Happy Friday, everyone! As we enter the weekend, we will soon know which team will join the Brewers in heading to the World Series. In the meantime, we look at how Shohei Ohtani busted his HR slump at the exact perfect time. We also look at how Jake Bauers pulled through for the Brewers with an incredible at-bat in a clutch moment.
We’re also starting to see some of the early moves of the postseason as the Astros part ways with Joe Espada, and other teams make additional moves to their managerial staff and teams start to make contracts with players.
Let’s get into it!
- Michael Baumann reflects on the NLCS Game Three and why it vindicated Kevin Cash for pulling Blake Snell early in 2020.
- Jay Jaffe assesses Jose Ramirez’s October turn for the Guardians.
- Jackson Chourio got an unusual good luck charm thanks to a praying mantis. Story by Scott Chiusano.
- Tom Verducci thinks the Brewers might be ushering in a new era of baseball.
- How Don Mattingly plans to make adjustments to the Phillies this offseason. (ESPN)
- Tim Britton assesses this season’s free agent class. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- Hitting is only getting harder.
The league-wide batting average this postseason is .212. The average fastball is 96.2 mph. Hitting is hard. In the postseason, it's Sisyphean. To better understand why, we spoke with Joey Votto and Alex Bregman, two of the purest hitters of this generation, for their insight. pic.twitter.com/F47YD2dcU8
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 15, 2026
- Davy Andrews tries to determine just how mad Pat Murphy is.
- Keegan Matheson shares how it was the unlikeliest hero who turned things around for the Guardians.
- Tim Stebbins looks at the most epic bat flip of the postseason.
- Anthony Castrovince explains how one deadline move is really paying off for the Guardians in the postseason.
- Karl Rasmussen rounds up several snubs from the Gold Glove Award finalists.
- Oswaldo Cabrera and the Reds have agreed to a one-year, $1-million contract. (AP)
- It’s cool guys, the Rockies have figured it out.
The Rockies have fired pitching coach Alon Leichman, sources tell me and @keithlaw. Leichman lasted only one season.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) October 15, 2026
- Davy Andrews breaks down Jake Bauers’ 11-pitch game-changing at-bat.
- Max Ralph determines how the Dodgers’ pitching would stack up if they went on a 3-0 comeback tear.
- Karl Rasmussen looks at the unlikely weapons who are wearing the Dodgers down for the Brewers.
- Alden Gonzalez shares the breakthrough moment that Shohei Ohtani ended his HR drought.
- Sam Blum assesses how the Rays are being beaten at their own game. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- Guess now we know why they were cool with him interviewing with the Mariners. (Here’s a direct link to the Bluesky post for those reading on Apple News)
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.