TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays capped a turnaround from worst to first by holding off the New York Yankees to win the AL East on the final day of the season, their first division title in a decade and the seventh in team history.
“The job is not finished,” slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said after a 13-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays that clinched the division crown and secured a bye into the Division Series. “We’ve got to continue to play hard and play good baseball.”
The Blue Jays finished 74-88 a season ago, last in the AL East and 20 games behind the first-place Yankees.
“I think everybody believed that last year was not who we were as a team,” outfielder George Springer said. “From day one of spring training you could kind of feel the vibe.”
This year, a four-game sweep over New York from June 30 to July 3 was part of a season-best 10-game winning streak that vaulted Toronto into the division lead for good.
“Once we kind of hit our stride, we didn’t think anyone could beat us,” manager John Schneider said. “This is, in my opinion, the toughest division in the game. I don’t think anyone, besides the people that are here soaking wet like me, expected us to be in this position.”
Toronto lost six of seven down the stretch, falling into a first-place tie with New York, but held onto the top spot in the American League by winning its final four games.
“We almost broke at the end but, from that point on, we didn’t break in the division,” Schneider said. “That was obviously a huge four games for us.”
The Blue Jays won eight of 13 meetings with the Yankees this season, giving them the tiebreaker after both teams finished 94-68.
Springer hit one of four Blue Jays home runs in Sunday’s rout, his latest drive in a productive season that seemed unlikely in 2024, when the 2017 World Series MVP struggled through one of the worst years of his career, hitting just .220.
“I can’t say enough about him,” Schneider said of Springer. “Fitting that his last at-bat was a home run. He’s the heart and soul of our team. He’s infectious when he plays and he’s infectious in the clubhouse.”
Toronto will face the winner of the best-of-three Wild Card Series between the Red Sox and Yankees in the ALDS, giving the Blue Jays a valuable opportunity to rest and recover while its foes battle in the Bronx this week.
Game 1 will be Saturday in Toronto, and the Blue Jays have home-field advantage throughout the AL playoffs after finishing with the top record in the American League.
Arguably no one needs the break more than shortstop Bo Bichette. The two-time AL hits leader and two-time All-Star hasn’t played since Sept. 6, when he injured his left knee in a collision with Yankees catcher Austin Wells.
“It’s kind of exactly what we needed,” Schneider said of the five-day break before the Division Series. “I hope that (Bichette) gets a chance to contribute to this. He’s been instrumental to what we’ve been doing here the last six years.”
Bichette has been hitting off a tee and throwing but has yet to resume running.
“Every day I’m feeling better,” Bichette said. “I’ll be doing everything that I possibly can to get back.”
Toronto hasn’t won a postseason game since losing the American League Championship Series to Cleveland in 2016. The Blue Jays won wild-card berths in 2020, 2022 and 2023 but were swept by Tampa Bay, Seattle and Minnesota, respectively.
SEATTLE — Clayton Kershaw tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings in the final regular-season start of his 18-year major league career and helped the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Seattle Mariners 6-1 on Sunday.
Kershaw (11-2) scattered four hits, three of them singles, and struck out seven, including the last batter he faced — the Mariners’ Eugenio Suárez. The 37-year-old left-hander turned to his slider in the top of the sixth to retire Suárez for the 3,052nd strikeout of his career. He then left the game to a standing ovation from a sellout crowd at T-Mobile Park.
The Dodgers scored early and often against Mariners right-hander Bryce Miller (4-6). Hyeseong Kim hit a two-run home run in the second inning and Freddie Freeman added a two-run shot in the third.
After Miller departed , Los Angeles two-way star Shohei Ohtani hit his franchise-record 55th home run of the season. Andy Pages added an RBI single in the eighth inning to complete the Dodgers’ scoring.
Seattle slugger Cal Raleigh went 1 for 3 in his regular-season finale, finishing with 125 RBIs and a major league-leading 60 homers.
The NL West champion Dodgers (93-69) won five fewer games than last year, while the AL West-winning Mariners (90-72) won five more games.
Seattle drew 2,537,817 fans this season, just shy of its 2024 total of 2,555,813.
Key moment
With two away in a scoreless contest, Kim turned on an elevated fastball from Miller and sent it into the right-field seats for the third home run of the rookie’s major league career.
Key stat
Ohtani’s 55th home run topped the single-season record he set in 2024 for the Dodgers, his first season with the franchise. He also topped 100 RBIs for the third time in his MLB career.
Up next
The Dodgers will face the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card series on Tuesday.
The Mariners will take on the winner of the first-round series between the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Guardians in the AL Division Series starting Saturday.
The longer it went on, the more it felt like a telling statistic: The Mets went 0-70 in games in which they trailed after eight innings – the only team in the majors that didn’t pull off such a comeback win this season.
Especially considering the 'OMG' Mets of 2024 were largely defined by their late-inning comebacks, it’s hard not to see relevance in the 2025 Mets’ failure to have one of those steal-a-win type games that create chemistry and good vibes on a ballclub.
They had one last chance to do it, down 4-0 on Sunday in Miami against the Marlins. And by the time the Mets came to bat in the ninth inning, they knew the Cincinnati Reds had lost in Milwaukee, putting their postseason fate back in their hands one last time.
A winning rally at that point would have been the mother of all comebacks, sending the Mets to Los Angeles for a wild-card series with the Dodgers. Instead, despite getting their seventh walk of the game to start the ninth, they went quietly, with Francisco Lindorgrounding into a season-ending 4-6-3 double play.
It’s not a surprise they’re out, as poorly as they’ve played for months, and yet it’s still kind of hard to believe, considering the payroll and the level of talent.
To be sure, there are bigger reasons than intangibles as to why the Mets played 17 games under .500 starting June 13, a date so infamous by now that it practically rivals June 15, 1977, the day they traded Tom Seaver.
The biggest reason of all was front-and-center on this do-or-die day: Carlos Mendoza didn’t have a starting pitcher he felt he could trust. On a day when he used eight pitchers, David Peterson didn’t even see the mound, a reflection of his 9.28 ERA in September.
And Sean Manaea was used as more of an opener than a starter, getting pulled in the second inning after a couple of walks. That too was a reflection of how poorly he’s pitched for, really, his entire season, which was delayed until July by an oblique injury, and perhaps also the loose bodies in his elbow.
Finally, Kodai Sengacouldn’t even pitch his way back onto the roster after his ineffective starts that led to a minor-league demotion. In that sense, perhaps the turning point of the season was that day before June 13, when Pete Alonso’s high throw almost certainly caused Senga to pull his hamstring, at a time when he had a 1.47 ERA.
Senga, Manaea, and Peterson, after all, were supposed to be the No. 1-2-3 starters in the rotation this season, and their combined ineffectiveness largely doomed the Mets, especially with so much at stake late in the season.
New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso (20) and second baseman Jeff McNeil (1) watch as starting pitcher Kodai Senga (34) is tended to after sustaining an injury during the sixth inning against the Washington Nationals at Citi Field / Brad Penner - Imagn Images
But even that doesn’t explain why this team didn’t hit with runners in scoring position, save for the month of August, or why they played such dreadful baseball at times, especially in September, making both mental and physical mistakes that cost them games.
Throw in the lack of depth in the bullpen, which David Stearns, thought he addressed at the trade deadline, and those were the on-the-field issues that added up to all that losing baseball for more than three months.
And yet for all that, it’s still hard to ignore the intangibles that are more difficult to define but perhaps too often taken for granted.
Were J.D. Martinez and Jose Iglesias together the secret sauce to the 2024 season, Martinez providing veteran wisdom even when he stopped hitting down the stretch, and Iglesias driving the intensity higher on a daily basis with the way he grinded at the plate and hustled his way to more infield hits than you could count?
Martinez was done after last season, and certainly from a big-picture standpoint, it made sense to make room for young, home-grown players like Luisangel Acuña and Ronny Mauricio, in addition to Brett Baty and Mark Vientos, rather than bring back Iglesias.
But I thought it was a mistake at the time, not valuing what Iglesias did for the ballclub. And though he didn’t have nearly the season in San Diego that he did with the Mets, it’s still hard not to wonder if his presence would have added some of the intensity that seemed to be missing at times this season.
Put it this way, with Iglesias around, I have to believe they would have won at least one of those games in which they were trailing after eight innings. And if so, they’d likely be in the postseason.
That’s perhaps too simplistic, but it helps make a larger point.
That is, it seems relevant to note that Stearns, in some ways made a similar decision as Milwaukee Brewers’ GM, failing to anticipate the impact on his team’s clubhouse when he traded closer Josh Hader at the 2022 trade deadline, after which the Brewers fell out of contention.
A couple of years later, Stearns said he regretted that trade, implying reasons tangible and intangible, yet moving on from Iglesias felt a little bit like the Hader decision.
All in all, I don’t put as much blame on Stearns as I see fans doing on social media. Those pitching injuries/underperformance cut the legs out from these Mets, but that also leads to my biggest issue with the Prez of BB Ops: his refusal to bring up Nolan McLean at least a month earlier than he did, when he was instead using career minor leaguers to fill in for an injury-riddled starting rotation in July.
Even a handful of more starts from McLean might have assured the Mets of holding onto a wild-card spot.
New York Mets right fielder Juan Soto (22) reacts after his at bat against the Miami Marlins during the first inning at loanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
That’s not necessarily about intangibles, but it is about having a feel for what the ballclub needs, and for not recognizing the obvious poise and competitiveness in McLean, in addition to his elite stuff, that made him major league-ready.
Stearns values analytics; we know that, but does he appreciate everything else that goes into building a winner?
It sure looked that way in 2024 when the Mets surprised everyone by going to the NLCS, but it’s a fair question now. Not only because this season goes down as an all-time failure, but because significant changes need to be made with this roster.
Only it’s not obvious how to make them. Alonso proved his worth and unless the Mets are signing Kyle Schwarber, which feels unlikely, Stearns needs to lock him up. However, between Alonso, Juan Soto, Lindor, and to some extent, Brandon Nimmo, whose contract would be difficult to trade, the Mets don’t have a lot of room for maneuvering.
The Mets now have a foundation of young pitching, as we’ve seen, and in top prospect Carson Benge they may have a difference-maker with the bat who can play center field, perhaps as early as sometime next season.
But Stearns can’t count on that. Nor can he fall back on his formula of signing undervalued pitchers, which worked in ’24 but not for the long run in ’25. He’s going to have to bring in at least one high-priced pitcher from a group that includes Michael King, Dylan Cease, Ranger Suarez, and Framber Valdez.
And he’s going to have to improve the offense by trade or free agency as well. Of course, no amount of money can necessarily assure a team of having OMG magic, if you will, but finding a glue guy or two ought to assure that your team won’t go 0-70 when trailing after eight innings.
Which is what now seems fitting as an epitaph for the ’25 Mets.
MILWAUKEE — This was the kind of moment that helped lure Terry Francona back into managing.
The Cincinnati Reds earned their first playoff berth since 2020 on Sunday, setting off a wild, champagne-soaked celebration. It’s the first time in franchise history the Reds have clinched a playoff berth on the final day of the regular season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“When you watch those guys, it’s just unbridled joy,” said Francona, who spent last year away from baseball for health reasons before taking over the Reds. “It doesn’t matter the language you speak, what country you’re from. They’re hugging each other, and it’s real. And it’s worth all the heartache and everything we did, just for those couple of minutes.”
The Reds blew an opportunity to clinch a playoff spot on their own when they squandered a 2-0 lead in a 4-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers. But they still got the National League’s third and final wild card because the Mets were beaten 4-0 by the Miami Marlins.
After Cincinnati’s game ended, the Reds went into the locker room and watched the final inning of the Mets-Marlins game.
“We witnessed the last out,” reliever Tony Santillan said, “and the clubhouse exploded.”
Cincinnati and New York both finished 83-79, but the Reds owned the head-to-head tiebreaker after going 4-2 against the Mets this season.
The Reds head to Los Angeles to begin a best-of-three Wild Card Series against the defending World Series champion Dodgers on Tuesday night. Cincinnati went 1-5 against the Dodgers during the regular season.
According to Sportradar, the only other teams in the 162-game era to reach the playoffs with fewer than 84 wins were the 1973 Mets (82-79), 2005 San Diego Padres (82-80) and 2006 St. Louis Cardinals (83-78). The 1973 Mets and 2006 Cardinals both reached the World Series, with the Cardinals winning it all.
“As long as you get in, it’s a crapshoot,” said Reds utilityman Gavin Lux, who won World Series titles with the Dodgers in 2020 and 2024. “Whoever gets hot. Anyone can beat anyone.”
Cincinnati’s playoff berth adds one more line to Francona’s Hall of Fame-worthy resume.
In his first season as Boston’s manager, Francona led the 2004 Red Sox to their first World Series title since 1918. He managed Boston to another World Series championship in 2007 and got Cleveland to Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.
Now he’s in the postseason again. His pep talk in mid-September when the Reds were below .500 sparked a surge.
“After we got swept in Sacramento, Tito came in and basically said, ‘I know I believe in us. I still believe in all of you. I believe in this group,’” Lux said. ”We kind of went on a little run there at the end.”
Cincinnati’s playoff berth means the Mets will stay home for the postseason, a humbling finish for a team whose $322.6 million payroll at the start of the season was the highest in the majors. Although the Mets owned a big league-best 45-24 record through June 12, they went 38-55 after that.
“It’s a failure,” Mets outfielder Juan Soto said. “Anytime you don’t make it to the playoffs or win a championship, it’s a failure. That’s how we’re going to look at it, and that’s how we’re going to go through things in the offseason.”
The offseason can wait for the Reds.
Cincinnati’s last postseason appearance came during the pandemic-shortened season of 2020, so the last time the Reds earned a playoff berth in a 162-game season was 2013. They haven’t won a playoff game since 2012 and last won a postseason series in 1995.
“They thought it would be a miracle for us to get here, but we believed fom the beginning, man,” pitcher Nick Martinez said. “We believed when we were down and out. We believed in spring training. We believed in what we could do and who we are, and we showed that.”
The Reds benefited from the additions they made at the July 31 trade deadline. They boosted their lineup and infield defense by acquiring Miguel Andujar and Ke’Bryan Hayes. They also picked up starting pitcher Zack Littell, a move that enabled them to strengthen their bullpen by shifting Martinez to a relief role.
But the Reds still struggled to separate themselves from other wild-card contenders.
“We went through a tough time throughout the season,” pitcher Andrew Abbott said. “We all know that. But we stuck together as a team. We stuck together as a family.”
The Reds got to the playoffs by winning eight of their last 11 games while the Mets faded.
Cincinnati’s late charge included a four-game sweep of the playoff-bound Chicago Cubs. The Reds followed that up by losing two straight at home to Pittsburgh, but they won the final game of that series 2-1, with Noelvi Marte robbing Bryan Reynolds of a potential tying homer in the ninth inning.
The Reds were a game behind the Mets as they headed to Milwaukee to close the regular season, and the Brewers had won their last 13 series against Cincinnati. But the Reds took two of three, while the Mets lost two of three in Miami.
Now the Reds are heading to the playoffs and eager to keep beating the odds.
“We stayed together,” shortstop Elly De La Cruz said. “We played together. We care about each other. That’s the key for us. They can’t kill us.”
The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Minnesota Wild in preseason game three, 4-1, at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul.
Frank Nazar scored the first two goals of the game to give the Blackhawks a 2-0 lead. In the end, he deposited one in the empty net as well, giving him the preseason hat trick.
The one non-Frank Nazar goal scored by the Blackhawks came off the stick of Ryan Donato. He took advantage of a beautiful cross-ice feed by Connor Bedard, who looks as special as ever so far this exhibition season.
Frank Nazar picked a good game to have a hat trick, despite it being the preseason. Wild GM Bill Guerin is also the General Manager of Team USA, who is in the process of selecting the Olympic team. There will be plenty of chances for Guerin to watch Nazar, but this was a great opportunity for the player in that regard.
Alex Vlasic left the game with an injury and did not return. It is unclear what happened, but Jeff Blashill and the coaching staff are sure to have an answer soon enough. That would be a tough loss for Chicago if he misses any time, but it could also just be precautionary.
Drew Commesso played the whole game for the Blackhawks in net, and he was magnificent. He made 28 saves on 29 shots. The Wild had plenty of veterans and players desperate to make the roster in their lineup, so it can be chalked up as an impressive performance for Commesso as he faced strong competition.
With Spencer Knight locked in as the starter, there are two great options for backup goaltending in Drew Commesso and Arvid Soderblom. They prove it night in and night out.
The road portion of the preseason is over for Chicago. Now, they have three left, and they are all at the United Center. That starts on Tuesday with preseason number game four against the Detroit Red Wings.
At Friday’s media day, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse highlighted the team’s ability to play a variety of guard combinations, including three-guard units and “maybe a four-guard rotation at times.”
Some waiting will be required before Nurse can test all of his guard experiments.
For now, Tyrese Maxey and rookie VJ Edgecombe are both working to gel and competing against each other at practice. Following Sunday’s session, the two were part of a small group that played 1-on-1 with a five-second limit. In the brief period open to reporters, Edgecombe fared well.
“For the most part, we’re going to have them together, but there is a good 40 percent of practice where they’re going at it,” Nurse said. “And they like to go at it after practice. … That’s good to see, too.”
Back in January, Maxey talked about his comfort in three-guard lineups with Kyle Lowry and Reggie Jackson, citing his college days alongside Immanuel Quickley and Ashton Hagans. The Sixers’ three-guard units this season project to be much more youthful.
“I think the biggest thing is you’ve got to be unselfish,” Maxey said Friday, “and you’ve got to have an open mind. …That just really helps, especially when you have dynamic shooting, dynamic playmaking, guys that can play off the catch, play off closeouts, attack the paint. … It makes you more dangerous.”
Of course, lineups loaded with guards usually have vulnerabilities. Nurse has said defensive rebounding will need to be a “collective effort” that the Sixers purposefully drill and game plan. The team struggled on the defensive glass the past two seasons.
With that said, no team is excellent in all areas. For instance, the defending champion Thunder ranked 21st last year in defensive rebounding rate, per Cleaning the Glass.
Nurse wants to identify the Sixers’ strengths and make the most of them.
“I always try to look at the positives,” he said Sunday. “You’ve got to always keep thinking of, ‘What’s our advantage here?’ … Are we faster, are we quicker? Are we better shooters? Do we have more handlers out there? Keep reminding yourself that there are advantages.
“And then you’re saying, ‘Oh my God, how are we going to guard the low post when we switch the 1-4 pick-and-roll, or the 2-3 pick-and-roll, or the 2-4 pick-and-roll?’ So yeah, we know we’ve got to work. We’ve got to drill guarding bigger people on the low block or drill schemes on the low block. … The rebounding, we’ve got to drill it and we’ve got to scheme it.
“… But I’ve always got to keep reminding myself that yeah, that’s going to be tough to guard on the low block. And yes, it’s going to be tough to rebound against size. But can we pull ‘em away and get more space? Can we get more threes because they’re too slow for us? Can we go around them and offensive rebound? … Mostly, I think it’s just making sure we put some thought into those two areas — guarding the low block and defensive rebounding.”
Believe it or not, the Buffalo Sabres and their players are not inherently terrible. Sure, there are Buffalo players you may believe to be flawed, and sure, the Sabres have been consistently sub-par for the past 14 seasons -- none of which have ended with Stanley Cup playoff games being played in Western New York. But if you look at some of Buffalo's former players, you see that they have some value across the league, even though they have a stint with the Sabres on their resume.
One former Sabre who was prominent this week was former Buffalo goalie James Reimer, who agreed to a professional tryout contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It's true Reimer would at best be Toronto's third goalie, but with the absence of veteran Joseph Woll, Reimer could become the Leafs' No. 2 option. And given that Reimer had won the Sabres' starting job at the end of this past season, you know Toronto management had to be convinced Reimer had something left to extend him this olive branch.
Meanwhile, former Buffalo winger J.J. Peterka obviously had value to other teams. The Utah Mammoth gave up a lot of trade capital to acquire Peterka this summer, but he enters the season as Utah's top left winger on a Mammoth team that many believe will take a major step forward this season. So the Sabres haven't been bereft of talent.
The problem here is clearly the chemistry and depth for Buffalo, and Sabres GM Kevyn Adams is tasked with changing the mix for his team. If he can't do that, Buffalo's streak of seasons without a playoff appearance will extend to an even more-painful 15 years.
This is also why the pressure is squarely on Sabres coach Lindy Ruff right now. No one can take away from Ruff's longevity as an NHL bench boss. He's had some serious success over the years, but nothing short of a playoff berth will save Ruff's job this year, and so he's going to have to do what all great coaches learn to do -- namely, adapt their approach to how they do business.
That doesn't necessarily mean coaches have to be drastically different in how they approach their duties, but it does mean being flexible and learning how to modify their performance to suit the needs of the players they're responsible for.
So we're not going to tell you the Sabres were 100 percent wrong to keep most of their team together this summer. That may prove to be demonstrably true, but teams have tweaked their lineup from a losing bunch one year to a playoff team the next. Adams is betting on his core, and that could ultimately be the best decision he's made in the role.
Seeing players like Peterka and Reimer be potentially big parts of a winning team should reassure Sabres fans the team isn't comically inept when it comes to identifying NHL-level talent. But the fact that many former Sabres have found success elsewhere is in its own way an indictment of Buffalo management, past and present. That's what has to change above all else.
This organization has to figure out a way to get its ducks in a row and come up with a legitimate playoff team. Because if they can't do that this year, there will be a new management group with the same goal next summer.
And Sabres fans will be all the more livid that this franchise just can't get it right.
The NHL saw several players be placed on waivers on Sep. 28. One of them was a former New Jersey Devils defenseman, as the Tampa Bay Lightning have placed blueliner Steven Santini on waivers.
Santini is currently entering his second season with the Lightning organization in 2025-26. He spent the majority of this past campaign at the American Hockey League (AHL) level with the Syracuse Crunch. In 58 games with the AHL squad in 2024-25, he posted six goals, 11 assists, 17 points, and a plus-10 rating. He also appeared in three playoff games for the Crunch this spring, recording one assist and an even plus/minus rating.
Santini also played in one game for the Lightning during the 2024-25 season, where he was held off the scoresheet.
Santini was selected by the Devils with the 42nd overall pick of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. From there, he played his first four NHL seasons with the Metropolitan Division club. In 114 games with the Devils over that span, the right-shot defenseman recorded five goals, 16 assists, 21 points, 153 blocks, 276 hits, and a minus-10 rating.
Santini's time with the Devils ended during the 2019 NHL off-season when he was traded to the Nashville Predators in the deal that sent P.K. Subban to New Jersey.
Mets right-hander Kodai Senga's third MLB season is officially over with Sunday's 4-0 loss at the Miami Marlins, a result that kept New York out of the playoffs and ended any speculation over whether or not the 32-year-old would be on the team's postseason roster.
His 2025 season ends with him going 7-6 and posting a 3.02 ERA in 22 starts for New York, plagued by the second half.
"I think it comes down to my body," Senga said through an interpreter. "I wasn't able to control my body the way I wanted to after that injury and, unfortunately, that showed up in the results on the field, too, and very disappointing that I wasn't able to contribute in that last month or so."
The Mets placed Senga on the 15-day injured list on June 13 with a right hamstring strain. He returned to New York on July 11 but was never the same, going 0-3 with a 5.90 ERA in his final nine starts through Aug. 31.
"I want to rebuild from Step 1," Senga said. "My body's changed after this injury and after various things. My body's changed, so not reflecting back on, 'My body used to do this or used to do that,' it's Step 1 again, head into the offseason, come back strong next year."
Senga elaborated on what he meant by his body changing.
"When you get injured and after you come back from injury, you're not the exact same as you were before -- that's just what that means," Senga said.
Injuries limited Senga to one start in 2024. He went 12-7 with a 2.98 ERA in 2023, his first season with the Mets.
"For example, last year, where I kind of ended the season off an injury, still kind of had to do a similar thing," he said. "But if I can make the most of the time that I have in the offseason, I can come back strong."
Senga enters the fourth season of a five-year contract that he signed in December 2022.
"That latter half of the season, it was disappointing that I wasn't able to perform out there," Senga said. "Ultimately, the decision came down to we think that somebody else pitching instead of me is going to help the team win. So, that's what it kind of comes down to."
The Ottawa Senators improved their preseason record to 2–1 on Sunday afternoon with a 2–0 victory over a New Jersey Devils split-squad at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City.
With the game still scoreless, the breakthrough finally came on a Sens power play with 4:26 left in regulation. Tim Stützle carried the puck to the high slot before losing it on a poke check, but the puck behaved like a perfect drop pass, right onto the stick of rookie Stephen Halliday.
Halliday one-timed a high snap shot over the left shoulder of Devils goaltender Georgi Romanov. For Stutzle, it was a spot of good luck in a game where he missed on a penalty shot and also rang one off the iron from in close.
For the second straight game, Ottawa faced an opponent icing what amounted to a “B” lineup. Most of the Devils' opening night lineup remained in Newark, where they fell 3–2 in a shootout to the Washington Capitals. Still, the Senators made the most of the opportunity, taking control late and closing out a tidy win.
Free-agent signing Olle Lycksell, the former Philadelphia Flyer, added insurance less than three minutes later. After a careless New Jersey drop pass at the blue line, Lycksell poked the puck away from defenseman Calen Addison, then skated in alone and slid the puck into an empty net to secure the win.
Goaltender Linus Ullmark was rarely tested but sharp when needed, turning aside all 14 shots he faced for his first shutout of the preseason. It was a welcome bounce-back after he allowed three goals in Ottawa’s exhibition opener.
On special teams, the Senators went 1-for-3 with the man advantage and were perfect on three penalty kills. Romanov was the busier of the two goaltenders, stopping 30 shots to keep the Devils in it until the late stages. That included a penalty shot where he didn't buy any of Stutzle's fancy stickhandling, turning him away effortlessly.
Both Halliday and Lycksell strengthened their cases for roster spots in Ottawa, particularly with current injuries to Drake Batherson and Lars Eller. Their availability for opening night remains possible but uncertain, leaving even more room for competition on the forward lines.
The Senators will continue their Quebec City showcase on Tuesday night, when they host the Montreal Canadiens at the Videotron Centre. The game might serve as a measuring stick as to whether winning over fans in Quebec City is truly possible, or if Montreal, despite the heated rivalry from long ago, has already taken the territory over.
One personal note before we start dispensing information: Mets fans deserved better this year. You gave so much of yourselves.
Steve Cohen asked you to show up, and you did. You were loud. Your energy rocked Citi Field nearly every night. You made Queens the center of New York baseball, even as the collapse worsened. It’s such a waste that the team didn’t give you a playoff run.
David Wright once told me that while the 2007 Mets choked, the 2008 Mets were just not quite good enough, especially in the bullpen once Billy Wagner went down. This year felt far more like ‘08 than ‘07. The Mets were short on pitching and defense, period. There isn’t a stat for choking on Baseball Savant, so my point isn’t provable — but I didn’t see a lot of what looked like a choke job. I saw guys playing hard and going about their business (full disclosure, I wasn’t in Miami).
In the end, the team simply failed to prevent runs well enough. They didn’t have enough pitching, or even close. And they might have squeaked into the postseason with better defensive personnel.
So how will that improve?
On the pitching side, don’t be surprised if the Mets are aggressive off this debacle in trying to acquire an ace.
David Stearns does not believe in using free agency to overpay top starting pitchers. But what if Paul Skenes or Sandy Alcantara can be pried from their teams? If there is a way to land one of those two without trading Nolan McLean, why wouldn’t the Mets be aggressive?
Stearns will also need to reflect on the flawed process that led to wasting money on Frankie Montas. It’s easy from my seat to cherry-pick moves that did not work, but this one stuck out as a possible example of weighing data over an overwhelming human argument against the player.
Stearns wants to be great here, running the team he has loved since childhood. He is intelligent and ambitious enough to take a long look at how he and his group arrived at certain decisions that smart folks around the industry — not just the closed-minded haters — didn’t understand.
The Mets’ young pitching depth continues to be a reason for significant optimism regarding next year’s team.
As for the defense, that will improve over the years that Stearns is running the Mets. Look at the versatile and athletic Milwaukee Brewers. Stearns mostly inherited this position player group. He will gradually bring in better defenders.
Will the manager survive?
According to sources with direct knowledge, the Mets have no plans to fire Carlos Mendoza. A change would require a series of events that was not at all in motion as the Mets finished off their collapse on Sunday evening.
You should, however, expect notable and perhaps widespread changes to the coaching staff. This feels like the biggest news to watch in the immediate aftermath.
What will happen with Pete Alonso, Edwin Diaz and other stars?
It is entirely possible that both stars with opt outs played their final game at a Met on Sunday. These situations could go either way.
Obviously, there are Mets officials who would make an internal case to spread their money around on players other than a thirty-something first baseman and closer. Buckle up for more Alonso free agent uncertainty.
And would the Mets go so far as to explore a trade market for stalwarts Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo? You can rest assured that the team’s leadership will reflect as deeply as possible on how to keep the Mets pointed in the right direction.
With the Toronto Blue Jays winning the AL East title, New York (94-68) earned the top wild-card spot and will host the Boston Red Sox (89-73) in the AL Wild Card Series. All games will be played at Yankee Stadium.
Game 1 of the best-of-three set will be on Tuesday, September 30 at 6:08 p.m. on ESPN.
Game 2 will be on Wednesday, October 1 (time TBD) and, if needed, Game 3 will be on Thursday, October 2.
New York and Boston are tied 12-12 in all-time postseason matchups, with the Red Sox winning the past three playoff series between the bitter rivals (2004 ALCS, 2018 ALDS, and 2021 Wild Card Game).
The Yankees last postseason series win over the Red Sox came in the 2003 ALCS.
"It's hard to describe," Mendoza said. "I just got done addressing the team and there's no word to describe what we're going through. It's pain, it's frustration — you name it. Came in with a lot of expectations and here we are, going home.
"Not only we fell short, we didn't even get into October. And this is a team that is built not only to get to October but to play deep into October. And again — pissed, sad, frustrated, you name it."
The Cincinnati Reds' 4-2 loss Sunday at the Milwaukee Brewers meant that, with a win, the Mets (83-79) could have still found a way in. However, Mendoza's team did not do itself any favors while getting blanked by Miami (79-83).
"That's a question that we're going to have to answer here because, the whole year, I kept saying, 'We've got the talent, we've got the talent,' and here we are — we're going home," Mendoza said of why the Mets' talent could not get the results.
"I take responsibility. I'm the manager. It starts with me, and I've got to take a long look here — how I need to get better. That was a message to the whole team as well. This is unacceptable."
Mendoza, 45, led the 2024 Mets to an 89-73 record as the third wild card and reached last year's NLCS in his first year as New York's manager. He was asked if he had "any concerns at all about" his "own future, potentially, in the organization." SNY MLB Insider Andy Martino reported Sunday after the Mets' loss that the team has "absolutely no plans" to fire him.
"Since Day 1, when you're in this chair, you're on the hot seat — as simple as that," Mendoza said. "When you're managing a team that has a lot of expectations and you go home, questions like this are going to come up and that's part of it. That's it. I'm responsible, and I have to be better — as simple as that."
Barcelona secured a 2-1 comeback win against Real Sociedad on Sunday that sent them top of the La Liga standings after they turned the match around with goals from Jules Koundé and Robert Lewandowski either side of half-time.
Barcelona’s sixth win in seven matches moved the champions on to 19 points, one point above Real Madrid, as Real Sociedad remained on five points after their fourth defeat of the campaign.
