Category: MLB

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

Hello, friends.

The west coast road trip of disappointment is finally over. At times, it seemed like it could have been something better than it was. If only the Orioles had scored more than six runs in three games against the Mariners. If only they hadn’t blown the series opener against the Dodgers. If only they hadn’t laid an egg against Ryan Johnson. And then, added to the pile freshly yesterday, if only they hadn’t… I don’t even know how to describe that. Check out Tyler Young’s recap of the game for more of the not-so-lovely totals.

These guys ain’t got it. They can trick you a little bit for a few days at a time at most, and because of the general state of the American League they haven’t yet faced a crisis point in the standings stemming from not having it. But we’re now past the halfway point of the season and it’s clear that this is what they are. There is not some other, better thing waiting inside to break out.

The Orioles are everything bad that they inflict upon us in more than half of their games. Perhaps there is nothing more representative than the play in the tenth inning where the Angels tied the game, where Keegan Akin was slow to cover first base and therefore did not catch what would have otherwise been an easy toss to end the game, and this error let the go-ahead run get all the way to third base. That runner promptly scored on a bad-luck (for the Orioles) chopper where only catcher Samuel Basallo could field it and he tried to tag the runner because Akin wasn’t moving for home.

He was not able to do this and they lost. Maybe he should have tried to throw to first instead. I don’t know. After the game, Basallo took the blame for this decision:

In a lot of ways, the specifics don’t matter as much as the fact that there’s always something stupid that finds a way to happen. That is just how the 2026 Orioles do it. I don’t understand why or how they do it. They just do. If you didn’t know any better, you might think that they never practice anything, routine or otherwise, to do with fielding baseballs.

They could have built something after winning two of three against the Dodgers. They could have! They just can’t do it because the players aren’t good enough. Mike Elias did not put together a roster with the horses to do this thing. He apparently thought the relief corps he assembled could get him through the season. What’s happened is a couple of guys were good in April and/or May and nobody else was, and now the good ones are collapsing too, as in the case of Rico Garcia’s contribution to yesterday’s loss. They wasted a game where Basallo hit two home runs for the first time in his career. It could have felt good.

The fact that the game unraveled in the hands of the bullpen does make the decision to lift yesterday’s starter, Trey Gibson, after only 66 pitches, something worth second-guessing. This was not a desperation move. Gibson could have gone for longer. He wasn’t struggling at the end; he’d given up runs in the first inning and then was doing better.

There was, of course, a logic to it. The bullpen had been lightly used in recent days and, with an off day tomorrow, spreading the work around was important because if guys get rusty and stink for that reason, that’s not good either. Gibson dodged the third time through the order penalty and things were lined up so five guys could get an inning. This failed on the first guy: Grant Wolfram couldn’t get an inning. Tyler Wells saved his bacon, then Yennier Cano couldn’t get an inning. Garcia got an inning but gave up three runs in the process.

On the other hand, if Gibson had pitched six innings instead, the Orioles probably still would have turned to Garcia in either the eighth or the ninth inning and would have been just as vulnerable to getting wrecked by June Garcia. They don’t have any good choices because they haven’t given themselves any good choices.

We all get a day off from them today. That’s nice. I need one after watching that Wednesday game squandered in the most frustrating fashion possible. Do you have anything fun planned on this off night? I’ll likely try to take a bite out of one of my nerdy pursuits, logging some time in a JRPG called Trails of Cold Steel.

Orioles stuff you might have missed

Ike Irish could be a key piece for the Orioles. The question is where. (The Baltimore Sun)
Having prospects where you’re not actually sure where on the diamond they’re going to play hasn’t quite worked out for the Orioles yet. Maybe Irish will go a different direction.

Updates on Jackson Holliday and Adley Rutschman (Baltimore Baseball)
It’s far down the list of things to complain about after everything else that happened yesterday, but the Orioles not having Holliday available for four straight games and not just putting him on the injured list so the team ends up short-handed is silly and counterproductive. One visible manifestation of this was Leody Taveras having to play third base mid-gae a couple of days ago.

Collecting trading cards is exploding. Orioles and Nationals players collect them, too. (The Baltimore Banner)
I have a tough time getting excited about fun side stories in the aftermath of days like yesterday, but I’m sharing this in case you might feel differently.

This last one is about a former Oriole.

Cedric Mullins is elevating and… oh no. (FanGraphs)
The .199/.286/.305 for Mullins this year is sad to see. Apparently, he’s currently in position to set a record for highest fly-ball percentage by a batter ever recorded.

Birthdays and Orioles anniversaries

The most recent Orioles victory on this day came in 2023. That year’s team beat the Mariners, 3-2, to raise their record to 47-29. That’s pretty good! Kyle Bradish tossed seven innings with two runs allowed and the Orioles only gave up three hits all game. Only two players who appeared in that game for the O’s remain on the 40-man roster: Bradish and Gunnar Henderson.

There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2008-11 outfielder Luke Scott, 2000-01 pitcher Ryan Kohlmeier, and 1977 pitcher Dick Drago.

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: five-star Air Force general Henry Arnold (1886), author George Orwell (1903), singer-songwriter Carly Simon (1943), baskeball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo (1966), and actress Mckenna Grace (2006).

On this day in history…

In 1876, Lt. Col. Custer led his men of the 7th Cavalry Regiment into an ambush by a force of three native tribes that had him outnumbered more than 10-1. The Battle of the Little Bighorn was one of the last battles that saw the army battle native tribes; despite the victory in the battle, the Great Sioux War came to a close before long and the tribes could not withstand a reinforced army.

In 1947, The Diary of a Young Girl, secretly written by Anne Frank, was published posthumously.

In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, beginning the Korean War. There was an armistice after close to three years of fighting, though the two Koreas have never concluded a peace treaty so the war has technically never ended.

In 1978, the rainbow flag waved at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade, the first time that was used to represent gay pride. Tomorrow night is Pride Night at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

**

And that’s the way it is in Birdland on June 25. Have a safe Thursday.

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)

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

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. ($)

Well, that was fast.

Major League Baseball has reached the halfway point of its season – actual, not symbolic, with the All-Star Game not tipping off until July 14 in Philadelphia. But come Thursday, June 24, more teams than not will have played 81 games, and it’s all downhill until this baby wraps up Sept. 27.

Weird year, right? The league is filled with lots of bad teams who really aren’t out of it, leaving observers to ponder if any team is actually any good. Perhaps the hot summer months will bring clarity.

Or perhaps we’ll wonder why MLB will insist on a lockout for competitive balance when everyone is mid.

Either way, now’s a fine time to look at the many eye-opening paces that teams and players alike have set. Perhaps some of them will even hold up.

But for now, the math’s easy, so here’s seven numbers that catch our eye should they hold up come Game 162:

10: American League teams below .500

Yeah, that’s two-thirds of the league under water. #IfTheSeasonEndedToday (and it doesn’t), the Toronto Blue Jays would claim a wild card spot with a losing record.

What gives?

Well, it’s easy enough to look at the interleague records and realize 12 of 15 teams have losing records against the National League. The Angels (9-18) and Twins (9-17) are the worst of the bunch, while only the Mariners (12-11) and Rangers (16-14) are above .500.

Bo Bichette (Blue Jays to Mets) and Alex Bregman (Red Sox to Cubs) hopped leagues, and while they haven’t lit up the scoreboard with their new clubs, their losses are palpable for the teams they left. Tarik Skubal remains in the AL, for now, and while he missed five weeks and his team has floundered, the Tigers are still alive.

WASHINGTON – Cristopher Sánchez and Jacob Misiorowski are on a collision course that leads directly to Philadelphia on July 14.

The Phillies left-hander and the Milwaukee Brewers’ velocity-crazed right-hander are far and away the two best pitchers in the National League this season and could create a quandary for their teams and Major League Baseball, while opening up a year-old wound.

Which one starts the All-Star Game?

In any other season, Sánchez would be an easy choice. After all, the game is returning to Philly for the first time since 1996, and Sánchez posted the lion’s share of his amazing 55 2/3-inning scoreless streak – longest in major league history for a left-hander – at Citizens Bank Park.

Ah, but then there’s Misiorowski, again posing a roadblock that could affect Sánchez.

The Brewers’ 6-foot-7 24-year-old leads major league qualified starters with a 1.45 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and 138 strikeouts in 93 innings. He threw the fastest pitch ever recorded by a starting pitcher – 104.5 mph – and showed the Phillies how dominant he can be.

On June 12, Misiorowski threw a one-hit shutout with 15 strikeouts against the Phillies, just the third pitcher to punch out that many batters while allowing just one baserunner.

And while back in the day, the long ball was the in thing, nowadays it’s velocity that gets more clicks.

Toledo Mud Hens 5, Worcester Red Sox 4 (box)

A big game from John Peck and a strong effort from the bullpen carried the Mud Hens over Worcester on Wednesday.

Dylan File got the start for Toledo and he didn’t last long. The Red Sox got to him for three runs in the first and knocked him out of the game. Scott Effross did a nice job on short notice taking over and getting them through the third with only an unearned run allowed. From there, Tyler Mattison fired a pair of scoreless innings, and Cole Waites returned from the IL for a scoreless sixth, while Beau Brieske blanked them in the seventh.

In his second Triple-A game, John Peck got his first homer with a 104 mph solo shot to right center field in the top of the second.

In the fourth, Eduardo Valencia and Gage Workman walked with one out. Peck smoked an RBI double to center, and then a grounder from Brett Callahan was thrown away, scoring both Workman and Peck to tie the game 4-4.

In the fifth, Corey Julks cracked a solo shot for the go-ahead run, and the bullpen kept locking it down, with Nick Sandlin handling the final two innings for a six-out save. Unfortunately, Peck tweaked something trying to beat out a hit in the sixth, and had to leave the game with what I will guess is a right hamstring strain. He did walk off under his own power so hopefully it’s fairly minor.

Peck: 2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR

Julks: 1-4, R, RBI, HR, 2 K

Mattison (W, 4-0): 2.0 IP, 0 R, 0 H, BB, 3 K

Coming Up Next: The Hens will look to make it four in a row at 6:45 p.m. ET.

Erie SeaWolves 8, Binghamton Rumble Ponies 4 (box)

Hayden Minton’s first Double-A start didn’t go great as he struggled with his control, but the offense flashed some power and drew nine walks in this one, easily outpacing the Rumble Ponies in this one.

Minton allowed a run in the first and another in the third. A couple of walks in the fourth ended his night, with Yosber Sanchez coming on to immediately induce an inning ending double play.

Meanwhile, the offense kept pace in the first when Seth Stephenson led off by reaching on an error. Thayron Liranzo walked with one out, and Chris Meyers singled in Stephenson.

So it was 1-1, and then Minton gave up a run in the third. The SeaWolves answered right back and took control with a three-run bottom of the third.

Stephenson led off with a walk and Peyton Graham doubled him to third. A Liranzo sac fly scored Stephenson, and Meyers drew a walk to put runners at the corners. Garrett Pennington singled in Graham, and an Izaac Pacheco sacrifice fly scored Meyers for a 4-2 lead.

Carlos Peña allowed the Ponies to tie it up in the sixth, but in the bottom of the seventh the SeaWolves took over for good. Graham led off with a solo shot, and Pacheco later doubled off the wall in left center field to drive in Meyers for a 6-4 lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, a leadoff single from Andrew Jenkins was followed by three straight walks, leading to two more runs.

Graham: 2-3, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B, HR, 2 BB

Meyers: 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB, K

Pacheco: 1-2, 2 RBI, 2B, BB, K

Minton: 3.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 2 K

Coming Up Next: The SeaWolves will try to run their winning streak to six on Thursday at 6:05 p.m. ET.

Dayton Dragons 12, West Michigan Whitecaps 6 (box)

Ben Jacobs was really wild for the first time in this one, and he got absolutely mauled for nine runs by the Dragons on Wednesday.

Jacobs just couldn’t find the handle on anything. He walked five and surrendered a pair of home runs, exiting with two outs in the third with nine runs total allowed. Woof.

It was even worse as he was gifted a three run lead in the top of the first when Ricardo Hurtado and Jackson Strong each homered. Hurtado’s came with Bryce Rainer aboard after one of three walks drawn by him on the night.

Strong led off the sixth with his second homer on the day, and the center fielder now has eight on the year and six in the month of June. Juan Hernandez followed later in the inning with a two-run shot of his own.

The bullpen leaked a pair of late runs as the Dragons kept the ‘Caps at arm’s length.

Strong: 2-4, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 HR, K

Hurtado: 1-3, R, 2 RBI, HR, BB

Jacobs (L, 1-1): 2.2 IP, 9 ER, 6 H, 5 BB, 4 K

Coming Up Next: It’s a 7:05 p.m. ET start in Dayton on Thursday.

Daytona Tortugas 10, Lakeland Flying Tigers 3 (box)

Despite 11 hits and three walks, the Flying Tigers managed to score just three runs, while starter Cash Kuiper took a beating at the Tortugas hands.

Kuiper gave up six runs in 4.1 innings of work. He gave up a home run, but it was really a clinic in stringing hits together in start contrast to his teammates in this one.

It was already 3-0 Tortugas when the Flying Tigers got on board in the top of the fifth. Nick Dumesnil led off the fifth with a double. Jack Goodman later singled him in. Javier Osorio singled Goodman to third, but was thrown out trying to steal second. Jordan Yost followed with a walk, but Beau Ankeney struck out.

In the sixth, Edian Espinal led off with a double and Carson Rucker singled him to third and then stole second base with one out. Espinal scored on a Dumesnil ground out, and Jesus Pinto doubled in Rucker to make it a 6-3 game.

Unfortunately, Donye Evans allowed three runs in the bottom of the seventh, and that put this one to bed.

Pinto: 2-4, RBI, 2B

Espinal: 2-5, R, 2B

Rucker: 2-3, R, BB, K, SB

Kuiper (L, 1-3): 4.1 IP, 6 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 2 K

Coming Up Next: The Flying Tigers will look to end a little skid at 6:35 p.m. ET on Thursday.

Good morning, all. The Yankees finished off what turned out to be a nice three-game set in Detroit last night, as Paul Goldschmidt turned back the clock with a multi-homer game off no less a foe than defending two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. Jasson Domínguez had his own key bomb off Skubal as well, just the second time the switch-hitter has gone deep in the bigs against a southpaw.

That’s not too shabby for a series that began with the Yanks’ third loss in a row. They’re back on the ol’ winning series path as they head up to Beantown to see if they can avoid playing down to the mostly-hapless Red Sox. It’s hard to win three of four at Fenway in any circumstance because that ballpark can just make weird games, but that should still, of course, be the goal.

For today’s question, we’re checking out the SB Nation Reacts survey results from the poll that ran earlier in the week. We asked how you would grade Yankees manager Aaron Boone’s 2026 season to date. They have the best record in the American League, but the plurality gave him a C:

Now as they say, C’s get degrees, but this is still a little surprising, even with Boone’s shaky reputation among Yankees fans. (And that’s to say nothing of the 12 percent who failed him.)

I don’t see Boone as any great skipper or anything like that, but they do seem to have played well under him despite some tough circumstances, namely lengthy injuries to the likes of Aaron Judge and Max Fried, their two best players on opposite sides of the ball in 2025. Although no manager is immune to the odd bullpen decision here and there — and boy, Boone does have his moments — the odd calls have been kept to a relative minimum in my opinion. I do also think that we’ve still seen too much of Anthony Volpe at shortstop, so it’s fair to ding for that, even with José Caballero cooling down a bit since coming back off the IL.

Maybe I’m a tough grader, but to me, you have to really stand out as a manager to get an A grade. Still, I’d be happy to give Boone a B for how he’s fared early on. I’m with the 24 percent. If this poll has enough options to allow it, I’d probably grant closer to B+ or A- if we’re being honest.

So if you were a little more cautious about giving Boone a better grade, what would be your rationale? My best guess is that the C is a stand-in for “Fine, but the first half has rarely been an issue under Boone, so it’s hard to get too jazzed just yet.”

Today on the site, Matt will preview this upcoming four-game set at Fenway and he’ll return for the Rivalry Roundup. Nick will then celebrate the 63rd (!) birthday of a hard-hitting catcher who played on both sides of the rivalry, Mike Stanley. Jonathan will take the opportunity of Cam Schlittler vs. Connelly Early to remember some of the more notable and consstent pitching matchups in the rivalry’s history, and Kento will delve into why the Yankees’ bullpen has been fine on the whole, if not a bit underwhelming.

Today’s Matchup

New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox

Time: 7:10 p.m. EST

TV: YES, NESN, MLB Network

Venue: Fenway Park, Boston, MA

The Reacts survey results are sponsored by FanDuel.

MLB.com | Thomas Harrigan: Yesterday afternoon, the Yankees announced that they had placed third baseman Ryan McMahon on the 10-day IL with a throat infection. According to Greg Joyce on Twitter, he was diagnosed with peritonsillar abscess, a rather unpleasant-sounding tonsil infection that has prompted doctors to recommend him not to engage in any physical activity for at least 72 hours. To take his place, the team has recalled fan favorite utilityman Oswaldo Cabrera from Triple-A Scranton, who makes his return to the Majors after fracturing his ankle last May.

The Athletic | Dennis Lin: (subscription required) Ever year, The Athletic polls the players of Major League Baseball in order to get a sense as to what the league thinks about, well, everything that the fans want to know. Rather encouragingly for readers of this blog, the Yankees were the second most common response to the question, “Which organizations have good reputations among players?” (behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers). More specifically, players praised the front office and ownership, saying that they are “willing to do what they need to do to keep their players happy;” they were also praised for their medical staff.

ESPN | Buster Olney: Over the last few years, left-handed hitters have been at an advantage throughout baseball, with yet another jump in relative wRC+ occuring this year. After speaking to some catchers, Buster Olney speculates that the new ABS system may be responsible, as it has eliminated (or at least minimized) lefties’ biggest advantage: the ability of catchers to frame glove-side pitches more easily. While not everyone agrees with the hypothesis, the data clearly shows that left-handed bats are having an easier time at the plate this year than their righty-swinging counterparts.

The Athletic | Tim Britton, Johnny Flores Jr., Chad Jennings and Eno Sarris: (subscription required) With July rapidly approaching, the trade deadline will soon be in our sights. To help prepare fans, The Athletic published their list of 50 players that may be available this deadline. While Tarik Skubal, who started last night for the Tigers, is the biggest name on the list, several players — such as Houston shortstop Jeremy Peña, Giants second baseman Luis Arraez, and Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers — who may be of interest to Yankees fans.

The Athletic | Ken Rosenthal: (subscription required) Generally, I try to avoid putting two paywalled articles here, let alone three, but if you have access to The Athletic, this is definitely worth a read. Ken Rosenthal dives into Major League Baseball’s first CBA proposal, focusing on the league’s plan to shrink the draft — a proposal that Rosenthal describes as “counter to that message,” that message being the league’s alleged commitment to growing the game of baseball. We’ve said similar things here at Pinstripe Alley, but don’t take our word for it; Rosenthal is one of the most connected journalists in the sport.

Lastly, we want to send out our best happy retirement wishes to an old friend. The Trenton Thunder may no longer be the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate, but we will have always love their batdog program and Rookie officially retired last night. He followed the footsteps (paw prints?) of Chase and Derby, and Dash will keep the program alive. Rookie rules and we love him.

It’s safe to say that Wednesday night was the best night of Victor Bericoto’s young major league career. On a night where he gunned down a runner at home plate, the 24-year-old rookie hit a two-out 9th inning home run off OaklandLas Vegas Sacramento Athletics closer Elvis Alvarado (3-3) to give the San Francisco Giants a 2-1 victory.

Bericoto’s team trailed 1-0 going into the final inning, thanks to a home run by Max “No Not That One” Muncy, who went deep in the 8th inning to break a scoreless tie. Erik Miller (1-0) pitched out of a jam in the top of the inning, aided by some fine outfield defense, which set the stage for the Giants’ dinger party in the bottom half.

First, Rafael Devers treated an Alvarado four-seam fastball like it was a story about him refusing to come out of the game for a pinch-runner, and his bat was the media. Devers blew it all out of proportion, launching the ball 416 feet into center field. Take that, organic eatery!

Then Alvarado hung a slider to Bericoto, and he blasted a rainbowGod’s promise to humanity a secular, parabolically-arcing home run 445 feet over the wall, delighting Giants fans and reminding A’s fans what a truly punishing experience supporting their ungrateful team can be.

It’s a shame that starter Tyler Mahle couldn’t get his second win of the season after throwing 5.2 scoreless innings, striking out four, walking two, and giving up two hits. Mahle retired the first nine batters he faced, didn’t give up a hit until the 5th inning, and generally enjoyed his best outing in seven weeks, before his injured list stint for a totally-real ailment that wasn’t just cover for Mahle, well, sucking ass.

The Giants helped out Mahle on defense Wednesday night. In the 4th inning, Casey Schmitt started a double play with a backhanded stop and flip to Willy Adames. One batter later, Jung Hoo Lee chased down a long drive while crashing into the right field wall.

It’s been a brutal series for Lee so far. He’s crashed into a wall and been clotheslined by the second baseman thanks to an errant throw while stealing second. Jacob Wilson had to barehand another wild throw to protect Lee while he stood on second on a different play. Early in Wednesday’s game, Lee almost got drilled with a foul ball while minding his own business in the dugout.

Later, Lee crashed into a chain-link fence on a different part of the right field wall while robbing pinch-hitter Jonah Heim with two out and two on in the top of the 9th inning. Perhaps Lee struck a deal with the baseball gods, where he became unstoppable at the plate in exchange for the ballpark actively trying to kill him.

In the 5th inning, Mahle escaped a two-on, one-out jam with a rarely-seen 4-7-2 double play. Schmitt snagged a Lawrence Butler line drive, then threw wildly to second trying to double Wilson off second. When the throw bounced into left field, Wilson tried to score, only to be gunned down by Victor Bericoto, despite Wilson’s creative efforts to dodge Eric Haase’s tag.

The Giants did very little against Athletics’ ace Gage Jump, who is apparently named after an X Games BMX event. Jump struck out nine hitters in five innings, with the home hitters struggling get a loud foul off the 23-year-old lefty. That being said, they did get a lot of foul balls off Jump — 21 in the first three innings. Jump struck out the side in the first inning, but it took him 19 pitches. He needed 17 pitches to retire Devers twice, while Bericoto and Haase each fouled off three two-strike pitches before going down on strikes.

That meant Jump hit 97 pitches after five innings and the A’s bullpen took over. That didn’t help the Giants until the 8th, when pich-hitter Drew Gilbert and Matt Chapman drew walks, only to see Luis “Funky Cold” Medina whiff both Bryce Eldridge and Schmitt.

In the bullpen. Ryan Walker continued to be untouchable during Pride Month, either by opposing hitters or the commissioner’s office. He pitched a scoreless 7th, striking out Wilson, and has now given up only one hit and one walk in 4.2 innings in June.

But was Bericoto’s night as the Giants moved to 4-1 against their Highway 80 rivals. They’ll close the series Thursday, and if home runs are contagious, they couldn’t be facing a better pitcher than Jeffrey Springs, who has given up 21 homers so far this year. And he’s left-handed, which means Bericoto should get a shot at him. Who knows, maybe Mark Kotsay lets Springs run the bases and Bericoto can throw him out at the plate, too.

There are a variety of types of victories in baseball. You can have offensive blowouts, dominant pitching performances, slugfests with each team trading body blows among many others. But one of the most satisfying types in my opinion is an all-around team effort where each phase of the game performs well in support of each other. Those types of victories have been tough to come by for the Diamondbacks over the last few weeks as the team has experienced renewed injury issues across the roster and inconsistent play both within and between games. So on days where everything seems to click well, it’s worth reflecting on that performance. There were bullpen arms that stepped up, a young rookie starter, and of course, some excellent defense that kept the Cardinals off the board.

The Arizona offense used one of those big innings that Torey Lovullo keeps talking about Diamondback pitchers avoiding with an offensive eruption in the fourth. It started innocently enough with a leadoff single to Corbin Carroll and a walk to Gabriel Moreno but ended with back-to-back home runs from LuJames Groover (the first of his career) and Ketel Marte (the 184th of his career). In between, the D-Backs plated three runs on a bloop single from Tommy Troy and an Ildemaro Vargas double down the line. It’s especially important to get significant offensive production from those two given that they’re often placed in the latter half or bottom third of the lineup and can set the table for the elite batters at the top of the lineup. After that eruption, the Arizona bats went dormant until they added some much-needed insurance runs with timely hits from both Troy and Marte again in the seventh and eighth.

But of course, the other major storyline heading into tonight: Mitch Bratt’s major league debut. It was the second MLB debut the D-Backs have seen this week after Jose Cabrera’s scoreless outing on Sunday against the Twins. Sadly, Bratt’s debut wasn’t quite as successful as Cabrera’s, but equally symbolic of the additional youth movement taking over the team’s roster. Despite aiming to have Bratt run through the lineup twice, Lovullo opted to pull the rookie after just one turn through the St Louis lineup. It was an understandable decision given that Bratt is still working his way back from injury and threw just 48 pitches in his last outing with Reno last week, but part of me still would have liked to have seen Lovullo give Bratt one chance to get through another inning and build some additional confidence. Even still, there were plenty of encouraging signs that he and fans can take away from the abbreviated appearance including collecting the first three strikeouts of his big league career and seven whiffs. As a control pitcher primarily, Bratt’s command slipped at times, but that’s completely understandable given the incredible nerves he was probably feeling.

Even though Bratt’s debut will obviously get most of the press for the game, the parade of relievers who came into the game in support deserve plenty of praise too. Ryan Thompson was the first out of the bullpen and his two innings of one-run ball set the table for the rest of his fellow relievers who combined for six innings of three-run baseball. Tomorrow, the D-Backs will look for a rare four-game series win. If they can keep playing high-quality team baseball like they did today, it could be a fun second half of baseball.

The New York Mets haven't had the best start to the 2026 season and it seems changes are to come.

The Mets have a 34-46 record after their 10-3 and 10-5 losses to the Chicago Cubs on June 24. After the game, the clubs decided to swap a pair of players.

The Cubs are acquiring left-hander David Peterson from the Mets, ESPN baseball insider Jeff Passan first reported.

More: Star shortstop Francisco Lindor returns, but Mets still face injury woes

In his most recent game, Peterson took the mound against the Phillies in a 6-2 loss on June 21. He threw five strikeouts in four innings pitched. In 79 pitches thrown, he allowed six hits, including a home run, and five runs.

In exchange for Peterson, the Mets will receive the Cubs' No. 13 prospect, Cole Mathis, a first baseman and designated hitter, according to MLB.com.

More: MLB trade deadline rumors start with Tarik Skubal intrigue

David Peterson stats

Peterson has a 3-6 record as a pitcher so far in the 2026 season. He's played 16 games and started eight of them for New York. Peterson has pitched 68 innings and has a 6.09 ERA.

Batters have went yard on him only six times, but he's allowed 82 hits and 51 runs. He's tossed 63 strikeouts and has a 1.65 WHIP.

David Peterson contract

Peterson will be a free agent at the end of the 2026 season. He signed a one-year deal with the Mets worth $8.1 million.

How old is David Peterson?

Peterson is 30 years old. He first joined MLB in 2020 and has played all seven seasons of his career for the Mets.

Peterson was drafted by the New York Mets with the 20th pick in the first round of the 2017 MLB Draft.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY Sports: New York Mets trade David Peterson to Chicago Cubs for prospect