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For years the Red Sox hoarded prospects the way my old upstairs neighbor hoarded newspapers. Piles and piles of newspapers, each one somehow too precious to part with. But after a stunning hot streak legitimately vaulted the Sox into the playoff race, the front office flipped the script. Ownership finally remembered they’re a big-market team, and pushed their chips into the middle of the table.

Was Craig Breslow’s performance at the deadline a shock? You bet. Pre-deadline, I predicted in this very space that Breslow and John Henry would run back a tired line from recent years: they’d do some buying, some selling, and wait for reinforcements to return from the Injured List.

In my entire life, I’ve never been so happy to be wrong.

A Massive Philosophical Shift

Craig Breslow didn’t just nibble around the edges of the trade market, either; he blew up the entire narrative that Boston is afraid to make big trades. Because others have already written in depth about it, I won’t analyze what has been called the “blockbuster” trade for catcher Adley Rutschman—other than to say I’m in favor of it. I won’t lament the departure of Marcelo Mayer because personally, I never warmed up to him—but I won’t talk about that right now either. We wanted the front office to do something, and they did it. This is what doing something looks like.

And it’s glorious.

The front office and the clubhouse have turned what looked like a bad hand into a hot hand. Contrast where they were in June with where they stand now.

What a Difference a Month Makes

They recently wrapped up a sweep of the White Sox, scoring 12 runs on Thursday and coming back five times from scoring deficits to finally win in walk-off fashion in the 13^th inning. All this after having swept the Dodgers—the Dodgers! I also wrote that there was no way (I literally wrote “No way.”) that they could out-play the Dodgers. But the Red Sox showed it can be done. They provided such a teachable moment that the Cubs went and swept the Dodgers in the very next series; how about that?

After the 12-11 win to sweep the White Sox, they came in hot against the Athletics, kicking off that series on the following night with a resounding 13-1 win. What happened to the team that couldn’t hit to save their lives in March, April, May, and June?

They just ended a nine-game winning streak and are aiming for a tenth consecutive series victory—a feat the franchise hasn’t accomplished since 1912.

This team is historic in so many ways. Let’s revel in it for a moment (again), shall we?

• 15-Game Winning Streak: which tied the franchise record for consecutive wins, matching the mark set 80 years ago when the team was led by Ted Williams.
• Nine Consecutive Series Wins: Boston has clinched nine straight series victories—a feat not accomplished by the franchise in 114 years, matching a stretch last seen during their 1912 World Series championship season. With Friday’s win against the A’s, they’re working on their tenth. (With Saturday’s loss, they will need to win on Sunday.)
• Sweeps of First-Place Teams: The 2026 Red Sox became the first team in the modern expansion era (post-1961) to sweep six series against teams who entered the series at the top of their division. Notably, the Rays in their own AL East, the Dodgers who are heavily favored to three-peat in the World Series, and most recently, the White Sox.
• Record Monthly Win Percentage: They posted a ferocious 21–4 record in July, with the highest monthly winning percentage (.840) in team history.
• Historic Across Leagues: With Friday’s win, the Sox became the first team across the MLB, NHL, and NBA to win 27+ games in a 30-game stretch, while entering that stretch 10+ games below .500
• And then maybe my favorite:

The @RedSox are the only MLB team in the modern era to score in 5 separate innings in the 9th inning or later in the same game.

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) August 7, 2026

They are the best team in baseball! But they got thereby relying on players who were never supposed to be out there.

Superstar IL and Other Chaos

It’s absurd that this team is succeeding despite an IL that is chock-full of players who were supposed to be real contributors. The team had expectations (to varying degrees of course) of Garrett Crochet, Roman Anthony, Trevor Story, Johan Oviedo, Triston Casas, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford, Zack Kelly, and formerly Marcelo Mayer. All of them are on the shelf. Romy González began the season there too before coming back quickly, then heading back to Worcester. Am I forgetting anyone? It’s hard to keep track of.

Even newcomer Curtis Mead, who was supposed to be a timely offensive upgrade, took less than a couple of hours to sustain an injury that allowed him to claim his spot on this elite roster we now call the IL. These injuries have allowed players like Anthony Seigler, Andruw Monasterio, and Nick Sogard to shine. Payton Tolle and Jake Bennett have stepped up in a big way, but without the unforeseen depletions to the pitching staff, they may not have been given such an opportunity at this point in the season, or in their young careers. Caleb Durbin, another new hero, felt almost like an afterthought when he joined the team, a reaction to the need to fill the Alex Bregman-sized hole at third base rather than a well executed plan.

For all the chaos this club has been through—including offseason hits like Bregman’s departure, beginning the season 32-46, and the firing of Alex Cora and five coaches before the end of April—they sure have become rock-steady.

The deadline deals and the complete philosophical shift have sent a huge message to a clubhouse that was declared dead in June: the front office believes in them. They added players who could help tip the scales and ensure there’s October baseball in Boston.

But here’s the paradox. Boston traded for a very good catcher who, at the time of the trade, was sidelined with wrist inflammation. [He has since debuted for Worcester on a rehab assignment, hitting a double and throwing out a runner on Saturday.] The 2026 Red Sox are playing so insanely well that they have the luxury of looking on this All-Star addition to the roster as a simple reinforcement, rather than a savior. Inconceivable!

This team has learned to thrive in chaos, amid injuries, and the depths of the off-season and early going of 2026 have accidentally engineered the most resilient locker room in modern Boston history. Are they next-gen idiots? They have come off the bench or otherwise—seemingly—out of nowhere to win games and hearts. They have been explosive, fun, team-first, and unpretentious.

The Sox finally have a roster that works, with or without Adley Rutschman, who will be joining the big-league team soon. Let’s go.

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It’s a busy day in Major League Baseball, with 15 games on tap.

MLB’s most explosive arm — and one of my top MLB player props — is up in Milwaukee, as Jacob Misiorowski is seeking his fourth straight game with 10+ Ks.

Read below for the rest of my favorite MLB picks for Sunday, Aug. 9.

Best MLB player props today

Jacob Misiorowski Over 8.5 strikeouts (-133)

Just three Twins have stepped into the batter’s box to face the fireballer Jacob Misiorowski, and that should be a huge advantage for the Brewers.

The 24-year-old fanned 10 Angels on just two hits in seven innings of work last time out, and he’s recorded at least nine punchouts in five of his last six starts.

Misiorowski is just consistently dominant. In 21 starts this year, he’s failed to reach the 8K plateau only four times.

• Time: 2:10 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: Twins.TV, Brewers.TV

Luis Arraez Over 1.5 total bases (+123)

It’s been a stellar start in Philadelphia for trade deadline pickup Luis Arraez, who’s hitting at a .333 clip in five games.

He’s had three games with at least two total bases, and now he draws Shane Bieber, a guy he’s hitting .290 against in 31 at-bats.

Bieber bounced back from a dud against Washington, where he failed to get out of the first inning, to beat the Astros. Still, he was tagged for nine hits.

• Time: 1:35 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: NBCSP, SN

Wilyer Abreu anytime home run (+265)

Baseball’s best power hitter last week was Boston’s Wilyer Abreu, who belted an MLB-best four long balls with an exceptional 1.222 SLG.

Can he keep it up against A’s starter JT Ginn? The stats show a favorable matchup for Abreu, who will be facing Ginn for the first time.

Over his last 10 starts, Ginn has served up seven home runs. Of the 13 bombs he’s given up on the season, nine have been to left-handed batters.

• Time: 1:35 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: NBCSCA, NESN

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

One day after Kevin Gausman had a strong debut in a Cubs uniform, Clay Holmes hoped to match that effort against the Royals.

Welp. Back to the drawing board. Holmes allowed four runs in four innings, including a home run by Jac Caglianone, and the Royals evened up the series by defeating the Cubs 6-3, ending the Cubs’ winning streak at five.

Caglanone’s homer off Holmes gave the Royals a 1-0 lead in the first inning. But you know what? The Cubs’ opponent had scored first in all five games of the winning streak, so perhaps this could be another come-from-behind win?

Unfortunately, no. Holmes got touched up for two more runs in the second and another in the third, and overall it wasn’t a great outing. He threw 70 pitches (44 strikes). Remember that Holmes is coming off a fractured fibula. It could be that he’s still not 100 percent from the injury. Hopefully, his next start — which should come up next weekend at Wrigley Field against the Cardinals — will be better.

The Cubs did make attempts to get back into this game. In the fourth, Michael Busch led off with a single. He was forced at second by Alex Bregman, but one out later Nico Hoerner singled Bregman to third.

Carson Kelly’s double scored both runners to make it 4-2 [VIDEO].

So it’s 4-2 in the fourth — that’s not an insurmountable deficit.

Colin Rea relieved Holmes and got through the fifth and sixth scoreless. Meanwhile, the Cubs had cut that two-run deficit to one when Ian Happ smashed his 19th home run of the year [VIDEO].

That had to feel really good for Happ, who’s been in an awful slump for quite some time. This made it a one-run game — and Happ also had made this great defensive play in the top of the inning [VIDEO].

Notes about Happ’s evening from BCB’s JohnW53:

This is the 28th of Happ’s 1,253 career games in which he had a homer and a double.

It was the fourth this season. He did it May 2 at home vs. the Diamondbacks, adding a triple, then May 29 at St. Louis and June 4 at home vs. the Athletics.

He also did it four times last season, six in 2024 and four in 2023. He had 10 in 2017-22, with a high of three in 2021.

Unfortunately, that one-run deficit didn’t last long, as Caglianone smacked a two-run homer off Rea in the bottom of the seventh to make it 6-3. About Caglianone’s two-homer, two-double game, from John:

Jac Caglianone is just the seventh player since 1901  to hit multiple home runs and multiple doubles against the Cubs.

The previous one was Luis Urias of the Brewers on Aug. 12, 2021. The one before that was Matt Carpenter of the Cardinals, on July 20, 2018. He hit three homers and two doubles, the only one of the seven with a third homer.

The first five were Les Bell of the Cardinals in 1925, Jim Russell of the Braves in 1948, Paul O’Neill of the Reds in 1991 and Nick Castellanos of the Tigers in 2015. All six earlier games were at Wrigley Field.

Bell and Urias had six plate appearances; the others, five. Caglianone had only four.

And that was it for the Cubs, made a bit worse when former Cub Nate Pearson entered to close the game for the Royals. Michael Conforto led off the ninth with a double, but that was it off Pearson, who struck out Pete Crow-Armstrong to end the game. Pearson now has one more save for the Royals than he had in his season and a half and 30 games with the Cubs. (That’s one save for KC, as he had none for the Cubs.)

Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame remarks [VIDEO].

One point Counsell makes in that clip is, I think, very important — Rea went four innings and so no other relievers even got up in the pen. That helps save the bullpen for future games.

This one, I think, just comes in the category of “You can’t win ‘em all.” The Cubs lost a game in the NL Central standings to the Brewers, who won Saturday, and now trail by 5.5 games. The Phillies and Diamondbacks both lost Saturday, so the Cubs lead both by six games in the wild card race.

The Cubs will once again go for the series win Sunday afternoon in Kansas City. Matthew Boyd will start for the Cubs and Randy Dobnak goes for the Royals. Game time is 1:10 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network. The BCB game preview will post at 11 a.m. CT.

The St. Louis Cardinals made it back to .500 thanks to the Colorado Rockies being in town and did so with the help of Kyle Leahy. A quick hook (5 innings) for Leahy brought up some questions with him only having thrown 82 pitches, but Jeff Jones dove into the workload topic for the rest of us.

I asked Marmol this afternoon if they were approaching some innings limitations with Leahy, who pitched 88 innings last season and entered tonight with 107.1, and he said they were working through it. Could be skipped starts, could be shorter outings. Done tonight after 5/82.

— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) August 8, 2026

Thanks to Jones’ reporting, we know that Leahy is on some type of an innings limit in his first year of starting and he is unlikely to be the only one on some restrictions. With 112.1 innings, he is third on the team behind Andre Pallante and Michael McGreevy, who are also nearing the mid-100s of frames this season. Pallante has maxed out at 162.2 and McGreevy hit 153 last season, so the workhorses have done their job in this transition year.

An innings limit may not be needed for the Cardinals this season

After Matthew Liberatore’s latest bummer of a start, the demand for a move to the bullpen has increased in volume and aggression. In getting the loss against the miserable Rockies, Liberatore moved to 5-9 with a 5.15 ERA on the season. For the Opening Day starter, a total bummer. With 113.2 innings pitched on the season, Libby is on pace to slightly exceed his 2025 total unless a move to the bullpen is in order. There is one starter who does not need an innings limit, but rather a demotion due to inconsistent performance. Enter Quinn Mathews into that spot?

The other four spots in the rotation are filled by Pallante, McGreevy, Leahy, and Hunter Dobbins. Dobbins is two seasons removed from a 125 inning season and has worked just over 100 innings between the majors and minors. The first two rotation options, in my opinion, have no reason to have a cap on their pitching this year. That leaves Leahy, who is on track to double his workload in his first year in the rotation.

Leahy has matched or exceeded Pallante in most stats, trailing in the wins and ERA categories but meeting or beating him in others. All that comes in yet another attempt for the Cardinals to move one of their trusted bullpen arms to the starting rotation rather than spend on the market, and the results have been solid if unspectacular. For the 29-year-old, the transition to the rotation has come along well after some bumps in the early part of the season.

I added the age not to be mean, but to add context into my next point being: Why does Kyle Leahy need an innings limit?

As a 35-year-old who can sometimes lift his arm over his head, I am in no way saying that Leahy is on the back nine of his career as a major league baseball player. He has shown that he has the ability to fill a role in most any pitching staff in an effective way. As Leahy enters his first season of arbitration, he has pitched his way into a solid salary track for the next few seasons of his major league career, assuming he remains healthy.

His durability has been spectacular, not hitting the injured list at any point during his professional career according to MLB’s transaction page. After being driven to the ground with 62 appearances last season and another 22 starts so far this year, Leahy has proven his worth to major league managers and deserves to get another full season of work.

Also working into that thought is that, besides Mathews, who else is there to take Leahy’s spot in those skipped starts? One answer is Brycen Mautz, but he has been working in the bullpen and been mostly effective as a relief option. Not sure if you’ve tuned into some big league games this second half, but the relief corps needs some help. After Mautz, the starting options are fine, but it may be too early to expect Jurrangelo Cijtnje, Pete Hansen, or Mason Molina to jump to the bigs, even in a spot start.

Tekoah Roby has been nearing full health and Cooper Hjerpe has looked solid in his rehab and progressed up to Triple-A. Out of those two, Hjerpe would be my choice to get a shot at the bigs, but only as a relief option despite working as a starter in his return from injury. For now, the fifth or sixth rotation spot looks to be an opener or bullpen game with Hjerpe or Mautz working in a short stint and another arm providing a look in bulk relief. To me, that does not do much for me in a rebuild season.

Mautz probably should and will get another start or two before the end of the season, but another long audition spot is not really showing up for anyone else to get an extended look. While it was already announced that Leahy will get his starts skipped or shortened, I guess I do not really see the point.

---

In other news, the vibe was a bummer at the game last night. I made the trip down since school starts Monday and hoped to see an energized offense against the Rockies. Instead, I got 11 men left on base and a five-run start from Libby. At least I got my hands on Jordan Walker’s home run ball and I promise I’m giving it to a kid (my Walker superfan nephew) despite some ugly looks from some bleacher fans.

So right before this pitch my brother said "what if?"#STLCardspic.twitter.com/VeksgVM0KU

— Scott Plaza (@MrPlaztastic17) August 9, 2026

As far as Cardinals on My Time goes, I hope to be back on a semi-regular posting schedule shortly. School starts again Monday (gross) so I will actually somehow have more time with a consistent schedule. Thanks for all the support here and on socials as the season comes to a close.

Thanks as always.

Chase Shugart blew another game for the Phillies on Saturday and it brought up a topic that I think the Phillies deserve some scorn over.

I know every team needs to have someone to soak up some innings here and there. Shugart has mostly been that guy this year with cameos by Seth Johnson, Kyle Backhus and others. However, with a bullpen that is performing this poorly, there has to be a reason an arm with the kind of stuff that Alex McFarlane possesses isn’t in the majors over a Shugart to have those kinds of innings. That way, when a game gets to extra innings like last night’s, where a runner is on second, at least McFarlane has the stuff to get outs on his own rather than depending on defenses to help him.

So I ask: why isn’t McFarlane in the majors over someone like Shugart?

It is a quandry.

Rangers 5, Orioles 1

• That was a fulfilling win.
• Jacob deGrom mowing guys down. The bullpen keeping the opposition off the board. Corey Seager with a big home run.
• What more could you want from a game?
• Yes, deGrom gave up the first inning homer that seems to be such a bugaboo this season, but that was the only run given up in five innings.
• And with nine Ks in the game, deGrom moved past Red Ruffing, Johan Santana and Kevin Appier to take the #95 spot on the all time strikeout list.
• Once again, the Rangers didn’t have a ton of baserunners, but they made them count.
• Half of the Rangers’ six hits on the game came in the second inning, when a couple of Orioles errors contributed to the Rangers taking a 2-1 lead.
• Texas looked for most of the game like it might be needing to win its second straight 2-1 game, before Corey Seager provided the breathing room.
• In the bottom of the eighth, former Ranger farmhand Grant Wolfram issued back-to-back two out, full count walks to Justin Foscue and Wyatt Langford, then fell behind 2-0 to Seager.
• The third pitch of the at bat, Seager turned on, crushing a three run homer to make the game a little less tense.
• The homer allowed Skip Schumaker to stay away from Jacob Latz, who was warming in anticipation of coming into the game in the ninth to protect a one run lead a day after picking up a two inning save. Cal Quantrill came in to finish things off instead.
• That’s now four in a row for the Rangers, who are just a half-game back of Houston in the American League West, and who have a 1.5 game edge on the Guardians and Twins for the third Wild Card spot.
• Jacob deGrom’s fastball topped out at 99.0 mph, averaging 97.5 mph. Peyton Gray hit 93.3 mph with his fastball. Chase Silseth touched 96.5 mph with his fastball. Cal Quantrill reached 94.0 mph with his fastball.
• Corey Seager’s homer was 107.7 mph. Joc Pederson had a 104.5 mph groundout. Ezequiel Duran had a 101.2 mph GIDP. Brandon Nimmo had a 100.3 mph single.
• Let’s finish the sweep on Sunday and break out Herbie.

Meet the Mets

Robert Stock’s second start for the Mets this season didn’t go nearly as well as his first, as the Mets were soundly defeated 9-0 by the Pirates, ending their short-lived winning streak.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, MLB.com, New York Daily News, New York Post

Before yesterday’s game, the Mets added Gabriel Arias, who the Mets acquired off waivers from the Guardians, to the active roster and optioned Eric Wagaman to Triple-A as the corresponding move.

The Mets got very good news on Carson Benge yesterday, who has a bone bruise on his wrist but nothing more after smashing it into the wall making an incredible catch in Friday night’s game. Andy Green said Benge is not going on the injured list as of right now and is considered day-to-day.

The group of prospects the Mets acquired at the trade deadline have strings of connections that date back to before their time in pro ball. Maybe this will help the Mets replicate some of that Nova Knicks magic, writes Laura Albanese of Newsday.

Around the National League East

The Phillies fell to the Blue Jays 7-5 in eleven innings. Of note in this game besides Nathan Lukes’ thrilling go-ahead homer in the eleventh: both starting pitchers reached milestones. With his strikeout of Brandon Valenzuela in the second inning, Aaron Nola became just the seventh active player to notch 2,000 strikeouts for his career. Unfortunately, Nola was struck on the knee with a 104.8 mph comebacker in the sixth inning, which forced his exit from the game, but luckily X-rays were negative. Ironically enough, Nola’s opposition last night was one of the other active pitchers with 2,000 or more strikeouts; Max Scherzer passed Walter Johnson for sole possession of 10th place on Major League Baseball’s all-time strikeout list when he struck out Kyle Schwarber in the sixth inning for the 3,516th punchout of his career.

The Marlins shut out the Angels 7-0 behind seven scoreless innings from Sandy Alcantara.

Gerrit Cole struck out nine in the Yankees’ 5-4 victory over the Braves on Old-Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium.

The Nationals walloped the Reds 8-2 at Nats Park.

Around Major League Baseball

Tommy John, the first to receive a revolutionary elbow surgery that now bears his name, shared an emotional message for fans on Old-Timers’ Day at Yankee Stadium, which he had to miss due to health issues.

Bryan Hoch of MLB.com recounted all of the festivities at yesterday’s star-studded event at Yankee Stadium, which included some father and son duos.

Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com looks into why lefty batters are dominating in 2026.

Edwin Díaz blew another save, but this time the Dodgers won anyway.

Boston’s nine-game winning streak came to an end, as the Red Sox fell 7-3 to the A’s.

After retiring Ozzie Guillen’s No. 13, the White Sox notched victory number 60 on the season with a 6-3 victory over the Guardians—significant because it matches their win total from all of 2025.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 1988, the Mets participated in the first night game ever played at Wrigley Field.

The Yankees have had some decent success in replacing franchise cornerstones over the years. Back in the day, they had a run at catcher that, with some small gaps, went from Bill Dickey to Yogi Berra to Elston Howard to Thurman Munson. Their careers overlapped, but Mickey Mantle became the Yankees’ center fielder shortly after Joe DiMaggio’s career at the spot, a generation after Joe D. effectively succeeded Murderers’ Row center fielder Earle Combs. In recent years, Didi Gregorius did an extremely admirable job taking over at shortstop after Derek Jeter retired.

In terms of Yankee managers, Casey Stengel is arguably the best ever. He’s tied with Joe McCarthy with seven World Series titles, while Stengel has one more pennant and did all that in a shorter time frame. However, the Yankees did — somewhat controversially — dismiss Stengel following the 1960 World Series loss. While the man who followed Stengel didn’t match the number of World Series titles or anything, he did pretty well himself.

Ralph George Houk
Born: August 9, 1919 (Lawrence, KS)
Died: July 21, 2010 (Winter Haven, FL)
Yankees Tenure: 1947-54 (player); 1955-60 (coach/Triple-A manager); 1961-63 and 1966-73 (manager); 1964-66 (general manager)

Born in Kansas in 1919, Ralph Houk grew up on a farm not far from Stull. He grew a love of baseball while watching his uncles play local semi-pro ball. He eventually started playing himself, and took to the catcher position, where he excelled with his sturdy frame at Lawrence High School in the shadow of the University of Kansas. He also excelled in football and indeed had offers to play in college both at Kansas and Oklahoma. However, Houk preferred baseball, and eventually inked a deal with the Yankees in 1939.

Houk got off to a decent start in his first couple minor-league seasons, but he left to serve in the army in World War II ahead of the 1942 campaign. While he wasn’t part of the initial D-Day Normandy landings, Houk did land on Omaha Beach shortly after and took part in the Battle of the Bulge. He received a number of commendations in his time in the military, including a Silver Star and a Purple Heart. Houk’s strong military background eventually led to him being referred to as “the Major.”

Well over four years after his previous professional games, Houk eventually returned to baseball in 1946. He did enough that season and in spring training in 1947 to make the Yankees, but he spent the next couple seasons going back and forth between the majors and Triple-A. During that stretch, he nearly gave up on the Yankees at one point, believing that he should be with the big league team and not in the minors, but was eventually persuaded to stick through it.

Houk eventually would play with the Yankees for good from 1950-54, but was very much a third-string catcher. This stretch was, after all, the height of Yogi Berra’s powers, when the beloved backstop won multiple MVPs.

Houk only ever played in 91 games over eight major league seasons, and almost half of them came in that first 1947 season. He won his first World Series ring that year (getting a pinch-hit infield single off Brooklyn’s Joe Hatten in his first of two career Fall Classic at-bats) and was part of the dynasty that won five championships in a row from 1949-53, though during that latter stretch, he never received even 10 plate appearances in a single season. However, Houk did become a clubhouse leader in the Bronx, with teammates often turning to him for advice on their game and more. That reputation led to the Yankees approaching him about becoming a minor-league manager.

In 1955, Houk hung up his cleats and was named skipper of the Triple-A Denver Bears. In Denver, Houk had three winning seasons, including winning the American Association pennant in 1957. That success led to the Yankees bringing in Houk to serve as first-base coach under Stengel. He did so for the next three seasons, securing his seventh ring for the 1958 champs.

Then in 1960, the Yankees lost a heartbreaking World Series to the Pirates, losing on Bill Mazeroski’s walk-off home run in Game 7 despite easily outscoring Pittsburgh in the Fall Classic. In the aftermath, the team announced that they were moving on from Stengel. Owner Dan Topping said that they were looking towards the future as Stengel was 70, and the move would’ve been made even if the Yankees had won. (Stengel famously said “I’ll never make the mistake of turning 70 again.”) There’s also a thought that the Yankees didn’t want to lose Houk, whose success in the minors and as a Yankees’ coach had made him a hot manager target for other teams. Whatever the true reasons, Houk was indeed the choice to take over as Yankees’ skipper.

In 1961, Houk was taking over a team that already had plenty of talent and had been a dominant force in baseball over previous years, but he did put a bit of his own spin on it. Whitey Ford had already been the team’s ace, but Stengel often liked to move him around and selectively use him in tougher matchups, lowering his start total. Houk, however, said he would be taking the ball every fourth day no matter what. As a result, Ford won 25 games with a 3.21 ERA in 283 innings, winning the Cy Young Award for the first and only time in his career.

Then of course, there were the M&M Boys. From the start of the 1961 season, Houk slotted Roger Maris third in the lineup and Mickey Mantle fourth and that helped result in one of the most memorable seasons of all time. The two famously challenged Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record of 60, going back and forth all summer. A hip issue ended up leading to Mantle missing some time and finishing with 54, but Maris broke the record with 61, holding the mark for over 30 years.

Oh, and the Yankees as a team were pretty good in 1961 too. Led by those three great seasons and more, the team won 109 games and beat the Reds in five games in the World Series. Houk became just the third manager to ever win the World Series in their first season.

The Yankees repeated as champions in ‘62 in a seven-game classic over the Giants, with Houk standing by his starter who had been the goat two years prior, Ralph Terry. The righty pitched a 1-0 shutout in Game 7 and Houk had his ninth ring.

New York made it back to the Fall Classic in ‘63, but fell in a sweep to the Dodgers. After that season, Houk stepped into a front-office role and handed over the reins to Berra. While Yogi led the team back to the World Series, Houk and ownership weren’t enamored with him as manager and fired him after the team lost to the Cardinals in seven. In his place, Houk hired the Cardinals’ manager, Johnny Keane, who had clashed with his front office in St. Louis.

However, the stars of dynastic era of the team were starting to age out, and the Yankees didn’t have the reinforcements in store. Keane lasted just over a year before Houk dismissed him in May 1966 and took back over the job himself, eventually ceding GM responsibilities to Lee MacPhail. Houk’s second tenure as Yankee manager lasted eight seasons, but wasn’t remotely as successful as the first. He led them to a second-place finish in the AL East in 1970, but other than that the team hovered around .500 or worse. Houk did gradually help usher some stars of the future — such as Thurman Munson, Roy White, and Bobby Murcer — into the big leagues, but new owner George Steinbrenner decided to move on after the 1973 season. For his own part, Houk sounded relieved to not stick around long enough to really endure the worst of Steinbrenner’s meddling.

After leaving the Yankees, Houk managed the Tigers from 1974-78 and the Red Sox from 1981-84, but never led either to the postseason. However in both cases, he helped develop some of the teams’ future young stars. (Alan Trammell, Lou Whitaker, and others in Detroit; Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, and more in Boston.) He later held a front office role with the Twins, helping assemble the teams that would win the World Series in 1987 and ‘91.

In 1990, he retired to Florida, where he eventually passed away in July 2010, the same month as Steinbrenner and longtime PA announcer Bob Sheppard. The Yankees wore black armbands in tribute to Houk for the remainder of that season.

Ralph Houk absolutely had the good fortune of inheriting a dynasty when he took over as Yankees’ manager in 1961. However, fancy cars still need a driver who knows what they’re doing and Houk absolutely did so, earning his players’ trust and keeping the dynasty going.

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See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

The Dodgers are back in the win column for the first time since July 30, as they took an extra-inning thriller against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday to end a seven-game skid.

Shohei Ohtani provided the deciding run, grounding an infield single to bring home Kyle Tucker to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead with two outs in the top of the 10th inning. Before he carried his team to victory, Ohtani managed to play catch on the Chase Field outfield, marking the first of many steps in his return to two-way duties.

Ohtani is insistent on taking his time with his throwing program, per Sonja Chen of MLB.com, and the Dodgers are confident that he can return before the end of the regular season.

“Any inning, any innings we get from him are bonuses, given he’s a two-way player,” manager Dave Roberts said earlier in the week. “So I think whether it’s one inning, two innings, three innings, I’m not too concerned about the timeline.”

When the Dodgers needed it most, Yoshinobu Yamamoto helped stop the bleeding on Saturday by firing 5 2/3 shutout innings in a no-decision. It was Yamamoto’s first scoreless appearance since July 4, and he now sports a remarkable 2.65 ERA on the season, placing him tied for fourth in the National League with Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez.

Yamamoto spoke with Kirsten Watson of SportsNet LA following Saturday’s much needed win, noting how the whole team felt a sense of urgency in doing whatever it took to get things going right again.

“We dropped to seven, and I think everybody was feeling the same way. We really wanted to win, and I wanted to get the team off on the right foot.”

Roki Sasaki continued to show gradual improvements on the mound during Friday’s contest against Arizona, as although the right-hander allowed two runs, he went six full innings while striking out five and walking only one. Sasaki has been turning heads to begin the second half, as the right-hander has a 2-1 record with a 1.88 ERA in four second half starts, striking out 26 and walking just seven over 24 innings.

While Dave Roberts noted that his splitter wasn’t as lethal as it had been in prior outings, he commended Sasaki on continuing to mature at the big league level and consistently put his team in a spot to win, per Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times.

“The split wasn’t as good as it has been, but he did a fine job,” Roberts said. “He really did, and it’s good to see him, even when his best pitch isn’t there, still go out there and finding ways to get through six innings and put us in a good spot to win.”