The first game of the American League Championship Series was going splendidly for the Tampa Bay Rays, until it wasn’t.

The Rays offense took a 2-0 lead early and Drew Rasmussen battled through a tough Cleveland offense for six innings. He was hit around a bunch, but worked around trouble. Unfortunately, the Guardians were able to launch a pair of solo homeruns to tie the game and boot Rasmussen from the game. Then the Rays bullpen, which was absolutely nails in the ALDS, unraveled and allowed the Guardians to score five runs over the final two frames and Cleveland cruised to a 7-3 game one victory.

Tonight the Rays will look to even out the series before it heads to Cleveland on Thursday and they’ll rest their hopes on Freddy Peralta.

Not many pitchers produced better results than Peralta over the last month of the season. The league certainly didn’t think so as Peralta was named the American League Pitcher of the Month in September.

During the ALDS, the Rays called upon Peralta to start the second game against the New York Yankees. Following Drew Rasmussen’s dominance from the day before, Peralta was excellent as he held the Yankees hitless over the first three frames. The unstoppable Ben Rice ended that in the 4th when he launched a solo homerun and then Peralta’s command abandoned him in the 5th inning leading to Kevin Cash going to the bullpen. Overall, Peralta worked 4.2 innings, allowing a run on three hits, while he walked one and struck out three.

The Rays offense will have a tough challenge as Cleveland sends southpaw Parker Messick to the mound. Messick was fantastic during his brief run with the Guardians towards the end of the 2025 season. In 2026, Messick proved that was no fluke as he dominated opposing lineups. Over 32 starts, Messick compiled a 2.56 ERA | 3.07 FIP with a 25.8 K% & 6.6 BB% over 186.1 IP. He finished among the league leaders in most important pitching categories.

During their ALDS, the Guardians called upon Messick twice. Usually Messick has impeccable command but it faltered during his two outings as he walked 19.4% of the opposing hitters he faced over 6.2 IP. Overall, Messick allowed 4 runs on 6 hits, while he walked 6 and struck out 11 over his appearances. He most recently pitched on the 8th in game four, where he was pulled in the third inning after allowing two runs on two hits with four walks and five strikeouts.

The Rays offense continues to sputter in the playoffs and the team will need more from their offensive stars if they hopes to advance further. The team as a whole currently has a 67 wRC+ and is hitting .209/.261/.341 over their four playoff games thus far, averaging just over 3 runs a game.

Will the Rays be able to overcome Parker Messick and rediscover their offensive footing? We’ll find out later tonight.

It’s time to bench Shohei Ohtani.

Do it delicately. Do it with respect. But just do it.

“I think for me, it’s having a conversation with him tomorrow, kind of try to figure out what’s best for him, what’s best for us,’’ Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic after the Dodgers fell behind the Milwaukee Brewers two games to none in the National League Championship Series. “He certainly has earned that conversation and deserves it.”

That sounds dangerously wishy-washy.

Forget about figuring out what’s right for Ohtani, the Dodgers superstar. It’s time to focus on what’s right for the Dodgers – and that was eminently clear on Tuesday, Oct. 14 in Game 2 of the NLCS.

Ohtani, the team’s designated hitter, went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. His postseason batting average dropped to .150. That’s 3-for-20 at the plate without a single extra-base hit. He has also managed to draw three walks to score two runs, and that’s not nearly enough for a designated hitter with a team in dire straits.

Every year during the Winter Meetings, teams hold the Rule 5 draft, which allows them to select eligible minor leaguers who have not been added to their organizations’ 40-man rosters. With the current labor deal set to expire on December 1 and a work stoppage looming, it is unclear whether the draft will take place as scheduled. In 2021, the major league phase of the Rule 5 draft was postponed indefinitely during the lockout, although the minor league phase proceeded as scheduled. MLB and the union could agree to hold the major league draft before the current labor deal expires.

The Royals currently have a full 40-man roster, plus eight players on the 60-day Injured List that will need to be activated once the offseason begins. Carlos Estévez, Jonathan India, Craig Kimbrel, Luke Maile, and Josh Rojas will all come off the roster as free agents after the World Series. That will mean a lot of additional roster clearing just to get the roster back down to 40, let alone enough to clear spots to add new players.

Players are eligible after four seasons in the minors if they signed at age 19 or later, or after five seasons if they signed younger than age 19. That means this year, the college draftees from 2023 become eligible, while all signees from 2022 and before are eligible. Selected players must stay on the MLB roster all season or be offered back to their original teams. Teams can protect eligible players by placing them on the 40-man roster by late November.

Teams overwhelmingly select pitchers more than hitters, and if they do choose hitters, it is usually guys who can come off the bench – utility players, backup catchers, and speedsters. The caveat to adding any player to the 40-man roster is that the player would be unable to have contact with the club, participate in spring training, or even play in games if there is a prolonged work stoppage. Assuming there is a Rule 5 draft, and assuming the rules won’t change, who do the Royals need to consider protecting?

Will be protected

Lucas Braun was acquired from the Braves in the Lane Thomas trade, and the right-hander could be in the mix for a rotation spot at some point next year. He had a solid 4.16 ERA with 8.2 strikeouts-per-nine innings across Double-A and Triple-A. The 25-year-old won’t blow anyone away with velocity, but he uses command, deception, a deep arsenal of pitches, and a lower arm angle to generate good results.

Carson Roccaforte is a slam-dunk to be added after a 35 HR/32 SB season in which he hit .257/.338/.519 across Double-A and Triple-A. Roccaforte turns 25 in late March, and he should be in the outfield mix for next season, although he is a left-handed bat and the Royals are already lefty-heavy in the outfield.

Could be protected

Felix Arronde flashes good stuff, but his inability to miss bats really hurt his performance this year. He started out okay, but was awful in the second half with a 9.76 ERA in his last nine starts. Overall he posted a 6.49 ERA in 105.1 innings with Northwest Arkansas, after a promising season the year before. The Cuban right-hander is still just 23 years old and has a mid-90s fastball with a curve and split-fingered changeup. He is ranked #15 in the farm system by Baseball America and could be seen as a good project for an organization good at developing pitchers.

Gavin Cross has had a very enigmatic career, but he seemed to turn a corner this summer. The former first-round pick turned it on in mid-May and hit .291/.334/.535 with 17 home runs in his last 82 games. He has the pedigree and the power, but the strikeouts are still a big concern. Like Roccaforte, he is left-handed, so the Royals may find him expendable.

Brett Squires smashed 31 home runs last year, hitting .277/.351/.549 with 24 steals to boot. The undrafted free agent has hit in the minors, but will be 27 years old by next spring. Older hitters who rake in the upper minors are typically unprotected, and only two first basemen have been selected in the Rule 5 draft in the last decade – Mike Ford (2017) and Ryan Noda (2022).

Long shots to be protected

Jacob Berry was acquired from the Marlins midseason and hit .251/.350/.416 overall at Triple-A with 12 home runs and 19 steals. He’s a former first-round pick whose power has never materialized, but displays good contact rates. He’s a switch-hitter and the Royals had him play second, third, and outfielder, so he could have some value as a utility player.

Austin Charles is an intriguing, toolsy athlete who combines power, speed, and a terrific arm. He has also had trouble staying on the field, and was limited to just 45 games at High-A this year. He is just 22 year old, and jumping to the big leagues is a big stretch considering his lack of a track record, but he did look impressive this year, hitting .285/.353/.491.

Derlin Figueroa had the third-most home runs in the farm system with 26, behind Roccaforte and Squires. The 23-year-old left-handed hitter had a line of .252/.324/.515 with 18 steals in High-A for the Quad Cities River Bandits. He plays first and third, positions teams don’t typically take in the draft, and the big leagues would be a big jump.

Frank Mozzicato wasn’t protected or selected last year, and seems unlikely to be an option this year either after putting up an 8.04 ERA with 72 walks in 71.2 innings. And yet, is there a team out there that thinks they can work with his plus curveball, add some velo to his fastball and shape up his command? Probably not.

Spencer Nivens is a Columbia, Missouri native and former Missouri State outfielder who hit .280/.365/.446 with nine home runs and 17 steals in 104 games in his second tour of Northwest Arkansas. He has a really good eye at the plate with good walk numbers and low strikeout numbers. He is another left-handed outfield bat, so the Royals may not feel the need to protect him.

Hunter Owen has shown good strikeout rates the last two seasons, but was hit a lot more this year, causing his ERA to rise to 5.94 for Northwest Arkansas. He’s a lefty who can miss bats, a profile that teams frequently like to take in the Rule 5 draft, so I think the Royals would have to at least consider protecting him despite his poor ERA.

Jack Pineda did nothing but hit this year. He had an impressive line of .371/.443/.548 in 59 games at Double-A, then hit .302/.337/.488 in 22 games for Omaha. But he has never really done this before, with very weak offensive numbers prior to 2026. The 27-year-old is able to play all over the infield, which is attractive to teams, and he could be selected if a team feels he figured something out this year.

Daniel Vázquez is a glove-first shortstop who raised eyebrows last fall with a very impressive performance in the Arizona Fall League. But his offense fell flat this year at Double-A, with a line of .246/.315/.328 and just four home runs in 124 games. He is just 22 years old and his glove may be MLB ready, so a team could take a gamble on him if they think his bat will catch up eventually.

Peyton Wilson has been a good organizational soldier, hitting at every level and playing wherever the Royals ask him. That kind of versatility could be attractive to teams looking at him in the Rule 5 draft, but he will be 27 next year and his upside is low enough that I don’t think the Royals would sweat losing him too much. The switch-hitter batted .276/.359/.430 with seven home runs and 17 steals for Omaha, and does a little bit of everything well.

Jordan Woods was an undrafted free agent out of Canada who had Tommy John surgery early on. This summer he tossed six perfect innings with 14 strikeouts in an outing for the Columbia Fireflies. He was moved up to High-A Quad Cities, where he struggled with a 5.80 ERA with 44 strikeouts in 40.1 innings. He is very much a long shot, but his added velocity and flashes of brilliance make him intriguing as a young lefty who has been moved slowly due to his injury.

Other eligible players: Angel Acosta, Andy Basora, Ethan Bosacker, Roni Cabrera, Christian Chamberlain, Dustin Dickerson, Manuel German, Ricson Gonzalez, Tyson Guerrero, Jose Gutierrez, Josh Hansell, Chase Isbell, Brandon Johnson, Justin Johnson, Henson Leal, Chazz Martinez, Mason Miller, Shane Panzini, Hunter Patteson, Coleman Picard, Yimi Presinal, Henry Ramos, Ryan Ramsey, Oscar Rayo, Emmanuel Reyes, Ben Sears, Erick Torres, Luca Tresh, Hyungchan Um, Javier Vaz, Trevor Werner, Henry Williams, Jhosmmel Zue

As far as non-stressful jobs in sports go, backup catcher to an established star would be a pretty good one to have. For nine years in New York, Charlie Silvera got to fill that role, and not just behind any old star — he was the backup to Yankees icon Yogi Berra. For his career in the Bronx, Silvera made less than 500 plate appearances, yet he still got to play a role on one of the most successful eras in the history of the most successful franchise.

Charles Anthony Ryan “Charlie” Silvera
Born: October 13, 1924 (San Francisco, CA)
Died: September 7, 2019 (Millbrae, CA)
Yankees Tenure: 1948-56

Silvera was born in San Francisco in 1924, going on to become one of a number of Yankees of that era to hail from the city. In his youth, he played sandlot baseball with fellow future Yankees Bobby Brown and Jerry Coleman. In 1942, he caught the eye of the Yankees, who signed him to a deal.

Silvera debuted in the minors as a 17-year old in 1942, playing for the Class D Wellsville (NY) Yankees as an outfielder. However after 75 games there that season, he joined the military, serving in the Air Force in World War II. Silvera would miss the entirety of the next three seasons while serving, although he did play on a military team during that time.

Upon returning to baseball, the Yankees converted Silvera into a catcher. He spent the next three seasons in the minors before earning a call-up to the Yankees late in the 1948 season. He appeared in four games, recording three hits in both of his first two games, and going 8-for-14 in total.

After that cameo, Silvera earned the Yankees’ backup job for the 1949 season. He would spend the next nine seasons filling that role. The most games he ever appeared in a season came in his full debut year in ‘49. Starter Yogi Berra missed some time through injury and Silvera hit decently enough in his 58 games that season, putting up a .315 batting average and a .403 OBP. However, he was never going to fully replace the budding star in Berra, and never would. The Yankees also advanced to the 1949 World Series. Silvera came off the bench in Game 2 of the series, as Berra again had to exit due to injury. He went 0-for-2, as the Yankees lost that game but won the series. Despite playing in an era where the Yankees were winning and playing in the Fall Classic a lot, that was the only postseason appearance Silvera would ever make.

Over the next seven seasons, Silvera played in just 18, 18, 20, 42, 20, 14, and seven games respectively. Despite that, he would win five more World Series rings during his time with the Yankees. Opposing players would often try to trash talk Silvera for his lack of playing time, but the catcher was never bothered. He later said “the opposition would call me ‘Jesse James, the payroll bandit.’ I’d tell them, ‘Go ahead and give it to me, but Yogi Berra tips me more than you make.’”

Having only appeared in 21 games over his last two seasons in the Bronx, the Yankees traded Silvera to the Cubs ahead of the 1957 season. Silvera put up a completely respectable — for a backup catcher — 86 OPS+ with the Yankees, he was just never going to replace Berra.

Upon going to the Cubs, Silvera was given the No. 8 that Berra wore in New York. He appeared in 26 games for Chicago that season, but struggled and missed time with injury. The Cubs released him after that season. Silvera played a couple more years in the minors but never made it back to the bigs, leaving the playing ranks after 1960.

Silvera stayed in baseball in various roles after his playing career ended. He joined former teammate Billy Martin on the coaching staffs of the Twins, Tigers, and Rangers when Martin was beginning his managerial career. He served as the bullpen coach for those teams, although Martin didn’t bring him back to the Bronx when Martin went back there.

After coaching, Silvera got into scouting with the Cubs and Marlins. He received a seventh World Series ring for his work for the 1997 Marlins. He often came back for Yankees Old-Timers’ Day but he did return to the San Francisco area in his later years, where he resided until his passing in 2019. Prior to his death, he had been the last surviving member of the Yankees dynasty to win five championships in a row from 1949-53.

Had he played in the modern era, Silvera very likely could’ve gone to another team in free agency to get more playing time. However, the rules at the time were what they were, and the Yankees were plenty happy to keep him around as a backup. Ending up with more than a hand’s worth of World Series rings would be a nice consolation prize.

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

Two weeks ago, I spoke on the phone with Colorado Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer about the 2026 season.

Below are excerpts from that conversation, which has been lightly edited for clarity.

On the last weeks of the season for Schaeffer and his staff

You continue on with how you prepare for a game, and you are trying to win every night. Just the day leading up to the game looks a little different because you’re having exit meetings.

So, for instance, we would meet with the hitting coaches (Brett Pill and Jordan Pacheco) and Paul DePodesta and Josh Byrnes and go over what we want the offense to look like in the offseason, what the individual plans (are) for these guys.

And then Paul, Josh, and myself meet with the players individually, and then the hitting coaches meet with that player as well to make sure that they’re on the same page.

The same thing happens with the pitching.

So every day, I would say that whole last home stand, which was a couple weeks long, there were about five exit meetings a day with those guys. It’s more you’re preparing for something that is ultra important, getting them ready for the offseason, and at the same time, you can do you can do two things. You can prepare for tonight and prepare for those as well.

On preparing with a possible lockout in mind

I don’t think so because we just make sure that we communicate very, very well with these guys through the month of October. You give them a couple weeks off, and then you call them, and then through November (until) December 1, if there’s a lockout, that’s when the communication has to stop.

So we have to make sure we’re all on the same page before that, which we already are. But Pill and Pacheco in the month of November, I believe, are going to travel to see each one of these guys offensively and make sure we’re on the same page, and everything’s going correctly before the lockout kicks in, if it does.

On making communication adjustments

I think if you go through a season and you’re not trying to make adjustments positively for the next year, you’re really not doing your job. So, I do think that there are a list of things that I want to do better, and the way I communicate is definitely one of them.

I mean, I think specifically with the staff, there needs to be from my end just more communication, just different meetings set up on a daily basis, making sure that I’m touching base with the pitching more often as opposed to what I did this year — the coaches I’m talking about — so that we’re all on the same page more often. It’s not that we weren’t, but you can always get better on that.

I guess you can always improve the communication with the minor leagues, I think, because you get into a season, and you always want to do that. But then what’s right in front of you usually takes precedence in a daily operation. So I think improved communication with the minor leagues to make sure that we’re all on the same page, you can always get better at that.

So those are probably two big ones.

On working with the new front office

Oh man, it’s been awesome — those two guys (DePodesta and Byrnes) specifically.

I mean, it’s been a whole slew of new people in there, but specifically the two that I work with most often are Paul and Josh, and those guys have been great. I mean, it’s just an even-keel headspace that they’re in at all times. There’s no overreaction. There’s a real perspective that they bring in terms of where we want to go and what we have to go through to get there.

The communication is great. Just the vision is very good. It’s just a pleasure to go to work with those guys every day. I can’t explain that enough, how much of a pleasure it is. It’s always about the people that you go to work with, and to have two very good human beings that you work with on a daily basis that communicate well, it’s a pleasure.

On things the 2026 Rockies did well that got overlooked

I’d say — what six weeks? — it just wasn’t good, and we didn’t finish the way we wanted to for a myriad of reasons, I think.

But if you step back and look at the season as a whole and see the progress that we made, I think offensively it was absolutely incredible. The turnaround was unbelievable from last year, just in terms of pretty much every offensive category, the the level of competition that we brought every night, the belief in each other that those offensive players brought every single night. Late-inning comebacks all the time, never giving in. That’s what they did better than anybody.

Every offensive statistic and category, it was improved — and improved in a dramatic way. The personnel was better. Just everything overall offensively, I thought was better.

And then, if you look at individual pitcher performances, pushing towards our future, I think you saw a lot of a lot of promise there and a lot of good things moving forward.

Jaden Hill was put in every difficult situation possible early on. That was his role, and he handled it really, really well. I think you can see how great he’s going to be moving forward.

Trade acquisitions like Mark Manfredi and Nick Frasso, part of a young core in that bullpen that are going to be really good. You saw Mason Adams be extremely good out of the starting rotation. You saw some steps forward with Gabe Hughes, with Tanner Gordon, even though it didn’t end well. Juan Mejia went through his struggles, but I think there’s argument that you would rather him go through his struggles right now. We believe in him a ton. Like next year when we’re in a playoff push, he can learn from him and get better now.

Brennan Bernadino had an unbelievable season as our left-hander in a bullpen in a lot of time, which is a very difficult situation, being the only left-hander in a bullpen and having to succeed down there like that. He was absolutely awesome, and he’s part of our future for sure.

I think we saw, obviously, there’s a ton of areas where we need to get better. There’s no doubt about it.

On some of the disappointments and focused areas for improvement

Winning is absolutely a byproduct of how you go about your business, and I do believe that our defense was not even close to where it needs to be going forward.

Infield, I would say in general, the defense was below the bar this year. Now, we have the personnel for it to be very, very good. It just wasn’t.

Obviously, we have a shortstop that has won a Gold Glove already. We have a third baseman that can win a Gold Glove. We have a first baseman that can win a Gold Glove. But I think just overall as a unit, I think it’s a no-brainer that we need to be better defensively.

We did get better in the base-running category this year, no doubt about it. Put more pressure on teams with guys like Jake McCarthy, guys like Cole Carrigg, and just the overall, I guess, atmosphere that they brought to our offense. But, overall, we can exploit another team better with our base running on a nightly basis.

Our pitching has to get better. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it. The run differential shrank a ton this year with the offense getting much better, and the pitching was better. But, overall, we need to keep more runs off the board in order to win more ball games. All that stuff matters and is big.

There’s a couple things. We lost a ton of one- and two-run ball games. I don’t know the exact number, but it was a lot. That, for me, that’s where the experience comes in. I think guys learning from this year and going through that. I think something similar happened to the White Sox last year. They played a ton of one- and two-run ball games and lost (them). With an extra year under the belt and learning how to control the emotion, control the at-bat more, focus on the ability for a player to control the count on both sides of the ball takes some experience in the big leagues.

We’ve had a lot of young guys that are learning and finding their way, and it takes some time, and you have to have some patience with that. But I do believe that next year with the lowering of the heart rate in big moments on both sides of the ball, will prove very, very helpful for us.

It’s hard when at the end of the year it didn’t go well, but we were right there all year — one- and two-run ballgames. The year before, not even close.

On addressing defensive issues

Me being a defensive coach before, there’s a couple ways you need to go about this, and Andy Perez does a really good job. You need to attack individual performances, and then you also have the ability to look at it as a unit, as a unit that’s accountable to each other in terms of the infield guys, the personnel that makes it up, and belonging to a unit and how important that is to the success of a team.

But individually, I think each guy goes through something different in the year. I think Tovar’s defense was down — I think in large part because his offense was so down. He did a good job of not taking it out in the field, but it’s a really difficult thing to go through the offensive season he had and it to not affect his defense.

Kyle Karros goes through different things, individually. He can be a very, very good defender. He is a very, very good defender, but there are certain things that he needs to improve upon, no doubt about it, and he knows it.

—

Adael Amador, he needs to improve his range. He needs to improve side-to-side movement, which is definitely a physical (issue). Really, the only time you can improve it exponentially is in the offseason. It’s very difficult to improve it during the season when you’re playing every day.

But Kyle Karros, it’s not physical. Kyle has all the physical ability to move side to side. He’s got arm strength. He’s got ability to throw from all different angles. It’s just a matter of being consistent throughout the year, which comes with experience.

So everybody has something different. Like Kyle’s not going to go into this offseason saying, “I need to field a ground ball differently.” That’s not how you go about that. It’s a guy you trust immensely. You trust this guy. When you work with him every day, you trust him that his improvements are going to happen based on how he goes about his business on a daily basis with experience moving forward.

TJ Rumfield could use side to side. He knows this. Even though he’s a plus defender, he can improve side to side and getting more range.

I think if you were to pick one thing as a unit, other than making the routine play, I think it’s the improvement of range based on where we play in altitude. You don’t want runners getting on base, and the range is the biggest area of improvement overall as a unit, I would say.

On his role during the offseason

That’s a hard one to answer because last year, I was going through interview processes and and hiring a bunch of people, and doing that whole thing, and we didn’t have much time to get it done, so it was very intensive.

This year, we’re going to attack issues that we think held us back this year that we can improve directly this year.

So, obviously, you take I think at least a couple weeks, maybe a week or 10 days off here, and I’m going to go camping with my son this weekend. But we’re going to have Zoom calls. Who knows what’s going to happen with the lockout?

But my goal is to have the staff clicking on all cylinders, ready to roll all winter long, and try to just put more work and time into the off-season than any other club because we need it — whatever that is: exercises, in-game exercises that we can simulate, conversations with players. A lot of discussion on philosophy and how to move forward with what we got. Just basically brainstorming and ideas and getting together and trying to have everything ready, so when we get ready to go in spring, we’re all clicking on the same wavelength because you can always get better at that.

And just having plans in place that we all believe in that is going to help us moving forward.

But what you don’t want to do is go into the offseason and just say, “Hey, this is time off” because we can’t afford that. We have to spend this time wisely, and we’ve got a lot to do to push this thing forward.

On his role prior to the lockout

It’s very limited. Just calls asking my opinions on players, probably. That’s Josh and Paul’s job. But if I have anything on players, if I’ve heard anything about players that they’re talking about via connections in the game, all that sort of thing, but just offering up opinions.

My job is more involved with my staff through November, even through December, January. It’s just pushing the staff forward.

On taking hope from the Chicago White Sox

I have hope no matter what because I’m with these guys every day.

But it’s just proof that it can happen. You can go from a 100-loss season to a winning season and a playoff season the very next year. The Arizona Diamondbacks did it not long ago, and the White Sox did it this year. There’s a lot that goes into that. You don’t just snap your fingers. That’s why we have to get to work immediately to get this thing still moving it forward.

I think it was a huge step forward this year, but we need to push it forward again next year.

But you look at the White Sox and what they’ve done and how they acquired their players and the style of play that they play, and their pitching has gotten so much better.

It’s a good formula for sure, and those guys should be proud of themselves.

Final thoughts

I was struck by Schaeffer confirming — like other staff we’ve talked with — the chaos the Rockies organization waded through during the last offseason as they hired new staff. For myself, I am interested in seeing the steps they take to improve this season. (And I’m already irritated by a probable lockout that will delay the progress.)

In addition, I appreciated Schaeffer’s description of how they are preparing players both for their offseason work and a lockout. (That Pill and Pacheco are planning to visit players seems very positive.) And I thought his comments on improving the defense were interesting as well.

I know you all will have thoughts on this, and I look forward to reading them in the comments.

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

There was no shortage of problems for the Dodgers in a Game 2 loss that has seen the reigning champs return home trailing 2-0 in the NLCS. We might focus on the no-challenge that derailed Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s struggles; we could discuss the bullpen’s shortcomings, having been asked to carry the load after Yamamoto didn’t get out of the fourth—it is all pertinent. Nevertheless, the simple reality is that the Dodgers haven’t hit, and they’ve done that in the worst possible way, securing all of one extra-base hit through 18 innings.

Following Game 1’s loss, we talked here about the silver lining of consistently putting people on against a talented Milwaukee staff. And that if you’re able to sustain that, you’ll eventually run into a big hit or two that can change a game—this lineup is too deep to project otherwise, or so we thought.

Instead of building from the positives of Game 1, the Dodgers offense took a step back in the second game of this series. Were it not for the self-inflicted wounds of Brewers starter Logan Henderson, they could’ve easily produced nothing the whole game—nothing, which summarizes their output in five innings of work against the Brewers bullpen.

It’s well established that to get anything going against the likes of Abner Uribe, Aaron Ashby, and Trevor Megill is a lofty task. That’s now a secondary issue because, again in Game 2, the Dodgers offense had their shots against more vulnerable pitchers and produced very little out of it.

Brewers starter Henderson was nowhere near his most polished version, and multiple errors, including one of his own, contributed to the Dodgers scoring four runs off him in 4.0+ innings. It could’ve been far worse, though, had they been just the tiniest more effective in capitalizing on a clearly rattled arm. Two innings in particular deserve special attention: the third and fifth frames.

In the third inning, Freddie Freeman came up to bat after the first two reached with bullets off Henderson, and he hit one that looked headed to the gap before Sal Frelick ran it down in a phenomenal defensive play (Savant put it at an .840 xBA). The same defense that made errors to put the Dodgers in the game also made up for it with difficult plays that many others would not have made. Still, the Dodgers scored a run in that inning after a wild pitch—with only one out and hard-hit balls after hard-hit balls against Henderson, you’d figure Teoscar Hernández and Shohei Ohtani would capitalize on a runner in scoring position, but neither could, stranding Mookie Betts.

Shortly thereafter, Henderson came back out there for the fifth and allowed one more run due to an errant throw that left a runner in scoring position with one out. With the score tied at 3-3 and the Brewers up in the series, Pat Murphy did not push the envelope and bring one of his key guys in against the top of the order; instead, he went to Dustin May. And before you ask, no, the Brewers haven’t turned May into a dominant arm since acquiring him. In fact, May’s record in Milwaukee has been especially bad, with an ERA north of 5.00 and two runs allowed in three innings in his only playoff appearance, a start against the Padres in the NLDS.

Against May, the Dodgers played for the one run, and a couple of sacrifices later, they led 4-3, but the feeling of leaving May off the hook was evident—knowing full well how much tougher things would get as the Brewers brought in their top arms. One run to take the lead is not the worst thing in the world, far from it, but in that moment with that matchup—still needing five innings out of your bullpen and facing one of the worst arms the Brewers will throw your way—playing for a single run was underwhelming. And that’s factoring in the struggling offense.

Following that inning, the worst-case scenario set in for the Dodgers, as their bullpen had a few hiccups here and there, while the Brewers’ was, by all accounts, perfect—so much so that it gave itself the luxury of not utilizing Megill, adding two insurance runs in the eighth to go up 7-4. In an alternate reality, we might come here and complain they didn’t drive that run in off May on their way to losing the game 4-3, but you required more in that situation—particularly when the other side’s top relievers have done what we’ve seen against this Dodgers lineup.

Proximal interphalangeal joint reconstruction is a pretty intimidating way to say that Caleb Durbin finally got his pinky fixed. Durbin initially dislocated his pinkie way back on June 24 — literally the day before the Red Sox’ 15-game winning streak began — but the injury didn’t really effect his play and he obviously remained on the field for the rest of the season. “It doesn’t quite straighten or bend all the way,” Durbin told the media back in September. “There really is kind of a joint understanding [with the team] that we’ll get it looked at at the end of the season if we have to, because [whatever the diagnosis is], it’s not going to impact my decision to play at all.” (Tim Healey, Boston Globe)

Durbin’s pinky didn’t end up being a major injury, but the Red Sox had plenty of those nonetheless. And the fact that a few of those injuries — particularly the injuries to Garrett Crochet and Roman Anthony — were initially misdiagnosed as minor indicates this offseason might be a good time for the Red Sox to review the training and medical staff. (Sean McAdam, MassLive)

Given that Crochet and Anthony both essentially had lost seasons, it isn’t surprising that they both landed on this list of six payers with the biggest questions entering the offseason. “[Anthony’s] potential remains sky-high, but he still needs to show what he can produce in a full, healthy season. Will the hand injury linger? Will it fully heal? Does he continue to split time between left field and designated hitter? What does a full season of Anthony look like?” (Jen McCaffrey, The Athletic)

Trevor Story also appears on the above list. But, unlike Anthony and Crochet, Story won’t the the only one who dictates how his season goes next year. That’s because Franklin Arias’ timeline for promotion will have a major domino effect on the whole roster. “If Story were to move positions, it would be to second, where he has experience. But where would that leave Curtis Mead?” (Ian Browne, MLB.com)

Arias is not participating in the Arizona Fall League this year, but a handful of other Sox prospects are, including Antonio Anderson, who hit a grand slam over the weekend and who has been one of the league’s top hitters so far. (Jim Crowell, Soxprospects.com)

And while we’re still a long way off from free agency, the news about Sonny Gray’s return to baseball has a lot of people already thinking about next year’s rotation. If Gray doesn’t re-sign with the Sox, here’s an early look at some free agent options to replace him. (Justin Leger, NBC Sports)

Something about the Dodgers’ championship run last year bothers Blake Snell.

“It’s always how you finish,” Snell said.

Snell made two starts in the World Series a year ago, and he didn’t pitch well in either one. The pair of losses robbed him of the satisfaction he felt after winning each of his three previous starts of that postseason.

His only solace was that he contributed 1 ⅓ innings of relief against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 of the World Series.

Reminded that he couldn’t feel his fingers in the World Series, Snell revealed that was also the case in the previous round when he limited the Milwaukee Brewers to one hit over eight scoreless innings in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series.

“If I could do it in the CS,” he said, “I could have done it in the World Series.”

Snell understands what’s at stake in October.

Reputation.

Legacy.

And that matters to the 33-year-old, two-time Cy Young Award winner who will be entrusted by the Dodgers to save their season when he starts for them against the Brewers on Wednesday in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series. The Dodgers are behind in the best-of-seven series, two games to none.

Snell knows how the public views him.

He’s painfully aware that people think he’s a video-game-addicted slacker who emerges from hibernation in August to begin preparing for the playoffs.

“It’s not like I’m just having surgery because I want to have surgery,” Snell told The California Post. “I want to pitch. I want to win Cy Youngs.”

A year after he was sidelined for four months because of shoulder problems, Snell missed three months this season to recover from a procedure to remove bone chips from his elbow.

He said he feels misunderstood, disrespected even. 

He’s particularly offended by the perception that he doesn’t take baseball seriously.

“When it comes to me as a pitcher, I know how good I am,” he said. “I haven’t been able to prove it as much (as I would like). It’s just short sample sizes, and that’s been the frustrating part.”

He pointed to how he’s only made one All-Star team and that was as a replacement player.

“I’ve never been selected as an All-Star straight up,” he said. “That’s the craziest thing. I got selected when someone got hurt. That’s not making the All-Star team.”

The son of a former minor-league pitcher and longtime coach, Snell said he would like for his baseball acumen to be as appreciated as his ability to throw a baseball. 

“I just wish people would watch me pitch and then understand the work that I put into being a good pitcher, great pitcher, is a lot more than they’ve ever experienced or give me credit for,” he said. “Because I watch the game, I understand the hitters. I understand who they are right now in the present. I understand who they are as a hitter.”

He said he doesn’t just like baseball.

“Love it,” he said. “Love it.”

When he’s not training in the offseason, he said, he’s coaching players from the youth baseball program he founded.

“My offseason,” Snell said, “is baseball the whole time.”

His long-term ambition is to be elected to the Hall of Fame. He also wants to pitch until he’s 45 years old.

“I have a lot to do to make sure my body can hold,” Snell said. “The last two years, I’ve gotten 10 starts a year. That’s not Hall of Fame in my mind. So this offseason is super important. How do I attack it? How do I get my body right? How am I able to make sure I can pitch 30 games, and then on top of that, the postseason? There’s a lot of stuff to prove for myself.”

Before that, he has a critical game to pitch on Wednesday.

His postseason didn’t start the way he wanted, as he pitched just 3 ⅔ innings of a loss to the Atlanta Braves in the Divisional Round.

The reality was that he hadn’t pitched much over the last month. He departed a Sept. 16 start in Cincinnati after just one inning because of discomfort in his groin. He pitched only once after that in the regular season and the Dodgers limited him to four innings in that game.

But, like he said, how he finishes the playoffs will be more important than how he started them. To ensure his next start won’t be his last, he has to win. And if he can get the Dodgers back on track and lead them to a third consecutive championship, perhaps fans will start seeing him the way he sees himself.

The Outlaw is back!

The best center fielder in franchise history will make his return to Tropicana Field later tonight to toss out the ceremonial first pitch ahead of the second game of the American League Championship Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians.

Kevin Kiermaier was taken by the Rays in the 31st round of the 2010 draft. However, Kiermaier was a gifted athlete who had already had a commitment to Purdue, which led to many teams passing over him. The Rays took a shot in the 31st round and almost immediately signed him. It quickly became apparent that the Rays had made the right choice as Kiermaier excelled during first impressions and Baseball America stated that he “could prove to be one of the biggest late-round steals from the 2010 draft.”

As Kiermaier rose through the system, his defense became a standout tool and eventually paved the way to him making his Major League debut during game 163 in 2013. After starting the 2014 season in the minor leagues, Kiermaier earned his way onto the big league roster and eventually forced himself into the starting lineup due to his extraordinary defense and solid offensive capabilities.

Over the next nine seasons, Kiermaier would be a staple in center field for the Rays, dazzling most every day with a new incredible catch or an offensive hustle that caused defensive chaos. Overall, Kiermaier spent 9 seasons with the Rays (plus 1 game in 2013), and he hit .248/.308/.407 with 82 HR, registering 97 wRC+ and accruing 23.6 fWAR over 914 games.

Kiermaier received three Gold Glove awards during his time with Tampa Bay, plus a Platinum Glove in 2015 which is given to the best defender overall in the league. FanGraphs has Defensive Runs Saved data going back to 2003. Since that time, Kevin Kiermaier has the 5th highest DRS of any player in baseball and the highest among outfielders. Kiermaier would finish his career with the 5th highest bWAR all-time of a player selected in the 31st round or later.

After leaving the Rays via free agency following the 2022 season, Kiermaier joined up with the Toronto Blue Jays and picked up another Gold Glove award. In 2024, Kiermaier announced he would retire following the season and would split the year between Toronto and the Los Angeles Dodgers, mainly serving as a defensive replacement. With the Dodgers winning the World Series, Kiermaier received his first and only ring of his career.

Kevin Kiermaier makes his return to Tropicana Field tonight as the Rays hope to even out the series against the Cleveland Guardians.