Category: MLB

Late Wednesday night, after a six-error game capped the most demoralizing day of a remarkably demoralizing season, the Mets… well, finally did something.

They traded struggling left-handed starter David Peterson to the Chicago Cubs, who spent the day beating up on them despite a rotation held together by a thread, in exchange for infield prospect Cole Mathis. Mathis, 22, has a .981 OPS across two Single-A levels this year.

Trading Peterson should not be read as a sign of surrender, nor an indication that the Mets are now in full sell-off mode, according to a person with direct knowledge of their thinking. They needed to try something different in their rotation, though exactly what that will look like remains unclear. And they liked Mathis, the 13th ranked prospect in the Cubs’ system, according to MLB Pipeline, one Chicago was willing to give up after a stunning series of injuries decimated their rotation in recent weeks. 

In other words, the Mets saw a chance to get value out of an asset they were struggling to revive. So they did it.

But if not a sign of surrender, the move does represent the first drastic, permanent change David Stearns and the Mets have made to their roster since the start of this season. Prior to Wednesday, their most substantial shake-up came when they called up outfielder A.J. Ewing in mid-May and decided to play him every day. Other than that, Stearns and his front office have been almost unfathomably patient with their major league roster -- particularly Peterson and his fellow struggling colleagues KodaiSenga and Sean Manaea.

Manaea looked like he had figured something out until he struggled again Wednesday. Senga will move to the bullpen in a last-ditch effort to extract value from a once-promising arm, a generous outcome for a veteran whom the Mets have given chance after chance out of necessity and lack of options.

Peterson’s last outing was yet another maddening combination of ground balls that did not help him, too many walks, and back-breaking home runs. The Cubs have the best defense in baseball, which might help him. Maybe all he needs is a fresh start. The lefty was the Mets’ longest-tenured player after Stearns purged veterans this winter. For whatever reason, Peterson simply could not recover his All-Star form with them this year.

His departure, combined with Senga’s move to the bullpen, leaves two holes in the Mets' rotation. Righty Christian Scott is expected to fill one of them when he returns from the injured list this weekend, joining Manaea, FreddyPeralta, and Nolan McLean in the starting corps.

Potential minor league reinforcements could include Jonah Tong, who is struggling to add to his pitch mix in Triple-A, Zach Thornton, who allowed five runs in four innings in his last outing, and Jack Wenninger, whose walk rates have deterred the Mets from calling him up sooner, even as his ERA and strikeout numbers look promising this year. Tobias Myers has returned to his bulk role in the big leagues, but he has been inconsistent recently, too. 

Perhaps the Mets will look outside the organization for reinforcement, though, as Stearns said when he addressed the media Tuesday, it is not always easy to find players via trade this time of year.

Even so, the Cubs found a much-needed starter late Wednesday night. Maybe the Mets can find one, too.

After a rare blown save by closer Cade Smith, the Guardians somehow rallied back and beat the White Sox 4-3 in extras. Kahlil Watson is establishing himself fast now that he has his first pitch and home run under his belt. His single in the top of the tenth solidified the victory for Cleveland.

Quincy takes a look at Kody Huff and the potential for the catcher-turned-infielder to make an impact on the Cleveland squad.

MLB rightfully names Braylon Doughty as the hottest pitching prospect in the Cleveland organization. Readers of Covering the Corner know his name well, having voted him Cleveland’s No. 6 overall prospect in this past off season’s series.

A familiar name is making an impact in early Cy Young voting. Rookie pitching phenom Parker Messick has caught the attention of the “Panel of MLB Experts.”

Cam Schlittler leads the most recent AL Cy Young poll 💪 pic.twitter.com/KR4jrwa2G5

— MLB (@MLB) June 24, 2026

Andrew Walters has been shut down due to elbow inflammation, though all reports indicate that his MRI came back clean.

Guardians shut down Walters b/c of inflammation. He underwent an MRI that came back clean. IL stint allows him to build back up when ready. Hasn't pitched since June 10. https://t.co/Z3rh9izTDe

— Tim Stebbins (@tim_stebbins) June 24, 2026

A familiar, and very much missed, face is still gracing the leaderboards. Despite having not played for almost two weeks, José Ramírez is still leading all qualified MLB third baseman in outs above average with his teammate Daniel Schneemann holding down #3.

Outs Above Average Leaders – Third Baseman pic.twitter.com/V06f7pxpHz

— Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) June 24, 2026

Do you know what’s really nice about this season and in particular, the position the Cardinals have put themselves in? It’s June 25th and we have over a month until the Cardinals have to make a decision on what to do at the trading deadline. One could argue, and I think I would argue, that the results over the next month and change have no downside. Think about it.

What if the Cardinals suck for the next 30 games? Cool. Selling just got super easy. Everything we assumed would happen this season at the deadline will happen. That’s our downside. That the trade deadline will work exactly as we just assumed it would work at the beginning of the season – and in April too, because I doubt many bought the good start then. Everything is still going according to plan. A lot of the individual performances have gone better than expected and that will probably remain true in a month still.

What if the Cardinals are still in a wild card spot? Cool. Great problem to have. The Cardinals have a tough decision, we as fans do not. The team as currently constructed can still sneak into the wild card if they sell, because it is too easy to make the playoffs nowadays – which is not me saying it is easy to make the playoffs, I’m saying it should be harder. Yes, I am a less playoff teams is the way truther. But if they don’t sell, well they got that far with this current team, there’s no reason they can’t keep it up for another couple months. Maybe they even soft buy for fan engagement reasons. Even better!

And yet, Cardinals fandom at large does not seem to be reacting as if this is the case. Most fans, or more accurately I’m sure the most vocal ones, are treating wins and losses as if this was a team projected for 1st in the NL Central to begin this season. It’s been an interesting development. But yeah I just think we should be treating this like the no lose situation it is, because the worst case scenario… is basically the original plan. You can’t say that very often. That’s the fun of a rebuild season, wins are almost gravy.

I am okay with the idea of both buying and selling at the deadline. Obviously under this scenario, you’re not buying anything impactful, because frankly selling makes no sense if you trade any legitimate pieces to acquire an upgrade. Unless it’s a player for more than just this year. But you can acquire a minor upgrade for an extraneous piece. Think something similar to the Luke Voit for Giovanny Gallegos and Chasen Shreve trade.

The Cardinals have players equivalent or close enough to Voit – at least at the value he had when he was traded – in spades: Bryan Torres is a pretty good parallel honestly, because he has a good projection and strangely, no real route to playing time here. Jose Fermin already waited three years for his shot, and they’re effectively the same player. One happens to be right-handed and has a much easier route to playing time. If not him, you still have Cesar Prieto, maybe somebody believes in Thomas Saggese, who is still just 24-years-old. There’s room for maybe two of these guys, and if you can get a bullpen arm for one of them, that’s a win-win.

One thing I think I can’t quite get behind is trading Lars Nootbaar if you’re trying to have your cake and eat it too. Like obviously, trade Nootbaar if we’re completely selling. Don’t trade Nootbaar if we’re going for a playoff spot. But if we’re doing the soft buy and sell thing….. I don’t think you can trade Nootbaar either. That seems like a true sell move to me. I understand the logic. Joshua Baez will replace Nootbaar.

I think a smart planning team would expect Baez to struggle. Maybe that’s just me personally. That’s not me saying he will automatically struggle. But if I have any intention of making the playoffs, I’m not assuming we see no drop-off from Nootbaar to Baez. I assuming the opposite. I’m assuming we’re getting Masyn Winn in 2023. Well maybe not that bad, but you get the idea. I am assuming that going from Nootbaar to Baez will be a rather huge drop-off for this year specifically.

Part of it is the type of hitter Baez is. He has been improving in the strikeout department and I expect that to continue, but I also think someone who strikes out 30% of the time for two months in AAA is probably going to strike out more than that in their first attempt at the majors. I just think that would be a smart assumption. And maybe he has the power to overcome that, but maybe it looks something like Nolan Gorman. Again, I am speaking purely of 2026, not his future.

I will also say it would be kind of clever of the Cardinals to do that, because I think it would be accepted by the fans. I think fans are truly bought into Baez being good immediately, and even if he’s not, I don’t think Chaim Bloom will get any shade for it. It’s a good sell move without seeming like a sell move. That’s half the battle with selling when in a playoff position. I personally think it would decrease the Cardinals’ playoff chances, but I don’t think most fans would think that way.

This is a much easier argument to make right now, when Nootbaar has a very good hitting line. I think if you assume he’s a career 111 wRC+ hitter, I’d get a lot more pushback on this one. I’ll be honest: I’m very doubtful Baez would be a good hitter this season after looking at the history of 30% K rate guys. It was pretty consistent and yes I know most of them weren’t highly regarded prospects and yes there wasn’t a directly comparable player to Baez, but I think it properly scared me about him this season. Even Joey Gallo wasn’t immediately a good hitter.

Again, to be extremely clear, I am supportive and fine with Baez being in the majors to end this year. Ideally he gets the Masyn Winn treatment, we get 45 days of him, the Cardinals may get a draft pick for him next season. But if I do that, I am not expecting the playoffs. That, to me, is a sign that the Cardinals are sticking to the rebuilding plan. I don’t believe it’s a have your cake and eat it too situation. I really don’t.

Nelson Velazquez

Something I did not expect with the Nelson Velasquez experience is probably the fact that he is completely unplayable in the outfield. Yeah I didn’t think it was going to be this bad. I am honestly a lot more pessimistic about his future role on this team because of his defense. Simply, because most of the time, the Cards can’t really put him at DH. Unless Ivan Herrera starts learning a new position, that DH spot is covered most games.

But he is a truly horrendous fielder. He has been replacement level this season. Think about the fact that he has a 139 wRC+ right now. His defense has been so costly that Fangraphs has him as a replacement player. Now, to be fair, he won’t be this bad defensively over a full season mostly because I don’t think it’s possible, but also he won’t have this good of a hitting line either.

Obviously, the small sample of 224 career innings at LF producing a -5 OAA is beyond unplayable, but that’s also not completely fair. So I will be as fair as possible. He was for some reason put in 225 innings at CF by the Cubs, which was predictably disastrous. He was worth -4 OAA in 225 career innings. He was also worth -1 OAA in RF in 448 career innings. So using some positional adjustment for the CF numbers, his current performance suggests he is a -12 OAA corner outfielder over a full season. That’s Jose Martinez territory.

And frankly, if he’s below average in RF but there’s something about LF specifically that makes him a truly bad fielder, the numbers would be worse than that. And since Jordan Walker isn’t going anywhere, we won’t find out if he’s playable in RF. Something worth chronicling, because it just gives him a very high bar for how good he has to hit. Which granted, is also true of DH, but not quite the same thing. Because you aren’t actually costing your team as a DH if you have an above average bat, you are in the field.

Triple-A: Durham Bulls (Rays) 6, Norfolk Tides 4 – Game 1

One bad inning sunk the Tides in this one. The top of the third inning saw the Bulls send 11 batters to the plate and score all six of their runs for the game off of five hits (including a two-run homer), two walks, and a hit by pitch. All six of the runs were charged to starter Trace Bright, but two of them came in after José Espada came on to try to quiet things down.

Anthony Nunez had a nice night. He tossed two shutout innings and struck out four. Josh Walker and Kyle Nicolas combined for a scoreless seventh inning as well.

Norfolk’ lineup outhit Durham’s 7-to-4, but they lacked much pop. Heston Kjerstad went 1-for-4 with their lone extra-base hit, a double, and three strikeouts. A rehabbing Dylan Beavers made his first appearance at Triple-A, going 0-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. José Barrero collected three hits, a run, and an RBI. Bryan Ramos had a hit, two walks, and two RBI.

Triple-A: Durham Bulls (Rays) 5, Norfolk Tides 3 – Game 2

The second game of the double header was a sloppy one for Norfolk. Their pitchers issued nine walks, and the defense made a pair of errors behind them. That meant that only three of the five runs allowed were earned by the pitching staff.

Yaqui Rivera started and gave up two runs on five walks and five strikeouts over 2.1 innings. Dietrich Enns followed and gave up three runs (only one earned) on a hit, two walks, and three strikeouts in his 2.2 frames. Andrew Magno and Cameron Weston worked one shutout inning apiece.

The first five hitters in the Tides lineup had one hit each, going 5-for-17 with three walks and four strikeouts as a group. The final four hitters went a combined 0-for-9 with two walks and two strikeouts. Kjerstad had one of those hits and drove in two of the team’s runs with a fifth-inning single. Jud Fabian had the other RBI on a sac fly. Beavers did not play in the night cap.

Double-A: Harrisburg Senators (Nationals) 3, Chesapeake Baysox 2

This was a standout performance for Baysox starter Juaron Watts-Brown, even though he was saddled with the loss. Over six innings the righty allowed just one run on five hits (one home run), one walk, and eight strikeouts. Cohen Achen came on for the seventh and would allow one unearned run due to an error by Anderson De Los Santos at third base. Juan Rojas was charged with a run in the ninth inning after walking the lead-off hitter, which came around to score after he was pulled in favor of Alex Pham.

Both of Chesapeake’s runs scored on solo homers in the ninth inning. Ethan Anderson hit his 14th of the year, and Aron Estrada smacked his 12th to bring the home team within one run. But there were few chances to score other than that. The team had only three at-bats with runners in scoring position and left a measly four runners stranded.

High-A: Frederick Keys 2, Wilmington Blue Rocks (Nationals) 0

The Keys came out swinging, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning, which would prove to be all they would need to earn the win. RJ Austin led off with a single and quickly scored on an Ike Irish double. A wild pitch moved Irish to third base, and he then scored on a Victor Figueroa sac fly. The Keys would have just three more hits and zero runs for the remainder of the game.

Luckily, the Frederick pitching staff was on top of its game. Caden Hunter set the tone with five shutout innings in which he allowed one run, three walks, and eight strikeouts to lower his season ERA to 2.11. Richard Guasch worked a perfect sixth inning. And it was Riley Cooper to close out the final three innings, striking out five in the process.

Low-A: Fayettville Woodpeckers (Astros) 6, Delmarva Shorebirds 2

There were some positives in the latest Delmarva loss. For example, Jaiden Lo Re had two hits, a walk, an RBI, and a stolen base. The 19-year-old has a .918 OPS since being promoted to Low-A. Braylon Whitaker had a three-hit game. Raylin Ramos hit his fourth home run of the season.

On the pitching side of things, starter Christian Rodriguez looked good. Over seven innings he gave up two runs on seven hits, two walks, and two strikeouts. Kenny Leiner had a tougher day, coughing up four runs and only recording two outs. Zac Lampton did get the final out of the eighth inning, but not before allowing one of his inherited runners to score on a single.

Box Scores

Thursday’s Schedule

Norfolk: vs Durham, 12:05. Starter: Chris Kachmar (1-0, 5.17 ERA)

Chesapeake: vs Harrisburg, 6:35 pm. Starter: Evan Yates (4-3, 5.14 ERA)

Frederick: at Wilmington, 6:35 pm. Starter: J.T. Quinn (3-0, 3.30 ERA)

Delmarva: at Fayetteville, 6:35 pm. Starter: Esteban Mejia (0-4, 8.17 ERA)

The San Francisco Giants have had their fair share of bad injury news this year, but on Wednesday they got some good news on that front: Heliot Ramos is nearing a return. The Giants All-Star outfielder, who has been sidelined since mid-May, should be wearing a Giants jersey again soon.

Prior to Wednesday’s walk-off win over the Athletics, Giants manager Tony Vitello said that Ramos could potentially return this weekend, when the Giants host the Atlanta Braves. Ramos started a rehab assignment with AAA Sacramento on June 17, and has appeared in five games for the River Cats, hitting 6-19 with a home run, three walks, and seven strikeouts.

While Ramos’ return will be a welcome sight for the Giants, no one’s entirely sure how the Giants will make the roster work once he’s back. In Ramos’ absence, Casey Schmitt has moved from the infield to left field, where he’s been essentially an everyday player. Schmitt has been one of the team’s best hitters, and leads the Giants in home runs, so it’s not like they can move him out of the lineup to facilitate Ramos.

One possible solution was hinted at during Tuesday’s AAA game, when Ramos played right field for the first time since 2024. With Harrison Bader still sidelined, and neither Drew Gilbert nor Jonah Cox running away with the center field role, could the Giants shift Jung Hoo Lee back to the middle of the grass, and play Ramos in right field, while keeping Schmitt in left field? That’s certainly the best offensive arrangement the team can come up with, though the defensive arrangement is more befitting an October haunted house than an October baseball dream.

Of course, if Luis Arráez’s recent injury lingers, that could temporarily solve the problem, with Schmitt moving to second base, and Ramos slotting in at left field once more. We’ll just have to wait and see.

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants conclude their series with the Athletics this afternoon at 12:45 p.m. PT.

Today’s Reflections

It feels SOOOO good to put Dansby Swanson’s name first on the Cub Tracks page! Tuesday night, he had a two-run home run and an RBI double, followed by a three-run homer and a grand slam in Game 1 Wednesday afternoon. In his last five games (through Game 1 of the doubleheader), Swanson is 8-for-18 with four homers, 14 RBI and only two strikeouts. Here’s hoping that Swanson has found some magic in that bat.

In Tuesday’s game, PCA hit his 17th HR, extending his on-base streak to 24 games and his hitting streak to 11.

Michael Busch’s two-run home run Wednesday increased his team-leading RBI to 44.

I don’t want to gripe and worry about injuries at this moment — that’s done below. The Cubs have won eight of their last 11 games, so I’m just going to enjoy this mini-offensive resurgence.

*means autoplay on, (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$} means limited views. Italics are often used on this page as sarcasm font. The powers that be have enabled real sarcasm font in the comments.

Wednesday’s Game 1 stories (Game 2 will be in the next Cub Tracks):

• Jerry Beach (Chicago Tribune {$}): Dansby Swanson’s 2 HRs and 7 RBIs fuel Chicago Cubs to 10-3 rout of New York Mets in Game 1 of doubleheader. “Dansby Swanson hit a tiebreaking three-run home run and added a grand slam Wednesday.”
• Bill Ladsen (MLB.com): Swanson slams Mets with 2-HR, 7-RBI outburst, “Shortstop Dansby Swanson continues to show signs of life at the plate.”

Tuesday night’s stories:

• AP (ESPN): Crow-Armstrong and Swanson homer off an ineffective Senga to power Cubs past Mets 9-6. “Coming off consecutive rainouts, Chicago scored five times in the second against Kodai Senga.”

• Jordan Campbell (Cubbies Crib): Ridiculous Cubs replay review that screwed Pete Crow-Armstrong raises questions. “Naturally, PCA is at the center of the drama.”
• Mike Fitzpatrick (Chicago Sun-Times): Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell perplexed by rainout and irked by ‘terrible rule’.

The gamut of Cubs injury woes:

• Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): Cubs’ Avalanche of Pitching Injuries Reaches Insurmountable Status. Are They Stuck? “Correcting a previous post of mine: you do, in fact, gotta hand it to the injury gods. Those jerks are vicious, but a little bit hilarious, too.”
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Ben Brown, Edward Cabrera to IL as Cubs Make Several Roster Moves. “Thursday’s presumed starter (Brown) has a neck strain, and Cabrera is dealing with a hamstring strain. No word yet on a timeframe for either to return.”

Ben Brown has been dealing with neck issue for a little bit but was able to manage it until it prevented him from throwing his bullpen yesterday.

Brown is back in Chicago to see doctors.

There’s some concern it’s related to what happened with Brown’s neck in ‘24, Counsell said.

— Meghan Montemurro (@MegMontemurro) June 24, 2026

• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Edward Cabrera’s hamstring injury tests Cubs already tenuous pitching depth: ‘We’re in a rough spot’. “The sight of Edward Cabrera writhing on the ground in pain was not one Craig Counsell needed to see Tuesday night.”
• Bill Ladsen (MLB.com): Boyd ready to return from IL Thursday after shrugging off ailments. “Weather permitting, he hopes to pitch in a big league game on Thursday against the Mets.”
• Josh Davis (Clutch Points): Cubs LHP returns to mound for 1st time since setback. “Chicago Cubs left-handed pitcher Justin Steele started throwing activities on Monday for the first time since his UCL injury setback.”
• Tommy Erbe (OnTapSportsNet): Jed Hoyer Provides Pivotal Update On Justin Steele, Plans For 2026. “As Justin Steele continues to progress in health, Jed Hoyer provides a tentative plan for getting him back on the mound.”

Trade talk (including conflicting opinions):

• Paul Magno (Yardbarker): Chicago Cubs reality check: Is a big trade for pitching even worth making anymore? “The Chicago Cubs are absolutely not where they thought they would be at this point of the season.”
• Tyler Courtney (LastWordOnSports.com): Should the Chicago Cubs Consider Trading Seiya Suzuki? “Losing a player of his caliber is never easy, but there are plenty of reasons to consider it.”
• Matt Sullivan (Just Baseball): Why Would the Chicago Cubs Trade Seiya Suzuki? “The right fielder is a top offensive weapon for the Cubs, so why even think of moving him to a different team?”
• Alexis Farinacci (Diamond Centric): Early Trade Deadline Relief Candidates: Aroldis Chapman, Luke Weaver, & More. “In terms of relief pitchers, the Astros, Tigers, Red Sox, Royals, and Mets could be teams to monitor for dealing away relief pitchers ahead of the August MLB trade deadline.”

Assorted stories:

• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): PETE CROW-ARMSTRONG CANNOT HELP HIMSELF. “This behavior cannot be stopped.”
• Matt Sullivan (Sporting News): Cubs select contract of former Phillies, Pirates righty starter amid Edward Cabrera injury. “Cubs select contract of ex-Phillies righty pitcher Vince Velasquez.”
• Tyler Courtney (LastWordOnSports.com): Should the Cubs Move to a Six-Man Rotation in 2026? “A Chicago Cubs’ six-man rotation continues to be a common discussion as the 2026 season progresses.” (This was before Brown and Cabrera went on IL, but an interesting topic nevertheless.)
• Vinnie Duber (Chicago Sun-Times): After bullpen bruising, Cubs pitchers need to get ready for next call: ‘That’s your job as a reliever’. “In the wake of Cubs relievers giving up eight runs and blowing a 5-0 lead Saturday, it’s on the hurlers to get back on the horse.”

Food For Thought:

Lemon Henry “Blind Lemon” Jefferson was an American blues and gospel singer-songwriter and musician. He was one of the most popular and successful blues singers of the 1920s and has been called the “Father of the Texas blues”.

Due mainly to his high-pitched voice and the originality of his guitar playing, Jefferson’s performances were distinctive. His recordings sold well, but he was not a strong influence on younger blues singers of his generation, who could not imitate him as easily as they could other commercially successful artists. Later blues and rock and roll musicians, however, did attempt to imitate both his songs and his musical style.

Jefferson had an intricate and fast style of guitar playing and a particularly high-pitched voice. He was a founder of the Texas blues sound and an important influence on other blues singers and guitarists, including Lead Belly and Lightnin’ Hopkins.

Please be reminded that Cub Tracks and Bleed Cubbie Blue do not necessarily endorse the content of articles, podcasts, or videos that are linked to in this series.

Jaylon Thompson of the Kansas City Star talked about how Jac Caglianone’s error on Wednesday night turned out to be rather costly.

On Wednesday, the Royals got behind early. A costly error and some well-timed execution doomed the Royals in a 5-3 loss. In the third inning, the Rays scored two runs on an ill-advised throwing error from Royals first baseman Jac Caglianone.

Wednesday marked the 5th straight game that Bobby Witt Jr. was sitting out, here is Brian Murphy’s update

Witt was not in the club’s starting lineup for Wednesday’s 5-3 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field, marking the fifth straight game he has been on the bench since suffering a Grade 1 MCL sprain during Thursday’s win over the Cardinals.

Witt has gone through on-field drills while wearing a knee brace before each of the team’s first three games against the Rays and said Wednesday that his knee has “been better every day.” He also said that he would be available off the bench if needed, but he ultimately did not play.

“We have to understand what the brace is going to do and how he feels,” Quatraro said Wednesday. “That communication with Bobby is paramount.”

Speaking of injured Royals, Kris Bubic made his first rehab assignment appearance last night in Omaha, here is what Jared Greenspan had to say.

Royals left-hander Kris Bubic resumed his rehab assignment with a 1-2-3 first inning for Triple-A Omaha on Wednesday night.

Bubic needed just eight pitches to retire the side in order against Triple-A Columbus. He mixed in four pitches and topped out at 92.7 mph with his four-seam fastball.

Bubic first landed on the IL on May 18 (retroactive to May 15) after experiencing left elbow soreness following his May 14 start against the White Sox. Though Bubic expected his IL stint to be a short one, he suffered a setback following his first rehab start on June 9 when he experienced shoulder soreness.

David Shields has struck out 10 batters in each of his last two starts; here is what Anne Rogers said about the Royals prospect.

Kendry Chourio, the club’s No. 2 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 74 overall, is just 18 years old and made his debut with High-A Quad Cities last week. His promotion reunited him with David Shields, who is 19 years old and the Royals’ No. 4 prospect.

Together, Chourio and Shields are two of just nine pitchers in their age-19 season or younger to reach High-A or better this year.

Shields has spent the entire season with Quad Cities, making 13 starts and pitching to a 4.03 ERA, which ranked fifth in the Midwest League entering Tuesday’s series opener. After posting a 2.38 ERA with Single-A Columbia last year and being named the Royals’ Paul Splittorff Pitcher of the Year, the lefty was eager to take the next step in High-A and face the challenges that have come with it.

The MLB trade deadline is coming up; here is the risks Mike Gillespie at Royals Keep says the Royals shouldn’t take.

With the Cole Ragans news from the other day, Kevin O’Brien of Royals Keep thinks the deadline plan is clearer.

Dansby Swanson has had a really tough year, however he did just drive in 15 runs against the Mets.

The Phillies keep snatching victory from the Nationals at the very last moment, Derek Hill (remember his homer off Strahm as a White Sox player?) this time did the damage.

The Paul Goldschmidt renaissance continues, this time against Tarik Skubal.

The Royals have lost in some rather sucky ways this year, but the Angels walk-off against Baltimore yesterday might’ve taken the cake.

Dodgers Mookie Betts hit his 300th career homer yesterday

The 2026 NBA Draft ended last night, here is all the picks

Your song of the day I Want To Know What Love Is by Foreigner

The Colorado Rockies are known for playing their home games in the most notoriously hitter-friendly environment in Major League Baseball, Coors Field. Despite the introduction of the humidor in 2002 reducing the number of home runs hit there, Coors Field has sat atop park factors leaderboards since its opening in 1995.

What’s more, in their first few games back at sea level after having played in Denver, hitters are known to suffer from a reduction in offensive performance, colloquially known as the “Coors Field Hangover.” This can largely be attributed to the flight path of the ball leaving a pitcher’s hand behaving differently in the two environments, and the human brain needing repetitions to adjust its expectations. This has long been the bane of Rockies hitters who have generally performed much better at home than they have on the road.

This season, however, the Rockies are doing something they have never done before in the entire history of the franchise: Scoring just as many runs on the road as they do at home.

• In 40 home games, the Rockies have scored 181 runs.
• In 41 away games, they’ve scored 187 runs.

In every previous season of their existence, the Colorado Rockies scored many more runs at home than on the road. They have never come particularly close to breaking even. In 2009, the Rockies scored 75 more runs at home than they did on the road, which is the only non-shortened season where that number was less than 95.

Let’s put this another way.

The only season in Rockies history that they scored less than a full run more per game at home versus away was the aforementioned 2009. That year, they managed a measly 0.93 more runs per game at home.

Halfway through the 2026 season, the Rockies are scoring 0.01 fewer runs per game at home than they are on the road. That’s essentially dead even.

The Rockies are scoring the third most road runs per game but, it hasn’t come with the expected relationship to runs at hitter-friendly Coors Field. What’s accounting for this difference is a bit hard to pin down. On the surface, Rockies hitters appear to still be producing better at home with a triple slash of .265/.334/.423 compared to .242/.313/.398 on the road.

The shape of that production, however, is composed differently. At Coors the Rockies are hitting more doubles and triples but significantly fewer home runs (39) than they are when on the road (47). Unlike overall runs scored, this road homer dominance is not entirely unprecedented since the 2006 Rockies ended the season with seven more homers on the road than they had at home.

No hitter has contributed more to these strange splits than Hunter Goodman. Coming into Wednesday’s game Goodman had hit .198/.279/.405 at Coors compared to .282/.340/.604 elsewhere, good for a 96 point swing in his wRC+ between the two. Among the teams other regulars, both TJ Rumfield and Troy Johnston are also hitting a bit better on the road, but no one comes close to matching Goodman’s splits.

Conclusions

Ultimately, what folks will want to know is why has this happened so far and is it likely continue? Sadly, the best answers to those questions I’ve been able to come up with are an unconvincing “luck” and a non-committal “probably not.”

It’s not as if Coors Field has suddenly turned into a pitcher’s park. The Rockies are still allowing more runs at home (6.07) than they are on the road (5.27). Taking a look at Baseball Savant’s Park Factors leaderboards for specifically 2026 shows that Coors Field has been slightly overtaken by the Athletics Sutter Health Park, but it is still near enough to the top that the sample size of a half season isn’t enough to draw real conclusions from.

Part of the answer can be attributed to the Rockies having gotten the opportunity to play three away games in the open air minor league Las Vegas Ballpark. If we removed all three of the Las Vegas games, the Rockies road scoring would no longer slightly outpace their home scoring, but it would still be by far the smallest gap in franchise history at only 0.471 more runs per game scored at home.

At the time of writing this, I have not found a convincing answer as to what, if anything, has changed to cause this shift. Unless Warren Schaeffer reveals some heretofore unknown road batting preparation method new to 2026, changes to the way the ball is moving are discovered, or (knock on wood) some new gambling scandal is uncovered, all previous precedent indicates that these home/road splits will not continue into the second half.

If they do, this will almost certainly go down as the most abnormal offensive season in Rockies history.

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On the Farm

Triple-A:Salt Lake Bees 9, Albuquerque Isotopes 1

In a reversal of the first game of the series on Tuesday, the Bees (LAA) walloped the Isotopes.

What began as a close one run game for the first six innings descended into a blowout with a seven run implosion during Luke Adams’ second inning of work in the sixth. That poor outing overshadowed four shutout innings from Tanner Gordon in his first rehab start since being sidelined with a hip injury at the end of May.

While the Isotopes lineup wasn’t able to get across many runs in the end they did manage to work the count quite a bit against the Bee’s pitching staff. Each of Adael Amador and Sterlin Thompson (No. 13 PuRP) earned two walks and Jordan Beck (on a rehab assignment) drew another three. The problem was a lack of contact as the entire order only managed four singles while doubling that number of strikeouts.

Double-A:Portland Sea Dogs 10, Hartford Yard Goats 4

A second rough outing in a row from Jackson Cox (No. 16 PuRP) let the Sea Dogs (BOS) jump out to a lead in the fourth inning that the Yard Goats were never able to come back from.

Cox, in his third start at Double-A, struck out five over his first three scoreless innings. In the fourth he hit the first batter he faced, walked the next, tossed a wild pitch to let the runners advance, and then proceeded to allow four hits and another walk before being pulled having only recorded a single out in the inning. Cox would be followed up by Cade Denton and Michael Prosecky (No. 25 PuRP) combining for three and a third innings of five-run ball. Eventually Carlos Torres would come in to finish out the final two and a third innings without allowing a run but enough damage had already been done by that point.

At the plate Andy Perez, Dyan Jorge, and GJ Hill collected two hits apiece. Otherwise the most notable performance was from the catcher, Bryant Betancourt, who reached base three times including on a single that drove in Roc Riggio (No. 14 PuRP) in the fifth.

High-A:Spokane Indians 11, Tri-City Dust Devils 9

A back and forth affair where both Spokane and the Dust Devils (LAA) would not stop answering lead changes with runs of their own.

It took Spokane five pitchers to make it through the full nine innings and the only one who had a scoreless outing was Justin Loer who tossed a single frame. Yujanyer Herrera (No. 22 PuRP) started off the game going three innings and allowing four runs (3 earned) with four strikeouts but did so on 64 pitches and was pulled before facing a batter in the fourth.

The Spokane bats, however, were a different story. The lineup combined for ten hits and nine walks which was enough to mean they did not have to come back out for the bottom of the ninth. Jack O’Dowd continued to do nothing but impress in High-A by reaching base three times and coming around to score twice. Robert Calaz (No. 6 PuRP) and Tevin Tucker both drew three walk. Unlike every other level of the farm system on Wednesday, the Indians were able to capitalize on all those baserunners thanks to home runs from each of Tommy Hopfe, Ethan Hedges (No. 29 PuRP), and Kelvin Hidalgo.

Low-A:Lake Elsinore Storm 4, Fresno Grizzlies 2

While the Grizzlies scored the first and final runs of the game they were unable to keep pace with the Storm (SDP) in the interim.

On the mound Luke Hansel and Bryson Van Sickle combined with nearly identical lines to pitch the full game for Fresno. They each went four innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits while striking out four. The only real difference between the two performances was efficiency as Van Sickle finished his four innings with thirteen fewer pitches than Hansel.

The Grizzlies lineup had a fair share of baserunners, scattering nine hits and three walks almost evenly throughout the order. They failed, however, to provide much in the way of thump to drive those runners in. Tanner Thach’s double to lead of the second inning was the only extra base hit of the night for Fresno.

DSL:DSL Marlins 10, DSL Rockies 0

A forgettable day for the DSL Rockies who allowed at least one run in every inning other than the fourth and had committed three errors by the third. The best pitching performance belongs to Francisco Perez who took over in the third and threw three innings while only allowing two runs, one earned, on just two hits.

At the plate the DSL Rockies were able to work six walks, but failed to drive any of those baserunners in. The only player with multiple hits was Hector Barroso who was three for three, including a double, with a walk. All told, a game to take some lessons from and move on.

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From Florida Floors to Coors Field: The Decade-Long Journey of Jimmy Herget and Brennan Bernardino | Blake Street Banter

A really lovely little piece from Eli Whitney chronicling Jimmy Herget and Brennan Bernadino’s paths to Colorado. The two started in the Reds minor league system together where they were roomates for a while and have apparently kept in touch since. A quick and free read that is incredibly wholesome. My personal favorite quote from Bernadino in the piece: ​“I’m just trying to be the left-handed Jimmy”.

The Pain of Trading a Unicorn | Baseball Prospectus ($)

Just as Renee Dechart did for Purple Row last week, Mario Delgado Genzor dissects whether it would be the right move for the organization to entertain trading Hunter Goodman. The piece leaves no stone unturned in it’s dissection of the topic ranging from what type of player Goodman has been, the Rockies history of poor catchers, the state of the organization as a whole, and what other catchers would be available to buyers at the deadline. A wonderfully thorough piece that is worth every Rockies fan reading while we await the flurry of moves coming at the end of July.

Rockies All-Star Hunter Goodman sees ‘a lot better vibe’ as club nears halfway point of 2026 season | The Denver Post ($)

Patrick Saunders talks with Hunter Goodman about the changes he’s seen in the big league club since his callup in 2023. Goodman, and Warren Schaeffer, detail how the tone has shifted from one where people “were just happy to be here” to where “Now, it feels like we can beat anybody, any night.”. The piece gives a real sense of how Goodman has been integral to the step forward the club has made this year.

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Columbus Clippers 3, Omaha Storm Chasers 2

The story of this game was the performance from Logan Allen. It’s been an up and down season for him but he was brilliant in this game. He tossed 6 shutout innings, striking out 9 without allowing a single walk. His ERA is down to 4.66 on the season. Franco Aleman continues to put up video game numbers, after another scoreless outing with 2 strikeouts. His ERA is down to 0.35 on the season.

The Clippers offense was held to just 3 runs despite having 11 hits. CJ Kayfus went 2-4 with a walk and an RBI single, Bo Naylor went 2-5 with two hard hit singles. Joe Lampe also continued his hot stretch, he went 2-4 and is now hitting .400 with a 1.108 OPS since being promoted to AAA.

Akron RubberDucks 6, Richmond Flying Squirrels 11

Juan Benjamin went 2-4 with a HR, Wuilfredo Antunez also homered, and Luke Hill went 1-4 with a double. Jose Devers also went 1-4 with a HR.

It’s been a tough transition to AA for Rafe Schlesinger. He allowed five runs on Wednesday in just four innings pitched while walking more batters than he struck out. His ERA since being promoted to AA is now up to 9.49. I am confident he will rebound once he makes some adjustments.

Lake County Captains 6, Fort Wayne TinCaps 7

Aaron Walton went 1-4 with a walk and his 13th HR of the season. He is hitting .270 with a .905 OPS on the season. Jace LaViolette raised his average up to .240 with a 2-4 performance with a walk. He has been much better after a rough first couple weeks of his pro career. Nolan Schubart went 1-3 with two walks and has his OPS up to .884.

Jacob Zibin had an up and down High-A debut. He allowed four runs in 4.1 innings pitched, but he also struck out 8 batters, which is very impressive. I really like seeing him miss bats at this level already, and am excited to see how he finishes his season out. Donovan Zsak lowered his ERA to 3.09 after tossing two scoreless innings of relief with 3 strikeouts.

Hill City Howlers 4, Hickory Crawdads 7

While I am certainly not out on the young man, I can’t think of a more disappointing Guardians prospect than Joey Oakie this season. I really thought he was going to take a leap into a top 100 type prospect and we have seen the complete opposite. After another rough start where he gave up five runs in 4.2 innings pitched, his ERA is up to 6.75. The stuff is too good for him to perform this badly, they gotta figure this out.

Luis De La Cruz went 2-4 with a 2 run HR and an RBI single. Cannon Peebles went 1-3 with a walk and an RBI triple.

Note: All stats/records as of the morning of June 24

Though it sort of feels like their first game was not that long ago, the Milwaukee Brewers have played 78 games and are nearing the mathematical halfway point in the season. I thought it would be a good time to reassess the division, to see how things are going elsewhere, and to check on the Brewers’ outlook the rest of the way.

The National League Central got off to quite a start in 2026; as recently as June 4, all five teams were over .500. Compare that to the entire American League, which has just five teams above .500 total. But as the season has gone on, the back of the NL Central has slowed a bit, while the Brewers — who were not, I will remind you, generally regarded as preseason favorites — have opened up a cautiously comfortable lead at the top.

Let’s take a look at the other four teams to see how things are going and how we might expect the rest of the season to play out. We’ll go in reverse standings order.

Cincinnati Reds

Record: 37-41 (5^th)
Paul’s preseason record prediction: 85-77 (3^rd)
Best position player so far: Elly De La Cruz
Best pitcher so far: Chase Burns

The Reds got off to a hot start. On May 1, they were 20-12 and led the division. But the next day, they started a seven-game losing streak which dropped them all the way to last place in the division, and they’ve hovered around .500 ever since. They’re just 7-13 in June, which coincided with the loss of De La Cruz, who didn’t play between May 31 and June 23 because of a hamstring strain.

De La Cruz has ascended to star status after tantalizing but inconsistent play during his first three seasons. He has career highs in all three slash-line categories, and he’s seen an uptick in power that could get him to his first 30/30 season despite missing most of June. His defense, which was excellent in 2024 but took a step back in 2025, has also seemingly rebounded.

Rookie Sal Stewart carried the offense over the first month. Through April 25, he was hitting .303/.398/.626 with nine home runs, 29 RBIs, and seven stolen bases in just 27 games. But he has cooled considerably since then: in his last 51 games, Stewart is hitting just .216/.305/.351 with five homers.

One nice surprise has been outfielder JJ Bleday. A former No. 4 overall pick, Bleday had a nice season with the A’s in 2024 but took a major step back in 2025 and was non-tendered after the season. Bleday signed with Cincinnati, and he’s put together an excellent year: in 50 games, he’s slugging .530 with 13 homers, 11 doubles, and 35 RBIs. His 138 OPS+ leads the team.

On the pitching side, the headlines belong to the 23-year-old Burns. The flamethrowing right-hander was the No. 2 overall pick in 2024 and quickly climbed prospect lists. He has some of the nastiest stuff in the league, and through 15 starts and 85 innings this season, he’s pitched to a 2.00 ERA with 102 strikeouts. If not for his fellow second-year pitcher Jacob Misiorowski, Burns would perhaps be the biggest pitching story in the league this year; with Burns, Misiorowski, and Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes all under 25, this division boasts one of the best young pitching trios we’ve seen in the league for some time.

There are disappointments elsewhere on the roster. Closer Emilio Pagán got off to a rough start before going on the injured list with a hamstring problem, and the team has had trouble replacing him. He’s expected back soon, but his ERA (6.43) and FIP (5.82) were both unsightly before his IL stint. Eugenio Suárez was the team’s big free-agent acquisition, signed to a one-year, $15 million contract before the season after he hit 49 homers for the Diamondbacks and Mariners last year. This year has been awful: he’s hitting just .201/.260/.253 and has only seven home runs in 51 games. The rotation, considered a strength coming into the season, has just two players with an ERA below 4.80.

That rotation has also been missing one of the league’s most dynamic starters, Hunter Greene. Greene was an All-Star and finished eighth in Cy Young voting in 2024 before getting off to an even better start in 2025, but he missed the entire second half of last season with a groin injury before needing to undergo surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow during spring training this year. He may be nearing a return, which would be a major boost.

Threat level: Low. There’s some potential for this pitching staff; if Greene and Pagán look good upon their returns and Nick Lodolo (who pitched well against Milwaukee on Tuesday) improves, they could be a challenge to score on. But the problem lately has been offense, and unless Suárez goes on a major heater and Stewart finds his early season form, there’s not enough here.

Pittsburgh Pirates

Record: 39-40 (4^th)
Paul’s preseason record prediction: 78-84 (4^th)
Best position player so far: Bryan Reynolds
Best pitcher so far: Paul Skenes

A trendy pick to do well in the division at the beginning of the season, I never bought in with the Pirates; I didn’t think they did enough to improve upon what was one of the worst offenses in the league last year, and while I thought the pitching staff had some potential, I thought they were still a ways away.

The offense has improved quite a bit more than I expected it to. Some of that is from external forces: their new second baseman, Brandon Lowe, has been excellent, and he’s been holding it down defensively at second base, which was a question. Their other acquisitions have had mixed results; Ryan O’Hearn has been okay, but Marcell Ozuna has been a disaster — he has a 65 OPS+ and -0.8 WAR in 54 games.

The biggest reasons the offense has improved came from within. One is Oneil Cruz, who was flaming hot for a stretch during the season’s first month. He’s cooled a bit, though, and strikeouts will always be a problem: Cruz is ninth in the majors with 98 strikeouts, but he’s played 10 fewer games than any of the eight players in front of him.

The biggest factor for the Bucs this season has been an old Brewer nemesis: Bryan Reynolds. I’ll admit that after the then-30-year-old Reynolds had a thoroughly unspectacular season in 2025 I wrote him off. I was wrong. Reynolds is having his best season since he finished 11^th in MVP voting in 2021: through 79 games, he’s hitting .287/.401/.482 with 18 doubles, 11 homers, and 51 RBIs, and he’s on pace for his best season by WAR in years.

On the other side of the ball, Skenes has been really good… but he hasn’t quite been the “this is one of the two best pitchers in the league” guy he’d been in his first two seasons. Skenes already has four games in 2026 in which he’s given up four runs or more; he only had five such games in his first two seasons combined. Skenes’ peripheral numbers are mostly in line with previous years: his strikeout rate (30.6%) is slightly higher than it was in his unanimous Cy Young campaign last season, and his walk rate (5.1%) is the lowest of his career. The big difference has been the long ball; it’s not a huge jump, but Skenes is giving up home runs at a rate that’s a couple ticks higher than in either of his previous fantastic seasons.

Some concerns still remain. It is a question as to whether Reynolds and Lowe, who’ve been carrying the offense of late, can keep their pace, and similar questions apply to surprising role players like Spencer Horwitz. Konnor Griffin is off to a solid start as a pro, but Pittsburgh will need more from his bat if they want to make noise this season. The pitching staff is a mixed bag: Braxton Ashcraft has been good, and Carmen Mlodzinski has been a nice surprise, but Mitch Keller and Bubba Chandler, who were both being counted on to be major contributors, have been disappointing. Evan Sisk has been incredible in 34 innings in the bullpen, but Dennis Santana couldn’t hold the closer job at the beginning of the season and Gregory Soto, who has been plagued by inconsistency over his career, is now closing games. It’s gone well so far, but I would not want to rely too heavily on Soto.

Threat level: Low. I’ve been down on Pittsburgh as a short-term threat all year. The offense has been significantly better than I expected, but that’s with several guys outperforming their expectations, and I wouldn’t expect that to keep up. They’ve also sacrificed defense in order to improve the offense: at -14.4 fielding runs, they’ve got the fourth-worst defense in the league via FanGraphs.

Chicago Cubs

Record: 41-37 (3^rd)
Paul’s preseason record prediction: 91-71 (2^nd)
Best position player so far: Pete Crow-Armstrong
Best pitcher so far: Ben Brown

The bad news, if you’re a Brewers fan: Pete Crow-Armstrong is, I think, better than we all gave him credit for. As of Wednesday, PCA is the MLB leader in bWAR among position players with 4.7. Despite the occasional boneheaded move, he is the best defensive outfielder in baseball by far. After a slow start that extended a months-long slump from the second half of last year, someone poured gasoline on PCA and flicked a match at him: in June, he is batting .432/.488/.946 in 18 games. That scorching stretch has bumped his season numbers up to .287/.366/.529 (a 152 OPS+) with 17 homers, four triples, and 18 stolen bases. He’s also improved his batting eye; PCA may never walk a lot, but with 30 free passes in 2026, he’s already surpassed last season’s total in fewer than half the games.

The good news, if you’re a Brewers fan: little else has gone right for the Cubs, particularly on the pitching staff. They have had horrible injury luck: as of this writing, Matthew Boyd, Cade Horton, Justin Steele, and Jameson Taillon — four fifths of what they hoped would be their rotation this season — are on the injured list, as are relievers Daniel Palencia, Riley Martin, Porter Hodge, and Hunter Harvey. Their remaining starters have struggled: Shota Imanaga, Colin Rea, and Edward Cabrera — who they traded their top prospect, Owen Caissie, for in the offseason — have a combined -1.3 bWAR. The bullpen has been similarly erratic; aside from one bright spot in Ryan Rolison, consistency has been difficult to come by.

One exception is Ben Brown, the 26-year-old righty. He started the season out of the bullpen, but the team needed starts, so he moved to the rotation in early May. In eight starts since then, Brown has a 1.70 ERA and 2.40 FIP in 42 1/3 innings.

Note: both Brown and Cabrera were also added to the injured list after this piece was written on Wednesday. Things just keep getting wore for the Cubs’ pitching staff.

The lineup has been okay, but the two highly paid guys on the left side of the infield are struggling. Dansby Swanson can’t get over the Mendoza line but is maintaining some amount of offensive utility only because he’s got 11 homers. Alex Bregman, in the first year of a five-year, $140 million contract, is having the worst offensive season of his 11-year career.

Threat level: Medium-low. The offense is still potent, the defense is still good, and PCA looks like an MVP candidate, but the pitching just isn’t coming together. Boyd might be back soon, but Steele may miss the whole season, and Horton won’t pitch until 2027. Taillon could be back in the second half, but he was leading the league in home runs allowed when he went out. Palencia’s status is iffy. There are just too many injuries.

St. Louis Cardinals

Record: 42-35 (2^nd)
Paul’s preseason record prediction: 74-88 (5^th)
Best position player so far: J.J. Wetherholt
Best pitcher so far: Michael McGreevy

This team is the biggest surprise here, maybe in the whole league. The Cardinals were expected to be bad — they traded away Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, Nolan Arenado, and Brendan Donovan, their most accomplished players, before the season. But in a very Brewers-y twist, they’ve improved over last season’s 78-84 team, at least thus far.

A lot of that has to do with rookie JJ Wetherholt, who came into the season as a consensus top-five prospect. Wetherholt has played some of the best infield defense in the National League, and he’s more than carried his weight offensively, too. Through 73 games, he was hitting .267/.366/.421 (125 OPS+) with 12 homers and eight stolen bases in eight tries; as of Wednesday, he ranked only behind Crow-Armstrong and the Dodgers’ Andy Pages in bWAR among NL position players.

The other big reason is the resurgence of Jordan Walker. His story is well-known: he, like Wetherholt, was a mega-prospect. But he was called up when he was really young — he played 117 big-league games in his age-21 season in 2023 — and while he hit pretty well, the Cardinals couldn’t find a defensive home for him. Over the next two years, his offense disappeared, and he had to go back to the minors on various occasions. But he was still only 23 years old at the start of the 2026 season, so maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised when he finally started to deliver on his prodigious offensive talent. As of Wednesday, Walker was leading the NL in RBIs, with a .290/.343/.523 (143 OPS+) batting line and 18 homers.

I still have concerns. The pitching staff has only two above-average starters, one of whom — Andre Pallante — had -1.2 bWAR in 2025. The other, McGreevy, had barely thrown 100 big leagues innings prior to this season, and he’s got a FIP that’s more than a run higher than his ERA. The bullpen isn’t good; of the seven Cardinal pitchers with double-digit relief appearances, only two have an ERA+ better than 102.

The most notable crack in the St. Louis façade is in their run differential, which sat at just plus-four coming into play Wednesday. That’s worse than the Cubs and Pirates and gives them an “expected” win-loss record of 39-38, three games worse than their actual record.

Threat level: Low. The Cardinals should be praised for what they’ve done this season, and they’ve already exceeded my expectations, but they’ve done that with basically perfect scenarios from Wetherholt and Walker. The pitching staff, an expected weakness, has been middle of the pack and I see no reason to think it will improve, if it doesn’t regress. If the Cardinals hang around .500 for the rest of the season, it’d be a positive outcome for them; to ask for more than that is probably asking too much of this young, inexperienced group.

Milwaukee’s Outlook

The Brewers have put themselves in a great position not because they’re lucky but because they are good. Even with a healthy pitching staff, I never thought the Cubs were quite on Milwaukee’s level and given how the Brewers have surprised everyone by seemingly improving again, they’ve built a cushion in this division that I don’t see any of the other teams being able to overcome.

There is still a lot of season left, but the Brewers are the class of this division, and the numbers bear it out: Milwaukee’s +122 run differential, the second-best mark in baseball behind the Dodgers, is almost 100 runs better than second place in the division (the Cubs at +31). Chicago is still the biggest threat, but I still expect Milwaukee to cruise to another division title.

The Detroit Tigers failed to secure a series win against the New York Yankees on Wednesday night, falling short in a 4-2 defeat that saw Tarik Skubal earn his fourth loss of the season. The offense did him no favors, going just 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and leaving nine on base, but Skubal’s three home runs surrendered did nothing to further the cause either.

Next up for the Motor City Kitties are the Houston Astros, who arrive in town on Thursday for a four-game weekend series to wrap up the current homestand at Comerica Park. The ‘Stros have collected four straight series wins after recently beating the Toronto Blue Jays on the road — including one against Detroit at Daikin Park last week, two games to one.

Opening things up for the Tigers is right-hander Troy Melton, who has been a steady presence in the rotation but has yet to crack the zero fWAR mark in just under 32 innings of work. While statistically he is dead even with the average replacement player, he still has a perfect 4-0 record and a sub-3 ERA — much more than any of the other starters can claim.

The 25-year-old recorded his third quality start in five tries last time out against the Chicago White Sox, who he shut down with six one-run innings, allowing just a solo home run along with three walks while striking out five and hitting a batter. He earned the win in a 4-1 victory for the good guys.

Going up against him is fellow righty Tatsuya Imai, who has struggled a bit in his first season on this side of the Pacific. The 28-year-old from Japan did manage to notch a quality start in his last outing against the Cleveland Guardians, tossing six frames of three-run ball on six hits (one home run) and zero walks while striking out a season high 11 batters for his fourth victory of 2026 in a 9-3 triumph.

Both starters are facing each other for the first time this season. Here is a look at how they match up on Thursday night.

Detroit Tigers (34-46) vs. Houston Astros (39-43)

Time (ET): 6:40 p.m.
Place: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
SB Nation Site:The Crawfish Boxes
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network

Game 81: RHP Troy Melton (4-0, 2.56 ERA) vs. RHP Tatsuya Imai (4-3, 6.15 ERA)

Player	G	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	FIP	fWAR
Melton	5	31.2	15.2	7.2	43.2	5.41	0.0
Imai	10	41.0	26.5	13.3	45.6	4.71	0.3

MELTON

IMAI

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders:L, 6-8 at Indianapolis Indians

LF Duke Ellis 1-4, BB, K, SB
2B-SS-2B Marco Luciano 0-4, BB, K, throwing error — some weird defensive notes afoot, though not as funny as Travis d’Arnaud and Asdrubal Cabrera with the Mets a few years ago
DH Yanquiel Fernández 1-4, RBI, SF
CF Garrett Martin 2-5, 2B, HR, 5 RBI — the dingers and ribbies will continue until morale improves, regardless of level (his third in four games at Triple-A and 24th in 66 games combined between Double-A, 435 feet); also a great catch!
SS-3B-SS Tyler Hardman 1-4, K, HBP, throwing error
1B Ernesto Martinez Jr. 1-4, BB, K
C Payton Henry 2-5, K
3B-2B-2B Cole Gabrielson 0-3, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 fielding errors and a throwing error — made errors at both positions, and then a third (this was his first carer pro game in the infield); anyway, Scranton made five errors, whoops
RF Kenedy Corona 2-3, BB, RBI, K

Adam Kloffenstein 4 IP, 3 H, 5 R (2 ER), 4 BB, 2 K, HR, HBP
Dylan Coleman 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
Rafael Montero 0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 0 K (loss)
Jake Bird 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Eric Reyzelman 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K

Is Garrett Martin even human?! It’s only Wednesday, and he’s having an insane week!#RepBXpic.twitter.com/zfQJ5dR4nn

— SWB RailRiders (@swbrailriders) June 24, 2026

Double-A Somerset Patriots:W, 10-2 at New Hampshire Fisher Cats

LF Jackson Castillo 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI — his and Cobb’s two-run doubles helped Patriots build 4-0 lead early
DH Jace Avina 1-5, RBI, 2 K
CF DJ Gladney 0-5, 4 K
RF Nicholas Torres 1-4, 2 K, SB, HBP
3B Coby Morales 2-4, HR, BB, 2 RBI, 2 K, CS
C Miguel Palma 1-4, BB, RBI, K
1B Josh Moylan 2-4, 2B, HR, BB, 2 RBI, K — first Double-A homer
SS Owen Cobb 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K
2B Connor McGinnis 2-4, 2B, K

Xavier Rivas 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 6 K (win)
Harrison Cohen 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K
Matt Keating 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Michael Arias 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K
Hayden Merda 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 0 K
Chase Chaney 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K

High-A Hudson Valley Renegades:L, 6-7 (10) at Bowling Green Hot Rods

3B Kaeden Kent 3-5, K, CS
SS Core Jackson 2-5
C Eric Genther 1-4, BB, K, catcher interference error
1B Kyle West 3-5, BB, RBI, K
LF Wilson Rodriguez 2-5, HR, 3 RBI, picked off — two-run homer tied it in the second and two-run single gave HV a 6-4 lead, but it did not hold
DH Roderick Arias 2-5, 2B, 3 K
2B Enmanuel Tejeda 0-5, GIDP
CF Camden Troyer 0-3, BB, K
RF Robbie Burnett 0-4, K

Luis Serna 6 IP, 6 H, 5 R (4 ER), 1 BB, 9 K, balk
Tanner Bauman 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K
Bryce Warrecker 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 1 K, HBP, WP — uncorked wild pitch to let Hot Rods tie it in eighth
Andrew Landry 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 2 K (loss) — allowed walk-off knock to Nathan Flewelling

Low-A Tampa Tarpons:W, 9-3 at Dunedin Blue Jays

DH Brando Mayea 3-6, K, SB — single to begin game was the first of 15 knocks for Tampa
SS Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek 0-4, BB, 2 K, HBP
3B Hans Montero 1-4, HR, BB, 2 RBI, SF — 410-foot blast in the eighth
CF Willy Montero 3-5, 2B, HR, 2 RBI, 2 K, SB — two-run shot in the first went 108 mph off the bat (distance not captured, but it went deep to left-center)
LF JoJo Jackson 3-5, 2B, 3B, RBI, CS — has hit .442 in his last 13 games
1B David McCann 0-4, BB, 3 K
2B Luis Escudero 3-4, 2B, HR, BB, 2 RBI, K, 2 SB — went yard in the second, along with Lara
C Ediel Rivera 1-4, BB, RBI, K — RBI hit made it 7-0 in the fifth
RF Gabriel Lara 1-4, HR, BB, RBI, 2 K

Thatcher Hurd 4.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 10 K — 15 swings and misses as well, easily his best pro start yet (out of eight this year post-Tommy John surgery)
Jose M. Rodriguez 2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 2 K, HR (win)
Pedro Rodriguez 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K
Josh Tiedemann 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 1 K, WP

Florida Complex League Yankees: Offday

Dominican Summer League Yankees: Offday

Dominican Summer League Bombers:L, 1-12 (7) vs. DSL Mets Orange — Bombers held to two hits, they probably wish they had just been off too

SS Mani Cedeno 0-2, BB, 2 K, SB
3B Adam Feliz 0-0
DH Alessandro Rodriguez 0-2, RBI, K, SF
2B Carlos Bello 0-3, 2 K
RF David Carrera 0-2
RF Sebastian Pinto 0-0, HBP
3B Germayhoni Beltre 0-3, GIDP
C Poly Ojeda 0-1, 2 BB, K, throwing error, passed ball, picked off
1B Stalen Ramirez 0-1, BB, K, CS
LF Eddison Charles 0-2, K, GIDP
CF Alfiery Matos 2-2, SB — hey, someone had to get the hits! (two singles)

Junior Tavera 4.1 IP, 6 H, 7 R (7 ER), 2 BB, 7 K, 2 HR, WP (loss) — ouch
Andre Avila 1.2 IP, 4 H, 5 R (4 ER), 1 BB, 4 K, 2 HR
Josue Silvestre 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K — better

Another day, another game without Kyle Schwarber in the Phillies starting lineup. Don Mattingly told reporters that Schwarber’s back tightness is feeling better and that he could possibly return to the lineup tonight. Schwarber did appear in the game last night as a pinch hitter and worked a walk after a ten pitch at-bat that set up Derek Hill to be the hero. But still, it would be nice to see confirmation that he’s healthy enough to be in the starting lineup.

On to the links.

Phillies News:

• Do you want to keep thinking about his scary injury, or do you want to read about Kyle Schwarber socking dingers? ($)
• Andrew Painter will make his first start with Lehigh Valley on Saturday as he begins his journey back to the Phillies following his demotion.
• Bryse, we hardly knew ye: Bryse Wilson has been claimed off of waivers by the Chicago Cubs following his recent call up and subsequent designation for assignment by the Phillies.
• Gabriel Rincones Jr. takes pride in being the unofficial ambassador for Scottish baseball in the majors. ($)

MLB News:

• The Brewers’ Abner Uribe will officially serve a one-game suspension stemming from his strikeout celebration against the Cardinals on May 29th.
• The Mets are moving Kodai Senga to the bullpen following another rough outing from the righty.
• The Athletic’s Trade Target big board 1.0 is out and it features 50 names of players who all have varying degrees of possibility to be moved this upcoming deadline. ($)

Triple-A: Syracuse Mets (38-37/2-0)

SYRACUSE 5, LEHIGH VALLEY 4 (BOX)

Syracuse went down 3-0 in the second inning, and that score held until the seventh. A rehabbing Tyrone Taylor drove in a run with a single to make it 3-1. The Mets took the lead in the eighth, on the back of a Grae Kessinger ground out and a Ronny Maruicio two run single. Yonny Hernandez made it 5-3 with a single in the ninth, which ended up being an important insurance run. Ben Simon surrendered a home run in the ninth, but held on for the two inning save.

• SS Ronny Mauricio: 2-5, 2 RBI
• REHAB ALERT: CF Tyrone Taylor: 1-4, RBI, K
• LF Nick Morabito: 2-5, R, 2 K, 2 SB (25, 26)
• 1B Ryan Clifford: 0-5, 2 K
• RF Cristian Pache: 1-5, R, K
• 3B Yonny Hernández: 3-4, R, 2B, RBI, BB
• DH Ben Rortvedt: 0-3, BB, K
• PR-DH Ji Hwan Bae: 0-1, R
• 2B Grae Kessinger: 0-3, RBI, BB, K
• C Hayden Senger: 0-3, R, BB, K
• RHP Jack Weisenburger: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 1 K
• LHP Felipe De La Cruz: 2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
• RHP Adbert Alzolay: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
• RHP Ofreidy Gómez: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, W (1-0)
• RHP Ben Simon: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, S (1)

Double-A: Binghamton Rumble Ponies (27-42/0-2)

ERIE 8, BINGHAMTON 4 (BOX)

Both teams plated a run in the first, and Binghamton took a short lived lead with a run in the third. That lead did not make it out of the inning, as Erie put three on the board to make it 4-2. Matt Rudick homered and Nick Roselli grounded out to tie it in the sixth, but two runs in both the seventh and eighth put the game away for Erie.

• C Chris Suero: 0-2, 2 K
• C Vincent Perozo: 0-3, K
• CF Jose Ramos: 1-4, R, BB, K, SB (6)
• DH Nick Lorusso: 1-3, R, 2B, BB
• 1B JT Schwartz: 2-4, 2 RBI, K
• RF Matt Rudick: 1-4, R, HR (1), RBI
• SS Wyatt Young: 1-3, R, BB, 2 SB (14, 15)
• LF Jaylen Palmer: 0-3, BB
• 2B Nick Lucky: 0-2, 2 BB, K
• 3B Nick Roselli: 0-4, RBI, E (1)
• LHP Jonathan Santucci: 3.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 1 WP
• LHP Gabriel Rodriguez: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
• RHP Garrett Stratton: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, L (0-1)
• RHP Carlos Guzman: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K

High-A: Brooklyn Cyclones (25-40/2-3)

BROOKLYN 12, JERSEY SHORE 2 (BOX)

A blowout! Brooklyn was powered by a six run fourth, and a pair of three run innings in the sixth and seventh.

It was one of those games where the offensive contributions are too much to mention individually. The team amassed 17 hits, with every member of the lineup notching one. The first six batters all had multi-hit games, with Yonatan Henriquez pacing the team with four. They also hit three home runs (John Bay, Trace Willhoite, and JT Benson). It was an overall excellent game.

• SS Mitch Voit: 2-4, BB, 2 K
• 2B Yonatan Henriquez: 4-5, 2 R, 2 2B, RBI, K
• CF John Bay: 2-3, 3 R, 2B, HR (9), 2 RBI, BB
• LF JT Benson: 2-5, 3 R, HR (4), 3 RBI, K
• C Ronald Hernandez: 2-4, R, BB, SB (14)
• DH Corey Collins: 2-5, R, 3 RBI
• 3B Colin Houck: 1-5, 3 K
• 1B Trace Willhoite: 1-4, R, HR (4), 3 RBI, BB, 3 K
• RF Yohairo Cuevas: 1-4, R, BB, 3 K
• LHP Daviel Hurtado: 6.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, W (3-1)
• LHP Joe Jacques: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
• RHP Juan Arnaud: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
• RHP Josh Blum: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 5 BB, 0 K, 1 WP
• LHP Gregori Louis: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

Single-A: St. Lucie Mets (33-33/2-1)

FORT MYERS 12, ST. LUCIE 8 (BOX)

As one would expect with a 12-8 final, this game was up and down. The Mets went up 1-0 in the third, and Fort Myers took the lead with a two spot in the bottom of the frame. The Mets came back in the fourth to drop four in the fourth, two on a Simon Juan double and two on a Jeremy Rodriguez single, making it 5-2.

The Mighty Mussels tied the game in the fifth, and ran with it from there. They scored one in the sixth, one in the seventh and five in the eighth, which put it away. The Mets scored in the sixth and eighth as well, but simply could not keep up the pace.

• SS Elian Peña: 1-5, RBI, 2 K, SB (23)
• DH Trey Snyder: 0-5, K, SB (8)
• 3B Antonio Jimenez: 1-3, 2B, 2 BB, 2 K, SB (9)
• 1B Julio Zayas: 1-4, R, BB, K
• CF Branny De Oleo: 0-3, R, BB
• C Chase Meggers: 1-2, 3 R, HR (2), RBI, 2 BB, K
• RF Simon Juan: 2-4, 2 R, 2B, 2 RBI
• 2B Jeremy Rodriguez: 2-4, R, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K
• LF Jackson Hauge: 2-3, 2 RBI, BB
• RHP Cam Tilly: 3.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 WP
• RHP Elwis Mijares: 2.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
• RHP Luis Alvarez: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1 WP, BS (1)
• RHP Joe Charles: 0.1 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, L (0-2)
• RHP Joe Scarborough: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 HBP

Rookie: FCL Mets (15-21)

FCL ASTROS 13, FCL METS 2 / 7 (BOX)

• CF Wyatt Vincent: 1-4, 2 K, SB (5)
• 2B Anthony Frobose: 1-3, R, BB, K
• C Yovanny Rodriguez: 0-3, RBI, 2 K
• 3B Roybert Herrera: 0-3, BB, K, E (2)
• DH Josmir Reyes: 2-4, RBI
• SS Yorber Semprun: 0-3, 2 K
• 1B Diover De Aza: 0-1, R, 2 BB
• RF Heriberto Rincon: 1-2
• LF Adolfo Miranda: 1-3, K
• RHP Nathan Hall: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
• RHP Kevin Herget: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 2 K
• RHP Joel Díaz: 1.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 WP, L (0-1)
• RHP Eris Albino: 2.0 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 1 WP
• LHP Luis Sotillo: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
• RHP Jun-Seok Shim: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 WP, 1 HBP

STAR OF THE NIGHT

The Brooklyn Cyclones offense

GOAT OF THE NIGHT

Joe Charles