Cup of Coffee: September 17, 2026

Good morning! And welcome to Free Thursday!

And away we go.

And That Happened

Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:

Guardians 6, White Sox 3: Not gonna lie: I chuckled a good bit when the lineups came out for this one and I saw that Tommy Pham was listed as the Sox' cleanup hitter. I mean, this is a team fighting for its life to hold a playoff spot in an extraordinarily important game against the team trying to take that playoff spot from them and their number four hitter was a frankly insane person who has pissed off every team he's played for and who has made just 15 hitless plate appearances on the season? Really? So of course he smacks a go-ahead three-run homer in the fifth. He's annoying even when he does good things!

That lead did not hold up, however, as the Guardians struck back with four runs in the sixth thanks to Petey Halpin's three-run shot and an RBI double from José Ramírez. It ended 6-3 and with that Cleveland wins the series and now sits a half game ahead of the White Sox in first place in the AL Central, tied in the loss column. It's the first time the Chisox have not been in first since July 3. They have ten games left to play. Cleveland has nine. And whoever doesn't win the Central is going to have to fight off Texas, Toronto, and possibly even Baltimore over the season's final week and change.

Giants 6, Cardinals 5: St. Louis rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie things up but they couldn't come back from Drew Gilbert hitting a two-run home run in the top of the 10th. Earlier San Francisco's Jonah Cox had three hits, two stolen bases, scored a run, and drove in a run. Giants take two of three.

Twins 5, Yankees 4: Anthony Volpe of all people hit a two-run double in the top of the ninth to force extra innings. Extra innings which were sort of tedious if you were watching it. The sides traded runs in the 10th. They each had ignominious stretches in extras too, with the Yankees hitting into a pitcher-to-catcher-to-first double play in the top of the 12th and the Twins' bottom of the 12th ending with the Manfred Man getting picked off of second after which they hit into a double play. Victor Caratini ended it by leading off the bottom of the 13th by singling in the Manfred Man. Minnesota avoids the sweep.

Blue Jays 5, Tigers 1: Max Scherzer allowed one over five and three relievers held Detroit scoreless the rest of the way. The Jays scored their runs one at a time between the fourth and the sixth. Toronto salvages one in the three-game set and sits a game and a half behind the White Sox for the final Wild Card.

Rays 4, Athletics 3: The Rays got three RBI doubles in the first two innings to build up an early 4-0 lead. Nick Martinez struck out three and allowed five hits over five to pick up his 15th win on the year. Tampa Bay has won five straight.

Phillies 3, Nationals 0: Zack Wheeler (7 IP. 4 H, 0 ER) and two relievers combined for a four-hit shutout. Philly got two in the first via an Alec Bohm single and a Bryson Stott bases loaded walk. Luis Arraez doubled one in in the seventh. Nats pitchers walked 13 Phillies batters in this one and that's no way to go through life, fellas.

Reds 6, Dodgers 2: Dodgers starter Blake Snell only lasted one inning here, being forced to leave because of left groin tightness that, after the game he said began during his pregame bullpen session but which he decided to try to play through. That obviously didn't work, which forced Dave Roberts to trot out six relievers, three of whom each gave up a couple of runs. Elly De La Cruz hit a two-run homer in the third and Dane Myers went deep in the fifth. An RBI single in the sixth and two RBI singles in the seventh rounded out the scoring. Cincinnati can earn a split of the four-game series this afternoon.

Brewers 5, Pirates 4: This one went back and forth with the Brewers staking out an early 2-0 lead, then making it a 3-1 lead thanks to a Brice Turang double in the fifth. But Brandon Lowe tied things up with a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth and he Bucs took the lead in the sixth when Rafael Flores Jr. hit a solo shot. Milwaukee did not cave, however, loading the bases in the seventh before Christian Yelich hit a two-run single to put the Brewers back in front to stay. Four Milwaukee relievers finished it off with three and a third scoreless innings. They go for the sweep this afternoon.

Orioles 7, Mets 1: Chris Bassitt allowed one run while working into the seventh and the O's never trailed. The first run of the game came on yet another Pete Alonso homer that led to yet another ovation from the Citi Field crowd. That's good. I figured there wouldn't be another day of a certain sort of Mets fan acting as if it's surprising that a beloved player who left town due to business stuff out of everyone's control might be cheered in a game that doesn't otherwise matter for the home team. Jeremiah Jackson, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, and Sam Basallo also homered. Basallo added an RBI single. Orioles sweep the series. The Mets have lost five of six.

Cubs 8, Atlanta 4: Pete Crow-Armstrong put on another show, going deep twice, driving in three, and scoring three times on a 3-for-4 night. Alex Bregman was right there with him, homering, tripling in two runs, and doubling in a run for a four-RBI night. Michael Conforto singled in run number eight. Shota Imanaga allowed one run over six. The Cubs take the rubber match and fly on to beautiful Cincinnati, Ohio for a weekend set. They have a day off in the Queen City today too. They should go to Cincinnati Union Terminal. In addition to simply being a cool art deco train station it was also the model for the Hall of Justice on Super Friends and was used as an actual filming location for the headquarters of the Justice Gang in last year's "Superman."

I can hear Ted Knight saying "meanwhile . . . at the Hall of Justice!" right now!

Rangers 7, Red Sox 3:  Brandon Nimmo hit a tiebreaking double in the seventh inning and Ezequiel Duran added a two-run single for some insurance. Nathan Eovaldi allowed one hit over four scoreless innings in relief, finishing the game retiring his last 11 batters. The Rangers have won four in a row, and are now back in a first place tie with Houston in the AL West. They're exactly .500 with ten games to go, too, so our dream of a sub-.500 division winner is absolutely still on the table. They're also just one game back of Chicago for that last Wild Card.

Royals 5, Astros 2: John Rave hit a two-run homer in the fourth, Michael Massey homered in the eighth, and Carter Jensen plated two with a double and an error assist later that inning. Kansas City held the Astros scoreless into the eighth with five shutout innings from Daniel Lynch IV and even one clean sheet of an inning from Craig Kimbrel of all people. The loss drops Houston into the aforementioned first place tie with Texas.

Padres 9, Rockies 3: Young Ethan Salas, hit two homers – a solo number in the second and a two-run shot in the fifth. With his first homer he, at 20 years, 107 days, became the youngest catcher to hit a home run in a game since Ivan Rodríguez in 1991, who was 19 years and 283 days old when he smacked his third career homer (it was actually Pudge's third, with his first hit a week before). With Salas' second shot he became the youngest catcher with a multi-homer game in major league history, breaking Butch Wynegar’s record from 1976, when Wynegar was 20 years, 192 days. So, neat. With the win San Diego moved 3.5 games ahead of Arizona for the last National League Wild Card, so I guess they're happier than anyone that Alcantara decided to play closer.

Mariners 7, Angels 2: Cal Raleigh had two hits and three RBI, Josh Naylor had two hits and two RBI. Imagine if those two had hit like that all year. Randy Arozarena walked, singled and scored three runs. Seattle is not going to make the postseason, but they've yet to be eliminated. They're 5.5 games behind Texas and Houston in the American League West and 6.5 games behind the Chicago White Sox for the third AL Wild Card spot with nine games left. The end will come soon, but I suppose if they try hard enough they can say later that they were "in it until the last week of the season" even though such a phrase would serve to cover up a lot of ugly baseball in the season's previous 26 weeks of the season.

Marlins 4, Diamondbacks 3: Jakob Marsee hit a two-run homer and doubled to start Miami’s two-run second inning. Heriberto Hernández drove in on of the runs with an infield single and another run scored on a Nolan Arenado throwing error. The most interesting thing here is that Marlins manager Clayton McCullough called on Sandy Alcantara to close things out in the ninth inning, two days after he threw 101 pitches in a no-decision. Alcantara got the save – his first ever – after throwing 13 pitches, recording two flyouts and a walk before the game ended on a caught-stealing attempt. It was his ninth career relief appearance. The previous eight all came when he was a rookie in St. Louis. Why Alcantara? The Marlins had used eight pitchers in an 11-inning win the night before, so the bullpen was depleted and Alcantara apparently volunteered as tribute. Which, OK, I suppose that's a choice.

The Daily Briefing

Aaron Judge is hurt again

Aaron Judge was removed from yesterday's game against the Twins with "lower right leg tightness." It happened in the sixth inning when he was lifted for a pinch-hitter. He had gone 0-for-2 with a pair of strikeouts to that point and appeared visibly uncomfortable following an awkward check swing during the second one. After the game he said he had started feeling the tightness in the field in the first inning but decided to try to stick it out.

Judge is 4-for-23 with 13 strikeouts and one extra-base hit in seven games since returning from his long broken rib-caused IL sting. I guess the good news is that this problem is not related to his rib injury, but it's nothing the Yankees want less than two weeks before the postseason starts.

This is Hell. I'm in Hell, right?

From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Actor Mark Wahlberg shared new details about his upcoming movie about former Cincinnati Reds player and manager Pete Rose, who died in 2024.

Wahlberg said the movie will focus on the last part of Rose's career as player and manager, his pursuit of Ty Cobb's MLB hit record, and Rose's life after baseball. Wahlberg said production could begin later this year.

As Wahlberg spoke, someone in the audience yelled, "Put him in the Hall of Fame!"

"We gotta put him in the Hall of Fame, yes!" Wahlberg responded.

On the bright side, by putting an absolutely loathsome actor in the role there is no chance that this project will serve to rehabilitate the loathsome Pete Rose. Like, if this was a Matt Damon vehicle I'd be concerned, but all of the people who like Marky Mark already like Rose and all of them can be completely dismissed so, ultimately, there will be no lasting harm arising out of this film.

Cuppagentsia Update

The Globe and Mail interviewed Cup of Coffee subscriber Lesley Mak about her Blue Jays hat collection. As in, the collection of hats she buys for herself and the ones she designs custom.

As always, if any of you have something you want to share, hit me up! We should celebrate our successes, our hobbies, our weirdness and, hell, if you're cool with it, even our more dubious achievements. Like, I'm not above sharing a mug shot from one of y'all as long as it's funny or comely and as long as it's not for, like, killing someone. Unless it was someone who needed killin'.

Other Stuff

History's Greatest Monster laughs

Yesterday the Federal Reserve voted to raise interest rates for the first time since 2023. This was deemed necessary as America's central bank continues to attempt to fight inflation.

Inflation. Rising interest rates. Slowing economic growth. Massive disruptions in the energy sector. The job market is still holding relatively steady, but there are objective signs of weakness and anecdotal signs of increasing anxiety on the part of job-seekers. Should unemployment spike the U.S. will officially be in stagflation mode.

Between that and America's disastrous failure in an ill-advised military operation in Iran I am starting to think that Jimmy Carter is behind all of this. He caught hell from everyone for all of those things and now his spirit will have its revenge upon us all.

Well, you all. I've long been a conspicuous Carter-lover. Only I and a few others have maintained our Carter piety throughout the years. We stan the Crisis of Confidence speech! We turn down our thermostats and put on sweaters in the winter! We find the imperial presidency gauche! We appreciate and will not necessarily rule out styling our spaces in avocado, harvest gold, or perhaps a rich ochre, terracotta, or amber color palette! And for this we shall be spared by St. James the Latter!

At least I hope. Gulp.

"The veneer of morality in the American upper class is very thin"

After his first term and after listening to everything that was being said from, basically, January 6, 2021 until the 2004 election, I was fully prepared for Trump to go fully fascist the second time around. He was making no secret of it and, based on who he began promoting and surrounding himself with as his 2024 campaign got rolling, it seemed like none of the guardrails which at least moderately held the Republic together between 2017 and 2021 would be there again. The man was coming into office with the worst of intentions and anyone who thought otherwise was deluding themselves. I wrote as much the morning after the election and, sadly, everything I wrote there holds up.

But I'll cop to the one bit of hope I had at the time that, even if I dared not give it voice, I held inside me: the idea that the non-governmental institutions of America would use their bulk, bureaucratic bloat, and cultural cachet to put the brakes on and thus minimize the damage. I didn't think they'd truly and conspicuously rise to the occasion to actively combat fascism, necessarily – that always seemed too ambitious an ask – but I thought that they'd at least stand as a passive impediment to authoritarian rot.

Maybe it was more than just hope. I've been around and worked with universities and getting them to do anything radical or anything quickly is difficult. Law firms too, because even if the big rich ones represent a lot of bad actors they and their clients always have prioritized low-drama and ongoing prosperity and doing the bidding of Trump would be the opposite of that. Same with entertainment companies who at least try to be all things to all people out of commercial interest and have always seemed to understand that collaborating or submitting to divisive political movements files in the face of such a goal. Again, I never expected them to actively fight or to protect us or anything, but I figured they were big and slow enough to where they'd serve as a limiting factor on how bad things could get.

But I was wrong about that. Hilariously wrong, in fact, and I watched almost all of these actors bend the knee, and bend it quickly, in one way or another for all of 2025 and well into 2026. And it's not like they all had guns to their heads, because any time the odd law firm or university did stand up to the fascists it worked out OK for them. Just as it always does when one stands up rather than capitulates to bullies. The active and actual harm done to immigrants, trans persons, women, children, and other vulnerable people and the active destruction of governmental agencies and the like which actually do good in this world has been the worst thing to see, but like I wrote back in November 2024, everyone saw that coming. Watching the large institutional and corporate actors roll over the way they have, in contrast, has been truly surprising.

I am not alone in that thinking. This comes from Michelle Goldberg's latest column in the New York Times in which she talks about Jacob Weisberg’s new book, “Profiles in Cowardice: A Study of Collaboration in the Trump Era.”:

I didn’t expect major law firms, some that have long boasted about their progressive pro bono work, to fold with barely a fight. I didn’t expect TV networks to settle bogus lawsuits by paying the president millions, or for Ivy League schools such as Columbia to relinquish autonomy over curriculum, admissions and student discipline. In Hungary, it took years for Viktor Orban’s government to bring most of academia, the news media and other pillars of civil society to heel. Why were so many powerful people in America, a country whose civic culture is steeped in resistance to tyranny, so willing to abase themselves and their institutions? 

I'm sure Weisberg's book goes into that and, whenever I'm able to stomach a book about our current political era, I'll check it out. But I understand Goldberg's default stance. Indeed, as noted, I shared it.

And this comes from Fintan O'Toole's review of American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn’s Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump by Kai Bird in the latest issue of the New York Review of Books:

There is something eerie about the thoroughness of Trump’s mimicry of Cohn’s way of dealing with the world: lie relentlessly, refuse to pay small bills, respond to all criticism with smears and threats, claim all defeats as triumphs, sue everybody all the time, weaponize the law and, when you can, the entire justice system, learn from the Mafia, use the phone to avoid leaving a paper trail, always present your highly privileged self as a victim of the elites, divide the world into allies to be used and enemies to be abused, into the winners who must be flattered and the losers who are there to be exploited in every imaginable way.

Trump’s language is Cohn’s language (always preface a big lie with “if you wanna know the truth”) and so is his whole style of public speaking—Cohn taught him to ad lib everything. Above all, Trump learned one very big thing from Cohn: that the veneer of morality in the American upper class is very thin. Cohn proved conclusively that there is no limit to its tolerance for corruption. Trump got that message—and so did Jeffrey Epstein.

I suppose that's a pretty definitive response to my and Goldberg's shared delusion. We expected our institutions to withstand corruption in the various ways that term can be defined, but they didn't because our institutions are immoral or, at best, malignantly amoral. And not just in ways that someone who grew up in the 80s and came to adulthood in the 90s and thought he had accurately taken the measure of the greed and self-interest in American society had thought. The rot is way worse and way deeper than even a cynically-leaning skeptic like me ever expected. Outrageously worse. All I've been able to think for the last year or so is that I'm never, ever going to get back even the heavily qualified faith I had in our society. And I really don't know what to do with that.

Newsletter cleanser

After something that depressing and heavy I feel obligated to let everyone know that there's a new documentary about capybaras:

You can read about it here.

In related news, on Sunday Allison, a couple of friends and I are going to go pet capybaras. No, not at the place we did it last year. We're doing it at another place. There will probably be photos in Monday's newsletter.

Thanks for indulging me on this sort of thing. Frankly, the only things keeping my mental health together these days is orange vanilla-flavored Polar seltzer, the return of "Slow Horses," taking irresponsible vacations, and petting capybaras.

Armadillos have reached Ohio

And now on a slightly more ominous animal kingdom note, here is some great news for those of us who have been thinking about gettin' into leprosy:

The armadillos are in Ohio.

The leathery mammals, mostly associated with dry, sweltering locations like Texas, have been creeping northward over the last century or so. But last week researchers collected a dead armadillo by the roadside four miles east of Oxford, Ohio, near the Indiana border — the first formally documented armadillo to have migrated to the state.

I dunno man, setting aside the implicit climate change worries stories like these invoke, it's unsettling for a different reason.

I come from a possum roadkill culture, not an armadillo roadkill culture and I'm not sure I'm ready for such a change. Maybe this will get me canceled, but I believe strongly in the segregation of the varmint community. Nothing personal against armadillos – I have many armadillo friends – but you keep your varmints in your area and we'll keep ours in ours. To do otherwise is unnatural.

Have a great day everyone.