New York Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury might opt to take a unique approach this offseason.
Pursuing restricted free agents via offer sheets is not a common strategy in the NHL, but it’s becoming more prevalent.
With a lack of star talent in the unrestricted free agency class this summer, the Rangers reportedly have their eyes on taking the offer-sheet route with restricted free agents.
“The Rangers came into this offseason more worried about an offer sheet poaching either K’Andre Miller or, far worse, Cuylle, who has a lot of value and upside here and elsewhere,” Arthur Staple of The Athletic wrote. “Now, it appears the Rangers want to be the aggressors on the little-used offer sheet market.”
Staple linked the Rangers to Buffalo Sabres forward JJ Peterka as a potential offer-sheet option. Peterka is a player who was connected to the Rangers at around the trade deadline, but nothing ultimately transpired between the Blueshirts and Sabres.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman echoed the same sentiment about the Rangers being intrigued to adopt the offer-sheet strategy.
“I think the thing that is really interesting is that the word offer sheets are being mentioned with them and they are not really having a problem with it…The Rangers don’t seem all that bothered by the fact that people are linking them to offer sheets, so I’m curious to see where that is all going to go,” Friedman said.
Drury has already been aggressive to start the offseason as the team traded Chris Kreider to the Anaheim Ducks, starting what should be an eventful summer for the Rangers.
First, he said last weekend that he’d rather retire than pitch for the Yankees because his father was drafted by New York twice before being traded.
Then, he goes out and beats the Yankees.
A few days after his comments about never wanting to pitch for New York, he ends up having to defend his dad’s story about being drafted by the Yankees in response to a New York Post article that cited multiple official databases and the Yankees’ own records that couldn’t confirm Lance Dobbins ever having played with the organization.
Then on Saturday night, Dobbins (4-1) follows up by going six shutout innings in Boston’s 4-3 victory over New York, his second win over the Yankees in less than a week.
“It’s a lot of fun. I’m more worried about just the win column, whether it’s against them or anybody,” he said. “My job is to try and help this team win as many ballgames as we can, and pitch in meaningful playoff baseball games. That’s what I’m more focused on.”
But he realizes what it means to the fanbase in this longtime rivalry, with the Red Sox fans heard chanting about the Yankees outside the park before he spoke in an interview room.
“Yeah, I love being able to perform and get those wins for the fans here,” he said. “They deserve it. It’s a great city, passionate fanbase, so being able to get those wins — especially twice in one week — means a lot, and looking forward to trying to build on that going forward.”
In his victory over New York last Sunday, Dobbins held the Yankees to three runs over five innings, two on a first-inning homer by Aaron Judge.
On Saturday night, Judge went 0 for 3 against him, striking out twice on curveballs.
“It was just kind of scouting,” Dobbins said of his game plan against New York’s slugger after Garrett Crochet struck him out three times in the series opener Friday.
“Crochet has an electric fastball. I can throw it hard, but the shape isn’t quite as elite,” he said. “So we knew we had better weapons to go at him with, so I felt like we did a good job of kind of keeping a balanced attack throughout the order.”
Dobbins struck out five and gave up only two singles on Saturday.
With the Giants’ trade for Boston Red Sox slugger Rafael Devers, San Francisco has injected some much-needed firepower into its slumping offense.
Exhibit A: The three-time MLB All-Star’s final game in Boston on Sunday, where his solo home run in the fifth inning helped propel the Red Sox to a 2-0 win over the New York Yankees.
That 375-foot opposite-field shot certainly would clear the wall in left field at Oracle Park, where Devers should be playing through the 2033 MLB season.
San Francisco acquired Devers on Sunday in a blockbuster trade that sent Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison, James Tibbs III and Jose Bello to Boston, the teams announced during the Giants’ 5-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The move comes just a couple of weeks after Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey conducted his first big roster shakeup, designating first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. for assignment in a message to San Francisco’s struggling offense.
Devers hit .272 with 15 home runs and 58 RBI in 73 games for the Red Sox this season, and he’ll bring some pop to the Bay that has been missed for quite some time.
Devers: 3 30-homer seasons
Giants: no 30-homer season by an individual since 2004 Barry Bonds
LOS ANGELES — Long before he made the decision to take over the Giants baseball operations department, Buster Posey was fascinated by the trade deadline. He watched all sorts of moves during his time as a player, and he saw the kind of impact that a lead executive can have without ever taking the field.
Two weeks ago, as the calendar turned to June and Posey watched his lineup struggle to score runs, he admitted he felt the need to make a splash. He wasn’t sure if he would be able to, but he felt there was something special building if the Giants could just score a bit more consistently.
“I think there’s pressure to put this team in a position to win ball games, because, as you mentioned, the pitching staff is really good and I believe that that’s going to continue through the year,” he said on the Giants Talk Podcast. “Yeah, I think there’s urgency from everybody to provide these guys with run support.”
Six weeks before his first deadline, Posey delivered.
The Giants, Posey declared Sunday, are going for it.
They are doing so in a fascinating way, and not just because the deal happened six weeks before anyone expected real movement, and was centered around a player who was once supposed to be a pillar in Boston. They’re pushing all their chips to the middle with a slugger who is in some ways an imperfect fit in San Francisco.
Devers has been a third baseman his entire career, but the Red Sox added Alex Bregman in the offseason and Devers was not pleased, both publicly and privately. When they lost their starting first baseman, he indicated he didn’t want to play there either, and he has been a DH in all 72 appearances this season.
The Giants appear to have bigger holes elsewhere — Wilmer Flores has been their everyday DH — but they can work around that this season. Flores can play first and Devers likely can, too, and the hope is surely that he’s more willing in a new home to pick the glove back up. Short term, Matt Chapman is on the IL, although it might be asking a lot of Devers to return to third base right away, and for just three weeks or so.
Long term, the Giants will have to sort through the Devers-Bryce Eldridge fit. Their top prospect is a first baseman, but may also need DH time at the big league level if the glove doesn’t develop as hoped. This offseason, when Flores hits free agency, the Giants will have to figure out who their 2026 starting first baseman is.
If Devers ends up at DH, they’re taking on a lot — he’s in the second year of a 10-year, $313.5 million deal — for a bat-only player, but that bat might be worth it.
Devers comes to San Francisco with a 145 wRC+, .905 OPS, 15 homers and an AL-leading 56 walks. He’s a three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger Award winner who is a career .279 hitter. In three different seasons, Devers has cleared 30 homers, and he hit 28 last season.
Devers immediately becomes the team’s best hitter, and joins a core that includes Chapman, Willy Adames, Heliot Ramos, Jung Hoo Lee and, eventually, Eldridge. If there are any clubhouse concerns — and it’s hard right now to know if that was just a Boston thing — Posey is surely counting on Adames and Chapman to smooth things over.
Posey and general manager Zack Minasian have spent weeks scouring the market for offensive upgrades, and they came away from their early searching with the impression that they might have to be patient. The president of baseball operations recently met with the coaching staff to make sure they relayed the message that a lot of fixes had to come from what they already had.
“There’s never any certainty,” he said recently. “I do know this, even though this is my first year doing this, there’s never any certainty that you’re going to be able to improve even if you wanted to.”
On Sunday, he found a way to ensure some certainty. As a player, Posey was known for lining balls softly into center field. As an executive, he has proven to be someone who takes some of the biggest swings imaginable.
That was the general consensus on X after the Giants reportedly made a blockbuster trade to acquire three-time MLB All-Star Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox on Sunday. The slugger comes to San Francisco in exchange for Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison, James Tibbs and Jose Bello, FanSided’s Robert Murray reported, citing sources familiar with the deal.
Full trade: The San Francisco Giants are acquiring Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox for Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison, James Tibbs and Jose Bello, according to sources familiar with the deal.
Understandably, MLB fans everywhere were stunned. Giants fans celebrated, Red Sox fans wept and baseball fans in general couldn’t contain their shock, likening the deal to the NBA’s Luka Dončić-Anthony Davis trade that shook the sports world in February.
Let’s take a look at some of the best reactions.
What a MASSIVE trade in Buster Posey's first season at the helm. Love the move. Love the aggressiveness. This sends a message to MLB: the #SFGiants play for rings. https://t.co/s9UCRrDf4B
This is a generational fleece by the #SFGiants. This is Baseball’s version of the Luka trade. Hicks and Harrison for a solidified elite player in Devers.
Sox are hot. Just swept the Yanks. And this is absolute vibe missile.
They bungled this Devers situation from the jump. Sure, the contract is going to get ugly in time, but punting on a Top 15 hitter/fan favorite feels so, so unnecessary and misguided.
Nezza sings the national anthem in Spanish before the Dodgers played the Giants at Dodger Stadium on Saturday. (Jessie Alcheh / Associated Press)
Singer and social media personality Nezza sang the national anthem in Spanish at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night.
And, according to a video the performer later posted to social media, she did so against the wishes of the Dodgers organization.
In a video Nezza, whose full name is Vanessa Hernández, posted to TikTok, an unidentified Dodgers employee is heard telling her before Saturday’s performance that “we are going to do the song in English today, so I’m not sure if that wasn’t relayed.”
Then, the video cuts to Nezza — who was wearing a Dominican Republic shirt — signing a Spanish version of the "Star-Spangled Banner" on the field ahead of the Dodgers’ win against the San Francisco Giants.
In a separate video, Nezza, 30, said the version of the song she sang was commissioned in 1945 by the U.S. State Department under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and that she wanted to sing it amid the recent unrest in Los Angeles stemming from raids by ICE agents.
“I didn’t think I would be met with any sort of no, especially because we’re in LA and with everything happening,” she said. “But today out of all days, I just could not believe when she [the Dodgers employee] walked in and told me 'no.' But I just felt like I needed to do it. Para mi gente.”
The Dodgers did not issue a public comment on the situation, but a team official said there were no consequences from the club regarding the performance and that Nezza would be welcome back at the stadium in the future.
Nezza reacts after singing the national anthem prior to a game between the Dodgers and Giants in at Dodger Stadium on Saturday. (Jessie Alcheh / Associated Press)
In general, the Dodgers have largely been quiet about the raids and resulting protests in the city over the last week.
Manager Dave Roberts has been asked about the situation twice. On Monday, he said that, “I just hope that we can be a positive distraction for what people are going through in Los Angeles right now.”
On Friday, he offered little further comment: “I know that when you're having to bring people in and deport people, all the unrest, it's certainly unsettling for everyone,” he said, “But I haven't dug enough and can't speak intelligently on it."
Veteran Kiké Hernández spoke out on Instagram on Saturday, writing that “I cannot stand to see our community being violated, profiled, abused and ripped apart. ALL people deserve to be treated with respect, dignity and human rights.”
The Dodgers, however, have not issued any team-level statement, and a club executive told The Times’ Dylan Hernández on Friday that they did not plan to make any comment.
Father’s Day at the ballpark can be one of the most treasured days of the year because, for many, baseball and dads go hand in hand.
And if you were taught or introduced to the game because of your dad, the pair are intertwined for life.
So while it was an uncharacteristically cold and damp June Sunday in South Philadelphia, the Phillies made sure to send fans home celebrating the day … and a win.
With Zack Wheeler leading the way, the Phillies bested the Blue Jays, 11-4, and collected their fifth sweep of the season. Wrapping the homestand 5-1, the consecutive series wins improved their season series record to 16-7-1, which only trails the Detroit Tigers as best in MLB.
Wheeler went 6.0 innings and allowed four hits and two runs, only one was earned and punched out nine. It’s now the fourth time this season he’s had at least nine strikeouts without allowing a walk.
The Phillies wasted no time snagging a lead for Wheeler to work with. Seriously, if you blinked in the bottom of the first inning, you might have missed it.
The first pitch Trea Turner saw from Toronto’s José Berríos was a double down the leftfield line; Kyle Schwarber drove him in with a single on the very next pitch.
Otto Kemp has settled in nicely since playing his first game at Citizens Bank Park Monday (that’s an understatement). Alec Bohm drove him home after leading off the third inning with a single.
Just one inning later, Kemp was on the opposite end and tacked on two RBI for the Phillies. In the six games at home, he had 10 hits and four RBI. Kemp said after the club’s walk-off win against the Cubs he specifically waited to be called up to experience the home crowd — the Philly faithful have lived up to his expectations — just as he has to theirs.
Kemp wasn’t the only one putting up impressive numbers this past week — Bohm has been on an offensive tear (also, somehow an understatement).
Bohm had his fourth multi-hit game in the homestand Sunday, with three RBI and a two-run homerun he clobbered 344 ft. Overall, he had 10 hits, two home runs and nine RBI. That lowly .217 average that lingered in the beginning of May is clearly a thing of the past as his average has climbed to .283.
There are ebbs and flows throughout a baseball season — it’s expected when there’s 162 games to be played. Getting hot at the right time is key … but it never hurts to have a little bit of luck as well.
When reporters filed into Rob Thomson’s office for his pregame availability, it felt like we were transported six years into the past.
Why? Bamboo.
This isn’t the first time bamboo has graced the clubhouse vicinity. “Bamboo” Brad Miller, a utility player who joined the club in the midst of the 2019 season, brought bamboo to Citizens Bank Park. It just so happened to coincide with the offense finding life again during a dreary stretch.
Now, in Thomson’s office, a small stalk was resting in a cup in front of a massive bamboo plant.
Topper went on to tell the lore of the two plants, and how hitting coach Kevin Long’s wife, Marcey, was in the office May 29. Check the date — a day before the Brewers came to town.
“She said, ‘Let me take that home, get it some sunlight and bring it back to you,'” Thomson said.
During the bamboo-less stretch, the Phillies were swept twice and lost all three series to the Brewers, Blue Jays and Pirates.
“The last day in Pittsburgh, Long called Marcey, and he said, ‘You better get that damn thing back in (Thomson’s) office,'” Thomson said.
Since the status of the mini plant was still unclear, Marcey also brought one that is clearly thriving.
“That’s the story of our success,” Thomson said with a laugh.
Sweeps are uncommon but they do happen … and the Phillies were well on their way to sweeping Toronto by the sixth inning. Capping it off with a Nick Castellanos grand slam though? That might’ve been the bamboo luck.
Who knows, maybe a little magic has found its way back to the Phillies.
Listen, they’re 5-1 since it returned. Can it really be a coincidence twice?
It was an exhilarating day at the ballpark … and one I look forward to debriefing with my dad.
The Boston Red Sox made a stunning, franchise-altering move on Sunday, just hours after completing a three-game sweep of the New York Yankees at Fenway Park.
Veteran slugger Rafael Devers was traded to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for right-handed pitcher Jordan Hicks, left-hander Kyle Harrison, and minor-leaguers James Tibbs and Jose Bello, per multiple reports.
The shocking move ends Devers’ eight-plus-year tenure with the Red Sox. Devers signed a 10-year, $313.5 million contract extension with Boston before the 2023 campaign.
Devers was in the midst of a stellar season as the Red Sox’ designated hitter. The 28-year-old has slashed .271/.400/.494 with 14 homers, 57 RBI, and an American League-leading 55 walks over 72 games.
Those impressive numbers, however, were overshadowed by off-the-field drama. After the Red Sox signed star third baseman Alex Bregman in the offseason, Devers scoffed at the idea of moving from third to DH. He eventually acquiesced, but tensions boiled over again when the team asked him to play first base in the wake of Triston Casas’ injury.
“The team’s feeling was that a $313.5M contract comes with responsibilities to do what is right for the team and that Devers did not live up to those responsibilities,” Abraham wrote on BlueSky. “They had enough and they traded him.”
The Giants will pay the remainder of Devers’ contract — roughly $254 million — according to reports.
Devers, a three-time All-Star, initially signed with the Red Sox as an international free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2013, when he was only 16 years old. He helped Boston to a World Series title in 2018 and has since been one of the faces of the franchise.
As for the players headed to Boston, Hicks and Harrison are high-upside pitchers who underwhelmed in San Francisco. The hard-throwing Hicks has a 6.47 ERA and 1.54 WHIP in 13 appearances (nine starts) this season. Harrison, a former top Giants prospect, has a 4.56 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in eight games (four starts).
The 22-year-old Tibbs, selected 13th overall in the 2024 draft, notched 12 homers and 32 RBI with a .857 OPS in 56 games with San Francisco’s High-A affiliate, the Eugene Emeralds.
Bello, a 20-year-old right-hander, posted a 2.00 ERA and 0.72 WHIP in eight appearances (18 innings) at the Arizona Complex League.
The Red Sox will visit the Seattle Mariners for a three-game series starting Monday night. They will then take on Devers and the Giants in a three-game series in San Francisco starting on Friday.
Manager Carlos Mendoza is getting Francisco Lindor some time “off his feet” for Sunday’s series finale with the Tampa Bay Rays, but the Mets’ leader wouldn’t take a full day off.
“As you guys know, how hard it is to get him to take an off day or take him out of the lineup,” Mendoza said with a smile. “We went back and forth [Saturday] night after the game, and we settled in on the DH [role].”
With the Mets having an off day on Monday, the skipper hoped to give Lindor two days of rest and “buy some extra time there,” but lost the battle and had to settle for keeping his bat in the lineup and having Luisangel Acuña get his first start in 10 days at shortstop.
This is Lindor’s first day not playing the field since he returned to action after not starting in two games following sustaining a broken pinky toe. But Mendoza said the injury is improving.
“I wouldn’t say significantly, but it’s getting better,” the manager said in response to a reporter’s question about whether the injury had significantly improved. “It’s all about pain tolerance. He feels like, day by day, he’s getting. There’s better days than others. What I’m getting from the trainers is, hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, it will be a lot better.
“I don’t think this is something that he’s gonna have to play through the whole year. We feel like at some point, the fracture will heal and he’ll be close to a hundred percent. They’re never a hundred percent. But he’s getting better.”
Lindor missed just one game with the toe before entering as a pinch-hitter to deliver a go-ahead, game-winning hit in the first game in Colorado. He has nine hits in his last 30 at-bats (.300) with three doubles and two RBI over eight games.
Mendoza spoke with the starter on Saturday and said he was in “a good spirit” after MRI results revealed a low-grade hamstring injury, which the manager called “relatively good news.”
“He understands, obviously, but also knows that we got a little bit of good news here,” Mendoza said. “He’s gonna continue and try to keep his arm moving, which is a good sign. He’s not gonna be completely shut down.”
The manager reported the righty said on Saturday that he had “already felt better than he did the day before.”
“Definitely, he’s in a better place,” Mendoza said.
Senga was forced out of Thursday's start against Washington after 5.2 innings, sustaining the injury while running to cover first base. On the year, he has pitched to a league-leading 1.47 ERA with a 1.113 WHIP over 73.2 innings and 13 starts. He had 70 strikeouts to 31 walks.
“But overall, I feel good, especially with guys like [Frankie] Montas, Sean [Manaea], where they’re at in their rehab process,” he said. “WE have some reinforcements coming, too. But, again, gotta keep going and we feel good with what we have.”
The third baseman will begin his rehab assignment with the Triple-A club on Tuesday as he works his way back from a hamstring issue.
Mendoza did not know how many games he would play before he could return to the big league club. “We’ll see how that goes,” he added.
Vientos last appeared in a game on June 2 in Los Angeles. He has been struggling at the plate compared to last year, with six home runs and 21 RBI and a .230/.298/.380 slash line for a .678 OPS over 208 plate appearances and 53 games.
The Giants made an Earth-shattering trade on Sunday afternoon.
San Francisco acquired All-Star third baseman Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for pitchers Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison and prospects James Tibbs III and Jose Bello, the teams announced.
Fansided’s Robert Murray first reported news of the deal, with details later confirmed by NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic.
Harrison, who was slated to start for the Giants on Sunday night against the Los Angeles Dodgers, was informed of the deal while warming up in the bullpen at Dodger Stadium.
Per source, Kyle Harrison has been told he has been traded to the Red Sox. @ByRobertMurray first reported it's Harrison, Hicks and others for Rafael Devers.
Devers hit .272 with 15 home runs and 58 RBI in 73 games for the Red Sox during the 2025 MLB season.
The 28-year-old slugger is in the second season of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract that likely secures his place as a foundational Giants piece for years to come.
Bello made eight appearances this season for the Giants’ Arizona Complex League team, logging a 2.00 ERA with 28 strikeouts and a 0.72 WHIP in 18 innings of work.
The Mets optioned right-hander Justin Garza to Triple-A Syracuse, the team announced ahead of Sunday's series finale against the Tampa Bay Rays.
In a corresponding move, righty Ty Adock has been called up.
Garza appeared in three games since the Mets acquired him in a cash deal with the San Francisco Giants earlier this month. The 31-year-old allowed four hits over three scoreless appearances, striking out two in 3.2 innings, including working an inning in Saturday's loss to Tampa.
In his first action in the big leagues in two years, Garza showed some good life on his fastball, averaging 96.4 mph, and used his cutter the majority of his pitches, averaging 89.2 mph.
Adcock, 28, made one appearance with the Mets earlier this season, allowing a walk and a hit in 0.1 inning on May 1. He has a fastball that sits in the mid-90s, low-90s cutter, and rounds out his arsenal with a slider in the upper-80s and a mid-90s sinker.
In 18 appearances out of the bullpen with Syracuse, he has allowed 15 runs (11 earned) on 14 hits and seven walks with 21 strikeouts in 22 innings, pitching to a 4.50 ERA on a 0.955 WHIP. The home runs have been his issue, allowing three on the year.
Adcock made three appearances in relief a year ago, surrendering seven runs on seven hits (four homers) and two walks with three strikeouts in 4.1 innings pitched.
MILWAUKEE — Catchers Willson and William Contreras became the second pair of brothers to homer in the same inning as opponents in baseball’s modern era on Saturday.
Both went deep in the ninth inning of the St. Louis Cardinals’ 8-5 win over the Milwaukee Brewers that snapped the Cards’ six-game skid.
Willson Contreras’ ninth homer of the season, a solo shot to right-center, gave St. Louis an 8-4 lead in the top of the ninth. William Contreras led off the bottom half of the inning with his sixth homer of the season, to left field.
The Contreras brothers are the first to homer in the same inning as opponents since Rick (Boston Red Sox) and Wes Ferrell (Cleveland Indians) accomplished the feat on July 19, 1933, when Rick’s home run came off Wes.
As he rounded first base after his homer, Willson Contreras stared into the Brewers’ dugout but didn’t say anything to his brother as he crossed home plate.
William Contreras shrugged off the tensions between his brother and his teammates, saying, “When we’re out there during the game, it’s not exactly like we’re family members. We’re out there competing.
“So yeah, if there’s something to be discussed between him and anyone else, they do it,” William added. “But yeah, we’re out there to compete and he’s playing his game and we’re playing ours.”
The last brothers to homer in the same inning of a game were Josh and Bo Naylor for Cleveland on April 10, 2024.
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani had never gone 10 games without hitting a homer for the Los Angeles Dodgers until this month.
The three-time MVP ended his drought Saturday night — and then started making up for lost time.
Ohtani hit two homers against the Giants, emphatically reaching 25 homers for the fifth consecutive season during Los Angeles’ 11-5 victory over San Francisco.
Ohtani led off the game with his 24th, hammering Landen Roupp’s fourth pitch 419 feet deep into the right-field bleachers with an exit velocity of 110.3 mph.
The slugger had gone 10 for 40 with no RBIs since his most recent homer June 2 — although he still had an eight-game hitting streak during his power outage.
“It did feel like I hadn’t hit a homer in a while,” Ohtani said through his interpreter. “In terms of the context of the two homers, I think the first homer was more significant, just being able to score early in the game.”
Ohtani then led off the sixth with his 25th homer, sending Tristan Beck’s breaking ball outside the strike zone into the bleachers in right. Dodgers fans brought him home with a standing ovation for his third multihomer game of the season and the 22nd of his career.
He also moved one homer behind the Yankees’ Aaron Judge and Seattle’s Cal Raleigh for the overall major league lead.
“I didn’t realize that,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said when informed of Ohtani’s homer drought. “He has a way of making up for things and leveling things out, so hitting two homers tonight gets him, I guess, back on track. ... I think it seemed like a while. I think there was a lot of chase down below in the last 10 days, so tonight he got the ball up, used the big part of the field and put some big swings together. But yeah, when he goes, it makes life a lot easier for all of us.”
Ohtani had slowed down a bit over the past two weeks since he was named the NL Player of the Month for May, racking up 15 homers and 28 RBIs.
He was back in formidable form against the Giants: Ohtani reached base four times and scored three runs in his first four at-bats, drawing two walks to go with his two homers.
Ohtani hadn’t played in 10 straight games without hitting a homer since 2023 in the final 10 games of his six-year tenure with the Los Angeles Angels. He has hit at least 34 homers and driven in at least 95 runs in the past four consecutive seasons.
While his OPS (1.023) is nearly identical to last year’s effort, Ohtani is behind the pace in several statistical categories compared to last season, when he became the first player to record 50 homers and 50 stolen bases before the Dodgers won his first World Series title. Most notably, Ohtani has only 41 RBIs in 69 games this season after driving in 130 runs in 159 games last year.
But the two-way superstar doesn’t believe his numbers at the plate are due to his increased workload on the mound as he prepares to pitch for the first time since 2023.
Ohtani threw three simulated innings in San Diego last Tuesday, and Roberts has said there’s now a chance Ohtani will pitch in a game before the All-Star break in mid-July.
“The live BP is really an important part of the progression,” Ohtani said. “The intensity is different, so how that feels to my body is going to be different as well, but it’s something that I do have to go through to make sure that my body feels right.”
Ohtani remains firmly committed to resuming his career as a pitcher. The Dodgers have always been supportive, despite his value as a designated hitter — and they also could really use his talents now to help out a staff that had 14 pitchers on the injured list to begin the week.
“I do feel like just being the two-way player that I used to be was the norm,” Ohtani said when asked if his two-way work this season is tough on him. “So last year really was the abnormal year. For me, it’s just about getting back to what I used to do.”
The Mets look to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday with a 1:40 p.m. start on PIX11.
Here's what to know about the game and how to watch...
Mets Notes
After a three-hit day in Saturday's defeat, Brandon Nimmo's nice run in June continued as he has 11 hits in his last 30 at-bats (four for extra bases) with a 1.106 OPS over the last seven games
Griffin Canning looks to bounce back from a half-decent outing against the Nationals (four runs over 5.1 innings) and find his form from earlier in the year, as he has pitched to a 4.83 ERA over his last five starts (22.1 innings)
Francisco Lindor is slashing .333/.410/.611 for a 1.021 OPS in his last 61 times up over the 14 games entering Sunday with three doubles, four home runs, and seven RBI
With Lindor serving as the DH, Luisangel Acuña gets his first start in 10 days. He has just two hits in his last 22 at-bats over 19 games (four starts)
The Mets carry a 30-38 record on Father's Day
RAYS
METS
Josh Lowe, RF
Francisco Lindor, DH
Brandon Lowe, 2B
Brandon Nimmo, LF
Junior Caminero, DH
Juan Soto, RF
Jonathan Aranda, 1B
Pete Alonso, 1B
Jake Mangum, LF
Jeff McNeil, 2B
José Caballero, 3B
Tyrone Taylor, CF
Kameron Misner, CF
Brett Baty, 3B
Danny Jansen, C
Francisco Alvarez, C
Taylor Walls, SS
Luisangel Acuña, SS
How can I watch the game online?
To watch Mets games online via PIX11, you will need a subscription to a TV service provider and live in the New York City metro area. This will allow fans to watch the Mets on their computer, tablet or mobile phone browser.
Chris Kreider Clears The Air About Transparency With Rangers Management And Explains Reasoning For Waiving No-Trade ClauseFor the entirety of Chris Kreider's career, he’s been with one team until now as the New York Rangers traded the veteran forward to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.
