Category: Baseball

Major League Baseball could be about to change the entire landscape of college baseball. A new proposal from the MLB on Thursday would remove high school players from the draft entirely, while allowing college players to declare after their sophomore seasons.

MLB today proposed an overhauled domestic amateur-entry system that removes high school players from the draft, makes college players eligible after sophomore year, shortens the draft from 20 to 12 rounds, and cuts bonus pool from current $358.7M to $200M, sources tell ESPN.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 18, 2026

The new rules, if passed, would obviously change the entire look of college baseball. 96 high school prospects were selected and signed in the 2025 MLB Draft, for reference. That number has been on the decline in recent years, due to a number of different factors. This proposal would force top-level talent to participate at the college level, which would elevate the game to even new heights.

This season, 140 high schoolers have been invited to participate in the MLB Combine. 334 players total will compete in the event. Imagine the difference in the game if all 140 of those elite level athletes hit the college baseball scene.

“Over the last several years, college baseball has undergone a remarkable transformation,” MLB said in a statement. “Expanded scholarships, NIL opportunities, revenue sharing and significant investments in facilities and player development have made college baseball an increasingly important pathway that is producing major league-ready talent at an accelerated rate.”

For a program like Tennessee, this is a potentially major development. The Volunteers hold the nation’s No. 3 ranked recruiting class in the 2026 cycle, according to Perfect Game. Tennessee has been a mainstay in the top five since Tony Vitello revitalized the program, although several of those top commitments never made it to campus.

MLB’s current CBA expires on December 1st. This proposal is part of the negotiation to come to a new agreement. The outcome of that deal could end up bringing in an entirely new era to college baseball. This will definitely be something worth monitoring over the next few months.

After taking two out of three against the San Diego Padres, the St. Louis Cardinals kick off a weekend I-70 series against the Kansas City Royals Thursday night. Matthew Liberatore gets the start for the Cardinals while the Kansas City Royals will send Noah Cameron to the mound. First pitch at Kauffman Stadium is set for 6:40pm central time. Broadcast being handled by Cardinals.tv.

Hello, there.

I have returned after a Thursday away in which Max took over writing duties. If you’ll recall, the last time I covered a Thursday, the Royals won. But that turned out to be an aberration as Max couldn’t keep the good times rolling.

Now, I’m back to cover the Royals facing their cross-state rival. Are the Cardinals the Royals’ biggest rival? That’s debatable.

As Max previewed earlier today, the two teams have gone in different directions this year. The Royals were supposed to compete while the Cardinals struggled through a rebuild. Instead, the Royals are struggling (though not rebuilding) while the Cardinals are the ones competing, second in the National League Central while occupying the NL’s top Wild Card spot.

Great. As I wrote after the 2024 season, the Royals had a great opportunity to become Missouri’s baseball team, a crown which the team has never worn. Instead, Kansas City lost steam last year before faceplanting this season. Meanwhile, under a new front office, St. Louis is on pace to end its long playoff drought—one which spans all of three years.

This is the second and final regular season series between Missouri’s two ballclubs this season. The first took place in St. Louis May 15—17. The Cardinals took the first two games before the Royals won the finale. The teams scored the same amount of runs that weekend: eight.

Before getting to the lineups and starting pitchers, two other things are happening at The K tonight that should be noted.

First, England’s World Cup team is attending. The Three Lions won their first match of the tournament yesterday down in Arlington, Texas, defeating Croatia 4-2 thanks, in part, to Harry Kane’s brace.

Second, tonight the Royals will be hosting a flash fundraiser to benefit the Kansas City Urban Youth Academy. Up for auction are four World Baseball Classic baseball bats—one for Team Italy, one for Team USA, one for Team Venezuela, and the fourth an all-Royals bat. They all look pretty dope. If I had discretionary income, I’d be interested!

Don't miss your chance to own these limited edition World Baseball Classic Royals bats, available tonight only during our Flash Fundraiser!

The sale begins at first pitch tonight with proceeds benefiting the Kansas City Urban Youth Academy.

For more information:… pic.twitter.com/IsoMnGhB8L

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) June 18, 2026

All right, let’s get to the lineups. First, of course, for the Royals:

Back home for the weekend. pic.twitter.com/GYuVJTQ3QR

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) June 18, 2026

Well, just by looking at their lineup and nothing about what the Cardinals are doing, I can tell the Royals are facing a southpaw. Lane Thomas hit one of four homers yesterday for the Royals en route to their victory over the Nationals. I’m glad to see Jac Caglianone getting action not only at first base but also batting third. Starling Marte batting cleanup is…something.

Noah Cameron takes the mound. Though the Astros touched him up a bit during his last outing, he’s been pitching well as of late. Just two outings ago, he tossed six against the Twins with seven strikeouts, zero walks, and no earned runs. Before that, he went seven against the Reds while fanning eight, walking zero, and giving up just one run. He hasn’t surrendered a walk in his last three outings.

For the Cardinals:

6/18 ⚾ Cardinals Lineup is Out

📊 Live Line: Cardinals -105 • O/U 9.0

Full matchup stats, BvP, & umpire ratings:https://t.co/RMXaout2eO#Cardinals#CardinalsLineup#MLBpic.twitter.com/4kQBHwz2A8

— MLB Daily Lineups (@DailyMLBLineups) June 18, 2026

Couple of interesting names in the lineup. JJ Wetherholt was taken with the pick after Cags in the 2024 MLB Draft. Jordan Walker, who’s having a breakout year, was taken with the pick after Brady Singer way back in the 2018 MLB Draft. Ex-Royal Nelson Velasquez is tarting in left—he’s not played much in the bigs this year, but is posting a sterling .972 OPS. The Cardinals’ third baseman’s first name is Blaze, which is not a real first name.

And on the mound, yes, it is a left-hander: Matthew Liberatore. Liberatore, making his 15th start of the season, has failed to get out of the fifth inning in his last two outings, though St. Louis still managed to win both of those games. Last time out, against the Twins, he gave up five hits, three of which left the field of play.

May the Royals have such success against him this evening.

The White Sox wrap up their series in the Bronx tonight, staring down the barrel of a sweep after getting thumped twice by the Yankees. Chicago will deploy Bryan Hudson as an opener before turning things over to Sean Burke, continuing a tag-team act that has worked, sometimes. Hudson enters with a 3-2 record and a sparkling 2.45 ERA, while Burke is 3-4 with a 4.15 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. The Sox will need both pitchers to be sharp against a Yankees lineup that has done plenty of damage over the first two games of the series.

The Yankees roll out with southpaw Ryan Weathers, 2-5 with a 4.36 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. Not exactly Cy Young, so the Sox have a shot to rattle him early and maybe get Aaron Boone sweating over his bullpen. Chicago’s offense has shown flashes, particularly from Colson Montgomery and Miguel Vargas, but consistency has been elusive during this road trip. With the Yankees’ powerful lineup waiting on the other side, the Good Guys cannot afford to leave runners on base or squander scoring opportunities.

The recipe is not complicated. The hurlers need to survive the top of the Yankees order and keep the ball out of the seats, and the offense needs to scratch out some runs early. If Hudson can set the table and Burke can eat some innings without imploding, the Sox might just sneak out of New York with a win before heading off to Detroit. First pitch is 6:05 p.m. CST. Watch on CHSN or catch the call on ESPN Chicago AM 1000.

If I had asked you this morning to name the only team in Major League Baseball that hadn’t yet been shut out this season, how many guesses would it have taken you to arrive at the Orioles? For me it would have been 30. This offense has had so many pitiful, uncompetitive performances this season that surely they’d been blanked at least a couple of times, right?

But somehow, no. Through their first 75 games of the year, the O’s had always put at least one run on the board. That streak ended today when Bryan Woo and two Mariners relievers shut them out to cap a 3-0 Seattle win in the rubber game of the series.

When I tell you this O’s offense stunk tonight, hoo boy, I am not exaggerating. They struck out 11 times and had only six baserunners. In more than half their innings, they didn’t put anyone on base at all. And in the few occasions when they had ducks on the pond, they squandered each one, going 0-for-5 with men in scoring position. It was the second time in this three-game series that Orioles hitters essentially took the day off.

All you need to know about this paltry effort is that the top of the Orioles’ lineup was a combined 0-for-18 with eight strikeouts. Not going to win many games that way! The guys who have been the Birds’ best hitters this year — plus Gunnar Henderson, who inexplicably is still batting in the #2 spot, three months into his lost season — couldn’t get anything going, and the O’s were doomed to failure.

Bryan Woo, the same pitcher the Orioles bashed for seven runs just a week ago, was magnificent, working seven scoreless innings and fanning nine. He allowed only three hits, a Jackson Holliday double and singles by Colton Cowser and Leody Taveras. Woo’s home/away splits are extreme — he entered the game with a 2.37 ERA in Seattle as opposed to 5.93 on the road — and the Orioles got a first-hand look at his brilliance at T-Mobile Park.

Meanwhile, poor Shane Baz delivered one of his best outings as an Oriole, going seven strong innings, but all it took was one bad inning to doom him to defeat. In this case it was his first one, as the Mariners ambushed him with a three-run rally to open the game. It all happened after Baz retired the first two batters of the inning, and in typical Orioles fashion, some lousy defense was involved. Josh Naylor roped a shot to right-center field and would’ve been content to stop at first with a single, but Taveras foolishly tried to field the ball with his bare hand instead of his glove, letting it roll past him to the wall. Naylor ended up at second on the error. Yeesh. The extra base didn’t matter because Baz walked the next batter anyway, but what was that, Leody?

Baz just could not find that final out. Cole Young laced a sharp double down the left-field line to plate Naylor, and Colt Emerson lined a single to right that brought home two more. Baz finally got out of the inning on an ABS-aided strike three to Mitch Garver, but the Orioles were quickly in a 3-0 hole. Little did they know that would be the final score eight innings later.

Baz made a great recovery after that rocky first, firing six straight scoreless innings. The Mariners threatened in the second by putting the first two runners on base, but Baz dispatched the next three batters, and he never faced another real jam after that. Emerson, on a two-out walk in the third, was the last batter to reach base. Baz mowed down the final 13 batters he faced, finishing his day on a stupendous note. Baz worked seven innings for the fourth time this year and delivered his sixth quality start. It’s the kind of outing that could earn a pitcher a victory if he had any kind of competent offense supporting him.

Sadly, he did not. The O’s offense continued to fail once the Mariners’ bullpen came in, stranding two runners on base in both the eighth and ninth. The eighth was particularly embarrassing, with the Orioles putting the first two batters of the inning on base to chase Woo from the game, only for Eduard Bazardo to retire Blaze Alexander, Holliday, and Taylor Ward in quick succession.

In the ninth, the Mariners turned to embattled closer Andrés Muñoz, who has struggled against every team that isn’t the Orioles. Muñoz walked Henderson and Samuel Basallo to bring the possible tying run to the plate with two down, but easily whiffed Taveras to finish the shutout. Muñoz is now 3-for-3 in save opportunities against the Orioles this year. He’s 9-for-14 against the rest of MLB.

There you have it. In a tidy 2 hours and 15 minutes, the Orioles limped away from a winnable series in Seattle by dropping two of three. Next up: the Dodgers. I’m not looking forward to it.

With the Mets in Philadelphia this weekend to take on the Phillies for the first time this season, it serves as a reminder that one of New York’s biggest offseason additions, Bo Bichette, nearly signed with the Mets’ biggest division rival before ultimately choosing New York.

The Mets signed Bichette to a three-year, $126 million contract on Jan. 20, a quick pivot by David Stearns and the front office after missing out on Kyle Tucker, who signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Before that, though, reports had been swirling that discussions between Bichette and the Phillies were underway and that a deal was imminent.

“We had a lot of good talks. That’s a great team over there and obviously [Don Mattingly] being over there was enticing to me,” Bichette said before stopping himself from gushing too much over his team’s bitter rival. “But great talks, great organization.”

In the end, talks between the two sides fizzled and fell through, putting the two-time All-Star back on the table for any team to swoop in and pick him up.

That’s precisely what the Mets did, essentially poaching the 28-year-old from their division rival with plans to move the career-shortstop to third base to pair alongside Francisco Lindor on the left side of the infield.

And although, from the outside, an agreement between Bichette and the Phillies looked like a done deal, Bichette told reporters that wasn’t exactly the case.

“I thought it was an opportunity for sure, but there was definitely things that needed to be worked out for that to be a possibility,” Bichette said about negotiations with Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, despite signing a three-year pact with the Mets, Bichette does have the option to opt out after the first and second years to test the market once again. 

In fact, reports are that he will do that after the season, even after getting off to a terrible two-month start, which he has since been doing his best to get out of.

“At the end of the day, I think it just became obvious to me that it was the right decision for me and my wife,” Bichette said about signing with New York. “... It just became clear to me that the Mets was the right decision.”

Bichette also mentioned that it never crossed his mind when he chose the Mets that he was signing with a team that has a heated rivalry with the organization that, by others' reporting, he was close to signing with.

However, Bichette did compare the two and sees some similarities.

“There’s a lot of parallels between the two – passionate fan bases, organizations that are trying to win,” he said.

With the drama of the offseason over and done with, Bichette was asked what kind of reception he anticipates getting at Citizens Bank Park by those same passionate fans who perhaps believed he was joining their team.

“I don’t know what the reception will be, but I definitely won’t be surprised at anything,” he said.

In the last three weeks, the Yankees have gained nine games on the rival Tampa Bay Rays, going from 5.5 games back to a 3.5-game lead atop the AL East. Despite the overwhelming narrative of the June Swoon, the Yankees are 9-4 on the month, while maneuvering a schedule that has included three series against current playoff teams and two divisional series.

After their offense, which is still missing three key pieces, pummeled the White Sox into submission on Tuesday and Wednesday, they’ll look for the series sweep over the resurgent Southsiders tonight in the Bronx, as New York City winds down from a day of celebration down the Canyon of Heroes for its latest champion.

It’s a nice spot for Ryan Weathers to finally get back on track after several rough outings in a row. He’s now allowed five runs in four of his last five starts, including three in a row, buffing his ERA up to 4.36 (96 ERA+) in 74.1 innings. He’s facing a difficult offense, albeit without the injured Munetaka Murakami, so the priority is going to be to keep them off the barrel. Weathers has allowed nine home runs in his last five starts.

Bryan Hudson will be the opener for Chicago. The former Brewer and Dodger is off to a fantastic start to 2026, pitching to a 2.45 ERA in 33 innings across 24 appearances. He similarly opened for them on Sunday against the Dodgers and allowed one run in one inning.

Pitching the bulk for the ChiSox will be Sean Burke, a former third-round pick in 2021 out of Maryland. He was a really solid starter for them last season and has continued his strong work this year, pitching to a 4.15 ERA (104 ERA+) and 4.04 FIP in 73.2 innings with 73 strikeouts across 14 appearances (11 starts). This will be his first career outing against the Yankees.

Burke has been the epitome of average across the board, from his surface-level stats to his peripherals. Pretty much everything is between the 40th and 60th percentile, aside from a poor ground-ball and whiff rate. He’s improved at preventing hard contact since 2025 by embracing his sinker more. He’s primarily a four-seamer and knuckle curve against lefties, but will lean more on his slider and sinker against righties.

Ben Rice will lead off, followed by the red-hot Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, and Jasson Domínguez. Jazz Chisholm Jr. will bat fifth, Spencer Jones will get the start in center field and bat sixth, and José Caballero, Ryan McMahon, and JC Escarra will round out the lineup.

Chase Meidroth gets the nod at leadoff once again for the White Sox, followed by longtime Yankee killer and lefty specialist Randal Grichuk. Miguel Vargas bats third, followed by the two Montgomerys sandwiching Edgar Quero behind the plate. Luisangel Acuña, Junior Pérez, and Tristan Peters round it out.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium — The Bronx, NY

First pitch: 7:05 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, Chicago Sports Network

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY), ESPN Chicago WMVP 1000 AM (CHW)

Online stream: MLB.tv (out-of-market only)

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

Thursday Series Finale. #RepBXpic.twitter.com/9Omndrb7tl

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 18, 2026

Tonight's White Sox starters: pic.twitter.com/wxxBukGF6x

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) June 18, 2026

The Diamondbacks have had a complete disaster of a season at first-base. The original plan seems to have been to have a platoon there of Pavin Smith and the veteran free-agent Carlos Santana. But injury means that the pair have combined to start just 10 of the 74 games played there. In addition, they have both been underwhelming (and that’s probably being kind) at the plate. The pair have combined to go 4-for-35 while playing first, with two walks, nine strikeouts and one RBI between them. The absence has forced Arizona deep into its depth: we’re not yet at the half-way point in the season, and already, seven different D-backs have started games at 1B.

None of them have done well. Ildemaro Vargas has seen most time (39 starts), but after an incandescent April which won him NL Player of the Month honors, he has completely fallen off a cliff. Since peaking at a .404 (!) average on May 1st, at all positions Vargas has hit .162/.218/.206 over 40 games, for an OPS of just .424. We’ve tried new blood as well: Jose Fernandez (16 starts) made an immediate impression, but subsequently also tapered off. LuJames Groover (7 starts) never hit to begin with, and is 4-for-24 while playing first, with no extra-base hits and one walk. Tim Tawa and Luken Baker each made one start. The latter will be a Sporcle stumper come year end.

The sum total of these endeavors is wretched on a historical level. Over almost three hundred plate appearances, Arizona’s first basemen are batting .215/.249/.312 for a .561 OPS at the position. That is currently the lowest figure at 1B by a major league team in over a century. You have to go all the way back to 1920 to find a lower OPS. That season, the Philadelphia Athletics (.530) and Pittsburgh Pirates (.557) were clearly both having difficulty adapting to the first year of the so-called “live ball” era. [There was still only one man that year who reached twenty home-runs, though on the other hand, eight different batters hit .370 or better.]

By any measure, it has been a disaster offensively. Even with better than average base-running (4th in BsR) and defense (8th in Def) there, it’s no surprise that the Diamondbacks rank dead-last in the majors at overall value from the position. With the trade deadline (this year, on August 3rd) now beginning to loom large, there’s little or no doubt that if the D-backs want to improve, the easiest way is going to be at first-base. It doesn’t need to be a superstar earning eight figures – and, no, we will not be trading for Christian Walker, thank you very much. But there’s almost no argument: something needs to be done.

Before we get to potential trades, is there any help in our own farm system? In Reno, the position has mostly be manned by names we’ve already mentioned. Luken Baker, LuJames Groover and Carlos Santana are three-quarters of those with 50+ innings at first. Groover’s .873 OPS for Reno is the best, and… yeah, we’ve seen what he can do in the majors. The other first-baseman is Tyler Locklear. He flopped in his first time with the D-backs, posting a .529 OPS across 31 games following his trade from Seattle. His Reno numbers overall aren’t great, with a .771 OPS. But they have improved, up to .858 over the last four weeks.

With Santana last seen being a human piñata down in the Arizona Complex League, I wouldn’t be surprised if the team gave Locklear another chance before the deadline, at the very least as a platoon partner for Smith. It might simply be a case of seeing what sticks. But even last year’s dismal performance by Locklear, wouldn’t be much worse than what we’ve been getting. Otherwise? The organization depth chart at 1B and DH makes for pretty dismal reading, with nobody outside the Dominican rookie leagues posting an OPS of better than .781. The team needs a solution, not just for this season, but in the longer term as well.

Of course, the elephant in the room with regard to “long term” is the question of whether or not there will even be a major-league season next year. A poll of players today in The Athletic had almost eighty percent predicting a lockout, though they were more divided on whether or not games would be lost as a result. However, there is definitely an argument to made for exercising caution, say, in trading prospect capital. Getting a player signed through 2028 is not as valuable if the 2027 season ends up being shortened or, worst case scenario, completely missing. We just don’t know what will happen.

What trade targets at 1B might exist? To try and bring some objectivity to our rosterbation, let’s look at the standings and the chart of production at first-base linked above. We can narrow it down to teams in the bottom half of the standings (therefore likely to be sellers at the deadline), but the top half of 1B production. Here are the teams who meet that criteria, and what the chances are of them selling to us.

• Athletics – 36-38, 3.1 fWAR. Nick Kurtz. The reigning AL Rookie of the Year isn’t letting up in his sophomore season. His .440 OBP leads the majors, and he’s hitting .292 with 18 home-runs. Despite not having made the post-season since 2020, the A’s seem more interested in a long-term extension than a trade, having reportedly offered him a nine-figure deal. Likely falls into the “If you have to ask the price, it’s too expensive” category.
• Red Sox – 29-42, 2.5 fWAR. Willson Contreras. He has been among the most consistent of players, worth between 2.5 and 4.2 bWAR every full season since 2017. This year looks likely to push the upper limit, since he’s already at 2.8 bWAR. Under contract through 2027 with a 2028 team option, though does have full no-trade protection. With the Red Sox floundering, could very well be dealt at the deadline, depending how Boston feel about their chances going forward.
• Reds – 35-38, 1.6 fWAR. Spencer Steer. Sal Stewart has been their main 1B, but is behind only the Cards’ JJ Wetherholt in Rookie of the Year betting, so is going nowhere. However, does this perhaps render Steer superfluous to their needs? He’s highly versatile, also starting at 2B, LF and RF this year, and wouldn’t reach free agency until after 2028. With an OPS+ of 106 so far, this right-hander does seem to tick most of the boxes Arizona would want. Steer was recently called “untouchable”, though logic for this was missing.
• Astros – 35-41, 1.3 fWAR. Christian Walker. Old friend alert! As mentioned above, this candidate seems highly unlikely. Everyone drooling over his campaign this year, is conveniently overlooking that his 2025 numbers were terrible: just 0.3 bWAR. Last winter, it was among “the worst-kept secrets in Houston Astros land” that the team wanted to trade Walker. If that’s still the case, the return should be higher. Does have a limited no-trade clause, but whether Arizona are on that list is not known.
• Rockies – 28-47, 1.3 fWAR. TJ Rumfield. Trades among division rivals aren’t common. But there is precedent, with Arizona sending Jake McCarthy to Colorado in January [worth noting: he’s cooled off of late, and is back down to replacement level by bWAR, though fWAR has him at 0.7]. In another rocky Rockies season – they haven’t won even 75 games since 2018, and won’t this year either – rookie Rumfield has been a rare bright spot. The Colorado front-office would be idiots to trade him. I’ll say no more.

So, what do you reckon? Should the team stick with the current options, and hope they return to normal form? Look to promote from within? Or should they trade for a short- or long-term solution – and if so, who? That would be what the poll and comments section below is for…

Blue Jays 4 Red Sox 3

This is going to be a short recap, we’ll talk more about this one tomorrow. But….

Trey Yesavage was terrific. It was too bad about the back-to-back home runs in the eighth, but he was amazing. I feel bad that he didn’t get the win. Over the first seven innings he allowed two hits, one earned, no walks with 6 strikeouts. I am not at all mad about him starting the eighth, he was amazing and our pen was overworked and he was under 90 pitches. No problem at all with leaving him out there. And I didn’t think the two pitches were particularly bad, but such is life. You’d have to have a deep hate for John Schneider to complain about him staying in.

Tommy Nance got the last two outs of the eighth (and got the win). Mason Fluharty got the save in the ninth. He was terrific too. His first save.

We scored:

• One in the first: Vlad homered. I think we were all really glad for him.
• One in the second: Kazuma Okamoto doubles, Brandon Valenzuela singled. Andrés Giménez hit a sac fly.
• One in the seventh: Nathan Lukes homered. It was good to see, because he seemed to be slumping coming into the series.
• One in the ninth: Ernie Clement led off with a single. Nathan Lukes, bunting, popped out. Lukes, who homed earlier, was asked to bunt. I get that it was a great lefty pitcher. But……I hate having him bunt. With how hard Aroldis Chapman throws, a bit of luck and Lukes could hit it out. Okamoto strikeout. Brandon Valenzuela doubled in what turned out to be the winning run. Valenzuela was an incredible find.

Jays of the Day: Valenzuela (0.42 WPA) and Fluharty (0.21)

No one had the number for the Other Award, low mark was Lukes (-0.6 and he homered, most of it was the bunt) and Okomoto (-0.6).

Tomorrow is a day game too….2:20 Eastern. Jays @ Cubs. Gausman (4-4, 3.41) vs. TBD.

For the first time in 2026, the Phillies and New York Mets will square off as the teams begin a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park.

The Phillies will be wearing their powder blue uniforms and will give the ball to Aaron Nola.

Back in the powder blues#RingTheBellpic.twitter.com/QIZiGLN0Vb

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) June 18, 2026

The Mets will counter with veteran Sean Manaea. The veteran lefty is 1-2 with a 4.78 ERA on the season.

Game time is 6:40 PM and will be televised locally on NBCSP.

There’s no Atlanta Braves game today. It’s another opportunity to kick another game to late August when the Braves will be healthier aaaaaaahahahaha. No really, it could happen I guess. The injury beast might be sated for now. But there are other things going on in the meantime.

MLB

Mets (Sean Manaea) vs Phillies (Aaron Nola) at 6:40 ET on MLB.tv/MLB Network

White Sox (Bryan Hudson) vs Yankees (Ryan Weathers) at 7:05 ET on MLB.tv

Cardinals (Matthew Liberatore) vs Kansas City (Noah Cameron) at 7:40 ET on MLB.tv

Angels (TBD) vs Sacramento (Gage Jump) at 9:40 ET on MLB.tv

MiLB

Hill City vs Single-A Augusta Greenjackets at 7:05 ET on BallySport/MLB.tv

World Cup

Canada vs Qatar at 6:00 ET on Fox Sports 1/Peacock/Telemundo

Mexico vs South Korea at 9:00 ET on Fox/Peacock/Telemundo

What else?

The US Open is happening as well. Also, my kid crushed every school metric this year so we have a Nintendo Switch 2 now. Apparently you can get a $20 yearly subscription to get 60 or so retro games. So I’ll probably be knee deep in the original Zeldas pretty soon. We’re loving some Mario Party Jamboree right now. If you want to tell me what else is fun from a family game standpoint, I’m all ears.

The Minnesota Twins looked to secure their third series sweep of the season, this time in Arlington against the Texas Rangers. The Twins offense continued their being hot from Tuesday night and the bullpen didn’t screw it up too much while the Rangers made a valiant effort.

The game started off on the right foot as Trevor Larnach and Kody Clemens each got on base with a single in the top of the first off of Texas starter Jack Leither. Believe it or not, with two outs, Josh Bell got a grounder through the infield to bring in Larnach and Brooks Lee put the Twins ahead big with a three-run shot to give Minnesota a cushy 4-0 lead before the home team got to the bat rack.

Larnach made another contribution in the fourth inning with a homer of his own, this one of the two-run variety, which knocked Leiter out of the game after the end of the inning with a 6-0 Twins lead. Minnesota struck again in the sixth with another Larnach contribution – this time an RBI single off of southpaw Robby Ahlstrom – to bring the score to 7-0. A Ryan Kreidler homer in the top of the eighth off of Cal Quantrill added two more runs to the Twins’ total.

Meanwhile, Joe Ryan labored through his start today. He limited the Rangers to three hits, a couple of free passes, and notched seven strikeouts, dropping his ERA below 3. However, he only went through five innings today on 97 pitches. He used his four-seam fastball much more compared to his other starts this season. Justin Lawrence was called in for the sixth and allowed two solo homers to Wyatt Langford and Ezequiel Duran, but otherwise escaped unscathed.

The bullpen escaped a couple of jams in the seventh and eighth innings, keeping the heart rates of Twins Territory up just a little bit more than normal. Cody Laweryson allowed a homer to Justin Foscue, but finished out the game without allowing any more runs, securing the sweep for the Twins with a 9-3 win.

W: Joe Ryan (5-3)
L: Jack Leiter (3-7)

STUDS

• Joe Ryan: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 K
• Trevor Larnach: 3-5, 2 R, 3 RBI, HR
• Brooks Lee: 1-5, R, 3 RBI, HR
• Ryan Kreidler: 1-2, R, 2 RBI
• Victor Caratini: 3-4, 2 R

duds

• zero duds; tWIMs

COTG

Brandon gets the honors for suggesting a schedule alteration for the rest of the Twins season.

The Twins travel to the desert for a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Connor Prielipp (2-4, 5.26 ERA) answers the call for the Twins while veteran Michael Soroka (8-3, 3.11 ERA) will go for the D-backs. Put on the pot of coffee (or do a keg stand and keep the party going) as game time is 845p Central.

Thank you for your time!

Two of the myriad Mets on the Injured List will begin their rehab assignments on the way back to the majors this weekend, as the Binghamton Rumble Ponies will host both Francisco Lindor and Tyrone Taylor starting on Friday.

Lindor has been on the IL since April 23 with a calf strain, a similar, but more severe, version of the injury that had Juan Soto on the shelf earlier this season. Lindor’s injury has affected the Mets in many ways, whether it is on the defenisve side of the game, necessitating a positional shift from Bo Bichette and some appearances from quad-A players like Vidal Brujan and Zack Short, or the lack of a keystone bat in the middle of their lineup.

The five-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glove winner, and four time Silver Slugger was hitting .226/.314/.355 to start the season.

When Lindor is ready to play, there’s no doubt that he will be a regular part of the Mets’ lineup going forward. That is less likely for Taylor, who already lost playing time to A.J. Ewing when he was called up on May 12. Taylor, a glove-first outfielder with limited offensive potential, is in his age 32 season, was hitting just .186/.210/.320 when he went down on May 26 with a hip flexor injury.

Since both MJ Melenedez and Eric Wagaman still have minor league options, it seems likely that one of them would be sent down to Triple-A Syracuse to make room for Taylor, at least in the interim.

The Rumble Ponies face the New Hampshire Fisher Cats at 7:05pm. The game will be available to stream on MiLB.tv.

The Texas Rangers scored three runs while the Minnesota Twins scored nine runs.

Just passing through to say the Rangers lost.

The Twins hit a home run in the first inning of each game in this series.

The Twins never trailed in any of the 27 innings in this series.

The Twins won each game in this series by an average of like five runs.

The Rangers were outscored 25-7 in this series.

Jack Leiter allowed six runs in four innings, including four runs in the first inning.

Alrighty, back to watching the World Cup.

Player of the Game: Wyatt Langford, Ezequiel Duran, and Justin Foscue each hit a solo home run so take your pick.

Up Next: With today’s game the Rangers have ignited a hellish stretch of 15 games in 15 days that will take them through June. Next up in that stretch is a home series against the Padres. RHP Jacob deGrom will pitch for Texas in the opener against RHP Randy Vásquez for San Diego.

The Friday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CDT and you can catch the game on the Rangers Sports Network.