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Clay Holmes will take a big step towards his return this weekend.

Holmes is set to make his first rehab start Saturday night with High-A Brooklyn.

The right-hander has been sidelined since mid-May with a fractured fibula. 

Holmes has been progressing well in his recovery over the past few weeks, and Andy Green said pregame Thursday that he looked like himself as he completed another bullpen session on Tuesday.  

Green indicated Holmes was inching closer to a rehab assignment, and now he's been deemed ready. 

According to Will Sammon of the Athletic, multiple teams are expected to be scouting that first minor league outing with Holmes being a potential trade candidate ahead of the Aug. 3 deadline.  

The Mets, of course, could elect hold onto him as well as they look to draw up a potential extension. 

Holmes was one of New York's most consistent arms before being injured on a comebacker, pitching to a stellar 2.39 ERA and 1.10 WHIP across his first nine outings of the season. 

There is mutual interest between the two sides to keep him in Queens beyond this season. 

The All-Star break has come to a close, and that means it’s time for real baseball to once again commence. A 3-game sweep courtesy of the New York Yankees left a sour taste in the mouths of Nats’ fans going into the break, despite an otherwise productive month of July to date, and now it’s time for the club to kick it into second gear and push for a playoff berth. They start their second-half journey to October on the West Coast, with 3 games against the Athletics on tap for this weekend.

While Washington is looking to bounce back from their series against New York, the A’s are attempting to fully turn the page and leave their prior July performance behind them. They took down the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-1 to begin the month, but have since lost 9 consecutive games dating back to July 3rd. Coming off 3 straight sweeps is never an ideal spot, and the Nats will be tasked with continuing to bury them in the standings.

Game One – Friday 9:40 PM EST

ATH: LHP Gage Jump (3-4, 3.51 ERA)

WSH: RHP Cade Cavalli (5-4, 3.83 ERA)

It’s been a splendid rookie campaign thus far for Jump, elevating him quickly to the status of one of their rotation’s most reliable arms. His egregious 2-game skid to end June and kick off July raised his ERA by over 1.5 points, but he settled down and held the White Sox to just 1 run across 5.2 innings his last time through the rotation.

Questions about Cavalli’s workload may arise in the near future, but for now, it’s full steam ahead for the 27-year-old. He will be leaned on heavily to stabilize the rotation, and the Nats’ coaching staff likely pushes him to take another step forward in his development. The righty has yet to toss a scoreless outing this year, albeit being an objectively solid starter, and it would be a great sign for him to go out there and set the tone for the second half.

Game Two – Saturday 10:05 PM EST

ATH: RHP JT Ginn (7-6, 3.67 ERA)

WSH: RHP Zack Littell (7-6, 4.90 ERA)

Speaking of taking a step forward, that’s exactly what Ginn has managed to do through 21 appearances in 2026. His season numbers are heavily swayed by the 8 runs he surrendered to Chicago in his last start, and the Nats’ lineup will look to force a repeat of that blowup outing.

Littell’s ERA has been lowered in each of his last 4 starts, a trend that will need to continue if Washington is to make a legitimate run at the postseason. He’s missed more bats as of late, and his ability to limit walks has also been a noticeable improvement from his early-season struggles.

Game Three – Sunday 4:05 PM EST

ATH: LHP Jacob Lopez (4-3, 6.83 ERA)

WSH: LHP Foster Griffin (10-2, 2.77 ERA)

Lopez’s numbers are certainly indicative of the pitcher he’s been (or hasn’t been able to be), with neither his stamina nor his effectiveness emerging as particularly impressive traits. He tossed 1.2 scoreless innings as an opener in Chicago, and that role may be more fitting for the southpaw who has yet to throw 6.0 innings in a start.

The Nationals’ “alpha dog” of their pitching staff takes the hill in the series finale, fresh off his first career All-Star Game selection. He put up an undeniably All-Star-level first half, and he’s the best bet to lead the Washington rotation down the stretch, assuming he isn’t moved before the August 3rd trade deadline.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Cubs fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

The Cubs begin the “second half” (actually, the second “a bit more than 40 percent”) of the 2026 season tonight against the Minnesota Twins at Wrigley Field.

They stand five games behind the Brewers for first place in the NL Central, and one game ahead of the Phillies for the top wild card spot (incidentally, thanks Mets for defeating the Phillies Thursday!).

That’s a good position for a postseason spot. Obviously a division title and possible first-round bye would be better, but the Cubs hosted a Wild Card series against the Padres last year and won it before being eliminated in the division series round by the Brewers.

So earlier this week in the SB Nation Reacts survey I asked you where you thought the Cubs would finish. Here are the results:

Here’s where I’m going to disagree with the majority. I think the Cubs are going to continue the run they’re on (20-8 over the last four and a half weeks before the All-Star break) and beat out the Brewers and be NL Central champions. And if they are, I also think they’ll have a better record than the Braves, and so will join the Dodgers as the division champions with first-round byes.

The Cubs seem well positioned to make the postseason regardless, as the majority of voters in the survey said. Six percent disagree with that and said the Cubs won’t make it.

As always, we await developments.

Here are the results for the two national questions asked in this week’s survey.

I’m surprised that this number is only 59 percent. It seems clear that MLB made a mistake moving the Draft from June to the All-Star break. The purported reason for that was to get the Draft more attention, and instead it’s getting less, buried among several other All-Star week events. This is how bad it got:

The last item would be funny if it weren’t so sad. Beyond all this, putting the Draft in July means front offices have to pay attention to that rather than the Trade Deadline, which is now just 17 days away. It would be a good idea to separate those, in my view.

That’s a huge majority, and you already know how I feel about this, as I wrote an entire article on this topic earlier in the week.

Move the Futures Game to Sunday and make it the featured Sunday Night Baseball game. And make it a nine-inning affair again. That’s a simple and elegant solution.

Enjoy the rest of the MLB season. It begins again in just a few hours!

This edition of SB Nation Reacts is sponsored by FanDuel.

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The St. Louis Cardinals head into the desert to visit the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight at Chase Field.

The game projects to be close to a pick'em, with the Cardinals at -106 on the moneyline. Below, I explain why I like the visitors on the moneyline in my Cardinals vs. Diamondbacks predictions.

We've got a high-scoring game in tap in our MLB picks for Friday, July 17.

Who will win Cardinals vs Diamondbacks today: Cardinals (-106)

Fade Merrill Kelly.

The veteran Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander can still generate some chase, but that's about the only nice thing you can say about his 2026 season. His ERA is an ugly 5.38, and his expected ERA is even worse at 7.44. 

Lest this turn into a rundown of every statistical deficiency as seen on his Baseball Savant page, the crux of the matter is he doesn't miss bats, and he's getting barreled when opponents make contact. Which they do. All of the time. 

The St. Louis Cardinals offense has been up and down, but I like this matchup. Jordan Walker, fresh off his exhilarating Home Run Derby win, is a nightmare matchup for Kelly. He has 100th-percentile bat speed and ranks among baseball's elite in hard contact, barrel rate, and average exit velocity.

Kelly's inability to generate whiffs will help neutralize Walker's propensity to strike out, though he's made strides in that department as well, going from 31.8% in 2025 to 24.8% this year. He's getting to the ball and doing damage when he does.

The Cardinals will stack the lineup with lefty hitters, too, with Alec Burleson, Lars Nootbaar, and JJ Wetherholt, all of whom boast a wRC+ north of 115 vs. right-handers on the season.

COVERS INTEL: Walker's blast contact rate of 23.2% ranks fifth in MLB. The explosiveness of his bat will not be held in check, as Kelly has the worst BlastCon% among D-Backs hurlers at 18.9%.

Cardinals vs Diamondbacks Over/Under pick: Over 9.5 (+105)

Having outlined why the Cardinals will run up the score against Kelly, we're well on our way toward the game total Over. And while I prefer St. Louis starter Michael McGreevy, he's not without his own issues.

Like Kelly, McGreevy is not a power pitcher. Where they differ, however, is that McGreevy does an elite job of limiting free passes (5.7% walk rate). He lives in the zone, forcing opponents to swing.

And while the results have been good (a 3.01 ERA!), a lot of that has been lucky. His 5.34 expected ERA is more than two full runs higher, and all of his contact metrics are alarming.

He keeps the ball on the ground, which is helpful when you have Wetherholt and Masyn Winn up the middle, but he's playing with fire.

Still, as we're expecting a bad night from Kelly, McGreevy surrendering two or three runs before handing things off to a middling Cardinals bullpen (4.22 ERA) should be enough.

Cardinals vs Diamondbacks weather

While Chase Field has a retractable roof, it will be closed for the duration of this series with the Cardinals. Weather will not play a role.

Cardinals vs Diamondbacks odds

• Moneyline: Cardinals +100 | Diamondbacks -104
• Run line: Cardinals -1.5 (+156) | Diamondbacks +1.5 (-163)
• Over/Under: Over 9.5 (+117) | Under 9.5 (-122)

Cardinals vs Diamondbacks trend

The St. Louis Cardinals have hit the Team Total Over in 16 of their last 23 away games (+8.30 Units / 31% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Cardinals vs. Diamondbacks.

How to watch Cardinals vs Diamondbacks and game info

Cardinals vs Diamondbacks latest injuries

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

Go Rays!

Ron Hunt, the Mets' first-ever All-Star Game starter, has died at the age of 85.

Hunt, an infielder for New York from his rookie season in 1963 (when he finished second in National League Rookie of the Year voting) through 1966, started the All-Star Game in 1964 during a season when he hit .303 with a .357 on-base percentage.

Hunt was also an All-Star for the Mets in 1966.

During his time with the Mets, Hunt hit .282 with a .344 OBP in 459 games.

After leaving the Mets, Hunt spent time with the Dodgers, Giants, Expos, and Cardinals before retiring following the 1974 season. 

In 1971 for the Expos, Hunt was hit by a pitch 50 times, setting a modern day record that still stands.

Hunt was a career .273/.368/.347 hitter in 1,483 games across 12 seasons. 

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year, we ask questions of the most plugged-in Kansas City Royals fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

Earlier this week, we asked how you felt about the Royals’ 2026 amateur draft

The plurality, 41%, of you felt indifferent about the draft. I wonder how much of that is because it’s just really difficult to tell how good an MLB draft is less than a week later and how much is because of some other reasons, of which there are many. I’m encouraged that 29% of respondents felt the Royals did pretty well, but amused that 27% felt the Royals did poorly. That close difference seems to highlight the “win” of the Indifferent voters. Only 3% of you felt the Royals had an excellent draft, and I think that’s fair because I’m not convinced that there was such a thing to be had as an excellent draft in 2026.

When the Royals took Bobby Witt Jr. second overall in the 2019 draft, it was a franchise-altering move. It was also only available to them because they had a top-two pick in a draft that was distinguished by its two best prospects. It would have been an excellent draft for the team even if no other picks worked out. Now, obviously, the Royals got a bunch of other players in that draft who reached the bigs, including Vinnie Pasquantino, Tyler Tolbert, and Michael Massey. Honestly, that’s almost a stratospherically good draft. But we couldn’t have known so many of those guys would work out as well as they have at the time.

Zion Rose is a guy who could be very good; I know I mentioned Keith Law being high on him when I posted the original question, but he expanded since then and insisted that Rose was a top-10 pick offensive talent held back by poor defense. But he’s not a generational talent in the sense that Witt was. So it’s hard to immediately feel amazing about this draft. Hopefully, by this time next year, we will see not just Rose making huge strides, but also, hopefully, at least a handful of the other guys moving through the system. Maybe if we held the poll again, then, that 3% could rise a bit.

These survey results are sponsored by FanDuel.

With a few days to rest and reevaluate after a disappointing end to the first half of the season, the Mariners are hoping to start fresh after the All-Star break. Julio Rodriguez and Brendan Donovan should be returning from their injuries sooner rather than later, and the team will kick off the stretch run with a six-game homestand against a pair of weaker National League teams. That’s a pretty soft landing to begin the second half of the season, hopefully providing the team a spark ahead of a huge matchup against Texas next weekend.

It’s been a rough season for the Giants, both on and off the field. This team was supposed to be good enough to challenge for a NL Wild Card spot, but they’re looking like they’ll need to reset their roster for next year at the trade deadline. The uninspired play on the field is one thing, but the off-field issues are overshadowing everything. There was the Pride Night controversy, the mismanagement from new manager Tony Vitello, tone deaf comments from players and president of baseball operations Buster Posey. It’s been a circus, and it’s hard not to believe that all those distractions are taking a toll on the team’s play on the field.

There are a few bright spots to point to in the lineup. Luis Arraez earned a spot on the NL All-Star team thanks to a career-best season. His power output is the highest it’s ever been thanks to the expansive gaps in Oracle Park, helping him earn 21 doubles and seven triples. What’s more impressive is that he’s turned himself into an excellent defender at second base thanks to the tutelage of infield guru Ron Washington. Rafael Devers got off to a slow start but he’s posted a 147 wRC+ and 12 home runs since the beginning of June. The other two stars in the lineup, Willy Adames and Matt Chapman, haven’t found much consistency this year; both are in the midst of career-worst seasons. With those two stars unable to produce in the middle of the lineup, San Francisco has had to turn to breakout utility infielder Casey Schmitt and rookie Bryce Eldridge to carry a lot of the load.

Probable Pitchers 

Updated Stuff+ Explainer 

• Stuff+ scores for Mariners starters

Landen Roupp has taken a big step forward on the mound this year. His strikeout rate is nearly four points higher than it was last year, leading to a 3.29 FIP that ranks 12th in the majors. Unfortunately, he was also one of the pitchers at the center of the Giants’ Pride Night controversy a month ago, which has overshadowed the progress he’s made on the field. As our own Ryan Blake pointed out on FanGraphs back in April, Roupp’s improvement this year seems to stem from his position on the mound. That’s helped him disguise his two best pitches, his sinker and curveball, a bit better. His spotty command is still holding him back from joining the game’s elite, and he’s been a bit unlucky to run such a high ERA despite his solid peripherals.

Few pitchers have been as consistent and durable as Logan Webb has been over the past five years. He’s accumulated at least 4.1 fWAR in every season since 2021, though that streak might be broken this year. After enjoying a huge jump in strikeouts last year, his K% has fallen to the lowest it’s been since 2020. Both his walk rate and groundball rate are approaching career worsts as well. He spent three weeks on the IL in May with a knee injury — the first time he’s dealt with any kind of injury since 2022 — which could be affecting his performance on the field. He’s also throwing his four-seamer and cutter a lot more often this year at the expense of his sweeper; that pitch mix change could explain some, but not all, of the issues he’s facing.

After recovering from Tommy John surgery in 2024, Robbie Ray put together a full, healthy season last year. He’s not the same pitcher that won the AL Cy Young in 2021, nor the pitcher we saw for a single season in Seattle. His 7.4% walk rate during those two years looks like an aberration; he’s back up above 10% in his three seasons in San Francisco. More importantly, his strikeout rate has fallen in consecutive seasons, and it now sits at just 20.3%, the lowest it’s been since his rookie cup of coffee back in 2014. He’s also diversified his pitch mix, adding a changeup and a sinker to give him a deeper five-pitch repertoire to keep batters off his signature four-seamer and slider.

The Big Picture:

The Rangers eeked out a series win over the Astros last weekend to maintain a 1.5 game lead in the division. Texas travels to Atlanta this weekend while Houston hosts Baltimore. In the Wild Card race, the Mariners are tied with the surprising Twins and the surging Red Sox, riding a nine-game win streak, are just a half game back. Minnesota travels to Chicago to face the Cubs while the Red Sox host the Rays.

The St. Louis Cardinals arguably have the most momentum of any team that did not have a game in the past week as the second half of the season begins today. With Jordan Walker stealing national headlines after putting on a show at the Home Run Derby, more eyes could be on the Cardinals than expected for a rebuilding team.

The start of the final 77 games will be at Chase Field in Arizona as the Diamondbacks will host the Cardinals for a three-game series that, to Paul Sewald’s pleasure, will have little to no chance of being delayed at the covered desert stadium. With two weeks until the trade deadline, the Cardinals have the opportunity to make conversations around the roster more interesting, but we could be nearing the end of a few St. Louis tenures.

The Diamondbacks host the Cardinals as the MLB second half begins

Even with Jordan Walker winning the Home Run Derby in dramatic fashion, there will be plenty watching his second half waiting for his demise so they can pass the blame to the exhibition event. However, preseason expectations for the team sat around .500 or below, so the Cardinals are playing with house money sitting at five games over and a solid chance to move past their win total from each of the previous two seasons. The season has already been a major win overall, but there is plenty of baseball left to make headlines one way or another.

One of the teams looking to jump the Cardinals is the Diamondbacks, who enter the series 1.5 games behind St. Louis and 2.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot. The pitching plans for the Cardinals line up for Michael McGreevy to kick things off, followed by Dustin May and Andre Pallante.

Game one (8:40pm): Michael McGreevy vs. Merrill Kelly

Game two (3:10pm): Dustin May vs. Brandon Pfaadt

Game three (3:10pm): Andre Pallante vs. Eduardo Rodriguez

The two teams begin the second half outside of where they set their preseason expectations, but for the Cardinals, that is a good thing. On the Arizona side of things, they have struggled in a difficult division and are 12 games under (19-31) against teams with a .500 or better record. The pitching matchups may cause some frustrations for hitters, especially on Sunday as each team brings their de facto ace to the bump.

Michael McGreevy will look to get his win-loss record back on track to go along with his 3.01 ERA and will face off against Merrill Kelly, who has been inconsistent all year. In game two, Dustin May looks to continue bolstering his trade value and help the Cardinals out with a win before potentially getting shipped out in a couple weeks. Brandon Pfaadt will take the mound for the D’Backs as he tries to stay hot since returning to the Arizona rotation. In the final game, 10-game winner Andre Pallante will take on southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez, who has had a great bounceback season after back-to-back down years.

It is great to have baseball back and the second half promises to be newsworthy, no matter where the Cardinals finish in the standings. In case you missed it, I put together a little second half primer with Daniel Shoptaw and Ethan Hannaford to keep the good vibes going!

Thanks as always!

The thing about technology is that when one entity sees something work well, then everyone wants it.

For a few years Major League Baseball has been experimenting with Automated Balls and Strikes — some call them Robo-umps — to try and figure out a way to create consistency throughout a sport where subjectivity can creep in and an Umpire has the ability to make a point depending on how they feel on a particular day. This experiment started at the Minor League level, where ballparks were equipped to be able to track where exactly the baseball crossed home plate and if it was within the strike zone.

How to implement the system was always a big question. Do you have the system essentially call every ball and strike, or do you still have the human error approach with the occasional challenge by someone? They tried both in the minors and eventually settled on a challenge system. It went well, and this past year it was implemented in the major leagues to nearly universal praise.

Now with fans seeing it successful in both the minor and major leagues, there was a quick call to bring it to the college level. Some schools already have some form of the equipment set up as part of their way to help train their hitters on how to spot a strike. Some reporters have access to this equipment and will be able to tell you in real time if a call was right or wrong according to it. It appears that was enough for the NCAA.

This, of course, opens up a whole can of worms, as baseball was the one sport in which the little guy still had a bit of a fighting chance for a while. See this year’s NCAA Tournament that saw multiple big programs fall by the wayside while schools people didn’t even know existed went into these stadiums and won. Now, it’s likely there’ll be another thing they’ll feel like they have to add to their stadiums in order to compete.

This move is really important for the College World Series. The home of the CWS has Trackman, which ESPN tapped into during the event to provide analytics, meaning that during the sport’s championship there’ll be a way for pitchers and catchers to appeal calls. It won’t completely end situations where coaches and umpires get into it about a call behind the plate because if there’s a limit to the challenges like in the pros, there will be situations where that limit will be hit. Still, in situations where an umpire is wrong, teams will have a chance to fix the error.

This has the chance of deflating the ego of umpires just a little bit when they are proven wrong in real time, as well reinforce good behaviors. It may also decrease the art of “yanking” by catchers where they grab a ball out of the zone and try to pull it in. It’ll become less necessary if a batter feels the call was inaccurate.

We’ll see what the rules will be over its use when the Oversight Committee reviews the proposal, but it looks like there will be another element to watch at Boshamer and other stadiums across the country. Quite frankly, it’s also another opportunity for schools to seek sponsorship for an aspect of the game.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Brewers fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

In this week’s Reacts survey, we asked fans to grade the Brewers at the unofficial midpoint. The results were about what you’d expect:

The Brewers, who currently sit at 59-37 with a five-game lead in the NL Central and the second-best record in baseball, overwhelmingly received positive grades in the poll, with 86% of votes coming at A- or higher. The “A” grade finished at the top with 41% because, after all, there’s always room for improvement.

Rather than rehashing how well the Brewers have done this season, I decided to take a look at the grades and expectations of others around the league at this point.

To begin, you can take a look at our staff midseason awards and grades, where you’ll see that five of our six contributors gave Milwaukee an A (with only Jackson putting them at an A-).

The Athletic also released their latest poll results this morning, as 21/22 voters picked Milwaukee to win the NL Central (the lone other vote went to Chicago), all 22 voters said Milwaukee will make the postseason, 3/22 picked Milwaukee to win the NL pennant, and 2/22 picked the Brewers to win the World Series. Also of note: 3/22 voters picked the Brewers to finish the season with the most wins, 4/22 picked the Brewers to win at least 100 games (a threshold the franchise has never achieved), and 13/22 picked Milwaukee as their “dark horse” World Series contender. Lastly, 15/22 picked Jacob Misiorowski to win NL Cy Young, with Cristopher Sánchez picking up six votes and Shohei Ohtani receiving one vote.

ESPN’s second-half preview includes the Brewers as one of “The Big Four,” alongside the Dodgers, Rays, and Braves. They give Milwaukee a projected final record of 98-64, with 16.5% odds to win the World Series, second to only the Dodgers’ 27.5%.

Bleacher Report released a list of bold predictions for each team, and they picked Jacob Misiorowski to set the franchise strikeout record, which currently sits at 264 by Ben Sheets back in 2004.

Lastly, I’ll just mention that FanDuel Sportsbook currently gives the Brewers -600 odds to win the NL Central (bet $600 to win $100), +270 odds to win 100-plus games (bet $100 to win $270), and +1100 odds to win the World Series (bet $100 to win $1100), tied with the Mariners for the fourth-best odds in baseball, behind only the Dodgers, Yankees, and Braves.

Brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.

The real test begins. This is the true start of the second half of the season and this is where the Red Sox either prove they’re worth their mettle or show us they are who we thought they were. Let’s get it.

Game 1

⚾️Time: 1:35pm – Fenway Park, Boston, MA

📺 TV: NESN

📻 Radio: WEEI

Pitching Matchup: Jake Bennett vs. Griffin Jax

Game 2

⚾️Time: 7:10pm – Fenway Park, Boston, MA

📺 TV: NESN

📻 Radio: WEEI

Pitching Matchup: Eduardo Rivera vs. TBD