MLB Player News

That’s now four straight starts for Laureano, who seems to have taken the left field job back from Jarred Kelenic after the Braves, somewhat questionably, decided to give Kelenic another stretch as the starter to begin the month. Laureano is hitting .309 in 44 games since the All-Star break with six home runs, 18 runs, 18 RBI, and four steals. If you dropped him when it seemed like he had been relegated to the bench, you should go ahead and add him again.

Well, technically, it’s not a callup at this point, as much as simply adding someone to the Wild Card roster. But it’ll be a pitcher who didn’t finish the season on the major league club. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman says it’s between Ian Anderson, AJ Smith-Shawver and Bryce Elder but that no choice has been made. We doubt that’s really the case, but it’s true the Braves have no reason to reveal their pick just yet.

Musgrove is getting moved ahead of Cease here, which is a little surprising. This will put King on six days’ rest, Musgrove on five and Cease on seven, if Game 3 is necessary.

There’s still time to see how Sale feels tomorrow before a final decision is made, but this would make things awfully tough for the Braves. They might need to bring someone up to pitch Tuesday before getting Max Fried back Wednesday and having Reynaldo López and Charlie Morton available in a potential Game 3.

Severino wasn’t needed in the second game today after the Mets clinched in the opener, leaving him 11-7 with a 3.91 ERA to finish the regular season. He’ll be matched up against Freddy Peralta on Tuesday.

Rose, MLB’s all-time hits leader at 4,256, played for the Reds, Phillies and Expos from 1963-86, batting .303 with 160 homers. Along with being The Hit King, he’s MLB’s leader in plate appearances (15,890) and games played (3,563), and he was the NL MVP in 1973. After his playing career ended, he accepted a permanent place on MLB’s ineligible list after being accused of betting on baseball during his time as a manager, including games in which his team played.

The Diamondbacks were eliminated with the doubleheader split. A surprise fill-in for the injured Chris Sale, Holmes was perfect through four today, despite just throwing 1 2/3 innings on Sunday. He went on to allow a single and a walk to begin the fifth and was pulled then. It denied him a much-deserved win, but it was also much deserved that he keep his arm intact. The win means the Braves are the No. 5 seed and will play in San Diego on Tuesday. The Mets will head to Milwaukee.

López’s appearance was rather surprising, especially since he was making his initial return from the IL on Saturday. He missed time with both forearm and shoulder injuries during the second half, so we’ll see if this outing, on what was likely his throw day, has any repercussions. He wound up striking out two in a scoreless frame.

Lucchesi took the loss, but he gave the Mets exactly what they wanted, eating six innings in a game they didn’t need to win. That he was effective was simply a nice bonus. Lucchesi isn’t likely to be included on any of the Mets’ postseason rosters going forward.

Martinez has spent 12 years with the Blue Jays organization, the last six as the team’s hitting coach under Charlie Montoyo and John Schneider. The team hit just .241/.313/.389 this year and scored 671 runs, its lowest total since 1997 (2020 excepted).

Frelick worked out on the field today. Incidentally, the area where he got hurt colliding with a section of wall that was hollowed out to include a chain-line fence, has been padded over now.