Cup of Coffee: September 25, 2025

Good morning! And welcome to Free Thursday!

First, a truthful observation:

Then some wisdom from my friend Levi:

Strong agree on both counts. Remember what they've taken from you my fellow sickos.

Let's go.

And That Happened

Here are the scores. Here are the highlights:

Mariners 9, Rockies 2: Cal Raleigh hit his major league-leading 59th and 60th home runs of the season, Eugenio Suárez hit his 48th homer of the season, and Luis Castillo threw seven and a third innings of one-run ball , and the victory gave the Seattle Mariners – winners of 16 of their last 17 games – their fourth AL West title in franchise history. Raleigh has four games remaining in which to break the AL single-season home run record of 62, which was set by Aaron Judge in 2022.

Guardians 5, Tigers 1: I heard tell one time that the Detroit Tigers once won a game. I don't put no stock in that, though. That's just crazy talk. Almost as crazy as the fact that the Tigers once had a 15.5-game lead in the division and now they trail by a game plus a tiebreaker. Here George Valera hit a two-run homer in the third inning, José Ramírez had a two-run double in the seventh, and Tanner Bibee, once again, made the Tigers think he was Bob Lemon, allowing only one run in six innings.

Athletics 6, Astros 0:Meanwhile, the only thing helping the Tigers is the Astros cratering, thereby keeping that third Wild Card lane open. Luis Severino pitched scoreless ball into the seventh and everyone combined on a five-hit shutout. Shea Langeliers and Tyler Soderstrom homered and Shea Langeliers and Tyler Soderstrom each doubled in a run too. How very symmetrical. Houston remains a game back of Detroit for the final AL Wild Card.

Cubs 10, Mets 3:  Matt Shaw homered and had three hits and Michael Busch also went deep in case you wanted to know if good things ever happen to bad people. Ian Happ knocked in a couple. Matthew Boyd tossed two-hit ball into the sixth. Juan Soto and Francisco Alvarez homered but the Mets only got two other hits the whole game. Chicago is in the driver's seat for the first NL Wild Card. The Mets maintain their one-game lead over the Reds because . . .

Pirates 4, Reds 3: . . . Despite Noevli Marte and Tyler Stephenson homering late to force extras, the Pirates came out on top thanks to Spencer Horwitz doubling home the go-ahead run in the 11th. Arizona lost too, and that helps Cincinnati, but you know what would help them more? Not losing games to the Pittsburgh freaking Pirates, that's what.

Nationals 4, Atlanta 3: Nats starter Andrew Alvarez did not qualify for the win but he did hold Atlanta scoreless into the fifth and multiple relievers bent a bit but never broke. James Wood hit two home runs, Josh Bell added one of his own, and rookie Daylen Lile had three hits including an RBI single to push Washington to victory. And, in turn, to snap Atlanta's ten-game winning streak.

Brewers 3, Padres 1: Andrew Vaughn doubled in Brice Turang in the fifth, Turang singled in a run in the seventh, and Danny Jansen homered in the ninth. Milwaukee threw six pitchers at the problem and they more or less solved it, allowing just one Padres run on six hits while striking out 13. Guess San Diego isn't all that interested in winning the NL West.

Rays 6, Orioles 2: Three Rays pitchers held the Orioles hitless through six innings, but even if the combined no-no wasn't in the cards, Rays pitching still got the job done. Brandon Lowe and Jake Mangum hit solo homers.

Phillies 11, Marlins 1: Edmundo Sosa was the man of the match, hitting three homers and driving in five. Kyle Schwarber hit two, which were numbers 55 and 56 on the year. He also doubled and singled. The Phillies hit eight homers in all as, in addition to the five from Sosa and Schwarber, Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm and Otto Kemp also went deep. Meanwhile, Jesús Luzardo shoved, striking out ten and allowing only an unearned run on three hits over seven. With the win the Phillies wrapped up a first-round playoff bye. The loss didn't quite eliminate the Marlins from playoff contention, but it's all but over.

Yankees 8, White Sox 1:  Aaron Judge hit two homers – number 49 and 50 on the season – while Max Fried allowed just one over seven to pick up his 19th win on the year. That gave the Yankees their seventh win in their last eight games. With this win and the Jays' loss the Yankees tied Toronto for first place in the AL East since July 2. The Jays still hold the tiebreaker, but I'm sure they'd rather have the five+ game lead they had a month ago.

Red Sox 7, Blue Jays 1: Garrett Crochet was the man, going eight scoreless innings and picking up his 18th win. Masataka Yoshida and Carlos Narváez homered. Toronto has lost six of seven.

Rangers 4, Twins 2: Jacob deGrom surrendered one run over five while Josh Smith homered and Billy McKinney drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh and came around to score on a wild pitch. The Rangers would get one more on a wild pitch after that. It must've been wild pitch mark at Globe Life Field.

Angels 3, Royals 2:  Taylor Ward homered, Luis Rengifo doubled and scored, and Yusei Kikuchi gave up just one hit while striking out six over five innings. Kenley Jansen earned his 475th career save. That puts him three saves behind Lee Smith for third place on the all-time list.

Dodgers 5, Diamondbacks 4: L.A. had a 4-1 lead after their half of the eighth but blew it thanks to a rally powered by Corbin Carroll's RBI double, Gabriel Moreno's RBI single, and a sac fly from Adrian Del Castillo. Tommy Edman singled home the Manfred Man for the tie-breaking run with two outs in the 11th inning, however sealing for L.A. The Dodgers' magic number is down to one. When they do eventually clinch it, it will be their 12th NL West title in 13 years.

Giants 4, Cardinals 3: Rafael Devers tied things up with a third inning home run  and Andrew Knizner's sac fly put the Giants in the lead. The Cards knotted things back up in the top of the eighth but Knizner struck again in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI triple. With the Giants win the Cardinals are officially eliminated.

The Daily Briefing

Nationals name new head of baseball operations

Jeff Passan reported yesterday that the Washington Nationals are finalizing a deal to name Paul Toboni their new head of baseball operations. Toboni, 35, is an assistant GM for the Boston Red Sox and, per Passan, he is "widely regarded as one of the best young executives in MLB." Passan adds:

For a Nationals team in need of a serious infusion of talent, it's worth noting Paul Toboni ran the draft for Boston when it chose Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, Kristian Campbell, Payton Tolle, Connelly Early and the prospects who went to Chicago in the Garrett Crochet deal.

So yeah, I suppose that's good.

Toboni will fill the job left vacated when longtime Nats GM Mike Rizzo was fired back in early July. The team's senior vice president and assistant general manager Mike DeBartolo had been serving as the interim GM. It's unclear if he's getting turfed or not.

Toboni takes over a team that has finished in last place in five of the six seasons since it won the 2019 World Series, losing between 91 and 107 games in each of those years. Which I guess means that he had best be as good as advertised.

David Fry has broken nose, facial fractures

We got an update on the condition of Guardians DH David Fry, who was hit in the face by a 99 m.p.h. Tarik Skubal fastball on Tuesday night: he sustained a broken nose and facial fractures. Luckily he does not need surgery. He is, however, done for the year, as he'll be on a six-to-eight week recovery schedule.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt said of Fry, "He's doing OK. He's in good spirits . . . He's upright. He's alert" when speaking to reporters yesterday. Which is good to hear, even if facial fractures are rough things to deal with. This, from after Tuesday evening's game, was also good to hear:

Skubal told others he was interested in going to see Fry in person. Through clubhouse attendants, word soon reached the other locker room in the bowels of Progressive Field. Guardians manager Stephen Vogt reached out to the other team’s ace. He offered him a ride to the hospital.

“That was pretty cool,” Skubal said. “I think that speaks volumes about who they are over there and the guys that they got.”

So late in the Cleveland night, a manager and the best pitcher on a rival team drove 3 1/2 miles east in a black pickup truck to visit a player injured in the midst of competition.

Per the story, Skubal was able to talk with Fry, who he and Vogt said was in good spirits. 

Bad story but it could've been way, way worse. And hats off to everyone involved for being stand-up guys about it all.

So, which managers are gonna get the axe soon?

While we still have four days worth of games to play, recent tradition in Major League Baseball has been for teams to fire managers either right before or right after the final weekend of the season. Which could be as soon as today or tomorrow! In light of that let's try to guess who's gonna have a lot more time on their hands soon.

Here are my possible sackin' candidates, in no particular order apart from how quickly they came to mind:

Rocco Baldelli, Twins

I like Rocco Baldelli and it's nuts to suggest that he's the reason why the Twins have sucked eggs for the past couple of years. But it's also the case that the Twins, fresh off of a midseason selloff, a firing of several scouts and staffers, and who are run by an ownership group which has decided not to sell the team and thus likely wants to cut costs wherever it can, might look to can him.

Bob Melvin, Giants

The Giants hired Bob Melvin before they gave Buster Posey the top baseball operations job so, all things being equal, you'd figure that he'd be in danger anyway as Posey looks to reshape the team in his image. All things aren't equal, however, as the Giants are wrapping up yet another season of uninspired and often hard-to-watch baseball. Talent is the biggest problem here but it'll be a while before Posey, the guy responsible for assembling more of it, will feel any heat. The Giants are a team in need of turning the page and there's no more of a high-profile way to turn the page than to fire the manager.

Brian Snitker, Atlanta

I don't think Atlanta would fire Snitker, technically speaking, but given that his contract is up as of close of business this Sunday they don't have to. Snit's done pretty dang well for a longtime company man who was originally just supposed to be an interim skipper – the dude won a World Series after all – but things seem to be stagnating in Cobb County and he strikes me as an excellent candidate to be kicked upstairs to some non-specific position while someone else takes the reins.

Oliver Marmol, Cardinals

Marmol is under contract through 2026 and the Cards aren't the sort of organization that relishes paying people to do nothing, so maybe he's safe. But should he be? The Cardinals are completing their third disappointing campaign in a row. One that has the once perpetually-full Busch Stadium increasingly empty as fans lose their sense of hope and optimism. One that has also featured a Cardinals team that has had some pretty poor fundamentals and sloppy play. On top of all of that, the Cards are changing their front office leadership this offseason, going from longtime GM John Mozeliak to new president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom. Might Bloom want his own guy? Might he have already talked about this with ownership?

Miguel Cairo, Nationals

Cairo is still an interim guy following the firing of Davey Martinez. Sometimes interim guys get a longer run at things – ask Brian Snitker! – but that's only if they dramatically improve things, which Cairo has not. More important in this calculus is the news, which broke yesterday and which was mentioned above, that Paul Toboni will be taking over the Nationals baseball operations department soon. One can assume that he'll be allowed to chose his own manager and that that manager will not be Miguel Cairo.

Tony Mansolino, Orioles

The same basic deal as Cairo, except (a) unlike the front office flux in D.C. his boss, Mike Elias, isn't going anywhere; and (b) the Orioles have performed MUCH better since he took over for Brandon Hyde. How much of that can be credited to Mansolino is debatable, of course, given that the O's massively underperformed their talent level in the early going so the bump he's enjoyed since taking over is probably more creditable to regression to the mean than anything else. I figure this one comes down to whether Elias and the brass like working with Mansolino or not and that's not fully knowable by people like you and me. Could go either way.

Brett Boone, Yankees

The Yankees' late surge likely means that his job is safe. But honestly, his job was probably safe anyway given how allergic the Yankees organization has been to holding literally anyone accountable for anything these past few years. I include him here, however, because he's someone who probably would be fired in an organization less devoted to inertia and the status quo. The Yankees under Boone have consistently made the postseason, sure, but they've also been sloppy in many aspects of the game and have only gotten sloppier. Maybe the clubhouse loves Boone for not being a hard ass about such things, but the Yankees could probably use a hard ass.

Carlos Mendoza, Mets

In 2024 the Mets overachieved and surprised. In 2025 they have disappointed and now risk missing the playoffs entirely. Maybe part of that disappointment is a function of unreasonable expectations based on the 2024 surprise? Let's all take a long drag of a fat blunt and contemplate that for like six hours, man.

[Editor: Let's not?]

OK, probably for the best. But it's certainly the case that the vibes have been pretty damn bad in Queens in the second half. And it's probably the case that, given the Mets' great young pitching, the front office's deep pockets, and the presence of in-his-prime Juan Soto, a managerial opening with the Mets would interest a hell of a lot of top candidates.

A.J. Hinch, Tigers

I feel like he's almost certainly safe but when you're the guy at the helm of a team on the verge of completing an epic collapse you're gonna get at least some heat. Ultimately, however, as long as the Tigers' owners are content to go with the "build a slightly-above .500 roster and hope for some breaks" strategy they're gonna be content with a guy like Hinch.

Warren Schaeffer, Rockies

I figure he's safe since (a) the Rockies have improved just enough since he took over for Bud Black to avoid setting the modern single-season loss record; and (b) the Rockies aren't exactly big on, you know, doing much of anything. I include him because you just about have to include a guy whose team drops more than 115 games on lists such as these.

Don Kelly, Pirates

Pittsburgh improved a good bit after Don Kelly took over for Derek Shelton but they've since returned to being, well, the Pirates. Personally, I think you could hire Doctor Mindbender and Destro and pull a Serpentor with the DNA of Casey Stengel, Joe McCarthy, John McGraw, Billy Martin, and Tony La Russa, and the being which emerged would still be unable to do much with this team given who owns it, but that doesn't mean they won't cut Kelly loose.

The whole Angels situation

Ron Washington is still, technically, the Angels manager, even if he's been away on medical leave since late June following heart bypass surgery. Bench coach Ray Montgomery has been serving as skipper since then. So the options are (a) Washington returns in 2026; (b) Washington, his family, and his doctors decide it's better for him to retire for health reasons, leaving the job to Montgomery; or (c) Washington retires AND the club decides to move on from Montgomery. Folks: I've been writing professionally about baseball for 16 years now and before that I wrote about it for free for seven, and nothing I've learned or experienced in that time has allowed me to understand why the Angels do the things that they do, so your guess is as good as mine.

Ok, that's my list. There's always the chance of some owner with a good team and a good manager pulling a Crazy Ivan and firing the skipper anyway, but this is my list of guys on at least moderately warm seats as the season comes to a close.

I, for one, welcome our new Nutrafol overlords

From the slush pile, which is what I call the MLB press releases I get:

Today, Nutrafol announced its first-ever, multi-year sports partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB) as its Official Hair Growth Partner. The strategic partnership, which will launch with the 2025 Postseason and extend into the 2026 regular season, is rooted in the brands’ shared values and will center around fan-first moments that celebrate the game and hair health, on and off the field.

Nutrafol will now also uniquely support players as the first and only hair growth supplement brand to earn NSF Certified for Sport® - the only independent third-party certification program recognized by MLB. By achieving this certification, Nutrafol’s hair growth supplements are the only hair growth supplements tested and verified for MLB players’ safe use.

I suppose that a hair-growth thing is better-aimed at baseball fans than, say, Doosan, as everyday sports fans don't buy many pieces of earth-moving equipment. And it's probably more practical than a job portal for wannabe submarine-builders. But man, this is just some low-rent business. A bit north of snake oil, I suppose, but squarely within the Shinehardt Wig Company-level of comedy. Except of course it's real.

Either way, I'm starting to suspect that Major League Baseball is targeting me, specifically, with these farkakte sponsorship deals.

Jane Leavy's Make Me Commissioner

Jane Leavy, the author of five baseball books including definitive biographies of Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth, has a new book out. It's called Make Me Commissioner: I Know What's Wrong with Baseball and How to Fix It. And with a title like that I'm pretty sure you know what you're getting.  

Leavy starts from the same place a lot of longtime baseball fans find themselves these days: they still love the game but in a lot of ways it's become a drag. The idea of entertaining fans is almost out the window as everything has become optimized to the nth degree, both financially and competitively, and in the process a great deal has been lost. Too many strikeouts and walks, not enough action, not enough day games, not enough unique characters, not enough connection to the community, and so on.

Some of Leavy's complaints, such as the corporatization of the game and the sense that fans are, at best, a third or fourth-level concern for Rob Manfred and the Lords of the Game are valid. Some of them, such as the pace of the game, the lack of balls in play, and there being too many strikeouts and walks, are also valid but are in the process of being addressed to some degree (one gets the sense that the idea for the book came before the pitch clock and other recent changes came online). Some of her complaints and prescriptions, however, strike me as functions of nostalgia rather than cogent criticisms. Like, we're not gonna get teams to schedule more day games because, Leavy's preferences notwithstanding, people don't watch or attend day games as much as they do night games. There are a number of "we may not like it much, but it actually makes some sense when you think about it" items like that in the book.

Despite that – and despite the title – Make Me Commissioner is not some angry manifesto. It's not one of those "oh my God, baseball is crappy and it's dying and WE MUST DO THESE TEN THINGS TO SAVE IT" kind of deals we used to get every few years. Indeed, a lot of it is a sort of memoir/travelogue through the game, with Leavy interviewing a lot of interesting folks such as Joe Torre and Bill Lee who talk about what they love and what they don't love about the modern game. Largely because of this, Make Me Commissioner is, like all of Leavy's books, an entertaining read which will feel like time well spent even if you don't agree with her critiques of the modern game and her suggestions about how to improve it.

Which is to say, in the end I liked Make Me Commissioner even if I found a fair bit to disagree with in it. It's a good conversation starter that doesn't lean into lecturing or anything like that. It's akin to just talking baseball with someone you meet at a bar or a party or something. Sure, some of the stuff they said made you shake your head a bit, but it's better to talk about baseball than to not talk about it, right?

Other Stuff

John Mulaney to play Wrigley Field

Comedian and Chicago native John Mulaney sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during Tuesday's Mets-Cubs game. That appearance was tied to an announcement that, next July, he will be the first comedian to play Wrigley Field.

Does Mulaney feel that playing such a large, historic venue will be a challenge for a guy who has told many, many jokes about how he was bad at sports as a kid and how his popularity as a comedian primarily centers on young people who aren't particularly into sports? Not really:

“Look, if Mark Grace could come out there every day and just deliver ripping cigarettes, I can face down this crowd too,” offered Mulaney.

Fair.

How self-centered of him

Seen in the Wall Street Journal:

It's always "me, me, me" with that guy.

About that ICE facility shooting

You've no doubt heard about yesterday morning's shooting at the Dallas ICE facility. I know nothing more about it than any of you, but color me profoundly unconvinced of FBI director Kash Patel's claim that the shooter wrote "Anti-ICE," in pen, on a bullet, that it was meant as a genuine anti-ICE sentiment, and that he then shot three immigrant detainees but no ICE officers. Maybe he was just a bad shot – lord knows we've had a few of those in high-profile shootings over the past year or two – but folks, I'm not really buying it. It strikes me as one of those fake things people do in a misguided effort to frame people they hate.

Thing is, though, that no matter what the actual facts on the ground are, we have a government that spends so much time spewing lies – just a constant firehose of mendacity – that even if this were somehow true there'd be no basis for us to believe Patel when he says so. As Ken White posted on Bluesky yesterday, "when you have an administration that so constantly, shamelessly, openly lies, pretty soon there’s no faith in any information streams coming from the administration, so there’s no way to convey true information in a way that lands right, which leads to more chaos." Or, as Hannah Arendt once said, "If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer."

This is what you get when you have right-wing podcasters running things. They have repeatedly posted evidence – often pure misinformation – about major crimes on Twitter within minutes of them going down. This inevitably sows distrust and allows conspiracy theories to run wild. Which they don't mind because most of them owe their current positions in government to being proponents of wild conspiracy theories.

Given what's happening in this country I'm not particularly surprised that someone, whatever their motives, shot up an ICE facility. But given the people in charge of things we can't be sure of a great, great many things these days.

I'm not gonna know what time it is for a while

I spent a good chunk of yesterday on a plane – thanks Delta for in-flight WiFi! – and I'm coming to you this morning from beautiful Los Angeles, California. We're gonna be here until Monday morning. On the agenda: two Pulp/LCD Soundsystem shows at the Hollywood Bowl, one James show someplace downtown, and some general hanging around with some old friends.

The best part of coming to L.A. for me: since Allison grew up here and lived here in her 20s, she cringes any time a cabbie or someone at a hotel or a restaurant asks us where we're in from and I rush to say "Ohio!" like some rube. She's way too cool to do the "well, actually, I'm from here so I'm not some tourist . . ." thing, but you know she wants to on some level. If you're reading this, Allison, I am sorry I trapped you in Ohio for so many years and I'm making you look like a square.

I'm not coming home on Monday, actually. I'm gonna put myself even further back of Eastern Daylight Time that day by hopping a flight to Hawaii for a guy's trip with an old friend and a few other dudes through next week. And no, I did not win the lottery or anything to enable this. My friend has a house there so I'm freeloading. Depending on how the straw-drawing goes I may be couch-surfing too, but I'm getting there before the other guys do and possession is 9/10 of the law so I feel like I have a good shot at a bed.

Anyway: I'll still be writing the newsletter every day while I'm gone. This is one of those deals where I'll be taking full advantage of that "being able to work anywhere" thing in ways I don't always do when I travel. It's certainly easier to do when I don't have 15 games to recap each evening/morning which, after Monday's newsletter, I will no longer have to do until next March, so I'm not anticipating much in the way of interruptions between now and when I get back to the Beautiful Midwest. I suppose the night/day I fly home from Hawaii might get janky but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Honestly, the biggest issue I'm gonna have is getting my brain around the time change. I've worked from Pacific Time before so that shouldn't be a big deal, but once I'm at my friend's house and I'm six hours behind Ohio time things may get weird. Just know that if you find a typo or a massive mistake in a newsletter next week that I'm not gonna see your comment or text about it for several hours so you're gonna just have to deal with sloppiness and imperfection.

[Editor: So, nothing's changing then?]

Basically, yeah.

Have a great day everyone.