The St. Louis Cardinals will enter the gauntlet again Thursday night as it’ll be game 3 against the Dodgers in Los Angeles. Quinn Mathews will start for the Cardinals going up against the formidable Tarik Skubal for the Dodgers. First pitch scheduled for 9:10pm central time at Dodger Stadium and the game broadcast will be available via Cardinals.tv.

Probable pitchers: RHP Brandon Young (9-3, 3.38 ERA, 103 Ks) vs. LHP Jake Bennett (9-6, 3.27 ERA, 74 Ks)

Where to watch: FOX/FOX ONE

Usually when you win six out of nine games on a road trip, you return home feeling good about the direction of your team. With the Orioles, however, they come into tonight’s game against the Red Sox having to shake off the disappointment from their last two losses in Colorado. 

Had the O’s offense not gone completely silent in Coors Field (the most offensive-friendly park in baseball), they could have swept the Rockies and would currently be in the last Wild Card spot. Instead, after losing an 11-inning heartbreaker Wednesday, they come into this series against Boston 1.5 GB of Cleveland for the last AL playoff berth. 

Tonight, Birdland will also be fending off the emotions of seeing Adley Rutschman return to Baltimore in a Red Sox uniform. In 15 games with Boston, Rutschman is struggling, slashing .170/.254/.245 with only two extra-base hits and 15 strikeouts. The former Baltimore backstop is hitting .271 with a .826 OPS at Camden Yards this season, though he last played in OPACY back on July 11th. 

The O’s turn to Brandon Young as they try to start a new winning streak. The big Texan has been Baltimore’s most reliable starter all season, with the O’s going 18-5 in games started by BY. Young has only faced the Red Sox once previously this year, getting the win back in April after putting up a line of 5.2 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 1 BB and 5 Ks. 

Opposing Young is rookie left-hander Jake Bennett. The 25-year-old out of Oklahoma has pitched one other time in Camden Yards, putting up a solid start of 5.2, 9 H, 3 ER, 0 BB and 4 Ks in a 6-3 Boston win. Christian Encarnacion-Strand tagged Bennett for a home run that day, while Pete Alonso went 2-for-5 with a double. The lefty-masher Coby Mayo will also in the two hole for the first time all season, tonight. Mayo will look to build on his MLB-leading 15 home runs vs. LHPs—though Bennett has only allowed 7 long balls in 93.2 IP.

Orioles lineup

1. Blaze Alexander (R) 2B
2. Coby Mayo (R) DH
3. Luis Robert Jr. (R) CF
4. Pete Alonso (R) 1B
5. Gunnar Henderson (L) SS
6. Christian Encarnacion-Strand (R) 3B
7. Leody Taveras (S) RF
8. Dylan Beavers (L) LF
9. Carlos Narváez (R) C

Red Sox lineup

1. Roman Anthony (L) DH
2. Mickey Gasper (S) 1B
3. Adley Rutschman (S) C
4. Wilyer Abreu (L) RF
5. Nick Sogard (S) 2B
6. Caleb Durbin (R) 3B
7. Jarren Duran (L) LF
8. Eli White (R) CF
9. Isiah Kiner-Falefa (R) SS

I don’t know about you, but I am tired of reading and writing about Guardians’ losses. They dropped a critical series to the Blue Jays today, losing 5-3.

Tanner Bibee had an awful fifth and the Guardians went 2 for 10 with Runners in Scoring Position. As a cherry on top, Travis Bazzana made an error and got lifted for David Fry as a pinch-hit option in the fifth (Fry took a walk. Throw a parade).

The stadium was full of Blue Jays fans who are, from my experience, the most obnoxious fans who visit Progressive Field. I say this as a Canada fan. They are not sending us their best.

Steven Kwan had two hits, Austin Hedges hit a clutch two-run single, Angel Genao had an RBI single and a walk. They need to hit homers but don’t expect to see Ralphy Velazquez anytime soon because he is probably too young to help, anyway.

The White Sox lost so the Guardians still have a path to the playoffs, somehow. They need to find a way to take at least three of four from the Tigers this weekend.

Stephen Vogt pitched Carlos Hernandez in the 9th, probably thinking bringing a rested pen to a doubleheader against Detroit tomorrow was a better chance to steal wins than this lineup vs. Louis Varland in the 9th. I guess I can’t disagree with that.

Foster Griffin and Logan Allen will pitch tomorrow. So, that could go quite poorly

Over the first five months of his tenure as San Diego Padres manager, Craig Stammen offers the perfect poker face when answering questions about his team’s play. But his unshakeable composure might be tested in the season’s final month.

Coming off a memorable 21-7 hot streak out of the All-Star break, the Padres limped into September with a 2-7 mark in their last nine games. That recent slump has sparked restlessness among the Friar Faithful. 

It has not been easy for Stammen to keep the Friars playing consistent baseball all season. He faces another challenge in seeking a path to a Wild Card berth. 

Most of his upcoming decisions will not be easy, as they will center on the pitching staff. And Stammen’s choices must put the team in position to win each night. 

Do the Padres have enough starting pitching?

No question, the Friars have a reliable five-man starting rotation. Everyone is in relatively good health after early-season injuries nearly decimated the staff. 

On the mound, Randy Vasquez has pitched like an ace. In August, he put together his best stretch of the season, posting a 4-0 mark with a 2.57 ERA in five appearances. The right-hander has put himself in the conversation for possible late-season starts. Stammen has a difficult choice between Vasquez and a proven commodity in Nick Pivetta.

Before any decision, Stammen and pitching coach Ruben Niebla must determine whether Pivetta can contribute down the stretch. He has worked his way back from an elbow injury, but the jury is still out on whether Pivetta can thrive in the majors again. It will be a tough decision that may come down to arm strength and the ability to be effective every fifth day.

A surplus of starting pitching is a luxury in September. Unfortunately, arm injuries (Joe Musgrove’s setback) and subpar pitching performances come unannounced.

Whoever is chosen, Stammen has confidence in their ability. 

What is the state of the Friars’ bullpen?

The bullpen has been the one constant for the Padres in 2026. But the unit has hit a rough patch, being unable to protect late-inning leads. Closer Mason Miller experienced a brief hiccup, giving up a go-ahead home run and blowing a save during this bad stretch.

Stammen may need to shorten the circle of trust with his set-up relievers. It is time for him to judge which pitchers can excel in high-leverage situations. To secure a postseason berth, the workload will be excessive, with few days off on the docket. 

The goal is to stabilize the bullpen by identifying everyone’s role and recording big outs. 

With all that said, every Wild Card-contending team has blemishes of its own. It will be a sprint to the finish line. 

After a season of ups and downs, the Friars hope that a few more highs await them in September. 

Shohei Ohtani was out of the lineup Thursday and his availability is a “day-to-day situation,” manager Dave Roberts announced before the Dodgers’ series finale against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Ohtani’s health has been scrutinized for much of the season and even more over the last week. He hasn’t pitched since July 3 because of soreness and threw a bullpen session last Friday in hopes of pitching one inning Sunday against the Detroit Tigers. But, not feeling “100%,” as Roberts put it, Ohtani didn’t return to the mound, and his throwing progression stalled.

Though Roberts described Ohtani’s ailment as an overall issue, including his left knee and right biceps, he remained in the lineup. Roberts said then that he’d been given no indication that swinging the bat was affecting Ohtani, but if that changed, the manager would have no problem with sitting the superstar.

Wednesday, as Ohtani went 0 for 4 in the midst of a two-for-23 skid, seemed to be a turning point.

Read more:Shohei Ohtani doesn't look right to Dodgers manager after striking out four times in loss

“I saw the same thing that everyone saw,” Roberts said after the Dodgers’ 8-6 loss to the Cardinals. “I saw the shaking of the arm, I saw the wincing, and clearly the swings aren’t who he is. And so, obviously, there’s some compensation. So I’m going to talk to him, and then I’ll make a decision about his availability.”

Roberts said a stint on the injured list was unlikely “but not impossible.”

Ohtani has declined requests for comment through a team spokesperson and hasn’t addressed reporters in more than two weeks.

“He definitely doesn’t want to take the day [off],” Roberts said Wednesday. “Speaking for him, I know he feels that he needs to post and be in the lineup, and if he’s upright, he should play. I respect that. But if he’s feeling the way that it visibly looks, then it’s really not helping anyone. So that’s the conversation I’ll have with him.”

Managing Ohtani’s health will continue to be a priority for the Dodgers. He’s been dealing with lingering knee soreness and inflammation since at least mid-June, and his biceps issue has flared several times this season.

Ohtani’s buildup back to pitching has been halted twice since he received an Orthovisc injection to lubricate the knee joint over the All-Star break.

As valuable as Ohtani is to the Dodgers as a pitcher, his offensive impact is needed far more, especially with left-hander Tarik Skubal added to the rotation. If continuing to try to pitch jeopardizes Ohtani’s production with his bat, it may be in the team’s best interest to take pitching off the table for him.

Tommy Edman was penciled into the leadoff spot and will play center field, while Alex Call will be the designated hitter and bat eighth.

Tonight's #Dodgers lineup vs. Cardinals: pic.twitter.com/77gpgH4iyi

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 3, 2026

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The Mets made a roster move on Thursday afternoon before their three-game set against the Giants begins at Citi Field on Friday night, claiming right-hander Cameron Weston off waivers from the Orioles and designating catcher Shawn Ross for assignment. Weston was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse.

Weston, who turned 26 years old last Thursday, was drafted by the Orioles in the eight round of the 2022 Draft and worked his way up through Baltimore’s minor league system. He has appeared in one major league game, tossing a scoreless inning against the Blue Jays on May 28 in his MLB debut. He struck out the first batter he faced — former Met Andrés Giménez — before allowing a walk to Brandon Valenzuela and inducing a double play from George Springer. Weston was subsequently optioned back to Triple-A Norfolk, where he has struggled to the tune of a 7.89 ERA in 51.1 innings pitched this season.

The Pennsylvania native sports a unique sidearm delivery, with a four-degree arm angle that would rank second-lowest among qualified right-handers behind submariner Tyler Rogers. Weston also averaged an impressive 19.9 inches of horizontal break on the seven sinkers he threw in his debut. For reference, no qualified pitcher is averaging over 18.7 inches of horizontal break on a sinker this season (Austin Warren, Sean Manaea, and Nolan McLean all rank in the top 20 on that leaderboard).

Ross was claimed off waivers from the Pirates on August 2. In 15 games with Syracuse, he hit .195 with one home run. Ross made his debut earlier this season for Pittsburgh, playing in two games and crushing a mammoth home run (110.6-mph exit velocity, 438-foot projected distance) in his second big league at-bat.

The Mets and Orioles have now each claimed a player off waivers from the other team in the past 72 hours, with Luis Robert Jr. currently in the heart of Baltimore’s lineup. When the the two clubs play a three-game series at Citi Field from September 14-16, it will already mark the return of Pete Alonso and Robert — but perhaps Weston will have a chance to join the party of players facing their former teams as well.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said on Wednesday night that the team would consider giving a clearly ailing Shohei Ohtani some time off to manage his ongoing knee and biceps injuries.

For now, that will include at least one day out of the Dodgers’ lineup, with Ohtani absent from the team’s batting order for Thursday’s series finale against the Cardinals.

“Ideally, he takes it as a mental and physical day,” Roberts said Thursday. “And then I think it’s just getting together with him later today and seeing how the day of rest, how he responds to that. At that point in time, we can make a decision as far as tomorrow.”

Roberts said an injured list stint for Ohtani is still unlikely, and that for now he is simply “day to day.”

General manager Brandon Gomes echoed that sentiment, insisting that “nothing has indicated that it should be an IL at this point.”

“I think it’s just really hard to say, ‘Hey, we’re gonna knock something out in X amount of days,'” Gomes said. “Not having Shohei in the lineup for 10 days or whatever it would be is something that we would prefer not to do, and it really hasn’t even been something that we’ve discussed.”

That, of course, hasn’t stopped questions from mounting about the state of Ohtani’s health.

The two-way star has been sidelined as a pitcher since early July because of an ongoing knee problem. He has also battled bouts of discomfort in his right biceps, which is where he felt renewed pain again on Wednesday night.

During an 0-for-4 performance that saw him record a season-high four strikeouts in an 8-6 loss to the Cardinals, Ohtani “was not close to optimal” with his swing, as Roberts conceded afterward.

The most alarming sequence came in Ohtani’s final at-bat in the 10th inning, when he shook his arm and grimaced after all four of his swings.

“It was more the biceps, the neck, just kind of that region … it just wasn’t firing the way he wanted it to,” Roberts said. “That’s why I think you saw some grimacing and some kind of shaking of the arm, just trying to get it to fire and he couldn’t do that.”

Roberts said he texted Ohtani on Wednesday night to inform him he would not play Thursday.

Ohtani’s response: “A salute emoji,” Roberts quipped.

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After Wednesday’s game, Roberts said Ohtani hasn’t “been who he is” for a couple weeks now, with the four-time MVP mired in a 6-for-46 slump over the last 12 games with no home runs, 19 strikeouts and a .494 OPS (the worst mark in a continuous dozen-game stretch in his MLB career).

However, Gomes disputed the notion that Ohtani’s struggles have been caused by his physical ailments.

“We haven’t had any indication that he’s not feeling good enough physically to go out and play,” Gomes said, later adding: “I don’t think you can definitely say that any struggles have been because of how he’s feeling physically.”

The Dodgers still haven’t pulled the plug on Ohtani pitching again before the end of the season, either, even after delaying his expected return to the mound last weekend following a bullpen session in which he reported not feeling 100%.

“At some point, if it’s a, ‘Hey, the upside outweighs the downside,’ then we shut it down,” Gomes said. “We’re not going to put his offensive performance [at risk] and compromise that. But right now, [we’re] not feeling that that’s necessarily a thing. We just don’t have enough information to feel strongly on that.”

That, effectively, was the Dodgers’ main message regarding Ohtani on Thursday.

Give him a night to catch his breath. Monitor how he feels in the coming days. And hope injury problems that have seemingly gotten worse lately will improve entering the final stretch of the regular season.

“I think it’s up to us to kind of figure out how we navigate these next 3 ½- 4 weeks,” Roberts said. “But I’m very confident that [by the time we get to the playoffs] we’ll see the guy we all expect to see.”

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Adley Rutschman homers twice in return to Baltimore as Red Sox outslug Orioles originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Adley Rutschman may be healthy after all.

Two days after interim Red Sox manager Chad Tracy said that the catcher’s elbow injury would likely present problems through the remainder of the season, and after Rutschman sat out for the entirety of Boston’s series against the Mariners, Rutschman returned to the lineup when the Red Sox visited Baltimore on Thursday night.

The start was important for the Red Sox, who traded away several top prospects to acquire Rutschman at the trade deadline, and for the city of Baltimore, where Rutschman came up as a No. 1 overall pick.

The fans in Baltimore welcomed Rutschman back to Camden Yards with a standing ovation in the top of the first inning. Those same fans weren’t quite so happy to see him three pitches later, when he crushed a hanging curveball deep to right field for a home run.

Rutschman’s home run may have looked familiar to the Baltimore crowd, but it’s been a rare sight during his Red Sox career, as it was just his second home run in 16 games with Boston.

That number would increase again, though, in the top of the sixth, when he turned on an inside fastball from starter Brandon Young. This homer was a no-doubter.

At the time of the second homer, the Red Sox still trailed 3-2, as Red Sox starter Jake Bennett surrendered two longballs himself — one to Pete Alonso, another to Luis Robert Jr.

Yet in what shaped up to be a battle of home runs, the Red Sox emerged victorious.

After an Isiah Kiner-Falefa RBI single tied the game in the seventh, Nick Sogard hit a two-run home run in the eighth to give Boston a 5-3 lead.

Roman Anthony homered for the second consecutive game in the top of the ninth to add an insurance run.

The homer was Anthony’s fifth extra-base hit since being activated from the injured list on Sunday, and the run proved to be quite valuable when Aroldis Chapman served up yet another home run — a two-run shot — in the bottom of the ninth.

Chapman managed to earn the save, his 31st of the season, in a 6-5 Red Sox win that featured seven combined home runs. The win snapped a rough stretch for the Red Sox, who had lost six of their last eight games.

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We're rocking with Seattle's No. 1 prospect in our A's vs. Mariners prediction tonight.

The Seattle Mariners come into this one as 66-cent favorites, and for good reason — Jack Perkins leaves a lot to be desired for the A's. 

Let’s dive into my MLB picks for Thursday, Sept. 3, and build that bankroll before the weekend.

Who will win A’s vs Mariners tonight: Mariners Moneyline (68%)

For help understanding probabilities, see our odds calculator.

Kade Anderson has been serviceable for the Seattle Mariners since his MLB debut, but he's in a perfect spot to finally put together a quality start against the Athletics, a team in the bottom 10 for wRC+.

While Anderson owns a 4.50 ERA through two starts, taking the hood off and looking underneath these surface stats indicates he's actually been better.

With a 2.28 xERA and .143 xBA, the Athletics may have a tough time stringing hits together tonight, leaving plenty of opportunity for Seattle's offense to stay hot after scoring 25 runs across its last three games.

Looking for more plays from the nightcap? Tap into my Cardinals vs. Dodgers prediction.

COVERS INTEL: Anderson throws a four-seamer-slider combo that's been getting the best of big-leaguers across his first two starts, with batters owning a .153 xBA or worse against each pitch.

A’s vs Mariners Over/Under pick: Under 7.5 (55%)

I get it, these pitchers aren't household names, but Anderson's underlying metrics look good, and Jack Perkins has a strong history against the Mariners.

Across 27 plate appearances, he's limited this Seattle offense to a .173 xBA and is striking them out at a 33% clip. This includes Julio Rodriguez, Cal Raleigh, and Josh Naylor, who are a combined 1-for-6 against the righty.

I'd play this Under up to 58 cents.

A’s vs Mariners home run prediction: Cal Raleigh (26%)

Raleigh is coming off an August tear, where he hit six homers in the last week of the month. Can he continue that tonight against Perkins?

Well, Perkins' barrel rate is in the 26th percentile among qualified pitchers, and his given up nine bombs on his four-seamer, a pitch Raleigh has hit 11 of his 20 homers on. If anyone is hitting a bomb, Raleigh has a great chance tonight.

A’s vs Mariners weather

We'll see some cold and rainy weather in Seattle tonight, with some potential for a delay before first pitch. Temperatures will sit at 62 degrees Fahrenheit.

A’s vs Mariners odds

• Moneyline: A’s 34% | Mariners 67%
• Run line: A’s +1.5 (54%) | Mariners -1.5 (47%)
• Over/Under: Over 7.5 (46%) | Under 7.5 (54%)

A’s vs Mariners trend

The Mariners are 5-1 in their last six games as a home favorite. Find more MLB betting trends for A’s vs. Mariners.

How to watch A’s vs Mariners and game info

A’s vs Mariners latest injuries

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