PHOENIX, ARIZONA - SEPTEMBER 18: Paul Goldschmidt #48 of the New York Yankees warms up on deck during the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on September 18, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Friday did not start off great for the Yankees, as news broke that Aaron Judge would indeed be going on the IL for a calf strain he suffered in the middle of Wednesday’s finale against the Twins. Judge was pulled from that game in the sixth inning and at the time it was unclear if he would need just a couple days off or if it was something more, but the team later got confirmation and will now be unable to activate their superstar until game No. 162 against the Orioles. With no minor league rehab available from that point and Judge’s immediate return without one following a lengthy layoff perhaps being the cause of said calf strain, it leaves a lot of doubt as to whether he’ll be able to contribute in the postseason. The Yankees will face a tall task going far without their captain, but to be fair to the rest of the team they’ve gotten themselves here largely without him this year.
The team at least responded to the news by immediately putting up a five-spot on the Diamondbacks to open up their latest series en route to a victory, a much-needed one as the end of the regular season draws ever closer. Before they go for the series victory tonight, we’ve got some things prepared starting with Peter going over the Rivalry Roundup featuring a critical Tampa loss to Boston giving a bit of room for the Yankees to inch closer ahead of their bout in the Bronx. Nick then shows some love to Bob Turley on what would’ve been his 96th birthday, and John gives his thoughts on the open forums that baseball analytics have provided the sport in light of some controversy over in the NFL with the opaqueness of their data.
Today’s Matchup:
New York Yankees at Arizona Diamondbacks
Time: 8:10 p.m. EST
TV: YES Network, DBacks.tv
Venue: Chase Field, Phoenix, AZ
Questions/Prompts:
1. How much faith do you have in Aaron Judge jumping back cold into the lineup for the postseason? How far can the offense take them if he can’t?
2. After Dylan Cease had a short start last night, can Cam Schlittler put a bow on the Cy Young race with his start tonight?
UNITED STATES - MARCH 26: College Basketball: NCAA Final Four, Michigan State Magic Johnson (33) in action vs Indiana State, Salt Lake City, UT 3/26/1979 (Photo by James Drake/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (SetNumber: X23267)
It wasn’t like Magic Johnson came out of nowhere. In his senior year in high school, Johnson, along with Albert King, who picked Maryland, and Gene Banks, who chose Duke, was one of the top three players, at least according to Street & Smith’s annual basketball magazine.
Johnson would choose Michigan State, and by his sophomore year, he emerged as a highly unusual player. At 6-9, Johnson played point guard, which was a revolutionary move. Not many guys who were 6-9 were capable of playing point guard, much less as well as Johnson did.
Johnson led Michigan State to the Elite Eight in 1978, only to fall to eventual national champion Kentucky, 52-49 (Kentucky would go on to beat Banks and Duke in the national championship game, 92-88).
In 1979, as a sophomore, he became iconic in the 1979 championship game against Larry Bird and Indiana State, as the Spartans won their first title, 87-75.
There were many great players before Johnson, and many after, but consider this: there have been players who are similar to Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant being the best. There are players who have been compared to Larry Bird. Luka Doncic comes to mind.
Perhaps his greatest win came in his rookie season in Game 6 of the NBA Finals. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar could not play, so Johnson, the point guard mind you, took over at center. He finished with 42 points, 15 rebounds, and 7 assists.
You can’t really compare anyone to Johnson. He is utterly unique in basketball history. Perhaps the one player to rival his uniqueness is 5-3 Muggsy Bogues.
CLEVELAND, OHIO - MARCH 08: Payton Pritchard #11 of the Boston Celtics reacts during the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Arena on March 08, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Celtics defeated the Cavaliers 109-98. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Last season, Payton Pritchard began the year as the Celtics starting point guard. In February, he was moved to the bench after Anfernee Simons was traded to give Boston’s second unit more punch in the scoring department.
He should be put back in the starting 5 this year.
There are reasons to do both, but the reason I would start him is that I think he is set up to be the Celtics number 2 offensive option.
Paul George and Derrick White are great players who can score the ball with high volume, but I don’t think either have the offensive ceiling, at this point in their careers, that Pritchard does.
I also think that maximizing the minutes that Tatum and Pritchard play together should be a priority for Joe Mazzulla.
Over the past three seasons, the Celtics have an offensive rating of 121.2 with just Tatum on the court and 122.2 with just Pritchard on the court. When those two guys share the floor, Boston’s offensive rating jumps to 125.
With Jaylen Brown gone, the opportunity is there for Pritchard to breakout next to Tatum. I think their partnership on the court could open up Payton’s game even more than it already has. Tatum is a better screener, passer and catch-and-shooter than Brown is and those three things make it easier for Pritchard to put up the big numbers next to J.T. that he didn’t with J.B.
This isn’t a slight at Brown, but Pritchard has just meshed better with Tatum throughout his career.
His isolation game is another reason why I think Pritchard is set to be the Celtics 2nd leading scorer this year.
His handle is so tight, leaving little room for teams to swipe the ball away and he is so quick, making it hard for defenders to stay in front of him. His pull-up and step-back jumpers are also so elite giving him really every option at his disposal to score the ball in isolation which makes him so hard to defend.
His usage percentage has never been above 22.7% and has never been above the 35th percentile in the NBA. Derrick White ran out of gas last year as the number 2 option and couldn’t hit a shot in the playoffs. I’d like to see Joe Mazzulla hand off some of that workload to Pritchard this year.
He is also an elite catch-and-shoot three-point shooter, as he shot 42% on catch-and-shoot threes last year. His catch-and-shoot ability is a part of why he has been so effective in sharing the floor with Tatum.
I’d like to see Payton’s passing take a leap this season though. He averaged a career high 5.2 assists per game last year and assisted on 23.3% of teammates baskets, also a career high, but both those numbers should grow this year. He is a solid passer, but that is the next part of his game that needs to improve, especially if he is going to be the starting point guard. Pritchard has been working a lot with Mike Conley recently, so Conley could help his playmaking take a leap.
One way Boston can increase Payton’s assists is by having him run pick-and-roll with both Neemias Queta and Mitchell Robinson. That should lead to lob opportunities and more assists for Pritchard.
Defense really isn’t something that comes to mind when talking about Pritchard. His size, or lack thereof, puts a limit as to how good he can really be on that side of the floor but he isn’t a disaster either. He shouldn’t prevent the Celtics from having an elite defense this year.
The Jalen Brunson comparisons are insane. Pritchard is never going to be as good as the Finals MVP from this year is. However, that doesn’t take away from how good he has become over these past few years and how his role, game and production should continue to grow this upcoming season.
The opportunity to have a career year is out there for Payton Pritchard, he just needs to take it.
How will Brighton and Arsenal fare today? Here is what to know, including kick-off time, TV channels and live stream options
Arsenal have picked up where they left off – as the team to beat at the top of the Premier League table. Indeed, four wins from four games have underlined the strength of Mikel Arteta’s team with the Gunners favorites to retain the title they won last season.
Brighton have also started the new season on a strong foot, losing just one of their opening four league fixtures and fighting back from 2-0 down to knock Manchester United out of the Carabao Cup this week. Fabian Hürzeler’s side boast genuine quality.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - SEPTEMBER 14: Spencer Jones #78 of the New York Yankees and Ben Rice #22 of the New York Yankees celebrate in the clubhouse after clinching a playoff berth against the Minnesota Twins on September 14, 2026 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images) | Getty Images
MLB Trade Rumors | Darragh McDonald: Well, it was nice while it lasted. The Yankees announced yesterday evening that they will be placing right fielder Aaron Judge on the ten-day injured list with a calf strain today; Max Schuemann is expected to be the corresponding move. Since it will be backdated to the 16th, Judge will be eligible to come off the IL for the final day of the season; however, given the nature of calf strains, it is entirely possible that we have seen the last of No. 99 for 2026.
New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: Arguably the biggest surprise of the 2026 season — beyond the fact that the Yankees somehow managed to keep their heads above water despite Aaron Judge missing three months, of course — has been the breakout of outfielder Spencer Jones. The former top prospect has managed to position himself as “a key cog in the Yankees’ lineup,” taking advantage of opportunities offered by injuries to Judge, Trent Grisham, Cody Bellinger, and Giancarlo Stanton. In particular, his performance against southpaws, which had long been a weakness throughout his minor league career, has been a pleasant surprise. That being said, it hasn’t been all sunshine and roses: Jones has yet to flash the leather in the way many have expected him to. Even so, however, it seems likely that Jones will be a critical part of the team’s postseason run, whether as the starting center fielder or a key reserve.
MLB.com | Mike Lupica: For all the attention that the Yankees’ veteran stars — Judge, Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, and Giancarlo Stanton — receive, the 2026 season has been a veritable youth movement. Key to that has been the development, of course, of first baseman/designated hitter Ben Rice and AL Cy Young frontrunner Cam Schlittler. The two youngsters from Massachusetts, never highly rated as prospects, have turned themselves into veritable forces at the plate and on the mound, and without their contributions, the injury-riddled 2026 Yankees would almost certainly be spending the final few days of the season playing out the string, not attempting to make a last-ditch run at the AL East while lining up the rotation for a matchup with the Red Sox in the Wild Card round.
MLB Trade Rumors | Darragh McDonald: Yesterday afternoon, the Yankees announced that Oswaldo Cabrera, the popular utilityman who has been with the organization since 2015, had been claimed off waivers by the Cincinnati Reds. He had been designated for assignment earlier in the week, in order to make room on the 40-man roster for Clarke Schmidt.
Playbill | Logan Culwell-Block: Earlier this summer, former Mets infielder José Iglesias made the jump from the ballfield to the stage, joining the Broadway production of Buena Vista Social Club. Now, a Yankee great will be joining him: yesterday, Bernie Williams announced that he will be joining the show’s pit band for a limited run, from October 22nd through November 29th.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - SEPTEMBER 14: Spencer Jones #78 of the New York Yankees and Ben Rice #22 of the New York Yankees celebrate in the clubhouse after clinching a playoff berth against the Minnesota Twins on September 14, 2026 at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images) | Getty Images
MLB Trade Rumors | Darragh McDonald: Well, it was nice while it lasted. The Yankees announced yesterday evening that they will be placing right fielder Aaron Judge on the ten-day injured list with a calf strain today; Max Schuemann is expected to be the corresponding move. Since it will be backdated to the 16th, Judge will be eligible to come off the IL for the final day of the season; however, given the nature of calf strains, it is entirely possible that we have seen the last of No. 99 for 2026.
New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: Arguably the biggest surprise of the 2026 season — beyond the fact that the Yankees somehow managed to keep their heads above water despite Aaron Judge missing three months, of course — has been the breakout of outfielder Spencer Jones. The former top prospect has managed to position himself as “a key cog in the Yankees’ lineup,” taking advantage of opportunities offered by injuries to Judge, Trent Grisham, Cody Bellinger, and Giancarlo Stanton. In particular, his performance against southpaws, which had long been a weakness throughout his minor league career, has been a pleasant surprise. That being said, it hasn’t been all sunshine and roses: Jones has yet to flash the leather in the way many have expected him to. Even so, however, it seems likely that Jones will be a critical part of the team’s postseason run, whether as the starting center fielder or a key reserve.
MLB.com | Mike Lupica: For all the attention that the Yankees’ veteran stars — Judge, Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, and Giancarlo Stanton — receive, the 2026 season has been a veritable youth movement. Key to that has been the development, of course, of first baseman/designated hitter Ben Rice and AL Cy Young frontrunner Cam Schlittler. The two youngsters from Massachusetts, never highly rated as prospects, have turned themselves into veritable forces at the plate and on the mound, and without their contributions, the injury-riddled 2026 Yankees would almost certainly be spending the final few days of the season playing out the string, not attempting to make a last-ditch run at the AL East while lining up the rotation for a matchup with the Red Sox in the Wild Card round.
MLB Trade Rumors | Darragh McDonald: Yesterday afternoon, the Yankees announced that Oswaldo Cabrera, the popular utilityman who has been with the organization since 2015, had been claimed off waivers by the Cincinnati Reds. He had been designated for assignment earlier in the week, in order to make room on the 40-man roster for Clarke Schmidt.
Playbill | Logan Culwell-Block: Earlier this summer, former Mets infielder José Iglesias made the jump from the ballfield to the stage, joining the Broadway production of Buena Vista Social Club. Now, a Yankee great will be joining him: yesterday, Bernie Williams announced that he will be joining the show’s pit band for a limited run, from October 22nd through November 29th.
He was battling his mechanics. He was stretching out his long-bothersome back. And, most concerningly, he was losing the confident demeanor the Dodgers had seen when he first returned from his latest extended stint on the injured list last month.
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow gets a new baseball against the San Francisco Giants, Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. Wally Skalij for CA Post
Thus, instead of accompanying the team on the second leg of its road trip this week in Cincinnati, Glasnow traveled immediately back to Los Angeles the day after his clunker against the Marlins.
No extra flight. No added time on the road. Just a week where he could focus on his delivery and try to keep his season from once again slipping off track.
“He got back on Pacific Standard Time, in his own bed, one leg of travel versus the two,” manager Dave Roberts said Friday afternoon. “He threw his bullpen a few days ago. That went great. So he’s dialed in.”
In a six-inning, two-run, 10-strikeout start in Friday’s 8-2 win over the San Francisco Giants, there was still more dialing in left for Glasnow to do.
He hung a curveball in the second inning that Jung Hoo Lee belted for a home run.
He lost his feel pitching from the stretch after a leadoff single in the third, giving up another run that briefly put the Dodgers behind before they stormed back with five home runs –– including four in the eighth inning alone –– from their recently resurgent offense.
The important thing, though, was that Glasnow felt better.
Glasnow (31) throws against the San Francisco Giants in the first inning. Wally Skalij for CA Post
With his health. With his throw. With his ability to get completely synced up in time for the playoffs.
“I think I feel relatively consistent. It’s just a matter of, sometimes I’m not going to feel good, sometimes I will,” Glasnow said. “Today, I think it was a step in the right direction. I think it’s better than feeling really good for a long time before [the playoffs]. I’d rather kind of feel it, work through some stuff and have a good one right before playoffs. So I think I’m in a good spot right now.”
That might sound counter-intuitive for a pitcher who could be crucial to the Dodgers’ postseason plans. It might be rationalization from an 11-year veteran who has never made it through a full regular season healthy.
Tyler Glasnow gets an out against the San Francisco Giants on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. Wally Skalij for CA Post
“It is just making sure he’s feeling good, he’s healthy, which he is,” Roberts said. “So now it’s just letting him go do what he does and bet on the talent to perform. That’s where I think we all feel good, especially Tyler right now, just knowing the health and where the head’s at, all that stuff. We’re in a good spot.”
Roberts struck a decidedly different tone after Glasnow’s start last week, saying then that the right-hander “didn’t feel great coming into the game as far as kind of overall body.”
His absence in Cincinnati was also conspicuous, turning Friday’s outing into something of a late-season litmus test.
Tyler Glasnow throws a pitch during the first inning of the Dodgers’ blowout win over the Giants. Wally Skalij for CA Post
“This is an important start,” Roberts said beforehand. “He knows it.”
The manager’s evaluation afterward?
“I thought he did a good job of making pitches when he needed to,” Roberts said, encouraged by Glasnow’s ability to get swing-and-miss, as well as the way he retired 10 of his final 11 batters in a 98-pitch performance.
For his part, Glasnow downplayed whatever concerns had been lingering about his health of late.
Josue De Paula takes in the moment with teammates in the dugout during the game. Wally Skalij for CA Post
He acknowledged he felt “not great” last week. He cited the cross-country flight as perhaps getting him out of whack. But he also noted that, “in the course of a season, you’re not always going to feel good.”
“It wasn’t anything crazy,” he added. “But I definitely feel better now than I did then.”
At this point, that will have to be enough for the Dodgers. Come the start of the postseason, they will be counting on him to be an effective member of their rotation.
“Right now, I feel pretty good,” Glasnow said. “We worked on some stuff after that last start. Just tried to keep for this start, take it in the next start. And then hopefully everything is feeling good for playoffs.”
Shohei Ohtani seen in the dugout on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026. Wally Skalij for CA Post
PHOENIX — Aaron Judge is on the injured list again, but the Yankees could get two key pieces back off of it by next week.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. should be activated on the upcoming homestand that begins Tuesday, Aaron Boone said Friday, after the second baseman landed on the IL last week with a right thumb sprain.
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Friday marked his fourth day of hitting in a row after being shut down from baseball activities for about a week, while he has also been throwing the last couple of days.
Trent Grisham, meanwhile, is “pretty far into his running progression” from a right hamstring strain and “doing well,” Boone said, putting him in position to be in play at the end of the regular season.
Before Judge’s calf strain, it was questionable whether there would be a lane for Grisham to get playing time if and when he returned.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. works out before the Yankees’ win over the Mets on Sept. 11, 2026 at the Stadium. AP
But now it is possible he could return to center field at least against righties, bumping Spencer Jones to right field.
As for Ryan Weathers, the other Yankee trying to make it back in time for the playoffs (from a left forearm flexor strain), Boone acknowledged the lefty is “unlikely to get into a game before the end of the season.”
Weathers is set to throw a second bullpen session on Saturday, after which he could advance to facing hitters in live batting practice.
Trent Grisham look on during batting practice before the Yankees’ win over the Mets on Sept. 11, 2026 at the Stadium. AP
Whether that will give him enough time to show he should be part of the bullpen for the first round of the playoffs remains to be seen.
“We’ll see what our needs are and how he looks and if we feel like he’s ready to come in and be a contributor,” Boone said.
Anthony Volpe, who was back at second base, hit .348 with a .965 OPS and four steals in his first seven games since being called back up from Triple-A as an injury replacement for Chisholm.
How will Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa fare today? Here is what to know, including kick-off time, TV channels and live stream options
Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa are still searching for traction in the Premier League this season with both teams without a win in their opening four matches. It’s against the angsty background that Saturday’s fixture will be played.
Spurs are also yet to score their first league goal. Roberto De Zerbi’s side have failed to score against Brentford, Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest and Everton. After the optimism of the summer transfer window, a familiar malaise has set in around the North London club.
That's one way to start off the last homestand of the regular season.
Forget the fact that it was against the lowly San Francisco Giants and their lineup featuring a who's who of ... "Who?" Forget the fact that five of the Los Angeles Dodgers' runs in their dominant 8-2 win on Friday night came off the relatively unknown Philip Abner. The Dodgers' lineup, without Shohei Ohtani, showed exactly what they're capable of offensively.
This is the version of the team Andrew Friedman envisioned when he signed Kyle Tucker to a four-year, $240 million contract and Edwin Díaz to a three-year, $69 million deal last winter.
"The talent," manager Dave Roberts said. "It's a high-floor talent level. I just like the way we're taking better team at-bats and making up for not having Shohei in there. Obviously, we're a better team with him, but it is nice to see there hasn't been a drop-off with him not in the lineup."
Here's a look at three winners from the Dodgers' victory over the Giants:
The Dodgers lineup is just fine
Mookie Betts started things off when he jumped on a low-90s fastball that San Francisco starter Cesar Perdomo left middle-middle and sent it over the fence in left center field for his 33rd leadoff home run as a Dodger. The bats went quiet briefly from there until the bottom of the fifth when Teoscar Hernández singled home Josue De Paula from third on a sharp liner to right field to tie the game at 2-2.
The rookie De Paula later drove in the go-ahead run on an RBI double in the sixth before a monster five-run eighth inning in which Max Muncy, Tucker, Betts and Will Smith all went yard to put the game out of reach.
"I think that's the beauty in it," Betts said. "We just keep giving ourselves opportunities and eventually, something will crack. It did tonight, so we just have to keep getting guys on base and giving ourselves the chances and the hits will follow."
Edwin Díaz looked good in return from IL
That set the stage for the trumpets to once again blare over the Dodger Stadium loudspeakers. Roberts said he wouldn't have put Díaz in if it wasn't for the six-run lead as he wanted to give Díaz some leeway in his first outing back from an IL stint after health and poor performance have plagued his season.
But Díaz took the opportunity and ran with it. In his first big league appearance since Aug. 17, he got two quick outs before giving up a base hit up the middle. Rather than let that snowball like it has many times in 2026, however, Díaz was able to buckle down and strike out Brett Harris on three pitches to seal a Dodgers win.
"I liked everything," Roberts said. "I liked his intensity; I liked the fastball velocity. The slider was good. It was just really good to get him back in the mix and that's something to build on."
Josue De Paula is different
The through line for the offense on Friday night was the 21-year-old De Paula. The No. 6 prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline finished the night 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs and an RBI, but it was the timing of each of those that made his Dodger Stadium debut so special.
De Paula led off the bottom of the fifth with a base hit, which Betts followed up with one of his own before he eventually scored the tying run on Hernández's RBI single. Two innings later, De Paula scored Tucker from first on a double that he put on a rope at 107 mph deep into the right field gap. As he reached second, De Paula pounded his chest and flexed.
Then, in that huge eighth inning, it was De Paula who kept it alive by working a four-pitch walk with two outs, his seventh in a week in the big leagues. Five pitches later, Betts blew the game open with a two-run homer.
"I just love his at-bats," Roberts said. "It's one of those things that we knew coming up to the big leagues, he wasn't going to get overwhelmed, and it just helps when you control the strike zone. He takes his walks, when the ball is in the hitting zone, he can slug you but he also knows how to get a base hit. It's been very professional."
That's one way to start off the last homestand of the regular season.
Forget the fact that it was against the lowly San Francisco Giants and their lineup featuring a who's who of ... "Who?" Forget the fact that five of the Los Angeles Dodgers' runs in their dominant 8-2 win on Friday night came off the relatively unknown Philip Abner. The Dodgers' lineup, without Shohei Ohtani, showed exactly what they're capable of offensively.
This is the version of the team Andrew Friedman envisioned when he signed Kyle Tucker to a four-year, $240 million contract and Edwin Díaz to a three-year, $69 million deal last winter.
"The talent," manager Dave Roberts said. "It's a high-floor talent level. I just like the way we're taking better team at-bats and making up for not having Shohei in there. Obviously, we're a better team with him, but it is nice to see there hasn't been a drop-off with him not in the lineup."
Here's a look at three winners from the Dodgers' victory over the Giants:
The Dodgers lineup is just fine
Mookie Betts started things off when he jumped on a low-90s fastball that San Francisco starter Cesar Perdomo left middle-middle and sent it over the fence in left center field for his 33rd leadoff home run as a Dodger. The bats went quiet briefly from there until the bottom of the fifth when Teoscar Hernández singled home Josue De Paula from third on a sharp liner to right field to tie the game at 2-2.
The rookie De Paula later drove in the go-ahead run on an RBI double in the sixth before a monster five-run eighth inning in which Max Muncy, Tucker, Betts and Will Smith all went yard to put the game out of reach.
"I think that's the beauty in it," Betts said. "We just keep giving ourselves opportunities and eventually, something will crack. It did tonight, so we just have to keep getting guys on base and giving ourselves the chances and the hits will follow."
Edwin Díaz looked good in return from IL
That set the stage for the trumpets to once again blare over the Dodger Stadium loudspeakers. Roberts said he wouldn't have put Díaz in if it wasn't for the six-run lead as he wanted to give Díaz some leeway in his first outing back from an IL stint after health and poor performance have plagued his season.
But Díaz took the opportunity and ran with it. In his first big league appearance since Aug. 17, he got two quick outs before giving up a base hit up the middle. Rather than let that snowball like it has many times in 2026, however, Díaz was able to buckle down and strike out Brett Harris on three pitches to seal a Dodgers win.
"I liked everything," Roberts said. "I liked his intensity; I liked the fastball velocity. The slider was good. It was just really good to get him back in the mix and that's something to build on."
Josue De Paula is different
The through line for the offense on Friday night was the 21-year-old De Paula. The No. 6 prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline finished the night 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs and an RBI, but it was the timing of each of those that made his Dodger Stadium debut so special.
De Paula led off the bottom of the fifth with a base hit, which Betts followed up with one of his own before he eventually scored the tying run on Hernández's RBI single. Two innings later, De Paula scored Tucker from first on a double that he put on a rope at 107 mph deep into the right field gap. As he reached second, De Paula pounded his chest and flexed.
Then, in that huge eighth inning, it was De Paula who kept it alive by working a four-pitch walk with two outs, his seventh in a week in the big leagues. Five pitches later, Betts blew the game open with a two-run homer.
"I just love his at-bats," Roberts said. "It's one of those things that we knew coming up to the big leagues, he wasn't going to get overwhelmed, and it just helps when you control the strike zone. He takes his walks, when the ball is in the hitting zone, he can slug you but he also knows how to get a base hit. It's been very professional."
DENVER, CO - SEPTEMBER 18: Lazaro Montes #99 of the Seattle Mariners hits a go-ahead solo home run in the ninth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on September 18, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The first night at Coors Field had it all. Specifically, all the possible infield permutations this Mariners roster could muster, shuffling J.P. Crawford and Cole Young around to give them a variety of vantage points for the 15 hits Seattle yielded to the Colorado Rockies as they somehow escaped with a 5-4 victory.
The M’s jumped out to a lead that evoked their recent series in Sacramento, and in keeping, they coughed up the 3-0 lead that the top of their order generously constructed for them right out of the gate. Crawford made sure this mission to mile-high altitudes would not come up homerless, cracking a solo shot in the first at-bat of the game off oft-injured Rockies RHP Gabriel Hughes. Randy Arozarena authored the first of his three hits, cracking a double that Dominic Canzone took as license to copy but Arozarena read sub-optimally off the bat, and Seattle seemed off to the races.
It seemed like that misread would haunt the M’s with Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez punching out, and while hitting the Josh Naylor 7-7-7 slots meant a rolled over grounder snuck through for a 2-RBI single with two outs, the pair of punchouts from Seattle’s stars were emblematic ones. For Raleigh, who’s looked far closer to his better self writ large in the past month and a half, it was nonetheless an eight-pitch punchout that came due to missing two center-cut fastballs by a hair, fouling them back before waving over a middle-middle slider in a 3-2 count. For Julio, the culprit was also three missed pitches in the zone, but two foul balls on bottom third sliders before a familiar frustration mostly new to 2026: staring at a fastball for strike three at the bottom rail.
Seattle would not be the major culprit of spoiled opportunities tonight, however. The Rox are a plucky club this year, with far more verve than their catastrophic 2025 season of a 43-119 season. But Colorado is likely to lose 100 games again this season, making it four straight campaigns with 100+ defeats, and tonight was a showcase in how. Despite a night where eight of their nine starters secured at least one hit, Colorado left 12 on base and went 4-for-20 with runners in scoring position, letting Bryan Woo wriggle out of danger time and time again to achieve a defensible 5.1 frames and just three earned runs. It could have easily been worse a dozen times over, and Seattle’s league-worst range on the infield created many of the conundrums Woo had to solve.
No pitcher looks stellar at Coors Field consistently, of course, and Seattle’s beleaguered bullpen deserves their kudos for tonight’s win. After Woo’s exit, Gabe Speier regrettably yielded the lead to breakout Rockies outfielder Jake McCarthy on a clobbered gap-shot triple and a RBI single in sequence, but from there it was nails. 3.1 frames followed Speier and despite runners reaching in each inning, not a single run crossed the plate again for Colorado.
It wasn’t much room, nor were Seattle’s precocious youngsters afforded much room to spark Seattle, but starting RF Lazaro Montes and pinch-hitter Michael Arroyo took their tag-team operation above the alpine. First, in the seventh, seeking a spark against southpaw from the past Brennan Bernardino, Arroyo aggressively took his chance in relief of Brock Rodden. He cracked a double down the third base line that looks familiar to anyone who’s watched Arroyo work through the minors, before dashing around the bases on a bunt and a sac fly. That set the stage for Laz, whose tour through the hitter-friendly parks of MLB has reached its zenith, visualizing and then manifesting a stratosphere-scraping second-decker to put the M’s up one in the ninth. Not even the speed of Cole Carrigg on base could stifle Seattle Friday night, as Andrés Muñoz managed a rare pickoff to clear the bases and quell the threat in the ninth. Not quite easy, but 5-4 with the players the M’s hope will help turn things around in 2027 is a pleasant way to start a series.
DENVER, CO - SEPTEMBER 18: Lazaro Montes #99 of the Seattle Mariners hits a go-ahead solo home run in the ninth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on September 18, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The first night at Coors Field had it all. Specifically, all the possible infield permutations this Mariners roster could muster, shuffling J.P. Crawford and Cole Young around to give them a variety of vantage points for the 15 hits Seattle yielded to the Colorado Rockies as they somehow escaped with a 5-4 victory.
The M’s jumped out to a lead that evoked their recent series in Sacramento, and in keeping, they coughed up the 3-0 lead that the top of their order generously constructed for them right out of the gate. Crawford made sure this mission to mile-high altitudes would not come up homerless, cracking a solo shot in the first at-bat of the game off oft-injured Rockies RHP Gabriel Hughes. Randy Arozarena authored the first of his three hits, cracking a double that Dominic Canzone took as license to copy but Arozarena read sub-optimally off the bat, and Seattle seemed off to the races.
It seemed like that misread would haunt the M’s with Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodriguez punching out, and while hitting the Josh Naylor 7-7-7 slots meant a rolled over grounder snuck through for a 2-RBI single with two outs, the pair of punchouts from Seattle’s stars were emblematic ones. For Raleigh, who’s looked far closer to his better self writ large in the past month and a half, it was nonetheless an eight-pitch punchout that came due to missing two center-cut fastballs by a hair, fouling them back before waving over a middle-middle slider in a 3-2 count. For Julio, the culprit was also three missed pitches in the zone, but two foul balls on bottom third sliders before a familiar frustration mostly new to 2026: staring at a fastball for strike three at the bottom rail.
Seattle would not be the major culprit of spoiled opportunities tonight, however. The Rox are a plucky club this year, with far more verve than their catastrophic 2025 season of a 43-119 season. But Colorado is likely to lose 100 games again this season, making it four straight campaigns with 100+ defeats, and tonight was a showcase in how. Despite a night where eight of their nine starters secured at least one hit, Colorado left 12 on base and went 4-for-20 with runners in scoring position, letting Bryan Woo wriggle out of danger time and time again to achieve a defensible 5.1 frames and just three earned runs. It could have easily been worse a dozen times over, and Seattle’s league-worst range on the infield created many of the conundrums Woo had to solve.
No pitcher looks stellar at Coors Field consistently, of course, and Seattle’s beleaguered bullpen deserves their kudos for tonight’s win. After Woo’s exit, Gabe Speier regrettably yielded the lead to breakout Rockies outfielder Jake McCarthy on a clobbered gap-shot triple and a RBI single in sequence, but from there it was nails. 3.1 frames followed Speier and despite runners reaching in each inning, not a single run crossed the plate again for Colorado.
It wasn’t much room, nor were Seattle’s precocious youngsters afforded much room to spark Seattle, but starting RF Lazaro Montes and pinch-hitter Michael Arroyo took their tag-team operation above the alpine. First, in the seventh, seeking a spark against southpaw from the past Brennan Bernardino, Arroyo aggressively took his chance in relief of Brock Rodden. He cracked a double down the third base line that looks familiar to anyone who’s watched Arroyo work through the minors, before dashing around the bases on a bunt and a sac fly. That set the stage for Laz, whose tour through the hitter-friendly parks of MLB has reached its zenith, visualizing and then manifesting a stratosphere-scraping second-decker to put the M’s up one in the ninth. Not even the speed of Cole Carrigg on base could stifle Seattle Friday night, as Andrés Muñoz managed a rare pickoff to clear the bases and quell the threat in the ninth. Not quite easy, but 5-4 with the players the M’s hope will help turn things around in 2027 is a pleasant way to start a series.
QUEENS, NY — On July 4, Brandon Marsh was named to his first All-Star team.
It carried even more weight because he wasn’t going as a reserve. Marsh was voted a starter in left field for the National League at Citizens Bank Park, the culmination of a first half in which nearly everything had clicked.
In June, his average had climbed as high as .338. When the All-Star announcement arrived, Marsh was hitting .315, the sixth-highest average in the majors.
Since Independence Day, the picture has looked nothing like it.
Marsh is hitting .178, the lowest average in the National League over that span and the third-lowest in the majors.
The drop has been drastic. What has changed underneath it helps explain why.
A large part of Marsh’s first-half success came from the type of contact he was producing, particularly at the bottom of the strike zone.
Through July 3, Marsh saw 1,196 pitches across 328 plate appearances. Of those, 215 — 18 percent — were located within the bottom third of the strike zone: low and in, low-middle and low and away.
When pitchers went there, Marsh made them pay.
He hit .358 with a .965 OPS against pitches in those three zones. Nearly 32 percent of the balls he put in play were line drives.
His average launch angle was 14.7 degrees, which was important. Statcast defines its sweet-spot range as batted balls hit between 8 and 32 degrees. Marsh’s average against those low strikes sat comfortably within it.
That combination fit what made him so difficult to defend. Marsh wasn’t simply reaching pitches at the bottom of the zone. He was getting them off the ground, hitting them on a line and using the entire field.
Then the league started working back.
Don Mattingly acknowledged as much in August, while understandably stopping short of spelling out the Phillies’ scouting report for everyone else.
“They’re just doing some stuff different,” Mattingly said.
That, he explained, came with the territory after the way Marsh had performed.
“When you’ve been one of the best hitters in the game for a long period of time, they’re gonna start working on you a little harder,” Mattingly said.
The interesting part is that opponents haven’t simply started throwing Marsh down more often.
From July 4 through Thursday, Marsh saw 819 pitches. Of those, 148 were in the bottom third of the strike zone.
That’s 18.1 percent, almost identical to the 18 percent he saw during the first three months.
The location hasn’t changed much.
What pitchers are throwing there, and what Marsh is doing with those pitches, has.
Fastballs still make up a healthy portion of the attack. They have accounted for roughly 46 percent of the pitches Marsh has seen in the bottom third since July 4, compared with about 47 percent earlier in the season.
But the rest of the mix has shifted. Marsh has seen more offspeed pitches down there and fewer breaking balls.
Those offspeed pitches have given him particular trouble. Since July 4, Marsh is 3-for-37, an .081 average, in at-bats ending on a changeup or splitter in the bottom third of the zone.
Regardless of pitch type, though, the damage he once did down there has largely disappeared.
His .358 average against low strikes has fallen to .106. His .965 OPS has dropped to .296.
More revealing than the results is how the baseball is coming off his bat.
How Brandon Marsh’s contact down in the zone has changed
Batted-ball rates on pitches in the bottom third of the strike zone, through July 3 vs. since July 4.
Metric
Through July 3
Since July 4
Line-drive rate
31.6
15
Ground-ball rate
35.4
55
Pull-rate
49.4
57.5
Opposite-field rate
25.3
15
Pair that with Marsh’s average launch angle falling from 14.7 degrees to 6.9, below the lower end of Statcast’s sweet-spot range, and the change becomes clear.
More balls are going into the ground. More are going to the pull side.
His hard-hit rate on those pitches has dropped, too, from 51.9 percent to 42.5 percent.
Put it together and the contrast is striking: pitches that frequently became line drives earlier in the season are increasingly becoming pulled ground balls.
Fastballs provide an even cleaner example.
Marsh hit .400 against fastballs in the bottom third of the zone earlier this season. Since July 4, he’s hitting .176 against them.
Where the baseball goes after contact helps explain why.
His average launch angle against low fastballs has fallen from 7.2 degrees to minus-1.2. His ground-ball rate has jumped from 43.6 percent to 78.6 percent.
His pull rate has moved just as dramatically, from 35.9 percent to 64.3 percent.
The frequency of pitches down hasn’t changed.
What Marsh is doing with them has.
His own feel for the slump starts somewhere else.
Asked this week what he has noticed, he immediately pointed to his decisions at the plate.
“Swing decisions, gotta be better,” Marsh said Thursday.
He feels as though he has been expanding the strike zone more.
“Chasing a lot,” Marsh said.
The overall broader numbers show something interesting. Marsh’s chase rate has actually fallen from 38.4 percent — the 11th-highest mark in baseball through July 3 — to 33.9 percent since. His first-pitch swing rate is also down, from 33.5 percent to 27.6 percent.
His in-zone contact rate has gone up.
That doesn’t make what Marsh feels in the batter’s box any less real. It does suggest his slump is more complicated than simply swinging at too many pitches outside the strike zone.
He’s seeing roughly the same share of pitches at the bottom of the zone. The mix within that area has changed, and so has what he’s doing with those strikes when he swings.
Marsh doesn’t sound as though he believes his swing needs to be torn apart.
“I like where the swings are,” he said.
Instead, he is trying to make things simpler.
Marsh said his focus is getting back to using the other side of the field and hitting the baseball “hard on a line.”
In a way, his answer sounds a lot like the hitter the numbers describe from the first three months of the season.
The Phillies still believe that hitter is there.
Marsh is already shielded from many left-handed matchups through the Phillies’ platoon structure. More recently, his struggles have extended into the right-handed pitching he is expected to handle.
Mattingly said Friday that going in another direction against right-handers has crossed his mind, but he isn’t ready to make that kind of change.
“I still feel like we need him,” Mattingly said. “We feel like he’s getting closer to what we want him to be.”
The slump has affected some in-game decisions. Mattingly acknowledged there are situations now in which it is easier to go to a pinch hitter for Marsh earlier than it might have been when he was rolling.
But the Phillies haven’t moved away from him.
And with October approaching, getting Marsh back becomes more than an individual storyline.
The Phillies have the pieces to take one of their deepest lineups in years into the postseason. Marsh was a major reason it looked that way during the first half.
Getting that version of him back doesn’t require another run at .338.
The path Marsh described is much simpler than that: use the field, get the baseball off the ground and turn those pitches at the bottom of the strike zone back into hard line drives.
World No 9 beats Maks Kasnikowski 6-3, 6-0 in World Group I tie
James Duckworth loses to Kamil Majchrzak 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 in Brisbane
Alex de Minaur has taken his frustrations out in a Davis Cup thumping to put Australia up 1-0 in their must-win Brisbane tie against Poland, before Kamil Majchrzak edged James Duckworth in a tense two-hour affair.
The world No 9, keen to rediscover his mojo after a disappointing second-round US Open loss, lit up Pat Rafter Arena on Saturday afternoon with a dominant 6-3 6-0 defeat of world No 231 Maks Kasnikowski.
