MLB Player News

The 36-year-old slugger opened the scoring in the game with a 381-foot solo shot off of Eduardo Rodriguez in the second inning. He then tagged the Tigers’ southpaw for a 384-foot three-run shot in the third inning to increase the Dodgers’ early advantage to 5-0. Martinez then tacked on an RBI single in the seventh for good measure, finishing the night with five RBI. On the season, he’s slashing a healthy .266/.318/.556 with 28 long balls and 91 RBI.

The Cubs got their much-needed sweep, thanks in no small part to Wisdom’s 22nd homer. He’s been surprisingly solid since having his role reduced. All-or-nothing players like him tend to struggle as part-timers, but Wisdom is hitting .262 with eight homers in 70 plate appearances during the second half. He’s at .207/.294/.504 in 290 plate appearances overall.

Wicks bounced back nicely from his first poor outing as a major leaguer, and he might have actually pitched six scoreless in another ballpark today. The homers he gave up, both to left-center at Wrigley, would have been out of one ballpark and three ballparks, respectively. They weren’t truly cheap, getting hit 385 and 391 feet, but they probably would have been caught in most parks.

It’s a shaky Cubs pen with Adbert Alzolay and others on the IL, but it held up again. Merryweather pitched the eighth and José Cuas the ninth on Saturday, mostly because the eighth was the tougher part of the Rockies lineup. Merryweather returned to the ninth today and picked up his second save since Alzolay went down. He’ll remain the favorite for saves for now, though it’s possible Alzolay could return next weekend.

Rodgers finally hit his first homer of the year Wednesday. Now he has two after taking Jordan Wicks deep today. He’s hit .359 with seven RBI in his last 10 games. With the Rockies are home for the final week of the year, he’d be a smart pickup for those still trying to win their leagues.

The 30-year-old outfielder was held out of Sunday’s lineup due to soreness in his right leg that he suffered during a slide into home plate during Saturday’s ballgame. Fantasy managers can rest easy knowing that Nimmo shouldn’t be forced to miss any additional time during the season’s final week.

Friedl had the series of his life against the Pirates, going 6-for-8 with three homers, a double, six walks and two steals. It’s too bad his teammates could drive him in only one of the nine times he was on base while losing two out of three games. Friedl added 40 points of OPS in the series, putting him at .819. He has 17 homers this season, 13 of which have come in Cincinnati.

The runs came on a homer, a double and an RBI single in the fifth. Buck Farmer took over with one out and managed to strand the inherited runner. Williamson’s stuff has been down some in three starts since he returned from COVID, and if the Reds get eliminated, they could choose to skip his final start next weekend. If not, he’d face the Cardinals.

We’re not sure if the intention going in was to use him earlier in the game today because of his struggles his last two times out or if the Reds wanted to pitch him with a one-run lead then because it was a tougher part of the order. Díaz walked two but didn’t allow a hit. After the Reds added an insurance run, Ian Gibaut got the ninth and protected the lead for his third save of the year. We imagine Díaz will still be the primary choice for saves during the final week.

Priester walked five, but he allowed two hits and got through six on just 92 pitches. One more strong outing against Miami on Saturday would definitely give him a boost going into 2024. As is, he’s still sporting a 7.86 ERA in 44 2/3 innings.

Battenfield will shuttle back to Triple-A after only a couple of days with the big league club in order to free up a spot for Anthony Kay. The 26-year-old righty didn’t appear in a game during his brief stay with the Mets.