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.
New York had the incentive of knowing the Cincinnati Reds were losing in Milwaukee, and then lost to the Brewers, meaning they could earn the third wild-card spot by winning their game.
Yet they went quietly, finishing the season as the only team in the majors that lost every game in which it was trailing after eight innings.
Here are the takeaways...
-- The Marlins gave the Mets plenty of opportunities, allowing seven walks, in addition to five hits, but Carlos Mendoza’s team went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, a fitting ending of sorts for a team that was so inconsistent offensively all season, especially in RISP situations.
Their last gasp came in the eighth inning when they put runners at first and second with two outs against reliever Calvin Faucher, as both Jeff McNeil and Francisco Alvarez struck out chasing pitches out of the strike zone.
In Alvarez’s case, on a 3-2 pitch he chased a slider outside that would have been ball four, loading the bases. He then snapped his bat in half over his knee in anger.
Marlins starter Edward Cabrera held the Mets to two hits over five innings, but also walked five hitters.
-- The Mets’ pitching plan became clear early when Mendoza pulled Sean Manaea in the second inning, after two walks put runners on first and second with two outs. He brought in Huascar Brazoban, who got out of the inning, and from there he tried to piece nine innings together by his high-leverage relievers in the early innings.
Brazoban and Brooks Raley got the game through three innings with the game scoreless, but the plan -- and the game -- unraveled in the fourth inning.
The two primary culprits were Ryne Stanek and Tyler Rogers. With a runner on first, Stanek paid for hanging a couple of sliders that Eric Wagaman and Brian Navarreto hit to the wall in left-center for RBI doubles to give the Marlins a 2-0 lead.
Rogers then came in and gave up two hard-hit balls, a triple to left-center by No. 9 hitter Javier Sanoja and a line single to center by Xavier Edwards for a 4-0 lead.
-- Doing anything to keep the game close, Mendoza went to Edwin Diaz in the fifth inning, and the Mets’ closer delivered two scoreless innings as the game stayed at 4-0.
Ryan Helsley and then Gregory Soto each pitched a scoreless inning.
-- The Mets had their best chance in the fifth inning. Trailing 4-0, they loaded the bases against Cabrera on three walks, to Ronny Mauricio, Francisco Lindor, and Juan Soto.
With two outs, Pete Alonso hit a laser toward left-center at 115.9 mph off the bat. At that exit velocity, and launch angle, the expected batting average on such a ball was .780. Yet, the speedy left fielder Sanoja sprinted to his left and made the catch on the run, as Alonso stopped in the first base line and stared, seemingly in disbelief.
Two innings earlier, with the game still scoreless, the Mets had another opportunity when Tyrone Taylor reached on an infield single to deep short, and Lindor walked.
With one out, Soto hit a ground ball up the middle, and with shortstop Otto Lopez playing him that way, it turned into an easy 6-6-3 double play to end the inning.
Game MVP: Edward Cabrera
The Marlins’ right-hander shut down the Mets over the first five innings, giving his team time to build a 4-0 lead that held up.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw waves his cap as he leaves during the sixth inning against the Seattle Mariners on Sunday. (John Froschauer / Associated Press)
It was one last batter. One last strikeout. One last ovation for a future Hall of Famer.
And it ended, fittingly, on a helplessly empty swing.
In the top of the sixth inning on Sunday afternoon, in the final regular-season outing of his illustrious 18-year career, Clayton Kershaw snapped off a trademark slider that ducked below the zone. Eugenio Suárez waved at it for a strikeout like so many countless others before him.
With that, Kershaw had his seventh strikeout of the day and the 3,052nd of his career. He had completed 5 ⅓ scoreless innings, lowering his career ERA to 2.53 — the best among any starting pitcher with 1,000 career innings in the live ball era (since 1920).
In the dugout, manager Dave Roberts motioned to fellow veteran Freddie Freeman, sending the first baseman out to the mound to remove Kershaw from his last career start.
When he got there, the two exchanged an embrace, Kershaw hugged the rest of his infield teammates, and then he acknowledged a cheering T-Mobile Park crowd as he walked back to the dugout.
He donned his cap, waved his arm and disappeared down the stairs — for perhaps the very last time.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw embraces his teammates as he gets lifted from Sunday's game against the Seattle Mariners. (John Froschauer / Associated Press)
If Kershaw is to take the mound again before retirement this winter, the Dodgers will have to advance through the first round of the playoffs.
Ahead of his scoreless 5 ⅓ inning start in the Dodgers’ 6-1 win against the Seattle Mariners in Sunday’s regular-season finale, Roberts said Kershaw would not be on the team’s roster for next week’s best-of-three wild card series against the Cincinnati Reds.
The decision isn’t shocking. Kershaw was not going to feature in the starting rotation for the series. And though he could have been an option in the bullpen, the Dodgers already have an abundance of left-handed relievers.
Thus, the Dodgers (who finished the season 93-69) will have to reach at least the National League Division Series for Kershaw to pitch in a major league game again. Roberts noted that, if the team does advance, Kershaw could be an option in any capacity.
“You just don’t know how things are gonna play out,” Roberts said. “I can see him starting a game. I can see him coming in for a short burst. I can see him in long relief. I can see him in a lot of ways. I don’t think anyone can predict how that’s gonna play out. We gotta get through the wild card series, and see who’s standing after that.”
If this is the end of the line for Kershaw, he is going out on his own terms.
After being limited by injuries for much of the past three seasons — including missing all of last year’s World Series run with toe and knee injuries that ultimately required offseason surgery — the 37-year-old decided to return to the Dodgers this season for one last crack at a championship chase.
He wound up turning in one of his most impactful performances.
Though Kershaw’s 11-2 record and 3.36 ERA are no career highs, his ability to consistently produce over 23 outings this season (including a ninth-inning appearance as a reliever last week) proved to be invaluable for the Dodgers. He was a steady veteran presence early in the year, when the team was battling a wave of rotation injuries. He was a losing-skid stopper on multiple occasions over the second half, when the team nearly squandered a division lead that once was nine games.
“I don’t think we’d have won the division,” Roberts said, when asked where the team would have been without Kershaw this season.
“He delivered 10 times over for us.”
Roberts acknowledged that Kershaw exceeded all of his expectations for the aging pitcher this season. He relished watching the all-time Dodgers icon write one last memorable chapter to his legendary, record-setting MLB career.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw and catcher Ben Rortvedt, center left, walk to the dugout after working the fifth inning against the Seattle Mariners. (John Froschauer / Associated Press)
“He doesn’t want handouts, he doesn’t want freebies, he doesn’t want to be a token,” Roberts said. “He was a big part of what we accomplished this year.”
And, if the Dodgers can get through this week’s wild-card series, he still might be at some point in the playoffs as well.
Ohtani sets career, club HR mark
A year after breaking the Dodgers’ single-season home run record with a career-high 54 long balls last season, Shohei Ohtani reset the high mark once again Sunday.
After two-run home runs from Hyeseong Kim and Freeman early in the game, Ohtani extended the Dodgers' lead with a solo blast to center field in the seventh. It was his 55th homer of the year, leaving him one shy of Kyle Schwarber for most in the NL.
Reds outfielder Gavin Lux celebrates after hitting a double against the Dodgers in a game at Dodger Stadium last month. (Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he would be scoreboard watching on Sunday afternoon.
But he insisted he didn’t care how things played out.
His team, of course, had already been locked in as the National League’s No. 3 seed, set to host a best-of-three wild card series starting Tuesday.
What wasn’t clear until the end of play on Sunday, however, was whether the Dodgers would be facing the Cincinnati Reds or New York Mets to open the postseason.
“I honestly don’t really care, I really don’t,” Roberts said. “I think the way we’re playing right now, it doesn’t matter who we play.”
In a photo finish for the NL’s final wild card berth, all the Reds needed was a win against the Milwaukee Brewers, or a Mets loss. The Mets needed a win and a Cincinnati defeat.
Turned out, the Reds got a Mets loss as the Marlins knocked off the Mets, 4-0, in Miami after Cincinnati dropped its finale to the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-2.
Thus, it will be the Reds coming to Chavez Ravine this week.
Here are nine things to know about the Reds ahead of Game 1 at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday at 6:08 p.m. (ESPN):
Tito magic
On Sept. 5, the Reds appeared left for dead. They were a game under .500. They were trailing the New York Mets by six games for the final NL wild card spot. They had two other teams to catapult in the standings.
But then, they reeled off 13 wins in their next 21 games, including an 8-3 run to end the year. They clinched a playoff spot on the final day of the season, their first in a full campaign since 2013.
And they did it, first and foremost, by following the lead of their veteran manager.
At 66 years old, two-time World Series champion and three-time manager of the year Terry Francona came out of what appeared to be his managerial retirement to take another crack at contention with upstart Cincinnati.
His first season wasn’t easy, with a young pitching staff and a patchwork offense struggling to find consistency for much of the year. But over the last month, the Reds hit their stride while the Mets quickly collapsed. Now, Francona is back in the postseason for the 12th time in his 24-year career. His 44 career playoff wins are seventh-most all-time, one spot behind Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
Electric Elly
The Reds do not have an overpowering offense. They rank just 15th in scoring, 20th in batting average and 21st in home runs and slugging percentage. They have just two qualified batters with an above-league-average mark in OPS+.
One of them, however, is Elly De La Cruz.
And even at just 23 years old, he has become the biggest threat in their lineup.
In just his third MLB, De La Cruz earned his second All-Star selection while batting .264 with 21 home runs, 85 RBIs, a .774 OPS, and 37 stolen bases. In each of the last four categories, he leads the team.
A 6-foot-5, 200-pound switch-hitter, De La Cruz is prone to strikeouts (he has 178 this season) and is not hitting the ball as hard as he did last year. But he is also one of the game’s most intriguing and exciting up-and-coming talents, and will now get his first crack on a postseason stage.
Now in his sixth MLB season, Lux has still not realized the top-prospect potential he came up with in Los Angeles a half-decade ago. While he has hit a team-best .269 during his first season in Cincinnati, he has just five home runs, a .725 OPS, and a negative mark in wins-above-replacement according to Baseball Reference.
What Lux has provided to his new club, however, is some World Series-winning experience. He has gone from a young role player on the Dodgers, to something of a veteran leader with the Reds.
Lux, whom the Dodgers traded away after signing Hyeseong Kim in January, has served in a utility role this year, getting starts at second base, left field and as the designated hitter. He didn’t have a great postseason with the Dodgers last year, when he hit just .176 during the team’s title run. But now, he has a chance to help upset the team that dealt him coming into the season.
Hunter Greene homecoming
Cincinnati Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene works against the Dodgers in a game last month at Dodger Stadium. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Associated Press)
Eight years ago, the Reds drafted right-handed pitcher Hunter Greene second overall out of Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks.
Now, after being a key part of their rebuild, the 25-year-old will get the chance to make his postseason debut at Dodger Stadium.
The strength of the Reds is their starting rotation, which ranks seventh in the majors in ERA this season and fourth during their surge since Sept. 6. Greene has been a key piece of the puzzle, going 7-4 with a 2.76 ERA and 132 strikeouts in 19 starts despite missing more than two months in the middle of the year with a groin strain.
Greene is one of the hardest-throwing starters in the majors, with a fastball that averages 99.5 mph and a slider that clocks in at almost 90 mph. He’s one of the sport’s best at getting chase, whiff and strikeouts, ranking fifth among pitchers with 100 innings with a 31.4% K-rate.
Greene will also be lined up for a potential Game 1 start, having not pitched since Wednesday. The start before that was perhaps the best of his career: A one-hit, nine-strikeout shutout of the Chicago Cubs on Sept. 18.
The rest of the rotation
Greene might be the most gifted Reds’ starter, but others in their rotation have been even more productive this season.
Andrew Abbott, a 26-year-old left-hander who excels at limiting hard contact, is 9-7 with a 2.80 ERA in 28 starts. Nick Lodolo, another left-hander with an excellent curveball/changeup combination, is 9-8 with a 3.30 ERA, also in 28 starts.
The team’s wins and strikeout leader is Brady Singer, a lengthy 6-foot-5 right-hander who went 14-11 with a 3.95 ERA. Zack Littell is the other member of the Cincinnati rotation, though the trade deadline acquisition hasn’t been as good with the Reds (4.39 ERA) as he was with the Tampa Bay Rays earlier this season (3.58 ERA).
The real question for next week is which of those arms are available. Abbott and Singer pitched on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, to help the Reds clinch their playoff berth. Lodolo and Littell last threw the two days before that.
Red(s)-hot closer
Emilio Pagán was no stranger to the ninth inning before this year, having recorded 33 saves in his first eight MLB campaigns.
But this year, the veteran righty has been among the most dependable closers in the majors, as one of just six relievers with at least 30 saves (he has 31) and a sub-3.00 ERA (his is 2.93).
With his fastball/splitter/cutter mix, Pagán has been especially good down the stretch, having converted five consecutive save opportunities and thrown nine consecutive scoreless innings since Sept. 8.
The Reds’ talent might pale in comparison to the Dodgers at most spots on the roster. But the reliability of their closer is one place where they have a clear edge.
Ohtani killers?
Cincinnati Reds pitcher Graham Ashcraft reacts after striking out Pittsburgh Pirates' Joey Bart during a game on Thursday. (Jeff Dean / Associated Press)
The Reds finished the season with just one left-handed pitcher, Brent Suter, in their bullpen.
But when it comes to matching up with Shohei Ohtani, they do have a couple righties with successful personal histories against him.
Set-up man Graham Ashcraft and multi-inning swingman Nick Martinez have both faced Ohtani 10 times in their careers. The soon-to-be four-time MVP is 0-for-nine in both matchups, having drawn only one walk against each.
For reference: There are only seven other pitchers against whom Ohtani is at least 0-for-nine in his career (one of them, coincidentally, is a current teammate: Clayton Kershaw).
A deep bullpen
The Reds have two other relievers to know — and they might be the best two on the team.
Right-hander Tony Santillan not only led the majors with 80 appearances this season, but did so while posting a 2.44 ERA and allowing hitters to bat only .200 against him.
Another right-hander, 24-year-old Connor Phillips, has only been a full-time fixture on the Reds’ big-league roster since mid-August. But in that time, he has allowed only three runs in 18 ⅔ innings while striking out 26 batters and giving up five total hits.
Wild-card wackiness
The Reds will be the lower-seeded underdog in next week’s series. But recent history suggests that could work to their benefit.
In three postseasons since MLB expanded its playoff field in 2022, road teams have won in eight of the 12 best-of-three wild card series — a reminder that with such a small sample size, anything is possible in the crapshoot of October.
This year will be the Dodgers’ first time playing in the new wild card round, after they secured byes to the division series in each of the past three seasons.
Angels owner Arte Moreno, on the field before a home game in 2023, has seen his team go through 10 consecutive losing seasons. (Ashley Landis / Associated Press)
The standings spoke for themselves, but the Angels’ management wanted you to know they had comprehended the lesson.
“Obviously, we’re not doing it the right way,” team president John Carpino told reporters five years ago. “We’re not winning games. So something is not right in our organization.”
That was after the 2020 season, and after five consecutive losing seasons. The Angels since have endured another five consecutive losing seasons.
The general managers have changed, and so have the managers. The only constants in this run: Carpino and owner Arte Moreno.
I wanted to ask both men to share with fans what the Angels have determined about what was not right in their organization and how they have been going about trying to fix it. Neither man was available for an interview, a team spokesman said.
The standings continue to speak for themselves. The Angels finished in last place last season, with the worst record in team history. They sank into last place again this season, the first time in 50 years the Angels finished in last place in consecutive years.
Moreno, 79, explored selling the team three years ago but is not expected to do so this winter, according to people familiar with his thinking but not authorized to speak publicly.
He might be better served, some of those people said, to wait out the collective bargaining negotiations set to start next year and see if owners can push through a salary cap, which league executives believe would increase franchise values — that is, sale prices.
When Carpino spoke about “something is not right in our organization,” he did so in discussing the dismissal of Billy Eppler as general manager. In Eppler’s five years, the Angels posted a .469 winning percentage and finished a combined 110 games out of first place.
“It was a business decision,” Carpino said of Eppler’s firing. “And we’re in the business of winning baseball games, and we just didn’t win enough over the five-year period.”
In the five years under current general manager Perry Minasian, the Angels have posted a .442 winning percentage and finished a combined 111 games out of first place.
Moreno is expected to determine this week whether to retain Minasian and manager Ron Washington, who underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery in June but would like to return. Minasian has one guaranteed year and an option year left in his contract. Washington, 73, has an option that the Angels had leaned toward picking up before he fell ill and went on medical leave.
Angeles general manager Perry Minasian, right, introduces Angels new manager Ron Washington, left, during a news conference at Angel Stadium in Nov. 2023. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
It is unlikely Moreno could lure an established general manager to replace Minasian or a current manager to replace Washington. The likes of Andrew Friedman and Dave Dombrowski have declined overtures in past years from the Angels, who never have hired a president of baseball operations to work in concert with a general manager. (Minasian’s brother, Zack, is the San Francisco Giants’ general manager, working under president of baseball operations Buster Posey.)
The Angels absolutely need to tighten up their fundamentals, including sloppy defense and baserunning that has alarmed people who advise Moreno. That is Washington’s calling card. The Angels went 36-38 under Washington and 36-52 under interim manager Ray Montgomery.
The other finalist Moreno selected when he hired Washington, Buck Showalter, is available. So is longtime Orange County resident Skip Schumaker, the 2023 National League manager of the year for the Miami Marlins.
Torii Hunter, the former Angels star and current special assistant, is interested in managing and could command a clubhouse with the kind of relentless positivity Dave Roberts brings to the Dodgers. Darin Erstad, another former Angels star, has experience teaching young players as a college coach and would be a stickler for fundamentals and accountability. Albert Pujols would like to manage; Moreno already employs him under a personal services contract.
But this all comes down to players, of course. For two years now, the Angels have talked about nurturing a quality core of young players while running out the clock on Anthony Rendon’s $245-million contract, with the idea that Moreno might then reopen his checkbook to add the final free-agent pieces to a budding contender. Rendon’s contract runs out next year.
Yet the Angels so far have developed just two young players who would unmistakably fit onto a championship roster: shortstop Zach Neto and pitcher José Soriano.
Outfielder Jo Adell could, if his 37-homer season — his first career season as a league-average hitter — is for real. Pitcher Reid Detmers could, at least as a reliever.
First baseman Nolan Schanuel and center fielder Bryce Teodosio could, if the Angels can find enough big bats to keep them in the lower half of the lineup. Catcher Logan O’Hoppe could, if his offensive and defensive regression can be corrected. Second baseman Christian Moore could, if his bat is as advertised.
That’s a lot of ifs, and even then the Angels still would have holes at third base, in the outfield, and throughout their pitching staff.
The Angels’ hitters this year led the majors in strikeouts and ranked in the bottom three in on-base percentage. The Angels’ pitchers had the highest earned-run average in the American League — as a starting corps, as a relief corps, and as a staff as a whole. The Angels’ defense, by one measure, was the worst in the AL.
The Angels can say they won nine more games this season than last — mostly thanks to better health. Five pitchers each started more than 20 games for the Angels this season; two did last season. Even still, the team’s run differential was the worst in the AL.
National analysts continue to rank their farm system as one of baseball’s thinnest; the Angels scoff and say they like their prospects. In July, however, they demoted their No. 5 starter to the minors without a minor league starter ready to fill in.
In an 11-day span, they twice used an infielder throwing 34 mph lobs to mop up a major league game, then ran out of pitchers in a triple-A game and used an infielder in a save situation (and lost the game). The lineups in recent weeks too often resembled those used on split-squad days in spring training.
I asked a high-ranking National League official whether the responsibility for persistently weak depth should properly fall upon Minasian. Sure, the official said, but then he reminded me that bidding wars are not always at the major league level, for millions of dollars. The best minor league free agents look for the best deal too, and that often is not found in Anaheim.
That is really the issue. The Angels are a major-market team operating for now as a mid-market team.
Remember last winter, when the Athletics lured pitcher Luis Severino to Sacramento for $67 million and everyone in baseball pointed out the A’s never had signed anyone for that much money?
Under Minasian, you know how many players Moreno has signed for that much money? Zero. Moreno understandably shied away from the big bucks after the Rendon and Josh Hamilton disasters, but Minasian’s record contract is $63 million, for pitcher Yusei Kikuchi.
The Angels’ major league player payroll, while in the $200-million range, ranks among the middle third of teams — and a third of that is payable to Rendon and Mike Trout. Their attendance, up slightly from last year but down about 25% from its peak, ranks among the middle third of teams. Their television revenue is down significantly from last year, after the parent company of what was then called Bally Sports emerged from bankruptcy.
All of that is why it is important for fans to hear from Moreno and Carpino what they determined was not right in their organization and how they have been going about trying to fix it. It is not evident in the standings, or to the fans deciding whether to buy tickets, or to pay to watch from home.
And then fans can decide whether to continue to appreciate affordable baseball, staffed by friendly people, in aging but comfortable Angel Stadium, or instead to enjoy championship-caliber baseball at Dodger Stadium or Petco Park.
The 2025 Mets' playoff hopes have officially ended -- along with their season.
A year that started with such high expectations coming off an NLCS appearance and big offseason ends in massive disappointment, as Sunday's 4-0 loss to the Miami Marlins officially sends the club home early.
If New York had won -- with the Cincinnati Reds (83-79) losing their final game of the season, 4-2, at the Milwaukee Brewers (97-65) -- the team would've been in.
It looked as if the Mets (83-79) were going to soar their way to the postseason after getting off to an MLB-best 45-24 start.
The only thing left to question was whether they'd win the NL East or make it in as a wild card.
However, things slowly but surely took a turn for the worse in mid-June, as Carlos Mendoza's squad went on to post a bottom-three record in baseball the rest of the way, which ultimately left it short.
Despite the ups and downs of the 2025 campaign, the Mets entered the final weekend of the regular season in control of their playoff destiny. However, Friday's 6-2 loss to the Marlins allowed the Reds to pull even in the wild-card standings with Cincinnati holding the tiebreaker.
There's plenty of finger-pointing to go around for the reasoning behind this dip.
The MLB-best rotation took a massive decline as they lost Griffin Canning, Frankie Montas, and Tylor Megill to injuries, Clay Holmes hit his career-high in innings, David Peterson was unable to maintain his All-Star form, and both Kodai Senga and Sean Manaea struggled upon returning from the IL.
Youngsters Nolan McLean, Brandon Sproat, and Jonah Tong provided a late-season boost, but it wasn't enough.
The offense certainly has to shoulder some of the blame as well -- they were an extremely inconsistent group despite receiving another phenomenal showing from their sluggers at the top -- Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, Pete Alonso, and Brandon Nimmo, among others.
This lineup showed the ability to do damage against anyone, but it also endured way too many extended stretches where it was among the most anemic in the league -- particularly during their numerous large skids.
Defensively, they also made way too many physical and mental errors, which quickly cost them.
And even the trade deadline reinforcements came around to backfire on David Stearns.Cedric Mullins never found his footing in the Big Apple, Ryan Helsley was a nightmare before settling into a groove, and Gregory Soto was inconsistent down the stretch.
In the end, it's just an unfortunate result for a $340 million team that got off to a terrific start.
The Yankees' 3-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles in Sunday's regular-season finale puts New York into the playoffs on a high note.
Takeaways
How does Luis Gil factor into the Yankees' playoff rotation? The right-hander's mixed outing -- two runs (back-to-back fourth-inning homers) on three hits while striking out two and walking two in five innings -- leaves the door open to whom the third starter should be with rookie Cam Schlittler trending behind veterans Max Fried and Carlos Rodón.
Gil (4-1, 3.32 ERA) threw 45 strikes on 79 pitches and, while deserving of more run support, could not hold the Yankees' 1-0 lead after first baseman Ben Rice's first-inning solo shot. While the Toronto Blue Jays' pending win over the Tampa Bay Rays (they led 13-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning when this was published) left the Yankees on the outside looking in at the AL East, Gil had a chance to make a statement and did not.
Rice's second home run -- a go-ahead solo shot to lead off the eighth inning -- put the Yankees ahead, 3-2, and capped a strong first full regular season for the 26-year-old. After logging 50 games last year, he ended his 2025 campaign slashing .255/.337/.499 with 26 home runs and 65 RBI in 138 appearances.
Desigated hitterGiancarlo Stanton is heating up at the right time. The veteran slugger torched the Orioles (75-86) this weekend for five hits (three home runs) and seven RBI, capped by Sunday's fourth-inning RBI single to tied the game at 2-2. Stanton, 35, winds down Year 8 as a Yankee while slashing .273/.350/.594 with 24 home runs and 66 RBI in 77 games. He has turned up his intensity in the postseason, and the end of the regular season appears to be a teaser for that.
The Yankees, pending the finish of the Blue Jays' game against the Rays, are set to be in the AL Wild Card against the Boston Red Sox with Tuesday's best-of-three series opener.
#6 Oregon stuns #3 Penn State in Happy Valley. #17 Alabama goes to Athens and upsets #5 Georgia. Virginia shocks #8 Florida State. A full Week 5 recap.
The Buffalo Sabres bounce back from a 5-2 loss to the Red Wings in Detroit on Thursday with their own 5-2 win over the Wings at KeyBank Center on Saturday afternoon. Tage Thompson scored a pair of goals in the victory, with Josh Norris, Rasmus Dahlin, and rookie Radim Mrtka adding singles. Alex Lyon went all the way for the Sabres, making 26 saves in the contest.
Just after the game, the club announced a massive 24-player roster cut, demoting 15 players to AHL Rochester Americans; forwards Riley Fiddler-Schultz, Konsta Helenius, Tyler Kopff, Olivier Nadeau, Viktor Neuchev, Isak Rosen and Anton Wahlberg, defensemen Isaac Belliveau, Vsevolod Komarov, Zach Metsa, Nikita Novikov, and Jack Rathbone, and goaltenders Topias Leinonen, Devon Levi and Scott Ratzlaff.
Rathbone was placed on waivers and cleared on Sunday, enabling him to be sent to the Amerks, as were nine players on AHL contracts: forwards Matteo Costantini, Jagger Joshua, Trevor Kuntar, Redmond Savage, Graham Slaggert, Brendan Warren, and defensemen Aiden Fulp, Noah Laaouan, and Peter Tischke.
Helenius, 19, played well during the exhibition slate for the Sabres, but will benefit from more AHL experience and could be an option for an NHL call-up later in the season if he continues to progress. Rosen will be embarking on his fourth AHL campaign after leading the Amerks in scoring last season, while Levi (who was an AHL All-Star but went 2-7-0 in nine games with Buffalo last season) seems destined to play another year in Rochester, with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen healthy, and veterans Alex Lyon and Alexandar Georgiev ahead of him on the depth chart.
David Moyes has said he takes no comfort from the turmoil at West Ham with his former club on to their third manager since he departed 16 months ago.
Moyes delivered West Ham’s first trophy for 43 years in the 2023 Europa Conference League only for many supporters to demand a change of manager and more adventurous style throughout the following season. He admits that 2024 was probably the right time to leave from his perspective too.
It was decided by Detroit Red Wings general manager that Lucas Raymond, whom he drafted with the fourth overall pick in 2020, is a foundational building block.
To that end, he re-signed Raymond to an eight-year contract extension just over one year ago, ensuring Raymond would be wearing the Winged Wheel all throughout the prime of his NHL career.
Raymond responded in the first season of his new contract by establishing a new career-high 80 points in 82 games played, and as far as the Red Wings are concerned, the sky is the limit.
If Raymond's words last week are any indication of what Red Wings fans can expect from him this season, a new career-high in points could potentially be in the cards.
"I feel like I found my game faster than usual when you feel comfortable and up to speed out there," he said following Training Camp.
It wasn't long ago that Raymond himself was a rookie who's place in the forward lineup wasn't a sure thing when he began his inagural NHL Training Camp in September 2021. Not only did Raymond claim a roster spot, but he firmly put himself into the conversation for Rookie of the Year by tallying 23 goals with 34 assists.
The honor ultimately went to his teammate, Moritz Seider, who also began his NHL career at the same time Raymond did that season.
Raymond knows what some of the younger players who are trying to establish position in the Red Wings' system and thus far have made impacts in pre-season play, including Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, Carter Mazur, and Emmitt Finnie.
"I think a lot of guys coming up have had a really good Camp, it's fun to see," Raymond said of the numerous prospects who were present in Training Camp. "You see guys put their foot forward out there and try to make it as hard as possible for coaches and management."
Raymond also acknowledged that the skill of Detroit's younger players attempting to make the team have a motivating effect on the current players on the roster to up their own games.
"It's really exciting, and I think that just adds to it, the pressure coming from underneath and kind of puts a fire underneath everyone's ass a bit," Raymond said with a smile. "It's been fun."
Five years might not seem like a long time, but in the NHL, it can feel like a lifetime. For the Ottawa Senators, the difference between their 2020–21 opening night roster and the group projected to hit the ice to open the 2025–26 season is quite staggering. In fact, of the 19 players who dressed for that first game in January of 2021, only a small handful would have any shot at cracking today’s lineup.
When you stack the two rosters side by side, the transformation is impossible to ignore. Ottawa has gone from a patchwork rebuilding lineup to a team brimming with talent and high expectations.
Players Who Wouldn’t Get A Look Today
Of those 19 players from 2020–21, the majority would have little to no chance of making the current Senators roster. Names like Matt Murray, Nikita Zaitsev, Christian Wolanin, Derek Stepan, Cédric Paquette, Josh Brown, Artem Anisimov, Braydon Coburn, and Chris Tierney are reminders of a different era — one where Ottawa was barely treading water. It was hard to say which was more severe, the volatility of Sens' ownership or the sluggishness of their rebuild attempt.
Most of the players above have since retired (Stepan, Anisimov, Coburn), shifted overseas (Zaitsev, Paquette, Tierney), or are now clinging to bubble status between NHL and AHL (Murray, Wolanin, Brown, Watson). Simply put, they’re no longer near the standard set by Ottawa’s current core.
Players Who Might Have An Outside Chance
Two others, Erik Gudbranson (now in Columbus) and Evgenii Dadonov (in New Jersey), are still in the NHL, but neither would have an easy time carving out a spot in Ottawa’s lineup today. Back in 2020–21, they were relied on as everyday players. Now, they’d be depth options.
Players Who Were Good Enough, But Moved On
A few names from that opening night roster remain good NHL players, just not in Ottawa anymore. Nick Paul has found a long-term home in Tampa Bay, Connor Brown is still in the league as a two-way forward with New Jersey, and Josh Norris was traded to Buffalo back at the deadline. All three were quality players who would still be assets in Ottawa, but the page has been turned.
The Pillars
That leaves just four players from that night who are still here and thriving: Brady Tkachuk, Tim Stützle, Thomas Chabot, and Drake Batherson.
Tkachuk, now captain, has been the heartbeat of the franchise for most of the past five years. Stützle, still a teenager back in 2020–21, has blossomed into a superstar center. Chabot remains a solid puck-moving top-four defenseman, while Batherson continues to be a consistent offensive weapon. These are the four building blocks that carried Ottawa through the darkest days of the rebuild and into what they hope is the start of a sustained run of contention.
When you step back and see that only six of the 19 players from that opening night lineup in 2020–21 would realistically have a place in the current roster, it underscores just how much things have changed. It also explains why it took so long to return to contention.
This wasn’t just about waiting for prospects to develop — it was about clearing out and replacing nearly an entire roster.
