Boston College Professional Athletes

Emmet Sheehan's Week to Remember — and a Gut-Punch Ending

Emmet Sheehan delivered one of the more emotionally charged stretches of any Boston College alum's 2026 season — and it ended with a cold dose of roster math.

The Dodgers right-hander opened the week on September 13 with six scoreless innings against the Marlins in Miami, striking out five in a performance Yahoo Sports called his "second great start of the week." The outing came one day after Sheehan made a quietly moving gesture: honoring his uncle, killed in the September 11 attacks 25 years ago, before taking the mound and spinning a gem. The tribute, reported by Yahoo Sports, added rare human texture to what was already a strong performance.

Then came the sucker punch. One day after that Miami start, the Dodgers optioned Sheehan to Triple-A Oklahoma City, recalling reliever Paul Gervase ahead of their series with Cincinnati. The move underscored the brutal calculus of September roster management — six scoreless innings on a Sunday, gone by Monday. Sheehan's ERA sat at 4.79 on the season, but the quality of his recent work made the demotion a hard pill. The Dodgers, chasing a postseason spot, are leaning on fresh arms, and Sheehan was the odd man out.

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Michael King Is Playing His Way to a Payday

While Sheehan was navigating a rollercoaster week, fellow BC alum Michael King was quietly cementing his case for a major offseason contract — and insiders are already calling his next move a foregone conclusion.

King tossed six innings against Colorado on September 17, giving up two earned runs while striking out six in a 9-2 Padres win. His season ERA sits at a sharp 3.03, and he notched his 11th win of the year in a 7-6 victory over San Francisco. Those aren't rotation filler numbers — those are ace-adjacent numbers.

ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan, per Sports Illustrated, believes King's opt-out decision this winter is "obvious." The Padres acquired him from the Yankees ahead of the 2024 season, and he's responded with two consecutive years of front-line production. Whether San Diego retains him or he tests a wide-open market, King is in the driver's seat heading into October.

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Sal Frelick Quietly Productive in Milwaukee

Boston College's third notable MLB presence this week was Sal Frelick, who continued to chip in for a Brewers team with postseason ambitions. Frelick went 1-for-3 with an RBI and a walk in Milwaukee's 6-5 extra-innings win over Baltimore on September 18, adding to a 2-RBI week. His batting average has ticked up to .236 on the season — not a breakout number, but steady contributing from a player still finding his footing in the majors.

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Three BC alumni, three different stories: one making headlines for all the right emotional and athletic reasons, one building a contract year for the ages, and one grinding through the long season in a pennant race. The Eagles' footprint in MLB is real — and at least two of their own will likely be relevant deep into October.

Boston College's pipeline to MLB rotations is very much open in September 2026, with Emmet Sheehan and Michael King both making noise at opposite ends of the playoff hunt — and the country.

Sheehan Silences the Doubts in Los Angeles

Five weeks away from a major league mound has a way of breeding uncertainty. Sheehan erased all of it in one Monday night.

The Dodgers right-hander returned from his absence with arguably his sharpest start of the season, striking out 10 Cincinnati Reds across 5.2 innings in a 6-3 Los Angeles win. He allowed just one earned run, and the performance was convincing enough that manager Dave Roberts didn't hesitate afterward: "Emmet sticks around," Roberts said on SportsNet LA's postgame coverage. "He'll start on Sunday in Miami."

That's not a courtesy nod — that's a rotation spot in a pennant race. The Dodgers had been riding a five-game winning streak heading into the Reds series, and Sheehan's resurgence gives the defending champs a legitimate arm to deploy down the stretch. He's lined up to pitch bulk innings against the Marlins on September 13, with Sheehan in line to take the ball in Miami while Justin Wrobleski was previously listed as a potential opener.

His ERA sits at 5.08 on the season, but the 10-strikeout return is the kind of outing that resets the narrative. For a Dodgers club managing a crowded roster and rotation puzzle, Sheehan just made himself hard to put back on the shelf.

King Anchors San Diego — But for How Long?

Out in San Diego, Michael King is pitching like a man with leverage — because he has some.

The BC righty posted a 3.03 ERA entering the week and backed it up with seven innings against the Giants on September 12, allowing three earned runs while striking out four in a 7-6 Padres win. Earlier in the period, he handled a marquee assignment against Gerrit Cole and the Yankees in the series rubber match, going six innings while allowing no earned runs and striking out three.

The performance is consistent with what King has done all season as a rotation anchor for a Padres team fighting to stay relevant in the NL West. But the bigger story looming over every outing is a reported $58 million opt-out decision that industry analysts are predicting King will exercise this offseason. For a pitcher posting a sub-3.10 ERA as a dependable starter, the calculus isn't complicated — and San Diego knows it.

Every quality start King logs tightens the Padres' timeline and inflates his market value. He's pitching for a contract, and he's pitching well.

Frelick Keeps Hitting, Quietly

Sal Frelick doesn't have the headline pop of his BC classmates in arms, but the Brewers outfielder is contributing. He notched hits in back-to-back games against the Cubs (September 8–9) and has held steady around a .233–.236 average as Milwaukee navigates late-season play. He sat out the Reds series finale on September 12 before Milwaukee's big 13-9 win, but his role in the lineup remains intact.

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Three Eagles, three contending (or contention-adjacent) clubs, one week in September. Sheehan is re-emerging, King is cashing in, and Frelick is holding his ground. BC's MLB presence has rarely been this concentrated — or this consequential.

Two Eagles, Two Spotlights

Boston College's footprint in MLB was hard to miss this week, with outfielder Sal Frelick and pitcher Michael King turning in performances that reminded the league — and the Chestnut Hill faithful — exactly why Eagles get drafted.

Frelick Catches Fire in Milwaukee

Sal Frelick was the engine of Milwaukee's offense across a pair of standout games. On Wednesday against the Mets, the BC product went 3-for-the-night with 2 RBIs and a run scored, anchoring an 8-1 Brewers blowout. Brice Turang's three-run homer grabbed the headlines, but Frelick's multi-hit, multi-RBI night was the kind of steady production that keeps a lineup humming. Then on Friday against the Rangers, he kept it going — adding 2 more hits, a run, and a walk.

Five hits across two games, a batting average climbing back toward .243 — Frelick is doing exactly what Milwaukee needs from a table-setter in the outfield. After a stretch where his bat had gone quieter than expected, this week looked like a genuine reset.

King Goes Deep Against Pittsburgh

On the mound for San Diego, Michael King delivered one of the cleaner outings of his season. Facing the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday, King went a full 7 innings and punched out 7 batters, keeping his ERA at a tidy 3.23. In an era when pitch counts and bullpen management make seven-inning starts increasingly rare, King's efficiency was notable — he did the job and let the Padres bullpen rest easy.

The matchup — King squaring off in a game previewed around the Paul Skenes storyline on the Pittsburgh side — gave the Eagles alum a prime stage, and he delivered. For a Padres team trying to stay relevant deep into August, length from a starter matters, and King provided it.

The Bigger Picture

Two Eagles, two different roles, two contributions that mattered. Frelick is carving out a legitimate MLB résumé as an on-base, contact-first outfielder. King has quietly built himself into one of the more reliable mid-rotation arms in the National League. Neither name dominates the national conversation — yet — but weeks like this are exactly how that changes.

The rest of the BC roster scattered across the league was quieter, with no significant statistical moments surfacing from the likes of Cody Morissette (Marlins), Emmet Sheehan (Dodgers), or the others during this stretch. But when Frelick and King are both dealing, Eagles fans have more than enough to watch.