Baseball News
The Atlanta Braves are looking to avoid a sweep, while the New York Yankees are hoping for a successful outing with Schittler on the mound.
Tune in at 1:35 p.m. ET for the first pitch to watch how this contest unfolds.
The latest news and notes about the Houston Astros:
Four times since 1920 has a player led all of MLB in AVG, HR, and RBI. The last player to do it was Mickey Mantle in 1956. 70 years later, Yordan Alvarez is challenging to be the next to do it:
Some Astros top draft picks from this year’s draft are headed to Class A Fayetteville.
After failing to land a quality right-handed outfield bat at the deadline, the Astros still find themselves in search of one. Recently released players like Austin Hays, Rob Refsnyder and Jorge Soler are reported to be on the target list:
Mike Burrows is getting close to making a rehab start at Triple-A Sugar Land:
How Steven Okert went from tragedy to success as “Everyday Okert”:
Peter Lambert’s durability (and sustainability) will be key for Astros down stretch:
Can Cam Smith turn his recent hot streak into continued growth?
Astros owner Jim Crane reportedly refused to trade Bryan Abreu at the deadline. Abreu hasn’t allowed an earned run since July 12. He’s allowed only 7 earned runs since May 1 after allowing 13 earned runs in March/April. Abreu’s velocity also appears to be back to Abreu’s normal range:
After an off day on Saturday to recover from wrist soreness, Mets outfielder Carson Benge is back in the starting lineup for the rubber game against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Benge jammed his wrist into the left field wall on a spectacular sliding catch in the third inning of Friday's game and left shortly after. After the game, interim manager Andy Green said the rookie's X-rays came back negative as New York avoided an injury scare.
Regardless, the team would wait and see how Benge felt the following day before deciding what to do and sure enough, out of an abundance of caution, Benge was on the bench in the second game of the series.
"Great," Green said regarding how Benge feels. "He’s mad he didn’t play yesterday. His swings look good, he’s moving around fine. Obviously recovered pretty quickly from the collision with the wall so we’re glad to have him back out there. We waited a while to let the lineup out [today], we wanted to see if he was gonna be good to go and he felt great."
Benge is batting cleanup and playing right field with A.J. Ewing sliding over to left field and Luis Robert Jr. in center field.
Not in the lineup is Jorge Polanco, who played the first two games of the series while going 0-for-7. Green said that's where the team is at with Polanco right now, not starting him for more than 2-3 days in a row.
"We’ve been doing that fairly repetitive with him," the skipper said.
Meanwhile, Green also spoke about the plan for Robert Stock, who pitched on Saturday and struggled mightily, going three innings and allowing eight earned runs on nine hits and five walks -- the complete opposite from his season debut against the Miami Marlins on Aug. 2 in which he allowed one run over five innings.
"I think more than likely we’re anticipating him making his next start for us," Green said. "Still kinda being a little bit patient before being fully committed to it, but I think we’re leaning that direction."
Despite having a day off on Thursday next week before hosting a six-game homestand at Citi Field, the Mets are reluctant to skip Stock's turn in the rotation entirely because of the heavy workload that their young starters have already been through this season.
"I don’t think that’s our best choice given the load a lot of the young guys have carried into their first full season in the big leagues," Green said. "So as much as we’d like to get those guys back on the mound quickly, the extra day is good for them."
The Pittsburgh Pirates are back at home for a weekend series at PNC Park when they take on the New York Mets for the final contest of a three-game set.
Jared Jones is on the bump for the Buccos for the first time since August 4, when he pitched four innings, giving up eight hits and three earned runs as the Pirates lost 4-2 to the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field.
The Mets giving the ball to Sean Manaea, who is 3-5 with a 4.33 ERA so far this season. Manaea has gone back and forth between the bullpen and the starting rotation, but he has been consistently playing as a starter since the middle of June.
Manaea’s last start came against the Cleveland Guardians on August 4, when he pitched six innings, gave up seven hits, and earned a 6-2 victory on the road. Manaea pitched against the Pirates earlier this season on March 29, giving up one hit in 1.1 scoreless innings.
It’s the final matchup of a quick homestand for the Pirates, who will head back out to South Florida for a series against the Marlins in the middle of the week. They want to send the fans home happy with a win.
Location: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA
Broadcast: KDKA AM/FM, Sportsnet Pittsburgh
Pitching Matchup: Sean Manaea (3-5, 4.33 ERA) vs. Jared Jones (2-3, 4.02 ERA)
BD community, chime off in the comments section below.
SP: Sean Manaea – LHP
SP: Jared Jones – RHP
First pitch: 1:35 PM EDT
TV: SNY
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2
The impossible happened last night: the A’s won a game! The club snapped their 9-game losing streak, getting their first August win while snapping Boston’s winning streak. Fitting. Now the A’s need to prove it wasn’t a one-off and make it two in a row, something the team hasn’t done since before the All-Star Break.
Taking to the hill in this afternoon’s series finale will be right-hander J.T. Ginn, who is set to get the ball for his 21st start. Ginn spent a couple weeks on the IL recently with a blister issue but didn’t seem to miss a beat while he was on the shelf. In his first start back he fired six innings of three-run ball in an eventual loss to the Cincinnati Reds. Hopefully the bullpen won’t waste another fine start from the emerging righty.
Here’s how the Athletics will line up this afternoon for the finale:
Mostly the same lineup as yesterday and why mess with something that worked? The only changes at the top of the lineup are Jonah Heim is catching instead of DH’ing today while Tyler Soderstrom occupies that role with a half-day for the lefty slugger. Jonathan Ornelas will replace him on the grass and bat seventh this afternoon, ahead of third baseman Max Muncy and second baseman Jeff McNeil.
The Red Sox meanwhile have left-hander Erik Miller getting the ball for them today. A deadline acquisition from the San Francisco Giants, Miller is only expected to go an inning or two at most this afternoon before making way for the rest of Boston’s relief unit. Expect to see lots of pitching changes from Boston today.
And Boston’s starting lineup today shakes out like this:
Two in a row? I forgot what that feels like. Let’s make it happen A’s!
Follow the Game:
Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA
Listen:
Athletics – Talk 650 KSTE, A’s Cast
Playing some catch-up on roster moves in a busy week, we had resolution for three players were designated for assignment by the Dodgers in the last week.
Wyatt Mills was designated for assignment on Monday when the Dodgers needed to clear 40-man roster space after a flurry of trade deadline deals. On Thursday the right-hander was claimed off waivers by the Washington Nationals, who simultaneously optioned Mills to Triple-A Rochester.
The 31-year-old Mills pitched in six games for the Dodgers this season, his first time in the majors since 2022, after Tommy John surgery wiped out 2023 and 2024.
“A long road, it’s never a guarantee that you get fully healthy after that,” Mills told me after his call-up in May. “So it was more like a deep breath, kind of peaceful. I felt calm. I put in a lot of work, and my confidence came from that.”
Mills struggled in his stints with the Dodgers, with nine walks and five strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings, with five runs allowed, four of them earned. He had a 2.41 ERA and six saves in 33 games for Triple-A Oklahoma City with 52 strikeouts and 18 walks in 37 1/3 innings.
Oklahoma City got a battery back this week after two more players were designated for assignment.
Cole Irvin, who pitched six bulk innings in a reset game at Dodger Stadium on July 31, got designated for assignment one day later. He cleared waivers an was sent outright to Triple-A on August 3. He started and won again for the Comets on Friday night in Salt Lake.
Chuckie Robinson, an intermittent catcher the last two seasons for the Dodgers, started six games in the majors this season. He was designated for assignment on Tuesday when both Ben Rortvedt and Hunter Feduccia were activated one day after getting acquired in separate dealsahead of the trade deadline.
Robinson cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A on Friday. The 31-year-old is hitting .229/.333/.440 in 126 plate appearances for Oklahoma City this season, with 32 games started behind the plate.
The Texas Rangers today purchased the contract of infielder Jonah Bride, the team announced today. To make room for Bride on the active roster, the Rangers optioned outfielder Alejandro Osuna to AAA Round Rock. To make room for Bride on the 40 man roster, the Rangers transferred pitcher Jake Leiter from the 15 day injured list to the 60 day injured list.
Bride is a 30 year old who played for Skip Schumaker in Miami in 2024, when he had a career best season, slashing .276/.357/.461 while playing first, second and third base. He has an overall career .221/.311/.313 line, however, which is why he signed a minor league deal with the Rangers this past offseason and has spent the year at Round Rock.
Bride’s overall slash line for Round Rock is a rather pedestrian .282/.401/.425 in 431 plate appearances this season. However, he has put up a very impressive .388/.473/.669 slash line against lefthanded pitchers, which is why the Rangers, who are kind of desperate for a righthanded bench bat, have brought him up. Interestingly, Bride has reverse splits in the majors for his career, slashing .194/.295/.228 against lefties in 272 plate appearances in the bigs, against .238/.321/.367 against righthanded pitchers.
Osuna has played sparingly as of late, getting just one start in the month of April and mainly being used for pinch hitting duties. He’s not a good fit for the roster, as currently constructed, given that he’s a lefthanded hitting outfielder on the bench, and the Rangers need a righthanded hitting bench outfielder, not a lefthanded hitting one. It seems like this might have been an area the team would have wanted to try to address at the deadline, were it not for the fact that Ray Davis is apparently claiming that the team is po’ like Kenny’s family.
Bride will presumably fill in until Josh Jung returns, assuming Jung does return at some point this season.
The move of Leiter to the 60 day injured list is purely procedural in nature, given that he’s spent close to 60 days on the injured list so far on this stint. He still would seem to be on track to return sometime in late-August or early-September.
After playing poorly in two straight losses, the Phillies will try to salvage the third game of their Alumni Weekend series against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Jesus Luzardo gets the start for the Phillies. The lefty is 10-5 with a 3.36 ERA.
The Blue Jays will go with Shane Bieber. The former All-Star is 3-2 with a 5.11 ERA on the season.
Game time is 1:35 PM and will be televised locally on NBCSP.
Rangers have rejected an offer for striker Youssef Chermiti, with manager Derek McInnes confirming that it did not meet the Scottish Premiership club's valuation.
The 22-year-old striker, who went off injured after starting Saturday's match at home to Hibernian, joined the Ibrox club from Everton in September 2025 as he reportedly became their most expensive purchase since Tore Andre Flo in 2000.
"I'm led to believe the club's valuation of the player hasn't been met," McInnes told BBC Scotland when asked about reports that Turkish champions Galatasaray were the bidders.
"So, from our point of view, like everything else, when you get clubs looking at your players, it's business as you were."
Chermiti, capped at under-21 level by Portugal, has made 43 Rangers appearances, 30 of them starts, scoring 15 goals.
"It's no surprise that he's a player who's got a big tag on him and he's got high potential, but thankfully he's our player and that will continue to be the case," McInnes said.
"We're trying to build a team here at the minute and we're trying to still bring additions to the team that helps us add to the good players that we've got, including Youssef.
"So it's not something we would encourage at any point and, as I say, obviously news has broken today, but we're just trying to concentrate on the game today."
Rangers have made nine signings already this summer after the arrival of McInnes from Heart of Midlothian and he is hoping to add more.
"We've got a few bids in for several players and a few things are ongoing at the minute, but everything else, ideally a lot of these things would have came to fruition a wee bit quicker," he added.
"But hopefully, if there is any news to tell, it'll be in the upcoming days on a few of our targets."
After that brutal road trip, these last two wins have been a massive boost for the Nats. Now they will look for only their second sweep of the season this afternoon against the Reds. The only other sweep was against another NL Central team in the Brewers, so maybe that is a good luck charm.
The Nats actually have the same 9 players in the lineup today. However, the order is mixed up a bit. Jose Tena will be up in the 3 spot, while Dylan Crews moves down to the 5 hole. Keibert Ruiz will also move down in the order. The Nats have a bullpen game today which will be started by Brad Lord, but all hands are on deck.
The Reds are making a couple changes with a righty opener on the mound. Hector Rodriguez will return to the lineup. Tyler Stephenson will also be the catcher in this one. Left handed JJ Bleday will move up in the lineup while righties like Eugenio Suarez and Dane Myers will move down. The veteran sinkerballer Brady Singer is on the bump.
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Game Info:
Stadium: Nationals Park
Time: 12:15 PM EST
TV: Peacock and NBCSN
Radio: 106.7 The Fan
Getting a sweep would be a major statement for the Nats. It would show that this team has no plans of fading into oblivion. The Wild Card is a real long shot now, but with a real winning streak you never know. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!
The stage is set as the Atlanta Braves look to avoid a sweep against the New York Yankees.
Let’s take a look at the lineups.
Dominic Smith has returned to DH for the Braves and is batting in the sixth spot. Other than that, the lineup replicates yesterday’s. The bat power is expected (or hoped) to show up in a big way today with Grant Holmes on the mound, but the Braves will have to strike while the iron is hot and get a head start in setting the tone.
Ryan McMahon and Jazz Chisolm Jr. have been added back to the Yankees lineup. McMahon averages a 1.500 OPS against Holmes and a .400 batting average, while Luis García Jr. averages an OPS of 1.300.
Cam Schlittler, who will be leading the Yankees on the mound, is no joke and will be looking to bounce back from his off outing against St. Louis. The Braves are just looking for a win before they return home to face their division rivals, who also happen to be right across the subway.
First pitch is set for 1:35 p.m. ET
A sweep at the hands of the Washington Nationals may well be the last final final last death knell for the 2026 Cincinnati Reds season. The Nats found a way to beat even Chase Burns on Saturday in yet another game where the Reds offense failed to show up, and now the Reds are once again on the cusp of falling 5 games under the .500 mark and too far buried in the National League Wild Card standings to even make looking at them an enjoyable exercise in conjuring miracles.
Brady Singer gets the start for the Reds in Sunday’s series finale opposite Washington opener Brad Lord, who won’t be on the mound for long. First pitch is slated to be Lord-chucked at an early 12:15 PM ET, so I hope you got up and got your coffee in ya early this fine morning.
Here’s how both clubs will line up to begin this one:
It’s Sunday once more, and you know what that means — it’s time for our weekly social media roundup! The Trade Deadline is in the rearview mirror, a top prospect has made his MLB debut, and the heavens opened up and brought a deluge to the Bronx. And while Yankees fans have certainly made their opinions about this week known — oh boy, they sure have — the players, coaches, broadcasters, and yes, even reporters have remained active on the feed. What have they been up to this week? Let’s find out!
For those who opted not to take Latin in high school or college (shame, shame, shame), “ave atque vale” is the ending of Catullus poem 101, and translates as “hail and farewell.” While the line was originally composed as a funerary gift (the poem is addressed to the “mute ashes” of Catullus’s brother), it has taken on a life of its own, and has been used as the title of a now-lost British film from the 1930s, the name of a transfer-of-command military dinner, and several songs in multiple languages, all dealing with simultaneous greetings and farewells.
Thus, it is an appropriate title for the various “hellos” and “goodbyes” posted on social media at this year’s trade deadline.
Rather humorously, we learned from the Washington Nationals that Jack Cebert had DMed the Nationals back in middle school to suggest they trade for somebody (the original post was deleted, so, uh, we have no idea how good of a scout he is).
The trade deadline wasn’t the only way the Yankees added to their lineup. On August 4th, the Yankees promoted top prospect George Lombard Jr. to The Show — where he homered in his second big league at-bat…right around the same time his brother Jacob, making his professional debut, also hit a home run in his second minor-league at-bat. How awesome is that!
We have some big game belts this week, but perhaps none was as exciting as George Lombard Jr. receiving one in his MLB debut on Tuesday, thanks to a big home run that helped power the Bronx Bombers Pitchers to a 2-0 victory over the Cards.
Last Sunday marked the anniversary of the death of Yankees legend Thurman Munson. His former teammate Willie Randolph took some time to remember his captain on Instagram. Austin Wells wore some very 1970s throwback replica catcher’s gear in tribute to the late captain.
If you were in the Bronx on Friday night, you would have thought that Zeus and Thor had teamed up to destroy the city, as a thunderstorm ravaged the city and delayed the matchup between the Yankees and Braves until 9:00 pm ET (and somehow, the Yankees bats still showed up late, not arriving until midnight).
And while this post from the YES Network wasn’t from Friday night…well, it could’ve been:
Oh you thought we were done with World Cup posts? Yeah, well, so was I. That is, until I was at Tuesday’s game, and who threw out the ceremonial first pitch but Ferran Torres — aka, the man who scored the game-winning goal for Spain last month.
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The Houston Astros are short road underdogs against the San Diego Padres tonight, and I’m taking the plus-money price for two units.
Houston’s current hitting profile gives the Astros a better matchup against Randy Vasquez than the market is pricing.
Here are my Astros vs. Padres predictions and MLB picks for Aug. 9, with first pitch scheduled for 8:20 p.m. ET at Petco Park.
Also make sure to check out our favorite Astros vs. Padres props, featuring another big game from Yordan Alvarez!
I'm backing the Houston Astros down to +100. It's a great price on the team in better form with the stronger matchup.
Randy Vasquez starts for the San Diego Padres with a profile that is all over the place. He is coming off his best outing of the season, six scoreless innings and two hits against the Arizona Diamondbacks, but his underlying metrics still tell on him.
His barrel rate, hard-hit rate, and ground-ball rate all sit in the Bottom 25% of the sport. Houston attacks exactly that, ranking 12th in barrel rate and 10th in hard-hit rate over the last two weeks.
While that's not eye-popping, it's enough to make me buy against a poor pitcher at this price.
COVERS INTEL: Vasquez is in the midst of a third straight season with at least one run of differential between his actual ERA and expected ERA, a strong signal that negative regression is inevitable with more volume. I’m playing the Over because both starters bring run-prevention concerns into a matchup with enough recent offensive pressure.
Vasquez’s low-strikeout profile gives Houston a path to sustained traffic, while Cristian Javier has allowed a 6.59 ERA and 1.68 WHIP across 27 1/3 innings.
San Diego does not need to crush Javier to contribute here. Walks, elevated contact, and early bullpen exposure can get this game toward nine runs without requiring a full slugfest.
Petco Park weather does not create a major betting adjustment.
Unless the wind shifts closer to first pitch, there is no weather edge strong enough to change the side or total.
The Astros have hit the run line in 11 of their last 15 games (+9.15 Units / 48% ROI)
| Location | Petco Park, San Diego, CA |
| Date | Sunday, August 9, 2026 |
| First pitch | 8:20 p.m. ET |
| TV | NBC |
| Astros starting pitcher | Cristian Javier (1-2, 6.59 ERA) |
| Padres starting pitcher | Randy Vasquez (7-6, 4.19 ERA) |
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change.
Not intended for use in MA.
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