Last weekend of the regular season. Last playoff spots up for grabs. This is the good stuff. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

Challenge system is coming. The competition committee — the composition of which virtually guarantees MLB gets its way on such things — votes in favor. Two challenges, if you win one you keep it, only batter and pitcher and catcher can challenge. Add challenge per extra inning.

The Mets have six days to avoid disaster. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

The Washington Nationals appear to some as “directionless,” with too many hands on the wheel. From @barrysvrlugawp.bsky.social, @andrewgolden.bsky.social and @chelseajanes.bsky.social: www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

The other day, Rob Manfred said that if he had to guess, MLB would have control of all 30 teams’ broadcast rights by 2028. That’s… a pretty big deal. Here’s why: www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

From yesterday, on Paul Skenes, including why he decided to take a leadership role in the union even though he is a much younger player than most executive subcommittee members past and present. t.co/VJi3Q669eO

Paul Skenes has been one of the best pitchers in baseball since the moment he stepped on a big league mound last May. He feels responsible to be more. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

Daylen Lile, 22, who just homered off Spencer Strider, is hitting .290 with an .811 OPS in 80 games — almost exactly half a season’s worth. The sample is growing.

Vienna/James Madison High School product making his debut in a playoff race #allmets

The Dodgers are having a disastrous regular season. They can’t win 100 games. They might not win the West. And it might not matter one bit. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

Dave Roberts said Tyler Glasnow reported with back soreness today and Mark Prior asked Ohtani around 2 pm if he would be able to start tonight. Everyone signed off, so here he is: The most protected starter in baseball, starting on short notice.

Looked like Kyle Finnegan just got hurt warming in the Tigers bullpen. Has been nails for them with a revamped repertoire since the trade. Was throwing and stopped abruptly. 60-plus appearances in four straight years. This would have been 53 for this year.

September is here, as are the five things that will define the last month of this baseball season. Buckle up. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

Guardians announce that MLB and the MLBPA have agreed to extent the non-disciplinary paid leave of Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase until further notice while the league continues its betting-related investigation. So no resolution to their situations yet.

This year was a mess for Orioles. The prospects are here — one even for the long haul now! But the winning is not. Can they still get this right? www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

Marcus Semien hitting the injured list for the first time since 2017, which was before most of the current Nationals lineup was born.

I think Dylan Crews could really matter for the long-term culture of the Nationals. Just a different level of competitiveness and focus. The kind that makes the people around you match it.

It is amazing how wary I am to say this, though any regular Nats watchers from recent years will understand… these first few starts from Cade Cavalli have been veryyy interesting.

The trouble for present day Julio Rodriguez has always been rookie Julio Rodriguez, who made everything look easy and superstardom look guaranteed. Expectations are so heavy. Could letting go be the key to Julio taking flight? www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

When Jen Pawol called longtime big league ump Chris Guccione to tell him she was going to make history as a member of his crew this weekend, he started “yelling with excitement.” “Let’s go!” he said. Indeed. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

This really sums things up, but man did Nats land need those 13 outs.

The Brewers don’t make sense. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

Easy to say since this would never happen, but if you told me to draft a team of current big leaguers to win the World Series, I think Kyle Schwarber might be my first pick.

So after Jackson Chourio’s hamstring is worse than Brewers thought and Sal Frelick leaves Saturday’s game with knee issue, Brewers announce they’ve placed Jacob Misiorowski on the IL with left tibia contusion.

After rest of Tigers bullpen starts imploding, it’s Kyle Finnegan who calms everything down with four outs to get the save for Tarik Skubal against the tough Phillies. Threw way more secondary stuff relative to usual fastball-heavy mix he leaned on with Nats. Interesting.

Imagine returning to a clubhouse where more than half the roster is different overnight. That must be so jarring.

Jordan Montgomery, my trade deadline bingo card is officially complete

A thought on Mullins: Always seems to have a bigger impact than numbers show. Clutch. Often was the one who found a way when younger O's hitters were struggling. Made clutch plays in the outfield as often as he did spectacular ones. Offers more than meets the eye.

A little surprised by this only because Tigers have been explicit in their desire to have elite stuff above all in the back end. Finnegan more of a grit guy. Fascinating pairing. Good for Finnegan, who jumps right into a pennant race.

Want to slowly watch me lose my mind in a public forum over the next six hours? Our trade deadline tracker is for you.

There’s so little you can count on in this world, you have to appreciate AJ Preller’s commitment to chaos. Decade-plus later, no one cooks like he does.

The trade deadline is 6 pm. Thoughts, feelings, and updates here all day. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

Since his debut season in ‘22, Duran is one of the top 15 relievers in baseball in ERA/strikeouts and third in Win Probability Added. Also under control through 2027. Big deal for the Phillies.

That being said, if WaPo’s in a rebuild I can promise you one thing after 10-plus years here: Plenty of talent still on the roster, and everyone on that roster plays to win.

Can’t relate to most things players go through, but last few months taught me new empathy for those who watch their team torn down around them for reasons they don’t fully understand. It’s devastating. And @sallyjenx.bsky.social departing is latest gut punch, a moral compass for the sports world.

Where is Mercury and can someone move it out of retrograde

Headline, with all due reverence given to the gravity of the issue: Emmanuel Clase has been placed on leave amid ongoing betting investigation. Subtitle: Holy crap, did that just blow up the deadline? www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

And now Seth Lugo enters a busy baseball chat as the Royals announce a two-year extension with him that includes a vesting option for 2028.

MLB announces that Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase - who had been, among other things, one of top relievers potentially available at the deadline — has been placed on non-disciplinary paid leave through August 31 “while MLB continues its sports betting investigation.”

The Big Dumper jokes write themselves. But after a prolific first half and crazy All-Star Break, Cal Raleigh is on the verge of writing some serious baseball history. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

The National League won the game. MLB won the night. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

Pete Alonso being left on deck in a winner-take-all Home Run Derby scenario that somehow found him the one year he said the Derby didn’t call to him is basically the equivalent of Ron getting to Voldemort first and leaving Harry standing there with his wand. Like, the plot broke.

National League wins the game, MLB wins the night. Between ABS intrigue, mic’d up moments, and the swing-off, that was downright interesting. And that has not always been true of these games in recent years.

In 2021, MLB moved the All-Star Game from Atlanta. Four years later, it’s back. On changing political climates and MLB’s willingness to move with the breeze. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

Rob Manfred said conversations happening about MLB players potentially playing in 2028 Olympics: “It is possible to play the ASG in its normal spot, have a single break that would be longer but still play 162 games without bleeding into the middle of November.

James Wood took baseball’s national stage for the first time Monday, which meant a lot of questions and cameras and attention — none of which are his thing. He called himself ‘boring.’ But he introduced himself to the baseball world as something all his own. t.co/ADTYJOAk6G

Someone asked James Wood what he planned to do with the prize money if he wins the Derby: “Probably go to Waffle House.”

Hours before the latest National will take part in the Home Run Derby, I was remembering the last two, both of whom did so at emotional moments for them and the org. Bryce knew he was gone and so did the fans, and it was a chance for both to say goodbye. www.washingtonpost.com/news/nationa...

The Mike DeBartolo era of Nationals baseball begins with Eli Willits, which seems to suggest an expensive in the second round, and definitely feels different.

Pitching injuries keep coming, and solutions to this growing problem don’t. So I talked to a few trainers and coaches about a question I felt a little silly even asking: are professional pitchers throwing enough…? www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...