Worldwide Sports News

The bullpen blew another lead as the Royals dropped the series in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

“I feel bad for the guys because they really competed hard and we could have won all three games,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “In games like this, people always remember the big hit late in the game, but usually these games are won or lost earlier, and we didn’t capitalize on some opportunities. It was a tough weekend and a tough road trip. We didn’t play our best.”

The bullpen also blew a lead on Saturday.

“We go with Cruzy there and we really have a lot of confidence in him,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro told reporters in Pittsburgh. “He’s been throwing the ball well and Lowe just had another big hit for them.”

Jaylon Thompson writes the Vinnie Pasquantino capped off a hot series with a pinch-hit home run.

Captain Salvador Perez started Sunday’s game at first base. The Royals are rotating Pasquantino, Perez and Jac Caglianone in the batting order down the stretch. Pasquantino made the moment count. He finished 5-for-9 in the three-game series and has now homered six times in his last 20 games.

“My role is changing a little bit, so trying to get use to that,” Pasquantino told reporters in Pittsburgh. “Felt pretty comfortable. You kind of know in those situations you want to be aggressive. You want to try to get a good pitch to hit. See the situation in the game and try to make something happen.”

John Perotto at MLB.com writes about how Carter Jensen set the club rookie home run record.

However, Kansas City’s loss didn’t completely dampen the evening for Jensen. The 23-year-old catcher’s 25th home run, a solo shot off fellow rookie Bubba Chandler in the third inning, set the franchise single-season rookie record. Bob Hamelin had previously held the mark since 1994, when he connected 24 times in a strike-shortened season. Hamelin, known as “The Hammer,” won the American League Rookie of the Year Award.

“It means a lot to me,” said Jensen, who’s enjoying a milestone-filled season in the leadoff spot. “There is a lot of hard work that is put into this. I don’t think this is the end of my story. I’d like to think that it’s just the beginning. It’s been a really fun ride, especially to take it with such great teammates and coaches.”

MLB Pipeline lists a breakout prospect for each team, with Justin Lamkin for the Royals.

Lamkin showed signs that a breakout was coming in his first Spring Training, and he carried that into the season by moving past High-A Quad Cities after only six starts and striking out 15 over 11 1/3 innings in his first two Double-A starts. His regular season ended there with a shoulder strain, but he’d shown enough when healthy to become Kansas City’s third-ranked pitching prospect. He’s slated to appear in the Arizona Fall League, and his 91-94 mph fastball and 80-83 mph slider (the latter of which had a 55 percent whiff rate in ‘26, per Synergy) along with his above-average control will gain a bigger audience.

On Monday, Kansas City’s Special Committee for Legal Review will review the petition requiring a public vote for a downtown stadium.

The Athletics will interview former Royals executive Mike Groopman for their GM opening.

Cubs third baseman Alex Bregman is sent to the hospital after a foul ball hits him in the face while in the on-deck circle.

The Red Sox, who fired their manager earlier this year, clinch a playoff spot.

The Braves sweep the Astros to clinch a playoff spot.

What does the playoff bracket look like right now and what are the tiebreaker scenarios?

Will Aaron Judge be available for the playoffs?

Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan will miss the last week of the regular season.

Mariners manager Dan Wilson is unlikely to return next year.

The Orioles are unlikely to make changes with executive Mike Elias or manager Craig Albernaz.

How did the Nationals significantly improve their farm system so quickly?

The Giants have 16 players on the 60-day Injured List, which will make for some interesting 40-man roster decisions.

Olivia Miles breaks Caitlin Clark’s WNBA rookie scoring record.

College football fans are falling out of love with pregame shows.

Could Canada join the European Union as an “associate member”?

A study shows quick cancellations are hurting streaming viewership.

An autonomous plane makes a cross-country flight.

Your song of the day is Her’s with What Once Was.

Good morning, Purple Row!

After gathering feedback and doing some deliberating, we’ve decided to make last week’s Rockpile experiments permanent. Since the minor league season has ended, today will be the final daily Pebble Report, but we will continue to post a separate links roundup every morning.

Once the MiLB season starts up again, we will see if we want to keep the links separate or fold them back into the Rockpile. But that’s a future Purple Row problem.

In the meantime, here’s what’s going on with the Rockies and around MLB. (It was a busy weekend!)

Rockies News & Links

• Feltner growing into new ‘piggyback’ role after Sugano’s strong start | MLB.com — Ryan Feltner competed with Chase Dollander during spring training for a chance to make the starting rotation. Feltner beat out Dollander for the rotation spot, but as the season has gone on, Feltner has been used out of the bullpen twice (three times after yesterday’s game). And both times have been his best outings of the season. Thomas Harding asks the ‘cerebral right-hander’ for his thoughts on his new potential role, as the Rockies continue their pitching experimentation.
• Rockies slugging prospect Condon caps career year with Triple-A homer (of course!) | MLB.com — Charlie Condon (No. 2 PuRP) has had an up-and-down (though mostly up) season in Triple-A after making a case for himself not only to make the Opening Day roster out of spring training, but also to be promoted numerous times throughout the season. He ended his season on a high note, though, with a home run in the final game of the season. Look for my end-of-season interview with him as tomorrow’s Pebble Report Spotlight!
• Helton humbled by permanent reminder of his greatness at statue unveiling | MLB.com — After unveiling a statue of legend Larry Walker on August 23, the Rockies unveiled another one of legend Todd Helton. Thomas Harding recaps the Hall of Famer’s remarks on the honor.
• Renck: Rockies legend Todd Helton gets a statue that perfectly captures his greatness | Denver Post ($) — Troy Renck offers his thoughts on Helton’s statue unveiling, remembers the Hall of Famer’s career in Colorado, and recalls how Helton got to be as great as he was.
• Zac Veen’s discipline implies career revival is on the way with Rockies | Denver Gazette ($) — Zac Veen was recalled to the Rockies in mid-August and has been performing much better at the big-league level than he did during his first cup of coffee in 2025. Kevin Henry chronicles Veen’s mini-renaissance and looks towards the outfielder’s potential future with the franchise.

Around Baseball

• Nolan Arenado grand slam lifts Diamondbacks in home finale win over Yankees | Arizona Sports — Nolan Arenado has had a career revival in Sedona Red this year, including hitting a go-ahead grand slam that ultimately proved to be the game winner against the Yankees on Sunday. He has hit 27 home runs this season, the most he’s had since 2023.
• Umpire Laz Diaz calls out ‘nasty’ MLB climate as he ends storied career | USA Today — Laz Diaz is one of three umpires who are retiring at the end of 2026 after taking a buyout from MLB. The others are Angel Hernandez and C.B. Bucknor. Bob Nightengale got an exclusive interview with Diaz as he finishes up his career, which covers the evolution of the game as well as some of Diaz’s more memorable moments.
• Cubs’ Alex Bregman undergoing tests after ‘terrible accident’ | ESPN — In a scary moment on Sunday, Alex Bregman was hit in the face by a foul ball while he was standing in the on-deck circle. Bregman underwent X-Rays and CT scans, and it has not yet been determined if he’ll fly back to Chicago with the Cubs, who just finished up a series with the Cincinnati Reds. But Bregman posted an update on Instagram saying he was OK, which is great news.
• ‘Stayin Alive’ Red Sox cap turnaround, clinch playoff spot | ESPN — The Boston Red Sox have been an excellent story in 2026, as they were 15.5 games out of first place on June 24th and have gone 52-25 since to clinch a playoff berth. According to the article, “The Red Sox are the fourth team to make the playoffs after being 14-or-more games under .500 in a season in the World Series era (since 1903). Two of the three previous instances made the World Series, with the Boston Braves winning it in 1914.”
• Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper diagnosed with throat cancer, started treatment last week | The Athletic ($) — Long-time Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper was diagnosed with throat cancer and has started undergoing treatment. This comes on the heels of Mike Krukow’s retirement announcement. Kuiper will be unable to call the Monday and Wednesday games of the Giants’ final season, but he’ll call Tuesday and the final series against the Dodgers.

---

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Triple-A: Charlotte Knights (CWS) 7, Norfolk Tides 4

A tough year for Trace Bright concluded with another dud, as the 25-year-old right-hander gave up six runs on three home runs in four innings. Bright started the season with Double-A Chesapeake, posting a 3.82 ERA and 1.17 WHIP in six starts there, but the transition to Triple-A proved tougher. (This isn’t unheard of, just worth noting.) In 21 appearances (20 starts) for Norfolk, Bright went 2-11 with an ERA of 7.70 and a 1.70 WHIP. He gave up lots of hits, as a .315 opposing average and .867 OPS attests, but he also walked more than four batters a game. Adjustments will have to be made.

After Bright’s four six-run innings, the bullpen was pretty good. Christian Heberholz surrendered a run on a hit, a walk, and a sac fly. But after him, Alex Pham, Yaramil Hiraldo and Andrew Magno each threw a scoreless inning. Hiraldo actually finishes the year with a very impressive 1.00 ERA and 0.72 WHIP in 18 appearances for Norfolk. Same deal, 28-year-old left-hander Andrew Magno, who appeared in 47 games and posted an ERA of 1.70.

On offense, the Tides got a really nice day from Enrique Bradfield, who totaled seven bases, tripling and scoring in the first and homering in the fifth. The speedy outfielder finishes the year with a .263 BA and .707 OPS. Third baseman Bryan Ramos doubled home Norfolk’s third run in the sixth inning, and scored the fourth on a wild pitch. Second baseman Aron Estrada was called up to Norfolk only five games ago, but he went 3-for-5 to help pad a really nice 7-for-20 line (.350 BA, .909 OPS) on the season. Same with catcher Ethan Anderson, who singled and walked, leaving him with a .389 BA and 1.309 OPS in five games at Triple-A, too. Tavian Josenberger had two hits and a walk.

The Tides finish the season at 58-89, tenth in the International League East.

Box Score

Good morning.

• It’s clinching season, even if the Cubs have to wait until at least Tuesday. But on Sunday, the Braves clinched the NL East title. Mark Bowman reports.
• Jesús Cano writes that the Braves title is a tribute to the team’s depth overcoming injuries. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Dayn Perry has three reasons why the Braves can win the World Series.
• The Red Sox also clinched a Wild Card playoff spot. Ian Browne examines how what once looked impossible became a reality.
• Mike Axisa has three reasons why the Red Sox can win the World Series.
• Brent Maguire has nine things that are still at stake over the final week of the season.
• One player to watch on all 30 teams the rest of the season.
• Theo DeRosa has a list of players who have turned their seasons around in the second half. Yes, Alex Bregman is at the top of the list.
• Longtime Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper missed this weekend’s games in Los Angeles after Kuiper announced that he was diagnosed with throat cancer. Kuiper intends to broadcast Giants home games this week and says he will be there for the sendoff of his longtime partner Mike Krukow, who is retiring. Kuiper also insists he will beat the cancer. Get well and keep fighting, Kuip.
• Longtime Mets broadcaster Howie Rose said goodbye to Mets fans as he broadcast his final game before retirement.
• Manny Randhawa has one player from each playoff team looking for their first World Series ring after many tries.
• One of those players is Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, but Judge went back on the injured list with a strained calf.
• Bryan Hoch notes that Judge is frustrated by his injury-filled season but he expects to be back in the lineup by the playoffs. His manager, Aaron Judge, isn’t so sure.
• Mike Axisa has three questions for the Yankees and Judge as he goes back on the IL.
• Reds pitcher Chase Burns went to the injured list with a strained groin and is out for the rest of the season.
• The Blue Jays are fighting for a final Wild Card spot, but they got no help as ace Dylan Cease underwent an MRI on his sore shoulder. No decision has been made yet, but manager John Schneider admitted he could be out for the year.
• Jay Jaffe looks at Orioles first baseman Pete Alonso and his return to Citi Field.
• We got some good medical news on Mets current first baseman (and former Cub) Jared Young, (The Athletic sub. req.) who suffered a concussion in a collision with Mets pitcher Nolan McLean.
• Dayn Perry looks at how the Cardinals and Nationals can build upon their promising 2026 seasons to make the playoffs next year.
• Jesse Rogers talks to Jacob Misiorowski’s Brewers teammates to find out what it’s been like to see every game of his season this year. Kind of an oral history of Misiorowski’s season.
• Pete Crow-Armstrong isn’t the only 24-year-old NL Central star having a great season. Jay Jaffe breaks down Reds shortstop Elly De La Cruz’s breakout campaign.
• Bruce Schoenfield speaks to players about the upcoming labor war and finds out how the union is building solidarity in advance of a likely lockout. This is also how I found out that the Padres’ Jake Cronenworth is married to White Sox broadcaster Brooke Fletcher.
• And jeez, if you want to dislike umpire Laz Diaz more, Diaz goes off to Bob Nightengale about how “nasty” MLB has become in advance of his retirement. He’s angry at ABS, video review, umpire scorecards, mic’d up umpires and pretty much everything else that holds umpires accountable.
• C. Trent Rosecrans has a profile of Louisville Bats manager Pat Kelly, who has more minor league losses as a manager than anyone else. (The Athletic sub. req.) All I have to say is do you have any idea how good a minor league manager you have to be to set the record for minor league losses? Really, really good.
• The Braves celebrated Bill Lucas, who 50 years ago in 1976 became the first ever Black general manager in the game.
• Russell Dorsey polled a bunch of front office executives to ask them who are the best candidates for team president/general manager jobs this winter? Carter Hawkins got some votes.
• Orioles general manager Mike Elias said that manager Craig Albernaz will return in 2027. Jake Rill reports.
• Jon Becker examines the Giants issues with their 40-man roster this winter as they have to clear spots for 16 players currently on the 60-day injured list. That’s not even counting the players they need to protect from the Rule 5 draft. And the Giants only have one player reaching free agency this winter too.
• Jonathan Mayo has the candidates for the MiLB Awards, which I forgot was even a thing. Anyway, Cubs top prospect Josiah Hartshorn is nominated in one category.
• In the game threads this past week, I mentioned that you should never make the first or third out at third base and that led to a whole discussion. Well, Ben Clemens may have been listening because he examined whether or not that old piece of baseball wisdom really makes sense. (Answer: yes. Especially don’t make the third out at third.)
• Dodgers reliever Seth Halvorsen can hit 100 miles per hour on the radar gun, but he hit the Giants’ Drew Gilber with this 32.6 mph pitch. It’s the slowest HBP of the Statcast era.
• Pirates first baseman Ryan O’Hearn practices a between-the-legs glove flip before every game and on Saturday night, he finally used it to retire the Royals Michael Massey at first base.
• And finally, we have two stories on the effort to get deaf 19th-century ballplayer Billy “Dummy” Hoy into Cooperstown. Bob Nightengale has the non-playwalled story on Hoy and Daniel Brown handles the details on Hoy for The Athletic. (sub. req.) As both articles note, Hoy may have been responsible for the development of umpire signals, although that claim is contentious among historians.

Good morning, baseball fans!

We have reached the final week of San Francisco Giants baseball for the year. So let’s take a last look at what’s on deck for this week.

First up, the Giants welcome the Minnesota Twins to Oracle Park tonight for a three-game series. After that, they’ll have Thursday off and then the Los Angeles Dodgers come to town for the final series of the year.

As much as I loathe having to watch the Dodgers beat the Giants, I have to say that I’m most interested in that series this week because it will feature all the fanfare of the end of the season. I enjoy the Willie Mac Award ceremony and seeing all of the former players come back to visit. So I’m going with that one.

Which series are you most interested in this week?

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants begin this series against the Twins tonight at 6:45 p.m. PT.

This is about to get ugly! While the Red Sox are virtually locked into the second AL Wild Card spot and will spend the upcoming week preparing to face the Yankees, the Chicago Cubs — Boston’s opponent this weekend — have major playoff seeding implications on the line.

With just six games to go, the Cubs and Padres are tied with a record of 87-69, just one game ahead of the Phillies, who are 86-70. All three teams are battling for the top Wild Card spot on the NL side of the board, and with it, home field advantage in next week’s Wild Card series. In other words, the Cubs will probably have to play all 162 games before they know where they’ll be situated for their Game 1. And wouldn’t you know it? Amid that uncertainty, here’s comes Mother Nature to inject an entirely new level of chaos.

Below is the overnight run of the EC-AIFS model, and it’s showing (as it has for the last several runs) an intensifying, retrograding nor’easter backing into Boston at the end of the week, and then lasting through the entire weekend.

This is potentially a slow moving, multiday, high wind, heavy rain, coastal flooding event. And no, it’s not some rogue run or outlier solution. The EC-AIFS is one of the best performing models in the business, and some other guidance is actually showing an even stronger storm than this. For instance, here’s what the European and ICON models are showing:

We already went into detail on Saturday here at Over The Monster dissecting why a harsh solution like this was not only possible, but also pretty likely. However, if you want the short version, take a look at the linked up ridging in the image below stretching all the way from the central Atlantic through northern Quebec. This is an enormous blocking pattern, which prevents energy exiting off the east coast from escaping. In time, the trapped energy consolidates, becomes an organized storm, and has no choice but to retrograde back towards the east coast as it builds strength because it’s again blocked by the Canadian High.

Regardless of the details, I can’t stress enough how messy this is going to get for the Red Sox and Cubs if a storm remotely close to what these models are showing materializes.

The Red Sox will have no interest in playing these games at all, particularly with Payton Tolle, Sonny Gray, and Ranger Suarez set to go on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday against Cleveland before the weather moves in. That will serve as their final tune up before the rubber meets the road against the Yankees on Tuesday, September 29th.

The entire National League however is — in all likelihood — desperately going to need these games to be played to untangle their Wild Card puzzle. And if we get a massive wash out, the imbalance of the “give a damn” meters between these two clubs is going to be an enormously bad look for MLB.

The Red Sox will be (rightfully) furious if they have to do something like play a make up double header on Monday the 28th, and the Phillies and Padres are going to be (also rightfully) furious if they lose out on home field and have to go to Wrigley because the Cubs got free wins at the finish against a club that absolutely didn’t care about the games.

Either way, MLB is about to have quite an ordeal on its hands, and they may want to start thinking about backup plans right now to prevent an all out fiasco as the season comes to a close.

The weird marathon/sprint that is the baseball season approaches its end. And there is still unfinished business. The Rays, Yankees, and Red Sox have all clinched playoff berths. and Tampa Bay is on the cusp of locking down the AL East, as soon as Tuesday should they beat the Bombers.

The AL Central and AL West, however, could go right down to the wire as Cleveland and Chicago in the former, and intra-state rivals the Astros and the Rangers in the latter, fight for the division. In all likelihood, the third and final Wild Card spot will come from one of those clubs as well, though 2025 AL champion Toronto vaguely lurks as well in the waning days of the season.

Tampa Bay Rays (95-60) 5, Boston Red Sox (84-72) 1

The Rays just keep on winning. Sunday, they came out of the gate strong, putting up a four-spot in the first. A walk, a single, and a hit by pitch loaded the bases with no one out, setting the stage for Jonny DeLuca to double in a pair of runs. That was technically all Tampa Bay needed but they notched two more on a Chandler Simpson single before Boston could finally record an out, let alone escape the frame. Simpson, for his part, sits at a .309 average after Sunday, leaving him well within striking distance of toppling Yordan Alvarez for the AL batting title depending on how the final week plays out.

The win was Tampa Bay’s 55th at home this season, setting a new franchise record for home wins as they continue to enjoy the resurrection of the Trop. The victory, combined with the Yankee loss in the desert Sunday, moved the Rays to six games up with seven games to go, all but settling the question of who will win the American League East this season. For their part, the Red Sox did end up punching their ticket to the playoffs and celebrating at the Trop anyway, backing in when Houston lost to Atlanta.

AL Rock Fight

Chicago White Sox (80-76) 8, Detroit Tigers (73-83) 1: Chicago needed this win. After leading the AL Central for a considerable chunk of the season, they find themselves looking up at Cleveland. A loss would have left them two games back headed into the final week. But five pitchers combined to hold Detroit to a single run and six different Pale Hose drove in at least one run.

Cleveland Guardians (81-75) 1, Athletics (61-95) 0: What a season for Gavin Williams. The Guards’ righty spun seven innings of shutout ball on Sunday, picking up his 14th win of the season in the process. His nine punchouts give him 244, pacing the Junior Circuit. For Cleveland, the win keeps them in front of Chicago, setting the AL Central up for quite the dogfight in the final week of the season.

Texas Rangers (78-78) 2, Toronto Blue Jays (77-79) 7: A four-run seventh inning decided this one as the Blue Jays kept their faint playoff hopes alive, knocking Jacob deGrom out of the game before he finished the fifth. They remain a long shot at three back of Chicago for the Wild Card. Meanwhile, the loss leaves Texas clinging to a one-game lead over Houston as the AL West also looks like it could come right down to the wire.

Houston Astros (77-79) 2, Atlanta Braves (92-64) 4: The Braves are doing their best to keep the nightmare scenario (the Astros weaseling their way into the playoffs then going on a heater) from coming to pass. A Mike Yastrzemski three-run dinger in the sixth was the decisive blow. The win also clinched the NL East for Atlanta, something not a single Pinstripe Alley writer predicted prior to the season (the Phillies? What was I thinking?).

Baltimore Orioles (75-81) 0, Milwaukee Brewers (98-58) 3: That’s probably all she wrote for the 2026 Orioles after seven Brewers’ pitchers, including “The Miz,” combined to shut them out. Sunday’s loss leaves them in a formidable hole in the Wild Card race. There’s lots of time for post-mortems but a quick look at the OPS of the Orioles’ young core makes it clear that a combination of regression and failure to launch have a lot to do with their disappointing season.

AL Standings

Entering the last week of the Major League Baseball season, 13 teams are still alive for October, and not one of them would be considered a totally complete team.

The Milwaukee Brewers have the best record in baseball but just one starter behind its ace it can actually trust. The Tampa Bay Rays are on the verge of clinching the top seed in the American League but have a lineup that goes cold at the bottom of the order almost every night. And a few teams, like the New York Yankees, are staring down injuries that can make or break their October.

Last season proved how a fatal flaw can come back and bite a team in October.

The Brewers had the best record in baseball in 2025 then scored one run a game and hit .128 in a four-game National League Championship Series sweep by the Dodgers. It was the lowest batting average in a postseason series of at least three games in MLB history. Their power outage was not a fluke. Milwaukee finished the year in the bottom third of the majors in home runs, covering for it all season with contact and speed. The flaw was there, buried under 97 wins, and it was exploited once the bright lights came on.

Here’s the one fatal flaw that could end each contender’s season:

MLB POSTSEASON FIELD: Who has clinched berths and who's on the verge?

Tampa Bay Rays

The Rays have the best record in the American League (95-60, through Sept. 20) and need only a win or a New Yankees loss to clinch the AL East and home field advantage through the ALCS. Their flaw is buried at the bottom of the order. The seventh, eighth and ninth spots in the lineup rank 24th in the majors in OPS. Taylor Walls is hitting .219 with a .609 OPS in 52 games. Jorge Mateo has a .397 OPS in 23 games since Tampa Bay acquired him. The Rays have been burned by this flaw before. In 2023,the bottom of their lineup went 3-for-17 with no runs scored in a two-game sweep by Texas in the Wild Card Series, part of a 33-inning postseason scoreless streak.

New York Yankees

The Yankees lead the majors with a 3.08 bullpen ERA, but Aaron Boone trusts exactly three relievers with a game on the line: closer David Bednar and setup men Brent Headrick and Paul Blackburn. Every reinforcement behind them has left doubt in Boone’s mind. New York traded a struggling Camilo Doval away at the deadline instead of adding to the pen, then lost Fernando Cruz to a partial UCL tear in late August. Ryan Weathers, the next man up, hasn't pitched since Aug. 23. Blackburn and Headrick had already thrown 79 and 73 innings heading into Sunday’s game, more than typical setup men carry into a pennant race, let alone October. History carries a warning for the Yankees here. Cleveland’s bullpen led the majors in the second half of 2016, but manager Terry Francona rode just two trusted arms hard, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen, through October. Both were spent by Game 7, and Cleveland ended up blowing a 3-1 World Series lead. One bad week from the bullpen and the Yankees are heading to the golf course instead of the World Series.

Boston Red Sox

Boston clinched a playoff berth Sunday, Sept. 20 depite losing and hold the second AL wild card at 84-72, but its bullpen depth beyond three arms is the real question. Justin Slaten is done for the season, a degenerative elbow injury discovered too late to fix with anything but rest. Tyron Guerrero has been out since Sept. 1 with shoulder inflammation. Closer Aroldis Chapman, 34 saves and a 1.95 ERA, is nursing lat tightness, which already forced Garrett Whitlock, an ERA near 1.80 himself, into save situations he's never handled before. Boston gave up infield prospect Marcelo Mayer in August just to get reliever Erik Miller. That's how thin the bullpen was even before the injuries hit.

A thin bullpen is a real weakness in October, as the Orioles showed in 2023. Felix Bautista suffered a season-ending elbow injury just weeks before the playoffs and Baltimore went on to be swept in the American League Division Series.

Chicago White Sox

The White Sox lost their lead in the AL Central, and part of the reason is a red flag for the playoffs. If they get in, the worry is that their rotation can't get through a lineup twice. Sean Burke went six innings against Detroit on Sept. 19, the first White Sox starter to complete six innings since Aug. 21. That's nearly a month of bullpen games in disguise. Trade deadline pickup Luis Castillo got pulled from the rotation entirely and moved to relief after his outings collapsed. His replacement, rookie David Sandlin, has an ERA near 7. Anthony Kay has been yanked early in four straight starts. Sean Newcomb, who carried the bullpen for months, has allowed runs in five of his last six outings. Chicago fell out of first place in the AL Central for the first time since early July, and it wasn't the offense that let go.

Cleveland Guardians

Cleveland's bullpen has no safety net. Closer Cade Smith has carried the group all year, but Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, the two relievers who were supposed to set up in front of him, haven't thrown a competitive pitch all season. Both are on unpaid leave while awaiting a federal trial on pitch-rigging charges – now pushed to November – which puts them out for the postseason, too. The relievers brought in to cover that gap keep breaking down. Colin Holderman aggravated a wrist injury on a rehab outing Sept. 17. Shawn Armstrong, out since July 25 with a calf strain, isn't eligible to be back until Sept. 23. Cleveland is leaning on arms with no October track record to hold leads under the most pressure of the year

Houston Astros

Houston's bridge to Josh Hader has collapsed. The Astros trail Texas by one game in the AL West with six left, and the two setup relievers who were supposed to get games to him are both hurt. Steven Okert, their best setup arm, hasn’t pitched since Sept. 1 with a hamstring strain and won’t be back before the postseason ... if there is one. Enyel De Los Santos joined him on the injured list Sept. 19. That leaves Bennett Sousa, who has a 5.27 ERA and control problems, and Bryan Abreu, who blew a save the same day in a loss that knocked Houston out of a playoff spot. That’s two hurt setup arms and a shaky one left standing. That is not a formula for October.

Texas Rangers

The Rangers lead the AL West by one game over Houston, but the bullpen behind Jacob Latz wasn't built for this. Texas lost two relievers for the season – Carter Baumler and Jalen Beeks – and designated veteran Chris Martin for assignment in August after a 7.00 ERA. That left Latz, a converted starter, as closer by default. He converted nine consecutive saves before blowing one against Boston on Sept. 18. Days later, Skip Schumaker had nobody left in the pen and had to use starter Nathan Eovaldi for relief innings, then Jordan Montgomery for more two days after that.

A starter coming out of the bullpen isn’t that crazy in the playoffs, but a bullpen held together by starters filling in is a screaming warning siren.

Atlanta Braves

Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep both had season-ending elbow surgery in late August – Schwellenbach's second in under a year. Bryce Elder had knee surgery in September. Reynaldo López has been on and off the injured list twice, most recently Sept. 15. That is four rotation arms gone and leaves Chris Sale, 14-9 with a 2.18 ERA, and Tyler Mahle, sharp since he arrived from San Francisco, as the only settled postseason starters Atlanta has. The Braves have tried this before. In 2013 they lost Tim Hudson and Brandon Beachy to injuries, went into October with only Kris Medlen and Mike Minor as trusted starters and rode 37-year-old Freddy Garcia to a Game 4 exit in a 3-1 NLDS loss.

Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies traded for Jhoan Duran for just this time of year, and he hasn’t disappointed. The problem for Philadelphia is getting to him.  Orion Kerkering, their setup man for most of the year, got optioned to Triple-A on Sept. 19 after an ERA above 8.00 since the All-Star break. Jonathan Bowlan, who took over the eighth inning, is playing through a groin strain. What's left is rookie Alex McFarlane and September call-up Max Lazar in the highest-leverage innings of the year. Philadelphia holds the last NL wild card spot at 86-70, a game behind the Chicago Cubs and San Diego Padres, with no margin for what comes next.

Milwaukee Brewers

Milwaukee may have the best record in baseball – 98-58 through Sunday – but they run out of starters really fast. Jacob Misiorowski is a bona fide ace and the likely NL Cy Young winner, and Logan Henderson has quietly gone 10-3 with an ERA near 2.50 behind him. After that, it's question marks. The Brewers traded Freddy Peralta in January then lost Brandon Woodruff and Quinn Priester to season-ending surgery. Kyle Harrison was supposed to be the answer behind Misiorowski. He had a 2.57 ERA before the All-Star break. Since then, it's over 7.00, including four earned runs in one and two-thirds innings against Pittsburgh on Sept. 17. Deadline pickup Dustin May is an unproven fourth option with little margin for error. The best record in baseball still needs pitching to win a series.

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs will take the best offense in baseball into October – 835 runs scored through Sept. 20, the most in the majors – and pair it with the pitching staff most likely to give a game away. Chicago's pitchers have allowed 227 home runs, also a league high. Cade Horton needed Tommy John surgery in April and won't pitch again this year. Ben Brown was shut down for good in September with a neck injury. Justin Steele hasn't started a big league game since April 2025. Deadline addition Kevin Gausman has a 5.04 ERA in eight starts as a Cub. Clay Holmes had a 1.55 ERA in his first five Cubs starts then allowed eight earned runs in 4⅓ innings against Miami on Sept. 6, leaving Craig Counsell still deciding whether he trusts him in October. It’s happened to a loaded lineup before. The Dodgers scored 906 runs in 2023 – the second most in baseball that season – then watched Lance Lynn set a playoff record allowing four home runs in one inning as Arizona swept them out of the NLDS. Even the best offense in baseball can't outscore its own pitchers giving up home runs like this.

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers' bullpen problem is bigger than one bad closer. Edwin Diaz posted an 11.85 ERA before a neck injury, then came back Sept. 18 after a rehab stint so bad he retired two of eight batters in one outing. Dave Roberts didn't give him the ninth inning back. His replacement, Tanner Scott, isn't clean either. He blew a save against Miami on Sept. 13, his fourth in 26 chances. Setup man Edgardo Henriquez, who has a 2.85 ERA, went down with a back strain Sept. 14 and won't pitch again this season. A bullpen implosion has cost the Dodgers before. The 106-win 2019 team kept turning to Joe Kelly until he finally served up a series-ending grand slam. Los Angeles clinched its fifth consecutive NL West title with a bullpen nobody trusts yet.

San Diego Padres

Luis Rengifo was hitting .291 with a .784 OPS when he tore his ACL on Aug. 29. He is done for the year, and so is the San Diego bench really. Gavin Sheets has been out with a foot injury since late August. Ramón Laureano's absence has stretched deep into September. The Padres are tied with the Cubs and one game ahead of the Phillies for wild card positioning but sitting on the wrong side of the tiebreakers to both teams. They are filling in with September call-ups instead of players they built the roster around, and there isn’t much season left to figure out if that holds up. The 2012 Yankees tried that when they lost Derek Jeter to a broken ankle in the ALCS opener; they got nothing much from the bench options and were swept by Detroit hitting .157 as a team.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: One fatal flaw on each MLB contender that could derail long playoff run

No games today means the Phillies can’t break my heart once again. With only three games on the schedule for MLB in total today, a lot of teams are getting set before the final sprint to the end of the season. Luckily, the Phillies will be stress free all week!!!

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• It’s totally in the realm of possibility for the Phillies that Jesus Luzardo returns to the team for the playoffs as a reliever ($).
• Orion Kerkering was sent to Lehigh Valley after his latest brutal outing. Funnily enough, Lehigh Valley’s season is over.

MLB news:

• Laz Diaz did his final game of his umpiring career on Sunday. Know what he won’t miss? Umpiring baseball games.
• A few teams clinched things yesterday. The Braves took the NL East while the Red Sox grabbed a playoff spot.
• Speaking of the Red Sox, two of their assistant GMs interviewed for the job with the Sacramento A’s.
• Alex Bregman had to leave the Cubs game yesterday after being hit in the face by a foul ball while in the on deck circle.

The Detroit Tigers wrapped up their seven-game road trip with an 8-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field, dropping the four-game series to the home team, three games to one. The end of the regular season is mercifully near as the Olde English D returns home to wrap things up.

Next up, the Motor City Kitties head home to welcome the Washington Nationals to Comerica Park for the penultimate series of the summer starting on Monday. The three-game set is one of two in which the Tigers will host National League opponents — a strange way to end the schedule.

Making his Detroit debut in the opener is right-hander River Ryan, who was acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Tarik Skubal trade at the deadline. In the 28-year-old’s two appearances for the Triple-A Toledo Mud Hens, he posted a solid 3.86 ERA but a disturbingly high 1.71 WHIP over just 4 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits (one home run) and a walk while striking out four of the 20 batters he faced.

For the Nats, left-hander DJ Herz will be making his 2026 debut after missing two years recovering from Tommy John surgery. Since the 25-year-old returned to action last month from a June setback, he has a 4.24 ERA over 17 innings in six minor league starts, getting up to 65 pitches in his final appearance; he should be good for about four innings of work.

Take a look below at how these two pitchers performed back in 2024 — the last time either saw major league action.

Detroit Tigers (73-83) vs. Washington Nationals (73-83)

Time (ET): 6:40 p.m.
Place: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
SB Nation Site:Federal Baseball
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network

Game 157: RHP River Ryan (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. LHP DJ Herz (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Player	G	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	FIP	fWAR
Ryan (2024)	4	20.1	22.2	11.1	50.0	3.36	0.4
Herz (2024)	19	88.2	27.7	9.4	36.4	3.71	1.7

RYAN

HERZ

Free of charge for the discerning reader.

Happy birthday to Jeremy Jeffress*, and a mighty host of others.

Today in baseball history, in 1934 – The Deans shut out the Dodgers. After Dizzy gives up just three hits in a 13 – 0 victory, allowing no hits until the 8th, Paul wins a no-hitter, 3-0. Diz says: “If’n Paul had told me he was gonna pitch a no-hitter, I’d of throwed one, too,” and 1997 – The Cubs beat the Phils, 11-3, but Curt Schilling racks up eight strikeouts to match J.R. Richard for the most Ks by a National League righty (313). He’ll finish with 319 strikeouts. Ryne Sandberg, in his final game at Wrigley Field, is 2 for 3 before leaving for a pinch runner in the fifth. He makes a curtain call in the seventh when Harry Caray sings “Take Me Out to the Ball Game“, and other stories as well.

Today in baseball history:

• 1901 – Tom Hughes of Chicago and Boston Beaneater Bill Dinneen pitch 16 scoreless innings before the Orphans score in the 17th on an error, hit batter, force out, and a single by Clarence Childs. Each pitcher gives up eight singles. This will stand as the longest shutout ever by a Cub pitcher. Hughes fans 13 in 17 frames.
• 1903 – Christy Mathewson, pitching for the third time in four games, keeps the Giants in second place by beating Chicago’s Clarence Currie, 8-3. For Matty, it is his 30th win of the year.
• 1916 – Tris Speaker goes 4 for 6 and drives in a run as Cleveland edges Washington and Walter Johnson, 3-2.
• 1928 – At St. Louis, Boston’s Red Ruffing smashes a three-run homer in the seventh and pitches the Red Sox to a 5-3 win over the Browns.
• 1966 – The players almost outnumber the fans at Wrigley Field, as the Cubs draw just 440 for a game with the Reds. Chicago wins, 9-3, behind Ken Holtzman, with Sammy Ellis taking the loss.
• 1973 – At Los Angeles, Tony Perez has five hits to lead the Reds to a 4-1 win over the Dodgers. Tony’s last hit is a three-run homer in the 10th.
• 1981 – Steve Carlton fans 12 Expos in ten innings to break Bob Gibson‘s National League strikeout record (Carlton now has 3,128), but the Phillies lose to the Expos, 1-0 in 17 innings.
• 1985 – In a Boston 7-6 win over Detroit, Wade Boggs ties Tris Speaker‘s club mark of 222 hits with a single in the second inning. His fifth-inning single, his 185th, sets a new American League record for singles, breaking the mark set by Willie Wilson in 1980. Wade will end with 187, a mark that will stand until 2001.
• 1992 – Oakland P Dennis Eckersley becomes the second pitcher in history to record 50 saves in a season as he preserves the Athletics’ 6-5 win over Chicago. The White Sox’ Bobby Thigpen had 57 saves in 1990.
• 1999 – The Red Sox defeat the Blue Jays, 3-0, as Pedro Martinez fans 12 for his 22nd win. He joins Randy Johnson as the only pitchers to strike out at least 300 in both leagues, and breaks Roger Clemens‘ club mark of 291 strikeouts.
• 2000 – In a 10-3 victory over the Marlins, Expo right fielder Vladimir Guerrero establishes a franchise single-season home run record by hitting his 43rd round tripper.
• 2001 – A crowd of 41,235 at Shea Stadium witness the return of baseball to New York City for the first time since the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Mike Piazza‘s eighth-inning home run gives the Mets a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Braves.

Cubs Birthdays:Jeremy Jeffress*, Doug Davis, Jim Todd.

Today in history:

• 1780 – Benedict Arnold gives British Major John André plans to West Point.
• 1915 – Cecil Chubb buys the prehistoric monument Stonehenge for £6,600 and later donates it to the British nation.
• 1955 – In his last fight, undefeated world heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano KOs light heavyweight Archie Moore in the ninth round at Yankee Stadium, NYC.
• 1970 – “Monday Night Football” created by Roone Arledge, premieres on ABC. Final score: Browns 31, Jets 21.
• 1976 – Asylum Records releases “Small Change”, the fourth studio album by singer-songwriter Tom Waits; his best-selling album until 1999, features the songs “Tom Traubert’s Blue” and “The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me)”.
• 1985 – Michael Spinks beats Larry Holmes in 15 to become Heavyweight Boxing Champion.
• 1993 – Melissa Etheridge releases her breakthrough second album “Yes I Am”, featuring the single “I’m the Only One”.
• 2004 – Green Day releases their album “American Idiot” in the US.
• 2017 – Discovery of the first brainless animal that sleeps, the jellyfish Cassiopea, with research published in “Current Biology” by Caltech scientists.

*pictured.