What is the story about?
Happy Friday, everyone! We’ve got some big manager news, and for once it isn’t anyone getting fired. Two interim managers have been able to remove “interim” from their titles as the Mets and Red Sox make things official with Andy Green and Chad Tracy. We also know two players who might not be participating in the postseason, at least not right away. Aaron Judge will miss the Wild Card for sure, and Joc Pederson will be sidelined into the postseason.
Also, we look at Paul Skenes, who is pointing to
the WBC as a possible culprit for his pitching issues, and we have some questions about the Angels.
Let’s just get right into it.
- Ben Clemens makes a case for Kyle Harrison in the postseason.
- Jay Jaffe tries to make sense of all the potential tiebreaker scenarios in the final week of the season.
- Michael Baumann gets into how things look for the Yankees now that Aaron Judge is back on the bench and might miss the Wild Card series.
- Brian Murphy looks at how this week might change things in the MVP frontrunner races.
- Nick Selbe looks athow the Angels managed to find themselves with an elite starting rotation.
- The big stories that matter in the final week of the season. Story by Karl Rasmussen.
- Paul Skenes has suggested that participating in the WBC may have contributed to his velocity dip this season. (ESPN)
- Robert Murray looks at why players won’t budge on a salary cap.
- The Mets will be standing by their interim manager.
- Ryan Phillips explains why hiring Andy Green is both safe and a leap of faith for the Mets.
- Dan Szymborski wonders, “When will the Angels be competitive again?”
- Joc Pederson is heading to the IL with a hand fracture, but hopes to be back for the postseason. Story by Kennedi Landry.
- Jason Beck reports that Justin Verlander will make one final start this weekend before he retires.
- Jenna West shares the Rays’ new road gray jerseys. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- This is kind of crazy.
- Davy Andrews makes an MVP case for Bobby Witt Jr.
- Zack Wheeler reaches 2000 career strikeouts. Story by Todd Zolecki.
- Tom Verducci looks at the good and the bad going on with the Phillies ahead of the postseason.
- The Athletic staff rank postseason pitching rotations. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- Another interim manager is sticking around for the long haul.
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.
