Author: MLB Baseball News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games

Good morning.

Shawn McFarland writes about what we’ve learned about the Texas Rangers playing in a historically unexceptional division in 2026.

Jeff Wilson writes that the American League West slap fight continued yesterday with Texas missing a chance to sink the Mariners.

McFarland writes that the growing need for high leverage bullpen help reared its ugly head in a late loss to Seattle.

Kennedi Landry notes that Corey Seager look live batting practice on Sunday as he works his way back from a lingering back ailment.

McFarland writes that a rehab stint could be the next step for Seager as the Rangers hope to get their superstar back for the stretch run.

Someone at The Athletic predicts that the bold move that the Rangers will make at the deadline will be acquiring Luke Weaver. I’d take Levi Weaver back on the beat, personally.

McFarland writes that Rangers prospect John Taylor is one step away from the big leagues after choosing professional baseball over YouTube success.

And, Eric Nadel penned an essay about how the landscape for sports, recreation, and live music have changed in the in DFW.

Have a nice day!

Sam Huff was the final out of both Orioles losses over the weekend. How little did the Braves fear Huff’s bat? On Sunday, they intentionally walked the bases loaded, putting the winning run into scoring position, so that they could face Huff instead of Jackson Holliday. Huff is batting just .121 as a big leaguer this season and is 0-for-10 since being re-added to the Orioles roster on July 19th. It was probably a very easy decision for Braves manager Walt Weiss.

This is not Huff’s fault. He is an organizational depth catcher that has been thrust into a larger role due to the Orioles needs at the moment. If there had been any other hitter on the bench, Craig Albernaz would have subbed them in. Heck, if this had been a game under NL rules from a decade ago and the Orioles had a pitcher with any sort of positive hitting record they may have been the better option.

While the Orioles probably didn’t expect much from Huff and his current catching partner Chadwick Tromp, they likely hoped for a bit more than they are getting at the moment.

Huff owns a career .686 OPS in the big leagues after all, had a .598 OPS with the Giants last year, and has compiled a .608 OPS in Triple-A this year. None of that is good, but it’s passable. With the Orioles this year he is slashing .121/.147/.182 (.329 OPS). His expected numbers are even worse (0.94 xBA, .180 xSLG, .134 xwOBA).

Tromp is a career .215/.222/.355 major league hitter and had some decent moments for the Orioles just last season. This season, he’s 3-for-17 in Baltimore with six strikeouts and zero walks. And just like Huff, his expected numbers are horrible. He has a .178 xwOBA, .181 xBA, and .230 xSLG.

O’s first baseman Pete Alonso spoke to the media after the loss on Sunday. The current catching situation was brought up, and Alonso gave a pretty long response, according to MLB.com’s Jake Rill. Here is a snippet:

“They’re doing a phenomenal job. Those guys understand the role. They’re true high-quality professionals, and they’ve done a phenomenal job with the pitching staff, the game-calling, defensively back there. It’s been top tier. So they’ve been phenomenal for us in their role. They’ve been doing everything and more.”

It is wise of Alonso to focus on the defensive aspect of the current catching duo. At least that part of their game looks major league caliber, and you can lean on the fact that the starting pitchers have been quite good recently. That isn’t necessarily due to Huff and Tromp, but they haven’t done much to negatively impact the games on defense either.

Dealing with your top two catchers on the IL at the same time is a tough situation. If at least one of Adley Rutschman or Samuel Basallo were available, the team would simply shift to a more traditional setup with a primary backstop that starts five or six times a week while the backup appears as little as possible. They don’t have that luxury.

Over on MLB.com, Rill provided a rundown of some of the things that the Orioles could do to address their catching situation in the short-term. The options provided there are as follows:

• Yohel Pozo, a 29-year-old the O’s claimed from the Cardinals last week. He has seen big league action in three different seasons, including 2026. Officially, the organization has Pozo in Double-A, though he is actually their current taxi squad backstop.
• Creed Willems, one of the team’s top catching prospects. He is hitting .256/.353/.420 with 13 home runs in Triple-A this year. There are big questions defensively, however, and the Orioles have given him a lot of time at first base as well.
• Trade for a catcher. Tyler Stephenson is named as a possible fit. He’s been worth 1.3 bWAR for the Reds this season, has a .712 OPS with eight home runs, and will be a free agent after this season.

Trading for a catcher seems extremely unlikely, unless it is a waiver claim situation. When healthy, the Orioles have the best duo of backstops in the sport. Neither would seem to have a season-ending injury, and both are under control for 2027.

If the Orioles think Willems’ bat is ready, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to give him a chance. The caveat is that it would be irresponsible to make him the primary defensive catcher. He is a player that could fit in the three-catcher setup that the team occasionally rolls out. So he could plug and play where needed. Given the number of off days the team has and will have recently, maybe they could go down a bullpen arm for a week to try it out.

Pozo is the boring but likely next man up. He has shown nothing offensively to suggest he will be “good,” but putting the ball in play at all might be an upgrade from what the Orioles are getting out of the catcher position right now.

The only other creative option I would throw out there would be a promotion of Ethan Anderson from Double-A. His defense is not highly regarded, but it is probably a tier above Willems. He’s also only at Double-A and not Rule 5 eligible until 2027. But he has a 127 OPS+ with Chesapeake this season and trending upward. He gets good marks for his makeup, so perhaps the maturity is there to come up and do a nice job.

The issue with this whole conversation is that it probably needed to happen a week ago, or a month ago, or prior to the season altogether. The damage has been done. The drop off from Rutschman/Basallo to Huff/Tromp has negatively impacted the Orioles, and they don’t have any obvious, better solution to the problem.

Rutschman threw the ball over the weekend, though he is still not catching, which is significant since it is his non-throwing left wrist that has caused the problems. Even so, it seems like he is inching his way back. Any sort of roster move now would seem to be incredibly short term. That could still win the Orioles a game, so it’s worth doing to gain any sort of advantage. But it won’t make up for what they have already lost out on.

To be clear, the Orioles are not perpetually behind in the wild card standings this season because their third and fourth string catchers aren’t good enough. There’s a laundry list of causes well above that. But it is an illustration of the team sticking with a player or a strategy that clearly isn’t working out for longer than they should. A more proactive club probably would have made a move to address their organizational catching depth weeks ago. Instead, the Orioles have had to pay for their patience.

The wild ride that is Logan Schmidt’s draft process took another turn today, as the high school graduate announced on Instagram that he will not sign his professional deal with the Cleveland Guardians.

It was just two weeks ago that Schmidt was drafted #59 overall by the Guardians in the 2nd round of the MLB Draft. Slot value for that pick was $1,598,900, far less than his reported asking price. In the pre-draft process, his number was said to be $5 million.

That high of a signing bonus would have had him lined up in the top-20 of the draft, but he was no longer expected to go that high. He was, at one time, but the LHP dropped on teams’ boards after the MLB Combine due to his interviews. He changed agents going in to the combine, as well, which was odd timing considering the draft was just weeks away.

Leading in to the draft, questions about his signability began to arise, leading scouts to believe that he could end up making it to LSU. Nonetheless, his name was called on day 1 at #59 overall, prompting everyone to believe that his next step was settled and he’d be signing professionally.

Not so fast. Jason Armstrong of Inside LSU Baseball reported today that Schmidt and the Guardians never did come to an agreement before they drafted him.

For those that don’t know, the MLB draft process is far different from the other professional drafts. In the NFL and NBA drafts, organizations select a player and his rights. Pro ball is their only option at that point. Players selected in the MLB draft can opt for collegiate ball, even if drafted by an MLB organization, as long as they have eligibility remaining. So, teams and draft prospects will typically have a deal in place before the name is officially turned in to avoid situations like this.

As Jason reported, Schmidt was seeking a signing bonus equal to other high school LHPs in the class ($3-4 million). After Cleveland signed their second to last drafted prospect on Friday, they were left with only around $1.7 million in their bonus pool, clearly far less than he was negotiating for.

That gap is what has led us to this point.

What next, then? Once the deadline for teams to sign their draftees passes on Monday, July 27th at 5 pm ET, college is Schmidt’s only traditional option. He could choose to uphold his commitment to LSU or he could choose to go the junior college route.

If he chose JUCO, he could re-enter the draft next year after just one season in college and try to get his worth in 2027. He would likely show out against lesser competition, but would the maturity questions be answered? How much could be prove in a year at a small school where the players help with field upkeep? Or would it simply be a re-do in hopes that one of the other 29 teams give him the number he was looking for this year?

As for LSU, the proof is in the pudding, as they say. Jay Johnson has won two titles in his first five years at the helm for the Tigers and has had players get drafted at #1, #2, #3, #5, and #6 overall in just those five years. Kade Anderson is a former LHP who was highly ranked coming out of high school, spent two years in Baton Rouge, got drafted #3 overall, and is now the #1 prospect in the Seattle Mariners organization and blowing through the minor league system. He will be in the big leagues sooner than later.

While it’s easy to sit back from the outside and acknowledge how appealing the LSU option is, what needs to be considered is Schmidt’s age. At only 17 years old, he would not again be eligible for the MLB draft for another three years. As I was told last night, kids from California don’t necessarily grow up dreaming to play at Alex Box. That’s not to say that he would not like to, but if a kid finishes high school and is dead-set on getting drafted to begin his professional career, a three year extension could feel like an eternity, despite the perks that come with it.

The talks of how Jay Johnson will manage his roster for the 2027 season have been prominent, but make no mistake, he would find a spot for Schmidt if he needs to.

With the MLB being out of the picture, the next deadline would be the start of school next month. An answer could come tomorrow or it could be in a few weeks, but either way, Logan Schmidt is going to college.

Mariners 6, Rangers 4

• A four game sweep is not in the cards.
• This was, really, a game that the Rangers were fortunate to be up in for as long as they were.
• Jacob deGrom was fine, overall. He was also somewhat fortunate. The Mariners were making good contact off of him throughout, and he had just four strikeouts in the game.
• The Rangers, meanwhile, were not exactly beating up on Mariners starter Logan Gilbert.
• Joc Pederson’s hustle double, followed by Wyatt Langford’s single and a Ezequiel Duran sac fly, got the Rangers on the board in the first.
• The two runs they scored off of Gilbert in the fourth, giving Texas a 3-1 lead, were of the good fortune variety.
• Brandon Nimmo reached on an infield single that caromed off of Gilbert, and which Gilbert made a poor throw to first to try to get him. A Jake Burger walk and an Evan Carter single were followed by a Nicky Lopez grounder that I thought was going to potentially be a double play, but which was generously scored a single when an attempted throw to second went high.
• I’ve now listed five of the six hits the Rangers had on the day. The sixth was an Ezequiel Duran home run in the eighth to make the game closer.
• You aren’t going to win a whole ton of games when you have just six hits.
• Still, it looked like the Rangers might steal this one. When deGrom allowed two singles to start the sixth, and was pulled for Robby Ahlstrom, the first batter Ahlstrom faced, Josh Naylor, smoked a line drive right at Lopez at second base. A run scoring hit was instead an out, Ahlstrom retired the next two batters, and you thought, the Rangers are going to pull this one out.
• But no. The bullpen couldn’t get it done. A pair of hits off of Tyler Alexander resulted in Skip Schumaker going to get Cole Winn with two on and one out in the seventh.
• I thought Jakob Junis would get the nod in that situation, but I suppose he was being saved for the eighth inning.
• As it turned out, Junis wasn’t used at all, as Winn, after getting Julio Rodriguez to pop out, gave up a two run, two out blast to Dominic Canzone.
• It was momentum shifting.
• Randy Arozarena added another homer to pad the lead, which was unfortunate. Ezequiel Duran homered to bring them back within one, only to see that run given back by Peyton Gray in the top of the ninth.
• The bullpen is a problem.
• But you probably already knew that.
• Jacob deGrom hit 99.2 mph with his fastball, averaging 97.3 mph. Robby Ahlstrom touched 97.2 mph with his fastball. Tyler Alexander’s fastball topped out at 93.1 mph. Cole Winn reached 95.1 mph with his fastball. Ben Peoples maxed out at 97.1 mph with his fastball. Peyton Gray’s fastball reached 93.4 mph.
• Joc Pederson had a 106.9 mph double. Ezequiel Duran had a 106.3 mph home run.
• The rare Monday day game for the finale. Let’s win the series, okay?

The Mets open a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field on Monday night at 7:10 p.m. on SNY.

Mets Notes

• Bo Bichette is hitting .320/.353/.471 (.824 OPS) with five homers, nine doubles, one triple, 24 runs scored, and 24 RBI in 44 games since June 3
• Zac Thornton has a 0.47 ERA in 19.0 innings over his last three starts
• Luke Weaver has allowed one earned run since April 30 

Today's Lineups

Meet the Mets

Within the span of a few hours, the Mets managed to get a win over the Los Angeles Dodgers and Carlos Beltrán became the third member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame to sport a Mets cap. It can only go down from here.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, Faith and Fear in Flushing, MLB.com, Newsday, New York Daily News, New York Post, The Athletic

In his Hall of Fame speech, Beltrán celebrated and thanked mentors, the island of Puerto Rico, and even the Mets fans.

Back in New York, interim manager Andy Green spoke highly of Beltran’s reinvestment back into the future of the Mets.

The upcoming 40th anniversary of the 1986 World Series will be the first official reunion to be held without manager Davey Johnson.

If you find the 2026 Mets season to be worse than any floor you could imagine in March, you’re not alone!

As his final days as a New York Met tick down, Freddy Peralta is confident that he can still be a pitcher way better than the one who spent these past four months in the orange and blue.

Around the National League East

In what has become a familiar tale, the Nationals scored 10 times on 15 hits and the game still ended up too close for comfort in a 10-7 win over the Diamondbacks.

After 11 innings and despite the bases being loaded when the last out was recorded, the Braves capped their weekend series in Baltimore with a win over the Orioles, 3-2.

Ideally for Atlanta, Ronald Acuña Jr. will be back at the top of their lineup when the Braves come north to New York.

A late Marlins lead suddenly became a blown Marlins lead after giving up four runs in the eighth inning and set a new low-water mark for longest losing streak in franchise history with their 12th in a row.

On Sunday Night Baseball, the Phillies finally won a game against the Yankees with Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott driving in a combined nine runs in an 11-4 victory.

Around Major League Baseball

Up in Cooperstown, Carlos Beltrán was inducted into the Hall of Fame along with Jeff Kent and Andruw Jones.

Shea Langeliers, the only active player named for Shea Stadium, will miss most, if not all, of the remaining regular season games for the Athletics with a torn meniscus.

Swapping roster spots, the Yankees placed Cody Bellinger on the 10-day injured list with a hamstring strain and called up Spencer Jones to take his place in Philadelphia.

A term you really want to hear while fighting for a chance at meaningful September games, the Padres are ready to activate “pitching chaos” protocol.

Making another abbreviated start, Jacob Misiorowski still found the time to set the Brewers record for most consecutive strikeouts to start a game and managed to touch 100mph on every single fastball he threw.

Lance McCullers Jr.’s time with the Milwaukee Brewers has come to an end after exactly one Scaramucci’s worth of days.

On his bobblehead day, Munetaka Murikami hit his first two home runs since coming off of the injured list in a White Sox stomping of the Astros.

The White Sox badly want starting pitching but are also unwilling to trade any of their top 10 prospects, which makes for an interesting way to say you don’t want very good starting pitching after all.

In semi-related news, the Chicago White Sox acquired pitcher Jose Urquidy from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

This Date in Mets History

Happy birthday to illustrious Mets Max Scherzer and Xzavion Curry.

What a difference a year makes. The White Sox weren’t quite historically bad in 2025, but they still lost 102 games and were very much in the wilderness. Now they’re a game and a half clear of anyone in the division, and while they’re not necessarily projected to stay in that slot, first place is first place and someone in the annual AL Central Rock Fight needs to knock them off that perch.

The team has a couple real stars, after multiple seasons of trading away the only players that were halfway interesting. There are five hitters in the lineup that boast plus production, led by Miguel Vargas at third base, and a rotation that bounces between solid and quite good. You can see the pieces being set into place for what would be a genuinely good baseball team, and the Yankees can’t afford to assume this version of the Sox will just roll over and die.

The Yankees will be without Cody Bellinger, who was put on the IL with a bad hamstring on Sunday. With another All Star-caliber player unavailable, the pitching needs to once again carry the load — fortunately, the team has the three guys you want going to start the series, a good preview of a potential playoff deployment, and the fourth guy is coming off a damn good outing in his own right.

Monday — Max Fried vs. Noah Schultz (7:40pm Eastern)

Fried roared back into the rotation against the Pirates last week, throwing five innings with a 7:1 K:BB ratio while still on a limited pitch count. He lowered his season ERA to below 3.00 and certainly assuaged early concerns that he would need to be handled with kid gloves returning from his bone bruise. Now he’ll be brought to bear against a White Sox side that’s relatively mediocre against southpaws, managing just a 98 wRC+ so far this season.

Schultz was a first-round pick by the Sox, 12th overall back in 2022, but hasn’t really found his footing in his first taste of MLB action. He throws a four-seam/sinker combo that is mediocre, but the real problem has been a complete lack of anything resembling secondary stuff. One of the worst sweepers in baseball is paired with one of the worst changeups, and for a Yankee team that is dead set on having a lefty-specialist lineup, the goal has to be to hunt heaters and spit on any other offering.

Tuesday — Gerrit Cole vs. Anthony Kay (7:40pm Eastern)

Dadbod Cole is probably past the AL Cy Young frontrunner days, but has been solid enough outside of two rocky starts following Tommy John surgery. His last outing against Pittsburgh was a great test for what you see as valuable in pitching — he gave up two home runs but just two other hits, and struck out 11 against no walks in seven innings. He has the lowest walk rate of his career across the 11 starts he’s made this season, but that’s been paired with the second-highest home run rate he’s ever posted. He fills up the zone but has yet to figure out how to manage contact quality, and the White Sox can elevate the ball.

Anthony Kay, formerly of the Blue Jays, hasn’t had the best 2026. I tend to consider K-BB rate as the best singular stat to examine pitchers with, and Kay has just a 9 point separation between those two numbers. Cam Schlittler might just win the Cy Young award so it may be unfair to compare him to Kay, but HIS K-BB rate is over 25 percent. Good pitchers, you’re looking at somewhere between 15-20 percent. Kay doesn’t strike many men out, and walks his share, so the trick to success against him is going to be avoiding the chase. Make him bring the ball into the zone and there are hits to be found.

Wednesday — Cam Schlittler vs. Davis Martin (7:40pm Eastern)

We have an ace-off in game three. Writing about Schlittler is getting to be a bit superfluous, like Aaron Judge in the peak of an MVP campaign, there are only so many ways to say he’s standing above every other pitcher in the Junior Circuit. We’re fresh off his dominant Friday night performance against the Phillies, striking out a dozen across 7.1 shutout innings, hand-delivering the Yankees a 1-0 win. He is the most exciting player to watch on this Yankee roster, and we’ve begun to expect to win on every fifth day.

For his part, Davis Martin will give as good as he gets. Already worth 3.1 fWAR on the season, he’d be someone that gets Cy Young murmurings if not for the year Cam’s having. He was absolutely thumped in mid-June against the Yankees though, surrendering nine earned runs on a trio of home runs and not making it out of the fourth inning, He’ll be out for redemption on Wednesday night, and righties in the Yankee lineup will need to be particularly careful when facing one of baseball’s best changeups.

Thursday — Ryan Weathers vs. Sean Burke(2:10pm Eastern)

You can’t exactly copy and paste what I said above about Schlittler here. Weathers isn’t nearly as good and won’t get Cy Young consideration, but he is also coming off a stellar start against the Phillies. For me, the thing to watch about Weathers the rest of the year is fastball usage. His four-seam is honestly pretty pathetic, and I’ve been wondering all year when he’ll move his secondary pitches into his primary offerings, “pitching backwards” as the saying goes. He did that well on Saturday, and I think if he continues to do so he’ll move on the favorable side of average.

Burke, 26, is the second piece of a good 1-2 tandem with Martin, posting 2.5 fWAR so far in 2026. The opposite of Weathers in many ways, his four-seam is his bread and butter pitch while the changeup is an offering he’s best left leaving on the table. He was stellar in his one start against the Yankees this year, throwing 7.1 innings and allowing a single run, striking out eight with one walk. If he’s gonna do that again this go around, it’s a good thing the Yankees face him last.

Welcome to week 18 of our 2026 NL Central Power Rankings — let’s rank some teams!

1. Milwaukee Brewers (66-39); 4-2 this week; 99.8% chance to make postseason (FanGraphs)

The Brewers continue to set the pace in the division, as they went 4-2 with a pair of series wins against the Mets and Rockies to wrap up a 7-2 homestand.

Cooper Pratt set the pace offensively, as the rookie led the team with nine hits, including the first two homers of his career to go with a double and a pair of steals. He also drove in a team-high six runs. Andrew Vaughn added two homers of his own, while Joey Ortiz, Brice Turang, and Christian Yelich each had one. Rookie Luis Lara also had a big weekend, picking up four hits, including three doubles, and driving in five.

Jacob Misiorowski continues to dominate opposing lineups, as he picked up an incredible 18 strikeouts in just nine innings of work this week, allowing two runs (one earned). Robert Gasser went six frames with two runs allowed, striking out four in a win, while Logan Henderson went five frames and struck out nine with two runs allowed in his outing. Aaron Ashby, Abner Uribe, and Craig Yoho totaled 7 1/3 scoreless innings for the bullpen, striking out nine.

Milwaukee now heads out west, as they’ll visit the Giants and Angels for a pair of three-game series through the weekend.

2. Chicago Cubs (59-46); 3-3 this week; 87.4% chance to make postseason

The Cubs went 3-3 this week, dropping two of three against the Tigers before taking two of three against the Pirates.

Seiya Suzuki led the Cubs with three homers but had just one hit outside of that, batting .160 for the week, while Pete Crow-Armstrong continues to build an MVP case as he led the team with nine hits, including seven extra-base hits (three doubles, two triples, and two homers), slashing .391/.517/.957. Michael Busch added eight hits, including a homer, and Ian Happ and Michael Conforto also homered.

Shota Imanaga and David Peterson both turned in scoreless starts, as Imanaga went six frames with four strikeouts and Peterson went 6 2/3 innings with four strikeouts. Matthew Boyd went seven innings with one run allowed and four strikeouts, and Javier Assad and Gavin Hollowell each earned a save this week. Caleb Thielbar and Jacob Webb combined for 4 1/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts for the bullpen.

Chicago now heads to St. Louis for a four-game set with the rival Cardinals before returning home to host the Yankees over the weekend.

3. Pittsburgh Pirates (54-52); 2-4 this week; 41.5% chance to make postseason

The Pirates had a rough week, dropping both of their series against the Yankees and Cubs for a 2-4 stretch.

Esmerlyn Valdez picked up two homers this week, while Nick Gonzales led the squad with nine hits, including a homer. Ryan O’Hearn added six hits, including a homer, and Jake Mangum also picked up six hits.

Bubba Chandler and Mitch Keller turned in the best starts of the week for Pittsburgh. Chandler went 6 1/3 innings with no runs and five strikeouts, while Keller went five scoreless frames with six strikeouts. Jared Jones added six innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts. Wilber Dotel, Dennis Santana (who was DFA’d this week), and Gregory Soto totaled seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts out of the bullpen.

Pittsburgh will stay home to host the D-backs for three games before heading to Cincinnati to take on the Reds for four games over the weekend.

4. St. Louis Cardinals (53-52); 2-5 this week; 19.0% chance to make postseason

The Cardinals had a busy week without much success. They dropped two of three against the lowly Angels in Los Angeles before hosting the D-backs for a makeup game on Thursday, losing 10-6. They then lost two of three to the Reds over the weekend.

Iván Herrera and JJ Wetherholt had the only homers of the week for St. Louis, while Alec Burleson raked his way to 12 hits, including three doubles. Jordan Walker added six hits, and Bryan Torres had three hits in just seven at-bats, driving in three.

Andre Pallante and Hunter Dobbins each picked up a win in their starts this week, with Pallante going seven scoreless with eight strikeouts and Dobbins spanning six scoreless innings with five strikeouts. Dustin May added a quality start with one run allowed over six innings, and Scott Blewett and Ryne Stanek totaled five scoreless innings with five strikeouts for the bullpen.

St. Louis now hosts their rival Cubs for four games before a visit to the Blue Jays for three games over the weekend.

5. Cincinnati Reds (49-55); 4-2 this week; 2.1% chance to make postseason

The Reds went 4-2 this week, as they’re now 6-3 out of the break after taking two of three against both the Mariners and Cardinals.

Elly De La Cruz and Eugenio Suárez both slugged a pair of homers this week, while JJ Bleday, Ke’Bryan Hayes, Sal Stewart, and Nathaniel Lowe added one each. Lowe also led the team with six hits as the only player to bat over .300 this week.

Chase Burns had another strong start, totaling five innings with no runs allowed and six strikeouts. Andrew Abbott made a pair of starts, spanning 12 innings with three runs allowed (two earned) and a team-high 10 strikeouts, while Emilio Pagán led the bullpen with three scoreless innings to pick up a trio of saves.

The Reds head back home to host the Guardians and Pirates over the next week.

Since Will Smith last played on June 5, Dalton Rushing has started 30 of the Dodgers last 42 games behind the plate, by far the busiest stretch of catching of his career, as he moved around often in the minors as a bat-first prospect, playing some designated hitter, some first base, and even left field, though those positions are now occupied on the major league team.

On the season, Rushing is hitting .246/.333/.463 with a 119 wRC+, and the Dodgers seem pleased with his progress on defense after getting thrust into a more regular role with Smith still expected out a long while. From Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register:

“He’s proven that he certainly can play here on an every-day basis,” Roberts said. “When you’re an every-day catcher, you don’t get to cherry-pick when you play. I can’t cherry-pick matchups for him. So he’s playing against really good pitchers. He’s catching different pitchers. So he’s growing.

“I think he’s also understanding that to play more you’ve got to manage your emotions more. It’s just hard to be hot and cold when you’re playing five days a week. It’s all a part of his growth, which has been fun for me to watch.”

In that same article, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said the Dodgers aren’t looking for a frontline catcher at the trade deadline — one week from Monday — but that adding catching depth would be “helpful.”

Speaking of the trade deadline, Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times reports that acquiring two-time Cy Young Award-winner Tarik Skubal from the Detroit Tigers is unlikely, that “the Dodgers don’t appear to be moving toward a trade for Skubal.”

José Mota was in the English-language radio booth this weekend in New York with Stephen Nelson, as Rick Monday was in Cooperstown as part of induction weekend at the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Monday was honored on Saturday during the 50th anniversary season of his stopping the burning of an American flag on the field at Dodger Stadium in 1976.

The Braves decided to keep the drama high over the weekend. They were fortunate enough to win two of three in Baltimore, as each game was decided by one run. Sunday’s win may have been the most dramatic of all, as the Braves tried multiple times to give the game away. But in the end, Atlanta continues to thrives since the All-Star Break, as they are now 7-3 over their last ten games.

Braves News

Andruw Jones officially joined the Hall of Fame with the 2026 class on Sunday.

The mid-season/post draft Battery Power Top 30 prospects will be revealed this week, including the honorable mentions.

The return of Ronald Acuna Jr. could be imminent with the Braves heading to New York to face the Mets.

MLB News

The Trade Rumors are picking up across baseball.

Shea Langeliers is likely out for the season with a torn meniscus.

Worcester: W, 4-3 (BOX SCORE)

Franklin Arias is still looking for his first AAA hit, but Kristian Campbell is finding plenty of ways to get on base. He had two doubles, while Braiden Ward had the only other hits on a day when the rest of the team struggled to produce. It wasn’t a pretty win, to say the least, but two members of the lineup were on their game. I wouldn’t worry too much about two games of Arias adjusting to AAA; he’s still the youngest player at his level, two of the the pitchers he faced (Zach Pop and Zack Brzykcy) have had a mentionable amount of Major League pitching time, and he reached on a fielding error that scored Ward, which would end up being the game-winning run. All in all, could have been worse!

Portland: L, 4-8 (BOX SCORE)

Gage Ziehl, who may have read my article stating he may be leveraged in a trade, picked a bad time to have a rough outing. He avoided being taken out of the house, but needed 75 pitches to get nine outs. From there, the bullpen didn’t help matters, and despite the Sea Dogs going blow for blow, giving up six total runs in the first four innings to the Rumble Ponies (Mets AA) left the Sea Dogs in dire straits they couldn’t even surmount with another Jack Winnay home run and Mason White’s first since being promoted to Double-A.

Greenville: W, 7-6 (BOX SCORE)

It’s always good when you can make the other team pay for committing three defensive errors, it’s even nicer when it results in a walk-off the way Greenville’s Sunday afternoon game against Spartanburg (Astros High-A) did. The Drive came into the bottom of the ninth down by one with just a 20% chance of winning the game, but, fortunately for the Drive, Justyn Gonzales is a prospect to watch. He hit his fourteenth home run of 2026 directly after yet another Enddy Azocar knock to start the inning, and the rally was very anti-climactic.

Salem: L, 3-13 (BOX SCORE)

The Green Jackets (Braves A) got to Williams Montero extremely early in his first A-level start, and the RidgeYaks turned to Leighton Finley to take the bulk of this game. Finley allowed eleven hits and seven runs, but someone was going to have to wear it against a Green Jackets lineup who was ready to mash. Andruw Mussett and Justin Barry each got a ball over the fence with zero outs, but not much of a fighting chance could have possibly been recouped when down 10-2 after six.

Good morning.

• There was the first big trade of the Deadline happened over the weekend as the Nationals sent third baseman Curtis Mead to the Red Sox for left-hander Connelly Early.
• The decision by Boston to trade Early was so shocking that his former Red Sox teammate Payton Tolle thought it was an AI hoax.
• Jack Baer explains the deal.
• Patrick Stevens explains why the Nats agreed to trade Mead.
• Bradford Doolittle grades the deal. He’s likes the Nats end of the deal better.
• Mike Axisa also grades the trade. He also likes what the Nats got more, but he’s more positive on the Red Sox return.
• Chad Jennings and Tim Britton offer separate grades for the deal. (The Athletic sub. req.) Jennings thinks Boston will win the trade and Britton likes Washington’s end better.
• Mike Axisa explains why Nats left-hander Foster Griffn could be one of the hottest names at the deadline, just one year after returning from Japan. Axisa has the case for and against trading Griffin.
• Thomas Harrington asks if the Nationals are willing to pull the trigger and trade shortstop CJ Abrams?
• Aiden Stephansky looks at the Deadline plans of the Pirates and why they’re more likely to be buyers than sellers.
• Ryan Phillips argues that the Padres must trade closer Mason Miller.
• Scott Merkin asks if the White Sox could go all-in to acquire Miller.
• Michael Baumann calls rookie Bradgley Rodriguez the next great Padres reliever.
• Thomas Harrington has eight trade candidates who could be better than their numbers indicate.
• Keith Law offers his own Top 70 prospects (The Athletic sub. req.) for those wondering who has stuff to trade. Josiah Hartshorn and Jefferson Rojas are the Cubs prospects that made his list.
• The Marlins just lost their 12th-straight game.
• Johnny Flores Jr. asks if the Marlins current losing streak will turn them into sellers at the Deadline. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Will the Marlins trade Sandy Alcantara now?
• Less than two weeks after trading for him, the Brewers have designated Lance McCullers Jr. for assignment.
• One player considered to be in big demand at the deadline was Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers. That’s probably over as Langeliers has a torn meniscus and is out for the year. Jeff Passan reports.
• Dan Szymborski wonders when the A’s will be a contender again.
• Mets outfielder Juan Soto will miss “considerable” time with a calf strain. Jorge Castillo reports.
• Castillo also reports that an emotional Mets pitcher Freddy Peralta said he “let them [the Mets] down” after what is probably his final start with the team.
• Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger landed on the IL with a hamstring strain.
• On Sunday in Cooperstown, the Hall of Fame held ceremonies for the inductions of Carlos Beltrán, Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent.
• Bradford Doolittle examines what the inductions of Beltrán, Jones and Kent means to the Hall.
• Ben Lindbergh thinks several of the “clean” players from the “Steroid Era” that got passed over for Cooperstown should get another chance at the ballot. In particular, he’s talking about Kenny Lofton.
• Jake Mintz looks at Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler, who is having the best season of his career.
• And finally, Bob Nightengale profiles former two-time World Series champion Scott Spiezio, who says he’s a “changed man” by getting clean after nearly losing everything after years of substance abuse.

Michael Massey had the big home run late to win it for the Royals on Sunday, writes Jaylon Thompson.

“Being down one and to give us the lead there, you know, felt really good,” Massey said. “Obviously, I don’t get a ton of ABs (off left-handed pitchers), but trying to stay ready. Trying to prepare as best I can in the cage with the machine on the left side. The hitting coaches are always doing a great job working those drills in there for me so I can stay sharp.”

The Royals celebrated the new franchise home run king, Salvador Perez.

“It’s incredible seeing him do that in that situation, too,” Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino said after the game. “I thought it was really cool that the Tigers gave him a second to (celebrate). So yeah, that was pretty special. Home plate umpire (Erich Bacchus) did a great job of just kind of letting the moment breathe. Yeah, (Perez) is just fantastic, right.”

Anne Rogers got George Brett’s reaction to Salvy breaking his club home run record.

“I don’t want any of my records to be broken, to be honest with you,” Brett said recently in an interview with MLB.com. “But he’s a home run hitter — that record is going to be broken, there’s no doubt in my mind. It just means that he’s been here for a long time, he’s been a very productive player, and if anybody was going to break it, I’m glad it’s him.

“I thought Alex Gordon might have a chance when he came up here. Mike Sweeney if he had played 15 years here. But I’m happy for Salvy. I really am.”

Thompson writes that Noah Cameron called his own pitches in an outing on Saturday, to great success.

And the big reason? Well, Cameron called his own pitches after consultation with the Royals pitching coaches and veteran catcher Salvador Perez.

“It has nothing to do with obviously the pitch calling from the catchers because they have been amazing all year,” Cameron said. “Just a little bit of yeah, I guess my idea, a little stubbornness from me. And yeah, it obviously, you know, worked.” Cameron said he began calling his pitches in a recent bullpen. It allowed him to pitch with more conviction — as evident by his start on Friday night.

“It was good, and I felt comfortable,” Cameron said. “I felt like I could work a little faster and just kind of go at guys and have full confidence in the pitch that was thrown.”

Rogers writes that Isaac Collins is settling in.

“I feel like the first few months of the year, I was trying to do way too much,” Collins said.

Now? Collins is looking much more settled in, and he’s producing like the hitter the Royals believed they were acquiring.

“I really just honed in on what I’m trying to do each time I get to the plate,” Collins said. “Looking where I need to look and getting my pitch. Just staying on my approach and just being really convicted. That’s kind of been the big theme for me lately, is just being convicted in who I am as a hitter and who I am as a player.

“There were some good games in the first few months of the year, but then it would just feel like I would take a step back two or three games later. But lately, it’s just been building, keep climbing the mountain.”

Carlos Beltrán, Andruw Jones, and Jeff Kent are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Nationals trade third baseman Curtis Mead to the Red Sox for pitcher Connelly Early.

Jacob Misiorowski sets a Brewers record by striking out the first seven hitters of the game.

Cody Bellinger lands on the Injured List, which may increase the Yankees’ need for a trade.

The Brewers designate pitcher Lance McCullers for assignment.

The Marlins lose a club record 12th game in a row.

Matt Shaw won’t be activated from the Injured List before the trade deadline.

The Dodgers will get closer Edwin Diaz back this week.

A’s catcher Shea Langeliers has a torn meniscus and may miss the rest of the year.

The Diamondbacks are interested in a contract extension for catcher Gabriel Moreno.

When will the Athletics truly be competitive again?

The Nationals are the latest in a trend of teams calling pitches from the dugout. [$]

Joe Buck is honored with the Ford Frick Award.

Why did LeBron James choose Philly over the Heat or Cavs?

MLS is targeted a $400-500 million TV deal.

Fighters go head-to-head in the medieval combat championships.

The best fictional football coaches in film history.

Millennials are trying to make minivans cool again.

Your song of the day is Elvis Costello with Veronica.

Good morning, baseball fans!

A new week of San Francisco Giants baseball is upon us. I’m starting to interpret that sentence as a threat, but I guess there’s not really much we can do about that part.

This week, the Giants continue their homestand by welcoming the Milwaukee Brewers to Oracle Park tonight to begin a three-game series. After that, they head south to begin a four-game series against the San Diego Padres starting on Thursday.

Personally, I’m never going to pick a Padres series as the series I’m most interested in. No offense to the Padres, they’re a more compelling team than the one we’re following. But we also see them approximately seven thousand times throughout the year (or it feels like it anyway). So I’m going to pick the Brewers series.

Which series are you most interested in this week?

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants begin this three-game series against the Brewers tonight at 6:45 p.m. PT.

Though the offense has been on a monthlong slump, I think it is fair to say that the bullpen is the clear weakness of the team. For what is largely considered a rebuild season, I actually think this is more of a positive than a negative. I am not worried about the bullpen long-term. The bullpen is a perpetual short-term concern. Who is good today may not be good tomorrow.

And they also can be found anywhere. Riley O’Brien and George Soriano are arguably the two best relievers on the team. O’Brien was purchased because the Seattle Mariners didn’t have room on the 40 man for him. Soriano was DFA’d and claimed a few times before the Cardinals decided for him using Andre Granillo, an okay relief prospect who is already on his second team after being DFA’d himself. JoJo Romero was traded for a (very good) bench player.

And on top of that, the Cardinals are littered with pitching prospects who we want to see start, but may have to go to the bullpen, which will probably be to the bullpen’s benefit. If the Cardinals solely wanted to build a good bullpen, we may have even seen some of them already: Liam Doyle certainly, Tanner Franklin, a healthier Brandon Clarke and Cooper Hjerpe fit this too. Not all of these guys will start. So I am certainly not worried about the bullpen.

But because they have a bad bullpen, I’d expect to have some changeover by Opening Day of next season. And I wanted to see if I could guess what it might look like. And I wanted to do it before the trading deadline, because this will also function as sort of a prediction from myself on what I expect to happen some of to the relievers

Riley O’Brien

Here Opening Day 2027? Yes

For me, this would have been an interesting debate when you could truly claim you were selling high on O’Brien. I’m just not seeing this great return available. It’s not that I’m not open to trading him, I just look at his numbers and if I’m an opposing team, I don’t know why I would give up that much for him. I could be wrong, which I will put the necessary disclaimer that if a team will give you some fantastic return, sure trade him.

The other aspect of this, and really the only reason anyone is considering trading O’Brien, is that he’s 31 and had injury problems in the past. So I do get it. But to me, the return I imagine O’Brien getting back, it’s a worthwhile risk to just keep him. I would just be surprised if I feel immense regret at the loss of the prospects he’d bring back. I almost think he’d need to be paired with a catcher or something, which is something the Cardinals may do!

But by himself? Injury is the biggest risk. But if he’s pitching the exact same for the next year (and his advanced stats are pretty similar to last season’s), he will not get a worse return. Years of control for a 31-year-old reliever do not matter like they do for a 25-year-old SS. It does matter that he has multiple years of control, but I don’t think the difference between 4 years and 2 months and 3 years and 2 months is going to meaningfully change the return. I really don’t. You’ll be trading for the rest of that particular year and maybe two years in both instances. Anything beyond that, you probably aren’t counting on.

George Soriano

Here Opening Day? Yes

Not to disparage George Soriano, but he probably looks like a better pitcher than he is because of the bullpen he’s in. His numbers are okay honestly. An okay strikeout rate, an okay walk rate, a normal groundball rate. He was essentially a waiver claim at the beginning of this year. Nobody is giving you a haul for this dude. And if you take offense to what I’m saying, that you think he’s a really good pitcher, that’s even more reason not to trade him. Because it hasn’t shown up in the numbers yet. You think his numbers will improve? Why would you trade him now before he’s about to take the next step into being a high leverage reliever?

There is one argument to trade him, and that’s if you view Soriano as found money, that you think he’s essentially a fringe MLB reliever and you want to capitalize on a first half that he won’t repeat. But I don’t think many think of Soriano like that. In order to trade Soriano, I would need a team to view him as a much better pitcher than his numbers say he is, and I would be surprised if that happens.

Ryne Stanek

Here Opening Day 2027? God no

He’s been a bad reliever for like four straight years, I’m good. I don’t even know if he’s good enough to trade.

Gordon Graceffo

Here Opening Day 2027? No

Heavy, heavy disclaimer here: the year is not up, and Graceffo has recently rediscovered his strikeout stuff. So this is a July 27th, I’m looking at his situation and I’m not bringing him back. If his numbers significantly improve by the end of the year, different answer. But Graceffo is going to be out of options, and currently has a 15.5 K%, 11.7 BB%, 4.65 FIP, 5.17 xFIP, 5.03 SIERA, and 5.47 xERA. Yes, I am leaving out ERA. Literally the only stat that has him as a good reliever. He won’t have a good ERA if all the other stats stay the same, which we’ve seen a little recently.

Objectively speaking, there is no good argument to bring back Graceffo with the current stats he has. Again, he has two months to change this. He has 6 strikeouts in his last two appearances. If the strikeouts are truly back, okay we’ll see it in these next two months.

Justin Bruhl

Here Opening Day 2027? No

Similar to Graceffo, he could change things by the end of the year. We all know how he began the year, and he’s already turned his season around. Still, I picked out a few dates to see how much better of a pitcher he has been in the last two months, and I tried different dates to see if the stats changed enough, and I kind of shrug my shoulders. He still doesn’t strike people out, he just stopped walking them. I have to think the Cardinals were hoping for a better pitcher than this when they claimed him.

It was a good claim, we gave it a good shot, he’s just not a guy who I want to HAVE to carry on a roster all year. I know I keep hammering the options, but why keep a mediocre or bad reliever who you can’t send them down? Once again, I am emphasizing if the season ended today, this is where I stand. Both Bruhl and Graceffo have a chance to change minds, but their current stats are not worth keeping next year.

Luis Gastelum

Here Opening Day 2027? Yes

Good minor league pedigree, all three options remaining – possibly two by the end of the year – and if the Cardinals’ usage of him is any indication, they clearly view him as the future. I don’t actually know if he will literally be on the Opening Day roster, he will be on the 40 man however.

Matt Svanson

Here Opening Day 2027? Yes

Me including Svanson and not Graceffo or Bruhl for performance reasons will probably confuse fans who don’t know how this works. Svanson has an option and therefore he can be sent to AAA next season. The other two can’t. It’s that simple. Svanson also was straight up elite last year and the other two weren’t and because of that I may even had brought Svanson back if he had no options. With one more option remaining, it’s a no brainer.

JoJo Romero

Here Opening Day 2027? No

Sorry, he’s getting traded in a week, and I don’t think the Cardinals are going to sign him to free agent prices.

Ryan Fernandez

Here Opening Day 2027? Yes

But probably not on the actual roster. Would it surprise me if the Cardinals moved on? Absolutely not. Their actions speak loudly. In terms of how Fernandez has actually pitched this year, I don’t see why you wouldn’t bring him back. He’s pitched very well in the majors, despite limited opportunities, striking out 33% of hitters with a 2.70 ERA. His numbers in AAA are not terrible, and trust me that’s sometimes as good as you can ask for in Memphis.

All that said, he’s got two months to screw it up. Which is kind of why I want to see Fernandez in the majors. Cause I would like more than 13 innings in the MLB to base my decision. He’s pitched well enough in the majors to keep getting chances, and if you’re not a fan of Fernandez, don’t worry, if he’s as bad as you think, it’ll be reflected in the numbers after two months. And if he still looks like a capable MLB reliever after two months, okay he’s worth bringing back.

It’s just bizarre that they refused to send him down for as long as they did last year, and now he’s the literal last option they go to, and only when they’re truly desperate. And I must point out: Ryan Fernandez has one more MLB option.

Those are established 40 man relievers right now. And by my count, I have five relievers coming back, one of whom is very likely to start in Memphis (at least). I need to figure out the other four relievers on Opening Day. My hot take is that I think the Cardinals are going to keep trying Matthew Liberatore at starting, so that’s why he’s not mentioned. His numbers are extremely similar to Andre Pallante last year, who they stuck with.

Brycen Mautz

No brainer choice here. They recently moved him to the bullpen, he’ll probably get some MLB time after the deadline. He’ll definitely still be in the organization, it’s just a matter of if he’ll be in Memphis or St. Louis.

Cade Winquest

Winquest has been hit hard by the homer bug in Memphis, but otherwise looks like a future MLB reliever pretty easily. He has a 29.5 K%, 6.3 BB%, and 46.4 GB%, leading to a 3.49 xFIP. I would actually be surprised if the Cardinals don’t promote him at any point this year, because he needs to be added to the 40 man roster in November anyway. And we can be pretty sure he’d be selected in the Rule 5, because the Yankees literally just did and they only had 8 starts in AA to base their decision. A fantastic K/BB ratio in AAA surely would interest at least one team.

Tekoah Roby

No, I am not permanently moving Tekoah Roby to the bullpen. I am however recognizing that he will throw zero innings in 2026. He threw 78 innings in 2025. He threw 38 innings in 2024. He will, hopefully, be completely healthy at the start of 2027. I do not see a situation where you aren’t forced to heavily manage his innings and guess what, easy way to limit someone’s innings is to put him in the bullpen.

On top of that, he does have the issue of coming into next season with just one option. You retain that option when he spends 60 or so innings in the MLB bullpen, and then hopefully he pitches well enough that you want to move him to starter or at least try starting, and then you have the ability for him to be in Memphis when you’re not sure if he can start. Ideally, you don’t have to send him to Memphis.

But the main reason is just that if you only want him to throw 60 innings, it feels like a waste for that to be in Memphis and not St. Louis, where he can also learn how to get MLB hitters out. Again, I don’t know how the Cardinals plan to manage his workload, maybe they’ll just say “we’ll see if he can start 30 times” but looking at his innings history, I would be surprised if that were the case. If they have a low innings goal for him, and that may be a big if, MLB bullpen would be my choice.

And that’s all I got. They’re probably going to sign an MLB reliever or put in a few waiver claims or something. I’m not seeing it with Hancel Rincon, I’ll be honest. Maybe he’ll be a guy, I don’t think I use a 40 man spot on him. Might be worth calling him up this year to see how he plays at the MLB level to better inform a decision. He’ll certainly be eligible for minor league free agency, so it’s probably 40 or not in the organization. I wanted to say Sem Robberse, and if he looks good the rest of the year, he’s certainly in play, but that requires a bit more optimism than I was aiming for. Maybe it’ll be Peter Strzelecki, but I’ll certainly need MLB success this year for him to be on this list.

Interestingly, even though I have Roby on this list, it’s about a year early before the big guns might need to be moved to the bullpen. I don’t think they’ll give up on Cooper Hjerpe at starting by Opening Day next year, but maybe by the following year. So they might scrap heap the bullpen waiting to see who needs to move to the bullpen next year.