Category: Sports News

I see a lot of discussion on this one. Craig Counsell has hit the point where he’s deciding between two less than optimal options. The Cubs had to decide between a tiring starter or a bullpen that has not even one lockdown arm out there. The closest thing they’ve had to a lockdown arm has both struggled recently and suffered an injury that has kept him out of action. When they finally did use relievers, Ryan Zeferjahn allowed a single and a walk to three batters faced and Jacob Webb allowed a walk and a sacrifice fly. As it is, Matthew Boyd ended up throwing exactly 100 pitches in the game.

If the Cubs are going to go deep this year, something that seems less likely all of the time, I envision something akin to the White Sox World Series run with the starters carrying an awful lot of the weight. The Cubs don’t have a Dodgers-level elite starting rotation, but the Cub rotation is light years beyond the bullpen. My formula involves the Cub starters going deep, the offense scoring 5+ runs in every win and the bullpen having very short outings in low to medium leverage spots (ignoring the upgrade every situation gets for the playoffs).

I will say this, I firmly believe that Craig Counsell should and will be a finalist for Manager of the Year. That said, I do think it is always fair to question the decisions made. You can be very good at your job and not get everything right. I love that years later Joe Maddon can concede that he probably should have gotten Aroldis Chapman out earlier in Game 6 and that the planning around Jon Lester’s relief appearance in Game 7 got away from him a bit. Both moves had a nexus in good decision making and then the game shifted radically and it turned out that different decisions might have been better. We’ll never know if done differently, they would have worked better. We do know that with the decisions he made, the Cubs won a World Series. There are always decisions that with the benefit of hindsight we can tell were wrong. But are they as easy with foresight?

Sadly, for the second straight day a Pete Crow-Armstrong homer becomes a footnote in a Cub loss. We are witnessing one of the best baseball season’s ever and he is inching closer every day to the single greatest season in Cubs history. It really is amazing and a whole lot of fun to watch. He had his 34th and 35th steals and 41st homer. A combined 76 and he is closing in on the largest combined total in franchise history. He is just the eighth player in baseball history to have a 40/35 season. There are just so many amazing ways to slice up the stats and highlight what he’s done — for example, 97 runs driven in, almost entirely out of the lead off spot. The second-most homers by a lefty in franchise history. I definitely do not want this season to end for fear that we’ll wake up out of the dream and he’ll revert to “only” being a star and not one of the greatest players alive.

The Cubs have lost all of their cushion. It’s going to be a dogfight to the end with the Phillies. The Cubs have to survive the rest of this series, recharge and then really get after it. Every game matters. I for one would like to see this season get at least as far as last season did and that’s going to greatly be facilitated by a home playoff series again in the Wild Card round. I still believe they can get there, but the road ahead is a rocky one. I’ve been using Fangraphs as my proxy for most likely outcomes and they have the Phillies finishing about one game better than the Cubs. That’s exactly what they need to do to get home field. So it’s that close. Let’s see about stealing a game or two in this series to help that out.

Three Positives:

• Matthew Boyd allowed one run on four hits and one walk in seven innings of work. He allowed a walk and a double in the eighth and both scored after he left. Terrific outing against an offense that typical thrives at home.
• Pete Crow-Armstrong had a single and a homer, got hit by a pitch, stole two bases and scored twice. He is a menace.
• Alex Bregman had two hits and drew a walk. He drove in a run.

Game 145, September 7: Brewers 4, Cubs 3 (81-64)

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Alex Bregman (.194). 2-3, BB, RBI
• Hero: Tyrone Taylor (.080). 1-2, 2B
• Sidekick: Pedro Ramirez (.079). 1-4, HR, RBI, R

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Ryan Zeferjahn (-.202). 0.1 IP, 3 BF, H, BB, R
• Goat: Nico Hoerner (-.201). 0-4
• Kid: Matt Shaw (-.120). 0-3, SH

WPA Play of the Game: Joey Ortiz’ double off of Matthew Boyd with a runner on first in the eighth inning, the Brewers down one. (.285)

Cubs Play of the Game: Alex Bregman’s single with runners on first and second with two outs in the seventh, giving the Cubs a one run lead. (.203)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Game 144 Winner: Pete Crow-Armstrong received 36 of 47 votes.

Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)

The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.

• Alex Bregman +29
• Pete Crow-Armstrong +26.5
• Michael Conforto +14
• Ben Brown +13.5
• Javier Assad +12
• Jameson Taillon -13
• Seiya Suzuki -15
• Nico Hoerner -17
• Dansby Swanson -17
• Caleb Thielbar -17.5

Scoreboard Watching: Dodgers win (up 6.5 on Cubs). Braves lost (4.5 up on Cubs) to the Phillies (0.5 games up on Cubs). Diamondbacks beat the Royals (four back). Brewers win (8 up). Padres win (5.5 back). Four teams across baseball with more wins than the Cubs and two tied with them.

Up Next: Game Two Tuesday night. David Peterson (7-8, 5.39) vs. Jacob Misiorowski (14-5, 1.97). The Cubs actually hit him pretty well in Chicago last week. But Peterson got pounded. As always, not a great matchup on paper. But the Cubs win a good number of those.

Nick Pivetta took the mound for the San Diego Padres for the first time in a major league game since the second week of April. No one was quite sure what to expect from the right-hander, but when his day was complete he had pitched five scoreless innings and earned a win as the Padres topped the visiting Washington Nationals, 3-2 at Petco Park on Monday.

Pivetta wasted no time re-acclimating himself to the major leagues. He faced the minimum three batters in four of his five innings. Pivetta allowed just two hits and recorded two strikeouts without allowing a walk. He was efficient in his return, needing just 63 pitches to completed his day. The San Diego offense did just enough, scoring three runs in the first three innings of the game, allowing Pivetta to walk off the mound in line for the win.

The Padres scored a run in the first inning, thanks in part to a misplayed ball in right field by Nationals outfielder James Wood. Manny Machado hit a fly ball to the warning track and Wood appeared to lose it in the sun. The ball dropped just beyond his glove and it allowed Machado to reach second base on what was ruled a double. Ty France followed with a two-out walk and Jackson Merrill put San Diego on the board with a line drive into right field, which allowed Machado to score from second to put the Padres up, 1-0.

San Diego added to its total in the bottom of the third after Fernando Tatis Jr. singled to open the inning. Jake Cronenworth reached on a fielder’s choice to second base when Washington second baseman Jorbit Vivas flipped a ball to second that was not in time to force out Tatis. Machado brought Tatis home with a single to left that gave the Padres a 2-0 lead. France then grounded into a 5-3 double play but Machado was still on second base with two out. Merrill collected his second RBI of the game with a line drive to center field, which scored Machado and bumped the San Diego lead to 3-0.

The Padres bullpen was good despite one pitch left up over the plate by Kyle Hart. Nationals left-fielder Dylan Crews connected on a two-out, two-run home run to left field that pulled Washington within a run of San Diego at 3-2. Bradgley Rodriguez and Adrian Morejon covered the seventh and eighth innings to get to Mason Miller in the top of the ninth.

It appeared the Padres were going to add to their total before Miller came into the game. San Diego loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning and Xander Bogaerts hit a line drive into left field that would have allowed Merrill to tag up and score. However, Luis Campusano had wandered too far off the bag at second base and was thrown out trying to get back before Merrill could cross home plate to end the inning. Miller came into the game with a one-run lead and locked down the win and his 34th save of the season, allowing the Friar Faithful to take a collective sigh of relief after the base running mistake.

San Diego resumes it’s series with Washington today at 6:40 p.m.

Padres News:

• The Padres had to make some roster moves to add Nick Pivetta before the game against the Nationals. Jhony Brito was sent down to Triple-A and catcher Blake Hunt was designated for assignment to open up a spot on the 40-man roster.

Baseball News:

• Aaron Judge is set to make his return to the New York Yankees.

• Kyle Schwarber hit a solo home run to lead the Philadelphia Phillies over the Atlanta Braves, 1-0.

• Pete Crow-Armstrong moved closer to a 40/40 season but the Chicago Cubs lost to the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-3.

• The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Cincinnati Reds to give them their fifth consecutive win.

• The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Kansas City Royals needed extra-innings to score the first runs of the game, but the Diamondbacks did just enough to get the win.

Hello and happy Tuesday, folks. Hope you enjoyed your holiday.

Today’s a regular day, and it’s one where our beloved Red Sox take on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of California of the United States of North America of Planet Earth. First pitch at Fenway is scheduled for 6:45 p.m.

Here’s a question for ya, as we now sit on the brink of officially avoiding a losing season while maintaining a strong hold on a wild card spot: Where is the line between resting players ahead of postseason play and pushing for better playoff positioning?

We’re technically two games behind the Yankees as things currently stand, but that’s effectively a three-game deficit since New York holds the tiebreaker over us. Still, that’s not an insurmountable lead with just over two weeks to go in the regular season. Should the Sox put more chips on the table to contest for the top wild card seed, thus the right to host a three-game series?

As tempting as that is, the guys are probably gassed. Sure, everyone in baseball is tired after nearly 150 games, but there’s something to be said for getting fully revved up for do-or-die time, even if it means that you have to go on the road for the wild card series. Guys like Ceddy and Contreras are already on the IL, while someone such as Caleb Durbin could maybe benefit from a few extra off days.

Maybe some more consistent time off will do the clubhouse some good. On the other hand, you don’t want the guys to get rusty. On the other other hand, the schedule in front of the Sox in the coming days—paging the Angels and Royals—does not exactly feature the greatest teams the sport has ever seen. Perhaps that gives Chad Tracy a chance to get guys off of their feet. On the other other other hand, you have to respect every opponent in front of you. On the other other other other hand, Baseball Reference has us at a damn near lock to qualify for the playoffs with 17 games to go, competition be damned. On the other other other other OTHER hand, do you really want to mock the almighty Baseball Gods by tempting fate?

Well……..that’s all for me to ask and for you to answer in the comments below.

Be good to each other and go Sox.

The first four games of this pivotal stretch for the Phillies against the Atlanta Braves are over. It didn’t go quite the way Philadelphia could’ve hoped, as they were only able to split the series. They are now still four games behind the Braves with three games in Atlanta coming next weekend and 18 games remaining overall. 

As the even result may hint towards, it was a competitive series throughout. The Phillies starting pitching, particularly Aaron Nola and Jesús Luzardo, looked prepared for primetime Their offense cooled off from their previous torrid stretch, but were only outscored 12-11. The biggest problem that revealed itself was the bullpen, as the Phillies blew a three-run eighth inning lead on Sunday and allowed a 3-2 game to turn into a 5-2 deficit on Friday. The rotation has rounded into peak form, but the bullpen, especially the set-up men ahead of Jhoan Duran, still do not inspire much confidence.

The division isn’t necessarily out of reach, but it’s quickly becoming a math equation. The Phillies now have to make up four games with 18 to play, a difficult feat considering their September schedule. Luckily for the Phillies, they at least have a somewhat comfortable cushion for a Wild Card spot, even if that is not guaranteed yet. But still, this series with the Braves offered the chance for the Phillies to measure themselves against the likes of competition they will face in October after having a relatively light schedule in the month of August. Some parts of their play were encouraging while some older, familiar problems still rose their ugly head. 

So, what did we learn from this Phillies-Braves series? 

Yeah, I could’ve phrased this as a question and had the same post body anyway, but why bother when I can just make a post? After the Braves split their big series on the road against the Phillies, I have three big picture thoughts, two of which were prompted by their dramatic comeback win in Game Three.

Why is everyone, including Ronald AcuñaJr., obsessed with going the other way?

In this series, the Braves’ most common ball in play was a grounder up the middle, followed by a ball in the air hit the other way. For the Phillies, it was fly balls to center, followed with a tie between pulled and opposite-field fly balls. The Braves managed a .180 wOBA and .167 on their 19 opposite-field fly balls in the series; they managed an .809 wOBA and .665 xwOBA on their 15 pulled fly balls.

This isn’t really surprising because yes, pulling fly balls in the air is great. But, maybe target it a bit better? Here’s the pitch plot of fly balls the other way by lefty batters:

This looks okay-ish at first glance, there’s maybe one pitch that was weirdly inside-outed, and it was Matt Olson against Cristopher Sanchez. There were some elevated balls you’d hope guys would pull, but it is what it is. And then you get the right-handed batter plot:

That’s a fair bit of basically middle-ish pitches hit the other way.

On the season, the Braves are 15th in pulled fly ball rate, but seventh in the rate of hitting fly balls the other way. But this obscures a lot of inconsistency:

• Through April: 10th and 14th, respectively
• May: 26th and 4th
• June: 26th and 15th
• July: 4th and 24th
• August-onward: 17th and 1st

You get the idea. What’s the obsession with going the other way? By the way, while being first in that last bullet, the Braves have a .302 wOBA and .297 xwOBA on those balls. That’s actually ranked pretty high — their opposite-field fly balls are better than other teams’, but… those are terrible on-contact marks in general.

Acuña is an interesting case here. The first pitch of the series was a sinker a little bit away but squarely in the zone, and he hit a hard double into the right-center gap. Okay, he executed a clear plan there. The next time he got a pitch anywhere on the outer half was two PAs later, and that one turned into a hard groundout to second. He pulled a similar pitch but from a different pitcher (Alex McFarlane, his later victim) and turned it into an infield single.

In Game Two, he started stuff by pulling an outer-edge fastball from Zack Wheeler for a hard single. Then he homered off a Wheeler knee-high splitter also towards the outer half of the plate. The next outer-portion pitch he saw was a non-strike in both dimensions from Aaron Nola, a knuckle curve he dropped into right field for a double. But then, he got a hanging changeup down the middle on 2-2 from Nola and could only hit it weakly to right for a sac fly. Then, it was his homer against McFarlane. In the finale, Jesus Luzardo didn’t really throw him stuff outside he could poke; even his one fly to right came from basically an inside-out effort on a pitch inside. So, Acuña isn’t really the guy to pick on here, he’s at least wrapping his bat around pitches away from him sometimes.

Still, even he has a .320 wOBA / .227 xwOBA on balls in the air the other way since the start of August, compared to an absurd 1.053 wOBA / .877 xwOBA on pulled balls in the air in that span. I’ll keep hoping for some realignment in this regard.

Acuña did something amazing anyway

The pitch Acuña homered on was a four-seamer nearly bisected by the outer edge of the zone at 100.5 mph. Acuña got around it and pulled it into left field for a massive homer, both in terms of distance and effect on the game (and the series). This season, the highest-velocity pitch on an outer edge homered on by a right-handed batter was 98.6 mph (Pete Alonso). Acuña basically skipped two ticks relative to anyone else.

In fact, in the entire Statcast era, only one right-handed batter has homered on a pitch on the outer edge that was harder than what Acuña did on Sunday: Avisail Garcia, who took a 100.7 mph pitch from Ryne Stanek in 2017 and hit it the other way for a longball. So, there you go: Acuña turned around the hardest righty outer-edge pitch to a righty batter for a pulled homer that we know of.

This series had the Braves doing what they do best

The Braves weren’t favored to win any of these games. Two games — and in fact, the two games they lost — had some of the lowest pre-game odds the Braves have faced all season.

The Braves posted a matching .260 wOBA and xwOBA in this series. The Phillies were cut down by some poor fortune and good defense en route to a .284 wOBA and .327 xwOBA. Does that seem like it should be a series split? Okay, fine, that’s a little unfair, because wins aren’t awarded after the entire series finishes.

• Game 1 (win): Braves .303 wOBA / .269 xwOBA | Phillies .266 wOBA / .281 xwOBA. Some combination of defense and luck bails out the Braves.
• Game 2 (loss): Braves .248 / .266 | Phillies .352 / .355. Yeah, a blatant loss.
• Game 3 (win): Braves .350 / .326 | Phillies .278 / .334. A reprise of Game 1, except the Braves actually hit okay.
• Game 4 (loss): Braves .107 / .160 | Phillies .224 / .334. It’s miraculous this was a 1-0 game.

It amuses me that the Phillies compiled 0.7 more fWAR than the Braves in these four games, yet both teams won two games. But that’s par for the course. The Braves are now 85-59, and have just 73 WAR-wins based on fWAR. While there is probably some assumption that over time, a team’s record would trend closer to its WAR-wins record just due to adding extra sample that aligns… the Braves are once again defying the odds in this regard, pulling further away. There isn’t really enough time in the season for any of this to be “fixed” unless they hit basically a gigantic September collapse, and I don’t expect it to be “fixed” because the team itself is fine. It’s just… weird. And they used that weirdness to split with the Phillies.

I continue to be amazed that the Braves have avoided the bottom dropping out despite whammying themselves into stupid (stupid-bad, not stupid-good) offense after July, but it is what it is.

If this were a question post, I guess I’d ask what takeaways you had from this series split. Feel free to drop those in the comments, I guess.

Good morning.

Shawn McFarland writes that the Texas Rangers need to go on a heater in the season’s final weeks if they want to extend their season into the cooler months.

Kennedi Landry writes that Jack Leiter and Nathan Eovaldi are hoping to pitch again this month, but there probably isn’t time to ramp them back into the rotation.

McFarland notes that Robert Garcia is back as reinforcement for a bullpen that has been shaky in the middle innings over the last few weeks.

The MLB dot com folks predict the eventual Gold Glove winners with a month to go and hand Ezequiel Duran some presumptive hardware as the AL’s top utility fielder.

Have a nice day!

Meet the Mets

The Mets’ bats continued their impressive Labor Day weekend by pounding out 16 hits and scoring nine runs in a 9-4 victory over the Marlins. Jonah Tong, who was called upon for his first start of the 2026 season, earned a win by striking out seven over five innings.

Choose Your Recap: Amazin’ Avenue, MLB.com, Daily News, NY Post, Newsday, ESPN, Faith and Fear in Flushing

The Mets optioned Justin Hagenman to Triple-A to make room for Jonah Tong on the roster.

Jon Heyman explained that the Mets’ trifecta is giving the team hope that this can be a $365 million learning experience.

Abbey Mastracco wrote about ‘Beat It’ becoming Citi Field’s answer to a lost season.

On the latest This Week In Mets, Tim Britton explored how the team can better prepare for underperformance.

Around the National League East

The Phillies blanked the Braves 1-0 to earn a much-needed split in the Labor Day weekend series. Jesus Luzardo struck out 12 and earned the first complete game shutout of his career, as the game lasted just one hour and 51 minutes. Kyle Schwarber hit a solo homer in the eighth, which was the lone run.

The Nationals fell 3-2 to the Padres, which actually helped the Mets fall into a statistical tie with Washington for fourth place in the NL East.

Around Major League Baseball

The Cubs broke in to the top five in the latest MLB Power Rankings.

The MLB.com staff predicted the 2026 Gold Glove Award winners.

ESPN made some September predictions regarding the playoff race and stats leaders.

The Padres and Diamondbacks could end up deciding the final Wild Card round in the National League, and with the two clubs squaring off at Petco Park in the final weekend of the regular season, it could essentially serve as an additional playoff round.

Mike Lupica explained how Aaron Judge’s impending return could turn the tide in the Yankees’ favor. Judge was officially activated from the IL yesterday, which was an offday for the Yankees.

Shohei Ohani officially returned from a four-game injury absence, though he will focus on hitting moving forward and is unlikely to pitch again this season.

The Brewers placed Grant Anderson on the IL with right biceps inflammation and called Brandon Sproat back up.

The ‘totally different’ Blue Jays feel that they are primed for a late-season playoff push.

The Red Sox topped the Angels 5-2. Brayan Belo made his first start since June 4 for the Red Sox and picked up where he left off.

The Orioles ended their losing skid with a 6-4 win over the Guardians.

In a game that entered extra innings tied at 0-0, the Diamondbacks prevailed 5-4 in 10 innings over the Royals. Arizona’s bullpen shined in the win to help keep the D’Backs in a Wild Card spot.

The Brewers scored three in the eighth to top the Cubs 4-3, as some amazing robberies rescued the Brew Crew from the Cubbies’ late comeback attempt.

The Tigers held off the Twins 5-4. The Twins activated Joe Ryan from the IL to make the start against Detroit, and he was his vintage shelf in his comeback performance.

The Giants outlasted the Cardinals 5-4 in 11 innings.

The Dodgers doubled up the Reds 6-3.

The Athletics walked off the Blue Jays 6-5.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

I previewed the Mets’ series against the Marlins.

Linus Lawrence provided a Monday Stat Party.

This Date in Mets History

The Mets scored six runs in the seventh to come back and tie up their game against the Nationals, and Kirk Nieuwenhuis’ solo homer in the eighth put New York ahead for good on this date in 2015. The win helped New York secure a series victory in Washington DC en route to a sweep and an eventual NL East crown.

Three cheers, Yankees fans: Aaron Judge is at last coming off the injured list! The slugging superstar returns to the fold just in time for the stretch run, and not a moment too soon. The Bombers have been struggling to close the distance on the Rays in the AL East race with time running out, and the Red Sox remain hot on their trail in the Wild Card hunt. Now, which unfortunate team will be pulling into the Bronx just in time for the captain’s return?

Why, the Colorado Rockies — owners of the National League’s worst record at 55-88. Colorado has shown a bit more panache than their utterly moribund incarnation from last year, but they remain a franchise stuck deep in the cellar. They lost seven straight games, rallied to take a pair in Washington, then lost five more games consecutively before surprising the Orioles with a few plucky wins at home. They just came off a series loss in St. Louis which featured one of the more odious ump shows in recent memory.

All three games of this series will be televised on YES.

Tuesday:Cam Schlittler vs. Gabriel Hughes (7:05 p.m. EST)

This is one of the more lopsided cards you’ll see. Cam Schlittler comes into the series opener with a 2.04 ERA across 171.2 innings as he chases a Cy Young award in his first full MLB season. Rookie Gabriel Hughes has pitched to a 6.19 ERA with six losing decisions (and no wins) in his first 11 appearances in the show.

While he has been a noticeably better pitcher away from home this season, Schlittler is probably thrilled to not have to contend with the mile-high air as he tries to keep his numbers as pristine as possible. Colorado does have some dangerous bats: Hunter Goodman has socked 36 home runs this season and former Yankee farmhand TJ Rumfield has been the team’s most valuable offensive contributor.

Hughes’ numbers didn’t get truly gaudy until he gave up seven earned runs in two straight starts last month. His last time out was a marked improvement against Baltimore, as he limited the O’s to just one run on four hits in a shade under five innings.

Wednesday: Will Warren vs. Tomoyuki Sugano(7:05 p.m. EST)

Warren made just his second appearance out of the bullpen this season on Friday against the Padres, as the Yankees get him ready to fill that role in the postseason. He did well, providing 2.1 innings of hitless relief. He’ll return to the rotation against the Rockies and try to build on a solid little run he’s been on; his previous start against Boston was one of his best as a big-leaguer.

Tomoyuki Sugano came to Colorado to eat innings for an undernourished rotation. The 36-year old’s unglamorous, throwback-to-the-aughts style has allowed him to be a perfectly competent starter for the Rockies, pitching to a 5.18 ERA. He strikes out practically nobody, and issues few walks either. The Yankees saw him four times last year when he was an Oriole, to mixed results. His final two starts of that season were short losing efforts; the final score was 6-1 both times.

Thursday: Max Fried vs. Ryan Feltner(7:05 p.m. EST)

Will Warren’s aforementioned relief outing came after a strong start from Max Fried. In his second start off the IL, he held the Padres to one run on four hits, throwing 72 pitches. Aaron Boone will continue to be cautious with the lefty as the playoffs approach — don’t expect to see him push Fried deep into this game either, especially against another NL West team. His results, sparser as they are, have been better than last year — his 2.66 FIP would be a top-10 figure in baseball right next to Cam Schlittler’s 2.62 if he had enough innings to qualify.

Ryan Feltner is a tough cookie who has stuck it out through an uneven tenure in Denver. Drafted out of Ohio State in 2018 and debuting in 2021, Feltner became a rotation regular the following season. In 2023, he was struck in the head by a line drive and suffered a skull fracture which sidelined him from May to September. After a full 30-start campaign the following year, back issues knocked out most of his 2025. This year, he’s dealt with nerve inflammation, and had to tough it out through a stomach bug last week to try and prevent a sweep in Atlanta (he could not). Feltner has only managed a 5.36 ERA in 90 MLB games with the Rockies — but that’s good for 4.5 career fWAR! Yup, Colorado is just that brutal of a pitching environment.

It was just not meant to be on Monday for the Braves. Kyle Schwarber once again went deep for the only run in the game, but the story was the dominance of Jesus Luzardo during his complete game shutout against the Braves in a 1-0 win for the Phillies. Grant Holmes was outstanding once again, but the offense never could get going.

As a result, the Braves earned a series split with the Phillies. While the offense still had plenty of struggles, the kept their division lead the same. Furthermore, they earned the tiebreaker by winning the season series, essentially making the division lead five games. You have to feel that makes the weekend a success, as long as the Braves continue the momentum as the schedule remains tough over the next few weeks.

Braves News

With plenty to break down from the weekend, Mark Bowman looks at the performances of Holmes, Didier Fuentes and Ronald Acuna Jr.

Here is plenty more on the the excellent weekends from J.R. Ritchie and Connor Essenburg.

Reynaldo Lopez looks to be ready to return on Wednesday for the Braves. Furthermore, Bryce Elder is currently limited to the bullpen due to ongoing knee discomfort.

MLB News

Aaron Judge will officially return to action for the Yankees on Tuesday.

Pete Crow-Armstrong firmly has a 40-40 season in his sights as he continues to strengthen his MVP case.

Shohei Ohtani returned to the Dodgers lineup on Monday night against the Cincinnati Reds after missing four games dealing with lingering issues. He looked much more like himself that he has in a while. He very likely will not return as a pitcher this season, however.

The Dodgers are hoping that being able to just focus on his batting with help him get out of his offensive slump.

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

Being that it is September 8th and there are only 18 games left in the regular season, it seems unlikely that Ohtani will pitch in the playoffs. But manager Dave Roberts has not completely ruled it out.

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

Maddie Lee of the LA Times has more thoughts on the Dodgers’ superstar here.

Bill Plunkett of the OC Register ponders if Mookie Betts is starting his usual late season surge.

After having another summer that was not so great, just like last summer, Mookie has picked it up, with Plunkett noting in his past 29 games through Sunday, he was 35 for 114 (.307) with an .887 OPS, five home runs and 22 RBIs.

“I’ve been able to put good at-bats together, hit the ball hard consistently, and again, just try to keep on going, keep on going, and stay in the moment,” he said. “That’s the main thing. Don’t let prior at-bats dictate what’s going on right now, and don’t think about the future.”

Plunkett also covers an update on Andy Pages.

After not playing for a little over the two weeks while dealing with a left hand fracture, Pages is back to swinging the bat and is pain free.

“If it were up to him, he’d be playing tonight,” Roberts said.

“I’m actually not (surprised by his quick recovery). I think this guy has got a crazy desire and youth is a good thing. But bones still have to heal.”