Redshirt junior third baseman Mikey Bell is leaving the Gonzaga Bulldogs program after two seasons and will enter the NCAA transfer portal, per D1Baseball’s Kendall Rogers.
The back-to-back West Coast Conference Player of the Year right away becomes one of the most coveted bats available across college baseball when the portal officially opens on June 1. It will be open for a 30-day window and close on June 30.
PORTAL NEWS: 2-time @WCCsports Player of the Year, @ZagBaseball 3B Mikey Bell is entering the Transfer Portal, I'm told. Bell, 6-2, 200, hit .379 this past season with 24 doubles, nine homers and 47 RBIs + 1.063 OPS. Should be a hot commodity.
The 6-2, 200-pound infielder hit .369 with 24 doubles, 20 home runs, 92 runs batted in, and 51 walks during his time in Spokane, Washington. Bell finished with a .448 on-base percentage, .610 slugging percentage, and 1.057 on-base plus slugging percentage across 107 games.
The Fresno, California, native started his college career on the junior college level with Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo, California. The Slipper Still Fits spoke with the 22-year-old before the start of the 2026 season, and what a treat it was. Best of luck to Bell in his future endeavors.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - MAY 28: Fans erupt in cheers after Ronald Acuña Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves (not pictured) hit a grand slam in the sixth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on May 28, 2026 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jaiden Tripi/Getty Images) | Getty Images
After a rare disappointing series (against the Washington Nationals, no less), the Atlanta Braves had no choice but to lick their wounds and keep it pushing against their traditional (league-mandated) interleague rivals in the form of the Boston Red Sox. Considering that the top of the rotation was going to be in action, there was at least some hope that this meant that the pitching could at least keep Boston quiet over the course of the three games at Fenway Park.
The big question was whether or not the Braves could get over the funk that their lineup was in. It’s one thing to only score one run over two games — both losses. It’s another to do so against a Nationals pitching staff that had performed very poorly up until that date. It was now time to see if that was just an inevitable blip that all teams will have to deal with over the course of a long baseball season or if the Braves had what it took to bust out and get back to smacking the ball all over the place. In the end, we got a mixture of results but one that ended up being an ultimately successful one for the Braves. Let’s get into it, y’all.
This one started very inauspiciously in the first inning for the Braves as they went down in order very quickly against Ranger Suárez while Spencer Strider gave up back-to-back homers to start things off. Atlanta would be forced to come from behind yet again and while it took a while for things to get really interesting as far as the Braves were concerned, the road team appeared to be up for the task of making it happen.
Suárez was seemingly cruising until the fifth inning, which is when he was suddenly jarred out of that false sense of security by Matt Olson hitting a lightning bolt of a two-run homer that tied things up. The Braves went on to run Suárez out of the game in the next frame, as an Austin Riley triple off of the Monster and an RBI ground rule double from Michael Harris II gave the Braves the lead and Suárez the hook. They made sure that it was a bad day for him after a productive out from Dominic Smith and an RBI single from Ronald Acuña Jr. gave the Braves some breathing room and put all five runs on Suárez’s line for the night.
The sixth inning was also the end of the line for Strider, as he eventually ended up with five innings pitched and three runs allowed after his leadoff walk in the sixth eventually made it home while he was in the dugout. From that point forward, things got topsy turvy to the point where the Braves were in clear survival mode once this game ended. Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a solo shot in the seventh inning to cut the deficit but Michael Harris II’s fourth hit of the night was a two-run dinger in the eighth that gave the Braves some vital insurance runs. They ended up needing those insurance runs because Raisel Iglesias had a rare rough outing where he got dinged for two runs while trying to close out the game. He eventually did so and the Braves escaped with a series-opening victory.
All due respect to the lovely TV production that BravesVision brings to us fans for nearly every game but also, you know it’s bad when C.J. Nitkowski catching a foul ball was the highlight of the night for the Braves.
For the second time in four games (and the third time in about a week-and-a-half), the Braves got shut out. A six-run fourth inning for the Red Sox (aided by two costly errors from Matt Olson and Chadwick Tromp) ended up being the turning point since Atlanta had little to offer against Connelly Early and Ryan Watson on the mound for the Red Sox. Boston added two more runs late and this ended up being a pretty lame one after the Braves went down in extremely short order following the big fourth inning for the Red Sox.
The pitching matchup between Chris Sale and Payton Tolle promised to be a good one and as it turned out, both pitchers kept their promise. While both pitchers “only” made it into the fifth inning in this one, Chris Sale got the slight edge as he ended up actually completing five innings while Tolle got pulled following 4.2 innings of work.
It came down to which team would be able to put in the work after the starting pitchers exited the game and boy, oh boy, the Braves certainly put in the work once Tolle was gone. The game turned Atlanta’s way in the sixth inning, which is when the Braves took the lead on a bases-loaded walk from Mike Yastrzemski and then broke the game wide open after Ronald Acuña Jr. hit his first dinger since April 24 (!!!) in grand fashion. Acuña’s grand slam put Atlanta up by five runs and thanks to the bullpen clamping down from that point forward, the Braves ended up cruising for the rest of the way.
Michael Harris II added another home run for good measure in the seventh inning to put a cap on a lovely series for Money Mike and then Ozzie Alies bopped one out in the ninth inning for two runs that pushed the Braves into double digits on the day. I’d say that avenging an eight-run loss with an eight-run win is a pretty solid way to clinch a series, right? Their 15th series win in 57 games, no less. Pretty good, huh!
For this to be a series win, there wasn’t really a ton of time where it felt comfortable for the Braves — or a least that’s how I felt watching this series. The only times I really felt completely relaxed while watching this series was after Raisel Iglesias got the final out of the first game and after Acuña’s grand slam in the series finale. Outside of that, Boston was tough to deal with and it’s hard to believe that they have such a poor record at Fenway Park.
Still, it speaks to the resiliency of this Atlanta squad that they were able to turn this into a series win. It got really hairy in that first game and the second game was tight for a bit as well but ultimately the Braves did themselves a lot of credit by proving themselves as the better team and taking the series.
Seeing Michael Harris II rake over the course of this three-game series was certainly encouraging and it was truly a sight for sore eyes to see Acuña send one flying over the Green Monster in order to put Atlanta well ahead in the rubber match. While it’s obvious that this lineup is missing Drake Baldwin a little bit, it sure would be nice to see the current face of the franchise start to get hot at the plate, himself. Hopefully this’ll be the start of seeing Acuña get on a heater, which is something that pretty much everybody across Braves Country would love to see. Jorge Mateo even did some serious work when he was called upon, so that was lovely to see in what ended up being a pretty positive series for the Braves.
Now, the focus turns to Cincinnati where the Braves will hopefully be able to keep things going in Cincinnati against the Reds. It’s always a bit concerning going into that ballpark with the bottom part of the rotation set to take on all the challenges that come along with playing against the Reds in that stadium. At the same time, the Reds have struggled against teams who are over .500 and the Braves lineup will also get to hopefully benefit from those dimensions as well. Hopefully we’ll continue to see the version of Atlanta’s lineup that did some serious work in the two wins in this series at Fenway Park rather than the one that has been intermittently showing up and getting shut out. We’ll see what happens.
Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga made his first start for the organization's Triple-A ballclub, the Syracuse Mets, on Thursday night.
Senga took the mound against the Rochester Red Wings, the Triple-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. Senga's workload saw a massive boost tonight, though his effectiveness and efficiency left a lot on the table.
He came out of the gates firing, beginning his start against the top of the Red Wings order by striking out the side, all swinging.
However, he ran into some trouble during the rest of his start, losing control of the strike zone on multiple occasions.
He threw 80 pitches through 3.2 innings, allowing three runs on four hits and two walks.
Just two of those runs were earned, as in the fourth inning, the baserunner who eventually scored (Robert Hassell III) reached base on a fielding error by highly touted first base prospect Ryan Clifford.
Senga was removed from the game, having recorded five strikeouts with Syracuse leading 6-3. His signature forkball was his best pitch all night, especially when it came to generating whiffs.
While the Mets are clearly ramping up Senga's workload at a rapid pace, it remains unclear as to what role he will have on the team's pitching staff, as well as when he will return to the big league roster.
After making his MLB debut with the Angels in 2018, Ohtani has done plenty of incredible things. He’s the first player to collect more than 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season, he’s a four-time MVP, five-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger and two-time World Series champion.
But it seems the best is yet to come.
After returning to the mound last season and collecting 62 strikeouts with a 2.87 ERA, Ohtani is the front-runner to be the NL Cy Young Award winner this year.
Through nine starts, he’s nearly replicated last season’s strikeout production by collecting 61, has a 0.82 ERA and has pitched five or more innings in each start.
Shohei Ohtani is the front-runner for NL MVP and NL Cy Young. AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
When May began, Ohtani’s bat went cold, and his average dropped to .233. Through his last 15 games, Ohtani started to heat up, hitting .321 with three home runs and 14 RBIs.
Votto, who earned the NL MVP Award in 2010 with the Reds, believes the Dodgers superstar is on his way to winning his fifth MVP and is putting himself in the conversation as the greatest baseball player of all time.
“It’s gonna be five in six years if he wins it. It’s gonna be unanimous if he wins it,” Votto said. “We’re talking about one of the great athletes of the 21st century.”
Mets right-hander Clay Holmes has seemingly avoided a worst-case scenario.
The Post's Jon Heyman reports that the Mets starter will not need surgery on his fractured fibula. It remained unclear what Holmes would need to recover from the injury, but even the right-hander believed he would avoid surgery when asked, although he could not rule it out. If Heyman's report is correct, then it's good news for Holmes and the Mets.
However, Heyman points out that the latest guess for Holmes' return is early August.
If the Mets can right the ship, getting Holmes back for the home stretch would be a bonus. When he went on the IL, Holmes was arguably the Mets' best pitcher.
In nine starts, Holmes pitched to a 2.39 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP while consistently going deep into games.
His shortest outing was the May 15 game against the Yankees when he pitched 4.1 innings. That was the same night he fractured his fibula.
Holmes suffered the injury when he took a 111.1 mph liner from Yankees prospectSpencer Jones.
Apr 25, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey speaks before the game against the Miami Marlins at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
The San Francisco Giants are dead. Long live the San Francisco Giants. They were killed by one of the funniest cases of oversteering in the history of professional sports when a former jock bound for the Hall of Fame roundhouse kicked an overhyped nerd into baseball oblivion to make sure the team stopped letting computers make decisions for them. The team instead became a creation sprung from Buster Posey’s memory of what his championship teams were like. Last season was rocky and this season has been an unmitigated disaster, another losing season (their 7th of the last 10 seasons) locked in before June! With the franchise firmly rebranded as a loser, what can we look forward to these next four months?
Just how bad can this bad team be?
Yesterday afternoon’s loss was certainly a microcosm of the season, but going 0-6 against the Diamondbacks over the past week has really started to create some separation from the early season and as the weather changes and other teams improve, it stands to reason that as bad as the Giants have been… it can be a lot worse.
With 56 games played, we can look at the current season in 14-game chunks.
Games 1-14: 6-8 (.429) Games 15-28: 7-7 (.500) Games 29-42: 5-9 (.357) Games 43-56: 4-10 (.286)
So, the Giants scuffled when teams were still trying to get their bearing after launching from Spring Training and then once they did, the Giants were relegated to batting practice for the opposition. There are 106 games remaining in this season, which on the one hand is quite sad because the Giants are so bad, but on the other hand… well… I suppose there’s a chance we could see some improved play. That’ll be the tension opposing the “Yeah, but they’ve been so, so stinky to start the season that it would make sense if the stench was unwashable.”
Let’s just look at their schedule through the end of June. Tomorrow kicks off a 3-game series in Colorado. Then they play 4 in Milwaukee, then 3 against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Host the Nats and Cubs then travel to Atlanta for 3 and Miami for 3. Host the Athletics for 3 and Atlanta for 3 before traveling to Arizona for more Diamondbacks. That’s 18 on the road and 12 at home. If you just apply their current winning percentages for their home/road split to this schedule (.357 road / .429 home), that’s 11-19 or 12-18, which would put the Giants at either 33-53 or 34-52 entering July. Here are the ten worst records in Giants history through the team’s first 86 games:
10. 2005 SF Giants: 37-49 9. 1900 NY Giants: 35-50 8. 1994 SF Giants: 36-50 7. 1943 NY Giants: 34-51-1 6. 1976 SF Giants: 34-52 5. 2017 SF Giants: 34-52 4. 1984 SF Giants: 33-53 3. 1956 NY Giants: 32-54 2. 1985 SF Giants: 31-55 1. 1902 NY Giants: 28-57
So, 16-14 just to stay out of the top 10 worst starts to a season and 13-17 to avoid paralleling the 2017 or 1985 seasons. But we’ve seen how these jabronis play and, well, when they’re not being overmatched talent-wise, they are impossibly stupid in the field. It’s your right as a fan to hope they turn things around, but there is no evidence to suggest that a turnaround is in progress and based on aging curves for the core hitters plus the current results about the same amount of evidence to start building a case that one might be possible. That schedule doesn’t obviously present the pathway to a nice winning streak, either.
The Giants have told us for 56 games that they’re a bad team out to dispense bad times. We should believe them.
The trade deadline.
Obviously. It’ll be like an organ donation, right? Which parts of the Giants’ corpse can help another team thrive down the stretch or even beyond? Buster Posey’s moves at last year’s deadline shows that he’s not afraid to purge a roster when he feels it’s due for improvement. The problem is, he’s running out of the previous guy’s guys to move… unless Logan Webb miraculously returns to form this season; and then, there might be an opportunity for a big move.
Robbie Ray, it feels like we hardly knew ya, but appreciate watching you pitch most of the time. Luis Arraez, way to play your way into being the Giants’ lone All-Star representative. Tyler Mahle, Harrison Bader, Adrian Houser… you think they’ll be sticking around? I have never understood the compulsion by some fans to do a Rain Manesque “Trade Chapman. Trade Chapman. Trade Chapman.” every day and I can’t understand why the Giants would try to convince Chapman to waive his no trade clause in order to facilitate a deal, but that might be the move a lot of people want to see and will really be paying attention to as the calendar turns to July.
The Giants can’t formally “rebuild,” but watching them remodel this termite-infested, water damaged house that was once the centerpiece of China Basin will be at the very least interesting to watch as the summer goes on.
The farm system’s success.
Winning is good, even when it’s just in the minor leagues. That all of the levels are finding success with age appropriate prospects is heartening to see, too. There aren’t a lot of Chase d’Arnauds leading the groups. Pick some players or pick a team to follow the rest of the year and you probably won’t be disappointed. Personally, I’ve staked my mental health to Jhonny Level’s success.
When I wrote up the Chicago White Sox series preview, I learned that the White Sox’s GM Chris Getz was previously their Director of Player Development (2017-2020), and it got me wondering if maybe Randy Winn, VP of Player Development, might take over as President of Baseball Operations once Buster Posey moved on. If most of the minor league teams win championships this year, I’d think that’d be a pretty big plus on his resume, and it’d be hard to argue against him being a pivotal part of the front office.
The palace “intrigue.”
Recently, I had to change a baby in an airplane bathroom. The changing table was more like a bowl in that it had a divot in it, presumably to make laying the baby down easier. It was not easier. The changing table was also very smooth, so the baby — who likes to stand when being changed — kept sliding around… along with all the items needed to facilitate the diaper change. This led to the following sequence: diaper off, baby steps then slides into discarded pajama pants, bringing them back underneath baby just as baby urinates, soaking the pajamas. While cleaning all that up, baby poops and while trying to hold the baby in one arm to clean up with the other, the baby keeps trying to move and slides around, stepping in the poop, stepping back onto the pajamas. The baby peed again. It was 15 minutes of pee-pee-poo-poo nightmares in a 3 ft by 5 ft space and once I left I felt like Buster Posey must feel every day trying to run a baseball team: confused, angry, annoyed at having to jettison stuff that cost a decent amount of money, and covered in human waste.
Each change he has made has led to more pee, more poo, and more stepping in both. Should he have boarded this particular plane? Probably not. For most of us who suspected we’d be seeing him learn on the job, all we get is the satisfaction of knowing that there’s no use getting worked up about the team’s record anymore. It’s going to take him a long time with many lessons learned the hard way in order to turn the franchise around. Which is why I advocated for him sticking around longer than 3 years. It’s why it’s worth keeping tabs on the minor leagues. This could be very painful for a long time but then turn around overnight.
But already we’re seeing discontent seeping onto the floor of this Dilettantes’ Ball. Posey’s slightly tense conversation with Brian Murphy on KNBR the other week was interesting in that he repeated “baseball is hard” more than I’d like to hear from an exec whose team isn’t so much losing to other teams as being embarrassed by them. Farhan Zaidi was a notoriously poor interview, too, and that Buster Posey has wound up sounding like him more often than not in such a brief time is funny and troubling. But Andrew Baggarly has pivoted to questioning the wisdom in hiring Hector Borg to the coaching staff. Tony Vitello has put it out there that he wasn’t as involved in the staff hiring as we were led to believe in the offseason. Buster Posey takes the blame for the team’s performance to this point and so this effort to hang some of that on the third base coach stinks, too.
Unrelated to the coaching stuff, but related to the Giants being bad, I enjoyed this posting from the other day:
It has all been amateur hour, and in an organization where Larry Baer won out over Peter Magowan and Bill Neukom, it’s pretty clear that things aren’t going to be getting “better” behind the scenes anytime soon, either. If the Giants were playing better, it probably wouldn’t matter too much, but with everything on the field able to be safely ignored, this front office and ownership group will probably get more stories written about them than they expected heading into the season.
You’re probably screaming at me for leaving out something about the young players developing. What of Bryce Eldridge? Or Jesus Rodriguez? Is Landen Roupp the Logan Webb replacement the Giants didn’t know they had until this year? Is Trevor McDonald? Will the bullpen be able to evolve into something above average? These are the obvious questions that should feel very heartening to see because it means the Giants have developed some potential major leaguers alongside all the failure and that’s before considering the players at the lower levels who are generating most of the excitement about what Randy Winn and the player development group have been doing (all of which you can track through Brady’s reporting here or at Roger Munter’s excellent There R Giants site). But I can’t help but think about the past 10+ years of Giants player development and conclude that while it’s nice to imagine a world in which the Giants draft and develop their own players who can serve as more than 20th to 26th on their depth chart, the reality is that we should keep our expectations low until proven otherwise.
That goes for everything related to the team. The championship era ended a long time ago, but now we’re past those era re-definining teams of the 80s/90s/00s/10s, too. You could maybe characterize those decades this way: Prospects/Bonds/Ballpark/Championships. What are the 20s? Disappointing? Disaster? Forgettable? Skip? Bust? Whatever it winds up being considered, what’s clear is that the Giants as we knew them are dead and gone. Nobody wanted to be in this situation on May 28th. I was hoping for a disappointing season that unraveled in August or September, as has been the custom for many years now. Was looking forward to sneaking away to catch a game and spend that time in Schrödinger Stadium, where the team could be either good or bad. But we know they’re just bad.
What’s next for the franchise is anyone’s guess, but a rebirth during this season is the only thing certain to be out of the question.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MAY 25: Alex Jackson #70 and Simeon Woods Richardson #24 of the Minnesota Twins have a meeting at the mound during the eighth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field on May 25, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
After exciting rookie Kendry Rojas got scratched from his start with elbow soreness (sigh), Simeon Woods Richardson (sigh, again) stepped in for a spot start which went about as well as expected. Also bad for the Twins, they were facing current AL Cy Young candidate Davis Martin (triple sigh). Let’s get into it.
Woods Richardson got some hopes up, but almost immediately lost the faith of Twins fans and coaches alike. He struck out the first two batters of the game before walking Miguel Vargas, allowing him to steal second, and then scoring on a Colson Montgomery single. SWR then allowed a double to start the second inning, but escaped scoreless thanks to a nice throw home from Tristan Gray with the contact play on. Then, things really fell apart.
With two outs and a runner on in the third inning, Sim allowed the next five batters to reach base, culminating in a bases-clearing double from 4,000 year old (pretty sure, don’t fact check me) Randal Grichuk to put the White Sox up 5-0. Wanting to limit the damage, the Twins turned to Andrew Morris who finally ended the inning and allowed everyone to move on with their day.
I would now like to gripe about the worst scoring rule in baseball. The concept of runs being earned vs unearned is, in essence, completely up to the official scorer. It’s what makes ERA less predictive of future performance compared to FIP or xERA, and is somewhat a relic of a past era. However, ERA is still important given it’s historical significance and as such, these rules do carry a lot of weight. A pitcher shouldn’t be punished for a bad defense, but what if the bad defense was from the pitcher himself?
All this is to say that the run Andrew Morris allowed should have been an earned run because the error was committed by Morris. If he didn’t earn that run, then who did? Pete Maki? Tom Pohlad? God? Please get back to me soon, Mr. Manfred. My family is starving and I cannot rest until this quandary is resolved. I’m just a man standing in front of an MLB commissioner asking him to artificially raise Andrew Morris’ ERA.
Anyway, the bullpen was actually nails the whole way, which was nice to see after Woods Richardson’s awful start. Morris, Travis Adams, Taylor Rogers, Anthony Banda, and Yoendrys Gomez combined to throw 5.1 innings while allowing no earned runs (though an unholy unearned one) and just four baserunners, and two of those from Morris.
Unfortunately for Adams, he was optioned after this game with Minnesota in need of a fresh arm. The Twins will likely need two pitchers with Rojas likely ending up on the IL as well. A corresponding move has yet to be announced, but Kody Funderburk and John Klein are healthy and on the 40-man, though neither has been particularly sharp of late. Cody Laweryson appears to be near the end of a rehab assignment, though his results have been less than encouraging as well. We could be in line for Marco Raya’s debut as he has been very good in May.
And, as you know by now, we’re taking detours to bad relief options and inane scoring rules because the Twins offense didn’t have almost anything to give this afternoon. The Twins finally got a second run after Martin left the game in the seventh inning, but were never able to get a big inning in this game or really any point this series. Minnesota never had more than one hit in an inning in this game, which simply won’t cut it.
The Twins lost the series 1-3, with two of those losses being very winnable. The non-SWR pitchers stepped up in a tough spot, but the lineup is missing some juice with Ryan Jeffers’ injury and Royce Lewis’ and Matt Wallner’s overdue demotions. The Twins need someone to step up alongside Buxton and there’s lots of talent to do that still.
STUDS
The bullpen (Morris, Adams, Rogers, Banda, Gomez): 5.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R (o ER), 1 BB, 6 K
Tristan Gray: 2-4, 2B, SB
DUDS
Simeon Woods Richardson: 2.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 4 K; moves to 0-7 with a 7.74 ERA on the season
Middle of the lineup (Lee, Larnach, Clemens): 0-12
The campaign to bring professional baseball to West Sacramento is officially underway. Paul Kitagaki Jr./ZUMA / SplashNews.comDays after, West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero revealed there would be an announcement regarding the future of professional baseball to the city of Sacramento, she introduced “The Sacramento Pitch.” The Sacramento Pitch/Hart Howerton
The Sacramento Pitch is a campaign led by minority Kings owner Mark Friedman, who played a vital part in the development of downtown Sacramento and the Golden 1 Center sports and entertainment complex.
Joining Friedman are 11 other members that include Guerrero and Sacramento mayor Kevin McCarty, as well as former San Francisco Giants manager Dusty Baker, and former MLB player and Sacramento native Derek Lee.
“This is a defining moment for West Sacramento, and we’re ready,” Said Guerrero. “Major League Baseball is already seeing firsthand the passion, energy, and civic pride that exists here.”
The website breaks down the case into four different reasons as to why Sacramento is deserving of an MLB expansion team. “The site, the investment, the economic case, the market.”
The potential home of a future MLB ballpark in Sacramento is set to be placed on a 50-acre site in West Sacramento’s Bridge district, near Sutter Health Park, home of the minor league baseball team, the Sacramento River Cats, and the temporary home of the Athletics.
The Sacramento Pitch is a campaign led by minority Kings owner Mark Friedman, who played a vital part in the development of downtown Sacramento and the Golden 1 Center sports and entertainment complex. ZUMAPRESS.com
The renderings of the ballpark show the stadium facing along the Sacramento River, with the cities skyline view as the backdrop.
Followed by the view is a $1.8 billion privately funded investment in the campaign committee. The committee expects the project to generate $1.77 billion in revenue for West Sacramento. The market side of the campaign focuses on how Sacramento is one of the largest media markets in the country, with only one big 5 sports team.
“The region has grown roughly 10% over the past decade, outpacing both California and the nation,” According to the campaign’s website. “It has added more than 200,000 jobs since pandemic lows.”
They had balloons, baseball caps and a splashy video. They even had Dusty Baker, because any day with Dusty Baker is a good day.
And, as a campaign called “The Sacramento Pitch” unveiled its plan to lure a Major League Baseball expansion team to the state capital, the mayor made his pitch a blunt one.
“This region has earned its place in the majors,” Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty said Thursday. “And, frankly, MLB could use Sacramento.”
We’ll see. But, as McCarty and other dignitaries rallied in Sacramento, a more important gathering was happening in New York, at which MLB owners formally proposed the salary cap players have vowed to resist.
Whether owners can get a cap — either by persuasion through the fall and winter, or more likely by canceling games next spring so players go unpaid — remains to be seen. For Sacramento and the other American and Canadian cities pursuing two expansion teams, the outcome of collective bargaining could determine the fee MLB would charge for each one.
On Thursday, Sacramento unveiled a $4-billion proposal to land a team, build a riverfront ballpark and surround it with an entertainment district. By the time MLB is ready to expand — after collective bargaining, and most likely after new media rights deals in 2028 — baseball insiders suggest the expansion fee itself could be around $4 billion.
Said Barry Broome, president of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council: “If it’s a $4-billion fee, I’ll be surprised if there are too many people that would pay that.”
MLB never has had a salary cap. In 1994, the last time MLB proposed one, the players went on strike, and the World Series was not played.
Now, the league argues, payroll disparities are so great that only a cap can solve them. In its presentation Thursday, MLB noted the Dodgers paid more in luxury taxes last season than 16 teams paid in player salaries and cited a $446-million payroll gap between the Dodgers ($515 million) and the lowest-paying team, the Miami Marlins ($69 million).
The league also said fans in a large market have a 50% chance of seeing their team win the World Series by age 12, while fans in a small market have a 50% chance of seeing their team win by the World Series by age 73.
“Ultimately, the game is about hope and competition, and too many fans in too many markets have too little hope their team has a fair chance to win,” MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement.
The MLB proposal: a cap with a maximum payroll of $235 million and a minimum payroll of $171 million, with those figures including $23 million per team in player benefits. The Dodgers’ payroll would be cut roughly in half, although the league and the union would discuss ways to phase in such cuts over time.
Those savings help explain why the Dodgers — at least for now — would support a proposal that includes every team throwing their local television rights into a pool that would be marketed as one national package — one place to see every game, with no blackouts, and with revenue shared equally among teams.
The Dodgers’ SportsNet LA deal — $8.35 billion over 25 years — has provided the team with a massive financial edge in funding back-to-back World Series champions.
The MLB Players’ Assn. believes the owners can share all that revenue — from local television and other sources — and thus resolve financial disparities without capping player salaries.
“Billionaire owners are not seeking to cap their profits or asset values, only player salaries,” MLBPA executive director Bruce Meyer said in a statement. “This isn’t out of generosity or a desire to protect the game’s well-being. It’s a play to control costs, increase profits and maximize franchise values — all at the expense of players past, present and future.”
MLB owners have been distressed as franchise values — ultimately, sale prices — have not appreciated as rapidly as they have in other sports. A salary cap would offer owners the cost certainty — 50% of industry revenue, however that might be defined, would go to players — that limits financial risk in ownership.
MLBPA executive director Bruce Meyer will be at the forefront of collective bargaining talks in the year ahead. (Richard Drew / Associated Press)
In the NBA, which has a salary cap and media deals more lucrative than in MLB, the league reportedly anticipates bids in the range of $7 billion to $10 billion for proposed expansion teams in Las Vegas and Seattle.
In MLB, a prominent official with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly told me the expansion fee could range from $3 billion to $5 billion — on the lower end without a salary cap, on the higher end with a cap and the greater media revenues that could come with it.
That could leave Sacramento and the other MLB suitors — including Salt Lake City, Montreal, Nashville, Raleigh, Charlotte, Orlando, Vancouver and Portland — scrambling for more funding at a time the surprisingly common thought is an expansion fee would be about $2 billion.
In 2021, when Sportico estimated the average MLB franchise value at $2.2 billion, Commissioner Rob Manfred said that figure could be “where you would start” in evaluating an expansion fee. Sportico this year put the average franchise value at $3.2 billion, and the San Diego Padres sold last month for a league-record $3.9 billion.
In Sacramento, campaign chairman Mark Friedman said his group has lined up $1.8 billion in private and public funding and is in search of a lead investor, with the stadium site and tax rebates already arranged with local governments.
“We’ve set the table,” Friedman said. “All of the guests are in attendance. We’re simply waiting for the guest of honor.”
Broome said he spoke with representatives from two runners-up in the Padres bidding as well as “a group of billionaires from Texas.” It’s all tire-kicking for now, he said.
For $4 billion, Friedman said, Sacramento can get a team, put up a stadium and surround it with places to eat, shop and play.
“We’re targeting being able to be competitive up to $4 billion,” he said. “If it turns out to be more than that, we’ll need to look at the numbers again.”
In the meantime, Baker was there to tell a few stories and put everyone in his hometown at ease, as he did for decades as one of baseball’s most acclaimed managers.
In his remarks, Baker celebrated the dozens of major leaguers who that come out of Sacramento.
“We had some of the baddest dudes in baseball — not only in Sacramento, but in baseball. We were proud of that,” Baker said.
“If you weren’t hitting — if you were hitting now like some of these guys are hitting now, .217 — man, we’d talk about you. Because, if you were from Sacramento, you gotta ball.”
Welcome to the first Futures on the Corner. This will become a weekly piece where I, Matt Seese, will examine the ins and outs of Cleveland’s ever developing farm system. I currently do work as a prospects scout and evaluator for Prospects Live and have thoroughly enjoyed covering our farm system here on Covering The Corner.
Today, I wanted to throw out more of a blanket piece to kick this off: what promotions are coming?
We’ll start down in Hill City.
A-BALL
OF JUNEIKER CACERES | 18 | L/L Caceres is not the 168 pounds MiLB.com lists him at. With a noticeable physical development, Caceres has seen his added muscle shrink areas of concern up in the zone. Combine that with some of the better plate discipline in the Guardians’ system, above average bat speed and EVs as well as a walk rate pushing 4% north of his strikeout rate, and Caceres is tailor made for a promotion to Lake County sooner rather than later. Caceres continues to be among the younger players at his level, and though the power numbers are slowly starting to come around, this kind of an approach is beyond his years.
LHP NELSON KELJO | 22 Keljo was a sixth round pick in last year’s draft out of Oregon State. At 6-foot-4, 230 pounds, Keljo is physically built to handle a starter’s workload, and he’s done exactly that thus far. A concern of mine with Keljo would be his command sustaining being stretched out from reliever to starter from college to the pros. Thus far, it’s largely not been an issue. Keljo has been efficient and at times dominant, largely carried by his fastball that sports some capable ride.
LHP HARRISON BODENDORF | 22 Bodendorf was also part of the ‘25 Draft class for the Guards, selected in the 10th round at pick 312. Drafted at 6-foot-5, 180 pounds, there’s some physical projecting to do here. Bodendorf is not going to overwhelm anyone, but up to this point, it hasn’t mattered. His upper 80s, occasionally low 90s heater is paired with a devastating changeup that’s currently inducing an incredible whiff rate and drawing weak contact when batters are lucky enough to get the bat to it. There’s definitely upside here despite the lack of velo. I think if any org finds that extra life here, it’s Cleveland, but some glove-side secondaries need to come along here for this profile to work long-term.
HIGH-A
AARON WALTON | 22 | R/R Matt Dallas, you genius. Walton has cleaned up some lower half mechanical issues and is now getting his whole body in sync with his swing. It has resulted in a tremendous start to the ‘26 season that’s seen Walton produce some high end power. Walton is lifting the ball pull-side at a tremendous rate, and though there’s still some swing and miss here and the overall passivity within the zone concerns me, he’s damaging the ball better than just about anyone else in the Midwest League with an EV90 north of 107.
RHP BRAYLON DOUGHTY | 20 How’s this for aggressive? At just 20 years old, Doughty would become among the youngest arms in Double-A if what I’m asking for here happened this season. That being said, I believe if anyone is ready for it, it’s him. Doughty is the most polished prep arm the Guardians have had in their system since I started tracking prospects. His fastball continues to improve and find a stable velocity in the low-90s band, and should it find that next tick up in velo, he goes from mid to back-end rotation arm to SP2 ceiling. Should this happen, I’d anticipate him getting touched up a bit as he begins facing 24+ year olds with consistency, but it will further develop his sequencing, and that can only be a positive.
IF LUKE HILL | 22 | R/R Besides Walton, there’s a few Lake County bats worthy of this, but none more than Luke Hill. Hill has been a bit of a revelation to the farm system. Drafted primarily off of his keen eye and quality swing decisions, Hill has seen that translate into a very real ability to do damage. Hill’s nine home runs at the moment of this typing is more than he ever hit at Ole Miss, he’s running an EV90 north of 105, and above all else, he doesn’t possess the ever concerning passivity that is currently at a ground swell in this system. Hill is selectively aggressive, attacks pitches in the zone, and is now driving them with legit pop. Not only should Hill get promoted, but he should be pushing for the top 10 of Guards prospects lists.
DOUBLE-A
RP CARTER RUSTAD | 25 | R/R Rustad was acquired from the Orioles for Johnathan Rodriguez back in late March, and some of the best stuff of his career thus far has come in Akron. Rustad throws from a sub-25 degree slot with great extension. A three-pitch pitcher, he generates capable iVB on his fastball, typically around 17 inches, and ~8 inches of arm-side run while sitting 93-95 with the heater. He’ll work a solid slider off of that against righties and a changeup to lefties that gets over a foot of arm-side tail. At 25 and not R5 eligible for another year, a promotion to Columbus where Cleveland can get a clean look at him without any 40-man issues should he pitch well feels ideal.
When asked about his current condition, Polanco smiled and responded that he is "feeling way better."
The Rumble Ponies began a four-game home stand against the Portland Sea Dogs tonight, but Polanco has the night off. However, he emphasized that he is ready to play tomorrow night.
"There is no rush, I want to get back when I feel good," Polanco stressed. "The main thing is to get better and to get healthy so I can help the team."
Polanco also revealed a potential timeline for his return to the Mets lineup, declaring that it should only be "two or three more games and I should be ready to go up [to the majors]."
He also reflected on New York's poor start to the season in his absence while also expressing hope for a future turnaround.
"It hasn't gone the way we want; we want to win," Polanco said. "But I know that things are going to get better."
Polanco was asked about the impact that rookie outfielders Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing have made since entering the fray in Queens. He gave the greenhorns his vote of confidence, affirming that "it's great to have those kids... It's a plus for us, the energy they bring."
Major League Baseball could make Sacramento a permanent home in the near future, at least that's the hope for city leaders and residents surrounding California's capital.
Regional leaders near Sacramento made their plans for a MLB team called "The Sacramento Pitch" in a news release from the Greater Sacramento Economic Council detailing commitments including a "fully entitled 50-acre stadium site" and nearly $2 billion in public and private funds.
The Athletics play at Sutter Health Park, a minor-league stadium in West Sacramento, after the A's relocated from Oakland, using Sacramento as a pitstop from 2025 to potentially 2028 before they ultimately land in Las Vegas where a new, state-of-the-art ballpark is expected to be completed by that year.
Sacramento natives and residing neighbors who were either A's fans from their Oakland days or now riding for their local team have gotten accustomed to having a professional baseball team in town, and there's buzz to keep one in the region when the league negotiates team expansions into two other markets - one on the West coast and another in the East.
Founder and chairman of Fulcrum Property and Board Chair of the Greater Sacramento Economic Council Mark Friedman believes Sacramento will be "impossible to ignore" when it's time to consider additional franchises.
"When MLB moves forward on expansion, Sacramento will be impossible to ignore,” Friedman said in a news release. “We have the market, the site, the capital, and the community. Sacramento is ready to compete — and Sacramento is ready to win.”
The Greater Sacramento Economic Council has plans for a 50-acre downtown site for a modern ballpark and mixed-use development. The project is said to have pinpointed almost $2 billion in private-public funding that includes $800 million in land and private investment and another $1 billion expected to come from the City of West Sacramento through tax increment financing, existing hotel taxes, and additional sources, the news release said.
“This is a defining moment for West Sacramento, and we’re ready,” West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero said in a news release. “Major League Baseball is already seeing firsthand the passion, energy, and civic pride that exists here. This region offers a practical and achievable path for long-term MLB success, and we have the financial capacity, community support, and clear vision needed to bring Major League Baseball permanently to West Sacramento. We’re built for this. We’re ready. Bring it on.”
The Sacramento Pitch is an organizational group of city and sports leaders spearheading the effort to bring MLB to Sacramento on a full-time basis. Among those individuals are notable baseball names from the Sacramento area, former Major League Baseball player Derrek Lee and World Series Champion, as a player and manager, Dusty Baker.
“I have always believed Sacramento is a major league city. Throughout my career, I’ve traveled across the country, and there’s something different about the people here. This community truly loves baseball,” Baker said in a news release. “For more than a century, this region has built a proud baseball legacy and developed generations of Major League Baseball players. I could not be more excited for the prospect of bringing a permanent MLB team here.”
We, the spoiled denizens of Braves Country, have made our displeasure known about the recent offensive outages. Some of it warranted (dropping a series to the Nats at home). We may have said things we regret.
I’m taking your Ronald Acuña Jr. apology forms riiight here.
The Braves will finish 4-2 against the Red Sox this season, taking 2 of 3 in both Atlanta and Boston in the span of a week.
The Braves are back in the win column and notched another series win, bouncing back after 1) last night’s shutout and 2) their second series loss of the year before Memorial Day.
In the battle of lefties on the mound, Chris Sale grinded through five innings of work, throwing 96 pitches and allowing six hits, two earned runs, three walks, and striking out eight. He pitched around traffic in every inning, but got strikeouts in huge spots to end the threats in the first, second, and third.
Thus ends the streak of 6+ inning starts for Sale, but he still got the win, adding to his streak of decisions so far this season. You can’t help but be extra appreciative of Sale when he’s at Fenway. He’s throwing 99 mph on his 92nd pitch of the game for a strikeout for us. For Atlanta. Matt Olson was entirely right to (mildly and apparently amicably) let Willson Contreras know not to chirp our ace. He kept us right in it, believing his offense would break through.
And they would do exactly that – but before we get to the point where they broke it open, I want to give Jorge Mateo his flowers.
Mateo has made the most of his fluid role and limited playing time with the Braves. Called upon to DH, pinch run, or start at short like today, he has contributed in a myriad of underrated ways. He had himself a day today, going 2-for-4 with a double and two-out RBI single to get the scoring started off of Payton Tolle. Tolle was picking right back up where he left off in stealing the souls of Braves hitters. But he proved fallible, and Jorge had the first blow. Mateo’s single also set up a Dom Smith RBI single to make it 2-0 Braves in the fourth. A difference maker!
Those two runs felt huge, but Sale’s unlucky fourth (a barely-fair RBI double and RBI single) brought us a brand-new ballgame tied at 2-2. Ronald Acuña Jr. reached on a leadoff walk and collected a stolen base, but nothing further would be charged to Tolle after being lifted after 4.2 innings.
The top of the sixth was special. When have you seen the first three Braves hitters show bunt? Only Michael Harris II laid one down for a single, but Mateo and Smith took advantage of reliever Danny Coulombe’s lack of command and walked to load the bases. A brief game of chicken ensues: Eli White came in to pinch hit for Sandy León, Boston countered with a pitching change to go to righty Greg Weissert, and then White headed back to the dugout in favor of Mike Yastrzemski. Yaz’s good eye led to a bases-loaded walk to make it 3-2 Braves. Lineup card turned over, and there are still no outs.
Ronald took a ball low. Weissert’s next pitch, a 93 mph sinker, was promptly sent a whopping 417 feet, soaring over the Green Monster for a grand slam. What a moment for Ronnie rocket #3 of the season.
The game continued while we reveled in that high for a while. Tyler Kinley (1.0 IP), Reynaldo López (2.0 IP), and Dylan Dodd (1.0 IP) would combine to throw four scoreless to finish out the game. Harris II and Ozzie Albies also wanted in on the fireworks and would tack on three runs via a solo homer in the seventh and a two-run homer in the ninth, respectively.
The Braves improve to 38-19 and will have a happy flight to Cincinnati. Don’t watch that highlight again without turning in your apology form.
HOUSTON, TEXAS - MAY 15: Spencer Arrighetti #41 of the Houston Astros pitches in the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers at Daikin Park on May 15, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) | Getty Images
TONIGHT’S GAME: Tonight, the Houston Astros (25-32) and Texas Rangers (25-30) will play the finale of this 4-game series at Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX.
RHP Spencer Arrighetti (6-1, 1.32 ERA) will start for the Astros vs. RHP Nathan Eovaldi (5-5, 3.55 ERA).
Tonight will be Arrighetti’s 1st career appearance at Globe Life Field and his 3rd vs. TEX overall.
Rematch: Tonight will also be the 2nd time that Arrighetti and Eovaldi have faced each other. The last time was on July 13, 2024 in HOU in which both hurlers took a ND in a 2-1, Rangers win in 10 innings.
SPENCER’S GIFTS: Since making his season debut on April 15, RHP Spencer Arrighetti has been one of the top starters in the Majors.
With Friday’s win at CHC, he is now 6-1 in just 7 starts with a 1.32 ERA (6ER/41IP) and a miniscule .169 batting avg. (24 H allowed in 41.0 IP).
Since April 15, Arrighetti’s 6 wins are tops in the AL in that span.
Model of Consistency: Arrighetti has allowed 1 ER or less in 6 of his 7 starts and 2 ER or less in all 7 starts.
In May, Arrighetti is 3-1 in 4 starts with an 0.78 ERA (2ER/23IP).
Pitcher of the Month Candidate: Arrighetti is 3-1 in his 4 starts in May with an AL best 0.78 ERA (2ER/23IP). For the month, he has allowed just 13 hits in his 23.0 IP (.169 opp. avg).
TRIP FINALE: Tonight is the finale of this 10-game, 3-city road trip.
The Astros are 6-3 thus far on the trip, going 1-2 at MIN, 3-0 at CHC and 2-1 here at TEX with 1 game left to play. A win tonight would give the Astros 7 wins on a 10-game road trip for the 1st time since a 10-0 trip, June 7-17, 2018.
Home-Cooking: After tonight’s game, the Astros will return to HOU for a 9-game homestand, during which they will host MIL, PIT and ATH, respectively.
AIR YORDAN: Yordan Alvarez has been sizzling hot in this series at Globe Life Field, going 6×12 in 3 games with 5 HR and 8 RBI.
*Is the 1st Astros player with multi-HR in back-back games since Jose Altuve turned the trick, Sept. 4 (2 HR) and Sept. 5 (3 HR), also at Globe Life. Altuve’s 5 HR are a club record for a 2 game span.
*His 2 HR last night give him 20 HR on the season, which is a club record for the 1st 57 G of a season.
*He is the 5th Astros player with multi-HR in consecutive games. The others: Jose Altuve, 9/4-5, 2023 at TEX; Richard Hidalgo, 9/9-10, 2000 at CHC; Moises Alou, 8/13/2000 at PHI, 8/14/2000 vs. PIT; Doug Rader, 7/2021/1973 vs. NYM.
*Has matched the club record for HR in a 3-game span with 5. That record is shared by Jose Altuve (2023), Richard Hidalgo (2000) and Glenn Davis (1990).
*From Elias: The Astros record for HR in a 4-game span is 6, set by Glenn Davis, 6/1-4 of 1990.
*At Globe Life Field, his 17 career HR and 1.216 career OPS are the best of any visiting player. He has 17 HR and 37 RBI in just 33 games at Globe Life Field.
*From Sarah Langs: Only 4 MLB players have had 3 straight multi-HR games: 2003-Jeff DaVanon; 1969-Lee May; 1962-Frank Thomas; 1951-Gus Zernial.
Note: All 3 hit 6 HR in their 3-game spans.
*From Elias: The MLB record for HR in a 3-game span is 7, set by Shawn Green (5/23-25 of 2002). The MLB record for HR in a 4-game span is 8, set by Ralph Kiner, 9/10-12 of 1947 (DH on 9/11).
ON THE LEADER BOARD: Yordan Alvarez currently leads the Majors in OPS (1.085), SLG (.663) and TB (134).
In the AL, he is 1st in batting avg. (.312), T-1st in HR (20) and 4th in RBI (39).
200 CLUB: Last night’s win was #200 for Astros manager Joe Espada. Espada’s very first managerial win came via a no-hitter by RHP Ronel Blanco on April 1, 2024 vs. TOR.
RECENT STROS: The Astros have won 5 of 6, 6 of 8 and 8 of their last 12 games.
FOR STARTERS: Astros starters have a combined ERA of 3.34 (26ER/70IP) over the last 12 games (since May 15) with a 1.04 WHIP.
In that span, they have allowed just 41 hits in 70.0 for an AL-best .170 opp. avg. During that time, HOU ranks 1st in the AL in opp. avg., 2nd in WHIP and 6th in ERA. Additionally, Astros starters have allowed no runs 5 times in the last 12 games.
HOMER HAPPY: The Astros have slugged 14 HR in their last 6 games. HOU now ranks 3rd in the AL in HR with 74, just behind CWS (75).
WALKER, TEXAS HAMMER: 1B Christian Walker has 4 HR and 9 RBI in hits last 5 games.
For the season, he has been one of the top hitters in the AL and is currently T-2nd in the league lead in RBI with 40. Walker also ranks 6th in HR (15), 7th in TB (108) and SLG (.519) and 13th in OPS (.850).
Walker also has not committed an error in his 57 games played.
THE SILVER BOOT SERIES: The Astros are 4-2 vs. the Rangers thus far in the 2026 Silver Boot Series.
They took 2 out of 3 from Rangers, May 15-17 at Daikin Park in the 1st matchup of the series.
Dating back to last season, HOU has won 7 of their last 9 games vs. TEX.
Even Series: The two clubs have played each other 298 times in the regular season in their franchise histories, with the Astros holding a slight advantage, 150-148.
Recently, the Astros have had the upper hand, winning or splitting nine straight season series, going 97-53 against the Rangers since the start of the 2017 season.
The Silver Boot Trophy, which the Astros have held onto since 2017, is on display in the Centerfield Team Store at Daikin Park.
TODAY IN ASTROS HISTORY: 1969 – One night after his walk-off grand slam defeated the Phillies, Doug Rader is the hero again, this time with an RBI-single in the 10th inning for a 7-6, walkoff win over the Phillies in the Dome. Additionally, the win is the 10th straight for the Astros, tying the franchise record at that time.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Thursday, May 28, 7:05 p.m. CT
Location: Globe Life Field, Arlington, TX
TV: Space City Home Network
Streaming: SCHN+
Radio: KTRH 740 AM, KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)
May 27, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Dallas Stars left winger Jason Robertson watches the game between the Texas Rangers and the Houston Astros at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
