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During the 2024 and 2025 seasons, it seemed like the Colorado Rockies were finding ways to make the record books in the worst ways imaginable every day. It was so frequent that I took it upon myself to try to chronicle those records and statistics, compiling them into articles to cap off the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

I entered 2026 expecting to do the same thing, preparing a document that the Purple Row crew and I could add to throughout the year. To my joyous surprise, I won’t be writing that dubious history article again. Despite the Rockies becoming the first team since the 1965 New York Mets to have four consecutive 100-loss seasons, there wasn’t a lot of notable historical failings for the club. Instead of being historically awful, they were mostly just bad in 2026, which is a milestone in its own right.

Rather than dig through the weeds to find more reasons to point the finger at how far this team has to go, let’s look at the improvement for the club that inspires some inkling of hope for the future.

The record

I know it seems asinine to celebrate the fact that a team lost only 104 games, but considering that the Rockies lost 119 a year ago, that 15-game improvement feels remarkable.

Remember how they didn’t have 10 wins until June 2 last season? Well, the 2026 club managed to secure the 10th win on April 22. The 2025 squad’s 43rd and final win didn’t come until September 21, during their final home game of the season. The 2026 team secured their 43rd win on July 31 and were up to 45 wins at the end of a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royals on August 2.

The separation of a few weeks between when the 2025 squad lost their 100th game (Game No. 139) and when the 2026 team lost their 100th (Game No. 157) shows a team that made some steady improvement. The fact that it was a real possibility in the middle of August that the team could avoid 100 losses made the collapse through the end of the season all the more painful.

Considering where the team started coming into the year, 104 losses is still some positive momentum, even if it’s ugly to look at.

Offensive improvement

The majority of improvements for the 2026 season are thanks to the offense. While still flawed in ways, the Rockies batters made a massive leap forward under Brett Pill and Jordan Pacheco.

In 2025, the Rockies offense was the worst in franchise history. Compared to the rest of baseball, Colorado ranked:

• 23rd in AVG (.237)
• 30th in OBP (.293)
• 24th in SLG (.386)
• 29th in runs scored (597)
• 25th in HR (160)
• 29th in K% (25.9%)
• 30th in BB% (6.7%)
• 30th in wRC+ (75)
• 30th in fWAR (-3.0)

Across the board, the Rockies were not a good offensive team last season. So, the emphasis of the new front office and coaching staff was to boost production and approach at the plate through a new philosophy and personnel.

The results ended up speaking for themselves. At the end of the 2026 season, the Rockies ranked:

• 4th in AVG (.254)
• 7th in OBP (.322)
• 5th in SLG (.417)
• 7th in runs scored (752)
• 19th in HR (180)
• 21st in K% (22.8%)
• 27th in BB% (8.1%)
• 29th in wRC+ (91)
• 30th in fWAR (8.0)

In the basic counting stats, the Rockies saw such incredible improvement. Instead of being a bottom feeder in most every single category, they managed to put the ball in play more and get on base. It helped by having an influx of talent for the season and a better overall lineup.

The team still strikes out too much and walks too little, but the fact that they were able to get back toward the league average in both of those categories is an important step forward for the club. The Rockies were at their best when they were able to draw walks and get base hits to drive in runs.

They scored nearly 150 more runs in 2026 than they did last season. The run differential still wasn’t great at -192, but considering the Rockies had a historically bad -424 differential last season, that’s a promising improvement that could get better if the Rockies can get the entire offense working cohesively and more consistently.

Road warriors

Part of the significance for the offense was that they looked like a more competent team on the road. Despite the natural regression for the offense away from Coors Field, where there was much more offensive output, the road offense was actually one of the best for the franchise since 2002.

The Rockies batted .237 on the road this season, which actually ranked 11th for the franchise since the introduction of the humidor at Coors Field, with the .704 OPS ranking sixth. In 2025, the Rockies had a .203 AVG and .589 OPS, which was by far one of, if not the worst, road offenses in team history.

The key factor was that they managed to score more runs on the road. Their 346 road runs ranked 21st in baseball this season but ranked third for the club since 2002 and most since they scored 340 road runs in 2009. If the pitching had been better, there is no doubt that the Rockies could have won more than 25 games on the road this season.

Bits and pieces of the pitching

Pitching, particularly starting pitching, was the major flaw of the Rockies in the 2026 season, a theme that carries throughout team history. The rotation was truly awful this season and took a nosedive over the final two months. However, there are some inklings of positive notes from the pitching staff this season.

The offense did a lot of heavy lifting to improve the 2026 Rockies, but the bullpen held its own for most of the season. The Rockies pitching staff had a league-worst 5.59 ERA, but the relievers had a 4.80 ERA, which ranked 27th in baseball. Compared to the 5.18 ERA for the bullpen in 2025, that’s a steady improvement with room for more growth, especially with the infusion of some young arms like Mark Manfredi and Nick Frasso.

The Rockies also proved that struggling arms could find new life in the bullpen. Chase Dollander found a groove starting the year as a bulk reliever out of the bullpen before carrying over into the rotation. Antonio Senzatela was one of the best relievers in baseball to start the season after struggling so long in his career as a starter. Ryan Feltner found a new gear coming out of the bullpen to end the season as a bulk reliever. Jordan Romano reestablished his ability to be a high-leverage reliever worthy of closer opportunities.

While he faded down the stretch, Tomoyuki Sugano (菅野 智之) brought a stabilizing, reliable veteran presence to the rotation and recorded 12 wins in the year, the most for a starter since 2021. There were plenty of lessons to be learned from top to bottom for the pitching staff.

Something that shouldn’t be overlooked is that the Rockies made incremental progress in walks allowed. An 8.7% rate in 2025 improved slightly to 8.3% in 2026, which isn’t much, but it’s enough to take the Rockies from 11th-highest to 21st-highest.

If the Rockies could improve their ability to miss bats and start getting more strikeouts across the board, it would certainly help complement the slight improvement in walks allowed.

A long way to go

Ultimately, it’s clear the Rockies have a long way to go. However, they are trending in the right direction in some areas. The offense has a clearer identity and a group of players capable of doing good things. TJ Rumfield and Cole Carrigg, along with Kyle Karros, headlined a group of young hitters that can make a big impact. You had experienced players like Jake McCarthy and Willi Castro put together extraordinary bounce-back seasons. You had the explosive power of Hunter Goodman and Mickey Moniak (when he’s healthy).

2026 mostly boiled down to finding an offensive baseline that works. There is plenty of work to do to take the next step offensively, but you can see the path forward.

The pitching is another story. The franchise has to find a way to build a pitching pipeline, complemented by better acquisitions. We saw hints of what a competitive rotation can do for the club back in April, but things quickly went off the rails. Adjustments and recalculations will have to be made, and new experiments need to be conducted, but you can see potential in the arms and what could be if things start clicking.

Either way, 2026 was a step in the right direction and, if nothing else, gave me hope that things can get better.

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

Sometimes it is easy to forget that professional athletes are human. They all have lives outside of their jerseys and had a journey to get to the biggest stage. Some players’ paths to the majors stand out from others. Johnny Allen has one of those stories that feels too human to be a professional athlete, much less a World Series champion.

John Thomas Allen
Born: September 30, 1904 (Lenoir, NC)
Died: March 29, 1959 (St. Petersberg, FL)
Yankees Tenure: 1932-1935

The first part of Allen’s life was less than ideal, as his father passed away suddenly while he was still a young child. Facing hard times, Allen’s mom had to make the tough decision to send him and some of his siblings to an orphanage. Allen would grow up in that orphanage. When he was a teen, he lost some of his toes when a shotgun accidentally fired into his foot. However, while at the orphanage, Allen started playing baseball.

After graduating from Thomasville High School in North Carolina, Allen took a job and went to work in Sanford. As a young adult, Allen started playing baseball again and quickly made a name for himself on the local scene as a fiery and dominant pitcher. It took a few years, but Yankees scouts would eventually find and sign Allen in 1929.

The Yankees sent Allen to Jersey City for the 1930 season. The 25-year-old went 12-16 with a 3.98 ERA at the Double-A level. Then, in 1931, Allen split time with Jersey City and Toronto and went a very impressive 21-9. That performance earned him a spring training invite.

Allen broke spring training with the Yankees for the 1932 season. In his rookie year, at the young age of 27, Allen would go 17-4 with a 3.70 ERA in 192 innings. The Yankees faced the Cubs in the World Series, the same one that featured Babe Ruth’s famous “Called Shot.” Allen started Game 4 of the series but only got two outs and gave up three runs. Despite his rough outing, the Yankees were able to come back in the finale and complete the sweep. The 1932 World Series featured a record number of future Hall of Famers, including 13 players, both managers (Joe McCarthy for the Yankees and Rogers Hornsby for the Cubs), and even an umpire in Bill Klem.

In his sophomore season, Allen remained primarily in the starting rotation but had a bit of a sophomore slump, seeing his ERA rise to 4.39 and his record slip to 15-7. The Yankees finished the season in second place and out of the postseason. Allen went into the offseason feeling like he deserved more innings and money from the Yankees. He finally agreed to a contract after a long holdout.

The holdout was left to sour in the mind of ownership as Allen was plagued by injuries in 1934. Limited to only 13 games, Allen posted a 5-2 record with a 2.89 ERA across 71.2 innings. The team missed out on the playoffs again despite a 94-60 record.

1935 saw Allen bounce back in a big way. He went 13-6 in 23 starts and was able to log 67.0 innings with a 3.61 ERA. He led the American League in allowing the fewest hits per nine innings at an 8.0 clip and strikeouts per nine innings with 6.1. However, after constant clashes and outbursts, including destroying furniture after bad games, the Yankees decided they had had enough of Allen. Despite being 50-19 in pinstripes, the Yankees dealt Allen to Cleveland for Monte Pearson and Steve Sundra.

Although Pearson turned out to be a heckuva find, Allen did enjoy the best years of his career in Cleveland from 1936 to 1941 following his trade from New York. His tenure by Lake Erie was highlighted by a historic 1937 season in which he pitched to a 15-1 record, a then-record for the highest single-season winning percentage at .938. Allen would be named Major League Player of the Year by The Sporting News. In the Land, Allen compiled a stellar 67-34 record with a 3.65 ERA and earned his sole All-Star selection in 1938.

After his time in Cleveland, the remainder of Allen’s playing career became a journey. In December 1941, the front office traded him to the St. Louis Browns, where he went 18-7 with a 3.21 ERA over two seasons. In 1943, the Brooklyn Dodgers purchased his contract, transitioning Allen to the National League for the first time. He spent two and a half seasons in Brooklyn’s bullpen.

The Dodgers traded Allen to the New York Giants in July 1944 for pitchers Bill Sayles and Andy Karl. Allen closed out his 13-year Major League career with the Giants in 1945. When he retired, Allen hung ’em up with a lifetime 142-75 record, a 3.75 ERA, and a reputation as one of the fiercest competitors of his era.

After his playing days ended, Allen ended up working his way up the ranks as a minor league umpire. He additionally worked in real estate and as an automobile tag inspector. Allen was inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, posthumously, in 1977.

Happy birthday, Johnny!

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

Postseason baseball is back, and unfortunately the Detroit Tigers aren’t part of it. For some, that really kills the interest level, and I get it. On the other hand, sports are amplified by the bright lights of the playoffs and World Series, and there is little better than postseason baseball in my opinion. So, pick a team or just see whose bandwagon you feel like jumping on along the way. Even without the Tigers, it’s going to be a really fun month of baseball, and potentially instructive in regard to the challenges facing the Tigers to get back to the playoffs.

All four Wild Card series are best-of-three, with the two top teams in each league waiting for their divisional round opponents. The home team stays the home team for the whole series, and there are no off days in an effort get to the full rounds without putting the top teams on the shelf for more than a few days.

Here are the times for Game 2 of each series, all of which are being broadcast through Peacock. If necessary, Game 3 schedules will be announced as required to take advantage of prime time. I never minded the old all-or-nothing Wild Card games, but it is fun that every series becomes win or go home for one team after the first game. We’ll see which of Tuesday’s winners can close it out today.

2:00 p.m. ET Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves

5:00 p.m. ET Chicago White Sox at Houston Astros

8:00 p.m. ET Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees

10:00 p.m. ET Chicago Cubs at San Diego Padres

The Phillies looked to have Game 1 of their series under control, but the Braves wouldn’t go away. Austin Riley launched a three-run shot off of closer Jhoan Duran in the eighth inning to seize a two-run lead and held on to win.

Both teams went with a bullpen game in this one, as White Sox pitching shut down the Astros and kept Yordan Alvarez in check. The White Sox’s offense cashed in some early runs and then added on after Houston threatened to get back into the game in the middle innings.

Cam Schlittler, the presumed AL Cy Young award winner, was pretty masterful for the Yankees as he shut down Boston over 6.1 scoreless frames with 10 punchouts. The Yankees built an early lead against lefty Peyton Tolle, but the game was close until they got to the Red Sox bullpen late and pulled away with a 9-0 victory.

Finally, the Padres lit up former Tigers’ lefty Matt Boyd while right-hander Michael King took a no-hitter into the seventh before it was broken up. The Cubs bullpen couldn’t contain the damage as the Padres poured it on to win 8-0 in Game 1 at Petco Park.

In the next edition of my player grading series, I wanted to talk about a player I have been thinking about quite a bit these past couple of days. Brady House did not have a full scale breakout in 2026, but he took a substantial leap forward. He made serious improvements and has put himself in position to fully break out in 2027.

Heading into the season, there was cautious optimism around House, especially after a monster Spring Training. However, he did really struggle in his first taste of big league action. In 2025, House hit just .234 with a .574 OPS in 73 games. He showed his whiff and chase issues, while also not displaying the power that made him a top prospect.

That put a lot of pressure on House entering 2026. He needed to take a step forward in order to maintain a spot in the Nats future. The best way to describe House’s season is that he held serve. He did not become a star, but he did enough to keep his spot as the third baseman entering next season.

A theme of House’s career is that he gets a little bit better every year without taking a massive jump. That happened again this year. Rather than getting overwhelmed in the big leagues, House held his own. On the season, House hit .247 with a .710 OPS, which is solid but not mindblowing by any means.

There was one area where House was elite though, and that was hitting left handed pitching. On the year, House hit .350 with a .975 OPS against southpaws. He has established a floor as a platoon masher with great tools. Moving forward, he will have to show more against right handed pitching though.

House got protected against righties, but he still got ample opportunities. In 220 AB’s against righties, House hit just .200 with a .586 OPS. Whenever Blake Butera talks about House, he emphasizes that the approach against righties is something that needs to improve.

However, Butera has also said that the 23 year old is just scratching the surface of his potential. This is an idea that I buy into as well. You can see the talent with House, he just needs more consistency.

One thing that stands out to me is House’s batted ball data. His xwOBA, xBA, xSLG, average exit velocity, barrel rate and hard hit rate all rank at least in the 63rd percentile. House actually underperformed his xwOBA by 20 points this season, showing there is more in the tank.

Despite not having great chase or whiff numbers, House makes enough hard contact to make up for that. He also found a way to cut that chase rate by over 2% compared to 2025. This new found discipline helped House’s walk rate go from 2.9% to 8.2%. 

Honestly, you can divide House’s season into two parts. After making the team and starting the first six weeks, House was sent down to AAA, where he played 50 games. Before he got sent down, House was hitting .227 with a .681 OPS. That was an improvement on 2025, but still left plenty to be desired. He hit for more power, but still struck out a lot.

In the minors, House was able to work on some things. He hit over .300 in Rochester and was able to develop. House actually hit for the cycle in one game down on the farm. He did his thing and waited for his next shot.

After Curtis Mead got traded, House got that opportunity and was rock solid. He hit .268 with a .738 OPS in the second half. House only hit three home runs, but he was driving the ball from gap to gap. He posted a 104 wRC+ and only struck out 23% of the time. 

With 10 home runs on the year, House made strides towards tapping into his impressive raw power. However, I still think there is a lot more to come. While a lot of Nats were pulling and elevating the ball more, House’s GB rate and air pull percentage stayed stable. Hopefully that is an element of his game that will improve in 2027.

If House can elevate more consistently, there is every reason to believe he can be a 25 home run bat. As we saw with that moonshot against Eury Perez, when House gets a hold of a baseball, it flies out of the stadium. The key will be getting to that A swing on a more consistent basis.

Like a lot of his offensive game, House got better against fastballs in 2026, but still could use further improvement. We saw with that swing against Perez, he can time up the heater. House just cannot do it every time right now.

Honestly, the most disappointing part of House’s game in 2026 was his defense. After grading out as a positive defender in 2025, House posted -4 outs above average this year. It was particularly ugly at the beginning of the season. In fact, his defensive struggles were a big reason he got sent down.

To his credit, I thought House’s defense looked a lot better once he came back. There were not as many errors and the routine plays became routine. House has all the tools to be an above average defender, and I think that will happen in time.

Overall, this was a solid but not spectacular season for House. He posted 0.6 fWAR and 0.7 bWAR. That is a step in the right direction, but he has not made it quite yet. With how he finished the season, I have faith in House to make further improvements.

Given his slow but steady progression as a pro, I think House will establish himself as a solid but not spectacular starter in 2027. My expectation is a .740 to .750 OPS with 20-22 homers and around 2-2.5 WAR. House will not get a super high grade, but he had a solid season. As the saying goes, C’s get degrees and I think Brady House had a C+ season.

Season Grade: C+

The Atlanta Braves offense has been hot and cold all season long. This has led to multiple shifts in not only which players are in the lineup, but also where they hit in the lineup. This makes sense because if it is not working, there is not reason to keep it the same.

In the game yesterday the Braves were able to score five runs and had opportunity to score even more based on the fact that they were able to produce more base runners than some may have assumed they would based on the pitching matchup.

Today the Braves are taking a similar approach that was sometimes deployed in the regular season of constructing a lineup based on the starting pitcher.

In today’s lineup the only player difference is that Sean Murphy will be in and Mike Yastrzemski is out, but there has been a massive shift where the players are hitting in the lineup. We see Ronald Acuña move up to leadoff, Ozzie Albies shift from sixth to third, Matt Olson shifts down to fourth, Austin Riley shifts from seventh to sixth, and the biggest one is Michael Harris shifting from fifth to seventh.

This shifts may seem odd at first, but the Braves have a decent sample size against Cristopher Sánchez and the lineup seems to be constructed based on that. Ronald Acuña has a 1.000 OPS against him in sixteen ABs, Ozzie Albies has a .500 average and 1.193 OPS in eighteen ABs, and Austin Riley has a 1.104 OPS in fifteen ABs. This would explain some of the shifting. On the flip side of the coin, Michael Harris has a .321 OPS against Sánchez in fifteen ABs.

This is the point where analytical teams are likely in the ear of the manager, and this lineup is set to get to Sánchez the best way they can.

The Phillies were bound to have a different lineup since Sale is a LHP and Mahle is a RHP.

This is indeed the case as Brandon Marsh and Justin Crawford will both be getting the start today. Tyler Mahle faced the Phillies twice already this month and held them to only one run over thirteen innings while only walking one and inducing twenty-three ground balls.

On paper the Braves have the edge, but this is playoff baseball where anything can happen. The Braves lead MLB in wRC+ in the ninth inning and are in the top eight in the eighth inning. If they can get to the bullpen early, it could be the X factor.

First pitch is at 2:00 EDT.

The Philadelphia Phillies have their backs to the wall as they take on the Atlanta Braves in Game 2 of their National League wild card playoff series this afternoon.

The Phils saw a 3-2 lead disappear in one swing of Austin Riley's bat in the series opener yesterday, as the Braves rallied for a 5-3 victory that put them on the verge of advancing to the NL division series.

Needing a win to stay alive, the Phillies' season now hinges on the left arm of Cristopher Sanchez (18-7, 2.91 ERA), who led the National League in wins and was the NL's starting pitcher in the All-Star Game.

He'll be opposed by right-hander Tyler Mahle (7-10, 3.99 ERA), who went 4-1 with a 1.99 ERA in nine starts for the Braves after they acquired him from the San Francisco Giants at the trade deadline.

USA TODAY Sports will follow all the action with updates and analysis.

This is the kind of thing I was talking about down the stretch. I felt the Cubs wouldn’t be backed down or awed by the situation. This is an experienced club. At the end of the day, this didn’t come down to injured pitchers or one eyed third basemen. It didn’t come down to one team scuffling a bit or another one that is on a major role. It came down to exactly one scenario. The Cubs needed to have a pitcher good enough to shove for seven innings against a good offensive team. They needed one because the Padres had one.

With the stuff that modern pitchers have, when they are clicking on all cylinders and not making any mistakes, it is very difficult to get anything going. For what it was worth, their hitters did have patience. They drew three walks from Michael King, who was pumping the strike zone with frisbees. When you see a hitter who is among the best in the game and in a good groove himself like Alex Bregman flailing with half swings at where the ball maybe used to be, it’s not hard to understand how mystifying King was. You definitely hat tip to him.

Is there some chance that maybe if Cub pitching were matching zeroes that he’d have at least broken a sweat? Sure. It was unfortunate that the Padres ambushed Cub starter Matthew Boyd and jumped on him instantly. A hat tip to the Padre scouting department. They had a plan as a team and they executed it. They’d clearly prepared for Boyd. They swung early and often and as was noted on the broadcast, they were able to recognize balls and strikes and only swing at the strikes. They were amazingly prepared.

That was about as unfortunate a game as you could possibly get in a short series. Not only did you lose and make the Padres feel even more confident about their game planning, you didn’t force them to use any significant reliever. They have a fully stocked bullpen that was already known to be lethal. In the short history of these three game Wild Card series, the team that has won the first game has won almost every series. I have no doubt that will level off at a lower level than it’s at so far, but it is the simple math of the format. One win gives you so many advantages in the series. Given that you had to give the Padres the edge in the first place (home field, better record, better pitching), you’d have to make them overwhelming favorites to advance at this point.

Again, the Cubs won’t back down. If Game 2 unfolds more like an ordinary game, the Cubs will be in the fight. But the Cubs were always a good, not great team. This is a tough assignment if this team is going to hold off the offseason.

Turn the page. Slow the game down. Do what you do. Hope it is enough.

Three Positives:

• Nico Hoerner had two of the three Cub hits.
• Seiya Suzuki had the other hit and drew a walk.
• Pete Crow-Armstrong had a walk and stole a base. What almost was, he came very close to robbing that first homer. One wonders if it would have shifted the energy at all.

Wild Card Game 1, September 29: Padres 8, Cubs 0

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Seiya Suzuki (.083). 1-3, BB
• Hero/Sidekick: Michael Conforto/Jacob Webb (.000). Conforto: 0-1; Webb: 1.1 IP, 5 BF, 2 H

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Matthew Boyd (-.203). 4 IP, 17 BF, 5 H, BB, 4 R, 4 K (L 0-1)
• Goat: Ian Happ (-.074). 0-3, BB
• Kid: Pedro Ramirez (-.057). 0-4

WPA Play of the Game: Fernando Tatis Jr. homered on the first pitch in the bottom of the first. (.105)

Cubs Play of the Game: Seiya Suzuki reached on a throwing error by Xander Bogaerts and was awarded second leading off the second inning. (.062)

Note: 18 of the 75 WPA events recorded for this game were recorded at .000.

Cubs Player of the Game:

Up Next: Game 2 in San Diego will see Kevin Gausman for the Cubs. Kevin was 9-12 with a 4.51 in the regular season. He did have a 4-2 record as a Cub, but also posted a 4.83 ERA and had the Cub longball problem, allowing 11 homers in only 50.1 innings. It’s obvious the Cubs need to add more talent to their pitching staff in 2027. It’s even more obvious that they need to examine everything in their training and medical department to determine if any amount of their injury woes could have been prevented or lessened. But also, the Cubs need to look at if there is a further issue with some of their approach. Gausman is an exhibit of a pitcher with a long track record who allowed almost as many homers with the Cubs (11) as with the Blue Jays (15), despite throwing more than 70 percent of his innings with the Jays.

Nick Pivetta (3-2, 2.86) starts for the Padres. Pivetta missed most of this year with a right elbow injury. The 33-year-old righty was excellent when healthy. He made four starts in September, throwing a total of 18.2 innings and allowing three runs on 15 hits. He struck out 18 and walked two. He got up to 87 pitches in his last start and that’s usually the threshold where a pitcher is pretty much good to go. I imagine if he is in a groove, they’d let him approach 100 pitches. And with a fully loaded bullpen and blood in the water, if he struggles at all, I imagine they’ll happily try to steal a game with their bullpen. I have no doubt the Padres could run this game as a bullpen game and still be able to bring their key guys back again for game three.

I thought Gausman should have started that first game. I have to wonder about his health after that diving play he made in his last game. Hopefully the Cub bats can get in the fight. It’s still since July 30 that the Cubs won a game without hitting a homer. Teams that hit more homers tend to win games. Teams that don’t score any runs continue to lose every time. So it’s now or never.

In case you didn’t know, there were three other games played yesterday besides the one in which the Red Sox offense laid an egg against Cam Schlittler while the team wasted its most electric pitcher. I’m of course talking about the start of the NHL season!

I kid, I kid, but in all seriousness, there were plenty of big moments to choose from in Tuesday’s action around the league. Let’s take a look.

Braves 5, Phillies 3 (BOX SCORE)

Even with the results of Tuesday’s game, I am very glad the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry has the prestige to garner an 8:00 first pitch so I can be safely out of work when the game’s on. I definitely did not have the radio on listening to Phillies-Braves at 2:00 on a Tuesday afternoon. Anyone else who definitely didn’t may have missed Austin Riley’s three-run home run turn a 3-2 game on its absolute head. The Phillies pitching staff, led by starter Jesus Luzardo, cruised through seven innings and Jhoan Duran was easily navigating through the Braves lineup – until he wasn’t and ran into Michael Harris II who started the rally. Chris Sale had the no decision in this one but he looked great in 6 1/3 innings, striking out nine even with the three runs allowed.

White Sox 6, Astros 3 (BOX SCORE)

Jordan Hicks and David Sandlin, partners in the “get Jordan Hicks off my baseball team” trade, both provided valuable outings in relief as the White Sox pulled ahead against the Astros. Hicks got the decision win! Even another ex-Red Sox, Sean Newcomb, got in on the action (though he allowed two runs.) The two-run home run Newcomb allowed, though, was the only extra-base hit the White Sox would allow on the night. It’s so funny looking at the White Sox lineup and recognizing so many former Red Sox, but it’s good to see some experiencing playoff action, as well.

Padres 8, Cubs 0 (BOX SCORE)

Pete Crow-Armstrong is the surefire NL MVP. The Cubs lineup on Tuesday, though, was punchless, and the wind was taken from them very early this game. How early? How about the first two batters both taking Matthew Boyd deep? After Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado each put a ball in the seats, Michael King, working with a lead, was electric. He took a no-hitter into the seventh. He benefitted from another former Red Sox player in Xander Boegarts hitting a home run. The Padres’ bullpen would complete the shutout with Joe Musgrove, once one of the best emerging pitchers in the game, returning from a lengthy Tommy John recovery, which was a super cool moment for anyone still awake at 1 in the morning. This was a shellacking, but unlike the game at Yankee Stadium, it was never remotely close, not even for a minute.