Worldwide Sports News

It’s a battle of lefties in Great American Ball Park on Monday night as the Cincinnati Reds welcome Tarik Skubal and the Los Angeles Dodgers to town for a four-game series.

Nick Lodolo gets the start for Cincinnati, with first pitch set for 6:40 PM ET.

Here’s how both clubs will line up to start:

Pete Alonso will return to New York tonight in search of his 300th career home run. The Polar Bear is expected to receive a warm welcome at Citi Field after spending the first seven years of his career in a Mets uniform. The Orioles signed Alonso to a five year, $155-million deal last offseason.

Samuel Basallo will not be in the lineup tonight. Baltimore skipper Craig Albernaz said Basallo is dealing with some right shoulder discomfort. Carlos Narváez will bat ninth and catch starter Brandon Young.

Dylan Beavers is back atop the lineup and will play left field. Gunnar Henderson (shortstop), Coby Mayo (third base), and Jackson Holliday (second base) will round out the infield and the heart of the order.

Christian Encarnacion-Strand will bat sixth and DH. Heston Kjerstad will bat seventh and play right field, and Colton Cowser will bat eighth and take center.

Young has already tossed a career high 140.2 innings. With Baltimore all but out of contention, it’s fair to wonder if this could be his last start of the season. Young is 9-4 with a 3.71 ERA.

Prior to the game, Baltimore optioned RHP Yaramil Hiraldo and recalled RHP Codi Heuer. The Orioles acquired Heuer from Milwaukee for cash on August 3.

Orioles lineup

1. Dylan Beavers LF
2. Pete Alonso 1B
3. Gunnar Henderson SS
4. Coby Mayo 3B
5. Jackson Holliday 2B
6. Christian Encarnacion-Strand DH
7. Heston Kjerstad RF
8. Colton Cowser CF
9. Carlos Narváez C

Starter: RHP Brandon Young

First Pitch (CT):6:40 PM
TV: Twins.TV
Radio: TIBN/830 WCCO/102.9 The Wolf /Audacy App
Know Yo’ Foe:Pinstripe Alley

Bad news: the Twins play the Yankees. Good news: most of these Twins are young enough to not even know the Twins are cursed against the Evil Empire. But back to bad news: back-to-back MVP Aaron Judge is back after missing over 4 months.

Judge is still rounding into form, with the Yankees opting to bring him right back to the Bigs and forgo a rehab assignment. But even with a less-than-100% Judge, monster masher Giancarlo Stanton missing 90% of the season, and key starters Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Trent Grisham placed on the IL in the past week, this New York lineup is still plenty deep. Cody Bellinger is a rock steady contributor, while Ben Rice and midseason pickup Luis Garcia Jr. each have over 30 homers this season. Plus, they have their own exciting rookie tandem between shortstop George Lombard Jr. and humungous centerfielder Spencer Jones (think Matt Wallner but fast).

Dean Kremer will head to the mound for the Twins, who will look to provide some length after the debacle yesterday. Kremer’s home run rate has normalized since coming to Minnesota, as expected, but his strikeout rate has dropped while his walk rate climbed, so the overall results have still left Twins fans a bit wanting. I don’t think Kremer is at risk of being non-tendered in the offseason, but with all of Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, and Kremer set to be free agents after 2027, Jeremy Zoll and co. will likely want to do some shuffling in favor of long-term stability. Everyone from Kremer to my dog would feel much better about next year’s outlook if he can string together a few strong starts to end his campaign.

NOTES

• Trevor Larnach was in the intial lineup but was scratched after getting injured pre-game. He is getting imagine on his wrist. Any missed time would end his season and potentially his Twins career.
• Kaelen Culpepper remains out after getting drilled in the back by a fastball on Saturday. Derek Shelton sounded optimistic that he could be back tomorrow.
• Royce Lewis also remains out after leaving yesterday with shoulder discomfort. We may be seeing the last of Lewis as a Twin as well.

Lineups

Here’s the White Sox lineup:

Here’s the Guardians lineup:

Let’s go, Guardians!

Freddie Freeman gets a rare day off as the Dodgers visit Great American Ball Park for the first time in 2026.

Monday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Reds
• Ballpark: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati
• Start time: 3:40 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

One day after allowing his first runs in four weeks, Dodgers reliever Edgardo Henríquez was placed on the 15-day injured list with lower back discomfort. His regular season is over.

Henríquez has been one of the best relievers on the team this season, with a 2.85 ERA and 2.47 xERA in 61 games, with 71 strikeouts and 25 walks in 60 innings, with a 29.3-percent strikeout rate and only one home run allowed. The 24-year-old leads the Dodgers bullpen in innings and xERA, and is second only to Tanner Scott in strikeouts.

Sunday was a rare rough outing for Henríquez, who allowed three hits, a walk, and two runs in the eighth inning, recording only two outs. Those were the first runs allowed by Henríquez since August 16, snapping a string of 11 consecutive scoreless appearances.

“It’s the confidence he has in his fastball. Everybody knows it’s not easy to hit 103, 104 coming at you with confidence,” outfielder Teoscar Hernández said last week on the Dodgers’ homestand. “That’s been the difference between the Edgardo we saw at the beginning of the year, and the Edgardo we’re seeing right now.”

Whether Henriquez will be ready and available once the postseason starts remains to be seen.

With Henríquez sidelined, Bobby Miller was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City. Miller was just optioned last Monday, but he’s able to return before his 15 days are up because he’s replacing an injured player.

Miller pitched once for Oklahoma City after getting optioned, and it was a rough outing, with five runs allowed in 1 2/3 innings on Friday against Sugar Land, with all five runs scored on two home runs by the same player.

The Dodgers and Reds continue their series on Tuesday in Cincinnati, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound.

Tuesday is Yamamoto’s 27th start of 2026, the lone Dodgers starting pitcher to remain active and in the rotation all year. He’s at 172 innings, needing only two innings to surpass his MLB regular season high of 173 2/3 innings set in his 30 starts in 2025. Yamamoto’s 6.62 innings per start is tops in the majors.

Right-hander Rhett Lowder starts for the Reds on Tuesday. He allowed seven runs in 3 1/3 innings to the Dodgers last Wednesday at Dodger Stadium. The winning pitcher that night was Yamamoto, who struck out 10 in seven innings.

Tuesday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Reds
• Ballpark: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati
• Start time: 3:40 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

The series opener between the White Sox and Guardians will determine the AL Central. If that sounds overdramatic, perhaps you haven’t watched the last two weeks of South Side baseball.

Chicago limps into this game looking to right many wrongs. In their last 10 games, they’ve lost seven and produced a -9 run differential. The bats hit .179 with runners in scoring position, going a measly 14-for-78, and the rotation is out of steam. Starters have averaged 3.57 runs allowed in their last seven games before getting yanked in the middle of the fifth. Coming out of this slow stretch, the South Siders will be playing with a deck stacked against them.

Walking onto Progressive Field hasn’t been easy for this organization: Since 2020, the Sox are 16-28 in Cleveland, and that’s including the three-game series the Guardians took earlier this year. The White Sox haven’t swept the Guardians in a series in the last six years, and the story only gets uglier going back to the late 2010s. Not only does Cleveland have home-field advantage this week, but they just wrapped up a 6-4 record in their last 10 games and are eager to reclaim their spot as the division leader, which they last shared with the Sox on July 21. This match between the hungry Guardians and white-knuckling Sox will be a major tone-setter for the final 13 games of the year.

With a rotation crawling towards the end of the season, Sean Newcomb is once again an opener for the White Sox, against Gavin Williams, who has been all over the place in terms of quality outings this year. Williams has endurance on his side, averaging just short of six innings pitched per game, but Newcomb has been successful as an opener.

Here’s how the Sox line up at the plate:

And here’s how the Guards match up against them:

Don’t miss the first pitch, at 5:40 p.m. CDT on CHSN and ESPN Chicago WMVP 1000 AM.

Happy Monday.

There was a roster move today, Jesús Sánchez was claimed off waivers the the Diamondbacks. Not really surprise that someone picked him up. There is power there, we just didn’t get it to come out.

And some real roster moves:

• Rudy Martin Jr. has been put on the IL with a left hamstring strain.
• Brendan Cellucci LHP has been called up. He has a 3.06 ERA in 46 appearances, mostly with the Bisons. In 53 innings he allowed 44 hits, 26 walks and 59 strikeouts.
• Davis Schneider has been called up. In August, for the Bisons, he hit .250/.421/.607 with 3 home runs, 8 walks and 8 strikeouts. I feel a little better about him coming up considering he was actually hitting the ball some, and not just taking walks.
• And Ricky Tiedemann has been optioned to Buffalo.

And there are some injury notes:

• Trey Yesavage will throw three innings tomorrow (well, hopefully throw three innings) for the Bisons. If all goes well, he may be up soon after that.
• Anthony Santander will play with the Bisons ‘through this week’. We knew he wasn’t likely to be coming up right away. He’s going to have to show he can hit some.

Tonight’s lineups:

Mets lineup

Francisco Lindor – SS
Juan Soto – LF
Bo Bichette – 3B
Carson Benge – RF
Jared Young – DH
Marcus Semien – 2B
A.J. Ewing – CF
Brett Baty – 1B
Francisco Alvarez – C

SP: Jonah Tong – RHP

Orioles lineup

Dylan Beavers – LF
Pete Alonso – 1B
Gunnar Henderson – SS
Coby Mayo – 3B
Jackson Holliday – 2B
Christian Encarnacion-Strand – DH
Heston Kjerstad – RF
Colton Cowser – CF
Carlos Narvaez – C

SP: Brandon Young – RHP

First pitch: 7:10 PM EDT
TV: SNY
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2

There are no poop emojis to be found on this meter. There aren’t even any down arrows to be found on this meter. I think that might be a first? It’s a shame it took until [checks notes] September 2026 when the team is already well out of the playoff race to achieve this feat. But scoring double-digit runs four times in the past two weeks and having three contests in which the team hit three or more home runs over that same span will do it. The Mets are fifth in baseball in position player fWAR and tied for third in baseball in wRC+ in this 12-game span, despite yesterday’s shutout loss. Juan Soto, still ramping up slowly from injury, isn’t even at the peak of his powers right now and they’re still doing this. What a weird baseball team.

Player	Last week	This week
Francisco Alvarez, C
Brett Baty, UTIL
Carson Benge, OF
Bo Bichette, 3B
A.J. Ewing, OF
Francisco Lindor, SS
Nick Morabito, OF	—
Christopher Morel, 1B/DH
Cristian Pache, OF
Marcus Semien, 2B
Juan Soto, OF
Luis Torrens, C
Mark Vientos, 1B/3B
Jared Young, 1B/DH

We’ll start with A.J. Ewing, who has probably had the starkest turnaround of anyone on the roster from the last meter to this one. Ewing was mired in a months long slump and he has finally broken out of it to the tune of a fantastic 174 wRC+ in his last 45 plate appearances. He’s already hit two home runs in the month of September after not hitting any at all in the month of August. In the Marlins series, Ewing had two three-hit games, driving in five in those two games alone. Overall, he leads the team in hits with 15. He has driven in nine runs in total, scored eight runs, walked four times, and stolen a base. He has continued to hit the ball decently hard this whole time, and the hits are finally starting to come in bunches for him in the season’s final month.

Meanwhile, Carson Benge has cooled off some as he tries to make his final push for the NL Rookie of the Year title. Though Benge is one of many Mets with double digit hits, he has just a .213 batting average in his last 54 plate appearances with six walks and only two extra-base hits—good for a 79 wRC+. He has scored seven runs, but driven in just three and struck out a whopping 16 times to lead the team. He was right on the cusp of red arrow territory, but he does lead the team in stolen bases with three and continues to make Superman style catches in the outfield.

But the third—perhaps less heralded—rookie on the team Nick Morabito is hitting extremely well, putting up a 121 wRC+ in 22 plate appearances. Morabito was called up when rosters expanded and has comported himself well in the big leagues with his big highlight being a bases-clearing double that gave the Mets some key insurance in the victory in the final game of the Rays series. That was the only one of his five hits that went for extra bases, but he also walked three times and scored three runs.

But despite also only having 22 plate appearances over the past 12 games, one could argue that Brett Baty is the hottest hitter on the team with his 236 wRC+ in that span. In the same game as Morabito’s big RBI extra-base hit, Baty also hit a bases-clearing double in the third that gave the Mets a 6-0 lead at the time. In fact, despite having less than half of the plate appearances as the everyday players, Baty is second on the team in RBIs over this two-week span with ten. That’s because of his seven hits, all but one of them went for extra bases: four doubles and two home runs. Baty has been making contact with the ball; he has struck out just twice in those 22 plate appearances.

Since returning from the injured list, Mark Vientos has also been reduced to a part-time role, but has performed well. He has four hits, including two home runs, and two walks in 16 plate appearances. He has also scored three times and driven in four runs. Jared Young continues to see the lion’s share of the at-bats at first base and he has earned it by continuing to hit. Young put up a 110 wRC+ in 42 plate appearances over the past two weeks, leading the team in runs scored with 12. He also walked five times and drove in three runs. Of his ten hits, two went for extra bases, including the final home run of Saturday’s dinger bonanza against the Yankees.

Speaking of that dinger bonanza, it is no surprise that Francisco Lindor leads the team in RBIs with thirteen. That includes two home runs on Saturday—a grand slam and a solo shot. In fact, all 12 of Lindor’s hits are either singles or home runs. He also leads the team in long balls with six and is second only to Young for the team lead in runs scored with ten. With a 129 wRC+ in his last 59 plate appearances, the Mets’ shortstop is in his usual second half groove.

Nestled right between Ewing’s team-leading 15 hits and Lindor’s 12 hits is Bo Bichette’s 13 hits—the second-highest mark on the team. Four of those 13 hits went for extra bases, including two home runs. Bichette scored eight runs and drove in seven runs. Bichette is also tied with Benge for the team lead in walks with six. All told, Bichette put up a 118 wRC+ in 55 plate appearances as he continues to have a solid second half.

Of the Mets’ big hitters, Juan Soto has ironically put up the worst numbers over the past two weeks with a 90 wRC+ in 54 plate appearances. He hasn’t been quite 100% since coming off the injured list, but he is still Juan Soto, as evidenced by his moonshot that was one of the Mets’ six home runs on Saturday. That home run was one of three home runs for Soto—the only Met besides Lindor to go deep more than twice over the past two weeks. Soto also hit two doubles, making half of his ten total hits extra-base hits. Soto scored nine runs and drove in six runs. He also reached base via the walk six times to match Benge and Bichette’s total, but one of those walks was intentional. Unfortunately Soto leads the team with three double plays grounded into, but he did steal a base, which is a good sign that his calf is feeling good.

Francisco Alvarez bounced back from his poop emoji mark from the last meter with an unremarkable but solid 84 wRC+ in 31 plate appearances. His six hits include four singles and two home runs. He scored three runs and drove in four. Unfortunately, he is also back to striking out a lot. He struck out 12 times against just two walks. Meanwhile, Luis Torrens has stayed hot with five hits and a walk in just 17 plate appearances. Three of those five hits went for extra bases—two doubles and a home run. Torrens drove in a whopping seven runs in just six games and all seven of those RBIs came in two of those games. He drove in four runs in the Mets’ wild victory in the series finale in Miami and then followed that up with a three-RBI performance at Yankee Stadium on Saturday in which he was responsible for one of the Mets’ six home runs.

Christopher Morel had just 11 plate appearances and appeared in only five of the Mets’ 12 games covered by this meter, but he had the game of his life in the insane series finale in Miami in which the Mets and Marlins combined for 39 hits. Morel had three of those hits, including a home run in the third inning and a crucial RBI single in the seventh that helped see the Mets go back in front (ultimately for good, but just barely). Morel had just one other hit in the four other games he played in combined.

Marcus Semien continues to putter along playing mostly every day and putting up okay-but-not-great offensive numbers. In 45 plate appearances, he posted an 87 wRC+. He racked up nine hits—six singles and three doubles—driving in three runs and scoring eight runs. He also walked five times while striking out only three times.

Cristian Pache is batting 1.000 for this meter; he hit a single in his only plate appearance over this two-week span and scored a run. He appeared in four games in total.