Easy Street

Here is a list of teams the Dodgers have left to play in 2026. The Reds, the Marlins, the Giants and the Padres. That's two noncompetitive teams, one mostly noncompetitive team, and a team on the bubble that the Dodgers have no problem beating when it means something. Now, for comparison's sake, the only tough teams the Padres have to face are the Dodgers and D-Backs, while the D-Backs have the Rangers, Yankees and Padres on the docket. Curiously all three NL West teams have games against the Marlins this month.

So look, do the Dodgers have THE easiest schedule of the competitors? No. But it's up there. The object is to get to the finish line without getting embarrassed by any of these teams, and getting a decent enough seed [the 1 is still in play, despite the Brewers working like hell to prevent this]. There is just one issue, and that is the Dodgers are in danger of losing Shohei Ohtani. They just announced he won't pitch again this season. Normally they'd do this as a dramatic gambit to set up a big final act, but no, he's done, he's focusing on hitting. And he should be, because that part seems to be falling off a bit. He's down to .277, with ONLY a .902 OPS, and ONLY 30 homers. The closest thing to a human year Ohtani's had since before the breakout in Anaheim, 2021-ish. He's missed a lot of games in the past week, and he's 2 for his last 18 at-bats with no extra base hits. Something's wrong, and the team can only stay so afloat without him.

Stranger still, the saga of Kyle Tucker's overblown market continues, as the outfielder might not even be an outfield starter in the playoffs. They might honestly need him, especially if Pages is gonna miss some games, but the way he's hitting is not at all what they signed him for. He's played in virtually every game but is hitting .221 with 12 homers, 59 RBIs and a .671 OPS. His WAR is at -0.1. Genuinely, Tucker has not been this pitiful since his 'struggling for playing time' days in the late 2010s in Houston. pretty much every season since he's gone from 4 to 6 WAR, and this season is a very odd outlier, a heartbreaking one. I don't know if it's him or it's LA or what's going on, but I do recall a sharp drop-off in the second half of last season, and it may have just continued. Still, that dead weight in addition to the lack of Ohtani help has been a huge hit to this team.

And yet...they keep winning. By the strength of their schedule, and the weakness of their opponents, they just keep winning. 

It's funny, last year around this time we were all going 'well Blake Snell's a waste of money if he's not gonna be healthy', and that's not really the case at all, because when he is healthy he's still excellent. So far in 6 starts this season, Snell's 6-1 with a 1.97 ERA and 43 Ks. Vintage Snell, for sure. Glasnow's been pretty decent too since coming back, he's 4-0 with a 3 ERA in 10 starts. Emmet Sheehan just had a really nice start this past week once it became do or die time with all the rotation vacancies. Skull's looking like himself, with a 3 ERA, 48 Ks and a 1.116 WHIP in 7 starts. And then Yamamoto you never really have to worry about, he's simply one of the most consistent pitchers in baseball, and he makes it look so easy. This is his third season and every one of them has been a gem. 

I still think the lineup schematic could be tricky if Ohtani isn't 100%, and some of the usual players [Hernandez, Muncy, Smith] are slowing down, but this Dodgers team is so well built that even this might only be a scratch. Obviously it's more interesting if someone else gets to win this time around, but will the Dodgers even let them? Is that even a possibility?

Coming Tomorrow- A Canadian legend already, and one of the best contact hitters in baseball at the moment. 

Short Supply

 

My constant disgust towards the Astros means nothing. The more spiteful I get, the more they figure out how to win games. They're two games over .500, flinging around the Phils' pitching this week, waiting for the Rangers or somebody to catch up when it probably isn't gonna happen. Unless somebody stops them, they're winning the AL West in a year where barely anyone in it's getting a passing grade. I don't know if that's something to be proud of, but for the Astros a win's a win. In another universe Alvarez still gets a triple crown on a losing team, but I guess it's all that much sweeter that they're winning. 

Jose Altuve...he's just as infuriating to talk about as the rest of the Astros. The last two seasons, he has not done a damned thing in relation to the team's success. You could argue that since 2023 he's been replacement level, as he turned into more of a power guy than a pure contact guy, his defense sank and now he's kind of just an inessential veteran. He has 15 homers and 44 RBIs, but he hit 77 RBIs last year, so we know he can do better. He's 36, slowly reaching the end of what will probably be a Hall of Fame career [and let me be clear, I wouldn't vote for him because I don't reward cheaters], and doesn't have a ton left to contribute. This is the point where guys like Alvarez, Pena, Walker and Smith can carry the load, but he's still gonna persist, because he's Jose Altuve, and he's gonna be an Astro as long as he can manage it. His next hit, which has probably happened by the time of posting, will be number 2500, and 3000 is technically within reach because of the strength of those first several seasons. Obviously he's a great player, I'll just never respect him. 

He's such a minuscule part of this team that there isn't much to be dragged down. The rotation's figured things out, Brown, Lambert, Wesneski and Javier seem to be on a nice pace right now. Ethan Pecko's getting the 5 spot, and he's not terrific but he's getting the job done. Josh Hader's been phenomenal in the ninth, and seems to be back to where he was before the injury [again, written before Phils game was over]. Smith is hitting, Paredes and Pena are hitting, Daulton Varsho went yard against the Phils [the team that was supposed to trade for him], Yainer Diaz is finding his swing, and Alvarez, while being eclipsed for the home run lead by Junior Caminero, is still looking for history, and is very close to attaining it. I say let him, he's a fearsome hitter with so much ability, and it's been years since the last triple crown. If it was Altuve I'd be mad, but Alvarez is so good you can't even be that disappointed. 

The Astros have two real tasks going forward. One is winning the division, which should be easy enough if the Rangers keep forgetting they can still take it. The other is actually standing a chance against wild card competitors with better records. The idea is they'd likely play the sixth seed, which would be any combination of the Jays, Guardians, O's, Rangers, whoever's left standing there. The old Astros would be a menace no matter the seed. I don't know about this Astros team yet. They had a lead against the Phils, it got thinner as the game went on. They still won but it got dangerously close. Remember when these guys could no-hit Philadelphia? I don't know if this team can do that anymore. I think they're lucky, and streaky, but I don't know if they have it to go deep this year.

Then again these jerks have proven me wrong before. So who knows?

Coming Tonight: 2 Cy Youngs, a lot of money, and miraculously some classic stuff looking for that second ring. 

The Edge of Their Seeds

 

The Brewers currently have the best record in the NL, and in baseball, and could very well have a higher seed than the Dodgers once the playoffs begin. However, the Dodgers have one of the easiest schedules in baseball this month, and barely have to play any teams over .500, while the Brewers still have to play the Cubs and Phillies, as well as spoilery teams like the Orioles and Cardinals. Therefore...clearly the Dodgers are the preferred frontrunners. That being said, the Dodgers don't have Shohei Ohtani at 100% right now, and the Brewers seem to only be getting stronger with time.

I think it's a little worrying that the wins are trailing off slightly. They were able to keep leverage against the Cubs to start out, and look to keep doing that [especially with the pitching], but they're in a more precarious position than they were. Kyle Harrison's fatigued now, clearly. He keeps getting lit up in starts, and we can't even blame Vegas anymore. The deadline acquisitions [Dustin May, Antonio Senzatela and Jojo Romero] have not been up to snuff. Even Miz got rocked a little in the past week. Grant Anderson just hit the IL, Sal Frelick and Christian Yelich are fairly mediocre, and now the league lead is around a game. And the Dodgers have to play the the Reds right now.

I still think the Brewers have the edge though. Everything the Dodgers claim they are, an unparalleled barrel of talent, the Brewers actually are. Bringing up Cooper Pratt and Luis Lara, and having both of them fit perfectly while also inspiring Joey Ortiz and Sal Frelick to start playing better, is incredible. Pratt is one of many sure thing prospects, and despite missing time he's hitting .275 with 3 homers and 29 RBIs, plus 13 steals, in 59 games. It's a bright start for the 21-year-old, who's probably gonna have shortstop going forward. Luis Lara, meanwhile, is unparalleled defensively and has a nice mean streak offensively, with 21 RBIs in 49 games. He was smoking the minors, maybe he'll start ramping up a little more. I don't know what that means for Mitchell or Frelick, but the depth is certainly a good thing. Also really good to have two excellent options at first. Bauers is still a top-tier hitter statistically, and Vaughn's a .300 hitter with less power perks and more pure contact ability. And they've got Gary Sanchez against lefties and David Hamilton as a utility man, not even going into Turang and Chourio on top of their game. There is so much going on in this lineup that even a Dodgers team might not be able to stop all of it this year.

I think the postseason rotation situation could be a little worrying if Harrison's acting up. Might be as simple as Miz-Henderson-Drohan, but you might need a larger sample size from Drohan in order to be alright with him there. If not, you just hope Harrison rebounds I guess? Or else it's Bobby Gasser, which could be brilliant or could be a recipe for disaster, you're never sure. At least the bullpen's pretty trustworthy, that's a start. 

I dunno, I still like the Brewers' odds. I don't know if the top seed is guaranteed anymore, but I think they could find their 2025 postseason momentum and make another strong run. They're still very much in the thick of their prime competitive run, and they're only gonna get better once Made and Williams are up, so if they go all the way now, they may not stop there. For a team that's never won, that's a very cool prospect.

Coming Tomorrow- One of my least favorite players in the game. Cause he's that good, and cause he's that bad.

Wish Granted

 

I want to make it clear that, as there's still 19 games left, it's still not definite that the White Sox are going to win the AL Central. The Guardians are still actively chasing them, and are a very good team, and could sweep in late and grab the division. Considering the competition in the AL Wild Card race, if they don't win the division, it's curtains. So the White Sox, who are facing a lot of okay but still spoilery teams in the next week or so [Pirates, Cardinals, Tigers] in addition to the Guards themselves, need to keep on a roll in order for this to happen.

But. If it does happen...wouldn't that be awesome? 

I kind of want this for the White Sox. They put together a team in the late 2010s/early 2020s that was a competitor, and it did absolutely nothing so they gutted everything, were the butt of the league for two years, and now they're in position to win the division and make the playoffs as a three seed, meaning they could get further than the Renteria/LaRussa teams did. I really want that to happen. Let LaRussa sit in shame as the team he messed up ascends to glory. 

And obviously, the White Sox haven't made it easy for themselves. They have Luis Castillo every 5 games, and he's really not the guy he once was with Cincinnati and Seattle. They lost Davis Martin and hopefully have a better version of him back. They were without Munetaka Murakami's home runs for a while [thankfully he just hit his 30th]. They still don't have a viable answer at catcher despite Edgar Quero doing everything he can to move the needle. And most of their savvy pickups, like Huascar Brazoban, Brenton Doyle and Luisangel Acuna, really haven't done much. Yet here they are, still competing and still looking great.

Miguel Vargas, Colson Montgomery, Tristan Peters, Chase Meidroth and Murakami have made this a surprisingly incredible offensive bunch, with 3 guys with over 70 RBIs and 3 guys with 30 homers. Vargas quieted skeptics [mostly me] by becoming a really impressive everyday option at the plate. Montgomery is still a home run machine with great versatility. Andrew Benintendi can still hit for power even if the range is gone. Tristan Peters is doing better as a former Savannah Banana in the MLB than most former XFL players have done in the NFL. The hitting is pretty incredible, and could be a difference maker given some playoff schematics.

But the team's just run more efficiently than most White Sox teams that have gotten close. I'm really impressed by this bullpen, lined with working, young options that have kept moving. Grant Taylor, at 24, is the primary closing option, and he's got a 2.16 ERA with 97 Ks and 8 steals. Sean Newcomb has been terrific as the overall relief specialist, with a 2.42 ERA in 82 innings. Bryan Hudson's had a terrific comeback year after spinning out in Milwaukee. Trevor Richards has turned into a halfway decent swingman. And now Hagen Smith has been added to the equation as a high-leverage reliever, and he's only given up 1 earned run in 16 innings. I have no idea if the idea is stretching Smith out to start next year, but he's very good in this role, and if it keeps him on a postseason roster, so be it. Additionally, Martin-Burke-Kay is a pretty strong postseason rotation, even if it's not THE strongest in the AL. Worst comes to worse, Castillo does long relief. 

I'm really liking how this White Sox team is shaping up, and I really think they could make something happen this year, after so many miserable years. This is what the rebuild was for, an efficient version of the White Sox, and I hope it leads to something great.

Coming Tonight: A huge rookie for the Brewers. You know, to harken the eventual appearance of like 4 more huge Brewers rookies. 

Ending With Dignity, Mets Style

 

I think, just generally, the Mets look a little closer to a good team than they did during the heat of this season. Now, granted, that doesn't mean they're an actual good team, but...it means it's no longer embarrassing. 

It's funny, I was in New York on Saturday midday, and I was headed to the shuttle between times square and grand central, as one does, and I did see some Mets fans heading back from the 7. It was bobblehead day. That's always cool. I was at Pete Alonso bobblehead day in Baltimore earlier this year, that was 100% the place to be. I just looked up who the bobblehead at Citifield was of on Saturday. It was a special U.S. Open themed Mrs. Met bobblehead.

So let's recap. Prior to the season, the Mets bring on Freddy Peralta, Luis Robert, Devin Williams, Luke Weaver, Jorge Polanco, Marcus Semien, Bo Bichette and rookie Carson Benge, and by September, all they can muster is a bobblehead of their mascot to commemorate a sporting event that happens next door every year anyway? Or maybe it was one of Peralta, Robert or Weaver, and the pre-made bobbleheads are already being melted down and made into next year's bound-for-the-resale-market Luis Torrens bobblehead giveaway. I was in a Greenwich, CT thrift store earlier this year, which is a lot like a McDonalds in a sports stadium I reckon, and they had a Mark Vientos Mets bobblehead, from weeks earlier, there for 15 dollars. And even if Swaggy V would rebound in May...15 was still asking way too much for Vientos. 15 would honestly be asking too much for a Bo one too.

Anyhow, the Mets are beginning to turn things around by installing the next phases of the rebuild, which is working a lot better than all those contracts did. Jonah Tong was on the mound today, and seemed to silence the Marlins pretty well. He might be a little more ready than he was on prior MLB call-ups. If he's good for the long haul, then he, Nolan McLean, Christian Scott and Zac Thornton might be sneakily becoming a nightmare waiting to happen. Thornton is putting up perfectly fine numbers as a four man, a 3.53 ERA, a 1.191 WHIP and a 1.5 WAR, but that's how guys like Wheeler and Matz started as well. McLean has looked a ton better in weeks' past, and is looking to end the season with his ERA around 3. Christian Scott is looking insanely durable since TJ surgery, and has a full season of strong work under his belt. Sean Manaea has one more year left on the deal, and hopefully his 2027 is way better than his last two seasons. But that young core could be the next step to legitimacy, and certainly has been lately. Also, Nate Lavender's been incredible as a bullpen piece, and arguably so was Jefry Yan. 

The idea for 2027 will be finding what from this shipwreck of a team is salvageable going forward. Obviously the outfield's staying as it is- Soto-Ewing-Benge is a working model that's been very successful this year, and will be going forward. Obviously shortstop is non-negotiable, and the catching platoon I assume isn't going anywhere either. Semien is signed for another 2 years, so either they trade that or they eat it and DH him. Bichette's gonna get low-balled in free agency, and I'm not sure if New York's the answer for him right now. Polanco is expected to stick around but I guess he'll be a DH/part time guy. And then Jared Young worked this year but he's 31 and very much a replacement-level option so I don't think he's the long-term solution for the Pete Alonso problem. This is where a successful Ronny Mauricio would have helped, but alas. Vientos and Baty SHOULD be holding up the corners but they keep refusing to!

I think the Mets should ride out the mess for one more year, let a few guys leave in free agency, let this core sail and allow for successors at 1st, 2nd and 3rd to materialize, and hope it gets them somewhere higher than fifth. A lot works about this team, there was just this inescapable sag this year, and hopefully in 2027 they'll outrun it.

Coming Tomorrow- A relief specialist who probably didn't expect to be staring down an October berth this year. 

The Jays Roar Back

 

It happened in an instant. The Orioles lost 6 straight, the Blue Jays won 4 straight [and then failed to hit Randy Dobnak] and suddenly the Jays have slipped into the spot the O's were supposed to have. How about that? Whole season of not really being too impressive and now they're going for it. How very Toronto Blue Jays of them.

I questioned, at the time, why the Jays would buy AND sell, knowing the small probability of making a run, but they clearly knew what they were doing. Josh Smith became a relatively wise depth infielder choice, he's got an .890 OPS through 17 games. Jose Soriano's been excellent in 6 Toronto starts, with 2 wins, 24 Ks and a 4 ERA. Paul Sewald has been a surprise hit in Toronto, without letting any runs go by in 7 innings. Ricky Tiedemann is being used in relief and has been pretty effective so far. The only real weak spot has been Spencer Arrighetti, who got walloped by Kansas City yesterday, but at least they got him away from the Astros. 

Trading Daulton Varsho was the odd part, because that's some centerfield stability with great power perks. This just hasn't been his season, as the Astros are currently finding out. But in exchange for Kevin Gausman, the Jays got Brett Bateman, a 24-year-old Iowa Cub who'd been waiting to make a debut but couldn't break into the stuffed Cubs OF picture [much like Owen Caissie last year]. So the Jays traded for him and slotted him into center in front of Myles Straw, and...almost immediately a star was born. In 24 games, Bateman has hit .327 with some amazing contact work, despite only 7 RBIs and 5 extra base hits. Bateman's a really strong hitter with a lot of versatility, and the team seems to know what they have. Of course, since Bateman's come on board, the Jays have reentered the playoff picture and are now chasing that third wild card spot.

A few things that I should probably mention that could still make competition difficult for the Jays. First of all, a rookie tearing things up in August has happened before. Davis Schneider did this, Will Wagner did this. Both died down eventually. I'm not saying Bateman's destined to fail, I'm just saying the fans should temper their expectations. The other thing is that beyond Dylan Cease, who looks to pry a Cy Young award from Cam Schlittler's young hands later this year, the Blue Jays' starting pitching is...scattered. Yesavage and Bieber are hurt. Jameson Taillon was doing okay, then he got hurt. The plan is Cease, Max Scherzer and his slowly-gaining momentum, Soriano, Arrighetti, opener game succeeded by Michael Lorenzen. That's...not sustainable. The hope is Yesavage is back for the playoffs but if they're gonna make a run, they need an actual arsenal back there, and they don't have it yet. Soriano is good but he was better in May. Scherzer as a postseason starter could go either way at this point. This could succeed, especially if Guerrero is going to start hitting, but it could also fail miserably. You're thinking that seed would play the winner of the AL Central, and those aren't easy wins no matter which of the two you get. You're pitching to either Munetaka Murakami or to Jose Ramirez. Good luck either way.

The Jays could still happen this year, somehow, and they could shock the world, but I don't see the practicality of it from a roster depth standpoint. They got to a World Series last year on extreme depth, and they don't have that right now. So they're gonna need to build some very soon.

Coming Tonight: The Mets just announced Jonah Tong's coming back to start, and it's odd to me that he's been displaced in the depth chart by another rookie pitcher who wasn't even around last fall. 

Room at the Bottom

 

The Rockies recently became the first team officially eliminated from the playoffs, and they did so with a marginally better record than the Angels, who haven't been eliminated yet but will be in the next 24 hours. Both teams have an outside chance of reaching 100 losses, but it's not guaranteed yet. 

I mean, first of all, let's step back for a moment and think about the fact that there's probably more of a chance of the Brewers reaching 100 wins than the Angels reaching 100 losses. Both may happen but it's nice that there won't be discourse about there being more 100 loss teams than 100 win teams [or any at all]. 

The Angels are probably more likely to reach the mark first because they're up to their ears in replacement-level guys. The number of guys that only hit well against the Yankees has grown to two, as Vaughn Grissom has joined Christian Moore as an in-house Yankee killer without doing much else against the other 28 teams. Grissom is hitting .249 with 10 homers and 59 RBIs as a baseline infield fill-in guy, far from where he thought he'd be about four years ago. Inches from succeeding Dansby Swanson in Atlanta, he was passed over for Orlando Arcia, traded for Chris Sale and never achieved any sense of MLB stability...until this year, where he's an everyday guy for a last place Angels team. The Angels tried a lot of gambits for roster roles this year [Nick Madrigal, Jeimer Candelario, Trey Mancini, Alek Manoah, Michael Fulmer] but Grissom might be the most successful. I don't think this means he'll have a true rebound, but if the Angels continue at this very worrying pace, he could be a good placeholder piece. 

Then again I am seeing a lot of those the more I look around this Angels team. I do think Denzer Guzman is a placeholder guy, as he's not hitting much at all despite having third base, but...he's also 22. Same with Moises Ballesteros, who's shown none of his Cubs-era finesse and is limping along, hitting .179 with barely any offensive production. Christian Moore isn't doing much else, he's hitting .162 in 19 games. The idea is for these guys to inherit the team. Y'know, like Caden Dana was supposed to. Eventually something is going to work, but I still think that timeline is a-ways off. They'll go ahead with Schanuel, Meckler, Urena, Joyce and, I'm guessing, Mike Trout, but I don't think they'll actually be intimidating again while Trout is still here.

The Rockies, meanwhile, do have some solid bats to work with, which is why the 100 loss mark isn't a guarantee just yet. Hunter Goodman, Cole Carrigg, Jake McCarthy, T.J. Rumfield, Zac Even, Troy Johnston and somehow Connor Norby and Adael Amador have continued the relatively decent upward momentum of the Rockies lineup. Goodman's at 36 homers, and he could hit 40. Carrigg's very much at home in the majors, and has an .808 OPS. Johnston is the ideal slap contact guy, even with only 48 RBIs; he's on-point, relatively consistent, and does what he's supposed to. Same with Norby almost. Filling the bench with contact guys is a very nice way to get further towards competition, and assuming Johnston and Norby stick around, they could pad the roster while Carrigg, Karros, Rumfield, Goodman and Even get the everyday glory. It's also very refreshing that Adael Amador has finally learned to hit at the MLB level. He'd be very useful as an everyday second baseman, and moreso now that Willi Castro's gotten hurt.

Pitching is obviously going to be an issue going forward. Ryan Feltner, Gabriel Hughes, Mason Adams and Chase Dollander will be the main starting options, as I'm assuming Sugano will find a better environment for his craftsmanship and the Freeland contract will finally be over. To be honest...you could do worse with a homegrown base. Hughes has a 6.19 ERA, but surprisingly he's got a 3.81 ERA at Coors. Half his starts have been home starts, and they're not bad at all. You get a Feltner or a Lorenzen who's equally bad both home and away, but having young, impressive guys like Hughes, Adams and Dollander who could potentially carry the rotation is...a start. They just need to come into their own without pressure, which I think next year could be good for. I'd recommend grabbing one cheap free agent to pad things [Chris Bassitt? Miles Mikolas? Jordan Montgomery?], but letting those kids go could be a nice start.

I don't think either team will compete as soon as next year, but the Rockies might do so sooner than the Angels. Not White Sox rebuild levels of turnaround but...the seeds have been planted, and you never know when that team will take off.

Coming Tomorrow- A rookie who was traded at the deadline, made his debut and might be making the playoffs anyway.