Category: Baseball

ATLANTA — Here, a new number for all the statheads out there: innings pitched per hour of sleep.

In Carson Whisenhunt’s case, the ratio on Wednesday was something like 5:2. Even counting the short nap after his crack-of-dawn flight to make it on time for his spot start, Whisenhunt barely cracked four hours of shuteye.

He didn’t look bleary-eyed in his first major-league start of the season, keeping the Braves off the scoreboard for five innings and finishing with two earned runs over five-plus.

His reward: one full night’s sleep in the posh team hotel before boarding another flight back to rough it in Triple-A. Whisenhunt, the 27th man for the second game of the Giants’ doubleheader against the Braves, was sent back out after the 7-5 win. 

But he showed enough to convince manager Tony Vitello he’ll be back.

“He’s got the ability to be at this level,” Vitello said. “It wasn’t just about what he did today. You see the incline of improvement. He’ll have more days like this.”

For now, though, the Giants will continue to roll with Adrian Houser, Landen Roupp and Trevor McDonald behind Logan Webb and Robbie Ray. Tyler Mahle is also on a rehab assignment, though he was shaky in his first outing Tuesday, walking five in three innings.

There should be more opportunities following the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

Ray, on the last year of his contract, is one of the likeliest candidates to be dealt if the Giants maintain their posture as sellers. Mahle, with a few strong starts under his belt, could also give a contender a low-cost option to boost their pitching depth.

The Giants aren’t exactly swimming in major-league arms themselves, but without much hope of making the playoffs, trading from the relative position of weakness would at least give them a chance to see if they can count on any of their internal options heading into next season.

Whisenhunt, as Vitello declared two weeks ago, would be the “next man up.”

“I just meant he’s doing well enough to get the call-up if circumstances come up,” Vitello said before Wednesday’s game. “Circumstances have come up, so here we are.”

Whisenhunt was with Triple-A Sacramento in Oklahoma City when he got word that he was getting the call late in their game Tuesday night. He packed his things and got to bed around 1 or 2 a.m. for a 7 a.m. flight to Atlanta, where he started on short rest about 12 hours later.

His evaluation: “Not the best it could have been, but for what I had to work with, I felt pretty solid.” 

It went better than just about any of the five starts Whisenhunt made in his big-league debut last summer, when he struggled with his command and batters punished him for lacking a second offspeed pitch. For the most part, it’s why he has been stuck at Triple-A for three years after rising quickly through the Giants’ system with a major league-ready changeup.

This time around, Whisenhunt still struggled to put away hitters, finishing with only two strikeouts, but settled in to retire 11 of 12 until allowing the first three batters of the sixth to reach. He issued two walks but left them both stranded on first base.

“He put on a clinic for how to handle traffic,” Vitello said. “Because there weren’t very many moments in the game where it was easy, or he just breezed. …

“To come in on a flight and all that stuff, I think it’s pretty commendable how well he pitched on the road against a great team, and then you add in all the circumstances, too.”

Vitello noticed a difference from the pitcher he watched for the first time in spring training.

“I thought [his] composure was at a high level,” Vitello said. “Whereas in spring training … composure got away and he kind of just went harder and madder and faster. There was a lot of poise out there today.”

At Triple-A, he has been working on a slider that he admitted was “still a work in progress,” particularly against right-handed hitters. Still, he said having the breaking ball to go with a fastball that sits 92-94 mph and his signature changeup is “definitely a lot of help.”

He gave a different explanation for what allowed him to earn the Pacific Coast League’s Pitcher of the Month award for May and post a 2.76 ERA in 10 starts since April 28.

“Just trusting my stuff in the zone,” he said. “Not trying to punch everybody out. If it happens, it happens. But just trying to get early contact and go further into the game.”

Now, on his way back to Triple-A, he knows that mindset can translate to The Show.

“It definitely makes it mentally better,” he said.

It was Bryan Woo’s world and we were all living in it Thursday afternoon. He spun an absolute gem as the M’s take both the rubber game and the season series from the Orioles, 3-0.

Woo faltered against the same team in Baltimore last Thursday, allowing seven runs over five innings. This time, though, he frustrated Orioles hitters all afternoon — he went seven-plus innings, striking out nine and allowing only three hits and a walk.

“Conditions were different, didn’t have a great feel for the ball in Baltimore, just fell into a lot of hitters counts,” Woo said when asked about adjustments between last week and now. “So I wanted to make sure that I came out and got ahead, was in the spots that I wanted to be in, and do what I wanted to do from there.”

Woo got ahead in the count early and often Thursday. He threw first pitch strikes to 16 of the 25 hitters he faced. He was also incredibly efficient despite nearly touching double digits in strikeouts — through seven innings, he was at only 80 pitches.

Though some other factors were likely at play, the last week further encapsulates a Tale of Two Seasons for Woo that has shown a major divergence between his home and road splits. Entering today, Woo was posting a 2.07 FIP at home, a much more productive figure than his 4.28 on the road. That discrepancy only figures to get larger after you factor in today’s outing.

The Mariners mounted a two-out rally to take the lead in the bottom of the first. Josh Naylor drove a single into right-center and was able to advance to second on an ill-fated decision by Leody Taveras to field the ball with his bare hand. After Dominic Canzone drew a walk, Cole Young scored Naylor with an opposite-field double down the left field line.

That wasn’t all for the M’s in the first. With both Canzone and Young in scoring position, Colt Emerson snuck a base hit through the right side to score two more runs and give Woo a comfortable lead in the early going.

Woo said he’s been impressed by both Emerson and Young’s consistency. “But they’re still kids. They’re still goofballs, they’re still idiots in the clubhouse.”

In the bottom of the second, the Mariners got the first two runners aboard, but couldn’t push across any runs. After getting tagged a bit in the early going, Orioles righty Shane Baz settled in. Neither team got much of anything going after the Mariners jumped out in front. Over the course of the afternoon, Baz also racked up nine strikeouts of his own over seven innings.

It wasn’t until the top of the eighth that a true threat materialized for the Orioles. Woo allowed a Taveras single to center field, then walked Colton Cowser to put two runners on with nobody out. With Woo at 89 pitches, manager Dan Wilson didn’t take any chances and brought in Eduard Bazardo to put out the fire.

Bazardo got the job done. After inducing a ground-ball fielder’s choice and a flyout that nearly gave me a heart attack, he froze Taylor Ward with a 97-mph sinker on the corner to end the threat.

The Mariners weren’t able to add any insurance in the bottom of the eighth, so Andrés Muñoz was called upon for a save opportunity in the ninth. Though he’d allow a couple of baserunners, including a walk to Gunnar Henderson to lead off the inning, Muñoz was able to shut the door. Taveras, representing the tying run with two outs, struck out on a quality slider to end it.

The win marks the Mariners’ first series win over the Orioles since 2022, and today was also Baltimore’s first time being shut out all season — the final team in the majors to be shut out for the first time.

At the end of the day, much like their climb through the farm system, it was Colt following in Cole’s footsteps in the first inning that’d ultimately be the difference in the game. Their combined three RBI were the only runs on the afternoon for either team.

“He’s another guy I look up to,” Emerson said on Young, his middle-infield counterpart. “He’s been here a year before me. He was my comp out of high school. He’s always been somebody that’s been ahead of me, that I look up to, and as even-keeled as he is, I know that he’s had a lot of success. So I know to have success, you gotta do the same thing.”

The Mariners will begin a three-game set against the Red Sox tomorrow at T-Mobile Park.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. was forced out of the Yankees’ 5-1 loss to the White Sox on Thursday night at the Stadium in one of the most painful ways imaginable.

During an at-bat in the bottom of the fourth, Chisholm fouled a ball straight off the ground near the plate, and the ball took an unfortunate bounce and hit Chisholm near the groin area.

The second baseman crumbled to the ground and remained there for several moments before Aaron Boone and the training staff came out to check on Chisholm, who eventually got to his feet but was clearly still in discomfort.

Unable to continue, Chisholm was removed from the game, and Anthony Volpe entered to finish the at-bat.

Volpe ended up drawing a walk against Chicago right-hander Sean Burke but was thrown out trying to steal second to end the inning.

Volpe remained in the game at shortstop, while José Caballero, who started the game at short, moved to second.

Boone said after the game the Yankees were still waiting to find out the severity of the injury, but the manager was “hoping” Chisholm was OK.

Austin Wells’ comeback from the cervical headaches that landed him on the IL on June 6 took a step forward Thursday, as the catcher hit a pair of homers during a minor league rehab game with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Prior to the Yankees closing out their series against the White Sox in The Bronx, Boone said the organization hadn’t made a decision as to whether Wells would come back for Friday’s game against the Reds, but they were “leaning” towards keeping him with SWB, especially since they were rained out Wednesday, robbing Wells of a day on the field, and they have a doubleheader Friday.

Boone said Wells, now over the headaches that sent him to the IL and kept J.C. Escarra in The Bronx, has worked with Jarret DeHart, the organization’s director of hitting, while with SWB.

“He’s had some good days of work,’’ Boone said of Wells, who went hitless in his first rehab game on Tuesday. “He’s getting some results. We want to keep building on that.”

Whether that translates to the majors is a different story, and as The Post’s Joel Sherman has reported, they could be in the market for a right-handed-hitting backstop to go along with Wells, with Minnesota’s Ryan Jeffers a potential target.

Also at SWB, top prospect George Lombard Jr. was placed on the seven-day IL with what the Yankees termed “sprained fingers” in his left hand after he was slid into while covering second base on a stolen-base attempt Tuesday.

Despite the IL stint, Boone said there were “good initial signs on testing” and nothing else showed up, so the Yankees hope it’s a short absence for the shortstop.

The 21-year-old has played almost exclusively at short since Anthony Volpe has been back in the majors and is considered major league ready at the position.

José Caballero got the start at short Thursday.

On the bullpen front, Carlos Lagrange made his fourth relief appearance with SWB, and while he nearly touched 100 mph, the right-hander had mixed results over his 1 ²/₃-inning outing.

He allowed four runs — none earned — but gave up two hits and walked a pair without recording a strikeout.

The Yankees are in the process of transitioning him from the rotation, so the 23-year-old is pitching more frequently, including on three days’ rest Thursday. He is expected to join the Yankees bullpen at some point next month.

Angels superstar center fielder Mike Trout is headed to the team’s injured list due to a hamstring injury, as reported by The Athletic’s Sam Blum and Ken Rosenthal on Thursday afternoon.

In a corresponding move, Blum reported that the Angels are calling up former top prospect Christian Moore to take his place on the roster.

Trout, 34, was in the midst of a comeback season, as he was finally playing healthy baseball again.

This year, he’s certainly started to look like his old self and has been one of the best comeback stories in baseball, having 17 home runs and an .866 OPS.

At the beginning of June, Trout was in a cold stretch but once again started to find life in his bat. Over his last seven games, Trout had three home runs, five RBIs and two stolen bases.

Trout was on his way to earning his 12th nod as an All-Star and was set to appear in his first All-Star Game since 2019. He ranks second among American League outfielders in votes (926,601) behind the Yankees’ Aaron Judge.

From 2021-2024, Trout spent significant time on the IL, dealing with a calf injury, back injury, broken hamate bone and a torn meniscus on his left knee. The knee injury in 2024 affected his play in 2025.

Last season, the Angels decided to move Trout from center field to right field to try to keep him healthy.

He appeared in 130 games but didn’t look like the three-time AL MVP that he’s been in the past, hitting .232 and striking out 178 times, his second-highest total in a season.

During spring training this year, the Angels and Trout agreed to move him back to center because he finds it more comfortable and less taxing on his body.

With Trout going on the IL, Moore is slated to fill his place.

Moore was drafted as a second baseman with the eighth pick of the 2024 MLB Draft by the Angels and has struggled against MLB pitching.

In the minors this season, Moore has bounced around various positions, spending time at second base, third base and left field.

On May 3, Moore was placed on the IL while playing for Triple-A Salt Lake. Before the injury, he was struggling in the minors, hitting .213 with 24 strikeouts.

Since he’s returned to the Bees, he’s been on a tear, hitting six home runs, batting .474 and recording a 1.423 OPS in June.

New series set to start! The Athletics’ super long homestand finally enters its final series as the A’s play host to the Los Angeles Angels for the first time this season.

The

Taking the mound for the home team will be rookie Gage Jump. The left-hander has looked as good as advertised since joining the big league rotation. He’s already

Here’s how the A’s will line up behind their rookie starting pitcher tonight:

The hottest hitter on the team will bat leadoff tonight as Zack Gelof man the hot corner and hitting first tonight. Kurtz and Langeliers are right behind him in the order followed by Soderstrom and Wilson, the same middle of the order the A’s have been using recently.

Jonah Heim is back in the lineup tonight but he’ll swap places with Langeliers, taking over the DH role this evening. Outfielder Carlos Cortes, who is 11th in AL All-Star voting among outfielders draws the start in right field against a right-handed starter. Henry Bolte and Jeff McNeil round things out, playing center field and second base respectively.

Los Angeles will counter Jump with righty Ryan Johnson, who will be making his second career start tonight. It’s not likely to be an extended outing as he’s only made six starts split at three levels this season. His big league numbers aren’t all that inspiring for the Angels so the A’s need to take advantage of Johnson tonight.

And the Los Angeles lineup tonight:

No Mike Trout for the Angels tonight or for the rest of the series. He landed on the IL this afternoon thanks to a hamstring strain. They’ll rely on Jose Siri in center instead. Bad news for the Angels but great news for the A’s as Trout had been in the midst of a resurgent season.

Let’s go A’s!

Follow the Game:
Watch:
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Is Shohei Ohtani pushing himself a little bit too hard now?

That’s what California Post baseball writers Dylan Hernandez and Jack Harris are discussing on the latest episode of the Dodgers Post podcast, coming off Ohtani’s six-inning, four-run start against the Rays on Wednesday.

After Ohtani pitched through a knee injury and a blister in the outing, Jack wonders whether the two-way star could use a more extended break between outings now, while Dylan counters by noting the value of his innings and his ability to manage a grueling workload.

Later, the two analyze Mookie Betts’ season, what has made him the unluckiest hitter in baseball and why they remain bullish on him turning things around.

Finally, they look ahead to the Dodgers’ upcoming series against the Orioles, which will include a pivotal start from Roki Sasaki.

As always, they wrap with predictions and trivia. Dylan also remembers the time he learned of Manny Ramirez’s PED suspension.

All that and more, on the latest episode of Dodgers Post.

Major League Baseball could be about to change the entire landscape of college baseball. A new proposal from the MLB on Thursday would remove high school players from the draft entirely, while allowing college players to declare after their sophomore seasons.

The new rules, if passed, would obviously change the entire look of college baseball. 96 high school prospects were selected and signed in the 2025 MLB Draft, for reference. That number has been on the decline in recent years, due to a number of different factors. This proposal would force top-level talent to participate at the college level, which would elevate the game to even new heights.

This season, 140 high schoolers have been invited to participate in the MLB Combine. 334 players total will compete in the event. Imagine the difference in the game if all 140 of those elite level athletes hit the college baseball scene.

“Over the last several years, college baseball has undergone a remarkable transformation,” MLB said in a statement. “Expanded scholarships, NIL opportunities, revenue sharing and significant investments in facilities and player development have made college baseball an increasingly important pathway that is producing major league-ready talent at an accelerated rate.”

For a program like Tennessee, this is a potentially major development. The Volunteers hold the nation’s No. 3 ranked recruiting class in the 2026 cycle, according to Perfect Game. Tennessee has been a mainstay in the top five since Tony Vitello revitalized the program, although several of those top commitments never made it to campus.

MLB’s current CBA expires on December 1st. This proposal is part of the negotiation to come to a new agreement. The outcome of that deal could end up bringing in an entirely new era to college baseball. This will definitely be something worth monitoring over the next few months.

After taking two out of three against the San Diego Padres, the St. Louis Cardinals kick off a weekend I-70 series against the Kansas City Royals Thursday night. Matthew Liberatore gets the start for the Cardinals while the Kansas City Royals will send Noah Cameron to the mound. First pitch at Kauffman Stadium is set for 6:40pm central time. Broadcast being handled by Cardinals.tv.

Hello, there.

I have returned after a Thursday away in which Max took over writing duties. If you’ll recall, the last time I covered a Thursday, the Royals won. But that turned out to be an aberration as Max couldn’t keep the good times rolling.

Now, I’m back to cover the Royals facing their cross-state rival. Are the Cardinals the Royals’ biggest rival? That’s debatable.

As Max previewed earlier today, the two teams have gone in different directions this year. The Royals were supposed to compete while the Cardinals struggled through a rebuild. Instead, the Royals are struggling (though not rebuilding) while the Cardinals are the ones competing, second in the National League Central while occupying the NL’s top Wild Card spot.

Great. As I wrote after the 2024 season, the Royals had a great opportunity to become Missouri’s baseball team, a crown which the team has never worn. Instead, Kansas City lost steam last year before faceplanting this season. Meanwhile, under a new front office, St. Louis is on pace to end its long playoff drought—one which spans all of three years.

This is the second and final regular season series between Missouri’s two ballclubs this season. The first took place in St. Louis May 15—17. The Cardinals took the first two games before the Royals won the finale. The teams scored the same amount of runs that weekend: eight.

Before getting to the lineups and starting pitchers, two other things are happening at The K tonight that should be noted.

First, England’s World Cup team is attending. The Three Lions won their first match of the tournament yesterday down in Arlington, Texas, defeating Croatia 4-2 thanks, in part, to Harry Kane’s brace.

Second, tonight the Royals will be hosting a flash fundraiser to benefit the Kansas City Urban Youth Academy. Up for auction are four World Baseball Classic baseball bats—one for Team Italy, one for Team USA, one for Team Venezuela, and the fourth an all-Royals bat. They all look pretty dope. If I had discretionary income, I’d be interested!

All right, let’s get to the lineups. First, of course, for the Royals:

Well, just by looking at their lineup and nothing about what the Cardinals are doing, I can tell the Royals are facing a southpaw. Lane Thomas hit one of four homers yesterday for the Royals en route to their victory over the Nationals. I’m glad to see Jac Caglianone getting action not only at first base but also batting third. Starling Marte batting cleanup is…something.

Noah Cameron takes the mound. Though the Astros touched him up a bit during his last outing, he’s been pitching well as of late. Just two outings ago, he tossed six against the Twins with seven strikeouts, zero walks, and no earned runs. Before that, he went seven against the Reds while fanning eight, walking zero, and giving up just one run. He hasn’t surrendered a walk in his last three outings.

For the Cardinals:

Couple of interesting names in the lineup. JJ Wetherholt was taken with the pick after Cags in the 2024 MLB Draft. Jordan Walker, who’s having a breakout year, was taken with the pick after Brady Singer way back in the 2018 MLB Draft. Ex-Royal Nelson Velasquez is tarting in left—he’s not played much in the bigs this year, but is posting a sterling .972 OPS. The Cardinals’ third baseman’s first name is Blaze, which is not a real first name.

And on the mound, yes, it is a left-hander: Matthew Liberatore. Liberatore, making his 15th start of the season, has failed to get out of the fifth inning in his last two outings, though St. Louis still managed to win both of those games. Last time out, against the Twins, he gave up five hits, three of which left the field of play.

May the Royals have such success against him this evening.

Just about everyone seems to be weighing in on the polarizing Pride Night at Oracle Park last week. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is the latest public figure to criticize the four Giants pitchers who protested the team’s annual celebration of the LGBTQ+ community.

Ryan Walker, Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker and Sam Hentges have sparked an outcry among San Franciscans as well as other Pride Night supporters. Walker chose to wear the standard Giants hat rather than the special hat for the event, which has a rainbow-colored team logo.

The latter three added a Bible verse on their Pride Night caps to demonstrate their religious beliefs.

Lurie revealed he was “really upset and disappointed” by their decision.

“This is why we need Pride. We need to lean in and we need to keep educating people, even here in San Francisco,” Lurie said. “It was a rough night, but one that we need to learn from.”

He isn’t the first to call out the Giants hurlers, and Lurie likely won’t be the last.

Longtime voice of the Giants Mike Krukow believes the players should have been more aware of the city’s strong beliefs and ties to the LGBTQ+ community.

“I think when you’re a player and you come into this environment, it’s your responsibility to know just how sensitive this city is in regards to that cultural freedom and religious freedom, and just the way that you live your life,” Krukow said on KNBR.

“And I think they were in for a rude awakening with the response, and it wasn’t just from the gay community; it was from the Northern California community that supports the gay community.”

The four Giants pitchers have also been reprimanded by Major League Baseball, not for their beliefs but for their violation of the uniform rules.

“The writing on the cap violates our rules and consistent with normal practice we have warned the players about future violations,” MLB said in an initial statement.

“To be clear, this routine verbal warning not to wear the hat in future games is not disciplinary and had absolutely nothing to do with the content of the message,” MLB added in a follow-up statement. “We respect players’ right to free expression. However, writing of any kind, with any message, is prohibited.”

While the Giants players have been criticized in the court of public opinion, they have not issued an apology for their decision. Rather, the group has stood firm in its beliefs and remarks.

The EEOC will investigate the report that MLB warned Giants players after they displayed the biblical verses on their hats, said Harmeet Dhillon, head of the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice.

“It is illegal to treat employees differently” on the basis of “protected characteristics, and religion is one of those protected characteristics under our federal laws,” Dhillon said in an appearance on the right-wing Newsmax outlet, encouraging unnamed plaintiffs to pursue legal action through private litigation or through her “friend,” Andrea Jacobs, the head of President Donald Trump’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The White Sox wrap up their series in the Bronx tonight, staring down the barrel of a sweep after getting thumped twice by the Yankees. Chicago will deploy Bryan Hudson as an opener before turning things over to Sean Burke, continuing a tag-team act that has worked, sometimes. Hudson enters with a 3-2 record and a sparkling 2.45 ERA, while Burke is 3-4 with a 4.15 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. The Sox will need both pitchers to be sharp against a Yankees lineup that has done plenty of damage over the first two games of the series.

The Yankees roll out with southpaw Ryan Weathers, 2-5 with a 4.36 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. Not exactly Cy Young, so the Sox have a shot to rattle him early and maybe get Aaron Boone sweating over his bullpen. Chicago’s offense has shown flashes, particularly from Colson Montgomery and Miguel Vargas, but consistency has been elusive during this road trip. With the Yankees’ powerful lineup waiting on the other side, the Good Guys cannot afford to leave runners on base or squander scoring opportunities.

The recipe is not complicated. The hurlers need to survive the top of the Yankees order and keep the ball out of the seats, and the offense needs to scratch out some runs early. If Hudson can set the table and Burke can eat some innings without imploding, the Sox might just sneak out of New York with a win before heading off to Detroit. First pitch is 6:05 p.m. CST. Watch on CHSN or catch the call on ESPN Chicago AM 1000.

If I had asked you this morning to name the only team in Major League Baseball that hadn’t yet been shut out this season, how many guesses would it have taken you to arrive at the Orioles? For me it would have been 30. This offense has had so many pitiful, uncompetitive performances this season that surely they’d been blanked at least a couple of times, right?

But somehow, no. Through their first 75 games of the year, the O’s had always put at least one run on the board. That streak ended today when Bryan Woo and two Mariners relievers shut them out to cap a 3-0 Seattle win in the rubber game of the series.

When I tell you this O’s offense stunk tonight, hoo boy, I am not exaggerating. They struck out 11 times and had only six baserunners. In more than half their innings, they didn’t put anyone on base at all. And in the few occasions when they had ducks on the pond, they squandered each one, going 0-for-5 with men in scoring position. It was the second time in this three-game series that Orioles hitters essentially took the day off.

All you need to know about this paltry effort is that the top of the Orioles’ lineup was a combined 0-for-18 with eight strikeouts. Not going to win many games that way! The guys who have been the Birds’ best hitters this year — plus Gunnar Henderson, who inexplicably is still batting in the #2 spot, three months into his lost season — couldn’t get anything going, and the O’s were doomed to failure.

Bryan Woo, the same pitcher the Orioles bashed for seven runs just a week ago, was magnificent, working seven scoreless innings and fanning nine. He allowed only three hits, a Jackson Holliday double and singles by Colton Cowser and Leody Taveras. Woo’s home/away splits are extreme — he entered the game with a 2.37 ERA in Seattle as opposed to 5.93 on the road — and the Orioles got a first-hand look at his brilliance at T-Mobile Park.

Meanwhile, poor Shane Baz delivered one of his best outings as an Oriole, going seven strong innings, but all it took was one bad inning to doom him to defeat. In this case it was his first one, as the Mariners ambushed him with a three-run rally to open the game. It all happened after Baz retired the first two batters of the inning, and in typical Orioles fashion, some lousy defense was involved. Josh Naylor roped a shot to right-center field and would’ve been content to stop at first with a single, but Taveras foolishly tried to field the ball with his bare hand instead of his glove, letting it roll past him to the wall. Naylor ended up at second on the error. Yeesh. The extra base didn’t matter because Baz walked the next batter anyway, but what was that, Leody?

Baz just could not find that final out. Cole Young laced a sharp double down the left-field line to plate Naylor, and Colt Emerson lined a single to right that brought home two more. Baz finally got out of the inning on an ABS-aided strike three to Mitch Garver, but the Orioles were quickly in a 3-0 hole. Little did they know that would be the final score eight innings later.

Baz made a great recovery after that rocky first, firing six straight scoreless innings. The Mariners threatened in the second by putting the first two runners on base, but Baz dispatched the next three batters, and he never faced another real jam after that. Emerson, on a two-out walk in the third, was the last batter to reach base. Baz mowed down the final 13 batters he faced, finishing his day on a stupendous note. Baz worked seven innings for the fourth time this year and delivered his sixth quality start. It’s the kind of outing that could earn a pitcher a victory if he had any kind of competent offense supporting him.

Sadly, he did not. The O’s offense continued to fail once the Mariners’ bullpen came in, stranding two runners on base in both the eighth and ninth. The eighth was particularly embarrassing, with the Orioles putting the first two batters of the inning on base to chase Woo from the game, only for Eduard Bazardo to retire Blaze Alexander, Holliday, and Taylor Ward in quick succession.

In the ninth, the Mariners turned to embattled closer Andrés Muñoz, who has struggled against every team that isn’t the Orioles. Muñoz walked Henderson and Samuel Basallo to bring the possible tying run to the plate with two down, but easily whiffed Taveras to finish the shutout. Muñoz is now 3-for-3 in save opportunities against the Orioles this year. He’s 9-for-14 against the rest of MLB.

There you have it. In a tidy 2 hours and 15 minutes, the Orioles limped away from a winnable series in Seattle by dropping two of three. Next up: the Dodgers. I’m not looking forward to it.

The Red Sox are in unfamiliar territory. 

CEO Sam Kennedy said Wednesday that despite high expectations entering the season, selling at the Aug. 3 trade deadline may be a reality if the team doesn’t improve soon. 

“It’s brutal. We have rarely found ourselves in that situation and when you do, like every trade deadline, you have to do what’s in the best interest of the organization,” Kennedy said in an interview with NESN. “Not any one person, not a member of the front office, not a player, not an executive, you have to do what’s in the best interest of the organization, and that’s what we’ll do if we’re in that position.”

“But it’s brutal and truly sort of unthinkable given the expectations. That’s what’s made these first couple of months so difficult, because we did have high expectations internally and externally,” he added. 

Kennedy’s comments come less than a week after an appearance on “The Greg Hill Show,” where he was realistic about the spot the team was in when it was 27-39.

“But look, let’s be honest, unless things change dramatically, we may have to pivot here from what our initial planning was,” he said at the time. “It just wouldn’t be responsible to do otherwise. But here in mid-June, we need to see what happens over the next couple weeks, and then we’ll reassess.”

The Red Sox made the playoffs in 2025 and entered 2026 with expectations of returning, but their season has been an unmitigated disaster, as they sit at 29-43 after Thursday’s loss to the Blue Jays and last in the American League East. 

The team ranks dead last in the league in runs, 21st in hits while drawing the second-fewest walks. The Red Sox’s .314 on-base percentage also ranks just 21st. 

Caleb Durbin, who hit over .250 with the Brewers in 2025, is hitting under .200. Jarren Duran, who hit .256 last season, is at just .213. Trevor Story continues to be extremely whelming at a near-career-low .206.

The Red Sox’s pitching hasn’t fared much better, as Brayan Bello was demoted to Triple-A and Garrett Crochet, while injured since April 25, pitched to just a 6.30 ERA when healthy. 

Manager Alex Cora was fired on April 26 after a 10-17 start, but the team has regressed further since, going 19-25. 

The Red Sox entered Thursday 5 1/2 games back of the AL’s third wild-card spot with over half the season to play, but must catch five teams to claim the spot, making selling a real possibility.

With the Mets in Philadelphia this weekend to take on the Phillies for the first time this season, it serves as a reminder that one of New York’s biggest offseason additions, Bo Bichette, nearly signed with the Mets’ biggest division rival before ultimately choosing New York.

The Mets signed Bichette to a three-year, $126 million contract on Jan. 20, a quick pivot by David Stearns and the front office after missing out on Kyle Tucker, who signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Before that, though, reports had been swirling that discussions between Bichette and the Phillies were underway and that a deal was imminent.

“We had a lot of good talks. That’s a great team over there and obviously [Don Mattingly] being over there was enticing to me,” Bichette said before stopping himself from gushing too much over his team’s bitter rival. “But great talks, great organization.”

In the end, talks between the two sides fizzled and fell through, putting the two-time All-Star back on the table for any team to swoop in and pick him up.

That’s precisely what the Mets did, essentially poaching the 28-year-old from their division rival with plans to move the career-shortstop to third base to pair alongside Francisco Lindor on the left side of the infield.

And although, from the outside, an agreement between Bichette and the Phillies looked like a done deal, Bichette told reporters that wasn’t exactly the case.

“I thought it was an opportunity for sure, but there was definitely things that needed to be worked out for that to be a possibility,” Bichette said about negotiations with Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, despite signing a three-year pact with the Mets, Bichette does have the option to opt out after the first and second years to test the market once again. 

In fact, reports are that he will do that after the season, even after getting off to a terrible two-month start, which he has since been doing his best to get out of.

“At the end of the day, I think it just became obvious to me that it was the right decision for me and my wife,” Bichette said about signing with New York. “... It just became clear to me that the Mets was the right decision.”

Bichette also mentioned that it never crossed his mind when he chose the Mets that he was signing with a team that has a heated rivalry with the organization that, by others' reporting, he was close to signing with.

However, Bichette did compare the two and sees some similarities.

“There’s a lot of parallels between the two – passionate fan bases, organizations that are trying to win,” he said.

With the drama of the offseason over and done with, Bichette was asked what kind of reception he anticipates getting at Citizens Bank Park by those same passionate fans who perhaps believed he was joining their team.

“I don’t know what the reception will be, but I definitely won’t be surprised at anything,” he said.