Happy Friday, everyone! Can you believe it? We’re already at the last weekend of play before the All-Star break. The season has already passed the halfway mark officially, but the All-Star Break feels like the marker where we really see which teams are going to make a push for the postseason.
The All-Star Game will also see a pitching icon who is currently on the IL get acknowledged with the “Legend” selection, and that’s Tigers’ pitcher Justin Verlander, who has spent most of the 2026 season injured. He has now come out and announced that he has heard his body’s message loud and clear, and the 2026 season will officially be his last. Right after finding out he’d be headed to Philly for the ASG, he took to his social media to announce his decision.
It remains to be seen if Verlander will return to the mound in the latter half of the season, but for him and for Tigers’ fans, it would be nice to see him go out on a high note.
Now on to the rest of today’s links.
- Ryan Blake looks at the stars who have bowed out of the All-Star Game and how many of them are on West Coast teams making postseason bids.
- Tim Capurso has a handy guide to all the All-Star replacement players.
- Todd Zolecki reports that Bryce Harper will be making the home team proud as he joins the Home Run Derby.
- SI has some fun quizzes to see if you can remember the All-Star starting pitchers and also the All-Star MVPs since 2000.
- Justin Verlander announced he will retire at the end of the season. Story by Cody Stavenhagen. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- Tyler Kepner shares that Justin Verlander’s retirement means that the 300-win club may now be closed forever.(The Athletic subscription required.)
- Cody Stavenhagen shares how the new generation of pitchers acknowledge they’re now playing a different game than Verlander. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- Shohei Ohtani can’t go a week without breaking or setting new records.
- Just how high can Shohei Ohtani go in terms of home runs? David Adler tries to determine of the sky is the limit.
- Jake Mailhot assesses Dylan Cease’s no-hit bid, and whether he’s making a Cy Young case for himself.
- Bryan Hoch shares that Aaron Judge will be assessed over the All-Star break to determine his road to return.
- Alan Porter has been named the umpire crew chief for the All-Star Game. (AP)
- Anthony Volpe denies reports that he refused to play second base, calling them “BS.” (ESPN)
- Now that’s how you start your MLB career.
- Davy Andrews reports on Konnor Griffin, who is headed back to the IL.
- Dan Gartland looks at just how bad the Yankees have been without Aaron Judge.
- Karl Rasmussen looks at the most pleasant surprises from the first half of the season.
- Jeff Passan offers trade deadline candidates for all the contending teams.
- Willson Contreras has had his suspension reduced to five games. (ESPN)
- Munetaka Murakami will make his return to the White Sox today. (AP)
- A great video to introduce the four inaugural teams of the WPBL and what their names mean.
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.