Monday, September 28
Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today. Today’s edition is brought to you by David Adler. We have playoff X-factors, last week’s poll results and more.
The Wild Card Series start tomorrow. Let’s pick out some players who could swing each matchup.
Here’s one playoff X-factor for each team in the four Wild Card Series:
WHITE SOX AT ASTROS
White Sox: Munetaka Murakami and Colson Montgomery
We’re combining Mune and Montgomery because they’re the same type of X-factor: They could change the series with one swing … or they could strike out every time and sink the White Sox. Murakami mashed 35 home runs this season but struck out 196 times; Montgomery hit 31 homers but set the MLB record with 227 K’s.
Astros: Lucas Spence
The 23-year-old rookie helped save the Astros’ season over the weekend with four home runs in the final series — including a three-homer game — as Houston won the AL West. Now the team’s No. 12 prospect looks like he’s earned the nod in center field for the playoffs. There are always breakout stars in October, and if Spence keeps swinging a hot bat, he could be one.
RED SOX AT YANKEES
Red Sox: Roman Anthony
Anthony looked like a budding superstar coming into the season, but he struggled badly to start the year and then missed almost four months due to injury. He finally looked a little better once he came back, and he was red-hot over the final week of the season. If Anthony takes another step in the playoffs, he has the upside to be the best player in the Red Sox lineup.
Yankees: Paul Goldschmidt
The Red Sox have the most lefty-heavy pitching staff in 40 years, including Wild Card Game 1 starter Payton Tolle, potential Game 3 starter Ranger Suarez and Aroldis Chapman, Erik Miller and maybe even Garrett Crochet in the bullpen. That means at some point in this series, the 38-year-old veteran Goldschmidt is going to have the chance to make an impact. Goldy has reinvented himself as an elite righty platoon bat, with a .967 OPS vs. lefties this season.
PHILLIES AT BRAVES
Phillies: Alec Bohm
Bohm did not have a very good year. But he hits lefties. Bohm batted .292 with an .816 OPS against left-handers this season, which is much better than his numbers vs. righties. With the Phils facing Chris Sale in Game 1, Bohm will have to step up. He’s one of the only Phillies players with success against Sale — Bohm is a career .304 hitter in 25 plate appearances against the Braves ace, including a home run off Sale this September.
Braves: Austin Riley
Riley just had the worst full season of his career. But there’s one team he always seems to rake against — and that’s his Wild Card Series foe, the Phillies. Even as he posted a career-low .654 OPS this year, Riley had an .856 OPS and four home runs in 13 games against Philadelphia. And in his career, he has a .943 OPS and 24 home runs in 100 games vs. the Phillies.
CUBS AT PADRES
Cubs: Alex Bregman
A week after busting his face, Bregman was back in the Cubs lineup and mashing home runs. He’s been the best hitter in the Majorssince the All-Star break — yes, even better than PCA, or the superstar on the other side in this series, Fernando Tatis Jr. He’s a warrior. Oh, and he also has 19 career postseason home runs.
Padres: Ty France
As the Padres caught fire down the stretch, one of their biggest impact bats — and biggest surprises — was France, who didn’t get a single Major League offer this offseason, signed a Minor League deal with San Diego and is now a top-10 hitter in the National League. France will be one of the Padres’ most important middle-of-the-order bats in this series.
THE LATEST ON KEY POSTSEASON INJURIES
There are a bunch of high-profile injuries to watch at the start of the Wild Card Series. Here’s the latest on a few of the biggest names:
Aaron Judge
A day before the Yankees play Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, we still don’t know whether Aaron Judge will be in the lineup due to his strained right calf. Today’s update from manager Aaron Boone: “We’ll listen to the trainers and medical, and see where we’re at.”
And Judge himself said today: “We’re all going to be smart, but I think they all know I want to be out there, especially in the first game.”
The reigning AL MVP did some indoor hitting and throwing yesterday, and Judge was planning to hit during the Yankees’ workout today.
Luis Arraez
The Phillies’ star second baseman will NOT be on the Wild Card Series roster after spraining his left ankle on Thursday. Arraez has not even swung a bat since suffering the injury.
Jesús Luzardo
Luzardo is getting the start for Game 1against Atlanta after returning from shoulder inflammation to pitch a spotless inning in relief in the Phils’ must-win Game 162. The All-Star lefty said he was ready for whatever the Phillies need in the playoffs — but how far can he go? Luzardo might just be more or less an opener in Game 1.
Garrett Crochet
The Red Sox are still finalizing their pitching plan for their rematch against the Yankees, but they sound open to including Crochet on the roster as a reliever. If they do activate the ace lefty, one key question will be whether Crochet can pitch more than once in a short series.
See the latest on all the Wild Card Series injuries to watch here >>
LAST WEEK’S POLL RESULTS
On Friday, we asked you which of the three potential first-time World Series champions — the Brewers, Rays and Padres — had the best chance of winning a ring this year.
Your vote? The Brew Crew.
63% of you picked Milwaukee as the team most likely to win its first title, 21% picked the Rays and 16% picked the Padres.
The Brewers are certainly a logical choice — they finished with the best record in baseball this season at 103-59. But they also have to go through a National League playoff bracket that includes the back-to-back champion Dodgers. We’ll see if they can stop the three-peat.
SHO ME THE JERSEYS
The most popular jersey of the 2026 season should be no surprise: For the fourth straight season, international superstar Shohei Ohtani was purchased more than any other player. Yankees captain Aaron Judge ranked second — also hardly an upset.
But nobody on the list, which was released on Friday, has more helium than Pete Crow-Armstrong. The Cubs sensation finished third, up from No. 10 on the preseason rankings and No. 16 in 2025. If the likely NL MVP has a strong postseason and leads Chicago to championship glory, who knows? He may mount a real challenge to Ohtani next year.
A few other observations:
• Just like last year, Ohtani was one of four Dodgers in the Top 20, along with Freddie Freeman (No. 6), Mookie Betts (No. 8) and World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (No. 9), who replaced a retired Clayton Kershaw.
• With White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami (No. 20) joining Ohtani and Yamamoto, this marks the first time three Japanese players cracked the list.
• In an interesting twist, PCA was the highest-ranking Cubs player since Javier Báez finished third in 2018. The two were famously traded for each other at the 2021 Deadline.
— Bryan Horowitz
FILL OUT YOUR POSTSEASON BRACKET NOW
Want a shot at $10,000? Fill out your postseason bracket now.
Compete in the 2026 Postseason Bracket Challenge for a chance to win.
First, check out the playoff bracket. Then, do your homework. And finally, fill out your picks before the postseason action starts tomorrow.
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