Category: Baseball

The San Diego Padres entered the top of the eighth inning trailing the Miami Marlins, 3-1. By the time the inning was over they held a 5-3 lead thanks to home runs from two of their big bats. Manny Machado, the Miami native, stepped the plate with no outs and Jake Cronenworth on first base after a leadoff single to open the frame. Machado battled Marlins reliever Lake Bachar for six pitches, but he won the at-bat and tied the game when he connected on a fastball at the top of the strike zone. The ball left Machado’s bat at 106 mph, and it landed just beyond the wall in center field to tie the game, 3-3.

Ty France grounded out for the first out in the top of the eighth inning. Jackson Merrill followed and connected on a pitch that was up and out over the plate. Merrill hit the ball out to right field to give the Padres their first lead of the game at 4-3. San Diego tacked on another run thanks to a Luis Rengifo one-out double. He advanced to third on a groundout which gave Luis Campusano a chance to add the lead. The Padres catcher came through with a single to left field that allowed Rengifo to score to give the Padres a 5-3 lead en route to the win and the sweep of the Marlins.

Adrian Morejon came on for the eighth inning and while it was not as sharp as the Friar Faithful have come to expect from the left-hander it did result in a scoreless inning. Mason Miller came in the for the bottom of the ninth inning and locked down the win while earning his 27th save of the season.

Walker Buehler started the game and delivered a solid start for San Diego. The veteran right-hander worked into the sixth inning and allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. It was the kind of start the Padres needed after back-to-back bullpen games. Yuki Matsui, Wandy Peralta, Morejon and Miller combined to work the remaining 3.2 innings and allowed just one hit and one walk with three strikeouts.

Cronenworth was the table setter for San Diego. He finished his day at the plate 3-for-5 with two runs scored. Machado was the benefactor of Cronenworth’s solid offensive day. Machado finished 2-for-5 with a run scored and three RBI. France, Merrill and Rengifo all finished with two hits in the game, with Merrill providing the go-ahead run on his solo home run in the eighth.

San Diego has an off day today before hosting the Colorado Rockies for two games and the San Francisco Giants for four games heading into the trade deadline. The Padres have played themselves back to .500 and how they perform in the upcoming homestand will determine the deadline approach for the front office.

Padres News:

• Rosman Verdugo helped the Fort Wayne TinCaps get a win.

• San Diego’s recent approach to starting pitching was born out of necessity, but it’s not the first time MLB has seen this approach.

Baseball News:

• Jacob Misiorowski opened the game with seven strikeouts to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a win.

• Munetaka Murakami had a huge game and led the Chicago White Sox over the Houston Astros.

• The Boston Red Sox traded Connelly Early to the Washington Nationals for Curtis Mead.

• CJ Abrams powered the Nationals past the Arizona Diamondbacks.

• The Pittsburgh Pirates got a one-run win over the Chicago Cubs.

• The New York Mets took down the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The thing about the 2026 Orioles is that they can always manage to fool you for a little while into believing that they might be able to turn things around. The best version of this team really is good enough. Mike Elias wasn’t wrong to assess that. The problem, as was unfortunately demonstrated in increasingly ridiculous ways over the last week, is that they aren’t the best version often enough, and when they’re bad, they’re embarrassingly bad.

There is a tragic element to it all, tragic in the Greek sense that is fresher on many people’s minds since Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of The Odyssey is proving to be a popular sensation. It’s got me thinking about how frequently the gods of Greek myth were known to punish mortals for their hubris, and wondering just how much Elias’s roster-building philosophy embodies that hubris.

This takes on a variety of forms, which I get into in this episode, but the real hubris seems to be thinking that a team where nearly every hitter is one of his precious high draft picks is going to be able to be good enough to be a winner, even though they have now spent the past three seasons demonstrating to us that this is not the case.

Listen to this week’s episode here:

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This is my weekly podcast about whatever is going on lately with the Orioles. If you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to subscribe. You can get the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you prefer to access your podcasts.

How are you feeling about the way things are going with the Orioles right now? Answers could make it into the mailbag section of a future episode of the podcast.

As the week flips over into Monday, I will take care of some housekeeping where hopefully all interested eyes will see it. I’m flying out for a trip Tuesday evening. I won’t return home until Saturday, Aug. 8. It’s a safe bet that I will write up the Saturday 8/8 game on Sunday 8/9. I believe I’ll write up 7/27 on 7/28 and the following game. But I make no promises. After that, Al will do the heavy lifting on the Heroes and the Goats. I do not know how much Wi-Fi access nor how much time I will have on this trip. I may be largely MIA. Y’all be good to Al while I’m gone. I suspect I’ll chime in with at least occasional thoughts on an important stretch of baseball on and off of the field.

On to the Sunday game. Working for Al is super easy. He has never told me to write about this or not write about that. Very occasionally I go off the rails and he reels me back in. But other than that, I don’t have to do anything special here. I could literally just post the numbers from the game and get a daily byline. But, I like to use this as Tom’s therapy space. That’s why you see things like perspective check. I too want to keep from getting carried away in either direction. I too want to be able to enjoy the yearly roller coaster ride without losing my sanity.

That’s a long way of saying that though I’ve chosen the voice of this space to be the high level view of that roller coaster ride, it isn’t always easy. Along with taking that high level view, I try very hard to keep this space very positive. If you were a professional athlete, you could expect over time to read some of the most vile awful comments about you somewhere over the course of your career. From everything I know to be true, nearly 100 percent of the people who have ever worn Cubbie Blue try hard, work hard and very badly want to succeed.

No one player ever costs his team a game, unless there are some scenarios I’m not thinking of, where you forfeit a game because of the actions of one player. Once a team takes the field, a number of players have roles, some small and some large that contribute to winning and losing. I’ve always thought it garbage to pin it all on one guy. Even to the extent that one performance was so bad, there were almost always opportunities for teammates to overcome the adversity and win. Certainly, there are coaches and front office people involved with putting that player in that situation to fail. Teams win and lose together or they fall part.

That’s all a very, very long way of saying Jameson Taillon had a very bad start on Sunday. It’s one in a long string of bad to awful starts. We try to deal in reality here. In that reality, we’re pretty sure this team is likely to be a playoff team. Once they get there, they have a decent chance of winning one series and a small chance of winning two. Losing every fifth day or having to dig out of a massive hole to win is going to diminish all of those chances. You hate to see it, but this team needs to move on. I’m not even sure you could send him to the bullpen and get value there. I don’t wish ill on anyone. I really hope the Cubs cut bait on him, he regroups and has 3-5 good years for someone else. It happens. There are guys that end up being a better fit with your team than others and guys that end up being a worse fit. In being fair, he did provide a fair bit of value to this team over the life of the contract that brought him to Chicago.

The positive out of the game? The team never stopped fighting and took the game all the way down to the wire. This game certainly was nowhere near as close as a one run loss. The team has scored 57 runs in nine games since the All-Star break. That’s a blistering pace and it is kind of incredible that they have only won five of the nine games. They’ve scored 16 in the four losses and 41 in the five wins. That speaks to some of the struggles the pitching has had. 16 runs in four losses isn’t bad at all. 41 runs in the five wins shows that this team is clobbering the opposition when things go well.

Hopefully the bats stay hot in St. Louis and the pitching settles down a little. Let’s hit that perspective check. Four teams with more wins than the Cubs. One with as many wins as the Cubs. A 2.5 game lead on the first Wild Card spot in the NL. On a pace for 91 wins. 2-1 to start this 17-game stretch.

Three Positives and Pete:

• Michael Busch had a single a double, a walk and a run scored to wrap up a very good weekend.
• Michael Conforto had a double and drew a walk and scored twice.
• Pedro Ramirez had a pair of singles, drove in a run and scored a run.
• Pete was relatively quiet, with a triple and an RBI.

Game 105, July 26: Pirates 8, Cubs 7 (59-46)

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Dansby Swanson (.123). 2-4, RBI, R
• Hero: Nico Hoerner (.051). 2-4, RBI, R
• Sidekick: Aaron Civale (.018). 2 IP, 7 BF, H, 3 K

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Jameson Taillon (-.376). 4 IP, 19 BF, 6 H, 2 BB, 7 ER, 3 K (L 2-6)
• Goat: Carson Kelly (-.108). 0-4, RBI
• Kid: Ian Happ (-.078). 1-5, DP

WPA Play of the Game: Shawn Ross’ two out, two-run homer in the second gave the Pirates a 3-1 lead. (.183)

Cubs Play of the Game: Dansby Swanson batted with runners on first and second and two outs in the second. He singled and ultimately he and the runner from first ended up on second and third. (.118)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Game 104 Winner: Pete Crow-Armstrong 42-37 over Shōta Imanaga.

Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)

The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.

• Pete Crow-Armstrong +22
• Carson Kelly/Ben Brown +13.5
• Shōta Imanaga +12
• Trent Thornton +11.5
• Dansby Swanson/Phil Maton -10
• Nico Hoerner -11
• Jameson Taillon -13
• Caleb Thielbar -14

Up Next: The trip moves to St. Louis. The Cardinals are 53-52 and have themselves played 10 straight games coming out of the break (3-7) and don’t have a day off until Aug. 6. So their stretch is 19 in a row and it isn’t going well. These stretches handcuff the team. You can’t attack a game with your bullpen the same way and you have to be careful to keep the team fresh as the dog days of summer drag on.

David Peterson (5-7, 5.97) gets the opener for the Cubs. He picked up a win in his last start, throwing 6.2 innings and allowing no runs. Hopefully David is getting things back on track and heading in the right direction. The Cardinals hadn’t announced a starter at the time I wrote this, but this should be Matthew Liberatore’s spot. Liberatore is 5-7 with a 5.18 over 20 starts. The former 16th overall pick of the Rays in 2018 allowed five runs in 5.1 innings against the Angels in LA last week. The Cubs beat him on July 5, scoring three runs in five innings against him.

The Cardinals are reeling a bit. Hopefully the Cubs can pounce and get at least two and maybe three.

Ozzie Albies is having a fun season. I’m not sure it’s unequivocally a good season, but it’s been fun. His wRC+ is back in triple digits (now sitting at an even 100) while falling short of that mark in 2024 and 2025. His ISO is higher than both 2024 and 2025, and he’s already hit 17 dingers after finishing with 16 last year. His defense has been a positive for the first time since 2022, muffling the alarm bells going off about his aging with regard to that particular skillset.

And, of course, there’s the ever-present “Wizard of Ozzie” thing — though Albies generally outhit his xwOBA in every year from his debut through 2023 — he’s never done so by quite as much for this long. Seriously, he’s got a .320 wOBA and a .285 xwOBA as of me looking this morning. Only Pete Crow-Armstrong has a bigger outperformance with as many or more PAs; Albies is in the top 20 if you set the cutoff to 200-plus PAs this season.

But, there was yesterday’s game. Albies went 0-for-6 with a terrible defensive misplay that essentially turned what could have been a regulation win into a wacky, drawn-out extra innings affair that nonetheless gave the Braves a “W.” But, Albies didn’t even help in the extra innings portion, as he popped out with the bases loaded and one out after the Braves had taken a lead in the 11th. His xwOBA in the game was a sad .106. He had one meh liner that turned into a double play because of where it was hit, and four worst-in-class bits of contact to go with his strikeout.

Even without the error, it was his worst WPA game of the season. He had a few worse offensive WPA games, including his worst game ever in that regard in a one-run loss to the Padres in 2023, but when you combine the terrible stuff at the plate with that really bad error, it was a rough one.

Do you think, personally, this was has nadir as far as how he feels about his own contributions? If so, that’s kind of comforting, because the Braves won and everyone survived. Or, do you think there’s another game that felt worse from his perspective?

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!

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.

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.

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 Braves at Citi Field on Monday night at 7:10 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

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.

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.

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.

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.