Author: Tom Lynch

Family is everything to me. Baseball is a close second. What better way to combine my two favorite passions than to write about them! My three children each have a different baseball team, hence the title, "Three Unassisted". I write about not only my thoughts but also the musings of Ryan (Yankees), Caitlyn (Phillies) and Matthew (Mets). I may have grown up a Yankees fan but since family is greater than ball, I also root for the Phillies and Mets. I love talking about my kids. I love talking about baseball. That lethal combination will keep you coming back for more. Happy reading!

Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s Exclamation Point on the World Series

The end of the World Series always represents a sad time for us. Winter is coming, and with it, a long four months of the game we all love disappears from our everyday conversation. At least we sat together last night and viewed an epic Game 7. Yes, all of us (minus the wife) managed to stay up into Sunday morning (or was it a continuation of Saturday night) to watch the Los Angeles Dodgers finally claim the mantle of repeat champions. The Toronto Blue Jays made it one heck of a show but in the end, a smorgasboard of missed opportunities will haunt the team and their fans for a long time.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto is officially a World Series legend. Credit: MSN

Let’s call this year’s Fall Classic for what it was. It was a solid, bordering on excellent World Series with a thrilling finale. That’s it. There is no need to make comparisons to any series of the past, no breathless analysis of a litany of numbers telling us this was or wasn’t better than say, 1991 (it wasn’t; 1991 is the gold standard of a World Series). However, one person’s performance stands above all else and does deserve to be mentioned with all of the October legends of the past: Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Complete games just don’t happen anymore. Yet, there was Yamamoto out there in Game 2, with his team down a game already. He needed to go deep into the game just to give his beleaguered bullpen a breath. What resulted was one of the finest pitching performances we have ever seen. Yamamoto retired the last 19 batters he faced, surrendering only Alejandro Kirk‘s solo home run and walking no one as the Dodgers evened the series. Again, his team needed a big start in Game 6 to fend off elimination and again, the righty delivered with six innings of one run ball. Finally, on the very next night, he was summoned with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning in a tie game and asked to bring Los Angeles home. You know what happened. He ended up going 2 2/3 innings to finish the job and frankly, probably would have pitched another 5 2/3 innings if necessary. In my opinion, in the 11th inning, he pitched around Addison Barger and walked him, knowing he was needing a double play. He did just that getting Kirk with a jam shot that gave the Dodgers the championship. By the way, I called that entire sequence. The kids will admit to that.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s World Series performance is one that even the most hardened of baseball fans would agree is legendary. Three victories in a single World Series is remarkable and has been done now only 14 times. If you are my age and older and can’t appreciate Yamamoto’s accomplishment, I don’t know what to tell you. Cherish this moment because it might be a long time before we see something like this again.

Win This For Don Mattingly

The World Series is finally here. None of our teams are participating. It’s definitely a different vibe than last year when the New York Yankees were gearing up for their first Fall Classic in 15 years. Now we get the Los Angeles Dodgers looking for a repeat while the Toronto Blue Jays are back after a 33 year absence. On the surface, why would I root for either team? Who outside of Los Angeles wants the Dodgers to win? The Blue Jays eliminated the Yankees. I can’t pull for these teams.

Don MAttingly is why I am rooting for Toronto Credit: Sportsnet

You bet I can. Two words: Don Mattingly

If you are a Yankee fan of a certain age, Don Mattingly was your guy. He is by far the best player in franchise history to never make a World Series. Even as a coach on Joe Torre‘s staff, Mattingly missed out, starting with the 2004 collapse vs. the Boston Red Sox. Now, as the hitting coach of the Blue Jays, he gets to feel the brightest of lights. Though he no longer is a member of the Yankee organization, I want Toronto to win it for Donnie Baseball, the man with rotten luck. He made his big league debut with the Yankees in 1982, the year after the Yankees made the World Series. The playoff drought would last 14 years. In my 50 plus years on Earth, New York finished last one time. The year was 1990 and it was the season Mattingly’s back problems first reared its ugly head. After all the losing and misery, the Yankees made it back to the playoffs in 1995. He hit .417 as the Yanks lost a thrilling five game divisional series to the Seattle Mariners. Retirement beckoned and wouldn’t you know it, the Yankees went on to win four of the next five World Championships. Eventually, he got into coaching the Yankees and managing the Dodgers. You would think that between those teams, Mattingly would have made at least one World Series. You would be wrong.

Don Mattingly’s playing career lands on the doorstep of the Hall of Fame. If his teams made more than one playoff appearance, he would have been enshrined. He was the best player in baseball for a five year stretch. Injuries robbed him of more productive seasons that were to follow. He’s been knocking on the door for the chance at a championship for almost 45 years. I hope the Jays get him to the mountaintop.

Anthony Volpe’s Surgery: What Took So Long?

Today came the news that New York Yankees’ shortstop Anthony Volpe had surgery to repair a partially torn labrum in his left shoulder. The news does not come as a shock as there were rumors of an issue involving his shoulder for most of the 2025 season. However, the question is, why did it take so long for Volpe to have the surgery?

Both Anthony Volpe and the Yankees messed up his season. Credit: Sports Illustrated

The origin of this goes back to May 3rd in which Volpe heard a pop in his shoulder during a game against the Tampa Bay Rays. An MRI and X-rays revealed “good news” and, after sitting out the next contest, he returned to the lineup on May 5. You know what happened after that. Volpe’s production both at bat and in the field suffered dramatically. As the Yanks swooned during the Summer, Volpe became the face of the team’s struggles. He was booed at Yankee Stadium and vilified on sports talk radio. He rallied briefly in September after a second cortisone shot and even homered in the Wild Card round against the Red Sox. But he was miserable in the Blue Jays series, striking out 11 times in 15 at bats. Now we have to wonder, how much of his season struggles do we put on him or on the organization for not sitting him down right after the initial injury?

Perhaps Volpe said in the two weeks or so after the injury that he was fine. Once his struggles continued, the Yankees should have been the ones to make him sit down. Protect the athlete from himself, the saying goes. Instead, Volpe went out there game after game, clearly (we now know) less than 100%. His failings at the plate carried over onto the field where even routine plays became an adventure. I thought that he should have been sent down to the Minors to get a reset. The Mets did that with Francisco Alvarez. However, based on what we know with the severity of the injury, he needed a trip to the Injured List. Instead, the guy suffered every day, probably too prideful to say, “hey, I don’t think I am quite right”. Maybe he was fearful that having surgery during the season would end his season. That’s his fault for not addressing it sooner. But it is also the organization’s fault for not forcing him to take a couple of weeks off.

Sometimes, organizations ruin players. Anthony Volpe having the surgery in June would have saved him the agony of a terrible season. The injury provides a plausible explanation for his struggles. However, do we still think he is capable of being the everyday shortstop? He regressed badly in 2025. Was it the shoulder or was it the player? Thanks to the delay by both player and team, that question is difficult to answer.

Do These 3 Free Agents Re-sign With Their Teams?

The number three factors into many parts of my life. I have three kids. I am one of three siblings. My favorite number since childhood is three. I have three legs (OK that part isn’t true). As we trudge on during this offseason (those of us without playoff teams), there are three free agents, one for each of our respective teams, that made huge impacts in 2025. You know who they are; what I am going is predict the likelihood that they return to their clubs.

Will Cody Bellinger return? Credit: Sports Illustrated

Cody Bellinger: He enjoyed an extremely productive first and, perhaps only, season in the Bronx. Bellinger’s 29 home runs represented his highest output since 2019. He has defensive versatility, having spent time in left field, center field and first base, playing each spot flawlessly. He opted out of the final two years of his contract, a total of $52 million dollars. At 30 years old, Bellinger probably has one last chance to to score a big payday. The Yanks have been linked to Kyle Tucker for a while; he is also a free agent. There are some moving parts that could affect a reunion such as signing Tucker, where to put Jasson Dominguez and the possibility of a Trent Grisham return. If Bellinger opted out of a $25 million dollar deal for 2026, he has to believe he can get more on the open market. I am not sure New York will go much more and add a significant amount of years. 38% chance Cody Bellinger returns to the Yankees.

Pete Alonso: For a long time, I believed the Mets’ first baseman would not be back beyond this year. You know how the contract negations went last offseason. I thought the big celebration for Alonso after he broke Darryl Strawberry‘s club record for home runs was a, “thank you for all you have done for us” type moment. I interpreted that as the team not making a competitive offer to keep Alonso. However, as time has gone on, I have altered my thinking. The Mets have some significant money coming off the books over the next two years with Jeff McNeil due to be a free agent after 2026; Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas are done after 2027. The three young pitchers that debuted in 2025 are club controlled for the next five to six years. After the disastrous ending to the season, I can see Steve Cohen overruling David Stearns and outbidding everyone to keep Alonso. Edwin Diaz is equally as important to resign. Cohen gets it done with his big two stars. 65% chance Pete Alonso returns to the Mets.

Kyle Schwarber: The Phillies’ designated hitter picked the perfect season to hit free agency. His 56 home runs and 132 RBI’s were tops in the National League. All he has done in his four years in Philadelphia is slug 187 homers. He turns 33 prior to the start of the 2026 season and figures to ask for at least a five year deal. Do the Phillies want to pay him upwards of $30 million per season for a guy who does not play the field? The outfield isn’t an option and Bryce Harper seems to be locked into first base. Nick Castellanos is most certainly gone; the same can probably be said for Max Kepler. Philadelphia will need to address their outfield holes. What is a higher priority, right field or DH? Will they spend enough to get quality for both? I can’t picture the organization running it back with this core after two straight divisional round exits. Then again, Schwarber has become such an integral part of the team and the city that it is hard to picture him somewhere else. 53% chance Kyle Schwarber returns to the Phillies.

MLB Final Four: How to Root For One

For the first time since 2021, none of our teams are in the league championship series. It’s not a good feeling for us. While we plan on watching both LCS’s and the World Series, the interest in the rest of the season won’t be as intense without one of our dogs in the mix. Believe it or not, I can make a case to root for any one of the final teams left in these playoffs. However, once I go through my review of the Blue Jays, Brewers, Dodgers and Mariners, it is quite clear that there is only one team that gets my vote (and I venture to say that all of us will be rooting for the same team).

Christian Yelich looks to avenge 2018. Credit: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Seattle Mariners: They are the only team in Major League Baseball to have never made the World Series. It’s a great fanbase that plays in a beautiful ballpark. The Mariners have an outstanding starting rotation including a guy who is local to us, Rye’s George Kirby. They have a catcher who hit 60 home runs, for crying out loud. Who doesn’t love to see the Mariner Moose parade around the top of the dugout? Seattle has been talked about for years as a contender that doesn’t have a good offense. That has changed during this run.

Toronto Blue Jays: Impossible to root for since they eliminated the Yankees? Not so fast. There is an adage that says that if you lose to someone in a playoff round, you’d like it to be against the eventual champion. One of my favorite family vacations was a trip to Niagara Falls two years ago, which is only about an hour from Toronto. The Blue Jays have six players on the roster that came from the Yankees, Mets and Phillies. Their matchup against Seattle represents a meeting between teams that both entered the league in 1977.

Milwaukee Brewers: I actually saw a couple of Brewers’ playoff games in person: Games 3 and 5 of the 1981 divisional series at Yankee Stadium. Milwaukee has made one World series appearance, losing in seven games to the Cardinals in 1982. They were baseball’s best team in 2025, winning an MLB best 97 games. The league’s smallest market has also been one of its most consistent, even if the playoff ledger says otherwise. The Brewers face the Dodgers, hoping to have a different result from 2018 when they lost in seven games in this very round. Christian Yelich was the league MVP that year. He would like to be the NLCS MVP this year.

Los Angeles Dodgers: How can you root for the champs? One word: tradition. It oozes through their 100 plus year history. They are one of the winningest franchises in the sport. Other than the occasional Spanish wearing days, the uniform does not change. Dodger Stadium is still majestic, some 60 years after it was built. Peer pressure from MLB Network will force you to root for Shohei Ohtani so you might as well submit to it. We love winners. Why not cheer for the one going for their third championship in six years?

The verdict: It’s not a debate. The Milwaukee Brewers are the clear favorite in our house. There are a number of reasons why we wouldn’t be pulling for the Blue Jays and Dodgers; the losses by the Yankees and Phillies are the icing on the cake. Seattle is a little trickier, just based on the fact they have never been to a World Series. What tips the balance in favor of the Brewers is that I still remember the Yankees losing to the Mariners in the 1995 playoffs. I could get over it except that is the last time Don Mattingly played baseball. After being a small market team that seemingly has to struggle every season, it’s time for the Brewers to finally claim a championship.

Yankees Autopsy: What Is Next for the Deceased?

There are two things to observe about the debacle we just witnessed. First, the “Aaron Judge can’t perform when it counts narrative” died with every ball smacked into the field of play. Secondly, the New York Yankees were eliminated in a playoff series by an American League East rival for the fourth time in the Aaron Boone era. I don’t want to belabor what we just saw. There will be enough anger over the coming weeks to last us through Spring Training. The goal now is to try to guess what is next for a franchise that is pretty close to matching their longest championship drought.

Does Jason Dominguez fit with the Yankees in 2026? Credit: NY Post

Let’s make one assumption: both Boone and Brian Cashman will be back. That assumption will not please many fans. But rather than wasting time arguing about it (which might come in a future post), let’s figure out what they should do. This is a quick snapshot of what my thoughts are in this moment.

To me, the first order of business is deciding what to do with Jasson Dominguez. Will he get a full time gig or will he be just another Yankee hyped prospect that does nothing with the team? If we assume they are done with Dominguez, then package him to Cleveland for Steven Kwan. I am sick of the strikeouts. Do you know who doesn’t strike out? The Toronto Blue Jays. You know, the team that just sent the Yanks packing. My preference would be to keep Dominguez but trading him for Kwan is a step in the right direction. Kwan is the type of high average, low strikeout player the Yanks desperately need. If that’s the move, then re-signing Cody Bellinger (if he opts out) makes a lot of sense. Trading Jazz Chisholm Jr. and giving second base to Oswaldo Cabrera is something I would entertain. Jazz is good but in keeping with my (which should be their) philosophy, I won’t miss the 148 strikeouts. As for Trent Grisham, I don’t think we will see another season like that from him again. I believe he will want too much money and therefore, will be playing elsewhere in 2026.

The pitching staff is is 90% complete. The rotation is pretty set. Maybe the bullpen gets another arm. Not much more to do.

And so another early offseason begins. Plenty of time to complain about why Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman still have jobs. Don’t waste your time on things you can’t control. The only way moves are made is if we all made an effort to ignore the Yankees next year. That won’t happen.

Phillies Are Down 2-0 and Our Home Is Not Happy

It’s bad enough that New York Mets folded down the stretch and missed the playoffs. The New York Yankees trailing in their best of five series 2-0 is worse. Now, on top of all that, the Philadelphia Phillies have made it the wrong kind of triple play, finding themselves down 2-0 in their Divisional series. Needless to say, our household, both near and far is not doing too well in this postseason. To make matters worse, the Phillies now have to travel to Los Angeles to try and salvage their season, hopefully winning two straight and then trying to complete the comeback by winning a fifth game at Citizens Bank Park.

Rob Thomson’s face says it all. Credit: NY Post

Caitlyn just had her spirits elevated and then crushed within the span of five minutes. At least during the course of the game, she provided us with some funny comments:

“I spend enough time and energy into this team only for them NOT to spend enough time and energy to try and win the World Series”

“They are better off pulling a random fan from the stands and telling them today is your lucky day”-this as she saw the Phillies make a pitching change.

In Saturday’s Game 1 loss, it was a carbon copy of last year’s Game 1 divisional loss. We were at Siena for family weekend. The Phillies had a late lead disintegrate thanks to the bullpen. The game was at home. Matt Strahm was a part of both games. Their starting pitchers threw well enough to win. It’s amazing and painful to see how similar both games were.

Should the Phillies and Yankees lose their respective series this week, it will make the shortest playoff stints for our collective teams in four years. The Phillies would be the most painful. Two straight divisional titles, two straight divisional round exits and one unhappy daughter. The ending to the baseball season doesn’t get more depressing than that.

Yankees Win: How Long Will the Good Vibes Last?

Phase One is complete for the New York Yankees. They eliminated the Boston Red Sox and now face another American League East foe, the Toronto Blue Jays. I made the point that the Yankees HAD to win this Red Sox series or else they might undergo, as what I like to refer to as, “an organizational earthquake”. The celebration is brief as the Yanks are right back at it on Saturday in Toronto. As much as we love beating the Red Sox (Aaron Boone should be exceptionally giddy), the good vibes the team is feeling could come crashing to a halt by this time next week.

Cam Schlittler pitched the Yanks into the next round. Credit: NY Post

If the Yankees get bounced in this round, will we even be satisfied about beating Boston in the previous round? I would say no. In fact, the only thing we would remember would be Cam Schlittler‘s epic performance in Game 3 and that Aaron Judge had an excellent offensive series. Other than that, there will be the same angst, the same level of frustration among the fansbase that gripped us for a good portion of the second half. The whispers about Boone’s job security will grow to a roar and the calls for Brian Cashman to go will mount even more. Yankee fans are not supposed to celebrate making it to a Division Series, even if they knocked off their most hated rival along the way. This is a team right now that appears to be poised for a return to the World Series.

I felt before the Wild Card round that if the Yankees can beat the Red Sox, they can win it all. That hasn’t changed. My confidence is actually a little bit higher now, thanks to Schlittler’s dominant performance. Beating the Red Sox is huge and I am not going to minimize that. However, losing to the Blue Jays will make the Boston victory hollow……until we see them in 2026.

The Yankees Better Win This Series

The headline is quite obvious. Yes, the New York Yankees need to win their Wild Card series against the Boston Red Sox or else they cease playing baseball for the rest of 2025. They not only better win this series in order to continue on a quest for a championship, but they also need to do so because of the potential implications of defeat. For if the Red Sox beat the Yankees, I believe the reverberations will be felt all the way up to the front office. I like to call it an organizational earthquake.

Does Aaron Boone survive another Red Sox playoff defeat? Credt: New York Post

A loss to the Red Sox in this round in this year would be the one scenario where the jobs of Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman would be in jeopardy. To be clear, I am not calling for the dismissal for either man. Plenty of other people will do that for me. However, look at the records of both organizations over the last 20 years, beginning in 2005. Boston has won three World Series under three different managers and three different front offices. The Yankees have won the World Series just once during that time. Cashman has been the team’s chief decision maker during these last two decades. More recently, let’s compare the managers. Boone and Alex Cora each assumed the helm prior to the 2018 season. Cora’s Red Sox beat Boone’s Yankees in the divisional round on their way to winning it all. The two teams also squared off in the 2021 Wild Card game with Boston once again coming out on top. The Red Sox have been flat out better. Why do I believe a loss this year could be almost, if not more catastrophic than the 2004 meltdown?

Not only have the Sox won more recently, but they have also fallen down and gotten back up. Yes, the Yankees have been a model of consistency, with playoff appearance after playoff appearance. Cora was suspended for the 2020 season. Boston has finished last three times since 2018. The front office changed again. The Red Sox were roasted for trading Rafael Devers in May. Yet, here the Red Sox are, threatening to derail another Yankees’ postseason run. It’s bad enough they owned the Yankees during the regular season. Can you imagine Alex Cora and company once again celebrating a playoff series victory on Yankee Stadium soil? How does Yankee ownership not make wholesale changes should they lose this first round? Their arch nemesis, the one that has owned them over the last 20 years, the one that has risen, fallen and then risen again all the while the Yankees go another year without a championship is pretty humiliating.

There has to be repercussions for this specific failure. I’m afraid Boone might be the one who pays the price. If not, expect a cataclysmic meltdown from both fans and the media. If you thought last year’s World Series defeat triggered this group of people, you haven’t seen anything yet.

Let’s Go Mets

I will not be angry. We will see much of that over the coming days.

I will not vent. Talk radio will cover plenty of that.

I don’t want to minimize what happened but I also don’t want to dwell in a sea of sorrow (Thanks Alice in Chains).

The Mets in happier times. They will be back. Credit: Sports Illustrated

It’s not productive for me to go through the litany of things that went wrong.

The New York Mets are not my favorite team. However, people close to me root for them above everything. The hurt and anger doesn’t affect me like it affects them.

I feel horribly for them.

Matthew and I discussed what happens from here. The Pete Alonso decision looms above all, but that’s not the only concern.

Does Edwin Diaz opt out?

Will Clay Holmes return to the bullpen?

Will Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong and Brandon Sproat all start 2026 in the rotation?

Can the offense not be so streaky? After all, most of the core players will be there beyond next season.

I think this post is best summed up by Matthew in a message he sent to our family chat:

I AM a Mets fan

I am PROUD to be a Mets fan.

There is no other team I see myself being a fan of.

The 2026 World Series trophy will be in Queens.

LGM.

I’m proud of you, kid. Let’s go Mets!