Worldwide Sports News

It was a day that ended in “y”, so the Yankees played a close game last night. It’s all nail-biters all the way down, but as long as they can score just enough to make their stellar pitching stand up, it’s a good enough formula. The Yankees prevailed in their series opener with the Orioles last night 3-1, and they’ll send Will Warren to the mound tonight with a chance to cinch a series victory and put together a three-game winning streak.

On the site today, Peter will recap a busy Tuesday night of action in the Rivalry Roundup, and he’ll also analyze Ben Rice’s huge home run against the Blue Jays over the weekend. Later, John has the latest entry in the Yankees Birthday series, which features one Bobby Richardson, a hugely clutch Yankee.

Today’s Matchup:

New York Yankees at Baltimore Orioles

Time: 6:35 p.m. EST

TV: Amazon Prime Video, MASN, MLB Network

Venue: Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD

Questions/Prompts:

1. How confident are you that Carlos Rodón will be able to close out the season with the same level of production he showed early in the year?

2. Five division leaders (the Astros in the AL West are the exception) has a lead of at least four games right now. Which of those five teams is most likely to lose their grip in the division?

Toledo Mud Hens 9, Iowa Cubs 2 (box)

The Hens got another brilliant outing from Andrew Sears and added to a big lead all the way through this one.

Things did not start off so well. Brant Hurter was sitting 89-90 mph and couldn’t get out of the first inning, as he gave up a run and needed Nick Sandlin to clean up the inning.

Lefty Andrew Sears took over in the second and no-hit the Cubs for five innings, striking out seven against two walks. That’s a bit fitting, as Sears looks ready for a call-up to something like Hurter’s role with the Tigers. Sears got a whopping 16 whiffs in this one, 10 off his mid-90’s sinker, and racked up some whiffs with his high-80’s changeup as well. Sears typically has a good sinker-slider combo, so seeing growth from the changeup is excellent news. He might make a candidate for the rotation in 2027 as well and if the Tigers lose anyone else, Sears is probably the first number you’re going to call.

As Sears silenced the Cubs, the Hens offense started clicking. Chris Meyers was promoted out of his rehab assignment up to Toledo for this one, and he doubled in his first at-bat. Andrew Navigato singled him to third and then stole second base. Bennett Lee stepped to the dish after Cal Stevenson struck out, and crushed a three-run shot for his first Triple-A homer.

In the bottom of the third, Max Anderson singled and Josue Briceño walked. Meyers singled in Anderson, and Navigato doubled in Briceño for a 5-1 lead.

Right-hander Hayden Minton, who we had ranked 33rd in the system prior to the season, has started to find the mid-90’s velocity we were hoping for on his low arm slot, running sinker, to pair with his solid curveball and cutter. The Tigers promoted him to Triple-A on Tuesday, moving him to a relief role, at least for now, and this is the way. They’ll need a lot more of this to start building good homegrown bullpens rather than paying through the nose for veteran relievers. Minton doesn’t really profile as the guy, but now that he can focus on short outings, we’ll see if they can squeeze a bit more out of the stuff.

Things were quiet through the middle innings until Max Burt led off the bottom of the seventh with a solo shot. Tyler Mattison surrendered a run in the top of the eighth, but in the bottom half the Hens poured it on.

Justice Bigbie led off with a walk and moved to second on a groundout from Meyers. Navigato singled and Stevenson walked to load the bases. Lee was plunked to force in a run, and Jace Jung followed with a two-run double to make it 9-2.

Beau Brieske struck out two in the top of the ninth sitting 95-97 with his heater.

Navigato: 3-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B, SB

Meyers: 2-4, R, RBI, 2B

Briceno: 0-3, R, BB

Sears (W, 1-0): 5.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 2 BB, 7 K

Coming Up Next: First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. ET on Wednesday.

New Hampshire Fisher Cats 6, Erie SeaWolves 5 (F/11)(box)

Zyhir Hope had a huge game, but after tying this one up in the ninth and again in the bottom of the tenth, the SeaWolves couldn’t get it done in the 11th.

Hope doubled in the bottom of the first but was stranded.

Joe Miller got into some trouble in the top of the second, and a passed ball charged to Thayron Liranzo scored the game’s first run. The SeaWolves threatened in the second but failed to score. Finally in the bottom of the third, Woody Hadeen walked and rode home on a blast to right field from Hope. 2-1 SeaWolves.

Unfortunately, Miller crumbled in the top of the fourth, allowing three runs. So it was 4-2 Fisher Cats until the bottom of the eighth. Hope led off with a single and took third on a Liranzo single. He then scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-3. Andrew Jenkins walked, but Izaac Pacheco struck out.

Tanner Kohlhepp took over in the top of the ninth and kept the Fisher Cats off the board despite a pair of singles. In the bottom half, Seth Stephenson was hit by a pitch and stole second as Hadeen struck out. Peyton Graham was snakebit in this one, and for the second time hammered a ball right to an outfielder in this one. Hope sprang eternal as he singled in Stephenson to tie the game and send it to extras.

Kohlhepp allowed the runner on second to score in the top of the 10th, but no more. In the bottom half, Jenkins singled in Liranzo from second to tie things up, and then stole second base. With three chances for a game winning knock, the SeaWolves went in order, and that was kind of the ballgame.

Yosber Sanchez gave up a run in the top of the 11th, and Stephenson, Hadeen and Graham all made outs to end it.

Hope: 4-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2B, HR, K

Jenkins: 1-4, RBI, BB, SB

Exposito: 2-5, 2B, K

Miller: 4.2 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 9 H, 0 BB, 5 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:05 p.m ET start on Wednesday. The SeaWolves still hold a 4.5 game lead in the Southwest division with a 31-15 second half record.

South Bend Cubs 5, West Michigan Whitecaps 1 (box)

A two-run shot late in Rayner Castillo’s outing spoiled it, but it mattered little as the Whitecaps got one-hit in this one.

The Whitecaps had trouble with starter Jostin Florentino, and their only hit came with one out in the first, and it was another monster shot to straightaway center field off the bat of Bryce Rainer. The talented shortstop has now homered in four straight contests, tying a Whitecaps record, according to Dan Hasty.

Castillo allowed a solo home run in the bottom of the second, but otherwise he was cruising, racking up a whopping nine strikeouts on the outing, a personal best. Unfortunately, they stretched things a bit too far, and the 22-year-old right-hander gave up a leadoff walk in the sixth, struck out the next hitter, and then surrendered a two-run shot to Josiah Hartshorn which kind of spoiled Castillo’s night. Still, we’ve been looking for him to get that easy 94-95 t97 mph sinker back and improve his breaking stuff and things are coming around after a rough season for him.

Preston Howey gave up a pair of runs in the eighth to complete the scoring.

Rainer: 1-4, R, RBI, HR, 2 K

Ankeney: 0-2, 2 BB

Castillo (L, 2-9): 5.2 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 9 K

Coming Up Next: The Whitecaps second half lead in the East division is just one game over Great Lakes. They’ll get back at it with a 7:05 p.m. ET start on Wednesday.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 10, St. Lucie Mets 1 (box)

The Flying Tigers athletic young squad played excellent defense and pounded out 14 hits in this one while drawing eight walks to crush St. Lucie.

Caleb Leys got the start, and while he still isn’t missing many bats, he was effective for 3.2 innings of one-run ball. By then the Flygers were working with a nice lead.

Jude Warwick led off the top of the second with a walk and took second on a wild pitch. Maddox Molony lined an RBI single to center for a 1-0 lead.

In the third, Angel De Los Santos dumped a pop-up in for a speed double with one out. Nick Dumesnil struck out, but Jesus Pinto singled in the run. In the fourth, Anibal Salas singled with one out, and Brady Ballinger doubled him to third. Ballinger and Molony did a nice job repping the 2026 draft class in this one. Jordan Yost grounded one to second and then cut down Salas at the plate, but Yost stole second and Ballinger scored as the throw was wide of second base.

So it was 3-0 at that point. Leys allowed a run in the top of the fourth, but in the bottom half the Flying Tigers kept pouring it on. Dumesnil led off with a single and Pinto challenged a strike call correctly and walked. Warwick grounded out but advanced both runners. Molony then fought off a pitch into right field for a two-run single. 5-1.

Dumesnil challenged a strike call correctly in the top of the seventh and led off with a walk. He promptly swiped second and scored on a Pinto single. Pinto took second on a wild pitch and Warwick and Molony walked to load the bases. Salas struck out, but Ballinger walked to force in a run and Yost lifted a sac fly to make it 8-1. Michael Oliveto singled in Molony, and De Los Santos lined a single to left to make it 10-1.

Leonardo Rossell and Bryce Alewine were both a little wild in relief but gave the Flygers two scoreless apiece.

De Los Santos: 3-6, R, RBI, 2B, K

PInto: 2-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, SB

Molony: 2-4, R, 3 RBI, BB, SB

Ballinger: 2-4, 2 R, RBI, 2B, BB

Oliveto: 2-4, RBI, 2BB

Leys: 3.2 IP, ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 2 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:10 p.m. ET start on Wednesday.

Why do Little League World Series games seem to fly by?

That's because Little League World Series games usually consist of six regulation innings. But there are a few circumstances why a game might end early. This means every pitch, hit and defensive play carries weight because momentum can change instantly and a game can end early or get extended.

During the Little League World Series, there will be plenty of drama as teams navigate the rules to perform at a high level with the games airing on the ESPN Networks and ABC. As you watch the Little League World Series unfold, here are some basic rules every fan should understand.

Watch the LLWS with Fubo

What is the 'Run Rule' in Little League Baseball?

The "Run Rule" is the rule Little League uses to shorten baseball games when the run differential gets too large to continue. It is often mistakenly called the "mercy rule" by fans, but you'll hear the TV broadcasters refer to its proper name as the "Run Rule." A Little League World Series game can end before the sixth inning in the tournament, as the "15-Run Rule" and the "10-Run Rule" are observed.

• The 15-Run Rule: If a team has a lead of 15 runs or more after three complete innings (or two and one-half innings if the home team is ahead), the manager of the team with fewer runs must concede the victory.
• The 10-Run Rule: If a team has a lead of 10 runs or more after four complete innings (or three and one-half innings if the home team is ahead), the game is officially ended and the trailing manager concedes.

How many video replay challenges do teams get in the Little League World Series?

Team managers get up to two unsuccessful video replay challenges during a regulation six-inning game in the Little League World Series. Also, managers are granted one additional video replay challenge specifically for use during extra innings, regardless of whether they used their challenge allocation during regulation play.

What can be challenged by video replay in the Little League World Series?

According to Little League International Tournament Play Guidelines, managers can challenge objective plays such as safe/out calls at a base, force plays, tag plays, catcher interference and whether a ball was caught cleanly. Subjective calls like balls and strikes or check swings cannot be challenged.

What does 'continuous batting order' mean?

The continuous batting order (CBO) in the Little League Baseball World Series is a tournament mandate where every eligible player on a team’s roster must be placed in the batting order to hit sequentially throughout the entire game. It replaced traditional 9-player baseball/softball lineups for all World Series divisions below the Senior Division level.

Watch the LLWS with Fubo

When is a Little League baseball game considered official?

According to Rule 4.10(c) of the Official Little League Rulebook, a game is considered legally official if it is stopped early (due to weather, darkness, or curfew) after four full innings have been completed. If the home team is ahead, the game becomes official after three and a half innings.

What is a suspended game mean in Little League baseball?

If an umpire halts a game before reaching the exact thresholds described in Rule 4.10(c) of the Official Little League Rulebook, the game is declared a suspended game.It does not start over from scratch; instead, the rulebook requires the game to be resumed at a later date from the exact point of interruption, with all statistics, pitches and lineups remaining intact.

How can a game end early in the Little League World Series?

A Little League World Series game can end before the sixth inning under what Little League calls the “Run Rule." If, after three innings (or two-and-a-half if the home team is winning), one team is winning by 15 runs or more, the game will end. If, after four innings (or three-and-a-half if the home team is winning), one team is winning by 10 runs or more, the game will also end early.

How many innings are in a Little League World Series game?

A game becomes a standard regulation game when six full innings have been played, and the visiting team has completed its half of the sixth inning. If the home team is ahead, the game ends exactly when they secure the lead in the bottom of the sixth or after five and a half innings.

CBS Sports | Mike Axisa: The Yankees suffered another hit when they had to place pitcher Max Fried on the injured list on Monday. Between Carlos Rodón returning and other aspects of the team stepping up, here’s how the Yankees will have to do to withstand the injury to Fried.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: That being said, the Yankees are fairly optimistic that Fried will only miss the minimum amount of time with his current injury. The MRIs that Fried underwent came back good and he’s already resumed throwing. “We just kind of collectively decided it’s probably best to make sure we get this calmed down and hopefully keep it a smaller issue,” Aaron Boone said.

The Athletic | Sam Blum: When the Yankees moved into their current digs in 2009, the site of the old Yankee Stadium was converted into a park that would serve the local community. However years later, Macombs Dam Park has fallen into a state of disrepair. The team made financial and other contributions to the park’s opening, but people have become jaded at their — and the city’s — lack of care put into the park.

NJ.com | Randy Miller: We recently got the news that former Yankee pitcher Tommy John passed away over the weekend at the age of 83. Here several of his famous former Yankee teammates give their remembrances, with one common theme: they think he should be in the Hall of Fame.

There’s something about the Chicago Cubs (73-53) and rain delays, isn’t there? After waiting out the weather for nearly an hour-and-a-half, the White Sox (65-59) folded against their North Side rivals, getting walked off on back-to-back nights, 4-3.

Up until tonight, Bryan Hudson had just a 1.29 ERA across six opener starts and had allowed only two home runs in all 54 appearances this season (51 2/3 innings). While watching the events unfold in the first inning, I felt like I was having déjà vu as Pete Crow-Armstrong mashed a leadoff home run for the second straight game, giving the North Siders an early lead, 1-0. The main difference from last night was that it wasn’t Seiya Suzuki who tossed the second dagger, but Michael Busch, who blasted the second solo shot of the inning to make it 2-0. Despite the chaos of the inning, Hudson got out of it without any further damage, though his ERA jumped from 1.29 to 3.42.

On the other side of the ball, Kevin Gausman began his outing with a pair of walks to Sam Antonacci and Munetaka Murakami, immediately putting pressure on him even with the two-run lead. Sadly, the White Sox couldn’t capitalize on the scoring threat: Miguel Vargas grounded into a double play, and Andrew Benintendi struck out to end the inning.

While he was able to work out of the jam in the first, Gausman could not maintain the Cubs’ lead for much longer. The South Siders were able to snag a run back in the top of the second after Chase Meidroth sparked a two-out rally with a single. Tristan Peters followed with another base hit, and Drew Romo made it three in a row, driving in Meidroth to cut the Cubs’ lead to 2-1. Sure, Romo’s batting average is still frightening, sitting at a cool .139, but he’s slashing .190/.227/.476 with a .702 OPS, two home runs and five RBIs in his last seven games. We will always take what we can get.

Once the Good Guys had seen Gausman the first time through the order, they continued to work him deep into counts. After his first at-bat, it felt likely that the North Siders weren’t going to give Murakami anything good to hit. Still, the lefty power hitter worked a full count before blasting his 29th home run of the season to lead off the third inning, making a dent in the Wrigley Field jumbotron in left and tying the game, 2-2.

The Good Guys carried their offensive momentum into the fourth, and Colson Montgomery kicked the inning off with a two-bagger into the right-field corner. Colson has seemingly been seeing the ball a lot better over the last week or so and continues to sprinkle in some hits to get back into his groove. Meidroth wasn’t able to move Colson over on his ground out, but Peters backed him up with his second hit of the day, driving Colson in with an RBI double to give the White Sox a 3-2 lead.

With two outs, the lineup flipped back to the top, but Gausman took a minute to stretch and work out what appeared to be a cramp in his glove hand. After being checked by the trainer and tossing a few pitches, he opted to remain in the game, ultimately winning the matchup against Antonacci, who struck out on a pitch in the dirt to strand Peters on second.

Gausman was still having trouble with his hand in the fifth, and though he struck out Murakami, he left the game after Miguel Vargas reached on an infield single. This put the North Siders in a tough spot without anyone warming up in their bullpen, but Craig Counsell turned to righthander Javier Assad to jump in on short notice. Proper warm-up or not, Assad shut the South Siders down for three straight innings, allowing just two hits while striking out two.

Once Hudson had left the game, Erick Fedde allowed a pair of hits and a walk to load the bases but recovered to escape the jam without allowing a run. Following the second, Fedde was lights out and racked up three consecutive 1-2-3 innings in the third, fourth and fifth to hold on to the lead and keep the Cubs scoreless. The Sox righty took a stab at the sixth, putting two runners on but recording two outs before Will Venable called on Huascar Brazobán to face Ian Happ. Brazobán got Happ to fly out to end the inning.

Hats off to Fedde for a phenomenal outing, as he took over without surrendering a single run to the Cubs while eating a bunch of innings in the process. He had the Good Guys in a great position to win the game, but Brazobán had a rough outing in the eighth. The righty walked the first two batters he faced and forced Venable to go to Grant Taylor earlier than anticipated. Taylor looked sharp against the first two batters, striking out both PCA and Suzuki for two huge outs. He got within one strike of escaping the inning before losing a full-count battle to Alex Bregman, who tied the game at 3-3 with a single to left.

And just like that, the déjà vu was back as the Cubs tied it late once again, with the Sox handing over another lead. The run ended up being charged to Brazobán, and Taylor was charged with his fifth blown save of the season. In the next at-bat, it looked as if Busch blasted a base hit up the middle to take the lead, but Meidroth went into a full-extension dive to make an outstanding play to save the game for the moment.

The White Sox were down to their last couple of chances at the plate, with the heart of the order due up in the eighth. Andrew Benintendi couldn’t pull the clutch card tonight and struck out for the first out of the inning. Braden Montgomery then launched a towering fly ball that ended up being caught against the left-center wall, just a few feet shy of a go-ahead home run. Colson ripped a two-out double thanks to a weird defensive attempt by Busch at first, but Meidroth grounded out softly to third, and that was that.

Just as Taylor was about to stroll out for the bottom of the eighth, the Cubs grounds crew pulled out the tarp in anticipation of a storm rolling through northern Chicagoland into the city. In their defense, it did start to rain about 10-15 minutes later, but maybe they worked a masterclass to keep Taylor off the mound a second time. I guess we’ll never know.

After a 1-hour, 28-minute rain delay, Trevor Richards came in to replace Taylor in the bottom of the eighth. Given the situation, things felt more intense and dicey than they actually were, but he induced three straight fly outs to shut the Cubs down, handing the game back to the offense for the ninth frame. Naturally, they couldn’t scrape any runs across, so the North Siders went into the bottom of the ninth with a tie game and PCA due up third. The South Siders even tried to conjure up some more magic with Randal Grichuk, but it wasn’t in the cards tonight. Antonacci drew his second walk of the night, which brought up Murakami in a prime spot, but he grounded out softly on a ball back to the pitcher, and to the bottom of the ninth we went.

Richards returned in the bottom of the ninth, and while he couldn’t control his changeup whatsoever, the fastball seemed to be working well enough. Carson Kelly led off the inning with a double into the left-field corner, putting the winning run in scoring position. Richards recovered to catch Michael Conforto looking for the first out. In a near-repeat of last night, Will Venable made the decision not to pitch to PCA, putting him on first with an intentional walk and creating a force play with Suzuki coming up.

Seiya popped the ball up into foul territory on the first-base side, and Murakami made a clutch sliding catch, barely getting his glove under the ball but somehow managing to hang on to it. With two outs and Bregman at the plate, things didn’t feel great considering he’d already driven in the game-tying run in the seventh. It’s a shame that things didn’t end differently, but Bregman ripped the first pitch he saw up the middle to score Kelly and give the Cubs a 4-3 walk-off win.

Back-to-back walk-off losses to the Cubs certainly sting, especially when the Good Guys outhit them 10-8. Both teams struggled with runners in scoring position — the White Sox went 2-for-11 while the Cubs went 2-for-12 — but the South Siders also grounded into two double plays, killing any momentum they might have had. The pitching staff did a great job after the first frame but ultimately couldn’t hold on to the lead against a tough Cubs lineup.

If you stayed awake for that one, I’m sorry, but at least we were in this together. The Good Guys have one more chance to avoid the sweep at Wrigley tomorrow but have yet to name a starter for the series finale. A good night’s sleep might not fully wash away the last two losses, but the White Sox will need to wake up ready to fight back and end this year’s Classic on a high note.

MVP
Erick Fedde: 4 2/3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K

MVPRunners-Up
Munetaka Murakami: 1-for-4, R, RBI, BB, 2 K, HR
Colson Montgomery: 3-for-4, R, 2B
Tristan Peters: 2-for-4, RBI, 2B
Drew Romo: 1-for-3, RBI, K, 4-for-5 ABS challenges

Cold Cat
Bryan Hudson: 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, K, 2 HR

Cold CatRunners-Up
Huascar Brazobán: 1/3 IP, 0 H, R, 2 BB
Andrew Benintendi: 0-for-4, 2 K, GIDP
Braden Montgomery: 0-for-4, K

One week after his best start of the season, Carson Whisenhunt wasn’t fooling anyone on the Cleveland Guardians. Especially not Jo Adell.

Adell drove in six runs in his first three trips to the plate, setting a career high in the game’s first four innings. He hit Cleveland’s longest home run of the season (455 feet) to give the Guardians a 3-0 lead three batters into the game, delivered a two-run single in the 2nd inning, and hit another RBI single in the 4th as the Guardians cruised to an 8-1 win.

Whisenhunt gave up nine hits and seven runs in four innings, while walking two and striking out one. He just barely finished with more outs than baserunners, though only six runs were earned thanks to Drew Gilbert’s error on Adell’s third single that let Steven Kwan advance to third base.

Adell did this all despite fouling a ball off his knee in the first inning, which led to him leaving the game after seven innings.

One batter later, Angel Martinez added injury to insult by lining the ball off Whisenhunt for an RBI groundout. He stayed in the game to finish the inning, achieving a moral victory by being removed from the game for poor performance, not injury.

The Giants did get a very solid relief appearance from Trent Harris,. who struck out five Guardians in two innings. Reiver Sanmartin loaded the bases with no one out in the 7th, but should have escaped after inducing a popup and what would have been an inning-ending double play had Bryce Eldridge not dropped the relay throw.

All the same, all three Giants pitchers finished the game with ERAs north of 7, which is quite rare and impressive for the middle of August.

All the Giants scoring came off a second-inning home run from Bryce Eldridge, his 14th of the season.

The rookie made a nice play in the bottom of the inning, retiring former teammate Patrick Bailey with an athletic tag.

Eldridge had two hits off of tough lefty Foster Griffin (14-4), who have up five hits and two walks in six innings, striking out five. His 4th-inning single kicked off an almost-rally where the Giants loaded the bases with one out, only for Andrew Knizner to hit a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat. The next nine Giants also made outs.

That ended the Giants’ best scoring threat and also ended the home plate umpire’s night by fouling a ball off his mask. It was 7-1 by the end of the inning, so he didn’t miss much.

The Giants got two hits in the last five innings, both of them doubles. The second was 27-year-old rookie Turner Hill’s first major-league double and his second career hit, delighting a large contingent of friends, family, and various Hill-Heads who made the 160-mile trip to Cleveland from his hometown of Marietta, Ohio.

Jonax Cox paid tribute to “MajorLeague” by finding success imitating Willie Mays Hayes. When he pounded the ball into the ground, he hit a single to left and legged out an infield hit. And like Hayes in the first half of the movie, he got picked off his first time on base and missed a diving catch by about eight feet.

But the main problem in the game was that Whisenhunt couldn’t miss bats. He threw 80 pitches in the game and the Guardians only swung and missed at five of them. He was a regular Eddie Harris out there, while his battery mate couldn’t deliver the same footspeed as a Jake Taylor.

Meanwhile Roger Dorn would have been out with season-ending surgery and Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn would have already been traded for a toolsy middle infielder who can’t stop swinging at breaking balls out of the strike zone. And the Giants will remain juuuuust a bit outside of the playoff picture.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Giants fans and fans across the country.

The 2026 season has been full of bad news for the San Francisco Giants and their fans. And if you’re an optimist who sees a light at the end of the tunnel, well … that light will be dimmed very quickly, and not even because of anything the Giants do.

Yes, baseball is headed for a lockout, and while the last one was short, everything we’ve heard going into this one suggest it will be very long. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ spending and dominance and the altered landscape of regional sports networks and streaming platforms are large factors, and it seems like both sides will get bloody arguing over whether or not a salary cap should be introduced.

It will be ugly. You’ll get sick of hearing about it. I’ll get sick of writing about it.

But as long as it’s ugly, you might as well take a chance to be right, right? So give us your predictions as to how much baseball we are deprived of while watching billionaires argue with their (mostly) well-compensated employees.

DENVER –– It appeared the altitude got to Dodgers catcher Hunter Feduccia on Tuesday night.

That, or maybe the smash burger he had for lunch.

Feduccia was forced to leave the team’s 7-6 win over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night in the bottom of the seventh inning, after appearing to become ill behind the plate and throwing up in the dugout.

“He’s got this stomach bug or food poisoning, something like that,” manager Dave Roberts said afterward. “He was scuffling all game. So finally –– he went as long as he could go.”

Indeed, Feduccia was catching his second-straight game in this week’s series, and fourth in the last five days, when he finally gave way with one out in the seventh. 

After catching a slider from reliever Edgardo Henriquez for a strikeout to begin the inning, Feduccia doubled over behind the plate and looked like he was about to retch. 

He quickly raced off the field and back down the dugout stairs, but left behind a trail that required a stadium worker to later mop up near the team’s third-base bench.

“He gave us a great effort,” Roberts said, after Ben Rortvedt replaced Feduccia to complete the game.

Feduccia was part of a second-straight resurgent performance from the Dodgers’ offense, drawing two early walks in their eventual series-clinching win.

The victory was also keyed by Shohei Ohtani, who followed Feduccia’s first free pass with his 30th home run of the season in the third; Freddie Freeman, Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández, who each had two hits and combined for three RBIs; and even Kyle Tucker, who snapped his career-worst 0-for-26 hitless streak with an RBI double in the fourth. 

Just as important, however, was a five-inning, four-run start from Eric Lauer (a passing grade at mile-high altitude) and four innings of two-run ball from the bullpen (punctuated by a four-out save from Tanner Scott).

Feduccia was crucial to that effort early, displaying his growing comfort level with the Dodgers’ big-league pitching staff.

The former unheralded prospect –– who was traded by the team at last year’s deadline, then reacquired this year to bolster the team’s banged-up catching depth –– has become the team’s primary backstop lately, starting for the ninth time in the last 14 games on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, however, he’ll get a deserved break.

“I think we’re just trying to hydrate him,” Roberts said postgame. “He’ll be down tomorrow.”

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