September 30, 2026

Pale Hose Advance

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The White Sox defeated the Astros Wednesday afternoon 7-3 to advance to the ALDS against the Cleveland Guardians. Chicago scored four times in the first inning, and that proved to be enough to win the game, but Chase Meidroth added a three-run homer in the top of the sixth inning to seal the deal. They collected 19 hits in the two games, 16 of them for singles, which is unusual for the team. The did K 21 times, which is like the team.

They are slated to play in Cleveland Saturday afternoon at 1 PM.

September 30, 2026

Poking Posey

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Dave Tobener at SFGate puts on his fan hat to criticize Buster Posey and the Giants front office:

I had high hopes that Posey would buck the trend of superstar players turning into terrible executives, that he’d be more Mario Lemieux than Derek Jeter or Michael Jordan, but those hopes are dwindling. He did a nice job navigating the trade deadline and has greatly improved the farm system, but his decisions at the major league level are becoming increasingly difficult to defend. He’s made a lot of bad bets, which would be more palatable if he were willing to move on from them once it became clear they weren’t working. Instead, he’s doubling down.

SFGate.com

Putting together a baseball team is a lot tougher than some teams make it look. He’ll get another year to prove he knows how to build, and then we’ll see.

September 30, 2026

Philadelphia Fire Works

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The Phillies uses three home runs over the final three innings to beat the Braves 4-3. After the Braves took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper went back-to-back in the top of the eighth inning to tie the game. Then in to top of the tenth inning, Alec Bohm went yard with two outs for the winning run. With no placed runner in the post-season, Andrew Painter finished off the Braves in the bottom of the inning, getting a win for three shutout innings. There will be a game three on Thursday.

When I changed the channel to the White Sox/Astros game, Chicago was already up 4-0.

September 30, 2026

Playoffs Today

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Cristopher Sanchez tries to keep the Phillies season alive as he faces Tyler Mahle and the Braves in game two of their NL Wild Card Series. Sanchez makes his fifth post-season start. He owns a 2.79 ERA in 19 1/3 innings, but no decisions. He allowed just one home run. Mahle posted a 3.99 ERA on the season, but with the Braves that dropped to 1.99. He found his control in Atlanta. After walking 37 batters in 94 2/3 innings with San Francisco, he walked nine if 54 1/3 innings with the Braves. He appears to have cut down on his use of the cutter and slider with more emphasis on his splitter.

Sean Burke and Hunter Brown get the nods for game two of the White Sox at the Astros, as the teams go with actual starting pitchers today. Burke did a great job limiting hits and power in 2026. His high K rate led to just 144 hits in 172 1/3 innings, with a .380 slugging percentage against. Injuries held Brown to just 107 1/3 innings in 2026. His strikeouts remained high, but his walk rate jumped to 4.61 per 9 IP versus a career mark of 3.30 per 9 IP. He got away with that as batters only slugged .318 against him. The teams may need longer offensive series to score runs today.

The Red Sox and Yankees offer another excellent pitching matchup as Sonny Gray takes on Max Fried, a New York win sending them to Tampa Bay to play the Rays. Gray faced the Yankees twice this season, allowing three runs in 13 2/3 innings, the Yankees homering twice off him. Fried owns a 5.31 post-season ERA. Since 2021, he’s been all or nothing in 10 starts. He did not allow a run in three of those, but overall his ERA stands at 6.22.

Finally, the Padres look to advance to Milwaukee as they aim to take two in a row against the Cubs. Kevin Gausman battles Nick Pivetta. Guasman owns a 4.83 ERA since joining the Cubs. He gave up eleven home runs in 50 1/3 innings with Chicago. Pivetta only threw 34 2/3 innings this season, but nearly matched his 2.87 ERA from 2025, coming in at 2.86. In 39 starts in two season for San Diego he is 16-7 with a 2.87 ERA. He struck out 232 batters in 216 1/3 innings, walking just 58.

Enjoy!

September 30, 2026

Best Batter Today

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Fernando Tatis Jr. of the Padres takes over the top slot in the Baseball Musings Batter Rankings after a big night in game one of their Wild Card series against the Cubs. Tatis went two for three with a walk and a home run in the 8-0 win, scoring three times. That puts him three points ahead of Rafael Devers of the Giants. Randy Arozarena of the Mariners and Pete Alonso of the Orioles rank third and fifth respectively, their seasons over.

Ben Rice of the Yankees posted the highest game score of the night, an 89, in a 9-0 win over the Red Sox. He hit a single, double, and two home runs, including a grand slam. That moved him into fourth place in the rankings. He is now 8 for 23 in seven post-season games, with two doubles, three home runs, and 10 RBI.

September 30, 2026

September 29, 2026

Baby Bombers

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Ben Rice of the Yankees blows away the Red Sox as he posted a four for five with a double, two homers, and six RBI in a 9-0. Rice’s second home run was grand slam to put the game out of reach. George Lombard Jr. went three for four in his first post-season game.

Cam Schlittler threw 117 pitches in his 6 1/3 innings. I was very surprised by that total, and we’ll see how he does the rest of the post season. In general, the young Yankees put the team in the driver seat for this series.

September 29, 2026

Opposite Sox

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The White Sox defeated the Astros 6-3 on Tuesday afternoon to take a 1-0 lead in their AL Wild Card series. The White scored in an usual way for them. During the season they collected more strikeouts than hits, but collected lots of walks and home runs. Today, they struck out eight times while collecting eleven hits, ten of them singles. Colson Montgomery added a home run for good measure.

Hagen Smith served as the Chicago opener, and wound up giving the team three-shutout innings, and that helped keep the rest of the pen fresh, with only five pitchers taking the mound. The Astros used nine.

September 29, 2026

Big Hit Braves

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The Braves downed the Phillies 5-3 Tuesday afternoon to take a 1-0 lead in their NL Wild Card series. The Phillies took the early innings with a Jesus Luzardo giving up one run in five innings and the Phillies reaching Chris Sale for three runs as Sale pitched into the seventh inning. Ozzie Albies hitting an RBI triple in the bottom of the sixth to give Atlanta a 2-1 lead. Don Mattingly made the bold move of bringing closer