Category: Baseball

Major League Baseball made its latest proposal in the sport’s ongoing labor battle on Thursday.

And once again, some common Dodgers tactics seemed to be not-so-coincidental targets.

As part of a sweeping set of suggested changes that would put term and salary limits on individual player contracts, MLB’s proposal included de facto “max contracts” for players — similar to the system that is currently in place in the NBA — of five years and $202 million for free agents changing teams, and six years and $265 million for free agents re-signing with their previous team.

Just as notable — at least to Dodgers fans — is that the league also proposed eliminating deferred money from all future contracts, while maintaining its push for a hard salary cap.

As a tradeoff, the league offered to raise minimum player salaries, provide players earlier access to free agency and eliminate qualifying offers that can drag down the markets of top free agents.

It marks the latest flashpoint in what have been increasingly contentious negotiations over a new CBA, with the proposal having already been rebuked later Thursday afternoon by the players’ union.

It also marks yet another way the league is trying to eliminate some of the methods the Dodgers have used to build their current dynasty, going after the kind of long-term and heavily deferred deals that have helped them navigate record-setting payrolls the last couple seasons.

Currently, the Dodgers have six players on deals that would surpass the league’s new proposed contract maximums: Shohei Ohtani (10 years, $700 million), Mookie Betts (12 years, $365 million), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12 years, $325 million), Will Smith (10 years, $140 million), Kyle Tucker (four years, $240 million) and Freddie Freeman (six years, $162 million).

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They also have nine players whose deals include at least some deferred money: Ohtani (who is the most extreme example, having deferred $680 million of his record-breaking salary), Betts, Smith, Freeman, Blake Snell, Teoscar Hernández, Tanner Scott, Tommy Edman and Edwin Díaz.

For the Dodgers, stretching out contracts and deferring money has preserved the team’s short-term financial flexibility, helping them maintain options each winter as they have constructed star-studded rosters over the last several years.

For their players, such deals provide long-term security and, in some cases, tax benefits and negotiation leverage.

That’s why, as the strategy has come under scrutiny in recent years, both team executives and superstars in the clubhouse have defended it.

“There are times where [negotiating a] deal lines up in a more straightforward way. There’s times where it’s less straightforward,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said at Snell’s introductory news conference last winter. “Including deferrals helps as a lever to find that overlap.”

The critique of the approach, of course, is that without regulations on contract structures, the Dodgers have been able to double down on their economic advantages. 

Ohtani’s deal, in particular, has proven to be transformational. While his presence has helped boost the club’s revenues by hundreds of millions per year, he is only earning $2 million per season (the other $68 million of his annual salary will be paid out a decade into the future, after the 10 seasons it covers have concluded).

Granted, Ohtani still accounts for more than $46 million annually in luxury tax calculations — a total that is based on the present-day value of his deal.

Still, it has become the calling card for factions of fans hopeful MLB will adopt a salary cap and even out financial disparities within the sport.

On Thursday, the league’s latest proposal took that exact aim.

There was a lot to like about the first six innings of Thursday’s Highway 80 Series finale for the San Francisco Giants. Then, the Giants’ terrible, horrible, no good, very bad bullpen got involved and an empowering sweep turned into an embarrassing 9-6 loss to the Sacramento A’s.

Victor Bericoto showed off his arm and his bat once again, Willy Adames went deep, and Jung Hoo Lee battled a tough lefty reliever for a three-run triple, but it was all for naught when the team’s public relations/on-field disaster of a bullpen took over.

Caleb Killian (2-4) took the loss after giving up four runs in the 9th inning, but it was a team effort to blow this game. For a group of pitchers who seem extremely homophobic, they apparently have no problem with a group of men getting together to suck, as long as it’s on a baseball field.

Rainbow Warrior Ryan Walker got the implosion going in the 7th inning, relieving Cap Buddy Landen Roupp after the Giants starter gave up two runs and struck out six in his six-inning stint. Walker gave up two singles, who both scored when Shea Langeliers hit a two-out RBI single off Erik Miller.

Dylan Smith pitched the 8th and yielded an RBI single to second baseman Jeff McNeil, who went 3-for-4 with two runs, an RBI, and a hit-by-pitch Wednesday, avenging Zach Gelof’s spiked hand from Tuesday’s game. Then, in the 9th, an ABS challenge turned a 3-2 count on Tyler Soderstrom to a walk, putting two runners on with two outs and creating an IBS challenge for the fans. Still, all he needed was one more out! That’s not so much to ask.

(Narrator: It was too much to ask.)

Jonah Heim tied the game, singling on a fastball straight down the middle. Lawrence Butler singled in the go-ahead run on a knuckle curve straight down the middle. After Butler stole second, Max “We’re Starting To Resent Him As Much As The Other One” Muncy knocked in two more runs on a fastball just slightly off the middle of the plate. That was it for Killian, the rally, and the game, though Muncy rubbed salt in the wound by stealing second, the third Athletics baserunner to take second in the inning off a shell-shocked Eric Haase.

It’s kind of amazing that answering baseball questions about this horrendous bullpen is actually considered the easier option for Giants personnel, but that’s where we are in 2026.

Rainbow integrity aficionado Roupp started off strong, escaping a two-on, one-out situation in the 3rd by striking out Nick Kurtz (say his name slowly) and Langeliers. In the 4th, Bericoto threw out a runner at second and in the 6th, Roupp bailed himself out with a nifty behind-the-back grab and double play.

The rookie outfielder nearly had another assist in the 5th on Alika Williams’ double, but Willy Adames’ relay throw pulled Daniel Susac and his sore back up the line, and McNeil scored. The A’s got their second run two batters later when Kurtz just barely beat out a double play.

Casey Schmitt crushed one off the dinger-prone Jeffrey Springs (5.1 IP, 3R, 3H, 6K) in the 5th inning, but like mail-in votes in a Los Angeles mayoral election, it swung left at the last moment and went foul. Willy Adames had no such issue when Springs left a high fastball over the plate two batters later. He made like Bill Clinton in 1992 and crushed it just left of center field for the first runs of the game. Just call him “Slick Willy.”

The Victor Bericoto Show continued Wednesday, where the Giants left fielder once again showed off his arm and his bat. Last night, he threw out Jacob Wilson at home and hit a 445-foot walkoff home run. Wednesday, he gunned down a stunned Tyler Soderstrom at second base, on a play that looked like a clear double off the bat.

In the 6th inning, he capped off the Giants’ five-run inning by hitting another 445-foot homer, this time a two-run bomb. If you’re wondering, both dingers would have been home runs in 30/30 major league ballparks.

Bericoto is doing this in the aftermath of two devastating earthquakes that hit his native Venezuela Tuesday. Along with Jose Butto and Luiz Arraez, Bericoto is wearing a “VZ” patch on his cap, while awaiting news of his friends and relatives. If you want to help the relief efforts, a good place to donate is Global Empowerment Mission.

There’s also no truth to the rumor that the Red Cross has declared the Giants bullpen a disaster area, so do not donate to any GoFundMe’s that JT Brubaker emails you about.

Finally, we should show Lee’s commendable bases-loaded hit in the 6th inning, which followed a highly disrespectful four-pitch walk to Willy Adames, the definition of the intentional-unintentional free pass. He fought off two nasty 0-2 pitches to stay alive, then got a gift when Butler tried for an impossible diving catch of Lee’s liner and turned it into a triple.

Why are the Athletics’ hats always falling off? Kurtz loses his helmet every time he comes to the plate, and all he’s doing is swinging the bat. Clearly Drew Gilbert will be studying game tape to figure out how he can make his own cap fall off even more often.

The two-game win streak is over. The Atlanta Braves are coming to town Friday, carrying a four-game losing streak and Joey Bart, both terrible omens for the fortunes of the orange and black. And the A’s are going to receive a strongly-worded letter from Senator Josh Hawley about their unfair treatment of the Giants bullpen.

The St. Louis Cardinals game vs the Arizona Diamondbacks game Thursday night has been postponed because of weather and will be made up on July 23.

Five Atlanta Braves positions players have advanced to the second round of 2026 All-Star Game voting. Catcher Drake Baldwin, first baseman Matt Olson, outfielders Ronald Acuña, Jr. and Michael Harris II and second baseman Ozzie Albies all moved to the next round of voting, which begins on June 29, 2026, by finishing in the top two at each position, per league, in the first round of fans voting. The top six outfielders advanced.

Those two top players per positions – and top six outfielders – will go head-to-head to gain the starting assignment in this year’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia. The exceptions are the top vote-getters in each league, who automatically advance as starters. Shohei Ohtani led the National League at the designated hitter position and Ernie Clement led the American League and draws the starting assignment at second base.

Pitchers are not part of the voting process.

Here are the match-up for each of the Braves players in the next round, which includes players from three of Atlanta’s top rivals:

Catcher: Baldwin vs. Will Smith (Dodgers)

First base: Olson vs. Freddie Freeman (Dodgers)

Second base: Albies vs. Bryson Stott (Phillies)

Outfield: Harris II and Acuña, Jr. compete with Andy Pages (Dodgers), Juan Soto (Mets), Brandon Marsh (Phillies) and Teoscar Hernández (Dodgers)

Voting ends on July 2 and can be done here.

The possibility of a Major League Baseball season in 2027 could be dwindling.

MLB proposed a five-year maximum contract length for players signing with new teams via free agency during a Thursday negotiation with the MLB Players Association on the league’s next collective bargaining agreement, the league confirmed via X on Thursday afternoon.

Beginning in 2027, teams would also be able to re-sign their own players to deals of up to six years under the league’s proposed “Cornerstone Player” provision, which MLB likened to the NBA’s “Bird Rights” clause that gives teams an advantage in retaining their own free agents by allowing them to exceed the salary cap and offer larger contracts.

Free agents joining a new team would be allowed to sign a maximum deal of five years, $202 million, while the “Cornerstone Player” clause would top out at six years, $265 million.

The proposal would also eliminate deferred contracts, much like the ones utilized by the Dodgers, including for stars Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker.

Thursday’s meeting also saw the league accept MLBPA’s proposal to grant free agency to players who are 30 years old with five years of MLB service — marking a potential shift from the longstanding post-1976 standard that has generally granted free agency after six years — and eliminate the qualifying offer system, which effectively penalizes teams for signing certain free agents by attaching draft-pick compensation.

MLB also proposed what it called a “historic” increase to the league minimum salary, raising it from $780,000 to $1 million for players with at least two years of service and guaranteeing players with less than two years of service $1 million in total compensation if they accrue a full year of service.

“Every other major U.S. sport has tackled this problem, and every year more small-market teams in those leagues have a chance to win. The salary cap and floor proposal levels the playing field, allowing us greater flexibility to address longstanding player priorities while sharing baseball revenue with the players 50/50,” MLB spokesperson Glen Caplin said.

“Today, in addition to proposing the largest ever increase in the minimum salary, earned by over half of MLB players, we accepted two landmark changes to free agency that have been in place for 50 years. We agreed to both the MLBPA’s proposal to provide earlier access to free agency, and their proposal to eliminate the qualifying offer system, a provision players view as a drag on free agency.”

MLBPA blasted Thursday’s negotiations and proposals as “misleading” and part of an agenda that would lead to “suppressing player salaries and maximizing club profits.”

“These misleading offers are designed to look like ‘improvements’ but are of little or no value, given they are expressly conditioned on agreement to the league’s cap system which eliminates the free market, and ensures gains for one player only come at the expense of another,” the union said in a statement.

The latest round of negotiations comes a week after MLBPA ripped the league over a proposed overhaul of the draft, which would remove high school players from draft eligibility until after their sophomore year of college and cut the draft from 20 rounds to 12 while reducing the bonus pool from $358.7 million to $200 million.

Late last month, MLB formally proposed a hard salary cap that would require every MLB team to maintain a payroll between $171.2 million and $245.3 million. It would force several big market teams, including the Mets, Dodgers and Yankees, to significantly cut their spending.

The league’s push for a salary cap has been met with fierce resistance, and MLBPA interim executive director Bruce Meyer put the onus on MLB to avoid a lockout in 2027.

“As I said in the past, it’s highly, highly likely that they’re going to lock us out again,” Meyer said Thursday, noting that another meeting is expected ahead of the July All-Star break, per The Athletic.

“Ultimately, that’s up to them.”

The Mets had at least something go right for them, as Juan Soto avoided the injured list and was back in the lineup for the series finale against the Cubs after exiting Tuesday’s game with back tightness.

Carlos Mendoza hoped pregame that Soto — who also missed time earlier this season with a calf injury — would be able to play, prompting the Mets to release their starting lineup later than expected until they received some clarity.

He hit third and served as the designated hitter, with MJ Melendez in left field.

Mendoza, who didn’t have any clarity on when Soto could return to the outfield, was satisfied that Soto even wanted to play — as opposed to just being available as a pinch-hitter after missing both games Wednesday.

“That’s a good sign,” Mendoza said.

A trip to the IL would’ve been another nightmare for the Mets in a season full of them.

Soto, who entered Thursday’s game with a .299 average, .965 OPS and 17 homers, has been one of the only pieces of their lineup to produce.

Francisco Lindor just returned from his calf strain Wednesday and Luis Robert Jr. (lumbar spine disc herniation), Jorge Polanco (left Achilles bursitis, right wrist contusion) and Marcus Semien (left hip flexor strain) are all on the injured list.

And the Mets’ hope that Soto was only day-to-day turned out to be accurate.

He avoided another stint on the IL after missing 15 games in April. The Mets, for once, caught an injury break.

For the sixth time in his MLB career, Shohei Ohtani has been selected to the All-Star Game.

While the rest of this year’s All-Star rosters won’t be announced until next week, Ohtani was able to punch his ticket early on Thursday, courtesy of receiving the most overall votes in the initial round of fan balloting.

By garnering more than 3.3 million selections from fans, Ohtani easily outpaced all other National League players, ensuring he will be the starting DH in the Midsummer Classic.

His total was also more than 100,000 greater than Blue Jays infielder and top American League vote-getter Ernie Clement, who earned the automatic spot in the AL starting lineup.

Ohtani, a four-time MVP, has now been to the All-Star Game in all three of his seasons with the Dodgers and each of the last six going back to his first MVP season with the Angels in 2021.

The two-way star should have plenty of fellow Dodgers teammates heading with him to Philadelphia, as well.

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The club had six other players advance to the second round of voting: catcher Will Smith, first baseman Freddie Freeman, third baseman Max Muncy, shortstop Mookie Betts and outfielders Andy Pages and Teoscar Hernández.

They could have a couple pitchers make the team, as well, most notably Yoshinobu Yamamoto and potentially Justin Wrobleski.

Roster moves

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 40.

• Reinstated from the restricted list and activated: OF Max Kepler (No. 22)
• Recalled from Triple-A Reno: RHP Juan Burgos (No. 52)
• Optioned to Triple-A Reno following last night’s game: OF Tim Tawa + LHP Mitch Bratt
• Transferred to the 60-day injured list: RHP Ryne Nelson (strained right elbow)

A fair bit to unpack here, though none of the moves are a particular surprise. Interesting to see Bratt sent right back down. He won’t be eligible to come up again for a bit, so we’ll need a different arm to start Monday’s game, back at Chase against the Giants. Will that be Brandon Pfaadt? Probably not. He hasn’t pitched since the 20th, and only threw 52 pitches. There’s no time to get another start in and then have him pitch again on Monday, except on very short rest (he’s not starting tonight for the Aces either). Oh, well. That’s an issue for Mike Hazen to figure out. We just report things.

Nelson goes to the 60-day IL, confirming what we largely knew, that he won’t be back until late August at the very earliest. That opens up the 40-day spot for Kepler, who replaces Tawa on the active roster. I find myself in two minds about the new arrival. Of course, he’s a Diamondback and I want him to do well. But he’s also a convicted PED user, and doesn’t seem to have made even the token noises about it. So I also want him to go into a slump of Fernando Tatis Jr.-esque proportions. Be also get the return of Juan Burgos, who kinda sucked last year, after coming over from Seattle at the trade deadline. A 6.59 ERA this year in Reno isn’t exactly encouraging.

The weather for this one looks distinctly iffy, so may be interrupted or not completed. Jack wrote earlier, “Looking at the radar from 6:45-8:00 it looks like VERY heavy rain with more coming in behind that” Given it’s a Zac Gallen start, perhaps “pray for rain”, as the old proverb went, might be the best option. Him going three innings, and the game being called as a no-content, sounds like a plan. If it needs rescheduled, common off days for the two teams are Thursdays July 23, August 13, September 10 + 17, and Monday September 21. September 10 might work: Arizona would be coming back from Kansas City and St. Louis from San Francisco. August 13 (AZ going to Atlanta, STL at home) is another possibility.

SAN FRANCISCO — Landen Roupp was in line for his first win since April 26, and the Giants were positioned to complete their first sweep of the season.

It all fell apart, like so much else this season, thanks to their bullpen.

Roupp limited the Athletics to two runs over six innings and Jung Hoo Lee delivered a bases-clearing triple that, combined with Victor Bericoto’s two-run blast that followed, gave San Francisco a four-run lead.

The problem was that they needed the bullpen to protect it for three innings.

“Yeah, it wasn’t good,” manager Tony Vitello said a short while later. “I mean, we gave up a touchdown in the last three innings.”

Ryan Walker, Erik Miller and Dylan Smith allowed the A’s to cut into the lead in the seventh and eighth innings, and it evaporated once and for all in the ninth against closer Caleb Kilian.

The result: a 9-6 loss in the series finale that they led 6-2 when the bullpen took over. A 26th series they failed to sweep. And a 10th consecutive start in which Roupp failed to earn a win. Roupp’s winless streak is the longest the Giants have gone without winning in one pitcher’s starts since 2008.

The A’s scored in each of the final three innings, totaling seven runs against the Giants’ bullpen.

“You could talk about some balls finding the hole or a broken-bat hit, things like that,” Vitello said. “But the bottom line is we need to do better.”

Kilian, named the closer earlier this month, never recovered after speedy leadoff man Henry Bolte beat out an infield single to the opposite side that Casey Schmitt was shaded.

A wild pitch put the potential tying run on second base with nobody out, but Kilian retired Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers to make it through the meatiest part of the A’s order. 

Then, he issued a two-out walk to Tyler Soderstrom and didn’t record another out.

Jonah Heim, Lawrence Butler and Max Muncy singled home four runs off Kilian before Matt Gage finally recorded the third out of the inning, with a one-run lead now a three-run deficit.

The blown save was Kilian’s second in seven chances, the Giants’ 10th as a team in 26 save opportunities and San Francisco’s fifth loss in 34 games it has led after eight innings. Their five losses when leading after eight are tied for fourth most in MLB.

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The seven runs allowed by the Giants’ relievers raised their ERA in June to 6.38. Their 5.09 mark dating back to the start of May ranks as fifth worst in the majors.

Kilian, however, hadn’t been part of the problem, boasting nine scoreless outings in a row when he emerged from the bullpen.

So much for that streak — and the Giants’ hopes of breaking out the brooms.

What it means

Roupp turned in his second consecutive quality start, limiting the A’s to two runs over six innings with six strikeouts to only one walk, but will still have to wait to get into the win column again.

Who’s hot

What a couple days it’s been for Bericoto.

The Giants left fielder was in the starting lineup Wednesday for the first time since June 10 and spent the entire game trying to find out if his family was OK following two massive earthquakes in his native Venezuela, also home to Luis Arraez and injured reliever Jose Butto.

That was on his mind when he fired a 93 mph laser beam to nab a runner at home plate and when he crushed the 445-foot walk-off home run in the 2-1 win.

Bericoto, it turned out, wasn’t done.

He unleashed another throw on the money from left field in the fourth inning Thursday. This one (clocked at 94.2 mph — the hardest by a Giants outfielder since 2018) went to second base, where Soderstrom was dead to rights trying to extend a single into a double leading off the inning.

Practically replicating his game from a day before, Bericoto followed up his throw with an almost identical homer — also 445 feet to center field — to drive in the final two of five runs in the sixth.

Bericoto, as well as benchmate Jonah Cox, each got rare starts the past two games because lefties were on the mound for the A’s. Maybe Vitello will try to mix in more playing time moving forward. 

Who’s not

Kurtz presented the biggest threat in either lineup this series.

Turns out, there was nothing to fear.

The A’s slugging first baseman came up 13 times over the three games and didn’t record a hit. The major-league RBI leader, with 61 entering the series, drove in only one run. He beat out a would-be double play with runners on the corners in the fifth.

He struck out in his first two tries against Roupp, including with two on and one out in the third, and earned a hat trick by going down swinging with the tying run on second in the ninth.

Up next

The Giants see the Braves again after winning both games the teams played in between downpours last week in Atlanta. It will be Trevor McDonald against Reynaldo Lopez in the series opener Friday night, with first pitch set for 7:15.

This evening, MLB announced the results of the first phase of All-Star voting on MLB Network. Aaron Judge, Ben Rice, and Cody Bellinger earned enough votes to advance to Phase 2.

The top overall vote-getter in the American League was Ernie Clement (that a decent player like Clement leads the voting brings into question what exactly it is that we’re doing here, but that’s a story for another day), meaning that he has already earned a starting spot on the AL squad. The top two vote-getters at every (top six in the case of outfielders) now advance to the second phase of voting, with the exception of Clement’s position of second base. Vote totals are reset after Phase 1, so the slate will be swept clean before Phase 2 begins, and the winners at each position will go on to start the All-Star Game.

Despite the rib injury that has kept him out for a few weeks now, Judge leads the way for the Yankees, his 2,567,404 votes the most for New York and the most among AL outfielders. Mike Trout, in the midst of a resurgent season but also unfortunately injured, finished second. In third is Byron Buxton, and in fourth is Cody Bellinger, whose excellent all-around contributions have helped the Yankees thrive even without Judge. More Blue Jays, Daulton Varsho and Jesús Sánchez, round out the top six among outfielders; the top three vote-getters in Phase 2 will start across the outfield in the All-Star Game.

Also advancing to Phase 2 is Rice, who finished second at first base but should have finished first, his 2026 campaign easily outstripping that of the actual first-place finisher Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Rice has morphed into one of the game’s finest hitters, and his OPS+ dwarfs that of Vladito (167 to 98). Now, Rice has a shot to start at first if he can defeat Guerrero in Phase 2, but he has work cut out for him, with Canada doing its best to vote for their Blue Jays.

The top vote-getters across the rest of the field are as follows:

Jazz Chisholm Jr. was on the fringes of contention, but he had little chance against the juggernaut that is Clement, ultimately finishing fourth at second base. Otherwise, the only other Yankee to finish in the top five at their position was Giancarlo Stanton, who came in fourth at DH.

Voting in Phase 2 will begin on Monday, June 29th, and lasts until noon ET on July 2nd.

Game one of four with the Godless Texas Rangers.

Lineups:

The Cubs needed to make a move for a starting pitcher after losing two in the last week, and when Mets southpaw David Peterson became available, the deal was done.

Cubs president Jed Hoyer said Peterson's name was someone they've been talking about as a potential trade target for "quite a while," and his manager echoed those sentiments when talking about the team's newest acquisition.

"This is something we’ve been talking about for a while. And from a timing perspective, we have some needs," Craig Counsell said ahead of Thursday's series finale. "But we’re hopeful we can get a starting pitcher that can solidify some things in a time of need for us and hopefully give him a fresh start and get back to some of the success he’s had."

A fresh start is something Peterson and the Mets needed. After struggling earlier this season, Peterson found himself yo-yoing between the rotation and bullpen as the Mets tried to cobble together viable starters. Through 16 games (eight starts), Peterson is 3-6 with a 6.09 ERA after being an All-Star a season ago. With Peterson set to take the mound for Chicago this weekend in Milwaukee, Counsell and the Cubs are hopeful they can unlock that All-Star caliber pitcher. 

When asked how the Cubs' infield defense can help, Counsell boasted his team's skill in that department. 

"This is a pitcher among the league leaders of getting the ball on the ground. The ball is going to be in play and that’s something we’re good at," Counsell said. "This is the strength of our team, is playing defense and converting balls into outs. He’s the type of pitcher who benefits most from defense." 

This season, Peterson has a 53 percent groundball percentage, which is in the 89th percentile in MLB, according to Baseball Savant. The Cubs are an MLB-best 37 OAA -- the Mets are 20th with -8. The Cubs have committed 31 errors, tied for the fifth-fewest in MLB, while the Mets have committed 51, tied for the fourth-most in baseball. 

Those numbers were inflated after the Mets' six-error game in the second of their doubleheader on Wednesday night. 

"There’s always going to be some tweaks that you try to make," Counsell said when asked how the Cubs can help Peterson. "Baseball is a team game. One of the ways that we think we can help him is to provide something that is important to him that we do pretty well."

The Cubs entered Thursday with a 0.5-game lead over the Padres for the third and final Wild Card spot.

Fresh off a win over the back-to-back American League Cy Young Award winner to clinch the series in Detroit, the Yankees head to Boston with Cam Schlittler set to take the ball in the opener of a four-game series at Fenway. We are almost to the midway point of the season, and through five meetings the first-place Yankees hold a 4-1 edge in the season series over the Red Sox. Do not forget, one game was rained out a few weeks ago and will be made up in August.

Boston counters tonight with the Robin, thus far, in Schlittler’s Batman story: Connelly Early. The last time these two faced off was Schlittler’s breakout performance back in October. We all remember how that went! But just so we can all see that final line one more time, Schlittler went eight scoreless frames while striking out 12 batters on 107 beautiful pitches. Early went 3.2 innings and struck out six but gave up four runs (three earned), the defense behind him offering no favors in a sloppy fourth.

Early has been good this season, entering tonight at 6-5 with a 3.64 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. However, the month of June has not been as kind to the young lefty. During the month, opponents have hit .293 against him, and he has surrendered five home runs in 20.2 innings, leading to a 5.66 ERA.

On the flip side, June has also been Schlittler’s least dominant month of the season. When you are a Cy Young frontrunner, though, those numbers still look pretty good. This month Schlittler is 1-1 over four starts with a 2.35 ERA. Most of the damage came against Cleveland, and over his last three starts he has tossed 15.2 innings while allowing only two runs. In two starts against Boston this season, Schlittler has allowed just two runs in 13.2 innings.

In the batter’s box, the Yankees have held their own as injuries have tested the organization’s depth. Since Aaron Judge landed on the injured list, the Yankees have gone 11-9, a pace that would translate to roughly 90 wins over a full season. Though the offense has been volatile, including being shut out four times this month, it is still averaging 4.65 runs per game, a mark that would rank inside the top 10 in baseball this season.

Paul Goldschmidt has shown everyone he is not ready for the rocking chair on the front porch just yet. He has surged to a 1.050 OPS in June with eight home runs. Including two yesterday off of Tarik Skubal. On the season, Goldy is hitting .408 against left-handed pitching, and 8 of his 14 home runs have come against southpaws. When the Yankees have needed him most, the veteran has not only stepped up but has performed at an MVP-caliber level since the Captain went down.

Boston’s offense owns a .244 team batting average, ranking 15th in the majors. Its .312 on-base percentage ranks 23rd, and its 64 home runs rank second-to-last. The Red Sox looked better toward the end of May but have stumbled to a 7-12 record in June.

Boston’s hottest hitter this month has been erstwhile Baby Bomber Caleb Durbin, who is slashing .317/.343/.587. Another previous Yankee, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, has also contributed. IKF had an uninspiring April, a solid May, and has been about what you would expect in June: slightly below league average, which is pretty typical IKF (though he’s now injured). Just to finish the note, Boston will start three consecutive former Yankee farmhands tonight in Durbin, Anthony Seigler, and Carlos Narváez at 6-7-8.

The southpaw Early means a lofty spot for lefty killer Amed Rosario, who bats third. Partner-in-crime Goldschmidt will lead off, and while Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger are also in the top four, they can handle lefties, too. The lineup is fairly straightforward from there. Austin Wells gets the nod behind the plate over J.C. Escarra, batting ninth.

Every Schlittler start feels like a gift. Every chance to watch him face a last-place Red Sox club is just the bow on top. Bombers in Beantown, let the showdown begin!

How to watch

Location: Fenway Park — Boston, MA

First pitch: 7:10 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, NESN, MLB Network

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280, WEEI 93.7

Online stream: MLB.tv (out-of-market only)

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Detroit Tigers (34-45) vs. Houston Astros (39-43)

Time/Place: 6:40 p.m., Comerica Park
SB Nation Site: The Crawfish Boxes
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: RHP Troy Melton (4-0, 2.56 ERA) vs. RHP Tatsuya Imai (4-3, 6.15 ERA)

Major League Baseball's All-Star Game is about three weeks away and Phase 1 of voting is over. While fans will still have time to vote for their favorite players, only finalists will be available for voting to start in this year's game from now on.

Two players at each infield position, plus a designated hitter and six outfielders, are now the only players capable of starting this year's All-Star Game, with the leading vote-getters in each league from Phase 1 earning automatic bids into the All-Star Game.

So who earned those automatic bids, and which players are still in the voting pool ahead of the Midsummer Classic? Here are the finalists at each position.

More: Nine MLB standouts who could be first-time All-Stars in 2026