MLB Teams

Atlanta Journal-Constitution — The champagne is on ice.

Tomahawk Take — Home or Away?  That’s a big question coming into this season’s final 9 games, and it could be a bigger factor in the week thereafter. For the purposes of this effort, we are simply going to assume that the Atlanta Braves will be your NL East champions.  If somehow that fails to be the case, […] Atlanta Braves’ pitching splits might well be a factor for playoff roster spots - Tomahawk Take - Tomahawk Take - An Atlanta Braves Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Arodys Vizcaino was not available to the Braves out of the bullpen for Friday night’s game against the Phillies.

Pinstripe Alley — The Yankees scored early and often, but the bullpen kept the Orioles within reach Usually, 10 runs are enough to ensure a victory. When a club scores 10 runs against the worst team in baseball should feel like a cruise for nine innings. This was decidedly not a cruise. The Yankees took game one of the final home series of the regular season by a score of 10-8 over the Baltimore Orioles, who continue to be annoying even in defeat. Despite the close score, there was plenty of positives from the game. First and foremost was CC Sabathia’s performance. The veteran left-hander looked much more...

Baltimore Sun — The beginning of the Orioles’ final road trip of the season landed them at the one place they’ve actually played well this season: Yankee Stadium. But as this Orioles team limps to the finish of the franchise’s worst season, it opened a 10-game stretch Friday against three teams positioned for...

Baltimore Sun — The worst season in Orioles history is nearing the end, but for an organization that faces many obstacles to return to respectability, the rebuild is just beginning. This offseason will be a busy one, with Orioles decision makers determining the futures of many within the organization — most notably...

Bleed Cubbie Blue — ——

Bleed Cubbie Blue — Theo Epstein, Tom Ricketts and Joe Maddon all spoke to the press from Guaranteed Rate Field Friday afternoon. Theo Epstein, Tom Ricketts, and Joe Maddon all addressed the media after MLB placed Addison Russell on administrative leave Friday after his ex-wife Melisa Reidy published detailed domestic violence allegations on her blog on Sept. 19. In a split press conference that had Epstein and Ricketts address the press separately from Maddon, media asked Cubs leadership questions about MLB’s domestic violence investigation process, their conversations with Russell to date, and Russell’s...

Bleed Cubbie Blue — Go get ‘em, Jose.

Cincinnati.com — In five starts in September, Luis Castillo has allowed four runs.         

Red Reporter — Welp. The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game Luis Castillo entered play on Friday having had quite the good run of late. His 4 starts in the month of September had yielded 24.2 IP of 1.46 ERA ball, and he owned an impressive 29/7 K/BB ratio in that time. Stretch that back to his last 13 games starte since the beginning of July, and the story was quite similar: 73.2 IP, 2.93 ERA, 75/15 K/BB. In other words, it was pretty evident well before the Cincinnati Reds and Miami Marlins started tonight’s game that Castillo was on quite a roll, and against Miami - his former club, mind...

Cincinnati.com — The Reds entered Fridays game against the Marlins with a 63-73 record under interim manager Jim Riggleman.         

NESN.com — The wins just keep piling up for the Boston Red Sox. With Friday night’s 7-5 win over the Cleveland Indians... Read More »

Plain Dealer — Trevor Bauer, in his first start since Aug. 11, pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings Friday night against the Red Sox at Progressive Field.

Plain Dealer — With the playoffs approaching quickly, rookie pitchers Shane Bieber and Adam Plutko's roles for the American League Division Series remain uncertain.

Detroit Free Press — Detroit Tigers committed three errors in loss to Kansas City Royals        

Bless You Boys — Three errors by the Tigers put the Royals ahead early, keeping them from completing the late comeback efforts. After an offensive explosion Thursday night, the Detroit Tigers couldn’t get the bats going against Kansas City Royals starter Ian Kennedy, dropping the second game of the final home series 4-3. Francisco Liriano toed the rubber for the Tigers, and although he wasn’t great, his defense let him down multiple times to screw up his final line while Kennedy cruised through seven innings only allowing two earned runs. To no one’s surprise, Liriano struggled out of the gate to sit...

Bless You Boys — Martinez wants his final game to be in front of the home fans, not on the road. All season long, manager Ron Gardenhire has told the media and fans alike that he wants Victor Martinez to go out on his own terms. Well, that is certainly the case this weekend. Martinez told reporters on Friday that he will play his final game on Saturday at Comerica Park. Martinez said that he wants his final at-bats to be in front of the home fans. The Tigers will host an on-field ceremony to honor him before the game. While Martinez’s last few seasons haven’t exactly gone according to plan, he was a...

The Crawfish Boxes — Now that all minor league baseball has ceased, some of us have trouble finding that silver lining when the Astros lose, or when the A’s win. If the MLB team in Houston weren’t so great, we’d probably be spending a lot more time soaking up this hugely successful season. Even though he’s a consensus top 100 prospect (#41 on MLB, #47 on Fangraphs, #36 on MinorLeagueBall, #62 on BA preseason) there hasn’t been that much love for Yordan Alvarez. Perhaps we’ve grown skittish over left-handed, bat-first, LF/1b types. But Alvarez proved a lot in 2018, a fact that’s well worth...

The Crawfish Boxes — Come Join the discussion as the Astros try to close out the division against Mike Trout and the Angels in the last home series of the year. The Astros lead the AL West by 3.5 games with 10 games to go. If the Astros win and the A’s lose tonight the Astros’ magic number to clinch will be 5 games. They just dropped 2 of 3 games to the Mariners, the last by a score of 9-0, but the Angels come in after losing by the football blowout score of 21-3 to the Oakland A’s. Gerrit Cole hurls for the Stros, while the Angels send Andrew Heaney. Here’s tonight’s Astros lineup. ...

The Crawfish Boxes — It’s looking like the Astros will be facing the Indians in their first playoff round, and that might be particularly good news for Houston The end of the season is fast approaching, and it’s looking more and more likely that the Astros will not just be heading to the postseason, but that they will be facing the Cleveland Indians in the first round. Because MLB doesn’t seed playoff teams just by record, but rather, by the way they got into the playoffs then their record, the Astros would either need to pass the Red Sox in record or fall below the Athletics to change this. The former...

Los Angeles Times — It won’t be easy. If there are any lessons to be learned from watching the 2018 Dodgers, a team stocked with supreme talent and capable of producing acute irritation, it is that the route to a sixth consecutive division title will not be smooth. A sweep of Colorado this week cleared a path to capture...

Los Angeles Times — The Dodgers tossed a twist into their lineup Friday night against the Padres. Yasiel Puig was in it, playing right field and batting sixth, even though San Diego was starting left-hander Eric Lauer on the mound. Puig has been the hottest hitter in baseball over the past week. His go-ahead pinch-hit...

Los Angeles Times — The Dodgers have not issued jersey No. 34 since Fernando Valenzuela retired two decades ago. They have not retired his number, either. The Dodgers’ standard for retiring a number has been simple and unsparing. Your number can be retired only if you are in the Hall of Fame, with one exception, the...

Halos Heaven — On a Friday night, the Angels fared better than Thursday night. But it felt all the same. Story to come shortly.

Halos Heaven — Troutani, pad those stats.

OC Register — Trout hit his 37th homer, his fourth in his last five games. Although the Angels have been out of the race for months, Trout still figures to get some attention in the MVP race.

Florida Marlins Blog | South Florida Sun-Sentinel — They don’t hand out a Cy Young for best home pitching, but if they did, Wei-Yin Chen would be the runaway winner. On Friday night, the lefty pitched seven scoreless innings, while rookie Isaac Galloway delivered a 10th inning walk-off double to lead the Marlins to a 1-0 win over the Reds. The game...

Florida Marlins Blog | South Florida Sun-Sentinel — Reds at Marlins When/where: 7:10 p.m., Marlins Park, Miami On the air TV: Fox Sports Florida; Radio: 610-AM, 710-AM (Spanish) On the mound Marlins RHP Jose Urena (7-12, 4.21 ERA, 1.19 WHIP) vs. Reds RHP Anthony DeSclafani (7-6, 4.92, 1.31): Urena is making his his 30th start of the season, extending...

Florida Marlins Blog | South Florida Sun-Sentinel — In the first year of its rebuild and the team needing an infusion of young talent, the Marlins have a lot riding on the success of its most recent draft class. Miami had four picks in the first 90 selections of June’s MLB Draft, choosing outfielder Connor Scott, shortstop Osiris Johnson, catcher...

Brew Crew Ball — Time to exorcise those Pirate demons... If this were the baseball of my yoot, this would be the final game of the regular season. But it isn’t, so there’s still some serious work to be done for the Milwaukee Brewers (87-66), as they look to close the gap on the Chicago Cubs, who lead the Crew by 2.5 games and travel to the south side to face the White Sox this afternoon, and extend the gap over the St. Louis Cards (3 games) and Colorado Rockies (4.5 games). (Ed. - Chisox lead Cubbies 8-1 in the bottom of the seventh.) The Brewers’ foe will be their season-long nemesis Pittsburgh...

Brew Crew Ball — The Brewers have started their last road trip of the regular season. We look at that and more in today’s What We Learned. Wednesday’s Game: Brewers 7, Reds 0 Upcoming GamesFriday: Brewers @ Pirates | 6:05 pmSaturday: Brewers @ Pirates | 6:05 pmSunday: Brewers @ Pirates | 12:35 pm Magic NumbersPlayoff Spot: 6NL Central: 13 Elimination NumbersNL Central: 8 Brewers News and Notes Rejecting Ryan Braun’s apparent regressionKyle Lesniewski, BCB Series Preview: Milwaukee Brewers @ Pittsburgh PiratesJaymes L, BCB Building a roster for the Wild Card gameBen Reagan, BCB Here’s how you can...

Reviewing the Brew — Overall, this 2018 season for the Milwaukee Brewers has been a success as they find themselves on the brink of clinching a playoff berth. However, there is one team that the Brewers have had issues with all season, the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Brewers will finish off the season series between the two teams this weekend […] Milwaukee Brewers: What’s Behind The Struggles Against The Pirates - Reviewing the Brew - Reviewing the Brew - A Milwaukee Brewers Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

NorthJersey.com — Jacob deGrom on setting a record against the Nationals        

SNY TV — Jacob deGrom added another stellar start to his Cy Young resume, as he kept the Nats at bay in a 4-2 win down in Washington D.C. on Friday night.

New York Post — WASHINGTON — Jacob deGrom’s season and chase for the Cy Young Award now likely consist of one last start that could remove some of the stigma surrounding his candidacy. Based on Friday’s result — a 4-2 win over the Nationals in which deGrom received his first win in more than a month — the Mets’...

SNY TV — Yankees LHP CC Sabathia will return for the 2019 season.

Pinstripe Alley — The Yankees scored early and often, but the bullpen kept the Orioles within reach Usually, 10 runs are enough to ensure a victory. When a club scores 10 runs against the worst team in baseball should feel like a cruise for nine innings. This was decidedly not a cruise. The Yankees took game one of the final home series of the regular season by a score of 10-8 over the Baltimore Orioles, who continue to be annoying even in defeat. Despite the close score, there was plenty of positives from the game. First and foremost was CC Sabathia’s performance. The veteran left-hander looked much more...

River Ave. Blues — I wouldn’t wait around for that one to show up on Yankees Classics, folks. The Yankees opened the final home series of the regular season with an ugly 10-8 win over the Orioles on Friday, but a win is a win, and the magic number to clinch a postseason spot is down to two. Could […] The post Yankees 10, Orioles 8: Sometimes you have to outscore your own bullpen appeared first on River Avenue Blues.

www.thegoodphight.com — Give me one good reason not to. Actually, don’t. It’s already too late. “Please, Phillies. Please please please, just get out of this. Please, Phillies, oh god please.” It was the bottom of the seventh inning. The Phillies had squandered a three-run lead. Luis Avilan needed one more out to end the inning. Did the Phillies reward the begging of a 35-year-old woman talking to a TV? It’s over fam.— Did The Phillies Win (@didthephilswin) September 22, 2018 No. They did not. The Phillies lost 6-5 after climbing back to a 4-1 lead in the seventh. What can I even say anymore?...

Birds' Eye View | Philadelphia Inquirer — Pat Neshek gave up more earned runs in the seventh inning (four) than he had all season (three), and the Phillies moved to the precipice of being eliminated in the NL East race.

That Balls Outta Here — Could the Phillies take advantage of another team’s misfortunes? As the Phillies look to add talent and expand their payroll this offseason, the Kansas City Royals are planning on doing the complete opposite.  Jon Heyman of Fancred and MLB Network reports that the Royals expect to cut their payroll by $30-35 million this offseason. As […] Phillies: Can they take advantage of the Royals pending fire sale? - That Balls Outta Here - That Balls Outta Here - A Philadelphia Phillies Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — Their departures were two batters apart.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette — Hurdle’s message to Kuhl: “Look where [Jameson Taillon] is right now.”

Reviewing the Brew — Overall, this 2018 season for the Milwaukee Brewers has been a success as they find themselves on the brink of clinching a playoff berth. However, there is one team that the Brewers have had issues with all season, the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Brewers will finish off the season series between the two teams this weekend […] Milwaukee Brewers: What’s Behind The Struggles Against The Pirates - Reviewing the Brew - Reviewing the Brew - A Milwaukee Brewers Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More

SFGate — ST. LOUIS - The Giants have always played good baseball at the third iteration of Busch Stadium since it opened in 2006. They had met the Cardinals here 44 times, playoffs included, through last season. They won 22 and lost 22. Friday night's series opener mirrored that parity, even though one team holds a National League wild card and the other is playing out the schedule. The Cardinals settled their 5-3 victory with two outs in the in the eighth inning. Pinch-hitter Matt Adams squirted a ball between Evan Longoria and third base - St. Louis' hit of choice on this night - for a tiebreaking...

SFGate — ST. LOUIS — Giants first baseman Brandon Belt underwent surgery in San Francisco on Friday to clean up the articular cartilage and meniscus in his right knee, a procedure that he expected and should have him ready for spring training. Team orthopedist Dr. Ken Akizuki performed the surgery. Belt had had a similar operation on the same knee after 2015. Belt has said he needed four weeks to recover from that operation, but the medical staff plans to slow the rehabilitation now after a second operation on the same knee. The injury ended another incomplete season for Belt, who hit .253 with 14...

The Mercury News — Hitting coach Alonzo Powell inherited one of baseball's least productive offenses and met several unexpected challenges in his first year with the Giants.

The Seattle Times — The Mariners game was mercifully called after a 1-hour, 9-minute rain delay in the seventh inning with the Rangers prevailing 8-3.

Lookout Landing — Erasmo Ramirez and Friends vs. Connor Sadzeck and Friends The status of today’s game was in doubt up until first pitch, so please forgive the tardiness of today’s thread. The forecast is still pretty iffy so we’ll see how far they get into this one; rumor is they were moving high school football games in Texas, and if they’re messing with Friday night lights in Texas, that basically means the end times are upon us. Tonight’s lineup: #Mariners Gameday Info - September 21 at #Rangers. Lineups, Game Notes & More: https://t.co/0iNxwumVOv pic.twitter.com/55y6Fm5peO— MarinersPR...

The Seattle Times — Texas fired manager Jeff Banister on Friday afternoon. Wakamatsu will serve as the interim manager for the remaining 10 games and hopes to be a permanent replacement.

Tampa Bay Times — Mallex Smith has his moments in the outfield, but he can produce highlights. He made two dazzling catches Friday. On one he went running and sliding across the foul line; on the other he crashed into the rightfield wall. He left the game in the seventh.

Tampa Bay Times — TORONTO - The way the Rays played Friday - at least in the first eight innings, lesson learned, caveat required - seemed to provide the best answer on how, or even if, they could bounce back from the crushing loss the night before that all but ended their long shot run

Tampa Bay Times — TORONTO - After unleashing a Twitter rant criticizing umpire Andy Fletcher's work behind the plate Thursday, Rays OF Carlos Gomez doubled down on his comments, saying he was even more upset about how Fletcher treated him when questioning a third-strike call, then ejecting him.

SportsDay — ARLINGTON -- Don Wakamatsu joined the Rangers to work with Jeff Banister.On Friday, Wakamatsu replaced Banister.Wakamatsu will handle the club as interim manager for the duration and hopes to be considered for the job on a full-time basis for next season. His record for the final 10 games likely will not be a factor in the Rangers' decision. The Rangers went 14-8 with Tim Bogar as interim manager in 2014, but the job went to Banister."It's an emotional time for me,'' Wakamatsu said. "I'm still trying to process that right now. I'm really focused on the next 10 days and seeing how we can...

SportsDay — ARLINGTON -- Sometimes the best man for the job isn't necessarily the right one for the job.We bring this up in the wake of Friday's firing of Jeff Banister because the press released hadn't even been disseminated and a question about his possible successor was already on the cyber tongues of Rangers fans. Namely: "Will it be Michael Young?"Alas, no, it will not.Based on the current trend in major league baseball, you could probably not script a better candidate than Young. The trend is to hire book- and dugout-smart recently-retired players who had formidable major league careers, no...

SportsDay — ARLINGTON -- Alex Cora really wanted to manage the Rangers. So did Kevin Cash and Torey Lovullo.They lost out to Jeff Banister, whom Rangers general manager Jon Daniels hired out of a field of eight on Oct. 16, 2014.The Rangers fired Banister on Friday. Cash, Cora and Lovullo are steaming along in their rising managerial careers.Cash, with Tampa Bay, is a strong candidate for American League manager of the year. So is Cora, whose Boston club has won the American League East with the best overall record in his rookie season. Banister received the award after his rookie season with the Rangers...

Federal Baseball — Washington’s Nationals couldn’t get much of anything going against NL Cy Young hopeful Jacob deGrom, who completed another start with three runs or fewer allowed, his 28th such outing... Jacob deGrom lowered his ERA ever-so-slightly from 1.78 to 1.77 with a strong seven-inning outing in Nationals Park, holding Washington’s hitters to one run on three hits and the New York Mets’ ace and 2018 Cy Young contender extended his streak of outings in which he’s allowed three earned runs or fewer to 28-straight in what ended up a 4-2 win. Ross vs Mets: Joe Ross got his official return to...

Federal Baseball — Washington and New York play the second game of their four-game set in D.C. at 7:05 PM EDT with Joe Ross on the mound for the Nationals against Mets’ ace Jacob deGrom. FOLLOW: MASN 2; 106.7 the FAN in D.C. Next Game New York Mets at Washington Nationals September 21, 2018 7:05 PM EDTNationals Park Joe Ross vs Jacob deGrom WEATHER: Cloudy, 71° • D.C. Starting Lineup: 1. Victor Robles - CF 2. #Treange - SS 3. Run-Until-He's-Tagged, Tape-Measure-Testing, Laser-Throwing, Eyeblack-Oozing, Baseball Cyborg" (aka Bryce Harper) - RF 4. #RENDONISREADY - 3B 5. #JuanPursuit - LF 6. THE KIDS...

Federal Baseball — Davey Martinez’s Nationals try to even things up in the second game of four with the Mets in D.C. Davey Martinez’s Nationals had won seven of their last nine games which were decided by just one run before last night’s series opener with the New York Mets in Washington, D.C.’s Nationals Park, leaving them with an 18-23 record overall in one-run games this season. In the 5-4 loss to their divisional rivals, however, the Nationals were just 2 for 9 with runners in scoring position and nine left on base, struggling to get much of anything going against Mets’ lefty Jason Vargas...