Clayton Kershaw is in “a holding pattern” and there are currently no plans for the Dodgers‘ three-time Cy Young Award winner to face hitters as he tries to overcome a toe injury.
“I don’t think there’s been improvement,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday before his NL West-leading team opened a crucial three-game series against second-place San Diego. “Him not facing hitters this week is pretty telling in itself.”
The 36-year-old left-hander went on the injured list Aug. 31 with a bone spur in his left big toe. Kershaw didn’t pitch until July 25 after having offseason shoulder surgery.
He was 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA in seven starts before getting hurt.
ADVERTISEMENT
The 10-time All-Star played catch Tuesday but “there’s something that’s holding him up from progressing to face hitters,” Roberts said. “Hopefully in the next few days we’ll get a little more clarity on how he’s feeling.”
Kershaw signed one-year contract in February plus a 2025 player option worth $5 million, which if he is healthy at the end of this season can escalate by $15 million based on criteria involving starts or relief innings.
“He’ll do whatever he can to be available whenever he’s needed,” Roberts said.
A CT scan Monday revealed that the slugging third baseman’s injury had not healed sufficiently.
“It just wasn’t healing enough to think that he could come back this year,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said Tuesday.
ADVERTISEMENT
Riley was hit by a 97 mph fastball from Jack Kochanowicz of the Los Angeles Angels on Aug. 18. He was projected to miss the rest of the regular season, but there was hope if the Braves advanced deep enough into the playoffs, Riley could return.
“He’s still in a cast, so realistically, it was going to be pretty tough for him,” Snitker said. “We’d have to go pretty deep in the playoffs. It is not where the doctors wanted it to be.”
The Braves entered the final week trailing Arizona for third NL wild card spot by 1 1/2 games.
Riley had 19 homers, 56 RBIs and a .256 average in 110 games one season after hitting 37 homers and driving in 97 runs. The two-time All-Star had averaged 159 games the previous three seasons.
Snitker said Riley is expected to be fully healed before spring training.
Third baseman Gio Urshela, who was waived by the Tigers the day Riley was injured, was signed by the Braves and has hit .270 with three homers in 30 games for Atlanta.
Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor is out of the starting lineup with a sore back for the eighth straight game as New York opens a pivotal three-game series with the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday.
Lindor met with reporters before the game wearing a heavy heat wrap on his back and said he would work out before the game to determine if he was healthy enough to come off the bench in the series opener. Lindor had a bone scan Monday that revealed no structural damage to his back, which he said meant there would likely be no further threat of injury if he tried to play.
“He’s going to try to push it again and he’s going to let me know if he is available for today or not,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “That was the case on Sunday, and after the workout, he said he was not there yet. He’s going to be very honest with us. He’s not going to put himself at risk or the team at risk.”
The Mets have gone 6-1 without Lindor and enter the final six games of the season in position for the second National League wild card, two games in front of the fourth-place Braves.
ADVERTISEMENT
Lindor said he would be willing to return as a DH if the team felt that was best. He said he needs to get to the point where if he feels pain when playing, it does not remain.
“It is more important for me, that the pain comes, and then goes,” Lindor said. “Before, when I hit the ball and started running, it wasn’t letting go. It can’t be that constant, ‘I can’t move, I can’t move, I can’t move.’ That will put me in a spot where I can’t do what I need to do.”
Rookie Luisangel Acuna has replaced Lindor in the lineup and fared well, batting .379 with three home runs since being called up on Sept. 14.
Deion Sanders knows a thing or two about being a uniquely gifted athlete. He also knows how hard it is to hit home runs and steal bases at the MLB level.
“Ohtani, he’s incredible, man,” Sanders said Tuesday. “You can compare him to the [Michael] Jordans and … Tom Bradys of the world. That’s who he is. He’s doing things that we haven’t fathomed.”
Sanders may be fully part of the college football world now as “Coach Prime.” But perhaps no other college football coach is as qualified to speak on Ohtani as Sanders, who — in addition to his Hall of Fame NFL career — played in the MLB with the Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants.
Sanders was primarily a speedy outfielder as a baseball player and stole five bases during the 1992 World Series with the Braves. Despite decent career numbers — a .263 batting average over 641 career games — Sanders has previously described hitting a baseball as his most difficult challenge in sports, which probably helps explain why he has such admiration for Ohtani.
When asked specifically about Ohtani’s historic 50-50 mark, Sanders expressed sheer awe.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Sanders said. “I think the only person[s] [I played against] who probably could have done that was [Jose] Canseco or Barry Bonds.”
Canseco and Bonds are considered two of the best hitters in MLB history, but both players’ legacies are tainted through their use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) during their careers. Ohtani, meanwhile, has recorded 53 home runs and 55 stolen bases entering Tuesday night in an era when MLB has cracked down on PED use.
Ohtani is also a pitcher, making him one of the rare MLB players to both pitch and hit on a regular basis (though Ohtani is not pitching this season as he recovers from Tommy John surgery).
Regardless, comparing Ohtani to Jordan and Brady — the men widely regarded as the NBA and NFL GOATs, respectively — is a massive compliment. That’s especially the case coming from someone like Sanders, who was a legendary (and legendarily versatile) athlete in his own right.
The Philadelphia Phillies won the NL East for the first time since 2011, clinching the division title with a 6-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on Monday night.
Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto went deep. Phillies fans went wild. And pitcher Aaron Nola provided a taste of just how great it would feel for the franchise if Philly went all the way this time.
The Phillies had rolled tarp pinned above clubhouse locker stalls before the game, a familiar protective sight for the bottle-popping ahead for a team that’s made the playoffs each of the past three seasons under manager Rob Thomson.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We know there’s a really big picture ahead of us,” Schwarber said before the game. “Winning the division is a big thing. If we go out there and do our thing tonight, it’s going to be well deserved. It’s not an easy division to win. It’s never been an easy division to win. It definitely will be a cool thing.”
Oh, it was cool in Philly for an announced sellout crowd of 42,386, with temperatures in the 60s — a sneak peek of October weather.
That suits this team just fine.
With at least a National League wild card already clinched last week, Schwarber, Bryce Harper, Trea Turner & Co. earned the franchise’s 12th division championship — and have their sights set on the top seed in the National League playoffs.
The Phillies (93-64) hold the No. 2 spot just behind the Los Angeles Dodgers (93-63) and would earn a first-round bye should the standings hold.
“The biggest things for me, really, are winning the division and getting the bye,” Thomson said. “If we get home field throughout, that’s a bonus. But I won’t put our players in danger to get there.”
The Phillies have two games left against the Cubs and close the season with a three-game set in Washington.
With playoff appearances now the norm for the Phillies, perhaps the inevitability of it all kept some fans home. After selling out game after game during a sensational season, there were pockets of empty seats at Citizens Bank Park, which topped 3.2 million fans in attendance.
Thomson once said a rival coach told him a playoff game in Philly was “four hours of hell.”
“I feel like it’s the best atmosphere in sports,” All-Star reliever Jeff Hoffman said. “It feels like it’s 50,000-vs.-nine. It’s always a good feeling when you step on the field.”
Phillies fans were greeted by “CLINCHED” on the videoboard outside Citizens Bank Park, while the main entrance featured Harper and Nola as the anchor photos on a “Make More HISTORY” banner.
The Phillies secure the final out vs the Cubs, clinching the NL East for the first time since 2011
–> <!–>
Philadelphia ended Atlanta’s run of six consecutive NL East titles and is trying to finish with the major leagues’ best record and home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
Seeking their third World Series championship following titles in 1980 and 2008, the Phillies overtook Atlanta for the division lead on May 3 and haven’t trailed since.
Philadelphia won five straight NL East titles from 2007-11, then went 10 years without making the playoffs. A wild-card entry each of the past two postseasons, the Phillies put together consecutive October runs that ended in heartbreak.
They reached the 2022 World Series, losing to Houston in six games, and dropped a seven-game NL Championship Series to Arizona last year after leading the underdog Diamondbacks 2-0 and 3-2.
The path to this division title was a bit messy after the team raced to the best 50-game start in the majors since Seattle in 2001. The Phillies slumped in the summer, and returned home this week from a 2-5 trip against Milwaukee and the New York Mets.
Both are teams the Phillies could face in October.
It seemed fitting the 31-year-old Nola was on the mound for the clincher. Nola was a first-round draft pick by the Phillies in 2014, debuted the next year and has been with them his entire career. He’s been one of baseball’s most dependable pitchers — a valuable commodity with the modern stress on big league bullpens.
Nola helped Philadelphia secure an NL wild card last year, then went 3-1 with a 2.35 ERA in four playoff starts. He made five postseason starts in 2022, going 2-2 with a 4.91 ERA.
Nola only briefly tested the free-agent market last offseason before signing a $172 million, seven-year deal to stick with the Phillies.
His reward — another postseason opportunity to bring home a World Series title now 16 years in the making.
Four-time All-Star Charlie Blackmon will retire at the end of the season after spending his entire major-league career with the Colorado Rockies.
The outfielder known for his bushy beard announced his decision Monday. The Rockies will celebrate Blackmon throughout their final homestand this week and hold a tribute for him before the season finale Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Blackmon spent 14 seasons with the team and is the franchise’s all-time leader in triples (67). He’s also second in games played (1,618), runs scored (991), hits (1,797), doubles (333), extra-base hits (626) and total bases (2,942). Blackmon won an NL batting title in 2017 with a .331 average.
ADVERTISEMENT
In a post on Instagram, Blackmon wrote: “As a kid you play the game because you love it, like nothing else matters. I still play the game that way, but I don’t feel like a kid anymore. My perspective has changed. I have been blessed to call the city of Denver and the Colorado Rockies my baseball home for the entirety of my career. I am grateful for the support of this organization, my teammates, and most of all Rockies fans. It is with a thankful heart and a career’s worth of memories that I choose a new path.”
Blackmon was taken by the Rockies in the second round of the 2008 first-year player draft out of Georgia Tech. He made his major league debut on June 7, 2011, against San Diego.
The 38-year-old Blackmon has a .292 average with 226 homers and 148 stolen bases heading into his final few games. He also was a two-time Silver Slugger.
“When Charlie told me of his plans to retire I got a little emotional, as I’m sure many fans will when they see the news that one of the greatest Rockies of all-time will no longer take the field,” Rockies owner Dick Monfort said in a statement. “Charlie’s passion and dedication to the game of baseball, this organization and our great fans was on display every single day and I can’t thank him enough for pouring his heart into every game and every at-bat over the course of his 14 years here. Charlie is a Rockie to his core.”
Blackmon closed his Instagram post by writing: “I’ll hop over that fence, pickle the beast and embrace the next phase of my life.”
