Monthly Archives: October 2025

11 Oct

back on memory lane

The walk-off single by Jorge Polanco in the 15th inning (and on Saturday morning CDT) was the third postseason walk-off hit by a Seattle player, per MLB Network. Polanco’s knock in the deciding Game 5 won the American League Division Series for the Mariners over Detroit 3-2. When the graphic showing the other two walk-offs popped up on the TV screen, it rekindled some memories. Twenty-five years ago, in Game 3 of the ALDS, pinch hitter Carlos Guillen put down a surprise squeeze bunt in the ninth inning that scored Rickey Henderson with the game-winner in a 2-1, series-clinching win against Chicago. As some old Smith-Wills Stadium regulars will recall, Guillen was a standout shortstop for the Double-A Jackson Generals in 1997 and was involved in Houston’s famous trade with Seattle for Randy Johnson in 1998. Guillen, who batted .285 and was a three-time All-Star over a 14-year MLB career, was still a rookie in 2000. The other Seattle postseason walk-off is a bit more famous, of course. In the 1995 ALDS, in Game 5 at the old Kingdome, Edgar Martinez delivered a two-run double in the 11th inning that scored Ken Griffey Jr. with the game-winner against New York. The 6-5 victory set off a celebration that some say saved baseball in Seattle in a wobbly time for the franchise. In the grainy video from that moment, you can catch a glimpse of Sam Perlozzo, the M’s third-base coach, frantically waving Griffey home. Perlozzo, as Smith-Wills cranks will remember, managed the Jackson Mets to back-to-back Texas League titles in 1984-85 before going on to coach and manage in the big leagues. Note: Both the 1995 Mariners and the 2000 club lost in the AL Championship Series; Seattle has never made it to the World Series.

10 Oct

go figure

You know the phrase, “That’s baseball.” Well, consider this: Justin Dean, longtime Mississippi Braves standout who didn’t touch the plate in 18 MLB appearances this season, scored more runs for the Los Angeles Dodgers than the entire Milwaukee team scored on Thursday night. Dean came on as a pinch runner in the seventh inning and came across on a bases-loaded walk for the Dodgers’ first run in their jaw-dropping 2-1 win against Philadelphia. The National League Division Series game — and the mighty Phillies’ season — ended on a base-loaded throwing error in the 11th inning at Dodger Stadium. Now that’s baseball. Meanwhile, in Chicago, at a frenzied Wrigley Field, the Brewers, the second-highest scoring team in the NL this season, lost 6-0 to the Cubs and will now face a deciding Game 5 in Milwaukee on Saturday. Former Biloxi Shuckers Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang and Sal Frelick went 2-for-11 and M-Braves alum William Contreras 0-for-4 as the Brewers managed just three hits all told. Ex-Shuckers star Freddy Peralta, Milwaukee’s ace, gave up a three-run bomb to Ian Happ in the first inning — all the offense the Cubs, fueled by the home crowd, would need. P.S. Dean made the Dodgers’ postseason roster because of his speed and his glove. He spent parts of four seasons with the M-Braves and was the center fielder on the 2021 Double-A South pennant winner. In 2024, the M-Braves’ swan song at Trustmark Park, Dean swiped a club-record 47 bases and set the Mississippi career record with 117 bags. He was signed by L.A. as a minor league free agent in December and made his MLB debut — as a defensive replacement — on Aug. 8. He was 0-for-2 as a hitter on the season.

09 Oct

quick pitches

Drew Pomeranz, the veteran left-hander out of Ole Miss, has thrown four hitless innings for the Chicago Cubs in four postseason outings, including a stint in Wednesday’s win against Milwaukee at Wrigley Field. Pomeranz worked a 1-2-3 fifth and got the W as the Cubs stayed alive with a 4-3 victory in Game 3 of the National League Division Series. … Brookhaven native Lance Barksdale was the first-base umpire for that NLDS game and if the normal rotation holds, he’ll be behind the plate for tonight’s Game 4. … Colt Keith, coming back from an injury, has started each game at DH for Detroit in the American League Division Series, but the ex-Biloxi High star is just 1-for-10 with a walk. He went 0-for-4 in Wednesday’s 9-3 victory over Seattle, which forces a decisive Game 5 on Friday. … Devin Williams, the Biloxi Shuckers alum, yielded a crushing two-out hit — on a fastball, not his signature changeup — that scored two inherited runners in the seventh inning of the New York Yankees’ season-ending 5-2 loss to Toronto in their ALDS. Trent Grisham, another former Shuckers star and a big bat for the Yanks all season, went 0-for-5 in Wednesday’s Game 4 loss and finished 2-for-17 in the series. … Former Mississippi State righty Tyson Hardin, a second-year pro, was named Milwaukee’s pitching prospect of the year by MLB Pipeline. The Brewers’ No. 20 prospect, converted from reliever this year, Hardin went 6-5 with a 2.72 ERA in 21 starts between High-Class A Wisconsin and Double-A Biloxi this season. Ex-Jackson Prep star Konnor Griffin, the top prospect in the minors, was named Pittsburgh’s hitting prospect of the year. … Jalen Miller, a member of the Mississippi Braves’ 2021 league championship club, won another title this season with the York Revolution of the independent Atlantic League. Miller was the MVP of the championship series, batting .474 in the four games, and also earned postseason All-Star recognition and All-Defensive Team honors at second base. He hit .297 with 19 homers and 80 RBIs on the year. Of note: Miller is among the handful of players to hit a homer over the batter’s eye in center field at Pearl’s Trustmark Park. … The Mississippi Mud Monsters will open their 2026 season on May 7 at Trustmark Park against the Gateway Grizzlies, first game of a three-game set. The indy club’s second season will feature 51 home games on the new artificial surface at Trustmark. The club went 49-47 in its inaugural season in the Frontier League.

08 Oct

what’s that sound?

The thunderous applause at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night went to Aaron Judge, of course, and Jazz Chisholm, whose home runs powered the New York Yankees’ historic 9-6 comeback, must-have win over Toronto. But Devin Williams, the much-maligned former Biloxi Shuckers closer, heard his share of cheers, too. Williams, the fourth of five relievers the Yankees used to shut down the Blue Jays after the third inning, worked 1 1/3 scoreless — the seventh into the eighth — and was credited with a hold as New York won Game 3 of this American League Division Series. When David Bednar replaced him, Williams got a standing ovation as he left the mound. “That’s awesome,” Williams told the New York Post. “It was definitely a lot better than what I’ve heard for much of the year.” Acquired in a December trade after a stellar run in Milwaukee, Williams (Shuckers 2019) posted a 4.79 ERA for the Yankees. He had 18 saves but blew four and suffered six losses in 67 appearances. By season’s end, he was largely relegated to mop-up work and was often greeted with jeers and boos from the home crowd. Williams had only three save opportunities the last two months. But Yankees fans, nothing if not fickle, loved him Tuesday night — and now they might get a chance to see him again in tonight’s Game 4. P.S. Old Jackson Mets fans surely remember Game 1 of the 1986 National League Championship Series, which took place on Oct. 8 at the Astrodome. Houston ace Mike Scott, a JaxMets alum, threw a brilliant 14-strikeout, five-hit shutout at his old team, beating Doc Gooden 1-0. A Glenn Davis homer was the game’s only run. The Mets’ starting lineup included former JaxMets Lenny Dykstra, Wally Backman, Darryl Strawberry and Mookie Wilson; Lee Mazzilli, Kevin Elster and Jesse Orosco also got in for New York. The Mets, en route to a World Series title, would win that NLCS in six dramatic games, with Scott — who also beat them in Game 4 — slated to go again had there been a Game 7.

07 Oct

connect four

Those were familiar names rising to the occasion in Milwaukee’s huge Game 2 win Monday night in the National League Division Series. Three Biloxi Shuckers of recent vintage and a Mississippi Braves alum took star turns in the 7-3 victory over Chicago at American Family Field. Start with Jason Misiorowski, the 6-foot-7 stringbean rookie who threw three innings of high heat and got the win. He yielded just one hit and no runs, striking out four and hitting 102 mph-plus on 12 of his pitches, topping out at 104.3. In two seasons at Double-A Biloxi, The Miz flashed some of that stuff: He struck out 141 batters across 100 2/3 innings. With the score tied at 3-3 in the third inning, William Contreras (M-Braves 2019) launched a 411-foot (at least) solo home run off Shota Imanaga. (Why did Atlanta ever trade Contreras, who’s also an excellent defensive catcher?) In the fourth inning, Jackson Chourio — one of the top prospects in the minors when he wore the Shuckers unie in 2023 — belted a three-run bomb, 419 feet to center field on an 0-2 pitch, that essentially iced the game for the Brewers. Almost overlooked is what reliever Abner Uribe (Shuckers ’22-23) did in the ninth, blowing away Carson Kelly, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Dansby Swanson on 13 pitches. The largely unsung Uribe had a 1.67 ERA in 75 appearances this season. The Brewers hold a 2-0 lead as the series shifts to Wrigley Field. P.S. Oh yeah, in the other NLDS, Los Angeles took a 2-0 series lead with a drama-filled 4-3 win against Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park. In the middle of it all was Freddie Freeman, the “grizzled veteran” who toiled for the M-Braves way back in 2009. Freeman had a hit and scored a run in the Dodgers’ four-run seventh, then made two outstanding plays at first base in the ninth as the Phillies tried to rally. Because of his clutch hitting prowess, it’s easy to forget what a great defensive player Freeman is: In 66 postseason games, he has a .996 fielding percentage with just two errors.

06 Oct

afl cranks up

Michael Fowler, who pitched for the Mississippi Mud Monsters this summer, has been pegged as an Arizona Fall League “under-the-radar” prospect by MLB Pipeline. Fowler, now in the Milwaukee system, pitched for Southern Miss last spring and then went 2-1 with a 1.92 ERA in seven games for the independent Mud-sters, striking out 15 in 9 1/3 innings. The Brewers signed him, and he posted a 1.08 ERA in Low-Class A, showing enough stuff to earn an AFL assignment. The prospect-filled AFL starts its season today with Peoria playing Scottsdale. Twelve of MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 minor league prospects populate the rosters of the six teams. Fowler, not a rated prospect, is on the Surprise roster; the Saguaros open on Tuesday. Former Madison Central High star Braden Montgomery, the Chicago White Sox’s No. 1 prospect (No. 35 overall), is with Glendale, which also opens Tuesday. The switch-hitting outfielder, who reached Double-A in his first pro season, isn’t active yet, still recuperating from a foot injury. Former Mississippi State and DeSoto Central High standout Cade Smith, a New York Yankees prospect who pitched in A-ball in 2025, is on the Mesa roster. Ex-Bulldogs star David Mershon is with Salt River; he played at Double-A and Triple-A in the Los Angeles Angels’ chain this season but had some injury issues and scuffled at the plate. Also on the Salt River club is Ole Miss product Derek Diamond, a Pittsburgh prospect who missed much of the 2025 campaign. He pitched in Double-A at the start of the season. On the Glendale roster is former Mississippi Braves star Nacho Alvarez Jr., who finished the year with Atlanta; the third baseman missed much of the minor league season with injury.

06 Oct

into the frying pan

Will Warren’s postseason debut could not have started much worse. The Jackson Prep product came on for the New York Yankees in a tough spot Sunday, his team trailing by five runs with no outs and two runners on in the fourth inning. Warren walked the first batter he faced, gave up a grand slam to the third, a single to the fourth and a homer to the fifth. Ouch. Toronto was well on its way to a 13-7 win at Rogers Centre and a 2-0 lead in the American League Division Series. Yankees starter Max Fried was charged with seven of those runs and took the loss. Warren, to his everlasting credit, battled into the eighth inning, allowing two more homers and six runs all told. During the regular season, over 162 1/3 innings, Warren had a 4.44 ERA and allowed just 1.22 homers per nine innings. He made 33 appearances during the season, all as a starter. “I worked my best to treat it like a start,” he said in a postgame interview. “You get ready the same way. … I got to come in and get us out of that.” With the Yankees heading back to New York one loss from elimination, Warren may not get another opportunity in this series. He’d surely like one.

05 Oct

spotlight on …

Jackson Chourio was the center of attention for the first two innings of Saturday’s American League Division Series game at Milwaukee. The former Biloxi Shuckers star had three hits, three RBIs and a run as the Brewers cooked up nine runs en route to a 9-3 win against Chicago. Chourio was the center of attention again after the game, which he left in the second inning with a hamstring strain; a hamstring injury in the same leg sidelined him for a month earlier this season. His status for the rest of the best-of-5 series, which resumes Monday, is to be determined. Losing him would be a huge blow: “devastating” is how manager Pat Murphy described it. The 21-year-old outfielder belted 22 homers and stole 43 bases for Double-A Biloxi in 2023, then got an $82 million contract before making his MLB debut in 2024. He finished third in the NL rookie of the year voting and backed that up by hitting .270 with 21 homers, 78 RBIs and 21 bags this season.
Max Fried, the former Mississippi Braves standout and current New York Yankees ace, gets the start today in a critical Game 2 of the American League Division Series at Toronto. The Yankees were blown away by the Blue Jays’ power in Game 1, losing 10-1. Fried, 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA in 2025, has a wealth of postseason experience, though not all of it is good stuff. He delivered a quality start against Boston in the Wild Card Series but got a no-decision in a game the Yanks lost. Overall, the lefty is 2-5, 4.66, in 21 postseason games. He did get a gutsy win for Atlanta in the ’21 World Series. M-Braves fans might recall that Fried’s 2017 season in Pearl was a little ragged: 2-11, 5.92, in 19 starts. He was evolving, apparently, and two years later won 17 games for the big Braves. He is a fiery competitor, “a Yankee for this exact moment,” per the New York Post.
Colt Keith, former Biloxi High star, got the start at DH for Detroit in Game 1 of the ALDS vs. Seattle and figures to be in the lineup again today against right-hander Luis Castillo. The resurgent Tigers won the opener 3-2 in 11 innings at T-Mobile Park. Keith, a left-handed hitter, missed the Wild Card Series against Cleveland because of a rib cage injury. He went 1-for-2 Saturday (in the 5-hole) against George Kirby and is 3-for-20 in two postseasons. The second-year big leaguer hit .256 with 13 homers, 45 RBIs and 65 runs this season, typically as the leadoff batter.

04 Oct

special delivery

The major league postseason always delivers. Heroes rise. Goats emerge. Great things happen — and so do disasters. Stories become part of a team’s lore. Take today, Oct. 4, in MLB history. No longtime San Francisco Giants fan — or Chicago Cubs fan, either — will forget Will Clark‘s performance in 1989, Game 1 of the National League Championship Series at Wrigley Field. The former Mississippi State star went 4-for-4 with two homers (one a grand slam), four runs and six RBIs to power the Giants to an 11-3 rout. He hit both bombs off Greg Maddux. The Giants would go on to win the best-of-7 series in five games — Clark was MVP — and advance to their first World Series since 1962. (They lost to Oakland in the Earthquake Series.) Digging down in baseball-reference.com’s BR Bullpen page for Oct. 4, several other performances by Magnolia State products jump out. In 1997, ex-Ole Miss standout Jeff Fassero, in his postseason debut, threw eight-plus strong innings for Seattle to beat Baltimore 4-2 in a must-win game for the Mariners, who trailed 2-0 in the best-of-5 American League Division Series contest. Fassero checked the O’s — Rafael Palmeiro, Cal Ripken Jr., Roberto Alomar Jr., et al. — on three hits and four walks, surrendering just one run at Camden Yards. Alas, the Mariners lost Game 4. End of season. On Oct. 4, 2000, Vicksburg native Ellis Burks‘ three-run homer in the third inning propelled San Francisco to a 5-1 win over the New York Mets at Pac Bell Park in Game 1 of the NLDS. Burks, who hit 352 career regular season homers, most by a Mississippi native, belted three in postseason play with three different teams. His bomb for the 2000 Giants came in the only game the club would win in that best-of-5 series. In 2016, Buck Showalter, the former MSU standout, made a managerial decision that still confounds Orioles fans and many others. In the 11th inning of the one-game wild card playoff at Toronto, with the score tied, he didn’t bring in ace closer Zack Britton, who had an 0.54 ERA and 47 saves during the season. After Brian Duensing got the first out, Showalter went with Ubaldo Jimenez, who allowed two singles and a three-run walk-off homer by Edwin Encarnacion, ending Baltimore’s season. That story endures. P.S. MSU alum Brandon Woodruff will not be on Milwaukee’s roster for the NLDS, which starts today against the Cubs. Detroit’s decision on former Biloxi High standout Colt Keith’s status for the ALDS, which begins tonight at Seattle, is still pending.

03 Oct

forging ahead

The final eight teams are now set in the major league postseason, but for the Mississippi baseball aficionado, there are some questions. What will Will Warren’s role be with the New York Yankees? Will Colt Keith be back on the field for Detroit? Is Brandon Woodruff ready to come off the injured list for Milwaukee? … Former Jackson Prep standout Warren watched as the Yankees, behind the gas-pumping Cam Schlittler, eliminated Boston 4-0 Thursday night in Game 3. Warren, 9-8, 4.44 ERA, as a starter this season, shifted to the bullpen for the Wild Card Series but never made an appearance. A Baseball America MLB All-Rookie selection, the right-hander reportedly is a candidate for Saturday’s Game 1 of the American League Division Series at Toronto, the AL East champ and the league’s top seed. On the Blue Jays’ 40-man roster is Southern Miss alum Nick Sandlin (2.20 ERA in 19 games), on the IL since early July with an elbow issue; he has been throwing but apparently isn’t ready for active duty. … Thursday’s loss ended a brilliant season for Ocean Springs High product Garrett Crochet, who beat the Yankees — for the fourth time in 2025 — in the series opener. Also going home is ex-Mississippi State slugger Nathaniel Lowe, who went 1-for-7 in the series. He had one of the Red Sox’s five hits — and one of the 12 punchouts — against Schlitter; he also committed a tough error at first base in the pivotal fourth inning of Game 3. … Keith, former Gatorade player of the year winner (2019) at Biloxi High, watched as the Tigers beat Cleveland in Game 3 on Thursday to advance to the ALDS against Seattle. Keith, who hit .256 with 13 homers, 45 RBIs and 65 runs this season, went on the IL on Sept. 19 with a rib cage injury. Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said Thursday there were “good signs” that Keith might be able to return for the ALDS. … Ex-MSU star Woodruff’s status remains cloudy for Milwaukee’s National League Division Series against Chicago. The big right-hander returned from injury this year to go 7-2, 3.20, in 12 starts but went on the IL on Sept. 21 with a lat strain. He is technically eligible to come off the IL today (Oct. 3). He has pitched in eight postseason games for the Brewers in his career, going 1-3, 3.18. The Brewers would certainly love to have their horse against the Cubs. … Chicago out-pitched San Diego in their Wild Card Series, winning Games 1 and 3 by 3-1 scores. Former Ole Miss star Drew Pomeranz worked in both of those wins, retiring all six batters he faced and notching two holds. The situational lefty, 36, entered Thursday’s game in the seventh with a runner at first, no outs and the Cubs up 2-0. He got a fly out, a line out and another fly out to end the inning. P.S. The last time the Blue Jays won the AL East, in 2015, their manager was former Jackson Mets catcher John Gibbons. That team lost in the AL Championship Series to Kansas City, which was managed by former JaxMets catcher Ned Yost. Oddly enough, the Royals beat the New York Mets in the World Series.