A.J. Preller was never going to sit this one out.

You knew the San Diego Padres’ wheeling, dealing general manager was going to have his say, and shock in the process. But this time, the big deal he swung may have hurt his franchise in the long run.

The Padres landed All-Star closer Mason Miller from the Athletics on Thursday, along with lefty starter JP Sears. In exchange, they sent Leodalis De Vries, Braden Nett, Henry Baez and Eduarniel Núñez.

De Vries is the real headliner here. An 18-year-old shortstop who is the No. 3 overall prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline, De Vries earned a $4.2 million signing bonus from the Padres in 2024. He was the top international prospect in his class and has lived up to that billing in the minor leagues. This season at High A, De Vries is slashing .245/.357/.410 with eight home runs, 46 RBIs and a wRC+ of 115. He’s doing that against players who are, on average, four years older than he is. He has “star” written all over him.

Nett is a high-velocity starting pitcher who is the franchise’s No. 3 prospect and appears on the verge of the big leagues. Baez is San Diego’s No. 13 prospect, a righty starter who carries a 1.96 ERA in Double A, and Núñez is a 26-year-old reliever who has debuted after having a big year in the minors.

Miller is an outstanding closer with big-time stuff, including a fastball that averages 101.1 mph. In 38 appearances this season, he is 1–2 with a 3.76 ERA, a 1.02 WHIP and 59 strikeouts against 18 walks in 38 1/3 innings. He has 20 saves in 23 chances. The 26-year-old will be under control through the 2029 season. Miller also came up as a starter, but a sprained UCL in his elbow led the A’s to put him in the bullpen. Sears also has multiple years of control, but shouldn’t get anyone too excited. The 29-year-old is 7–9 with a 4.95 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP with 97 strikeouts in 111 innings.

The issue here is that the Padres already have one of baseball’s best bullpens and an All-Star closer in Robert Suárez. Yes, Suárez can walk after this season, but there are several players under team control lined up to replace him. They didn’t need another reliever or a backend starter like Sears. The trade doesn’t solve their biggest problem, which is the massive hole in left field and their lack of offense from their catchers. Teamwide, they have a .698 OPS, which ranks 22nd in baseball.

While the deadline hasn’t passed, and more could come of this, Preller has spent his largest chip to strengthen a strength. This is the kind of haul a team gives up for an All-Star hitter with multiple years of control, not a closer who injured himself when he tried to start.

De Vries was arguably San Diego’s best prospect since Fernando Tatís Jr., and trading him is more proof that the future and development simply do not matter to Preller. He can find elite talent in the draft and on the international market, but struggles to let those players mature and join his big league roster. He is constantly in win-now mode, and it could be argued that that attitude has hurt the Padres.

The list of players Preller has traded who have become outstanding big leaguers is long and depressing if you’re a Padres fan. Trea Turner, Max Fried, James Wood, CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, David Bednar, Emmanuel Clase, Josh Naylor, Andres Muñoz, Zach Eflin, Xavier Edwards and more have all been dealt in win-now moves. The best the Padres have to show for it is a 4–1 loss to the Phillies in the 2022 NLCS.

It has always felt like when Preller zeroes in on a player he likes, he’ll give up whatever it takes to get him, regardless of the cost. He did that in deals for Juan Soto, Mike Clevinger, Austin Nola and Justin Upton, among others.

Some will suggest the Padres have to be all-in now while Manny Machado and Tatís are in their primes. However, De Vries would likely have been called up in the next two years and could have been the kind of player to create a new long-term core alongside Tatís and Jackson Merrill. Instead, he’ll be playing elsewhere.

Preller is always cooking up something, so it’s likely more deals will come before the deadline. But the move for Miller is more of the same from his front office: Sacrificing future stars in an attempt to get marginally better in the short term.

If the Padres win a World Series, Preller will have been right. If they don’t, the franchise seriously has to consider reworking its philosophy.

Enthusiasm of Bangladeshi community drives delivery of new fine-turf wicket in Victoria Park

Andrew Miller19-Nov-2024Towers Hamlets in East London is one of the most densely populated boroughs in England. It’s one of the most socially deprived as well, with more than a third of its 320,000 population comprising the British Bangladeshi community that first moved to the area back in the 1970s.Last week that community, and the area at large, was presented with a slice of sporting infrastructure that has been several decades in the making. An eight-strip cricket square – unveiled by Mayor Lutfur Rahman at the eastern end of London’s historic Victoria Park and set to be ready for use in June – is the first fine-turf pitch ever to have been laid in the borough.With the exception of its neighbour, the City of London, Tower Hamlets is believed to be the last borough in the whole of England to gain access to such a facility. There are three Non-Turf Pitches (NTPs) in Victoria Park – weather-beaten strips of tarmac and synthetic carpet that are in near permanent use throughout the summer months and, as often as not, through the off-season too, with the keenest players unafraid to dodge round football goalposts to get their fix whenever possible.But there’s never been an investment in the borough quite like this. The new home ground of Tower Hamlets CC will be a publicly accessible facility, comprising a curated outfield, permanent sightscreens, and even landscaped grass mounds to frame the outfield, thereby encouraging spectators to gather and passers-by to respect the sanctity of what is intended to be more than just another shared patch of ground in one of London’s most-popular parks.”The latent interest in cricket in this borough is second-to-none, but it has been severely undersupplied with both facilities and with traditionally operating cricket clubs,” says Josh Knappett, Facilities and Project Lead at Middlesex Cricket in the Community, whose community outreach scheme has been a key driver of this initiative. “This has been a big project that’s taken a long time to get here, and we’re very excited. This is a site that’s going to have a long-lasting impact to grow the game for men, women, boys and girls in this area.”Over the next two years, up to £150,000 is set to be ploughed into cricket in the borough by Towers Hamlets Council and its partners, among them the ECB, Middlesex Cricket in the Community, and London Cricket Trust. That money will go towards such projects as the renovation and expansion of the borough’s existing NTPs, as well as a new set of all-weather nets in Stepney Green Park in Bow.Shahidul Alam Ratan has been a driving force of cricket in East London•George Watson / VPCCLThere is, however, an under-current of controversy attached to the project. Mayor Rahman, who turned the first sod at Wednesday’s opening ceremony, is currently facing government intervention into what the Guardian recently described as a “toxic and secretive” decision-making culture, having previously been barred from public office for five years after being found guilty of election fraud in 2015.Nevertheless, Rahman was propelled back to power in 2022 on the strength of his support from within the Bangladeshi community, and irrespective of any wider concerns about his management style, there appears to be broad local consensus that this investment in the borough’s cricketers is as essential as it is overdue.”The club has needed a ground since the day it was founded,” Shahidul Alam Ratan, a founder member of Tower Hamlets CC and CEO of the charity Capital Kids Cricket, tells ESPNcricinfo. “We were campaigning since day one, but there was no movement whatsoever, because the council was entirely focused on football. But in the last two decades, cricket has become the most popular sport in Bangladesh, and it’s started to shift the interest [in East London].”Through Capital Kids Cricket, which was founded in 1989 and with whom Middlesex recently entered a two-year schools partnership, Ratan has become a major part of cricket’s story in the area. In 2019, he oversaw a Guinness World Record for the largest cricket lesson at a single venue, when scores of local primary schools were invited to Hackney Marshes on the eve of the ODI World Cup. And, in 2020, the Kia Oval was renamed in his honour for 24 hours in recognition of his efforts to keep children active during lockdown.Now, however, he is hopeful that this proper investment in Tower Hamlets can unlock the full potential of cricket in East London, not least thanks to the full application of its Clubmark-accredited status, which offers the sort of safeguarding guarantees that cannot be replicated by other more ad-hoc teams in the local area.City Boys CC, from Tower Hamlets, won the inaugural Victoria Park T20 Blast in August 2024•George Watson / VPCCL”A lot of people play cricket in Victoria Park in the summer, but we don’t have that safe environment for young people, or for women and girls to come and play,” Ratan says. “If, as a club, and as a local authority, we can offer a controlled zone, and a safe space, that will be a game-changer for the local community.”The growth of cricket’s popularity in Tower Hamlets hasn’t just been limited to the Bangladeshi community. The Victoria Park Community Cricket League (VPCCL) takes place on the existing NTPs, and plays host to a hugely diverse range of teams, including across its nascent women’s competition, while the thriving North-East London Cricket League (NELCL) takes place at weekends across the council-maintained turf pitches of neighbouring Hackney, albeit with minimal oversight at county or ECB level.However, with the ECB’s recognition that between 30-40% of recreational cricketers in the UK are South Asian, there can be no denying the extent to which the Bangladeshi community is Tower Hamlets’ driving force. What’s more, harnessing that potential is recognised as a vital means for English cricket to address the many criticisms that were laid out in last year’s damning report by the Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC).One of the longest-standing complaints is that county age-group pathways have been notoriously difficult for minority ethnic players to penetrate, with British Asians representing just 5% of the cricketers at the top level of the men’s game. And while none of the local participants have yet progressed to professional level, Ratan estimates that some 30 former Tower Hamlets players have already gone on to forge coaching careers within cricket. These include Shakeel Ahmed, who worked at Middlesex for five years before returning as development manager at Capital Kids Cricket, and Tanvir Ahamed, who was named Middlesex’s coach of the year in 2022.”To my knowledge, there aren’t many clubs in Middlesex, or probably even nationally, that have had the same level of engagement for ongoing careers within cricket,” Knappett says. “They’ve had a phenomenal track record of players coming through, then staying within the game, and continuing to give back to their local community.”As for the wider interest in the sport, that was made abundantly clear two summers ago, when neighbours Essex hosted three ODIs between Bangladesh and Ireland at Chelmsford – half an hour’s drive up the very A12 that backs onto Victoria Park – and were inundated with some of the most passionate support imaginable at an ostensibly neutral venue.Women’s cricket in Victoria Park during the Mayor’s Cup, in September 2024•George Watson / VPCCLNevertheless, it is still early days for the full harnessing of East London’s potential. Up until now, the region’s most talented players have relied almost entirely on luck to be noticed, and even then – as was the case for Essex’s Jahid Ahmed, a graduate of the University of East London and first British Bangladeshi to play county cricket – that was not sufficient for them to be able to reach their potential. Jahid’s exposure of the racist abuse he suffered between 2005 and 2009 was a key factor in Essex being fined £100,000 by the Cricket Discipline Commission earlier this year, at the culmination of a lengthy independent inquiry.Middlesex’s own shortcomings have avoided quite the same levels of scrutiny, although the gauche comments of their former chair Mike O’Farrell at the DCMS hearings in 2022 seemed to epitomise county cricket’s long-standing failure to address the needs of the game’s marginalised communities. In the wake of the ICEC report, however, there has been a renewed drive towards collaboration – not least when it comes to Essex’s and Middlesex’s invisible boundary, which runs almost directly behind the eastern boundary of Tower Hamlets’ new pitch.As Ratan acknowledges, this historic divide has been “a bit challenging” when it comes to delivering cricket across East London’s green spaces, with parts of Hackney Marshes and the Olympic Park falling under Essex’s jurisdiction. However, the relationship between those two traditional counties will become increasingly important to London’s cricket community in the coming years, especially now that Essex has been chosen ahead of Middlesex to be the region’s Tier 1 representative in the new Women’s County competition from 2025 onwards.”Clearly, we will still aspire to Tier 1 status in 2029,” Knappett says. “But ultimately it’s irrelevant whether players progress on the Middlesex side or the Essex side, because whatever’s right for those girls is something that we’re happy to support. It’s about enabling the game to thrive, and to give talented players the optimal provision to be professional cricketers.”It may yet take several more years for this investment to come to full fruition, but for the first time in forever, Tower Hamlets has the recognition that its enthusiasm has long been crying out for.

MatériaMais Notícias

Atletico-MG e Cruzeiro empataram por 2 a 2 no jogo de ida da final do Campeonato Mineiro. Bruno Fuchs e Hulk marcaram os gols do Galo na Arena MRV. Jemerson (contra) e Dinenno, nos acréscimos do segundo tempo, anotaram os gols da Raposa.

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➡️ Siga o Lance! no WhatsApp e acompanhe em tempo real as principais notícias do esporte

O duelo decisivo pela taça do Campeonato Mineiro será no domingo (7), no Mineirão. Como teve a melhor campanha na fase de grupos, o Cruzeiro precisa de um empate com o Atlético-MG para ser campeão.

➡️ Com R$50 no Lance! Betting, você fatura R$255 se apostar no 1 a 1 entre Santos x Palmeiras

⚽COMO FOI A PARTIDA?

O Cruzeiro não se encontrou jogando com três zagueiros e cedeu espaços para o Atlético-MG dominar o primeiro tempo. O Galo soube aproveitar as chances e saiu na frente com Bruno Fuchs e Hulk.

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Na etapa final, a Raposa foi mais incisiva no ataque e pressionou a saída de bola do Atlético-MG. Foi assim que o Cruzeiro conseguiu diminuir a desvantagem em gol contra bizarro de Jemerson. No final, Dinenno empatou a partida.

O que vem por aí?

O próximo compromisso do Atlético-MG será na quinta-feira (4), contra o Caracas, na Venezuela, pela primeira rodada da fase de grupos da Libertadores. Mais tarde, às 21h, o Cruzeiro enfrenta a Universidad Católica (ECU), fora da casa, pela Copa Sul-Americana.

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➡️ Veja tabela com datas e horários do Paulistão

✅ FICHA TÉCNICA
ATÉTICO-MG 2 X 2 CRUZEIRO
CAMPEONATO MINEIRO – IDA (FINAL)
Data e horário: sábado, 30 de março de 2024, às 16h30h (de Brasília);
Local: Arena MRV, em Belo Horizonte (MG);
Árbitro: Felipe Fernandes de Lima;
Assistentes: Felipe Alan Costa de Oliveira e Magno Arantes Lira;
VAR: Emerson de Almeida Ferreira.

Gols: Gabriel Fuchs e Hulk / Jemerson (contra) e Dinenno

Tudo sobre

Atlético-MGCruzeiro

The Dodgers and Blue Jays delivered a thrilling 2025 World Series that came down to the wire, with Los Angeles coming from behind late Saturday night to capture a winner-takes-all Game 7 for their second straight crown. was on site throughout the Fall Classic in both Los Angeles and Toronto. Here are some of our favorite images from the World Series.

1. Dodgers Win Back-to-Back World Series Titles
2. All Eyes on Shohei Ohtani
3. Blue Jays In First World Series Since 1993
4. Epic Game 3
5. Fans Pack Rogers Centre and Dodger Stadium

Dodgers Win Back-to-Back World Series Titles

All Eyes on Shohei Ohtani

Blue Jays In First World Series Since 1993

Epic Game 3

Fans Pack Rogers Centre and Dodger Stadium

يستعد فريق برشلونة، بقيادة المدرب هانز فليك، لخوض مباراة جديدة في إطار منافسات بطولة الدوري الإسباني لكرة القدم، مساء السبت، وذلك ضد خصمه أوساسونا.

ويستضيف ملعب “كامب نو” مباراة برشلونة وأوساسونا، في خضم منافسات الجولة السادسة عشر من بطولة الدوري الإسباني، موسم 2025/26.

ويحتل برشلونة صدارة الدوري الإسباني في الوقت الحالي، برصيد 40 نقطة، في حين أن أوساسونا لديه 15 نقطة في المركز الخامس عشر.

ويسعى برشلونة إلى تحقيق الفوز في مباراة اليوم ضد أوساسونا، من أجل تعزيز صدارته لجدول الليجا، مستغلًا تردي الوضع الخاص بغريمه التقليدي ريال مدريد. موعد مباراة برشلونة وأوساسونا اليوم في الدوري الإسباني

تنطلق المباراة في تمام الساعة 7:30 مساءً بتوقيت القاهرة، 8:30 بتوقيت السعودية. القناة الناقلة لمباراة برشلونة وأوساسونا اليوم في الدوري الإسباني

تُذاع المباراة عبر قناة beIN SPORTS 1. معلق مباراة برشلونة وأوساسونا اليوم في الدوري الإسباني

سيعلق حسن العيدروس على أحداث مباراة اليوم.

ويمكنكم مطالعة مواعيد ونتائج جميع المباريات لحظة بلحظة عبر مركز المباريات من هنا.

Guardians designated hitter David Fry will not need surgery after he got hit in the face from fouling off a 99-mile-per-hour fastball thrown by Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal on Tuesday night.

Cleveland released a statement on Wednesday with the update on Fry, noting that his imagery shows that he sustained "multiple, minimally displaced left-sided facial and nasal fractures." He is expected to fully recover after six-to-eight weeks, meaning he will miss the postseason if the Guardians clinch a spot.

Fry has been released from the local Cleveland Clinic and is resting from the injury.

Fry was carted off the field in the sixth inning after fouling off the pitch to his face. It was definitely a scary moment for everyone on the field and in attendance. Skubal, who was shaken up when it happened, said he texted Fry after the game to check on him.

The rest of the Guardians–Tigers series will be intense as the two AL Central teams are competing for a spot in the playoffs.

Arsenal scored four in just 14 minutes as Mikel Arteta’s side put Atlético Madrid to the sword, extending their 100 per cent record in the Champions League, with summer signing Viktor Gyokeres also ending his goal drought.

Viktor Gyokeres bags Arsenal brace in 4-0 win over Atlético Madrid

Diego Simeone’s Atlético set up shop right from the get-go and were determined to make life very difficult for Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

Bar a few promising flashes of play, with both sides hitting the crossbar, Atlético thwarted Arteta’s men in the first half. The Gunners largely struggled to create a clear-cut opening, but past 57 minutes, the floodgates opened for Arsenal.

Gabriel Magalhaes headed home the first of Arsenal’s quartet in a scintillating second period. His compatriot, Gabriel Martinelli, thanks to some great work from Myles Lewis-Skelly, then added a second with 64 minutes gone before Gyokeres landed a quickfire double in the 67th and 70th minutes to leave Simeone’s side shell-shocked.

Atlético had scored seven goals in their opening two Champions League matches but rarely looked like threatening Arsenal’s back line as Arteta’s men recorded a third clean sheet in as many games in Europe and a fourth in a row in all competitions.

Eberechi Eze could’ve got himself on the scoresheet too, having watched a strike loop off David Hancko’s ankle and over goalkeeper Jan Oblak, before the summer signing was denied a first Champions League goal by the bar.

The headlines will belong to Gyokeres, who ended his seven-game run without a goal in all competitions thanks to some expert poaching inside the area.

The Swede, who’s been criticised for his lack of goal involvement lately, breathed a huge sigh of relief after bundling home his first from close range, before feeding off Gabriel’s headed assist to score a second.

The ex-Sporting CP star can now kick on and put his dry spell behind him, but he has serious competition for the crown of Arsenal’s best player against Atlético.

Paul Merson praises "outstanding" Bukayo Saka in Arsenal win

Alongside Gyokeres, £195,000-per-week winger Bukayo Saka also made his mark — particularly in the first 45.

The England international linked well with Jurrien Timber down Arsenal’s right-hand side and proved a constant menace for David Hancko, Koke and Nico Gonzalez to deal with.

While Saka wasn’t rewarded with a goal or assist to show for his efforts, the 24-year-old, who’s held talks over a new deal at N5, was lavished with praise for his attacking display by club legend Paul Merson.

Bukayo Saka

5

Gabriel Magalhaes

3

Viktor Gyokeres

3

Julian Alvarez

3

Eberechi Eze

2

via WhoScored

Merson was overseeing the Arsenal clash on Sky Sports News, providing commentary on each of the goals, and he was thrilled with a delightful piece of interplay which threatened to expose Atlético in the first-half.

Saka was at the heart of it, with Merson calling Saka “outstanding” and “by far the best player on the pitch”, adding that the Hale End sensation had Koke “on toast” [20:28].

As per usual, Saka played his part massively, and Arteta will be thrilled that the player’s hamstring injury woes are well and truly behind him.

The forward also captained Arsenal on a night to remember for the north Londoners, who reached the semi-finals of the Champions League last season, only to be knocked out by eventual winners PSG.

Watching Arsenal sweep aside their European opposition thus far, it’s very fair to suggest they could reach that stage again, or even go one further.

Arsenal join PSG and last season’s beaten finalists Inter Milan on nine points from the nine available, with Arteta seriously on course for the knockout rounds.

At long last, Rangers have got their next manager after officially announcing the appointment of Danny Rohl. The former Sheffield Wednesday manager was not their first choice, that’s no secret, but one former Ibrox star has already pointed out one similarity with club legend Walter Smith.

Danny Rohl: "No time to waste" at Rangers

It’s not Steven Gerrard, it’s not Kevin Muscat, but it is Rohl. Rangers have finally filled their managerial vacancy and must now put full faith in their 36-year-old coach to turn things around after a disastrous start.

For all his inexperience, it’s worth noting that the former Sheffield Wednesday boss has worked with the likes of Hansi Flick and was Ralph Hasenhuttl’s assistant when his Southampton side were at their very best. He is one of the best young managers around and has been handed the biggest job of his career to date.

In an ideal world, Rohl would have all the patience needed to make his mark in Scotland. However, the reality is that he must get off to a solid start following the disaster of Russell Martin’s tenure.

The German is well aware of how urgent things are at Ibrox, though, having told the club’s official website: “We have no time to waste, we start straight away.

Rangers' dream XI under Rohl: The "new Gazza" and £5m star both join

What could Danny Rohl’s dream Rangers starting lineup look like at Ibrox?

1

By
Ben Gray

Oct 21, 2025

“I respect that trust is earned and understand we have to give the supporters confidence in what we are doing by showing it on the pitch from the start. The expectations are huge and I love this challenge because I set high standards for myself and the team too.”

Some have already hit out at his inexperience, but one former Rangers star has highlighted a key similarity with Walter Smith which may just buy Rohl some time.

Andy Halliday reveals similarity between Rohl and Walter Smith

Speaking on Clyde1 Superscoreboard, former Rangers midfielder Andy Halliday revealed a similarity between Rohl and the legendary Smith.

Indeed, Rohl has no experience as the main man in the pressure environment of a top level club with huge support, but cut his teeth behind the scenes at Bayern Munich as Hansi Flick’s assistant. Similarly, Smith arrived at Ibrox with no senior managerial experience, but had coached Scotland’s youth sides.

Of course, Smith is a once in a generation manager, but Halliday’s point stands. The jury should not deliver their verdict until Rohl has had a chance to impress at Rangers.

There will be many who have been left scared by Martin’s time in charge, but Rohl’s reputation suggests that he is a different calibre to the former Southampton boss.

Thursday’s game against Brann in the Europa League hands the young manager the perfect opportunity to prove Halliday right and get his era off to the best possible start.

Chase DeLauter is making some history on Wednesday.

The Guardians have decided to call up their No. 2 prospect to make his first MLB start in Game 2 of their wild-card round matchup with the Detroit Tigers. Trailing 1-0 in the series, Cleveland has added DeLauter to the lineup for a do-or-die game.

DeLauter will start in center field and bat seventh in the lineup. The 23-year-old will become the sixth player in MLB history to make his debut in the postseason. It's a huge move in a big spot for the franchise, but after losing Tuesday's series opener 2-1, the team is looking for a spark. Maybe the rookie can provide it.

Everything you should know about Chase DeLauter

The Guardians selected the 6'3" 235-pound DeLauter with the 16th pick in the first round of the 2022 MLB draft. He was not a highly recruited prep player, but he crushed pitching at James Madison for three years, including posting a 1.404 OPS as a junior. In that season, he slashed .437/.576/.828 with eight home runs and 35 RBIs.

While his college numbers were huge, DeLauter made a name for himself during the 2021 Cape Cod League, where he led the circuit with nine home runs and a .589 slugging percentage. That boosted his stock entering his draft year and led to his selection. He broke his foot midway through the 2022 season, but it didn't hurt his stock. Cleveland inked him to a $3.75 million signing bonus, but he reinjured his foot, stunting his rise.

After making his minor league debut in 2023, DeLauter absolutely raked, which helped him jump three levels in one season. He slashed .355/.417/.528 with five home runs, 22 doubles, and 39 RBIs, reaching Double-A by the end of the campaign. He re-broke his foot in April 2024, and his hitting fell off, but he did reach Triple-A by the end of the season.

In 2025, he opened the season in Triple-A, but underwent surgery for a right hamate fracture and hasn't played since July 11. So far in 2025, he's hitting .264 with a .379 on-base percentage and a .473 slugging percentage, with seven home runs and 24 RBIs in 42 games.

During his three-year career, DeLauter has played only 138 minor league games due to his multiple injuries. Over that time, he's slashing .302/.384/.504 with 20 home runs and 87 RBIs.

MLB Pipeline currently has him ranked as the 54th-best prospect in all of baseball.

It will be quite a jump for DeLauter to go from the injured list to starting an MLB playoff game. The Guardians clearly have faith in him.

The MLB playoffs are quickly approaching, and there has been a lot of movement in the wild card standings — and the playoff odds — in the last week.

For the rest of the season, the SI Betting team is going to break down the playoff odds for every team to open each week, as there may be a team just outside the wild card mix that has some value in the betting market.

In the American League, a half game is all that separates the Boston Red Sox (the No. 1 wild card) from the New York Yankees (the No. 3 wild card) with the Seattle Mariners tied with Boston record wise. 

New York has rebounded from a rough stretch to win seven of 10 games and create a 3.5-game cushion over the chasing Cleveland Guardians.

Meanwhile, in the National League, the San Diego Padres remain just out of first place in the NL West, but they’re the No. 2 wild card behind the Chicago Cubs. 

The No. 1 record in the NL and in MLB belongs to the Milwaukee Brewers, who are 33 games over .500 entering Aug. 18’s action.

There are a few close division races, as San Diego and Seattle are both within two games of the top spot.

Plus, the NL East may have opened a bit for the New York Mets with Zack Wheeler (blood clot) landing on the IL for the Philadelphia Phillies.

With so much at stake over the final weeks, let’s take a look at the playoff odds for each team, and a few teams to consider betting on to make the final field.

American League Playoff OddsDivision LeadersToronto Blue Jays: -20000Detroit Tigers: -20000Houston Astros: -1800

The Blue Jays and Tigers both have sizable leads in their division races, but the Astros are far from a guarantee to win the NL West.

Even with Yordan Alvarez potentially returning for the final stretch of the regular season, the Astros hold just a 1.5-game lead over the Seattle Mariners in the division. 

Houston does have the fifth-easiest remaining schedule, per Tankathon, which should help it finish atop the NL West. Still, it’s worth noting that oddsmakers aren’t nearly as bullish on the Astros making the playoffs as they are Toronto or Detroit. 

Wild Card RaceNew York Yankees: -1100Seattle Mariners: -900Boston Red Sox: -350Cleveland Guardians: +425Kansas City Royals: +425Texas Rangers: +550Tampa Bay Rays: +1300Minnesota Twins: +4000Los Angeles Angels: +4000

All it took was a 7-3 stretch from the New York Yankees to completely flip this market.

New York is now just a half-game back of the top spot in the AL wild card, and it has gone from -330 to -1100 to make the playoffs this season. The Yanks have the fourth-easiest remaining schedule, so it’s not a surprise that oddsmakers are high on them in the AL.

Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox have fallen from -450 to -350 to make the playoffs, despite the fact that they hold the top wild card spot in the AL. Boston is just five games out of the AL East lead as well, but it has dropped six of its last 10 games.

As for the chasing pack, Texas, Kansas City and Cleveland are all in the mix – although the Guardians (3.5 games back) and Royals (four games back) are in the best position. Texas has fallen off by dropping eight of its last 10 games.

Of those chasing teams, only the Guardians (15.4 percent chance) have better than 15 percent chance to make the playoffs, according to FanGraphs. 

National League Playoff OddsDivision LeadersPhiladelphia Phillies: -20000Los Angeles Dodgers: -20000Milwaukee Brewers: N/A

The three division leaders in the NL remain the same, although the Padres have made a push for the NL West crown with the Dodgers. 

After winning 14 games in a row before a loss on Sunday, the Brewers (33 games over .500) are viewed as a lock to make the playoffs and their odds have been taken off the board. 

One thing to watch here is the Phillies’ pitching staff with Wheeler on the injured list. While Philadelphia should be able to at least secure a wild card spot, the team’s five-game lead in the NL East is a little shakier today than it was before Wheeler went down. Still, I’d be surprised if the Phils blew this lead over the final weeks of the regular season. 

Wild Card RaceChicago Cubs: -3500San Diego Padres: -3500New York Mets: -370Cincinnati Reds: +280San Francisco Giants: +2500St. Louis Cardinals: +2500Arizona Diamondbacks: +3000Miami Marlins: +5000

Unlike the AL wild card race where there are multiple teams pushing for a playoff spot, only the Cincinnati Reds (+280) seem to have a real chance in the NL.

Cincy is just 1.5 games back of a Mets team that has struggled in recent weeks, but FanGraphs has given the Reds just a 14.5 percent chance to make the postseason. A big reason why? Cincy has the third hardest strength of schedule (.522 winning percentage) left this season, including 14 combined games against the Dodgers and Padres.

However, if the Reds are able to come out on top against one of those teams, it could give them another team to pass in the wild card race. For now, it seems like the betting market is higher on Cincy than FanGraphs and ESPN, who are both giving the Reds less than a 15 percent chance to make the final playoff field.