Worldwide Sports News

TODAY’S GAME: The Houston Astros (36-42), who have won three of their last four series, will play the rubber game of their three-game set with the Cleveland Guardians (41-36) today in a Father’s Day matinee at Daikin Park.

RHP Kai-Wei Teng (3-6, 4.31 ERA), who tossed 2.2 scoreless innings against the Guardians back in April, will get the start for the Astros today opposite RHP Slade Cecconi (3-5, 4.60 ERA) and the Guardians.

MY WAY OR THE KAI-WEI: RHP Kai-Wei Teng has split his season between the bullpen (13g) and rotation (8 starts), posting a 4.31 ERA (26ER/54.1IP) and a .232 opponent average with 58 strikeouts in 54.1 innings pitched.

Teng is new to the Astros, as he was acquired from the Giants this offseason in exchange for minor leaguer C Jancel Villarroel.

A native of Taiwan, Teng is the second Taiwanese-born player to appear with the Astros in their history, joining RHP Chia Jen-Lo, who made 19 relief appearances with the Astros in 2013.

A MONTH OF WINNING: Over the last month, dating back to May 21, the Astros have gone 16-11 (.593), which ties as the fifth-best record in the Majors and is the second-best record in the AL.

Top Records since May 21 (AL)

1. Yankees 16-9 (.640)

2. Astros 16-11 (.593)

3. Blue Jays 16-12 (.571)

VS. THE GUARDIANS: The Astros and Guardians have played each other in the regular season 102 times in their franchise histories, with the two teams splitting those matchups with 51 wins apiece.

Those games have also been evenly split in Houston (26-26) and Cleveland (25-25), which includes a 23-23 record at Daikin Park.

RACKING UP K’S: The Astros have struck out 62 batters through 45.0 innings in five games this homestand, which are their most strikeouts in any five-game span this season.

In 2026, Astros pitchers rank fifth in the AL in strikeouts (671), while their opponent today, the Guardians, rank first with 707.

PEN PALS: Since May 15, the Astros bullpen has a 2.78 ERA (36ER/116.2IP) with 112 strikeouts, a 1.02 WHIP and a .190 opponent average.

Among AL teams since May 15, the Astros bullpen ranks first in ERA, first in WHIP, and first in opponent batting average.

The Astros are also 19-14 since May 15.

LAST NIGHT’S TRADE: Announced last night, the Astros acquired minor leaguer 1B Cameron Sisneros from the Cubs in exchange for RHP Jayden Murray.

Sisneros, 25, has split the 2026 season with Double A Knoxville and High A South Bend in the Cubs organization, batting a combined .265 (44×166) with eight doubles, six home runs, 37 RBI and an .840 OPS (.419 OBP/.422 SLG).

STREAK SNAPPED:DH Yordan Alvarez had his 25-game on-base streak snapped last night by going 0x3. In the streak, which ran from May 22 – June 19, Alvarez hit .366 (34×93) with nine homers, 24 RBI, 16 walks, a .459 OBP and a 1.158 OPS. This ranks as the fifth-longest streak of his career and his longest since the 2024 season.

BACK WITH A VENGEANCE: Since SS Jeremy Peña returned to the lineup on May 18, the Astros have gone 17-13, while Peña has hit .295 (33×112) with four doubles, six homers, 18 RBI and an .851 OPS in 30 games. Prior to that date, Peña played in only 10 of the Astros first 48 games of the season, with the Astros going 19-29 in those contests.

MY BOY BLU: RHP AJ Blubaugh struck out the side in a perfect 1.0 inning of relief last night, giving him five consecutive scoreless appearances (9IP), in which he’s struck out 11 batters with a .103 (3×29) opponent batting average. Blubaugh has been on a strong run since April 11, going 2-0 with a 2.29 ERA (10ER/39.1IP) in his last 25 appearances.

TODAY IN ASTROS HISTORY: 1973 – In a 12-2 win over the Padres, 1B Lee May becomes the second player in club history to hit three HR in a game. 2B Tommy Helms adds a grand slam. RHP Ken Forsch goes the distance for the win. A young LF Dave Winfield hits his first Major League homer for the Padres.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Sunday, June 21, 1:10 p.m. CT

Location: Daikin Park, Houston, TX

TV: SCHN

Radio: KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)

After an extremely rare Saturday off day, (thanks World Cup), the Royals, winners of three straight contests will try and sweep their in state rival, the St. Louis Cardinals. After the Cardinals won the first two matchups, the Royals have won the last three, already clinching a season series tie.

Stephen Kolek will get the start today for the Royals. Last Sunday, Kolek threw 7.1 scoreless innings against the Astros in a 4-0 victory. Over 8 starts with the Royals this season, Kolek has thrown 50.1 innings, with a 2.68 ERA and a 4-1 record. Kolek started the only game the Royals won in St Louis, going 6.1 innings, allowing 4 hits, no runs, 1 walk and striking out 3.

Bobby Witt Jr. is still out of the lineup, but Matt Quatraro said he is feeling and moving around better, he will be reevaluated before tomorrow’s game in Tampa Bay. Maikel Garcia is back in the lineup; he is batting second and playing shortstop.

Here is the rest of the Royals starters in today’s contest.

The Cardinals have lost three in a row, and 6 of their last 10 games. Dustin May will start for them today. May just threw a complete game shutout against the Padres, allowing just one hit. May did start against the Royals in St Louis, in that start he went 6 innings, allowing 4 hits, 3 runs, walking 4 and striking out 3.

Here is the Cardinals lineup behind May.

Both teams will be saluting to the Negro Leagues, wearing special hats, honoring their city’s negro league teams. The Royals are 32-45 on the season, they are 9 games back in the division, and 6 games back of the final wild card spot.

First pitch for today is set for 1:10 p.m. CT, the game can be watched on Royals.TV.

The St. Louis Cardinals will return to Kauffman Stadium Sunday after a day off thanks to World Cup activities in Kansas City. The Cardinals will ask Dustin May to be the best version of Dustin May as he gets the start Sunday afternoon. He’ll be up against RHP Stephen Kolek who’s 4-1 on the season for the Royals. First pitch scheduled for 1:10pm central time and the game broadcast will be available on Cardinals.tv.

San Diego Padres (39-36) at Texas Rangers (36-40), June 21, 2026, 11:35 a.m. PST

Watch: Padres.TV

Location: Globe Life Field – Arlington, TX

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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San Diego Padres @ Texas Rangers

Sunday, June 21, 2026, 1:35 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / Rangers Sports Network)

The Shed

RHP Lucas Giolito vs. RHP Nathan Eovaldi

Go Rangers!

Detroit Tigers vs. Chicago White Sox

Time/Place: 1:40 p.m., Comerica Park
SB Nation Site: South Side Sox
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: RHP Davis Martin (9-3, 3.31 ERA) vs. RHP Justin Verlander (0-1, 12.27 ERA)

Columbus Clippers 6, Scranton Railriders 3

Clippers improve to 41-32

Don’t look now, but catching prospect Kody Huff has quietly been having a great season in Columbus as well. Huff was perfect at the plate on Saturday, going 1-for-1 with a home run and three walks, raising his season OPS to .929, which is second on the team only to Cooper ingle.

Speaking of Ingle, he walked and had an RBI from a sacrifice fly.

Other standouts for the day were Ralphy Velazquez, who went 2-for-4, and C.J. Kayfus, who went 1-fo-3 with a walk.

This game saw the activation of top pitching prospect Yorman Gomez and he was solid, striking out eight batters and walking zero in 3.2 innings. He allowed two runs on four hits.

Trenton Denholm followed with one run allowed in 3.2 additional innings and Franco Aleman finished off the game with 1.2 perfect innings and three strikeouts to earn his eight save.

Akron RubberDucks 1, Altoona Curve 3 (F/10)

RubberDucks fall to 34-33

There wasn’t much to say about this one on the offense end. Juan Benjamin had the best game, going 1-for-3 with a double, a steal and a walk. Jose Devers also went 1-for-3 with a walk.

Starting pitcher Josh Hartle was excellent, allowing one run (zero earned) on just two hits in 6.1 innings pitched. He struck out four and walked three.

Jack Jasiak followed with 1.2 scoreless innings and four strikeouts and Jack Carey initially pitched a scoreless ninth inning, but then gave up two runs in the top of the 10^th and Akron was unable to answer.

Hill City Howlers 10, Augusta GreenJackets 11

Howlers fall to 31-37

There was plenty of offense for Hill City, just not enough pitching on Saturday. Luis De La Cruz paved the way, going an impressive 4-for-5 from the field with a home run and a double, just missing the cycle by a triple. He also stole a base.

Dauri Fernandez singled, walked twice and stole two bases while Anthony Martinez doubled and walked twice. Martinez has a .945 OPS at Hill City and should be playing at Lake County right now. I expect a promotion by the All-Star break.

Johnathan Martinez also had an excellent game, going 2-for-4 with a home run.

Starting pitcher Will McCausland was knocked around for five runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and a walk in 5.1 innings pitched. Keegan Zinn allowed another three runs in just 0.2 innings.

Unfortunately, after Hill City rallied for four runs to take a 10-8 lead in the top of the ninth inning Ettore Giulianelli failed to get more than one out before giving up three runs to allow Augusta to walk it off.

ACL Guardians 11, ACL Royals 4

Guardians improve to 23-14

The ACL Guardians struck early and often in this one, jumping out to a 6-0 lead in the first two innings and then adding another five runs the rest of the way thanks to 11 hits and seven walks.

Once again, the Guardians were paced by Alejandro Blasco, who has been a freaking revelation this season at the ACL. The kid does nothing but tattoo the ball, hitting .500 with a ridiculous 1.887 OPS in the rookie league.

Blasco blasted two more home runs on Saturday, going 3-for-4 with six RBIs and a walk. In 12 games played thus far, he has seven home runs, five doubles and 11 walks. Yes, he’s averaging at least one extra base hit and one walk per game.

Pedro Dalmagro also had a great game, going 4-for-5 with a triple. Steven Cruz reached base three times by going 1-for-3 with two walks and three stolen bases while Rodny Rosario went 1-for-3 with a double and two walks.

Rehabbing pitcher Harrison Bodendorf allowed two runs on four hits in 2.0 innings. Erigaldi Perez stood out on the mound, allowing one run on five hits with two strikeouts and two walks in 4.1 innings.

The precipice of getting swept: a familiar, yet unfamiliar, circumstance on the South Side as of late.

Familiar because, hey, we watched this team in 2023, 2024 and 2025. It’s not like we didn’t see the brooms get broken out with more regularity than just about any set of fans, ever. Hell, they got swept three times in the first 19 games of the season just this year!

Now, just when we thought we’d broken free, all we can do is watch the Tigers creep back over the horizon like an eagle returning for another go at Prometheus.

Nonetheless, Davis Martin is probably the guy we want to see out on the hill to claw a game back and thwart the sweep. Despite Martin’s clunker against the Yankees earlier this week, he’s still giving them the best chance to win when he steps on the field, and this is the kind of game they need to get if they want to show that this magical first half hasn’t been a pure mirage.

I am going to be looking closely at Martin’s velocity early in the game. His four-seamer has slowed down incrementally in three straight starts now, going from a peak of 95.2 mph on May 16 to 93.8 mph last Tuesday, slowest since April. There’s a pretty strong argument that Martin’s start against the Yankees looks a bit differently if simple bad luck hadn’t let Ben Rice squib one against the shift in the third inning, or had Jacob Gonzalez not forgotten to cover his own base a few batters later.

That being said, Martin’s stuff was not at its sharpest on Tuesday, and when you factor in his six-run stinker against Minnesota a few starts back, it might begin to constitute a worrisome trend if it persists today. Martin threw just a single fewer inning in his first 14 starts last season than he has through his first 14 of this year, but it was after his 14th start of last year that he went on the IL with a forearm strain that wound up costing him a month. Going on the standard four days rest this afternoon, today could be a litmus test for where the budding ace is at right now.

Also, hey, Grant Taylor is available! Just like yesterday, and Thursday, and Wednesday and Tuesday. When asked about Taylor’s inactivity, Will Venable yesterday sounded frighteningly close to the precipice of simply walking back their preseason ramp-up goal of 100 innings pitched.

I don’t love it. Let’s hope this Sunday lineup can keep them in the game long enough for Taylor to show his face today.

Today marks just the second day off of the season for Miguel Vargas, who has earned a breather more than just about anybody else on this roster. Though he was still hitting the ball plenty hard, Vargas has run into some hard luck as of late, going just three for his last 27 without a walk over the last seven games.

The state of the Tigers offense is rough, and letting them complete the sweep would be quite a deflation in a way that no loss to the Yankees ever could be. I genuinely thought for a moment that this was a light getaway day lineup from A.J. Hinch before realizing that James Outman and Trei Cruz are actually near the top of their depth charts.

We’ve got an early one yet again, as first pitch is scheduled for 12:40 p.m. CT at Comerica Park in downtown Detroit. If you want to join us, broadcasts are available on CHSN (TV) and WMVP AM 1000 (radio), like always!

It’s series finale time, as the San Francisco Giants finish off their South Beach series against the Miami Marlins with some Sunday day baseball. The Giants are sending ace Logan Webb (4-4, 3.46 ERA) to the mound, against right-hander (and Santa Rosa native) Ryan Gusto (0-2, 7.24 ERA).

Enjoy the Sunday baseball, everybody.

Game #78

Who: San Francisco Giants vs. Miami Marlins

Where: loanDepot Park, Miami, Florida

When: 10:40 a.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

It’s raining in Chicago today, and the conclusion of the Jays’ seties with the Cubs has been preemptively bumped to August:

As Wilner notes, this is a really tough break. Instead of a pretty favourable matchup against Shota Imanaga [not Seiya Suzuki, who is a DH, apologies for the error in the original version of this post], with some momentum after yesterday’s big comeback, Dylan Cease will face a much tougher opponent in Hunter Brown tomorrow night. Resting the bullpen undoubtedly helps, but that 17 game stretch in August ia going to be a brutal slog right as the wildcard race really takes shape.

Plus, we all now have a Sunday afternoon to kill. On Father’s Day of all days.

After the Rays took game one, the Nats grinded out a one run win in game two of the three game set. That sets the stage for a rubber match this afternoon. The Nats will look to win yet another series, while the Rays look to stay hot at home.

Blake Butera made a few tweaks to his lineup. Jacob Young is out of the lineup after banging into the wall yesterday. The outfield will consist of Daylen Lile in left, Dylan Crews in center and James Wood in right. Jose Tena will be in the DH spot and Drew Millas will be behind the plate. Andrew Alvarez is on the mound, and the Nats will look for more length than usual from the southpaw.

With a lefty on the mound, the Rays are making a few changes. Ryan Vilade will make his first start of the series in right field. Jonny DeLuca will also be back in the lineup. Ben Williamson will play second base, while Nick Fortes gets his first start of the series behind the plate. Nick Martinez has been a great signing for the Rays, and will take the ball today.

Game Info:

Stadium: Tropicana Field

Time: 1:40 PM EST

TV: Nationals.TV

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

This is a big rubber match for both teams. The Nats will look to enter a massive 4 game clash with the Phillies with some momentum. Another series win would be a massive boost for the boys on this Father’s Day. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!

We were dazzled on Friday night, and disappointed yesterday. The Yankees, and certainly the readership, are hoping to be at least satisfied come Sunday afternoon, as the club looks to win yet another series, this time against the Reds. It’s not going to be easy — Chase Burns isn’t quite Cam Schlittler, but he is The Guy The Reds Turn To In Games Like This.

The 23-year-old Burns showed flashes of his potential last year, and is rounding himself into a damn good form this season, his first full in The Show. (This will actuallly be his second start against the Yanks, as he fanned eight Yankees in his MLB debut last year.) The second overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft out of Wake Forest, Burns features one of the best fastballs in the game and maybe the best slider, a hilarious pitch with a .192 wOBA against and a 52.6 percent whiff rate that made me laugh aloud when I looked it up. If a Yankee gets to two strikes today, you can have a pretty good idea what pitch Burns is going to turn to. The problem is most major-league hitters haven’t been able to help themselves even when they know what’s coming.

Rodríguez is a little bit of a different story. The org’s top pitching prospect at the start of the season, the righty has been more than respectable with Triple-A Scranton but has stumbled a little in his first three MLB starts. He has been used in times of semi-to-real emergency, which might explain part of it, but the big issue is his walks. He’s walked more big leaguers than he’s struck out, and at this level you’re just allowing too much traffic for anything to happen. Despite what we saw yesterday, the Reds aren’t typically a powerhouse offense — if you don’t give them chances, you can have a decent day on the mound.

Spencer Jones gets a taste of the cleanup spot today, and Jasson Domínguez finds himself batting in the two hole. The youngsters look to play a significant role in the game for at least one day. Also note that Austin Wells is back with the Yankees today, activated off the IL following a rehab assignment in Triple-A. J.C. Escarra was sent back to Triple-A with the Yanks electing to keep Ali Sánchez as the backup.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium – Bronx, NY

First pitch: 1:35 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, RedsTV

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY) | WLW 700 (CIN)

Streaming: Gotham Sports App, MLB.tv (out-of-market only)

For updates, follow us on BlueSky, Twitter, and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

Here’s the Guardians lineup:

Here’s the Astros lineup:

Let’s go, Guardians!