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It seems totally unbelievable we’re already heading into the end of August, right? I feel like the entire summer just absolutely blew by and we’re still waiting for so many teams to “get things going” and “start gelling” and whatever else we say about our underperforming squads. I guess I should be glad that at least my underperforming squad isn’t in the AL West where we have a grand total of zero teams with winning records, and the best run differential is -47 and it doesn’t even belong to the team leading the division! I described the AL Wild Card race as “truly heinous stuff” last week and if anything I was underselling the dire state of the junior circuit.
Today’s Headlines
Schwarbombs Away!
In his age 33 season, Kyle Schwarber has once again hit 40. Home runs, that is. It’s his fourth season with 40+ dingers, all of which have come with the Phillies:
Most home runs in first 5 seasons with a team: Babe Ruth, NYY: 235Kyle Schwarber, PHI: 227Mark McGwire, STL: 220Ralph Kiner, PIT: 215Alex Rodriguez, NYY: 208David Ortiz, BOS: 208Albert Pujols, STL: 201
— Sarah Langs (@slangsonsports.bsky.social) 2026-08-26T20:42:57.885Z
This season, he’s authoring a .243/.358/.531 line for the season (which is a 136 wRC+, which honestly seems a little low?) along with three stolen bases! It’s the 380th dinger of his career (we love a round number) and it came in the second inning en route to a 6-0 win over the Mariners yesterday:
I uh…think Bryan Woo knew he didn’t put that one in a very good spot.
Kyle’s three-run dong came only an inning after Bryce Harper hit a two-run job of his own, which did not feature as good of a reaction:
and was also preceded by a Justin Crawford RBI single:
Those were the three run-producing hits of the Phillies’ 10 total hits, but that was more than enough for them against Seattle as good Jesús Luzardo showed up and put on a show.
That’s a final line of seven shutout innings with only a single hit, a trio of walks, and nine strikeouts. That brings him up to 203 punchouts on the season, which is Luzardo’s third time hitting the 200 mark. Apparently, if he gets past 163 IP it’s a lock for 200+ Ks as long as you’re totally OK with extrapolating from a whole four seasons and also ignoring the one where he wasn’t actually on pace to make it true. Which obviously I am ready to do. Luzardo’s ERA is down to 3.20 on the year and he’s rocking a 12-5 record.
He Who Laughs Last…
Unfortunately for Philadelphia, their win didn’t help them make up any ground in the standings as Atlanta took down the Dodgers 6-5 on Wednesday. Theirs was a much more dramatic affair, though.
The home squad got out to a quick lead in the first on a Matt Olson solo shot:
But LA quickly took the over the next two innings on a Hunter Feduccia single in the second and a Tommy Edman two-run homer in the third:
The see-saw continued in the third and fourth as Atlanta got a run back on an Austin Riley sac fly and then retook the lead on a two-run double by Drake Baldwin (more like Rake Baldwin heyoooo) with a slight assist from Teoscar Hernández, who overran the ball in the left field corner:
(You’ll notice that Roki Sasaki is no longer on the mound in that clip, and you would be correct! He was removed prior to the at-bat due to a blister issue. He is going on the IL, which is disappointing as he seemed to really be figuring stuff out as this season went along.)
Sean Murphy had a resurgent game (3-for-4 with two RBI and a run), hitting his first homer of the season to give Atlanta some breathing room:
But two runs wasn’t enough insurance, as the Dodgers tied things back up in the top of the seventh on a single from Mookie Betts and then a bases-loaded walk by Tommy Edman. Could have been the Tommy Edman game if not for what happened in the bottom of the ninth. Tanner Scott got two strikeouts to kick things off, but then Lane Thomas doubled and things got a little complicated. Atlanta had lost the DH when they removed Murphy for a pinch runner after his single in the eighth, so LA intentionally walked Austin Riley to get back to that spot in the lineup. Atlanta was left with either a non-ideal left-on-left matchup for Dom Smith, or going to Ha-Seong Kim. Atlanta went with Kim, and Mark Prior went out to the mound to talk with Scott.
There have been 46,351 players with at least 85 plate appearances in recorded baseball history since 1871. By batting average (.066), Ha-Seong Kim is having the worst season out of any of them. By OPS (.230) and wRC+ (-29), he’s having the fourth-worst. I assume at least part of what Prior said in the mound visit included something to this effect. It didn’t seem to work, however. Scott threw three non-competitive balls to fall behind 3-0, and Kim then fouled off the next four pitches to work the count back to full. Then on the eighth pitch, a 97.2 mph heater right at the bottom of the zone, he pounced:
That’s gotta feel pretty good.
Seeing Red
It’s been some kinda year for the San Francisco Giants, and I mostly mean that in a bad way. Putting aside the repeated gaffes from Tony Vitello, which he added to on Wednesday:
Tony V missed his off-ramp
— Sam Miller (@sammillerbb.bsky.social) 2026-08-26T20:00:40.195Z
The team has been dwelling near the bottom of the standings all year, and the bright spots have been pretty few and far between. Logan Webb starts have generally been those bright spots and he mostly lived up to that billing Wednesday, going six innings and surrendering only two runs on five hits, one walk, and striking out a half dozen Reds. Rafael Devers hit his 29th home run of the season in the fifth inning to give SF the lead:
Which also puts him right next to very elite company.
From 2005-24, no Giants player hit 30 homers for the team in a season In 2025, Willy Adames got there on the final day of the seasonNow, Rafael Devers might get there before September!His 29 HR are the most thru 133 team games for SF since 2004 Bonds (38)
— Sarah Langs (@slangsonsports.bsky.social) 2026-08-26T21:20:47.916Z
It’s amazing how many rather modest-seeming records were set by Bonds with the Giants and have barely been touched since. The Giants put up five more runs after that on a Shay Whitcomb two-run dinger
and a bases-clearing Drew Gilbert double:
Surely with a 9-3 lead going into the ninth nothing too bad can happen, right? Right?!
Ha!
As you can hear from the booth, that was Héctor Rodríguez‘ second home run of the day, although he didn’t give them very much time to tell us before he absolutely clobbered that ball into the bay. Elly De La Cruz followed it up with a single, and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Sal Stewart walked, and advanced to second on a wild pitch while Elly moved to third. JJ Bleday walked, but did not advance on a wild pitch. But that’s because of what Eugenio Suárez did with the second pitch he saw:
That’s Cincinnati cutting the lead to one with no outs. Dane Myers singled and advanced to second on a throwing error, then to third on a Matt McLain single. McLain then stole second. Second and third, no outs, one run needed. Jose Trevino knows what to do:
An out! And a tie game. Well, at least it was a tie game for a minute there before Tyler Stephenson stepped in to pinch-hit for Ke’Bryan Hayes…
The Giants did get the next two batters out to mercifully end the inning, but aside from a Turner Hill single, they didn’t even threaten in the bottom of the inning to end up losing 10-9.
The Giants were three outs away from completing their first three-game sweep of the year. Instead, they blew a six-run lead in the ninth and ended up falling to the Reds, 10-9. They are still the only team in the Majors without a three-game sweep this season.
— Maria I. Guardado (@miguardado.bsky.social) 2026-08-26T23:01:57.423Z
By The Numbers
5 straight games with a homer for White Sox hitter Tristan Peters. That matches the streak from Munetaka Murakami from earlier this season and makes them the first pair of rookies with a five-game homer streak since 1900!
23 games without scoring a first-inning run for the Yankees before Ben Rice’s solo shot yesterday.
Best Moments From Yesterday
The Visual Sausage Getting Made
Sorry to embed my own Bluesky post here but it seemed like the easiest way to get this video in front of you all.
The A's just did one of the coolest things I've seen in their broadcast: Just unfiltered audio of the live director calling a Lawrence Butler plate appearance…that went about as well as they could have hoped for.
“Hope he hits it” indeed.
Seams Painful
You often hear about how a guy can “see the seams” when they get clocked by a baseball, usually as a hitter, but seldom do we get to see what that really looks like. Well, thanks to José Ramírez and Travis Bazzana, we no longer have to wonder:
Travis Bazzana experienced firsthand how hard José Ramírez hits the baseball.Bazzana: “Hit by pitches, it's one thing if you’re getting hit by 100 [mph]. Hosey hit that 106, so that was the probably the hardest I've ever been hit by a baseball.”
— Tim Stebbins (@timstebbins.bsky.social) 2026-08-26T23:35:43.936Z
Too Literal
In Little League World Series news, during the game between Curaçao and Latin America (I have to admit I’m confused about the geographical breakdown of these LLWS teams sometimes) we had a foul ball get lost in the lights.
Literally.
Don’t stare at it too long!
Injuries and Other Moves
⚾ As was noted above, Roki Sasaki is going to the IL with a blister, and he’ll be replaced in the rotation by Eric Lauer.
⚾ Fernando Cruz has been diagnosed with a partial UCL tear in his pitching elbow. No word yet on next steps but we all know that’s usually a precursor to Tommy John, which would very likely mean he misses all of 2027 as well.
⚾ In related news, the Yankees signed Michael Fulmer to an MLB deal, and he threw a scoreless inning Wednesday night.
⚾ Max Fried may be back as soon as Saturday depending on how a throwing session today goes.
⚾ It’s being reported that the Reds have placed Eugenio Suárez and TJ Friedl on waivers, although the team has not confirmed it as of late Wednesday night. The move may have been originally made on Tuesday.
⚾ The Pirates announced that Endy Rodríguez underwent season-ending surgery on his left hip labrum. He will likely be delayed in getting ready for 2027 as well.
⚾ San Diego will be without Jeremiah Estrada again, as he’s been placed on the IL due to a shoulder impingement.
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