Worldwide Sports News

The San Diego Padres desperately needed to get back in the win column. Yes, they occupy the last Wild Card spot. Yes, they’re on a hot streak as one of the best second-half teams in baseball. And yet, it could all come to an end so quickly. The Friars struggled this week in a series loss to the New York Mets. They needed a win like the one they got Friday night.

Ty France got on the board quickly with a towering two-run shot in the first inning. Starter Randy Vásquez wouldn’t need that lead until the fourth inning. He pitched a perfect three frames before running into trouble in the fourth. Vásquez gave up two runs to tie the game before San Diego topped the Minnesota Twins with a four-run fifth inning. That would be enough as Vásquez pitched seven fantastic innings. The righty was in vintage form Friday night. His resurgence would be a massive development for San Diego.

This is another winnable series for the Friars. If they can finish the Twins off tonight and go for the sweep, it would be a huge sigh of relief for the Padres as well as the Friar Faithful. The offense will need to look like it did last night in order to do so, but that order isn’t nearly as tall as it used to be.

Taking the mound

Dean Kremer (MIN) v. Casey Mize (SD)

Kremer is a recent acquisition for the Twins. Minnesota recently traded for the right-hander’s services at the Deadline. Since joining the Twins, Kremer has looked decent. In his first two outings, he gave up just two runs across 12 innings pitched. But, in his most recent appearance, Kremer surrendered four runs over just 5 1/3 innings.

That may bode well for the Friars, as many in the lineup have faced him before. Though sparingly, most of the Padres have seen Kremer’s stuff well in the past. It’s unlikely that will change tonight, and it should give San Diego an edge against Minnesota.

It’s the battle of the Deadline deals with Mize on the other side of the bump. Since coming to San Diego, Mize has looked good in the brown and gold. After having just about the worst debut game ever (8 ER, 3.1 IP), the right-hander has since pitched incredibly for the Friars (2 ER, 12.0 IP). There’s no suggestion that won’t continue against Minnesota tonight.

The Twins have faced Mize before. The righty spent all of his career in the AL Central with the Detroit Tigers before coming to San Diego. That gives veteran players like Byron Buxton and Ryan Jeffers an edge against the righty. Buxton owns a .348 batting average and 1.087 OPS against Mize (23 at-bats).

Batter up!

The offense was pristine Friday night, with Fernando Tatis Jr. going 3-for-4. As a matter of fact, the top four batters in the order (Tatis, Luis Rengifo, Manny Machado and France) went a combined 8-for-13 with two walks. The rest of the lineup went 1-for-16 with two walks.

1. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
2. Luis Rengifo, LF
3. Manny Machado, 3B
4. Ty France, 1B
5. Jackson Merrill, CF
6. Luis Campusano, C
7. Gavin Sheets, DH
8. Xander Bogaerts, SS
9. Jake Cronenworth, 2B

Merrill has looked worse for wear lately, batting .080 across his last seven games with a blistering 13 strikeouts in 25 at-bats. The center fielder has just started to turn things around post All-Star break. Hopefully he can rediscover the groove he was in sooner rather than later.

Relief corps

Between Michael King’s gem in New York, the off day on Thursday and Vásquez twirling seven innings, the bullpen is well-rested in San Diego. Bradgley Rodriguez and Mason Miller covered the final two innings of the series opener, pitching two perfect frames. Miller struck out all three batters he faced.

That leaves Griffin Canning, Jeremiah Estrada, Kyle Hart, Yuki Matsui, Adrian Morejon and Wandy Peralta available out of the ‘pen for the Friars. Manager Craig Stammen has plenty of options to turn to once Mize exits the game, though Canning or Hart may be out first if Mize hits trouble early.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Arizona Diamondbacks fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

This week’s question was in regard to a – for now, theoretical – playoff series for the Diamondbacks. Who would we want to start Game 1 in the postseason for Arizona. Right now, there are a number of potential candidates. Brandon Pfaadt has been excellent since his return from Reno (save that last start in Boston!). Eduardo Rodriguez has been the team’s Most Valuable Pitcher overall, since the beginning of the year. And they should be getting reinforcements for the stretch run in a couple of weeks, in the form of Corbin Burnes. A former Cy Young winner should never be discounted, even if ring-rust is an obvious potential concern.

Here’s how you voted.

Brought to you by FanDuel

That was a little bit of a surprise. Fandom is nothing if not reactive: it’s what we do. Lose a game to the Red Sox and social media is full of “season over” comments. Pfaadt’s recent run of success has been so stellar, I was expecting him to be the top pick. However, the SnakePit has taken a somewhat longer term view. Rodriguez may not have been as spectacular as Pfaadt. But there’s probably a better chance of a reasonable outing. After last night, their average Game Scores for 2026 are almost identical: just three-tenths of one point separate them, with Pfaadt on 56.5 and Rodriguez on 56.2. But the latter’s quality start rate is 62%, compared to Brandon’s 46%.

Pfaadt has three starts in his fourteen, where he got an out in the sixth inning, and allowed one or two runs, but wasn’t able to finish the inning to record the QS. Rodriguez has two like that, but that is a much lower percentage of his 26 outings. Though in terms of average innings pitched per start, their numbers are again, very close. Rodriguez is a best on the team 6.0, with Pfaadt just behind at 5.9. The Boston outing was definitely a bit of a reality check, but it’s not as if Brandon was going to pitch to a 1.15 ERA forever. Fingers crossed he can bounce back on Tuesday against the Cubs.

Interesting to note that a double-digit percentage of voters opted to roll the dice on Corbin Burnes. I can see the appeal, and if he proves himself over the last few weeks of the season, there’s a definite possibility he will indeed get the call. He is scheduled to pitch in a camp game this Tuesday, and is expected to throw around 35 pitches. If all goes well, he can then start to ramp up, though it is still going to be significantly into September before he can be considered as a candidate for rejoining the roster. I’d say he’ll need at least three or four more rehab appearances beyond Tuesday, though I’m sure Corbin will be lobbying to make it as short as possible.

Texas Rangers lineup for August 22, 2026 against the Anaheim Angels: starting pitchers are Cody Bradford for the Rangers and Ryan Johnson for the Angels.

Texas will try to win another game today, and it would be nice if they’d score runs before the inning count gets into double digits.

The lineup:

Pederson — DH

Seager — SS

Langford — LF

Nimmo — RF

Duran — 3B

Carter — CF

Burger — 1B

Freeman — 2B

Jansen — C

6:05 p.m. Central start time. Rangers are -165 favorites.

The Nats actually mounted a rare 9th inning comeback last night, but it was not enough in the end. Now they will look to even the series here in Miami. The pitching has been decent enough lately but the injury stricken lineup has struggled. Hopefully they can put together a complete performance.

Usually when there is a righty starter on the mound the Nats load up with lefties, but not today. There are 5 righties in the lineup today. The struggling Dylan Crews is in the 2 spot. Andrew Pinckney and Jose Tena have been put back in the lineup for this one. So has Harry Ford, who will do the catching. Jake Irvin will look to string together a quality start.

The Marlins have two new faces at the bottom of the order. Javier Sanoja and Esteury Ruiz came off the bench yesterday but they will start today. Otherwise it is the same cast of characters as last night. Miami has their young ace Eury Perez on the mound. Perez has been pitching very well lately.

Game Info:

Stadium: loanDepot Park

Time: 4:10 PM EST

TV: Nationals.TV and FS1

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

The Nats showed some spirit last night, but the team is just a shadow of what it once was. They desperately need a good offensive performance but it will be tough with Perez on the mound. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats.

By almost all measures, the Yankees’ decision to roll the dice this past offseason and trade for lefty starter Ryan Weathers has worked out like gangbusters. A talented arm that was once the seventh overall pick in the MLB Draft, Weathers had never thrown more than 95 big-league innings in a season despite debuting at the beginning of the decade. But the Yankees knew that with a rotation as deep as theirs, they could slot him in the back, allow him to flourish with lower expectations, and see what happened.

Although Weathers got off to an uneven start, once the Yankees got to work with him a little more, he turned into quite the steady, productive arm to have in the third or fourth spot of a rotation. On the season, he had a 3.56 ERA and 118 ERA+, and it was a 2.56 ERA from the beginning of July onward. In fact, in the past month, no qualified starter had a better ERA than Weathers’ 0.85. That was, of course, unsustainable, but spoke to how tough Weathers could be to hit at his best. And this was all coming from a guy who was firmly behind Cam Schlittler, Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, and Carlos Rodón on the rotation depth chart.

Weathers has been key to the part of the Yankees that has carried them since Aaron Judge went down at the end of May. Their offense has often been paltry, but the pitching has firmly held up. Now, it must be tested again because the injury bug has finally come at last for Weathers. He left his start on Saturday afternoon against the Blue Jays, mid-at-bat in the fourth. Weathers had allowed two runs on eight hits (granted, some weak contact) with three K’s in 3.1 innings. Out came the trainer …

… and soon, out came the ominous report.

That is, in short, a damn shame. Imaging will reveal more, but the Yankees will no doubt play it carefully with Weathers.

In terms of immediate impact, the Yankees will need to fill Weathers’ spot in the rotation this coming week, particularly with a doubleheader on deck for next Saturday against Boston. Prospect Elmer Rodríguez has come up from Triple-A a few times in 2026 and could very well do so again. The doubleheader might create an opportunitity for spot starter Brendan Beck as well. Luis Gil is rehabbing as a reliever, so he would seem to be out of the equation.

Regardless, the Yankees are undoubtedly hoping these are all short-term solutions, as Fried—who just returned to the IL with another bone bruise in his left elbow—is already throwing in anticipation of a minimum IL stint. The soonest he could get back from the IL is the last series of August, though he’s probably more beholden to a throwing schedule than that. As far as Weathers goes, we’ll just have to see how serious the concern is on the elbow. If it’s Tommy John time, then see you in 2028. If it seems like he could still impact the team in 2026, perhaps it will be time to start using him in the bullpen in anticipation of a possible playoff role there (which was always possible given the rotation depth). That may be the best-case at this point.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Padres fans and fans across the country.

There has been plenty of discussion in recent days about the possibility of the San Diego Padres calling up their top prospect catcher Ethan Salas for the postseason push to close out the 2026 season. He has been drawing rave reviews since his promotion to Triple-A with the El Paso Chihuahuas.

In 17 games with the Chihuahuas, Salas has made 64 plate appearances and has recorded 23 hits, giving him a .359 average. Salas has three home runs, a triple, six doubles and nine walks. He has only struck out eight times and. Salas has also driven in 20 runs and scored 11 runs over that span. Salas is just 1-for-3 on stolen base attempts. His defense, which has always been what made him a valuable prospect, has continued to improve in the areas of pitch framing and throwing out runners, although he has allowed some passed balls.

The offensive performance of any prospect at the Triple-A level can sometimes be inflated due to the playing conditions in the Pacific Coast League, but that typically surrounds the power numbers and Salas has hit just three home runs. He has excelled at making contact and driving the ball. It is his offensive success with the Chihuahuas that has got media and fans thinking he might have success at the MLB level. Even Gaslamp Ball’s own Thomas Conroy published an article this week in which he made the case for why the Padres should bring Salas up to the major league roster.

The Gaslamp Reacts Survey poll question this week asked respondents what they thought about a possible promotion for the catching prospect and the majority think he should finish the season at Triple-A.

Not bringing Salas up to the majors might not be the exciting move, but it may be the more prudent move. In the event of a lockout after the CBA expires in December, the Padres organization could not communicate with Salas if he is on the 40-man roster and he would not be able to play in the minors. If there is a lockout and if it does extend into the season, it could be detrimental to Salas’ development. There is also the argument that San Diego should only add Salas if the intention is to play him. The stretch run of the season in which the Padres are fighting for a postseason berth may not be the best time for a 20-year-old catcher to make his MLB debut when you have two veteran catchers who have different strengths and skillsets already in place.

Salas’ time is coming, but the Friar Faithful do not think his time is now.

Brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.

The sun was out Saturday in The Bronx, but boy was it a dark day for the Yankees.

An afternoon that began with the revelation that Giancarlo Stanton had suffered a third calf strain of the year later transitioned to further bleakness, Ryan Weathers leaving the game with a trainer in the fourth inning.

Weathers threw a second-pitch sweeper to Toronto’s Myles Straw and immediately betrayed that something was wrong.

He looked awkward after the pitch and circled the mound as teammates called toward the Yankees’ dugout.

Manager Aaron Boone and a trainer approached, and after a short talk, Weathers exited with what the Yankees said was forearm discomfort. Weathers will get imaging done later today, the team announced.

The Yankees did not provide an immediate update on Weathers, who left trailing the Blue Jays 2-0 and who left enjoying what has been the best season of his career.

The lefty entered with a 3.56 ERA in 24 starts and pitching better as the season wore on.

The Yankees already are without the injured Max Fried, who threw a bullpen session Saturday.

Remaining in the rotation are Gerrit Cole, Cam Schlittler, Carlos Rodón and Will Warren.

The hits keep coming for the Yankees. 

New York has been ravaged by the injury bug of late, and now Ryan Weathers was forced to leave Saturday's start in the fourth inning due to left forearm discomfort.

Aaron Boone didn't have an update postgame, but Weathers is set to undergo further imaging. 

The young lefty was shaken up after throwing an 0-1 sweeper for a ball to Toronto outfielder Myles Straw. 

He took a few minutes after delivering the pitch, then, after a meeting around the mound, made his way to the dugout alongside the Yankees training staff. 

Ryan Weathers leaves the game with a Yankees trainer pic.twitter.com/OEQF4cy9YZ

— SNY Yankees (@snyyankees) August 22, 2026

Yerry De los Santos was called upon in relief.

De los Santos allowed Toronto to load the bases with two outs, but was helped out by Jazz Chisholm Jr. to escape the inning without further damage on Weathers' line.

The lefty saw his book close with just two runs allowed on eight hits while striking out three across 3.1 innings of work, but the elbow discomfort is certainly cause for concern.

Losing Weathers for a significant amount of time would be a blow for the Bombers, as he has been spectacular of late, entering Sunday with a 1.94 ERA over his last seven starts.

New York is also already without Max Fried due to a bone bruise in his elbow.

"You never want significant pieces to go down, but that's part of it," Boone said. "We're throwing the ball really well and expect to continue to do that -- if this creates an opportunity in the short term, we've had guys step up all year and we'll need to do it again."