Bryan Baker first to 40 saves in 2026

The 31-year-old righty battled through tightness in his back during Sunday’s victory over the Diamondbacks, but it appears to have been only a minor issue. Expect him to have no workload limitations when he takes the hill against the Blue Jays on Saturday.

Peters doesn’t normally sit against left-handers, but the White Sox have opted to work in all of their bench bats in this one with Peters, Colson Montgomery, Andrew Benintendi, Kyle Teel and Sam Antonacci all getting a breather in this one. Brenton Doyle will start in Peters’ place and will bat sixth against Tigers’ southpaw Framber Valdez.

Simpson is now ahead of Yordan Alvarez .311 to .310 in the race for the AL batting title, and he broke a tie with Bobby Witt Jr. for the AL lead in the steals, going from 42 to 44. He’s also upped his RBI total from 31 to 36 in his last four games. One wonders if the Rays might give him one more look in the leadoff spot, particularly since Yandy Díaz has not been doing a very good job of getting on base. The Rays, though, do like Simpson doing his running ahead of the bottom of the order.

Rasmussen needed only 76 pitches to secure his 15th win. He joins Nick Martinez there as the 11th and 12th 15-game winners in Rays history. Rasmussen is due to finish the regular season with a start against the Yankees next week. He could then face them again a week later, as everything is setting up for the Yankees and Red Sox to face off in a Wild Card series for the right to face the Rays.

The Tigers have been giving more of the playing time at second base to Hao-Yu Lee down the stretch as Torres is an impending free agent and they want to see what some of their younger players can do. The 29-year-old has started just twice in the last five games now and is likely to continue to see sporadic playing time over the final week and a half of the 2026 campaign.

The loss to his former team left Springs 4-14 with a 6.18 ERA on the season. He’s due to face the Angels next week in what could be his final start with the A’s. There’s no way the team is going to pick up his $15 million option for 2027.

The Rays swept the A’s anyway, but
Díaz went 0-for-13. He also managed just two singles in 13 at-bats in the previous series against the Astros. Díaz very much deserved to be an All-Star this year, but he’s been a below average DH since the beginning of July, hitting .253/.293/.392 in 309 plate appearances.

Even if Clarke, Max Muncy and Tommy White aren’t necessarily among the Athletics’ best nine starters, it’s odd just how little playing time they’re getting down the stretch here. Clarke, perhaps the game’s best defensive center fielder, entered today with one plate appearance in nine days. He actually did really well on his rehab assignment last month (.353/.463/.588 in 11 games for Las Vegas), and it would have made sense for the A’s to give him all the time he could handle to figure out whether he should in their 2027 plans. As is, he’s 2-for-14 with two walks and two strikeouts since being activated on Sept. 1.

The 35-year-old backstop has started behind the dish in each of the Phillies’ last five games, so he’ll get a breather in this one heading into the weekend. Garrett Stubbs will do the catching for the Phillies and will bat ninth against Mets’ right-hander Nolan McLean.

There haven’t been any rumblings of any physical issues, but this is the second time that Pasquantino has found himself on the bench in the last four games, so it’s possible that he’s battling through a minor injury. Salvador Perez will cover first base in his absence and will bat sixth against Astros’ righty Miguel Ullola.