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TONIGHT’S GAME: The Houston Astros (78-79) will continue their final road trip of the regular season with the second game of two-game series against the Seattle Mariners (73-84) at T-Mobile Park.

RHP Ethan Pecko (1-0, 3.77 ERA) will be on the mound for the Astros, opposite RHP George Kirby (9-11, 4.24 ERA).

TONIGHT’S BROADCASTS: Tonight’s game will be televised by ESPN with Mike Ferrin and Eduardo Perez on the call. The Astros English radio broadcast can be heard on SportsTalk 790 with Robert Ford and Steve Sparks behind the mic. Francisco Romero and Alex Treviño will call the Astros Spanish broadcast on TUDN 102.9 FM.

THE POSTSEASON CHASE: The Astros and Rangers are locked in a tight race down the stretch for the AL West with the two teams having the same record with five games left to play. The Astros own the tiebreaker over the Rangers with a season series victory (9-4 record).

VS. THE M’S: This is the final series between the Astros and Mariners this season, with the two clubs last seeing each other from Aug. 14-16 at Daikin Park. The Astros have gone 3-9 vs. Seattle this season. The Astros also own an overall regular season record of 135-106 against the Mariners, including a 65-48 record at T-Mobile Park.

ROAD WARRIORS: Tonight is the second game of a six-game road trip for the Astros. Since going 1-9 on the first road trip of the 2026 season, the Astros have gone 38-28 (.576) on the road since April 14, which ranks third in the AL in that span.

LAST NIGHT’S GAME: The Astros shutout the Mariners, 7-0 at T-Mobile Park last night. RHP Cristian Javier made the start for the Astros and tossed 2.0 scoreless innings before leaving due to an injury. 1B Christian Walker (1×5, HR, 3 RBI), DH Yordan Alvarez (2×4, HR, 3 RBI) and 3B Isaac Paredes (2×4, HR, RBI) each homered for the Astros leading the way offensively. The Astros bullpen combined to toss 7.0 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts.

GOIN’ DEEP: The Astros have hit 212 homers as a team this year and have hit 200-plus homers in a single season for the 10th time in franchise history (last, 222 HR in 2023). The Astros rank second in the AL in home runs this season behind only the Yankees (217).

TWO-OUT MAGIC: The Astros lead the American League in two-out runs with 308 on the season, trailing only the Cubs (329) in the Majors. 3B Isaac Paredes leads this effort, as he holds the Major League lead with 45 two-out RBI, directly ahead of CHC OF Pete Crow-Armstrong (44 RBI).

NO. 200: 1B Christian Walker recorded his 200th home run of his career last night with a three-run home run in the third inning. He became the 34th active player in the Majors to record 200 career HR.

TODAY’S ROSTER MOVES: The Astros have placed RHP Cristian Javier on the 15-day IL (right groin strain). To take his place on the active roster, the Astros have selected LHP Josh Hendrickson (#61) from Triple A Sugar Land. To make room for Hendrickson on the 40-man roster, Houston recalled OF Jake Meyers (left knee fracture) and placed him on the 60-day IL.

THE CASE FOR THE MVP:DH Yordan Alvarez is a solid candidate for the AL MVP Award. Alvarez leads the American League in OPS (1.033), slugging percentage (.601), OBP (.431), batting average (.314), total bases (329), walks (106), IBB (33), wRC+ (180), OPS+ (.190) and extra-base hits (74). He also ranks tied for first in home runs (41), second in RBI (102), third in hits (172), fifth in runs (99), and tied for fourth in doubles (32).

TRIPLE THREAT: DH Yordan Alvarez currently ranks first or second in the AL in all three Triple Crown categories. He enters tonight leading the AL in batting avg. (.314), while ranking tied for first in HR (41) and second in RBI (102). Since Carl Yastrzemski won the AL Triple Crown in 1967, there has been just one Triple Crown winner in the Majors, Miguel Cabrera in 2012 (AL)

THE FIREMAN: LHP Josh Hader has converted 26 consecutive save chances to open his season, which is the Astros record. Should Hader finish the season without a blown save, he would become the seventh pitcher in MLB history to post 26-plus saves without a blown save. The last Major Leaguer to do so was RHP Ken Giles in 2018 (26 SV).

RACKING UP K’S: RHP Bryan Abreu has posted 527 career strikeouts, which ranks fourth among relievers in Astros history. He’s closing in on third-place RHP Dave Smith (529), needing only two strikeouts to match the Astros reliever from the 1980s. LHP Billy Wagner (694) and RHP Brad Lidge (557) sit atop that all-time list.

STRONG SEPTEMBERS: 3B Isaac Paredes has a 1.004 OPS this month to go along with a team-leading 18 RBI, which ranks tied for second in the AL. C Yainer Diaz is also having a strong September, as he’s hitting .361 (22×61) with three homers, seven RBI and a .948 OPS in 18 games (15 starts) this month.

STARTING STRONG: In the Astros 19 games in September, their starters have combined for a 2.83 ERA (28ER/89IP), which is the third-lowest ERA in the American League for the month behind

TODAY IN ASTROS HISTORY:1986 – In a 4-0 win over the Dodgers in the Dome, LHP Jim Deshaies strikes out the first 8 batters that he faces to set a MLB record. The string of punchouts ends when Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda pinch-hits for his starting pitcher Dennis Powell with Larry See, who pops up to end the top of the 3rd inning. Deshaies ends up with a 2-hit, shutout, tallying 10 K’s overall.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Wednesday, September 23, 9:10 p.m. CT

Location: T-Mobile Park, Seattle, WA

TV: ESPN

Radio: KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; KTRH 740 AM; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)

Baseball, on a Wednesday afternoon, played between two teams no one cares about anymore. Some young players were out there with something to prove, most were going through the motions. The fans stood up and sat down. The seagulls pulled apart nachos. First pitch was thrown. The final out recorded. A game came and went, but out there, in the distance, passing quietly by like a sailboat on the other side of the bay.  

The Giants ended their penultimate series of the 2026 season with a whimper. No built tension, no twists, or revelations here, just some light bookkeeping. Dotted-i’s and crossed-t’s. The 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins ensured what many anticipated. The Giants will end the 2026 with a losing record at Oracle Park. Their 16-32 record against American League teams is the worst in the Majors. With three games left, the four-game win streak — that season-long white whale — is now an impossibility, a franchise first.   

Though officially “new” information at the completion of today’s game, it’s not news. This team has Benjamin Buttoned in a sense. A completely different, much younger face sits on top of their shoulders, but despite the fresh look, this is still the same being with the same flaws and weaknesses that have caused it problems all year. 

Against Minnesota starter Connor Prielipp, and a trio of bullpen arms, the offense managed just five hits. They went cold all at once, with 16 consecutive San Francisco hitters retired in order from the 4th inning to the 9th. Often good for one surge offense a game, today’s iteration was a Shay Whitcomb 2-RBI single in the 4th. A bloop that blopped. The hit, more like a hail Mary pass, praying to avoid the onrushing fielders and reach of limbs and find a patch of grass…

It did. Two runs scored, the Giants took the lead, but the lead was brief. Minnesota tied it with a triple and a sac fly the next frame, and the bats had no response. 

Cesar Perdomo pitched well over 5.1 innings, allowing 2 earned runs on 5 hits. Velocity on offerings averaged 89 MPH. Only seven pitches missed swings. He struck out two. His stuff wasn’t electric, nor necessarily graceful. Luke Keaschall broke up two ties but Perdomo kept Minnesota from running away it. He latched onto their legs and hung off their shoulders and held them close. Opposing hitters didn’t enjoy themselves at the plate — which, I suppose, is the goal of pitching as the end of the day.  

But play, as it often has, got sloppy when it needed to keep tight. Perdomo left after 76 pitches because why make him throw more? Dylan Smith took over and put the go ahead runner on base to lead off the 7th. A ground ball to first that should’ve erased that mistake with a double play compounded the walk when Christian Koss airmailed the return throw, sending the baseball into the camera well and Kody Clemens into scoring position. Next pitch, Clemens scored on Walker Jenkins’s RBI single. 

After recording the second out, Tony Vitello chose to bring in Sam Hentges for some reason. At this point, it should be expected that a Giants reliever can’t just come into a game and get an out. It has to be a whole rigamarole. It has to be made into a thing. A short walk made long. Hentges took the mound and threw four pitches that bore no measurable spatial relation to the strike zone.

Another walk, another runner gifted scoring position, and soon after, another run scored for the Twins.

Down to their final out, Drew Gilbert finally broke San Francisco’s baserunner drought with a pinch-hit single. A walk worked by Marcelo Mayer brought the winning run to the plate in Whitcomb. Comebacks happen. We’ve seen some wild reversals on sunny afternoons. Eldridge’s walk-off grand slam — a Wednesday. The 6-run 8th against the Cardinals — a Wednesday. Coincidence, though. Correlation, not causation. Joyful hiccups, definitely not the dominant theme.

That’d be too little, too late.

The Dodgers and San Diego Padres finish off their season series on Thursday, which is the Dodgers’ final home game of the 2026 regular season.

Tyler Glasnow takes the ball for Los Angeles, with Nick Pivetta starting for San Diego. Both have battled injuries this season, with Thursday the 13th start for Glasnow and just the eighth for Pivetta. You might remember these two pitchers from such Class-A rehab outings as August 4 in Lake Elsinore, with Glasnow pitching for Ontario and both Pivetta and Jose Musgrove rehabbing for the home team that day.

Thursday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Padres
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Start time: 7:10 p.m.
• TV: SportsNet LA, MLB Network (out of market)
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

San Diego Padres (87-70) at Los Angeles Dodgers (97-60), September 23, 2026, 7:10 p.m. PST

Watch: Padres.TV

Location: UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium – Los Angeles, Calif.

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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Blue Jays 2 Orioles 4

Well, that was about right. Couldn’t hit at all.

Well, not at all, Davis Schneider hit a home run in the ninth.

We did load the bases in the seventh in perhaps the weirdest way ever:

• It started in a normal way, Alejandro Kirk singled and Kazuma Okamoto hit into a double play.
• Then, a play I’ve never seen. Ground ball to short. But the Jays asked for a review on the shortstop lining up with his heels on the outfield grass. Yes, there is a rule saying infielders have to set up on the dirt and since his heels were on the grass, Sean Keys was awarded first on “an error on Jeremiah Jackson”. Totally weird.
• Davis Schneider walked.
• Charles McAdoo walked.
• Myles Straw watched strike three go right over the plate (his second AB in a row that ended like that) to end the inning.

We had 5 hits. Lukes had 2 of them. We also had 9 strikeouts. Davis had two walks to go with the home run.

CJ Van Eyk started, after being called up today. His first MLB start. It wasn’t great. 5 innings, 4 hits, 4 earned, 1 home run, 1 hit batter and 2 strikeouts. He didn’t miss a lot of bats. Judging a guy on 5 innings isn’t of much value, but he was hit pretty hard. As always Pete Alonso hit a home run.

• Brendan Cellucci (because every Jays’ game needs a Brendan, Brayden…..) got 4 outs, with a walk.
• Chase Lee pitched 1.2 clean innings. with 3 strikeouts.

Jays of the Day: Let’s give one to each of us who watched those two games. No one had the number, but lets give Davis an Honourable mention.

Other Award: Eyk (-0.22 WPA), Olamoto (-0.09) and Clement (-0.10).

Our last game against Los Angeles for the year. The A’s have won seven of their 12 games against the Angels this year and that’s been the difference between the fourth place in the AL West, or last in the division and the entire American League. Another win tonight guarantees the Athletics won’t lose 100 games, and puts another game between us and the Angels. Got to finish the job though and get win #63 tonight.

Taking the ball for what is likely his final time for the Athletics is left-hander Jeffrey Springs. Acquired two years ago, Springs came to the A’s with high hopes he could unlock the potential he showed while in Tampa Bay. We saw flashes at times but overall Springs’ time in the Green & Gold was a disappointment. Over his 58 starts (60 appearances), the southpaw is sporting a 5.03 ERA. This year was even worse for the 34-year-old as he’s limped to a 6.18 mark. While he’s blamed part of those struggles on the ballpark that couldn’t have been the only factor in his struggles this past season. He’ll try to finish his A’s tenure on a high with a strong outing tonight and take that into the offseason and look for a better home than Sutter Health Park.

Here’s how the lineup behind Springs looks this evening in Sacramento:

The A’s are mixing things up a bit with a different handed pitcher on the mound tonight. Firstly, rookie leadoff man Henry Bolte is back in center field tonight and he’ll be followed in the lineup by right fielder Lawrence Butler and then our DH Shea Langeliers, who are swapping lineup spots. The lefty-swinging Jeff McNeil returns to the starting lineup, playing first and batting cleanup. Third baseman Zack Gelof drops a spot in the order and batting behind him will be veteran Donovan Walton, manning the keystone. A nice mix of R-L-R-L-R-L for the first half of the lineup tonight.

Carlos Cortes draws the start partially thanks to his massive game last night where he went 2-for-2 with a triple, homer, and three RBI’s. He probably would have been in there anyway against a right-handed starter but still. And rounding out tonight’s lineup is Alika Williams and Brian Serven, tonight’s shortstop and catcher who are batting eighth and ninth, respectively.

As for Los Angeles, they have ascending young righty Walbert Urena making his final start of his rookie campaign tonight. Urena began the year in the Angels’ bullpen before stretching out in Triple-A during early April. From there he joined the Angels’ starting five and hasn’t looked back since. The 22-year-old is wrapping up a season that has seen him make 26 starts with a 2.74 ERA to show for it. That’s the second-lowest ERA from a full-time rookie starter in the AL this year, behind only Cleveland’s Parker Messick.

It’s going to be a tough task for the Athletics’ bats tonight. Urena has already faced the A’s three times this year, tossing two gems but getting absolutely crushed for seven runs his last time out against us down in Anaheim. That was far and away his worst start of the year and the A’s will be hoping to replicate that success, this time in Sacramento.

And the Angels’ starting nine shapes up like this:

Fairly standard lineup for the Halos tonight but one can’t help but wonder: Is tonight the last time the A’s see Mike Trout in an Angels uniform?

We don’t need this win. We want it. Take tonight’s game and we avoid 100 losses this season. Win and we make it all but certain we’ll finish in fourth place, out of the AL West and AL cellar. It’s go time. Let’s go A’s!

Follow the Game:
Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA

Listen:
Athletics -Talk 650 KSTE, KVMX 92.1/105.5, A’s Cast

The San Diego Padres are on the verge of clinching a postseason berth for the third consecutive season. However, the club has been through plenty of ups and downs in 2026.

With three-fifths of the starting rotation out for nearly three months, the Padres stumbled into the All-Star break with a 48-49 record. Their playoff hopes seemed lost, as they sit 13.5 games back in the National League West standings. 

However, with the blink of an eye, the Friars went on a 39-12 run since July 17. It has tied them with the Milwaukee Brewers for the best record since the start of the second half. The hot streak has allowed the Padres to separate themselves from the Arizona Diamondbacks over the last 10 games.

But more work remains in the final week of the regular season. The Friars are tied with the Chicago Cubs for the top Wild Card berth. The Cubs hold the advantage, as they took the season series. To claim home field advantage in the Wild Card round, San Diego will have to finish one game ahead of them in the standings at season’s end.

Home field advantage is important

The Padres have been dominant at home this season, carrying a 49-29 record that vastly outshines their 38-40 mark on the road. Yes, the playoffs are a different story, but the team has an all-time playoff reccord of 8-6 at Petco Park.

You want home-field advantage in the Wild Card round because all three games are played at the higher-seeded team’s stadium. If the Friars meet the Cubs again, it is better to host them at Petco Park.

The Padres dynamic duo

What an incredible turnaround for the bats, as they have been sizzling since the All-Star break. The lineup has maintained an impressive .348 team OBP, 373 hits, and 153 walks during this stretch.

Fernando Tatis Jr. has fueled the surge, batting .290 with 12 home runs and 32 RBIs. Tatis Jr. is poised to have a better postseason than 2025. He was silent, going 1-for-12 with zero RBIs vs. the Cubs in the Wild Card round. 

Another contributor is Ty France (.324, 9 HRs, 30 RBIs, and a .924 OPS), who has exceeded all expectations at the plate. It seemed like every game-tying or game-winning hit came off his bat during the second-half comeback. No question, France can raise his free-agent value with a productive October. 

Naturally, the Friars will rely heavily on their production to advance in the postseason. 

King has been dominant from start to finish

Michael King struggled to find consistency in the first half, posting a 7-7 mark in 19 starts. But he has found himself and is finishing the season strong. Disregard his hiccup in Los Angeles last night; King allowed just five earned runs in his previous five starts.

Over that span, he went 4-0 with a 1.38 ERA and struck out 24 batters across 32.0 innings pitched. King set the tone for a starting rotation determined to lead the team into the postseason.

The next step for him is to pitch better in October and become a fearless performer who quiets strong playoff lineups. That was why the Padres brought King back to San Diego. 

The 2026 season has not been easy, but the Friars have met every challenge put in front of them. Now, the club is on the cusp of playing October baseball.

After taking over as the closer the last two months, Kodai Senga proved to the Mets that he can pitch out of the bullpen, something that was completely foreign to him until this year.

The right-hander had some bumps along the way, of course, but for the most part Senga was a reliable arm as a reliever and went 8-for-9 on save opportunities, including shutting the door on Tuesday night in New York’s 6-3 win over the Texas Rangers.

However, with Devin Williams reinstated from the IL, Senga’s role on the team is now in a bit of limbo.

Manager Andy Green expressed his appreciation for what Senga has been able to do out of the bullpen, but when asked whether the Mets view him as a starter or a reliever for next year’s team, Green couldn’t say.

“We will make the determination based on what we feel is best for the team and where he fits best,” the skipper said. “That’s impossible to answer at this moment. We’ve gotten a good look at him in this role and he’s done a lot of really good things and we’re excited about the possibility of that, but you can flip the calendar back just a few years ago before he had a hamstring issue or a leg issue and he was one of the most interesting starters in baseball and doing some really good things and obviously had an unbelievable rookie season. 

“So he’s got a lot to hang his hat on in that regard. I think there’s a real decision point there and it’s not one we’re ready to make today.”

Before Senga’s tumultuous 2026 season as a starter, he was 20-13 with a 3.00 ERA in 52 starts across three seasons for New York. He even placed second in the 2023 NL Rookie of the Year voting after successfully making the transition from Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.

Since then, injuries have been a major factor in his career before he completely fell off this year while pitching to a 9.66 ERA in eight starts and going 0-7. But after Williams went down with a right shoulder strain in early August, the Mets made the bold decision to make Senga the new closer.

Senga quickly took to his new job and got the save in his first seven opportunities and pitched to a 1.74 ERA in August. Aside from a rough outing against the Philadelphia Phillies on Sept. 20 (in a non-save opportunity), Senga has been rock solid at the backend of the bullpen.

“I think we have an idea of how he fits in the pen now, which is really, really helpful,” Green said.

However, with so much uncertainty surrounding the team in the ways it can go after a disastrous season, the Mets aren’t ruling anything out just yet.

“We don’t know the depth of our rotation going into ‘27 right now,” Green said. “There’s a free agency period, there’s a lot of uncertainty that could unfold in the offseason and he’ll fit into the spot that he fits the best for us because that’s how we should move forward at this point in time.

“And we won’t be able to know that until we know what we sign, what we bring in, where we’re at and that’ll make the picture clearer and we’ll figure out where the puzzle piece fits the best.”

If it were up to Senga, who will be entering the final year of his five-year, $75 million contract he signed before the 2023 season next year, he would choose being a starter – the only thing he had ever known before this year.

“I think he has been really good expressing to us his passion resides in the rotation,” Green said.

Of course, a starting pitcher is also more valuable than a reliever, especially one that isn’t a closer, as Williams is signed through the next two seasons and figures to remain in that role. Still, it’s hard to get over how badly Senga struggled in the rotation despite all the chances in the world to figure it out.

For what it’s worth, though, the manager mentioned that he and the Mets will take into account what Senga wants. The 33-year-old has earned that. But at the end of the day, it’s their call.

“Somebody who has accomplished what he’s accomplished in his career, the type of teammate he’s been, that matters a lot to us,” Green said. “It will not be the ultimate determining factor, but it will have weight and we’ll value it accordingly.”

#NotDeadYet Yesterday’s results bumped up our playoff odds to 7.4%. Arizona currently sits four games back of the three-way tie for the NL wild-card spots, so needs to make up one game on the Padres, today or tomorrow, in order to hold their own destiny. Who better on the mound than Merrill Kelly? Well, given his ERA of exactly five, you might have a few answers to that question. On the other hand, his only complete game, in two hundred major-league starts, came against this opponent earlier this year – and, more remarkably, at Coors. Since the end of 2015, he’s one of only four visiting pitchers with a nine-inning CG in Denver. Same again, please.

Last night was Kevin Ginkel’s 71st appearance out of the bullpen for Arizona. Only four pitchers have surpasses seventy games for Arizona since the before-COVID times. Ginkel previously did it in 2024, along with Joe Mantiply, while Miguel Castro reached 75 in 2023. It’s likely Taylor Clarke, currently on 69, could join Ginkel by the end of the year. In addition to 2024, since 2008 Arizona has had two relievers > 70 outings in 2012 and 2018. The latter campaign actually saw three: Archie Bradley, Andrew Chafin and Yoshihisa Hirano (and all of them got to 75 or more!). Juan Morillo currently sits on 67, so I doubt we’ll be able to repeat that this season.

Won’t be around much for this one, since Mrs. SnakePit and I are off to dinner and then on to see The Phantom of the Opera at the Gammage in Tempe. Should be fun. I may be forgiven for sneaking an odd-peek or two at my phone when permitted. Good news in the early going from Philadelphia, where the Brewers are up 4-1 over the Phillies in the fourth inning. The Cubs are just under way in Miami, and the Padres face the Dodgers in the last game of the day. May I return home with the D-backs still not eliminated!