to let him lock in on being a hitter and get on track,” Roberts said. “Because the last couple of weeks he just hasn’t been himself in the box.”

Ohtani wasn’t available before the game to give his own explanation about his recent slump, and he hasn’t addressed reporters in three weeks, despite repeated requests. He tallied only two hits in the six games before Roberts sat him.

Read more:Before Mark Walter's companies faced inquiries, he kept a low profile and built loyalty

“A lot of it was overall body break, which was needed,” Roberts said. “I think that what happens is, when a player gets taxed physically, the mentally is affected as well.

“I think we got to a point where it all sort of came to a head, where I do think these last four days, giving his body a reset, giving his mind a reset — anything can happen [Monday] as far as performance, but I’m hoping that he’s just in a better state body and mind tonight.”

How will Roberts be able to tell if that’s the case?

“Just the swing, the barrel accuracy, how his mechanics look,” Roberts said. “Hopefully we don’t see that wincing we saw [last Wednesday]. And just quality of at-bat in the end.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

MIAMI — A.J. Ewing’s late-summer siesta at the plate might finally be behind him. 

A day after collecting only his second multihit game over the past month, the rookie went a step further with a 3-for-5 performance that included three RBIs in the Mets’ 9-4 victory over the Marlins on Monday. 

Did Ewing change his approach following an August in which he produced a .463 OPS? 

“A little bit,” Ewing said. “I would just say that I am not chasing results and kind of sticking to an approach and a plan and just being pitch to pitch.” 

Ewing’s two-run double in the fifth inning extended the Mets lead to 7-4 and was among the big hits of the 16 the Mets collected. Ewing also delivered an RBI single later in the game. 

“The at-bats are outstanding,” interim manager Andy Green said. “He’s hitting the ball all over the field. He’s hitting with authority.” 

Ewing’s only blemish on this day was getting picked off first base in the third inning. 

“He got a little far off the base,” Green said. “But he can apply so much pressure with his speed, so getting him back on the bases really causes our offense to churn.” 

Robert Stock will start Wednesday’s series finale, according to Green. The right-hander pitched in relief Friday — facing two batters — after his best career start four days earlier, when he pitched 5 ¹/₃ scoreless innings against the Rays. 

Reed Garrett, who is rehabbing from internal brace elbow surgery, will throw from a mound Tuesday in front of team officials. The right-hander has spent most of this season rehabbing in Port St. Lucie. 

Jared Young was on the bench for a second straight game after fouling a ball off his foot Saturday. Brett Baty started at first base. 

Justin Hagenman was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse to create roster space for Jonah Tong. 

It’s time for a new series, and it’s time for holiday baseball, as the San Francisco Giants host the St. Louis Cardinals.

Logan Webb is scheduled to take the mound for the Giants, with the three-time All-Star right-hander making his 26th start of the season. Webb is 8-8 on the year, with a 4.21 ERA, a 3.44 FIP, and 119 strikeouts to 38 walks in 149.2 innings. Webb is looking to bounce back after his last outing, when he gave up nine runs in two innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

For the Cardinals, it’s righty Michael McGreevy, who makes his 28th start. The 26-year old is 6-9 on the year, with a 3.97 ERA, a 4.31 FIP, and 102 strikeouts to 40 walks in 147.1 innings. McGreevy gave up four runs in five innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers in his last start.

Enjoy the baseball, everyone!

Game #145

Who: San Francisco Giants (59-85) vs. St. Louis Cardinals (72-72)

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 5:10 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: n/a

National broadcast: NBC/Peacock

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jesus Luzardo threw the first complete game of his career Monday, Sept. 7, a two-hit, 12-strikeout shutout that beat the Atlanta Braves1-0 and pushed his record to 14-5 with a 2.87 ERA.

Five months ago, his ERA sat at 5.50.

Since then, he has won the National League Pitcher of the Month for August, going 3-0, with a 1.31 ERA, 46 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings. Over his last 22 starts, his ERA is 2.39.

He's not the only team member pitching well at the right time.

Cristopher Sanchez is 16-14 with a 2.52 ERA and the major's best pitching WAR, running second in the Cy Young race behind Milwaukee's Jacob Misiorowski. Earlier this year he put together a 50 2/3-inning scoreless streak, the longest by a left-hander in major league history.

Zack Wheeler had a miserable August, a 6.26 ERA that had people writing him off, and has answered it with back-to-back starts of six innings with one run apiece. Aaron Nola's season line still looks rough at 4.76, but that number isn't the whole story. Since late June, Nola has a 3.43 ERA over his last 11 starts, including going seven innings and holding the Braves to a run in his last start.

Shohei Ohtani was back atop the Los Angeles Dodgers' lineup on Monday, Sept. 7 against the Cincinnati Reds after missing four games.

He last played Sept. 2, when he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts against the St. Louis Cardinals and looked, for a few innings, like a hitter who could not catch up with the ball.

He returns as a designated hitter. Ohtani has not pitched since July 3 because of inflammation in his left knee, and manager Dave Roberts said over the weekend that a mound return this season is unlikely. Nobody has closed the door, but he has not started throwing.

The knee issue dates to June. The right biceps flared up after that Sept. 2 game against the Cardinals. He is also dealing with a sore neck. Ohtani, 32, did nothing for two days, then hit in an indoor cage Saturday, and his hitting coaches and the training staff all gave him the go-ahead.

Ohtani was cold before he sat. He has not hit a home run since Aug. 18. He had two hits in his last 23 at-bats with 11 strikeouts.

It was a labor of a game on Labor Day. The Twins were resilient and had plenty of chances to score, but more bad luck with RISP, four double plays, and poor defensive execution led to another Twins loss. The same script as most of the second half.

The Twins once again struck first in the game. Luke Keaschall was hit by a pitch and Brooks Lee stroked a strong single to center. Keaschall and Lee then double stole to put two in scoring position for the heart of the lineup. Kody Clemens struck out and Ryan Jeffers hit into a fielders choice, scoring one and keeping runners at the corners with only one out, but Josh Bell hit into a double play to end the inning.

Joe Ryan made his grand return and was reasonably effective. After only one short rehab appearance, the Twins limited his workload to 65 pitches with rookie left-hander Connor Prielipp scheduled to follow. Ryan had a long first two innings, throwing 43 pitches and allowing three runs, but it genuinely could have been much worse.

Ryan K’d Colt Keith on three pitches to start the inning, but left a heater down the heart of the plate to AL ROY favorite Kevin McGonigle, giving Detroit their first run. In the second, he gave up a leadoff triple and struck out Spencer Torkelson, and then had perhaps the worst 4 pitch sequence of his life. Ryan walked rookie Max Clark after a long battle, then hit light-hitting rookie John Peck on the very next pitch to load the bases. On the next pitch he hit Keith to plate the go-ahead run, and then McGonigle reached on a soft grounder to first, but Royce Lewis’ throw home took Jeffers off the plate and allowed the Tigers to score another. Ryan buckled in and got the next two Tigers to end the threat, but the damage was done.

Ryan locked in from there, retiring the next six straight Tigers batters, including three strikeouts, to end his day at four innings and 66 pitches. It was a decent return for the Twins’ ace. His velocity looked strong and other than the McGongile homer (the only hard hit ball he allowed), he pitched reasonably well for someone effectively making his second rehab appearance. Some better defense behind him and he likely puts the Twins in a great position to win.

Connor Prielipp took over from there and was also pretty strong the rest of the way. He gave up a two-run shot to All-Star Riley Greene, but gave the Twins four strong and efficient innings and continues to show good stuff despite being 40 innings over his 2025 career high and flying past the combined 58 innings he threw from 2020-2024. The numbers won’t dazzle you, but he’s done more than enough to warrant a 2027 rotation look and stave off the bullpen concerns some evaluators thought he was destined for.

Back on the offensive side, the Twins did an excellent job getting back in the game after falling behind. Trevor Larnach, who has been hearing the call of the void, shrunk the gap to 1 with a laser wall-scraper in the fourth. Then, they finally managed to string some hits together with two outs in the sixth, trailing 5-2 at this point. Larnach got things started again with a single and Kaelen Culpepper scorched a single to left on the next pitch. Walker Jenkins then had his best at-bat as a Twin so far, working a full count before scorching a double into the right-center gap to plate two. If it wasn’t for Tigers centerfielder Max Clark’s speed, Jenkins might have had an inside-the-park home run in cavernous C0merica Park, but Clark made a nifty play, sliding to cut off the ball in the gap before it could get past him.

Twins legend Tyler Kinley came in to try to finish the game, but walked Keaschall and Lee to juice the bases for Clemens, who watched a fastball down the middle of the plate to end the threat with the Twins trailing 5-4. They had chances in every inning that followed, but hit into double plays in each of the final three frames to stop any momentum they had built.

Minnesota had one final chance to pull out a win in the ninth, but once again couldn’t come up with the final hit they needed. A leadoff walk to Clemens put the tying run on. Jeffers then hit a fly ball about 400 feet out to dead center that stayed in the park and Josh Bell bounced into a double play to end the game.

They “only” left 10 men on base this game, which doesn’t seem that bad, but that’s because double plays don’t count for that number. They had at least one runner reach base in every inning and two runners in five of them, yet only managed three total runs in those innings with multiple baserunners. Little things like that are what has the Twins well outside the playoff field with three weeks to go.

STUDS

• Bottom of the lineup (Larnach/Kreidler, Culpepper, Jenkins): 5-10, HR, 2B, BB, 3 RBI
• Luke Keaschall: 1-2, 2 BB, stole third base

DUDS

• Rest of the lineup: 2-20, 3 BB, 3 GIDP, 0-6 with RISP

We’re back tomorrow for the stellar pitching matchup of Dean Kremer vs Drew Anderson, which we’ve all been waiting for. Here’s hoping Emmanuel Rodriguez and Alan Roden are with the team, too!

Baseball, perhaps more so than every other ball sport save golf, might be the one in which more happens to decide the outcome of a play, game, or season not on the field of play but in that one square foot of real estate nobody can see: What's going on inside the players’ minds?

During a 19-game stretch in August during his rookie year, Mets outfielder A.J. Ewing had just eight hits in 73 at-bats (.110) and saw his average (.269) and OPS (.743) fall by .033 and 0.089, respectively.

Interim skipper Andy Green said Ewing had the “attitude” and “confidence” to break out of it. After a three-hit, three-RBI game in Monday’s 9-4 win over the Miami Marlins, the rookie is now 10-for-25 (.400) with eight RBI in his last seven games.

“He’s been really good,” Green said after the win. “The at-bats are outstanding; he’s hitting the ball all over the field, he’s hitting it with authority.”

Ewing said it comes down to feeling “really comfortable in the box right now” as he tries to stay true to his game. Does that mean there was a change of approach after the August slump?

“A little bit,” Ewing said. “I would say it’s not chasing results and just kinda sticking to an approach and a plan and just being pitch-to-pitch.”

And chasing results and letting the mental side of his game slip away is something Ewing indicated was happening during the bad run at the plate

“I’d say it’s impossible not to be up there and have those thoughts in your head,” Ewing said. “But staying away from that as much as you can is definitely the mental challenge of this game.” 

For the season, Ewing has five games with three or more hits over his first 102 appearances and has his slash line back up to .247/.319/.365 for a .684 OPS. 

With Ewing getting back on base, Green added that he is once again bringing an extra dimension to the Mets' offense with his speed.

“He can apply so much pressure with his speed,” the interim skipper said. “So getting him back on the bases really causes our offense to churn.”

Of course, the 22-year-old rookie will still have more to learn. “I just wasn’t expecting [it],” he said about getting picked off first in the third inning on Monday.

Put it in the memory bank for later.