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With so many managerial vacancies around the sport at the moment, it should be expected that a large crop of potential candidates are seeing their name come up in those conversations. While the 30 MLB manager positions are among the most coveted jobs in the baseball world and the opportunity to even interview for one is a significant honor, that doesn’t mean that everyone on a front office’s shortlist will have interest in the job. One such case is former Padres manager Andy Green, who Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports has declined “multiple managerial opportunities” in order to stick in his current role as a player development executive within the Mets’ front office. It should be noted that it isn’t clear which teams contacted Green or how serious those clubs were in their interest. Still, it’s interesting to hear both that Green was receiving interest from clubs and that he preferred to stick in his current role with the Mets than pursuing another round in the manager’s chair. After spending parts of four seasons in the majors as a player, Green briefly served as the third base coach in Arizona before taking over as San Diego’s manager during the 2015-16 offseason. Green managed the Padres for four seasons but ultimately was fired shortly before the end of the 2019 season, eight games before the end of what would be the club’s fourth-consecutive 90-loss campaign. While Green did well in bringing young players like Manuel Margot, Chris Paddack, and Fernando Tatis Jr. along in the majors, San Diego felt the results on the field weren’t improving fast enough under Green. It didn’t take long for him to find a new position, however, as he was quickly snapped up by the Cubs and newly-minted manager David Ross to serve as Ross’s bench coach for the 2020 season. Green remainder in Chicago for Ross’s entire tenure as skipper, but chose to depart the club when Ross was dismissed in favor of Craig Counsell. Leaving Chicago is what led Green back to Queens, where he briefly appeared as a player for the Mets across four games in 2009. Green was hired by new president of baseball operations David Stearns in November of 2023 for an unspecified “senior role” in player development. It was later revealed that Green had been given the role of senior vice president, and he’s worked under Stearns as part of New York’s front office in each of the past two seasons. For Green to turn down the opportunity to return to the dugout, he’s clearly comfortable with his position in the Mets organization. It’s certainly possible that the 48-year-old appreciates the move to a front office role and the flexibility afforded by no longer being part of the day-to-day grind of traveling with the team during the season, or that his player development skills are better suited for work behind the scenes rather than in the dugout. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Green wouldn’t consider a jump back to the dugout at some point in the future. Will Venable famously declined an interview with the Mets organization in order to stay in his associate manager role with the Rangers, only to accept an offer to manage the White Sox just a year later. Perhaps Green could reconsider a move back to the dugout at some point down the line if the right opportunity came along, but it seems for now that he’s content to stay with the Mets even as nearly a third of the league is looking for a change in the manager’s chair. View the full article

Robert MacIntyre won the Dunhill Links Championship to complete a successful homecoming after being part of Team Europe's victory in the Ryder Cup last week.View the full article

Atlanta president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos spoke to reporters (including David O’Brien of The Athletic) yesterday in an end-of-season press conference yesterday and covered a variety of topics. Much of the focus, however, was on Brian Snitker’s decision to step down as manager and the impending hunt for a new manager. Anthopoulos made sure to emphasize that Snitker’s departure from the role was in fact the veteran manager’s own decision, and that if he had wanted to remain in the dugout for an 11th season Anthopoulos would not have stood in the way of that. He spoke glowingly of the relationship and trust the two of them had built, and went on to reveal that Snitker is actually under contract with the organization through the 2030 season. That’s because, Anthopoulos revealed, Snitker’s January 2023 contract extension that was announced as a three-year deal that ended in 2025 was actually an eight-year contract where he would serve as manager through the end of the 2025 season before shifting into a senior advisor role for the final five years of his deal. It was left to Snitker to decide whether that latter portion of the extension would be announced at the time, and Snitker opted against that. It’s an interesting reveal that makes clear Snitker’s move out of the manager’s chair is not related to Atlanta’s disappointing 2025 season, and lends credence to the idea that the Braves would have been happy to bring him back for an 11th season as manager if he was inclined to pursue one. Snitker ultimately opted to step aside, however, and that’s left Anthopoulos to begin his first search for a new manager since joining the Braves in November of 2017. Anthopoulos told reporters that he had not yet even made a list of potential candidates for the role in deference to Snitker, though he added that doing so was the next item on his offseason to-do list. Anthopoulos noted that the next manager doesn’t necessarily need to follow in the footsteps of Snitker, a 49-year veteran of the organization, and have deep roots within the organization. That should allow Anthopoulos to cast a wider net in finding the right partner to bring playoff baseball back to Atlanta. Former Braves players like David Ross and Walt Weiss have been popular speculative picks for the job among fans and in the media, and while O’Brien notes that someone like that cannot be ruled out there’s been no indication of who Anthopoulos may be looking at as a candidate. Anthopoulos told reporters he hopes to keep it that way, though he also acknowledged that with as many managerial vacancies as there are in baseball at the moment even his notoriously leak-free front office may have trouble keeping the team’s plans completely under wraps. Regardless of who is ultimately leading the Braves from the dugout next year, it’s clear that some changes will be necessary on the field. The first major decision point of Atlanta’s offseason (aside from finding Snitker’s replacement) will not actually sit with Anthopoulos at all, as Ha-Seong Kim will be able to decide whether to exercise his $16MM player option for 2026 or return to free agency. Kim had a tough year between the Rays and Braves this season, appearing in just 48 games and slashing just .234/.304/.345 overall. Atlanta was quite impressed with his work after they claimed him off waivers, however, and he posted a respectable 91 wRC+ across his 98 plate appearances with the organization. Anthopoulos was candid with reporters (including Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) about the fact that the Braves hope to keep Kim in the fold, though it remains to be seen if he’ll simply exercise his player option or if he’ll instead look to test free agency. O’Brien suggests that the club could look to preempt Kim’s opt-out decision by negotiating a contract with him before he reaches the open market, as the Royals did with Michael Wacha last winter. That would make plenty of sense given Anthopoulos’s proclivity towards extensions, even for recently-acquired players like Sean Murphy and Chris Sale. At the same time, Kim’s combination of an impressive ceiling and difficult 2025 season could make him a difficult player to find the proper value for on a longer-term deal. Keeping or replacing Kim isn’t the only priority of the team’s upcoming offense, of course. Burns notes that Anthopoulos highlighted both the bullpen and the starting rotation as areas he hopes to upgrade this winter in addition to shortstop. The loss of Max Fried to the Yankees last offseason was badly felt in the Atlanta rotation, and while talented arms like Sale, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo Lopez, and Spencer Schwellenbach all remain under team control, that entire group faces questions headed into 2026 whether those concerns are about age, health, or performance. Bringing in a stable arm who can provide reliable, mid-rotation or better innings would make plenty of sense, and a bullpen that stands to lose Raisel Iglesias and could also see Pierce Johnson head into free agency if Anthopoulos does not exercise his $7MM club option after losing A.J. Minter last year will also need significant reinforcement. The free agent market looks to be littered with quality options in both regards, but the Braves have typically resisted spending large sums of money in free agency and have long preferred to get creative on the trade market when looking to bring in new talent. Perhaps that could change this year after 2025’s disappointing finish, and Atlanta will go out and sign someone like Dylan Cease or Edwin Diaz to a sizable contract. It seems more likely, however, that the Braves will instead look to be opportunistic in free agency and focus their more aggressive pursuits on the trade market, which has brought them success when adding players like Sale, Murphy, and Iglesias over the years. Joe Ryan, Sandy Alcantara, Pete Fairbanks, and JoJo Romero are among the players who could theoretically be available this winter who would fit Atlanta’s pitching needs. View the full article

http://blogs.fangraphs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Spencer-Torkelson-ALDS-G1-2025.jpgSteven Bisig-Imagn Images SEATTLE — “We didn’t steal one. We earned it.” Those were the first words spoken by Tigers manager A.J. Hinch following Game 1 of the ALDS at T-Mobile Park on Saturday night. Hinch took umbrage with a reporter’s characterization of a 3-2 victory that spanned 11 innings in a road ballpark as “stealing one.” Managers should bring that type of bravado to the press conference. Especially Hinch, who is tasked with imbuing confidence in a squad that has been dogged by tales of its epic collapse for over a month. But with all due respect to Hinch, to describe any one-run, extra-inning game as one where either team definitively earned the win, or on the flip side deserved to lose, places all the emphasis on the final result and glosses over exactly how that result came to be. The Tigers got the win, and now they enjoy a 1-0 series lead with Tarik Skubal, the reigning (and presumptive) AL Cy Young award winner, taking the mound for them in Game 2. They get to bask in the glow of that advantage, and they absolutely should. But if Hinch gets to quibble with verbiage, so do I. During the regular season, the Mariners were 31-21 in one-run games and 10-11 in extra innings. The Tigers were 21-12 in one-run games and went 5-8 in extras. Based on those numbers, Seattle performed better in games that couldn’t be decided in regulation, while Detroit put together a stronger winning percentage in one-run games. But as research has shown, none of those numbers really matter because the tighter the score and the more innings played, the more random the outcome. Winning tight games that stretch beyond nine innings is less about skill than the winners want to believe. When reviewing Russell Carleton’s Baseball Prospectus research on the topic, the following passage felt particularly germane: For a moment, I want to focus on the 25 percent of one-run games that go into the ninth tied. In some sense, from this point onward, the fundamental characteristic of the game has changed. From this point onward, the game is a series of one-inning sudden-death games. Prior to this, if the opponents scored in the fifth inning, you could make it up in the seventh. But no more. From a sampling perspective, we’ve gone from a nine-inning sample of team quality on that day to a one-inning sample. Smaller sample sizes mean more variance: anything can happen in extra innings. None of this is to say that skill doesn’t factor into the outcome at all, but it’s less of a factor than in games decided by multiple runs. But we’re not actually here to discuss overarching theories and analytical truths that tell us what typically happens. We have an actual baseball game with real outcomes to discuss. In this game, both teams caught some fortunate bounces, both teams got away with mistakes, and both teams took advantage of mistakes made by their opponent. And both teams did all of this in largely equal measure. Before we wade into the waters of mistakes and misfortune, let’s first acknowledge the purely skill-based victories. Tigers outfielder Kerry Carpenter earns full credit for taking Mariners starter George Kirby deep with two outs in the fifth inning. With the Tigers trailing 1-0 and a runner on first, Carpenter attacked a sinker several inches above the top of the zone and drove it over 400 feet. In a game awash in 50/50 managerial decisions, the one most likely to have calculus equations floating through Mariners skipper Dan Wilson’s field of vision before Game 2 is the choice to leave Kirby in the game to face Carpenter a third time. It’s generally safe to assume more noise than signal when considering a hitter’s history with a specific pitcher. But Carpenter’s four home runs in 10 plate appearances against Kirby entering that third matchup of the night were staggering enough to give pause. And though when addressing specific matchups players usually opt to keep their comments vague to the point of meaningless while doling out the utmost respect to their opponents, when speaking to the media postgame, Carpenter bluntly admitted to seeing Kirby well and feeling like he had him timed as he stepped in to face him in the fifth. Kirby’s wOBA allowed this season was .286 the first time through the order and .264 the second time through, but it spiked to .390 when facing opposing hitters for a third time. Additionally, Carpenter has a known kryptonite in left-handing pitching. Seattle had southpaw Gabe Speier ready and waiting for the bullpen phone to ring as Carpenter was announced, but the call didn’t come. After the game, Wilson said he thought Kirby still had the stuff to handle Carpenter; instead Carpenter’s handiwork gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead. It feels very obvious in retrospect that Wilson should have gone to Speier, but just as four of the previous 10 meetings between Kirby and Carpenter resulted in a home run, four of them also ended with a strikeout, including one in the first inning Saturday. It’s not absurd to think he could pull it off again. Nevertheless, Carpenter bested Kirby, earning every inch of that home run. Likewise, Seattle center fielder Julio Rodríguez gets all the flowers for going deep against Detroit starter Troy Melton one frame prior. Like Carpenter, Rodríguez launched a high fastball (though this one was a four-seamer, rather than a sinker), and 413 feet later, he was circling the bases. The Mariners defense also earned two crucial outs on back-to-back batted balls to end the ninth inning. First, a line drive moving 101 mph off the bat of Javier Báez sent Eugenio Suárez into full “I’m a Little Teapot” mode. He tipped to his left and pulled the ball out of the air just as his knees brushed the infield dirt. Next, with his throwing motion flinging his body to the first base side of the mound, Andrés Muñoz managed to redirect his momentum to reach back and snag a liner off the bat of Parker Meadows. Not to be outdone, the Tigers defense turned a tricky double play at one of the highest-leverage points in the game. After Rodríguez tied the score with a single in the sixth, first baseman Josh Naylor stepped to the plate with no outs and runners on first and second. He pulled a groundball toward second base. The shortstop Báez fielded it, then tagged Rodríguez, who was on his way to second, before firing to first to complete the double play. The play required tremendous balance and accuracy from Báez, but even with what Hinch termed “acrobatics,” the play was still close enough to challenge the outs at both first and second. So close, in fact, that if Rodríguez had stopped running to second — either by retreating to first, halting in place, or dropping to the dirt — he probably would’ve prolonged the tag play by enough split-seconds for Naylor reach first safely. This was not the type of lazy grounder that big league infielders can easily convert into a routine double play; those outs were hard won. But now the time has come. We must grapple with the parts of the game with murkier relationships to player skill. First up, the Took Advantage of an Opponent’s Mistake category: Pitching in relief for the Tigers, Rafael Montero opened the sixth with a walk to Mariners left fielder Randy Arozarena and a single to catcher Cal Raleigh, who scooped a splitter on the outer half and served it into right field. At that point, Montero was probably hoping he could take a pitch to gather himself, that Rodríguez would be one of those hitters that takes the first pitch of a plate appearance without any real thought given to swinging. But much like the whole mouse-cookie-milk situation, if you throw Rodríguez a cookie, he’s going to want to swing. And in this case, that swing led to a single that drove in a run and tied the game. Punishing mistake pitches still requires skill, but because it’s dependent on the existence of a mistake, it’s a skill that relies on a positive twist of fate. Perhaps the Naylor double play could be considered taking advantage of an opponent’s mistake too, because Rodríguez didn’t hit the deck when Báez tried to tag him, but that particular play feels like less of a mistake on Rodríguez’s part. Instead, we should consider the flip side; if Rodríguez had delayed the relay throw to first long enough for Naylor to beat it, the play would’ve gone into the Heads Up Baseball category, where a player makes an instantaneous decision that another player ordinarily wouldn’t have made. Because of how fast Rodríguez was running and where Báez fielded the ball, it would’ve taken extraordinary awareness and athleticism to recognize what was happening and then stop, drop, and roll before getting tagged. This next play featured two mistakes, but only one of them was taken advantage of. With Detroit’s switch-hitting utilityman, and certified lefty killer, Jahmai Jones on first, catcher Dillon Dingler hit a popup to shallow right field. Seattle second baseman Jorge Polanco couldn’t quite make the catch, but because right fielder Victor Robles hustled in while the ball was in the air, and because Jones didn’t make the proper initial read on the situation, Robles was able to recover the ball and get Jones on the fielder’s choice at second. In the (Mis)Fortune category, much of what we deem luck or unlucky in baseball distills down to batted ball outcomes. There’s no room for moral victories this time of year, so I doubt Mariners fans will take much comfort in tallying up half a dozen well-struck batted balls from the likes of Arozarena, Polanco, Naylor, and J.P. Crawford. Of course, the Tigers had a couple of these as well: notably, a Carpenter groundout with an expected batting average of .630 and a Gleyber Torres lineout to left field (.900 xBA) in the 10th. To understand how infuriating these can be, I give you this loud out from Naylor. Hit one pitch after Rodríguez homered off Melton in the fourth inning, Melton’s reaction to the way the ball left the bat makes it very clear he was convinced he’d just given up back-to-back jacks. Finally, we have the Got Away With a Mistake category. The early example of this is Kirby working his way out of a jam in the second inning. In both the first and second, he threw several mistake pitches, sinkers that missed the shadow region of the zone completely, finishing too far outside to be considered competitive. But the Tigers failed to meaningfully capitalize. Designated hitter Colt Keith opened the second with a single and then Dingler followed with a walk, but after Kirby threw ball one to third baseman Zach McKinstry, Raleigh made a mound visit. On the next pitch, Kirby pulled his sinker down into the zone, and from that point forward, he was able to find that location regularly enough to coax swings out of the Detroit lineup. The other prime example came very late in the game. In the top of the 11th, McKinstry sent a groundball up the middle, scoring first baseman Spencer Torkelson from second. McKinstry, who went hitless for the final three months of the regular season (that’s not literally true, but it probably felt that way for both Tigers fans and McKinstry), tapped a ball back to the pitcher with an exit velocity of 73 mph and an xBA of .220. It was nearly fielded by both pitcher Carlos Vargas and shortstop Crawford, who was shading the left-handed McKinstry to pull and had to sprint back toward second to attempt a diving play. Neither fielder could snag it, so it went for a hit that drove in the game-winning run. However, at this point in his career, Crawford is not a good fielder, specifically when it comes to his range (or lack thereof). With -12 OAA, he was the second-worst defensive shortstop in the majors. That the single was just out of Crawford’s reach indicates that a better fielder with better range probably would’ve at least kept the ball from getting past him and forced Torkelson to hold up at third. McKinstry got away with one there. Because of the narrow margins in this game, roughly one billion things happened that, had they gone even a little bit differently, the outcome of the game may have swung the other way. Hinch and the Tigers got the win, and now they get to reap the rewards of being up 1-0 in a best-of-five series. But if the Tigers are now considered favorites to win this ALDS showdown, it’s not because they put on some dominant showing in Game 1 that changed the complexion of the series. It’s because you’re only as good as your next day’s starter, and they’ve got Skubal going in Game 2. And that’s even more true considering these teams just ran through a combined 13 relievers in one night. Source View the full article

Both Ron Washington and Ray Montgomery have been evicted from the manager’s office in Anaheim, as the Angels plan to hire a new manager rather than tabbing either their manager or interim manager from this season to return in 2026. Most of the attention has been focused on the candidacy of Albert Pujols to this point, but Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register reported yesterday that one other expected candidate is Torii Hunter. Hunter, 50, played 19 seasons in the majors. He made it to the All-Star game five times, won nine Gold Glove awards for his work in the outfield, and enjoyed an impressive five-year run with the Angels from 2008 to 2012 where he slashed .286/.352/.462 in 713 games. Hunter being a candidate for the job is hardly a surprise, given the fact that he was reportedly in the mix for the job following the 2023 season before Washington was hired. At the time, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale highlighted Hunter as “tremendously regarded” by club owner Arte Moreno, which was enough to make him an option even in spite of his lack of coaching experience at a time when the Angels were specifically focused on bringing in a more experienced voice at the time. While Hunter did not ultimately land the job, that didn’t end the organization’s interest in bringing him into the fold. They pursued him as a potential member of Washington’s coaching staff, and while he declined to be considered for that role he was hired as a special assistant to Minasian in April of 2024. He’s remained in the organization ever since, and the relationship that role has surely created with Minasian over the past two years could help give Hunter a leg up in the hunt for the job if Minasian has a say in the hiring process despite his status as a lame duck GM. Still, it’s must be remembered that Pujols is held in a similar regard by Moreno and is also already employed by the organization as a result of his ten-year personal services contract with the club signed at the time of his free agency as a player. Some reporting has gone as far as suggesting that it might be the Hall of Famer’s decision to make whether or not he serves as Anaheim’s next manager. Even with Pujols emerging as an early favorite, however, that doesn’t mean he’s a lock to be in the dugout next year. There’s certainly a chance that someone with Pujols’s profile might prefer to hold out for a team with stronger prospects than the Angels currently have coming off their tenth consecutive sub-.500 season. The turnover rate of Angels managers might also be a concern. After all, the team has churned through five managers (Brad Ausmus, Joe Maddon, Phil Nevin, Washington, and Montgomery) in the last seven years since Mike Scioscia left the club following the 2019 season. Even aside from those potential concerns on Pujols’s end, it’s not impossible to imagine GM Perry Minasian pushing for a different candidate or even Moreno himself having a change of heart. All of that is to say, keeping other candidates in mind for the position is sensible, and Hunter has a lot of the same qualities that have made Pujols the early favorite for the job. Given that, it stands to reason that Hunter might find himself in strong position to land the gig if Pujols were to decline to be considered. What’s more, every indication points to Hunter having interest in both managing generally and leading the Angels specifically. He not only interviewed for the role in 2023, but also told reporters at the time that he would relish the “challenge” of helping turn the Angels franchise around. On the other hand, it’s worth noting that Hunter is arguably even more connected to the Twins organization than he is to the Angels after playing 12 seasons in Minnesota. The Twins also have a managerial opening after their decision to fire Rocco Baldelli, and while there’s not yet been any solid connection between Hunter and that gig it would certainly be one worth considering from Hunter’s perspective. The organization’s massive sell-off this past summer would certainly provide a challenge if Hunter is looking for one, but the team’s history suggests that Twins managers have more job security than those in Anaheim. Every manager in Minnesota in the past 35 years has had at least four full seasons on the job to prove themselves, while Scioscia is the only Angels skipper since inaugural manager Bill Rigney to be afforded that same opportunity. View the full article

He doesn’t garner much press — at least not outside of Tigers territory — but Will Vest has developed into one of baseball’s better relievers. The 30-year-old right-hander has appeared in 181 games for Detroit over the past three seasons and logged a 2.93 ERA and a 2.71 ERA over 187-and-a-third innings. Moreover, he is currently the team’s closer. Vest’s 2025 ledger includes 23 saves to go with a 3.01 ERA and a 2.71 FIP, and he recorded the final out in both of the club’s Wild Card wins over Cleveland. If the Tigers go on to beat the Mariners in the ALDS, Vest will likely have played a key role. He could easily be pitching for Seattle. As related by Dan Hubbs in a piece that ran here at FanGraphs two weeks ago, the Mariners took Vest in December 2020’s Rule-5 draft, only to return him to the Tigers the following July. Hubbs had departed as Detroit’s director of pitching development by the time Vest was reacquired, but he was, and remains to this day, bullish on the righty’s raw ability. Vest was one of three pitchers (Casey Mize and Tarik Skubal were the others) whose development process the now-Athletics’ bullpen coach looked back on in the September 23 article. Spin rates that were “off the charts” was an attribute Hubbs saw in the then-under-the-radar prospect, as were “good movement profiles on everything he threw.” For the young hurler, success at baseball’s highest level “was just a matter of him getting comfortable competing in the strike zone.“ What are Vest’s memories of working with Hubbs, and in which ways has he continued to develop in the years that have followed? “I knew that I had stuff,” Vest told me in the waning days of the regular season. “It was more about homing it in, more about the pitch-ability. There was some raw stuff he saw in me that we’d work on. Velo. Developing a changeup. Refining my slider. I could spin the ball pretty well; I just didn’t have good command. That’s what I refined throughout the minor leagues, and he helped me do that. “When I got into pro ball, the nuances of analytics had kind of taken over,” added Vest, whom the Tigers took in the 12th round of the 2017 draft out of Stephen F. Austin State University. “We were all learning how to use it to help us as pitchers. [Hubbs] was at the forefront, leading that charge in our organization, bringing analytics to the pitching staff.” A more recent development has paid huge dividends. Vest used to spike his slider, but he stopped doing so around the midpoint of last season. The numbers that followed stand out like a sore thumb. Whereas the pitch was too often punished in 2024, this year it has elicited a .206 BAA, a .286 slug, and an eyebrow-raising 43.7% whiff rate. Thrown harder (88.7 mph vs 86.9 mph) and with more spin (2,748 rpm vs 2,381), it has lost some shape, but gained in terms of deception. “The total movement is a little bit less since I stopped spiking it, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” Vest explained. “You want it to look as much like your heater as you can, and that had kind of been my problem. Sometimes my slider would get too big. It would pop, and just not look like my fastball. I saw what hitters were telling me. I would throw a pretty decent slider in decent locations, and it seemed like they were on it. Now I’m throwing one that pairs better with my fastball. I’m also commanding it better.” The command and pitch-ability that Hubbs once helped Vest to refine are integral to his success, and the underrated closer knows that as well as anyone. “It all comes down to execution,” said Vest. “You can do little things to make individual pitches better, but at the end of the day, if you’re throwing 95 with a good ride heater, and it’s right down the middle, it’s going to get hit in this league. You need to have a mix of good stuff, but there is also knowing where to throw it and when to throw it. You need to be executing your pitches.” He executed to perfection last night. Vest pitched the ninth and tenth innings, retired all six batters he faced, and was credited with the win as the Tigers edged the Mariners 3-2 to capture ALDS Game One. The effort wasn’t an anomaly. In nine career postseason outings, Vest has allowed one run over 11 innings. ——— RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS Dan Wilson went 10 for 17 against Justin Thompson. Edgar Martinez went 10 for 16 against Mariano Rivera. Kevin Seitzer went 12 for 22 against Richard Dotson. Ichiro Suzuki went 12 for 19 against Aaron Sele. Alvin Davis went 17 for 30 against Dan Petry. ——— Ceddanne Rafaela’s breakout with the bat came to a screeching halt in midseason, and it coincided with a questionable decision. Short in the infield due to injury and nonperformance, the Red Sox began shuttling the game’s best defensive centerfielder between that position and second base. As I pointed out in a mid-August column, Rafaela had a 114 wRC+ before being taken out of his comfort zone — and that number slid to 91 by season’s end. While ten points higher than last year’s 81 wRC+, it wasn’t what it might have been. Is he happy with his season overall? I asked him that question after game 162. “You can say I’m happy, but it’s more so I’m happy that I helped the team in any way I could,” the 25-year-old outfielder told me. “My defense. Part of the season with my offense. So yeah, I’m happy.” Which brings us to the crux of what I wanted his thoughts on. Did having to shuttle back and forth have a negative impact on his performance? “I don’t know,” Rafaela responded. “Maybe. Maybe yeah, maybe no. I didn’t pay attention to it. I just wanted to help the team. But when you’re playing a position every day, it helps.” I related to Rafaela how I’d offered that as one of the reasons for my bullish expectations as the season was about to start. Solely playing center would help him perform better with the bat. “Yeah, of course,” he said to my reasoning. “I think if you only play one position, that can happen. But it is what it is. I can’t look back. I’m in a playoff spot now, so all I can think about is going out there to win. That’s the mindset.” As a second baseman, Rafaela had one DRS and a minus-21 wRC+ over 79 plate appearances. As a centerfielder, he had 20 DRS and a 109 wRC+ over 508 plate appearances. Seemingly coming to their senses, Alex Cora & Co. once again began playing the likely Gold Glove winner solely in center at the the end of August. Not long thereafter, he began to rebound with the bat. Over his last dozen games, Rafaela registered a .364 BA and a .927 OPS. Was the surge something that could have been expected? “Yeah, because it’s baseball,” Rafaela said. “It can happen.” ——— A quiz: The Seattle Mariners were in their 15th season when they first finished with a winning record. Who led that 1991 squad in home runs? (A hint: he has the most strikeouts of any hitter in Mariners history.) ——— NEWS NOTES The average time of a nine-inning MLB game was 2:38 this season, up two minutes from a year ago. In 2002, the last year before a pitch clock was instituted, the average time was 3:04. The 2026 Ford C. Frick Award finalists were announced this past week. They are Brian Anderson, Joe Buck, Skip Caray, René Cárdenas, Gary Cohen, Jacques Doucet, Duane Kuiper, John Rooney, Dan Shulman, and John Sterling. More information can be found here. Ray Lane, a legendary Detroit sportscaster whose career included calling Tigers games alongside Ernie Harwell from 1967-1972, died last weekend at age 95. Fans of a certain age will recall that Paul Carey was then Harwell’s broadcaster partner from 1973-1991. ——— The answer to the quiz is Jay Buhner, who homered 27 times for the Mariners in 1991. Ken Griffey Jr., who was then in his third MLB season, went deep 22 times. ——— Left on the cutting-room floor from my recent conversation with Dillon Dingler was what the Detroit Tigers catcher told me when I asked what’s going through his mind when he walks behind the plate to start a game. “The first inning is crucial — it’s usually three of their best hitters — so I’m really just trying to settle down, honestly,” Dingler admitted. “There is a lot of emotion that goes along with the game, especially at the start. You’re amped up, so you take that time to calm down a little bit and get in the flow. I would say that I’m pretty even-tempered, but at the same time, there is adrenaline. It’s the rush, and you have to control that.” ——- Sticking with the Tigers, a recent piece I put together on Cleveland’s pitching group included the perspective of Detroit reliever Paul Sewald, who was with the Guardians for the first half of the season. I also asked Sewald about his current club’s pitching group. “Fet [pitching coach Chris Fetter] is amazing at figuring out our game-planning,” he told me. “That is an essential part of the job, and figuring out which pitches you’re going to throw is very difficult before a game ever starts. And then, [assistant pitching coach] Robin Lund is a physicist at heart. He’s the guy who is going to help you with, ‘Hey, you’re not moving the way you were in 2022 and 2023. We need to get you moving the way you used to, so that you can throw with the same velocity you did then.’ We also have [assistant pitching coach] Juan Nieves. There are times you need somebody who knows what it’s like to be on the mound in front of 35,000 people and throw strikes. Juan is that guy. It’s important to have people who have specialties and can help in any situation.” ——— FOREIGN AFFAIRS The LG Twins had the best record in the KBO, finishing atop the standings at 85-56-3. The Hanwha Eagles were close behind at 83-57-4. The Pacific League’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks had NPB’s best record at 86-52-4. The Central League’s Hanshin Tigers had the second-best record at 85-54-4. Masahiro Tanaka recorded his 200th career win — 122 in NPB and 78 with the New York Yankees in MLB — earlier this week. The Tokyo Yomiuri Giants right-hander joins Yu Darvish, Hiroki Kuroda, and Hideo Nomo as Japanese pitchers who have reached that number between the two leagues. With CPBL season about to come to a close, the CTBC Brothers have the best record in Taiwan at 70-49. The Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions are next best at 65-53. ——— A random obscure former player snapshot: Charlie Neal recorded the first hit in Los Angeles Dodgers history. A middle infielder who’d broken in with Brooklyn as Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese were closing out their careers, Neal singled off of Ruben Gomez at San Francisco’s Seals Stadium as the newly-located rivals clashed on Opening Day 1958. The speedy Longview, Texas native was then at his best in 1959. Not only did Neal total 60 extra-base hits, win a Gold Glove, and make the All-Star team; he excelled in the Fall Classic. Neal went 10-for-27 with a pair of home runs as the Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox in six game to capture LA’s first World Series title. A few years later, he made more history back East. In 1962, Neal recorded the first RBI in New York Mets history, driving home Richie Ashburn in the expansion team’s first-ever game. That same day, he became the first Met to log a three-hit game, with one of those knocks leaving the yard. One inning before Neal went deep, Gil Hodges hammered the first home run in Mets history. ——— The Houston Astros missed the postseason this year following eight straight seasons of October baseball, half of of which came with Dusty Baker at the helm. Taking over after the sign-stealing scandal cost A.J. Hinch his job, Baker went on to lead the erstwhile Colt .45s to their second World Series title in six years, in 2022. Houston’s 2024 playoff appearance came under current manager Joe Espada. Alex Cora was Hinch’s bench coach when the shenanigans took place, resulting in the now-Red Sox skipper’s being suspended for the 2020 season. Cora was asked for his thoughts on the Astros’ postseason streak having come to an end. “The thing that I really respect out of the group, with Dusty and Joe, is that they turned the page on our mistake,” Cora told reporters at Fenway Park. “They did an amazing job of putting that behind. It will always be, not on them, but on me and the rest of us… It’s hard to do this over and over and over, and they did it very well. [Jose] Altuve comes in there from the beginning, and he led that team. Alex [Bregman] did the same thing.” ——— Jane Leavy’s Make Me Commissioner: I Know What’s Wrong With Baseball and How To Fix It includes a number of passages that feature Dusty Baker. One of them, which has nothing to do with the book’s title, addresses the now-76-year-old renaissance man’s days as a minor-league outfielder in the Atlanta Braves system. “That fall [1969], the Braves sent him to the Arizona Fall League, where he saw Janis Joplin play a gig in their home ballpark in Tempe,” Leavy wrote. “In the raw caw of her voice, he heard the strain of upheaval and rage that filled that American season. He hung out with the hippies. He liked them because even though they had stormed the fence to get in, they were peaceful about it… When the Braves told him he had to give up his student deferment and report to spring training earlier, he joined the Marines rather than the State or National Guard. The way he saw it, Marines were not likely to be called upon to fire on hippies and student protestors. It was 1970. He saw what the Ohio National Guard did at Kent State.” Baker has long been a baseball treasure. ——— LINKS YOU’LL LIKE Who drew the comics that used to be found on the backs of Topps baseball cards? Tiffany Babb addressed that question at The Fan Files. Doing a crossword puzzle is a big part of Tarik Skubal’s pregame routine. Jason Beck has the story at MLB.com. Julian McWilliams wrote about the rejuvenation of Toronto’s George Springer for CBS Sports. Andscape’s William Weinbaum presented us with an oral history of Satchel Paige’s final MLB game, which came at age 59 in 1965. How power ages might surprise you. Travis Sawchik shared some of the numbers in a blog article at Driveline Baseball. ——— RANDOM FACTS AND STATS The Seattle Mariners had 31 one-run wins this season, the most of any team. The Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins tied for the fewest one-run wins with 15 apiece. The Los Angeles Dodgers led all National League teams with 825 runs scored. They also topped the circuit in home runs and hit the ninth-most singles. The Milwaukee Brewers were second in the NL with 806 runs scored. They topped the circuit in singles and hit the ninth-most home runs. Houston Astros catchers combined for 178 hits and a .286 batting average this season; both were MLB bests. Tampa Bay Rays catchers combined for 95 hits and a .185 batting average; both were MLB worsts. Toronto Blue Jays catchers were charged with 15 throwing errors, the most of any team. Kansas City Royals catchers had just one throwing error. Don Newcombe became the first Black pitcher to start a World Series game when he took the mound for the Brooklyn Dodgers against the New York Yankees on today’s date in 1949. The lone run Newcombe allowed that afternoon was a ninth-inning homer by Tommy Henrich, the first ever walk-off blast in Series history. On today’s date in 1944, the St. Louis Cardinals beat the St. Louis Browns 3-2 in 11 innings to even up the World Series at one game apiece. The Cardinals went on to win that year’s Fall Classic, with all six contests taking place at Sportsman Park. Players born on today’s date include Randy Bockus, a right-hander who appeared in 37 games for the San Francisco Giants across the 1986-1988 season, and in two games for the Detroit Tigers in 1989. A Canton, Ohio native who attended Kent State University, Bockus went 2-1 with a 4.23 ERA over 61-and-two-thirds career innings. Playing against the Los Angeles Dodgers on September 28th of his rookie season, Bockus struck out as a pinch hitter in the 13th inning, moved to the outfield the following frame and was later pinch-hit for by fellow pitcher Mike Krukow. Also born on today’s date was Jim Bagby, who helped pitch the Cleveland Indians to a World Series title in 1920. A right-hander from Barnett, Georgia, Bagby bagged 31 wins during the regular season, then bested Brooklyn Robins righty Burleigh Grimes in Game 5 of the Fall Classic. Notable in that contest was Bagby’s becoming the first pitcher to hit a World Series home run, and Cleveland second baseman Bill Wambsganss turning the only triple play in World Series history. Source 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 stories we covered ourselves on Book Riot this week. Meet the New Host of Reading Rainbow: Mychal the Librarian We have some good news in the world of books and reading today: Reading Rainbow is coming back! The original TV show was hosted by LeVar Burton and ran from 1983 to 2006. It’s hard to overstate just how beloved this educational children’s series was—and still is. Now, after 20 years, it’s finally coming back! The Best New Books of October, According to Indie Booksellers Here are ten of the best books of October, according to indie booksellers. Many of these we also recommend on Book Riot, so I’ve quoted our relevant recs when available. Be sure to click through to the ABA website for the full list, including six Indie Next Picks that are now out in paperback. THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB is Going to be a Musical! Here’s Everything We Know Mark your calendars and book your flights to New York in spring 2027, because that’s when the new Baby-Sitters Club musical is set to premiere. The musical is set twelve years after the events of the books (which were originally published from 1986 to 2000). Now adults, the four founding members of the Baby-Sitters Club—Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey—return to their hometown of Stoneybrook, CT to honor the pact they made with each other when they were thirteen years old. As the four women reflect on their past lives, the friendships, and the hardships, they come to some life-changing realizations about themselves and what matters most. Texas School Administrators Use A.I. To Ban Books Like TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD As reported by Frank Strong, what makes this case even more infuriating is that district officials used Artificial Intelligence to create their list, allowing them to abdicate responsibility for the decision to an even further degree. First, they can blame state legislation for the removal of books, then they can blame A.I. for identifying these specific titles. Watch the PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION Teaser Trailer People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry was published in 2021, and four years later, we’re getting a movie adaptation. The film of the same name stars Emily Bader as Poppy and Tom Blyth as Alex, and it comes out on Netflix January 9th. Netflix has just released the first teaser trailer, which you can watch below. 23,000 Book Bans Since 2021: PEN America Releases Its Latest Report on the State of Literary Censorship So what does the latest report find? Starting at the top level, PEN found that since 2021, nearly 23,000 titles have been banned across 45 states and 451 public school districts. The Bestselling Books of the Week, According to All the Lists There are a ton of new titles on the bestseller lists this week, which makes for a nice change. Another Judge Chips Away at Library Patron First Amendment Rights In another blow to the First Amendment Rights of library users, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida ruled that the Escambia County school board did not violate student or author rights when it pulled And Tango Makes Three from school library shelves. This is the second ruling in a matter of months to put the approved content of public library and public school library materials into the hands of government officials. The Most Read Books on Goodreads in September 2025 From romance novels to thrillers to historical fiction, these were the most read books on Goodreads this month. View the full article

Today’s Featured Book Deals $1.99Entitlement by Rumaan AlamGet This Deal $1.99The Gene by Siddhartha MukherjeeGet This Deal $4.99The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi VoGet This Deal $1.99Bonfire by Krysten RitterGet This Deal $1.99Ladykiller by Katherine WoodGet This Deal $1.99What Kind of Mother by Clay ChapmanGet This Deal $1.99A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca SolnitGet This Deal $1.99The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat SebastianGet This Deal In Case You Missed Yesterday’s Most Popular Book Deals $1.99Disappoint Me by Nicola DinanGet This Deal $1.99The Book of Doors by Gareth BrownGet This Deal $1.99The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah JohnsonGet This Deal $1.99The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie WrobelGet This Deal View the full article

Photo Credit: NBC The Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 2 release date and time is on the horizon, and fans around the world are eager to find out when they can watch the next episode. In the upcoming episode named “Primary Search,” viewers will witness Vasquez’s struggle to establish his worth at 51. Meanwhile, Violet and Novak delve into a concerning mystery. Herrmann is determined to ensure that Molly remains positively good for it. Here’s everything you need to know about Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 2. When is the Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 2 release date & time? The episode’s release date is Wednesday, October 8, 2025, and its release time is 6 p.m. PT and 9 p.m. ET. Check out its release times in the U.S. below: TimezoneRelease DateRelease TimeEastern TimeOctober 8, 20259 p.m.Pacific TimeOctober 8, 20256 p.m. Find out how many episodes will be available to watch in Chicago Fire Season 14 right here. Where to watch Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 2 You can watch Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 2 via NBC and Peacock. NBC’s range of content includes television shows, news, and sports. Peacock serves as NBCUniversal’s streaming platform, allowing viewers to enjoy all their beloved NBC programs, original series, films, and much more. What is Chicago Fire about? The official synopsis for Chicago Fire is as follows: “An edge-of-your-seat view into the lives of everyday heroes committed to one of America’s noblest professions. For the firefighters, rescue squad and paramedics of Chicago Firehouse 51, no occupation is more stressful or dangerous, yet so rewarding and exhilarating. These courageous men and women are among the elite who forge headfirst into danger when everyone else is running the other way and whose actions make the difference between life and death.” The post Chicago Fire Season 14 Episode 2 Release Date, Time, Where to Watch appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

Photo Credit: ABC The Abbott Elementary Season 5 Episode 2 release date and time is on the horizon. Season 5 Episode 1, “Team Building”, showcases the deteriorating condition of the school, with literally roofs falling off the ceiling, followed by gas leaks in the kitchen. After the school gets caught taking bribes, the district sends Craig for team-building exercises as a punishment. This also results in fewer resources, as Janine ends up mentoring a new teacher and handling a large class of 40 students. Here’s all you need to know about the upcoming episode. When is the Abbott Elementary Season 5 Episode 2 release date & time? The episode’s release date is October 8, 2025, and its release time is 5:30 p.m. PT, 8:30 p.m. ET Check out its release times in the U.S. below: TimezoneRelease DateRelease TimeEastern TimeOctober 8, 20258:30 p.m.Pacific TimeOctober 8, 20255:30 p.m. Where to watch Abbott Elementary Season 5 Episode 2 You can watch Abbott Elementary Season 5 Episode 2 via Hulu. Owned by The Walt Disney Company, Hulu is a large streaming platform to watch the latest movies and shows. It also includes a never-ending list of movies and shows across multiple genres. Furthermore, the site also hosts several original content like Alien: Earth, Paradise, The Bear, Only Murders in the Building, Shōgun, Swiped, and the latest Chad Powers, starring Glen Powell. What is Abbott Elementary about? The official synopsis for Abbott Elementary is as follows: “In this workplace comedy, a group of dedicated, passionate teachers — and a slightly tone-deaf principal — are brought together in a Philadelphia public school where, despite the odds stacked against them, they are determined to help their students succeed in life. Though these incredible public servants may be outnumbered and underfunded, they love what they do — even if they don’t love the school district’s less-than-stellar attitude toward educating children.” The post Abbott Elementary Season 5 Episode 2 Release Date, Time, Where to Watch appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

Photo Credit: BET The Sistas Season 9 Episode 12 release date and time is right around the corner. As per the season’s official schedule, the upcoming twelfth episode is titled “Search Party.” This episode will pick up from the cliffhanger of Episode 11, “Surprise, Surprise,” which saw Karen leave her baby in the crib and disappear without a trace. Sistas is a comedy-drama television series created by Tyler Perry. It first premiered on October 23, 2019, and follows the tumultuous dating lives of a group of black women living in Atlanta. The show stars KJ Smith, Mignon, Ebony Obsidian, Novi Brown, Crystal Renee Hayslett, Angela Beyince, Devale Ellis, Chido Nwokocha, and many more. Here are all the release details of Sistas Season 9 Episode 12. When is the Sistas Season 9 Episode 12 release date & time? The episode’s release date is Wednesday, October 8, and its release time is 6:00 p.m. PT and 9:00 p.m. ET. Check out its release times in the U.S. below: TimezoneRelease DateRelease TimeEastern TimeOctober 8, 20259:00 p.m.Pacific TimeOctober 8, 20256:00 p.m. Where to watch Sistas Season 9 Episode 12 You can watch Sistas Season 9 Episode 12 via BET. BET is one of the most popular television networks in the country that currently operates under the umbrella of Paramount Media Networks. It hosts an exclusive selection of entertaining movies and television shows. Fans can enjoy popular series on BET and BET Plus, such as The Oval, Tyler Perry’s Assisted Living, Ms. Pat Settles It, and House of Payne, among others. What is Sistas about? The official synopsis for Sistas is as follows: “There’s nothing that bonds a group of single black women together more than sidestepping the land mines of living, working and dating in Atlanta. In a sea of swipe-lefts, social media drama and unrealistic #relationshipgoals, these friends try to find their Mr. Right.” The post Sistas Season 9 Episode 12 Release Date, Time, Where to Watch appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

Photo Credit: NBC The Chicago P.D. Season 13, Episode 2 release date and time are just around the corner. In Chicago P.D. Season 13 Episode 1, “Consequences,” the story picks up a month after Chief Reid’s death. Following his death, Hank Voight believed that his team could get reinstated, but not before Internal Affairs Commander Delvin made his move. Delvin’s investigation puts Voight and his team’s entire future at risk. However, it is to be seen how far Hank goes for his team. Here’s all you need to know about the latest episode and when it’s airing. When is the Chicago P.D. Season 13 Episode 2 release date & time? The episode’s release date is October 8, 2025, and its release time is 7 p.m. PT, 10 p.m. ET Check out its release times in the U.S. below: TimezoneRelease DateRelease TimeEastern TimeOctober 8, 202510 p.m.Pacific TimeOctober 8, 20257 p.m. Where to watch Chicago P.D. Season 13 Episode 2 You can watch Chicago P.D. Season 13 Episode 2 via NBC. NBC (National Broadcasting Corporation) is a major TV network in the U.S. It started in 1926 and has since become one of the most well-known broadcasters. NBC offers a variety of shows, including news, sports, dramas, and comedies. Some popular programs on NBC include Saturday Night Live, The Voice, and Chicago P.D. What is Chicago P.D. about? The official synopsis for Chicago P.D. is as follows: “A riveting police drama about the men and women of the Chicago Police Department’s District 21 who put it all on the line to serve and protect their community. District 21 is made up of two distinctly different groups: the uniformed cops who patrol the beat and go head-to-head with the city’s street crimes and the Intelligence Unit that combats the city’s major offenses – organized crime, drug trafficking, high-profile murders, and beyond.” The post Chicago P.D. Season 13 Episode 2 Release Date, Time, Where to Watch appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

Photo Credit: Apple TV+ The Slow Horses Season 5 Episode 3 release date and time is right around the corner. As per the official schedule of the show, the upcoming third episode of the season is titled “Tall Tales.” The previous episode, “Incommunicado,” saw Lamb take down an assassin. Meanwhile, Taverner comes across some key information about the Abbotsfield shooting. The third season of Slow Horses returns with the beloved duo Jackson Lamb and River Cartwright, as they find themselves unraveling more crimes and conspiracies. The popular spy thriller stars Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rosalind Eleazar, and more. So, here’s everything you need to know about the release date of Slow Horses Season 5’s upcoming episode. When is the Slow Horses Season 5 Episode 3 release date & time? The episode’s release date is Tuesday, October 8, and its release time is at 6:00 p.m. PT and 9:00 p.m. ET. Check out its release times in the U.S. below: TimezoneRelease DateRelease TimeEastern TimeOctober 8, 20259:00 p.m.Pacific TimeOctober 8, 20256:00 p.m. Find out how many episodes will be available to watch in Slow Horses Season 5 right here. Where to watch Slow Horses Season 5 Episode 3 You can watch Slow Horses Season 5 Episode 3 via Apple TV+. Apple TV+ offers a free trial that fans can enjoy before purchasing a membership plan to begin streaming. The popular streaming platform hosts a multitude of globally renowned and trending shows like Chief of War, Severance, The Buccaneers, Shrinking, and many more. What is Slow Horses about? The official synopsis for Slow Horses is as follows: “Follow a dysfunctional team of MI5 agents—and their obnoxious boss, the notorious Jackson Lamb—as they navigate the espionage world’s smoke and mirrors to defend England from sinister forces.” The post Slow Horses Season 5 Episode 3 Release Date, Time, Where to Watch appeared first on ComingSoon.net - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More. View the full article

A farmworker opened fire at two farms in Half Moon Bay, California, in January 2023. He killed seven men, six co-workers and a supervisor, all immigrants. He also shot an eighth man —five times— but he survived. The physical recovery for Pedro Romero Pérez has been a long one, but his emotional healing has been even longer. José, Pedro’s older brother and only family in the U.S., didn’t survive the shooting. In this episode, we go to Half Moon Bay, where an unconventional music program is helping Pedro and others heal from their deepest wounds through the keys and wails of the accordion. Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa. Follow the show to get every episode. Want to support our independent journalism? Join Futuro+ for exclusive episodes, sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes chisme on Latino USA and all our podcasts. Follow us on TikTok and YouTube. Subscribe to our newsletter. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. View the full article

http://blogs.fangraphs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/USATSI_27251697.jpgEric Hartline and Bill Streicher – Imagn Images PHILADELPHIA – It’s dangerous to draw conclusions from one game of a playoff series, but after Game 1 of the NLDS, you can take this lesson to the bank: Nobody’s perfect. Cristopher Sánchez was on the verge of completing six imperious innings, until the last three batters he faced — the last pitch he threw, really — sent the Phillies into a spiral. Teoscar Hernández committed a borderline-unforgivable defensive gaffe, then atoned with interest by the end of the night with a game-winning three-run homer. Shohei Ohtani, making history by leading off a playoff game as a starting pitcher, looked not just like a two-way player but like two different people. Ohtani has seldom looked so hapless at the plate, striking out in each of his first four plate appearances. He made a slightly less glorious brand of history, becoming the sixth player in the pitch tracking era to strike out looking three times in a playoff game. But on the other hand. Ohtani came out the winning pitcher: nine strikeouts in six innings, with just four baserunners allowed. Hernández’s seventh-inning homer off Matt Strahm made the difference in a 5-3 Dodger win. This was the Phillies’ fourth postseason home opener of the Bryce Harper era, and as stable as the core of the team has been over the past four seasons, you can detect markers of the passage of time. The kids of 2022 are now established veterans, and there are more than a few completely new faces. The crowd is different. The tireless, lusty, deafening clamor that defined the 2022 postseason has been chastened by a blown 2-0 lead in the 2023 NLCS and an embarrassing no-show against a division rival last year. This is now a crowd burdened by the knowledge that not everything is going to go the Phillies’ way. In the quiet moments, which exist now, the aggressive roar recedes into an anxious silence. But when presented such an inviting target as Ohtani, they still have that top gear. I’d never seen the most popular athlete in North American sports get booed so loud you couldn’t hear the public address system. Who made up the bottom half of the Dodgers’ order? I had to check the scorecard — an ear-splitting wave of “Let’s Go Phillies” chants drowned out every name from Tommy Edman on down. The first two innings of the game did little to calm the atmosphere. In this matchup of heavyweight starting pitchers, it was Ohtani who hit the canvas first. He walked Alec Bohm to lead off the second, then left a 100 mph four-seamer right where Brandon Marsh could get it. With two runners on and nobody out, J.T. Realmuto scalded another middle-middle triple-digit heater into the right center field gap. What should’ve been a single and maybe driven in a single run turned into a two-run triple when the ball escaped first Hernández and then Andy Pages. “I was playing straight in,” Hernández said after the game. “I didn’t get a good angle. He hit it pretty good. I tried to get it, so he can’t go all the way to third or they can score two runs in that situation. It went by me.” The two Dodgers outfielders watched the ball roll to the wall, like two cats standing over a column of marching ants. And by the time they returned the ball to the infield, two runs had scored and Realmuto was standing on third. He’d score on a Harrison Bader sacrifice fly to stretch the Phillies’ lead to 3-0. That was all the Phillies got. Ohtani kept the top three hitters in the order — Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, and Harper — off the bases their first three times through the lineup. “I thought we just missed some pitches over the plate that we could’ve done damage on,” said Harper. “We just didn’t get it done.” For the next five innings, though, it looked like the Phillies wouldn’t need their stars’ help. Sánchez made his first postseason start during that 2023 NLCS loss, a token 11-batter effort at the head of a de facto bullpen game. In just 24 months, by a combination Sánchez’s own spectacular self-improvement and attrition to Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola, he’s become the Phillies’ ace. With the Dodgers’ nine-deep-with-room-to-spare lineup, headed by a trio of MVPs, Sánchez had little room for error. Perfection was the ask, and he’s one of only a very few starters in baseball capable of providing it. I didn’t have the sense watching Sánchez live that we were seeing perfection. He ran too many deep counts, and he departed the strike zone by too much when ahead — especially against the bottom of the Dodgers’ order. He needed Bader to bail him out with a spectacular diving catch. And yet, after 5 2/3 innings, there he was, up 3-0 in the game, with eight strikeouts and only three baserunners allowed. The key to Sánchez’s game is a mystifying two-pitch combination: a sinker and changeup, both with hard downward and arm-side movement but with a nine mile-an-hour discrepancy in speed. For most pitchers, a changeup is an emergency barrier to protect against opposite-handed batters. For Sánchez, it’s the very rock upon which his church is built. In the very first at-bat of the game, he threw two left-on-left changeups in a row to finish a three-pitch strikeout of Ohtani. His biggest highlight of the night came in the fifth inning against the same batter. Ohtani swung through a 1-0 slider, then swung over a changeup, and then — presumably expecting another change — sat there and watched a sinker straight down the middle for strike three. In three at-bats, off Sánchez, Ohtani saw 14 pitches, whiffed on six, and took two others for strike three: The best baseball player on the planet, maybe the best who ever lived. And Sánchez tied him in knots. It didn’t matter. “Even if I perform well, whatever I do, if we lose the game then I don’t feel good,” said Sánchez through an interpreter. “We’re a team. If we win, we win together, and if we lose, we lose together.” So, about what happened after that superb first 5 2/3 innings. The last three Dodgers who faced Sánchez reached: First, Freddie Freeman on a walk, then Edman on a single, and finally Enrique Hernández. Sánchez’s last pitch of the game might have been his worst, or at least his most ill-conceived: A 1-0 breaking ball in the zone to a righty with a massive platoon split. Hernández laced it into the corner to plate two runs. In came David Robertson, who looked for all the world like he was determined to walk Max Muncy, but baseball’s choosiest hitter chased at least twice, maybe three times, at pitches out of the zone and grounded out weakly to end the inning. Robertson then started the next frame by putting the first two men he faced on base, leaving Strahm with the impossible task of protecting a one-run lead with two men on, no one out, and the top of the Dodgers’ order coming up. He came within about 15 feet of pulling it off. Strahm struck out Ohtani and got Mookie Betts to pop out, but Teoscar poked a fly ball to the opposite field. Bader quickly drew a bead on it and would’ve run it down, had it not cleared the big fence in right center and landed about four rows deep in the seats. Adding injury to insult: That futile pursuit was Bader’s last involvement in the game. The punchy center fielder, whose trade deadline acquisition revitalized the Phillies’ offense, and whose diving grab in center field stanched a potential fifth inning rally, tweaked his hamstring. His participation in the rest of the series remains in doubt. From that point, everything that ailed the Dodgers before could be forgotten. Teoscar had more than atoned for his baffling play in right field earlier. “For me, anything that happened before a big moment like that, it’s in the past,” he said. The Phillies had gotten to Ohtani early, but he kept the game close and ultimately outlasted Sánchez. The importance of that last bit is hard to overstate. “It was huge,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “He’s not always going to be perfect. But I do feel that him giving up the three and to still go out there and give us six innings — so, five innings tonight he threw shutout baseball — was huge. So it’s a quality start for him. He gets the win.” In the month of September, the Dodgers had the second-worst bullpen in the majors, and the squishier parts of said bullpen came closer to giving away both games in the Reds series than the final scores would indicate. The hope for Roberts was this: With only three starters required for the best-of-five NLDS, he suddenly had a surfeit of big arms from the rotation that could be repurposed in relief. Had Ohtani been chased early, or in the middle of an inning, the Phillies could’ve teed off on the same relievers they torched in a September series at Dodger Stadium. Instead, Roberts was able to hand the ball to Tyler Glasnow, who likely would’ve finished the game with a three-inning save if he’d kept the bases clean. Even this strained the limits of the Dodger bullpen. Glasnow, in his second inning of work, walked Turner and let Harper poke a seeing-eye single through the right side. Bohm walked to load the bases with two out, and both managers traded pawns: Alex Vesia came in to face Marsh, who was promptly lifted for Edmundo Sosa. Sosa packs more punch than your average utility infielder. He played a decent amount while Turner and Bohm were hurt, slugged .469 overall and hit .318/.362/.533 against lefties. He also had a three-homer game against the Marlins a week and a half ago. Vesia gave him something to hit — a 92.6 mph fastball up and over the plate — but Sosa hit it to center field, where hitting the ball 361 feet gets you a routine fly out, not a game-winning home run. In came Roki Sasaki for the ninth. The rookie lived up to his billing, establishing himself with 100-plus heat in the zone early in the count, and counterpunching with his splitter. But not in the dirt, where you’d expect him to throw it, where hitters could swing over it. Rather, Sasaki dropped his splitter onto the top third of the strike zone, like a stone off a railroad bridge over a river. Realmuto, trying to start a game-saving rally, took what looked like a hit-the-bull fastball, only to watch it dip into the zone for strike three. The Phillies did bring the tying run to the plate. Max Kepler somehow tagged an outside splitter and yanked it down the line, but Sasaki recovered quickly. After just four batters and 11 pitches, he got Bryson Stott to pop out to Muncy, just past the third base bag. The crowd, three hours removed from baying for blood, dispersed quietly, with scattered boos tinkling around the stadium. Source View the full article

http://blogs.fangraphs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Vladimir-Guerrero-Jr-ALDS-G1-2025.jpgNick Turchiaro-Imagn Images At this time last year, the Blue Jays faced some serious uncertainty. They’d just finished last in the AL East, and they had only one more season guaranteed with both Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette on their roster. The future became even murkier during the winter, when the Yankees and Red Sox were both beefing up, the Orioles were still expected to be good, and the Rays were, well, the Rays. Both Guerrero and Bichette became the subject of trade rumors; really, there were questions about whether or not Toronto would just blow it all up. Oh, how things have changed. In early April, the Jays extended Vladito through the end of the next decade, and then they caught fire. And now, one year after coming in last, they finished tied with the Yankees for the best record in the American League and took the division because they won the season series between the two teams. For that reason, Toronto hosted Game 1 of the Division Series against the New York on Saturday, and after the Jays bludgeoned the Yankees, 10-1, maybe it’s the boys from the Bronx who should be feeling a bit of self doubt. As a franchise, the Yankees have played 441 postseason games; this loss ranks as one of their worst playoff humiliations ever: Worst Yankees Playoff Losses Date Series Game Opponent Runs Scored Runs Allowed Difference 10/8/2018 ALDS 3 Red Sox 1 16 -15 11/3/2001 WS 6 Diamondbacks 2 15 -13 10/16/1999 ALCS 3 Red Sox 1 13 -12 10/20/2001 ALCS 3 Mariners 3 14 -11 10/20/1996 WS 1 Braves 1 12 -11 10/7/2000 ALDS 4 Athletics 1 11 -10 10/4/2025 ALDS 1 Blue Jays 1 10 -9 10/4/2007 ALDS 1 Cleveland 3 12 -9 10/2/1958 WS 2 Braves 5 13 -8 10/7/1921 WS 3 Giants 5 13 -8 10/9/1926 WS 6 Cardinals 2 10 -8 10/27/2001 WS 1 Diamondbacks 1 9 -8 10/18/2010 ALCS 3 Rangers 0 8 -8 10/19/2010 ALCS 4 Rangers 3 10 -7 10/20/2004 ALCS 7 Red Sox 3 10 -7 10/28/1981 WS 6 Dodgers 2 9 -7 10/18/2012 ALCS 4 Tigers 1 8 -7 10/10/1978 WS 1 Dodgers 5 11 -6 10/4/1978 ALCS 2 Royals 4 10 -6 10/16/1977 WS 5 Dodgers 4 10 -6 Source: Baseball-Reference Saturday was the Yankees’ worst playoff loss since their 16-1 shellacking at the hands of the Red Sox in 2018. For those who have forgotten that game, or at least have tried to forget it, that was the one where the Sox tagged Luis Severino early and Brock Holt (!!!) hit for the first cycle in postseason history. Against the Blue Jays, the Yankees started reigning AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, who was left off the Wild Card Series roster after starting the final game of the regular season, when the Yankees were still in pursuit of the first-round bye that Toronto barely secured. In his two postseason starts last year, Gil didn’t make it to the fifth inning; on Saturday, he couldn’t make it a full three frames. The Jays pounced quickly in the first, with Gil throwing a middle-inside changeup that fooled Guerrero about as effectively as a toddler trying to hide by covering their head with a blanket. That’s not a location where pitchers will typically throw offspeed stuff to Vlad, and after the way he unleashed his bat speed on this one, they won’t be rethinking their approach for him anytime soon. The day didn’t go much better for Gil after the Guerrero homer. Alejandro Kirk led off the second inning with a solo shot of his own, smacking a 95-mph fastball into the crowd with the second-fastest bat speed on any ball in play of the night, at 84.7 mph. The Yankees were still only down 2-0 at this point, but the Blue Jays were hitting Gil hard. Six of their batted balls against him registered an exit velocity of at least 95 mph. Recognizing that his starter didn’t have it, manager Aaron Boone went to left-handed sidearmer Tim Hill to face the lefty-heavy part of the Toronto lineup with a runner on first and two outs in the third. Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman fared much better than Gil. He attacked the zone early and got a lot of quick outs as a result. Six of the nine batters in New York’s lineup were lefties, but Gausman’s profile limits the effectiveness of playing for platoon advantages against him: He’s long had a legitimate reverse platoon split as a result of his filthy splitter, which he uses aggressively in any count. He didn’t rack up a ton of strikeouts, but the splitter did its job, getting 10 whiffs on 17 swings. Fortune did the rest of the job for him; of the four balls hit with an exit velocity north 100 mph, he only gave up the two singles. However, Gausman’s command failed him in the sixth, providing the Yankees with their only real scoring opportunity. Anthony Volpe doubled to start things off, and after an Austin Wells single, they had runners on the corners, nobody out, and the top of their order coming up. Trent Grisham, who’d swung at and got out on the first pitch from Gausman in his first two at-bats, decided it was maybe a good idea to take a pitch. Three of them actually, all for balls. Behind 3-0, Gausman found the zone for strike one, then got Grisham to foul off a center-cut fastball for strike two, before walking him. Bases loaded. Nobody out. Aaron Judge at the plate. Gausman hunkered down, and with the count full, got Judge to flail at a sinker tumbling low and outside the zone. That matchup seemed to have taken a lot out of Gausman, because he walked the next batter, Cody Bellinger, on four pitches to bring in the Yankees’ only run of the game. After Ben Rice popped out to third base for the second out, Blue Jays manager John Schneider called on Louis Varland to face Giancarlo Stanton, striking him out with a 100.7-mph fastball to escape the jam. For a good stretch of the middle innings, it looked like the game was settling into a low-scoring affair. Hill and then Camilo Doval combined to allow only one hit in 3 1/3 innings in relief of Gil. The problem was the entire Yankees bullpen struggled to miss bats; over 6 1/3 innings of work, their relievers combined for just one strikeout. The Jays were largely successful all afternoon at putting the ball in play, and when you can do that consistently, it’s only so long until the BABIP gods smile upon you. That’s precisely what happened in the seventh. Boone brought in Luke Weaver. His last time out, in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series against the Red Sox, Weaver faced three batters without recording an out in an inning that got away from the Yankees. And in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Blue Jays, Weaver faced three batters without recording an out in an inning that got away from the Yankees. After issuing a leadoff walk to Daulton Varsho, Weaver allowed back-to-back singles to Anthony Santander — whom I totally forgot existed — and Andrés Giménez to make it a 3-1 game. Next in from the bullpen was Fernando Cruz, and after a failed sacrifice bunt attempt by Ernie Clement, George Springer walked and Nathan Lukes doubled home two more runs. Guerrero then lifted a sac fly for the fifth run of the inning. At that point, it was Paul Blackburn mopup time. The Jays finished the Yankees off in the eighth with two more doubles, three more singles, and Kirk hitting his second homer of the game. All that was left was for Jeff Hoffman to close out the rout in the ninth. It’s hard to find a silver lining in a 10-1 loss in the playoffs, and the best I can manage is noting that by the ZiPS projections, this was the only projected game in which the Blue Jays were favored, by a slight margin. Having this happen with Max Fried or Carlos Rodón on the mound would have been a bit more damaging for the Yankees, and while the bullpen got a workout, New York didn’t have to use either David Bednar or Devin Williams. Game 1 of the ALDS could not possibly have gone better for the Blue Jays. With their ace on the mound at home against New York’s no. 4 starter, it was a game they had to win. On Sunday, with Fried getting the ball opposite rookie Trey Yesavage in Game 2 of the best-of-five series, the Yankees will be the ones facing a must-win situation. Source View the full article

It’s been less than a week since the Giants fired Bob Melvin, ending his tenure with the organization after just two seasons even in spite of the team’s decision to preemptively exercise a 2026 club option on Melvin over the summer. It was a somewhat surprising decision given that context, and today Melvin spoke about his time in San Francisco, his dismissal, and his future plans with Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle. A Bay Area native who was born in Palo Alto and currently resides in Menlo Park, Melvin expressed gratitude for the opportunity to manage both the A’s while they were in Oakland and the Giants in San Francisco “in one lifetime,” calling the opportunity “more than I could even imagine.” Melvin had far more success in his time with the A’s, who he managed to pilot to a 823-764 record across 11 seasons that earned him six playoff appearances and two of his three Manager of the Year awards. By contrast, Melvin’s two seasons in San Francisco were generally disappointing as the club finished with an 80-82 record in 2024 before making only a token improvement to 81-81 in 2025, even after Buster Posey took over as president of baseball operations and brought in quality veterans like Justin Verlander, Willy Adames, and Rafael Devers. That 2025 campaign is even more disappointing when one considers that the Giants were tied for the division lead in mid-June, shortly before the Devers trade. It would be easy to point to that second-half decline as the reason for Melvin’s dismissal, but Melvin told Rubin that he hadn’t received a concrete reason for his firing when he spoke to Posey about his decision the day of the announcement. Posey would later cite the club’s performance over the final months of the season as the reason for Melvin’s dismissal, but Melvin pushed back against that characterization. He correctly pointed out that Posey and the front office made the decision to sell off key pieces like Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval at the deadline in July. In that context, the club’s 27-26 record over the final two months of the season actually looks relatively impressive. Whatever the reason for Posey’s decision to go in another direction, Rubin suggests that Melvin hasn’t closed the door on continuing his managerial career. There’s a number of vacancies all around baseball (including attractive jobs in places like Atlanta and Baltimore), and a three-time Manager of the Year with 1678 wins under his belt seems certain to be an attractive potential candidate to any club hoping to find an experienced voice in the dugout. Another stateside gig may not be his preferred destination, however, as Melvin told Rubin that he’s “always wanted to manage in Japan.” Having managed Japanese superstars like Ichiro Suzuki and Yu Darvish during his career, Melvin went on to note that he “really enjoys the style of baseball they play” in Nippon Professional Baseball. Expatriate managers in Japan aren’t especially common, but they aren’t completely unheard of with Bobby Valentine’s time managing the Chiba Lotte Marines standing out as perhaps the most notable example of an MLB manager finding work in an NPB dugout. Perhaps Melvin will follow in those footsteps, though he acknowledged to Rubin that it’s “tough to say for sure” what his plans are so soon after being dismissed by the Giants. View the full article

The Phillies pulled outfielder Harrison Bader from Game 1 of the NLDS against the Dodgers tonight due to what was at first described by the team has hamstring tightness, but manager Rob Thomson later relayed to reporters (including Charlotte Varnes of The Athletic) that the issue was actually groin tightness. Bader himself later spoke to reporters (including Tim Kelly of On Pattison) and revealed that he would be undergoing imaging to determine the extent of his injury. While the situation might seem concerning, Bader is considered day-to-day for the time being and expressed confidence that he’ll return to the Phillies’ lineup during this series. He noted that he’ll rest during tomorrow’s day off and “go from there,” adding that playing in the postseason is the time where you “empty the tank,” suggesting a willingness to try and play through an injury that might otherwise sit him down at another point in the season. That’s surely encouraging for Phillies fans to hear given Bader’s emergence as a key piece of the team in recent weeks. Acquired from the Twins at the trade deadline back in July, Bader had already been enjoying a solid season with the Twins but kicked things up to another gear when he arrived in Philadephia. In 50 games with the Phillies, Bader has hit .305/.361/.463 with five home runs, eleven doubles, and a triple in 194 trips to the plate while serving as the team’s regular center fielder. He’s done his part defensively as well, with +1 Fielding Run Value in center this year despite playing the outfield corners exclusively in Minnesota. Bader has long been a well-regarded center fielder in the majors, but was pushed into a corner with the Twins due to the presence of a healthy Byron Buxton in the club’s lineup. The addition of Bader at the deadline helped to stabilize the Phillies on both sides of the ball. Nick Castellanos struggled badly this year, with below-average offensive numbers that paired with his typical lackluster glove in the outfield to make him a below replacement level player. Max Kepler and Johan Rojas had disappointing seasons of their own as well, leaving Bader to step up alongside Brandon Marsh to help create some more production for the Phillies on both offensively and defensively. Few deadline additions have been more impactful for their club down the stretch, and it would be devastating for the club to go without Bader during a tough matchup against the Dodgers this week, especially after dropping game 1 of the series at home earlier this evening. If Bader were to miss Game 2 on Monday, an outfield featuring Marsh in center flanked by Kepler in left and Castellanos in right seems like the most likely outcome, though Weston Wilson is also on the roster as a potential right-handed complement to Kepler. In a worst-case scenario where Bader needed to be pulled from the club’s NLDS roster entirely, the Phillies would have the option to place him on the injured list and replace him on the roster. Doing so would mean that Bader would miss the entire NLCS, however, and only be eligible to return this year if the Phillies made it all the way to the World Series. Needless to say, that’s a situation the Phillies will surely be hoping to avoid. View the full article

Youmin Hwang birdied five of her last six holes for a one-shot win in the LOTTE Championship for her first LPGA Tour title.View the full article

Angels GM Perry Minasian spoke to reporters (including Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register) today about the club’s disappointing 2025 season, as well plans for the future of the club. Much of the conversation was focused on the decision to move on from both manager Ron Washington and interim manager Ray Montgomery in the dugout and search for a new skipper to lead the club. While Minasian didn’t tip his hand much on the club’s managerial search beyond noting that they’d like to find a new voice in the dugout sooner rather than later, he did make a number of intriguing comments about the state of the team headed into the offseason. With Kyle Hendricks and Tyler Anderson both headed into free agency this offseason while Anaheim’s array of young pitching arms have yet to establish themselves as viable regular starters, Minasian suggested that there are three pitchers he has penciled into next year’s rotation: Yusei Kikuchi, Jose Soriano, and Reid Detmers. Kikuchi and Soriano are hardly surprising as both veterans turned in perfectly solid season in the rotation and remain under control for next year. Detmers, by contrast, is something of a surprise given his rocky tenure in the organization. The lefty was once among the game’s very best pitching prospects and pitched quite well in the rotation from 2022 to ’23 after a shaky debut in 2021. Things changed last year when he was torched to the tune of a 6.70 ERA in 17 starts and spent much of the season in the minors. This year, Detmers pitched out of the bullpen and enjoyed a solid enough season where he posted a 3.96 ERA with a 3.12 FIP across 63 2/3 innings of work. While that role of single-inning reliever mostly worked out for the lefty, the Angels will now have him try his hand at starting once again. Minasian suggested he’s “earned” a spot in the rotation and that Detmers was “a different guy” last time he pitched as a starter for the club. While it may seem unorthodox to put Detmers back into a role he struggled in after he found success in the bullpen, it’s worth noting that the Angels did the same thing with Soriano to some success. The right-hander hadn’t made even 10 starts at any level since his stint at Single-A in 2019 when the club decided to put him in last year’s rotation, and he’s turned out quite well in that role. With Detmers and Soriano joining Kikuchi in the rotation next year, that leaves two spots left unsettled. Caden Dana, Mitch Farris, Sam Aldegheri, and Jack Kochanowicz all pitched as starters in the majors for the club this year and remain young and at least somewhat intriguing, but none posted an ERA lower than 6.40 at the big league level this season and all four can be optioned to the minors, making them perhaps best served as depth options to protect against injury. Perhaps the club could invest in the rotation via free agency this winter, but the club’s budget remains a mystery. When asked by reporters about the club’s payroll flexibility this winter, Minasian said (as relayed by Sam Blum of The Athletic) that he and owner Arte Moreno “haven’t gotten into” the details about the club’s budget for next year. It stands to reason at least some money will be available given that RosterResource projects the club for just $129MM in salary for next year, more than $75MM below where they were this year. Of course, arbitration salaries for both pricey veterans like Taylor Ward as well as first-time eligible players like Logan O’Hoppe and Zach Neto could make up some of that difference in a hurry, so it’s unclear whether or not Anaheim will be able to shop at the top of the market for arms like Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, and Zac Gallen. This year’s crop of starting pitchers is somewhat thin after that top layer, but there are some solid back-of-the-rotation types like Zack Littell and Adrian Houser available as well. Turning towards the positional side of things, Minasian made clear that the club plans to try and upgrade both center field and third base this winter. That’s not necessarily a surprise given Bryce Teodosio’s lackluster performance at the plate, Yoan Moncada’s impending free agency, and the fact that (according to Fletcher) Anthony Rendon hasn’t yet resumed baseball activities after undergoing surgery earlier this year. Minasian suggested the club also hopes to get more left-handed in the lineup and that Christian Moore would be in competition for a spot in the lineup, which would logically mean there’s room for an addition at second base as well. Aside from simply reuniting with Moncada or Luis Rengifo, the pickings in free agency for left-handed or switch-hitting infielders are somewhat slim. Jorge Polanco would be the cream of the crop if he can return to playing the field regularly, with Adam Frazier, Cavan Biggio, and Willi Castro joining Moncada and Rengifo among the next tier of options. The idea of making a splash by adding a lefty-swinging center fielder is far more plausible with both Trent Grisham and Cody Bellinger likely ticketed for free agency coming off strong seasons, not to mention the availability of Cedric Mullins. Adding one of those three players (or someone similar) becomes harder to imagine when you consider the state of the club’s outfield mix, however. Minasian suggested that the Angels hope to get Mike Trout back into the outfield next year, but that would be a corner outfield capacity rather than moving him back to center. Jorge Soler is under contract for next year and would be ticketed for regular at-bats at DH, and Minasian suggested that Jo Adell is an option in center field but the club would prefer to leave him in a corner. Taylor Ward enjoyed his best season since 2022 this year while playing exclusively left field. Given that logjam of right-handed outfield bats, it stands to reason that an addition to the outfield mix would either need to be a complementary player who shares time with Adell in center or be paired with a move to deal away one of the team’s other outfielders, though Trout obviously isn’t going anywhere and Soler likely has little value after an injury-marred season. Making a trade to clear room to bring in a free agent center fielder would likely stretch the club’s budget, of course, but perhaps the trade return for someone like Ward or Adell could address a need elsewhere on the roster to lighten that blow. View the full article

Garrick Higgo took a two-shot lead in the Sanderson Farm Championship on Saturday but said he'll "play as if I'm behind" in Sunday's final round.View the full article

The Red Sox made clear nearly a month ago that they planned to hire a GM this offseason. At the time, Paul Toboni was an assistant GM for the club and immediately appeared to be the logical choice for the role among internal candidates and perhaps even the overall favorite. It didn’t take long, however, for that option to come off the table. Toboni was hired by the Nationals to serve as their president of baseball operations, taking over as their top executive. According to The Boston Globe’s Tim Healey, Toboni was not only the “heavy favorite” to serve as Craig Breslow’s #2 in Boston, but the club now plans to “take a step a back” this offseason to evaluate what they want to do with the role now that he is no longer an option. That seems to leave the door cracked open for the possibility that the Red Sox will go without a GM serving under Breslow for a third consecutive season in 2026. That would be something of a shock given the club’s comments last month, but given the club’s apparent focus on Toboni for the role it’s at least possible that their decision to hire a GM was largely a way to promote him and keep someone viewed as a rising star around the game in the organization’s fold. That’s no longer an option, so perhaps the Red Sox could decide to once again leave the job vacant headed into 2026. Of course, that’s hardly guaranteed and may not be the most prudent option. As Healey notes, Breslow called Toboni’s departure “a big loss” for the organization and noted that he had a hand in all areas of player development in both the majors and minors. Those responsibilities will presumably need to be taken over by someone else, and while Boston’s three remaining assistant GMs (Raquel Ferreira, Eddie Romero, and Mike Groopman) could share some of that load or a lower-level member of the staff could be promoted to fill Toboni’s shoes, an external hire who could be brought in by the allure of that vacant GM job could perhaps kill two birds with one stone by filling the job of Breslow’s #2 with someone who offers some of the same strengths Toboni would have offered. In any case, the Red Sox likely won’t be in a rush to hire their next GM in the coming days. While they’ve been eliminated from postseason contention themselves, Breslow suggested that they’ll figure out how to handle the loss of Toboni and the vacant GM role “once things quiet down” and the postseason starts to wind down. That’s sensible enough, given the fact that potentially intriguing candidates from other organizations could be hard to pluck away until that team is eliminated from postseason contention. In other Red Sox news, the club is facing two significant looming opt-out opportunities on the left side of their infield. Alex Bregman, of course, will have the opportunity to forgo the final two years and $80MM ($40MM of which is deferred money) on his contract and return to free agency. After a season where Bregman slashed .273/.360/.462 with 3.5 WAR according to both Baseball Reference and Fangraphs in 114 games, it seems like a fairly good bet that he’ll be taking that opportunity. For now, though, Bregman is staying mum about his plans. He told reporters (including Chris Cotillo of MassLive) on Thursday that he was “not even thinking about” his impending free agency in the aftermath of the club’s loss to the Yankees in Game 3 of the AL Wild Card series. The same is true of shortstop Trevor Story, who told reporters (including Cotillo) that his impending decision was “not at the top of mind,” though he did acknowledge that he came to Boston in hopes of sticking around for a “long time.” Story has two years and $55MM guaranteed left on his contract, with $5MM of that coming in the form of a buyout on a $25MM club option for the 2028 season. While Bregman’s banner year seems likely to make him a lock to opt out, Story is a much more borderline case. He played just 163 games total for Boston between 2022 and 2024 with below average offensive numbers, but enjoyed a 2025 campaign where he played in 157 games while slashing .263/.308/.433 with 25 homers and 31 steals in 654 plate appearances as Boston’s starting shortstop. He also improved as the season went on, hitting .291/.336/.490 in 75 games from July 1 onward. That’s the sort of production that makes it easy to imagine Story beating his current guarantee in free agency, particularly in a market with few quality shortstops outside of Bo Bichette. On the other hand, he’s headed into his age-33 season and has a long injury history that could raise some eyebrows about offering a long-term deal, while his roughly league average offense (101 wRC+) isn’t the sort of impressive production that spurs teams to invest a massive average annual value in a player. If both Bregman and Story were to walk this winter, that would leave the Red Sox with a deeply unsettled infield, though Kristian Campbell, Marcelo Mayer, Triston Casas, and Ceddanne Rafaela are among the young players in the organization who could theoretically pick up a glove somewhere on the dirt next year. View the full article

http://blogs.fangraphs.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Caleb-Durbin-and-William-Contreras-NLDS-G1-2025.jpgMichael McLoone-Imagn Images The Brewers and the Cubs played nine innings of baseball on Saturday, but Game 1 of the National League Divisional Series was decided before the end of the first. Every series starts off with its share of questions. Did the Brewers have enough pitching to withstand injuries to Brandon Woodruff and Shelby Miller? Could Kyle Tucker and Pete Crow-Armstrong locate the MVP form they’d showed earlier this season? How would a Brewers offense that loves to work the count fare against a strike-throwing Cubs pitching staff? Would the Brewers be rusty after a five-game layoff? Would the Cubs regret starting Matthew Boyd on short rest after he threw just 58 pitches against the Padres on Tuesday? In Game 1, those last two questions were all that mattered. The Brewers were not rusty, and Boyd may well have been. The Cubs jumped out to an early lead, but in the bottom of the first, the Brewers exploded on Boyd like they’d spent the past five days packing themselves into a cannon. During the regular season, the Brewers scored only 9% of their runs in the first inning, the third-lowest rate in baseball. Maybe they were saving it all up for the playoffs. Milwaukee raced to a 6-1 lead in the first and extended it to 9-1 in the second. “I’m proud they came out ready,” said manager Pat Murphy during the game. “The guys came out ready to swing, and when they’re ready to swing, a lot of good things can happen. They’re a great bunch.” By virtue of their first-round bye, the Brewers lined up ace Freddy Peralta to pitch Game 1. After an early hiccup, Peralta looked every bit the guy who led the NL with 17 wins and notched three of them against the Cubs. He missed well outside with a 95-mph fastball on the first pitch of the game, then came back with a belt-high heater over the center of the plate, which Chicago leadoff hitter Michael Busch fouled off. Peralta repeated the pattern: four-seamer well outside, belt-high four-seamer over the middle. Busch was ready for the second one. He turned on it and sent it 389 feet over the right field fence. Four pitches in, the Cubs had a 1-0 lead. Peralta recovered quickly, retiring the next three batters in order. He’d allow just one more base hit over the next four innings. In the bottom of the second, Jackson Chourio squared to bunt on the first pitch from Boyd, then took it for a ball inside. Looking back, it’s tempting to wonder what would have happened had Boyd put the pitch in the strike zone. Maybe if Chourio would have actually bunted the ball, and maybe the whole game would have gone differently. But it was tight and Chourio pulled the bat back, then ripped the fourth pitch he saw down the third base line for a double. Brice Turang knocked Chourio in with a double of his own, lining the first pitch he saw on a hop off the right field fence. The Brewers had tied the game at one after five pitches. William Contreras ripped the next pitch just past a diving Ian Happ for a double into left field, scoring Turang. With doubles on three consecutive pitches, the Brewers grabbed a 2-1 lead. They were far from done. Chicago pitching coach Tommy Hottovy walked out to settle down Boyd, who induced a grounder to short from Christian Yelich, then deepened his trouble by walking Andrew Vaughn. Much earlier than the Cubs would have liked, Michael Soroka started warming up in the bullpen. Boyd broke Sal Frelick’s bat, inducing a weak grounder to second base. Nico Hoerner, who may well end up winning his second Gold Glove this winter, charged the ball and then inexplicably biffed an easy hop. The ball kicked past him, allowing Contreras to score. The Brewers still had runners on first and second with one out, now with a 3-1 lead. Boyd struck out Caleb Durbin with a four-seamer above the zone, then got ahead of Blake Perkins, 1-2. He was one strike from ending the inning, but Perkins worked an incredible 12-pitch at-bat, fouling off pitch after pitch, then ripping a line drive right back up the middle – the thing that both he and the Brewers love the most in the world – scoring Vaughn and moving Frelick to third. The Brewers had a 4-1 lead and Boyd’s day was over after 30 pitches and two-thirds of an inning. Soroka came into the game with a simple mandate: stop the bleeding and keep the game close. Instead, he walked ninth hitter Joey Ortiz on four pitches, loading the bases and bringing Chourio back to the plate. This might be a good time to note that Chourio ran a 307 wRC+ with two homers in last year’s Wild Card Series, his only previous playoff games. He pushed that career postseason mark even higher, rocking a single through the left side of the infield to drive in two more runs. The Brewers led 6-1. Mercifully, Soroka got Turang to chase a high fastball for strike three. The Brewers hit for 26 minutes in the first inning. They saw 45 pitches from two pitchers. They notched five hits, walked twice, and reached once via error. They put seven balls in play with a 72% hard-hit rate. Curt Hogg of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel pointed out that it was the first time they’d scored six runs in the first inning all season. The incomparable Sarah Langs noted that teams to score at least six runs in an inning had gone 113-1 in postseason history. With that last single off the bat of Chourio, Soroka’s job changed. It was no longer to keep the game within reach. It was to eat as many innings as possible in order to keep the Cubs from annihilating their bullpen in addition to falling behind in the best-of-five series. Peralta allowed a single to Crow-Armstrong, but he needed just 12 pitches to retire the Cubs in the top of the second and give the Brewers the chance to get right back to hitting. After leading off the first with three straight doubles, Milwaukee led off the second with three straight singles. Contreras singled to left, Yelich singled to right, and Vaughn singled to center. The bases were loaded and Aaron Civale got warm in the Cubs bullpen. Frelick lined out to left field on a ball that was too shallow for Contreras to tag up on, then Durbin dropped a duck snort into shallow center field, knocking in two. Seventeen Brewers had come to the plate. Thirteen had reached safely. Eight had scored. Perkins grounded out to first base, pushing the runners to second and third with two outs. Ortiz walked on four pitches, loading the bases again, and Counsell made the slow walk out to the mound. Soroka lasted just one third of an inning longer than Boyd. The job of eating innings fell to Civale, whom the Brewers traded to the White Sox for Vaughn back in June and whom the Cubs claimed off waivers at the end of August. Chourio greeted Civale with another grounder right down the third base line, this one for an infield single to push the score to 9-1. However, it came with a price. Chourio missed nearly the entire month of August with a right hamstring strain, and he aggravated the injury as he hustled to beat the throw from Matt Shaw. Visibly distraught, he spoke to a trainer, then left the field, and walked back to the clubhouse. The Brewers announced that he would be evaluated further after the game. Turang struck out to end the inning, and the TBS broadcast announced that Brewers were the first team in playoff history with nine runs and 10 hits in the first two innings. The Cubs and Brewers played seven more innings of more baseball. Peralta pitched brilliantly, though he surrendered another solo homer to Happ in the sixth inning. He left one out shy of a quality start, and the Milwaukee faithful rewarded him with a standing ovation. He gave up three earned runs over 5 2/3 innings, striking out nine, walking three, and allowing four hits. Civale filled his role excellently too, scattering three hits over 4 1/3 innings and allowing Counsell to ask the bullpen for just two more innings. Hoerner added another solo homer off Jared Koenig in the eighth inning before Nick Mears closed things out in the ninth. The questions going into Game 2 will revolve around Chourio’s health and Chicago’s ability to bounce back from such a thorough drubbing. The Brewers possess a capable fill-in in Isaac Collins, who ran a 122 wRC+ as a rookie this season, but Chourio is an awfully hard player to replace. His three hits pushed his career wRC+ in the playoffs to 361, and if the hamstring injury is anywhere near as serious as it looked, it’s hard to imagine him returning in time to play against the Cubs. With the 9-3 victory, the Brewers drew the season series with the Cubs even at 7-7. The good news for the Cubs is that they’ll have a day off before Game 3, allowing their bullpen to get some rest. Although Boyd threw just 30 pitches, he seems unlikely to go on short rest in Game 4. Source View the full article

The Brewers got their NLDS off to a huge start with today’s 9-3 win over the Cubs in Game 1, with all nine runs coming in the opening two innings. Unfortunately, the game involved a significant injury for Milwaukee, as outfielder Jackson Chourio left during the second inning with what the team described as right hamstring tightness. Chourio collected his third hit of the two-inning outburst when he hit a ball deep into the third base hole, then beat out the throw for an RBI single. Unfortunately, Chourio came up limping on the play, and Isaac Collins replaced Chourio as a pinch-runner and then in left field for the start of the next inning. Speaking to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy and other reporters after the game, Brewers manager Pat Murphy said Chourio was undergoing an MRI at the time of the media session, and more would be known once the testing is complete. The concern is real, as Murphy said “obviously it’s real scary having that hamstring injury to the same leg. We’re hoping it’s something he can come back from soon…It could be devastating.” In a more positive note, Chourio told McCalvy and company that the removal was more precautionary in nature. “We’re still waiting [on MRI results]. But physically, I feel good, and I feel I’m in a position where I’m ready to keep going and ready to keep competing,” the outfielder said. The previous right hamstring issue referenced by Murphy was a strain that sidelined Chourio for a month this summer, keeping him on the injured list for almost all of August. Chourio hit only .240/.293/.413 in 117 plate appearances after returning from the IL, after batting .276/.311/.474 with 17 home runs in 472 PA prior to his hamstring strain. The outfielder was also more active on the basepaths (stealing 18 bases in 25 attempts) pre-injury, as he stole three bases in as many attempts once his return. To be fair, this could also have been a tactical decision, as the Brewers were coasting towards a playoff berth in September and Chourio saw less need to press. Assuming that the MRI doesn’t reveal anything serious, Chourio could benefit from the staggered nature of the NLDS schedule. Game 2 isn’t until Monday, and then there’s another off-day before Games 3-4 in Chicago on Wednesday and Thursday. Sitting Chourio just for Game 2 would be a hit to the Brewers’ lineup, but the team might view it as a necessary evil to give Chourio three full days off to rest his hamstring. This assumes, of course, that Chourio feels good enough to perhaps try playing in Game 2 after just one day off. In the worst-case scenario of a mid-series injury removal, the Brewers would be able to replace Chourio on the roster. However, that would mean Chourio would have to sit out the NLCS if Milwaukee advanced. That means the Brewers won’t want to make a drastic call on Chourio unless it’s absolutely necessary, so there’s some added drama to what seemed like a pretty stable Crew lineup heading into the playoffs. View the full article

A number of teams (and their fanbases) have already turned their attention towards the offseason. Identifying free agent targets is a big part of that prep work, so it’s worth taking a look at the players who’ll be available at each position. We’ll start things off with catchers. Ages listed are for the 2026 season. Starting Catchers J.T. Realmuto (35) Now in his mid-30s, Realmuto is no longer the all-around superstar he was at his peak. Still, he remains a perfectly solid starting backstop who is as reliable in the lineup as any in baseball. Realmuto led the majors with 132 starts and 1151 1/3 innings behind the plate. He’d also logged the heaviest workload of any catcher in 2022-23, and only a five-week absence for a knee sprain kept him from doing the same in 2024. Realmuto is still an exceptional athlete for the position. He’s an elite catch-and-throw defender, leading the league with an average pop time of 1.86 seconds on throws to second base. He cut down almost 30% of attempted basestealers at a time when the league average is around 22%. Statcast has increasingly soured on his pitch framing and blocking metrics, but the former might not be quite as valued a skillset with the forthcoming strike zone challenge system. The righty-hitting Realmuto put up a .257/.315/.384 slash across 550 trips to the plate. He hit 26 doubles, one triple, and 12 home runs. It’s technically his first below-average offensive season since his 2015 rookie year. It’s nevertheless solid production, and he took a .266/.321/.403 line into September before slumping in the final month. Realmuto has a good shot at a two-year deal as he enters his age-35 season. He’s now in year seven in Philly. Extending that arrangement makes the most sense. If that doesn’t come to pass, he could fit on the Angels, Padres or Rays. The Nationals arguably have the biggest need at the position of any team, but his age might not align with a Washington club that has yet to pull out of the rebuild. Potential Regulars/Timeshare Options Victor Caratini (32) Caratini has been a high-end backup for most of his career. While he has never gotten to 400 plate appearances or 100 starts in a season, he’s a switch-hitter with serviceable career numbers from both sides of the plate. Caratini hit .263/.329/.406 in 660 plate appearances while splitting time with Yainer Diaz in Houston over the last two seasons. He’s a capable receiving catcher and adept at blocking balls in the dirt. Caratini’s biggest weakness is a below-average arm that makes him vulnerable in the running game. Opponents were successful on 57 of 64 stolen base attempts (an 89% rate). This is Caratini’s second trip to free agency. He commanded a two-year, $12MM deal last time around. He has done enough to get another two-year contract at a slightly higher annual value this winter. Kyle Higashioka landed two years and $13.5MM last offseason, and he’s three years older than Caratini. Danny Jansen (31) Jansen was one of the more quietly productive two-way catchers in Toronto early in his career. His tenure with the Blue Jays was marred by injuries, and while he’s been mostly healthy over the past two seasons, his numbers have dropped. His defensive metrics have been up and down for the past couple seasons. He had a terrible second half in 2024 that left him to sign an $8.5MM pillow contract with the Rays. Jansen hit .204/.314/.389 over 73 games with Tampa Bay and was traded to Milwaukee this summer. There’s not much playing time available when you’re backing up William Contreras, so Jansen only made 16 starts with the Brew Crew. He has impressed in that time (.254/.346/.433 with three homers in 78 plate appearances) but hasn’t rebuilt the value it seemed he’d have when he was out to an excellent start to his walk year in ’24. He’s probably looking at a two-year deal at most, ideally with a team that can offer semi-regular playing time. Backups Elias Díaz (35) Díaz was an All-Star with the Rockies a couple seasons back. His production has trended down the past two years, and he’s coming off a .204/.270/.337 slash over 283 plate appearances with the Padres. He has an excellent arm but has gotten mixed grades for his receiving skills over his career. Mitch Garver (35) Seattle will pay Garver a $1MM buyout on a mutual option to conclude a disappointing two-year free agent deal. Garver had been a key contributor to the Rangers’ championship team in 2023. The Mariners hoped he’d carry that power into T-Mobile Park, but he hit just .187/.290/.341 across 720 plate appearances with Seattle. A primary DH with Texas, Garver started 42 games and logged almost 400 innings behind the dish while backing up Cal Raleigh this season. Austin Hedges (33) Hedges is probably the worst hitter in MLB, but his defensive reputation is so strong that he continues getting opportunities as a backup. The Guardians have signed him to $4MM deals in consecutive offseasons. Luke Maile (35) Maile signed an offseason minor league deal with the Royals. He spent a good portion of the season on the big league roster but only got into 25 games. He hit .244/.346/.356 across 54 trips to the plate. Maile is a career .209/.277/.320 hitter but has a strong defensive rep. Martín Maldonado (39) There’s been speculation about retirement for the 39-year-old Maldonado, who finished the season on the Padres’ playoff roster with Díaz nursing an oblique injury. A former Gold Glover and World Series champion on the 2022 Astros, Maldonado has built a career off his rapport with pitching staffs and game-calling ability. James McCann (36) McCann was playing on a minor league deal with Atlanta when the Diamondbacks offered him an MLB opportunity on June 22. They expected the veteran to be a temporary fill-in while Gabriel Moreno was on the injured list. McCann played well enough to stick around and push previous backup Jose Herrera off the roster once Moreno was healthy. He finished the season with a .260/.324/.431 line over 42 games and might’ve earned himself a big league deal in 2026. Gary Sánchez (33) Sánchez landed an $8.5MM contract from the Orioles last winter. He won’t come close to that this time around, as wrist and knee injuries limited him to 29 games. Sánchez hit .231/.297/.418 across 101 plate appearances. He missed the entire second half with a right knee sprain. Christian Vázquez (35) Minnesota’s signing of Vázquez on a three-year, $30MM deal did not work out. He hit .215/.267/.311 during his time in the Twin Cities, falling behind Ryan Jeffers on the depth chart early into his tenure. He’s coming off a .189/.271/.274 showing and probably looking at a minor league deal, though he remains a quality defender. Club Options Tom Murphy (35) Murphy missed the entire season with a back injury. In late August, he told Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle that the team misdiagnosed what turned out to be a herniated disc as an oblique strain. The interview is worth a read in full for more context, but Murphy also blasted an outside spinal clinic that the team recommended for what he called “100% malpractice” after they treated the wrong disc. Murphy said at the time that he’d had no contact with the front office since suffering the injury in Spring Training and called his injury-riddled two seasons with the Giants “an absolute nightmare.” Suffice it to say, he won’t be back in San Francisco. The team will pay him a $250K buyout. Salvador Perez (36) Perez almost certainly won’t make it to the market. The Royals have a $13.5MM club option. General manager J.J. Picollo has more or less confirmed that Perez will stick in Kansas City, though they could work out some kind of multi-year deal rather than picking up the option. Picollo said they’ve already begun those conversations with the franchise icon. Third/Fourth Catchers Austin Barnes (36) Jason Delay (31) Jose Herrera (29) Sandy León (37) Omar Narváez (34) Tomás Nido (32) Austin Nola (36) Jacob Stallings (36) Matt Thaiss (31) View the full article