Category: Baseball

Minor league baseball entered the All-Star break with multiple members of the San Diego Padres’ prospect list struggling through the 2026 season. The two players from the system named to the All-Star Futures Game, catcher Ethan Salas and LHP Kash Mayfield, are arguably the only two to have a consistently good first half of the season. 

There have been some excellent performances by certain individuals, but the overall problem with the season so far is the lack of consistency. Salas and Mayfield have been the only players to be somewhat consistent.

To be fair, RHP Miguel Mendez was very good before injury disrupted his flow, and he hasn’t been the same since his return off the injured list. He is the No. 4 ranked player in the system and was a breakout last year. 

Several members of the Single-A Lake Elsinore Storm had tremendous starts to their first full professional seasons. So much success that they were promoted to High-A Fort Wayne at the end of the first half of the season. Since those promotions, the players have all battled to find their footing at the next level. This is not necessarily a concerning development; adjustment to new levels can sometimes take a few weeks. 

A couple of members of the top ten list, No. 8 OF Kale Fountain and No. 6 C Ty Harvey, have lost all or most of their season to injury as well. Both were off to tremendous starts before those injuries occurred.

Last year’s first-round draft pick, LHP Kruz Schoolcraft, has struggled with command in his first professional season. He has recently gone into the fifth inning in a start for the first time and has had some good performances, which are usually followed by a short start with command issues. It is too soon to determine how the 6-foot-8, 245-pound teenager will develop as he matures.

With the lack of good performances and consistency from the minor league prospects, the Padres farm system remains the lowest-ranked system in MLB. Projection doesn’t count when the players in question don’t perform to confirm those expectations. The organization is approaching the August trade deadline with a decision regarding buying or selling for the major league team. The farm system provides little help beyond Salas and Mayfield if they decide to try to improve the Padres.

Ethan Salas and Kash Mayfield in the Futures Game

Salas started the game as the designated hitter. He was hitting seventh in the lineup and singled in his first at-bat in the second inning. His second appearance, in the fourth inning, resulted in a walk.

LHP Mayfield entered the game in the fifth inning with Salas switching to catcher for his inning of work. Things did not go well for Mayfield or Salas in the inning. Mayfield’s pitches were consistent with his performance with Fort Wayne in that he featured his low to mid-90’s four-seam fastball, a low to mid-90’s sinker, and a slider. Things started fine with a groundout to the first hitter, and then he walked the next batter. After that, it got a little wonky. The defense behind him failed to make some plays, a stolen base got a runner to second, and a single allowed the go-ahead run, which proved to be the winning run.

Both players were out of the game after that, and Mayfield was the losing pitcher in the game.

El Paso Chihuahuas (41-51 record, 4th in the PCL East)

The Chihuahuas have struggled with the constant shuttling of players between Triple-A and the Padres. They lost their best hitters when the injury bug struck the major league team and have lost a good portion of their pitching staff to the Padres. Relievers and starters go back and forth, so there is no consistency for El Paso. Their record and poor performance can’t really be held against them this season.

The latest in that revolving door scenario are RHP Matt Waldron and infielder Luis Rengifo. Both were playing well for El Paso when the parent team again suffered injuries and poor performance, which prompted the Padres to promote both.

Reliever Miguel Cienfuegos, 29, was pressed into service as a starter this past week after fellow reliever Sean Boyle, 29, began serving in the role last month. 

The Padres have very little left in Triple-A that can be called up to help the major league team for the rest of this season.

San Antonio Missions (40-47 record, last in Texas League South)

The Missions split their six-game series in the week leading up to the break. Infielder Carson Tucker and catcher Ethan Salas lead the team offensively. Outfielder Tirso Ornelas, who struggled with the Chihuahuas last year and was placed with the Missions this season, leads the team with 12 home runs and 38 RBI.

Outfielder Kai Roberts isn’t hitting for average and doesn’t possess a power stroke but leads the team in stolen bases with 29 out of 31 attempts.

Outfielder Braedon Karpathios, who broke out last season after being signed as an undrafted free agent in 2023, has struggled at this level. He is hitting .234/.333/.375 with eight homers and 33 RBI but has 104 strikeouts in 336 plate appearances while walking 44 times.

Outfielder Jake Cunningham, promoted at midseason from High-A, is hitting .300/.320/.486 with two homers and 13 RBI in 17 games and 75 plate appearances. He has 21 strikeouts and two walks.

LHP Jagger Haynes is their best starter with a 3-3 record and 4.57 ERA in 88.2 innings pitched. He leads the team with 77 strikeouts and has walked 41 hitters. RHP Ian Koenig has a 4.81 ERA in 78.2 innings with 63 strikeouts to 28 walks. 

Reliever Johan Moreno has a 3.93 ERA in 36.2 innings of relief with 41 strikeouts to 14 walks.

Fort Wayne TinCaps (36-51 record, 5th in Midwest League East)

Outfielder Kasen Wells, 22, leads the TinCaps in both average and OBP at .287/.384, but is a speed, contact, and defense-first outfielder. He has one home run and 22 RBI. First baseman Luke Cantwell, promoted from Single-A at the break, has struggled with his average in his first nine games and 37 plate appearances. He is hitting .194 but has a .496 slugging percentage with three home runs and seven RBI.

Outfielder Kavares Tears leads the team with 15 home runs and outfielder Alex McCoy has 44 RBI.

RHP Kannon Kemp, who had a three-game rehab assignment in the desert, has had two games and one start for the TinCaps. Rated in the top 20 in the Padres’ prospect rankings, Kemp had an oblique injury in Spring Training. 

LHP Kash Mayfield, given a one-start break at midseason, is having his innings managed in his second professional season. The 21-year-old has 13 starts and a 3.33 ERA in 48.2 innings pitched this season after only having 60.2 innings pitched in his first season as a Padres prospect. He missed significant time with a shoulder injury and is being closely monitored. Mayfield has 58 strikeouts and 19 walks using his sinker/slider combo.

RHP Abraham Parra, 20, is unranked among the top prospects in the system. Signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela in 2023, Parra came to domestic baseball in 2024 for the rookie league Arizona team and began there again in 2025. A strike-thrower who has occasional command issues, Parra has 61 strikeouts and 40 walks in his 62.1 innings pitched for the TinCaps. His ERA sits at 5.92, but he bears watching as the season goes along.

Lake Elsinore Storm (45-42 record, 2nd in Cal League South)

After losing many of their best players to promotion at the end of the first half, the Storm has struggled to win games since then. They dropped out of first in their division this past week with a 2-4 record. 

Catcher Alcides Hernandez leads the team with a .333 average and .463 OBP since he became the primary backstop with the injury to Ty Harvey. Outfielder Qrey Lott, 21, an undrafted free agent signed in 2025, is their best all-around player since the mass promotion that occurred in June. He is hitting .280/.396/.427 with five homers and 24 RBI in 197 plate appearances. Lott plays all outfield positions but has been primarily a corner outfielder for the Storm.

RHP Jesus Castro, 19, an international signee out of Mexico in 2025, played for the DSL Gold team last season and is in his first domestic season as a professional. In 15 games started and 59.2 innings pitched, Castrol has a 3.92 ERA with 65 strikeouts to 20 walks. He has a sinker, changeup, and sweeper combination that induces lots of ground balls and limits home runs. Currently unranked in the system, Castro and Winyer Churio (promoted at the midpoint) contributed significantly to the first-half success for the Storm.

Former two-way player Sean Barnet did not succeed in his attempt to be both a hitter and a pitcher and has since focused just on pitching. He has quietly put together a bounce-back season as a reliever. In 28 games and 31.1 innings pitched, Barnett has a 6.32 ERA but has improved significantly over the past six weeks. In 14.1 innings pitched, he has allowed six earned runs with nine hits for a 3.83 ERA and 21 strikeouts with 13 walks.

ACL Padres (29-24 record, 3rd in ACL West)

The ACL season ends on July 23.

Both RHP Randy Vásquez and David Morgan began their rehab assignments in the desert with the ACL team on July 15. Vasquez went 2.2 innings with a hit and three strikeouts, allowing no runs. Morgan went 0.1 innings with a hit, no runs, and two walks to one strikeout.

The ACL team has benefited from the promotion of outfielder Eddson Martinez from the DSL. He has played in 16 games and leads the team with a .396/.485/.547 batting line with eight RBI. The 18-year-old hasn’t shown any power, with no home runs in his pro career over 107 games. He has 16 strikeouts to 12 walks in 70 plate appearances.

Outfielder Jesmaylin Arias, 19, in his second season with the ACL team, leads the team with seven home runs and has the most RBI with 30.

LHP Adler Cecil, 21, returning from 2025 Tommy John surgery, has made seven starts for the Arizona team. He has 32.2 innings pitched with a 5.23 ERA. His strikeouts sit at 56 for those 32.2 innings with 17 walks. Not considered a high-level prospect, Cecil was drafted by the Padres in 2023 out of Temecula High School and had his surgery at the end of the 2025 Spring Training camp. He could be sent to Lake Elsinore after the ACL season ends.

DSL Padres

The Brown team sits with a 6-25 record, last in the West division)

The Brown squad continues to scuffle with the DSL season at almost the halfway point. Infielder Gabriel Teran was brought over from the Gold team and is hitting .357/.591/.571 after 22 plate appearances. No one on the team has more than one home run and infielder Yonaiker Hernandez leads with 16 RBI. 

Of their starters, Yolansky Perez has five games and 19.1 innings pitched with a 4.66 ERA to lead the team. Reliever Aneury Sosa has a 2.79 ERA in 9.2 innings pitched.

DSL Gold

The Gold team has a 24-8 record, 1st in the Northwest division. They have eight hitters with an average of .300 or better. The best slugger is infielder Abraham Bastides with a .667 slug, and he leads the team with three home runs. Shortstop Joniel Hernandez, the Padres’ No. 15 prospect, has the team lead with 35 RBI. Hernandez is hitting .328/.433/.526 and leads the team with 13 doubles, two triples, and he also has two home runs.

None of their starters has an ERA under 5.26, but multiple relievers are having good appearances. RHP Albert Perez has a 3.68 ERA in 22 innings pitched. RHP Albieris Polanco has a 3.15 ERA in 20 innings pitched. Starter Michel Cervantes has a 5.63 ERA in 24 innings, leads the team with 29 strikeouts, and has 25 walks.

The majority of players in the DSL are between 17 and 19 years old.

MLB is cracking down on artificial intelligence. 

According to a report by The Athletic on Thursday, the league “has effectively outlawed the growing practice of using league-provided dugout iPads to access generative artificial intelligence, which some teams had increasingly leaned upon to help shape in-game strategy.” 

The Athletic obtained a commissioner’s office memo saying teams were pushing boundaries of technology guidelines by installing custom apps that expanded the use of iPads “beyond their originally intended purpose.” 

The memo stated teams were using iPads for recommendations on substitutions, pitch-calling and other in-game decisions usually made by players and coaches. 

People with knowledge of the technology spoke on the issue candidly and told The Athletic that as much as a third of the league used dugout iPads for one of the aforementioned purposes. 

The commissioner’s memo was issued June 11, giving teams a month to adjust their strategy and decision-making before the ban was put in place Wednesday for the second half of the season. 

The decision to crack down on iPads has caused frustration by certain front-office members tasked with innovation, with one high-ranking official saying, “It’s caused quite the stir.”

While the tech ban didn’t come with punishment, the growing trend of iPad use became urgent enough for the league to make a mid-season decision to halt the growth of the apps. 

“Gotta stop the cheating before there’s cheating now,” one front office executive told The Athletic. 

Even though league iPads have been around since 2016, their usage became more tightly-regulated in 2021 after sign-stealing scandals. 

“For the first time, we’re going to be allowing players to view live in-game video via an iPad in the dugout or bullpen during the game,” former league executive Chris Marinak said before the 2021 season. “The iPads are issued by MLB and fully controlled so that the players can only use the app that we’ve put on the device.

“They can’t access the internet for browsing or social media or any other kind of functions. The iPads are completely locked down and monitored with the software that we have on there.”

Though in-game video is still available, it’s only around on a delay, typically once an inning ends. 

Teams and players have pushed for loosened restrictions on iPad use over time, and Jack Lambert, the director of baseball operations at Driveline Baseball, said he thinks pitch-calling is a benefit of the iPads. 

“With someone live-scoring the game, teams could chart pitch type and location to get dynamically updating game plans,” Lambert said. “Those plans could determine if their approach at the plate should change as they face the lineup a second (or) third time in the game, and could also be applied to live pitch-calling.”

The NL Wild Card Race.

At the All-Star break, the Diamondbacks are fighting the Cardinals and the Pirates over which team will be in best position to contend with the Marlins for the third Wild Card position in the NL.  The following table shows the games back for each team and how many games the Diamondbacks have remaining against each team.

My conclusion is the Diamondbacks could be masters of their own future.  Instead of counting on the other teams to collapse, they can pass three teams to obtain the third Wild Card slot into the playoffs.  The required results follow:

• Pirates:  D-backs win at least 2 of 3 games.
• Cardinals:  D-backs win at least 3 of 4 games.
• Marlins: D-backs win all three games.

If the Diamondbacks play well against these three teams, they have a very real chance to reach the playoffs.

This idea includes the assumption “if other [remaining] games are equal [in wins and losses].” One reason that assumption is reasonable is that the Diamondback play some weak teams: 6 games against the Rockies, 3 games against the A’s, and 3 games against the Royals. Another supporting reason is that this season, the Diamondbacks were the first team to sweep the Dodgers.

The latest series against the Cardinals showed promise.

The Diamondbacks won the last away series 2 wins to 1 loss.  Their loss was a 1-run game.  Because their only loss was a 1-run game, and because this series is a home series instead of an away series, I am optimistic that the Diamondbacks will again win the series.  A sweep or a series win would keep the Diamondbacks on a path to the Wild-Card berth. 

The Pirates series could impact whether the Diamondbacks are buyers or sellers at the trade deadline.

The series will be played before the 3 August trade deadline. At that time, if the Diamondbacks have won the Cardinal series and won the Pirates series, it could possibly be a two-team race (Diamondbacks and Marlins) for the third NL wild-card berth. That situation would likely be enough to support the Diamondbacks buying at the trade deadline.

Let’s compare the teams.

Offense. This season, the Cardinals averaged more runs scored per game (4.52 vs 4.33 runs per game).  These stats are little changed from when these team last played (4.55 vs 4.28 runs per game).

Runners Left On Base.  This season, the Diamondbacks left fewer runners on base per game (6.54 vs 6.82).

Defense. This season, the Diamondbacks had the better defense (33 vs 18 OAA, 28 vs 11 DRS)

Bullpens. This season, the Cardinals had more shutdown performances by the bullpen (100 vs 91). This season, the Diamondbacks bullpen is the best it’s been in years.

Starting Pitching.  Each team has a thin rotation, with no room for injuries.

• The Diamondbacks have 6 injured starting pitchers (Soroka, Nelson, Burnes, Walston, Gallen, and Mena).
• The Cardinals have six injured starting pitchers on their AAA roster per Roster Resource.

“Cardinals: The Cardinals are the sport’s most interesting bubble team. They’ve managed to stay in contention despite a paper-thin rotation.”  Steve Adams, MLBTR, 9 July

Pitching Matchups.

Although none of the pitchers have been announced, perhaps the matchups will be as follows.

Friday, 6:40 PM MST.

Merrill Kelly vs Andre Pallente. In July, Kelly had the better ERA (2.25 ERA vs 5.06 ERA), and Kelly had more quality starts (1 QS vs 0 QS).

This matchup is advantage Diamondbacks.

Saturday, 1:10 PM MST.

Mitch Bratt vs Matthew Liberatore.  In July, Liberatore had the better ERA (2.45 ERA vs 9.00 ERA), and Liberatore had more quality starts (1 QS vs 0 QS).  However, my expectation is that Bratt will only pitch 3 innings, with one or two runs allowed, which is a lot like a bullpen game. The Diamondbacks have significant chances to win this game.

This matchup is slight advantage Cardinals.

Sunday, 1;10 PM MST.

Eduardo Rodriguez vs Michael McGreevy.  These are excellent starting pitchers. In July, McGreevy had the better ERA (2.19 ERA vs 3.00 ERA).  In July, each pitcher had two quality starts.  It’s likely the bullpen will decide this game. 

This matchup is equal.

NEW YORK – Trevor Bauer. Andruw Jones. Jason Schmidt. Scott Kazmir.

If something doesn’t change, Kyle Tucker’s name will be alongside theirs on the list of the worst free-agent additions in Dodgers’ history.

When the Dodgers return from the All-Star break on Friday to open a three-game series at Yankee Stadium, they will do so with an 11 ½-game advantage in the National League West. With the most substantial division lead in baseball, they should be able to cruise into the postseason, very likely as one of the two NL teams with a bye in the wild-card round.

No such margin for error exists for Tucker individually, the 29-year-old right fielder batting .244 with seven home runs and 47 runs batted in.

As much as the Dodgers are willing to invest in their roster, making Tucker the most expensive No. 6 or 7 hitter to ever play the game couldn’t be what Andrew Friedman envisioned when he signed him to a four-year, $240-million contract over the winter.

Tucker hasn’t accepted his fate as an all-time bust, with manager Dave Roberts revealing the four-time All-Star has worked overtime with the team’s hitting coaches.

“I’ve tried basically everything,” Tucker said last month.

This feeling is why the Dodgers won’t be the hare in the race against the tortoise. As comfortably positioned as the team might be, Tucker has something to prove.

In that regard, he’s not alone on this team.

The Dodgers have underperformers who are determined to return to the levels at which they’re used to being. They have older players who want to show they will remain useful beyond this season. They have players returning from injuries who know the time they missed won’t be held against them if they perform in October. 

So, don’t be concerned about them falling into a slumber. They might not have the Arizona Diamondbacks or San Diego Padres breathing down their necks, but they have very real incentives to continue playing hard over the final 10 weeks of the regular season.

Dodgers Issues Beyond Kyle Tucker

After various injuries limited his offensive production over the previous season and a half, Mookie Betts reported to spring training saying he believed he would once again be a MVP-caliber hitter. 

Another injury set him back, an oblique strain sidelining him for five weeks early this season. He slumped upon his return, only to finally start looking like his old self last month. 

Teoscar Hernández’s situation is similar. Like Betts, Hernández reported to spring training with an improved physique. And like Betts, he went down early in the season with an injury, in his case a hamstring strain that cost him about a month.

With his numbers down across the board, Hernández has practical reasons to want to salvage his season. His contract expires after next season.

Freddie Freeman is also under contract for just one more season after this one. He was an All-Star this year, but he will also be 37 in September.

Freeman has been open about wanting to finish his career with the Dodgers and said there’s one thing he could do to make sure that happens: Continue hitting.

In the coming weeks, closer Edwin Diaz is expected to return from the injured list. Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Will Smith should follow, in some order.

A $69-million offseason addition, Diaz saved only four games before he underwent a procedure to remove bone chips from his elbow. He is on a minor league rehabilitation assignment.

Snell, who started only one game before he underwent his own elbow operation, is also expected to start pitching in the minors in the coming days. Glasnow, who has been sidelined for more than two months with back problems, has finally resumed mound work.

Smith, the team’s All-Star catcher, has missed more than a month with a lingering neck problem.

The return of each player will break up the monotony of a long season, providing the team with a sense of renewal.

And it’s not as if these Dodgers are short on motivation.

Considering what hasn’t worked out for them up to this point, their major-league-best 61-36 record is more a reflection of their consistent professionalism rather than their overwhelming talent.

They have won as many games as they have because they don’t beat themselves.

Even after piling up errors in the week leading up to the All-Star break, the Dodgers lead baseball in fielding percentage and defensive efficiency. Their pitchers have the third-lowest walk rate in the National League.

“Something that we’ve been really good at is not giving away games because of our defense,” Roberts said.

If winning the World Series in each of the last two years didn’t make them complacent, 3 ½ months of steady but unspectacular play won’t either.

They have something to play for as a group. They also have something at stake as individuals.

As most of his teammates enjoyed a break to gear up for the second half, Aaron Judge was trying to find out how much of it he will be able to play in.

The most significant item on the Yankees’ docket this week was not Cody Bellinger winning All-Star Game MVP, Ben Rice showing off his swing in the Home Run Derby or even a 2024 World Series rematch against the Dodgers that begins on Friday in The Bronx.

It was Judge going through a round of imaging on his right rib — nearly six weeks after doctors discovered a stress fracture — to help determine if and when he will return to the Yankees in the second half. The organization was not expecting to find a fully healed rib, but it was holding its breath nonetheless as it hoped to at least see enough improvement to allow the back-to-back AL MVP to begin mixing in some upper-body exercises after being shut down from them during his time on the injured list.

“Hopefully we get some positive news there and we can start moving forward,” manager Aaron Boone said on the final day of the first half. “But I try not to think too much about it until we hear. It’s going to be what it is.”

The results, though, could have a major impact in determining the Yankees’ fate this season. If enough healing has occurred, perhaps Judge could be back at some point in late August. If not, well, then the clock starts ticking a bit louder on the Yankees’ hope and expectation to get Judge back on the field this season.

But either way, the Yankees are not going to rush Judge back too soon.

“We don’t want to, because the schedule is what it is, put him in the position where we’re putting him in jeopardy, where somehow it gets worse,” GM Brian Cashman said last week. “Because the downside of that would be a real problem, in my opinion, from what I understand.”

The Yankees also know that even in a best-case scenario, it is likely still going to be at least another month before they get Judge back, meaning they will have to do better than their 18-19 record since he last played. They began 12-8 without him, then entered a 2-11 tailspin in which they were terrible at just about every facet of the game, before recovering to win four straight games heading into the break.

They should get some help in the coming weeks with the potential return of Max Fried (who could begin a rehab assignment Friday night) and Carlos Rodón (there was hope he might throw a bullpen session during the break) to strengthen the rotation. Their bullpen and perhaps the lineup (especially at catcher) could get reinforcements by the Aug. 3 trade deadline. And maybe they get Giancarlo Stanton back at some point in the second half, though they still don’t seem to have much of an idea about when that could happen after a second calf strain delayed his return.

That said, had you told the Yankees before the season that in the first half they would miss Judge for 37 games, Stanton for 70 games, Fried for 52 games, Rodón for 52 games and Gerrit Cole for 51 games before the All-Star break, and they would still be 54-42 — three games back of the Rays for first place in the AL East — they likely would have signed up for that.

But the goal is not just to survive extended injury absences from most of their stars and highest-paid players. The goal is to win in October, and for that to happen, the Yankees will first need to get good news from Judge’s reimaging this week.

“The way I look at it is, we’ve given ourselves a chance to realize all our hopes and dreams,” Boone said. “We’re set up to go take it. It’s a long way to go still. For whatever’s gone on in the first however many games we’ve played now, we’ve given ourselves a chance. Our goal is to play for and win a championship. That’s still there for the taking. It’s going to be a long road, tough road, but hopefully one we’re up to the challenge.”

MLB has released the 2027 regular season schedule for all 30 teams, which means the Seattle Mariners should have all their games slated for their next campaign. The 2027 season will begin on Thursday, March 25th for the M’s, hosting the Boston Red Sox in the earliest stateside Opening Day in MLB history. Seattle has the luxury of hosting a whopping seven games in March, with a full homestand against Red Sox and Texas Rangers to open the season.

As is Seattle’s usual lot as a responsible city and organization, they’ll be forced to compensate for the less thoughtful and capable locales elsewhere. Seattle will be at home 16 times through April 16th (20% of their total home games), making for a spring sure to feature chilly, low-scoring affairs that can nonetheless be safely held thanks to T-Mobile Park’s retractable roof.

Other points of note include an early-season showdown with the Dodgers in May, a jam-packed June with just two days off between May 28th and July 5th, and a home-heavy July-August that Seattle will need to capitalize on before a road-laden month of September that sees Seattle finish away from home and conclude the regular season’s homestands with the Toronto Blue Jays.

If you abide by the old Brooklyn Dodgers adage ‘Wait Til Next Year’, or are looking to plan your next baseball bucket list destination on your quest to visit all 30 major league stadiums, today is for you. Earlier today, Major League Baseball officially released their regular season schedule for 2027 as the Mets prepared for to begin their second half schedule. The Mets will kick things off on the road in Miami against the Marlins on Thursday, March 2d, and play six games away from home before celebrating their home opener at Citi Field against the Giants on Friday, April 2.

Other games and series of note:

• The Mets will host the cross-town rival Yankees over Memorial Day weekend and will head to the Bronx for the Yankee Stadium-hosted portion of the Subway Series immediately after the All-Star break
• The Mets end April and begin May with a six-game road trip against the division rival Braves and Phillies.
• Brandon Nimmo will make his long-awaited return as a visiting player when the Rangers travel to Citi Field on April 23 (the Mets play the Rangers in Texas this season).
• The team’s longest road trip of the year is a ten-game swing that takes them through St. Louis, Arizona, and Los Angeles (NL) in late June and early July, concluding with a four-game set against the Dodgers around July 4.
• The Mets have two nine-game homestands next year: One in June (Padres, Nationals, and Brewers), and one in August (Nationals, Braves, and Cardinals)
• The Mets will play what will likely be their final series in Sacramento in April, as the Athletics are set to move into their Las Vegas home in 2028.
• The Mets head to Fenway Park for three with the Red Sox in July.
• Interleague matchups at Citi Field include the Angels, Blue Jays, Rays, Yankees, White Sox, and Mariners
• The Mets finish the year with a six-game homestand against the Pirates and Cubs, with the final game happening on September 26.

The big question, of course, is whether there will actually be baseball games come March, or at all in 2027. With the labor dispute almost certainly leading to the owners locking out the players, it remains to be seen whether this will spill over into the regular season. With the owners lobbying hard for a salary cap, which appears to be a non-starter for the players, losing games is a real possibility, which would bring us the first non-162 game MLB schedule since 2020.

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement is set to officially expire on December 1. The last work stoppage in 2021-2022 lasted 99 days (December 2 2021 until March 10 2022) and ended with the season being pushed back by a week, although they were able to salvage a full 162-game schedule thanks to double headers and a slight extension of the original schedule.

One more night without Atlanta Braves baseball and then we’re back to the grind from now through September and hopefully October as well. The good news is that help appears to be on the way as Ronald Acuña Jr. had himself a pretty big day on rehab assignment as he picked up a hit, walked two times and scored two runs.

The one hit was a big one as Acuña hit a grand slam in the bottom of the third inning.

Additionally, Ha-Seong Kim picked up an RBI and Andrew McCutchen took a walk so there’s your recap as far as big names go. Here’s hoping that we’ll see Acuña hit the ground running upon his return and that Ha-Seong Kim can do something (well, anything) once he returns as well.

What am I watching tonight?

The only MLB game happening tonight is taking place in Philadelphia right now. As I’m typing this, the Mets are up 1-0 in the fourth inning on the Phillies so we’ll see if that holds up. It’s on ESPN if you want to check that out.

Outside of that, I’ve picked up EA Sports’s College Football 27 and I’ve been having fun with that on my downtime. If you like sports games then I’d check it out if I were you.

The floor is yours, folks. Let’s have a good evening!

The Giants have disappointed so far during the 2026 season.

They were 41-55 at the All-Star break, ranking 24th in MLB in runs per game (4.11) and 22nd in ERA (4.46).

First-year manager Tony Vitello is taking much of the blame, as that’s the natural order for an underperforming team.

But Buster Posey, the legendary Giants catcher turned president of baseball operations, isn’t publicly blaming Vitello. This was evident in Posey’s response when asked about Vitello during a Thursday appearance on KNBR’s “Murph and Markus” show.

“My frank evaluation is Tony and his staff are doing a really good job,” Posey said.

He then added, “You mentioned people want to grab articles, and clickbait, and stuff. Maybe they’ll say, ‘Buster says Tony’s staff is doing a great job, and they’re 15 games under .500.’ But I get to be there every day, I get to see their interaction, I get to see their work; I get to see them trying to solve this puzzle that we’re in right now.

“So, I think Tony and his staff are doing a great job,” Posey said.

Perhaps it would have been unfair to expect Posey to call out Vitello publicly for their team’s struggles so far this season. Although some Giants fans are calling for Vitello to be fired, Posey’s display of confidence shows that Vitello is probably not on the hot seat yet.

But the bottom line is that Vitello’s team has underperformed. And given that he signed a three-year contract that’s worth $3.5 million annually, there’s an expectation that he’ll produce wins in San Francisco.

Tony Vitello’s tough Giants start isn’t just about San Francisco’s record

While 41-55 is not where anyone associated with the Giants expected to be, Vitello’s subpar start isn’t just about San Francisco’s position in the NL West standings.

Vitello has been under fire for having poor communication with his players, including when starting pitcher Tyler Mahle wasn’t informed that he was limited to 85 pitches in the Giants’ June 29 loss to the Diamondbacks.

How Vitello communicated with the Giants’ roster was a major point of interest heading into the 2026 season because Vitello arrived after leading the University of Tennessee’s baseball program.

Therefore, Vitello’s communication with his team is under the microscope. And the chatter around Vitello’s standing will only get louder if the Giants continue to struggle in the second half of the season.

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Major League Baseball's seemingly annual midsummer conflict with smoke from Canadian wildfires could impact the start of the second half for several teams.

The Philadelphia Phillies moved up the start of their Thursday, July 16 game against the New York Mets from 7:05 to 6:10 p.m. ET, with air quality expected to worsen as the night continues from Citizens Bank Park. The air quality index 45 minutes before game time was 176, or very unhealthy. It is scheduled to peak at 180 by 9 p.m., according to Accuweather, as the Phillies and Mets play the lone game on the schedule following the All-Star break.

Yet MLB faces more significant problems Friday.

With all 30 teams in action, air quality is forecast in the "dangerous" range as games begin in Cleveland, Chicago and Milwaukee. The Guardians play host to the Pittsburgh Pirates at 7:10 p.m. in Cleveland, where the current air quality is 350 and forecast to be 313 at game time Friday.

It is the same story in Chicago, where Major League Soccer's Fire postponed their Thursday game with the air quality at 597. It has since dropped to 304, still in the dangerous range, and is projected to remain at 299 as the Cubs prepare to open the second half with a 7:05 p.m. CT start against the Minnesota Twins.

Lance McCullers Jr.’s 14-year run with the Astros organization came to an end this week when he accepted a trade to the Brewers on Wednesday.

But waiving his no-trade clause was not a sure-fire decision.

A talk with Astros owner Jim Crane, however, made the call easier.

McCullers, in a sit-down with The Athletic, explained that the idea of playing for a different team was a mental hurdle he had to clear.

“I didn’t want to ever wear another team’s uniform,” McCullers said. “This organization took a chance on me when I was an 18-year-old kid. This has been my home ever since. My daughters were born here. This is where my wife and I will live forever. I never thought about playing somewhere else or being somewhere else, but I think all things, obviously, have to come to an end.”

The Astros, sitting at 47-51 and three games back in a relatively weak American League West, decided an offer to send McCullers and lefty Colton Gordon for prospect Jayden Fielder — the son of former All-Star Prince Fielder and grandson of Cecil Fielder — was the right call for all sides.

In the end, the 2012 Astros first-round pick knew it was time to move on. McCullers said Crane made him understand that now was an opportunity for a fresh start with a Brewers team that’s five games in front in the National League Central.

“I spoke to Jim Crane on Monday and we both thought — he thought — that this was going to be a good opportunity for me and that it would leave the Astros in a good situation leading up to the deadline and for the rest of the year,” McCullers said. “I have a lot of respect for Mr. Crane. And out of that love and respect, I told him on the phone that I would waive it.”

McCullers played a critical role in several deep postseason runs by the Astros, famously recording the final 12 outs of the 2017 ALCS against the Yankees en route to Houston’s first World Series win.

He signed a five-year, $85 million extension with the Astros in 2021, but injuries have largely kept him off the field. He’s only thrown 94 2/3 innings since the end of 2022, 39 1/3 of which have come this season.

McCullers is hopeful things will work out for both Houston and Milwaukee.

“Ultimately, I think it’ll be a good decision on both sides,” he added.

As the Mets floundered through June and early July, David Stearns insisted they were not ready to sell just yet. They were going to give themselves time to see if they could recover before making the decision to buy or sell. Plus, with the draft looming, offices around the sport were distracted with preparation. 

But as the second half begins Thursday night, it seems the time has come: A rival executive said the Mets informed their team that the sale is on, and that everyone but young stars Carson Benge, A.J. Ewing, Christian Scott, Nolan McLean and the obvious, Juan Soto, isavailable. That doesn’t mean everyone will go. But it means the Mets will listen on just about everyone, which is in keeping with what people familiar with their thinking have signaled for weeks. 

That the Mets are fielding calls already suggests they will be spreading out their sell-off over several weeks, rather than waiting until the week of the deadline when the market has settled and time constraints create a more frenetic process. Some executives argue that selling earlier, before more teams have identified themselves as buyers or sellers, can increase returns and take advantage of immediate desperation while demand is low. 

The Mets, it seems, will be testing the theory. 

The most likely players to go remain those on expiring contracts. Brooks Raley and A.J. Minter are as sturdy lefty relievers as the current market has to offer. Freddy Peralta and Clay Holmes are likely to be coveted by the many contenders who need starting pitching.

Despite Peralta’s struggles and Holmes’s current injury, both should bring the Mets a helpful return - in part because it will be relatively easy to determine whether the Mets are getting more in a trade than they would holding on: Both Holmes and Peralta would likely receive a qualifying offer at the end of the season, meaning any return for either would have to eclipse the value of the compensation pick teams receive if players who decline the qualifying offer go elsewhere.

The Mets could still extend Holmes, according to people familiar with their thinking who anticipated conversations with Holmes’s agent to occur between the draft and the deadline. While Stearns’s front office has been reluctant to give long-term deals to starting pitchers in his tenure, Holmes’s early career years as a reliever mean he has fewer innings on his arm than the usual 33-year-old starter with ace capabilities.

As for players with control beyond this season, Luke Weaver will be one of the best relievers available in terms of 2026 performance, and the fact that he will be under control through next season should make him enticing for contenders with money to spend. Huascar Brazoban will also have some suitors, but the Mets do need to build their bullpen around someone in 2027.

They also need someone to catch for them next year, though Francisco Alvarez’s plus-power and Luis Torrens’ steady defense could both draw interest in a still-forming catching market. That both have control beyond this year means the Mets would need to receive more value in return than the value one or either would provide next year.

As for other players under control beyond this year, Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio could be attractive for teams with immediate or future infield needs. An executive with one current contender said they plan to check on Baty’s availability, and Mauricio currently has no clear path to big league playing time, either.

And as for Francisco Lindor, no one has given any indications the Mets are shopping him, though no one has said he is off the table either. He is an MVP-caliber player making MVP-candidate money for the next five seasons. Any team wanting to make a deal will likely need not only to be able to pay him that money, but also give the Mets a return that includes viable 2027 big league talent. Few teams seem willing and able to meet those asks. But with a noticeably weak free agent market for hitters looming, it feels unwise to rule anything out.

The Home Run Derby saw plenty of baseballs leave the yard — and even more viewers leave the broadcast.

MLB’s annual dinger demonstration’s debut on Netflix drew just 5.3 million viewers, marking the lowest total since 2003, when the event saw 5.2 million spectators, according to Sports Business Journal.

It was also a drop from last year’s event — in which American League MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh reigned supreme — that drew 5.7 million viewers on ESPN.

This year’s spectacle saw not just a new network but also a revamped format that eliminated timer-based rounds for hitters in favor of swing total.

The format paved the way for a thrilling finish inside Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park as Cardinals slugger Jordan Walker came back to upset Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber.

The event also drew criticism from viewers for its presentation and the inclusion of Will Ferrell, with one fan calling it “one of the worst home run derby broadcasts I have ever watched.”

Sports Business Journal added that Netflix did well with younger viewers but lost a segment of the older demographic.

Netflix will have the derby for at least two more years after signing a three-year, $50 million contract with MLB to stream the event.

Next year’s All-Star Game and Home Run Derby with be at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

Clay Holmes is getting closer to seeing actual game action.

After watching Holmes have a successful live in Brooklyn on Tuesday, interim manager Andy Green said the right-hander looked like himself before giving a positive update on the Mets starter.

"Assuming everything moves forward, he’s inching closer to going out to an affiliate and pitching in a rehab assignment," Green said. "Everything depends on the day-to-day, but he’s inching closer to that."

Green didn't have a target date for the rehab, but said Holmes' next step depends on how he recovers and how he feels. Holmes will throw a side between his live on Tuesday and whenever he sees game action, but once he checks every box, the organization and Holmes will commit to the start of the rehab assignment. 

However, Green said they are not rushing Holmes to come back, and if the 33-year-old needs more time, they'll give it to him.

"Nothing wrong with taking a couple of extra days [before rehab begins]," Green said. "[Holmes is] doing well." 

Before his injury, Holmes was the Mets' most consistent pitcher. He pitched to a 4-4 record and a 2.39 ERA.

Green also gave a short update on Luis Robert Jr. The outfielder is working out with the Syracuse Mets on Thursday before he plays in Friday's game. 

If everything looks good and Robert comes out of it okay, the first-year Met could rejoin the team "relatively soon."