Remember that iconic moment in MLB history? Dusty Baker probably was there for it
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Bradford Doolittle, ESPN Staff Writer
Dusty Baker’s managerial career officially ended Thursday, with a news release and news conference and all the trimmings that come with the end of a career of one of the rarefied few who reach a place of accomplishment as distinctive as Baker.
Yet even that felt somewhat inadequate, as if the occasion should have been marked by a national holiday or a Martin Scorsese documentary. There simply has been no one like Dusty Baker in baseball — or most any other sport.
“This isn’t a goodbye, it’s simply a ‘see you later,'” Baker said, telling reporters that he wants to remain active in baseball. Thankfully, we can be sure we haven’t heard the last from Baker, even if he is finished as a field manager. Only six managers have won more regular-season games. Only three have won more postseason games. And all of that happened after a fine playing career in which he hit 242 homers, racked up 1,941 hits, won one title and three pennants, and perhaps invented the high-five.
Through it all, he experienced every playoff format baseball has ever had, the advent of free agency and the DH, the lowering of the mound, the rise of analytics and so many other changes in baseball that you can’t possibly list them all.
Yet none of these numbers or events really do justice to Baker’s journey. Almost nothing can. He has brushed shoulders with the game’s greats from the day he arrived in the majors. His time has stretched from Mantle to Ohtani, from Johnson to Biden, from Eckert to Manfred.
Two fictional characters leap to mind as comparisons: Zelig and Forrest Gump. Both are depicted in picaresque tales in which they encounter some of the most famous people of their time and are present at numerous historical events. That’s Baker’s baseball story in a nutshell. (Though both comparisons fall apart with a little scrutiny: Baker has neither the chameleon-like persona of Zelig nor the sweet simplicity of Gump.)
The breadth of Baker’s baseball experience is staggering. Indeed, if you wanted to tell the history of baseball over the past 56 years, you could do worse than to simply trace back through Baker’s career.
In other words: If someone mentions something important that happened in baseball during your lifetime, just say, “Dusty Baker was there for that.” And you’ll probably be right.
Hank Aaron hits his 715th home run
Right from the start, Baker moved with — and competed against — some of the most notable baseball personalities of the past half-century. On his very first professional team, the 1967 Austin Braves, he was teammates with Cito Gaston, who would later become the first black manager to win a World Series. (Baker would become the third.)
In Baker’s first big league game on Sept. 7, 1968, he shared the field with both Aaron brothers (Hank and Tommy), Tito Francona (Terry’s father), Felipe Alou, Rusty Staub, Jim “The Toy Cannon” Wynn and Hall of Fame knuckleballer Phil Niekro.
One of the Braves’ coaches in his early years was the great Satchel Paige. (“He called me Daffy,” Baker told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2010. “I said, ‘My name is Dusty.’ He said, ‘Daffy, I know what your name is.'”)
In 1971, Baker got his first hit of the season into a Pirates outfield that featured Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell.
The list goes on. But of all the brushes with greatness Baker had already experienced, they paled in comparison to his friendship with Hank Aaron, who was moved to first base in 1972 in part because of Baker’s arrival in the majors.
Baker and Aaron were close from the start, with the legend taking the kid under his wing, at the behest of Dusty’s mother. Baker not only bore witness to the historic moment but also to the stress and horrors Aaron had to cope with during the leadup to the mark. Baker later spoke of digging some of the threatening letters Aaron had received out of the trash to read them so he could understand what his friend was going through.
Then came April 8, 1974, one of the iconic dates in baseball history, one embedded in our collective consciousness: Aaron mashed career homer No. 715, breaking Babe Ruth’s hallowed record. Watching from the on-deck circle: Dusty Baker, who leaped in celebration while hugging his close friend, Ralph “Gator” Garr, as Aaron circled the bases.
“He was second only to my dad, and my dad meant the world to me,” Baker told MLB.com upon Aaron’s death in 2021.
Baker had already seen and done so much by that point, but this was his first appearance in what would become a featured role in baseball’s historical highlight reel.
Rick Monday saves the American flag
In 1975, the Braves were struggling, and Baker had repeatedly asked to be traded. Atlanta finally obliged at the end of the season, the trade ostensibly agreed to during the World Series (talks hit a snag when Dodgers exec Al Campanis — yes, him — also asked for Braves catcher Biff Pocoroba). Baker said he found out about the trade while on a family vacation when they stopped off at the Grand Canyon. They checked into a motel, flipped on the TV, and Baker’s face was on the screen.
When Baker arrived for his intro in Los Angeles in December, he showed up on a day when the smog-ridden city was mired in soot from nearby brush fires. Baker thought it might be symbolic. “Maybe so, because I know I want to burn things up in L.A.”
He did, on the field anyway, but he also bore witness to a different kind of L.A. fire.
On April 25, 1976, Baker was out of the lineup, nursing a hamstring injury as L.A. took on the Cubs at Dodger Stadium. But he was there just the same when, during that day’s game, a protester leaped onto the field and attempted to burn an American flag.
Cubs outfielder Rick Monday, like Baker once a member of the Marine reserves (as well as being a future teammate in L.A.), was having none of it. In one of the most replayed non-game-action moments in baseball history, Monday snatched the flag and carried it away.
The high-five is invented
On April 10, 1977, Baker hit the first of what turned into a career-best 30 homers that season, hammering an Ed Halicki pitch over the wall at Dodger Stadium. The ’77 Dodgers turned out to be the team Baker always wanted to play for, but the style in which they won was surprising, at least to their own manager. Tommy Lasorda hoped to rev up the L.A. running game, predicting 250 stolen bases, 25 of which would come from Baker.
Instead, the Dodgers became one of the most iconic power-hitting teams of the era on their way to a pennant — and stole 114 bags in all. Baker hit those 30 bombs but went 2-for-8 on the basepaths.
By Oct. 2, the final day of the regular season, the Dodgers had already put the wraps on the NL West title when Baker hit his 30th homer off Houston fireballer J.R. Richard. The blast gave the Dodgers four 30-homer hitters, with Steve Garvey, Ron Cey and Reggie Smith joining Baker in the club. No team had ever done that and Baker was given a “half-dozen” standing ovations from the L.A. fans, according to The Sporting News.
But that’s not why that moment has lived on. On deck behind Baker was Glenn Burke. As Baker approached the plate at the end of his home run trot, Burke held his hand up over his head in greeting. Baker slapped the hand in celebration. It was like slapping him five only, you know, doing it up high. And thus the high-five was born — or at least that’s how the legend now goes.
Reggie Jackson hits three homers in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series
Baker didn’t get into his first postseason until those 1977 Dodgers ended the reign of the Big Red Machine in the NL West. Baker was ready for his first taste of playoff baseball, hammering a two-run jack off Hall of Fame lefty Steve Carlton as the Dodgers eliminated the Phillies with a 4-1 win in Game 4 of the NLCS. Baker had two homers and eight RBIs in the series and was named NLCS MVP. For the first time, Baker was on his way to the World Series.
Baker had his moments in the Fall Classic, including a three-run homer off Mike Torrez that accounted for all of the Dodgers’ runs in a Game 3 loss. But this series will always be remembered for its finale, Game 6 on Oct. 18, 1977.
A front seat to history in 1981
There’s no easy way to sum up everything about the 1981 baseball season — Baker experienced the strike, a new playoff format and Fernandomania — but of course, Dusty was right in the middle of it in L.A.
Baker enjoyed one of his best seasons in 1980, hitting .294/.339/.503 with 29 homers and 97 RBIs. He finished fourth in NL MVP balloting and won a Silver Slugger Award. At 31, his timing couldn’t have been better: Baker became a free agent and did so as one of the most sought-after players on the market.
The power of free agency had become much more prominent in the years before Baker’s deal was up, giving him plenty of leverage. But he decided to re-up with the Dodgers, signing a five-year, $4 million deal.
That meant he had a front-row seat to the viral sensation that was Fernando Valenzuela in his rookie year in L.A. Still the only player to win Rookie of the Year and a Cy Young in the same season, Valenzuela also captured the hearts of fans across California and the country.
By the end of the year, Baker had made his first All-Star team, won his first Gold Glove and, most importantly, took home his first ring. That last item happened when the Dodgers hammered Reggie and the Yankees 9-2 in Game 6 of the World Series to take the crown. Baker had two hits and scored two runs in the game.
The 1981 season is most remembered as the strike season, the campaign when baseball shut down for two months and the regular season was split into two halves. The Dodgers, winners of the NL West’s first half, had already clinched a playoff spot when play resumed after the stoppage.
Baker had debuted under the traditional two-league format in 1968; he was on one of the first division champs (albeit in a limited role) when division play began a year later. In 1981, he was a participant in the third format of the big league playoffs, one that saw the first division series.
An earthquake rattles the 1989 World Series
Baker’s career as an active player ended in 1986 — with an A’s team that was on the cusp of exploding. That final season, Baker was teammates with slugging rookie Jose Canseco and even more powerful late-season call-up Mark McGwire. He spent his final months as an active player being managed by a former teammate in Atlanta who’d been hired by Oakland during the season: Tony La Russa.
In Baker’s final game, against Kansas City, La Russa started him at DH; he went 0-for-1 with two walks before being replaced by a pinch runner.
A playing career that began on the same field with Joe Torre, the Aarons, Niekro, Alou, the elder Francona, Staub and Wynn ended on a field shared with Canseco, McGwire, Dave Kingman, Mark Gubicza, Bud Black, Dave Stewart, George Brett and a very athletic rookie outfielder for Kansas City, Bo Jackson.
At the time, Baker, 37, didn’t know it would be his last game. He became a free agent after the season with the intention of continuing his career. It didn’t happen, and for a while, Baker worked as a stockbroker. In February 1988, he was hired to coach first base by the Giants; he soon became their hitting coach.
Baker was helping his Giants hitters prepare for Game 3 of the World Series on Oct. 17, 1989, when, before the game, the ground and Candlestick Park alike began to shake. A major earthquake had struck the Bay Area, and it was 12 days before the World Series could resume.
Coaching Bonds — to legendary also-ran status
The winter of 1992-93 was a whirlwind time for the Giants. Peter Magowan became principal owner of the team; Bob Quinn became the general manager and fired his manager. The team signed Barry Bonds to a historic six-year, $43 million contract. Eight days after that, Baker was hired as the Giants’ skipper.
The hire was the culmination of what had been Baker’s five-year plan to become a manager. He worked his way from first-base coach to respected hitting coach and served a stint as a skipper in the Arizona Fall League.
Baker was still only 43 when the Giants put him in charge of the clubhouse. The fit was ideal. He’d long been friends with Bonds’ father and installed Bobby as a coach on his son’s first few Giants teams.
“This is the greatest day of my life, so far,” Baker told the media. “The next greatest day is when we win the pennant and the world championship.”
Sure enough, by mid-July, the Giants were 67-33. Baker’s mark in his first 100 games as a big league manager was the second best in history, surpassed only by Sparky Anderson (70-30 in 1970).
At that point, the Giants had a sizeable lead over Atlanta for the division — but it wouldn’t hold up. An eight-game losing streak in September saw the team go from 2½ games up over Atlanta to 3½ back. The Giants recovered and could have forced a tiebreaker with a win against the Dodgers on Oct. 3, 1993, the last day of the regular season.
It didn’t happen. The Dodgers homered four times, including two from future Hall of Famer Mike Piazza. Kevin Gross went the distance for L.A., Bonds went 0-for-4 and Lasorda’s club rolled to a 12-1 win.
The Giants finished 103-59 but did not advance to the postseason. It was the last season before baseball expanded the playoff format, splitting into three divisions per league and introducing a wild-card slot. The ’93 NL West race is now regarded as the last great pure pennant race in big league annals, the kind that cannot possibly happen in today’s format.
This was the format in which Baker had been competing as a player and manager for 25 years, but dropping it a year early would have made all the difference for baseball’s best second-place team in history. Even without October glory, Bonds got his MVP trophy, and in his first year leading the dugout, Baker won the first of his three Manager of the Year awards.
Barry Bonds hits home runs No. 71, 72 and 73
Year in, year out, the Giants kept winning with Baker in the dugout and Bonds putting up unprecedented numbers at the plate. There were division titles — and quick postseason exits — in 1997 and 2000. Baker won his second and third NL Manager of the Year awards in those seasons, though the Giants fell short of a pennant both times.
By 2002, Bonds had become full Barry, perhaps the most devastating and divisive player in big league history. In 2001, though, it was just pure awe, with Bonds establishing the new home run record (73) while slugging .863. Eight. Sixty. Three.
With Baker watching from the dugout, Bonds broke the single-season home run record in San Francisco on Oct. 6, 2001. He hit Nos. 71 and 72 on the same night. Later, Bonds went on to break Aaron’s career mark.
To recap: Baker was on deck to witness his mentor, Aaron, breaking baseball’s most treasured record. He was teammates with McGwire, the man who broke the single-season home run mark held by Roger Maris. Then he managed Bonds, who broke the record again just three years later.
The Cubs’ curse continues with the Bartman Game
Ten years into his career with the Giants, Baker had done it all, except for the one big thing: winning a championship. He quickly realized he would not do so with San Francisco, who made little effort to keep him once Baker’s contract expired after the 2002 season.
Two weeks later, Baker got his next chance: He became the manager of the Chicago Cubs.
The Cubs team Baker took over was not a great one. Chicago had lost 95 games in 2002, and its premier player, slugger Sammy Sosa, was still productive but on the verge of a steep decline. It was also an old team. The standout unit on the club was a dynamic, hard-throwing rotation that featured Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Carlos Zambrano and Matt Clement.
Much to the dismay of future critics, Baker leaned on his rotation hard in 2003. All four of his rotation stalwarts started at least 30 games and compiled more than 200 innings — they also were the main reason the Cubs won a soft NL Central and outlasted the Braves in a five-game NLDS. Chicago won the three games in that series started by Wood and Prior.
Amid stories of curses and billy goats, the Cubs found themselves up against the Florida Marlins in the NLCS, with everyone in Chicago salivating over a potential World Series matchup against either the Yankees or Red Sox.
Baker has never been under the microscope more than he was on Oct. 14, 2003, one of the most discussed games in baseball history — the Bartman Game, a contest remembered for a fan who bore little to no blame for the loss. That was on Baker and his team.
People now tend to forget a couple of things about this game. For one, Prior was dominant, an ace oozing pure pitching filth. We didn’t know then what would become of a career wrecked by injury. We only knew that he stifled the Marlins for seven innings in Game 6, putting the Cubs six outs away from the Fall Classic, and seemed all but invincible.
Then it all came apart. Prior faltered, the bullpen melted down and the team collapsed around them all as the Marlins plated eight stunning runs.
“It has nothing to do with the curse,” Baker said, always the pragmatist. “It has to do with fan interference and a very uncharacteristic error by [Alex] Gonzalez. History has nothing to do with this game, nothing.”
That leads to the other thing people now seem to forget: It wasn’t the last game. There was a Game 7 and the Cubs blew a lead in that game, too — in that case, with Wood leaving with an unsightly season-ending pitching line.
The Astros win it for Dusty
Baker enjoyed tremendous success in his stints as manager for Cincinnati (2008 to 2013) and Washington (2016 and 2017). He guided five more 90-win teams, all of which advanced to the postseason — none of which won a playoff series. He led more surefire Hall of Famers during these years, such as Joey Votto, Bryce Harper and Max Scherzer.
By the time Baker parted ways with the Nationals, he was 68 years old, and it really felt like he was done. The industry had moved to hiring younger, more analytically driven managers who were as much extensions of the front offices as they were maestros of the dugout. Baker was far from the only established skipper who didn’t seem to fit that mold.
Then, in the winter of 2019, one of the teams most responsible for the rise of quantitative baseball, the Astros, fell into disarray over an infamous sign-stealing scandal. Lead exec Jeff Luhnow and manager A.J. Hinch lost their jobs amid the fallout.
Houston owner Jim Crane needed someone to restore a sense of order in his franchise, and the leader to whom he turned was Baker, 70, who had been working as a special adviser with the Giants.
“I’m extremely thankful for this opportunity,” Baker said in a team statement. “This is a great ballclub with outstanding players that know how to win.”
In his first postseason in Houston, Baker’s Astros recovered from a 29-31 pandemic season record to make it all the way to Game 7 of the ALCS before being shut down by former Astro Charlie Morton and the Rays’ bullpen.
In 2021, Houston roared back to the top of the AL, winning 95 games. Houston beat Boston in the ALCS, its fifth straight appearance in the series, giving Baker his second pennant winner. But still the big prize, the last résumé item missing from Baker’s picaresque journey, eluded him when the Braves beat Houston in a six-game World Series.
“It’s tough, but you know something, you’ve got to keep on trucking, and that gives you even more incentive next year,” Baker said. “It’s tough to take now, but this too shall pass.”
The 2022 Astros, Baker’s 26th team during his managerial career, turned out to be one of his best clubs. Houston won 106 games, the most of any Baker squad, even topping the win total of his first team in San Francisco. In the World Series, Baker’s Astros came up against a thing that had almost never existed through baseball history: a 6-seed, thanks to a new expanded wild card series.
Houston led the Philadelphia Phillies 3-2 coming into Game 6 on Nov. 5, 2022, the date Baker had been waiting for since he took over the Giants in the winter of 1992-93. So often, Baker’s postseason disappointments had come down to a Game 6.
Not this time. Yordan Alvarez shook the earth with a three-run moonshot over the batter’s eye at Minute Maid Park. Baker rode his hot starter, Framber Valdez, just long enough before turning things over to an airtight bullpen. Finally, when Kyle Tucker squeezed a Nick Castellanos foul fly in the ninth, it was over. The quest was done. The Astros were champs again, and Baker was a World Series-winning skipper.
Baker’s résumé, one of the most amazing in all of baseball, was complete. His ticket to Cooperstown, already a strong possibility, had moved into the realm of certainty. After the game, a questioner noted it had been 10,806 days since Baker managed his first game. He had just become the oldest manager to win a World Series.
“Had this happened years ago, I might not even be here,” Baker said. “So maybe it wasn’t supposed to happen so that I could hopefully influence a few young men’s lives and their families and a number of people in the country through showing what perseverance and character can do for you in the long run.”
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Alden Gonzalez
Max Muncy returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ lineup on Monday, Aaron Judge was back in the New York Yankees‘ batting order on Tuesday, and with that, the two teams that met in last year’s World Series — and had been underperforming to varying degrees in recent weeks — received valuable reinforcements for the stretch run.
They’re far from alone.
Now that the trade deadline has passed and less than two months remain in the regular season, contending teams throughout the sport are counting on key players returning from injury in the days and weeks ahead, hoping they might make the difference between missing out on October and winning it all. And given the landscape, which many consider as wide-open as ever, they just might.
Below is a look at some of the most impactful players on their way back.
Expected return date: The injury to Álvarez’s right hand has featured plenty of drama and required a lot of patience. The Astros initially diagnosed it as a muscle strain in early May and began the process of ramping him up by late June. Then came lingering pain, prompting a visit to a specialist and the revelation that the outfielder was dealing with a fractured bone. Perhaps, though, there is a light at the end of this tunnel. Álvarez resumed hitting off a tee and taking soft toss a couple weeks ago and hit on the field at the team’s spring training facility on Tuesday. The Astros are going to be really careful this time around, but there is hope he can help them down the stretch.
What he means to the team: The Astros lost Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker over the offseason and have received just 121 plate appearances from Álvarez — and a paltry slash line of .210/.306/.340 — yet they’re on pace for their eighth American League West title in nine years. You would be hard-pressed to find a more impressive development this season. When healthy, Álvarez is on par with Judge and Shohei Ohtani among the game’s most imposing hitters. Given how well the Astros have pitched, plugging Álvarez back into the middle of their lineup — with an ascending Jeremy Peña, a better-of-late Jose Altuve and what they hope is a rejuvenated Carlos Correa — could put them in the conversation for the best team in the AL, if not all baseball.
Expected return date: Right-hander Assad, out all year with a left oblique injury he reaggravated around late April, made his third rehab start on Wednesday, looking sharp while pitching into the fifth inning. His next step could be joining the rotation. Taillon is right behind him. The 33-year-old right-hander has been dealing with a right calf strain for a little more than a month but pitched three innings in a Triple-A rehab start on Sunday. He gave up seven runs, but he also came out of it feeling healthy. That’s all that matters at this point. Cubs starters not named Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga have combined for a 4.63 ERA this season. And at this point, there is no outside help coming.
What they mean to the team: The Cubs did not land the controllable front-line starter they desired before the trade deadline. The starter they did acquire, Michael Soroka, pitched two innings in his debut on Monday, then landed on the injured list with right shoulder discomfort. Now, the Cubs need to make up for what they lack in their rotation internally. Assad fashioned a 3.73 ERA in 29 starts last year and was effective both out of the rotation and in the bullpen in 2023. Taillon, a proven innings eater who consistently pounds the strike zone, is probably as good a complement to Boyd and Imanaga as the Cubs can get.
Expected return date: Bieber, who had Tommy John surgery, has not taken the mound in a major league game since April 2, 2024, but the former Cy Young Award winner’s return is approaching. The right-hander made his fifth rehab start — and first since being acquired by the Blue Jays — on Sunday, striking out six batters across five innings. He’ll make another start on Saturday, then perhaps one more after that. Then the Blue Jays will see if they can get the front-line starter they envisioned when they unloaded promising pitching prospect Khal Stephen to pry Bieber from the Cleveland Guardians last week.
What he means to the team: The Blue Jays are counting on several offensive contributors returning in the not-too-distant future, including George Springer, Andrés Giménez and, they hope, Anthony Santander. But Bieber is the wild card. If he’s close to what he was even after winning the AL Cy Young Award in 2020 — a guy who put up a 3.13 ERA and struck out 459 batters in 436⅔ innings from 2021 to 2024 — he can join Kevin Gausman and José Berríos to form a really solid rotation trio in October. But the initial returns from Tommy John surgery can be tricky. Just ask Sandy Alcántara.
Expected return date: Bohm took a sinker to his left side on July 12 and later learned he had suffered a fractured rib, but the 29-year-old third baseman has been hitting ground balls and taking batting practice and will now venture out on a rehab assignment. He could return to the Phillies’ lineup this month. Nola went on the injured list for the first time in eight years because of a sprained right ankle in mid-May, then was diagnosed with a stress reaction in one of his ribs a month later. Now, Nola is finally on his way back. He went 3⅔ innings in his second rehab start on Wednesday and will make one or two more before rejoining the rotation.
What they mean to the team: Bohm and Nola have served as catalysts while these Phillies have ascended to near the top of the sport in recent years, and it’s hard not to see them having a massive say — good or bad — in October. The Phillies need them to be healthy, but they also need them to be better. Bohm was slugging just .391 before going down. Nola, meanwhile, carried a 6.16 ERA through his first nine starts — one year after receiving Cy Young votes. The Phillies’ rotation has been one of the game’s best this season, and it can handle an ineffective Nola if it absolutely has to. But the offense needs Bohm’s production.
Expected return date: Burger is navigating his second stint on the IL this season, this time because of a left quad strain, but he has played in a couple of rehab games and could return before the end of the Rangers’ current homestand. Carter, an outfielder, was shut down with back spasms on Saturday, and though there’s currently no reason to believe it’s a serious injury, it’s worrisome when you consider how back issues plagued him in 2024.
What they mean to the team: The 2025 Rangers do everything well except the one thing they felt they could do best: hit. And while the offense has been a lot better lately, the Rangers could use more production from Burger and Carter in hopes of grabbing a playoff spot in a wide-open AL. Burger has slashed just .228/.259/.401 in his first year in Texas, but could at the very least platoon with fellow first baseman Rowdy Tellez, who has been a godsend since signing a minor league deal in early July. Carter, a rookie sensation during the stretch run of the team’s championship season in 2023, was slashing just .238/.323/.381.
Expected return date: Gasser, the 26-year-old left-hander who excelled in his first five major league starts last year, is in the late stages of his recovery from Tommy John surgery. His fourth rehab start came Sunday, during which he threw 16 pitches in the game and 19 in the bullpen. The Brewers are building him back up as a starter, so he still needs to increase his pitch count. But he’s on track to join a loaded Brewers pitching staff before the end of August. So is rookie All-Star Jacob Misiorowski, who suffered a bruised left shin last week but isn’t expected to miss much more than the minimum amount of time. Outfielder Jackson Chourio, who landed on the IL with a hamstring strain last week, could be back by the end of the month, too.
What he means to the team: The Brewers acquired Gasser as part of the package that sent former closer Josh Hader to San Diego in summer 2022 and watched him shine as a rookie in 2024, putting up a 2.57 ERA with one walk in 28 innings. But then his ulnar collateral ligament gave out, triggering a long rehab that is finally reaching its conclusion. The Brewers see him as a starter long term, but there might not be room for him in the 2025 rotation. If that’s the case, he can be an impact lefty out of the bullpen. The Brewers acquired only one traditional reliever in Shelby Miller before the trade deadline, largely because they believe starters like Gasser, Chad Patrick and Tobias Myers can help them out of the bullpen when it matters most.
Expected return date: It has been a long, slow climb back for Greene and the right groin strain he suffered, for a second time, on June 3. The right-hander seemed to be approaching a return in July, but he experienced lingering pain and had to shut it down once more. Now, though, his return seems imminent. Greene navigated a third rehab start on Sunday, during which he struck out seven batters in 3⅓ innings, and is scheduled to ramp up to 80 pitches on Friday. After that, he could rejoin the rotation. With Nick Lodolo shut down with a blister that materialized on his left index finger in his Monday start, the Reds need Greene now more than ever.
What he means to the team: Here’s what Greene has done since the start of last July: 1.92 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 133 strikeouts, 30 walks, 112⅔ innings. Those are the numbers of not just a traditional front-line starter, but of one of the best pitchers in the game. The Reds have hung around all year, getting better starting pitching than they probably anticipated, but less offense than they hoped. They’ve underperformed their projections, but they still sit just three games back of a playoff spot. Greene — and Lodolo, who might require only a minimum stint on the injured list — could make the difference.
Expected return date: For the better part of two months, questions swirled around the state of King’s health and whether he would pitch at all this season. The 30-year-old right-hander was dealing with a thoracic nerve issue in his right shoulder, an exceedingly rare injury for a pitcher. He simply had to wait for the pain to subside, with no idea when it would. Now, though, he is on the doorstep of returning to the major leagues. King threw 61 pitches in 3⅓ innings in a rehab start on Sunday, allowing six runs but also striking out five batters. His next start is expected to come this weekend against the Boston Red Sox.
What he means to the team: Padres general manager A.J. Preller put together an epic trade deadline, upgrading at catcher, adding two competent bats to the lineup and, most notably, landing another impact arm for the bullpen. His starting-pitching additions, though, were depth players; JP Sears and Nestor Cortes are not expected to make playoff starts. What the Padres need is for King — their Game 1 starter in last year’s postseason, their Opening Day starter this year and owner of a 2.59 ERA in his first 10 starts — to join Dylan Cease, Yu Darvish and Nick Pivetta in the rotation to truly make this one of the most well-rounded teams in the sport. It seems that will happen.
Expected return date: Kopech, nursing a right knee injury, has been throwing bullpen sessions and is expected to be activated once he’s eligible to come off the 60-day injured list in late August. Left-hander Scott, dealing with elbow inflammation, has also been throwing off a mound and doesn’t seem far off, either. Yates’ situation, though, is a little hazier. The 38-year-old right-hander had been dealing with lower back pain for a couple weeks before landing on the IL at the start of August. There is no timetable for his return, though it seems possible that he, too, can be back before the end of the month.
What they mean to the team: The Dodgers have once again absorbed a slew of injuries throughout their staff, having already deployed 38 pitchers — one year after setting a franchise record by using 40. Their bullpen has led the majors in innings for most of this season. At the deadline, though, the front office acted conservatively, adding just one bullpen arm, right-hander Brock Stewart, along with reserve outfielder Alex Call. The approach showed confidence in the arms the Dodgers have coming back, especially in the bullpen. But Scott and Yates, their two big offseason signings, have combined for a 4.21 ERA this season. Right-hander Kopech, meanwhile, has appeared in just eight games. They’ll have a lot to prove.
Expected return date: Optimism around Meadows emerged on Monday, with some light running in the outfield — a subtle sign he is progressing once again toward a rehab assignment. Meadows, 25, missed the first two months of the season with inflammation in his upper right arm that he later learned was a product of issues with his musculocutaneous nerve. He spent most of June and July in the lineup, then landed on the injured list once more, this time because of a right quad strain. The hope is that he can be back playing center field before the end of August.
What he means to the team: Meadows accumulated 11 outs above average in center field from 2023 to 2024 despite playing in only 119 games. In that stretch, he also stole 17 bases, provided a .729 OPS — with fairly even splits against lefties and righties — and accumulated 3.1 FanGraphs wins above replacement. As the Tigers march toward their first division title in 11 years and vie for a first-round bye, they find themselves longing for Meadows in several ways. The hope is that he’ll be a much better hitter than he showed earlier this season, when he slashed .200/.270/.296 in 137 plate appearances.
Expected return date: Megill has been absent from the Mets’ rotation since the middle of June because of a right elbow sprain but threw 20 pitches in a simulated game at Citi Field on Sunday. He is expected to extend to two innings in another session on Thursday. A rehab assignment will follow shortly thereafter, putting Megill on track to potentially rejoin the Mets’ rotation later this month. Megill was solid before going down, posting a 3.95 ERA in 14 starts, and the Mets’ rotation could really use some of that right now.
What he means to the team: When Megill got hurt on June 14, the Mets’ rotation easily led the majors with a 2.82 ERA. Since then, the group has posted a 5.12 ERA, ranked 26th. Lately, it has only gotten worse. The Mets have lost eight of their past nine games, and in that stretch, the starters have allowed 34 runs (32 earned) in 43⅔ innings. Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas, Clay Holmes and Kodai Senga have all had their struggles, to varying degrees, of late. And though Megill certainly can’t fix that alone, another capable starter would certainly be welcomed.
Expected return date: Miller, limited to just 10 starts this season, cruised through his first rehab start on Friday, tossing four scoreless innings, and is scheduled to stretch to five innings on Thursday. Given that he has gone on the IL because of right elbow inflammation twice this year, requiring a cortisone shot and a platelet-rich plasma injection, the Mariners will play it safe — Miller will make two more rehab starts before being activated. Robles dislocated his left shoulder while making an incredible catch in San Francisco on April 6 and is way ahead of schedule. He’s expected to begin a rehab assignment next week and could return before the end of August.
What they mean to the team: Robles is the Mariners’ leadoff hitter and spark plug. Over a 77-game stretch after Seattle signed him as a free agent last summer, he slashed .328/.393/.467. And if he can produce something close to that, a Mariners offense that added Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez before the trade deadline and has received a dominant season from Cal Raleigh will be as deep as it has been since Jerry Dipoto took over baseball operations 10 years ago. The Mariners haven’t received as much from their rotation as they would have expected this year, but a staff of Logan Gilbert, Luis Castillo, Bryan Woo, George Kirby and Miller — 12-8 with a 2.94 ERA while healthy last year — still rivals the best in the game.
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