MLB Player News

Verlander will start one half of the Astros' doubleheader against the Orioles on Saturday, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

The Astros opted to push their starting rotation back by a day following Thursday's rainout, lining up Gerrit Cole to start Friday's series opener while Verlander and Dallas Keuchel cover Saturday's twin bill. The veteran right-hander is in the midst of one of his best seasons to date, posting a 2.60 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and 280:36 K:BB through 33 starts (208 innings). Verlander will look to finish the season on a high note before likely getting the ball in Game 1 of the ALDS.

Cole will start Friday against the Orioles, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

The Astros will simply push their starting rotation back by a day following Thursday's postponement, with Cole now starting Friday and Justin Verlander getting the ball for one half of the team's doubleheader Saturday. The 28-year-old righty has posted a 2.92 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 12.6 K/9 through 31 starts (194.1 innings) this season and will look to finish on a positive note heading into the playoffs.

Cole will not make his scheduled start against the Orioles as Thursday's game was postponed due to weather, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic reports.

The game will be played over the weekend as part of a doubleheader, though the Astros have yet to announce how they plan to adjust their starting rotation in the wake of the schedule change. At this point, it's unclear when -- or if -- Cole will pitch again before the end of the regular season.

Morton (shoulder) will pitch in Sunday's regular season finale against the Orioles, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle reports.

As expected, Morton is slated to get the ball once more before the end of the regular season after he was removed from his previous start with shoulder discomfort. The right-hander technically may not start Sunday; regardless of his role, he figures to be on a limited pitch count as manager A.J. Hinch looks to preserve him for the playoffs. Through 29 starts (164 innings) this season, Morton owns a 3.18 ERA, 1.17 WHIP and 10.8 K/9.

Severino will take the hill against the Red Sox on Sunday, Meredith Marakovits of YES Network reports.

This decision takes Severino out of the running for the Yankees' Wild Card Game versus Oakland next Wednesday but certainly benefits fantasy owners as the right-hander will make one last start in the regular season. Over his past three starts, Severino has logged a 2.04 ERA and 1.02 WHIP with 18 strikeouts in 17.2 innings.

Rodriguez will not start during the Red Sox's three-game set against the Yankees this weekend, Chad Jennings of The Athletic reports.

As expected, Rodriguez will not take the hill for one last start in 2018 after coming on to pitch out of the bullpen during Wednesday's game versus Baltimore. In that outing, Rodriguez struck out three batters across 1.1 innings in his second relief appearance of the season. Manager Alex Cora said before the game that Rodriguez was expected to pitch an inning of relief within the next couple games, or else he would make a "short start" this weekend. Looking ahead, Cora appears to be gearing Rodriguez up for a relief role during the postseason, so don't expect him to make another start in October. During this weekend's series, Brian Johnson, Nathan Eovaldi and Rick Porcello will start for Boston.

Heaney tossed seven innings of two-run ball Wednesday, giving up seven hits and two walks while racking up 10 strikeouts in a no-decision against Texas.

Heaney rebounded in fine fashion from his rough start against the Astros last time out (six runs over three innings). It was the 27-year-old's fifth outing in which he went at least seven frames while recording double-digit strikeouts. The southpaw did surrender a pair of round trippers for the third consecutive start, bumping his rate up to 1.4 HR/9 on the year. Outside of a pedestrian home-run rate, Heaney's other averages (4.15 ERA, 9.0 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9) have been solid through 180 healthy innings this season.

Sale, who was named Boston's starter for Game 1 of the playoffs, per Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald, experienced a drop in four-seam fastball velocity in Wednesday's start, per BrooksBaseball.net. The left-hander averaged 90.3 mph, down from a season average of 96 mph over the entire season.

It's notable that Sale's fastball velocity has diminished in each start since coming off the disabled list earlier this month, as his workload increased from one inning to three to 3.1 to 4.2 on Wednesday. Sale downplayed the drop, telling Mastrodonato, "I saw some things last week and even tonight, just not really driving off my lower half and really create that torque I have in the past. We've got extended time now to kind of figure out what we need to do and we'll go from there." The good news is that the shoulder is not bothering Sale, and there's time to get his mechanics right before the start of the postseason.

Sale didn't factor into the decision in the second game of Wednesday's doubleheader against the Orioles, giving up three runs on four hits and a walk over 4.2 innings while striking out eight as the Red Sox fell 10-3.

While the southpaw wasn't at his best, he did get stretched out to 92 pitches (58 strikes) and shouldn't have any limitations when Boston begins its playoff run. Sale wraps up the regular season with a 2.11 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and 237:34 K:BB in 158 innings.

McCullers threw a scoreless inning, striking out one batter, in Wednesday's 3-1 loss to the Blue Jays.

McCullers, who was activated from the disabled list earlier this week, made his first appearance since Aug. 4, when he left a start against the Dodgers with a strained right forearm muscle. He needed just 11 pitches to navigate the second, third and fourth hitters in Toronto's lineup. He threw his signature curveball five times, eliciting two swinging strikes, and another called strike. The right-hander will pitch one more time this weekend against Baltimore, after which the organization will evaluate McCullers for a spot on the postseason roster.