With the regular season now over for 28 of the league’s 30 clubs, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world today:
1. NL Wild Card race reaches finish line:
MLB was forced to postpone the final two games of a three-game set between the Braves and Mets last week due to the impact of Hurricane Helene, but with the final two NL Wild Card spots still up in the air after the scheduled end of the regular season, those games will be made up as part of a doubleheader today. If either Atlanta or New York get swept in today’s doubleheader, they’ll miss the playoffs as the winner moves on to face the Padres in San Diego during the Wild Card Series, while the Diamondbacks head to Milwaukee for a match up against the Brewers. If the two teams split the series, the Braves will head to San Diego while the Mets head to Milwaukee, leaving Arizona out of the playoffs and unable to defend their status as the reigning champs of the NL.
Game 1 of today’s doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 1:10pm local time in Atlanta. Rookie right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach (3.47 ERA in 20 starts) will be on the mound for the Braves in Game 1, and The Athletic’s David O’Brien was among those to note that veteran southpaw Chris Sale (2.38 ERA in 29 starts) will take the mound in Game 2 if the Braves are facing elimination. In the event that Braves win Game 1 today, however, Atlanta appears poised to push Sale back to tomorrow so he can face San Diego in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series. As for the Mets, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com notes that right-hander Tylor Megill (3.98 ERA in 14 starts) is set to face Schwellenbach in Game 1 while Luis Severino (3.91 ERA in 31 starts) will start Game 1 if the Mets are facing elimination. Like Sale, Severino would be held back for the start of the Wild Card Series should New York emerge victorious in Game 1.
2. Cardinals to hold presser amid organizational changes:
As noted by MLB.com’s John Denton, the Cardinals are set to hold a press conference at 2pm local time in St. Louis this afternoon on the heels of a disappointing 83-79 season where the club missed the playoffs for the second year in a row. The presser comes on the heels of plenty of news in the rumor mill regarding the Cardinals’ future over the weekend. That includes a report that the club will part ways with longtime first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and look to deal veteran players over the winter in an effort to cut payroll, with veteran right-hander Sonny Gray among those who could be shopped. While president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and manager Oli Marmol are both set to remain in their roles with the club in 2025, former Red Sox chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom figures to take a much larger role in the club’s front office going forward.
3. Red Sox to hold end of season press conference:
The Red Sox announced last week that manager Alex Cora, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, and team president Sam Kennedy are scheduled to hold a press conference together later today to discuss the club’s plans for the offseason as they look ahead to 2025. Boston finished the year with an 81-81 record and missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season, though they did enjoy breakouts from young members of their core like Tanner Houck, Jarren Duran, and Wilyer Abreu. Veteran starter Nick Pivetta, closer Kenley Jansen, set-up man Chris Martin, and slugger Tyler O’Neill are among the club’s outgoing free agents this winter.
Gwynning
Mets win Game 1 please, no Sales at Petco!
Brew88
Go Mets!
Skyrider123
The Mets havent figured out Schwellenbach in 2 starts so far, so I see the Braves winning game 1 then sitting their starters for game 2. Braves and Mets force Arizona out.
horaceallen
If Manfred had used some foresight we wouldn’t be in this mess. But it will be a fun day, just puts either of these teams at a huge disadvantage after advancing.
Brew88
One team is going to be outraged at the end of the day
DashaToushu
@Horace @Brew
What mess? Why should anyone be outraged?
avenger65
Hoping for a Braves sweep but if they win the first game, why bother using Sale in game 2?
Susannah
One team will be outraged due to missing the playoff.
herecomethephillies2018
Predicted a hurricane a year in advance, obviously.
/s
ChuckyNJ
Hindsight is always 20/20. How was the Commissioner to know that Hurricane Helene would plow through Georgia?
BTW, today’s doubleheader is full national on ESPN2.
panj341
They forecasted the track about a week before it made landfall.
I guess he doesn’t have anyone who can look at the nws Hurricane site.
They had plenty of time to move the games to NYC or a neutral site.
johnsilver
— today’s doubleheader is full national on ESPN–
Worst part, being subjected to anyone of ESPN’s broadcasters, other than P/T Toronto Buck martinez? ESPN hasn’t had anyone worth a flip in years and the NYM have a tremendous 3 man team. Especially Darling and Hernandez.
RodBecksBurnerAccount
So give the Mets the home field advantage or take away huge games from the Atlanta fans? To you those are better options?
DashaToushu
@pan
“They had plenty of time to move the games to NYC or a neutral site.”
The problem there, of course, is taking home games away from Atlanta.
I don’t know exactly how this works, but I’d be stunned if it’s just Manfred sitting in an office making decisions.
I’m sure lots of people were involved in this including the Mets and Atlanta.
RodBecksBurnerAccount
I hate Manfred but what exactly was he supposed to do differently in this situation?
CardsFan57
Obviously Manfred should have rescheduled the hurricane instead of the games.
cwsOverhaul
@horaceallen: That’s not a bad thing. WC2 and WC3 should be at a disadvantage relative to the division winners and top WC.
letitbelowenstein
Red Sox press conference is bound to be nothing but your usual cliches about what a great job Cora did, how the young talent is coming along and how they’ll be looking at adding “the right” players.
deweybelongsinthehall
Have to be the first to indicate the purpose of the conference is to announce plans to go “full throttle” this off season …
olmtiant
Your quicker to respond than I am Dewey.. nicely done…
Fever Pitch Guy
let – And once again ownership, specifically John Henry and Tom Werner, will not participate like they used to do until the past few years.
Very, very weak. I know they are probably afraid of speaking because of the arrogance their words often project and the proven lies after they speak, but they are the principal owners …. at least show your damn face and pretend you care.
What are the FanDuel odds that Cora won’t accept any responsibility for another non-playoff season?
letitbelowenstein
Fever, Cora needs to go (that 3-year extension was ridiculous) and they also need to dump Fatso, their hitting coach.
Fever Pitch Guy
let – True on both, but I don’t see Cora happening for at least 2 more years. Henry is totally infatuated with him, or Cora has some dirt on Henry.
johnsilver
Letit- Liked how last night Dinardo was giving it to Breslow. You know O’Brien would not have asked him any tough questions had he had the chance during that quick half inning, he’s as squishy as many reporters are. I have a lot more admiration now for lenny now than did after going after Breslow hard for 2-3 minutes.
MPrck
Huge first game for the Mets, and the Cards seen what Harris did with the youth in Detroit, and said yes !
The Tampa Oakland model those teams used for years to get into the playoffs is finally here in Detroit. This is so good now for Detroit. The farm is deep, and they have choices for a change. GO TIGERS !
olmtiant
Please at the press conference do not …. I say …. Please …..do not say we’re GOING FULL THROTTLE in 25!!!
Warden of the North(acoss13)
They’ll say full throttle and then immediately backpedal later, just like last offseason.
Fever Pitch Guy
acoss – Nah, they won’t backpedal until after season ticket renewals are due …. just like last offseason ;O)
Warden of the North(acoss13)
Fever,
That’s pretty bad lol
Cubs have their own issues too, God forbid Hoyer gets something done with two straight playoff misses…
Fever Pitch Guy
acoss – It was LITERALLY the day after the season ticket renewal deadline when Werner said he misspoke.
Ownership is incredibly unethical and classless, especially Werner and Henry. Not even showing up for Larry’s funeral was par for the course.
Didn’t bother showing up for Joe’s last game either.
Charlie'sSinging
Well, the Cards are brining back Mo and Marmol. They’ve learned nothing. Not only another lost season coming, but empty stands, which leads to lower spending, which leads to more lost seasons. There’s gotta be an interested buyer for this team out there somewhere.
Salvi
Red Sox Bluprint 2.0:
1) Red Sox need more SP and less Left-Handed bats.
2) Avoid Big Ticket FAs (Soto, Burns, Bregman, etc)
3) Devers moves to DH for health and defensive improvement.
————-
1) Trade Casas for Gilbert or Kirby (add in prospect if necessary).
2) Sign one of the LH FA pitchers (Boyd, Manaea, Heaney, or Kikuchi).
3) Trade Yoshida and eat some salary to open up the DH spot.
4) Sign one of the RH hitting 1Bs (Walker, Santander or Goldschmidt).
5) Story at SS, and let the kids battle it out for the rest of the infield positions (Gonzalez, Grissom, Hamilton, Sogard, Medrioth and Mayer, Campbell)
6) Add a backup catcher (Grandal)
If enough money:
7) Short-term Closer (Yates, Chapman), otherwise let in-house competition settle it.
Troy Percival's iPad
1) Yes
2) Soto is the closest to Ted Williams. The only excuse any owner has of not signing him is that they’re cheap/unable to build enough of a team to attract his talent. But avoid Bregman. Burnes for the right price is fine.
3) He makes too much money to DH and makes too much money to not make himself into a passable 3B. Make him do so.
1) It would take multiple prospects because Casas is that brutal defensively, this wouldn’t add any value.
2) Preferably Manaea, do not touch Kikuchi with a 10 foot pole
3) No one is taking Yoshida’s contract. Dump it and move on.
4) Absolutely not Goldschmidt, and neither for more than 2 years
5) Yes
6) Yes, but Kyle Higashioka
7) They have money, they just won’t spend it. Preferably Yates
FemboySportsFan!
I wouldn’t say casas is brutal defensively, he has the same OAA as Aaron judge, I also think if he brings down his strikeouts (he already makes up for his defense with his offense) he could be even better
letitbelowenstein
1-Okay
2-Makes sense
3-Also makes sense except who plays 3rd?
+++++
1-It’ll take more than Casas
2-I wouldn’t touch any of those four
3-Nobody is going to trade for Yoshi unless Sox eat 70% of his salary and don’t ask for much in return.
4-Goldschmidt? Surely, you jest.
5-Keep a core of Casas, Hamilton, Gonzalez, Story and Devers. Make Grissom earn his way onto the roster.
6-I still think Jansen, if he’s cheap enough, would be fine as the backup
7-Chapman? Best chuckle I’ve had all of September.
Salvi
letitbe:
3) Mayer plays 3rd when he’s ready, until then, patchwork of other names. Mayer will be the Red Sox third baseman inevitably.
4) Goldschmidt is 3rd name on list. If you disagree, please explain off the two names before him.
7) Again, you pick the latter name first. Boyd or Manaea, Walker and Yates are the primary FA targets, other names are fall backs if first options dont pan out. Free agency isnt shopping at the supermarket. Contingency plans are necessary if players dont want to come to Boston or are asking too much.
acell10
Salvi: disagree on moving Mayer to third right away. He’s still considered an above average defensive SS.
Salvi
acell:
Red Sox have several middle infielders coming up, so they can afford to move Mayer to 3B (Romero, Arias, Zantello). On the contrary, there is very little depth at 3B in the minors.
Improving the defense is the primary objective to moving Mayer to 3rd. I think an infield, that includes Mayer, Story and FA Christian Walker in it, would be one of the best defensive infields in baseball.
Just like ‘trading Casas’, putting Mayer at 3B is done out of necessity of team needs, not an opinion on the player.
johnsilver
Salvi- I gotta ask.. Do u have Milb tv? Reason aski, is wondering if have ever watched any of Arias, Romero and especially Zantello play. Sure, Arias and Zantello A Ballers, but man.. neither have impressed me. Arias getting some hype from several sites, but I see issues and Zantello’s entire game is a big hole, while Romero *did* from like the AS break start bashing HR’s left and right, but it’s the 1st time he’s really done anything since drafted same time as Roman Anthony and he’s a free swinger, who doesn’t take a walk..
Those 3 are not ones I’d hang my hat on as a fan of the team is what am saying. They have good kids, at all levels to boot, but 2 of those are (to me) getting full blown Blake Swihart hype from some RS sites.
avenger65
Salvi: Why on earth would you want the Sox to sign Grandal, or as he’s known to the teams he’s played for, Mr. Passed Ball? Worst catcher in the game.
Salvi
For depth, youd also have Gasper. Thats the least important move I listed. The only comment you have is about a league minimum catcher brought in for depth and ST competition, until Teel is ready?
Many positions are left weak with the intention (hopefully) of being filled by the Fab 4.
VA/NC Orioles
Have to feel for Arizona a bit in this particular situation. Doubleheader to settle elimination is rough for all parties involved.
On the flip side for Arizona here is that if teams weren’t so concerned with launch angle and velocity and simply played situational baseball when the scores dictate doing so they might have won another game or 2 to avoid this situation.
As a modern fan high velocity and mashing bombs are cool but it plays into the media rights, ticket sales, etc. I’m a bit old school in that enjoying the little pieces of the game are much more enjoyable than double digit strikeout performances vs teams that refuse to make approach changes in game.
Start the movement of working counts, hitting behind runners, gap to gap approach!!
Brew88
AZ has had a very good year. Hard to believe 89 wins may not be enough in this expanded playoffs set up
DashaToushu
@VANC
“I’m a bit old school in that enjoying the little pieces of the game are much more enjoyable”
You’re not paying attention
These are the little parts of the game
It all started with the 2014 Pirates when they went big on shifting the infield. They then realized that if they got more ground balls the shift would be even more effective. So, they focused on 2-seam fastballs.
The league caught on and everyone started doing it.
Offensed had to adjust. To avoid hitting ground balls to shifted infielders, batters changed their swing angles to better meet the incoming trajectory of the ball. No more level swings hitting the tops of sinking pitches – elevate and celebrate.
Pitchers countered the offense’s counter attack. The upward swings left hitters susceptible to high 4-seam fastballs.
Pitches and pitch arsenals are crafted in the lab now. Tunneling. Seam-shifted wake.
The game within the game has never been more intense.
You should check it out.
VA/NC Orioles
Pregame strategy is great. Love it. Good organizations have a plan and stick to it and build bottom up.
My biggest qualm with players currently is the lack of adjustments made in game. Having been to numerous MLB and MiLB games this season I’ve seen many stick to their approach (I understand that’s what got them there) rather than having the game/score dictate. Far too many 0-4 3 strikeout games this year for my liking.
DashaToushu
@VANC
“the lack of adjustments made in game”
I don’t think that you know that this is true. How could you?
Troy Percival's iPad
Dasha:
They’re not adjusting in-game on iPads, they’re catching up on The Bachelor. Despicable
VA/NC Orioles
Obviously an outsiders opinion and a subjective opinion.
The eye test from this fans perspective doesn’t pass in many situations.
Switching gears from organizational values, the O’s are playing their best ball going into the playoffs. They’re dangerous!
Seamaholic
Love watching the O’s, but not enough pitching. Hot hitting is not what produces magical runs in the playoffs. It’s hot pitching, particularly relievers.
msqboxer
The Cardinals missed their reboot window by trying to piece together a team of aging starting pitching and losing all value in their position players. They should have traded Arenado, Goldschmidt and Mikolas this past offseason.
Charlie'sSinging
Would help if they would actually let their young guys succeed when they get called up rather than trying to cram them into a box and watching them flounder, either keeping them and killing their confidence or dumping them right away and seeing them excel somewhere else. Wish they would notice that pattern and do something about it.
Seamaholic
The whole Arenado trade was a pretty big mistake. Yeah they got one great year out of him (his career year, I think) in 2022, but they are also paying him the 5th highest position player salary in baseball and moved not one but TWO elite hitting prospects off their natural 3B position to fit him in.
There have obviously been worse trades and contracts, but to invest that much in him instead of pitching was just a bad idea. Funnily enough, Arenado had only very slightly more bWAR than Austin Gomber, for whom he was traded, this year.
Blackpink in the area
Colorado is paying some of his contract. His salary declines over the next 3 years the Cardinals owe him 64 million through 2027. That’s really not that bad considering they got an MVP caliber season out of the deal.
avenger65
Since it escaped MLBTR’s attention, I would like to congratulate Reinsdorf and Getz on leading the White Sox to a record setting 121 loss season. The ’62 Mets lost 120, but they were an expansion team and had to take the players the rest of the league didn’t protect. Getz hand-picked this team. So, how to celebrate their achievement?
-TP reinsdorf’s mansion with Brooklyn Dodger’s toilet paper?
-hide the training wheels off of Getz’ Gremlin?
-send a letter of thanks to Bowie Kuhn for making Bill Veeck sell this franchise to Reinsdorf in the first place?
Seamaholic
It continues to amaze me that the White Sox were the worst team in baseball history despite having a top 5 pitcher in the game, arguably top 3. Reminds me of Steve Carlton.
denistaylor
The White Sox actually finished with a higher winning percentage than those Mets this year. They played 2 more games than the Mets did and split them. They might have more losses but they also had more wins than the Mets.
whyhayzee
But the Colt 45’s were in the same position and they didn’t even lose 100 games. So the Mets were pretty epic that year, only winning 40 games. Plus there was the post game video with Casey Stengel throwing his cap in the air when they won and on the ground when they lost.
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
I saw Jeff passan on ESPN talk about this scenario where if the braves and Mets both forfeit a game or intentionally lose one then they both win and go to the playoffs
I remember this happened a few years ago with the chargers and raiders I believe but in that game the teams still decided to play for the win and not the season
CravenMoorehead
Going to be an interesting day in the NL regardless. There isn’t too much love between the Braves and Mets so I can’t see either team giving the other one a “courtesy W”. The Diamondbacks are obviously going to be watching both games today on the edge of their seats.
Troy Percival's iPad
The D’Backs could sell tickets to a watch party thing at their park, invest all of it in Bitcoin, and if Bitcoin Clears $100,000 they could afford a closer who won’t dump the season like Paul Sewald did this year
Seamaholic
Sewald is the main reason they made the playoffs and went on their run last year. Relief pitchers giveth, and relief pitcher taketh away.
Seamaholic
They don’t need to watch game 1. Means nothing who wins that one, only game 2.
Old York
A rookie tryin’ to save the Braves’ season? Bah! In my day, a rookie was lucky to carry a veteran’s bags, let alone pitch in a do-or-die game!
whyhayzee
The 1944 Cincinnati Reds used 15 year old Joe Nuxhall in a game. He didn’t fare so well.
whyhayzee
This situation is incredibly unfair to both teams. It’s not like you didn’t know there would be a hurricane. So get the teams to a neutral stadium and play the damn games on the schedule. Jeez Louise it’s not like hurricanes are some new thing. MLB stinks at basic common sense solutions.
whyhayzee
If I were these two teams I would each forfeit one game and tell MLB to stuff it.
Rishi
They should’ve had a doubleheader on the day they got a game in. Maybe had a game on Mondays off day too but as for weather you really didn’t know for sure until a day before at the most. A hurricane can move anywhere it wants before it makes landfall. We arent talking about Florida we are talking about leftover effects all the way up in suburban ATL. If the hurricane shifted a bit it’s possible those games are played. And it was possible they weren’t necessary anyway. I don’t like changing stadiums. They were Braves home games. ATL is supposed to have homefield advantage here. If you knew absolutely it would happen then you would’ve just had the games played Monday and Tuesday at Truist.
DashaToushu
My somewhat objective playoff rankings
NL
1/2) Dodgers and Phillies
3) Padres
4) DBacks
5/6/7) Mets, Braves and Brewers
AL)
1) Yankees
2/3) Astros and Orioles
4) Guardians
5/6) Royals and Tigers
Salvi
Dasha: No love for the midwest. I agree on Cleve, but think Milwaukee better than DBacks.
Blackpink in the area
It’s getting a little ridiculous with all the negative Cardinals stuff here. Look at the Cubs. They were supposed to be better than the Cardinals in 2024 and they weren’t. Lot of guys in their primes. Imanaga and Busch were good moves and the Cubs still weren’t any good. Any articles about that? Any press conferences? Perhaps the Cubs and their fans are better at losing. And that’s not a compliment…….