After making the postseason in 2024 and contending last year, the Royals have fallen apart in 2026 and have one of the worst records in MLB entering this weekend, 20 games under .500.
Incidentally, the Cubs have now played 14 games of their 17-game stretch without an off day. Their record in those games is 10-4. Really, you can’t ask for much better than that. Well done, Cubs.
For more on the Royals, here’s Max Rieper, manager of our SB Nation Royals site Royals Review.
After back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in a decade, the Royals had designs on contention in 2026. But it all went very wrong right from the start. The offense struggled to begin the year due to poor performances from Vinnie Pasquantino and Salvador Perez.
The team was unable to dig out of an early hole, and once they hit the summer months, the pitching staff was ravaged by injuries. The Royals thought pitching depth would be a strength, but they lost Kris Bubic, Cole Ragans, Carlos Estevez, Ryan Bergert, Stephen Kolek, Luinder Avila, and Nick Mears to significant injuries, decimating the staff. Many fans felt they should have been aggressive sellers at the deadline, trading All-Star Michael Wacha while his value was high. Instead, the team held onto him and Seth Lugo, arguing that keeping them for next year could help them compete in 2027.
They have had to turning over every rock to find pitchers to finish the season. They may have found something in former Twins starter Randy Dobnak, who has a 1.16 ERA in his first four starts. Hard-throwing Steven Cruz may be emerging as their future closer. Daniel Lynch IV and John Schreiber have been useful relievers. Otherwise this has been one of the worst bullpens in franchise history. Much of the pitching staff is being held together by duct tape, comprised of has-beens and never-weres.
Bobby Witt Jr. returned this week from a back injury and he has picked up where he left off, with one of the best seasons ever by a player on a last place team. His offensive numbers are down slightly from last year, but he leads the AL in steams and in Outs Above Average defensively. The Royals thought their season hinged on the development of young hitters Jac Caglianone and Carter Jensen. But both have been very solid this year, and yet the offense still stinks. Chicago-area native Michael Massey (Brother Rice High School) also seems to have turned a corner with his offensive development, providing some pop at second base. But the lineup is pretty thin, and the team has had to fill out the roster with “Quad-A” players.
Witt can still carry the team on occasion, but this is largely a team playing out the string. They make poor baserunning decisions, struggle to hit with runners in scoring position, and blow leads any chance they get. The Cubs should take this series and really should be aiming for a sweep.
Fun facts
The Cubs are 22-18 in their 40 games against the Royals since the interleague rivalry began in 1997, for a winning percentage of .550.
They have had a higher percentage against four other American League teams, all in no more than 29 games: Orioles (.679, 19-9), Athletics (.667, 18-9), Mariners (.643, 18-10) and Angels (.621, 18-11).
The Cubs are 9-8 vs. the Royals at Kansas City. They lost two of three in the first and third of their visits there, in 1998 and 2011. Since then, they are 5-3, having won two of three in 2015, splitting a pair in 2020, then bouncing back in 2024 from a 6-0 first-game loss to win, 9-4 and 7-3. Patrick Wisdom hit a grand slam in the seventh inning to erase a 4-3 deficit in the first of those games, then hit a solo shot in the second.
(Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
Probable pitching matchups
Friday: Kevin Gausman, RHP (5-10, 4.38 ERA, 1.288 WHIP, 3.50 FIP in 23 starts with Blue Jays) vs. Daniel Lynch IV, LHP (4-2, 1.96 ERA, 0.935 WHIP, 3.05 FIP)
Saturday: Clay Holmes, RHP (4-4, 2.39 ERA, 1.101 WHIP, 3.21 FIP in nine starts with Mets) vs. Seth Lugo, RHP (4-7, 4.41 ERA, 1.391 WHIP, 4.26 FIP)
Sunday: Matthew Boyd, LHP (7-1, 3.59 ERA, 1.225 WHIP, 3.82 FIP) vs. Randy Dobnak, RHP (2-0, 1.16 ERA, 1.194 WHIP, 4.22 FIP)
Times & TV channels
Friday: 7:10 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network
Saturday: 6:10 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network
Sunday: 1:10 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network
Prediction
The Cubs have three strong starters going in this series and really ought to win at least two of three.
Up next
The Cubs have Monday off — their first off day after playing the aforementioned 17 games in a row — then will be in Washington for a three-game series against the Nationals that begins Tuesday evening.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - SEPTEMBER 23: Max Muncy #13 of the Los Angeles Dodgers bats during the sixth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on September 23, 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks defeated the Dodgers 5-4. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) | Getty Images
For a brief period last season, Merrill Kelly defended a team other than the Diamondbacks for the first time in his career, and to anyone who follows the NL West closely, it felt unusual. Now back where he broke through as a big leaguer at 30 years of age in 2019, Kelly hadn’t had the greatest of seasons; in fact, by every way you look at it, this is his worst-ever campaign, currently with an ERA above 5.00. Focusing on the Diamondbacks starter is of special importance in the context of this Friday night matchup between the two top teams in the NL West.
In a bizarro edition of “unstoppable force meets immovable object,” the Dodgers and their six-game losing streak—their worst of the season—will face a pitcher that perhaps more than any other one in the sport has felt the strength of the Dodgers across the last several years. Even in extremely lopsided battles, baseball has a way of rewarding the weaker sides occasionally, but for Kelly against the Dodgers, there has been none of that even when he’s been at his best.
A regular of the Diamondbacks rotation since he first came up to the bigs back in 2019, Kelly has accumulated a healthy sample size against the NL West, including 17 starts and 89 innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Throughout it, he owns a 0-11 record, which includes a 2022 season in which he was the losing pitcher of record in all five starts against the Dodgers. Kelly had eight losses total in a 200-inning campaign that season. The last time Kelly faced the Dodgers was an 8-6 loss at the end of the 2024 campaign, one that doesn’t even count towards his 11 decisions, even though he allowed six of those runs (4 earned).
The only Dodger for the entirety of Kelly’s big-league career, Max Muncy has faced him the most, and while he has only hit one home run, the veteran third baseman has reached safely in 22 of 43 plate appearances. Mookie Betts, who is coming off a four-hit game, might get on a run, having taken Kelly deep four times in 35 at-bats. And if the Dodgers do anything close to what has been their common production against Kelly, Roki Sasaki may not even need his best start to take the win. Now more than ever, the Diamondbacks starter seems less than ideally prepared for this matchup.
CHICAGO, IL - JULY 28: Austin Wells #28 of the New York Yankees talks with home plate umpire Roberto Ortiz after calling for an ABS challenge in the ninth inning during the game between the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field on Tuesday, July 28, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Lawrence Brown/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
If you polled 1,000 anonymous Yankees fans at random and asked them the biggest issue with the team in 2026, generalizing it that you could name a player, team figure, or even approach, you’d get a lot of answers.
There’d be a fair amount of Aaron Boone, Brian Cashman, Hal Steinbrenner, and “analytics” answers, but you’d also think that certain positional groups or players would be named as well. The most common player that would probably be individually named would be Austin Wells, who is having an unmitigated disaster of an season to the point where one of my fellow writers mused about the worst position players on a World Series-winning Yankees team.
Indeed, Wells is quickly approaching Yankees infamy. Entering Friday night’s series opener against Atlanta, the 27-year-old backstop has a 59 wRC+, tied for the lowest by a Yankee with at least 250 plate appearances since Austin Romine in 2017 and the third-worst by any Yankee since the last World Series title in 2009. It wasn’t too long ago that it was even worse, as the 33 wRC+ he had through early July would’ve been the worst by any Yankee with 200 PAs since Jim Mason in 1976.
As such, with his struggles encompassing nearly the entire season, it seemed inevitable that some right-handed catcher would come in to take a share of the reps behind the plate at the trade deadline. Names such as Ryan Jeffers, Adley Rutschman, Hunter Goodman, and Tyler Stephenson were all floated, but when the dust settled, the Yankees elected to ignore the catcher position in an absolute stunner.
As if the pressure wasn’t already immense on Wells to produce, the lack of reinforcement has only heightened it. In a lineup that still cannot find a way to get going even after the acquisitions of Luis García Jr. and Heliot Ramos, the scrutiny will only get louder on the parts that fail to get going.
But maybe that pressure can be a good thing for Wells. After all, his best three weeks of the entire season preceded the deadline when everyone and their mother thought he would lose the starting spot he seized from Jose Trevino for good in the summer of 2024. Since July 9th in a span of 19 games and 51 plate appearances, he’s slashing .256/.373/.558 with a 161 wRC+, the best on the team. While this sample represents just one-fifth of his season, the overnight switch flipped in Boston shows that things like these might not just be small sample nonsense.
I can break up Wells’ seasons into three parts:
Part I: Process/plate discipline improved from ‘25, results lagged behind Part II: Six weeks surrounding the cervical headaches that put him on the injured list, where he looks utterly lost Part III: The revival over the last four weeks; process meets results.
Mr. Wells, who art thou?
Part I
Date: March 25 to May 7 Stats: .195/.336/.310, 87 wRC+, 17.8 BB%, 19.6 K% (107 PA)
The biggest reason why Wells regressed at the plate in 2025 from his strong rookie season was the sharp drop in his plate discipline. His chase, whiff, walk, and strikeout rates all plummeted from average to poor to flat-out bad. To me, improving that aspect of his game was the biggest priority for him in 2026.
And for a while, it worked. Wells was drawing walks, laying off bad pitches, and doing what you want from a guy like him. His quality of contact took a step back as he struggled to put it all together, but the process was where you wanted it to be for a guy with the thump he’s been proven to have:
This version of Wells was getting many hits fall in through May 7 and had an underwhelming slash line, but he had 19 walks to 21 strikeouts in 107 plate appearances. It was the kind of profile you could live with, even if it was disappointing for a guy who was supposed to be a good offensive catcher. But after that day, things went downhill.
Part II
Date: May 8 to July 8 Stats: .105/.141/.147, -24 wRC+, 4.0% BB, 37.0 K% (100 PA)
For two whole months, this looked like a guy who had been picked up from a local beer league and asked to hit in a major league game. He started chasing everything, doing significantly less damage in-zone, and was perhaps the easiest out in the majors. This was where his playing time began to be reduced and where things really started to get bad:
The key with this stretch was Wells going down with cervical headaches on June 6, just as the team aggressively looked to energize the unit with the promotion of Ali Sanchez. We know that said headaches were an issue for up to a week beforehand and that, as the team’s starting catcher, he has endured a beating this season behind the plate. When he came back, things didn’t get better at all in the short term.
It’s hard to blame all of this on the headaches, but when a player has six absolutely horrendous weeks of baseball centered around a neurological issue, you have to take it all with a grain of salt. Think back to the two months of sharp regression we saw out of Anthony Rizzo after his collision with Fernando Tatis Jr. in 2023 before we learned of his brain fog. While Rizzo never functionally recovered, we can see that Wells has.
Here’s a note that defines this stretch. In his first 104 plate appearances of the season, Wells drew 19 walks. He drew just four in these 100 PA’s, with all of them occurring in the first few weeks. He went 50 plate appearances between walks from May 31 to July 9, when a rebirth of sorts occurred.
Part III
Date: July 9 to present Stats: .256/.373/.558, 161 wRC+, 13.7 BB%, 19.6 K% (51 PA)
The renaissance of Wells’ bat over the past four weeks has been predicated on, well, everything getting way better. His plate discipline has completely recovered and even reached another level. He’s no longer giving away at-bats with lousy strikeouts. He’s seeing pitches, hunting mistakes, and doing damage again. The peripherals back up the numbers.
Is this sustainable? Probably not, based on his true talent level, but the production gives you hope that he can be productive for the remainder of the season. Think of the current lineup and the hypothetical lineup when Judge, Bellinger, and Stanton return. It should be a lot deeper than it currently is, and imagine much the complexion of the bottom of the order changes if you have a Wells that hold his own at the plate.
Ryan McMahon is who he is at third base. George Lombard Jr. has boundless potential but is a rookie at shortstop. Wells, to this point, has been a black hole. For a lineup that will rely on its heavy hitters, they just need the guys at the bottom to not sink the ship, and Wells can go a long way towards achieving that standard. He’s been given all the trust in the world by management, and now he’s got all the pressure in the world on him. Wells must produce down the stretch, because the Yankees have given themselves no other options.
WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA - JULY 27, 2026: Connelly Early #19 of the Washington Nationals watches the action from the dugout during the first inning of an interleague game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Nationals Park on July 27, 2026 in Washington, District of Columbia. The Blue Jays beat the Nationals, 3-2. (Photo by Diamond Images via Getty Images) | Diamond Images/Getty Images
Yesterday we got some more bad news on the injury front. Big trade acquisition Connelly Early was shut down from his rehab after feeling forearm tightness. The team insists it is minor and that they are not concerned. However, that is certainly not the update you want to hear.
Connelly Early experienced forearm tightness in between innings of his live BP season in West Palm Beach this week, so Nats will be “ultra cautious” and wait to schedule his next outing. Blake Butera: “From what I’ve been told, it’s not super concerning.”
Despite the messaging about the team not being concerned, I am certainly worried. For a guy who was out with an elbow injury, experiencing forearm tightness on rehab is the last thing you want to hear. Fans have heard this update plenty of times before only to be told that the pitcher needs Tommy John Surgery a couple weeks later.
The new front office better hope that Early does not need any elbow surgery because if he does, it would be a really bad look. From the outside, it would sure seem like Paul Toboni got played by his former boss Craig Breslow if that is the outcome here. However, we are not there yet.
One other thing that raised my eyebrows was the fact that it was reported that Early is not getting an MRI. In Spencer Nusbaum’s piece, it was stated that Early “did not need an MRI”. I feel like it would be good practice to just get one anyways just to make sure everything is fine. What is the downside of doing that?
Said in here that Connelly Early "did not need" an MRI. How about we play it safe and get one anyways guys https://t.co/UZz66elFad
The worst thing that could happen is that Early doesn’t get an MRI, starts throwing before getting shut down again, only to find out he does in fact need surgery. If the Nats really want to proceed with extreme caution, an MRI needs to be part of the process.
It was reported that Early got an MRI after his initial injury in Boston, and there was no structural damage. However, after another arm related issue, they should check again. I am trying not to jump to conclusions here, but this just reads like the type of update you get before someone goes under the knife.
Even if Early is healthy and this is just a minor setback, he would be racing against time to get back on the mound. Presumably, he will not throw for at least a week or two and after that he will have to build back up. Once he gets through his rehab process, he will only be able to make a couple starts before the season is over.
It was true when the trade was made and even more true now, but Paul Toboni has a lot riding on Connelly Early. He started the deconstruction of an elite offense to go get his guy from Boston despite the fact Early was on the shelf. Toboni needs Early to work out, or else the fanbase will start getting grumpy.
There is still plenty of time before we can fully announce the winner of the Bennett for Perales swap, but so far Boston has the upper hand. If another trade with his old club gets off to a bad start, that would be tough optics. Toboni is pretty lucky that Mead is on the shelf and not mashing right now.
Toboni has done a phenomenal job this year developing hitters in the majors and minors. However, his trades with the Red Sox are off to a less than ideal start. For the sake of everyone involved with the team from the front office to the fans, Connelly Early needs to be healthy ASAP.
The Yankees are adding to the organization's catching depth by signing veteran Mitch Garver to a minor league deal.
Garver, 35, appeared in 50 games with the Seattle Mariners this season before he was released earlier this week.
"Obviously a ton of experience. Had a lot of success, too, in the league," manager Aaron Boone said of Garver ahead of Friday's game against the Atlanta Braves. "Just trying to add to our depth and protection. Get him into our system and see where we can help him and see what he has. And you never know."
The backstop has seven extra-base hits (four home runs) with 15 RBI while posting a .175/.302/.294 slash line for a .596 OPS (73 OPS+, 82 wRC+) with the Mariners, and he would give the Yanks a right-handed option if he is called up to the big league level. He has been better against left-handed pitchers this season with a .659 OPS in 64 plate appearances on the year after posting a .718 OPS against LHP in 156 plate appearances in 2025.
Catcher was a position that general manager Brian Cashman confirmed the club targeted but was unable to make a move before the MLB trade deadline, including having conversations with Baltimore about Adley Rutschman before he was dealt to Boston, as they have not gotten the offensive production from that unit all season.
"We grinded through the market at catching,” Cashman said Monday, but it was “a very thin market of opportunity.”
The GM said that despite the interest, they believe that while the offensive side has been a "struggle," there's hope that Austin Wells is “trending in the right direction” of producing more at the plate.
“I think Austin has been getting his offense going this past month,” Cashman said. “A much more closer version to what he’s capable of... Hopefully, the best is yet to come... he does possess a lot of potential with that bat. Hopefully he's starting to finally tap into it."
Since the All-Star break, Wells is 8-for-31 (.258) with three extra-base hits for an .879 OPS. That run has seen his season slash line rise to .169/.268/.289 for a .557 OPS (57 OPS+, 59 wRC+). While he has dealt with some injuries on the year, that is a .155 decrease in OPS from last season.
Ali Sanchez, the lone righty catcher, has 15 hits in 56 at-bats (.268), but with just three extra-base hits, his .357 slugging percentage over 32 games has left much to be desired. Lefty batting J.C. Escarra, currently in the minors, slashed .188/.239/.271 for a .510 OPS with six extra-base hits and seven RBI in 32 games earlier this year.
Garver is two years removed from his best big-league career at the plate when he slugged 19 home runs and 50 RBI with a .270 average and .870 OPS in 87 games with the Texas Rangers' World Series-winning side of 2023. He belted three homers that postseason, including one in the Fall Classic, and batted .226 with a .751 OPS in 14 games.
But his hitting really never caught on in the Pacific Northwest. He slashed .185/.292/.333 for a .626 OPS with 28 home runs and 96 RBI in 251 games over parts of three seasons with Seattle.
On this day one year ago, and in fact on this play one year ago, Luis Robert Jr. joined Chicago’s 100-100 club. | (Photo by Mollie Handkins/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
1910 White Sox pitcher Ed Walsh fired the first shutout in the original Comiskey Park, when he blanked Washington, 4-0. He allowed only two hits and struck out 10 in the game.
Senators outfielder William “Wid” Conroy got both of the hits off of Walshthat afternoon.
1932 With a 1-0 loss in the second game of a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics, the White Sox started a season-worst, 10-game losing streak. Given the 1932 team was the worst in White Sox history, that the worst stretch for the team was just 10 losses is something of a minor miracle. However, the rest of August was simply miserable, as the 10 straight losses also were strung into 13 of 14, 16 of 18, and 21 of 24.
To put into perspective how horrible the 2024 was through 117 games, at this spot on the season calendar, that team was nine games worse than the 1932, worst-ever, White Sox club.
1960 The White Sox swept a doubleheader from the Senators, 9-7 and 3-2, both in walk-off fashion, with Gerry Staley picking up wins in both games.
In the opener, Washington rallied to tie, 7-7, in the top of the ninth off of Staley, but in the bottom half the Sox assaulted reliever Pedro Ramos: Sherm Lollar doubled, Al Smith walked, and Gene Freese crushed a homer to left to win it. (Ramos had started the game on Friday and had just pitch-ran in the ninth to enter the game, so it’s hard to blame him for being out of gas.)
The pattern repeated itself in the nightcap, with Washington rallying to tie in the top of the ninth and the White Sox punching right back. Again, Lollar instigated the rally, with a leadoff single. After two fly outs, Roy Sievers singled pinch-runner Jim Rivera to third, and then Minnie Miñoso cracked a single through the box and into center field for the game-winner.
On the day, Staley threw four innings of one-hit, one-run, one-walk ball. He blew his ninth save of the season in the opener, but earned two wins to up his record to 11-5 on the year (he’d finish at 13-8, topping all AL relievers in both wins and losses).
The White Sox were in the midst of a final push to defend their 1959 AL pennant, just 1 1⁄2 games out after the sweep. The South Siders fought back into a tie for first after another doubleheader sweep a week from today, but faltered from there and finished 10 games out, in third place, at 87-67.
1970 In the midst of the worst season in franchise history, some smiles were seen after the White Sox unveiled the “Big White Machine” at Comiskey Park.
The car was a 1929 Ford, rebuilt by Sox players Ed Herrmann, Bill Melton, Syd O’Brien and the folks at Hawkinson Ford (now known as Hawk Ford). It circled Comiskey Park every time the Sox won a home game — which wasn’t often!
1972 He played in the big leagues for 23 seasons, and his 300 lifetime wins punched Early Wynn’s ticket intothe Hall of Fame, on this date.
Wynnpitched five seasons for the Sox, winning 64 games. He led the American League in innings pitched, games started, strikeouts and wins at various times between 1958 and 1962 when he was in Chicago. He averaged 38 starts per year during that stretch.
Wynn’s signature season was the pennant-winning year of 1959, when he won the Cy Young with 22 wins and a 3.17 ERA. (There was only one award in those days, instead of one winner per league.) In the early 1980s, Wynn became a White Sox broadcaster.
1974 Comiskey Park was the site for one of the most exciting games of the early 1970s, and it involved Nolan Ryan. The flamethrower took a no-hitter into the ninth inning and led, 1-0, thanks to a Frank Robinson home run. However, after getting the first out in the ninth, it all fell apart for Ryan.
Dick Allen beat out an infield hit, spoiling the no-hitter, and Carlos May reached on an error. Ken Henderson ripped a single to center to tie the game, and then with two out, Billy Sharp singled to right to win it.
The Sox beat the Angels, 2-1, getting all three of their hits in the final inning. White Sox starter Jim Kaat was brilliant as well, and the late rally saved him from a hard-luck loss.
1994 In a game in Anaheim, Frank Thomas drove in two runs in the a 10-5 White Sox win, in 12 innings over the Angels. The RBIs were his 100th and 101ston the season. They came in the team’s 110th game, which set the franchise mark for fastest to 100 RBIs.
Thomas also held the old mark — set the year before, when he collected his 100th RBI in the team’s 118th contest.
2005 Before a 3-1 win over Seattle, a concourse statue of Carlton Fisk was unveiled, the third-ever at Sox Park after Charles Comiskey and Minnie Miñoso. The big blow in the game was a 20% WPA home run from Paul Konerko, a two-run shot that put the White Sox up for good, 2-1.
Fisk had his No. 72 retired by the White Sox eight years earlier, in 1997.
2025 With a steal of second base in a game during a 4-3 loss in 11 innings at Seattle, Luis Robert Jr. became only the fourth member of the franchise to log at least 100 home runs and 100 steals while in a White Sox uniform. Robert led off the eighth inning of a tie game with a single, then stole his 100th career base (earlier in the game, Robert led off the second inning with a walk, but was picked off first, getting safely second base on a throwing error). Robert joined Minnie Miñoso, Ray Durham and Alexei Ramírez in the select 100-100 club.
Robert, who went 3-for-4 in the game with a double and a walk, finished his White Sox career with 102 home runs and 102 stolen bases.
The Atlanta Braves are carrying some strong vibes into this weekend’s road series at the New York Yankees.
They are fresh off a 7-0 homestand against the Nationals and Marlins, and have won a season-long eight straight games, pushing their NL East lead back to 8.5 games.
They’ll put that on the line in the Big Apple, starting Friday night with the Braves debut of Tyler Mahle (3-9, 5.13 ERA).
Much of the disappointment surrounding Mahle’s addition wasn’t about him specifically, but more about the fact that he was the lone starter addition.
The right-hander’s ERA on his face isn’t entirely representative of his season, with an xERA (4.09), xFIP (4,11) and FIP (4.37) which are better than his ERA. Since returning from a one-month injured list stint due to a hamstring strain in late June, Mahle is 2-2 with a 3.79 ERA in seven starts, striking out 32, walking 13 and giving up just three homers in 38 innings.
His last start in San Francisco, though, was his worst in that span, giving up five runs on five hits over 5 2/3 innings. He did strike out a season-high nine in that start.
The good news (of sorts) is that Mahle has been a somewhat reliable innings eater, throwing between 5 and 5 2/3 innings 11 times in 18 starts this season. He’s lasted less than five innings just four times, but also thrown six-plus innings just three times and seven-plus innings twice.
The Braves could stand to get a longer outing in Friday’s series opener after a rain delay washed out Martín Pérez’s Thursday start after just three innings, taxing the bullpen a bit.
Unfortunately for Atlanta, the Yankees are throwing their three best starters for this weekend series. That begins with an old friend in Max Fried (4-3, 3.12), who will be facing the team he debuted and played for his eight major league seasons for for the first time.
The southpaw former Brave’s second season in New York was derailed by a left elbow bone bruise which sidelined him for over two months. However, he returned a few weeks ago and has allowed four runs on eight hits over 13 1/3 innings in his three starts back, not factoring into the decision in any of them.
Absence aside, this has been a typical Fried season. He’s not nearly on pace for last year’s win total, when he led the majors with 19 victories, but he’s well on pace for his seventh straight season with an ERA of 3.25 or better, averaging just under a strikeout per inning.
After he allowed a combined 27 homers the last two seasons, he’s allowed just one in 75 innings this season.
While Gerrit Cole and Cam Schlittler will follow on the mound for New York in this series, the potential saving grace for the Braves could be that the currently Aaron Judge-less Yankees’ offense still hasn’t really figured things out in an extended funk.
New York has scored more than two runs just once in the last seven games and has plated five-plus runs just four times in 19 games since the All-Star Break.
There’s a forecast of scattered thunderstorms for New York on Friday evening, so keep tabs on Battery Power about the possibility of a delayed start to the series opener.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Friday, August 7, 7:05 p.m. EDT
Location: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, N.Y.
TV/Streaming: BravesVision
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan, La Mejor 1600/1460/1130 AM
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - AUGUST 6: Pete Crow-Armstrong #4 of the Chicago Cubs celebrates scoring the game winning run after stealing third base in the bottom of the eleventh inning of a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Wrigley Field on August 6, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Matt Dirksen/Chicago Cubs/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It has been a bit of a roller coaster season for the Cubbies. They got off to a great start, winning 19 of their first 31 games. But by mid-June they were at .500 and barely treading water. Now they’re playing well again, winning 13 of 20 since the All-Star break, and they have a six-game lead for the top Wild Card spot.
Chicago Cubs (67-49) at Kansas City Royals (48-68) at Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, MO
Pete Crow-Armstrong is having an MVP-type season, and will likely reach the 30 HR/30 SB mark for the second year in a row. Sammy Sosa is the only other player in Cubs history to enjoy a 30/30 season. Alex Bregman is a .238/.364/.384 hitter in 42 career games against the Royals. Nico Hoerner is batting .388/.402/.538 with three home runs in his last 20 games. Carson Kelly is hitting .333/.426/.559 against lefties this year. Ian Happ is batting just .202/.298/.375 in road games.
The Royals will start Daniel Lynch IV for the first time today, and will give him a chance to be a starter down the stretch. The Cubs have not yet announced starters for Friday or Saturday, but Kevin Gausman and Clay Holmes are likely to make their debut with the team after being acquired at the trade deadline. Gausman was 1-6 with a 6.47 ERA in his last eight starts with the Blue Jays. He has a 2.81 ERA in three career starts at Kauffman Stadium.
Clay Holmes has been out since mid-May with a fibula injury, but is expected to return this weekend against the Royals. He was acquired at the trade deadline from the Mets after a 2.1 rWAR season last year as a starting pitcher. He faced the Royals in the 2024 ALDS as a Yankees reliever.
The Cubs have had difficulty keeping pitchers healthy – they have 14 pitchers on the Injured List. They have a 3.87 ERA from their relievers, 11th-lowest in the league. The Cubs picked up Braxton Garrett from the Marlins and former Kansas Jayhawk pitcher Ryan Zeferjahn from the Angels at the trade deadline.
The Cubs are playing very well and fighting for postseason positions, while the Royals are throwing spaghetti against a wall to see what sticks. The Royals do have Bobby Witt Jr. back, which gives them a chance to beat anyone, but their hodgepodge collection of pitchers will need to keep a solid Cubbies lineup in check.
The Texas Rangers (57-58) look to get back to .500 with a three game series on the horizon versus Baltimore (56-59) with the opener available on Apple TV.
Texas is in the final AL Wild Card spot, whereas Baltimore is 1.0 game back of the Rangers. Texas enters on a two-game winning streak after losing six consecutive games. The Rangers scored four or fewer runs in all six losses, but turned around with five and six runs scored in the last two wins over San Francisco.
Baltimore is 10-8 in the second half of the season and coming off a loss to the Angels, although the Orioles won the series, 2-1. The O's offense has gone silent lately. To start August, Baltimore has scored nine runs in five games (last) and hitting an MLB-worst .159. The only bright spot of the offense is they've hit five home runs in the last five games but three of them have been solo shots (7 of 9 runs have come on homers).
Follow Rotoworld Player News for the latest fantasy and betting player news and analysis all season long.
Game details & how to watch Orioles at Rangers
Date: Friday, August 7, 2026
Time: 8:15 PM EST
Site: Globe Life Field
City: Arlington, TX
Network/Streaming: Apple TV / MLB TV
Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.
Gunnar Henderson is hitting .146 over the last 15 days (6/41)
Pete Alonso is hitting .176 in August (3/17) with seven strikeouts
Jake Burger hit .174 in July (15/86)
Brandon Nimmo is hitting .500 in August (9/18) with two home runs and four runs scored
Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!
Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Orioles at Rangers
Baltimore is 59-56 ATS
Texas is 54-61 ATS, ranking ninth-worst
Baltimore is 58-53-4 to the Over, ranking 10th-best
Texas is 60-49-6 to the Over, ranking sixth-best
Baltimore is 19-13 ATS as a road underdog
Texas is 9-17 ATS as a home favorite, ranking seventh-worst
Expert picks & predictions for tonight’s game between the Orioles and the Rangers
Rotoworld Bet Best Bet
Please bet responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700.
Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Friday's game between the Orioles and the Rangers:
Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Rangers on the Moneyline.
Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Rangers at -1.5.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Under on the Game Total of 7.5
Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:
Here are my favorite MLBhome run props for today's slate, headlined by St. Louis Cardinals slugger Alec Burleson and Cleveland Guardians Jo Adell.
Here are my favorite MLB picks for Friday, Aug. 7.
UPDATE: Added another HR pick + parlay.
Best MLB home run props today
Player to hit a HR
Odds
Jo Adell
+325
Alec Burleson
+365
Rafael Devers
+388
💲Today's HR parlay
+9744
Home run pick: Jo Adell (+325)
Chicago White Sox left-hander Noah Schultz has struggled since being brought up, with right-handed hitters giving him the most trouble. The last 60 he has faced own a .339 xBA, .573 xSLG, and .374 xwOBA, while Schultz is allowing a 75% elevation rate to those right-handed hitters.
I like newly acquired Cleveland Guardian Jo Adell in this spot tonight to hit his first home run in a Guardians uniform. He draws the third-highest matchup rating on Batters-Box today, and in 35 elite ratings, he has left the yard 25.7% of the time.
Over his last 30 at-bats against a left-handed pitcher, Adell owns a .893 SLG, 1.326 OPS, and .554 wOBA, while producing a 47% hard hit rate and 23.5% barrel rate.
I would take his home run prop down to +300.
Time: 6:40 p.m. ET
Where to watch: CLEGuardians.TV, Chicago Sports Network
Home run pick: Alec Burleson (+365)
Nothing like backing the burley boy on a Friday evening.
During that stretch, those lefties are producing a 13.6% barrel rate while owning a .379 xBA, .763 xSLG, and .412 xwOBA.
The Cardinals slugger has maintained a .423 BA, .731 SLG, and 1.231 OPS while producing a 60% hard hit rate and 15% barrel rate over his last 30 plate appearances against right-handed pitching.
This is a strong spot for the big fella to once again go deep this week.
Take this down to +300 at the most.
Time: 8:15 p.m. ET
Where to watch: Cardinals.TV, Rockies.TV
Home run pick: Rafael Devers (+388)
One of the first hitters to jump out at me this morning was San Francisco Giants slugger Rafael Devers. The big fella enters Friday with an elite rating on Batters-Box, while covering over 76% of Detroit Tigers right-hander Keider Montero. The arsenal coverage should be a bit higher, but because Devers has such a small sample size against knuckle curves, that is why it sits at 76%.
Regardless, Devers has been seeing the ball extremely well, posting a .320 BA, 10% strikeout rate and .913 OPS while making 89% contact. On the other side, Montero has allowed a 64% elevation rate and 37.7% hard-hit rate to left-handed hitters on the road this season.
Devers owns the hottest bat in the Giants’ lineup right now, and I think he is worth trusting this evening at home. Take this down to +350.
Time: 10:15 p.m. ET
Where to watch: NBCSBA, DSN
Colby Marchio's 2026 Transparency Record
HR picks: 90-338, +3.7 units
Today’s HR combo
Rafael Devers
Trade Now +9744
Jo Adell
Alec Burleson
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. Not intended for use in MA. Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
San Diego (60-56) and Houston (59-57) prepare for a three-game weekend series that will conclude on Peacock Sunday. Both the Padres and Astros are two of the hottest teams in the second half of the season and the past two weeks.
After starting the second half of the year 0-3, Houston went on a 12-3 stretch. The Astros are hot and in the past 15 days, Houston has scored the fifth-most runs (65) and the third-best batting average (.284). To start August, the pitching staff has allowed a .186 OBA (4th) and the best WHIP (0.89). The Astros are 1.5 games up on the Rangers for the AL West lead and 3.0 ahead of the Mariners.
San Diego has now won four-straight games following a loss as the Padres continue to stay hot. The Padres are 10-3 in the past 13 games. The pitching staff has a 3.60 ERA in that 13-game span, and the 2nd-best batting average at .286 Fernando Tatis’ bat has been hot the last 6-8 weeks, while Manny Machado is coming off his best month in July with 7 home runs and 19 RBI on a .292 batting average. San Diego is 1.0 game back of the Diamondbacks for the final Wild Card spot and 2.0 of the Phillies entering this series.
Let’s dive into tonight’s matchup and find a sweat or two.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch first pitch, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
Follow Rotoworld Player News for the latest fantasy and betting player news and analysis all season long.
Game details & how to watch Astros at Padres
Date: Friday, August 7, 2026
Time: 9:40 PM EST
Site: Petco Park
City: San Diego, CA
Network/Streaming: MLB TV
Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.
Odds for the Astros at the Padres
The latest odds as of Friday:
Moneyline: San Diego Padres (-117), Houston Astros (+109)
Spread: Astros +1.5 (-193), Padres -1.5 (+159)
Total: 8.0
Probable starting pitchers for Astros at Padres
Friday's pitching matchup (August 7): Robbie Ray vs Ronel Blanco
Fernando Tatis Jr is hitting .150 in August (3/20)
Jackson Merrill is hitting .375 in August (9/24)
Manny Machado hit .292 in July with seven home runs on 28 hits
Yordan Alvarez is hitting .421 in August (8/19)
Jose Altuve is hitting .450 in August (9/20) with zero strikeouts
Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!
Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Astros at Padres
San Diego is 63-53 ATS, ranking fourth-best
Arizona is 62-54 ATS, ranking tied for eighth-best
San Diego is 62-53-1 to the Under, ranking 10th-best
Arizona is 61-49-6 to the Under, ranking fifth-best
San Diego is 30-27 ATS at home
Arizona is 31-28 ATS on the road
Expert picks & predictions for tonight’s game between the Padres and the Astros
Rotoworld Bet Best Bet
Please bet responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700.
Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Friday's game between the Padres and the Astros:
Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Padres on the Moneyline.
Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Padres at -1.5.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the Under on the Game Total of 8.5
Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JULY 24: Manager Tony Vitello #23 of the San Francisco Giants talks to President of Baseball Operations Buster Posey before the game against the Los Angeles Angels at Oracle Park on July 24, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Nationally, during this disaster of a season, there has been some speculation that the San Francisco Giants could pull the plug on their unique gamble of hiring the green Tony Vitello as their manager after just one season.
In total, that mindset seemed shortsighted and a knee-jerk reaction. Yet, after this week’ massive roster overhaul by Giants’ president of baseball operation Buster Posey is actually a strong indication that the franchise is fully behind Vitello, who came to San Francisco this year with no professional experience.
In fact, this moves this week are actually an investment in the skills and reputation of Vitello, who left a comfortable and successful stint at the University of Tennessee to dip his toes in the Major Leagues. Sure, Vitello has shown his lack of pro experience this year and he’s had more of his share of growing pains, but the Giants are clearly putting their future in his hands.
San Francisco orchestrated five trades at the deadline and, by all accounts they did a tremendous job of adding several high-end, big-time potential prospects in the form of both pitching and everyday players. The team went into the deadline with a one of the better farm systems in the league and now it is bubbling over with serious prospects.
This team will be very young for a while and that’s where Vitello comes in. He is an expert at developing and dealing with younger players. That s his strength. So, he will be able to grow into his major league managerial approach, while working with and developing younger players. Vitello and his players will grow together. By the time these players are ready to make a serious run, Vitello should be fully comfortable in his role.
This is the type of team Vitello needed to inherit from the jump. It took a rocky fit to finally put the Vitello plan on track n San Francisco. It may take a while to payoff, but this week has shown neither he nor Posey are going anywhere anytime soon.
ATLANTA, GA - AUGUST 5: Bryce Elder #55 of the Atlanta Braves pitches in the first inning during the game against the Miami Marlins at Truist Park on August 5, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/Getty Images) | Getty Images
It’s usually a bad time for the Miami Marlins to run into the Atlanta Braves, based on how these two teams have fared against each other for nearly a decade-and-a-half now. It was an especially bad time for Miami this time around as the Braves came into this series looking hot and playing well.
As it turned out, nothing changed. The Braves were cooking against the Nationals and this week’s action saw yet another Fish Fry take place in Cobb County. Atlanta didn’t have too much trouble dealing with the Nationals and they also did so with a couple of starting pitchers who apparently had something to prove following the trade deadline. How did it all end up going? Let’s get into the recap, shall we?
Following his performance on Tuesday where he pitched six shutout innings, Grant Holmes expressed feelings of being motivated after there was such a loud and disappointed reaction to the Braves not adding a front-end starter to their rotation once the trade deadline came and went. If that’s true then hopefully we’ll continue to see him perform at or near a level like this because it was definitely impressive.
While Holmes was on the mound, he didn’t receive too much run support as the only help he had during his six innings was a dinger from Ozzie Albies in the second inning. Marlins starter did well to keep the Braves quiet and go stride-for-stride with Holmes while he was out there.
As a result, this came down to which team’s bullpen was better and which team could herd their nerve from a defensive standpoint. In both cases, the answer was “Atlanta” The seventh inning ended up being pivotal after Lane Thomas and his speed made an immediate impact by forcing a bad throw out of Otto Lopez. That brought Austin Riley to the plate, who proceeded to crush one into the seats in left-center for a two-run homer that gave the Braves some valuable breathing room at 3-0.
Atlanta actually went into the top of the ninth with a 4-0 lead but Raisel Iglesias had a wobble — one that usually comes after he has to deal with a leadoff baserunner. Iglesias conceded two runs but the Marlins needed more than that to keep the game going and so the Braves kept their winning streak going.
Apparently Bryce Elder was also motivated by his GM’s vote of confidence in him because he took the baton from Grant Holmes in the night before and absolutely ran with it. Elder has actually been pretty solid since the All-Star break (1.88 ERA and 44 ERA- over 24 innings since July 20. 5.01 FIP, though) and this was the best start of the run. Elder pitched seven innings while only giving up one hit with two walks. He struck out three batters and only gave up one run. Impressively, it wasn’t on a hanger that got hit to the moon, either. This was a truly good start from Elder.
Anyways, the Marlins never looked much like scoring on this particular night while Braves were in complete control for nearly the duration of the contest. Austin Riley continued his nice series by delivering a ground-rule RBI double that put the Braves in front and then Drake Baldwin shot one up the middle later on in the frame to plate two runners and make it 3-0 in the second. Mauricio Dubón added on an RBI single of his own to make it 4-0 and Atlanta was cruising early on.
They kept on cruising for the rest of the night. The aforementioned run that I mentioned Elder conceding came on a productive out from Joe Mack in the fifth inning and that was as good as it got for Miami in this one. The Marlins only had three hits in this one and two of them came off of Dylan Dodd. Didier Fuentes ended up pulling off a four-out save in this one as the Braves clinched just about the most comfortable three-run victory you’ll see this season.
Whether Ronald Acuña Jr. retires as a Braves player or leaves town eventually, the Marlins are likely going to throw a party and have a parade for him as he’s on his way out. Acuña has tormented the Marlins on a near-regular basis over the course of his career and Thursday night delivered one of the wildest examples. Right before the tarp came out, Acuña hit a fly ball to left-center that could’ve ended up in either Heriberto Hernandez’s glove or Esteury Ruiz’s glove. Instead, the two Marlins outfielders collided and the ball bounced off of them and over the fence for a two-run dinger. Jose Canseco would’ve been proud.
Once the game resumed play, the Braves continued to cruise along until they put the pedal to the metal starting int he sixth inning. Atlanta plated four runs in the sixth and it started with a leadoff homer from Matt Olson to get things started. Lane Thomas continued to ingratiate himself with Braves Country after he plated Michael Harris II with a double and then following an Austin Riley sacrifice fly, Xavier Edwards made a three-course meal out of a routine ground ball in order to cap off the miserable inning for Miami.
Michael Harirs II tripled home Matt Olson in the seventh inning and then Money Mike was brought home with a single from Mauricio Dubón. The Braves then added three more in the bottom of the eighth, which included Acuña capping off a wacky night by just hitting a good ol’ fashioned normal homer for his second of the night. Javier Sanoja made an error and then had to pitch to finish off the inning and that probably summed up th level of frustration that Miami was feeling as they suffered yet another rough visit to Truist Park.
The Braves never trailed at any point during this series, mind you. Before any of y’all go “Oh, it’s the Marlins,” remember that not-too-long ago the Braves were busy getting stymied by the Juan Soto-less New York Mets. This is Major League Baseball and any team can beat anybody over the course of a three-game series and outside of Thursday’s beatdown, the Marlins weren’t too far off.
With that being said, the Braves haven’t had too much trouble with the Marlins so far this season — or any recent season, really. That’s now 12 straight seasons where the Braves have won the season series over the Marlins and there’s even a Postseason series involved in that as well. It’s good to know that in this rapidly-changing world, some things remain consistent.
Atlanta now heads to the Bronx on a heater. They’ve won eight straight games and they’re 15-5 since the All-Star break. It’s exactly the type of form that you want to be on at this point in the season, as the better you play in August makes things that easier once September rolls around. The Braves are playing themselves into a comfortable spot with September on the horizon and now they’ll have a major test against one of the top squads in the American League. Time to see what happens!
The Mariners have announced that as part of their 50 Seasons Celebration Night, when the top 50 players in team history will be welcomed at T-Mobile in a ceremony before first pitch, Alex Rodriguez will be in attendance.
It’s been 26 years since A-Rod left Seattle in free-agency and became a villain in the eyes of many Seattle sports fan, a wound that may still be left unhealed.
“I’m not sure if there will be cheers…well, I guess there will be cheers because my family will be with me,” he said in a conversation with Brock and Salk on 710ESPN with a chuckle. “They’ll have to be cheering loud to mute out the other 45,000 booing out of their mind.”
Lookout Landing staffers (and friends) met to discuss the impact of his fateful decision and the legacy that A-Rod has left in Seattle.
Evan: I’m relistening to the ARod segment and it’s so weird to hear the narrative be about him as a Seattle baseball pariah. Like dude…you are not a top 50 sports villain in this town. We don’t think about you (even if we should). In terms of Mariners specific antagonists I don’t even feel like he ranks very high.
Eric: I think about him, in regards to how fucking dumb the FO was to not make him THE guy after that 2000 season
Evan: I dont remember his parting as being all that contentious? They offered him 90 million compared to 250 million dollars.
Eric: Well the fans hated it bc uhhhh greed? Money? I dunno. But also the FO didn’t exactly make him feel like he could either a) be THE guy as Griffey was making it clear he wanted to go home and b) made a deal to keep them both somehow.
If they kept one or both of them, they win the 2001 World Series.
Evan: People boo him because he’s a cheater, not because he left the Mariners. I guess maybe what I remember as frustration with ownership and Pat Gillick for dismantling that 2001 team other people remember more as player specific animosity for leaving? IDK, my clear memory is that the ARod falling out really came after his suspension from the Yankees. That was the real watershed moment.
Zach Mason: Respectfully, you have no idea. This was extremely contentious. I’ve never heard mariners fans boo louder. People were throwing Monopoly money on the field. Now on the merits I think views about players taking the most money have changed over the past quarter century. But about what happened at the time you’re as wrong as you’ve ever been. Personally I love A-Rod and treasure my memories of him.
Evan: I remember it was contentious at the time, but it sure does feel like it’s come out in the wash given how the remainder of his career went. He’s a bigger villain in several other places, it feels small potatoes here in 2026. Baseball is a very different, distant landscape since that contract was signed.
Maybe the way to put this is he doesn’t feel, to me like OUR villian. We have Jesse Winker and Milton Bradley and Carlos Silva at home.
John: I am with ZAM on this one. He is top five still, and in terms of actual players I don’t think there are any competitors for most hated former Seattle athlete. The Monopoly money thing is one of the most iconic pieces of MLB history of the past 30 years.
I find it distasteful because my perspective has changed significantly since I was an angry six-year-old, which is not necessarily the case for many fans, but it was different than someone coming here and just sucking or disappointing. He was an all-time great and chose to leave to get more money, on the heels of Randy choosing to leave in a similarly heated, but slightly more understood, way, and Griffey doing the same where he also was subject to a lot of frustration, but was given the grace of a hero who just really wanted to go play at home. A Rod got none of that.
I think the closest comparable is Russell Wilson, but not only did he already win a title, he had declined enough to where it wasn’t quite as important that he wanted to leave, to say nothing of him getting traded to the other conference being quite different than signing with a direct divisional rival.
Evan: IDK, I feel like ARod immediately moved on from a Mariners pariah to a national entity and his shame lies with the Yankees. The Mariners stuff is very much a historical footnote at this point. Russell Wilson is, the exact comp in my mind though. We agree on that. Slightly different tracks, very similar arcs.
John: I agree that his national identity as a villain grew primarily once he became a Yankee. But he never did a thing to mitigate his villainy here, and he committed the three cardinal sins of an athlete in terms of turning fans against you without doing actual crimes against humanity:
Greed (taking the money from TEX),
Disloyalty (spurning Seattle for a division rival, then compounding that by going to the Evil Empire),
Cheating (repeatedly and at the apex of the sort of distrustful view towards baseball stars re: PEDs)
Evan: I don’t disagree with you, I just think that’s our very small angle and the rest of baseball doesn’t really remember it that way or any way. The zeitgeist remembers him as a Yankee and his Yankee story first and foremost, no matter the truth.
Ryan Blake: I’ve always wondered why ARod gets hate and Junior is beloved but I don’t know enough about how either left. I loved ARod growing up because I thought it was cool he used to play for the Mariners and they were otherwise irrelevant and didn’t realize until later there was animosity about him disappearing.
Isabelle: ARod gets the hate because he was so open about it being money-driven, and that felt like a particular betrayal vs Junior leaving to be nearer to his family. It just felt like such a keen betrayal, particularly for a region and fanbase where loyalty – through good and so much bad – is prized.
Nick T: The people of Seattle would’ve found all the grace in the world for him if he’d shown them a single reason to give it, and he didn’t. He could’ve literally made something up and gotten away with it!
Evan: You’re completely right, and I would be mad about it, if I wasn’t convinced he was truly one the most deranged people in the sport. So my feels are conflicted.
Nick: Yea and he bailed on the people who were trying to help steer him in the right direction
Amanda Lane: Just had to pop in and drop a little something:
If you weren’t around then, you cannot possible understand without taking in the context of everything then. It simply cannot be understood through today’s lens at all. This was when athlete contracts in every sport were starting to get insane, when the cost of attending games was skyrocketing, when the Mariners lost Randy Johnson in 1998 and Ken Griffey Jr in 1999, then Alex in 2000. I say boo about him on Bluesky and end up blocking at least a few people because people are still INSANELY angry over him leaving. He was booed more than anyone else in the history of Seattle sports when he came back. And he wasn’t just booed here, it was everywhere. But nowhere as loud as here.
So much of the feeling of betrayal came from how deeply he was loved here, and how he said he wanted to stay and it wasn’t about the money, he just wanted to play for a winner. Then he signed for that much money with a really sucky Texas team. AND, something a lot of people hold on to too, is after he signed with Texas he was somehow roped into writing a letter urging Boeing to relocate to Dallas.
Evan: I will be 37 this month. I remember. Maybe it’s social media and the relationship people have with athletes now and the proximity, but it just feels so much closer now than it did 20 years ago, for me anyways. I wrote Arod a letter on his personal website page asking him why he left when I was in 4th grade, in front of a cheese grater Macintosh computer, in between sessions of WordMuncher and MathBlaster. It feels like so much has changed. Maybe I don’t remember it like I should.
John: I think if it happened now it would be a big deal and also he’d be not nearly as uniquely villainized. Like Kyle Tucker got booed massively the other day in his first return to Chicago and his postgame quotes were honestly fabulous and kinda heartbreaking. Basically “I played through a broken bone and multiple injuries to try and be good here, it didn’t work out and I wish it had. I get how passionate they are here, I’m glad they’re contenders too,.”
Amanda: Something I think about now too, sports writers drove a lot of public opinion about sports and they had been vocal for a long time about rising salaries and how it was ruining baseball. When Alex signed that contract with Texas, it had only been about 20 years of full free-agency. So many of those writers were working in the days before any free agency.
John: Exactly Amanda. My brothers are in their early 50s, they were in their early 30s when this all went down, they were huge baseball fans and diehard M’s fans. The first 10+ years of their lives, free agency didn’t exist!
Evan: It’s like when people say “you’re as close to Cleopatra as she was to the building the of the pyramids” but it’s “you’re as close to Carlos Triunfel as you are to free agency.”
ZAM: Ultimately, there’s four things going on here.
1. What happened at the time.
2. How you personally feel about it/how you think people should feel.
3. How most people feel about it now.
4. What A-Rod’s experience was.
I think 1 and 4 are very closely connected and that’s what sparked this conversation. I’m not surprised that A-Rod feels like there’s baggage. He’s obviously a messy bitch who loves drama in all facets of life (what was that post-JLo break up insta post with I wanna say Coldplay?), but I think anyone would have a hard time not dwelling on what it was like to come back here in the early 00s.
Also, please don’t put in the newspaper that I called A-Rod a messy bitch who loves drama.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - AUGUST 06: Andrew Pickney #45 of the Washington Nationals celebrates with teammate Jacob Young #30 after hitting a solo home run in the fourth inning during a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on August 6, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Phillies won 7-3. (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Nationals ended a difficult road trip with a 7-3 loss to the Phillies on Thursday afternoon, dropping three of four in Philadelphia and eight of their last nine games overall. Miles Mikolas allowed six runs and a season-high 12 hits over five innings, while the Phillies collected eight doubles among their 16 hits. The bright spot for the Nats was Andrew Pinckney, who hit his first major-league home run in his first career start. The loss dropped the Nationals to 56-61, five games below .500 and 5.5 games out of a Wild Card spot.
The Nats will now return home for a three-game series against the 56-58 Cincinnati Reds, one of the hottest teams in baseball since the All-Star break. Cincinnati has gone 13-6 during the second half and enters Washington on a four-game winning streak after sweeping the Athletics. Elly De La Cruz and Tyler Stephenson both homered in Thursday’s 6-5 victory, while rookie Sal Stewart hit his 25th home run of the season.
Petty will serve as the opener in what is expected to be a bullpen game for the Reds. He recently returned from the injured list and has not pitched more than 2⅓ innings in an appearance since June 4, so the Nationals should expect to see several Reds relievers Friday night.
Cavalli recorded his fifth consecutive quality start last Sunday against the Braves, allowing three runs—two earned—over six innings while striking out three. He has taken the mantle of most dependable Nats starter with Foster Griffin gone and will look to continue his success against a solid Reds lineup.
Burns has been one of baseball’s best starting pitchers this season and was dominant in his last outing against Pittsburgh, allowing one run on two hits over six innings while striking out nine. He earned his 13th win of the season in the 10-2 victory and has already beaten the Nationals once this season, throwing six scoreless innings against them in May.
Alvarez pitched very efficiently last time out against the Phillies, entering the 7th inning with a low pitch count and cruising, with zero runs allowed. Unfortunately, he allowed 2 runners on base and departed, and the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead, surrendering a grand slam, adding 2 runs to Alvarez’s final line.
Game Three – Sunday 12:15 PM ET
CIN: RHP Brady Singer (5-10, 4.67 ERA) WSH: TBD
Singer allowed three runs over six innings while striking out six in his last start against the Athletics. Although his overall numbers have been inconsistent, he has allowed three earned runs or fewer in six of his last seven starts and will look to give the Reds another solid outing in the series finale.
The Nationals have not yet announced a starter for Sunday afternoon. With an unusual 12:15 start time and national coverage on Peacock and NBCSN, the Nats will be looking to close the weekend—and a stretch of 17 consecutive games—with a much-needed series victory.
Jo Adell
Alec Burleson
Rafael Devers
