Category: Baseball

TODAY’S GAME: The Astros and Blue Jays will play the 2nd game of this 3-game set this afternoon at Rogers Centre.

RHP Peter Lambert (6-4) will start for the Astros as he takes on Jays RHP Shane Bieber, who is making is 1st start of the season.

Today is Lambert’s 1st career start and 2nd app. vs. TOR (other app. was in relief at Rogers Centre-3.0 IP, 0 R, 4/12/24).

RIDING THE LAMBO: Today’s Astros starter RHP Peter Lambert will make his 12th start/app. of the season.

He has pitched well as of late, posting a 4-0 record in his last 5 starts with a 2.83 ERA (9ER/28.2IP).

In his most recent start on June 17 vs. DET, he allowed 1 run on just 2 hits in 7.0 innings of work to earn the win in a 4-2 Astros victory (0 BB, 5 SO).

Lambert’s 4 wins since May 24 are tied for tops in the Majors in that span.

Lambert pitched last year for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in the NPB, posting a 3.98 ERA (55ER/124.1IP) with 111 strikeouts in 23 appearances in Japan.

He began this season at Triple A Sugar Land (1.84 ERA in three appearances) before being called up April 17.

ROAD TRIPPIN: Today is the 2nd game of a 7-game road trip for the Astros, during which they will visit TOR (3G) and DET (4G), respectively.

Road Success: The Astros are 10-7 in their last 3 road trips combined…they have have posted a 16-13 record on the road since going 1-9 on their 1st road trip of the 2026 season.

Road Raking: The Astros are T-1st in the AL in road batting avg. at .251…they also rank 2nd in road SLG (.414) and OPS (.740) and 3rd in road HR (52) and OBP (.325).

ASTROS-BLUE JAYS: The Astros were 4-2 vs. TOR in 2025 (3-0 at home, 1-2 at TOR).

HOU pitched very well vs. TOR last season, posting a 1.86 ERA (11ER/53.1IP) vs. them in 6 games while allowing just 31 hits in 53.1 IP for a .169 opponent batting avg.

Jays hitters were just 32×189 vs. HOU pitching overall last season.

Recent Success: Including last night’s game, the Astros have won 6 of 9 and 8 of their last 12 vs. TOR.

LAST NIGHT’S RECAP: The Astros were topped by the Blue Jays in last night’s series opener, 4-2.

RHP Hunter Brown started the game, but had no decision (3.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 SO).

Jeremy Pena (1×2, R), Isaac Paredes (1×3, RBI) and Jose Altuve (1×3, RBI) contributed offensively.

An RBI-single by Jose Altuve in the 6th inning tied the game at 2-2, before TOR added single runs in the 7th and 8th innings to pull ahead.

Astros hitters were limited to just 5 singles by Blue Jays hurlers.

CLOSE CALLS: The Astros are now 14-10 in two-run games and 8-4 in one-run games.

THE SLOW TURNAROUND: Over the last month (May 21-June 22), the Astros are 17-12 (.586), which is T-2nd-best in the AL in that span.

RECENT STROS: The Astros have won 4 of 6 and 6 of their last 10 games.

HISTORIC HOMERS: Per Elias, Yordan Alvarez’ 25 HR are tied for the 2nd-most in franchise history through the club’s 1st 80 games.

The record for HR through the club’s 1st 81 games is 27, set by Lance Berkman in 2002.

Most HR thru 80 Team Games
26 – J. Bagwell, 1994 & 1999
25 – Y. Alvarez, 2026
25 – L. Berkman, 2002

Most HR thru 81 Team Games
27 – L. Berkman, 2002
26 – J. Bagwell, 1994 & 1999

ALL-STAR VOTING: Yordan Alvarez leads all AL DH’s in All-Star voting, per MLB’s update yesterday.

His 1,974,459 votes rank 2nd in the AL and 3rd overall in the Majors.

ROCKIN AT ROGERS: In his last 15 games at Rogers Centre, Yordan Alvarez has 7 HR and 16 RBI and is hitting .370 (19×50) in that span with an .860 SLG and a 1.362 OPS.

PEN PALS: Since May 15, the Astros bullpen has the best ERA in the AL with a 2.82 clip (39R/124.2IP). The Astros are 20-15 since May 15.

OKERT’S 0’S: LHP Steven Okert has not allowed a run in his last 15.0 innings, which is the longest scoreless streak by an Astros hurler this season.

His streak, which spans 12 apps., is the longest cons. inning scoreless streak since RHP AJ Blubaugh recorded 22.1 cons. scoreless innings from Aug. 23, 2025-March 26, 2026.

In Okert’s current streak, which began on May 23 at CHC, he has allowed just 4 hits in those 15.0 innings pitched.

HADERADE: In his 8 appearances since coming of the IL on June 3, opponents are just 2×26 off LHP Josh Hader.

Hader has posted a 1.13 ERA (1ER/8IP) and is 5-for-5 in save opportunities (.077 opp. avg., .038 WHIP).

ON THE DEFENSIVE: The Astros have the best fielding pct. in the AL at .989 and are tied with the A’s for the fewest errors committed with 30.

1B Christian Walker has led the way, as he has not committed an error in his 77 games played at 1B.

Dating back to last season, Walker has not made an error in his last 99 games at 1B (last error was August 23 at BAL).

POSITIVE IMPACT: Since SS Jeremy Peña returned to the lineup on May 18, the Astros have gone 18-14, while Peña has hit .297 (35×118) with 5 doubles, 6 homers and 18 RBI in 32 games.

TAPPING FOR SUCCESS: Astros batters have won an MLB-best 55 ABS challenges and lead the Majors in challenge success rate (60%).

Isaac Paredes (9-for-9) has the most successful challenges in the Majors without losing one.

Jose Altuve has been successful on 14-of-19 challenges (74%), ranking 2nd in the Majors in successful challenges.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, June 23, 3:07 p.m. CT

Location: Rodgers Centre, Toronto, ON

TV: Space City Home Network

Radio: KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)

Let’s start this off with some good news: If the Braves play straight-up mediocre .500 baseball from this point forward, they should still have enough wins to get them back into the Postseason. The fantastic level of form that they reached during late-March and throughout April and most of May has essentially ensured that the Braves have a nice little “nest-egg” of sorts to play with as far as their Postseason chances go.

PECOTA still has the Braves at a 74 percent chance of winning the NL East and a 98 percent chance of making the Postseason in some form. FanGraphs’ Playoff Odds also paints a rosy picture by giving them an 80 percent chance of winning the division and a 97 percent chance of making the Postseason. In the grand scheme of things, it’s fine. It may be “Blackheart” Lio Rush’s version of “fine” but it’s fine nonetheless.

With that being said, it’s hard not to feel a bit alarmed by what we’ve seen from the Braves since mid-May. There were concerns about the starting rotation heading into this season and while the rotation did a fantastic job early on in order to dispel most of those concerns, they’ve finally started to rear their ugly head and it’s been pretty concerning! Since May 18, Atlanta’s rotation has collectively produced an ERA of 5.20 (ERA- 125) and a FIP of 4.64 (113 FIP-). Both of those numbers are near the bottom of Major League Baseball and a lot of that has to do with the fact that outside of former White Sox hurlers Chris Sale and Martín Pérez, the rest of the rotation has been struggling mightily.

Grant Holmes looked better on Monday night but he still has trouble getting through two turns on the lineup on any given night, much less getting any deeper than that. Spencer Strider was pretty inconsistent while he was healthy and now he’s out for the foreseeable future and it doesn’t help that JR Ritchie has essentially been baptized by fire as Strider’s replacement. Bryce Elder’s magical ride has come to a screeching halt and his most recent start where he got blown up for eight runs in a single inning of six innings of work represented the clear nadir for both Elder and this rotation at the moment.

Sale (60 ERA-, 42 FIP-) and Pérez (81 ERA-, 80 FIP-) are the only regulars who have an ERA- and FIP- below the league average of 100 since May 18 — everybody else is far over. Grant Holmes is the “best” of the bunch with an ERA- of 116 and a FIP- of 158. As bad as Elder has been (169 ERA-, 121 FIP-), Strider was actually a little worse with an equivalent ERA- of 169 and a worse FIP- of 157. JR Ritchie has tried his best but so far that’s resulted in an ERA- of 240 and a FIP- of 187.

The bullpen has essentially been carrying the pitching staff since mid-May, as they are currently leading baseball in ERA- since May 18 (65) and are top-five in FIP- at 85. No matter who they’ve called upon in the bullpen (whether it’s been high-leverage guys like Raisel Iglesias, Robert Suarez or Dylan Lee or the rest of the relievers like Dylan Dodd, Reynaldo López, Tyler Kinley, Didier Fuentes and even Carlos Carrasco being called upon to eat innings), everybody’s known their role and gotten the job done while the rotation has largely struggled. Their performance has been one of the only things keeping this current downturn in form from being an actual mid-season collapse.

As a matter of fact, the bullpen may be the one thing holding this entire team together at the moment because the offense has absolutely cratered for about a month or so. From Opening Day until May 17, the Braves as a team hit .265/.328/.444 with a wOBA of .337 and a wRC+ of 113 with the team wRC+ being second in all of baseball only behind the Dodgers. Ever since May 18, however, things have changed drastically. Atlanta has been hitting .232/.296/.377 at the plate with a wOBA of .306 and a team wRC+ of 87. Ever since mid-May, Atlanta has essentially been rolling out the third-worst offense in all of baseball with only the Padres and the Guardians being worse.

Now, a lot of that probably has to do with the fact that Drake Baldwin was missing for quite some time during that span and also Ronald Acuña Jr. has also been sitting on the sidelines for long stretches as well. It also didn’t help that during that period when both Baldwin and Sean Murphy were gone, Atlanta actively decided to play throwback National League baseball where they were effectively using the catcher as the pitchers’ spot in the lineup.

Bless Sandy León and Austin Wynns for trying but León putting up a wRC+ of -84 in 37 plate appearances is truly astonishing and it was also painful to see Wynns add to that with a -73 wRC+ over 14 additional plate appearances. It’s clear with the addition of Joey Bart that the Braves have done a complete 180 in what they value in backup catchers since clearly León’s defense and experience behind the plate was not enough to overcome the overall black hole of plate production that he was delivering during his time out there.

Also, Ha-Seong Kim’s plate performance has been shocking and not in a good way. Any time where the Braves put out León and Kim at the same time, there were going to be two hitters in the lineup where it would’ve been a shock to see them get a hit. It’s something you just can’t have and it’s why the light-hitting Jorge Mateo has been getting plenty of opportunities and why Atlanta has also been desperate to keep Mauricio Dubón in the lineup no matter where he plays.

Things got to the point where Matt Olson played right field at the tail end of a game last week because of the domino effect of substitutions that resulted in Walt Weiss making sure that Kim didn’t have to take an at-bat while the field shuffling was going on. He’s got to get it going soon but it’s also one of those cases where it’s tough to keep giving him plate appearances while he’s this terrible at the plate.

Atlanta has been getting positive contributions from Michael Harris II, Ronald Acuña Jr. (when healthy), Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies and Mauricio Dubón but it’s clear that they can’t carry the team when there are multiple hitters carrying a negative wRC+. Austin Riley’s inability to get going has also been frustrating to observe as well. Guys like Mike Yastrzemski, Eli White, the aforementioned Mateo and Dominic Smith are trying their best but it’s also clear that they are in a position where they need to perform out of their shoes in order to keep the offense afloat on a nightly basis in recent times.

I’ve regularly had Alex Anthopoulos’s preseason opinion on this team running through my mind for most of this season. He was right when he said that if this team was going to bounce back, the offense would need to return to good form after spending the better part of two years wandering in the wilderness. We saw that play out with the scalding-hot start that this team got off to to begin the season. Now we’re seeing the offense’s fortunes coincide with the team’s fortunes and it’s frustrating to see.

With all of that being said, I do have real hope that Atlanta’s offense will get things together. While watching them struggle lately has been truly frustrating, it’s not a hopeless situation. On the other hand, the starting rotation needs help and they need it badly. Folks have been screaming about the need to add to this rotation since this past offseason and now it has become glaringly clear what needs to be addressed at the deadline. I’ve already stated my opinion on whether or not the Brave should go after Tarik Skubal if the opportunity presents itself but even if they don’t swing for the fences in that regard, it’s clear that Atlanta should be trying to figure out a way to improve this rotation between now and the deadline.

Whether that’s simply bringing up Hurston Waldrep or going after some arms from teams that are planning on selling at the deadline (and there will be a handful), if the Braves are going to be serious about confirming their Postseason spot and also hopefully doing some damage when they get there, the rotation has to be improved. The bullpen is carrying the load for the pitching staff and the lineup has shown that they can make it happen at the plate for a decently-long stretch. On paper, the rotation has been the weak spot for the longest time and now they’ve mostly come crashing back down to earth after spending the early portion of this season in glorious orbit.

It’s clear that the Braves aren’t going to simply walk away with the division now that the Phillies are showing some real signs of being serious in recent weeks. The Braves still have a fairly nice lead in the division and as long as they don’t truly collapse then the Postseason is well within their grasp. This is a resilient bunch so I’d imagine that they will fight through this rough patch and get back to something close to what we saw from them earlier this season.

Still, it’s becoming very clear that the team won’t be able to simply put it into cruise control down the stretch. There are some real concerns with this team at the moment and hopefully we’ll see them get addressed at some point soon. We’ll see what happens, though.

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Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is heating up and profiles well for continued success against Houston Astros starter Peter Lambert, making Over 1.5 total bases for Vladdy my favorite play tonight.

Read on for my Astros vs. Blue Jays predictions and MLB picks for this Tuesday, June 23 matchup.

Astros vs Blue Jays predictions

Astros vs Blue Jays best bet: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Over 1.5 total bases (+105)

Toronto Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr. profiles extremely well against Peter Lambert. 

The Houston Astros starter primarily throws a fastball/sinker/slider combination, which is a pitch mix that Vladdy has handled well this season, with a .314 batting average and a .331 BABIP.

Lambert has also allowed solid contact at a 7.5% rate, which is 1.6% above league average.

Guerrero Jr. is barreling the baseball more efficiently lately, too, which has seen an uptick in production over the last two weeks where he owns a .409 average and a .591 SLG.

Additionally, Guerrero Jr. has eclipsed this number in four of his last five games with a .526 SLG over this stretch, showing serious signs of a turnaround, which gives me confidence in his market.

I’d bet Guerrero Jr. Over 1.5 total bases down to +100. 

COVERS INTEL: Guerrero ranks in the 94th percentile in xBA, and owns a 137 WRC+ over his last 20 at-bats.

Astros vs Blue Jays same-game parlay (SGP)

George Springer is turning a corner, too, sporting a .351 average and 1.090 OPS over his last 10 games, recording a hit in eight of those outings. Additionally, he’s historically hit well against Lambert‘s pitch mix. 

I’ll also add Kazuma Okamoto Over 0.5 hits. He owns a .375 average against Lambert's pitches since June 1, while recording at least one hit in 13 of 18 games this month.

Astros vs Blue Jays SGP

• Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Over 1.5 total bases
• George Springer Over 0.5 hits
• Kazuma Okamoto Over 0.5 hits

Astros vs Blue Jays home run pick: Kazuma Okamoto (+280)

Okamoto profiles well against Lambert, who gives up a lot of solid contact, while ranking in the 48th percentile in hard-hit rate.

This all plays into Okamoto’s strengths, as he barrels the ball as well as anyone on the Jays roster and leads the team with 17 home runs while owning a .553 SLG and a 58.1% hard-hit rate against Lambert's pitch mix.

Additionally, Lambert has surrendered six home runs over his last seven-outings.

Despite the good matchup for Okamoto, the home run market is volatile, so I’ll make this a half-unit wager. 

Astros vs Blue Jays odds

• Moneyline: Houston +112 | Toronto -132
• Run line: Houston +1.5 | Toronto -1.5
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 | Under 8.5

Astros vs Blue Jays trend

The Blue Jays have hit the Over in 13 of their last 21 games (+4.30 Units / 19% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Astros vs. Blue Jays.

How to watch Astros vs Blue Jays and game info

Astros vs Blue Jays latest injuries

Astros vs Blue Jays weather

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The Dodgers got about as good of a pitching game as they could have hoped for in the series opener against the Minnesota Twins. Eric Lauer followed an opener on Monday, in part to avoid having him face Byron Buxton three times. Buxton proved why by hitting his 25th home run of the season in the first inning against said opener, Will Klein.

Lauer entered a 1-1 game in the second inning and got all the way through the seventh with no runs and no hits on his ledger, and a 2-1 lead.

The only other time a Los Angeles Dodgers reliever pitched at least six innings without allowing a hit was Dave Stewart on August 9, 1982, pitching the final six frames of a 13-inning win over the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium.

That Stewart performance was part of a chaotic pennant race for the Dodgers, who trailed the Atlanta Braves by 10 games as late as July 28. The Stewart game was the seventh straight win that brought them to within a half-game of Atlanta. The Dodgers would claim first place the next day, only 13 days after that 10-game deficit.

Six other Brooklyn Dodgers pitchers logged at least six hitless innings in relief:

• Ed Reulbach, August 13, 1913 vs. Pirates
• Elmer Brown, September 26, 1913 vs. Giants
• Doug McWeeny, May 6, 1926 at Cardinals
• Jack Banta, June 24, 1949 at Pirates (6 2/3 innings)
• Carl Erskine, September 5, 1949 vs. Braves (7 innings)
• Bob Milliken, September 9, 1953 at Reds (8 1/3 innings)

The longest of these hitless relief outings was by Bob Milliken in 1953. He took over for rookie Johnny Podres with two outs in the first innings — looked like an injury of some sort, as Podres didn’t pitch again for 13 days — then finished out the game by recording the final 25 outs.

Tuesday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Twins
• Ballpark: Target Field, Minneapolis
• Time: 4:40 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA, TBS (out of market)
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

Count me shocked that the Mariners were able to win one of their games against that trio of lefty starters the Red Sox rolled out last weekend. That win on Sunday wrapped up a 3-3 homestand and pushed the team another game ahead of their division rivals. Now the team embarks on a midwest road trip through Pittsburgh and Cleveland.

With a ton of young talent matriculating into the big leagues and a starting rotation anchored by Paul Skenes, the Pirates looked poised to break out of their long rebuilding cycle this year. They actually spent money on a few free agents in the offseason and traded for some more talent to bolster the lineup. They were rewarded with a quick start to the season, running a 16-11 record through April 25. They’ve fallen back towards .500 since then, though they’re still in the thick of the NL Wild Card hunt. 

The Pirates signed Ryan O’Hearn to the largest free agent contract for a position player in franchise history this offseason. That’s pretty incredible from an organizational standpoint and that it ended up being O’Hearn who set that record. To his credit, O’Hearn has been a solid first baseman and corner outfielder for the past three years and he’s been just as good for the Pirates this season, rocking a 115 wRC+. They also traded for Brandon Lowe and that has worked out wonderfully; he’s leading the team in home runs with a 126 wRC+. Among the holdovers from last year, Bryan Reynolds has bounced back from a dismal season in 2025 to lead the team with a 145 wRC+. Unfortunately for the Pirates, young phenom Konnor Griffin has been sidelined with a forearm injury for the past month.

Probable Pitchers 

Updated Stuff+ Explainer 

• Stuff+ scores for Mariners starters

Mitch Keller has been a solid, if uninspiring mid-rotation starter for the last five years. He’s also been incredibly consistent in that time; his FIP hasn’t risen above 4.08 and hasn’t fallen below 3.80. Despite that consistency, his peripherals look the worst they’ve been since 2021; his strikeout rate has fallen to 18.4% and his walk rate has jumped up to 8.8%. Only some good home run luck has allowed him to keep his FIP inside that range mentioned above. He’s always been a tinkerer, and this year, he’s reintroduced a cutter to his repertoire. The real issue is that his other two fastballs have been crushed by opposing batters and the rest of his secondary pitches haven’t been able to make up the difference.

Between Paul Skenes, Konnor Griffin, and a host of other top prospects on the Pirates roster, it’s been easy to overlook Braxton Ashcraft. He was a top prospect in his own right and had a strong debut season last year, compiling a 2.71 ERA and 2.78 FIP in 18 relief appearances and eight starts. The Pirates were pretty cautious with his workload last year but have given him a full-time role in the starting rotation this year and he’s run with the opportunity. He’s got a pair of excellent breaking balls that more than make up for the lack of a strong fastball. Nearly half of his pitch mix is made up of those breaking balls, and their quality is such that he doesn’t really need an offspeed pitch to keep left-handed batters at bay. He can just spin a curveball or bury a slider to a lefty and generate enough swing and miss to thrive.

Among the non-Skenes pitching prospects in Pittsburgh’s pipeline, Bubba Chandler had the most hype. And while Ashcraft is having the type of season we expected from Chandler, Chandler probably has the higher ceiling once he fully develops. A lack of command is the biggest area he needs to address — an issue that’s led to a 13.1% walk rate this year. His fastball is fantastic with velocity and carry at the top of the zone. His tremendous arm speed helps his changeup really play up, though he’s still working on developing his trio of breaking balls. Once he figures out his command and finds a bit more consistency, he’ll be a top of the rotation arm for the Pirates. Until then, he’s a work-in-progress.

The Big Picture:

The Rangers managed to climb back into a tie with the Athletics after winning their weekend series against the Padres and winning the first game of a series against the Marlins yesterday night. For their part, the Athletics wound up splitting their four-game series against the Angels last weekend and will start a three-game set against the Giants tonight. The Astros are also lurking at 3.5 games back in the division; they won their series against the Guardians over the weekend but dropped the first game of their series against the Blue Jays yesterday.

The Detroit Tigers called up outfielder Ben Malgeri on Tuesday, sending utilityman Trei Cruz back to Triple-A Toledo. To open a 40-man roster spot for Malgeri, RHP Burch Smith has been moved to the 60-day injured list. They also announced a lot of promotions throughout the farm system on Tuesday. Typically, the Tigers start moving prospects from around this point in the year until the post-draft, post-trade deadline part of the calendar, so we should see a fair amount of movement over the next 5-6 weeks. The big moves today were the promotion of outfielder Brett Callahan and infielder John Peck from Double-A Erie to Triple-A Toledo.

Cruz didn’t get much of a look at the show, but he wasn’t really swinging the bat to his best ability in Toledo when initially called up. Let him try and heat up and he should be back at some point. Meanwhile, the 26-year-old Malgeri was long thought as just an org outfielder but has really improved his game over the past two seasons. A right-handed hitter who can play center field but is much better suited to the corners, Malgeri hits lefties well but has balanced out his splits more this season. He’s been a popular choice to replace Jahmai Jones, but the Tigers still aren’t there yet. Congrats to Malgeri on making it to the Show.

You can find more on Callahan and Peck on our midseason farm system update on the front page at Bless You Boys. Callahan in particular has been on a tear and the 24-year-old left-handed hitting outfielder is clearly ready for the next challenge. Peck still has a little more work to do in terms of his plate discipline, but the right-handed hitter can play anywhere on the infield including shortstop. The duo are an athletic, well-rounded pair of players on track to give the Tigers some bench and utility options next year, and if they break out further with the bat they could become future regulars.

Reliever Moises Rodriguez, who throws a hellacious sinker that gets up to 100 mph, though more commonly 98, with a pretty good breaking ball, has been placed on the 7-day injured list. He generally throws strikes when he needs to, but still needs to command the sinker at least more consistently to push his way into conversation for the Tigers bullpen. Hopefully it’s a minor injury.

There were plenty of other promotions as right-handed starter Hayden Minton and first baseman Garrett Pennington were promoted from High-A West Michigan to Double-A Erie. Infielder Max Burt will also move up with them to help backfill Peck’s role.

From Lakeland, right-handed starter Charlie Christensen and reliever Eliseo Mota were promoted from Single-A Lakeland to West Michigan. Christensen’s big extension, low arm angle, and nasty slider-changeup combination have given young hitters fits in the Florida State League. He feels like a future reliever, as his sinker is underpowered and relies more on deception than raw stuff, but the 22-year-old out of Central Arkansas, the Tigers’ 13th rounder last summer in the draft, looks like another bargain that is paying off so far. Mota is a 23-year-old right-handed reliever who is underpowered, but has been punching tickets left and right in Lakeland.

Finally, outfielder Patrick Lee has been reinstated to West Michigan from his rehab assignment in the Complex League.

Presumably we’ll get more corresponding moves in the days to come, although some of it may simply be the release of some minor league veteran players brought in to fill out depth roles in the system. News keeps emerging today, and we’ve updated this article twice already as new news rolls in. Apologies for any confusion.

The middle of the season is just about here (no, the All-Star Game is not the middle of the season), which means it’s good to stop and take stock of how the Phillies have been doing. It’s pretty simple for me to list all the of the ways that Kyle Schwarber has improved this year and condense it into 800-900 words, but instead, what do you think?

What has surprised you the most this year so far, good or bad?

If there is a “something else”, what is it? Let us know and check back this week for the results and a little bit of digging into it.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Phillies fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

The Boston Red Sox saw their season come to an end during Monday’s sickening loss to the Colorado Rockies.

If we’re all being honest with each other, there were already nails being hammered into the coffin — the utter shit show that was the final two innings of that game just happened to be the final one.

The Red Sox collectively puked on themselves, shit down their legs, and pulled out a gun to shoot themselves in the foot, eventually leading to a 3-2 walk-off loss at Coors Field. Willson Contreras, Masataka Yoshida, and Marcelo Mayer put together useless at-bats while clinging onto a two-run lead. Garrett Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman, both of whom barely pitch anymore, couldn’t get anyone out. Jarren Duran completely butchered the final play of the game, leading to the game-winning run.

It’s about as bad as it sounds, yet was somehow wholly unsurprising.

Boston has been facing an uphill battle for months, with a collection of deep-rooted issues all hindering the performance of the baseball team — the hitting program clearly sucks, identifying quality pitchers has been anything but a consistent endeavor, there was and still continues to be an odd power struggle happening between ownership, the front office, and the coaching staff, etc. I just don’t think people were quite ready to admit that things are as bad as they are… until now.

It’s not like losing to a bad team is enough to declare the season dead, it’s doing it in the fashion they did it. You can’t just start finding new ways to lose at this point! It’s supposed to be formulaic— you fall behind by a couple of runs and the offense isn’t good enough to climb out of a hole. Chapman can’t blow saves! Duran can’t revert back to being a butcher! Yoshida can’t be uncompetitive with a chance to add insurance!

Yet, that’s what happened. The Red Sox officially hit rock bottom, squandering an opportunity to kick off the most important week of their season with an impressive and/or formulaic victory over an inferior opponent.

If they can’t show fight against this team and under these circumstances, they never will.

It’s over folks.

The Red Sox are dead, so enjoy the time off before they get interesting again — which is either when they do something wildly dramatic or after the lockout.

It might be a while…

It is no secret that the Astros OF has performed poorly offensively this season, threatening to be their worst offensive OF of all time.

Young prospects Cam Smith, Brice Matthews, and Zach Cole have not performed well. Former prospect Joey Loperfido has battled both injury and underperformance. CF Jake Meyers has shown none of the contact ability he showed for the first time last season.

In fact, the OF who has hit the best for them that is currently on the active roster (no, Yordan doesn’t count) has been Taylor Trammell, but despite his solid average has a meager OPS as there has been no power in his offense.

LaMonte Wade Jr. performed well in his 4 games with the team before suffering a hamstring injury that currently has him sidelined.

With that, it is notable that the Astros promoted OF Lucas Spence to Triple-A Sugar Land today.

The Astros under GM Dana Brown have shown a propensity to push young players quickly, and Spence is a young lefthanded hitting OF who can play all three OF positions.

According to MLB.com, Spence is currently ranked as the Astros #10 overall prospect. He is considered an above average fielder with a plus arm and plus speed. His hit tool is still a work in progress and he is not considered a power hitter.

However, he has had a tremendous month of June at Double-A Corpus Christi, where he has hit for strong power, as noted in Jimmy Price’s post on X above.

With the Astros OF floundering at the plate, a strong representation from Spence at Triple-A could earn him a call up and an opportunity with the big league club, similar to how Zach Cole got a shot late last season (one that the team liked enough that they had hoped he could take another step forward and claim a regular job this spring, but alas…).

It is certainly worth watching.

The Yankees’ catching carousel keeps moving along, as only days after getting sent down to Triple-A, J.C. Escarra is once again back with the big-league club to replace Ali Sánchez, who was placed on the paternity list. This move comes a day after Sánchez had to leave early in a game against the Tigers, having been hit on the wrist by a four-seam fastball, something we don’t recommend.

Sánchez, who was starting against the left-hander Framber Valdez, was replaced midgame by Austin Wells, who will once again share the catching duties with Escarra, leaving the Yankees currently without a right-handed catching option on the roster. While an X-ray was negative, according to New York Post reporter Greg Joyce, we still await news on a potential CT scan to fully determine the extent of the damage done by this HBP — particularly, whether Sánchez will indeed require an IL stint. In the short term, Sánchez’s wife was expecting anyway, so the roster logistics allow him to go on the paternity list as they welcome a new baby into the world. The Yankees can work out any IL details at a later time.

After right-hander Casey Mize toes the rubber tonight, the Yankees will seemingly face not one, not two, not three, but four consecutive southpaw starters, beginning with the greatest that MLB currently has to offer in Tarik Skubal. If Boston follows its current rotation, then Connelly Early, Payton Tolle, and Jake Bennett will pitch their first three games this weekend. In fact, New York will face Skubal twice in this short period with multiple series against the Tigers, and being obligated to start a lefty catcher at all times is not ideal. So it goes.

Astros SS Jeremy Pena left last night’s game with a cramp in his right hamstring. This is the same hamstring he injured previously in the season (although manager Joe Espada incorrectly identified it as the left hamstring in his post-game presser).

Pena was removed from the game as a precaution as the team doesn’t want him to re-injure himself, particularly at a time when he is playing well and his importance to the team cannot be higher.

Here are Pena’s comments after last night’s game where he explains what happened and that he doesn’t think it will cost him much time:

The 2026 American League pennant race is a lot like a drunk cousin at Thanksgiving. Fun for a while as long as the cranberry sauce stays off the floor, we might even get a good story or two, but… how is this actually going to end? 

By my calculations, there are five teams that could currently win the American League but only about 2.5 that could win the World Series. Several preseason contenders (looking at you Boston Red Sox) have just had the worst time, and even the ones that aren’t 14.5 games back in their division before July 4 have to figure out pretty quickly if this is a “we can fix this” year or a “we can fix this next year” year (looking at you Houston Astros). Everyone is scrambling so much we should make some eggs.

With that said, MLB still needs someone to come out of the AL and lose to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, so we may as well get to work on cleaning up the cranberry sauce off the hardwood. It’s a Top Five and man, did I struggle to get to five — heck, there are only five teams with a winning record; it’s late-June!

5. Cleveland Guardians 

Made Up Award: The “I’m only here for the free Mimosas” Award for team that’s just happy they made the list

“Hey, wait, we are four games above .500 what is this?” Listen, Guardians, you’re lucky you even made this list. The Texas Rangers are sitting in the wing ready to come on stage and take this award if you don’t hush up and just be happy about this. 

Cleveland has not gotten nearly enough press for being a complete analytical fraud when teams like the Rays and St. Louis Cardinals distract the masses. Cleveland scores fewer than four runs per game (only the Red Sox and Padres are worse), has a negative run differential despite leading their division. The AL Central has been putting up hilarious season after hilarious season since I was in high school.

You may ask why the Chicago White Sox, one of the fun stories of the season and a legit threat to pass Cleveland in this division, did not make the cut over such a lame division leader, but I just don’t know if I can trust the pitching long term. As silly as the Guardians are offensively, their pitching has been solidly better than the White Sox all year, and pitching projects. Cleveland probably isn’t this bad at hitting, and even if they are, they’ve limited scoring to the point where I can reasonably bank of them for the division. That, by default, puts them in the fifth-best spot. God, what a mess.

4. Toronto Blue Jays

Made Up Award: The Two-outs away from winning the World Series Award for 2026 hangover

From the first All-Star voting returns, you’d think that the Blue Jays were on 116-win pace. Imagine my surprise when I learned they not only had a losing record, but probably should be even worse than they are. Coming off the crushing World Series loss, the Blue Jays have had nothing offensively, cratering from over five to just over four runs per game from 2025 to 2026. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is having a notable down year, and it’s no longer too early to worry about.

Pitching has been alright, and Dylan Cease looks like he was worth the cash the Jays shelled out to bring him in. But guys we’re four teams in, this is our third AL East team and they aren’t even above .500. That’s the energy we’re bringing to this World Series revenge tour. That is not the energy you want in that situation.

3. Tampa Bay Rays

Made Up Award: The Metaphysics Award for the team that is not good on paper but is fourth by default

I wrote many more words than should be allowed about how MLB’s bunting boom was a Tampa Bay Rays-filled load of nothing, and their offensive cool down has shown just such a situation. They have basically been middle of the road since that piece came out, 14-16 in their last 30 — good enough to still be number three on this list but not good enough for me to take their high-contact approach seriously. 

The Rays being twelve games over .500 with a run differential of only eight doesn’t just suggest they’re a total mirage, it ruthlessly demands it. I wanted, with every fiber of my spiritual and corporeal being, to put the Toronto Blue Jays above the Rays here just to further cement the anti-bunt agenda, but I simply could not do it. The math would not math.

2. Seattle Mariners

Made Up Award: The “I don’t even know that guy” Award for distancing themselves from the Red Sox and Astros 

There was a real chance that Boston, Houston and Seattle could make up a true Axis of Meh after all three got off to abysmal starts. Credit to the Mariners, though, for turning things around while their friends continued down the path to the dark side. The Astros are actually not all that far back from the Mariners, but if we’re just talking trend lines? The Mariners are your dark horse AL team. Yes, we have a “dark horse” at number two on the list. I never said this would be a chill experience.

The Mariners started out the season essentially unable to hit but with elite pitching. That’s still … basically the case, though the offense has naturally stabilized behind better performances from Julio Rodriguez and have now brought back a hopefully healthy Cal Raleigh. The latter will need to start producing some power again if the Mariners want to bring this team to October, but the theory that starting pitching = gravy when the leaves start falling mostly works for me. 

1. New York Yankees

Made Up Award: The Statcast Nerd Award for the only AL team that is actually good on paper

There are three, yes three, teams in the American League with a Pythagorean win expectation over .500, and two of them (the next two teams on the list) are barely scraping above the line. The Yankess, though, are actually underperforming: at 46-30, both FanGraphs projection models have them between three and four wins better than they actually are. In this econom—er, American League?!

There is, frankly, no possible argument for any other team to be the favorite in the AL right now beyond certain amorphous Yankees curse logistics that I wouldn’t personally take too much stock in. They have the underlying qualities of a good team, and have managed to produce enough of a cushion for themselves that Aaron Judge’s injury timetable shouldn’t be of too much concern. 

I am a believer in the long-term projection value of contact quality, and the Yankees are a contact quality machine. In an American League full of teams trying to cheat death by bunting a lot, this is where I’d invest my beans.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Brewers fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

We’re back with another Reacts Survey, and after discussing the All-Star Game last week, we’re asking about the MLB Draft this week!

While the MLB Draft may not be as flashy as the drafts of the other Big 4 sports, it’s arguably more important due to just how many players are drafted and just how many never pan out.

The Brewers, who hold the No. 25 overall pick in this year’s draft, have become one of the better drafting teams in recent seasons. While some of their early to mid-2010s picks weren’t great, recent first-round picks include Brice Turang (2018), Garrett Mitchell (2020), and Sal Frelick and Tyler Black (2021). Top prospects in the system today also include 2024 first-rounders Braylon Payne (team No. 12) and Blake Burke (No. 15), and 2025 first-rounders Andrew Fischer (No. 6) and Brady Ebel (No. 13).

They’ve also found success in later rounds, including Cooper Pratt (2023 sixth-round pick signed away from Ole Miss), Bishop Letson (2023 11th-round pick), Marco Dinges (2024 fourth-round pick), Josh Adamczewski (2023 15th-round pick), and Luke Adams (2022 11th-round pick), all of whom rank among the team’s top prospects. That’s without even mentioning active MLB players, like Jacob Misiorowski (2022 second-round pick), Brandon Woodruff (2014 11th-round pick), and Craig Yoho (2023 eight-round pick).

Over the last 10 years, the Brewers have heavily emphasized position players with their first-round picks. Since 2016, Milwaukee has had 15 picks in the first round (including Competitive Balance picks); of those, two were pitchers, five were outfielders, five were left-side infielders, and three were right-side infielders.

Beyond the No. 25 pick, the Brewers also have picks No. 66, 102, 130, and 163, as well as one pick in each of the last 15 rounds (20 picks total).

The draft is less than three weeks away, beginning Saturday, July 11 in Philadelphia and wrapping up the next day. Which position would you like to see the Brewers prioritize in the draft? Weigh in below, and stay tuned for results later this week!