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Dean Kremer says Israel will be ‘in the back of my head’ as he becomes first Israeli to start MLB playoff game
(JTA) — When pitcher Dean Kremer takes the mound for his Baltimore Orioles Tuesday night, it will no doubt be the biggest start of the 27-year-old’s young MLB career.
The Orioles are down two games to none in a best-of-five series against the Texas Rangers. A win Tuesday will extend the series; a loss ends Baltimore’s impressive season, in which they won an American League-best 101 games. The game will be Kremer’s first postseason appearance.
But the pressure doesn’t end there. Kremer is also likely the first Israeli to play in an MLB playoff game, a distinction he will earn against the backdrop of Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas, which launched a surprise attack over the weekend that has led to more than 1,000 deaths, including 11 Americans.
Kremer became the first Israeli drafted into the big leagues in 2015 when he was selected by the San Diego Padres. The right-hander elected to play another year in college before being drafted again the following year by the Los Angeles Dodgers. He would later be traded to Baltimore in a deal that included superstar third baseman Manny Machado. He became the first Israeli to pitch in the MLB when he made his debut in 2020.
(Recently retired catcher and fellow Team Israel alum Ryan Lavarnway became the first Israeli citizen to appear in a game after he obtained his citizenship ahead of the 2020 Olympics.)
Kremer was born and raised in Stockton, California, to Israeli parents, and he holds dual citizenship. Kremer is fluent in Hebrew and spends time each year in Israel, where much of his extended family lives. He has played for Team Israel numerous times, including in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
“Playing for Team Israel, anytime I get to put on that uniform is special for me,” Kremer said in March, after starting Team Israel’s lone tournament win over Nicaragua. “It’s like another home. So every time I get to represent it’s one of the better feelings.”
Dean Kremer pitches against Nicaragua in Israel’s first game of the 2023 World Baseball Classic, March 12, 2023, in Miami. (Courtesy Team Israel)
According to ESPN, Kremer learned that he would be starting Tuesday’s game on Sunday, one day after Hamas’ attack began.
“I still want to pitch, but, I mean, it’s going to be in the back of my head,” Kremer said, referencing the conflict. He told ESPN that his family members, many of whom have served in the Israeli army, are safe.
Orioles manager Brandon Hyde spoke with Kremer on Monday.
“Gave him my support and sympathies for him and his family that’s involved, and he seemed OK,” Hyde told ESPN. “Obviously, he’s very disturbed and there’s a lot of things going on. But I didn’t sense that it was going to affect … I think he’s really looking forward to pitching tomorrow so I didn’t think it was going to affect him.”
Kremer also said many of his teammates have checked in on him since the conflict began. “I’m very grateful for that,” he said.
Kremer, who often wears a Star of David necklace when he pitches, reposted MLB’s statement of support for Israel on Instagram on Monday, adding a line of Hebrew that read, “There are no words. My heart just got ripped to shreds.”
Jordy Alter, the president of the Israel Association of Baseball, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that “we are proud that Dean has earned the honor of pitching in Game 3 tonight.”
“Dean, as a representative of the state of Israel, by virtue of his dual citizenship and having played on many Israel national teams, will have the added pressure of pitching while worrying about his family and friends back home,” Alter added.
Zack Raab, who is Jewish and works for MLB, posted on LinkedIn about Kremer’s start, urging his network to root for the Orioles pitcher on Tuesday.
“Dean is a friend, a wonderful human being, and a great ballplayer who will no doubt be pitching with a broken but not defeated heart and spirit tonight, while representing so many of us who are feeling the same way this week. ” Raab wrote.
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The post Dean Kremer says Israel will be ‘in the back of my head’ as he becomes first Israeli to start MLB playoff game appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.