Category: Sports News

After a wild opener, the Milwaukee Brewers and San Diego Padres are back in action for Game 2 of the National League Division Series on Sunday, Oct. 4.

Milwaukee overcame a 2-0 deficit in Game 1 to win 3-2 after William Contreras’ go-ahead solo homer in the seventh inning at American Family Field.

Logan Henderson (11-3, 2.47 ERA) starts for the Brewers while right-hander Michael King (12-10, 3.21 ERA) goes for the Padres.

“It always feels good when Michael's on the mound,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “We felt good when he's on the mound all season. He's definitely been our leader on the pitching staff.”

With the San Diego Padres trailing the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2 in the top of the ninth inning, Ty France stepped to the plate with one on and one out facing Brewers closer Trevor McGill. France connected on what looked like a sure two-run home run, which would have put the Padres in the lead, but the ball hit one of the roof trusses and deflected into the field of play where it was caught by Milwaukee left fielder Jackson Chourio. The play was ruled an out, and after a couple of umpire meetings and a replay review, the call was confirmed and San Diego was down to its final out. Jackson Merrill hit a well struck line drive to right field, but the ball was caught by Luis Lara and the Padres suffered a 3-2 loss to the Brewers in the series opener of the National League Division Series.

Milwaukee took the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning when the San Diego bullpen faltered. Adrian Morejon took the mound in the bottom of the seventh and recorded two outs against the first two batters he faced. William Contreras stepped to the plate and battled Morejon before he eventually won the at-bat when he connected on a solo home run on the sixth pitch of the plate appearance which gave the Brewers the lead. Morejon then allowed back-to-back singles before he got the final out on a strikeout.

The Padres had an opportunity to tie the game in the top of the eighth with runners at the corners and two outs. McGill who came in to face Fernando Tatis Jr. was able to get out of the inning with a three-pitch strikeout of one of the hottest hitters in the San Diego lineup. The Padres returned to the plate in the top of the ninth and Dustin Harris led off with a single to right field. Manny Machado followed and like Tatis against McGill, he went down on a three-pitch strikeout to set the stage for the dramatic plate appearance from France.

San Diego had plenty of opportunities to add to its two-run lead that came up empty. The Padres left 12 runners on base and finished 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position in the game.

San Diego will try to draw even in the series when Michael King takes the mound against Milwaukee today at 1 p.m.

Padres News:

• Xander Bogaerts is trying something new, although he is reluctant to talk about it. His new split-grip approach at the plate has been paying dividends for him and the Padres over the final month of the season.

• Thomas Conroy of Gaslamp Ball said the Padres hitters needed to carry the momentum from their Wild Card Series into the NLDS against the Brewers. San Diego did that, outhitting Milwaukee 9-7, but two home runs handed the Padres the loss.

• All the talk before the game was how the Padres would handle Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski and truth be told, they acquitted themselves quite well, scoring two runs off the flamethrower and forcing him out of the game after four innings.

• The Padres announced their roster prior to the NLDS opener against the Brewers and it was unchanged from the roster they had against the Chicago Cubs in the NL Wild Card Series. After the roster was released San Diego announced Walker Buehler was headed to the playoff paternity list and Randy Vasquez was being added to the roster in his place.

Baseball News:

• Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen dominated the New York Yankees en route to a shutout win.

• Tarik Skubal led the Los Angeles Dodgers to a series-opening win over the Atlanta Braves.

• The Chicago White Sox remained hot and opened their series against the Cleveland Guardians with a win.

The Dodgers secured their first postseason game of the year on Saturday, powering three home runs to back a strong start from Tarik Skubal in a 5-3 win over the Atlanta Braves.

It was the first time that Skubal was able to pitch at home in a postseason starts, as all of his four playoff outings had come on the road during his time with the Detroit Tigers. Skubal’s lone blemish on Saturday came via a Sean Murphy home run in the top of the sixth inning, but he went on to strike out seven hitters over six innings of one-run ball.

He did this while also battling a heat wave that struck Los Angeles, but the weather didn’t play a factor into how he addressed his Game 1 start, notes Sonja Chen of MLB.com.

“It’s hot. No denying that,” Skubal said. “Every team’s playing in it, right? They’re playing in the same conditions we are. It doesn’t really matter. It shouldn’t really impact how you are mentally or how it’s going to impact how you pitch. Just go out there and play baseball and try to drink water.”

The 2026 regular season wasn’t too kind to Teoscar Hernández, as a hamstring injury cost him a month’s worth of time while having his power zapped until a torrid September. Now that the real test has begun, Hernández has found his October-self yet again, crushing a two-run home run in the bottom of the fourth inning on Saturday to start the scoring.

Hernández spoke with announcer John Smoltz about his ability to switch gears in October and be the guy to get the big hits in key situations.

“I think the focus is different. In the regular season, you try to have a good game in three at-bats. I think in the playoffs, it’s just pitch-by-pitch. For me, it doesn’t matter what I do in the at-bats before, I will try to focus on the one I’m taking.”

Max Muncy continued to etch his name in the company of Dodgers greats, as he crushed his 17th career postseason home run on Saturday, setting a new franchise record for home runs in the postseason, writes Thomas L. Murray of the California Post.

Kyle Tucker was a disaster when playing at home this season, but he started to rectify his Dodger Stadium struggles with a two-run home run that made the difference in Saturday’s win. Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times notes in his latest column that Tucker has a chance of becoming the unlikely hero of the NLDS.

Now that the St. Louis Cardinals season is over, it is now fair to look at the entire year together and evaluate the team’s performance rather than grading the season with games left to play. According to basically every respected outlet that produces baseball content, the Cardinals and their fans should be ecstatic for how this season went.

Admittedly, there were plenty of times during the season that the Cardinals were upsetting or disappointing, even when they were playing well above preseason expectations. The team sat at nine games over .500 multiple times but could never hit that double digit, the trade deadline left some to be desired, and their September performance made it easier to check out than I had hoped. Even with this, the Cardinals kept me engaged, entertained, and hopeful by the end of the 162-game season.

The Cardinals surpassed 2026 expectations and set a solid foundation for the future

Since the season is over, I decided to go back and find any preseason predictions built around the Cardinals team and see if expectations met reality. Based on what I could find, I would say that even with me expecting them to surpass the atrocious 68.5 win total given at the start of the year, the Cardinals did indeed surpass what I was hoping for. It was fun to check things out from early in the season, especially opening weekend when I wrote about blown leads and comeback wins. Sounds like the first three games of the year really set the tone.

Every year over at Redbird Rants, Josh Jacobs asks the team to put in their preseason predictions around Team MVP, breakout players, and bold predictions. Looking back at my own thoughts, it looks like the Cardinals played exactly like I expected but there was still some meat on the bone. Starting with Team MVP, I decided to go with DJ Burly Biscuits as my choice. In my write up, I spoke to his consistency, continued trend of improving, and being the leader of the team. I predicted .275 with 25 homers and 80 RBIs and I think we all would have taken that from Alec Burleson. Instead, he decided to go out and surpass all those numbers AND lead all of baseball in RBIs. I’ll count this prediction as a big, fat W for me.

Moving on to breakout players, I think I am officially taking Masyn Winn off of my players to watch list but still believe in him as a main fixture for the Cardinals organization. For the third year, I predicted Winn to put it all together and hit a dozen or so homers, swipe a few more bags, and bring that batting average back up to .270 or so. As much as I nailed the Burly prediction, this one was well on the other side. I do not know what to expect from Winn next year, but I have jumped ship on my 20/20 predictions and am now just hoping for .250 with 10 homers and to stop playing through injury.

Pitching wise, I think I hit the nail on the head but still think I expected a bit more in order to call it correct. I decided to roll with Dustin May as my breakout pitcher even with him being a lock to be traded at the deadline. For May, I wrote that “it is unfortunate that we are only going to see him for a few months, but this could be the season that May fans have been waiting for”. Well, we did only get to see him for a few months and he did put together a decent season before getting dealt to Milwaukee. The second half of my prediction was that he would be a difference maker for whoever acquired him (netting the Cardinals a nice return), so I will say I was close but no cigar in total.

My bold prediction was indeed bold… I went back to the well with Masyn Winn while also putting faith in Victor Scott II, which I never had in general for him. I predicted that these two and JJ Wetherholt would combine for 100 stolen bases after the team finished near the bottom of the league in that category for too long. All three players stole bases in the season’s first week and had me feeling good. But then reality set in for VSII, Winn was unable to consistently get on base and run, and Wetherholt was too busy hitting homers or getting driven in that he did not steal as much as I had hoped. It may not be these three again, but I do need the Cardinals to get more aggressive running the bases.

Finally, it went to record and final standings. I will again give myself a passing grade because not only did I nail the 77-85 record on the head, I also was correct in my fourth place finish in the division. Where I missed was saying the rest of the division was mediocre and the Brewers were the best team in baseball with the Cubs getting to make a cameo in the postseason. Adding on that the Pirates finished above .500 and the NL Central was one of the better divisions in the game.

As I was looking for my predictions, I also found a couple stories from the year as it progressed relating back to the beginning of the year expectations. Early in April, I asked the question if the Cardinals would improve the bullpen if they continued to compete. The team continued to compete but they definitely did NOT address the bullpen that was doomed from the start. A month later, I then asked if we were allowed to be disappointed by the Cardinals this year. In the quarter checkpoint of the year, the Cardinals remained competitive but definitely had some holes that continued to be an issue throughout the season.

Now that the dust has settled on the Cardinals season, how did they do compared to your preseason thoughts? Did you expect them to be the worst team in the majors like the experts or were you one of the few optimstic ones?

Thanks as always!

Meet the Mets

“I was happy over there. Obviously I wasn’t in the spot that I wanted to be with my numbers…but this is baseball,” said Freddy Peralta to the media of his journey from New York to Tampa Bay after Game 1 of the ALDS. “Everything changed when I got traded. I’ve been treated here as a king, and I feel really good about it. They work on me really well here. For me, and my family, this is a great opportunity to be the pitcher for the second game of the ALDS.”

Mets prospect Cole Mathis—one of the many players the Mets acquired at this year’s trading deadline—is debuting a new hitting stance in the Arizona Fall League.

There is no greater disconnect between fanbases in New York than the one between the two New York baseball teams, writes Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post.

Around the National League East

The Braves’ bullpen game strategy fell short, as the Dodgers took Game 1 of the NLDS 5-3 behind six innings of one-run ball by Tarik Skubal.

The Dodgers are forcing the Braves to make a tough decision about Chris Sale; will Atlanta start him in Game 2 after he was deployed on Thursday for the final four outs of the Wild Card Series or will they save him for Game 3?

Evan Macy of PhillyVoice reviews ten things the Phillies must change this offseason.

The city of Washington DC is looking at legislation to authorize bonds to generate $380 million for an “extensive” renovation of Nationals Park, per reporting by the Washington Business Journal. It is unclear how much the Nationals would contribute to the project.

Around Major League Baseball

Aaron Judge’s lingering calf injury has kept him off the Yankees’ ALDS roster.

The Yankees certainly could have used Judge’s bat, as Drew Rasmussen carried a no-hitter into the eighth inning in front of a sold-out Tropicana Field to put the Rays ahead 1-0 in the ALDS.

Game 1 of the AL Central ALDS matchup also was a shutout, as the White Sox blanked the Guardians 3-0.

The Brewers won a nail-biter in Game 1 of the NLDS, defeating the Padres 3-2. The Padres took an early 2-0 lead off Jacob Misiorowski, who only managed to record 12 outs, but Jackson Chourio tied the game with a two-run homer in the third inning and William Contreras went deep off Padres setup man Adrian Morejon for the decisive blow in the eighth. This game truly had everything, as a potential go-ahead home run in the ninth off the bat of Ty France struck a cable running across the roof of American Family Field and redirected itself into Jackson Chourio’s glove like an act of divine intervention by the home ballpark.

Will Leitch of MLB.com reviewed one storyline for each of the four playoff National League teams ahead of Game 2 of the NLDS.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 1999, the Mets beat the Reds in a decisive Game 163 behind a two-hitter by Al Leiter to send the club to their first playoff series in 11 years.

Remembering the Blue Jays’ Wild Card Walk-Offten years ago today.

In the 11th inning of the Blue Jays’ Wild Card matchup, Edwin Encarnacion delivered a dramatic one-out home run, sealing a thrilling 5-2 walk-off victory over the Orioles.

In the 11th inning, with the Orioles best reliever sitting in the bullpen (Buck Showalter was a genus), the Orioles brought in Ubaldo Jimenez into the game. With one out, we got singles from Devon Travis and Josh Donaldson. At this point, I was sure Zach Britton would be coming into the game. But Showalter left Jimenez in there.

Then, the unforgettable moment unfolded:

Buck Showalter certainly deserves a thank you—perhaps a nice fruit basket.

Earlier in the game, offense was limited. Jose Bautista hit a solo home run in the second, and Ezequiel Carrera brought home Michael Saunders with a single in the fifth.

We grounded into three double plays, despite only putting seven runners on base all game. According to the recap:

The one that hurt the most was in the 9th inning, Josh Donaldson (off a leadoff double) and Edwin Encarnacion (intentional walk) on first and second with one out (Bautista strike out on a check swing) when Russell Martin ground one straight at third for an easy 5-4-3 double play.

Marcus Stroman pitched six strong innings, his only blemish being a two-run homer allowed to Mark Trumbo.

The bullpen was outstanding—Brett Cecil, Joe Biagini, Jason Grilli, Roberto Osuna, and Francisco Liriano combined for five scoreless innings.

From the recap:

Jays of the Day: Edwin (.126 WPA, I thought it would higher), Liriano (.214), Osuna (.195, please don’t be hurt), Grilli (.106), Donaldson (.284).

We won, so I’m not giving any suckage awards, but if I did: Travis (-.240), Martin (-.296), and Tulo (-.134).

I remember thanking Showalter for the assist, and someone on Twitter telling me, “If you put Britton in there, who gets the save?” I was amazed that people still thought managing for the save stat was a priority.

Edwin left as a free agent after the season, finishing with 239 regular season home runs (third in Jays history) and four postseason homers for Toronto. After that, he played for Cleveland, the Yankees, Mariners, and the White Sox. Over those four years, he posted a .241/.344/.489 line with 114 home runs. This past year was tough: he hit just .157/.250/.377 with 10 homers for the White Sox.

The Jays went on to sweep the Rangers in the ALDS, taking all three games.

Toronto then fell to Cleveland in five games in the ALCS—a series defined by outstanding pitching. Cleveland’s hitters managed just .168/.215/.329, while the Blue Jays hit .201/.251/.283.

LOS ANGELES — After a four-game Saturday, the National League has Sunday to itself with a pair of Games 2 of the NLDS first in Milwaukee and then in Los Angeles.

After winning Game 1 in 100-degree heat on Saturday afternoon behind Tarik Skubal, the Dodgers turn to Blake Snell for Game 2 in trying to attack the Braves with another left-handed starting pitcher. The Dodgers have the evening game on Sunday, with a 5 p.m. start on FS1.

The Braves as of Saturday night still haven’t yet decided whether to start ace Chris Sale in Game 2 Sunday after starting Tuesday and getting four outs in relief on Thursday in the wild card series. The alternative for Atlanta is a second straight bullpen game.

The Brewers took a tight opener over the Padres in Game 1, a contest that was not without controversy. Ty France hit a ball that looked like it might have had the distance for a go-ahead home run, but hit the roof in Milwaukee before being caught in deep left field.

San Diego and Milwaukee have the early slot on Sunday, with both NLDS games on FS1.

Sunday Division Series schedule

1 p.m. PT: Padres at Brewers
Milwaukee leads, 1-0
NLDS Game 2: Michael King vs. Logan Henderson
FS1 (Adam Amin, Adam Wainwright, A.J. Pierzynski)

5 p.m.: Dodgers vs. Braves
Los Angeles leads, 1-0
NLDS Game 2: Blake Snell vs. TBA
Fox (Joe Davis, John Smoltz)

Home run totals from yesterday’s games:

Dodgers 3, Braves 2 – Dodgers win

Rays 1, Yankees 0 – Rays win

Brewers 2, Padres 0 – Brewers win

White Sox 1, Guardians 0 – White Sox win

That’s pretty much all you need to know. When the top 6 in your order go 0 for 18 and do not hit a homer, you are going to lose a playoff baseball game.

Now, an off-day to regroup and remember how to hit. The shadows of the afternoon sun were an issue which should only be a problem for the opening of game two. We will see if that enables the Guardians to hit the White Sox bullpen… or, gulp, the White Sox to hit our relievers.

Drew Rasmussen threw seven scoreless, hitless innings against the Yankees which was an all-time performance. Yankee Austin Wells hit a two-out double off Rasmussen in the eighth but was thrown out trying to get to third and I just hope the Guardians were taking notes on what not to do because they make way too many outs at third base. Don’t make the first or third out of an inning at third should be way more of an involiable rule than it is.