Category: Sports News

Pedro Martinez wasn’t expected to be in attendance at the Mets’ Alumni Classic this weekend at Citi Field. 

However, after changing some things around in his schedule, the three-time Cy Young award winner will now be on hand on Saturday afternoon.

“I couldn’t miss the opportunity to see my Mets family again,” Martinez told Jay Horwitz. “It will be great to see the fans, they were always wonderful to me during my time there and I can’t wait to say hello again.”

Martinez spent four years at the backend of his career in the Big Apple, locking up his final two All-Star appearances. 

His former teammates Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, John Maine, Jose Reyes, Endy Chavez, Paul Lo Duca, and Mike Pelfrey will also participate on Team Shea Stadium in the three-inning exhibition. 

The action is set to get underway prior to the 4:10 first pitch between the Mets and Rangers.

Jacob deGrom already made his return to New York earlier this season. 

He took the mound when the Rangers visited the Yankees in the Bronx for a three-game set back in May, but Friday night will mark the talented right-hander’s first time pitching at Citi Field as a visitor.

DeGrom is set to face-off with young Mets top prospect Jonah Tong in the opener of a three-game set.

“I’m excited to go and pitch at Citi Field,” he told reporters including Kennedy Landry of MLB.com. “That’s where I started my career, so it holds a special place in my heart -- their alumni game is going on there too so some guys I came up with will be there as well, it’ll be an all-around cool experience.”

DeGrom spent the first nine years of his big-league career in orange and blue.

Despite being a ninth-round draft pick he went on to solidify himself as one of the greatest pitchers in franchise history -- logging a Rookie of the Year, two Cy Young awards, and four All-Star appearances. 

He seemed like a lock to have his No. 48 sent up into the Citi Field rafters, but when he hit free agency following the 2022 season, he opted to leave to the Rangers on a big money five-year deal.

DeGrom made just nine starts his first two years in Texas after battling through injuries, but has finally been able to stay healthy thus far this season and he’s returned to his once dominant form atop their rotation.

He logged his fifth-career All-Star appearance earlier this year in Atlanta and has recorded a 2.78 ERA and 196 strikeouts across 155.2 innings of work, his most since 2019.

The 37-year-old is expecting some nerves when he finally toes the Citi Field rubber once again, but he’s looking forward to what he thinks will feel like a playoff atmosphere.

“I’ve pitched a lot there, Mets fans were always good to me,” he said. “Pitching in front of that crowd was always a fun experience, now I’m on the other side doing it, it’ll be interesting to see how it goes -- all these games are important for us, same for them with the spot they’re in, so it’s going to be fun."

Juan Soto, Cedric Mullins, and Starling Marte are the only three Mets with experience against deGrom. 

The latter two don't have much success, but Soto has a homer and a .909 OPS across 18 career at-bats. 

Here's what's at stake for Red Sox in weekend series with Yankees originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

After unexpectedly losing the opening two games of their series in Arizona over the weekend, the Red Sox were in some trouble on Sunday.

Facing a 3-1 deficit through six innings, the Red Sox were facing the very real possibility of getting swept by a sub-.500 Diamondbacks team, a setback that could have suddenly put the team in peril of potentially flirting with the possibility of missing the playoffs.

Yet with a three-run seventh inning and a three-run ninth, the Red Sox salvaged a win in that series finale before winning their first two games in West Sacramento against the A’s. The Red Sox came up short of sweeping the A’s — with Aroldis Chapman’s historic streak of dominance ending — but finished the road trip at 3-3.

The Red Sox now have just five three-game series remaining in their regular season, and they have a rather significant one coming up this weekend at Fenway Park.

The Yankees will be coming to Boston for the second and final time this year. They’ll be coming off a home series loss after dropping the first two games of their series against the Tigers in rather ugly fashion.

After Wednesday night’s action, the Red Sox and Yankees are in a virtual tie for second place in the AL East, with the Red Sox having played two more games. And with the Blue Jays losing on Wednesday as well, the division crown remains a possible — if unlikely — goal for both the Red Sox and Yankees, who are both three games back of Toronto.

What’s more attainable for the Red Sox and Yankees this weekend is some control in the wild-card standings. They’re both three games clear of the Mariners, who currently hold the final wild-card spot, and they’re four games clear of the Rangers, who are the top team outside of the playoff bubble.

A sweep either way would obviously shift the picture dramatically, as the winner would maybe be a game out of first place while the loser could be stuck fighting just to make the playoffs.

Yet for the Red Sox, what’s really at stake this weekend is the opportunity to really assert dominance over the Yankees one last time before a potential meeting in October. Regardless of Thursday’s outcome, the Yankees will be headed to Boston feeling wounded, after getting outscored 23-3 in their first two games against the Tigers this week.

For the Yankees to deal with that beatdown from a playoff team before taking on the Red Sox, against whom they’re just 2-8 this season? That will surely test the confidence and belief inside Aaron Boone’s clubhouse.

A sweep for the Red Sox would be far too high of an expectation. Yet with the state of the Yankees, with Boston having an off day on Thursday, and with the Red Sox having Lucas Giolito, Brayan Bello and Garret Crochet lined up for the weekend, Boston is certainly in the driver’s seat to at least take two out of three.

At the same time, the Red Sox have lost numerous series they were supposed to win in recent weeks — notably against Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Arizona — so the Yankees can’t be expected to simply roll over.

Whichever way it goes, this series represents a major opportunity for either side to deliver one final haymaker to either knock the opponent off cruise control in the playoff race or send a message for a potential wild-card series that could take place in just a few short weeks.

Kepler, Sánchez lead Phillies to rout over Mets originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

There seems to be a simple set of directions for the Phillies when pitcher Cristopher Sánchez starts a game. That is to score early, settle in and watch the master go to work, score some more runs and pretty much call it a game.

They followed that guideline Wednesday night against the Mets and it led to an 11-3 victory, their 10th win in their last 13 games. The Phillies sent eight batters to the plate twice. They got three hits and five RBI from Max Kepler and three hits and two RBI from Brandon Marsh in their 14-hit barrage that led to the lopsided win.

The Phillies are now 86-60 on the season, leading the Mets in the National League East by 10 games. They also lowered their magic number to clinch the division to seven.

The Phillies have now taken the first three games of this four-game series and have clinched their 31st series win on the season, sixth best in club history. With five series left, they have a chance to beat the club record – which is 34 – set in 2011.

After Thursday’s game against the Mets, the Phillies close out the season with a three-game series against the Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Arizona Diamondbacks, Miami Marlins and Minnesota Twins.

In their last 151 games at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies have posted 102 wins, have won 11 of their last 12 series and have victories in 29 of their last 40 games at home.

The outfield du-jour of Marsh, Kepler and Harrison Bader combined to go eight for 14 with five runs and seven RBIs.

“I think everyone’s on board with the same goal and everyone’s moving at the same pace,” said Kepler of the outfielders. “Even if you’re not playing and on the bench, people are contributing and they’re contributing as a teammate, by cheering the guy in the box or whoever is in the field. There’s a feeling of everyone has each other’s backs, if you’re playing or not.”

Phillies offense wasted no time in getting a lead for Sánchez, as they sent two to the plate in the first inning and six more by the seventh.

The Mets scored their lone run off Sánchez in the fourth when Juan Soto led off the inning with a fan-interference-helped double to deep left-center. He moved to third on a Pete Alonso single and scored on an RBI single by Starling Marte.

The Phillies and Sánchez got out of the inning when the newly formed double play duo of shortstop Bryson Stott and second baseman Donovan Walton turned it to end the inning.

It was Stott’s first appearance at short this season but may not be the last, with a hamstring injury sidelining Trea Turner.

“I just kept my focus on pitching and we’re at home so we have to take advantage of that,” said Sanchez, who let up six runs and eight hits in five one/third innings against the Mets a couple weeks ago. “Attacking with the plan that we had and just staying calm and keeping composure as well. That’s what you call adjustment. I think that we made the right adjustments, and we got the results to show that.

“There’s not many games left and we’ve got to keep going. This isn’t over until it’s over. We always have to keep going, winning games and step up, our defense, our pitching, everything. We just have to keep trying to win every game.”

The Phillies added two more in the fifth as J.T. Realmuto got an infield hit to third and scored on a double by Brandon Marsh. The Mets removed starter Clay Holmes and on the first pitch from reliever Gregory Soto, Kepler hit a broken-bat single to center to score Marsh.

They again had eight hitters go to the plate in scoring four runs in the sixth, which included two hit batters, a walk and three singles. Marsh drove in one with a single, Kepler two with a single and Otto Kemp had a sacrifice fly.

“I’m really proud of the ball club,” said manager Rob Thomson. “That’s the way it’s been here for a while. We’ve lost guys and other guys just step in and take hold of the situation. That’s what we’re going through right now. Everybody understands where we’re at and what we need to do to get this thing done. Things change in a heartbeat. I’m not counting my chickens right now. We’ve just got to keep moving.”

Bryce Harper hit his 25th home run of the season to right in the seventh for a run and Kepler blasted a solo shot to right in a two-run eighth inning. Juan Soto hit a solo homer off Jose Alvarado in the eighth for the Mets’ other run.

Sánchez left after six innings of work, allowing four hits, the one run and striking out six. He improved to 13-5 and lowered his ERA to 2.57.

“His changeup was really good tonight, better than last time (against the Mets),” said Thomson. “He had 11 whiffs, a little trouble in the fourth inning and worked out of it, only giving up one run. That shows his poise and character. He had a good night.”

As did Kepler. The Phillies are not 15-1 in games in which he homers. He also uncharacteristically broke his splintered bat over his knee after he singled in a run in the fifth.

“It’s a good feeling to smash one over your leg from time to time,” said Kepler. “That’s definitely not me. I’m not a hardo. That’s just in the moment I wanted to let that out and smash my bat. I’ve done that once before, also on a hit. I don’t know what got into me there. That’s a hardo moment, for sure.”

Call it hardo or maybe just relief that he and his outfield teammates are playing so well at just the right time of the season.

The Phillies close out the series on Thursday with a national broadcast on FOX. First pitch is set for 7:15 p.m. ET.

It didn't come as too much of a surprise to see Jose Caballero penciled into the Yankees' starting lineup instead of Anthony Volpe.

The third-year shortstop has struggled in 2025 and Tuesday's loss to the Tigers seemed like a tipping point. Volpe went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a failed bunt attempt that had the Yankee Stadium crowd booing the youngster as he walked back to the dugout.

"I just feel like [Caballero] deserves to play some," manager Aaron Boone said of the lineup decision before Wednesday's game. "Obviously, it’s been a tough stretch for Volpe offensively here and it's just that time of year, all hands on deck. It just felt like that was the best move for us today."

When asked how many starts Caballero would get with only 18 games remaining, the Yankees skipper said the decision is "day-to-day" and that they'll reassess after the game and heading into Thursday's series finale. Boone did say that Wednesday's decision was a combination of Volpe's struggles and trying to give Caballero some run before the end of the year and potentially into the postseason.

Since being acquired from the Rays on July 31, Caballero has shown flashes as a member of the Yankees. In 26 games, Caballero is 10-for-43 (.233) with an OBP of .346. While he doesn't have the pop of Volpe, Caballero is getting on base more and stealing bases. 

Caballero has stolen nine bases with the Yankees to add to his MLB-leading 43, which includes nine games of multiple stolen bases.

"Obviously, Cabby's been a really good player for us since coming over. He brings a lot of value in so many different ways," Boone said. "Have a lot of confidence when he's in there, when he's in the lineup. Love also having the bench versatility, and the things that he brings at different points in the game. Hopefully, he can go in there and be a little spark for us tonight and continue his good play." 

"He's a really talented, impactful player when he's going well. Hopefully, we can still get him to that point."

Aaron Boone was asked what he thinks has happened to Anthony Volpe: pic.twitter.com/XYCRUgmAuW

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) September 10, 2025

After going hitless Tuesday, Volpe is now hitting .206 for the season and is 2-for-17 with 10 strikeouts and no walks over his last five games. 

Boone pointed to the peaks and valleys of Volpe's season and career so far. But despite that, they believe there's a good hitter in there. 

"I think offensively, for the better part of the last six-eight weeks. It's been a struggle," Boone said. "He's had some pockets in there, where he's done well. There's a lot of the underlying stuff this year, offensively speaking, that has been better than ever in a lot of ways. He hasn't got to that point that we all wanted him to get to offensively...that real consistency. 

"I still think it's very possible even this year, and hopefully in October too [where] he's playing his best baseball. We saw some of his best baseball last October when he was at his best. As much as we want to get down on people in certain spots and write them off and stuff, this game can flip like that, and all of a sudden, you get it rolling and get it working a little bit. And he's a really talented, impactful player when he's going well. So hopefully, we can still get him to that point." 

In 14 games in the postseason last year, Volpe excelled, slashing .286/.407/.408 with an OPS of .815 to go along with one home run and six RBI. His grand slam in Game 4 of the 2024 World Series gave the Yankees a lead they wouldn't relinquish as the team staved off elimination. 

Volpe has fallen quite a bit since last October, but Boone and the Yankees continue to see him as their starting shortstop, even with Caballero's start, but they are in "day-to-day mode" and are playing for a lot right now. 

Going into Wednesday's game, the Yankees are three games back of Toronto for the AL East, and are in a virtual tie with the Red Sox for the top Wild Card spot. 

"I have the decision to make every day with the lineup and I'll make whatever tough decision," Boone said. "My hope, is that, [Volpe] can kind of get it going here to a point where he is that guy because I think when we're at our best, he's out there, impacting us on both sides of the ball, and it frees up Cabby to play a different role, too."