Category: Sports News

It’s not often a player can be credited with saving the careers of thousands of players who followed him or ensured that a select few of those would go on to earn hundreds of millions of dollars thanks to his courage.

Yet Tommy John, in conjunction with orthopedist Frank Jobe, did just that for generations of pitchers.

John died Saturday, Aug. 15 at the age of 83, his 288-win career almost a footnote in the grand scope of his life. He served as patient No. 1 for the surgery that would eventually bear his name is among the most significant off-field impacts a player can make.

When he agreed to let Jobe replace the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow in 1974, it was a journey into the unknown at the intersection of sports and medicine. Nowadays, the surgical scar and the established protocols for recovery, regaining strength and eventually returning to the mound are well-established and even more evolved.

Yet all that was foreign to Jobe and John. And you could fill up a wing of the Hall of Fame with those who have benefited.

Here’s 12 legendary pitchers whose careers were saved or extended by Tommy John surgery:

John Smoltz

Career record: 213-55, 154 saves

WAR: 69.0

Notable: In his first iteration, Smoltz was the warning shot fired that the dynastic Braves of the 1990s were coming. He became a World Series champion by 1995 and in ’96 authored one of the most dominant seasons of that decade, winning 24 games and striking out a major league-high 276. Yet he blew out his elbow before the 2000 season, leaving his career at a crossroads. "There weren't many 34-year-olds, in my mind, having Tommy John surgery," Smoltz told The Athletic in 2018. "I was going to be in the final year of my contract and I just figured that no one would want a 34-year-old who had Tommy John surgery. I just didn't think it was going to be worth it. I was pretty down and out and ready to call it quits." That is, until Tommy John himself called. John noted that he was the same age – 34 – when he went under Jobe’s knife. So Smoltz went for it – and what a second act. He toggled to the bullpen and saved a major league-high 55 games in 2002, followed by 45- and 43-save seasons for Atlanta. Returning to the rotation in 2005, he logged 229 innings and while he only struck out 169, his 3.06 ERA was still 39% better than average. He’d pitch through 2009 and earn election to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility - the first Tommy John recipient to be inducted.

Justin Verlander

Career record: 266-159

WAR: 82.3

Notable: It’s true: The lion’s share of Verlander’s achievements – 226 wins, 3,013 strikeouts, two Cy Young Awards and 72.3 WAR – were achieved before Verlander’s elbow went out after one start in 2020. But his return to dominance after Tommy John showed that yes, a generational pitcher could return to such heights even after the procedure – and even at the age of 39. That’s how old Verlander was in 2022, when he won a third Cy Young, led the majors with a 1.75 ERA and bagged his second World Series title, earning his first Fall Classic win that autumn. Verlander, who announced he is retiring after this season, indeed had a freakish arm, one that seemed bulletproof as he logged at least 30 starts in all but one season from 2006 to 2019. When the tiniest and most important ligament for a pitcher finally failed, he could still be put back together.

Shohei Ohtani

Career record: 47-22

WAR (pitching only): 19.2

Notable: It’s possible the game’s most talented player ever might have been a four-time MVP had his pitching career ended in 2018, when he first blew out his elbow. Fortunately, we’ll never have to know. Ohtani did not pitch in 2019 and made just two appearances in the shortened 2020 season, but then unleashed the full fury of his two-way powers. From 2021-2023, he posted a 2.84 ERA and struck out 11.4 batters per nine innings over 74 starts, his ’23 season likely the zenith of his multi-positional brilliance. Alas, that pitching season ended after a second UCL injury and another repair commenced after the season. That only makes his third pitching act even more remarkable: Ohtani’s come back from Surgery II even more precise, with a 2.17 ERA and 0.98 WHIP over 28 starts the past two seasons. That doesn’t include his Greatest Game Ever in the 2025 NLCS. While other maladies are impacting his pitching, Tommy John surgery allowed the world to enjoy every bit of Ohtani’s talents.

Chris Sale

Career record: 157-96

WAR: 61.4

Notable: Sale was already a World Series champion and two-time AL strikeout champ by the time his ligament failed him just before the 2020 COVID-19 shutdown. Yet think of what he’s done since: A 2024 NL Cy Young Award in which he was the league’s pitching triple crown winner and three consecutive All-Star berths for the perennially contending Braves. Sale likes his new ligament and team so much, he signed on for $27 million in 2027 plus an option for ’28, when he’ll be 39 years old.

Unable to acquire a starting pitcher at the deadline, the Houston Astros may be looking to their farm system to help their struggling rotation.

With SP Ronel Blanco needed for long relief in last night’s game, and now having been optioned to Sugar Land, an interesting development happened with the Astros’ farm team:

Pecko, who was named Triple-A Pitcher of the Month for June right before his June 30th start, has struggled ever since.

After allowing just 2 ER in 24 innings across his first 4 starts in June, Pecko has allowed 25 ER over his last 30 innings (7.50 ERA) spanning 7 starts. Pecko is 4-6 with a 4.94 ERA overall for the Space Cowboys this season.

Whether or not Pecko would get a start or work out of the bullpen in low leverage is currently unknown, but since no injury was announced it stands to reason that he is a likely call-up for the Astros.

Pecko is not currently on the 40-man roster, so a roster move would need to be made to accommodate Pecko.

A day after pitching six innings in a loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, Justin Wrobleski was placed on the injured list with inflammation in his left forearm, per The Post’s Dylan Hernandez.

Right-hander Kyle Hurt was recalled from triple-A Oklahoma City to take Wrobleski’s place on the active roster and reinforce the Dodgers’ worn-down bullpen.

Wrobleski, 26, has enjoyed a breakout season with the Dodgers. A National League All-Star, he is 11-5 with a 3.56 earned-run average even after a four-start winless streak.

The left-hander has pitched 126 ⅓ innings this year, a career-high. He pitched 71 ⅔ innings in the major leagues last year, including five in the postseason.

But the jump in innings wasn’t as extreme as it initially appears. Between the majors and minors, Wrobleski pitched 123 ⅓ innings last year. He pitched a combined 132 innings the year before that.

“I feel all right,” Wrobleski said after his six-inning start on Saturday night. “It’s just part of a long season, part of something I got to get ready for years to come. Just trying to lean on people that have done it, and just again continue to try to take care of my body the best I can and feeling as good I can right now.”

Whatever he said, the innings were clearly catching up to him. He is 0-3 with an 8.69 earned-run average over his last four starts. In that stretch, he has given up 11 home runs in 19 ⅔ innings.

Two of those homers were given up to the Brewers on Saturday. Wrobleski was charged with four runs in six innings of the 4-1 loss.

Manager Dave Roberts said before the game that he wasn’t overly preoccupied with the workload, noting that “at some point in time” Wrobleski would be moved to the bullpen.

Instead of the pen, he’s on the shelf. For now.

Thankfully for the Dodgers, both Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow are nearing a return to the roation.

Friday night, in his first affiliate rehab start for Triple-A Sugar Land, Houston Astros starter Mike Burrows had a solid outing.

Burrows went 4.1 IP scoreless on 3 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 3. He threw 43 of his 67 pitches for strikes, and generated 5 ground ball outs. He worked primarily 95-97 MPH with his fastball.

Burrows is recovering from right elbow neuritis, which is inflammation around a nerve. Burrows MRI showed no structural damage.

Burrows last pitched for the Astros July 6, allowing 10 runs (7 ER) in 4.1 innings, surrendering 9 hits (2 HR) and 2 BB with 3 K. He is 4-9 overall in 2026 with a 5.99 ERA.

The Mets completed a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals with a 4-3 win on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field.

Here are the key takeaways...

--Christian Scott looked terrific through the first six innings, allowing a pair of runs on just three hits. With his pitch count under 80, Scott went back out for the seventh, but a leadoff walk led to a Keibert Ruiz RBI double and a Jacob Young single to put runners on the corners. 

Scott pitched into the seventh inning for the first time this season, but seemed to run out of gas. Nate Lavender did a great job of getting two big outs to limit the damage there, closing out Scott’s line at 6.1 innings pitches, three earned runs, five hits, seven strikeouts and two walks. 

The Mets have talked about Scott getting them deeper into games for most of the season, and delivered on Sunday. 

---Luis Torrens has always been known for his work behind the plate, but his power has been on another planet of late. Torrens belted a two-run homer to give the Mets a 3-2 lead in the fourth inning, giving him four homers in his last 17 at-bats. 

Torrens had just two homers all season long before this outburst, and now has six.

--Kodai Senga pitched on Friday night and then "got hot" warming up Saturday, but Andy Green went back to him for the save opportunity on Sunday. Senga, trying to secure a one-run save for the first time, needed just 11 pitches for a one-two-three inning, striking out two hitters in the process.

--Bo Bichette had a terrific day at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a triple and a walk. 

Bichette has found his groove at the dish and in the field, looking more and more like the player they Mets signed this past offseason.

--Carson Benge had a another big day in the field, making an outstanding backhanded catch right near the wall in the right in the first inning, and then earning an outfield assist in the second recording the third out on Ruiz’s RBI single. He made another terrific sliding catch in the top of the sixth as well. 

But it wasn’t a great day at the plate for the rookie, as he went 0-for-4 with a strikeout, snapping his 18-game on-base streak.

--After 591 career games in center, Luis Robert Jr. started in left field for the first time in his major league career. Of course, not a single ball was hit his way in left. He went 1-for-4 at the plate.

Game MVP

Scott, who pitched into the seventh for the first time all season.

Highlights

Carson Benge shows off again!

He makes the backhanded grab to end the first inning 💪 pic.twitter.com/NXuWpcC66O

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 16, 2026

Two-run shot for Luis Torrens!

Mets take the lead! pic.twitter.com/4bREKiT8nM

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 16, 2026

Jared Young stays hot!

An RBI double sends Francisco Lindor home pic.twitter.com/YoeGGPYQuD

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 16, 2026

Carson Benge from out of nowhere to make the sliding catch! pic.twitter.com/KtUnZpuY3i

— SNY (@SNYtv) August 16, 2026

Up next

The homestand continues with three games against the San Diego Padres, starting on Monday at 7:10 p.m. on SNY. 

Nolan McLean will face Walker Buehler.

Matt Olson has hit quite a few home runs this season.

But few have been as momentous as the three-run shot he crushed in the bottom of the seventh in the Braves’ 5-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks Sunday afternoon to help Atlanta salvage one game from the weekend set.

The homer was Olson’s 36th of the season, moving him into a tie for second in the majors with Yordan Alvarez, just one behind Kyle Schwarber’s 37. It was also his sixth homer this month and his 15th since the start of July.

With the game knotted at 2 in the seventh, Olson smashed a 3-0 sinker 437 feet to straightaway center. This was particularly important because it seemed the Braves could come up empty in the inning which began with an Austin Riley double and a Jim Jarvis sacrifice bunt after Ronald Acuña Jr. struck out ahead of Olson for out #2.

Dylan Lee worked a 1-2-3 eighth with two strikeouts. Raisel Iglesias allowed the first two batters of the ninth to reach but limited the damage, allowing just one run to secure his 25th save and prevent the Braves’ first three-game losing streak of the second half of the season.

While Bryce Elder didn’t factor into the decision, he had a strong bounceback start after Monday’s rough outing against the Mets. The right-hander allowed one run on four hits over six innings, striking out five and walking one.

Former Braves pitcher Michael Soroka was similarly effective for Arizona, giving up two runs on six hits over 5 2/3 innings, walking one and striking out five.

Didier Fuentes (5-1) earned the win for the Braves even though he allowed Ildemaro Vargas to hit a game-tying leadoff homer to begin the seventh inning. He bounced back to retire the next three batters, two of them on strikeouts.

Atlanta had previously taken a 2-1 lead in the fifth on Acuña’s two-out RBI double which scored Riley, who began the inning with a single.

Riley had a team-high two of Atlanta’s eight hits and scored two of the team’s five runs.

Both teams missed prime opportunities to plate more runs in the middle innings. The Braves managed to scrape across just one run in the third despite having two runners in scoring position after Drake Baldwin’s RBI single when Acuña and Olson each struck out.

The Diamondbacks immediately tied the game in the top of the fourth on Gabriel Moreno’s leadoff homer but then squandered a strong chance to take the lead in the fifth. After a leadoff walk was followed by a bunt single, Elder escaped the jam unscathed by getting a sacrifice bunt, inducing a grounder which Ozzie Albies fired home to retire the lead runner and then getting Corbin Carroll to line out to center.

The Braves kick off a four-city, seven-game road trip Monday evening at the Minnesota Twins with Martín Pérez on the mound for Atlanta.

Texas Rangers @ West Sacramento Athletics

Sunday, August 16, 2026, 3:05 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / Rangers Sports Network)

Sutter Health Park

LHP Cody Bradford vs. LHP Jacob Lopez

Go Rangers!

Good morning A’s fans! The series finale is this afternoon as the A’s will look again for win #49 this year. The late collapse last night sent the Athletics into sole possession of last place in all of baseball so the club will need to get the win and get a bit of help if they’re going to climb out of it tonight.

Before we get to the game, the Athletics announced a somewhat major roster move. Left fielder Tyler Soderstrom is heading back to the IL thanks to that hip issue that’s bothered him this year, with infielder Darell Hernaiz coming up to take his roster spot:

The writing is on the wall that Sodey’s season is likely over, joining Brent Rooker and Nick Kurtz as season-enders. This was the first year of Soderstrom’s seven-year, $86 million extension and he took a step back in just about every category. Hips can be tricky and with the season lost and just six weeks left it’s time to shut him down. We need our Gold Glove-caliber, slugging left fielder to help lead this team next year and we can’t afford any setbacks.

If he’s really done for the year he’ll finish with a .245/.338/.472 slash line with 19 long balls. He was still roughly 20% better than the league average but the team was probably hoping for more growth from the 24-year-old. Chalk it up to the hip issue for now, and make sure it isn’t a concern that lingers into next year. He’s still got his entire physical prime ahead of him and the A’s will have him locked in for those years. Expect lots of Zack Gelof in left field for the remainder of the year.

Meanwhile Hernaiz will get another chance in the big leagues, but with all the highly-rated infield prospects coming up at this point it’s hard to imagine him being anything more than a depth piece for the club moving forward. There’s value in that, but we need to see as much of the younger guys like Tommy White, Max Muncy (and maybe Joshua Kuroda-Grauer if he’s able to return?) as possible over these final weeks. We know what we’re getting out of Hernaiz at this point.

Now, to the game. For today’s series finale it’s lefty Jacob Lopez on the bump for the Green & Gold and he’ll be looking to continue his strong return to the starting rotation. In his past four starts he’s been much more consistent and stable, looking much more like the arm that made an impression last year. The Athletics’ pitching depth is among the worst in the league but getting Lopez back to pitching well would help in offseason planning for the front office, even if they consider him to be a depth option at best.

Here’s how manager Mark Kotsay decided to line his squad up this afternoon for the homestand and series finale:

Shortstop Jacob Wilson returns to the lineup after the HBP on his hand in Friday’s series opener. Thank god. This team can’t afford anymore injuries, especially to the core guys.

We have a very similar lineup to yesterday, which as you may recall only produced a three-run home run off the bat of rookie center fielder Henry Bolte, who is back in the leadoff spot today. It’s Gelof, Wilson, Heim, White and Butler right behind him, with the only change being Wilson taking Jeff McNeil’s spot in the three hole. Muncy is today’s DH, making way for Hernaiz at third.

Facing them today is lefty Cody Bradford. Once considered one of the Rangers’ top pitching prospects, Bradford missed all of last year and only just recently returned a couple weeks ago from a tough elbow injury that required surgery. The 27-year-old doesn’t look like he’s missed much of a beat in his two starts since rejoining the Rangers, first going 4 1/3 shutout innings against the Giants before seven full frames against the Angels while allowing only three runs. How will the Athletics’ cool offense do today against an arm still possibly shaking off the rust?

And Texas’ starting nine this afternoon looks like this:

Gotta win today and we need some help to get out of last place. Not just in our division, but in all of baseball. We can’t end the year here. Start winning guys! Let’s go A’s!

Follow the Game:
Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA

Listen:
Athletics -Talk 650 KSTE, KVMX 92.1/105.5, A’s Cast

Colorado enters today at 49-74, two games behind the 51-72 Giants for fourth place in the NL West.

The Rockies are bad. I know the Rockies are bad. But I am still completely invested in these guys.

And for all the ugliness in the standings, there is still plenty worth caring about today:

A win would give the Rockies the season series, finish their nine-game road trip with a winning record, and pull them within one game of San Francisco inside the division.

The Rockies took Friday night’s opener before dropping Saturday’s game 7-1 after one miserable fourth inning put the Giants in control.

Rookie right-hander Gabriel Hughes gets the ball for Colorado in his seventh major-league start.

Hughes enters at 0-4 with a 5.61 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 31 strikeouts across 33.2 innings.

He posted a 3.33 ERA across 24.1 innings through his first five major-league appearances, four of them starts. Over his last two starts, Hughes has allowed 12 earned runs in 9.1 innings.

The underlying contact numbers remain considerably better than the ERA. Hughes owns a 3.03 xERA, while hitters have barreled only 4.1% of their batted balls against him with a 29.6% hard-hit rate.

Hughes throws his four-seam fastball roughly 57% of the time. It averages a little over 92 mph, though his 6.9 feet of extension helps it play a little faster, and he works five secondary pitches around it.

The concern lately has been his strike-throwing and ability to get hitters to expand.

Hughes had been at or above a 50% zone rate before falling to 41% two starts ago and 45% in his most recent outing. His fastball velocity was also down nearly a full mile per hour last time out.

His ability to get hitters to expand outside the zone has slipped, too. Hughes generated only a 19% chase rate in his last start.

When Hughes gets ahead, the secondary pitches give him enough ways to finish at-bats. The question is whether he can get back into those counts often enough.

The Giants counter with the recently recalled Blade Tidwell, who enters at 0-0 with a 2.78 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and 19 strikeouts across 22.2 innings. Today will be his 11th appearance of the season but only his third start.

The 25-year-old right-hander is attacking hitters very differently than he did during his 2025 debut: His sweeper has jumped from 22% usage last season to 38% this year, while the four-seamer has fallen from 39% to 34%.

So far, that change has shown up in how hitters are reacting to him. Tidwell’s chase rate has climbed from 20.8% to 28.1%, while hitters have made contact on just 38.9% of their swings outside the zone after doing so 62.5% of the time last season. His walk rate has also fallen from 12.8% to 5.5%.

The sweeper was especially effective in his last outing, accounting for 12 of Tidwell’s 16 swings and misses.

But today’s matchup adds another layer to that profile.

Tidwell has led with the four-seam fastball 39% of the time against lefties, followed by the sweeper at 31%. Against righties, the sweeper jumps to 45% while the fastball drops to 29%.

Jordan Beck is the only Rockies hitter who will bat right-handed today, giving Tidwell eight left-handed looks.

The early platoon results make that construction even more interesting. Left-handed hitters have an .836 OPS against Tidwell across 44 batters faced this season, compared with a .373 OPS from right-handers across 47. Those are small samples, but they give the Rockies plenty of reason to make Tidwell prove the split will not hold.

Colorado has been aggressive early in counts this season, but it cannot let that aggression turn into easy chases when Tidwell goes with the sweeper.

Hunter Goodman remains out of the lineup after being scratched Saturday with shoulder inflammation. Zac Veen gets another start in right field, while Adael Amador will make his first start in the field since returning to the majors. He pinch-hit Saturday but had not appeared in the field in the big leagues since last season.

The details…

First Pitch: 2:05 p.m. MDT

TV: Rockies.TV

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM

Giants SB Nation Site:McCovey Chronicles

Lineups:

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The St. Louis Cardinals will wrap up their weekend series against the Chicago Cubs Sunday. Hunter Dobbins is the starter for the Cardinals. He’ll go up against Edward Cabrera who will start for the Cubs. First pitch is scheduled for 2:15pm central time and the game broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.