Category: Baseball

“You know,” Jim Duquette said as we left the Baseball Night in New York set on Thursday evening, two days before David Wright’s Mets Hall of Fame induction and number retirement ceremony. “I had the chance to trade David.”

“For who?” I asked, as anyone would.

A twinkle seemed to appear in Jim’s eye before he said the name: “Beltran.”

What?

Imagine that. David Wright for Carlos Beltran. Two of the best players in Mets history, traded for one another before they even became teammates.

“Is that known?”

“Nope,” Jim said.

He was right. Not even Beltran or Wright had heard of this before Thursday. We checked.

Now rewind to the summer of 2004. Duquette was the Mets’ general manager and looking to improve a team on the fringes of contention. He would trade pitching prospect Scott Kazmir to Tampa Bay for veteran Victor Zambrano (don’t even start; Jim has answered for that), but had bigger ambitions.

“It was the ‘04 trade deadline,” Duquette said. “That was when we traded Kazmir for Zambrano, but we were looking to improve both pitching and offense. Kansas City had Carlos Beltran available. Pittsburgh had [pitcher Kris] Benson. We really felt like we needed pitching before anything else.”

Still, Duquette was seeking a hitter. Several times, he called Kansas City Royals GM Allard Baird about Beltran, a free-agent-to-be on the trading block.

“Every time I would ask about Beltran, Allard said, ‘Well, I’ll trade you Beltran, but we want David Wright in return.’”

Wright was a top prospect who made his MLB debut right around the time of that trade discussion, on July 21, 2004.

“We were not trading David Wright at all,” Duquette said. “So, we would hang up the phone. We would call back and say, ‘Hey, any other thoughts about Beltran?’ And he would say, ‘David Wright.’”

Reached via text on Friday evening, Baird -- who later became a key member of general manager Brodie Van Wagenen’s Mets front office before departing when the team was sold in 2020 -- confirmed the talks, and elaborated on his interest in Wright. It cut far deeper than even Duquette realized.

“He was a complete player!” Baird wrote. “Besides the easy offensive and defensive projection, he was team above oneself. A winning player.

“In A-ball, he came out on the field all alone an hour before anyone else was there. All for what looked like was just the joy of being on the field. On a night he didn’t perform at the plate, he was the first one out of the dugout every inning to go play defense.”

Duquette was not going to trade Wright, so Baird instead sent Beltran to Houston in a three-team deal in which the Royals landed catcher John Buck, infielder Mark Teahan and pitcher Mike Wood, and the Oakland Athletics got reliever Octavio Dotel.

After that season, Omar Minaya replaced Duquette as Mets GM and signed Beltran as a free agent.

Wright became the face of the franchise — the Mets, that is. Not the Royals.

Beltran went on to become one of the greatest players Flushing has ever seen, and was Wright’s teammate for nearly six seasons. He now works in the front office.

Could the fourth time be the charm for minor league baseball in Long Beach?

On Tuesday, the Long Beach City Council is scheduled to consider whether to order city staff to work toward an agreement with the ownership group for a “new professional baseball team” that would play at Blair Field, the city’s storied ballpark.

The ownership group includes Paul Freedman, one of the co-founders of the Oakland Ballers, a successful independent league team launched last year amid the departure of the Oakland Athletics.

The new team would open play next season and participate as an expansion team in the Pioneer League, the same league in which the Ballers play. The league includes teams in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming.

“I got into this industry because of love for baseball and the community, and love for Oakland,” Freedman said. “I see a tremendous amount of parallels between the city of Oakland and the city of Long Beach, and I think the kind of community-oriented baseball that is working in Oakland can work in Long Beach as well.”

In minor leagues affiliated with major league organizations, those organizations sign and pay players, then assign them to a minor league team. In an independent league, the teams sign and pay players, most of whom hope to play well enough to earn a contract from a major league organization.

Read more:Shaikin: How to revitalize baseball's All-Star Game? Bat flips

Independent leagues also serve as labs for the major leagues: The “swing-off” that decided this week’s All-Star Game has been a rule in the Pioneer League since 2021.

Three independent minor league teams have come and gone in Long Beach over the last 30 years: the Barracuda (renamed the Riptide) in 1995-96, the Breakers (2001-02) and the Armada (2005-09).

Freedman said he believed the struggles reflected instability in the various leagues in which the teams played more than an inability of Long Beach to support a team.

“It’s a city with a huge baseball tradition,” Freedman said. “It’s a diverse city on the rise. It’s hosting the Olympics. I think now it’s time to have a team to represent the town.

“I think baseball has worked in Long Beach, and I think Long Beach is in an even better condition now to embrace a new kind of baseball.”

The Long Beach State baseball team, proudly known as the Dirtbags, attracted more fans last season than any of the other nine Big West Conference teams based in California. The Dirtbags are the primary tenant of Blair Field, and the motion before the city council would require city staff to work with Long Beach State on a “collaborative partnership agreement.”

A city spokesman did not return a call seeking comment.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

After spending the first five seasons of his career with the New York Rangers, K’Andre Miller is beginning the next chapter of his career with the Carolina Hurricanes. 

The Rangers and the Hurricanes agreed to a sign-and-trade deal that sent Miller to Carolina. Miller ultimately signed an eight-year, $60 million contract with the Hurricanes. 

During his introductory press conference with the Hurricanes, the 25-year-old defenseman expressed his excitement to join the Hurricanes, while also making sure to acknowledge his gratitude toward the Rangers organization. 

A couple of weeks after his departure, Miller took the time to send out a formal farewell to the Rangers and their fans on his Instagram.

“To the Rangers fans — I’ll miss the roar of the crowd and the ‘Let’s Go Rangers’ chants that will forever echo in my mind. Your fandom is second to none,” Miller wrote via Instagram.

“To my teammates — Thank you for your support and lessons along the way. You made me a better player and person. Grateful.”

“To the Rangers coaches, trainers and support staff — thank you for teaching me, caring for me, and helping me. Most appreciated.”

“Thank you for giving me my start and allowing me to live out my dream in the greatest arena in the world. Thank you.”

K'Andre Miller's Agent Reveals What Went Down Behind The Scenes Of Breakup With Rangers What went down behind the scenes of K’Andre Miller’s breakup with the New York Rangers and arrival to the Carolina Hurricanes?

The Rangers selected Miller in the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft. He quickly blossomed into one of the team’s most promising defensemen with expectations he could be a legitimate top-four blueliner. 

However, over the past two seasons, Miller has shown signs of regression, and the Rangers were unwilling to offer him a long-term contract extension due to his inconsistent play.

This move certainly leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of Rangers fans that once believed in Miller’s potential, but that potential is still there, and it could very well be unleashed in Carolina.

Blue towels swirled around in every section of Dodger Stadium as his entrance song started to play.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto stepped on the mound and into the chaos wearing a mask of calm. His appearance was misleading.

Inside, he was terrified.

“I think that was the game for which I was the most nervous in my entire baseball career,” Yamamoto said in Japanese.

Yamamoto can laugh now about his memories of Game 5 of the National League Division Series against the San Diego Padres last season, knowing what was revealed on that October night and the path on which it set him.

Read more:Shaikin: How to revitalize baseball's All-Star Game? Bat flips

He started that game as an unknown, even to himself. He departed a hero. By the end of the month, he was a World Series champion.

The momentum he gained in the playoffs carried into this season, which explains why the 26-year-old right-hander was at the All-Star Game in Atlanta earlier this week reliving what might have been the most consequential start of his career.

The Dodgers will return from the All-Star break on Friday with Yamamoto as the only dependable arm in their billion-dollar rotation, and his newfound status as one of the best pitchers in baseball makes him their likely Game 1 starter when they open the postseason.

“He’s just to the point where he knows he’s a really good pitcher, he’s an All-Star and he has high expectations for himself,” manager Dave Roberts said.

The sense of stability that Yamamoto provides was something the Dodgers couldn’t have dreamed of in his up-and-down rookie season last year. Yamamoto encountered difficulties that were unknown to him as a three-time Pacific League most valuable player with Japan’s Orix Buffaloes, missing three months with shoulder problems. Even when he pitched, he performed inconsistently, and in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Padres, he gave up five runs in only three innings.

“The more I failed, the more it felt like things were piling up,” Yamamoto said.

With a two-games-to-one deficit in the series, the Dodgers managed to win Game 4 in San Diego to set up a winner-take-all Game 5 in Los Angeles. Yamamoto was assigned to start the deciding game.

Yamamoto had difficulty sleeping the night before his start. When he tried to think of anything other than the game, he couldn’t.

He felt the weight of his 10-year, $325-million contract, which was the most lucrative deal signed by any pitcher from any country. He was also pitching opposite Yu Darvish, making this the first postseason game featuring two Japanese starting pitchers.

His worst fears were never realized. He pitched five scoreless innings in a 2-0 victory, delivering a performance that changed how everyone viewed him — the fans, the team, even himself.

“Being able to contain them there,” Yamamoto said, “became a source of confidence.”

Yamamoto downplayed his psychological fortitude that was required to regroup in the wake of his Game 1 calamity, describing his turnaround as a function of his ability to identify problems and remedy them.

“I’m by no means strong mentally,” he said. “When I get hit, there are times I get really down. But as time passes, things clear up. What I have to do becomes clear.”

Between the two NLDS starts, for example, Yamamoto adjusted the positioning of his glove, which the Dodgers believed revealed in Game 1 which pitches he was about to throw.

His celebration, however, was short-lived.

“I felt like I cleared a mountain,” Yamamoto said. “But there was no time to relax before the next game started.”

Yamamoto started twice more in the playoffs, in Game 4 of the NL Championship Series against the New York Mets and Game 2 of the World Series against the New York Yankees. He gave up a combined three runs in a combined 10 ⅔ innings over the two games, both of which the Dodgers won.

“I think it was a really valuable experience,” he said. “Because of what I experienced, along with the advances I made from a technical standpoint, I think I was able to grow.”

Read more:‘Put a ‘W’ next to Dino's name.’ NL wins All-Star Game swing-off, with help from Dino Ebel

He also drew from the unpleasant times, particularly the three months he was sidelined with a strained rotator cuff.

“I spent the time determined to grow from that,” he said. “I don’t want to forget how frustrated I was.”

The experiences gave him a baseline of knowledge he could take into his second season. As a rookie, he had reported to camp without any expectations.

“I didn’t know what my ability was relative to everyone else’s,” he said. “I lacked a basic understanding of, ‘If I do this, it will work, or if I do that, it won’t.’ So I wasn’t thinking I’d be successful and I wasn’t thinking I wouldn’t be either. I really didn’t know.”

This spring training, he knew. He knew he could succeed.

He also knew what he was up against. Standing a modest 5-foot-10, Yamamoto was struck as a rookie by the imposing physical frames of the other players.

“More than that, when you get to the ballpark, for example, Mookie [Betts] will be finishing up hitting drenched in sweat ,” he said. “ I was surprised by the amount of training, that players weren’t just relying on their talent. It was a little shocking.”

Recognizing that he lost weight over the course of last season, Yamamoto was determined to report to spring training this year with a stronger body. He also benefited from increased comfort with low-quality American baseballs and the pitch clock. He purchased a home, the off-field stability permitting him to focus more on his work.

Pitching once a week as he did in Japan, Yamamoto was 4-2 with a 0.90 earned-run average in his first seven starts of this season. He started pitching on five-days’ rest after that, and he wasn’t nearly as dominant. He initially struggled pitching on a shorter cycle, but he said the causes of that were disruptions to his between-starts routine rather than anything fatigue-related.

“I think there is absolutely no problem with that,” he said. “You pitch on six days’ rest in Japan, but you throw 120, 130 pitches in seven or eight innings. That was tough. You have one less day to recover here, but you’re also throwing fewer pitches, so you don’t feel the fatigue that much.

“There are things that come up in between starts. For example, there could be two flights or you could arrive in a city in the middle of the night and have to pitch the next day. You won’t be able to spend every five-day period the same way.”

Yamamoto said he learned to better maximize his time between starts, which he pointed to as the reason he was able to regain his form leading up to the All-Star break. In his penultimate appearance before the intermission, he didn’t make it out of the first inning and was charged with five runs, three of them earned. But in two of his last four starts, he didn’t give up any runs. In another, he yielded just one.

In fact, Yamamoto said that if the team asks, he thinks he could pitch on four days’ rest.

“This year, my body has recovered really well,” he said. “I often check with the trainers after the game, and we talk about how if it’s like this, I could throw in four days, or how if I feel like that, I might be a little later. We go through different scenarios like that every week. I still haven’t started on four days’ rest, but I think my preparation to do that has gone well.”

Yamamoto enters the final 2 ½ months of the regular season not only as the Dodgers’ leader in wins (eight) but also games started (19) and innings pitched (104 ⅓).

His increased comfort has extended into the clubhouse. He forged a somewhat unlikely friendship with South Korean Hyeseong Kim, the two of them often conversing on the bench during games.

Read more:'It was awesome.' Clayton Kershaw is the All-Star among All-Stars as NL defeats AL

“We speak to each other in broken English,” Yamamoto said with a chuckle. “I really like Korean food, so he teaches me about that. There are differences between Korean and Japanese baseball, and the major leagues are a little different too, so stuff like that. They aren’t deep conversations, but I think it’s important to communicate, so we talk a lot.”

Yamamoto has also developed a particularly strong admiration of Clayton Kershaw.

“In him, you have a player on the team whom you can model yourself after,” Yamamoto said. “I also learn a lot watching him pitch. He’s someone you can admire in every aspect. All of my teammates think of him like that too. That’s the kind of player I would like to be.”

The kind of player who could be counted on to take his turn in the rotation. The kind of player who can deliver for his team in big moments.

Yamamoto is on his way.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

With the starting rotation back at full strength and All-Star festivities now complete, the Mets announced on Thursday that they'll open the second half of their season with Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes, and David Peterson taking the mound at home against the Reds this weekend.

The first left-hander on the bump will be Manaea, who made his long-awaited 2025 debut last Sunday in a road loss to the Royals. He entered as a bulk reliever for Holmes in the sixth inning, and completed 3.1 frames before allowing the game-winning run in the ninth. Overall, Manaea gave up five hits and struck out seven across 65 pitches.

Holmes will be tasked with Saturday's middle game, and the Mets are hoping that the reliever-turned-starter can regain some sharpness. While his workload has been closely monitored of late, the veteran right-hander has logged a 5.28 ERA through three July outings. By design, he also hasn't completed six innings of work since June 7.

The series finale on Sunday will belong to Peterson, who entered the All-Star break on a positive note. The veteran southpaw registered seven innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts in the Mets' road win over the Orioles on July 10, and produced 6.2 one-run frames one week prior at home against the Brewers.

The Mets (55-42), who trail the rival Phillies by a half-game for first place in the NL East, are scheduled to host the Angels for a three-game set (July 21-23) after the Reds leave town.

Revisiting our 2025 Red Sox season predictions at the break originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Have the 2025 Boston Red Sox matched our preseason expectations?

If we asked that question a month ago, the answer likely would have been a resounding “no.” After an offseason of optimism, Boston looked like the same mediocre club that hasn’t been able to get out of its own way since it last reached the playoffs in 2021.

But the Red Sox rolled into the All-Star break with 10 consecutive victories to put themselves back into the postseason conversation. Suddenly, the optimism that came with their active offseason seems justified.

Before the 2025 season began, our three-man NBC Sports Boston panel shared predictions for the campaign as part of our “Spring Storylines” series. We picked our team MVPs and Cy Youngs, breakout stars, All-Star break headlines, trade deadline predictions, and more.

Now that we’ve reached the All-Star break, we wanted to see how our preseason predictions have aged. See how our vision of the 2025 season has compared with reality below:

Who will be Red Sox’ Cy Young and MVP?

Justin Leger: MVP – Jarren Duran, Cy Young – Garrett Crochet

Duran started to heat up before the break, but he hasn’t been the team’s MVP this season. He went through some tough stretches at the plate and his defense in left field has often left plenty to be desired. While he’s still a key contributor, some might say he’s been a slight disappointment in 2025. I named Carlos Narvaez the club’s first-half MVP in my midseason superlatives, but I won’t argue with those who pick the guy I predicted to be the 2025 Red Sox “Cy Young.”

Crochet has been as advertised since joining via the blockbuster offseason trade with the Chicago White Sox. He’s the unquestioned Red Sox ace, so this very non-bold prediction has proven to be accurate.

Nick Goss: MVP – Rafael Devers, Cy Young – Brayan Bello

Oof. The Devers prediction hurts, but it’s hard to blame Nick here. No one foresaw Devers being traded to the San Francisco Giants in June.

As for the Bello pick, it wouldn’t be so bad if Crochet didn’t exist. Bello has been impressive this season, posting a 3.14 ERA over 16 outings. Can he keep it up for the rest of the year?

Darren Hartwell: MVP – Triston Casas, Cy Young – Garrett Crochet

Darren’s MVP prediction fell apart in May when Casas went down with a season-ending knee injury. Have to wonder whether he jinxed the Red Sox first baseman.

He made up for it with the Crochet pick, which was a no-brainer all along.

Who will be Red Sox’ breakout star?

Justin Leger: Roman Anthony

Anthony got the call to The Show in June. After a brief adjustment period, baseball’s No. 1 prospect caught fire and played a huge role in Boston winning 10 consecutive games. He has a chance to win the AL Rookie of the Year award despite his late start.

Nick Goss: Garrett Crochet

Crochet technically broke out last year, when he earned his first All-Star nod with the Chicago White Sox. But this season, the 26-year-old has taken his game to another level and is a legitimate AL Cy Young contender.

Darren Hartwell: Marcelo Mayer

Mayer was called up to the majors in late May. The Red Sox’ top infield prospect has been silky smooth defensively, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement at the plate, particularly against lefties. We wouldn’t say he has broken out just yet.

Boldest prediction for 2025 Red Sox season

Justin Leger: Red Sox win the American League East

The Red Sox are only three games back in the AL East standings. If chief baseball officer Craig Breslow pushes the right buttons ahead of the trade deadline, winning the division is a real possibility.

Nick Goss: Red Sox make the playoffs

Boston currently holds the second Wild Card spot, so this remains a strong possibility. Again, whether it happens or not will depend on Breslow’s deadline moves.

Darren Hartwell: Red Sox have three-plus All-Stars for the first time since 2021, but Bregman isn’t one of them

Darren was correct, sort of. The Red Sox had three All-Stars, but Alex Bregman was one of them along with Crochet closer Aroldis Chapman.

What will be the Red Sox All-Star break headline?

Justin Leger: Garrett Crochet shines as AL All-Star starter

Crochet was selected to the All-Star Game, but he opted out of playing in the Midsummer Classic to manage his workload. He wouldn’t have been the AL starter anyway, as that honor belonged to Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal.

Nick Goss: Red Sox will be buyers

Thanks to the Red Sox’ 10-game win streak, Nick likely nailed this one. Boston is expected to buy at the deadline, with Breslow specifically eyeing “impact starting pitching.”

Darren Hartwell: “The Kids Are All Right”

With this one, Darren was referring to Red Sox top prospects Roman Anthony, Marcelo Mayer, and Kristian Campbell. Each have reached the majors and impressed at different points in the campaign, but it hasn’t exactly gone as planned.

Campbell was sent back down to Triple-A Worcester after struggling mightily in May and June. Mayer has shown flashes, but he needs to improve against left-handed pitching. Anthony has looked the part as baseball’s top prospect, but he’s been in the big leagues for only a month.

Red Sox trade deadline predictions

Justin Leger: Red Sox trade for Ryan Helsley

Helsley tops our list of 10 relievers Boston should target ahead of the deadline after ESPN’s Jeff Passan named him as the Red Sox’ “best match.” The Red Sox could use another reliable high-leverage arm, and he’d form an elite setup-closer combination with Chapman.

Nick Goss: Red Sox acquire a veteran star

Nick specifically mentioned Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for this one, but the Blue Jays slugger signed a lucrative extension with Toronto in April. However, he isn’t technically wrong as Boston should add a veteran star this summer.

Darren Hartwell: Boston trades Wilyer Abreu for bullpen help

If the Red Sox trade Abreu, it’ll probably be for a frontline starting pitcher. Still, Darren was on to something with this one. Rumors have swirled in recent weeks about Boston potentially trading Abreu or Duran to clear its outfield logjam. It’s certainly something to monitor over the next two weeks.

How will the Red Sox’ 2025 season end?

Justin Leger: Red Sox win the division by a hair, then lose in the ALCS

It’s possible in a weak American League. Some prominent MLB insiders are even starting to call Boston a real World Series contender.

Nick Goss: Red Sox make the playoffs, lose in the ALDS, and prove they are a team on the rise

Not quite as ambitiious, but a solid prediction nonetheless that has a strong chance of coming to fruition.

Darren Hartwell: The Red Sox end their postseason drought, but their bullpen comes back to bite them.

Boston’s bullpen was a weakness in 2024, but it has actually been a strength this year with 37-year-old closer Chapman being virtually untouchable. Can the group keep it up over the second half, and will Breslow add an arm or two to the mix?

A young Freddie Freeman slipped down a waterslide, two orange inflatable floaties hoisting his arms — and body weight — above the water.

“Here comes Freddie,” calls out Rosemary Freeman, Freddie’s mother, early in the MLB Network Presents documentary "Driven: The Freddie Freeman Story" — set to debut on MLB Network on Thursday at 5 p.m. Pacific (and rerun at 9:30 p.m.).

The moment of archival footage, coordinating producer Jed Tuminaro said, caused Freddie Freeman to choke up watching his late mother — who died when the Dodgers star first baseman was 10 years old — say his name.

Freeman wears his emotions on his sleeve, and in "Driven: The Freddie Freeman Story," the 35-year-old showcases vulnerability about his journey from Atlanta to Los Angeles, his son Max’s encounter with Guillain-Barré syndrome and most recently, his World Series most valuable player heroics.

Read more:Hernández: 'Time heals everything.' Freddie Freeman, Braves fans find peace at All-Star Game

“He'll cry on the field, he’ll cry away from the field,” said Paul Solga, a producer on the documentary. “Going back through the interview, that was the best stuff, and that was the stuff that really popped out from his interview. When we were putting it all together, that stuff rose to the top, and we thought it was a great way to showcase not only the player, but the person.”

Freddie Freeman, the teammate, is a through line throughout the documentary. Near the end, Freeman says, “When you talk to people about former players, it’s not usually about, 'Oh, was he a good player?'... Was he a good dude?”

The production crew interviewed a handful of former and current teammates who convey the latter.

Freeman’s best friend in baseball, Jason Heyward — who played with Freeman on both the Braves and the Dodgers — as well as Dansby Swanson, Mookie Betts and Justin Turner, all speak to Freeman’s journey across 16 years in the pros, a career that’s still ongoing.

Both managers Freeman won a World Series with, the Braves' Brian Snitker and the Dodgers' Dave Roberts, have plenty to say aboutthe ballplayer he is, but emphasized who he is as a person, and what he brings to the clubhouse.

“A lot of times, if you get teammates, they give you some nice stuff,” Tuminaro said, adding that this is just the third documentary they’ve produced on a current player (Mike Trout and Fernando Tatis Jr. being the others). “Oh, he hits to all fields and he makes a great play, and that's fine, and that's nice. We need that stuff. But what stood out to me, almost everybody in this, but especially teammates, seemed like they were speaking more to the person, quite often, than the ball player.”

If Freddie Freeman wasn't enough of a jumping-off point for the documentary, the filmmakers interviewed his father, Fred Freeman, a source that provided a "gold mine" of information. Tuminaro said that it’s hard not to be drawn to the anecdotes and personality of Fred Freeman, an energetic and soft-spoken man, much like his son.

When Solga was in Fred Freeman’s home, interviewing him, he asked if there were any home tapes — archival footage — that the documentary crew could see. Fred trekked up the stairs of his home and trotted back down with an envelope filled with flash drives and photos.

“He goes, ‘Here, take a look, take whatever you'd like,’” Solga said. “And I was like, ‘Are you serious?’”

Tuminaro said that Fred Freeman is at the center of two of his favorite moments in the documentary — some parental honesty after Freddie’s injuries throughout the 2024 postseason, and then pure glee following his son’s iconic 2024 World Series grand slam.

“He provided a raw sense of emotion that I think only someone in his position could do,” Tuminaro said.

Read more:'It was awesome.' Clayton Kershaw is the All-Star among All-Stars as NL defeats AL

Solga said that many of the documentaries MLB Network creates are focused on players of an older generation, and they come up in an era where there’s less of a trail of images and videos to forage through. With Freddie, whether it was Fred or Rosemary handling the camcorder, you could see Freeman grow from a toddler to a preteen practicing an early version of his signature swing.

The 90-minute documentary takes the viewer through Freeman’s full career: loss in childhood, the decision to forgo a college commitment at Cal State Fullerton for the MLB Draft, all the way to MLB.

But what fans will probably leave with after watching is another perspective on Freddie Freeman — one that pulls back the curtain on a player not often outspoken about issues beyond the ballpark.

“There are just so many ups and downs in his story, and I'm not sure if everyone's really aware of that,” Tuminaro said. "And so many of these great moments, he's had to overcome some adversity to achieve that. … what it takes to overcome that adversity and deliver in those big moments.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

On the latest episode of The Mets Pod presented by Tri-State Cadillac, Connor Rogers and Joe DeMayo look back at All-Star week and the MLB Draft, while looking ahead to the trade deadline and the second half of the season.

Leading off, Connor and Joe talk about Pete and Peterson at the All-Star Game, Jonah Tong and Carson Benge at the Futures Game, David Wright getting his number retired, and what kind of talent the Mets added during the draft.

Then the organization’s first pick, Michigan infielder Mitch Voit, joins the show to talk about his development, his emotions about getting selected by the Mets, and his career goals.

The guys also go Down on the Farm to discuss the best time to call up pitchers Brandon Sproat and Nolan McLean, and wrap the show with Mailbag questions answered about potential trade ideas as the MLB Trade Deadline approaches.

Be sure to subscribe to The Mets Pod at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

MLB power rankings roundup: Red Sox rise amid 10-game win streak originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Red Sox entered the 2025 MLB season with heightened expectations. After a disappointing start to the campaign, they’ve started to live up to those expectations with their recent hot streak.

They entered the All-Star break with 10 consecutive wins, giving them a 53-45 record that puts them only three games behind the first-place Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East standings. If the season ended today, they’d clinch the second AL Wild Card spot and their first postseason berth since 2021.

But there’s still plenty of baseball left to be played, and the next two weeks could ultimately determine Boston’s fate. Before the July 31 trade deadline, chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is expected to make moves — particularly for starting pitching — that can help his team stay in postseason contention over the final two months.

Time will tell whether Breslow pushes the right buttons, but for now, MLB pundits are buying back in on this Red Sox club. Boston has skyrocketed into or near the top 10 in the latest batch of national MLB power rankings.

Here’s where the Red Sox stand as we prepare for the second half, according to experts across the league:

FanGraphs (Jake Mailhot): 7th

“The Red Sox head into the All-Star break as the hottest team in baseball. They won their 10th game in a row on Sunday, completing a huge four-game sweep over the Rays to overtake Tampa Bay in the Wild Card standings. Boston is getting healthy at just the right time too; both Alex Bregman and Masataka Yoshida were activated off the IL last week. The real star of this hot streak has been Ceddanne Rafaela, who blasted a dramatic three-run walk-off home run on Friday. He’s posted a .390/.405/.902 slash line in July.”

Bleacher Report (Kerry Miller): 9th

“While that four-game sweep of the Rays was mighty impressive and shook up the AL East standings, surging into the All-Star break is nothing new for the Red Sox. They went 8-1 in their final nine games of the first half in 2023 as well as 10-3 last year before their current 10-game winning streak. But can they maintain that momentum for a change? Boston went from a combined 101-86 in the first half of the past two seasons to a combined 58-79 after the ASB, and they have the toughest remaining schedule in the American League, including a gauntlet in the next nine games.“

NBC Sports (D.J. Short): 10th

“I was high on the Red Sox coming into the year, and while things haven’t exactly worked out the way I thought they would — Rafael Devers trade included — they’ve won 10 straight games to put themselves in a strong position leading into the trade deadline.”

CBS Sports (Matt Snyder): 10th

“A 10-game winning streak and only three games out. My “Red Sox win the AL East” preseason prediction lives!”

USA TODAY (Gabe Lacques): 10th

“In addition to his offensive exploits, rookie Carlos Narvaez leads the majors with 20 runners caught stealing.”

MLB.com (Will Leitch): 11th

“The Red Sox have been excited about their young hitters for many moons at this point, but they couldn’t have asked for a better time for them to break through than in the immediate weeks after trading Rafael Devers. Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran, Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony, all hitting like crazy, all in their 20s, all at the perfect moment.“

Pitcher List (Pablo Figueroa): 11th