Mets first baseman Pete Alonso's fourth straight game with a home run set the tone for New York in Thursday's 6-1 victory against the Padres, a series-deciding result that saw manager Carlos Mendoza's group (79-74) take 2 of 3 from San Diego (83-70) and hold the NL wild card's third spot by at least two games with nine regular-season contests left.
"He's locked in," Mendoza said of Alonso, whose two-out solo shot to center field off Randy Vásquez in the first inning put the Mets on the board at 1-0. "And when he's doing things like that, he can carry a team. We know he's a streaky hitter. We've seen it when he gets cold. And then when he gets hot, man, he gets on one of those streaks that he's pretty dangerous. And right now, where we're at -- if we get that type of Pete Alonso, our offense obviously will benefit from it, of course."
Alonso, whose 1-for-2 afternoon at Citi Field included a third-inning walk and seventh-inning sacrifice fly that capped the Mets' 6-1 lead, is slashing .270/.345/.526 with 37 home runs and 121 RBI through 153 games.
"I mean, I'm just happy that I'm seeing stuff to hit in the middle of the zone," Alonso said. "With that being said, getting those pitches in the heart of the plate, not missing them, is big. I just want to keep having quality at-bats and stay in every pitch and just capitalize on mistakes."
With a trio of three-game series left on the regular-season schedule, led by this weekend's set against the Washington Nationals and Friday's 7:10 p.m. opener on SNY, Alonso appears to be rounding into form for the Mets' postseason push.
"You always want to play your best baseball at the end of the year," Alonso said. "And if we can continue to do that -- it's not about how you start, it's not about how things happen in the middle, it's about how you finish. If we keep continuing to stay within ourselves and do the best we can and execute, then we're going to be in a really good spot."
Pep Guardiola hailed Erling Haaland’s 50th Champions League goal in a record 49 games and stated he is now in the company of the “monsters Cristiano and Messi” in the competition’s all-time greatest scorers, as Manchester City beat Napoli 2-0 in the opening group match.
Haaland’s 56th-minute opener was his 12th in seven appearances for City and Norway, Jérémy Doku’s second clinching victory for Guardiola’s side. Haaland beat Ruud van Nistelrooy’s previous 62-appearance mark for 50 goals.
While young starter Jonah Tong was dominant and the offense -- led by Brandon Nimmo's three-run homer -- led the way, it was the bullpen that stood out and helped seal the win and the series.
Often maligned for its inconsistencies, outside of closer Edwin Diaz, four arms -- including Diaz -- shut down a high-powered Padres lineup to just two hits in four shutout innings. Tyler Rogers, Brooks Raley, Gregory Soto and Diaz each pitched an inning with the closer -- having not pitched since Sunday -- picking up two strikeouts in a ho-hum 1-2-3 ninth.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was asked about the bullpen and whether the piggyback situation on Tuesday, which saw Clay Holmes start and pitch four innings and Sean Manaea finish off their win, pitching the final five innings, helped save the bullpen for Thursday's series finale.
"It always helps," he said. "When I’m trying to be aggressive, taking the ball from the starters, when you know you’re set up with the guys, you’re trying to piece it together. But it was good to see those guys get the job done. Rogers against the top of the lineup in the sixth, Raley, Soto, and then Sugar finishing it there. It was good to see.
"We’re going to continue to rely on those guys, but yes, having the piggyback situation on Tuesday, not having to use any of those guys, puts you in situations like this where you’re able to win series."
Sep 18, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets left fielder Brandon Nimmo (9) hits a three run home run against the San Diego Padres during the third inning at Citi Field. / Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Nimmo for three
The Padres had just tied the game at 1-1 when the Mets came up to bat in the bottom of the third. A Juan Soto groundout pushed across Francisco Lindor to give back the lead for the Mets. After Pete Alonso walked to put runners at the corners with one out, Padres manager Mike Shildt pulled starter Randy Vasquez for southpaw Wandy Peralta to face Nimmo.
Peralta got ahead of Nimmo in the count, 1-2, when he threw an 87 mph changeup that rode in on the Mets outfielder. However, Nimmo pulled his hands in and got the barrel of the bat on the ball and launched it over the right-center field wall for a three-run shot. That blast put the Mets up for good and after the game, he spoke about his approach in that at-bat.
"[Peralta's] very tough on lefties, great relief pitcher for a long time now," Nimmo said. "Just trying to get a job done, find the barrel to the ball and usually the way you do that is by getting him in the strike zone, and I was able to do that there and get the job done with two strikes. Just trying to keep things simple…sometimes you come through, sometimes you don’t.
"You miss all the shots you don’t take. Trying to go up there with a good plan, and we were able to execute and do something big there and get more done than I went up there hoping for."
Nimmo's blast in the third was the 24th of the season, tying a career-high he set back in 2023. It's the seventh game this season that Nimmo has driven in three or more runs in a game and he has now hit safely in 25 of his last 31 starts.
Nimmo's outfield assist
Before his heroics at the plate, Nimmo made a pretty big play in the outfield.
Tong found himself in some early trouble in the first inning, giving up back-to-back one-out singles to Luis Arraez and Manny Machado. However, on Machado's hit, Nimmo threw to Lindor, who quickly pitched the ball to Jeff McNeil at second base to apply the tag on Machado, who was trying to stretch the hit into a double.
"Able to get Manny at second and putting the pressure back on them and not make it so easy with second and third there, it definitely does change momentum in a game," he said. "Glad to be a part of that, Francisco and Jeff executing the play, glad we can help out there."
Tong was able to get out of that jam by striking out Jackson Merrill to leave Arraez stranded at third base. The young right-hander was able to coast from there, allowing one unearned run through five innings and striking out a career-high eight batters.
LOS ANGELES — The Giants did not get any help before they took the field Thursday. The New York Mets won their afternoon game and the Cincinnati Reds got a shutout from ace Hunter Greene.
They did, however, get a few gifts once they took the field at Dodger Stadium. Yoshinobu Yamamoto walked six batters and a couple of Dodgers relievers combined for four free passes in an inning, but the Giants couldn’t capitalize. They had just one hit, losing 2-1 in what was a must-win game given how good Logan Webb was.
The Giants fell behind 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth, but right-hander Michael Kopech walked the first two batters of the seventh. After a strikeout, right-hander Blake Treinen entered and walked Heliot Ramos and Rafael Devers, pushing a run across.
A well-placed ball in play would have tied the game and anything in a gap would have given the Giants the lead, but Willy Adames went down looking and Matt Chapman struck out swinging.
The Giants drew double-digit walks at Dodger Stadium for the first time since July 19, 2002, but that game went 12 innings. On this night, the walks were clustered in seven innings but led to one run.
With the loss, the Giants are now four games behind the New York Mets if you include the tiebreaker. They have just nine games left in the season and probably need to win out to have a shot.
Digging Deep At Short
Adames had a really slow start defensively this season, but he has looked like an above-average shortstop for several months and he made two strong plays in the sixth inning Thursday. With runners on second and third, Adames made a perfect throw to the plate to cut down catcher Ben Rortvedt, but Patrick Bailey dropped it and the go-ahead run scored.
Later in the inning, with runners on first and third, Adames saved a run with an athletic play on a grounder to the hole at short.
Willy Adames made two really good plays at short that inning. Patrick Bailey couldn't hold onto the first throw, but this one ended the inning and saved a run: pic.twitter.com/38sBZLuV0B
Adames entered the night at two Outs Above Average, although he had to dig out of a huge hole. His March/April metrics were the second worst in a single month for a shortstop this season, but the Giants now feel pretty good about his ability to stay there for years to come.
That’s More Like It
Given the stakes, last Saturday’s loss at Oracle Park was one of the most disappointing days of Webb’s career. But he bounced back in a big way Thursday, keeping the Giants in the game even as the offense struggled to get anything going against Yoshinobu Yamamoto. After throwing just eight sinkers last weekend, Webb was his old self, throwing 32 of them.
Webb allowed two runs — only one earned — in seven innings and struck out five. He threw 103 pitches on a muggy night, but there was some bad luck in the only rally. The whole feel of that inning would have been different had the play at the plate been made. Webb is now 4 1/3 innings away from becoming the first big leaguer this season to reach 200 innings. He got to 211 strikeouts on the season, moving two ahead of Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes.
Left on Left
The Dodgers brought in lefty Jack Dreyer to face Bryce Eldridge with the go-ahead run on second in the top of the sixth and manager Bob Melvin stuck with the rookie instead of pinch-hitting Wilmer Flores. It nearly paid off. On a 2-2 pitch, Eldridge smoked a 102 mph line drive to right, but it was hit directly at Teoscar Hernandez. In two earlier at-bats against Yamamoto, Eldridge struck out. The rookie has had some solid at-bats through his first three starts in the big leagues, but is still looking for his first big league hit.
MARYLAND
HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Don’t
mistake Dylan Holloway the wrong way. The St. Louis Blues forward is
beyond grateful to be healthy and skating 100 percent for the first
time since what turned out to be an ugly injury that derailed a
fantastic first season in the Gateway City.
But
after putting up 63 points (26 goals, 37 assists) in 77 games in his
first full NHL season after coming to the Blues via an offer sheet
that was not matched by the Edmonton Oilers – along with defenseman
Philip Broberg – in August of 2024, the 23-year-old
first-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft (No. 14 overall) feels like
there’s more to be had.
Plenty
more.
“I’ve
got pretty lofty goals for myself,” Holloway
said Thursday when the Blues opened training camp.
“When you kind of set out to be a hockey player, you just want to
make it to the NHL and now that I’ve been in the NHL for a bit, I
want everything I can get. I’ve got some pretty lofty goals for
myself. I want to be a top player in this league one day. It’s a
goal that I know takes a lot of work, but something that I’m going
to strive for.
“Last
year I was fortunate enough to get some bounces and things were going
in, but at the same time too, I felt pretty confident in my ability.
After a big summer this summer, I feel even more confident. I’m
excited to get things going and even prove it to myself and prove to
everybody that I can be a top guy in this league.”
Holloway
didn’t go as far as saying he wants to be a Connor McDavid or a
Nathan MacKinnon or any of the other top-end echelon players in the
NHL today, he just feels he can be among them. Some pretty lofty
goals from what appears to be a very confident player, and why
wouldn’t he be after things finally took off for him last season,
given an opportunity in a full time role after 89 games over two
seasons in limited roles with the Oilers.
But
not only is there a team that’s motivated heading into a new
season, there’s a player that’s also motivated, especially since
he was rendered helpless and not being able to perform with his
teammates in that excruciating seven-game series loss against the
Winnipeg Jets in the Western Conference First Round.
“There’s
not much I can do at that point. It sucked,” Holloway
said.
“You go all year, the team was working so hard to make the
playoffs, we go on that really special run and it takes everybody. It
was such a good environment in the room, a good vibe. To all of the
sudden to not be a part of that was definitely a big shock and it
sucked. You care so much throughout the year and you care so much
come playoff time. To not be able to put your body on the line with
the guys was tough, but I kind of had to come to peace with those
terms and try to be a good teammate.”
It
fell off the rails for Holloway April 3 in a 5-4 overtime win against
the Pittsburgh Penguins. The result was tearing the oblique off the
hip bone. It required surgery and his season was essentially done in
an instant.
“That
was brutal, that sucked,” Holloway
said.
“I guess there’s no way to sugarcoat it. It was awful. I had to
come to peace with the terms of not playing. The only way I could
help out is just be a good teammate and support the boys. That’s
what I tried to do.”
A
fairytale
season with a brutal ending, but now Holloway is 100 percent and
looking as sharp as ever.
“It
looks like he didn't even miss anything. It was good,” Blues
coach Jim Montgomery said.
“His second and third effort, I think is contagious. He was really
good today. It was a pleasant, pleasant day to see him back out
there.”
Holloway
opened camp skating with Brayden Schenn and 2025 first-round pick
Justin Carbonneau looking to pick up where he left off.
“You
always need guys with high work ethic and high compete levels, and he
definitely has that,” Schenn
said of Holloway.
“Secondly, he’s dynamic, he’s a good skater, he’s a good
puck-handler, he has a heck of a release and a shot.
“I
think just the biggest thing with those guys if I even remember when
I was young is like you get a chance early, maybe it doesn’t go the
way you want in Edmonton and now you get a chance here and it’s a
completely different slate with a new opportunity and new eyes on
you, and he was able to take off and run with it. There’s pressure
on all of us, but that’s part of pro sports. I don’t think we
have to be hard on guys where they expect and demand a completely
different Dylan Holloway. I think if he sticks to what he does and
how he approaches his day to day and doesn’t worry about the
results, worries about the day to day, he’s going to be totally
fine.”
Holloway
skated in a career-high 16:49 per game, getting top assignments the
more the season went and earning the trust from the coaching staff.
And for him to become one of those top-end league players, will come
more opportunity.
“Potentially
penalty killing for us, eat more minutes,” Montgomery
said.
“He has an iron lung. It doesn’t seem like he gets tired. He just
keeps
skating. He’s the Energizer Bunny out there. I guess for him, it’s
developing his 200-foot game and continuing to evolve as a dynamic
offensive player.”
Holloway
has turned into an absolute bargain for the Blues when he signed a
two-year, $4.58 million ($2.29 million average annual value) contract
that has one year left on it, then can become a restricted free agent
next summer.
The
Blues know what they have, so don’t fret, he isn’t going
anywhere.
“He
and I talked last couple of days,” Blues
general manager Doug Armstrong said.
“He's in a great place physically. Mentally he's even in a better
place. When I talked to he and Broberg about the whirlwind things
they did last year, end of July they're Edmonton Oilers and then for
a week they're NHL property and then they're St. Louis Blues. Then
coming here and have to deal with the expectations: St. Louis
overpaid, the other team should've kept them. There was all that
debris that they had to deal with and for them to play as well as
they did last year ... Holloway took it to a level of his draft
position. He was a top pick and he played like a top pick, as Broberg
did. If we're going to be a good team, Holloway has to replicate
that, or very close to replicating that. Not just point wise. He's
probably the hardest-working player we have in our organization right
now. You come in here on a Sunday morning and you think you have the
place to yourself and then you hear pucks clanking and he's in the
shooting room. He's a hockey player, he loves it, he works extremely
hard. His conditioning is off the charts. Better person than player,
too. He's the full package of what you would want in an organization
and we learned that after we got him. You don't know those things
until you get them in the room. But he's a core piece of what we've
got going and he wants to be a core piece, too.”
As
for that next contract, Holloway said, “Honestly
right now, I’m not too worried about it. I’m just focused on
playing hockey. That’s one thing I’ll let Army and my agent kind
of take care of. That’s why you’ve got an agent, they take care
of that stuff and you just play hockey. That’s what I’m worried
about.
“…
I
feel good. I was fortunate enough that the injury healed faster than
I anticipated. I was able to get a good summer in and skating 100
percent and working out 100 percent. Trying to get better and not
thinking about the oblique. I feel pretty good right now and just
hope to keep it going.”
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw will retire at the end of this season, the Los Angeles Dodgers announced Thursday.
The 37-year-old left-hander who got his 3,000th strikeout in July will make his final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium on Friday night against the San Francisco Giants.
The 11-time All-Star and 2014 NL MVP is in his 18th major league season, all with the Dodgers, which ties him with Zack Wheat and Bill Russell for the most years in franchise history. Kershaw won World Series championships in 2020 and 2024.
“On behalf of the Dodgers, I congratulate Clayton on a fabulous career and thank him for the many moments he gave to Dodger fans and baseball fans everywhere, as well as for all of his profound charitable endeavors,” Mark Walter, team owner and chairman, said in a statement. “His is a truly legendary career, one that we know will lead to his induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame.”
Kershaw has a career record of 222-96 and 15 shutouts, which lead active major league players.
His 2.54 ERA is the lowest of any pitcher in the live-ball era since 1920, and his winning percentage tops all pitchers with at least 200 victories since 1900.
Kershaw’s decision was not unexpected. He has struggled with injuries in recent years and began this season on the IL while recovering from offseason surgery. He didn’t pitch until May, but proved to be a stalwart when the rotation was hard-hit by injuries.
In 2024, Kershaw was forced to end his season in August because of a toe injury that limited him to seven starts and just 30 innings with a 2-2 record and a 4.50 ERA, all career lows.
Kershaw is one of three active pitchers with 3,000 strikeouts, along with former teammate Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. Kershaw could be the last pitcher for a while to reach the milestone — often considered a surefire ticket for Hall of Fame enshrinement. Kershaw would be eligible for Cooperstown in 2031.
He missed the entire postseason, including the Dodgers’ World Series win over the New York Yankees. That spurred him to return this year for what many had speculated would be his final season.
As great as he’s been during the regular season, he’s endured his share of heartache in October. He has a 4.22 ERA in the postseason.
His teammates often cite his work ethic between starts as inspirational, and he is a commanding, if quiet, presence in the clubhouse.
Frequently tabbed as one of the greatest pitchers of his generation, Kershaw built his reputation with a pitching style that relies on deception, movement and velocity changes. He has said he modeled his mechanics after his favorite childhood pitcher, Roger Clemens.
As his velocity diminished in recent years, he found ways to compensate by adapting his approach.
Kershaw is one of the better fielding pitchers and before the National League added a designated hitter, he was known as a decent hitter, too.
He made his big league debut on May 25, 2008.
Kershaw won’t be bored away from the field. He and his wife, Ellen, have four children, with a fifth on the way. His oldest son, Charley, has a locker in the Dodgers clubhouse next to his father. The couple has done humanitarian work in Africa and Los Angeles.
He spends the offseason in his native Dallas, where he and Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford were teammates on their high school football team.
Training Camp has officially commenced for the Detroit Red Wings, who are once again calling Center I.C.E. Arena in Traverse City, Mich. their home away from home in a tradition that was founded by former head coach Scotty Bowman in 1997.
A mixture of familiar and new faces hit both ice surfaces at the venue for various drills as well as a scrimmage as hundreds of excited fans of all generations gathered to watch their hockey heroes.
One of the familiar faces was head coach Todd McLellan, who made his return to the organization last December after he was hired to replaced the terminated Derek Lalonde.
McLellan had served as an assistant coach with the Red Wings from 2005 through their 2008 Stanley Cup before departing to accept the head coaching position with the San Jose Sharks.
Based on the line combinations that the Red Wings skated with during their split-squad rosters, the line combination of Marco Kasper, Patrick Kane, and Alex DeBrincat remained intact.
It helps that DeBrincat already had developed a playing chemistry with Kane from their years together earlier in their careers with the Chicago Blackhawks, which was a natural draw for Kane to choose the Red Wings as an unrestricted free agent in December 2023.
"I think Cat and Kaner have that instinctive, 'I know where you are, I know where you're going to release the puck' relationship," McLellan said. "They've played together long enough and they think the same way. Shoot, pass, or playmaker, whatever you want to call each of them."
Kasper, who remained with the Red Wings for good after being summoned from the Grand Rapids Griffins in late October of last season, seemed to find a groove while centering Kane and DeBrincat, especially during the second half of the campaign.
"Kasp complimented both of them, they needed somebody to do work in some certain areas, to defend down low," McLellan said of Kasper. "And he didn't succumb to the pressure of playing with potentially two Hall of Famers when it's all said and done, but he played his own game and that was impressive."
As far as whether or not fans can expect to see the line at Little Caesars Arena on Oct. 9 against the Montreal Canadiens for the regular season opener, that remains up in the air.
"Are we going to start with them Opening Night? I can't tell you that, we have three and a half weeks to go, and we'll figure all of that out when Opening Night rolls around," McLellan said.
The Dodgers will surpass 4 million tickets sold this season in Sunday's regular season Dodger Stadium finale. (Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
The holy grail is upon them.
For the first time in franchise history, and in the year after a global superstar led them to a World Series championship, the Dodgers will hit 4 million in attendance this season.
The Dodgers have led the major league in attendance every year since 2013, the first full season under the Guggenheim ownership group chaired by Mark Walter. In press releases, the Dodgers regularly note the team has “the highest cumulative fan attendance in Major League Baseball history.”
Yet the 4-million barrier has been an elusive milestone. Lon Rosen, the Dodgers’ executive vice president and chief marketing officer, said the team would officially pass 4 million tickets sold on Sunday, in the regular season finale.
No major league team has hit 4 million since the New York Mets and Yankees in 2008, the final season of Shea Stadium and the old Yankee Stadium, respectively. The Yankees also sold 4 million in 2005-07. The only other teams to do it: the Toronto Blue Jays (1991-93) and Colorado Rockies (1993).
No team besides the Dodgers can hit 4 million anymore. The Mets, Yankees and Rockies all moved into smaller stadiums; the Blue Jays downsized theirs.
A team that hits 4 million must average 49,383 tickets sold per game. The Arizona Diamondbacks play in the stadium with the second-largest capacity in the majors: 48,330. The Dodgers’ average entering play Thursday: 49,589.
The Dodgers sold 3.97 million tickets in 2019, coming off back-to-back World Series appearances, and 3.94 million last year. They have not sold fewer than 3.7 million under Guggenheim ownership, aside from the two seasons with pandemic-related attendance restrictions.
“We’re a very successful franchise, and I attribute it all to the players," Rosen said. “We have incredible players. We have very popular players.”
Technically, the Dodgers sold 4 million tickets in 1982, former Dodgers vice president of marketing Barry Stockhamer told The Times in 2010. Under National League rules at the time, teams were required to announce how many fans actually showed up, not how many tickets were sold. The Dodgers’ attendance that year was reported as 3.6 million.
The Dodgers’ dominance on the field under Walter and his partners — two World Series titles, four World Series appearances and 13 consecutive playoff berths — has been accompanied by dominance on the business side.
In essence, at a time when cable and satellite revenues are collapsing, the Dodgers can finance their player payroll either from ticket revenue or from local television revenue. The Dodgers’ payroll is about $340 million this season.
The Dodgers’ SportsNet LA contract with Charter Communications, the parent company of Spectrum, pays an average of $334 million per season. However, the contract started in 2014 and extends through 2038, with the annual payment rising each year — to more than $500 million by the end of the deal, according to people familiar with the deal but not authorized to disclose its terms.
The Dodgers generated $4.29 million in ticket revenue last season for each regular-season home game, according to an internal league document first reported by Sportico and confirmed by The Times. That totaled $343.2 million for 80 home games last season, at an average ticket price of about $80.
As the Dodgers compete with the San Diego Padres for the National League West title, the Dodgers’ SportsNet LA contract exacerbates the financial disparity. The Padres have sold out 66 of 75 home games this season and have sold more tickets than any team besides the Dodgers and Yankees, but the Padres have cut payroll over the past two years, following the bankruptcy and subsequent implosion of the parent company of what was then called Bally Sports.
In August, the Padres told season ticket-holders their average price increase for 2026 would be 7% — the fifth consecutive season with an increase, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. The Padres raised prices by an average of 20% for the 2022 season and 18% for the 2023 season, the Union-Tribune reported.
Rosen declined to discuss how much the Dodgers had raised the price of season tickets for 2026, although several fans told The Times their seats had increased in the range of 20%. Rosen said the Dodgers’ renewals were “going well.”
The Dodgers still have bills to pay beyond player payroll, of course: a robust staff in both baseball operations and business operations, Dodger Stadium operations and maintenance, minor league operations, revenue sharing and more than $100 millon in luxury taxes among them.
They also make money in ways besides tickets and SportsNet LA, among them national broadcast revenue, national and local merchandise revenue, corporate sponsorships, and stadium parking and concessions.
“We put the money back into the team,” Rosen said. “Our owners have done that from day one.”
With Clayton Kershaw, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, the Dodgers already had a star-studded roster. The addition of Shohei Ohtani, and the tourists that follow him from Japan, supercharged the Dodgers’ business and finally vaulted the team over the magic 4-million mark.
It is not just that the fans come out to see a winner, Kershaw said. It is that the fans provide an edge that helps keep the team a winner.
“Without question,” Kershaw said. "Any time you play in front of a packed house at home, it’s important. We play every day. It’s hard to create energy sometimes, just because you play so much. I think having the fans behind us every day and seeing that packed house gives you that little bit of added energy.
“You play a day game on the road somewhere, and there’s nobody there, it’s hard to mimic. Even though it is a big league game, there are levels to this. Playing at home in front of our fans is definitely a home-field advantage.”
A little over 24 hours before kick-off, Hansi Flick spoke about how lucky he felt to have acquired Marcus Rashford on loan from Manchester United.
Barcelona’s manager was not remotely bothered that the forward’s stock had fallen so far at Old Trafford. Rashford, he said, was a player he had long admired and could help improve.
After dominating every level of the minor leagues en route to his call-up to the Mets in late August,Jonah Tong hit his first speedbump his last time out against the Texas Rangers. The righty recorded just two outs while allowing four hits and walking three. He was charged with six earned runs, raising questions about whether or not he’d even stay in the rotation moving forward.
In Thursday afternoon’s ultra-important win over the San Diego Padres, Tong rose to the occasion and silenced any doubters, allowing just one unearned run on four hits over his 5.0 innings of work, setting a new career-high with eight strikeouts while not walking a single batter.
“I threw a lot more strikes,” Tong said with a smile when asked what the biggest difference was this time around. “I just think from the very first pitch I had the confidence to attack hitters. I feel like I did a better job with it this time around.”
Following the game, manager Carlos Mendoza said that Tong “wasn’t messing around,” noting that the 22-year-old didn’t let Padres hitters back into the count once he got ahead of them.
“There’s a lot to like, after the last outing and even today in the first couple of innings. They put together some good at-bats and he was kind of scattered there,” Mendoza said. “…That’s kind of like the guy we saw at the minor league level, pretty much the whole year. Getting swings and misses with the fastball at the top, the changeup, the curveball, he was attacking, he was pretty impressive.”
Pete Alonso, who smashed his fourth home run in as many games, echoed the words of his manager, noting that Tong’s outing was not just great for the young right-hander’s confidence, but for the rest of the team as well, as the Mets collected their third win in their last four games as they look to secure a spot in the 2025 postseason.
“He was poised the entire day. …Really stoked for him,” Alonso said. “Like those bounce-back outings are huge for development. Again, we talk about a kid who’s still 22 years old. Obviously, he’s got sky-high potential, and you’re seeing him kind of develop into a big-league professional right in front of your eyes.
“Really stoked for him, and he threw the ball excellent for us today. It was huge for the team, but I’m really happy for him, because seeing him succeed and bounce back like that shows a lot of character.”
Pep Guardiola said of drawing Napoli and having Kevin De Bruyne return: “It was always going to happen, right?” He might have spoken, too, of his No 9’s ruthlessness, as Erling Haaland broke this game open with Champions League goal No 50 in a record 49 matches, a feat that handsomely beats Ruud van Nistelrooy’s previous 62-appearance mark.
His strike was a seventh in five for City – form as ominous as the Norwegian’s in the 2022-23 treble season.
Clayton Kershaw is an 11-time All-Star. Photograph: Godofredo A Vásquez/AP
Clayton Kershaw, one of the greatest pitchers of his generation, will retire at the end of the season.
The 37-year-old is nearing the end of his 18th MLB season, all of which he has spent with the Dodgers.
Kershaw’s final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium will be on Friday, although he is likely to appear in Los Angeles again during the upcoming playoffs.
“On behalf of the Dodgers, I congratulate Clayton on a fabulous career and thank him for the many moments he gave to Dodger fans and baseball fans everywhere, as well as for his profound charitable endeavors,” Dodgers owner Mark Walter said in a statement on Thursday. “His is a truly legendary career, one that we know will lead to his induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame.”
As Walter suggested, Kershaw is a lock for the hall of fame. He is a three-time Cy Young winner and was named National League MVP in 2014. He is also an 11-time All-Star – he made the cut again this season – and won the World Series with the Dodgers in 2020. He has an ERA of 2.54 across his career and maintained a respectable 3.53 ERA in 20 starts this season, even as his fastball started to slow.
If there was a knock on Kershaw’s career, it was a lack of postseason success. The Dodger owns a 13-13 record with a 4.49 ERA in the postseason, a stark contrast from his 2.54 career ERA in the regular season, to go with a 222-96 record. The 2020 World Series win calmed those criticisms somewhat, though (Kershaw did not pitch in the Dodgers’ 2024 World Series championship due to injury).
The Dodgers have a six-man rotation heading into this coming postseason – although they have not clinched their spot yet, it would require a spectacular meltdown for them to miss out – which may mean Kershaw does not start.
“I feel that there’s a place for him on our postseason roster,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told ESPN this week. “I don’t know what role, but I think that the bottom line is, I trust him. And so, for me, the postseason is about players you trust.”
Kershaw always looked destined for an excellent career and was highly touted coming out of high school. The Dodgers picked him No 7 overall in the 2006 draft, a selection they have never regretted.
Those were the words of Alex Cora following Thursday afternoon’s 5-3 loss to the We’re-Not-From-Sacramento-What-Are-You-Talking-About Athletics at Fenway Park, though they weren’t delivered for the reason you might think.
You might think that the walls are closing in, chests are getting tight and hearts are pounding inside the Boston clubhouse. But Cora? He’ll tell you he and everyone else in uniform remains cool as a cucumber.
“The days are the same,” Cora said nonchalantly on Thursday. “Nothing changes. The preparation is the same, and we just keep rolling.”
That’s the message.
Here’s the reality.
That loss, combined with a Guardians win, shrunk Boston’s lead over Cleveland to just 1.5 games for the final AL wild-card spot. It also delivered a series loss to the sub-.500 A’s, the second straight series loss at home for the Red Sox after dropping two out of three to the Yankees over the weekend.
With only nine games remaining and the red-hot Guardians making a charge, one might expect a bit of worry to be creeping into the Red Sox’ clubhouse. Cora — as you know by now — simply says that is not the case.
“I mean, we control our own destiny,” the manager said matter-of-factly. “So, go to Tampa and win a series. That’s the way I see it.”
Thursday’s loss dropped the Red Sox to 7-8 in the month of September, an inconvenient time for bad baseball to creep back into their systems after going 34-18 in July and August. The Guardians, meanwhile, are 13-4 in September, completing a sweep in Detroit on Thursday before heading to Minnesota, where they’ll face the 66-86 Twins (losers of 12 of their last 16) in a four-game set.
The Red Sox may still “control their own destiny,” but that status likely won’t last through the weekend if they drop another series to an opponent that is, on paper, inferior.
“Yeah. I mean, we never want that, but obviously we’ve got to turn the page,” Cora said. “We’ve got two (series) on the road — we go to Tampa and Toronto — we’ve gotta play better baseball. That’s it. I think offensively, there were some signs today, but we’re not there. We’re not there offensively. We’ve just gotta make sure we understand who we are as an offense, try to keep the line moving.”
Despite seven hits and a pair of homers, the Red Sox’ offense didn’t really do enough damage against J.T. Ginn, who allowed a pair of runs over his six innings. Boston managed to get just two baserunners aboard against the bullpen over the final three innings, and with Brayan Bello allowing three runs in the first inning en route to an ineffective four-inning outing, it was another one of those days at Fenway Park for the home team.
Cora’s statement of it not being a good day for the team was not about the big picture, though. Cora made that comment in reference to shortstop Trevor Story’s pair of throwing errors, each of which came with two outs — one in the third inning, one in the seventh — and allowed a run to cross the plate.
Story, along with Alex Bregman, represents the vocal veteran leadership core of the team. And while he tried to follow his manager’s lead by expressing confidence in the team, he ended up making a statement that borders on delusion.
“We haven’t been playing our best brand of baseball. It’s as simple as that,” Story, who hit a solo homer in the eighth inning Thursday, said. “We have the mindset that we’re gonna be playing for a month after this, so we’re not just trying to limp in. I think that’s a trap in itself. So we can keep looking ahead and keep trying to chase down that division.”
The division Story referenced is a chase that died with a 3-5 stretch against Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Arizona. The AL East-leading Blue Jays entered Thursday night six games clear of the Red Sox, likely not having to even worry too much about the Yankees, who sat 3.5 games back in second place.
The Red Sox, quite clearly, will not be making a run at the division, contrary to whatever assertion Story might have tried to make.
Still, the 32-year-old did present a simple approach for his teammates to follow.
“We can control what happens. We play good baseball, we get in. It’s as simple as that,” he said. “We know what we’ve done. We know what we can do. We’ve played some of the best baseball I feel like all season long over a good stretch of time, and I think that’s where we get our confidence from, is we know how good we can be.
“We’ve proven that, but also it’s time to do it when the time is right. And that’s now.”
For Cora, the resilience shown by the 2021 team to sweep the Nationals on the final weekend of the regular season (after a 1-5 stretch prior to that series) to reclaim a postseason spot provides evidence that there’s no reason to worry at this moment in time.
“For me, I take it the same day I took it in ’21,” Cora said. “Take it one day at a time. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low. It’s part of the season. It’s 162 for a reason.”
One could point out that the ’21 team was filled with veterans and World Series champions — Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, Kyle Schwarber, Nate Eovaldi, Eduardo Rodriguez and Chris Sale among them — while also having fifth-year third baseman Rafael Devers ascending to All-Star status that season.
This team, outside of Bregman and closer Aroldis Chapman, doesn’t quite have the same pedigree. And losses like Thursday’s — and Tuesday’s, and Friday’s … and last Wednesday’s — provide a glimpse of a team that struggles to score runs in the season’s most critical stretch.
With the goal of “winning the series” in Tampa for the weekend, even that may not be enough. If the Red Sox win two of three over the Rays while the Guardians take three of four in Minnesota, they’ll still lose ground on the Guardians entering the final week.
FanGraphs gave the Red Sox a 98.2 percent chance of making the playoffs on Sept. 2. The current number of 82.6 percent still paints a pretty picture, but momentum is clearly moving in the direction that could lead to the dirty word of collapse resurfacing in the greater Boston for the final week of the season.
Maybe.
With a magic number of eight, the Red Sox can still make life fairlyeasy for themselves with a 6-3 record over the final 10 days of the season. That would, of course, require the Guardians to lose just twice in their final 10 games to punch Boston’s tickets to the Wild Card Series.
The question is … can they actually do it? Has anything this month provided reason for belief that as the pressure mounts, the Red Sox will produce, and pitch, and win?
From inside the clubhouse, the manager is putting forth a message of calm confidence. From the outside, doubt continues to mount.
