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October 3, 2026 [LINK / comment]

The 2026 postseason is underway!

At home in Atlanta two nights ago, the Braves won their first postseason series since they won the World Series in 2021. They had the momentum from the first inning, when Michael Harris hit a 3-run homer that just barely cleared the high wall in right field. The visiting Phillies just couldn't get anything going, as the Braves' starting opening pitcher Ray Kerr, who had only 9 appearances as a reliever during the last two months of the season, only gave up one hit in 3-plus innings. Final score: Atlanta 6, Philadelphia 2.

This came a day after the Phillies pulled off a stunning comeback win to stay alive in the NL Wild Card Series, powered by back-to-back homers by Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper in the 8th inning, tying the game. Alex Bohm's solo homer in the 10th inning proved to be the deciding play of the game. And that, in turn, came a day after the Braves pulled off a stunning comeback win thanks to a 2-out, 3-run homer by Austin Riley in the bottom of the 8th inning. Amazing twists of fate in back-to-back games!

But that was the only Wild Card Series that went a full three games. In San Diego the Padres dominated the Chicago Cubs in both games, in New York the Yankees likewise dominated the Boston Red Sox, while in Houston the White Sox spoiled the Astros's hopes of reestablishing themselves as a serious postseason competitor, defeating the home team twice. It was the first postseason series win by the White Sox since they won the World Series in 2005, and some people suspect Chicago native Pope Leo as the reason for the Southsiders' miraculous upturn from their recent cellar-dwelling ignominy. It was Houston's ninth consecutive loss at home in a postseason game, dating back to Game 2 of the 2023 ALDS, which the Minnesota Twins won. (The Astros ended up winning that series but then lost to the Texas Rangers in the NLCS, in which all seven games were won by the visiting team, just like the 2019 World Series!)

So now the Braves head to Los Angeles to face the Dodgers, who are seeking their third straight World Series title but are perhaps less dominant than what we have become accustomed to. The Padres travel to Milwaukee, where the Brewers hold the highest winning percentage (.636) in all of baseball. The White Sox will challenge division rival Guardians in Cleveland, but given their modest regular-season winning percentages, whoever wins that series probably won't make it beyond the next stage. Finally, the Yankees will play the Tampa Bay Rays in St. Petersburg, hoping that Aaron Judge will be cleared to play. The Rays and the Brewers have the highest winning percentages in their respective leagues, and I'd be happy to see those two teams play each other in the World Series, since neither of them has ever won the Fall Classic. (See the soon-to-be-updated Postseason chronology page.)

Nationals' promising season ends on an upbeat note

After a miserable stretch early in the month (winning on September 1 and then losing the next seven games), the Washington Nationals redeemed themselves with four straight series victories, not including a 1-1 split with the Phillies on the 15th and 16th of the month. On September 11, the somber 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the battered and bruised Nationals returned home to D.C. Cade Cavalli was pitching, and had another splendid outing, going 6 innings, but didn't get credit for the win. The crucial play of the game came in the 8th inning: a 2-run single by Jorbit Vivas. The Nats won it, 4-3. On Saturday, Andrew Alvarez pitched 7 shutout innings, but Brad Lord and Will Dion gave up a total of 5 runs in the 8th and 9th inning, and the Nats were lucky to tie it in the bottom of the 9th, thanks to a clutch RBI single by Andres Chaparro, and then they scored in glorious walkoff fashion on an E-6. The Nats also won the Sunday game by the same score (6-5), and to the surprise of many, they swept the Los Angeles Angels.

After resting on Monday the 14th, the Nationals pulled off a minor miracle by beating the Philadelphia Phillies, as rookie pitcher Jackson Kent went five innings without giving up a run. Home runs by Andres Chaparro and Daylen Lile powered the 6-3 win. But the Nats fell flat the next day, relying on recently called-up rookie pitcher Jared Simpson, who only got one out before being relieved in the 1st inning. He was lucky the Phillies only scored 2 runs that inning. What is notable about that game is that the Nationals pitchers walked a total of 13 batters, and yet the Phillies only scored 3 runs total.

After another day of rest, the Nats began a road trip to St. Louis on the 18th, and this time Cade Cavalli got the win, his 13th of the season. That put him ahead of Foster Griffin, who had won 12 games with the Nats before he was traded to the Cleveland Guardians on August 3. He chalked up another milestone, striking out his 200th batter of the year, becoming the first Nationals pitcher to reach that level since Stephen Strasburg (251), Max Scherzer (243), and Patrick Corbin (238) did so in 2019. The Saturday game was notable for having TWO blown saves by the Nationals pitchers (Erik Tolman and Riley Cornelio), wasting yet another fine start by Andrew Alvarez. But this time the Nats batters got in together, winning 8-5 in 11 innings. Any hopes for another sweep faded as the bullpen faltered once again, giving up 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning, and the Cardinals won it, 5-3.

Then the Nationals flew to Detroit, where they were beaten by the Tigers, 9-2. Starting pitcher D.J. Herz took the loss, but reliever Luis Perales gave up another 5 runs, putting the game out of reach. The next day the Nats bullpen pitched for the whole game, and somehow kept things under control while C.J. Abrams homered twice (#32 and #33), as the Nats prevailed, 3-1. The series ended in the Nats favor with a 4-2 score, with a home run by rookie Yohandy Morales providing the critical margin of victory.

After another day of rest (the Nats had no Thursday games for the entire month), the Nats returned home for crucial showdown with the New York Mets. At stake was not the division title or a postseason berth but rather avoiding last place at the end of the season. Everything depended on the first game, since Andrew Alvarez was pitching, and Cade Cavalli was already "on vacation" after his triumph on September 18. It was a close, tense matchup, and the Nats ended up with a 7-6 victory, thanks in no small part to a solo homer in the 7th inning by Dylan Crews. That win put the Mets 3 games behind the Nats in the NL East standings, clinching 4th place for the Nationals. On Saturday Connelly Early (acquired from the Red Sox in a late July trade for Curtis Mead) pitched for the first time, and did just fine for 3 innings. Then Jake Irvin came in, but he evidently started to tire by the 7th inning, when the Mets scored 4 runs. The final score was 7-1, but the loss was of no real consequence to the Nats. In contrast, the final game of the season, on Sunday September 27, was symbolic in multiple ways. The Nats did win it, confirming yet another series victory and ending the month with an even 11-11 record -- much better than their 11-13 record in June or their 11-18 record in July! Numbers aside, the fact that the Nationals won their very last game of the season, as well as their very first game back on March 26 (vs. the Cubs), indicates a certain psychological momentum as the team's lengthy "rebuild" finally seems to be paying off.

Nats put up BIG batting numbers

Most baseball writers picked the Washington Nationals to finish in last place in the National League East Division, so it was a clear accomplishment that they exceeded expectations by finishing fourth, ahead of the Mets. Also notable for most of the regular season was the fact that the Nationals led the majors in most offensive categories, including home runs, RBIs. That was mainly a reflection of the depth of the Nats' lineup rather than outstanding individual accomplishments. As a team, the Nats finished third in RBIs, with 777, behind the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers, and sixth in home runs, with 210. C.J. Abrams finished the season with 106 RBIs, ten behind the MLB leader Alec Burleson. He led his team in that category and in home runs, with 33. James Wood had been the team leader in homers until August, when he went on the injured list for a few weeks. It is just astounding that Wood did not hit a single home run after July 26, when he (as well as C.J. Abrams) hit two of them! (See the soon-to-be-updated Washington Nationals page.)

Nuñez is #1 in MLB stolen bases!

As for other offensive categories, Nationals infielder Nasim Nuñez was the major league champion in stolen bases this year, with 49. The runner-up in that category was Chandler Simpson of the Tampa Bay Rays, with 46. Nuñez set the record for the Nationals dating back to the team "rebirth" in 2005, but several Montreal Expos players such as Tim Raines racked up substantially higher stolen base numbers during the years prior to 2005. Three years ago C.J. Abrams led the Nats with 47.

Congratulations, Nasim!

Nats make a big deal with Cavalli

Just before he made his final start of the year on September 18, the Nationals signed their quickly-rising ace pitcher Cade Cavalli to a four-year contract, from 2027 through 2030, with a club option for a one-year extension. That was very encouraging, especially in the wake of trading away Foster Griffin, Luis Garcia, and Curtis Mead in July and early August. The Nats front office needs to do likewise with James Wood and C.J. Abrams if they want to establish the team as serious postseason contenders in the years to come. That way they could hope to attract a big name pitcher (or two), which the team so desperately needs. In retrospect, the acquisition of free agent Jayson Werth in December 2010 was the big turning point in the team's history. After that, people began to take the Nationals more seriously, and in 2012 they began their memorable series of postseason runs that ultimately climaxed with the 2019 World Series championship.

Perhaps as a reward for his superb performance, Cavalli was given the rest of the season off. He achieved the Nationals' best records for all three of the major pitching categories: ERA (3.02), Wins (13), and Strikeouts (200). Foster Griffin, the Nationals' best pitcher until he was traded in late July, had 12 wins with the Nationals but just 3 more with the Cleveland Guardians. His ERA with the Nats was 3.06 but 5.79 with the Guardians. Hopefully he'll get a chance to prove himself in the ALDS between the Guardians and the White Sox.

New name for Comerica Park

There was a big announcement as the Nationals began their series in Detroit on September 21. Effective next year, Comerica Park will officially be renamed "Fifth Third Park," under the terms of a contract with Fifth Third Bank. This is not to be confused with Fifth Third Field, the home of the Toledo Mud Hens since 2002, located about 70 miles to the southwest. The first time I heard that name several years ago, I thought it was a joke, but it is indeed real. In anticipation of that change, I updated the Stadium names chronology page.

Minor league ballparks, etc.

I was in the Washington area on September 12, but really didn't have enough time to see a Nationals game that day. (That was when they beat the Angels in extra innings after two blown saves by the bullpen, which would have been hard to stomach.) I did, however, make a stop at Pfitzner Stadium, the former home of one of their farm clubs (single A), the Potomac Nationals. It is located in Woodbridge, Virginia, but has not had any minor league use since that team moved south and became the Fredericksburg Nationals in 2021. As you can see, Pfitzner Stadium is rather plain by contemporary standards. But many prominent former Nationals players, including Ryan Zimmerman and Stephen Strasburg, called this place home at the beginning of their baseball careers.

Pfitzner Stadium, former home of the Potomac Nationals, in Woodbridge, Virginia on September 13.

More recently, I paid visits to two other minor league ballparks elsewhere in Virginia, and I will present photos of them in the near future. Since I have no intention of creating separate stadium pages for minor league ballparks, I will eventually create a single page to make it easier to access photos thereof.

Finally, I recently tweaked the Stadiums in Limbo page, taking into account the demolition of RFK Stadium, as well as the Postseason scores page, just in time for the 2026 postseason. The latter page now includes the complete "scoreboard" for the various series that will be played over the next month. If the World Series goes all the way to Game 7, that would take take place on Halloween -- the first time. BOO-OO!) In none of the last three World Series when that possibility existed (2004, 2013, and 2018) did it go past Game 6. In 2017 and 2025, Game 6 of the World Series was played on Halloween. Other years in which World Series games were played on Halloween include 2009, 2010, 2015, 2021, and 2023. I'm pretty sure the the World Series has never ended on Halloween. And, for the record, I am firmly against playing baseball in November, or in March, for that matter, except in extraordinary circumstances such as an earthquake. (San Francisco-Oakland, 1989!)

September 11, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Baseball ownership intrigues in Los Angeles!

After several years of grumbling by Angels fans that team owner Arte Moreno was not doing anything to improve the team, a potential new owner recently emerged: Stan Kroenke. He has pledged to build a new stadium with private financing, but the details are very hazy. It's not even clear whether he intends to remain on the same plot of land that the Angels have occupied since 1966. See ESPN.com.

On the PBS News Hour last week, an investigative journalist from L.A. named Pablo Torre reported on the legal peril confronting the principal owner of the Dodgers, Mark Walter. He allegedly violated securities law when he borrowed money to buy the Dodgers franchise in 2012. (The previous lead owner, Frank McCourt, had to declare bankruptcy.)

More and more page updates!

Hearing that news about the Dodgers' owner prompted me to check the MLB Franchises page, and noticed that I had erroneously listed Mark Walter as "Mark Walters" (plural), so I corrected that. (The purchase of the Angels by Stan Kroenke is still pending.) While I was at it, I made a few other corrections, such as updating the names of some of the stadiums on that page such as Oracle Park and Daikin Park. (It's hard to keep up with those changes on so many pages!)

Continuing in my laborious efforts to bring various stadium comparison pages up to date, I have fixed the formatting and content problems on the Stadium milestones page.

I also made minor tweaks to the Turf page and the Stadiums by class page.

Stadiums in Limbo page now reflects the facts that demolition of RFK Stadium was completed last year, and that Oakland Coliseum is essentially abandoned, used only as an occasional soccer venue.

Finally, both the Dolphin Stadium and Yankee Stadium pages have been corrected and made more conformable to the new standard format.

Nats resume plunge

Speaking of L.A., The Washington Nationals got swept by the Dodgers in a 3-game series there last week. In the first game, rookie starting pitcher Jackson Kent had two good innings and then his control slipped and the Dodgers jumped on the opportunity. Meanwhile, the Nationals managed to blow every scoring opportunity they had, while the bullpen officially set an MLB record for blown saves, with 38. The less said about the ongoing losing streak the better...

This came after an uplifting moment for the Nats when they faced the Braves to close out their home stand in Washington on Tuesday, September 1. On that day, all teams rosters expanded, and two Nats rookies were called up to play in their first-ever MLB games. With his parents watching in the stands, Yohandy Morales hit his first major league home run, helping the Nats to win, 9-5. Credited with the win was Jared Simpson, who pitched three innings in relief of Jake Irvin, likewise in his MLB debut.

August 31, 2026 [LINK / comment]

After another bullpen meltdown, the Nats redeem themselves

The Washington Nationals showed promising signs that they really had pulled out of their August nose dive this weekend, winning the first two games against their division rivals from Miami, and [had] a 2-0 lead going into the top of the 9th inning. And then, everything suddenly fell apart. Max Kranick gave up a single and two walks to load the bases and left the game with one out, and was charged with all 3 runs that later scored and became the losing pitcher. His replacement, Tom Cosgrove, hit the first batter he saw with a pitch, making it a 2-1 game, and then a sacrifice fly to left field allowed the tying run to score. [But] the throw to 3rd base was mishandled, with Cosgrove not in position to back it up, allowing the Marlins to take the lead. Absolutely disgusting performance! The next batter walked and then bamboozled Cosgrove by [unexpectedly stealing] 2nd base, while the runner on 3rd base scooted home to score. To top it all off, the next batter, Otto Lopez, hit a home run to give the Marlins a 6-2 lead. Un-effing-believable!!! So Cosgrove he was charged with a blown save in one of the most embarrassing moments in Nationals history.

In today's game, the Marlins took a 3-0 lead in the 4th inning, and it looked liked they were going to split the 4-game series. But the young hustling National named Daylen Lile had other plans. Having hit 3 homers over the past 4 games and being named National League Player of the Week, he led off with a single in the 1st inning, and then hit 2-run homers in both the 5th and 7th innings. That crazy guy almost single-handedly lifted the Nationals from the pits of despair to the heights of comeback glory! Pitching for the Nationals was a succession of relievers and recently-acquired pitchers. Will Dion pitched the first 3 innings, and former Blue Jay Matt Waldron pitched the 5th, 6th, and 7th innings, being credited with the win. A guy named Erik Tolman came in to pitch in the 8th inning, and promptly loaded the bases with 3 straight singles. Oh, no! Here we go again! But Blake Butera kept him on the mound, perhaps wanting to let the guy prove himself or perhaps just not having any good alternatives. I cringed in horror, anticipating the worst. But guess what? Tolman struck out the next batter and then got out of the inning intact as the batter grounded into a double play. Then in the 9th inning, he struck out all 3 batters! Talk about major-league nerve! I hope this was a sign of better things to come for the Nationals' mostly-deplorable bullpen. Final score: Nats 6, Marlins 3.

The Nats' bullpen: worst ever?

The crushing defeat at the hands of the Marlins on Saturday reminds us that the Nationals hold the dubious distinction of leading the major leagues in total blown saves: 35. I forget what the all-time record is, but the Nats are getting dangerously close to it. The Nationals and the Rays are tied for first place in the majors with 69 save opportunities, and whereas the Rays lead the majors in saves (with 54), the Nationals are tied in 18th place in saves (with 34). (Blown saves equals save opportunities minus saves.) Let's take a look at some of the most egregious cases this year in which the Nats' bullpen not only faltered, but suffered a total meltdown in the ninth inning, or later:

* The May 18 home game against the New York Mets was decided in the 12th inning, when Nats reliever Paxton Schultz gave up 5 hits and 7 runs, and then infielder Jorbit Vivas came in to pitch, giving up 3 more runs, for a total of 10 runs in that inning.
** In the June 10 game in San Francisco, the Giants scored 5 runs in both the 8th AND the 9th innings.

It is remarkable that none of those names are repeated, i.e., the failures of Nats' relief pitching is widely distributed. In most cases, the pitcher at fault recorded both a loss (L) and a blown save (BS), but on June 10 the Nationals had a 10-6 lead going into the bottom of the 9th inning, which is not a save situation, so Mitchell Parker was charged with a loss but not a blown save. In the game on Saturday night, Max Kranick loaded the bases and was charged with all 3 runs that later scored, thus becoming the losing pitcher. After Tom Cosgrove came in to pitch, the Marlins took the lead, so he was charged with a blown save.

Stadium page updates: Florida!

Over the last three days I have updated the three stadium pages for Florida: Tropicana Field, Dolphin Stadium, and Loan Depot Park. They are now all consistently formatted, with a section describing the locations and attractions of the respective cities, along with a composite photo of Miami -- but not St. Petersburg-Tampa, which I have yet to visit. This completes my project of updating all the regular MLB stadium (past and present) pages, which I began in early July. So when am I going to update the pages of the various stadiums used on special occasions for MLB games, or other significant minor league ballparks, such as Hamtramck Stadium? (After all, I recently did so for the Field of Dreams in Iowa.) Good question! Actually, I did pay an in-person visit to Hamtramck Stadium, located in an enclave within Detroit, so that will probably be first one. But that still leaves Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, among others...

Scenes from my two visits to what was then called "[Marlins Park" (NOT Dolphin Stadium!)]*** in February 2017.

And just in case that semi-tropical scenery isn't enough for you, here are some scenes from elsewhere in Miami and (with a mouse rollover) further south in the Everglades:

Miami high-rises as seen from a bridge across the Miami River, and one of the "Little Pink Houses" for you and me (cue John Mellencamp), also in February 2017. Ain't that America??!

And speaking of page updates, the Washington Nationals page now has all the data up through the month of August, during which the Nats won a paltry 11 games and lost 18. There are lots of new players' photos (in miniature size), taken in the game I saw on August 8.

Scherzer climbs strikeout rankings

In the Toronto Blue Jays' 7-0 win over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday, former Nats pitcher Max Scherzer surpassed Gaylord Perry (3,534) in the all-time list of strikeouts, with 3,535, and now ranks #9. (He recently surpassed Walter Johnson, who struck out 3,508 batters in his illustrious career.) Don Sutton ranks #[7] with 3,574 strikeouts, [while Justin Verlander ranks #8 with 3,554]*** and it's possible Max could reach that number this year. But will he continue pitching in 2027? That game was only his second win of the year (2-7 record), since he hardly pitched at all from May through July, and his ERA is 6.16. In any event,

Well done, Max!

*** "After further review," I had to make multiple corrections the next day, indicated above with brackets around the affected text. That ought to teach me to try to squeeze in a summary of the preceding month's action before the first day of the next month!

August 28, 2026 [LINK / comment]

Nationals hit rock bottom, and then bounce back up!

After blowing the lead and getting beat by the Marlins in Miami on Friday one week ago, the Washington Nationals ended up getting swept by the host team. The Nats scored 2 runs in all 3 games, while the Marlins improved in each successive game. Starting pitcher Jake Irvin took the loss on Saturday, and rookie Jackson Kent did so on Sunday. Neither was really to blame, however, it was just the lack of run-scoring support by the erstwhile offensive juggernauts of the 2026 season.

Then the Nats returned home to face the Colorado Rockies, and Nationals Park looked banged up from the rock music concerts that had been held there during the team's 9-game road trip. Cade Cavalli was on the mound, and with the Nats' bats being silent in the first four innings, he found himself in the unusual position of being behind 2-0. But in the bottom of the 5th inning, the Nats staged a 5-run rally, adding multiple runs in the next 3 innings as well, and won the game handily, 13-3. Daylen Lile was the offensive spark plug, batting in 5 runs, with a home run to boot. But that reassuring victory carried no momentum with it, as the Nats lost 3-1 on Tuesday and then 13-1 on Wednesday. Andres Chaparro homered to give the Nats a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning, but the Marlins hit two 2-run homers in the 4th inning, and piled on 9 more runs in the latter innings. To spare his bullpen further agony, manager Blake Butera put infielder Jorbit Vivas on the mound to finish the 8th inning, which was rather ugly, and then the 9th inning. That game had to be one of the real low points of the Nationals' disappointing 2026 season, with a perilous consequence: the 5th-place New York Mets pulled to within just one game of the Nationals in the NL East race! (The Mets were 60-72 after the Tuesday games, and the Nats were 62-72.) But somehow the Nats gathered their wits for the final game of of the series on Thursday afternoon. Starting pitcher Jake Irvin walked the bases loaded in the 1st inning, but got out of it intact. Then the Nats took a quick 2-0 lead on 3 singles and a timely sac fly by Brady House. Daylen Lile and Keibert Ruiz homered in later innings, and the Nationals won it, 7-1, thus splitting the series 2 games apiece. Those were the first games that the Nats had won with somebody other than Cade Cavalli as starting pitcher since Sunday, August 9!

This evening the Nationals welcomed (?) the Miami Marlins to Washington, The Marlins had beaten the Nationals in their last 7 matchups, almost as if they had a secret key to render the Washington players defenseless. But this time the Nats pulled off some "magic tricks" of their own, starting with a wild pitch thrown by Eury Perez in the 3rd inning that allowed 2 Nats baserunners to score. Catcher Joe Mack's throwing error accounted for the second run. That instantly broke the tension in the Nats dugout. Daylen Lile walked, and then Brady House crushed a home run way up beyond the Red Porch seats in left-center field, giving the Nats a 5-1 lead. WOW!! That ball was estimated to have gone 474 feet, one of the longest home runs this year, and one of the longest ones in Nationals Park history!!! In the bottom of the 7th inning, catcher Harry Ford hit a solo homer, and then the Nats piled on 3 more runs, leading to a very satisfying 9-2 victory over the Marlins. Starting pitcher Jackson Kent got his first major league victory, finishing seven innings with 106 total pitches. The promising signs he displayed in his previous three starts were borne out, and he may become part of the Nats' rotation next year! Meanwhile, the Mets lost again, providing the Nats with a bit of breathing room in the race to avoid the proverbial cellar. If the Nats can pull themselves together, they can at least end this big letdown of a season reasonably close to the .500 mark, and maybe even pull ahead of the Marlins to take 3rd place honors. Call me a dreamer...

[Tonight's game was the last of ten Nationals games to be broadcast by Gray Media local TV stations this year. That innovative approach brought Major League Baseball to a wider audience, and is to be warmly applauded. Likewise for the NBC (and Peacock) coverage of MLB games this year, mostly on Sundays. Hopefully both such TV broadcasting arrangements will be repeated next year. (If there IS a next year for baseball, that is... The possibility of a players' strike or a lockout by the owners seems to be growing all the time. )]

MLB returns to Williamsport, PA

This past Sunday, the annual "Little League Classic" game was played at Bowman Field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. (It's located in the north-central part of the Keystone State.) I was surprised to learn that, since the first such event in 2017, it was the ninth Major League Baseball game to be played there! So I updated the Bowman Field page accordingly. Technically, it is now called "Journey Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field," after a few years of "Muncy Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field" being the formal name. Anyway, the Atlanta Braves beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2. It was a possible preview of a postseason matchup, with the NL East leading team beating the NL Central leaders.

In another preview of a possible postseason matchup, Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves threw a 9-inning shutout against the L.A. Dodgers in Truist Park last night. In the bottom of the 1st inning, the Braves' Drake Baldwin swung at the first pitch he saw, and he put that ball way up into the right field seats. It was the only run scored in that entire game! Yoshinobu Yamamoto (ERA 2.56) pitched extremely well for 6 1/3 innings, but took the loss nonetheless. A classic pitchers' duel!

A few more page updates

Both the Anomalous stadiums page as well as the Stadiums by class page have been updated to account for the awkward transitional status of Sutter Health Park, the demolition of RFK Stadium, the conversion of ex-Turner Field and ex-Globe Life Park to serve as football venues, and a few other recent changes.

Over the weekend, I plan to finish the stadium page updates for Florida, and that will complete the MLB phase of my page update endeavors! (Eventually, I'll do likewise for the many temporary or anomalous stadiums as well. )

Is that the Astrodome? Nope!

The other day I was watching the movie Selena on the Pluto streaming service, and was intrigued by the scenes where the title character (played by a young Jennifer Lopez) was (supposedly) performing a concert in the Astrodome! But it sure didn't look like the Astrodome to me, as the grandstands appeared to be arranged in perpendicular fashion to each other, whereas it should have been a continuous circle. After checking the IMDb website, I learned that those scenes were actually filmed a 125 or so miles to the west of Houston -- in the Alamodome of San Antonio!

New stadium deals in K.C. & Tampa!

Over the past week, both the Kansas City Royals and the Tampa Bay Rays announced stadium deals with local government authorities, and I'll have a lot more to say about that soon.

August 21, 2026 [LINK / comment]

MLB returns to the Field of Dreams

For the third time, on [the 13th of] August a Major League Baseball game was played at (or near) the Field of Dreams movie site near Dyersville, Iowa. The Minnesota Twins were "hosting" the Philadelphia Phillies, but there wasn't much doubt which way things were headed. On the third pitch of the game, Kyle Schwarber blasted a home run into the corn fields beyond right field, and the Phillies added another run before the Twins came to bat. In the 4th inning Schwarber homered again, and Brandon Marsh added two more runs with a homer in the 7th inning. Final score: Phillies 7, Twins 1.

This was the first time that an MLB game had been played at the Field of Dreams since the new permanent stadium was built there earlier this year. I made a point to visit it in June, on my way out west, and my photos were very useful in capturing the details. Interestingly, the outfield fences, light standards, scoreboards, dugouts, and even the stadium outline were virtually identical to the temporary stadium that had existed there from 2020 through 2022. (When I visited in 2024, I was surprised to see that there was no stadium at all; the entire structure was temporary in nature, and was removed after the 2022 game.)

Some views of both the new stadium at the Field of Dreams, as well as the farm and ballfield where most of the movie was shot.

Diagram update!

So, needless to say, I had some diagram revisions to take care of, which you can now see on the Field of Dreams page! For the most part, it's fairly accurate, but I noticed some discrepancies between the photos that I took there two months ago compared to the video images of the game that I saw. So, there are no doubt a few corrections that will need to be made...

Next year the Kansas City Royals will play as "host" to the Boston Red Sox at the Field of Dreams. Unlike this year's exclusive Netflix TV arrangement, the 2027 game will be broadcast nationwide on NBC Sports, which does not require a paid subscription to view. Yay! See royalsreview.com.

Cade Cavalli: the Nationals' new ace pitcher!

The Washington Nationals have been in a terrible slump for over a week, so let's accentuate the positive. In the only two games the Nats have won since August 11, the starting pitcher was Cade Cavalli, and both times he reached the double-digits in strikeouts, going 8 and then 6 innings without giving up a run. In the August 19 game against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, he had a no-hitter going until the 6th inning! Earlier in the season he was mostly very good but had a few bad outings. But since the Nats' previous ace pitcher Foster Griffin was traded away to the Cleveland Guardians on August 3, Cavalli has stepped up and assumed a truly dominant role on the mound. He has had seven consecutive "quality starts," i.e. 6 or more innings pitched with 3 or fewer earned runs. With an ERA of 3.22, he currently ranks 15th in the major leagues, catching up on his former team mate who is now in Cleveland. (Griffin's ERA is 3.18, ranked 13th.)

Cade Cavalli (L) and Foster Griffin (R) in the dugout during the Nats' game against the Baltimore Orioles on May 15.

Otherwise, the Nats keep losing

Unfortunately, Cavalli's rise to excellence has coincided with a sharp decline in his team mates' performance. Since the August 11-13 series with the Cubs, the Nats have been shut out twice, and only once have they scored more than 4 runs. Andres Chaparro and Abimelec Ortiz continue to hit home runs, but otherwise not much is happening. James Wood remains on the injured list, and C.J. Abrams has been slumping badly at the plate. Because of his often-shaky defensive performance at shortstop, he is starting to play at second base (or as designated hitter), which is probably not good for morale.

To sum up the recent series, the Nationals lost the first two games to the Cubs and then totally dominated the visitors 7-0 on August 13 when Cavalli was on the mound. Then they traveled to New York, where the hungry Mets took every opportunity they could, sweeping the Nats in 3 games straight. The Saturday, August 15 game was especially disheartening because the Nats had a 4-3 lead going into the bottom of the 9th, whereupon relief pitcher Yovanny Cruz gave up a walk, a single, and a double before getting the first out, and then Francisco Lindor hit an RBI single to win the game. Jubilation in Queens!

The August 18-20 series in Arlington, Texas was strange, because all three games were shutouts. On Tuesday the Nats' rookie pitcher Jackson Kent gave up 5 runs to the Rangers in the first 3 innings, which was 4 more than the [home team] ended up needing. On Wednesday, the 3rd-inning home run by Jose Tena was all the Nats really needed, but the 3-run blast by Andres Chaparro in the 7th inning was a nice bit of insurance. Nats 6, Rangers 0. On Thursday Andrew Alvarez had another decent outing, but didn't get credit for it, as the Nats only got one hit the entire game. Final score: 2-0.

And then in Miami tonight there was another tension-filled pitchers' duel, and the Nats took a 1-0 lead when Keibert Ruiz homered in the 6th inning. But the Marlins took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 8th, as Tom Cosgrove proved less than effective as a reliever. In the top of the 9th, hopes were fading fast, when Daylen Lile hit an ultra-clutch RBI single to tie the game. But in the bottom of the inning, Clayton Beeter loaded the bases after giving up a single and then committing a throwing error on a bunt single, after which he intentionally walked the batter in hopes of getting some miraculous force outs. It didn't work out that way, as Javier Sanoja hit an RBI single to win the game for the Marins. So now, the Nationals are only 2 1/2 games ahead of the last-place Mets.

FOOTNOTE: Tonight's game was the 33rd blown save by the Nationals' bullpen overall, equaling the relief pitchers' total number of saves. That is almost unimaginably bad. So far, the pitching acquisitions made just prior to the trading deadline don't seem to have made much difference.

Beginners' luck in Chicago!?

Last Sunday, rookie outfielder Joshua Baez played a decisive role when the St. Louis Cardinals took on the Chicago Cubs in Wrigley Field, and made history while he was at it. He not only hit a home run on the first pitch he saw in his very first game, he hit two more home runs in his next two at bats. No other major league player had ever done that before. Not surprisingly, the Cardinals won it, 8-4.

R.I.P. Tommy John

The pitcher for whom "Tommy John surgery" was named passed away at the age of 83 earlier this week. In 1974, in his 12th year in the majors, Tommy John tore a ligament in his pitching elbow, and it seemed that his career was over. But Dr. Frank Jobe performed an experimental surgery, in effect "transplanting" ligament tissue from the lower part of his body, and John came back to pitch several more years with the L.A. Dodgers, and then the New York Yankees, among other teams. Nowadays, Tommy John surgery is almost routine for pitchers. He finally retired after the 1989 season, amassing 2,245 strikeouts with a 3.34 career ERA. (From Yahoo Sports and The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball, 2003.)