Worldwide Sports News

John Mozeliak, who was hired six weeks ago as the Los Angeles Angels interim GM, made his most sweeping changes yet Tuesday by firing three veteran pitching coaches.

The Angels fired well-respected veteran pitching coach Mike Maddux, bullpen coach Dom Chiti and assistant pitching coach Darryl Scott. They were all on one-year contracts along with manager Kurt Suzuki.

The new pitching coach will be Tim Leveque, who was in the St. Louis Cardinals organization for 20 years with Mozeliak with Michael Wuertz as the interim bullpen coach.

“After spending time discussing with Kurt where we are as a coaching staff and where we want to go in the future, we felt it was best to make a change,” Mozeliak said in a release. “With seven weeks remaining, we plan to use this time to evaluate what additional steps are needed to elevate our entire pitching program and best position us for success moving forward.”

The Phillies are both mediocre and the National League’s biggest threat to upset the Los Angeles Dodgers in this year’s playoffs.

How can both be true?

The 2026 Phillies enter Tuesday night’s game in St. Louis at 64-56, a .533 winning percentage, 7.5 games behind the Braves in the NL East and tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the 2nd wild card, both of whom are just one game up on the San Diego Padres for the NL’s final playoff spot.

Since the Phillies reached their high-water mark of 11 games over .500 on July 1 (49-38), they have gone 15-18 in their last 33 games. Over that stretch they are 15th in runs scored, 18th in OPS, 19th in batting average, and 22nd in home runs. Their 4.45 staff ERA is 22nd and their tied for 20th in walk rate, 22nd in home runs per nine innings, and 16th in batting average allowed. The rotation’s numbers are better than the bullpen’s, whose 5.46 ERA is 2nd-worst in baseball, and the defense’s -35 Defensive Runs Saved is also last.

That’s mediocre.

And yet, as The Athletic’s Jayson Stark wrote, there are those inside baseball who believe the Phillies remain the greatest threat to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ quest for a three-peat this October.

Should they get there.

So the team that got the most mentions as the Dodgers’ biggest threat was a surprise to me: the same Phillies team that just made a trade (for Arraez) that was so unorthodox they had to shake up half their defensive lineup just to fit him onto the field.

“I still think it comes back to the team, in the playoffs, with the best 1-2-3 starters,” said the former exec. “And that’s the Phillies.”

On the latest edition of WHYY’s Hittin’ Season, we discussed the seeming contradiction.

It is true the Phillies are both mediocre, and the National League team best positioned to knock the Dodgers off in a short postseason series.

You can listen to the FULL podcast below on Spotify, watch it on the WHYY YouTube channel, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts and anywhere else podcasts are free!

KLUGH: “Yes, having three awesome starting pitchers in playoff series is going to get you the advantage almost every time. But we’ve also seen how having three big horses like that in your rotation doesn’t get you all the way there all the time. I have my doubts that the Phillies are the best team to challenge the Dodgers when the Brewers have been playing so well and are cited for doing the things well the Phillies don’t do, which is the little things.”

Jesus Luzardo is in the midst of a hot streak reminiscent of what we saw earlier in the season from Cristopher Sanchez. And with Zack Wheeler continuing to roll right along, there is perhaps no team in baseball that can feature three pitchers this dominant in a playoff series.

Of course, there are teams who can counter with a pretty comparable 1-2 punch. The key is the Game 3 starter the Phillies can run out there in a playoff series. It’s a difference maker.

And while the Phils have a major issue with their bullpen right now, the Dodgers had a similarly leaky group of relievers heading into last year’s playoffs. They solved it by using their starters out of the ‘pen to secure key outs late in games. The Phillies won’t have quite that kind of ability, although Andrew Painter’s improvements over his last three starts makes him an intriguing bullpen add.

Still, unless some relief pitchers emerge over the final 40 games of the regular season, the Phils may not even make it to October, let along go on a run to the Fall Classic.

And in the postseason, the offense must come to play and perform under pressure in a way they haven’t since Game 2 of the 2023 NLCS.

There are other more well-rounded teams in the NL that could perhaps be a bigger threat. Milwaukee is once again playing at an elite level, with an ace pitcher that is just about as unbeatable as a person can be right now. The Chicago Cubs acquired pitching at the trade deadline that could make them very dangerous, and don’t count out the Atlanta Braves, who have been up-and-down.

Are the Phillies playing mediocre baseball right now? Yes. You know what other team played mediocre baseball late in the season?

The 2022 Phils, who went 11-14 in September and just barely squeaked into the postseason as the third wild card. Last year’s Phillies went 18-11 in August and 17-8 in September and went into the playoffs on an absolute roll.

So yes, it’s fair to say the Phillies are, right now, mediocre. And yes, it’s also fair to say they are the team with the biggest threat to the Dodgers in the playoffs.

The phone range in the middle of the offseason. Jake Brooks was a couple of weeks from leaving for Marlins camp in Florida, and the name on the screen was John Savage, his head coach at UCLA.

“He gave me a ring and was like, ‘Hey man, how you feeling?’” Brooks said. “I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ And he’s like, ‘Come on, man, how you feeling?’ And I was like, ‘Dude, what are you talking about?’ And he’s like, ‘I think you’re getting traded to the Rockies.’”

Brooks had never been traded before. He didn’t know how any of it was supposed to work — who calls, in what order, how long you sit with it before anyone official confirms anything.

“I was shocked, obviously,” he said. “And I was like, ‘Dude, I’ve got to start calling some people. I’ve got to figure this out.’”

He called his parents first. Then the calls started coming in the other direction — Miami, then Colorado. Somewhere in there, he texted Kyle Karros.

That trade, on January 20, sent Brooks to the Rockies from the Marlins for Bradley Blalock. Six months later, the 25-year-old right-hander is making starts at Triple-A Albuquerque, learning an environment that has humbled better-known arms, and discovering that the organization he landed in had things to tell him about himself that his old one never did.

The seven feet

Brooks throws from a low three-quarters arm slot — a Statcast arm angle of 24.4 degrees — and it’s the thing everything else about him is built on.

“I’ve always been, I guess, a lower three-quarters arm slot kind of guy, and that has helped me get the natural sink that I have,” he said

That much he knew. What he didn’t know was how far down the mound he gets before he lets go of the ball.

“My extension that I’ve honestly come to realize this year is pretty far,” Brooks said. “I think I have over seven feet of extension, so that creates a little bit more deception to the hitters as well. But that’s something I didn’t even realize when I was with the Marlins in that organization. I wasn’t really brought to that knowledge that I had that elite extension, so that’s something that I’ve kind of learned about this year and used it to my advantage.”

He’s right about it, and the number backs him up. Brooks releases the ball an average of 7.0 feet from the rubber this season, which grades in the 96th percentile among pitchers in his cohort.

It’s also a real change: In 2024, at Low-A Jupiter, he was releasing around 6.6 feet. He has found roughly five inches, and five inches at that arm slot is the difference between a 91-mph sinker that looks like 91 and one that doesn’t.

Brooks is careful about where credit goes. The pitches themselves were built in Miami.

“They had a higher emphasis on ‘stuff,’ and it was all on like a stuff metric scale,“ he said. ”And I developed stuff there; like my stuff did get better, and I did add a sweeper, which is one of my better pitches, as well as that kick change with them. So I attribute a lot of my stuff to the Marlins and what they gave me. But being in an org where I can use that stuff and use the strength that I do well is really cool.“

The strength he does well is throwing the ball over the plate, and Colorado made a point of telling him to do so.

“The comfort level with Alon [Leichman] was great during spring training,” Brooks said. “I had a couple of conversations with him and some of the other pitching coaches up in the big league staff, and it’s just good to be with an organization that values what you do at an elite level. I know that, ‘Hey, I’m going to pound the zone, I’m going to attack hitters, I’m going to compete.’”

He does. Brooks has thrown 54.1 percent of his Triple-A pitches inside the strike zone and 66.5 percent for strikes overall, both near the top of the level, with a 5.8 percent walk rate. He’s walked 10 hitters in 37 innings.

Learning to pitch backward

The version of Brooks who dominated the Florida State League in 2024 threw his sinker 52 percent of the time. He was a sinker with three pitches behind it. The version in Albuquerque is a different design. The sinker is down to 29 percent. The sweeper has gone from an eighth of his pitches to more than a fifth. He now throws five pitches, and none of them account for even 30 percent of his mix.

Some of that is deliberate, and some of it is Triple-A forcing the issue.

“There’s learning curves at every level, and one of the biggest for me in this Triple-A level is seeing how my stuff best plays off each other, facing better hitters and more veteran hitters,” Brooks said. “Using that four-seam fastball does set up that split change that I have a little bit better. Set that high fastball up to set up that low changeup, because you can’t just use stuff to overpower these guys. Especially with the stuff that I have, it isn’t necessarily overpowering, but I can pitch, and I can locate.”

He isn’t overselling the pitch. Asked what makes it work, Brooks went straight at its limitations.

“That high-four seam fastball, which isn’t metrically great, but still the differential off of the changeup that I throw definitely works and tricks batters,” he said.

The four-seam is a 91-mph pitch with about eight and a half inches of induced vertical break — a fastball that doesn’t ride, thrown from a slot that isn’t built to make it ride. On its own, it isn’t beating anybody at this level.

The differential is the point. Brooks’ changeup arrives ten miles per hour slower with roughly nine inches less carry, out of the same arm slot and the same seven feet of extension. Throw one at the top of the zone and the other under it, and a hitter has to decide early on two pitches that look identical leaving the hand and finish nearly a foot apart.

It’s working the way he says. The changeup has produced a 28.1 percent whiff rate this season, the highest of all his offerings. And the four-seam — the pitch he just told you isn’t metrically great — had held Triple-A hitters to a .288 expected wOBA, better than the sinker it’s spelling.

The pitch above them all is the sweeper. At 80.7 miles per hour with about a foot of glove-side break, it has held Triple-A hitters to a .198 expected wOBA with a 21.1 percent whiff rate. It’s the one offering in the mix that grades out as an unambiguous plus by pitch-model standards, and it’s the one he named unprompted as the thing Miami gave him.

He also got a week with someone who has pitched successfully in the hardest place there is: Gabriel Hughes (No. 12 PuRP).

“I obviously don’t cut it as much as him — his cut fastball is insane,” Brooks said of Rockies right-hander. “But I spoke with him a little bit, and he emphasized just the ability to pitch and be in zone with different speeds was the biggest contributor to his success. I was only with him for half a week, maybe a week, until he got called up.”

Starting lanes

Then there is the altitude, which Brooks describes better than most people who write about it.

“Pitching for me has always been locating first and then stuff second,” he said. “Coming up to Albuquerque and elevation, it’s more so just starting lanes, and knowing that your pitch isn’t going to move as much, but just feeling out throughout the game what your pitch is doing, and then starting them in locations where you want them. So maybe my sinker, I’m starting it more middle instead of outer third to get it in. My sweeper, I’m starting more middle to get it out instead of starting at the batter’s hips.”

He learned it the way everyone learns it.

“That’s been something I’ve learned through adversity, really,” Brooks said. “Because I’ll get guys to two strikes, I’ll get ahead of guys, and then I’ll spin a breaking ball, and it just won’t end up where I want it. And then they’ll hit it for an easy single. More veteran guys are going to take their knocks if they have them. I’m leaving elevated changeups maybe out of the zone, but lefties are flicking it the other way for a single instead of fouling it off or swinging and missing.”

That is, essentially, a scouting report on his own season. Brooks carries a 6.81 ERA in seven Albuquerque starts. He has allowed almost nothing hard: an average exit velocity of 87.0 mph, a hard-hit rate in the 90th percentile of the level, and one barrel across 136 batted balls. His wOBA against is .405. His expected wOBA, based on how the ball has actually left the bat, is .312.

The gap between those two numbers is a .389 batting average on balls in play, and Brooks just told you where it comes from. Singles. Flicked the other way, at 5,000 feet, by hitters who have seen a lot of pitching.

The recovery side of altitude has been easier than the pitching side.

“More hydration tablets, definitely more electrolytes, and a couple more minutes of stretching each day,” he said. “But the recovery has been honestly not too bad.”

The Karros crew

The best part of the trade, for Brooks, had nothing to do with pitch design.

He and Kyle Karros met as freshmen at UCLA, didn’t know each other beforehand, and became close almost immediately. He’s tight with Kyle’s older brother Jared, now in the Dodgers system. The three of them have lived together in the offseason, train together, surf, and play volleyball.

“It’s a childhood dream to be able to play with one of your best friends in the big leagues,” Brooks said. “It was honestly surreal when it happened, the trade, because it’s like, what are the odds that I get traded to the same team that he’s on?”

Karros was, by Brooks’ count, roughly his second phone call that day — ahead of the Marlins, who hadn’t reached him yet.

“I definitely shot him a text, and I was like, ‘Dude, I might be coming to the Rockies. I don’t know yet.’”

There is also a running fantasy football league with the Karros brothers, which Brooks entered once, finished last in, and walked away in embarrassment.

“It was so embarrassing that I had to step away for a few years and do my research, then come back,” he said. “So this is my first year back in, I think, two or three years with that crew. Hopefully I make a new name for myself.

One more Colorado thread runs back further than any of it. In the summer of 2020, Brooks pitched for the Fond Du Lac Dock Spiders of the Northwoods League, where he met a shortstop named Ryan Ritter.

“That’s a fun league,” Brooks said. “That’s the best depiction of pro ball that you can get in summer ball. It’s a grind up there.”

So is this. Brooks spent the first half of the season in Hartford, on a Yard Goats club that won its division’s first half, and he lit up talking about it — “just being on a pitching staff and on a team that wants to win helps you perform to a higher level.”

Then he came to Albuquerque, where the sweeper doesn’t sweep as far, and veteran hitters take what you give them.

He’s still throwing strikes. He’s still finding the lanes. And for the first time, he’s doing it with an organization that told him exactly what he had.

Weekly Pebble Report: August 4th-10th

Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes (4-2, 59-55 Overall)

Albuquerque took four of six from the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Houston Astros) at Isotopes Park, extending a run in which they have won 10 of their last 12. The series had everything: a 10-1 rout, a pair of one-run games, and an 18-10 loss in which Sugar Land scored 11 in the tenth inning and three Isotopes — Zac Veen, Blas Castaño, and manager Pedro Lopez were ejected. The bullpen was otherwise outstanding, with eight different arms finishing the series without allowing an earned run. Albuquerque sits at 20-19 in the second half, still seven games back of first place.

⬆️ Stock Up: Veen’s Three-Homer Night

Zac Veen (PuRP No. 9) went 5-for-5 with three home runs, a triple, and a double on Saturday, driving in seven of Albuquerque’s 10 runs and finishing a single shy of the cycle with 17 total bases. It was the centerpiece of a series in which he hit .478 (11-for-23) with four homers, 10 RBIS, and nine runs scored across all six games. Veen is now at 24 home runs and 87 RBIS — the second straight series in which he has been the best hitter on the field, and the kind of stretch that makes the next roster decision in Denver an interesting one.

⬆️ Stock Up: Ritter Can’t Stop Hitting

Ryan Ritter quietly outhit even Veen, collecting 11 hits in 17 at-bats for a .657 average over five games. He added three doubles, a triple, and three stolen bases, going 4-for-4 with two steals in Friday’s slugfest and 3-for-4 in Sunday’s series-clinching win. Ritter did damage from multiple spots in the order, giving Albuquerque a second bat that opposing pitchers couldn’t navigate.

Upcoming

The Isotopes will visit Oklahoma City for a six-game series with the Comets (Los Angeles Dodgers)

Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats (0-6, 54-53 Overall)

Hartford was swept in six games at Binghamton (New York Mets) — the last-place club in their own division, which entered the week 26 games under .500. The Yard Goats scored 14 runs across the series, and three of those runs came in a 23-3 loss, meaning 11 runs total in the other five games. They hit .18- as a team and struck out 76 times, and they now sit at 15-24 in the second half.

⬆️ Stock Up: Flesland Deserved Better

Stu Flesland III threw seven innings of one-hit baseball Friday, walking one and striking out seven, and left with the game scoreless. Hartford lost it 1-0 an inning later. It continued a strong run of starts following a five-inning no-hit stint at Chesapeake and a win at Richmond, and it dropped his ERA to 2.09 with a 3-0 record. In a week when almost nothing went right for the Yard Goats, Flesland gave them the one game they should have won.

⬇️ Stock Down: Antico Can’t Make Contact

Mike Antico struck out 10 times in 19 at-bats, finishing the series 2-for-19. One of those hits was a home run in the blowout loss, and it accounted for his only RBI of the week. He was the most frequent out in a lineup that made a great many of them.

Upcoming

Hartford returns home for six games with the Erie Seawolves (Detroit Tigers)

High-A: Spokane Indians (1-4, 50-57 Overall)

Spokane drew the toughest opponent on the schedule and paid for it, losing four of five to the Eugene Emeralds (San Francisco Giants). Sunday’s finale was cancelled because of poor air quality in Spokane, ending the series a game early. The Indians were outscored 43-21 and lost three of the four by lopsided margins, though they salvaged the last one on a walk-off — a 7-6 win in which they trailed by three in the sixth. Kelvin Hidaglo’s three-run homer sparked that comeback. The Indians sit in third place in the Northwest League second-half standings, just two games back of first place.

⬆️ Stock Up: Brito Finds His Footing

Roldy Brito (PuRP No. 11) was the Spokane hitter Eugene couldn’t solve, going 11-for-24 (.458) with two home runs, four doubles, and two stolen bases while playing all five games. His homer in the opener accounted for the Indians’ only run in a 13-1 loss, and he closed the series 4-for-5 with a homer, a double, and two RBIs in the walk-off win. Promoted from Fresno in July, Brito has needed a few weeks to settle in at High-A; this was the week he did.

⬇️ Stock Down: Hopfe’s Bat Goes Silent

Tommy Hopfe went 0-for-18 across all five games. The at-bats weren’t ugly — he struck out only once and drew a pair of walks — but nothing found grass, and the one run he drove in came on an out. Two series ago Hopfe hit 542 against Tri-City and appeared in this space for it; this was the mirror image, and it came in a week when Spokane needed anyone in the lineup to get hot.

Upcoming

The Indians head on the road to face the Everett Aqua-Sox (Seattle Mariners) in a six-game set.

Low-A: Fresno Grizzlies (2-4, 59-49 Overall)

Fresno dropped four of six at home to Visalia (Arizona Diamondbacks), a club sitting 18 games under .500 and fell to fourth place in the California League second-half standings. The losses came in different flavors: a 10-9 defeat in 11 innings after leading by three in the eighth, a seven-run fourth inning on Friday, and a finale played in 109-degree heat. Wilder Dalis (PuRP No. 24) kept producing with six RBIs and two triples, and Ronny Ugarte hit .400 with his first Low-A home run.

⬆️ Stock Up: Arguelles Hasn’t Missed a Beat

Two weeks after finishing an Arizona Complex League title run, Cristian Arguelles (HM PuRP) is hitting .333 at Low-A. He collected 1o hits in 23 at-bats across all six games with a home run, two doubles, and two stolen bases, and his biggest swing came Thursday — a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning, one half-inning after Visalia had taken the lead, in a game Fresno won by a run. Arguelles hit .402 in the ACL regular season before the promotion. The level changed; the production hasn’t.

⬇️ Stock Down: Vidourek’s Slide Deepens

Landyn Vidourek went 1-for-18 with 10 strikeouts, the second series in which he has appeared in this space since his acquisition. Two weeks ago it was 1-for-17 with nine strikeouts, and the two stretches combine for 2-for-25 with 19 punch outs. The one silver lining last time — seven walks that kept him on base despite the empty batting line — didn’t carry over either; he drew a single walk this week. Derek Bernard is scuffling alongside him at 1-for-15, leaving Fresno with two regulars simultaneously unable to find a hit.

Upcoming

The Grizzlies head to northern California for a six-game series with the San Jose Giants (San Francisco Giants)

DSL: DSL Colorado (3-1-1) & DSL Rockies (1-5)

The gap between the two Dominican Summer League affiliates widened. DSL Colorado won three, lost one, and tied one — a 4-4 game called with nobody out in the ninth — and moved to 32-16 atop the DSL Southeast, closing the week with a 14-5 rout built on a 10-run fourth and an 8-0 combined shutout in which six pitches held the Rangers Blue hitless with runners in scoring position. Nine different Colorado arms threw scoreless outings across the week. DSL Rockies lost five of six and fell to 19-29, though they did snap a seven-game skid on Friday behind Carlos Mota’s five-RBI afternoon — a win that also featured a triple play.

⬆️ Stock Up: Ferrufino Does the Most Damage

William Ferrufino turned 12 at-bats into four extra-base hits, going 5-for-12 (.417) with a home run, two triples, a stolen base, and a share of the team lead with six RBIs. His three-run homer was the biggest swing of the 10-run fourth inning that buried the Blue Jays Blue on Thursday, and he tripled and drove in another run during Saturday’s shutout. For a lineup with several hitters above .400 for the week, Ferrufino was the one doing damage in bulk.

⬆️ Stock Up: Ramirez Keeps Reaching

On a club that lost five of six and was shut out once, Ramirez reached base 14 times in six games. He hit .500 (7-for-14) with a home run, two doubles, and seven walks, scoring five runs and driving in four. Nobody else in the Rockies’ lineup hit better than .333 for the week, and only two others reached base more than five times.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

We talk a lot about the supposed value of GMs being able to hire their own manager. Neither Chaim Bloom, nor Craig Breslow got that opportunity, as Alex Cora was seemingly foisted upon both by ownership. And even as he’s fired Cora, Breslow still hasn’t really gotten that opportunity, as Chad Tracy predates his Red Sox tenure. So, is that why the interim tag hasn’t yet been removed from Tracy? “I think he’s been good for the team and a great manager so far. He’s been there for us,” said Ceddanne Rafaela. “He’s a great person; that’s first. I think he gave everybody the freedom to play the game and do what they needed to do. He cares about us and not just what we do on the field.” (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)

Meanwhile, Alex Cora is still working through the emotions of his firing, recently saying on a podcast that he has three different competing emotions about how it went down. “I’ll say it again, it’s three different feelings: happy for my family, upset that they didn’t let me finish the job and honestly, relieved I don’t have to go through scouting reports and the matrix and talk to the media twice a day and live in the bubble of, ‘We have to do this.” (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)

Regardless of what you think of either Tracy or Cora, in baseball no manager is successful without production from the players on the field. The Sox have gotten plenty of that from Wilyer Abreu this season, and he was just honored with his second American League Player of the Week award. (Aiden Stepansky, MLB.com)

But last week was last week. This week, the Red Sox find themselves on a three-game losing streak during which they haven’t hit a single home run. And last night’s loss featuring strong pitching but a languid lineup looked early similar to the way they were losing games at the beginning of the year. (Rob Bradford, WEEI)

In that sense, Adley Rutschman is returning to action at the perfect time. “I miss playing,” Rutschman said. “I want to be out there, and to be able to go out and play baseball is such a blessing. And I think you realize that when you’re on the IL and you’re not able to play it. For me, it’s just excitement. This team’s rolling. This locker room, the guys are really tight, as you can tell. So I’m just excited to be a part of it.” (Tim Healey, Boston Globe)

And hopefully Rutschman will be soon followed by Roman Anthony, who recently started hitting off a pitching machine. “All things are positive,” said Chad Tracy. “Let him keep taking steps, temper expectations until he crosses and checks all these boxes, then we’ll see when we can get him here.” (Daniel Yanofsky, NESN)

With over 40 games remaining in the MLB season, 2026 is shaping up to be one of the best years for Japanese-born hitters — and it’s being led by a pair of rookies.

USA TODAY analyzed home run data for Japanese-born players to uncover the single seasons with the most homers hit by such players.

Munetaka Murakami of the Chicago White Sox has hit 26 home runs in his first MLB season so far. That is tied for the ninth-best home run season by a Japanese-born player.

DIG DEEPER: Munetaka Murakami shines with 2 HR, career-high 6 RBI on bobblehead day

Fellow rookie Kazuma Okamoto of Toronto is two home runs back with 24. Both players have hit more homers than any other Japanese-born rookie, eclipsing the 22-homer season Shohei Ohtani had in 2018.

It’s also worth noting that Ohtani is at 26 homers, too, although he is well past being a rookie in his ninth MLB season.

Murakami is on pace to hit 40 home runs if he maintains his current pace and plays in all 45 of the White Sox’s remaining games. A 40-home run year would rank as the fifth-highest single-season total by a Japanese-born MLB player, behind four Ohtani seasons.

Okamoto, meanwhile, is on pace for 33, which would be near Ohtani’s 34-homer season in 2022.

Ohtani is between Murakami and Okamoto with a projected home run total of 36.

Should Murakami, Okamoto and Ohtani all hit 30-plus home runs, it’ll be the first season that three Japanese-born players have hit 30 or more home runs in a single MLB season.

Ohtani and Seiya Suzuki became the first pair to do so in the same season in 2025. Suzuki has 19 homers for the Chicago Cubs this season and is projected to finish with 27.

Aside from Ohtani and Suzuki, only one other Japanese player has hit more than 30 homers in a single season: Hideki Matsui, who hit 31 for the New York Yankees in 2004.

Methodology: Home run data from Stathead and Baseball-Reference. Ages are calculated as of June 30 for the given season. 2026 totals are through August 10. Projections use each player’s current home-run rate per game and assume he appears in every remaining team game.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Murakami, Ohtani, Okamoto could make Japanese MLB home run history

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Reds fans and fans across the country.

The most recent start from Cincinnati Reds ace Chase Burns was a uniquely poor one. He yielded 5 ER and 6 H with a trio of walks in just 5.1 IP, exiting earlier than anyone would have liked in an eventual 8-2 loss to the Washington Nationals that may just have been the final nail in the coffin for the 2026 Reds club.

As you can see from the fine folks at FanGraphs, the average fastball velocities in his starts has also begun to decline over the course of the season, something that’s not at all uncommon for a young pitcher who’s being tasked with throwing more innings this year than he ever has before.

To date, Burns has fired 124.0 IP for the Reds, already topping the 109.1 IP he threw across all levels of professional ball last year. That in itself eclipsed the 100.0 IP mark he logged in his 2024 season with Wake Forest at the collegiate level, as Burns – who was oft-used as a reliever at Tennessee prior to transferring to Wake for his senior year – simply hasn’t ever had a huge workload put on his prized right arm.

The Reds, obviously, hope that changes over the course of the long-term contract Burns signed earlier this season. But in a year where they’re mired in last place and effectively out of a playoff spot, just how far should the Reds let him go in 2026?

Obviously, they don’t want to push him too far in a lost year. On the other hand, they want him to build up enough IP this year so that he can build on that mark next year, and cutting his 2026 season too short could end up with a ripple effect in 2027, too.

There’s also the issue with the Reds simply needing someone, anyone to soak up IP between now and the end of the year. Hunter Greene is hurt, again, and Nick Lodolo is only just now getting back (with a completely different grip on his breaking pitches).

What say you? At what innings threshold should the Reds look to limit their burgeoning ace this year?

Let us know in the poll below!

The Nationals were the Cubs’ first regular season opponent this year, way back in March. The Nats took two of three at Wrigley Field.

Much has changed for both teams since then. The Cubs have solidified their claim on a postseason spot and could still win a division title. After playing over .500 for quite some time, the Nats had a selloff at the Trade Deadline.

For more on the Nationals, here’s Sam Sallick, manager of our SB Nation Nationals site Federal Baseball.

The Nats are a very different team to the one that played the Cubs on Opening Day. Only two members of the bullpen remain and many fixtures of the lineup are now gone. Joey Wiemer, who dominated the Cubs to start the season, has now gone, with his rise and fall taking place over the course of six weeks.

However, the Nats remain on the outskirts of the playoff race. These last couple weeks have been a rollercoaster though. After beating the Diamondbacks in a series, they got within one game of a playoff spot and were over .500. Shortly after that, they hit a snag, losing seven in a row and selling at the deadline.

This past weekend though, the Nats got back into the fight by sweeping the Reds. The Nats lost the likes of Luis Garcia Jr., Curtis Mead and Foster Griffin at the deadline. However, a lot of the returns they received were made with the idea of helping the team in the near future.

The Nats bullpen has been a well publicized disaster, but with some new faces, they looked great against the Reds. Yovanny Cruz, Will Dion and Jake Bird all came over in deadline trades and have looked good in a Nats uniform. Nats POBO Paul Toboni has been searching for bullpen answers all season, but this is the best they have looked all year.

Usually, losing the NL leader in slugging would be a huge blow to the offense. However, rookie Abimelec Ortiz has looked very good stepping into Luis Garcia’s shoes. Andres Chaparro has also stepped up making the first base platoon very dangerous.

There is one dangerous name the Cubs will avoid this week. James Wood is on the IL with a mild oblique strain. He is the most fearsome piece in this elite Nats offense. However, this offense is more than just Wood. CJ Abrams has also been tremendous and there are other hot bats such as Daylen Lile and the resurgent Keibert Ruiz.

On the pitching side, you are likely to see the debut of Jackson Kent, the Nats top left handed pitching prospect. He is a funky lefty with an average heater, a great changeup, solid breaking balls and good command. Kent is someone the Nats are very high on.

Right after the deadline, it looked like the Nats might have gone in a tailspin. However, they just got their first sweep since April and are riding high. It will be interesting to see how the surprising Nats matchup with a veteran laden Cubs team.

Fun facts

This is the first time the Cubs will play at Washington immediately after having played at Kansas City. Earlier this season, they went from Cleveland to Tampa and from Baltimore to Cincinnati for the first times. Next month, they will make their first trip from Miami to Milwaukee.

The Cubs have won two more games than they have lost at Washington, 35-33, since the former Montreal Expos relocated to the nation’s capital in 2005. The Cubs also were 49-33 against two 19th Century NL teams in Washington, for a total record of 84-66.

Last year, the Cubs won two of three at Washington. They swept three in 2024. They last were swept at Nationals Park in 2019. They split four games in 2021, won two of three in 2022 and went 1-3 in 2023. 

(Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

Probable pitching matchups

Tuesday: Shōta Imanaga, LHP (8-9, 3.60 ERA, 1.093 WHIP, 4.38 FIP) vs. Jake Irvin, RHP (2-5, 5.37 ERA, 1.290 WHIP, 4.73 FIP)

Wednesday: David Peterson, LHP (3-1, 4.03 ERA, 1.237 WHIP, 4.51 FIP in seven starts with Cubs; 6-7, 5.35 ERA, 1.500 WHIP, 4.08 FIP in 23 games overall) vs. Miles Mikolas, RHP (3-9, 5.89 ERA, 1.407 WHIP, 5.72 FIP)

Thursday: Kevin Gausman, RHP (1-0, 2.57 ERA, 0.714 WHIP, 4.23 FIP in one start with Cubs; 6-10, 4.29 ERA, 1.258 WHIP, 3.53 FIP in 24 starts overall) vs. Cade Cavalli, RHP (9-5, 3.57 ERA, 1.298 WHIP, 3.60 FIP)

Times & TV channels

Tuesday: 5:45 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network

Wednesday: 5:45 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network

Thursday: 3:05 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network

Prediction

The Nats lead MLB in runs — but as noted by Sam Sallick above, two of the guys who helped lead them to that (Luis Garcia Jr. and Curtis Mead) have been traded and another (James Wood) is on the IL. The Nats have also allowed the third-most runs in MLB and the Cubs are second to them in runs scored.

All that adds up, I think, to a Cubs series win, two of three, and an outside chance of a sweep.

Up next

The Cubs return to Wrigley Field to host the St. Louis Cardinals in a three-game series beginning Friday afternoon.

Hello, any new Battery Power readers retained from the Great Trade Deadline Site Surge of 2026! We hope you enjoy(ed) your time with this great community as we wind down on a memorable regular reason and that you stick around. Our regulars are some of the best baseball fans in the league.

The week following the trade deadline had some highs (back-to-back sweeps, an eight game winning streak) and lows (stumbling against both teams from New York) that have prompted some interesting discussion in our Feed. Here’s a sampling of what y’all have been cooking:

October surprise(s)?

Barring any waiver wire moves, the Braves are basically set with who they’re rolling with to hopefully make a deep postseason run. So it’s time for predictions: which guy will be the one to be the most impactful? Who will we hail as a legend for their contributions for years to come?

AJ Smith-Shawver is a candidate once he’s back up from Triple-A, where he’s polishing off the rust and working on that later-inning stamina.

On that note, a potential Game 3 starter might just be sub-40 miles away…

Other candidates: a spiteful Grant Holmes? Or maybe some current underperformers…

Rotation revamp

Of course, the biggest topic of conversation remains our starting pitching. Crumbs from sports writers have indicated the Braves made the pushes and called the phones for [insert your preferred SP here], but nothing worked out. So now what do we do, at least for the rest of the month or regular season?

A defense-based drafting

The prompt by the ever-insightful clmj1:

But of course on the flip side… why defend when hit dingers?

Record with Ronald

Superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. has largely been in the two-hole since his return from the IL and still steadily contributing despite a continued wOBA underperformance. It might feel like he hasn’t made much of a difference, but someone looked into the numbers, and…

While it may feel like the odds (read: the umpires) are against the Braves, we can always count on you all sharing your insights, articles, prospect questions, and so much more with us in our comments and in the Feed. You are the straw that stirs the Battery Power cocktail, and we appreciate you. Here’s to more hot takes!

I don’t want to spill too much ink on the sorry state of the Yankees offense at the risk of sounding like a broken record. Instead, let’s focus on the positives they have provided us in recent days, namely an improbable series win over the Braves. As much as the pitching largely carried the day, a certain young shortstop provided a handful of bright sparks on either side of the ball, and so George Lombard Jr. earns his first appearance on At-bat of the Week.

We join Lombard leading off the bottom of the seventh of the middle game against the Braves on Saturday. The Yankees are clinging to a 3-2 lead courtesy of a Spencer Jones RBI single in the second and RBI triple in the fifth, Austin Wells then driving him home with a double. Lombard enters this AB having struck out and drawn a walk against Chris Sale, the latter result requiring a pair of impressive, successful ABS challenges. However, Lombard now faces the hard-throwing righty reliever Victor Mederos, a very different look from the sidearming southpaw Sale.

Mederos starts Lombard with a first pitch sinker at 96 looking to tie the hitter up on the inner half.

This is a really good take from Lombard. The sinker looks like a strike on the upper ledge of the strike zone for much of its path toward home. It exits Mederos’ hand aimed pretty centrally, yet Lombard is able to diagnose it immediately as a fastball and understands that the foot-and-a-half of arm side run will carry it all the way off the plate and out of the zone inside for a ball.

That was a pretty good pitch that Mederos just threw, so it makes sense that he sticks with the inside sinker as it’s a pitch that can really eat up a hitter when buried in on the hands.

This is exactly why we don’t bunt unless it is absolutely necessary. When you’ve got a reliever coming in and throwing upper-90s, a middle-middle sinker in a 1-0 count might be the best pitch you’re gonna get to hit. Not only did Lombard miss a golden pitch to hit, but he lost his count leverage without making the pitcher work for it. Yes, I understand the third baseman was playing back and the Yankees are struggling for base runners at the moment, but Lombard was brought up to swing the bat (and for his glove) and bunting in this spot amounted to giving away a pitch.

Now that Mederos has shown Lombard a pair of fastballs that break toward him, he switches to a cutter breaking away from the batter, hoping he can get him to chase something off the plate outside should he mistakenly assume it is another sinker breaking in.

Mederos yanks this pitch way out of the zone, the pitch passing through the lefty batter’s box and off the catcher’s mitt to the backstop. It’s one of the easier takes Lombard will get, though it was still informative for him to see a fastball that breaks in the opposite direction from the first two he saw.

After missing so wildly with that cutter, Mederos breaks out his third different fastball of the encounter, the four-seamer. His four-seamer breaks a little less down and a little less arm-side than his sinker, but the two pitch types otherwise aren’t all that distinguishable from each other.

Mederos nails the outside edge with this 97 mph heater. He’s partially able to catch Lombard looking by sequencing this pitch directly following a fastball that breaks glove-side, this pitch starting well off the plate away before tailing back into the zone, but mostly it’s just a well-executed fastball that Lombard is more than justified to watch for a called strike.

Mederos now tries to leverage that called strike on the outside edge by sequencing a cutter that, as we mentioned, moves in the opposite lateral direction as his sinker and four-seamer. Lombard just watched a pitch that looked like a ball away end up as a called strike on the outside edge, so he effectively has to protect against anything that starts aimed away. This should make him susceptible to chasing a pitch that breaks glove-side.

Instead, Mederos grooves this cutter up and out over the plate. It doesn’t have any of the cut of the first one he threw and flies straight as an arrow toward home. Lombard fires a beautiful swing lining this pitch into the seats in right for a leadoff home run to give the Yankees an invaluable late insurance run that they would need by the time the final out was recorded. I’ll be honest, I did not realize Lombard had opposite field home run power, short porch or not. However, I love his approach, staying behind the baseball and allowing the velocity on the pitch to supply the power off the bat, knowing that with solid contact in the air, there’s always a chance to leave the yard in right.

Here’s the full sequence:

Without getting ahead of ourselves from a five-game sample, it is all the same assuring that Lombard has not looked overmatched facing big league pitching according to the eye test. We were always told that the defense was MLB-ready and indeed Lombard already looks way more rangy and self-assured at short than Anthony Volpe. However, I was not expecting him to have such an immediate impact with the bat. The power is certainly a welcome surprise, but it’s his advanced pitch recognition and plate discipline that have really caught the eye and could be the keys to maintaining this form down the stretch.

The Mets emerged from the Aug. 3 trade deadline having dealt roughly one-third of their active roster. Since then, they have looked and played like a new team, which is not a surprise since they basically are a new team.

In the week-plus since trading four key members of their bullpen, two starting pitchers, and a valuable outfielder, the Mets have gone 6-1. Along the way, they have swept a road series from one playoff contender (the Guardians), took a road series from a fringe contender (the Pirates) and then snagged the opening game at Truist Park from a Braves team that is leading the NL East -- clinching the season series over Atlanta in the process. 

While scoring 50 runs during this seven-game stretch, the Mets have looked looser on the field and tighter with each other, which could simply be the result of all the pressure now being off -- as if some kind of dam broke and all the bad vibes floated away. 

For many, the obvious question at this point would be "where was this from the Mets in June and July when their season slipped away?"

That's fair.

But there is literally nothing that can be done about that now. New York's season was derailed by a 12-game losing streak in April, and they couldn't revive it in the ensuing months. 

The result is that the Mets enter play on Tuesday with a record of 53-67, needing a miracle to get back to anything even resembling a playoff race. However, that doesn't mean how they're playing now is unimportant, given the impact it could have on how next season's roster looks.

And there might not be a bigger story to watch than Kodai Senga's rapid acclimation to a late-inning relief role, which resulted in him being on the mound to close Monday's win over the Braves after Devin Williams landed on the IL due to a shoulder injury.

Senga, again primarily featuring his four-seam fastball (which topped out at 100 mph) and forkball, easily shut the door on Atlanta.

In the three-game sample size since becoming a high-leverage reliever, Senga has yet to allow a hit, firing three scoreless innings while walking two and striking out four.

While it was clear he had the stuff that could translate in this setting, it has still been pretty wild to watch it work seamlessly so far.

If Senga continues to adapt well to the rigors of this role, the Mets might have taken a potential DFA candidate and turned him into a legitimate late-inning weapon for 2027 -- which would in turn make the recent trades of Luke Weaver and Huascar Brazoban look less harmful to New York's hopes next season. A 2027 bullpen with Senga and Williams as setup options in front of a lockdown closer (such as pending free agent Adrian Morejon) would be formidable.

About that potential bullpen ... the Mets also have some other possible answers auditioning for a role in it, including rookie left-hander Nate Lavender (who has been tremendous in a small sample and whose ability to miss bats has translated), the hard-throwing Dedniel Núñez (rounding back into form after Tommy John surgery), and jumping Jefry Yan (who may need to limit his penchant for walks in order to stick).

There have been other nice stories, too, including the emergence of 30-year-old Jared Young as a serious option going forward.

Young, who signed with New York after the 2024 season after playing 22 combined games for the Cubs in 2022 and 2023, played just 22 games last year due in part to a torn meniscus.

In 72 games this season, Young has been a steady lineup presence, slashing .262/.338/.436 (.773 OPS, 115 OPS+) while playing primarily first base and also getting time at DH and both corner outfield spots. Young's hard hit rate this season is among the best in baseball, as is his ability to make contact (he has struck out just 43 times).

At the very least, it seems that Young has earned a place on next year's team. Springboarding off that, the question of who will play first base regularly for the Mets next season brings us to the fact that they're actually in pretty strong shape elsewhere on the diamond. Paradoxically, they're also in a bit of a tough spot, since the construction of their roster and relatively unappealing free agent crop this offseason could make finding impact bats at first base and/or DH a challenge.

In a world where Bo Bichette doesn't opt out of his contract after the season, the Mets appear to be set at seven of their nine lineup spots for 2027.

Francisco Alvarez at catcher, Francisco Lindor at shortstop, Bichette at third base, Juan Soto in left field, A.J. Ewing in center field, Carson Benge in right field, and Marcus Semien at second base.

Of those seven players, all of them profile as above average regulars except Semien. But Semien has been better since returning from the IL (an .814 OPS and smoother defense in 19 games since), played through a hip injury before that IL stint, and has two years and $46 million left on his contract. So it's difficult to envision a scenario where he isn't the starting second baseman when next season starts.

Jorge Polanco is another story entirely, and someone whose presence the Mets will need to work around while looking to add some kind of impact at first base and/or DH this offseason.

When it comes to the starting rotation for next season, New York has a good foundation to build from.

In a loose way, perhaps it's fair to view Nolan McLean as a No.2, Christian Scott as a No. 4, and the rejuvenated Sean Manaea as a No. 5.

Rookie Zac Thornton has also thrown his name in the mix with his composure and performance over his first seven big league starts.

If McLean can harness his arsenal a bit better, he has the stuff to be an ace. Scott, who has struck out 11.3 batters per nine as he shakes off the rust following Tommy John surgery, is missing bats at a prodigious rate. Manaea, who was relegated to the bullpen earlier this season, has regained his velocity and effectiveness, posting a 3.50 ERA in 61.2 innings over 11 starts since returning to the rotation on June 13. So again, the foundation is there.

If the Mets want to get a perfect No. 1 and No. 3, they can turn to the free agent market for Tarik Skubal and the recently-traded Clay Holmes. Skubal is one of the best pitchers in the sport, and the Holmes is a proven New York performer with less mileage on his arm than pretty much any other starting pitcher his age. And neither of them will be attached to a qualifying offer.

In order to land Skubal, the Mets would have to outbid the competition (which they can obviously do), and Stearns will have to adjust his philosophy when it comes to long-term deals for pitchers over 30 (which he should do). Skubal returning to the Dodgers seems logical, but Los Angeles is absolutely loaded when it comes to starting pitching. So it's fair to wonder whether they'll pony up what it takes to keep him.

As the Mets were going through the worst of it this season, there were some who predicted a downturn for them that lasted multiple seasons, though that never made much sense -- not with the amount of injury and underperformance that was mixed in when the season slipped away. Even when things were going completely haywire, this felt like an isolated nightmare.

Beyond that, there's too much randomness and variance from year-to-year to write off pretty much any MLB team following a down season -- especially one with the resources the Mets have.

For recent examples of quick turnarounds, look at the 2013 World Series champion Red Sox (finished 69-93 in 2012), the 2023 World Series champion Rangers (finished 68-94 in 2022, and the 2026 White Sox (currently leading the AL Central with a 61-56 record after finishing 60-102 in 2025).

With an eye on retooling and contending right away in 2027, the remainder of this season has become an important evaluation period for New York. There are core members of the team whose status going forward is obviously not in doubt, but there are others whose performance could be a determining factor when it comes to their role for next season -- and help color how David Stearns and the front office approach the offseason.