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Articles by Michael Baumann
Rays Bounce Into Game 5 After 12-Inning Thriller
Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It didn’t always feel like a Rays home game. Multitudes of Brewers fans, unable to procure or afford tickets to Wisconsin’s first World Series games in 44 years, had flown to Florida to see their team clinch. But home field advantage played a part in the Rays’ improbable, dramatic 12-inning 4-3 win in Game 4 to extend the World Series at least one more night.
Sink, Florida, Sink: Inside the Rally That Broke the World Series Open
Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Pat Murphy, face stern and wide as ever, stepped forward and cupped his hands to his ears to signal a replay challenge. With runners on first and second and two out in the top of the fifth inning of Game 3 of the World Series, William Contreras had just topped a ball to third. Instead of making a throw across the diamond, Junior Caminero went the short way for the force at second.
The Brewers, the Rays, and the Pumping of Tires
Jonathan Dyer and Benny Sieu-Imagn Images MILWAUKEE — You all know the theoretical concept of a replacement-level player. I suspect I’m not the only one who associates that concept with a specific person: The guy who’s continuously mediocre despite repeated exposure to big league competition. The longer he sticks around, the more chances he gets, the more I catch myself thinking, “Why? Can’t they at least try to find someone better?” Until this year, that guy, for me, was Jake Bauers.
Small Is the Man Who Leads to Sal-Vation
Matt Marton-Imagn Images MILWAUKEE — In the bottom of the sixth inning of Game 2 of the World Series, Brewers right fielder Sal Frelick dug in against Rays reliever Ian Seymour. Seymour’s first pitch, a sinker, landed right in the middle of the zone for a called strike one. The Brewers had trailed 4-0 in this game before they’d even come to the plate, but they’d been in this position before. You must be a Member in order to read our postseason coverage.
The First Cut Is the Deepest: Buzzsaw Brewers Take Game 1
Michael McLoone-Imagn Images MILWAUKEE — The 2026 Brewers aren’t your typical postseason buzzsaw. They’ve won with defense and relief pitching, and their eight postseason victories have come by a combined 13 runs. Half of those games ended either with a Milwaukee walk-off hit, or with the opponent’s tying run on base. Every postseason game the Brewers have played was a one-run game in the sixth or later; they haven’t scored more than seven runs in a game since their 101st regular-season win.
Can the Rays Crack Jacob Misiorowski?
Benny Sieu-Imagn Images The way people talk about Jacob Misiorowski bothers me a little. Yeah, he’s taller than almost any other starting pitcher and throws harder than literally any starting pitcher in history. He led all major league pitchers in WAR this year, and if he wins the NL Cy Young Award next month — as he’s almost universally expected to do — it will be a deserved victory. But Miz didn’t lap the field or post paradigm-altering results.
William the Conqueror
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images LOS ANGELES — The Brewers had the NLCS pretty much in the bag since they struck right back at Blake Snell in the top of the seventh on Wednesday night — it was just a matter of when the coup de grace came. You could argue when it became obvious that they’d log the Dodgers off with a sweep: Was it when they chased Tyler Glasnow, making it clear that this would become yet another battle of bullpens?
This Is Why Kevin Cash Pulled Blake Snell
Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images LOS ANGELES — On Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, Blake Snell took the mound with his team down 2-0 in the NLCS and made one of the best postseason starts I’ve ever seen. For six scoreless innings, he was nearly unhittable. At one point, he set down 14 Brewers in a row, striking out nine of them. Only two baserunners separated Snell’s stretch from the historic postseason performances of Roy Halladay, or Don Larsen, or Josh Beckett. Both came in the second inning.
On, Wisconsin: Brewers Jolt Dodgers To Take 2-0 NLCS Lead
Michael McLoone-Imagn Images MILWAUKEE — Game 1 of the NLCS was an exemplary display of mid-2020s playoff baseball, a dramatic and finely poised showcase of high-powered pitching and expansive defense. Game 2 was a hot dog, loaded with chili and onions, and dropped clumsily down the diner’s shirt. And yet, the result was the same: The Brewers got the odd solo homer to center to erase an early Dodger lead, and a small-ball run put Milwaukee up for good.
It’s Brewtal Out There: Milwaukee Takes Game 1
Mark Hoffman / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images MILWAUKEE — A year ago, the Dodgers came to Milwaukee as the lower seed in the NLCS and blew the doors off the Brewers. Milwaukee scored four runs, total, in a four-game sweep. Both teams’ rosters have evolved, and individual players have changed for better (Jacob Misiorowski) or worse (Shohei Ohtani), but what could possibly be so different this time around?
Ramírez, Adell Down Sox, Extend ALDS
Matt Marton-Imagn Images You’ve probably heard this fun fact 500 times in the past 48 hours, but I’ll repeat it here: The White Sox haven’t clinched a postseason series at home since 1906. And while I’d take the under on another 120-year wait for a home clincher, White Sox fans are going to have to sit tight for at least another 24 hours.
Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One Before: Yamamoto, Hernández Bring Dodgers to Brink of NLCS
Brett Davis-Imagn Images Sunday night’s encore performance of the Ray Kerr Variety Hour felt like a turning point in this postseason. The Braves had not only survived the Chris Sale bullpen fiasco, they were headed back home with the series tied and their two best starting pitchers lined up on full rest. The Dodgers have been on the ropes before during their back-to-back World Series-winning run, but those ropes felt especially menacing against Sale and the resurgent Braves.
This Post Doesn’t Have a Headline Because the Yankees Dropped It
Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images The Tampa Bay Rays won the most games in the American League this year while running the AL’s second-lowest payroll. That’s a feat of team-building, first and foremost, but it also speaks to how well their players dodged leaks. On offense, they had the lowest strikeout and whiff rates in the majors; their pitchers had the league’s lowest walk rate and just 18 blown saves. You can’t make mistakes if you’re the Rays.
These Braves Are Bound for Glory: Kerr, Harris Punch Ticket to NLDS
Dale Zanine-Imagn Images On April 12, 1862, a group of 24 Union spies — most of them volunteer soldiers, led by civilian James Andrews — commandeered a locomotive in Big Shanty, Georgia, and headed north. Their goal was to rendezvous with Union forces in Chattanooga, destroying rail and telegraph lines as they went. Andrews and his men ran out of fuel less than 18 miles from their destination; all of the raiders were captured and eight, including Andrews, were executed.
Everybody Except the Yankees Is Doing Wild Card Roster Construction Wrong
Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images Big league front offices are, for the most part, populated by cowards. They say they want to win, but what they want most of all is to keep their jobs and not get yelled at. OK, maybe I came on too strong. That’s not cowardice, that’s just life under capitalism. A clever observer might note that one of the major sources of “getting yelled at” for major league GMs is the media — i.e., people like me. Maybe I should be nicer.
A Game of Inches: Austin Riley Powers Braves to Game 1 Victory
Dale Zanine-Imagn Images A high-stakes game between two archrivals, featuring two of the best left-handed starters in the league against two extremely top-heavy lineups: It was always going to come down to fine margins. One pitching change, one missed call, one baserunning mistake.
Sandy Alcantara, Quality Reliever
Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images It feels like ages ago that I wrote about Sandy Alcantara and how he’s on pace to lap the field in innings pitched for the second time in five seasons. Actually, it’s only been a week and change, and two very interesting things have happened in that time, meriting further exploration. Those two things: Alcantara’s first two career saves.
In a Pinch, “Running” Is a Relative Term
Kyle Ross-Imagn Images Welcome to another episode of Baseball Writer Notices Something Totally Mundane, Starts Thinking Way Too Hard About It, and Turns it Into an Article, brought to you by FanGraphs, WGBH Boston, and Viewers Like You. I’m your host, Bob Vila. A couple weeks ago, I was at a Phillies-Astros game where Don Mattingly chose to pinch-run for Luis Arraez with Garrett Stubbs.
Yankees Face Judge Dread
Brad Penner-Imagn Images When Aaron Judge is healthy, he’s the most dangerous hitter in baseball. Sometimes I get alarmed at how uncontroversial a statement that is; ours is a sport that so frequently humiliates those who make such sweeping, unequivocal judgments as those. But the empirical evidence is what it is. Judge has played 150 or more games in a season four times in his career. In those four seasons, he’s led all position players in WAR four times and led the league in wRC+ three times.
Otto: Better, Faster, Stronger
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Bryson Stott: The Finished Product
Rhona Wise-Imagn Images This year, the Philadelphia Phillies are 26th in team position player WAR and 27th in wRC+. It’s not because they haven’t thrown enough money at the problem. They’re paying eight position players at least $10 million this year, if you include the cost of Nick Castellanos’ buyout. Nine players have batted at least 250 times for the Phillies this year; Brandon Marsh is the only one who didn’t cost them either eight figures or a first-round draft pick.
Peter Lambert Even Surprises Himself Sometimes
Troy Taormina-Imagn Images Leading Astros pitchers in WAR usually takes some doing. The current AL West standings have Houston in line for its eighth division title and 10th postseason appearance in the past 12 years. Over that time, Astros pitchers have won three Cy Young Awards — two for Justin Verlander, one for Dallas Keuchel. Six other starters (Gerrit Cole, Framber Valdez, Lance McCullers Jr., Hunter Brown, Collin McHugh, and Yusei Kikuchi) have gotten downballot votes.
Shohei Ohtani Might Also Be Too Hurt To Hit
Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images As special and precious as Shohei Ohtani is, it makes sense that he’s delicate. Both the Dodgers and the Angels before them have handled Ohtani with padded tongs: six-man rotations, pitch counts, a full-time DH role. Ohtani has played just 8 1/3 career innings in the outfield, even though he clearly has the legs and arms to play center. It hasn’t mattered.
Come, Sale Away
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Player of the Week: Not a Joke Award After All
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Like a Bird on the Wire: Orioles Get Robert for Free
Brad Penner-Imagn Images It’s easy to forget that the trade deadline isn’t actually the last chance for teams to reload before the postseason. Players can join a team through waivers as late as August 31 — Monday, for those of you who, like me, have trouble keeping track of the calendar — and still be eligible for the playoffs. It’s common practice for teams to put expensive vets on the wire to see if anyone will bite and take the contract off their hands.
MLB’s Latest CBA Proposal Offers Thought-Provoking Hypotheticals, Even if It Is DOA
Mike Watters-Imagn Images As Pete Crow-Armstrong authors his breakout season and Chris Sale side-eyes Laz Diaz, the battle for the future of baseball rolls quietly on in the background. On Thursday, MLB delivered to the MLB Players Association its latest set of proposals for the next collective bargaining agreement.
Get Ready for Some Historically Bad Postseason Offense
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The Baseball Team Is Hot as Hell in Philadelphia. Someone Oughta Open Up a Window.
Eric Hartline-Imagn Images The Phillies won their ninth straight game on Sunday. Cristopher Sánchez started and Kyle Schwarber hit a game-winning home run. There are home runs and then there are home runs, and even by Schwarber’s standards, this one was a tank: straight out to dead center, over the batter’s eye. Twelve days ago, when the Phillies headed out to Iowa for the Field of Dreams game, they were 9.5 games out of first place in the NL East.
The Derek Hill All-Stars
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On the Efficiency of the Sacrifice Bunt in the Universal DH Era
Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images On Saturday, the Detroit Tigers pulled off a truly delightful 1-5-4 double play. A picture’s worth a thousand words, and a video even more, so I’ll save everyone a lot of work and show it to you. If you’re reading this, and you’re old enough to have lived through the war between small ball and sabermetrics in the early part of this century, you’re probably delighted to see a sacrifice bunt go awry like this.
The Old Man’s Christian Yelich Association
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Walbert Ureña Could Use a Little Fuel Himself, and We Could All Use a Little Change
William Liang-Imagn Images The Angels might be as adrift as ever, shedding players at the deadline, but they need someone — anyone — to throw enough innings to close out the season. The biggest void in their pitching staff was left by José Soriano, who was traded to the Blue Jays a week ago on Monday. Soriano throws incredibly hard and gets a huge number of groundballs.
Who’s Getting Their Money’s Worth From the ABS Challenge System?
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The Unhittable Brett Headrick
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Marlins Cap Off Deadline Day by Ordering Vodnik on the Rockies
Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images In this trade deadline season where everyone’s within reach of a playoff spot, the Marlins were one of several teams that attempted to chart a middle path. Sure, we’ll sell off some of our best players — including, in Liam Hicks and Lake Bachar, some guys with plenty of team control left — but we’ll add in other trades and try to backfill those roles. Miami’s big major league add was 26-year-old reliever Victor Vodnik, late of the Colorado Rockies.
Diamondbacks Pay Dearly for Nootbaar, and Not a Moment Too Soon
Jeff Curry-Imagn Images Having somewhat unexpectedly found themselves in a playoff spot at the deadline, the Diamondbacks have acquired outfielder Lars Nootbaar from the Cardinals in exchange for minor league pitchers Daniel Eagen and Sandro Santana, along with a player to be named later.
End of Jays: Toronto Gets Joshes From Texas, Sends Hoffman to Minnesota
John E. Sokolowski and Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images The Toronto Blue Jays, wedged as they are between punting this season and reloading for 2027 and beyond, have traded reliever Jeff Hoffman to the Twins for three prospects — pitchers Dasan Hill and John Klein, second baseman Dameury Pena — plus $250,000 in international bonus pool space. The Jays, ever tinkering, also sent left-handed pitcher Adam Macko to the Rangers for infielder Josh Smith and minor league righty Josh Stephan.
Red Sox Give Rutschman a New Birth in New England
Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images The Baltimore Orioles have traded Adley Rutschman to the Boston Red Sox, along with Jake Rogers, for catcher Carlos Narváez and four prospects: right-handed pitchers Anthony Eyanson and Kyson Witherspoon, and teenage center fielders Enddy Azocar and Harold Rivas. Wow. The first reaction to this deal can only be one of astonishment, on multiple levels. The trade itself is audacious, from both teams’ perspective.
The White Sox Are Brenton Over Backwards to Make Their Outfield Work
Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images The Chicago White Sox are in a position to buy at the deadline for the first time in Chris Getz’s three seasons as GM. And Getz sure is getting his money’s worth. First Luis Castillo, then Huascar Brazobán, and now an outfielder: Brenton Doyle, late of the Colorado Rockies. Doyle, 28, is not so much a unique player as the most extreme sustainable version of the all-glove/no-bat center field archetype.
Blue Jays Snag Soriano, but Pay a Heavy Price
Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images Hey, I thought the Blue Jays were selling! Apparently not, or at least only kind of. Barely 12 hours after sending Kevin Gausman to Chicago, Toronto GM Ross Atkins as replenished his team’s strategic splitter reserve by acquiring José Soriano from the Angels in exchange for three prospects: shortstop Arjun Nimmala, outfielder Eddie Micheletti Jr., and pitcher Angel Rivero.
Rays Trade for Freddy Peralta, Because Too Much Pitching Is Never Enough
Kyle Ross-Imagn Images You and I might never know if the Rays could have outbid the Dodgers for Tarik Skubal, but with the no. 1 player on the trading block off the board, Tampa Bay swept into action within hours. For the cost of outfielder Aidan Smith, second baseman Émilien Pitre, and pitcher Gary Gill Hill, the Rays have acquired right-hander Freddy Peralta from the New York Mets.
Bo Naylor Is Milwaukee-Bound as Brewers, Guardians Exchange Depth Pieces
David Richard-Imagn Images If this trade deadline turns out to be a dud, you’re going to see a lot of people blaming the 12-team playoff format, which has flattened the competitive landscape around the edges of the playoff field. As of Saturday morning, 11 of the 15 American League teams have at least a 25% chance of making the playoffs. In the National League, there’s a bit more stratification, but nine of 15 teams have at least a 19% chance of making the playoffs.
The Rays or Brewers Must Trade for Tarik Skubal
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Things Have Turned Out Pretty Well for Jake Mangum
Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images Not counting RotoGraphs posts, Jake Mangum has been a featured player in three articles on this site since the start of last season. In two of those — one each by myself and David Laurila — the phrase “Old School” appears in the headline. I wouldn’t put too much stock in headlines, especially my own, but in this case it tells you everything you need to know. Mangum, a legend at Mississippi State, has a style of play that firmly rebukes generations of baseball wisdom.
Bryan Baker Cut the Dead Weight
Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images I’ve written before about one of my favorite baseball traditions: The Rays make a run to the playoffs, and because they’re not the Yankees or Red Sox, and they turn over their entire 40-man roster every 24 months, they show up on TV with a bunch of guys the average sports fan has never heard of. Come October, America is introduced to a weird reliever when he throws three perfect innings in the ALDS. “Who the frick is this guy?” America asks.
Mead for Early: It’s a Challenge Trade!
Rafael Suanes and Eric Canha-Imagn Images The Boston Red Sox and Washington Nationals kicked off trade deadline season in earnest on Saturday night, when Boston sent left-handed pitcher Connelly Early to the Nats for corner infielder Curtis Mead. Most consequential trades this time of year involve a contender swapping one or more prospects for an established big leaguer. Not so this one.
Bradgley Rodriguez Is the Padres’ Next Indomitable Reliever
Jordan Godfree-Imagn Images Fifty-one weeks ago, the San Diego Padres traded a king’s ransom in prospects to the Athletics in exchange for depth starter JP Sears and hard-throwing relief ace Mason Miller. Ordinarily, I would’ve abhorred such a move. The top prospect who went the other way, Leo De Vries, came in at no. 6 overall in the Preseason Top 100 Prospects list, and in my mind there’s no more overrated commodity in baseball than team control for a reliever.
How Jacob Latz Is Missing Bats
Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images PHILADELPHIA — Before the Futures Game and All-Star Game, I asked a few players if there was anyone in the other dugout they were either looking forward to facing or hoping to avoid. Almost everyone — probably wisely, I must concede — declined the opportunity to give a potential World Series opponent bulletin board material. But Jacob Latz bit. “I’m trying to think of who has my number so far,” he said. “I gave up a homer to [Bryce Harper] in 2024.
Pay Day Comes for Chase Burns
Katie Stratman-Imagn Images Something significant happens to Chase Burns around this time every year. In 2024, the Reds made him the no. 2 overall pick in the draft. A little less than 12 months later, the former Wake Forest flamethrower made his big league debut. This summer, Burns was named to his first All-Star team, paving the way for a seven-year, $105 million contract extension.
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