The Morning Horsehide Herald — the Twentieth of September, Two Thousand and Twenty-Six

Is it spring training yet? No — but the championship season is upon us, a finer thing still.

The Game of the Day

A MAN IN FULL FLIGHT OVER A CROUCHING CATCHER — LANGFORD LEAPS, DIVES BACK, AND TOUCHES THE WEST'S SUMMIT WITH HIS FINGERTIPS: RANGERS 6, BLUE JAYS 2

Six Arlington pitchers pass the evening hand to hand, Montgomery's three and two-thirds without a hit taking the decision; Jung's first-inning thunder and a three-run sixth undo Soriano's eight strikeouts; and with Houston falling at home, Texas wakes alone atop the American's West — the third different top line in three mornings

The picture the wires will carry from Arlington is of Wyatt Langford airborne. Sixth inning, Langford at third, Evan Carter's fly ball settling into the center fielder's glove — the tag, the sprint, and there at the plate crouched the catcher Kirk, squarely in the baseline. Langford did not slide. He hurdled the man entire, sailed past the plate in the doing of it, and had to dive back and touch it by hand before the pitcher Sewald, covering, could apply the tag. "Just put my head down and ran," the young man explained afterward, as though describing a trip to the post office. "He ended up being down in the baseline. It just kinda all happened. I didn't really plan on doing all that."

The run he stole out of the air crowned a three-run sixth that broke the game open, and the evening's arithmetic was every bit as acrobatic. Texas made six runs of five hits: Jung's eleventh home run on the game's first turn through the order, two more in the second on Giménez's throwing error and a wild pitch, then the sixth — Langford's run-scoring double, Jansen struck by a pitch with the bases full, and Carter's sacrifice fly with its famous conclusion. Toronto's Soriano struck out eight and was brilliant for five innings, yet the ledger charged him six runs; such is September's bookkeeping. The Arlington men, for their part, made the whole night a relay — six pitchers, the opener Quantrill handing the ball to Montgomery, whose three and two-thirds innings without a hit earned the decision, Eovaldi and three others carrying it home. Kirk's run-scoring single and Schneider's solo blow were the whole of Toronto's answer, and the Jays, three games shy of the wild-card row's last chair with their candle guttering, dropped a second straight.

And so the West has now shown a different face on three consecutive mornings: Houston alone at the summit Friday, a dead heat Saturday, and this morning Texas alone — eight-and-seventy wins to Houston's seven-and-seventy, the Astros having fallen to Atlanta as the card below relates. One caution attends the celebration: the Silver Boot tiebreaker remains in Houston's keeping, so the Rangers must finish clear rather than level. Seven games remain to each. The same clubs resume this afternoon at 2:35, with deGrom taking the ball for Texas, and the desk observes that a man who will leap a catcher in September may be trusted to keep his head down in October.

News Around the League

THE INFIRMARY WARD: THE CAPTAIN SPEAKS FROM THE SHELF — JUDGE CALLS THE CALF SETBACK FRUSTRATING BUT HOLDS TO THE PLAN: "I'D LIKE TO BE BACK BY THE POSTSEASON"

A day after the ten-day shelving this paper recorded Saturday, Aaron Judge stood before the Phoenix press and named the injury's fine print: the strain sits in the soleus muscle of the right calf — "a little more crucial with running and hitting," by the captain's own anatomy lesson — and he allowed that it differs from the calf troubles he has managed through seasons past. The frustration was plain; the resolve was plainer. "I'd like to be back by the postseason," he said. "That's definitely the plan."

The ledger behind the words is a hard one. Judge had appeared in just six games since his return from the fractured rib on the eighth of September, going 4-for-23 with a single home run before the calf lifted him from Wednesday's game in Minneapolis, and the manager Boone continues to decline any grading of the strain's severity — the stated focus is simply October readiness. His mates split the difference in his absence at Phoenix, as the card below sorrowfully relates.

THE CONVALESCENT DESK: THE MACHINE THAT THROWS LIKE A BIG-LEAGUER MEETS THE MAN WHO HITS LIKE NO ONE ELSE — OHTANI TAKES FORTY SWINGS, RUNS THE BASES, AND ROBERTS NAMES THE SERIES OF HIS RETURN

The champions' great convalescent advanced another station on Saturday. Shohei Ohtani, whose progression to coach-pitched batting practice this paper entered only yesterday, graduated to the Trajekt machine — the contraption that conjures live big-league pitching from film — took thirty to forty swings, ran the bases during batting practice besides, and "came away feeling good," by the manager Roberts' account. Then Roberts said the thing the whole of Los Angeles has waited a fortnight to hear: "There's a good chance next series we'll see him."

The calendar makes the promise specific. The next series is San Diego's visit to Chavez Ravine, opening Tuesday — the season's final home engagement — and the fifteen-day list, dated back to the eighth of September, releases him Wednesday at the earliest. He returns strictly as a batsman, the mound finished for his year, carrying a .902 on-base-plus-slugging figure and thirty home runs into the recovery; the champions have somehow gone 13-3 across their last sixteen without him, and now propose to be whole for October.

THE MILESTONE DESK: A CHECK-SWING BUNT DETHRONES THE POLAR BEAR — BENGE'S HUNDRED SIX-AND-FIFTIETH HIT IS A NEW METS ROOKIE MARK, AND VARGAS WRITES A LINE NO WHITE STOCKING EVER WROTE

Record-breaking has rarely looked so humble. In the eighth inning at Flushing, Carson Benge — who had already put a home run into the right-field seats off Painter, his nineteenth — dribbled a check-swing bunt down the third-base line and legged out hit number one hundred six-and-fifty, passing Pete Alonso's franchise rookie mark of one hundred five-and-fifty. "It's special to see the guys that have come through here, all the greats," said the young man, who has answered the bell in 149 of the club's 155 games and sits within reach of the franchise rookie stolen-base mark besides, with two-and-twenty thefts. "He's just a baseball player," offered the interim manager Green, "which is one of the best compliments you can give somebody." The wires note for scale that the Major League rookie figure remains Ichiro Suzuki's 242, a mountain visible from every foothill.

And on the South Side, Miguel Vargas stole his twentieth base in the evening's victory and thereby completed a season's line no White Sox player has ever written: thirty doubles, thirty home runs, twenty steals, and a hundred runs scored in the same campaign. His three-and-thirtieth homer, struck the same night, stands in the card below — the milestone and the pennant race carrying the same man's signature.

THE OCTOBER DESK: TAMPA BAY WALKS OFF A THIRD TIME AND THE CROWN COMES NEARER — ATLANTA MAY SEW ON THE EAST THIS VERY AFTERNOON, MILWAUKEE TIES ITS OWN RECORD, AND THE NATIONAL'S WILD-CARD ROW RE-SORTS ITSELF

The Rays have made a habit of the last word. Palacios' ninth-inning knock — sung in the card below — was Tampa Bay's third walk-off victory of this final homestand, a thing the club had not managed since September of 2019, and its thirty-ninth come-from-behind win of the year, most in the American. Seven victories in eight games have stretched the East's lead to five over New York with eight remaining, and the first division crown since 2021 is close enough to touch.

In the National, the clinchings queue up. Atlanta, six clear of Philadelphia with seven to play after Acuña's thunder at Houston, may seal a seventh East title in nine seasons this very afternoon — any Braves victory or Phillies defeat does it. Crowned Milwaukee's 1-0 jewel at Baltimore was victory seven-and-ninety, drawing the club level with its own franchise record set only last season, and the magic number for the National's first-round bye stands at two. And the wild-card row, a three-way dead heat only yesterday, has re-sorted itself: the Cubs and Padres sit level at six-and-eighty wins — Chicago holding the row's head by the season series — with San Diego alone in the second chair, Philadelphia a game astern in the third after its drubbing at Flushing, and Arizona, refusing to die, four back with seven to play. In the American, Chicago's grip on the final chair is two games over Houston, whose evening is weighed in the card below, with Toronto three back.

THE CLUBHOUSE DESK: THE WALL WINS NOTHING — CAGLIANONE OWNS HIS TEMPER, TAKES HIS BENCHING, AND ANSWERS WITH THE TYING KNOCK

Contrition, then redemption, in the space of two days. Jac Caglianone, three-and-twenty years old and in his first full campaign, punched a dugout wall during Thursday's defeat at Houston and cut his left hand — no serious damage, the club reports — whereupon the manager Quatraro sat him Friday as a matter of discipline. The young man did not hide behind the trainer's report. "It was a very selfish and immature move on my part," he said, adding that "these guys hold me to a higher standard." The frustration had roots: a 0-for-10 skid with eight strikeouts across his previous seven games, in a season that otherwise reads .279 with three-and-twenty homers.

Restored to the lineup Saturday as the designated hitter, he made the apology material: a seventh-inning single that squared the game at Pittsburgh, the go-ahead run scored a moment later, and his seventh stolen base besides. That his club let the evening slip late — the card below has the arithmetic — takes nothing from the lesson: the wall teaches only what the bat can unteach.

The Rest of the Card

BURKE HOLDS THE LINE AND VARGAS SIGNS THE EVENING TWICE — THE PALE HOSE ANSWER FRIDAY'S HEARTBREAK AND KEEP EVERY RACE ALIVE: PALE HOSE 3, MOTOR CITY NINE 1

A night after eight runs went for nothing, Chicago played the tidy hand: Sean Burke gave six innings of one run for his tenth victory — his first six-inning turn since the one-and-twentieth of August — and Miguel Vargas struck his three-and-thirtieth homer and stole the milestone base the desk above enshrines. Taylor sealed his tenth save, and the Pale Hose remain one behind Cleveland in the Central while holding the American's last wild-card chair by two; the same clubs settle the series this afternoon.

ONE RUN ON A GROUNDOUT, AND GASSER MAKES IT A FORTRESS — VICTORY SEVEN-AND-NINETY TIES THE FRANCHISE BOOK: SUDS MEN 1, BIRDS 0

Robert Gasser threw a career-high 107 pitches across seven scoreless innings, three hits the whole of Baltimore's take against him, and the game's lone run crossed in the second on the humblest of instruments — Ortiz tripling and trotting home on Sánchez's groundout. Uribe and Ashby closed the whitewash, and Milwaukee's seven-and-ninetieth victory draws the club level with its own franchise record, the bye arithmetic standing at two as the October desk counts. Spare a line for the loser: Baltimore's Trevor Rogers struck out ten across eight innings of three-hit ball and was beaten anyway — September keeps a cruel ledger.

BELLO FANS ELEVEN AND LOSES TO A POPUP — PALACIOS DROPS THE SOFTEST HIT OF THE NIGHT WHERE NO GLOVE LIVES, AND THE TRADE IS A THIRD WALK-OFF: RAYS 2, RED SOX 1

Boston's Bello was magnificent — eight innings, five hits, eleven strikeouts, not a walk — and Tampa Bay's Peralta answered with six strikeouts of his own, Aranda's two-and-twentieth squaring Anthony's early run-scoring double. Then the ninth: two out, runners at the corners, and Richie Palacios lifted a 65.7-mile-an-hour popup off Whitlock that fell into shallow right field like a leaf, Caminero scoring the winner unearned. "Just praying it drops. That's all you're doing," said the honest hero; the crown arithmetic his prayer advanced is entered at the October desk.

A RECORD IN THE MORNING COLUMNS, TEN RUNS IN THE EVENING LEDGER — ALVAREZ'S THREE-RUN TURN AND A FOUR-RUN EIGHTH SEND PHILADELPHIA TO THE THIRD CHAIR: FLUSHING NINE 10, PHILS 3

Down 3-1 in the fifth, the Flushing men answered with Francisco Alvarez's three-run homer, two more in the sixth, and a four-run eighth built of walks and singles pressed nose to tail against a parade of Philadelphia relievers. Carson Benge homered and then broke the franchise rookie hit record by bunt, as the milestone desk celebrates; Painter took the defeat, his tenth, and the Phils fell out of the wild-card deadlock into its third chair, five games of East arithmetic now against them with Atlanta able to clinch this very day.

FOUR HITS, TWO THUNDERCLAPS FROM EITHER SIDE OF THE PLATE, AND A TRIPLE SHY OF THE CYCLE — MARTÍNEZ RETURNS FROM THE SHELF SWINGING: LAKE ERIE MEN 12, WHITE ELEPHANTS 6

Angel Martínez, five days an invalid, came back with four hits and eleven total bases — a home run from each side of the plate, a double, a single, four runs driven home, and only the triple withheld from a cycle. DeLauter's three-run first-inning blow erased an early deficit, four consecutive doubles decorated a five-run third, and Cleveland's fourth straight victory holds the Central's lead at one over Chicago; the Athletics' Walton drove in four in a losing cause. "The offense is clicking at the right time," said the manager Vogt, in what the standings suggest is understatement.

BOYD BANKS HIS NINTH AND THE LATE THUNDER KEEPS THE ROW'S HEAD — BUSCH'S TWENTIETH AND SWANSON'S NINETEENTH BOOKEND A TIDY EVENING: NORTH SIDERS 5, QUEEN CITY NINE 2

Chicago nicked runs in five different innings — Shaw's sacrifice fly, Suzuki's single, then Michael Busch's twentieth homer to break a 2-2 tie in the sixth, Hoerner's knock and Dansby Swanson's nineteenth for insurance — while Boyd took his ninth victory despite Cincinnati's two-run fifth, Rolison sealing his third save. The North Siders thus keep the head of the National's wild-card row by the season series over San Diego, as the October desk sorts; the Reds managed four hits all night.

LOWE'S THREE-AND-THIRTIETH ARRIVES WITH THE GAME IN THE BALANCE — PITTSBURGH SHRUGS OFF A BLOWN LEAD AND BANKS A THIRD STRAIGHT: BUCCANEERS 6, ROYALS 5

Kansas City clawed from 4-1 down to 5-4 ahead — Caglianone's tying knock and go-ahead run the clubhouse desk's whole sermon — only for Brandon Lowe to answer in the eighth with a two-run homer, his three-and-thirtieth, that restored the lead for good. Simon's first homer of the year and Mangum's fifth had built the early cushion; Jensen's five-and-twentieth for Kansas City survived a review; Montgomery sealed his fifteenth save, and the Buccaneers, winners of three straight, stand a game above .500 at eight-and-seventy wins.

ACUÑA EMPTIES THE BASES WITH ONE SWING AND THE WEST'S THRONE EMPTIES WITH IT — HOUSTON'S HOLD ON FIRST LASTS EXACTLY ONE MORNING: BRAVES 6, ASTROS 3

Trailing 2-1 in the seventh with the bases full, Ronald Acuña Jr. turned on a 96.9-mile-an-hour fastball from Abreu and deposited it in the left-center seats — a grand slam, his twentieth homer, four runs driven in, and the sixth blow of a September in which he bats .373. "It's the best feeling ever when a guy is throwing 96 or 97 and you get it," said the great man. "You don't feel anything." Holmes gave six innings of two for his tenth victory and Iglesias sealed number four-and-thirty; Paredes drove in two of Houston's runs and scored the third on Diaz's late double, and the defeat — a ninth in thirteen games — dropped the Astros from the summit they had held a single morning. "It's go time," said Walker of the six road games that close the season after this afternoon's home finale; the manager Espada was terser: "We have to really flush this one quick."

ELEVEN INNINGS, SIX ERRORS, AND A RUN FORCED HOME BY THE CATCHER'S GLOVE — WASHINGTON WINS THE UNTIDIEST GAME OF THE NIGHT: WASHINGTONS 8, MOUND CITY NINE 5

Lile's two-run homer opened the scoring and then the game descended into glorious disorder — six errors between the clubs, St. Louis twice pulling level late, a tenth inning traded run for run — until the eleventh, when a challenge overturned the call at the plate and Jacob Young was awarded catcher's interference with the bases full, forcing home the lead run. Tena's two-run double and Crews' sacrifice fly made it a four-run frame; Cornelio took the decision and Dion banked his first save. The desk also notes, for the almanac's sake, that the rival shortstops Nuñez and Winn passed the evening's idle moments at tic-tac-toe — September baseball in one image.

ON THE NIGHT ARIZONA TOASTED 2001, A PINCH-HITTER SUPPLIES THE SEQUEL — PAVIN SMITH'S TWO-RUN THUNDER IN THE NINTH KEEPS THE LONGEST SHOT ALIVE: SONORAN NINE 5, PINSTRIPES 3

With the 2001 champions gathered at Chase Field for their five-and-twentieth anniversary, the evening demanded drama and got it: Schlittler carried a no-hitter into the fifth before Lawlar's two-run triple, New York answered through Ramos and Wells in the sixth, and in the ninth — a strike-three call on Vargas having been overturned by challenge a moment before — Pavin Smith, a man designated for assignment in July and rebuilt in Reno, struck a two-run walk-off homer off Fulmer. "We know what we have to do. Our backs are against the wall," said the manager Lovullo, four back of the last chair with seven to play. The Pinstripes, still without their captain, remain five behind Tampa Bay.

RALEIGH AND AROZARENA STRIKE EARLY, AND DENVER TAKES THE REST OF THE EVENING BACK — A FOUR-RUN SEVENTH IN THE MOUNTAIN AIR: MOUNTAIN MEN 5, M'S 3

Raleigh's two-run blow in the first and Arozarena's six-and-twentieth had Seattle ahead by three, but the visitors' gloves gave the game away by degrees — three errors in all — and Colorado's seventh did the arithmetic: McCarthy's groundout, Rumfield's single, and Cole Carrigg's two-run knock, four runs in the frame. Mejia took the decision and Bernardino sealed his second save; for the Mountain men it is merely a seven-and-fiftieth victory in a season of eight-and-ninety defeats, but the home crowd cheered it like June.

TWENTY YEARS OLD, BASES FULL, TENTH INNING — SALAS SINGLES HOME THE WINNER AND SAN DIEGO SEIZES THE SECOND CHAIR ALONE: FRIARS 7, FISH 6, IN TEN INNINGS

Miami led 5-1 by the third and Conine's ninth-inning homer squared the game at six, but the tenth belonged to the youngest man on the field: Ethan Salas, the twenty-year-old catcher called up at September's start, laced a bases-loaded single to center to score Cronenworth — the youngest player to deliver a walk-off hit since Manny Machado in September of 2012. "You got 50,000 going ballistic for you and the boys ready for you if everything works out. It definitely felt awesome," said the youth. Tatis' four-and-twentieth had tied it earlier; twelve victories in thirteen games now, and the Friars hold the National's second wild-card chair alone, level with the Cubs at the row's head, as the October desk sorts.

THREE DOUBLES FOR BETTS IN A FOUR-HIT SIZZLE — THE CHAMPIONS SCORE IN SIX STRAIGHT INNINGS AND SKUBAL BANKS HIS ELEVENTH: TROLLEY DODGERS 10, JINTS 4

Mookie Betts collected four hits, three of them doubles, scored twice and drove in two — his September blaze rolling on — while Los Angeles put runs on the board in each of the first six innings, three-run frames in the fifth and sixth breaking it open with Smith's homer, Edman's two-run knock, and De Paula's pair along the way. Skubal weathered eight San Francisco hits across five innings for his eleventh victory, and four relievers finished without a run; Bericoto's two-run homer led the Jints, who have now dropped one-and-ninety games. The crowned champions, 13-3 in their last sixteen, await their convalescent as the desk above relates.

GRISSOM SQUARES IT IN THE NINTH AND MOORE ENDS IT IN THE ELEVENTH — THE ANAHEIM NINE OUTLAST MINNESOTA A SECOND STRAIGHT NIGHT: ANAHEIM NINE 6, NORTH STARS 5, IN ELEVEN INNINGS

Minnesota built leads of 3-0 and 5-2 — Keaschall doubling home the young Jenkins, Kreidler adding a solo blow — and watched both dissolve: Frazier's two-run double in the eighth, Vaughn Grissom's tying homer in the ninth, and at last, in the eleventh, Christian Moore's sharp ground ball off the pitcher Rogers that went for the winning single, Neto scoring and the venerable Trout pulling up at third as the run crossed. Saucedo took the decision against Rogers; a night after Minnesota's whitewash, the account is squared, and the same clubs close the set this afternoon.

The Sunday tables, then — with a new name atop the American's West. In the American: clinched Tampa Bay holds the East by five over clinched New York, Boston astern of both; the Central is Cleveland's by one over Chicago, the tiebreaker still Chicago's; and the West is Texas's alone by one over Houston, the Silver Boot tiebreaker in Houston's keeping, so the Rangers must finish clear. The wild-card row: New York and Boston seated, the last chair Chicago's by two over Houston, Toronto three back. In the National: Atlanta leads Philadelphia by six and may sew on the East this very afternoon — any Braves win or Phillies loss does it; crowned Milwaukee, level with its own franchise record at seven-and-ninety victories, holds a bye arithmetic of two; and the wild-card row reads Cubs and Padres level at six-and-eighty — Chicago's chair by the season series, San Diego's second alone — with Philadelphia one back and Arizona four adrift, seven to play. Today's bill is the full board of fifteen, verified against the schedule, and the desk commends: at 1:40 Boston at Tampa Bay; at 2:10 the clinch-watch at Houston, Pérez opposing Brown, and daylight baseball on the South Side, Melton against Martin; at 2:35 deGrom carries the West's new leaders against Toronto; at 4:10 the Yankees try to leave Phoenix with a split while Miami visits streaking San Diego; and at 7:20 Misiorowski — fifteen victories and an earned-run figure of 1.89 — takes the ball at Baltimore with the record-breaking eight-and-ninetieth victory on offer. Mark the almanac besides: tomorrow's card is a mere three games, the schedule catching its breath before the final week. Seven mornings remain to the season's last page on the seven-and-twentieth; the Wild Card rounds open on the nine-and-twentieth. Until the morrow's dispatch, keep your scorecards near and your enthusiasms nearer.

~ THE HERALD ~

The Herald Acknowledges Its Debts

MLB Box Scores — Sunday, September 20, 2026 — Boxscore
Baseball-Reference.com — Today's Games, Upcoming Schedule and Upcoming Dates — Baseball-Reference
Manny Randhawa, Langford hurdles catcher, Rangers land in first place — MLB.com
Mark Bowman, Acuña's scorching September rolls on with go-ahead slam — MLB.com
Brian McTaggart, 'It's go time': Astros look to stack wins after losing AL West lead — MLB.com
Bryan Hoch, Judge frustrated but remains confident of return by postseason — MLB.com
Sonja Chen, 'Good chance' Ohtani will be activated for next series — MLB.com
Anthony DiComo, Benge passes Alonso to become Mets' new rookie hit king — MLB.com
Scott Merkin, Vargas does it all as White Sox keep pace in postseason push — MLB.com
Adam Berry, Rays inch closer to division crown with 3rd walk-off of final homestand — MLB.com
Adam McCalvy, Gasser turns in another strong start in record-tying win as other pitching questions loom for Crew — MLB.com
Anthony Castrovince, Martínez flirts with cycle in 2-HR game as Guards maintain AL Central lead — MLB.com
John Perrotto, Caglianone apologizes for punching dugout wall, causing hand injury — MLB.com
Cole Bradley, 'Living the dream': Padres take hold of 2nd WC spot on Salas' walk-off hit — MLB.com
Michael Reynolds, D-backs celebrate 2001 title team with walk-off win vs. Yankees — MLB.com
X's, O's and MLB bros: Opposing shortstops play tic-tac-toe — MLB.com