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After making a couple of outsideadditions at the trade deadline, the New York Yankees are now looking internally for what they hope will be another helping (farm) hand in their playoff push.

Infielder George Lombard Jr., the team's top minor league prospect, is getting the call to the majors for Tuesday night's home game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Yankees have gotten disappointing results this season from two former top prospects, outfielder Jasson Dominguez and shortstop Anthony Volpe, so much so that both are expected to be sent to the team's Class Triple-A affiliate in Scranton-Wilkes Barre (Pennsylvania) to open up a roster spot for Lombard and trade deadline acquisition Heliot Ramos.

After a 13-7 loss to the Cardinals on Monday, Aug. 3, the Yanks (63-50) sit 3½ games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East division.

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After falling 13-7 to the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday, in a game that saw 10 home runs, the New York Yankees look to regroup as -186 home favorites tonight.

My Cardinals vs. Yankees predictions and MLB picks think that's too steep a price to pay with Ryan Weathers toeing the rubber on Tuesday, Aug. 4.

Who will win Cardinals vs Yankees today: Cardinals moneyline (+152)

This is a bit of a lean, but the value on the St. Louis Cardinals is too good to pass up.

New York Yankees left-hander Ryan Weathers has been fine. His 3.99 ERA is certainly respectable, but his peripherals do not inspire much confidence, even against a Cardinals lineup that has looked fairly anemic aside from last night's explosion.

Weathers generates a fair amount of swing-and-miss (73rd-percentile strikeout rate), but he always seems to get squared up at some point by opposing offenses, as evidenced by his 25th-percentile barrel rate and 23rd-percentile hard-hit rate.

The Cardinals have been somewhat middling against left-handers, overall, but Jordan Walker and Ivan Herrera have thrived in the split. Even if Walker has cooled a bit lately, he owns a 153 wRC+ vs. lefties, which is not only the best on the team but a Top-15 mark across MLB (min. 100 plate appearances).

St. Louis starter Hunter Dobbins isn't a dominant hurler. However, he keeps the ball on the ground relatively well (45.5% ground-ball rate), and he can navigate a depleted Yankees lineup well enough to give the Cardinals a chance to win at significant plus money.

I'd play this down to +135.

COVERS INTEL: Walker is succeeding due to pure strength. Despite a 13th-percentile squared-up rate and a 50th-percentile sweet-spot launch angle average, he's still hit 22 home runs. He may only be a minor adjustment or two away from really taking off.

Cardinals vs Yankees Over/Under pick: Under 8.5 (-116)

For as many runs as crossed the plate on Monday night, the Yankees didn't burn closer David Bednar, lefty set-up man Brent Headrick, or long reliever Paul Blackburn. That trio has served as New York's most reliable relief arms this season, so if Weathers exits early, the Yankees are in good shape to stop the bleeding.

And despite the Cardinals' offensive outburst, including three home runs off the bat of Alec Burleson alone, the Cardinals are batting .214 with a 70 wRC+ over the last 30 days. Both are MLB lows over that time.

Weather conditions also favor a lower-scoring output, with wind blowing in toward home plate from right field. This is expected to suppress extra-base hit potential and limit scoring opportunities, per BallparkPal.

This isn't a case of "these teams scored all of their runs last night," but a situation that lends to a more conservative scoring total. I'd play the Under 8.5 to -130 and consider Under 7.5 if it's +130 or longer.

Cardinals vs Yankees Home Run pick: Ivan Herrera (+650)

Herrera is the second-best Cardinals slugger against left-handed pitching. He rarely strikes out in the matchup (13.4%) and has hit five of his 12 home runs off of southpaws. 

The odds for him to clear the fences are among the highest on the board, with Burleson closer to +400 despite much worse numbers in the split.

Make it a half-unit wager because the weather conditions aren't ideal for power, but I like the number we're getting on one of the team's premier lefty-mashers.

Cardinals vs Yankees weather

Sunny with 5-9 mph winds blowing in from right field, which could prevent Yankee Stadium from playing small, as it did last night.

Cardinals vs Yankees odds

• Moneyline: Cardinals +178 | Yankees -186
• Run line: Cardinals +1.5 (-122) | Yankees -1.5 (+117)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 (+104) | Under 8.5 (-108)

Cardinals vs Yankees trend

The St. Louis Cardinals have hit the Moneyline in 27 of their last 50 away games (+8.80 Units / 17% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Cardinals vs. Yankees.

How to watch Cardinals vs Yankees and game info

Cardinals vs Yankees latest injuries

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The Texas Rangers are massive -186 favorites over the San Francisco Giants tonight at Globe Life Field.

While I like Texas straight up, my Giants vs. Rangers predictions and MLB picks see more value in the run line, especially when considering MacKenzie Gore's success at home on Tuesday, Aug. 4.

Who will win Giants vs Rangers today: Rangers -1.5 (+109)

I like the Texas Rangers to defeat the San Francisco Giants tonight, but I'm not paying the -186 juice to make that happen. Often, in that scenario, I'll pivot to the underdogs on the moneyline as a pure value play (something I did in my Cardinals vs. Yankees predictions today), but I do not like the Giants in this spot at all, so I'll go for Texas on the run line.

MacKenzie Gore is better than his 4.77 ERA suggests. His 3.83 xERA isn't elite, but it tells us he's getting burned by bad luck. Much of this is due to opposing offenses squaring him up, as he owns an unseemly 9.2% barrel rate (23rd percentile) and a 42.4% hard-hit rate (25th percentile).

That shouldn't matter against the Giants. San Francisco has a team wRC+ of 91 (league average being 100) against left-handed pitching. They are now missing their four best hitters against southpaws, with Heliot Ramos and Luis Arraez traded and Casey Schmitt and Matt Chapman injured.

Blade Tidwell has barely pitched at the MLB level this season, but his Triple-A numbers aren't exactly promising, with a walk rate north of 10% over 72 innings.

I'd play the run line to +100.

COVERS INTEL: Tidwell worked primarily as a reliever earlier in the season, and while he's been stretched out in the minors, a long outing can't be expected, and he'll give things over to a depleted Giants bullpen that owns a 4.25 ERA (19th) and just traded away Caleb Killian and Erik Miller.

Giants vs Rangers Over/Under pick: Under 7.5 (+105)

Globe Life Field plays large, and with the dome closed tonight, the extreme heat won't be in play to help the ball fly.

Gore has been a primary beneficiary of a home-field advantage, posting a 3.61 ERA in Arlington and a 5.79 ERA on the highway. 

Even if I expect the Rangers to win by multiple runs, Gore offers a distinct probability that the final score comes in Under 7.5. 

San Francisco's offense was already putrid before the trade deadline, and it's only gotten worse in the last 24 hours.

I'd play theUnder 7.5 to -105, but I'd prefer Under 8.5 at -122, which is also an option.

Giants vs Rangers weather

Due to summer heat, the Globe Life Field roof is expected to be closed for tonight's game.

Giants vs Rangers odds

• Moneyline: Giants +178 | Rangers -186
• Run line: Giants +1.5 (-122) | Rangers -1.5 (+113)
• Over/Under: Over 7.5 (-117) | Under 7.5 (+113)

Giants vs Rangers trend

The San Francisco Giants have hit the Team Total Under in 23 of their last 40 away games (+4.45 Units / 10% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Giants vs. Rangers.

How to watch Giants vs Rangers and game info

Giants vs Rangers 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.

The Mets (47-66) are back in action tonight as they visit the Guardians (57-56) for a three-game series in Cleveland. Simply put, the Mets are coming off a fire sale that saw them open up five vacancies on their active roster, which was already missing the best hitter in the National League as Juan Soto sits on the injured list with his second calf injury of the season.

Watching the Mets the rest of the way will be an exercise in patience and devotion, as we Mets fans will be hoping to catch some glimpses of a brighter future. The continued development of A.J. Ewing and Carson Benge at the major league level should provide some excitement, and perhaps some of the other younger players who are about to get their shot will establish that they are realistic options for the major league roster heading into next season.

In the meantime, it’s worth appreciating Francisco Lindor, who has been on an absolute tear at the plate since the All-Star break. In 70 plate appearances over that span, he’s hit .295/.366/.574 with a 165 wRC+. He hasn’t been stealing bases, which is understandable since he dealt with a significant calf injury this year, too, but nobody should be surprised that he’s turned around his delayed, slow, and injury-interrupted start to the season. And of course, Lindor established himself as a star in the six seasons he spent in Cleveland. An interesting tidbit is that Lindor’s career 61.8 fWAR and 56.6 bWAR are both split exactly evenly between his time in Cleveland and his time in New York at the time of this writing.

If the Mets are to compete in the next couple of years, they almost certainly need to keep Lindor and Soto on the field. If Lindor stays healthy the rest of this season and Soto actually makes it back into major league games, they’ll still have gotten roughly 55-60 percent of the plate appearances that they would have penciled in for two players who had been among the most durable in the sport before this year.

As for the Guardians, their lineup has been even worse than the Mets’ lineup when it comes to scoring runs. They’ve averaged 3.95 runs per game, which is the second-worst rate in baseball. The Mets are fourth-worst with 4.04 runs scored per game.

Chase DeLauter has been Cleveland’s best hitter with a 124 wRC+ this season, while José Ramírez has been their best player by fWAR despite having a down year at the plate thus far with a 101 wRC+. Despite missing some time with an injury, Ramírez has stolen 27 bases in the 82 games that he has played.

Run prevention, however, has been a relative strength for the Guardians. They’ve given up 4.09 runs per game, the eight-lowest rate in baseball. Add it all up, and even with a slightly negative run differential, they’re in second place in the American League Central, three games behind the division-leading White Sox and one ahead of the Twins for the third and final AL Wild Card spot.

If the Red Sox continue playing as well as they have lately, that final playoff spot could go to any one of seven teams, as the Blue Jays are just four games back of the Guardians despite having a 53-60 record.

Tuesday, August 4: Sean Manaea vs. Joey Cantillo, 6:40 PM EDT on SNY

Manaea (2026): 91.2 IP, 88 K, 30 BB, 13 HR, 4.42 ERA, 4.33 FIP, 109 ERA-

In a season that’s seen the Mets held back by significantly poor performances by veteran players, Manaea’s in-season turnaround has been a pleasant surprise. Since the beginning of May, Manaea’s been perfectly cromulent with a 3.75 ERA and a 4.30 FIP. And since rejoining the rotation in mid-June, he has a 3.88 ERA and a 4.64 FIP. That’s still a far cry from his outstanding second half performance in 2024—which made the Mets believe in him to the tune of his three-year, $75 milion contract—but is a major improvement upon his early-season work that made him look like a DFA candidate at the time.

Cantillo (2026): 113.2 IP, 124 K, 54 BB, 13 HR, 3.88 ERA, 3.88 FIP, 94 ERA-

If you’re not familiar with Cantillo, that’s understandable. The 26-year-old lefty was drafted by the Padres in 2017 and traded to Cleveland as part of the nine-player swap that included the likes of Josh Naylor and Mike Clevinger. Cantillo made his big league debut with the Guardians as a starter in 2024, worked mostly out of the bullpen while making some starts in 2025, and has been a rotation mainstay this season. His ERA and FIP are identical, which is always fun, and his career 3.78 ERA is pretty close to matching his mark this season, too.

Wednesday, August 5: Nolan McLean vs. Slade Cecconi, 6:40 PM EDT on SNY

McLean (2026): 125.2 IP, 148 K, 45 BB, 13 HR, 3.29 ERA, 3.47 FIP, 81 ERA-

If McLean keeps pitching the way he has been recently, he might get himself back into the conversation for the National League Rookie of the Year award. While he’s been out of the Cy Young picture for a while now, he’s pitching as well as anyone in baseball lately, as he has a 2.24 ERA over his last eleven starts and a 1.49 ERA over his last six. It’s been easy to overlook how good McLean is, and it would be very fun to see him finish the season with a sub-three ERA.

Cecconi (2026): 107.1 IP, 84 K, 35 BB, 16 HR, 4.78 ERA, 4.53 FIP, 116 ERA-

While Joey Cantillo was traded alongside Josh Naylor to Cleveland, Cecconi was traded in a one-for-one swap that sent Naylor to the Diamondbacks. He had a rather unsightly 6.06 ERA in the portions of the 2023 and 2024 seasons that he spent in the big leagues with Arizona, but he’s been a serviceable back-of-the-rotation starter since the beginning of the 2025 season with the Guardians. He has a 4.51 ERA in 239.1 innings of work with the team, all of which have been as a starter.

Thursday, August 6: TBD vs. Tanner Bibee, 1:10 PM EDT on SNY

TBD

Over at FanGraphs’ Roster Resource, the best guess is that Christian Scott will make this start. If so, he has a 2.99 ERA and a 3.47 FIP in 69.1 innings this year. If not, you’d have to figure the Mets will go with some sort of bullpen game as they sort through their roster following the deadline.

Bibee (2026): 132.1 IP, 100 K, 38 BB, 20 HR, 3.81 ERA, 4.50 FIP, 92 ERA-

Drafted by Cleveland in the fifth round in 2021, Bibee hasn’t quite lived up to his very good rookie season in 2023. He finished second in American League Rookie of the Year voting that year as he put up a 2.98 ERA in 142.0 innings of work. Since then, he has a 3.85 ERA, which certainly isn’t terrible.

Roger Clemens. “The Rocket.” The nickname alone tells you almost everything you need to know. Over 24 major league seasons, Clemens won 354 games, struck out 4,672 batters, captured a record seven Cy Young Awards, won an American League MVP Award, claimed two pitching Triple Crowns, and led his league in ERA six different times.

As of 2026, he ranks third all-time in career strikeouts, ninth in wins, and among the greatest pitchers the game has ever seen by virtually every meaningful measure. Few pitchers in baseball history can match the combination of longevity, dominance, and hardware Clemens accumulated. Even fewer have remained as polarizing.

William Roger Clemens
Born: August 4, 1962 (Dayton, OH)
Yankees Tenure: 1999-2003, 2007

Before he became “The Rocket,” Clemens was simply a kid from Dayton, Ohio. While he was still in high school, his family moved to Texas, the state he would then forever call home. Clemens excelled in baseball, football, and basketball at Spring Woods High School before attending JUCO power San Jacinto College. He eventually transferred to the University of Texas, where he cemented himself as one of the nation’s top collegiate pitchers.

Clemens capped off his collegiate career in storybook fashion in 1983. In his final game, he threw a complete game to lead the Longhorns to the College World Series championship. Just days earlier, the Boston Red Sox had selected him with the 19th overall pick in the MLB Draft.

The Red Sox wasted little time bringing Clemens to the majors, and he debuted in 1984. Over the next 13 seasons, he became the face of Boston’s staff and one of the most feared arms in baseball. His legendary 1986 season remains one of the greatest ever by a starting pitcher, as he captured the American League MVP Award, the Cy Young Award, and All-Star Game MVP honors.

During his time in Boston, Clemens won three Cy Young Awards, earned five All-Star selections, led the American League in ERA four times, and topped the league in both wins and strikeouts three times (fanning a record 20 in a game twice). He established himself as a Red Sox legend and one of the players Yankees fans loved to hate. Truly you can almost guess a Yankees fans age based on their immediate reaction to hearing Clemens name.

After the 1996 season, Boston let Clemens walk, a decision that immediately came back to haunt the franchise. Clemens signed a then-record three-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays and somehow reached an even higher level of production. In both 1997 and 1998, he captured the pitching Triple Crown by leading the American League in wins, ERA, and strikeouts. He won the Cy Young Award in both seasons, made the All-Star team each year, and erased any doubt that he remained the most dominant pitcher in the sport.

Following the 1998 season, Clemens was traded for the first time in his career, landing with the defending World Series champion Yankees. On February 18, 1999, Brian Cashman sent fan favorite David Wells to Toronto in exchange for the game’s biggest pitching prize. The move still provokes an uneasy feeling among some fans today.

Clemens immediately raised expectations for an already dominant club. His first regular season in New York had its bumps, but when October arrived, so did The Rocket. In Game 4 of the 1999 World Series, Clemens threw 7.2 brilliant innings against the Braves to finish off the sweep and finally earn the first World Series championship of career.

The 2000 season only added to his legend, and it wasn’t the cause of the 15-K, one-hit shutout he spun in Seattle in the playoffs. During a regular-season game in July, Clemens struck Mike Piazza in the helmet with a fastball, forcing the Mets star to miss the All-Star Game. The incident set the stage for one of the most memorable moments in Subway Series history. Then in Game 2 of the World Series in a fateful Subway Series matchup against those same Mets, Piazza shattered his bat on an inside pitch. As the barrel spun toward the mound, Clemens picked it up and fired it down the first-base line as Piazza sprinted out of the batter’s box, creating one of the most replayed moments in Yankees history. (Lost in all of it was that Clemens also threw eight shutout innings to help the Yanks get a 2-0 lead.)

If 2000 cemented Clemens as a Yankees legend, 2001 may have been his finest regular season in pinstripes. Clemens became the first pitcher in major league history to begin a season 20-1, ultimately finishing 20-3 with a 3.51 ERA while capturing his sixth career Cy Young Award. This season still stands as one of the best individual performances by any Yankees pitcher in terms of wins and losses (even if other metrics favored new teammate Mike Mussina for the Cy that year).

Then in 2001, following the attacks of September 11th, Clemens helped carry the Yankees back to the World Series. In Game 7 against the Diamondbacks, he battled Curt Schilling pitch for pitch, striking out 10 over 6.1 outstanding innings before leaving with the game tied at 1-1 and the Yanks soon to seize the lead on an Alfonso Soraino homer off Schilling. Arizona would ultimately rally against no less than Mariano Rivera, denying Clemens what would have been another championship and one of the best sport stories of all-time.

After a somewhat injury-limited 2002 campaign, Clemens reached two of baseball’s most sacred milestones in 2003. On a Friday night at the original Yankee Stadium, he struck out Edgar Renteria for career strikeout No. 4,000 before securing his 300th career victory later that evening. Fittingly for a pitcher who always seemed to want to be on baseball’s biggest stages and be the headliner, Clemens became the first pitcher in MLB history to reach both milestones in the same game.

Throughout 2003, Clemens said that he would retire at season’s end, and after receiving an ovation in Miami while leaving the mound during the World Series upset loss to the Marlins, the game bid him adieu. It didn’t take. Friend and teammate Andy Pettitte had signed with the Astros in free agency when the Yankees oddly didn’t pursue him with much vigor, and after thinking about it, Clemens decided to make a comeback close to home.

Clemens returned to Houston following the season and immediately added another chapter to his remarkable career. I am not joking when I say I think Lebron took a page out of Clemens book when it came to trying to make his career a storyline fit for a movie.

At age 42, he became the oldest pitcher ever to win a Cy Young Award after posting an 18-4 record with a 2.98 ERA in 2004. The following season, he led all of baseball with a microscopic 1.87 ERA while helping guide the Astros to the first World Series appearance in franchise history, though a hamstring injury in Game 1 paced a White Sox sweep.

Three years after leaving New York, Clemens authored one final memorable Bronx moment. During the seventh-inning stretch of a May 6, 2007, game against Seattle, the stadium video board suddenly came to life as Clemens appeared from George Steinbrenner’s suite and simply told the crowd, “Thank you… I’m back.” A moment I remember being way, way too excited about in hindsight.

His second Yankees stint lasted 17 starts and far less of a fun ride than the first—he was 45 when he threw his final pitch and it showed, leaving with an injury in the 2007 playoffs—but it brought his New York totals to 83 victories, 1,014 strikeouts, six postseason appearances, two World Series championships, one Cy Young Award, and one of the most memorable runs any Yankees pitcher has ever enjoyed.

No discussion of Clemens’ career is complete without acknowledging the cloud that followed him towards the end of his career and after retirement. Allegations of performance-enhancing drug use and the Mitchell Report (not to mention other, worse off-field questions) overshadowed his final years in baseball and have kept him outside the Hall of Fame despite his technical acquittal on federal perjury charges in 2012.

Love him or hate him, believe him or doubt him, Roger Clemens changed baseball. Few pitchers have ever matched his intensity or competitiveness.

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

The Dodgers entered the 2026 season with ambitions of becoming team to three-peat in 26 years. Following Monday’s trade deadline, they echoed that sentiment with a summer blockbuster and an encore.

Their string of deals began late Saturday night, as after suffering a 3-2 loss to the Boston Red Sox, they struck a deal that infuriated nearly the entire baseball world. The Dodgers landed two-time defending AL Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers while sending away outfield prospect Zyhir Hope, right-hander River Ryan and pitching prospect Brady Smith.

The addition of Skubal not only invigorates an already vaunted rotation (when fully healthy), it gives the Dodgers another left-handed option that is a proven innings eater. Before Skubal needed surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow, he had logged at least six innings of work in six of his first seven starts. He hasn’t matched his pre-injury average start length since returning on June 13, but he has logged at least five innings in all but one of his nine final starts in Detroit.

For a Dodgers rotation that is still missing Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, adding Skubal in the mix keeps the six-man rotation as the norm for the pitching staff down the stretch. With Emmet Sheehan’s demotion to Triple-A, the current rotation features Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki, Justin Wrobleski and Eric Lauer, and until the other three starters return, the Dodgers could implement a weekly bullpen game. Skubal will certainly headline the four-man rotation in the postseason, and the Dodgers have seven options to choose to accompany him come October.

Gauging what the postseason rotation will be a work in progress until October arrives. Skubal and Yamamoto are shoe-ins at the top, but the final two spots are completely up for grabs. Blake Snell is set to return next week after a final rehab start, while Tyler Glasnow has yet to embark on his rehab assignment. The latter is projected to return sometime in September. Ohtani’s status for returning to the mound in the regular season is unclear, though the team expects him back in October. The trio of Sasaki, Wrobleski and Lauer all were used exclusively in relief last year for both the Dodgers and Blue Jays.

The Dodgers decided to acquire a former All-Star starting pitcher in fixing their bullpen, as they landed left-hander Kris Bubic from the Kansas City Royals. Although Bubic has been on the injured list since May, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reported that Bubic threw a bullpen on Monday, with the plan being to build him up as a reliever.

While the Dodgers have five available options for the rotation at the time of writing, Bubic is an excellent candidate to handle bulk duties for a bullpen game or come in for short, high-leverage situations. He already has previous experience in relief, as he made 27 appearances out of the bullpen with Kansas City in 2024, posting a 2.67 ERA across 30 innings before returning to the rotation the following season.

The Dodgers addressed their concerns at catcher by bringing back a pair of old friends; Ben Rortvedt from the New York Mets and Hunter Feduccia from the Tampa Bay Rays. Dalton Rushing has joined Will Smith on the injured list, and the tandem of Rortvedt and Feduccia ensure the Dodgers have a viable catching option against right-handed pitching. Eliézer Alfonzo and Chuckie Robinson both remain on the roster for now as options against left-handed pitching.

Once Smith and Rushing both return from injury, all three current options will see their playing time crunched dramatically, but they will steady the ship in the meantime.

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Full slate Tuesday is here!

Let's get into my three favorite home run props and predictions from tonight's MLB slate, highlighted by Shohei Ohtani and Drake Baldwin.

Here are my favorite MLB picks for August 4.

MLB home run props for today

Player to hit a HR	Odds
Shohei Ohtani	+226
Drake Baldwin	+325

Home run prediction: Shohei Ohtani (+226)

The great one, Shohei Ohtani, finds himself in another great spot against Chicago Cubs right-hander Javier Assad. While Assad has been solid over his last five starts, he's continued to struggle against left-handed hitters.

Across the last 60 left-handed batters he's faced, Assad owns a 4.86 ERA while allowing a 41% hard-hit rate and 16% barrel rate. Those hitters have also produced a .363 xBA, .638 xSLG, and .356 xwOBA.

Ohtani, meanwhile, has been scorching hot. Over his last 30 at-bats against right-handed pitching, he's generated a hard-hit rate north of 72%. He also enters with an elite Batters-Box rating, covering 86.7% of Assad's arsenal.

The trends are just as impressive. Across 328 elite-rated games over the last three seasons, Ohtani has homered in nearly 30% of them.

With the clock ticking and the market always backing Ohtani to go deep, grab this number while it's still available. I wouldn't play it below +200.

• Time: 8:05 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: TBS

Home run prediction: Drake Baldwin (+325)

The seventh-highest rated bat of the day on Batters-Box is Atlanta Braves young slugger Drake Baldwin.

The Atlanta catcher enters Tuesday with 90% coverage against Ryan Gusto's pitch mix. The Miami Marlins right hander has been struggling lately, posting a 6.10 ERA while allowing a 51.61% hard-hit rate over his last three starts.

Against the last 60 left-handed hitters he's faced, Gusto has allowed a 50% hard-hit rate and just a 35.7% ground-ball rate. Those hitters have also produced a .345 xBA, .489 xSLG, and .365 xwOBA.

Baldwin, meanwhile, has been on fire. Over his last 30 at bats against right handed pitching, he's posted a .925 OPS and .417 wOBA while generating a 63.2% hard-hit rate and 15.8% barrel rate.

So far this season, Baldwin has homered in 23% of his 13 elite-rated games. I think this prop is playable down to +300.

• Time: 7:15 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: BravesVsn, MIAM

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.

With the recent commitment of Campbell Fighting Camels outfielder Carlos Lugo, two key contributors returning to the Forty Acres, and all four signees who were selected in the 2026 MLB Draft now headed to professional baseball, Texas Longhorns head coach Jim Schlossnagle and his staff have assembled the 2027 roster heading into fall practice as the immediate focus turns towards the ability to contact 2028 recruits starting last Saturday.

“We’re excited about our roster at this point,” Schlossnagle said last week. “Need to get these guys on campus and and start figuring out who they are and and start putting together a team — right now we’re a group of players, and we have to become a team, and that takes time.”

Putting that roster together happened during a whirlwind six weeks after Texas exited the College World Series in mid-June, the busiest time of the year in college baseball.

“The people that don’t understand college athletics or college baseball think that when the season’s over you can go on vacation. It’s actually the opposite. The hours increase, they don’t decrease,” Schlossnagle said.

While four of the six high school signees ranked in the MLB.com’s top 250 prospects aren’t going to make it to campus — a poor hit rate compared to some other SEC schools — the Horns did have six players ranked in Baseball America’s top 250 players in their signing class withdraw from the draft entirely, ensuring immediate post-draft roster certainty for the coaching staff.

Combined with the returns of senior first baseman Casey Borba and senior second baseman Ethan Mendoza, the overall draft results were favorable for Texas, especially for the 2027 season — while getting another elite high school prospect like third baseman Beau Peterson to campus would have help the program’s long-term outlook, the experience of Borba and Mendoza raise the floor for Schlossnagle’s third season on the Forty Acres.

Scholarship increases, NIL opportunities available to baseball players, and new eligibility rules all made the returns of both players more possible than in past years, notably so in comparison to the 40-round draft that was eliminated in 2020, as the leverage of a potential fifth season boosted their demands.

Another clear area of success for the Horns came in executing a portal strategy that took fewer risks with draft-eligible players. After losing three portal additions to last year’s draft, including two outfielders, Texas only took two draft-eligible players — UCLA transfer outfielder Peyton Brennan and Middle Tennessee State transfer right-hander Gavin King — and both went undrafted.

That ensures that the entirety of the seven-man portal class, ranked No. 3 nationally by Baseball America and including three top-25 transfers, will suit up for the Longhorns next year.

Ahead of potential major changes to the next collective bargaining agreement that could exclude high school players from the draft entirely, there was increased incentive for this group to maximize their earning potential. Even for a player like Peterson, the lowest selection of the four Texas signees at No. 133, which carries a slot value of nearly $570,000, the NIL possibilities with the Longhorns couldn’t compete with his slot value, much less the $3 million deal signed with the Houston Astros.

But the post-draft Texas class still ranks fourth nationally by Baseball America, highlighted by a number of college-ready arms that allowed the Longhorns to take only one pitcher in the portal class.

“I would say it never goes perfect, but it went well,” Schlossnagle said of the team’s roster-building efforts.

Of the 11 players to depart the program, Texas did lose two particularly promising young arms in right-handers Cooper Rummel and Grady Westphal.

“Being a player at Texas is a cool thing, and it demands a lot. For some people, it’s too much, and that’s okay. We had some guys, one or two that we would have preferred to stay in the program in the right role,” Schlossnagle said.

“I think as you see across different sports, just because a player leaves the program doesn’t mean that we didn’t want them to stay. But if I describe to player X that hey, this is where we see you, this is the kind of player we think you can become, but you’re still behind X, Y, and Z at the moment, you may have a player who doesn’t want to do that, or a player who feels a little spooked by being at Texas. Certainly, that doesn’t make them a bad person, it just means that they may be a better fit somewhere else. The saying that the winning tradition in Texas will not be entrusted to the timid nor the weak is very real. And that doesn’t make you bad. It just means it’s not the right spot for you.”

Schlossnagle did credit pitching coach Max Weiner for his efforts in retaining current players and signees while helping execute the program’s portal strategy in the wake of recruiting coordinator Nolan Cain’s departure to Texas A&M after the season ended.

“There has to be a point person with players and agents and all the different things that go into recruiting this time of year, and the draft, and so Max just really stepped up and did a phenomenal job,” Schlossnagle said.

The new additions to the program fit the profiles that Schlossnagle wants, prioritizing strike throwing among the pitchers with the knowledge that Weiner can help improve the shapes of specific pitches, and three attributes for hitters — swing decisions, contact ability, and bat speed/exit velocity.

“Contact rate is something that is tough to get better at. The swing decisions we can improve. The bat speed we’ve improved. Contact rate, some, right? So if a guy is a big swing-and miss-player already, is that going to be a good fit for us? Maybe not. Is he a guy that contacts the ball but doesn’t hit it very hard right now and makes good choices? Have we improved that? We actually have been able to improve that, and so you look for those guys who maybe have some underlying traits,” Schlossnagle said.

The result is a roster that is now much closer to looking how Schlossnagle wants it to than it did last year or two years ago, so the Horns have a chance to enter the 2027 season as one of the nation’s top-ranked teams as they attempt to build on the program’s first College World Series appearance since 2022. With the star power of Dylan Volantis, Sam Cozart, Adrian Rodriguez, and Anthony Pack Jr. bolstered by transfer portal additions and promising arms in the recruiting class, Texas will face high expectations next season as the Longhorns chase their first national title since 2005.

Rangers have appointed Brian Gilmour as interim academy director to replace David McCallum, who departs after two-and-a-half years in the role.

Former Ibrox midfielder and youth graduate Gilmour returned to the club in 2017 as an academy coach before joining the B team staff in 2020.

The 39-year-old also worked as part of Philippe Clement's backroom team during the Belgian's tenure as head coach.

McCallum leaves Rangers after 11 years' service, which includes a spell as B team manager and brief stint as first-team caretaker in 2021.

"Gilmour, himself a former Rangers academy player, takes on the role with a strong understanding of every stage of the player pathway, having served in several roles across the club since returning in 2017," Rangers said in a statement.

"David McCallum will now depart Rangers, leaving with the very best wishes and thanks of everyone at the club for his 11 years of service."

Tacoma Rainiers

It was another brutal week for Tacoma, dropping five of six to a strong River Cats squad at home. Despite the early success from Lazaro Montes and Michael Arroyo, it’s been tough sledding for this Tacoma Roster all year, really falling short on the mound on a nightly basis. The stretch run is likely to siphon even more talent from this roster, though recent trade acquisition Nolan Jones could be a nice addition to this lineup if he isn’t with the big league club sooner than later.

The ever-consistent Arroyo collected seven hits across his five games this week, missing one contest due to a HBP scare that warranted an MRI in Seattle, but was fortunately negative. He’s back in the lineup and appears to be fully healthy for this Tacoma squad, though there’s a chance his advanced bat could be of use to the big league team even after the recent acquisition of Taylor Ward. Both Rob Refsnyder and Victor Robles are receiving frequent AB’s for the M’s, and replacing them with Ward and Arroyo seems like it would make this lineup far more imposing. It would likely require Arroyo to sit a few times a week, but it may ultimately prove worthwhile if the M’s end up making it over the hump and into postseason play.

Montes also had a solid week, pocketing five hits across his five games. In a rare occurrence, none of his knocks ended up going for extra bases, but the fact he’s still making some consistent contact is a great sign. He’s looked like he belongs at the AAA level, and given he’s still just 21 years old, that’s truly a testament to his immense ability.

Arkansas Travelers

The Travs got back on track against a middling Midland team this week, nabbing four of the six games on the series and inching themselves closer to the division lead. Springfield is red hot as of now and has separated from the rest of the division, but there’s still time for the Travs to put in some work and make a run for the postseason. They’ve got far too much talent to be in the middle of the pack long term.

Ryan Sloan has been dialed in as of late and is proving those that have him as the best pitching prospect in baseball right. Tossing 4.2 innings of shutout ball, Sloan’s 2026 has been truly outstanding; Even after an adjustment phase to the Texas League, the 20 year old has pitched to a 3.50 ERA on the year with elite K/BB rates. Since mid-June, Sloan has an ERA south of 1.70, and that number falls to a measly 1.20 since the first of July, remarkable numbers for someone pitching in a league where the average player is nearly five years his senior. Perhaps overshadowed by the outstanding Kade Anderson, Sloan is just as elite of a prospect as his rotationmate and possesses as high of a ceiling as you’ll find on the mound.

Recent trade acquisition Boston Smith has been assigned to the Travs and is sure to provide some heavy fire power at the plate; he’s top ten in minor league wRC+ and brings a monstrous lefty bat to an already potent lineup. He’ll presumably make his system debut later this afternoon.

Everett AquaSox

The Frogs dropped the weekly set this week, losing four of six in a disappointing result against the Hops. The AquaSox are just a game out of playoff position and have the talent to get to the postseason, but they’ll have to find some more consistency if they’re going to realize their potential. The pitching has been rough recently, and the back end of their ‘pen has lost some of their most dependable arms in recent weeks. Hopefully they can bounce back and give the Northwest League title a real shot.

An unheralded doubles machine, the recently promoted Aiden Taurek has taken well to his new home in the PNW and has been a really nice piece for this Everett lineup. Still leading the minor leagues in doubles, Taurek holds an OPS of .851 through his first handful of games at High-A and has looks like a late-round steal out of the 2025 draft class. The former Saint Mary’s Gael may have been a 13th rounder, but he’s certainly played considerably above his draft position and is an interesting name that fills out the latter half of organizational prospect lists.

Inland Empire 66ers

The 66ers really turned things around this week and took five of six from an admittedly paltry Visalia team, but regardless of opponent, to see the 66ers get things rolling with a bit of consistency is a great sight. There’s plenty of help that just arrived to this lineup; hopefully they can serve as the impetus to a strong end of the season.

Recent draftees Jake Brown, Hayden Yost, Henry Ford, and Ryan Wynn all made their debuts in Sunday afternoon’s contest, all collecting a base knock despite each playing only a chunk of the game. Ford, who launched a three-run bomb for his first professional hit, hit a nuke to the opposite field, and both Brown and Yost manned centerfield, splitting the game with one another. Each of these bats have some very intriguing underlying metrics in their offensive profiles and should be very fun to watch over the last several weeks of the season.

Shoutout to Estevan Moreno; the corner infield is rather crowded right now, but he’s mashed this season and is leading this team offensively. He secured 10 hits on the series, four of which ended up going over the fence for dingers. He’s played his way into the spotlight after a 20th round selection in the 2025 draft.

DSL Mariners

The division-leading DSL squad continues to pummel their opponents with a potent offensive assault. Jarvis Gomez, a lesser-heralded outfield prospect, has been on a torrid stretch as of late and raised his OPS north of 1.000 over the past week. DSL stats are notoriously tough to gauge, but he’s one of several in this lineup that look like they could be really compelling players in the coming seasons.

It’s not hard to imagine the stifling amount of pressure that Matt Olson faced upon his arrival in Atlanta ahead of the 2022 season.

Replacing the face of the franchise, one of the most consistent hitters in baseball, and a guy whom the fanbase badly wanted to retain: Freddie Freeman. Oh, and Olson was returning to his hometown on top of that.

It would be enough to reduce the average person to dust.

But Matt Olson is not an average person, as he’s proven time and time again during his five-year Braves tenure. It’s hard to think of many days where Olson has looked like he’s felt any sort of pressure whatsoever.

All he’s done is been an everyday first baseman — yet to miss a start in a Braves uniform and set to tie Stan Musial for the eighth-longest consecutive games played streak in major league history on Tuesday with consecutive game number 895 — and fill that void in an incredibly capable manner.

With his homer in Friday’s 6-2 win over the Nationals, Olson reached the 29-homer mark for the fifth time in as many seasons in Atlanta. But after he stopped at 29 each of the last two seasons, he blew past it with another homer Saturday and one more on Sunday for good measure.

His 31 homers are now tied for fourth-most in the majors and his 58 extra-base hits are one off the major-league lead held by Yordan Alvarez.

He’s now up to 177 homers as a Brave. With the pace he’s on, it’s entirely possible he breaks the franchise record of 190 homers in the first five seasons set by Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews.

He’s also second among active first basemen in OAA (32), which is positioning-neutral, while being first in both UZR (23) and DRS (91) (which credit positioning to the player).

“He’s become one of the best players in the game, when you take everything into consideration,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said earlier this week about Olson. “He changes the game on defense and he obviously changes the game in the (batter’s) box. He’s a leader in that clubhouse and he posts every day.”

Over nine full major league seasons, Olson has been a four-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner and one-time Silver Slugger honoree. Given the fact that he’s at 319 career homers and turns 33 next March, joining the 400-homer club seems totally in grasp and even the 500 club, which currently has just 28 members, could happen if he can continue at close to this pace.

And yet, it doesn’t seem that Olson gets a widespread level of attention nationally that a player of his magnitude would receive.

Part of that could be how he wants things. There hasn’t been a change in production at first base in the transition but there’s been a bit of one in character going from Freeman’s magnanimous personality to Olson, who seems quieter and unassuming.

It probably also didn’t help Olson’s perception coming up that he began his career on an Oakland Athletics (RIP) team which didn’t make much noise nationally.

Whatever the reason may be, Olson has flown under the radar throughout his major league career. Even this season, when he’s carried the Braves to a comfortable NL East lead through myriad injuries to starters, two extended absences from Ronald Acuña Jr. and through elbow discomfort he’s battled at times this season.

Maybe being a part of a deeper Braves postseason run — they still haven’t won a playoff series since he’s been here — could help that.

It doesn’t seem to bother Olson, though. In fact, it may be exactly what he’s looking for, at least according to an interview with the AJC earlier this season when asked if he agrees that he is underrated.

“Honestly, my best answer is I don’t really care.”

Up to now, everything you’ve read here about the Cubs’ Trade Deadline deals has been basic facts about the players themselves and what the Cubs gave up for them.

Let’s do a bit of next-day analysis.

Before I get to what roster changes are likely coming, here’s some analysis of the Cubs deals from Stephen J. Nesbitt of The Athletic, who wrote that the Cubs were a “winner”:

Coming out of the All-Star break, the Cubs’ rotation lined up like this: Colin Rea, Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon and David Peterson. Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer overhauled that group ahead of the trade deadline, adding a pair of two-time All-Star right-handers, Clay Holmes and Kevin Gausman, and lefty Braxton Garrett. The Cubs, who also have Edward Cabrera and Ben Brown on the injured list, should be able to flex some of their surplus starters into relief roles in the postseason.

Tyrone Taylor is another rangy outfield option for the Cubs, but he also has hit left-handed pitching well this season, which could come in handy in October. All of that adding came at a significant cost to the Cubs’ farm system. The departure of Jefferson Rojas, in particular, will sting. But the major-league roster is undeniably better because of it, and, in the midst of a division race, that matters most.

I concur with this. As I’ve noted elsewhere, my grade for this is a solid “B”.

Where will these players fit in and what roster moves need to be made to add them?

First, the Cubs announced all these trades by press release Monday. Let’s look at them in chronological order.

Gausman and Garrett were added to the 40-man roster and it was full. Garrett was then optioned to Triple-A Iowa, where he’s likely to stay the rest of the year. He’s coming off Tommy John surgery and is likely a project for 2027.

Zeferjahn was acquired, in part, for Moisés Ballesteros, so that deleted one player (Ballesteros) from the 40-man and added one (Zeferjahn).

When Holmes and Taylor were added, Luke Little was designated for assignment.

Looking at the Cubs’ 40-man roster as of this morning, there appear to be 41 players listed (excluding guys on the 60-day IL).

So what’s going to happen here?

Gausman hasn’t officially been announced as the starter for Thursday, but that seems likely. He doesn’t have to be added to the 26-man active roster until then, and at that point I would think that Jake Woodford will be designated for assignment, opening a slot on the active roster and also the 40-man, reducing it to 40.

When Taylor is activated, Kevin Alcántara should be headed back to Iowa. I’m happy for Alcántara hitting his first MLB home run on Monday.

Holmes and Zeferjahn likely replace Tyler Ferguson and Antoine Kelly on the active roster. Both Kelly and Ferguson have options remaining so they’ll both be sent to Iowa.

What isn’t clear at this point is whether Holmes will be used as a starter — which he’s been for the Mets the last two years — or in relief. Holmes was the Yankees closer from 2022-24 and did a decent job, posting a 2.84 ERA over 195 appearances, with 74 saves in 89 opportunities (13 of the blown saves were in 2024).

Thus after all of these deals and moves, the active roster should settle this way (before anyone returns from the injured list):

Catchers (2): Miguel Amaya, Carson Kelly
Infielders (6): Michael Busch, Nico Hoerner, Dansby Swanson, Alex Bregman, Pedro Ramirez, James Triantos
Outfielders (5): Seiya Suzuki, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Ian Happ, Tyrone Taylor, Michael Conforto
Starting pitchers (5): Javier Assad, Matthew Boyd, Kevin Gausman, Shōta Imanaga, David Peterson
Relief pitchers (8): Aaron Civale, Clay Holmes, Colin Rea, Ryan Rolison, Caleb Thielbar, Trent Thornton, Jacob Webb, Ryan Zeferjahn

If Holmes is used in the rotation, then Assad would likely go to the bullpen.

Or it could be different! If you have other roster ideas, let us know in the comments.

Lastly, if you’re wondering, here are the uniform numbers for the newest Cubs: