Ohtani before Ohtani? Inside the Dodgers’ Fernandomania
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Paul Gutierrez, ESPN Staff Writer
THE CALL, LIKE the one that arrived hours before Opening Day in 1981, came out of nowhere.
And Fernando Valenzuela, just as he had been some 42 years earlier, was caught off guard.
Being asked, as a 20-year-old who had never started a major league game, if he was ready to take the mound to open the season for the pennant-contending Los Angeles Dodgers was one thing. Being told at the age of 62 — after using that initial start more than four decades earlier to launch the cultural phenomenon known as Fernandomania as well as a decorated 17-season career — that his iconic uniform number 34 was being retired by the Dodgers? Well, that was una otra cosa.
Another thing. Entirely.
The Dodgers usually only retire the numbers of players who are enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame (the late Jim Gilliam was the previous lone exception, his number 19 retired two days after his sudden passing in 1978), and Valenzuela fell off the writers’ ballot after garnering just 3.8% of the vote in 2004.
And yet an exception was made thanks to the appeal and continued cultural impact of the Dodgers’ homegrown Mexican pitcher who transcended the game and transformed a fan base.
“What do you want me to say? Of course I was surprised,” Valenzuela recently told ESPN.com with a laugh. “I never expected this to happen. You’ve got to be in Cooperstown. … It was a surprise.
“It’s not just for me, but for the people — the fans and my family.”
As such, Valenzuela will become the 12th Dodger to be so honored, joining the likes of Jackie Robinson (42), Sandy Koufax (32), Don Drysdale (53) and Tommy Lasorda (2) in a pregame ceremony Friday at Dodger Stadium. In fact, it’s a weekend-long fiesta for “El Toro,” with a bobblehead in Valenzuela’s likeness given to fans Saturday and a replica of his 1981 World Series championship ring passed out Sunday.
His number being retired, though, is the most impactful. Dodgers president Stan Kasten said in February the team “reviewed” its Hall of Fame members-only policy for number retirement after a “citywide call” by fans.
“What he accomplished during his playing career, not only on the field but in the community, is extraordinary,” Kasten said at the team’s FanFest. “He truly lit up the imaginations of baseball fans everywhere. It’s hard to envision a player having a greater impact on a fan base than the one Fernando has had.”
VALENZUELA GREW UP in anonymity in the Mexican village of Etchohuaquila in Sonora, where he and his five brothers slept in one bed. He spoke no English as he dominated the American pastime.
In a pre-Internet world, Valenzuela was more than an anomaly. He was, according to Hall of Fame Dodgers Spanish language announcer Jaime Jarrin, a mystery.
“His charisma was unbelievable,” said Jarrin, who served as Valenzuela’s interpreter early in his career. “The fact that he came here to the major leagues [in September 1980] after spending just a few weeks in San Antonio at Double-A — and from the beginning, he was just amazing. And the people fell in love with him. … He was only 19 years old. Little bit chubby, long hair, Yaqui Indian features. Those things really cultivated the people and they fell in love with Fernando in a matter of a few weeks.”
Answering Lasorda’s call for that emergency assignment — it was the first of Valenzuela’s six Opening Day starts with the Dodgers; only Clayton Kershaw (9), Drysdale (7) and Don Sutton (7) have more — Valenzuela twirled a 2-0 shutout at the Houston Astros and did not look back.
The cherubic lefthander won his first eight starts and, along with that late-1980 call-up, Valenzuela was 10-0 with five shutouts, eight complete games and a 0.40 earned run average in his first 18 career games. As a rookie, he started the 1981 All-Star Game, held the Dodgers afloat in a deciding Game 5 of the National League Championship Game against the Montreal Expos and beat the New York Yankees in Game 3 of the World Series en route to the Dodgers’ first title in 16 years.
“He was a younger player that was way ahead of his time, especially intellectually and as far as baseball was concerned,” said Dusty Baker, who mentored Valenzuela in Los Angeles during his rookie year. “Any man that I meet — man, woman or child — when they find out I played with the Dodgers, they want to know, ‘Oh really, were you friendly with Fernando?’ Yeah, that was my guy.”
He remains the only player to win the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards in the same season, while also visiting the White House … midseason, in an event to honor then-Mexican President Jose Lopez Portillo.
That Valenzuela was doing it with a screwball, a pitch not really in vogue since Carl Hubbell was dealing before World War II ended, and one Valenzuela had been taught by Dodgers right-hander Bobby Castillo less than two years earlier, was as fascinating as it was game changing.
“Babo threw it hard, so it sunk,” Valenzuela said. “I thought, What if I took some speed off it, and it dropped more like a curveball?” The results were devastating.
Meanwhile…with the #Dodgers retiring Fernando Valenzuela’s No. 34 mañana, I have a story posting Friday on the iconic left-hander’s cultural impact with the phenomenon known as Fernandomania. Here, he showed me his screwball grip… pic.twitter.com/1G1BRYYtL3
— Paul Gutierrez (@PGutierrezESPN) August 10, 2023
Yet, if his stats talked for themselves, Valenzuela’s cultural impact spoke at least two languages — and at a time it was desperately needed for the Dodgers.
When Dodger Stadium opened in Chavez Ravine in 1962, it was on the heels of a 10-year battle with residents who had lost their homes in the area after eminent domain was declared to purportedly build public housing. After those plans fell through, the Dodgers, who had moved from Brooklyn, got a sweetheart deal to build on the land.
“I had a brother-in-law who would never go to Dodger games, he could just never have anything to do with them, really, because of that,” said Dr. Felix Gutierrez, a professor of journalism emeritus at USC who focuses on racial diversity, media and the history of Latino news in the United States. “I had another brother-in-law who loved the Dodgers. He’d listen to the games right and left. So there was a mix of emotions about the Dodgers when Fernando hit.”
Valenzuela’s arrival and prominence served as a salve, of sorts, to Los Angeles Latinos in general, Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in particular, who had sworn off attending games at Dodger Stadium.
And it crossed sporting spectrums.
Across town, future Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Tom Flores, whose family moved to Central California from Mexico when he was young, was watching, especially after his Raiders relocated to Los Angeles in 1982.
“It was kinda neat,” Flores said. “Finally, there was some Mexican on the mound that they were honoring.
“I thought, ‘This guy’s a little quirky, because he had that high kick and his eyes disappeared into his forehead.’ But, boy, when that ball left his hand, it was zooming. And he had great control, and he was a competitive guy. He really was more than people realized. I admired him. He was low-key.”
In East L.A , a young boxer and his family took notice, often watching Valenzuela pitch on their tiny TV.
“He was hope, he was our way out, you know?” Oscar De La Hoya said. “If he can do it, we can do it. People like that, like Fernando, paved the way and now people like me are paving the way and it’s a trickle effect.”
De La Hoya wore a No. 34 jersey when he threw out a ceremonial first pitch at Dodger Stadium in 2016.
“That was by design,” laughed De La Hoya, who became golfing buddies with Valenzuela later in life. “He was a hero to us because we just felt so proud, that he came from Mexico, that he was one of us.
“Proud of, obviously, how he pitched and becoming a winner. He was just inspirational to us.”
Valenzuela took Mexicans and Mexican-Americans out of the shadows, even if he did not realize it at the time. Attendance jumped by an average of 7,500 for his starts at Dodger Stadium in 1981, according to the Society for American Baseball Research.
“As big a star that he was, he exemplified Mexicans coming to the United States, doing good work, knowing their job, doing their job, by his productivity, by his skills,” Gutierrez said. “We’ve always had the talent; we didn’t always have the opportunity. He was afforded the opportunity and he made the most of it.
“He stayed linked and tied to his people, to his community. We saw him as a representative of Mexicans and Latinos to the rest of L.A. — ‘Hey, look what we can do. Give us the opportunity.'”
“With my respects to Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Willie Mays, all of the major leaguers, Fernando is the one that created more new baseball followers,” Jarrin said. “People from Mexico, from Central America, from South America, they didn’t care at all about baseball, but they fell in love with the game. It was unbelievable. In those days, of course, we didn’t have the computers that we have now. Everything was through telephone calls or letters or cards — I was swamped by that — to find out something about Fernando.”
Usual staid stadiums came to life on the road.
“He had such a charisma that everywhere we went, people fell in love with him,” Jarrin said. “Going to Chicago, they were averaging 12,000 people. But when Fernando was announced, it was sold out, 31,000 people there. Same thing in New York. Same thing in St. Louis. It was magic.”
Now, the Los Angeles Times says 40% of the Dodgers fanbase is Latino, and credits Valenzuela with that uptick.
“I was a witness, man,” said Dave Stewart, who pitched in 32 games for the Dodgers during Valenzuela’s rookie season. “He blew up everywhere we went. You could expect packed stadiums and people at the ballpark early. Early. Just to see him. The media attention was just unbelievable. I had never seen anything like it before, or since, and I’ve been around the game now for 48 years.
“People talk about [Shohei] Ohtani, and Ohtani is a great attraction, but I don’t believe the madness is as crazy as it was for Fernando. … Fernando was [playing] a single day, and Ohtani is every day. But in a single day, I’ve never seen such madness in my life.”
FROM 1983 to 1987, Valenzuela averaged 262 innings pitched and 13 complete games for the Dodgers. He had a streak of 255 consecutive starts, which ended August 1988. He had 20 complete games in 1986, when he won a league-high 21 games and had a 3.14 ERA and finished second in the NL Cy Young voting. He had 96 complete games in his first seven seasons. (For comparison, Justin Verlander, last year’s AL Cy Young winner, has 26 complete games … in 18 years.)
“Termino lo que empiezo,” Valenzuela was fond of saying — I finish what I start.
One of the more memorable came June 29, 1990. A few hours after watching his old teammate Stewart throw a no-hitter for the Oakland A’s, Valenzuela slyly predicted another no-no might be witnessed that night. Sure enough, he went out and authored his own.
“This is the honest to God truth,” Stewart said softly. “What a great moment in baseball and in baseball history — if I have to share that moment, who better to share the moment with?”
Valenzuela left the Dodgers the next year and bounced around the league, playing one season each for the Angels, Baltimore Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies and two for the San Diego Padres. His last MLB game came in 1997, but he continued pitching occasionally in Mexico up until 2006.
Through all those years, while capturing the imagination of American baseball fans, he also won the hearts and minds of his Mexican countrymen, especially those of ballplayers with dreams of pitching in las grandes ligas. In 2021, Julio Urías, another Dodgers lefty with an arsenal of filthy pitches, joined him as one of just four Mexican-born pitchers to win at least 20 games in a season. But unlike Valenzuela, Urías had a very specific Mexican role model to look up to as he made his way to L.A.
“I can’t ask for more, being Mexican and wearing the same jersey as he did,” Urías said in Spanish. “Obviously, Fernando, for us as Mexicans, is an inspiration, the biggest star that Mexican baseball has given us.
“We have to give him the respect he has earned with everything he did in his time and everything he keeps doing. To get to the point where your number is retired, that’s something very big, especially being Mexican, facing all the adversities and it being more difficult for him in his time.
“I’m very happy and fortunate to be able to know him, and share and enjoy such a big day with his number retirement.”
While Valenzuela wore No. 34 in many of those big league stops after his days in Los Angeles, no player has worn it for the Dodgers since he was released near the end of spring training in 1991. Mitch Poole, the team’s visiting clubhouse manager who has been with the Dodgers since becoming a bat boy in 1985, made it his mission to keep No. 34 out of circulation.
“The Mexican community is so huge here in L.A,” said Poole, who has also served as the Dodgers’ assistant clubhouse and head equipment managers. “I wasn’t there yet in ’81 but I came to see the outpouring of emotions from the Mexican-American community, too. So I said, as long as I’m here, I will not release that number. As a thank you to him.”
It was an unwritten policy honored by clubbies and players alike. The closest anyone came to requesting the number was when Manny Ramirez came to Los Angeles in 2008. He wanted it as a tribute to his old Boston Red Sox teammate David Ortiz. After Poole suggested No. 28, to honor fellow Dominican and Dodgers star Pedro Guerrero, Ramirez settled for No. 99.
(Though Valenzuela has never spoken on why he chose the number, there is a conspiracy theory that wearing the digits was free publicity for Channel 34 in Los Angeles, a Spanish-language station.)
“Officially, ’34’ was not retired, but in our hearts, it was retired,” Poole said. “I take pride in the fact that we didn’t release that number. It’s important to me that the Mexican community got something out of it. And he deserves it. He did so many things that brought attention to the community.”
“I think that they took too long to recognize Fernando and to retire his number,” Jarrin said. “It’s something that he really, really deserves, and the community is very, very aware of that, and they are very pleased, very happy. There’s no question about it.”
It has been a long road from the dusty ball fields of Etchohuaquila to the emerald green of Chavez Ravine. Valenzuela returned to the Dodgers in 2004, joining Jarrin in the broadcast booth. Though Jarrin retired in 2022, Valenzuela remains today.
Through it all, Valenzuela, who became an American citizen in 2015, owns a Mexican League team in Cancun and has a stadium named after him in Hermosillo, has rarely taken the time to stop and enjoy the sights. But Friday, when he looks up and sees his No. 34 in the Dodger Stadium rafters, he mused, maybe then it will hit him.
“I don’t like to talk about myself but if what I did helped people, I’m happy, yeah,” Valenzuela said. “It’s great. If a player from Mexico coming up says they have more chance, more opportunity, a good chance to do something in the big leagues, if I did something that helped a little bit, I’m great. You can have the talent and believe in yourself, but you have to take advantage of the opportunity. That makes me feel fine. Feel good.”
And that’s not surprising at all.
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Bill Connelly
We told you so. The worse a week looks on paper, the more entertaining it turns out to be. After a Week 1 that featured bright, flashy matchups and no particularly classic games, Week 2 was the exact opposite. It was light in marquee matchups but dazzling from noon to midnight. (OK, the late-evening session wasn’t amazing, but still.) There was a tense finish or an overtime game everywhere you looked.
We got points, too! After FBS vs. FBS games averaged just 23.0 points per team in Week 1, we jumped up to a far more normal 26.9 per team in Week 2, and this week’s Favorite Games of the Weekend section below — one that features far more than the customary 10 games because I couldn’t help myself — has scores like 48-45, 42-40, 36-35, 43-36, 56-49 and 39-38.
Saturday was a delight. And it told us very little about what to expect moving forward. No top teams were heavily tested — unless you still consider Clemson a top team — and so many of the players who enjoyed big Week 1s were bit players this time around. In that regard, the 2025 season hasn’t really made any sense yet. FCS teams have looked more overwhelmed than ever in buy games but have also scored four wins, nearly as many as they had all of last season. Alabama played its worst game in nearly two decades, then responded with near perfection. No preseason Heisman favorite has looked the part twice (or, in a few cases, once).
It’s all a big — and incredibly delightful — mess. Let’s therefore use this space to play a game of true or false. What do we think we know two weeks into 2025?
True or false: So Arch Manning is the best QB in the SEC after all?
FALSE (HIS NAME’S NOT BEAU PRIBULA).
After a humbling season debut against Ohio State’s defense — quite possibly the best he’ll see all year — Texas’ Arch Manning settled in Saturday against San José State. In the Longhorns’ easy 38-7 win, he threw for 295 yards and four touchdowns, sprinkling in a trio of non-sack rushes for 30 yards and another score. After another slow start (his first six passes netted just 11 yards), he connected for touchdown passes on four of five throws, and with major help from a defense that was forcing a cascade of turnovers, the Horns went up 28-0 before the Spartans knew what hit them. This one was easy.
So that’s it then? Manning is great now and the Horns are ready to roll through the rest of the schedule? Not necessarily. Manning was still inefficient — of his 31 dropbacks, 20 gained four or fewer yards — and took some ill-advised hits in the pocket. He’s still very much a work in progress, and hey, that’s fine: With an elite defense and fantastic overall talent, Texas is going to win most of its games, and the goal is to peak in mid-January, not mid-September.
It only matters so much how you look heading into Week 3. But considering how much of a storyline SEC quarterback play was guaranteed to be this season, with so many talented teams starting new or inexperienced signal-callers, here’s an interesting question for you: If you had to win a vital game this coming Saturday, which SEC quarterback would you choose to do it? Never mind who the best QB will be at the start of 2026; who’s the best right now? Here’s my own list.
1. Beau Pribula, Missouri. He left Penn State in search of a starring role, and his first two performances have been outstanding. Pribula is fifth nationally in completion rate (79.1%) and 25th in yards per dropback, and he has more non-sack rushing yards than LaNorris Sellers. And in his first Border Showdown against Kansas on Saturday, he threw for 334 yards and led a 15-point comeback.
2. John Mateer, Oklahoma. The world got the full John Mateer experience in OU’s 24-13 win over Michigan. He’s going to sling the ball around at all sorts of arm angles. He’s going to risk interceptions in the name of big plays. He’s going to slam into defenders even if it means wear-and-tear later in the year. And he’s going to make plays: He threw for 278 yards and a touchdown and scored on two short-yardage rushes.
3. Taylen Green, Arkansas. You could make the case that Green should rank even higher — he’s third nationally in Total QBR, after all, although he did face a pair of weak opponents thus far. He’s thrown a nation’s-best 10 touchdown passes in two games, and he’s rushed for 204 non-sack yards as well.
4. Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt. Pavia has basically become the model SEC quarterback. The three guys above him here are all similarly physical with their legs and accurate with their arms, and considering what Pavia did Saturday at Virginia Tech, leading five consecutive touchdown drives to turn an early deficit into a 24-point road win, he has a case to rank three spots higher.
5. Joey Aguilar, Tennessee. The App State/UCLA transfer has now topped 7,000 career passing yards, and he’s been on cruise control early into his Vols tenure: 66% completion rate, 13.7 yards per completion, no picks and two easy wins.
6. Garrett Nussmeier, LSU. He was solid against a good Clemson defense and wholly mediocre, with an interception and three sacks, in a 23-7 win over Louisiana Tech on Saturday. He gets the benefit of the doubt because he has a stronger track record than most on this list, but it’s time to pick it up.
7. Arch Manning, Texas. Hey, he’s higher than he would have been a week ago, and he has two more nonconference tune-ups before SEC play begins.
8. Gunner Stockton, Georgia. Georgia has sleepwalked through the early season, and we’ve learned little about Stockton to date. That will change with Saturday’s trip to Tennessee.
9. Ty Simpson, Alabama. He was overwhelmed against Florida State and virtually perfect against Louisiana-Monroe (17-for-17 for 226 yards). We’ll learn what we need to in his next two games (Wisconsin, at Georgia).
10. Marcel Reed, Texas A&M. When Reed is making big plays through the air (as he did against UTSA), the A&M offense looks otherworldly. When it isn’t, Reed can still lean on his legs and a quick, efficient passing game.
11. Austin Simmons, Ole Miss. In his first big start, Simmons malfunctioned early against Kentucky (two first-quarter INTs) but was excellent from there. Very encouraging, but his résumé is still pretty light.
12. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina. Sellers was all-or-nothing as a redshirt freshman in 2024, with occasionally spectacular plays masking major inconsistency. He had a lovely touchdown run and long-bomb touchdown pass against Virginia Tech in Week 1, but he has otherwise been even less consistent two games into 2025. He desperately needs that to change over the next two weeks against Pavia’s Vandy and Pribula’s Mizzou.
13. Blake Shapen, Mississippi State. The veteran has had a hit-and-miss career and ranks just 71st in Total QBR after two games, but he also threw the most memorable Mississippi State touchdown pass in years Saturday night in the Bulldogs’ last-minute upset of Arizona State. We’ll see if the Bulldogs can build on that.
14. Jackson Arnold, Auburn. He’s been excellent with his legs and made solid plays to beat Baylor. He’s also averaging just 2.7 yards per dropback on third and fourth down.
15. DJ Lagway, Florida. The sophomore battled various injuries all offseason, and he has been terribly rusty early this season. He’s 73rd in Total QBR, he’s averaging just 9.0 yards per completion, and his Gators couldn’t score in the red zone and dropped a painful defeat to USF on Saturday.
16. Zach Calzada, Kentucky. In parts of two seasons at Texas A&M, Calzada produced a 56.7 Total QBR. After a star turn at FCS’ Incarnate Word, he returned to the SEC to try again … and he thus far has a 29.3 Total QBR.
True or false: Clemson is going to be a bust this year?
TRUE (EVEN IF DEFINITIONS VARY).
Granted, “bust” is in the eye of the beholder. When you’re a top-five team in the preseason polls, playing at merely a top-15 level could be considered bust-like. But we’ll have to wait until Clemson plays at a top-15 level to worry about that.
Dabo Swinney’s Tigers weren’t anywhere close to that against Troy on Saturday, falling behind 16-0 in the first half before rallying to win 27-16. Bryant Wesco Jr. had a pair of lovely touchdown catches to drive the comeback, and the defense improved dramatically in the second half, but they still outgained the Trojans by just a 316-301 margin and needed to force three turnovers to feel comfortable. SP+ was far more skeptical of the Tigers than the sportsbooks were, projecting them as only 19-point favorites instead of the 29-point line. But it still overestimated them by more than a touchdown.
Even in recent years, when Clemson slipped to a mere top-20 program, the Tigers could still count on offensive efficiency even if (or when) they lacked explosiveness. But while the national average for success rate* thus far in 2025 is 44.4%, they were at 41.8% against Troy (83rd in defensive SP+), and they’re at 38.1% for the season, 106th in the country. Cade Klubnik, who began the season tied for second in the betting odds for the Heisman, is 104th in Total QBR, just behind FIU’s Keyone Jenkins.
(* Success rate = how frequently an offense is gaining 50% of necessary yardage on first down, 70% on second and 100% on third and fourth. It is an on-base percentage for football and a strong driver of predictive quality.)
Yes, half of the Tigers’ output has come against a great-looking LSU defense, but Saturday was when the rebound was supposed to begin. Instead, Clemson finished the game with more questions than it began with and slipped to a jarring 30th in SP+. (LSU’s sleepwalking performance against Louisiana Tech didn’t help them in terms of early opponent adjustments, either.)
Considering they haven’t finished a season as low as 30th in SP+ since 2011, I’m going to guess the Tigers will find their sea legs at some point. They have too much talent not to. But even in a woeful ACC — which has already seen eight teams drop by least 12 spots in SP+ (and four by at least 20) — the Tigers have fallen behind both Louisville and Miami in the SP+ pecking order, and they’re barely ahead of Florida State, Georgia Tech and Pitt.
As the resident Clemson skeptic this offseason, I really struggled to see the sort of national-title upside others did in this experienced team. But I still assumed they were good enough to set the bar in their conference. But never mind the standard they established while going 79-7 with two national titles from 2015 to 2020. Right now, they have to improve just to get back to the standard they’ve set in the years since.
True or false: Oregon is the best team in the country?
TRUE (FOR OKLAHOMA STATE’S SAKE, IT BETTER BE).
In this neighborhood, we understand that time of possession is not in any way a predictive stat. It says plenty about the personality and flow of a given game — that Army more than doubled Kansas State’s time of possession in Saturday evening’s upset win, for instance, says it was very much an Army-style win — but it doesn’t tell us nearly as much about quality as we tend to think.
But still … Oregon crafting a +420 yardage advantage over Oklahoma State (631-211) while losing the time-of-possession battle Saturday, in a 69-3 demolition, is some wicked stuff that tops anything they pulled off even during the Chip Kelly era. When the Ducks walloped UCLA 60-13 with 21:29 in time of possession in 2010, they had only a +292 yardage advantage. (That’s also absurd, for the record.) When they beat up Washington (44-10) and Washington State (63-14) with 24:17 and 27:36 TOP, respectively, in 2008, their combined yardage margin in those games was +490, only a little higher than what they managed Saturday.
Their second play of the game was a 59-yard touchdown, and their third was a 65-yard touchdown. They had more gains of 40-plus yards (five) than OSU had gains of double-digit yardage (four). They made an example of the Cowboys in about 37 different ways, and poor OSU quarterback Zane Flores (7-for-19 for 67 yards and two pick-sixes) had just about the worst Saturday afternoon of his life.
Oregon was projected seventh in SP+ to start the season, and I was a little concerned about the level of unknowns — they had so many new starters, especially on offense, and they needed a number of key transfers to hit if they were to meet their potential. Let’s just say I am presently unconcerned about anything the Ducks have to offer. They are doing whatever they want to opponents, and they have surged to No. 1 in SP+, even past an Ohio State team that beat Texas and went full hot-knife-through-butter against Grambling State.
Those new pieces who needed to click for Oregon? They’re clicking. Quarterback Dante Moore was 16-for-21 for 266 yards and three touchdowns against the Pokes. Receiver Malik Benson is averaging 14.1 yards per catch and a touchdown per game. How is the offensive line with three transfer starters performing? Well, Oregon has gained zero or fewer yards on just 17.5% of its snaps (third lowest in FBS) while gaining 20-plus on 12.7% (third highest). I’m guessing the line’s doing well. Running back Makhi Hughes hasn’t gotten rolling yet, but the blowouts mean that lots of players are getting touches — seven different backs have between five and 14 carries.
Oregon has started about as well as a team can. That’s probably bad news for Northwestern and Oregon State, its next two opponents. That Week 5 matchup at Penn State can’t come quickly enough.
True or false: Texas Tech is the best team in the Big 12?
FALSE (IF ONLY BECAUSE OF FIERCE COMPETITION).
It’s hard to top outscoring your first two opponents by a combined 129-21. Yards: Tech 1,209, opponents 404. Even though their two opponents, Kent State and Arkansas-Pine Bluff, ranked 167th and 346th, respectively, in last week’s full SP+ rankings, that’s some high-quality shop-wrecking right there.
On Saturday against an overwhelmed Kent State, Behren Morton went a tidy 18-for-26 for 258 yards and three scores, Adam Hill rushed for 127 yards, and before the game fell into my garbage time filter, the Red Raiders outgained the Golden Flashes by a 235-26 margin. They are very much treating bad teams as if a great team would, and it’s hard to ask for more than that. They’re up to 11th in SP+ for a lot of the same reasons Oregon has jumped to first.
A lot of Big 12 teams have looked just about as good, however, in the early going. The conference certainly has at least one deadweight team in Oklahoma State (and maybe another one in West Virginia), but other lower-tier Big 12 teams have looked good at least once, and the teams at the top have been brilliant.
• Utah outscored UCLA and Cal Poly by a combined 106-19 and outgained them 1,010-443.
• BYU outscored Portland State and Stanford by a combined 96-3 and outgained them 938-212.
• Arizona outscored Hawai’i and Weber State by a combined 88-9 and outgained them 900-474.
• TCU humiliated Bill Belichick’s North Carolina on the opening Monday night of the season.
• Iowa State has actually played solid opponents and has sandwiched a jet-lag-defying 55-7 romp over South Dakota with gutty, 3-point wins over Kansas State and Iowa.
• Even with a rivalry road loss to Missouri (No. 13 in SP+) on Saturday, Kansas still has a pair of resounding wins — a combined 77-14 over Fresno State and Wagner with a 1,014-359 yardage advantage — on the résumé as well.
We’ll see if wobbly Kansas State, Baylor and Arizona State teams can find their legs and live up to their potential. But even without them, the Big 12 has a lot of teams that look as if they could win the conference and/or command some attention for a possible CFP at-large bid. Texas Tech might be the best of the bunch, but the competition is too close to call.
True or false: USF is the best team in the Group of 5?
TRUE (NO MATTER WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY).
Who has a better résumé through two weeks than Alex Golesh’s South Florida Bulls? They’ve already taken down two teams that were ranked in the preseason AP poll — Boise State by a large margin in Week 1, then Florida via walk-off field goal in Week 2 — and they were unanimous selections in our Saturday night playoff picks. They were projected to finish a brutal three-game start (they play at Miami next) with an average of about 0.5 wins, per SP+. They already have two. Surely they can’t make it a third at Hard Rock Stadium next week, right?
SP+ is still trying to figure the Bulls out and has conservatively advanced them to only 63rd overall, sixth among G5 teams and just behind a tumbling Boise State.
Top 10 Group of 5 teams, per SP+:
39. Memphis (2-0)
46. Tulane (2-0)
54. Navy (2-0)
57. James Madison (1-1)
58. Boise State (1-1)
63. USF (2-0)
66. Toledo (1-1)
68. Army (1-1)
70. UConn (1-1)
When you overachieve against projections by a combined 59 points in your first two games, however, you’re playing with house money. Until proven otherwise, we’re just going to assume that quarterback Byrum Brown and big-play receivers Keshaun Singleton and Chas Nimrod (combined: 13 catches for 288 yards and two TDs) will keep hitting home runs when it matters. They’ll need to because the remaining schedule features not only Miami but also road games against two of the teams ranked above them in SP+ (Memphis and Navy). The journey is only beginning, but USF is one of the stories of the early season.
This week in SP+
The SP+ rankings have been updated for the week. Let’s take a look at the teams that saw the biggest change in their overall ratings. (Note: We’re looking at ratings, not rankings.)
Moving up
Here are the 10 teams that saw their ratings rise the most this week:
The Big Ten enjoyed a nice overall ratings boost thanks to cupcake destruction from Northwestern, Minnesota and Indiana (combined score: 164-16). But looking at the rankings, the most noteworthy jump obviously came from Alabama. SP+ rewards virtually perfect performances, and the Tide outgaining ULM by a 583-148 margin (334-32 before my garbage time filter kicked in) certainly qualifies as that. SP+ can just never quit Bama, can it?
Moving down
Here are the 10 teams whose ratings fell the most:
Oof, Oklahoma State. But we’ve already covered the Cowboys.
Meanwhile, Miami’s stumble was a product of a strange early-season issue we’re seeing. The Hurricanes scored TDs on their first five drives in a 45-3 win over Bethune-Cookman, but because they played a bottom-tier FCS team and weren’t perfect in every way — not a ton of big plays before garbage time, a couple of decent first-half drives allowed — their performance graded out poorly compared to absolute destructions such as BYU’s 69-0 win over Portland State and others. Therefore their rating fell. I’m not at all worried about the Canes, but the bar is absurdly high when you’re playing the lowest-rated FCS opponents.
Who won the Heisman this week?
I am once again awarding the Heisman every single week of the season and doling out weekly points, F1-style (in this case, 10 points for first place, nine for second, and so on). How will this Heisman race play out, and how different will the result be from the actual Heisman voting?
Here is this week’s Heisman top 10:
1. Sawyer Robertson, Baylor (34-for-50 passing for 440 yards and 4 touchdowns, plus 28 non-sack rushing yards against SMU)
2. Vicari Swain, South Carolina (2 punt return touchdowns and a forced fumble against SC State)
3. Ty Simpson, Alabama (17-for-17 passing for 226 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus a rushing score against ULM)
4. Jayden Maiava, USC (16-for-24 passing for 412 yards and 4 touchdowns against Georgia Southern)
5. Cam Cook, Jacksonville State (29 carries for 195 yards and 2 touchdowns against Liberty)
6. DeJuan Echoles Jr., Ball State (3 tackles, 3 TFLs, 2 sacks and 3 forced fumbles against Auburn)
7. Aidan Chiles, Michigan State (19-for-29 passing for 231 yards and 4 touchdowns, plus 67 non-sack rushing yards and a touchdown against Boston College)
8. Dylan Lonergan, Boston College (34-for-45 passing for 390 yards and 4 touchdowns against Michigan State)
9. Noah Fifita, Arizona (17-for-22 passing for 373 yards and 5 touchdowns against Weber State)
10. Hank Beatty, Illinois (8 catches for 128 yards, plus a 25-yard rushing touchdown against Duke)
Vicari Swain had the most unique stat line of the season thus far, and his two punt return touchdowns in two minutes, including one off a partial block, served a pretty important purpose for a South Carolina team whose offense never shifted out of second gear against SC State. But leading two late touchdown drives to force overtime and throwing for 440 yards in a vital win, as Sawyer Robertson did, will usually get you the top spot on this list.
Honorable mention:
• Xavier Atkins, Auburn (5 tackles, 4 TFLs and 2 sacks against Ball State)
• Carson Beck, Miami (22-for-24 passing for 267 yards and 2 touchdowns against Bethune-Cookman)
• Taylen Green, Arkansas (17-for-26 passing for 239 yards, 4 TDs and 2 INTs, plus 151 non-sack rushing yards and a touchdown against Arkansas State)
• Robert Henry Jr., UTSA (17 carries for 159 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 21 receiving yards and a touchdown against Texas State)
• Cashius Howell, Texas A&M (4 tackles, 3 TFLs and 3 sacks against Utah State)
• Beau Pribula, Missouri (30-for-39 passing for 334 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 19 non-sack rushing yards against Kansas)
• Jamal Roberts, Missouri (13 carries for 143 yards and a touchdown, plus two receptions against Kansas)
• Hollywood Smothers, NC State (17 carries for 140 yards and 2 touchdowns, plus 13 receiving yards against Virginia)
• J’Mari Taylor, Virginia (17 carries for 150 yards and 3 touchdowns, plus 13 receiving yards against NC State)
Through two weeks, here are your points leaders. We’ve had 20 different players fill the two top-10s thus far, so we’ve got five ties in the top 10.
1T. Jonah Coleman, Washington (10 points)
1T. Sawyer Robertson, Baylor (10 points)
3T. Rocco Becht, Iowa State (nine points)
3T. Vicari Swain, South Carolina (nine points)
5T. Parker Navarro, Ohio (eight points)
5T. Ty Simpson, Alabama (eight points)
7T. Taylen Green, Arkansas (seven points)
7T. Jayden Maiava, USC (seven points)
9T. Cam Cook, Jacksonville State (six points)
9T. Marcel Reed, Texas A&M (six points)
Safe to say, the Heisman race hasn’t really begun yet.
My 10 — make it 20! — favorite games of the weekend
As I warned above, there was simply no way I was sticking to 10 games this week. Even at 20, I couldn’t squeeze in all the games I wanted to. And I couldn’t even decide on a No. 1!
1T. Mississippi State 24, No. 12 Arizona State 20. The game that produced the first “HOLY S—” of the season in my Teams chat with my editor pretty much has to be No. 1.
0:40
Mississippi State upsets Arizona State on game-winning TD
Blake Shapen throws the game-winning touchdown in the final minute as Mississippi State upsets Arizona State.
1T. Baylor 48, No. 17 SMU 45 (2OT). This absurd track meet also has to be No. 1. SMU led by 14 with six minutes left but couldn’t close the door on Robertson and the Bears. SMU kicker Collin Rogers (two missed field goals, including one in OT) probably didn’t get much sleep last night.
3. USF 18, No. 13 Florida 16. Florida moved the ball beautifully in the first half but settled for field goals each time, gave up a 66-yard TD in the third quarter and, after taking the lead back in the fourth quarter, let the Bulls drive 87 yards (with help from the silliest penalty of the week https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/46179368/usf-stuns-florida-second-straight-win-vs-ranked-team) for the walk-off field goal.
4. Michigan State 42, Boston College 40 (2OT). Boston College was efficient, and Michigan State was explosive, and after 60 delightfully even minutes, the game was decided by who could make their 2-point conversion in the second OT.
5. Division II: Fort Hays State 36, No. 5 CSU-Pueblo 35. The smaller schools always provide. Fort Hays State knocked off a top-five D-II team for the first time, overcoming an early 15-point deficit, taking the lead with 1:47 remaining and then, 80 seconds later, blocking CSU-Pueblo’s game-tying PAT attempt!
6. NC State 35, Virginia 31. UVA had a massive opportunity here, outgaining NC State, 514-420, and driving the length of the field to get in position to win in the final minute. But Cian Stone stepped in front of a poor Chandler Morris pass in the end zone with 1:02 left, and the Pack prevailed.
7. Texas State 43, UTSA 36. This was every bit the track meet I had hoped for. UTSA’s Robert Henry Jr. nearly made the Heisman top 10 for the second straight week, but after five second-half lead changes and a 65-yard Brad Jackson-to-Beau Sparks TD, TXST made three late stops to seal the road win.
8. Missouri 42, Kansas 31. Mizzou played “Mr. Brightside” and overcame an early 21-6 deficit thanks to relentless ball control, but Kansas still led with five minutes remaining. It wasn’t until Jamal Roberts‘ 63-yard burst with 1:49 left that the home fans could feel comfortable.
9. Division III: University of New England 56, Coast Guard 49. Nor’easters win a track meet! The opening weekend of the D-III season gave us this marvel, a game with 1,365 total yards, two fourth-quarter lead changes and a game-winning, 21-yard pass from Chris Lang to Berto Zepeda.
10. Syracuse 27, UConn 20 (OT). Not sure about the whole “make ’em run after the game” thing, but Syracuse took its first lead with 48 seconds left, and after Chris Freeman‘s 41-yard field goal forced overtime, the Orange won with a Justus Ross-Simmons touchdown and a goal-line stop.
11. FCS: Presbyterian 39, Furman 38 (OT). Presbyterian has finished with two winning records in 17 FCS seasons, but a week after a 15-10 upset of No. 11 Mercer, the Blue Hose moved to 2-0 with another big upset. They forced overtime with a 17-0 second-half run, then sealed the win with a 2-point conversion in the first OT.
12. FCS: Delaware State 37, Albany 32. DeSean Jackson’s Hornets have overachieved against projections twice in two games, and they scored the first win of the Jackson era with a 27-yard Kaiden Bennett touchdown run with 34 seconds left.
13. Nevada 20, Sacramento State 17. My favorite win probability chart of the week.
That’s what it looks like when you win because of (A) a pick-six with 2:17 remaining, (B) two disallowed touchdowns in the final minute and (C) a missed field goal at the buzzer.
14. FCS: No. 2 South Dakota State 30, No. 3 Montana State 24 (2OT). It was more a battle of attrition than a fireworks show, but despite losing a late lead because of a fumble return TD, SDSU outlasted MSU in overtime in this FCS heavyweight fight.
15. Army 24, Kansas State 21. You can’t win when you don’t have the ball. Army scored on a 7:22 field goal drive, recovered a surprise onside kick, scored on a 7:54 touchdown drive and picked off an Avery Johnson pass to steal an upset and send K-State reeling.
16. No. 16 Iowa State 16, Iowa 13. A Cy-Hawk game decided by field goals and a late defensive stop?? I don’t believe it!
17. Division II: East Central (Okla.) 24, No. 15 Ouachita Baptist 22. SP+ favored OBU by 18 points in this game, and the Tigers led by nine at halftime, but ECU charged back thanks to 174 rushing yards from Cade Searcy and a 24-yard Gabriel Ogura field goal at the buzzer.
18. Tulane 33, South Alabama 31. This game had letdown potential, with Tulane pummeling Northwestern in Week 1 and prepping for a big game against Ole Miss ahead. The Green Wave led by 16 with 10 minutes left, but USA struck back with two touchdowns. Unfortunately, they converted only one of two 2-point conversion tries.
19. FCS: UT Rio Grande Valley 27, Prairie View A&M 21. In their debut season, the UTRGV Vaqueros are now 2-0! They watched a 17-0 first-quarter lead turn into a late 21-20 deficit at PVAMU, but Nathan Denney scored with 2:21 left, and Elijah Graham grabbed a game-clinching fumble recovery.
20. Fresno State 36, Oregon State 27. Oregon State missed four 2-point conversions, so a 34-yard touchdown pass with 1:19 left gave the Beavers only a 27-26 lead instead of, say, 31-26. Dylan Lynch‘s 43-yard field goal with 29 seconds left therefore gave Fresno State the lead, and Jakari Embry clinched the game with a pick-six.
Week 2 has wrapped up, and the ACC and Big Ten showed they have multiple teams in contention for the College Football Playoff, South Florida beat yet another AP Top 25 team and Oklahoma State suffered its biggest loss in over 100 years.
Is it possible for Oklahoma State to bounce back? How have Mississippi State’s portal pickups helped turn around the program? Is South Florida’s success finally giving the American Conference a reason to smile?
Our college football experts break down key takeaways from Week 2 performances.
Jump to:
CFP race | Oklahoma State
South Florida | Billy Napier
Mississippi State | Potential FCS title game
The ACC and Big Ten are off to strong starts in the CFP race
The ACC runs deeper than Miami and Clemson (welcome back, Florida State), and the Big Ten is stronger than Ohio State, Penn State and Oregon (that’s you, Illinois and Indiana … maybe USC). Meanwhile, in the SEC, Austin Peay stuffed Georgia on the 1-yard line, LSU had its hands full against that pesky Louisiana Tech defense, Florida lost at home to South Florida, and South Carolina needed two punt returns for touchdowns to overcome a sleepy start against South Carolina State.
Based on the latest predictions, if the ranking were today, the ACC would have two top-four teams with first-round byes (predicted ACC champ No. 5 Miami and No. 10 Florida State). The SEC hasn’t won the national title in each of the past two seasons, and it might be even tougher to win it this year with more contenders in the mix — at least early. — Heather Dinich
Where have all the Cowboys gone?
There’s no shame in losing to Oregon in Eugene, just ask the defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes, who lost there last year.
But Oklahoma State being noncompetitive against any opponent on any field is embarrassing for coach Mike Gundy and a proud program boasting so much success over the past two decades.
The Ducks smoked the Pokes 69-3 — Oklahoma State’s most-lopsided loss since 1907, the same year Oklahoma gained statehood.
It felt even worse than that final score indicated. Oregon scored two touchdowns on its first three plays. The Ducks had eight touchdowns before the end of the third quarter — while Oklahoma State completed just seven passes and produced only six first downs (until a final garbage-time drive).
Afterward, Ducks coach Dan Lanning and his players noted they took issue with Gundy calling out Oregon’s roster’s robust budget earlier in the week. Ducks QB Dante Moore said they wanted to keep a “foot on their necks.”
Lately, Gundy seems to be generating more headlines than wins. Last season, on the way to a last-place Big 12 finish, he apologized for suggesting critical fans “can’t pay their own bills.” Then, amid a clash with the school’s regents last December, Gundy fired his staff and agreed to a reduced salary and reduced buyout. Now what?
Under Gundy, since 2005, the Cowboys had been one of college football’s most consistent programs — a perennial winner. But this abrupt downturn — 10 straight losses to FBS opponents — appears to have no end in sight. And Gundy, the nation’s second-longest tenured coach, faces a lot of tough questions with no easy answers. — Jake Trotter
South Florida highlights strong start for the American
As longtime commissioner of the American Conference, Mike Aresco constantly fought for the league to be viewed as a power conference, mostly to no avail. The past few years have been tough. UCF and Houston left for the Big 12, and SMU bolted for the ACC. The American saw the Mustangs immediately make the first 12-team College Football Playoff and then Mountain West champion Boise State land a coveted automatic qualifying spot instead of its own champ.
Aresco is undoubtedly smiling right now, along with current American commissioner Tim Pernetti, as the league has made a significant splash early in the 2025 season.
South Florida, which won seven games in each of the past two seasons under coach Alex Golesh, is carrying the conference’s banner after wins against Boise State and Florida, beating ranked opponents in consecutive weeks for the first time in team history. The Bulls had never won at Florida, and they take one of the nation’s most impressive profiles into this week’s game at No. 5 Miami. Imagine if South Florida takes down the Gators and Hurricanes in back-to-back weeks.
The league also got a nice lift from Army, which responded from a brutal home loss to Tarleton State by shocking Kansas State in the Little Apple. Coach Jeff Monken’s team has fallen off from last year’s 12-win perch, but Saturday’s win stabilized things a bit for Army.
Other opportunities await for teams in the American, including Tulane, which already has a definitive win against a Power 4 opponent (Northwestern) and faces Duke — and former Green Wave quarterback Darian Mensah — and Ole Miss the next two weeks. There are some long shots, such as Navy‘s annual matchup with Notre Dame and Temple hosting Oklahoma this coming week, as well as more realistic win chances like Memphis hosting Arkansas on Sept. 20.
Things are never smooth-sailing for leagues like the American during the early part of the season, but thanks to South Florida and others, the highlights are piling up. — Adam Rittenberg
Is Billy Napier done at Florida?
There was no loss more costly Saturday than No. 13 Florida’s 18-16 defeat to South Florida in The Swamp. Once again, the Gators did seemingly everything they could to give away the game late in the fourth quarter.
After USF missed a 58-yard field goal try, the Gators got the ball back with less than three minutes to play. Instead of running the ball and milking the clock, Florida coach Billy Napier called two passing plays. The Gators failed to pick up a first down and used about 20 seconds before punting.
After the Bulls took over at their 11-yard line, Florida’s defense committed two huge penalties to give USF a chance to win. A pass-interference penalty gave USF some breathing room, and then Florida defensive lineman Brendan Bett spat on a Bulls offensive lineman, drawing another 15-yard penalty and an automatic ejection. The Bulls had two big passing plays to get into field goal range, and Nico Gramatica kicked a 20-yarder at the buzzer to win.
The loss dropped Napier’s record at UF to 20-20, and he’s only 14-7 at home. All of the momentum Napier gained from the four-game winning streak to end the 2024 season is gone. Athletics director Scott Stricklin gave Napier a vote of confidence last year and it paid off. Stricklin received a three-year contract extension in June, so it will be his decision on whether Napier returns in 2026. Napier would be owed about $20.4 million if he’s let go.
Barring a miracle, it will not get better. The Gators still play eight teams that are ranked, including four straight starting with Saturday’s trip to No. 3 LSU. They play at No. 5 Miami, host No. 7 Texas and travel to No. 19 Texas A&M. The Gators will face No. 4 Georgia, No. 20 Ole Miss, No. 22 Tennessee and No. 14 Florida State later in the season. Ouch. — Mark Schlabach
Mississippi State’s portal-heavy turnaround is coming together
Mississippi State has lost 15 of its past 16 SEC games. Jeff Lebby took on a daunting rebuild for his first head coaching job and has gone through two long offseasons of reconstructing his roster to catch up to his conference peers.
On Saturday night, the Bulldogs achieved a magical signature win that inspires hope. Mississippi State rolled to a 17-0 lead over No. 12 Arizona State and nearly blew it, giving up 20 unanswered points. But a tough goal-line stop in the final two minutes, forcing the Sun Devils to kick a go-ahead field goal, gave the Bulldogs a chance to play for the win. Blake Shapen did just that on a third down with 30 seconds left, torching the defending Big 12 champs with a 58-yard bomb to speedy receiver Brenen Thompson for the win.
The Bulldogs won this game with 16 starters who joined this program via the transfer portal. Shapen came in from Baylor and stayed with Lebby after a season-ending injury last year. His top receivers, Thompson (Oklahoma transfer) and Anthony Evans III (Georgia), burned the Sun Devils with career-best performances. Seven former transfers started on a defense that held one of the Big 12’s top QBs, Sam Leavitt, to 82 passing yards.
It’s a historic triumph for this rebuilding program, the Bulldogs’ first nonconference home win over a ranked opponent since 1991, and one that Lebby hopes is proof that this team is trending in the right direction. The Bulldogs are working with explosive playmakers and better depth, and now this group has some hard-earned confidence. Mississippi State could easily be 4-0 entering SEC play with positive momentum and an opportunity to keep surprising everyone. — Max Olson
FCS national championship preview?
Please allow for this brief foray into the world of FCS football because it’s a worthy detour. No. 2 South Dakota State traveled to No. 3 Montana State on Saturday for what could be a preview of the FCS national championship game, and it did not disappoint.
South Dakota State — the 2023 national champion under new Washington State coach Jimmy Rogers — fell behind in overtime, but responded by scoring two touchdowns on its next three plays to escape Bozeman with a 30-24 double-OT win. It was the Jackrabbits’ second win against a Big Sky opponent to start the season after dominating Sacramento State 20-3 in their opener. South Dakota State quarterback Chase Mason, who backed up new Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski the past two seasons, was excellent, completing 17 of 25 passes for 190 yards with 3 touchdowns.
Mason outdueled former Stanford and Syracuse quarterback Justin Lamson, who landed at Montana State after initially announcing he was transferring to Bowling Green in the offseason. If the Ohio State-Texas matchup was the premier nonconference game of the FBS schedule, then this game was the equivalent for FCS: two of the best teams from the two best conferences. — David Hale
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Jorge Castillo
It didn’t take long for New York Mets catcher Hayden Senger to realize Nolan McLean had a FastPass to the big leagues. The two were teammates in Syracuse when McLean made his Triple-A debut in May and Senger caught him for the first time. McLean’s sweeper swept better than any Senger had ever seen.
“It’s pretty insane,” Senger said recently, with a laugh. Three months later, with Senger again behind the plate, McLean held the Philadelphia Phillies scoreless over eight innings in his third career major-league start. McLean featured six different offerings but threw his sweeper the most — 28 of them, inducing three whiffs and 10 called strikes. He sliced through a potent postseason-bound lineup with just 95 pitches. Citi Field was electrified.
The sold-out ballpark was buzzing again two days later when Jonah Tong, arguably the best pitcher in the minors this season, joined McLean in the Mets’ rotation to limit the Miami Marlins to one earned run over five innings. And on Sunday, Brandon Sproat joined the festivities, taking scuffling veteran Kodai Senga‘s turn in the rotation in Cincinnati and becoming the Mets’ third heralded pitching prospect in less than a month to make his MLB debut. Sproat held the Reds hitless through 5⅓ innings, but gave up three runs over six innings and ultimately took the loss in a 3-2 defeat.
In David Stearns’ perfect world, the trio would have arrived with soft landings sometime next season. But the president of baseball operations decided the Mets, a playoff contender desperate for quality starting pitching with too many veterans either injured or struggling, needed them now.
“I think, as you go into the last month of the season,” Stearns said, “you want to have the best roster you possibly can.”
The three right-handers traveled distinct paths to opportunities in the middle of a postseason race. McLean, a former quarterback, was a two-sport and two-way player at Oklahoma State. Tong was a slight Canadian high schooler with a funky delivery. Sproat flashed high-ceiling tools in the SEC for the Florida Gators. Together, they highlight a booming farm system evaluators say is teeming with talent under Stearns’ watch.
Entering the season, Sproat, 24, was considered the best of the three. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel ranked Sproat, a second-round pick in 2023, as the No. 62 prospect in baseball, while McLean was No. 123 and Tong was No. 147. But Sproat struggled early this season, pitching to a 6.69 ERA in nine starts for Syracuse through May 20. He rebounded with a 3.19 ERA over his next 17 outings behind increased velocity and movement on his 97-mph four-seam fastball.
“Sproat has the best arm talent and the highest upside [of the three],” a rival scout said. “The ceiling with him is very high.”
But Sproat’s pitchability, according to talent evaluators, isn’t on McLean and Tong’s level, which helped McLean and Tong hurdle him to the big leagues.
“McLean and Tong are both extremely good pitchers, but neither has dealt with failure at the pro level,” a talent evaluator said. “And I’m going to be really curious how they handle that and how they can adapt both in their pitching approach and mentality. Sproat struggled a bit earlier this year, so he likely built up some kind of resilience and adaptability.”
The 24-year-old McLean’s development accelerated once he ditched hitting during summer 2024, his first full pro season. Focusing solely on pitching, the 2023 third-round pick optimized his unique ability to spin the baseball and climbed from Double-A Binghamton to Queens in 2025 while surging to No. 19 in McDaniel’s latest top 100 prospects ranking. Through four starts, McLean’s curveball has the highest average spin rate in the majors, and his frisbee sweeper ranks near the top. More importantly, he has issued just seven walks over 26⅓ innings after averaging four walks per nine innings in the minors.
“Despite the lack of pitching experience and being a two-way guy, McLean was always the safest [bet],” the rival scout said.
Tong, 22, was so far down the Mets’ 2025 organizational depth chart that he wasn’t invited to major league camp in spring training. A seventh-round selection in 2022 with a smaller frame and a drastic over-the-top delivery that resembles two-time National League Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, Tong produces the highest arm angle of any pitcher in the majors this season.
With those unusual mechanics, he weaponized a 12-6 curveball, a changeup he added this season and an explosive fastball that features elite induced vertical break to dominate minor league hitters this season. He posted a 1.43 ERA across 22 Double-A and Triple-A starts, climbing to No. 21 in McDaniel’s latest prospect rankings and rocketing his way to the majors.
“He’s a real development win for the Mets,” a rival executive said.
Development wins don’t count in the standings, though, and World Series trophies aren’t handed out for farm system rankings. The Mets would have preferred not relying on three rookies in September. But a starting rotation without a proven ace — Stearns opted not to acquire a premier pitcher over the offseason or before the trade deadline — has been plagued by injuries and underperformance throughout the summer.
Senga, one of the Mets’ projected top two starters this season, missed a month with a strained hamstring and stumbled so badly upon his return that he accepted a demotion to Triple-A on Friday to rectify his troubles. Sean Manaea, the Mets’ other projected frontline starter, has a 5.60 ERA in 10 outings after missing more than three months with a strained oblique. Tylor Megill landed on the injured list with a sprained right elbow in mid-June. Griffin Canning ruptured his left Achilles less than two weeks later. Frankie Montas — given a two-year, $34 million contract during the offseason — recorded a 6.68 ERA in seven starts before going to the bullpen and tearing the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.
By mid-August, the Mets were dipping into their prospect bank for help. Come October, a club with championship aspirations and the second-most expensive roster in the sport could end up counting on the three youngsters to help them win games that matter — much sooner than they expected.
“I’m going to keep saying it,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We’re going with what we feel are our best guys, day in and day out.”
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