David Lennon columns
The Orioles, Blue Jays, Dodgers and Atlanta have all added free agents while Yankees and Mets have not made a splash.

There's a lot of offseason left, and plenty of time for David Stearns to pick a few new faces of his own to introduce at Citi Field.

If he can't retool the club to win more than last season's 83 games, David Stearns should no longer be running Flushing's baseball operation.

Even if the Mets choose to extend their boundaries for Pete Alonso, they have to be worried about him leaving anyway.
Any momentum from the seismic Juan Soto deal, as well as the magical October run that preceded the signing, is so far gone that it almost feels like fiction.

Power-hitting second baseman Jeff Kent was the only player elected to the Hall of Fame by the Contemporary Era Committee.

With the potential labor strife on the horizon, we could see increased trade activity at this week's winter meetings.

At the very least, the agreement with Devin Williams gives the Mets more leverage in their negotiations with Edwin Diaz.
Don't be surprised if other popular Mets don't return.
Cody Bellinger, Kyle Tucker and Tarik Skubal are among the stars both teams could fight for to get on their roster.

Based on the timing, there should be plenty more changes to come, as dealing Nimmo was as much about future moves as improving the roster.
The suspicion that Aaron Boone isn't calling the shots between the lines has bothered the manager for years, and having an army of metrics-mavens upstairs only fuels such speculation.

The Yankees' captain is at a level nobody else in the American League - including slugging Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh - can approach.

Their playbook this winter has a number of hazy questions that don't have clear-cut solutions.

The only way to put the trauma of last season's four-month, slow-motion car crash in the rear view is with another shock-and-awe winter.
Major League Baseball's cozy relationship with Vegas and the gambling indictment against the two Guardians pitchers raise serious concerns.

The unrivaled success of this October's World Series should provide somewhat of a springboard into the winter, further propelled by the free agency period already underway.

Yes, they have the sport's highest payroll; but they also have a ton of heart and character that goes throughout the roster, as was clear in their dramatic World Series Game 7 victory.

Only a great finale could have done justice to a wonderful World Series . . . and we got one!

Everyone walked away from Friday's nail-biter with their heads still spinning from the bizarro ninth, when the Blue Jays appeared to tie the score on a freakish ball wedged underneath the outfield wall's padding, and after it was sorted out, ultimately lose on a line-drive double play.

Bassitt, now with Toronto, brought up his one-year stay in Flushing as serving a valuable lesson for this playoff success.

The rookie becomes the first pitcher to fan 12 with no walks in a World Series game as Toronto moves a game away from winning it all.

A night after reaching base nine times, the global superstar went 0-for-3 with a walk and allowed four runs in six innings pitched

Freddie Freeman's walk-off home run in the 18th capped an epic game in which Shohei Ohtani reached base nine times.

The winning culture starts with the money, but their superstars are fully committed.
Scherzer's Mets legacy ultimately is one of failure, yet he's managed to get back on a World Series mound, at age 41, as the Blue Jays' Game 3 starter Monday night.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered his second complete game in as many starts, retiring the final 20 batters to face him as the Dodgers tied the World Series at 1-1.

The Jays gave the mighty Dodgers' aura a solid punch in the mouth.

Their top four starters — Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani — account for $163.4 million, or greater than the total payroll of 15 teams.
After many near-misses and October disappointments, the Yankees legend, now a coach with the Blue Jays, is four wins away from a ring.

His three-homer, 10-strikeout masterpiece on Friday night was amazing . . . and by the way, it put the Dodgers in the World Series.
There's no disputing the franchise's championship-caliber intentions, but team's don't get rings for intentions.
For the 16th straight season, the Yankees' October trip took a detour to the Canyon of Zeros, and so we're left to wonder why they're always the ones who can't find a way to finish the job at this time of year.
The manager enjoys a seamlessly collaborative relationship with the front office and is well-liked by players. Still, winning a championship here shouldn't be this hard.

Even with another MVP-caliber season from Aaron Judge, the Yankees' championship drought now extends to a 16th year.
After entering to Lil Wayne's "Uproar," Schlittler didn't rack up strikeouts like the history-making 12-K performance in the Wild Card Series. That just doesn't happen against the Blue Jays.
When the moonshot finally caromed off the leftfield pole — not far from clearing it entirely — the Bronx shook, too.

Overall, the Yankees swept a three-game series 10 times in 2025, including a pair of eventual playoff teams, both at home.
His postseason stats just aren't big enough for a Yankees team that has desperately needed some of his MVP mojo to save them.

Blue Jays treat Yankees' ace like a batting-practice pitcher
Little went right for the Yankees on the mound or at the plate.
Red Sox fans learned the hard way Thursday after Cam Schlittler discovered that his mom, Christine, had become the target of social-media attacks launched by the same place that he considered home.

How perfect that it was a native New Englander, rookie phenom Cam Schlittler, who sent the Red Sox home for the winter.
A late-night video game session put him in position to bounce back from disappointment over Game 1 benching.

Starting Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ben Rice seemed to right the wrongs of the manager's Game 1 blunders...at least for one night.

From Garrett Crochet's masterful performance to Aaron Boone's decision to pull Max Fried, Tuesday wasn't the night the Yankees had in mind.
It will require lots more to win back a betrayed fan base
Elimination by a thousand paper cuts after having best record in June.

The tightest race on the board is for AL MVP and Lennon's award goes... you'll have to read to find out.

The rookie not only has above-average stuff but seems able to handle the pressure.

Aside from Raleigh playing the sport's most demanding position and leading the majors in homers, he still doesn't stack up to Judge.