Category: MLB

If you haven’t heard, the Guardians’ number 1 prospect in the farm system, Ralphy Velasquez, has been tearing the cover off the ball all season in the minor leagues, including hitting 8 home runs so far in August. Today we’ll take a look at how the season has gone so far for Ralphy, and look at some possible reasons why the Guardians haven’t given him the call despite hurting for some offense in 2026.

(Data from TJStats)

We can see Ralphy has been putting up some impressive numbers so far this season. The numbers vs LHP are especially impressive. We can see there are some dips when compared to the numbers vs RHP, but viewed on their own the numbers vs LHP are still impressive. So why haven’t the Guardians, who have been incredibly aggressive with calling up young talent so far in 2026, given Ralphy a run at the Major League level yet? The answer might be the potential of a lockout in 2027 if the MLBPA and owners do not sign a new CBA before the start of next season.

As it stands currently players on the 40 man roster are under the MLB CBA, and players not on the 40 man roster are under the MiLB CBA. If a lockout were to happen no player on the 40 man roster would be able to play even in minor league games, but all the players not on the 40 man roster are able to keep playing Minor League Baseball. Ralphy Velasquez is currently not on the 40 man roster. By keeping him off it, the Guardians are preserving the ability for him to continue his development in 2027 by playing baseball games every day.

The decision may ultimately come down to “is the 2026 playoff run worth risking stalling the development of the next potential big hitter coming up to the big leagues?” If the Guardians call him up now, he’d be added to the 40 man roster, and if there is a lockout that lasts through 2027, he may not be able to play professional baseball and continue his development during that time. The alternative is to leave him in AAA for what remains of 2026. If there is no lockout, he can come to spring training and earn a chance to make the team out of camp in 2027. If there is a lockout, however, he could remain in the minors and continue playing through 2027, potentially giving him a full season of development before getting a chance to join the Guardians in 2028.

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You know Toronto is on a heater when I can't stray from riding with them as part of my Blue Jays vs. Yankees prediction - even on a bullpen day.

The Toronto Blue Jays are now just one game back of the Wild Card and are going for their sixth straight series win today as +150 underdogs against the New York Yankees at BET99.

Let’s dive into my MLB picks for Saturday, Aug. 15, and cash a same-game parlay, shall we?

Yankees vs Blue Jays predictions

Yankees vs Blue Jays best bet: Blue Jays +1.5 (-120)

For as good as Cam Schlittler has been for the New York Yankees - he and Dylan Cease are in a battle for AL Cy Young odds - the Toronto Blue Jays have owned him during his young career.

The Jays own a .290 xBA against the young right-hander and are striking out at just a 17% clip, which is incredible considering Schlittler owns a 31.4% K rate this year.

On the other side, Brayden Fisher has made quick work of these Yankees, striking New York out 43% of the time over a smaller sample size (21 at-bats). We're rocking with the rested bullpen to keep this one close.

I'd play this one up to -130 at BET99.

COVERS INTEL:Kazuma Okamoto has a tendency to crush the Yankees in Toronto, hitting 2 home runs with a .727 Slugging Percentage across a 3-game series in June, including a 423-foot blast with a 111.4 mph exit velocity. 

Yankees vs Blue Jays same-game parlay (SGP)

The Under is a perfect 5-0 in the Blue Jays' last five home games against a righty, and 6-1 in their last seven when they're a home underdog. The way both of these offenses are performing as of late, I would expect another low-scoring, close, gritty game.

Jesus Sanchez consistently generates his highest power output and extra-base hit rates when facing righties. While Schlittler isn't shabby on his end, Sánchez possesses elite quality-of-contact metrics against New York’s pitching staff, regularly flaunting a Hard-Hit Rate over 50% and generating exit velocities in excess of 110 mph.

Not to mention, playing at home in a middle-of-the-order run-producing slot adds some razzle dazzle to his production. Sanchez's high barrel rate means a single crisp line drive with runners on base — or even crossing the plate himself after reaching — can easily clear the 2+ H/R/RBI threshold in just one or two plate appearances.

Go for it on Sanchez handling business today.

Yankees vs Blue Jays SGP

• Blue Jays +1.5
• Jesus Sanchez Over 1.5 H/R/RBI
• Under 7.5

Yankees vs Blue Jays home run pick: Kazuma Okamoto (+575)

Kazuma Okamoto is the only guy in this lineup with a homer off Schlittler and has quietly come into his own lately, registering four hits across his last four games. The strikeout numbers are still there, but I'll rock with his 43.8% hard-hit rate to get the job done for us tonight.

Yankees vs Blue Jays odds

• Moneyline: New York (-175) | Toronto (+150)
• Run line: New York -1.5 | Toronto +1.5 (-120)
• Over/Under: Over 7.5 (+100) | Under 7.5 (-100)

Yankees vs Blue Jays trend

Blue Jays are 4-0 in their last four home games vs. a right-handed starter - that bodes well for us today. Find more MLB betting trends for Yankees vs. Blue Jays.

How to watch Yankees vs Blue Jays and game info

Yankees vs Blue Jays latest injuries

Yankees vs Blue Jays weather

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The San Diego Padres were not perfect in really any facet of their game against the Cleveland Guardians, but they had just enough pitching, just enough offense and made just enough plays to hang on for a 7-5 win to open their three-game series at Progressive Field on Friday.

It did not look good early for the Padres after starter Michael King surrendered two solo home runs and a third run through the first three innings. King would go on to allow four runs, three earned, over his six innings of work. It was not the start the Friar Faithful wanted to see from the ace of their pitching staff. Fortunately for King and the San Diego playoff hopes, the offense came to life and got him off the hook with two runs in the fourth, three runs in the fifth and two runs in the seventh.

The Padres got on the board with a two-run home run off the bat of Xander Bogaerts. There has been a lot of discussion about where the veteran shortstop bats in the San Diego lineup among fans and media members. His contributions to the offense in the first game against Cleveland showed how effective he can be in the bottom third of the order. There is no question Bogaerts extends the lineup and makes it harder on opposing pitchers to get through the lineup unscathed as evidenced by his final line of 1-for-1 with two walks, three RBI and a run scored from the No. 8 position in the order.

Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a screaming line drive home run to tie the game at 3-3, and Luis Campusano continued to contribute to the offense when he followed later in the fifth inning with a two-run double that put the Padres ahead, 5-3. Campusano added another RBI in the top of the seventh when he recorded another double that allowed Ty France to score from second base. It also put Jackson Merrill on third base. He scored later in the inning on a sacrifice fly from Gavin Sheets that put San Diego up, 7-4.

Adrian Morejon and Mason Miller were down for the day, so Jeremiah Estrada and Bradgley Rodriguez were asked to cover the eighth and ninth innings. Estrada allowed a run in the bottom of the eighth, which allowed Cleveland to cut the lead to 7-5, but Rodriguez pitched a scoreless ninth, despite a leadoff double, to lock down the win and record the first save of his MLB career.

The Padres offense kept pressure on Guardians starter Gavin Williams and the rest of the Cleveland pitching staff throughout the contest with each member of the lineup contributing in some way. Merrill was the only starter not to record a hit but he drew a walk and scored twice on the day.

San Diego has punched its win streak to six games and will look to make it seven when the Padres play the Guardians in the second game of the series today at 4:10 p.m.

Padres News:

• Joe Musgrove took another step in his rehab progression and threw 70 pitches at Triple-A El Paso.

• Kyle Hart did what he needed to so he could become a contributor for the Padres. That included a change in mindset and mechanics.

• Samad Taylor was the spark plug for the San Diego lineup when he arrived, but when he went down with an injury the Padres needed someone else to fill that role, and Luis Rengifo is doing just that.

Baseball News:

• The Chicago White Sox powered past the Detroit Tigers.

• Christian Walker belted a three-run home run to help the Houston Astro’s walk off the Seattle Mariners.

• Brandon Pfaadt stays hot and leads the Arizona Diamondbacks to a 2-0 win over the Atalanta Braves.

• Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched the Los Angeles Dodgers past the Milwaukee Brewers.

• The Chicago Cubs got a shutout win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

I don’t want to be hasty. But I think Clay Holmes might be healthy. I mean it could also be that the Cardinal offense isn’t particularly terrifying. But he handcuffed them all day long. I don’t think I’m engaging in hyperbole to suggest that was one of the best starts this year by a Cub. It’s good too because the Cub offense is potentially in one of those funks that they occasionally have.

For the second straight day, the Cub offense was sluggish. We hat tip when we need to. Matthew Liberatore has now had two strong starts and two rough starts against the Cubs this year. I’m just not sure I’m ready to heap all of the credit on Liberatore after this offense lit him up twice in July and with how hot they’ve been recently. The only one nod I’ll make is that I was listening to the Cub radio broadcast and Ron Coomer noted that he does a lot of thinking through pitch sequencing and that Liberatore had him pretty confused. I guess maybe they went with a different playbook entirely seeing the same team for the fourth time in a year. That doesn’t happen anywhere near as often as it did years ago.

That’s an interesting thing about the modern game. For all of the good in modern pitching, guys have smaller pitch repertoires and they rely more on stuff now than they did in the past. When you don’t usually even finish three times through the order, you often don’t need so many different pitches. And pitchers rely more than effort on max effort fastballs and max spin breaking pitches. In the past there was a lot more playing with sequencing and location and changing speeds. It’s a different game. Often a very effective game. But I’m sure it’s hard when you have to keep facing the same team over and over again. Particularly for a younger pitcher and particularly against a good lineup.

That said, Liberatore was only a hair worse than Holmes. The big difference is that when the Cubs did finally get some runners, Seiya Suzuki hit a ball to the exact right spot at the exact right time. The wind had shifted to be a little bit more right to left and when he lofted one towards the left field line, it pushed just far enough for a three-run homer. It was about as timely as a homer can get.

Holmes eventually gave way to the Cub bullpen and we got to see Ryan Rolison, Ryan Zeferjahn and Jacob Webb in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. The Cubs haven’t had a ton of these hand a ball to the bullpen and protect a lead games. But they handled it. Not without a little breath holding. But they finished what Holmes started and shut the Cardinals out. The Cubs are 10-3 in August. Very much in the fight.

Go Cubs.

Three Positives:

• 6.2 innings of one hit, one walk baseball is just about as positive as it can get. Nice home debut Clay Holmes.
• Seiya Suzuki had the three-run homer and added a double. The Cubs only managed six hits and drew three walks.
• Michael Busch had a single and a walk.

Game 123, August 14: Cubs 3, Cardinals 0 (72-51)

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

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Clay Holmes (.383). 6.2 IP, H, BB, 0 R, 3 K (W 1-1)
• Hero: Seiya Suzuki (.174). 2-4, HR, 2B, 3 RBI, R
• Sidekick: Dansby Swanson (.093). 1-3, R, SB

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Pete Crow-Armstrong (-.132). 0-4
• Goat: Ian Happ (-.074). 0-3
• Kid: Michael Busch (-.042). 1-3, BB

WPA Play of the Game: Seiya Suzuki’s three-run homer with one out in the sixth. (.206)

Cubs Play of the Game: With first and third and no outs, just in front of the Suzuki homer, Matthew Liberatore got Pete Crow-Armstrong to pop out, temporarily conserving the shutout.

Cubs Player of the Game:

Game 122 Winner: Aaron Civale received 33 of 66 votes.

Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)

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

• Pete Crow-Armstrong +25
• Alex Bregman +20
• Carson Kelly +14.5
• Shōta Imanaga +14
• Trent Thornton +13.5
• Phil Maton -10
• Nico Hoerner -11
• Jameson Taillon -13
• Dansby Swanson -17
• Caleb Thielbar -19.5

Scoreboard Watching: The Phillies had a largely unheard of Friday off day after winning the Field of Dreams game Thursday. The Phillies started the day as the first non playoff team in the NL. The Diamondbacks beat the Braves 2-0, they remain seven back of the Cubs, the Braves two up. The Padres beat the Guardians 7-5. The Cubs are six up on the Padres. The Dodgers held on to beat the Brewers and the Cubs are back to just three games behind in the division. The Dodgers are also two up on the Cubs.

Up Next: Game two of the weekend three-game set. Matthew Boyd (8-1, 3.50) starts for the Cubs. He’s been unbelievable since getting healthy. He’s 5-0 with a 2.35 over his last seven starts (46 innings). He threw seven scoreless against the Cardinals in St. Louis on July 29. 26-year-old righty Michael McGreevy (4-9, 3.64) starts for the Cardinals. McGreevy is heading in the wrong direction (1-3, 4.91) over his last seven. The Cubs were part of that, scoring seven against him (in 1.2 IP) in St. Louis on July 28. You have to love this matchup.

Get another one.

Friday night in the Dodgers minor leagues included a rehabbing Tyler Glasnow getting closer to a major league return with eight strikeouts in 3 2/3 hitless, scoreless innings for Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Dodgers affiliates dropped three of four games on Friday night.

Player of the day

Aidan Foeller was pressed into pitching duty earlier than expected on Friday, and filled in for an injured Luke Fox with aplomb. Foeller struck out six in five scoreless innings in the best of his four Double-A appearances to date.

Foeller on Friday stranded an inherited runner in the first inning, then left his three hits and two walks on base as well, getting through the fifth inning. Between High-A and Double-A this season, the 11th-round draft pick from 2024 has a 3.09 ERA with 82 strikeouts and 26 walks in 67 innings, with a 19.9-percent strikeout-minus-walk-rate.

Triple-A Oklahoma City

Christian Romero got the final out of the fourth inning in relieving Glasnow, but then allowed three runs in the fifth in the Comets’ home loss to the Albuquerque Isotopes (Rockies).

Oklahoma City managed only five hits in the loss, two of them singles by new catcher Chadwick Tromp.

Ryan Ward his his 94th double for Oklahoma City, breaking the team’s record for the current “Bricktown Era,” since 1998.

Double-A Tulsa

Home runs by Jake Gelof, Nelson Quiroz, and Joe Vetrano paced the Drillers office in a win over the Arkansas Travelers (Mariners).

Luke Fox returned last Saturday after nearly four months on the injured list with three strong innings, but he left his start Friday after allowing a double and single to his two batters faced in the first inning. Just nine pitches in, Fox’s night was done, appearing to re-injure his hamstring, per Barry Lewis of Tulsa World, who was on-site in Tulsa.

Mike Sirota was hit by a pitch and scored in the sixth inning, and was later replaced on defense in center field in the eighth.

High-A Great Lakes

Four runs in the third inning spelled doom for the Loons in a loss to the South Bend Cubs.

Will Gagnon, who struck out 34 percent (and walked 17 percent) of his batters faced in 55 2/3 innings for Class-A Ontario before getting promoted to Great Lakes. The right-hander, drafted by the Dodgers in the 14th round in 2024, struck out seven in his High-A debut in four innings, but also allowed five runs on two hits and three walks. Two of the five runs were earned, aided by catcher’s interference and a throwing error by shortstop Emil Morales in the fateful third frame.

The Eduardos had four of the Loons’ six hits as a team. Quintero and Guerrero each singled twice and walked.

Class-A Ontario

The Tower Buzzers had a four-run inning but lost to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Angels), who had two.

Ching-Hsien Ko hit a two-run home run for Ontario, and Kellon Lindsey hit a solo shot among his two hits.

Joel Cruz struck out six in four innings of relief for Ontario, allowing only an unearned run.

Transactions

Class-A: Camden Wimbish, the Dodgers’ 17th-round pick last month out of Campbell, was added to Ontario’s roster, as was catcher Eduardo Rojas and non-drafted free agent pitcher Brady Wembley. Right-hander Josehp Marte was sent back to the Arizona Complex League (whose season has already concluded) after pitching five games for the Tower Buzzers. Same for Angel Cruz, who had a 7.57 ERA, 40 walks, and 42 strikeouts in 27 1/3 innings with Ontario.

Friday scores

• Albuquerque 4, Oklahoma City 2
• Tulsa 4, Arkansas 1
• South Bend 6, Great Lakes 2
• Rancho Cucamonga 9, Ontario 6

Saturday schedule

• 4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Brooks Auger) vs South Bend (Pierce Coppola)
• 5 p.m.: Tulsa (Christian Zazueta) vs. Arkansas (Ryan Sloan)
• 5:05 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Cole Irvin) vs. Albuquerque (Jake Brooks)
• 6:30 p.m.: Ontario (Marlon Nieves) at Rancho Cucamonga (Yusei Kikuchi)

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The Chicago Cubs are 41-28 against sub .500 teams this season, and they're -175 favorites to tack on another win this afternoon.

With Michael McGreevy coming back to earth, I'm all over the home team in my Cardinals vs. Cubs predictions and MLB picks.

Who will win Cardinals vs Cubs today: Chicago Cubs (-175)

Michael McGreevy ranks in the third percentile in xBA and his 5.68 xERA is more than two runs higher than his actual ERA of 3.64. He’s a guy I want to attack.

The Chicago Cubs are a prime candidate to exploit McGreevy. They own the league’s second ranked offense in runs per game, and they’re in good form. They sit sixth in wOBA vs. righties over the past month.

Matthew Boyd owns strong numbers (2.37 ERA, 0.67 HR/9) excluding Top-10 offenses in OPS vs. lefties, and the St. Louis Cardinals rank 22nd.

Bet to -190.

COVERS INTEL: McGreevy has posted a xERA of 4.65 or worse in five consecutive starts, setting up for Chicago to have a productive day at the plate.

Cardinals vs Cubs Over/Under pick: Over 9.0 (-120)

McGreevy is finally starting to get the results he deserves. He is sporting a 6.29 ERA over his last five starts and has allowed an average well over .300, aligning with his putrid numbers in xBA.

His ERA sits at nearly 5.0 when isolating matchups against Top-10 teams in OPS and xwOBA against right-handed pitching, and the Cubs hammered him for seven runs the last time he started against them.

Boyd has allowed 1.67 HR/9 at home this season, and favorable conditions at Wrigley could cause problems today.

Take the Over to -130.

Cardinals vs Cubs home run prediction: Pete Crow-Armstrong (+335)

McGreevy ranks in the ninth percentile in xSLG vs. left-handed bats. He gives up a ton of quality contact, which sets up well for Pete Crow-Armstrong.

The NL MVP candidate has feasted on righties all season long, and owns a 20% barrel rate against McGreevy’s pitch mix over his last 25 batted balls.

The conditions at Wrigley are expected to provide an 18% boost to home runs. That’ll help PCA get more carry when he’s already hitting the ball hard, and far, on a consistent basis.

I’d bet PCA down to +305.

Cardinals vs Cubs weather

With temperatures in the mid 70s and winds blowing out, the bats will see a boost in this game.

Cardinals vs Cubs odds

• Moneyline: Cardinals +150 | Cubs -175
• Run line: Cardinals +1.5 (-130) | Cubs -1.5 (+110)
• Over/Under: Over 9.0 (-120) | Under 9.0 (+100)

Cardinals vs Cubs trend

Chicago has hit the moneyline in 31 of the last 45 games (+14.70 units, 26% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Cardinals vs. Cubs.

How to watch Cardinals vs Cubs and game info

Cardinals vs Cubs latest injuries

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

Imagine joining a team, staying for four seasons, and going to the World Series in each one of them. The circumstances that brought third baseman Scott Brosius to New York were certainly odd — he was, at the time, a modest return in the Kenny Rogers salary dump ahead of the 1998 campaign — and nobody expected much from him given his horrible 1997 campaign in which he was the worst hitter in baseball per wRC+, but he ended up becoming a big part of the late-1990s dynasty and a World Series MVP. Not too shabby, huh?

Scott David Brosius
Born: August 15, 1966 (Hillsboro, OR)
Yankees Tenure: 1998-2001

Brosius took an interest in baseball from a very young age. The Oregon native was a First-Team All-Conference in his senior year at Rex Putnam High School, according to the Oregon Encyclopedia. After that, he attended college at Linfield, where he started impressing scouts in the mid-eighties, achieving all-conference status in 1986 and honorable mention All-America in 1987.

The Oakland Athletics took a chance on him with their 510th pick in the 1987 MLB Draft, in the 20th round. No, Brosius evidently wasn’t a hotshot prospect, but fate would have some exciting things in store for him.

After a few years in the minor leagues, Brosius made his MLB debut in 1991 with the A’s. From that year until 1994, he was seen as a glove-first player who could cover multiple positions around the diamond. Over that span of his career, his wRC+ consistently ranged between 80 and 89.

Scott’s breakout campaign would come in 1995. Even though it would be, by far, his worst defensive campaign, he finally offered something as a hitter: a 109 wRC+, 17 home runs, 19 doubles, and 69 runs scored in 123 games and 443 plate appearances.

Oakland also enjoyed Brosius’ best campaign purely by fWAR, 1996, in which he put up 5.8 fWAR, a 131 wRC+, and 22 long balls, all career highs. He hit .304/.393/.516 and started to make a name for himself. Essentially, since he was 29 when he produced this season, you could say he was a late bloomer.

Then 1997 came, and he slumped badly to a 50 wRC+, a .203 batting average, and -0.3 fWAR. You would read headlines such as “Struggling Brosius is atrocious” in Oakland back then.

The Yankees, however, came calling and effectively changed his career by setting up that trade that saw Rogers go to Oakland and Brosius being sent to New York. He was a player to be named later yes, but they thought that he could at least be a good defender at the hot corner to potentially succeed the departing Wade Boggs and Charlie Hayes. In a lineup as loaded as the team he was joining, few minded him hitting ninth. Skipper Joe Torre was certainly willing to give him some credit run come Opening Day with veteran Dale Sveum the only competition.

The 1998 campaign probably felt like a dream for Brosius, who hadn’t experienced postseason baseball by that point. The A’s made it to the 1992 American League Championship Series, but he didn’t play.

In that 1998 season, Brosius was brilliant. He hit .300/.371/.472 and offered a little bit of everything: contact hitting, power, discipline, on-base ability, defense, and a winning aura that led him to become the World Series MVP. He posted his second 5.0-fWAR season, and his wRC+ was a healthy 123. His 98 RBI helped the Yanks a lot, and he added 11 stolen bases for good measure.

In the postseason, Brosius proceeded to hit a lofty .383 with a 166 wRC+ and 15 RBI in 13 games. He was the MVP of the 1998 Fall Classic after hitting .471 with two homers and six RBI in a four-game sweep of the Padres. When San Diego had life late in Game 3 at Qualcomm Stadium and aimed to make it a 2-1 series, Brosius stomped it out with long balls off Padres playoff hero Sterling Hitchcock and Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman, putting New York in the driver’s seat.

The Yankees won a second consecutive World Series in 1999, this time against the Atlanta Braves, despite Brosius having a down regular season with the bat. His wRC+ was 82, and while he hit 17 homers, he failed to replicate his amazing 1998 — though given the circumstances of playing with a heavy heart as his ailing father passed away from cancer, few would blame him.

Brosius did win his first and only Gold Glove that year, though, and homered twice and put up a .930 OPS in the ALCS win over the Yankees’ archrivals, the Boston Red Sox. He had a good case to be crowned the ALCS MVP, but Orlando “El Duque”’ Hernández was a beast.

2000 rolled around, and it brought in another World Series victory for Brosius and the Bombers. The third baseman, however, had his worst season as a Yankee that year, hitting .230/.299/.374 with 16 homers and a 71 wRC+. He did hit one dinger, drove in three runs, and posted a .927 OPS in the Subway Series to help the Bombers secure the three-peat.

The 2001 campaign would be Brosius’ last as a major leaguer, and it almost resulted in four consecutive World Series trophies for him. Unfortunately, the Arizona Diamondbacks had something to say about that and won the Fall Classic 4-3.

During the regular season, Brosius experienced an offensive renaissance. He hit a solid .287/.343/.446 with 13 home runs, 57 runs scored, and a 109 wRC+. The best would come in October and November, though.

No, Brosius didn’t have a particularly good showing in the 2001 postseason. He hit .140 and didn’t work any walks, posting a 1 wRC+. He did, however, hit an incredibly clutch homer that those who lived through the 2001 World Series will hardly forget.

The World Series was tied at two wins apiece, and the Yankees entered the bottom of the ninth inning at old Yankee Stadium down two runs in Game 5. Down to the last out, Brosius hit a two-out, two-run home run off Byung-Hyun Kim that tied the game and set up an exciting extra-innings win. Alas, the Yankees lost both Games 6 and 7.

Brosius, a free agent after the World Series, chose to retire, prioritizing his family. “I’m just ready to be home,” Brosius said to the AP in 2001, according to this ESPN piece. “I can look back with no regrets and know that everything I wanted to do as a baseball player, every dream I had, has been fulfilled, and there’s nothing else for me to chase as a ballplayer.”

It was a short but heartfelt farewell message from a guy who didn’t need the headlines like some of his teammates back then, but always delivered when it mattered the most. Yankees fans remember him fondly as a key cog of one of the most successful periods of the franchise.

After retiring, Brosius became an assistant coach at Linfield College from 2002 to 2007. In 2008, he became the head coach and went on to have a very successful career at the helm with the Wildcats. In late 2015, the Seattle Mariners made him hitting coach in Triple-A Tacoma. He was the M’s assistant coach in 2017 and the third base coach in 2018. Brosius has returned for several Yankees Old-Timers’ Days, including the 25th anniversary celebration of the legendary ‘98 club in 2023.

Brosius, a member of the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame and a solid player at the high school, college, and MLB level, was a Yankee for only four years. What a period that was, though.

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

Bryan De La Cruz has been the latest member of the Phillies outfield carousel, having now been with the major league club for a little over three weeks since being called up from Lehigh Valley. De La Cruz has only appeared in 12 games, but he has performed admirably, hitting .346 with a 1.021 OPS. Again, we’re talking about an extremely small sample size of 32 plate appearances, but De La Cruz’ production has been a welcome sight for a Phillies lineup that will take production from anywhere it can get it. 

The problem now however is that the recent new defensive alignment has cut down on De La Cruz’ playing time. With Bryce Harper now occupying first base, De La Cruz is left to only platoon with Brandon Marsh in left rather than finding starting time in the other corner outfield spot. Obviously, Harper shouldn’t be the one to suffer to get De La Cruz in the lineup, but the Phillies could opt to put the former back at first base and cut into the playing time of the struggling Alec Bohm.

Bohm has been better in the second half, hitting .276 with a .713 OPS, but his season numbers are still among the worst in the majors for a regular starter. His -1.2 WAR is the worst among all 142 players in baseball who have qualified for the batting title. The Phillies would certainly be justified in cutting down on Bohm’s playing time. Either sending him to the bench full time or putting him in a platoon would allow them to find some more playing time for De La Cruz in order to ride the hot hand. 

De La Cruz will almost certainly not continue this trend of hot hitting, but it’s hard to argue he isn’t a better option than Bohm at this point. So, should the Phillies find more playing time for Bryan De La Cruz? 

Alec Burleson has hit 47 fly balls at Busch Stadium this season with an average expected wOBA of .610 and an actual of only .397. Burly is getting absolutely ripped off by his home ballpark. Baseball Savant’s Park Factors calculation ranks Busch as the fifth most stifling park in baseball. It has been particularly tough for lefties over the last three seasons with only Tampa Bay and Seattle ranking as more difficult places to hit. Lefty power hitters are punished the most with a home run factor of 73, where 100 is average. Add it all up and it is no surprise that the Cardinals offense has been a bit flat at times. Despite an expected wOBA of .323 (4th in baseball), the Cardinals’ actual wOBA ranks 25th and their runs per game ranks 19th. 

This gap in expected vs. actual production led me to investigate which Cardinals are being punished the most by the unfriendly confines of Busch Stadium. As I started getting into the data, the obvious secondary question arose: is the underperformance due only to their home park, or has there been a bit of bad luck too? 

For this investigation, I will focus on wOBA and its various cousins, so I want to provide a few points of reference. The MLB average wOBA is .316 this season. wOBA is not park or league adjusted, but in a neutral environment, .316 would equate to a wRC+ of 100. wOBAcon is simply the wOBA on contact only, so it removes walks, strikeouts, and HBP from the calculation. The MLB average for wOBAcon is .364. The expected versions of these statistics (xwOBA and xwOBAcon) are calculated using exit velocity and launch angle. One of the limitations of the expected statistics is that they do not take into account the direction a ball is hit. More on that when we discuss fly balls.

The Cardinals have the tenth-best road offense in the league by wRC+, checking in at 101. Their home wRC+ of 89 ranks 27th in baseball. Remember, wRC+ is park adjusted. It is relatively unusual for a team to hit this much better on the road. Across MLB, teams hit six points higher at home than on the road (103 vs. 97), and the Cardinals are one of only four teams to have a reverse split of ten or more. I was curious if there were any teams that consistently hit better on the road, so I looked at the splits going back to 2021 and only the Angels have hit better on the road in the aggregate. The Cardinals have a normal 104 to 98 wRC+ home/away split over that time period. These facts alone lead me to believe that some of the Busch struggles can be attributed to bad luck. 

This bad luck would likely be showing up in the Cardinals’ home/away damage on contact (wOBAcon) splits. The below table compares the Cardinals’ expected wOBA on contact to their actual results.

Sure enough, the team’s expected production on contact is similar home vs. away, but the gap on production at home pulls the overall wOBAcon down to .342, the second-worst mark in the majors. Cardinals hitters are underperforming their expected damage on contact at home by .037 points. For the sake of comparison, I pulled the same metrics for Cardinals pitchers at Busch. As a group, they are outperforming their collective xwOBAcon by .022 points. Going back to our park factors reference, Busch has suppressed wOBAcon by 6% over the last three years. Cardinals pitchers are getting that 6% benefit almost exactly, while the hitters have underperformed by 10%. While not conclusive, this does put a point in the “bad luck” column. 

I do want to check in on the fly ball issue. Historically, the Cardinals have had teams that underperformed their underlying data because too many of their fly balls were hit to center and the opposite field. To illustrate the problem with this, I pulled data from Baseball Savant on every fly ball hit in MLB this year, broken out by direction. 

Players or teams that pull the ball more frequently outperform their expected production (.611 expected vs. .858 actual). Opposite-field flies are measured fairly accurately, but fly balls in the middle of the field cause significantly less damage than the xwOBA formula projects due to deeper fences and more skilled defenders. 

Poor directional distribution does not appear to be the driver of the Cardinals’ Busch Stadium woes; their percentage of pulled fly balls at home is in line with the major league average and their center-field percentage is below average. 

Despite this solid distribution of fly ball direction, the majority of the Cardinals’ problems are indeed coming from fly balls. The major league average wOBA on fly balls is .425. The Cardinals’ average wOBA on road flies is a stellar .445. At home, the wOBA on fly balls falls all the way down to .355 (xwOBAcon of .454). 

So, which players are feeling pain?

Not surprisingly, the three players with the biggest splits are all left-handed. As I opened with, Burleson has serious grounds for irritation with his home field. His pulled fly ball rate of 36% is well above average, which makes the lack of production even more frustrating. Wetherholt has had some bad luck as well. Only 21% of his fly balls have been to the pull side, but he is underperforming his expected stats on line drives by over .100 points. 

Interestingly, none of the top right-handed hitters have had as much of an issue with Busch. I cut the chart off at 100 balls in play, but the rest of the righties have had horrible luck in small sample sizes. 

It is easy to identify the players that have paid the highest Busch tax. Burleson in particular has been crushing balls all year without getting full credit for his awesomeness. Wetherholt is more of a mixed bag with his poor pulled fly ball rate, but he has already shown a remarkable ability to make adjustments at the big league level, so I am guessing he will get to even more pull power. Regardless, his luck on line drives is sure to improve and lift his stat line as well. 

Untangling environment from luck is a bit more challenging, but I really do think this is an above-average offense. In the Statcast era, the Cardinals have underperformed their expected wOBA by .006 points. The current gap would be a new low-water mark for the franchise if the trends do not reverse. I focused on the contact side of the offensive equation in this article, but the Cardinals are also one of the best teams in baseball when not making contact. With the seventh-best BB/K rate in baseball and the most HBPs, their “damage” on non-contact outcomes is third in baseball. The fact that opponents at Busch are performing closer to expectations gives me hope that the offense can see some positive regression toward their expected stats.

The Atlanta Braves are having their annual Alumni Weekend during this series with the Diamondbacks. Over 60 former players and coaches were in attendance. Here is the listing of those who are in town.

There are some Hall of Famers and World Series Champions on this list. There are some from the dry times of the 70s and early 80s. What would (or did) you ask at Braves Alumni Weekend? I’ve met Dale Murphy, and I would probably be too tongue-tied again to remember what I was going to ask. I’ve always wondered who cracked Sid Bream’s ribs after he famously slid in 1992, but I know David Justice had him in a headlock. You could always ask Brian Snitker why. That’s it, just why. That’s an open-ended question that could apply to bullpen management, lineup, or gaping maw and hat tips. You could ask Kelly Johnson which NL East city had the best clubhouse and nightlife.

I have a question for Leo Mazzone. But I’ll hold onto that one for now.

Good morning, LSB.

The Rangers lost another one last night, 8-3 to the A’s.

Shawn McFarland writes about the Rangers’ no good very bad record against the AL West this season, specifically on the road.

Jake Burger’s clutch homer wasn’t enough to “stop the bleeding.”

Kevin Sherrington writes this latest skid is the final sign that the Rangers have maxed out at “average.”

On the plus side Josh Jung finally appears to be progressing toward a return.

The Rangers’ top 30 prospects list has been shuffled around post-draft.

Corey Seager is among MLB dot com’s list of struggling stars looking to rebound down the stretch.

And Bobby Witt (Senior) is the latest guest on Evan Grant’s Rangers podcast.

That’s all for this morning. The Rangers take on the mighty A’s again tonight at 8:40.

Have a good weekend!

Triple-A: Norfolk Tides 6, Gwinnett Stripers (ATL) 2

Weird fact alert: every run in this game scored on a two-run homer.

Luis De León pitched a fine game for Norfolk, allowing two runs in five innings. The damage was done by old friend Maverick Handley, who is playing for Gwinnett. He hit a two-run home run in the second inning. De León allowed six runs and a walk. He struck out seven.

Down 2-0 in the third, Heston Kjerstad connected for his 11th homer of the year. Enrique Bradfield, who had walked, scored on the hit. The scored remained tied until the bottom of the eighth when the Tides scored four more. Kjerstad singled, then Creed Willems homered. Luis Vázquez capped off the scoring with his sixth home run. Ryan Noda (double) scored on the play.

Kjerstad and Jud Fabian both had two-hit games. Bradfield had a double to go along with his walk.

Box Score

Double-A: Chesapeake Baysox 5, Reading Fightin’ Phils 2

Anthony Eyanson started for the Baysox and picked up his second win since joining the organization. The good news is that he allowed two runs on four hits over 5.1 innings and he struck out seven. The less good news is that he walked four batters. He kept the Phils scoreless until the fifth, when a walk, a double, and a single drove in both runs.

The offense scored exactly once in five different innings. Three of the runs came via homer from Aron Estrada, Thomas Sosa, and Dom Keegan. Anderson De Los Santos drove in a run on a ground out, and the last run of the game scored on an error. Frederick Bencosme walked, stole second, and scored on a throwing error. Wehiwa Aloy was not involved in any scoring. He went 1-for-5 and struck out four times.

Box Score

High-A: Frederick Keys 5, Bowling Green Hot Rods (TBR) 2

Kyson Witherspoon made his second start for the Keys and impressively struck out nine batters in five innings. Overall he allowed two runs in five innings. He gave up two runs on four hits and walked only two. That’s a nice improvement from his five batters walked in his team debut.

Ethan Anderson, who usually plays for Chesapeake, made his first rehab start after going on the IL on July 7th. He started off with a bang, hitting a two-run home run in the first inning. He finished the game with four hits and three RBI. Maybe just send him back to Double-A. He seems healed.

Braylon Whitaker hit his first home run for Frederick in his eighth game after being promoted from Delmarva. Also recently promoted, DJ Layton had two hits and scored two runs as the leadoff batter.

Box Score

Low-A: Salem RidgeYaks (BOS) 9, Delmarva Shorebirds 3

Harrison Kreiling pitched just 1.2 innings and managed to give up four runs on three hits and four walks. All four runs came in the second inning (as did all four walks). The Taylor Ward trade return has not made a good impression over two games. Connor Gehr allowed the other five runs over four innings of relief.

Ty Head, 2026 second round pick, had two hits at leadoff. First round pick Eric Booth, Jr had one hit and three walks; he scored two of the team’s three runs. Jaiden Lo Re also singled and walked thrice. Jhomnardo Reyes went 1-for-5 but got thrown out on the basepaths on his one hit.

Box Score

Today’s Schedule

• Norfolk vs Gwinnett, 6:35. Starter: Cade Povich
• Chesapeake @ Reading, 6:45. Starter: JT Quinn
• Frederick vs Bowling Green, 6:00. Starter: TBD
• Delmarva vs Salem, 7:05. Starter: Esteban Mejia

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts loosely mapped out Shohei Ohtani’s return to pitching after an encouraging bullpen session Friday, Aug. 14.

Ohtani threw 35 pitches during the session, according to Roberts.

"He used his entire mix (of pitches)," Roberts told the media. "He felt encouraged."

Ohtani, 32, hasn't pitched in a game since July 3 because of inflammation in his left knee.

Roberts said Ohtani will go through one or two more bullpen sessions, followed by live pitching sessions, during which Ohtani will throw to actual hitters. Roberts said he couldn’t see Ohtani doing any fewer than two live sessions before he returns.

"And then I would see him in a major league game," Roberts said.

Long gone are the days in which fans rub their hands together and coo: Oooo the Rockies.

In this hopefully alternate historical timeline these 2026 Giants have dragged us into, there are no gimme games, no such thing as a breezy series. The cheap balm San Francisco has applied to their burns in recent years is the fact they aren’t as bad as Colorado. They were never last in the NL West, never completely decked-out on the damp cellar floor — just a couple steps up the basement stairs where you might get a little bit better air circulation, touched by a bit more light from the crack at the bottom of the door. They’ve generally dominated the bruised, purple-and-black visitors when they’ve come to town — a home series seen as a relished opportunity for the team to feel big and strong for once by beating up on someone worse off. 

But that thin and meaningless separation between the two teams is at risk of disappearing completely. They’ve been scratching-and-clawing at each other in a cartoon-y ball of dust and limbs all season. Going into Friday’s match-up, Colorado and San Francisco were 5-5 in head-to-head match-ups, with both teams solidly holding down the fourth and fifth spots in the division, both boasting records within the five worst in all of baseball.

Now, after Friday’s 5-2 loss, the Rockies are now just a game behind the Giants…who are 23.5 games out of first place and 14.5 games behind the third place Diamondbacks. 

No one cares. Let’s get into it.

Ostensibly disadvantaged as the visiting team, the timing was just right for the Rockies to roll into town, catching the Giants on one of their worst runs in a terrible year. They’ve dropped four straight series, against the Padres, Rangers, Tigers, and Astros, since September 30th. After Friday’s loss, they’re 4-10, victims of a trio of shutouts as well as winless in four one-run games.  

The answer to the how isn’t hard to discern. While the pitching has been suspect at times, the offense has been the main culprit. Obvious personnel departures in Luis Arraez and Heliot Ramos before the trade deadline have left holes. Casey Schmitt’s injury on the 28th took another right-handed threat out of the line-up. Replacements have been brought in. Osleives Basabe has shown some pop, Victor Bericoto is back, Drew Gilbert has been relatively solid — but these mild points of praise are barely worth mentioning considering the lack-of-club the club has shown over the past couple weeks. 

Some numbers:

Since July 30th, the Giants are slashing  .201/ .267/ .324 with a 66 wRC+. Their .264 wOBA is tied for worst in the Majors. Their flyball rate is the second highest in MLB span (49%) but their home-run to flyball ratio is one of the lowest (8.4%). According to Fangraphs’, their 28.5% Hard-%, measuring rates of ideal contact, is the lowest in the National League. 

Bryce Eldridge punched another impressive drive over the center field wall to briefly tie the game in the 4th. It was another no-doubter, off lefty Kyle Freeland too, but proved to be an outlier spike in a game of ground balls rolled into the teeth of the defense.

The Rockies turned three double plays (two on the infield). Freeland struck out only two batters but earned 13 groundouts and surrendered just 4 hits. He needed 95 pitches to throw 8 complete. Throwing with the devil’s hand certainly helped facilitate the dominance. Southpaws have bedeviled Giants hitters all year, their 85 wRC+ is third lowest in the Majors.

No complaints about the Eldridge homer — it just would’ve been a whole lot nicer if there was a runner, or two or three, on base when it happened. Damage with ducks on the pond, that’s been a huge ask and huge problem throughout this rough patch. Over these last 14 games, the Giants are 13-for-94 with runners in scoring position. That’s a .138 average with a .191 slugging — which includes Rafael Devers’s excuse-me RBI double in the 9th that found the outfield through the gaping hole between third base and the man charged with protecting it. That non-needle moving extra basehit was their first, and only knock, with a runner in scoring position all night. That lack of production has been the rule over the past 14 games. The Giants have managed just one hit, or have been held hitless with RISP, or did not even earn an opportunity to hit with a RISP in 11 of their past 14 games. 

This isn’t on the babes either, those wide-eyed call-ups that populate the bottom of the order. While on paper it appears as though the line-up falls off a cliff after the clean-up spot, that weak and inexperienced half aren’t to blame. They’ve done a nice job of setting the table. Jonah Cox, (who actually hit lead-off yesterday) tripled before Devers punched him in. Again, glad it happened, but cheap penance for previous, and future, sins. The number-2 slugger had an opportunity to uncork an influential swing with runners on the corners in the 3rd, after Christian Koss doubled and the Rockies gifted Cox a base on a missed catch, but rolled into an inning-ending double-play.  And immediately after his double in the 9th, which pulled the Giants within three of Colorado’s five runs, Devers ran himself off the bases when he misread center fielder Cole Carrigg’s diving catch. What was inches from another RBI hit, and would’ve brought the tying run to the plate with nobody out, turned into a nice defensive snare and another self-inflicted, bubble-bursting two-fer against the Giants.

Devers is 2-for-11 with RISP since July 30th; Willy Adames is 1-for-14; Eldridge, 1-for-10; Lee, 1-for-9. The ones we want getting opportunities to hit with consequence just aren’t connecting. And when they do…somehow things go horribly wrong.

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With another full big league schedule, my MLB player props analysis has found real value on the mound and at the dish. 

I'll start things off with AL Cy Young favorite Cam Schlittler, followed by Jacob Misiorowski, who is set to face the Los Angeles Dodgers. The red-hot Pete Alonso closes out today's best props. 

Read more in my MLB picks for Saturday, Aug. 15. 

Best MLB player props today

Player	Pick	Odds
Cam Schlittler	Under 1.5 earned runs	-108
Jacob Misiorowski	Under 1.5 earned runs	-105
Pete Alonso	Over 1.5 total bases	+131

Cam Schlittler Under 1.5 earned runs (-108)

Cam Schlittler continues to strengthen his AL Cy Young case. The right-hander owns a stellar 1.76 FIP across his last five appearances while allowing just 1.93 BB/9 and 0.64 HR/9. 

The New York Yankees right-hander has cashed the Under in earned runs surrendered in three of his last four appearances, limiting the powerful Atlanta Braves to just one earned run in his most recent start. 

Tonight, he'll face the struggling Toronto Blue Jays, who have an 85 wRC+ over the last week. Expect another gem from Schlittler. 

I'll play this pick up to -130. 

• Time: 3:07 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: YES, Sportsnet

Jacob Misiorowski Under 1.5 earned runs (-105)

Jacob Misiorowski has a real task ahead of him tonight against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but the ace will be up for the challenge. Misiorowski sports a 1.30 xERA over his last four outings and has struck out a mind-boggling 15.14 hitters per nine innings. 

This is a great time for him to face the Dodgers, who carry an 88 wRC+ over their previous seven games into this contest. Misiorowski has also cashed the Under in two of his last four starts, and he has been dominant on the road, compiling a 2.02 FIP. 

The youngster will keep the Dodgers lineup under wraps.

Play this pick up to -130. 

• Time: 7:15 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: FOX

Pete Alonso Over 1.5 total bases (+131)

Pete Alonso is arguably the hottest hitter in the sport right now. The Baltimore Orioles slugger has a .522 average and .435 ISO over his last six games, also going deep three times during that span. Alonso has posted a ridiculous 73.7% hard-hit rate and 26.3% barrel rate. 

He's cashed the Over in total bases in three straight games, finishing with two hits apiece in back-to-back contests. Tonight's matchup is favorable, too. Alonso faces Tampa Bay Rays starter Ian Seymour, who has allowed a 45.5% hard-hit rate over the last month. 

The Rays' bullpen is also vulnerable, posting a 5.53 FIP over the last week while giving up a 42% hard-hit rate. Alonso will keep it rolling. 

Play this pick down to +100. 

• Time: 6:10 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: Rays.TV, MASN

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