Two star pitchers are facing the choice between being on the mound or in the delivery room. It’s not an easy decision

By Kyle Feldscher, CNN

(CNN) — With less than an hour to go before a playoff game with their season on the line, the San Diego Padres announced star closer Mason Miller wouldn’t be available.

It was shocking, a move that could have potentially derailed the Padres’ attempt to stave off elimination as they faced a 2-0 deficit in their best-of-five National League Divisional Series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Miller and his wife, Jordan, are expecting their first child and Jordan went into labor on Tuesday just hours before Game 3 of the series. Faced with choosing between being available for his team and being present with his wife as their family grew, Miller chose to stay with Jordan and skip the game.

On the other side of the country, as his team got ready to play in a similar elimination game, New York Yankees starter Max Fried found himself facing a similar dilemma.

Fried and his partner are expecting their first child this week, coinciding with Fried starting a Game 3 elimination contest in which the Tampa Bay Rays could knock the Yankees out of the playoffs and end their season.

The Yankees’ hurler was just as sure as Miller what he would do – he was going to be on the mound.

Such is life in October for baseball players facing the bright lights of the playoffs, when difficult decisions must be made constantly on and off the field as the long baseball season comes to an end.

For the Padres’ closer, the choice was clear – he’d be with his wife over the team.

The Millers announced in April that Jordan was pregnant with their first child. According to the San Diego Tribune, Miller told reporters over the weekend that the baby wasn’t expected for a couple more weeks and he hoped the team would be in San Diego when the time came so he didn’t have to make a last-second flight back home.

Miller was adamant then that he’d pick being with his wife over the Padres, if it came down to that. He really hoped it wouldn’t. And yet, it did.

“Mason got a hold of us early afternoon, right when he would probably come to the ballpark. He was kind of monitoring the situation and just deciding if he’s going to come today or things were going to happen. He decided that he needed to stay with his wife,” Padres manager Craig Stammen told reporters after the game.

“We knew sometime in the afternoon, but we wanted to give him enough time in case the baby comes really quick, or it goes the other way, and he could come to the game. We gave him the opportunity. We waited until an hour a half, an hour before the game time to make the final call.”

Professional athletes have to make “family or team” decisions all the time, choosing between being there for family or for the team. And in so many cases, the pressure from fans, media, teammates, coaches and front offices, lead to athletes choosing the game over their families.

For so many average dads, it might seem like an open-and-shut decision to choose family at a time as monumental as childbirth. But when your job means you have the hopes and dreams of millions of fans riding on your shoulders – well, there’s a bit more gray area in that black-and-white choice.

Just ask Fried.

Fried and his long-term girlfriend, Reni Meyer-Whalley, are expecting their first child any day, the Yankees pitcher confirmed on Tuesday. When asked whether the uncertainty complicates his thought process around whether to start Game 3 of the Yankees’ ALDS series against the Tampa Bay Rays, Fried was unequivocal.

“No. I’ve got a really supportive family that understands that this is my job, and it’s not going to affect what happens tomorrow,” he told reporters, adding later that he planned to start on Wednesday regardless of what’s happening away from the park.

Fried is surely hoping for a best-case scenario – pitching on Wednesday night and having his child arrive afterward, making the decision much easier about whether to be in the delivery room or on the mound. As of Wednesday afternoon, there was no word that anything had changed Fried’s mind ahead of the 8 p.m. ET start to Game 3.

For Miller, much is still unknown.

After Michael King, the starter in Game 2, pitched in Miller’s spot late in Game 3 and helped the Padres to a 4-3 win that extended their season to another night, Stammen said he didn’t know if the fire-throwing closer would return for Wednesday night’s contest.

“I think Mason will make that public whenever they have a baby and everything’s good to go,” Stammen said.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.