Category: Baseball

Main Tom is in the middle of the MS ride right now, and emergency backup Tom (me) is in the process of driving to B.C., so there may or may not be lineups in this post. Apologies for that. The starters are Dylan Cease and Cal Quantrill, though. The Jays can stull escape wirh a split against a wildcard competitor, so today and tomorrow are big games.

Sean Keys makes his Blue Jays debut today. He was 17 on our preseason top 40, but would rank significantly higher after torching AA and AAA. It’ll he exciting to see how he does with his first MLB opportunity.

[edit:] Well, we are five hours and counting late to leave, something I’m not stressed about at all, so here are the lineups after all:

Rangers:

• Joc Pederson, DH
• Wyatt Langford, CF
• Corey Seager, SS
• Brandon Nimmo, RF
• Josh Jung, 3B
• Jake Burger, 1B
• Jared Kelenic, LF
• Elias Diaz, C
• Nicky Lopez, 2B

Blue Jays:

• Nathan Lukes, RF
• Vladimir Guerrero jr., DH
• Daulton Varsho, CF
• Kazuma Okamoto, 3B
• Alejandro Kirk, C
• Sean Keys, 1B
• Ernie Clement, 2B
• Yohendrick Pinango, LF
• Andres Gimenez, SS

Go Jays Go!

Detroit Tigers (35-46) vs. Houston Astros (40-44)

Time/Place: 1:10 p.m., Comerica Park
SB Nation Site: The Crawfish Boxes
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: LHP Framber Valdez (4-5, 3.91 ERA) vs. RHP Kai-Wei Teng (4-6, 4.03 ERA)

Baseball is a long season filled of 162 games but believe it or not we are already at the halfway point of the season for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After a 5-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners this past Thursday, the Pirates played their 81st game of the season, and they were 41-40. They dropped to .500 after Friay’s loss, but at the halfway point, the Bucs are a .500 team, which is a start they haven’t had since over  a decade. 

The Pirates have faced plenty of injury trouble, from missing starter Jared Jones for the first two months to losing key offensive weapons Konnor Griffin, Oneil Cruz and now Spencer Horwitz. Yet Pittsburgh has managed to stay afloat as it enters a pivotal second half, increasing its win total by 9 from last season at this point and accomplishing its best first half since 2015, the last time it reached the postseason.

In 2025, the Pirates ranked dead last in home runs and finished last in the NL Central with just 71 wins. They made some serious changes in the offseason to fix the offense by trading for Brandon Lowe, who leads the team with 19 home runs. The team also brought in Marcell Ozuna and Ryan O’Hearn who have helped offensively as well. 

Lowe said he and O’Hearn talked about the prospect of Pittsburgh’s lineup at full strength after Wednesday night’s 11-run barrage with no home runs. Lowe described the team as “scary” once weapons like Griffin and Cruz return. 

We already saw the impact Griffin has on this lineup after his leadoff home run in the 6-4 loss the Pirates had to the Cincinnati Reds. 

Reynolds is the longest-tenured position player on the Pirates. He said this season is different from past first halves, but there’s still plenty of baseball left.

“Do I think that we’re better than a .500 baseball team through 81 games? Yeah, absolutely,” said Jake Mangum, who filled into the leadoff spot for Horwitz on Thursday. “But at the same time, we’re still learning how to win, and we haven’t played our best baseball yet. If I could pick a time to play your best baseball, it’s the second half.”

The start that team has been on has been fun to watch, but they have struggled in the month of June with a record of 9-13. The team feels very optimistic about the start and what they can do in the second half of season but if they want to snap their playoff drought the bullpen needs to play better and they have to make some moves during the trade deadline. 

Each week, The California Post will power rank MLB’s 30 teams and check in on one intriguing awards race. Here is this week’s edition (records through Saturday morning):

1) Dodgers (52-30)

It wasn’t the Dodgers’ best week. They dropped a series to the Orioles. They saw Roki Sasaki regress in a rivalry game against the Padres. And they had to diffuse some obvious frustration between Shohei Ohtani and catcher Dalton Rushing in Minnesota. Still, by sweeping the Twins during that trip to Minnesota, they remain the majors’ winningest team — and No. 1 in these rankings. (Last week: 1st)

2) Brewers (50-29)

The Brewers have the sport’s hardest thrower in Jacob Misiorowski (who hit 105.5 mph on Friday) and, evidently, the sport’s most pain-tolerant manager in Pat Murphy, who was in the dugout — or, more accurately, in the tunnel just behind it — a day after undergoing 2 ½-hour back surgery. Together, they’ve helped Milwaukee win five straight. (Last week: 4th)

3) Yankees (48-33)

The Bombers, surprise surprise, have not been as good since Aaron Judge got hurt, going just 12-10 without him in June. But their pitching remains elite, headlined by the continued breakout season of Cam Schlitter (8-4, 1.62 ERA). If this is the treading-water portion of their season, they’re doing enough to get by. (Last week: 3rd)

4) Braves (49-31)

The feel-good Braves are going through their first rough patch, having lost 10 of their last 14. In that stretch, their offense has scored five or more runs just four times. It might only be a blip. But for now, it is opening the door for the … (Last week: 2nd)

5) Phillies (46-36)

Look who is suddenly just four games back in the NL East. The Phillies are on another winning streak, having won four in a row (albeit, with plenty of help from the Nationals’ bullpen). Cristopher Sánchez has cooled off a bit, but Zack Wheeler is back in dominant form. Now, if someone could just tell Bryce Harper that ring finger taunts of Nationals fans don’t exactly land the way he might hope. (Last week: 5th)

6) Rays (46-33)

Craig Kimbrel (yes, he’s still pitching) couldn’t complete a combined no-hitter bid in the ninth inning this week. But Tampa Bay has nonetheless steadied against a weak part of the schedule, keeping itself on the Yankees’ heels in the AL East. (Last week: 7th)

7) White Sox (42-38)

The latest evidence the White Sox are a truly viable playoff contender: How about a 22-run onslaught against the Royals on Friday, second-most runs in the franchise’s history. The vibes on the South Side remain up. (Last week: 9th)

8) Cubs (44-38)

The Cubs, who already have a pair of 10-game win streaks this season, are on the upswing again thanks to a recent Pete Crow-Armstrong-fueled 10-3 stretch. Then again, we’ve seen this movie before. We’ll see if they can avoid cratering immediately after. (Last week: 10th)

9) Cardinals (42-37)

The main goal in the Cardinals’ clubhouse should be simple: get to the trade deadline in a place the front office (which had planned for this to be a rebuilding year) has to go out and be at least somewhat aggressive. A current 2-6 skid, however, isn’t helping that. (Last week: 6th)

10) Mariners (42-41) 

The American League remains stunningly mediocre. Underperforming contenders like the Mariners are a good example why. They should still run away with the AL West at some point. That they haven’t yet, however, is allowing a bunch of other teams to keep hanging around. (Last week: 8th)

11) Padres (43-37)

For the first time in a while, the Padres are showing renewed signs of life. They swept the Braves, then routed the Dodgers on Friday. They’re finally getting better production from Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. Even Walker Buehler is finding a groove. (Last week: 14th)

12) Guardians (42-40)

Like the Yankees, the Guardians are in the treading-water portion of their season in the wake of an injury to José Ramírez (and rookie star Chase DeLauter). Unlike the Yankees, however, they aren’t getting by all right, having lost seven of 10. (Last week: 11th)

13) Pirates (41-41)

Little new with the Pirates lately, other than rookie sensation Konnor Griffin returning from a monthlong IL stint with a home run Friday. (Last week: 12th)

14) Diamondbacks (41-40)

Why, exactly, didn’t the Dbacks try to reunite with Paul Goldschmidt this offseason? While the former MVP is enjoying a renaissance season in the Bronx, the Dbacks just released their offseason first-base acquisition Carlos Santana. A bad calculation for a team with fine margins for error. (Last week: 13th)

15) Marlins (43-39)

It was this time last year the Marlins quietly went on a second-half surge to stay on the fringes of the playoff picture. Right now, it might be happening again, as they’ve reeled off seven wins in eight games. Consider us intrigued. (Last week: 17th)

16) Blue Jays (39-43)

Toronto still isn’t winning enough games. But it certainly showed out in the All-Star Game fan vote, where Ernie Clement nearly got as many selections as Ohtani to punch his Midsummer Classic ticket and the Blue Jays had Phase 2 finalists at every other position. It will be something when they have half-a-dozen All-Stars and still miss the playoffs. (Last week: 15th)

17) Athletics (40-42)

Our complaints of AL mediocrity will continue here. Because the A’s, despite being under .500 with a run differential of nearly minus-50, are in a playoff spot as of now. Maybe this could be the year of a losing record making October. (Last week: 18th)

18) Astros (40-44)

We’re not sure if we’re ready to really buy the Astros as being back, despite a 7-3 stretch that has brought them back within a game of a wild-card spot. Then again, in this AL, you might not need to actually be good to be a postseason contender. (Last week: 20th)

19) Rangers (40-42)

Everything we wrote above about the Astros applies here as well. And MLB is really sure “more parity” is the answer to fixing the game’s supposed woes? (Last week: 21st)

20) Nationals (41-42)

Maybe the MLBPA should use the Nationals as a counter-example to concerns over parity. After all, if the club had put even modest resources into its bullpen this year, it might be in the playoff spot. Instead, they suffered three late-game nightmares to the Phillies this week, stalling the momentum their young and exciting lineup keeps generating. (Last week: 16th)

21) Twins (39-44)

Yet another bad AL team within a couple games of a wild-card spot, even after getting swept by the Dodgers this week. At least it means Byron Buxton could play in some meaningful second-half games as he makes a case for MVP consideration. (Last week: 19th)

22) Orioles (39-44)

Have we mentioned the AL is letting bad teams hang around? Oh look, here’s another example with the Orioles. They finally had an impressive result last weekend by taking two of three from the Dodgers in LA … only to turn around and drop two of three to the Angels in Anaheim, including a wacky walk-off in the rubber match. (Last week: 23rd)

23) Tigers (35-47)

Where the AL standings could add some legitimate intrigue in the near term is at the trade deadline. The Tigers remain five games back for now, but one good run in the next couple weeks could put them right back in the mix … and maybe make trading Tarik Skubal a somewhat tougher proposition. (Last week: 26th)

24) Reds (38-42)

The Reds should probably be lower. But at least they haven’t displayed the sheer organizational incompetence of the team’s soon-to-come at the bottom of this list. So we’ll give them a half-break. (Last week: 22nd)

25) Royals (34-49)

Bobby Witt Jr. could make a run for history. The Royals are on pace for 66 wins, yet he is emerging as a front-runner for MVP. If both things happen, it would be a record for the fewest team wins ever from an MVP winner, a mark currently held by Cal Ripken Jr. in 1991 with the 67-win Orioles. (Last week: 25th)

26) Red Sox (34-46)

At least the Red Sox are showing that there are some limits to how bad you can be while hanging around the AL playoff picture. A series loss to the Rockies this past week (the Rockies!) has them five games out. At least they won a couple games against the Yankees since. (Last week: 28th)

27) Mets (34-48)

All it took for Carlos Mendoza to get fired, it turned out, was a historically putrid effort from the Mets’ defense (six errors in one game) to punctuate an unbelievably putrid run of form yet again (seven straight losses). What is there to say at this point, other than speculate about David Stearns’ job, too? (Last week: 24th)

28) Giants (33-48)

At least the Mets’ problems are just baseball-related. In San Francisco, the Giants have been blundering PR crises on multiple fronts, from the Pride Night controversy to Rafael Devers’ immaturity. They are watching Buster Posey tarnish his legacy in the city. And, oh yeah, they still aren’t winning games, now owning a record just as bad as the Angels. (Last week: 27th)

29) Angels (34-49)

Speaking of the Angels, they got in on the firing spree this week, Friday-news-dumping an announcement that GM Perry Minasian had been fired and replaced by former Cardinals exec John Mozeliak. Maybe this is a step in the right direction for the club. Maybe it’s just a ploy to get Albert Pujols (very familiar with Mozeliak from their Cardinals days) as manager. Either way, there will be no unbridled rejoicing until the day Arte Moreno announces he’s selling the team. (Last week: 29th)

30) Rockies (32-50)

Well, at least the Rockies aren’t dealing with the above dysfunction. Their problems are much simpler: They still have a big-league roster that stinks. The latest example, Friday’s loss in Minnesota, when they erased an eight-run deficit just to get walked-off in the ninth. (Last week: 30th)

Award Tracker: American League MVP Award

1) Yordan Alvarez, Astros (.318, 25 HRs, 56 RBIs, 1.055 OPS)

By the time Judge returns from a stress fracture in his rib, he will have missed three-plus months. That means that for the first time since 2020, the AL MVP will be a player other than Judge or Ohtani. The favorite now is Alvarez, an all-around hitter who leads the major leagues in OPS.

2) Bobby Witt Jr., Royals (.294, 10 HRs, 32 RBIs, .833)

Witt returned to the Royals’ lineup on Friday after missing six consecutive games with a sprained knee. Even with the missed time, Witt remains the major league leader in wins above replacement, according to Baseball Reference and FanGraphs. Witt leads the AL with 28 stolen bases.

3) Nick Kurtz, Athletics (.278, 19 HRs, 62 RBIs, .959 OPS)

Ben Rice of the Yankees and Dillon Dingler of the Tigers deserve to be considered for this spot, but the pick here is Kurtz, who leads the majors in RBIs and walks (73). Kurtz’s firepower has the A’s in the running for a wild-card spot.

After stumbling to a series-opening loss to the Red Sox on Thursday, the Yankees found themselves completely shut down by Payton Tolle as the Red Sox jumped on a struggling Will Warren to clinch a breezy 6-1 victory. They’ve guaranteed themselves at least a series split; now it’s up to the Bombers to claw back the final two decisions. The effort will begin with Gerrit Cole on the bump.

Like the Yankee lineup, Cole is looking for a mulligan. He struggled through 4,1 innings as a meek Tiger offense awoke for five runs on nine hits against him. While there were flashes of the usual Cole between the loud noises, he was not able to execute big pitches in key spots. The Red Sox offense has been doing their homework–they have not looked overawed by the task of facing Yankee pitching in this series.

Cole hasn’t pitched at Fenway Park in nearly four years; you have to go back to September 13, 2022, in which he struck out 10 batters but allowed four runs in a no-decision. He has not had success in Boston in his career; his career ERA there is 5.52, and that’s before you include his two postseason losses there. But every start is a blank slate.

Jake Bennett is another of the Red Sox’ seemingly limitless supply of talented young left-handers: the third New York will face in this series. Bennett took the rotation spot of the struggling Brayan Bello, and has turned in a solid 3.71 ERA in his first five turns. Last time out he dazzled with six scoreless innings against the Rockies, but Boston got walked off in the ninth inning on a triple by Jake McCarthy. Bennett features a pair of fastballs and a changeup in addition to three other pitches he sprinkles in every so often. He attacks same-siders with the sinker but favors a more balanced three-pitch approach against righties.

Ben Rice draws back into the starting lineup today; he’ll bat second after Paul Goldschmidt. Amed Rosario hits third and returns to third base. Jazz Chisholm Jr. will hit the bench today–José Caballero will man the keystone. Max Schuemann will play in center field with Cody Bellinger and Jasson Domínguez in the outfield corners. Austin Wells will catch for Cole.

How to watch

Location: Fenway Park – Boston, MA

First pitch: 1:10 pm ET

TV broadcast: ABC

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY) | WEEI 93.7, WESX 1230 AM, WCCM 1490 AM (BOS)

Streaming: ESPN+

For updates, follow us on BlueSky, Twitter, and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

Zach Thornton is headed back to the minors...for now.

The Mets optioned the young southpaw back to Triple-A on Saturday to open a roster spot for Christian Scott to be activated from the injured list. 

Thornton certainly figures to have earned himself another turn in the rotation, though. 

The youngster did just about everything he could to try to help the struggling Mets snap their long losing streak, keeping the high-powered Phillies lineup in check in just his second big league outing. 

He settled in nicely after being knocked around by the first four batters, holding the division rivals to just one run on five hits and a walk while striking out seven across six innings of work. 

It was Thornton's first career quality start, and just the 18th from a Mets starter all season. 

"It just gives me confidence that I can compete with the best out there and get anyone out," the rookie said. "I want to pitch in the big leagues for a long time, and I think I can do that."

Though he's heading back to Syracuse for now, Thornton certainly figures to be back. 

As far as Scott, he'll take the ball on Saturday after being sidelined for two weeks due to a right hip impingement. 

Scott was settling in as one of New York's most reliable arms prior to the injury, pitching to a 2.97 ERA with 46 strikeouts across his previous eight starts. 

Texas Rangers lineup for June 27, 2026 against the Toronto Blue Jays: starting pitchers are Cal Quantrill for the Rangers and Dylan Cease for the Blue Jays.

The Rangers clinched at least a series split in Toronto yesterday, and are trying to clinch a winning series in Toronto today. They have their most challenging matchup of the series today, with Cy Young contender Dylan Cease going for Toronto. Corey Seager is back in the lineup, while Ezequiel Duran gets a day off.

The lineup:

Pederson — DH

Langford — CF

Seager — SS

Nimmo — RF

Jung — 3B

Burger — 1B

Kelenic — LF

Diaz — C

Lopez — 2B

2:07 p.m. Central start time. Rangers are +155 underdogs.

TODAY’S GAME: The Houston Astros (40-44) and Detroit Tigers (35-47) will play the 3rd game of their 4-game series this afternoon at Comerica Park.

RHP Kai-Wei Teng (4-6, 4.03 ERA) will start for the Astros vs. Tigers LHP Framber Valdez (4-5, 3.91 ERA).

ROAD TRIPPIN: Today is the 6th game (3-2 thus far) of a 7-game road trip for the Astros, They were 2-1 at TOR on the 1st stop of the trip.

Road Recovery: The Astros are 13-8 in their last 3 road trips combined. They are 19-14 on the road since going 1-9 on their 1st road trip of the 2026 season.

ASTROS-TIGERS: The Astros are 3-2 vs. DET this season, having won 2 of 3 games from the Tigers last week at Daikin Park (June 15-17). The 2 clubs will play all 7 of their scheduled games between June 15-28. In 2025, the Astros and Tigers finished with identical 87-75 records, with the Tigers earning the final AL Wild Card spot due to winning the season series vs. HOU.

Recent Success: Since 2022, the Astros are 19-11 vs. DET with an 8-5 record here at Comerica Park.

ABOUT KAI-WEI: Today will be RHP Kai-Wei Teng’s 10th start and 23rd app. overall this season. He was solid in his last start on Sunday vs. CLE, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits in 6.0 IP to earn the win in the Astros 2-1 victory.

Today will be Teng’s 2nd start vs. the Tigers (other was June 15 at Daikin Park, 9-3 loss). He took the loss in that start, but did tally 9 strikeouts in just 3.1 innings of work (9 of the 10 outs recorded were via the punchout).

Daytime Warrior: Teng is 2-1 in 8 daytime app. (3 GS) with a 1.96 ERA (5ER/23IP) and a .188 opp. avg.

Teng was acquired by the Astros from the Giants this offseason in exchange for minor league C Jancel Villarroel. Teng is the 2nd Taiwanese-born player ever to appear with HOU, joining RHP Chia Jen-Lo, who made 19 relief app. with the Astros in 2013.

PITCHING DEBUT: OF Jake Meyers hurled a scoreless 8th inning last night in what was his 1st ML appearance on the mound. While at the Univ. of Nebraska (2015-17), Meyers was 17-4 in 39 appearances (23 starts). Prior to last night, he had 1 pitching appearance as a professional, which was in 2018 while at Buies Creek (1.1 IP, 0 R).

RECENT STROS: The Astros have won 4 of 6, 7 of 10 and 9 of their last 14 games.

WINNING THE CLOSE CALLS: The Astros are 9-4 in 1-run games and 16-10 in 2-run games (4-4 in extra innings).

SERIES-LY SPEAKING: The Astros have won 4 consecutive series for the 1st time in 2026, posting an 8-4 record in those series. The last time that the Astros won that many series in a row was when they won 5 straight, from June 20-July 6 of last season (went 12-3 in that stretch).

THE SLOW TURNAROUND: After a slow start to the season, the Astros are 20-13 since May 21, which is the best record in the AL in that span.

Top Records since May 21 (AL)

1. HOU: 20-13 (.606)

2. NYY: 18-13 (.581)

MVP-CALIBER: Yordan Alvarez has had a torrid 1st half to his season, currently leading all of baseball with a 1.045 OPS. Additionally, he leads the AL in SLG (.619), OBP (.427) and TB (185), is T-1st in HR (25), 2nd in batting avg. (.314) and runs scored (57) and T-3rd in RBI (56).

Alvarez, who was the AL Player of the Month for May, is hitting .349 (29×83) in June with 5 HR and 17 RBI with a 1.033 OPS (.455 OBP/.578 SLG).

ALL-STAR UPDATE: Per MLB’s update on Thursday, Yordan Alvarez’ 2,911,655 fan votes were tops among all DH’s and the 2nd-most overall in the AL. The second phase of fan voting begins Monday, June 29th and features the top two vote-getters at each position.

Phase 2 voting concludes at 12:00 p.m. (ET) on Thursday, July 2nd. Alvarez has been an All-Star 3 times thus far in his career. Since 2017, the Astros’ 37 All-Star selections are tops in the AL in that span.

OH MY FOR IMAI: With his 10 K’s Thursday night, RHP Tatsuya Imai now has tallied 21 strikeouts in his last 2 starts combined. He had a career-high 11 strikeouts in his previous start on June 19 vs. CLE. His 21 K’s in his last 2 starts have come in just 12.0 innings pitched, and make him the 1st Astros pitcher to reach 10 punchouts in back-back starts since LHP Framber Valdez, June 5 and 12 of 2025 (11 K at PIT, 12 K vs. CWS, respectively)….

Solid Stretch: Since May 25, Imai is 4-1 in his 6 starts with a 3.64 ERA (12ER/29.2IP) with 37 K’s in 29.2 IP.

PEN PALS: The Astros bullpen combined for 5.0 scoreless innings last night, continuing a trend of solid pitching over the past 6 weeks. Since May 15, the Astros bullpen has been one of the best in the AL, posting a 2.66 clip (42ER/142P) in that span. The Astros are 23-16 since May 15.

HADERADE: In his 10 appearances since coming of the IL on June 3, opponents are just 2×32 off LHP Josh Hader. For the season, Hader has posted a 0.90 ERA (1ER/10IP) and is 6-for-6 in save opportunities (.063 opp. avg., .040 WHIP).

TODAY IN ASTROS HISTORY: 2002 – Pinch-hitter Gregg Zaun hits a walk-off, grand slam with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th off RHP Byung-Hyun Kim to defeat the Diamondbacks, 7-4, at Daikin Park. Zaun is one of four Astros to hit a walk-off grand slam in franchise history. The others: Milt May (May 22, 1974 vs. SD); Brian Bogusevic (Aug. 16, 2011 vs. CHC); Jose Altuve (June 15, 2021 vs. TEX).

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Saturday, June 27, 12:10 p.m. CT

Location: Comerica Park, Detroit, MI

TV: SCHN

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

The Anaheim Angels fired general manager Perry Minasian yesterday afternoon. John Mozeliak, former long-time general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, has been brought in as a consultant and, per the Angels press release, will be overseeing the baseball operations side of things while the team looks for a new general manager.

The timing of this move is odd, given that the MLB Draft is just two weeks away, though oddness and unusual decisions has been the hallmark of the Angels under owner Arte Moreno. Minasian was hired to replace Billy Eppler, who was the general manager for the Angels from 2015-20. Eppler replaced Jerry DiPoto, who is currently the president of baseball operations with the Seattle Mariners, having taken over for the infamous Jack Z in Seattle after the 2015 season.

Minasian was in the final year of his contract, and there’s already speculation that the Angels will, in a cost saving move, wait until after a new collective bargaining agreement is reached to hire a permanent replacement. The expectation is that there will be another lockout, and given Moreno’s proclivities, the thinking is that he will not want to have to pay a top baseball executive to be executiving while the lockout is going on. First year manager Kurt Suzuki only received a one year deal, with speculation being that this was motivated by a similar desire. Mozeliak reportedly being expected to stay with the organization “through the end of this calendar year” would seem to support the notion that a permanent replacement won’t come until there’s a new CBA.

Minasian got his start with the Rangers, as his father, Zack Minasian the Elder, was the team’s longtime clubhouse manager. Perry and his brothers, Rudy, Zack the Younger, and Calvin were bat boys and clubhouse assistants for the Rangers growing up. Perry was a scout for the Rangers for a number of years before working for the Toronto Blue Jays and the Atlanta Braves. Zack is the general manager of the San Francisco Giants under president of baseball operations Buster Posey. Calvin is the Braves’ clubhouse manager. Rudy is the black sheep of the family, as he’s a lawyer, something all of us here feel is an unsavory and embarrassing profession.

Mozeliak was the general manager and then president of baseball operations of the St. Louis Cardinals from 2007 through 2025, although his departure was under odd circumstances, as Chaim Bloom was hired as an advisor prior to the 2025 season, with it being announced at the time he would take over for Mozeliak after the 2025 season. The Cardinals had won 71 and 83 games the previous two seasons, missing the playoffs both years, and there was some sense at the time that the team needed to move on from the Mozeliak era. Bloom was, per ESPN at the time the hiring was announced, “tasked with reenergizing the team” in the player development department.

The Angels’ last winning season was in 2015, they’ve not won more than 77 games since 2018, and they’ve made the playoffs just once since getting coming two wins away from advancing to the World Series in 2009. After an offseason where the team’s strategy seemed to be to acquire players that were either good a few years ago, or were seen as good prospects a few years ago, but were neither when the Angels scooped them up, Anaheim is currently tied with the Kansas City Royals for the worst record in the American League.

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The Mets play their second game since changing managers on Friday against the Phillies, a team whose season turned around after a similar move earlier in the season.  

The Mets have lost seven straight and yet are somehow favored.

My Phillies vs. Mets predictions and MLB picks take the Phillies as an unlikely but potentially profitable underdog.

Who will win Phillies vs Mets today: Philies moneyline (+116)

It's not unusual for teams to rally after a managerial change, but the New York Mets being favored seems like a gift.

The Philadelphia Phillies have won four straight and six of seven, while New York hasn't won since June 18. They'll win eventually, but getting a plus moneyline for the Phils is a no-brainer.

The Mets start Christian Scott in his first game off the injured list. Scott's offspeed and breaking stuff are both in the bottom third in MLB.

He'll rely on his fastball against Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, who are both among the top 20 fastball hitters in MLB.

COVERS INTEL: Alan Rangel doesn't have enough innings to qualify, but his hard-hit rate, barrel rate and exit velocity allowed would all be in the top 10% in MLB. Batters have a 44% whiff rate against his changeup.

Phillies vs Mets Over/Under pick: Under 8.5 (+106)

New York had Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto both in the lineup for just the 10th time this season and still only managed one run, the fifth time in their losing streak they've scored three or fewer. They're 29th in MLB in OPS.

The Phillies start journeyman Alan Rangel, who looked strong in two bullpen outings and was an effective starter in Triple-A. His stuff isn't overwhelming, but he avoids solid contact.

Philly also has the bullpen ready after only needing them for two innings and 28 pitches on Friday. They have a 2.39 ERA and 0.79 WHIP over the last three.

Phillies vs Mets weather

Notes on the weather and its impact.

Phillies vs Mets odds

• Moneyline: Phillies +117 | Mets -122
• Run line: Phillies +1.5 (-170) | Mets +1.5 (+163)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 (-117) | Under 8.5 (+113)

Phillies vs Mets trend

The Philadelphia Phillies have hit the Game Total Under in 18 of their last 24 away games (+11.50 Units / 44% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Phillies vs. Mets.

How to watch Phillies vs Mets and game info

Phillies vs Mets latest injuries

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In his first 7 games of the season, Slade Cecconi got off to one of the worst starts to a season a starting pitcher could possibly have. He had a 6.56 ERA, a 5.79 FIP, and was giving up 2.02 HRs per 9 innings pitched. In the 9 starts since, his ERA has gone down to 2.96, his FIP to 3.47, and the HR/9 rate is down to 0.74. So, has Slade turned things around? Let’s break it down.

Before getting into some of the changes he’s made, it’s important to look at the information we already have a bit more closely. There’s a natural ebb and flow in a baseball season, as both hitters and pitchers will experience changing conditions in the field. Batted ball distribution, luck, and defensive performance behind a pitcher can fluctuate, and because of that, surface level results can often be cloudy. For example, on the surface, a pitcher putting up an ERA 3.50 runs lower than they had been and a FIP drop of almost 2.50 sound amazing, but if we look at his xERA and xFIP numbers, they tell a slightly different story. For example, look at the following table:

We can see that in those first starts, Slade was actually getting significantly higher than expected results, and in the more recent set of starts we see the opposite. (Granted, the more recent difference is not as extreme.) This leads us to conclude that baseball variance has amplified both ends of this equation. The good news is that even though the degree of the new performance is a little bit overexaggerated by the under and then overperformance relative to expected metrics, we can see there still appears to be a definite improvement that’s happened, even if it’s less of one than we originally might have thought. In order to get to an answer, we’re going to take a look deeper at his more specific quality of contact numbers and see if we can find any differences that would explain this extreme change in results. Let’s start with the following data:

Looking at this, I think we may have a bit of conundrum. Hard-Hit % has stayed the same, but the Average Exit Velocity has gone up, and the Barrel % has plummeted. We also have a modest, but important, uptick in Ground Ball %, and here we can draw a few conclusions. Even though Slade appears to be getting hit slightly harder on average than before, we can see from the Barrel % and the Ground Ball %  that the hard-hit contact is not translating into barrel-level damage nearly as much as before. The Barrel % drop is so significant it’s the clearest signal of improved damaging contact prevention. Another consideration with increases in ground ball outs comes the chance for increases in double plays turned. When we look at that data, we can see there were 3 GIDPs in Slade’s first 7 starts, and 6 in the most recent 9 starts. This could be normal variance, but it is worth mentioning to see if the pattern holds. This modest rise in Ground Ball % may have contributed to reducing the severity of the contact outcomes on Slade’s pitches, but the largest driver of improvement appears to be the overall suppression in  barrel conversion of the hard contact and not a broad reduction in overall hard contact. These factors combined do show some real meaningful improvements beyond potentially noisy surface level results. Next, let’s break down Slade’s pitch mix and see if we can learn anything from that. Here’s some data to take a look at:

There’s a lot to unpack here, but the general trend we can see has been increased usage of the fastball and fastball variant pitches (the 4SFB, the cutter, and the sinker), the addition of the slider and changeup, and the near total removal of the sweeper. We see that the mix before was very 4SFB heavy, with moderate cutter and low sinker usage. Now, we can see the pitches are thrown in a much more balanced distribution.

We can also see the curveball is being used at about the same rate, but the contact quality on it is significantly better. Having multiple different fastball movement profiles may be making his pitches less predictable, and combining that with slider and changeup usage may be what’s opening up the curveball to be weaponized more. We can also see the velocity differences of the pitches give him a few different speed options to potentially help keep hitters off balance, and the slider and the changeup coming in at similar speeds but moving in different ways can make the pitch location harder to discern for the hitter.

The increase in options in the different velocities may be improving deception and timing disruption and ultimately contributing to the ability to miss barrels and get less damaging contact. The increased sinker usage also helps explain the increase in the Ground Ball % we spoke of earlier.

Now that we’ve identified some changes to the pitch mix and how they may have affected Slade’s results, let’s take a look at his command and see if there’s been any changes there.

Initially there’s a lot of good here. Lower walk rate, more first pitch strikes, and more pitches in the ABS strike zone as well (Zone %). The final number in the table (CSW%) stands for “Called Strikes plus Whiffs”, and the idea behind this stat is to show how often the pitcher “wins” the pitch outright either by throwing something in the strike zone that the hitter does not swing at, or by getting the hitter to swing and miss. We can see this number has improved as well. This is a very modest improvement, but still worth mentioning because of the nature of the statistic.

We’ve seen evidence of the pitches getting more favorable contact quality before, and now we can also see Slade is throwing more strikes, and the higher CSW % shows that the increase isn’t just in easy to hit pitches either. 

So we put that all together and what do we see? Honestly, these improvements appear to be very real and tangible. Although the magnitude of the improvements does appear to be magnified by normal baseball variance. We saw that his initial bad start looked worse than it was, and this good stretch looks a bit better than what the surface numbers suggest it is, but it’s still significantly better.

We should probably expect some regression from the recent starts, but overall it seems like Slade has made legitimate adjustments and gotten back on track, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the Guards.

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Toronto Blue Jays starter Dylan Cease is a strikeout merchant and draws a favorable matchup against this Texas Rangers lineup today, making Over 7.5 strikeouts my favorite play of the day.

Read on for my Blue Jays vs. Rangers predictions and MLB picks for this Saturday, June 27 matchup.

Rangers vs Blue Jays predictions

Rangers vs Blue Jays best bet: Dylan Cease Over 7.5 strikeouts (-120)

Dylan Cease leads all American League pitchers with 118 K’s, while eclipsing this strikeout total in six of his last seven starts.

The Toronto Blue Jays starter owns a 32.4% strikeout rate against this Texas Rangers lineup, while primarily throwing a healthy amount of four-seamers and sliders.

This Rangers squad struggles with the fastball-slider combination, with the third-lowest batting average against that pitch mix and the seventh-worst whiff rate in the majors.

That plays into Cease’s strengths as one of baseball’s premier swing-and-miss pitchers, ranging in the 97th percentile in whiff rate, while suppressing contact with just a 4.8% barrel rate against his pitches.

So the combination of Cease's elite swing-and-miss stuff, coupled with the Rangers’ inability to make contact with his primary pitch mix, makes me confident betting this to -130.

COVERS INTEL: Cease leads the majors with a 13.5 K/9 in 2026, averaging 8.8 strikeouts per game over his last seven starts.

Rangers vs Blue Jays same-game parlay (SGP)

The Rangers have lost in each of the last six outings for Cal Quantrill, who owns a 1.010 OPS against this Blue Jays lineup. With Toronto starting All-Star candidate Cease and a plus matchup against this Rangers lineup, I’ll add the Blue Jays moneyline to the SGP.

Jays outfielder Daulton Varsho profiles well against Quantrill, and has hit the ball well since returning from the IL with a .333 average and a 202 WRC+ over his last five games. He’s also 3-for-4 against Quantrill in his career.

Rangers vs Blue Jays SGP

• Dylan Cease Over 7.5 strikeouts 
• Jays moneyline
• Daulton Varsho Over 0.5 hits

Rangers vs Blue Jays home run pick: Kazuma Okamoto (+255)

Kazuma Okamoto hits the ball harder than any other Blue Jays in the lineup with a 50% hard hit rate, .479 slug-rate, and a team-high 19 home runs this season

He’s been swinging the bat extremely well over his last eight games, too, with four home runs in that stretch, a 57% hard-hit rate, and a 259 WRC+.

However, it’s a bullpen day for the Rangers. Without knowing Okamoto’s exact pitching matchup throughout the game, I’ll make this just a half-unit wager.

Rangers vs Blue Jays odds

• Moneyline: Rangers +136 | Blue Jays -150
• Run line: Rangers +1.5 (-135) | Blue Jays -1.5 (+115)
• Over/Under: Over 8 (+110) | Under 8 (-130)

Rangers vs Blue Jays trend

The Toronto Blue Jays have hit the Game Total Over in 10 of their last 16 games at home (+3.50 Units / 20% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Rangers vs. Blue Jays.

How to watch Rangers vs Blue Jays and game info

Rangers vs Blue Jays latest injuries

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David Peterson was driving home following Wednesday's doubleheader when he received word from David Stearns that he'd been traded to the Chicago Cubs. 

Peterson, the longest-tenured Met, was surprised at first but then looked forward to the new opportunity. 

“Obviously some shock in the moment,” he told reporters Friday. “Drafted by the Mets, spent 10 years there, a lot of great memories, great people, but you kind of move on to the next step -- it’s the business, so I’m excited.”

That next step presents an intriguing change of scenery for Peterson. 

The 30-year-old lefty hasn’t pitched the same since cracking his first All-Star team last year, carrying over his brutal second-half into spring training and the first three months of this season. 

He's been a bit more effective working behind an opener in a bulk relief role, but otherwise has been knocked around, pitching to an ugly 7.71 ERA and 1.95 WHIP as a starter on the year.  

Still, Peterson feels good and is confident he can help Chicago's shorthanded rotation.  

"I went through some things early in the year that we needed to clean up," he said. "I feel a lot better about where we're at now, I feel like myself back in '24, '25 -- I'm excited for the opportunity to start and get the routine back."

One aspect Peterson figures to benefit from is the defensive upgrade behind him. 

The Mets' defense as a whole has been shaky throughout this disappointing season, while the Cubs are among the best in the game in Outs Above Average and runs prevented. 

For a groundball pitcher like Peterson, "it's huge."

“You look at the guys around the infield and the defense as a whole, it’s hard not to be excited," he said. "You see them statistically at the top of every list, so I’m excited to have those guys behind me on the field.”

Peterson's Cubs debut will take place Saturday night in Milwaukee.

One of the joys of this here daily birthday series is that we get to see nearly every corner of the Yankees’ history. Yesterday’s entry featured the incomparable Derek Jeter, an inner-circle Hall of Famer, 14-time All-Star, and five-time World Series winner, while today’s will see a 2022 fifth-round draft pick, who has yet to surface in the Major Leagues, and has only recently spent time in Triple-A.

Although it is a professional baseball career that has hardly begun, Eric Reyzelman’s will be under the microscope today. With nary a single Yankee player being born on June 27th, it is the 25-year-old’s day in the light. And hey: If he advances just one more level, Reyzelman be the first!

Eric Michael Reyzelman
Born: June 27, 2001 (San Ramon, CA)
Yankees Tenure: 2022-Present (minors)

Born in 2001 in San Ramon, California, on the eastern outskirts of the Bay Area, Reyzelman grew up a Giants fan, and did not go without adversity early in his playing days. Despite being drafted by the Yankees, and seeing minor league success to this point, Reyzelman was actually cut from his high school baseball team. Forced to take a non-traditional route to professional baseball, the right-hander did not let a little adversity stop him from succeeding.

Reyzelman actually committed to playing baseball at the Division-I level in college, before he played on his JV or Varsity squad. With travel ball being his avenue, his talents drew plenty of interest despite not playing for his school. The interest was strong enough, evidently, for the Yankees to draft Reyzelman in the fifth round out of LSU.

In the same year he was drafted, the right-handed hurler began his professional career in the Yankees organization. It was a brief stint, as he tossed just four combined innings between A-ball and Rookie ball, and he barely pitched in 2023 as well, as a cyst on his back the required multiple operations kept him off the mound.

Reyzelman finally got a more substantial opportunity in 2024, and did not waste his time on the mound. In 38.2 total innings between Rookie ball, High-A, and Double-A, the righty broke out with a sparkling 1.16 ERA. It was no fluke either, as he struck out a whopping 63 batters in that span, good for a 40.9 percent clip.

The success earned him a full season with Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes Barre in 2025 as he pitched exclusively at that level, tossing 42 mostly effective innings that season. He didn’t quite reach the same level of effectiveness that he did in 2024, as he managed an ERA well above 4 and his strikeout rate was nearly cut in half.

In 2026, Reyzelman has once again split time between Double-A and Triple-A, as he’s pitched 24.1 innings to this point, and has likely ran into some tough luck with a 5.55 ERA and a mismatched 3.07 FIP on the year. His pitch-mix has evolved significantly since he left college with a profile very heavy on the fastball, adding in a slider and a changeup which have varying returns in the command department.

Now in his age-25 season, Reyzelman has shown flashes of highly effective relief pitching, though his overall production, not to mention his health, have been inconsistent over the course of his professional career. In fact, our own Scott Walsh recently spoke with Reyzelman about getting to the brink of The Show and the challenges of injuries getting in his way (among other things). He has ascended to the highest reaches of the minor leagues, and his arrival in the big league bullpen may be a matter of time. Despite any concerns, he clearly has some talent that could do damage in the right hands, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him racking up Ks out of the ‘pen in the future. If you’re in business, call this a futures investment, perhaps.

In the meantime, we wish him a happy 25th birthday!

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

You can’t say you didn’t see this one coming. It would have been great to get one of those “because baseball” games. But it’s always important to remember that sometimes Goliath just squashes David, the Globetrotters virtually always win and The Miz and the Brewers are going to beat the Cubs in Milwaukee.

It’s a rare game in the modern era when I think that things get even worse as the game gets later. It’s no secret that as starts, on average, get shorter and shorter over time, the number of wins and losses recorded by starting pitchers also decreases. I’ve not studied it, but surely it’s not a 1 to 1 ratio. But there’s going to be some correlation there.

I can remember back more than 20 years ago and the not so subtle strategy of running up pitch counts against pitchers like Kerry Wood and Carlos Zambrano. If you can’t hit them, work up the pitch count and get in the pen. As pitch counts have gone down, that strategy is definitely a thing. And it is essentially a no-lose scenario. The pitcher gets deep and gets into the third time through the order with an escalating pitch count, he’s vulnerable. They get him out and you are going to see some depth relievers. Does any of that guarantee victory? Of course not. But it sure helps.

The counterpunch, of course, is building a strong bullpen. Hard to do, but we have slowly seen the rise of stealing the game with your bullpen. Now we see scores of hard throwing, talented relievers at the end of games. A seemingly unending line of guys throwing in the upper 90s. The Cubs do not have a strong bullpen. The Brewers do. Ergo, this was a rare game where I didn’t feel more comfortable as the Cubs held the Brewers scoreless longer. Even after Seiya Suzuki’s solo homer, I assumed the Brewers would eventually outlast the Cub bullpen.

I was not wrong. Ho hum. An entirely expected result with a few innings of false hope sprinkled on top.

Three Positives:

• Colin Rea. The one thing you absolutely could not have was a very short start. Rea matched Miz for five innings. He was charged with a run in the sixth.
• Seiya Suzuki provided a brief ray of hope with his solo homer. Added a walk and a sacrifice fly.
• Alex Bregman with a single and walk.

Game 82, June 26: Brewers 6, Cubs 2 (44-38)

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Colin Rea (.137). 5 IP, 23 BF, 5 H, 3 BB, ER, 4 K
• Hero: Seiya Suzuki (.100). 1-2, HR, 2 RBI, R, BB, SF
• Sidekick: Alex Bregman (.042). 1-3, BB

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Ethan Roberts (-.260). IP, 5 BF, 2 H, BB, 2 R (0-2)
• Goat: Dansby Swanson (-.122). 0-4, DP
• Kid: Nico Hoerner (-.091). 0-4

WPA Play of the Game: Garrett Mitchell’s two-out, two-run homer in the sixth off of Ethan Roberts. (362)

Mets Play of the Game: Immediately before that, Roberts got a line drive double play with runners on first and second and no outs. (.204)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Game 81 Winner: Pete Crow-Armstrong received 74 of 168 votes.

Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)

The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.

• Pete Crow-Armstrong +20
• Michael Busch +18
• Ben Brown +13.5
• Carson Kelly +12.5
• Trent Thornton +11.5
• Jacob Webb/Jameson Taillon -8
• Edward Cabrera -9.5
• Phil Maton -10
• Caleb Thielbar -13
• Seiya Suzuki -20.5

Up Next: Game two of the weekend three-game set in Milwaukee. David Peterson (3-6, 6.09) makes his Cub debut. I suspect he is too much of a pro to have actual tears in his eyes the first time the Cubs turn a double play behind him. The Mets defense has been exceptionally bad and the Cub defense has been quite good. The Brewers start Kyle Harrison, the promising young lefty. Harrison is 8-1 with a 2.50 in 14 starts. If you ask me, this is a second complete mismatch and the Cubs will struggle for any offense for a second straight day.

It’ll be interesting to get a look at Peterson as a Cub, at least.