Category: Sports News

Good morning! It’s Monday, which sucks. And it’s the first Monday without Red Sox baseball since March, which sucks even more. But one thing I’m fond of reminding people is that baseball exists beyond the confines of the Major Leagues.

The Yomiuri Giants finished the NPB regular season just 2 games behind their bitter rivals, the Hanshin Tigers, for the Central League pennant. The Giants are the most successful club in Japanese history, based in the country’s biggest city, Tokyo. The Tigers hail from Japan’s “second city” of Osaka, have a rabid fanbase that fills a historic and ancient old ballpark, and suffered through the “Curse of Colonel Sanders” — a championship drought that lasted from 1985 through 2003 and was said to be the result of Tigers fans throwing a statue of the KFC brand ambassador into a canal while celebrating the ‘85 win. For these reasons, the Giants-Tigers rivalry is often compared to Red Sox-Yankees and, frankly, I would like to see Sox fans take this comparison even further by jumping into Fort Point Channel after big wins, the way the Tigers fans do:

But despite the parallels between the Sox and Tigers, Sox fans may want to pull for the Giants as the playoffs get under way. That’s because the Giants are charging into the postseason behind the bat of Bobby Dalbec.

At the age of 31, Bobby Bombs finally turned back to the clock to his rookie year. Look how close these stat lines are:

2021: 133 G, .240/.298/.494, 25 HR, 21 doubles, 156 strikeouts

2026: 135 G, .252/.315/.457, 25 HR, 24 doubles, 181 strikeouts

The man can absolutely still clobber a baseball:

Use this space to talk about former slugging first baseman, foreign playoffs, and whatever else you want and, as always, be good to one another.

To finish the season, the Washington Nationals went 39-42 at home and 38-43 on the road. Those are similar numbers and on the surface, there does not seem like much to talk about here. However, when you dive deeper, these splits actually become quite fascinating. It was a tale of two halves for the Nationals.

At the start of the season, the Nationals were a very bad home team. Since the Nats were in the Wild Card mix and above .500, we tend to look back at the first 4 months of the season with rose tinted glasses. However, the Nats really struggled at home during that time.

On July 24th, the Nats fell to 20-32 at Nationals Park, the worst home record in all of baseball at the time. Yet, they were still a .500 team because of what they did on the road. For a large portion of the season, the Nationals were road warriors.

The start of the season was even more brutal. In April, it felt like they could not buy a win at home. On May 2nd, they dropped to 3-12 at Nationals Park. Whenever the Nats got momentum from a strong road trip, it felt like that would all be squandered with flat performances at home.

However, at the end of the season, the Nats finished with a better record at home than on the road. So what on earth happened here? That is what I want to explore. I am going to look at the data and come up with some potential reasons.

Before the All-Star break, the Nats were 28-18 on the road and 20-31 at home. That totally flipped in the second half, where the Nats went 19-11 at home and a miserable 10-25 away from Nationals Park. 

The most obvious explanation for me is just variance. In a 162 game season, there is a lot of noise, but at the end of the day, things tend to even out. Whenever I asked Blake Butera about the poor home record at the beginning of the season, he was not happy about it, but he did not think there was some major underlying issue. Now that the season is over, it looks like things just balanced out.

However, the huge swings were very strange to watch. There was a stretch in the second half where the Nats went 2-21 on the road. We can talk about variance all we want, but something like that cannot happen again. In August and early September, the team just looked totally lifeless away from home.

It should be mentioned that they did face a lot of tough road competition in that stretch. That west coast trip against the Dodgers and Padres was brutal. The Nats lost 7 straight, and it felt like rock bottom. However, I did not think the Nats were playing awful baseball in most of those games.

Those were just two of the hottest teams in baseball playing at home. They took advantage of the Nats weak bullpen and staged a lot of comebacks. It did not look like August where the team was totally lifeless. At the end of the day, it was 7 L’s though. In the first half, the Nats found a way to win road games, but not so much after the break.

On the flip side, the Nationals really found their footing in front of the home crowd down the stretch. In my opinion, the biggest reason for that was improved clutch hitting. One of the major storylines for most of the season was the Nats inability to get a walkoff.

For such a potent offense, the Nats were weirdly feeble late in the game at home. There were a lot of times where the Nats just rolled over after a lead was blown. They did not get the first walk-off of the season until August 29th when Dylan Crews smacked a single into right to send the fans home happy.

After that moment, it felt like the Nats had a lot of big hits late in games at home. Harry Ford got a walk-off hit of his own a couple weeks later. However, it was more than just walk-offs. When the Nats fell behind, the offense was ready to answer.

Even though the Nats actually did not score a ton of runs in September, they were able to get the big hit. That series against the Angels saw the Nats answer over and over. Blake Butera talked a lot about how resilient his team was, and that was an example.

For most of the season, the Nats were resilient, but usually not within games. The way Butera’s team showed resilience was coming back from brutal losses like nothing happened the next day. However, for a lot of the season, they were shellshocked while the blown lead was happening, especially at home.

Heading into next season, I hope the Nats show that in game resilience we saw in September. If they are able to do that, it will go a long way. Winning on the margins is how the Nats will be able to take that next step. We saw that on the road in the first half and at home in the second. 

The goal for 2027 should be to string that together and find true consistency. I think this rollercoaster season will be a good learning experience for the guys. They are now battle tested and ready to become a more stable team moving forward. There were a lot of volatile swings this year. In order to take the next step, we will need to see less volatility and more consistency.

Good morning A’s fans and welcome to another week!

Our second without A’s games. It’s starting to set in and I already miss our boys in Green & Gold. At least we still have the playoffs to get us by during these early days of the offseason.

Meanwhile the Arizona Fall League has gotten underway and the A’s have a few interesting names getting in some extra work right now. These are the guys that need as many reps as possible to help themselves rise the ranks and reach the majors.

One of those names is catching prospect Davis Diaz. An eighth round pick back in 2024, Diaz has steadily ascended the minor league ladder and topped out at Triple-A last year. Considered a top-20 prospect in the system, Diaz got off to a good start in his AFL debut, hitting a two-run home run:

The catcher wasn’t the only big name that had a strong start to his AFL season. Left-handed pitcher Grant Richardson took the mound last night and looked fantastic, firing off two strong innings that featured five punch outs. It wasn’t without its warts as he gave up a run but the strikeouts are always a positive sign to see.

The A’s prospects playing in the AFL overall had a great day yesterday as all of them had successful outings. Outfielder Breyson Guedez, considered a top prospect in the system in his own right, had a quiet 2-for-3 day with a walk. And another lefty in Tucker Novotny had a scoreless appearance that saw him pitch three shutout frames with just one hit allowed.

None of these guys are expected to play any sort of role next year but all of them could become options a bit further down the line. Guedez in particular is a highly-rated prospect, topping out at #9 on MLB.com’s rankings of the A’s top prospects. So far the 19-year-old is 2-for-8 and likely ticketed to start next year at Double-A.

Meanwhile it’s been all quiet on the GM front. Presumably the team has conducted at least the first round of interviews and whittled the initial list, but they’ve done a good job of keeping any news or rumors from leaking out. The end-of-season deadline is long past but surely the club won’t wait another month and let the World Series end. We’re all waiting to hear any tidbit of news regarding who is next in line to lead the A’s. Could drop at any moment.

First game is in a few hours. Have a great start to your week everyone!

A’s Coverage:

• Zack Of All Trades Tries To Get One More Win: In Court
• Important Dates For The Athletics This Offseason
• A’s part ways with assistant hitting, quality control coaches
• After an outfield collision left him paralyzed, every gain in rehab is a big win for A’s Ryan Lasko
• Athletics’ Zack Gelof sues Tigers after hitting metal fence
• A’s Las Vegas ballpark cost rises to $2.1B, public funding delayed
• 2026: Year Of The “Didn’t See That Coming!”
• A’s Hoping Luis Severino Chooses to Stay
• Where the A’s Plan to Use Zack Gelof in 2027
• A’S OPEN TO MOVING LUIS MEDIA BACK INTO ROTATION 
• Last MLB game in West Sacramento? Why A’s 2026 season deserves a eulogy
• Perkins finishes intriguing season with another flash of potential
• ‘Road Trip Mike’ on the move to wherever his beloved A’s go
• Wheat/Chaff Updates As Season Winds Down
• Paralyzed A’s prospect Lasko released from rehab facility to ovation from staff
• Devin Taylor: Athletics 2026 Minor League Player Of The Year
• Henry Bolte Is the A’s Next Budding Star
• Determining Athletics’ Offensive MVP for the 2026 Season
• Notes From Star-Studded Rockies-A’s Instructional League
• Injuries Out Of Control, But Why?
• 2027 Infield Landscape Ever Changing
• “Fast Movers” Might Be Key To Contention
• Billy Beane comments on the job Mark Kotsay has done this season.
• Should Mark Kotsay return in 2027? A’s Players Weigh In
• What the A’s Hiring Mike Rizzo would Signal and the Questions it Would Raise
• Athletics Considering James Click For GM Vacancy
• Get the best of Athletics Nation on the new SB Nation app

MLB News & Interest:

• Braves turning to Chris Sale for Game Three start
• Cubs’ Jed Hoyer makes ‘pitching acquisition’ top offseason priority
• Rasmussen — the ‘definition of ace’ — takes no-no into 8th as Rays 1-hit Yankees
• Taylor Rogers Plans To Pitch In 2027
• Aroldis Chapman Passes Physical, 2027 Option Vests
• Where Does Jordan Westburg Fit For The Orioles?
• If you can believe it, Crew coach predicted that ball off the roof before the game
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

What would you change here?

Anyone surprised to see Burress already above Arnold?

That’s why baseball is the best:

The Guardians will try to beat the White Sox again in game two of the ALDS this afternoon at 5PM.

In doing so, they will need to solve Sean Burke who has a 1.04 ERA against them this year. And, Gavin Williams will have to handle a tough Chicago lineup.

Zack Meisel of the Athletic wrote about the Guardians’ mindset entering game two.

Around MLB:

The Braves beat the Dodgers to tie up their NLDS and the Brewers walked off the Padres to go up 2 game to none in their NLDS.

Two games from being eliminated in the MLB playoffs, the Atlanta Braves had a difficult decision to make.

Do they bring back ace Chris Sale on short rest to start Game 2 of the National League division series? Or do they go back to the well with a bullpen game and hope a 32-year-old journeyman can pitch the game of his life … again?

Manager Walt Weiss decided to roll the dice. And left-hander Ray Kerr delivered.

As he did just three days earlier in the deciding game of Atlanta's wild-card series against the Philadelphia Phillies, Kerr came through with a masterful performance. He shut out the powerful Los Angeles Dodgers for 2 ⅔ innings, setting the tone for a 3-2 Braves win that evened the series at one game apiece.

"He did it again for us. Just amazing," Weiss gushed afterward. "There always seems to be some unsung heroes in the postseason. Yeah, Ray's definitely one of them."

For Kerr, it brought confirmation that his hard work to make it all the way back to the majors was worth it.

MORE: Blake Snell's sluggish Game 2 start was worst-case scenario for Dodgers

Yes, the Yankees trail in the ALDS against the Rays. But in Game 2, they have the best possible path to getting even in the best-of-five series, at least when their guy is on the mound. 

Presumptive AL Cy Young Award winner Cam Schlittler is starting for the Yanks at Tropicana Field and he’s in the process of authoring a postseason resume for the ages -- so, obviously, the ace is one of our three things to watch as the series resumes Monday night.

Cam on cam

Schlittler is in a big spot, since dropping the first two games to the Rays would put the Yanks on the precipice of elimination. He seems equipped to handle such circumstances, however, considering his domination of the Red Sox in a win-or-go-home game in last year’s Wild Card Series, his obliteration of them in Game 1 this year, and his postseason resume as a whole -- 0.87 ERA, 24-1 K/BB ratio in 20.2 innings pitched. 

For whatever it’s worth, Schlittler has been even better on the road this season than at Yankee Stadium, fashioning a 1.16 ERA in away games versus 2.98 at home -- at the Trop, it was 2.77 in two starts. Opponents had an OPS nearly 200 points lower against Schlittler in road games (.456 vs. .649). 

Junior Caminero is the only Rays player with a home run off Schlittler -- in the righty's third career start. Taylor Walls and Richie Palacios each have three hits against him. But Schlittler has been tough on Yandy Díaz (2-for-13, five strikeouts) and Jonathan Aranda (1-for-8, six strikeouts).

As Rays manager Kevin Cash noted in a news conference Sunday, the Rays laid off Schlittler’s top-of-the-zone four-seamer during the pitcher’s final start of the season, a brief playoff tuneup. “If you’re going to swing at that, you’re likely not going to hit it or have much success with it,” Cash said. 

Clearly, the Rays will try that again if Schlittler approaches them in a similar way. But the ace also came at the Red Sox with some variety, throwing his curveball nearly three times more than his usage all season. The Red Sox swung at it 16 times and missed eight of those. He finished off four of his 10 strikeouts with the pitch. 

How will he use it against the Rays? 

Fanfare for Fastball Freddy

There will be a lot of eyeballs in Tampa Bay on Rays starter Freddy Peralta, as well. Queens, too. Peralta was brought to the Mets last winter in hopes he’d be starting in the playoffs for them, but he did not pitch well, they didn’t play well, and the Mets traded him to the Rays at the deadline. 

He’s been much better in his new stop, though this season overall he did not get strikeouts at his usual high rate.

Peralta had a 3.25 ERA in 10 starts with Tampa, including a 0.79 ERA over his last six starts, and a 1.69 ERA across his final four home starts. Expect him to pitch well at the Trop, though, six different Yankees have homered against him during his career. Cody Bellinger is 6-for-14 lifetime (.429) with a 1.270 OPS. 

Aaron Boone said there were players who worked out Sunday at the Yankees’ spring training facility in Tampa and he mentioned they have a Trajekt machine there, a detailed hitting machine with video. That would let hitters get repeated looks at Peralta’s release point, pitch shapes, and other eyeball data. 

Maybe that impacts their success against Peralta, who has a 4.32 ERA in nine postseason games.

Decision at third? 

In two playoff games in which their opponent has started a right-hander, the Yanks have used eight lefty hitters in their lineup, with shortstop George Lombard Jr. as the only right-handed bat. Might matchups at least make them ponder a change at third base? Ryan McMahon is 1-for-14 with four strikeouts lifetime against Peralta. 

In much smaller sample sizes, here’s what other potential third-base options have done: Anthony Volpe is 2-for-4 with a homer, a double, and two strikeouts, and José Caballero has fanned in both of his at-bats. 

After an offensive splurge in the Boston series, the Yankees did not score and were just 1-for-27 in the opener against Drew Rasmussen and Bryan Baker. Do they need a lineup move or was that mostly about an ace and a closer dealing? 

Volpe has exactly one game of experience at third in the major leagues. McMahon, who is 1-for-6 this postseason, is a quality defender there and hit all 11 of his home runs this year against righties.