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Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Braxton Ashcraft was placed on the 15-day injured list on September 10, 2026, due to right arm discomfort and fatigue. He has been shut down for the rest of the season.

Ashcraft met with reporters at PNC Park on Saturday and made one thing abundantly clear and that is his arm is not seriously injured. The Pirates right-hander described the issue that ended his season as fatigue and general discomfort, not anything structural, and he expressed confidence that he would have been available had Pittsburgh reached the postseason.

He traveled to Arlington to be evaluated, and the consensus among the medical professionals he saw was that there is no long-term concern provided he stays diligent about recovery.

That is very good news that this injury has no structural damage. Ashcraft is one of the top pitchers for the Pirates and has had a fantastic season. The All-Star went 14-6 this season with a 3.65 ERA with 28 games started. 

Ashcraft admitted he tried to talk the training staff into letting him pitch through it, but he understands the decision to shut him down. He emphasized the importance of transparency with the medical staff and front office.  

Ashcraft said he wanted to return for two starts in the final week but acknowledged it doesn’t make sense now that the Pirates are out of playoff contention. It doesn’t make sense to have him go back out there to pitch when the games just don’t matter anymore. The last thing you want to do is to put him back on the diamond and have the injury get worse and have long term damage. 

These statements made from Ashcraft are good news. Even though he will miss the rest of the season, it is great news that this is not a major injury and that it is expected that Ashcraft will be ready for the start of next season.    

Philadelphia Phillies DH Kyle Schwarber and Chicago White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery are nearing some dubious baseball history.

Schwarber and Montgomery each have 216 strikeouts entering the final week of the season, endangering Mark Reynolds’ all-time record of 223 strikeouts set in 2009.

Yet, it hardly bothers them.

“Guys who strike out a lot," Montgomery told reporters, “you see them, but what do they also do? They hit a lot of homers and drive a lot of guys in.”

More: MLB manager knows he's done if team misses playoffs | Nightengale's Notebook

Montgomery has 31 homers and 87 RBIs. Schwarber has 45 homers and 95 RBIs.

It's Montgomery's first 200-strikeout season but the third for Schwarber – who broke his career high of 215, set in 2023.

Both sluggers' teams have everything to play for in the days to come with the Phillies fighting for positioning in the NL wild card and the White Sox trading blows with the Cleveland Guardians for the AL Central crown, meaning they'll both see a regular number of at-bats.

Most strikeouts in a season

• 1.Mark Reynolds (2009) – 223 SO
• 2.Adam Dunn (2012) – 222 SO
• 3.James Wood (2025) – 221 SO
• 4.Chris Davis (2016) – 219 SO
• 5.Elly De La Cruz (2024) – 218 SO
• 6.Yoán Moncada (2018) – 217 SO
• 7.Kyle Schwarber (2026) – 216 SO
• –Colson Montgomery (2026) – 216 SO
• 9.Kyle Schwarber (2023) – 215 SO
• 10.Eugenio Suárez (2023) – 214 SO
• 11.Joey Gallo (2021) – 213 SO
• 12.Chris Carter (2013) – 212 SO
• 13.Teoscar Hernández (2023) – 211 SO
• –Mark Reynolds (2010) – 211 SO
• –Giancarlo Stanton (2018) – 211 SO

New York Post | Greg Joyce On September 4th, Yankees outfielder Trent Grisham suffered what was later deemed a Grade 2 right hamstring strain. He was placed on the injured list the following day and was considered unlikely to return before the end of the regular season. That remains the case, both because he isn’t quite ready and because it’s logistically difficult to bring him back before the playoffs.

“I know he’s trending to be close, but the activation might be a little complicated,” manager Aaron Boone said Sunday morning at Chase Field. To bring Grisham back, they have to option or DFA someone, and if they do that, that player wouldn’t be eligible to be recalled for 10 days (15 if it’s a pitcher), virtually eliminating whoever it is from consideration for the Wild Card Series and possibly beyond.

Spencer Jones has been filling in for Grisham in center field and should continue to do so while Grisham is out. For all we know, the latter might not be ready in time for the Wild Card round, but he does seem to be trending in the right direction. At some point, the Yankees will need to make a decision — though sticking Grisham into a situation where he’s playing in a postseason games when he hasn’t taken an at-bat in nearly a month could certainly be a questionable bit of business.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Clarke Schmidt, who was activated from the injured list last week, was warming up to enter Sunday’s game against the D-backs but experienced soreness/cramping in his right biceps. He and the Yankees decided he wouldn’t pitch in the game. Per Joyce, “He’ll see the doc when they get home, but Schmidt and the Yankees are hoping it’s not a big deal.”

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips With the Yankees falling to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday and the Tampa Bay Rays winning again, the latter have a six-game cushion in the AL East heading into the last week. There’s a four-game set between the two powerhouses scheduled for next week, but Boone acknowledged they may need to sweep to even have a chance at the division crown. And even if that happens, it’s a “tall task,” he said. From the outside, the race feels done and dusted with a Wild Card Series rematch with Boston probably on deck.

New York Post | Charles Gasparino: The previously reported $2.6-billion financing deal between the Yankees and Apollo Global Management has more details out now. The Steinbrenners will give up a 16-percent stake in the most successful franchise in baseball and one of the biggest in professional sports (MLB rules do not seem to allow private equity to hold more than 15 percent, so this is puzzling if true and would have to involve loopholes in some way). According to the terms of the agreement, the firm will now hold the largest share in the Yankees after the Steinbrenner family.

Inside ‘Team Blessed,' the Phillies trio always staying ready together originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

QUEENS, N.Y. — While a Phillies game is unfolding a few feet away, Derek Hill and Bryan De La Cruz are often playing one of their own.

They head into the batting cage during the game and turn their work into a competition.

Three innings. Three outs.

They decide whether each ball in play is a single, double or home run. Edmundo Sosa serves as the umpire.

He does not make it easy on them.

“I’m pretty hard on them,” Sosa said through the club’s interpreter Diego D’Aniello. “The game is tough on you, so I try to be as tough as I can on the guys. That way, when we go out there, maybe the game seems easier.”

The game inside the game has become part of how three Phillies reserves stay ready for opportunities that can arrive without much warning.

It has also become part of something they call Team Blessed.

The name began not long after the Phillies acquired Hill from the White Sox on June 11.

When Hill was asked exactly when Team Blessed started, he turned toward outfield coach Paco Figueroa, a clubhouse favorite who happened to be nearby.

Figueroa remembered saying something simple to Hill one day.

“Bless up.”

Hill liked it.

The phrase stuck.

“We’re blessed to be here every single day,” Hill said. “When an opportunity presents itself, it’s a blessing to be able to go out there and perform.”

From there, Team Blessed began to take shape around the club’s main reserves, Hill, De La Cruz and Sosa.

There is faith behind the name, but also perspective.

None of the three is guaranteed to start. They can spend most of a night watching before suddenly being asked to pinch-hit, pinch-run or enter defensively in a spot that could decide a game.

They have to prepare as though the opportunity is coming, even if it never does.

“I think it’s just something fun that people can kind of keep their perspective with,” Hill said. “I think it’s cool to be able to show up every day and attack the day with the same attitude, the same drive.

“No matter if you’re starting that day, not starting that day, if you’re getting put into a high-leverage situation or a blowout game, it doesn’t matter. Just be happy that you’re at the field and realize that it is a gift that you are here.”

Hill has moved between eight different organizations during his career. He knows how quickly a player’s circumstances can change.

“It doesn’t matter if you have 15 years or 15 days,” he said. “It’s a gift to be in the big leagues.”

And since Hill arrived, that group of Phillies reserves has done much more than simply stay ready.

Players entering games off Philadelphia’s bench since June 11 have combined to hit .284, the highest average in baseball over that span. Their .453 slugging percentage ranks third.

Hill, De La Cruz and Sosa have been even better, even when the lights get brighter.

In games they entered off the bench, the trio has combined to hit .394 with four homers and a 1.200 OPS in 34 plate appearances from the eighth inning on.

Hill has hit three of those homers.

Those opportunities have produced some of the Phillies’ more memorable late-game moments during a season that has them days away from potentially securing a fifth consecutive postseason berth, matching the longest streak in franchise history from 2007 through 2011.

The stars will draw most of the attention if they get there.

But postseason games have a way of turning on one swing from somebody who spent the first six or seven innings waiting.

The trio are trying to make sure that wait doesn’t leave them unprepared.

That is where their game in the cage comes in.

Hill and De La Cruz work through their progression while the actual game continues outside. They use a smaller bat, move into side toss and front toss, then compete against each other.

“We do the same routine now,” Sosa said. “We’re trying to keep it as simple as we can and not be too mechanical about it. When you think too much about your mechanics, that’s when things get tougher.”

The competition gives them something to focus on while they wait.

It also gives three players with similar responsibilities a shared routine.

“We’ve been working in a way that we enjoy it,” Sosa said. “We’ve been working to continue to be happy playing the game of baseball and enjoying it.

“We just started calling it Team Blessed one day, and it stuck.”

Sosa said De La Cruz, who was promoted to the Phillies on July 21 from Triple-A, has brought another meaningful element to the group.

“He’s been trying to change his life in such a positive way recently,” Sosa said. “He’s been more of a believer in God. He uses that to motivate us, and his energy is contagious.”

That energy is not limited to whichever member of the trio gets the opportunity that night.

When one enters, the others are invested.

“It doesn’t matter who it is that’s stepping up to the plate or going onto the field,” Sosa said. “We’re just going to support and show our energy to the next man up.

“We want him to do well. Any positive outcome that comes from anyone who goes in, we’re going to celebrate it.”

That support is crucial in roles defined by uncertainty.

A reserve can deliver a game-winning hit one night and never leave the bench the next. Several days can pass between meaningful at-bats. When the call finally comes, there isn’t much room for rust.

Hill believes their shared faith and circumstances have brought the group closer.

“One hundred percent,” he said. “This is a long journey, the baseball season and a baseball career, and you definitely can’t do it [all by] yourself.

“If you try, you’re going to fail, and you’re going to figure out that there’s not only a higher calling, but there’s a lot that you can tap into when you do go through those moments.”

Hill did not need long to feel comfortable after joining the Phillies.

“I’ve been in a lot of clubhouses, and this has been easily the most welcoming,” he said. “Obviously, we have a lot of big personalities and a lot of big talent in this clubhouse, but you wouldn’t know.

“Nobody has any egos in here. It’s just all about winning baseball games.”

Team Blessed grew within that environment.

Other players know about the group. Some have apparently expressed interest in joining.

Hill warned that membership is not automatic.

“It’s a tough application fee,” he said. “A lot of people want to jump on board, but it’s a rigorous process to get into it.”

There is no real application.

There is no official uniform, either, although the group has discussed the possibility of creating Team Blessed merchandise.

For now, the three have their in-game routine, their competition, their handshake.

And their faith, too.

“I think that’s more than enough,” Sosa said.

PHOENIX — Add another concern to the Yankees’ already hefty list of them heading into the final week of the regular season.

Clarke Schmidt, who returned from Tommy John surgery on Wednesday, was warming up Sunday to make his second appearance before experiencing cramping in his right biceps, which ultimately kept him out of the Yankees’ 8-4 loss to the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

“Nothing structural, it was more precautionary,” Schmidt said. “Obviously given the circumstance, coming back from surgery, I don’t want to push through anything. All the testing was fine, nothing with the shoulder, nothing with the elbow. It was more a cramping-type feeling. I had nothing in catch play earlier today and in the previous days I’ve been feeling very strong. So just very, very minor, just precautionary.”

Schmidt was expected to see the Yankees’ team doctor when they returned home, but no tests were planned as of Sunday.

Even if Schmidt checks out fine, it is a reminder of the tightrope the Yankees are walking in hoping the former starter can be part of their playoff bullpen just 14 months removed from major surgery.

After making his season debut on Wednesday, Schmidt warmed up in Saturday night’s game before Aaron Boone went to Michael Fulmer, who served up a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Schmidt was then warming in the bullpen again in the top of the sixth Sunday before the biceps issue popped up, leading to Tim Hill throwing the bottom of the frame instead.

“I’m hoping it’s not a big deal, but enough to have him not go into the game,” Boone said. “We’ll see what we have there.”