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Happy birthday to Dutch Zwilling, and a mighty host of others.

Today in baseball history, in 2016 – The Cubs win their first World Series title in 108 years by defeating Cleveland, 8-7, in Game 7, making up a three-games-to-one deficit in the process as it’s a great day for teams with ursine names. It’s an epic ballgame worthy of the high stakes, as Dexter Fowler hits a lead-off homer off Corey Kluber, but the Indians manage to tie the score in the third. In the fourth, the Cubs score twice, including one run on a daring rush to the plate by Kris Bryant on a fly ball to CF Rajai Davis that travels perhaps 150 feet. Javier Baez and David Ross also homer for Chicago as the Cubs build up their lead, but Cleveland scores two runs on a wild pitch by Jon Lester in the sixth, then trailing 6-4 with two outs in the eighth, Davis homers off Aroldis Chapman to tie the game again. Play is stopped briefly by rain after the ninth inning, but in the 10th, Ben Zobrist, who is named World Series MVP, puts the Cubs ahead with a double and Miguel Montero adds an insurance run with a single, a run which proves important as the Indians manage to score once in the bottom of the 10th before Mike Montgomery retires Michael Martinez on a grounder to third to clinch the title. Cleveland now takes over as owners of the longest championship drought in the majors, their last title having come in 1948, and other stories as well.

Al will have more on the 10th anniversary of the 2016 World Series win coming up at 9 a.m. CT.

Today in baseball history:

• 1899 – Henry Chadwick, called the “Father of Baseball”, visits US President William McKinley in Washington, DC, to propose that Army regiments be provided with baseball equipment. This is Chadwick’s first presidential interview since his visit with President Abraham Lincoln in 1861.
• 1937 – American Leaguebatting champCharlie Gehringer of the Detroit Tigers is named Most Valuable Player, receiving 78 out of a possible 80 points. The New York Yankees’Joe DiMaggio is a close second, four points behind.
• 1938 – Boston Red Sox first baseman Jimmie Foxx is voted Most Valuable Player of the American League for the third time, with Yankees catcher Bill Dickey second in the voting.
• 1960 – New York Yankees outfielder Roger Maris defeats teammate Mickey Mantle for the American League MVP Award, 225-222, the second-closest vote ever, behind Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams‘ race in 1947.
• 1972 – Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Steve Carlton is unanimously selected the National League Cy Young Award winner. Carlton won 27 games for the Phillies, who as a team won only 57 games overall.
• 1974 – The Atlanta Braves trade Hank Aaron to the Milwaukee Brewers for outfielder Dave May and minor league pitcher Roger Alexander (as a player to be named later). Aaron will finish his major league career in Milwaukee, where he started it with the Braves in 1954.
• 1977 – Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Steve Carlton outpoints Tommy John of the Dodgers to win his second Cy Young Award. Carlton led the National League with 23 wins and posted a 2.64 ERA.
• 2021 – The Braves are World Series champions after defeating the Astros, 7-0, in Game 6 at Minute Maid Park. They take a 3-0 lead on Jorge Soler‘s homer off Luis Garcia in the third, and never look back as Dansby Swanson and Freddie Freeman also go deep to build the lead and Max Fried tosses six shutout innings. Soler, who homered three times in the six games, all at key moments, is the winner of the World Series MVP Award.
• 2022 – Four pitchers for the Astros combine to throw a no-hitter against the Phillies in Game 4 of the World Series. Cristian Javier starts things off with six hitless innings, before Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly throw one inning each to complete the 5-0 win that ties the series at two wins apiece.

Today in Cubs history:

• 2000 – Wrigley Field has been granted preliminary landmark status by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks. Any plans to refurbish or tear down the Chicago Cubs‘ home since 1916 will have to be reviewed by this panel.
• 2004 – After a groundskeeper finds a grenade in the Wrigley Field turf, police bomb and arson investigators are called to evaluate the discovery. The rusty, hollowed-out shell turns out to be harmless and its origins remain a mystery.
• 2011 – In one of the first moves of the new management team led by team President Theo Epstein, the Cubs fire manager Mike Quade. The long-time coach and minor league manager found success as Lou Piniella‘s interim replacement at the end of the 2010 season, but 2011 was another story, as the Cubs finished fifth in the NL Central, 20 games below .500.
• 2025 – Winners of the Gold Glove Award in the major leagues are announced. Both winners in left field, Steven Kwan and Ian Happ, do so for the fourth straight year, while there are nine first-time winners.

Cubs Birthdays:Orlando Merced, Bill Connors, Jesse Flores, Johnny Vander Meer, Dutch Zwilling, Clem Clemens, Otto Williams

Today in history:

• 1886 – German patent granted to inventor Carl Benz for “vehicle with gas engine operation”, the first automobile.
• 1903 – British newspaper “Daily Mirror” begins publishing.
• 1907 – US banker J. P. Morgan locks over 40 bankers in his library to force them to find ways to avert New York banking crisis.
• 1917 – In WWI the 1st US soldiers are killed in combat: James Gresham, Thomas Enright and Merle Hay.
• 1947 – After just 6 games of the season, Chicago Blackhawks trade NHL scoring leader Max Bentley along with Cy Thomas to Toronto Maple Leafs for Gus Bodnar, Bud Poile, Gaye Stewart, Bob Goldham, and Ernie Dickens.
• 1947 – Howard Hughes flies the “Spruce Goose,” a huge wooden airplane, for the first and only time, reaching a height of 70 feet before landing back on the water.
• 1983 – “Thriller” single released worldwide by Michael Jackson.
• 2008 – British McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton finishes fourth in season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix at Autódromo José Carlos Pace to clinch his first F1 World Drivers Championship by 1 point from Felipe Massa.
• 2020 – Baby Shark by Pinkfong becomes the most-watched video on YouTube with over 7.04 billion views.

Today in Presidental history:

• 1783 – General George Washington, later first US President, bids farewell to his army after the American Revolutionary War.
• 1852 – Democrat Franklin Pierce elected 14th President of the United States.
• 1880 – James A. Garfield (R) elected 20th President of the United States.
• 1920 – Warren G. Harding is elected President of the United States, defeating Democratic candidate James M. Cox.
• 1948 – US President Harry Truman is re-elected in an upset victory over Republican candidate Thomas E. Dewey.
• 1976 – Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter is elected President of the United States, defeating incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford; Walter Mondale elected vice president.
• 2004 – George W. Bush is re-elected as President of the United States, defeating Democratic candidate John Kerry.

*pictured.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 26 (10-7)

SALT RIVER 20, SURPRISE 4 (BOX)

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27 (10-8)

PEORIA 11, SURPRISE 3 (BOX)

• 1B COLE MATHIS: 1-4, BB
• 3B BOSTON BARO: 1-4, K
• RHP BRENDAN GIRTON: 1.0, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
• RHP CALVIN ZIEGLER: 1.0, 3 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, WP, HBP
• RHP RYAN LAMBERT: 1.0, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28 (11-8)

SURPRISE 13, MESA 2 (BOX)

• 2B BRUIN AGBAYANI : 0-3, R, 2 BB, 2 K

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29  (12-8)

SURPRISE 17, SCOTTSDALE 5 (BOX)

• 1B COLE MATHIS: 0-4, R, 2 BB, 2 K

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30 (12-8)

CANCELLED (RAIN)

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31 (12-9)

SALT RIVER 11, SURPRISE 2 / 6 (BOX)

• 3B BOSTON BARO: 0-2, R, BB, K
• 2B BRUIN AGBAYANI: 0-2, BB, K
• RHP PEYTON PRESCOTT: 2.1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 2 WP
• RHP IRVING COTA: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, HBP

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1 (12-9)

NO GAME (SCHEDULE)

ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE SEASON TO DATE

BRUIN AGBAYANI: 12 G, 39 AB, .103/.286/.154, 4 H, 2 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 10 BB, 16 K, 2/2 SB, .174 BABIP

BOSTON BARO: 10 G, 28 AB, .214/.421/.357, 6 H, 1 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 10 BB, 9 K, 3/3 SB, .278 BABIP

COLE MATHIS: 10 G, 40 AB, .150/.306/.250, 6 H, 1 2B, 0 3B, 1 HR, 9 BB, 6 K, 1/1 SB, .152 BABIP

IRVING COTA: 5 G (0 GS), 12.2 IP, 8 H, 7 R, 6 ER (4.26 ERA), 3 BB, 15 K, 1 HBP, 1 WP, 0 BLK, .200 BABIP

BRENDAN GIRTON: 5 G (0 GS), 4.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER (0.00 ERA), 2 BB, 5 K, 0 HBP, 0 WP, 0 BLK, .200 BABIP

RYAN LAMBERT: 5 G (0 GS), 5.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER (0.00 ERA), 3 BB, 7 K, 0 HBP, 1 WP, 0 BLK, .000 BABIP

PEYTON PRESCOTT: 5 G (5 GS), 9.2 IP, 12 H, 8 R, 7 ER (6.52 ERA), 6 BB, 8 K, 1 HBP, 2 WP, 0 BLK, .344 BABIP

CALVIN ZIEGLER: 5 G (0 GS), 4.0 IP, 5 H, 11 R, 10 ER (22.50 ERA), 7 BB, 5 K, 3 HBP, 3 WP, 0 BLK, .333 BABIP

This is going to be a big week this week, as well as the days after that. We’re getting closer to when teams have to make some interesting decisions regarding the tendering of contracts to arbitration eligible players, which could mean we see a trade or two coming.

Expect to see some action.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Peter Fatse has a specific philosophy he wants to get back to at the plate, but he doesn’t have a lot of time to get it implemented ($).
• ICYMI: I continued my series on ways to improve the Phillies by taking a look at the outfield options.

MLB news:

• The Gold Glove winners were announced. No Phillies winners, but the Diamondbacks and Red Sox had three winners each.
• Remember when we always said that playing first base was low on the spectrum? Turns out, it’s really hard to play first base ($).
• Brad Ausmus is emerging as a candidate to take over the managerial job in Houston, a homecoming of sorts.
• Teruaki Sato has officially entered the MLB posting system. Expect a frenzy to happen quickly before the lockout.

Happy Monday, Camden Chatters! I hope you had a fun Halloween weekend. If you’re a Ravens fan, my condolences on whatever that game was yesterday.

It was, obviously, a slow weekend for the Orioles. They made some housekeeping moves, if you missed it. Albert Suárez, Colin Selby, and Codi Heuer cleared waivers. Suárez elected free agency, not that it’ll keep him from being an Oriole next year anyway. Selby and Heuer will remain in the system. If you’re not sure who Cody Heuer is, that’s ok. Nobody is.

There are quite a few things happening today! The BBWAA award finalists will be announced; the same will happen for the Silver Sluggers. It’s possible we could see Pete on the Silver Slugger list; I expect every other finalist for all awards will be non-Orioles.

Also, free agency opens today. So t’s the last day for teams to extend qualifying offers to their free agents, which means the Orioles will be giving one to Trevor Rogers…unless they announce they have signed him to a new contract! (Don’t hold your breath).

Today is also the day that the Orioles must decide if they’ll pick up Ryan Mountcastle’s $7.5 million team option. There doesn’t seem to be a place for him on this team. But sometimes the Orioles do weird things.

In non-Orioles baseball news, the Gold Glove winners were announced yesterday. Former Oriole Christian Walker won his fourth award. Aside from him, nine of the winners were honored for the first time.

Links

A busy November is coming, more from the mailbag – MASN Sports
November was busy last year, even without an impending lockout. And Roch dips back into his never-ending supply of mailbag questions.

Orioles utility prospect Brandon Butterworth: ‘I love being on the field. I love being available’ – BaltimoreBaseball.com
Rich Dubroff caught up with prospect Brandon Butterworth, who I just learned is 5’9”!

Orioles decline Robert’s ’27 team option after injury-plagued season – MLB.com
If you missed this news, here it is. Kind of a no-brainer, considering the option was for $20 million.

Birthdays and History

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You have five Orioles birthday buddies, including Sam Horn (63). Horn DH’d for the Orioles from 1990-92. In his Orioles debut in 1990, Horn hit two home runs and had six RBI. He was a lefty who couldn’t hit lefties, but thrived as a platoon bat. In his best year, 1991, Horn OPS’d .850 with 22 home runs in 117 games.

Other former Orioles born on this day in history are judge puncher Sidney Ponson (50), 2022 three-gamer Denyi Reyes (30), journeyman Wilson Betemit (45), and 1980 pitcher Paul Hartzell (73).

On this day in 1971, Pat Dobson pitched a no-hitter against the Yomiuri Giants in an exhibition game in Japan. The Orioles played 20 games in their tour of Japan and went 12-2-4.

In 2011, the Orioles claimed Darren O’Day on waivers from the Texas Rangers. Yes, he was a waiver claim! O’Day spent seven seasons as a stalwart in the Orioles’ bullpen. He appeared in over 60 games in five seasons. He was especially dominant in his first four seasons, when he pitched to a 1.93 ERA in 273 games.

Caedmon Parker
Right-Handed Relief Pitcher
6´4´´
190 pounds
Age: 23
2026 High Level Winston-Salem (High-A)
Age relative to high level -0.2 years
SSS rank among all right-handed relievers in the system 15
Overall 2026 stats (High-A/AA) 5-4 ⚾️ 30 games ⚾️ 91 2⁄3 IP ⚾️ 3.73 ERA ⚾️ 1.484 WHIP ⚾️ 105 K ⚾️ 41 BB ⚾️ 1.5 WAR

The White Sox took a chance on a college arm with some untapped potential when they selected righthander Caedmon Parker in the 15th round of the 2025 MLB draft (No. 436) out of Texas Christian University.

Parker had opportunities to turn pro before landing with the South Siders. After drawing draft interest out of high school in 2021, he chose to attend TCU. The Milwaukee Brewers came calling in the 11th round of the 2024 draft, but Parker opted for another season with the Horned Frogs. A year later, he was ready to trade purple for black and white.

An infielder before transitioning to the mound, Parker had his college development interrupted by Tommy John surgery, which wiped out his entire sophomore season. Across three healthy seasons at TCU, he appeared in 39 games, started 23 of them and posted a 4.95 ERA over 111 innings, with 99 strikeouts and 60 walks. Not exactly numbers that jump off the page, but the White Sox saw something worth developing.

The 6´4´´, 190-pound righty features a fastball that can touch 96 mph, along with an upper-70s curveball, mid-80s changeup and low-80s slider. His pitches drew interest for their movement and underlying metrics, but the results hadn’t quite caught up. The ingredients were there. Getting them to work together consistently was the next assignment.

Assigned to the Arizona Complex League after signing, Parker did not pitch professionally in 2025. The 23-year-old made his debut in 2026 with Low-A Kannapolis in 2026, starting 16 of his 18 appearances. He went an impressive 5-4 with a 3.82 ERA over 75⅓ innings, striking out 86 and walking 34 before earning a July 21 promotion to High-A Winston-Salem.

The move came with a change in responsibilities. Parker worked exclusively out of the bullpen for the Dash, posting a 3.31 ERA with 19 strikeouts and seven walks over 16⅓ innings. An injury sent him to the seven-day IL in early September, ending his first professional season. Between the two stops, Parker finished with a 3.73 ERA and 105 strikeouts in 91⅔ innings across 30 appearances, good for a promising 10.3 K/9 — a respectable introduction, especially for a pitcher who entered pro ball with more promise than polish.

Parker heads into 2027 with a productive debut behind him and a role still worth watching. A return to Winston-Salem would make sense, with a chance to pitch his way to Double-A Birmingham. Whether that comes in the rotation or out of the bullpen, his next step is giving the White Sox a reason to keep moving him up.

Full 2027 South Side Sox Top 100 White Sox ProspectsStorystream

The MLB offseason is officially underway after the Milwaukee Brewers’ World Series victory this week. 

That means Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington has some decisions to make as he looks toward trying to return his franchise to the postseason for the first time since 2015. 

He’ll have to do so in an uncertain environment, with players and owners sharply split on what the sport’s next collective bargaining agreement should look like. The possibility of missed games – or possibly an entire missed season – in 2027 could have a major impact on the moves Cherington and his peers choose or choose not to make. 

Here’s USA TODAY’s look at the biggest questions facing the club in the months ahead. 

Required reading: For Pittsburgh Pirates, 2026 was playoffs or bust. Then the season started | Opinion

Can Paul Skenes be fixed? 

A bad season for the 24-year-old ace is a pretty darn good one for most pitchers. He finished 2026 with a 10-11 record, 3.82 ERA and 200 strikeouts across 32 starts. 

Those numbers don’t come close to meeting his own Cy Young-winning standard, though. Skenes’ ERA ballooned by nearly two full runs year over year, from 1.97 in 2025. Fangraphs valued him at just 4.2 wins above replacement (WAR) compared to 6.5 the year before. 

In a nine start stretch from May 17 to July 1, the team lost each time he took the mound. The Pirates went on to miss the playoffs by six games. 

Some in Pirates orbit have probably overestimated the difference Skenes could have made had he been on his game. Six games is a lot for any individual player to make up, which is reflected in those WAR numbers. 

He is nevertheless the team’s best player, and any chance the Pirates have at ending their postseason drought begins with him. Manager Don Kelly and pitching coach Bill Murphy need to find some answers, especially considering the Pirates moved on from Oscar Marin, the pitching coach Skenes had the most success with, at the end of 2025. 

That move and Skenes’ subsequent dropoff in production has justifiably raised a lot of proverbial eyebrows. So the pressure is on this coaching staff to prove that the transition was not a mistake. 

Will Brandon Lowe return? 

The veteran second baseman had one of the best power-hitting seasons in recent Pirates history with 35 homers and 29 doubles after he was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays in a trade last December. 

He will now become a free agent, having reached the end of his final season of salary arbitration eligibility. 

The choice for Cherington, then, is pretty stark. He can pay the 32-year-old the many millions he will likely command on the open market. Or he can let his best offensive player leave for practically nothing in return. 

Each choice carries potential downsides. Of course, the lineup will be worse if he leaves in the short term. But because Lowe is well on the other side of his 30th birthday, a long-term contract extension carries significant risk of diminishing returns.  

The team has also developed some potential alternative sources of significant power. Rookie outfielder Esmerlyn Valdez hit 17 homers in 72 games in 2026. That translates to a 38-home run season over 162 games. 

Twenty-five-year-old catcher Rafael Flores Jr., meanwhile, had 11 blasts in 47 games. You wouldn’t expect him to play a full 162 games because of his position, but one could reasonably hope for somewhere between 25-30 homers from him in projecting his numbers across a full schedule. 

The anger from the fan base will be swift and severe if Lowe leaves, for understandable reasons. The Pirates have earned little benefit of the doubt with their payrolls under Cherington. One can plausibly argue that there’s plenty of money that should be available for a proven commodity like Lowe. 

The question becomes whether it’s wise to invest all of it in a single aging player. Or whether Cherington is better off spreading his risk thinner and making multiple bets with the same pile of cash if notoriously tight-fisted owner Bob Nutting approves a payroll bump for him. 

Can the bullpen improve? 

The Pirates blew 26 saves in 2026, mostly early in the year. That was the 11th-highest total in baseball and a major reason they were on the outside looking in at the postseason despite finishing fifth in runs scored. 

By the end of the season, some solutions began to emerge. Yohan Ramirez (2.86 ERA), Mason Montgomery (2.88) and Gregory Soto (3.63) all finished with reasonably solid numbers. Trade deadline acquisition Luke Weaver got off to a rocky start with the Pirates but allowed no runs in six of his final seven appearances.

This group has been a consistent problem during Cherington’s tenure. The fact that he mostly got it right by the end of the year is encouraging, but fans are correct in saying that he should have acted more aggressively early on to correct the issue. And would be justified in worrying about whether he’ll make similar mistakes this offseason. 

The pressure is now on to get this group ready to be competitive from opening day in 2027. 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Paul Skenes setback looms as top offseason priority for Pirates

This bright Monday morning brings us the first full week of the offseason. We’ll get the results of awards voting this week, and we may even see some hot stove activity, and teams like the Giants have already begun to make minor moves to smooth out the edges of their 40-man rosters. But will these seemingly normal early offseason happenings just belie the true nature of the storm to come? A trivial distraction before the sport enters a state of uncertainty and upheaval? We’ll have to wait and see.

On the site this morning, Peter runs our GM approval poll for November, which should be an interesting exercise this being the first poll since the Yankees bowed out of the postseason in the ALDS. Peter will also grade Jake Bird’s 2026 with the Yankees (you might be able to guess the letter grade!). And later, John writes up Jonathan Loáisiga on the occasion of his 32nd birthday, Madison puts out the call for an offseason mailbag, and Jeremy looks as the finalists for the BBWAA awards.

Questions/Prompts:

1. Of the Yankees impending free agents, who is most likely to return? Who do you most want to see return?

2. Did you expect Cody Beligner to come home with a Gold Glove award yesterday? Did any of the results surprise you?