Texas Rangers right-hander Max Scherzer and Baltimore Orioles left-hander John Means were left off their respective team’s rosters for their upcoming American League Division Series.

The Rangers’ move comes one day after Scherzer, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, faced live batters for the time since straining the teres major muscle in his right shoulder on Sept. 12.

“He pitched yesterday and threw well and he said he felt pretty good this morning, but we felt like we didn’t have enough information to include him on the roster,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said Saturday. “He was going to miss the first two games anyway. He’ll keep progressing, and we’ll see where he stands in a few days.”

The Rangers acquired Scherzer from the New York Mets at the trade deadline. The 39-year-old went 4-2 with a 3.20 ERA in eight starts for Texas before being placed on the 15-day injured list on Sept. 13.

The Rangers added left-hander Cody Bradford in place of right-hander Grant Anderson, who was on the team’s wild-card roster.

Means, who was a possible candidate to start Game 3 of the best-of-five series, is nursing a sore elbow. The 30-year-old is 1-2 with a 2.66 ERA in four starts since returning from Tommy John surgery in September.

–Field Level Media

Atlanta Braves right-hander Kyle Wright will need a shoulder procedure and is expected to miss the 2024 regular season, manager Brian Snitker said Saturday.

The Braves put Wright, 28, on the 60-day injured list with a right shoulder strain earlier Saturday in advance of their National League Division Series matchup against the Philadelphia Phillies. An MRI on Friday revealed the extent of Wright’s shoulder damage.

Atlanta recalled left-hander Max Fried and right-hander Daysbel Hernandez from the 15- and 60-day injured lists, respectively. Both were added to the NLDS roster, while right-hander Jesse Chavez was dropped.

Over the past three postseasons, Wright was 2-1 with a 3.93 ERA in five games (three starts). In last season’s NLDS against the Phillies, Wright threw six scoreless two-hit innings in a game Atlanta eventually lost.

But this season was marred by injury and inconsistency, with Wright appearing in just nine games (seven starts), posting a 1-3 record with a 6.97 ERA in 31 innings.

“You could tell in his last couple outings something wasn’t right.” Snitker said Saturday.

MLB.com reported that Hernandez impressed the Braves’ brass during two intrasquad games this week.

Hernandez, 27, appeared in just four games and threw 3 2/3 innings before going on the injured list with right forearm inflammation. He was 1-0 with a 7.36 ERA.

Fried, 29, was bothered by a blister issue in September but Snitker pronounced him ready to go this week. On the season, he was 8-1 with a 2.55 ERA in 14 games, limited to just 77 2/3 innings because of a left forearm strain.

In his postseason career, Fried is 2-4 with a 4.43 ERA in 18 games (10 starts).

Chavez, 40, was 1-0 with a 1.56 ERA and a save in 36 games (one start). He was part of Atlanta’s World Series-winning team in 2021.

–Field Level Media

Texas Rangers right-hander Max Scherzer faced live batters Friday for the time in 24 days and was encouraged with how his right shoulder felt.

The three-time Cy Young Award winner was encouraged with the two-inning simulated session of nearly 40 pitches and is hopeful of pitching for the Rangers this postseason.

“I felt good,” Scherzer said after the stint in Baltimore. “I’ve got to recover. I’ve got to see how I wake up tomorrow and see what this does to the arm.”

Texas won an American League wild-card series over the Tampa Bay Rays and begins the AL Division Series against the Orioles on Saturday.

Scherzer strained the teres major muscle in his right shoulder on Sept. 12, and there were concerns he wouldn’t pitch again this season.

But the 39-year-old had a pain-free bullpen session on Wednesday followed by Friday’s appearance in which Mitch Garver was the only player to hit the ball hard against him.

Suddenly, he’s open to playing any role he can — even in this series against Baltimore.

“That’s not my decision,” Scherzer said. “We’ll have a discussion about it. But it’s October and all hands on deck. I’ll do whatever it takes to help the team.”

The Rangers acquired Scherzer from the New York Mets at the trade deadline. He went 4-2 with a 3.20 ERA in eight starts for Texas before being placed on the 15-day injured list on Sept. 13.

The eight-time All-Star is 214-108 with a 3.15 ERA with six teams, including 6 1/2 seasons with the Washington Nationals and five with the Detroit Tigers.

Left-handers Andrew Heaney and Jordan Montgomery will pitch the first two games of the series for Texas with right-hander Nathan Eovaldi a near-certainty for Game 3.

–Field Level Media

At face value, it appears to be another typical Los Angeles Dodgers playoff series ahead, with Clayton Kershaw starting in Game 1 of the National League Division Series Saturday against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Yet this matchup promises to be something new entirely.

In the playoffs for the 11th consecutive year, but with one 2020 World Series title to show for it, perhaps it was time for the Dodgers to unveil something different.

Los Angeles will employ a group-effort pitching strategy, with shorter starts, possible bullpen games and a “piggy-back” plan where two or more pitchers throw multiple innings each.

While it sounds like a full buy-in on next-level analytics, the Dodgers instead are operating out of necessity because of injury, performance uncertainty and the arrival of several rookie pitchers getting their first taste of the playoffs.

“That’s where we’re at as a team (and) I think that’s a great thing, I really do,” Kershaw said. “As far as embracing it or not, I think everybody’s in the mindset that we just want to help this team win a World Series. And so however that looks, whatever (manager Dave Roberts) thinks is best for us to go out there and pitch, that’s what we’re going to do.”

Since returning from a shoulder injury in August, Kershaw has been limited to five innings in all but one of his eight outings, and that was 5 1/3 innings in his regular-season finale. He has not thrown more than 84 pitches in any of those starts.

Those figure to be his limits moving forward, with the Dodgers’ bullpen stepping into the fray. If history holds, the Dodgers like their chances Saturday with Kershaw posting a 22-12 record and a 2.73 ERA in 44 career regular-season starts against Arizona.

There won’t be any shuffling of the deck on offense, with the Dodgers led by four 100-RBI performers in Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, J.D. Martinez and Max Muncy. Betts, Freeman, Martinez and Will Smith were All-Stars.

An impressive group in Arizona is set to announce its arrival, led by NL Rookie of the Year favorite Corbin Carroll, who is getting the biggest stage to show off his impressive blend of speed and power.

Carroll hit 25 home runs with 54 stolen bases in his first full season, then took the wild-card round by storm when he went 4-for-7 with a double, home run and two RBIs in a two-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Even more youth will be served by the Diamondbacks, who lost 110 games as recently as 2021 and haven’t won a postseason contest since 2011. Outfielder Alek Thomas, catcher Gabriel Moreno and infielder Geraldo Perdomo all have made an impact.

“I’ll give them their props,” Carroll said of the Dodgers, according to mlb.com. “You know, they’re a great team. Just a great lineup, good pitching, but you know, we’ve played them all year, we know what they are, we know what they’re not. You know, I wouldn’t count us out.”

When the Dodgers swept a three-game home series between the teams in late August, they outscored the D-backs 23-5. Los Angeles won eight of the 13 regular-season meetings.

Arizona will send right-hander Merrill Kelly to the mound in Game 1. And while he was impressive in the 2023 regular season, Kelly (12-8, 3.29 ERA) has a terrible history against the Dodgers. In 16 career regular-season starts vs. Los Angeles, he is 0-11 with a 5.49 ERA, while Betts has three home runs and a .351 on-base percentage against him.

“For whatever reason, there are certain players and certain teams throughout your career and your life in baseball that you kind of run into that just seem to have your number,” Kelly said. “Unfortunately, throughout my career, this team seems to be that team for me. But I’m as confident as ever.”

While Moreno departed early in Arizona’s wild-card clincher Wednesday after he was hit in the head by a Brewers backswing, he is likely to play Saturday. Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said on Friday that Moreno passed all tests and had no concussion symptoms.

–Field Level Media