Category: Baseball

Charlotte Knights
Record 2-4 (last week), 22-23 (second half), 64-56 (overall)

Knights Player of the Week
David Sandlin 5 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 K

Michael Turner .417/.500/.417, 12 at-bats
Dru Baker .267/.313/.267, 2-for-2 stolen bases, 15 at-bats
Mario Camilletti .211/.318/.211, 1-for-1 stolen bases, 19 at-bats
Tim Elko .211/.318/.526, 1-for-1 stolen bases, 19 at-bats
Rikuu Nishida .222/.440/.222, 4-for-4 stolen bases, 18 at-bats

Shane Smith 6 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 5 K
Drew Thorpe 5 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 6 K
Noah Schultz 4 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 0 K
Jonathan Cannon 10 IP, 10 ER, 14 H, 5 BB, 15 K

Charlotte had a tough assignment this week, facing the Red Wings in Rochester (71-47). The Knights got off to a good start, but they only picked up two wins total after a rough weekend on the road.

Pitcher David Sandlin, 25, had an outstanding start against the Red Wings, delivering five shutout innings and striking out six. In 50 2/3 innings with the Knights this season, Sandlin has a 1.95 ERA and a 3.81 FIP, providing plenty of stability for a pitching staff with a 4.90 season ERA (11th out of 20 International League teams). Sandlin has not found his footing in the majors yet, as he posted a 6.93 ERA and a 5.88 FIP in 24 2/3 innings at the highest level this season for his only MLB experience. However, if Sandlin has more outings like this one, he will have a strong case to rejoin the MLB roster.

2026 Charlotte Knights Players of the Week
Korey Lee (March 27-April 5)
Oliver Dunn (April 6-12)
Shane Smith (April 13-19)
Jarred Kelenic (April 20-26)
Oliver Dunn (April 27-May 3)
LaMonte Wade Jr.(May 4-10)
Jacob Gonzalez(May 11-17)
LaMonte Wade Jr.(May 18-24)
Jacob Gonzalez(May 25-31)
Braden Montgomery(June 1-7)
Ryan Galanie(June 8-14)
Kyle Teel(June 15-21)
Korey Lee(June 22-28)
Caden Connor(June 29-July 5)
Nolan Jones(July 6-12)
Andy Weber (July 13-26)
Ryan Galanie(July 27-August 2)
Korey Lee(August 3-9)
David Sandlin(August 10-16)

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Birmingham Barons
Record 3-3 (last week), 20-25 (second half), 46-68 (overall)

Barons Player of the Week
Caleb Bonemer .381/.519/.810, 2-for-3 stolen bases, 21 at-bats

Anthony DePino .333/.462/.762, 21 at-bats
José Colmenares .250/.438/.333, 2-for-3 stolen bases, 12 at-bats
James Taussig .188/.188/.375, 16 at-bats
Samuel Zavala .200/.294/.267, 15 at-bats
Colby Shelton .125/.348/.125, 16 at-bats

Connor McCullough 9 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 9 H, 3 BB, 9 K
Aidan Anderson 4 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 1 BB, 2 K
Dylan Cumming 4 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 9 H, 1 BB, 2 K
Shane Murphy 5 IP, 5 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 5 K
Jake Palisch 6 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 3 K

The Barons took turns against the Clingstones (53-56), with Birmingham winning on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at home.

In a surprise to nobody, infielder and top White Sox prospect Caleb Bonemer, 20, was the Baron of the Week. This is Bonemer’s fifth weekly award of the season (three with the Dash, two with the Barons) and his second in the past four weeks. This week, Bonemer went 8-for-21 with a homer, two triples, two doubles, three walks, four RBIs and a 1.329 OPS. Overall, in 44 games since being promoted to Double-A, Bonemer is slashing .273/.396/.558, a slash line that tops what he did with the Dash.

2026 Birmingham Barons Players of the Week
Samuel Zavala (April 6-12)
Braden Montgomery (April 13-19)
Alec Makarewicz (April 20-26)
Wilfred Veras (April 27-May 3)
Jake Palisch(May 4-10)
Wilfred Veras(May 11-17)
Alec Makarewicz(May 18-24)
Drake Logan(May 25-31)
Dylan Cumming(June 1-7)
Anthony DePino(June 8-14)
Grant Magill(June 15-21)
Alec Briley(June 22-28)
Colby Shelton(June 29-July 5)
Dylan Campbell (July 6-12)
Caleb Bonemer (July 13-26)
Colby Shelton(July 27-August 2)
Samuel Zavala(August 3-9)
Caleb Bonemer(August 10-16)

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Winston-Salem Dash
Record 4-2 (last week), 24-23 (second half), 62-51 (overall)

Dash Player of the Week
Jeral Perez .444/.560/.944, 18 at-bats

Kyle Lodise .360/.448/.720, 2-for-3 stolen bases, 25 at-bats
George Wolkow .346/.414/.692, 26 at-bats
Ely Brown .304/.385/.565, 23 at-bats
Wes Kath .462/.533/.462, 1-for-1 stolen bases, 13 at-bats
Derek Cerda .313/.353/.375, 16 at-bats
Kaleb Freeman .313/.522/.625, 16 at-bats

Jake Curtis 6 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 5 K
Justin Sinibaldi 5 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 4 K
Grant Umberger 5 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 8 K
Drew McDaniel 4 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 6 K
Dylan Carmouche 3 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 5 BB, 3 K
Aric McAtee 3 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 4 K
Max Banks 3 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 4 K

After the Dash only went 2-3 against Asheville (39-73) last week, they got back on track with a 4-2 series win on the road against the Grasshoppers (68-46).

Infielder Jeral Perez, 21, went 8-for-18 with two homers, three doubles, six walks and five RBIs. Perez, who plays second base and third base, offers defensive flexibility. Perez got off to a slow start at the plate in 2026, but he has been trending in the right direction for months. Perez slashed .184/.268/.299 in April and .135/.273/.203 in May. However, Perez slashed .254/.359/.358 in June, .253/.340/.418 in July and .275/.444/.500 so far in August. Well done to Perez, whose excellent performance earned him his first weekly award of the season.

2026 Winston-Salem Dash Players of the Week
Caleb Bonemer (April 6-12)
Colby Shelton (April 13-19)
Colby Shelton (April 20-26)
Caleb Bonemer(April 27-May 3)
Colby Shelton(May 4-10)
Boston Smith(May 11-17)
George Wolkow (May 18-24)
Morris Austin(May 25-31)
Caleb Bonemer(June 1-7)
James Taussig(June 8-14)
Kyle Lodise(June 15-21)
George Wolkow(June 22-28)
Kaleb Freeman(June 29-July 5)
Ryan Burrowes (July 6-12)
Ely Brown (July 13-26)
Calvin Harris(July 27-August 2)
Derek Cerda(August 3-9)
Jeral Perez(August 10-16)

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Kannapolis Cannon Ballers
Record 4-2 (last week), 27-21 (second half), 60-54 (overall)

Cannon Ballers Player of the Week
Marco Barrios 5 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 0 BB, 4 K

Grayson Fitzwater .280/.308/.640, 25 at-bats
Clay Burdette .300/.364/.450, 1-for-2 stolen bases, 20 at-bats
Matthew Boughton .200/.286/.240, 1-for-3 stolen bases, 25 at-bats
Jaden Fauske .217/.357/.304, 1-for-1 stolen bases, 23 at-bats
Alexander Albertus .222/.300/.278, 1-for-1 stolen bases, 18 at-bats

Gabe Tanner 6 IP, 2 ER, 9 H, 1 BB, 5 K
Truman Pauley 5 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 7 K
Fabian Ysalla 5 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 1 K
Andrew Berg 4 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 K
Alexander Martinez 4 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 4 K

The Cannon Ballers had another strong performance, winning four of six at home against Hickory (66-45). After the Cannon Ballers got off to an 8-16 start to the season, they have turned things around in a big way and have been trending upward for a long time.

Right-handed relief pitcher Marco Barrios, 20, was fantastic on the mound for the Cannon Ballers. In 5 1/3 innings, Barrios allowed zero runs on one hit to lower his season ERA to 2.17. Overall, Barrios has pitched 45 2/3 innings this season, all with the Cannon Ballers, and opposing hitters are slashing only .231/.287/.341 against him. Barrios is still very young, and it seems as though he is ready to test how his stuff will fly in Winston-Salem. Barrios has been a big part of a strong Kannapolis pitching staff, which ranks first out of 12 teams in the Carolina League with a 3.69 ERA.

2026 Kannapolis Cannon Ballers Players of the Week
Stiven Flores (April 6-12)
Abraham Núñez (April 13-19)
Javier Mogollón(April 20-26)
Arxy Hernández(April 27-May 3)
Javier Mogollón(May 4-10)
Max Banks(May 11-17)
Riley Eikhoff(May 18-24)
James Taussig(May 25-31)
James Taussig(June 1-7)
Derek Cerda(June 8-14)
Matthew Boughton(June 15-21)
Ryan Schiefer(June 22-28)
Christian Gonzalez(June 29-July 5)
Jaden Fauske (July 6-12)
Steven Lancia (July 13-26)
Anthony Patterson III(July 27-August 2)
Grant Cleavinger(August 3-9)
Marco Barrios(August 10-16)

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DSL White Sox
Record 2-4 (last week), 19-34 (overall)

DSL White Sox Player of the Week
Orlando Patiño .333/.500/.722, 1-for-2 stolen bases, 18 at-bats

Héctor Hernández .417/.500/.625, 2-for-3 stolen bases, 24 at-bats
Fernando Graterol .292/.433/.583, 1-for-1 stolen bases, 24 at-bats
Sebastian Romero .304/.429/.609, 1-for-1 stolen bases, 23 at-bats
Ronald Cardozo .400/.474/.667, 1-for-1 stolen bases, 15 at-bats

Hansel Pinales 3 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 3 K
Ronald Kelly 3 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 3 K
David Colmenares 3 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 K
José Taveras 3 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 3 K
Jhoriel De La Rosa 3 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 2 K

The DSL White Sox had another losing week, dropping four of six. This will be our final weekly recap of this team, which will play on Tuesday for its only remaining game.

Outfielder Orlando Patiño, 18, wrapped up his final full week on a high note, finishing 6-for-18 with a homer, a triple, two doubles, six walks and five RBIs. Patiño has had an excellent season, slashing .319/.446/.467 (126 wRC+) with 10 stolen bases in 12 attempts (83.3%). Very well done to Patiño, who made a sizable stride forward after struggling in the DSL last year (.167/.294/.214, 44 wRC+).

2026 DSL White Sox Players of the Week
Carlos Vielma(June 1-7)
Sebastian Romero(June 8-14)
Sebastian Romero(June 15-21)
Ronald Kelly(June 22-28)
Orlando Patiño(June 29-July 5)
Ronald Cardozo (July 6-12)
Nestor Pérez(July 13-26)
David Colmenares(July 27-August 2)
Félix Lebron(August 3-9)
Orlando Patiño(August 10-16)

Did the Phillies turn their season around with the sweep over the Twins? Or was that series just a brief upturn before they resume their frustrating play?

We might find out this week, as the Phillies will host an opponent that’s been more all over the place than they have. You probably recall that the last time the Phillies played the Marlins, it didn’t go so well for the Fightins. But it’s tough to use that series to predict anything based on how bipolar the Marlins have been.

Already this season, the Marlins have had a six-game winning streak immediately followed by a 12-game losing streak. The sweep over the Phillies was part of a stretch where they won six of seven, only to drop four in a row before winning four straight.

They enter this series going 2-2 in their last four, which seems almost normal. So, they’re probably about to either win a bunch of games in a row or do the complete opposite. Personally, I’m hoping they lose a bunch in a row.

Opposition research: Otto Lopez

It’s somewhat amazing that in a division that features All-Stars like Trea Turner, Francisco Lindor, and C.J. Abrams, the best shortstop in the National League East this season might be Otto Lopez. In his first two seasons with the Marlins, Lopez was regarded as a good fielder whose bat was barely adequate. But this season, he’s actually become a plus at the plate, batting .308 with an NL leading 149 hits.

However, much of that success came in the first half of the season. Since the All-Star break, Lopez has regressed a bit.

#Marlins Otto Lopez has quietly struggled so far since the ASB.

Across 24 games (105 PA):
– .224/.248/.276
– 230 wOBA | .259 xwOBA
– 40 wRC+
– No home runs but still has 7 stolen bases.
– Has recorded just 2 barrels and has a 56% GB%

The second game back from the ASB he…

— Mike Kurland (@Mike_Kurland) August 15, 2026

Those numbers are even worse since the bgeinning of August: In 13 games, he’s batting just .200 with no home runs.

A trip to Citizens Bank Park might not be what he needs to cure his ills. In 15 games at the Phillies’ stadium, he’s batting .196, and has yet to go deep.

Hating on the Marlins

While they’re still in the Wild Card race, nobody seriously believes that this team is actually going to make the playoffs. Instead, they’ll probably do what they’re best at: Prove an irritant to actual contenders.

Hopefully, the Phillies already got their seemingly annual frustrating series against the Marlins out of the way last month. This time around, the Phillies need to put them in their place.

Remembering a guy who played for both the Phillies and Marlins

Jason Vargas finished eighth in Rookie of the Year voting with the Marlins in 2005 when the righthanded pitcher was 5-5 with a 4.03 ERA. But in 12 games the following year, his ERA ballooned to 7.33, and after the season, the Marlins traded him to the Mets.

Fun Fact: in 2019 the #Phillies traded for pitcher Jason Vargas.

What you may not remember is his average fastball velocity was a mind numbingly low 84.2 MPH

The lowest AVG fastball speed this season is Brent Suter’s 86.9 pic.twitter.com/foaQYPvVh7

— Phillies Archive (@PhillyArchive) June 8, 2026

He spent the next few years circulating around the majors as a decent mid-rotation starter. He missed most of the 2015 and 2016 seasons due to Tommy John (RIP!) surgery but came back to lead the American League in wins in 2017 and made his only All-Star team.

In 2019, he was on his second stint with the Mets. Though he wasn’t having a particularly good season – he was basically a barely passable inning eater – the Phillies were desperate for rotation help, so they sent a lottery pick prospect to New York to add Vargas to their rotation.

Hello Vargas! pic.twitter.com/akZJmBWyoI

— Norman Charles (@NormanCharles66) February 17, 2024

Considering he could barely throw in the mid-80’s, it shouldn’t be surprising that Vargas was not the savior the Phillies needed.

Fun Fact: in 2019 the #Phillies traded for pitcher Jason Vargas.

What you may not remember is his average fastball velocity was a mind numbingly low 84.2 MPH

The lowest AVG fastball speed this season is Brent Suter’s 86.9 pic.twitter.com/foaQYPvVh7

— Phillies Archive (@PhillyArchive) June 8, 2026

He went 1-4 with a 5.37 ERA as the Phillies missed the playoffs. The Phillies made little effort to re-sign him after the season, and his major league career was over.

Additional thought about the series

The Phillies have made a conscious effort to walk more, and it seems to be working. After the Cardinals series in which they hit into about 20 double plays, it would have been easy for them to give up on that approach, but they stuck with it and saw positive results against the Twins.

While on-base percentage isn’t the end all in offensive performance, it stands to reason that if you get enough runners on base, eventually some of them are going to score. It certainly helps that Luis Arraez, Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott have been doing an excellent job in getting those runners home lately. Can they keep that up? I’d like to think so, but history says that it probably won’t be smooth sailing from here.

Since installing Luis Arraez as the #4 hitter in the @Phillies lineup, Bryce Harper has 18 walks in 11 games. He has a staggering .571 OBP in that span. Once Arraez goes on another heater with his bat, the Phillies are going to score a ton of runs. pic.twitter.com/ueuN2Nat3n

— Nick (Kesh) (@kesh25) August 16, 2026

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A new week is here, and I'm ready to kick it off with three of my favorite home run props and predictions for tonight's MLB slate, highlighted by Shohei Ohtani and Matt Olson.

Here are my favorite MLB picks for Monday, Aug. 17.

Best MLB home run props today

Home run pick: Shohei Ohtani (+197)

Run it back! After he failed us on Sunday, Shohei Ohtani finds himself in another great spot on Monday in Coors, taking on Colorado Rockies seasoned sophomore Tomoyuki Sugano.

The Los Angeles Dodgers superstar owns the No. 1 rating on Batters-Box, where he covers 100% of Sugano's pitch mix. On top of that, across 150 elite ratings on the road over the last three seasons, Ohtani has left the yard 26% of the time.

Sugano has struggled against left-handed hitters, allowing 2.30 HR/9 and a 14% barrel rate against his last 60 faced. Those hitters have posted a .310 xBA and .638 xSLG during that stretch.

With this matchup taking place in Coors, the +197 price tag is not THAT awful, but I would not take this down much further. Find a boost.

• Time: 8:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: SNLA, COLR

Home run pick: Matt Olson (+291)

Atlanta Braves slugger Matt Olson has been generating a ton of hard contact and barrels over his last few games. He's coming off a home run on Sunday, but his matchup against Minnesota Twins right-hander Bailey Ober this evening might be even better.

Against the last 30 left-handed hitters he has faced, Ober is allowing a 43.3% hard-hit rate, 13.3% barrel rate, and 70% elevation rate. Those lefties own a .355 xBA, .680 xSLG, and .363 xwOBA.

Olson, across his last 10 games, is producing a near 50% hard-hit rate and 32% barrel rate, while posting a .684 SLG and .447 ISO.

At near three-to-one, it is a solid price worth paying. Take this down to +275.

• Time: 7:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: BravesVsn, MNNT

Home run pick: Miguel Vargas (+344)

Easily the matchup of the night as the Chicago Cubs host the Chicago White Sox. With Shota Imanaga on the bump, Miguel Vargas finds himself in a great spot.

Vargas, who homered on Sunday, has been racking up great numbers over his last 10 games. He's posted a .634 SLG, .366 ISO, and 12.5% barrel rate.

In his last 30 at-bats against a left-handed pitchers, he has a .520 SLG and .320 ISO, while generating a 50% hard-hit rate and 11.1% barrel rate.

The last 30 right-handed hitters Imanaga has faced have produced a 14.3% barrel rate and 23.8% ground-ball rate, while sporting a .341 xBA, .530 xSLG and .218 ISO.

Vargas should feast! Take this down to +300.

• Time: 8:05 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: CHSN, Marquee

Today’s HR combo

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

Prior to the Field of Dreams game, the Twins took care of business against the Orioles, with Dean Kremer providing a “Revenge Game TM” performance against his old team. Unfortunately, the good vibes stopped as soon as the Twins walked through the cornfields, as they finished out the week getting swept by the Phillies, including dropping the final game on Sunday where at one point, they had a 4-0 lead.

Despite the poor week, the team is still only 1.5 games out of the final wild card spot, although it’s becoming an increasingly crowded field with six teams within 2.5 games of the Orioles, who are in that spot.

It does not get easier for the Twins as they face off against Atlanta in a three-game series starting today and then travel to San Diego for the weekend.

The Past Week on Twinkie Town:

• Check out The Feed, where you can add your discussions about the Twins!
• We’re starting a new segment called Daily Questions! Provide your opinion on the Twins and debate with the community!
• Game threads and recaps are back! Commiserate with your fellow fans as we experience the season together.
• Zach Koenig takes us back to the good ‘ol days of 1991.
• Aidan O’Brien digs into the data behind the Twins’ most polarizing prospect.

Elsewhere in Twins Territory:

• Charlotte Varnes at The Athletic recaps the Field of Dreams game from the eyes of the fans who attended.
• Bobby Nightengale at the Star Tribune looks at how Jeff Hoffman’s career was revived by the Twins three years ago in spring training.
• Jace Frederick at the Pioneer Press evaluates how the Twins’ top prospects have been performing this season.
• Theo Tollefson at Zone Coverage writes on the reunion between former Twin Jhoan Duran and the team this weekend at Target Field.

In the World of Baseball:

• In the last week, nothing changed among the top-five teams in the American League, with the Rays at the top, followed by the Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, and Astros. The endless shuffle for the last wild card spot will be the race to watch for the remainder of the season.
• Not much going on in the National League as well in the past week, with the only change being the flipping of the Padres and the Diamondbacks. It’s a much smaller field vying for that last spot, with three teams within 3.5 games of the Padres.
• Tommy John passed away this weekend. Jeff Passan at ESPN discusses how his legacy will continue on across baseball.

The San Francisco Giants, as teams that are functionally eliminated from postseason contention should be doing, have turned to a youth movement in recent weeks. And that youth movement is taking another step forward. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Giants are calling up 23-year old left-handed pitcher Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson. The Giants have an off-day today, but will resume action on Tuesday in Ohio, facing the Cleveland Guardians … the team they acquired Wilkinson from in May’s Patrick Bailey trade.

It’s a bizarre move, to say the least, and one likely driven in part by the Giants feeling that they would have to roster Wilkinson in November as a Rule 5 Draft protection. While Wilkinson dominated AA this year, both with the Guardians’ affiliate and then the Giants’, he’s struggled quite a bit since getting to AAA. In 10 starts with the Sacramento River Cats, Wilkinson has just a 5.15 ERA and a 5.38 FIP, with just 43 strikeouts in 43.2 innings (to go with 17 walks). That said, home runs have been the biggest issue Wilkinson has faced, and that’s at least partially due to the Coors Field-esque environment of the Pacific Coast League.

Still, it’s a bit odd to see a player who is struggling in AAA, and who is in his first season above A-ball, get the call to the Majors, even though it’s abundantly clear that the Giants are huge believers in Wilkinson’s southpaw funk. He’ll certainly need that funk to play well, because Wilkinson is an absolute unicorn in the modern era of baseball: he relies on a low-velocity fastball. Tugboat’s fastball has averaged just 89.9 mph in AAA this year, which would be 2nd percentile in the Majors. More bizarre is that he uses that pitch 61.9% of the time, which stands in stark contrast to all the other low-velo pitchers in the Majors. It is, to be frank, a profile that no successful Major League pitcher in recent years has had.

But there are always exceptions, and the Giants are clearly optimistic that Wilkinson — who was a 10th-round pick in 2023 — is one such exception.

It’s unclear whether the Giants intend to use Wilkinson as a starter or in relief for his MLB debut. He’s worked exclusively as a starter in his Minor League career, but unless Logan Webb is going on the IL after getting hit by a comebacker on Saturday, the Giants rotation doesn’t appear to have any openings. Webb and Landen Roupp are established pieces, while the Giants are enjoying getting a longer look at prospects Carson Whisenhunt and Blade Tidwell. Adrian Houser would be the obvious option to be replaced, but he’s been pitching well lately and coming off his best start of the year; given that he’s a veteran option with another year left on his deal, the Giants likely want to keep giving him opportunities to prove that he can be part of the solution in 2027.

With the Giants set to activate Marcelo Mayer later this week, with a trip to Fenway Park starting Friday, it seems that they’re bringing up both Wilkinson and Mayer to have revenge appearances against their former teams. Perhaps that’s pure coincidence, or perhaps it’s the front office playing with vengeance … which would certainly be an odd strategy for a team 22 games below .500.

Either way, one of the best nicknames in baseball is up, and that’s exciting, even if I remain perplexed by the way the Giants deal with prospects. Wilkinson will become the 11th Giants player to make his MLB debut this year, and the 12th to collect their first active-roster check (Zach Morgan was called up for one game, but didn’t play).

San Francisco will have to make corresponding moves on both the active and 40-man rosters for Wilkinson. The latter will be easy, as Casey Schmitt and Harrison Bader can both be transferred to the 60-Day IL.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in White Sox fans and fans across the country.

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Well, it’s Crosstown week once again, and “this time it’s for real.” Did you know that of all the seasons since interleague play began (since 1997, that is), only one time have both the White Sox and Cubs won at least 65 games by their 125th contest? That came in the 2008 season — and now 2026 joins it, with the White Sox at 65-58 and the Cubs 72-53.

As the White Sox prepare to punch the Cubs in the mouth for a second series this season, we thought it might be fun to choose a favorite Sox triumph from interleague games past. The list was longer than what you see in the poll, but we had to trim some options away!

Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys:

It's challenging to pinpoint a precise low point in this San Francisco Giants season. There are many candidates.

Yet if we are judging it by one of baseball's truest standards – the clubhouse doors staying shut long after the game ends, the manager arriving very late to his postgame media briefing, the airing out of the team emerging publicly – that moment arrived Sunday, Aug. 16, when the Giants suffered a 13-7 loss to the last-place Colorado Rockies.

It could be considered a seasonal nadir for many reasons, chief among them that the 50-74 Rockies won the season series against the Giants for the first time since 2018. And that Giants pitchers walked 10 batters and hit another, and let a run in on a wild pitch that rookie catcher Drew Cavanaugh could not locate just a few feet away.

After the trade deadline shipped off Luis Arráez and other parts, these Giants more resemble a college team. And manager Tony Vitello would know, having made the unprecedented jump from the University of Tennessee to the Giants dugout.

Yet in describing his team's play, Vitello went a step lower: Junior college.

"It had more the feel of a lower level, a junior-college game as opposed to a big-league game, with how some of the things transpired," Vitello told reporters in San Francisco. "And I was a juco guy, so I’m not disrespecting junior college."

Yikes.

Vitello even had one of his guys, former Volunteers starter Blade Tidwell, on the mound Sunday. Yet Tidwell was part of the problem, walking five and giving up six earned runs in 4⅓ innings. Another Vol, Drew Gilbert, batted leadoff, suddenly among the more senior members of a lineup that featured Cavanugh, Buddy Kennedy, Turner Hill and Osleivis Basabe.

Not exactly Arráez, Matt Chapman, Willy Adames.

And just how did Vitello's JC remarks hit in the clubhouse?

"I think he did a good job," Tidwell, the former Vol, told reporters. "Everybody was locked in, and the guys were nodding their heads and stuff. So I think everybody was on board with what he was saying."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tony Vitello says Giants' performance was 'like a junior college game'

The Rays opted to go with the “we have McDonalds at home” approach during the trade deadline by not acquiring any external talent to upgrade at second base. Luis Arraez was a popular name, but ultimately the team decided to roll with a platoon pairing of Richie Palacios and Ben Williamson.

Overall, this was a fairly obvious opportunity for an upgrade, as the Rays second basemen had accumulated the 5th lowest fWAR in the league heading into the trade deadline. The duo combined for an uninspiring 85 wRC+ across 525 PA from the beginning of the season through August 2nd, the day before the trade deadline. The defense at the position has been a mixed bag too with middle of the pack DRS numbers but bottom of the league OAA.

The Rays decided to lean into what they’ve been doing all season by putting their faith in Palacios and Williamson. But then, a wrench was thrown into their plans when Williamson went down with a hamstring strain after playing parts of just two games following the trade deadline. The team has stated Williamson will miss some time, and those words typically mean a player will miss multiple weeks whenever Kevin Cash says that, and may well put Williamson out of commission until the playoffs.

Palacios was thus been given the keys to the car and will be playing most days at the position. He has rewarded the Rays for their trust in him by elevating his game and leaning into his strengths.

The Rays didn’t necessarily “find” something in Palacios after the deadline, but they gave him an opportunity to do more of what he was already good at, and it’s working:

Palacios 2026	Pre Trade Deadline (260 PA)	Post Trade Deadline (39 PA)
Chase% with less than 2 strikes	23.9%	18.8%
% of PAs that end with him ahead in the count	29.6%	41.0%
Hardhit flyball + line drive%	16.2%	39.1%

The data here tells a story: Palacios is comfortable and not trying to do too much at the plate, so he’s expanding the zone less when he doesn’t have to. Because he’s chasing less, he’s getting into more favorable counts. Then when Palacios is in those favorable counts, he’s attacking pitches he can do damage on, and he’s hitting them hard with lift.

This isn’t a complicated thing, but it is easier said than done.

Letting Palacios play most days has given him the security and comfort to play his game and stick to what he does well: grind out at-bats. He’s already a tough out given his plate discipline and bat-to-ball ability, but Palacios has found a new gear. He was seeing 3.85 pitches per PA before the deadline and is seeing 4.67 pitches per PA since then. While this is a small sample and things will vary as the season continues, the exact numbers here for Palacios are less important than the trends they’re revealing. The underlying data shows us he’s confident and locked-in with his approach.

It will be interesting to see if the Rays return Palacios to his strict platoon role now that they’ve added right handed hitting veteran infielder Jorge Mateo, the Braves backup short stop that was cut due to the return of Ha-Seong Kim from the injured list. It seems likely they will, with Kevin Cash starting Mateo for the first time on Sunday against a southpaw, but regardless Palacios should expect to still pick up 75% of the at bats for second base through the rest of 2026, and deservedly so.

Palacios’s team-leading 204 wRC+ since the deadline is likely unsustainable, but he doesn’t need to maintain anything close to that level to make the Rays’ decision look smart. If he settles in around 10-15% above league average against righties, Palacios will still provide meaningful value and help lengthen the lineup.

The Rays continue to make the right moves, and in this case the right move was making no move at all.

It has been a while since we’ve had an off-day. The Jays haven’t had an off-day since July 30th. At that time we were 5.5 games back of the Wild Card spot, with six teams to jump. Now they are just one game back, with two teams to jump over. That turnaround in 17 games is almost unbelievable. Add in that we played some very tough teams, and it seems totally unbelievable.

The next six games, against the Rays in that abomination, Tropicana Field and the Yankees in the Bronx, are important, but a split would be enough to keep us in the race, not that winning 4 or 5 would be a bad thing. After that, the schedule gets easier, which doesn’t mean they are automatic wins or anything.

And there are six games left against the Orioles and three games against the Rangers, the two teams that are directly in front of us.

But this is an Open Thread, so you don’t have to talk about that. You don’t have to figure out how many of the last 25 games the Jays would have to win to make the playoffs. Nor would you have to show your work.  

I’m sorry to see that Hayden Panettiere died. I’ve been rewatching Heros this last couple of weeks. The first season was good; after that, less so, but that wasn’t Hayden’s fault. Somewhere I have an autographed picture of her in the cheerleader costume. I guess the world won’t be saved now.

Also, Tommy John passed. I’ve seen a fair number of people saying he should be in the Hall of Fame, if not for his pitching (he did have an excellent career, 288 wins, which I find hard to believe isn’t enough for the Hall and a 62.1 bWAR), but for lending his name to baseball’s most prominent operation.  

Anyway, use the thread to, you know, chat.

Professional sports are a bottom line business and we run the risk of making things too simple. Entering the season it would fair to say that the playoffs were a litmus test on the 2026 for both Dana Brown and Joe Espada. If they were able to win the division they would likely keep their job and if they didn’t make the playoffs they would likely lose their job. However, that benchmark flies in the face of common sense.

In short, not every division is created equal. We see it in the NFL every season. At least one of the divisions (usually the AFC or NFC South) will see a 9-8 team when the division. We have seen 7-9 teams win the division before. This season has seen the extreme version of that in the AL West. It appears now that if any team finishes .500 or better they will take the division. Below is a quick look at the projected standings according to Fangraphs.com along with how much each team is spending according to Spotrac.com and their millions per win.

	Salary	Won-Loss	Cost per win
Houston Astros	239.0	82-80	2.91
Texas Rangers	189.5	80-82	2.37
Seattle Mariners	165.7	79-83	2.10
Los Angeles Angels	172.3	65-97	2.65
Homeless Athletics	96.0	65-97	1.48

In Economics, there is something called the law of diminishing returns. It essentially means that there is a saturation point where additional resources (or personnel) really don’t add productivity. I would surmise that when we get to the teams at or above the tax line we will see similar results as we see here with Houston. However, Jim Crane would be correct to point out that he’s not getting a ton of bang for his buck.

More than one thing can be true at the same time. The Astros can both reach global expectations by advancing to the wild card round of the playoffs and grossly underperform at the same time. Given the financial disparity between the Astros and the rest of the division, they should be in the lead. As much as we may decry Jim Crane not being willing to go above the tax, he certainly is supporting the team financially more than any other team in the division.

We could look at Brown’s moves on the pitching side of things this season and come away extremely underwhelmed. It is also fair to look at the deadline and come away disappointed. The biggest drawbacks came in the simultaneous comments about the need for a right handed hitting outfielder and the fact that we didn’t get pitching, but we have guys coming back from injuries and that is like getting a guy in a trade.

The first one is an easy one. Brown was fixated on left handed hitting outfielders and we have looked long and hard on that fixation. The question will be whether there was someone better than Nelson Velasquez available and what the cost would have been to get that player. The second question is a little more dubious because this isn’t the first year we are hearing this. Suffice it to say, expecting pitchers to return from Tommy John and immediately produce is a fool’s errand.

The Astros have two pitchers returning from TJ surgery and one that is about a year removed from his return. That pitcher also missed about two months to injury this season. So, let’s take a look at what all three have done since coming back. In short, was banking on league average performance from those arms really a good mathematical gamble?

	Games	INN	ER	H	SO	BB	ERA
Ronel Blanco	5	23.1	20	22	20	12	8.14
Hayden Wesneski	4	22.2	13	23	18	7	5.16
Cristian Javier	7	23.0	11	26	21	7	4.30
Total	16	69.0	44	71	59	26	5.74

There are multiple ways to look at this data. We can look at as a whole. Simply put, the collective performance isn’t good enough. Given that Tatsuya Imai has failed in the rotation and Mike Burrows is currently rehabbing, but he hasn’t been good enough either. The initial plan following the deadline was for these three pitchers to take the last three spots in the rotation. That plan is obviously a losing plan before you even start.

Thus comes the problem with Brown. If the plan was that hopefully one of these three pitchers would be usable then you could look at Javier’s numbers and say that was a success. If you came in with the expectation that one of the three would be an absolute dud then Blanco would fit that profile. Success and failure is not necessarily a binary thing. A lot of is nuance and depends on what was expected. For instance, Burrows opened the season as the number two starter. That was an abject failure.

Presumably, he will have one more rehab start and could theoretically return. If he finished the season strong then you could look at him as a global success in that he could finish at or near career norms. The same true of Imai if he finishes the season strong in the bullpen. It wouldn’t meet the lofty expectations, but the final verdict would be more complicated than a simple fail.

There isn’t a single person that should look at 82 wins as successful. It might be for some franchises for their own personal situation. For instance, the White Sox have taken a nice step forward this season. For a team spending nearly 240 million dollars, 82 wins is simply not good enough. There are always whys and what fors in these situations. Maybe ownership hamstrung him. Maybe he was hamstrung by a lack of resources or good minor league talent to trade. Maybe any one of us would have said no to any of the offers he was getting to bring in pitching or a right handed bat. These are all legitimate reasons and/or excuses. Still, it’s a bottom line business and the bottom line is that this is not good enough. You might win a crappy division and certainly that is something, but it is not the something we expected at the beginning of the season.

Seven days. Four ballparks. Three Teams. Two full series. One long week of travel. That is what awaits the Atlanta Braves this week as they get set to embark on a road trip that’ll see them getting well acquainted with putting their phones in airplane mode. The good news about this road trip is that it’ll all take place in Central Division territory, as the Braves will be going to Minneapolis for three games, Chicago for a make-up game, Milwaukee for two games and then Williamsport, Pennsylvania on Sunday for the Little League Classic.

With that being said, that’s still a lot of travel to be doing in the span of seven days and we’ll see how well the Braves hold up for what’ll surely be a grueling week both physically and mentally. It’s time to take a look at what could be a very tough week ahead for the Braves.

---

August 17-19: Minnesota Twins

Current Record: 60-65 Projected Record (via FanGraphs): 79-83

To put in comparison the performance of the National League when compared to the American League in 2026, the Washington Nationals are 60-66 and currently have a 0.4 percent chance of making the Postseason (according to FanGraphs). The Minnesota Twins are 60-65 and yet they have a 21 percent chance of making the Postseason. There’s a decent shot that somewhere between 80 and 82 wins will be enough for a team to take the third and final Wild Card spot, which means that Minnesota isn’t simply playing out the string here. If they (or anybody else, really) can get hot then the Postseason picture could really shake up.

So yeah, I’m saying all of that to say that we shouldn’t expect the Twins to simply roll over during this series. That especially won’t be the case since Byron Buxton is currently health and will be playing during this series after his most recent IL stint ended on August 13. Buxton did pick up a double during the Field of Dreams Game but outside of that, Philadelphia kept him quiet and it would be nice to see the Braves continue to keep him quiet going forward. Still, the Braves will also have to worry about making sure that Ryan Jeffers doesn’t have an outsized impact on the series as well, since he’s been having a very good season at the plate so far and could be dangerous, himself. Trevor Larnach, Kody Clemons, Royce Lewis and Luke Keaschall will also be names to watch as this series unfolds.

As far as the pitching matchups go, this should be manageable for the Braves. Bailey Ober has been pretty average so far this season and he hasn’t exactly been in shutdown mode since the All-Star break, as he’s produced an ERA of 5.27 and a FIP of 4.47 over his past five starts since the second half began. Zebby Matthews’ season-long ERA is 5.34 (5.05 FIP) and he’s currently in a bit of a rough patch where he gave up six runs (three earned) against the Brewers on August 7 and then the Orioles tagged him for four runs in five innings in his most recent start. Taj Bradley is currently Minnesota’s best healthy starter since Joe Ryan is currently on the IL and that could prove to be tough. Chris Sale will be starting opposite Bradley in that one, so that could potentially be another pitchers’ duel for Sale to navigate once again.

On paper, the Braves should be looking forward to taking care of business but at the same time, we all know that the game’s not played on paper or a spreadsheet. Still, Atlanta’s got to make sure that they get something from this series since the road trip will only get zanier from here.

Monday, August 17 at 7:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Tuesday, August 18 at 7:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Wednesday, August 19 at 1:40 p.m. ET (BravesVision)

August 20: Chicago White Sox

Current Record: 65-58 Projected Record: 83-79

Remember when the Braves went into that absolute tailspin during the month of June? Well, they’re returning to the genesis of that tailspin as it’s time to make up the final game of that series against the Chicago White Sox. There won’t be an on-field reunion with Joey Bart since he unfortunately suffered a fracture in his left hand. This will be a chance for the Braves to get introduced to Munetaka Murakami, who has been a personal favorite of mine since his days playing with the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. Of course, we’re all rooting for the Braves to keep him quiet but he’ll certainly be arguably the most dangerous hitter for Atlanta to deal with in this one.

Miguel Vargas has been having a fantastic season, himself and he alongside Murakami have proved to be a very dangerous duo in Chicago’s lineup. Chase Meidroth has also been a handful for opposing teams to deal with, along with Tristaan Peters and Samuel Antonacci. Braden Montgomery is also here and hopefully he doesn’t continue to do damage against the Braves like he did once he broke into the big leagues and had a dream debut at Atlanta’s expense.

There could be a bit of a wild card when it comes to the starter for this game as far as the White Sox go, since Davis Martin’s injury and IL stint due to a blister has shaken up Chicago’s rotation a bit. If they still follow their current pattern then the starter for this game should be Anthony Kay (4.01 ERA, 96 ERA-, 4.79 FIP, 112 FIP-) or possibly Jose Urquidy. Either way, the Braves should avoid Sean Burke and there likely won’t be a reunion with old friend Sean Newcomb, so the pitching matchup could be something manageable for Atlanta. Still, the Braves are going to have to be on their toes for this quick layover game in Chicago.

Thursday, August 20 at 2:10 p.m. ET (BravesVision)

August 21-23: Milwaukee Brewers

Current Record: 76-48 Projected Record: 96-66

Speaking of that June swoon for the Braves, they figured out a way to break out of that slump for at least a weekend when they managed to defend home turf in a three-game series win over the current best team in baseball. That alone is reason enough to believe that the Braves have what it takes to repeat the task and maybe take another series off of Milwaukee in the return leg of the matchup.

With that being said, the Brewers are coming into this week flying high after they went into Dodger Stadium and essentially asserted themselves as the current top dogs in the NL after taking three out of four from Los Angeles on the road. Granted, the Dodgers have been in an extended swoon of their own but that takes nothing away from the fact that this essentially confirmed that the Brewers are where they’re at in the standings for a very good reason.

That reason includes Jacob Misiorowski, who the Braves will likely have to deal with once again during this series. Again, he’s human and the Braves proved that when they managed to hang an L on Milwaukee while he was on the mound against them back in Cobb County. He’s still a great pitcher but we haven’t quite seen him reach the heights lately that he did right before facing the Braves, which is when he dominated the Phillies in a one-hit, complete game shutout with 15 strikeouts. Still, I can’t say that anybody particularly looks forward to facing The Miz right now and he’s coming off of a start in Los Angeles where he went six innings and only gave up one run, so he’s clearly still extremely tough to deal with.

Milwaukee will also be looking forward to getting some good injury news this week, as Sal Frelick could be back and Brice Turang should be getting over some knee pain that’s kept him day-to-day recently. Turang in particular has been having a fantastic season so far (Frelick, not so much) and he’s been leading the way with Jake Bauers, Jackson Chourio, Garrett Mitchell and Andrew Vaughn not too far behind in terms of plate production. Milwaukee’s lineup hasn’t really been all that dominant since they last saw the Braves but their pitching staff has been absolutely nails since then. The Brewers as a staff are sitting on an 86 ERA- (3.56 ERA) and an 88 FIP- (3.72 FIP) since they got done with the Braves and that seems like an easy indicator that runs could be coming at a premium during this series.

Boy, ESPN really lucked out by getting these two for the Little League Classic, right?

Friday, August 21 at 4:10 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Saturday, August 22 at 2:10 p.m. ET (BravesVision)
Sunday, August 23 at 7:10 p.m. ET (ESPN)

The Dodgers technically had a winning week, but did so in such underwhelming fashion thanks to an offense that hasn’t pulled its weight for nearly two months.

Los Angeles scored six and five runs in the first two games of their sweep of the last-place Kansas City Royals, needing a 10th inning on Tuesday to get the fifth run across. The Dodgers topped out at four runs for the rest of the week, including in dropping three of four games to the best-in-NL Milwaukee Brewers.

The Dodgers averaged under four runs per game last week, and they’ve averaged just 3.33 runs through 15 games in August. It’s no wonder they are just 5-10 during that time. The offense has been similarly underwhelming dating all the way back to July 1, averaging just 397 runs per game since then, 22nd in MLB, with a 91 wRC+ that ranks 22nd.

The starting pitching was perfectly fine and downright stable last week, with six starts of at least six innings and a collective 3.05 ERA. The only start under six innings was on Monday by Tarik Skubal, who said Sunday of his three starts with the Dodgers, “It’s not acceptable, it’s not the standard of what I think I’m capable of in this league. I just need to be better.”

The Dodgers might have gotten out of the week at 5-2 and a series split with the Brewers — which would have also secured the season series with Milwaukee and a potential tiebreaker — were it not for Edwin Díaz’s blown save on Thursday.

But they simply aren’t playing well enough and aren’t scoring enough runs to give them any margin of error. They’ve got six more weeks to figure that out or else they might have more free time in October than they planned.

The problem is every Dodgers game is close, except when they get blown out. On the season the Dodgers have 27 blowout wins, victories with a margin of at least five runs, only one fewer than the Chicago Cubs for most in MLB. But only one of those blowout wins have come since July 3. During that time, all 29 other MLB teams have multiple such wins, with an average of five per team other than the one paltry victory in the last 37 games for the Dodgers, who have lost five blowouts during that span.

Great teams blow out other teams. The Dodgers haven’t been great in nearly two months. At 18-21 since the start of July, they haven’t even been good.

Batter of the week

Max Muncy was opportunistic with his hits last week, driving in eight runs. His three-run double turned around Monday’s game, then he delivered the walk-off single on Tuesday. His pinch-hit home run on Thursday was his 131st career at Dodger Stadium, breaking Eric Karros’s regular season record in the 65-year history of the ballpark. Muncy also homered on Sunday to tie the game.

Kudos as well to Mookie Betts, who homered twice, doubled twice, and led the team with eight hits.

Pitcher of the week

Blake Snell returned after three months on the injured list and was much better than expected right out of the gate, with 10 strikeouts in six innings while allowing just one run. If you’re looking for potential positives heading into October, having a healthy Snell thriving is near the top of the wish list.

Week 21 results

4-3 record
25 runs scored (3.57 per game)
27 runs allowed (3.86 per game)
.465 pythagorean win percentage

Year to date

74-51 record
616 runs scored (4.93 per game)
480 runs allowed (3.84 per game)
.612 pythagorean win percentage (77-48)

Miscellany

Full game a long time coming: After being sidelined for most of the previous two seasons while battling cancer and a debilitating back injury, Charley Steiner has enjoyed a pleasant return to the Dodgers radio booth this season. He started out calling the first game of each home series, and has occasionally increased to every other day on some homestands. In the early part of the season, Steiner would call the first three innings of the game before gradually increasing to six innings for the last five weeks or so. But on Saturday against the Brewers, Steiner called the entire game, all nine innings. As Steiner gleefully shared before the game, this was his first full game in the booth since the 2023 NLDS. To date, Steiner has called 25 home games this season. Here’s to as many more as his health will allow.

Opportunistic running: Shohei Ohtani singled in the seventh inning on Monday night against Kansas City, then stole second with Andy Pages at the plate, the first steal for Ohtani since May 16, then scored the winning run on Freddie Freeman’s single. Ohtani went 67 games in between stolen bases, and he only attempted one steal in the 62 games leading up to Monday’s swipe, understandable he’s been dealing with left knee inflammation since June that’s kept him off the mound since July 3.

New ‘Legend’ welcomed: On Saturday, outfielder Reggie Smith was inducted into the Legends of Dodger Baseball. The switch-hitting, seven-time All-Star won three pennants in Los Angeles and finished fourth in National League MVP voting in his first two full years with the Dodgers. “There’s nothing he couldn’t do on a baseball field,” Dusty Baker said of Smith during the ceremony.

Multi-position man: On Thursday against Milwaukee, Kiké Hernández started at third base, moved to second base in the seventh inning, then moved to left field in the eighth. It’s just the fourth game in Dodgers history that someone played those three positions in the same game, joining Howie Kendrick (twice in 2016) and Chris Taylor (2024).

Transactions

aka the regular Jonathan Hernández and Charlie Barnes section

Monday: Right-hander Seth Halvorsen was called up to make his Dodgers debut, and Charlie Barnes was called back up. Kyle Hurt was optioned and Jonathan Hernández was designated for assignment.

Tuesday: Three months after left elbow surgery, Blake Snell was activated off the 60-day injured list. Barnes was optioned, and Blake Treinen was moved to the 60-day injured list.

Wednesday: Landon Knackwas called up, and Halvorsen was optioned.

Thursday: After an eight-out, bullpen-resetting save, Knack was optioned. Hernández, who cleared waivers, was sent outright to Triple-A and elected free agency, signed a new deal with the Dodgers and was added back to the roster. Barnes was designated for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster.

Sunday: Justin Wrobleski got a rest in the form of forearm inflammation, and Hurt got called back from Oklahoma City.

Game results

• Monday: Dodgers 6, Royals 5
• Tuesday: Dodgers 5, Royals 4 (10 innings)
• Wednesday: Dodgers 4, Royals 2
• Thursday: Brewers 5, Dodgers 4
• Friday: Dodgers 3, Brewers 1
• Saturday: Brewers 4, Dodgers 1
• Sunday: Brewers 6, Dodgers 2

Player	PA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BA/OBP/SLG
Betts	25	3	8	2	2	4	.333/.360/.667
Muncy	24	2	6	2	2	8	.273/.366/.636
Rojas	11	3	2	2	0	0	.250/.455/.500
Call	8	2	3	1	0	1	.375/.375/.500
Feduccia	14	2	4	1	1	1	.286/.286/.571
Ohtani	29	4	7	2	1	4	.250/.276/.500
Pages	29	3	6	0	2	2	.231/.310/.462
T.Hernández	20	0	5	1	0	1	.263/.300/.316
Edman	24	3	4	0	1	1	.182/.250/.318
Freeman	24	1	4	0	0	2	.190/.292/.190
Rortvedt	7	0	1	0	0	1	.143/.143/.143
Tucker	22	2	0	0	0	0	.000/.136/.000
K.Hernández	6	0	0	0	0	0	.000/.000/.000
Totals	243	25	50	11	9	25	.223/.284/.402

Pitcher	Record	IP	H	R	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
Lauer	1-0	6.3	4	2	2	6	1.42	0.947
Snell	0-0	6	3	1	1	10	1.50	0.667
Yamamoto	1-0	6	4	1	2	9	1.50	1.000
Sasaki	0-0	6	4	2	5	2	3.00	1.500
Skubal	0-1	11	11	5	4	13	3.27	1.364
Wrobleski	0-1	6	4	4	1	6	600	0.833
Hernández	0-0	3	1	0	1	2	0.00	0.667
Knack	0-0, Sv	2.7	2	0	0	2	0.00	0.750
Scott	0-0	2.3	1	0	1	4	0.00	0.857
Hurt	0-0	1.3	1	2	1	3	0.00	1.500
Halvorsen	1-0	1	0	0	1	0	0.00	1.000
Vesia	0-0	2.7	3	1	2	2	3.38	1.875
Henriquez	0-0	2.3	1	1	1	2	3.86	0.857
Dreyer	1-0	3.3	3	2	2	6	5.40	1.500
Díaz	0-1, 2 Sv	2.7	4	3	2	4	10.13	2.250
Phillips	0-0	1.3	3	3	1	1	13.50	3.000
Totals	4-3	64	49	27	27	72	3.09	1.188

Previous reviews: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11| Week 12 | Week 13 | no reviews for Weeks 14-15 | Week 16 | Week 17 | Week 18 | Week 19 | Week 20

Up next

The Dodgers run the Corey Dickerson gauntlet, going back on the road briefly to Coors Field to finish their 13 game days in a row, then return home for an equally-short homestand, hosting the Pittsburgh Pirates next weekend. Saturday’s game is another exclusive Fox telecast recently added to the network’s schedule.

Mon, 8/10	Tue, 8/11	Wed, 8/12	Thu, 8/13	Fri, 8/14	Sat, 8/15	Sun, 8/16
at Rockies	at Rockies	at Rockies	OFF	Pirates	Pirates	Pirates
5:40	5:40	5:40		7:10	4:15	1:10
Snell	Lauer	Sasaki		Yamamoto	Skubal	Snell
Sugano	Feltner	Freeland*		Chandler	Jones	Mlodzinski
SNLA	SNLA	SNLA		SNLA	Fox	SNLA

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Happy Monday! It's a lighter slate today, but there's still a whole lot to attack.

Join me as I break down three of my favorite MLB player propsfor Aug. 17, including why I expect Bobby Witt Jr. to go nuclear. 

Best MLB player props today

Tomoyuki Sugano Under 3.5 strikeouts (-173)

Before you ball up that fist after seeing this price, just know you can take the Under 2.5 at plus-money, or pair this prop with one of the others listed in this article.

However, Colorado Rockies right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano enters with the lowest matchup strikeout rate on Batters-Box. He's stayed Under this prop 63% of the time in 19 poorly-rated matchups. Sugano has also stayed Under this number in his last six poorly-rated strikeout ratings.

The Los Angeles Dodgers own the fourth-lowest road strikeout rate at just 20.7%. Sugano owns just a 13.33% strikeout rate inside Coors Field.

The Dodgers need to get back on track, and Sugano is the punching bag they need. Just don't take this any higher than it is.

• Time: 8:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: SNLA, COLR

Shota Imanaga Over 2.5 earned runs (+125)

Chicago Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga enters Monday drawing one of the highest-rated lineups on the slate. The Chicago White Sox have the third-highest-rated offense on the day, according to Batters-Box's current-season dataset, which features four elite-rated hitters.

The White Sox have started to heat back up offensively following a big weekend in Detroit. Over their last six games, they own a 148 wRC+, .385 wOBA and .888 OPS.

Imanaga's last three starts also feature some underlying metrics the White Sox could look to exploit this evening. For starters, he is allowing a nearly 15% barrel rate and an 81.6% elevation rate, while opposing hitters own a .527 xSLG.

This feels like a strong spot for the White Sox to make another statement against the North Siders.

Playable down to +110, or take the White Sox first five team total Over 1.5 at -130 range.

• Time: 8:05 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: CHSN, Marquee

Bobby Witt Jr. Over 1.5 total bases (-119)

The second-highest-rated hitter on the day over at Batters-Box happens to be the heart and soul of Kansas City, Mr. Bobby Witt Jr. The Kansas City Royals star covers nearly 80% of Athletics right-hander Mason Barnett's pitch mix.

In nearly 30 elite ratings at home, Witt Jr. surpasses this prop over 55% of the time, and has done so in seven of his last 10 elite ratings at home.

Across his last 30 plate appearances against right-handed pitching, the Royals shortstop sports a .333 BA, .519 SLG, .919 OPS, and 52.25% hard-hit rate.

On the other side, Barnett has been getting crushed by right-handed hitters, allowing a 23.5% barrel rate and 23.5% ground-ball rate, while they own a .360 xBA, .811 xSLG, and .412 xwOBA.

At -119, this price is worth paying. Take this down to -130.

• Time: 7:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: ROYL, NBCSCA

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A disappointing series defeat at the hands of the Colorado Rockies to finish of a homestand that had a lot of promising moments left a sour taste in the mouths of a lot of Dbacks fans and gave some a reason to be less than optimistic that the next series would be better as they would go from facing one of the worst teams in the NL to the second best team record wise in the Atlanta Braves.

The offense would have to turn things around and start coming up with more hits in crucial opportunities with runners in scoring position as the Braves and their top 10 offense would be one that could be hard to go toe to toe with, but the Dbacks would at least have their 3 best starters toeing the rubber and giving them their best shot at limiting Atlanta’s fire power.

Big Game Brandon

With the offense ending the homestand with a brutal 3-12 w/ RISP and 15 base runners left on in a 6-4 loss against Colorado, the bats decided it would be even funnier a second time (spoiler, it wasn’t) and went 0-14 in their run scoring opportunities and leaving 10 runners on in Friday’s affair and doing it with potential Cy Young winner and future Hall of Famer in Chris Sale would not be the best recipe for success.

Going back to Tuesday nights 3-2 loss vs the Rockies, the Diamondbacks offense has combined to go 3-30 with runners in scoring position and have stranded 30 base runners

— DBacks Dispatch (@DbacksDispatch) August 15, 2026

Thankfully for the offense and Diamondbacks fans’ sanity, that lack of clutch hitting would not be the talk of the game, as that honor would go to Brandon Pfaadt with his 7 shutout innings while allowing only 2 hits, striking out 7 and walking none. This would be the 4th straight start in which Pfaadt would not allow an earned run thus lowering his ERA on the season to 3.11 (was at 5.92 before his demotion to Triple A Reno) and his ERA since being recalled to 1.18.

After back-to-back starts in which Brandon Pfaadt outmeated both Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Chris Sale and blanking 2 top 10 offenses in all of baseball, the fellas and I discussed if this version of Brandon Pfaadt is truly his new evolution and not just a hot stretch for the righty.

Gabe mentioned that this isn’t like a starter who has a low ERA but their underlying metrics that would suggest they are getting lucky and would be due for some regression, Pfaadt has a FIP of 3.80 and an expected ERA of 3.58, showing that he has truly just been that effective since being recalled. Brandon was in agreement with Gabe but also mentioned what even Pfaadt acknowledged on Saturday’s broadcast, that being how the whole team deserves praise, from James McCann and Gabriel Moreno calling the games from behind to dish, the coaching staff for working with him and his mechanical changes to the pitching strategies and analytics that they use to setup each game plan for these offenses.

Corbin Quad-roll

Its been no secret to Diamondbacks fans or any baseball fan that has been paying attention throughout 2026 but Corbin Carroll has been going through one of the worst stretches we’ve seen since his sophomore slump in 2024 as his numbers since June 1st has Corbin’s slash at  .217/.315/.458 for a .773 OPS and a 108 wRC+. The OPS and wRC+ would usually be really solid numbers and one that most fans would take in a heartbeat, but when you consider his .287/.381/.535 for a .916 OPS and a 148 wRC+ from Opening Day through May 31st it really puts into perspective just how much of a drop Corbin’s offensive numbers have seen.

With these struggles in mind, we discussed the actual possibility that Corbin could be the 4th player in MLB post integration to have a 20/20/20/20 season (SB, 2B’s, 3B’s and HR’s) and why that mark would be so impressive when you factor in his mid season slump. Corbin ended this series in Atlanta sitting at 17 steals, 26 doubles, 15 triples and 18 home runs, which means that with around 6 weeks left to play there is a really good chance that Corbin could make it a possibility.

Gabe, Brandon and I all pointed out that this upcoming series against the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park could be a great opportunity for Carroll to add on a few more triples and home runs thanks to the park’s dimensions that can play in favor of Corbin. Gabe mentioned that the 420 foot corner in Right-Center field could be Corbin’s best place to aim at in hopes of triples, while Brandon notes that the short right field wall and “Pesky’s Pole” measuring just 302 FT from home plate sit as the best place for Corbin to potentially add a few more homers and get to 20 before leaving Boston.

With 3 left handed starters slated to take the bump for Boston in this 3 game series, that could be another boost for Corbin to boost up those stats as he has crushed left handed pitching this entire season with him slashing .426/.481/.691 with 5 triples for a 1.172 OPS and a 216 wRC+ in 77 at-bats.

Arena-Doesn’t Look Good

Outside of Sunday’s unfortunate 3-5 loss that not only denied the Snakes of a series sweep but also saw them drop a game in the Wild Card race to the Phillies and Padres who are going blow for blow and win for win with the Diamondbacks, the Dbacks could have potentially lost Nolan Arenado at a time that they really can’t afford to lose the future first ballot Hall of Famer.

After a groundout to end the 4th inning the veteran 3rd baseman was replaced in the field with utility man Ildemaro Vargas as fans would hold their breath that whatever was wrong with Nolan was just a small tweak or something that was more of a precautionary move. What was originally reported as “left trunk discomfort” was then clarified by D’backs longtime reporter Jody Jackson to be an intercostal muscle concern and that Arenado would get an MRI to diagnose the severity of the injury.

Nolan Arenado is worried it’s an intercostal muscle, will have MRI

— Jody Jackson (@Jody_Jackson) August 16, 2026

An injury of this type could mean that Arenado could potentially miss anywhere from 2 weeks to 3+ months due to the severity of the strain.

This had the fellas and I hoping that this was more of a precautionary move and that Nolan could miss minimal time, but if the injury is more serious than we expect then we all agreed that this could potentially be a blow that we look back on and go “yeah that’s when things started to slip away from us”. The production that the Dbacks have gotten out of Arenado this year would be one that would be hard to replace both offensively (20 HR, 62 RBI and a .768 OPS) and defensively (3rd least amount of errors and 7th overall in OAA among all third baseman in baseball).

We all agreed that lacking his offense would hurt no doubt, but lacking his defensive ability at third might be the most noticeable change since guys like TIm Tawa, Illdemaro Vargas or even Jose Fernandez (if recalled from Reno) can be serviceable replacements, but we might see those tough plays that Nolan converted into outs or those for sure doubles he turned into infield singles could be something that we miss and might even be the difference in a win or loss, and we all know how critical every win is in this close NL Wild Card Race.

Heading up to Bahston

The Diamondbacks road trip doesn’t get any easier going forward as they head into Beantown for a 3 game matchup against the red hot Red Sox, who own the best record in all of baseball (29-11) since July 1st. The Red Sox have 2 really solid LH starters going for theme in Ranger Suarez (3.25 ERA) and Peyton Tolle (2.97 ERA), but Brandon mentioned that the Boston Starters are where the Snakes will have to rely on most of their damaging being done, as the Red Sox have the best ERA from relievers in all of Major League Baseball with a 2.98 mark.

It may be a tough task ahead for The Diamondbacks but as we’ve seen from them over the last week and a half, they have proven that they can hang with some of the best teams in baseball and were just a few clutch hits here and there from sweeps of both the Dodgers and the Braves, so there is hope for the D’Backs to continue their winning ways and keep pace with the Phillies and Padres.

Give It Away, Give It Away, Give It Away Now!

We also wanted to remind everyone that we did officially announce the big Dispatch Giveaway that includes a baseball bat signed by Paul Goldschmidt (JSA Authenticated), 3 Giveaway Hats, 3 Replica jerseys and 3 Dbacks baseball cards that one lucky winner will receive. The winner will be announced before the first pitch of Friday’s game against the Cincinnati Reds, so if you haven’t yet entered then this tweet below will provide you with all the information needed to get yourself a chance to add to your Dbacks collection!

🚨ITS TIME FOR A DISPATCH GIVEAWAY 🚨

One lucky winner is going to be getting *all 12* items to show off their Diamondbacks fandom!

Giveaway items include:
– Paul Goldschmidt signed bat (JSA authenticated)
– Ketel Marte bobblehead
– Eugenio Suarez bobblehead
– 3 Replica Jerseys… pic.twitter.com/6MnO74cbAN

— DBacks Dispatch (@DbacksDispatch) August 14, 2026