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The majority of the sports world has its eyes on Game 3 of the NBA Finals, but we're still hunting for value on the diamond today.

Our expert MLB picks have a pair of side bets to tail tonight, with the Rays underpriced and the Phillies lining up for a multi-run win.

MLB expert picks for today

Pick	Odds
Jon Metler: TB ML	+100
Neil Parker: PHI -1.5	+104

Prices courtesy of Polymarket.

Jon Metler's expert pick: Rays ML

Price: 50¢ (+100) at Polymarket

The Tampa Bay Rays may start Ian Seymour as an opener against the Red Sox tonight, but I believe the key to this matchup lies in the middle innings, when Mason Englert takes over. Englert’s sweeping curveball and slider have both been highly effective this season, and they match up well against a Boston lineup that likes to be aggressive and pull the baseball. The east-west movement on those pitches can make it difficult for hitters to get the barrel out front consistently. On the other side, Tampa Bay’s offensive identity is built around patience: The Rays excel at extending at-bats, spoiling quality pitches, and forcing starters to work deep counts. If they can drive up Connelly Early’s pitch count and get into Boston’s middle relief early, I think they gain a meaningful advantage. I make the Rays closer to 56-cent favorites in this spot, which is why I’m willing to back them at this price.

• Time: 6:40 p.m. ET
• How to watch: RAYS, NESN

Neil Parker's expert pick: Phillies -1.5

Price: 49¢ (+104) at Polymarket

Toronto lefty Patrick Corbin sports a 7.46 ERA with 5.4 BB/9, while allowing a monster .442 wOBA and 1.035 OPS across 35 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies since the beginning of the 2022 season. With NL Cy Young favoriteCristopher Sanchez toeing the rubber tonight for the Phils, they have a huge advantage on the mound. Additionally, the Philly bullpen also has the lowest xFIP, and the bats rank sixth in xwOBA over the past two weeks — while Toronto checks in 22nd and 12th.

• Time: 7:07 p.m. ET
• How to watch: NBCSP, Rogers Sportsnet

More MLB best bets for today

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The Texas Rangers optioned relief pitcher Luis Curvelo to AAA Round Rock after yesterday’s game, the team announced yesterday. In addition, the team also announced yesterday that utility man Sam Haggerty, who was designated for assignment on Friday to make room for Elias Diaz on the active roster, cleared waivers and was released.

Curvelo came up a week ago, along with Robbie Ahlstrom, when the Rangers optioned Gavin Collyer to AAA Round Rock and placed Chris Martin on the 15 day injured list. He made three appearances while he was up, including facing two batters in Saturday’s blowout loss before leaving the game after taking a comebacker to the leg, and pitching a scoreless inning to finish Sunday’s blowout win. I thought it was odd Curvelo was pitching the day after he left a game due to injury — I thought Jakob Junis, who hasn’t pitched since last Tuesday, might get an inning just to keep him from getting rusty — but the Rangers apparently decided he was heading back to the minors after the game anyway, so might as well get some innings from him.

The Rangers haven’t announced a move to fill Curvelo’s spot on the active roster, but the beats are indicating that Cole Winn, who went on the injured list on May 24, is expected to take his place. Winn threw 16 pitches for Round Rock on Friday on a rehab assignment, and is eligible to be activated from the injured list today, though they will probably wait until tomorrow to officially make the move since the Rangers are off day.

Haggerty, meanwhile, is a free agent now. After a solid 2025 season in a platoon role for the Rangers, he was brought back to again be a righthanded platoon bat, but didn’t hit against righties (.182/.182/.182 in 11 plate appearances) or lefties (.152/.222/.182 in 36 plate appearances) this season. The Rangers currently have Justin Foscue as their short-side platoon DH and Michael Helman filling that role in center, though it remains to be seen whether either of those are viable solutions going forward.

On Saturday night, as the No. 6 Texas Longhorns took on the No. 11 Oregon Ducks in the Austin Super Regional, SEC writer and podcaster Chris Marler had some thoughts on the intensity of sophomore shortstop Adrian Rodriguez in the batter’s box.

Rodriguez doesn’t hide that competitive intensity in the box, shaking his head at the pitcher on balls before kicking rubber pullets out towards the mound.

“Whatever this shit is when taking a ball, is lame as hell,” Marler wrote.

And Rodriguez did strike out on the next pitch, but what Marler may not have noticed is that the fiery Texas shortstop had already given the Longhorns a 2-0 lead in the first on a two-run double.

What Marler couldn’t have known was that Rodriguez would go on to finish with five RBI after knocking out a run-scoring single in the fifth and executing with runners on third in the sixth and eighth innings with back-to-back sacrifice flies.

What Marler couldn’t have known was that Rodriguez would go on to cement his place in Texas super regional lore with a go-ahead, two-out, bases-loaded double in the eighth inning on Sunday to send the Longhorns through to the College World Series with a 6-5 win over Oregon.

That Rodriguez ultimately went 2-for-5 on Sunday to bat 4-for-8 (.500) with two doubles and seven RBI in the Austin Super Regional after a sensational Austin Regional that saw the Flower Mound product go 7-for-11 (.636) with three doubles, two RBI, and five runs scored.

Over those five games, Rodriguez has bolstered his average from .277 to .306 by going 11-for-19 (.579) with five doubles, six runs scored, and nine RBI.

What Marler probably doesn’t know is anything about Rodriguez — what he’s been through since he was hit by pitch against Missouri 14 months ago, the pain he’s felt ever since on his swings, and how much he’s had to grow through that adversity. How hard he’s worked with Troy Tulowitzki to prove himself defensively at shortstop.

What Marler doesn’t have is any of the perspective to understand why Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle is so proud of Rodriguez and why the standout sophomore has earned praise instead of criticism.

Understanding where Rodriguez is right now requires understanding the hamate fracture in his left hand from March of last year that caused him to miss seven games and forced him to bat left-handed while playing through pain, an injury that sapped Rodriguez of the power that allowed him to hit five home runs before the injury.

Rodriguez ultimately had surgery to insert a staple into that hand last fall, but the pain continued into this season, caused by an allergic reaction to the metal in the staple that forced him to undergo another procedure at the beginning of April to remove the staple that left Schlossnagle hoping Rodriguez could recover enough to be impactful late.

“Ideally, before the season ends, before May, it’d be awesome to have him,” Schlossnagle said at the time. “But we may not get that this year. That may have to be next year. I just know he’s capable of helping our team. He’s the energy of our team.”

That’s high praise from Schlossnagle given all the big personalities on this team.

It’s an energy apparent in the batter’s box, and in his shoulder shaking after a big hit, a recent innovation that grew out of a song that team listens to on the road, and celebrating with his teammates even if it wasn’t his big hit.

While the energy has remained consistent from Rodriguez, his approach has changed, from going back to hitting exclusively from the left side because those swings don’t hurt as much to simplifying his swing mechanically to help keep his head still to recognizing that his power still hasn’t returned with his hand remaining at less than 100 percent as Rodriguez has learned how to settle for shooting the ball into gaps or down the lines, like the inside-out swing that won Sunday’s game over Oregon.

A rare combination of natural hitting ability and relentless work ethic caught Schlossnagle’s attention a long time ago, and the trust was mutual enough for Rodriguez to commit to Texas A&M before following Schlossnagle to Austin and flipping to Texas two years ago. But the hand injury caused that work ethic to work against Rodriguez, forcing some pragmatic changes to his formerly intense routines.

“I think it’s definitely made me more mature on how I’m going about things in the facility, how many swings I’m taking before the game — I’ve limited that down quite a bit because of the situation I’m in right now,” Rodriguez said on Saturday.

In turn, that’s helped Rodriguez gain a more healthy perspective on what effective preparation looks like.

“I think for Adrian, this would be something that really helps his career long term. He’s learning that he’s a special, special player that doesn’t have to take 1,000 swings to be ready to go. He can wake up and hit,” Schlossnagle said.

“He will get fully healthy one day. He likes baseball, so I don’t ever want to coach that out of him, I don’t want him to change that, but he’s learning that he can limit his work and still be super effective. And then really learning to use the whole field to hit, he hadn’t done that a lot in the past, but being really left on left, he’s just come so far, and super proud of him.”

The dedication shown by Rodriguez has extended past his efforts to get his hand healthy and not cause any setbacks by taking too many extra swings.

When shortstop Jalin Flores signed with the St. Louis Cardinals after the 2025 MLB Draft, Rodriguez opted against playing summer baseball to get lean enough to move to short after splitting time between second base, third base, and left field as a freshman, dropping 10 pounds to improve his range.

Rodriguez looks like a Tulowitzki-coached shortstop now — there’s an artfulness to his defense, how he approaches the ball, the smoothness of his transfer, and the ability to get throws off quickly and accurately. Despite the increased challenge of playing shortstop, Rodriguez has only committed five errors this season, three fewer than last year, and improved his fielding percentage from .929 to .968, the same fielding percentage that Trey Faltine posted at shortstop for the Longhorns as a sophomore in 2021.

Now healthy and well-adjusted enough to make an impact at the plate, Rodriguez has grown into an all-around player who serves as a linchpin for a defense that entered the super regionals ranked 22nd nationally with a .979 fielding percentage, solidifying the bond between assistant and player.

During a rare offensive timeout called by Texas before Rodriguez went to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning on Sunday, Tulowitzki leaned on the rapport he’s built with Rodriguez through all the hard work they’ve put in together.

“He was just slowing my brain down — he knows I can get kind of amped up during those kind of situations — and he told me this is why you come to the SEC, this is why you’re a Texas Longhorn, and he told me that he wouldn’t have it any other way than with me in the box at that moment,” Rodriguez recounted after the game.

And then one shortstop came through for the other.

“Tulo is my guy, I’m with him every single day, working on stuff, talking to him, he’s one of my biggest mentors in my whole baseball career and helped me get better,” Rodriguez said.

So Marler can create whatever standard he wants for Rodriguez. Does he need to be so demonstrative in the batter’s box? Probably not.

But it’s a sign of his competitiveness, and the standard that Rodriguez actually has to live up to on the Forty Acres is simple — “The pride and winning tradition of The University of Texas will not be entrusted to the weak or the timid.”

Neither weak nor timid, Rodriguez has emerged from the adversity of his hand injury tougher, more mature, and playing the best baseball of his college career.

And that’s worthy of respect, no matter what any ignorant haters think.

“What a great player,” Schlossnagle said. “What a player that rises to the occasion when needed, and certainly glad he’s a Longhorn.”

Amen.

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It's a new week, and a slate filled with opportunities to back hitters in strong spots against vulnerable arms on Monday, June 8. 

This evening, our MLB player props are rolling with Yordan Alvarez, Yandy Diaz, and Willson Contreras, all in matchups that set up well for production.

Best MLB player props today

Player	Pick	Odds
Yordan Alvarez	Over 1.5 total bases	-112
Yandy Diaz	Over 1.5 total bases	+102
Willson Contreras	Over 1.5 total bases	+112

Yordan Alvarez Over 1.5 total bases (-112)

Well, well, well, look who we're all over this evening. None other than Houston Astros star Yordan Alvarez to go over 1.5 total bases.

The big fella enters with an elite rating on Batters-Box and draws a matchup against Los Angeles Angels right-hander Grayson Rodriguez, who has been getting lit up by left-handed hitters this season. Overall, Rodriguez owns an 8.90 xER, while lefties have posted a .458 xwOBA against him. Over the last 60 left-handed batters he's faced, they've produced a 61.1% elevation rate, 47.2% hard-hit rate, and a ridiculous .826 xSLG.

Alvarez has been on a tear all season, but he's been especially dominant against right-handed pitching lately. Over his last 30 plate appearances versus righties, the big fella is batting .417 with a .750 SLG and a 1.283 OPS. He's also generating 55% hard contact and a 15% barrel rate.

Did I mention that Alvarez has gone over this prop in four of his last five elite ratings? Or his 100% arsenal coverage against Rodriguez's entire pitch mix? No? Well, I'm glad I did now. 

Paying a little juice for one of the most dangerous hitters in baseball feels well worth it, especially in a matchup against Rodriguez. I'd be willing to play this all the way up to -120 if I have to.

• Time: 9:38 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: ABTV, SCHN

Yandy Diaz Over 1.5 total bases (+102)

Getting Tampa Bay Rays star Yandy Díaz at plus money to go over 1.5 total bases feels like a steal in this spot.

The Rays veteran draws Boston Red Sox left-hander Connelly Early, who does carry an elite pitcher rating today over on Batters-Box, but so does Diaz on the hitter's side.

He records a hit 72.46% of the time, 2+ hits 34.78% of the time, and has gone over this prop nearly 50% of the time in elite ratings. That is a 69-game sample size. He has also cleared this line in six of his last 10 elite-rated spots.

Early has also been getting hit hard by right-handed bats this season. Over his last 50 batters faced, they have produced nearly a 70% elevation rate, 53.5% hard contact, and an 11.6% barrel rate, while also carrying a sub-.700 xSLG.

Diaz has been rolling against left-handed pitching. In his last 30 at-bats, he is making nearly 90% contact, with 63.6% hard contact and a .938 OPS. On top of that, he owns an 85% arsenal coverage rating against Early’s mix.

Backing a hitter who is making consistent contact and hard contact against a pitcher who has been getting tagged by right-handed bats makes this a strong look. Getting it at plus money only adds to the appeal.

• Time: 6:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: RAYS, NESN

Willson Contreras Over 1.5 total bases (+112) 

Sticking with this Red Sox vs. Rays matchup, we're backing Willson Contreras to go over his bases as well. The Red Sox veteran owns an elite rating on Batters-Box, where he is backed by some spicy trends.

In 29 elite ratings on the road:

• 1+ Hit: 72.41%
• 2+ Hits: 34.48%
• Double: 27.59%
• Home Run: 27.59%
• 2+ Bases: 51.72%

Contreras has cleared this prop in seven of his last ten elite ratings on the road.

The Rays send out right-hander Mason Englert, who has been getting torched by right-handed hitters this season. At home, it has been especially rough for the 26-year-old. Right-handed hitters are hitting .409 with a .727 SLG and a .507 wOBA, while posting a 72.2% elevation rate. Overall, Englert is allowing 43.2% hard contact and a 16.2% barrel rate to right-handed bats.

Given the matchup and underlying numbers, I would not go much higher than even money on Contreras and would look to grab the best number available.

I'm not shying away from sprinkling on all three of these guys to leave the yard today, and I am taking them straight up in their spots.

• Time: 6:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: RAYS, NESN

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

There are little bits of Jays news today.

Tanner Andrews has cleared waivers and is on his way back to Buffalo. Not really a surprise, but it’s good to keep some pitching depth.

And it sounds like we will have Dylan Cease and Max Scherzer back this week. They have a couple of open spots coming up (and an off-day Thursday). I’d love to see us get out of the ‘two bullpen days out of five’ cycle they have been in. As much as I’d love bullpen usage to return to the days of the 1990s, but that’s not happening. The game has changed.

Of course, I’m not sure that Scherzer will pitch much deeper into game than your average reliever. But having Spencer Miles in the pen to be a long man, as well as Simeon Woods Richardson, who we might see on the mound one day. Getting Yimi Garcia back will help with the pen too. And Tommy Nance should be back soon too. That will make the back end of the pen much better (back end? front end?). Add in that Alejandro Kirk should be back sometime around the end of the week, the team will look a fair bit different soon. Hopefully better.

The big story of yesterday’s game, from the Orioles side, was the lack of a call on Ernie Clements avoiding a potential tag.

I don’t think this explanation is going to help:

The gentlemanly thing to do line doesn’t help.

This is the sort of thing that Orioles fans will think he should be out and Jays fans will think they got the call right. Or at least, we’ll be happy that we got the benefit of a bad call.

It didn’t help that they called Jackson Holliday out for leaving the base path, when they should have called him out for the tag, in the ninth inning.

Who figured Brandon Valenzuela would be one of our best players. They are going to have to find a way to keep him in the lineup when Kirk comes back.

This won’t make the Orioles fanbase any happier. Hunter didn’t have a great day calling balls and strikes.

Phillies fans can be complicated. As we saw this past offseason, “running it back” with players who have failed in previous seasons – particularly the playoffs – is not a popular strategy. On the other hand, there was a lot of angst about the team allowing Jeff Hoffman to leave as a free agent after 2024.

Hoffman was a very good reliever for the Phillies, but many people seem to have memory holed his performance in the 2024 NLDS when he may have been as responsible as any player for the series loss.

Despite that, I would have wanted him back at the right price, but not for the contract the Blue Jays offered him. They gave him three years and an opportunity to be the closer, despite several red flags about his health.

In the early part of the 2025 season, there was a lot of complaining when Hoffman was racking up a ton of saves, while the player the Phillies seemed to peg as his replacement – Jordan Romano – was dreadful. Hoffman was generally good in 2025, but in the biggest save opportunity he’ll ever have, he couldn’t get it done.

In 2026, on the surface he has been awful, and was removed from the closer role. But looking at most of the numbers, you wouldn’t think he’s been all that bad. He’s walking fewer batters, striking out more, and giving up less hard contact than last season, giving him a FIP of 2.99.

The biggest problem for Hoffman may simply be bad luck. He’s got an amazing .492 BABIP against him, resulting in a 6.26 ERA. Of course, after a guy blows a World Series, many fans aren’t all that interested in hearing that the poor on-field results are due to bad luck.

Hating on the Blue Jays

Obviously, the 1993 World Series is a good place to start if you want to work up some animosity against the Jays. The Phillies had one playoff appearance between 1983 and 2007, and Paul Molitor and Joe Carter had to ruin it. It’s perhaps even more galling that they missed the playoffs for the next 21 seasons after that. It’s like they said, “We ruined childhood for a bunch of Phillies fans. We’re good for a while!”

Aside from that, there’s not much to dislike. The Toronto fans are great, and the fact that they have only one non-Jackie Robinson number retired (Halladay) sits well for an elitist like me. (Some franchises would have retired Dave Steib’s number about ten times over.)

But if you do want to hate on these guys, you can bring up the fact that they had a chance to put a stop to the Dodgers’ reign of terror, and they blew it. They had a 3-2 lead in the series and then lost two straight at home. And in game seven, they were two outs away from victory! (Oh, I’m sorry, Blue Jays fans. It must really suck to have your closer blow a save in a decisive World Series game, huh?)

Random guy who played for both teams

The pennant year song battle has run its course. Now, I’m going to start highlighting a former Phillie who you might not have realized also played for the opponent as well.

When thinking of players who suited up for both the Phillies and Blue Jays, Roy Halladay is probably the first name that comes to mind. And if that square comes up in Immaculate Grid, Scott Rolen or Jose Bautista probably get used quite a bit. But did you realize that Mickey Morandini played for the Jays as well?

It’s hard to think of Morandini as anything but a Phillie. A “Harry Kalas special,” Morandini was a member of the 1993 Phillies team that fell to the Jays in the World Series, and after a two-year stint with the Cubs (TIL that Mickey Morandini received an MVP vote as a member of the Cubs in 1998), returned to the Phillies in 2000.

At midseason, with the Phillies comfortably in last place, and Morandini not doing much at all, the Phillies traded him to Toronto so they could give more playing time to younger players like Marlon Anderson and Kevin Jordan.

Morandini didn’t do much in Toronto, being worth -0.2 wins above replacement in 35 games. Meanwhile, the player sent to the Phillies was Rob Ducey who had been traded by the Phillies to the Blue Jays two weeks earlier.

Additional thought about the series

The Phillies’ starting pitching was bad against the White Sox, but with Cristopher Sanchez and Zack Wheeler scheduled for this series, that figures to improve. The bigger question is whether or not the recent offensive surge can continue.

The first starter they’ll face this series is familiar: Patrick “Flags Fly Forever” Corbin. Formerly the unofficial holder of the “Worst Contract in Baseball” title (unfortunately, the Phillies have a pitcher who might be the current title holder), he’s surprisingly having a decent season for the Jays, with a 3.98 ERA in eleven starts.

The Jays have yet to announce starters for Tuesday and Wednesday. There’s a chance that Dylan Cease and Max Scherzer will return from the Injured List to make those starts., but the Phillies could also get to go against a bullpen game. (At this point of his career, a game against Scherzer is likely more enticing than facing the bullpen.)

The Phillies should have an opportunity to keep scoring runs as long as players like Adolis Garcia and Alec Bohm (great career numbers against Corbin) don’t fall off a cliff after their recent hot spells.

It was another slightly disappointing week, with the Twins splitting a four-game series with the White Sox, and then losing a series to the Royals. The team will now face Detroit and St. Louis this week. Royce Lewis returned to the team on Saturday after lighting up St. Paul with homer after homer, and he started at second base on Saturday and first base on Sunday, going a combined 1-for-8 over the two games. The Twins also said goodbye to Simeon Woods-Richardson, who was traded back to the Blue Jays. Oh, and Byron Buxton left Friday’s game after crashing into the wall and has not come back to the team yet. The team is now 30-37, still somehow only 3.0 games out of the last wild-card spot, but that’s maybe the only silver lining here.

The Past Week on Twinkie Town:

• Check out The Feed, where you can add your discussions about the Twins!
• We’re starting a new segment called Daily Questions! Provide your opinion on the Twins and debate with the community!
• Game threads and recaps are back! Commiserate with your fellow fans as we experience the season together.
• Aidan O’Brien updates the Twins Top-40 Prospects for the month of June.
• Zach Koenig looks back fondly at a pitcher who gave fans a little bit of hope in the dark 2016 season.

Elsewhere in Twins Territory:

• Dan Hayes at The Athletic checks in on the status of a bunch of injured Twins pitchers.
• Matthew Leach at MLB.com looks at the Twins’ roster construction and how it’s full of player versatility.
• Tom Schreier at Zone Coverage evaluates whether shortstop Ryan Kreidler can be the newest former cast-off turned key utility player for the Twins.
• Austin Martin has found a new home in center field and Betsy Helfand at the Pioneer Press checks in on how he’s been adjusting to the new position.

In the World of Baseball:

• The Rays and Yankees are now neck-and-neck in the AL pennant race, although the Yankees suffered a big loss last week with Aaron Judge going on the IL with a stress fracture. The Guardians and White Sox sit third and fourth in the race, and the Mariners and Rangers are fifth and sixth.
• Nothing has really changed in the National League. It’s Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Milwaukee in the top three spots. The Phillies, after going on a historic losing streak, have managed to climb their way back to fifth in the NL standings.
• Tarik Skubal rumors have been flying around, and Kiley McDaniel at ESPN evaluated a bunch of mock trades.
• Jeff Passan at ESPN previews the early 2026 MLB trade deadline.
• Dan Szymborski at Fangraphs looks at whether Yordan Alvarez of the Astros could potentially win the Triple Crown this year.

1908
Here’s all you need to know about how close the pennant race started, as in just four days, with four wins, the White Sox leaped from sixth in the American League to a tie for first place. All in all these wins came as part of a 13-game winning streak that still stands as the franchise’s third-longest. The hot run swung the White Sox five games in the standings, from 2 ½ down in the race to 2 ½ ahead, in first place. However, the White Sox remained there for just 11 games, as the club dropped as far back as 7 ½ games in the race before a furious finish that found them falling just short: 88-64 and 1 ½ games from meeting the Cubs in a second Crosstown World Series in three seasons.

1937
The final win of a 10-game streak (which remains tied for seventh-longest in team history) pushed the White Sox into a tie for first place in the American League. This time, it was the Yankees as victim, falling at Comiskey Park, 5-4. Thornton Lee gave up homers to both Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig in the contest, but went the distance and otherwise scattering nine hits total. The firepower from the top of the White Sox lineup — the top five hitters all had at least two hits,with leadoff man Rip Radcliff clocking in with three — was the difference in the game

At the time the 10-game winning streak started on May 30, the White Sox sat in sixth place in the AL, six games out. And the team the White Sox tied, for just one day, atop the American League? The Yankees, whom they’d just toppled! Both clubs possessed 25-17 records by game’s end.

1947
Luke Appling Day was celebrated at Comiskey Park. The future Hall-of-Famer was among the all-time Sox leaders in numerous categories and won a batting title in 1936, hitting a remarkable .388, and repeated as batting champ in 1943 with a .328 average. He went 1-for-6 in the first game of a doubleheader against Washington, as the Sox lost, 1-0, in 18 innings. (The 18 innings is tied for the 10th-longest game in White Sox history.)

Appling sat out the nightcap, an 8-2 White Sox win.

1951
Chicago-area native Marv Rotblatt became the first pitcher to enter a game while being driven in from the center-field bullpen. Rotblatt relieved starter Ken Holcombe in the eighth inning of Chicago’s 4-2 loss to the Yankees — who stood in their dugout and watched the pitching change in amazement.

And the White Sox picked a great time to unveil this innovation, as a franchise-record 53,940 fans packed Comiskey Park (the record was later broken, but this game remains the third-highest attendance ever in Chicago for a White Sox game as well as the biggest night game crowd ever). The crowd represented 4.1% of the entire season’s attendance (1,328,234), over 77 home dates. And in just two days, another 52,054 fans would watch a doubleheader against these same Yankees.

In the 1960s, Sox pitchers were brought into the game in golf carts, and in 1966, a converted snowmobile that was fitted with special skis so as to not harm the grass, performed the task. 

1969
The White Sox proved to be polite guests at Yankee Stadium, dropping a doubleheader (3-1 and 11-2) on Mickey Mantle Day. A crowd of 60,096 showed up to see Mantle’s No. 7 retired.

Also on this day, the White Sox traded reliever Bob Locker to the Seattle Pilots for Gary Bell. It was the first and only trade the White Sox had with the Pilots, who moved to Milwaukee in 1970 to become the Brewers. Locker was suffering a horrendous start to the season, with a 6.55 ERA/5.51 FIP over 17 games on the South Side. However, he was revitalized in Seattle and settled in as Pilots closer over 51 games, with a 2.18 ERA/2.94 FIP and six saves. The rebirth extended Locker’s career, as he would pitch effectively until 1972; in fact, Locker would never have a full season ERA of worse than the 3.15 he spun as a White Sox rookie in 1965.

By contrast, Bell was just as bad in Chicago as Locker had been and would never again pitch in the majors after 1969.

1981
The new-look White Sox found themselves on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Slugger Greg Luzinski was featured with the headline, “The Sox’ New Sock.”

The White Sox beat Toronto that day, 8-2, moving to 28-22 and starting a six-game winning streak.

2001
White Sox outfielder Carlos Lee became the first player to hit a walk-off, extra-inning grand slam in interleague play (including the World Series). His blast in the 10th inning came with two outs, and blew up the Cubs 7-3 at Comiskey Park, in front of a record-setting 45,936 fans. The shot was off of Courtney Duncan. Lee had five RBIs that evening.

It was the fifth walk-off grand slam in White Sox history.

2008
The White Sox tied a major league record when they scored 10 or more runs with 15 or more hits in three consecutive games. The Sox powered past Minnesota three straight times, on their way to a four-game series sweep. The record-setting scores were 10-6, 11-2 and 12-2. The Sox hit eight home runs in the three games, with four coming off the bat of Joe Crede. He had two home runs in consecutive games, tying the team record.

It was just the 24th time in American League history that a club scored 10 or more runs with 15 or more hits in three consecutive games. The White Sox also accomplished the feat in 1920.

The Red Sox had fewer than two innings to go Sunday afternoon while tied 1-1 and the game ended in a 6-1 loss. A split against the Yankees isn’t the worst possible outcome. Losing two of three would have been worse and the extra day of rest for Payton Tolle is, if anything, a boon. There’s a chance that the Red Sox have a better team when they play “third game”, now scheduled for August 29. But the season doesn’t stop. The Sox have three games against the Tamps Bay Rays. The first place Rays, now tied with the Yankees atop the AL East, thanks to that 8th inning comeback.

All things considered the Sox are catching the Rays at the right time, they’re just 3-7 over their last 10 games. Since ending a five-game winning streak they’re 3-9. But it won’t be a walk in the park.

Connelly Early had a rough start to his outing against Baltimore and gave up 4 runs in 5.1 innings. But he was also let down by his offense, which put up just 2 runs. Over his last five outings though he’s got two 7.0 inning shutouts. Including against the Rays. On May 8th he held them scoreless for 7.0 innings while striking out 8. Ian Seymour is facing him as an opener, which he’s done once this season. Normally a middle reliever, he’s likely to stick around for an inning or two at most. Against the Marlins, Jesse Scholtens was the bulk reliever but he’s now on the IL.

If Early can’t act as the “stopper” tonight, Tuesday night features the man, the mustache, Payton Tolle. Tolle kept the Orioles scoreless for 6.0 innings last time out and has an extra day of rest. Plus the Red Sox road offense. When he faced Tampa in May, he allowed 3 runs (1 earned) in 5.0 innings. This will be his second time facing a team a second time. It didn’t go well with the Atlanta Braves but don’t count out Mass Pike just yet. Nick Martinez, the Rays veteran addition, has been mostly lights out. Except for the last time out against the Tigers. Martinez allowed 6 runs in 4.0 innings. When he and Tolle dueled in May he held the Sox to just a single run at Fenway Park for 5.2 innings.

Wednesday is day baseball and a tall order. The likely starter replacing Brayan Bello is Jake Bennett. The southpaw made two starts earlier this season and went back down to AAA. In Worcester this year he has a 1.60 ERA in 39.1 innings. He’ll be opposed by Drew Rasmussen. He didn’t face Boston in Fenway. Rasmussen has two “bad” starts on the year. He gave up 4 runs in 3.2 innings to the Pirates in April and 5 runs in 4.0 innings to the Angels at the end of May. He missed large parts of the 2023 and 2024 seasons so the Rays want to keep him healthy on the mound. Even in an All Star season in 2025 his outings against the Red Sox were 2.0 and 3.0 innings. He only gave up 3 runs across those outings but the Rays did lose both games.

Junior Caminero has hit 14 home runs.

Yandy Diaz and Jonathan Aranda have 11 homers each.

Chandler Simpson has stolen 14 bases this year but has been caught a league-leading 8 times.

Probable Pitching Matchups

Monday, June 8: Connelly Early (3.26 ERA / 4.63 FIP) vs. Ian Seymour (5.23 ERA / 3.65 FIP)

Tuesday, June 9: Payton Tolle (2.28 ERA / 2.66 FIP) vs. Payton Tolle (Nick Martinez (2.29 ERA / 2.66 FIP)

Wednesday, June 10: TBD (— ERA / — FIP) vs. Drew Rasmussen (3.00 ERA / 3.33FIP)

When/Where to Watch

Monday, June 8: 6:40 PM ET on NESN

Tuesday, June 9: 6:40 PM ET on NESN

Wednesday, June 10: 1:10 PM ET on NESN

The Dodgers had a winning week, taking four of seven games, by splitting with the Diamondbacks in Arizona, then winning two of three at home against the Angels. But they both started and ended the week with losses, frustrating in different ways.

On Monday in Phoenix, they were burned by a lack of offense. On Sunday at Dodger Stadium, the offense was there but the pitching staff had a rare clunker. Pitching has carried the Dodgers this season, but the offense this week fell a little short averaging more than three quarters of a run less than their average.

Put another way, a Dodgers pitcher had a scoreless start of at least six innings three times last week, but said starter only got the win in one of those games. But that same offense scored nine runs in the first inning on Saturday for their biggest frame in five years. This team contains multitudes.

Batter of the week

Shohei Ohtani carried the offense during the week with 12 hits in 25, including two doubles, a triple, and a home run, all part of a 1.312 OPS. He had five multi-hit games in his six games played this week

Ohtani has been humming along in top gear at the plate for the last four weeks, hitting .419/.510/.721 over his last 23 games.

Couple this week at the plate with his six scoreless innings on the mound on Wednesday in Phoenix, it’ll be time to open an investigation if Ohtani doesn’t win National League player of the week.

Honorable mention goes to Dalton Rushing, who started four games behind the plate this week as Will Smith dealt with neck stiffness on Saturday and Sunday, and had four hits on Sunday, including a double and home run.

Pitcher of the week

It feels like there have been several weeks like this in 2026, in which this section could simply be a list of three to five starting pitchers, any one of them deserving of the honor. We’ll go with Roki Sasaki here, his progression culminating with 10 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings on Friday night against the Angels.

Honorable mention also goes to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who retired 22 straight batters in his eight-inning gem on Saturday, Justin Wrobleski with his six scoreless innings on Thursday in Arizona, and Ohtani’s six shutout frames on Wednesday.

Week 11 results

4-3 record
31 runs scored (4.43 per game)
27 runs allowed (3.86 per game)
.563 pythagorean win percentage

Year to date

42-24 record
345 runs scored (5.23 per game)
212 runs allowed (3.21 per game)
.709 pythagorean win percentage (47-19)

Transactions

Saturday: Pitcher Nick Frasso got added back to the 40-man roster but remained in Triple-A Oklahoma City. To make room, Tyler Glasnow was moved to the 60-day IL as he’s been shut down from throwing due to his back injury.

Game results

• Monday: D-backs 4, Dodgers 1
• Tuesday: Dodgers 6, D-backs 5
• Wednesday: Dodgers 7, D-backs 0
• Thursday: D-backs 3, Dodgers 2
• Friday: Dodgers 1, Angels 0
• Saturday: Dodgers 9, Angels 2
• Sunday: Angels 13, Dodgers 5

Previous reviews: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10

Up next

The Dodgers run the Bobby Bonilla gauntlet, hitting the road to face the Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago White Sox. Chicago’s rotation for the weekend is more of a guess.

After spending the first month and a half of the 2026 season in Triple A, Dylan Crews has now played 16 games at the big league level this season. In that time, the results haven’t quite shown up for him, with a .197 batting average, 1.5% walk rate, and 58 wRC+, but it hasn’t been all bad either. Let’s take a look at everything going right, and wrong, for Dylan Crews since he returned to the majors.

Starting with the good, Crews has torn the cover off the ball since his return to the bigs, with an average exit velocity of 90.8 MPH, ranking in the 83rd percentile of all big league hitters. He had been roasting the ball in Triple A, with a 99th percentile average exit velocity of 94.7 MPH up in Rochester, so it’s great to see that part of his game still translating.

Crews has also cut down his strikeout rate 5.1% from 2025 to 2026, down from 23.6%, in the 49th percentile, to 18.5%, in the 75th percentile. While his chase rate has gone up from 29% to 38%, he has cut down his whiff rate from 30% to 24%, meaning he’s getting the result he wants more often when he swings the bat. While he’s been more aggressive on pitches outside the zone in 2026, Crews has also been more aggressive on pitches inside the zone, taking his Z-Swing% from 66%, the 45th percentile, to 69%, in the 71st percentile.

Crews has been hitting the ball harder, making more contact when he does swing, and has been more aggressive on swinging at good pitches to hit, so what has been going wrong for him that his numbers are still lacking? The primary issue for him at the moment is his chase rate, which, as mentioned before, is in the 38th percentile, ranking in the 11th percentile in MLB. The free-swinging approach has led to a lot of hard contact so Crews so far, but it has also put him behind in a lot of counts, as he goes fishing for breaking balls out of the zone.

Crews has also continued to struggle to pull his flyballs in the air consistently, an issue that has plagued his power potential for a few years now. His 8.7% pulled flyball rate is in the 13th percentile of big league hitters, and plays a large role in why his slugging percentage of .322 is .145 points under his expected slugging percentage of .467. Crews’ exit velocities are encouraging enough to suggest he could hit 20+ home runs per year eventually, but not if he is limiting his ability to get the ball over the wall by hitting it to center and right field.

Crews has also not been taking many walks in his return to the bigs, with 1 walk in 65 plate appearances, resulting in a 1.5% walk rate. Crews hasn’t struggled drawing walks in his first 2 big league stints, so his low walk rate shouldn’t be too much of a concern yet with such a limited sample size, but it is interesting how much of a point Crews has made it to be aggressive in the box, swinging early and often in counts looking to do damage.

Overall, the surface numbers don’t look great for Crews in what is now his 3rd big league season, but the under-the-hood metrics suggest he is making some improvements, which could result in success in the near future. He needs to make some adjustments, such as cutting down on the chase rate and lifting the ball more to the pull side, and he may never be elite in those categories, but Crews certainly has the tools to be a productive big league hitter over a large sample size one day.

If you had told me back in March that during the week where the Atlanta Braves are scheduled to play the Chicago White Sox and the New York Mets that the White Sox would be a bigger (and legitimate) threat against the Braves, I would’ve laughed in your face and/or rejoiced in the fact that if the White Sox are better than the Mets then the Mets must be in some serious trouble.

As it turns out, the White Sox are actually one of the surprise stories of this season so far. It’s June and they’re over .500 — this is the first time that they’ve been over .500 in any season past April since 2022! They’ve been fun and now the Playoff Odds over at FanGraphs are actually giving them a little bit more respect! Back on Opening Day, Chicago only had a 1.1 percent chance of making the Postseason in any form. Now, those odds have skyrocketed to 17 percent — that might not look like a lot and they’re still very much favored to fall off eventually but it’s still impressive that the Pale Hose have gotten this deep into the season without face planting. Those fans deserve something to cheer for after enduring the past couple of seasons and I hope they’re enjoying it.

The White Sox have been an enjoyable story so far and I can also imagine that a lot of y’all have been enjoying what’s going on on the blue-and-orange side of New York as well. The Mets and Phillies both got off to nightmarish starts and New York is still recovering from their disastrous April. New York’s Playoff Odds have taken a freefall since Opening Day, which is when FanGraphs gave them an 80 percent shot of playing in October. Those odds are now down to just over 21 percent — it’s not exactly over for the Mets but they have a lot of work to be done if they’re going to have any hope of really making waves in the NL Wild Card race, let alone the division. So we’ve got one team that has a positive outlook and another team that’s dealing with some more disappointment. Let’s talk about what lies ahead for the Braves this week.

June 9-11: Chicago White Sox

Current Record: 34-31 Projected Record (via FanGraphs): 77-85

As a neutral fan, I am very, very sad to not be able to watch slugger Munetaka Murakami during this series, as he’s on the IL with a hamstring strain. I’ve followed Murakami since his days of playing with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows and his experiences with Samurai Japan in the World Baseball Classic so I’ve personally been thrilled to see him thrive in Major League Baseball so far. As a Braves fan, I’m still sad about the injury but I’m not going to complain about Atlanta not seeing him during this series since he’s been crushing it and I don’t want to see him crush it against the Braves.

With that being said, it’s not like this White Sox lineup has slowed down without Murakami. Murakami’s last game was on May 29 and ever since May 30 (heading into June 7’s action), the White Sox as a team have hit .270/.335/.500 with a wOBA of .364 (expected wOBA of .332) and a wRC+ of 131. For comparison’s sake, the Braves have hit .233/.310/.443 with a .328 wOBA (xwOBA of .342) and a wRC+ of 109. While the Braves have been better over the course of the season so far (team wRC+ of 111 heading into Sunday), the White Sox aren’t far behind with a team wRC+ of 107.

The South Siders might be missing Murakami but they’ve still got guys like Miguel Vargas, Colson Montgomery and Tristan Peters getting the job done for them at the plate. Chase Meidroth has been reliable as well, Sam Antonacci has made it happen for them when called upon and they’ve even gotten solid production out of Randal Grichuk when he’s gotten the nod. This is an exciting lineup at the moment and it’s a far cry from what this club was up to for the past couple of years when the futility was overwhelming.

With all of that being said, if this team has a soft underbelly then it might be their pitching staff. The proof of this is that the White Sox are starting Erick Fedde on Tuesday. With all due respect to our old friend Fedde (who actually pitched five shutout innings against the Twins in his last outing) having him in the rotation isn’t exactly a good sign for the quality of the rotation.

Sure, Davis Martin has been great so far and guys like Grant Taylor and Sean Burke are young and exciting but outside of those two, there’s not a lot to get excited about in either the rotation or the bullpen. It is nice to see old friend Sean Newcomb having a successful season but again, if you’re having to rely on guys like that then that’s not exactly conducive to overall team success. With the way Atlanta’s lineup has performed so far, they should be able to do some damage and we might see a slugfest or two break out at the place they used to call New Comiskey.

Tuesday, June 9 at 7:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision, Gray TV)
Wednesday, June 10 at 7:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Thursday, June 11 at 7:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision)

June 12-14: New York Mets

Current Record: 29-36 Projected Record (as of June 8): 80-82

Oh great, it’s these guys. You know ‘em and you (probably) hate ‘em but there’s a less familiar feeling to this particular ball club in 2026. Old “favorites” like Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte have all moved on to greener pastures. Francisco Lindor is still around and it’s no fun to hate him since he’s pretty cool (and also unfortunately on the IL). Instead, the Mets are going through a bit of a retooling period that has yet to bear any real fruit at the moment. They’re sitting in dead last in the NL East and are far, far in Atlanta’s rearview mirror at the moment.

They have bounced back a bit after their moribund start to the season where they lost 12 straight games at their absolute nadir but it’s been nowhere to the level of what’s gone on in Philadelphia where the Phillies are actually back over .500 and have clearly gotten their season back on track. The Mets are still stuck in the mud and a lot of that has to do with the fact that their offense has been pretty terrible so far this season. They currently have one of the worst team wRC+ marks in all of baseball (they went into action on June 7 with a team wRC+ of 87 with only the Rockies and Padres being worse).

Juan Soto is still Juan Soto so he absolutely has to be taken seriously whenever he’s at the plate but outside of that, he’s the only guy on this team that has been a real threat to do damage on a nightly basis. The only other regulars who have been anywhere close to consistent at the plate are MJ Melendez and Francisco Alvarez since they’re the only other Mets regulars with a wRC+ over 100 — and they both are only just barely clearing that mark. New York’s new keystone combination of Bo Bichette and Marcus Semien has been very disappointing for the Mets so far and their underperformance has gone a long way towards setting a tone of mediocrity for this team at the moment. Jared Young has been trying his best to provide a spark but yeah, outside of him and Soto, there is not a lot going on with this team at the plate.

As far as the pitching goes, they’ve been a lot more consistent with their production on the mound but as evidenced by this team’s record and position in the standings, it still hasn’t been enough to lift them up and carry this team. Clay Holmes is on the 60-day IL and until this weekend, he was still the sole leader in fWAR (1.2) for the Mets’ pitching staff. The trio of Freddy Peralta, Norm McLean and David Peterson has been pretty solid so far but outside of that, the rotation hasn’t really been imposing at all. New York’s bullpen has been pretty effective, though — Huascar Brazoban is on track for his best season yet (and has served as a good opener on a few occasions), Luke Weaver has been turning back the clock with his efforts, then Brooks Raley and Devin Williams have both done fine so far.

Again, it still hasn’t been enough to lift the Mets out of the mess that they’re currently in but the Mets can at least take some solace in knowing that they won’t be absolutely terrible. On paper, the Braves should head into this series expecting at least a series win but we all know that no matter what the record is for either team, these games will likely be hard-fought. This is the first time the Braves have seen the Mets all season and hopefully Atlanta will take this opportunity to kick them while they’re down. The entire season series between these two will be played between this week and mid-August, so this is a chance for the Braves to set the tone with these dudes here in this portion of the season. We’ll see what happens.

Friday, June 12 at 7:10 p.m. ET (Apple TV)
Saturday, June 13 at 4:10 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Sunday, June 14 at 1:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision, Gray TV)