Let the Offseason Begin

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🔥 FIRST PITCH — Now What?

Happy Saturday!

It feels like Game 7 was a year ago and not 7 days. Here’s a fun fact: Game 7 was the highest-rated World Series game since 1991. Thirty-four years. Baseball’s not dying — it just needed a little drama.

Next week the real hardware starts flying: Cy Young, MVP, Rookie of the Year, and Manager of the Year are awarded. Then, in just three short months, pitchers and catchers report to Arizona and Florida — and we do it all again.

Between now and then? Business time.
Free agency’s underway, and while there’s no Ohtani-sized fish this winter, there are plenty of big names that are about to cash in. Like the Kyles — Tucker and Schwarber — and maybe even Cody Bellinger, might he return to L.A. if the price is right?

Rumor has it Tucker could be chasing a $400 million deal. That’s for a guy who hit .266 with 25 homers. Four hundred mil for 25 bombs? Ok. Then again, we watched Juan Soto snag $765 million last year — so the bar for “silly money” keeps climbing.

And speaking of climbing, Detroit’s Tarik Skubal is about to pick up his second straight Cy Young. Great news for him, terrible for the Tigers — because Scott Boras is his agent, and there’s no shot Detroit re-signs him in 2026. The trade rumors have begun.

Another name that will draw lots of attention, Japanese slugger, Munetaka Murakami. He was just posted this week, and could make a huge impact. Three years ago, he set the NPB single season home run record with 56 bombs.

Meanwhile, the A’s and Rays — our two nomadic “minor league” franchises — are still figuring out where to unpack their bags.
The West Sacramento A’s are set to play two more years in Sacto while the Las Vegas park crawls toward completion. The Rays, whose park got shredded by Hurricane Milton, should be back in their own stadium by 2026. They’ve got new ownership and have dreams of a shiny new ballpark funded by “public and private money.”
Translation: good luck with the public part.

And hanging over everything — the CBA clock is ticking. It expires after the 2026 season. Owners and players will begin negotiations early next year. Nobody’s optimistic. A 2027 lockout already feels inevitable.

The central fight? How to stop the Dodgers and their checkbook from running the league. Owners will push for a salary cap; players will laugh them out of the room. Same script, different decade.

One thing’s for sure: the Dodgers have zero plans to scale back. They’ll move heaven and earth for that third ring.
And then there’s Miami, running a $67 million payroll like it’s 1998.

No comment.

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🟢 THE GOOD — Nachos and the Home Run Ball

Sometimes baseball hands you a story you couldn’t script if you tried.

A few weeks back at Dodger Stadium — Game 4 of the NLCS, Brewers vs. Dodgers.
Shohei Ohtani was putting on one of those “remember where you were” nights — six shutout innings on the mound and three home runs at the plate.

One of them traveled a ridiculous 469 feet to right-center. ⚾💥

That’s where Carlo Mendoza comes in.

He’s standing near a concession stand, nachos in hand, living his best ballpark life, when that Ohtani rocket comes screaming his way, bouncing into some bushes.

Without hesitation, he tossed the nachos and gave chase — scraping his knee, but somehow coming up with the home run ball.

Because the shot went so far, MLB’s on-site authenticators never saw where it landed or who caught it.
Mendoza, thinking ahead, had the ball stamped by Dodger Stadium staff and snapped photos of himself holding it. Smart move. 📸

But here’s where it gets even better.
The auction house told him he’d need a notarized affidavit and a polygraph test — so he did both. And passed.

Now that same baseball — from Ohtani’s three-homer masterpiece — sits on the block at SCP Auctions, opening bid $200,000. Some are saying it could go as high as $1 million.

Yeah, Mendoza might have lost the nachos, but I’m guessing he’ll have more than enough money to buy nachos anytime he wants.

🧨 THE BAD — Rockies Call An Audible

The Rockies are at it again.

This week, Colorado shocked baseball by hiring Paul DePodesta to run baseball operations — yes, that Paul DePodesta, the analytics whiz who worked under Billy Beane during Oakland’s Moneyball era some 25 years ago. (Jonah Hill played his character in the movie.)

Here’s the twist: DePodesta hasn’t worked in baseball for a decade. He’s been in the NFL — helping the Cleveland Browns redefine mediocrity. So naturally, the Rockies decided he’s the guy to fix their mess.

Seriously, Colorado — no one else in baseball picked up the phone?

But hey, I’m sure it’ll all come back to him. Exit velocity, third-down efficiency… potato, potahto.

🔴 THE UGLY — Tyler Skaggs

While the baseball world’s been celebrating the postseason, a much darker story is unfolding in a California courtroom.

The civil trial over the death of Tyler Skaggs is now exposing some deeply troubling details inside the Angels organization.

Skaggs was just 27 when he died in 2019 from a mix of fentanyl, oxycodone, and alcohol. His death shook the game — and the fallout still hasn’t stopped.

This week, the Angels’ longtime team doctor, Dr. Craig Milhouse, testified that he prescribed more than 600 opioid pills — specifically hydrocodone — to team employee Eric Kay between 2009 and 2015.

Kay, the club’s former Communications Director, was convicted of supplying the drugs that caused Skaggs’ death and is serving a 22-year federal sentence.

Milhouse told the court he “had no idea” how addictive the medication was at the time. The Skaggs family’s lawsuit claims the Angels were negligent for allowing Kay — who they allege was known to be using and distributing — to remain employed and travel with the team.

It’s disturbing testimony. And it raises the question:
Will Major League Baseball step in and investigate the Angels
and owner Arte Moreno once the trial ends?

—

Should they?

🍌 ONE FOR THE ROAD — How ’Bout Them Bananas!

What started as one guy in a yellow tux has turned into a half-billion-dollar baseball empire.

The Savannah Bananas, baseball’s traveling circus of chaos and choreography, are now valued at a staggering $500 million — yes, half a billion for a team that bans bunting because “bunting sucks.”

Owner Jesse Cole (part P.T. Barnum, part Ted Lasso) has turned the Bananas into a phenomenon that’s rewriting how fans experience baseball. His mission’s simple: make it the greatest show possible.

They’ve traded downtime for trick plays and pure joy — outfielders backflipping on catches, pitchers throwing off stilts, choreographed dance breaks, even a twerking umpire. And if a fan catches a foul ball? It’s an out.

Their 2025 tour sold out 115 games, drew 2.2 million fans, and even packed Yankee Stadium for one banana-fueled night. The “First Peel” ritual — where a kid bites a banana to predict the outcome — has become as famous as any seventh-inning stretch.

Cole swears he’s not chasing dollars, just fans:

“If you create more fans, the money takes care of itself.”

Mission accomplished. With 3.5 million people on the waiting list, the Bananas have become the hottest ticket in baseball — even now that their season’s over.

The circus packs up for the winter, but trust me — they’ll be back in yellow before you can say play ball.