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The Brewers of 2025 are reminiscent of the Expos of 1994

If, at the start of the campaign, someone had told me that in September, with less than a month to go before the end of the regular season, the best overall team would be the Milwaukee Brewers, I’d never have believed it. And yet, it’s true.

We knew the Brewers were going to be good, but not this good. After a difficult start to the season, the stars have aligned for them. The team spirit in Wisconsin is tangible. The youngsters have reached their full potential together at the perfect time, thanks to good internal development. In fact, the small-market club didn’t buy free agents for hundreds of millions of dollars just to win games.

Doesn’t all this remind you of the 1994 Expos?

Glaring similarities

It was a total meltdown at the start of the year for manager Pat Murphy’s team. In their first four duels, they posted the worst run differential in MLB history at -32. They had given up 20 points to the Yankees in the second game of the season, enough to dampen fans’ spirits. At the time, we thought the club’s successes in 2024 were a flash in the pan, but no! They bounced back with a historic 14-game winning streak from August 1 to 16.

As for the Expos, they got off to a slower start over a longer period. They began the campaign with a 9-10 record. Nothing to write home about. The magic started to happen in June, when they posted a 46-18 record.

Earlier, I told you about manager Pat Murphy. He is respected by his players, as was Felipe Alou. These two men, who had little experience in a dugout, managed to install a winning culture right from the start with their respective teams. They also instilled a small-ball mentality, basically putting men on base and advancing runners. Today’s baseball is played less and less like this, and that’s a shame.

To play this way, you need speed and a good defense, and that’s the case for both clubs. Remember the Expos field of Moises Alou, Marquis Grissom and Larry Walker? The Brewers can count on the rise of players like Jackson Chourio and Brice Turang, who dominate the infield.

On the pitching side, rookie starter Jacob Misiorowski revealed himself to the masses, earning him an invitation to the All-Star Game. You also know who was young and revealed himself as a starting pitcher in 1994 for Montreal? A certain Pedro Martinez.

Ken Hill was the #1 gunner for the Montrealers. However, Pedro was behind him to support him, just as Misiorowski supports stalwart Freddy Peralta. The latter, like his teammate, was present at the All-Star Game and is enjoying a good season.

Hoping for a better fate with the Brewers than with the Expos

No need to explain this subtitle. As a baseball fan, I hope with all my heart that the Milwaukee Brewers of 2025 win the World Series that the Montreal Expos of 1994 potentially stole from them.

Admittedly, the road will be strewn with excitement, not least because of the presence of the defending champions on the road to their destiny, the Los Angeles Dodgers. That said, it would be magical and heartwarming if the Brewers beat the Dodgers in the National League Championship Series! Who knows what might happen next in the World Series!

Milwaukee Brewers: 2025 World Series Champions. Sounds romantic, doesn’t it?

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MLB in brief: Ryan Borucki recalled | Max Scherzer is fine | The bullpen against the Blue Jays

Ryan Borucki recalled

He’s back in town.

Max Scherzer is fine

His pain is not intense.

The bullpen against the Blue Jays

Reds starter Nick Lodolo is ill.

The importance of Willy Adames

In San Francisco, they’re counting on him.

The importance of Clayton Kershaw

No one expected this in 2025.

Kyle Harrison in Boston

He’s been recalled.

Tigers starters

What’s the playoff plan?

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Aroldis Chapman never thought of placing his fastball before 2025

Would you like to hear a crazy story?

The Boston Red Sox, by hook or by crook, have found a way to work out Aroldis Chapman’s command issues, reducing his on-base count in 2025.

How? By making him understand that he could place his fastball.

It’s worth noting that this wasn’t a preplanned plan, given that normally, an emeritus pitcher of his age is supposed to know that his fastball, it can be placed on the plate.

What happened was that, at practice camp, catcher Connor Wong used his PitchCom to ask the pitcher for an inside fastball. The latter executed perfectly.

And afterwards, he thought… it made sense to try and place his fastball. Ben Verlander related the anecdote.

Before, when he had a fastball, he’d just throw it as hard as he could toward home plate. It never really occurred to him that aiming at a specific corner could be more effective.

Is it just me… every pitcher in the majors should know this? It’s still the basics (even if his fastball is really fast) and it’s abnormal that he should have been triggered by Wong’s gesture, who surely didn’t think he’d change Chapman’s career with it, this late in his career.

But hey. Ultimately, Chapman is a machine this year and is rising from the ashes in Boston. He should win Reliever of the Year, and he’s playing an important role in the Red Sox‘ playoff run.

The Red Sox have already offered him a contract extension for next season. He’s not going anywhere.

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Yankees: power or nothing

Like no other team in Major League Baseball, with the possible exception of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Yankees base their offense solely, or almost solely, on hitting the bottom third of the ball to send it flying.

Every hitter in New York’s offensive line-up tries to hit the long ball with every at-bat. And it’s not because they’re all power hitters, but rather because the Bombers have made changes to the swing and angle of attack for many of them.

How did the Yankees go down this road? Here are some of the reasons.

It seems paradoxical, but runs scored with runners in scoring position and strikeouts are overrated in today’s baseball. In fact, the industry has devalued batting average, yet it’s still used in average calculations with RISPs.

Sure, putting all your eggs in one basket can be risky. But if the Yankees hit two bombs in a game, their chances of victory rise to 70%.

That’s why Yankees hitting coach James Rowson and his assistants Casey Dykes and Pat Roessler are masters at teaching controlled aggression: don’t hesitate to put your best swing in when you get a pitch in your zone, even if it’s not a strike.

Three of the five players in all of MLB with the highest increase in balls in the air this year are members of the Yankees, two of whom were acquired last year or this season. Not to mention Austin Wells (+5.7%), Paul Goldschmidt (+3.2), Jose Caballero (+2.5) and Cody Bellinger (+1.8%), all of whom increased their rates in 2025.

The same goes for Jazz Chisholm Jr. who, before being traded to the Yankees, was a ground ball hitter. Today, he’s a ball-striker in the air, almost to the extreme. All by changing the trajectory of the barrel towards the ball, as was the case with Giancarlo Stanton.

Even Captain Aaron Judge is on board. Judge made his swing change in 2022, the year he hit 62 home runs, to put the ball more in the air, and has been a model of consistency ever since.

And we haven’t even mentioned Trent Grisham and Ben Rice, who are having electrifying moments in 2025.

Like it or not, the Yankees have a way of winning the World Series based on putting the ball in the air and over the fence. Opposing pitchers will just have to keep the ball in the park.

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Juan Soto agrees with his critics

Juan Soto is on fire these days, posting a .375 batting average with an impressive 1.489 OPS, four home runs and thirteen runs scored in his last seven games. If we enlarge the sample, the star slugger has an OPS of 1.050 with eleven long balls and 28 runs produced in his last 30 duels.

This recent run of success has made many forget Soto’s slow offensive start to the 2025 season, when many people wondered why the New York Mets had given him the most lucrative contract in sports history, a fifteen-year pact worth $765 million.

While many have forgotten about his slow departure, the man himself is not backing down. Indeed, in an article by Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Soto is quoted as saying that he agrees with people who have questioned whether he did enough to live up to the contract he was given.

While he’s made it clear that he’s not playing badly, he also believes he can do more for his team.

One thing’s for sure, Soto is capable of facing the music, probably due to the fact that he spent one season with the New York Yankees in 2024 and produced at an MVP-caliber level, including his playoff performances when American League MVP Aaron Judge was crumbling at the time.

In fact, Soto seems to welcome any criticism directed his way. If he can carry this momentum into October and lead the Mets deep into the playoffs as he did with the Yankees last year, the critics will be few and far between.

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A few reasons to believe the Blue Jays will win their division

Yesterday, the Blue Jays lost to the Cincinnati Reds. Meanwhile, the Red Sox won their game… and the Yankees didn’t lose any ground since they weren’t playing.

So it wasn’t a good day for the Blue Jays, who still have relief problems.

But as Brandon Wile points out, there are some positives surrounding the Blue Jays right now. The Blue Jays still lead the Yankees and Red Sox by two and a half games.

And Toronto has the tie-break advantage. That’s almost the equivalent of a three-game lead, in effect.

Over the past month, the Blue Jays have lost just one game to the Bombardiers and 1.5 games to the Bas Rouges. New York has a very tough schedule in two weeks’ time, and Boston is off to the West.

Toronto’s rotation is going well, as is the offensive line-up.

Please note: this is not to say that the Blue Jays will win their division handily. Quite the contrary, in fact.

The bullpen, after all, is a real problem. Max Scherzer, in his last steps in Detroit, experienced the impact of a bullpen that wasn’t doing the job…

But there’s still reason to believe that the rest of the club can keep up the pace. That Eric Lauer will help stabilize the bullpen. That reinforcements from Buffalo will arrive one day. That some relievers will find a way to get the job done.

And that all this will be enough to win the division.

  • Big injury for Jason Adam.

  • Adolis Garcia is injured.

  • Aaron Boone has seen the thaw suffered by Bill Belichick’s club.

  • Shelby Miller is also injured.

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Ha-Seong Kim claimed by the Braves: it says a lot about their plans for 2026

A few days ago, the Rays placed Ha-Seong Kim’s name in the waivers. Kim was one of the club’s signings last winter, but seriously struggled in his 24 games in Tampa Bay this year.

He missed several months at the start of the season, recovering from an injury.

The Rays put him on the waivers for a very clear reason: to try to entice a team to claim him so they wouldn’t have to pay him $16 million next year, the salary Kim will earn if he accepts his player option.

And in the end, it worked: the Braves claimed Kim in the waivers.

Kim, who is (still) on the injured list at the moment, will be activated and finish the year in Atlanta. The Braves will therefore have a month to evaluate him and determine what they want to do with him for next season.

And in fact, it’s not a huge surprise in the sense that we knew the Braves were looking for reinforcements at shortstop. What is a little more surprising is that, by asking for Kim, the Braves are taking themselves out of the running for a big shortstop this winter.

If the club is already paying Kim $16M, it’ll be hard to justify another big salary at the position. Seeing them sign Bo Bichette, for example, becomes more complex.

There’s a world in which Kim’s presence allows the Braves to target Bichette this winter for second-cushion play. Kim’s defensive excellence combined with Bichette’s struggles at shortstop open up options.

But then again, Ozzie Albies is likely to be another factor in this one. Is it realistic to go after a guy like Bichette if Kim and Albies are around? Does this open the door to Albies being traded?

What’s clear is that the Braves wanted to improve at shortstop, and a healthy Kim should help them there. And suddenly, a team that was seen as logical for Bo Bichette is a destination that makes a lot less sense than it did 24 hours ago.

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Pete Alonso: keep an eye on the Reds this winter

Pete Alonso didn’t get the contract he wanted last winter. He spent weeks waiting for a club to offer him the contract he wanted, in order to sign a long-term deal.

But it didn’t happen. So he returned to the Mets, his #1 destination – despite difficult negotiations between Scott Boras and David Stearns.

His short-term contract can expire this winter if he decides to become a free agent. And with the season he’s having, everything points to the home run king in Mets history (he recently surpassed Darryl Strawberry by hitting his 253rd home run for the Metropolitans) getting out of his contract.

But where to? If I had to bet a rusty old $2, I’d put it on a return to the Mets. That’s where he wants to play, the club loves him – as do the guys in the locker room – and the owner has a lot of money in the coffers.

But what if he doesn’t? I don’t see him, for example, going to Toronto, the other club that was seriously in the picture last winter.

After all, it fit in the short term in 2025 when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. wasn’t signed long-term and guys like Ernie Clement and Addison Barger hadn’t stabilized third base… but I don’t see it fitting in 2026, on the terms of a long contract.

So if it’s not the Mets(who will be on the Munetaka Murakami case), who would it be? The Angels, who had their nose in the case last winter, without it being too serious? Maybe not.

But one club to keep an eye on is Cincinnati.

The Reds, who really need a powerful bat in the middle of their lineup, would be a natural fit to sign Pete Alonso, should he ever leave the Mets. – Bob Nightengale, in his famous Sunday text

The Reds, who are also linked to Kyle Schwarber if the Cincinnati native doesn’t return to the Phillies in 2026, didn’t sign Tito Francona to avoid trying to win in the short term.

The club is competitive and can afford a contract like that. Not ten, but one? Yes.

I don’t see the Polar Bear leaving the Big Apple. But since Scott Boras likes to establish the value of his clients on the free-agent market, he’ll clearly consider the Reds if a good offer is on the table.

We also have to wonder why Bob Nightengale, well connected in the business, put this out there, just like that, in his text.

  • Blue Jays loss: John Schneider refuses to publicly blame his bullpen.

  • Rafael Devers adapts to his new environment.

  • Jonathan India is injured.

  • Trevor Story is important in Boston.


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MLB in brief: Isiah Kiner-Falefa happy to be in Toronto | Five-man rotation in Toronto

Isiah Kiner-Falefa happy to be in Toronto

He’s even ready to play catcher, if need be.

Five-man rotation in Toronto

Eric Lauer is officially back in the bullpen.

Promotion to the minors

Gage Stanifer heads to AA, New Hampshire.

Ali Sanchez acquired by the Red Sox

He’s back in the majors.

https://twitter.com/SmittyOnMLB/status/1962516611849461943

Mike Clevinger (Chicago White Sox) is also back in the majors.

https://twitter.com/mlbtraderumors/status/1962507189785878918

Injury in Miami

Edward Cabrera has a sore shoulder.

https://twitter.com/mlbtraderumors/status/1962536814394089600

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Yankees: a very difficult (and very easy) schedule between now and the end of the season

By the end of the month, the Yankees and Red Sox will be trying to catch up with the Blue Jays in the standings.

All three clubs, who should be able to make the playoffs if there’s no catastrophe, need to understand the importance of the division title. And that’s even if, in the playoffs, it’s not everything.

Right now, when you look at it, the Toronto Blue Jays have the best chance of winning the division. They have (before today’s games) a three-game lead over the Yankees and a 3.5-game lead over the Red Sox. They also have the tiebreaker against both clubs.

If the series were to start today, the Blue Jays would move directly into the division series. The Bombardiers and Bas Rouges, meanwhile, would battle it out for the right to take on Detroit afterwards.

But ultimately, what chance do either team have of surpassing the Blue Jays?

When we look at the difficulty of the schedule in September, we see that the Yankees have the 21st toughest schedule in the league between now and the end of the season. The Blue Jays and Red Sox, meanwhile, are in the top-11 toughest schedules in the league.

In reality, when you look at it, the Yankees have a two-part schedule. In the next two weeks, the Astros, Blue Jays, Tigers and Red Sox are on the menu.

After that? It’ll be a lot easier (on paper): Twins, Orioles, White Sox and Orioles.

The Red Sox? Guardians, Diamondbacks, A’s, Yankees, A’s, Rays, Blue Jays and Tigers. As for the Blue Jays, it’ll be the Reds, Yankees, Astros, Orioles, Rays, Royals, Red Sox and Rays.

Currently, the Blue Jays have a 68.8% chance of winning the division. And we note that in the event of a tie between the Bombardiers and Sox, the Boston club has the advantage in the tie-breaker.

Of course, it’s on the pitch that it’s going to come down to the wire. The ugly sequences won’t be ideal for the three division rivals… especially on the heels of the series against the direct rivals.

Happy September to all.

  • Dillon Tate and Isiah Kiner-Falefa are added to the club’s 28-player roster, but Trey Yesavage is not. Reminder: in September, the line-up is 28 players.

  • Andrew Heaney signs with the Dodgers. He is playoff eligible.

  • Harry Ford recalled to Seattle.

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