The calendar has flipped to September, meaning that the Detroit Red Wings are officially less than three weeks away from the start of Training Camp, which opens at the BELFOR Training Center inside Little Caesars Arena on Sept. 17.
As of now, the Red Wings remain without a general manager following the leadership transition announced in mid-July, while captain Dylan Larkin remains with the organization despite his trade request, which he reportedly has not had a change of heart about.
The Red Wings, who lost 57 points of offense upon the departure of forward Patrick Kane, did sign UFA forward Viktor Arvidsson, who tallied 54 points (25G, 27A) with the divisional rival Boston Bruins last season.
But amid their front-office void, the Red Wings have missed an opportunity to add some badly needed secondary scoring to their lineup.
UFA forward Eeli Tolvanen has reportedly agreed to a one-year, $1.5 million deal with the New York Rangers, removing another name from the free-agent market whom the Red Wings could have pursued to supplement their offense.
Not finalized just yet, but closing in. #NYR adding 27-year-old Eeli Tolvanen to the mix. https://t.co/3xMAs02X7U
Tolvanen, who has spent the last several seasons with the Seattle Kraken, now joins a Rangers team that was shut out on home ice a whopping seven times last season. He's just one season removed from a career-high 23 goals scored in 2024-25.
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) December 4, 2024
While his production dipped to just 12 goals in 2025-26, signing Tolvanen would have represented a low-risk, high-reward proposition for Detroit.
According to a report earlier this offseason from NHL insider David Pagnotta, the Red Wings were interested in the Finnish forward, although it wasn't specified whether that interest was before or after Steve Yzerman vacated his role as general manager on July 15.
The Red Wings, who did not utilize the NHL's buyout window earlier in the summer, will have to hope that players like Michael Rasmussen, J.T. Compher, and Mason Appleton can provide more consistent production than they did last season.
Never miss a story by adding us to your Google News favorites!
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
SAN ANTONIO, TX - JUNE 5: Devin Vassell #24, Stephon Castle #5 & De'Aaron Fox #4 of the San Antonio Spurs look on during the game against the New York Knicks during Game Two of the 2026 NBA Finals on June 5, 2026 at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE(Photo by Michael Gonzales/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
Expectations are difficult to deal with. There are many stories of young teams arriving too early and then never reaching the heights they overachieved to get to. Look at Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook’s Oklahoma City Thunder, who lost in the NBA Finals in 2012 and then disbanded 4 years later. It’s hard to keep a linear trajectory that leads to a championship and then a dynasty.
The San Antonio Spurs will be counting on linear improvement after losing to the New York Knicks in last season’s Finals. The Spurs are firmly in championship-or-bust mode, with a roster filled with key players who are barely old enough to order a drink at the bar. Those expectations come with a lot of weight. But Spurs fans think the team can handle that.
According to our last SB Nation Reacts survey, just over half of Spurs fans think the team will improve on their 2025-26 record of 62-20. Every team in the NBA will be pushing harder than ever to make sure they don’t accomplish that. Being the new shiny young team will draw every other franchise’s best effort. And, with fewer teams tanking due to a change in the league’s rules, there will be even more nights where they’ll face a team really going for it.
Of course, a lot of players will be gunning for the Spurs’ best player, too. Victor Wembanyama drew a lot of criticism for his overaggressive play in the playoffs. Teams are going to be coming at him and hoping they can get under his skin as a way to combat the impact he makes on both ends. It will take a lot of maturity for him and the rest of the team to respond to this onslaught from the rest of the league.
Luckily for the Spurs, they brought in some reinforcements that should help them stay level-headed. Tobias Harris is one of the league’s most respected veterans. While Harris hasn’t necessarily won a lot of playoff series, he has consistently been a member of winning teams. Those are the kinds of players who can raise the floor of a team during the dog days of the regular season, improving the overall record.
San Antonio is also now one of the deepest teams in the NBA. The addition of Tarris Reed Jr. gives them the third big man they desperately needed last season. The team is loaded with wings and guards that can fill in if injuries arise or a player needs a rest. That is a major key to matching the 62 wins they had last season.
FanDuel has the Spurs’ win total at 60.5, just slightly under what they had last season. Even without beating their 2025-26 record, San Antonio is still one of the favorites to win the NBA Finals at +230 on the site.
Baseball in September is the perfect time to get healthy, return to action and get some swings in before the October playoff push. On Tuesday, Sept. 1, the Los Angeles Dodgers returned multiple players to the active roster who have been battling lingering injuries.
Catchers Will Smith and Dalton Rushing were activated, the team announced. Smith missed nearly the previous three months with an inflamed disc in his neck. He was batting .249/.338/.382 before the injury.
Rushing returns after missing practically the last month of baseball with a slight ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) tear in his right elbow.
In addition to their catcher tandem, the Dodgers also saw LHP Justin Wrobleski jump back into the fold after inflammation in his left forearm. He's 11-5 through 21 games played (20 starts) and has a 3.56 ERA and a 1.1 WHIP in 126.1 innings pitched. He's struck out 100 batters this season and given up 19 homers and 28 walks.
Infielder Alex Freeland was also added to the active roster in his third stint with the team, where he's put up slash stats of .231/.309/.313 with three homers and 19 RBI in 72 games with the Dodgers.
In order to make room for their returns, the Dodgers opted outfielder Alek Thomas to Triple-A Oklahoma City and designated catcher Ben Rortvedt to assignment.
The Dodgers have a home game on Tuesday night against the St. Louis Cardinals. First pitch begins at 7:10 p.m. PT on Uniqlo Field at Dodger Stadium. Los Angeles has the best record in the National League West division at 82-55.
Jalen Brunson might not be the first NBA Finals champion Knick to make an appearance on a New York crime procedural this fall.
New York hero OG Anunoby is slated to make a guest spot on CBS’ “Elsbeth” for its fourth season, Deadline reported Tuesday.
The outlet added that Nicole Scherzinger, Nicholas Braun and Jemima Kirke are also slated to guest on the show that stars actress Carrie Preston in the titular role of Elsbeth Tascioni, who is “an astute but unconventional attorney, utilizes her unique point of view to corner brilliant criminals alongside the NYPD.”
New York Knicks forward OG Anunoby shakes hands as he walks off the court after the Knicks beat the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday, June 10, 2026. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
The date and episode number for Anunoby’s appearance are not yet clear.
Anunoby’s “Elsbeth” appearance appears that it will also coincide with Brunson making a stop on “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.”
Brunson and “SVU” star Mariska Hargitay have developed a friendship over the years, as the Knicks star is a fan of the program and the actress is an avid supporter of the blue and orange, regularly making appearances on Madison Square Garden’s Celebrity Row.
Daniel K. Isaac as LT. Connor, Carrie Preston as Elsbeth Tascioni, and b as Officer Nikki Reynolds appear in a scene from “Elsbeth” on Thursday, Nov. 13, in New York. CBS via Getty Images
“Don’t tell anyone but see him on ‘SVU,’” she told Savannah Guthrie. “Don’t tell anyone, but we got some things in the works.”
The 2025-26 Knicks became New York heroes when they ran roughshod over the Eastern Conference in the playoffs before beating the Spurs in five games in the NBA Finals for their first crown in 53 years.
Anunoby (Game 4 winning tip-in) and Brunson (Finals MVP) played enormous roles in securing the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
Compelling arguments can be made in favor of John Fisher of the Athletics, or Bruce Sherman of the Miami Marlins or Bob Nutting of the Pittsburgh Pirates for being the worst owners in Major League Baseball.
The club had Shohei Ohtani and Mike Trout on the roster for six seasons. During that stretch from 2018 through 2023, they failed to post a winning record.
In brief defense of Moreno, injuries limited Trout to 36 games during the 2021 season and to 82 games during the 2023 season. Now here’s the indictment:
In 2018, Ohtani was the AL Rookie of the Year, Trout was runner-up for AL MVP and the Angels went 80-82.
In 2019, Trout was the AL MVP, Ohtani was one of the Angels' top producers and the team went 72-90
A season shortened in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic resembled seasons past, with the Angels going 26-34.
In 2021, Ohtani was the AL MVP, Trout was an All-Star and the Angels went 77-85.
In 2022, Ohtani was the runner-up for AL MVP, Trout finished 8th in the MVP voting and the Angels went 73-89.
In 2023, Ohtani was the AL MVP, Trout was an All-Star and the Angels went 73-89.
The Angels, who at 53-85 through Sunday were tied for the second-worst record in the majors, will finish with their 11th consecutive losing straight season.
Being the worst is expensive
Not all of the failures under Moreno should be measured simply by wins and losses. Buying a team from the Walt Disney Company and gradually turning it into a Mickey Mouse club involves front office bungles.
For example, the Angels overpaid Albert Pujols, the slugger-turned-slug, when in 2012 they signed him to a 10-year, $240 million contract, posting a 1.4 WAR or lower from 2016 until his final year with the Angels in 2021. He would go on to play the next season and a half with the Dodgers than Cardinals.
Then the Angels overpaid Anthony Rendon before the 2020 season by signing him to a seven-year, $245 million. Over the past seven seasons, he's spent more time sidelined with injuries than in the lineup.
But the club's biggest failure was not trading Trout when he still could command young talent the Angels needed to rebuild their roster. Instead he's become novelty, a chance for fans a chance to cheer one of the best future Hall of Famer to play for a consistent loser.
Again, if you’re inclined to blame general managers or the manager, the common denominator is Moreno.
A winner and a loser?
Among long-suffering Angels fans, Moreno might rank as the worst owner in the MLB. There's no denying that after buying the the team from the Walt Disney Company in 2003, he gradually turned the club into a Mickey Mouse outfit of a different kind.
Yet it’s unlikely MLB owners will mock him.
Moreno paid $184 million for the Angels. Now he’s expected to get $4 billion, the most ever paid for an MLB team.
That’s more than 20 times Moreno’s original investment, and it makes him a financial winner even though his team is an on-field loser.
Angels owner Arte Moreno attends a 2017 news conference at Angel Stadium. (Josh Lefkowitz / Getty Images)
Texts lit up my phone this morning from friends who had wasted most of their lives rooting for the Angels: Arte Moreno finally was selling the team.
“First order of business: it’s the Anacrime Angels,” Nelson Rodriguez cracked before sending a meme of Stringer Bell in “The Wire” wearing an old-school California Angels cap and saying, “I want you to put the word out there that we back up.”
“This news honestly made my year,” texted Anaheim City Councilmember Natalie Rubalcava, who graduated a year ahead of me from Anaheim High and whose daughter works at my wife’s restaurant. “Excited to leave the controversy and negativity behind and look forward to a new era of Anaheim baseball.”
“Shame this didn’t happen when [Shohei] Ohtani was an Angel,” the Mountain shared on a group text thread of childhood friends who call each other by long-standing nicknames — I’m the Consigliere.
“I get invited to the games but hell no,” replied the Butcher, who’s been a fan since the days of Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in the 1970s.
“I’ll finally go back” to a game in person, my cousin Plas added. “A Trumper [Latino] what could’ve gone wrong …” he wrote, referencing Moreno, before asking if Kurt Suzuki was still manager because “that’s how little I’ve kept up with the team.”
Those are the texts I can print in a family newspaper.
Moreno is selling to Los Angeles Rams owner Stan Kroenke, whose company also owns perennial contenders in the NBA (Denver Nuggets), NHL (Colorado Avalanche) and England’s Premier League (Arsenal). Sources told my colleagues that the price was $4 billion, which would be a baseball record and speaks to the Halos’ untapped potential.
Major League Baseball still needs to approve the deal, but I guarantee that Commissioner Rob Manfred and the 29 other team owners are reacting with the silly swaying dance that Dodgers players do every time they get on base.
“The Moreno Family has been honored to steward the Angels for 23 years,” the soon-to-be-ex-Angels owner said in a statement.
You stewarded nada, Arte: You destroyed.
You started with so much hope and ended up with fans like my friends shooting venom at you like pissed-off cobras. There’s a reason why you’ll leave as one of the most loathed owners in baseball history. Your underperforming reign makes the McCourts of Dodgers infamy seem as amazing and beloved as the O’Malleys.
Not even Shohei Ohtani, at spring training when he played for the Angels in 2023, could change the team's fortunes under Moreno. (Morry Gash/Associated Press)
The Tucson native, who made his billions in the billboard industry, bought the Angels from Disney in 2003, the year after they won their sole World Series championship. At a festive press conference, Moreno handed a sombrero to then-skipper Mike Scioscia to wear, then announced that the first order of business was to cut beer prices.
The new owner quickly signed the best players in baseball — slugger Vladimir Guerrero and pitcher Bartolo Colón. Moreno walked Angel Stadium during games to ask fans what they wanted, what they needed, what they dreamed of. That first decade, he made the Angels what they never had been for a prolonged period: winners.
Fans packed the stands — more than 3 million each year from 2003 to 2019, the third-longest streak in baseball. Anaheimers donned Halos jerseys and hats like never before. More incredibly, Moreno was at the cusp of the impossible: convincing a generation of Latino baseball fans in Orange County to side with the Halos instead of the Dodgers.
But there were always signs that something was off.
Moreno renamed the team the Los Angeles Angels two years after he bought them, a ridiculous moniker that made them a national punchline. The renaming also cost Anaheim millions of dollars in legal fees after the city unsuccessfully sued to force Moreno to keep my hometown in the team’s name.
Moreno openly talked about moving the Angels to a city that would build him a new stadium. He also fell into the terrible habit of signing conservative-leaning, past-their-prime ballplayers like Josh Hamilton, Albert Pujols and Anthony Rendon to massive contracts that weighed down the team for years, like one of Angel Stadium’s legendary cinnamon rolls.
Die-hards like my pals trudged on, buoyed by generational talent Mike Trout and the occasional flash-in-the-pan prospect. But even they were turned off by the last three years.
That same year, the Halos let Ohtani — who was on his way to a second most valuable player award and already had established himself as one of the most talented baseball players ever — walk away as a free agent while gaining nothing in return.
This season kicked off with Moreno telling the Orange County Register about a survey supposedly revealing that winning wasn’t “a top priority” for Angels fans. The Angels hadn’t made the playoffs in 11 years, hadn’t finished with a winning record since 2015, had landed in last place in their division for the last two years — and that’s what he offered as a speck of hope? No wonder the team is on pace to lose 100 games for the first time in franchise history. No wonder disgusted fans have protested both inside and outside Angel Stadium all summer.
At the only game I went to this year — a sparsely attended afternoon snoozer against the Chicago White Sox — I found the stadium more beat-up than ever: peeling paint, beat-up seats, tinny PA system. For about $25 each, my friends and I bought tickets behind the first-base dugout that would have cost hundreds of dollars at Dodger Stadium.
Billboards along Southern California freeways have broadcast the Angels’ desperate attempts to draw in fans via pathetic promotions. Fireworks every Saturday. A bobblehead giveaway of light-hitting shortstop Zach Neto, who never has made an All-Star team. A “yard sale” that sounds like a giant casting off of crappy memorabilia a week away from the trash can.
Angels fans wave signs and urge owner Arte Moreno to sell the team to an ownership group willing to invest more in winning during a pregame protest at Angel Stadium. (Joaquin Ruiz / For The Times)
I never cared for the Angels, but I always wanted them to do well. Any success they achieved rubbed off on my hometown, as it did during that magical 2002 run.
I also wanted Moreno, the first Latino to own a major professional sports team, to succeed, so his fellow Trump supporters might know that our kind can excel at the highest echelons of American society, if only we get the chance.
But for the last few years, I cheered each time the Angels lost. I wanted them to tank, to forever seal Moreno’s legacy as a loser. To serve as a warning to all professional sports owners that they can abuse a host city and its fan base for only so long before people revolt by just not caring.
Good luck to Kroenke as he tries to resuscitate a franchise deader than a stump in the Petrified Forest.
Feb 19, 2026; Lee County, FL, USA; Minnesota Twins pitcher Andrew Morris (78) poses during photo day at Hammond Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
First Pitch: 6:40 PM CDT
TV: Twins.TV
Radio: TIBN, WCCO 830, The Wolf 102.9 FM, Audacy App, LosTwins.com
Andrew Morris gets the start, presumably in an opener role, so expect just a couple innings from him tonight if all goes to plan. He’s looking to turn the page after an August where he posted a 6.94 ERA. His mound opponent will be 2nd year righty Troy Melton whose 1.86 ERA would be the best mark in MLB, if he had the innings to qualify.
The lineup will need more of that spark they found last night the rest of the way if they want to get that last wild card spot.
CLEVELAND, OH - AUGUST 29: Cleveland Guardians pitcher Erik Sabrowski (62) leaves the game during the sixth inning of the Major League Baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and Cleveland Guardians on August 29, 2026, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
CLEVELAND, OHIO - JULY 04: A view of the scoreboard showing the MLB America 250 graphic prior to a game between the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Guardians at Progressive Field on July 04, 2026 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images
I hate teams who start their weekday games early. Oh well, I guess it means we will win earlier too.
Anyway, game one of three with the Guardians. Wins are important. Not that we should throw in the towel if we lose tonight. We aren’t going to run the table from here, so don’t get too upset if there is a loss. Yeah, I know, the thread will be a terrible thing if we lose. You would think that if you were a baseball fan, you’d be used to losses by now. They have 162 games. Teams are going to lose some of them.
We have a bullpen day with Spencer Myles opening. Arrighetti will likely be the bulk guy. Beyond that, expect to see every pitcher we have.
Sean Keys doesn’t make the roster on his first day back. Neither does Josh Smith.
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, AR - MAY 21: Lazaro Montes #33 of the Arkansas Travelers looks on from the dugout during the game between the Springfield Cardinals and the Arkansas Travelers at Dickey-Stephens Park on Thursday, May 21, 2026 in North Little Rock, Arkansas. (Photo by Caton Marsh/Minor League Baseball via Getty Images)
The Mariners lost another crushing game last night but today is a new month and roster expansions have given us a shiny new toy: hulking outfielder Lazaro Montes, he of the light tower power and megawatt smile and infectious happy personality. They’re calling it the biggest vibes transfusion since Geo Suárez stepped onto that plane last season.
A note: today the SB Nation app officially launched! As a personal favor to me, please download it – even if you don’t want to keep it – and try out the game chat feature. I think it will make everything move more smoothly here on the site (and I want bragging rights over the other baseball site managers that we have the highest number of downloads).
Lineups:
Laz batting seventh at at DH in his MLB debut at Fenway Park. No matter how this game goes, what a fun day for him and I’m excited for him.
No real news but it is important to me you have seen both of these clips which reveal not so much about Laz but about the people around him. First the clubhouse callup news, where you can see how genuinely happy everyone is for him and especially the special bond he has with Michael Arroyo, who hopefully we’ll get a chance to see here soon as well.
Brendan Donovan going through another on-field workout with the Mariners medical staff here at Fenway Park. He still has to pass specific concussion protocols before he can be activated. No timeline for that.
DETROIT, MI - AUGUST 26: Freddy Peralta #51 of the Tampa Bay Rays pitches against the Detroit Tigers during the second inning at Comerica Park on August 26, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The image was indelible: Los Angeles Dodgersowner Mark Walter draping a No. 17 jersey around Shohei Ohtani's shoulders, welcoming the biggest baseball star on the globe to blue heaven with a $700 million contract that stipulated Ohtani will stay so long as Walter, the CEO of Guggenheim Partners, controlled the team.
The future seemed limitless.
And it absolutely was: Ohtani led the Dodgers to consecutive World Series titles, generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the ballclub and made L.A. a destination for every major free agent, international or otherwise. Walter, meanwhile, parlayed his riches into a 2025 purchase of the Lakers, making him the bona fide king of Southland sports.
The Los Angeles Angels? On the day Ohtani joined forces with Walter, Ohtani's old team was merely an afterthought. They had little interest, Ohtani confirmed, in retaining him on the same deal he presented the Dodgers. The teams' stations in life seemed to only grow further apart, the distance on I-5 hardly symbolizing the gulf between Arte Moreno's flailing franchise and Walter's jewel.
Yet part of the beauty of sports is its impermanence.
Nothing lasts forever, an unfortunate concept when pondering an aging superstar or a championship core deteriorating. It can also work the other way, and stunned, giddy, relieved Angels fans found this out Tuesday, Sept. 1 when Moreno agreed to sell the club for $4 billion.
To the most successful and prosperous and solidly entrenched owner in Los Angeles. And that's no longer Mark Walter.
No, that guy, now, is Stan Kroenke, who brought football back to L.A., engineered a world-class stadium and then delivered a Lombardi Trophy to the Los Angeles Rams for the first time in their bifurcated history. It is no longer Walter, whose hurried sale of the Lakers 11 months after he bought them was a Tiger Woods-crashes-into-the-fire-hydrant moment that portended more trouble.
It has come in the form of a federal investigation into over $21 billion in loans not disclosed to state insurance regulators that were made by two Delaware insurers Walter owns. Don't fret for him too much: Walter made $2.5 billion on his $10 billion purchase of the Lakers in less than a year.
But suddenly, the man whose reserves seemed bottomless, his reach limitless, faced major questions about liquidity, legality and the very future of his sports holdings. No, club president Stan Kasten has insisted, the Dodgers are not for sale.
Yet that bright blue sky no longer seems a shade of Dodger blue, does it?
Meanwhile, Moreno moved in the stealth fashion that defined his surprise takeover of the Angels for a mere $184 million 23 years ago. Sure, he had the team on the market four years ago but pulled it off in 2023. The prices weren't right.
But with the San Diego Padres having sold down the freeway for $3.9 billion, a bar was set. A lockout was looming - and perhaps Moreno's selling now is a tell that owners aren't totally bullish on getting a salary cap from the rubble of baseball's looming nuclear winter.
Enter Kroenke, whose franchises have won championships in the NFL, NHL (the Colorado Avalanche, twice) and NBA (the Nuggets' first title in their 60-year history, in 2023.). And he's never had to liquidate.
As if to twist the knife, Kroenke's Arsenal won its first Premier League championship in 22 years. Meanwhile, Walter and Dodgers partner Todd Boehly are reportedly looking to sell their shares in Chelsea - to investment firm Clearlake Capital, whose managing partner, Jose E. Feliciano, just bought the Padres.
(If you subscribe to the theory that sports are just proxy wars for the obscenely wealthy, the previous paragraph could be your mission statement).
One former Angels player, told of the sale, did not hesitate to note how positive this will be for the club. Athletes win, but it's also about systemic structures, and executive function, all of which lacked badly under Moreno.
That's never been a problem for Walter, either, as baseball ops chief Andrew Friedman has built a monster with his money. They're both the betting and pragmatic choice to win a third consecutive World Series this autumn.
Around that time, the Rams - behind their Myles Garret-Aaron Donald-backed defensive line - could be taking control of the NFC West. The Angels should be hiring a new general manager. Kroenke's blueprint will be taking shape in Anaheim.
That still makes them light years away from another parade down Disneyland's Main Street. But such a notion seemed impossible a day earlier.
The same could be said for Walter standing on shaky ground, until the day he sold the Lakers. Now, there is doubt where once there was invincibility. There are no such worries with Kroenke, who for now, looks like the angel of SoCal sports.
WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 31: Erik Tolman #73 of the Washington Nationals celebrates with Keibert Ruiz #20 after the game against the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park on August 31, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) | Getty Images
After winning three out of four against the Marlins, the Nats homestand continues with another NL East matchup. The boys have a quick two game series against the Braves before a much needed off day. As we enter September, the Nats will have to dig deep and finish strong here.
We are getting a new name in the Nats lineup. Yohandy Morales will DH and hit 5th in what is his MLB debut. Morales had a big year in AAA and is getting rewarded with a September call up. CJ Abrams is also back in the lineup playing shortstop. Despite being benched for poor effort, Jorbit Vivas is also back in the lineup. Harry Ford replaces Keibert Ruiz behind the plate. Jake Irvin will be on the bump.
This Braves lineup is nothing new to Nats fans. Acuna, Albies, Olson, Harris and Baldwin all feature. Albies will be at DH over his usual second base though. The versatile Mauricio Dubon will be at second. Young AJ Smith-Shawver missed a lot of this season due to injury but he is back on the mound now and will face the Nats tonight.
We are officially in the home stretch here. It is time for September baseball. The Nats are only a win away from exceeding last year’s win total. It has been an up and down year but positive progression has been made. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 23: Matt Olson #28 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates a win after a baseball game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on April 23, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The first game thread of the SB Nation app era, we cheered! But whether you’re on it or tuning in on the website, we’re just glad you’re here. <3
A Feed prompt for you while we await the 6:45 pm ET first pitch in DC:
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 26: Logan Webb #62 of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the Cincinnati Reds at Oracle Park on August 26, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Suzanna Mitchell/San Francisco Giants/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The San Francisco Giants continue this road trip today as they begin a three-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Taking the mound for the Giants will be right-hander Logan Webb, who enters today’s game with a 3.72 ERA, 3.37 FIP, with 118 strikeouts to 36 walks in 147.2 innings pitched. His last start was in the Giants’ 10-9 loss to the Cincinnati Reds last Wednesday, in which he allowed two runs on five hits with six strikeouts and a walk in six innings.
He’ll be facing off against Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes, who enters today’s game with a 3.79 ERA, 2.96 FIP, with 175 strikeouts to 41 walks in 145 innings pitched. His last start was in the Pirates’ 1-0 win over the San Diego Padres last Tuesday, in which he allowed just three hits with four strikeouts in six innings.
