Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Julio Urias throws to the plate during the first inning of a … [+] baseball game against the Colorado Rockies Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
It’s on to Round 2 of Major League Baseball’s four-tiered postseason.
The Division Series round begins Tuesday with four best-of-five series. That comes on the heels of last weekend’s Wild Card round.
It will be the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres squaring off and the Atlanta Braves facing the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League. In the American League, it will be the Houston Astros against the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees versus the Cleveland Guardians.
Here is a look at one key player from each team involved in the NLDS.
JULIO URIAS, DODGERS
The left-hander gets the start in Game 1 against the Padres. That is all you need to know about how much the Dodgers value the bespectacled 26-year-old.
Urias was 17-7 in the regular season with a 2.16 ERA in 31 starts. He led the NL in ERA and was second in wins behind the Braves’ Kyle Wright, who had 21. Urias also had a sparkling 0.960 WHIP while striking out 175 batters in 166 innings.
Despite his age, Urias also has plenty of postseason experience with five career starts and 17 relief appearances. He has a solid 3.52 ERA and 0.988 WHIP over 53 2/3 innings.
Urias can become a free agent at the end of next season. It seems likely the Dodgers will try to sign him to a long-term contract extension this coming winter.
San Diego Padres’ Yu Darvish, right, celebrates with Jorge Alfaro following a baseball game against … [+] the Chicago White Sox after clinching a wild-card playoff spot Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Derrick Tuskan)
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
YU DARVISH, PADRES
Darvish will likely make only one start against the Dodgers after winning Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series against the New York Mets. He is scheduled to pitch Game 2 against Clayton Kershaw and it will be a chance for redemption for the veteran right-hander.
In 2017, Darvish started Game 7 of the World Series and got hit hard by the Houston Astros. He was tagged for five runs in 1 2/3 innings and took the loss.
The Padres will look for Darvish to pitch like he did against the Mets when he allowed only one run on six hits in seven innings. That followed a regular season in which he was 16-8 with a 3.10 ERA in 30 starts.
Darvish’s six-year, $126-million contract he signed with the Chicago Cubs expires after next season. He will be 37 then but could still land a significant contract.
Atlanta Braves’ Dansby Swanson warms up before a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, … [+] Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
DANSBY SWANSON, BRAVES
The shortstop is eligible to file for free agency five days after the World Series. However, the Braves have been very public about their desire to sign Swanson to a long-term extension.
The 28-year-old had arguably the best of his seven seasons in the major league this year. He played in all 162 games and hit .277/.329/.447 with 25 home runs and 18 stolen bases. Swanson was also a plus defender with nine defensive runs saved.
The one knock on Swanson, though, is he did have a swoon after the All-Star break. He hit .294/.353/.481 in the first half but .254/.298/.404 in the second half.
Regardless, he will command a large contract if he reaches the open market.
Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler throws during the first inning of a baseball … [+] game against the New York Mets, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2022, in New York. The Mets won 6-0. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
ZACK WHEELER, PHILLIES
The Phillies raised some eyebrows when they signed the right-hander to a five-year, $118-million contract as a free agent during the 2019-20 offseason. Wheeler’s lifetime record at that point was 44-38.
However, the Phillies clearly knew what they were doing. After finishing second in the NL Cy Young Award voting last season, Wheeler went 12-7 with a 2.82 ERA in 26 starts this year despite being slowed by forearm tendinitis.
Wheeler worked 6 1/3 shutout innings and allowed just two hits against the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of their NL Wild Card series. The 32-year-old from the Atlanta area is 10-7 in his career against the Braves with a 3.16 ERA in 24 starts.
After an action-packed Wild Card to get the 2022 MLB playoffs going, there are eight teams left battling for World Series glory entering the division series round.
With an extra round to begin the postseason and the possibility that this year’s Fall Classic extends to a Game 7 on Nov. 5, it was a very short October stay for some — and we could ultimately see the latest championship celebration in MLB history for the last squad standing.
Will the favored Los Angeles Dodgers rule the National League or will the repeat-minded Braves make another deep run? Can anyone in the American League keep the New York Yankees and Houston Astros from squaring off in the ALCS?
MLB experts Bradford Doolittle, Alden Gonzalez and David Schoenfield get you ready for it all with everything from odds for every matchup and a predicted date of each team’s last game to the best- and worst-case scenario for all eight remaining World Series hopefuls.
Note: World Series and matchup odds come from Doolittle’s formula using power ratings as the basis for 10,000 simulations to determine the most likely outcomes.
How they could stay around longer: Refuse to Lose. Anything Can Happen. True to the Blue. Believe. Hey, after Cal Raleigh clinched Seattle’s playoff spot and ended the franchise’s 21-year-old playoff drought with a dramatic pinch-hit, two-out, bottom-of-the-ninth, 3-2 count, walk-off home run — and then Seattle pulled off the comeback of all postseason road comebacks to eliminate Toronto on Saturday. Maybe destiny really is on the Mariners’ side. If you want a baseball reason, the bullpen is deep and built for October. But they’ll need to score some runs and to do that, how about a dream scenario: Rookie sensation Julio Rodriguez returns from the sore back that sidelined him at the end of September and has a postseason for the ages. — Schoenfield
What could send them home soon: The pitching will need to carry them, but it also looked a little fatigued at times down the stretch. Luis Castillo had three rough September starts when he suddenly lost it in the middle innings. Rookie George Kirby had been a model of consistency until a recent bad outing (and is well beyond his innings total from 2021). Robbie Ray had two scoreless starts in September mixed in with three mediocre ones. The bullpen was pushed hard throughout the season and closer Paul Sewald has been homer-prone of late. The Mariners don’t score enough runs to leave much margin for error, so the entire staff will need to bring it. — Schoenfield
One thing they do that could take down the Astros: The Astros won 12 of 19 games against the Mariners, but they outscored Seattle by only eight runs. In the six games started by Justin Verlander, however, the Astros outscored their division rivals 30-11. Houston won five of those starts. In his past three outings against Seattle, Verlander allowed three runs in 21⅔ innings. In other words — it’s going to be crucial for Seattle to take advantage on the days Verlander doesn’t pitch. Jose Urquidy, Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier have a 5.40 ERA in 48⅓ innings against the M’s this year. — Gonzalez
Wild-card opponent: Yankees (37.7% chance of advancing)
World Series odds: 2.9% | Caesars odds: +3500
Predicted date of their last game: Oct. 17
How they could stay around longer: The Guardians have drawn comparisons to the 2014-15 Royals for their style of play: Contact hitting, speed, defense … and a dominant bullpen. Emmanuel Clase is as good as any closer this side of Edwin Diaz and the top three setup relievers in front of him — James Karinchak, Trevor Stephan and lefty Sam Hentges — have all been outstanding. They’re hard to hit, they strike batters out and all four are stingy with the home run. The pen has been even better since the beginning of July, with the second-best ERA in the majors behind the Dodgers. Get a lead through five or six and the Guardians almost always hold it. October baseball has become more and more about the bullpens and Cleveland can match up with any team. — Schoenfield
What could send them home soon: Lack of power. The Guardians have the fewest home runs of the playoff teams and you win in the playoffs by hitting home runs. Don’t buy that? In last year’s postseason, the team that hit more home runs went 25-2-10 — that’s 25 wins, two losses and 10 games where the teams hit the same number. No, the Royals didn’t hit a lot of home runs in 2014 or 2015, but they did hit them in the playoffs (and that was an era with fewer home runs in general). It certainly would be fun to see the Guardians scratch and claw their way to the World Series, but more likely they’ll have to power up. — Schoenfield
One thing they do that could take down the Astros: The only AL team that put the ball in play more often than the Astros was the Guardians — by a pretty sizable margin. Cleveland also stole the third-most bases in the majors and led the sport in going first to third on a single. Putting the ball in play and running the bases both effectively and aggressively is the Guardians’ recipe for success in October, not just against the Astros but against everyone. The Astros are the second-best defensive team in the postseason field, according to outs above average. But Martin Maldonado was below league average in caught-stealing percentage this season. The Guardians need to get on base and they need to run — and just hope the series doesn’t turn into a slugfest. — Gonzalez
ALDS opponent: Guardians (62.3% chance of advancing)
World Series odds: 15.6% | Caesars odds: +500
Predicted date of their last game: Oct. 25
How they could stay around longer: Maybe it’s unfair, but it feels like so much is riding on Gerrit Cole’s performance, especially since Frankie Montas wasn’t the big rotation addition the Yankees expected. When Cole bombed out early in the wild-card game against the Red Sox last season, the Yankees went home. He’s still striking out a ton of batters, but he also led the American League with 33 home runs allowed — 16 of them off his four-seam fastball. Cole was especially homer-prone in September with 10 in 36 innings and in his four career postseason starts with the Yankees he has allowed six in just 20⅓ innings. He has to figure out how to keep the ball in the park. — Schoenfield
What could send them home early: Opponents pitch around Aaron Judge and the rest of the lineup fails to knock him in. When the Yankees struggled with a 10-18 record in August, they averaged just 3.61 runs per game — even as Judge hit nine home runs and drove in 22 runs. But as he continued mashing throughout the season, teams started walking him more often: 13 times in May, 15 in June, 17 in July, 25 in August and 30 in September. The Yankees led the AL in runs, but they can’t expect one man to carry them for an entire postseason. It’s worth noting that in seven games against the Astros they hit just .151. — Schoenfield
One thing they do that could take down the Astros: The Astros famously got the best of the Yankees during the regular season, winning five of seven. The encouraging news if you’re a Yankees fan: All seven games were decided by three runs or fewer. The not-so-encouraging news: The Yankees didn’t throw a single pitch with a lead. Both of their victories came as a result of come-from-behind rallies followed by walk-off hits from Judge. But the Astros were one of few teams that were actually able to keep Judge mostly in check, holding him to a .148/.258/.370 slash line. Needless to say, Judge’s bat needs to come alive in this potential heavyweight matchup. And the Yankees will have to play a clean, mistake-free brand of baseball. — Gonzalez
ALDS opponent: Mariners (63.8% chance of advancing)
World Series odds: 18.2% | Caesars odds: +380
Predicted date of their last game: Nov. 2
Why they are the AL’s team to beat:Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman, the two veteran holdovers from the 2017 World Series champions who continue to get booed around the league, do serious damage at the plate. Altuve quietly had one of his best seasons, with an OPS+ that matched his MVP season in 2017. Bregman, meanwhile, had a big second half, the best he’s hit since 2019. Altuve has been outstanding in his postseason career (.286/.361/.567, 23 home runs in 79 games) while Bregman less so (.226/.339/.400, 12 home runs in 73 games), but if they’re getting on base in front of Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, good things can happen. — Schoenfield
What could send them home early: The bottom of the lineup fails to contribute. The Astros don’t get much from their catchers, Martin Maldonado and Christian Vazquez (who hasn’t homered for Houston since coming over from Boston at the trade deadline). Yuli Gurriel had a rough season. Trey Mancini, the other trade acquisition, has hit under .200 for the Astros. Rookie shortstop Jeremy Pena has seen his numbers drop in the second half. This lineup simply lacks the depth of some other Houston teams of recent vintage. If the big four don’t click, it could be a quick exit — no matter how dominant Justin Verlander and the rest of the rotation is. — Schoenfield
Their biggest advantage if MLB’s two best teams meet in November: Most of the Dodgers’ postseason pitching plan remains a mystery, but one thing has already been declared by manager Dave Roberts: Julio Urias, Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Anderson will make up three-fourths of their postseason rotation. What do they all have in common? They’re all lefties. And the Astros — with a right-handed-heavy lineup headlined by Bregman and Altuve — feasted on left-handed pitching this season. Their best hitter, the left-handed-hitting Alvarez, was elite against lefties, too. In a matchup of two teams that are pretty closely matched, it could make the difference. If the Astros can make a habit out of scoring early, they could claim their second World Series title against the Dodgers — and their first without a cheating scandal. — Gonzalez
How they could stay around longer: The bullpen falls into place. Philadelphia has a 5.04 bullpen ERA since the beginning of September, a big contributor to Philly’s near-collapse down the stretch. Injuries have included Corey Knebel (done for the season) and Brad Hand (question mark for the playoffs). David Robertson will be a part of the high-leverage mix. Other solutions have emerged: converted starter Zach Eflin has flourished out of the bullpen, and Jose Alvarado has been as hot as any reliever. Struggling Seranthony Dominguez regaining the dominant form he flashed before an August injury might be enough to push the Phillies over the hump. — Doolittle
What could send them home soon: .The Phillies own MLB’s third-highest homer rate and while they aren’t the most longball-dependent offense in the postseason, they aren’t far off. Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Rhys Hoskins & Co. need to combine for two or three bombs per game or the Phillies will have a hard time turning the scoreboard. — Doolittle
One thing they do that could take down the Dodgers: The 2019 Washington Nationals proved you don’t need to be incredibly deep or even well-rounded to defeat the Dodgers in a short series. Sometimes, if the top of your roster is elite, you just need your best players to perform to their capabilities. Harper and Schwarber combined for a 1.315 OPS in 54 plate appearances against the Dodgers this season, but Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler combined to allow nine runs in 17⅔ innings. In those four — and catcher J.T. Realmuto — the Phillies boast upper-echelon talent. They’ll need them to do most of the heavy lifting to defeat L.A. — Gonzalez
NLDS opponent: Dodgers (24.8% chance of advancing)
World Series odds: 3.5% | Caesars odds: +2800
Predicted date of their last game: Oct. 16
How they could stay around longer:Juan Soto goes off. Soto went into a funk not long after the monumental midseason trade that sent him to San Diego. While his overall San Diego numbers are down even from his subpar pre-trade numbers in Washington, Soto has quietly been trending up over the past couple of weeks. And let’s not forget that when the Nationals won the World Series in 2019, Soto’s huge postseason as a 20-year-old had a lot to do with it. All the hand-wringing over Soto’s post-trade play would be forgotten if he has a big October. — Doolittle
What could send them home soon: The Padres’ rotation, especially Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove, carried them into the playoffs down the stretch. That success needs to continue, but it wouldn’t have mattered had closer Josh Hader not straightened himself out. After a catastrophic start to his Padres career, Hader finished strong — making his midseason slump all the more bewildering. What happens if the bizarro Hader returns? San Diego will be done, that’s what will happen. Sure, you can say the same thing about every team that leans on a primary closer — but not every team saw its relief ace pitch like Hader did in August. — Doolittle
One thing they do that could take down the Dodgers: The Padres struggled mightily against their Southern California rivals this season, losing 14 of 19 and getting outscored by a combined62 runs. To beat L.A., they’ll need to make sure Yu Darvish pitches as often as possible and Sean Manaea doesn’t pitch against the Dodgers at all. They’ll need Soto and Manny Machado to be at their best. They’ll need Hader to be the lockdown closer they thought they were getting at the start of August. And they’ll need contributions from several others. Most of all, perhaps, they’ll need to summon some confidence. — Gonzalez
NLDS opponent: Phillies (61.2% chance of advancing)
World Series odds: 13.2% | Caesars odds: +600
Predicted date of their last game: Oct. 24
How they could stay around longer: If the bullpen falls into place like it did last October, look out. The Braves’ are entering the playoffs with a more stable rotation outlook than a year ago, so Brian Snitker shouldn’t need to lean quite as heavily on his fireman as he did en route to the 2021 title. But even if he does, the Atlanta bullpen as a group has been smoking hot of late — led by trade acquisition Raisel Iglesias, who has allowed one earned run in 27 outings since he joined the Braves. Kenley Jansen has been very good, as have Collin McHugh, A.J. Minter and Dylan Lee. If Tyler Matzek can find last season’s consistency, there might not be a bad lever for Snitker to pull. — Doolittle
What could send them home early: A couple of lifeless cutters in the wrong situation by Jansen. This isn’t to pick on Jansen. He’s had an excellent first season in Atlanta. He leads the NL in saves and is on a pretty good roll entering the playoffs. But he still isn’t the shutdown hammer he was during his prime, and the Braves are such a complete team that there isn’t much else that might be a glaring issue. — Doolittle
One thing they do that could take down the Dodgers: The Braves and Dodgers have met in back-to-back NLCS, splitting the two series, and they seem poised square off again. Outside of the Astros, the Braves might be the closest to matching the Dodgers’ depth and balance. Their separator could be in the bullpen. The three guys who entered this season as the Dodgers’ most important back-end relievers are either lost for the year (Daniel Hudson), pitching in low-leverage situations because of ineffectiveness (Craig Kimbrel) or recovering from injury (Blake Treinen). The Braves are as deep as ever in the back end of their bullpen, and this is a clear advantage for them. — Gonzalez
Why they are the team to beat in all of MLB: During the regular season, depth is what jumps to mind. L.A. has a roster and system of processes with so much quality redundancy built in that it’s hard to remember a time when we didn’t simply pencil the Dodgers in for a playoff spot before a season began. Depth isn’t irrelevant in the playoffs, but it’s clearly not as big a factor with the possible exception of the back of the bullpen. The thing is, the Dodgers aren’t just about depth. They are about all of the things, and a team with star power like this has a talent edge on everyone. And, oh yeah, they just won 111 games with the run differential that suggests they were actually a little unlucky. — Doolittle
What could send them home early: The term “Achilles’ heel” has become such a sports cliche. If the Dodgers falter, maybe we’ll have to update it to “L.A. closer.” Like in the NFL, you might say, “They have an airtight defense but their L.A. closer is the lack of a quality third corner.” The Dodgers have run roughshod over the majors all season and have such a depth of impact talent in the organization that it’s dizzying. And yet they enter the playoffs with an uncertain end-of-game situation because of the struggles of Craig Kimbrel. It’s hard to fathom. — Doolittle
Their biggest advantage if MLB’s two best teams meet in November: First, a tangible one: Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman. The Dodgers’ dynamic top-of-the-lineup trio is what separates them from everyone, even the most elite. No team can boast the combination of bat-to-ball skills, power and baserunning that those three possess in abundance. –
Now, an intangible one: Revenge. Betts, Turner and Freeman were not with the Dodgers when they lost the 2017 World Series to an Astros team that was later found to have illegally stolen signs. But a few others — Clayton Kershaw, Justin Turner, Chris Taylor, Cody Bellinger and Austin Barnes — were. And beating the Astros on this stage would qualify as the ultimate payback, no matter how much these rosters have changed over the last five years. — Gonzalez
Seattle Mariners produced a sensational comeback on Saturday to beat Toronto Blue Jays in an MLB playoff game which also featured a violent clash that had Blue Jays’ George Springer carted off the field after he collided with teammate Bo Bichette.
J. P. Crawford had hit a blooper into shallow center field and as the pair went for the ball, Bichette’s elbow made contact with the back of Springer’s neck.
Bichette stayed on for the remainder of the game, while Springer departed in the eighth inning.
After the game, Blue Jays interim manager John Schneider told reporters the 33-year-old was “doing OK.”
“He’s going to be evaluated for a couple of different things, he said some nice things to his teammates just now,” Schneider said in the post-match press conference. “So, we’ll know more in the next couple of days.”
Springer’s injury compounded what was an awful night for the Toronto team in Game 2 of the American League Wild Card Series at Rogers Centre as the Marines came back from a seven-run deficit to advance to the second round.
According to MLB.com, the comeback was the second-largest in playoff history, the largest for a team on the road and the largest in a series-clinching game.
The Blue Jays had an 8-1 lead after five innings, but the Mariners tallied four runs in the sixth and four more in the eighth to tie the game at 9-9. Second baseman Adam Frazier doubled in the ninth inning to drive in Cal Raleigh with the winning run.
The Mariners will next host the Houston Astros in the best-of-five series.
NEW YORK — Mets ace Jacob deGrom couldn’t help but ponder his future on Saturday night. With free agency looming and the San Diego Padres taking Game 1 of the National League Wild Card Series, deGrom said he went into his start in Game 2 knowing that if he didn’t pitch well, it could be the last time he pitched at Citi Field as a Met.
“That went into my mind, but the hope was that we would win a baseball game and continue to keep playing,” deGrom said.
He came through, going six innings and allowing five hits and two runs on two walks with eight strikeouts in a 7-3 Mets victory. The win guaranteed that deGrom would have at least one more day to put on a Mets uniform, on Sunday night when the Padres and Mets will play Game 3.
DeGrom set the tone early, starting off the game throwing 12 pitches over 99 mph and seven over 100 mph. He retired the top of Padres’ lineup in order, striking out slugger Juan Soto and Manny Machado swinging. Throughout the evening, deGrom primarily relied on his fastball — which topped 100 mph on 19 of his 99 pitches — and slider, throwing his curveball just twice and his changeup six times. Sixty of his pitches were strikes.
The Padres scored two runs off deGrom, the first coming on a home run from Trent Grisham, his second in as many nights.
“I gotta tip my hat to Trent, that homer, I felt like that was a good pitch, and he just got to it,” deGrom said.
The second run came after deGrom walked Grisham to lead off the fifth inning before Padres outfielder Jurickson Profar hit a game-tying RBI single down the right-field line. DeGrom threw five consecutive sliders in the six-pitch at-bat.
“That’s the one I wish I would’ve went fastball,” deGrom said on the Profar at-bat. “Felt like I had a good feel for it; I just threw too many in a row to him and he kept one fair.”
DeGrom said he felt he hit a groove in his last inning on the mound.
“Slider was good and fastball, actually to [Padres first baseman Brandon] Drury, I threw one down and away where I wanted,” deGrom said. “Early on, they were just a little bit off and not quite the height I wanted them. I felt like I made an adjustment there, and the sixth inning, I felt the best.”
After deGrom left the game, Mets manager Buck Showalter made an unusual choice to bring in closer Edwin Diaz in the seventh inning. With Grisham hitting two homers against the Mets during the first two games of the series, Showalter wanted to challenge the Padres outfielder with the team’s toughest reliever before the top of the San Diego lineup came up in a 3-2 game.
Against Diaz, Grisham grounded out before Padres catcher Austin Nola singled up the middle. Diaz then got Profar and Soto to ground out to end the seventh inning.
Diaz returned for the eighth inning. After getting Machado to ground out, he walked Josh Bell and struck out Jake Cronenworth. Showalter then came to the mound to replace Diaz with reliever Adam Ottavino, who struck out Drury to end the inning.
Showalter said he had no intention to have Diaz pitch three innings and finish the game.
“Where they were in the batting order, we had trouble with Grisham. I wasn’t planning on pitching a third inning with him,” Showalter said of Diaz. “There were things that would have changed that; if he had two eight-pitch innings, I would think about it.”
Diaz asked to stay in the contest to finish off Drury, but Showalter said he needed him to be available for Game 3 on Sunday.
“I was feeling great. I thought I could get Drury out, but he told me that he needed me tomorrow and this was enough for today,” Diaz said. “So, I said let’s win the game tomorrow.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Manager Mike Matheny and pitching coach Cal Eldred were fired by the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night, shortly after the struggling franchise finished the season 65-97 with a listless 9-2 loss to the Cleveland Guardians.
The Royals had exercised their option on Matheny’s contract for 2023 during spring training, when the club hoped it was turning the corner from also-ran to contender. But plagued by poor pitching, struggles from young position players and a lackluster group of veterans, the Royals were largely out of playoff contention by the middle of summer.
The disappointing on-field product led owner John Sherman last month to fire longtime front-office executive Dayton Moore, the architect of back-to-back American League champions and the 2015 World Series title team. He was replaced by one of his longtime understudies, J.J. Picollo, who made the decision to fire Matheny hours after the season ended.
“Managing the Royals has been a true privilege,” Matheny said in a statement. “I’m thankful to so many, primarily Dayton Moore, and the coaches and players I’ve worked with. I would like to thank Mr. John Sherman and the ownership group for the opportunity to manage their team, and everyone involved in this great organization.
“I came to the Royals knowing it was an organization of excellence and care, and was shown that care every single day. Royals fans should be excited about this group of players, and I look forward to watching them continue to grow.”
Matheny spent parts of seven seasons managing the St. Louis Cardinals, finishing each with a winning record and winning the National League pennant in 2013. But after his firing midway through 2018, he was hired by the Royals in an advisory role, and then tapped to succeed longtime manager Ned Yost when he retired before the 2020 season.
Put in charge of a rebuild in the works, Matheny went 26-34 during a COVID-19-shortened first season, then appeared to show progress last season, when the Royals ushered forward a slew of young prospects and finished 74-88.
The expectation was another step forward this season, but the Royals instead spent September fighting off 100 losses.
Matheny finished 165-219 during his time with the Royals, though the number that perhaps is more important to the future of the club is 29 — the number of players who made their major league debut during his tenure.
“We are grateful to Mike for leading us through some unusual times these last three seasons,” Picollo said in a statement. “He met those challenges head on and helped us move forward in a positive manner. We thank him for his leadership and know his influence will have a positive impact moving forward.”
Matheny became the fifth big league manager to be fired this year.
Philadelphia’s Joe Girardi was replaced on June 3 by Rob Thomson, who engineered a miraculous turnaround to get the Phillies into the playoffs. The Angels replaced Joe Maddon with Phil Nevin four days later, Toronto’s Charlie Montoyo was succeeded by John Schneider on July 13 and the Rangers’ Chris Woodward by Tony Beasley on Aug. 15.
Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa left the team on Aug. 30 for medical tests and said Monday he will not return for 2023.
In addition, Miami’s Don Mattingly said late last month that he will not return next season.
While he was well-liked in the Kansas City clubhouse, it seemed unlikely Matheny would be granted another season when Moore was fired last month. Sherman indicated at the time the change in the leadership of the baseball operations department was only the start of what was expected to be widespread shifts throughout the organization.
The Royals have struggled for years to develop pitching — they had the fourth-worst ERA and the worst WHIP by far of any staff in the majors this season. And the continued struggles by their latest wave of young arms was a big reason for letting go of Eldred, the pitching coach since 2018.
“The bottom line here is it’s time for change,” Sherman said last month. “There is a gap right now between where we are and where we expected to be. … I felt like in 2021 we did make progress, and in 2022, that’s not how I feel. There have been some bright spots — I love seeing the young players — but in 2022, we are not where we expected to be.”
The regular season is officially in the books (OK, maybe there is still a game or two trickling slowly to its finish as you read this) and the 2022 MLB playoffs are set to start Friday — and this year’s postseason could be epic.
In addition to a new format that features 12 teams and a three-game wild-card round that is guaranteed to bring drama to October from the very start, there are so many storylines to follow throughout that it has a chance to be an all-time great month of baseball.
Below, we highlight the 12 themes that will dominate the entire sport as the new 12-team format begins.
I think baseball finally nailed it. Yes, there are those who will always favor the old setups of two pennants or four division winners, but the 12-team arrangement is an improvement over 10 teams (which had been the norm for the past decade). The do-or-die wild-card game, which had been around since 2012, never felt right and, frankly, never really turned into the must-see drama that the sports world stopped everything to watch anyway.
As we saw with the temporary 16-team bracket in 2020, these quick, three-game series are fun. They’re still plenty pressure-packed, but they feel more like baseball than a winner-take-all matchup.
Crucially, this format still rewards the best teams with a first-round bye and the opportunity to rest a pitching staff and line up a rotation. My only nit with where baseball landed this year is that a seven-game division series would be better than five — maybe next year, when the start of the season won’t be delayed by a lockout.
2. There’s a 111-win superteam and nobody is sure what to make of its World Series chances
The Los Angeles Dodgers won 111 games — the most ever for a National League team in a 162-game season and a total topped only by the 2001 Seattle Mariners and 1998 New York Yankees. If they win it all, they go down alongside that Yankees team as one of the greatest of all time; if they don’t win it all, they’re relegated to the back pages of history alongside those Mariners.
Since 2017, the Dodgers have had four 104-win seasons, a remarkably long period of domination … but just one World Series title. Their sole championship came in the shortened 2020 season, with playoff games played in front of empty stadiums or at neutral sites. It counts — or as a friend of mine who is a longtime die-hard Dodgers fan told me, it counts as one-third of a title. And don’t forget that teams were allowed to play with 28-man rosters that postseason, which allowed the Dodgers to use starters as relievers and relievers as starters and do things they might not have been able to do with a 26-man roster.
Alden Gonzalez had a good breakdown of the pressure the Dodgers face this October. In a sense, they’re playing for two championships: 2022 and a validation of 2020. While manager Dave Roberts told ESPN he “absolutely” considers the Dodgers a dynasty — and four 104-win seasons certainly back that claim up — two titles would definitely secure their place in history as one of the greatest teams of all time.
3. We’ve got a real chance of a repeat
After winning the World Series in 2021, the Atlanta Braves lost Freddie Freeman to the Dodgers — and got younger and better, winning 101 games and their fifth straight division title. No team has repeated as World Series champs since the Yankees won three in a row from 1998 to 2000; the Braves have the power, the pitching and the momentum — after stealing the NL East in the final week with a three-game sweep of the New York Mets — to do it.
And it’s not just a repeat, the Braves might be on their way to a dynasty here. Their turnaround from a 10½-game deficit to the division title began when they called up Michael Harris II to play center field in late May and moved Spencer Strider to the rotation. From June 1 — the first win in a 14-game winning streak — to the end of the regular season, they went 78-34. Strider’s injured oblique might keep him out of the playoffs, but they still have Max Fried, 20-game winner Kyle Wright and October hero of the past Charlie Morton, plus a lineup that led the NL in home runs.
4. Speaking of dynasties … what do we make of the Houston Astros?
You might have noticed by now, but there are a lot of good teams at the top of this year’s playoff bracket. We have four 100-win clubs in the Dodgers, Astros, Braves and Mets, with the Yankees finishing at 99 wins. The you-can’t-predict-baseball nature of the postseason doesn’t guarantee we’ll see two of these teams in the World Series, but if we do, there’s a good chance we’ll see a classic series. The last matchup of 100-win teams in the World Series was 2017, when the Astros beat the Dodgers in seven thrilling games. Before that, you have to go all the way back to 1970 to have two 100-win teams in the World Series.
The Astros also have four 100-win seasons since 2017, including 107 in 2019 and 106 this season. Sign-stealing scandal or not, if they win the World Series, perhaps they go down as the dominant franchise of this era. And an added bonus? After 25 years of managing in the big leagues and making his 12th trip to the postseason, manager Dusty Baker is hoping to finally win that final game of the season.
To make matters more interesting, the Astros appear on a collision course to meet the Yankees in the American League Championship Series for the third time since 2017. Remember the war of words in the spring between Astros owner Jim Crane and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman after Cashman cried that the only thing that had stopped the Yankees in previous seasons from reaching the World Series was “something that was so illegal and horrific.” A Yankees-Astros ALCS would be an epic battle — even if it is one Evil Empire versus another.
5. New York baseball is B-A-C-K
This is now the Yankees’ 13th season since last appearing in a World Series in 2009 — an unacceptable length of time for baseball’s richest and most historically successful franchise with 27 titles in a sport where the wealthiest teams have a decided advantage. Longtime fans will note the Yankees are closing in on the infamous World Series drought from 1982 to 1995, the reign of terror era under George Steinbrenner when he cycled through 13 managers and seven general managers.
On the other side of town: The Mets won 100 games for just the fourth time in franchise history and first time since 1988, but they enter the postseason with the bitter taste of defeat after losing that final series to the Braves. Everyone knows that Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer can carry a team through a postseason — but deGrom allowed 14 runs and six home runs in 21 innings over his final four starts, so the Mets will need him to find that groove where he posted a 1.66 ERA over his first seven starts after returning in August. Still, this is hardly a two-man team: Pete Alonso led the NL in RBIs, Francisco Lindor might finish in the top 10 of the MVP voting, Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker are solid 3-4 starters and Edwin Diaz has been a lockdown closer. The Mets have had their moments since that run of success in the 1980s, including two World Series appearances, but it’s been 36 years since their iconic 1986 team won it all.
6. Did you really think we forgot about Aaron Judge?
Yes, both teams have made New York baseball interesting all season, but nobody has been more at the center of that than the man who just finished up a 62-home run campaign — and has fans of both New York teams envisioning his free agency will end with him signing with their club.
Now, we have Judge trying to cap off what might be arguably the greatest season of any player in history — by that, I mean a historic regular season, a great postseason and a World Series title. Ted Williams in 1941? Didn’t even win the pennant. Carl Yastrzemski in 1967? The highest single-season WAR for a position player other than Babe Ruth, but the Red Sox lost the World Series. Bob Gibson in 1968? A 1.12 ERA and a record 17 strikeouts in one World Series game, but he lost Game 7. Dwight Gooden in 1985? The Mets missed the playoffs. Pedro Martinez in 1999? The Red Sox lost in the ALCS. Barry Bonds in 2001? The Giants didn’t make the playoffs. Bonds in 2002? He had a great postseason, but the Giants lost Game 7 of the Fall Classic. Mookie Betts in 2018? A 10.7-WAR season that matches Judge and the Red Sox won the World Series, but Betts had a lackluster postseason (.210/.300/.323).
7. Can the GOAT go out on top?
Let’s not forget the other slugger who made home run history this season — Albert Pujols. Every player would love to go out on top, either still playing well or with a dogpile on the field. Almost none of them do. Pujols and Yadier Molina have a chance to do that — and maybe Adam Wainwright joins them in retirement as well (he’s yet to officially announce his status for 2023).
The three St. Louis Cardinals legends reunited this season when Pujols returned after a 10-year exile, and all three will play a key role in what happens to the club in October. As will Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, two of the greatest players of their generation who will likely finish 1-2 in the MVP voting in the NL — and who both seek their first trip to the World Series.
8. The playoff drought-busters
While the Cardinals come into this postseason with loads of October experience, there are two franchises about to get their first taste of the playoffs in a long, long time. The Seattle Mariners and Philadelphia Phillies ended the sport’s two longest playoff droughts in securing wild-card spots, although both teams will be on the road for the first round — Seattle at Toronto, Philadelphia at St. Louis.
When Cal Raleigh hit his pinch-hit walk-off home run to clinch a wild-card spot, the Mariners celebrated like they had won the World Series. Can you blame them? Twenty-one years is a long time between playoff appearances. Sure, they had plenty of terrible teams along the way, but also several near misses: 93 wins in 2002 and 2003, 88 wins in 2007, one win short in 2014, three short in 2016, alive until the final day last season. They aren’t even guaranteed a home playoff game if they don’t beat the Blue Jays, although you can bet the watch party at T-Mobile Park will have a playoff-like atmosphere.
The good news is Julio Rodriguez returned from his back problem to play a couple of games at the end of the regular season (and homered in the season finale). The bad news is second-half spark plug Sam Haggerty and outfielder/DH Jesse Winker both just landed on the injured list. The rotation and bullpen are healthy, however — Luis Castillo looks like a legitimate ace when he’s on, while Logan Gilbert had a 2.00 ERA in September, allowing one run or less in five of his six starts. If you like a good underdog story, believe in the Mariners.
Meanwhile, the Phillies had the majors’ second-longest playoff drought, making it for the first time since 2011. They have Bryce Harper, back in the postseason for the first time since 2017, and power-hitting Kyle Schwarber, who led the NL in home runs. Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler and Ranger Suarez (2.95 ERA since July 16) are a strong rotation trio. I wouldn’t bet on them in the tough NL, but there are similarities here in roster construction to the 2019 Nationals, who went from the wild card to World Series champs.
9. The World Series curses we don’t talk about enough
The Cleveland Guardians are trying to win their first World Series since 1948. The San Diego Padres and Tampa Bay Rays are trying to win their first one, while the aforementioned Mariners remain the only franchise never to play in a World Series.
The Guardians’ World Series drought has never received as much attention as the ones for the Red Sox and Cubs did, but it’s now been 74 years since the Cleveland franchise won it all — longer than the 1986 Red Sox had gone (68 years) when they lost to the Mets. How about winning it all in the first season with the new nickname? They might make a movie out of that given this list of Cleveland’s postseason heartbreaks:
1995: The best team in baseball that year, but they lost the World Series to the Braves.
1997: Blew a ninth-inning lead in Game 7 of the World Series to the Marlins and lost in extra innings.
2007: Lost the ALCS to the Red Sox after being up 3-1.
2016: Were up 3-1 on the Cubs in the World Series and lost Game 7, again, in extra innings.
2017: Lost the division series to the Yankees after being up 2-0.
And then there’s the team that’s been around since 1969 — and never won it all. The Padres made World Series appearances in 1984 and 1998, but this is just the seventh postseason trip in franchise history.
But these aren’t your older brother’s Padres. This is a team that has spent the past three seasons acquiring an All-Star squad of talent while playing with a brash style that could make it very popular this postseason — if the Padres can stick around long enough for national fans to get familiar with their stars. They’ve gone all-in to dethrone the Dodgers in recent seasons — only to fall well short. But they squeaked in, and anything can happen in the playoffs, right? Especially with Manny Machado and Juan Soto and Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish and a suddenly rejuvenated Blake Snell (1.76 ERA over his final seven starts). The Mets-Padres wild-card series is the one to watch — with the winner facing the Dodgers in a colossal division series showdown.
10. The redemption stories
Let’s see here. We’ve got Justin Verlander, who after missing 2021 with Tommy John surgery, came back and went 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA while leading the American League in wins, ERA, WHIP and lowest batting average allowed. His status as future Hall of Famer is secure, but with a big October and another World Series championship for the Astros, his legacy becomes that of an inner-circle Hall of Famer. DeGrom and Scherzer missed some time, and deGrom sputtered at the end of the season, but that dynamic pair could carry the Mets to their first title since 1986. And then of course, there is Clayton Kershaw. Yes, he got his ring a couple of years ago, but he was injured last October, and he hasn’t won a ring in a full season with a normal postseason. How will he perform?
11. The October introduction of some legit young stars
As my colleague Kiley McDaniel pointed out recently, this is the best rookie class since Pujols and Ichiro Suzuki debuted in 2001 — and most of the biggest names will be playing in the postseason (sorry, Adley Rutschman). We’ve got Rodriguez leading the Mariners and Harris and Strider on the Braves.
But it’s not just the rookies who will remind us how bright the future of baseball is this postseason …
While we often think of the Rays as a parade of bullpen arms, they also have two budding young superstars in Wander Franco and Shane McClanahan who could power another small-market success story this postseason. And across the AL East, Alek Manoah, Alejandro Kirk, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. form a young core that makes the Blue Jays a team nobody wants to face this postseason. Of course, the question we’ll all be waiting to see answered is how these young stars will handle the bright lights of October … or should we say November.
12. It’s an October so great — it could take part of November to finish it
That’s right, thanks to the combination of the new format and the MLB lockout pushing back the start of the season, Game 7 of the 2022 World Series would take place on Nov. 5, the latest date of a playoff game in MLB history.
If every series goes the distance, we’ll get 53 postseason games with all of these incredible storylines fueling the possibility that any given night can become a must-see moment for baseball fans. Of course, in the end we need great games to have a great postseason.
That’s what still makes 1986 the gold standard for all postseasons. There were just 20 playoff games that October — the seven-game ALCS between the Red Sox and Angels, the six-game NLCS between the Mets and Astros, then the seven-game World Series when the Mets beat the Red Sox. Five of the 20 games went extra innings. Eight were decided by one run. Several are all-time classics, including Game 5 of the ALCS; Games 3, 5 and 6 of the NLCS; and Games 6 and 7 of the World Series.
The stage is set. I’m going with the Dodgers over the Astros. I’ll take Kershaw versus Verlander in Game 7 of the World Series, thank you very much.
Shea, a 9-month-old lab, is learning how to be a service dog at Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. The dog will eventually be matched with a first responder or military veteran at no cost. Nancy Chen shares more.
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The Philadelphia Phillies grabbed baseball’s last playoff ticket on Monday, and Bryce Harper and company partied into the night. “ We’re in! We did it! We did it! ” slugger Rhys Hoskins yelled as the celebration kicked into high gear.
It’s the first playoff appearance for Philly since 2011, and no one seemed to care that it arrived via one of three NL wild cards.
It’s the first year for the majors’ new playoff format — part of the negotiations that resulted in the March labor deal that ended a 99-day lockout. Each league has three wild cards, taking the postseason field from 10 to 12 teams.
Philadelphia clinched its spot after Seattle secured an AL wild card on Friday night for its first playoff berth in 21 years. The other wild-card teams are Toronto and Tampa Bay in the AL, and San Diego and the New York Mets in the NL.
“For us it was to end the drought so it gave us an extra opportunity,” Mariners infielder Ty France said. “But I think it’s a cool, cool structure they have and setup they have.”
The new-look October has erased some of the usual tension from the final few days of the regular season. But there is still valuable positioning at stake for the playoff teams.
The top two division winners in each league get first-round byes, and the remaining four qualifiers play best-of-three series in the wild-card round on three consecutive days. The third division winner is the highest seed in that group, with other clubs sorted by their records. The top seeds in each matchup host the entire series.
Gone are the days of the win-or-go-home wild-card games in each league.
“It has felt as a wild-card team, just to play one game and have an entire season come down to one game, never felt right,” said Chris Antonetti, the president of baseball operations for the Cleveland Guardians. “So having some additional games in the wild-card round makes sense.”
The playoffs expanded to 16 teams for the pandemic-delayed 2020 season as part of an agreement between Major League Baseball and the players’ union. But the field went back down to 10 when the majors played a full season last year.
Looking for more TV revenue, Major League Baseball proposed 14 playoff teams during the recent labor talks. But it settled on 12 after the players resisted.
“It’s not worth it, understanding the reasoning is TV money, and that doesn’t make sense for the guys that are playing,” said New York Yankees reliever Zack Britton, who serves on the union’s executive subcommittee. “We know exactly what teams would do if you continue to add more and more teams to the playoffs. There’s no incentive to win.”
It is hard to tell if the 12-team format had any effect on the postseason race. The Guardians, champions of the mediocre AL Central, are the only playoff team that didn’t make multiple deals in the runup to the trade deadline.
“I think that it’s kept more teams in it,” Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. “And you talk about rebuilds or teams getting aggressive with getting young players up, too. I feel like it stayed very competitive. If it has changed, it’s been a positive.”
Going for its first playoff appearance since 2016, Baltimore brought up touted prospect Gunnar Henderson on Aug. 31. The New York Mets promoted catcher Francisco Álvarez from the minors on Sept. 30, giving their top prospect a chance during a pennant race.
The Orioles would have made a 14-team playoff field, along with the Brewers in the NL. Depending on the results in the final days of the season, a 14-team field might have included every big league team that finished above .500.
“I think that would have been too many teams,” Mariners pitcher Robbie Ray said. “You don’t want teams that are limping in with close to a .500 record. I think still you should still be close to 90 wins to be able to get in.”
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AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum, and AP Sports Writers Tim Booth, Kristie Rieken and Tom Withers contributed to this report.
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Jay Cohen can be reached at https://twitter.com/jcohenap
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More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Pujols drove a 0-1 pitch from Roansy Contreras deep to center for a solo shot.
The 42-year-old Pujols is now fourth on the career home run list behind Babe Ruth (714), Hank Aaron (755) and Barry Bonds (762). The slugger has 23 homers in what he says will be his final season.
Pujols hit a two-run double in the first inning. He has 2,214 career RBIs, which ranks second all time behind Aaron’s 2,297; Ruth unofficially drove in 2,214 runs as well but many were not counted because the statistic was not recognized by baseball until 1920.
Pujols and catcher Yadier Molina, who also is retiring, were honored in a 46-minute ceremony before their final regular-season home game.
The pair was given gifts from the team, including a set of golf clubs, a silver plate and one-of-a-kind artist drawings of each player. The two have a combined 41 years in the majors. Former teammates Matt Holiday, Ray Lankord and Jason Isringhausen were present for the ceremony.
Sunday marked the last game Adam Wainwright, Pujols and Molina will appear together as Cardinals teammates. The trio had its first game together on Sept. 11, 2005. According to the Elias Sports Bureau research, it’s the first trio in major league history to have its first game and final game together be over 6,000 days apart.
Molina, Pujols and Wainwright were all removed from the game together so they could walk off as a trio with two outs in the fifth. Wainwright (11-12), who allowed six runs on six hits over 4 2/3 innings, has yet to decide if he will come back next season.
The Cardinals, who have clinched their fifth NL Central title in the last 10 years, closed the regular-season with 26 wins in their last 34 home games.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Editor’s Note: Watch “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?” on CNN TV Sundays at 7pm ET. New episodes with full-length interviews are availble on HBO Max each Friday.
CNN
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Baseball great Alex Rodriguez is opening up about mistakes in his personal and professional life, and how they are shaping his growing business empire.
In an interview on CNN and HBO Max’s “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?”, Rodriguez said the performance-enhancing drug scandal that marred his legacy was “the most embarrassing moment of my career.”
“The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life was face my daughters Natasha and Ella and tell them this is the mistake that Daddy made,” he told host Chris Wallace
Rodriguez said that because of the stringent culture of professional baseball, he was denied a happy ending to his otherwise legendary baseball career.
“I understood my mistake, and I’ve taken full responsibility for it,” he added.
“We have to be proactive, meaning I would put cameras on guys,” he told Wallace. “The players that are driving to the park, I want to see them at home.”
Rodriguez wanted coverage to expand so that fans have insight into the clubhouses, batting cages and bullpens.
The World Series winner also advocated for Major League Baseball to plant its flag on America’s Independence Day, much like the National Football League does with Thanksgiving.
“If you look at July 4, it’s a wide-open day. There’s no football, there’s no basketball, there’s no soccer,” he said, noting that the MLB should make the Fourth of July “all about baseball.”
“Every game, we’re going to wire (put a microphone on) these guys and we’re going to have interviews, and everybody is at home watching baseball at a barbecue with their families.”
Another change that Rodriguez wanted to make to baseball included increasing financial literacy education for players – like teaching them about capital markets, investments and the importance of balancing a checkbook.
“I read something where it was over 50% of athletes were going bankrupt after their playing days,” Rodriguez said. “That’s a tragedy.”
In his post-playing career, Rodriguez has turned his own focus to business. He told Wallace his investment firm, A-Rod Corp, is a “mini-Berkshire Hathaway” – referring to the multinational conglomerate owned by billionaire Warren Buffett, who Rodriguez considers a mentor.
A-Rod Corp is an investment firm that houses his vast real estate holdings, as well as private equity and venture capital investments.
“If you were to put value in our enterprise, it’s probably somewhere between 1 billion and 2 billion,” Rodriguez told Chris Wallace.
The former shortstop also discussed his break-up with pop icon Jennifer Lopez. Lopez married actor Ben Affleck in July 2022 after she and Rodriguez ended their multi-year relationship the year prior.
“With Jennifer, look, it was a good experience. And I wish her and the children – who are smart, and beautiful and wonderful – I wish them the very best,” Rodriguez said.
Telling CNN’s Chris Wallace that, despite his multiple high-profile relationships, he now feels that his previous relationships and the impact of his 2014 suspension from the MLB have made him “husband material” in the future.
Wallace asks A-Rod if he thinks he’s ‘good husband material.’ See his response
“I think I’m going to make a wonderful partner or husband and father post-suspension because of the lessons learned of my biggest mistakes.”
Trolling has become a mainstay in college football, and the TCU Horned Frogs executed a perfect joke at the No. 18 Oklahoma Sooners‘ expense.
TCU jumped all over Oklahoma, outscoring the Sooners 27-10 in the first quarter. The Horned Frogs continued to pile up the points and held a 41-17 lead at halftime. Oklahoma’s starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel exited the game in the second quarter after being hit while sliding, which put the Sooners at a bigger disadvantage. Linebacker Jamoi Hodge, who hit Gabriel, was penalized for targeting and ejected.
The Horned Frogs were playing at the same time that New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge was attempting to break Roger Maris’ American League home run record against the Baltimore Orioles. It has been the talk of not only baseball but the entire sports world over the past couple of weeks.
Well, after running back Kendre Miller scored on a 69-yard run in the third quarter to make it a 48-17 ball game, TCU’s Twitter account burned OU with a timely troll.
@espn@ABCNetwork understood the assignment with that side by side view 👀
Neither the Horned Frogs or Judge reached 62 on Saturday. TCU finished with 55 points and Judge finished 0-2 with two walks. Oklahoma’s 55 points allowed on Saturday are the second most it has allowed in a game against an unranked opponent in program history. The Sooners allowed 59 points to the Texas Tech Red Raiders in 2016, a game that OU won 66-59.
IN HIS EIGHT seasons in the big leagues, New York Mets outfielder Terrance Gore has never hit a home run. He has just one career RBI. But he does lead baseball in one very important category: World Series rings.
With three, Gore is tied with Madison Bumgarner for the most rings among active players in the majors, and has more than the entire Mets clubhouse combined. With his team among the National League favorites heading into the 2022 postseason, the journeyman pinch-running specialist is looking to add to his collection — with a lofty goal in mind.
“I’m trying to catch Tom Brady,” Gore says. “I like my odds.”
Brady, of course, owns seven rings as a future Hall of Fame quarterback for the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but Gore — a 31-year-old speedster known only to the most die-hard baseball fans — finds himself nearly halfway there.
“I wish I had that many World Series rings,” All-Star Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor says. “I’m a little envious.”
There’s a catch: Gore has never actually played in a World Series game. Since the Kansas City Royals drafted him in the 20th round in 2011, Gore has put together one of the most unique careers in sports history, a playoff base stealer for hire, often added to rosters in late September or October as one of the game’s fastest runners, deployed in the late innings of close games. He’s been a key contributor along the way, but has yet to appear in the Fall Classic.
In June, Gore joined the Mets, his fourth team. In eight games, Gore does not have a hit in three at-bats, but has stolen three bases and has not been caught once. The Mets hope, come October, that Gore can help the team create runs on the basepaths while providing some of the luck he’s brought the past two seasons to the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves, plus the Royals in 2015, all of whom won the World Series with Gore on their playoff rosters.
“Everyone knows when I go out there what I’m doing,” Gore says. “It’s like cat and mouse. Here we go. There’s no hiding.”
BEFORE GORE BECAME an October good luck charm, he almost quit baseball.
In 2014, Gore was frustrated with his progress. As a kid, Gore had envisioned a career like Ichiro Suzuki’s or Juan Pierre’s. But in his fourth year in the Royals organization, he wasn’t making much of a mark as an everyday player at High-A Wilmington, hitting .218/.284/.258 with no home runs and 36 stolen bases in 89 games. As he struggled in professional baseball, his ambitions shrunk, and he found himself dreaming not of MLB success, but of simply making a living, in the minors.
With a child on the way, though, Gore also considered hanging up his spikes altogether.
“I didn’t have a plan,” Gore says. “I knew I needed to do whatever it took to provide for the family.”
Gore didn’t see a path to the big leagues. He wasn’t developing as an all-around player and as his teammates got younger and younger, it felt like his window was closing. Gore routinely talked to his agent, Jay Witasik, who had pitched 12 years in the major leagues, about leaving the sport.
As he wavered, Gore grabbed dinner with former Royals slugger Mike Sweeney, who was working with the team as a special assistant. Sweeney pushed back on Gore’s plans to leave baseball, imploring Gore to stick with it for another year — an opportunity might be coming soon.
That opportunity came a few months later in early August when Gore got the call to join the Triple-A Omaha Chasers, where the Royals wanted him to pinch run and steal bases against a higher level of competition. The plan was for Gore to come up to the big leagues and be a pinch runner for the team’s postseason run.
“I had zero idea,” Gore says. “I stole bases down there, but I just did it because it was something I was good at.”
Just a month later, Gore made his major league debut against Cleveland, pinch running for the Royals just 26 days after his last game in Single-A.
“It was like he was shot out of a cannon every time he took off,” says ex-major leaguer Rusty Kuntz, then the Royals’ first base coach. “I grew up with Vince Coleman, Rickey Henderson, Tim Raines, the guys in the Hall of Fame with that kind of speed, and this guy is right there.”
“I was just hoping and praying to God, do not fall on your face in the middle of the base path,” Gore says. “I am notorious for tripping and I’ve come really close to stumbling, so I was like, do not do this on TV.”
While the Royals did not win the World Series in 2014, they raised the trophy in 2015. That year, Gore stole a base in Game 4 of the ALDS against the Houston Astros after spending the majority of the season in Double-A. Gore says he does not remember much of his first two postseasons because he blacked out from the pressure. Still, the thrill of success in the majors got him hooked.
“There was no turning back. Once you get a taste of it, it’s almost like a shark,” Gore says. “You get the taste of that blood and you’re like oh man, I want to keep going.”
SINCE THEN, GORE has accepted his role as a premier pinch runner and shifted his training strategy accordingly, de-emphasizing hitting to focus on improving his speed through sprints and flexibility while working on reading pitchers on the mound. Perhaps the only comparable career in MLB history is that of Herb Washington, a four-time All-American sprinter at Michigan State who played two years for the Oakland Athletics, stealing 31 bases without a single at-bat and winning a championship in 1974. Gore’s legs alone got him his first World Series ring, and leaning all the way in like Washington seemed his best course forward.
“I’m just going to ride this wave,” Gore says. “Be really freaking good at it and see where it takes me.”
In 2018, the Royals shipped Gore to the Chicago Cubs, who put him on the postseason roster for the wild-card game, where Gore stole a base and scored a run in a Cubs loss to the Colorado Rockies. He returned to the Royals in 2019, getting his most extended time in the majors to date, playing 37 games while hitting .275/.362/.353 and stealing 13 bases before being sent to the New York Yankees and finding himself back in the minor leagues.
Ahead of the 2020 season, Gore signed with the Dodgers, for whom he appeared in two regular-season games before being added to the 28-man roster for the wild-card game and the NLDS. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said it would “be pretty costly” to not have Gore on the playoff roster, despite the outfielder not appearing in any games. And when the Dodgers won the World Series, Gore got his second championship ring.
Gore next signed with the Braves, who did not call him up during the 2021 regular season. But when Atlanta reached the NLDS, Gore joined the roster, making one appearance as a pinch runner. And when the Braves won the World Series, Gore got his third championship ring, his second in a row.
Noticing a trend in how teams used him, Gore and Witasik came up with a different free agent strategy for 2022, deciding not to sign with a team until halfway through the season. The approach allowed Gore to gauge which interested teams had a shot at making the postseason and where he could maximize his impact. They knew the same teams interested in his speed in February would be just as interested in June ahead of a postseason run.
“For 99.9 percent of how things work, you get the player the deal and they develop throughout the season. But with Terrance, he’s not that guy,” Witasik says. “He’s a once-in-a-generation type guy with his speed and skill set.”
Gore feels the pressure every time he takes the field, knowing he’ll be called onto the basepaths in key situations. To prepare for these moments, he reads scouting reports that break down the pickoff moves and windup timing for each pitcher on the opposing team, studying video of how each of them holds runners on base, examining everything from their feet to their eyes.
“I’ve embraced it now. It’s got me three World Series rings so why not just keep on chugging along and see how far I can go.”
He might never win as many rings as Tom Brady, but with another on the line this October, he’s feeling pretty ambitious. If he wins a fourth ring, and his third straight?
“Put me in the Hall of Fame,” Gore says with a laugh.
SEATTLE — More than an hour after Cal Raleigh ended the longest playoff drought in baseball, he was back on the field with his teammates, circling the perimeter of the field to acknowledge the tens of thousands of fans who still stuck around.
The celebration was more akin to winning something big in October, rather than a victory on the last day of September. But after 21 years, the Seattle Mariners could be excused for going a little over the top upon their return to the playoffs.
“It’s better than maybe what you could dream it to be,” Seattle manager Scott Servais said.
Raleigh hit a game-winning home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, and the Mariners clinched a wild-card berth in the American League with a 2-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Friday night.
Raleigh, pinch-hitting for Luis Torrens, hit a 3-2 pitch from Domingo Acevedo (3-4) just inside the right-field foul pole for a solo homer that sent the Mariners to the postseason for the first time since 2001.
“I remember the moment when I knew it was fair and looking at the team and everybody’s jumping. It was just crazy,” Raleigh said.
Seattle’s celebration on the field lasted more than 10 minutes as fans and players lifted themselves from the burden of two decades without seeing playoffs from their baseball team.
That was just the start.
Nearly an hour later, and with the stands still mostly full, Servais and his team were back on the field after a wild clubhouse celebration. He grabbed the microphone and reminded the crowd, colorfully, that when he arrived along with president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto seven years ago, the mission was to end the “drought.”
“We did it. These players behind me are special. They care. They care about winning the right way. They care about representing the city of Seattle,” Servais told the crowd.
It indeed had been a long wait — the last time the Mariners advanced to the postseason, the team was led by rookie Ichiro Suzuki and Edgar Martinez and managed by Lou Piniella.
As has been the case for most of this season with the Mariners, their 86th win and the one that sent them back to the playoffs happened in the most stressful way possible. Seattle was unable to solve Oakland starter Ken Waldichuk and an assembly line of relievers for eight innings, held only to Ty France‘s RBI double that scored Dylan Moore two batters into the game.
Acevedo struck out Mitch Haniger and Carlos Santana to open the ninth, but Raleigh came through with his 26th home run of the season, the most ever by a Seattle catcher.
“It’s not really a pressure moment,” Raleigh said. “We’re having fun. We’re playing baseball. That’s the way I look at it. And I think that’s the mentality you got to have.”
Aside from the clinching a spot in the postseason, Seattle stayed 1½ games behind the Toronto Blue Jays for the top wild-card spot and one half-game ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays as the three continue to jockey for seeding.
But the place in the standings didn’t matter on this night. It was all about punching the final AL ticket and ending two decades without the guarantee of playoff baseball.
Seattle’s berth ended the longest active playoff drought in any of the four major professional sports, a dubious honor that now falls to the Sacramento Kings, who have not made the NBA playoffs since the 2005-06 season. The Mariners are still the only current team never to have played in the World Series.
The last time the Mariners reached the postseason they tied a major league record by winning 116 games in the regular season, but lost to the New York Yankees 3-1 in the AL Championship Series.
Seattle’s Logan Gilbert threw a career-high eight innings, allowing three hits. His only mistake was a home run by Shea Langeliers in the second inning.
Gilbert retired 18 of the final 20 batters he faced and set down the A’s in order in each of his final four innings. Seth Brown walked leading of the seventh but was retired on a double play.
Gilbert struck out four and walked off the mound after the eighth to a standing ovation and the plea from fans for a run.
Matt Brash (4-4) struck out a pair in the ninth and set the stage for Raleigh.
“It was crazy. I mean, I haven’t been in Seattle but a few years but I feel like I’m one of the fans that have waited for 21 years,” Gilbert said. “It was just a culmination of a lot of waiting.”
PHOENIX (AP) — J.D. Davis had the go-ahead RBI double in the ninth, Shelby Miller pitched 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief in his season debut and the San Francisco Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5 on Friday night.
The Giants rallied with two outs in the ninth off reliever Caleb Smith (1-3), who gave up the unearned run. Mike Yastrzemski started with a line-drive single and Evan Longoria reached on a fielder’s choice after Arizona third baseman Sergio Alcantara made a bad throw to second that bounced and ended up in the outfield.
Davis followed with a double down the left field line, scoring Yastrzemski. Camilo Doval worked the ninth for his 25th save in 28 opportunities.
The Giants had the opportunity to win thanks to Miller’s extended effort in relief.
The right-hander — who was a promising pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals back in the early 2010s before bouncing around the league — said his outing went even better than he could have hoped. He struck out seven.
“I felt like I commanded my fastball really well, slider was definitely working,” Miller said. “That was the game plan going in — if you can get ahead of these guys, you’re going to have success. That’s what I did.”
The Diamondbacks fell to 70-82, which guarantees a losing season for the third straight year.
“This is one of those games that we’ve got to find a way to make plays, get the job done and execute,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “Doesn’t matter if it’s in the first inning or the ninth inning.”
The Giants have won five straight.
The D-backs nearly broke the 5-all tie in the eighth. Ketel Marte hit a two-out double and Daulton Varsho followed with what looked like another extra-base hit, but LaMonte Wade Jr. made a difficult catch in deep right while sprinting back towards the wall.
The Giants built an early 2-0 lead after solo homers from Brandon Crawford and Austin Wynns. The D-backs bounced back in the third when Stone Garrett’s two-run homer just cleared the left-center wall.
San Francisco pushed ahead again on David Villar’s two-run homer and Evan Longoria’s RBI single for a 5-2 lead. The D-backs rallied for three runs in the fifth on Emmanuel Rivera’s two-run double and Jordan Luplow’s RBI single.
San Francisco left hander Carlos Rodón gave up four runs on four hits and three walks over 4 1/3 innings. He struck out seven.
Rodón’s been a bright spot in San Francisco’s disappointing season with a 13-8 record and 2.98 ERA, but he failed to throw at least five innings for just the second time since the All-Star break. Alex Young (1-1) got the win in relief.
D-backs left-hander Tommy Henry gave up five runs over 4 2/3 innings in his first start since being recalled from Triple-A.
700 ON THE BIG SCREEN
In between innings, the D-backs showed a replay of Cardinals star Albert Pujols hitting his 700th career homer against the Dodgers. The crowd of more than 25,000 responded with arguably its biggest cheer of the night.
MILLER IN ’22
The 31-year-old Miller was once a coveted prospect and won 15 games for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2013. He’s hasn’t achieved the same success since that point, though, and spent most of this season in Triple-A.
“It was nice to see him come through like that,” San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler said. “He’s been waiting a long time for this opportunity, came into the game and did exactly what we were looking for. He delivered a ton of strikes, worked fast and forced the action.”
Miller has a not-so-great spot in D-backs lore: He was acquired in a trade that sent Dansby Swanson and Ender Inciarte back to the Braves. Miller spent three mostly ineffective seasons in Arizona.
Miller is the 64th player the Giants have used this season, which ties a franchise record set in 2019.
HEAT
Doval threw a sinker 104 mph during the ninth. It was a ball.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Diamondbacks: Placed OF Jake McCarthy on the bereavement list. Optioned LHP Tyler Holton to Triple-A Reno. Called up Henry and OF/INF Pavin Smith.
UP NEXT
The teams continue their series on Saturday night. The D-backs will send RHP Merrill Kelly (12-7, 3.15 ERA) to the mound. The Giants will counter with RHP Alex Cobb (6-6, 3.48).
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BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Celtics have suspended Ime Udoka for a full year, banning the coach who led them to the NBA Finals last spring for the entire 2022-23 season over what two people with knowledge of the matter said was an improper relationship with a member of the organization.
The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team did not reveal that detail publicly. In a statement issued Thursday night after a full day of wrangling over the terms of the punishment, the Celtics said Udoka violated team policies and left open the possibility that a longer separation could follow.
“A decision about his future with the Celtics beyond this season will be made at a later date,” the team said.
Assistant coach Joe Mazzulla will take over as interim coach, one of the people who spoke with The AP said. The defending Eastern Conference champions are scheduled to hold media day on Monday and open training camp on Tuesday in preparation for the Oct. 18 season opener.
In a statement published by ESPN, Udoka apologized “to our players, fans, the entire Celtics organization, and my family for letting them down.”
“I am sorry for putting the team in this difficult situation, and I accept the team’s decision,” he said. “Out of respect for everyone involved, I will have no further comment.”
A longtime assistant in his first NBA head coaching job, Udoka led Boston to a 51-31 record last season — going 26-6 in the final 32 games. The Celtics beat Brooklyn, Milwaukee and Miami on the way to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games.
The developments stunned the NBA and shook up a team that had been among the favorites to contend for a championship this season. It would be an unprecedented 18th title for the franchise.
But in Boston, the story was reminiscent of the shakeup across town in 2020, when Red Sox manager Alex Cora was suspended by Major League Baseball for a year for his role in a sign-stealing scandal at his previous job, with the Houston Astros. Instead, the sides parted ways.
After a last-place finish under Ron Roenicke in the pandemic-shortened season, Cora was re-hired a year later and welcomed back.
It is unclear if Udoka and the Celtics will be as eager to reunite.
The 45-year-old Udoka spent the bulk of his NBA playing career with San Antonio and then joined Spurs coach Gregg Popovich’s staff as an assistant. Udoka was on the Spurs’ staff from 2012 through 2019, winning it all in ’14, and he quickly found his way onto short lists for open head coaching jobs.
He spent the 2019-20 season in Philadelphia and the 2020-21 season in Brooklyn before the Celtics hired him in June 2021 as the successor to Brad Stevens — who moved up to the front office. In Year 1, Udoka finished fourth in coach of the year voting and the Celtics came within two wins of the championship.
“The future is bright and we’re just getting started,” Udoka said after the NBA Finals.
Perhaps not.
The bombshell on the eve of training camp is the latest twist heading into what was supposed to be a promising season for the NBA’s most-decorated franchise.
The Celtics bolstered their runner-up roster by acquiring guard Malcolm Brogdon in a trade from Indiana, then added sharpshooting veteran forward Danilo Gallinari as a free agent. But last month, Gallinari tore the ACL in his left knee and will be lost for the coming season.
Center Robert Williams, a key part of the Boston defense scheme who played through injuries during last season’s playoffs, is still dealing with knee soreness and is expected to miss the start of the season.
The Celtics were also mentioned in speculation over a new home for Brooklyn forward Kevin Durant, a perennial All-Star who asked for — and then backed off — a request to be traded. Although the talks amounted to nothing, it raised questions about Boston’s commitment to young star Jaylen Brown.
It’s also the second major disciplinary situation in as many weeks in the NBA: Commissioner Adam Silver decided last week to suspend Robert Sarver — the owner of the Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury — for one year and fine him $10 million after an investigation showed his pattern of disturbing workplace conduct, including abusive and racist language. Sarver said Wednesday he intends to sell his teams.
Mazzulla interviewed for the Utah Jazz coaching job this summer, a position that ultimately went to Will Hardy — another of Udoka’s assistants in Boston last season.
Mazzulla’s only previous experience as a head coach is a two-year stint at Division II’s Fairmont State in West Virginia, where he went 43-17 and made the NCAA tournament in his second season. A native New Englander from Rhode Island, Mazzulla played at West Virginia, was an assistant for the Celtics’ G League team before taking over at Fairmont State, and then got hired by the Celtics again in June 2019 to be part of Stevens’ staff.
Mazzulla’s last game at Fairmont State was against Mercyhurst. His first real game with the Celtics will attract a bit more attention: Boston is scheduled to host longtime rival Philadelphia in the opener, when they will tip off a year-long tribute to Hall of Famer Bill Russell.
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Reynolds reported from Miami.
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