Category: Baseball

The Athletic | Brendan Kuty: I wish I believed in anything as much as Aaron Boone believes the Yankees’ offensive woes will just magically fix themselves. Since Tuesday, the day their big trade deadline acquisitions made their debuts, the Yankees have scored just 12 runs in five games. Boone acknowledges this team can be really good but needs the offense to improve in order to get there as the starting pitching, at least, has held things down extremely admirably. Yet, there doesn’t seem to be any answer to the problem outside of hoping and praying Aaron Judge returns as soon as possible.

MLB Trade Rumors | Mark Polishuk: Some notes from around the AL East, but the key point of focus here is Aaron Judge being cleared to begin some upper-body training and light running drills earlier this week. While he’s still got a long way to go and there’s still no timetable for his return, it’s at least some glimmer of hope that hadn’t previously been there for a long time. Though, Brian Cashman reiterated yesterday that he will need to be 100% before they think of bringing him back as they don’t want to risk him injuring something else in a rush to come and save this team. Some of those words are paraphrasing by yours truly, but that’s the gist of it.

MLB.com | MLB.com Staff: When the Yankees signed Antonio Gomez as an international free agent in 2018, they did so as a catcher. Eight years later, Gomez was making his season debut for Single-A Tampa as a pitcher and came out dealing. Ranked with a 70-grade arm, Gomez threw a scoreless inning in relief, averaging 99.9 mph on his fastball and touched or passed 100 mph five times in his 15 pitches of work. Though he transitioned to the mound last season while with Double-A Somerset, he was hurt to start the year, thus making his debut in Tampa.

NJ.com | Keith Sargeant: It’s always a cringeworthy moment when a bat or ball makes its way out of the playing surface and strikes someone. That’s exactly what happened earlier in June when a New Jersey woman was attending a game against the Cleveland Guardians. She’s now suing the Yankees, Yankee Stadium, and companies that her complaint identifies as being involved with the stadium’s protective netting system, for what’s described as “preventable” injuries. They claim the netting was lower in her section than others after a José Ramírez bat made its way into the stands.

Turkish Super Lig club Corum are discussing the final details with Rangers for the transfer of Mohamed Diomande, with the 24-year-old midfielder expected in Istanbul on Monday for a medical and contract talks. (Ertan Suzgun on X)

Corum are closing in on a move to sign Rangers midfielder Mohamed Diomande for a fee of around £4.5m. (Rangers Review)

Çorum have made an official offer of £4.8m to Rangers for Mohamed Diomande. (Yagis Sabuncuoglu on X)

The bid rejected by Rangers for striker Youssef Chermiti was from Galatasaray for £22m, which would have been a club record sale. (Rangers Review)

Frosinone's asking price of £17.1m for Farès Ghedjemis has coolled the interest of quite a few clubs, including Rangers, in the 23-year-old winger. (Foot Mercato)

Rangers are exploring a deal for 20-year-old Aston Villa right-back Kosta Nedeljkovic. (Daily Record)

Rangers are considering taking Serbia right-back Kosta Nedeljkovic from Aston Villa on a season-long loan. (The Herald)

PSV Eindhoven head coach Peter Bosz insists Rangers transfer target Couhaib Driouech was left out of their Eredivisie opener against Fortuna Sittard due to a lack of fitness as the Ibrox club look to strike a £7m deal. (Daily Record)

After having a £6m bid rejected, Rangers remain in talks with PSV Eindhoven over a deal for 24-year-old winger Couhaib Driouech, with Burnley and Celta Vigo also interested. (Sky Sports)

Read the rest of Monday's Scottish gossip.

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

The San Diego Padres fanbase has been through a lot this season. It started with early season reports that San Diego had the worst farm system in the MLB. That transitioned to an MLB offense that was ranked near the bottom of the league in every statistical category, a pitching rotation decimated by injury and a patchwork of arms that was unwatchable at times. Despite all of that, rookie manager Craig Stammen had his team playing well and at one point 11 games over .500. Talk at the time was that how the Padres were winning games was unsustainable. Then the crashed happened. San Diego hit the skids and had a losing streak that saw them fall below .500 as the team headed into the All-Star break.

Coming out of the break, the conversation among fans, Padres front office personnel and the baseball world turned toward what the team should do at the MLB Trade Deadline. The Padres had hoped to come out of the All-Star break and jump right into a winning streak that would compel San Diego president of baseball operations and general manager to buy at the deadline, or at the very least keep what was in place. Instead, the Padres dropped two games to the Kansas City Royals and three games to the Atlanta Braves and started their post-All-Star road trip 2-5 heading into a three-game series at Miami.

The Padres went on to sweep the Marlins and finished their road trip 5-5 and headed back to San Diego for a homestand against the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants. There was still no indication what the Padres would do at the deadline and with a two-game sweep of the Rockies and taking three out of four games against the Giants, Preller and his team became buyers. However, there was still talk San Diego could try to be a buyer and possibly sell some pieces to improve the poorly ranked farm system. By the time the deadline had come and passed, the Padres had acquired two of the top starters available and a utility player and kept the roster intact.

San Diego added starters Robbie Ray, who had just got the win for San Francisco when the two teams met, and Casey Mize and Gage Workman from the Detroit Tigers. It was good to see Preller address the rotation, which proved to be the most glaring need at the deadline, but he paid the price for adding two rental arms, further depleting his farm system. Some people were unhappy with the decision not to trade players in the final years of their contracts like Adrian Morejon or Ty France. Some were unhappy that players with options at the end of the year like Michael King were not traded. But throughout baseball Preller and the Padres were lauded for the work they did at the Trade Deadline.

The Padres Reacts Survey question from this week asked respondents to give their take on the deadline moves. There were multiple options to choose from, including “Great,” “Good,” “Fair,” “Poor,” and “Terrible.” The majority were right in the middle with no one getting too high and no one getting too low. After seeing the first two starts from Ray and Mize the responses might look different, but both players were out of routine and are expected to bounce back in their next outings. The Padres, Preller and the Friar Faithful all hope so or this could turn into one of the worst deadlines of Preller’s tenure.

Brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook, the official sportsbook partner of SB Nation.

The Yankees keep waiting for Jazz Chisholm Jr. to take off.

With 44 games left in the season, it has yet to actually happen.

At a time when the Yankees are going through a brutal stretch offensively — including Sunday’s 2-1, 10-inning loss to the Braves — without Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton, they could sorely use someone to spark the lineup. Chisholm has the skill set to make that happen, except he has not been able to put things together consistently all season, finishing Sunday batting .216 with a .691 OPS through 109 games.

“I think all year, just struggling to really get dialed in,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s never had that real hot streak, which he’s certainly capable of. We’ve seen over the last couple years, where it’s two, three, four weeks of impactful damage, speed, getting on, things like that.”

Chisholm went 1-for-3 with a walk Sunday (while also committing a throwing error on a chopper-turned-infield-single that he could not cleanly grip out of his glove).

Though he is certainly not alone in his offensive struggles, the pending free agent is as capable as anyone on the Yankees of single-handedly changing a game.

He just has not been able to do it often enough.

“I’ve been feeling OK,” Chisholm said. “Hit it hard, get out. Sometimes not even making contact. But every day, going out there and grinding, trying to make things happen for the team.”

After throwing 48 pitches in 2 ²/₃ innings Saturday night in his first rehab start with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Carlos Rodón (left elbow inflammation) will likely make another this week before returning to the Yankees.

“I watched his outing this morning, thought he looked pretty good, thought he threw the ball pretty well,” Boone said. “So I would assume we’ll probably have another one for him at least.”

Cody Bellinger, now two weeks removed from suffering a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, has been running and hitting, though it is unclear if he could beat the four-to-six week timeline he was given.

“It seems like he’s doing pretty well, but until we get to that finish line …” Boone said.

Clarke Schmidt, who experienced forearm cramping during his live bullpen session Tuesday, has played catch but has yet to throw a bullpen session since then.

“I think we’re good, but we got to get to that point where he’s back on the mound, which hopefully is the next couple days,” Boone said.

Giancarlo Stanton (right calf strain) did some more running in the outfield Sunday at what appeared to be a pretty good intensity, but he still did not run the bases.

Anthony Volpe got his first start at second base at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday night and handled all three ground balls hit to him cleanly. He was back at shortstop Sunday as he gets eased into the new position that could be how he gets back to the big leagues, whether that is this year or next.

Chris Sale, apparently still annoyed at the balk called on him Saturday that scored the go-ahead run, was ejected before first pitch Sunday.

PITTSBURGH — Robert Stock’s rough most recent performance likely won’t prevent him from remaining in the Mets rotation.

Interim manager Andy Green indicated Sunday that he was leaning toward sticking with Stock, who allowed eight earned runs over three innings against the Pirates the previous night. The right-hander was pitching for the Mets for the second time since undergoing surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome during spring training.

“I think more than likely we’re anticipating him making his next start,” Green said before the Mets beat the Pirates 11-1 at PNC Park. “We’re still kind of being a little bit patient before fully committing to it.”

The Mets have Christian Scott, Nolan McLean and Zac Thornton aligned to face the Braves over the next three days. Thursday is a scheduled off-day, giving Green the option of skipping Stock’s rotation spot Friday. But Green said he would like to keep deploying five starters.

“I don’t think [skipping] is our best choice given the load a lot of the young guys have carried into their first full season in the big leagues,” Green said. “As much as we would like to get those guys back on the mound quickly, the extra day is good for them.”

Stock, 36, allowed one earned run over five innings against the Marlins in his first start for the Mets.

Carson Benge returned to the lineup after missing Saturday’s game with a bone bruise in his left wrist. Benge finished 2-for-5 with an RBI, reaching base three times.

Jack Weisenburger pitched the final two innings scoreless in his major league debut and allowed one hit with two strikeouts. The right-hander was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse on Sunday to give the Mets a fresh arm — Xzavion Curry was optioned.

“He’s worked really hard to get here and anytime you see a debut and it goes well like that, it’s amazing to see,” Sean Manaea said.

Weisenburger became the eighth Mets player this season to debut in the major leagues, joining Benge, A.J. Ewing, Nick Morabito, Thornton, Matt Seelinger, Nate Lavender and Jefry Yan.

The Cincinnati Reds just got swept by a Washington Nationals club that was behind them on the periphery of the National League Wild Card standings at the outset of the series. It’s a Nats club that just spent the last two weeks selling off pieces of importance to other clubs as they prepped for the future, a club with clearly more intent on both short and long term determination to be comfortable in their own dealings than the Reds.

Cincinnati is now 5 games under .500, again. They are back in last place in the NL Central and 6.0 games out of the final Wild Card spot, again with 6 teams they’d need to leapfrog to get there with a miracle. And they are devoid of Hunter Greene, again, as he’s now out for the rest of 2026 (and likely all of 2027, too).

With any last ditch effort at postseason ball now completely in the crapper, here’s what Cincinnati Reds fans have to look forward to for the rest of the season.

Chase Burns hitting an innings limit and being shut down

The brightest of bright spots on the 2026 club has been Chase Burns, who has emerged fully as a legitimate ace and signed a long-term contract to be part of the club for a long, long time.

He’s going to hit an innings limit quite soon, though. And when he does, he’ll either be shifted to a sparingly-used reliever or shut down altogether.

Cool!

Zero top pitching prospects being called up

The Cincinnati Reds have no top pitching prospects, and certainly don’t have any in the upper minors who are knocking on the door to get late-season cameos.

So, don’t look forward to that!

Zero top hitting prospects being called-up

We’ve gotten Hector Rodriguez to the roster in the wake of Nathaniel Lowe being dealt away at the deadline, and that’s cool. He’ll hopefully play a whole lot more than Noelvi Marte and TJ Friedl for the remainder of the season, but you never know.

Edwin Arroyo and his .568 OPS will likely be back in September, but will he get a shot to play at all as the club continues to evaluate Matt McLain’s status for the fifth consecutive season?

Alfredo Duno is still at least a year away, and that’s all the Reds have atop their system at the moment. Peaks and valleys, amirite?!

Nick Krall crossing his fingers, arms, toes, legs, and eyes that Ke’Bryan Hayes figures out how to hit a lick

Krall made one of the most egregious mistakes in recent memory in taking Ke’Bryan Hayes (and the $36 million owed to him) off the ledger of the Pittsburgh Pirates a year ago, and the Reds still seem hell bent on letting him get as many PA as he can to show he’s a better hitter than literally any other professional baseball player on the planet even though he is not.

As they do their damnedest to prove that he’s not a sunk cost, expect to see Hayes in the lineup and at 3B more often than you’d like to smell your shoes for the rest of 2026.

Whether Christian Encarnacion-Strand will sock more homers for Baltimore than Hayes will for Cincinnati

CES already has 3 dingers and a 118 OPS+ for the O’s in just 16 games since being promoted to play 3B for them. Hayes, meanwhile, has somehow tripped into 4 dongs for the Reds over the course of his 2026 season.

Who ends up with more for their respective club while manning the hot corner?

Sal Stewart getting to a hundred arby-eyes

Sal Stewart is cool as hell on the baseball field and I love him for it. Hopefully he socks 35 dingers and drives in 120 runs and we all get to re-learn just what it’s like to have a certain sect of baseball fans talk about arby-eyes once more. Don’t you miss the days of that discourse?

Whether ownership decides to do something, anything to alter the miserable direction of the franchise

Oh, will we be watching ever so intently!

The Milwaukee Brewers — fresh off a solid 5-2 homestand to push them to 74-44 on the season — are headed back to the West Coast after visiting the Giants and Angels last week. This time, they’ll face two slightly more formidable opponents in the Padres and Dodgers. First up is San Diego, currently in a fight for an NL Wild Card spot alongside the Phillies and D-backs (among several others). At 62-57, the Padres have turned things on in recent weeks to put themselves firmly into the playoff race.

The Brewers have lost several position players in recent days, as shortstop Cooper Pratt hit the IL on Sunday with a hamstring strain and Joey Ortiz is considered day-to-day with neck tightness. The team also lost prospect Jett Williams, who, in his first at-bat back from injury, re-injured his hand while swinging. Outfielder Sal Frelick is also out, though he’s on his way back as he began a rehab assignment over the weekend. Pitchers Joel Kuhnel (on rehab), JoJo Romero (mid- to late August), Rob Zastryzny (TBD), Brandon Woodruff (out for season), Brian Fitzpatrick (out for season), Quinn Priester (out for season), and Angel Zerpa (out for season) are all on the IL.

San Diego’s injured list currently includes pitchers Joe Musgrove (on rehab), Nick Pivetta (exited rehab outing last week), David Morgan (on rehab), Jason Adam (late August or early September), Lucas Giolito (late August), Bryan Hoeing (out for season), and Yu Darvish (considering retirement). Outfielders Ramón Laureano (likely out for season) and Samad Taylor (close to a rehab assignment) are also out, as well as utility man Miguel Andujar (late August).

Jake Bauers leads Milwaukee with 21 homers, though Jackson Chourio’s four-homer week has him closing in with 21 on the season. Brice Turang, William Contreras, Garrett Mitchell, Andrew Vaughn, Christian Yelich, Ortiz, Luis Lara, and David Hamilton round out the regulars, with Brandon Lockridge, Gary Sánchez, and new addition Jihwan Bae serving as depth. As a team, the Brewers are hitting .253/.337/.398 (.735 OPS ranks seventh), with 109 homers (last), 585 runs (fifth), and 117 steals (fourth).

Despite an ice-cold start offensively, the Padres have turned it around a bit offensively in recent weeks. Manny Machado, who’s hitting just .212 for the year, leads the team with 23 homers, good for a .420 slugging percentage. He’s followed by Jackson Merrill (18 homers), Ty France (16 homers), Gavin Sheets (15 homers), and Fernando Tatis Jr. (11 homers). Xander Bogaerts, Luis Campusano, Freddy Fermin, Jake Cronenworth, recent former Brewer Luis Rengifo round out the regulars, with Austin Hays, Jase Bowen, and Sung-Mun Song, providing depth. As a team, the Padres are hitting .236/.313/.382 (.695 OPS ranks 25th), with 124 homers (20th), 497 runs (22nd), and 119 steals (third).

Aaron Ashby leads the Brewers with 55 appearances and 13 wins this year, as he’s also turned in a solid-but-not-great 3.56 ERA. Abner Uribe (2.05 ERA) and Trevor Megill 92.58 ERA) are once again the anchors of the bullpen, while Chad Patrick (3.32 ERA) provides long relief. With a six-man rotation, the Brewer bullpen is rounded out by DL Hall (2.60 ERA), Antonio Senzatela (7.71 ERA), and recent addition Lyon Richardson (no appearances). As a staff, the Brewers have a 3.47 team ERA (second), including a 3.46 starter ERA (third) and a 3.49 bullpen ERA (fourth). They’ve struck out 1,156 batters (second) over 1,055 2/3 innings.

Closer Mason Miller (0.91 ERA, 29-for-30 in save opportunities) anchors San Diego’s bullpen, with Adrian Morejon (2.89 ERA) also starring. Wandy Peralta (3.45 ERA), Bradgley Rodriguez (2.21 ERA), Yuki Matsui (2.40 ERA), and Jeremiah Estrada (3.55 ERA) have also been solid, with Kyle Hart (4.18 ERA) and Griffin Canning (6.65 ERA) rounding things out. As a staff, the Padres have a 4.18 team ERA (17th), including a 4.69 starter ERA (27th) and a 3.68 bullpen ERA (fifth). They’ve struck out 956 batters (20th) over 1,041 innings.

Probable Pitchers

Monday, August 10 @ 8:40 p.m.: RHP Logan Henderson (6-1, 2.70 ERA, 3.09 FIP) vs. RHP Casey Mize (4-7, 3.40 ERA, 2.81 FIP)

Henderson has made 10 starts for Milwaukee in year No. 2, totaling 50 innings with a 2.70 ERA, 3.09 FIP, and 62 strikeouts. He’s coming off his third consecutive winning performance, as he went six innings on 83 pitches, allowing two runs on four hits and a walk while striking out eight. The right-hander has never pitched against San Diego.

Mize, the No. 1 overall pick by the Tigers back in 2018, was acquired by the Padres at the trade deadline. While he has a solid 3.40 ERA, 2.81 FIP, and 86 strikeouts across 90 innings this season, he got roughed up in his San Diego debut last week, allowing eight runs on nine hits and three walks over just 3 1/3 innings in a loss to the D-backs. Mize has made two starts against Milwaukee, with a 1-1 record, 3.18 ERA, and eight strikeouts over 11 1/3 innings. That includes a winning performance this year, as he went six frames with one run allowed and seven strikeouts.

Tuesday, August 11 @ 8:40 p.m.: LHP Kyle Harrison (9-2, 2.84 ERA, 2.90 FIP) vs. RHP Walker Buehler (6-5, 5.07 ERA, 4.37 FIP)

Harrison, who made his return from the IL last week, has made 18 starts for Milwaukee this season, totaling 88 2/3 innings with a 2.84 ERA, 2.90 FIP, and 111 strikeouts, good for second on the team behind Jacob Misiorowski’s 204. Harrison went five scoreless innings before being pulled due to calf cramps in his return from the IL, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out 10 on 69 pitches. The left-hander has made four career starts against San Diego, with a 5.57 ERA and 20 strikeouts over 21 innings, though his best outing came as a Brewer back in May, when he went five scoreless innings with seven strikeouts to pick up the win.

Buehler, a former star with the Dodgers, has struggled since missing the entire 2023 season due to injury. He’s made 23 starts for San Diego this year, with a 5.07 ERA, 4.37 FIP, and 95 strikeouts across 108 1/3 innings pitched. The 32-year-old righty went four innings against Arizona his last time out, allowing one run on six hits and a walk while striking out three. Buehler has made three regular season appearances against Milwaukee in his career, all while with Los Angeles. In those games, he’s 1-1 with a 2.93 ERA and 21 strikeouts across 15 1/3 innings.

Wednesday, August 12 @ 3:10 p.m.: RHP Dustin May (6-7, 4.30 ERA, 3.26 FIP) vs. LHP Robbie Ray (10-7, 3.24 ERA, 4.49 FIP)

May, who was acquired at last week’s trade deadline from the Cardinals, has a 4.30 ERA, 3.26 FIP, and 111 strikeouts across 115 innings this season. He made his Brewer debut against the Pirates last week, spinning six innings with two runs allowed on three hits and three walks, striking out five en route to his first win in a Milwaukee uniform. The right-hander is a familiar foe of the Padres from his time with the Dodgers, as he’s made 15 appearances (12 starts) totaling 79 innings with a 3-5 record, 3.30 ERA, and 69 strikeouts. That includes two starts while with the Cardinals this season, totaling 15 innings with three runs allowed (two earned) and 16 strikeouts, including a complete game, one-hit, one-walk shutout in June.

Ray, another trade deadline acquisition (from the Giants), has also made one start since joining the Padres. He wet five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits and five walks, striking out two in a loss. The left-hander has 23 appearances (22 starts) this season, with a 3.24 ERA, 4.49 FIP, and 109 strikeouts over 127 2/3 innings, and he also has a league-worst 62 walks issued (he led the NL with 73 a year ago). Ray has made six starts against Milwaukee, with a 3-1 record, 2.62 ERA, and 42 strikeouts over 34 1/3 innings, including a pair of no-decisions while with San Francisco last year (10 innings, five earned runs, four strikeouts).

How to Watch & Listen

Monday, August 10: Brewers TV; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Tuesday, August 11: Brewers TV; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Wednesday, August 12: Brewers TV; listen via radio on the Brewers Radio Network (620 WTMJ in Milwaukee)

Prediction

The Padres have played better in recent weeks, especially on offense, but the Brewers are still the better team. Give me Milwaukee to eke out two of three.

PITTSBURGH — Bo Bichette drew a fifth inning walk for his only plate appearance Sunday without a hit.

“We’ll give him one more,” interim manager Andy Green joked after the 11-1 victory over the Pirates at PNC Park. “He had five and I think he shouldn’t have walked and set his career high and gotten six hits.”

Bichette’s 5-for-5 performance with three RBIs led a lineup that has produced at a high level on this road trip, helping the Mets win five of six games.

Bichette, who owns a mediocre .685 OPS — certainly not what the Mets envisioned when signing him to a three-year contract worth $126 million — has waited much of the season for a day like Sunday.

“It’s definitely not up to my standards, for sure,” Bichette said of his season. “I had two really bad months that I can’t take back, so right now I am just focused on being the best version of myself, finishing strong.”

Bichette’s first-inning single loaded the bases with nobody out, helping the Mets establish an early 2-0 lead. He singled again in the third and was on base when Luis Robert Jr. blasted a two-run homer. In the fourth, Bichette delivered a bases-loaded double that accounted for his three RBIs. Following his walk in the fifth, he concluded his day with a double and a single.

The Mets received a homer from Francisco Alvarez and three hits from Jared Young in winning a second straight series. Bichette had a key hit in Cleveland on Wednesday, when he stroked a go-ahead single in the 10th inning that stood as the margin of victory.

Bichette was asked about the team’s collective mindset following the Mets becoming sellers before last Monday’s trade deadline.

“I think the trade deadline was kind of a turn-the-page moment,” Bichette said. “It’s in everybody’s best interest to come out here and try to get better every day, try to win, become a better team, become better individuals. That is our focus.”

Bichette has prided himself on his ability to make contact throughout his career, and Sunday’s performance underscored that aspect of his game.

“It’s always been part of my game, but I think you get in trouble when you chase them,” Bichette said. “But it’s something I look at for sure.”

PHOENIX — So much for that.

A day after the Dodgers snapped their season-worst seven-game losing streak, they picked up another “L” on Sunday, losing 4-2 to the Diamondbacks.

Manager Dave Roberts challenged his hitters to play up to their talent level, but what he got was more of the same, as LA was kept in check by Diamondbacks starter Eduardo Rodriguez.

The Dodgers were limited to two runs and five hits over seven innings by Rodriguez, and they finished the game with six hits.

The two-time defending World Series champions scored seven runs in their three games in Arizona. They have averaged five runs per game, but that number has dropped to 3.2 over their last nine contests.

“I think this series it was very clear that we weren’t hitting the fastball, and we were exposing ourselves to the changeup with the secondary specifically,” Roberts said. 

The Dodgers will start a couple of two-time Cy Young Award winners in Tarik Skubal and Blake Snell over the next two days when they host the Royals, but the quality of their pitching won’t matter if they continue hitting like this.

“Are the Royals going to exploit the fastball that we’re not hitting and the changeup below?” Roberts said. “I don’t know. But we have to make adjustments. I think, for me, that’s sort of what I see as a group — we’re just not making adjustments.”

Justin Wrobleski put the Dodgers in a 4-0 hole after two innings, but the bullpen kept them in the game. With the team down by two runs, Andy Pages led off the eighth inning with a single, only for Freddie Freeman to ground into a double play.

The Dodgers have grounded into 99 double plays this season, the most in the majors.

“It’s baseball, ups and downs,” Freeman said. “We’re just going through it. No one’s worried here.”

Roberts shared his sentiments.

“We’ve still got a really good ballclub,” Roberts said. “There’s certainly [no] panic.”

That doesn’t mean there isn’t urgency.

Following his team’s 2-1, 10-inning win Saturday, Roberts demanded more offensive production.

“I think it’s hard to win when your margin for winning is a razor’s edge,” he said. “It’s not like guys aren’t trying, but it’s a tough way to pitch when you have to be perfect.

“We’re just better than this. As we always say, it’s not a try league. We gotta get it done.” 

Fernando Tatis is hot and the Padres are riding the wave.    In a rubber match affair on Peacock, San Diego won by a final score of 7-2.     The loss means that Houston still hasn’t claimed a series at Petco since 2015.   

It took Tatis until May 30th to register his first home run of the season.    However, after Sunday Night, he now has 11 for the year and has hit 3 home runs in his last 5 games.    In the bottom of the fourth inning, Tatis would deposit a change up from Cristian Javier (L, 1-3) into the left field stands, putting the Padres ahead by a score of 4-2, and they’d never trail again.     For the night, Javier would go five innings, allow 8 hits and 4 earned runs.   

One bright spot in the loss was Daulton Varsho.    Varsho entered Sunday night on a 2-18 skid since joining the club at last week’s deadline.    He would launch his first home run as an Astro with a two out, two-run blast in the top of the 2nd inning.    

The homer brought home Taylor Trammell.     That was really the only costly mistake that pitcher Randy Vasquez (W, 8-6) would make.    Vasquez was pulled after just 62 pitches over the course of 5 innings.    

A pair of former White Sox would do damage in later innings.    In the 6th, Gavin Sheets would launch a solo shot off of AJ Blubaugh.     In the 8th, Austin Hays would connect on a 2-run dinger off Bryan King, which brought in Jase Bowen, making it 7-2.     The Padres would hit 4 home runs on the night.    All runs were scored via the long ball for the ballgame.    San Diego would retire 22 straight Astros hitters.    

In terms of the rotation, Manager Joe Espada indicated that the club for the next couple of weeks would “just kind of go day to day”     Hayden Wesneski will open the Giants series at Oracle Park tomorrow night.    First pitch is set for 8:45 CDT.    Wesneski has won his first two outings since returning from Tommy John surgery.     

Odds & Ends:

All three contests in San Diego were complete sellouts.    Sunday’s crowd was announced at 40,160.  

Christian Walker’s 11-game hitting streak has come to an end.    

Even with the loss, the Astros still maintain their division lead as the Mariners and Rangers each lost on Sunday.    

Billy Amick may not be among the most highly-regarded prospects the Mets acquired in their trade deadline sell-off, but he’s certainly already making a name for himself in the organization.

The power-hitting corner infield prospect has been on an absolute tear with Binghamton since coming over from the Twins as part of the A.J. Minter deal.

Amick launched a three-run shot in the bottom of the sixth on Sunday afternoon, helping the Rumble Ponies to a weekend series sweep and their seventh consecutive victory. 

The youngster also drew a walk and stole his third base of the season.

Amick has now homered five times over his first seven games with the team, driving in 13 runs and racking up an impressive 1.387 OPS over that span.

Two of those home runs came in back-to-back innings on Thursday, giving him his fifth-career multi-homer game. 

Amick has struck out 11 times through 24 AB's, but he's also hitting .333 and has reached at a .429 clip. 

The 23-year-old slugger they call “Billy Barrels” is now up to 28 homers on the Double-A season, which puts him among the top-10 of all minor leaguers. 

While he has some flaws to his game, there’s no denying Amick has some big-time pop. 

It’ll be interesting to keep an eye on how that translates as he continues to progress through the system. 

The Dodgers are a problem.

They’ve won three World Series since 2020, including the last two in a row, and built a roster that keeps pushing the limits of what a superteam looks like. They spend big, develop talent, maintain a deep farm system and just added Tarik Skubal for good measure.

Everyone worries about the Dodgers in October.

The NL West has been dealing with them for much longer.

LA has won 15 division titles since 2000 and 12 of the last 13, with the 107-win Giants of 2021 providing the only interruption.

Way to go, Giants!

This year, LA is 8.5 games ahead of Arizona and 24.5 games ahead of Colorado.

When you share a division with the Dodgers, you don’t get to wait until October to worry about them. You check the standings all summer and, more often than not, there they are at the top.

So let’s combine forces.

Build the NL West superteam!

Take any players currently on the Rockies, Diamondbacks, Giants or Padres, using the current FanGraphs depth charts, and build a 26-man roster.

The first goal: beat the Dodgers’ current fWAR total.

The rule: spend less than their current 26-man roster.

Spotrac lists the Dodgers’ total 2026 payroll at $312,015,118. For this exercise, we’re only counting the salaries of the 26 players currently listed on the FanGraphs depth chart.

Here’s the target:

Los AngelesDodgers

I understand the Dodgers’ injured list is basically a superteam of its own — Will Smith, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow aren’t even included here, and Shohei Ohtani can pitch. But we’re taking one exact slice in time: the 26 players on the Dodgers’ roster right now.

Using the Dodgers’ current FanGraphs depth chart for fWAR and Spotrac for 2026 payroll salary:

Starting lineup

Bench

Rotation

Bullpen

Dodgers 26-man fWAR: 31.8

Dodgers 26-man payroll salary: $229,724,327

Build 26 players from the other four NL West teams. Stay below $229.72 million and, as a first measure, get above 31.8 fWAR.

Then comes the more interesting question: Is your roster actually built to beat the Dodgers in October?

fWAR is a good checkpoint, but a short series brings matchups, bullpen leverage, defense, speed, platoon advantages and roster flexibility into the equation. A lower-fWAR player can still make sense if his skill set gives you a better chance against this particular opponent.

Build the 26 you’d want to take down LA.

And yes, more Rockies gets extra credit.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks! 

Athletics' shortstop Jacob Wilson just engraved his name into Major League Baseball history books, breaking an all-time record at his position.

In the the A's 4-3 win over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday, Aug. 9, Wilson extended his 2026 streak of consecutive games without an error to 71. But his errorless streak dates back further than the start of this season. Wilson has now played 111 consecutive games without an error, breaking the all-time MLB record for shortstops.

The 24-year-old surpassed former Baltimore Orioles shortstop Mike Bordick, who set the errorless record in the 2002 season in games played between April 11 and Sept. 29.

Bordick had 544 consecutive errorless chances while Wilson's streak is at 323. The A's shortstop committed his last error in a 6-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants on July 6, 2025.

J WILLY DOESN'T MISS.

Jacob Wilson now holds the record for the longest errorless streak by a shortstop in Major League history! pic.twitter.com/YpYmDh1u6C

— Athletics (@Athletics) August 9, 2026

“It’s a special day for me, but at the end of the day, we got our first series win in a long time against a great opponent,” Wilson told reporters after the game. “We’ve got to keep that ball rolling.”

On a day where Wilson etched his name into baseball history, his focus was on the team performance.

The A's snapped a 12-series losing streak which was tied for second longest in team history. Their longest streak was between May 22 and July 26, 1979 where the club lost 14-consecutive series going 0-19-1 over a 20-game stretch.

Wilson finished the game going 1-for-4.

For the third consecutive series, the Giants have won the opener and lost the last two. 

While quality pitching, along with some shoddy defense, couldn’t sustain itself over the entire game on Saturday, blame for Sunday’s extra inning 3-1 loss rests solely on the shoulders of San Francisco’s hitters. 

After Willy Adames’s 5th inning solo shot on Friday night, the offense had laid nothing but eggs against Detroit pitchers. Jackson Jobe and Co. held them scoreless yesterday. A couple of fortunate breaks on balls in play and a throwing error helped the Giants complete their only circuit of the bases against a dominant Troy Melton (fun fact: he’s a former teammate with Casey Schmitt at SDSU). But when the game came down to the wire, the final 7 hitters from the 8th to the 10th innings did this: ground into a bases loaded double play, then strike out six times. 

Over the last 21 innings of this series, the offense scored just one run.

A run that was nearly enough for Logan Webb, who stifled a hot Tigers team over 8 innings. The work was fast too. Webb pitched at a brutal pace and attacked the zone with 66% strike-percentage. From his main trio of offerings, the sweeper was Sunday’s star. He leaned on it heavily on his first trip down the order, and overall, nearly half (14 of 30) of his breaking balls went for called strikes. Clearly Detroit hitters were sitting on the change-up and sinker and Webb played coy with those main offerings, withholding them early in the count, feathering them in more and more the deeper he got into the game.   

Webb’s outing was a masterclass in control and a middle finger to the present epoch of powerball throwing. He struck out only one batter, earned just 3 swings-and-misses. That miniscule whiff total doesn’t matter when you nab 24 called strikes. He’s throwing bricks anyway, they’ve got a larger surface area than a baseball so contact is easier, but boy does it suck to hit. Just ask Kevin McGonigle how his hands feel after putting this 2-2 sinker into play.

While Webb arguably won the game within the game against Melton, he did flinch first. Or rather the defense behind him flinched first. Two ground balls off the bats of Zach McKinstry and McGonigle wriggled under gloves and found their way into the outfield to put runners on the corners for their first scoring opportunity of the game. They’d squeeze out a run when Gleyber Torres rolled into a double play, and the inning ended soon after with a weak bloop out in foul territory. While first blood came in the 6th — as it did with Roupp vs. Jobe — it’s tough to pin the damage on Webb considering he allowed three ground balls and a pop up in the frame. So it goes for a man who lives and dies by the ball in play. 

Webb would stick around for two more innings of work. He’d bag his lone strikeout of the day in the 7th, give up his lone extra basehit and then strand that runner at second in the 8th, keeping the game tied at one run apiece. 

He, and Dylan Smith, who struck out the side in the 9th, did everything within their power to make this a winnable game for the Giants. The bats just couldn’t muster another run. 

A large part of that was thanks to opposing arm, Troy Melton. 

After making his season debut on May 24th, (right elbow inflammation made him miss the first couple months) right-hander Melton owns the lowest ERA among starters in the Majors. He had put together scoreless 7 IP performances in his past two starts, and going into Sunday, opponents were hitting .169 off of him with a .191 BABIP. Though he throws hard and leans on his four-seam fastball a lot, he doesn’t rely on the strikeout. He can rear back and gun it when he needs to, but similar to Webb, it’s weak contact and low walk rates that keep him out of trouble. Tunneling the cutter off his four-seamer has been a recipe for success — it also helps that he’s got a bunch of other stuff in his back pocket. He got Devers multiple times swinging over a splitter. He dropped a couple of curveballs into the zone just for fun. 

Melton held the Giants scoreless for six frames. They weren’t all peaches and cream. Drew Gilbert ripped a two-out triple in the 2nd. Back-to-back lead-off singles by Adames and Devers had the Giants within shouting distance of home in the 4th. But Melton dug deep and dispatched Basabe on four pitches, buzzing him with a knee high 98 MPH four-seam for a strike three that so confused the second baseman that he challenged the call.

Gilbert, who had a solid game at the plate, scooped a 1-2 cutter out to right fielder Zach McKinstry who hosed Adames with a perfect throw. 

The Giants wouldn’t get another runner on base against Melton until Devers’s next AB in the 7th when he led off the frame by flipping a cutter into shallow left field.

Off the bat, Devers watched rather than ran, thinking it’d float foul, but not only did the wind push the ball back into play, it found safe pastures between two oncoming defenders.   

The single could’ve been a double, but it really should’ve been an out. Tough beans for Melton who got pulled after the hit, and credit the Giants, specifically Basabe, for making it count. 

Against reliever Kyle Finnegan, Basabe would make up for Devers lack of hustle by beating out a potential double play ball. He then swiped second base and advanced to third on an overthrow by back-up catcher Valencia, setting him up to tie the game on Gilbert’s soft grounder to third. 

That run was the team’s first in 18 scoreless innings, and while he wasn’t on the mound when it happened, the run snapped Melton’s streak of 19 scoreless innings pitched. 

After Webb kept Detroit off the board in the 8th, the Giants appeared to have the momentum with a couple more lucky breaks on balls in play. Christian Koss’s line drive just eeked over the glove of Torres to lead off the 8th against lefty Drew Sommer. Bryce Eldridge then fought a hand-numbing fastball off his handle for an infield single. A crappy at-bat from Jung Hoo Lee, including two failed bunt attempts, was redeemed by Willy Adames working a walk to load the bases and force a runner over to third with less than two outs. 

But the river of cheap hits ran dry, and Detroit’s big southpaw prevailed, getting Devers to ground into an inning-ending double play while keeping the go-ahead run off the board.

There wouldn’t be another ball put in play for the Giants.

Not so for the Tigers.