Category: MLB

With just a few days until the “free agent frenzy” officially begins, the New York Rangers have not signed Braden Schneider to a contract extension. 

According to The Athletic, contract talks have been quiet between the Rangers and Schneider’s camp. 

What does this silence surrounding Schneider’s contract negotiations mean for his future in New York?

Despite messages from Schneider about wanting to stay with the Blueshirts, as well as from Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury about waiting to retain Schneider, it does not appear we are heading in that direction.

To kick off the offseason, the trade market has proven to be a sellers' market, as the Rangers have explored trade options for Schneider, according to The Athletic, and could look to capitalize on the current state of the market.

Drury, who is not looking to sit through a prolonged rebuilding process, is widely speculated to be targeting a young forward who could instantly contribute if he were to trade Schneider. 

Given the Rangers’ reluctance to commit to Schneider long term, they could sign him to a one to two-year bridge deal, but Schneider, who is coming off a two-year, $4.4 million contract, is likely seeking a long-term contract extension. 

It’s also possible the Rangers take a similar route to how they handled K’Andre Miller’s restricted free agency, in which the team agreed to a sign and trade with the Carolina Hurricanes that included a second-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, a conditional first-round pick in the 2026 or 2027 NHL Draft, and Scott Morrow.

The silence surrounding Schneider’s contract negotiations does not bode well for his chances of remaining with the Rangers into the future. 

The Los Angeles Dodgers have faced many familiar faces on the mound, but one former pitcher has yet to showcase his arsenal against them.

San Diego Padres pitcher Walker Buehler is lined up to start in Friday’s series opener versus the back-to-back World Series champions at Petco Park.

After a shaky start with the Padres, the right-hander has seemingly found his rhythm. Buehler is sporting a 3.96 ERA in his last 15 starts for the Friars.

Buehler spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Dodgers, but chose to part ways with the team in free agency during the 2024 offseason. The Dodgers reportedly offered Buehler $20 million to return to LA, but he ultimately decided on signing a $21.05 million deal with the Boston Red Sox for the 2025 campaign.

Buehler’s time with the Red Sox proved nightmarish as he posted a 5.45 ERA across 112.1 innings of work in Boston. The team chose to release Buehler and he was picked up by the Philadelphia Phillies, where he tossed 13.2 frames with a 0.66 ERA.

The lackluster performance by Buehler caused serious doubt about the right-hander’s abilities following his second Tommy John surgery. The Padres signed the 31-year-old to a minor league deal in the winter and he earned his way to the Opening Day rotation.

Despite a shaky start, Buehler has remained a staple of the Padres rotation and he may very well face his former team Friday in what is poised to be an exciting matchup.

Since his 2024 World Series heroics, the right-hander has yet to feature in the postseason. If president of baseball operations A.J. Preller orchestrates multiple trades at the deadline, there’s a chance the Padres make a deep playoff run with Buehler in the rotation.

As Dodgers’ opponents learned in October 2024, the right-hander shines when the lights are brightest.

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SAN FRANCISCO — For a baseball team that can’t seem to do anything right between the lines, you’d think the Giants would try to ace their image off the field.

And yet, their putrid play isn’t even the organization’s primary problem.

The public relations disasterclass that started almost two weeks ago when the franchise failed to get in front of a Pride Night fiasco that has escalated into a federal investigation and put the club in the crosshairs of a national political debate only continued Thursday.

Once again, a top club official was put in front of the press and took one big swing and a miss.

Two days after Buster Posey embarrassed himself by coming unprepared to address either of the biggest issues facing the team — Rafael Devers showing up his manager and his players’ objections to one of the team’s most important promotional nights — the president of baseball operations canceled his scheduled interview on the team’s flagship radio network, KNBR.

It was supposed to be Posey’s turn to appear on the weekly “Executive Show,” but instead it was CEO Larry Baer who came on with hosts John Dickinson and Dieter Kurtenbach.

Apparently even the friendliest possible setting was too scary for the team’s top baseball executive.

Dickinson introduced Posey’s replacement by telling listeners that the team’s top business-side executive had “some things [he] wants to address about Pride Night.” That much alone was dubious, given that Baer was not made available despite repeated requests by reporters following the uncomfortable session with Posey in which he would only answer “baseball questions.”

Despite apparently preparing a statement, Baer said about as little as Posey did two days prior and took no questions on the controversy. That, according to a source familiar, was a result of the restrictions put on the interview by team officials, who told the hosts in a meeting over Zoom the night before that Baer would be pinch-hitting and no follow-ups on the topic would be permitted.

Baer said he wanted to “speak from the heart” but offered the same mealy mouthed platitudes present in the organization’s lone, nameless statement after Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker and Ryan Walker wrote Bible verses on the Pride Night hats that featured a rainbow Giants logo.

A fourth pitcher, Sam Hentges, opted to wear the Giants’ black and orange cap.

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“I know we’ve heard from many fans, and I know there are deep feelings about the events of Pride Night this year. We know it, we’ve heard, we’re listening,” Baer said.

“Just come context here: It’s a North Star here to create an experience in our ballpark for all fans, at Candlestick and Oracle Park, an experience that’s welcoming to all fans. That has not changed. … You know, look, yes, we’ve learned a lot in the last 11 days. Yes, we could have handled things better this year, for sure. We’re absolutely committed to continuing conversations with the LGBTQ+ community going forward. That’s where we are as an organization. … I just wanted to deliver that message to the fans and move on. Let’s talk about some other things.”

The pitchers’ actions were initially reprimanded by MLB for violating the uniform code, leading the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the league over religious discrimination.

Commisioner Rob Manfred placed blame directly on the organization for the “inadequate” communication to its players, and given what we’ve seen from their public posturing, should it be any surprise that it’s apparently just as much of a mess behind closed doors?

But nobody, even the franchise’s supposed leaders, is willing to address any of that.

Even when posed with the line of questioning they prefer, the team’s top decision-makers don’t seem capable of coming up with adequate answers. Posey called his news conference despite having not even spoken to Devers, largely deflecting those inquiries to manager Tony Vitello.

Baer, asked about the team’s problematic bullpen, noted how unfortunate it was that they had lost last year’s All-Star closer, Randy Rodriguez, to elbow surgery — a development that took place last September, before Posey opted not to commit more than $2 million to any reliever.

The bullpen came up the last time Posey appeared on the KNBR airwaves. Asked about his lack of investment in the group over the offseason, he used a strawman to deflect criticism. He seemed to suggest his choices were committing $69 million to Edwin Diaz or nothing at all.

The inability to articulate a vision can be traced back to Posey’s first day on the job, when he suggested his plan to return the team to relevance was to focus on “making memories.”

Surely, nobody will forget this saga anytime soon.

Even if they would prefer to, as Baer put it, talk about some other things.

Texas Rangers lineup for June 25, 2026 against the Toronto Blue Jays: starting pitchers are MacKenzie Gore for the Rangers and Kevin Gausman for the Jays.

Corey Seager is back! And the Rangers are in Toronto, where unpleasant things often happen for the team. But we’re going to think positive about this four game series.

The lineup:

Pederson — DH

Langford — CF

Seager — SS

Nimmo — RF

Burger — 1B

Duran — 3B

Osuna — LF

Higashioka — C

Lopez — 2B

6:07 p.m. Central start time. Rangers are +120 underdogs.

The Texas Rangers have activated shortstop Corey Seager from the injured list, the team announced this afternoon. To make room for Seager on the active roster, the Rangers have placed infielder Cody Freeman on the 15 day injured list with a herniated disc. In addition, the Rangers formally announced the release of first baseman Blaine Crim. The 40 man roster currently stands at 39.

Seager has not had an ideal first half of the 2026 season. He got off to a slow start and was slashing just .179/.286/.353 when he went on the injured list in mid-May due to back issues. He was activated in early June but only played five games before going on the 7 day concussion injured list after a collision at home plate against the Kansas City Royals on June 11. Hopefully, Seager will hit the ground hitting like Corey Seager.

Coincidentally, Seager’s former double play partner, Marcus Semien, was just placed on the injured list by the New York Mets earlier today.

Freeman was initially called up at the beginning of June when Sam Haggerty went on the bereavement list. He was sent down just a couple of days later when Seager was activated from his first i.l. stint, then came back up on June 13 when Evan Carter went on the i.l. Freeman started three straight games when he was brought up the second time, but from June 16 through yesterday had only appeared in three games, all coming off the bench in late game situations. For the year, he has slashed .235/.278/.235. He will now been sidelined for a while.

We wrote last evening about the release of Crim, which came across the MLB transactions page yesterday. Crim is reportedly going to be joining a team in Korea.

UPDATE — I originally posted this saying that Freeman had been optioned to AAA Round Rock. This is because when I saw Seager had been activated and then saw Freeman’s name on the transaction, I just assumed that he was optioned and didn’t read carefully enough. I apologize for the mistake. It has been a hectic few weeks for me, and I haven’t been as focused as I should be.

The Rays were oh so close.

Just two outs away from a combined no-hitter, Craig Kimbrel, the once-dominant closer who was waived by the Mets last month, gave up a two-run homer to the Royals’ Carter Jansen to break up the no-hit bid in the Rays’ 13-2 win.

It was nearly the second no-hitter in MLB this season after three Astros combined to no-hit the Rangers on May 25, meaning the last single pitcher to throw a no-hitter was Blake Snell in August 2024.

It also would’ve been the Rays first no-hitter since 2010, when Matt Garza no-hit the Tigers on 120 pitches.

Casey Legumina started the game for the Rays, tossing 1 1/3 innings while throwing just 14 pitches. It was his first scoreless outing in three appearances.

Ian Seymour entered for bulk innings and tossed seven scoreless frames, with his lone blemish coming on a sixth-inning walk issued to Starling Marte.

Seymour also struck out a season-high seven batters in the win, and lowered his ERA from 4.98 to 4.32.

Kimbrel received the ball for the ninth inning and issued a leadoff walk to Marte before Jensen’s two-run blast.

Kimbrel remained in the game after the homer and retired both Royals batters to seal the deal.

While the Rays pitching stole headlines by nearly finishing the no-hitter, their offensive production was stellar, with 13 runs on 15 hits.

The Rays blasted four homers, with three coming by Junior Caminero, who continues to anchor the team’s lineup at just 22 years old.

The Rays salvaged a four-game series split with the Royals with the win, and are 2 1/2 games behind the Yankees in the AL East pending the Bronx Bombers’ game in Boston on Thursday night.

The 45-33 Rays host the 41-39 Diamondbacks in an interleague showdown Friday night.

Pirates 5, Mariners 1

Hey Lloyd, do some delivery for the truck to the airport : J.P. Crawford, 0.06 WPA

The audio truck today: Cole Young, -0.18 WPA, Rob Refsnyder in a single PA, -0.12 WPA

Game thread comment of the day:

This was laugh-out-loud funny and the highlight of the game.

Bryan Abreu is with the team in Detroit ahead of today’s game with the Tigers:

At 2:29 pm, the Astros made the move official:

Effective today, the Astros reinstated RHP Bryan Abreu from the Restricted List…LHP Colton Gordon was optioned to Triple A Sugar Land following last night’s game.

Abreu is 2-3 with 5 Saves this season. He holds a 6.39 ERA and 1.82 WHIP this season.

Abreu has allowed only 1 ER in his last 7 appearances (6 IP) on 5 hits, 1 walk, and 8 strikeouts.

Sine May 1, Abreu has pitched 16 innings, allowing 5 earned runs (2.81 ERA) on 11 hits, 9 walks (1.25 WHIP) and 17 K. Only 2 of those walks have come in June.

(this story has been updated from it’s original publishing)

The San Francisco Giants wrap up this three-game series against the Athletics this afternoon from Oracle Park.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be Landen Roupp, who will enter today’s game with both a chorus of boos and a 4.15 ERA, 3.00 FIP, with 89 strikeouts to 33 walks in 80.1 innings pitched. His last start was in the Giants’ 4-3 loss to the Miami Marlins on Friday, in which he allowed two runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts and a walk in six innings.

Taking the mound for the A’s will be left-hander Jeffrey Springs, who enters today’s game with a 5.55 ERA, 5.71 FIP, with 72 strikeouts to 27 walks in 82.2 innings. Springs also leads the league in the most home runs allowed this season with 21. His last start was in the Athletics’ 12-11 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Friday, in which he allowed six runs on four hits with four strikeouts and four walks in three and two thirds innings.

Game #80

Who: San Francisco Giants (33-46) vs. Athletics (38-42)

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 12:45 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area (Giants), NBC Sports California (A’s)

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

In an ugly display of baseball futility, the Royals dropped the series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays, 13-2. The Rays, utilizing their bullpen for the entire game, didn’t allow a Royals hit until the ninth inning when Carter Jensen hit a two-run home run, extending his hitting streak to 15 games.

There really isn’t anything else positive to say about the Royals today. They stunk. They slept through this game on both sides of the ball. The Rays totaled 15 hits, four of which left the yard, and another two went for doubles. Royals pitchers, led by starter Seth Lugo, struck out only five and walked two.

Just a pathetic display of baseball from the Royals.

Things went south pretty quickly. In the bottom of the first, after Jonathan Aranda singled with one out, Rays third baseman Junior Caminero took Lugo deep on a hard-hit, towering flyball to left field. 2-0, Rays.

It stayed that way until the bottom of the fourth when Victor Mesa Jr. hit his third home run of the season, this one a three-run homer.

5-0, Rays.

Meanwhile, the Royals offense looked awful against opener Casey Legumina and then Ian Seymour. Seymour dominated the Royals–the lefty pitched 6-and-2/3 innings, struck out seven, walked one, and surrendered zero hits. He picked up the win to improve to 4-1 as the Rays win their second consecutive game to improve to 45-33 on the season. They are second in the AL East, 2.5 games back of the Yankees, while also holding the top Wild Card spot.

Lugo, clearly, didn’t pitch as well. He stayed in a bit longer and gave up another home run to Caminero and then another run for funsies. On the day, he pitched five innings, gave up seven hits, struck out three, walked two, and allowed seven runs, all earned. He’s now 3-5 with a 4.18 ERA. What a tantalizing trade piece.

Just because Lugo left the game didn’t mean Caminero was done, though. He hit another home run, this one a three-run shot off, uh, Tyler Tolbert, to make it 13-o in the eighth. Today marks Caminero’s first career three-home-run game. I doubt it’s his last. That dude is good.

The Royals finally gained a baserunner in the sixth when Starling Marte worked the first of his two walks on the day. He added another in the ninth before scoring on Jensen’s homer off the Husk of Craig Kimbrel.

Not much else to say. The loss drops the Royals to 34-48. An ugly loss during an ugly season.

That’s Thursday morning baseball for you. If you watched today’s game, go do something fun now. You deserve it.

One date that was curiously absent from the 2026 Dodgers home schedule filled in just before Memorial Day: almost one year to the day, the Straw Hat Pirates of One Piece will make their return to Dodger Stadium.

By all accounts, last year’s festivities were enjoyed by most. We at True Blue LA got far more mileage than expected with last year’s announcement and subsequent festivities, with one major point that we will focus on in a moment.

Last year, the Dodgers and Toei Animation did a joint press release. This year, the Dodgers have largely been mum on the specifics, but one would expect another drone show, intro video, and features around the ballpark on July 2nd.

Frankly, it would be shocking not to see something similar on July 2. As an aside, in the video, Luffy wears 56 as a bit of a Japanese pun – “go” means five, “mu” means six, and the fruit that gave Luffy his stretchy powers is called the Gomu Gomu no Mi (The Gum Gum Fruit).

The theme night will again include a Dodgers-branded signature straw hat, similar to the one Luffy wears, now for the first 52,000 ticketed fans instead of 40,000. The main newsworthiness of last year’s event is the same draw for this year’s event: this year’s promotional card for the One Piece trading card game.

Using last year as an example of why this news is a big deal, it’s not every day that the Dodgers give away a promotional item that last year’s model is still selling for two and a half to five thousand American dollars online.

That Monkey promo card is selling for how much?!?

First, the character is generally known as Luffy (pronounced Loofy, not Luff-y — don’t be Michael Kay), not Monkey; it’s Japanese.

Second, last year, the Dodgers gave away a promotional trading card on One Piece night: a promotional card compatible with the One Piece trading card game, featuring Monkey D. Luffy holding a baseball in a Dodgers uniform.

Here is what I reported at the time:

To the unaware, the card, featuring art from the manga’s creator, Eiichiro Oda, looks like a simple trading card. However, over the past couple of years, games like the One Piece card game and the Pokémon Trading Card Game have developed subcultures centered on collecting rare cards from randomized packs.

These packs, which were originally sold for less than $10 per pack, now sell for significantly more (think anywhere from $25 to $500 or higher per pack). This explanation is generalized for brevity. It is not hyperbole to point out that some of these cards are valued and sold in excess of $1,000 per card…

…Still, after checking online, seeing that secondary sellers are selling the Luffy promo card for an average of $350-$500 is shocking. While prices have dipped from the initial frenzy, I would not expect prices to approach something reasonable until the market crashes.

The market did not crash, dear reader, as much as fans of the One Piece card game would have wanted it to.

The price of the 2025 Luffy Dodgers promo just kept going up and up, as the market for a limited-edition, one-off promotional card clearly demonstrates supply and demand. Now, the 2025 Luffy Dodgers promo card cannot be found in mint condition for sale for less than $2,250. Seeing prices for a mint condition of this card in excess of three thousand dollars is not uncommon.

Capitalism, everybody! For the nuances of how the economies of trading card games and the like work, see the attached link.

Last year’s card invited scalpers to Dodger Stadium, who approached unsuspecting fans, asking for their promotional cards or offering to buy them for what turned out to be pennies on the dollar.

The Dodgers have announced that each ticketed fan will be limited to one set of items, as last year, the folks doing the giving away were a bit overwhelmed, per reports, which is odd considering how adroitly they handled themselves during multiple Shohei Ohtani giveaways, but such is life.

Consider the following pullquote as an informal public service announcement:

Do I expect this year’s card to be comparable in value to last year’s version? Honestly, no.

This year’s card is not as striking as last year’s card, and in these matters, aesthetics matter.

Next, I think the cat is out of the bag, and the situation is eerily similar to the speculation bubble in American comic books that nearly nuked pre-Disney Marvel. This argument needs context, so we must rely on movie critic Bob Chipman for the analogous on-point argument.

The contents of the video essay are predictably evergreen for any overvalued asset.

The reason why last year’s card will always be inherently more valuable than this year’s card is the small number of promotional cards that survived that night at Dodger Stadium. Most of the fans that attended 2025’s One Piece night thought they were getting a couple of ticky-tacky baubles, not something that could potentially be sold for consequences-level money.

Now, people know better, as word (and articles like this one) has gotten out; by definition, more promotional cards will survive, which will increase supply, lower demand, and potentially save us all from a part three in 2027.

I can dream, right?

I suddenly envisioned a future in which I would have to write a synopsis of One Piece for a non-anime baseball audience. While I am having this existential meltdown, you might be having a different thought. If you don’t have tickets to this game, you might be suddenly inspired to see the spiraling San Diego Padres for some reason. Accordingly, you might be tempted to pick up game tickets for Dodger Stadium on July 2.

This article serves as a public service announcement on that front, too.

Game tickets for 7/2 cost how much?!?

Do you like paying NLDS prices for game tickets in July? Why do I ask? Well…

The embedded Bluesky post is not a typo; the lowest price seat from the team is $376. These seats are in the upper deck. Prices get exponentially worse from there. Not “NBA Finals in New York for the first time in a generation” bad, but still astronomical for a summer regular-season game.

In comparison, the following night, the lowest price seat from the team is $81. The secondary ticket market is similarly overheated, with the lowest prices just shy of $400.

From anecdotal evidence, the ticket prices for the game shot up by a third once the existence of this year’s promo card was confirmed. Do I expect ticket prices for this game to drop? No, if anything, I expect the opposite.

Now, if one wanted to avoid this upcoming madness, one could make a tidy little profit by reselling one’s game ticket. One just might do that; I couldn’t possibly comment.

There is a hidden advantage to sitting this out: the likely confusion that will likely bleed into that night’s broadcast, especially if the game is a blowout.

Would I enjoy Joe Davis and Orel Hershiser trying to decipher this madness on the telecast? Very much so. Would I enjoy listening to Stephen Nelson try to explain this madness to Rick Monday on the radio? Very much so. Would I enjoy Eric Karros harrumphing in confusion at the festivities? Less so, but fun can still be had in this scenario.

I would hope for a blowout in either direction to ensure that Nelson/Tim Neverett and Monday have no choice but to fill time by talking about it.

Will noted One Piece fan Shohei Ohtani enjoy the festivities? Probably. Regardless of whether you are going, want to go, want to flee, or you should flee, you cannot claim that you were not told.

The Cubs have played 40 home games, just short of half the season total of 81. (It would have been just above half if not for Sunday’s rainout at Wrigley Field.)

Here are some attendance numbers for the season to date.

The Cubs have sold 1,397,964 tickets for the 40 dates. That total ranks sixth in MLB, behind the Dodgers, Blue Jays, Padres, Phillies and Yankees. The per-date average of 34,949 ranks ninth, behind the Dodgers, Padres, Yankees, Blue Jays, Phillies, Giants, Mets and Braves, in that order.

The average is likely going to go up with better weather and a holiday weekend matchup coming up against the Cardinals. All of those games are likely sellouts. The somewhat low average for this time of year can be at least partly attributed to having to start the home season with five games in March and also to mostly lousy weather through April and May.

Here are two charts from BCBer Lifetime Cubs Fan, who’s been helping me out with these attendance posts for several years.

As you can see, the average attendance for the first 40 dates this year is below that for 2024 and 2025. Only 2023, when the team started out poorly and there was little postseason expectation, shows up below this year. Again, this average will likely increase for the rest of the season. However, to get to the three million mark, the Cubs would have to average 39,074 for the remaining 41 dates. That’s not impossible, but it would require a near-sellout for almost all the games. Most likely, the Cubs will not make it to three million tickets sold this year. They barely crossed it last year at 3,017,983. Before that, the last three million attendance season was 2019 (3,094,865).

Here are some pricing trends for Saturday games in the bleachers for the rest of the year.

One thing you’ll notice right away is that there are only six Saturday dates remaining. Three of them, though, are against opponents who should draw big crowds — two vs. the Cardinals and the Aug. 1 date vs. the Yankees, which, as you can see, is generating top prices on the secondary market. If the Cubs continue to contend, or perhaps even move closer to first place in the NL Central, the Saturday games against the Reds and Pirates might generate more interest.

The Saturday, July 18 game vs. the Twins is when the Cubs plan celebrations of the 2016 World Series champions, with quite a number of those players returning. As that date gets closer and the Cubs begin to promote it, I’d think that could also create more demand for tickets that day.

We’ll have another attendance update later in the season.