MLB Player News

Perez is listed as the Rangers' scheduled starter for Friday's series opener in Seattle, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

After shutting down Mike Minor for rest purposes, the Rangers will have room in their rotation for Perez to pick up one more start before the campaign concludes. While facing a limited pitch count in his previous start Sept. 23 against the Mariners, Perez delivered one of his best outings of the season, allowing one run on two hits and no walks over four frames. Don't expect him to work much deeper in Friday's turn, especially after he came on for an 11-pitch appearance in relief Tuesday.

Keuchel is only expected to pitch 2-to-4 innings during his final start of the regular season against the Orioles on Saturday, Jake Kaplan of The Athletic reports.

Framber Valdez will likely take over after Keuchel departs Saturday's start. Manager A.J. Hinch doesn't want to work Keuchel too hard with the postseason right around the corner, so the left-hander will only make a brief outing in Baltimore. This will mark Keuchel's 34th start of the season, which is a career high for the 30-year-old.

Glasnow is scheduled to make his final start of the season Friday against the Blue Jays, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Since Glasnow's previous start came Saturday in Toronto, he would be available to take the hill for Thursday's series finale against the Yankees on his normal four days' rest, but Rays manager Kevin Cash elected to give the hard-throwing righty an additional day off. Fantasy owners probably won't complain about the delayed start, as Glasnow will now skip out on a matchup with a Yankees squad that leads the majors in home runs and instead close out his campaign against a Toronto offense that ranks in the bottom half of the league in wOBA thus far in September.

Chirinos is expected to work as the Rays' primary pitcher out of the bullpen behind opener Ryne Stanek in Wednesday's game against the Yankees, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Chirinos has been stellar in each of his four outings this month, covering no fewer than 4.2 innings on any occasions and netting a 2.70 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 21:5 K:BB. He'll likely get extended work again Wednesday in what probably amounts to his final appearance of 2018.

Manager Alex Cora said Rodriguez is expected to pitch an inning of relief against the Orioles on Wednesday or versus the Yankees on Friday. If he doesn't make an appearance in either contest, he could take the mound for a "short start" this weekend, Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com reports.

This likely points toward Rodriguez serving out of the bullpen during the ALDS as the Red Sox seem to be readying the left-hander for a relief role. His last outing was a two-inning relief appearance versus Baltimore on Monday, during which he allowed just one hit while striking out a pair. If Rodriguez winds up pitching out of the bullpen within the next couple days, look for Nathan Eovaldi and Brian Johnson to start this weekend against New York.

Carrasco (16-10) allowed three runs on four hits and four walks across 4.1 innings Tuesday to take the loss against the White Sox. He struck out eight.

Carrasco followed Trevor Bauer in this one, entering in the fifth inning. Though he started well enough, he narrowly escaped a jam in the eighth inning and blew a two-run lead in the ninth, when he allowed four of five hitters to reach as the home team plated three runs to win. Carrasco worked up to 81 pitches in this relief outing and will presumably be able to take on a normal workload Sunday against the Royals in his final regular-season start.

Sale is expected to push for 90 pitches in his start Wednesday against the Orioles, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald reports.

Sale, who threw 73 pitches and 3.1 innings in his last start against Cleveland, will pitch the nightcap of Wednesday's doubleheader. The Red Sox have gradually increased Sale's workload since the left-hander returned from a second stint on the disabled list due to shoulder soreness. There have been no setbacks, but Sale's fastball velocity was at 93.5 mph in his previous start while his season average is 96.2 mph, per BrooksBaseball.net.

Severino (19-8) gave up two runs on four hits and three walks while striking out seven in five innings Tuesday against the Rays. He picked up the win.

This is great for Yankee fans, but potentially bittersweet for Severino's fantasy owners, as he made a fairly compelling case to be tabbed as the starter for New York's playoff opener. If he is indeed named the starter in the Wild Card game, this would be his final start of the regular season. Severino is third in the majors in wins behind Blake Snell (21) and Corey Kluber (20). There should be more clarification in the coming days regarding whether Severino will start Sunday's season finale in Boston or be saved for the postseason.

Turnbull pitched six innings of one-run ball but took a no-decision in Tuesday's win over the Twins. He allowed six hits and a walk while striking out five.

Turnbull pitched better in his second MLB start than his first, in which he gave up six runs in just four innings against this same Minnesota team last week. The 26-year-old righty is scheduled to start the Tigers' last game of the season Sunday against the Brewers as he continues to audition for a 2019 role with the club.

Severino will start Tuesday's game against the Rays.

A leading American League Cy Young candidate through the first half of the season, Severino opened the second half with a 6.95 ERA and 1.59 WHIP over his first nine starts to effectively eliminate himself from hardware contention. Fortunately for the Yankees, Severino has come on strong over his last two outings, yielding two runs and posting an 11:1 K:BB across 12.2 innings. He'll look to keep the momentum going against a surging Rays team and could line up for a second start this week in the regular-season finale Sunday against the Red Sox, assuming home-field advantage for the Yankees' Wild Card game is still at stake.