Worldwide Sports News

The Royals learned something about themselves on their homestand, writes Anne Rogers.

“It was great to have Bobby back, first and foremost, and to be healthy,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “I was really happy to be able to put him in there today. Jac, obviously, had a huge day [Saturday], and we saw a lot of mature at-bats from him throughout the homestand.”

There’s no doubt that the Royals have a lot of work to do this offseason to remake their pitching staff, add to the offense and get back to competing in ‘27, which they’ve stated is their goal. The reason why just played out in front of us this week: Witt is a star, Caglianone is emerging as one, and those two anchor a core the Royals believe they can win with right now.

Jaylon Thompson writes about the Sunday start from Randy Dobnak.

“I thought from a pitching standpoint, it was one of my better outings,” Dobnak said. “Some bad luck on some of those weak hits. I was able to get ahead of a lot of the guys. I gave up probably too many two-strike hits than I would like to. But overall, I thought it was decent outing, results aside.”

Jac Caglianone became the first player in club history to hit two homers and two doubles in a game on Saturday.

“Really impressive, literally from left field to right field,” manager Matt Quatraro said, noting Caglianone’s four hits were sprayed to all parts of the field. “Hard-hit, different pitch types. Obviously, we know he’s got huge power, and we saw that throughout the night. He just seemed really calm at the plate throughout the night, and that was a really good sign.”

Jaylon has more on what Jac did to prepare.

“I think me and (Royals hitting coach) Marcus (Thames) had a good talk the last couple of days,” Caglianone said. “Just working with him to find the move and really shrinking the zone. And like tonight was a good night of that.”

Caglianone became the seventh Royals player to record four extra-base hits in a game. He is also the first primary Royals outfielder since Alex Gordon (2013) to post 20 homers in a season.

Things are really clicking for Noah Cameron.

“I was pitching myself out of my role, pitching myself out of the big leagues at that point,” Cameron said. “I was pitching myself into getting optioned. Obviously, we had a lot of injuries and stuff that helped me stay up here, which sucks because I’d rather be pitching well and everyone be healthy. But then they opened for me, and they presented it just like we were changing it up. I understood, but I had a little chip on my shoulder.

“I take everything seriously, but I needed to turn things around and throw better. That doesn’t mean I need to go 23 innings with one run, although that is nice for sure, but I just need to have quality outings to help the team and show them I can pitch here.”

Vahe Greogrian recounts a steal of home by George Brett.

Royals shortstop Andrew Velazquez elects free agency after being designated for assignment.

A’s shortstop Jacob Wilson sets a record with his errorless streak.

Chris Sale blows up after a balk call and is ejected.

Jacob Misiorowski reaches the 200 strikeout mark faster than anyone except but one pitcher.

Max Scherzer passes Walter Johnson and is now tenth all-time in strikeouts.

A look at each team’s biggest free agent this winter.

Which hitters have the most checked swings?

The Padres sign veteran outfielder Austin Hays.

The Diamondbacks sign pitcher Zack Littell.

Shohei Ohtani begins throwing with the hope he can pitch before the season is over.

The White Sox retire Ozzie Guillen’s number.

The Giants hold a tribute for longtime broadcaster Mike Krukow, who is retiring.

Former MLB player Doug Glanville writes about what the trade deadline is like for players.

Hall of Fame basketball coach Don Nelson dies at age 86.

It looks like the Chiefs whiffed on their 2025 free agent class.

Duane Davis goes to trial for the 1996 killing of Tupac Shakur.

Taylor Farms recalls salsa and guacamole over a salmonella risk.

The oral history of Will Ferrell’s sports comedies.

Your song of the day is Broken Bells, Danger Mouse, James Mercer with The High Road.

The Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association on Friday announced the 30 Heart and Hustle Award winners, a player from each team who “exemplify a true passion for the game and who best embody the values, spirit and traditions of the game.”

Voted on exclusively by former MLB players, the Dodgers Heart and Hustle Award winner this year is infielder Miguel Rojas. The 13-year veteran who plans to retire at the conclusion of the season and move into a role in the Dodgers’ front office is hitting .268/.326/406 with a 100 wRC+ in 180 plate appearances this season, including .324/.366/.490 with a 135 wRC+ against left-handed pitching.

The longtime shortstop this season has started 22 games at second base, 15 more at shortstop, and twice at third base. This is the third career Heart and Hustle Award for Rojas, who also was honored in 2019 and 2021 with the Miami Marlins.

Links

• Yoshinobu Yamamoto leads the majors averaging 6.63 innings per start, but David Adler at MLB.com notes how Yamamoto is the only one of the top 10 starters by run value to not throw a fastball as his most frequent pitch. Yamamoto through Saturday has thrown his devastating splitter 27.1 percent of the time this season, compared to 26.6 percent for his four-seam fastball.
• Will Klein last Saturday was placed on the injured list with right elbow inflammation. Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic over the weekend reported Klein has bone chips in the elbow, and surgery is among the options behind considered.
• Bradford William Davis at his eyeblack newsletter talked with an MLB compliance staffer who contradicted the league’s party line regarding how baseballs are inspected.

Good morning, baseball fans!

It’s a new week of San Francisco Giants baseball, so let’s take a look at what’s on deck for the week.

First up, the interleague play continues as the Giants welcome the Houston Astros to Oracle Park tonight to begin a three-game series. After that, the Colorado Rockies come to town on Friday for another three-game series.

I don’t usually intentionally choose the Rockies as the series I’m most interested in for the week. But this season has been weird all around. The Astros are leading the AL West as of the time this is being written, and the Rockies are still in last place in the NL West. So hopefully the Giants can use that series to make sure they stay out of last place themselves.

Which series are you most interested in this week?

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants begin their series against the Astros tonight at 6:45 p.m. PT.

“Gabe,” you must be asking: “why are you writing this and why right now?” Excellent question. To be perfectly honest, I would have preferred to save this idea for a later time, but I didn’t actually think of the idea until after I had already watched the original Angels in the Outfield. I watched it mostly because I was curious – by IMDB ratings and the few reviews it has, it suggested it was worth watching. I had seen the remake, but not in at last 20 years. I kind of assumed it would be the same movie, and it wasn’t at all. So I instantly wanted to compare it to the remake, which of course demanded I watch the remake as well. If I waited for a more appropriate time for this post, well I would have to rewatch the original. I liked the original more than I expected, but to use a term from The Ringer – it’s not really a Rewatchable type of movie. So it had to be posted while it was fresh in my mind. Hence the weird timing.

The original (Spoilers if you want to watch it)

The original movie is actually about the Pittsburgh Pirates, because the Angels didn’t actually exist yet. At least not in the majors, pretty sure there was a minor league team named the Angels. The Pirates at the time hadn’t had a winning record since 1948, and the next season they would win 42 games. They wouldn’t have a winning record until the 1958 season. So they picked a perennial loser team to magically turn around.

This movie, especially because I vaguely remembered the remake, has an extremely strange structure. We start by following a reporter, who is of course a beautiful woman played by Janet Leigh. Because 1951 audiences would be very confused about a woman reporter covering baseball, it is of course not her regular beat – I forgot the exact name because this isn’t really a feature of the newspaper anymore, but her normal beat was clearly tailored towards housewives – and she covers the foul-mouthed manager and she has a popular piece lambasting the manager and they have her keep covering the Pirates because of it.

So right off the bat, there’s no reporter equivalent in the remake. I thought we were going to follow the reporter, but the perspective then shifts to the foul-mouthed manager. And I’ll give the movie credit here – them substituting his foul language for indecipherable yelling was a clever way around the Hays Code. Then after another loss, he walks out to the field in the dark, and an angel just starts talking to him, telling him to stop swearing and fighting, and they’ll help him win.

So this is extremely random. The remake has a way better hook, no matter what you think of it. Why are the Angels interested in helping this miserable dude? I guess the ending provides the reason, but there’s kind of still a why this guy quality to the movie. So he listens, they help, a little girl goes to the game one time and claims to see an angel. The press gets involved, and the story blows up. If you have only seen the remake, it will seriously blow your mind how much of a role the press plays in this story. A reporter is one of the three main characters.

Anyway, the manager is kind of mad that the reporter helped blow up the story, but he ends up accidentally confirming he hears angels too after he gets hit in the head by a line drive, clearly concussed. For some odd reason, the hometown announcer with a grudge against the manager for some reason has enough pull to get the manager investigated for his ability to lead the team. This guy got hit in the head by a line drive, and an off-hand comment directly after that happened turns into a full-blown 10-minute hearing (in movie time! I’m sure it was much longer) on basically his sanity. The structure of this movie is really, really bizarre.

The manager ends up seeing the kid a few times, takes a liking to her, the reporter feels bad about blowing up the angel story, so next thing you know, it kind of turns into a family unit. I don’t remember the exact steps it took, but reasonably well done. Except for one small thing. The manager looks like Paul Douglas and the reporter looks like Janet Leigh. You never can quite get over that. I was in disbelief that early 20s Janet Leigh would ever be interested in overweight, foul-mouthed 44-year-old Paul Douglas. Who unfortunately would die at just 52-years-old and not to be too rude to the guy but…. it was not surprising he didn’t have 10 more years on this Earth watching this movie. 44 and 24 isn’t especially heinous to believe, especially at the time, but I have to remind everyone that he does not look like a 44-year-old actor in 2026. He could pass for 60 nowadays easy.

And to be perfectly fair to Douglas, his wife at the time was out of his league, so the real life version of him had ‘game,’ but the way the movie portrays Douglas, that dude would have zero game. Douglas isn’t really miscast and Leigh isn’t really miscast, but the original choice of Clark Cable makes waaaay more sense if you’re going to shoehorn a romance into this. That I can buy. Douglas was borderline too convincing at being a grumpy, mean-spirited loner which again to be fair to him, definitely did a better job than Gable would have on that part. They would have sanded off the edges with Gable. But I would absolutely have zero questions about Gable and Leigh.

And the movie kind of knows this, because boy does it dance around any semblance of romance between the two. She basically just starts cooking for him and the kid and it’s just kind of implied. If it were a modern movie and you filmed it exactly the same way, you would probably assume they were friends or something. There’s not really even a hint that they kissed or anything, except they clearly all live together in the end. This was definitely the right approach given who was cast.

The movies’ baseball scenes are actually kind of great. They had actual baseball players playing baseball. Ralph Kiner and a bunch of real Pirates players you’ve never heard of are really playing baseball. There are cameos from Ty Cobb (before the reporter with a vendetta against him made him poison), minority owner of the Pirates Bing Crosby, and Joe Dimaggio all commenting on the angels helping the Pirates.

Also a strong ending as well, because the angels abandon the Pirates for the last game, because the manager broke his promise about swearing and fighting. So he puts all his faith in a washed up pitcher who has to just gut it out and because it’s 1951, he lets him throw a complete game and it’s interesting how sort of modern the outside commentary is because nobody expects him to throw that many innings and everyone wants him taken out in the 9th, especially when he allows baserunners. Smart choice.

So it’s family friendly, it’s charming enough, and the baseball itself is great and convincing. And because the baseball is pretty well done, if you’re into baseball history, it is kind of interesting to get a little glimpse of maybe what it would be like as a fan in 1951 watching baseball. So that was cool. The structure is very weird, the romance is implausible, and while I think the character clearly changes, it’s not super believable that he would actually adopt a kid – I think he even says this when it’s very much not a sure thing that Janet Leigh will be the mom. Some suspension of disbelief is required, ironically, in the non-baseball parts of the movie.

Solid 2.5/4 stars

The remake

Okay whoever first thought of this idea must have realized it made sense to make it about the Angels this time and rightfully thought it being from the kid who sees angels perspective made more sense as a hook. Interestingly, the Pirates won the World Series 9 years after the 1951 version came out, and the Angels won it 8 years after this one came out.

Alright let’s get the cat of the bag: this movie doesn’t understand baseball at all. This movie got bad reviews because the baseball scenes SUCK. I don’t mind that you can see the angels – found that a weird complaint whenever I came across people talking about the old movie – they would have shown the angels in 1951 if the technology was there. 100 percent. That movie was not ambiguous about the fact that the angels were real, so you can’t really play the pretend “because it didn’t show the angels, it’s a more plausible movie.”

However, the remake does make the angel interventions way less believable. Everyone would believe there were angels impacting the game with how insanely impossible some of the baseball scenes are. They have a centerfielder literally floating to make a diving catch and a guy completely shatters his bat and hits a long homer. I’m guessing the writers or director were not aware at how unlikely a homer would be with a shattered bat.

Then perhaps my biggest baseball-specific grievance, the great decision to pinch hit Adrien Brody for the team’s best hitter. Brody is a utility infielder with a terrible bat. There are three outs to work with in the 9th. Why in god’s name does this movie act like he had to pinch hit for Mitchell? Does the angel benefit somehow not apply if he’s not making a completely illogical move? And then the pitching team commits 10+ errors on one play, but the ball moves on its own and like seriously everyone would believe in a higher power helping the Angels at this point.

And then Tony Danza is a washed up pitcher who the announcer claims hasn’t pitched in this decade, which would be five seasons. Joseph-Gordon Levitt sees an angel by him, says he has to start him, and Danny Glover rightfully points out that he’s not on the active roster. And then the movie ignores this – the game is clearly starting in 10 minutes – and he’s somehow allowed to pitch. Oh yeah and the movie is clearly unaware of what rehab is, because he just pitches in his first live competition against real batters in I guess five years, and yeah I know the angels help him out, but could this movie at least pretend to know anything about baseball.

I’ll get the negatives out of the way first, but I kind of hate the score. This movie got called cheesy, and it is, but a movie like this will have a certain amount of sentimentality and cheese anyway, but the baseball scenes and the score are like 95 percent of the reason it was too much. It doesn’t really feel much like a Disney movie except the score makes sure to tell you it’s a Disney movie.

What does the movie do well? The non-baseball scenes. The plot gets kickstarted, because JGL’s dad (played by Dermot Mulroney) is a real piece of crap and is clearly planning on abandoning him, and he’s in the process of doing it legally. With the Angels in last place, he says they’ll be a family again when the Angels win the pennant. But we the audience, at least as adults, know this guy has no intention of being a father no matter what the Angels do. But JGL prays for it to happen and boom the plot kicks in.

Danny Glover, perfectly cast I might add, ends up finding out the boy is some sort of magic good luck charm, and having nothing to lose, puts him in the seat next to the dugout so he can tell him when angels appear. Totally something a last place, superstitious manager might do without having to believe in angels (he does end up believing).

So they bond together, Danny Glover softens up, JGL’s dad makes it official that he is a waste of space and Glover decides to abandon his important meeting with the owner to make dinner for the two kids on the day JGL finds out his dad doesn’t want him. Disney-fied, but fairly well done stuff. And then this movie finally has some decent baseball scenes at the end when the angels are not allowed to get involved because it’s a championship game. Although it still involves stuff like everybody thinking Glover is gonna pull Danza out of the game on a 3-2 count. Seriously someone involved in this has no clue about baseball.

Weirdly, the movie decides to be very faithful to the original for the end, even including giving Tony Danza 6 months to live, making this the last hurrah of his career and life. It made more sense in the original for the manager to know this, I don’t know why Al told a little kid who recently found out his dad didn’t want him that one of his favorite pitchers was going to die in 6 months, but hey that’s just me. Seriously, why is he telling this little kid that Tony Danza is gonna die? He doesn’t need to know that! They add the waving of the arms for this one, which eh probably worked like gangbusters on me as a kid.

The real reason to watch this as an adult is the casting is un freaking believable. This is a perfectly casted movie. You have JGL, who was a good kid actor, and thank god because these type of movies are completely reliant on the kid being able to act. Tony Danza is honestly great in this movie as the washed-up has-been who suddenly gets the help of angels. Neal McDonough, always great, has a sneaky hard part, being mostly comic relief in sort of a Three Stooges way, but kind of steals every scene he’s in. Jay O. Sanders is fantastic as the slimy announcer. Christopher Lloyd was honestly a better choice than the original pick, Leslie Nielsen. In my opinion. Nielsen was great at the straight man while wacky stuff happens, but that’s not really what this part is.

I could go on. Adrien Brody and Matthew McConaughey have nothing parts as members of the team. Brenda Fricker, who you probably better know as Dove Lady on Home Alone 2 – hits all the right notes. I even feel like the owner was perfectly cast. Seriously, unbelievable job by the casting director. This movie should actually be worse than it is, but the performances make it better than it should be.

This cast is so good that I even believe Danny Glover would adopt the kids. He’s not exactly softened from the original, but Danny Glover has this special ability to be grumpy and frustrated in an entertaining way and still seeming like a good person. Couldn’t have picked a better actor for this role. There’s a genuinely good movie in here somewhere with this cast, but it’s held back by the baseball scenes and frankly Disney.

2/4 stars (it’s probably worse than this, but eh childhood nostalgia)

Last thoughts

So the first movie is a better movie, mostly because it seems to understand baseball. I’m writing this for a bunch of diehards, so that is somewhat essential. But it kind of chooses a bizarre structure for its movie and I think the off the field stuff, while charming, doesn’t really make you care as much as, oh I don’t know, a kid who just wants his dad back. I know there’s a little kid in the original, but it doesn’t really do a great job at making you care. The nuns are simply delightful, so she’s in a great place already. I didn’t mention it above, but one of the very charming things about this movie is the nuns being big baseball fans. I don’t know why, but I just love when movies do things like that. I just love what I’ll term the unexpected fan. I always get a huge kick out of that, in real life or movies.

The remake of the remake by the way should be about the Colorado Rockies. You got to pick a long suffering franchise and hey wacky stuff happens in Coors Field already, that can be built into the script easily. This may be a hokey premise that is hard to make good, but honestly they should make the baseball scenes better and maybe lean more into how dark the story actually is. I mean you don’t need to make it bleak, but like…. the plot of this movie is that this kid’s mother died somewhat recently and his dad doesn’t want him. Woof. I mean Field of Dreams is a beloved movie, some supernatural entity influencing events is clearly not a dealbreaker for a baseball movie.

Good morning. I wanted to take a moment to mention that the Iowa Cubs will play the St. Paul Saints at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa, on Tuesday at 6:35 CT. That game will be on MLB Network. Since Netflix has the major league FoD game between the Twins and the Phillies, that might be the only place for those of us that don’t have Netflix to see a game at that newly-remodeled field this year.

• Two major national writes have basically the same story, so I’ll start with the one that’s not behind The Athletic’s paywall. Jeff Passan has the inside story of how the Dodgers landed Tarik Skubal at the Trade Deadline and why other teams’ offers fell short. Sounds like the Tigers were simply uninterested in anything the Cubs had to offer and it’s true that they didn’t have the elite pitching prospects that other teams could offer.
• So if you prefer Ken Rosenthal, he tells a similar tale of how the Dodgers came out on top in the Skubal negotiations. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Jay Jaffe looks at the success (or lack thereof) of teams that trade for a new starting catcher at the Deadline. In the history of baseball, only one catcher has ever joined a new team midseason and then started a game for an eventual World Series champion. (Christian Vázquez.)
• The Padres added outfielder Austin Hays as a free agent signing and he homered in his first Padres at-bat. AJ Cassavell reports.
• Bradford Doolittle has where all 30 teams stand after the Trade Deadline.
• Jake Mintz re-ranks all the upcoming free agents. Quite a few Cubs on that list, as you likely know.
• Skubal, for his part, said he’d “love” to re-sign with the Tigers this winter. Max Ralph reports.
• Mike Axisa has a “way-too-early” list of ten trade candidates this upcoming winter.
• The Athletics and longtime general manager David Forst agreed to “part ways.” Alden Gonzalez with the story.
• However, Melissa Lockhard, Ken Rosenthal and Charlotte Varnes have more details on Forst’s departure, which their sources say was definitely a “firing” and not a mutual decision. (The Athletic free reg. req.)
• Matt Snyder has five questions about the A’s future.
• Legendary (but not Hall-of-Fame) pitcher Tommy John posted a letter of thanks to the Yankees and their fans as the 83-year-old battles a recurrence of bladder cancer.
• The Diamondbacks have signed recently designated-for-assignment right-hander Zack Littell.
• Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson set a new major league record with 111-straight errorless games at shortstop.
• Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski became the second-fastest player to strike out 200 batters in a season.
• Max Scherzer passed Walter Johnson passed Walter Johnson for tenth on the all-time strikeout list with 3516.

For those of you who are unclear about who Walter Johnson was, here’s Jonathan Richman to tell you just what kind of a player he was.

Was there any bitterness about being passed by Scherzer? Well, it was never detected.

• Matt Snyder believes the Red Sox are looking increasingly like pennant contenders with the ridiculous run they’re on.
• However, the Red Sox did just lose two out of three to the A’s at Fenway this weekend, the first series they’ve lost since July 1.
• Now it’s time to pay the butcher’s bill. Reds right-hander Hunter Greene will undergo elbow surgery to repair a damaged ulnar collateral ligament. It’s one of those “we won’t know if he needs Tommy John until after we operate” things.
• Giants third baseman Matt Chapman is out for the year after a hernia tear.
• Injuries to infielders Joey Ortiz and Cooper Pratt are challenging the Brewers’ infield depth.
• Now for the “Sorry to leave so soon” portion of the program. The White Sox were forced to remove starter Noah Schultz after only one out when manager Will Venable mistakenly took a second trip to the mound.
• And Braves pitcher Chris Sale was ejected from Sunday’s game before it even started. He was not, however, expected to pitch in Sunday’s game.
• Jared Greenspan and Matthew Leach have five things you need to know about the Field of Dreams Game on Thursday.
• Manny Randhawa has five memorable moments from previous FoD games.
• Jon Greenberg has all the details from a memorable day on the South Side when they retired Ozzie Guillén’s number 13. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• And finally, Tyler Kepner was a tiny bit hurt that he wasn’t asked to contribute to the Mariners’ Top 50 players of all-time celebration, as he was a Mariners beat writer 27 years ago. But since the Mariners already announced their Top 50, he announced his 50 most notable Mariners players of all-time. (The Athletic sub. req.) His list tends towards the more humorous and embarrassing.

Triple-A: Buffalo Bison (TOR) 9, Norfolk Tides 3

Norfolk starter Michel Forret, recently (re)acquired from Tampa Bay for Tyler Wells, pitched well in his 2026 Orioles org debut: the final line isn’t his fault. Forret threw 4.2 innings and allowed two runs. But Yosver Zulueta allowed four runs in less than an inning as part of a blown save, and Dietrich Enns took the blame for the rest of a six-inning meltdown in the seventh.

In better news, Creed Willems homered, and Rece Hinds hit an RBI double.

Box Score

Double-A: Harrisburg Senators (WAS) 1, Chesapeake Baysox 0

A tough-luck loss for Trace Bright, who pitched six innings, allowed one run on just one hit, and struck out eight! The one run came on a solo homer; that’s it. Still, Bright (0-2, 4.56 on the season) will gladly take this result. Three scoreless of relief were pitched by Micah Ashman and Richard Guasch.

Baysox hitters were shut out, but posted six hits, all singles. The six were spread out between Tavian Josenberger, Brandon Butterworth, Anderson de los Santos, Wehiwa Aloy (pinch-hitting), Frederick Bencosme and Douglas Hodo.

Box Score

High-A: Frederick Keys 15, Jersey Shore BlueClaws (PHI) 8

A big day for a lot of Keys hitters, as you’d expect from the box score. The team as a whole hit four home runs and seven doubles. They also walked 11 times. Three hitters finished with three-hit games: new guy Enddy Azocar (3-for-5, 3 RBI, HR), shortstop Randal Díaz (3-for-6, 4 RBI, HR, 2B), and Colin Tuft (3-for-5, all doubles). Braylin Tavera homered and drove in three.

The bats were so impressive that Frederick’s first two pitchers (Carson Dorsey and Ben Vespi) could allow eight run between them in 5.2 innings and their team still got the win. Good outings were had by Cohen Achen (1.1 IP 0 R), Chandler Marsh (1.0 IP, 0 R) and Todd Kniebbe (1.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H).

Box Score

Low-A: Fredericksburg Nationals 9, Delmarva Shorebirds 8

Twice Delmarva had a big lead and blew it… which is something that happens in a game where each team hits a grand slam. Delmarva allowed four runs to Fredericksburg in the fourth and three more in the eighth. The unlucky culprits: Brayan Orrantia (3.1 IP, 6 H, 4 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 HR) and Jack Crowder (1.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K). This was a bullpen collective game, and a few people dropped the baton. Opener Esteban Mejía gave his team two scoreless, followed by a scoreless Zac Lampton inning. But Brayan Orrantia was hittable, with four runs allowed. Brendan Parks and Kailen Hamson threw scoreless innings, but Jack Crowder gave up a grand slam.

The Shorebirds scored eight runs on just nine hits, two of those belonged to catch Luis Ortega, who singled in a run in first inning, then hit a grand slam for his team in the sixth inning! Jaiden Lo Re had two hits, and so did Jesús Liranzo.

Box Score

Today’s Schedule

• There are no scheduled games today.

For the entirety of the 2026 MLB season, Colorado Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer had been clear: The Rockies would not have a closer. Instead, they would be more flexible, using their bullpen staff to maximum effect based on the situation facing the team.

That changed in late July, however, when Schaeffer said that the team considered Jordan Romano their closer.

With that decision made, the staff at Rockies TV sprang into action.

“We’re always looking for new, fun, engaging shots that add something special to our broadcast,” Rockies TV Game Director Erica Ferrero said. “The closer entrance had been done by a few teams around the league, and with Romano’s success in that role since he joined the club, we thought the time was right to explore.”

In case you weren’t at Coors Field on Friday, July 31, here’s what the entrance looked like on TV:

And here’s how it all came together.

Exploring what other teams had done

Having a hype entrance for a team’s closer is not new, and it’s something Major League Baseball has encouraged teams to develop.

Consider a few closer entrances. Edwin Díaz had his epic entrance when he was with the New York Mets.

Here’s Jhoan Durán’s entrance, developed with the Minnesota Twins and traded with him to the Philadelphia Phillies last season:

And, staying in the NL West, here’s San Diego Padres closer Mason Miller:

The moment seemed right for Rockies TV to enter the chat given that Coors Field is an amazing venue, the Rockies were playing better baseball, and they had settled on a closer.

Rockies TV game producer Alison Vigil, Ferrero, and the rest of the Rockies TV staff had been experimenting throughout the season, most notably when Jimmy Herget would serve as the Rockies closer, but now, it was showtime.

Getting the pieces in place

Even though Rockies TV played a key role in putting Romano’s entrance together, they needed coordination throughout the Rockies organization.

First, Schaeffer and bullpen coach Matt Buschmann had to agree — after all, the production would require a camera operator in the bullpen filming Romano as he warmed up and then ran onto the field. They would also need Romano’s consent.

“Bullpen coach Buschmann said, ‘There’s going be a camera guy in the bullpen that’s gonna follow you in. He won’t get in the way or anything, but he’ll just be back in the bushes watching you warm up and follow you out,’” Romano said.

Everyone agreed, though, that this would be a great thing for the Rockies to do, and plans continued.

Second, Rockies TV began working with Rockies Public Relations and Coors Field’s In-Game Entertainment Department. Those are the folks like Rockies Senior Director of In-Game Entertainment Kent Krosbakken, who determine music and light shows. That group worked out the light show — including the digital flames engulfing Coors Field and the camera cut to the Tarps Off section — and selected Romano’s entrance music, DVBBS & Borgeous’s “Tsunami.”

With those decisions made and camera operator David Starcer ready to run in with Romano, the pieces were in place.

Now, all they needed was a Rockies win, and that happened on Friday, July 31, when the Rockies were headed into the ninth inning leading the Kansas City Royals 3-1.

It was time.

Action!

MLB gives their TV affiliates the authority to “kill” the break between the eighth and ninth innings “if something is very momentous,” Vigil explained. “We can really do it last minute, and then what they do is build the commercial break into the (last break) of the show.”

For the Rockies TV crew, it was time.

“It kind of scary to start because I’ve never killed a break like that before,” Vigil said.

“(Starcer) was stationed down there in the eighth inning,” Vigil said. “So we actually took a shot of Romano warming in the eighth inning, which was really cool shot.

“And then I (said to the control room), ‘I’m going to kill the break.’ Erica said, ‘Okay, let’s go.’ So that’s what that’s how it happened.”

That night, play-by-play commentator Marc Stout did not go to commercial; instead, the feed returned to Starcer’s camera in the Rockies bullpen.

With his warm-up pitches completed and the music and lights rising, Romano began his run to the mound with Starcer following along to capture the action. If you check the video I took from the press box, you can see Starcer running beside Romano.

“He was running at a speed that I could keep up with,” Starcer said, “which helped a lot for sure.”

Romano, a former All-Star closer, was no stranger to have a closer entrance, and he thought the Rockies did a good job with theirs.

“I thought it was really cool,” he said.

Plus, it’s a strategy for getting the crowd involved.

“It’s great,” Romano said. “I feel like when you get that kind of light show, it gets the crowd into it. You can feed off the crowd’s energy, and it really just pumps you up and locks you in and gets you ready to go.”

The ninth inning could not have gone better if Vigil and Ferrero had scripted it.

After all the closer-intro hype, Romano got three outs with the Rockies tallying their 43rd win.

“Thankfully,” Ferrero said, “the coaches and the team were on board, and everything lined up perfectly that night with the save situation, the stadium entrance, and Romano going three up, three down.”

This week on the internet

In the course of learning how Jordan Romano’s closer show came together, I got to visit the Rockies TV broadcast truck — and it’s just that: A semi trailer parked beside Coors Field. (Both teams have a trailer/studio available for them as they produce their broadcasts.)

It’s timely, then, that last week, Rockies TV posted some video footage of what they see in the truck:

That’s Alison Vigil’s voice you’ll hear counting down to the start of the broadcast.

I’d like to thank Alison Vigil, Erica Ferrero, David Starcer, and Jordan Romano for talking with me about how the production came together. They are very busy people, and I appreciated their fitting me in and providing such generous answers.

On the farm

Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes 8, Sugar Land Space Cowboys 5

The Albuquerque Isotopes plated three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, and the bullpen wiggled out of numerous high-leverage jams over the final three frames, as they earned a 8-5 victory over the Sugar Land Space Cowboys to win four of six games in the series.

Mason Green was able to escape a bases-loaded, one-out predicament in the seventh with a strikeout and flyout.  In the eighth, Andrew Baker walked two but also struck out a pair, leaving the tying run at the plate. Sugar Land had two on with one out in the top of the ninth, when Braden Shewmake hit a rocket near the first-base line, and Charlie Condon made a diving catch. TJ Shook then struck out Garrett Guillmette to end the ballgame.

Albuquerque has won 10 of their last 12 games, after sweeping a six-game series from El Paso on the road last week.  During the stretch, they are outscoring opponents by a combined total of 128-86.

Zac Veen was on base three more times via two singles and a walk.  Veen is slashing .452/.553/1.115 in his last 12 games with six doubles, two triples, eight homers and 24 RBI, reaching base in 32 of 60 plate appearances during the span.  Veen had hits in seven consecutive at-bats from Friday-Sunday, falling two short of tying Ryan McMahon’s franchise record set in 2017.

The Isotopes (59-55) now head to Oklahoma City to begin a six-game series with the Comets.

Double-A: Binghamton Rumble Ponies 4, Hartford Yard Goats 3

The Yard Goats jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the the third inning thanks to a Jimmy Obertop home run, but weren’t able to hold onto it. The Rumble Ponies (Mets) answered back in the fifth when Kevin Parada hit a homer of his own off Connor Staine. Mitch Voit singled in the next at-bat, but then Staine got Marco Vargas to strike out to end the inning.

Unfortunately, though, the scoring didn’t stop there for the Rumble Ponies. The sixth started off with a single by Émilien Pitre followed by Jefferson Rojas reaching first on a fielder’s choice, and then Pitre reached second on an error by 1B Jack O’Dowd. Billy Amick then homered to put the Ponies up 4-1. Two more Ponies singled, but then Parada and Voit flied out and popped out to end the inning.

In the seventh, the Goats fought back when Andy Perez homered. O’Dowd flied out, but then Braylen Wimmer doubled. Mike Antico was hit by a pitch, and they both stold the next base. A throwing error by Parada allowed Wimmer to score and Antico to advance to third. However, back-to-back strikeouts by Opertop and Skyler Messinger ended the threat and the scoring. Wimmer was the only Yard Goat to record multiple hits, going 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored and a strikeout. Perez’s and Obertop’s home runs were the only other two hits of the night.

High-A: Eugene Emeralds @ Spokane Indians— Cancelled

This game was cancelled due to poor air quality. The Emeralds record remains at 65-42 while the Indians are 50-57. Next up, the Indians will face the Everett AquaSox.

Single-A: Visalia Rawhide 8, Fresno Grizzlies 3

The Rawhide (Diamondbacks) jumped out to an early 2-0 loead in the first, thanks to back-to-back singles by Abdias De La Cruz and Ivan Luciano. But the Grizzlies punched back in the fourth, thanks to a Cristian Arguelles walk and a single by Wilder Dalis (No. 24 PuRP). Dalis was also able to reach second on a fielding error by the center fielder, and then stole third base. He attempted to steal home, but was thrown out. Ronny Ugarte, though, hit a single that drove him Aidan Redahan, who had walked two batter earlier and reached third on Dalis’ attempted steal of home. The game was tied 2-2 after the fourth.

The Rawhide tacked on another run in the fifth on a wild pitch by Manuel Olivares, and another in the sixth when De La Cruz scored on an RBI GIDP by Victor Santana. The Grizzlies scored in the seventh when Dalis scored Ashly Andujar (No. 20 PuRP), who singled three batters before. Unfortunately, though, that was the end of the scoring.

Luciano homered in the eighth to put the Rawhide up 5-3, and then things got away from Yanzel Correa in the ninth. He started by hitting Tytus Cissell, but then got Yerald Nin to ground out to first. But then he walked three of the next four batters, which ended up scoring Cissell. Austin Newton relieved Correa, and immediately gave up a two-run single to Luciano to rack up the score 8-3.

Dalis went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a strikeout, while Andujar and Ronny Ugarte also had two hits apiece. Newton was the only pitcher to be fully unscathed, though he only pitched 0.1 innings. And Manuel Olivares gave up two runs in three innings, but neither were earned.

Rox pitching prospect on the cusp of The Show | MLB.com

Thomas Harding followed the progress of pitcher Jack Mahoney, who may be with the Rockies before the end of the season.

Lefty batters are dominating in 2026. Here’s why | MLB.com

This article from Anthony Castrovince explains the success of lefties in the box. It’s about breaking balls, infield shift bans, and the ABS Challenge System.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Worcester: L, 7-6 (BOX SCORE)

Worcester had a win against the IronPigs on Saturday (Phillies AAA) where every single thing that could go right for them did. Mikey Romero went 6-6, Gage Ziehl pitched a shutout performance in his Triple-A debut, and the team scored nineteen runs. Things were not quite the same on Sunday afternoon, but, until Lehigh Valley stormed to a victory with a five-run ninth inning, Worcester looked in line for the win. This was despite Franklin Arias going 0-for-5, Adley Rutschman also going hitless and Blake Wehunt only pitching ten outs (albeit an effective ten outs before he allowed a home run.) And, for the record, I wouldn’t put too much stock in ANY of that; Arias is still batting almost .300 in a sample size that’s growing. Rutschman had an extra-base hit less than 48 hours ago. On Sunday, though, Kristian Campbell had three hits and a walk, Mikey Romero added two runs after his six-hit-day, and along the last three weeks it looks very much like this team (aka the first line of defense against any real injury problems) looks solid as opposed to a team that can’t be trusted with a lead late.

Rutschman didn’t even play 2 full games down in AAA and was only behind the plate for 5 innings, but he traveled to Toronto with the big league team after the game.

Portland: W, 9-6 (BOX SCORE)

Infielder Mason White is right at home in New England after spending his pro career up to this point in the south, as he belted two home runs in New Hampshire (Blue Jays AA) en route to the Sea Dogs scoring nine runs in the first five innings and coasting to a win. His four RBIs across three hits was the difference maker.

Greenville: L, 15-12 (F/12) (BOX SCORE)

This was a thriller of a series finale against the Renegades (Yankees High-A) as there were twenty-four plays that had a WPA of more than .10. Thirteen pitchers were used, five home runs were hit, only one of those was from the Drive, Trennor O’Donnell had to wear the loss after giving three home runs up in the eleventh and twelvth combined following a good ninth and tenth, and the Drive left seventeen on base. It was a four hour and nineteen minute thriller that resembled the thirteen-inning marathon the Red Sox pulled off against the White Sox earlier in the week, but, in this iteration, anyway, Greenville did not come out on top.

Salem: PPD, Rain (Make-Up TBD)

https://player.vimeo.com/video/30605608?h=e83097de29