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After another early postseason exit, Brian Cashman and the Yankees' front office have the offseason to figure out how the club can get over the hump and capture a World Series title for the first time since 2009. 

It won't be easy. 

Every year following their last title has been tough for Cashman and the Yanks to find the right combination of players and coaches to be the last team standing. And after being swept by the Rays in the ALDS, this is an especially crucial offseason. Aaron Judge and Gerrit Cole aren't getting any younger, and there are no guarantees that the starting rotation -- which was among the best in the majors this season -- can replicate that success next year.

Not to mention the looming lockout that could impact things.

But it's not all doom and gloom in Yankeeland. The aforementioned rotation is still strong, with youngsters like Cam Schlittler, Will Warren and Ryan Weathers giving the team depth. Young prospects like George Lombard Jr. and Spencer Jones made splashes in the big leagues and look to be ready for a full season in pinstripes, and Anthony Volpe seemingly revived his career -- at least for the moment -- and could be a key piece for the 2027 team. 

Given the expected lockout, the Yankees will have to enact their plan for the offseason rather quickly. While there are many holes and details to iron out, here's what the Yankees' top priorities this offseason should be...

5. Clearing up Aaron Boone's situation 

The Yankees can go one of three ways with regard to their manager.

First, the Yankees could move on from Boone after nine seasons of winning baseball that consistently fell short of the ultimate goal of a World Series. Boone would leave with one of the best records in team history, but it's become increasingly obvious that a new voice is needed in the locker room. And while he's not the one making errors on the field or not hitting in the postseason, someone needs to bear the responsibility and that often falls on the manager. 

The Yankees could also let Boone manage the final year of his contract and figure it out after the 2027 season. This feels like the way New York is going to go. As SNY contributor Anthony McCarron writes, the lockout puts the organization in a weird spot. With a potential truncated offseason and spring training, it may be best for Boone, who knows the players and the way the team works, to be in place.

If this is what the Yanks do, Cashman and owner Hal Steinbrenner need to come out and say it instead of letting the rumors swirl about the fate of Boone.

The Yankees could also just give Boone a multi-year extension. While fans would be beside themselves, this is a real possibility.

Boone has an impressive 790-565 regular season record, and has missed the postseason just once in his nine seasons.

However the Yanks approach the Boone situation, some clarity would go a long way.

4. Get a right-handed catcher

One of the Yankees' biggest needs at this past trade deadline was a right-handed catcher to platoon with Austin Wells.

Cashman did not achieve this goal. Instead, the Yanks kept Ali Sanchez as the backup, while hoping Wells' bat would wake up from its year-long slumber. And while Wells' offensive numbers trended up at the end of the season and in the postseason, it was a missed opportunity for this team. Perhaps the Twins and Rockies were asking for too much in a potential deal for Ryan Jeffers or Hunter Goodman, but this offseason offers up more possibilities for Cashman.

Jeffers and Tyler Stephenson, who was also reportedly on the Yankees' radar, are free agents. The market for right-handed catchers is pretty shallow, so grabbing one of the obvious upgrades to the catcher position via trade or free agency needs to be a priority.

3. Bring back the bullpen core

Every year, the Yankees find ways to create a formidable bullpen with relative no-names, journeymen, and farm arms. In 2026, Cashman created one of the better bullpens with David Bednar anchoring, along with former starter Paul Blackburn, Fernando Cruz, and Brent Headrick. 

Cruz ended the season on the IL with an elbow injury and Headrick is the only other reliever among the above who is under contract for 2027. That needs to change.

Bednar and Blackburn should be back. Both were great and proved they could handle New York and the postseason. Other free agent bullpen arms include Ryan Yarbrough and Tim Hill, with midseason additions Michael Fulmer and John Schreiber also heading to free agency. 

Cashman rarely ponies up money for bullpen arms, but this should be the year he bucks that trend. Bringing back Bednar and Blackburn should be a priority, especially if the Yankees want to experiment using former starters like Warren, Weathers, or Luis Gil in the 'pen, or utilize Carlos Lagrange. 

2. Get younger with more contact

It feels like it's said every offseason, but the Yankees need to get younger and more athletic. And while they have made strides over the years by bringing in Jazz Chisholm Jr. and promoting youngsters like Volpe, Lombard, and Jones, they need to do more. 

For whatever reason, the Yanks cannot overcome mental mistakes in the field and on the bases and it could be attributed to age. Trent Grisham's defense in center regressed the last two seasons, while the usually sure-handed Ryan McMahon had his struggles defensively at the end of the season. And that's not to mention Chisholm seemingly not having his head in the game.

Grisham and Chisholm are not guaranteed to return, as they'll be free agents, which should open up possibilities for other younger options. Volpe could win the second base job if Chisholm doesn't return, while Jones should replace Grisham in the outfield. 

Paul Goldschmidt and Amed Rosario, handy bench veterans, are also free agents. It's hard to imagine them returning with the way the roster is currently constructed. Their departure could also lead the Yankees to bring in more contact-focused bats to limit the offensive lulls that we saw in the regular season and in the playoffs.

But the roster crunch could also be handled with one more move...

1. Decide Giancarlo Stanton's future

It's been a long time coming, but Stanton's time with the Yankees could be coming to an end.

Stanton is owed $15 million in 2027 and the team has a club option for 2028, which they certainly won't exercise, and it opens up the Yankees to designate the slugger for assignment ahead of the upcoming season. 

Sure, eating the money isn't ideal, but they did it with DJ LeMahieu back in 2025. They owed him more money ($22 million) when the move was made, so the template is there, and while Stanton has proven to be a leader in the locker room and productive at the plate (when he's out there), his injury history and age are making it hard to justify him taking up a roster spot moving forward. 

Ben Rice has excelled as the full-time DH, and adding Luis Garcia Jr. at the trade deadline gives the team a first base option. If the Yankees want their best lineup, Stanton is not a part of it. 

It also gives the team a way to use Judge as a DH here and there. 

However you slice it, New York is better off without Stanton on the roster in 2027 -- a harsh reality that puts the former MVP's nine-year career in pinstripes in jeopardy.

When the Cubs were eliminated from this year’s postseason, I decided I wanted another team to root for, just to remain invested in October baseball in 2026, in part because after this year’s World Series, we don’t know when we’re going to see Major League Baseball again.

For me, the choice was easy: The Cleveland Guardians. Let’s talk about the Guardians while we await their afternoon Game 3 against the Rays, which begins at 12 noon CT (game thread will post at 11:30 a.m. CT).

The reason I’ve picked the Guardians should be obvious — their 77-year World Series drought. As Cubs fans, we absolutely understand long droughts.

Guardians history parallels Cubs history in many ways, too. For one thing, the teams both won exactly two World Series before 1950.

From the beginning of their American League franchise in 1901, the Cleveland Indians were consistent contenders for much of that time, but won the World Series only twice, in 1920 and 1948. This despite having two of the greatest players of the pre-Live Ball Era on their team, Napoleon Lajoie and Tris Speaker. They never even won an AL pennant with Lajoie on the team, and it can be argued that their 1920 pennant was a bit of an accident because the White Sox, who were later learned to have thrown the 1919 World Series, did their best to do the same in the 1920 AL pennant race. You can read more about that here.

Cleveland defeated Brooklyn in the 1920 World Series, their first such title.

Then they went through a two-decade stretch of sort-of contending, finishing with 15 winning seasons between 1921 and 1940, but never winning a pennant. They led the AL through much of 1940 but the Tigers overtook them in September and won by one game.

The team muddled through much of the 1940s, finally breaking through and winning 97 games in 1948, defeating the Braves in the World Series. They appeared to have a pretty good team at that point. They won 90 or more games four of the next five years, but could not break past Yankees dominance until 1954, when they blazed through the regular season with a then-AL record 111 wins.

The Giants swept that Indians team in the World Series and after 1959, when they finished five games behind the White Sox, a long period of poor play began. (Does that sound familiar?) Apart from the strike-interrupted 1981 season, the Cleveland franchise would not finish closer than 11 games out of first place until 1995, when their good young core led by Manny Ramirez and Kenny Lofton went 100-44 and got back to the World Series, where they were dispatched four games to two by the Braves.

This version of the Indians was very good. Including 1995, they made the postseason six of the next seven years and got back to the World Series in 1997, where they lost in soul-crushing fashion. They led the Marlins in Game 7 2-1 with one out in the ninth when Miami tied the game on a sacrifice fly by… Craig Counsell. In the bottom of the 11th, the Marlins walked it off and the winning run was scored by… Craig Counsell.

Including this year, Cleveland, now the Guardians, has been in the postseason eight of the last 11 seasons. You obviously know what happened in 2016. That was joy for us and again, the crushing of souls for Cleveland fans.

This year’s Guardians have a “won’t quit” vibe around them, led by one of MLB’s most underappreciated superstars, José Ramírez (though it was his error that helped lead to three unearned runs for the Rays in ALCS Game 2). They’re fun to root for and with a 77-year drought on the line… I’m hoping they can end it this year.

Won’t you join me?

There are plenty of things the Orioles could have done differently to improve their record last season. They could have played better defense or struck out less. But there’s one simple thing that would have ensured more victories. They could have scored some runs when Shane Baz was on the mound.

Baltimore’s front office went out and got Shane Baz before the season. Baz was under contract with another team in the division, and the Rays did not exactly thrust him onto the trade block. Mike Elias identified Baz as a pitcher that he wanted in the 2026 rotation, and he overwhelmed the Rays with an attractive bunch of prospects.

Baltimore sent Slater de Brun, Caden Bodine, Michael Forret, Austin Overn, and a competitive balance pick to the Rays in exchange for the former first round pick. Forret has since made his way back to the organization, while de Brun traveled to Tampa after arriving in Baltimore via compensation for the Bryan Baker trade.

Bodine vaulted up prospect lists after a strong 2026 campaign, and Overn currently sits inside Tampa Bay’s Top 10 according to MLB Pipeline. The Orioles sent Tyler Wells to the Rays to reacquire Forret, and a first round pick is a first round pick.

The Orioles, to their credit, did what a team should do after investing that much prospect capital to acquire one player. They signed Baz to a five-year extension worth $68 million dollars.

Baz went on to post a 6-15 record with the Orioles. Those numbers make the deal sound like a total disaster, but that was hardly the case. Baltimore provided Baz some of the worst run support of any pitcher in the majors last year.

Baz finished 2026 with a 4.11 ERA and 3.62 FIP while giving his new team a chance to win almost every night. Unfortunately, the team rarely took advantage of the opportunity. Baz kept his head up and said all the right things after several disappointing efforts, but the team rarely picked up their new teammate.

Mike Elias lauded Baz as a player with Cy Young potential at the time of the deal, but he clarified that the 27-year-old would need time to get to that point. Baz missed all of 2023 and a majority of 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He posted a 4.87 ERA over 166.1 innings in 2025. The season marked the first time that the former top prospect had eclipsed 80 innings in his career.

Baz took a giant step forward with 180 innings over 31 starts. The Orioles may eventually regret parting with such a wealth of talent in exchange for Baz, but it’s difficult not to call his first season in Baltimore a success. The optics would be incredibly different if Baz delivered the same quality of production, but the Orioles were the team competing for a chance to go to the World Series right now.

Baz controlled what he could control, but he also found himself in odd situations. He was on the mound for the infamous “not out of the baseline” play, and he often struggled to strand runners after silly mistakes by Baltimore’s defense. Of the 92 runs he allowed in 2026, only 82 were earned.

The Orioles will look for Baz to take another step forward in 2027. Kyle Bradish earned a similar—albeit pricier—five-year extension, but Trevor Rogers is a free agent. Brandon Young will return after a surprising 2026, and the organization features several talented young pitching prospects, but the Birds will look to Bradish and Baz to lead this rotation in 2027 and beyond.

Baz took a comebacker off his elbow in a mid-September start against the Mets. He appeared to dodge any type of significant injury, but the Orioles shut him down for the final two weeks with the postseason fully out of reach. After delivering a full workload in 2026, Baz should enter next season without any type of innings restriction.

Baz’s 3.4 WAR in 2026 trailed only Pete Alonso, Rogers, and Gunnar Henderson, and there appears to be more meat on the bone. The lack of run support feels like an anomaly, which should free up Baz for more happy endings in 2027.

With the 2026 season fully behind us, I decided to take a look at all of the top prospects who are likely to contribute to the major league roster next season. From the franchise cornerstones to the middle relievers, these are all of the prospects that I think could provide significant value to the Twins in 2027.

The Stars

We got a glimpse of what long-time No. 1 prospect Walker Jenkins can do in the big leagues, and after struggling for his first couple weeks, Jenkins finished the season on an absolute tear. Over his final 10 games, he slashed .385/.400/.615 for a 186 wRC+ and just a 7.5% strikeout rate. With an all-around elite skillset, Jenkins should be in the Opening Day lineup and has a chance to be one of the Twins most productive players in 2027.

Emmanuel Rodriguez finally got his chance with the Twins in September, and while he struggled some with swing decisions and ran a 33.3% strikeout rate, his batted ball data and advance metrics were phenomenal in the small sample size. E-Rod’s elite power gives him a limitless ceiling, and he has flashed some big impact in the outfield as well. Now out of options, the Twins will be forced to keep him on the major league roster in 2027, and he is capable of providing some major thump to the middle of the lineup.

While the stats and batted ball data were nothing special for Kaelen Culpepper in his first 33 major league games, he looks like he can be an impact player on offense and in the field next season. Culpepper has excellent bat speed but struggled to square the ball up and generate high-end exit velocities. He also has extreme chase issues, running a 42.8% O-Swing in his first major league stint. Still, the glove looked sharp, and he has all the raw talent needed to be an impactful hitter.

Marek Houston is on track to begin next season in Triple-A with anticipation for a 2027 debut. He looked the part in Double-A, slashing .301/.379/.450 in 60 games while playing exceptional defense at shortstop. The Twins cannot wait to add his speed and defense to the major league squad, and there is increasing hope that his bat can provide some real impact.

Starters

There is a lot to like about the direction the Twins rotation is headed in 2027. They just hired Brian Reith out of the Rays organization to be their new pitching coach, and the staff is set to be headlined by the veteran trio of Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, and Taj Bradley. Connor Prielipp has shown frontline potential and looks to build off his promising rookie campaign, and Zebby Matthews finally looked like the pitcher we hoped he would become over his final 7 starts. The Twins also have control over Dean Kremer and Bailey Ober if they want them, both of whom were quality back-end starters this year. As injuries undoubtably occur, the Twins have a nice assortment of replacements waiting at the top of the farm system.

Of all the pitching prospects in the Twins system, Kendry Rojas is sure to be one of the top contributors to the Twins staff in 2027. While he nibbled too much and struggled with walks this year, he showed an impressive feel for location along with mid-rotation stuff. If he can improve his stuff even more next year and lengthen his outings, Rojas can firmly fit into the Twins rotation. Otherwise, he is a fun lefty bullpen arm.

Now two years into his pro career, Ryan Gallagher struggled in Triple-A this summer, but he possesses all of the tools needed to be a quality innings eater in the Twins rotation. Strike-throwing has been inconsistent and he could use some added fastball velocity, but if we see some improvements going into 2027, Gallagher will fit nicely as a 7th or 8th starter option.

Riley Quick still has a ways to go in his development, but with improved command, his electric stuff could absolutely push him into the Twins rotation in 2027. Quick was terrorized by walks and homers this season, but elite strikeout and whiff rates were able to keep his numbers afloat. There is potential for a huge breakout next year if he can stay health and be more of a pitcher than a thrower.

Righty flamethrower Adrian Bohorquez has struggled with injuries and is only 4 starts into his Double-A tenure, but he is developing well, and his overpowering stuff may force him into the majors one way or another in 2027. The big question with Bohorquez is if he can consistently get lefties out. He was dominant against righties in 2026, allowing just a .194 SLG with a 32.1% strikeout rate but a .344 SLG with a 23.1% strikeout rate against lefites. The back end of the bullpen may be a better fit if he can’t find a put-away pitch for left-handed hitters.

Eli Jones had his season end in late May due to injury, but he was pitching well in his first taste of Double-A, and he projects well as a back-end strike-thrower. Jones had a velo spike into the mid-90s this year, and with further stuff development, he has a chance to provide some innings to the Twins rotation in 2027.

Role Players

Its impossible to not get caught up in the excitement of prospects like Walker Jenkins and Emmanuel Rodriguez, but the Twins need to get production out their second-tier prospects as well. These guys maybe don’t quite have the ceiling or the polish of a high-end prospect, but there is potential for significant value with them in the right role.

After struggling to hit the ball in Double-A the last two years, Ben Ross had an unlikely breakout in 2026, posting a 108 wRC+ in Triple-A and making his MLB debut in September. While Ross lacks true bat talent, his elite swing decisions allow him to put together good at-bats. Defensively, he can play anywhere in the infield or outfield at a high level and is a plus runner. There is a lot to like about keeping Ben Ross on the roster as a bench utility defender and pinch runner.

Hendry Mendez struggled a bit down the stretch as he dealt with injuries, but he still finished the season with a 107 wRC+ in 78 games at Triple-A, and he has one of the most impressive offensive skillsets in the system. With plus contact skills, violent bat speed, and elite swing decisions, the only thing holding Mendez back at the plate is his extreme ground ball rates. While he is a poor outfield defender and will be better suited at DH, he profiles as an on-base machine with some big upside if he can elevate the ball more.

We got mixed results out of Brandon Winokur’s bat this year as he pushed into Double-A. He totaled 21 homers and 30 stolen bags with average offensive production across 127 games. His defense has continued to develop nicely as Winokur has the athleticism and arm to be a plus defender at third base and center field. There is plus raw power in the tank, and if he can maintain his 79% zone contact rate while improving his swing decisions, there is some big slug potential. 2027 will be a very interesting year for Brandon Winokur as he pushes close to the majors.

Khadim Diaw is one of the most well-rounded prospects in the Twins system and has also been one of the most productive since he joined the organization in 2024. He lacks raw power, but plus contact skills and an extremely patient approach make Diaw an on-base machine. He also possesses an intriguing catcher/outfield defensive profile that would give the Twins some valuable versatility. It’s unclear exactly how high the offensive ceiling is or if he will end up playing any catcher at the major league level, but he is set to begin 2027 in Triple-A with a good chance of debuting at some point next summer.

Relievers

The Twins bullpen is looking closer to average now with Jeff Hoffman, Andrew Morris, Yoendrys Gomez, and Kody Funderburk all locked in for 2027 along with a handful of other solid arms. There is an intriguing group of relievers in the upper minors with clear concerns but impressive stuff that could thrust them into the Twins bullpen next season. Don’t forget about David Festa or Matt Canterino either!

It was an interesting season for longtime top prospect Marco Raya this year. After a rough start, he caught fire in May and made his MLB debut in June, but only threw 6 innings before an injury put him on the IL for two weeks. He came back and struggled a bit, but finished the season by running a 1.56 ERA with 25 strikeouts and 6 walks over his last 17.1 innings in Triple-A. His 5.32 season ERA is not pretty, but out of 276 pitchers with at least 50 innings at Triple-A, Raya ranked 16th in xFIP and 22nd in K-BB%. With a mid-90s fastball and a trio of devastating secondaries that generate whiffs against both righties and lefties, Marco Raya has the stuff to be an electric bullpen arm if he can put it all together.

A 2027 debut for 8th round pick Thomas Burns is very aggressive but it’s possible. There are significant concerns with his command and strike-throwing ability, but he joined the organization immediately having some of the best stuff in the entire system. He has an outlier fastball in the upper 90s with elite carry. His cutter and changeup are both big whiff pitches as well if he can command them. I don’t think a 2027 debut is likely for Thomas Burns, especially in the Twins organization, but he has legitimate closer potential if the Twins can get him to throw enough strikes. The hope is that he will move through the system very quickly.

C.J. Culpepper got middling results in Triple-A this year after making a move to the bullpen. As an east-west pitcher with limited whiff, Culpepper succeeds by generating lots of weak ground contact, similar to Kody Funderburk. He finished the season with a 4.71 ERA and 5.09 FIP in 57.1 Triple-A innings, striking out 58 and walking 34. While Culpepper can be an effective middle reliever for the Twins in 2027, we need to see some strike-throwing improvements to really make the groundballer profile work.

2025 Indy ball signing Ruddy Gomez has had a two-year stretch that we cannot ignore. His devastating slider has carried him all the way from rookie ball to Triple-A in two seasons, where he ran a 3.00 ERA and 2.99 FIP in Double-A this season, and looked pretty good in his short stint in St. Paul to finish the season. His slider has dominated at every level, and if Gomez can improve the shape on his mid-90s fastball, we are almost surely looking at a big league reliever and a 2027 debut.

The 2027 campaign of Alejandro Hidalgo is one that I am particularly interested in. Getting excited about a guy who holds a 6.75 ERA in Triple-A this season and a 5.80 ERA in his minor league career seems weird, but Hidalgo has posted elite strikeout numbers with respectable strike-throwing. Home runs have been a devastating issue, but he could be a couple minor tweaks away from being a big league reliever at just 23 years old.

Maybe There’s Something There?

I was ready to give up on Kala’i Rosario, who returned to Double-A for a third season this year and saw his strikeout rate spike up to 31% while his overall production dropped significantly from last year. Naturally, he found a spark in Triple-A at the end of August and finished the season by slashing .315/.322/.674 for a 146 wRC+ over his last 22 games. The plus power was on full display and he was making quality swing decisions while running a manageable 79% zone contact rate. He is playable in a corner outfield spot and has a little bit of speed. The projection is questionable, though, as he hits righties better than lefties and is a pull-happy hitter that doesn’t do any damage on the outer half of the plate. At his current state he will be taken advantage of in the majors, but at 24 years old with impressive raw power and a history of production, I won’t give up just yet.

After a huge 2025 campaign driven by immense batted ball luck, Gabriel Gonzalez came back down to Earth in 2026, running a 91 wRC+ in 114 games at Triple-A. He can hit for contact and has shown tangible improvement in his plate approach, but the lack of raw power and defensive value will make it tough for Gonzalez to find a role at the major league level.

The season may not be technically over, but the Phillies have been in their offseason for two weeks. They have delayed their end of season press conference until today, with it now coming on the heels of the team making Don Mattingly their permanent manager. Manager was the first domino to fall for an offseason with much on the agenda, and the team’s choice has not exactly inspired the fan base’s belief in Dave Dombrowski and the front office’s ability to improve the roster or just inject some life into the franchise overall.

In any case, there is still much to be done with the team on the field. The Phillies need to at minimum fix an offense that was among the worst in the league. Doing so will be easier said than done, as they do not have much in the way of trade ammunition and the free agent market is extremely light on impact bats. They need to rebuild a bullpen that collapsed in the second half of the season partially due to their now permanent manager’s heavy handedness in management. Finally, it would behoove the Phillies to also try and find ways to improve their defense, as they ranked near the bottom there as well and featured some of the worst defenders at any position in the sport.

And that’s before even taking into account the elephant in the room that is the looming lockout that threatens to at best wipe out some of the offseason and at worst take out some of the 2027 season in addition to completely revamping the financial systems of the sport.

Because of all this, it’s not necessarily being a pessimist if you are worried about how this Phillies offseason will go. That does not mean that reasons to be optimistic do not exist, but we will discuss those tomorrow. Today we’ll start with the bad news and try to envision what would constitute a poor offseason in your mind. So, what is your worst-case scenario for this offseason? 

Meet the Mets

Luis Torrens, Carson Benge, and Nolan McLean were all named as Gold Glove finalists, and should any of them win, it would end a 12-year drought since a Met last won the award.

McLean, Benge, and A.J. Ewing all made an impression this season, but the next wave of prospects could be on the way.

The organization is expanding their pro scouting department, which will lead to more in-person scouting.

Around the National League East

Chris Sale, Matt Olson, Michael Harris II, and Mauricio Dubón were all named as Gold Glove finalists for the Braves.

One year after winning the Gold Glove for being a utility man, Javier Sanoja was nominated for the award at third base for the Marlins.

The Phillies are moving on from hitting coach Kevin Long and infield coach Bobby Dickerson.

Nationals left fielder Daylen Lile struggled in the field in 2025, but just one year later he is nominated for a Gold Glove award.

Around Major League Baseball

The Brewers took a commanding 3-0 lead in the NLCS after defeating the Dodgers 6-2 in LA.

The Astros are choosing not to renew the contract of manager Joe Espada after they were swept by the White Sox in the Wild Card series.

With small market teams dominating this year’s playoffs, they are disproving that baseball is in need of a salary cap right before CBA negotiations are due to ramp up.

Due to expected inclement weather in Cleveland, the start time for Game 3 of the ALCS was moved to 1:00 PM EDT, and Game 4 of NLCS was moved to 8:00 PM EDT.

The Rays are having a hard time filling up their stadium for the playoffs due to the price of the tickets.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 1986, the Mets defeated the Astros in Game 6 of the NLCS in sixteen innings at the Astrodome to move on to the World Series.

The Phillies are keeping things the same at the top but there will be some notable changes to other key facets of organizational philosophy.

Longtime hitting coach Kevin Long and infield coach Bobby Dickerson are not returning for the 2027 season to be part of new full-time manager’s Don Mattingly staff, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski confirmed Thursday during a press conference.

Long, the former Yankees and Mets hitting coach, had two more years on his contract, per The Athletic.

“(The decisions were) made in conjunction with Don,” Dombrowski said. “He felt those were two moves he recommended. We discussed it throughly.”

These moves — with at least one being a firing — shows that team brass believes change is needed to two areas that ultimately failed the Phililies this season.

Long joined the Phillies in October 2021 and oversaw some great offensive seasons, but the Phillies ranked 22nd in OPS with a .707 mark this year.

Trea Turner’s notable regression in the fourth year of an 11-season pact notably stood out, and the team’s offense has routinely failed in the playoffs in recent years.

Philadelphia scored nine runs in its three-game wild-card loss to the Braves this year, tallied 15 in a four-game NLDS loss to the Dodgers in 2025 and 12 in another four-game NLDS loss to the Mets in 2024.

Kyle Schwarber pushed for the team to keep Long beyond 2025 before the slugger re-signed with the team last offseason, per NBC Philadelphia, and the assistant reportedly received a three-year pact.

The Athletic reported that the promotion of Luke Murton to assistant general manager for hitting may have factored into the decision to go with a new voice leading the offensive program.

The Phillies also hired Dickerson in October 2021 and he’s exiting after a rough defensive season.

Philadelphia tied for the league-worst mark by posting minus-51 defensive runs saved (DRS) and ranked in the bottom 10 with minus-15 outs above average (OAA), per Fangraphs.

Turner also endured a massive dip in his defensive metrics, going from plus-2 DRS and plus-10 OAA in 2025 to minus-17 DRS and minus-8 OAA this past year.

The Phillies will also have a new third base coach in 2027 in former Mets manager Carlos Mendoza.

Previous handler Anthony Contreras is shifting to a new role, per The Athletic.

The whole Royals infield are finalists for the Gold Glove award.

Perla Paredes, writes about three different Royals prospects that could have an impact in KC in 2027.

Angeibel Gomez’s OPS in the Dominican Summer League caught some attention.

We know we have to take Rookie-level Dominican Summer League stats with a grain of salt, but it’s hard not to get excited about Gomez, especially after seeing him holding his own at age 17 in the Arizona Fall League. Signed for $2.9 million in January, Gomez led qualified Royals prospects at any level in OPS, SLG (.652) and ISO (.292).

David Lesky wrote about what he would do if he was JJ Picollo for a day.

Matthew Swigonski of Kings of Kauffman ranked Bobby Witt Jr’s first five MLB seasons.

Kevin O’Brien, of Royals Keep, gives a recap of Royals Fall League action.

The Brewers came back to beat the Dodgers late last night.

Jake Bauers never gave up, and is now having a career year.

Jackson Chourio, who hit the first pitch of game 3, out of the park, made history doing so.

Thursday’s divisional games got new start times

Here is your song of the day: Let’s Groove by Earth, Wind & Fire

In part 1 of this series, I looked at the past 30 years or so of teams and what we might generally expect based on little more than knowing how good a team’s best two players.  Today, in part 2, we’ll pick up with a question that wonders if it should matter that De La Cruz and Burns were paid so little, relative to the overall team payroll.

Question #5: What does the percentage of payroll represented by a team’s top two players tell us about their win expectancy?

To answer this question, I first narrowed the set of teams to include.  In short, I pulled only those teams from the past 30 years for which both their top position player and top pitcher ended the year somewhere between 4.5 and 6.5 WAR.  This is meant to give an approximate range that we can suitably compare against the performance of Elly De La Cruz and Chase Burns.  There are 129 such teams in this data set and while the range of wins from these teams spanned from 62 to 107, we can still see a general trend line within this specific subset:

Incidentally, there were five teams with such a profile in 2026 (Reds, Braves, Guardians, Dodgers, and Rays).  Four of them won their respective division.

The relationship is not terribly strong, however, and I posited that the variance within this group could be better explained by how much of a team’s payroll is assigned to those two players.

A quick data note here to say that historical team payroll data is probably not the most reliable information in the baseball universe.  Sites that do track payroll, most notably Spotrac, don’t include data that goes back as far as 1996.  I was able to find payroll data that stretches back that far from The Baseball Cube, and I was reasonably satisfied that the payroll data is directionally accurate, if not perfectly so. 

Nonetheless, data does exist and I used it to create a new point of comparison: For the 129 teams graphed above, how do team wins compare against the proportion of payroll paid to just the top position player and top pitcher?

The answer: nothing.

Within this data range, the amount paid to the top hitter and top pitcher explains none of the variance in wins.

In 2017, the Arizona Diamondbacks operated with a payroll of a little over $90M.  They paid Paul Goldschmidt $8.75M and received 6.1 WAR in return.  They paid Zack Greinke $31M and received 5.8 WAR in return.  Basically 12 WAR for 44% of the team’s payroll.  The team won 93 games.

In 2001, the Houston Astros operated with a payroll of a little over $60M (coincidentally, both teams’ payrolls were right around half of the highest team payroll from those respective seasons).  Their best players were Lance Berkman (6.5 WAR) and Wade Miller (5.3 WAR), who the team paid $305K and $241K, respectively.  Basically 12 WAR for less than 1% of the team’s payroll.  The team won 93 games.

These two examples are emblematic of the overall data.  Moreover, when I look at different ways to measure payroll, I see only marginal improvements to the predictability of win totals.  Here, for example, are those 129 teams graphed so as to compare team wins to how close each team’s payroll was to the highest in the league:

Yeah, it’s better to be a high payroll team than not…but you won’t make a ton of money betting strictly on that info.

So, then: if the payroll attributed to the best two players is not a predictor of success, what categories might make sense to view the 2026 Reds through?  And what historical teams had similar situations to what the Reds had with Elly and Chase and what might we learn from their examples?

Here are seven categories that we should examine these teams through, starting with the 2026 Reds:

Injuries:

• Hunter Greene pitched just five games in 2026 due to assorted arm troubles.  While he has yet to appear in more than 26 games in a season, Greene contributed 4.2 WAR in 2025 and 6 WAR in 2024.
• Nick Lodolo had blister issues at the beginning of the season, limiting him to 20 starts and 103 innings for the year.  He was coming off a 4.7 WAR, 131 ERA+ season, but managed just 1.1 WAR and 83 ERA+ in 2026.  Obviously, it’s tough to know how much of the sharp decline is injury related.
• Closer Emilio Pagan missed most of May and all of June.  His 2026 has been serviceable, (1.2 WAR, 119 ERA+), but is a downgrade from 2025 (1.9 WAR, 152 ERA+).
• Third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes missed more than 40 games from May to July.  He was barely above replacement level in his Reds tenure in 2025 and has been below replacement in 2026.  It would be a stretch to suggest that Hayes’s injury has hurt the team.
• Utility player Spencer Steer missed the final two-plus months of the season.  He ended the year with 0.2 WAR.
• Summary: Greene was a huge loss, clearly.  The timing of his March elbow surgery precluded any robust contingency moves by the team, to the extent that they would have pursued one.  That injury, plus Lodolo, put a strain on the pitching staff throughout the year.  In general, the team was not especially cursed with bad injury luck, although the pitching was certainly impacted.

Dead Weight:

• Jeimer Candelario, released midway through the 2025 season, still made up 10% of the Reds payroll in 2026.

Surprising Breakthrough:

• The point of this section is to examine if the two best players on the team were projectable.  In other words, was there reasonable expectation during the offseason last year that these two would be as good as they were?
• Elly De La Cruz was entering his 3rd full time season in 2026 and posted WAR totals of 5.2 in 2024 and 3.6 in 2025.  He definitely exceeded expectations in 2026 but his season was not outside a reasonable projection range.
• Chase Burns was a prospect with a high pedigree and he pitched 43 innings at the big league level in 2025 after dominating at the AA and AAA levels.  It’s not like no one saw him coming, but a 5 WAR season would have been deemed unlikely by all but the most supportive of relatives.

Position Player Depth:

• The Reds were disastrous at 2B, 3B, and all three OF positions.  Matt McLain has been a tantalizing but ultimately disappointing second baseman since a shoulder injury in 2024.  Ke’Bryan Hayes is widely seen as the worst every day player in baseball.  An assortment of flotsam and jetsam in the outfield combined to be 29^th out of 30^th in terms of Wins Above Average.
• First baseman Sal Stewart has had an excellent counting stat season, but doesn’t register well in the WAR category.  He’s young and has a good hitting profile though.
• The Reds were not above average at any position but shortstop.

Starting Pitcher Depth:

• Other than Burns, no starter had an ERA+ above 90.  Andrew Abbott and Brady Singer both fell short of expectations, with Singer bordering on unpitchable.
• Hunter Greene’s injury-plagued year forced Rhett Lowder and Brandon Williamson into more innings than would have been normally expected.  Both were sub-replacement level.

Relief Pitcher Depth:

• A below average outfit overall, the Reds had some OK-to-decent pieces to rely on (Pagan, Brock Burke, Tejay Antone, Julian Garcia), but nearly all other arms in the pen were flat out bad.
• The bullpen inefficacy was compounded by the lack of quality arms in the rotation.  The bullpen threw more innings than average relative to the rest of MLB.

Did the 2026 Reds fail to prepare appropriately for the combination of Elly De La Cruz and Chase Burns?

We’ll come back to this one.  In part 3, we’ll look at some five historical teams which had similar top hitter/pitcher combinations and payroll impacts as the 2026 Reds and will wrap up with some final thoughts and conclusions.

Today’s Reflections

Hello, everyone.

Just letting you know I came across two new articles about the outfield positioning experiment. The first one is a good, thorough article with a lot of interesting info, and it also led me to the following item: The author of the second article noticed something weird happening on the field, asked questions and even went onto the field after the game and tested it. Cool article, and probably has the best way to approach this change for now.

I appreciate your reading.

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The Change MLB is Considering That Would (potentially) Damage Baseball, Part 2:

• Ian Miller (Outkick.com): Major League Baseball is experimenting with new rules this fall to fundamentally change the sport. “Batting average on fly balls has dropped 35 points since 2019 as teams use data to place fielders with increasing precision.”
• Eric Longenhagen (Fangraphs): Major League Baseball Piloting Experimental Outfield Positioning Rules in Arizona Fall League. “But across 18 innings of baseball, I’m digging this.”

Free Agency/Trades/Arbitration Stories:

• Chris Pownall (DaWindyCity): Early prediction: Cubs could make massive $93 million offseason roster shakeup. “The Chicago Cubs have a chance to do something this winter that Jed Hoyer hasn’t always had the flexibility to do: change a substantial portion of the roster.”
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib): Cubs’ second chance at Freddy Peralta looks more intriguing after Rays’ ALCS breakthrough. “Chicago needs big arms and that’s what Peralta looked like on Tuesday night.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Maybe Tarik Skubal to the Cubs Isn’t ENTIRELY Out of the Question? “The Cubs SHOULD be involved on Skubal, given how obviously he fits their needs. I could argue there’s no single team in baseball more improved by adding Skubal than the Cubs.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Cubs Look Like Tarik Skubal Fit on Paper, Other Than How Much Paper He’ll Command. “As with many other free agents at the top of nearly every Cubs fan’s wish list, Tarik Skubal is going to draw a lot of attention over the next several months.”
• Elias Schuster (Chicago Cubs On SI): A Cubs Run at Tarik Skubal Shouldn’t Be Ruled Out This Offseason. “With the starting rotation in flux, the Chicago Cubs could still look to target one of the best names in baseball.”
• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): 5 Impending Free Agents Cubs Fans Should Watch Closely During Championship Series. “The Cubs have been left with their noses pressed to the window during the League Championship Series round for nine straight seasons. There’s plenty to see there, at least, for a team that knows a big shopping spree lies ahead.”
• Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation): The Top 7 Cubs Free Agents to Target for 2027. “Go nuts, Tom and Jed. If you don’t, we’ll just be in the same position (or worse) again next year.”
• Matt Sullivan (Sporting News): Cubs predicted to trade away Matt Shaw to land Mariners’ All-Star starter. “This trade prediction for the Cubs is a bold one, but it makes a lot of sense.”
• Alexander Rosquez (LastWordOnSports): Matt Shaw Trade Could Help Cubs’ Rotation, But Would Be Costly. “A Matt Shaw trade is still a scenario, not a reported negotiation.”
• Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation): The Top 17 Cubs Trade Targets for 2027. “Although the 2027 Chicago Cubs will this offseason, it is absolutely not time to let off the gas.”
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib): Padres, Cubs could find themselves going head-to-head in free agency after playoffs showdown. “These National League foes could square off in the pitching market this offseason.”
• Aldo Soto (SportsMockery): Chicago Cubs Brace for Arbitration Avalanche Heading Into 2027. “Let’s go over the list of players and pinpoint the easy choices, a few fringe guys, and the handful of player who will not return next season.”

Pitching Stories:

• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): The Cubs Have Most of the Pieces of a Good 2027 Bullpen On Hand. “There’s so much the Cubs have to accomplish this offseason that it’s tempting to think they’re starting from scratch, outside their key, high-dollar position players. They do have the bones of a better bullpen on the roster, though.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Our Expectations for Pitcher Command Are Probably Too High. “We think of these things as in competition with each other, but a lot of times, analytics merely confirms what a player’s gut was telling him anyway!”
• Jason Ross (North Side Baseball): Shota Imanaga’s 2026 in Review: A Successful (Final) Season in Chicago. “Shota Imanaga played under the qualifying offer in 2026. What should we make of an up-and-down season for the lefty?”

Hitting Stories:

• Ryan O’Rourke (Cubbies Crib): Pete Crow-Armstrong draws impressive comparison from Andrew McCutchen that Cubs fans will love. “PCA’s fellow MVP had a lot of love to share.”
• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): Matt Shaw, Pedro Ramírez and the Cubs’ Shaky 2027 Outfield Plans. “The Cubs will have to fill at least one of their corner outfield spots from within next season. They have two young, controllable players with prospect pedigree in position to take the job, but it’s not clear that either can handle it.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Which of These 3 Paths Will Cubs Take to Address Vacant Corner OF Spots? “The Cubs have repeatedly borne witness to that as they continue to trail the Brewers year after year in spite of a much deeper pool of resources.”
• Randy Holt (North Side Baseball): Dansby Swanson Is Still A Streaky Hitter, But Those Streaks Are Cold More Often Than Not. “Dansby Swanson just endured the worst offensive season of his Cubs tenure. Is this the new normal for the once-star shortstop?”

Thorough Catcher Analysis:

• Randy Holt (North Side Baseball): Did Miguel Amaya Do Enough in 2026 to Be Cubs’ Main Catcher in 2027? “Miguel Amaya was above-average at the plate for a second straight year and roughly average behind the plate. Did he do enough in 2026 to get a shot at the No. 1 gig next spring?”
• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): The Cubs Need to Find the Next Carson Kelly, But This Winter, That Player Doesn’t Exist. “From the moment the Cubs agreed to signed Carson Kelly in December 2024, it was fairly clear that they’d found the perfect fit. Now, Kelly is an impending free agent, but re-upping with him isn’t the right move. They need this winter’s Carson Kelly. Good luck with that.”

Assorted Stories:

• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Signed Prints of JJ Weinberg’s ‘Field of Dreams’ Cubs Championship Painting Available. “Artist and Cubs fan J.J. Weinberg put himself on the map for Cubs fans when he gifted his father, Jerry, his original painting of the Cubs celebrating their 2016 World Series win.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): These players stood out in Cubs’ farm system in ‘26. “Let’s run through some of the developments in the Cubs’ farm system from this last season.”

Special Hitting Analysis articles:

• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Why the Ideal Bat Path is the Ideal Bat Path. “I really loved this visualization of a good bat path from Eric Kozak, the Hitting Coordinator at Driveline.”

(The following article was linked in the one above. I don’t believe I caught it at the time, so I’m linking it separately just in case.)

• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): Pete Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman Are Doing Some Impressive (and Impressively Similar) Things. “I was blown away by the similarities at various points in the two guys’ swings.”

Food For Thought:

Born and raised in Mississippi, Eddie Cotton Jr. is a modern torchbearer of the blues, blending soulful vocals, masterful guitar work, and deep-rooted tradition. His passion for music was sparked in the church, where his father was a preacher, and it was there that he honed his signature style—one that seamlessly fuses gospel influences with the raw energy of the blues. Cotton’s journey into the blues world was shaped by the legends who came before him, including B.B. King, Albert King, and Buddy Guy. His breakout moment came in 2015 when he won the prestigious International Blues Challenge, cementing his place among contemporary blues greats.

Cotton delivers a sound that is both fresh and timeless, filled with electrifying guitar riffs, heartfelt storytelling, and a groove that keeps audiences coming back for more. Whether performing on festival stages or in intimate venues, his music resonates with both seasoned blues lovers and new listeners alike. Eddie Cotton Jr. isn’t just playing the blues—he’s living it, breathing new life into a genre that remains as powerful as ever.

Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series.

In 2008, the Tampa Bay Rays dropped the first game of the American League Championship Series to the Boston Red Sox. The offense couldn’t muster anything against Daisuke Matsuzaka and the team suffered a 2-0 shutout.

The next day, the bats woke up and the two teams engaged in a forgotten classic with Tampa Bay coming out on top thanks to a BJ Upton sacrifice fly and the blazing speed of Fernando Perez.

After two games, the series was split and the Rays lost their home field advantage.

It didn’t matter as the Rays decimated the Red Sox in games three and four and were a few outs from winning game five. They eventually took the series in seven games.

The two games couldn’t not have been more different from the current ALCS but the stage remains the same as the Rays head from the comfy confines of Tropicana Field and head up to Ohio where the weather will be a factor. Bad weather in the postseason quickly brings back painful memories of the 2008 World Series, but MLB is attempting to be proactive during the ALCS as they have already moved up the first pitch for Game 3 to 1:00pm.

Currently, the forecast for the Cleveland area shows to be an overcast cool today with the rain not expected to develop until later in the night, thus allowing the two teams ample time to complete the game.

Tampa Bay will have a tough task ahead of them as 27-year old Gavin Williams take the mound. The four-year veteran of the Guardians staff has been solid throughout his career but broke out during the 2026 campaign with a newfound ability to generate strikeouts. Entering the season, the former 2021 first round pick Williams had a 24.1 K% over 325.2 IP. Williams soared to new heights over 184.1 IP in 2026 as he struck out 33.2% of opposing hitters. Gavin Williams had the highest BB% of qualifying starting pitchers 2025 (11.8%) but he managed to drop that to 8.2% in 2026 wihich is in the middle of the pack. Thanks to his high strikeout totals and improvement in command, Williams ranked 3rd among starting pitchers in K-BB%.

Overall for the 2026 season, Williams finished with a 3.76 ERA | 3.47 FIP with the aforementioned 33.2 K% & 8.2 BB% over 184.1 IP.

There will be an immovable object versus unstoppable force energy going as Williams is among the best in baseball in getting whiffs. Among 178 pitchers with at least 80 IP in 2026, Williams had the 4th lowest contact% with hitters only connecting 69.3% of the time. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays as a whole were elite at making contact, easily leading the MLB with a 18.3 contact%.

Williams has already made three appearances this postseason, pitching in three games of the ALDS against the Chicago White Sox. He carved through the South Side hitters with ease, striking out 52.2% of the opposing hitters over 11.2 IP. Williams was an integral to Cleveland’s game five victory as he hurled 5.2 shutout innings, while allowing just one hit, walking two, and striking out 12.

Going to the mound for the Rays will be Griffin Jax, making his first start since September 26th when he pitched three innings against the Philadelphia Phillies during the final weekend of the regular season.

The former reliever turner starter has shown flashes of brilliance during his outings this season but has also been infuriatingly inconsistent. Over 34 appearances – 23 starts – Jax has compiled a 3.53 ERA | 3.76 FIP with a 25.3 K% & and 7.6 BB% over 112.1 IP. Jax’s most recent outing game during game three of the ALDS against the New York Yankees where he allowed a run on one hit, while he struck out four over two innings pitched.

The Rays have managed to win four of their five games this postseason, despite an overall lackluster showing from their offense. The team has averaged just over three runs a game and currently opposing pitching staffs have a 2.14 ERA against them. Yandy Diaz is currently hitting just .238 over 22 PA while Jonathan Aranda is hitting .222 over his 21 PA. As a whole, the team is hitting .215/.271/329 during the playoffs.

A bright sign is the team’s K% is roughly the same as the regular season (18.6% postseason compared to 18.8% regular season). The Rays BABIP luck from the regular season has failed to transfer to October thus far as the team maintained a .296 BABIP over the 162 schedule to a lowly .246 over their 5 playoff games.

First pitch will be a 1:00pm

The Dodgers are one loss away from getting swept in the postseason for the first time since the 2023 NLDS against the Diamondbacks. No matter how you want to slice it, they’ve looked inferior in every facet of the game in this series, from situational hitting to defense, bullpen work, and so on—now it’ll be up to Tyler Glasnow to at the very least delay what appears to be an unavoidable postseason exit for the reigning back-to-back champs.

Although the Brewers have yet to formally announce a starter, all signs point towards Dustin May taking the ball in Game 4 of this series—it might be with an opener, or it might be with him as a starter; either way, the bulk innings role will belong to the former Dodger.

When it comes to lineup decisions, Max Muncy figures to regain a starting role at third base, and you have to wonder if Will Smith remains in the seventh spot—the Dodger catcher was responsible for the only big hit the home team had in a Game 3 loss. Speaking of hitters who moved down in the order, although it amounted to very little, Shohei Ohtani reached safely in three of his four plate appearances in a 6-2 defeat.

Neither Evan Phillips nor Roki Sasaki had especially lengthy appearances off the bullpen, so apart from Justin Wrobleski, there’ll be no one else unavailable in the bullpen for Game 4. With nothing to lose and following the seventh-inning debacle of leaving Blake Snell in too long, expect potential aggressive calls to the bullpen at the first sign of trouble for Glasnow.

NLCS Game 4 info

• Teams: No. 2 seed Dodgers vs. No. 1 seed Brewers
• Series: Milwaukee leads, 3-0
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
• Start time: 5:08 p.m.
• TV: FS1 (Joe Davis, John Smoltz, Ken Rosenthal, Tom Verducci)
• National radio: ESPN Radio (Jon Sciambi, Doug Glanville)
• Local English radio: AM 570 (Charley Steiner, Rick Monday)
• Local Spanish radio: KTNQ 1020 AM (José Mota, Luis Cruz)

The annual Rawlings Gold Glove Nominees were announced yesterday. Two Guardians were nominated for their respective positions.

Tanner Bibee received a nomination for AL Pitcher.

The 2026 Rawlings Gold Glove Award Finalists – AL Pitcher – Tanner Bibee, Jacob DeGrom, José Soriano #RawlingsGoldGloveAwardspic.twitter.com/FJvqcxoxtp

— Rawlings Baseball (@RawlingsSports) October 14, 2026

Steven Kwan is up for his fifth Gold Glove in as many season with his nomination in Center Field.

The 2026 Rawlings Gold Glove Award Finalists – AL Center Field – Evan Carter, Steven Kwan, Ceddanne Rafaela#RawlingsGoldGloveAwardspic.twitter.com/lrhdxVlEN3

— Rawlings Baseball (@RawlingsSports) October 14, 2026

The full list of finalist for both the AL and NL can be found here.

As the Gold Glove nominations kick off the MLB award season, the MLBPA announced their player chosen nominations as well. Parker Messick was nominated for AL Outstanding Rookie alongside two of his fellow AL Central Rookies. The full list of MLBPA Players Choice Finalists can be found here.

Congratulations to the AL & NL Outstanding Rookie Players Choice Awards Finalists!

AL
🔷 Kevin McGonigle
🔷 Parker Messick
🔷Munetaka Murakami

NL
♦️TJ Rumfield
♦️Sal Stewart
♦️JJ Wetherholt pic.twitter.com/oT379dqmGT

— MLBPA (@MLBPA) October 14, 2026

Much to everyone’s dismay, the game time for today’s ALCS Game 3 had to be moved up to 1PM today from the original 8PM start time. It is unclear if tomorrow’s Game 4 will also be affected by the forecasted precipitation. Unfortunately this means that a lot of people who were previously able to attend the game likely can not attend. Here’s to hoping that the impacted attendance doesn’t bring a negative atmosphere to the ballpark. If you are going to the game, look forward to a first pitch from Cleveland Cavaliers star Donovan Mitchell, another well designed rally towel, and hopefully another masterclass day game start from starter Gavin Williams.

We're ready for some ALCS baseball at The Corner.#GuardsBall | #StandGuardpic.twitter.com/mtoPITwlbZ

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) October 14, 2026