the joy of sox

More 2026 Predictions and Projections (mlb.com, ESPN, SI, The Athletic, CBS Sports, FanGraphs)

2026-03-26T15:14:00.002-07:00

Here are some more incorrect 2026 predictions . . .

[Why can't they give the # of votes each team received, like ESPN does? I mean, they're counting the fuckin votes, anyway.]

AL East: Blue Jays
AL East baseball will not be for the faint of heart this year; it has the look of the most competitive division in the Majors. But ultimately, our voters expect Toronto to hang on to its division crown following its worst-to-first turnaround in 2025. . . . Others receiving votes: Yankees, Red Sox and Orioles

AL Central: Tigers
The 2025 season was still a pretty successful one for the Tigers, even after they squandered a 6.5-game lead in the AL Central over the regular season's final two weeks and limped into the playoffs as a Wild Card. . . . Others receiving votes: Royals

AL West: Mariners
Is it finally Seattle's time? The Mariners were nine outs away from their first pennant last season before everything went awry in ALCS Game 7 against the Blue Jays. But this might be the best roster they have fielded since their record-setting 2001 team, which won 116 games. . . . Others receiving votes: Astros, Rangers and Athletics

AL Wild Cards: Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles
Red Sox: Even though the Red Sox lost Alex Bregman via free agency, the inclusion of first baseman Willson Contreras and a full season of burgeoning star Roman Anthony could make this lineup more threatening than it was for much of last season's second half. Anthony, Wilyer Abreu, Ceddanne Rafaela and Jarren Duran make up one of the sport's best -- albeit crowded -- outfield groups. Boston's most noteworthy offseason moves were focused on the mound, however, as it stabilized the rotation behind AL Cy Young runner-up Garrett Crochet by trading for Sonny Gray and signing Ranger Suarez to a five-year contract. . . .

AL Champion: Mariners
The Mariners finally get over the hump and win the American League for the first time in franchise history, according to our voters. Seattle received more than twice as many votes as any other club to be the champions of the Junior Circuit. Others receiving votes: Yankees, Blue Jays, Tigers, Red Sox, Orioles and Rangers

NL East: Mets
Few teams experienced more roster turnover this offseason than the Mets. Change was needed in Queens after a three-month tailspin ended with the club missing the playoffs on the final day of the regular season. . . . Others receiving votes: Phillies, Braves and Marlins

NL Central: Cubs
The Cubs re-established themselves as legitimate contenders last season, snapping a four-year playoff drought and winning the franchise's first postseason series since 2017. The next challenge? Dethroning the Brewers, who have won three consecutive NL Central titles and sent Chicago home in last year's NLDS. Others receiving votes: Brewers and Pirates

NL West: Dodgers
This one shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. The back-to-back defending champions have won 12 of the last 13 NL West titles, only failing to do so in 2021 -- even though they still won 106 games. With an admirable combination of depth and star power, the Dodgers are well-suited to overcome any obstacle in their path . . . Shohei Ohtani is returning to being a full-time two-way player, and the four-time MVP expects to be in the Cy Young conversation.

NL Wild Cards: Phillies, Padres, Brewers

NL Champion: Dodgers
According to FanGraphs, the Dodgers are projected to win 96 games this season. The next closest team in the National League is projected for 88 wins.

World Series Champion: Dodgers
If they win another championship, the Dodgers will be just the fifth team to claim three titles in a row. . . . Others receiving votes: Mariners, Cubs, Mets, Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Phillies, Tigers and Rangers

ESPN

AL East: Yankees (16 votes), Blue Jays (8), Red Sox (6)
Despite the Blue Jays being the reigning AL champs, our voters favored the Yankees to win the division. What made New York the pick? . . . New York overhauled its roster over the course of last season, punctuated by a busy trade deadline. . . . The floor for this Yankees team is higher over 162 games as long as three-time MVP Aaron Judge stays healthy. . . . As for the Blue Jays, they had themselves a very busy offseason, adding Dylan Cease among others, but injuries to the rotation have already surfaced and Bo Bichette's departure is significant. . . .

The Red Sox shook off the Rafael Devers mini controversy and righted the ship last season to the tune of 89 wins. There's no reason they can't take the next step, possessing a well-rounded roster that also includes a really good top of the rotation in Garrett Crochet, Ranger Suarez and Sonny Gray. Not to mention Boston gets a full year of Roman Anthony. It's a sneaky good lineup behind him. The sum will be better than the parts for the Red Sox -- and the parts aren't shabby.
AL Central: Tigers (23 votes), Royals (6), Guardians (1)

AL West: Mariners (25 votes), Astros (3), Texas (1), Athletics (1)

AL Wild Cards: Blue Jays (21), Red Sox (19), Yankees (14)
Royals (10), Orioles (7), Astros (5), Mariners (5), Tigers (4), Texas (3), Athletics (1), Guardians (1)
Our voters view the three most likely wild-card teams to all be AL East teams. What does that say about the state of that division? It's the best division in baseball -- and largely has been this decade, with four different division winners in the past five seasons (only the Red Sox haven't won) and all five teams having playoff hopes. . . .
AL Champion: Mariners (15), Red Sox (6), Tigers (5), Yankees (3), Blue Jays (1)

NL East: Mets (16 votes), Phillies (13), Atlanta (1)

NL Central: Cubs (27 votes), Brewers (3)

NL West: Dodgers (29 votes), Padres (1)

NL Wild Cards: Brewers (18 votes), Phillies (17), Atlanta (14)
Mets (13), Pirates (11), Padres (8), Reds (2), Giants (2), Marlins (2), Cubs (1), Diamondbacks (1), Dodgers (1)

NL Champion: Dodgers (27 votes), Phillies (2), Mets (1)

World Series Champion: Dodgers (14 votes), Mariners (6), Red Sox (3), Tigers (2), Yankees (2), Phillies (1), Mets (1), Blue Jays (1)

AL MVP: Aaron Judge (11 votes), Bobby Witt Jr. (10), Roman Anthony (3), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (3), Cal Raleigh (1), Junior Caminero (1), Julio Rodriguez (1)

AL Cy Young: Tarik Skubal (14 votes), Garrett Crochet (11), Hunter Brown (3), Framber Valdez (1), Max Fried (1)

AL Rookie of the Year: Kevin McGonigle (12 votes), Munetaka Murakami (5), Carter Jensen (4), Kazuma Okamoto (4), Trey Yesavage (2), Samuel Basallo (2), Tatsuya Imai (1)

NL MVP: Shohei Ohtani (21 votes), Juan Soto (6), Ronald Acuña Jr. (2), Bryce Harper (1)
Ohtani would tie the record for most consecutive MVP awards -- four, held by Barry Bonds -- with another MVP win this season. Can anyone stop him from making more history? With Ohtani gearing up for a full season of pitching, it might be impossible, but let's throw out three players who could challenge him -- two of which were MVP picks by some of our voters. Acuña had an 8.4-WAR season when he won his MVP award in 2023. If he does that, he'll be in the vicinity of Ohtani (who had 7.8 WAR last year). Soto had a career high 7.9 WAR with the Yankees in 2024. If he's the best hitter in the league, he'll have a shot. And how about Paul Skenes? If he can get some run support and lead the Pirates to the playoffs, you never know.
NL Cy Young: Paul Skenes (23 votes), Cristopher Sanchez (4), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (3)

NL Rookie of the Year: Nolan McLean (11 votes), JJ Wetherholt (7), Konnor Griffin (6), Sal Stewart (4), Bubba Chandler (1), Justin Crawford (1)

Sports Illustrated

Red Sox: After a three-year playoff drought (tied for their longest in three decades), the resurgent Red Sox captured a wild card last season. Boston will now rely on a retooled rotation behind ace Garrett Crochet and a young offense that scored the seventh-most runs in the majors last year.

AL East
Blue Jays   95–67*
Orioles     91–71*
Red Sox     87–75*
Yankees     86–76*
Rays        73–89
*: postseason team
Red Sox: Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow seems to have the Red Sox on the right track. The veteran arms they've added greatly enhance their chances of advancing in the playoffs, and Alex Cora is one of just four active MLB managers with a World Series title.
Yankees: Fans are running out of patience with GM Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone. Cashman has won four World Series with the Yankees, but none since 2009 despite vast resources. New York has MLB’s third-largest payroll but little depth.

AL MVP: Julio Rodriguez, Mariners
AL Cy Young: Garrett Crochet, Red Sox
AL Rookie of the Year: Kazuma Okamoto, Blue Jays
AL Manager of the Year: Craig Albernaz, Orioles

NL MVP: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
NL Cy Young: Paul Skenes, Pirates
NL Rookie of the Year: JJ Wetherholt, Cardinals
NL Manager of the Year: Tony Vitello, Giants

Postseason Predictions

AL Wild Card
Tigers over Yankees in 3 / Red Sox over Orioles in 3

AL Division Series
Mariners over Tigers in 4 / Red Sox over Blue Jays in 5

AL Championship Series
Mariners over Red Sox in 6

NL Wild Card
Mets over Giants in 3 / Phillies over Brewers in 2

NL Division Series
Cubs over Mets in 5 / Dodgers over Phillies in 4

NL Championship Series
Dodgers over Cubs in 5

World Series
Dodgers over Mariners in 6

The Athletic

Keith Law:

It's an annual tradition: My column explaining why I think your favorite team isn't going to win as many games as you think they are.

These predictions are for fun, not a demonstration of my deep-seated loathing for your favorite team, and not the product of a sophisticated machine-learning algorithm to produce impeccable forecasts. I make it all up, and then I talk about it. (I do, however, rely on FanGraphs' projections as a starting point for several things here, especially some individual player projections, and this piece would be far harder without them.)

I've done this for 15+ years now, and the reactions are always the same — people look for what I said about their favorite teams and then yell at me about it. I got two division winners right last year, counting the Dodgers (who shouldn't even count as getting it 'right'), and a team I picked to finish last ended up two outs away from a championship. I did get the NL Cy Young Award winner right, at least, but that’s not a whole lot to write home about.

American League East: The Yankees lead baseball's most competitive division
Yankees     91-71
Orioles     88-74
Red Sox     87-75
Blue Jays   85-77
Rays        75-87
The Yankees led the American League in runs scored by a wide margin last year, and I expect them to lead the league again, although they are so dependent on Aaron Judge that even a modest injury to the soon-to-be 34-year-old MVP could have a dramatic impact on their fortunes. . . . The rotation is in decent shape to start the year, but it'll get better when Carlos Rodón and Gerrit Cole return later this spring from their elbow surgeries . . .
The Red Sox were aggressive this winter, adding three starting pitchers, a first baseman and another infielder, although it looks like the Red Sox agreed that Johan Oviedo wasn't actually an upgrade over Connolly Early, and I hate that they're moving Marcelo Mayer out of position in deference to Trevor Story's dead-cat bounce year. There's still a lot of upside across this roster, though, enough that I think they can overcome some of this roster churn and end up with 90+ wins in many scenarios. . . .

The Rays are dancing on the edge of disaster with their roster, with several starters I do not trust to throw 120 innings this year, a left fielder who has less power than a dead AirTag battery, a second baseman who can't seem to field, a center fielder who can't throw or get on base and I dare you to name either catcher on their 40-man roster. They have three good hitters, and their pitchers throw a lot of strikes. . . . [LOL]

AL Central: Tigers, by 5 games over Royals, Guardians, Twins, White Sox

AL West: Mariners, by 9 games over Astros, Texas, Athletics, Angels

NL East: Mets, by 4 games over Phillies, Atlanta, Marlins, Nationals

NL Central: Cubs, by 2 games over Pirates, Brewers, Reds, Cardinals

NL West: Dodgers, by 15 games over Giants, Diamondbacks, Padres, Rockies

CBS Sports

Four of five writers (Mike Axisa, Kate Feldman, Dayn Perry, Matt Snyder) pick Garrett Crochet for Cy Young winner. Alex Cora gets one pick (Perry) as Manager of the Year.

Feldman: I think Tarik Skubal will out-pitch Garrett Crochet but I also think Skubal will be traded at the deadline -- to a National League team (let's call it the Mets) so he'll be ineligible.

Snyder: Crochet can topple Skubal for the Cy too, and he wasn't far off last year.

FanGraphs

Projected Standings
W-L RS/G RA/G DIFF
Yankees 87-75 4.72 4.34 +0.38
Red Sox 86-76 4.55 4.27 +0.28
Blue Jays 86-76 4.64 4.36 +0.28
Orioles 84-78 4.83 4.61 +0.22
Rays 81-81 4.32 4.30 +0.02

Playoff Odds
W L
Yankees 86.6 75.4
Red Sox 84.8 77.2
Blue Jays 84.7 77.3
Orioles 83.5 78.5
Rays 79.8 82.2

Over 162 games, FanGraphs projects only a razor-thin margin of 1.9 wins to separate the top three teams and 3.1 wins to separate the top four teams. . . .

Every Game Counts.

2026 Red Sox W-L Contest Entries

2026-03-26T13:40:00.005-07:00

Here are the entries for this year's W-L contest:

               W-L   TEAM ERA
Paul H.       95-67     3.57
Benjamin B.   95-67     3.66
Rich G.       93-69     3.57
Jacob L.      92-70     3.43
Brett H.      92-70     3.45
Allan W.      92-70     3.75
Jeff M.       91-71     3.70
Eddie N.      90-72     3.69
Dave I.       90-72     3.90
Warren S.     90-72     4.50
Michael G.    87-75     3.62

There has almost always been a decent amount of optimism when it comes to the predictions. I note, however, that the Red Sox have not won 90+ games since 2021 (when they went 92-70 and lost the ALCS (2-4) to Houston), having secured 78, 78, 81, and 89 victories in the subsequent seasons.

The ERA guesses are all pretty similar, within 45 points of each other (eight of the 11 entries are within 27 points (3.43-3.70). I was curious how Boston had ranked ERA-wise since the pandemic season. Huge improvement since 2023.

Red Sox ERA, 2021-25

         ERA    AL    MLB
2021    4.26     7     15
2022    4.53    14     25
2023    4.52    11     21
2024    4.04     9     17
2025    3.70     2*     4*
*: tied

2026 Predictions and Projections: Lindy's Baseball Preview

2026-03-25T21:18:00.003-07:00

From Lindy's 2026 Baseball Review:

AL East Projected Finish

Blue Jays
Orioles
Red Sox
Yankees
Rays

AL Division Winners: Blue Jays, Royals, Mariners
AL Wild Cards: Orioles, Red Sox, Tigers
AL Champion: Mariners

NL Divisions: Atlanta, Brewers, Dodgers
NL Wild Cards: Cubs, Phillies, Padres
NL Champion: Dodgers

AL MVP: Julio Rodriguez, Mariners
AL Cy Young: Garrett Crochet, Red Sox
AL Rookie: Samuel Basallo, Orioles
AL Rookie Pitcher: Payton Tolle, Red Sox
AL Manager: Matt Quatraro, Royals

NL MVP: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
NL Cy Young: Hunter Greene, Reds
NL Rookie: JJ Wetherholt, Cardinals
NL Rookie Pitcher: Nolan McLean, Mets
NL Manager: Walt Weiss, Atlanta

RED SOX

After missing the playoffs each year from 2022-24, the Red Sox have started moving in the right direction. Things were touch-and-go at times last year, but in the end, a pitching staff led by two major acquisitions and a burgeoning core of young position players carried boston to a postseason berth. Garrett Crochet and Aroldis Chapman are back to lead the rotation and bullpen, respectively, while even more homegrown hitters will be looking to make their mark in 2026.
The starting rotation is in a terrific spot, featuring what could be the best one-two punch in the league; facing Crochet and Sonny Gray on back-to-back days will be exhausting for opposing lineups. Alongside that top-end talent, the Red Sox have significant depth, including several MLB-ready (or near-MLB-ready) starters stashed away in the minors. Their bullpen is similarly loaded for the late innings, though the bridge from their starters to their back-end arms could be treacherous.
The outfield was this team's biggest strength last season, and it should be a strong point again, replete with athletic defenders and powered by Roman Anthony's thunderous bat. The infield is less predictable, as the Red Sox will be counting on injury-prone players to stay healthy and promising youngsters to progress. Ultimately, if the offense is going to be meaningfully better than average, at least one player in the infield mix has to exceed expectations.
More broadly, how far the Red Sox will go in 2026 hinges on how far their numerous breakout candidates will take them. This is a good team as-is, but for the Red Sox to be great, they need some new contributors to achieve greatness; it's not going to be thrust upon them.
Starting Pitching: Crochet was seen as something of a risk when the Red Sox added him last winter, but he quickly proved to be one worth taking. After signing a six-year extension, Crochet firmly established himself as a top-three pitcher in the sport. The paradoxical Sonny Gray (even his name connotes both youth and age) has been on the injured list 12 times in a 13-year career. Yet, since his debut, no MLB pitcher has started more games. The 36-year-old should be an excellent deputy for the ace 10 years his junior. With Brayan Bello, Kutter Crawford, Patrick Sandoval and Johan Oviedo, the Red Sox have a surplus of starters with mid-rotation credentials. . . . In a best-case scenario in which all six starters are healthy, either Crawford or Oviedo could be optioned to Triple A or placed in the bullpen. In a more realistic scenario, the Red Sox won't have the luxury of stashing anyone in the minors or the arm barn, but they'll be glad they stockpiled depth. Boston has further depth in the form of Peyton Tolle and Connelly Early. . . . Both will probably start the year in the minors, but few teams have such exciting options so far down the Opening Day depth chart.
Relief Pitching: Who ever sold old closers can't learn new tricks? Aroidis Chapman issued walks at the lowest rate of his career in 2025, and he did so without sacrificing velocity. While he did throw more strikes, what really helped was a massive increase in swings outside the zone. . . . Garrett Whitlock returns as Chapman’s set-up man. Moving to the bullpen full time was just what the injury-prone right-hander needed, and leaning more on his changeup should help him reach even higher heights. Justin Slaten . . . stuff looked just as good in his sophomore season, but the stats won't back that up: his strikeout rate plummeted, and he struggled to strand runners as a result. Aside from that trio, Alex Cora's circle of trust isn't wide. Greg Weissert has been effective in a low-leverage role, while Jordan Hicks will look to regain his triple-digit velocity now that his flirtation with starting is over.
Catching: Carlos Narváez was barely on anyone's radar before he earned an everyday role for the Red Sox in his rookie season. He'll be looking to prove his emergence was no fluke. A strong defender, his balanced (if unremarkable) skill set at the plate should allow him to be something like a league-average catcher. Connor Wong lost his starting job to Narváez in a disappointing 2025 campaign. He's yet to show any above-average skills at the big-league level . . .
Infield: New first baseman Willson Contreras has a swing that should generate lots of balls off the Green Monster, but he hits it too low (and runs too slow) to get the most out of his new home. There will be many long singles, and few added home runs. Trevor Story played the first full season of his Red Sox tenure last year, and while he hit 25 homers and stole 31 bases, his defense wasn't what it once was. . . . Marcelo Mayer has the inside track on third base. The highly touted prospect looked overmatched as a rookie, flashing plus bat speed (74.1 mph) on his swings but whiffing on far too many. His glove should be fine in the long run, though he needs to hone his instincts to compensate for a mediocre arm. The presumptive second baseman is Kristian Campbell, another prospect who struggled in the majors. His power, theoretically his defining trait, was AWOL, and his defense was disastrous. Romy González and Ceddanne Rafaela can also cover the keystone, but the lefty-mashing González has no business facing righties, and Rafaela's elite outfield glove would be wasted on the dirt.
Outfield: Roman Anthony already looks like his team's best hitter, and he still has room to grow. His power numbers were low in his rookie season, considering how hard he hit the ball, and he'd do even more damage with a less passive approach. On top of everything he does at the plate, he's a talented fielder as well, and he'll join Ceddanne Rafaela, Jarren Duran and Wilyer Abreu to form the best defensive outfield rotation in the majors. Rafaela's superhuman jumps enable him to cover swaths of ground in center field. His bat is weak, but his speed helps him reach base just enough to wreak havoc once he's there. Duran and Abreu are strong fielders themselves, with above-average bats to accompany their gloves. . . . The Red Sox could free up more playing time by moving on from Masataka Yoshida. Like Anthony, Duran and Abreu, Yoshida bats left-handed; and he's the worst defender of the bunch. Trading or cutting him would free up DH reps for whichever of Anthony, Duran and Abreu isn't playing the field.
Designated Hitter: Yoshida is the de facto DH, but he hasn't proved he deserves those at-bats over teammates like Anthony, Abreu, Duran and González. His contact skills thrived in Japan, but MLB pitching has limited his power and tested his discipline.
Organization/Management: None of Boston's top baseball people came away from last year's Rafael Devers drama looking great, but a strong second-half showing earned . . . some goodwill from their fanbase. Craig Breslow has already made several splashes in his brief tenure as chief baseball officer. Now, he needs the on-field results to confirm he committed to the right players — and the right manager. Breslow didn't hire Alex Cora, but the executive quickly gave the skipper he inherited his full support, extending Cora through the 2027 campaign.
This season, Cora will be tasked with finding playing time for all his guys; helping top prospects (and recently graduated top prospects) reach their ceilings; and keeping a pitching staff full of aging and injury-prone arms healthy. As for Breslow, he's likely going to have to make some tough decisions about who to keep and who to part with. The Red Sox have possible logjams at several positions, and fans will certainly expect a more active trade deadline.

YANKEES

The Yankees bounced back from their worst season since the early 1990s with a trip to the World Series in 2024. They weren't quite as successful in 2025 . . .
The pressure on the pinstripes will be unrelenting. Two of their top hitters, Judge and Stanton, are in their mid-30s while two more, Chisholm and Grisham, can be free agents after the season. None of Fried, Cole and Carlos Rodón is younger than 32 . . . The Blue Jays, Red Sox and Orioles all have younger cores, and Brian Cashman's payroll advantage isn't what it once was. . . .
Starting Pitching: Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón will miss the start of the season, while Clarke Schmidt will spend most (if not all) of it recovering from Tommy John surgery. That leaves a top four of Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Luis Gil and Will Warren to open the year. . . . Warren, Schlittler and Gil are pitchers the Yankees want competing for back-end roles, not comprising the middle of their rotation. Gil was worryingly hittable . . . His velocity was down, and his strikeout rate paid the price. . . . Warren made a commendable 33 starts, but he wasn't dominant. . . . Cole is coming back from Tommy John surgery in March, and Rodón had loose bodies removed from his elbow in October. . . .
Relief Pitching: . . . Setting up for Bednar will be Camilo Doval and Fernando Cruz. Doval reintroduced his sinker last year, when his cutter couldn't cut the mustard . . . Neither the cutter nor the sinker stands out like they did when Doval could touch 102 mph . . . Veteran sinkerballer Tim Hill will be the go-to lefty, while Jake Bird and his breaking balls are a promising work in progress.
Catching: . . . There was a time when [Austin Wells] looked like a bat-first backstop, but . . . he hasn't proved he's anything more than average when he's standing at the plate instead of crouching behind it. . . .
Outfield: It wouldn't be enough to call Judge the backbone of the Yankees’ offense; he's more like the whole skeletal system. . . . [He] has scored or driven in 23.1 percent of his team's runs over the last four seasons. . . . Trent Grisham look a chance on himself by accepting a qualifying offer . . . His career numbers say he's due for regression, as does his lopsided 34:9 home runs-to-doubles ratio. . . . Jasson Dominguez shows power potential . . . but the player he's been is a mediocre hitter with a lot to learn in left field. . . .
Designated Hitter: Giancarlo Stanton is 36 and hasn't played a full, healthy season in eight years. . . .
Organization/Management: No longer are the Yankees the Evil Empire that wildly outspends the rest of the league. . . . No manager in Major League Baseball faces more criticism than Aaron Boone, but the Yankees' skipper has the backing of the front office. That has inevitably led to chirping that it's really Cashman calling the shots in the dugout. The simplest explanation is that Cashman hired a manager whose opinions align with his own.

Everyone Loves A Contest #32: 2026 Red Sox W-L Record

2026-03-22T13:49:00.002-07:00

The 2026 Red Sox begin their regular season this Thursday in Cincinnati – so it's time for the annual Red Sox W-L Contest!

Guess the Red Sox's 2026 regular season W-L record and you will win a copy of The Baseball 100, Joe Posnanski's 2021 best-seller. (If you already own this book, you can choose a different book.)

Tiebreaker: Anthony Castrovince (mlb.com) ranks the Red Sox as the #4 best pitching staff in mlb. FanGraphs' projections have the Red Sox's starters leading both leagues in pitching WAR. So . . . what will the team's regular season ERA be?

Entries must be emailed to me before the first pitch on Thursday, March 26. Please include:

1. Red Sox 2026 regular season record
2. Red Sox team pitching ERA

Remember: Happiness is a warm puppy . . . and pictures of sad yankee fans.

WS 7: Dodgers 5, Blue Jays 4 (11)

2025-11-02T01:20:00.010-07:00

UPDATED! . . . WORDS! . . . PICS! . . . TYPOS! (probably)

Dodgers   - 000 101 011 01 - 5 11  0
Blue Jays - 003 001 000 00 - 4 14  0

It was only the sixth World Series Game 7 to need extra innings. And it ended up being one of the most memorable Game 7s of all time.

How the Los Angeles Dodgers, down by two runs with only eight outs remaining, rallied to tie and eventually win the game (and the World Series) in eleven innings, while also snuffing out three harrowing potential rallies in the final four innings, any one of which could have given the Toronto Blue Jays its first World Series championship in 32 years, was improbable, astonishing, and anxiety-producing and exhausting even for fans with no serious stake in the outcome.

After wishing dearly that all the hopes and dreams of Blue Jays fans would be crushed into dust before their disbelieving eyes, by the time the tenth inning began tonight, I no longer felt that way. I felt truly bad for Blue Jays fans, maybe even had some compassion. To witness the unprecedented ending of Game 6, when the ultimate victory seemed so close, they could almost surround it with their arms and never let it go, and then have to sleep and gear up for yet another game, that was bad enough. But the torture was only beginning. Forgetting the Dodgers pulverizing hopes and dreams. The Blue Jays ground up their own fan base, forcing them to witness events so brutal, they should qualify as extreme emotional abuse. More than a few of those fans may never recover.

While the Dodgers enjoyed their on-field celebration, as their families ran onto the field to join them, Sportsnet showed many shots of stunned Blue Jays fans, who had watched Mookie Betts glove Alejandro Kirk's ground ball, step on second base, and throw to Freddie Freeman at first to end the game, and simply collapsed into their seats, staring blankly out at the field. I saw one young person with his mouth open in apparent astonishment 15 minutes after the game had ended.

One picture will stay with me for a long time. A young boy with red-orange hair was standing, his head face down on the dugout. He wasn't moving. His father stood beside him, his hand gently on his son's back. Had he been in that position since the final out, about five minutes earlier? The camera lingered; the boy never even twitched. Sportsnet finally cut away. How old was this kid? We never saw his face, even when the camera returned a few minutes later. Now he's being hugged by his father, who seems to be speaking softly, consolingly, to him. At some point, the boy had lifted his head and been enveloped by his father's arms, and I know – I know – he never opened his eyes and risked seeing the celebration on the field.

He could be ten years old. He's just old enough to care – to really care about the Blue Jays for the first time – and this is what fuckin happens. This is what happens to an innocent child when, for maybe the first time in his life, he allows his tender, untested emotions to be put on the line. He didn't decide to do that, of course; he didn't even realize it had happened. But at some point over the summer, an investment was made. He unknowingly gave himself over to something very powerful that he had absolutely no control over. He understood nothing of the depth of his investment or the range of possible consequences. How could he, at ten years old? I didn't fully understand it when it hit me like a battering ram at the age of 40. You can't understand it until after you go through it. You never see the emotional cost coming. The Blue Jays lost many games throughout the season – 75, by the time Game 7 began – but this one was nothing like any of the others. This is pain of a magnitude that will shock you. You probably told yourself they might lose tonight, but that's no protection. There is no barrier against any of the worst pains of life. There will be others, though none of them will have anything to do with baseball (not any more). . . . You'll never see any of them coming – you'll be utterly defenseless. Sorry, kid.

[I found the second picture online (there are a few variations), but not the first. No identifications. After trying 15 or so different search strings, I took a picture of my computer screen. Rewatching it, I would have sworn the camera was more elevated and seemingly further away.]

Let's start in the eighth inning. Both teams had scored a run in the sixth, the Dodgers cutting Toronto's lead to 3-2 and the Blue Jays restablishing their two-run cushion in the bottom half.

Shohei Ohtani had been a bust on the mound (2.1-5-3-2-3, 51). After throwing 43 pitches in two innings and leaving the bases loaded in the second, should he have come out for the third? A Dodgers fan messaging with my partner Laura throughout the World Series said, in real time, no fuckin way. Dave Roberts didn't listen. Springer single, Lukes sac bunt, Guerrero BBI, Bichette three-run homer (442 feet to dead center).

The Dodgers' ability to string together hits for a multi-run rally had vanished several games ago. And it was absent from this game, too. LA got a run when Smith doubled to start the third. Scherzer had given up a single to Ohtani to start the game but retired the next nine batters. I thought Smith's double had hit the wall in left-center above Varsho's glove, but the replay showed the ball landed inside his glove and caromed out. Freeman singled and Smith played it safe, stopping at third. Betts popped to right and Muncy walked, loading the bases. Teoscar H. lined a ball to center and Varsho made a sterling catch diving forward towards the infield. Smith tagged and scored. Edman then lined a shot down towards first, heading for the right field line, but Guerrero dove to his left, snaring the ball and sliding across the foul line chalk. It was one of several exceptional plays for Guerrero in this game.

LA scored another run on a sacrifice fly in the sixth. Betts walked and took second on Muncy's liner to right. Teoscar forced Muncy at second and Betts scored from third on Edman's fly to center. As mentioned, Toronto matched that run in the home half. Clement singled to left, setting a record with 29 hits this postseason (usual caveats about the numerous rounds of the postseason). He stole second without a throw and came home on Gimenez's double to right-center.

T8: The Dodgers got one run closer on Max Muncy's one-out home run to right. The Blue Jays now led 4-3.

B8: That pesky fucker Clement doubled to left-center, his 30th hit of this postseason, off Sheehan. Snell entered the game (and was the third LA starter to pitch in this game, after Ohtani and Glasnow (both went 2.1 innings); there would be one more). After some mound grooming by the grounds crew, Snell got to work. Gimenez, after trying to bunt the runner to third, smoked a liner right at Muncy who was on the infield grass and made the catch. Springer fanned on three pitches and pinch-hitter Schneider also went down swinging.

T9: It's 11:10 in Toronto, the Blue Jays are three outs from a championship, Jeff Hoffman is on the mound, and Skydome is rockin'. Kike Hernandez lunges after a 1-2 slider out of the zone and strikes out. Those splitters and sliders must be extraordinarily enticing because none of the Dodgers hitters have been able to stop chasing them all night. Two outs to go. Miguel Rojas, the man who recorded the final out of Game 6 at second base, battles Hoffman: swing/miss, ball, ball, foul, foul, ball – and then a drive to left that carries over the fence (387 feet) for a game-tying home run! Ohtani has been hacking at everything all night and he drives the first pitch to the edge of the track in left for the second out. Smith looks at two strikes, then watched four balls sail outside – Wait! Plate umpire Jordan Baker blows the final call, ringing Smith up and ending the inning. One of many shitty calls by Baker, whose incompetence is altering the course of the ninth inning of Game 7, for fuck's sake. Manfred allows this to happen year after year after year after year . . . but, hey, teams will be allowed to challenge two pitch calls per game next year. TWO! Thank you, oh benevolent commissioner.

B9: Snell returns to the mound and goes to 3-0 on Guerrero. Vlad swings at the next one and drives it to deep center, where Edman catches it just in front of the warning track. (I attended many games at Skydome and Jays fans are notorious for truping themselves on anything hit in the air. A pop-up to short right is greeted off the bat with the same excitement as a 450-foot blast. The fans never learned to either wait a second before reacting or to simply watch the outfielder. They got fooled soooooo many times in Games 6 and 7.) Bichette lines a single to left and after hobbling to first, leaves for pinch-runner Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Umpire Baker blows a 2-1 call to Barger, putting the count at 2-2 instead of 3-1. Barger ends up walking on nine pitches. And here comes last night's starter: Yamamoto! After throwing 96 pitches to 23 batters in Game 6, what will he have here? How long will he go? No one has even an inkling of a clue.

Yamamoto's second pitch to Kirk comes inside and drills Kirk on the right arm. The Dodgers challenge the call, but the replay makes the HBP obvious. (The benches and bullpens emptied in the fourth when Gimenez was hit with the third pitch thrown up around his melon by Wrobleski. Some players were pissed off at opposing players, but it appeared to have nothing to do with the HBP. Anyway, that incident seems like it was many hours ago, not five innings.) With only one out, Toronto has the bases loaded and the WS-winning run at third. The Dodgers pull Edman and put Andy Pages in center. All of the outfielders are extremely shallow and the infielders are on the grass of the infield. There was a mound meeting, but the infielders all know the only play on a ground ball is a force at the plate. Varsho grounds a 1-2 splitter to second baseman Rojas. The ball is hit fairly hard and Rojas staggers back a step, but has time to set himself and fire the ball to Smith at the plate, retiring IKF for the second out. Clement is next.

Yamamoto throws a low curveball and Clement clocks it to deep left-center. The fans are certain this game is over. The outfielders were not playing at a normal depth, so Kike is sprinting from left and Pages is coming hard from center. For a brief moment, it looks like Kike might try to catch the ball over his shoulder on the warning track (which would be an eye-popping play). Instead, Pages (listed at 6-1) leaps and appears to slightly hip-check Kike (5-11) out of the way before making a great catch and crashing into the wall. Kike is laying in the dirt at the base of the wall. Pages knows it's the third out, so he checks on his teammate. I imagine Kike asking, "Did you catch it?", knowing that if the answer is "No", then he plans to stay here for a while. But the answer is "Yes!", and we see Kike turn his face to the field, he's smiling, and he starts getting to his feet. Skydome is as silent as a tomb. The tenth inning cometh.

T10: I've already deduced, from my experience watching the "one-game doubleheader" in Los Angeles (so is this really Game 8?) that I'll be hoping the Dodgers score in the top half and if they don't, I'll be terrified at the possibility the Jays might win it all in the bottom. What I really want, of course, is lots of scoreless innings (no trick-or-treaters tonight and it's not even 8:30 PT), when both managers will be forced to finally call in their actual relievers to get outs. Maybe it will get so late Mookie will pitch. (If any player could be considered as a likely candidate to play all nine positions in a game, it's Mookie.)

I recall some games that have a furious amount of activity in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings, but once they go into extras, both teams relax and the game's rhythm slows to a calm cruising speed for a few innings before everyone re-engages with the game. Maybe this game will be like that. (It won't, of course.)

The Blue Jays bring in Hoffman to face the middle of the Dodgers order. Freeman flies to left. Betts walks on five pitches. Muncy singles up the middle on a 2-2 fastball. Teoscar sees seven pitches (bcsbfbb) and walks. Bases loaded. This threat ends in a much calmer fashion than the Jays' in the previous half-inning. Pages grounds into a 6-2 force. Kike grounds the ball to Guerrero's right. He dives to grab it, then spins arounds quickly and tosses the ball to Sir Anthony, who does a little stutter-step with his feet at the bag. An out call is made, and the Dodgers challenge it. I found it impossible to tell if the call was right as the play happened. The first two replays leave me in the dark. The call is upheld and I finally see Dominguez first put his right foot forward to the bag, but it did not quite reach, so he quickly pushed his left foot forward to get the out.

B10: Yamamoto has a clean inning. It's an absolute rarity in this game. It's the only frame in which the Blue Jays are retired in order; the Dodgers had only two: the second and third against Scherzer. Out of what will be 22 half innings, in 19 of them someone bats with someone on base. Over 13 pitches, Gimenez grounds to second, Springer strikes out, and Straw flies to right.

T11: Game 4 starter Shane Bieber is Toronto's seventh pitcher of the game, ready to face LA's 9-1-2 hitters. Rojas grounds to third. Clement charges onto the grass and makes a superb run-and-gun for the first out. Ohtani hacks at the first pitch (again!) and hits a routine ground ball to IKF at second for Out #2. Two outs on three pitches; the Jays fans like it. (Ohtani saw only 15 pitches in his six plate appearances: 4-1-3-5-1-1. Interestingly, the 4 and 3 were singles, the 5 a walk. The three 1s were outs.) Weird Factoid: The last six WS champs have each had a Will Smith on the roster. Not the same Will Smith, of course. There are two: a pitcher and a catcher.) Here, the catcher clubs a 2-0 slider that's down the heart of the plate over the wall in left for the first extra-inning home run in a winner-take-all World Series game. The Dodgers have hit three solo home runs in the last four innings and have their first lead of the night, 5-4. Freeman grounds out to shortstop.

B11: When the Blue Jays were two outs away from a World Series trophy back in the ninth, their win probability was 91.3%. As they prepared to bat in the bottom of the eleventh, that probability was down to 19.4%, producing in the Toronto fans the queasing feeling of a rollercoaster or being on an airplane that suddenly starts plummeting to the ground. The Dodgers made a couple of substitutions, bringing in better gloves at second and in center. Yamamoto began his third inning on the mound. Guerrero led off, and although his bat had cooled off a bit, I could certainly imagine him cranking one here. Vlad took two balls down and away and two strikes at the belt. Yamamoto missed with a splitter inside (full count,) and then went back to the same spot with a fastball. Guerrero lined it into the left field corner for a double. Kiner-Falefa dropped a bunt on the third base side. It did not roll far. Yamamoto made a nice play, getting to the ball and then firing a seed to first to nip the runner. The Jays were back in what was becoming a common situation: an important runner at third and only one out. Yamamoto proceeded to walk Barger on four pitches, with only the first one being close (just off the outside black). Now a double play was a possibility. It was now up to the chubby, fire-hydrant-shaped Kirk, who stands at 5-8 and was 8-for-25 in the World Series, .320. The always placid Yamamoto threw three pitches well within the zone: a cutter (fouled off), a curveball (called strike), and a splitter (a broken-bat grounder to shortstop). Betts moved to his left to get the ball, chose to keep on running to the bag rather than flip the ball to Hyeseong Kim, stepped on the bag and fired to first. Freeman recorded the out well before Kirk crossed the bag – and for the Blue Jays, the end comes at 12:18 a.m. in Toronto.

The Dodgers are the 2025 World Series Champions, and their journey to the trophy over the last few days was the most improbable and treacherous path possible. They are the first major American sports team to repeat as champions in a quarter-century (the 2000 MFY). It's the longest span without a repeat champ in MLB, NBA, NHL, and NFL history.

The Blue Jays gave themselves so many chances to score runs, so many baserunners (14 hits, 5 walks, and 2 HBP in this game alone), put themselves in numerous great positions to score, yet they failed over and over and over, to a ridiculous degree.

In Game 7, they left 14 men on base and managed only three hits in 17 (!) chances with runners on second and/or third. In the final four innings, the Jays had five chances to bring home a runner from second and four chances with a runner on third – and they failed all nine times.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto – the man who started Game 6 and finished Game 7 – was named the Most Valuable Player of the series.

Yamamoto:

. . . is the ninth pitcher to pitch in a postseason game the day after pitching at least six innings.

Art Nehf WS 1924 G6-7 0.2 IP, 4 BF
Grover Alexander WS 1926 G6-7 2.1 IP, 7 BF (Save)
Lefty Grove WS 1930 G4-5 2.0 IP, 8 BF (Win)
Schoolboy Rowe WS 1934 G6-7 0.1 IP, 3 BF
Max Lanier WS 1943 G4-5 1.1 IP, 7 BF
Vic Raschi WS 1952 G6-7 0.1 IP, 4 BF (Hold)
Orel Hershiser NLCS 1988 G3-4 0.1 IP, 1 BF (Save)
Randy Johnson WS 2001 G6-7 1.1 IP, 4 BF (Win)
Yoshinobu Yamamoto WS 2025 G6-7 2.2 IP, 10 BF (Win)

. . . faced the most batters and recorded the most outs of that select group.

. . . is the first pitcher to win three games in a single WS since Randy Johnson did it against the Yankees in 2001.

. . . is the first pitcher in major league history to record three wins on the road in a World Series.

. . . is the fourth pitcher to record a win in both Games 6 and 7 of a World Series (Ray Kremer 1925, Harry Brecheen 1946, Randy Johnson 2001), but he is the first to get both of those wins on the road.

WS 6: Dodgers 3, Blue Jays 1

2025-11-01T15:00:00.002-07:00

G1: Blue Jays 11, Dodgers 4
G2: Dodgers 5, Blue Jays 1
G3: Dodgers 6, Blue Jays 5 (18)
G4: Blue Jays 6, Dodgers 2
G5: Blue Jays 6, Dodgers 1
G6: Dodgers 3, Blue Jays 1
G7: ?

Dodgers   - 003 000 000 - 3  4  0
Blue Jays - 001 000 000 - 1  8  0

The last World Series to that needed a Game 7 was in 2019, when the Nationals beat the Astros 6-2. The home team lost every game in that series. Since then, the World Series has been completed in six, six, six, five, and five games.

Max Scherzer was the starting pitcher for the Nationals in that Game 7 on October 30, 2019. He will be the starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays tonight in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series.

The Dodgers won Game 6, at Skydome in Toronto, by a 3-1 score. The bottom of the ninth inning was both remarkable and bonkers. Roki Sasaki was beginning his second inning of work. The Dodgers had just left the bases loaded in the top half of the eighth, missing a chance to pad their lead and remove a lot of drama from the next two innings. Sasaki had struggled with his control and needed 25 pitches to get through the eighth inning, giving up a leadoff single and a one-out walk (a seven-pitch battle against Guerrero) before stranding both runners.

The importance of the bottom of the ninth was emphasized by the fact that Sportsnet did not go to commercial, using the mid-inning time to set the stage for the Blue Jays' final chance to tie the game.

Sasaki got two strikes on Alejandro Kirk before coming up and in and hitting on the left ar, just above the wrist. Myler Straw pinch-ran. Sasaki alternated between fastballs in the zone and splitters away to Addison Barger, establishing a 2-2 count before lifting a fly ball to deep left-center. The ball landed at the base of the wall and stuck under the padding.

Dodgers centerfielder Justin Dean, who had taken over at the start of the inning, immediately indicated the situation to the umpires, who agreed the ball had been stuck. The hit was ruled the equivalent of a ground-rule double. Straw would have scored easily from first, but was sent back to third. The Blue Jays challenged the call – and it certainly looked like Dean could have grabbed the ball and thrown it in. It had not disappeared under the wall. Dean made a split-second decision to argue the ball was stuck, knowing a runner on first would be awarded only two bases. The original call stood, and Toronto's second run was taken off the board.

Even after this bit of bad luck, the Blue Jays had runners at second and third, with the potential World Series-winning run in the batters box. A single could tie the game. I cannot imagine many (if any) of the excited Blue Jays fans in attendance believe the team would not at least tie the game, if not outright grab the championship within minutes.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts brought in Game 3 starter Tyler Glasnow, who began warming up as the inning began. Glasnow faced 22 batters on Monday and now it was Friday and he had to get out of this extremely jam.

Ernie Clement had singled and doubled in his last two at-bats and was hitting .360 (9-for-25) in the series. Andrés Giménez would next and then it was back to the top of the order with George Springer (who was 2-for-4 and had driven in Toronto's third-inning run). Glasnow's first pitch, a sinker, ran up and in on Clement's hands and he popped up to first. One pitch, one very big out.

Giménez looked at a very high curveball for ball one. Glasnow threw the left-handed batter an outside sinker, which Giménez hit towards shallow left field. It seemed like it could be a single, but the ball was not going to drop in. But Kiké Hernández had it played perfectly. He was running in and, in one fluid motion, caught the ball and threw to second base. Barger desperately dove back to the bag, but he had been just a little too far away.

The throw came in on one hop. Second baseman Miguel Rojas had his left foot on the base and he recoiled a bit to glove the ball. Barger's hand was only a few inches from the bag. This play was not close. His momentum knocked Rojas on his ass; by the time the infielder had rolled over and was on his knees, he was already yelling and celebrating. The out call was made – a game-ending double play – a Game 7-creating double play – and the Dodgers had won.

Mookie Betts took flight. He suddenly appeared in the camera shot, sailing through the air towards Hernández, who had kept running to the infield, and now happily caught his shortstop. (Betts, mired in a 3-for-24 WS slump, drove in the Dodgers' second and third runs with a two-out single in the third inning. They were his first RBI since NLCS 3.) Several "Fuck Yeahh!!!s could be heard on the Fox broadcast, thanks to those microphones in the bases.

It was the first time a postseason game ended with a 7-4 double play.

ALSO: It was not the first time in this postseason that Hernández had made this exact (double) play. In the third inning of NLCS 3 against the Brewers, Hernández came sprinting in on a similarly-hit ball, made the catch, and fired a perfect, one-hop throw to first, doubling off Blake Perkins of the Brewers. The athleticism of that play – to make a perfect throw from that far away, while running hard – was (and is) absolutely astonishing.

AJ Cassavell (mlb.com) wrote a great recap and has some analysis along with Hernández's version of events:

This was an all-timer of a finish, largely made possible by Hernández. Let's start with the positioning, which was perfect:
Hernández played Giménez 272 feet deep – a whopping 26 feet shallower than the average for left fielders against left-handed hitters this season.
To some extent, that's because of Giménez, who isn't much of a power threat. On average, left fielders started at just 285 feet against Hernández, ranking 151st of 158 lefties (min. 200 PA from the left side).
Hernández himself clearly likes to play shallow, also averaging 285 feet against lefties (ranking 107th of 119 left fielders).
Still, Hernández crept even further than all of those averages. That's mostly just the way he's been playing Giménez all week. Hernández had averaged a starting point of 273 feet against Giménez (which was a full 24 feet closer than the Dodgers' other left fielders in this series).
"With Glasnow's stuff, I was anticipating him hitting the ball to the left side of the field," Hernández said. "I was playing shallow, tying run on second base. I just wanted to make sure that if he got a hit through the six-hole, I was going to be shallow enough to keep the tying run that was at second base, keep him at third."

Hernández's positioning was perfect. So was the play itself. Hernández still needed to cover some serious ground – 52 feet in 3.4 seconds to be exact. His read off the bat was exquisite. Hernández got the best jump imaginable to make a catch Barger never saw coming.

"I was pretty surprised he got to it," Barger said. "Off the bat, I thought it was going to get over the shortstop's head. I didn't think it was going to travel that far. It was kind of a bad read. Obviously, I was too far off the base. … I was being too aggressive."

Per Statcast, Hernández's jump was 7.3 feet better than the league average (with jump defined as feet covered in the correct direction within the first 3 feet after the ball was hit). If Hernández's jump is any worse, it's possible he still makes the catch. But he almost certainly isn't able to double up Barger.

Which brings us to the final part of the play – one that shouldn't be overlooked. Hernández did his best to get the ball out of his glove as quickly as possible. The throw was accurate – but it came with an in-between hop.

"I was coming in full speed, so I didn't want to really throw hard, because I was probably going to throw it over his head," said Hernández.

Added Rojas: "When he threw the ball to second, I said, 'No way this ball is getting past me.'"

Indeed, Rojas put the finishing touches on the play – and Game 6. He planted his left foot on the bag, then let the ball travel past him, which gave him additional time to read the hop. He squeezed the ball in his glove, a split second before Barger's left hand hit the bag.

The Dodgers poured out of the dugout as Rogers Centre settled into a hushed silence.

And so tonight's Game 7 -- with Max Scherzer and Shohei Ohtani as starting pitchers -- will determine who gets to call themselves the champions of baseball for 2025.

Toronto's Blue Jays Game 6 starter Kevin Gausman began the evening with an absolutely unhittable splitter than the Dodger batters could not stop chasing. Gausman struck out the side in the first, two more in the second, and three in the third. He retired the Dodgers in order in five of his six innings.

Gausman was the first pitcher to strike out the side in order in a World Series first inning since Blake Snell (2020 WS 6 for Rays against Dodgers). It was the 12th occurence in a World Series game. It was also the first time Gausman struck out the side in the first inning of any game since July 22, 2023.

Gausman's eight strikeouts in the first three innings tied the record for a World Series game. Cleveland's Corey Kluber fanned eight Cubs in the first three innings of 2016 WS 1.

The lone inning in which Gausman (6-3-3-2-8, 93) gave up all of his hits, all of his walks, and all of his runs, was the third, and it ended up being the difference in the game. And all that occurred with Gausman receiving significant help from the plate umpire.

Adam Hamari was calling balls and strikes and he rung up Kiké Hernández for Gausman's first out on a 2-2 slider that was too far outside. Tommy Edman lined a first-pitch double into the right field corner. Then Hamari called a strike 3 on Rojas on a 2-2 fastball that was below the bottom of the strike zone. That was the second out. Ohtani was intentionally walked. Will Smith drove a 1-0 pitch into the left field corner for a run-scoring double. Freddie Freeman fouled off a pitch and then took four balls out of the zone, two of them low and two in the dirt. Bases loaded. Betts, on 1-2, lashed a single to left, scoring two more runs.

The Jays got one of them back in the bottom half, against Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Barger doubled down the left field line; the ball took two hops before caroming off the jut of the box seats into short left. Clement striuck out and Giménez grounded to second, moving Barger to third. George Springer attacked a 3-0 cutter, singling to right-center and bringing home Barger.

The Blue Jays had men on base all night long, but it usually happened with one or two outs.

1st: Lukes one-out single, Guerrero GIDP 5-4-3.
2nd: Jays retired in order.
3rd: Barger leadoff double, Springer two-out single.
4th: Bichette single with one out, Varsho GIDP.
5th: Clement two-out single, Giménez F8 (deep left-center).
6th: Guerrero two-out double, Bichette walk, Varsho struck out.
7th: Clement two-out double, Giménez struck out.
8th: Springer leadoff single, Guerrero one-out walk, Bichette PF6 (long run by Betts), Varsho 4-3.
9th: Kirk leadoff HBP, Barger double, Clement pop up to first, Giménez hits into 7-4 DP.

Yamamoto (6-5-1-1-6, 96) pitched only six innings – and everyone in Toronto was glad to see him go. Roberts went with Justin Wrobleski to face the bottom of the Blue Jays' order in the seventh. It paid off. Kirk struck out and Barger grounded to second (a high chopper on which Rojas was forced to field barehanded and make a quick throw). Clement doubled to left-center and Giménez struck out.

Sasaki worked for his outs in the eighth, stranding two runners. Then came the ninth. . . . And now comes Game 7.

Scherzer will be the oldest starting pitcher in a winner-take-all World Series game. It will also be his record-setting ninth winner-take-all game that he has pitched in, in any role.

In best-of-seven series with the current 2-3-2 format, teams that have won Game 6 in order to force a game 7 have won that series 35 of 56 times (62.5%)

When the Game 6 winner has forced a Game 7 on the road, that road team has won the series 14 of 22 times (63.6%)

Max Scherzer will be the fourth pitcher to start multiple World Series winner-take-all Game 7s, joining Bob Gibson (3), Lew Burdette (2), and Don Larsen (2).

If Louis Varland pitches in Game 7, he will set a new record of 15 appearances in a single postseason.

Most total bases in a single postseason
2020 Randy Arozarena: 64 (20 games)
2025 Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: 56 (18 games, so far)

Most hits in a single postseason

2020 Randy Arozarena: 29

2025 Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: 28

2025 Ernie Clement: 26

2014 Pablo Sandoval: 26

WIll Blue Jays Win First Title In 32 Years Or Will Dodgers Rebound And Force Game 7?

2025-10-31T17:09:00.004-07:00

The 2025 Major League Baseball season began in Tokyo, Japan, and it will end in Toronto, Canada. This is the first time a season has both begun and ended outside the United States. The Dodgers won way back on March 18 and they hope to win both tonight and Saturday night, and repear as World Series champions.

Los Angeles trails in the series 2-3 and are calling upon Yoshinobu Yamamoto to stifle the Toronto Blue Jays' bats, while simultaneously hoping to break out of their recent hitting slump. The Dodgers are hitting .201/.296/.354 in the World Series. (In Games 4 and 5, LA is 10-for-61 (.164), with eight singles .)

The noodle bats abound: Mookie Betts (.130, 3-for-23), Max Muncy (.150, 3-for-20), Kike Hernandez (.211, 4-for-19, zero walks, 10K), Tommy Edman (.143, 3-for-21). . . . The only Dodgers batting over .238 are Teoscar Hernandez (.318, 7-for-22), Shohei Ohtani (.316, 6-for-19, 2 doubles, 3 home runs, 7 walks) and Freddie Freeman (.250, 5-for-20, 4 walks (.400 OBP)).

Teams in the Blue Jays' position (breaking a 2-2 tie by winning Game 5 on the road in a 2-3-2 series) have won the series 74.1% of the time.

The 2025 Dodgers have lost their last two games and need to win their next two games. How often did the pattern LLWW appear in their schedule? Twelve times:

April 7-11, 12-15, 23-27
May 18-21, 24-27
June 6-9
July 9-13, 26-29
August 12-16, 22-25
September 15-18, 21-25

Yamamoto has been superb in his brief postseason career (two seasons). In six of his eight postseason starts, he's allowed two earned runs or fewer. He comes into Game 6 having thrown two consecutive complete starts, against the Brewers in NLCS 2 (9-3-1-1-7, 111) and against the Blue Jays in Game 2 (9-4-1-0-8, 105) of this series. 18 innings, 7 hits, 1 walk, 2 runs, and 15 strikeouts. (I'll mention his other WS start, in Game 2 last October, because he shut down the Yankees (6.1-1-1-2-4, 86).

Also: In the last 55 years, only three pitchers have thrown three complete games in a postseason: Luis Tiant (1975), Orel Hershiser (1988), Curt Schilling (2001).

Toronto will send Kevin Gausman to the hill, who was on the losing side in Game 2 (6.2-4-3-0-6, 82). The Blue Jays have a ton of momentum, winning Games 4 and 5 in Los Angeles after losing in 18 innings in Game 3. George Springer is back atop the lineup. (This may be limited to Sportsnet, but I have seen a pro-Jays commercial that puts Springer's seventh-inning, lead-grabbing, three-run homer against Mariners in ALCS 7 on par with Joe Carter's World Series-winning blast against the Phillies in 1993. Nonsense.

2025: The Mariners held a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh of Game 7. The Blue Jays' win probability was at 22%. The inning unfolded against Bryan Woo thusly: Addison Barger walk (29%). Isiah Kiner-Falefa single (39%). Andres Gimenez sacrifice bunt (37%). Eduard Bazardo replaced Woo. Springer homered to left (77%), giving Toronto a 4-3 lead (win probability increased by 40%). The Mariners retained a win probability of 26% as they began the top of the eighth. They trailed by one run and would come to bat for at least two more innings. At the start of the ninth inning, their win probability had dropped to 17%. I don't know how many 2025 games in which the winning team began the ninth inning with a 17% win probability, but I'll bet it's over 30. Unfortunately, the Mariners went down in order in both innings.

1993: Carter's shot off Mitch Williams came in Game 6 (which I watched in the Brooklyn apartment of a hardcore Phillies fan; I don't know where Carter was when the TV was shut off, but he hadn't touched home plate, that's for sure), not a decisive Game 7. Even if the Blue Jays had lost that game 6-5, there would have been another game the following night. Toronto led 5-1 after six innings (94%), thanks to a strong performance from Dave Stewart (6-2-1-3-2, 99). But Stewart also faced three batters in the seventh and the Phillies went walk, single, home run (Dykstra, 69%). Another run in that inning tied the game 5-5, dropping the Blue Jays' likelihood of a win at 37%. And it kept dropping: 26% (end of 7), 32% (mid 8), 17% (end of 8), 21% (mid 9). With Mitch Williams on the mound: Henderson walk (35%), White F7 (22%), Molitor single (34%), Carter home run (100%). The play added 66% to Toronto's win probability.

And it fuckin won the World Series. Which is a much bigger deal than winning a pennant and getting the chance to play in the World Series. Springer's home run was a hell of a moment for Blue Jays fans, especially for those fans born after Carter's heroics, which thus have been relegated to "history".

Does David Ortiz's game- and series-winning home run against the Angels on par with either of his game-winning hits against the Yankees in the ALCS? No. Of course not.

Out of curiosity, I looked at those three games.

ALDS 3: Boston begins B10 at 66%. Rodriguez pitching, Damon single (73%), Bellhorn bunt-FC (65%), Reese pinch-run, Manny K (57%), Washburn pitching, Ortiz home run (100%). Added 43%.

ALCS 4: Boston begins B12 at 66%. Quantrill pitching, Manny single (73%), Ortiz home run (100%). Added 27%. (Extra: Roberts' steal in the ninth added 25%!)

ALCS 5: Boston began B14 at 66% (this is standard in the middle of an extra inning; WP is at 50% after each full extra inning). Loaiza pitching, Bellhorn K (59%), Damon walk (65%), Cabrera K (57%), Manny walk (62%), Ortiz single (100%). Added 38%.

In this case, the order of importance of those hits (ALCS 4, ALCS 5, ALDS 3) is in reverse proportion to their value, according to win probability.

Trey Yesavage has left his mark on this postseason:

Yesavage has eight major league starts on his resume. Five of those came in this postseason. He is the first major league pitcher to make even three postseason starts within his first eight games and the first pitcher in history to start multiple World Series games within his first eight career games.
Yesavage's 12 strikeouts in Game 5 set a World Series record for rookie pitchers, surpassing Don Newcombe (11 Yankees, 1949 WS 1). Yesavage issued no walks, becoming the first pitcher to strike out 12+ and not walk anyone in a World Series game.
Yesavage struck out each batter in the Dodgers' starting lineup at least once. He's the third starting pitcher in World Series history to do that, joining Bob Gibson (1968 WS 1, Tigers) and Randy Johnson (2001 WS 2, Yankees).
Yesavage got the Dodgers to swing-and-miss 23 times, the most by a pitcher in a World Series game since pitch tracking began eighteen years ago (2008).
Yesavage has two of the seven postseason games in which a rookie struck out 11+ batters. (He struck out 11 Yankees in ALDS 2.) He's the first rookie in postseason history with multiple 10+-strikeout games and the first to do so before his 23rd birthday.
Yesavage became the second pitcher in World Series history with 10+ strikeouts in the first five innings. He joined Sandy Koufax (1963 WS 1, Yankees).
Yesavage is the second pitcher to have a 10+K postseason game in his career, joining Gerrit Cole. Yesavage is the first to it twice in the same postseason (i.e., his "career").
Yesavage made only three MLB starts before this postseason and did not record 10 strikeouts in any of them. He's is the first pitcher in history to have his first two career 10+ strikeout games in the postseason. He has more strikeouts in the World Series (17) than in the regular season (16).
Yesavage became the youngest pitcher with 10+ strikeouts in a World Series game (22 years and 93 days). Smoky Joe Wood of the Red Sox was 22-349 when he struck out 11 Giants in 1912 WS 1.
Yesavage is the third-youngest pitcher with 10+ strikeouts in any postseason game. The previous two: John Candelaria (21-335, 1975 NLCS 3, 14 K vs Reds) and himself (!) (22-69, 2025 ALDS 2, 11 K vs Yankees).

Happy Halloween!

WS 4: Blue Jays 6, Dodgers 2WS 5: Blue Jays 6, Dodgers 1

2025-10-29T23:00:00.003-07:00

Blue Jays - 002 000 400 - 6 11  0
Dodgers   - 010 000 001 - 2  6  0

Blue Jays - 200 100 210 - 6  9  0
Dodgers   - 001 000 000 - 1  4  0

Now that the Dodgers' starting pitching has come back down to Earth and the Blue Jays are proving that every spot in their lineup can contribute at any time, I'm finding it difficult to imagine a scenario in which the American League champions lose two consecutive games in Toronto.

The Blue Jays seem to have everything lined up to win their first World Series title in more than 30 years. The Toronto franchise is playing in its third World Series -- and it leads the Dodgers 3 games to 2 games. In the previous two, the Blue Jays beat Atlanta 4-2 in 1992 and the Phillies 4-2 in 1993. If they win on Friday night at Skydome, they will beat the Dodgers 4-2.

After the exhausting brilliance of Monday's 609-pitch marathon, the greatest game I have seen in a very long time (perhaps since the other 18-inning World Series game back in 2018), the next two games were standard contests between two good teams. Similar scoring in the first three innings, a lead-expanding rally by Toronto in the seventh, and a general feeling that the Dodgers have lost . . . something . . . cohesiveness, perhaps. They have not presented themselves as a unified team at the plate for the last two nights, that's for sure. Los Angeles is 10-for-61 (.164) in Games 4 and 5. Of those 10 hits, eight are singles. They have gone 0-for-6 with RATS. Their three runs were driven by a solo home run, a fly out, and a ground out. In Game 5, the Dodgers has as many hits as wild pitches (four).

In Game 4 on Tuesday, the Blue Jays faced the possibility of trailing 1-3 in the series and knowing they might be forced to watch the Dodgers repeat as World Series champs with 50,000 of their fans. Shane Bieber (5.1-4-1-3-3, 81) allowed a run in the second inning due to a momentary loss of control. A four-pitch walk to Max Muncy, a single to right (on a 2-1 pitch) by Tommy Edman, and a sac fly to from Kiké Hernández gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead. The Blue Jays answered immediately against Shohei Ohtani in the third. With one out, Nathan Lukes, atop the lineup with George Springer out with "right side discomfort", singled and Vladimir Guerrero hammered a sweeper over the wall in left-center for a lead-grabbing two-run homer.

Bieber allowed only two baserunners over the next three innings -- a single in the third and a walk in the fourth -- and both of those came with two outs. He pitched a clean fifth but left a bit of a mess in the sixth. Freddie Freeman singled off Guerrero's glove at first for a single. Will Smith lined out to center and Teoscar Hernández singled to center. Mason Fluharty (who allowed a .157 average to lefty batters this season) came in to face LH-hitting Max Muncy -- who lifted the first pitch to left center for the second out. Edman, a switch-hitter, opted to bat righty, and struck out on three pitches.

Excited by that escape, perhaps, Toronto batted around in the seventh against three Los Angeles pitchers. Ohtani threw only three pitches before being lifted, but allowed a single to Daulton Varsho and a double off the left-center wall to Ernie Clement. Anthony Banda took over. It was during Andrés Giménez's eight-pitch at-bat that my Telus connection to Sportsnet dropped out and sputtered off and on until things cleared up in the bottom of the eighth.

Gimenez singled to left to give the Jays a 3-1 lead. Isiah Kiner-Falefa lined out to third and first base umpire Adam Hamari said Muncy's throw to first doubled off Giménez. The Dodgers challenged the call at first and Hamari's call was overturned. Ty France batted for Lukes and brought Clement in with a groundout to second. Guerrero was walked intentionally and Blake Treinen came in to pitch with Toronto up 4-1 and runners at first and second with two outs. As Ohtani had done to begin the inning, Treinen allowed two hits in a span of three pitches. Bo Bichette singled to deep left to score Giménez and Addison Barger grounded a single past shortstop to bring Vlad home. Alejandro Kirk lined out to right to end the inning. Blue Jays 6-1.

Toronto continued getting baserunners, stranding men at second and third in the eighth and first and second in the ninth. Los Angeles went in order in the seventh and had a leadoff single in the eighth wiped out on a double play. Teoscar H. walked to begin the ninth, went to third on Muncy's double to right, and scored on Edman's grounder to third. Louis Varland struck out Kiké H. and then intentionally balked Muncy to third to stop him from giving info about the catcher's positioning to the batters. The distraction having been dealt with, Varland retired Alex Call on a line drive to left.

The main story of Game 5 was Trey Yesavage (7-3-1-0-12, 104), who was as dominating and as impressive as he was against the Yankees in Game 2 of the ALDS, back on October 5. In that game, he pitched 5.1 no-hit innings and recorded 11 of his 16 outs "by way of the K". Facing the Dodgers in hostile territory, Yesavage became the youngest pitcher (22 years, 93 days) to have 10+ K in a World Series game. (Of his eight major league starts in 2025, five came in this postseason.)

The other story was David Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero beginning the game with two solo home runs, which had never before occurred in a World Series game. Schneider belted Blake Snell's first pitch to left, estimated at 373 feet. Guerrero looked at a called strike before also clearing the left field wall, at an estimated 394 feet. Three pitches and Toronto led 2-0. The Blue Jays also challenged a double play call and had it overturned (Jordan Baker blew the call at first this time), but could not take full advantage.

Yesavage retired the first seven batters (including five in a row) before Kiké H. got ahold of a fastball at 93 and homered to left (407 feet). It was barely a speed bump for Yesavage, who fanned three of the next four batters, and gave up only two infield singles and an HBP over the next 4.2 innings.

Varsho tripled to right to begin the top of the fourth. Teoscar H. did not have a chance to catch sinking liner and should have played it safe. Instead, he went into a dive and the ball skipped by him. Varsho tagged and scored on Clement's line out to center. Snell issued a walk, but struck out the next two. He also began the fifth with a walk, but a double play took care of the runner.

LA manager Dave Roberts trule trusts only a few bullpen arms, so he sent Snell out for the seventh at 93 pitches. Barger singled to the opposite (left) field, the ball sailing through the spot normally occupied by Muncy, who was playing the batter to pull. IKF attempted to bunt twice before Snell wild-pitched the runner to second. IFK grounded out to shortstop. Giménez worked an eight-pitch walk. After a mound conference, Schneider stepped in. Snell (6.2-6-5-4-7, 116) got two called strikes, then threw three balls (one of which was another wild pitch), before a swinging strikeout. Snell threw the most pitches in the seventh inning: 15-11-19 21-12-14 23 = 116.

Edgardo Henriquez, who was impresive with 101/102 heat in Game 3, had nothing tonight. Facing Guerrero, he went to a full count before walking him with a wild pitch that scored Barger and moved Giménez to second (where he would have been anyway because of the aforementioned walk). After a called strike to Bichette, Henriquez threw three balls (inside, away, very high) before the Son of Dante singled to right, bringing in Toronto's fifth run. Henriquez then issued a four-pitch walk before Banda got the final out (the first ball was actually a strike but the next three were: in the dirt, well outside, and up at sasahe height).

Clement led off the eighth with a single, took second on a Banda wild pitch and scored on IKF's single through the 5/6 hole into left.

As for Yesavage, he stranded two runners in the fourth, and retired the side in order in the fifth and sixth. He began the seventh with a K before Teoscar H. singled. Edman batted from an 0-2 count to 3-2 but hit into a 5-4-3 double play.

Seranthony Domínguez had an easy eighth. A first-to-pitcher ground out, a strikeout, a walk (during which plate umpire Alan Porter blew the calls on consecutive pitches), and a line out to first. Jeff Hoffman gave up a leadoff single to start the home ninth, but the runner went no further. A fly to left and two strikeouts ended the game. Describing the pitches to the last two hitters would consist of repeating the phrase "down and away" over and over, like Jim Garrison in a court room. And that's today's Ser Story.

So . . . I fuckin cannot stand Buck Martinez. His extremely nasal voice should make him a very popular target of impressionists, but he calls Blue Jays games in Canada, so no one gives a shit. Both Buck and Ron Shulman slipped up and acted professionally during Game 3, probably because both teams were so evenly matched and the game was so tense and constantly amazing, they forgot their roles as mindless shills for the Jays. I had to mute the TV several times during Game 4 and grind through a few other rough spots.

On nights I worked, the game was muted on my computer, but my partner Laura was watching Sportsnet and being tortured. She said they both had given up any pretext of neutrality and were gushing non-stop over the Blue Jays like a couple of ignorant fans in the stands. When they weren't mindlessly polluting the airwaves by repeating every worthless, overused cliche you can think of, they were busy spinning everything that happened on the field as a "win" for the Blue Jays. Even when the Jays did something that was clearly not ideal (like swinging at pitches way out of the strike zone), they argued that, no, it was great because blahblahblahblah. I kind of wanted to go back and re-watch a bit with the sound on, but I never did. (I'm amazed at people who listen to the fascists on US television (either the shameless propaganda channels or from shitposters in government) and transcribe and report on what they say. A younger me would love to work at a place like Media Matters, but I couldn't do that kind of work.)

The two dongs to start the game clearly super-charged their inanity muscles and I scribbled some of the worst examples in the first two or three innings.

Shulman, T1: "They can't wait to get to the ballpark." (Players on other WS teams avoid going to the park for as long as they can.)

Shulman, T2: He seemed truly astounded that between the ALCS and WS, Barger flew home for the birth of his third child. The ALCS ended on a Monday and the WS did not start until Friday. The more amazing thing is that the timing worked out for the Barger family, not that Barger flew round-trip from Toronto to Florida. Depending on where he lives, the flight is between three and four hours. He wasn't going to fuckin New Zealand for fuck's sake (which could take 22+ hours).

Martinez, T3: "Who does this better than Kirk?" He went gaga over Kirk fouling off a 2-2 pitch in the dirt. Here's a small example of a bad decision being presented as great. Kirk's foul kept the count at 2-2, but not swinging at a pitch off the plate and very close to the ground would have improved the count to 3-2. Kirk then swung and missed the next pitch and ended the inning. No one does it better!!

Martinez, B3: Buck also praised ALL of the Jays hitters for running up Snell's pitch count. He threw 45 pitches in the first three innings. Snell was not sharp, but the sooner the Jays got into LA's bullpen, the better, right? Probably. But after two innings, Yesavage had thrown two more pitches than Snell (27-26) and one more pitch after three (47-46). Yesavage's pitch limit was far more strict that Snell's, so in fact it was the Dodgers that were doing a better job of rushing the opposing pitcher out of the game.

Shulman, T4: "It's only the fourth inning, but that run [putting Toronto up 3-1] seems very big . . ." It turns out that Dodgers' run was the extent of their scoring, so the third run was not big at all. Toronto could have won 2-1. Admitting it's only the top of the fourth is also an admission that feeling is all in your head and has no relationship to reality.

Martinez, B4: "This is a beautiful trip to the mound." Martinez was a catcher, so he's especially tuned in to what a catcher should do. But this praise is Sutcliffian in its inflating something minor into a Hall of Fame-worthy action.

Martinez, T7: Barger made a nice sliding catch on a line drive for the first out in the B6. Yesavage said something to Barger in the dugout as the T7 began. Speaking of the 22-year-old pitcher: "He knows what's going on around him." Most fans would assume he's utterly clueless, never turns around to look at his fielders at all (probably believes he's in Pittsburgh), but Martinez's astute analysis is pure in-game education.

Both announcers have said several times how LOUD Dodger Stadium is. They do not mean the fans, they mean the sound system. They say it's the loudest system in the majors by a wide margin. (And they call games at Skydome, which can be so loud between innings, it's impossible (literally) to converse with the person next to you. Though I doubt they would complain about the noise at Skydome if it was the worst.) You can tell through the TV that everything is cranked. They are especially fond of playing the slow droney bit from the beginning of "Iron Man" and the drum/cymbal clatter from the start of "Hot For Teacher". The noise is a real shame. We were at a Dodgers game late in 2003 and it was not like that at all. Organ music between innings, as if the whole point of being there was the baseball game. What a fuckin concept.

They have also described this series as being dominated by the splitter. A lot of pitchers on both teams rely heavily on split-finger fastballs. And yet every plate umpire's judgment on pitches at the bottom of the strike zone and below has been shit. Some calls have been eye-poppingly wrong. Low pitches are tough to judge in general, but I'd be extremely surprised if anyone in power at MLB considered this and assigned umpires who are the best, relatively speaking, at calling low pitches. Extremely surprised.

Shulman and Martinez are going to be absolutely unlistenable on Friday. But I don't want to experience Game 6 in silence. . . . Sigh. . . . If I mute, how will I know if these players "understand" that it's "Game 6"? How else will I learn that "this" is what they "play for"? Will all of them be wearing his "game face" ? And, perhaps most importantly, when a ballplayer is shown on TV, how can I be sure that he is a "ballplayer"?

WS 3: Dodgers 6, Blue Jays 5 (18)

2025-10-28T02:00:00.001-07:00

Blue Jays - 000 400 100 000 000 000 - 5 15  0
Dodgers   - 011 020 100 000 000 001 - 6 16  2

For the second time this postseason, baseball fans – and more casual postseason observers who do not obsess over the game from the moment the gates of spring training camps are unlocked in mid-February – have been treated to an extraordinary, unforgettable game that simply would not have occurred if the most radical of the rule changes imposed on the game during Commissioner Rob Manfred's tenure had been used, as it is during the regular season.

The extra-inning runner that is used during the regular season is not used during the postseason. It would appear that even Manfred understands, on some level, that he shouldn't shit on the most important games of the season by insisting upon his most infamous gimmick of a rule change. I don't believe in prayer, but my fervent wish is that this obscene rule is erased as soon as Manfred's current tenure ends in 2029, and the basic foundation of the game, which had done quite well for 150 years, is restored.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays battled through eighteen innings on Monday night in the third game of the 2025 World Series, leaving fans of both teams utterly exhausted, as though they had run a marathon. For six hours and 39 minutes, the two teams battled in what truly deserved to be called a heavyweight bout before Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman hit a game-winning home run in the bottom of the 18th ~~round~~ inning. Los Angeles leads 2-games-to-1 in the World Series. (Earlier this month, the Seattle Mariners beat the Detroit Tigers 3-2 in 15 innings to win the American League Division Series.

This game is tied for the longest World Series game by innings with Game 3 of the 2018 World Series between the Dodgers and Boston Red Sox, a game won 3-2 by the Dodgers on Max Muncy's walkoff home run after seven hours and 20 minutes. (A couple of years ago, looking at the online box score and seeing 7:20 as the time of game, my first thought was that it must be a typo. Nope. That game ended for me at 3:30 a.m. in the Eastern time zone. I ended up not posting all that much about the game because I needed to get a bit of sleep before working later that day. I went to bed around 4:15, got four hours of sleep, and drove to my noon-to-midnight shift at a Toronto law firm. (My favourite factoid from that game: It lasted 15 minutes longer than the entire 1939 World Series, when the Yankees swept the Reds in a combined 7:05 (1:33, 1:27, 2:01, 2:04).)

That 2018 game featured 561 pitches. This "instant classic" had 609 pitches (48 more than in any other postseason game since at least 2000, but it's very likely the all-time record), which were disbursed over 153 plate appearances against a total of 19 pitchers (which is a record for a postseason game). The 37 combined runners left on base also set a postseason game record.

In a best-of-seven postseason series that is tied 1-1, the Game 3 winner has gone on to win the series 70 of 101 times (69.3%). Teams breaking a 1-1 tie with a home win in Game 3 in the current 2-3-2 format that have gone on to win the series 29 of 48 times (60.4%).

The best place to begin is probably with Shohei Ohtani. The man set several World Series records in this game because of course he did. If a game with Ohtani in it goes 18 innings, he's probably going to break a few all-time records. It would be surprising if he did not. Ohtani batted nine times and he reached base a record NINE TIMES. He went 4-for-4, with two doubles, two home runs, five walks (four intentional), three runs scored, and three RBI. The four BBIs was a new record. Then he went nine innings (as LA's DH), more than three hours, without facing a single pitch. He did not swing at a pitch after the seventh inning. He now shares the World Series record of four extra-base hits in a game with Chicago White Sox second baseman Frank Isbell, who hit four doubles in Game 5 of the 1906 World Series. . . . Ohtani will be the starting pitcher for the Dodgers in Game 4.

Ohtani At The Bat

1st inning: Double to right
3rd inning: Home run to right (increased LA lead to 2-0)
5th inning: Double to left-center, RBI cut Toronto's lead to 4-3 (he scored tying run)
7th inning: Home run to deep left-center (401 feet, first pitch, tied game 5-5)
9th inning: Intentional walk, thrown out trying to steal second
11th inning: Intentional walk
13th inning: Intentional walk
15th inning: Intentional walk
17th inning: Walk (four pitches)

[Some Ohtani factoids at end of post.]

Both teams seemed allergic to clean innings all night long. Of the 35 complete half-innings, only 10 were comprised of three straight outs. Once the game went into extras, I spent the top half of seemingly every inning anxiously watching the Dodgers' pitchers get in and out of trouble, before relaxing during the bottom half, happy to accept whatever the LA batters did or didn't do. . . . I was really hoping the game would last into a record 19th inning . . . and beyond. (I have this entire week off. I have nowhere to go, nothing to do.)

The Dodgers took a 2-0 lead on solo homers from Teoscar Hernández leading off the second and Ohtani with one out in the third. That inning ended with Freeman being thrown out at the plate by Blue Jays right fielder Addison Barger, who fielded a single from Will Smith and threw a perfect strike to Alejandro Kirk on the fly. Kirk was in perfect position to catch the ball and block the runner from the plate and tag Freeman out.

Toronto was retired in order in the first and third inning, while stranding runners at the corners in the second. Mark Wegner, the home plate umpire, screwed the Blue Jays in the second. With Bo Bichette on first, Daulton Varsho walked on a high 3-1 pitch. But Wegner fucked up twice: he called the pitch a strike and he waited so long before annoucing the blown call that a confused Bichette was picked off first base. Varsho ended up walking and Kirk singled, so Wegner's blown call and unprofessional delay likely stole at least one run from the Blue Jays.

Toronto broke through against Tyler Glasnow (4.2-5-4-3-5, 85) in the fourth. Vladimir Guerrero drew a full-count walk and Bichette reached on an error. After Varsho poped to left, Kirk crushed a first-pitch curve to left-center for a three-run dong. The Jays made it 4-2 with singles by Barger and Ernie Clement and a sac fly from Andrés Giménez.

The Dodgers tied things in the fifth off Max Scherzer (4.1-5-3-1-3, 79), pitching in the World Series for his fourth team (2012 Tigers, 2019 Nationals, 2023 Texas). Kiké Hernández grounded a single into to center. With one out, Mason Fluharty came in and gave up a run-scoring double to Ohtani (who had fanned three times in three previous at-bats against him). With two outs, Freeman lined a single down the right field line, scoring Ohtani with the tying run.

The two teams each scored in the seventh. George Springer led off the top half and hurt himself when he fouled the first pitch off. He left the game and Ty France took over the at-bat, striking out. Nathan Lukes grounded back to the pitcher for the second out. Blake Treinen relieved Justin Wrobleski, and gave up a single to Guerrero. Bichette fouled off four pitches before singling down the right field line. The ball got tangled up with a sound guy and Guerrero scored all the way from first. The throw from right field was to the first base side of the dish and Smith could not get back for a tag before the run scored.

Seranthony ("Sir Anthony") Domínguez began the bottom of the seventh by retiring Andy Pages on a fly to right. Ohtani was next and Toronto's decision during a mound meeting was between simply sending him to first base or going right after him. (The idea of nibbling and trying to get him to chase was dismissed as pointless.) They decided to pitch to him, but Domínguez's first offering was a grooved fastball at 98. He might as well have placed the ball on a tee. Ohtani took a swing that appeared so easy and controlled and relaxed, it was a small shock that the ball travelled 401 feet to deep left-center. Ohtani's second home run of the night re-tied the game at 5-5. With two outs, Domínguez walked Freeman and Smith and had a 3-1 count on Max Muncy, but got Muncy to ground out.

And 5-5 was how the score remained for the next ten innings. Toronto put runners on first and third, thanks to a Betts error and a single from Giménez off Jack Dreyer. Roki Sasaki took over and got two ground outs to escape the jam, the third out coming when he leapt skyward to spear Lukes' high chopper over the mound. Sasaki seemed sharp as he got the first batter in the ninth, but then couldn't find the plate. He walked Isiah Kiner-Falefa (who had pinch-run for Bichette two innings earlier) on five pitches. Varsho lined a full-count pitch towards right field. Freeman leapt and the ball deflected off his glove. Tommy Edman chased the ball into the outfield and then fired a throw to third base to get IKF, who had ill-formed ideas of getting to third. That was the second out and Sasaki walked Kirk before getting a force at second. The Blue Jays left two men on base in each of the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings, going 1-for-9 with RATS.

In the bottom of the ninth, Ohtani was walked intentionally with one out. He was also thrown out trying to steal before Betts fouled to right. It was the first of four consecutive intentional walks to Ohtani. The next time he actrually stood in the box and saw some pitches was when he walked on four straight ball sin the seventeeth inning.

Emmet Sheehan faced the Jays batters in the tenth. (Sportsnet analyist Buck Martinez informed the international audience: "This is a big game for both teams." I suppose there might have been a few seals on Baffin Island who were unsure about the stakes.) Sheehan needed only six pitches to get two outs before giving up a single to France and a double to Lukes. The Baltimore dong was lined to to right, but the Dodgers gunned down pinch-runner David Schneider at the plate 9-4-2. Edman, the cut-off man, took Teoscar Hernández's throw, and made a perfect relay throw to the plate. It was in plenty of time and as Will Smith gloved the ball, he turned to block the runner and protect the plate. The Blue Jays challenged both the umpire's out call and his ruling that Smith didn't block the plate before he had possession of the ball. They lost on both counts.

Bottom of the 10th: Blue Jays reliever Jeff Hoffman hit Smith with a pitch with one down. After Muncy struck out looking, Teoscar Hernández smacked an 0-2 pitch into left for a hit. Hoffman got Edman to foul out to Gerrero on his 33rd (and final) pitch of the night.

Top of the 11th: Sheehan avoids any drama, retiring Toronto's 3-4-5 hitters in order. Guerrero F8, Kiner-Falefa 1-3, Varsho K.

Bottom of the 11th: "Let's Go" Braydon Fisher, a rookie who had given up five runs in 5.2 postseason innings, is the seventh pitcher for Toronto. He strikes out Kiké Hernández on a diving curve and Clement catches Pages' line drive at third. Ohtani is put on first base and Mookie Betts singles to left. Ohtani appears to jog gingerly into second base. Roberts and a translator come out to chat, but everything seems fine. Freeman pops to left.

Top of the 12th: My scorecards have room for 12 innings, but the many pitchers on both sides (as well as several scrawled notes) have left little room at the bottom of the page, so I start a second scorecard. This is a scary fuckin inning. Facing Fisher, Kirk walks on five pitches (none of the four balls were close) and Tyler Heineman pinch-runs. The Blue Jays now have no position players on the bench. Myles Straw twice tries to bunt before lining to first. Clayton Kershaw is warming up for the Dodgers! Clement falls behind 0-2 and grounds the ball up the middle. Edman moves to his right, backhands the ball and fires to first. It's the second out, on a very close play. LA manager Dave Roberts has Giménez walked intentionally, putting runners at first and second. The move mystifies both Sportsnet announcers. Ron Shulman announces the move in a WTF voice and all Martinez can say is "very interesting" with a certain amount of wonder in his voice. Fisher has a 2-2 count on Schneider but misses with ball 3 – a pivitol pitch, because now the runners will be off with the pitch. Schneider hits a slow grounder towards third. Heineman is running to third and Muncy has his foot on the bag, forced to wait for the ball to get to him. Getting to third does not seem to be an urgent concern for Heineman, but he does make it to the safely base (without sliding). The bases are loaded and here comes Kershaw, who has announced he will retire after the World Series. He battles Lukes to a full count (bcbcb). His next three pitches are all a bit out of the strike zone, and would presumably be called ball 4 and force in a run, but Lukes offers at all of them, fouling the first two off before grounding out to second. Inning over, three left on base.

Bottom of the 12th: The Dodgers are retired in order. Fisher strikes out Smith and Eric Lauer, a lefty who made 15 starts during the season, gets two infield popups.

Top of the 13th: Edgardo Henriquez, a 23-year-old righty, takes over for the Dodgers, and alternates fastballs at 101/102 with sliders at 83/84. He hits Varsho in the back leg with a 102-mph fastball with two outs. Heineman, in his first postseason trip to the plate, flies to center.

Bottom of the 13th: Edman extends his arms and drives an outside 0-1 pitch to right-center. Centerfielder Varsho was shaded towards left, and has a long run to get the ball. It's a double. Pinch-hitter Miguel Rojas bunts the potential winning run to third. Alex Call, another pinch-hitter (for Pages, who is 4-for-48 (.083) in this postseason), gets ahead 2-0 but pops to shortstop. Toronto manager John Schneider intentionally walks Ohtani (who reaches base for the seventh time, a new WS record). He also intentionally walks Betts, setting up an inning-ending force at every base, but also affording his pitcher absolutely no room for error. Freeman takes a ball before launching a fly to deep center. Varsho drifts back to the track and makes the catch. Schneider is a badass. (Buck Martinez: "This is a baseball game, folks.")

Top of the 14th: It's the bottom of the Jays lineup and Henriquez sets them down with a minimum of fuss: F8, 5-3, K.

Bottom of the 14th: Smith leads off and belts Lauer's eighth pitch to deep left-center, sending Straw to the wall for a very long (and for Dodgers fans, heart-stopping) out. Lauer is throwing a lot of pitches (and/or the Dodgers are making him work). After an eight-pitch F7, Lauer walks Muncy (seven pitches) and gives up a single to Teoscar Hernández (eight pitches). LA is again threatening to end the game, but Lauer suddenly needs only four pitches to get the final two outs: Edman pops to second (infield fly rule) and Rojas grounds to third.

Top of the 15th: Toronto's bats have cooled significantly since the twelfth. The last reliever in the Dodgers' pen, Will Klein, showcases a disgusting red beard that has obviously repelled all attempts at grooming. Perhaps it is a weapon to distract opposing hitters. Guerrero singles with two outs but is left at first when Kiner-Falefa strikes out looking.

Bottom of the 15th: GDGD says Brendon Little is now pitching for Toronto, but it's actually still Lauer (for the next two innings, in fact). Back at Skydome, it's 1:48 a.m. and a lot of fans are still watching the game on Skydome's huge board (which is extremely huge and high defintion). The team's admission charge of $15 seems greedy – why not free or a token $5 and make your $$ on food and drink?, but the remaining fans are getting their money's worth. Call grounds to second, Ohtani is walked intentionally, Betts flies to right, and Freeman lines out to deep left-center, as Varsho makes a nice running catch at the wall.

Top of the 16th: The Bue Jays go 1-2-3. It's quite boring, for a change: 4-3, P1, K. Guerrero eats an apple.

Bottom of the 16th: The Dodgers go 1-2-3. K, K, F8 to the track in right-center. Things have calmed down and I envision both teams settling into a groove of making outs for many innings.

Top of the 17th: Another clean inning for Klein. F8, K, L1. He's retired seven in a row! Sportsnet says that Fox's Tom Verducci is reporting that Dave Roberts will have a position player on the mound if the game goes into the 18th. Shulman and Martinez are skeptical. Why wouldn't Roberts have someone like Blake Snell (G1 starter) go for an inning or two instead?

Bottom of the 17th: Lauer is done after 4.2 innings (4.2-2-0-4-2, 68), having thrown the second-most pitches of any Jays pitcher (after Scherzer). Little is in and he strikes out Edman and gets Rojas on a grounder to short. Call singles to left-center and Toronto is more or less forced to pitch to Ohtani, hoping to maybe get him out rather than put the wnning run at second for Betts. But Little misses with four straight and Ohtani gets franked anyway. (Ohtani saw one strike after the fifth inning tonight, his HR in the seventh (which was also his last swing oif the game.) Betts, who has barely been an afterthought in this game, sees eight pitches and fouls to first. (He's 2-for-15 in the WS.)

Top of the 18th: No position player. It's Klein for his fourth inning (4-1-0-2-5, 72). Though, with one out, Yoshinobu Yamamoto (who threw a complete game in G2!) is warming up in the Dodgers bullpen. Guerrero walks, but is forced at second. Varsho also walks and the runners take second and third on a wild pitch before Heineman strikes out.

Bottom of the 18th: Freeman hammers a 3-2 sinker – the 609th pitch of the game – that is left out over the plate. This time, Varsho runs to the wall can do nothing. Little grabs his cap and walks off the field as the Dodgers celebrate.

The two longest World Series games by innings were both won at Dodger Stadium on solo home runs (hit on full counts) by the first batter in the home half of the 18th inning:

2018 WS Game 3 (October 26): Max Muncy led off the bottom of the 18th inning and homered on a full-count pitch (bbbcff) to left-center.
2025 WS Game 3 (October 27): Freddie Freeman led off the bottom of the 18th inning and homered on a full-count pitch (fbbbc) to center.

Four Dodgers played in both games: Max Muncy, Enrique Hernandez, Clayton Kershaw, and Mookie Betts (who was with the Red Sox).

Ohtani set a new postseason record by reaching base nine times in a game. The previous record was six times, held by Stan Hack (1945 WS 6), Kenny Lofton (1995 WS 3), and Kerry Carpenter (2025 ALDS 5).

Ohtani is one of four players to reach base nine times in any game (regular season or postseason) and the first to do so in the last 83 years. The other three: Max Carey (July 7, 1922), Johnny Burnett (July 10, 1932), and Stan Hack (August 9, 1942).

Ohtani is the first player in MLB history with 4+ hits and 5+ walks in a game (regular season or postseason)

Ohtani is the first player to be intentionally walked more than once with the bases empty in a postseason game (since BBI became official in 1955). He had three tonight. Albert Pujols had one in 2011 World Series 5.

Ohtani is the first player to be intentionally walked four times in a postseason game. Only six players have had 4+ BBI in a regular season game, since 1955: Roger Maris (1962), Garry Templeton (1985), Andre Dawson (1990), Manny Ramirez (2001), Barry Bonds (2004, 4 games), James Wood (2025).

Ohtani has now been walked eight times in this postseason, tying Pujols (2011) for the second-most BBis. Barry Bonds received 13 BBI in 2002.

Ohtani and Babe Ruth are the only players with postseasn careers with multiple pitching starts and more than two home runs. Ruth (15 HR, 3 GS), Ohtani (11 HR, 2 GS).

Ohtani is the only player in postseason history with at least one pitching start and multiple home runs in a single postseason.

Ohtani has hit eight home runs in the 2025 postseason, tied for the most in a single postseason in Dodgers history, with Corey Seager (8 in 2020). In MLB history, only Randy Arozarena has hit more (10 in 2020).

Ohtani is the first player with multiple games with 12+ total bases in a single postseason. The only other player with two such games in a postseason career is Babe Ruth.

Ohtani is the first player with three multi-homer games in a single postseason.

Ohtani's last two games at Dodger Stadium:
October 17, 2025 (NLCS G4): 12 total bases (3 HR)
October 27, 2025 (World Series G3): 12 total bases (2 HR, 2 2B)
No other MLB player in the modern era (since 1900) has had 12+ total bases in two consecutive home games in the regular season or postseason.

NLCS 4: Dodgers 5, Brewers 1 (LAD wins 4-0)ALCS 5: Mariners 6, Blue Jays 2 (SEA leads 3-2)

2025-10-18T01:01:00.001-07:00

We may have witnessed – in Game 4 of the 2025 NLCS – the greatest performance in a major league baseball game by a single player.

Shohei Ohtani won the MVP award (after being introduced as "the greatest baseball player on the planet") largely because of his unprecedented performance in the Dodgers' pennant-winning 5-1 victory on Friday night in Los Angeles, finishing off a dominating sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers (who had won all six of the games the two teams played during the season).

Ohtani pitched six shutout innings, allowing only two hits and walking three. He collected 10 strikeouts. One of those hits and one walk came in the seventh, at which point manager Dave Roberts called upon his bullpen. If Ohtani had called it a night after finishing the sixth, his line would have been: 6-1-0-2-10, 87.

Ohtani also hit three home runs, all of which were crushed more than 425 feet. They were all solo shots, but he couldn't do anything about that. He also walked, because why make an out? (I almost wanted the Brewers to tie the game, so Ohtani could win the pennant in the bottom of the ninth with his fourth homer of the night. He would have been the inning's second batter.)

Ohtani came into the game hitting only .103 (3-for-29) since the start of the NLDS. I guess he's out of his slump. He also had not pitched in almost two weeks.

Ohtani swung at six pitches in the game: three home runs, two foul balls, and one swing and miss.

So how unique was his performance? ... I'm glad you asked.

Hitting three home runs.
Allowing no runs and striking out 10+ batters.
No one in major league history has ever done both over an entire career (same game, different games, regular season, postseason, spring training). Ohtani did both in the same game. (Won the pennant, too.)

Ohtani is the first Dodgers starting pitcher to throw multiple 100.0+ mph strikeouts in a postseason since pitch tracking began in 2008. All other Dodgers starters combined for one such pitch in those 18 seasons. Ohtani had two in the first inning.
Ohtani is the first pitcher in MLB history to hit a leadoff home run (regular season or postseason).*
Ohtani is the second player in major league postseason history to hit three home runs as his team's leadoff batter. George Brett did it against the Yankees in 1978 ALCS Game 3. (They were also all solo shots.)
Ohtani is the first player to strike out a batter and hit a home run in the first inning of a postseason game. (He actually struck out three batters, after walking the leadoff guy.)
Ohtani is the first player with multiple career postseason innings which include two strikeouts as a pitcher and a home run as a batter. Both happened in G4 (1st and 4th innings).
Ohtani is the first pitcher in postseason history with a multi-homer game. (Bob Gibson had 10+ strikeouts and 1 home run in a game on two occasions (1967 World Series Game 7 (9-3-2-3-10) and 1968 World Series Game 4 (9-5-1-2-10).)
Ohtani is the first pitcher in Dodgers history to hit a home run in the postseason. (The last pitch home run in the postseason was Brandon Woodruff of the Brewers off Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw in Game 1 of the in 2018 NLCS.)
Ohtani is the first pitcher with 10+ and no runs allowed in a pennant-clinching game.
Ohtani is the first major league player to have 10+ strikeouts as a pitcher and multiple home runs at the plate in a game (regular season or postseason) twice in his career.
Ohtani is the first player in major league history with 3 homers and 10 strikeouts as a pitcher in a game (regular season or postseason).
Ohtani's three home runs, with estimated distance and speed of the ball off the bat:
1st inning: 446 feet, 116.5 mph
4th inning: 469 feet, 116.9 mph (over the pavilion roof in right-center; his teammates were in awe)
7th inning: 427 feet, 113.6 mph
Ohtani is the first major league player with two 116+ mph home runs in a game in the Statcast Era (since 2015, regular season or postseason). And, as the indefatigable Sarah Langs (who tweeted most of these) pointed out, "HE IS ALSO PITCHING TONIGHT"
Ohtani has hit 8 home runs of 450+ feet at Dodger Stadium in the Statcast Era (since 2015, regular season and postseason). No other major league player has hit more than one. (Of course, he plays there more often than most players. I'd like to know which visiting players have the most plate appearances at Dodger Stadium since the start of 2015.)
Ohtani's first two home runs are the hardest-hit home runs hit by a pitcher in the Statcast Era (since 2015, regular season and postseason).
10-17-25 Ohtani: 116.9 mph (2025 NLCS G4, 2nd of game)
10-17-25 Ohtani: 116.5 mph (2025 NLCS G4, 1st of game)
08-23-23 Ohtani: 115.7 mph
04-04-21 Ohtani: 115.2 mph
09-10-21 Ohtani: 114.7 mph
05-15-23 Ohtani: 114.6 mph
07-21-25 Ohtani: 113.4 mph
06-09-23 Ohtani: 112.9 mph
04-02-17 Madison Bumgarner: 112.5 mph
04-02-17 Bumgarner: 112.1 mph
Ohtani is the only name on the list of the Dodgers' 18 hardest-hit batted balls in the Statcast Era (since 2015, regular season and postseason). (Every other Dodger in the last decade has had a noodle bat, apparently.)
09-02-25 Ohtani: 120.0 mph HR
04-27-24 Ohtani: 119.2 mph 1B
07-27-24 Ohtani: 118.7 mph HR
04-23-24 Ohtani: 118.7 mph HR
09-11-24 Ohtani: 118.1 mph HR
05-05-25 Ohtani: 117.9 mph HR
10-17-25 Ohtani: 117.8 mph HR  2024 NLCS G4
09-30-25 Ohtani: 117.7 mph HR  2025 NLWCS G1
09-02-24 Ohtani: 117.2 mph 1B
08-05-24 Ohtani: 117.1 mph 2B
10-17-25 Ohtani: 116.9 mph HR  2025 NLCS G4 (2nd of game)
09-25-24 Ohtani: 116.8 mph 2B
09-08-24 Ohtani: 116.7 mph HR
07-21-24 Ohtani: 116.7 mph HR
10-17-25 Ohtani: 116.5 mph HR 2025 NLCS G4 (1st of game)
10-13-24 Ohtani: 116.5 mph 1B  2024 NLCS G1
07-01-25 Ohtani: 116.3 mph HR
08-02-24 Ohtani: 116.3 mph HR
The Dodgers pitching staff simply suffocated the Brewers offense. Here are the stats for the four NLCS starters, with pitches, batters faced, and number of swings/misses:
G1 Blake Snell 8.0-1-0-0-10, 103 P, 24 BF, 20 S/M
G2 Yoshinobu Yamamoto 9.0-3-1-1- 7, 111 P, 32 BF, 14 S/M
G3 Tyler Glasnow 5.2-3-1-3- 8, 99 P, 23 BF, 13 S/M
G4 Shohei Ohtani 6.0-2-0-3-10, 100 P, 22 BF, 19 S/M
28.2 innings, 9 hits, 2 runs, 7 walks, and 35 strikeouts. 0.64 ERA starters' ERA.
The Dodgers allowed a puny .118 opponent batting average (14-for-119) in the NLCS. That's a major league record for the lowest in a postseason series of three or more games. The Brewers slugged .193 and their on-base was .191. Will Smith's .400 batting average was higher than the Brewers' .384 OPS!
Most consecutive games allowing 1 or 0 runs in single postseason:
2025 LAD: 5 (active streak)
1996 ATL: 5
1981 LAD: 5
1990 OAK: 4
1948 CLE: 4
1920 CLE: 4
1907 CHC: 4

Going into the top of the ninth . . .

I got my wish!!

My next request is for the Mariners (who have never been this far in the postseason before, winning a third game of an ALCS) to take a big dump on the Blue Jays' fortunes tomorrow, crush the hopes of every single Blue Jays fan, and give me the Mariners/Dodgers I wanted before the postseason began.

* I do not consider the first batter in the bottom of the first inning to be a "leadoff" hitter. I believe the term "leadoff" is reserved for the first batter of the game, especially when referring to home runs. In other words, the home team can never have a "leadoff" anything, because they don't bat first. We don't take special note of home runs that are hit to start any other inning. You can hear some arcane factoids during a game, but I've yet to hear which active player has the most "leadoff" fifth inning home runs. Maybe I should ignore "leadoff" factoids simply because other people define them ~~differently~~ incorrectly (see, RATS/RISP), but whatever.

ALCS 1: Mariners 3, Blue Jays 1ALCS 2: Mariners 10, Blue Jays 3NLCS 1: Dodgers 2, Brewers 1NLCS 2: Dodgers 5, Brewers 1

2025-10-15T16:32:00.000-07:00

The Seattle Mariners have never won more than two games in an ALCS. They lost both the 1995 and 2000 ALCS in six games. If they win Game 3 tonight, it will be the farthest the 49-year-old franchise has ever gotten in the postseason.

Also: No team has ever won an LCS (best-of-5 or best-of-7) after losing the first two games at home. We will see if the Blue Jays and/or Brewers can pull it off.

While Shohei Ohtani (1-for-7) and Mookie Betts (0-for-7) have been quiet atop Los Angeles' lineup (the pair has walked five times), Blake Snell (8-1-0-0-10, 103) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (9-3-1-1-7, 111) have carried the team with two superb starts.

Sarah Langs

Starts of 8+ innings & 1 or no runs allowed in each of first 2 games of postseason series, last 50 years:
2025 NLCS Dodgers
1983 NLCS Dodgers
1981 NLDS Dodgers
1981 ALDS A's
1981 NLDS Astros
h/t @EliasSports
The 17 IP pitched by Snell and Yamamoto are the most by any team's SP over the first two games of a postseason series since the 2005 White Sox threw 17 1/3 IP in the ALCS
h/t @MLBNetwork research squad
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the 5th pitcher to throw his first career MLB complete game (reg or post) in the Postseason, joining:
Marco Estrada G1 2016 ALCS, 8.0 IP
Josh Beckett G5 2003 NLCS
Liván Hernández G5 1997 NLCS
Jim Beattie G5 1978 WS
h/t @EliasSports
This is the second season where the road team went up 2-0 in BOTH LCS in the same year, joining:
1970, the second year of LCS play, when the round was best-of-5
Frst postseason complete game since: 2017 Justin Verlander ALCS G2
Last first for Dodgers since: 2004 Jose Lima NLDS G3
This is the first time the Dodgers got consecutive postseason starts of 8+ innings since Oct. 4-5, 1988 Games 1 & 2 of NLCS vs. Mets – Orel Hershiser & Tim Belcher.
h/t @EliasSports
Allowed leadoff home run and threw complete game, postseason history:
2025 NLCS G2 Yoshinobu Yamamoto
1954 WS G2 Johnny Antonelli
1942 WS G5 Johnny Beazley
1909 WS G5 Babe Adams
Only Yamamoto and Antonelli also allowed no other runs

The Dodgers are the 5th team in postseason history to allow a leadoff home run and allow no other runs the rest of the game, joining:
2025 ALCS G1 Mariners
2018 WS G5 Red Sox
2012 ALDS G1 Tigers
1954 WS G2 Giants

Lowest starters ERA in 1st 8 games of a postseason:
2018 Brewers: 0.68 (26 2/3 IP)
2012 Tigers: 0.96 (56 1/3)
1972 A's: 1.33 (54)
1981 Dodgers : 1.44 (62 1/3)
1995 Cleveland: 1.46 (55 2/3)
2025 Dodgers: 1.54 (52 2/3)
1983 Orioles: 1.54 (52 2/3)
1981 Expos: 1.54 (58 1/3)

Complete game with no opponent at-bats with runners in scoring position, postseason last 20 years:
2025 NLCS G2 Yoshinobu Yamamoto
2010 NLDS G1 Roy Halladay (no-hitter)
2005 ALCS G3 Jon Garland

Fewest hits allowed in first two games of a postseason series:
2019 NLCS Nationals: 4
2025 NLCS Dodgers: 5
1906 WS Cubs: 5

The Dodgers are the second team (2016 Blue Jays) to not throw a CG in the regular season and then throw one in that postseason
But TOR's CG was a loss and only 8 IP
So the Dodgers are the first to do so in a win
h/t @Spokes_Murphy

OptaSTATS

Since ERA became official in both leagues in 1913, only one MLB pitcher has had a 6-start span at any point (reg or post) with:
5-0 or better record
sub-1.00 ERA
50+ strikeouts
15 or fewer hits allowed
That pitcher is Blake Snell over his last 6 starts (3 reg, 3 post).

Blake Snell of the Dodgers is the first MLB pitcher to face the minimum through 8.0 innings of a postseason game since Don Larsen in his 1956 perfect game.

Jorge Polanco of the Mariners is the first player in MLB history to have a go-ahead hit in the 5th inning or later in 3 consecutive postseason games.

Blake Snell has won his last four postseason games, with more strikeouts than innings pitched in each game. It's the longest such streak in MLB postseason history.

Jacob Misiorowski of the Brewers is the second rookie in MLB history to earn a win without starting in each of the first two games of his postseason career, joining Francisco Rodriguez, who did so with the Angels in 2002.

This Tigers-Mariners Game 5 is the fourth winner-take-all game in MLB postseason history to go 12+ innings, joining Rockies over Cubs (2018 WC, 13 inn), Royals over A's (2014, WC, 12) and Senators over Giants (1924, WS Gm7, 12).

Kerry Carpenter is the first MLB player to reach base five times and hit a home run in a winner-take-all postseason game since Babe Ruth in 1926 (World Series Game 7).

Tarik Skubal is the first player in MLB history to strike out 13 batters in a game twice in the same postseason.

Schadenfreude 371 (A Continuing Series)

2025-10-15T10:23:00.005-07:00

Brian Cashman's Biggest Challenge Is Fixing The Yankee Offense
Bill Madden, Daily News, October 11, 2025

Now that another Yankee season has concluded prematurely without a championship trophy, the usual finger-pointing begins and fans in every corner of Yankeeland are looking for culprits. But I'm here to say in this latest playoff elimination at the hands of the Blue Jays the blame should fall squarely on the players themselves.

In short, the Blue Jays proved themselves to be a better team — and that was not the fault of Yankees GM Brian Cashman. He did everything he could . . .

You could certainly make the case — as I have — that no GM in baseball had a better year than Cashman . . .

What the AL Division Series — and actually their regular season matchups in which the Yankees were 5-8 against the Blue Jays — came down to was a matter of Toronto being the best team in baseball in terms of making contact and putting the ball in play and the Yankees one of the worst. During the season the Jays' batters had the most hits and second lowest strikeouts in the majors.

By contrast, the Yankees had the third most strikeouts behind only the Rockies and Angels, and the 12th most hits. In addition, the Yankees hit 83 more homers than the Jays during the season but scored only 43 more runs. When it came to clutch hitting, the Jays led the majors hitting .292 with runners in scoring position as opposed to the Yankees who ranked 12th at .255.

Although on paper it could be argued the Yankees had a quality player at every position . . . the fact remained they were still the same home run-or-bust offense they've been for the last few years. And it was much the same in the ALDS as the Jays out-hit the Yankees 37-24 in the four games and struck out only 34 times to the Yankees' 50 — 12 of them by Anthony Volpe.

Which brings us to what comes now for Cashman in his effort to rectify the one over-riding Yankee flaw that seemingly shows up way too many times in the regular season and especially against good pitching in the postseason – too many damn strikeouts and two few multi-hit rallies. If Cashman could be blamed for anything this year it was his blind loyalty to Volpe, who hit .212 with 150 strikeouts and just 43 walks in one of the historically worst seasons ever by a major league shortstop. And his 73.3 strikeout percentage in the ALDS was the worst mark ever in a divisional series (minimum 15 plate appearances).

This cannot continue. . . .

What the Yankees need more than anything else is a leadoff hitter, who makes consistent contact and doesn't strike out. They're . . . looking at turning over left and center field to the kids (Jasson Dominguez and Spencer Jones). But again we're talking more strikeouts — Dominguez had 115 as opposed to 41 walks as a part-timer this year and Jones . . . had a disturbing 179 strikeouts [in AA and AAA]. . . .

It's what Cashman does about the hitting that will once again determine how far they go in October.

So . . . the Yankees getting humiliated in the ALDS "was not the fault" of the team's General Manager, who "did everything he could". In fact, "no GM in baseball had a better year", so presumably none of the other 29 GMs could have constructed the Yankees' 2025 roster any better than Cashman.

AND YET . . . the MFY's lineup was "still the same home run-or-bust offense" that their fans have loudly complained about for years. Indeed, Cashman has let "the last few years" go by without addressing the team's "over-riding" "flaw" of "too many damn strikeouts and two few multi-hit rallies". (That's "too few multi-hit rallies", Bill and Bill's editor.)

So "once again", Yankee fans have to wait and see if Cashman at last will turn his attention to something he has been either ignoring for years or consistently failing to fix, despite that "flaw" being blindingly obvious to everyone who watches the team. I don't know, Bill, it sounds to me like Cashman's culpability in the Yankees' chronic postseason failures (16 consecutive YEDs (and 24 of the last 25 seasons) at this point) is not nothing.

Madden's thesis is that Cashman is all but blameless for his team's poor showing – the blame rests "squarely on the players" – but he spends almost all of his piece outlining how Cashman – with access to seemingly endless amounts of money – brought these blame-worthy players together and put them on the field.

You can't blame players for not doing what they are incapable of. If the Yankees need to abandon their masterplan of "too many damn strikeouts and two few multi-hit rallies", someone in charge of the roster should sign players who don't strikeout too damn much and can hit for a higher average.

It seems as though Cashman and Boone will keep on doing the thing that fails everytime and hope that blind luck brings them a different result. That's fine with me, because I take great pleasure in the Yankees' chronic misfortune.

One Of These Four Teams Will Win The 2025 World Series: Brewers, Blue Jays, Dodgers, Mariners

2025-10-12T13:17:00.003-07:00

This is not a thoughtful and incisive overview of the ALCS and NLCS. I was looking up some things yesterday and figured I'd share them rather than not.

First of all, I was extremely pleased to watch the Blue Jays hardly break a sweat while humiliating the Yankees. But then I thought . . . shit, the Blue Jays are now really close to going to the World Series. . . . which means they could actually win the World Series. . . . But then I thought, I no longer live outside Toronto (and am extremely unlikely to ever set foot in Skydome again) and the few Blue Jays fans I would encounter on the west coast are not the annoying know-nothing assholes in Ontario. . . . But I would rather see any of the other three teams remaining win it all.

My preferences, in order:

Mariners (how can I root against a team with the Big Dumper on it?)
Dodgers (Roberts . . . Mookie . . . Ohtani . . . but they won last year)
Brewers (not the Blue Jays; franchise debuted as the Seattle Pilots)
Blue Jays (superb job humiliating the Yankees, but you can all fuck off now)

Normal Endorsement: with Scuttlebutt Beer to produce Big Dumper beer.
Unusual Endorsement: with Honey Bucket ("a leader in portable sanitation services")

The 2025 World Series will feature a matchup that has never happened before. This would have been a bigger deal if interleague play did not exist. But it does. In 2025, the Mariners and Blue Jays each played both the Brewers and Dodgers. And they have done that for the past three seasons. (So that's ruined.)

Mariners

2021: vs Dodgers: 1-3
2023: vs Dodgers: 0-3 / vs Brewers: 0-3
2024: vs Dodgers: 0-3 / vs Brewers: 1-2
2025: vs Dodgers: 0-3 / vs Brewers: 1-2

Blue Jays

2022: vs Brewers: 1-2
2023: vs Brewers: 2-1 / vs Dodgers: 2-1
2024: vs Brewers: 1-2 / vs Dodgers: 1-2
2025: vs Brewers: 1-2 / vs Dodgers: 1-2

2021-25:

Blue Jays vs Brewers: 5-7 / vs Dodgers: 4-5
Mariners vs Brewers:  2-7 / vs Dodgers: 1-12
Brewers vs Blue Jays: 7-5 / vs Mariners: 7-2
Dodgers vs Blue Jays: 5-4 / vs Mariners: 12-1

The Mariners finished atop the AL West standings for the first time since 2001, when they won an astonishing 116 games. In 2025, they won 90 games, their most wins in a full season since 2003

Mariners Seasons Winning 90+ Games

2001 116-46
2003  93-69
2002  93-69
2025  90-72
2022  90-72
2021  90-72

In 2022, Seattle was one of the wild card teams, making their first postseason appearance in more than two decades. They beat the Blue Jays in the ALWC 4-0 and 10-9. And then they lost three straight ALDS games to the Astros 8-7, 4-2 and 1-0 (18 innings).

Mariners in the Postseason


1995   Lost ALCS 2-4 to Cleveland, won ALDS 3-2 (Yankees)
1997   Lost ALDS 1-3 to Orioles
2000   Lost ALCS 2-4 to Yankees, won ALDS 3-0 (White Sox)
2001   Lost ALCS 1-4 to Yankees, won ALDS 3-2 (Cleveland)
2002   Lost ALDS 0-3 to Astros, won ALWCS 2-0 (Blue Jays)
2025   ALCS vs Blue Jays, won ALDS 3-2 (Tigers)

Blue Jays' Winningest Seasons, All-Time


1985   99-62   Lost ALCS 4-3 to Royals
1992   96-66   Won World Series 4-2 (Atlanta), won ALCS 4-2 (Athletics)
1987   96-66   2.0 GB in ALE
1993   95-67   Won World Series 4-2 (Phillies), won ALCS 4-2 (White Sox)
2025   94-68   ALCS vs Mariners, won ALDS 3-1 (Yankees)

Blue Jays in the ALCS

1985 Lost 3-4 to Royals
1989 Lost 1-4 to Athletics
1991 Lost 1-4 to Twins
1992 Won 4-2 over Athletics, won World Series 4-2 over Atlanta
1992 Won 4-2 over White Sox, won World Series 4-2 over Phillies
2015 Lost 2-4 to Royals, won ALDS 3-2 (Texas)
2016 Lost 1-4 to Cleveland, won ALDS 3-0 (Texas), won ALWC 1-0 (Orioles)
2025 ALCS vs Mariners, won ALDS 3-1 over Yankees

The Brewers Have Played In Four Divisions

1969       AL West    (6-team division; Seattle Pilots)
1970-71    AL West    (6-team division)
1972-76    AL East    (6-team division)
1977-93    AL East    (7-team division)
1994-97    AL Central (5-team division)
1998-2012  NL Central (6-team division)
2013-25    NL Central (5-team division)

Brewers in the Postseason

1981  Lost ALDS  2-3 to Yankees
1982  Lost World Series 3-4 to Cardinals, won ALDS 3-2 (Angels)
2008  Lost NLDS  1-3 to Phillies
2011  Lost NLCS  2-4 to Cardinals, won NLDS 3-2 (Diamondbacks)
2018  Lost NLCS  3-4 to Dodgers, won NLDS 3-0 (Rockies)
2019  Lost NLWCG 0-1 to Nationals
2020  Lost NLWCS 0-2 to Dodgers
2021  Lost NLDS  1-3 to Atlanta
2023  Lost NLWCS 0-2 to Diamondbacks
2024  Lost NLWCS 1-2 to Mets
2025  NLCS vs Dodgers, won NLDS 3-2 (Cubs)

It's well-known that the Dodgers are playing in the postseason for the 13th consecutive season, but I 'm shocked to see that the Brewers have been a postseason team in seven of the last eight seasons, but they have been bounced so early (a 1-8 record from 2019-23), their presence has hardly registered.

Schadenfreude 370 (A Continuing Series)

2025-10-09T09:43:00.002-07:00

UPDATE: All NY tabloid back pages now uploaded. Also: SuperVlad photo!

Hilarious! Not once, not twice, not three times, not four times, but an amazing FIVE TIMES!!!!!

Yankees' Season Comes To Bitter End With Lifeless ALDS Game 4 Dud
Andrew Battifarano, Post

Another fall of discontent has arrived.
The Yankees have gotten there in many different ways over the past 16 years, but the all-too-familiar end result came crashing in with a thud on Wednesday night in The Bronx.
A thrilling comeback in Game 3 . . . only delayed the crushing disappointment that came with Game 4.
The offense . . . went silent at the worst time, the Yankees mustering just six hits against a parade of relievers in a 5-2 loss to the Blue Jays in front of a restless sellout crowd . . .
[T]he Yankees are going home after the ALDS, with the Blue Jays winning the series 3-1 . . .
At the beginning of the postseason, Aaron Boone said that he felt as good about this team as any he had managed in his eight years at the helm. And yet . . . these Yankees ended the same as each of the last 15 iterations: coming up short. . . .
[T]he Yankees spent Wednesday searching for the big hit – or any hits, really. . . .
The Yankees stranded eight runners over the final four innings, only adding to the pain as they watched the game and their season slip through their fingers in slow motion.
Cam Schlittler . . . pitch[ed] into the seventh inning with a 2-1 deficit. He generated what should have been an inning-ending double play, but Andrés Gimenez's grounder shot off Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s glove and sailed into center field, putting runners on the corners.
Nathan Lukes made the Yankees pay, lining a two-run single off Devin Williams that gave the Blue Jays some breathing room at 4-1.
After Chisholm had stranded a pair of runners in the bottom of the sixth, Trent Grisham had another chance to get the Yankees back in it in the seventh with two on and two out. But Grisham . . . capped off a rough postseason (4-for-29) by popping out in foul territory.
The Blue Jays added an insurance run in the eighth . . . further quieting a crowd that was starting to come to grips with reality.
The Yankees offered one last gasp in the bottom of the eighth, loading the bases with two outs, only for Austin Wells to fly out against closer Jeff Hoffman.
The pesky Blue Jays lineup gave the Yankees pitching staff one more night of frustration in a series full of it. It had beat up on the Yankees' starters in the first three games, as Luis Gil, Max Fried and Carlos Rodón combined to last just eight innings while giving up 15 runs.
Schlittler . . . did what none of Gil, Fried or Rodón could do by recording an out in the fourth inning. . . .

Jazz Chisholm's Costly Error Pushes Yankees Season To The Edge
Justin Terranova, Post

Shoddy Yankees defense in an elimination game — we've seen this movie before.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. allowed the Blue Jays to break a 2-1 game open in the seventh inning on Wednesday night in The Bronx when the second baseman botched an inning-ending double play ball.
With one out and new Yankees killer Ernie Clement on first base, Andres Gimenez hit a one-hop bullet up the middle that deflected off Chisholm's glove and into center field.
The error ended Cam Schlittler's night . . . Devin Williams replaced the young righty, and after striking out leadoff man George Springer, Nathan Lukes lined a two-run single to left to increase Toronto's lead to 4-1.
On the Fox broadcast, analyst John Smoltz claimed the ball on Chisholm's miscue "exploded" off the edge of the grass, and that made the play more difficult for the second baseman.
The veteran was coming off an up-and-down Game 3 when he fell asleep on a relay throw, allowing a Blue Jays run to score . . .
The Yankees dealt with an offseason of criticism after several brutal defensive blunders allowed the Dodgers to rally in Game 5 of the World Series to end the 2024 season.

Yankees Doomed By Missed Opportunities As Season Ends With ALDS Game 4 Loss To Blue Jays
Peter Sblendorio, Daily News

For the Yankees, the scene was all too familiar.
For the second year in a row, opponents spilled out of the visitors' dugout and mobbed each other on the Yankee Stadium grass.
Last year, it was the Los Angeles Dodgers who clinched their World Series title in the Bronx.
On Wednesday night, it was the Toronto Blue Jays doing the celebrating after defeating the Yankees in Game 4 of the ALDS.
But for the Yankees, the result was ultimately the same. . . .
"You don't like seeing somebody celebrate on your field," Aaron Judge said . . .
The Blue Jays — the Yankees' Achilles heal all season — proved again to be the superior team by winning the ALDS, 3-1.
Toronto outscored the Yankees, 34-19, over the four games, but Wednesday night's clincher was much more about missed opportunities by the Yankees . . .
The Blue Jays deployed a bullpen game, and the Yankees managed only six hits against eight Toronto relievers.
The Yankees stranded at least two baserunners in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, the last of which ended when Austin Wells, who represented the tying run, flew out with the bases on the first pitch he saw . . .
The Yankees finished 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base.
"We didn't execute when we needed to," Giancarlo Stanton said. . . .
Schlittler surrendered an RBI single to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the first inning and a sacrifice fly to George Springer in the fifth, the latter of which gave Toronto the lead for good.
But the Blue Jays didn't pull away until the seventh inning, when Jazz Chisholm Jr. booted a one-hopper off the bat of Andres Gimenez. Had Chisholm come up with the ball, he could have turned an inning-ending double play.
Instead, the error put runners at the corners and ended Schlittler's night. Both runners would score on Nathan Lukes' two-out, two-run single against Devin Williams, which gave Toronto a 4-1 lead.
"I didn't think it was gonna play the way it played," Chisholm said. . . . "Can't get it out of my head . . ." . . .
Guerrero went 9-for-17 (.529) with three home runs, nine RBI and a 1.609 OPS in the ALDS, further cementing his status as a Yankee killer. . . .
"The ending's the worst, right?" manager Aaron Boone said.

Aaron Judge's Scorching Playoffs Ends Without A Last Best Chance To Save Yankees' Season
Dan Martin, Post

Aaron Judge . . . couldn't keep the Yankees alive.
And another historic season from the slugger ended without a World Series title. . . .
[H]e never got his best chance to alter the game on Wednesday, as with runners on first and second and two out and the Yankees down by three runs in the seventh, Trent Grisham continued a miserable postseason by popping out to shortstop Andrés Giménez, who made a terrific catch down the line in foul territory to end the inning and keep Judge in the on-deck circle.
By the time he came up again, the Yankees trailed by four as he led off the bottom of the eighth and struck out. . . .
[Judge singled twice] but too few of his teammates joined him in the finale, as the Yankees failed to get much going offensively — even with Toronto going with a bullpen game. . . .
[This] October exit . . . was no fault of Judge's and that hasn't always been the case, something that's been well chronicled since his October slump began in 2018.

The Ugly Truth That You Can't Ignore About These High-Priced Yankees
Jon Heyman, Post

The $320 million Yankees are an October failure once again. No other way to look at it . . .
This year they couldn't even survive a junior circuit without a juggernaut.
They were ushered out by a bargain Blue Jays bullpen. They pitched poorly the first two games of the ALDS, then didn't hit enough in an unsatisfying 5-2 defeat before a very sad, sold-out crowd . . .
So to summarize: They went out without a division title, then followed up with a losing record in the postseason . . .
The highest-priced AL team is too talented to be ushered out of the playoff derby in four mostly unsightly, unhappy division series games, too talented to fail to show up strong for their second round.
That's what they'll surely tell themselves . . .
No reason this series should have been a rout. But it was that. The Blue Jays outscored the Yankees 33-19. They split here at Yankee Stadium, but let's not forget the Jays decimated the Yankees two games Up North. . . .
This team should not have gone out like so many others, as a quick casualty. This team has big names. . . .
[T]hey didn't get it done when they had to. . . .
Judge hit a home run that will become part of Yankee lore [JoS: No, it won't.] . . .
Judge calls his teammates "the boys." Whatever you call them, collectively they didn't do enough.
As a team, they simply got outplayed and outclassed. . . .
Better to begin thinking about what they can make of themselves next year.
Next year. That's supposed to be the rallying cry of a perennial also-ran . . .
Yet, this is where they are. They are in the very spot they've been 15 of the past 16 years, out way too soon. [JoS: I gotta tell ya, Jon, that sounds like "a perennial also-ran".]
They didn't hit like they can. And they didn't pitch like any playoff team should. . . .
Folks were figuring this was a toss-up. Then they started playing.
The $218M ace Max Fried didn't get an out in the fourth inning in Game 2. And he lasted longer than Luis Gil the game before. And longer than Carlos Rodón did in Game 3 on Tuesday.
Together the three of them didn't even combine for a complete nine innings. That's the saddest stat of the sorry week.
The Yankees didn't hit enough either, at least not when it counted. . . .
Next year should work out better, really it should.

Yankees Are Stuck In An Endless Loop — And It's Getting Harder To Believe They'll Ever Figure It Out
Joel Sherman, Post

These days, the only thing around the Yankees that has a ring to it is the familiarity of falling short this time of year.
The Yankees are now through a 16th straight season without a title. . . .
[T]heir season concluded with another team triumphantly celebrating on The Bronx grass.
The Yankees once more are in their endless loop, trying to convince themselves and others that they really have the ingredients to be a champion as the title drought drives on. And as it becomes a little harder each year to believe that it is in them . . .
"It's the worst conversation to have," Giancarlo Stanton said of the annual explanation of why the Yankees have fallen short. . . .
The Yankees were eliminated Wednesday night in division series Game 4. The Blue Jays won behind their offensive style — relentlessly putting the ball in play . . . The Yankees lost without delivering enough of what they do best — putting the ball over a fence. . . .
An overmatched Anthony Volpe, a regressed Trent Grisham, Ben Rice and Jazz Chisholm Jr. combined for nine hits in this series — or the same number as the pesky Ernie Clement, who symbolizes Toronto's tenaciousness mode. The Blue Jays force you to keep playing the ball, which the Yankees did remarkably well — until they didn't. Until Chisholm made a seventh-inning error . . . two unearned runs . . . score[d] and the door to a cold Yankees winter was again being walked through. . . .
[T]here is a familiarity to it now for the Yankees. . . .
Judge's dramatic Game 3 three-run homer [became] a feel-good pit stop for the Yankees rather than a series-changer. It helped provide just an extra 24 hours of life for the team . . . Chisholm said was coming into October to "step on necks." [They] lasted seven playoff games and won three of them. . . .
So we will get the familiar outcry that comes with this time of year — that the Yankees must fire Brian Cashman and Boone . . . [But] under this version of the House of Steinbrenner, that duo has the job security of Supreme Court justices. . . . [T]he Yankees did not lose this division series because of managing. . . .
Judge will be 34 in April . . . Stanton turns 36 next month. Gerrit Cole turned 35 last month . . . [T]he sands are beginning to run thin to change the mantra away from "Wait Till Next Year." . . .
Volpe looked as lost as ever, striking out in all three at-bats in Game 4 to make it 16 in 26 at-bats this postseason. . . .
The Yankees again figured out how to get to the biggest games. But again didn't win enough of them. . . .
For a 16th straight season, not good enough.

The Yankees Are Becoming Next Year's Team Far Too Often
Mike Vaccaro, Post

"Wait till next year!"
That's what the Yankees are right now. They are Next Year's team.
Cody Bellinger struck out at 10:31 p.m., and that slammed the trunk on the 2025 Yankees, meaning it's now 16 years without a World Series championship. . . .
Hal Steinbrenner might not express his anger the way his father did. But let his own words from earlier this year speak for the man: "If you think it doesn't make me sleepless-at-night furious when we fall short of our goals … let me put it this way: Tell me you don't know me without telling me you don't know me."
That's hollow consolation right now, as hollow as the 94 wins the Yankees piled up across the regular season . . .
[Aaron Judge:] "You didn't win. It's not what you want."
Said Aaron Boone: "The ending is the worst." . . .
What's going to rankle a lot of Yankees fans . . . and what ought to chafe Steinbrenner, Brian Cashman and Boone the most — is that for the second straight season they weren't just eliminated by a better team, but by a team that by its own fundamentally sound standards exposed those same deficiencies in the Yankees.
Last year it was the Dodgers . . . This time . . . it was the Blue Jays, a team it seemed the Yankees never quite believed was as good as its record . . . even as they seized control of this series before finally closing it out.
The Jays, 1 through 9, specialized in quality at-bats. . . . The Jays don't have the black hole in their lineup of Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells [and Ryan McMahon] . . .
The Jays run the bases better. They play defense better . . . They do everything better except hit home runs — and they did that pretty well, too . . . So the Jays have a date on Sunday against either the Mariners or the Tigers, four out of seven to win a pennant.
The Yankees?
The Yankees have next year. . . .
That's how it's been for Next Year's darlings, the Yankees, for 16 straight years, going on 17. And for who knows how many more?

SUPERVLAD LAUNCHING HIMSELF TOWARDS THE PLATE!

Vladimir Guerrero Channels David Ortiz To Mock Yankees In Beer-Soaked Blue Jays Celebration
Michael Blinn, Post

On the heels of their 5-2 win in Game 4 of the ALDS at Yankee Stadium – advancing them to the American League Championship Series – Toronto slugger Vladimir Guerrero twisted the knife in a postgame interview from the clubhouse on Fox on Wednesday night.
"Daaaaaaa Yankees lose!" he said after being showered with beer in the raucous scene, channeling former Red Sox great David Ortiz.
That drew laughter from Ortiz, a noted Yankees hater, who didn't need much pleading to get Guerrero to repeat himself.
Yankees icons Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez were less enthused on the FS1 panel.
If there is any Yankees pain that comes with the words, it's secondary to that inflicted by the first baseman in the four-game series.
He batted an absurd .529 in the series (9-for-17) with three home runs, nine RBIs and a 1.609 OPS to continue his longstanding torment of the Bronx Bombers.
Guerrero – who has held a decades-long grudge against the Yankees – wasn't alone in his trolling.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider implored his team to "Start spreading the news, bitches!" Before they blasted Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" and then sprayed everyone and everything down in the visitors' locker room at the Stadium with champagne and beer.

Tormented By Toronto All Year, The Yankees' Season Comes To A Fitting And Disappointing End
Gary Phillips, Daily News

The Yankees . . . entered the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in baseball . . .
Then came those pesky Blue Jays in the ALDS.
Tormented by Toronto all year, the Yankees saw their season end with a Game 4 loss . . . after losing two laughers north of the border and delaying elimination with a win on Tuesday. . . .
[In] the Yankees' clubhouse, Boone called it a "beat-up room" . . . By the time reporters entered the space, cardboard boxes and half-packed suitcases sat in front of nearly every locker. The screech of packing tape and metallic zippers replaced the voice of George Benson, whose 1980 hit, "Give Me The Night," has become a staple of the Yankees' post-win playlist.
Then there were players, whose comments were loaded with sorrow after yet another season ended without a title. . . .
Giancarlo Stanton, who hit an uncharacteristic .192 this postseason . . . "The frustration adds each year and each time we gotta come up and do this."
Anthony Volpe, mostly at a loss for words after striking out 13 times in four ALDS games, kept calling the Yankees' early exit "brutal." Max Fried . . . regretted that he wouldn't have a chance to redeem himself for his Game 2 clunker. . . .
Unable to overcome their latest bout with adversity — the Bombers left the bases loaded in the eighth and totaled 10 stranded runners — the Yankees could only watch in distress as their division rivals celebrated on their home turf. It felt somewhat fitting, their season snuffed out by Toronto as the untidy play that plagued the team all summer reared its ugly head. . . .
With their postseason now over, the Yankees went 6-11 against the Jays overall. That includes losing 8-of-9 games at the Rogers Centre . . . Toronto exploded for a record-setting 23 runs there between Games 1 and 2 of the ALDS. . . .
The Yankees, meanwhile, came up short in their attempts to avenge last year's World Series loss, a messy showing that had the bottom of the Dodgers' victorious roster mocking them all offseason. Fresh off another letdown, the Yankees are left to contemplate the future . . .
[T]ime is of the essence.
Judge . . . only has so many prime years left . . . Stanton and Gerrit Cole, who didn't throw a pitch this year thanks to Tommy John surgery, aren't getting any younger, either. Both are 35 . . .
Clarke Schmidt will also miss time in 2026 after his own Tommy John procedure . . .
The bullpen will be a major offseason project, as the unit routinely struggled from start to finish this season. . . .
[J]ust how many of those players will the Yankees want back . . .?
At first glance, the response may be "not many" . . .

Yankee Elimination Day – 2025

2025-10-08T20:24:00.001-07:00

YED!

2025 EDITION

Yankee Elimination Days

YED 2001 - November 4
YED 2002 - October 5
YED 2003 - October 25
YED 2004 - October 20
YED 2005 - October 10
YED 2006 - October 7
YED 2007 - October 8
YED 2008 - September 23
YED 2010 - October 22
YED 2011 - October 6
YED 2012 - October 18
YED 2013 - September 25
YED 2014 - September 24
YED 2015 - October 6
YED 2016 - September 29
YED 2017 - October 21
YED 2018 - October 9
YED 2019 - October 19
YED 2020 - October 9
YED 2021 - October 5
YED 2022 - October 23
YED 2023 - September 24
YED 2024 - October 29
YED 2025 - OCTOBER 8

Bottoms up, motherfuckers!

YEDs highlighted in red are seasons in which the Red Sox directly eliminated the Yankees.

Schadenfreude 369 (A Continuing Series)

2025-10-07T14:27:00.003-07:00

What Lies At The Heart Of The Yankees' Season-Threatening Lost Weekend In Toronto
Zach Braziller, Post

Somewhat lost amid the [ALWC series win] was the underwhelming offensive performance in that three-game series. The Yankees moved on in spite of their lineup's shortcomings.
It hasn't gotten better in the ALDS, a major reason the Yankees will face elimination in Game 3 in The Bronx trailing, 2-0.
Look, the pitching has been abysmal. Max Fried laid a complete egg on Sunday, hammered for seven earned runs in three-plus innings.
On Saturday, the bullpen led by Luke Weaver turned a close game into a rout after Luis Gil was ineffective in 2.2 shaky innings. You're not winning games by allowing 23 runs in two games . . .
But this series really began to turn on Saturday, when, in the sixth inning and the Yankees down 2-0, Aaron Judge struck out with the bases loaded and nobody out, and the Yankees managed just one run.
They were non-competitive against rookie Trey Yesavage a day later, striking out 11 times in 5.1 innings without managing a hit against the righty. . . .
The Blue Jays haven't made mistakes to give the Yankees chances to rally.
They have hammered their pitching and shut down the Bronx Bombers, who have gone deep just once in the two lopsided games. It has given Toronto a stranglehold in this series, needing just one more victory to advance to the ALCS.

Yankees Confident Coming Home Will Change Their Fortune: 'Handle Business'
Greg Joyce, Post

The Yankees need coming home to matter, or else they are actually going home.
After leaving the building that has doubled as their personal hell this season at a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-five ALDS, the Yankees returned home Monday for an off-day, trying to shake off a pair of embarrassing blowouts to extend their season past Tuesday's Game 3. . . .
"It's going to be different," Will Warren said . . . "We're a good team." . . .
The Yankees insist they have been preparing for this moment all season.
But doing it against the Blue Jays will be a different kind of challenge, coming off being handled by a combined score of 23-8 in Games 1 and 2 . . .
Carlos Rodón will be tasked with trying to hold a pesky Blue Jays lineup off the board . . .
"We're human. You feel things," manager Aaron Boone said Monday. "It sucks when you lose."

Fan Comments

Eyeman
"Pesky" lineup ? They got bludgeoned 23-8, that's not "pesky".
Scott Zimmer
Delusional! Nothing about this team gives any confidence they can win 1 game much less 3. Not one player has done anything to give them a chance

The Yankees Are Doomed If Aaron Judge Keeps 'Passing The Baton'
Joel Sherman, Post

. . . the odds are not exactly stacked in their favor.
There have been 90 best-of-five series in MLB history in which a team has gone up 2-0. And only 10 times has the trailing team rebounded to advance. On the past 18 occasions that a club has built a 2-0 advantage, it has won the series 17 times, including 11 in a sweep. . . .
It feels impossible to believe these Yankees can construct a three-game winning streak and reach the ALCS unless Judge transforms from a singles-hitting Luis Arraez to All Rise. . . . [S]even of his [eight] hits are singles. There are no homers and just two RBIs — one a present when Red Sox left fielder Jarren Darren botched a fly ball and the other was a single in Game 2 . . . that brought the Yankees to within 13-2.
When asked how he was feeling at the plate after Game 2, Judge said, ". . . Trying not to do too much. Help the team. . . . just kind of passing the baton."
That is a wonderful vanilla sound bite. But I am sure that was not, say, what Judge and his representatives led with when they convinced Hal Steinbrenner to award him $360 million — you know, he is just one of the boys passing a baton. . . .
There is a Baseball Reference metric called Win Probability Added that attempts to determine which plate appearances most influenced a victory.
Judge's No. 1 in 63 postseason games is a two-run game-tying homer he hit off Emmanuel Clase in last year's ALCS Game 3 — a game the Yankees lost to the Guardians.
No. 2 is an eighth-inning double off Ken Giles in 2017 ALCS Game 4 that tied the score.
No. 3 is a two-run homer off Triston McKenzie in the third inning of 2022 division series Game 3, which the Yankees also would lose.
No. 4: A fourth-inning two-run homer off Justin Verlander in an ALCS Game 2 against the Astros that the Yankees also would lose.
No. 5: A first-inning two-run homer off Jack Flaherty in last year's World Series Game 5 — a game in which he dropped a fifth-inning fly ball that would open the door to the comeback that would seal a title for the Dodgers.
You are getting the picture right: Lots of early innings, lots of losses. . . .
What seems impossible is the Yankees assembling a season-saving three-game winning streak without Judge finally putting an indelible signature on October.

This Is Aaron Judge's Time To Rise, But He'll Need Help To Save The Yankees' Season
Peter Botte, Post

The Yankees have been here before, including Aaron Judge.
No. 99 was a rookie in 2017, when the Yanks dropped the first two games of the AL Division Series in Cleveland . . .
Judge . . . finish[ed] his first career playoff series with an anemic batting average of .050 (1-for-20) with no home runs and 16 strikeouts, his first of several poor postseason showings for the Yankees over the past decade.
Down 0-2 again while headed back to The Bronx for Game 3 on Tuesday night — after getting thumped in Toronto by a 23-8 aggregate — the Yankees need a lot to change in order to push this five-game set back to Canada. . . .
The longer the starters last, obviously the fewer outs will be required to be amassed by a shaky bullpen . . .
The pinstriped offense also needs to build on the garbage-time runs it produced against the Jays' bullpen . . .
And they absolutely need Judge, more than ever, to carry them back into this series, especially with runners in scoring position.
Yes, the 2025 playoffs have seen [Judge] hit at a sturdy .444 clip (8-for-18) through five games against the Red Sox and the Blue Jays.
But those numbers also have taken on an empty-calories type of feel with no homers and only two RBIs.

Why Yankees Hitting Coach Won't 'Panic' With Power Outage Threatening Their Season
Dan Martin, Post

The Yankees enter Game 3 of the ALDS against the Blue Jays with just one homer and 21 strikeouts in the first two games. . . .
But strikeouts aren't the only aspect of the offense that's ailing the Yankees . . .
[I]t would be one thing if the Yankees were going down swinging with some home runs mixed in, but Cody Bellinger's shot late in Game 2 is the Yankees' lone homer through the first 18 innings. . . .
Of the wild-card teams still playing, only the Tigers went into Tuesday with fewer homers than the Yankees' three over five postseason games.
And they struck out 13 times in Game 1 of the wild-card series, mostly due to Boston's Garrett Crochet, and then 15 more times in Game 2 of the ALDS, with rookie Trey Yesavage doing most of the damage.
Anthony Volpe tops the team with 10 strikeouts, while Trent Grisham . . . is next with eight. And Ben Rice has whiffed seven times in just 15 at-bats.
Coupled with the fact that Aaron Judge has gotten on base, but provided very little power, and Giancarlo Stanton has mostly struggled so far this October, and the Yankees lineup is a mess.
They did most of their damage in their highest-scoring game of the playoffs against the mediocre part of the Blue Jays' bullpen when Game 2 was well out of reach.

Trent Grisham Has Gone From Clutch To Nonexistent In Major Yankees Concern
Andrew Crane, Post

The issue hasn't been isolated just to Trent Grisham.
But with the Yankees lineup mostly sputtering throughout their ALDS series and even the wild-card series, their clutch hitter from the regular season has been anything but that.
Grisham will enter a win-or-stay-home Game 3 hitting 3-for-20 in the 2025 playoffs with eight strikeouts.
He also is hitting .165 with 36 strikeouts a .577 OPS through 24 career postseason games.
But Boone defended his center fielder Monday — calling it the "nature of the playoffs" . . .
"I trust Trent Grisham and his at-bat quality," Boone said. . . .
Boone referenced Grisham's wild-card series with the Padres against the Mets in 2022 as a glimpse of how he can perform on this stage.
Grisham hit .500 that series and ended up with three homers that postseason, but once the NLCS arrived, he didn't collect a hit — and has gone 3-for-39 (.077) with 17 strikeouts in 10 postseason games since that Phillies series began. . . .
Grisham — nicknamed "Big Sleep" by the Yankees — . . . struck out four times in Game 1 of the wild-card series and three times in Game 2 of the ALDS . . .
"He's going to not get overwhelmed by a situation," Boone said.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Is A Yankees Problem With No Apparent Answer
Andrew Crane, Post

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. still doesn't know why.
He's faced questions about it before, about why his numbers at Yankee Stadium — 16 homers, 30 RBIs, a 1.002 OPS in 48 games — are so strong, and the $500 million Blue Jays superstar can't explain it outside of feeling good.
But Guerrero's tormenting of the Yankees has stretched beyond The Bronx.
He collected a .302 average with a .918 OPS across 102 regular-season games against them and added another chapter during Games 1 and 2 of the ALDS — going 6-for-10, providing a solo homer in the opener and then delivering a dagger of a grand slam Sunday. . . .
[W]ith the Yankees already crumbling Sunday, Guerrero blasted a Will Warren pitch 415 feet. There was the bat flip. There was the Rogers Centre crowd erupting around him. There was the foghorn going off and little hints of poetry and irony and cinema all colliding together in one iconic playoff moment. . . .
[T]he Yankees have been left raving about Guerrero. . . . Someone who can beat out infield hits, provide pressure on the bases and — more generally — "really cemented himself as kind of the face and leader of that organization."
Someone who — for the 2025 postseason, for the 2025 regular season, for all of his career — the Yankees haven't discovered any answers for.

Schadenfreude 368 (A Continuing Series)

2025-10-06T12:44:00.000-07:00

Everything Trump Touches Dies

Volpe: "It's not a cult."

Facts:

In postseason history, teams taking a 2-0 lead in a best-of-5 series have gone on to win that series 80 of 90 times (88.9%)
In Division Series w/current 2-2-1 format, teams to win both G1+2 at home have advanced 31 of 34 times (91.2%), incl 20 sweeps

The Blue Jays scored 20 consecutive runs between Yankees runs
They're the first team in postseason history to score 20 consecutive runs within a series

The Blue Jays' 23 runs are the most by a team in the first two games of a single postseason

Which also means . . .

The Yankees are the only team in major league history to give up 20 consecutive runs within one postseason series.
The Yankees are the only team in major league history to allow 23 runs in the first two games of a postseason series.

Vladimir Guerrero Sr. & Vladimir Guerrero Jr. are the only father/son duo in MLB history to each hit a postseason grand slam.
Senior: October 8, 2004, ALDS G3, Angels vs. Red Sox at Fenway Park
Junior: October 6, 2025, ALDS G2, Blue Jays vs. Yankees at Skydome

Trey Yesavage:
31 swings, 18 misses
That 58% whiff rate is the highest in a postseason game under pitch tracking (2008), min 25 swings

The Blue Jays have 8 home runs and 7 strikeouts so far this postseason
They're the second team in postseason history with more home runs than strikeouts in their first two games of a single postseason, joining:
2005 White Sox, 6 homers & 4 strikeouts

On the cusp of YED? . . . That's true!

Video: Aaron Judge's 2024 Postseason Highlights, But You Hate The Yankees

Schadenfreude 367 (A Continuing Series)

2025-10-06T01:11:00.004-07:00

Yankees   - 000 002 500 -  7 10  1
Blue Jays - 023 611 00x - 13 15  1

"I expect us to go out and play well today."
Aaron Boone

@_IAmNotANumber_
So fucking much for that.

@JamotheDooD
Bahahahaha wrong again you clown!!

@Mr_CheeseHead
So, expect the complete opposite of that

@Jordirod2
Yeah if you swing at every first pitch and popup you'll win

@DianeAlonge
Hahahahahaha!!!!

@Piff131
Update, they did not go out and play well today

@Oghuz1014
This guy is a fucking moron

Yankees Pushed To Brink Again After Another Blistering Blue Jays Beatdown
Greg Joyce, Post

The only thing resembling a real competition on the field Sunday at Rogers Centre was which side of the Yankees could be humiliated more: their hitters, who were no-hit for 5.1 innings by rookie Trey Yesavage, or their own pitching staff, which, led by Max Fried, got tagged for 11 runs before recording an 11th out.

Yesavage, armed with a devastating splitter, dominated and made life miserable for the Yankees while Fried wilted on the other side of the pitching matchup, resulting in an embarrassing 13-7 beatdown by the Blue Jays in Game 2 of the ALDS.

The Yankees, assuming they are allowed back into the USA, will fly home with their season on life support, having been blown out by a combined score of 23-8 in the first two games . . .

The 22-year-old Yesavage, the No. 20 pick in the 2024 draft who made his MLB debut on Sept. 15, turned in a performance for the ages. Throwing from a high arm slot with a splitter that continually brought the Yankees to their knees with ugly swings, Yesavage struck out 11 across 5.1 no-hit innings while walking only one. . . .

Meanwhile, Fried did not register an out in the fourth inning, getting rocked for seven runs on eight hits across three-plus innings. The $218 million left-hander gave up a two-run homer to Ernie Clement in the second inning — which came after an Aaron Judge fielding error on Daulton Varsho's double — three more runs in the third and then allowed the first two runners to reach in the fourth . . .

Will Warren did not provide much relief, as Vladimir Guerrero Jr. took him deep for a monster grand slam that made it a 9-0 . . .

Varsho added a two-run shot to make it 11-0 before the knockout punch of an inning was over. . . .

Guerrero and Varsho combined to go 7-for-10 with three home runs, two doubles, eight RBIs and six runs scored to lead the Blue Jays offensive explosion. . . .

Yesavage started the season in Low-A (his pro debut) before flying through the Blue Jays system. Along the way, he had faced the Yankees' Low-A, Double and Triple-A affiliates, all of whom had more success against him than the big league club did Sunday. . . .

This article was posted at 9:25 p.m. on Saturday!

Max Fried Is A Yankee For This Exact Moment
Mike Vaccaro, Post

This is the kind of assignment that used to fall on the right shoulder of David Cone, or the left one of Andy Pettitte, back in the dynasty days. CC Sabathia merrily assumed the burden for a while . . . If things had gone according to plan this year, it would be Gerrit Cole's responsibility.

But . . . the ball will be in Max Fried's hand Sunday afternoon . . .

Fried will do what a man who'll be earning $218 million over this and the next seven seasons must be required to do: He will go out and he will steer the Yankees train back onto the tracks. He will make the 10-1 clobbering they absorbed from the Blue Jays on Saturday afternoon fade to black. He will do his part to send the Yankees back to The Bronx tied 1-1, owning the home-field advantage in this best-of-five ALDS.

The Yankees probably don't want to ponder the ramifications if he doesn't. . . .

[Fried] needs to replicate in Game 2 against the Blue Jays what he did in Game 1 against the Red Sox . . . [H]e was brilliant for 6.1 innings, surrendering just four hits and zero runs and baffling the Red Sox for 102 pitches before Boone baffled everyone else and lifted him in favor of Luke Weaver (who . . . ought to be so far outside Boone’s circle of trust that he’ll get dressed for Game 2 in Vancouver).

The Yankees need Fried to be that kind of brilliant again. They need him to act like an ace, especially since the Toronto starter, Trey Yesavage, has thrown exactly 239 pitches in the major leagues. That’s a significant advantage for the Yankees, no matter how promising Yesavage may be. They need to pounce. And Fried needs to ignite the engine. . . .

Fried's mentality has to be this: Keep the Jays off the board as long as possible. Make it impossible for Boone to take the ball away from him . . .

Fried can do nothing about the offense. He can do nothing about the bullpen. All he can control is his own left arm, but that ought to be plenty. . . .

The Yankees will give Fried the ball Sunday. This is why he's here . . . He is paid like an ace. He has played like an ace. He needs to be all of that Sunday.

Ooops.

Max Fried Pummeled, Pulled Early In Startling Yankees Dud Vs. Blue Jays In Game 2
Mark W. Sanchez, Post

In an on-paper mismatch that pitted ace Max Fried against rookie Trey Yesavage, the Yankees All-Star looked like the far more underwhelming arm.

Fried exited in the fourth inning — recording just one more out than Luis Gil had a night earlier — and was charged with seven runs on eight hits and two walks in a startling Game 2 dud . . .

Two of those runs scored after Fried exited. He handed a two-on, none-out jam to Will Warren in the fourth. . . .

In a near must-win, trailing 1-0 in a best-of-five, Fried could not deliver. He allowed two runs in the second, when Daulton Varsho doubled (and reached third on an Aaron Judge error) before Ernie Clement sat on a first-pitch curveball that he blasted to left for a two-run edge.

The Jays added on the third, when a walk and three singles — including plenty of hard contact, such as another Varsho double and a rocket single into left from Clement — scored three more.

Yankees Set Out To 'Step On Necks' — They're The Ones Getting Stomped
Jon Heyman, Post

It's uncertain when the "step on necks" portion of the postseason is supposed to begin for the Yankees, but it sure as heck better be soon. . . .

[The Yankees are] not hitting enough and barely pitching at all, and . . . certainly isn't stepping on any necks, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. memorably promised would be the Yankees' October destiny.

In reality, the [MFY] are in peril of being ushered out of the playoffs Tuesday following two straight brutal overall performances vs. the Blue Jays . . .

Things are looking bleak, to put it mildly, and the Yankees have only themselves to blame. . . . They now need three straight wins over a team they've beaten in only five of 15 matchups in 2025.

Chisholm's mid-September prediction — "we're coming to step on necks" — couldn't feel more wrong now. The Jays . . . outplayed the Yankees in every facet of the game all weekend . . .

Jays pitcher Trey Yesavage easily outpitched Yankees ace Max Fried, a $218M winter pickup, by dominating the Yankees like no one else has all year. The rookie right-hander struck out 11 Yankees and left with a no-hit bid intact after 5.1 innings to thunderous applause. . . .

[Yesavage, 22,] absolutely overpowered the Yankees lineup using a devastating split-fingered fastball and over-the-top delivery in his over-the-top performance. Yesavage . . . made it to the majors Sept. 15 after four promotions in his first full season in pro ball, logging a not-so-grand total of 239 pitches in the big leagues before his start Sunday.

The normally uber-polite Canadian crowd resurrected their "Yankees suck" chant after Guerrero's grand slam off Will Warren practically sealed the deal at 9-zip in the fourth inning. At that moment, it was hard to argue. . . .

The Yankees don't even look like they belong in this same beautiful stadium with the Jays. [JoS Note: I lived 30-40 minutes from Skydome 13 years and I can tell you it's a piece of concrete shit. Having the roof open on a sunny day could fool someone, I suppose. Jays fans are fuckin morons whether the roof is open or closed.] They did nothing when it counted while falling behind 12-0 before late rallies against the underbelly of a mostly so-so Jays bullpen. . . .

[T]his is one of worst starts to a series imaginable. It's not like the Yankees were killing it in the wild-card round against Boston, either. They barely escaped that one . . .

Yesavage was almost equally impressive, making a lineup of all hitters with 20 or more homers look downright silly. He struck out the side in three of his first four innings . . .

Chisholm's neck-stomping prediction aside, the Yankees could not have looked much more docile the two games here.

Yankees Look Like They Don't Belong As Blue Jays Humiliate Them At Their Own Game
Joel Sherman, Post

Usually you have to be the Giants or Jets to be a New York team that looks this bad on a Sunday.

There are losses. There are humiliations. Whatever comes next is where the Yankees were in division series Game 2.

The Yankees were no-hit into the sixth inning and clearly pitched worse than they batted. . . . [I]n two days in their Rogers Centre house of horrors, the Yankees did not look as if they belonged in the same league.

And so far they haven't really been in this series — outscored 23-8 to fall into a two-games-to-none ditch (grave?). The Yankees must win two games at home just to use their passports again to get a Game 5 at Rogers Centre, where they are 1-8 this year and have been outscored 75-41. . . .

[C]an they win Tuesday to trigger a three-game winning streak after two games in which the Blue Jays have outhit, outpowered, outpitched, out-starred, out-supporting casted and outpoised them? . . .

Trey Yesavage . . . struck out 11 of the 18 Yankees he faced, finishing off eight of the whiffs with a disappearing split that left the Yankees flummoxed, flabbergasted and flailing.

When Yesavage was removed, it was 12-0. The underbelly of the Blue Jays bullpen allowed some Yankees batting practice and a cosmetic improvement in a 13-7 final . . .

In the aftermath, the Yankees said all the blah, blah, fill-in-the-blank stuff about enduring adversity all season . . .

In perhaps the best moment of candor, Giancarlo Stanton said "probably not" when asked if the Yankees could rally if they do not win the home run battle. And so far it is not close.

Going into this series, the biggest Yankees advantages were supposed to be stars, power and postseason experience. But the experience has meant nothing, the stars have been curtailed and the Blue Jays have outhomered the Yankees 8-1. This was the Yankees' 442nd postseason game — and the first time they had given up as many as five homers in one of them. . . .

The Blue Jays have not only had their usual hitting style of put it in play with the lowest strikeout rate in the majors. But they have done a lot of damage. Meanwhile, Judge and Stanton still have yet to homer in five playoff games . . .

And it feels like there is no way the Yankees can defy history if those two — and others — do not begin to flex and the pitching staff never quells the Blue Jays' relentless offensive nature. Teams that led a best-of-five series by two games to none have won 80 of 90 times. . . .

Here we see Judge in his natural October habitat, walking back to the dugout after striking out.

Yankees Aren't Getting Enough From Aaron Judge As Star's Strange ALDS Continues
Mark W. Sanchez, Post

The Blue Jays' best player in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stepped up with the bases loaded Sunday and delivered a grand slam; the Yankees' best player in Aaron Judge stepped up with the bases loaded Saturday and struck out. . . .

Judge followed up a costly missed opportunity at the plate in Game 1 with an error and a few singles that arrived after the Blue Jays had built an insurmountable lead in Game 2 . . .

Against the Red Sox and Blue Jays, he has gone 8-for-18 (.444) with two walks.

But his only extra-base hit has been a double, and he has totaled two runs batted in (which might require an asterisk, those two arising from Boston's Jarren Duran dropping a fly ball off Judge's bat and an RBI single in the seventh Sunday to cut the deficit to 13-3).

He scored his first two runs of the playoffs Sunday, when he rounded the bases on a Cody Bellinger home run that closed the gap to 12-2 and scored on a Giancarlo Stanton single that made it 13-7. . . .

In a postseason in which Judge's arm, recovering from a flexor strain, had burned him once when he allowed an extra base against the Red Sox, his glove failed him Sunday.

In the second inning, Daulton Varsho lined a shot over Ben Rice's head. Judge tried to cut the ball off before it reached the wall along the right field line . . . and he and the ball reached the wall at about the same time. . . . [Judge] watched the ball squeeze in between his legs and roll to the outfield wall, enabling Varsho to take third.

David Ortiz Hilariously Basks In Yankees' Misery After Blowout Loss To Blue Jays: 'It's A Wrap'
Christian Arnold, Post

David Ortiz was more than happy to poke fun at his arch-rival, the Yankees, on Sunday after the Bronx Bombers found themselves down 0-2 in the ALDS to the Blue Jays.

Sitting between Yankee greats Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez on the MLB on Fox set, the Red Sox legand [sic] had some fun . . .

"They can bring Jesus back and they're still going to go to Cancun," Ortiz said, insinuating the Yankees were headed for an early offseason. "It's over. It's a wrap, just so you know. This Toronto Blue Jays lineup ain't playing around."

The comment made Rodriguez burst into laughter, while Jeter also got a good chuckle out of the remark. . . .

Jeter had been seemingly trying to make some sort of positive comment when he looked at Ortiz, and immediately knew that Big Papi was gearing up to make a joke.

"Don't say anything," Jeter tried to preempt before the desk again burst into laughter.

"Let me tell you," Ortiz started up again. "I love you so much, but the only chance the Yankees have is if you, [Mariano Rivera], Andy [Pettitte], and A-Rod come back and play."

"Reggie Jackson, Babe Ruth, all of them," Ortiz continued. "Joe DiMaggio… Roger Maris…" . . .

Yesavage Makes ALL KINDS Of History In Hitless Postseason Debut

Keegan Matheson

Sunday in Toronto, a star was born.

Trey Yesavage had the Yankees seeing ghosts, the highest-scoring offense in baseball suddenly baffled by a 22-year-old with a pitch that plummets from the sky and disappears. . . .

It was one of the greatest performances in this organization's history, the type of moment we'll still be talking about years from now, comparing everything that comes after it to what Yesavage just did. . . .

Yesavage, by the numbers:

• Set a new record for strikeouts by a Blue Jays pitcher in the postseason (previous record, 8, shared by David Price twice, Juan Guzman and Dave Stieb).

• Yesavage (22 years, 69 days) is the 2nd-youngest pitcher with a double-digit strikeout game in postseason play (John Candelaria struck out 14 at 21 years, 335 days in the 1975 NLCS G3)

• His 10 strikeouts through four innings were tied for the most in postseason history (Patrick Corbin, 2019 NLCS G4)

Saturday, sitting cool and calm at the podium, Yesavage said, "I'm built for this." He said it so matter-of-factly that it couldn't even come off as cocky. We should have known it was a warning.

The moment that captured Yesavage best came in the very first inning. He'd walked in from the bullpen a few minutes prior . . . Soon, he had leadoff hitter Trent Grisham in a 1-2 count, set up perfectly for that splitter, which has turned hitters inside out all season. Grisham called time and stepped out of the box to take a couple of swings and a breath.

Yesavage? He just stood there.

Already set for the pitch with the ball high in his glove, Yesavage stood completely still on the mound, glaring in at Grisham as if to say, "Take your damn time, I'll be here." When Grisham finally stepped back in, there came the splitter and there went Grisham, back to the dugout as Yesavage's first of 11 strikeouts. . . .

All of this from the youngest postseason starter in Blue Jays history, a 2024 first-rounder who threw his first professional pitch six months ago in Single-A. Yesavage started this season mowing down teenage hitters in mostly-empty Single-A stadiums, then came High-A, Double-A and Triple-A. He's touched every level of this organization in a single season, joking that he knows just about everyone now. It's the type of development arc teams dream of, but can almost never pull off.

Trey Yesavage Stymies Yankees With 'Funky Release' As Blue Jays' Version Of October Surprise

Mark W. Sanchez

Yes, the Yankees knew they would be facing Trey Yesavage on Sunday. But no, they did not appear to have any feel for how to attack a pitcher with 14 career major league innings and with unique stuff that comes out of a unique delivery from a 22-year-old with what sure looks like a unique makeup.

. . . utilizing a delivery that is as over the top as possible and unleashing disappearing splitters, fastballs that give the appearance of rise, plus sliders that dive under bats . . .

The Yankees, of course, could and did watch video of Yesavage's few outings against the Rays and Royals in September, plus his 98 innings across four minor league levels this season. . . .

The Yankees were not able to adjust. Yesavage did not allow a hit through 5 ¹/₃ brilliant and scoreless innings in which he struck out 11.

He threw his splitter 29 times, 19 of which were either called strikes or swings and misses. The Yankees swung at 16 and missed 11. They could not differentiate the fastball, which remained at the top of the zone, from a splitter that was heading to the top of the zone until it began its plunge.

Against the heart of the Yankees order in the fourth, Yesavage used high heat to put away Judge, turned to the splitter that put Cody Bellinger on one knee during a swing-and-miss and again used that splitter to sit down Rice to strike out the side.

The Blue Jays, who left a building-up Chris Bassitt and a struggling Max Scherzer off their ALDS roster, tabbed a top prospect with three career starts to take the ball for Game 2. . . .

"This has got to be cloud nine," said Yesavage, who was pulled by a heavily booed manager John Schneider with a 12-0 lead after 78 pitches and took a curtain call from a sold-out Toronto crowd. "I couldn't imagine a better feeling right now."

Locked-In Vlad Jr. Launches 1st Grand Slam In Blue Jays Playoff History
Keegan Matheson, mlb.com

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. owns this city. Now, he owns this series.

Guerrero launched a grand slam in Game 2 of the American League Division Series against the Yankees on Sunday to put the Blue Jays up 9-0 . . .

When Guerrero's swing uncoiled on the fastball from Will Warren, he just stood and stared. The ball soared to left field, a no-doubter . . .

By the time Guerrero tossed his bat back towards the Blue Jays' dugout and started to jog down the line, Rogers Centre was louder than it's been [in more than a decade] . . .

Fresh off a three-hit night in the opener, Guerrero already has three hits in Game 2 of the series. All of this comes after Guerrero stumbled through the final weeks of the season, never looking quite right.

The beast has awoken, though, and through two games, the ALDS belongs to Vladdy.

Schadenfreude 366 (A Continuing Series)

2025-10-05T09:26:00.004-07:00

Yankees   - 000 001 000 -  1  6  0
Blue Jays - 110 000 44x - 10 14  0

"By the end, the allegedly super polite Canadians were
co-opting a famous Boston-favored phrase: 'Yankees S—!'"

Yankees Unravel Late In Brutal ALDS Game 1 Loss To Blue Jays
Greg Joyce, Post

The good vibes the Yankees carried across the border are apparently worth nothing in Canadian currency. . . .
The biggest Yankees bats came up small in key spots, Luis Gil got tagged in an abbreviated start and then Luke Weaver and the bullpen blew things open late, sinking the Yankees in a 10-1 loss to the Blue Jays in Game 1 of the ALDS . . . falling to 1-7 at Rogers Centre this year. . . .
Gil lasted just 2.2 innings while giving up solo home runs to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Alejandro Kirk [and] the game began to fall apart for the Yankees in the sixth inning.
They had the bases loaded with no outs and the heart of their order due up in a 2-0 game, but only came away with one run, in part because Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton each struck out.
Weaver then put an end to any comeback hopes . . . in the seventh inning, flopping again while issuing a walk and back-to-back singles that made it 3-1 and ended his outing before he could record an out. The two inherited runners came in to score off Fernando Cruz . . .
In two outings this postseason, Weaver has faced six batters and retired none of them, getting charged for five runs on four hits and two walks. He had struggled for stretches during the regular season . . . but finished well, giving the Yankees hope they could count on him.
That has not been the case.
Kirk hit his second home run of the game in the eighth inning off Paul Blackburn, who went on to give up three more runs in mop-up duty . . .
Gil recorded just eight outs on Saturday, getting rocked for plenty of loud contact beyond the homers . . . Of the 10 balls put in play against him, six came off the bat at 95 mph or harder.

Aaron Judge, Yankees Can't Put Rogers Centre Woes Behind Them As Bats, Arms Flop In ALDS Blowout
Gary Phillips, Daily News

With the bases loaded, nobody out and Aaron Judge up at the plate, the Yankees finally looked like a threat in Game 1 of the ALDS. . . .
Alas, the Yankees captain, whose postseason shortcomings have been well-documented, struck out on eight pitches, chasing a 3-2 splitter below the zone. Judge's waving bat elicited a roar from Rogers Centre's packed crowd, which erupted again a few batters later when Louis Varland fanned Giancarlo Stanton with a 100.7-mph, inning-ending fastball down the heart of the plate. . . .
With the Yankees only mustering one run on a walk in the sixth . . . The outcome followed a regular season that saw the Yankees play some of their worst baseball north of the border, as they lost 6-of-7 games at the Rogers Centre over two series this summer. . . .
While the Yankees' bats were nearly silenced by Gausman, Luis Gil put them in an early hole, surrendering two homers in the first two innings.
The righty's first mistake came with two outs in the opening frame, as Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who has made his distaste for the Yankees well-known, took the pitcher deep for a solo home run . . .
With one Yankees killer putting Toronto on the board, another padded the Jays' lead in the second inning when Alejandro Kirk led off with another bases-empty blast. . . .
Gil said he was surprised to see Aaron Boone pull him so soon . . .
Luke Weaver's struggles continued, as he began the seventh with a five-pitch walk and a single before permitting an RBI knock to Andrés Giménez. . . .
Weaver failed to record an out for the second time in as many appearances this postseason . . .
Weaver acknowledged that he's been tipping his pitches and struggling to adjust. . . .
Those who followed Weaver didn't fare any better, as Nathan Lukes ripped a two-run double off Cruz before Guerrero added a sac fly. The eighth inning brought more damage, as Kirk crushed another solo homer off Paul Blackburn.

Luis Gil's Disastrous Yankees Start Raises Daunting Rotation Questions
Mark W. Sanchez, Post

What became clear Saturday was [the Yankees] do not have a No. 4.
Luis Gil was given the ball instead of Will Warren, and Gil then had to give the ball to his bullpen in the third inning. . . .
The third batter of the game for the Blue Jays, Yankees-killer Vladimir Guerrero Jr., saw a changeup that got too much of the plate and hammered it out to left field for a lead the Jays never surrendered. . . .
On an evening the Yankees' offense did little, it might not have mattered which fourth starter the Yankees tried. . . .
[I]f this series lasts the distance the Yankees would be faced with the same unenviable position of selecting which fourth arm they trust the most. . . .

Yankees' Bullpen Setup Could Look Different After Hard Lessons In ALDS Game 1
Mark W. Sanchez, Post

[T]he Yankees tried to learn about bullpen pieces who were barely or not touched at all in the wild-card round. . . .
The lessons gained from Luke Weaver's second postseason appearance and Paul Blackburn's debut were particularly worrisome.
Tasked with completing a game that Luis Gil left in the third, the relief corps had an up-and-down evening in the 10-1, Game 1 embarrassment to the Blue Jays . . .
The trouble began in the seventh, when Weaver entered and allowed a walk and two singles, the second to drive in a run, before he was pulled. The former . . . most reliable arm among the group has faced six batters in the postseason and retired none. Among many Yankees concerns, Weaver's struggles might top the list.
The Yankees probably were never going to give Blackburn much of a chance . . . Blackburn lost any goodwill he had built up by allowing four runs on six hits in the seventh and eighth.

Yankees' Luke Weaver Completely Lost After Latest Stinker: 'Don't Really Feel Like Myself'
Mark W. Sanchez, Post

The problem facing Luke Weaver has been diagnosed.
As Saturday demonstrated, it has not been completely fixed.
Within the past month, the Yankees identified that the typically reliable righty was tipping his pitches. Weaver has attempted to halt relaying to hitters which pitch is coming by altering something . . .in his setup or delivery. Pitching through this adjustment has proven difficult.
For a second time already this postseason, Weaver entered a game, faced three batters and retired none.
His October ERA is infinite, charged with five runs on four hits and two walks while recording zero outs.
"I don't really feel like myself," Weaver said after the 10-1, Game 1 ALDS loss . . . "I don't feel like my mind is completely clear . . . [T]here's some factors that are building up.". . .
The Yankees believe Weaver is no longer tipping his pitches.
But whatever tweak he has made has altered his feeling and execution on the mound. . . .
It is unclear how long Weaver had been tipping his pitches . . .
"I feel like I'm close. I feel like I'm competitive," Weaver said . . . "I don't feel like I'm getting hit hard. Guys are finding some holes. …"

Luke Weaver’s Mind Seems Fried Amid Yankees’ Pitch-Tipping Worries
Gary Phillips, Daily News

Luke Weaver did his best to keep things vague Saturday, yet the Yankees' reliever exposed a lot after failing to record an out for the second time in as many appearances this postseason. . . .
Weaver . . . spoke hypothetically about "giving things away" and "doing things out of the ordinary that people are picking up on." . . .
Blake acknowledged that the Yankees talked to Weaver about tipping. . . .
[Weaver became] the second pitcher in playoff history to face three-plus batters and not record an out in each of his first two appearances of a postseason.
Rick Honeycutt became the first in 1989, per MLB.com's Sarah Langs. . . .
Weaver couldn't say for sure if the Blue Jays picked up on his tips Saturday, but he said it's "doubtful." Instead, he attributed the day's performance on the adjustments he's made and where his head is at.

Yankees Have Lost Their Identity — And It's Up To Aaron Judge To Find It Again
Joel Sherman, Post

. . . The Yankees, as much as ever, are a homer-hitting team. It is their identity. Their lifeblood. Their separator.
And Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton are the flex brothers. They . . . represent the might and menace of this style. . . .
[F]our games into this postseason, neither has gone deep. Judge has hits, but not enough impact. Stanton has struck the ball hard, but not often in the air or far. . . .
The Yankees simply cannot lose the long-ball battle to the Blue Jays [2 in the first 5 batters in Game 1] . . .
Judge had the biggest at-bat for the Yankees in this game — none out, bases loaded in the sixth and Toronto ahead 2-0. He chased a Kevin Gausman full-count splitter out of the zone to strike out rather than draw a run-scoring walk. Judge is 6-for-15 this postseason, but his lone RBI was a gift [on a dropped line drive]. . . . Judge still is without a signature postseason Yankee moment and is now 8-for-47 (.170) with [RATS] in the playoffs.
With two outs and the Yankees trailing 2-1, Stanton [.067 in the postseason] whiffed against a Louis Varland triple-digit fastball, and the best chance for the Yankees . . . vanished.
Luke Weaver entered in the seventh, faced three batters, retired none and has faced six batters this postseason without recording an out. He may be at the unusable stage. . . .
Ten of [New York's] first 14 batters swung at [Gausman's] first pitch and four led to one-pitch at-bats. Thus, Gausman had shut out the Yankees on just 50 pitches through five innings. . . .
The Yankees never cleared the fence. The flex brothers did not flex. And for the second time this postseason, the Yankees will have to rally to stay alive.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Shows Again Why He's A Yankees Killer
Jon Heyman, Post

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is the one avowed Yankees hater among probably tens of millions of Yankees haters up here and in the States who actually has many and ongoing opportunities to hurt them. What's more, Guerrero rarely misses a chance to do so, and Game 1 of the ALDS was the latest example . . .
Hardcore baseball fans know Guerrero probably took extra enjoyment from the Jays' big victory, even if . . . Guerrero gave rather drab answers about the Yankees in his pre-series interview. "It just happens that I do well against them," he said at one point . . .
In 2023, Guerrero said in an interview that he "loves crushing Yankee fans and the Yankees."
In 2022, he was even stronger, saying, "I like to kill the Yankees. I would never sign with the Yankees."
One time he topped that, saying he'd "never play for the Yankees … not even dead."
Guerrero brought the Jays to life here Saturday, helping Toronto to a 10-1 series-opening victory over the Yankees. . . .
By the end, the allegedly super polite Canadians were co-opting a famous Boston-favored phrase: "Yankees S—!"
Beyond the dinger, Guerrero also singled twice, hit a sacrifice fly and turned a nifty double play after nabbing a liner, most of it occurring well before the game turned into a late hitting display by Toronto. . . .

Guerrero's not only a Yankees hater, he's a career Yankees killer. In 103 games against the Yankees, he has 51 extra-base hits and 76 RBI. His slash line coming in was .302/.367/.550/.918. He generally does what he sets out to do, which surely is to hurt the Yankees.
Guerrero doesn't often talk about it, but his detest for the Yankees goes back to early childhood. One time he felt mistreated by Yankees security (he wouldn't be the first there). Another time, and this is more important, he felt the Yankees, and specifically George Steinbrenner, wronged his father, the Hall of Famer.
As for his encounter, when he was a little boy, he was apparently removed pregame from a desired area while his father was a visiting player. . . . [I]t's eminently believable, as Yankees security is known for overzealousness in removing family members (even occasionally Yankee family members) and media.
As for the issue with his father, the Yankees had a deal set up with Guerrero's Hall of Fame father following the 2003 season when Steinbrenner pulled it and decided to sign his fellow Tampa resident Gary Sheffield instead. . . .
Yankee fans are truly the ones who lost out there, as Sheffield's brief tenure . . . was fairly volatile, and more vitally, paled compared to Vlad Guerrero Sr.'s years at the time. Sheffield also became embroiled in a steroid scandal . . .
His son may not quite be the overall hitter his dad was, but he's also a big-time guy . . . [H]e awakened when the Yankees got to town, helping the Blue Jays win their first postseason game in nine years. . . .

So Far, So Good . . . . !

Also re the Brewers' six-run first inning in NLDS 1 against the Cubs:

lol boo hoo

ALWC 3: Yankees 4, Red Sox 0

2025-10-02T23:31:00.003-07:00

Red Sox - 000 000 000 - 0  5  2
Yankees - 000 400 00x - 4  8  1

"I guess the Yankees are bound to beat us in the playoffs
every 22 years or so." – Petagine in a Bottle (SoSH)

Cam Schlittler's pitching performance (8-5-0-0-12, 107) was the only story worth telling from the Yankees' 4-0 win in the deciding game of the ALWC series. Schlittler spent his evening steadily – and seemingly without effort – firing fastballs at 100/101. He spotted his pitches extremely well, but even when his offerings came right down the middle, many of the Red Sox were overmatched. Boston managed to get one base runner to second base – and he stood there for all of three pitches.

Perhaps more importantly for New York, Schlittler didn't give manager Aaron Boone any oppourtunities to fuck up the game for the home team. (If Boone had tried to go the pen in the seventh or eighth, he would no doubt have been stopped by several hundred fans running on the field to tackle and beat his ass. (A lot of fans probably want to do that anyway. Bafoone!) This factoid is hard to believe, but Schlittler is the first pitcher in major league history to have a postseason pitching line of 8+ innings, 0 runs, 0 walks, and 12+ strikeouts. It was also the most strikeouts by an MFY pitcher in a postseason debut.

New York advances to the ALDS against the Blue Jays, thanks to a 10-batter fourth inning in which nothing was hit with any authority. Connelly Early pitched far better than his line would indicate (3.2-6-4-1-6, 78), and he showed remarkable poise as he fell victim to shitty fielding and shittier luck. Also, Alex Cora was astonishingly slow to call the bullpen, an inexcusable mistake considering his no-fuckin-around yank-job of Brayan Bello in G2 and the fact that this was a do-or-die game. A cognizant skipper would have pulled Early at least three batters earlier than Cora did, maybe even four batters early. Cora might have been wary after he used six relievers after Bello on Wednesday, three of whom tossed 23 or more pitches.

Early was the youngest Red Sox pitcher to start a postseason game in almost 110 years, at 23 years, 182 days. Back in 1916, Babe Ruth was 21 years, 246 days, when he started Game 2 of the World Series against Brooklyn. Boston won that game in 14 innings, the longest World Series game until the Red Sox and Dodgers spent nearly 7½ hours playing 18 innings in 2018.

Early and Schlittler traded sharp innings for the first three innings.

1st inning:
Schlittler: perfect inning, one strikeout looking, 14 pitches
Early: pefect inning, one strikeout looking, 8 pitches

2nd inning:
Schlittler: leadoff single, then three outs (two strikeouts), 22 pitches
Early: leadoff double, then three outs (two strikeouts), 23 pitches

3rd inning:
Schlittler: perfect inning, two strikeouts, 12 pitches
Early: leadoff single, then three outs (two strikeouts), 14 pitches

That's where the similarities ended. Schlittler gave up a single in the fourth, tossing 10 pitches. Early ended up throwing 33 in the bottom half as everything around him went to absolute shit.

Cody Bellinger hit a sinking liner to shallow right-center. Ceddanne Rafaela ran in and dove, but his glove was just shy of the ball. (I wondered if the thought of a charging Wilyer Abreu appearing out of nowhere was in the back of his mind.) Bellinger got a gift double out of a hit that had an expected batting average of .070. Early walked Giancarlo Stanton – and earned a visit from pitching coach Andrew Bailey. This is also when Justin Slaten should have started warming up. (Maybe he did; I don't know.)

Early struck out Ben Rice on three pitches. Rosario grounded a single past Trevor Story's reach to his right and into left field. Bellinger was sent home and beat Jarren Duran's throw. There was something unhurried about Jarren Duran's fiedling; he seemed slow to get rid of the ball or his throw was not as hard as I expected. Where was Cora? Jazz Chisholm poked a single to right field to load the bases. Seriously, where was Cora? Anthony Volpe grounded a single past Romy González's glove at second and into right. A second run scored. Okay, quit fuckin around. Where's Cora? Austin Wells battled for eight pitches before chopping a routine grounder to first. (Sidebar: On the eighth pitch, Wells claimed Carlos Narváez's glove had touched his bat. The umpire ruled catcher's interference (and a run scored). Boston challenged that call and the replays were crystal clear – no contact between bat and glove. Not even fuckin close. The call was rightly overturned.) Nathaniel Lowe went to his backhand and the ball clanked off his mitt. Christ! The ball ended up in shallow right, as two runs scored, making the score 4-0. WHERE WAS FUCK IS CORA? Early threw a strike and retired Trent Grisham on a fly to right. Then – oh, look, it's Grady Cora – ready to bring Slaten in. His first pitch drilled Aaron Judge in the left arm and his second pitch was popped to center to end the inning.

Four hits, a shallow sinking liner to right-center and three average grounders that were just out of reach. Naturally, the ESPN dipshits acted like it was a rocket barrage. Cora knew Early wasn't getting knocked around the lot, but all those baserunners were real and the runs crossing the plate counted. Just bring in Slaten four batters earlier and ride the same arms as he ended up doing. Might have kept the game at 1-0 and then who knows? Maybe Schlittler is more likely to make a mistake or he gets pulled an inning earlier.

To the Red Sox's credit, the bullpen shut the Yankees down cold the rest of the way. The Boston bats were absent. There was a single in the sixth and another one in the ninth. You could see the hitters pressing by the sixth inning, if not earlier. Masataka Yoshida's wave at strike three was pure Cactus Sasahe. As was Rafaela's futile attempt to connect with high 2-2 pitch directly afterwards. Abreu struck out in the seventh on five pitches, all of which were not far from the middle of the zone. González climbed the ladder as well when he fanned to start the eighth. By the ninth, plate umpire Mark Ripperger was calling those high pitches strikes, just to get the fuckin game over with.

I followed the SoSH game thread during the second "half" of the game. Some posts:

Jed Zeppelin: "Pop up, dribbler, dribbler, dribbler for an error, fuck all the way off."

canderson: "Boston has scored more than 4 runs 10 times since Sept 1. And not once since Sept 24."
brandonchristensen: "Schlittler is apparently a mega stud. Who knew?"
Mueller's Twin Grannies: "MFY fans are in a Führer over him."
RSN Diaspora: "Getting blanked by a Schittler on Yom Kippur is the cherry on this shit sundae."
benhogan: "For all you youngsters out there...this is what the Red Sox looked like in most big playoff spots pre-2004. Just enough fuck ups to lose."
Bob Montgomerys Helmet Hat: "Boone is having a good game"
JOBU: "Well it's easy when you literally don't have to do anything."
Norm Siebern: "I am in a rage. A full=on blue fucking rage. I truly fucking hate these neanderthal fucktwit MFY fans. I hope the Blue Jays sweep them in three."

jose melendez: "This team got to exactly where they should with their talent and injuries. Spend some money, come back young and strong next year."
Remagellan: "This. We were doomed once the Giolito news broke."

Hank Scorpio: "Thank you GameDay for telling me what happened before the feed caught up. Allowed me to turn the game off before I got to see/hear the final out/celebration."

YED will have to wait at least another week. But it's coming.

Looking at the Post's sports section, I did a bit of a double take when I saw this:

Saturday, October 4

ALDS
Yankees / Blue Jays
Tigers / Mariners

NLDS
Cubs / Brewers
Dodgers / Phillies

ALWC 2: Yankees 4, Red Sox 3

2025-10-01T18:09:00.006-07:00

Red Sox - 002 001 000 - 3  6  0
Yankees - 200 010 01x - 4 10  1

If Thursday's Game 3 ends up being as evenly-matched as the first two games, fans of both teams will be completely exhausted. Game 2 was packed with no less tension, elation, anxiety, relief, and terror as Tuesday's opener.

Boston manager Alex Cora stayed with starter Brayan Bello for only 28 pitches and ended up using six bullpen arms. The Yankees slipped home a run against Garrett Whitlock in the eighth and that made the difference. New York won 4-3, setting up tomorrow's Win-or-Winter Game 3.

Whitlock ended up throwing 47 pitches, including 31 in the eighth as he tried over and over to get a third out. the yankes had snapped the 3-3 tie and had the bases loaded when he left. Payton Tolle got a groundout (on a full-count pitch) to strand the trio and give his teammates a shot at tying the game. Facing David Bednar, all they could muster was a two-out fly to right, which was caught on the warning track. The short porch was not quite short enough.

Bello did not Seize The Day. He allowed a single and was The Victim of Ben Rice's two-run homer in the first inning. He issued a walk in the second, which was erased by an inning-ending double play. On the mound in the third, Boston having tied the game 2-2, Bello gave up a single, got a force out, and allowed another single, before Cora went to the pen for Justin Wilson. It All Adds Up to: 2.1-4-2-1-0, 28. The runners pulled off a double steal (A Theft (x2)), putting runners at third and second. But Cody Bellinger golfed a fly to short left and Rice lined the ball right at Nate Eaton in right.

In the top half of the inning, Jarren Duran lined a first-pitch single to right-center. Carlos Rodón (6-4-3-3-6, 91) had set down the first six Boston hitters on 21 pitches. After Duran's hit, Ceddanne Chipper Nicasio Marte Rafaela showed patience and worked a full-count walk. Nick Sogard bunted to the third base side. Rodón gloved the ball and made a poor throw to first, offline and forcing Rice off the bag. The error loaded the bases. Rob Refsnyder struck out, but Trevor Story smoked a single to center. Grisham's throw went to third as two runs crossed, tying the game at 2-2.

Wilson tossed a perfect fourth, but Justin Slaten had some two-out trouble in the fifth. Grisham walked and took second on a wild pitch before Aaron Judge singled to left. Duran came in on the sinking liner and made a dive but the ball hit off his glove (and was scored a hit?). Steven Matz came in and retired Bellinger.

Boston re-tied the game as soon as possible. Story led off the sixth and homered to left. New York stranded runners at first and second in the bottom half, as Kelly relieved Matz and struck out Anthony Volpe after falling behind 3-0.

What turned out to be the Red Sox's last good scoring chance came in the top of the seventh. Rodón walked Eaton on four pitches and fell behind Duran 3-0 before hitting him with an eighth errant pitch. Fernando Cruz caught Rafaela's soft bunt fly and got Sogard to fly to left. Masahiro Yoshida came off the bench and grounded a 3-2 pitch to second. Jazz Chisholm dove to his right and threw off-balance. The ball bounced twice and Rice muffed a sweeping attempt at grabbing it. It wouldn't have mattered, as Yoshida had slid across the bag safely by that time. Story came up with the sacks full and he drove the ball to deep center, but Grisham caught it at the edge of the track.

Here's a question for you: Has anyone EVER enjoyed watching pro athletes yell and punch themselves in super-duper-slo-mo? Why do networks do this? Why have they done it for years and years and years -- and show no sign of stopping? Do these displays offer any insight? (I would like to see an entire game at that speed, though. Just make sure it comes in under 24 hours . . .)

Once Grisham caught the ball for the third out, Cruz fuckin lost it.

Calm down there, Bruce Banner. Holy shit! Twitter simply laughed at him:

@BigCityBigSmoo1
Jesus Christ it's the wild card and you are NOT that good. . . .

@OwenLucey2
Bro it's the 7th

@Prominent_Jaay
"I almost gave up a grand slam"

@iJordanMoore
Fernando Cruz acting like he didn’t just give up a 115mph rocket. stfu man

@MadKingTylor
Cruz is screaming like he didn't almost end the Yankees season

@Dru227
Lmfao what a fucking idiot he would be crying like a Lil bitch if it was gone.

@GBPHIGHERPOWER
Totally lame, I didn't react that way after the first time I got laid.

Whitlock took the ball for the home seventh. His sinker was sublime, as he struck out McMahon and froze Judge on an 0-2 pitch for strike three. In between those batters, Grisham doubled. Bellinger flied harmlessly to right. Whitlock began the eighth by getting two outs, a strikeout on a low changeup and a grounder to short on a slider in the dirt. Then, despite still keeping the ball down, everything became hard work. Chisholm worked a seven-pitch walk. Wells singled down the right field line (also on the seventh pitch); with two outs, Chisholm was off on contact and he raced around th ebases and slid in just ahead of Narvaez's sweep tag for New york's fourth run of the day.

Whitlock was at 40 pitches at that point. Cora sat and watched as Whitlock then gave up an 0-2 single to Volpe and walked McMahon on five pitches before making a move.

Work did not cooperate as I had hoped, so I listened to the TV feed after the first three innings, watching bits here and there and filling in my scorecard when I could.

Dept. of Fuck you, ESPN: After the final out, Eduardo Pérez chuckeld: "Never a doubt" (or maybe "Never in doubt"). David Cone replied: "A hold-your-breath moment there." Fans on both sides likely held their breath on that fly to "deep" right, though Cone's tone made it unmistakable which side he was on. In this series, there is not even the flimsy pretext of trying to sound neutral. The old adage "No Cheering in the Press Box" might still hold, but among various TV and radio broadcasting combos, rooting out loud for one of the team is tolerated, if not encouraged. These clowns have been called out before for showing an obvious clear bias. The writer of that piece, Karthik Sri Hari KC, mentions (as I did) Pérez referring to Stanton simply as "G":

That same pattern of imbalance appeared in the Red Sox-Yankees playoff broadcast, where Aaron Judge received endless exaggerated praise.
Karl Ravech called a 95 percent catch probability play by Judge "a great catch," ignoring Statcast data. Eduardo Perez rambled off-topic, even referring to Giancarlo Stanton as "G," which annoyed fans craving sharper commentary. These repeated lapses across broadcasts show why many viewers feel ESPN's baseball coverage has declined and grown frustrating.
Fans once trusted ESPN with baseball, but the Guardians, Mets, and Red Sox prove otherwise. If Karl Ravech, Eduardo Perez, and David Cone are the "A" team, standards need recalibration.

Awful Announcing's only coverage of this ALDS (so far) concerned poor audio quality during G1. Up in Canada, ESPN sounded fine (though the picture went black for a few seconds while Chapman was dealing with the bases loaded in the B9). Honestly, I would have preferred some crackling static rather than hearing some of the inanities that unfortunately reached my ears.

Asking @grok: "On A Scale Of 0-10 How Ass Are The Yankees"

2025-10-01T11:52:00.002-07:00

And the perfect reply:

2008 ALDS - Beat Angels 3-2 in G4 to win series 3-1
2013 ALDS - Beat Rays 3-1 in G4 to win series 3-1
2013 ALCS - Beat Tigers 5-2 in G6 to win series 4-2
2013 WS   - Beat Cardinals 6-1 in G6 to win series 4-2
2018 ALDS - Beat Yankees 4-3 in G4 to win series 3-1
2018 ALCS - Beat Astros 4-1 in G5 to win series 4-1
2018 WS   - Beat Dodgers 5-1 in G5 to win series 4-1
2021 ALWC - Beat Yankees 6-2 to win "series" 1-0*
2021 ALDS - Beat Rays 6-5 in G4 to win series 3-1

*: Looks like a winner-take-all game does not count as a "series". I think it should count because it's the postseason and a win in that game would send the Red Sox to the next round. I'm arguing Boston is tied with the Athletics and ~~can~~ will set a new record with 10 series tonight.

Masataka Yoshida of the @RedSox is the first player in MLB history to have a go-ahead hit with his team trailing on the first pitch he ever saw in his postseason career.

From Sarah Langs:

Garrett Crochet had 11 strikeouts, tied for the most in a pitcher's Red Sox postseason debut, with:
1903 WS2 - Bill Dinneen
1912 WS1 - Smoky Joe Wood
Garrett Crochet's 11 strikeouts are the most by a Red Sox pitcher in a postseason game without issuing a walk
Most consecutive batters retired in a postseason game, Red Sox history:
1915 WS3 - Dutch Leonard: 20
2007 ALDS1 - Josh Beckett: 19
1967 WS2 - Jim Lonborg: 19 (first 19)
2025 ALWC1 - Garrett Crochet: 17
h/t @EliasSports
Garrett Crochet's 100.2 mph pitch [his 117th (and final) of the game)] tied his fastest of the year
It's also the fastest strikeout pitch for him in his career as a starter

And:

Chris Mason @ByChrisMason
As he retired 17 in a row, Garrett Crochet went two full hours (6:32-8:32) without allowing a Yankees baserunner. Filthy outing.

Schadenfreude 365 (A Continuing Series)

2025-10-01T00:38:00.003-07:00

UPDATED: Another Boone Blew It Lament, Running on Judge's Rag Arm, & 2 Pics

Yankees Staring At Unsettling Red Sox Reality With Season On Brink
Mike Vaccaro, Post

In an eyeblink, they are toe-tips-to-the-brink. In an eyeblink, the Yankees are looking at the potential of a postseason run that could be over after about 27 hours or so. In an eyeblink, the stubborn goblins that haunted them all season — bullpen, clutch hitting, second-guessable decisions — threaten to reduce this whole New York baseball season to a vapor trail.
Once upon a time, the Yankees defeated the Red Sox 19-8 in Game 3 of the 2004 ALCS. . . . [F]rom that moment until 9:15 or so Tuesday night, the teams have played 10 postseason games. The Red Sox have won nine of them.
This latest one was a 3-1 final . . . in which the Red Sox all but threw a kegger the moment Aaron Boone hopped out of the dugout to remove Max Fried with one out in the bottom of the seventh. Fried was brilliant and he had a lead.
There were 47,027 people inside Yankee Stadium. What you heard in that moment were 47,027 lending their voices to one collective groan. It was as if they could see what was coming. Probably because they'd seen it so many times before. They absolutely saw what was coming.
"I felt like we were lined up," Boone said. . . .
Here came Luke Weaver, jogging in from the bullpen with a 1-0 lead. He allowed a walk to Ceddanne Rafaela, a double to Nick Sogard and a single to Masataka Yoshida.
Weaver walked off trailing 2-1. And the Yankees soon followed. . . .
The Yankees had a chance to dent Garrett Crochet early and drub Aroldis Chapman late. They got their first two runners of the game on base, and their first three in the ninth inning, too.
None of them scored. When the Yankees do not hit home runs, that has been a chronic issue all season. . . .
And in the ninth, with those 47,027 on their feet and screaming themselves silly, with Chapman helpfully recalling an October time or three when he was wearing a Yankees uniform and serving up tasty meatballs, Giancarlo Stanton struck out, Jazz Chisholm Jr. flied out and Trent Grisham struck out. . . .
"We've been playing these tight games for a while now," said Boone . . . "We've been playing with a lot on the line seemingly every single day. . . . We'll be ready to go. . . . We're going to show up. I expect us to do pretty well."

Aaron Boone May Have Cost Yankees Their Season With Fateful Max Fried Decision
Joel Sherman, Post

Game 1 of this Wild Card Series pivoted on these decisions:
Red Sox manager Alex Cora entrusted his ace, Garrett Crochet, to throw a career-high 117 pitches.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone pulled his ace, Max Fried, after 102.
It was not the only reason the Yankees lost 3-1 on Tuesday night. It was not the lone area of condemnation or concern that immediately put their 2025 season on life support. But it was the most glaring element in why the Yankees need a two-game winning streak against the Red Sox or their season ends and the question if they can ever beat another heavyweight in October continues.
But Boone watched Fried and thought Luke Weaver was a better option in the seventh inning. And Cora watched Crochet and trusted him to work into the eighth and hand the ball to closer Aroldis Chapman. In the ninth inning, Paul Goldschmidt, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger opened with consecutive singles off Chapman. Bases loaded no outs. The Yankees did not score.
There was something familiar here. The Yankees got their run on a homer . . . And no runs otherwise when the ball did not go over the fence.
[Fried] breezed through three innings on 37 pitches, but worked hard to get through two-on, two-out situations in both the fourth and fifth. Weaver was warming when Carlos Narváez . . . instead drew an exhausting nine-pitch walk.
Boone at that point decided that this would be Fried's last inning . . . But [Nate] Eaton hit into an inning-ending double play. So Boone decided to send Fried back out for the seventh for [Jarren] Duran, who was 0-for-12 in his career against the lefty.
Fried made an athletic play [for the first out] . . . Fried was at 102 pitches. He had thrown as many as 111 this year. . . . Fried said he had plenty left and would have been happy to go forward. But Boone was preprogrammed, feeling Fried had exerted heavily the previous three innings.
Boone said this was the lane he wanted for Weaver. . . . This felt like one of those decisions solidified five hours before a game rather than letting the game dictate this. Why not just tell Fried he had at least Duran and then go a batter at a time and see if Fried — the best the Yankees have — could finish seven? . . .
Cora and Boone were hired into these positions in 2018. This is their third playoff series against each other. Boston has won the previous two, and went on to win the championship in 2018. Boone's team has played five series against weak AL Central foes and has won all five with a 15-4 record. They have played seven other series, advanced once by beating the overmatched A's and otherwise lost the other six with a combined 7-19 record. Now, it is 0-1 versus Cora's Red Sox in 2025.

The Yankees Slipped To One Loss Away From Disaster — And We're Talking About Aaron Boone Again
Andrew Crane, Post

At its root, Tuesday night came down to 15 pitches.
It came down to the 15 extra that Red Sox manager Alex Cora let Garrett Crochet throw in a 117-pitch outing and the 15 that Max Fried (102) didn't.
It came down to the 15 that Luke Weaver tossed instead — and the two runs he allowed — after Yankees manager Aaron Boone turned to his bullpen in the seventh inning. . . .
Because this was Fried. He was their $218 million lefty turned ace . . . and Fried had pitched a shutout through 6 ⅓ innings, allowing four hits and walking three batters while throwing 102 pitches.
Boone . . . trusted his shaky bullpen — and, more specifically, trusted Weaver, a reliever who had pitched to a disastrous 9.64 ERA in September and fired off one more disastrous outing to close the month.
In a way, it served as déjà vu to Game 1 of the World Series last year, when Boone pulled Cole after 88 pitches. . . .
Cora opted for the opposite approach with his $170 million ace. He trusted Crochet . . . after he had retired 16 [it was 17] consecutive batters following Anthony Volpe's homer in the second . . .
So Monday became the latest ding on Boone's playoff résumé, with his ability to ensure the Yankees — for the most part — consistently secure a spot in the tournament undermined by an inability to win the biggest games. . . .
That puts Boone in the spotlight in this series, with the Yankees' drought since their last title in 2009 only on the verge of adding another year. He has faced questions about his job security in past years and during past in-season spirals, and if the Yankees lose Wednesday . . . or Thursday, those murmurs will surface again.
No team has advanced out of the wild-card series in the current format after dropping the first game. No team has ever loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth in the postseason and gone on to lose the game without scoring another run, either, according to OptaSTATS. Not exactly the type of history the Yankees are looking to make.

Yankees' Bullpen Fails Max Fried In Crushing Game 1 Loss To Red Sox
Greg Joyce, Post

No matter how good Yankees relievers looked down the stretch, they had inflicted enough pain during the course of the regular season to induce nightmares about what might happen in the playoffs.
The Yankees could not wake up from such a night terror on Tuesday . . .
After Max Fried carried a shutout into the seventh inning, hanging on to a one-run lead, Aaron Boone called on Luke Weaver and he quickly flushed it away . . .
Weaver had no room for error because Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet was in the midst of a dominant night, throwing 7.2 innings of one-run ball while striking out 11.
"We are going to show up [Wednesday], and I expect us to do pretty well," manager Aaron Boone said.
They will have to fare better against Brayan Bello, who has mostly had their number [this season] than they did against Crochet. After giving up a solo home run to Anthony Volpe in the second inning, the lefty retired 17 straight Yankees . . .
"He's the best pitcher in the game," Judge said. . . .
Fried, who had escaped jams in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings . . . record[ed] the first out of the seventh inning, then walked off the mound to a standing ovation. . . .
Weaver entered and quickly got ahead of Ceddanne Rafaela 0-2 before the Red Sox center fielder — who had the lowest walk rate on his team during the regular season — fought back for an 11-pitch walk.
No. 9 hitter Nick Sogard followed with a hustle double to right-center field — seemingly testing and taking advantage of Judge's injured arm — to put two runners in scoring position. The Red Sox then sent up pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida, who pounced on the first pitch he saw and drilled it to center field to score both runs for the 2-1 lead. . . .
By the end of the night, the Yankees had their backs against the wall, just one game into the postseason.

Yankees' All-Or-Nothing Problem Rears Ugly Head Again In Loss That Puts Season In Peril
Jon Heyman, Post

As we all know, to be the best you need to beat the best (or second best), and they couldn't beat either Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet or star closer Aroldis Chapman, the ex-Yankee who's never a help to the Yankees, whether he was with them or against them.
The Yankees' 3-1 Game 1 wild-card loss to their reviled rival at The Stadium dropped them to 30-36 against teams that are still playing. . . . [T]hey haven't showed they can beat the better teams. . . .
[T]hey are short of expert at manufacturing runs. They started the first inning with two straight hits off Crochet (who should be close behind Tarik Skubal for Cy Young honors) and didn't score. . . .
The Yankees all-or-nothing approach topped that in the ninth inning, failing to score after starting with three straight hits, by Paul Goldschmidt, Judge and Bellinger. . . . Chapman got three outs to end the game and put the Yankees on the brink of elimination before they technically even got to October. . . .
"I feel great about our team," [Boone] told us before the game. "I think at this point, where we are as a club, this is the best group we've gone in with." . . .
There was a lot to lament afterward.
The Red Sox . . . no longer have power guys Rafael Devers (traded), Triston Casas (hurt) and Roman Anthony (hurt), but they manage to scratch out runs. Their lineup is more anonymous and less accomplished. But they do enough.
They may also have benefited from a quick hook of Fried . . .
Boone said later he felt Fried was finding more trouble in his last few innings, and figured he had his best three relievers — Luke Weaver, Devin Williams and David Bednar — "set up." But three batters into Weaver's outing — an 11-pitch walk, a double and a single — and the Red Sox had a 2-1 lead.
"How in the world do you take Fried out?" wondered one American League scout. "It made zero sense."

Luke Weaver Can't Replicate Previous Playoff Magic As Yankees Bullpen Flops In Loss To Red Sox
Dan Martin, Post

This was not the postseason debut the Yankees bullpen was looking for.
From Luke Weaver blowing a one-run lead in the seventh, to David Bednar allowing an insurance run in the ninth, Yankees relievers weren't as sharp as they'd been down the stretch — or enough to beat the Red Sox on Tuesday . . .
Weaver entered with one out in the top of the seventh, with the Yankees up 1-0. . . . [He] faced Ceddanne Rafaela, who's given Weaver fits in the past. In seven plate appearances against Weaver, Rafaela was 2-for-6 with a pair of homers, a walk and three strikeouts.
But Aaron Boone went to Weaver against the bottom of the lineup and after Weaver got ahead 0-2, he ended up walking the center fielder after Rafaela fouled off five pitches in the 11-pitch plate appearance. . . .
In the biggest spot, though, Rafaela won — and the Yankees were on their way to a loss. . . .
[A]fter the walk, Weaver said, "The momentum kind of switched."
Nick Sogard followed with a double that sent Rafaela to third, before pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida changed the game with a two-run single to end Weaver's rough night.

Red Sox Take Advantage Of Aaron Judge's Arm In Key Moment Of Yankees' Loss
Dan Martin, Post

It's become clear that Aaron Judge's arm still isn't the same since he suffered a flexor strain in his right elbow on July 25.
Since his return to right field . . . Each contested throw has been placed under a microscope, but there has been no question Judge would be in right for the playoffs as he continued to improve over the final two months of the season.
On Tuesday, the Yankees got their answer of just how much of an impact Judge's arm might have on their postseason chances, as Nick Sogard hustled into second for a double on a hit with one out in the top of the seventh . . .
The hit landed in right-center and Judge appeared to go after the ball hesitantly and then one-hopped a throw to Anthony Volpe at second base, not in time to get the speedy Sogard, who represented the go-ahead run.
The next batter, pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida, hit a two-run single off Luke Weaver and the Red Sox never looked back.
Judge's throw was clocked at just 73 mph. That was well below his pre-injury average of 88-90 mph, according to Statcast.
Asked if that was as hard as he could throw, Judge said, "[I was] trying to get in there and make a play. I didn't want to overthrow it." . . .
Aaron Boone added of Judge's throw: "I think it was just controlling the one hop on it."
Perhaps . . .
Alex Cora indicated that running on Judge was part of his team's game plan.
"That's preparation," Cora said. "We talk about their outfielders and, 'What can we do or what [can't we] do,' and [Sogard] saw it right away and took advantage of it."

Sox Exploit Judge's Ailing Arm In Go-Ahead Rally
Ian Browne, mlb.com

. . . Sogard chipped in with what looked like an innocent single to right-center. Instead, Sogard never broke stride, testing right fielder Aaron Judge's ailing right elbow and turning it into a hustle double. . . .
What did Sogard see in that moment?
"It kind of took a while to field it and it was Judge fielding it, and I just tried to challenge the arm in that spot," Sogard said. . . .
Per Statcast, the throw by Judge was 73.2 mph. Judge has made just two throws at 80 mph-plus since his return from the IL. Prior to the injury, Judge's throws regularly exceeded 90 mph, topping out with a throw of 95.3 mph in April.

Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s Postgame Body Language Says It All After Sitting Yankees' Game 1 Loss
Greg Joyce, Post

Jazz Chisholm Jr. never said he was upset about the decision to keep him out of the Yankees' lineup to start Game 1 . . .
His body language said it all, as Chisholm conducted a brief interview with reporters, spent mostly with his back towards the cameras as he rummaged through the hangers in his locker, as if he was searching for answers to the questions coming his way.
"We got to do whatever we got to do to win, right?" the typically talkative Chisholm said . . . "That's how I look at it."
Chisholm did not sound convincing or thrilled by the decision, in which Aaron Boone started the right-handed hitting Amed Rosario at second base against tough left-hander Garrett Crochet, against whom he was 6-for-9 in his career.
Rosario, who went 0-for-3 against Crochet before Chisholm replaced him in the top of the eighth, could have started at third base, except Boone wanted a superior defender there with ground-ball machine Max Fried on the mound, so he started José Caballero (who went 0-for-3 on the night) . . .

Aroldis Chapman narrowly avoids another playoff blowup as he closes out Yankees in Game 1
Mark W. Sanchez, Post

Aroldis Chapman carries an excellent October résumé that nonetheless contains enormous blemishes . . .
In pinstripes, there was the infamous, walk-off home run surrendered to Jose Altuve in Game 6 of the 2019 ALCS. There was the eighth-inning home run slugged by the Rays' Mike Brosseau that largely cost the Yankees the 2020 ALDS. With the Cubs, there was the game-tying home run served up to Rajai Davis in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.
So as the Yankees loaded the bases without an out in Tuesday's ninth inning . . . the big and strong lefty might have had flashbacks.
If so, he was not about to acknowledge them. . . .
Among pitchers who logged at least 50 innings this season, Chapman's .131 batting average against was the best in the game. And yet Paul Goldschmidt, Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger stacked three straight singles that loaded the bases and put the tying run on second. As Giancarlo Stanton stepped to the plate, Yankee Stadium might have reached its highest decibel level.
"In that moment, you don't hear anything. You don't see anything," Chapman said. "You just kind of 100 percent focus on your catcher and the next pitch."
Perhaps Stanton did not see much, either, fouling off a couple triple-digit fastballs before swinging through a splitter. Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with a shallow fly out to right field that did not score a run. The Yankees' momentum just about gone, Trent Grisham then whiffed on a 101.2 mph four-seamer. . . .
A player who had a roller-coaster career with the Yankees . . . said there was no extra motivation or satisfaction in putting away his former team.
"The past is the past," Chapman said. "Just happy to be able to close out the game."

Michael Kay Blasts Aaron Boone's Explanation For Pulling Max Fried In Yankees' Game 1 Loss
Andrew Battifarano

Aaron Boone's decision to pull Max Fried before the seventh inning is one of the reasons the Yankees' season is on the brink. . . .
Boone said after the game that he had initially planned to take Fried out after six innings, but after inducing a double play in that frame, the skipper said he wanted the lefty to face Jarren Duran — a left-handed hitter — in the seventh before exiting. Boone added that Fried did not ask to be pulled, but rather that he liked how Luke Weaver matched up against Boston's order — which was sending up the eighth, ninth and leadoff hitters.
Three batters later, the Red Sox had the lead after a walk, double and two-run single.
After watching Boone's comments, Michael Kay — who admitted he was initially OK with Boone's decision — said on YES Network's postgame show that he did not buy into the explanation.
"When I walked into the studio, I was all for the decision," Kay said. "You don't put your guy to where he can't go, and he hasn't gone that far all year. But when you hear Aaron Boone say, you know, after he came in in the sixth inning, just give me one more batter. Well, why? It's the eighth and ninth batters in the lineup. This is your ace. This is the guy you gave an eight-year contract to. That's why you give the guy the money to be that person."
Kay said the decision, after hearing Boone's comments, sounded like it was a "blueprint move."
"To me, that sounds like a blueprint move. That's not the time for Weaver," Kay said. "That's the time to keep in Fried. You keep Fried in until Fried can't go any longer."

Kay is such a tool.

He admits that he supported the move, but then it failed, so it's a terrible decision. Kay says one of the reasons to pull Fried is that he shouldn't be pushed to pitch "where he can't go, and he hasn't gone that far all year". Fried pitched 6.1 innings. So Kay is saying Fried had not pitched deeper into games than that?

Fried had 15 games – almost half of his 32 starts – in which he recorded more outs than he did last night:

7.0 innings on April 9
7.2 on April 20
7.0 on May 2
7.0 on May 7
7.1 on May 24
7.0 on June 10
7.0 on June 15
7.0 on June 25
7.0 on August 27
7.0 on September 2
7.0 on September 7
7.0 on September 18
7.0 on September 24
and
6.2 on April 15 and July 29

Fried faced 25 Red Sox batters. He faced 26+ batters 17 times this season.

Fried threw 102 pitches. He threw 103+ in eight of his starts.

Does Kay have dementia? Seriously.

Fan Comments at the Post:

Bafoone!!!

ALWC 1: Red Sox 3, Yankees 1

2025-09-30T10:25:00.012-07:00

Red Sox - 000 000 201 - 3  8  0
Yankees - 010 000 000 - 1  7  0

Nick Sogard sprinted from first to second base in the top of the seventh inning as Aaron Judge ho-hummed the ball back to the infield. That explosive hustle (which Sogard had shown back in the third when he tagged and took second on a fly to center) put Boston runners at second and third, with one out. Pinch-hitter Masataka Yoshida singled to center on the first pitch he saw. Two runs scored and the Yankees' 1-0 lead was gone.

That rally had begun (in part) because MFY manager Aaron Boone took lefty Max Fried (6.1-4-0-3-6, 102) out of the game after he retired the first batter of the inning. (Good move, Boone-y!) Luke Weaver got ahead of Ceddanne Rafaela 0-2, but Rafaela made him work after that, fouling off five pitches and taking a couple of very close balls (that many shittier umpires would have mistakenly called strikes), and earning an 11-pitch walk. Sogard then doubled to right-center. ESPN's Karl Ravech noted that the hit came on a changeup, which he said "had been his pitch all night", apparently thinking that Fried was still in the game. (Ravech had more than a few cringe-inducing moments behind the mic. More later.)

Sogard was clocked at 7.9 seconds from second to home, which ESPN told us was the fastest second-to-home sprint of his career!. Okay, so Sogard's career consists of only 61 games. I do not know how many of the 26 runs he has scored were second-to-home and how many of those required him to sprint the entire way, but this was the perfect time for him to be the speediest he can be.

[By the way, I'll pay $50 to hear the whole fuckin story of that woman's evening.]

Boone has been roasted for his poor and questionable decisions in recent postseasons. He won't escape angry MFY fans this year, either, because he chose not to give Fried a third trip through the lineup. Fried had allowed five baserunners in the previous three innings (single, double, three walks), but when he was pulled (after 25 batters), Boston's 8-9 batters were next. Boone couldn't have known Weaver would immediately shit the bed (lol), but if Fried had been allowed to finish the seventh, who knows? [This post might have started off something like this: "Only one game into the 2025 postseason and the Red Sox's backs are already against the wall."] (P.S.: Fried had a 1.55 ERA over his last seven regular season starts, five of which were seven innings in length. Just sayin'.)

Boston's acquisition of Aroldis Chapman last winter (after doing some due diligence) annoyed me. It's an odd feeling hoping players you dislike do well or having to rely on relievers whose performance in past postseasons is (at best) undeniably shaky (hey, Kenley). I should fuckin love the guy for how he ruined the Yankees' postseason chances in 2019 (!!) and 2020, but that's not how it works. Well, it turns out Chapman is still fuckin with the MFY!

Garrett Crochet (7.2-4-1-0-11, 116) gave the Red Sox the masterful performance necessary in Game 1 of a best-of-three series. He stumbled a bit out of the gate, putting runners on first and second after only four pitches. But a strikeout of Cody Bellinger and a Giancarlo Stanton GIDP took care of that. Anthony Volpe lined a hone run to right-center in the second to give New York a 1-0 lead.

After that, Crochet was nearly perfect. He retired the next 17 batters, including striking out the side in the fifth and zipping through the seventh on five pitches. Manager Alex Cora had Garrett Whitlock and Chapman warming up in the pen in the seventh inning, but he didn't give Crochet the hook until there were two outs in the eighth. Crochet needed eight pitches to retire his final batter, Austin Wells, on a full-count fastball at 100 mph, his fastest pitch of the game.

Cora called on Chapman with the potential tying run on first (Volpe singled). Right away, Chapman starting behaving like the Chapman I feared I'd see. He made two throws to first and had a 2-2 count on Caballlero -- and then he threw over to first again. Which is now against the fuckin rules -- and so Volpe skipped over to second on what GDGD called a "disengagement violation" (also scored as a balk).

Caballero then lined a shot to right center -- it was hard to tell if it would fall in for a hit. Rafaela moved over and braced for a two-handed catch, but Wilyer Abreu came sprinting over from right and caught the ball mere inches from Rafaela's glove, while also coming alarmingly close to colliding with him.

That inning-ending out gave Red Sox fans a sudden heart attack. They would experience a slow motion heart attack in the following inning. Thankfully, Boston added an insurance run. With two outs, Trevor Story singled to left, stole second and scored on Alex Bregman's one-hop double to left. Chapman had a two-run lead and needed only three outs. That shouldn't be too difficult, right?

The Yankees had the top of the order up in the bottom of the ninth. Every customer in the park was also standing. And this unfolded:

Paul Goldschmidt: ball, foul, single (sliced to right)
Judge: single (hard grounder up the middle)
Bellinger: single (dropped into left-center)

Bases loaded. Three baserunners on three consecutive pitches. No outs. Boston still led 3-1, but Chapman was now drenched in (flop?) sweat and there were tumbleweeds blowing through the bullpen. Whitlock was nowhere to be seen. Stanton was up. It looks like Chapman had a good season -- he pitched 11 near-perfect innings in August, retiring 33 of 34 batters (12 games, 11-0-0-1-14) -- and he decided to show me what he could do.

Stanton fouled a pitch off (100 mph), chased a fastball up (100), fouled off another (101). Chapman then took a little off, getting Stanton to fan on a splitter at 92. Chapman got ahead of Jazz Chisholm: foul ball (100), called strike (101). [Laura and I were watching the game, side by side on the couch. Me: "'Gotta make it interesting.'" L: "I was just about to say that!!" She couldn't remember the exact details, so I rattled them off. "Theo said that Clark's at-bat was for him the most terrifying moment of that entire series." (At the moment I cannot remember who interviewed Foulke for DLUWT. Was it me? What did he say about those moments? I'll have to check.)]

Chisholm lifted a fly ball to right. Ordinary distance, maybe a bit shallow. Abrue has a good arm -- Goldschmidt stayed where he was. Two outs. And Chapman had throw no balls to those two batters: eight pitches, all strikes.

Trent Grisham was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts against Crochet. Chapman missed a bit high at 101 for a ball. A foul ball and other 101 heater at the top of the zone. But it, too, was called a ball by umpire Junior Valentine. [Never heard of him, but he debuted in 2020 and has worked full-time since 2023. His first name might really be Junior. He lives in Tennessee. (Does he have a farm?)] Chapman fired a slider (moseying along at an relatively arthritic 87) and Grisham took it for strike two. Then it was back to the fuckin gas, up and in, Grisham had no chance. Strike three. Red Sox win 3-1.

That was a classic (and ultimately extremely satisfying) example of the ol' Allow-Yankee-Fans-To-Believe-Their-Team-Is-Rallying-To-Win-In-The-Ninth-Inning-And-Get-Them-Anticipating-The-Inevitable-Victory-As-A-Sure-Fuckin-Thing-Because-They-Are-The-YANKEES-After-All-But-Then-Slamming-The-Door-In-Their-Faces-Making-Them-Come-Sooooooooooo-Close-To-Winning-But-Handing-Them-A-Loss-That-Feels-Ten-Times-Worse-Than-A-Regular-Loss-With-No-Failed-Rally (hereinafter, "AYFTBTTIRTWITNIAGTATIVAASFTBTATYAABTSTDITFMTCSCTWBHTALTFTTWTARLWNFR").

The first six innings were frustrating as hell. Bregman had a two-out single in the first and Sogard was left at second in the second. Carlos Narváez (who played six games with the Yankees in 2024) walked with two down in the third and raced to third when Nate Eaton flaired a double down the right field line. Jarren Duran got ahead 3-0 but Fried got two called strikes, the first in the lower half of the zone, the second in the upper half of the zone, and then he went slightly above the zone and Duran chased it for strike three.

Boston got two runners on in the fifth, as well, also after two outs. Rob Refsnyder walked and Story singled, but Bregman grounded to third. Narváez walked with one out in the sixth, before Eaton grounded into a 4U-3 double play.

Isn't Karl Ravech a Red Sox fan? In the bottom of the sixth, Caballero hit a 2-0 pitch to straight-away center. Ravech's voice rose in pitch and volume as if the ball was going to sail well over the outfielder's head and over the fence. But Rafaela caught it, with minimal effort, right where the outfield grass becomes the warning track. And then -- only three pitches later -- he truped himself again! Goldschmidt lined a ball to left. Duran moved to his right and close to the track and reached up and snared the ball, which was in no danger of landing among the equally-fooled rabble beyond the field of play. Judge stepped in and I feared Ravech might hurt his vocal chords if Judge got one in the air anywhere. But he chased a cutter up and away for a strikeout.

During Rafaela's 11-pitch plate appearance in the seventh, Ravech made an offhand comment about how the postseason was "where Yankees become legends". David Cone and Edwardo Perez were the other two guys in the booth. Both of them were not needed, as Ravech was also providing "color". Early in the game, Perez referred to Stanton as "G" and pointed out that when Judge is at bat, he's already in "scoring position". [Actually, every single major league batter than has ever played the game has been in scoring position when he steps into the batter's box. Every single one. Even the guys who are not as eye-poppingly as tall as Judge. Man, he's so fuckin tall. The Yankees have to ship a special bed for him on road trips. And he can't find pants that fit, anything he wears looks like shorts. He's always arguing at fancy restaurants: "No, I am wearing pants, but because I make Paul Bunyan look like Danny DeVito, they just look like shorts."

In the fourth, Cone said that with a 3-2 count on Duran, Fried "needs to get the pitch in the strike zone". And then he repeated it, in case (I guess) some of the viewers missed that key nugget of inside knowledge from a fellow moundsman.

(Click)

To All Fascists: Fuck off and fuck you!

Welcome to Stade Fasciste, the battleground of the Red Sox-Yankees best-of-three AL Wild Card series, beginning this evening.

The Red Sox went 9-4 against the Yankees this season. Fun Fact: The last time the Red Sox lost a postseason series to the MFY, Boston pitchers Garrett Crochet and Brayan Bello were too young for kindergarden -- they were both four years old.

Game 1 starters Crochet and Max Fried travelled similar paths in 2025. Boston traded for Crochet the day after the Yankees signed Fried to a sizeable 8/218 contract. Crochet led MLB with 255 strikeouts . He also topped the AL with 205.1 innings; Fried was tied for second with 195.1. They each made 32 starts this season and they finished 3-4 in AL ERA (Crochet 2.59, Fried 2.86). They also had similar records: (Crochet 18-5, Fried 19-5).

Crochet started four games against the Yankees this year. The Red Sox won them all.

Bello will start Game 2 on Wednesday. Lucas Giolito, the probable starter for Game 3, will not be available because of "elbow issues". Connolly Early is a likely replacement

The three other Wild Card series:

Tigers at Guardians
Padres at Cubs
Reds at Dodgers

Everything Trump touches dies. Let's hope that continues.

In 2026, Our Robot Ump Overlords Arrive! Meekly Peek Their Heads Through The Doorway

2025-09-23T16:10:00.001-07:00

MLB's Competition Committee has approved the limited use of an automated ball-strike challenge system for the 2026 season by a vote of 7-4. MLB owners, in control of a six-seat majority on the 11-member committee, all voted in favour of robot umps.

So – at long last – has MLB finally decided to join the 21st century (with 1/4 of it in the rear view mirror), acquire some long-overdue common sense, and agreed that baseball games should be decided by baseball players? . . . Not quite.

The new ball-strike system will allow each team only two challenges per game. Only batters, pitchers and catchers will be allowed to make a challenge (by tapping their head). If a challenge is successful, that team will retain its challenge. And a team will lose a challenge if it questions a call and the call is upheld.

Commissioner Ruining-Baseball-Every-Single-Day stated: "I commend the Joint Competition Committee for striking the right balance of preserving the integral role of the umpire in the game with the ability to correct a missed call in a high-leverage situation, all while preserving the pace and rhythm of the game."

Manfred will sleep soundly next season knowing the human element will still hover malevolently over the game, ever ready to inject itself into a game and fuck up the result, angering and frustrating millions of fans, every time. Umpires will still change the outcome of dozens of games (and act as smug as shit while doing it, of course) by blowing calls on pitches that are either not challenged or cannot be challenged (if a team has used up its opportunities). What good is finally adopting a sensible system for making correct calls but deciding to use it on an severely limited basis?

Does Manfred understand that there doesn't need to be a "high-leverage situation" for a missed call to change the outcome of a game? Maybe? Who knows? A blown call on a 1-0 or 0-1 pitch has a strong chance of changing the outcome of a plate appearance.

2025 MLB Stats (through Monday September 22):

First Pitch
After 1-0:	.256/.376/.432
After 0-1:	.217/.263/.344

1-0 Pitch
Ball 2-0:	.267/.500/.467
Strike 1-1:	.223/.302/.363

0-1 Pitch
Ball 1-1:	.223/.302/.363
Strike 0-2:	.166/.199/.256

2-1 Pitch
Ball 3-1:	.256/.592/.454
Strike 2-2:	.179/.286/.291

Teams should be allowed two challenges per batter – though, as we've all seen too many times to count, that might not even be enough.

The Worst Calls of 2025 (So Far)

Jeff Passan, ESPN:

The ABS system uses similar technology to the line-calling system in tennis, with 12 cameras in each ballpark tracking the ball with a margin of error around one-sixth of an inch. The ABS zone will be a two-dimensional plane in the middle of the plate that spans its full width (17 inches). The zone's top will be 53.5% of a player's height and the bottom 27%.
Teams that run out of challenges over the first nine innings will be granted an extra challenge in the 10th inning, while those that still have unused challenges will simply carry them into extras. If a team runs out of challenges in the 10th, it will automatically receive another in the 11th – a rule that extends for any extra inning.
During the league's spring training test this season, teams combined to average around four challenges per game and succeeded 52.2% of the time, according to the league. Catchers, whose value in framing pitches outside the zone to look like strikes could take a hit due to the new rule, were the most successful at a 56% overturn rate, while hitters were correct 50% of the time and pitchers 41%. . . .
Big league umpires call roughly 94% of pitches correctly, according to UmpScorecards.

That sounds nice, but what percentage of close pitches are called correctly? And how bad are the worst umps in that department? Pitches way outside, down the middle, and in the dirt, etc., make up a large percentage of that 94%. That's not what I care about.

The human eye is simply not sophisticated enough to determine (with the degree of accuracy necessary to properly umpire a major league baseball game) whether a pitch thrown at 85-105 mph is a strike or a ball. The technology exists to make those calls accurately – today's vote shows that MLB knows this is true – so MLB should simply stop having umpires attempt to do what evolution has not allowed human eyes to do.

This decision, while certainly a step in the right direction, is too small of a step. It ensaures that human umpires will continue to miss hundreds, if not thousands, of pitches in 2026, which will inevitably change the outcome of numerous games.

Poking around the internet for this post, I discovered some news I had missed. In February 2024, Manfred stated that he would step down as commissioner when his third term ends in January 2029! . . . I'd be tempted to give baseball another chance if the next commissioner gets rid of the extra-inning runner. Maybe the robots will be working full-time by that time.