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Royals put together a complete game to avoid the sweep in the nation’s capital. The 6-2 final score was a product of a mostly solid all-around game for a team that needed it. Things got off to a very quick start when Carter Jensen led off the game with the first solo home run of the day.

Three more solo home runs came in the early parts of the game for the Royals. John Rave hit his first big-league homer of the year in the 2nd inning. In the 3rd they took it up a notch with two more solo blasts when Lane Thomas and Michael Massey went back-to-back to give Kansas City of 4-0 lead.

Every Royal in the starting lineup reached base today and only Nick Loftin failed to get a hit. It really was Carter Jensen’s day though. After opening the game with a blast, he proceeded to get on base four more times and ended the day 4-4 with a walk. His OPS went up 43 points in one game. Hopefully this means he is back on track after struggling a lot in May and early June. Rave deserves the honorable mention here too with a home run and a triple.

The final two runs for the Royals were started by Rave opening up the 6th inning with a triple because James Wood misplayed a liner off the wall and he fell down in doing so. Nick Loftin moved him to third on a ball hit back to the pitcher and then Isaac Collins bunted him home. It counted as a sac bunt though there were no outs on the play when Luis Garcia Jr. decided to go home. He almost made a nice play, watch below.

This was easily Luinder Avila’s best start of his young career. Walks have been a major problem for him, and he finally avoided the free passes this afternoon except for the very last batter that he faced. His final line was 5 2/3 IP, 3H, 1BB, 1ER, 5K dropping his BB/9 from 6.19 to 5.5 on the year. He barely gave up any hard contact. It was a great day for Avila. The one run was on a double given up by Matt Strahm who continued his recent struggles. He faced two batters, gave up two hits and run scored on each. He was bailed out on the second one when Dylan Crews tried to stretch a single into a double and was thrown out on a very close play that the Nationals challenged and lost.

Lucas Erceg looked better than I have seen him look in at least a month. He took the 7th inning and knocked them down one two three. One ball was hit hard but it was on the ground. The third batter, Jose Tena, struck out on a slider. John Schreiber took care of the 8th and turned it over to Alex Lange still 6-2. Lange did plunk the first batter and then move him to second on a passed ball that Jensen just missed. Second base is all the further Curtis Mead would go as Lange took care of the next three.

The three game road trip is over and the boys will be playing baseball in Kauffman for a weird series with the Cardinals starting tomorrow night. They play Thursday, Friday, and Sunday with an almost unheard-of off day on a Saturday thanks to the World Cup. It will be Ecuador and Curacao that get the parking lot that day.

The current rough patch for the Atlanta Braves continued on for another game as they simply got outclassed by the San Francisco Giants over the course of a rain-delayed/suspended contest in Cobb County.

This game started on Tuesday night in wet conditions, which ended up being a double-edged sword for the Braves in particular. Grant Holmes got the ball to start things off and the Giants proceeded to jump all over him while he was busy trying to get his bearings about him in the terrible conditions. San Francisco had already put a run on the board before loading up the bases with just one out. Fortunately, Holmes was able to get out of that situation without giving up much damage but he walked in a run and gave up a sacrifice fly in the second inning so by the time the game was suspended, the Braves were down 3-2.

Those two runs came in the first inning, which was easily the high point of the entire game for the Braves. Drake Baldwin led off and the very first swing he took ended up with a ball that landed deep in Chattahoochee Falls in center field for a leadoff dinger that tied the game up. Michael Harris II singled immediately afterwards and he was brought in by Mauricio Dubón for what was then the go-ahead run. Unfortunately, Harris tweaked his back while crossing home plate and so he ended up leaving the game after that since Walt Weiss didn’t want to chance anything due to the conditions.

After the Braves finished off that frame, we ended up getting an unofficial rain delay that turned into a game suspension. The game was restarted at 2:00 p.m ET on Wednesday and from that point forward, the Giants dominated the Braves. Despite struggling for most of 2026 so far, Robbie Ray was seemingly back in Cy Young form as he delivered his best start since April 7 when he held the Phillies scoreless for nearly seven innings. Ray went 6.1 innings in the restart and gave up two hits and two walks while striking out eight batters and giving up zero runs. Atlanta’s lineup had no answers for Ray on this particular afternoon in what was one of the low points for the Braves in terms of plate performance.

Things weren’t much better on the mound. Dylan Dodd came on in the fourth inning and while he was able to get through his first five batters without giving up a hit, it all came to a screeching halt in the fifth inning which is when Rafael Devers and Jung Hoo Lee hit back-to-back dingers to make it a three-run lead for San Francisco.

The two teams traded scoreless innings in the sixth and the seventh before the Giants got back onto the scoreboard with another home run — this time, Willy Adames cracked his 12th dinger of the season to push the lead to 6-2. For reference’s sake, the Giants had hit the fourth-fewest amount of homers in the National League so far this season but they went deep three times in this one.

Anthony Molina gave up the homer to Adames and then he surrendered another run in the ninth inning to make it a 7-2 game after two singles from Luis Arraez and Bryce Eldridge culminated in a productive out from Matt Chapman plating a run.

Once it was Atlanta’s turn in the ninth, they did get a single from Mike Yastrzemski and Ha-Seong Kim got on base (!!!) with a four-pitch walk that prompted the Giants to have to go deeper into their bullpen with Caleb Kilian getting the nod to finish things off. Kilian proceeded to strike out the final two batters and that was that!

This was just a comedy of errors from the words “Play Ball” for the Braves. Well, “errors” is probably a bad word to use here since Atlanta actually played some solid defense in this one but in all other facets, this was not a good performance from the Braves at all. Hopefully things will be better later on tonight with JR Ritchie taking the mound and they’ll also have their offering of high-leverage bullpen guys available for the nightcap. Still, the offense has got to wake up because that was just very dull to watch them get dominated by present-day Robbie Ray and the rest of San Francisco’s pitching staff.

They go again at 7:15 p.m. ET, as scheduled.

The New York Yankees’ greatness can be measured and appreciated in many different stats; one of them is that at some point or another, they’ve played at least one playoff series against 26 of the other 29 active teams in Major League Baseball, eye-popping even for a team with 27 World Series titles and 41 pennants to its name. Surprisingly, not all three exceptions are members of the National League—that is the case for the Colorado Rockies and Washington Nationals, but the third one resides on the South Side of Chicago, a 1901 founding member of the American League that predates the Yankees themselves. One might excuse expansion teams such as the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays for not featuring in this contingent, but for the Chicago White Sox to be a part of this select group, that’s just strange.

Beginning a weeklong homestand this week, the Yankees host the White Sox in a rare battle—particularly over the last few seasons—of these two teams both fighting for division leads. Just as the Yankees overtook the Rays, the White Sox fell to even with the less surprising Cleveland Guardians. While it is far too early to be certain of the Pale Hose sustaining this level of play as a legitimate threat to make the postseason, their current presence in the hunt and upcoming matchup with the Yankees provide the ideal segue to discuss the history, or in this case, lack thereof, between them.

For well over a century, the Yankees’ success has been as close to a constant as any team could get, and thus, the reality of assessing never-before-seen playoff matchups involving them leaves the responsibility entirely on the other side. It’s the Rockies’ fault for only making one Fall Classic in their history, and the same applies to the Nationals. And even then, the Yankees could’ve easily faced one of the two with better luck in the 2007 or particularly the 2019 postseason. If we want to include the Montreal Expos as part of the Nats’ history, they fell just two runs short of a showdown with New York in 1981 after losing to the Dodgers in a winner-take-all NLCS Game 5.

Around for far longer than those two aforementioned NL clubs, the White Sox playoff history is equally lacking given its context, with Chicago having played in a total of 11 postseasons dating back to 1901. It is a staggeringly low total for a team with 125 years of history. Out of those 11 appearances, four came prior to the existence of divisional play and postseason series in each league, with Chicago advancing straight to the Fall Classic in 1906, 1917, 1919, and 1959.

Here we’ll note that if said divisional play had been introduced earlier in the ’50s or ’60s, perhaps the Yanks and White Sox would have gone head-to-head in an American League Championship Series. Modern fans might not realize that those White Sox were quite competitive with the dynastic Yankees between 1952-64, but finished third six times and runner-up on four occasions. The Yankees were also third during Chicago’s lone pennant-winning season in 1959.

So we move on to 1969 and the beginning of the ALCS. The Yankees have never shared a division with the White Sox, who were quickly sorted into the AL West prior to the existence of the AL Central. A playoff matchup was possible! But they were rarely contenders at the same time. The White Sox won two AL West crowns, in 1983 and 1993. Both came during the Yankees’ 14-year playoff drought. Another White Sox division title in 2008 arrived in conjunction with New York’s run of 13 consecutive postseason appearances coming to a close.

We’re left with only four occasions in MLB history when both these teams made the playoffs.

Through one of the postseason’s most impressive runs back in 2005—when they won the championship, losing only one game across three playoff series—the White Sox nearly had the Yankees in their way, but New York faltered in the do-or-die Game 5 of the ALDS against the Angels. Whatever one’s feelings are regarding that 2005 Yankees team, they probably could’ve offered the Sox a bigger challenge than the Angels, who lost four straight after winning Game 1, seeing the elder Vladimir Guerrero wrap up that series with a 1-for-20 line. There is also an alternative path: if the Red Sox had finished ahead of the Yankees in the standings (both teams finished with the same record and the Yanks won the division on an off-field tiebreaker) the Yankees would’ve been the ones matching up with the Pale Hose in the ALDS.

While the Yankees didn’t get a chance to run into the eventual champs in 2005, the opposite was the case a few years prior in 2000. The American League’s top seed in that season, the White Sox were swept by the Mariners, a turn of events that handed the Yankees home-field advantage in that year’s ALCS against the Alex Rodriguez-led Seattle club. Despite having the worst record, the Yankees got the edge as division winners on their way to winning the Fall Classic.

Decades later, while the 2021 campaign didn’t present a particularly close possibility given that the Yankees lost the Wild Card Game to the Red Sox and the White Sox were on the other end of the bracket, scheduled for an ALDS matchup against the powerhouse Astros (one that they lost in a gentleman’s sweep), the 2020 campaign tells a more interesting story.

The way seeding worked in the shortened 2020 campaign with each of the three divisions guaranteed at least two playoff teams, meant that even though Cleveland and Chicago finished with the same record, Cleveland, which had the tiebreaker, secured the fourth seed, while the ChiSox had the seventh seed. Had the White Sox finished ahead of Cleveland, they would’ve played the five-seed Yankees, who actually had a worse record than both. Instead, Chicago lost to Oakland in the first round, and that was that.

To this day, the 2020 through 2021 period is the only one in which both the Yankees and White Sox made the playoffs simultaneously in consecutive years. Unfortunately for Chicago, things spiraled miserably for their window of contention after that, and 2026 is the first year with signs of life since then.

Lastly, with the possibility of a lockout looming, we’d be remiss not to touch on what transpired in the 1994 campaign, another one with unfulfilled potential for a Yankees-White Sox playoff series. When play stopped, the Yankees and White Sox were the top two teams in the American League. Cleveland was chasing Chicago, only a game back, but even if they managed to pass the White Sox, it would only turn a likely ALCS matchup into a certain ALDS one. While the Yankees went on to dominate the second half of the ’90s, the White Sox didn’t get back to the postseason until 2000, leading to several lean years wasting the prime of Frank Thomas.

This won’t go on forever. Remember, the Yankees had never played the Blue Jays in the postseason until last year either. The deck of cards metaphorically representing an MLB season will eventually deal us a Yankees/White Sox playoff matchup — it could even happen in 2026 if both sides keep up the good work. May the Ron Hassey Bowl one day come to pass.

Max Scherzer is scratched from today’s game with back spasms, which turns tonight’s game into a bullpen day. We were hoping we were finished with those.

Whoops, a change, Max has been put on the IL, so he’s gone for 15 days at least. Chad Dallas is back on the roster and apparently will be active tonight, so they knew about Max’s back for at least a few hours. I’m wondering if he’s had his last game as a Blue Jay. Next week, Shane Bieber should be back, and would be a much better choice for that spot in the rotation.

Braydon Fisher will be the opener. Spencer Miles last pitched three days ago, 2.2 innings, so he will be available, but Simeon Woods Richardson hasn’t pitched in nine days, so he will likely be the bulk guy. He’s only pitched in one game with the Jays, which is out of character for our team. We usually pitch a guy until his arm falls off.

Tonight’s lineup:

After dropping the first two games in Cincinnati and draining the bullpen, the Mets needed a strong performance out of Nolan McLean on Wednesday afternoon.

The right-hander stepped up and delivered perhaps his most dominant outing of the season, going 7.0 innings with no earned runs (one unearned), nine strikeouts and just one walk. He threw 101 pitches and looked much more like the 2025 version of himself who came up to the majors and absolutely overmatched hitters, doing his part as the Mets’ bats came to life in a 9-1 win over the Reds.

“Man, that was excellent there. He dominated that lineup,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “It starts with the command of all of his pitches, and he was on today, he was spot-on. He attacked, and the way not he was not only using the four-seam, the sinker, the cutter, that allowed him to use his secondary pitches, but man, that was pretty impressive there.”

McLean, who lowered his season ERA to 3.67, acknowledged that Wednesday’s start was his best of the season from a complete performance standpoint, and his four-seam fastball usage was a big part of it. Of his 101 pitches, McLean threw 27 four-seamers, getting eight called strikes and generating five whiffs on 11 swings. 

"I was establishing the zone early, and I was able to get some chases late," he explained.

It’s no secret that the Mets’ starting rotation has been in a state of disarray. Christian Scott landing on the IL with a hip issue was the latest blow to the rotation, and Kodai Senga struggled on Tuesday night in his return to the big league mound, adding even more uncertainty.

But McLean said that he’s not feeling any extra pressure to perform. In his mind, the goal is the same every single time he steps between the white lines.

“I wouldn’t say I put any more pressure or responsibility on myself. Every time I go out there, I’m trying to win a baseball game,” he said. “I think if everybody’s trying to do that and we’re all pulling the same rope, good things will happen.”

Danny Rohl thanked Rangers after leaving the Scottish Premiership outfit for Red Bull Salzburg and taking his first training session with the Austrian club.

The German, 37, departed Ibrox after eight months, having previously managed Sheffield Wednesday. Derek McInnes was appointed Rangers manager shortly after Rohl's departure was announced.

"I've been here several times in the past and know Salzburg well – the club has always stood for attacking, courageous football," Rohl said at his first news conference with RB Salzburg.

"That's precisely the path we want to take. We want to return to the identity that distinguished the club for so many years.

"I have to also thank Rangers, who agreed to this move."

Sporting director Marcus Mann commented: "It's true that we had agreed with Danny a week ago.

"A few points came up that needed clarification, which is why the matter dragged on a bit. We certainly would have liked to finalise it a few days earlier but the important thing is that it worked out. Sometimes you can have different opinions on things – those have now been resolved."

As Texas Longhorns head coach Jim Schlossnagle and his staff turn their focus to the NCAA transfer portal and on making final recruiting pitches to signed high school prospects in the 2026 recruiting class, the 2027 roster will be impacted by the 2026 MLB Draft.

Senior right-hander Ruger Riojas and redshirt senior left-hander Luke Harrison are the two players among the 10 Longhorns who have exhausted their eligibility who are projected selections in next month’s draft, while six other players are draft eligible, several of whom could potentially return to the Forty Acres for their senior season.

The draft projectsion are based on the draft board from Perfect Game posted in late April and are meant to reflect the player’s tools, if not their late-season results on the field.

Draft-eligible players expected to depart

Outfielder Aiden Robbins — No. 23

After finishing sixth nationally in batting average at .422 last year as a sophomore at Seton Hall, Robbins bet on himself and made the jump to the SEC, choosing Texas over other conference powers. It paid off, as Robbins earned first-team All-America honors by batting .333 with 24 home runs and 64 RBI, working with Troy Tulowitzki to change his swing path to turn topspin base hits into backspin home runs — the Pennsylvania product only hit 12 combined home runs in his first two seasons, doubling that output in burnt orange and white.

The power surge by Robbins ensured that he’s projectable as a corner outfielder, an important development after the attempt to further bolster his draft stock by playing center field ended with the Texas coaching staff forced to admit they had better options, as Robbins lacked the speed necessary to make up for consistently subpar reads off the bat.

Still, Robbins has plus athleticism and a whippy swing that produced power to the entire field, making him one of the top college prospects in the draft.

Catcher Carson Tinney — No. 58

The Notre Dame transfer pressed early in the season faced with high expectations after becoming one of the most coveted players in the portal. As a sophomore in South Bend, Tinney led the Fighting Irish in average (.348), runs (52), homers (17), RBI (53), total bases (119), walks (34), on-base percentage (.498), slugging (.753), and multi-RBI performances (17) while posting impressive exit velocities that spoke to his natural power.

When Tinney settled in at Texas, he was an impact player who slashed .326/483/.688 with 22 home runs and 58 RBI. Showing a command of the strike zone, Tinney drew 55 walks against 66 strikeouts, the latter stat less an indication of significant swing-and-miss issues and more related to his willingness to take two-strike pitches late in at bats.

A good athlete for his size who stole 10 bases, Tinney was a solid defensive catcher who gave up 24 stolen bases while gunning down eight runners. His two throwing errors in the first inning against Georgia to open the College World Series weren’t indicative of how he performed defensively.

Some draft boards project Tinney more towards the third round than the second, but even though he’s not quite an elite prospect at catcher, he still has tremendous upside because of his power and his eye at the plate.

Right-hander Thomas Burns — No. 173

The big power arm from Wisconsin is a burly 6’3, 240 pounds with a fastball that can reach triple digits with a cutter and a slider that give him closer potential. It’s a role that freshman right-hander Sam Cozart took over early in the season when Burns struggled with his command, limiting the Arizona State transfer to 23 appearances during which he posted a 5.63 ERA. Opponents only hit .181 against Burns and he struck out 43 batters in 22.1 innings, but he also walked 16 batters and looked surprisingly hittable given his pure stuff.

Despite the command issues, Burns has the type of pure stuff a pitching coach can’t teach and previous experience as a starter with the Sun Devils, so expect him to come off the board early on the second day and sign without much delay.

Return potential

The advent of NIL and subsequent scholarship expansion has coincided with the shortening of the MLB Draft. Once spanning 100 rounds in 1996, the draft was 50 rounds from 1998 until 2011, was 40 rounds for the eight years after that, and has been at 20 rounds since 2021, increasing the number of draft-eligible players who return to school.

Last year, Texas benefited from the shift when Riojas, Harrison, and Max Grubbs all announced their return for a final season in college before the draft. This year, it could help keep several players on campus.

Second baseman Ethan Mendoza — No. 353

Slotted as high as No. 218 by Three Quarter Slot in late April, updated boards in the coming days may reflect the medical concerns that will impact where or if Mendoza is selected in this year’s draft after aggravating his right shoulder injury in early May, which Schlossnagle revealed in Omaha has been bothering him all year after also impacting his 2025 season.

The persistent issues suggest that Mendoza may require offseason surgery and could potentially keep him from starting his professional career after the draft.

At his best, Mendoza is a capable second baseman with a contact-focused approach that takes advantage of the entire field, allowing him to bat .333 in 2025 as a more selective approach demanded by the Texas coaching staff allowed the Southlake Carroll product to go from 13 walks as a freshman to 36 as a sophomore.

During the offseason, Mendoza added around 15 pounds of muscle to increase his power, which seemed to impact his ability to hit the ball the other way. So even though he went from five home runs to 10 in 2026, his batting average dropped to .278, in part because his ability to run out infield singles decreased as his stolen bases dropped and in part because of his shoulder issues.

The combination of a potential need for offseason surgery and determining the most effective playing weight for Mendoza could influence his return. Mendoza is also a lifelong Longhorn who could feel like he has unfinished business on the Forty Acres.

Left-hander Haiden Leffew — No. 367

A more tenuous inclusion in this last than Mendoza or Borba, Leffew has as the tools to become a mid-round selection and start his professional career — at 6’1, 235 pounds, he has a level of physicality on the mound matched by a fastball that can reach into the mid-90s and a plus-plus changeup that has put him on the radar of major league scouts for several years now. The Wake Forest transfer also went 4-1 with a 4.05 ERA in 17 appearances in 2026, striking out 31 batters in 20 innings while holding opponents to a .176 batting average.

Leffew was basically unhittable at Texas, but batters often didn’t even have to try to put the ball in play against him thanks to shaky command that produced 15 walks in those 20 innings.

Just a few years ago, Leffew’s departure wouldn’t be in question, but now there’s at least a slim chance that he returns to the Forty Acres for another season.

Infielder Casey Borba — unranked

Ranked as the No. 252 prospect by FSS Digital in the 2023 MLB Draft, Borba’s intent to play college baseball caused him to fall out of the draft. Praised for his all-fields approach to hitting out of Orange Lutheran, Borba instead become reliant on his significant pull-side power at Texas.

Despite work with the Longhorns staff to use the entire field to hit, Borba remained pull heavy in 2026, putting a hard ceiling on his upside at the plate and limiting him to batting .266. Borba’s streaky power did help him hit 18 home runs and knock in 57 runs.

After spurning summer league baseball to improve his mobility, Borba flashed better range at both corner infield spots to emerge as a good third baseman.

But there are significant concerns about Borba’s remaining upside given his boom-or-bust tendencies at the plate as opponents successfully employ the shift against him. With the addition of Texas Tech transfer Linkin Garcia, Borba would be limited to playing first base or designated hitter next season for Texas, so his exit meeting with the coaching staff in the coming days may be the most important on the roster.

The Mets came into this game having lost the first two games of the series and, after taking two of three from the first place Braves, the vibes were once again in the tank. Thankfully, However, the Mets’ young ace and eight members of the starting lineup all contributed to a big win this afternoon, taking the series finale 9-1.

Nolan McLean came out strong early in the game, shutting down the Reds without too much tourlbe and, for the first time in this series, gave the Mets a fair chance to compete.

Of course, the Mets didn’t help themselves early on, grounding into double plays in each of the first two innings. However, they took their first lead of the series in the top of the third inning against Nick Lodolo. Luis Torrens led off with an infield single, was moved to second on a Zack Short sacrifice bunt, advanced to third on a Carson Benge ground out and, after a walk to Bo Bichette, scored on a bloop single by Juan Soto to put the Mets up 1-0.

Marcus Semien kept the line moving, lining a single over third base, scoring Bichette and advancing Soto to third. Mark Vientos then continued his two-game hot streak, singling to the left side of the infield and scoring Soto, and the Mets had a three-run lead.

Of course, this being the 2026 Mets, the bottom of the inning saw things go sideways. With one out, Jose Trevino reached base on an error by Vientos at first. A Matt McLain single double could not sore Trevino, but put runners on second and third. McLean then plunked Edwin Arroyo to load the bases. A line drive to the right center field gap was chased down by a diving A.J. Ewing, but Trevino scored from third tagging up, cutting the Mets’ lead to two. Ewing covered a ton of ground to get to the ball, and fully laid out to make the very impressive catch. Sal Stewart grounded out to third to end the threat and the frame.

Back to back to back singles by Bichette, Soto, and Semien put three on with one out in the top of the fifth. An opposite field sac fly by Vientos scored Bichette and restored the Mets’ three-run lead. Alvarez then hit a slow single through the five hole, allowing Soto to race home from second, just barely beating a tag from catcher Trevino.

A double off the outfield wall from Ewing cleared the bases and put the Mets up 7-1, and that would do it for Lodolo. Seven runs on 11 hits, two walks, and two strikeouts would be the end of Lodolo’s day, although he was still responsible for the runner at second. Chris Paddack relieved Lodolo, inducing a lineout off the bat of Torrens and mercifully ending the inning. Paddack would take the Reds through the end of the game in relief.

In the sixth, McLean ran into his second trouble spot of the afternoon, allowing a walk, a fielder’s choice, and a two-out double by Nathaniel Lowe to put runners at second and third with Eugenio Suárez coming to the plate. However, McLean induced a fly ball to right for Carson Benge to handle to end the frame.

McLean continued his climb back to his 2025 performance, focusing far more on his four-seam fastball, and seeing excellent results. Not only was McLean successful in limiting runs, he was also efficient with his pitches, throwing 101 pitches over seven innings. He allowed just one unearned run on one walk and three hits, striking out nine in an overall excellent start.

In the McLain versus McLean battle of the homophones, in three plate appearances, McLain struck out twice against one double. It was close, but McLean edged out McLain.

The Mets added on in the eighth, with Benge hitting a one-out triple and scoring on a Bichette single. I know this is a risky thing to say, but the Bichette resurgence appears to be real. A Soto double would score Bichette from first to put the Mets up 9-1.

Brooks Raley came in to pitch the eighth, working around an error at short by Short and a double by Stewart to keep the Mets’ lead to eight runs. Austin Warren gave up a one-out double down the right-field line to Noelvi Marte and a walk to McLain, but buckled down and closed out the game without allowing a run.

While it is always nice to see the Mets avoid a sweep, the inconsistency of this team is something that doesn’t provide a lot of hope for the rest of the season. Yes, they are 3-3 over their last six games, but it is truly bizarre to see how they can hold their own against the powerhouse Braves and then wilt against the sub-.500 Reds? It’s truly bizarre.

The Mets travel to the City of Brotherly Love tomorrow for a three game series against the second place Phillies, interrupted by a World Cup off-day on Friday. Sean Manaea will face off against Aaron Nola in game one.

Side note: Steve Gelbs had his worst hot dog of the season thus far, furthering the feud between Mets’ broadcasters and the cuisine of Western Ohio. This seemed like the natural response to the Reds’ broadcast’s distaste for the Skyline Chili egg roll.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Nolan McLean, +19.0% WPA
Big Mets loser: Carson Benge, -7.0% WPA
Mets pitchers: +31.0% WPA
Mets hitters: +19.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Marcus Semien’s RBI single, +10.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Matt McLean’s doube, -8.6% WPA

The Mets pounded out 15 hits while annihilating the Reds, 9-1, on Wednesday afternoon in Cincinnati.

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Here are the takeaways...

- Leading 3-1 in the fifth inning, the Mets added on against Reds starter Nick Lodolo.

A one-out sacrifice fly by Mark Vientos made it 4-1 before Francisco Alvarez scalded a 112.6 mph single to left to increase New York's advantage to 5-1. A.J. Ewing then smacked an opposite field double that hit a few feet up on the wall in left-center to drive in Marcus Semien and Alvarez to make it 7-1. 

- Nolan McLeanretired the first seven hitters with relative ease before facing trouble in the third inning -- due in part to his defense betraying him.

With one out, Vientos made an error when he missed the catch on what would've been a 6-3 putout. The next batter, Matt McLain, doubled on a low liner that just eluded Soto in left field. After McLean hit Edwin Arroyo with a pitch, A.J. Ewing got a great break on a liner to his left and laid out for a diving catch -- robbing JJ Bleday of extra bases as a run came in on a sacrifice fly. McLean escaped the jam by inducing a ground out to third base. 

McLean settled into a groove again after that, retiring eight batters in a row (including four strikeouts). That streak was snapped by a one-out walk in the sixth, but he wiggled out of the inning unscathed.

Overall, McLean -- who relied heavily on a four-seam fastball that topped out at 98 mph and routinely got ahead in the count -- allowed one run (which was unearned) on three hits while walking one and striking out nine, lowering his ERA to 3.67. He threw 101 pitches (63 strikes) in what was his most dominant performance of the season.

- After hitting into double plays in each of the first two innings (including a hard-luck one off the bat of Juan Soto at 109 mph), the Mets broke through in the third.

With runners on the corners and two outs -- following a leadoff single by Luis Torrens and two-out walk by Bo Bichette, Soto lofted a bloop single into short center field to give New York a 1-0 lead. Semien and Vientos then laced back-to-back singles to increase the Mets' lead to 3-0.

The Mets capped their scoring in the eighth, with run-scoring hits by Bichette and Soto. 

- Bichette, who entered the game having slashed .412 with a 1.222 OPS in 53 plate appearances over his last 12 games, had another huge day. He went 3-for-4 with a walk, RBI, and two runs scored. Bichette's OPS, which was .531 on May 17,is up to .677.

- Soto stayed locked in, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI. 

- Alvarez has been swinging a hot bat since returning from the IL on June 9, and that continued on Wednesday, with him notching three hits with an RBI and run scored -- raising his OPS for the year to .728. 

Highlights

Juan Soto's bloop hit gives the Mets the lead! pic.twitter.com/P7OfPSWAGC

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 17, 2026

Marcus Semien's RBI single makes it 2-0 Mets! pic.twitter.com/iA95ShQ0UO

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 17, 2026

A.J. Ewing makes a diving catch in the gap!

The Reds score a run on a sacrifice fly pic.twitter.com/AKQGzM7i8t

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 17, 2026

Mark Vientos with a sacrifice fly for his second RBI of the day pic.twitter.com/RvLmzun8O0

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 17, 2026

Nolan McLean has retired eight in a row 💪 pic.twitter.com/Gv5Z2m0OWO

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 17, 2026

Francisco Alvarez brings in Juan Soto for the second run of the inning! pic.twitter.com/ivOh6yrR4s

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 17, 2026

Three strikeouts for Nolan McLean in the 7th 🔥 pic.twitter.com/7wzgJCYscn

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 17, 2026

Bo Bichette has a three-hit day!

He brings home Carson Benge to make it 8-1 pic.twitter.com/Y8hWFljWuW

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 17, 2026

Juan Soto with an RBI double to plate Bo Bichette 💪 pic.twitter.com/JJCAnoqDDX

— SNY (@SNYtv) June 17, 2026

A 9K day for Nolan McLean 😤 pic.twitter.com/4bHKwnDwkR

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) June 17, 2026

What's next

The Mets and Phillies open a three-game series in Philadelphia on Thursday at 6:40 p.m. on SNY.

Sean Manaea starts against Aaron Nola.

My attention will be very much diverted this afternoon, with England playing their opening World Cup game in Dallas, with kickoff at 1 pm. Naturally, I’ll be supporting Croatia in that one, for similar reasons to FTD. If England’s offense can be as futile as the D-backs have been over this month to date, that would be fine. It has now been 19 games since the D-backs have scored more than six runs in a contest: the longest such streak since 2018. The last time was the 7-5 win over the Giants in San Francisco on May 26. Since then, the average has been a woeful 2.7 runs/game, with a team line of .198./.277/.311 for a .588 OPS. Put another way, the D-backs have collectively been hitting like Rod Barajas did here.

It is startling to think that the 2024 D-backs, with a good number of the same players, led the league in runs scored – and by 44 runs, at that. Two years later, they’re ranked 20th. I thought it might be interesting to compare the OPS at each position around the diamond between the 2024 and 2026 Diamondbacks, and see where the differences come from.

• Overall: .777 vs. .687 (-90 points)
• C. .706 vs. 650 (-56)
• 1B. .805 vs. .569 (-236)
• 2B. .850 vs. .764 (-86)
• 3B. .775 vs. .748 (-27)
• SS. .703 vs. .721 (+18)
• LF. .828 vs. .641 (-187)
• CF. .639 vs. .570 (-69)
• RF. .780 vs. .880 (+100)
• DH. .891 vs. .581 (-310)

Quite startling. The deficit is almost all over the diamond: right field is the only place with a significant improvement (mostly due to Corbin Carroll’s very slow start in 2024), while shortstop is more or less even. Everywhere else is at least fifty points down – in some cases, a great deal more. It’s not surprise that it’s 1B and DH were the gaps were the biggest, and one imagines those will be the position the team will be looking to strengthen at the trade deadline. Well, if they’re buyers, anyway. Too many more games like the one last night, and they won’t be. Let’s hope for better today, and another series win.

Shohei Ohtani faces Shane McClanahan as the Dodgers look to sweep the Tampa Bay Rays.

Tommy’s back!

Today’s #Dodgers lineup vs. Rays: pic.twitter.com/7RRkajQAHj

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 17, 2026

WEDNESDAY GAME INFO

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Rays
• Stadium: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 12:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 (Spanish)

About a month ago, I wrote about Cody Bellinger’s vastly improved walk rate. At the time, his season wRC+ stood at a robust 141, fueled by a career-high 15.2-percent walk rate. Since then, Bellinger’s numbers have slipped, but only slightly. His walk rate is a still stellar 13.5 percent, which would still be his highest since his MVP-winning 2019, and his .272/.366/.467 slash line comes out to a 133 wRC+. That’s squarely within middle-of-the-order territory.

What’s even more reassuring is that Bellinger has managed to maintain his strong walk rate without sacrificing his quality of contact or his strikeout-avoiding skills. His xwOBA is at .371, seven points above his wOBA and over 40 points up from last year. His strikeout rate is a measly 12.2 percent, an elite mark in this day and age — it places him 12th among 156 qualified MLB hitters this year, ahead of noted contact stalwarts such as Juan Soto or José Ramírez. Bellinger’s walk rate appears to be more than a weird one-year blip (see: Ward, Taylor); it genuinely feels like he’s fixed the weakest part of his profile while retaining his strengths.

In my earlier post, I mentioned that Bellinger’s increased walk rate had improved my outlook on his performance going forward. Well, it’s not just me; the projection systems also have a rosier view of Bellinger’s future performance given his strong showing so far this year. Here’s a comparison of his preseason projected wRC+ marks to his updated rest-of-season projections as of the time of writing.

Projection System	2026 preseason wRC+	2026 preseason AVG/OBP/SLG	2026 updated rest-of-season wRC+	2026 updated rest-of-season AVG/OBP/SLG
FanGraphs Depth Charts	118	.267/.329/.458	121	.266/.338/.458
ZiPS	118	.264/.328/.457	120	.262/.336/.455
Steamer	118	.271/.329/.459	122	.270/.341/.460

Bellinger’s wRC+ projections have all seen an uptick due to his strong performance over the first two-and-a-half months of the season, and if you look at his triple-slash forecasts, you’ll find that most of that comes from his improved OBP projections. Yes, it still has just been a little under 44 percent of the season, but all three systems have seen enough over that span to re-evaluate his on-base abilities.

Even looking beyond this year, Bellinger’s increased walk rate provides him with a higher baseline as he enters the initial years of his decline phase. The low-OBP, mediocre-contact quality version of Bellinger was still a solid player, but he was heavily reliant on his contact skills to prop up his batting line – that’s a position you don’t want to find yourself in as a batter on the wrong side of 30. With his robust 2026 walk rate, though, Bellinger can afford to absorb some erosion of his contact skills and still maintain his offensive output. That makes his five-year, $162.5 million deal seem less like an overpay and more like a good deal, even if it ends up being underwater towards the back end.

Here, it’s important to note that the Yankees might not even be on the hook for the tail end of Bellinger’s contract. As readers pointed out in response to my earlier piece, if Bellinger keeps his current performance up, he will likely choose to opt out after next year and re-enter the free agent market as a 31-year-old; and if not next year, then in 2028, as a 32-year-old. That would free up a lot of money for the Yankees to spend on other needs; or, if the outfield turns out to be a pressing need, they could consider bringing him back. Either way, it’s a much better position to be in for the Yankees than to be beholden to Bellinger’s full contract with no chance of him going anywhere.

As fans, it’s easy to play the role of armchair batting coach and ascribe easy fixes to players’ flaws. Dude strikes out too much? Choke up and stop swinging for the fences! Guy can’t take walks? Stop swinging at junk!

Usually, it’s not that simple. Baseball is hard, and so is changing your profile as a player. However, in Cody Bellinger’s case, it was that simple, apparently. All he needed to do was take his walks, and so he did. And his team, and its fans, are so much happier because of it.

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Best MLB player props today

Wilyer Abreu Over 1.5 total bases (-104)

I am already fading Toronto Blue Jays right-hander Max Scherzer on another prop today, so why not fully take advantage of the old man's weaknesses? Boston Red Sox outfielder Wilyer Abreu finds himself in a great spot to do damage against Scherzer's offerings.

The 26-year-old has been seeing the ball extremely well over his last 30 plate appearances against right-handed pitching, batting .310 with a .621 SLG and .921 OPS. He has also produced a 45.8% hard-hit rate and a 16.7% barrel rate during that stretch.

On top of that, Abreu owns nearly 60% arsenal coverage against Scherzer's pitch mix, with every offering grading below league average this season, per FanGraphs.

Against left-handed hitters, the future Hall of Famer has struggled to keep the ball on the ground, allowing nearly a 75% elevation rate alongside a 13% barrel rate. Those hitters have also generated a .544 xSLG and .388 xwOBA against him.

Getting this prop at nearly even money feels like a gift. I would comfortably play it down to -110.

• Time: 6:45 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: NESN, SN1

Brandon Lowe Over 1.5 total bases (-106)

Brandon Lowe and the Pittsburgh Pirates find themselves in a strong spot tonight against Aaron Civale and the Athletics. Despite a recent slump, this feels like a good opportunity for Lowe to get back on track.

Over his last 60 plate appearances against right-handed pitching, Lowe is hitting just .222, but the underlying numbers are still solid with a 43% hard-hit rate and an 11.4% barrel rate. He also brings strong familiarity here, with a 73% arsenal coverage against Civale’s pitch mix.

On the mound, Civale enters with one of the worst pitcher ratings on the slate per Batters-Box, grading poorly across matchup wOBA, ISO, strikeout rate, and ground ball rate. Left-handed hitters have given him fits all season, allowing nearly a 70% elevation rate.

At home, those splits jump to a .354 average, .646 slugging, and a .452 wOBA, with lefties elevating the ball 77.6% of the time.

This sets up well for Lowe, who profiles with elite underlying metrics, strong matchup coverage, and a track record of getting to this number close to 50% of the time, while also carrying roughly a 35% home run rate in similar spots. I would play this down to -115.

• Time: 9:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: NBCSCA, SNP

Dominic Canzone Over 1.5 hits + runs + RBI (+109)

CALZONES FOR EVERYONE!

Mr. Dominic Canzone steps into a strong spot tonight against Baltimore Orioles right hander Kyle Bradish. The Seattle Mariners outfielder checks in with the number one rated matchup on Batters-Box’s current season timeframe, along with nearly 75% arsenal coverage against Bradish’s full pitch mix.

Canzone has been on a serious heater lately, hitting .370 with a 1.285 OPS while posting 52% hard contact and a 20% barrel rate over his last 30 at bats against right handed pitching.

On the other side, Bradish has been vulnerable to lefties, allowing 40% hard contact and a 10% barrel rate to his last 30 left handed hitters faced. Those hitters are producing a .339 xBA, .477 xSLG, and .343 xwOBA in that span.

With Canzone seeing it this well right now and the underlying matchup fully supporting it, the HRR prop at plus money feels like value. Take it down to +100.

• Time: 9:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: SEAM, MASN

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