The Dodgers finally got a closer in the form of Edwin Diaz after years of not having one, and less than a month in he's headed for surgery for "loose bodies" in his elbow.
Strangely, no one feels bad for the Dodgers or us fans. 😁
Many Blue Jays are hoping our "closer", Jeff Hoffman goes on the IL. It seems the only way the manager will stop sending him out there to blow a save or lose a game.
The Phillies closer, Jhoan Duran, is on the IL. But that has been a moot issue because the Phillies have not had a lead in the 9th inning for over a week. There has been no need for a closer. Rest up, Jhoan!
Boston cleaned house this weekend! The team fired the manager (Alex Cora) along with the team's hitting coach (Pete Fatse), third-base coach (Kyle Hudson), bench coach (Ramón Vázquez), assistant hitting coach (Dillon Lawson) and "Major League hitting strategy coach" (Joe Cronin). In addition "game planning and run prevention coach" (Jason Varitek) was reassigned to another unannounced job within the organization.
It is not unusual for a manger to be fired from a struggling team, but firing the manager plus FIVE other coaches all at the same time is unusual.
In other news, the Phillies and Mets are tied for Worst Record In Baseball, at 9-19. They are the only two teams not to have double digits in wins. Remarkably, 28 games into the seasons, the Phillies have still not won a game when the opponent's starting pitcher is a left-hander! (I am referring to legit starting pitchers---not "bullpen games" when a relief pitcher starts the game for only an inning or two.) And yet it is Boston that fired their manager and all their hitting coaches....
Perhaps not a surprise in light of my previous post, but Phillies manager Rob Thomson has just been fired,
I find the way the article written kind of interesting. The reporter (Todd Zolecki) describes Thomson as being the Phillies manager "with the highest winning percentage (.568) of any manager in franchise history in the Modern Era (since 1900). Thomson is only the second manager in Phillies history to guide the team to four consecutive postseason appearances..."
By contrast, in discussing Phillies' "president of baseball operations" Dave Dombrowski, Zolecki notes:
Dombrowski made a notable roster change on Thursday, when he released Taijuan Walker. The Phillies will pay him $15.3 million not to pitch. It was the second notable Dombrowski free-agent signing to be released this year. He released Nick Castellanos in February, paying him $19.2 million not to play.
Those snarky comments about Dombrowski's free-agent signings being cut for millions of dollars "not to play" makes me feel that Zolecki thinks that Thomson should have been kept and Dombrowski fired. Maybe I am reading too much into it...but I don't think so.
We are, more or less, at the quarter-mark of the season (41 games), so it is worth glancing at the current standings.
In 2025, the six division winners were: Toronto, Cleveland, Seattle, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and LA Dodgers.
At the quarter post in 2026, only Cleveland and LA Dodgers are repeating as division leaders. AL East has Tampa Bay in the lead; NL East has Atlanta; NL Central is led by the Chicago Cubs; and (this is a shocker to me) AL West is led by Sacramento!
Remember last year when the Yankees took Baseball by storm with their torpedo bats? Turns out they are no better than the standard wooden bat, just the location of the sweet spot is different. Story here.
Correct. We discussed it a bit at the end of last year. For some batters, the torpedo design can be helpful, for others, not so much.
I will add: last year (see link) I mentioned Dick Allen using a 40-ounce bat. I just finished reading his biography. Allen would help younger teammates, even counseling pitchers on what batters are looking for. One pitcher he helped was Larry Christenson. Christenson was so inspired by Allen, he asked if he could use Allen's bat on a Sept. 5, 1976 game against the Mets. (In those days, pitchers batted.) "Kid, if you can swing it, you can use it," said Allen.
Christenson, the pitcher, hit TWO home runs that game! Using Dick Allen's 40-ounce bat. Allen gave Christensen the bat with a personal inscription: "To L.C. --Two homers with my bat. How about that! Dick Allen."
Source: "Dick Allen: The Life and Times of a Baseball Immortal," by William C. Kashatus (2017), page 195.
I am quoting myself here just to note that Larry Christenson died on August 28. Rest in peace.
And it is that time of year when we start focusing on the playoffs!
Two teams have been officially eliminated from the playoffs: LA Angels (54-90) and Colorado Rockies (55-88).
The Giants, Reds, Mets and Nationals have all been eliminated from winning their respective division titles, but remain mathematically alive in the hunt for a wild card playoff spot.
I am getting worried about whether my Phillies will make the playoffs. Currently the Phils have a 4-game lead over Arizona for the last playoff spot, with 6 games to play. That sounds pretty good.
But those 6 games? The Phillies are playing three against the Brewers (who currently have the best record in baseball), followed by three against Tampa Bay (who currently have the best record in the AL, and 3rd best overall). By contrast, Arizona gets three games against Colorado (worst record in baseball) and then three against San Diego--which, admittedly, is a decent team. And the Phils are playing at home while Arizona is on the road. That'll help. But advancing is not a sure thing.
Of course, if the Phillies should lose 6 straight at home, then they don't deserve to be in the playoffs.
The writing has been on the wall for a while, but now it is official: Toronto has been eliminated from the playoffs.
The AL West is a mess. There is a very good chance that the division winner will not have a winning record. Right now Houston and Texas are tied for the lead, with records of 78-80. And 4 games left. Unless one of them wins all of their final four games, the AL West champ will have a record of 81-81 or worse. And will have a playoff spot.
Houston’s four games are against the Athletics, who have a woeful record. Texas next game is against the Mets, then they finish with three against the Twins. None of these teams are setting the world alight, so anything is possible, although Houston must be favourites for the title and a play off spot.
It was ridiculous, but the Phillies made the post-season. They had a 4-game lead over Arizona for the last spot, with 5 games to play. And then the Phils proceeded to lose 4 straight. Scoring a grand total of 3 runs in those 4 games. And, in those 36 innings, managing to string together a 21-inning scoreless streak. All of which meant that it came down to the last game, played on Sunday. The Phils managed to get off the mat and win that one to finally secure admission to the playoffs, but it shouldn't have required us to wait that long.
Tomorrow the playoffs start with Philadelphia playing Atlanta in the first game of a Besy-of-3 series.
Sorry! Life has been so hectic of late that I have fallen behind on this thread.
So, to review the basics:
The Wild Card round is Best-of-3 format. Results: White Sox beat the Astros, 2-0; Yankees beat the Red Sox, 2-0; Padres beat the Cubs, 2-0; and Braves beat the Phillies, 2-1 (the only one of them to go the full three games).
The next round is the Not-Quite-Accurately-Named "Divisional Series," which is a Best-of-5 format. The Results So Far: Dodgers beat the Braves, 3-1; Brewers beat the Padres, 3-1; Rays beat the Yankees, 3-0. The final series is between the White Sox & Guardians, and the White Sox currently lead 2-1, with Game 4 tonight.
The round after this is the League Championship Round, Best-of-7 format. We know the NL Championship will be contested between the Dodgers and the Brewers (again). The AL Championship will be between the Rays and whoever wins the White Sox-Guardians series.
I just finished listening to the Guardians-White Sox game. I can't believe Cleveland used their game 5 starter to close out game 4. I mean, you do what you gotta do, but yikes.
Moving a little beyond this year. MLB is considering reducing regularly scheduled games from 162 to 154 per season by 1929. In addition, they are talking about making the playoffs go to best of seven and reducing pitching times. They think it will the payoffs more competitive.
This is if the players union will agree. The union contract is up for negotiation the end of this year. Look for the owners to shut out the union.
If they do shorten the season, it would be next to impossible to set anymore records, at least in the foreseeable future.
By 1929, eh? I will go out on a limb and predict the Philadelphia Athletics will beat the Chicago Cubs in the World Series that year. ;^) Also, I will predict the season will be 154 games.
I don't think it is so much that going with a 154-game season will make the playoffs more competitive--it is that thy will make the owners more money. It seems odd to say, but the regular season is not where owners make money, so 154 versus 162 is no big deal. The money is in the playoffs, so expanding the playoffs is Ka-ching!
Mind you, the World Series and League Championships are already Best-of-seven. The proposal is to expand the divisional series to 7 from 5.
But the big thing for negotiations will be whether there should be a salary cap. (Owners love it; players hate it). But it may be used as a bargaining chip.
I can't get too worked up about the 154-game season. As @Caissa indicates, the season used to be 154 games before it was expanded to 162. And a few people clutched their pearls over the records for that. That was the whole thing about the mythical asterisk next to Roger Maris' single-season home run record of 61. Babe Ruth hit 60--in a 154 game season; Maris hit 61 in a 162-game season.
The thing is, if a fan knows their baseball history and can look beyond the simple numbers, it doesn't matter. The fan can admire Ruth's 60 and Maris' 61 equally...as well as the marks set by Bonds (73); McGwire (70, 65); Sosa (66, 64, 63); and Aaron Judge (62)....while knowing the more in-depth stories behind those achievements.
I just finished listening to the Guardians-White Sox game. I can't believe Cleveland used their game 5 starter to close out game 4. I mean, you do what you gotta do, but yikes.
As it turns out, maybe they knew what they were doing! Gavin Williams closed out Game 4, then started Game 5 and pitched a no-hitter for 5 and two-thirds innings, while striking out 12!
The Guardians beat the White Sox 2-0, and they will advance to play the Tampa Bay Rays for the AL Championship.
There will be no "Threepeat" for the Dodgers this year, as the Brewers completed a four-game sweep of them out of the playoffs. On the last game, the Brewers came back from being 4 runs down!
I know, coming into the playoffs, there were several commentators who thought that the Brewers could win the NL Championship over the Dodgers, but I don't know of any who suggested that it could be done in four games straight.
So now the Brewers will wait for the winner of the AL Championship. Currently, the Guardians are ahead of the Rays, 2 games to 1.
I just finished listening to the Guardians-White Sox game. I can't believe Cleveland used their game 5 starter to close out game 4. I mean, you do what you gotta do, but yikes.
As it turns out, maybe they knew what they were doing! Gavin Williams closed out Game 4, then started Game 5 and pitched a no-hitter for 5 and two-thirds innings, while striking out 12!
Yes, this was very fun!
I too didn't expect the Dodgers to get swept, but I'm not at all surprised that they lost to the Brewers. Ohtani did get the one home run, but he hasn't been good for months, and the Dodgers lineup is on average the oldest in the league. They have a bunch of guys who have been extremely good but who are now on the down side of their careers.
If it's Brewers-Rays in the World Series, it will be the first time since 1980 that two teams who haven't won the World Series are competing. If it's Brewers-Guardians, it will be the Edmund Fitzgerald series -- the ship docked in both Cleveland and Milwaukee. (I read this on Bluesky so it must be true.)
Tampa Bay beat Cleveland 4 games to 2, so the World Series is now set between Milwaukee and Tampa Bay. As @Ruth points out, neither team has ever won the World Series before. The Milwaukee Brewers are in their 58th year of existence, while Tampa Bay are in their 29th season.
The Brewers last competed in the World Series in 1982 (before the Tampa Bay Rays even existed!) and Tampa Bay last played in the World Series in 2020.
The Seattle Mariners remain the only team in MLB to have never played in the World Series.
Comments
Strangely, no one feels bad for the Dodgers or us fans. 😁
It is not unusual for a manger to be fired from a struggling team, but firing the manager plus FIVE other coaches all at the same time is unusual.
In other news, the Phillies and Mets are tied for Worst Record In Baseball, at 9-19. They are the only two teams not to have double digits in wins. Remarkably, 28 games into the seasons, the Phillies have still not won a game when the opponent's starting pitcher is a left-hander! (I am referring to legit starting pitchers---not "bullpen games" when a relief pitcher starts the game for only an inning or two.) And yet it is Boston that fired their manager and all their hitting coaches....
I find the way the article written kind of interesting. The reporter (Todd Zolecki) describes Thomson as being the Phillies manager "with the highest winning percentage (.568) of any manager in franchise history in the Modern Era (since 1900). Thomson is only the second manager in Phillies history to guide the team to four consecutive postseason appearances..."
By contrast, in discussing Phillies' "president of baseball operations" Dave Dombrowski, Zolecki notes:
Those snarky comments about Dombrowski's free-agent signings being cut for millions of dollars "not to play" makes me feel that Zolecki thinks that Thomson should have been kept and Dombrowski fired. Maybe I am reading too much into it...but I don't think so.
In 2025, the six division winners were: Toronto, Cleveland, Seattle, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and LA Dodgers.
At the quarter post in 2026, only Cleveland and LA Dodgers are repeating as division leaders. AL East has Tampa Bay in the lead; NL East has Atlanta; NL Central is led by the Chicago Cubs; and (this is a shocker to me) AL West is led by Sacramento!
I was at the Blue Jays - Tigers game!
I am quoting myself here just to note that Larry Christenson died on August 28. Rest in peace.
Two teams have been officially eliminated from the playoffs: LA Angels (54-90) and Colorado Rockies (55-88).
The Giants, Reds, Mets and Nationals have all been eliminated from winning their respective division titles, but remain mathematically alive in the hunt for a wild card playoff spot.
On the other side of the coin, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays have both clinched playoff spots.
The Mets (69-81) and the Nationals (70-81) have both been eliminated from the playoffs.
Atlanta has clinched a playoff spot.
But those 6 games? The Phillies are playing three against the Brewers (who currently have the best record in baseball), followed by three against Tampa Bay (who currently have the best record in the AL, and 3rd best overall). By contrast, Arizona gets three games against Colorado (worst record in baseball) and then three against San Diego--which, admittedly, is a decent team. And the Phils are playing at home while Arizona is on the road. That'll help. But advancing is not a sure thing.
Of course, if the Phillies should lose 6 straight at home, then they don't deserve to be in the playoffs.
The AL West is a mess. There is a very good chance that the division winner will not have a winning record. Right now Houston and Texas are tied for the lead, with records of 78-80. And 4 games left. Unless one of them wins all of their final four games, the AL West champ will have a record of 81-81 or worse. And will have a playoff spot.
Tomorrow the playoffs start with Philadelphia playing Atlanta in the first game of a Besy-of-3 series.
So, to review the basics:
The Wild Card round is Best-of-3 format. Results: White Sox beat the Astros, 2-0; Yankees beat the Red Sox, 2-0; Padres beat the Cubs, 2-0; and Braves beat the Phillies, 2-1 (the only one of them to go the full three games).
The next round is the Not-Quite-Accurately-Named "Divisional Series," which is a Best-of-5 format. The Results So Far: Dodgers beat the Braves, 3-1; Brewers beat the Padres, 3-1; Rays beat the Yankees, 3-0. The final series is between the White Sox & Guardians, and the White Sox currently lead 2-1, with Game 4 tonight.
The round after this is the League Championship Round, Best-of-7 format. We know the NL Championship will be contested between the Dodgers and the Brewers (again). The AL Championship will be between the Rays and whoever wins the White Sox-Guardians series.
There! You are all caught up to date!
This is if the players union will agree. The union contract is up for negotiation the end of this year. Look for the owners to shut out the union.
If they do shorten the season, it would be next to impossible to set anymore records, at least in the foreseeable future.
Mind you, the World Series and League Championships are already Best-of-seven. The proposal is to expand the divisional series to 7 from 5.
But the big thing for negotiations will be whether there should be a salary cap. (Owners love it; players hate it). But it may be used as a bargaining chip.
I can't get too worked up about the 154-game season. As @Caissa indicates, the season used to be 154 games before it was expanded to 162. And a few people clutched their pearls over the records for that. That was the whole thing about the mythical asterisk next to Roger Maris' single-season home run record of 61. Babe Ruth hit 60--in a 154 game season; Maris hit 61 in a 162-game season.
The thing is, if a fan knows their baseball history and can look beyond the simple numbers, it doesn't matter. The fan can admire Ruth's 60 and Maris' 61 equally...as well as the marks set by Bonds (73); McGwire (70, 65); Sosa (66, 64, 63); and Aaron Judge (62)....while knowing the more in-depth stories behind those achievements.
As it turns out, maybe they knew what they were doing! Gavin Williams closed out Game 4, then started Game 5 and pitched a no-hitter for 5 and two-thirds innings, while striking out 12!
The Guardians beat the White Sox 2-0, and they will advance to play the Tampa Bay Rays for the AL Championship.
There will be no "Threepeat" for the Dodgers this year, as the Brewers completed a four-game sweep of them out of the playoffs. On the last game, the Brewers came back from being 4 runs down!
I know, coming into the playoffs, there were several commentators who thought that the Brewers could win the NL Championship over the Dodgers, but I don't know of any who suggested that it could be done in four games straight.
So now the Brewers will wait for the winner of the AL Championship. Currently, the Guardians are ahead of the Rays, 2 games to 1.
Yes, this was very fun!
I too didn't expect the Dodgers to get swept, but I'm not at all surprised that they lost to the Brewers. Ohtani did get the one home run, but he hasn't been good for months, and the Dodgers lineup is on average the oldest in the league. They have a bunch of guys who have been extremely good but who are now on the down side of their careers.
If it's Brewers-Rays in the World Series, it will be the first time since 1980 that two teams who haven't won the World Series are competing. If it's Brewers-Guardians, it will be the Edmund Fitzgerald series -- the ship docked in both Cleveland and Milwaukee. (I read this on Bluesky so it must be true.)
The Brewers last competed in the World Series in 1982 (before the Tampa Bay Rays even existed!) and Tampa Bay last played in the World Series in 2020.
The Seattle Mariners remain the only team in MLB to have never played in the World Series.