caulfield12

That was the same reason given for the 2012 collapse against Detroit. Too many rookies/inexperienced players. Kolson Mune and Castillo aren't rookies, though.

CWS +11 in AL Central -7 vs. NL -2 vs. AL East/West Detroit -14 in AL Central E vs NL 34-18 vs. AL East/West entire division -25 vs. NL

You could also argue Kolson Braden and Castillo are equally responsible. Braden just wasn't really prepared for this...he gets more of a pass until next season.

Or as a PR/defense guy along with Doyle.

Nope. The AL Central has been hiding or let's just say masking the true weaknesses of those five teams for most of the season. But now the pen is hiring after getting overused all season long. Three players look beyond help until the offseason. And it still ALMOST worked if Grant Taylor executed a better pitch vs. Rocchio. One thing is 100% true, Castillo and Brazoban actively hurt the team's chances of holding things together and dragging over the finish line into postseason play.

The Padres had the 30th rated farm system and still managed to improve their team...ofc part of that was Tatis and Machado playing much better. Now one GB the vaunted Cubs. Could have easily sold off Miller King Morejon and even Salas. White Sox were roughly around #13-16 system.

Padres one game behind Cubbies. Season series tie, Cubs win tiebreaker on intradivisional record 5-4 Cubs means 7-2 Padres need to finish 91-71 Or 4-5 and 6-3 to win at 90-72, Cubs 89-73

But Guardians were also down DeLauter and Angel Martinez. Detroit with six dangerous hitters...Dingler coming out of massive slump Batters DET B HR RBI SB AVG OPS McGonigle3B L 17 65 12 .274 .800 TorresDH R 8 37 0 .265 .741 DinglerC R 27 88 0 .242 .753 Greene, RLF L 20 73 3 .284 .851 Torkelson1B R 24 72 1 .226 .744 McKinstryRF L 4 26 3 .204 .590 ClarkCF L 3 22 5 .277 .798 PeckSS R 0 7 4 .220 .584 Báez, J2B R 2 17 1 .238 .616 Dustin Harris #'s looking good now .313 .782

No relationship to the Philly Phanatic?

Two lefties. Problem is he hits them much better than RHP.

Okamoto’s 4/$60 doesn’t seem all that far off. 33 homers and subpar defense at third…lower OPS overall than Mune but clearly on the upswing. 255 k’s had Murakami played out the full season is absolutely nuts, but had he maintained his earlier paces and not gotten hurt, would arguably now be at 40-45 homers and probably 210-225 k’s.

The biggest question is whether he remains irreparably broken next year. Certainly nothing’s getting fixed for this year, for both him and Kolson…heck, Braden, too. but how can you possibly plan for 2027 with those three? It’s hard to imagine Mune would just give up and go back to Japan and leave that $$$ on the table (as well as future FA dreams), but absolutely anything feels possible atm Getting released or traded next mid season feel like equal likelihoods Finally, there are going to be lots of questions about the hitting coaches/approach as well this off-season. Does it have a limitation, or even fatal flaw against competition outside the AL Central/West??? Ofc Vargas Peters Meidroth Antonacci Grichuk Bonemer Boston Smith all stood out on the positive side of the ledger. But the rebuild feels like it’s still at a crossroads of sorts. Kyle Teel getting back to 100% and playing like his second half 2025 version feels more critical than ever.

But not 50/50... odd numbers aren't exciting it's 30/30, 40/40 and GOAT Ohtani "At 20 years, 107 days old, Ethan Salas became the youngest catcher in MLB history with two home runs in the same game. He’s the youngest Padre at any position to do so. “It was a good day,” a grinning Salas said afterward, marking quite the understatement. “Thankfully we got the win. And I got two good swings off today.” A good day got even better for the Padres later that night. With the Marlins’ win over the Diamondbacks, the Padres moved 3 1/2 games ahead of Arizona in the race for the final Wild Card spot in the National League." mlb.com

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/articles/astros-perfect-example-why-american-160002256.html

Tmrw Valdez Fedde Then Sears TBD Jobe, then Melton to finish off series unless they switched Drew Anderson with Melton 72-80 Houston CLE TEX Toronto the much bigger worries…especially with Houston holding the only tiebreaker of those four Adams, M Pummeled by Padres, Ethan Salas 4.1 8 6 6 3 1 1 5.09

5-12 Before that they were 9 over and flying high

The problem is now they’re going to essentially be tied with Houston because of the tiebreaker…for the 6th WC spot. 1/2 game ahead of CLE still, loss tmrw gives them a tie

Worst.of.all.time And the Marlins have two WS titles in 97 and 03 Twins Royals Guardians Tigers all better…only Detroit under Mike Ilitch, Sr. with higher payrolls And that’s four years out of date White Sox should be what, 123+ total seasons now? 11/123 =0.0894

DTF St.Louis Thoughts?

Or a worse three year run…346 total losses.

Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Steve Ballmer, Ted Turner managing the Braves, Jim Crane now in Houston…why owners shouldn’t be too involved in running things.

Cannon is in Korey Lee territory…

Mason Adams going tonight for Colorado. 3.38 ERA Scheduled to start final game of the season at GRF next Sunday.

GEtz for 2026 AL Executive of the Year...like Hahn's son with 2008 coin flip call for G163.