MLB Player News

Brubaker (arm) was reinstated from the 15-day injured list ahead of his start against the Cardinals on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old was previously confirmed as the starter for Tuesday's contest and has now officially been activated from the injured list. Brubaker spent the past couple weeks on the shelf with right arm inflammation and could face some workload limitations given he hasn't seen game action since his last big-league start Sept. 15.

Alexander was recalled from Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports.

With Matt Bush (illness) heading to the injured list, Alexander will rejoin the Brewers' bullpen for the final two games of the season. Alexander has allowed at least three earned runs in four of his last five appearances, his last coming Sept. 18 against the Yankees, when he allowed three earned runs over 3.2 innings.

Strasburg's (ribs) status for 2023 is a "mystery," according to general manager Mike Rizzo, Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com reports.

Strasburg has been focusing on strengthening his shoulder since being diagnosed with a stress reaction of his ribs, a side effect of the issue that led to thoracic outlet syndrome surgery in July 2021. Even the team is feigning optimism here, but admitting the obvious, that it's unclear what to expect from Strasburg going forward. He has logged 31.1 innings since the start of the 2020 season.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said that Flaherty is likely to throw roughly 45 pitches in a relief appearance Tuesday against the Pirates, John Denton of MLB.com reports.

Since Flaherty's most recent start came Friday, he would have lined up to start Wednesday's regular-season finale on his typical four days' rest, but the Cardinals prefer to use him Tuesday to give him some additional time off before St. Louis begins its wild-card series this weekend. Even though he'll be pitching in relief Tuesday for just the fourth time in his career, Flaherty may still be in good position to come away with a win for fantasy managers. Dakota Hudson is scheduled to start but isn't expected to work deep into the contest, which could put Flaherty in line to appear in the critical middle innings when the outcome of the game is more likely to be decided. After Tuesday's outing, Flaherty would likely be in line to start either Game 2 or 3 of the wild-card round.

Luzardo (4-7) picked up the win in Monday's 4-0 victory over Atlanta, scattering four hits and a walk over six scoreless innings while striking out 12.

The southpaw kept Atlanta from clinching another NL East title with one of his best performances of the year. Luzardo tied his career high in strikeouts -- generating a massive 20 swinging strikes among his 101 pitches -- while delivering his fourth straight quality start and his 11th in 18 outings. The 25-year-old ends a breakout campaign with a 3.32 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 120:35 K:BB through 100.1 innings, and the next step for Luzardo if he wants to become a true ace in 2023 is finding a way to stay off the IL.

Elder (2-4) took the loss Monday, giving up four runs on six hits and a walk over five innings as Atlanta fell 4-0 to the Marlins. He struck out five.

The rookie right-hander wasn't able to take advantage of a soft matchup, getting tagged for a pair of runs in the first and third innings while getting no run support. Elder fired 67 of 98 pitches for strikes, and he still sports an impressive 1.75 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and 23:6 K:BB through 25.2 innings in September, although all four of his starts have come against the Marlins or Nationals -- not exactly playoff-caliber competition.

Gonsolin (forearm) tossed two innings against Colorado on Monday, allowing one run on three hits and no walks while striking out three batters in a no-decision.

Gonsolin missed over a month while dealing with a right forearm strain, so his start Monday was intentionally brief. The right-hander threw 40 pitches (24 for strikes) and did well by striking out three batters, though a trio of Rockies hits in the second inning resulted in a run against him. Gonsolin finished the regular season with a standout 2.14 ERA and 0.87 WHIP over 130.1 innings, but the time missed due to injury means he won't qualify to be among the league leaders in those categories. Gonsolin will next throw a simulated game Sunday, and if that goes well, he's expected to be placed on the NLDS roster as a potential starter in Game 3 or 4, per Michael J. Duarte of NBC LA.

Urena did not factor in the decision against the Dodgers on Monday, allowing one run on five hits and no walks while striking out four batters over six innings.

The Dodgers have wrapped up MLB's best regular-season record, but that didn't intimidate Urena as he logged one of his best starts of the campaign. The right-hander gave up only one run (on a Trayce Thompson solo homer) and didn't walk any batters for just the second time this season. It was the culmination of a nice late-season turnaround for Urena, who had a 6.13 ERA after a poor start Sept. 4 but has since lowered that to 5.01 by giving up just seven earned runs over 28 innings across his subsequent five starts.

Musgrove pitched six scoreless innings against San Francisco on Monday, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out seven batters. He did not factor in the decision.

Musgrove got no offensive support while he was in the contest -- all seven of San Diego's runs came in the eighth inning, after the starter departed -- but he was nonetheless in fine form in his final start of the regular season. The right-hander finished the campaign with a flourish, giving up just one earned run while posting a 27:8 K:BB across 22 innings over his final four starts. Musgrove's second campaign in San Diego was even better than his first, as he compiled a career-best 2.93 ERA and 1.08 WHIP along with 10 wins and a 184:42 K:BB over 181 frames. He'll likely get Game 3 (if necessary) in the Padres' upcoming wild-card series.

Mikolas allowed a run on three hits over three innings and did not factor into the decision in Monday's 3-2 loss to the Pirates.

Mikolas followed starter Jose Quintana, who began the game with three innings of one-hit ball. This was Mikolas' last scheduled appearance of the regular season, and he'll end with a 3.29 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 153:39 K:BB in a career-high 202.1 innings. He was sharp over his last six outings, giving up nine runs (eight earned) over 34 innings while logging four quality starts in that span. The right-hander will likely be included in the Cardinals' postseason rotation.