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Happy birthday to Dave Hillman, and a mighty host of others.

Today in baseball history, in 2003 – Homering in his final at-bat, Vladimir Guerrero hits for ‘Le Carrousel’ at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium. Facing Mets’ southpaw Tom Glavine, the Expos right fielder doubles (second), singles (third) and hits a triple (fifth) and completes the sixth cycle in team history by going deep off Dan Wheeler in the seventh. and other stories as well.

Today in baseball history:

• 1915 – Babe Ruth fires a two-hitter, as the Red Sox beat the White Sox, 2-1, for their seventh win in a row. Ruth has two of Boston’s three hits. Boston will win four of five in the series with Chicago.
• 1916 – MLB Cincinnati Reds pitcher Christy Mathewson pitches and wins his final game
• 1921 – Washington’s Walter Johnson gives up three hits but still faces just 27 batters in edging the Browns 1 – 0.
• 1936 – Pittsburgh’s Paul Waner ties Rogers Hornsby‘s modern National League record, reaching 200 hits for the seventh time.
• 1983 – Behind Marty Bystrom‘s five-hit win in the nightcap of a doubleheader, the Phils sweep the Expos, 9-5 and 5-0. Mike Schmidt and Joe Morgan hit homers to back Steve Carlton‘s 298th career win in the opener, while Schmidt and Len Matuszek, with his first in the majors, homer in the second game. The two losses virtually eliminate the Expos from contention in the NL East.
• 1990 – The Mariners’ Ken Griffey, Sr. and his son, Ken Griffey, Jr., become the first father and son to hit homers in the same major league game.
• 1997 – Sandy Alomar hits a bases-loaded single to key a bizarre seven-run eighth and Cleveland defeats Chicago, 8-3. Jim Thome nails his 40th homer for the Indians.
• 2013 – Jon Lester brings the Red Sox closer to a division title with a 5-1 win over the Yankees, pitching eight solid innings and allowing only three hits in defeating CC Sabathia.

Today in Cubs history:

• 1902 – Chicago’s infield combo of Joe Tinker, Johnny Evers, and Frank Chance pull off their first double play, but they lose 8-6 at home to the Reds.
• 1905 – Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers engage in a fist fight on the field during an exhibition game in Washington, IN, because Evers took a taxi to the park, leaving his teammates in the hotel lobby. The pair will not speak to each other ever again.
• 1907 – At the West Side Grounds, Chicago beats the visiting Reds, 12-5. The Cubs collect 19 hits to the Reds’ ten hits – all 29 are singles.
• 1913 – In front of the largest crowd of the season (22,000), Cubs hurler Larry Cheney hurls a 14-hit shutout against the visiting Giants, defeating them 7-0 while setting a major-league record for most hits allowed in a nine-inning whitewashing. Milt Gaston of Washington will duplicate the feat on July 10, 1928. Cheney wins his 20th over Rube Marquard, also seeking his 20th.
• 1923 – The Cubs’ Vic Keen stops the Giants, 7-1, cutting the National League leaders lead down to a half-game. The lone Giants score is a George Kelly homer.
• 1935 – The Cubs outlast the Dodgers, 18-14, for their 11th straight win and go into first place. In winning, the Cubs use a relief pitcher for the first time in 11 games. Chicago scores five in the 2nd and eight in the 6th in outhitting Brooklyn, 18 hits to 15. Johnny Babich starts and goes a third of an inning to take the loss. Starter Charlie Root is the Chicago winner.
• 1965 – Five days after pitching against each other, the Cubs’ Bob Hendley and LA’s Sandy Koufax hook up again. No no-no this time as Hendley allows four hits and wins, 2-1.
• 2008 – Carlos Zambrano* of the Chicago Cubs pitches a no-hitter against the Houston Astros, winning 5-0 at Milwaukee’s Miller Park. The game was shifted from Houston to Milwaukee due to Hurricane Ike. It is the first no-hitter pitched at a neutral site in modern major league history, although the crowd is composed almost exclusively of Cubs fans who have made the short trip from Chicago.

Cubs Birthdays:Dave Hillman, Jim Fanning, John Bottarini, Nick Allen, Reggie Richter. Also notable: Kid Nichols HOF.

Today in history:

• 1814 – Francis Scott Key pens the poem “Defence of Fort M’Henry,” later known as “The Star-Spangled Banner,” while witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry from a ship in Baltimore Harbor.
• 1901 – Theodore Roosevelt is sworn in as the youngest man to serve as US President, after William McKinley finally dies after an anarchist shoots him in Buffalo.
• 1913 – Route for the Lincoln Highway is announced, the first paved coast-to-coast highway across the United States, with terminal points in New York City and San Francisco.
• 1923 – In his fourth heavyweight boxing title defence Jack Dempsey recovers after being sent through the ropes to KO Argentine challenger Luis Firpo in the 2nd round at the Polo Grounds, NYC.
• 1939 – World’s first practical helicopter, the VS-300, designed by Igor Sikorsky, takes a short tethered flight in Stratford, Connecticut.
• 1956 – IBM introduces the RAMAC 305, the first commercial computer with a hard drive featuring magnetic disk storage, which weighs over a ton.
• 1968 – Jimmy Ellis beats Floyd Patterson in 15 for heavyweight boxing title.
• 1979 – The film “Quadrophenia”, loosely based on The Who’s 1973 rock opera of the same name, is released.
• 1986 – NFL Bears running back Walter Payton scores his 100th career rushing touchdown, and gains 177 yards, surpassing 15,000-yard career plateau in 13-10 overtime win over visiting Philadelphia Eagles, at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois.
• 2022 -Procession of Queen Elizabeth II‘s coffin from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster to lie in state, with queues of people paying their respects forming 2.4 miles (3.8km)

*pictured.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. achieved what started to look impossible. Can his Toronto Blue Jays follow suit?

The defending American League champions have underperformed all season, following the lead of their superstar and $500 million man, who, entering Sunday, Sept. 13, had not hit a home run at Rogers Centre this season – a 75-game power outage for a man who once hit 48 in a season.

But Guerrero got off the schneid with his first Canadian longball this season, the middle of back-to-back-to-back shots off Baltimore's Trevor Rogers that had the home crowd chanting his name and his teammates giddy with joy.

And now, after spending almost the entire season on the wrong side of .500, the Blue Jays are just one game out of a playoff berth and up to No. 13 in USA TODAY Sports' power rankings.

Just like Vladdy, who now has eight home runs this season, can the Blue Jays prove it's never too late?

They have a golden opportunity to make up ground this week, trailing the Cleveland Guardians by one game and the AL Central-leading Chicago White Sox by 1½. Those two meet in a three-game series, while Toronto takes on the Detroit Tigers. Now 75-75, the Blue Jays haven't been two games above .500 since April 1, when they were 4-2.

If they can reach those "heights" in the final 12 games, a very unlikely playoff spot may be in the offing.

Here's a look at our updated MLB power rankings entering the week of Sept. 14:

1. Milwaukee Brewers (-)

• Will clinch NL Central this week and should break franchise record for wins (97) next week.

2. Los Angeles Dodgers (-)

• Edwin Diaz looking a lot closer to getting shut down than returning from rehab assignment.

3. Tampa Bay Rays (+1)

• Victor Mesa (.845 OPS) gives them another power bat for the postseason.

4. Atlanta Braves (-2)

• Never a bad week when you essentially clinch the division. But a first-round bye might be too much to ask.

5. New York Yankees (-)

• Cam Schlittler closing in on Cy Young Award, but let's pump the brakes a tad on MVP talk.

6. Chicago Cubs (-)

• Get a potential glimpse of playoff series with three games against Atlanta this week.

7. Boston Red Sox (+1)

• Wiped the floor with the AL Central this year, going 19-9.

8. Philadelphia Phillies (-1)

• Jesus Luzardo's shoulder inflammation is, at least for now, a significant concern.

9. San Diego Padres (-)

• Jackson Merrill, 23, is a 25-25 man.

10. Arizona Diamondbacks (+1)

• Now three games behind the Padres; need to make sure that final-weekend series isn't simply a lottery ticket.

11. Chicago White Sox (-1)

• Have held at least a share of first place in the AL Central since July 4. Will take a half-game lead into Cleveland.

12. Cleveland Guardians (-)

• For the second consecutive year, they can seize control of division on last homestand.

13. Toronto Blue Jays (+2)

• Dylan Cease in dead heat with Brewers' Jacob Misiorowski for major league strikeout lead.

14. Houston Astros (-1)

• They still might win the AL West, but sweep at hands of Tampa Bay shows playoff stay might not be long.

15. Miami Marlins (-1)

• Somehow won the season series against Dodgers.

The Pittsburgh Pirates made a move over the weekend, assigning rookie outfielder Esemerlyn Valdez to the 10-day IL with a hamstring injury sustained running to first base. The Pirates will bring outfielder Ronny Simon back from Triple A as a replacement. Simon was brought up last week but sent back down on Ryan O’Hearn’s return.

The 22-year-old Valdez has been a pleasant suprise this season for the Pirates, hitting .232 with 17 homers and 47 RBIs over 72 games played. But with just 14 games left in the season, we’ve likely seen the last of Valdez this year.

Simon has been having a great year at Indianapolis, hitting .334 with 7 homers and 72 RBIs, and he’s played in 10 games at the big-league level, going 9-for-35 (.282) on the season with 2 RBIs.

Until Valdez went down, the Bucs were finally looking mostly healthy again, and they responded by going 4-2 on their Chicago road trip. The team is back to .500 but still stand 5.5 games back of a Wild Card spot and are unlikely to make the playoffs.

The Bucs are off today but will return to action tomorrow when they start a three-game set at home against the Milwaukee Brewers. They then have two more series at home, with three each against the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals, before wrapping up the 2026 MLB season on the road against the Detroit Tigers. So finshing strong is still a possibility, but the playoffs only happen with a complete collapse of the teams in front of them.

So with Steelers season underway and off to a 1-0 start, the Bucs kept it interesting almost all the way until football season, and that’s more than we can say for years past.

NJ.com | Bob Klapisch ($): Gerrit Cole has been stung by the largest home run bug I’ve seen in a while, seven long balls over two starts against the Padres and Mets. The Yankees have lost both of those games, unsurprising when your starter spots his opponent that many runs. The presumptive #3 in a playoff rotation, figuring out what’s eating at Cole is necessary should the team still want him to start what could be a decisive Wild Card win-or-go-home game. Klapisch brings a couple possible causes to the current problem, and that’s what needs to be identified before anything can be fixed.

New York Daily News | Peter Sblendorio: After taking two of three from the Mets, the Yankees control their own playoff destiny to a point. Their magic number is down to one, a win over the Twins on Monday or a Blue Jays loss to Detroit would send New York back to the postseason. While a division title is improbable, but not impossible, the first Wild Card slot seems all but ensured, giving the club home field in a best-of-three series.

New York Post | Mark W. Sanchez: The Yankee bullpen has ranked amongst the best in baseball, but the eighth and ninth guys in your relief corps are always going to be borderline — see Hanner, Bradley. Clarke Schmidt, an established MLBer, has completed his rehab assignment returning from Tommy John surgery, and is set to be activated during this week’s series in Minnesota. Schmidt is likely a much better option to fill in one of those bullpen slots, boosting the floor of a squad that boasts a pretty high ceiling.

Gothamist | Catalina Gonella and Jill Webb: The South Bronx is dealing with a breakout of Legionnaires’ disease that has infected eight and killed one New Yorker, and the Yankee Stadium cooling tower appears to be one of the possible sources. Ten different towers have tested positive for Legionella bacteria, and the City has ordered all of them to be cleaned and sanitized by Monday morning. Hopefully this will be enough to quell this outbreak, and nobody else will be at risk of being sick.

How Phillies could get creative with Andrew Painter if they reach October originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Andrew Painter’s path back to the Phillies was supposed to answer whether he could help their rotation down the stretch.

Nine starts into his second major league stint, he has done that — and created another question in the process.

If the Phillies get where they want to go in October, what is the best way to use him?

Painter has a 3.58 ERA and 1.15 WHIP since returning on July 31, holding opponents to a .690 OPS, the 11th-lowest mark among qualified starters over that span.

It has been a drastic turn from his first 14 major league outings, when he posted a 7.06 ERA, 1.66 WHIP and allowed a .901 OPS.

The stuff has changed, as have the results.

Painter spent time in the minors after being demoted in June, working on the shape of his four-seam fastball. The pitch has carried noticeably more ride since his return, averaging 18.2 inches of induced vertical break in one recent start after sitting much flatter earlier in the season.

Its velocity hasn’t gone anywhere, either. Painter has reached 99.6 mph with the four-seamer this season.

During his first stint, hitters missed on just over 10 percent of their swings against the fastball. Since his return, that number has climbed to just under 22 percent. The added ride makes it harder for hitters to get on top of the pitch, while his hard changeup gives him another offering that can come out of a similar tunnel before separating late.

It’s a much more complete repertoire than the one hitters faced earlier in the year.

The Phillies aren’t making October plans for Painter just yet. Don Mattingly made that clear when asked recently whether the rookie could eventually be deployed differently in the postseason.

“We don’t want to put the cart in front of the horse,” Mattingly said on Sunday.

He and president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski have more immediate business to handle with the Phillies still trying to secure a postseason spot and position themselves once they get there.

Still, Mattingly didn’t dismiss the possibility.

“I think we have to look at all options,” he said. “Try to put your best guys together.”

Painter isn’t attached to one, either.

“I trust what this organization wants,” Painter said. “I’m bought in on whatever they want, so if that’s something that’s gonna help the team win, I’m willing to do it.”

If the Phillies get there, there are a few ways that could look.

THE RANGER ROLE

The most intriguing possibility might be turning Painter into a gun for hire.

Stay ready. Don’t attach him to a particular inning or even necessarily a particular start. When an October game reaches the point where the Phillies need one of their best arms, use him.

They’ve done it before.

Ranger Suárez became exactly that type of weapon during the Phillies’ 2022 run. He started Game 3 of the NLCS, then returned two days later to record the final two outs of the pennant-clinching Game 5. In the World Series, Suárez recorded two critical outs in relief in Game 1 before coming back four days later to throw five scoreless innings as the Game 3 starter.

Painter could give the Phillies a right-handed version of that flexibility.

Maybe a starter runs into trouble in the fourth inning and they need someone capable of taking the game through the sixth. Maybe they have a lead and don’t trust the middle of the bullpen with the most dangerous part of an opposing lineup. Maybe Painter works two innings in one game and remains an option to start later in the series.

His improved fastball makes the shorter bursts particularly interesting.

Painter wouldn’t need to manage his workload for five or six innings or worry about seeing a lineup for a third time. He could be focused on just two or three outs.

Painter has already thought about what that could feel like.

“I’d be able to rear back a little bit and let it eat a little bit more,” he said. “I’m sure velo would tick up a little bit. We’ll just be able to empty the tank early.”

That is essentially the Ranger role — don’t worry about defining the job before the series. Have one of your better arms ready when the game tells you it needs him.

THE FOURTH STARTER

The simplest option remains letting Painter do what he’s doing now.

Start.

He wouldn’t enter a three-game Wild Card Series as one of the Phillies’ first three rotation options. But advancing out of that round creates an entirely different puzzle because rest, usage and the opponent suddenly matter more than a regular-season rotation order.

The Phillies have dealt with that before. In 2022, they considered leaving their No. 4 starter off the Wild Card roster altogether so he would remain available to start Game 1 of the NLDS if the Wild Card Series went the full three games.

Painter could find himself in a similar opening.

It doesn’t necessarily have to be the fourth game of a series. Depending on how many Wild Card games the Phillies play and which starters they use, their fourth arm could be needed almost immediately in the next round.

Matchup and familiarity could become part of the calculation, too.

Aaron Nola, who’s throwing the ball well right now as well, has years of postseason experience and would likely own the trust advantage if both pitchers were available on equal rest. But October pitching decisions aren’t always as simple as lining up a depth chart. How recently has an opponent seen Nola? How many times has it faced him? Has it seen Painter at all? Which repertoire provides the better matchup?

Painter’s second stint has at least made that a legitimate conversation.

If his next few starts continue on the same track — especially with sharper command — there may be no need to get particularly creative.

THE PIGGYBACK

There is a third possibility that falls somewhere between giving Painter his own start and waiting to deploy him as a Ranger-style stopper.

Build a game around two pitchers from the beginning.

The Phillies did exactly that last October against the Dodgers.

Facing elimination in Game 3 of the 2025 NLDS, they started Nola but never intended to treat it like a conventional start. Nola attacked the Dodgers as if he only needed to see them once, facing eight hitters across two scoreless innings before Suárez took over to begin the third.

Suárez handled the bulk from there, allowing one run over five innings in an 8-2 Phillies win.

It was a planned one-two punch rather than a reaction to a starter struggling.

The Phillies could create something similar with Painter.

Left-hander Nestor Cortes presents one possibility if he’s built up enough by October. The veteran left-hander is only beginning to stretch back out, pitching an inning Tuesday with Single-A Clearwater and another Saturday with Triple-A Lehigh Valley.

Stylistically, the contrast would be difficult to miss. Cortes can disrupt timing with deception, angles and a completely different velocity band before handing the game to Painter’s upper-90s fastball and power changeup. The Phillies could also reverse them depending on the opposing lineup, allowing Painter to attack early before changing the look completely.

Nola could theoretically be part of a piggyback again, too. His current trajectory makes another intentionally abbreviated start less obvious than it was last October, when he entered that Dodgers game coming off an injury-riddled regular season. But the precedent is key.

They don’t have to make any of these decisions yet, though.

Painter still has two starts left in his regular-season rookie campaign. Cortes is still building up. The Phillies still have to earn their way into October before deciding how the pitching staff should look once they get there.

If they get there, they are no longer wondering whether Andrew Painter can help them.

They can decide how.