Category: Sports News

Go Rays!

As Payton Tolle prepares to take the mound tonight against the Marlins, it’s worth noting this will be his fourth consecutive start on five days rest. When opponents face Tolle on a “normal,” four days of rest, they hit .250 with a .753 OPS. While not horrible, it’s a rather pedestrian line for a guy who is known for lighting up his surroundings both on and off the mound.

When Tolle faces opponents on that “extra” fifth day of rest though, opponents only hit .196 against him with a .539 OPS. This is one of the big reasons why the Sox used a pseudo six man rotation through their long stretch earlier in August without an off day (bringing Brayan Bello in as a “bulk guy” behind an opener every sixth day). The other was of course to keep Tolle’s general workload down as he’s blowing by his career high in innings pitched, and they’re of course hoping to continue to pile up his 2026 innings total deep into October.

With all those hard facts swirling in the background, here’s something a little lighter — Payton Tolle walking around the field barefoot before his start:

The lineup tonight is also worth noting. Adley Rutschman takes a seat after apparently feeling something in his right elbow during last night’s game, and Caleb Durbin gets a scheduled day off with the versatile Nick Sogard starting at third and leading off. The Sox don’t seem too concerned about Rutschman, but I’ll certainly be keeping a close eye on if he’s available off the bench in the late innings and / or if he starts tomorrow. With the way this club has turned underestimating the severity of injuries into an art form, let’s hope this doesn’t get added to the collection.

⚾️ First Pitch: 6:40pm — LoanDepot Park, Miami, FL

📺 TV: NESN

📻 Radio: WEEI

Join us in the game thread below!

The Nats quiet bats exploded last night and they put up 13 runs to win the first game of a 4 game set against the Rockies. Now the Nats need to string together some victories. Winning when Cade Cavalli is not on the mound has been a major challenge lately.

Blake Butera is only making one change to his lineup and that is behind the plate. Harry Ford will be filling in for Keibert Ruiz behind the plate. CJ Abrams is back at the top of the lineup, but he is still only able to DH. That means Nasim Nunez and Jorbit Vivas will be the middle infield. Andrew Alvarez has been the Nats second best starter lately and is on the mound today.

The Rockies are making a few changes for this contest. Most notably, their star catcher Hunter Goodman is back in the lineup after an IL stint. Cole Carrigg is also in the lineup as the center fielder. At the bottom of the order, Jordan Beck and Ryan Ritter will be making their first starts of the series. Mason Adams was acquired by the Rockies at the deadline and he will be making his MLB debut tonight on the mound.

Game Info:

Stadium: Nationals Park

Time: 6:45 PM EST

TV: Nationals.TV

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

Yesterday was a good win to stop the bleeding. Now it is time for the Nats to start stacking wins in order to finish the season strong. They need a win without their ace on the mound because it has been a while. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!

Mets lineup

Francisco Lindor – SS
Bo Bichette – 3B
Carson Benge – RF
Luis Robert – CF
Eric Wagaman – DH
Jared Young – 1B
Marcus Semien – 2B
Luis Torrens – C
A.J. Ewing – LF

SP: Zac Thornton – LHP

Brewers lineup

Jackson Chourio – LF
Brice Turang – 2B
William Contreras – C
Andrew Vaughn – 1B
Gary Sanchez – DH
Luis Lara – RF
Garrett Mitchell – CF
Joey Ortiz – 3B
Cooper Pratt – SS

SP: Kyle Harrison – LHP

Broadcast info

First pitch: 7:10 PM ET
TV: SNY
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2

The Mets are back in action at Citi Field on Tuesday night to take on the Milwaukee Brewers for a three-game series and interim manager Andy Green spoke about a few topics in his pregame news conference.

Latest on Juan Soto and outfield alignment once he returns

On the injured list for the second time this season with a calf injury, Soto hasn't played for New York since July 24 but is still fighting to return to the team before the end of the season.

Green told reporters that he still doesn't have a specific return date for the slugger, but that Soto continues to progress well and remains doing baseball activities.

"We all expect him to be back," the skipper said.

When Soto does eventually re-join the team, he will be met by a crowded outfield mix that includes rookies A.J. Ewing and Carson Benge and veteran Luis Robert Jr., whose absence with an injury for most of the summer opened the door for Ewing to get his opportunity and allowed Ewing and Benge to shine alongside Soto.

When Robert returned from his injury, the plan was to reintroduce him to the outfield slowly to try and keep him healthy and to keep the rest of the outfielders in the lineup. On days that Robert played the outfield and Soto wasn't the designated hitter, one of the rookies would have to sit. 

That's not an ideal plan, considering that the development of Benge and Ewing should be paramount to the team, especially in a lost season. And it quickly went out the window when Soto re-injured his calf, which made Benge and Ewing full-time players once again. So, what will happen to the outfield when Soto returns this time around?

"I think it just adds the best player in baseball to our outfield/DH mix," Green said. "I think Luis would get some DH at-bats in that set of circumstances, as would Juan, which is what he was getting before. So whenever we get to that, we will welcome him with open arms and be excited to get him into the lineup."

Until then, the Mets will continue to flip-flop reps to Ewing and Robert in center field and in left field after Robert, who had never played left field in his career, started all three games there against his former team, the Chicago White Sox, over the weekend.

Green spoke about how Robert handled the new position and how to manage Ewing's development at his long-term position in center field while also putting out the best defensive alignment in the outfield, which has Robert in his natural center and Ewing in left where he's also comfortable.

"I thought [Robert was solid out [in left field]… outside of the ball that he lost in the sun where we still got [Miguel] Vargas on the relay throw he made every play that he could possibly make," Green said. "… I think [we're] encouraged by that and I think we’re gonna continue to stick with what we talked about, which is getting A.J. consistent center field reps – he had them every game last series – and he’ll continue to get more than he gets in the corner. 

"It does not hurt A.J., his future development, his value to the team to move to the corners. He has said to me how comfortable he is in left field, and I know that to be true because I’ve been watching him since he was in Port St. Lucie playing left field, and seeing him make some outrageous plays there. So we’ll still get him the lion’s share of reps in center, but we’ll continue to do what we told Luis we were gonna do, which is give him some consistent reps [in center] as well."

Ewing dealing with first prolonged offensive slump

While all the talk surrounding the defensive alignment in the outfield takes place, Ewing has been having a rough go of it at the plate. Over his last 30 games, the youngster is slashing .186/.269/.237 and is currently 6-for-his-last-53. He hasn't had a multi-hit game since Aug. 7 and has seen his OPS fall from a season-high .813 on July 8 to .681 entering play on Tuesday.

The Mets are hoping Ewing is showing signs of getting back on track after recording a hit in the final two games in Chicago, but right now it is not coming easy for the 22-year-old who burst onto the scene since his MLB debut.

"I don’t know that anything new has been learned," Green said when asked what he's learned from Ewing as he fights through this tough stretch. "I do think he is walking through a stretch where he doesn’t have the greatest slash line – he’s walking through it well from a work perspective, from an attitude perspective, from a confidence perspective. He’s handling these things really, really well, which gives you a lot of confidence as he moves forward into the future.

"Slumps are a part of baseball for guys that have 15 years in the big leagues and guys who have 15 minutes in the big leagues. I think he’s had some really quality at-bats along the way. It’s not the consistency of the quality that I know he wants, and we believe he will have, but I think he has reaffirmed what we already knew about him, and we trust the resiliency and resolve."

To his credit, Ewing has been in the lineup every day while he tries to figure things out on the fly, but he is no longer batting leadoff, at least for now, as he's hitting ninth in the order on Tuesday for just the third time in his young career.

Perhaps a return to Citi Field will help Ewing get back on track. In 46 games at home, Ewing is slashing .253/.333/.416 with six home runs, compared to on the road where he's slashing .235/.302/.309 with one home run in 44 games.

Mark Vientos injury update

Asked about any news on Vientos, who has been out with a fractured hand since July 10 but began a rehab assignment recently, Green gave an update.

"He’s heading to Lehigh Valley now with the Triple-A club," Green said. "We’ll let his play, how he feels, and kind of the progression in general be determined by what happens on the field a little bit. Right now we’re not particularly close to declaring him ready. When you hurt your hand, you need to get some at-bats and get going."

In two games with Double-A Binghamton, Vientos is 0-for-5 with three strikeouts and a walk.

Last night was a tough loss for the San Diego Padres. It was a game that they would have won any other night. The Friars had all the momentum after tying the game late against the Pittsburgh Pirates. They forced extra innings and threw up zeroes in the 10th and 11th innings. But the Friars failed to score the winning run in the bottom of each frame due to bad bunts.

In both extra innings, the Padres bunted too high, making it an easy catch for the Pirates defense. That allowed Pittsburgh to keep San Diego at bay, despite the Friars loading the bases with one out in the 11th. It was a tough game for the potent offense, scoring just two runs against the Pirates’ pitching staff, and only one against starter Braxton Ashcraft. If the Padres can turn that around in Game 2, they’ll have no problems forcing the rubber match.

Taking the mound

Paul Skenes (PIT) v. Michael King (SD)

Petco Park should be the stage for yet another pitcher’s duel tonight. That said, Skenes has struggled lately. After putting up consecutive seasons with a sub-2.00 ERA, Skenes owns a 3.95 ERA this season. It’s been a rough year for the superstar pitcher, as many have speculated that he might be pitching through an injury given his regression.

That said, Skenes still has the ability to dominate any team. It will be his first time pitching in Petco Park in his career, with most of the Friars never having faced the Pittsburgh ace. In their limited opportunities against Skenes, the Padres are batting a combined .125 against him (3-for-24). Hopefully, that can change tonight.

It’s nearly impossible to overstate just how imperative King has been for the Padres this season. San Diego has been without Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta for the majority of this season. King has anchored an injury-plagued rotation that has underperformed at times. His solid 3.38 ERA doesn’t quite do his performance justice.

King has pitched just as good lately, having just pitched into the seventh inning against the New York Mets last week. He’s given up just six runs across his last 18 2/3 innings pitched. If he can limit the Pirates in a similar fashion tonight, it should allow San Diego to scratch a few runs off of Skenes and the Pittsburgh pitching staff.

Batter up!

The potent lineup went dark against starter Braxton Ashcraft in the series opener on Monday night, scoring just one run on a called balk. That comes after the Padres scored a ridiculous 21 runs against the Minnesota Twins (seven runs per game on average). Hopefully, that production can return against Skenes in Game 2 tonight.

1. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
2. Jake Cronenworth, 2B
3. Manny Machado, 3B
4. Ty France, 1B
5. Jackson Merrill, CF
6. Luis Campusano, C
7. Gavin Sheets, DH
8. Xander Bogaerts, SS
9. Dustin Harris, LF

Cronenworth played the hero on Monday night, tying the game for the Padres late to force extra innings. He made several key defensive plays that salvaged the game for the Friars as well. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to win the Friars the game, but if Cronenworth’s bat starts to wake up, it would be a massive addition to the San Diego lineup.

Relief corps

With the game going into the 12th inning, the Padres used plenty of relievers on Monday night. That means they’ll be relying on a solid start from King to salvage the ‘pen. After starter Robbie Ray departed, the Friars turned to Bradgley Rodriguez, Yuki Matsui, Kyle Hart, Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon and Jeremiah Estrada to complete the game.

That leaves very few options for tonight’s game. It’s incredibly likely that Griffin Canning will cover multiple innings once King departs the game. After Canning, Wandy Peralta is the first available to pitch in relief.

There have been probably five instances — at the very least — this season that have made you think, it can’t get any worse. But the San Francisco Giants, to their credit, just keep getting worse. So shame on you for underestimating their abilities. They were always going to find new ways to make you reconsider your fandom.

The latest such strapping on of the scuba gear in search of previously unexplored rocks bottom came on Tuesday morning, when the Orwellian tech startup Kalshi announced a partnership with “five of the most iconic teams in baseball.” The humorous element is that one of the five teams is the San Diego Padres. The humorless element is that one of the five teams is the Giants.

Kalshi, for those unfamiliar, is perhaps the largest of the laughably-labeled “prediction markets.” Most people don’t know this (industry secret incoming), but “prediction market” is actually an acronym. The “P” stands for “per the laws and regulations of this country, you’re not legally allowed to gamble on your phone, but what is gambling but betting money on the possibility of future events, which, if worded differently, is really just investing in the possibility that future things might happen, which sounds totally legal and isn’t yet regulated.” I’m not sure what the “ediction market” part of the acronym stands for, but I’ve put in a call to some sources. I’ll update the article as needed.

There are a host of issues with Kalshi that, hopefully, will one day meet their match in court. Setting aside the comically blatant skirting of what constitutes “gambling,” Kalshi is positively dripping in moral bankruptcy. There was, for instance, February’s incident, in which rumors swirled that NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo was forcing his way off of the Milwaukee Bucks, with millions of dollars in bets being placed on his next destination; a few days later, he announced both that he had not wanted a trade, and that he owned a significant stake in Kalshi.

Far more dystopian was the July incident in which it was revealed that President Trump’s teleprompter assistant had allegedly made six figures off of betting — sorry, predicting — what Trump would say in his speeches. An honest way to make a living, really. As honest as anything his boss has done, at the very least.

While Kalshi and its competitors primarily are used for sports betting, there’s no shortage of alternate “predictions” that you can make and mostly lose money on. You can bet on the weather. You can bet on elections. You can bet on political coups, though Kalshi and similar companies have found themselves at the heart of multiple lawsuits regarding whether or not they are obligated to pay betters who predicted an ousting and were instead granted a death. Here’s a real headline from Forbes: Kalshi ‘Death Bet’ Lawsuit Sparks Push To Ban Assassination Markets.

And now they’re coming to your San Francisco Giants! In a press release, the Giants announced that the partnership is “bringing together two iconic brands to create new fan experiences at Oracle Park and across Giants platforms.” According to the San Francisco Chronicle, there will be signs, radio advertisements, and even “experiential activations,” to use the utterly preposterous phrase that senior vice president of partnerships Steve Tseng thought deserving of air time.

Before I continue ranting, I do want to acknowledge the Vegas-sized elephant in the room. Sports betting is intensely intertwined with the athletics we all love, and I am at some level complicit. At the top of this website you’ll find a drop down menu titled “Betting,” and in that drop-down menu you’ll find multiple links to FanDuel. I don’t receive checks directly from that company (which, it should be noted, deals only in sports betting, and not, you know … death and stuff), but it is part of what keeps my employer employed, and thus, me employed. So I’m not an entirely innocent model of angelic perfection, as much as I know you all like to tell me that I am.

But FanDuel is not Kalshi, and I am not a multi-billion dollar sports organization seeking predatory ways to eke every last penny out of a fanbase that has to take out a loan to buy a beer at the game.

And more importantly, I’m not playing both sides, which Major League Baseball — and the sporting world at large — continues to do.

Last year, All-Star reliever Emmanuel Clase was placed on leave, following allegations that he had purposely thrown balls to influence betting results; it seems overwhelmingly likely that he’ll never play in the Majors again. The year prior, Shohei Ohtani’s translator, Ippei Mizuhara, was imprisoned for stealing millions of dollars from Ohtani to repay sports gambling debts; while stealing eight figures is a defensible reason for arrest, the narrative around the story focused not on the money changing accounts, but on whether it was actually a cover for Ohtani betting. Which at least gifted us one final perfect tweet before the hellscape that is Twitter finally collapsed in on itself.

And in October, multiple people connected to the NBA — including Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups — were arrested for various roles in illegal gambling schemes. For a few people, including active player Terry Rozier, the allegations included faking an injury to avoid accruing a certain number of stats, allowing someone to earn boku bucks for betting the under.

There are plenty more instances. I could go on and on. But why revisit history when the future is going to provide us so many better examples?

The Giants, Major League Baseball, and sports as a whole, continue to play both sides against each other. They want you to be so obsessed with betting that you can’t settle for just living and dying with the end result; you need to be betting on each pitch. They want you to see baseball through the lens of predictions and stock market cash flow, and if they need to shorten games to deal with the waning attention span of a now, now, now gambling-needy society, so be it.

Just don’t let the players get in on it, or suddenly gambling is the devil incarnate.

And yes, before the tech bro apologists come for me, I do understand that there is a vital difference between a bystander and a player betting on an outcome. I have no defense for Clase or Rozier or anyone else getting caught up in these shenanigans.

But you reap what you sow. And even if you prescribe to the old notion that guns don’t kill people, but rather people kill people, you lose the right to make that argument when you glorify and glamorize the guns, and tell everyone exactly where to find them.

Now you’ll see Kalshi ads at the ballpark. Maybe on the mound. Maybe behind home plate, like we’ve all grown so accustomed to at other parks, with Kalshi’s biggest competitor, Polymarket.

Somewhere in Oracle Park, a fan or a thousand will bet on the next pitch, the next at-bat, the next injury, and the next score. And when the game ends they’ll funnel into BART, still high on the adrenaline of their gambling endeavors, chasing the dragon (and their newfound debts as well).

They’ll open Kalshi because that itch ain’t gonna scratch itself. They’ll bet on who wins Best Actor at the Academy Awards and if it will rain tomorrow and how much gas will cost next week and how many people will die in the latest food recall. They’ll drain their bank account and, in the process, the Giants will replenish theirs.

If you need hobbies that aren’t gambling or Giants baseball, let me know. I’ve got a long list of them.

With Aaron Judge and Juan Soto ailing, Yordan Alvarez is making a case that, right now, he is the greatest hitter on the planet. 

And the Houston Astros slugger is flirting with an accomplishment neither of those future Hall of Famers have pulled off: A Triple Crown. 

Entering Tuesday, Aug. 25, Alvarez led the American League in batting average (.320), home runs (36) and RBIs (90), needing to hold on one more month to become the first Triple Crown winner since Detroit's Miguel Cabrera in 2012. 

Cabrera remains the only major leaguer to win the Triple Crown since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.

And Alvarez will face stiff competition in all three categories. He's just one home run ahead of Tampa Bay's Junior Caminero, who's also third in RBIs with 84, one behind Pete Alonso's 85. And Tampa Bay speedster Chandler Simpson is within shouting distance in batting average, his .310 mark just 10 points behind Alvarez. 

A look at the 29-year-old Alvarez's Triple Crown chances: 

There are a whole mess of injury updates:

• Shane Bieber will be shutdown for two weeks and then they will they will see where they are. ‘Hopeful he’ll be back this year’. He ‘felt’ the injury when he did a bullpen on Sunday.
• Jameson Taillon is pitching a rehab start Friday for Buffalo. All going well, he’ll make his next start for the Jays.
• Trey Yesavage is throwing again, but it will be a bit before he pitches.
• Yimi Garcia had thoracic outlet surgery of some sort.
• Josh Smith will likely play rehab games for Buffalo Thursday and Friday.
• Andrés Giménez is in the lineup tonight.

And they are saying that tomorrow will be a bullpen day. Spencer Arrighetti will start Thursday (my mom would do Alphagetti for us on Thurdays, if my dad wasn’t going to be home for supper)(no one cares Tom), and they are going to need some innings out of him.

Today’s lineups, please Max, pitch deep into the game. As if there wasn’t enough for the coaches to think about during a game, now they know they have to push their starters as deep into games as they can.

And, for those of us old enough to remember the Expo broadcasts, Dave Van Horne turns 87 today. I owe a portion of my baseball fandom to him. He was great.

Ahead of Tuesday's series opener with the Astros, Yankees manager Aaron Boone gave a few injury updates on a duo of players...

Judge continues batting progression

Aaron Judge was on the field at Yankee Stadium ahead of Tuesday's game and according to Boone, Judge is expected to do batting practice in addition to running. 

So far, Judge has just been doing tee-and-toss, but the former MVP is expected to advance to overhand batting practice when he enters the cage before Tuesday's game. 

Judge has also thrown at over 100 feet as the slugger continues his progression toward returning to the club and the outfield.

Fried's potential return revealed?

The Yankees will play seven games this week, including a doubleheader with the Red Sox on Saturday, and that could also mark the return of Max Fried.

Fried threw four innings, about 60 pitches, of live batting practice Monday and Boone did not rule out the possibility that the southpaw could be in play for one of Saturday's doubleheader games.

"We’ll see where we are as the next couple of days unfold," Boone said. 

Fried landed on the IL on Aug. 17 -- retroactive to Aug. 14 -- and is eligible to come off on Saturday. 

The Yankees admitted to taking a cautious approach to placing Fried on the IL, and they were optimistic the veteran left-hander would be healthy enough to return after an MRI confirmed "low-level" inflammation in his elbow. 

Schmidt to return out of bullpen

Clarke Schmidt has a side session on Tuesday and Boone was happy to report that the right-hander looked good and that he's looking forward to ramping him up.
"I thought Clarke looked great, I really did," the skipper said. "It was encouraging to see that. I thought the stuff looked really good, but really crisp and sharp. Looking forward to getting him going."

That ramp-up will include rehab games, which Boone said the organization has yet to figure out a roadmap for, but the Yankees skipper revealed Schmidt will be a bullpen piece when he eventually returns to the team.

"He can really help us," Boone said. "Obviously, he’s been a really good starter in this league. He's not gonna get back to that point this year, but when he’s on his game, he has a lot of weapons that can really land him a role down there [in the bullpen]. Whether it's an inning, a couple innings, whatever it may be. 

"He can definitely help us if he’s on his game.”