Ronald Acuña Jr. doubles, scores in loss to Cubs

He’ll replace Joshua Báez for the last week and change of the season. Prieto is ultimately just a depth piece for the Cardinals, though perhaps he’ll find some work against lefties.

This effectively ends his season. Báez hit .230/.278/.510 with seven homers and two stolen bases in 29 games with the Cardinals, including an electric three-homer debut at Wrigley Field. The 23-year-old will likely be in the Cardinals plans for 2027 in left field or at designated hitter. The power and speed he showcased will make him a popular fantasy sleeper even despite the sub-par batting average.

He hit .091 in 11 plate appearances with the Cubs. The 26-year-old has hit better than that with Iowa, but he was not in any position to crack the lineup in a real role with the Cubs.

Swanson will take back over an every day role for the last week and change of the season. The low batting average has taken its toll on Swanson’s fantasy value, as he’s hitting .216/.300/.404 with 18 homers and 17 stolen bases. Still, he could be useful in deeper leagues for the final bit of the season.

This was rumored to be close on Thursday and it gets done on Friday. This extension buys out one year of free agency as well as his arbitration seasons before considering the team option. The Athletic’s Spencer Nusbaum reports the deal is worth $47 million guaranteed and that the option is worth $23 million. Cavalli, starting tonight’s game for the Nationals, has posted a 3.12 ERA in 31 starts while striking out 194 batters over 164 2/3 innings. He’s been even better than that as of late, with a 2.83 ERA since the start of June. The 28-year-old will be a part of the Nationals rotation plans going forward and has made the leap to extremely useful fantasy pitcher this season. It’s a success for the Nationals to get him locked up for the long-term.

That makes two of the last three games on the bench for Caglianone, who may not be completely over getting beaned in the forearm on Tuesday (or his elbow injury that kept him out for much of last week) at this point. John Rave will be in there against RHP Paul Skenes.

It appears to be a routine day off against Rays LHP Ian Seymour. Connor Wong will get the start at catcher after Rutschman played the last six games in a row.

Gordon has a 4.67 ERA in 54 innings (over 10 starts) with Triple-A Nashville since coming over in the Lance McCullers Jr. trade. He’ll be an option to start or go bulk in a game down the stretch for the Brewers as they finish off a sterling regular season.

He threw three innings yesterday and was exchanged for a fresh arm in LHP Colton Gordon. Stallings has thrown 14 shutout innings in the bigs so far this year, with 17 strikeouts and just four hits allowed.

He was hit by a pitch on a swing and left the game on Thursday. X-rays came back negative, but he will likely remain day-to-day for most of the weekend. Nick Sogard is handling first base tonight while Isiah Kiner-Falefa squeezes into the lineup at second base.