Category: Baseball

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Interleague action heads to Southern California tonight, and our Twins vs Padres prediction breaks down where to find the best betting value at Petco Park.

Let’s dive into my MLB picks for August 21, and fatten that wallet before the weekend.

Who will win Twins vs Padres today: Padres Moneyline (-121)

The San Diego Padres hold a clear edge in this matchup against Minnesota Twins starter Connor Prielipp, who's struggled with command away from home, carrying an elevated 6.15 ERA on the road.

Expect the Padres to capitalize on Prielipp's control issues early — he's walked 10 batters over his last three starts — build a lead, and turn the game over to their 28th-ranked bullpen to lock down the victory.

COVERS INTEL: San Diego is 8-3 in its last 11 home games against American League opponents, while Minnesota is 13-26 against National League opponents this year.

Twins vs Padres Over/Under pick: Over 8.5 runs (+105)

Petco Park may have a reputation as a pitcher's paradise, but this 7.5-run total is slightly too low with Prielipp on the mound.

Prielipp's 41.1 hard-hit percentage leaves plenty of room for San Diego to put up multi-run frames, while the Twins' lineup features enough middle-of-the-order power to scrape together runs against Randy Vasquez.

Expect both lineups to generate scoring opportunities and push this total past the line.

Twins vs Padres home run prediction: Manny Machado (+474)

Manny Machado continues to be a power threat when facing southpaws at Petco Park (.416 SLG).

Prielipp has surrendered high barrel rates to right-handed hitters all season, making Machado a prime candidate to lift one over the fence. 

The value on Machado clearing the outfield wall tonight is too good to pass up, let's ride with him as one of our best bets.

Twins vs Padres weather

It's a perfect night for baseball in San Diego tonight, with temperatures sitting at 78 degrees Fahrenheit prior to first pitch. 

Twins vs Padres odds

• Moneyline: Minnesota (+113) | San Diego (-121)
• Run line: Minnesota +1.5 (-178) | San Diego -1.5 (+170)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 (+105) | Under 8.5 (-113)

Twins vs Padres trend

The Over is 7-0-2 in Prielipp's last nine starts as an underdog. Find more MLB betting trends for Twins vs Padres.

How to watch Twins vs Padres and game info

Twins vs Padres latest injuries

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

It was a tough series all around for the San Diego Padres. They fell to the New York Mets in the rubber match after Michael King pitched one of the best games of his season, giving up just two runs and working into the seventh inning. Instead, the Friars came up short, scoring just two runs in the finale. They scored just three total between their two losses.

That’s to be expected, though. There are always dips in offense. No one truly expected the Padres’ otherworldly second-half surge to continue all the way to the World Series. But it’s about how you come out of those dips in production that defines what kind of team you are. Hopefully, that will be on full display as the Friars take on the Minnesota Twins back in Petco Park.

Taking the mound

Connor Prielipp (MIN) v. Randy Vásquez (SD)

It’s been an up-and-down rookie campaign for Prielipp. The young left-hander has filled out the Twins’ rotation and has done a decent job of it. The lefty owns a 5.34 ERA through 17 starts this season. Prielipp has been consistent in that, posting an ERA over 5.00 in his last seven games and his last 15 games.

Those splits suggest that he won’t be a difficult opponent for the Padres to face. However, San Diego really struggled to score runs in their series against the Mets. If they can’t bounce back from that tonight, it might quickly become a tough weekend for the Friar Faithful back in Petco Park.

The Padres will likely employ an opener and deploy Vásquez in bulk relief. It’s a similar strategy to how they’ve utilized him in his last few outings. That’s seemed to work well. Vásquez owns a 3.00 ERA across his last seven starts despite a middling 4.30 ERA on the season.

Vásquez gave up four runs in his last start against the Cleveland Guardians. Prior to that, he had only given up a combined five runs in six previous starts. That’s good for a 2.05 ERA during that stretch. If Vásquez can rediscover that form tonight, it would make it abundantly easier for the Friars to win the series opener over Minnesota.

Batter up!

Despite a meager offensive showing during their series in New York, the Padres still have one of the best offenses in baseball down the stretch. Not to mention the fact that Fernando Tatis Jr. seems to have found his groove alongside Jackson Merrill. Should those two keep pace alongside Ty France and Manny Machado, it will be hard to stop this ball club.

1. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
2. Jake Cronenworth, 2B
3. Manny Machado, 3B
4. Ty France, 1B
5. Jackson Merrill, CF
6. Gavin Sheets, DH
7. Luis Rengifo, LF
8. Freddy Fermin, C
9. Sung-Mun Song, SS

Shortstop Xander Bogaerts exited the series finale in New York with an apparent injury. The Padres have assured that he is alright and that it was a precaution, but Bogaerts seems due for a rest day nonetheless. It’s possible that Song takes over for him at short for the day before he comes back in Game 2.

Relief corps

It’s quite impossible to say just how important King is to this Padres team. Despite the fact that San Diego lost the series finale, they did so on the backs of an absolute gem. King twirled 6 2/3 innings, surrendering just two runs to the Mets. After that, Jeremiah Estrada entered and immediately gave up two more runs. Those would end up being the difference in the eventual, 4-2, loss. Yuki Matsui relieved Estrada and finished out the game.

Regardless of the loss, King’s performance leaves the bullpen fresh for the series against Minnesota. That would have likely been the case either way (the team had a rest day on Thursday), but it gives them even more time to readjust. Griffin Canning, Kyle Hart, Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon, Wandy Peralta and Bradgley Rodriguez are all options for the Friars to turn to.

The A’s made several roster moves on Friday afternoon before kicking off their weekend series in Houston, starting by placing young shortstop Jacob Wilson on the 10-day IL among other roster moves:

Wilson’s IL placement wasn’t the only move but it was the biggest. The second-year infielder has battled shoulder issues since mid-May when he dislocated it diving for an infield single against the Orioles. He managed to work his way back to the team but a thumb injury and this continued shoulder soreness helped contribute to an injury-marred sophomore campaign for Wilson. He just hasn’t been the same guy who thrilled us all last year.

The 24-year-old will end his season with a .266/.298/.388 slash line with just seven long balls. That’s a major step down from his AL ROTY runner-up campaign last year but that shoulder injury could be a major part of the blame. Before his injury he was hitting .292/.311/.398 but post-All Star Break he’d hit just .229/.260/.385. There’s no official word on if he’s going to have surgery on that shoulder this offseason but if he is then the sooner the better. If the A’s are going to bounce back next year they’ll need Wilson in top form.

That wasn’t the only roster move today. Taking Wilson’s immediate spot on the active roster will be fellow infielder Michael Stefanic. This’ll be his second stint with the big league club this year after a very brief stint back in May when he played in two games and went 2-for-5. Capable of playing second, third, and left, he’s spent the majority of the year in Triple-A with the Aviators where he’s hit .296/.405/.414 with six home runs. Considering he’ll be 31 next year he’s mostly a depth piece at this point but maybe he can play his way into the backup infielder mix next year with a big showing down the stretch.

On the pitching side of things the A’s are swapping out one right-hander with another. Recent acquisition Taylor Rashi is heading back down to the minor leagues while prospect Kade Morris gets his second call up to the big leagues. Rashi only made it into one game for the A’s, pitching two innings and allowing one run against the Royals. He’ll head back to Triple-A and look to work his way back up for another crack in the big leagues. Morris meanwhile gets another chance at the majors. His first stint way back in June did not yield positive results and he’s only just returning from his own IL stint, but the A’s don’t have much to lose getting another look at a well-regarded prospect like Morris. Expect to see him out of the bullpen sometime in Houston, where he made his big league debut but got pummeled by the Astros for nine runs.

And the obvious of course: Nick Kurtz’s season is officially over with him being placed on the 60-day IL. The news was previously announced but this makes things official. We’ll see him next Spring.

The Nationals wrapped up a frustrating series in Texas with a 2-0 loss Thursday night, managing just one hit against Jacob deGrom and three Rangers relievers. DeGrom struck out 10 over six innings and recorded his 2,000th career strikeout, while Brady House collected the Nats’ only hit. Andrew Alvarez allowed one run over five innings, but the Nationals could not generate any offense without James Wood and CJ Abrams, who missed the game with a sprained ankle. Washington dropped two of three against Texas, was shut out in both losses, and has now lost five of its last six games to fall to 61-68.

The Nationals will continue their road trip with a three-game series against the 64-64 Miami Marlins, who return home after being swept by the Phillies. Miami had won three consecutive series against the Angels, Pirates, and Reds before its momentum stalled in Philadelphia, where the Marlins scored just one run in Wednesday’s 4-1 finale. Javier Sanoja provided the lone highlight with three hits and a solo home run, while Sandy Alcantara allowed three runs over six innings. The Marlins are 38-25 at home this season and have won five of their six meetings against the Nats.

Game One – Friday, 7:10 PM ET

WSH: RHP Brad Lord (5-2, 4.04 ERA)
MIA: RHP Ryan Gusto (0-3, 4.70 ERA)

Lord struggled in his most recent appearance against the Mets, allowing two runs and walking four while recording just two outs. Gusto allowed four runs, two earned, and struck out six over 4⅔ innings against the Reds in his last start.

Game Two – Saturday, 4:10 PM ET

WSH: RHP Jake Irvin (2-7, 5.80 ERA)
MIA: RHP Eury Pérez (6-9, 3.23 ERA)

Irvin allowed four runs and struck out six over six innings against the Mets on Sunday. Pérez delivered six scoreless innings against Cincinnati in his last outing and enters Saturday with a 15-inning scoreless streak.

Game Three – Sunday, 1:40 PM ET

WSH: LHP Jackson Kent (0-1, 9.39 ERA)
MIA: RHP Janson Junk (6-8, 4.37 ERA)

Kent allowed five runs on eight hits over 3⅔ innings against the Rangers on Tuesday, striking out three and walking three. Junk surrendered two runs over five innings against the Phillies on Monday and has posted a 3.21 ERA across three August starts.

The Diamondbacks are coming off a disappointing series where they dropped two out of three to the Red Sox, but did get a solid, extra innings win in the finale. Absolutely nothing else of any importance happened.

The Reds have faded from the conversation. After being semi-close by for a while, they have fallen to last place in the NL Central 18 games behind the Brewers, and seven games behind the Padres for the NL Wild Card. They’re 4-6 in their last ten and just kind of coasting.

Game 1 — 8/21, 6:40 PM: Eduardo Rodriguez (4.4 bWAR, 12-4, 2.71 ERA/155 ERA+, 1.21 WHIP) vs. Nick Lodolo (1.3 bWAR, 3-2, 4.52 ERA/95 ERA+, 1.42 WHIP)

After a (potentially very significant) hiccup against the Padres, normal service has resumed for Eduardo Rodriguez. He threw seven innings of two run ball against the Dodgers, recording a season high nine strikeouts, and then another six inning, two run performance against the Braves. He’s done well in a lot of statistics, but I think one that says a lot is the team’s 19-6 record in games that he starts. At the end of the day, winning baseball games is the goal, and Rodriguez has given the team a chance to do that in basically every start he’s had this season.

Lodolo missed a month due to a blister, and he has made two starts since coming back. His first start was rough, giving up four runs in four innings, but his second start was a good bounce back, holding the Marlins scoreless for five innings in his most recent start. This will be his second time facing the Diamondbacks this season, after he pitched 5.1 innings against them on June 12th, holding them two two runs on five hits and one walk.

Game 2 — 8/22, 5:10 PM: Michael Soroka (2.5 bWAR, 8-3, 2.93 ERA/143 ERA+, 1.10 WHIP) vs. TBD

There is always the concern that an extended lay off due to injury can cause rust to build up on a pitcher, but the 51 days between starts doesn’t seem to have been much of a hinderance for Soroka. That first start back was a little short, only 4.1 innings, but he held the Rockies scoreless and struck out four. The three walks weren’t great, but he worked around them. Next time out, he faced a much tougher level of opponent and held the Braves to just two runs in 5.2 innings. It wasn’t enough, but he did keep the team in the game. The bullpen just let it get away from them.

Game 3 — 8/23, 1:15 PM: Mitch Bratt (0.3 bWAR, 1-2, 4.17 ERA/101 ERA+, 1.47 WHIP) vs. Andrew Abbott (2.3 bWAR, 6-8, 4.07 ERA/105 ERA+, 1.40 WHIP)

Bratt is being basically the perfect definition of a #5 starter. He’s not going to be an all-star, and he’s going to have bad starts. His last time out against the Red Sox was one of those. He was only able to manage three innings and gave up three runs in them. He also gave up three walks, something he has struggled with. In his last five starts he has given up a whopping sixteen. If there is one thing he needs to reel in, it’s that. Other than that, if he can just keep up what he’s doing overall, he’s going to be just fine.

Abbott has been pretty consistent since the start of July. You’re going to get five or so innings out of him. He’s going to give up three runs, a handful of walks, and 4-6 strikeouts. That sums up approximately 75% of his games over the last month and a half. If it’s not that, it tends to err on the side of a worse performance, but there were a couple better ones. That said, I’d expect to see something pretty close to that hypothetical line I drew up.

Conclusion

I won’t insult your intelligence by saying this is a must win series. They all are from here on out until the magic or tragic number says 0. On paper the Diamondbacks should have a pretty good shot. The pitching matchups are strongly in their favor, especially. But the off-field clouds hang low, and it remains to be seen if Lovullo will be able to keep them at bay and keep the team on the field focused. I don’t envy him at all on this one, but if he can pull it off, I don’t think anyone will argue he deserves at least another season on the top step of the dug out.

As the 2026 MLB season has unfolded, everyone involved, front offices, players, and fans, has approached this season with a sense of urgency.

The reason? Most observers aren’t sure there will be a season in 2027.

There will be a work stoppage following the completion of the World Series once the current Collective Bargaining Agreement expires, most likely through an owner’s lockout of the players that will last for months. Spring training will be affected and the likelihood that games will be missed next year is very real.

Owners want a salary cap. The MLB Player’s Union is dead set against it.

It is the Kashmir issue of MLB’s labor battle. It is the Taiwan. It is the Jerusalem. It is seemingly the one topic on which there can be no compromise.

Owners point to a vast disparity in payroll for the teams at the top to the ones at the bottom. According to Fangraphs, the projected payroll for baseball’s top-spending team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, is $407 million, with a luxury tax payroll of $417 million. The Mets’ $359 million payroll is next, followed by the Yankees’ $310 million and the Phillies’ $290 million.

The Dodgers’ payroll alone is more than the combined payrolls of the Marlins, Guardians, Rays and White Sox. The payrolls of the Dodgers, Mets and Yankees ($1.07 billion) is more than the four teams already mentioned, plus the A’s, Cardinals, Nationals, Pirates, Twins and Rockies ($967 million).

Not only that, but roughly $1.05 billion in deferred salary will be paid to eight players between 2028-46 (ESPN). The Dodgers have stretched the limits on how much a franchise can spend on its players, but all of it is allowed within the rules of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Baseball is pointing to the Dodgers and their wild spending as the problem and the dire need for new rules to be instituted in the next CBA to squelch it.

All of which makes the developments this week regarding the business practices of Dodgers owner Mark Walter very interesting.

Dual investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York are seeking to determine the details of financial dealings of Walter and two insurance companies he owns — Delaware Life Insurance Company and its affiliate Clear Spring Life and Annuity.

Regulatory filings released on Tuesday show Walter’s insurance companies shuffled billions of dollars in investments to businesses owned by Walter and other business partners. The filings also show a loan tied to the Dodgers has been almost entirely paid off.

Insurance companies like Delaware Life collect insurance premiums from ordinary people like you and me. Those premiums add up, and are then invested by the insurance company owners, like Walter, into other companies. Federal guidelines stipulate how much of an insurance company’s profits can be invested into other companies owned by the same person, in this case, Mark Walter. The allegations indicate Walter invested far more of those insurance company profits into other businesses he owns than is allowed, and that he mis-identified those loans/payments as being to outside entities.

It’s unclear how much of this, if any, is wrapped up in the Dodgers, and thus far, no charges have been brought against Walter. There is also no proof that the Dodgers’ sky-high payroll and hundreds of millions of dollars in deferred contracts is because Walters has funded his team’s payroll or TV cable deal with money from his insurance companies. The investigations will undoubtedly uncover where Walter’s profits went and how they were utilized.

But much of MLB’s incessant push for a salary cap is based on the notion that the Dodgers’ ability to outspend teams at the bottom of the income pool is unfair. That has been a winning argument in terms of public opinion. In March, The Athletic conducted a survey asking whether respondents were in favor of a salary cap system with a cap and floor. Nearly 7 in 10 (68%) said “yes.” Only a quarter (27%) said no.

That same survey found 67% said their fandom would be “significantly” (20%) or “somewhat” (47%) impacted by a potential lockout or strike, but one-third (33%) said they would be impacted “not at all.”

The argument that the Dodgers are destroying baseball is resonating with the fanbase, so from a public relations perspective, even the suggestion that the Dodgers’ payroll is what is due to shady or potentially illegal self-dealing undercuts MLB’s dire plea for help.

“The economics of baseball aren’t broken,” one could argue, “One of the owners was doing illegal, stuff!” will be the new mantra.

To be clear, there is no indication that Mark Walter did anything illegal or unethical with regards to his ownership of the Dodgers. The investigations are ongoing. But strictly from a public relations perspective, even the allegations are damaging because the success or failure of work stoppages in sports is oftentimes driven by fan support or opposition.

One other potential domino is whether Walter will sell the team he bought out of bankruptcy in 2012. He’s already sold his controlling interest in the Los Angeles Lakers and the Premiere League’s Chelsea franchise to raise money to pay off debts, and there is speculation the Dodgers could be next.

Could MLB really engage in a call for a salary cap and potentially blow up the economics of the game when the very franchise they’ve centered their arguments around is in the process of being sold?

The Athletic reported this week that Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said the sale of the Lakers is “not related to the Dodgers and changes are not coming to the MLB organization.” Of course, things can change.

Even with the investigations looking into the Dodgers’ finances, a labor stoppage is still likely. The owners will still want a cap in the next CBA and the players will be dead set against it. But the argument MLB has been using to make their point has weakened considerably.

After a quick three game sweep of the Rockies in Colorado, the Dodgers are back home for a another quick three game set against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto will be on the mound for the Dodgers for his fourth start in what has been a phenomenal August for him – a 1.83 ERA in 19 2/3 innings, with 18 strikeouts and just six walks. He now sits at a 2.60 ERA, fifth lowest ERA in the National League.

Yamamoto is coming off a wobbly start against the Milwaukee Brewers, in which his first inning went 26 pitches with two walks, but he turned it around, allowing just one run over six innings and nine strikeouts. He told reporters afterwards that he had tried to be too fine in the first inning, but that he was able to reorganize his thoughts and dominate from then on.

While the Pirates are fourth in the NL Central and sit three games below .500, they still are not an easy lineup to face. They have the most hits and third most runs in all of MLB.

Yamamoto has faced the Bucs once before in his career in April of 2025 where he was outdueled by Paul Skenes and was given no run support and took the 3-0 loss.

On the other side of the ship the Pirates will send Bubba Chandler to the mound. The 23-year-old righty is 6-8 on the season with a 4.23 ERA.

One particular matchup to watch is Chandler vs Max Muncy. Chandler throws his fastball 51.1% of the time, and Muncy loves that particular pitch from righties. Muncy has three homers in his last seven games, and seven of his homers this season are on that righty fastball.

Chandler as a whole has great stuff, but can lose his command.

Oneil Cruz has just rejoined the team after having been out since the beginning of June with a left hand fracture. Before his injury, he was just six home runs shy of setting a new career high in homers in half the number of games.

Friday game info

Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

Teams: Dodgers vs. Pirates

Ballpark: Dodger Stadium

Start time: 7:10 p.m.

TV: SportsNet LA

Last year, there was a highly anticipated pitching matchup between Jacob Misiorowski and Paul Skenes. The matchup was hyped for days and it was a sellout game at American Family Field. This afternoon, we will have a similar matchup. Jacob Misiorowski is on the mound again, facing off against another Cy Young winner, this time in Atlanta Braves ace Chris Sale.

There will be strikeouts, there will be high velocity, there will likely not be a lot of runs scored. Misiorowski has a 1.75 ERA on the season while Sale is sitting at a 2.16 ERA.

The Brewers were able to score plenty of runs during their series against the Seattle Mariners on this homestand. It will not be so easy this afternoon, even though the Mariners rotation has put up some very good numbers this year.

Granted, every time you see a matchup of aces and you think runs will be scarce, that game somehow has a way of turning into a 10-8 slugfest. Because that’s baseball.

The Brewers offense will be attempting to provide that level of support to Misiorowski. Jackson Chourio, Brice Turang, and William Contreras form the top of the lineup that will face Sale. Andrew Vaughn, Jake Bauers, and Gary Sanchez make up the middle of the order with Sanchez serving as the DH. Joey Ortiz, Cooper Pratt, and Luis Lara round out the bottom of the lineup.

The order is missing Christian Yelich and Garrett Mitchell. With Sale being a tough left-handed pitcher, it makes sense as to why Pat Murphy would sit those two left-handed bats.

The Braves lineup will feature a lot of their big names as well. Ronald Acuna, Rookie of the Year winner Drake Baldwin, and Matt Olson form the top of the Braves lineup. Michael Harris II, Ozzie Albies, and old friend Mauricio Dubon make up the middle of the order. Then Dominic Smith, Austin Riley, and Mike Yastrzemski round out the bottom three.

The 2026 Little League World Series is underway again on Friday, and the day was highlighted by an electrifying performance from Cooper Thissen, who dominated both on the mound and at the plate for Davenport Northwest.

Thissen, the left-handed ace representing the Midwest Region, struck out 15 batters and allowed no hits or runs during his 85-pitch limit.

His performance on the mound helped Davenport Northwest maintain control through the game. Once he reached his pitch count, Thissen transitioned to first base for the remainder of the game. Little League regulations allow a maximum of 85 pitches per day per pitcher, a safeguard designed to protect players.

More: Little League World Series 2026: Latest bracket, full schedule, teams, TV, stream

It’s been a baseball season to remember in Chicago. The Cubs and White Sox are both playing excellent baseball and if the playoffs started tomorrow they’d both be in the field. Pete Crow-Armstrong is putting together a season for the ages on the corner of Clark and Addison. The ten-year anniversary of the Cubs 2016 World Series victory has kept great vibes and fan favorites front and center for most of the season. Amid all of these storylines it’s easy to miss that Seiya Suzuki is once again putting together a quality season for the Chicago Cubs as we head into the final 34 games of the season. Here’s his homer on Monday off Luis Castillo [VIDEO].

The thing is, we’ve seen this season from Seiya Suzuki before. All he’s done since he joined the Cubs is post above average season after above average season. Take a look at this leaderboard, showing the top 25 hitters in baseball over the last five seasons by wRC+:

Seiya Suzuki has quietly and steadily been a top 30 hitter over the last five seasons. Slightly better at creating runs than Francisco Lindor, Julio Rodríguez and Corbin Carroll. Just a smidge below Bobby Witt Jr. and Byron Buxton. This is not just excellent company, it’s elite. He’s basically been 28% better than league average at creating runs.

Suzuki’s performance during his time on the Cubs is even more impressive when you look at it in a team context. I ran the best single seasons since 2022 for the Cubs and sorted the table by wRC+. Only two players appear on this list more than once. Four of Seiya’s five seasons on the North Side of Chicago are on this list:

Having a hitter of Seiya’s caliber in the lineup changes the outcome of games, as we saw this week. There were a lot of questions about why the White Sox pitched to Pete Crow-Armstrong in the bottom of the 10th inning during the first game of the Crosstown Classic. Here’s what Cubs manager Craig Counsell and White Sox manager Will Venable said about that to The Athletic:

On Monday, his fourth hit of the night was a walk-off two-run shot in the bottom of the 10th inning to beat the White Sox. (He also homered in the first inning.)

In the aftermath, the conversation in the city and the ballpark Tuesday was whether White Sox manager Will Venable should’ve had left-hander Hagen Smith intentionally walk the lefty-hitting Crow-Armstrong … to face right-handed Seiya Suzuki, who is having a fantastic season in his own right. Just not as fantastic as Crow-Armstrong.

Counsell defended Venable — “the league has shown that they’re afraid of Seiya versus left-handed pitching” — and basically admitted that the persistent lineup-construction questions had some validity.

“That’s why they’re hitting next to each other because you try to make the manager’s decisions really hard,” he said of Crow-Armstrong and Suzuki batting 1-2 in the order. “That’s kind of the point.”

“PCA is a really special player,” Venable said, “And yeah, he’s scary. But so is Suzuki, you know what I mean? He is, too, and again, factoring all those things in with information, the gut, whatever you want to say, that was the decision that I thought was best.”

PCA sees the opportunities he does, at least in part, because he’s got Seiya Suzuki hitting behind him.

Seiya is eight long balls shy of his second 30-home run season since he came over from Japan. That may be a stretch. None of FanGraphs projection systems see him hitting more than five or six home runs through the rest of the season. But at the end of the day, whether he has 27 home runs or 30 long balls, we’ll all happily take his .268/.360/.483 slashline with 22 home runs through the first 128 games of the season. Here’s hoping he keeps it up into September and October.

Welcome back to Rays Reacts, which was a little light in the vote tally this time around! I know it’s summer, but I do encourage all to vote. We have them cross-posted to The Feed on the front page now, so please do not hesitate to make your way over an vote.

Last week we asked about the rotation confidence, so this week I took a step farther back and asked about your biggest worry generally. The answer was timely!

The Rays did not dominate the homestand this time around, losing by four+ runs in two of three to Balitmore, and putting up only two runs on Sunday on their way to a 2-5 W-L over seven games. But the Rays were battling, splitting the four games decided by one run.

If you think that means the Rays have a bad offense, the data hasn’t really backed it up. Since August 1 the Rays have a third best offense in baseball with a 114 wRC+, with an MLB best .282 AVG, fourth best .338 OBP, and sixth best .432 SLG, while also leading MLB with 24 steals, second overall in runs scored (97), and despite the reputation for small ball, a ninth highest tally of 23 HR. You can imagine all of those numbers improve if you make that ranking AL-only.

Given that the Rays are heating up at the plate, its reasonable to be concerned the team might be peaking too early and cool down in September, but thus far all signs point to a Rays offense that is clicking — particularly after the added protection of Liam Hicks.

If you enjoy staying dialed into the offense, you can consider some prop bets regarding the Rays offense at FanDuel, who sponsored this post.

Go Rays!

The Kansas City Royals have no shot at making the playoffs this year and no shot at a winning record. They are playing out the string, not quite mathematically eliminated but counting down the days until they are—recent winning streak notwithstanding. This is not ideal. Ideally, we’d be freaking out about every game because the Royals are in the thick of the playoff race and every game matters to the standings.

But there are benefits the games not mattering whatsoever to the standings. Teams that are in this position have a superpower: they can just try stuff. When teams are really bad, you can risk significantly more downside, which incentivizes playing high-risk, high-reward players over low-risk, low-reward ones.

This is precisely why the Royals should be putting Tyler Tolbert in the lineup every day.

Now, that sounds a little crazy on the surface, I know. The Royals drafted Tolbert out of the University of Alabama in the 13th round of the 2019 MLB Draft. It is, of course, an honor to be drafted at all and a testament to one’s talents. But also, like, every team in the league declined to pick him up a dozen times before Kansas City selected him because Tolbert’s tools weren’t as loud or as refined as the competition. Even now, the 5’ 10” Tolbert isn’t exactly a physically imposing force or the biggest threat at the plate.

Except…Tolbert is making it work.

Beginning the year, Tolbert’s use case on the roster was a sort of Terrance Gore pinch runner specialist. Tolbert has always been a great swiper of bags; he stole 55 bases in 2021, 60 in 2022, 50 in 2023, and 48 in 2024 as he slowly climbed the ladder. Tolbert then stole 21 bases in 23 tries last year in his first year in the big leagues.

But it has been Tolbert’s bat that has been intriguing. Yes, he’s run a sub-.150 isolated slugging percentage—and sometimes much lower than that—pretty much every year since getting drafted. Tolbert has countered that with a solid contact rate and an ability to draw a walk, and it’s translated to the big leagues in his small sample size 168 plate appearances.

So, why should the Royals play Tolbert? That’s easy: Tolbert has untapped potential that simply isn’t in his direct competitors, aka John Rave, Michael Massey, Kyle Isbel, and Nick Loftin. With the possible exception of Rave, who all of a sudden is a huge bat speed and barrel rate guy, we know who those guys are: they are decent players without standout tools who are gonna give you 0.5 to 1.5 Wins Above Replacement over the course of a year. That’s not bad! We’ve all seen the Royals trot out way worse guys.

Tolbert, however, does have that standout tool. He’s in the 93rd percentile in sprint speed, which allows him to make plays that the others just can’t—both on the bases and in the field. And since Tolbert has also played all around the diamond, he’s the rare sort of utility player who can handle center field and shortstop. Finally, although it’s a small sample size, Tolbert leads all of Rave, Massey, Isbel, and Loftin with a .313 expected weighted on base average. That’s lower than his luck-fueled current slash line, but it also means that there’s some fire behind the smoke.

There are downsides to Tolbert, too. Anybody who’s watched the Royals this year has seen Tolbert get picked off, make mental mistakes, and generally not do the small things that you’d expect a player like him to do. And there’s the fact that it is still unlikely Tolbert can hit enough to stick as a regular because of the lack of power, which will probably suppress his ability to draw walks.

Remember, though: the risk of downsides is something the Royals can live with when other contending teams can’t. And trying to determine if they can get a cost-controlled regular center fielder is well worth the effort and the risk.

Back in early April, I provided a list of all the Colorado Rockies walk-up songs. Since then, however, there have been many changes, so an update seemed in order.

So here’s what (most of) the boys at 20th and Blake are jamming to these days.

Zach Agnos — Colt Ford featuring JJ Lawhorn’s “Answer to No One” (from the beginning)

Jordan Beck — A$AP Rocky’s “Everyday” (:16-:32)

Brennan Bernadino — Roughnexk’s “Run Dem Mouth” (:05)

Cole Carrigg — John Summit & Absolutely’’s “Don’t Believe It” (from the beginning)

Willi Castro — Chimbala’s “Che Che” (:11)

Jeff Criswell — Mac Miller’s “BlueWorld” (from the beginning)

Chase Dollander — Kai Uriah’s “Bound 2 Be” (from the beginning)

Ryan Feltner — Collective Soul’s “Where the River Flows” (from the beginning)

Kyle Freeland — Machine Gun Kelly’s “Raise the Flag” (from the beginning)

Braxton Fulford — Kanye’s “Follow God” (from the beginning)

Hunter Goodman — Cody Johnson’s “Til You Can’t” (0:59)

Tanner Gordon — T.I’s “Whatever You Like” (from the beginning)

Jimmy Herget — Beastie Boys’ “Sabatoge” (from the beginning)

Welinton Herrera — Yo Soy Papa’s “Lapiz” (4:06)

Jaden Hill — YoungBoy Never Broke Again’s “Bruce Wayne” (Best Clean Version from YouTube) (1:02)

Troy Johnston — Lou Bega’s “Mambo No. 5” (0:03)

Kyle Karros — Toro & Moi’s “The Difference Flume” (0:36)

Jake McCarthy — Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” (6:40)

Juan Mejia — El Alfa x Farruko’s “Scarface” (from the beginning)

Mickey Moniak — Eddy Grant’s “Electric Avenue” (from the beginning)

Connor Norby — Kid Ink’s “Sunset” (chorus)

José Quintana — La Moral’s “Criss 7 Ronny, lil Silvo” (from the beginning)

T.J. Rumfield — Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Fishin’ in the Dark” (0:41)

TJ Shook — AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long” (from the beginning)

Tomoyuki Sugano — HUNTR/X’s “Golden” (0:55)

Brett Sullivan — Big X Tha Plug’s “Holy Ground” (0:26)

Sterlin Thompson’s — Alice in Chains’ “Would” (0:47)

Keegan Thompson’s — Kayne’s “Waves” (from the beginning)

Ezequiel Tovar — Corridos del Rey’s “Ayer Hable Con Dios” (0:15)

Zac Veen — Travis Scott ft. Playboy Carti’s “FE!N” (:15)

Let us know your favorites (or musical suggestions!) in the comments.

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