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Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani has not played since Wednesday, when he struck out four times and winced noticeably at the plate.

On Saturday, the Dodgers held him out of the lineup for the third consecutive game because of pain in his right biceps.

Manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani’s path back to the field is predicated on how he responds to hitting in the cage, which he planned to do before Saturday night’s game against the Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium.

“My expectation is that he’s going to hit today in the cage,” Roberts told reporters. “Once he hits and how he comes out of it, that’ll be telling for tomorrow.”

Read more:Before Mark Walter's companies faced inquiries, he kept a low profile and built loyalty

The injured list becomes a consideration if Ohtani is not trending in a positive direction Sunday, Roberts said.

Ohtani falls under the 15-day category for the IL, which covers pitchers and two-way players, as opposed to the 10-day list for position players. The Dodgers can backdate the move up to three days, akin to time served. So a 15-day window would be reduced to 12 days.

Although Roberts said he has not spoken to Ohtani about how he feels physically, the manager said he can get a hint from the player’s demeanor.

“When he doesn’t feel well physically, he gets more short and he’s not the same personality,” Roberts said, adding that Ohtani has seemed looser and more easygoing the past couple of days.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

First Pitch: 6:10 pm CDT
TV: Twins.TV
Radio: TIBN / WCCO 830 / The Wolf 102.9 FM / Audacy

What we will call The Math is finally catching up with what we have been calling The Vibe. The Twins, with two September series against the Chicago White Sox loosely circled on the calendar, watched those games progress from “significant” to “crucial” to “literally have to double-sweep to have a shot.” Now losers of three of the first four, it’s clear the 2026 season will not end with a miraculous 6-0 run against the division leaders, catapulting the team back into contention; instead, Minnesota’s performance against a playoff contender is confirming most criticisms against the team, and is calling into question whether a .500 record is still even a reasonable goal.

On that delightful note, there is still baseball to be played! Today, even. And the Minnesota Twins, for all their flaws, will be competing. Moreover, we’ve reached the point in the season where game previews devolve into the purest form of fact. Baseball, today! Your team, involved. Surely you needed this confirmation despite the schedule remaining mostly the same for over a hundred years

The Twins are chucking Taj Bradley out there, whose last few starts and final 2026 line will be one of the more interesting storylines to close out the campaign. A three-headed monster of a healthy Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, and Bradley could transform next year’s starting rotation, but the health hypothetical feels like a Twins trademark at this point. For now, it’s a healthy Bradley alone on the mound and practically alone in the rotation, tasked with evening the series on the South Side.

Chicago turns to lefty Anthony Kay, who’s been in Japan for the last two years and is in the AL Central for the first time in his pro career. He held the Twins to one run across six innings in a 3-1 White Sox victory back in May, the only time he’s faced Minnesota in his professional career.

GO TWINS GO!

Tampa Bay Rays @ Texas Rangers

Saturday, September 5, 2026, 6:05 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / Rangers Sports Network)

The Shed

RHP Drew Rasmussen vs. RHP Jacob deGrom

Go Rangers!

Detroit Tigers (64-77) vs. Cleveland Guardians (72-70)

Time/Place: 6:10 p.m., Progressive Field
SB Nation Site:Covering the Corner
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: LHP Framber Valdez (8-10, 4.36 ERA) vs. LHP Parker Messick (11-8, 2.46 ERA)

Here’s the Tigers’ lineup:

Here’s the Guardians lineup:

Let’s go, Guardians!

After a back-and-forth game last night, the Brewers are back in action as they continue their push to the playoffs. They can cut the division magic number down to 12 with a win in tonight’s game.

Dustin May is on the mound and looking for a bounce-back game. After two strong starts to begin his Brewers’ career, he’s had three outings to forget. His last one was 4 1/3 innings against the Rangers; he allowed four runs on six hits and three walks with four strikeouts. He faced the Reds back on July 24 with the Cardinals and allowed just one run in six innings with eight strikeouts. In his five Brewers’ starts, he has a 6.41 ERA and 5.43 FIP in 19 2/3 innings. Overall this season, he has a 4.69 ERA and 3.49 FIP.

For the Reds, Andrew Abbott makes the start. He’s been having a rough season, posting a 4.49 ERA and 4.80 FIP in 148 1/3 innings over 28 starts. The Brewers faced him back on July 1, and he allowed two runs on five hits and five walks in five innings with three strikeouts. This is his 10th career start against the Brewers. Over his previous nine starts (50 2/3 innings), he has a 3.73 ERA.

The Brewers are shifting around their lineup with the lefty on the mound. Jackson Chourio bats leadoff with Luis Lara behind him and William Contreras batting third as the DH. Andrew Vaughn and Garrett Mitchell bat fourth and fifth, and Joey Ortiz moves up to sixth in the lineup. Cooper Pratt, Gary Sánchez, and David Hamilton round out the lineup.

First pitch is at 5:40 p.m. It will be on Brewers.TV and the Brewers Radio Network.

The Milwaukee Brewers do not do very many things poorly. With 88 wins to their credit already in the 2026 regular season, they have logged 4 more wins than any other club in the sport, and they’ve done so with a precision-blend of talent evaluation and development.

Quite frankly, they’re the model franchise for every other MLB club out there.

If there’s one thing they may regret, though, it’s the acquisition at the trade deadline of one Dustin May. So far, he’s been shelled for 14 ER in just 19.2 IP for them since coming over from the St. Louis Cardinals, though perhaps the latter is all they really got him for anyway. They don’t need him for the postseason, they just need him to keep as many innings off the other arms they’ve got to get them there.

May will start for the Beers on Saturday night in Great American Ball Park as the Cincinnati Reds once again play host to their division ‘rivals’ even though said rivalry has been hilariously one-sided for quite some time. Andrew Abbott will start for Cincinnati looking to reverse course on his own awful run of form – he’s pitched to a 6.89 ERA with 24 ER in 31.1 IP since the start of August.

First pitch is set for 6:40 PM ET. Here’s how both clubs will line up to start:

The clock is officially ticking on the Dodgers to make a decision with Shohei Ohtani.

For a third straight game, the two-way star was out of the team’s lineup on Saturday as he continues to battle injuries to his left knee and right biceps — marking the first time in his Dodgers career that Ohtani hasn’t been in the lineup that long.

The question now is whether the club will finally have to relent and put Ohtani on the injured list.

Under MLB rules, injured list stints can be retroactively backdated by up to three days. That means, if Ohtani isn’t ready to play by Sunday, the Dodgers could put him on the IL and count these past three days as part of the minimum time he will be forced to miss.

For now, it has yet to be decided what will be next for the four-time MVP.

Manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani was set to hit in the batting cages on Saturday, and that the team would monitor how he feels afterward.

If all went well, Roberts said it was possible Ohtani could be back in the lineup for Sunday’s series finale against the Nationals.

If not, however, the club will be left with a significantly trickier decision about how to manage him.

Because Ohtani is classified as a two-way player, he would be subject to an absence of at least 15 days if he were placed on the injured list, as opposed to the 10-day minimum stint that applies to normal position players.

Roberts acknowledged that would be “more of a deterrent” to making such a move with Ohtani. Even if he were to be put on the IL on Sunday, he wouldn’t be able to return until Sept. 18, at which point there will only be nine games remaining in their regular-season schedule.

“To not lose him for 15 days is meaningful,” Roberts said.

Roberts also added that, instead of the IL, the Dodgers could continue to rest Ohtani while keeping him on the active roster over the coming week, so long as “he’s trending in the right dircetion.”

However, Roberts said that before Dalton Rushing –– who was set to fill in for Ohtani as designated hitter on Saturday –– was scratched from Saturday’s starting lineup after a recurrence of discomfort in his right elbow, playing through a slightly torn ligament.

Rushing’s uncertain status could now also factor into the Dodgers’ overall roster decisions.

To this point, the Dodgers haven’t placed Ohtani on the injured list for two primary reasons. 

First, he has been playing through his injuries for much of the year and didn’t appear to be impacted until a 6-for-46 stretch over his last 12 games; a slump that was punctuated by a four-strikeout performance on Wednesday in which Ohtani showed visible pain after swings during his final at-bat. To this point, the team’s contention has been that his ailments aren’t severe enough to keep him from potentially playing in the next couple weeks.

Second is uncertainty about whether even a more extended break on the IL would get Ohtani back to 100% physically. After all, his injuries have lingered long enough that they are likely to remain issues over the remainder of the year. If his health isn’t certain to significantly improve, there might still be benefit in giving him the extra time to keep playing as he tries to rediscover his swing.

For now, the Dodgers’ main priority is making sure Ohtani’s condition doesn’t get worse, which is why Roberts has continued to describe his status as day-to-day.

For a third straight day, that meant keeping Ohtani out of the lineup.

When he might return remains to be seen.

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Los Angeles Angels vs. Pittsburgh Pirates, September 5, 2026, 6:40 p.m. ET

Location: PNC Park – Pittsburgh, PA

Broadcast: 93.7 The Fan (KDKA-FM), SportsNet Pittsburgh / MLB.TV

Pitching Matchup: Yusei Kikuchi (0-5, 5.65 ERA) vs. Braxton Ashcraft (14-5, 3.59 ERA)

Konnor Griffin’s effect was immediately felt in his return on Friday. Griffin scored from first on a double down the right field line by Jake Mangum. It was a play only a handful of players in baseball could make, and manager Don Kelly said Griffin may be the only one with the speed to score on the play. It’s all the offense Pittsburgh needed in the 1-0 victory. 

The Pirates (70-72) have won seven of their last 10 games and are looking to win the sixth of their last seven series, attempting to crawl back in the wild card race. Braxton Ashcraft has pitched at least five innings over his last seven starts and has found a second half groove following a very difficult July. 

Ashcraft earned a 2.13 ERA in six starts this August with 29 strikeouts compared to five walks over 38 innings. He has been the Pirates’ most consistent starter and ranks tied for fifth in baseball in wins (14). Will his success continue against Los Angeles?

The Red Sox enter tonight’s game against the Orioles with a 77-65 record, 12 games above .500. Sonny Gray, who hasn’t pitched in ten days, also enters tonight 12 games above .500 with a personal record of 16-4. It’s probably a bit strong to say the Red Sox would be a .500 team without Gray, but boy has he been a necessity in their success.

So while the Red Sox strong starting pitching has been a group effort all season, Gray is the guy who, if you had to pick one, is the biggest engine behind it. He’s the guy who’s been the most consistent, the guy who hasn’t gone on the IL, and the guy who until this most recent turn in the rotation, hasn’t really had any restrictions.

For all these reasons, Gray can be considered the high card in the Red Sox’ hand, if not their all out ace. So it should come as no surprise that the Red Sox, for better or worse, have already lined him up to start Game 1 of a likely Wild Card Series on September 29th. If you simply plot forward every fifth game the Red Sox play from tonight (with off days slated for September 10th, 14th, 21st and [if they make the playoffs] 28th) Gray is set to throw on on the 5th (tonight), 11th, 17th, 23rd, and 29th.

So with this being the first game in the runup to the momentous end of the month, it takes on a little extra meaning and comes with a bunch of questions. How will Gray look after the benefit of extra rest? (He hasn’t pitched since August 26th against the Marlins.) Does he remain the right guy for this job? How deep will the Red Sox allow him to go? Do they keep him on a limit trying to save some gas in the tank, or do they let him go a little longer given the extra rest and the bullpen being used rather heavily the last two games in back to back one run wins?

No matter how you slice it, Gray is the lead headline for tonight, but there’s other noteworthy items in the lineup below. They include: Ceddanne Rafaela getting another day off as he nurses some quad soreness (Eli White will start in centerfield), Adley Rutschman getting a day off against his former club (Wong starting at catcher), and Caleb Durbin getting a much needed day off, which leads to an interesting domino effect were Nick Sogard is starting at third, Isiah Kiner-Falefa at second, and Trevor Story at short and batting clean up. I can’t say I love putting Story’s defense at short of Kiner-Falefa’s, but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see how it plays out before getting too outraged.

⚾️ First Pitch: 7:05pm — Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD

📺 TV: NESN

📻 Radio: WEEI

Join us in the game thread below!

Phillies answer every Braves punch behind Zack Wheeler's resilient start originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Saturday at Citizens Bank Park did not look promising early, especially after an underwhelming showing against the rival Atlanta Braves in Friday’s series opener.

Zack Wheeler had backed himself into about as difficult a spot as possible in the first inning: a leadoff single, another single and a walk.

That loaded the bases with nobody out for one of baseball’s hottest hitters, Atlanta center fielder Michael Harris II.

Wheeler, coming off a bounce-back start in Anaheim, remained aggressive. He started Harris off 0-2, then induced a soft foul out.

A massive first out.

Mauricio Dubón followed and worked the count to 2-2. Wheeler fired a fastball at the top of the zone and away from Dubón. It was ruled a ball, but J.T. Realmuto, who has the best challenge rate in baseball, disagreed.

The ABS challenge system ruled it strike three.

Citizens Bank Park was roaring.

The Phillies’ right-handed ace then went right after Ozzie Albies with two outs. Albies flew out to center on the first pitch.

You could sense the sigh of relief around the ballpark. It felt like the escape relaxed the home club.

A momentum shift, per se?

It was in the Phillies’ 4-2 win over Atlanta.

In the bottom of the first, Kyle Schwarber and Trea Turner drew consecutive walks against left-hander Martín Pérez, putting two on with nobody out.

Bryce Harper skied a ball to left field. Schwarber tagged and, in typical Schwarber fashion, used his wheels and baserunning savvy to slide around Austin Riley’s tag at third. Turner tagged up and advanced to second.

There’s that momentum again.

Luis Arraez, who continuously finds himself in situations to drive in runs, lined a single to right that scored Schwarber. Later in the inning, with the bases loaded and two outs, Realmuto worked a four-pitch walk.

The Phillies had their first lead, 2-0.

Bryson Stott, back in the lineup after he was a late scratch Friday for the birth of his third child, then roped a ball toward the sunny area of deep right-center field. But Ronald Acuña Jr. made a lunging catch to rob Stott of a bases-clearing extra-base hit.

The Braves’ right fielder has made his share of run-saving catches at the Phillies’ home park.

Even if Acuña’s play sucked some energy out of the stadium, it did not last long.

Derek Hill led off the second with a triple, his first of two hits, racing to third after Acuña appeared to hold onto the ball a beat too long. Schwarber then hit a hard grounder to Matt Olson at first. Olson bobbled it, and Hill aggressively broke for the plate to score the Phillies’ third run.

But the Braves’ right fielder wasn’t done.

Acuña came up in the next half-inning and greeted Wheeler with his second hit of the night, a 450-foot homer into the second deck in left field.

To the home faithful’s dismay, Acuña slowly trotted around the bases, looked toward the Phillies’ dugout as he flipped his bat and did his signature step-back on his way to third.

It may have been one of the loudest rounds of boos at Citizens Bank Park this season, but Acuña had kept Atlanta within striking distance.

The Phillies punched right back in the fourth.

Schwarber launched a rocket that left his bat at more than 108 mph and traveled 435 feet. His 41st homer of the season restored the Phillies’ three-run lead, 4-1.

That was enough for Wheeler, who was nearly spotless outside of the first three hitters he faced and the pitch to Acuña.

He again leaned heavily on his four-seamer, throwing it for a strike 73 percent of the time. He got ahead early and often with the pitch, too.

It marked the second consecutive start in which Wheeler used his four-seamer at least 10 percentage points more than his season average. Both have come after he made a mechanical adjustment following a rough stretch.

Wheeler gave the Phillies six innings of one-run baseball and racked up nine strikeouts, his most in a start since July 21.

Arguably his biggest punchout of the night, and certainly his loudest, was his eighth. Wheeler got Acuña swinging in the fifth, sending the crowd into another eruption.

Jonathan Bowlan relieved Wheeler and, for the third time in his last four outings, allowed a homer. Austin Riley launched a towering solo shot that brought Atlanta within two.

The Phillies’ bats went quiet after the fourth. When the eighth inning arrived and José Alvarado allowed the leadoff runner to reach with Acuña coming to the plate, the ballpark was filled with boos and nerves.

Once again, Acuña was involved in a major play. This time, he grounded into a double play.

Alvarado, who has rarely worked in leverage situations during a difficult season, pounded his mitt. He did it again after striking out Olson to end the inning.

That got the ball to Jhoan Duran for his seventh save opportunity since the All-Star break.

Duran closed it out for his 30th save, becoming the first Phillie to reach that mark in a decade and the first since Jeanmar Gómez in 2016.