Ronald Acuña Jr. helps Braves clinch playoff spot

The Phillies have kept Bowlan on the active roster since he left his appearance a week ago. Manager Don Mattingly indicated that Bowlan could still be on the Wild Card roster even if he doesn’t get into another regular-season game.

If Luzardo’s shoulder is feeling good, he’ll face hitters this weekend and then be included on the Wild Card roster, probably with the idea that he’s throw at least a couple of innings in a potential Game 3.

Woodford, who was signed to a minor league deal this month, will be pitching for his third team this year, assuming that he gets into a game. He had a 7.18 ERA in 26 1/3 innings for the Brewers and Cubs. At this point, it’s between him and Hunter Feduccia (Rays and Dodgers) for the player with the best chance of getting a World Series ring this year (assuming the World Series winner is feeling generous).

Englert loses his spot after giving up four homers and eight runs in 3 2/3 innings against the Yankees last night. He ends the year with a 0-4 record and a 5.95 ERA in four starts and 11 relief appearances for the Rays.

We’d have thought the Giants might be the least likely of the other 29 MLB teams to put in a claim on Doval, but here we are. Doval has collected 107 of his 109 career saves for the Giants and went to an All-Star Game in 2023 before being sent to the Yankees prior to the 2025 trade deadline. He returns to San Francisco having posted a 4.30 ERA and a 62/32 K/BB in 58 2/3 innings this season. The Giants will be able to keep him in 2027, but it’ll likely mean paying him $6 million-$7 million. That’s not a terrible roll of the dice, since his stuff is still just fine. However, he’s at -0.6 bWAR and 0.8 fWAR over the last three years combined.

Tidwell is probably going to have surgery on his damaged UCL, costing him all of next year.

It seems the hamstring issue that knocked him out of Wednesday’s game really must have been a cramp. Rafaela is hitting sixth tonight in his second game back from a quad strain.

Castillo’s velocity issues suggest he’s been dealing with this for a spell, but it probably didn’t help decided to suddenly turn him into a reliever and use him on one day of a rest Tuesday. He still could potentially see some postseason time, but he ends the regular season 4-11 with a 5.85 ERA in 130 2/3 innings. He’s owed $22.75 million next year in the final season of a five-year contract.

Davis was sent down just nine days ago, but now he’ll apparently get to finish the year in the White Sox pen. He has a 3.52 ERA in 29 appearances this season.

Gabriel Moreno is getting a half day off as a DH, so there’s no room for Sánchez today. Sánchez is just 2-for-15 for his new team. One imagines he’ll spend the weekend on the bench in favor of Jordan Lawlar and Ryan Waldschmidt if the D-backs are officially eliminated from contention.