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Photo Credit: Disney Disney Plus’ new TV and movie release schedule for October 5 to October 12, 2025, includes Dancing With the Stars Season 34, Wizards Beyond Waverly Place Season 2, The Murky Stream, and three seasons of Halloween Baking Championship. On October 7, Dancing With the Stars (Season 34)’s new episode drops on Disney Plus. The reality show hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro and Julianne Hough showcases celebrities pairing up with choreographers for a fierce dance battle. Every episode features a new routine with judges Carrie Ann Inaba, Bruno Tonioli, and Derek Hough giving their opinions and scores. Every pair works hard to give their best and impress the judges. Further, comedy-drama series Wizards Beyond Waverly Place (Season 2) will be available on the streaming platform. In the second season, Billie deals with the fact that being part of the Russo family is more complicated than she imagined. This is especially true as there are other wizards in the house as well. On the other hand, Justin has to train three young wizards for a competition. Additionally, the Russos must be prepared to deal with a strange new threat. Season 2 features Janice LeAnn Brown, Alkaio Thiele, and Max Matenko, among others. Also coming to Disney Plus is The Murky Stream’s new episodes. The series showcases a once-clear Gyeonggang River turning into a murky stream in a lawless Joseon. This ends up intertwining the fates of three characters: Siyul, Choi Eun, and Jung Chun. Additionally, three seasons of Halloween Baking Championship arrive on the streaming platform. The cooking show features bakers engaging in a competition. They need to prepare exciting dishes based on the Halloween theme to bag a prize money of $25,000. New Disney Plus releases for October 6-12, 2025 Below are all the new TV shows and movies being added to Disney Plus from October 6-12, 2025 Tuesday, October 7 Dancing With the Stars (Season 34) – New Episode Live at 8/7c Wednesday, October 8 Wizards Beyond Waverly Place (Season 2) – Premiere – All Episodes Streaming Friday, October 10 The Murky Stream (Hulu Original) – New Episodes Saturday, October 11 College GameDay (ESPN, ESPNU) – 9 am ET Halloween Baking Championship (Three Seasons) For more Disney content, check out the Zootopia 2 trailer. The post Disney Plus Schedule October 6-12, 2025: New TV Shows & Movies Being Added. appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

Game 1 between the Dodgers and Phillies takes place today in Philadelphia, with Shohei Ohtani (in his first playoff pitching appearance) facing Cristopher Sanchez in the pitching matchup. Here is how each club has arranged their 26-man roster for the NL Division Series… Dodgers catchers: Ben Rortvedt, Dalton Rushing, Will Smith Infielders: Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Miguel Rojas Outfielders: Alex Call, Justin Dean, Teoscar Hernandez, Andy Pages Utility players: Tommy Edman, Enrique Hernandez, Hyeseong Kim DH/right-handed pitcher: Shohei Ohtani Left-handed pitchers: Anthony Banda, Jack Dreyer, Clayton Kershaw, Blake Snell, Tanner Scott, Alex Vesia Right-handed pitchers: Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan, Blake Treinen, Yoshinobu Yamamoto Phillies catchers: Rafael Marchan, J.T. Realmuto Infielders: Alec Bohm, Bryce Harper, Otto Kemp, Edmundo Sosa, Bryson Stott, Trea Turner Outfielders: Harrison Bader, Nick Castellanos, Max Kepler, Brandon Marsh, Weston Wilson Designated hitter: Kyle Schwarber Left-handed pitchers: Tanner Banks, Jesus Luzardo, Tim Mayza, Cristopher Sanchez, Matt Strahm, Ranger Suarez Right-handed pitchers: Walker Buehler, Jhoan Duran, Orion Kerkering, Aaron Nola, David Robertson, Taijuan Walker Los Angeles made two changes to the roster that swept the Reds in two games during the wild card round. Kershaw and Banda join the fray in place of left-hander Justin Wrobleski and right-hander Edgardo Henriquez. There was no doubt Kershaw would be returning to action after sitting out the Reds series, though in his final postseason appearance, Kershaw is slated to pitch in a relief capacity rather than in a starter’s role. Smith hasn’t played since suffering a hairline fracture in his right hand on September 9, though the fact that the Dodgers included him on the wild card series roster indicates that the catcher is getting at least close to game readiness. Chances are Smith is ready to go at some point during the NLDS, though Rortvedt and Rushing are both on the roster to keep L.A. from being shorthanded behind the plate. Both teams have plenty of big left-handed bats, which factored why each roster features six southpaws. The Phillies haven’t announced their rotation beyond Sanchez today, but Suarez is probable for Game 2, and using Luzardo in Game 3 would mean Philadelphia is tossing three consecutive left-handed starters at Ohtani and company. News broke earlier this week that Johan Rojas was dealing with a quad injury, which removed any chance that the Phillies could put Rojas on the playoff roster following two months in the minors. The bench was instead filled out by two multi-position players in Kemp and Wilson, plus Sosa can play the outfield in a pinch. View the full article

12:30PM: Manager John Schneider provided Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling (multiple links) and other media with some context on the roster decisions. Beyond the lack of running, Bichette has yet to face higher-velocity or pitches with movement in his cage work. Bassitt wasn’t quite stretched out enough to be ready, whereas Scherzer was omitted because Schneider didn’t like how he matched up with New York specifically; Scherzer would likely have been included had the Red Sox defeated the Yankees in the wild card series. 9:20AM: The Blue Jays announced their official 26-man roster for their AL Division Series matchup with the Yankees that begins today. Toronto will take 13 pitchers and 13 position players into action against New York, with the following breakdown… Catchers: Alejandro Kirk, Tyler Heineman Infielders: Addison Barger, Ernie Clement, Andres Gimenez, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Isiah Kiner-Falefa Outfielders: Nathan Lukes, Anthony Santander, Davis Schneider, George Springer, Myles Straw, Daulton Varsho Left-handed pitchers: Justin Bruihl, Mason Fluharty, Eric Lauer, Brendon Little Right-handed pitchers: Shane Bieber, Seranthony Dominguez, Braydon Fisher, Kevin Gausman, Jeff Hoffman, Tommy Nance, Yariel Rodriguez, Louis Varland, Trey Yesavage The roster notably doesn’t include three players battling injuries (Bo Bichette, Chris Bassitt, Ty France) and one prominent name in Max Scherzer. Omitting Scherzer and Bassitt from the roster means that the Blue Jays seem to be locking into rookie Yesavage to start one game of the series, and then perhaps turning to a bullpen game in Game Four. It wasn’t long ago that the Jays seemed to have almost a surplus of postseason rotation candidates, between Gausman, Bieber, Scherzer, Bassitt, Lauer, Jose Berrios, and Yesavage waiting in the wings at Triple-A. Toronto moved Lauer into a relief role at the start of September and also tapped Berrios for bullpen work late in the month, though a case of elbow inflammation sidelined Berrios and left his postseason availability up in the air. Bassitt also hit the 15-day injured list on September 19 due to lower back tightness, but seemed to be on pace to be part of the ALDS roster. It isn’t yet known if Bassitt might’ve had some sort of setback in his ramp-up work, or if perhaps he or the Jays had enough uncertainty over his health that the team didn’t want to take the risk of issuing Bassitt a roster spot. If a player has to be removed from a postseason roster due to injury, the player is ineligible to play in the following series, so it could be that the Blue Jays didn’t want to take the chance of losing Bassitt for the ALCS if the Jays defeat New York. For Scherzer, his two World Series and 143 career playoff innings didn’t carry as much weight to the Jays as the veteran’s recent form. The right-hander posted a 9.00 ERA over his final six starts and 25 innings in the regular season, and Scherzer only completed six innings in one of those outings. One of those tough starts came against the Yankees on September 7, when Scherzer allowed four runs on three hits and four walks over 4 1/3 innings in a 4-3 New York victory. Scherzer ended up with a 5.19 ERA over 85 innings in 2025, as he missed most of the first half dealing with injuries. Just prior to his rough final six starts, it seemed like Scherzer was locking into form with a string of five consecutive quality starts and a 2.25 ERA over 32 innings. The Jays signed Scherzer to a one-year, $15.5MM contract last winter in the hopes that he could turn back the clock and provide veteran depth and experience to the rotation, particularly if Toronto happened to advance into the playoffs. While it is possible he could return for the ALCS, Scherzer will be limited to spectator duty for at least the first leg of the Blue Jays’ postseason run. It isn’t surprising that Bichette isn’t participating, since as of Wednesday, Bichette had yet to start running drills as part of his rehab from a left PCL sprain. Bichette hurt his knee almost exactly a month ago, on an awkward slide into home plate on September 6 in another game against the Yankees. Bichette has been able to take swings in the batting cage, but until he is able to run whatsoever, his status for the rest of the playoffs remains unclear if the Jays manage to advance deeper into October. Ty France is another noteworthy player left off the roster, as France may still be bothered by the oblique inflammation that has kept him sidelined since September 21. France’s absence will leave the Jays without some right-handed hitting bench depth, and Guerrero is now the only true first baseman on the roster, though naturally Guerrero isn’t expected to leave the lineup at any point in the series. View the full article

The NL Division Series between the Cubs and Brewers gets started today, with Matthew Boyd facing Freddy Peralta in the Game 1 pitching matchup. Here are the full 26-man rosters for both teams in the clash of NL Central rivals… Cubs catchers: Moises Ballesteros, Carson Kelly, Reese McGuire Infielders: Michael Busch, Nico Hoerner, Matt Shaw, Dansby Swanson, Justin Turner Outfielders: Kevin Alcantara, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ, Seiya Suzuki, Kyle Tucker Utilityman: Willi Castro Left-handed pitchers: Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Drew Pomeranz, Caleb Thielbar Right-handed pitchers: Aaron Civale, Ben Brown, Brad Keller, Andrew Kittredge, Daniel Palencia, Colin Rea, Michael Soroka, Jameson Taillon Brewers catchers: William Contreras, Danny Jansen Infielders: Jake Bauers, Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, Joey Ortiz, Brice Turang, Andrew Vaughn Outfielders: Jackson Chourio, Isaac Collins, Sal Frelick, Brandon Lockridge, Blake Perkins, Christian Yelich Left-handed pitchers: Aaron Ashby, Robert Gasser, Jared Koenig, Jose Quintana Right-handed pitchers: Grant Anderson, Nick Mears, Trevor Megill, Jacob Misiorowski, Freddy Peralta, Chad Patrick, Quinn Priester, Abner Uribe The Cubs are going with almost the exact roster of 14 position players and 12 pitchers that were used in their wild card series victory over the Padres, except Brown will take the place of left-hander Taylor Rogers. Manager Craig Counsell told MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian and other reporters that Chicago opted for Brown over Rogers and Javier Assad due to Brown’s strikeout ability, and on how Brown projects to match up against the Brewers. This leaves Pomeranz and Thielbar as the only left-handed relievers to be mixed and matched against Milwaukee’s left-handed bats. The Brew Crew’s first roster of the postseason doesn’t contain too many surprises, as there was already an expectation that the team would use Misiorowski and Gasser as a pair of intriguing rookies out of the bullpen. Milwaukee is also deploying an alignment of 14 position players and 12 pitchers, but one position player that didn’t make the cut was Rhys Hoskins. This is also not a shock given how Hoskins has been essentially supplanted by Vaughn as the first-choice option at first base. A thumb sprain and a bone bruise cost Hoskins over two months of the season, and after returning from the injured list in September, Hoskins received only sparing playing time. A pair of prominent injured pitchers weren’t included on either team’s NLDS roster. Counsell said Cade Horton won’t be involved in the series even as an injury replacement, which isn’t surprising since Horton (who is recovering from a rib fracture) wouldn’t be eligible to be activated from the 15-day IL until Game 5. Brewers manager Pat Murphy told Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and other reporters yesterday that Brandon Woodruff might still be available to pitch later in the postseason if the Crew advances deeper into October, but the veteran right’s lat strain will keep him out of the Division Series. View the full article

Right-hander Bryan Woo won’t be part of the Mariners’ AL Division Series roster, according to the Seattle Times’ Adam Jude. “The club is optimistic Woo will be available in the ALCS if they do advance,” Jude writes, though Seattle’s path to the next round will be trickier without their most consistent pitcher from the 2025 season. Woo’s postseason status has been a question mark since September 19, when the righty left a start after five innings due to pectoral tightness. The M’s didn’t place Woo on the 15-day injured list, which was viewed as a sign that the injury wasn’t overly serious, and that the team was just being cautious in shutting Woo down in advance of what became an increasingly likely playoff berth in the final stretch of September. The fact that the Mariners won the AL West and secured a first-round bye only added to the hope that Woo would be ready once the postseason got underway. A Thursday bullpen session and a simulated inning marked the first time Woo had thrown off a mound since his injury. Despite initial reports that the bullpen went well, it could be that Woo felt some discomfort the day after his throwing sessions, or perhaps he simply wasn’t close enough to 100 percent for the Mariners to pull the trigger on a roster spot. More details should become available when manager Dan Wilson speaks with reporters later today, but the bottom line is that the Mariners’ rotation is missing a very important arm. In a season when the usually excellent Seattle pitching staff was more solid than great, Woo took a step forward to lead the pitchers in fWAR (3.6), innings (186 2/3), and ERA (2.94). Woo augmented those numbers with a 4.5% walk rate that ranked among baseball’s best, as well as a very strong 27.1% strikeout rate. These numbers came on the heels of a very good 2024 season for Woo that was marred only by injuries, as a pair of IL stints limited him to 121 1/3 innings. The full and healthy version of Woo made his first All-Star team in 2025 and established himself as another important frontline piece of the Mariners’ deep rotation, though this pec injury now threatens to bring a sour ending to this breakout campaign. George Kirby will be the Mariners’ Game 1 starter today, and Luis Castillo will start Game 2. The club hasn’t announced their Game 3 starter once the series shifts to Detroit for at least once game, though Logan Gilbert seems like the logical choice. If a Game 4 is necessary, Bryce Miller will likely start, though it’ll probably be an all-hands-on-deck situation if the Mariners are facing elimination (or if they want to throw everything to try and eliminate the Tigers in four games, with an off-day to rest up the staff before a Game 5 in Seattle). The Mariners’ full ALDS roster will be announced later today, but Jude reports that rookie catcher Harry Ford and rookie infielder Ben Williamson have made the cut. Williamson’s presence gives Seattle some depth at third base if Eugenio Suarez has to move to first base. Josh Naylor’s availability for the series beyond Game 1 is in question due to an impending paternity leave, as Naylor’s wife Chantel is on the verge of giving birth to the couple’s first child. View the full article

http://blogs.fangraphs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Pat-Murphy-and-Craig-Counsell.jpgBenny Sieu-Imagn Images Favorable conditions for a dramatic and explosive era of the Cubs-Brewers I-94 rivalry have been percolating for a while. And now they come to a head as the two clubs meet each other in the playoffs for the first time ever, even though it’s been 27 years since the Brewers changed leagues. Fan friction invariably occurs when two sports-loving cities are proximate to one another (you can drive from Milwaukee to Chicago in roughly 90 minutes along the southwest shore of Lake Michigan), but tensions grew here when Cubs manager Craig Counsell decided to jump ship from Milwaukee to Chicago after the 2023 season. Spurned and abandoned by Counsell (and David Stearns) even though the team has been consistently (and seemingly sustainably) competitive, Milwaukee has carried on as a scrappy throwback squad built on contact, speed, and defense. Despite dealing with an April blight of pitcher injuries so bad that it gave us a week of needless torpedo bat discourse, the Brewers finished with the best record in the majors, won the NL Central by five games, and made the postseason for the seventh time in the last eight years, though they have just one NLCS appearance in that mix. The Cubs are fresh off a down-to-the-wire Wild Card Series win in a decisive Game 3 against the Padres in which their deep lineup tallied 13 hits, many off of excellent (if taxed) San Diego relievers. Let’s examine the component parts of each team in greater detail to remind ourselves how each team was assembled, and how they arrived at this part of the postseason. Starting Pitching The Cubs rotation is full of strike-throwers. They had the lowest walk rate in baseball this year, but ranked fourth from the bottom in K/9. Chicago didn’t announce its Game 1 starter until the middle of yesterday, when it became known that lefty Matthew Boyd would take the ball on short rest. The 34-year-old had a 3.4-WAR renaissance in 2025, a shade better than his previous career season a whopping six years ago. Boyd worked 4 1/3 innings on Tuesday against the Padres before he was removed, having thrown just 58 pitches, which might mean he’s fresher than most pitchers who’ve lost one of their days between starts. It was the first of several indications that Counsell would be proactive about bullpen usage, and both Shota Imanaga and Jameson Taillon also worked just four innings in their appearances against the Padres. (Counsell elected to use a right-handed opener for the first inning of Game 2 so he could maximize Imanaga’s workload without having him face Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado more than two times.) All three of Chicago’s presumed starters in the NLDS tend to miss bats with their secondary stuff at a slightly above-average rate, but struggle to do so with their fastballs. The way the off days and travel work out for this series will allow Boyd (in year one of a two-year, $29 million deal) and the to-be-determined Game 2 starter (both Imanaga and Taillon will have had at least their usual rest before Monday’s game) to start on normal rest in Games 4 and 5, if they’re necessary. Milwaukee’s starting staff is spearheaded by 29-year-old Freddy Peralta, an ultra-athletic righty with a cross-bodied delivery and exceptional secondary stuff. Peralta has been among the top 15-20 pitchers in baseball since he was moved into the rotation in 2021 and enjoyed a huge breakout. He’s coming off a 3.6-WAR, 2.70-ERA, 176 2/3-inning season, and is clearly the best starter in this series. The Brewers have been coy about who will start Game 2, as manager Pat Murphy has stated publicly that both 36-year-old veteran stalwart Jose Quintana (who has been out since mid-September with a calf strain and threw live BP last Friday) and Quinn Priester are options. Priester was acquired from Boston after injuries made the Brewers desperate for warm bodies in their rotation. It seemed like Priester, who was joining his third org already at age 25, was an emergency, short-term patch rather than a long-term piece of the Milwaukee postseason puzzle. Instead, Priester’s 3.32 ERA contributed to Brewers starters combining for the third-best mark in the league. Priester’s pitch mix (especially his curveball) is difficult to elevate, and he was fifth in the majors in groundball rate among pitchers who threw at least 120 innings. At some point, Murphy will likely have to lean on any number of his several rookie pitchers. If it were possible to give a Rookie of the Year award to a team’s entire freshman class, then this year’s Brew Crew would have earned that distinction. Twenty-seven-year-old swingman/fifth starter Chad Patrick, a former fourth rounder out of Purdue who hopped via trade from Arizona to Oakland in 2023 and then to Milwaukee in 2024, was your 2025 rookie pitcher WAR leader and another key early-season stabilizer in the Brewers rotation, though he struggled late in the year. Fireballing 23-year-old righty Jacob Misiorowski is pretty easily the most talented of all Brewers pitchers, but he issued too many walks down the stretch of the regular season and didn’t exactly seize a postseason rotation spot. It might make sense for him to start Game 3, if only so the youngest pitcher on the roster can maintain his pre-start routine, even if it means Murphy keeps Misiorowski on a short leash if he turns out to be wild across a couple of innings. Bullpens If the Brewers commit to deploying Misiorowski exclusively from their bullpen, then it means they’ll have three righty relievers with premium late-inning stuff. Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill also have fastballs that sit in the 98-100 mph range, and behind them are Jared Koenig and Aaron Ashby, who have uncommon velocity for guys who are otherwise funky, deceptive lefties. Expect the top half of the Cubs lineup (which is mostly left-handed) to see lots of Ashby and Koenig in key spots. Milwaukee also has several relievers who can provide multi-inning length — Tobias Myers, Robert Gasser, Misiorowski, Patrick, DL Hall — should any of its starters struggle to work deep into the game. Chicago’s bullpen has been cobbled together with journeymen in their mid-to-late 30s. Only Daniel Palencia and Michael Soroka are under 30, while five of the Cubs relievers are 35 or older. Based on their Wild Card Series usage, Counsell’s hierarchy is led by Palencia (deployed in the game’s biggest moments, regardless of inning), sinkerballing righties Andrew Kittredge and Brad Keller, and lefty slider dynamo Drew Pomeranz. The Cubs have a couple other lefty-specialist types in Taylor Rogers and Caleb Thielbar, and some long men in Colin Rea (maybe also a sneaky option to make a start, more likely next round if they advance), Aaron Civale, and Soroka. The way Kittredge and Pomeranz have maintained their stuff as they’ve aged, and the leap Keller has made since joining the Cubs and moving to relief full time, has given this bullpen real teeth beyond Palencia. Overall, though, the Brewers have a deeper, nastier group. Position Players Both the Brewers and Cubs had among the most productive offenses in baseball this year. Both were top six in WAR generation, with the Cubs finishing third; both finished inside the top five in stolen bases, and the top 10 in walk rate, strikeout rate, and wRC+. If there’s a gap here, it’s that the Cubs have several more dangerous power hitters than the Brewers do. Only two Brewers (Christian Yelich and Jackson Chourio) hit 20 homers or more, while the Cubs had six guys do it, including their eight-hole hitter, Dansby Swanson. Sandwiched among all those sluggers is second baseman Nico Hoerner, one of the best pure contact hitters in the sport. The Brewers are a team that keeps the line moving, full of several smaller, speedy, pesky contact hitters who complement each other’s skills and allow Murphy to play favorable matchups throughout the game. Whereas we might see the Cubs pinch-hit for Matt Shaw and make zero other position player subs in a game, the Brewers might empty their bench on any given night. Considering how Counsell managed his starters’ workloads in the Wild Card round, there is going to be lots of mid-game chess played here as he goes to his bullpen and Murphy decides whether to make early changes to his lineup. Murphy tends to be most active playing matchups with his corner outfielders and first basemen, while guys like Yelich, Chourio, and Brice Turang (who took a big step forward as a hitter this year and led Milwaukee in WAR) are permanent fixtures. Two of those aforementioned Brewers rookies (former Division-III college player and offseason trade acquisition Caleb Durbin, and former minor league Rule-5 pick Isaac Collins) have not only taken unique paths here, but both are legit Rookie of the Year candidates. Durbin is one of the league’s better pure contact hitters, and Collins is well-rounded switch-hitter who should start against lefties in this series. Perhaps the best and most exciting aspect of this tilt, however, will be watching both of these teams play defense. Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong has absurd range and even better ball skills. His ability to slide and contort his body at the catch point might be unmatched in baseball right now. Swanson has been one of the better shortstop defenders in baseball for the last decade and made several consequential plays in the Wild Card Series, and Hoerner is a capable shortstop masquerading at second base. Milwaukee’s infield is full of viable shortstops. Turang is one of the better high school infield defenders I’ve ever seen, and he’s playing second base on this team because Joey Ortiz is a better, more acrobatic shortstop. Blake Perkins is a dynamic outfield defender who can provide a late-game defensive upgrade at two spots simultaneously, because his incorporation means moving Jackson Chourio to a corner, which is also usually an upgrade. Managers Finally, the meatiest narrative element of this series is the managerial matchup. Murphy coached Counsell at Notre Dame from 1989 to 1992 — he once broke Counsell’s nose while hitting him angry fungos after Counsell had made a bunch of errors — and then later left to coach at Arizona State in the mid-90s and overlapped with Counsell in Phoenix while the latter was with the Diamondbacks. After a historically significant head coaching career (he was the youngest college coach to 500 wins and went to four College World Series with the Sun Devils), Murphy was ousted from ASU in 2009 for recruiting violations, most of which wouldn’t be considered so under today’s rules for collegiate athletes (though there were some Steve Ballmer-Kawhi Leonard parallels involving Murphy’s nonprofit). Murphy worked for the Padres for half a decade before Counsell became the Milwaukee manager and hired him as his bench coach. The two worked together until Counsell left for the Cubs job a couple years ago. I asked hoagie-eating friend of the ‘Graph and ESPN college baseball broadcaster Mike Rooney, a teammate of Counsell’s at Notre Dame and later an assistant under Murphy at ASU, about the their dynamic. “They’ve always been so close, but they are so different, especially from a personality and style standpoint,” Rooney said. “Counsell said that’s exactly why he hired him. I’m biased of course, but I don’t know if I’ve ever met someone so in tune with his own personal blind spots and biases. It’s kind of a superpower.” Source View the full article

The Rangers’ hiring of Skip Schumaker as manager was the biggest news out of Arlington yesterday, but some other items emerged from the club’s end-of-season press conference that took place on Friday hours before Schumaker’s deal was announced. President of baseball operations Chris Young and GM Ross Fenstermaker gave some hints about the managerial search when speaking with the Dallas Morning News’ Shawn McFarland (multiple links), MLB.com’s Drew Davison, and other media, as Young said the club wasn’t yet looking at external candidates and had “a lead candidate internally that we’re focused on.” Sure enough, the Rangers ended up promoting senior advisor Schumaker into the manager’s chair as Bruce Bochy’s successor, an outcome that was widely predicted if Bochy wasn’t returning for 2026. More continuity could exist within the coaching staff, as Young said that the team is open to retaining all of its coaches for next season. Schumaker’s familiarity with the organization could help in this regard, but naturally the new skipper will have some say in bringing in some of his own choices for the 2026 staff. Speaking of pitching coach Mike Maddux in particular, Young said the Rangers want to retain Maddux either in his current position or in some other role within the organization. The well-respected Maddux has now logged three seasons in his second stint as the Texas pitching coach, after previously working in that same job during the 2009-15 seasons. Given how the Rangers’ rotation excelled in 2025, it would seem like the ball is in Maddux’s court about whether he wants to return to Arlington in any capacity, or perhaps seek out a new challenge elsewhere. Texas led all of baseball in rotation ERA (3.41) and overall ERA (3.49), but a lackluster offense doomed the club to an even 81-81 record. While the Rangers’ lineup never truly got clicking, the club’s numbers in some categories did improve as the year went on, which Young attributed to more of a contract-driven approach under hitting coach Bret Boone (who was hired in early May after offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker was fired). This emphasis on putting the ball on play and not over-focusing on launch angles will continue, as Fenstermaker said the club will look for players with “stable skills, on-base percentage, the ability to make contact, [and] execute situationally” when weighing new additions. A full winter and Spring Training under Boone should also help, Young noted, rather than the lineup having to somewhat adjust on the fly after Ecker was let go. “The philosophy did shift. The players have not had an offseason to adjust,” Young said. “I think they’ll be asked to do different things in the offseason in terms of their training, and not just simply working on one specific swing, but being able to do multiple things that may allow them to be more successful and contribute to a team-type of approach that is necessary.” Fenstermaker also provided updates on several Rangers players who were bothered by injuries down the stretch, noting that Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Wyatt Langford, Evan Carter, and Cole Winn are all expected to have normal offseasons and will be ready for the start of Spring Training. Jake Burger should also be ready to go for spring camp following his recent wrist surgery, as Fenstermaker said Burger’s recovery timeline is around 6-8 weeks. Nathan Eovaldi’s offseason prep work could be delayed by a sports hernia surgery in the near future. Fenstermaker said Eovaldi is visiting a specialist next week to determine if a surgery is necessary, with a timeline to be determined if the veteran righty ends up going under the knife. Sports hernia surgeries have a fairly broad recovery period of roughly 6-12 weeks depending on the nature of the procedure, so there could be some impact on Eovaldi’s regular throwing build-up, which in turn would possibly delay his availability for Spring Training. More will be known when and if the surgery takes place, though there is some good news in that Eovaldi’s arm seems fine. Eovaldi’s season was ended after he was put on the injured list with a rotator cuff strain at the end of August, but Fenstermaker said the right-hander’s throwing program should proceed as planned once the matter of the sports hernia procedure is cleared. Between the rotator cuff strain and an earlier IL stint for posterior elbow inflammation, Eovaldi was limited to 130 innings and 22 starts in 2025. Such injuries have to be a concern given Eovaldi’s lengthy past health history and the fact that he is turning 36 in February, but the veteran righty still looked like an elite arm when he was able to pitch. Eovaldi posted a 1.73 ERA over his 130 frames, with a superb 4.2% walk rate and host of other impressive metrics backing up that tiny ERA. Cody Bradford is also expected to be set for the start of Spring Training, which counts as a bit of a surprise given that Bradford underwent an internal brace procedure in late June. Brace procedures do come with a shorter timeline than Tommy John surgeries, so the initial thought was that Bradford was would be out until late June 2026 at the earliest. The fact that Bradford is expected to participate in all of spring camp doesn’t necessarily alter that timeline since he’ll still need a lot of ramp-up time, though it’s a positive sign that Bradford seems to be making good progress in the first few months of his rehab. View the full article

Los Angeles Lakers guard Bronny James, the eldest son of future Hall of Famer LeBron James, disappointed fans in Friday’s 103-81 preseason-opener loss to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert. Bronny James Held To Under 10 Points Bronny James was held to just eight points on only 1-of-12 shooting (1-for-8 from 3-point range) at Acrisure […] The post Bronny James Struggles In Lakers’ Preseason Debut Against Suns appeared first on Basketball Insiders | NBA Rumors And Basketball News. View the full article

Every October, my TBR gets out of control. I’m not usually a horror reader, but that changes during Halloween month. Within these 31 days, I can’t get enough creepy queer reads. The problem with that is it means I collect queer horror to read all year, and suddenly I have 60 books checked out from the library and only a few weeks to read them all in! October is also Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon, which I’ve participated in twice a year, every year, for the past decade. It’s a day of snacking and reading with friends, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s my favourite day(s) of the year. I have a lot more than 15 book on my TBR this month, but I thought I’d share a selection with you, in case you also want to lean into seasonal reading this Gay Christmas. I have an asexual haunted house romance, trans alien invasion horror, queer gothics, trans horror essays, a sapphic vampire murder mystery, and much more. All Access members, read on for 15 of the queer Halloween-adjacent books on my TBR this month. This content is for members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read. Whew! That’s my rapid-fire list of just some of the queer Halloween-ish books on my TBR this month. Are you planning on reading any queer seasonal book in October? Let’s chat in the comments! View the full article

Luka Doncic will not play in the Los Angeles Lakers’ first two preseason games this weekend, the team announced Friday. The Lakers tip off their six-game preseason slate Friday against the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert. Los Angeles will then play a road game against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday. The Purple and Gold […] The post Lakers To Sit Luka Doncic For First 2 Preseason Games appeared first on Basketball Insiders | NBA Rumors And Basketball News. View the full article

http://blogs.fangraphs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Fernado-Cruz-Jarren-Duran-Mailbag.jpgBrad Penner-Imagn Images The playoffs are off to a thrilling start, with three of the four Wild Card Series lasting the full three games and seven of the 11 games being decided by no more than three runs. We saw excellent defense in Chicago, an offensive outburst in Los Angeles, and a handful of great starting pitching performances. The best part is we’re just getting started. Today, all four Division Series begin, which means we have another marathon day of baseball ahead of us. First up, we’ve got a pair of divisional foes squaring off, with the Brewers and Cubs set for 2:08 p.m. ET in Milwaukee, followed by the Blue Jays and Yankees at 4:08 p.m. ET in Toronto. In the third game of the day, Shohei Ohtani makes his postseason pitching debut against the Phillies; before he takes the mound, though, he’ll step into the Citizens Bank Park left-handed batter’s box as the Dodgers’ leadoff man at 6:38 p.m. ET. And then to cap it off, the Mariners host the Tigers at 8:38 p.m. ET. As always, we’ll be covering all the action here at FanGraphs. Before we get to this week’s mailbag, I have one quick programming note to remind everyone of. We’ll still be doing our weekly mailbag during the postseason, but we might move around the specific day it runs depending on the playoff schedule. Our plan is to do one before every postseason round, as we are today. Also, I’d like to remind all of you that this mailbag is exclusive to FanGraphs Members. If you aren’t yet a Member and would like to keep reading, you can sign up for a Membership here. It’s the best way to both experience the site and support our staff, and it comes with a bunch of other great benefits. Also, if you’d like to ask a question for an upcoming mailbag, send me an email at mailbag@fangraphs.com. __ How would you assess the current state of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry? Are these two teams going to be on a collision course for the next several years like they were in the early 2000s? Or is that more of a TV network pipe dream? — Connor G. Alex Cora was asked a similar question during his pregame press conference at Yankee Stadium ahead of Game 1 of the Wild Card Series between the two teams. “I think it is intense in October. During the regular season, there’s others that are more intense. The one in the West Coast is stupid, you know, the Padres and the Dodgers. That’s intense from the get-go,” Cora said. “It’s not that we’re not intense during the regular season, but it has toned down throughout the years.” He’s right. Anyone who has watched the way the Dodgers and Padres have gone at it lately knows that it’s the closest thing baseball has to the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry of the early 2000s. When it comes to the on-field emotions between the two teams, the Yankees have had more beef with the Rays and Blue Jays, and then obviously with the Astros, than they have with the Red Sox in recent years. Some of that certainly has to do with the on-and-off success that Boston has had over the last decade, because the Yankees and Red Sox have only been in competition with one another for either the AL East crown or the AL pennant a few times. But a larger part of why the rivalry has cooled off some is rooted in how the two organizations view themselves. Jay Jaffe and I were talking about this during batting practice this week while we were covering the series. Basically, because the Red Sox have won four World Series in the last 20 years (three more than the Yankees in that span), Boston no longer brings an inferiority complex to the park when it plays New York. As much as we here at FanGraphs are all about witchcraft and superstition, we can all agree that there was no literal Curse of the Bambino. However, there is a real emotional and psychological toll that comes from watching a competitor of yours win it all year after year after year while you get so close but can’t quite do it. It’s embarrassing and degrading, and over time, you develop a sense of defiance. You fight back instead of letting yourself get picked on. This attitude is one of the core symptoms of Little Brother Syndrome. The Padres arguably have it now vis-à-vis the Dodgers, and at times, the Rays and Blue Jays bring it to their matchups with the Yankees. But the Red Sox seem to have outgrown it. That doesn’t mean the fans don’t get more passionate about Yankees-Red Sox games than they do for other matchups, because they absolutely do. With the exception of last year’s World Series, the atmosphere at the Stadium this week was different than it was for the other playoff series I’ve covered there over the last handful of years. The people in the stands understood the stakes, and it didn’t take much effort for them to conjure up their old emotions from when the rivalry was at its peak. Which brings us to your question about whether this year’s series is going to be the first of many meaningful matchups between the two teams, and if so, whether that would that be enough to reignite the rivalry. I think these two teams are going to be competing with each other for the rest of the decade. With the exception of 2023, when everything went wrong and they missed the playoffs, the Yankees have demonstrated an organizational competence that makes me confident that they’ll be a perennial postseason team, while the Red Sox are just now opening their window of contention. Aaron Boone acknowledged as much late Thursday night on the Yankee Stadium infield, after his team popped champagne and turned their clubhouse into a lazy river of booze. “They’re a great team that’s getting better and better,” he said. “They’re going to be a scary club next year with where they’re going and what they’ve built the last couple of years.” That level of competition could go a long away toward bringing the rivalry back. I think that could especially be the case if Massachusetts natives Cam Schlittler and Ben Rice become core players of these Yankees. Rice grew up a Yankees fan despite living in Red Sox territory, while Schlittler was a Sox fan and comes from a family of Sox fans. Boston fans could end of being more ruthless if they feel like they’ve been betrayed by two of their own. That’s what Schlittler experienced before his Game 3 start, and he said it fueled his historic performance. And yet, even as I forecast a brighter future for this rivalry, I don’t think it’ll ever go back to what it was in the early 2000s. Those matchups featured so many massive personalities — Roger Clemens and Pedro Martínez, Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez, Gary Sheffield and David Ortiz, David Wells and Curt Schilling — that when you combined them with the tribalism of the fanbases, the high stakes of the competition, and some Little Brother Syndrome defiance, it created a molotov cocktail of emotions that could explode at any moment. We will never again see anything like Pedro snatching a charging Don Zimmer by the head and flinging him to the ground, and that’s a good thing. I don’t ever want something like that to happen again. Fortunately, there is a healthy midpoint between the narcoleptic just-another-game mentality and elder abuse, and after what we saw in the Yankees-Red Sox AL Wild Card Series this week and based on what we expect from these two teams in the near future, the rivalry appears to be on the rise. __ Hey team! First time, long time. Love the mailbag. Question as a long-suffering Reds fan. Why are some teams — like the 2010s Cardinals, or the current vintages of the Brewers and Guardians — consistently able to harness baseball devil magic, while other teams with equal — like my Reds — or better resources never seem to be able to? Is this some cosmic cycle that’s currently benefitting the people of Cleveland like it did St. Louis 10 years ago, and that will eventually get around to me? Or is there something intrinsically special about these teams? Or am I just being punished for being born in the wrong Midwestern town? — Ari Michael Baumann: So I want to push back a little bit on the idea that these Midwestern teams are unnaturally successful, because they don’t actually do much once they’re in the playoffs. The Guardians have made it to the ALCS three times in the 21st Century. In 2007 and 2016, they had the best starting pitcher in the AL both years, multiple elite relievers, and dynamic, switch-hitting superstar position players. Nothing magical there; they were just legitimately good teams. Last year, they snagged a bye by default, thanks to a weak division and an indifferent Astros team. They then beat a team from the same division in the ALDS and the first actual good team they ran into caved their faces in. The Brewers have won a round in only one of their past six playoff appearances. The Cardinals, the most magical team of the bunch, haven’t won a round since 2019. Their unlikely run to the championship in 2006 and penchant for winning dramatically in 2011 gave them an air of the supernatural, but they also got swept in the World Series as a 105-win team in 2004 and no-showed the NLCS in 2019. As for how these teams keep getting to the playoffs so frequently, well, what your examples have in common is a weak division and a penchant for doing pitcher development well and on the cheap. Beyond that, I think there’s a tendency to ascribe a quality of clutchness to teams that don’t have impressive lineups but perform well in the postseason. Given how much teams can shorten their rotations and manage their high-leverage bullpens, great pitchers can give you more bang for your buck in the playoffs than in the regular season. There are limits to this phenomenon (for example: I know how bad the Brewers have been in the playoffs because I keep picking them every year and they keep making me look like an idiot), but it’s worked for Cleveland, and Kansas City, and most notably in the recent past for the Even Year B.S. Giants. It helps, of course, if you have a future Hall of Famer in the lineup. In short, if Cardinals Devil Magic is real (or was, because it sure isn’t happening now), the Great Satan’s name is Albert Pujols. But the real answer to your question is here: About 50,000 years ago, prehistoric humans began to understand that while their environment followed certain natural rules and patterns, individual events could be unpredictable, as if they were being influenced by invisible spirits. Thus began shamanism, an attempt to communicate with and influence these spirits, and from there all forms of religion and spirituality. Existence is probabilistic. How unlikely is it that atoms bumped together to form amino acids and proteins, and that they came together in just the right combination to create life? And even given that unfathomable fluke, how could single-celled organisms evolve into complex humans who can throw curveballs? I admit it seems pretty far-fetched that all of this could happen by chance. But working in a sandbox as big as the universe, on a time frame as long as tens of billions of years, unlikely things are bound to happen somewhere, sooner or later. Sports, being as it is a religion, involves observing our natural world and its chaotic and capricious path, and trying to retrofit some explanation to make it all make sense. The idea that everything is meaningless (“a chasing after the wind,” to quote the holy book of a non-baseball-related faith) leaves us empty. So we stare into the abyss and try to find God. Or worse, the St. Louis Cardinals. __ Hi mailbag! Masataka Yoshida‘s clutch hit got me wondering. What’s the biggest historical example of a player whose contract was widely seen as underwater, or who was seen as a burden by fans, suddenly becoming a playoff hero? Was Barry Zito’s 2012 big enough? Basically, the biggest zero-to-hero redemption arc. Not so much the reverse (a.k.a. the Patrick Corbin), which is probably more common. Cheers! Brian Dan Szymborski: The playoffs are a time of chaos — and small sample sizes — so there’s plenty of opportunity for goats to be come heroes and vice versa. I think my favorite example of this in recent years is that of José Abreu. He was pretty terrible his first season in Houston (the second year didn’t go any better!) and was largely seen as a drag on their postseason roster. Then he got into the playoffs, and while the Astros ended up losing the 2023 ALCS to the Rangers, Abreu hit four homers in 11 games, good for a .945 OPS that October. His career after that, which lasted all of six weeks, only had two more homers left in it. I’m not sure the Giancarlo Stanton contract is viewed as negatively, but he’s clearly fallen short of overall expectations in New York. Still, he’s had some really big postseasons with the Yankees. On the pitching side, you brought up Zito, and he’s the pitcher whose name comes instantly to mind for me. His contract is widely seen as one of the most disappointing pacts of the last decade-plus, but he did net the Giants two huge starts: a 7 2/3 inning shutout against the Cardinals in the 2012 NLCS, and a one-run start a week later in the World Series. It’s still recognized as one of the worst contracts the Giants ever signed, but Zito did earn a bit of redemption given that the Giants won the championship. That’s who most stands out to me now, but who knows, we might be adding Javier Báez to this list soon! __ Dearest FanGraphs Crew, The news that the Angels’ leading candidate for manager is Albert Pujols got me thinking: What if a major league team wanted to sign a quality 5-WAR free agent — let’s call him Tyle Kucker — and Kucker said, “I’ll only sign with your team if I get to be player-manager for the entire term of my contract?” How much less (more??) would a team offer Kucker under those conditions? Maybe a one-year deal with a giant team option to make sure he’s not a disaster as a manager? Maybe no effect at all because we can’t quantify managers’ contributions to winning? Thanks and keep up the good work. — sds Ben Clemens: Before we try to walk through the theoretical implications, let’s just start out with a downer: No one wants this. What player would want this? What team would want this? From the player perspective, playing baseball is already a full-time job, and being a manager requires a ton of work too. Figuring out how to run a bullpen takes work. Managing player personalities and egos isn’t trivial. Working with coaches and analysts to sort out gameplans is important! You have to figure out player rotations, keep everyone happy, and spend a ton of time talking to the media to make sure that you are communicating team decisions well. These days, managers surely also have to spend a ton of time talking to the front office making sure they’re happy. The two and a half hours of game time where you get pride of place in the dugout and make pitching changes and pinch-hitting decisions is the payoff, but players are pretty busy during the game already, and I can’t imagine a lot of guys think to themselves, “You know what? I’m just not busy enough during games.” Fine, though. Let’s put all of that aside and say that a star hits free agency, considers all of the stuff I just said, and decides that they want to be a player-manager anyway. If I were a team, I’d try as hard as I possibly could to dissuade them from making this decision. Sure, we can’t quantify the total impact that a manager has on his team’s chances of winning, but no one thinks that there’s no value to it. The Rays are always penny-pinching, but they don’t hire someone from a temp agency to manage the team. That’s because the job is difficult and doing it well has value. Basically, I’d offer meaningfully less on this deal if the player insisted that they were contractually required to be the manager the whole time and that no one else could fulfill any managerial duties. I’d offer more if we came to an agreement that they would just do the “glamorous” parts – meetings on the mound, postgame press conferences, standing on the top step of the dugout and looking worried – while letting me backfill the behind-the-scenes parts of the job with other staff. If this star really just wants the glory of managing, well, first I’d tell them that there’s a lot less glory in managing than there is in playing. But second, I guess I’d let them. If all they wanted to do was make in-game decisions, I wouldn’t even “charge” them much for it, assuming we talked through their pinch-hitting philosophy beforehand and it wasn’t “backup catchers only.” But my deal stops there. If a player insisted upon doing all of a manager’s tasks and also wouldn’t allow anyone else to do those jobs, I’d offer them meaningfully less money and basically tell them to go elsewhere. Being a manager is a difficult job. In addition, “we can’t totally measure manager value” is really different from “manager value doesn’t exist.” Teams would absolutely balk at a player wanting to do all of the stuff a manager does, because there aren’t that many hours in the day, and failing to do those things really would be a problem. On the other hand, players almost certainly wouldn’t ask for this, because they see their own managers at work — they know what comes with the job. Source View the full article

A record $340MM payroll couldn't even guarantee the Mets a playoff spot, as the Reds edged New York out of a wild card berth via tiebreaker on the final day of the regular season. The near-miss was the final insult after a disastrous second half, leaving the Amazins with plenty of roster decisions and perhaps some bigger-picture questions to answer during what is sure to be a busy offseason. Guaranteed Contracts Juan Soto, OF: $643.125MM through 2039 (player opt-out after 2029 season, but Mets can override opt-out by adding $40MM to final 10 years of contract) Francisco Lindor, SS: $192MM through 2031 ($5MM deferred annually) Brandon Nimmo, OF: $101.25MM through 2030 Sean Manaea, SP: $50MM through 2027 ($7.75MM deferred annually) Kodai Senga, SP: $42MM through 2027 (Mets receive $15MM club option for 2028 if Senga misses at least 130 consecutive days due to elbow injury/Tommy John surgery) Clay Holmes, SP: $25MM through 2027 (Holmes can opt out after 2026 season) Jeff McNeil, 2B/OF: $17.75MM through 2026 (includes $2M buyout of $15.75MM club option for 2027) Option Decisions Edwin Diaz, RP: $18.5MM player options for 2026 and 2027 seasons (Diaz must decide on both options this offseason; if he remains, Mets hold $17.25MM club option for 2028 season with $1MM buyout) Pete Alonso, 1B: $24MM player option for 2026 (Alonso has already stated he is opting out) Frankie Montas, SP: $17MM player option for 2026 A.J. Minter, RP: $11M player option for 2026 Brooks Raley, RP: $4.75MM club option for 2026 ($750K buyout) Drew Smith, RP: $2MM club option for 2026 2026 financial commitments (assuming Diaz and Alonso opt out): $201.625MM Total future commitments (assuming Diaz and Alonso opt out): $1,105,875,000 Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projected salaries courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz) Luis Torrens (5.105): $2.2MM Tyrone Taylor (5.093): $3.6MM David Peterson (5.089): $7.6MM Nick Madrigal (5.087): $1.35MM Tylor Megill (4.031): $2.6MM Max Kranick (3.011): $1MM Huascar Brazoban (2.170): $1.3MM Francisco Alvarez (2.164): $2.4MM Reed Garrett (2.143): $1.4MM Non-tender candidates: Madrigal, Kranick, Megill, Garrett Free Agents Diaz (if he opts out), Alonso, Starling Marte, Ryan Helsley, Cedric Mullins, Gregory Soto, Tyler Rogers, Jesse Winker, Ryne Stanek, Griffin Canning In almost a direct inverse of their magical 2024 season, the 2025 Mets looked like arguably baseball's best team over the first two and a half months before the bottom fell out. The club was 45-24 at the end of play on June 12, but Friday, June 13 ended up being the start of a Citi Field horror movie --- New York posted just a 38-55 record the rest of the way, leading to increased panic in Queens as it became apparent that the season was slipping away. Several coaches are already on the way out, including pitching coach Jeremy Hefner and hitting coaches Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes. But, manager Carlos Mendoza is staying, and president of baseball operations David Stearns isn't being fired two seasons into his tenure after owner Steve Cohen pursued Stearns for years. Cohen has already issued a public apology for how the Mets' season ended, and it remains to be seen how the owner will react in the face of such a disappointing result. If you're assuming the reaction will be "Cohen spends another fortune in free agency," that can't be ruled out. Last winter's record-breaking Juan Soto contract notwithstanding, Stearns' usual strategy in free agency is to aim for shorter-term and relatively less expensive deals on the open market. This approach simply didn't work in 2025, and during his wrap-up press conference earlier this week, Stearns took responsibility for not doing enough to reinforce his pitching staff either last winter or during the season when the rotation fell apart. Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription BENEFITS Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco. Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony. Remove ads and support our writers. Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker View the full article

Senior forward Abdou Toure announced his commitment to Arkansas on Friday, giving Razorbacks coach John Calipari his second top-35 recruit in the 247Sports composite rankings for the 2026 class. Abdou Toure Chose Arkansas Over Providence, UConn Per ESPN’s Jeff Borzello and Paul Biancardi, Toure chose the Razorbacks over fellow finalists Providence and UConn. He took […] The post Arkansas Basketball Lands 4-Star Recruit Abdou Toure appeared first on Basketball Insiders | NBA Rumors And Basketball News. View the full article

Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Here are the biggest headlines from last week. Authors Can See If They Can Get a Piece of that $1.5 Billion Anthropic Settlement There is $1.5 billion (less lawyer fees and administrative costs) up for authors to grab if their work was among the training data subject to the massive (but maybe even somehow still too small) lawsuit against Anthropic, and authors can now officially see what works are in there and how to get in on the settlement. The FAQ is your best place to start. You do have to file a claim through the website to be eligible for a payout and taking that payout also means you are giving up your right to sue Anthropic individually. All claims will be paid out equally, so if you are Stephen King or….not Stephen King, you will be paid the same for each valid claim. Weirdly, the fewer claims made, the more per claim the payout will be. I tried to do some math based on the number of works in the dataset, but there are too many confounding factors. I will wait to see some screenshots of happy/sad/resigned awardees. A Big List of October Book Lists Amazon’s Best Books of the Month Barnes & Noble’s Best Books of the Month The October 2025 Indie Next List Goodreads’ Most Popular Books Published in October 2025 Town & Country’s Best Books to Read This October The New Scientist’s Science Fiction Books of October 2025 10 Books to Read in October from The LA Times Kirkus’ 20 Best Books to Read in October The New York Times’ 27 Books to Read in October Bookshop.org’s Top 10 Books of October Alta Journal’s 15 New Books for October The Next Big Idea’s Must Read Books for October October’s New Historical Fiction For Fall Six Spooky New Genre-Bending Books October’s New Mystery, Thrillers, & True Crime Books (Some Horror Vibes Included) 7 of the Best New Nonfiction Books of October 2025 Time to Scare Up October’s New Comics Releases A Lot of People Are Buying 107 Days Simon & Schuster announced today that Kamala Harris’ 107 Days has sold 350,000 copies across all formats in the seven days since it was published. This puts it on track to be the best-selling memoir of 2025 (though it is a relatively low bar. I cannot summon what the second best-selling memoir of the year is). I wondered what the appetite for this book would be, but clearly there were a bunch of people ready to hear from Harris on her unprecedented presidential run. If I might double down on my curiosity: might sales be front-loaded to very enthusiastic Harris supporters? How many that wouldn’t fit that definition will be picking this up over the course of the fall? Opening Track on Taylor Swift’s New Album is one for the Bard-heads Look, I don’t know that Taylor Swift’s reference to Ophelia on “The Fate of Ophelia”is particular original or interesting. The song is about being in love with somebody, so avoids Ophelia’s fate, here figured as dying out of scorned affection. Is this what actually happens to Ophelia? Maybe (I am of the camp that her father’s sudden death is more responsible than Hamlet’s antic disposition). Am I just happy that Shakespeare references are coming out of the mouth of the biggest celebrity in the world? ““As merry as the day is long.” Episode #4 of Zero to Well-Read: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison What a profound pleasure it was to get into Toni Morrison’s stunning, revolutionary debut novel, The Bluest Eye, for Zero to Well-Read. I hope you will consider giving it a listen. View the full article

Today’s Featured Book Deals $2.99Badass Bonita by Kim GuerraGet This Deal $1.99The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo, Louise Heal Kawai (trans.)Get This Deal $1.99Disappoint Me by Nicola DinanGet This Deal $1.99The Circle by Dave EggersGet This Deal $1.99Delicate Edible Birds by Lauren GroffGet This Deal $1.99Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen RussellGet This Deal $1.99Slow Burn Summer by Josie SilverGet This Deal $1.99The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie WrobelGet This Deal In Case You Missed Yesterday’s Most Popular Book Deals $1.99The Book of Doors by Gareth BrownGet This Deal $1.99The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah JohnsonGet This Deal $6.99Victorian Psycho by Virginia FeitoGet This Deal $1.99The Bandit Queens by Parini ShroffGet This Deal View the full article

Big Girl Tries To Join In And Defend Her Man From A Fight! View the full article

He Had A Death Wish View the full article

Lol: The Way The Security Guard Tossed Her Out! View the full article

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He Had Dude On A Joyride To Prank Him! View the full article

Get At It: Just A Good Ole' Fashion 1 On 1 Fight! View the full article

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He's Brave For That, They Could've Folded Him View the full article

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/ewlogofi.png Ben Lindbergh brings on Michael Baumann, who immediately makes Ben regret it by subjecting him to a lyrical ode to Effectively Wild inspired by the Taylor Swift song “Wood.” Then they play “College Baseball Player or Make and Model of Car?” before recapping the three decisive Game 3s of the wild card round (with an emphasis on the absurdity of the Guardians’ immediate elimination after their historic AL Central comeback, a bad call on Xander Bogaerts, the heroics of Cam Schlittler and Ryan McMahon, and converting from Red Sox fandom to Yankees fandom) and ranking the four division series matchups. Then (1:15:44) Ben talks to Tigers TV broadcaster Jason Benetti about calling the team’s 2024 comeback and 2025 collapse, how to process their reprieve from elimination after a historic blown lead, players to pay attention to in the ALDS, and naturally, John Brebbia. Audio intro: Benny and a Million Shetland Ponies, “Effectively Wild Theme (Horny)” Audio interstitial: Philip Bergman, “Effectively Wild Theme” Audio outro: Guy Russo, “Effectively Wild Theme” Link to “Wood” lyrics Link to reliever familiarity effect Link to call on Bogaerts Link to Padres postgame video Link to Padres frustration Link to ump scoreboard Link to Schlittler fun facts Link to Schlittler pitches piece Link to Jeter catch Link to McMahon catch Link to Schlittler’s mom’s account 1 Link to Schlittler’s mom’s account 2 Link to article about Schlittler’s family Link to Ben on first-year pitchers Link to Ben on the Brewers and Jays Link to 2024 Benetti appearance Link to Brebbia EW episode Link to Benetti’s podcast Link to Cal award Sponsor Us on Patreon Give a Gift Subscription Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com Effectively Wild Subreddit Effectively Wild Wiki Apple Podcasts Feed Spotify Feed YouTube Playlist Facebook Group Bluesky Account Twitter Account Get Our Merch! Source View the full article

Photo Credit: Showtime Netflix’s new TV and movie release schedule for October 6 to October 5, 2025, includes Nurse Jackie Seasons 1-7, Caramelo, The Maze Runner, and Typhoon Family. On October 7, Nurse Jackie Seasons 1-7 drops on Netflix. The comedy series follows the unstable personal life of an emergency room nurse, Jackie. She goes to greater lengths to help her patients despite the shallow doctors and flawed health-care system. The Brazilian film Caramelo will soon premiere on the streaming platform. It focuses on a chef who ends up receiving a heart-changing diagnosis. However, he finds hope and laughter in a caramel-colored stray dog. Also coming to Netflix is The Maze Runner. The science-fiction action drama focuses on Thomas, who loses his memory and gets stuck in a maze known as the Glade. As he and his friends attempt to escape the maze, they learn they have become subjects of an experiment. Additionally, the South Korean series, Typhoon Family, will arrive on the streaming giant soon. It is set in 1997, when the South Korean economy was facing an economic crisis. Soon, the crisis affects the protagonist Kang Tae Pung’s company, and he resolves to save the company as the new CEO after his father’s death. New Netflix releases for October 6-October 12, 2025 Below are all the new TV shows and movies being added to Netflix from October 6-October 12, 2025. Monday, October 6 Dr. Seuss’s Horton! Tuesday, October 7 Nurse Jackie Seasons 1-7 True Haunting We Have Always Lived in the Castle Matt McCusker: A Humble Offering Wednesday, October 8 Caramelo Is It Cake? Halloween Néro the Assassin Thursday, October 9 Boots The Maze Runner Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials Maze Runner: Death Cure The Resurrected Victoria Beckham Friday, October 10 Kurukshetra: The Great War of Mahabharata My Father, the BTK Killer Old Money Swim to Me The Woman in Cabin 10 Saturday, October 11 Typhoon Family For more Netflix content, check out the trailer of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. The post Netflix Schedule October 6-October 12, 2025: New TV Shows & Movies Being Added appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article