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Over the last few years — ever since the 2024 World Series, to be honest — the Yankees have had a reputation for defensive sloppiness. In truth, that is a tad overstated: as mentioned earlier this week, when we previewed the Yankees’ defensive highlights from the 2026 season, the team has finished in the middle third of the pack, according to most defensive metrics, in each of the past three seasons. Nonetheless, even the most optimistic of us (and I certainly count myself among that group) cannot deny the fact that the Yankees have repeatedly stuck their foot in their mouth over and over. And so, in an exercise in catharsis, let’s look back at some of the worst of the worst errors, misplays, and miscues from the 2026 season. We won’t be ranking them, because they all frustrate me in all sorts of different ways, but don’t let that stop you: let us know what you think about our list in the comments section below!

Slow Jazz

You know a defensive miscue is bad when the broadcaster in the opposing dugout says, “What on Earth is he doing?” Well, that’s exactly what happened to Jazz Chisholm Jr. back in April, as the second baseman took forever to throw the ball, allowing the speedy Otto Lopez to reach on an infield single to start the frame. While, ultimately, it didn’t end up costing the Yankees anything other than some damage to David Bednar’s ERA, as the team still wound up winning 9-7, this type of mistake is, in my opinion, among the most frustrating — this should have been an easy out, and yet, it wasn’t.

Houston, We ARE a Problem

Following his strong start to his big league career, George Lombard Jr. did his very best to erase all goodwill toward him by making errors in six consecutive games — no easy feat. Of these, the final one, from August 27th, is the one that sticks with me the most. First of all, not only does Lombard boot the ball, but then José Caballero, who catches the ricochet, compounds the problem by airmailing first base instead of just eating it; the damage was already done, there was no need to make it worse.

Inside-the-Park

I was at this game — in fact, I was out on the terrace when the play occurred, so I have a fairly unique vantage point. To some extent, it feels a tad unfair to put this on the list. While it’s hard to see on the video, the fly ball was hard to track, as it was knuckling in the wind (if you recall, this was the CC Sabathia game, which was moved from Saturday night to Friday afternoon due to inclement weather — and even then, hours before the storm hit, the wind was beginning to blow). Spencer Jones then slams into the outfield wall hard, with a very loud thud that made me actually a tad concerned about a potential injury. Then, it bounces in the worst possible direction, i.e., towards center field, and thus, away from the player responsible for backing up Jones. Last, and certainly not least… honestly, it was kind of cool. I had never seen an inside-the-park home run in person before, and now, the only things left on my baseball bucket list are to see a no-hitter, perfect game, and a cycle.

Still, an inside-the-park homer is an inside-the-park homer. No matter my own personal feelings, it belongs here.

Disaster at the Trop

Tropicana Field is cursed — or at least, the New York Yankees think so (after all, Andrew McCutchen said last week that the Yankees have not believed they could beat the Rays at the Trop as far back as 2018). I’m not going to get into their psyche (I’m a Latin teacher, not a sports psychologist), but I can confirm that they made a lot of errors down in St. Petersburg this year. The worst occurred, of course, with Cam Schlittler on the mound during Game 2 of the ALDS, as the team tried (and failed) to erase a 1-0 series deficit with the 2026 Cy Young favorite on the mound. It is, perhaps, unsurprising that our own Andrés Chávez listed this game as one of the worst moments of the season.

He’s Here! He’s There! He’s Every-Bleepin-Where!

When we reviewed the team’s best highlights, we took a look at José Caballero, who as the team’s Swiss Army Knife played literally every position on the diamond outside of pitcher, catcher, and first base. And while he was never quite a liability at any position…well, spending so much time bouncing around the diamond does result in a fair number of errors scattered around the diamond. We already saw one of his misplays at the hot corner above, so let’s check out some of his miscues elsewhere.

While playing the keystone on September 25th — the same game as the above inside-the-park homer, in fact — Cabby botched a ground ball, then simply couldn’t find it, thus allowing the run to score.

Back in May, he allowed the speedy Chandler Simpson to reach on this error that, uh, I’m not quite sure exactly how he managed to send the ball scurrying in that direction.

In August, he made two errors on the same play, bobbling the ball on the transfer trying to turn two, then throwing the ball low so that it skips away from Luis García Jr. (to be fair, García probably should’ve had that, but still).

Playing some center field on June 21st, he fields a grounder that went under the glove of Chisholm, then proceeded to throw the ball over everyone’s head when Spencer Steer tried to stretch it into a double, allowing the leadoff batter to reach third on what should have been a routine groundout up the middle.

Dishonorable Mentions

Lombard’s Other Five Errors in the Streak

The Final Cut from the Bottom Five

Amed Rosario in Fenway

It is always a difficult decision once your team is knocked out of the playoffs. Do you root for the team that knocked your team out to go all the way or do you stop watching altogether.

This season was certainly an exception if you were a San Diego Padres fan who decided to continue watching the MLB playoffs as no fan of the Padres would want to see the Los Angeles Dodgers advance to yet another World Series. The moment San Diego was knocked out of the postseason by the Milwaukee Brewers and it was determined the National League Central champions would be taking on the Dodgers the Friar Faithful adopted the Brewers as their team, at least in the NL.

Milwaukee made San Diego and likely many fans around baseball happy when the Brewers took Game 4 from the Dodgers by a final of 6-4, completing a four-game sweep of baseball’s Goliath. For Padres fans, it was bittersweet. You have to love seeing the Dodgers eliminated, but you have to wonder what might have been. If just a few things in the NL Division Series had gone differently, San Diego could have been the team to “slay the dragon,” but that was not to be.

The Padres will have to wait for another opportunity to reach the precipice of the sport and they are hoping that comes in 2027 with new owners Jose E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones saying they are all-in to bring a championship to the City of San Diego. What that means and what it will look like is unknown, but under a first-year manager and with a constricted operating budget to build a team in the 2025-26 offseason, the Padres built a team that came up just short. There is work to be done, but there is reason to believe San Diego is closer than ever to reaching its ultimate goal.

Padres News:

• Mark Polishuk of MLB Trade Rumors recaps the end of season news conference from Padres manager Craig Stammen and president of baseball operations A.J. Preller.

• Padres prospect Alex McCoy connected on a 118.2 mph home run in the Arizona Fall League.

• Padres pitcher Michael King will have the opportunity to test free agency should he choose to do so and Thomas Conroy of Gaslamp Ball says the Padres should lock him up if he does.

Baseball News:

• Cheri Bell of Gaslamp Ball believes MLB has a CBA problem and explains why.

• Milwaukee’s Jake Bauers was named NLCS MVP.

• The Cleveland Guardians regained the ALCS series lead with a comeback win over the Tampa Bay Rays.

• With their season over, the Dodgers can turn their focus to soon-to-be free agent pitcher Tarik Skubal.

• Miguel Rojas, who helped Los Angeles win the 2025 World Series, is set to retire.

• Here is all the game information for Game 4 of the ALCS.

• For the first time in six years, a Will Smith will not win the World Series.

Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy had just watched his club dismantle Los Angeles for a fourth straight National League Championship Series game. Standing with his team in the Dodger Stadium clubhouse, he was ready to celebrate. But before popping his champagne and setting off a stream of celebratory suds, Murphy had a message.

“They got a bunch of Hall of Famers. We got a bunch of gamers.”

Murphy had nailed the Dodgers to the wall, ending the season of a juggernaut who came into 2026 with eyes on becoming the first NL team to win three straight World Series titles.

He also nailed the postgame speech.

Related: Brilliant Brewers reach first World Series since 1982 as Dodgers blow 4-0 lead

The Dodgers are dead, and instead, it’s Milwaukee who made history, becoming the first team to avenge an NLCS sweep by returning the favor against that very same team, the very next season.

Making history, it seems, is a theme with these Brewers, who racked up a franchise-best 103 wins during the regular season, and have now dethroned a team who seemed a shoo-in to become baseball’s first true dynasty since the millennium.

Milwaukee transformed LA into a team of ghosts, and no more so than in Game 4. With the desperate Dodgers bidding to wake up the echoes with a 4-0 lead, the Brewers went to work. And again, it was Jake Bauers who broke LA’s back. In Game 2, Bauers tortured Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto with an epic 12-pitch walk that sparked a key rally. In Game 3, there was an epic 11-pitch at-bat, this time against two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, concluding with a franchise-defining home run. In the fourth inning of Game 4, Bauers struck a double against starter Tyler Glasnow, cutting the Dodgers’ lead in half. An inning later, Bauers – the journeyman infielder who paused his retirement and returned this season because he needed health insurance for his soon-to-be newborn – drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game. Garrett Mitchell’s sixth-inning solo home run gave Milwaukee a lead that would hold up. An old-school, three-inning save by Aaron Ashby was the chef’s kiss.

Now Milwaukee will head to their first World Series since 1982. There will be plenty of time to ply the Brew Crew with pixelated plaudits as they await their American League opponents, the Tampa Bay Rays or Cleveland Guardians. First, though, comes the funeral.

The tight, young, dynamic and fundamentally sound Brewers made Los Angeles’s best look old, flat and incapable. And while it all seems somewhat sudden, perhaps the writing was on the wall all along.

The Dodgers, the team who have everything, lack for nothing and have more money than Davy Crockett, won 100 games this season, but were just 38-37 against teams above .500 and hit into an MLB-worst 128 double-plays. In ways, they looked more like another expensive but deeply flawed coastal superpower: the New York Yankees. The Bronx bombs also beat up on lesser opponents all season long while struggling against higher-end teams. It’s no coincidence that both teams are now out; baseball has a way of weeding out the suckers, even in what some believe is a “crap shoot” of a postseason.

Perhaps the most shocking spectacle was the undoing of the sport’s most prolific figure, Shohei Ohtani. The best two-way player in baseball, inside his category of one, showed signs of breaking down in the latter portion of the season. First injuries forced him to stop pitching. Then he went homerless from late August until Thursday. Ohtani said it was only his ability, not injuries, holding him back, but he was dropped to sixth in the batting order for Game 3, and that doesn’t happen to an elite player in his prime unless there are issues. In the seventh inning of Game 4, with Kiké Hernández 90ft away from tying the game at five, Ohtani waved at an Ashby slider that was closer to Fresno than the Dodger Stadium home plate. Ohtani, the four-time MVP, wasn’t alone. Former MVP Mookie Betts hit light; former MVP Freddy Freeman hit even lighter. The lineup, collectively, hit for a .590 OPS in the series, while the pitching was uneven at best.

After the game, manager Dave Roberts, who was out-skippered by Murphy all series, told Fox that “the great thing about what we do is, you can try as much as you want, want it as bad and there’s nothing you can do about it. There’s nothing guaranteed.”

And that, it seems, gets to the heart of where we are with the Dodgers and where we may be with baseball: nothing, at all, is guaranteed. Not even after signing Kyle Tucker and Edwin Díaz in the offseason for a combined $309m. Not even after trading for Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal at the deadline. And not after writing $340m worth of checks. The Dodgers’ payroll is more than the combined payroll of the Rays, the Guardians, and the Brewers, the club that sent home “the team that destroyed baseball”.

And so the Dodgers, always in the headlines, leave us with all sorts of questions. The most straightforward: how will they respond and retool? The bigger questions: can critics say they destroyed baseball when the Brewers and their 19th-ranked payroll just destroyed them? Is baseball, a game that involves both skill and luck and always keeps us guessing, really some kind of utopian paradise where paupers can actually compete for prizes against princes? Are high payrolls and all-star laden rosters the most important metrics when it comes to who can compete for a title? How much can a smart, deliberate team brass make up for small budgets? In other words: who can find the gamers, when they can’t afford the Hall of Famers?

The Dodgers 2026 season has ended, so it’s now time to focus on what figures to be a tumultuous offseason with the Major League Baseball collective bargaining agreement expiring on December 1. But before we get to the lockout, there are still roster decisions to be made, so let’s see how the Dodgers look at the start of their offseason.

The season ended with six Dodgers players on the 60-day injured list and thus 46 players on the 40-man roster. The morning after the World Series ends, that number will be reduced to 37, with nine players set for free agency.

Free agents (9)

• Tarik Skubal
• Miguel Rojas
• Kiké Hernández
• Kris Bubic
• Eric Lauer
• Alex Vesia
• Evan Phillips
• Blake Treinen
• Brusdar Graterol

Because Tarik Skubal was traded midseason, he is ineligible to be tendered a qualifying offer, so the Dodgers won’t receive draft pick compensation should he sign elsewhere. Same for Kris Bubic and Eric Lauer, but they weren’t going to get a qualifying offer anyway. Miguel Rojas retired after 13 seasons as a player, and already has a spot waiting in the Dodgers front office, with a focus on player development.

The qualifying offer is a one-year offer, derived from the average of the top 125 salaries in the league that year. This offseason’s qualifying offer will be $23.15 million, per Joel Sherman of the New York Post, up 5.11 percent from $22.025 million last year.

The Dodgers have no player or club options heading into the offseason, but let’s first look at the players under contract.

The salaries above are the amounts paid in the year in question. Several players have deferred salaries, most notably Shohei Ohtani, who for each season of his contract is paid $2 million, with the other $68 million deferred 10 years down the road.

Per the collective bargaining agreement, the present value of the deferred salary for a season must be fully funded by the second July 1 following said season. So for the $68 million earned by Ohtani in 2026 that will be paid in 2036 must be funded by July 1, 2028. Payroll for competitive balance tax purposes accounts for all deferrals, converting them into net present value and averaged over the life of the contract. For Ohtani, his CBT payroll number is just over $46 million.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed a 12-year, $325 million contract prior to the 2024 season. He received all of his $50 million signing bonus in 2024, and lower salaries in the first three years of the deal, hence the $12 million salary in 2026. That bumps up to $26 million for each season from 2027-29. The right-hander can opt out of his contract after either the 2029 and 2031 seasons or 2031 and 2033, depending on whether or not he experiences certain injuries and misses a certain amount of time.

Will Smith signed a 10-year contract in 2024 that runs through 2033. In both 2026 and 2027, his salary is $13 million, with $5 million deferred, with those deferrals paid annual from 2034-2043.

Mookie Betts prior to the 2020 season signed a 12-year, $365 million extension that started in 2021 and runs through 2032. His contract fits the rubric of many Dodgers contracts to follow, with a large signing bonus ($65 million, 17.8 percent of the total) as well as a sizable amount of deferred salary ($115 million, 31.5 percent). For both 2026 and 2027, Betts has a $25 million salary, of which $10 million is deferred, plus he gets $5 million of his signing bonus, for a total paid of $20 million in each of these two seasons.

Kyle Tucker’s four-year, $240 million contract included a $64 million signing bonus, of which $10 million will be paid on February 1, 2027. His salary for 2027 is $54 million, minus $10 million deferred. He can opt out of the final two years of his contract after the 2027 season.

Blake Snell’s five-year, $182 million contract included a $52 million signing bonus that was all paid in 2025. The remaining $26 million per year includes $13.2 million deferred each season, leaving Snell with $12.8 million per year. Snell’s contract also includes a conditional 2030 club option with $10 million depending should he suffer a qualifying injury.

Tommy Edman signed a five-year, $74 million contract ahead of 2025 that included a $17 million signing bonus already paid. His salary in both 2026 and 2027 is $12.25 million, of which $6.25 million is deferred annually. The Dodgers hold a $13 million club option on Edman for 2030 that includes a $3 million buyout.

Edwin Díaz last December broke his own record for highest average annual salary by a relief pitcher with his three-year, $69 million contract. In 2027, Díaz has a $23 million salary, of which $4.5 million is deferred.

Tanner Scott’s four-year, $72 million contract runs through 2028. His $20 million signing bonus is split evenly over the four years of the contract. Scott in 2027 has a $15 million salary, of which $5.25 million is deferred, plus $5 million of his signing bonus.

Freddie Freeman in 2027 enters the final year of his six-year, $162 million contract. He’ll get his $27 million, minus $12 million deferred salary.

Tyler Glasnow is under contract for one more year at $30 million in 2027. Then in 2028 he has a player option worth $21,562,500, but if he declines that player option the Dodgers have a club option worth $30 million.

Teoscar Hernández has a $14.5 million salary for 2027, of which $8 million is deferred, and the Dodgers have a $15 million club option for 2028 with a $6.5 million buyout. That’s $21 million in guaranteed money should the Dodgers try to trade Hernández and open up an outfield spot for Josue De Paula.

Max Muncy had a base salary of $10 million in 2026, then played in a career-high 149 games and batted 561 times. Incentives in his contract added $2.25 million to his base salary in 2026 ($15,000 for every plate appearance from 401 to 550), and also added $3.75 million to his 2027 base salary ($20,000 for every 2026 PA from 401 to 500, $35,000 for every 2026 PA from 501 to 550). Muncy’s contract originally called for a $7 million base salary in 2027 (now $10.75 million), and the Dodgers have a $10 million club option in 2028 with a $3 million buyout.

Hyeseong Kim is under contract for $3.75 million in 2027, and the Dodgers have a two-year club option for 2028-29 at $5 million in each season, with a $1.5 million buyout if declined.

All told, the 14 players under contract have a total competitive balance payroll of roughly $339.5 million for 2027. The caveat here is we don’t know if the competitive balance tax will remain in the current format with a new collective bargaining agreement, or if it will even exist at all. But that’s what the Dodgers have on the books for now.

The salary projections above are from MLB Trade Rumors. We’ll dive deeper into each case in the offseason, just like we did last January. But for now, if those projections hold, that would add six players for a guaranteed $12.9 million. Added to the players already under contract, that’s 18 players for about $351.4 million for competitive balance tax purposes.

Andy Pages is eligible for arbitration as a Super Two player, a player among the top 22 percent in service time for players with at least two but not yet three years of service time. It takes 172 days to accrue a full year of service time. Alex Call was a Super Two player last offseason.

If this were a normal offseason, the date for players and teams to exchange salaries for arbitration would be Friday, January 8, 2027. But MLB will almost certainly be in a lockout by then. In the 2022 season, some salary arbitration hearings were held well after the regular season began.

The major league minimum salary in 2026 was $780,000. The 2027 minimum salary hasn’t yet been determined, but will certainly be a part of the next collective bargaining agreement. The 22.7-percent raise from 2021 to 2022 (the first year of the current CBA) was the largest such negotiated increase in nearly two decades.

Minimum salary raise in first year of recent CBAs

• 2021-22: $570,500 to $700,000 (22.7 percent)
• 2016-17: $507,500 to $535,000 (5.4 percent)
• 2011-12: $414,000 to $480,000 (15.9 percent)
• 2006-07: $327,000 to $380,000 (16.2 percent)
• 2002-03: $200,000 to $300,000 (50 percent)

Other important dates

• October28-November 1: At 6 a.m. PT the morning after the World Series ends, players with at least six years of service time and/or at the completion of their contracts become free agents.
• November 2-6: Five days after the World Series ends is the deadline for teams to make qualifying offers to players. It’s also the end of the “quiet period” of free agency, during which players can only sign with their former team.
• November 17: 1 p.m. PT deadline for players to accept qualifying offers
• November 17: Reserve lists filed (prospects added to 40-man roster)
• November 20: Tender deadline

Josue De Paula would have been added to the 40-man roster by that November 17 deadline to avoid getting plucked in the Rule 5 Draft, but he was already called up in September. Players drafted or signed at age 19 or older in 2023 or players drafted or signed at 18 or younger in 2022 are newly eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this December. Dodgers top pitching prospect Christian Zazueta, signed by the Cubs out of Mexico in 2022, will need to be added to the 40-man roster by November 17. Zazueta has won the Branch Rickey Award as the Dodgers minor league pitcher of the yearfor two years running, and he just turned 22 last week.

Another potential addition is Jackson Ferris, a former top Dodgers pitching prospect drafted by the Cubs in 2022 who struggled for most of 2026 before a sublime final five weeks.

The collective bargaining agreement expires at 8:59 p.m. PT on December 1, after which the owners will lock out the players. But there’s still about a month that could be quite busy on the hot stove before the sport gets shut down for the winter.

There were a lot of comments at some point in the past eleven months or so that said something like, “Who cares about xyz, you’ll do it for a chance to lose to the Dodgers in October…” Well, it’s October, and… only the Braves lost to the Dodgers therein. Every other team either lost to someone else, didn’t make the postseason, or has their season still ongoing.

It’s fitting, perhaps, that with the Dodgers eliminated, none of the remaining teams still “in it” have a payroll in baseball’s top half. The Brewers are 20th (19th by luxury tax balance), the Guardians are dead last (29th), and the Rays are 28th (27th). So much for that narrative surviving the spin cycle that is MLB trying to shoehorn a short series playoff format onto this sport and league.

But, all of that doesn’t mean you don’t have feelings about the Dodgers bowing out. (Or, getting steamed out like a rug stain.) So, if you do, what are they?

The 2025 Orioles struggled to hit home runs, so Mike Elias went into the off-season with a goal of acquiring some boppers. His first move came early, on November 19th, when he traded starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez for longtime Los Angeles Angels outfielder Taylor Ward.

Ward was coming off of 36 home runs with the Angels and had hit over 20 in two of his last three seasons. He wasn’t a prolific power hitter, but he seemed like he a good bet to be among the team leaders. It’s a bet I would have lost, as Ward’s power disappeared almost completely.

The Angels selected Ward in the first round of the 2015 draft; he made his Major League debut in 2018 and went on to play 704 games for the team over eight seasons. He didn’t start playing full time until 2022, when he had 23 home runs and a .360 OBP in 135 games. In 2025, Ward hit .227.317/.475 with 36 home runs, a career high. The OBP wasn’t impressive, but the home runs sure were. And his OPS+ of 120 would have made him one of the most valuable bats in the Orioles’ lineup.

With one year left before free agency and Ward slated to make over $10 million in arbitration, the Angels were ready to part ways with the slugger. Over in Baltimore, Mike Elias had seen enough of the always-injured Grayson Rodriguez. Rodriguez won’t be a free agent until 2030, and he was a top prospect with the Orioles. He had a solid 2024 before a season-ending injury stretched into all of 2025 as well. It was still shocking to see the Orioles cut ties with him when for so many years he was considered the pitcher of the future.

But whether it was his troublesome medicals or just a hunch by Elias, Rodriguez was sent packing in exchange for Ward. The Angels got a talented but flawed pitcher with plenty of time ahead of him. The Orioles got a player who might help them get back to the postseason in 2026.

The thing is, Taylor Ward wasn’t very good. Or at least, he wasn’t good offensively in the way the team expected. Defensively, he was a nightmare.

The season started off well for Ward. He didn’t hit the promised home runs, but he was a double-machine. Through his first 13 games, he had 19 hits. 10 of them were doubles. Surely as the weather warmed, those doubles would turn into home runs, right? And in the meantime, it was fun to call him Taylor Two Bags.

But after that quick start, Ward stopped getting extra-base hits. After racking up 10 doubles through 13 games, he had just three in his next 18. He finally hit his first home run on April 19th, which was a relief. That’s what he was here for! But his second home run didn’t come until a month later. He ended the season with just seven. And after his initial burst of 10 doubles, he hit just 10 more over the rest of the season. Taylor Two Bags had turned into Taylor Too Bad.

Something weird happened with Ward, though. He started taking walks like crazy. Ward has never been terrible at walks, but it became almost comical in 2025. In May, he had an OBP of .348 despite a batting average of just .182. He took 33 walks in the month! With 81 walks, he had a walk rate of 17.2% for the year, well above his career average.

So that was Ward on offense. Weirdly good at taking walks and disappointing in almost every other way. And speaking of disappointing: his defense.

Ward manned left field exclusively for the Orioles, which was hard to watch. He took bad routes, had bad range, and a mediocre arm. So he did not help the Orioles defensively, nor did he bring the power Mike Elias was hoping for.

When the trade deadline approached with the Orioles in the midst of another disappointing year, Elias sent Ward packing. The Seattle Mariners, clinging to the fringes of the playoff race, took a chance on him. They sent the Orioles three relief pitchers in return. Harrison Kreiling and Brock Moore went to the minors, and Alex Hoppe joined the big-league team. Hoppe, who had been terrible with the Mariners, became a solid contributor out of the bullpen. He should be in the mix for a spot next season.

As for Ward, his time in Seattle was terrible. In 101 plate appearances, Ward got just 11 hits. As a Mariner, he had 10 singles and one triple. No doubles, no home runs. He did take 12 walks. Between his time with the Orioles and Mariners, he had 99 total.

Now Ward heads into free agency in a pickle. He is coming off his worst season since he was a rookie, and he will turn 33 on December 14th

In what is more of an indictment of the Orioles than praise of Ward, he did as the third-most valuable Oriole with a 2.7 bWAR. His many walks helped with that, as he slugged a paltry .346. FanGraphs was not as generous; his fWAR was just 1.8.

And what of Grayson Rodriguez? He did pitch this year. He made 20 starts with a 6.02 ERA and missed some time due to injury. His best start of the season came against the Orioles, of course. In August, he pitched seven innings and allowed two runs on three hits. There aren’t really any winners in this trade, though Rodriguez does have three more years to prove his worth to his new team.

Yesterday, our topic of discussion was what is your own worst-case scenario for what the Phillies will do this offseason. Today, we’re going to try and envision a scenario where everything goes right, or at least as right as possible.

Like we mentioned yesterday, the Phillies have their work cut out for them. The free agent market is weak, but the Phillies should have plenty of money to use on it to find whatever upgrades are possible. They will be freeing up close to $40M in dead money with the contracts of Nick Castellanos and Taijuan Walker alone coming off the books. Add in the likely subtraction of José Alvarado’s $12M and Alec Bohm’s $10M salaries, and the Phillies will likely be around $50M under their 2026 payroll commitments after arbitration. Through all of their faults, the team has yet to waver on its commitment to operating with a payroll around the top five highest in MLB. Until they signal that is no longer the case, you should feel some confidence that they will spend somewhere around or at least equal to the $290M they featured at this season’s end.

The Phillies desperately need upgrades and some new life, but they also have a good core to work with. Cristopher Sánchez and Jesús Luzardo are both ace level starters that are locked up long term. Zack Wheeler is still under contract for one final season. Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, no matter what you may think of their peak abilities at this stage of their careers, were still top 15 hitters in MLB by OPS this season. The rest of the lineup needs major improvements, but those two are two very good starting points. The bullpen was a mess, but Jhoan Duran was one of the best closers in baseball, and he is still under contract through 2028. You can debate what that group’s ceiling is, but they have a very high floor, provided of course there are no devastating injuries which are admittedly a risk with some of the ages involved. A perfect offseason would involve finding the right additions to raise that floor.

Finally, perhaps the biggest reason for optimism heading into next season is the resurgence of Andrew Painter. the young right hander returned from a demotion to Triple-A in late July and looked like a new pitcher, capping off his season with a tremendous showing out of the bullpen in the postseason. Perhaps Painter isn’t capable of becoming the pitcher he was pre-Tommy John surgery, but he showed enough last season to have one hopeful that he can still be a good piece for the future.

So, what is your best-case scenario for the Phillies this offseason? What free agents would satisfy you? Any particular trades that you’re set on?

Happy Friday, everyone! As we continue our way through the postseason and get closer to knowing which two teams will be headed to the World Series. In Tigers news, we look at a positive outlook for young pitcher Troy Melton, and in broader baseball news, we look at some players coming in clutch for their teams in the postseason.

Plenty to share to get your Friday underway, so let’s just get right into it.

Detroit Tigers News

• Very positive news for the Tigers and for Melton.

• The Tigers’ staff took a stand against bullying.

• Celebrating our Gold Glove Award finalists.

MLB News

• Blake Snell’s performance in NLCS Game Three helped vindicate Kevin Cash for his 2020 decisions.
• Just how pissed off is Pat Murphy?
• Breaking down the 11-pitch game-changing at-bat from Jake Bauers.
• How well is Jose Ramirez performing this October?
• The unlikely hero who turned things around for the Guardians in ALCS Game Three.
• The most epic bat flip of the postseason.
• How the Dodgers might use their pitching to stage a 3-0 comeback.
• Jackson Chourio’s new personal mascot might be the perfect good luck charm.
• The Trade Deadline move paying off for the Guardians in the postseason.
• The unlikely weapons wearing the Dodgers down for the Brewers.
• Are the Brewers ushering in a new era of baseball?
• Six snubs from the Gold Glove Award finalists.
• The storybook moment Shohei Ohtani ended his HR drought.
• How Don Mattingly plans to make adjustments to the Phillies this offseason.
• The Reds and Oswaldo Cabrera have agreed to a one-year deal for $1 million.
• How the Rays are being beaten at their own game in the postseason. ($)
• How bad is this year’s free agent class compared to those of the last decade? ($)
• Why hitting is only getting harder.

• Yes, that’ll fix it.

• Guess they weren’t really all that cool about him interviewing with the Mariners after all.

Team MVP

In the spirit of picking a hitter to win MVP, I guess it’s Willson Contreras. His OPS was the third-highest among qualifiers and was fairly consistent throughout the season. Sonny Gray, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu all deserve shouts too, but Contreras played for most of the season and stayed steady throughout.

— Jacob Roy

I’ll say Ceddanne Rafaela. There are a couple of guys you could go with here without hearing an argument from me, but I can’t get over the jump in offensive production to go along with the all-world defense. Who can say for sure if the 113 OPS+ will be the norm moving forward, but he’s improved his average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage every year during his still-young career. The first-time All-Star gets my vote for MVP.

—Fitzy Mo Peña

I actually think it’s Caleb Durbin, which is both a credit to him and a knock to the team as a whole. When the Summer Sox managed to rip off that sensational 32-5 stretch in an otherwise disastrous season, Garrett Crochet wasn’t there, Roman Anthony wasn’t there, Trevor Story wasn’t there, Ranger Suarez was mostly hurt, Connelly Early got hurt and then got traded, and even Willson Contreras — who had a fantastic year overall — was either suspended or banged up for ten of the games scattered throughout that streak (and the team went 9-1 in those games where he either didn’t play or didn’t make it to the end). But do you know who played in every single one of those games during the 32-5 stretch? Caleb Durbin. And he did it posting an .885 OPS. Oh, and on top of Durbin being great during the streak, he also posted the highest WAR of anybody on the team from May 28th onward after he revamped his swing.

—Matthew Gross

Willson Contreras. Despite 2026 being an extremely up and down year there are actually a number of players who could be the team MVP. Rafaela, Durbin, Tolle, are all contenders. But Contreras was there from day one to the end as almost the living representation of the heart of the team. 

— Mike Carlucci

I agree with Mike on two counts: there are several contenders, and the winner is Willson Contreras. He was essentially the heart and soul of the team.

— Maura McGurk

Team LVP

Jarren Duran couldn’t stop finding his way into the lineup, and he couldn’t stop not hitting the ball. His glove was solid, but a 76 OPS+ shouldn’t warrant 600 at-bats.

— Jacob Roy

Yeah, Jacob really said it best there. Over 600 plate appearances for a guy who only just barely hit his body weight (.207 compared to 205 pounds per Baseball Reference, nice!) is tough to justify, even if he did go 20-20. I wonder how rare it is to hit 20 homers for Boston yet only have an OPS that’s 10 points higher than the city’s area code. The defense looked better, at least (except for a few real bad standout examples; that Colorado one comes to mind). A year to forget for Mr. Duran, unfortunately.

—Fitzy Mo Peña

I’m sure most people don’t want to hear this, but it’s Garrett Crochet. He entered the season as the guy who was supposed to be the ace, and instead we got six starts to the tune of a 6.30 ERA, a -0.5 WAR, and an injury that kept morphing into something more complex and problematic. Then, he was allowed to return out of the bullpen in a do or die Game 2 with the season on the line in a tight 2-0 affair, and all four batters he faced scored. You can say he was unlucky, and you’d be right, but no player underperformed expectations more than Crochet in 2026.

—Matthew Gross

It’s weird to say a guy who went 20-20 but Jarren Duran. You can definitely see it was torturing him to struggle. He had a great May and August. Just didn’t do much those other months. Hopefully he bounces back in 2027 because he has too many skills to put up a season that’s only just over 0 WAR. 

—Mike Carlucci

Jarren “Nothing Happened” Duran. I’m talking about not only his performance in 2026, which left so much to be desired but also his repeated tussles with fans and even our beloved Willson Contreras. “Nothing happened” was his stubbornly repeated response when asked to address his interaction with a fan in June. Granted, it was a Yankees heckler and that person was shown the exit. Duran had already tangled with a fan in April (not to mention even more notable interactions in past seasons). In July, he boiled over at Willson Contreras, who correctly held (and was held by third-base coach Chad Epperson) at third base. Duran thought he should have run anyway and let him have it. This guy doesn’t seem to learn.

—Maura McGurk

The correct answer is Jarren Duran and Matt makes a compelling case for Garrett Crochet. But I’ll shoot for something different here: Carlos Narvaez. Craig Breslow acquired the team’s ace by trading away the team’s catcher of the future, Kyle Teel. Narvaez was acquired to replace Teel and, for a while there in 2025, it looked like he would do just fine. But, in plummeting back down to Earth this year (.161/.241/.226 – yikes!), Narvaez left the team not only with a black hole in a lineup that already had one too many of those, but turned the catching position into an open question for the foreseeable future — a question that Breslow then had to answer by sending out yet more future assets to bring in Adley Rutschman, who still may not be the catcher of the future given his contract status. Narv busting could negatively impact this team for years to come.

— Dan Secatore

Most Pleasant Surprise

Mickey Gasper couldn’t buy a hit in his first stint with the Red Sox, bounced to Minnesota, and then yo-yo’d between Worcester and Boston on his return to the Red Sox system. He was, potentially unfairly, asked to catch nearly every day when the offense needed a spark, but his bat couldn’t support his subpar defense behind the plate. At 30 years old, his career seemed to be on life support, but when he was recalled in the middle of August and asked only to hit against right-handed pitchers, he became a weapon. Not like a pepper spray type weapon, more like a tank or a gatling gun. Something cool and explosive. Seriously, he hit more home runs than Vladimir Guerrero Jr., except the former’s came in 33 games and the latter played 144.

He also went to the very esteemed Bryant University. Other notable alumni include Matt Gross, “Coach” from Cheers, and myself. I guess his success shouldn’t come as a surprise, based on the fact that he was able to withstand the rigorous academic curriculum required to receive a degree from Bryant.

— Jacob Roy

Nick Sogard becoming a capital-D Dude in 2026. That’s a ballplayer, man. Switch-hitting infielder guy who can get hot from time to time and play solid defense up the middle, he’s a solid guy to have around. I don’t know what the future holds for him when it comes to playing time—Curtis Mead’s gonna come a-knockin’—but I love the idea of Sogard being a platoon guy moving forward. He’s got a fan in me.

—Fitzy Mo Peña

The 15-game winning streak itself. I watched it, I lived it, I studied it, I wrote about it, and I still have no idea how it happened. It shines like a diamond in the middle of a gigantic pile of garbage.

—Matthew Gross

Connor Wong. The backup catcher had a brutal 2025 after Cora called upon him to fill in at first base and second base in addition to catcher the prior year. Then after losing the job in 2025 was called on to manage the pitching staff in 2026. The expectations were low and he showed he still has some years left in the tank.

—Mike Carlucci

Best Newcomer

I was super high on Jake Bennett after Spring Training, and then a little more tepid after his first couple of starts in the majors. He’s on the old side for a prospect, but given how many pitchers were in front of him on the depth chart, he found himself in the majors earlier than anticipated. He didn’t skip a beat and posted a 3.65 ERA over 20 appearances while blowing past his career high in innings and clearly battling some fatigue down the stretch. The rotation doesn’t survive the summer without him, so he’s my pick.

— Jacob Roy

Do I pick the former Cardinal with the 153 OPS+, or do I pick the former Cardinal with the 150 ERA+? Tie goes to the guy who was playing mostly every day prior to his injury; I’ll say Willson Contreras. He’s going to be pretty pivotal for our hopes in 2027.

—Fitzy Mo Peña

More props to Caleb Durbin! He was put in an impossible situation when asked to follow both Rafael Devers and Alex Bregman at third base, and after a disastrous first eight weeks of the season, he managed to catch fire and thrive. As noted above, it’s not really a great sign in the grand scheme of things that Durbin was the best player on the roster for the final four months of the season, but it’s a huge credit to him and how much he grinded to turn his (and the team’s) season around.

—Matthew Gross

Caleb Durbin. You want someone who can carry the mantle of Dustin Pedroia? Here he is! Probably winning a Gold Glove too in addition to having an injury that kinda kicked off a winning streak.  

—Mike Carlucci

I’m having trouble deciding between Willson Contreras, who really carried the team on his back in so many ways this season as the heart and soul of the team, and Caleb Durbin. I’ll go with Durbin since, as a much younger player in only his second season, he’s more “newcomer” to the league overall (not just the Sox). I know, that’s getting hyper-specific but I couldn’t help myself; it was a tough call.

—Maura McGurk

Best Storyline

Anything involving Payton Tolle. Take your pick. I love him like a son.

—Fitzy Mo Peña

I absolutely love the connections between Chad Tracy and his father Jim. Back in 2009, Jim took over the Rockies in May when Clint Hurdle was fired. The team then dipped to a season low 12 games under .500 (20-32) in early June, and then rallied on the back of a ridiculous 17-1 stretch to grab a Wild Card. This year, Chad Tracy took over the Red Sox in April when Alex Cora was fired. This time, the team dipped to an even worse 14 games under .500 (32-46) in late June. But then in near perfect symmetry, these Red Sox rallied on the back of an astounding 32-5 stretch to grab a Wild Card. Unfortunately, both teams also proved quick postseason exits, with neither winning a single round in October. (At least we’ll always have this beautiful graph where we can marvel at the wondrous connections.)

—Matthew Gross

Payton Tolle vs The World. The hug. The balk. The pushup. Talking about being in the rain like he was Obi-Wan Kenobi on Kamino. Extremely talented at the game and has a fantastic outlook on life. 

—Mike Carlucci

Caleb Durbin, “It’s only a pinky!” Maybe more like a tagline than a storyline, but what else is there to say?

—Maura McGurk

No matter what he does for the rest of his career, Mickey Gasper’s heater is going to be remembered forever.

— Dan Secatore

Taking a look back at some highlights and Statcast numbers from the 2026 season, it’s clear the Yankees know how to crush the ball hard.

It doesn’t come as a shock that Big G dominates this list of the highest exit velocities, as he’s historically one of the most dominant power hitters in franchise history, and a few of Aaron Judge’s homers made the cut. On the other hand, it’s more surprising that both Luis García Jr. and Jazz Chisholm Jr. made the list, considering they both struggled to gain any offensive momentum in the postseason.

Despite leading the Yankees with 41 homers in the regular season, Ben Rice didn’t make this list, as his highest exit velocity reached 110.9 mph on a home run ball against Miami in early April.

Here’s a closer look at this season’s top heavy hitters.

No. 10: 112.4 mph Jazz Chisholm Jr. Single (July 5 vs. Twins)

Jazz starts this countdown with a 112.4 mph shot into the corner that bounced off the wall to Twins right fielder Luke Keaschall. He probably could’ve made the sprint for second, but he appeared to have skidded in the dirt and made it back to first before Keaschall could make the play to the infield.

No. 9: 112.5 mph Luis García Jr. Groundout (August 9 vs. Braves)

García Jr. got it sharply off the bat at 112.5 mph, but a quick grab from Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies led to an easy throw to first baseman Matt Olson for the first out of the second inning. Thankfully, this is the only out on the Yankees’ top 10 EVs of the season!

No. 8: 112.7 mph Aaron Judge Home Run (April 28 at Texas)

Judge built off his momentum in Texas sparked by a later hit on the list and launched another solo home run, his 10th of the season and second of the series. Thie shot off Cole Winn was the 380th of his career, breaking a tie with Hall of Famers Orlando Cepeda and Tony Pérez on the all-time home run list; he ended the year even at 70th with Cubs great Aramis Ramírez at 386.

No. 7: 112.8 mph Giancarlo Stanton Double (March 31 at Seattle)

Launching it 112.8 mph to left field, Stanton brought in Cody Bellinger and put runners on second and third while giving the Yankees a 4-0 lead in Seattle.

No. 6: 113.0 mph Aaron Judge Home Run (April 27 at Texas)

Judge was feeling his groove at Globe Life Field and crushed a 113 mph solo home run to put the Yankees ahead 3-0.

No. 5: 114.4 mph Giancarlo Stanton Single (March 25 at San Francisco)

While registering a multi-hit game on Opening Day against the Giants, Stanton’s second knock was a crushed 114.4 mph single up the middle and drove in Bellinger to put the Yankees up 6-0.

No. 4: 114.8 mph Spencer Jones Single (September 25 vs. Orioles)

Jones launched a leadoff single in the ninth against Baltimore, but it wasn’t quite enough fuel to make the late comeback. This was fortunately one of the meaningless final games of the regular season, after New York was already locked into its playoff spot.

No. 3: 115.2 mph Giancarlo Stanton Single (April 5 vs. Marlins)

Stanton strikes yet again on this list with a 115.2 mph line drive to center, and gave the Yankees a hit against the Marlins in the first. Remarkably, it wasn’t even his only knock of at least 115 mph against his old team on April 5th.

No. 2: 116.2 mph Aaron Judge Home Run (April 13 vs. Angels)

It’s refreshing to see another one of Judge’s homers make this list from earlier in the season, when vibes were high. He sent this one 456 feet at 116.2 mph, just shy of Stanton’s top EV.

No. 1: 116.3 mph Giancarlo Stanton Single (April 5 vs. Marlins)

Stanton unshockingly tops this list with a single, drilling it 368 feet at 116.3 mph. He literally dented the left-field wall, and it was hit so hard that it was a no-brainer for him to stop at first.

Half of the World Series matchup is set after the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4 to sweep the NLCS. While the Atlanta Braves are sitting this one out, the hot stove is beginning to simmer as the club has been connected to a pitcher from Nippon Professional Baseball. Hiromi Itoh was reportedly linked to the Braves, and here is everything you need to know on why he is a “potential fit.”

MLB News:

After 13 seasons and 2 World Series Championships, Miguel Rojas has announced his retirement.

The Philadelphia Phillies re-signed reliever Tim Mayza to a one-year, $2.75M deal.