DETROIT, MI - SEPTEMBER 12: Hunter Goodman #15 of the Colorado Rockies celebrates his three-run home run against the Detroit Tigers with Mickey Moniak #22 in the dugout during the third inning at Comerica Park on September 12, 2026 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Duane Burleson/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Hunter Goodman has had an outstanding season. He has hit 38 home runs, which not only obliterated his old record (31) but also is 11 more than the next MLB catcher (Dillon Dingler, 27) and 15 more than the next NL catcher (Drake Baldwin, 23). And this, of course, also comes after Goodman spent 10 days on the IL with a shoulder injury in August.
This week, we asked if you thought Goodman would surpass the 40-homer mark. 63% of you believe he will — becoming the first Rockies player to do it since Nolan Arenadon in 2019.
There are 14 games left, and 10 of them are at Coors Field. Do you think Goodman will hit 40 before the end of the season? What do you think his final total will be?
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 9: Christian Koss #50 of the San Francisco Giants hits a single against the St. Louis Cardinals at Oracle Park on September 9, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Suzanna Mitchell/San Francisco Giants/) | Getty Images
Good morning, baseball fans!
Another week of San Francisco Giants baseball comes to an end today, so it’s time to share our favorite highlights of the week.
I think it was a pretty easy decision this week. The Giants combined for a whopping six home runs in last Saturday’s 9-5 win over the New York Mets. Including two each from Rafael Devers and Christian Koss!
What was your favorite highlight of the week?
What time do the Giants play today?
The Giants wrap up this series against the San Diego Padres this afternoon at 4:20 p.m. PT.
OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA - APRIL 12: Jamaree Bouyea #17 of the Phoenix Suns passes the ball during the second half against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Paycom Center on April 12, 2026 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by William Purnell/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Every day, we’ll take a closer look at another member of the 2026-27 Phoenix Suns, examining what they bring to the roster and what their role could mean for the season ahead as we count down to training camp and the preseason.
Jamaree Bouyea
Point Guard, 6’2’, 180lb, 27 years old, 4th season
Last season, Jamaree Bouyea was an early pickup for the team after he signed a two-way deal in November, coming from the Austin Spurs. They saw the potential in the guard who had floated around the league his first three years. The move let them add someone who could make the roster, and with injuries to Jalen Green early on, extra guard play was key.
This let them waive C.J. Huntley, a solid G-League player, and give him time to develop into the piece they wanted. Bouyea then proved in his early minutes that he could contribute to the rotation when the team was injured. Bouyea fought for those minutes and, similar to Collin Gillespie in the previous season, was allowed a full-on roster spot at the end of the year.
He then stayed with the team, and even though key players returning cost him minutes in the rotation, he solidified his spot and learned more. That is where this year comes into play for Bouyea, as he faces an uphill battle given how deep this team truly is at guard. That said, with his ability to overcome those obstacles last year, I hope he can make that impact again.
Last Season
In his first year in Phoenix, Bouyea suited up in 46 games for the Suns, a career best for the guard. For the Suns, this was a huge win, as they had done well on the margins by landing guys who hadn’t performed or hadn’t been given an opportunity elsewhere to really pan out. Even if he got a little worse as the season went on, Bouyea still put his name on the map after being a two-way pickup in the first half of the season.
Bouyea really showcased that he’s a jack-of-all-trades, able to help the team in many ways. He could distribute the ball and be a solid ball handler; he could be a catch-and-shoot guy for the team if they were lacking three-point scoring, and he also fought like hell on the defensive end, trying to be as big of a pest as he could. This was key, as Jordan Ott clearly wanted this playstyle, and like Mat Ishbia and Brian Gregory said preseason, they were going to build the team around the scheme and not the team around big names. This gave a player like Bouyea that opportunity, since they knew he would be a perfect fit.
GP
MIN
PPG
RPG
APG
STL
FG%
3PT%
FT%
OFFRTG
DEFRTG
+/-
46
14.0
5.7
1.8
1.8
0.6
45.8
29.5
68.6
106.0
104.6
1.4
Contract and Roster Context
As Michael A. Scotto of HoopsHype reported, the Suns picked up Bouyea’s team option this summer. This allowed him to stick with the team for this year on a deal just shy of $2.6 million. This contract is non-guaranteed, though, allowing the Suns to waive him and not owe any dead money if he does get injured, if one of the two-way guards does better, or if they see someone better out there they can pick up. He is at the bottom of the guard room, and with two other guards on two-way deals, this could be a competition battle for Bouyea all season long.
What He Brings
As I mentioned earlier, Bouyea brings a bit of everything to his game. As a scrappy guard who has yet to really solidify himself in a true role, he does have to bring it all and help in any area of need. That said, his strongest suit is probably his aggressiveness and how much he cares, which truly shows on the court. As stated previously, the front office built this team around Ott’s expertise, and Bouyea fits that mold they are looking for. Look at a guy like Jordan Goodwin, for example, who had a similar trajectory early on and now found himself in Phoenix this past season.
Bouyea should use him as inspiration to keep that fight in him and always know that an opportunity is there for him to capitalize on. This year could be that for Bouyea if he gets the time to shine and proves he can be another disruptor in this system who can be valued long-term.
What Needs to Improve
Even if he is pretty good at everything, Bouyea still has areas where he lags behind others. One of those is his three-point shooting, as he shot under 30% from three this year. His shot was solid and did drop off later in the year with less run, which makes sense, but it is something to keep an eye on. IF that number can go up and he can be a solid spot-up shooter, especially now with Royce O’Neale and Grayson Allen being gone, he can truly solidify himself as one of those spots. Goodwin did that this past season, getting better from three and earning himself a contract with the team—all that could be said about Bouyea next year if he can get on this path.
Prediction
If you can not tell from this article, it’s clear I have a soft spot for Bouyea and want him to succeed. Last year, I wrote many articles about his early appreciation in the rotation and how he could contribute in future seasons if he stuck around. Now that opinion will be put to the test as we gear up to watch a year where he has training camp and a full year to make an impact with this team. Now, will he succeed? That is the difficult thing to wrap my head around,
With how deep this guard room is (Booker, Green, Gillespie, Goodwin), he lines himself up as the fifth guard in that rotation of PG minutes, and with Kennard there too, it definitely clouds his SG minutes as well. This is where the uncertainty may strike, as he could be forgotten in the depth of this bench. Yet, we see every season something is always in the water in Phoenix, as the injury bug always strikes in the Valley. We wish to avoid that this season, but with that being the case, Bouyea will have opportunities to make his case for being a part of this team long term. Do I think he will stick? Yes, at this point I think he will make it to the end of the season, as the Suns truly see something in him, but I wouldn’t be shocked if Pat Spencer or Koby Brea forces a tough situation on the front office at the trade deadline.
Ultimately, this will be an uphill battle for Bouyea, but I am sure he knows the challenge ahead this season. Truly, with how deep this bench unit is, it’s hard to see a clear path for Bouyea to excel this season, but in any year of basketball, you have to expect the unexpected. At this point, last year no one pictured Phoenix doing what they did, and they proved their doubters wrong. The same could be said for Bouyea entering this year with this team. All the expectations are on him, and he’s truly one of the underdog stories for this team as he finds his path to a long-term roster spot. This is just the beginning of his journey, but hopefully it’s a long-lasting one here, with a breakout year coming.
Luke Haymes does not pretend the math is easy. He just keeps putting the same notes on the door.
“I’m a big Post-it note guy,” Haymes told reporters after Toronto’s 4-3 overtime loss to Ottawa’s prospects at Centre Slush Puppie. “I just throw something on there and then throw it on my wall somewhere I can see it every day and work towards it.”
They live outside his bedroom door, or on it.
“As I’m leaving, I just look at them.”
A couple of years ago the big one said NHL draft.
“That didn’t go over too well,” he said. This year’s version is simpler and harder: make the Maple Leafs out of camp. “This year’s (goal is) making the NHL.”
Underneath that are the smaller reminders he writes to himself: be a goal scorer, get in and around the net, get low on draws, get your head lower than the other centerman, snap as many draws back as you can. That is the player he is trying to put on tape before main camp, even if the roster math is stacked against him.
Haymes is a 23-year-old centre who signed as an NCAA free agent, put together a solid first full pro season with the Marlies, chipped in on a Calder Cup run and got a brief look with the big club at the end of a lost year. Toronto’s forward depth is still crowded. None of that changed the assignment he gave himself before this weekend.
He wanted the first game of the Prospect Challenge to look like those notes.
“I just want to show I play a mature game, 200-foot, can put the puck in the net but also can lock things down defensively and really good in the faceoff dot, which I think I did a good job of tonight, but I can always do better.”
The game gave him a stage, if not the result. Sawyer Boulton opened the scoring in the first off a Harry Nansi chance. Ottawa answered on the power play through Kasper Halttunen, then took a 2-1 lead on a Landen Hookey rush. Toronto generated little in the second. The night turned after Timofei Obvintsev robbed a 3-on-0. Haymes tied it 2-2, stuffing home a bouncing puck after Blake Smith’s point shot created traffic, exactly the net-front habit on the door.
“I don’t remember much,” Haymes said, “but great shot from Smitty. He got it to the net and then it bounced off my chest or shoulder or something and then I just stuffed it in.”
Borya Valis made it 3-2 on a breakaway. Ottawa tied it again. Jaxon Cover won it in overtime. In between, Smith and Djibril Touré dropped the gloves and Landon Sim tangled with Matthew Andonovski. It was the kind of messy, physical Ontario game Haymes said the younger players had to walk into cold.
“It’s a tough game to step into. It’s super aggressive. Everyone’s trying to make a mark and show the staff that they belong. I thought our guys did a good job.”
The end result saw Ottawa tie it in the third and go ont to win in overtime.
Steve Sullivan used Haymes in every situation, power play, penalty kill, four-on-three, late shifts. “He’s a 200-foot hockey player and it showed tonight,” Sullivan said. “He was part of the power play, part of the penalty kill, right to the end.”
Haymes made his NHL debut last season, where he played in four games and picked up an sssist.
Sunday’s 1 p.m. game against Winnipeg is the last look before the real evaluation starts.
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How will Manchester United and Manchester City fare today? Here is what to know, including kick-off time, TV channels and live stream options
The first Manchester Derby of the season comes at an interesting time for both clubs. City are building momentum under new manager Enzo Maresca while United are attempting to move on from a summer that raised questions about their transfer market strategy.
After conceding two goals in each of their three league games so far, Manchester United have made their worst defensive start to a season since 1972. Meanwhile, Manchester City would win their opening four Premier League games for a record seventh time with victory at Old Trafford.
TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 12: Kyle Bradish #38 of the Baltimore Orioles looks on prior to the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on Saturday, September 12, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Colton Hall/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Hello, friends.
The Orioles aren’t quite yet at “need to win every remaining game to make the postseason” territory, but yesterday’s loss puts them ever closer to that point. A golden opportunity was there for them, with a chaotic Blue Jays pitching staff pulling out a bullpen game. They didn’t do much with the opportunity since Kyle Bradish was bad and the offense did less than they should have against that parade of relievers, leading to a 7-3 loss. Check out Paul Folkemer’s recap of the game for more of the not-so-lovely totals.
One very small silver lining from yesterday’s results is that the Guardians also lost, so the Orioles remain three games back of Cleveland with 13 games to play. They are on the wrong end of the tiebreaker against that team, so it’s an effective four-game deficit. The Blue Jays are also ahead of the O’s, though the O’s do have four more games against Toronto, including today, to change that two game deficit. If the Orioles are lucky, they can get by with 11-2. Maybe it’ll take 12-1.
Obviously, it’s not going to happen. It’s a mere theoretical possibility. The only question is how long it will go before they get mathematically eliminated. On their current trajectory, September 22 is my guess. They are fully capable of playing badly enough to see it happen sooner. They are just as capable of playing well enough to kick it to the final series of the year. The season must be regarded as a disappointment either way.
A much tougher challenge awaits the Orioles today. They’ll be going up against Dylan Cease of the Blue Jays. He has a 2.40 ERA this season and has struck out 227 batters. Sounds pretty good. The Orioles should try having pitchers that good. They counter with Trevor Rogers, who had an even better ERA last year but is sitting at a 4.15 ERA this season. Since June 1, though, Rogers has a 2.88 ERA and 2.78 FIP, which is also pretty good. They’re going to need Good Trevor and then some in today’s 1:37 series finale.
Bradish irked by “terrible” results as innings climb (The Baltimore Sun) Between the majors and minors last year, Bradish threw 54 innings. After yesterday’s game, Bradish has thrown 155 innings. One can’t help but wonder if there’s a connection to this and his struggles over the last seven games.
Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries
Today in 1971, Frank Robinson joined the 500 home run club by hitting a home run in each game of a doubleheader against the Tigers. The Orioles won game 1, 9-1, but lost the second game in which Frank hit his 500th by a 10-5 score. Robinson was just the 11th player in the club at that point in time. There are now 28, none of whom are active players. The closest active player is Giancarlo Stanton at 468 homers.
There are a pair of former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 1976-86/92 catcher (and longtime coach and broadcaster) Rick Dempsey, and 1967-69 pitcher Mike Adamson.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: composer Clara Schumann (1819), Hershey founder Milton Hershey (1857), American World War I commander John Pershing (1860), author Roald Dahl (1916), animator Don Bluth (1937), movie maker Tyler Perry (1969), singer-songwriter Fiona Apple (1977), and One Direction singer Niall Horan (1993).
On this day in history…
In 1814, at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night, that our flag was still there, and Francis Scott Key wrote about it the next morning.
In 1985, the first Super Mario Bros. game was released in Japan. The franchise has nearly two dozen entries today, in addition to many more spinoffs, with a 2023 estimate that the games have sold over 430 million copies combined.
**
And that’s the way it is in Birdland on September 13. Have a safe Sunday. Go O’s!
Sep 8, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) during batting practice before the game against the Colorado Rockies at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across Major League Baseball. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Yankees fans and fans across the country.
Aaron Judge officially made his return to the Yankees’ lineup earlier this week. While at time of writing, he has yet to have a truly breakout performance, the team already seems bolstered. The offense has put up a couple good games, and just looking at the lineup on paper, it looks way better.
With the Captain back in the fold, we wanted to know what everyone made of the Yankees’ now, and here’s what you had to say.
Well, the results say we may be homers a bit. It wasn’t a majority, but a plurality of voters think that the Yankees will win the World Series with Judge back in the fold. The Yankees aren’t terribly far off the best record in the American League. It’s getting iffy whether or not they can overtake the Rays in the standings, but it’s not impossible to believe that the addition of Judge could put the team over the top as the best in the AL. At that point, if the team gets to the World Series, then you’re just talking about a seven game series in a high variance sport.
If you add in the voters that think the Yankees will win the AL pennant, then a majority of people think the Yankees will at least go to the World Series. Sixty-four percent of responders have the team winning or going to the Fall Classic.
There are doubters that even Judge can help take the team deep. While only 11 percent of voters think the Yankees will fail to get past even the Wild Card round, many others think they’ll only win one or two rounds. You also really can’t blame anyone for thinking that either. Judge was healthy and mostly hitting well last year, and the team still lost in the ALDS to the Blue Jays.
No matter what happens, it’s very good for the Yankees to have Aaron Judge back in their lineup. You always want your best players ready to go when the postseason comes around. In Judge, he’s not only one of the best players on the Yankees but the among the best in baseball.
This week’s SB Nation Reacts poll results are brought to you by FanDuel.
Curtis Pride stands on the field during a game between the Angels and the Seattle Mariners in August 2006. (Stephen Dunn / Getty Images)
The 11th in an occasional seriesof profiles on Southern California athletes who have flourished in their post-playing careers.
Curtis Pride was born deaf, and when he started playing baseball he was doing it mainly for himself. But the closer he got to becoming the first deaf major leaguer in nearly half a century, the more he realized he was actually playing for a far bigger audience.
“Growing up, I never really had a role model,” he said. “I wanted to be that person because I wanted to tell people that no matter what kind of disability you have, we should not let those disabilities stop us from pursuing our golden dream.”
Yet seven years into what seemed like endless minor league purgatory, Pride’s dream had become a nightmare. He was stuck in double A, where he batted .227 and struck out 110 times in fewer than 400 at-bats. His longtime girlfriend had just broken up with him, his teammates were mocking him behind his back and, at 23, he had crossed the line from prospect to liability.
With a finance degree from William & Mary, he could surely do better things with his life.
So he put away his bat and glove and took a temporary job with a special education program at John F. Kennedy High, his old school, in Maryland, where he quickly learned quitting wasn’t an option. When the students, all of whom had disabilities, found out what he did during the summer, they threw his own words back in his face and insisted he go back. How could he urge them to chase their ambitions if he was willing to give up on his own?
“It kind of hit me. What kind of message would I be sending to them if I walked away from baseball?” he said. “So I thought maybe I should give it another try and see what happens.”
Less than a year later, Pride was standing at second base in Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, doffing his batting helmet to a long-standing ovation he couldn’t hear after doubling in his second big-league at-bat.
“I shed a tear,” said Jim Tracy, Pride’s manager at double-A Harrisburg, where he began his comeback. “That was, for me, a sense of accomplishment for a young man that was driven his whole life to eventually be standing there.
“It was a moving moment.”
“He wanted to be an inspiration,” added Mike Scioscia, Pride’s final big-league manager with the Angels. “He is an inspiration.”
Pride would go on to play 15 more seasons and wouldn’t take the uniform off again until he was forced to, teaching thousands of children (and almost as many adults) that success is possible if you refuse to quit.
“I’ve had so many parents come up to me [and say] ‘wow, you have really given them hope,’” Pride said two days into September, which is Deaf Awareness Month. “To provide that inspiration, that’s more important to me than being a Hall of Famer.”
Curtis Pride poses for a portrait during Angels spring training in February 2005. (Jed Jacobsohn / Getty Images)
Pride first learned he could be that inspiration when, as a 17-year-old struggling through his first season of rookie ball in Kingsport, Tenn., he opened a letter from a blind elementary-school student named Amanda. She had always wanted to play baseball, but until she heard about Pride she felt there was no place in the game for a girl with a disability.
The same summer Pride made his professional debut, Amanda set aside her hesitations and joined a tee-ball league.
After his first major league game with the Expos, the trickle of fan mail became a deluge, with hundreds of letters arriving annually from children dealing with everything from hearing and vision loss to debilitating illnesses and injury. Pride answered every one.
“For parents of children with hearing differences, one of the hardest worries to carry is not knowing how to support your own child, or whether they’ll be able to communicate with the people who love them most,” said Cathleen Mathes, president and CEO of the John Tracy Center, a private, nonprofit education center in Los Angeles for infants and preschool children with hearing loss. “Curtis’ story proves that hearing loss puts no barriers on what can be achieved.”
“He’s a shining light,” added Scioscia, who managed Pride for three seasons in Anaheim. “He’s got so much to offer — not only the baseball world, but just [to] people who strive for their goals.”
One of Pride’s goals now is to stay busy.
“I play pickleball every morning. And golf,” said Pride who, 18 years after his last game, isn’t far off his playing weight of 205 pounds.
Pride and his wife Lisa, a former TV journalist, have two children, a daughter Noelle, 22, who is a senior at Ohio State, and son Colten, 19, a sophomore at Central Florida. Noelle has bilateral cochlear implants while Colten has hearing loss in his left ear; both children appeared alongside Judd Hirsch and Amy Smart in the 2024 coming-of-age movie “Rally Caps,” and are active in their father’s advocacy for deaf and hard-of-hearing youth.
For Pride, who has lived most of his life on someone else’s schedule, the free time of retirement in South Florida can be both a luxury and a burden. After his final season as a player with the independent Southern Maryland Blue Crabs in 2008, Pride was hired as the head coach at Gallaudet University, a school for deaf students, taking the team from an 8-23-1 record in his first season to 27 wins in 2014. He was also appointed to the President’s Council of Fitness, Sports and Nutrition under Barack Obama, represented the U.S. at the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics in London and worked as an ambassador for inclusion with Major League Baseball.
But Gallaudet dropped baseball two years ago and MLB scaled back much of its inclusion programming two months into the second Trump administration, so now Pride, 57, coaches part-time with the Louisville Slugger Warriors, an amputee and limb-difference baseball team made up primarily of former and current military members. Pride shares his story in motivational speeches and through his book, “I Felt the Cheers: The Remarkable Silent Life of Curtis Pride” (co-written with Doug Ward, the former publications manager for the Angels).
“I never really thought [I was] different from everyone else,” Pride said on a videoconference call, where he fielded questions by reading lips and real-time captions that scroll across his computer screen. “I never knew what hearing is like so there was never an adjustment for me to make.”
In clinical terms, Pride is profoundly deaf. While others with hearing disorders can perceive certain low-frequency vibrations as sound, for Pride almost everything is completely inaudible without powerful hearing aids. And even then loud environmental vibrations such as a low-flying airplane or a heavy truck passing are no more than faintly perceived.
Pride was 6 months old when doctors told his father John, who served eight presidents in a long government career during which he helped investigate the civil rights noncompliance of Southern states, and mother Sallie, a nurse, their son was deaf. After meeting with doctors, audiologists, speech therapists and the families of other deaf children, Pride’s parents made a series of decisions that would change the course of his life.
Pride could learn to communicate orally, through cued speech or in American Sign Language, they were told. Sign language, or the use of hand signals that correspond to separate words or phrases, is the most common choice in the deaf community while oral communication, which involves reading lips and learning to pronounce words you’ve never heard, is by far the most difficult. Yet that was also the option that presented the best chance for Pride to achieve his maximum potential.
So the Prides chose that one, moving to Silver Spring, Md., and enrolling their son in top educational programs for deaf children. At age 6 they also signed him up to play tee ball with the other neighborhood kids, teaching him his deafness may be an obstacle to a normal life but it was not a wall that separated him from one.
“My mom, she explained to me that it was something that I was born with and that I had to make the most of my situation,” recalled Pride, who speaks clearly but with atypical speech patterns since he cannot hear his own voice and adjust his pronunciations.
“[It] should not keep me from fulfilling my dreams and goals.”
And those dreams and goals weren’t confined to the baseball diamond. As a senior at Kennedy High, where he was the only hard-of hearing student, Pride was arguably one of the greatest prep athletes in the country, batting .509 and making the all-county and all-state teams in basketball while becoming the first player at his school to score more than 1,000 career points.
Soccer, however, was his best sport. Pride was a Parade high school All-American, the national player of the year and was ranked by Kick!, a UK soccer magazine for kids, as one of the top 15 youth players in the world after scoring two of the three U.S. goals in the FIFA U16 world championships in China in 1985.
Pride was also an honor student academically, earning a 3.6 GPA despite not being able to hear any of his teachers. So after the New York Mets selected him in the 10th round of the 1986 amateur draft — ahead of future teammate Tim Salmon and future All-Stars Steve Finley, Chuck Knoblauch and John Olerud — his father insisted the Mets allow Pride to attend William & Mary on a basketball scholarship while playing minor league baseball in the summer, an arrangement that may have slowed his progress as an outfielder but one that allowed him to earn a bachelor’s degree in finance in four years.
Pride often refers to his deafness as a “hearing difference” rather than an impairment or handicap. He wasn’t disabled, he said, he was differently-abled — and in some ways, he thought his deafness actually helped him on the field.
“I relied on my other senses,” he said. “My other senses have been enhanced because of my lack of hearing.”
He had no problem communicating with coaches and teammates as long as they stood in front of him, where he could read their lips. And while his teammates could be distracted by raucous crowds and heckling fans, Pride heard nothing but silence. Some outfielders could be fooled playing balls off the crack of the bat, but Pride got good jumps by watching the swing. He also learned to avoid pickoffs by watching for the shadows of opponents sneaking up behind him.
“He had an innate sense of positioning and really relied on that sense,” said Scioscia, who never saw Pride make an error in parts of three seasons with the Angels. “He worked hard at his craft.”
The first deaf player to excel in the major leagues was Billy “Dummy” Hoy, an outfielder who debuted for the Washington Nationals in 1888. He would go on to play 14 years, batting .288, averaging more than 100 runs scored a season and stealing 596 bases before retiring as the all-time leader in career chances and putouts by an outfielder.
Both records have long-since been eclipsed, but Hoy’s influence lives on in the visual signals umpires use to indicate strikes at the plate and out and safe calls.
At the start of Hoy’s career, those calls were typically made verbally, meaning Hoy would have to turn around and look at the umpire to find out if a pitch was a ball or strike. Opposing pitchers would take advantage of that by quick-pitching Hoy, who eventually asked umpires to indicate strikes with a raise of their right hands.
By 1906, four years after Hoy’s final game, that practice was widespread and by 1908 umpires were required to use visible hand signals alongside verbal calls so players, fielders and fans could understand rulings.
At least six deaf men have played in the majors since Hoy, but Pride is just the second to do so in the last 112 years. And only Hoy appeared in more big-league games than Pride.
“Most of the deaf kids who follow sports know who he is,” Joe Strasser, Pride’s longtime agent, said of his client. “To a deaf kid he is like Babe Ruth or Michael Jordan. And when he talks to them, the kids realize that hey, this guy knows what I’m going through because he went through it himself.”
Pride, like Hoy, also left his own unique mark on the game by inspiring the now-ubiquitous practice of players and coaches covering their mouths during meetings at the mound.
Curtis Pride, right, celebrates with Roger Clemens after driving in the winning run during a game between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in July 2003. (Bill Kostroun / Associated Press)
Although there is some disagreement over exactly how that ritual started, Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux insists it began after Pride was called up by the Expos in September 1993. Nine days later Maddux started for the Braves in Montreal and took the mound remembering something his brother Mike, also a major league pitcher, had told him about Pride.
“He always reads lips, then tells the coach or the manager exactly what they said,” Maddux later recounted to the Athletic. “When I started [covering my mouth], I started doing it because of Curtis Pride.”
That wasn’t Pride’s only contribution to the teams he played for. A slashing and slender left-handed hitter with blinding speed, Pride hit .300 or better six times, stole 20 or more bases seven times and reached double digits in homers in six seasons, mostly in the minors.
“His physical abilities were flooring,” said Tracy, who managed Pride during his best minor-league season, when he hit .356 with 15 homers and 21 steals in 50 games for Harrisburg. “I think he was driven to prove that hey, not only am I a player, I’m a major league player.”
That last part didn’t go so well. Because while Pride did everything every big-league team asked of him — homering in his first games for both the Red Sox and Yankees — it was never enough to make him an everyday player. Yet Pride wouldn’t quit, Strasser said, urging his agent to call around each winter hoping to get one club interested.
“I would say ‘Curtis, you understand that if you retire now, you would make more money working for an investment banking firm,’” Strasser said. “He wanted to keep playing as long as he could because he saw what kind of effect he would have on kids. That’s why he kept doing it.”
Pride hit .444 with three extra-base hits and five RBIs in nine at-bats as a September call-up for the Expos in 1993. But he got just 63 more big-league at-bats for Montreal before being let go two years later.
After signing with Detroit, he played a career-high 95 games for the Tigers in 1996, hitting .300 with 10 homers and 11 stolen bases — only one teammate with at least 300 plate appearances did better — then batted .252 in 70 games for Atlanta two years later, only to be released both times.
“If a team had given me a chance to be an everyday player, I have no doubt in my mind that I’d have done well,” said Pride, who spent parts of 11 seasons in the majors, hitting .250 in 421 games for six teams. “It’s one of those unfortunate situations where I [was] a pinch-hitter or the fourth or fifth outfielder off the bench.”
As for why he couldn’t stick, Pride has a theory, one that goes back to the second of two short trials with the Red Sox. In the 13th inning of a midseason game in Toronto, the Blue Jays’ Chris Woodward drove a ball to the alley in left-center that center fielder Carl Everett misplayed after he saw Pride closing in from his right.
The mistake cost Boston the game and even though Everett took ownership of the error, many incorrectly blamed Pride’s inability to hear his teammate calling for the ball. Boston released Pride less than two weeks later.
“That sort of reinforced his fear that he had to be twice as good to get half the chance,” said Ward, the co-author of Pride’s biography. “He just didn’t have the margin for error that maybe some of the other players had.”
Pride would play just 108 more games in the majors, making an encore with the Expos and spending a week with the Yankees before finishing with three short stays with the Angels; at 37, he walked and scored a run in his final plate appearance on the last day of the 2006 season.
He would play one more season in the minors and another in the independent Atlantic League before retiring after 23 pro seasons and 1,853 professional games, his debt to the special education students at John F. Kennedy High more than paid off and his legacy as an inspiration secure.
The Detroit Tigers secured their second-straight series win on Saturday afternoon with an 11-7 victory over the Colorado Rockies at Comerica Park. Down 7-4 in the bottom of the eighth, the good guys ran off seven straight runs to prevail over their MLB basement-dwelling foes.
On Sunday, the Motor City Kitties look for their first four-game win streak as well as their first sweep since the start of August, when they swept the Athletics in Sacramento followed by a win against the Mariners in Seattle. That glorious stretch seems like forever ago as the 2026 schedule quickly wanes.
Getting the start in the series finale for the Ole English D is right-hander Jackson Jobe, who recovered from an ugly outing against the Guardians in Cleveland last time out. The 24-year-old gave his team five frames of two-run ball on four hits (one home run) and two walks while striking out seven, getting a no-decision in an eventual 3-2 loss in extras.
For the Rockies, fellow righty Gabriel Hughes will make his 11th start of the season in search of his first win. The 25-year-old has been sharp over his last two starts, putting up a 1.86 ERA and 1.96 FIP over 9 2/3 innings of work, allowing three runs (two earned) on eight hits and two walks while striking out 10 and hitting a batter, earning his seventh loss in the process.
Take a look at how the two match up as the Tigers go for the kill on Sunday afternoon.
Detroit Tigers (69-79) vs. Colorado Rockies (55-93)
Time (ET): 12:10 p.m. Place: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan SB Nation Site:Purple Row Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Game 149: RHP Jackson Jobe (1-2, 4.45 ERA) vs. RHP Gabriel Hughes (0-7, 5.81 ERA)
TARRYTOWN, NY - AUGUST 7: Darco Milicic #31 of the Detroit Pistons poses for a portrait during the 2003 NBA Rookie Photo Shoot at the Madison Square Garden training center on August 7, 2003 in Tarrytown, New York. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory copyright notice: Copyright 2003 NBAE (Photo by: Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
As we near training camp and the preseason, the New York Knicks are starting to fill out their roster, with more than several slots and opportunities still available behind the defending NBA champions’ established rotation.
On Saturday, a familiar name entered the Knicks realm when, out of the blue, we read the name “Milicic” linked to the New York franchise.
Polish outlet Interia Sport’s Karol Wasiek reported that free agent forward Igor Milicic Jr., no relation to Serbian native Darko, agreed to an Exhibit 10 contract with the Knicks, allowing the 24-year-old to compete for a roster spot or a two-way deal during the upcoming camp.
“@SportINTERIA has established that Igor Milicić Jr. is the next Pole with an NBA contract. According to our information, the basketball player has signed an exhibit-10 type contract with the New York Knicks.” — Karol Wasiek
GOTOWI NA BOMBĘ ❓💣@SportINTERIA ustaliła, że Igor Milicić Jr. jest kolejnym Polakiem z umową w NBA. Z naszych informacji wynika, że koszykarz podpisał kontrakt typu exhibit-10 z New York Knicks.#plkpl
The 6-foot-10, 225-pound forward went undrafted in 2025 following a four-year college career that included stops at Virginia (16 games), Charlotte (66) and Tennessee (37). Milicic averaged 9.4 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.9 assists across 37 starts during his final college season with the Volunteers.
That said, Igor’s best amateur season came a year earlier when he put up a 13-8-2 stat line shooting 48.7% from the field and 37.6% from three with the 49ers.
Milicic spent last season with the Delaware Blue Coats, the Philadelphia 76ers’ G League affiliate. He averaged 6.9 points, 5.0 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 18.8 minutes across 45 appearances.
The Polish lad also played seven Summer League games with the San Antonio Spurs this offseason, and the truth is that his age, size, and positional flexibility should give him an opportunity to compete for a place within New York’s organization, whether that’s in the majors (more than unlikely) or the minors (slightly less likely).
The Knicks currently have all three two-way contract slots available. According to Wasiek, all those openings factored heavily into Milicic’s decision to join New York, hoping to snatch one of them along with the developmental opportunity the Knicks offered him.
For context, an Exhibit 10 contract can be converted into a two-way deal, and Milicic could also receive a bonus of up to approximately $91,000 if New York waives him before the regular season and he subsequently spends at least 60 days with the Westchester Knicks.
Texas Rangers ace Jacob deGrom sat back on the visitor’s bench at Chase Field this weekend pondering whether any pitcher will ever strike out 3,000 batters again, let alone win 300 games, but ever, so quietly, we’re about to witness a historic pitching feat.
One that hasn’t been accomplished since 2009, and one that we may never see again.
Detroit Tigers reliever Kenley Jansen is on the verge of reaching his 500th career save, a feat accomplished only by Hall of Famers Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman, who each eclipsed 600.
“Now that I’m getting close to it," Jansen tells USA TODAY Sports, “it’s a wow moment. How did I achieve all of these? It’s unbelievable. It shows you how fast it goes."
Jansen, one of only three active pitchers with more than 300 saves, entered Saturday with 495, five shy of an automatic ticket into Cooperstown.
“I can’t wait to see it," Houston Astros executive De Jon Watson says. “He’s worked so hard to get to this point, maintaining success, and he keeps climbing the ladder. His journey is amazing."
Then again, without Watson, the baseball world may never have heard of Jansen.
Jansen was a 6-foot-5, minor-league catcher in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization trying to save his career. He had fine defensive skills, but he badly struggled at the plate. He had a .229/.310/.337 slash line with 15 homers in 953 plate appearances in 304 minor-league games.
Watson, the Dodgers’ vice president of player development at the time, visited him at Triple-A Albuquerque and laid down the truth. He told Jansen, who was hitting .185 with no extra-base hits, that if he wanted to be a big-leaguer, he needed to give up catching and covert to being a hard-throwing reliever.
“He did not want to hear it," Watson said. “He was adamantly opposed. I told him to talk to your family, talk to your parents. He talked to them, took a a day, came back, and said, “Let’s go do it.’’’
Says Jansen: “I still remember that day. I didn’t want to pitch, and I told De Jon Watson that I still wanted to catch. I talked with my mom and my dad and then my dad told me that he always wanted to see me as a pitcher. That made it smoother for me."
Jansen was sent to their Class A Inland Empire team in San Bernardino, Calif., to be with revered pitching coach Charlie Hough. He began throwing 95-97 mph in his side sessions, and in his first outing, threw 96-99 mph, and struck out the side.
“Oh my goodness,’’ Hough told Watson, “we may have something here."
Says Jansen: “I remember feeling at that moment this could be something special."
Jansen was called up to the big leagues a year later, posted a 0.67 ERA in 25 games for the Dodgers, became the closer in 2012, and now after 3,844 batters faced, 978 games and 495 saves, he’s on the verge of history.
Who would have imagined that the same man who caught Clayton Kershaw’s first professional game in the minor leagues in 2006, and who recorded his first save in the same game that Kershaw pitched eight shutout innings in 2010, now could be joining him one day in Cooperstown?
“I know when I get my 500th save," Jansen said, “I’m going to get a call from that man, and De Jon is going to say to me, 'So, how about that? You didn’t want to pitch. Now, look at you.’ I know I’m going to hear all about it when I get to 500."
Oh yeah, you better believe it.
“I can’t wait," Jansen said, “because I appreciate him so much for what he did for me. He was always hard on me, and I didn’t understand it at the time, but he saw something special in me. He believed in me before I believed in myself.
“Believe me, I’m not here without him."
– Mike Rizzo, the man who built the Washington Nationals into a power and led them to the 2019 World Series championship, recently had a formal interview with the Athletics for their vacant GM position.
The Athletics, who have also interviewed assistant GM Billy Owens, and have identified James Click, vice president of baseball strategy with the Toronto Blue Jays as a strong candidate, would like to make their hire before the season’s conclusion.
Rizzo, who lives in West Palm Beach, Fla., also has strong interest in the Houston Astros’ GM vacancy, but the Astros aren’t expected to begin their interview process until after their season concludes.
– The Houston Astros are considering shifting Carlos Correa from third base to second base if he’s able to return from his torn left ankle tendon surgery. It would keep Isaac Paredes at third base, move Jose Altuve to the DH role and MVP candidate Yordan Alvarez from DH to left field.
– It will be a disastrous signing for the New York Mets if infielder Bo Bichette opts out of his contract after the season. It would mean that the Mets wasted a cool $42 million, getting precious little return with Bichette having the worst year of his career in the Mets’ ugly season.
The Mets are hoping that Bichette at least stick around another season before opting out of the final year of his three-year, $126 million deal.
– The Athletics, who made wholesale firings on their minor-league development staff, aren’t done yet.
While there have been rumblings in the industry about manager Mark Kotsay’s future, but he has a contract through 2028 and is considered safe.
– The greatest move the Arizona Diamondbacks made since signing Randy Johnson to a four-year, $52.4 million contract and winning four Cy Young awards and a World Series championship was locking up outfielder Corbin Carroll to an eight-year, $111 million contract.
Carroll, an ultimate gamer who constantly plays with nagging injuries, just produced his fourth consecutive season with at least 20 homers, 20 doubles and 10 triples.
The last man to achieve the feat is Hall of Famer Dick Allen, and only legendary Lou Gehrig has done it in five consecutive seasons.
– RIP esteemed baseball executive Joe McDonald, who passed away at the age of 97. McDonald, who won six World Series as an executive, spent 18 years with the New York Mets, including time as their farm director, scouting director and GM. He was later the GM of the St. Louis Cardinals and Detroit Tigers. He retired as the Boston Red Sox scout in 2019.
His son, Jody McDonald, is the famed longtime national sports talk show host.
– While former Astros GM Dana Brown is actively seeking to return as an executive as quickly as possible, his Kyle Tucker trade with the Chicago Cubs may go down as an all-time win.
The Astros acquired young budding right field star Cam Smith, slugging third baseman Isaac Paredes and starting pitcher Hayden Wesneski.
The Astros certainly aren’t in first place in the AL West without the trio, and Tucker lasted just one year with the Cubs before signing with the Dodgers.
– Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout went 27 games without a homer, just one shy of the longest drought of his career.
– While the widespread belief is that this will be the Dodgers’ most vulnerable year in the postseason since 2023 with Shohei Ohtani’s injury and slumps with their biggest stars, it’s easy to forget that they still are the heavy favorites to win their third World Series title.
Simply, no one has a better and more feared starting trio of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell.
Snell, who has a fresh arm having pitched just 37.2 innings all season, has been sensational since his return from surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow.
Snell is yielding a 1.04 ERA with a .126 opponent’s batting average in the six starts since his return, with 46 strikeouts in 34.2 innings. He hasn’t allowed more than one run in any of the starts, and three or fewer hits in four of them.
– Pretty cool that World Series MVP David Eckstein and his wife, Ashley Eckstein, released books simultaneously this past week.
Eckstein’s book, “Just Enough," is about his perseverance and faith that helped him become a 10-year major-league infielder after being drafted in the 19th round and later dumped by the Boston Red Sox. Ashley’s book, “Love 22,’’ is a love story about how she and Eckstein met in Anaheim, almost falling in love immediately, and getting married two years later in 2005.
– Remember when the San Francisco Giants let everyone know that Rafael Devers was available at the trade deadline, and had no takers?
Well, considering that Devers now has 36 homers and 96 RBIs – including 18 homers at Oracle Park, the most by any Giants’ player since Barry Bonds in 2004 – he’s back to being the guy the Giants want to build around.
He’s not going anywhere.
– What happened to that soft schedule of the final 21 games that was supposed to vault the Seattle Mariners into playoff contention?
They entered Saturday having lost four of their last five games to the Athletics and are now 10 games under .500.
Put a fork in them. It’s over.
– The Yankees certainly have a dangerous starting rotation behind Cy Young favorite Cam Schlittler, but there are red flags emerging.
Max Fried has now gone 11 consecutive starts without a victory, while Gerrit Cole is yielding a 5.96 ERA in his last four starts, giving up 29 hits, including eight homers, in 22.2 innings.
– Congratulations to Tampa Bay Rays 23-year-old All Star Junior Caminero, who became the second-youngest player in MLB history to hit 40 homers in multiple seasons, joining 21-year-old Eddie Mathews.
– Arizona Diamondbacks prized catcher Gabriel Moreno, the gift that keeps on giving in a trade from Toronto, could be in line to become the game’s richest catcher. Moreno, 26, who’s hitting .300 with 12 homers and an .841 OPS, with the second-highest WAR in the National League since late May, is eligible for salary arbitration a second time this winter. He could eclipse the 10-year, $140 million contract Will Smith signed with the Dodgers two years ago if they can work out an extension this winter.
– Remember when Don Baylor, the Rockies’ original manager, was incessant they would not lose 100 games under his watch with baseball’s new expansion team?
They never did. Now, they’re on the verge of losing 100 games for the fourth consecutive season.
– Future Hall of Fame second baseman Jose Altuve produced his 2,500th hit and now along with Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Derek Jeter, are the only players to produce at least 2,500 hits, 250 home runs and 300 stolen bases with a career batting average of .300.
– While the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks are on a collision course to determine the National League’s final wild-card berth in San Diego the final weekend of the season, pardon Padres starter Michael King for not appreciating the drama.
“I would much prefer to have a little rocking-chair series and be prepared for whoever we’re playing in the wild card," King told reporters.
Well, considering they have traded spots in the standings six times in the past two weeks, there’s little chance of someone pulling away before that critical series.
Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association met for about an hour Thursday in New York, as they do just nearly every week, this time talking about the domestic violence policy and the debt-service rules.
The meeting ended, they promised to convene again next week, and will continue to discuss non-core economic issues for the next few months.
When it comes to talking about that monstrous elephant in the room, the one that’s expected to result in a Dec. 1 lockout that could last anywhere from a few months to Memorial Day weekend to the entire season, that’s going to have to wait.
Those serious talks may not transpire until February, just like the 99-day lockout in 2021, when nothing became urgent until spring training was about to commence.
But once they do, and MLB reiterates their demand for a salary cap, and the union again tells them to take a hike, circle last Friday on the CBA negotiations calendar.
And the proof, the union declares, that baseball does not have a competitive balance problem.
The Brewers, who reside in the smallest market in baseball and have the 11th-lowest payroll, are back in the postseason for the eighth time in the last nine years, and are about to clinch their fourth consecutive NL Central title over the Chicago Cubs.
The Rays, another small-market team with the seventh-smallest payroll, are in the playoffs for the sixth time in the last nine years and about to clinch the AL East over the powerful and rich New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.
So, what’s the issue, the union asks?
Well, not to take anything away from the Brewers or the Rays, MLB says, but where are their World Series trophies?
The Brewers have been around 58 seasons, and they still are looking for their first World Series championship, last winning the pennant in 1982.
The Rays have been in existence for 29 years, have been to the World Series twice – including the 2020 COVID year – but don’t have a title either.
That’s a problem, MLB insists, with plenty of research and fancy charts to back their claims that they have the worst competitive balance in North American sports.
While the Royals are the lone small-market team to win a World Series title since 2012, seven small-market teams have won titles during the same time span in the NBA and NFL, and five in the NFL. Yes, that includes three Super Bowl championships in five years by the Chiefs, who are located just across the parking lot from the Royals.
MLB also reminds you that last year’s NBA Finals featured the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder, two markets so small that they only have Triple-A baseball teams, and aren’t even under consideration for expansion in the near future.
They’ll emphasize that while small-market teams in other sports can retain their stars, teams like the Brewers and Rays constantly are forced to trade them away.
Will there be a salary cap?
While Oklahoma City spent $822 million in the offseason to bring back their core stars, the Brewers, who had the best regular-season record in baseball last season, traded away ace Freddy Peralta believing they couldn’t afford to keep him once he hit free agency. It has become an annual tradition for for the Brewers who also dumped Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes and All-Star closers Josh Hader and Devin Williams also a year before free agency. And once players hit free agency, most go to the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees and Phillies, who have spent more money in free agency since 2021 than 22 other small- and middle-sized market teams.
Money doesn’t mean everything, of course, as the Mets have proven, but Atlanta is the only team in the last eight years to win a World Series without having a top-10 payroll. Just 22.5% of the teams reaching the NLCS and ALCS the past 10 years have had a payroll in the lower half.
This is why MLB is insisting on a salary cap, including a salary floor, with the Dodgers’ current $378.3 million payroll about $300 million more than the Cleveland Guardians, and at least $200 million more than 25 teams in baseball. Their $160 million luxury tax penalty last year exceeded the total player payroll of 16 teams.
It’s simply a matter of leveling the playing field, MLB officials say.
“We need to make sure that fans and markets at the beginning of the season have a realistic belief that their team has a chance to win," commissioner Rob Manfred said at the All-Star Game. “I think that we need a system where fans, particularly in smaller markets, can have some hope that the players that are signed and developed by their organizations can actually stay there through free agency.
"And, honestly, I think we need a system where there is a more robust free agent market so if you don't want to go to New York or Los Angeles, you have a realistic opportunity to get a viable free agent contract."
Yet, if market size and revenue mean so much, the union argues, then why do four of MLB’s worst teams reside in the three biggest markets – the New York Mets, Los Angeles Angels, San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals?
And why do the Mets have a 40-year World Series drought? Why do the Cubs and White Sox, residing in the third-largest market in the country, have only one World Series title apiece since 1908? And how do you explain three teams who have bottom-seven payrolls in position to be in the postseason with the White Sox and Cleveland Guardians joining the Rays?
So sorry, if the union doesn’t buy the argument.
Besides, if competitive balance is truly MLB’s biggest concern, the union points out that there have been 16 different World Series champions in the last 25 years, with 23 teams reaching the World Series.
In fact, eight teams since 2002 have ended World Series droughts of at least 50 years.
And, please, don’t get the union started with teams complaining about money woes, even with teams insisting their paper losses are real. The recent historic sales of the Los Angeles Angels ($4 million) and San Diego Padres ($3.9 million) have increased the average franchise value from $2.95 billion to more than $4 million alone in the last six months, according to CNBC.
This is why the union steadfastly refuses to budge in any attempt by MLB to impose a salary cap. It doesn’t matter that MLB is willing to reduce free agency from six years to five years for players at least 30, eliminate the qualifying offer free-agent system, increasing the minimum salary from $780,000 to $1 million, increase the pre-arbitration bonus pool from $50 million in 2026 to $65 million in 2027 and $75 million within five years, along with other bells and whistles.
It means absolutely, the union argues, since all of the proposals include a salary cap, and will refer to their statement on June 24.
“These misleading offers are designed to look like 'improvements' but are of little or no value, given that they are expressly conditioned on agreement to the league’s cap system which eliminates the free market, and ensures gains for one player only come at the expense of another."
So, it goes, ‘round and ‘round.
Will there be an MLB lockout?
The two sides will slowly work out agreements on the intricacies of the CBA, but when Dec. 1 rolls around, the monstrous obstacle of the salary cap will still be hovering, with everyone from players to front-office executives, to scouts to umpires wondering how long the stalemate will last.
Teams already are slashing their scouting and player developments, and many of those that remain have expiring contracts.
No one knows how long the eventual lockout will last, but there is fear, knowing there could be several paychecks missed with mortgages to be paid and mouths to feed.
There are plenty of theories on the end date, with a growing sentiment that baseball may not be played until Memorial Day weekend, but no one knows.
Not Manfred. Not Meyer. Not the owners. And not the players.
All that’s known is that with just two weeks remaining until the postseason, there will be intense scrutiny on the postseason fates of Milwaukee and Tampa Bay.
A Brewers-Rays World Series would be a TV ratings nightmare, but, oh, what a dream matchup for the player union.
Who ever would have imagined these two franchises could wind up playing an integral role in not only labor talks, but MLB’s future.
NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 12: Cody Bellinger #35 of the New York Yankees celebrates with Luis García Jr. #26 in the dugout after hitting a solo home run in the sixth inning during the game between the New York Mets and the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, September 12, 2026 in New York, New York. (Photo by Michael Urakami/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The Mets evened up the Subway Series on Saturday, walloping the Yankees 12-2 as Gerrit Cole couldn’t keep the visitors from launching balls over the fences. It was the second straight concerning start on that front for Cole, who insists that he’s perfectly healthy but has noticed the issue and believes there’s some ironing out to do mechanically — hopefully he gets that in line quickly, because time is running out before the postseason and Cole is expected to be one of the team’s top three starters in a short series to determine their fate.
Before the finale of the series gets underway, we’ve got some things on deck for you to check out. Matt starts us off with a look at your responses to Aaron Judge’s return and how far you think the Yankees will go with him back in the mix. Then, Peter covers the Roundup where the Rays and Red Sox both managed to secure wins, John celebrates Bernie Williams on his birthday, and Estevão compares how the Yankees and Mets have done covering games without their superstars this season. After the game, John will return to deliver the weekly social media spotlight.
Today’s Matchup:
New York Yankees vs. New York Mets
Time: 1:35 p.m. EST
TV: YES Network, SNY
Venue: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY
Questions/Prompts:
1. How big of a concern have Gerrit Cole’s last two starts been on a scale of 1-10?
2. Are you going to watch any of the Jets or Giants’ season openers today?
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 12: Gerrit Cole #45 of the New York Yankees looks on from the dugout after he was removed from a game against the New York Mets during the fifth inning at Yankee Stadium on September 12, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Athletic | Brendan Kuty ($): All of a sudden, Gerrit Cole has a home run problem. He allowed four last week against the Padres including the first three batters of the game and another three against the Mets on Saturday, the combined seven the most he’s given up in a two-start stretch in his career. He didn’t have an immediate answer when asked about the cause, but did agree with the observation that chase and swing and miss have regressed significantly this season. He and Aaron Boone maintained that health is not an issue and sounded confident they would find the necessary adjustment. This stretch is reminiscent of Cole’s 2022 campaign, when he led MLB with 33 home runs surrendered.
New York Post | Zach Braziller: The recent turnaround in the Yankees’ offensive performances seems to coincide with Cody Bellinger’s return from injury. With another long ball in the loss to the Mets on Saturday, Bellinger has launched three home runs in his last four games. His bat is getting hot just at the right time, the left fielder slashing .368/.359/.605 in September, and his return alongside Ben Rice’s resurgence at the dish helps take some pressure off Aaron Judge, allowing the captain to focus on regaining his timing in time for the playoffs.
SNY | Phillip Martinez: Clarke Schmidt dominated in what he and the team are hoping is his final rehab appearance before joining the big league team for the first time this season. Schmidt threw 1.1 scoreless innings of relief, striking out three while requiring just 21 pitches for Double-A Somerset on Saturday. Schmidt hasn’t pitched in MLB since undergoing Tommy John surgery in July of 2025 and focused his rehab assignment specifically to join the bullpen when he is activated to the major league roster.
Yahoo! Sports | J.P. Hoornstra: Former top Yankees pitching prospect Chase Hampton has been claimed off waivers by the Nationals after the Yankees designated him for assignment to clear a 40-man roster space for Aaron Judge’s return. Hampton was a consensus top-10 Yankees prospect and top-100 prospect overall before suffering a forearm injury in 2024 and undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2025. The 25-year-old righty was drafted by the Yankees in the sixth round of the 2022 MLB Draft and at one point was the top-ranked pitching prospect in the organization before injuries derailed his career. The Nationals have assigned him to Double-A Harrisburg where he will look to improve upon his 8.18 ERA in 55 innings this year.
SAN ANTONIO, TX. - MAY 2026: Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle (30) before Game 5 against the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center in San Antonio, Texas, on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. Minnesota Timberwolves vs. San Antonio Spurs, NBA Western Conference Semifinals, Game 5. NBA Playoffs. (Photo by Carlos Gonzalez/The Minnesota Star Tribune via Getty Images) | Star Tribune via Getty Images
Julius Randle has a simple message for anyone setting expectations for the Brooklyn Nets this season: prepare to be surprised.
Shortly after the Nets acquired Randle in June, first-round rookie Mikel Brown Jr. shared with reporters that the three-time All-Star had told him Brooklyn was going to “shock the world.”
So, when NetsDaily caught up with Randle on Saturday at a community basketball event, we asked him what he meant by “shock the world.”
“Exactly that,” Randle said. “Whatever your expectations are, whatever expectations that are put upon us, we’re gonna exceed them and we’re gonna do things at a very high level. We’re gonna build, come in with the right habits every single day, and we’re gonna do exactly that.”
The 31-year-old spent Saturday afternoon at the Brooklyn Basketball Training Center, hosting a back-to-school clinic for 75 local middle and high schoolers.
Randle is no stranger to New York City, having spent five seasons across the East River with the Knicks before playing two years with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Nevertheless, he understands the importance of giving back to the community.
“It’s really just about giving my time to the community,” Randle said. “Really just, you know, touching the community, touching the kids, just being a part of the community. Anytime I can give back, put a smile on a kid’s face or a parent’s face. These are the people who support us year-round, whether we know it or not, and they make the game what it is, so it’s how I can give back.”
“So many people have poured into my life and helped me become who I am, and idols that I’ve looked up to, so I feel like it’s my job to pay back as well,” he continued.
Despite being acquired in June, Randle said he wasted no time familiarizing himself with Brooklyn’s youngsters.
The veteran worked out in Texas this summer with Egor Dëmin, Mikel Brown Jr., and Josha Jefferson, giving him an early look at how they look before training camp begins.
“Egor, Mikel, Joshua, all those guys, like extremely, extremely hard workers,” Randle told NetsDaily. “Attention to detail, but just really, really hard workers. Competition level is really high. Whether it’s, you know, playing one-on-one or we’re in a shooting drill, whatever, like everything is done, you know, at game speed. Attention to detail. Smart, high-IQ basketball players.”
Dëmin is gearing up for his second NBA season after an encouraging rookie year and an even stronger summer, leaving fans excited for what his future in the league holds. Brown is getting ready to anchor Brooklyn’s backcourt around Dëmin in his rookie campaign, while Jefferson is also a first-year pro.
Randle also spent time with the youngsters away from the court, including one particularly memorable round of golf in the Texas heat.
“Played a little golf in the Texas heat, which was a little interesting for them,” Randle said. “I think about the third hole; they were all trying to take their shirts off on a golf course, and you can’t do that. So we got a little warning in the middle of playing golf.”
At the end of the day, Randle said he is building relationships with his teammates that are over a decade younger than him. And he’s enjoyed that, particularly their energy.
“It’s refreshing being around youthful energy like that,” he said. “Definitely refreshing for me.”
Randle’s experience is valuable to have in the building, but there is no doubt he can still produce. During the 2025 season, he averaged 21.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 5.0 assists in 33 minutes per game across 79 outings.
Most importantly, though, production aside, he has clearly embraced a leadership role… before even suiting up for the Nets.
Now comes the hard part: actually shocking the world as the veteran promises.
