THE NL WILD CARD RACE IS GETTING CRAZY
The NL Wild Card race is getting crazy.
Arizona refuses to go away.
The Diamondbacks beat the Giants 10-6 last night, and with the Padres losing to Tampa Bay, Arizona is now just HALF A GAME behind San Diego for the final NL Wild Card spot.
You’ve got to give Arizona credit. They’re showing some real heart and grinding out wins when they need them.
They’ve made this a race.
And the Padres have a problem.
THE PADRES ROTATION IS JACKED. VERY JACKED.
Casey Mize.
Where do we even start?
Last Saturday, Mize Jacked Up his ankle walking down the stairs in the Padres dugout.
Yes.
Walking down the stairs.
His spike apparently caught the edge of a step, he slipped and rolled his right ankle. Imaging came back negative, and he was able to make his next start Friday night.
Good news, right?
Well…
Mize gave up 7 runs in 5 innings against Tampa Bay.
BUT. BUT.
Only 2 of those 7 runs were earned.
The Padres defense helped turn the fourth inning into a complete disaster, and Mize didn’t exactly help himself because he also committed a throwing error. Tampa Bay scored five in the inning and went on to win 9-4.
So now here’s the question:
Is Casey Mize going to be a Jacked Up liability for the rest of the season?
The Padres gave up a top prospect to acquire him at the trade deadline. They need the guy who was pitching well in Detroit, not another question mark in a rotation that already has enough of them.
Maybe this is just a rough start and he’ll Unjack himself and start pitching like he did earlier this season.
Or maybe he’s distracted by the beaches, the beauty of San Diego, Petco Park and a lot of the Padres female fans.
Mize!
Stop focusing on the blonde Padres fan in the tank top in the third row behind the dugout and watch where you’re stepping, dude!
You’ve got a Wild Card race to worry about.
ARIZONA REFUSES TO GO AWAY
Meanwhile, Arizona just keeps hanging around.
They beat the Giants 10-6 last night. Lars Nootbaar homered on the first pitch of the game, Corbin Carroll and Tim Tawa also went deep, and Arizona put five runs on the board in the third.
The Giants actually scored in each of the first four innings.
Didn’t matter.
Arizona kept coming.
And now the Diamondbacks are just HALF A GAME behind the Padres for the final NL Wild Card spot.
Arizona isn’t going away.
At this point, nobody should expect them to.
THE GIANTS
What did the Giants do?
Lost to Arizona.
Again.
And Willy Adames pretty much summed up the Giants’ season for himself and all of us Giants fans:
“Going out there and not winning is not fun.”
Couldn’t have said it better, Willy.
Not winning is definitely not fun.
WHAT DID THE DODGERS DO?
Who cares?
Fine.
They won 2-1 over Detroit.
Freddie Freeman drove in the go-ahead run in the eighth, and the Dodgers ended a three-game losing streak.
There.
Moving on.
AND COLORADO?
What did Colorado do last night?
Are they still playing?
Apparently.
They lost 6-4 to Atlanta.
So yes.
They are technically still playing baseball.
AROUND SPORTS
College football is back today.
Week Zero kicks off the FBS season with eight games, including North Carolina-TCU in Dublin, San Jose State-USC and Hawaii-Stanford.
And remember the whole professional-players-going-back-to-college situation we talked about?
Well, those guys just got UNJACKED.
A judge has temporarily blocked the NCAA and SEC from stopping a group of players, including some who had signed with NFL teams, from returning to college sports.
So for now:
Former pros trying to go back to college: UNJACKED.
College sports in 2026: Still completely Jacked Up.
The U.S. Open starts Sunday, and ESPN is even launching a tennis version of RedZone that will bounce around the action from all 16 courts.
That’s it for today.
The NL Wild Card race is getting tighter, Arizona refuses to go away, the Padres rotation is Jacked, and Casey Mize needs to stay away from the third-row blondes and pay attention to the stairs.
If it’s sports and it’s Jacked Up, we cover it.
