Avoiding rotten history, in a weird way. Plus: Hugs from MLB’s sweetheart
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The Giants narrowly avoided unfortunate history … in the weirdest way possible. Plus: We’re grading the pennant races, and an endangered baseball species is back.
I’m Grant Brisbee, pinch-hitting for Levi Weaver (returning to your inbox tomorrow) — welcome to The Windup!
Brooms (Finally) Out: At long last, Giants sweep a series
The last team to go an entire season without sweeping an opponent in a series of two games or longer was the 2022 Washington Nationals, and there have been just eight teams in the expansion era (1969 to present) to do it. Consider that the 2024 White Sox and the 2025 Rockies lost 240 games between them, yet even they swept series. Even the worst teams can accidentally get hot for a week. In theory.
Enter the 2026 Giants, who entered Monday without a series sweep, winless in their last six attempts at closing one out. The last time they tried, they had the worst ninth-inning meltdown in franchise history. The entire team is haunted, it would appear. Only thing to do is start over.
After beating the first-place Braves 7-3 last night, the Giants (57-81) finally have their sweep. Because they are incapable of passing the Be Normal For Five Seconds Challenge, however, it wasn’t as simple as winning three games in a row against the same team. They won the first two games of the series in June, with the final game postponed by rain. Back then, the Giants’ lineup featured four players now likely out for the season and two players who got traded at the deadline. For the clincher, they needed a zombie roster, a ragtag band of misfits who could defy expectations, possibly after training in a montage set to ’80s music.
If you haven’t been following the Giants this season, first, good for you. However, you might be interested to know that even though roughly three-quarters of the Giants’ Opening Day lineup is on the IL and the team has a decent chance of losing 100 games, the zombie lineup still might be able to hit. Turner Hill led Triple A in batting average, and Jonah Cox was hitting over .400 and might have been the Double-A leader if he hadn’t been promoted — and both have been just as much fun in the majors so far. Rafael Devers became the Giants’ second 30-homer player since Barry Bonds retired.
Runs haven’t been the problem for this team, even with all of the calamity and unpleasantness. When the pitching is normal for five seconds, the Giants even have a chance at a series sweep, as disjointed as it might be.
Pennant Races: What’s still worth caring about
It’s almost September, and you know what that means! Hot pennant-race action, the kind your grandpappy used to tell you about. Why, I’ll bet that Braves loss really threw a wrench into the NL East. The Cubs shellacked the Brewers 17-3 last night, which means Milwaukee fans must be getting nervous. There’s only one cure for pennant-race fever: more pennant-race action. (Warning: pennant-race action should not be taken internally.)
Except then you look at the standings, and … these aren’t races. These aren’t races! The Dodgers are typically leading the NL West by 10 games or more, and the Cubs’ bludgeoning only pulled them within seven games. There’s always room for a September collapse from one of the division leaders, but here’s how I grade all of the races so far:
NL West: D-. As always.
AL West: D+. If one of these teams finishes over .500, they might merit consideration for a C-, but only then. An all-under-.500 division is an automatic F, no question. That’s the divisional equivalent of a student using ChatGPT to produce a paper that reads “Econombics is hard” for five pages in a 75-point font. For an oral exam. In Spanish II.
NL Central: C-. We’re going to need a Brewers collapse to spice things up, which would be at least a month earlier than scheduled. Otherwise, it’s another dud for a division that hasn’t been decided by fewer than five games in a full season since 2019.
AL Central: B. The White Sox can thump, and the Guardians can pitch. That’s a personality test of a race, with one team appealing to your personal aesthetics and another one offending them entirely. They aren’t the best teams, but it’s at least a race without a guaranteed wild-card safety net.
NL East: B-. The Braves don’t have a comfortable lead over the Phillies, who won their fifth straight game last night, but it’s still not a proper race until it’s within three games.
AL East: C+. Three teams have a chance to win the division, but none of them have existential fears about missing the playoffs altogether. The Rays (82-55) are leading, and the only scoreboard-watching team in the division is the Orioles, who are struggling to stay over .500, but are still competing in a sad, sad wild-card race.
NL wild card: B-. Sure, it’s a little fun to have the Padres and Diamondbacks in a head-to-head battle for the final spot. If the Marlins or Cardinals join them, that would mean a young, fresh team is playing unexpectedly well. But the only way to have a truly interesting wild-card scrum is if two or three of the eventual wild-card winners are sweating every September game.
AL wild card: D. We have advanced past the need for the Orioles and Blue Jays this season, and it’s unfortunate they are still mathematically in a race. In fact, all of the bird teams are unofficially eliminated, according to this edition of The Windup. They will get gift baskets (filled with millet) for their troubles.
That’s a 1.925 GPA. Forget about Gudger College, kid, you’re in danger of going on academic probation and losing sports entirely. OK, so you already were in danger of that because of the impending lockout, but still. You’re on double-secret academic probation, MLB. Give us a couple of real pennant races, please.
Baseball’s Darling? The lovable mustachioed baseball lunk
Based on performance alone, Red Sox pitcher Payton Tolle would be speedrunning his way to fan-favorite status. The rookie left-hander shot through the minors and arrived just in time to help the Red Sox with their remarkable turnaround, which is more than enough to get folks on his side.
However, he offers much more than quality pitching. He also comes with a vibe, an energy, a je ne sais lunk. He’s fun to watch, as most extremely large, bushy-haired, mustachioed pitchers are. He has fun playing, too. Just look at the guy:
Payton Tolle is an absolute gem 😭 pic.twitter.com/PxoNEzn5Rh
— MLB (@MLB) August 31, 2026
There was a split second when Mariners DH Dominic Canzone was wondering about the unwritten rules of hugging an opponent in the middle of an active baseball event. There are actually written rules against it, such as Rule 4.06, which reads, “Players of opposing teams shall not fraternize at any time while in uniform.” A big ol’ hug sure seems like fraternization to me.
Canzone went in for the hug, though, as anyone would. It looks safe in there. Everyone loves a lovable pitching lunk! The Giants are forging ahead with new advancements in the lovable pitching lunk arts, with Tugboat Wilkinson using an 89-mph fastball to make his mark, in classic left-handed lunk fashion.
The sport used to be filled with these guys. Here’s a GIF I made a long time ago of Steve Balboni, and while he was a hitting lunk more comparable to Kyle Schwarber in the modern era, he still proves my point.
The lovable, mustachioed lunk used to be everywhere in baseball, and now they’re back, everyone. They’re hot. As they should be. Get on board.
Handshakes and High Fives
Ketel Marte is back with the Diamondbacks. He received mixed reactions from fans.
Every team gets a trade deadline report card in this week’s power rankings.
Another three-homer game! This one by Alex Bregman, as the Cubs hit a franchise-record nine home runs in their thrashing of the Brewers.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. said he didn’t know of the Red Sox radio play-by-play announcer who called him a “bush league player,” and Chisholm won’t “remember who he is after today.”
One prospect from each team who deserves more attention.
The Padres are calling up top catching prospect Ethan Salas. The 20-year-old can become the youngest player to catch a big-league game since 1991.
Federal prosecutors say Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz tried to deceive MLB investigators about their alleged pitch-rigging scheme, and they plan to make that a part of their case when the pitchers go to trial this fall.
Most-clicked in our last newsletter: Greg Maddux’s wild first pitch at Wrigley Field.
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