Category: MLB

PHOENIX — The Los Angeles Dodgers’ frustrations are starting to seep in.

They keep getting asked the same questions, but have no new answers.

Simply, they have run out of superlatives, and there’s not a single Dodger player who keeps a Roget’s Thesaurus in his locker.

Just how many different ways can you possibly describe Shohei Ohtani, the Greatest Sho on Earth, who once again Wednesday night defied any semblance of reality on a baseball diamond in the Dodgers’ 7-0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks?

“The best player,’’ Dodgers catcher Will Smith said after the June 3 win, “that’s ever walked on this earth.’’

Diamondbacks shortstop Geraldo Perdomo took it a step further: “He is from another planet.’’

Ohtani showed the world once again why no one alive has ever seen anything quite like this.

He stepped on the pitcher’s mound at Chase Field, retired the first 11 batters he faced, and surrendered two hits and one walk in in six shutout innings, lowering his ERA to 0.74. It’s the third-lowest ERA in the first 10 starts of a season in MLB history.

He stepped to the plate six times, and reached base five times, with three hits and two walks, raising his batting average to a season-high .301 with a .941 OPS.

It’s only the fourth time in baseball history that a player has pitched at least six shutout innings and reached base five or more times, a feat last accomplished in 1964 by New York Yankees starter Mel Stottlemyre.

"He's probably one of a handful of players that could play in another league above the major leagues,’’ Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo says. “It's the best way I can define it.

“It's freakish what he's able to do. You know where he is at all times in the lineup, you are budgeting to not let him beat you because he's just so unpredictable, and there is no weakness.

“He's the best player I've ever seen, and I've been around some really, really good players.’’

Well, considering Babe Ruth played his last game in 1935, and Bill Greason (101) and Bobby Shantz (100) are the only two 100-year-old former major league players still alive, it’s fair to say the rest of the 8.3 billion alive in this world would say the same.

“It’s really hard not to think about what he’s going to do next,’’ says Dodgers veteran infielder Miguel Rojas, “when he’s that talented. I really hate when people start making assumptions that he can’t hit as well when he pitches, or he can’t pitch as well when he hits, because someone as talented as Shohei, he can do anything.

"You’re seeing it every night.’’

Certainly, we’ve already seen what Ohtani can accomplish as a hitter, leading the league in homers twice, leading the league in slugging three times, and hitting at least .300 twice.

But what he’s doing now, not even Ruth ever hit more than 20 homers and won more than 10 games in the same season.

Certainly, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts says, this would be the greatest season of his career, eclipsing his 2024 season when he hit 54 homers and stole 59 bases, but never pitched, recovering from Tommy John surgery.

“Absolutely,’’ Roberts says. “I mean, what’s more unique, being one of one, the 50/50 club, or throw 165 innings and hit 30-something homers and have a .950 OPS?

“I think this would be for sure.’’

'I like where I'm at'

If Ohtani maintains this, the Baseball Writers' Association of America might as well start engraving his name on his fifth MVP plaque. The Dodgers should start taking artist renderings for the Ohtani statue outside Dodger Stadium. The Baseball Hall of Fame Museum in Cooperstown should start clearing out wall space.

And, Ohtani, well, maybe it’s time for him to join the crowd and appreciate just what he’s doing.

“I like where I’m at,” Ohtani said. “But it’s still May [actually June]. I do want to be able to look back halfway through the season and see where things are at.

“But I’m pleased with where I’m at right now.”

Anyone else would be absolutely ecstatic, dancing on the mound, flipping their bat to the upper deck, and coming up with new antics on TikTok.

Sorry, it’s not Ohtani’s style.

Pitching on another level

He badly wants to lead the Dodgers to their third consecutive World Series title, accomplished only by the Yankees and Oakland A’s, but appears almost as obsessed with winning his first Cy Young award. He’s 6-2 with an MLB-leading 0.74 ERA among starters, but Cristopher Sanchez of the Philadelphia Phillies (7-2, 1.46 ERA) just had a 50.2-inning scoreless inning streak. Jacob Misiorowski of the Milwaukee Brewers (6-2, 1.65 ERA) has struck out 108 batters with his 103-mph fastball. Brewers teammate Kyle Harrison is 7-1 with a 1.57 ERA., And San Diego Padres closer Mason Miller has a 0.72 ERA and has been perfect in 17 save opportunities.

You have one or two rough starts, and you can kiss the Cy Young award goodbye.

“I’ve noticed with Shohei, every run is a premium,’’ Roberts said. “He’s literally trying to throw a shutout every single time he goes out there, where I don’t know if every starter has that mindset.’’

No one has seen anything like it.

Maybe no one will again.

This is a player who has already won four MVP awards. He is the only player in history to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases in the same season. He has won two home run titles. He won an RBI title. He won 15 games with a 2.33 ERA one season with the Los Angeles Angels.

But, never, ever, has he had a season like this, shaping up to be the greatest in baseball history.

He has pitched 61 innings this year, just one inning shy of qualifying for the ERA title, and given up just five runs and 30 hits. He has 10 homers, 33 RBI and leads the league with a .419 on-base percentage. And he’s getting even better the last three weeks. He was kept out of the starting lineup for two consecutive days to give him a breather, and responded by hitting .435 with seven doubles, two triples, three homers, 16 RBI and a 1.254 OPS in the Dodgers’ last 20 games.

“I think we were all expecting something really big happening when he came over here as a two-way player,’’ Rojas said, “but to see what he’s doing, this, well, I really don’t have any words to describe it anymore.

“What can you say? We’re watching the show like everyone else.’’

Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Shohei Ohtani continues historic season, lowering ERA to 0.74

The Dodgers have always been at the forefront of technology and innovation. They have been using their Trajekt Arc pitching machine to help hitters prepare for opposing pitchers. The machine replicates release points and deliveries, while also showing the batter specific pitch characteristics.

Dalton Rushing has been below average in challenges to called pitches so far this season. So the Dodgers thought they would try something out of the box -if the Trajekt Arc pitching machine helped batters see pitches better, maybe it could help Rushing see them also.

They started using one of their own pitchers, Justin Wrobleski. Each simulated pitch showed one of three data points – how Rushing caught it, where the pitch was, and if Rushing should challenge or not.

From Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic:

“It’s weird, because you don’t see the ball the whole way,” Rushing said. “It’s not like an actual pitcher, obviously, on the mound. The catching side of it is a little weird. The pitches are sometimes better, sometimes not as good off the machine. But at the same time, it’s giving us an idea to train our eyes a little bit.”

The Dodgers are one of only a few teams using this technology, and it still has some kinks to be worked out. But it seems to be helping Rushing in the margins, pun intended, as he correctly challenged two pitches in Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s start on Sunday which turned those at bats into strikeouts.

Also in The Athletic, Katie Woo covers how the Dodgers use of the six-man rotation is working for them so far this season. The team has been able to weather the loss of both Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow, still having one of the top pitching staffs in the majors and the second-best record in all of baseball.

“The benefit is it allows (Ohtani, Yamamoto and Sasaki) to be on a routine that they’re more accustomed to,” pitching coach Mark Prior said. “It’s also another way for us with some of our younger guys to come up not tax them right out of the chute. In this environment, you’re already adding the stress of pitching to this level versus the minor leagues, so these are all just little benefits I think we’ve seen in the margins.”

While pitchers like Roki Sasaki, Shohei Ohtani and Yamamoto are used to working with six days rest, it is benefitting pitchers like Emmet Sheehan who is used to the traditional time between starts.

“Six days rest is awesome,” Sheehan said. “Getting a little bit more recovery every week, keeping guys fresh, keeping the innings down on the year, I think, are probably the biggest things.”

The Dodgers pitching staff currently are averaging 5.71 innings per start, best in the majors, and way above last year’s mark where they finished in 28th. The team hopes this goes a long way to keeping the staff healthy heading into the playoffs.

1959
The 1959 season was filled with extra-inning games for the White Sox, including SIX against Baltimore. There were also three true marathon games, of 17, 17, and 18 innings — ALL against the Orioles. This was the first one that went at least 17 innings.

In this game, Earl Torgeson’s solo home run off of Jerry Walker in the last of the 17th was the difference in Chicago’s 6-5 win at Comiskey Park. Bob Shaw pitched five relief innings to get the victory. 

The Sox rallied from 4-2 and 5-4 deficits to get the win. The game lasted 4:37.

---

1972
It is forever known as the “Chili Dog Game,” one of the most electrifying games in team history.

In the second game of a doubleheader against the Yankees (Chicago already having won the opener, 6-1), White Sox manager Chuck Tanner wanted Dick Allen available to pinch-hit in the last of the ninth inning if needed. Allen at the time was wolfing down a chili dog because he had played in the first game, was sitting out the nightcap — and was hungry. When Tanner called on him, Allen quickly had to put on a uniform, getting the last of the chili dog all over the top of it — forcing the clubhouse boys to rush to find him a new, clean jersey.  

With two men on and Chicago losing, 4-2, Allen stepped to the plate. On the third pitch from future Sox relief pitcher Sparky Lyle, Allen deposited the ball into the left-field lower deck for a 5-4 win and a sweep of the twin bill. A bat-day crowd of 51,904 (11th all-time in White Sox/Chicago attendance) exploded.

One of the greatest one-liners in Sox history took place as Lyle was walking in from the bullpen. Mike Andrews was on first base, and he and Lyle were roommates when both were with the Red Sox. As Lyle approached the mound Andrews called out, “Sparky, you’re in deep shit now!”

As a side note, future sportscaster Keith Olbermann, a Yankees fan, wrote about listening to this game in a book he co-authored with Dan Patrick (The Big Show): When Allen hit the home run, Olbermann threw his radio out of the second-floor window of his parents’ house.

---

1973
White Sox pitching ace Wilbur Wood appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated. At the time it looked like Wood was on his way to 30 wins, given he already had 13 before June 1. The headline read, “Wizard With a Knuckler.” 

But because of a massive number of injuries to the team, Wood would “only” finish with 24 wins. He started 48 times, had an ERA of 3.46 and threw an incredible 359 innings. The 1973 White Sox wound up using the injured list 38 times.

---

1977
In the second inning of a game at Comiskey Park versus the Yankees, Richie Zisk, “The Polish Prince,” hit a rooftop home run near the left field line off of Don Gullett, a solo shot. He became the seventh Sox player to do this. Unfortunately the Sox would lose the game, 8-6, as the Yankees already had put a seven-spot up in the top of the second.

[This is the first game SSS editor Brett Ballantini ever attended, and he can still picture that ball rising up toward the roof and simply … disappearing. Magical.]

---

1990
The White Sox drafted right-handed starter Alex Fernandez in the first round pick (No. 4 overall), completing one of the most remarkable four-year runs of first-rounders in MLB draft history (preceded by Jack McDowell, Robin Ventura and Frank Thomas). Fernandez would be in the majors just two months later, on August 3. And the righty had staying power; his 28.5 WAR (20.3 with the White Sox) ranked fourth in 1990’s first round behind Chipper Jones, Mike Mussina and Rondell White.

---

2008
In the third inning facing John Danks, future White Sox third baseman Mark Teahen hit a long home run out to center field for the Royals. One inning later, Jim Thome did Teahen one better, with the ninth-longest homer hit at new Sox Park at the time (464 feet) and the first ever to reach the Fan Deck in center field.

The White Sox led for most of the game, until the ninth when K.C. rallied for two off of closer Bobby Jenks. The two teams played five innings deadlocked at 4-4, until Paul Konerko stepped to the plate against future White Sox reliever Jimmy Gobble at 11:35 p.m.:

It was PK’s only hit of the contest, in seven plate appearances. The White Sox seemed destined to throw away this game, having failed to score despite doubling in two of the extra frames. But a miracle season continued, and at 32-27 the South Siders remained atop the AL Central.

---

2016
It is a trade that will live in infamy: GM Rick Hahn sent young hurler Erik Johnson and 17-year-old Fernando Tatís Jr. to San Diego for veteran starter James Shields.

Tatís, the son of a former major league slugger, had been signed less than one year earlier and had yet to play a single game in the White Sox system. Three years after the trade, Tatís was in the major leagues, immediately garnering MVP votes. Prior to the 2021 season, Tatís signed a 14-year, $330 million contract extension with the Padres, anointing him as perhaps the premier talent in all of baseball.

It is suspected that Tatís was inserted into the deal to help persuade San Diego to eat some of Shields’ onerous remaining salary; that short-sighted gambit succeeded, as the Padres sent $31 million along with Shields, lowering the White Sox obligation to Shields to $27 million over four years. In a 2025 interview, Hahn admitted that part of the reason Tatís was in the deal was that the White Sox objected to San Diego’s original asking price of an additional pitcher along with Johnson.

Shields’ 5.31 ERA ranks second only to Jaime Navarro for highest in team history among pitchers allowed to throw at least 400 innings for the club. The warning signs were evident … in his last start for San Diego, Shields allowed 10 runs against the Mariners and was publicly ripped by the Padres owner.

In his White Sox career of 77 games (76 starts), Shields logged a -0.3 WAR.

---

2023
One of the few bright spots in what would be a forgettable season came when Liam Hendriks earned his first win since his cancer diagnosis in the offseason.

The win came six days after his first appearance back with the White Sox, and marked a second straight scoreless effort.

How did Hendriks earn his first victory back? Oh, only with the ninth walk-off grand slam in White Sox history. With the sacks packed and one out, Jake Burger lined a 1-0 curveball out to left-center for a 6-2 win over Detroit.

Triple-A: Norfolk Tides 6, Gwinnett Stripers (Braves) 4

Trey Gibson did well on the mound, and was supported by a solid showing from the lineup to get Norfolk it’s first win of June.

Gibson delivered 6.1 innings, allowing two runs on four hits, a walk, and six strikeouts. It’s possible that his next start comes in an Orioles uniform since Chris Bassitt is now dealing with back tightness. The pair’s rotation spots line up perfect if Gibson is needed. Dietrich Enns took the win, although it wasn’t because he pitched well. In 1.2 innings, the lefty allowed two runs on three hits and a strikeout. Nick Raquet snagged his first save of the season with a shutout ninth inning.

It was an active night for the Tides offense. They had 10 hits and six walks. All six runs were scored by the first three hitters in the lineup. Christian Encarnacion-Strand led the way. He had three hits in the game, including two home runs. Heston Kjerstad added two hits, a double, and two runs scored. His Triple-A OPS is up to .757. Creed Willems had two hits and two walks. Johnathan Rodríguez doubled as a pinch hitter. Tommy Pham went 0-for-3 with two walks and two strikeouts.

Double-A: Akron RubberDucks (Guardians) 4, Chesapeake Baysox 3

It was a great night of pitching for Chesapeake until a ninth inning collapse cost them the game.

Joseph Dzierwa made his third start at Double-A, and this was his best one yet. Over 6.2 innings, the southpaw gave up just one run on three hits, two walks, and four strikeouts. His ERA is down to 3.24 with the Baysox. Micah Ashman followed with 1.1 shutout frames, which included two strikeouts. Ryan Long, unfortunately, was unable to lock things down in the ninth. He allowed singles to the first three hitters of the inning. Then, he managed to strike out the next two, nearly sneaking out of the jam altogether. But he wouldn’t quite get there as he served up a two-RBI double to put the Baysox in the hole.

All of the Chesapeake runs came in on home runs. Anderson De Los Santos hit a solo shot in the second inning, and Ethan Anderson drove in a pair with his eighth inning bomb. They didn’t have many opportunities outside of that, going 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position. Tavian Josenberger did have two hits and a stolen base, his 18th of the season. But there were very few other highlights.

High-A: Frederick Keys 10, Hudson Valley Renegades (Yankees) 3

The Keys scored their runs in bunches, putting up five in the third and four more in the eighth. That was plenty to support a trio of pitchers that, as a group, had a solid night.

Every member of the Frederick lineup reached base at least once, and all but one of them had a hit. Ryan Stafford, a fifth round pick in 2024, is not one of the names that usually leads these recaps, but he had a big game on Wednesday. His three hits led the team, and he hit his fourth double of the season. Wehiwa Aloy drove in three runs as part of his 2-for-3 night that included two walks. Ike Irish doubled, walked, and drove in two runs. A pair of rehabbing outfielders made contributions as well. Enrique Bradfield Jr. went 1-for-5 with a stolen base and two runs scored while Douglas Hodo hit a home run.

Boston Bateman started on the mound, but would last just three innings. In those three innings he allowed three runs on four walks and six strikeouts. He was likely pulled due to pitch count because it took him 79 pitches to get those nine outs. It was smooth sailing from there. Keagan Gillies worked a scoreless fourth inning, and then Twine Palmer worked five shutout frames to close out the win.

Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 10, Augusta GreenJackets (Braves) 5

A rare offensive outburst for the Shorebirds gave them their first win in more than a week, beating the Braves affiliate on Wednesday night.

Delamarva had oodles of opportunities to score runs. They went 5-for-19 with runners in scoring position. Jordan Sanchez may have been the star of the night, going 3-for-3 with two doubles, three runs scored, three RBI, and a stolen base. Edwin Amparo was right behind him, hitting a double, a home run, and driving in two runs. Jaiden Lo Re, a 2025 draft pick making his Low-A debut, drove in three runs and had two hits. Stiven Martinez and Braylon Whitaker added a stolen base each.

Shorebirds starter Brayan Orrantia was responsible for all four runs (three earned) that the team allowed. All four runs scored in the fourth inning after Orrantia had navigated the first three frames unscathed. In the fourth he retired the first two batters before giving up, in order, a single, a home run, a walk, a single, and another single. That forced them to turn to Michael Caldon. He recorded four outs and allowed one run. Then it was up to Dalton Neuschwander, who was great. He worked four shutout innings and gave up just one hit while striking out four.

Box Scores

Thursday’s Schedule

Norfolk: at Gwinnett, 7:05, TBD. Starter: Nestor German (3-1, 4.01 ERA)

Chesapeake: vs Akron, 6:35 pm. Starter: Sebastian Gongora (2-2, 3.56 ERA)

Frederick: vs Hudson Valley, 7:00 pm. Starter: Kiefer Lord (0-2, 6.19 ERA)

Delmarva: at Augusta, 7:05 pm. Starter: Esteban Mejia (0-4, 8.16 ERA)

Today’s Reflections

There may be others than myself, but I was sure the Cubs were going to have to slaughter the ball to keep the game close while the A’s batters were aiming bombs out onto Waveland and Sheffield off of Jameson Taillon. This is a perfect example why I don’t gamble. As it turns out, Taillon was more than just good or solid — he offered up just one mistake while the Cubs’ offense was a giant mistake all night long.

Hence, part 47 of Trade Mumblings^TM .

There is some good action going on in the minors, Boyd (who protects his kids’ reputation) and Cabrera are due back in the rotation. Maybe my concerns of how are the Cubs going to remove Taillon from the rotation have subsided and will stay that way.

We can laugh at Kyle Tucker, and we can try out another pitcher in the bullpen. We can hope PCA is on his way back (toward) his first half 2025 performance. And continue to wonder will that final piece will fall into place for Alex Bregman.

*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.

The worrying continues:

• Brandon Click (Cubbies Crib): Glass half-full or half-empty? 1 reason to believe in the Cubs, 1 reason not to. “The Chicago Cubs have been baseball’s ultimate Jekyll-and-Hyde performer in 2026, stringing wins and losses together in a historic fashion.”
• Field Level Media (Deadspin): Cubs continue search for offense against Athletics. “The Chicago Cubs continue to be stuck in an offensive slump that has seen the club score three or fewer runs in 10 of its past 16 games.”
• Tyler Courtney (LastWordOnSports.com): Are the Cubs Still Built to Win the NL Central This Season? “Much of the blame has been on the hitters and pitchers, who, besides the top players, have been inconsistent this season. Now, the Cubs’ division race has become far more complicated.”
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Sun-Times): Chicago Cubs manage just 4 hits — all singles — in 2-1 loss to Athletics: ‘This has been a wake-up call’. “Going six innings between hits isn’t a recipe for offensive success. Two costly outs on the bases don’t help either. Failing to record an extra-base hit while being limited to just four total won’t result in many wins. The Chicago Cubs hit the trifecta in Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to the Athletics, squandering right-hander Jameson Taillon’s quality start in the process.“

• Flim Room (MLB.com): Craig Counsell discusses Cubs’ 2-1 loss | 06/02/2026.

Trade mumblings:

• Matt Sullivan (Sporting News): Cubs named as ‘logical fit’ in trade for 4.45 ERA former All-Star. “He’s not going to cost nearly as much, since he’s a free agent after this season, and has been struggling a little bit in his age 34 season.”
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}). The Cubs, 2 months ahead of trade deadline, are already getting their ‘wake-up call’, “In the big picture, even the Cubs are beyond the point of saying it’s still early and assuming that everything will be fine.”

Things that are looking up for the Cubs:

• Max Ralph (MLB.com): No. 8 prospect Hartshorn homers again, keeps crushing in Minor League debut. “The Cubs may have found a gem in the middle of the 2025 Draft.”

• Vinnie Duber (Chicago Sun-Times): Cubs’ rotation getting healthier with imminent Edward Cabrera, Matthew Boyd returns, but is it deep enough? “The Cubs will get two of their better starting pitchers back soon. But what happens the next time there’s an injury in the rotation? Do they have enough depth?”
• Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib): Cubs fans relishing in Dodgers manager’s comment on Kyle Tucker as slump continues. “You know what you love to see? Kyle Tucker, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ $60 million-a-year addition providing as much value so far this year as… Carson Kelly.“
• Elias Schuster (Chicago Cubs): Cubs Go With Tyler Freguson Ahead of A’s Series – Send Down Jordan Wicks. “The Chicago Cubs promptly end the Jordan Wicks experiment after two disastrous starts and call up recently acquired veteran Tyler Ferguson.”

Boyd, PCA, Bregman — good and bad:

• Chris Cwik (Yahoo! Sports): Cubs starter Matthew Boyd reveals how he tore his meniscus playing with his kids: ‘My kids didn’t take me out’. “Turns out, there wasn’t anything nefarious going on. During an appearance on the “Foul Territory” podcast, Boyd revealed exactly how his injury occurred and made sure to exonerate his son in the process.“
• Max Ralph (MLB.com): Is PCA back? Why red-hot May could be sign of more good things to come. “But there are plenty of other signs, both statistically and under the hood, that indicate the exuberant 24-year-old is heating up.”
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune {$}): Chicago Cubs need Alex Bregman to be more of a run producer. But slow starts are part of the slugger’s game. “Bregman has been searching for more power. His solo home run in Sunday’s loss to the St. Louis Cardinals ended a stretch of 83 plate appearances without one. All of Bregman’s home runs have occurred with nobody on base.”
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): A conversation with Alex Bregman on bat speed, mechanics and his power search. “Over his last 19 games, he’s hitting .300 with a 122 wRC+. If he did that the rest of the year, it’d probably be fine. Still, there’s one aspect of his game that’s largely been lacking: Bregman hasn’t hit for much power.”

Food For Thought:

Otis Rush Jr. (April 29, 1934 – September 29, 2018) was an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter. His distinctive guitar style featured a slow-burning sound and long bent notes. With qualities similar to the styles of other 1950s artists Magic Sam and Buddy Guy, his sound became known as West Side Chicago blues and was an influence on many musicians, including Michael Bloomfield, Peter Green and Eric Clapton.

Rush was left-handed and played as such; however, his guitars were strung with the low E string at the bottom, upside-down from typical guitarists. He often played with the little finger of his pick hand curled under the low E for positioning. It is widely believed that this contributed to his distinctive sound. He had a wide-ranging, powerful tenor voice.

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.

On March 20, 1993, Octavio Dotel signed as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic at 19-years-old. Nearly a decade later, Mark Teahan was selected with the 39th pick of the MLB draft by the Oakland Athletics in 2002. On July 2nd, 2005, Abraham Almonte had recently turned 16 and signed with the New York Yankees out of the Dominican Republic. A few years later, Yonder Alonso was drafted 7th overall by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2008 MLB Draft. In the 2010 MLB Draft, Jabari Blash was drafted in the 8th round by the Seattle Mariners. And in June of 2015, Max Schrock was drafted in the 13th round of the MLB Draft by the Washington Nationals.

What do all these events have to do with each other?

I can connect them all with trades. More specifically, I can connect them to the famous Colby Rasmus trade that ultimately resulted in the Cardinals winning the World Series. It’s like six degrees of Kevin Bacon, but with trades.

It started with me noticing that Marc Rzepczynski changed teams a lot. And I thought it was somewhat strange, because I thought he was a decent reliever. Do you guys remember Rzepczynski pitching like a genuinely good reliever for Cleveland when the Cardinals traded him for nothing, because I sure don’t. I guess there weren’t reasons to constantly point out the success of former players back in 2013. Anyway, he usually had good advanced stats, but his ERA tended to fluctuate a lot.

I thought it would be a fun idea to keep following players in trades until you reached a dead end. The idea of team control is valuable for the success they can give you on the field, but it’s also about getting value from players via trades. Edwin Jackson was traded six times before he was eligible for free agency. He had no agency on where he could go. He wasn’t traded once after he reached free agency. Rzepczynski was traded five times before he reached free agency. He wasn’t traded once after that.

Believe it or not, Dotel’s connection to this trade is not because he was in the 2011 trade. I don’t count that for these purposes. Dotel had reached free agency many times by 2011 and was signed in January of 2011 by the Blue Jays. A good current example of this is Dustin May. His trade tree restarted when he reached free agency. If we trade May at the deadline, we cannot connect the players we return to James Tibb. Now if May is traded somewhere, and somehow the mutual option is agreed to on both sides, and then he’s traded in July of next season, then those players can be connected to the players the Cardinals got at this year’s deadline. Understand?

Edwin Jackson’s trade tree starts with two free agents signed by the Devil Rays. Lance Carter signed with the Devil Rays in January of 2002 and Danys Baez signed with the Rays in January of 2004. This trade would never ever ever ever be made today. Jackson was a highly touted prospect who lost some of his sheen because of underwhelming results in limited time in his first three seasons. And yet he was 22 at the time of the trade. Carter was a bad reliever and Baez was nothing special, but was coming off a 2.86 ERA. The Dodgers gave up on Jackson for two nothing to write home about relievers.

Shrewd move by the Rays, but they jumped ship almost as soon as Jackson showed any type of competency, which happened to be for Matt Joyce, drafted in the 12th round by the Tigers a few years prior. He had turned 25 the previous September. Almost a calendar year later, the Tigers traded Jackson when he took a big leap forward in a rather complicated three-team trade. None of the principal players had a previous trade history besides Jackson.

Ian Kennedy went from the Yankees to the Diamondbacks. He was later traded to the Padres for Matt Stites and Joe Thatcher. Stites was a Mizzou grad drafted by the Padres, whose career ended when he was released by the DBacks a few years later. Thatcher had previously been in a trade for Scott Linebrink, who himself was traded for 35-year-old Doug Henry seven years prior, but thankfully the tree ends here. Max Scherzer, Daniel Schlereth and Phil Coke all reached free agency as Tigers. Curtis Granderson reached free agency as a Yankee.

Austin Jackson however was involved in another three-team trade five years later. David Price went to the Tigers, and Price was traded a year later for Matthew Boyd, Jairo Labourt, and Daniel Norris. Boyd and Labourt were not subsequently traded, but Norris was for current Tiger Reese Olson. Nick Franklin went to the Rays, ended up being selected off waivers and then traded for cash before being granted free agency. The Rays also got Willy Adames, seven years before they traded him for JP Feyereisen and Drew Rasmussen. Rasmussen is still a Ray, Feyereisen was traded for a guy who hasn’t made the majors.

The Rays also received Drew Smyly, who was later traded for Mallex Smith and Ryan Yarbrough. Mallex Smith is the relevant one because we just found ourselves another heavily traded player. Three years prior, Smith was traded by the Padres with Jace Peterson and Max Fried to the Braves for…. Justin Upton. He was traded for five players the year before, so this might be a longer diversion than I hoped.

We’re just going to ignore Brandon Drury, who five years later was involved in a 3-team, seven player trade but all the players are inconsequential and we’re too deep into this to waste time on that. Nick Ahmed stayed on the Diamondbacks forever, ending in his release a decade later. The relevant player is Martin Prado. He was traded at the 2014 deadline for someone we don’t care about to the Yankees, and then the Yankees traded him that December for three players, including Nathan Eovaldi. Eovaldi was of course a return for Hanley Ramirez, who never technically reached free agency yet in 2012 and that means we’re dealing with the Josh Beckett, Anibal Sanchez, Mike Lowell and yeah I’m not digging any deeper, because I don’t think this thread is going to end with my sanity intact.

Where was I? Oh yeah Mallex Smith. The other relevant trade is that he’s traded with Jake Fraley, and Fraley is later traded to the Reds for Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez. In addition to Fraley, the Reds got Brandon Williamson. Winker was later traded for Chad Patrick, so Mallex Smith is indirectly responsible for two starting pitchers of NL Central teams.

We still somehow have three trades of Edwin Jackson to go. In trade #4, he was traded for David Holmberg and Daniel Hudson. Hudson is not the guy who is involved in any trades, but Holmberg sure is. Holmberg is in a three-team trade which includes Heath Bell and Ryan Hanigan. Inexplicably 35-year-old Heath Bell was involved in a three-team trade the year before on the same contract, because of course he was.

In that three-team trade, it’s three “Hey remember that guy?!” One team gets outfielder Chris Young, who was involved in a trade seven years prior for Javier Vasquez, who as it turns out is another Edwin Jackson! YEAH THIS GUY GOT TRADED A BUNCH TOO. I CAN’T FIND THE END. Unfortunately, lot of fun names here, so I can’t ignore Javier Vazquez trades.

In the first trade (December 2003), we have Randy Choate, Nick Johnson, and Juan Rivera. They all have closed loops, but fun fact, Rivera was later in the Mike Napoli-Vernon Wells trade. He had already hit free agency so it doesn’t count for this, but that’s interesting. A little over a year later, Vazquez was in a trade for Randy Johnson. Vazquez was a very good pitcher, but if I’m him, “traded for Randy Johnson” is going on every shirt on I own. He was in a trade with Dioner Navarro, who a year later was traded for Shawn Green. Green was traded for Raul Mondesi about six years prior. Both Mondesi and somehow Randy Johnson got traded before hitting free agency again after these aforementioned trades, but I could not care less about the names involved in those trades. Fun names only at this point.

We’ve already covered Vazquez’s third trade. The most interesting thing about his fourth trade is how incredibly high Tyler Flowers looks on his Baseball-Reference photo. Otherwise, SKIP. His fifth trade involves Melky Cabrera, who I thought for sure was traded a bunch, and Arodyz Vizcaino, who I thought wasn’t. Of course, Cabrera wasn’t and Vizcaino was. None of those trades are that interesting, thankfully. I didn’t know he was ever a Cub or that he was traded for Tommy La Stella so there’s a fun fact.

Oh my god I haven’t even gotten to the Ryan Hanigan part of David Holmberg trade tree. You’d think David Holmberg and his -2.5 career fWAR played for the Cardinals with how much I hate his guts right now. Okay, so…. Ryan Hanigan was involved in a three-team, ten player trade. It actually involves Steven Souza Jr., who was later in that huge trade involving Brandon Drury that I chose to ignore, so we’ve achieved… something. It also involves Trea Turner, Wil Myers and HOW THE HELL DID DAVID HOLMBERG LEAD ME TO TREA TURNER? Anyway, he was in a trade with Max Scherzer, also featured in this, and woo buddy this was not a good trade for the Nats.

I don’t think I have it in me to go through the other eight players. Let’s just say that Jake Odorizzi was previously in the Lorenzo Cain/Zack Greinke trade, and Greinke was involved in a different trade for Jean Segura, who was in five trades before he hit free agency, and I’m sure I’ll want to off myself if I attempt to dig into that thread.

Right before the Cardinals traded for Edwin Jackson, the Blue Jays made a trade understanding they would trade Jackson to the Cardinals. In that trade, he was traded with Mark Teahan for Jason Frasor and Zach Stewart. Frasor signed with the Jays as a free agent. Stewart was inexplicably in the Scott Rolen trade two years prior, because sure. Rolen kept signing extensions so now we’re connected to Troy Glaus, who connects us to another member of the 2011 team and another “HEY THAT GUY!” in Orlando Hudson and Miguel Batista. Did you know Troy Glaus was traded for Batista and Hudson because I didn’t. It also connects us to Placido Polanco, Mike Timlin and Bud Smith, and Timlin strangely has his own rabbit hole of trades I am happy to ignore.

Meanwhile, the guy Jackson was traded with, Teahan, himself has his own trade history. Somehow, he was also in a three-team trade. How is every player in this at some point involved in a three-team trade? Anyway, it was the Carlos Beltran trade when he went from the Royals to the Astros. The Royals got John Buck and Mike Wood for Beltran. Not great Royals. Buck had the decency to wait until he reached free agency before getting traded in weirdly big trades (a 12-player trade and a 7-player trade)

Oh yeah and Octavio Dotel went from the Astros to the Athletics in the Beltran trade. That’s the Dotel connection. Five years prior, Dotel was in a trade with Roger Cedeno for Mike Hampton and Derek Bell. Bell himself was traded five years prior to that in a 12-player trade, so you just know I could go far with this trade. It involves Steve Finley (previously in a trade for Curt Schilling), Doug Bracail (later in a different trade for Roger Cedeno), and Pedro Martinez. No, not that Pedro Martinez. Hilariously, Bracail was in a later trade for Nelson Cruz, but not that Nelson Cruz.

And we come back to the 2011 trade. The whole reason I wrote this was for Marc Rzepczynski’s trade history and he’s barely in this thing. The Cardinals traded him for Juan Herrera, who made it all the way to AA, where he had an 8 wRC+ in 160 PAs. Two deadlines later, he was traded for Abraham Almonte. Almonte was previously traded for Chris Denorfia and Shawn Kelley in two different trades.

Scrabble’s fourth trade does bring some further connections. He was paired with Yonder Alonso. Alonso four years prior was traded with Brad Boxberger, Yasmani Grandal, and Edinson Volquez for Matt Latos. Volquez was swapped with none other than Josh Hamilton in 2007, and there’s another connection to 2011. Latos was how the Reds got Anthony Desclafani. And for the third time, we again hit a trade I chose to ignore, because Desclafani was involved in a massive trade involving John Buck. Of course it was really the Jose Reyes trade (later traded for Troy Tulowitzki). Yunel Escobar was in this trade too and that dude sure got traded a lot, hitting six trades in his team control years, which aside from this trade, the most relevant name in one of his trades was Ben Zobrist from the Rays to the A’s.

Grandal was later in the Matt Kemp trade, and that dude has a ridiculous number of trades too. One of the players Kemp was traded for was Alex Wood, who… was in a previous trade involving Matt Latos. Kemp was also traded for Adrian Gonzalez, who I guess never reached free agency either before he got his big deal. So you can throw Ugueth Urbina, Adam Eaton (the pitcher), Chris Young (the pitcher), Anthony Rizzo (and thus Andrew Cashner, who has his own rabbit hole), and Josh Beckett, and now we’re back to a previous trade I’ve referenced, a Hanley Ramirez trade.

And I got to stop. Drew Pomeranz, Jose Torres and Jabari Blash were all in the Alonso-Rzepczynski trade. Pomeranz had previously been traded for Ubaldo Jimenez and Brett Anderson. Anderson himself was in a Dan Haren trade, which included Carlos Gonzalez, who was later traded for Matt Holliday. And that leads me to Brett Wallace, which leads me to Anthony Gose, and then that leads me to the Roy Oswalt trade and more misery. Scrabble’s last trade was for Max Schrock, which set the stage for the trade for Stephen Piscotty. Piscotty was not traded again and Shrock was DFA’d by the Cardinals.

I thought I could do it. I thought I could close a trade loop. I didn’t realize I was attempting to climb Mount Everest. I had the hubris to think I could tackle two highly traded players and think I would find an end in sight. I didn’t come close. It never ended. There were just more trades. I am Sisyphus. I am Charlie smoking a cigarette with a wall full of names and my mind in another reality. I hope this was enjoyable because I feel like I just listed a bunch of random players and gave myself a headache.

Good morning, baseball fans!

As the San Francisco Giants were losing Tuesday night’s game, I predicted that the Colorado Rockies would win their game and push the Giants back into fifth place. And they did just that.

Now, I’m writing this before Wednesday’s games, so things might change between now and the time this publishes (as they are wont to do). And I absolutely do hope this was just a brief stop at the bottom. But the fact remains that as of the time this is being written, the Giants are in last place in the NL West.

I have to admit, I didn’t see this coming. I guess I’d gotten so used to the Rockies just being a non-factor that I assumed fourth place was the floor. I hate being wrong.

Anyway, let’s get the vent session going. How are we feeling about this development? Personally, it doesn’t really matter if this is just a brief stop at the bottom of the division. Falling below the Rockies feels like a bridge too far.

My dad and I had a conversation after Tuesday’s loss, and he predicted that either Tony Vitello won’t last the season, or Buster Posey won’t. I pointed out the fears I shared at the time of Posey’s appointment. Huge upside if it goes well. But if it doesn’t…how could they possibly part ways with a franchise icon that has such goodwill in the fanbase?

Personally, I think the first to go will be Vitello. And I think I have to agree with my father, that he will not make it through the season. I don’t know how much of that would be deserved vs. being a convenient scapegoat. But that’s just how things have tended to go over the last few seasons.

How are you feeling about the Giants’ falling to fifth place?

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants wrap up this four-game road series against the Milwaukee Brewers this morning at 11:10 a.m. PT.

The Guardians took game 2 from the Yankees last night after the Guards offense got Garrit Cole for 3 home runs, the only home runs Cole has allowed this season. Nick has the recap.

After taking the series from the Yankees in the Bronx, it is the perfect time to remind everyone to VOTE GUARDS. Yes, All-Star Voting is already here with the Midsummer Classic fast approaching. The Guardians are 9 games above .500 and there are multiple Guardians that are more than deserving to go. You can vote 5 times a day, per email here.

Voting for the 2026 All-Star Game is now LIVE!

Cast your vote here ➡️ https://t.co/ozExOgIEBi#GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/friAy6Eu7l

— GuardsInsider (@GuardsInsider) June 3, 2026

Cade Smith was bestowed the honor of American League Reliever of the Month for the month of May with his league leading 13 saves.

Heckuva month for Agent 36. 😤

Cade Smith has been named the American League Reliever of the Month.#GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/woHE9xliRH

— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) June 3, 2026

The K'D Crusader was absolutely lights out in May.#GuardsBallpic.twitter.com/X3J7TNdoys

— GuardsTV (@GuardsTV) June 4, 2026

Luke Hill, who was recently promoted to AA Akron RubberDucks, was named the Guardians hottest hitting prospect by MLB. In his short time with the RubberDucks, Hill hit a double for his first AA RBI.

The new guy is pretty good!!

Luke Hill with a two-out, two-strike RBI double for his first Double-A RBI!#QuAkronpic.twitter.com/Dp73v0hXNP

— Akron RubberDucks (@AkronRubberDuck) June 3, 2026

Around the League

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher, Christopher Sánchez had his historic streak come to a close last night. After pitching 50 and 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball, the lefty gave up a game tying hit to the Padres. Sánchez takes the honor of the fifth-longest single-season streak since 1893.

The Angels gave up a home run on just about the closest thing to a double doink you can see in baseball.

Off his glove, off his head, and out!

One of the strangest home runs you've ever seen 🤯 pic.twitter.com/KaPpp1r9Cx

— MLB (@MLB) June 3, 2026

The current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between MLB and the Major League Player’s Association (MLBPA) that governs the business of the league as a whole is set to expire at the conclusion of the 2026 season. As always, this means that both sides have started angling to increase their slice of the pie that is the overall profits of the sport.

Both sides have exchanged their initial proposals for changes, the first official public steps towards hammering out what the next CBA will include. Most, if not all, of these proposed changes will not make it through negotiations to the final agreement in their current form.

They do, however, give us a sense of the types of changes that each side is seeking. This affords an opportunity to assess how those types of proposals would potentially impact the Rockies if a watered-down version of them does make it to the final agreement.

MLB’s initial proposal

The league’s first pitch for these negotiations is light on fluff and instead included just two fundamental changes to the structure of the business.

Major League Baseball has made its cap proposal:
2027 cap: $245.3 million
Floor: $171.2 million

A 50-50 split in revenues.

More to come. pic.twitter.com/IqZqE5cpCy

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) May 28, 2026

Team salaries

• Creating a hard salary cap of $245.3 million per team.
• Creating a hard salary floor of $171.2 million per team.
• Committing to the idea that the exact value of the salary cap and floor will encompass a 50-50 split of league baseball revenue between players and ownership as that changes over time. Notably, MLB’s exact definition of “baseball revenue” is vague.

As was the case during negotiations for the previous CBA, Rockies owner Dick Monfort is on the owners bargaining committee and has been a known proponent of a salary cap for some time so the fact that this is being proposed is not surprising. This is probably the least likely single policy to actually be agreed to given the unions decades long vehement opposition, but it is still worth considering the specifics.

If this hard cap and floor were in place in 2026, nine teams would be forced to shed payroll to get under the cap. From the NL West, this would include the San Diego Padres ($9 million) and the Los Angeles Dodgers ($163 million). On the flip side, twelve teams would need to increase player payroll to get over the floor including the Rockies, who would need to increase their payroll by roughly $31 million.

While player payroll is not the Dodgers only advantage, the sheer amount that they would need to cut would unavoidably reduce their ability to paper over mistakes or build roster redundancy at the level they currently can. There would still be a gulf between them and the Rockies in terms of player development, talent evaluation, and attractiveness to free agents, but it would be foolhardy to say that a salary cap and floor wouldn’t somewhat reduce the differences between the two organizations.

Team revenues

• Creating a centralized fund for all local media revenue to be distributed evenly between all teams.

This essentially means that teams would share money that comes in from TV and radio deals. Depending on the specifics of what exactly qualifies for this, it could be a massive overhaul to the overall revenue structures for all teams. Smaller market clubs would suddenly get a huge influx of money that they did not previously have access to.

Under this proposal, the factors that would differentiate spending capacity between clubs would be ticket sales, merchandise, and whatever other commercial interests they have (such as ballpark-adjacent real estate like the Rockies have with McGregor Square).

The Rockies, who have had historically good attendance despite comparatively non-valuable media rights, would theoretically see some of the largest benefits from this change of any team in the league.

The MLBPA’s initial proposal

Unlike the league’s proposal which focused on two fundamentally disruptive changes, the MLBPA focused on a large number of smaller adjustments to the existing system as best summarized by Jorge Castillo of ESPN. This is a buffet of changes that, each in isolation, wouldn’t make a large difference, but if taken as a whole would mark a major shift.

The MLBPA's proposal maintains the game's current financial structure with significant changes. The revenue-sharing proposal aims to increase money given to lower-revenue teams but forces them to direct that money to the major league team. Many more dollars going to players, too.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 27, 2026

If we pool the clauses with similar goals in mind together, we can think through the potential impact on the Rockies specifically.

Team salaries

• Raising the existing Competitive Balance Tax threshold from $244 million up to $300 million.
  • Removing all existing non-financial penalties (such as draft pick forfeiture) for surpassing the CBT threshold.
• Creating a Competitive Integrity Tax that would penalize teams that did not spend at least $150 million on player payroll.

This likely would not change the status quo for the Rockies as a franchise. In seven of the past nine seasons, their payroll would have fit between these two bands as far as the league calculates taxable payroll. It’s a similar story for every other non-Dodgers team in the division. It is possible that teams like the Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks would spend a bit more if the tax threshold were increased, but not enough to fundamentally change the competitive dynamics of the division.

Minimum player salaries

• Increasing the minimum player salary (currently $775,000) in installments starting at $1.5 million in 2027 and up to $2.2 million in 2031.

On paper, this seems like it would impact teams in the middle of a rebuild more than others (because they lean on pre-arbitration and marginal free agents). But looking through the payroll breakdowns of the NL West this season, that doesn’t appear to actually be true.

So far in 2026, the Rockies have nine players slated to make less than this proposed new minimum salary. If this were in effect, they’d be on the hook for something north of $6 million more in payroll this season without any further promotions or signings. As it turns out, that’s a smaller increase than every other team in the division other than the Diamondbacks, who currently have five such players.

This would be a big deal for the individual players, but does not seem to have specific competitive implications for the Rockies.

The Draft

• Increasing the size of the draft lottery to include the first eight picks instead of just the top six.

This would marginally increase the chance that the Rockies would end up in the draft lottery in back-to-back years and thus be forced to pick outside the top ten regardless of their record the following season, as has happened for this coming draft. It could have some small effect on the front office’s attempts to plan their next competitive window but only marginally.

Pre-Arbitration

• Expanding the Prospect Promotion Incentive. Currently, draft picks after the first round are awarded to teams that have eligible players who either win the Rookie of the Year or finish top 3 in Cy Young or MVP voting. In the expanded proposal, picks after rounds two and three of the draft would also be awarded to teams with eligible players that earned lower finishes in any of those three awards voting.
• Increasing the pre-arbitration bonus pool from $50 million to $180 million to be awarded to the top 125 pre-arbitration players that have not signed long-term extensions.
• Introducing automatic annual increases to the pre-arbitration bonus pool.

All MLB teams contribute equally to the pre-arbitration bonus pool, and thus the players are not paid directly by the team they play for. This would have no effect on the Rockies other than more of their good young players getting financially rewarded for their performance.

The expansion of the Prospect Promotion Incentive, however, could directly impact a team like the Rockies that will be looking to begin building a new core in the coming years via graduates from their farm system. Decreasing the awards voting bar required for a team to earn additional draft picks from rookie performances would incentivize more aggressive callups for teams looking to inject even more talent into their minor leagues.

Arbitration

• Making player salaries from arbitration guaranteed. This would mean teams could no longer get out of paying a salary for a player that they lost the arbitration case for just by releasing him.
• Introducing a minimum arbitration tender of $3 million.
• Doubling the pool of “Super 2” arbitration players from 22% of those with more than two but less than three years of service time up to 44%.
• Providing a one-time increase of 20% to pre-existing arbitration salaries (with a maximum of $2 million).

Similar to the minimum salary increase, this would have relatively large implications for overall league payroll, but the distribution of that increase per team is not heavily connected to their market size or competitive window.

For example, comparing the New York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates, one would assume the bigger-market team that always fields a winning roster would rely less on arbitration-eligible players. In fact, however, the 2026 Yankees have 11 players that were arbitration eligible this past offseason whereas the Pirates only have four.

This isn’t likely to impact the Rockies more or less than any other team.

Free Agency

• Granting free agency to players that are at least age thirty once they reach five years of service time instead of the standard six.
• Eliminating the qualifying offer. Teams would still receive draft picks upon losing a free agent but would no longer forfeit draft picks when signing players.
• Creating a system in which teams that receive revenue sharing would be awarded draft picks for signing players at high salaries.

This section is one that could specifically benefit the Rockies, who are a revenue sharing recipient but historically have been able to spend more than most of the other teams with that designation. This combination means that the Rockies would be one of the very best-positioned teams to take advantage of a system in which spending on an occasional high-priced free agent could also net them a draft pick.

The elimination of the qualifying offer would further increase the Rockies ability to spend on free agents as they would not need to worry about losing draft picks that are especially valuable to small and mid-market teams. That being said, the same would be the case for all other teams and would not specifically benefit the Rockies much more than others.

Conclusions

It is worth reiterating that these initial proposals will not be agreed to. The league and the union will continue negotiating, making counter proposals, and publicly vying for support throughout the season and offseason. We likely will not know what portions of these proposals the sides really care about until the threat of potentially losing games in 2027 comes near. Once the two sides reach an eventual agreement, we’ll need to assess it on its own merits.

That being said, even looking through these drastic initial proposals, the thing that stuck out to me most is just how little they would practically affect an individual team like the Rockies in terms of their competitive aspirations or the fan viewing experience. The Rockies biggest problems have always been of their own making and not a factor of institutional disadvantages.

Whether the next CBA favors the players or the owners more, the Rockies fate will largely come down to how well they identify and develop talent (just like always) with potentially a small boost from the new ecosystem… assuming they are astute enough to navigate it well.

---

On the Farm

Triple-A:Albuquerque Isotopes 14, Salt Lake Bees 13

This was a wild one that went in to the tenth inning and saw the two teams combining for 28 hits, 14 walks, seven stolen bases, and five home runs.

The largest contributors to those totals on the Isotopes side were Adael Amador who was on base four times, Zac Veen (No. 9 PuRP) and Charlie Condon (No. 1 PuRP) who both had two hits including driving in the go ahead and insurance runs, and Nic Kent who had three hits including a home run. Even more impressive, however, was Andrew Knizner who had a monster game in which he collected four hits, two of which were home runs. All told, it was a good night if you like offense.

Double-A:Hartford Yard Goats 7, Portland Sea Dogs 10

On the flipside, defense was the difference in this one. Four separate Yard Goats committed an error leading to three unearned runs, without which the game would have been tied heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Each of Connor Capel, Aidan Longwell, and GJ Hill hit home runs which provided the bulk of the offense for Hartford. On the mound Connor Staine started and went four innings in which the only runs he gave up were accounted for amongst the unearned total. Davison Palermo relieved Staine and had the only clearly poor pitching performance of the night in the form of four earned runs in just a single inning pitched.

High-A:Spokane Indians 2, Hillsboro Hops 4

A relatively low scoring affair that was won when the Hops scored their third run in the top of the fourth, it just took a few more innings for anyone to know it. Bryson Hammer was the starter and allowed those three runs on the back of six hits and four walks but was otherwise solid through five innings. Justin Loer took over for him in the sixth and pitched three scoreless innings.

The lineup, with their nine hits and a walk, had plenty of baserunners but failed to drive them in leaving nine stranded. Both Tommy Hopfe and Jack O’Dowd had two hits, and Robert Calaz (No. 6 PuRP) hit a triple, but Max Belyeu (No. 15 PuRP) had the best offensive performance of the night in the form of three hits including two doubles.

Low-A:Fresno Grizzlies 6, Lake Elsinore Storm 5

The Storm was up five to nothing heading into the bottom of the ninth and then this happened:

1. Clayton Gray walked.
2. Tanner Thach singled.
3. Derek Bernard singled to load the bases.
4. Carlos Renzullo grounded out but drove in a run.
5. Tanner Thach scored on a wild pitch before Ashly Andujar (No. 20 PuRP) walked.
6. Jesus Freitez flied out but drove in a third run.
7. Luis Mendez walked.
8. Cameron Nelson smoked a ball past right field that almost landed on a car. Game over.

Do yourself a favor and just go watch that half inning.

---

Karros turning corner at the plate? HR signals step in right direction | MLB.com

It’s no secret that Kyle Karros has struggled at the plate to start his major league career. Thomas Harding talks to Karros and Warren Schaeffer about his early struggles and how he’s starting to see results. Between Karros’ insistence in this piece that his problems stemmed from not relaxing enough and his pre-season plan of maintaining the approach that he’d had success with in the minors, a picture of Karros as both confident and a bit stubborn may be beginning to emerge.

Rockies’ Ezequiel Tovar adjusting through highs and lows of high-profile year: ‘I’m not a robot’ | Denver Gazette ($)

In comparison, Kevin Henry’s recent piece detailing Ezequiel Tovar’s struggles to start the season show a different response to failure. In the piece Tovar goes into the frustration with his performance and the constant process of making adjustments to identified issues regardless of how the results are playing out on the field.

VOTE NOW! Help make Rockies All-Star Game starters | MLB.com

It’s somehow already June, which means that voting for the All-Star team has officially begun! Vote early, vote often as they say.

---

---

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

The month of May has only added more intrigue when it comes to the Yankees. With two full pages of the calendar behind us, the Bombers are still fighting to reclaim first place, with the Rays playing some good baseball to wrap up the spring.

Regardless of any team success or struggle, another month in the book means a new slate of defensive highlights to look back on. New York ranks as a roughly league-average defensive unit up to this point based on Outs Above Average, but that doesn’t mean they can’t flash the leather now and then. Here’s a look at May’s best.

May 3rd: Judge tracks it down

In a tied game in the third inning, the Orioles began to threaten when Taylor Ward slashed a ball towards the wall in right field. With the ball tailing and carrying all the way to the wall, Aaron Judge raced back and used every bit of his 6-foot-7 frame to reach and snag the ball. His jump took him into the wall fairly hard, but he held onto the ball, and secured the second out of the inning.

May 4th: Ryan McMahon goes full extension

Despite his flaws, which can grow tiring, Ryan McMahon’s calling card has always been his glove. Since his arrival, almost every edition of this series has featured some spectacular play by the Yankees’ third baseman, and May of ‘26 was no different. Later in the O’s series, with the Yankees leading in the seventh, Tim Hill induced a chopper down the line, which McMahon was fairly far from. This didn’t stop him from stabbing the grounder in a fully-extended dive toward foul territory planting his feet and firing a laser over to first base.

May 7th: Jasson Domínguez gives his all

In the very first at-bat in a game against the Rangers, Brandon Nimmo swatted a ball deep into left-center, destined for extra-bases. That was before Jasson Domínguez charged all the way back to the wall, and snagged the fly ball just a beat before crashing into the fence. It was a spectacular play to kick off the game, but certainly came at a cost, as he has not seen the field since then, with a fairly significant sprain of his AC joint on this play.

May 15th: Schlittler bounces back with a beauty

This is a bit of a two-for-one from the mid-May Subway Series. First, with one out in the third inning, Cam Schlittler took a low liner off the shoe, before Anthony Volpe redirected to collect the ball and make a slick play to record the out at first. An inning later, Schlittler showed his athleticism, when he pounced off the mound to barehand a soft chopper before making a terrific fadeaway throw over to first for the out. It was an eventful few innings for the righty, but was certainly a defensive highlight of the month.

May 20th: Bellinger uses every inch of the leather

Later in the month, in a 0-0 ballgame with a the Blue Jays, the Yankees once again benefitted from some fancy glovework. With Schlittler on the mound once again, the righty induced a slicing fly ball toward the left field wall off the bat of a lefty. Cody Bellinger got a good jump and was immediately headed toward the wall, and was forced to used all of his lengthy wingspan to bring in the second out of the inning. Like some of his teammates, a month of Yankees baseball is not complete without a highlight from Bellinger.

Hello, friends.

The short-lived winning streak is over. The Orioles have a remarkable talent this year of really putting up a crushing loss right after putting something positive together for a few days. They’ve yet to win more than three games in a row this season. That will continue to be the case for at best several days more. The latest three-gamer came to an end with last night’s 8-1 loss to the Red Sox. Check out Alex Church’s recap of the game for more of the not-so-lovely totals.

The game was a return to some of the rougher parts of this season. Starting pitcher Chris Bassitt labored through three innings; there was clear concern about something to do with his health. After the game, manager Craig Albernaz indicated that Bassitt was dealing with lower back tightness. I’m sure trying to pitch through that was tough. There have also been plenty of games this year where Bassitt pitched badly and there was no indication of any kind of injury.

There was no immediate sign from the team whether that might be an ongoing concern for Bassitt. If they think he needs the injured list, they’ll probably pull the trigger on that immediately, so they can get an extra reliever for the next few days and bring up somebody who might be within the window where they can’t come back to MLB except if replacing an injured player.

Another unfortunately familiar thing about last night’s game was the downsides of playing the infielder Blaze Alexander in center field. There was at least one supremely botched play from Alexander that led to further Red Sox offense within an inning. Stop putting infielders in the outfield! It shouldn’t be hard. But the apparent fanatical devotion to trying to press the platoon advantage has continuing downsides. At least Alexander is hitting a little better lately, so he’s not a total lost cause out there, only most of one.

All of this came while the offense was facing a left-handed starting pitcher in young Red Sox starter Payton Tolle. The Orioles broke the winless curse against lefty starters a while ago, but they haven’t gotten themselves back to a good place just yet. It doesn’t feel a whole lot better with the knowledge that, unlike many of the lefties who’ve worked the O’s over this year, Tolle has actually been good. He has a 2.28 ERA following last night’s outing. Must be nice to just draft a guy like that in the second round and have him turn into a solid major leaguer within two years.

After last night’s loss, the team is 7-14 when facing a lefty starter. This is another enduring challenge for the team, represented most dramatically in the person of Tyler O’Neill. The right-handed batting O’Neill is hitting .106 against lefties this year. It’s unreal. He sits at -1.1 bWAR through 92 games as an Oriole.

As with any other loss, last night’s setback was just one game. The Orioles have a chance to make us feel better as soon as today if they can play a better game. Taking a road series by winning today in Boston would ease the sting of what happened on Wednesday. The problem with hoping for this outcome is Trevor Rogers, who has spent the 2026 season getting punished for every bit of good fortune he had in 2025. Or, more likely, he just hasn’t been pitching well. The recent improvement from much of the starting rotation has left him behind.

Don’t show up at 7 o’clock for the game. It’s a 1:35 start time in the getaway day. As of this writing, there’s no listed Red Sox starting pitcher. They may use an opener or something. I don’t know. I try not to spend unnecessary time thinking about the Red Sox.

Orioles stuff you might have missed

Samuel Basallo says one plate appearance led to his breakout. Here’s how. (The Baltimore Banner)
In Basallo’s recounting, drawing a walk on April 20 was the start of something great. From that game through the start of last night’s game, he was OPSing over 1.000, so the story checks out.

“No elephants in the room”: Orioles players detail the value of Pete Alonso’s leadership (The Baltimore Sun)
I’ll feel better about the $31 million a year once he hits some more dingers. But, everyone seems to agree that this sort of leadership is what the Orioles were lacking, and that’s worth something.

Next step for the Orioles: Play better on the road (Steve on Baseball)
The Orioles are 19-15 at home, and after last night, are 10-18. If they were .500 on the road, they’d be 33-29 instead. Things would probably feel better if they’d managed four more road wins.

Frederick outfielder RJ Austin’s calling card is versatility (Baltimore Baseball)
The draft picks ahead of last year’s third rounder have understandably gotten a lot of attention. This Vanderbilt product could still make an impact.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

In their 62nd game last year, the Orioles lost to the Athletics, 5-4, leaving their record at 25-37 for the season. Dean Kremer gave up five runs in 5.1 innings, which meant home runs by Dylan Carlson and Jackson Holliday weren’t enough. The 2026 Orioles are currently 29-33. They continue to remain four wins better than last year’s team. They’re going to need more improvement eventually or this thing will end up at 79 wins.

There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2009-10 pitcher Cla Meredith, 2012 pitcher J.C. Romero, 1986 infielder Ricky Jones, and 1954 infielder Billy Hunter. Hunter passed away in Lutherville last year at age 97.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: revolutionary war loser George III (1738), actor Keith David (1956), and actress Angelina Jolie (1975).

On this day in history…

In 1411, French king Charles IV granted a monopoly to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon for the process of ripening cheese in nearby caves. The legally distinct Roquefort cheese continues to exist in European Union law today.

In 1745, Prussian monarch Frederick II led his forces to victory over the Austrians in the Battle of Hohenfriedberg, part of the War of the Austrian Succession. This decisive victory was one of those that led to Frederick getting “the Great” appended to his name.

In 1919, Congress approved the Nineteenth Amendment, which would guarantee suffrage to women. The amendment was then sent to the states for approval.

In 1942, Japanese carriers began to attack an American base at Midway Island, the start of a four-day battle where the American navy sunk all four Japanese carriers.

In 1989, protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square were violently suppressed by the Chinese army, leaving as many as 10,000 dead.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 4. Have a safe Thursday. Go O’s!

Nick Loftin chose a really good time to hit his first home run on the season.

The Royals found their resilience to go with a few desperately needed bullpen answers Wednesday night at Great American Ball Park.

Nick Loftin belted his first home run of the season in a three-run ninth as the Royals claimed the rubber game of the three-game series with a 5-2 win over the Reds.

It was just the sixth series-finale win in 20 tries this season for the Royals, who won their first road series since sweeping the Mariners in Seattle from May 1-3.

Loftin’s home run came after Michael Massey’s 10-pitch at-bat that ended with a tiebreaking single to right, scoring pinch-runner Tyler Tolbert – who was attempting to steal third on the pitch – to make it 3-2. All three runs in the ninth came off Cincinnati fill-in closer Tony Santillan (1-3), who took the loss.

Lucas Erceg is finally being moved out of the 9th inning… somewhat

As a result, Royals skipper Matt Quatraro announced before the series finale Wednesday that he will be making a change to the closer’s role.

“I think there’s two separate answers to that. In the short term, we’re going to match up, just based on who’s available that night and where we think the best avenue for us to get the win is,” Quatraro said. “But in the long term, I do think Erceg is a guy that we’re going to use in the ninth.”

Quatraro was careful to frame Wednesday’s announcement, making it clear that he won’t hesitate using the right-hander in higher-leverage situations. It just likely won’t be in the ninth if he feels he can use him earlier in the game. Erceg is 3-3 with a 6.45 ERA and a 1.97 WHIP in 24 appearances covering 22 1/3 innings this season.

Yandel Ricardo is tearing it up in Columbia currently.

It’s telling when a player goes 1-for-23 over a seven-game stretch and still has undeniably an impressive month. That’s what happened for Ricardo with Single-A Columbia, where he ran hot from May 2-13 (.325/.372/.675) and picked up a full head of steam of late (.455/.520/.864, two homers in eight games since May 24). The switch-hitting shortstop has already doubled his career home run high with four through 45 games for the Fireflies and is gaining plenty of momentum in his age-19 season.

Also in Columbia, Kendry Chourio continues to dominate as well.

The Royals’ No. 2 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s No. 77 overall, Chourio turned in 5 1/3 scoreless innings on Tuesday in a 3-1 win over Fayetteville at Segra Stadium. The stellar outing lowered his season ERA to 1.46.

It’s well known the Royals need to change it up in the bullpen, Kevin O’Brien of Royals Keep spoke on it.

Luinder Avila had his best MLB start on Monday, O’Brien also talked about how he may be vital for KC

The Royals got outfielder Matthew Lugo, Caleb Moody of Kings of Kauffman talked about the acquisition.

MLB.com insider Mark Feinsand talked about the Royals trade deadline intentions after the slow start

Shohei Ohtani lowered his season ERA under 1.00

Christopher Sánchez’s long scoreless inning streak finally was snapped by the Padres

All-Star Voting is already happening

Mauricio Dubón has an interesting charm, and it’s working lately

CBA talks with Rob Manfred are happening

Aaron Judge to get more testing on rib cage

The Knicks took game one of the NBA Finals in San Antonio against the Spurs last night

Today’s song of the day is Hells Bells by AC/DC

What else is there to say about Cristopher Sánchez at this point? The streak may have ended at 50.2 innings, but he’s still the record holder for the longest streak as a left handed pitcher and is one of five pitchers ever to have a scoreless streak of at least 50 innings. We will likely never see something like this again in our lifetimes.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• We finally have some more clarity on Aidan Miller’s injury, except that its bad news, as Miller will undergo a back procedure and will be out of action for roughly 6-8 weeks.
• As may have been expected, Cristopher Sánchez has been named NL pitcher of the month for the month of May, beating out Milwaukee’s Jacob Misiorowski.
• The Phillies are winning despite their poor offense thanks to pitching and the efforts of their big three lefty hitters in Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Brandon Marsh. ($)

MLB News:

• Well, it looks like Nick Castellanos won’t be getting his chance for a revenge game after all, as it was announced he was designated for assignment yesterday by the Padres.
• The Yankees are holding their collective breath as Aaron Judge sees a specialist for a bone bruise in his rib that is causing discomfort in his shoulder.
• Tarik Skubal figures to be the biggest name bandied about trade rumors this summer. Here are 7 possible locations he could get dealt to. ($)
• I regret to inform you, but it looks like the Dodgers’ Roki Sasaki is putting it all together.