Category: Baseball

The last two weeks have been downright depressing in Yankeeland; that much is obvious. Pretty much every facet of the game has been agonizing to watch, and even though several of these games have been winnable towards the end, only one of them have ended in the win column over the last 10 games. While injuries are a big factor, it’s also just maddening regression from the 26 guys on the roster. If you removed the contributions of Aaron Judge and Max Fried from the team’s first two months, they’d still probably have the best record in the AL through mid-June. Their struggles are much more predicated on the guys on the roster stumbling over themselves.

The team is doing a lot less of a lot of things right now. They aren’t slugging. They aren’t making basic defensive plays. The rotation has only put up a zero twice to start the game in the last nine games. Some of this can be explained, though. The slugging drop-off makes sense with Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton sidelined, along with a slump by Ben Rice. The defensive miscues make more sense with how players are being played out of position out of necessity. The rotation is experiencing natural regression from a strong start and is without Max Fried or Carlos Rodón.

Something that can’t be as easily explained is the other big part of a formidable Yankees offense vanishing, their ability to draw walks. That and hitting the long ball carry a whole lot of weight for an offense that’s usually among the game’s elite. Since mid-June, the team has gone from one of the best at taking the free pass to one of the worst:

Walk Rate:
Through June 16th: 11.3 percent (first in MLB)
Since June 17th: 7.1 percent (26th)

Sure, Judge and Trent Grisham are big reasons why the team has the league’s best walk rate, but even with their absence, the team should still be pretty good at it. Even if you remove their plate appearances from the sample, something that would not be a clear representative of the data, they drop to sixth in walk rate through mid-June at 10.3 percent.

The raw numbers tell the story of a team that, overall, is walking less across the board, but maybe not as much as you’d think given the drop off.

BB% since June 17, change from pre-June 17th:
Ryan McMahon: 7.8 percent to 11.8 percent (+4.0)
José Caballero: 5.6 percent to 7.3 percent (+1.7)
Amed Rosario: 6.2 percent to 7.3 percent (+1.1)
Cody Bellinger: 13.5 percent to 13.4 percent (-0.1)
Anthony Volpe: 12.6 percent to 12.3 percent (-0.3)
Jasson Domínguez: 4.9 percent to 2.9 percent (-2.0)
Ben Rice: 13.3 percent to 8.5 percent (-4.8)
Paul Goldschmidt: 8.3 percent to 3.4 percent (-4.9)
Jazz Chisholm Jr.: 11.5 percent to 5.5 percent (-6.0)
Spencer Jones*: 13.2 percent to 6.8 percent (-6.4)
Austin Wells*: 13.6 percent to 0.0 percent (-13.6)

The asterisks for Jones and Wells are for their inconsistent playing time, but I want to key in on Wells, whose descent offensively has been both bewildering and incredibly tragic for both his psyche and the organization. Even when he was objectively bad the first few months of the season, he showed improved plate discipline. He was striking out less and walking more. Through May 30th, Wells had a 13.5 BB%, but has since not drawn a single walk in 45 plate appearances. You really have to wonder at this point if those headaches he had is something closer to an Anthony Rizzo situation with how far he’s even dropped off from his pre-IL stint’s plate discipline.

The three players who’ve improved their walk rates are McMahon, Caballero, and Rosario, but the latter two are still decently below average in that regard (MLB average is 9.0 percent). Bellinger and Volpe are still well above average themselves, but the problems start after them.

Rice’s decline is pretty stunning. You would expect a guy like him to actually walk more with Judge out as the premier threat, but teams are just not scared of him right now. Maybe how mortal he’s looked lately is contributing to it? It could also be that his chase rate has ballooned from 23.3 percent to nearly 30 percent. Goldschmidt and Chisholm don’t necessarily come to mind when you think about walks, but both were drawing them at a decent rate before a recent fall-off. Goldy’s faced a ton of lefties of late, likely prompting more aggressive swing decisions, while Chisholm’s is harder to quantify.

Looking deeper, the decrease in walk rate is inversely correlated with a spike in strikeout rate. They were striking out more than league average before this recent stretch, but it’s been even more so:

Strikeout Rate:
Through June 16th: 22.8 percent (20th in MLB)
Since June 17th: 26.6 percent (27th)

K-BB% is more of a pitcher’s stat, but to give you some context, we’ll use it on the offense. Through mid-June, pitchers against the Yankees had an 11.5 K-BB%, which is like Jeffrey Springs. Since then? It’s 19.5 percent, which is similar to Yoshinobu Yamamoto. That’s self-explanatory.

The more contact-oriented hitters on the team are making less contact, especially Bellinger, who’s up to a 22.4 K% over the last three weeks. He’s never been someone afraid to chase to spoil a two-strike offering or serve a single to left field, but this isn’t helping. His chase and whiff rates are both up five percent in the last three weeks.

You’d think with Judge and Grisham out, the Yankees would be seeing a lot more pitches in the strike zone. After all, there’s a lot less firepower to be worried about, right? I guess not.

Batting Zone%:
Through June 16th: 41.5 percent
Since June 17th: 41.7 percent

Negligible. This isn’t, though:

Chase%:
Through June 16th: 30.3 percent (sixth lowest in MLB)
Since June 17th: 35.5 percent (fifth highest)

That’s probably what it drills down to. They’re pressing. They feel the pressure of the situation and are flailing at more pitches, being more aggressive. The team’s overall swing percentage has increased from 44.6 percent to 48.4 percent, going from one of the most passive teams to one of the most aggressive. Aggressiveness on hittable pitches is good. That’s a major reason why the offense shook off a slump in the first two weeks, as they started swinging at hittable pitches more. This time, they’re eating out of the pitcher’s hands. It’s not a winning formula.

It also doesn’t help that the pitching staff has them trailing before they can even pick up the bat. Here’s some stats from the last nine games:

• The Yankees have not scored first once
• The rotation allowed a run in the first seven times
• They trailed before coming to bat five times
• They’ve allowed 4+ runs in the first three innings five times

The only two times the game was scoreless after one inning were on June 28th against Boston and July 1st against Detroit. In those games, the offense was dead silent for eight innings, trailed 2-0 after eight, forced extra innings, and lost in extras despite both being very winnable.

All told, nobody is contributing and that blows, but what the team could really use right now as they head into a do-or-die four-game set at Tropicana Field is to breathe, be more selective, and take the advice of Passion Pit:

The 2026 MLB Draft starts this upcoming Saturday at noon, Chicago time. The Cubs have the 23rd pick of the first round. Rounds 1 through 4 will happen on Saturday and rounds 5 through 20 will be on Sunday. So yeah, they’re compressing the usual three days of the draft down to two days this year.

Before we look ahead to whom is available and whom the Cubs might take, it might be a good idea to look back at the Cubs’ last five drafts. These are the five drafts conducted by current Cubs scouting director Dan Kantrovitz. I don’t think there’s much use in going over earlier drafts conducted by different scouting directors.

It’s clear that Kantrovitz has a preference for college over high school players, at least in the first round. All five of his first-round picks have been from a four-year college. He is willing to grab a high school player after the first round and is willing to pay an over slot bonus to sign ones he likes. James Triantos, Drew Gray, Jackson Ferris, Nazier Mulé, Zyhir Hope, Kaleb Wing and Josiah Hartshorn are all types of raw talents out of high school that the Cubs took a chance on, but not in the first round.

Kantrovitz has also shown a willingness to gamble on higher-ceiling players who fell to the Cubs because of health questions. While Kantrovitz’s first first-rounder in Wicks was more of a safe, low-ceiling guy, Cade Horton was a bold pick of a pitcher who had barely pitched in college because of Tommy John surgery. Ethan Conrad was another player whom the Cubs would never have been able to get with the 17th pick had he been healthy.

I also think that the Cubs under Kantrovitz tend to pick more hitters than pitchers, with the exception of that wacky 2022 draft. Kantrovitz will claim that’s just how the talent falls.

You’ll also note that a lot of these players have been traded already. That’s a good sign that other teams want what the Cubs have been picking in the draft.

So let’s review the five Cubs drafts under Dan Kantovitz. The round is listed first, followed by the number of the overall pick in the draft in parenthesis. Also, just because I didn’t list someone in “others of note,” that doesn’t mean they’re not a prospect. There’s only so many of them I can list, especially for the more recent drafts when lots of players still show promise.

2021 Draft

1 (21) LHP Jordan Wicks Kansas State

2 (56) SS James Triantos James Madison HS (VA)

3 (93) LHP Drew Gray IMG Academy (FL)

4 (123) OF Christian Franklin Arkansas

5 (154) SS Liam Spence Tennessee

Others of note: RHP Riley Martin (6th round), 3B BJ Murray (15th)

In Kantrovitz’s first draft, he went with someone considered a safe, low-ceiling college player in Wicks. Wicks certainly hasn’t become that back-end starter they hoped for, but he is a major leaguer (for now) and may still end up as a kind of spot starter/bullpen arm.

Triantos has struggled to find a position and is blocked in Iowa. He’s having a good year there at 23, but has only developed fringy power. He’ll probably play in the majors somewhere. It may not be in Chicago.

Gray has struggled to stay healthy and he’s out for the season. Franklin was dealt to Washington in the Michael Soroka trade and is struggling in Triple-A. Spence was released after the 2024 season.

Martin, a fifth-year senior who signed for a $1000 bonus, has the highest bWAR of any 2021 Cubs draftees. Murray is leading the International League in hitting at age 26 this year. There may be a major league future for him yet, but time is running out.

2022 Draft

1 (7) RHP Cade Horton Oklahoma

2 (47) LHP Jackson Ferris IMG Academy

3 (86) SS Christopher Paciolla Temecula Valley (CA)

4 (113) RHP Nazier Mulé Passiac County Technical (NJ)

5 (143) RHP Brandon Birdsell Texas Tech

Others of note: RHP Mason McGwire (8th round), RHP Brody McCullough (10th round)

This is the draft that Kantrovitz went wild and took 16 pitchers out of 20 picks. Kantrovitz took a chance on Horton, who hadn’t pitched much in college because of Tommy John surgery. It looked like a brilliant move until Horton went down with elbow surgery again this year. If he bounces back like he did from the last surgery, it could still turn out to be a fantastic pick, because Horton finished second in Rookie of the Year balloting last year.

Ferris proved useful to the Cubs as part of the Michael Busch trade. Paciolla was a bust and has been released. Mulé throws 100 miles per hour but has struggled with control. He has improved slightly this year. Birdsell would probably be in the Cubs starting rotation right now as a back-of-the-rotation guy were he not also recovering from Tommy John surgery.

McGwire missed all of last year with injuries, but this year he looks like a future major league pitcher. McCullough looked like a 10th-round steal out of a Division II school who has missed most of the past 2 1/2 seasons with injuries. But he’s just returning to the mound now and is a decent prospect who could be a back-end starter or a bulk reliever.

2023 Draft

1 (13) SS Matt Shaw Maryland

2 (68) RHP Jaxon Wiggins Arkansas

3 (86) SS Josh Rivera Florida

4 (113) RHP Will Sanders South Carolina

5 (149) C Michael Carico Davidson College

Others of note: OF Alfonsin Rosario (6th round), 1B Jonathon Long (9th round), OF Zyhir Hope (11th round)

I don’t think I need to tell you much about Shaw. Probably not Wiggins either, other than he’s rehabbing his way back to Iowa and should probably feature in the Cubs pitching staff next year. Rivera was traded to the Blue Jays for Nate Pearson and is currently in Triple-A. Sanders is Iowa’s best starter this year, which isn’t saying much, but he does appear on most prospect lists and could be in the Cubs rotation next year. Or this year if the injuries get even worse. The Cubs have pretty much given up on Carico as a catcher and he’s now a 1B/DH, where his bat just isn’t special.

Long is a tantalizing prospect at the moment who could be a major league starter somewhere. It would help if he proves able to handle left field.

Rosario was traded to Cleveland for Eli Morgan. Hope was part of the Michael Busch trade and is now a top prospect.

2024 Draft

1 (14) 3B Cam Smith Florida State

2 (54) 3B Cole Mathis College of Charleston

3 (90) SS Ronny Cruz Miami Christian (FL)

4 (120) SS Ty Southisene Basic HS (NV)

5 (150) C Ariel Armas San Diego

Others of note: C Owen Ayers (19th round)

You know what happened to Cam Smith. You probably also know what happened to Mathis, who was just dealt to the Mets for David Peterson. Cruz was dealt with Franklin for Soroka last year. He’s struggling a bit in High-A, but he’s also 19 and in High-A, so that’s not really a bad sign.

Southisene is having a breakout season in South Bend, putting up high batting and on-base averages, but no power. He could be a Tommy La Stella or Nick Madrigal-type player with speed. Armas is one of the best defensive catchers in all of the minors. It’s up in the air if he can hit enough to hold a backup catcher’s job.

Ayers is the real steal of this draft and is having a breakout year. Beyond the .318 batting average and 21 home runs in South Bend and Knoxville combined, he’s reportedly making great strides as a handler of a pitching staff. He already has a cannon for an arm. Ayers may always be a bat-over-defense catcher, but he’s starting to look like the Cubs’ catcher of the future.

Either in spite of or because of the Cubs trading away their first three picks, this is starting to look like a very good draft. The Cubs may not benefit from it as much as they would have hoped by trading the first three picks away, but at least they’ve gotten something out of each pick.

2025 Draft

1 (17) OF Ethan Conrad Wake Forest

2 (59) OF Kane Kepley North Carolina

3 (90) RHP Dominick Reid Abilene Christian

4 (121) RHP Kaleb Wing Scotts Valley HS (CA)

5 (151) OF Kade Snell Alabama

Others of note: OF Josiah Hartshorn Orange Lutheran (CA)

It’s obviously too early to say much about this draft class other than Hartshorn is looking like a very wise pick in the sixth round. Conrad is another one of those players that Kantrovitz tried to get a bargain with by taking an injured player. As Conrad has just started playing in Mesa, it’s too early to judge the wisdom of that. Kepley is also looking like a good pick with a .438 OBP and 40 steals so far in South Bend.

At the time that I am writing this, it appears that top prospect Owen Murphy is being called up, but its unclear when he will be deployed, though presumably he will either start today’s game or tomorrow’s. The scheduled starter has been Reynaldo Lopez for today’s game. Lopez is coming off his best start in a while, against the Cardinals. We’ll either be hoping for Reynaldo to build on that success, or perhaps more interestingly, a successful MLB debut from the Braves’ former first round pick Owen Murphy.

For New York, Freddy Peralta will start today’s game, as the series will be decided between an Atlanta win or a 2-2 split. After being one of the jewels of the offseason last offseason, being traded from Milwaukee, Peralta has not lived up to expectations in Flushing. He’s been nothing more than solid on performance and worse on run prevention, with a 4.81 ERA and a 4.16 xFIP. His velocity is perhaps down a tick and his pitch shapes have moved a touch toward his arm-side, but the big change has been his extension dropping from very good to average and his arm angle dropping 6 degrees. The Braves’ offense has been good this series, a much needed change from the last month of play, so let’s hope that continues against Peralta and the Braves can seal a nice 4-game series win over their disappointing rivals in New York.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Monday, July 6, 7:15 p.m. ET

Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA

TV: BravesVision

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan

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Looking for today's best MLB picks? Our baseball experts have you covered.

Neil Parker and Joe Osborne each highlight their favorite play from today's schedule, with the latest Polymarket prices and matchup analysis to help shape your betting card.

MLB expert picks for today

Pick	Odds
Neil Parker: Mets moneyline	+117
Joe Osborne: Dodgers -1.5	-115

Prices courtesy of Polymarket.

Neil Parker's expert pick: Mets moneyline

Price: 46¢ (+117) at Polymarket

The Atlanta Braves have dropped to 29th in wOBA and 27th in xwOBA through 21 games without star Ronald Acuna Jr. (hamstring), while the New York Mets comfortably sit 16th and eighth in the two metrics. Atlanta starter Reynaldo Lopez also sports a 4.60 xFIP across his seven 2026 starts that’s well above his 3.34 ERA, so statistical corrections looms.

It’s just the opposite with New York righty Freddy Peralta, too. He’s held opposing hitters to the sixth-lowest barrel percentage among pitchers with at least 75 innings to pave the way for a respectable 3.78 xERA that’s way below his 4.81 ERA. Peralta also has statistical correction coming to his unsustainably low 68.7% strand rate.

• Time: 7:15 p.m. ET
• How to watch: SNY, BravesVision

Joe Osborne's expert pick: Dodgers -1.5

Price: 54¢ (-115) at Polymarket

A perfect storm has formed for the Los Angeles Dodgers tonight with the Colorado Rockies coming to town. Los Angeles has demolished left-handed pitching over the past two weeks, leading MLB in OPS, and now gets a crack at Kyle Freeland, who's completely fallen apart with a 7.25 ERA through 15 starts.

Dodgers hitters have also crushed him for a .918 OPS across 200 combined at-bats. Eric Lauer has helped LA go a perfect 5-0 in his starts, while the Dodgers have won 10 straight home games against Colorado and are 13-1 in their last 14 following a loss, which is the situation tonight after losing to the Padres yesterday.

• Time: 10:10 p.m. ET
• How to watch: Rockies.TV, SNLA

More MLB best bets for today

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

A year ago today, the trajectory of the Washington Nationals changed drastically. Manager Davey Martinez and President of Baseball Operations Mike Rizzo were fired on July 6th, 2025. The duo had led the Nats to a World Series title in 2019, but in the midst of a disappointing season, it was clear that they were no longer the right men to lead the franchise forward. 

After the World Series in 2019, the Nats quickly aged out of contention, and the lack of depth on the farm meant that there were no replacements. In 2021, Mike Rizzo decided to sell off veteran pieces and lead the franchise into a rebuild. With a World Series ring only a couple years prior, Rizzo and Martinez were allowed to lead the Nats into this new era.

In 2022, the reality of the rebuild set in. This would be an even longer process than expected. That meant 23 year old future Hall of Famer Juan Soto had to be traded. The move was a painful one, but it turned out to be the best decision Mike Rizzo made in the rebuild. He got three cornerstone pieces in James Wood, CJ Abrams and MacKenzie Gore.

However, Rizzo’s lack of success in the draft and Martinez’s archaic coaching staff meant the fruits of that trade could not be fully realized. By 2025, the Nats were stuck. They had nice pieces, but there was a clear disconnect between the coaching staff and the players, and the roster was far too top heavy. With the Nats sitting at 37-53, the Lerner family made the big decision to fire Rizzo and Martinez.

A year later, that decision is looking very wise. Right now, the Nats are above .500 with a 46-45 record. Under Paul Toboni and Blake Butera, the organization has quickly modernized and embraced analytics in a way that they had not in the past. A big story this spring was how much new technology the Nats had. Between the trajekt machine, weighted bats and more, the Nats were finally embracing 2020’s baseball.

As you can see with the record, this new approach is paying immediate dividends. The Nats did not improve their record by going out and signing big name free agents. In fact, the Nats barely spent any money at all. Toboni’s three biggest free agent signings were Miles Mikolas, Zack Littell and Foster Griffin. 

The Nats biggest offseason move was actually to sell one of their core pieces away. After an offseason of speculation, MacKenzie Gore was shipped off to Texas for a five prospect haul. So far, that move is looking good, with Devin Fitz-Gerald becoming a top 100 prospect, and Gore failing to take the next step.

I am not going to sit here and say that Toboni’s trade history has been perfect. He has made a few moves that look dicey right now, such as the Harry Ford for Jose A. Ferrer swap and the Jake Bennett for Luis Perales deal. Toboni has also struggled to build a competent bullpen, much like Mike Rizzo had for the past few seasons.

However, it would be difficult to argue that the Toboni impact has been negative. He has made good moves like the Gore deal, the Foster Griffin signing and the Curtis Mead trade. His biggest impact though has been putting a development system in place that is helping improve players on the roster.

Right now, the Nationals have scored the most runs in all of baseball. Just about every player on the offensive side of the ball has improved. Already productive players like James Wood and CJ Abrams have taken the next step. However, the biggest success stories have been among guys who had previously been written off.

I thought I knew who Luis Garcia Jr. was. My perception of him has changed drastically in the past month though. He is swinging the bat harder, hitting the ball harder and hitting it in the air more often. That has led to an insane hot streak where he has 10 homers in his last 15 games. Garcia has already set a career high with 19 home runs.

Keibert Ruiz’s turnaround is a great example of what a new coaching staff can do. His career looked to be dead and buried after last season. He was awful on both sides of the ball, and had injury issues. Ruiz’s long term contract looked like an absolute albatross. With the help of catching coach Bobby Wilson and the rest of the Nats staff, Ruiz is having a career year.

He is hitting .285 with a .788 OPS while playing well above average defense. Despite not producing the last couple years, we knew that Ruiz had some offensive upside. The defensive turnaround has been nothing short of miraculous and the changes happened seemingly overnight. That is great work by the new coaching staff, but also a real indictment on the old staff.

By the end of his tenure with the Nats, Davey Martinez seemed stubborn and standoffish. He would rather go down with the ship than make any changes to his coaching staff. That stubbornness came to a head during his famous “never on coaching” rant.

A year after his firing, it sure seems like coaching does matter. Players like Ruiz, Garcia and Mead have been totally unlocked by this coaching staff. There is still room to grow, but for the first time in a while, you can really see coaches making players better. That is what they are here to do after all.

Blake Butera embodies the development first mentality that the Nats have. This should not come as a shock given the fact that the 33 year old worked in player development for the Rays prior to taking this job. He has given some great quotes about the importance of pre-game work and about how players are still not finished products when they get to the big leagues. This coaching staff is trying to make every player better, even grizzled veterans like Miles Mikolas.

The dedication to improving players is my favorite part of this new regime, and it is the biggest change. They are clearly working very hard to make these guys better, and they are seeing the fruits of their labor.

This is not just happening on the major league side either. We have seen some big breakouts on the farm as well. Seaver King had a disastrous first pro season, but after going in the lab with the new braintrust, he looks like a different player. He is hitting the ball harder, chasing less and whiffing less.

A year after the firings of Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez, the Nationals are in a much better position. Sure, a lot of the main pieces contributing to this team were brought in by the old regime, but it is the new regime that is unlocking them.

Kansas City lays a Royal beating on Phillies' All-Star Cristopher Sanchez originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

KANSAS CITY – Cristopher Sanchez’ second-to-last audition to win the starting assignment for the National League in next week’s All-Star Game did not go well Monday afternoon.

In fact, it was pretty awful.

The left-hander was rocked for nine runs in 3 1/3 innings as the Phillies were hammered, 15-1, by the lowly Kansas City Royals for the second day in a row at Kauffman Stadium.

As bad as the results were for Sanchez, things might have gone differently for him and the Phillies had one of the team’s gnawing concerns not reared its head.

You hear a lot about the bullpen, the back-end of the starting rotation and the lack of a strong right-handed hitting outfielder as being the Phillies’ biggest flaws.

But Trea Turner’s defense at shortstop is a significant deficiency that the club cannot hide from.

Turner, who entered the game as the lowest-ranked shortstop in the majors with minus-8 defensive runs saved, according to Fangraphs, threw away a potential inning-ending double-play ball that opened the door for the Royals to score six first-inning runs against Sanchez. Turner was charged with an error, his 12^th, allowing the runners to advance. But since a double play can’t be assumed, all the runs against Sanchez in that inning were ruled earned. His ERA jumped from 2.00 to 2.44 in the course of one inning.

Now, Sanchez should not be let off the hook here. He clearly did not do a good job limiting the damage. He allowed four straight hits, including a three-run homer, after Turner’s error. But not getting that inning-ending double play was a game-changer.

Sanchez will make his final start before the All-Star break on Saturday in Detroit. He’s probably still in the driver’s seat to make the start next Tuesday night in Philadelphia. But, recently, some of the luster of his run to the All-Star Game has been stripped away. He has allowed 14 runs in 8 1/3 innings in two of his last three starts.

Monday’s start was the shortest by Sanchez in over a year. He exited after two innings against the Mets on April 22 of last season, but that was due to forearm soreness. The 12 hits allowed by Sanchez matched a season and career high. His sinking fastball averaged 94.8 mph, down a tick from its 95.2 season average. His signature changeup produced six swings and misses, but there were times when it was up in the zone. He gave up three home runs, all on changeups.

As for Turner, the day started off promising. He opened the game with a double off the center field wall and scored on a double by Alec Bohm as the Phillies took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. The Phils looked to have some momentum going but everything changed in the bottom of the first inning.

Kansas City lefty Noah Cameron pitched five innings and, despite walking five, did not allow another run after the first. He used a six-pitch mix and a fastball that averaged just 92.7 mph to hold the Phillies at bay.

Phillies hitters were just 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position and they left 15 men on base. The Phils were out-hit, 22-10. Yes, the Royals feasted on the bullpen, as well.

Turner led the Phillies with three hits, but his 12^th error loomed large. Turner is in the fourth year of an 11-year contract that runs through 2033. He made 40 errors his first two seasons with the Phils. His defense improved last season and he made just eight. Now, the defense is an issue again. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has said in the past that the club has not considered moving Turner to the outfield. The team might have to think about it before long because it’s getting difficult to hide from this gnawing concern.

More coming soon …

This afternoon the 36-54 Royals will play their last home game against the 50-40 Phillies before the All-Star break next week. After this game, the Royals will travel to New York and then Baltimore to finish out this disappointing first half of a season.

Noah Cameron takes the bump for the Royals. He was last seen getting shelled by the Rays and hasn’t really been all that good for a month. The lineup is, well, it’s certainly a lineup of baseball players.

The Phillies will start lefty Cristopher Sánchez, who is tied with human flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski for the MLB pitcher lead in fWAR and is a Cy Young candidate.

In other words, it doesn’t look good for the Royals today as the try to take the series.

The game starts at 1:10pm US Central time. You can watch on Royals.TV or listen on 96.5 The Fan/the Royals Radio Network.

Lineups:

The first question surrounding the Houston Astros has finally been answered.

After another frustrating April and a sluggish start that had some fans calling for a rebuild and others wondering whether this would finally be the year the Astros became sellers at the trade deadline, Houston has done what it seemingly does every season.

It reminded everyone never to count them out.

By taking two of three from the Tampa Bay Rays, the team with the best record in the American League, the Astros made one thing abundantly clear.

They’re buyers.

And they should be.

The American League doesn’t have a dominant team. The playoff picture remains wide open, and Houston has positioned itself squarely in the middle of the race despite enduring months of injuries and inconsistent play. When you have one of the league’s premier players in Yordan Alvarez putting together an MVP-caliber season, you don’t waste that opportunity by standing pat.

You add.

The only question now is where.

If Astros GM Dana Brown can make only one significant addition before the trade deadline, should it be another starting pitcher or an impact bat for the outfield?

There’s a legitimate case for either move.

On the pitching side, the Astros have reason for optimism. Cristian Javier is back and, while he’s currently working out of the bullpen, it’s difficult to imagine him staying there if his arm continues to respond well. Lance McCullers Jr. is making rehab starts in Sugar Land and appears to be nearing another return. Ronel Blanco is also progressing through his recovery and could provide meaningful innings during the second half.

If even two of those three pitchers return and perform near their previous levels, Houston’s rotation suddenly looks much deeper than it did just a few weeks ago.

The outfield, however, is another story.

It has become a revolving door of role players and short-term solutions. Every few weeks another name is inserted into the lineup in hopes of finding a spark, but the overall production has remained largely unchanged.

LaMonte Wade Jr. is simply the latest attempt to patch the position, but he’s unlikely to be the long-term answer.

Cam Smith continues to show why the organization believes he’s part of its future. His athleticism, power potential, and maturity are all evident, and there’s every reason to believe he’ll become an impact player.

But that future doesn’t necessarily have to be now.

Asking a young player to consistently help anchor a playoff lineup is an enormous burden. There will be flashes of brilliance, but there will also be growing pains. That’s simply part of the development process.

Which is why, if I’m sitting in Dana Brown’s chair, my priority is finding another proven bat.

Not because pitching isn’t important.

Because the Astros already have reinforcements on the way.

The lineup doesn’t.

Houston needs another hitter who can lengthen the order, provide additional protection for Yordan Alvarez, and force opposing pitchers to navigate a dangerous lineup from top to bottom. One established offensive player changes the complexion of this team far more than adding another arm to a rotation that could soon receive multiple internal upgrades.

That’s not to suggest the Astros shouldn’t explore pitching. Every contender is looking for more pitching this time of year.

But if they’re forced to choose one major acquisition, I believe the bigger need is in the outfield.

The Astros have survived the toughest part of their season. They’ve weathered injuries, slumps, and a slow start while keeping themselves firmly in the playoff race. Now it’s time to capitalize on that perseverance.

The right addition won’t simply help them reach October.

It could put them in position to make another deep postseason run.

So now the question shifts to Astros fans.

If Dana Brown only has one major move left before the trade deadline, which direction should he go?

Would you rather add another frontline arm?

Or would you find the impact bat this lineup has been searching for all season?

For me, the answer is simple.

Go get the bat.

The Giants should be damn happy they play in the same division as the Rockies. If it weren’t for the best-run front office of 2004, San Francisco would be in an even worse spot than their current .420 winning percentage, but regardless look to be sellers at the trade deadline. I’m of the opinion that the entire organization needs to be taken back to formula and Buster Posey is perhaps not the guy to run things, but in the medium term at least, they will attempt a more conventional rebuild.

The chief challenge with the fit between the Yankees and Giants is the discrepancy in the latter’s asset performance. The Yankees need bullpen help, no question, and there are a trio of San Fran relievers who are free agents at the end of the year, classic trade bait pieces: Tyler Mahle, JT Brubaker, and Sam Hentges. Unfortunately Mahle is terrible, and while the other two both boast sub-3.00 ERAs, any other underlying metric indicates that those ERAs will not stay that low for long. Hentges is walking a comical 19.7 percent of batters faced, and Brubaker’s 17 percent strikeout rate does not help a Yankee bullpen that desperately needs some more whiffs.

If I had to pick one of the three, I would roll the dice on Hentges since he’s never had a year this bad from a walk rate perspective. Before 2026 he sat at a comfortable 8.4 percent rate for his career, so I’m going to be optimistic and say this is a flukey thing or the Giants are just bad at managing their pitchers. Still, I’m burned enough by Camilo Doval that I don’t really want any bullpen help from San Francisco.

If the Yankees choose to shore up their pitching rotation instead, given the impact of injuries and the potential of moving one of their own starters to the bullpen, Robbie Ray is also coming up on free agency. The 34 year old former Cy Young winner has a 3.45 ERA, pretty good, but you’ll never guess what happens if you look under the hood. The third-worst strikeout rate of his career matched with an unholy home run rate while playing in a park that doesn’t allow a lot of dingers should make us all very frightened of the idea of Ray pitching in the Bronx.

So the pitching’s all kinda bunk.

It may be unsurprising for a 37-51 team but the offense doesn’t look all that much better. The Giants have a bunch of pretty fat contracts on the books that I’m sure they’d be interested in trying to dump, but there’s no fit for Rafael Devers on this team. The Yankees certainly aren’t going to take on some $150 million worth of Willy Adames, and while I suppose you could squint and rub the bridge of your nose and maybe huff a Sharpie and see a spot for Matt Chapman on the club, he’s not even been a league average hitter in 2026. The Yankees already have a defensively-talented third baseman who can’t hit, and he isn’t under contract through his age-38 seeason.

I guess the one guy you could ask about, especially if it’s true that Aaron Judge won’t be back until September, would be Jung Hoo Lee, but I don’t know why the Giants would want to move one of their only productive hitters who’s still 27 and under team control for four more seasons at a relatively reasonable rate. I feel like there are some dark times coming for the Giants, perhaps some moral judgement for the harms the Bay Area have visited on the globe over the last two decades. There’s just not a lot here, and the prospect capital the Yankees would be expected to give up is probably best suited going elsewhere.