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The Chicago Cubs are a team of extremes. They have the best position player core in baseball by a comical margin. They lead baseball in both offensive and defensive value, and their 37.8 fWAR leads the second-place Dodgers by an unfathomable 11.0 Wins Above Replacement. Of course, at the other end of that extreme is their pitching. Their pitchers have combined for 6.0 fWAR, which gives them a slight edge over the Royals (5.1) and Nationals (4.8) for the worst mark in baseball. Despite dodging the cellar, this is the worst pitching staff among National League playoff teams. In most situations, a staff of such ill repute would doom any World Series journey from the start, but the Cubs actually have a road map to a title, and a simple one at that: keep the ball in the park. This is far from groundbreaking analysis, but giving up home runs is bad, and the Cubs love to cough up a gopher ball. They’ve given up the second-most home runs in baseball (231) and have the highest home run to flyball ratio (14.4%) in the sport. Soft toss in a below-average strikeout rate (20.8%), and the only thing Cubs pitchers have done well is limit walks (8.2%). Despite this overall inability to pitch well, the team's run prevention isn’t awful. Thanks to an elite defense, they finished the season with a team ERA of 4.12 (14th), a significant improvement from their xERA of 4.54 (24th) and FIP of 4.60 (25th). On paper, the Cubs will enter every series at a serious pitching disadvantage. They don’t have a real ace, their bullpen is shaky, and the back of their rotation is bland. But they do have the best defense in baseball, which can be a game changer. If we take the Cubs’ ERA and ERA estimators at face value, their defense shaves off around 0.45 of ERA. That’s nearly a full standard deviation (0.538) of team ERA, which is why and how this team found a way to win nearly 90 games in the regular season. However, the only way their defense can make up for their pitching is if the ball stays in the ballpark. No team in baseball suffered more at the hands of the long ball. They gave them up at the highest rate in baseball, despite also having the depth chart best suited to turn fly balls into fly-outs. But that also means they have the most to gain by limiting them. The Cubs’ xFIP, which assumes a league-average home run to flyball rate, was 4.19 (16th). If they can get there, while maintaining their massive defensive advantage over the rest of the league, suddenly their team ERA would be 3.74 (by our previous ERA vs. ERA estimator calculation). That would have been the league’s eighth-best ERA. But why stop there? Cubs' Hypothetical Run Prevention HR/FB HR FIP ERA 14.40% 231 4.60 4.15 11% 176 4.11 3.66 10% 160 3.97 3.52 8% 128 3.68 3.23 *HR total based on 1604 fly balls; ERA is calculated as FIP-0.45 This table, effectively, is meant to show just how important keeping the ball in the park is. If the pitching staff can turn a few of those homers into warning-track blasts, the Cubs' ability to keep runs off the board will increase dramatically. Perhaps playing in a pitcher-friendly place like Petco Park will actually be more beneficial than staying at home and dealing with the wind gods in Wrigley. Any team that wins the World Series is going to need something(s) to go their way. That’s just the nature of short-series baseball, but the Cubs really only need one thing to swing their way: home run variance. It limits their greatest team weakness while accentuating one of their strengths. If their gloves and sticks live up to the billing, all their pitchers need to do is keep throwing strikes and hope the gophers think there are six more weeks of winter. It's simple, but that’s how the Cubs can win the World Series. View the full article

Being the flawed individuals we are, we have a tendency to let 'good' be the enemy of 'great'. Such is the case when discussing the 2026 Chicago Cubs. Not only did they clinch their second straight playoff berth last week, but they saw their center fielder become just the seventh player in MLB history to reach the 40-home run and 40-stolen base milestones in a single season. Despite these marks of excellence, however, the club's avoidable losses over the last seven days have the spirits of this team's supporters in the doldrums. Though there is much to be desired, make no mistake about it: this is a good team, and they've earned the right to keep playing. Kicking off what could be the last three games at Wrigley Field in 2026, the Cubs welcomed Miami to town last Tuesday night. Left-handed ace Shota Imanaga toed the rubber for the North Siders, going five frames, allowing just one earned run and setting down seven Marlins via the strikeout. Early production from the top of the Cubs' lineup wasn't enough for the home team to break through with a serious momentum-shifting rally, though, leading to the heartbreak of what transpired in extra innings. With a chance to advance runners at first and second in the home half of the 10th inning, Matt Shaw (on maybe the worst bunt attempt in the majors this year) popped the ball up for the first out. That out might as well have counted for all three, as the lineup failed to recover from the ill-fated at-bat. A 12th inning bullpen blow up sealed the home team's fate in an 8-2 loss. Trying to cleanse themselves of the previous night, Chicago trotted out veteran hurler Kevin Gausman to secure the squad's hotly-anticipated playoff berth. A cold night at the plate for the North Siders deferred that dream for one more night, as the spoiler-minded Marlins (led by slugger Kyle Stowers) prevailed once again. The Cubs wasted eight scattered hits, clearly laboring under the pressure of the attempt to realize a postseason champagne bath, and a chance at Crow-Armstrong making history. The Cubs dropped the series and the game in a 3-2 loss. A rush of triumph has a way of absolving even the nastiest defeats of the past, and that's exactly the feeling that spread throughout 1060 W. Addison on Thursday afternoon in their regular-season home finale. Pete Crow-Armstrong handled the first order of record-setting business, swiping his 40th base of the campaign in the early going. With that weight lifted, the Cubs went to work, highlighted by a masterful seven-inning performance from Matthew Boyd, who searched for and squeezed out every ounce of resolve he could, like scraping the bottom of a bottle of giardiniera. With the plane to Boston waiting for them, Seiya Suzuki and his club basked in the glory of a hard-fought season they ensured would not conclude after game 162. Threats of a dreaded Nor'easter pushed up the squad's three-game tilt with the Boston Red Sox, much to the chagrin of Counsell. The first half of a Friday twin bill saw an abbreviated outing from starter Clay Holmes, opposite Alec Gamboa of Boston. For a team that (at the time) was still playing for home field in the Wild Card round, Chicago looked like a frustrated, sleep-deprived club longing for winter's reprieve. After plating runs in each of the first two innings, the North Siders went scoreless the rest of the way, leaving eight men on base and delivering just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. With the slate wiped clean for the second game of the doubleheader, the Cubs couldn't generate any of their own thunder with the storms creeping in. David Peterson was as good as you'd like him to be, especially heading into postseason play. He delivered five scoreless innings, issuing just two walks in the process. The 2-0 shutout for Boston was the capper on what had been a putrid stretch of appearances for this lineup at the plate during clutch moments. Forthcoming events from their playoff foe San Diego guaranteed that the first leg of Chicago's postseason run (and perhaps all of it) would occur on the road. Optimists searching for reasons to remain in that camp found them in the series finale with the Red Sox in St. Petersburg, Florida. Back after his terrifying scare last week, Alex Bregman provided resounding, heartening evidence as to the type of game-changing player he is. Smacking two home runs and a double on a 4-for-4 day, Bregman resurrected the squad's offense at (hopefully) just the right time for the Cubs to hang around the postseason for an extended stay. Braxton Garrett got the lion's share of the work, with five full frames after Imanaga opened things. The 6-2 victory, though not material, was still encouraging from a rhythm and vibes standpoint. Counsell and his staff are clearly doing what they can to preserve the best of what this ball club has to offer. Now, postseason baseball is here. At 9 PM Central time on Tuesday night, screens across the Chicagoland area will light up with the Chicago Cubs taking the field to begin their quest for the franchise's fourth World Series crown. This is what all 30 MLB teams play for, and though it may not always look like it, as of right now, the North Siders have a shot. View the full article

New York Mets Weekly Snapshot Record Last Week: 3-3 Runs Scored Last Week: 31 Runs Surrendered Last Week: 22 Standings 5th in NL East (74-88) The Mets officially finished the 2026 season at 74-88, last in the National League East. Friday's loss to Washington guaranteed New York its first last-place finish in the division since 2003. Transactions September 22: Activated RHP Devin Williams from the 15-day injured list. September 22: Placed RHP Christian Scott on the 15-day injured list with left knee inflammation. September 23: Claimed LHP Philip Abner off waivers from the San Francisco Giants. September 23: Designated RHP Xzavion Curry for assignment. September 25: Recalled RHP Justin Hagenman from Triple-A Syracuse. September 25: Optioned RHP Jack Weisenburger to the Florida Complex League Mets. September 25: Sent RHP Xzavion Curry outright to the Florida Complex League Mets. September 26: Recalled RHP Chayce McDermott from Triple-A Syracuse. September 26: Optioned LHP Jefry Yan to the Florida Complex League Mets. September 27: Placed RHP Jonathan Pintaro on the 15-day injured list with an undisclosed illness. September 27: Recalled LHP Jefry Yan from the Florida Complex League Mets. Scores Game 157: NYM 6, TEX 3 Game 158: NYM 7, TEX 2 Game 159: TEX 3, NYM 1 Game 160: WSH 7, NYM 6 Game 161: NYM 7, WSH 1 Game 162: WSH 6, NYM 4 Series Breakdown/Highlights Rangers Series: After finishing their home schedule with a disappointing 2-5 homestand, the Mets traveled to Texas to begin the final road trip of 2026. With the Rangers fighting for the AL West, New York played spoiler by taking the first two games before Texas salvaged the finale. The Mets opened the series with a 6-3 victory behind an excellent start from Sean Manaea. The left-hander allowed two earned runs on just three hits over six innings while striking out nine. New York trailed 3-2 entering the sixth but broke through for three runs to take control. Francisco Alvarez finished with two doubles and two RBIs, while Carson Benge went 2-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored. Kodai Senga struck out two in a scoreless ninth for his eighth save. New York continued hurting Texas' postseason chances Wednesday with a 7-2 victory. Nolan McLean and Rangers starter Jacob deGrom kept the game close early, but former Ranger Marcus Semien broke a 2-2 tie with a solo homer in the eighth inning. The Mets then blew the game open in the ninth when Brett Baty launched a pinch-hit grand slam. It was an especially damaging loss for Texas, which entered the series battling Houston for the AL West crown. The Mets did their job, which was to play spoiler. The Mets couldn't finish the sweep Thursday. Carson Benge drove home New York's only run in the first inning, but Josh Jung answered with a two-run homer in the bottom half against Zac Thornton. Corey Seager added a solo shot in the sixth, while Kumar Rocker held the Mets to one run on four hits over five innings. Thornton pitched well despite the loss, allowing two earned runs and striking out four over five innings, but New York's offense managed only four hits in the 3-1 defeat. Nationals Series: The Mets then traveled to Washington for the final three games of their season against a fellow NL East team that has long been eliminated. Friday's opener turned into a back-and-forth offensive battle. New York led 3-2 after the top of the third, but Washington responded with four runs in the bottom half. Bo Bichette and Carson Benge each homered as the Mets attempted to fight their way back, with Benge's blast giving him his 20th home run of the season. Combined with his 22 stolen bases, Benge became the first rookie in Mets history to record a 20-homer, 20-steal season. Francisco Alvarez's sacrifice fly pulled New York within one in the eighth, but Josiah Gray closed out the 7-6 Nationals victory. The loss officially guaranteed the Mets would finish last in the NL East. The Mets responded Saturday behind two players hoping to establish themselves as pieces of the 2027 roster. Jonah Tong delivered the best start of his young major league career, allowing one run over five innings while recording a career-high nine strikeouts, which could serve as an early audition for 2027. Ronny Mauricio provided the power with two home runs, while A.J. Ewing launched a three-run shot. Benge added three hits and scored twice as New York cruised to a 7-1 victory, evening the series and setting up Game 162 as the deciding game. The 2026 season finale at least provided one historic moment for Francisco Lindor. After entering the afternoon sitting on 299 career home runs, Lindor crushed a 409-foot solo shot in the second inning for career homer No. 300. He became just the fifth player to reach 300 home runs while playing at least half of his career games at shortstop and the 11th switch-hitter to reach the milestone. Benge drove in three runs, but Andrés Chaparro homered twice for Washington, including the game-tying blast in the third. The Nationals eventually took the lead for good against Manaea and held on for a 6-4 victory, ending the Mets' season at 74-88. Website Highlights New York Mets Organization Review: Biggest Farm System Winners and Losers In 2026 Carson Benge, Nolan McLean Represent Mets' Only Chance At Awards Salvation After 2026 Season Flop Mets Have Major Defensive Questions To Answer Heading Into 2027 Looking Ahead The 2026 regular season is over. The Mets will now look to a long offseason where David Sterns and his team should question everything to get this team as close to contention in 2027 as possible. View the full article

Being the flawed individuals we are, we have a tendency to let good be the enemy of great. Such is the case when discussing the 2026 Chicago Cubs baseball team. Not only did they clinch their second straight playoff berth this past week under manager Craig Counsell, they saw their center fielder become just the seventh player in MLB history to reach the 40 home run and 40 stolen bases milestone in a single season. Despite these marks of excellence, the club's alarming penchant for "go quietly into the night" losses akin to what we witnessed in the last seven days has the spirits of this team's supporters in the doldrums. Though there is much to be desired, make no mistake about it: there is more baseball to be played. Kicking off what could have been the last three games at Wrigley Field in 2026, the Cubbies welcomed Miami to town for the opener of their tilt with the Fish. Left-hander Shota Imanaga toed the rubber for the North Siders in this one, going five frames, allowing just one earned run and setting down seven Marlins via the strike out. Early production from the top of the Cubs' lineup wasn't enough for the home team to break through with a serious momentum-shifting rally, leading to the crushing heartbreak of what transpired in extra innings. With a chance to advance runners at first and second in the home half of the 10th inning, Matt Shaw, on maybe the worst bunt attempt in the majors this year, popped the ball up for the first out. That out might as well have counted for all three as the lineup failed to recover from the ill-fated at-bat. A 12th-inning bullpen blow up sealed the home team's fate in an 8-2 loss. Trying to cleanse themselves of the foul stench left lingering from the previous night, Chicago trotted out veteran hurler Kevin Gausman out on the mound to help secure the squad's hotly-anticipated playoff berth. A cold night at the plate for the North Siders deferred that dream for another day, as the spoiler-minded Marlins, led by the scrappy Kyle Stowers, prevailed at the Friendly Confines once again. The Cubs wasted eight scattered hits, clearly laboring under the pressure of the attempt to realize a postseason champagne bath, and a chance at Crow-Armstrong making history. The Cubs dropped the series and the game in a 3-2 loss. A rush of triumph has a way of absolving even the nastiest sins of the past, and that's exactly the feeling which emanated throughout 1060 West Addison on Thursday afternoon in their series' finale with the Marlins. Pete Crow-Armstrong handled the first order of record-setting business, by swiping his 40th base of the campaign in the early going. With that weight lifted, the Cubs went to work, highlighted by a masterful seven-inning performance from Matthew Boyd, who repeatedly searched for and squeezed out every last ounce of resolve he could. With the plane to Boston waiting for them, Seiya Suzuki and his club basked in the glory of a hard-fought season they ensured would not conclude after game 162. Threats of a dreaded Nor'easter pushed up the squad's three-game tilt with the Boston Red Sox, much to the chagrin of Cubs' skipper Craig Counsell. The weather did not permit, setting up the first of a doubleheader with the boppers from Beantown. The first of the twin bill saw an intentional abbreviated outing from starter Clay Holmes, opposite Alec Gamboa of Boston. For a team that at the time was still playing for home field in the Wild Card Round, Chicago looked like a frustrated, sleep-deprived club longing for winter's reprieve. After plating runs in each of the first two innings, the North Siders went scoreless the rest of the way, leaving eight men on base and delivering just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position. With the slate wiped clean for the second game of the doubleheader, the Cubs couldn't generate any of their own thunder with the storms creeping in. David Peterson was arguably as good as you'd like him to be, especially heading into postseason play. He delivered five scoreless innings, issuing just two walks in the process. The 2-0 shut out for Boston was the capper on what had been a putrid stretch of appearances for this lineup at the plate during clutch moments. Forthcoming events from their playoff foe San Diego guaranteed that the first leg of Chicago's postseason run, and perhaps all of it, would occur on the road. Optimists searching for reasons to remain as such found them in the series' finale with the Red Sox in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Back after his terrifying scare last week, Alex Bregman provided resounding, heartening evidence as to the type of game-changing player he is. Smacking two homers and a double on a 4-for-4 day, Bregman resurrected the squad's offense at a time that is hopefully just the right one for the Cubbies to hang around the postseason for an extended stay. Braxton Garrett got the lion's share of the work with five full frames after Imanaga opened things up. The 6-2 victory, though not material in many ways to what lies before this team, was still encouraging from a rhythm and vibes standpoint. Counsell and his staff are clearly doing what they can to preserve the best of what this ball club has to offer. And now postseason baseball is here. At 9pm Central Time on Tuesday night, millions of screens across the Chicagoland area will light up with the Chicago Cubs taking the field to begin their quest at seizing the franchise's fourth World Series crown. This is what all 30 MLB teams play for, and though it may not always look like it, as of right now, the North Siders have a shot. View the full article

The Cubs have several options for their biggest postseason bullpen moments, including Jacob Webb, Daniel Palencia, Aaron Civale, Ryan Rolison, and Ryan Zeferjahn. But who should get the ball when the game is on the line? View the full article

The difference in regular-season rosters and postseason rosters is as different as the games themselves. Some players who make the 26-man roster in the MLB postseason can sometimes have you thinking “Why?” only to find out their role once the games unfold. With that in mind, and with the San Diego Padres having home-field advantage in their NL Wild Card Series against the Chicago Cubs beginning Tuesday at Petco Park, it is time to take a closer look at who could play a role for the Friars in the playoffs in 2026. Manager Craig Stammen and president of baseball operations A.J. Preller will have some choices to make to construct the best roster for the three-game Wild Card Series. As for the basics, rosters are back down to 26 players from the 28-man group in September, and you still can’t have more than half of those be pitchers. But you can have more be hitters, which is usually the way teams go for at least the Wild Card Series due to that only going a maximum of three games. Rosters can only be modified during a series because of injury and can be altered between series however teams want. The official roster will be announced some time on Tuesday morning. Starting Pitchers (3) RH Michael King RH Nick Pivetta LH Robbie Ray Analysis: Let’s talk about the picks here before we talk about who isn’t included in this rotation. King has earned the right to be a Game 1 starter in the postseason—and it isn’t close. He had eight consecutive quality starts and 18 for the season before turning in a clunker in his last outing (which might be a good motivational factor). From a pitching perspective, the Padres will need an ace performance from King in a short series and whenever he pitches. The order of Pivetta and Ray could depend on the opponent. The Cubs hit left-handed starters and left-handers in general better than they do right-handers, which could put Ray in a more limited role, probably better-suited for Game 3 (or maybe even a bullpen role). Pivetta has come back from an early-season right elbow injury and has put together four solid starts. His third one—as well as the work he did in the other three—have shown enough to trust him to start a postseason game, but with a watchful eye. Pivetta started Game 1 of last year’s NL Wild Card Series vs. the Cubs and allowed two fifth-inning runs while striking out nine in a 3-1 loss. Ray, meanwhile, is pretty unflappable, which could make him a better choice for Game 3, knowing that the bullpen will be ready to be deployed at any moment. Walks are a killer at any time, which makes him a risky proposition during the postseason due to his propensity to issue free passes. Ray also has a shaky playoff history. He has made six postseason appearances, only two as a starter, with a 4.58 FIP (7.43 ERA) over just 13⅓ innings. He hasn’t pitched in a postseason since 2022. As for who isn’t in the Wild Card Series rotation: Right-hander Walker Buehler could also be an option to start Game 3, otherwise he will be in the bullpen. Relief Pitchers (9) RH Mason Miller LH Adrian Morejon RH Bradgley Rodriguez RH Jason Adam LH Yuki Matsui LH Wandy Peralta RH Walker Buehler RH Randy Vasquez RH Griffin Canning Analysis: There are no surprises here as I go with a nine-man bullpen and 12 on the staff for the Wild Card Series with an extra position player. As mentioned above, Buehler isn’t starting, but has the postseason pedigree for any situation. Buehler has made 10 relief appearances in his nine seasons, but eight of those came as a rookie in 2017 and another in 2018. The other came last year when he was with the Philadelphia Phillies. He and Vasquez can give you multiple innings, with the latter serving as a higher-upside weapon. Left-hander Kyle Hart would have been another good weapon, but he was optioned to the minors Saturday and, barring an injury, won’t be available for the first two postseason series. Matsui has worked his way into the circle of trust and could be an early option against probable NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong. He is best as an early- to middle-innings fireman, not for the late innings (unless it is extras). Adam’s return in the final week gives the Padres four end-of-game options to deploy based on matchups, allowing more flexibility with Rodriguez’s use. Miller and Morejon are the best right-left relief combo in the game and Rodriguez is quickly making that a three-headed monster. Miller going more than one inning could become the norm in the postseason. Catchers (3) RH Luis Campusano RH Freddy Fermin LH Ethan Salas Analysis: It is pretty clear from over the last week that Salas could catch a majority of the Padres’ postseason games. Campusano has been King’s personal catcher in the second half, so he is likely to start Game 1, with Salas a possibility as the designated hitter. Fermin is the defensive replacement for both. Salas, 20 years and 95 days old on Tuesday, will be the youngest player to play in a postseason game in MLB history when he does appear. He has shown the skill and mettle to be up to the challenge. Infielders (6) RH Manny Machado RH Xander Bogaerts LH Jake Cronenworth RH Ty France LH Gavin Sheets LH Sung-Mun Song Analysis: Sheets’ return from plantar fasciitis for the final regular-season series was encouraging and gives the Padres a left-handed bench bat when Salas isn’t in the lineup or as the DH. Song is here as a security blanket in case there is an in-game injury, with the ability to serve as a pinch-runner or late-game defensive replacement. Outfielders (5) RH Fernando Tatis Jr. LH Jackson Merrill LH Dustin Harris RH Samad Taylor RH Jase Bowen Analysis: Miguel Andujar, out since July 20 with a fractured right wrist, not being activated in the final week was surprising. Does he return for the Wild Card Series? He has been getting at-bats in the last week in Arizona, but if he was ready, he would have been activated by now after two weeks at Triple-A El Paso. Austin Hays could make the roster at the expense of Taylor, more likely, or Song. Bowen might make the roster as a specialty player, thanks to his ability to serve as a pinch-runner and defender. Taylor's hot bad should earn him a few trips to the plate at least in the Wild Card Round. View the full article

The Minnesota Twins are shaking up their pitching staff from a leadership perspective. Pitching coach Pete Maki and assistant pitching coach Luis Ramirez will not return to the Twins for 2027. It is not known whether one or either was under contract for next season. One more change is athletic trainer Jason Kirkman will not return after seven seasons with the franchise. No other changes are expected to the Twins' coaching staff. Maki took over as the Twins' pitching coach in July 2022 following the sudden departure of Wes Johnson, who became the pitching coach in college at LSU. Maki had been in the Twins' organization since 2018 in a variety of roles and was on the major-league staff when the 2022 change happened. Ramirez has been in the org since 2006, spending the last five years of his 21-year tenure as the major-league assistant pitching coach. The Twins finished 25th this season in ERA at 4.56 in what was expected to be a rebuilding season, particularly in the bullpen, but with a handful of quality returning starters led by Joe Ryan and Pablo Lopez. They finished 24th in ERA in 2025 (4.55) and 21st in 2024 (4.26) after ranking sixth in 2023 (3.87). View the full article

San Diego Padres Weekly Snapshot Record last week: 4-2 Runs scored last week: 32 Runs allowed last week: 32 Season record: 91-71 Runs scored (season): 722 Runs allowed (season): 681 Season run differential: 41 Scores Monday: Off Game 157 (Tuesday): Dodgers 7, Padres 0 Game 158 (Wednesday): Padres 5, Dodgers 1 Game 159 (Thursday): Padres 4, Dodgers 2 Game 160 (Friday): Diamondbacks 11, Padres 4 Game 161 (Saturday): Padres10, Diamondbacks 7 Game 162 (Sunday): Padres 9, Diamondbacks 4 Week in Review and Highlights Dodgers series Game 1: On a day that began with their first chance to clinch a postseason berth to open the final week of the regular season, the Padres opened a series with their biggest rival and their best starting pitcher on the mound. It didn't go well, but also gave no reason for any panic. Right-hander Michael King's streak of quality starts came to an end when the Friars again struggled in a bullpen game from the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 7-0 loss. The Padres dropped into a three-way tie with the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies in the NL wild-card chase and kept their magic number for clinching a postseason spot at two. The Cubs lost 8-2 in 12 innings to the Miami Marlins, while the Phillies opened a tough finishing schedule with a 6-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. The Arizona Diamondbacks remained alive with a 7-2 win over the Colorado Rockies. Those results leave the Padres holding the third and final NL wild-card spot, with the Cubs at No. 1 and Phillies No. 2. Both hold the tiebreaker over the Friars. King, moved up a day in case the Padres need him to go in Sunday's regular-season finale, entered with eight consecutive quality starts and 18 for the season. After a 1-2-3 first inning, King retired the first two Dodgers in the bottom of the second. That is when things started to go wrong as he gave up back-to-back singles to Teoscar Hernandez and rookie Josue De Paula, then hit Andy Pages to load the bases. Then he lost his command and walked Tommy Edman and Mookie Betts to make it 2-0, with Freddie Freeman piling on by grounding a ball through an overshifted infield, bringing in two runs for a 4-0 Dodgers lead. For the first time since the end of June, King would not reach the fifth inning. He was pulled after four, having yielded five runs on six hits and two walks with five strikeouts. The Dodgers would add a run each against left-hander Wandy Peralta and right-hander Griffin Canning, who went two innings each. Offensively, the Padres didn't face a single pitcher twice. The Dodgers used eight pitchers, with each covering a single inning except for one who went two. The strategy worked fantastic from a Dodgers perspective as the Padres only got five hits, two from Luis Campusano and another from pinch-hitter Ethan Salas, while striking out 10 times. A disappointing showing for sure, but with the Friars having won 13 of their previous 14 games, another loss was coming. A clinch is still very much a possibility before the Padres leave L.A. Game 2: Think the Padres were panicking after losing for just the second time in 16 games the day before? Not at all. This team has shown a strong ability to bounce back from any bit of adversity since the end of July. Thanks to a Manny Machado homer and three RBIs and a strong overall pitching performance, the Padres dropped the rival Dodgers 5-1 to trim their magic number for clinching a postseason berth to one and reclaiming the No. 1 NL wild-card seed with four games left in the regular season. The Cubs and Phillies each lost, while the D'backs won to keep their season alive. The win also snapped the Dodgers' five-game winning streak vs. the Padres this year and L.A.'s 11 consecutive home wins. The Dodgers got a huge lineup boost with the return of four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani coming off the injured list, but the Friars were more than up to the challenge. That was thanks to Robbie Ray. The Padres' left-handed starter threw a lot of pitches (84) and gave up a lot of hits (seven) for 3⅓ innings. But he did just enough over the first three innings to keep the Dodgers off the board. Ray ran into trouble in the fourth by allowing three straight singles, including a routine grounder to first where Ray was late to cover, to open the inning, then got Max Muncy to fly out to shallow center. Manager Craig Stammen had seen enough and went to right-hander David Morgan. Edman got a sacrifice fly to trim the Friars' lead to 2-1, then Betts walked to reload the bases with two outs. That brought up Ohtani in a mismatch. But Morgan battled Ohtani for eight pitches, including Salas' ABS challenge that overturned ball four that would have brought in a run and a couple of 3-2 foul balls, before striking out the superstar swinging on a beautiful sinker. An offense that was blanked by eight relievers the day before was able to get to reigning World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto. After getting just one hit off the Dodgers' right-hander through three innings, Dustin Harris was hit by a pitch (after a video review) to lead off the fourth. Machado then took a hanging sinker and drilled it 409 feet out to center field for a 2-0 lead, his team-leading 29th of the season and the 398th of his career. After the Dodgers got their lone run in the bottom of the fourth, the Padres got a couple more runs in the fifth. Salas and Tatis had leadoff singles. Harris then put down a sacrifice bunt that Yamamoto fielded and threw very wildly to third base, allowing Salas to score, Tatis to take third and Harris winding up at second. Machado followed with a sac fly to make it 4-1. There was a tack-on run in the ninth when Samad Taylor drew a one-out walk, then stole second and third. Freddy Fermin, who came in defensively for Salas, then delivered an RBI single. Morgan's performance kicked off a terrific game by the bullpen in what felt like a postseason formula. Left-hander Yuki Matsui went one inning, then right-hander Bradgley Rodriguez dominated for two innings, leaving left-hander Adrian Morejon and right-handed closer Mason Miller, in a non-save situation, to finish things off. Game 3: Merry Clinchmas, Padres fans! A day that less than three months ago seemed far-fetched came earlier than anyone could have imagined. The Padres clinched a place in the postseason for a franchise-record third straight season with a 4-2 victory over the Dodgers. While the clinching was the most important thing, the Padres also made headway in trying to secure the top NL wild-card seed with losses by the Cubs and Phillies. That gave the Friars the No. 1 wild card, one game ahead of the Cubs and two up on the Phillies. The D'backs remained alive with a win and are two games behind the Phillies as they come to Petco Park this weekend. The victory, much like the season thus far, had its obstacles that the Friars overcome without hesitation. Salas, the youngest player in the majors at 20 years old, played another big role in this one as he got back-to-back starts behind the plate for the first time. The Padres didn't have a hit off Dodgers right-hander Tyler Glasnow through 5⅓ innings. But Salas attacked the first pitch from Glasnow and singled through the infield to left to end the no-hit bid. Tatis tattooed the next pitch for a single to right, sending Salas to third. One pitch later, Harris hit a sacrifice fly to center to easily score Salas for a 1-0 lead. In the seventh, the Padres built a cushion. Merrill had a one-out double and Bogaerts walked, chasing Glasnow. Left-hander Justin Wrobleski came in and yielded a single to Austin Hays that deflected off Muncy at third, scoring Merrill. Sung-Mun Song pinch-ran for Hays and went to second when Salas delivered again, lining an RBI single to left-center to plate Bogaerts. Tatis followed by drilling an opposite-field single that Song scored just ahead of the throw, making it 4-0. On the pitching side, right-handed starter Nick Pivetta turned in a postseason-worthy start in its quality. While going 4⅔ innings, Pivetta didn't allow a run and struck out seven, giving up four hits and a walk. Stammen then maneuvered the game like it was in the postseason, getting shutout innings from Matsui and right-hander Jason Adam, a day after he came off the 60-day injured list following a strained right shoulder. Morejon came in to get Ohtani for the final out of the seventh. He stayed in for the eighth and walked Betts and gave up a Freeman single to begin the inning. A strikeout of Hernandez and flyout by Kyle Tucker gave Morejon a chance to get out of the inning unscathed, but he was called for a balk that brought in a run, then retired the next batter. That left the ninth to Miller to punch the Padres' ticket. It wasn't easy, though. After a strikeout and a flyout, Miller struck out Edman swinging on a wicked slider in the dirt that went under Salas' glove and back to the screen. Ohtani then crushed a 102.6 mph four-seamer from Miller into the left-center gap to make it 4-2. But Betts then grounded to Machado at third for the final out. It wasn't a triple play to clinch it like Machado started two years ago to the day, but the celebration was about to begin. A team that was struggling to find an identity following the All-Star break, relied on a pitching-chaos plan for 10 days before the trade deadline, got reinforcements and then started hitting the ball consistently took off and won 14 of their last 16 to clinch a wild-card spot on their biggest rival's field with new owners Jose E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones on hand and joining the festivities in the clubhouse. Diamondbacks series Game 1: On a day in which so much other stuff fell the Padres' way to the point where a home playoff series now feels like a formality, the Friars couldn't match the effort of a motivated Arizona Diamondbacks team. Perhaps that was due to an ailing Casey Mize. The right-handed starter was lit up again, giving up seven runs over four innings in an 11-4 Padres loss to the D'backs. Before the Padres' game began, the Cubs had lost both games of a doubleheader, which suddenly put the Padres on the verge of bringing the NL Wild Card Series to Petco Park. The Phillies added to the good fortune by also losing, officially putting the Padres one win away from that happening. Despite losing to the D'backs, the Padres have a 1½-game lead over the Cubs and two-game edge over the Phillies with two games remaining. The big story is with Mize. The right-hander hasn't performed up to expectations since being acquired from the Detroit Tigers for two key prospects. Since stumbling down the dugout steps Aug. 22 vs. the Minnesota Twins, he allowed 28 runs (23 earned) over 26⅔ innings. There had been rumblings that Mize was dealing with something and he admitted after Friday's game that the ankle was still bothering him and affecting his mechanics. Mize already was in jeopardy of not being on the roster for the Wild Card Series, with this making that more of a probability, giving him time off to get the ankle right and becoming available if the Padres advance. Following the champagne celebration the night before, the offense didn't show any true signs of a hangover, pounding out 10 hits after not reaching double digits once against the Dodgers, but the timing of the hits could have been a bit better. Tatis led off the bottom of the first with one of his two hits, Cronenworth had an RBI single as part of a two-run second, then drove in another run in the seventh and Song adding a run-scoring single in the eighth. It was, for the first time since April, that the Padres didn't have any real pressure on them. And with the D'backs playing for their postseason lives, you can just chalk it up to one of those games. One, well, two other highlights was Jase Bowen robbing homers in consecutive innings after replacing Merrill in center with the game out of hand. Game 2: In the early stages of this one, it seemed like the Padres might be in for another tough day. But a Machado go-ahead homer and the bullpen stepping up yet again provided the impetus for a 10-7 triumph that gave the Padres home-field advantage for the NL Wild Card Series. For the Friars, the standings no longer matter, even if it is only for one more day. They clinched the No. 1 NL wild card and will face the Cubs in the Wild Card Series at Petco Park beginning Tuesday. The D'backs, meanwhile, remained alive heading into Game 162 as the Phillies also lost (12-1 to the Tampa Bay Rays), keeping Philadelphia's edge at one game with Arizona holding the tiebreaker. The Padres had early leads of 1-0 and 3-2 erased, with the latter going away with a two-run top of the fourth. (Of note, Gavin Sheets, activated before the game, had an RBI double in the third inning.) With one out in the bottom of the fourth, Salas hit a single that deflected behind the pitcher and Tatis walked. After Harris failed to execute a bunt, Machado went oppo taco by launching his 30th homer of the season and 399th of his career to right, a three-run shot that made it 6-4, putting the Padres ahead to stay. The high-flying offense tacked on in the fifth as Bogaerts homered for just the second time since Aug. 14, a solo shot for his 13th this year, and Tatis drove in Merrill, who had doubled, with a groundout. In the sixth, two more runs came across on Cronenworth's two-run single with two outs. From a pitching perspective, right-handed starter Walker Buehler had a downer, giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits and a walk with three strikeouts and a two-run homer to James McCann. Buehler is probably lined up for a bullpen role against the Cubs, although he could possibly start a Game 3. Matsui got Buehler out of a fourth-inning situation, Rodriguez sizzled for two innings, Morgan and Morejon pitched scoreless innings, leaving the ninth to Miller with a six-run lead. With the postseason starting Tuesday, this was likely a scheduled appearance by Miller regardless of the score to get him into a final game. It did not go as scripted. The superstar closer had his worst statistical game with the Padres, allowing three runs on three hits and two walks while striking out a pair. Should that be cause for concern? Not really as the adrenaline probably wasn't pumping like it would be in a save situation. Game 3: While the Padres were in coasting mode for Game 162 of the season, it meant life or death to the D'backs. But ultimately, the Padres' potent offense wore down the beleaguered D'backs, registering a 9-4 victory to wrap up the regular season. The D'backs' fate was sealed during the seventh inning as the Phillies prevailed over the Rays 7-3, securing the last NL wild-card berth and a Wild Card Series matchup with Atlanta. The Padres finished with a 91-71 record, two games ahead of the Cubs in the wild-card race and nine games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. It was another day of double-digit hits with 11, getting 10 or more for the 12th time in their last 16 games. Harris, France, Hays and Fermin each had two hits, while Sheets showed he is ready for the postseason with a solo homer, his 17th of the season. Right-hander Randy Vasquez displayed his value with a six-inning start, allowing a run on three hits with no walks and two strikeouts. Canning went the final three innings, giving up a three-run seventh inning to temporarily tie the game. It was a good tuneup game for the Padres, who continue their quest for the franchise's first World Series championship against the Cubs. Marvelous Mason Miller Some of the amazing stats for the Padres' closer: Season stats: 5-2, 1.67 ERA, 66 games, 38 saves (41 chances), 70 IP, 37 H, 16 R, 13 ER, 3 HR, 2 HBP, 26 BB, 129 K, .152 opponent average The three runs he allowed Saturday vs. the D'backs were the most he has allowed in 90 appearances since being acquired by the Padres. Set career highs this season with 66 appearances and 70 innings pitched. Also established career bests with 38 saves, 129 strikeouts, five victories and a 1.67 ERA. His 38 saves tied for the NL lead with Riley O'Brien of the St. Louis Cardinals and third in MLB. Led all MLB relievers with 518 pitches at 100 mph or better. That is more than any other team's bullpen. Teammate Adrian Morejon was fourth with 216. Random Stats This will be the Padres' 10th postseason appearance, including five in the last seven seasons and franchise-record third straight. The Padres have won 90 games for the seventh time in franchise history, including the last three in a row. Craig Stammen is the first manager in Padres history to win 90 games in his first season as manager. Jake Cronenworth was named the NL Player of the Week for the second time in his career (June 2021 also). He slashed .464/.516/.786, which included a two-homer, five-RBI game. He scored eight runs and drove in eight. Rookie Ethan Salas was 3-for-3 in ABS challenges in Wednesday's game. Fernando Tatis Jr.'s three-hit game Wednesday vs. the Dodgers was his MLB-leading 17th three-hit game. The Padres drew 44,471 fans to their regular-season finale, the 66th sellout at Petco Park. The Friars finished with a season attendance of 3,347,081, the second-highest in MLB, an average of 41,322. Transactions Wednesday: Activated RHP Jason Adam from the 60-day injured list. Wednesday: Optioned RHP Griffin Canning to ACL Padres. Wednesday: Designated RHP Alek Jacob for assignment. Saturday: Placed RHP Casey Mize on the 15-day injured list due to a right ankle sprain. Saturday: Activated 1B Gavin Sheets from the 10-day injured list. Saturday: Recalled RHP Griffin Canning from ACL Padres. Saturday: Optioned LHP Kyle Hart to ACL Padres. Saturday: Sent RHP Alek Jacob outright to ACL Padres. Website Highlights Breaking down the offensive turnaround that saved the Padres' season — Randy Holt Three burning questions for the Padres entering the postseason — Yirsandy Rodriguez Padres can't afford Stammen's questionable pitching management to haunt them in the postseason — Steve Drumwright Why Padres' third straight postseason appearance is their most impressive yet — Randy Holt Tatis shouldn't be overlooked in NL MVP conversation — Randy Holt Cronenworth has galvanized Padres' playoff push with sudden revival — Randy Holt Padres have an obvious strategy to make Ray an effective playoff starter — Sam Caulder Padres are the team no one wants to face in the postseason — Steve Drumwright Padres affiliate season recap: Triple-A El Paso Chihuahuas — Steve Drumwright Padres affiliate season recap: Double-A San Antonio Missions — Steve Drumwright Padres affiliate season recap: High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps — Steve Drumwright Looking Ahead Monday: Off Tuesday: NL Wild Card Series Game 1: Cubs (TBA) at Padres (Michael King), 7 p.m. (Peacock) Wednesday: NL Wild Card Series Game 2: Cubs at Padres, 7 p.m. (Peacock) Thursday: NL Wild Card Series Game 3 (if necessary): Cubs at Padres, TBA Friday: Off Saturday: NLDS Game 1: TBD at Milwaukee Sunday: NLDS Game 2: TBD at Milwaukee View the full article

Boston Red Sox Weekly Snapshot Record Last Week: 3-3 Runs Scored Last Week: 11 Runs Surrendered Last Week: 13 Standings 3rd in AL East 2nd in AL Wild Card Transactions 09/23/26: Boston Red Sox optioned LF Nate Eaton to Worcester Red Sox. 09/23/26: Boston Red Sox activated CF Ceddanne Rafaela from the 10-day injured list. 09/25/26: Boston Red Sox optioned LHP Raymond Burgos to Worcester Red Sox. 09/25/26: Boston Red Sox recalled RHP Jedixson Paez from Worcester Red Sox. 09/27/26: Boston Red Sox recalled LF Nate Eaton from Worcester Red Sox. 09/27/26: Boston Red Sox recalled RHP Wyatt Olds from Worcester Red Sox. 09/27/26: Boston Red Sox optioned RHP Jedixson Paez to Worcester Red Sox. 09/26/27: Boston Red Sox activated RHP Tanner Houck from the 60-day injured list. 09/27/26: Boston Red Sox placed DH Mickey Gasper on the 10-day injured list retroactive to September 26, 2026. Right biceps strain. 09/27/26: Boston Red Sox placed RHP Tyron Guerrero on the 15-day injured list retroactive to September 24, 2026. Right shoulder strain. 09/27/26: Boston Red Sox transferred CF Eli White from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. Right foot ligament injury. Scores Game 157: BOS 2, CLE 3 Game 158: BOS 1, CLE 0 Game 159: BOS 0, CLE 1 Game 160: BOS 4, CHC 3 Game 161: BOS 2, CHC 0 Game 162: BOS 2, CHC 6 Series Breakdown/Highlights Guardians Series: We’ll jump right into the games for this week since everyone is turning their attention to Tuesday night. In game one against the Guardians, Payton Tolle tossed 5.2 innings of two-run, five-strikeout baseball. Alec Gamboa, Jovani Moran, and Erik Miller all came out of the 'pen with Miller allowing an earned run. Offensively, The Goateed Menace Mickey Gasper hit a home run while Nick Sogard accounted for both of the runs for the Sox in the loss. Game two saw Sonny Gray pitch another one of his patented quality starts, going six innings while allowing four hits, zero runs, and striking out three. Tyron Guerrero, Garrett Whitlock, and Aroldis Chapman combined for the shutout final three innings of the game. Offensively, the lone RBI came off the bat of Andruw Monasterio when he drove in Jarren Duran. Game three saw the Guardians return the shutout favor to the Red Sox with Ranger Suarez allowing a solo home run to Angel Martinez. Suarez struck out five over five innings in his final appearance of the regular season. Patrick Sandoval, Miller, and Raymond Burgos all came out of the 'pen for the Sox. Offensively, Sogard and Rafaela contributed the two hits for Boston in a sleepy finale. Cubs Series: This series was dominated by weather talk, and for good reason. The Red Sox and Cubs were forced to fly to Tampa Bay to play the meaningless final game of the 2026 season. In game one, which was the first game of an unscheduled doubleheader, the Sox looked far more like the Sox from the summer as they fought back late to secure the victory. This was a bullpen game in every sense of the word with Gamboa, Jake Bennett, Greg Weissert, and Burgos all throwing multiple innings against the Cubs. Offensively, Roman Anthony showed off his bat-to-ball skills, going 3-for-3 with a walk, while Adley Rutschman, Connor Wong, Jarren Duran, Monasterio, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa all contributed hits as well. Wong and Rutschman were responsible for three RBIs on the first half of the day. Game two was played later in the day on Friday and the Sox shut out the Cubs behind strong pitching performances from Brayan Bello and Jedixson Paez, the latter earning his first big league win of his career. Offensively, Abreu contributed the two RBIs on the nightcap when he drove in both Kiner-Falefa and Jahmai Jones. Both teams flew to Tampa with an unscheduled off day on Saturday before completing the season on Sunday. The final game of the season saw the Sox drop a meaningless game to the Cubs while playing at Tropicana Field. Tanner Houck returned from Tommy John surgery to start the game and wasn’t sharp, but he was obviously working on his mechanics throughout the three innings he was on the field. He allowed three earned runs, four hits, and struck out one. Wyatt Olds, Patrick Sandoval, and Jovani Moran came out of the bullpen to finish the game, combining for three earned runs. Offensively, Rutschman homered and Monasterio drove in the other run on the afternoon. On to New York. Website Highlights Four Alarming Trends Red Sox’s Offense Must Snap Out of Before Postseason by Yirsandy Rodriguez Jarren Duran’s 20-20 Season is Literally the Worst in Baseball’s Live-Ball Era by Maddie Landis Caleb Durbin Epitomizes the 2026 Red Sox, but That Needs to Change in October by N.B. Lindberg Chad Tracy Was the Only Man for Red Sox’s Manager Job by Nick John Craig Breslow has Officially Earned the Benefit of the Doubt with Red Sox by Alex Mayes Looking Ahead 09/29/26: Red Sox (TBD) @ Yankees (Cam Schlittler): 8:00 PM EDT NBC/Peacock 09/30/26: Red Sox (TBD) @ Yankees (Max Fried): 8:00 PM EDT NBC/Peacock 10/01/26 (if necessary): Red Sox (TBD) @ Yankees (Gerrit Cole): 8:00 PM EDT NBC/Peacock View the full article

Following the final game of his excellent 2026 season, Marlins outfielder Griffin Conine speaks with the media about overcoming his mid-year injury, what the club needs to do to reach the playoffs moving forward and more.View the full article

During the final week of the season, Pete Crow-Armstrong swiped his 40th bag of 2026, becoming the seventh player in history to join the 40-40 club. The Harvard-Westlake product’s season has been nothing short of historic, but where does it rank among the other six seasons? The 40-40 club features seven teams: the Oakland Athletics, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners, Washington Nationals, Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Chicago Cubs. There are only two American League teams in the group; the Cubs became the fifth National League team. PCA is also the group’s fifth outfielder—Alex Rodriguez helmed shortstop for the Mariners and Shohei Ohtani was the Dodgers’ designated-hitter. In his age-24 season, Crow-Armstrong is the third youngest member of the club, behind only A-Rod and founding member José Canseco. Ohtani is well ahead of everyone with 54 home runs. (The Japanese-born superstar is also the sole member of the 50-50 club.) Crow-Armstrong clubbed 45 home runs, good enough for third. On the basepaths, Atlanta’s Ronald Acuña Jr. leads the group with 73 bags swiped, but Crow-Armstrong’s 85.4% stolen base percentage ranks second only to Ohtani’s 93.7%. Minus Alfonso Soriano, every member drove in at least 100 runs. Bonds generated a 188 OPS+, a kitten’s whisker ahead of Ohtani’s 187. Crow-Armstrong's 155 OPS+ places him fifth among the seven. By raw batting statistics alone, he lands in the bottom half of the 40-40 club. That doesn’t undercut his season, though. Across more than 150 years of the sport, this has proven to be one of the most exclusive clubs in baseball. Crow-Armstrong, notably, paces the group in fWAR (10.6). None of the other six went 40-40 while providing Platinum Glove defense in center field. Canseco, Acuña Jr., and Ohtani won the Most Valuable Player award in their 40-40 seasons. Crow-Armstrong, the NL MVP frontrunner, will likely become the fourth. What’s crazy is that he keeps evolving. He adjusted his stance by standing deeper in the box and bringing his feet closer together, cutting his chase rate. On top of that, his walk-rate more than doubled from 4.5% in 2025 to 11.4% in 2026. This was the largest increase among qualified hitters. Alex Bregman’s sensei-like presence in the clubhouse for the next four seasons further elevates the outfielder's ceiling. It's tough to beat Ohtani's 50-50 epic or Acuña's 70-steal masterpiece. Heck, Bonds broke into the club despite being walked at basically twice the rate of everyone else. But between Crow-Armstrong's elite defense, rapidly improving plate discipline, and knack for clutch moments, there's at least a case to be made that he just put together one of the most impressive seasons in baseball history. View the full article

Through the rise and the fall of it all, it's over. In the season finale of the Jays Centre Podcast, Owen and Jesse reflect on the final series of the Blue Jays season, the end of George Springer's six seasons as a Toronto Blue Jay, and Max Scherzer going out in style. They take a big-picture look at the Toronto Blue Jays and explain why there should still be optimism on this team despite subpar on-field performance, then highlight some of their favourite games/moments of the season before looking ahead to the 2026 playoff picture and picking some winners. Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-jays-centre-podcast/id1846108462 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Bi7SzfpcqMo5xYWnbCeoL Listen on iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-jays-centre-podcast-300304824/ Listen on Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/2qk9wqxd Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jayscentre View the full article

Jake McKibbin and Jason Wang take a look at who the Brewers could face in the NLDS and go over some unorthodox end-of-season awards. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brewer-fanatic-podcast/id1740648724 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5CY8mWsQayqjDXqw9OT2Td iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-brewer-fanatic-podcast-166534588/ Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/ommzz627 Watch On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@brewerfanatic View the full article

Alex and Maddie sit down and mull over Chad Tracy’s three-year contract announcement and Craig Breslow’s options being picked up for the 2029 and 2030 seasons. They do their final injury wrap-up of the regular season and mourn the loss of flamethrower Tyron Guerrero. Finally, they share their wild card predictions and conclude that Cam Schlittler is Mordor, AKA the biggest obstacle for the Red Sox to overcome in the American League Wild Card Series. Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-talk-sox-podcast/id1783204104 Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3qPrPXEngu0CxgTmlf0ynm Listen on iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-the-talk-sox-podcast-244591331/ Listen on Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/4tmd121v Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@talksox View the full article

Considering the roster churn that strikes all Triple-A teams, winning games can be difficult. But with the quality and quantity of prospects in the Milwaukee Brewers’ system, the Nashville Sounds held their own during the 2026 season. Led by Brewer Fanatic Top 20 prospects Tyson Hardin (No. 8), a right-handed starter, and catcher Jeferson Quero (No. 9), infielder-center fielder Jett Williams (No. 12) and corner infielder Luke Adams (No. 14), the Sounds had a good first half and a not-so-good second half. That is pretty typical. Of course, in the first half, the Sounds, who finished second in the International League’s West Division at 43-32, also had two other top prospects in shortstop Cooper Pratt and center fielder Luis Lara, who were promoted to the Brewers and have played key roles in Milwaukee winning a fourth straight NL Central championship. The roster saw 74 players suit up for the Sounds this year (33 position players, 41 pitchers), including nine who made their MLB debuts (seven with the Brewers and two with other organizations). Also adding to the roster chaos is MLB players on rehab assignments, with nine Brewers hitting Nashville on the comeback trail. There was only one player who made it through the entire season on the Sounds’ active roster, corner infielder Brock Wilken. Not so coincidentally, Wilken led the Sounds in homers with 17 and RBIs with 80, but only had a slash line of .191/.319/.365 in 130 games. His RBI total was seventh-best in the International League, while his 152 strikeouts were fourth-most. There were high hopes for Jett Williams, the infielder and center fielder who was acquired along with right-handed starter Brandon Sproat from the New York Mets in the Freddy Peralta-Tobias Myers trade. Williams, however, never really took off, finishing the season with a slash line of .233/.340/.384 with nine homers and 41 RBIs. He did have a couple of stints on the seven-day injured list. Nashville finished 16th in the 20-team league with a .734 OPS, despite drawing the sixth-most walks in the league. Pitching was a much better story. The Sounds had the second-best ERA (4.33), fifth-most strikeouts and issued the fewest walks. Among the starting rotation standouts were right-hander Coleman Crow (3.59 ERA in 20 games), right-hander Tyson Hardin (4.58 ERA in 19 games) and right-hander Thomas Pannone (4.70 ERA in 23 games). Pannone had the standout performance of the season, perhaps in all of the minors, by turning in a perfect game on Sept. 7, the first solo nine-inning perfecto by any minor-leaguer since 2017. Among the noteworthy relief performances were right-hander Cameron Wagoner, who had a 0.56 ERA in 14 games with the Sounds after a 2.03 ERA in 19 games for the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers. The 11th-round draft pick in 2022 had a combined .167 opponent batting average and struck out 35.1% of the batters he faced while walking 6.5%. Right-hander Blake Holub had a 2.10 ERA in 50 appearances with five saves and two holds. Holub had a 28.1% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate. Despite all the turnover, the Sounds posted an overall record of 80-69, which was the sixth-best in the league. Stat Leaders League: International League West Division First half: 43-32, second place, 4 GB, plus-62 run differential Second half: 37-37, sixth place, 7½ GB, minus-26 run differential Hitting leaders (20 games minimum) Average: Luis Lara .321, Greg Jones .289, Eddys Leonard .287 Slugging percentage: Luke Adams .509, Darrien Miller .507, Leonard .502 OPS: Miller .942, Adams .927, Lara .902 Runs: Lara 67, Brock Wilken 60, Jett Williams 60 HRs: Wilken 17, Jefferson Quero 15, Adams 13 RBIs: Wilken 80, Quero 69, Akil Baddoo 47 Pitching leaders (10 games minimum) ERA: Cameron Wagoner 0.56, Craig Yoho 0.78, Brian Fitzpatrick 1.13 Strikeouts: Coleman Crow 102, Tyson Hardin 96, Thomas Pannone 85 WHIP: Yoho 0.65, Rob Zastryzny 0.86, Wagoner 0.94 Opponent average: Yoho .135, Jacob Waguespeck .145, Wagoner .175 Wins: Crow 9, Russ Knehr 6, Blake Holub 5, Pannone 5, Garrett Stallings 5 Saves: Holub 5, Will Childers 4, Yoho 4 View the full article

The Twins have reached the end of another disappointing season, which means that fans' attention has shifted toward the offseason. It'll be an even more uncertain winter than usual, with the team staring down big questions about everything from individual roster moves to the wide-angle view of the organization and its operation. The Twins entered 2026 hoping to compete; eventually became buyers at the MLB trade deadline; and still find themselves watching October baseball from home. That leaves Jeremy Zoll and the rest of the front office with a lot of work to do. Of course, some of the big questions the team faces aren't even about things within their control. Let's consider the 10 biggest sources of intrigue and uncertainty this winter, starting with one of those big questions the team itself doesn't get to answer. 1. How Will the Lockout Impact the Winter? The looming lockout is the giant question hanging over the entire offseason. A work stoppage could freeze transactions, delay free-agent activity and push important roster decisions into the new year. However, the last time this situation cropped up (in 2021), teams made a flurry of moves prior to the December 1 expiration of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA). It could also make an already complicated offseason even more difficult for a Twins organization that needs to determine what direction it wants to take. If the offseason is shortened, every decision becomes more important—and must be made faster, with imperfect information. 2. Is Joe Ryan Untradeable? A year ago, this would have been an easier question. Ryan entered 2026 as one of the most valuable trade pieces on Minnesota's roster. His performance, contract and age made him an attractive target for teams looking for controllable starting pitching. But injuries and a disappointing second half have changed the conversation. Ryan's value has all but evaporated. That doesn't mean the Twins should trade him, but it does mean they have a more complicated decision to make. Do they bet on Ryan bouncing back, or do they consider selling while he still has a full year of team control? The answer could shape the entire rotation. 3. What Happens With Byron Buxton? Buxton's 2026 season ended with another hip injury and surgery. The Twins now have to build their offseason around the expectation that their star center fielder will return for 2027—but guard themselves against the risk that he's neither ready for Opening Day, nor able to stay on the field even after he returns. Buxton was an All-Star before the injury, hitting 25 home runs in 93 games. But availability remains an unavoidable part of the conversation surrounding him. The Twins need to determine how they will use him, how much center field he should play, and how much protection they need behind him. The organization cannot simply assume everything will be fine. It needs insurance, at the very least. 4. Is Royce Lewis Part of the Long-Term Plan? This might be one of the most uncomfortable questions on the list. Lewis has shown flashes of potential, but his development has been interrupted by injuries and his production has been inconsistent. The Twins also need to determine where he fits defensively and how they can maximize his offensive potential. Is he a cornerstone? Is he a player they should move, while another organization might still see significant upside? Or is he simply a player who needs another opportunity? The answer could determine how Minnesota approaches several other positions. 5. What Is the Long-Term Plan for the Rotation? The Twins have plenty of arms. That doesn't necessarily mean they have a finished rotation. Taj Bradley, Pablo López and Ryan are penciled in at the top of the rotation. Zebby Matthews, Connor Prielipp, Mick Abel, Kendry Rojas and other young pitchers provide options. But the Twins need to decide if they keep Bailey Ober and Dean Kremer. Minnesota needs to determine which young pitchers are legitimate long-term starters; who could transition to the bullpen; and where additions are necessary. A rotation cannot be built entirely around potential. 6. Is the Bullpen Good Enough? This was a question entering last offseason, and it remains a question entering this one. Minnesota has already cycled through plenty of relievers, and the bullpen has undergone significant turnover over the past two seasons. The organization needs to determine whether it has enough late-inning options or whether another significant investment is required. A competitive team needs reliable relief pitching. The Twins have spent enough time trying to patch this area together. At some point, they need a more sustainable solution. Minnesota has avoided spending on the bullpen in recent offseasons, but it might be time to change that trend. 7. What Happens at Catcher? Ryan Jeffers is heading for free agency and will almost certainly move on, so the position still deserves plenty of offseason attention. Minnesota can make him the qualifying offer and hope he stays for one more year, but it's unclear either whether they'll do so or whether he'll accept it if they do. Victor Caratini is under contract for next season and is owed around $10 million. He hasn’t played like a starting catcher and he is one of the league’s worst catchers at controlling the run game. The Twins need an upgrade behind the plate. 8. How Aggressively Will the Twins Spend? This might be the biggest baseball question of them all. The Twins have spent significantly less in recent seasons, with payroll dropping $60 million from its 2023 level. The organization also has several holes that cannot realistically be filled exclusively through internal promotions. How much money will be available? Will the Twins return to a payroll closer to previous levels? Will they make targeted additions? Or will financial restraint continue to dictate their offseason? There is a massive difference between adding a few complementary pieces and aggressively attacking the free-agent and trade markets. The Twins need to show what their intentions are. 9. Is the Pohlad Ownership Situation Changing? The Twins' ownership picture remains an important part of the franchise's future. The Pohlad family announced in 2025 that it would remain the principal owner while adding two limited partnership groups. Tom Pohlad took over for Joe Pohlad and there were changes to the team's business side this year. That doesn't necessarily mean there will be dramatic changes to the way the organization operates this winter. But whenever ownership structure changes, questions about resources, decision-making and long-term strategy naturally follow. After another frustrating season, Twins fans will want to know what ownership's vision looks like moving forward. 10. What Can Jeremy Zoll Do With His First Full Offseason at the Helm? This is the biggest baseball test of Zoll's tenure. Zoll has been involved in the Twins' front office for years and was given the top baseball operations role when Derek Falvey left last winter. But this is different. This will be the first offseason in which Zoll gets to fully shape the roster as the organization's primary baseball decision-maker. He's already experienced a trade deadline as the person in charge. Now comes the harder part: constructing an entire roster. The Twins need pitching. They need clarity in the infield. They need to figure out the bullpen. They need depth. And they need to decide how much they believe in the current core. Zoll's answers will tell us a lot about what the next era of Twins baseball is going to look like. How will the Twins answer these questions? Would you add other questions to the list? Leave a comment and start the discussion. View the full article

With the San Diego Padres set to reprise their Wild Card Round matchup with the Chicago Cubs from a year ago—only this time with the opportunity to host the best-of-three series—avenging their 2025 loss is top of mind for Craig Stammen's club. And as far as the bullpen goes, the Padres' most important reliever may not be Mason Miller or Adrian Morejon but rookie arm Bradgley Rodríguez. Don't get it twisted. Miller & Morejon will, in reality, be the two most frequently deployed relievers out of Craig Stammen's relief corps. In matters of playoff baseball, though, two relievers does not a bullpen make. It'll be a collective effort in the late innings, with Rodríguez representing the third part of a potential dynamite back three in high-leverage situations. That Rodríguez could earn that level of trust speaks to just how good he's been in 2026. With just a shade over seven big league innings to his name prior to this season, Rodríguez's 1.6 fWAR in relief ranks tied for 16th out of 150 qualifying relievers. He threw an even 74 innings in the regular season, with a 26.9 percent strikeout rate and a walk rate of only 6.6 percent. The numbers themselves don't quite tell the story like the percentile chart does, though: Even with an electric fastball and 84th percentile whiff rate, Rodríguez isn't a pitcher who has to rely solely on either one to find results. He can punch out opposing hitters, but his game relies even more on utilizing his stuff in a way that mitigates hard contact and gets the ball on the ground. Rodríguez's opposing hard-hit rate trails only Mason Miller and, weirdly, Yuki Matsui for the Padres' team lead, while his ground-ball rate is behind only Morejon. But as an arm not necessarily seen as an eighth or ninth-inning guy, the Friars have the ability to extend the skill set of their two best relievers into an even earlier frame than we might normally see Miller or Morejon trot out to the mound. Therein lies the biggest perk of Bradgley Rodríguez as a playoff reliever. His upside is, quite obviously, not what either of the team's two stalwarts possess in the eighth and ninth inning of games. But he offers a sort of blend of the two in mitigating quality contact and generating groundballs. When in doubt, the strikeouts are there too. It's a dynamic skill set that speaks to just how good the Padres are at developing (and maximizing) arms exactly like this. Rodríguez should immediately be penciled in as one of the more crucial arms in the relief corps with the playoffs soon to begin. Sure, the team has other arms that proven exceptionally reliable as the season has worn on. But Rodríguez is as close a quantity to either of Miller or Morejon as a team can get without actually having to rely solely on their top two guys. View the full article

At the end of his first MLB season, Marlins catcher Joe Mack speaks with Fish On First about his determination to improve as a hitter, defender and leader moving forward.View the full article

Minnesota’s 2026 season exposed plenty of weaknesses on the roster. Here are the three biggest areas the Twins need to address if they want to become a playoff contender next year.View the full article

Week in a Nutshell After a 2-7 road trip that included stops in Boston, Houston, and Pittsburgh, the Royals return home for their final homestand of the season against the rival White Sox and Guardians. Even with their playoff dreams long dashed, Kansas City hoped to play spoiler to both teams, as they both had the opportunity to clinch playoff spots and the division title. Unfortunately, the Royals didn't seem to have enough gas in the tank during this homestand. They went 2-4 and allowed the White Sox to clinch a playoff spot on Thursday (their first playoff appearance since 2021) and the Guardians to clinch their third-straight AL Central Division title on Saturday (the White Sox can join the Tigers and Royals as teams surpassed by Cleveland in September). On a positive note, the Royals closed out the season with a one-run victory on Sunday, finishing 69-93. The record is a step back from their 86-76 record in 2024 and 82-80 record in 2025. It is also Kansas City's worst record in a season since 2023, when they went 56-106 and tied a franchise record for losses in a single season. Record this Week: 2-4 Run Differential for the Week: -18 Record for the Year: 69-93 Run Differential for the Year: -120 Standing: 5th in the AL Central One-Sentence Game Summaries Game 157: CHW 14, KC 11 The White Sox win a slugfest as former Royals outfielder Randal Grichuk collects four hits and falls a triple short of the cycle. Game 158: KC 5, CHW 4 Garcia goes 3-for-3 with three RBI for the Royals and helps stave off the White Sox's playoff hopes for at least another day. Game 159: CHW 9, KC 1 In a playoff-clinching afternoon victory, Royals prospect David Sandlin (traded away to Boston in the John Schreiber deal) shuts down his former team by striking out seven in six IP while allowing no walks and one earned run. Game 160: CLE 12, KC 9 Jensen's two-homer game is squandered as the Royals' bullpen falls apart and allows five runs in the ninth inning. Game 161: CLE 11, KC 5 The Guardians clinch their third straight AL Central title thanks to multi-homer games by Brayan Rocchio and Patrick Bailey. Game 162: KC 3, CLE 2 Kansas City ends the 2026 season on a high note as Vinnie launches two homers on Italian Heritage Day and Erceg gets his first save since June 7th. News and Notes On Tuesday, the Royals activated Tony Gonsolin, whom Kansas City acquired on August 13th after the Dodgers released him. The former All-Star replaced former Giants reliever Spencer Bivens, who was optioned to Triple-A as a result. Gonsolin pitched 2.2 innings in his Royals debut, piggybacking off starter Daniel Lynch IV on Tuesday, September 22nd against the White Sox. The 32-year-old righty gave up five runs on four hits and three walks while striking out five. According to TJ Stuff+ metrics, his four-seamer didn't profile well, and he struggled to be consistent in the strike zone. However, he posted a decent whiff rate overall and produced solid chase rates on his secondary offerings, especially his splitter and slider. Gonsolin's 2026 Royals tenure was short-lived, as he was added to the IL due to an allergic reaction on the last day of the season, shortly before first pitch. James McArthur, who hasn't pitched with the Royals since 2024, replaced him on the active roster, though McArthur did not appear in Sunday's game. The Royals also introduced their Minor League Award winners on Friday. That includes the following: George Brett Hitter of the Year and Mike Sweeney Award: Brett Squires, Omaha. Paul Splittorff Pitcher of the Year: David Shields, Quad Cities. Dan Quisenberry Reliever of the Year: L.P. Langevin, Quad Cities. Frank White Defensive Player of the Year: Carson Roccaforte, Northwest Arkansas/Omaha. Willie Wilson Baserunner of the Year: Asbel Gonzalez, Quad Cities. Alex Gordon Heart and Hustle Award: Josh Hammond, Columbia. We broke down the position player award winners on Saturday at Royals Keep. We will break down the pitcher award winners on Tuesday. Highlights Even though the Royals only had two wins this week, the offense put on a show, highlighted by many key players expected to carry this lineup this season. Vinnie Pasquantino had eight hits, posted a 1.177 OPS, and launched three home runs in 24 at-bats this week. That included two on Sunday, including one in the eighth that broke a 2-2 tie and led to a Royals victory. Carter Jensen had a strong homestand with two homers, eight hits, nine RBI, and a 1.235 OPS in 20 at-bats. He led the Royals with 27 homers this season and could be primed for 30+ homer seasons in the future. He should finish in the Top-5 in the AL Rookie of the Year race. Maikel Garcia struggled on the road in his return, but he looked much more comfortable and effective at Kauffman Stadium this week. In 11 at-bats, he had six hits, four RBI, a 1.358 OPS, and seven walks to zero strikeouts. Garcia demonstrated this week that he could be a key part at the top of the Royals' batting order in 2027, if he can stay healthy (which wasn't the case this year). Bobby Witt Jr. and Jac Caglianone didn't hit for much power (zero home runs between them), but they combined for 18 hits this week. Cags was the stronger performer, hitting .455 with a 1.137 OPS in 22 at-bats and collecting five doubles and four RBI. While he didn't hit a home run this month, Cags proved he could drive the ball to all fields in September. Lastly, Salvador Perez hit his 20th and 21st homers of the year this week, giving him 20+ homers in a season for the 10th straight non-COVID season (he had 11 in 2020). While it hasn't been a great year for Salvy, he looked more like his old self after the All-Star Break, hitting .259 with a 104 wRC+ and 10 home runs. There weren't many positives on the pitching end, but it was nice to see Lucas Erceg look like his old self on Sunday. Since being promoted from Omaha after a short stint with the Storm Chasers, the former Royals closer has looked sharp and motivated. In his save performance in game 162, he didn't allow a run or walk in an inning of work and allowed one hit while striking out one. Looking at his TJ Stuff+ summary, Erceg's whiff rate left a bit to be desired against the Guardians (18.2%). However, everything else was impressive, including a TJ Stuff+ of 105 overall. The Royals need to upgrade and build their bullpen this offseason if they want to improve upon their 69-93 record this season. If Erceg can carry this performance and these skills into next season, they'll at least have a reliever who can pitch in medium-leverage situations (maybe spot high-leverage ones in a pinch). Lowlights The pitching was the polar opposite of the Royals' hitters this homestand. The Kansas City pitching staff produced a 7.50 ERA this past week, which was the worst mark in baseball over the past seven days. They were primarily plagued by walks, as their 31 walks allowed led all of baseball over the past week. Nate Pearson struggled most this week, posting a 27.00 ERA and 3.75 WHIP in two appearances and 1.1 IP. He walked five batters this week and didn't strike out anyone. He allowed four walks on Friday, as he struggled to find the strike zone in the ninth. Overall, he had a 28.6% zone rate and 31.3% strike rate this week, both subpar marks. Pearson has shown some promise since coming over from Houston this year, but he may be more of a middle-innings reliever than a late-innings one. The Royals' starting rotation struggled immensely this week as well. In two starts, Daniel Lynch IV posted a 10.61 ERA in 9.1 IP. Noah Cameron posted a 10.80 ERA in 5.0 IP on Saturday. Seth Lugo posted a 10.80 ERA in 3.1 IP. And while Michael Wacha had a serviceable ERA at 2.84, he gave up six runs overall (just two earned), and one could argue that he should've had more runs earned against him, since he was responsible for one of the errors. On a positive note, at least Wacha hit the 200-inning mark on Saturday, making him the only pitcher in the American League to finish with 200 or more innings in the regular season this year. Another reliever who struggled this week was Alex Lange, who posted a 23.14 ERA in three appearances and 2.1 IP. Lange had a 20% K% but also a 20% BB%. Furthermore, TJ Stuff+ data demonstrated that he struggled to generate chase, whiff, and limit hard contact in this homestand. With a 6.75 ERA and 5.81 FIP in 60 IP this year, the 30-year-old seems like an easy non-tender candidate this offseason, especially since he is currently out of Minor League options and doesn't seem likely to greatly improve his control (9.8% K-BB%) next season. Looking Ahead The Royals enter this offseason with a lot of needs to fill. They need to improve the bullpen. They need to improve the rotation. They need to find a closer. They need to find an ace. They could also use another bat, especially in left field, since Isaac Collins is probably better used as a semi-regular utility guy than an everyday outfielder. After winning fewer than 70 games this season, the hot seat will be warm for manager Matt Quatraro and perhaps President of Baseball Operations JJ Picollo. After back-to-back winning seasons in 2024 and 2025, the Royals took a clear step back, winning 13 fewer games than last year. Quatraro and Picollo will likely keep their jobs this offseason, but another sub-70-win season won't cut it in Kansas City. While the pitching needs a lot of work, the offense has a nice foundation. Cags showed that he can be the Royals' No. 3 hitter long term, and Jensen was an ideal leadoff man, especially with his home run power. Michael Massey also had a nice bounce-back season, hitting .272 with 50 RBI, a 90 wRC+, and accumulating a 2.2 fWAR in 131 games this year. That PA mark is his most in a season since 2023. The Royals will be returning some players from injury, but they won't be back until midseason, and their role is undefined for now. Should Cole Ragans return to the rotation? Or should the Royals follow a Kris Bubic route and let Ragans pitch in the bullpen for 2027? Ragans could be a nice bullpen option and could perhaps ascend to a setup or closer role if he adjusts to relief work quickly. Though his control and command were inconsistent this year, his stuff and whiff ability were as solid as ever. The Royals are not a bare cabinet by any means, which is why they won't (and shouldn't) blow up this organization this offseason. They have a solid offensive core. They also have a cadre of support from Quad Cities, which won the Midwest League this year. Kendry Chourio and Shields are good enough pitching prospects who could be in the Royals' rotation in 2028, and Langevin could compete for a bullpen spot as soon as 2027. Add that with higher-profile hitting prospects like Hammond in Columbia and Angeibel Gomez, who tore up the DSL in legendary fashion, and Royals fans have plenty to be excited about in the organization's future. That said, the Royals need to show some signs of progress in 2027. They cannot afford another slow start like this year. They can't be under .500 again by the end of May. They need to start fast, as they did in 2024, to give fans hope that Q and Picollo are the appropriate pair to steer the Royals in the right direction. Another poor showing by June 1st? It wouldn't be surprising to see owner John Sherman act quicker than usual with the manager and president, especially with a new stadium hopefully on the way by 2030. View the full article

The notion of a successful season for the 2026 Minnesota Twins was essentially put to rest on the very first day of spring training. That ambitious notion rested upon the idea that Pablo López, Joe Ryan and Byron Buxton — the three former All-Stars whom the Twins held onto through last year's deadline firesale — would lead the way for an upstart group capable of taking a mediocre division by surprise. It was, honestly, not a ridiculous concept. But when López went down with a season-ending injury during the first full-squad workout in February, it lost plausibility. A fringe team with a bottom-tier payroll could not afford to get zero contribution from its best, most expensive player. Just doesn't work, as much as no one wanted to admit it at the time. In fairness, the rest of that plan worked out quite well, during the first half at least. Ryan and Buxton were both All-Stars for a second straight year, and they played a big role in keeping the Twins relevant. At the end of August, when Minnesota briefly surfaced above .500 and committed to buying at the deadline, Ryan and Buxton were tied for the team lead in fWAR (2.6). But from that point forward, they were sub-replacement level. The two biggest stars on the Twins turned into two of their worst players, either unavailable or ineffective throughout the second half. Combine that with the continuing absence of López, and it really tells the whole story of this latest collapse. It is, unfortunately, a familiar story. Second-half declines, with injuries playing a factor, have become the norm for both Ryan and Buxton. The latter will be coming off a major hip surgery at age 33 next season, and the former has essentially never put together a complete season. López carries his own set of question marks as he makes his return from Tommy John. I'm bullish on him, but you can never take for granted immediate success coming off reconstructive elbow surgery. At their best, these three veteran players are certainly capable of forming the core of a contending team. You almost have no choice but to hope they can. But you also can't exactly count on it. And that's where the real challenge emerges for the Twins and their front office. Hope for the Best, Build for Something Less The Twins shouldn't approach this offseason trying to replace López, Ryan or Buxton. Nor should they operate under the assumption that those three will collectively provide a full season of star-level production. They need to build a roster capable of surviving when they don't. It's not some totally unique situation in this game of attrition. Injuries happen to every team. Good players slump. Pitchers wear down. The problem is not experiencing those things, but constructing a roster where experiencing them effectively ends your season. And that's what happened in 2026. When Buxton stopped producing, there wasn't another established middle-of-the-order force ready to pick up the slack. When Ryan faltered, the rotation suddenly lacked the frontline presence it had already been missing without López. The Twins had some impressive young players emerge, but asking them to immediately become the stars carrying a contender is a different proposition altogether. That becomes especially relevant when looking at the next wave. Luke Keaschall looks like a foundational player. Taj Bradley and Connor Prielipp established themselves as legitimate rotation building blocks. Walker Jenkins, Emmanuel Rodriguez and Kaelen Culpepper finally reached the majors and gave us reasons to dream on what's ahead. It's exactly what the Twins spent the past year waiting for. Now that those players are here, the temptation will be to view their arrival as the offseason upgrade. It can't be. The Kids Can't Be the Entire Plan There is tremendous upside in this young core, perhaps more than we've seen in Minnesota for quite some time. There is also plenty of uncertainty. Jenkins and Rodriguez have barely experienced the major leagues. Culpepper has fewer than 150 plate appearances. Prielipp just completed by far the largest workload of his professional career. Even Keaschall, as impressive as he's been, has only two big-league seasons under his belt. Some of these players will take steps forward next year. Some probably won't. That's how young players work. The Twins should be excited about having Jenkins and Rodriguez in their Opening Day lineup. They shouldn't need either one to immediately become a three- or four-win player for the offense to work. They should be thrilled to have Bradley and Prielipp behind López and Ryan. They shouldn't be sunk if one of those veterans misses time or struggles again. That's the difference between having upside and having depth. Between hoping to contend and planning to contend. The latter requires investment. Raise the Floor Last offseason, there was at least some justification for restraint. The Twins were coming off an organizational reset. They had just traded away a huge portion of the roster. Several of their best prospects weren't quite ready yet. It made some sense to spend 2026 figuring out what they had and identifying who could be part of the next competitive team. Well, now we know a lot more. Bradley is part of it. Prielipp is part of it. Keaschall is part of it. Kody Clemens earned his way into that conversation. Jenkins, Rodriguez and Culpepper are here. López is coming back. The evaluation year is over. That doesn't mean the Twins should abandon their young players or block their paths with expensive veterans. Quite the opposite. The goal should be to surround them with enough established talent that their development doesn't carry the entire weight of the season. The lineup is an obvious place to start. Josh Bell and Ryan Jeffers, two of this year's most productive hitters, are headed to free agency. Royce Lewis' future with the organization is uncertain at best. Buxton's health can't be assumed. There is room — and need — for a legitimate veteran bat who can occupy a prominent spot in the order without requiring everything to break right around him. The bullpen is another clear need. Jeff Hoffman gives them one potentially dominant late-inning arm, assuming his season-ending forearm issue proves minor, but the Twins cannot repeat last winter's approach of assembling a relief corps largely out of hope and spare parts. Andrew Morris and Yoendrys Gómez, meant to be proof-of-concept for building on the fly, demonstrated exactly how quickly seemingly reliable relievers can turn unreliable. The Twins don't need to construct a superteam, but they need to eliminate the fragility that ultimately doomed the 2026 Twins. Their path to contention depended on their few established stars remaining stars, their inexpensive supporting cast exceeding expectations, and enough young players arriving quickly enough to fill the gaps. For much of the summer, an impressive number of those things happened. Then a couple stopped happening, and the entire operation fell apart. No More Waiting for Everything to Go Right There will be plenty of optimism surrounding the Twins this offseason, and I think much of it is justified. This is a much more interesting roster than the one they carried into spring training. The rotation has real depth and upside. The organization's best position-player prospects have arrived. Several unexpected contributors established themselves. But the front office can't mistake interesting for complete. Maybe López comes back looking like an ace. Maybe Ryan finally carries his first-half form through September. Maybe Buxton's hip surgery restores the dynamic player we saw early this year. Maybe Jenkins or Rodriguez explodes onto the scene and becomes an immediate star. While any of those developments would dramatically raise the Twins' ceiling, none should be prerequisites for having a good baseball team. And that's the challenge this offseason: build a roster sturdy enough that its best-case scenario isn't also its only path to contention. The Twins spent 2026 finding out which pieces of their next core they could trust. In 2027, it's time to give those pieces enough support that they don't have to trust everything else to go right. View the full article

Because the Milwaukee Brewers are good at practically everything, whenever they turn out not to be good at something, it's newsworthy. The team's foibles with regard to the ABS system that went into effect this season have been well-documented, because fans and media have had time to study it. Other clubs and their fan bases have to spend their time figuring out why their pitchers are always giving up home runs or why their batters are so all-or-nothing. Only when you're the best team in baseball does some difficulty with a relatively minor aspect of the sport get thrust into such a harsh spotlight. Here's the secret, though: As much as their failures to challenge well (at bat or behind the plate) have cost them, on balance, the Brewers are probably coming out ahead from the implementation of the system. It hasn't hurt them, because all the visible miscues have obscured the invisible ways that what the team was already doing fit the slightly altered game state introduced by the system perfectly. Let's break down the numbers. First, the bad news: no team in baseball has had more strikes called on pitches outside the zone (and uncorrected) at the plate than have the Brewers. Milwaukee hitters have absorbed 445 strikes that didn't have to be. The second-most such pitches called that way against a team is 401. Those extra strikes hurt. They're part of why a team with good bat-to-ball skills, in aggregate, struck out 22% of the time this season. There are supposed to be fewer such pitches in the game this year, because of the system in place to correct bad calls, and if it weren't for the Brewers, that would have been achieved. Last year, the number of bad called strikes against teams ranged from 324 to 439. Lop off the outlying Brewers, and this year, that range runs from 298 to 401. They're skewing the curve, all by themselves. Ah, but there's also good news! No team in the majors has taken more called balls on pitches inside the zone, either. Brewers batters have taken 320 pitches that should (and, nowadays, could) have been called strikes, but which were called balls. Second-most in the bigs is 298. There have been more missed calls in the Brewers' favor than helping any other corps of hitters. Plainly, though, those numbers don't balance out. The called strikes outside the zone have cost the team 28 runs, according to Statcast. The called balls inside the zone have only gained them 20. In total, they're 8 runs in the hole because of bad calls. Don't be misled into thinking they're benefiting, in an absolute sense, from these misses. However, there's another layer to the transformation of the game wrought by ABS, beyond the calls that are (or aren't) corrected. As part of the implementation of the system, this year, the strike zone shrunk. Remember that the range of called strikes on balls outside the zone shifted only slightly from last year to this year? Well, the range of called balls on pitches officially inside the zone changed a lot more. Last season, it ranged from 394 to 565. This season, it ranged from 221 to Milwaukee's 320. That's because what counts as in the zone has changed since last season. Last year, the percentage of pitches teams saw within the strike zone ranged from 48.8% to 51.7%. This year, that range is from 46.1% to 48.6%. No team in baseball swings less than the Brewers. That was true in 2025, and it was true in 2026. It's their plan of attack at the plate: production via patience. A systemic shift that reduces the size of the strike zone is really, really good for a team like that. Sure, the Brewers are missing some chances to reclaim balls on pitches that were called strikes, but on balance, many of them are coming out ahead. Brice Turang has challenged less than half as often as Statcast's model would have predicted, which has cost him a couple of flipped calls. But because he's so patient on pitches around the edges of the zone, he's also benefiting from teams being reluctant to pull the trigger on their own challenges. Statcast's expected challenge model predicts that opponents would have challenged 32 times against Turang, winning 20. Instead, they've challenged just 27 times, winning 14. It expects 19 challenges and 10 wins against Christian Yelich. In reality, opponents challenged against him 11 times, winning 3. It expects 7 wins in 13 challenges against Jackson Chourio, and opposing catchers did win 7 appeals against him—but they did it in 19 tries, rather than 13. Being patient pays off more handsomely as the zone gets tighter. It pays off even more, in the ABS-run league, once the other team loses a challenge or two and becomes hamstrung when it comes to getting back whatever calls you earn by being so disciplined. This is how a team with few hitters opposing pitchers truly fear walked 10.6% of the time this year. Turang and Jake Bauers became the first pair of Brewers teammates ever to draw 90 walks apiece in the same season. They're the perfect team for an ABS-compressed zone on the mound, too. Milwaukee maintained the second-highest Zone% this year, with their pitchers filling up even the smaller zone better than anyone save the Mariners. They could afford that (whereas other teams might not) because they had the second-highest average four-seam velocity, the fourth-highest average sinker velocity, and the fourth-highest average cutter velocity in the league. If the zone is small, your hitters should be patient, and your pitchers had better show good control and throw hard enough to survive inside that zone. No team in the league was more antifragile than the Brewers in this regard. They look bad if you look only at the frequency and success rate of their challenges, but overall, the ABS system has been very, very good to this team—because they're built for the game it has wrought. View the full article

The 2026 Cubs' regular season ended Sunday, with a game that didn't matter. Before they took the field—before any of them got out of bed this morning—they were locked into a matchup with the Padres at Petco Park in San Diego, for a Wild Card Series that will determine whether the team gets to play any more games in front of the crowd at Wrigley Field or not. There was nothing at stake, in other words—nothing but what John Updike called "the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill". Nonetheless, there he was at the top of lineup card: Pete Crow-Armstrong - CF That made 162 games played for Crow-Armstrong. It made 158 games (and 157 starts) in center field. When Crow-Armstrong stepped into the box for the first pitch of the game, it was his 726th plate appearance of the year. This is just the 16th time a Cubs player has played at least 162 games in a year, and Crow-Armstrong became just the seventh different guy to do it, joining Ernie Banks, Starlin Castro, Juan Pierre, Ron Santo, Sammy Sosa, and Billy Williams. He finished the day in ninth all-time for plate appearances in a season by a Cub, bested only by Pierre in 2006, Don Kessinger in 1969, Billy Williams in 1966, and five guys who played in the inflated offensive environs of the 1930s. Hardly anyone plays this much anymore, especially at the demanding defensive spots. The only other player to appear in at least 157 games at an up-the-middle defensive spot this year, entering Sunday, was Ozzie Albies. Crow-Armstrong plays a high-intensity, high-energy brand of baseball. He's constantly in demand; he pays a charisma tax in the clubhouse. To do that every day, with pressure slowly accumulating as his team failed to follow his lead during his four-month assault on the record books, is incredible. It's also not free. You have to pay the piper for all those innings, all those swings, all that pregame work and all that emoting. Yet, to his immense credit, Crow-Armstrong has made it all work. He's been human this month—after posting an OPS over 1.000 in three straight months, he batted .266/.352/.553 in September—but he's still found ways to win games for the team. He's battled. The grind of the season tends to erode plate discipline, but Crow-Armstrong took some of his most patient at-bats of the year during the team's doubleheader Friday in Boston, even in the shadow of their playoff clinch Thursday. It tends to make the legs heavy, but Crow-Armstrong has kept stealing bases and taking the extra base whenever possible, willing his team to help him create runs. It tends to sap bat speed, but he's kept hitting for power. His bat speed hasn't diminished, and his slugging average has only modestly done so. In fact, he's swinging as fast as ever. So, how can we even tell he's tired? Well, for one thing: ZU53S29fVjBZQUhRPT1fVlFnRFYxSURVQXNBV1ZvS0J3QUhCd0lGQUZrQVVWSUFCbFJRVmdVTlZ3UUFWbEJS.mp4 The outcome isn't the point here. Crow-Armstrong pops the ball up relatively frequently even when he's going right, and he's had some success even with this high a leg kick. But, you noticed that kick, right? It hasn't looked like that all year. It hasn't even looked like it all summer. Here's what one swing in August (a more productive one) looked like: WU9WamdfWGw0TUFRPT1fQmxOWUFGMENVMVFBV3dZS1VBQUhVQVpSQUFNQ1ZsZ0FWbFFOVlF0WEJBUlVBd1JT.mp4 That, in turn, was bigger than on this swing from early June: eHl3MkJfWGw0TUFRPT1fQlFOWVVRQUNBQUFBQVFGVFV3QUhVZ1ZlQUZnRVVRQUFVVklEVTFWUkIxQmNVd0FE.mp4 It's not as though his swing usually looks exactly the same at all times. Crow-Armstrong is always tinkering, especially in his lower half. Still, his move has gotten extreme lately, and not just on occasion; it's happening almost every time he takes a cut. It's not some change he's made to cover a particular pitch better or to achieve a better line to the ball. It's how he's still finding the same bat speed, as his body feels the grind of the season. A big leg kick usually means a long stride, and indeed, Crow-Armstrong's stride is a couple inches longer this month than it was in August. It's actually shorter than it was in June, though. A long stride means something different when you're fresh, though, and when you're achieving it with a lower leg kick. That tends to mean you're fluidly flying forward at contact; it means you can be in rhythm even when you're not quite on time. It allows you to swing fast and get around on the ball, without being early. Right now, as he uses that huge kick to keep his bat speed where it's been all year despite creeping fatigue, Crow-Armstrong is ending up a bit early, because he has to decide whether to cut loose and swing a bit earlier than he did in June (or even August). Given that he's deciding earlier, Crow-Armstrong is making relatively good swing decisions. That's allowed him to keep drawing walks, even as he clearly feels an urgency to attack and to produce runs himself. He's not whiffing as much as, for instance, he was in July, when he was still operating primarily with the smaller leg kick and got a little bit too all-or-nothing in his approach. However, as the year's progressed, Crow-Armstrong has steadily—inexorably, even as most of his other stats have fluctuated significantly—tended more and more to get around the ball and hook it. That means he's a bit early most of the time. It can be early in a good way (producing all those pulled fly balls into the bleachers), but it can also be early in a bad way. Either way, his barrel is facing right field more than ever when he gets to the contact point. Ok, we have a player who's wearing down slightly (through no fault of his own; it's admirable that he's not wearing down more) and who has made a major mechanical adjustment to counteract that. That change means earlier swing decisions, so he's often overcommitted and has his barrel oriented toward right field. Where, then, would we expect to see the loss of efficiency? Why was Crow-Armstrong's OPS down to just over .900 in September, instead of over 1.000? If you remember the article in which I broke down the benefits and costs of his newfound bat speed even before Crow-Armstrong broke out in late May, you already know the answer. We've come full-circle. It turns out that that pop-up we looked at above actually did matter, in and of itself. It's the inability to consistently line the ball up and hit it in the launch-angle sweet spot that has eluded Crow-Armstrong at times over the last handful of weeks. That, in turn, is because his bat is so often turning off toward right field by the time the ball actually gets to him—the same way he was leaking value with his vicious swing in April and May. He's markedly better now than he was then, but you can see: he's moved back in that direction. This version of Crow-Armstrong remains dangerous. He's smarter and more well-rounded than he was 140 days ago, in ways that counterbalance whatever efficiency he's given up to maintain his bat speed this deep into such a high-workload season. He's clearly learned a lot from last season, when he hit the same wall and didn't have good ways to solve the problems that tiredness posed. He's a superstar, even if he's not operating at 100%, and hopefully, playing just one plate appearance worth of baseball over a three-day span will have him feeling refreshed come Tuesday night in San Diego. He's done an unbelievable number of impressive things this year. Adjusting in big ways to make up for the little attritions of each mile in a 162-game marathon is just the latest one. View the full article

Known for his big personality, Kevin Millar never shied away from the big moment. On this day 25 years ago, Millar came through in the clutch for the Florida Marlins with a walk-off home run in the 10th inning to down the Philadelphia Phillies and complete the comeback, 6-5. Through three innings at Pro Player Stadium on Sept. 28, 2001, things didn’t look good for the Marlins as they were on the short end of a 5-1 score. After Doug Glaville got the scoring started for Philadelphia with a two-run single in the first, Marlon Anderson added an RBI double in the second. Mike Lowell got the Marlins on the board with a solo home run in the bottom of the second but Scott Rolen and Travis Lee hit back-to-back homers to open the third. It was a rough outing for Florida starter Ryan Dempster, but the bullpen gave the Marlins a bit of momentum. Following two scoreless innings from Benito Báez, Florida cut the four-run deficit in half with two runs in the fifth. Andy Fox led off the inning with a solo home run before Eric Owens plated Derrek Lee with an RBI single. Florida would get two more scoreless innings of relief from Kevin Olsen. In the bottom of the seventh, Owens’ second RBI single of the game scored Dave Berg and cut the lead to 5-4. It also ended the day for Philadelphia starting pitcher Robert Person. José Santiago was able to get the final out for the Phillies in the seventh. Braden Looper and Vic Darensbourg each worked scoreless innings for the Marlins. As the contest went to the bottom of the ninth, Philadelphia turned to closer José Mesa. As was the case four years earlier when he was a member of the Cleveland Indians in Game 7 of the World Series, Mesa was unable to hold a ninth-inning lead at Pro Player Stadium. Lead-off man Dave Berg started the rally with a one-out single before taking second on a passed ball and third on a single by Lee. With runners on the corners and one out, Owens was nearly the hero. His shot to right was caught just shy of the way, but it served as a sacrifice fly and his third RBI of the day as the Marlins drew even. With the scored tied 5-5 in the top of the 10th, Antonio Alfonseca was able to induce three groundouts on just eight pitches. That set the stage for Florida to win it in the bottom of the frame. Cliff Politte was able to get Lowell to fly out to start the inning, but on the sixth pitch of the ensuing at-bat, Millar took the right-hander’s fastball that was left up and hammered it. The line-drive shot easily cleared the “teal tower” in left field for a walk-off home run and capped the four-run comeback. Derrek Lee led the Marlins with three hits while Berg and Owens each added two. Anderson, Travis Lee and Bobby Abreu finished with two hits apiece for the Phillies. Alfonseca earned the win while Politte took the loss. A .296 hitter over parts of five seasons with the Marlins, Millar finished his 12-year big-league career with 170 home runs and three walk-off shots. His first came as a member of the Fish and on this day a quarter-century ago. View the full article

It’s been a disappointing season for the Toronto Blue Jays, who had high hopes after a World Series trip last season. They were two outs away from winning their first championship since 1993, but Miguel Rojas ruined those dreams. That success makes this season's struggles look even worse, as the Jays are on pace for one of their worst regressions in franchise history. Their 15-game dip in wins from last season is one of the franchise’s worst declines. Things turned around this season in August when the Blue Jays went 17-11, giving them hope for another postseason trip. However, they returned to their lackluster ways in September, going 11-13 to end the season. Fans have plenty of options to point fingers at for what derailed the season, but here are five things that went wrong. 1. Injuries The injury bug hit the Blue Jays hard. The starting rotation started the season off horribly, with José Berríos and Bowden Francis undergoing surgeries that kept them out all season. Shane Bieber began the season on the injury list with right elbow inflammation. He returned in late June but made only 11 starts before getting shut down with a right teres major injury. He threw a side session on September 19 with hopes to make a late return, but with the Blue Jays missing the postseason, there was no need to rush Bieber back. Cody Ponce drew hype around his return to MLB after four seasons pitching overseas. However, he pitched only 2 1/3 innings before tearing his ACL. The team added Patrick Corbin because of a lack of depth in April. He made only 19 appearances (15 starts) before suffering a left teres major strain and missing the remainder of the season. Jameson Taillon was acquired at the trade deadline, but he made only three starts for the remainder of the season due to different stints on the injured list. With so many injuries in the rotation, we saw 24 starts from relievers in bullpen games, six more if including Eric Lauer. The Blue Jays also made several call-ups, including nine pitchers who made their MLB debuts, for spot starts or to keep the bullpen’s arms fresh. Speaking of the 'pen, expectations were huge for Yimi García, but in September 2025, he underwent surgery to remove scar tissue in his right elbow. He started a rehab assignment in July, but it was short-lived, as he suffered neck and arm nerve symptoms. García would eventually be shut down due to thoracic outlet syndrome. The offense didn’t fare much better on the injury front. Anthony Santander had high hopes for a bounce-back season after a disappointing 2025. However, he underwent left labral surgery a few days before this season kicked off. He started a rehab assignment in September, with eyes on a late return if the postseason was a possibility, but the Jays ended up with no need to rush him back. Addison Barger was another player who was expected to be a major contributor this season. He was brutal to start the season, slugging .045/.214/.091. However, he only took 28 plate appearances before requiring surgery on his elbow and missing the rest of the season. Barger was given a six-month recovery timetable, so he should be healthy for next season. Several other offensive IL stints throughout the season forced the Blue Jays to make moves, which included calling up seven prospects for their MLB debuts. 2. Where’d the Face of the Franchise Disappear To? Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has been catching a lot of heat from fans recently after he made comments about the 14-year, $500-million contract he signed during last season. In an interview, he stated, “The money they gave me wasn’t for what I’m going to do. It was for what I already did.” These comments didn't sit well with fans, given the awful season Guerrero produced. The superstar’s production this season ranked among the worst in his career in every offensive category. Vladdy’s .688 OPS was far from his career .839 mark, and his nine home runs matched the total he hit during the shortened 2020 season (when he had 366 fewer plate appearances). He didn’t even homer at the Rogers Centre until September 13. Guerrero isn’t completely wrong about being paid for past performances, but the Blue Jays also project future production when making contract deals. This type of season wasn’t what the Blue Jays had in mind, though. The truth is, Vladdy had way too high of expectations going into the season. He’s not a huge power hitter, despite his anomaly 48-home run season in 2021. The first baseman is a line-drive hitter who is strong and occasionally gets enough lift to put a ball over the fence. His average launch angle has only exceeded 9.5 degrees in a season once. However, that wasn’t the 2021 season. He had a 10-degree average launch angle in 2023, but only hit 26 home runs. In comparison, another player who has been in the league as long as Guerrero is Pete Alonso. The Orioles’ first baseman is a true power hitter and has never dipped below a 14.4-degree launch angle in a season over his career. Vladdy dealt with a back injury all season, which could explain the home run disappearance, given that his 90.3 mph average exit velocity is his lowest since his rookie season in 2019. However, his comments in the interview have fans questioning his focus and desire. This offseason will be instrumental in fixing the legacy Guerrero leaves in the Blue Jays' lore. A fast start next season will help ease fans’ feelings after their slugger’s recent comments. 3. Defensive Woes The Blue Jays ranked 12th among MLB teams in outs above average (OAA). However, that was heavily swayed by Andrés Giménez, who was phenomenal defensively. He’s been known as a defensive specialist over his seven-year career. His 18 outs above average ranked him third among qualified MLB shortstops, which helped Toronto's infield rank 10th. Guerrero finished with 4 OAA, but he struggled mightily fielding balls towards second base; he produced a 68 percent success rate moving into the hole. Ernie Clement has usually been a strong defender over his six-year career, but this season was an exception. He finished with -5 OAA, mostly at second base. He also struggled to cover the hole between first and second. Kazuma Okamoto has been decent at third base in his rookie season. He has a one OAA, but he’s had 54 attempts at shortstop, where he’s struggled mightily fielding balls to his right. He has a -4 rating on balls hit in the hole with a 60 percent success rate. However, covering that much ground isn’t a typical skill set he needs when playing the hot corner. So, we can likely chalk the struggles up to unfamiliarity. The outfield was worse, ranking 15th with -2 OAA. However, that was heavily skewed by the Blue Jays’ left fielders ranking 26th with a -10 rating. Jesús Sánchez was a disaster in the outfield, allowing routine fly balls to drop. He had a -2 rating in left field, but was far worse in right field (-6 OAA). Sánchez was by far the worst right fielder, with Nathan Lukes (2 OAA) and Myles Straw (3 OAA) performing significantly better. Sadly, Sánchez wasn’t the worst left fielder. Davis Schneider and Yohendrick Piñango both posted -4 ratings, primarily playing left field. Brett Bateman looked strong defensively since his debut on August 7, posting 4 OAA. It may not look like Bateman is an upgrade over Daulton Varsho (Varsho finished with 7 OAA between Toronto and Houston) at the position, but Bateman posted nearly 2.0 fWAR, compared to Varsho’s negative rating following the trade deadline. The new Blue Jays' center fielder actually led all hitters acquired at the deadline in fWAR. Overall, many of the team's defensive struggles seemed to stem from a lack of athleticism to cover ground this year, other than Sánchez, who just looked lost. These skills should definitely be a priority in the offseason, with a focus on a quick first step to get to balls in the hole. Defensive stats from prior to games on September 27. 4. Lack of Offense The offense was atrocious this season. They ranked last in runs and home runs and in the bottom five in most other offensive categories, except batting average. Their 648 runs this season are fewer than the 671 they scored in 2024 and their fewest in a 162-game season since they scored 624 in 1980. Not having power from Santander and Barger hurt, and in their place were contact hitters. Okamoto easily leads the team with 33 home runs, but the next closest was George Springer’s 15. Nathan Lukes and Alejandro Kirk were the only other hitters with double-digit homers. A top priority this offseason will be beefing up their lineup with more potential home runs. Toronto will gain some lineup flexibility if Springer doesn’t return. Santander could then DH, which could help keep him healthy. Seiya Suzuki, Randy Arozarena, and Ian Happ stand out as top outfield names who will be free agents and could add more pop to the lineup. Adding someone will depend on whether the Blue Jays have confidence in Barger as a starter after his ugly, although brief, season. 5. Early Bullpen Struggles With all the rotation injuries and poor performance, the bullpen was heavily relied on all season long, especially early. Jeff Hoffman didn’t provide much confidence to fans returning as the closer after an up-and-down 2025 season. Those struggles continued as he posted a 6.31 ERA through May while blowing three of eight save opportunities. These struggles did benefit the Blue Jays’ future, as they led to the team finding a new closer, Louis Varland, for the foreseeable future. The bullpen also saw struggles from Brendon Little, who had a 24.55 ERA over 3 2/3 innings through April before being demoted to Triple-A Buffalo. On the bright side, Little would correct his issues, returning to the majors in late July and posting a 2.38 ERA over 22 2/3 innings in the second half. Eric Lauer returned to his 2025 role bouncing between the bullpen and rotation. He made six starts and two relief appearances through May 11, posting a 6.69 ERA over 31 1/3 innings. Lauer was then designated for assignment, and six days later he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for cash considerations. Tommy Nance was a revelation in 2025, posting his best statistics over his five-year career (1.99 ERA over 31 2/3 innings) at the age of 34. However, he returned to his lackluster ways early in 2026, posting a 5.14 ERA over 14 innings through April. Nance turned things around after that, only to be traded to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for a prospect and international bonus pool space. Yariel Rodríguez started the season with Triple-A Buffalo. He made his season debut in May, but it lasted only 9 1/3 innings, and he posted a 7.71 ERA. He was designated for assignment on June 8, then returned to Buffalo after clearing waivers. Mason Fluharty started the season no better. He had a 7.36 ERA over 11 innings through April. However, he flipped a switch and became one of the better bullpen arms in the second half of the season. Over 25 innings post-All-Star break, he posted a 1.44 ERA. Collectively, Toronto's relievers pitched to a 4.23 ERA (19th in MLB) with seven blown saves and nine losses in March and April. The good news is that the Blue Jays bullpen as a whole was a major strength for the final stretch of the season. This gives the team one area that doesn’t need much attention over the offseason. They have plenty of other areas that need attention, though, if they don’t want to repeat their historically awful season. View the full article