Worldwide Sports News

The Phillies are finally coming home after a long but successful west coast road trip. Over that time, they’ve been able to cushion their lead in the race for the NL Wild Cards as well as narrow the deficit for the NL East. That second thing will take center stage this weekend, as the Phillies begin a critical four game series with the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park tomorrow. It will be the first four of seven total meetings between the teams over the next ten days, a stretch that will likely go a long way in deciding who will take the NL East crown.

On to the links.

Phillies News:

• In case you haven’t noticed, Bryce Harper has been extremely locked in of late. His teammates have certainly taken notice. ($)
• Speaking of Harper, Don Mattingly and the Phillies believe he’s held up well since making the shift back to right field. ($)

MLB News:

• The looming CBA negotiations and a discussion about a salary cap is becoming a bigger topic as the season nears its end. What do some (anonymous) players think about all of it?
• The surprising sale of the Angels to L.A. Rams owner Stan Kroenke has brought a bevy of new unanswered questions to the fold. ($)
• Position players pitching has gone from a goofy anomaly to common place as more and more managers deploy non-pitchers to pitch in mop-up duty.

Note: the stats in this article are from Wednesday afternoon, before Chourio had four hits and his 21st homer on Wednesday night.

Jackson Chourio contains multitudes, as they say. When he’s on, he looks like the best position player on the Brewers, by far. He has a knack for rising to the challenge—in 12 postseason games, he is a .341/.362/.682 hitter—and he is, in my qualitative view, the one player on the Brewers who I never think has no chance no matter how good the opposing pitcher is. Simply: he can do things offensively that nobody else on the team can.

At the same time, he can be frustrating, certainly due in part to the confidence he has in his immense natural ability. There are times when it looks like he’s going to swing, no matter what. While I don’t think Chourio is outmatched physically by any pitcher in the league, he can get out-thought on occasion. Chourio’s splits with runners on base suggest that he tries to do way too much in those situations, to his and the team’s detriment. (More on that in a bit.)

Here’s where I remind you that he’s 22. 22-year-olds get outwitted. It happens. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It could also be concerning if we weren’t seeing tangible signs of improvement from Chourio.

It’s easy to occasionally feel like Chourio’s last two seasons have been, at minimum, mildly disappointing. In his second season, Chourio’s wRC+ dropped seven points (119 to 112) and his WAR was down from 4.0 to 3.0 via FanGraphs and from 3.9 to 2.2 via Baseball Reference. This season, injuries delayed the start of his season, and he hasn’t yet turned into the offense-carrying totem that many people hoped he would be by now.

And yet: those tangible signs of improvement exist. In a general sense, Chourio has ticked up this year. He’s surely going to set a new career high in home runs while playing fewer games than in either of his previous seasons:

• 2024: 148 games, 21 home runs
• 2025: 131g, 21 HR
• 2026: 104g, 20 HR (23 team games remaining)

This has led to an uptick in wRC+, which currently sits at a career-best 124. Chourio continues to be a solid baserunner: the advanced metrics have him about the same as the previous two years, while he is stealing bases at a moderate volume (15) and acceptable rate (75%), both right in line with what he’s done previously (coming into this season Chourio was 43-for-57 in stolen bases, 75.4%).

The most encouraging offensive sign for Chourio is in his plate discipline, something that has been an obvious point of difficulty at times during his young career. Last season, Chourio’s plate discipline was a real problem. His chase rate and walk rate were both in the bottom 12 percent among MLB hitters, which was a tangible drop from his rookie season when he was 26th percentile in chase percentage and 31st percentile in walk rate (6.8%).

This year, we’re seeing, at minimum, a bounceback to 2024 levels. Chourio still chases too much—he is 21st percentile this season—and that’s one of the biggest weak points in his game. But Chourio has worked the walk percentage back to a respectable 8.1%; he’s never going to be Barry Bonds, but for a player with such advanced bat-to-ball skills, you can live with an 8.1% walk rate.

Interestingly, even with the uptick in homers, Chourio’s isolated power (ISO) hasn’t really improved this season—it’s the same as it was last year (.193), which is just a few ticks above his rookie season (.189). He’s hitting more homers, though… so what explains that? Well, Chourio is hitting more homers, but he’s traded off some of his other extra-base hits, most notably the second-most important hits to a player’s slugging percentage: triples. Chourio hit four triples in each of his first two seasons, but doesn’t have any this season. He’s also a little behind his doubles pace from last year, when he hit 35 compared to 21 homers; this year, he has 23 doubles (a full-season pace of 30-31).

To be clear: it’s good to turn some of your doubles into homers. And when you add in the better plate discipline, Chourio’s OPS is up a significant 48 points over last season (and 27 points over his rookie year).

Chourio and the Brewers have also been able to highlight another strength this season: defense. Despite a certain lack of aesthetic beauty, Chourio has generally been a good defensive outfielder since coming to the big leagues. Outs Above Average had him as an excellent right fielder and mediocre left fielder in 2024, and as pretty good in both right and center in 2025 (though with way more attempts in center than right).

This season, Chourio has done far less moving around—91 of his 100 starts in the outfield have come in left. DRS sees him as a clearly good left fielder, and via Outs Above Average, he ranks behind only Chandler Simpson, Cody Bellinger, and Jarren Duran amongst left fielders.

Add all of this together, and Chourio is having his best season (when accounting for his missed games); extrapolate his WAR to the number of plate appearances he had in 2024, and you’d get 4.1 fWAR and 4.3 bWAR. That’s not a huge improvement over the highs he set as a rookie, but it’s an improvement.

There are still things to work on, obviously, and the biggest thing is Chourio’s bizarre splits this season with runners on or off base. Check it out:

• With nobody on base, Chourio is batting .327/.383/.534 for a 154 wRC+
• With men on base, he is hitting .219/.286/.393 for an 81 wRC+
• With runners in scoring position, he’s at .223/.307/.321 for a 68 wRC+

Interestingly, Chourio might be almost too passive with runners in scoring position—his walk rate actually increases from 8.4% with the bases empty to 10.2% with RISP. BABIP is also playing a huge role: Chourio has a sky-high .395 BABIP with no one on, but that drops to .256 with runners on base and .282 with RISP. Most tellingly, his power has evaporated completely with runners in scoring position: his ISO is .207 with bases empty, .174 with runners on, and .098 with runners in scoring position.

How much of that is bad luck? He’s only got 127 plate appearances with RISP plus 69 more with a runner on first, so it’s not like we’re dealing with huge samples here. It certainly seems like there’s a mental side to this; it feels like he’s pressing with runners on. There could be a ‘snake eating its tail’ aspect at play, too: perhaps Chourio knows how bad his numbers are with runners on, so he’s tightening up in those situations.

Figuring out how to get Chourio to relax with runners on base should be one of the team’s biggest goals over the next month—they’re going to need him locked in to make a deep run in the playoffs. He certainly has the ability, and to highlight just how rare Chourio’s accomplishments already are, let’s revisit a list I shared in this week’s Week in Review. When Chourio hit his 20th home run last week, he joined a list of just 16 other players to have three seasons of at least 20 homers before their age-23 season:

• Eight of those 16 players are in the Hall of Fame (Mel Ott, Ted Williams, Eddie Mathews, Mickey Mantle, Al Kaline, Frank Robinson, Orlando Cepeda, and Ken Griffey Jr.)
• One is one of the best players ever but isn’t in the Hall of Fame because of steroids (Alex Rodriguez)
• Five are active players who have Hall of Fame cases ranging from “lock or near lock” (Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Juan Soto) to “we have to at least discuss it” (Giancarlo Stanton, Carlos Correa)
• The remaining two are players whose careers were cut short due to various circumstances (Tony Conigliaro, Bob Horner)

It’s a good list.

Triple-A: Syracuse Mets (38-37/31-26)

NO GAME (WEATHER)

Double-A: Binghamton Rumble Ponies (27-42/31-28)

BINGHAMTON 1, NEW HAMPSHIRE 0 (BOX)

As the scoreline would suggest, this was a well pitched game by both sides. The two teams combined for eleven hits (six for New Hampshire, and five for Binghamton), with the Fisher Cats pitching staff striking out eleven and the Rumble Ponies striking out seven. The big hit in the game was a John Bay solo home run in the seventh inning.

• SS Mitch Voit: 0-4
• 2B Marco Vargas: 1-2, 2 BB
• 3B Jacob Reimer: 2-4, 2B, 2 K
• DH Chris Suero: 0-4, 2 K
• RF Eli Serrano III: 0-3, K
• CF John Bay: 1-3, R, HR (3), RBI, 2 K
• C Kevin Parada: 0-3, 3 K
• LF JT Benson: 1-3, 2B
• 1B Jamari Baylor: 0-2, K
• RHP Noah Hall: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K
• RHP Cristofer Gomez: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, W (2-0)
• LHP Felipe De La Cruz: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, H (3)
• RHP Bryce Jenkins: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, S (1)

High-A: Brooklyn Cyclones (25-40/31-31)

FREDERICK 5, BROOKLYN 1 (BOX)

The Brooklyn offense was fighting a losing battle throughout this one. They struggled as a unit, amassing just a single run and four hits on the day (also they walked three times). Their one run came late, when Colin Houck hit a home run in the eighth inning, when they were down 5-0.

• SS Sammy Stafura: 1-3, 2B, BB, E (8)
• 2B Elian Peña: 1-4, K
• CF Aiden Robbins: 1-3, BB, K
• RF Trey Snyder: 0-4, 2 K
• LF Yonatan Henriquez: 0-4, 2 K
• 1B Cole Mathis: 0-3, BB, 3 K
• DH Ronald Hernandez: 0-4, 2 K
• 3B Colin Houck: 1-3, R, HR (8), RBI
• C Chase Meggers: 0-3, 2 K
• RHP Emilio Obispo: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, E (1), 1 HBP, L (0-1)
• LHP Luis R. Rodriguez: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 1 HBP
• RHP Rafi Vazquez: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
• RHP Calvin Ziegler: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 WP
• RHP Juan Arnaud: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP

Single-A: St. Lucie Mets (33-33/22-38)

ST. LUCIE 6, JUPITER 5 (BOX)

St. Lucie won a rollercoaster of a game, as they trailed for the majority of it only to make a comeback in the later innings. Jupiter led 3-1 through the third inning, and 5-1 through the fifth, with Branny De Oleo driving in the St. Lucie run with an RBI double in the second.

The second half of the game was much different than the first, however. St. Lucie were gifted their second run of the game, as Jeremy Rodriguez scored on an errant pick off throw in the seventh. Vladi Gomez made it a 5-4 game in the eighth with a two run single and Yovanny Rodriguez completed the comeback with a walk off, two run single in the ninth.

A special shout out to the quartet of Ernesto Mercedes, Cesar Rivera, Zach Crotchfelt, and Caden Wooster, who gave up one base runner in relief of Ethan Lanthier, keeping the game in reach for the Mets.

• LF Jake Ogden: 0-3, 2 BB, K, SB (2)
• DH Boston Baro: 0-2, R, 3 BB, K, 2 SB (2, 3)
• 1B Julio Zayas: 0-4, R, BB, 3 K
• RF Jack Toomey: 1-4, R, BB, 2 K
• C Yovanny Rodriguez: 1-4, R, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K, E (3)
• SS Jeremy Rodriguez: 1-3, R, BB, K
• CF Branny De Oleo: 1-1, R, 2B, RBI, 3 BB, SB (12)
• 2B Vladi Gomez: 2-4, RBI, 2 K
• 3B Yunior Amparo: 1-4, 2 K
• RHP Ethan Lanthier: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 WP
• RHP Ernesto Mercedes: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
• LHP Cesar Rivera: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
• LHP Zach Crotchfelt: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
• RHP Caden Wooster: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, W (1-0)

Rookie: FCL Mets (24-33)

NO GAME (SEASON OVER)

STAR OF THE NIGHT

Jacob Reimer

GOAT OF THE NIGHT

Ethan Lanthier

Hello, friends.

The 2026 Orioles rollercoaster ride continues. Over the last couple of days, we were reminded why there have been slightly more downs than there have been ups this season. Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s losses to the Rockies were particularly maddening, with such sad offensive outputs in Coors Field against the Colorado staff, with various shenanigans on the basepaths, on defense, and from the bullpen. The Orioles could not afford to waste that series but they wasted it anyway.

Check out my recap of Wednesday’s walkoff, 11-inning loss for more of those not-so-lovely totals.

After Wednesday’s results, here is the state of the race for the third American League wild card spot. The Orioles trail the Cleveland Guardians by 1.5 games. They are tied alongside of the Rangers and Blue Jays at that playoff position. There are three games to be played against the Guardians; the Orioles have to sweep Cleveland to secure the head-to-head tiebreaker. Six games remain against the Blue Jays. I think that the Orioles need to go 14-8 in their final 22 games. Maybe they need to go 15-7.

Following losses like the Orioles just had, it feels absurd to bring up the postseason situation. Yet, the expanded postseason field, foisted upon us by owners wanting more postseason TV money, in combination with the weakness of the American League contenders this year, keeps the Orioles in it. If there were only two wild cards, the Orioles would be six games out. It’d be over, if not mathematically official yet. They do have problems. So does everybody else. The odds are long but not insurmountable.

The Orioles just have to play better! They have to do it for three weeks running instead of just for a game or two. There are no unwinnable games from here to season’s end. It’s just, if things go badly, they will lose. If the offense continues to scuffle, they won’t win enough. If relievers alternate who is going to blow games each night and Craig Albernaz keeps pressing bad buttons, they won’t win enough. If the defense and baserunning keep costing them, that will also be a problem. Same if the starting rotation runs ragged with several of its pitchers nearing or already on career high counts for innings.

We are running a poll this week asking Orioles fans which of these problem areas you are most worried about down the stretch. Have you voted yet? If you haven’t, here it is:

After watching and having to recap yesterday’s game, my answer to this question is, “Yes.”

National television awaits the Orioles tonight. The powers that be who decide on Fox broadcasts have deemed this Orioles-Red Sox matchup to be worth airing for a wider audience. There will be no MASN broadcast, and the game will begin at 7:15 instead of the now-usual Monday-Thursday evening 6:35 start time. Brandon Young and Jake Bennett are the scheduled starting pitchers. Young, with a total of 147 innings pitched between Norfolk and Baltimore, is one of the guys who is past his career high (111 IP in 2024).

Orioles stuff you might have missed

Albernaz on Orioles schedule: “We know what’s ahead of us” (Baltimore Baseball)
Evidence from the just-concluded Rockies series is thin that the Orioles are productively acting on that knowledge.

Orioles takeaways: Kyle Bradish not concerned about growing workload (The Baltimore Sun)
Bradish is at 148 innings. His pre-surgery high was 168.2. If he makes three more starts, he probably won’t pass that, but if he makes four, he probably will. That depends on how the Orioles want to manage the rotation down the stretch, which might itself depend on whether they plausibly remain in the race.

Luis De León’s fastball focus once again saved his season. This time, it brought him to the big leagues. (The Baltimore Banner)
The not-great Triple-A performance from De León made the promotion a bit of an eyebrow-raiser, and unfortunately his first outing didn’t do anything to change that impression.

How lefty pitching prospects Boston Bateman and Caden Hunter have emerged for the Orioles (Press Box Online)
Hunter has been a real revelation as he’s pitched through three levels this year. I do hope he can keep the walk rate in check as he climbs the ladder further. A 4.1 BB/9 is a little higher than you’d like.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

Today in 1999, Cal Ripken Jr. hit his 400th home run in the middle of a 11-6 victory over the then-Devil Rays. At the time, Ripken was just the 20th player to reach the milestone. Now, there are 59 players on that list. Former Oriole Manny Machado (393 homers) may be the next player to join the club.

There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2010-14 pitcher Troy Patton, 1987-90 infielder Rene Gonzales, 1956 pitcher Morrie Martin, and 1956-57 pitcher Sandy Consuegra.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: auto engineer Ferdinand Porsche (1875), actor Charlie Sheen (1965), and snowboarding legend Shaun White (1986).

On this day in history…

In 301, the republic of San Marino, a microstate located entirely within modern-day Italy, was founded. It is the oldest continuously-existing republic.

In 1260, the Mongolian army was defeated by Mamluks in the Battle of Ain Jalut in modern-day Israel. This was the first serious defeat dealt to the Mongols and marked the end of an era of expansion for their empire.

In 1838, Frederick Douglass escaped from being enslaved.

In 1939, France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany, two days after Germany invaded Poland.

In 1981, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, to which the United States is a signatory, although the treaty was never ratified here.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on September 3. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!

Toledo Mud Hens 11, Indianapolis Indians 2 (box)

The Hens took advantage of 8 walks to crush Indy on Wednesday night.

The Carl Edwards Jr. experiment has been an absolute rollercoaster, but they got the good version in this one. The veteran right-hander gave up a run in the first, and then powered through four scoreless frames with six strikeouts to get this one to the sixth with a lead.

The lead was courtesy of a James Outman solo shot in the bottom of the second, a Corey Julks double in the fourth that led to him scoring, and then in the fifth, Max Burt doubled and stole third, scoring on a Jace Jung double.

So it was 3-1 through five innings. The game ended in the seventh for all intents and purposes, as the Hens scored seven runs in the bottom half. There were six walks and a hit batter in the inning, and the big blow was this grand slam by Burt that capped off a brutal inning for the Indians. It also wasn’t really a grand slam, but the umpires saw otherwise.

Enmanuel de Jesus succeeded Edwards and collected seven outs, five by strikeout. Tyler Mattison finished the eighth, and Nick Sandlin allowed a run in the ninth.

Burt: 2-4, 2 R, 4 RBI, 2B, HR, K, SB

Jung: 1-4, R, RBI, 2B, BB, 2 K

Edwards Jr.: (W, 5-10): 5.0 IP, ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 6 K

Coming Up Next: The Hens get back at it at 7:05 p.m. ET, and you may still be able to Konner Griffin for one more game on the other side.

Somerset Patriots 8, Erie SeaWolves 6 (box)

Max Alba was knocked around in this one, and the SeaWolves couldn’t manage a comeback. Fortunately, they still have a pretty good hold on a playoff spot with nine games left, but they do need to get back to winning right quick.

Somerset got to Alba for four runs in the first inning, and Dariel Fregio had to clean up the mess. Izaac Pacheco hit a solo shot, his 20th homer of the year for the SeaWolves, in the bottom of the second inning.

Fregio gave up a run in the third to make it a 5-1 game, but the SeaWolves fought back to tie it up in the bottom of the third.

Peyton Graham and Woody Hadeen started the inning with singles, and Zyhir Hope smashed a two-run double to center field. Hope stole third, but ultimately rode home on a two-run shot from E.J. Exposito. The infielder now has 23 homers on the season. 5-5 game.

Colin Fields allowed a run in the top of the fifth, partly due to his own bad pickoff throw, and the SeaWolves just couldn’t manage another push. Moises Rodriguez led it get away a little further when, after collecting five outs in the seventh and eighth, he allowed two runs in the top of the ninth.

Graham walked, took two bases on defensive indifference, and scored on an error on a Hadeen fly ball, but they couldn’t get any closer.

Hope: 1-4, R, 2 RBI, 2B, BB, 2 K, SB

Pacheco: 2-4, R, RBI, HR, K

Graham: 2-4, 2 R, BB, K, SB

Rodriguez: 2.2 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: The SeaWolves get back to work at 7:05 p.m. ET on Thursday. Their Southwest division lead is down to 4.5 games over Chesapeake with nine games remaining.

West Michigan Whitecaps 14, Dayton Dragons 6 (box)

The Whitecaps know the situation; win or go home. Still 1.5 games back of Great Lakes for a playoff spot, Ben Jacobs absolutely shoved in this one, and the Whitecaps offense went off to win again on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the Loons won as well, so there are just four games left to make a run at this.

If you read BYB you’ve heard a lot about the 22-year-old lefty this year, and he lived up to the billing again in this one. He gave up a two-run shot in the bottom of the third, but was otherwise dominant the Dragons, showing some really good sliders to go with the gnarly fourseam-splitter combo that is usually his bread and butter. Jacobs punched out 10 without allowing a walk in five innings of two-run ball in this one, and it’s great to see that in a game where his teammates really needed a good outing.

The Whitecaps struck first in the top of the third. Stephen Hrustich cracked a solo shot with two outs, and Bryce Rainer smoked a sharp single to left. Edian Espinal ripped a drive to the wall in center field for an RBI triple, and Beau Ankeney doubled him home for a 3-0 lead.

Jacobs gave up the homer in the bottom half, but was lights out the rest of his night.

In the sixth, they got to work against the Dragons’ bullpen. Ankeney doubled again with one out, and a recently scorching hot, and the still somehow just 22-year-old Cristian Santana crushed a two-run shot to left for a 5-2 lead. Walks to Jackson Strong and Samuel Gil followed, and Carson Rucker grounded into a force of Gil at second. Nolan McCarthy singled in Strong, and it was 6-2 Whitecaps.

Luke Hoskins gave up a run in the bottom of the sixth to make it 6-3, but in the eighth the Whitecaps blew this one open. Santana reached on an error to start the inning and Strong walked again. Juan Hernandez blasted a three-run shot to center field and they tacked on another run in the inning to make it 10-3.

In the top of the ninth, Espinal reached on an error on Dayton’s left fielder and reached third on the play. Ankeney singled him home. Santana struck out, but yet again, Strong drew a walk. Hernandez flew out, but Carson Rucker launched a three-run shot tucked just fair down the right field line to make it 14-3.

Ethan Sloan was a mess in the bottom half, allowing three runs, but it was already over.

Ankeney: 3-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 2B

Espinal: 2-5, 2 R, RBI, 2 3B

Rucker: 1-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, HR, BB, K

Jacobs (W, 5-2): 5.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 10 K

Coming Up Next: The ‘Caps have won four in a row, but they need to keep it going at 7:05 p.m. ET in Dayton on Thursday. Do it for Dan Hasty!

Lakeland Flying Tigers @ Bradenton Marauders (postponed)

Cameron Flukey’s last start of the season will have to wait. They were rained out on Wednesday, and will try to make this one up with a doubleheader on Friday. Thursday night’s game is set for 6:30 p.m. ET. In other news LHP Caleb Leys has been moved to the development list, while RHP Jhonan Coba has been activated by the Flying Tigers. Presumably we’ll see another start from Coba before the season ends on Sunday.

Of all the Yankees moves (or non-moves) this summer, their decision not to add pitching at the trade deadline probably caused the most consternation. The team’s pitching staff paced the league in the first half, sure, but most fans looked at the club’s bullpen, and at the long list of names on the IL, and figured the Yankees could use an extra arm or two just in case, just to add a little depth if things got hairy.

Well, we’re here in September, and things have gotten hairy, but the Yankees’ pitching staff has still performed. Max Fried and Ryan Weathers hit the IL with an elbow issues, and Fernando Cruz’s injury left the late-inning crew thin, and yet the Yankees’ team ERA of 2.77 since August 4th leads baseball. Their depth has been tested, and they’ve aced the test.

All that said, outside of David Bednar, Brent Headrick, and Paul Blackburn, there’s no obvious pecking order in the Yankee bullpen. Aaron Boone has three clear favorite options, and then a bunch of question marks. Other than the matter of how to structure the team’s outfield, this might be the most pressing roster concern to sort out in the final month. So, who will emerge as the next most trustworthy reliever in Boone’s bullpen?

I think the most fun part of this question is that the answer could be anyone, thanks to the Yankees’ proclivity for getting the best out of unheralded pitchers. Anyone that is currently on the roster, or working on things in Triple-A, or rehabbing from injury, is liable to step in and surprise us, because Matt Blake and his staff have been so proficient at molding flawed pitchers into serious contributors.

That leaves us with loads of possible players who could emerge in September to establish themselves in the Circle of Trust before the playoffs begin. We could start with the young big leaguers coming back from injuries, Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt, and Ryan Weathers. Gil, who missed most of this year with a shoulder problem, has returned as a reliever and looked intriguing, sitting 96 mph with his fastball in an outing on Monday night and generating six whiffs. Schmidt is coming off a longer layoff post Tommy John surgery, but also has a high-quality track record; his 3.07 ERA across 2024 and 2025 speaks to how effective he can be when healthy. Weathers morphed into one of the best starters in baseball after a midseason repertoire shift, and could be a dynamite bullpen weapon if he can make it back healthy. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see any of this trio become a key bullpen figure by the end of the month.

Then, there are the late-season scrap heap finds that the Yankees are actively working on. Last week, they dusted off Michael Fulmer, best known around here for swiping the 2016 Rookie of the Year award from Gary Sanchez, and also claimed John Schreiber off waivers. Fulmer has made three appearances with New York and flashed a somewhat interesting cutter-led arsenal, while Schreiber tossed a scoreless inning his Yankees debut Tuesday night and was a dependable middle reliever as recently as last year. It’s entirely possible both with will be off the roster before long, but would you be shocked if one of them benefited from working with Blake and proved they had something left in the tank?

From there, we have the arms in the minors that might seem like long shots, but have performed in the bigs before. The most interesting name is probably Angel Chivilli, who used a sharp changeup to dominate through the month of July before a six-run blowup against the Cardinals in early August ruined his season numbers. The Yankees also have Yerry De los Santos and Brendan Beck as possible options in Scranton. No, no ones wants the Yankees to be relying on these kinds of guys in October, and it’s unlikely any emerge as real options, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility they return to the bigs in September and show something. Elmer Rodríguez could’ve fit with this group of minors options, but he’s back with the big-league squad, and he too merits mention as someone that could earn Boone’s faith with a strong showing this month.

The fact of the matter is, the Yankees have some unsettled spots in the bullpen, and one month to decide who should fill them. Who do you think will step up? Will one or more of these guys find themselves adding to the Circle of Trust?

The Yankees are off today, getting some time to make the short jaunt down from Anaheim to San Diego. There will be plenty on the site to keep you busy, as Sam runs down the Yankees Plays of August, and Peter recaps Wednesday’s American League action. Later, Jonathan profiles Eric Plunk, the only player ever traded for the same Hall of Famer twice, while Andrés discusses Clarke Schmidt’s impending addition to the Yankee bullpen, and the rapid ascent of Yankee prospect Yostin Pena.

Today’s Matchup:

Offday.

PHOENIX — It has been 131 days since they last saw one another.

It was back when the Philadelphia Phillies were playing their worst baseball of the season, while Atlanta was playing its best baseball.

The season wasn’t even a month old, and after losing for the 11th time in the last 12 games, the Phillies were already 10 ½ games behind Atlanta.

Now they meet again four months later, with the Phillies look nothing like the woeful team Atlanta last saw the final weekend of April.

The Phillies have a new manager in Don Mattingly, a completely reshuffled infield, a new right fielder, a three-time batting champion, and the confidence that they can go where no Phillies team has gone since 2008.

The Phillies (79-61) are four games behind Atlanta (83-57), but they also are the hottest team in baseball, winning 15 of their last 18 games.

The Phillies will open a crucial four-game series against Atlanta beginning Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, and after a three-game series against the Washington Nationals, they head to Atlanta for another three-game set.

By the time they leave Atlanta, the Phillies will have only 12 games remaining with a long, deep October run on their minds.

“I’ve got my batting titles," new second baseman Luis Arráez tells USA TODAY Sports. “I’ve got my All-Star Games. My Silver Slugger. All of the individual awards.

“What I want now is a World Series ring.

“I can’t tell you how bad I want that."

WASHINGTON – Sometime soon, the Washington Nationals bullpen will tie, and almost certainly break a record it wants no part of.

Nationals relievers have blown 35 saves, second in major league history to the 37 suffered by the 2024 Chicago White Sox. You might remember those Sox: They were, according to the loss column, the worst team in major league history, dropping a record 121 games as the roster suffered a complete breakdown.

Yet these Nationals are not a bad team.

They wildly exceeded expectations thanks to a vastly improved offense, were above .500 as late as July 29 and made the decision much harder for first-year president of baseball operations Paul Toboni to part with prized players come the August trade deadline.

Toboni ultimately sold, but not before perhaps the most teachable moment of his first season served to ruin many late innings and lead to more than a few restless nights for he and rookie manager Blake Butera:

You can only skimp so much on relief pitchers.

NL EAST: Ronald Acuña Jr. becomes fastest to join 200-200 club

“The value of having homegrown relievers coming through the farm that you don’t have to spend huge dollars on necessarily but can lean on is really important,” Toboni said this week.

“But the opposite is true, too: If you don’t feel like you’re in that spot at any given point in time, you have to consider throwing free agent dollars at pitchers.”

That, the Nationals did not do.

Five of the seven relievers on their opening-day roster had one year or less of service time and six of the seven made between the major league minimum $780,000 and $825,000, according to salary data obtained by USA TODAY Sports.

Their most experienced arm, lefty Cionel Perez, posted an 8.31 ERA for Baltimore a year ago, made the club on a $1.9 million deal and was designated for assignment by May 4.

But the Nationals’ relief torment was just beginning.

The Pirates are making roster moves with one month left in the season. The Bucs recalled left-handed pitcher Brandon Eisert from Triple-A Indianapolis and selected the contract of catcher Christian Bethancourt from Indianapolis, adding him to both the 28-man roster and the 40-man roster.

Pittsburgh also moved catcher Endy Rodriguez from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Rodriguez suffered a season ending left hip injury, and they made the move to make space for Christian Bethancourt. 

MLB teams get two extra players for September, as rosters expand from 26 to 28 players for the last month of the regular season. The Pirates add a pitcher and a position player, one that will give the bullpen an extra arm and the other some help at catcher, a position that has been dealing with injuries this season.

Eisert has struggled throughout his time in Pittsburgh. He has posted a 7.71 ERA over seven innings pitched, with a .345 batting average allowed and a 2.00 WHIP. Although his numbers have not been good, he still adds depth to a struggling bullpen.

Since Eisert was sent down to Indianapolis on August 4, he has been a lot better. He has a 2.08 ERA over 10 appearances and 13.0 innings pitched, 18 strikeouts to three walks, a .093 BAA and a 0.54 WHIP.

Bethancourt hasn’t played in the Majors since late 2024 with the Chicago Cubs. He does have 428 games of experience over eight seasons and is a solid third option for the Pirates to have behind Henry Davis and Rafael Flores Jr.

I don’t think any move that the Bucs made will help the Pirates make that improbable playoff run but it builds depth for a team that has dealt with some big injuries this season.