Worldwide Sports News
The Phillies begin a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Field on Friday night. The teams split a four-game series in Philadelphia last weekend.
Aaron Nola will start for the Phillies. When he faced the Braves last weekend, he allowed just one run in seven innings.
Chris Sale will be the Braves’ starter. He gave up two runs in six innings when he faced the Phillies last weekend.
Game time is 7:15 PM Eastern and will be televised locally on NBCSP.
Those little-town blues didn’t start melting away, and the Colorado Rockies (55-91) didn’t get a fresh start in old New York, getting swept in three games and inching closer to another 100-loss season. Now, they are in Detroit to kick off a weekend series against the Tigers (67-79).
It’s been a middling season for the Tigers as they hoped to be in the thick of the playoff race in the American League Central. However, after a dismal May where they posted a 6-22 record, they haven’t been able to gain ground behind the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians, currently sitting fourth in the division. The pitching has kept them competitive most nights, but the overall offensive lineup has lacked some depth and consistency. Still, there is plenty of pop in the lineup, and rookie Kevin McGonigle is a strong candidate to earn AL Rookie of the Year honors.
Rookie starter Mason Adams (0-0, 3.95 ERA) will take the hill for the Rockies. There has been plenty to like about Adams through his first three starts in the big leagues, allowing six runs on 16 hits over 13.2 innings. As advertised, Adams is generating plenty of strikeouts with 17 so far while allowing six walks. He is throwing strikes 67% of the time, which is a positive sign; now he just has to work on the efficiency of his pitches. In his last start, Adams worked 4.2 innings against the St. Louis Cardinals, allowing three runs on eight hits, including two home runs. He did manage seven strikeouts against one walk. The Rockies have kept him limited with his pitch count, as the 78 pitches were the most he’s thrown so far. The limit makes it more paramount that he be quick and efficient to save the bullpen as much as possible.
The Tigers will send out veteran left-hander Framber Valdez (9-10, 4.17 ERA). While the ERA has been higher than usual this season, Valdez is still just as dangerous as he was in Houston. Valdez represents the veteran anchor for the Tigers’ staff, especially after Tarik Skubal was traded to Los Angeles. The command has wavered at times this season, and the strikeouts have fluctuated from start to start, but Valdez is sturdy and can still throw out excellent starts. In his last outing, he fired seven shutout innings against the Guardians, giving up just three hits. He’s been an absolute menace against the Rockies, posting a 1.40 ERA in 25.2 innings over four starts. In that span, he has 24 strikeouts against seven walks. His last start against Colorado came in 2025, when he fired seven shutout innings.
First pitch: 4:40 p.m. MDT
TV: Rockies.TV
Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM; KNRV 1150 (Spanish)
Tigers SB Nation: Bless You Boys
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The Milwaukee Brewers are fresh off a huge series sweep of the Chicago Cubs that, had there been any doubt remaining, all but locked up the NL Central division. It also put the Brewers on the precipice of officially clinching a playoff spot, which they can do tonight: a win (or losses by both San Diego and Arizona) clinches the Brewers’ eighth postseason berth in the last nine years. For you kids out there, the Brewers didn’t make the postseason for the first 20 years of my life… and that streak was already six years old when I was born!
While they’ve more or less taken care of their business on a team level this regular season, some questions remain about how the postseason pitching staff will shake out. Many of those questions revolve around two currently underperforming players who could claim a rotation spot with strong finishes to the season, Dustin May and Kyle Harrison. If either finishes strong, it could provide a lot of clarity for how the Brewers will approach their playoff rotation. May makes his first bid at showing something, as he makes his seventh start as a Brewer tonight. May got off to a good start as a Brewer, but things have been rough lately; in two starts since leaving after his first pitch was lined off his back on August 26, May has allowed six runs in eight shaky innings.
The Reds counter with lefty Andrew Abbott. Abbott is in the fourth year of a solid career, but in his first three seasons he was a player who tended to outperform — sometimes drastically — his peripherals. This year, he hasn’t. With 29 starts and 152 1/3 innings, Abbott has been one of the more durable pitchers in the league this season, but he’s pitched to a pedestrian 4.43 ERA and 4.78 FIP while not striking out many batters (7.1 K/9) and walking too many (4.1 BB/9). Abbott’s results against the Brewers have been a bit better, though: In two starts, he’s gone nine innings and allowed three earned runs, with eight strikeouts to five walks.
Today’s roster note, which came out in phases over the last couple of days, is that Brandon Sproat, after his poor outing on Wednesday, was sent back to Triple-A Nashville while Garrett Stallings, who didn’t allow a run and struck out nine in eight innings across four appearances for the Brewers earlier this season, was recalled.
The Brewers are fielding a strong lineup versus the left-handed Abbott tonight. Jackson Chourio leads off and is joined in the outfield by Garrett Mitchell in center and Luis Lara in right. Jake Bauers, Brice Turang, Cooper Pratt, Joey Ortiz, and William Contreras make up the infield, while Andrew Vaughn is the designated hitter.
Let’s see if the Brewers can get a little bit of revenge on the Reds, to whom they dropped two of three to in Cincinnati last week. Tonight’s game is exclusively on Apple TV (my apologies on baseball’s behalf), but of course you can hear it on the Brewers Radio Network. 6:45 p.m. first pitch; see you in the comment section.
West Ham secured their fourth league win in a row as they returned to the top of the Championship with a thumping 6-0 win over Wrexham at the London Stadium. It was a marvellous display of attacking football from Nuno Espírito Santo’s side, who swept to victory with room to spare and six different scorers.
Jarrod Bowen got the ball rolling after 28 minutes, Joël Piroe made it two before the break, then Konstantinos Mavropanos, Taty Castellanos, Mohamadou Kanté and Manor Solomon all scored in the second half as the Welsh side were dealt a hiding. The performance was further evidence the Hammers are finding their feet in the second tier after failing to win any of their first three games following Premier League relegation.
Continue reading...Brett Batyisn't in the Mets' starting lineup Friday against the Yankees, but that's by design.
Although Baty left Wednesday's series finale with the Marlins with knee pain, interim manager Andy Green assured that Baty "is going to be just fine" after he underwent an MRI on Thursday, and that the left-handed-hitting Baty wouldn't be in the lineup against southpaw Carlos Rodon anyway. But Green expects Baty to be available off the bench.
The Mets, who come into the Subway Series winners of four straight and five of their last six, could use Baty's hot bat. In his only at-bat Wednesday, Baty hit a single to extend his hitting streak to six games. Over his last seven games, Baty is batting .375 with two home runs and 10 RBI.
Before Friday's game, Green was asked what has changed with Baty of late and the Mets skipper said that the youngster is using the whole field, which he's done more over the last month than he did when Green was first announced as interim manager.
"The consistency of the at-bat wasn’t at the level where he is right now, where he’s using the entire field," Green explained. "The best version of [Baty] uses the whole field... Brett has the capacity to do all of it. Understanding what your strengths are. He’s just been really good using the whole field."
Later, Green said that Baty's defensive versatility makes him valuable to the Mets and that the next step in Baty's development is to unlock the consistency at the plate, which the organization hopes he can figure out for the rest of this season.
"Having someone who can move around [the diamond] like that and have the offensive upside that he has is rare in this game," Green said. "You want to get away from words like ‘upside’ and flip it over to ‘consistent production.’ That’s what he’s done over the last month and that’s what we want to see carried forward through the rest of this season and onto next season."
Graeme Clarke wasn't a Senator for long last season, but he did enough in Belleville for fans to think he might earn a longer look.
At the NHL trade deadline back in March, the Senators acquired the Ottawa native from the Washington Capitals for forward Wyatt Bongiovanni. Clarke was a 2024 AHL All-Star who had back-to-back 25-goal seasons for Utica.
He found out about the deal a minute before the deadline passed.
"I get a call in a hotel room that I'm traded to Ottawa, and it was amazing," Clarke told TSN 1200 this week. "Like, I grew up going to Sens games as a kid, wearing Alfie's jersey and all this stuff.
"So just that, that itself was super cool."
Clarke was clearly energized by a chance to maybe play for his hometown team. He rolled into Belleville and immediately put up seven points in his first two games. He also credited a return to the centre-ice position, which he says he hasn't played for a couple of years, and relying more on his instincts.
Clarke closed the season with impressive AHL totals (19 points in 15 games), but despite that, he wasn't able to find a deal with an NHL organization this summer, at least not one he liked enough to sign.
So for Clarke, an Ottawa kid who grew up cheering for Daniel Alfredsson, he didn't get to play for Alfie's NHL team, but he will get to play for Alfie's old Swedish team.
Frölunda HC announced this week that it has signed Clarke to a one-year contract for the coming season. That club produced both Alfredsson and Erik Karlsson, probably the finest two players in modern Senators history.
“I’ve only heard good things about the club and the fans," Clarke said. “Frölunda is one of the best teams in Europe, with a clear goal of winning. I’ve also gotten a good impression of Gothenburg as a city. This will be exciting.”
Clarke does have a little experience in Europe. He and his younger brother, Los Angeles Kings defenceman Brandt Clarke, briefly played in Slovakia during the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season. Graeme also represented Canada at the Spengler Cup last December and will compete in the event again this year, this time with his Swedish team.
Clarke wasn't part of Ottawa's NHL organization for long, but his Ottawa hockey roots run deep. He not only played AAA hockey here, but he also played for three years with the OHL's Ottawa 67s.
At 25, Clarke's NHL hopes aren’t necessarily over. A productive season in one of Europe’s best leagues could put him back on the radar of North American teams.
For now, being on the same path as the Senators' greatest player isn't a bad place to be.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News
This article was first published in The Hockey News. For more Sens coverage at The Hockey News, click on one of the latest THN Ottawa headlines below:
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Leafs Make Decision On Gavin McKenna Ahead of Senators Prospect ChallengeSenators fans (and local Leafs fans) wanting to get their first in-person look at McKenna in a real NHL game will have to wait a little longer. 
Well, when it comes to potential AL East playoff opponents, the majority want nothing to do with the New York Yankees.
For this week’s Rays Reacts poll, I asked which AL East team you least wanted to face, and the result was clear. Fifty-four percent of respondents said they do not want to face the Yankees in the postseason among the AL East options.
The result tracks with my own sentiments, which are familiar mix of respect, rivalry fatigue, and hard-earned wariness, although the numbers this season offer some encouraging context: The Rays currently lead the season series against the Yankees 6-3 (all in the first half), including an early-season sweep at the Trop.
Yet the Yankees remain the Yankees, capable of explosive offense, deep pitching, and that perennial October pedigree that has frustrated Rays fans for years. Even a favorable regular-season mark doesn’t fully erase the memory of high-stakes series that have gone the other way in the past.
Compare that to the other AL East clubs. Against the Toronto Blue Jays, the Rays have been dominant at 9-4. The Blue Jays have been the division’s soft underbelly this year, and the Rays have not missed their opportunities against the Canadians.
Against the Boston Red Sox, the season series sits even at 5-5, and the matchups have competitive and sometimes frustrating, but not nearly as strong of a problem with visiting fans as the Yankees pose at the Trop.
With the Rays sitting atop the AL East at 87-59 and the Yankees three games back at 84-62, the division race remains very much alive. The Red Sox at 80-67 are solidly in wild card contention, while the Blue Jays at 73-74 trail the playoffs by one game back.
Playoff matchups are never guaranteed: seeding, wild-card results, and the whims of October baseball will decide who lines up against whom. But if the Rays do clinch the East and earn a first-round bye or favorable bracket, the fan preference is unmistakable.
Given the current standings and remaining schedule, which includes a late September series in the Bronx, the preference may end up being tested one way or another. And when playoff time comes, you are welcome to put your money where your vote is with our friends at FanDuel, who sponsored this post.
For now, the message from the poll is simple: give us the Blue Jays or even the Red Sox. Keep the Yankees on the other side of the bracket, if possible.
Go Rays!
The Lakers’ front office makeover continued on Friday.
The team announced it hired Keith D’Amelio as the franchise’s director of integrated performance systems, in addition to making the already-known hiring of Eric Amsler as an assistant general manager official.
D’Amelio and Amsler’s are the Lakers’ first major hires since Mark Walter agreed to sell the majority ownership of the Lakers to businessman Josh Kushner and ex-Disney executive Bob Iger at the historic valuation of $12.5 billion.
“Continuing to invest in and strengthen our basketball operations group is a top priority as we build for the long-term success of our team and players,” Lakers president of basketball operations/general manager Rob Pelinka said in a statement. “Eric and Keith bring a wealth of experience that will add valuable expertise across our organization. Eric is a highly respected talent evaluator with an extensive background in scouting and player personnel, while Keith brings a unique perspective at the intersection of athlete health, performance, sport science and technology. We are excited to welcome them both to the Lakers.”
D’Amelio, who most recently worked for the New York Liberty, has over 25 years of experience across professional and collegiate sports in athlete health, performance, sport science and innovation.
D’Amelio was most recently the Liberty’s chief innovation officer, working across the WNBA franchise’s basketball operations, health and performance, analytics and applied science.
Before working for the Liberty, he spent 13 years at Nike, in addition to having roles with the Stanford’s men’s basketball team, the Raptors and Celtics.
Amsler’s official title with the Lakers is assistant general manager, player personnel.
He spent 22 years in the Heat organization, starting as an intern in 2004-05 before working his way up to various other roles, including being the Heat’s vice president of player personnel before joining the Lakers.
Three games for the San Francisco Giants Minor League Baseball affiliates on Thursday, as the season nears an end for everyone. Here’s everything that happened.
Link to the 2026 McCovey Chronicles Community Prospect List (CPL)
All listed positions in the roundup are the position played in that particular game.
Some good news on the injury front. AAA Sacramento outfielder Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL) was in huge amounts of pain on Wednesday when he fouled a ball off his foot, and had to leave the game with the trainers. But the Giants are officially calling it just a contusion, rather than a fracture. Hopefully that means he can still return before the season ends.
In transaction news, AA Richmond RHP Manuel Mercedes was placed on the Development List, while Low-A San Jose outfielder Peyton Bonds was activated off the Injured List.
Sacramento River Cats lost to the Las Vegas Aviators (A’s) 6-2
Box score
After back-to-back excellent pitching games from the River Cats, they finally fell prey to the offensive environment of Las Vegas.
It was RHP Trystan Vrieling whom the Aviators got to, as the soon-to-turn 26-year old once again got beat up. The 2022 3rd-rounder got rocked for 10 hits in 5 innings which, along with 2 walks, put 4 runs on the board. Needless to say, 12 baserunners in 5 innings isn’t a good game, but it was notable that Vrieling struck out 9 batters. That’s a large number for the Gonzaga alum, as he is not really a strikeout artist: he had just 8.3 strikeouts per 9 innings in AA this year.
Vrieling has really struggled since a recent promotion which, admittedly, was due more to roster logistics than merit, as he only had a 4.23 ERA and a 5.06 FIP in Richmond. Through 3 games with Sacramento, Vrieling has given up a staggering 28 hits in just 13 innings, with 8 walks and 16 earned runs, though he does have 18 strikeouts.
RHP R.J. Dabovich also had a tough go of it, as he gave up a walk and a 2-run home run in an inning of work, with an error, though he struck out 2 batters. Dabovich has been quite good since returning to health, so this was a rare not-great game for him. RHP Wilkin Ramos was the lone bright spot on the mound, as he pitched 2 shutout innings with 1 hit and 2 strikeouts.
The offense did very, very little. The best performance came from first baseman Charlie Szykowny, who hit 3-4 with a double. Szykowny, a 26-year old lefty taken in the 9th round in 2023, is, like Vrieling, likely in AAA more because of roster needs than because of AA performance. But he’s certainly making the most of his opportunity: he has an 8-game hitting streak going, and in 10 games with Sacramento has an .885 OPS and a 128 wRC+. It will be fun seeing him have a full year at the level next season.
Quiet games for the top prospects: third baseman Parks Harber (No. 17 CPL) hit 1-4 with 2 strikeouts, while center fielder Scott Bandura went 0-4 with a strikeout. Outfielder Bo Davidson (No. 4 CPL) didn’t play, after injuring his foot on Wednesday. Designated hitter Victor Bericoto (No. 35 CPL) made his 2nd rehab appearance, and hit 1-4.
Richmond Flying Squirrels lost to the Chesapeake Baysox (Orioles) 8-2
Box score
The struggles continue for the Squirrels, who have seen their losing streak creep all the way to 8 games. The regular season ends on Sunday, so they’re certainly limping to the finish line, but hey … at least they’re guaranteed to finish, at minimum, 10 games above .500, even if they end the year with a double-digit losing streak!
This was another fairly uninteresting game for Richmond, save for one player: third baseman Sabin Ceballos (No. 43 CPL). The just-turned 24-year old put on quite a show in the batter’s box, going 2-3 with both a home run and a double, while also drawing a walk and striking out once.
With the big fly, Ceballos has now tripled his home run output over last year, which was spent at the same level (and he only has 76 more plate appearances this season). That’s pretty notable, as you need a good chunk of power to survive at an infield corner.
Yet despite that, Ceballos’ wRC+ has only gained 3 points year over year (102 to 105), the result of both struggling to get hits that aren’t homers, and the improved offensive environment in the Eastern League this year (his OPS has risen from .670 to .750).
As I’ve written about many times this year, Ceballos is just … an odd offensive profile. In both of his years in AA, he’s done a great job making contact … his strikeout rate and swinging strike rate have gone a little backwards this year, but they’re still just 17.9% and 10.3%, very good numbers. And yet, despite all that contact, Ceballos has a miserable .225 batting average. He’s basically doing 3 things at the plate: hitting home runs, drawing walks, and hitting into a whole bunch of outs. It’s a little odd.
No one else had particularly good offensive days. Center fielder Trevor Cohen (No. 15 CPL) had the only other multi-hit game, as he went 2-5 with a strikeout, while designated hitter Dakota Jordan (No. 5 CPL) had a rough game as he continues to shake the injury rust off, going 0-4 with a strikeout hat trick. Cohen, who turns 23 in December, has a .745 OPS and a 101 wRC+ in 47 games since getting promoted; Jordan, who turned 23 in May, has a .707 OPS and a 90 wRC+ in 20 games.
RHP Niko Mazza’s 2nd game in AA was rough on his ERA, though he pitched better than the 4 runs he allowed in 4 innings. A run per inning is a bad ratio, but a baserunner per inning? Well, that’s mighty fine, and it’s exactly what Mazza did, as he gave up just 3 hits and 1 walk, with 4 strikeouts. Unfortunately, one of those hits (a double) immediately preceded the walk, which immediately preceded another one of the hits (a 3-run home run). The 3rd and final hit (also a double) opened up the 5th inning, and immediately preceded a rain delay, which immediately preceded Mazza being replaced by RHP Manuel Mercedes, who allowed the inherited runner to score.
LHP Jack Choate (No. 37 CPL) continued the trend he’s had for a few years now, of getting far more strikeouts than one would expect out of a soft-tosser, but also not pitching all that well. He struck out 4 batters in just 2.2 innings in this game, but also gave up 3 hits, a hit batter, and a run. The 2022 9th-round pick, who turned 25 at the start of the season, has a 4.38 ERA and a 4.17 FIP this season, despite a fantastic 11.4 strikeouts per 9 innings.
RHP Marty Gair made his 3rd appearance since getting promoted and it didn’t go super well, as he allowed 2 hits, 1 walk, 1 hit batter, and 2 runs in just 1 inning of work, though he struck out 2 batters.
San Jose Giants beat the Stockton Ports (A’s) 3-1
Box score
And with that, the Baby Giants are championship bound. After ending the regular season with 20 wins in their final 22 games, San Jose swept the best-of-3 divisional series against their northeast neighbors, and will now face the Lake Elsinore Storm of the Padres organization for the Cal League championship. That series, which is also best of 3, starts on Sunday in Lake Elsinore, and continues in San Jose on Tuesday and, if necessary, Wednesday.
The big news in this game was that RHP Jackson Flora made his 2nd career appearance (and, thanks to the Giants advancing, we’ll likely get to see him pitch a 3rd time). Flora was impressive if a little shaky in his professional debut last Friday, which was the only official appearance he made in his debut season, as only regular season stats count in the record books.
But his follow-up performance, in Thursday’s playoff game, was where Flora really showed why he was the No. 4 overall pick in the draft, and immediately becomes the top pitching prospect in the system (and one of the best pitching prospects in baseball). Flora was utterly dominant, striking out 4 batters in 2 no-hit innings, while touching triple digits with his electric fastball. The command still isn’t quite there — he walked 2 batters and only threw half of his 32 pitches for strikes — but that’s also very understandable given that he went a few months without pitching.
Seeing Flora overwhelm Single-A hitters like that made it pretty clear, in my eye, that he belongs in High-A to start the 2027 season, though I suppose there’s a chance the Giants give him the Carson Whisenhunt treatment (Whisenhunt was similarly dominant after being drafted in 2023, and returned to San Jose for his first full season, but only spent 4 games there before getting promoted to High-A … where he only spent 6 games before getting promoted to AA).
After Flora, the bulk innings went to LHP Ricardo Estrada, who gave up 5 hits, 0 walks, and 1 run over 4 innings, with 3 strikeouts. Rounding out the pitching performance were RHPs Chen-Hsun Lee and Samir Chires, who each had no-hit, no-run showings (Lee gave up 1 walk in 1.1 innings, while Chires allowed 1 walk in 1.2 innings, with 2 strikeouts). Lee, who is finally healthy after losing all of 2024 and 2025 to injury, posted a 1.42 ERA in 14 appearances for San Jose this year, those his strikeout and walk numbers weren’t particularly good and, as a result, he had a 4.73 FIP. Chires, who had struggled with both performance and injuries for 3 years in the Complex League before finally dominating the league in his 4th attempt, had a 1.82 ERA and a 3.36 FIP in 15 Low-A games this year. Counting the playoff performance, the Venezuelan, who turns 23 next week, had 29 strikeouts to just 6 walks in 26.1 innings.
Despite this being a low-scoring game, and despite the big story being Flora, the star of the game actually came on the other side of the ball, as designated hitter Drew Smith carried the team to victory. Smith was the team’s 15th-round pick in July, and signed for a very modest $25,000 out of Oregon. But my goodness has the 23-year old right-hander fit right in. He wasted no time making his mark on this game, as he bopped a 2-out, 2-run double in the 1st inning, which proved to be all the offense the Baby Giants would need.
But as the game grew tense, Smith — who finished 2-4 with a strikeout — provided the insurance. In the 8th inning, with San Jose clinging to a 2-1 lead, Smith bashed a solo home run to increase the margin.
Smith hit just 3 home runs as a freshman for Oregon, just 4 as a sophomore, and just 5 as a junior. But he exploded for 16 home runs in his senior season, and it seems he’s carrying that into the pros: he only got into 3 regular season games, but hit a home run, and now has smacked big flies in both of San Jose’s playoff appearances. 3 dingers through 5 career games! Hard to argue with that!
Catcher Rod Barajas Jr. also had a nice game, as he went 2-4 with a double. Shortstop and uber-prospect Josuar González (No. 2 CPL) went 1-4 with a double and a strikeout. Right fielder Peyton Bonds, the team’s 3rd-round pick who hadn’t played in quite a while due to injury, returned to the lineup for half the game, and hit 1-2.
18 — Sabin Ceballos — [AA]
3 — Drew Smith — [Low-A]
Sacramento: 7:05 p.m. PT at Las Vegas (SP: TBD)
Richmond: 4:05 p.m. PT vs. Chesapeake (SP: Jacob Bresnahan)
Eugene: 6:35 p.m. PT vs. Vancouver (SP: Hunter Dryden)
Reminder that almost all MiLB games can be viewed on MLB TV
Your 2026 New York Mets: Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.
“I was looking for a good pitch in the zone and he threw it there. Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose and today was my turn [to help us win].” -Francisco Lindor [MLB]
It’s been a tough year for a number of players, but I’m glad Tobias Myers worked hard and made it back to the big leagues.
“[Tobias Myers] just lost a little bit of the stuff.” -Andy Green [MLB]
“Time’s kind of flown, honestly. I haven’t really noticed how long I’ve been down here [in AAA].” -Tobias Myers [MLB]
“Not an easy inning any time [Rafael] Devers is the middle of your inning. Had to go through the heart of their order and did a really nice job.” -Andy Green [MLB]
This does feel like it’s been a running theme for the Mets…
“It’s unfortunately not that uncommon where some guys get a little bit lost, and that’s such a hard level to fix things. You just feel that pressure to go out there and perform all the time. Sometimes, they come down here and it just allows them to take a breath. I think [Myers] was able to do that.” -Syracuse Mets pitching Coach A.J. Sager [MLB]
…everyone just needs to take Chet Steadman’s advice and ‘deal from the have to’…
“The last couple of weeks, it’s definitely gotten back to just being free. No thinking up there. Just pitch, and gradually I’ve gotten better and better.” -Tobias Myers [MLB]
…‘the have to is what you use when you’re afraid’.
“Last year, I felt like a kid going out there every time, just being shell-shocked by a lot of things. Now, it’s more like [my] feet are more set … and just going out there just trying to do my job.” -Jonah Tong [MLB]
At least it’s just Tong being nitpicky about himself…
“[I felt] good. Just one walk and a couple of pitches here and there, but it’s just me being nitpicky. Happy with it, [the] team won.” -Jonah Tong [MLB]
…oh and his catcher…
“The home run pitch was a good pitch. It was a pitch on the black, away. [Pauley] just had a good swing on it and that happens. [Tong] executed, the walk was the only thing.” -Francisco Alvarez [MLB]
…but Tong’s manager has his back and Green’s right that it was a good outing with some bad luck.
“[I’m] really pleased with [Tong’s] outing. The second inning is one of those things that just the only hits he gives up all day are sequenced together right there, and then the home run bites pretty hard at that point in time.” -Andy Green [MLB]
“To watch [Tong] be a cutthroat competitor, get in there and just go right back at them for the next three innings, it was really good. … I know he’s not going to love the line at the end of the day, with the four runs coming in, but the way he pitched today was way better than that line is going to indicate.” -Andy Green [MLB]
I think Andy Green might be really into boxing.
“We’ve put pressure on the other team. Not waiting for them to throw the first punch. We have gone out there and thrown it and we threw a lot of them today.” -Andy Green [MLB]
Lindor’s positive energy continues unabated.
“Everyone is like, ‘If I don’t do it, the next one will.‘ And that is contagious.” -Francisco Lindor [MLB]
In case you missed it, Will Sammon had an insightful interview with Eric Jagers.
“Was [Tong’s] major-league experience last year a good thing in hindsight? A bad thing? How do you view it, essentially one year removed from it?” -Will Sammon
“It’s hard to put a label on it. One, it was a really cool opportunity that he earned at the time. So in that part, it’s cool. It’s good. He had some fun moments, right? The debut was pretty good. He punched back against San Diego, and that was pretty good. And then he had some more unfortunate outings and appearances and things like that that certainly left a little bit of a sour taste in his mouth, I’m sure.” -Mets vice president for pitching Eric Jagers [The Athletic]
Mets Tweet of the Week
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, a day that changed the course of history and reshaped society as we know it. For those who know 9/11 only as a chapter in a history book, understand that it was a line of demarcation. There was life before September 11, and life after it.
Anyone who lived through that day remembers where they were, what they were doing, and the feeling that something had permanently changed. I was a freshman at Scottsdale Community College at the time and remember sitting at a bench on campus, attempting to comprehend what happened and what it meant moving forward. It’s hard to believe a quarter of a century has passed since those tragic and horrific events, and the repercussions are still felt today, whether we always recognize them or not.
September 11 carries another anniversary for me, a much more personal one. It was the day I graduated from Basic Combat Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, in 2003. After struggling through two years of community college, I joined the United States Army because guys my age were doing something meaningful, serving and defending the country, while I felt like some jackass without direction, purpose, or structure.
The Army gave me structure. There was an order to things. A cadence to every day. Wake up. PT. DFAC. Training. MREs. More training. DFAC. Shine your boots. Go to bed. Then wake up and do it again. I didn’t fully appreciate the structure being drilled into me during those hot, humid days in Missouri, or Misery, as I still like to call it. But that structure became a cornerstone of my life.
That cadence is still with me today. And, strange as it sounds, you can see some of it in the way we approach SunsRank. Like life in the military, an NBA season has rhythm. Structure. An order of operations. Here at Bright Side, SunsRank is part of that cadence.
Before the season starts, we rank the entire roster from top to bottom based on who we believe the best players are at that exact moment. It becomes a snapshot of our collective thinking before anything real happens. Then come the player previews. Then Media Day. Training camp. Preseason. And finally, the season itself. That’s the structure. That’s the order of things.
Before we reveal the final preseason SunsRank tomorrow, I wanted to first show how the writing staff views this roster. These are the voices who will help narrate the 2026–27 Phoenix Suns, and these rankings represent their baseline for how they see each player and where they fit within the hierarchy of the roster.
Here are our rankings.
| Voita | Brandon | Holden | Bruce | Luke | Mark | Tom | Kevin | Justin | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devin Booker | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Dillon Brooks | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Jalen Green | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Miles Bridges | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Collin Gillespie | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Jordan Goodwin | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Mark Williams | 5 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 6 |
| Luke Kennard | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 10 |
| Oso Ighodaro | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 9 |
| Khaman Malauch | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 7 |
| Rasheer Fleming | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 11 |
| Koa Peat | 12 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 13 |
| Ryan Dunn | 14 | 14 | 15 | 12 | 14 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 12 |
| Haywood Highsmith | 16 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 14 | 14 | 15 |
| Jamaree Bouyea | 13 | 15 | 13 | 13 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 14 |
| Pat Spencer | 15 | 13 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 15 | 16 |
| CJ Huntley | 17 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 18 |
| Koby Brea | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 17 |
You’ll notice that some writers are higher on certain players, while others are clearly lower. That’s a good reminder that SunsRank is built around a subjective question. Who is better than whom? There isn’t always a clean answer.
So after looking through the rankings, I identified a few of the larger deviations from the group and asked each writer to explain why they had certain players higher or lower than everyone else.
Mark Bowser: I viewed the rank as a question of value, which, to me, needs to consider production per dollar of contract amount. Right now, Gillespie and even Goodwin have shown more value per dollar and greater availability. This could obviously change as the season progresses. If Jalen shows he can facilitate, pound the rock and turnover less, continue to produce rim pressure and threes — and do it for 75+ games — then he might rise to #2 on my list.
I believe Peat’s body is NBA-ready, and he brings a lot of what the Suns don’t have at the forward position. He is a bruiser. He is physical. He plays with toughness, and plays with an edge. He can handle the ball, make plays for others, and finish at or around the rim. I view his transition to the NBA as a seamless one, and believe many will look back and wonder how he fell as far as he did. He may not get minutes right away, but by the end of the year, it’s easy to envision him being an impact player, at whatever role he is assigned.
Holden Sherman: Once Rasheer Fleming started to get more playing time, Dunn became unplayable. His inability to space the floor and his lack of progression on the offensive end renders him unplayable when Phoenix is playing a center or forward that can’t space the floor.
Tom Mildenberger: Any discussion about Mark Williams has to start and end with availability. 60 games were a jump, but he wasn’t available when we needed him the most in the postseason. Beyond that, I’m not super high on his impact.
He’s a legit 7-foot starting center, but despite his Go-Go-Gadget arms, he’s not a great rim protector, nor is he a plus rebounder for his position. Those are two things the Suns are going to need more from at the center. It’s really easy to compare him to Deandre Ayton as they are physically very similar players, but Mark Williams production has never surpassed the Ayton line. A lot of that may be due to inconsistencies with health, and I’m not completely out on Mark Williams potential, but until I see a rise in blocks and ten rebounds a game, the Western Conference playoff teams feature a lot of good centers.
Right now, I see Mark Williams as an average center when he’s on the court.
Kevin Humphreys: Last season, Oso Ighodaro played in all 82 games and earned the trust of Jordan Ott to close out games for the Suns. His switching ability on defense and his connectivity on offense are unique to the roster. With score-first players like Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, and Miles Bridges all playing significant minutes, the Suns will need connectors on the floor, which is where Ighodaro will slide in and be a valuable asset to the team. If Maluach’s ability to stretch the floor is legit and they can play together in the second unit… look out. Despite having Mark Williams and Maluach on the roster, I expect to see Ighodaro closing games again this season because of his high basketball IQ.
Bruce Veliz: Bouyea gets the 13th ranking as he has proved last year that if he gets an opportunity, he can make the most of it. The big question revolving around that this season, though, is whether he will still get those opportunities with a deeper roster this year.
Bouyea is someone to me who could make a rotation if all the stars align for him, and that could become a possibility here in Phoenix.
Who do you align with most? Which writer shares a similar methodology, ranking philosophy, and overall SunsRank with you? Maybe that’s the writer you’ll find yourself agreeing with throughout the season because your perceptions of the team are similar. Or maybe you’ll identify a writer or two who are consistently higher or lower on certain players than you are.
That’s part of the point. Our goal has always been to provide a complete, holistic picture of the Phoenix Suns, not clickbait designed purely to shock and awe. Because if history has taught us anything, shock and awe campaigns tend to be heavy on noise and light on substance.
Debutant Razaullah launched a remarkable late salvo as Pakistan finally showed some fight at Edgbaston on Friday, setting England a target of 130 to seal a clean sweep in their three-Test series.
Debutant Razaullah launched a remarkable late salvo as Pakistan finally showed some fight at Edgbaston on Friday, setting England a target of 130 to seal a clean sweep in their three-Test series.
Flyers' young — but mature — talent on display at rookie camp originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The Flyers don’t have an inexperienced group at 2026 rookie training camp.
Porter Martone, Denver Barkey, Alex Bump, Jett Luchanko and Oliver Bonk are all on the roster. Those five players saw action in the NHL playoffs last season, a good development for the club’s future.
And while the group is young, it isn’t naive. The Flyers’ prospects seem to know it’s a new season. They have two rookie games against the Rangers and a few more practices before it all begins with the big boys.
“Going into camp again with a chip-on-your-shoulder mentality,” Barkey said after Friday’s practice at PPL Center, home of AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley. “That’s always something that has separated me, just bringing that compete, that motor. Coming into camp again with something to prove, not being satisfied with what I did last year.”
The 21-year-old made his way to the Flyers in December and never went back to the Phantoms. As an undersized forward, his smarts and competitiveness won him a call-up. He played over half of the season with the Flyers and appeared in all 10 playoff games.
“Obviously it was really cool, it was great experience, I learned a lot and was able to grow a lot this summer coming back in now,” Barkey said. “But I’ve still got something to prove, got to earn your spot. I just want to continue to grow as a player and do whatever it takes to help the team win.”
Martone is undeniably the rookie camp headliner after fueling the Flyers’ playoff push at 19 years old. The winger is a slam dunk for a huge role this season, but he doesn’t act like it. The Flyers really like his humility and maturity.
“He asks a lot of questions, he’s always looking to better himself wherever it is on the ice,” Lehigh Valley head coach John Snowden said. “Even in practice today, ‘Can we do this? Can we look at something differently on this? What can I do different?’ He asks those questions, he wants to be a hockey player.”
Martone was a college freshman at Michigan State just five and a half months ago.
“In fairness, he played at the end of the season last year, he got a very, very small taste of the NHL level,” Snowden, who runs rookie camp, said. “He should ask those questions and he should find every single resource and avenue to make himself a better player. He’s a very good player, he showed what he can be in the NHL, but he wants to be a superstar player. And those are the type of things that you’re going to have to ask.”
The 2025 sixth overall pick has been a busy and well-traveled teenager. His whirlwind year continued after the playoffs when he represented Team Canada at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship. He was also at development camp this summer. But he found some downtime.
“After the world championships there, I went home for probably about a month,” Martone said. “It was nice to kind of lay low, spend it with my family, see my siblings, my friends and kind of just be a kid again. I went back to Michigan State for about three weeks to a month this year and trained. Then I went home for a little bit, about two weeks, and then I’ve been in Philly for the past few weeks, kind of getting ready, getting back into the city and kind of getting rolling here.”
Similar to Barkey, the 22-year-old Bump is coming off his first full season at the pro level. He joined the Flyers after the March trade deadline and opened eyes. He recorded nine points (five goals, four assists) over 17 regular-season games and added two goals in six playoff games.
Last fall, the winger felt the pressure of his first NHL training camp.
“I kind of know what to expect more now,” Bump said. “More experience. Going into last camp, I didn’t really know what to expect and I just got overwhelmed almost. I think I just know what to expect and the experience definitely helps.”
He wants to make up for last year’s camp.
“This year’s big, I think this is kind of the next step for me, to make the NHL full-time,” he said. “This camp is big and kind go into it with a chip on my shoulder.”
Luchanko and Bonk also have a lot to prove. They had to miss last year’s rookie games because of injuries.
The Flyers will look for Luchanko to have more of a shoot-first mentality. The 20-year-old center has not had an easy path the last two seasons.
In a drill Friday, he scored on a nice rip from the slot. Snowden said Luchanko was “absolutely snapping the puck in the net” and that his shot looked “really, really good.”
“He’s a very responsible player, he has got a very high hockey IQ,” Snowden said. “The one thing that we all talk about is we want to squeeze that offense out of him. Today, seeing him shoot the puck and scoring goals from distance in some different scenarios, that’s a huge plus.
“He can make plays, we know he can make plays, but can we find that scoring touch? Can you be selfish in some situations? Where maybe you defer to pass, maybe now you’ve got an opportunity to shoot the puck in the net or create a secondary chance by shooting the puck.”
In the wee hours of Thursday morning, catcher Jose Trevino was once again pitcher Jose Trevino as the Cincinnati Reds wrapped up a 14-1 drubbing at the hands of the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds managed just 6 hits in total on the night, their lone run coming off the bat of superstar Elly De La Cruz as he launched a moonshot off Yoshinobu Yamamoto to log a home run in his fifth consecutive game.
The loss sunk the Reds to the third worst run differential in the sport behind only the hilarious Colorado Rockies and homeless Athletics. Not exactly where you want to find yourself when you’re supposedly on the upswing of one of Nick Krall’s infamous rebuilds.
Now, the Reds head into Milwaukee to face the mighty Brewers, off whom they managed to take two of three in Great American Ball Park just last weekend. Safe to say, I expect there to be some revenge on the minds of those beermakers.
Lefty Andrew Abbott looks to turn the tide on his wayward season with the start in Friday’s series opener at American Family Field that I still choose to call Miller Park. Dustin May takes the mound for the Beers, meaning this may well be Cincinnati’s best chance to sock some dingers and actually take home a win in the series.
First pitch is set for 7:40 PM ET. Here’s how the Reds will line up to start: