Photo by Reunion, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsBrutal Is the Wrong Word for Reynaldo López
Heavy called the Reynaldo López news brutal. Tilt's beat writer had written him out of October six days earlier, and the sentence López said afterward is the one that should sting.
The injured list is not the brutal part.
Heavy's Jackson Kruse headlined Monday night's news "Atlanta Braves Announce Brutal Reynaldo López News After Bad Loss to Cubs." The news, per MLB.com's Mark Bowman on X: right shoulder discomfort and an IL move that is coming, not posted. Walt Weiss said there is a good chance he's going to end up on the IL. As of Tuesday morning the transaction had not moved.
Brutal means a surprise. There wasn't one.
Ellis Magnolia graded López out of October six days ago: "One quality start in twelve is not an October starter." Monday night he re-graded it without a word about the shoulder. Thirteen starts. Still one.
Three innings, 62 pitches and five earned at Wrigley pushed the ERA to 4.54. I wrote on September 9 that being available and being good are different questions.
A pitcher with one finished sixth inning in thirteen tries going on the shelf in mid-September is not brutal. It is paperwork.
The sentence that should sting came afterward, through a translator, and Sports Illustrated's Harrison Smajovits printed it. López said the shoulder was there one outing and gone the next, that "some bullpens, I'd be in there, and the velos fine, throwing 93, 96. Other bullpens, I'm in there, and the velos 93, 94."
All season. Thirteen starts for a division leader on a right shoulder that was scoped in April 2025, per MLB.com, and the pitcher says it came and went the whole time.
So, the question. Who knew?
I don't. The only dated sentence on the record is Bowman's: López told the Braves Monday night.
Read literally, the club heard it Monday. Read literally, the pitcher felt it all year. I cannot tell you where those sentences meet, and neither can anyone who printed "brutal" before asking.
Martín Pérez starts tonight at Wrigley, 7:40. That is the schedule. The quote is the story.
The Tilt
López heading to the IL isn't the brutal part — what he said afterward is.
— Dex Ponce
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What the Shoulder Did Not Settle
López says the shoulder has come and gone all season, and Atlanta says he is headed to the injured list. The argument about him is over without being settled, and the eleven games left now run through a Wednesday start listed for a 23-year-old who is still at Gwinnett.
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The Line Held at Wrigley
On September 9 I wrote that one quality start in twelve is not an October starter. Reynaldo López made it one in thirteen at Wrigley Field on Monday, and AJ Smith-Shawver, who started six days earlier, followed him with five innings of relief.
What the Sum Leaves Out
Dylan Lee needed one pitch for each of the first two outs of the eighth on Sunday and never got a third. The six-game home test I set on Tuesday came back 28, and the sum is the kindest thing about it.