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The Phillies took advantage of a Mets fold to reach the postseason in 2007, but nearly 20 years later, they are on the verge of their own collapse.

The Phils lost for the ninth time in 14 games Friday night, and their lead for the final wild-card spot in the National League is down to one game over the Diamondbacks with two games remaining.

Arizona holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.

The Phils have scored two runs during their three-game losing streak, including Friday’s 2-0 loss to the Rays, and their postgame show on NBC Sports Philadelphia — with host Michael Barkan and analysts Ricky Bottalico and Ruben Amaro Jr. — unloaded on the flailing team after the game.

“Two-nothing Tampa Bay, incredibly. Ruben, I would submit to you, they would flip the table if they could make contact with the table … Guess what, this season’s not just spiraling down the drain, it is choking down the drain,” Barkan said. “And if you’re watching this in that clubhouse, prove me wrong. I’ll be glad to eat my words.

“There are two games remaining in this regular season and this team has lost nine of its last 14 games. This is a September to forget, an epic September to forget for the Phillies, who have shown us very little this month. I wish I had some daylight for you, folks. I wish I had some hope … Right how I expect very little from this team with Arizona now [one game] back of a playoff spot.”

Amaro interjected, “That’s not nice,” during Barkan’s opening remarks, but Bottalico quickly added that “Michael’s not wrong” in his blunt assessment.

“No.1, I think you had your hope. You had Christopher Sanchez go out there and throw a nice game for ya. What did you do offensively? Absolutely jack,” the former All-Star closer said. “I mean, think about this, all this money that you put into all these players, who were supposed to be these big-time players. Nothing. And it hasn’t been just one game. It’s been the last three games.

“All you had to do was win one stinking game. I mean, you sit here and you wait for this team to win one stinking game.

Bottalico added that he could “feel the tension at the ballpark” among the unhappy crowd at Citizens Bank Park.

“They’re not there to necessarily go crazy for the home team; they are there to let them know that they know what’s going on right now,” Bottalico said. “And this team is not playing up to snuff. They are not. Are the starting pitchers? OK, they’re doing fine.

“But how in the world do you score two runs in three games when you need a win? If there is a pressure situation on a team, these guys that are paid that money are the guys that are supposed to step up. It’s not happening.”

The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, have won six consecutive games, including Friday’s 11-4 rout of the Padres — and they’re feeling themselves.

“Something magical is going to happen here,” shortstop Geraldo Perdomo said, per MLB.com.

In 2007, the Mets led the Phillies by seven games with 17 to play before going 5-12 and relinquishing the NL East title on the final day of the regular season.

Detroit Tigers (75-85) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (81-79)

Time/Place: 1:10 p.m., Comerica Park
SB Nation Site:Bucs Dugout
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: RHP Juston Verlander (0-1, 12.27 ) vs. RHP Kirby Yates (2-5, 3.32 ERA)

Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Detroit Tigers, September 26, 2026, 1:10 p.m. ET

The Pittsburgh Pirates are the answer to a unique baseball trivia question following today’s game against the Detroit Tigers.

The Pirates will be the final team legendary pitcher Justin Verlander faces in his epic 21-year career that will almost certainly end with enshrinement into the Pro Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown once he is eligible.

Verlander began his career as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2004 MLB draft by the Detroit Tigers. He went on to make his MLB debut the following year, which led to an impressive 13-year run with the franchise. During that time, the Tigers qualified for the playoffs five times and the World Series twice, in 2006 and 2012.

With the Tigers exiting their contending window, Verlander was traded to the Houston Astros, who were poised to go on a dynastic run that saw them win the World Series in 2017 and 2022. After making appearances in the Fall Classic in 2019 and 2021, once he turned 40 years old, Verlander was on a quest to win 300 games, but he ultimately fell short of that goal.

Throughout his career, Verlander has a WAR of 82.3, with 266 wins to his name. But it’s up to the Pirates to ensure he doesn’t get No. 267.

Location: Comerica Park, Detroit, MI

Broadcast: KDKA AM/FM, Sportsnet Pittsburgh

BD community, this is your gameday thread for today’s game against the Detroit Tigers. Chime off in the comments section below.

The Nats are playing an early game in an attempt to try and avoid the bad weather. This game got pushed from 3 PM to 12:35. With just two games to go, we are really in the homestretch here. Hopefully the Nats can finish strong this weekend.

Blake Butera is making a couple changes to his lineup. Abimelec Ortiz enters the fray as the DH. Yohandy Morales will also be in the lineup as the first baseman. Nasim Nunez is at short which pushes CJ Abrams to second base. This will be a Nationals debut for Connelly Early, who is returning from injury. The Nats acquired Early for Curtis Mead. He will only throw 2 to 3 innings before Jake Irvin follows him.

The Mets are making changes in the middle infield. Francisco Lindor will be the DH in this one. That pushes Brett Baty to shortstop. This will actually be Baty’s first MLB start at short. Ronny Mauricio will be at second base. Those are the only real changes the Mets are making. Jonah Tong will be on the mound.

Game Info:

Stadium: Nationals Park

Time: 12:35 PM EST

TV: Nationals.TV

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

I am looking forward to seeing what Connelly Early can do in his Nats debut. It is exciting to see him finally on the mound in DC. With the Nats locked into 4th place, there is not a ton to play for standings wise, but it is great to see Early. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!

A season ago, the Red Sox finished third in the American League East, winning 89 games. This season, depending on the result of a final game at Tropicana Field against the Chicago Cubs (a real sentence), the team will win 87 or 88 games.

Last year, Boston was the 5-seed playing at the New York Yankees, losing the series in three games. This year, they are the 5-seed playing a three-game series at the New York Yankees, beginning on Tuesday.

A year ago, the Sox limped into the playoffs without Roman Anthony, and Wilyer Abreu returning from a calf injury and not at full strength. This season, the status of Willson Contreras, arguably the team’s MVP, is unknown due to pain in his hand. His potential replacement, Mickey Gasper, will be out with “a pretty significant biceps injury.” Last year’s Game One starter, Garrett Crochet, is attempting to return in a relief role for the Wild Card series and isn’t at full strength.

It sure feels similar, and for me, going out in the Bronx would not be a successful season, whether the American League bracket format is “fair” or not. It’s been five years since the Red Sox won a playoff series, and expectations need to be higher around here.

This 2026 result was enough for management to pick up Craig Breslow’s options in 2029 and 2030, as well as sign Chad Tracy to a three-year contract, following this season.

What would make this Red Sox season a success for you? Discuss in the comments and be good to each other.

The 2026 Colorado Rockies have had a better year than the 2025 Colorado Rockies.

That is not exactly a difficult bar to clear after 43-119, but the improvement has been real and the floor of the roster is considerably higher.

There are still bad performances, of course, but Colorado simply does not have as many roster spots producing the kind of extreme negative value that overwhelmed the 2025 team. Some of that has come from young players developing and holdovers taking steps forward, but a large part of the improvement has also come from subtraction.

The Rockies changed a significant portion of the roster over the course of 2025 and into 2026.

Twenty-five players who received meaningful playing time in 2025 — at least 50 plate appearances for a position player or 10 innings for a pitcher — are no longer part of the Rockies’ major-league picture in 2026.

So what has happened to them?

For the most part, 2026 has not gone nearly as well for those players as it has for the Rockies.

Who left the 2025 roster

Even that total is softened by two useful players the Rockies traded away.

Ryan McMahon produced 1.2 rWAR before being traded to the Yankees, while Jake Bird contributed another 0.5 rWAR before he was also dealt to New York.

Remove those two useful major leaguers and the other 23 departing players combined for -12.5 rWAR.

So where are those players a year later?

Where are they now?

That is a pretty revealing snapshot of the 2025 roster one year later.

A few have found better results

Ryan Rolison is the clearest success story.

Rolison posted a 7.02 ERA over 42.1 innings for Colorado in 2025. One year later, he has become a very good reliever for the Cubs, carrying a 3.02 ERA and 1.26 WHIP across 62.2 innings, with 54 strikeouts, nine wins and three saves.

Tyler Kinley has also found more success after leaving. His Rockies portion of 2025 ended with a 5.66 ERA, but he immediately went on a strong run with Atlanta and has remained a useful major-league reliever in 2026. Between Atlanta and Detroit, Kinley has worked 56.2 innings over 63 appearances with a 3.49 ERA, 1.15 WHIP and 48 strikeouts.

Germán Márquez has improved somewhat from his final season in Colorado, although his 2026 has not gone entirely smoothly. After posting a 6.70 ERA over 126.1 innings for the Rockies in 2025, he recorded a 5.26 ERA in 53 innings with San Diego. The Padres designated him for assignment in August and released him three days later, after which Márquez signed a minor-league deal with Minnesota and is finishing the year with Triple-A St. Paul.

Ryan McMahon remains an everyday player with the Yankees, although his offensive production has slipped. Through 122 games, McMahon is hitting .210/.276/.352 with 11 home runs and 40 RBI, good for a .628 OPS and 75 OPS+. He is still a major-league regular, just not a particularly productive one offensively.

Jake Bird has also remained in the majors, though his results have been uneven. He posted a 5.93 ERA over 30.1 innings with the Yankees before joining Washington, where he has allowed three earned runs over 8.1 innings for a 3.24 ERA. Overall, Bird has a 5.35 ERA with 41 strikeouts in 38.2 innings between the two clubs.

Anthony Molina has also found another major-league opportunity with San Francisco. He has worked 34 innings across nine appearances and five starts, going 3-2 with a 3.97 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 31 strikeouts.

Still, this is the exception rather than the rule. Only six of the 25 have spent most of 2026 in the majors.

MLB jobs have become Triple-A jobs

The players in the largest group still have plenty of professional baseball left in them. What has changed is their role.

Michael Toglia has again shown that Triple-A pitching is not much of a problem. After signing a minor-league deal with Cincinnati, he hit .273/.373/.547 with 22 home runs for Louisville and earned a return to the majors in August. His opportunity was cut short less than two weeks later when he dislocated his right shoulder on a diving catch against Arizona on August 21. He was placed on the injured list two days later, underwent season-ending surgery to repair a torn labrum, and was transferred to the 60-day injured list in September.

Yanquiel Fernández also remains interesting, especially considering his age. He has hit 27 home runs in Triple-A for the Yankees organization. That is a productive developmental season, but it comes after Fernández appeared in 52 games for the Rockies in 2025 and has not returned to the majors in 2026.

Austin Gomber’s 2025 season was shortened by a shoulder injury, but after returning in June he still made 12 starts for Colorado before being released in August. In 2026, he has bounced through the Triple-A rotations of Texas, Atlanta and Detroit and has not made it back to the majors.

Kyle Farmer has gone from 300 plate appearances with Colorado to a much more marginal role with Atlanta. His season has included a forearm injury, a July release and re-signing on a minor-league deal, and a September return to the majors after spending time with Triple-A Gwinnett.

Orlando Arcia has hit well in Triple-A but has received only a brief look with Minnesota.

Bradley Blalock was designated for assignment by Colorado in January and then traded to Miami for right-hander Jake Brooks. He has spent most of 2026 at Triple-A Jacksonville while earning a pair of September recalls with the Marlins.

Carson Palmquist opened 2026 in the Rockies organization but did not return to the majors with Colorado. He was designated for assignment in May and traded to Washington for cash, where he has received two major-league looks and is finishing the season with Triple-A Rochester.

Ángel Chivilli has made a stronger case with the Yankees. Acquired from Colorado in the January trade that sent TJ Rumfield to the Rockies, Chivilli has posted a 3.78 ERA over 16.2 major-league innings. That number was inflated by one six-run outing just before he was optioned in August; before that appearance, he had allowed only two earned runs in 15.2 innings. Still, he has spent most of the season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Luis Peralta and Scott Alexander have also spent 2026 as upper-level organizational depth.

There is still talent in this group.

What has disappeared is the regular major-league playing time.

Others are playing elsewhere

Several former Rockies are continuing their careers outside affiliated baseball.

Thairo Estrada has gone to the Mexican League and has hit well there, while Nick Martini has split his season between independent ball and Mexico. Warming Bernabel, who received 146 plate appearances for Colorado at age 23 in 2025, has appeared only briefly outside affiliated baseball this season.

Blaine Crim has taken a more circuitous route. He opened 2026 in the Rockies’ minor-league system, was designated for assignment in May and claimed off waivers by Texas. The Rangers released him about a month later, and Crim is now continuing his season in Korea with the NC Dinos, where he is hitting .255 with 10 home runs and 43 RBI.

He is not the only former Rockie to end up in the KBO.

Sam Hilliard has easily had the biggest year of anyone in this group. Playing for the KT Wiz, Hilliard is hitting .305/.374/.586 with 39 home runs, 122 RBI and a .960 OPS through 130 games.

Hilliard is having an excellent year, and Estrada has been productive in Mexico, too. But none of the five has occupied an MLB roster spot after receiving meaningful playing time for Colorado a year earlier.

And for a few, there has been no 2026 season

Jacob Stallings and Sean Bouchard have not played in 2026.

Nick Anderson went to spring training with Oakland before retiring in May.

Dugan Darnell signed with Detroit but spent the spring injured and was released without appearing in a regular-season game.

The overall picture is pretty simple.

Of the 25 players who received meaningful time for the 2025 Rockies and are out of Colorado’s major-league picture this year, only six are spending 2026 primarily in the majors. Ten are mostly in the high minors or have received only brief MLB opportunities, five are continuing their careers elsewhere and four have not recorded regular-season game action.

But most have not left Colorado and become more established major-league players.

Raising the floor

That helps explain one of the biggest differences between the 2025 and 2026 Rockies.

The floor is much higher.

Not every holdover has improved, and not every replacement has worked. But there simply is not another collection of players producing anything close to the -12.5 rWAR left behind by those 23 departures.

There is less extreme negative value on the roster, and that is a big part of why the 2026 Rockies are substantially better than the team that came before them.

It also means the next step gets harder.

There are still roster spots that could change this winter, and there should be plenty more movement. But this time the decisions will be more targeted. There is not another giant pile of obvious negative value waiting to be cut away.

The Rockies have benefited from aggressive turnover once.

There is no reason to stop now.

So, who stays? Who goes? And which current Rockies deserve another year before Colorado starts looking for an upgrade?

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

With both the Mets and Nationals having nothing to play for in the dog days of the season, it gives both clubs an opportunity to shake it up and test some things out with an eye towards next year. 

That's why the Mets will be giving Brett Baty a look at shortstop in Saturday afternoon's contest. 

"Where the season is right now, for us, this serves a purpose for 2027," manager Andy Green said. "Brett has been incredibly valuable bouncing around the field from a roster-construction prospective, as you look towards the future his ability to defend at short when Francisco [Lindor] needs a day off gives us flexibility if it's a viable solution.

"These games don't have playoff implications for either team, so we don't feel like we're necessarily shorting the industry by doing it at this point in time, and it serves a purpose for us towards the future."

Baty has appeared at shortstop three times this year, but this will be his first career start at the position. 

The 26-year-old infielder has continued taking groundballs out there throughout this season, and that's something that Green and the Mets expect to carry into spring training next year.

"Very much so," the skipper said. "I've had the privilege of coaching a lot of really good big-league infielders, [bench coach] Kai [Correa] has, and [third base coach] Tim Leiper has as well -- we all see in him the athleticism necessary to defend the field there on a fill-in basis -- Brett's incredibly athletic." 

Baty will also continue to see reps in the outfield, despite the emergence of Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing really digging into his playing time out there. 

"Brett very much could still slide to the outfield depending on what happens," Green emphasized. "You look around baseball and the best teams have someone like this who has the athleticism to do all of these things -- he's found a great measure of comfort at that as the year has gone on and we've seen his bat wake up and get loud.

"A loud bat for someone who can defend all over the field is incredibly invaluable -- you never know what hole you are going to have fill from different injuries in a season, so him being prepared to fill as many holes as possible for us could set us up really well heading into next year."

Baty has now added 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, and RF to his toolbox.