Category: MLB

The Cubs looked really good Saturday. Great pitching from Ben Brown, a huge day from Pete Crow-Armstrong, good relief, great defense…

As good as they looked Saturday, that’s how bad the team looked Sunday in a dispiriting 5-1 loss to the Cardinals.

You knew it probably wasn’t going to be the Cubs’ night after they got the first two hitters in the game on base and didn’t score. Nico Hoerner and Pete Crow-Armstrong singled to begin the night’s action and then… Alex Bregman struck out, Seiya Suzuki popped up and Ian Happ struck out. If you’re keeping track that’s already 0-for-3 with RISP. (0-for-8 with RISP for the entire game, not that such things are anything new for this team.)

Then Jordan Wicks had a second start just like his first, getting hit hard in the first inning. He allowed hits to the first three Cardinals and by the time the inning was over, two runs had scored. So, improvement? Just two runs given up in the first instead of five, as he did in Pittsburgh?

Yes, I’m being sarcastic. Everyone could have gone home after that inning because the Cubs offense was largely absent. They had only five more hits the rest of the way, just two for extra bases — a double by Michael Conforto in the seventh, by which time the game was basically over, and a solo homer by Alex Bregman in the fifth.

By the time Bregman left the yard, the Cubs were already down 5-0. Three of the runs were off Wicks, who completed just two innings plus one batter’s worth of the third, a leadoff single by JJ Westerholt, who eventually scored. Three runs off Wicks in two innings and his ERA went DOWN, from 16.62 to 15.63. Yikes. I feel badly for Wicks, who does have talent, but who doesn’t seem to know how to harness it at the MLB level. It seems likely that at least one more start in that rotation slot replacing Edward Cabrera will be needed, and my recommendation (not that the team listens to me) would be for Javier Assad to be recalled to make that start and Wicks be sent back to Triple-A Iowa.

Two more runs scored in the Cardinals third off Ethan Roberts, who had a rare bad outing. At 5-0 the game appeared out of reach, but Bregman did put them on the board with this home run [VIDEO].

It was Bregman’s first home run since May 12, a span of 82 plate appearances. All five of Bregman’s home runs so far this year have come with no one on base. That’s not a criticism, it’s just a coincidence. Did you know that Bregman is on a 10-game hitting streak? True story. He’s batting .304/.373/.413 (14-for-46) during the streak with two doubles, a home run and six runs scored. So that’s… pretty good, I guess. Hopefully he can build on it.

After Roberts left the game, Trent Thornton, Phil Maton and Ryan Rolison combined to throw five one-hit innings, though they also issued four walks. Maton actually retired all three hitters he faced — baby steps, maybe. Maton’s only strikeout came after this ABS challenge [VIDEO].

Honestly, that’s about all I’ve got from this one. With Cabrera and Matthew Boyd (who had a good rehab outing Sunday) on the shelf and Jameson Taillon and Shōta Imanaga giving up home runs every time you look up, Cubs starting pitching is in tatters, and it’s shown in the results over the last week. The Cubs went 3-4 on the road trip, which wouldn’t have been terrible if they hadn’t lost eight straight games right before it.

Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments [VIDEO].

It was fun to hear Anthony Rizzo as a field reporter for a Cubs game, and Jim Deshaies and Jason Benetti had an easy rapport. NBC’s Sunday Night Baseball production is, in my view, vastly superior to ESPN’s. NBC focuses much more on the action on the field, and that’s the game I want to watch.

Silly fun fact about this game:

After an excellent 17-9 April, the Cubs went 13-16 in May. Let’s hope that’s the worst month of 2026. They trail the Brewers by five games in the NL Central and dropped into a third-place tie with the Pirates after Sunday’s loss. With 102 games remaining, that is certainly not an insurmountable lead. Perhaps coming back to Wrigley Field and a turn of the calendar page will get the Cubs back on a winning track.

The Cubs are off Monday, an off day they surely need after 10 straight games during which they went 3-7. They’ll open a three-game series against the Athletics at Wrigley Field Tuesday evening. Jameson Taillon will start for the Cubs and Gage Jump will go for the A’s. Game time Tuesday is 7:05 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.

There isn’t a lot to go into this question. The National League just witnessed two of the best months from a starting pitcher in a long time.

These are two types of domination. For Sanchez, he literally did the exact job a pitcher is supposed to do: prevent the other team from scoring. No one scored on him in the month of May. For Misiorowski, he only allowed a single run, but struck out twelve more hitters than Sanchez did. They were both beyond excellent and entered a different stratosphere of pitcher while doing so.

So, which is the pitcher of the month? A minor award when thinking in terms of Cy Young stuff, but it is still something that any pitcher would be happy to claim.

Well, that’s another month in the books. It was a pretty good month; while the Braves didn’t play at a league-best rate (hi Brewers), they weren’t far behind, either.

If you had to pick one Brave as the standout, however defined, who would you pick? Some food for thought…

While Mike Yastrzemski didn’t have the most bombastic batting line, he did far and away lead the team in WPA. His resurgence was perhaps also emblematic of the season the Braves are having as a whole: next man up production-wise, with different heroes stepping up to delivery victory after victory. It’s not that his context-neutral performance was anything to sneeze at, either, with a 170 wRC+ and 0.7 fWAR in just 66 PAs. But, in perhaps a fitting fashion for this season and not any other Braves season, he did it while massively outhitting his inputs: a .418 wOBA on a .338 xwOBA for the month.

Robert Suarez was almost entirely money, with a 6/1 shutdown/meltdown ratio in 12 appearances. Dylan Lee had a similar ratio and actually a much better pitching line (Suarez’ 17/85/94 is actually kinda meh; Lee was a hilariously dominant 34/42/54), but Suarez did stuff like have four consecutive outings (and five of six) with 0.10 WPA or more and only entered in low leverage three times for the month.

Meanwhile, Chris Sale was Chris Sale, with the most fWAR on the team for May (1.3). He made five starts, and though the Braves somehow lost two of them, he was dominant in every single one. Seriously, among his five starts, his worst ERA- was 88, his worst FIP- was 84, and his worst xFIP- was 70.

Though they weren’t around for the whole month, no one would blame you for going with Ronald Acuña Jr. or Drake Baldwin, either. Both had 0.9 fWAR. Acuña had a 192 wRC+ with a .451 wOBA and .462 xwOBA, because that’s what heroes do. Baldwin, well… .441 wOBA, .469 xwOBA, 185 wRC+. These guys were monsters. Get well soon, Drake Baldwin.

I think I’ve covered the likely picks here, but who ya got?

Good morning.

Shawn McFarland writes about what we’ve learned about the Texas Rangers over the last week, a club that started a homestand by getting no-hit and ended it with a sweep.

Kennedi Landry writes about Jack Leiter following his Vandy bro Kumar Rocker for a stellar outing against Kansas City as the Rangers finished off a sweep of the Royals on Sunday.

McFarland writes that the Rangers secured the sweeping victory by scoring six runs with timely hits, getting good pitching from their starter, and playing sound defense.

Jeff Wilson writes about the Rangers bouncing back from a poor start to finish with a winning homestand by taking the win on Sunday.

The cavalry could soon arrive as McFarland notes that Corey Seager is expected to begin a rare rehab assignment with Wyatt Langford also nearing a return.

Landry writes that getting Seager back and healthy and hitting is the hope for Texas to heat up in June.

And, Evan Grant answers why it was Andrew McCutchen on the chopping block despite several other players also struggling.

Have a nice day!

If the Orioles do end up fully turning this season around, this past home stand will have been where it started. Ten days ago, this club was spiraling, losers of five out of six and cratering to the bottom of the AL East. Now, after some home cooking and a series of exciting wins, the O’s feel like they are truly back in the mix.

Prior to this 10-game home stretch, the Orioles were 21-29, in fifth place in the division, 13 games out of first place and 3.5 games back of the final wild card spot. After going 7-3, which included a series win over the Tigers, a sweep of the Rays, and a four-game split with the Blue Jays, they are now 28-32. That brought them up to fourth in the East, within 10 games of first in the division, and just one game out of the final wild card spot.

Clearly, there’s work to be done, but the success of the home stand is unambiguous. The Orioles finally put together a stretch of games that made them look like the competitive team they were always supposed to be. Dreams of a playoff run are back on.

Offensive outburst

Over these 10 games, the Orioles scored 60 runs and hit 14 home runs. Contributions came from up and down the order, the previous black holes at second and third base seem to have disappeared, and one Oriole in particular has reasserted his everyday place in the lineup.

Nine different Orioles had a wRC+ of 105 or better. That is the sort of well-rounded offense Mike Elias had in mind when he built the roster. And that includes Pete Alonso (119 wRC+), Gunnar Henderson (111), and Adley Rutschman (105) being good not great. It was the rest of the team that really drove the run scoring.

Coby Mayo, despite dealing with an injury, had an impressive showing across five appearances. He slashed .333/.412/.600 with a home run. Could he be turning the corner? The Orioles really need him to take third base as his own.

Jackson Holliday’s return to the lineup has added a crucial dimension to the offense. He hit .276/.371/.483 with two home runs, and a 14.3% walk rate. While Jeremiah Jackson did a great job early in the season, his struggles have been evident for a while now. Holliday brings a much better approach to the plate.

But the MVP of the entire home stand is, without a doubt, Colton Cowser. The outfielder hit .375/.444/.792 with three home runs, eight runs scored, and nine RBI. He cut is strikeout rate in half, just 18.5% in this stretch, while still walking at a solid 11.1% rate. Cowser also came up clutch several times, including a pair of walk-off home runs. The Orioles don’t even need him to be that good at the plate. They just need him to be competent. He was certainly that these last few days.

Rotation rounding into form?

Expectations for the Orioles starting staff were not as high as they were for the lineup. The group simply needed to be serviceable with occasional pops of brilliance. Until recently, the underlying numbers for the starters were better than the actual outcomes. In these 10 games, their fortunes turned around a bit.

The Orioles 2.38 starter ERA since May 22 is the fifth-best in baseball. Their 4.27 xERA is 17th, their 4.21 FIP is 19th, and their 4.48 xFIP ranks 23rd. So were they actually good, or did they just get some good luck? The answer varies by the individual.

Shane Baz had a brilliant seven-inning outing, and both Brandon Young and Kyle Bradish have found some consistency recently that feels impossible to ignore. Chris Bassitt, on the other hand, allowed just one run in six innings despite barely missing any bats. Trey Gibson navigated a boatload of walks to give up just one run in 5.2 frames. Those two seem to be on the luckier side of things.

Trevor Rogers exists somewhere in between. Neither of his two starts on the home stand were “good,” and the Orioles lost both games. But they also felt like progress from where he has been. If he had been pulled after six innings in the game against the Blue Jays then maybe we would feel even better about this team, the pitching staff, and this stretch of 10 games.

Bullpen roles becoming clear

The relief corps had an opposite experience to their mates in the rotation. Some of their underlying stats from the home stand were actually better (3.16 FIP) than their top-line numbers (4.10 ERA). But overall outcomes in a bullpen feel less important than how some of the most important individuals are doing. In that regard, it was promising.

Rico Garcia went another 4.2 innings without allowing an earned run, though his strikeout (5.79 K/9) and walk (3.86 BB/9) numbers are not where you want them. Even still, it’s more brilliance from one of the team’s best surprises.

Andrew Kittredge seems to have found his footing after struggling after his IL stint. He didn’t allow a run in three appearances, which included coming into a bases loaded jam with no outs against the Rays. He struck out the three batters he was responsible for.

It was not a good week-and-a-half for Yennier Cano. He is the one that created the aforementioned bases loaded mess for Kittredge, and he exited with what seemed to be a hamstring injury. The good news is that he’s fine! No IL stint. and his underlying metrics are much better than the 16.20 ERA across 1.2 innings would suggest.

On top of that, Ryan Helsley is on the way back. He threw a 15-20-pitch bullpen on May 30, will do more bullpen work this week, and then is expected to go out on a rehab assignment sometime after June 8. He’s a reliever, so shouldn’t need an overly long stint down in the minors before he is ready to help the rest of the group out.

The return of Helsley should make the entire unit deeper. He will likely return to the closer’s role, even though Garcia has filled in admirably there. More importantly, it pushes everyone else further up in the game. So if a starter can get through five or six innings with the game in reach, you feel confident that a combination of Garcia, Kittrege, Cano, and Helsely can lock things down from there. It’s a much better situation in the late innings than many expected coming into the season.

Keep it going

Hoping for the Orioles to continue winning seven out of every 10 games is a way to get yourself disappointed. But they do need to maintain some level of momentum, and this road trip could give a chance to do just that.

They start with three games in Boston, who are back at the bottom of the AL East following the O’s winning ways. The BoSox have been awful at home this year, owning a 9-19 record at Fenway Park. Similarly, the Orioles have been terrible on the road (9-17) this year. Something’s gotta give.

Then the O’s get to see the Blue Jays again. The defending American League champs have righted the ship after early-season wobbles. But they are no juggernaut. There’s no better way to get back into playoff position than to beat a team that currently holds one of the last wild card spots.

This past home stand was so huge for the Orioles and the fan base. If it had gone wrong, it would have felt like a final blow to this underperforming team. Instead, they were fantastic. We saw the potential. Let’s keep it going, folks!

The Rays signed Cam Booser this past offseason as a non-roster invitee. He performed well enough during Spring Training to earn a spot on the Rays’ 40-man roster and remain in the organization’s plans despite opening the season in Durham.

Booser has the lowest walk rate of his career while still getting above average swing-and-miss on his stuff. The Rays have helped Booser accomplish this by getting him in the zone more with his cutter. Cutters are naturally platoon-neutral offerings, so optimizing his cutter shape has helped him handle both righties and lefties. Below are the differences in his cutter from 2025 in the majors to what he has shown in Durham this year:

Prior to the adjustment to the shape, Booser’s only in-zone weapon was his four-seamer. It’s a good pitch with solid velocity and ride from his slot – especially from the left side – but major league hitters are talented. Hitters could reasonably narrow their decision-making process. If a pitch was going to finish in the zone, it was most likely Booser’s four-seamer.

Now that Booser has a second pitch he can reliably land in the zone, hitters can no longer assume every strike will come from the four-seamer. Stuff models will likely favor his old cutter shape because the additional depth gave it more bat-missing potential. The tradeoff is that Booser now throws the pitch for strikes far more often. To mitigate the risk of the flatter shape getting hit hard, the Rays have altered his usage.

Hitters are less likely to swing early in counts; the league swing rate this season is just 38.1% in the first two pitches of an at-bat compared to 55.3% after the first two pitches. The Rays have Booser throwing his new cutter nearly 60% of the time within the first two pitches of an at-bat. He was doing it at just 20% last season. Booser throwing his cutter more when hitters are less likely to swing helps hedge the risk of it getting hit while still accomplishing the same goal of keeping hitters from sitting four-seam.

Booser has adapted well to the Rays pitching philosophy of pounding the zone with less than two strikes and then looking to expand the zone. He now has two distinct shapes in two distinct velocity bands that he can attack the zone with before using his plus breaking ball to generate chases and whiffs outside of the zone. On paper, the shape change may look like a step backward because it sacrifices some movement. In practice, it appears to be making the entire arsenal play better by giving Booser a second pitch he can confidently attack the zone with. If the strike-throwing gains hold, this version of Booser looks much more capable of handling meaningful major league innings.

Hard to believe that we are already beyond Memorial Day and the one-third mark of the MLB season. The first two months have flown by, the Yankees looking well positioned with the second-best record in the AL. As the calendar flips over to June, it’s time to evaluate GM Brian Cashman and the performance of his team in May.

Cashman entered the month of May polling at a relatively robust 41 percent approval rating when in recent years his approval has tended to hover in the low-to-mid 30s at the end of April. It helped that his team was in first place, powered by the two-headed monster of Aaron Judge and Ben Rice as well as a historically good starting rotation. However, things took a turn for the inconsistent once we got into May.

They started the month well enough, with a sweep of the Orioles and a series win over the Rangers. But then they got swept by the Brewers and lost consecutive series to the Orioles and Mets culminating in the soul crushing walk-off loss in Queens. A series against the Blue Jays brought a hard-fought respite but a subsequent series split with the Rays laid bare the frailty of the offense. That being said, the month-ending road trip could not have come at a better time, the Yankees sweeping the Royals and taking two out of three in Sacramento after having dropped a series to the A’s in April.

I think we have enough evidence to say that this Yankees offense is prone to blowing hot or cold, reflected by the overall streakiness of the team — they have three winning streaks of at least five games but also a pair of losing streaks of at least four games. They have scored at least 23 runs in seven different series but also have a pair of streaks of over 20 innings each where they failed to score. There were worries that the yearly June Swoon had arrived early in May, but their play to wrap up the month did enough to assuage those fears.

They might have fared better in May had Judge not “slumped” to a 126 wRC+ in the month, but that is the time when you look to his teammates to carry the captain through a temporary downturn in form. Rice also cooled off from a 212 wRC+ to 156 in May. It shows how much that pair was propping up the offense through the first month, and will continue to be relied upon as the principal run producers of the team.

The main issue has been the pair of black holes at the bottom of the lineup. Austin Wells and J.C. Escarra have combined to produce the second-worst wRC+ (58) of any group of catchers in the AL ahead of only the Angels. Ryan McMahon is 24th out of 30 qualified third basemen with his 75 wRC+, but at least has shown the faintest stirrings of life in May as opposed to the pair of catchers while also being part of a platoon alongside the inspired re-signing of Amed Rosario and his 129 wRC+.

Fortunately, other contributors have stepped up in the lineup. Cody Bellinger is doing his best Kyle Tucker impression since re-upping over the winter with a 140 wRC+ and 2.2 fWAR. Paul Goldschmidt has been something of a savior after Giancarlo Stanton and Jasson Domínguez went down with injury, stabilizing the DH role with his six home runs and 140 wRC+ in 34 games. Anthony Volpe returned from offseason shoulder surgery with a newly disciplined approach that has allowed him to post a .375 OBP and 128 wRC+ in 13 games. Trent Grisham and Jazz Chisholm Jr. have turned around slow April starts to resemble the lineup stalwarts they were last season, Grisham posting a 131 wRC+ and Jazz a 126 wRC+ in May.

The rotation has remained exemplary despite losing Max Fried to an elbow injury. Cam Schlittler is the early favorite for AL Cy Young with his 1.50 ERA, 1.90 FIP, and AL-leading 2.9 fWAR. Gerrit Cole hasn’t missed a beat since making his long awaited return from Tommy John rehab and steps right back into his spot as staff ace. Carlos Rodón has posted back-to-back one-run outings after a pair of rocky starts in his return from offseason elbow surgery. Will Warren and Ryan Weathers remain sturdy back of the rotation options.

The bullpen remains the weakest link. We’re all still scarred from the three-run homer David Bednar gave up to Tyrone Taylor. Even Tim Hill and Brent Headrick have gotten touched up recently after strong starts to the season. The bright side is that reinforcements might be on the way. Yovanny Cruz opened eyes in his brief cameo and should be one of the first options back up if he can improve his strike throwing. One of Warren or Weathers will likely be pushed into the bullpen by Fried’s return. And perhaps most excitingly, Cashman floated the possibility that they could call up top pitching prospect Carlos Lagrange and his 103 mph fastball to reinforce the bullpen at some point.

That brings us to today’s task. Do you approve of the job Brian Cashman has done through the end of May? On one hand, the Yankees boast the best offense and pitching staff in the AL by several metrics. On the other hand, they sit a game-and-a-half behind the Rays in the division and often look just as liable to be shut out or suffer a bullpen meltdown as they are to turn in a dominant win. The polarizing GM certainly elicits stronger feelings than can be captured in a one-word response — you may feel a question such as the one being posed requires more nuance, greater elaboration, or a wider selection of options than just a “yes” or a “no,” however for the sake of this exercise, a binary question works best.

Welcome to week 10 of our 2026 NL Central Power Rankings — let’s rank some teams!

1. Milwaukee Brewers (35-21); 5-1 this week; 86.5% chance to make postseason (FanGraphs)

The Brewers kept it rolling with a 5-1 week, including a sweep of the rival Cardinals and a 2-1 series win over their former division mates in Houston.

Jake Bauers slugged a pair of homers this week, while Jackson Chourio, David Hamilton(!), Garrett Mitchell, and Christian Yelich added one apiece. Yelich slashed .292/.346/.458 for the week, while Andrew Vaughn went 7-for-14 with three doubles.

Jacob Misiorowski had another great week to wrap up a great month, as he made a pair of starts with 20 strikeouts and one run allowed over 14 innings (0.64 ERA) in wins over the Cards and Astros. Aaron Ashby picked up another win with five scoreless innings in relief across three appearances, while Trevor Megill went a perfect 3-for-3 in save chances across four innings this week. Kyle Harrison went six scoreless innings to pitch up a win, while Abner Uribe, DL Hall, Grant Anderson, and Shane Drohan added scoreless weeks for the bullpen.

The Crew now returns home to host the Giants and former friend Willy Adames for four games before a road trip takes them to Colorado this weekend.

2. Pittsburgh Pirates (32-28); 5-2 this week; 55.6% chance to make postseason

The Pirates had a strong week, splitting four games with the Cubs before sweeping the Twins at home for a 5-2 week.

Oneil Cruz, Spencer Horwitz, and Bryan Reynolds each slugged a pair of homers this week, with seven players adding one homer each. Reynolds also led the team with 11 hits, adding four doubles as he hit .478/.581/.913. Horwitz had 10 hits to hit .370 for the week, and Cruz, Nick Gonzales, and Brandon Lowe each had seven hits.

Carmen Mlodzinski and Paul Skenes both had solid starts this week, as Mlodzinski went five innings with one run allowed and Skenes went 5 1/3 innings with three runs allowed (just one earned), striking out 10. Braxton Ashcraft picked up a pair of wins as he totaled 12 1/3 innings with three runs allowed and 16 strikeouts. Gregory Soto wetn 2-for-2 in save chances and got a win in his three appearances, while Wilber Dotel, Cam Sanders, Dennis Santana, and Evan Sisk combined for 12 2/3 scoreless innings with 17 strikeouts out of the bullpen.

Pittsburgh gets the day off on Monday before a road trip takes them to visit the Astros and Braves this week.

3. St. Louis Cardinals (31-26); 2-4 this week; 25.7% chance to make postseason

The Cardinals were swept in Milwaukee this week but bounced back to take two of three from the Cubs over the weekend, keeping them above Chicago in these rankings.

Iván Herrera, Thomas Saggese, and Nelson Velázquez all homered for St. Louis this week, while JJ Wetherholt led the team with eight hits, including a pair of doubles. Wetherholt and Masyn Winn each swiped a base, too.

Matthew Liberatore totaled 10 1/3 innings with a team-high 14 strikeouts across two starts this week, going 1-1 in those outings. Dustin May put together a solid seven innings with nine strikeouts, taking a no-hitter into the eighth against Milwaukee but ultimately taking a tough-luck loss as the Brewers scored two (one earned) in that inning. Hunter Dobbins and Riley O’Brien each collected a save, while Justin Bruihl and JoJo Romero were the only scoreless arms for the bullpen.

The Cardinals continue their homestand this week with three games against the Rangers and three games against the Reds.

4. Chicago Cubs (32-28); 3-4 this week; 51.2% chance to make postseason

The Cubs had another rough week against NL Central foes, splitting four games with the Pirates and losing two of three against the Cardinals.

Ian Happ led the offense with three homers and 10 hits this week, while Alex Bregman also had 10 hits, including a homer. Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong both homered with nine hits each, and Seiya Suzuki and Nico Hoerner had seven hits each.

Ben Brown led the rotation with a pair of solid starts, going 13 innings with two runs allowed (1.38 ERA) and 13 strikeouts. For the bullpen, Jacob Webb and Caleb Thielbar both had scoreless weeks, totaling five innings with nine strikeouts between them.

Chicago now heads back to Wrigley, where they’ll host the A’s and Giants for three games each after an off day Monday.

5. Cincinnati Reds (30-28); 3-3 this week; 14.0% chance to make postseason

The Reds had a .500 week against two NL East teams, taking two of three against the Mets in New York before dropping two of three to the Braves in Cincinnati over the weekend.

JJ Bleday led the week for Cincinnati’s offense, slugging three homers and two doubles as part of a 10-hit week, slashing .417/.481/.875 with six RBIs, Nathaniel Lowe, Tyler Stephenson, and Eugenio Suárez each homered, and Sal Stewart picked up seven hits.

Nick Lodolo went 2-0 with 11 strikeouts over 12 2/3 innings this week, allowing four runs (2.84 ERA). Chase Burns went 5 1/3 innings with eight strikeouts and two runs allowed in a winning effort, while Tejay Antone, Graham Ashcraft, Caleb Ferguson, Pierce Johnson, and Sam Moll combined for 9 1/3 scoreless innings with 12 strikeouts from the bullpen.

Cincinnati now hosts the Royals for three games before heading to St. Louis to face the Cardinals.

Meet the Mets

The Mets not only won one game against the Marlins, not two games, but three games in one series! In the business, we call that a sweep.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, Faith and Fear in Flushing, MLB.com, Newsday, New York Post

Nolan McLean wasn’t quite back to the early peaks that he reached this season, but he wasn’t nearly as bad as he was the past couple starts, so it’s trending in the right direction for him.

Working far ahead of schedule once again, Francisco Alvarez is slated to begin his rehab assignment off of a torn meniscus tomorrow in Syracuse.

Though he hit a grand slam in Sunday’s win, Juan Soto was happiest post-game talking about the “psychopaths” he shares the outfield with.

Tonight’s game against Seattle will start with Austin Warren as the opener and some assortment to fill the other seven-ish innings.

Around the National League East

James Wood continued his battle with Juan Soto to crown the National League’s top hitter as his home run propelled the Nationals to a 4-2 win over the Padres.

Ronald Acuña Jr. lead off the game with a home run, his fourth homer in four games, but the Reds scored exactly once in six different innings as they handed the Braves a 6-4 loss.

Scoring in every inning except for the first, the Dodgers battered Don Mattingly’s Phillies and sent them back to the east coast with a 9-1 loss.

Around Major League Baseball

Not ready to move to the bullpen after a few months in the rotation, Carmen Mlodzinski followed up his odd comments with a trip to the restricted list for not being physically or mentally ready to take up his new role.

Tanner Bibee is the first pitcher in the history of Cleveland baseball to be winless through his first 13 starts in a season.

The Yankees scored 13 runs on 11 hits in the third inning against the A’s on Sunday and recorded exactly zero runs and zero hits in the eight other innings they came to the plate.

Making his way back from ankle and forearm injuries, Max Scherzer started his rehab with three scoreless innings in Buffalo on Sunday afternoon.

Not consenting to a game of catch, Jesus Sanchez took a fan’s ball to the wrist and exited Sunday’s game following the miscommunication.

Konnor Griffin has been placed on the injured list for the first time as a major leaguer with a forearm strain that the Pirates aren’t overly concerned with.

Left lat tightness has put a ‘very minor’ pause on last year’s Cy Young runner-up Garrett Crochet’s return to the Red Sox.

Old Friend Jose Siri robbed a grand slam, but more importantly, he saved a behind-the-wall buffet from being demolished by a baseball.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Seth Ashby wrote about Juan Soto’s hot streak and ability to be a bright spot in a sea of nothing but darkness.

This Date in Mets History

On this date 14 years ago, Johan Santana threw the first no hitter in New York Mets history.

It’s a been a while since the Pittsburgh Pirates have had bragging rights over just about anyone, but that has changed this year, as the Bucs are currently rolling along with a 32-28 record and have moved into third place in the NL Central following a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins over the weekend.

The Pirates scored 25 runs in the three games against the Twins, with Sunday’s 9-3 victory also showing another good outing from Braxton Ashcraft. There were also dingers from Ryan O’Hearn, his 8th of the year, plus the first homer of the year from Nick Gonzales, with both guys hovering near .300 batting, with Gonzo and .308 and O’Hearn now at .294.

Bryan Reynolds, Jake Mangum and Spencer Horwitz all had their moments in the Twins series, as the Bucs lineup is pretty much dangerous from top to bottom, outside of when Henry Davis is playing, and even he got in on the act on Sunday, with 2 RBIs, while Horwitz is now hitting .289 and is looking like a smart pick up from GM Ben Cherington.

Oh, and the Bucs dropped a little social media bragging rights on Twins as well, posting this after Sunday’s sweep.

Of course, it hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for the Bucs, as rookie phenom Konnor Griffin was just put on the 10-day IL. He has a forearm strain, but the Pirates don’t expect that he’ll be out long. After a slow start, Griffin has been coming into his own, now hitting .270 on the season with 4 homers and 22 RBIs.

There’s also the Carmen Mlodzinski drama right now in which he was moved to bullpen to make room for Jared Jones and responded by telling the team he would not be ready to pitch out of the bullpen. Ben Cherington then placed him on the Restricted List. The restricted list rule says:

“The restricted list is for players who are under contract but unable to play due to unexcused, personal or non-baseball reasons. There’s no limit to how long a player can stay on the restricted list, but he isn’t paid and doesn’t earn service time.”

So I guess we’ll see what happens next, but Jaiman will have some analysis and commentary on the Carmen situation tomorrow, so we’ll wait to hear from him about some more. We may have some additional clarity by tomorrow as well.

The Bucs are off tonight but will return to action tomorrow as the head to Houston to take on the Astros. That’s an 8:10PM series game to kick off the game.

June is here, and with it a summer filled with baseball is about to start. The Yankees are in the thick of a division race that promises to go down to the wire as always, sitting 1.5 games behind the Rays but a comfortable 7.5 games ahead of the rest of Toronto, Boston, and Baltimore. Their record against the AL East hasn’t looked too promising, losing a series and splitting another with Tampa while splitting their lone meeting with the Jays, though they’ve swept Boston in their singular matchup and gone 5-2 against Baltimore thus far.

Sitting 13 games above .500 entering the month is a solid start, but if you’ve been following them day-to-day you’d know that the Yankees have ridden some high highs and some low lows already. It’s a microcosm of the roster that’s delivered their record, with a couple of elite bats trying to pull up a few deadweights in the lineup and a rotation that’s been otherworldly doing their best to keep the ball out of the hands of their shaky bullpen. Consistency is the key to getting back on top for this team, but they’ll likely need to make some tweaks to find it. Luckily, we’re now approaching that time of year where the trade deadline starts weighing on everyone’s minds — and we might even see a couple of moves pop up on the radar.

The question is just how long can the Yankees wait for the market to develop itself. They’re in desperate need of a bullpen remodeling, something that will likely require several trades to address, and they also are looking for a right-handed catching option with the potential for further additions to the lineup should the right opportunity line itself up. We’ve started to see some separation from the pack with a few truly bad AL teams claiming the bottom of the standings, so there are potential sellers now in view, but holding out for the best package is going to incentivize teams to wait it out and let the pressure of the deadline force other teams’ hands. The first offer is rarely going to be good enough to pry a solid reliever away, even if in the grand scheme of things he isn’t going to bring back a king’s ransom.

There’s no doubt that the stove will be lit and pots will be getting stirred in July, but will we see any rumors start to swirl in June? And if we do, could we see any closer to the start or middle of the month? It’d be unconventional, but not totally unheard of — just last year we saw a wildly early trade for the season involving an at-the-time superstar in Rafael Devers (this season may have shifted the narrative on him, but there’s still time for his contract to not be totally underwater). I’m willing to go out on a limb and predict that we’ll see Brian Cashman swing something before the calendar turns again, but I don’t think there’s anything cooking now to warrant an imminent deal.

We’ve got a loaded schedule in store for you today to get through the off-day on the field. Peter leads off with the next poll on Brian Cashman’s approval rating after the team’s performance in May, and then Kevin covers the Rivalry Roundup with the Rays keeping pace slightly ahead of New York. Jonathan has a double-feature, first giving Bud Metheny his flowers on his birthday before starting off our division check-ins with the AL Central, followed by John looking at the AL West and Sam the NL West. Finally, I’ll be back late in the day to open up the mailbag for the next round of questions.

Today’s Matchup

Off-day

Major League Baseball's 30 stadiums each have their own charms and for good reason, Wrigley Field (1912) and Fenway Park (1914) remain the home ballparks for marquee franchises.

But after the pre-World War I stadiums, baseball's third-oldest venue is nearly 50 years older, Dodger Stadium, which opened in 1962. On the other end of the spectrum, the Texas Rangers' Globe Life Field is MLB's newest stadium, which opened in 2020. The Atlanta Braves' Truist Park is the only other MLB stadium that has opened in the past decade, welcoming fans in Cobb County since 2017.

There was a major boon after Baltimore's Camden Yards began a retro-classic trend in 1992, with 12 new ballparks opening between 1994 and 2004.

MLB STADIUMS: Baseball's biggest and smallest ballparks, ranked by cpacity

What does the future look like for new MLB stadiums? The next opening will be in Las Vegas, welcoming the formerly-Oakland Athletics to their new home. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays may finally get their long-discussed new ballpark.

Here's a look at when every MLB stadium opened:

BALTIMORE – Ernie Clement doesn’t want to let anybody down.

Perhaps that quality dogged him early in his baseball career, when he tried and failed to establish himself with the Cleveland Guardians and Oakland Athletics. And minus a top-line skill that will pry open a window and keep it open – such as the promise of consistent power, or blazing speed, or savant-like defensive ability – Clement found professional appreciation elusive.

And that makes what’s happening now in Toronto even more remarkable.

Such as Blue Jays fans lining up more than three hours ahead of gametime to snag a giveaway hockey jersey bearing Clement’s name and No. 22. Or a group of rabid supporters who learned of Clement’s penchant for walking from his residence to Rogers Centre and timed it up to stroll alongside him to work.

Or the notion that he’s beloved on two shores of Lake Ontario – within the circular confines of Rogers Centre and the gorgeous city surrounding it, along with Monroe County, New York, which presented him the key to the municipality after one of Rochester’s favorite sons became an international baseball hero.

It can be a lot, even for a 30-year-old who sweated out years in the minors to gain this opportunity. So Clement takes none of it for granted, even as he continues establishing himself as a star player – and a Toronto icon.

“I feel the love. It’s much appreciated and I hope I’m reciprocating it enough,” Clement tells USA TODAY Sports. “Because I love my time there. It feels more and more like home every time I go there and stay there.

“I have so much fun in the city. It’s so much fun playing in front of those fans.”

And as this season lurches toward the halfway point, it’s clear this is no fleeting love affair.

Clement has followed up his record-setting 30-hit 2025 postseason by leading the American League in both hits and doubles. He’s the hardest man to strike out in the AL, fanning just 8.2% of the time, and has played a key role in keeping the defending pennant winners afloat in a season ravaged by injury.

These Blue Jays are now 29-31, lurking in third place in the AL East. For now, it’s a near repeat of their 2025 arc, when they started 31-29, got healthy, won 94 games and the division and rode it all the way to Game 7 of the World Series.

The ride stopped there, coming as close to a championship as the two or so feet Clement’s ninth-inning fly ball needed to clear the wall in left center field with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Dodgers’ Andy Pages leaped to gather it in, the prelude to an 11-inning heartbreaking defeat.

After a tearful night, the club scattered for the winter, many decamping to their offseason homes in sunnier, baseball-friendly climes.

Clement went out for Buffalo wings.

It is June, and the Chicago White Sox are a game out of first place. Is this really happening?

The franchise that lost 121 games just two years ago, that lost 102 games last season, just finished a month in which it won 18 of 28 games and capped it by sweeping the American League Central's overwhelming favorite, sending the Detroit Tigers further to a summer of irrelevance.

Yes, things are a little upside down, and the White Sox's climb seven spots to No. 9 in USA TODAY Sports' power rankings reflects that.

MLB EXPANSION? One owner thinks adding teams is 'stupid'

They rallied to beat the Tigers thanks in part to Colson Montgomery's 15th home run, his 36th since the 2025 All-Star break; only Kyle Schwarber has more. They'll get a look at Schwarber this weekend when they travel to Philadelphia, with a three-game set at Minnesota before then.

A look at our updated rankings:

Yahoo! Sports | Billy Heyen: During Saturday night’s game, Michael Kay revealed on the YES Network that Yankees backup catcher J.C. Escarra has been trying to become a switch-hitter. Recognizing that the team’s search for a right-handed catcher puts his roster spot in jeopardy, the former Uber driver has once again set out to do whatever it takes for him to stay in The Show. Whether or not this turns out to be successful — starting to switch-hit at the Major League level is already a tall task, let alone trying it in the middle of a season — you can’t help but admire Escarra’s tenacity.

New York Post | Greg Joyce: The biggest story of the season in the Bronx is probably Cam Schlittler, but a close second is definitely the continued breakout of Ben Rice. Following Saturday night’s game, the Yankees first baseman was not only tied with captain Aaron Judge with 17 home runs, his 1.047 OPS ranked second in the league only behind Yordan Alvarez. His teammates and his manager have been nothing short of impressed, with Judge calling his at-bats “must-watch TV” (something that has been said about Judge’s on more than one occasion) and Paul Goldschmidt praising his “ability to make adjustments.”

CBS Sports | RotoWire Staff: Prior to Saturday night’s game, the Yankees placed utilityman Amed Rosario on the paternity list. They did not announce a corresponding move; instead, the team has played with a short bench while finishing out the West Coast road trip.

MLB.com | Sweeny Murti: Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the famous “No, stay there!” moment, when Mike Mussina ordered Joe Torre not to emerge from the dugout and allow him to finish what he had started. To mark the milestone, Sweeny Murti talked with both pitcher and manager, dissecting a moment of passion that has become a meme not only within the baseball Internet world, but beyond.