Category: Baseball

The Houston Astros have signed 20 members of their 2026 MLB Draft class, along with three non-drafted free agents. The highest pick to sign today was second-round pick LHP Wes Mendes from Florida State University. The announcement was made by Astros Director of Amateur Scouting Cam Pendino.

The Astros three non-drafted free agents are RHP John Carver from Adelphi University, RHP Carson Estridge from West Virginia University and IF Drew Wyers from Mississippi State University. Carver was the 2026 Northeast 10 Pitcher of the Year after he recorded a 2.67 ERA (17ER/57.1IP) with 92 strikeouts and a .186 opponent batting average in 10 starts. Estridge was a 2026 All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection after finishing the season with a 3.09 ERA (12ER/35IP) and 34 strikeouts in 22 relief appearances. In 2026, Wyers batted .333 (20×60) with two doubles, four home runs, 16 RBI and a 1.020 OPS in 33 games.

Astros signings from their 2026 MLB Draft are listed below.

Rnd (#)               Player                              Pos.      B-T                      Ht./Wt.                            DOB                    Age       School              

1 (17)                  Logan Hughes                OF         L/L                       5-11/197                             4/27/05              21          Texas Tech

PPI (28)              Jack Radel                       RHP      R/R                      6-5/250                             09/14/04            21          Notre Dame

2 (57)                  Wes Mendes                   LHP      R/L                       6-1/198                             10/04/04            21          Florida State

3 (93)                  Keon Johnson                 SS          R/R                      6-2/203                             3/07/08              18          First Presbyterian HS (GA)

4 (121)                Kam Durnin                     SS          R/R                      6-1/200                             08/05/04            21          Missouri

4C (133)             Beau Peterson               IF           L/R                       6-3/195                             08/03/07            18          Mill Valley HS (KS)

5 (153)                Gavin Eddy                      RHP      R/R                      6-5/225                             09/22/04            21          California

6 (182)                Michael Addari               RHP      R/R                      6-6/225                             06/01/04            22          Illinois State

7 (211)                Bryan Carney                 RHP      R/R                      6-6/210                             01/12/04            22          University of Olivet (MI)

8 (241)                Aaron Piasecki               SS          L/R                       5-10/187                            11/03/03            22          Troy

9 (271)                Ryan Pruitt                       OF         L/L                       5-11/185                             10/19/03            22          South Florida

10 (301)              Tazwell Butler                 RHP      R/R                      5-11/210                             06/24/03            23          Kansas State

11 (331)              Peyton Fiene                   RHP      R/R                      6-2/190                             10/22/05            20          Odessa JC (TX)

12 (361)              Owen Nowak                 OF         L/L                       6-1/200                             06/13/05            21          Middle Tennessee State

14 (421)              Brady Thomas                RHP      R/R                      6-6/220                             12/27/03            22          Jacksonville State (AL)

16 (481)              Rashawn Galloway       C           R/R                      6-0/193                             09/04/03            22          Texas State

17 (511)              Ben Tryon                        IF           L/R                       6-1/210                             09/28/04            21          Dallas Baptist

18 (541)              Petey Soto Jr.                  SS          R/R                      5-10/175                             04/27/05            21          Utah Tech

19 (571)              Noah Miller                     C           R/R                      6-0/200                             09/11/04            21          Michigan

20 (601)              Mick Uebelhor               RHP      L/R                       6-3/210                             11/24/04            21          Western Kentucky

NDFA                 John Carver                    RHP      R/R                      6-3/210                             10/06/03            22          Adelphi University (NY)

NDFA                 Carson Estridge             RHP      L/R                       6-7/210                             11/17/03            22          West Virginia

NDFA                 Drew Wyers                    IF           R/R                      6-2/200                             06/15/03            23          Mississippi State          

And so the Diamondbacks start their Most Crucial Season of the Series (TM, Clickbait Enterprises). Seem to have been hearing that phrase a lot lately. Certainly, for the first series after the All-Star break against the Cardinals, and then again, over the weekend in Washington. Arizona won one series and lost the other. And, guess what? Nothing much changed. Sure, we’d like to have beaten the Nationals. But considering Mitch Bratt and Kohl Drake had four (4) major-league starts between them going into Washington, and neither were expected to be part of our rotation this year, I can’t say I am exactly shocked by the outcome.

Consequently, the D-backs go into Pittsburgh with the front of their rotation ready to do battle. Or so you’d perhaps think. Though if you were looking only at the results since the break, the optics would be rather different from the first half. Each starter has appeared twice, and the worst ERA belongs to… first-half MVP, Eduardo Rodriguez, at 7.27. Small sample size applies, obviously: he has only thrown 8.2 innings, but that is also the fewest in the rotation, two turns through in the second half. While regression was expected, if E-Rod ends up pitching like the 2024-25 version in the second half of the year, it’s going to make things tough for Arizona.

Cross that when we come to it on Wednesday though. Today, it’s Merrill Kelly, who has had the best ERA post-break, at 2.70. However, his FIP is more than twice that figure at 5.41, in part because the strikeouts he got in his last couple of first-half outings have evaporated. His two starts since have been curiously similar. Each outing has been for five innings, seen Merrill throw exactly 87 pitches, allow six base-runners, one home-run (a solo shot), and get three strikeouts. Guess we know what to expect from him today. As long as the result is more like the A’s game (15-5 win) than the Cardinals (4-5 loss), I’ll be fine with that.

Major League Baseball announced today that Astros SS Jeremy Peña has been named the American League Player of the Week for the week of July 20-26. For the week, Peña hit .500 (13×26) in six games with five home runs and eight RBI while posting a 1.577 OPS.

Peña helped lead the Astros to a 5-1 record in the week by hitting a league-leading five home runs, including two leadoff homers and a grand slam, and recording a streak of three straight three-hit games. Overall during the week, he led all American League players in hits (13), home runs (5), runs (10) and SLG (1.077), ranked tied for first in batting average (.500) and OPS (1.577), and ranked second in RBI (8).

This marks the first career AL Player of the Week award for the highly-decorated Peña, who’s also earned an All-Star selection (2025), a Gold Glove award at shortstop (2022), and was named the ALCS and World Series MVPs in the Astros 2022 Championship season.

Peña is having a strong season, hitting .319 (72×226) with nine doubles, 11 homers, 30 RBI, eight stolen bases, a .373 OBP and an .877 OPS in 59 games, in which the Astros have gone 32-27. He’s had his season slowed due to a pair of IL stints, which sidelined him for a combined 48 games. Since his most-recent activation on July 10, Peña is hitting .419 (18×43) with a 1.214 OPS in 11 games.

This is the fourth AL Player of the Week award won by an Astro this season, with the previous three belonging to DH Yordan Alvarez (March 30-April 5, June 1-7, June 29-July 5). The Astros are the only AL team to win four Player of the Week awards this season.

Jhoan Duran blows the save – and there's concern for Zack Wheeler originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

MIAMI – Back in the day, opposing hitters used to tell a pitcher how his stuff was on a given night.

Now, technology tells the story.

Both measurements offered a disconcerting view of Zack Wheeler on Monday night.

The Phillies’ ace lasted just three innings in an 8-7 loss to the Miami Marlins. He gave up five runs. Among the six hits he allowed were two home runs, a double and a triple.

Wheeler left trailing, 5-2. The Phillies rallied to take a 7-5 later in the game, but lost it when closer Jhoan Duran allowed three runs in the ninth.

The Marlins snapped a 12-game losing streak.

The blown save was just Duran’s second in 26 chances.

Wheeler’s three-inning start matched the shortest in his seven seasons with the Phils. He had starts of just three innings in June 2021 and April 2022.

Making his 300^th career start, Wheeler was staked to an early lead when Bryce Harper smacked a two-run homer in the first inning. The Marlins tied it in the bottom of the first on a pair of Phillies errors and a solo homer. Wheeler then allowed three runs in the second inning on a homer, a walk, a double and a triple.

While the Marlins’ bats feasted on Wheeler’s pitches, the metrics offered the reason why. The velocity and spin rates on all his pitches were down from their season norms. His best fastball of the night was 95 mph, shy of its season average of 95.2 mph. For the game, his fastball averaged 93.5 mph, down 1.7 mph from its season average.

Despite the drop in velocity, Wheeler managed to strike out six Marlins. But manager Don Mattingly did not take any chances riding out Wheeler. After a dugout consultation with pitching coach Caleb Cotham and head athletic trainer Paul Bechheit, Mattingly pulled Wheeler after three innings and 68 pitches.

It was not immediately clear if Wheeler was injured or ill. The team offered no in-game medical report, an indication that he was not hurt. Further information was to come after the game. Losing Wheeler for any amount of time would hurt the pitching-thin Phillies. Losing him for an extended amount of time would be devastating. The team is already scouring the trade market for starting pitching help.

After the third inning, Wheeler approached Harper in the dugout and offered a fist bump. One could assume the pitcher was saluting Harper for providing the early 2-0 lead, which turned out to be short-lived.

Wheeler left trailing, 5-2, but the bullpen kept it right there and the bats came alive with four runs against reliever Cade Gibson in the sixth inning to take a 6-5 lead. Harper started it off with a walk and Alec Bohm (RBI single), Bryson Stott (single), J.T. Realmuto (RBI double) and Justin Crawford (two-RBI single) continued the rally.

The Phillies extended their lead in the eighth when Stott tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by J.T. Realmuto.

After Wheeler’s departure, Kyle Backhus, Jose Alvarado, Jonathan Bowlan, and Orion Kerkering combined on five shutout innings before Duran let it get away in the ninth.

The Phillies are 3-7 since the All-Star break.

More coming…

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Pittsburgh Pirates, July 27, 2026, 6:40 p.m. ET

The Pittsburgh Pirates are starting a three-game set as they welcome the Arizona Diamondbacks for their annual trip to PNC Park.

Getting the start for the Pirates is Mitch Keller, who boasts a 6-7 record with a 5.90 ERA. In Keller’s last start against the New York Yankees, he pitched five innings, giving up three hits and no runs in a 5-3 victory at Yankee Stadium. This is Keller’s second start against the Diamondbacks this season. He pitched six innings, giving up four hits and two earned runs, back on May 7 in a 4-2 victory against the Snakes at Chase Field.

Merrill Kelly is making the start for the D-Backs in the first game of the series. Kelly is coming off of a win in his last start against the Athletics. He pitched five innings, giving up five hits and two runs in a 15-5 route at home. Kelly is looking for his fourth victory in the month of July after picking up five losses in June.

Both teams are right in the thick of things in the NL Wild Card standings, making this a massive series for Arizona and Pittsburgh. With the trade deadline a week away, these games could have a lot of weight in determining what each team does ahead of Aug. 3.

Location: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA

Broadcast: KDKA AM/FM, Sportsnet Pittsburgh

Pitching Matchup: Merrill Kelly (8-8, 5.12 ERA) vs. Mitch Keller (6-7, 5.90 ERA)

BD community, chime off in the comments section below.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Sox fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

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Hey White Sox fans, we already have covered some trade deadline-type stuff with Reacts, including which areas the team will need to target to improve the roster, and, somewhat controversially, which rookie will need to be dealt to improve the team.

Because we’ve already done Chris Getz’s work for him, we now turn to the race for the playoffs, and a simple question: Will the White Sox hold off Cleveland and finish in first place this season? (Understanding that the race is bunched, and neither the Twins nor the Tigers can be counted out of the race yet.)

Keep in mind, the Guardians have the easiest remaining schedule in baseball, with three series left (two vs. the White Sox, one vs. the Red Sox) against teams more than a game or two better than .500. The White Sox, by virtue of being in the AL Central, don’t have the toughest remaining schedule, either, but it’s in the middle of the pack.

Entering Monday’s action, the White Sox are 2 1/2 games ahead of Cleveland, and four in the loss column. Although it could change, Chicago currently holds the tiebreaker advantage vs. the Guardians, so even a tie in the standings means the White Sox advance as the AL Central champion.

Today’s surprising roster move: Here

Monday notes…

• SHIPS PASSING IN THE NIGHT: On June 10, after the Cubs lost at Colorado and the Cardinals won at New York vs. the Mets, the Cubs were 34-34 and the Cards were 37-28. Since then, the Cubs are 25-12; the Cards, 16-24 — and two of the Cubs’ losses were to the Cards, at Wrigley Field on July 3-4, before they won the series finale. Instead of trailing the Cards by 4.5 games, the Cubs now lead them by 6.0. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• A POTENTIAL RECORD BREAKER: The Cubs’ first hit tonight will give them the record for most consecutive games on the road with a hit by a National League team. They are tied with the Pirates at 4,788 games. The Cubs’ streak began after they were the victims of a perfect game by Sandy Koufax at Dodger Stadium on Sept. 9, 1965. The Yankees hold the MLB record, 5,366 games and counting, since Sept. 20, 1958. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• A HOMER STREAK: The Cubs have hit at least one home run in eight consecutive games, a season high. They had done it in seven games twice, May 2-8 and June 15-24. They had an eight-game streak last year, a nine-game streak in 2024 and streaks of 10 and 13 games in 2023. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• EVERY OTHER GAME: In their last 12 games, Cubs pitchers have alternated walking exactly one and exactly three, with just one exception, in the seventh of the games: 1, 3, 1, 3, 1, 3, 4, 3, 1, 3, 1, 3! (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

Cubs lineup:

Series opener in St. Louis.

Watch the game live on @WatchMarquee. pic.twitter.com/xw2ZyE9n4T

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) July 27, 2026

Cardinals lineup:

Feels like summer ☀️ pic.twitter.com/nxVIQIrdjX

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) July 27, 2026

David Peterson, LHP vs. Matthew Liberatore, LHP

David Peterson began his Cubs career with one good start. Then he had a disaster. But since then, he’s made two starts that have been pretty good: 11.2 innings, five hits, five walks (0.857 WHIP), one run (a solo homer, 0.77 ERA).

Just keep that going. And, David? Don’t do what you did in that disaster outing, because that was against… the Cardinals. Do better. Thank you.

Matthew Liberatore has made two starts against the Cubs this year. In the first, May 31 at St. Louis, he threw 5.1 shutout innings. In the second, July 5 at Wrigley Field, the Cubs scored four runs (three earned) off him in five innings.

Since that start against the Cubs, Liberatore shut out the Braves for six innings July 11 and gave up five runs in 5.1 innings to the Angels July 21. So, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

Here is the weather forecast for the area around Busch Stadium.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Cardinals site Viva el Birdos. If you do go there to interact with Cardinals fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.

You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game.

The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.

You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Rangers 7, Mariners 3

Breakfast baseball: Randy Arozarena, .08 WPA

Barf-fest Barfball: George Kirby, -.46 WPA

Game thread comment of the day:

The Texas Rangers scored seven runs while the Seattle Mariners scored three runs.

For as much as yesterday’s game felt like a bummer of a wasted opportunity, today’s game felt twice as nice.

It was the best of all worlds, really.

If you’d like, you can mentally pretend the Rangers won yesterday and took the series and just didn’t finish off the sweep today against George Kirby. Oh well, of course they wouldn’t beat Kirby, but at least they’d already won the series!

Or you can bask in the fact that they did bounce back from that tough loss and actually did beat Kirby and the Mariners and did win this series after all. It’s a choose your own mental wellbeing adventure and everyone’s a winner! Well, except for Seattle. And especially not George Kirby.

Coming into this four-game series, a series win felt like the primary goal with a series split an acceptable outcome that would have left neither team worse for wear. After taking the first two games, and coming within eight outs of nearly vying for a sweep today, the Rangers were tasked with beating the king of all Rangers killers Kirby in the finale with Seattle also trying to leave Arlington feeling better about themselves than should have been allowed.

Kirby, as I’m sure you’ve heard, has just flat out dominated the Rangers to an incredible degree with one of the greatest extended stretches for one pitcher against one team in recent memory. In 12 career starts spanning a little under 75 innings, Kirby had allowed 11 earned runs to Texas total. He was 9-1 against the Rangers with a microscopic 1.33 career ERA.

So that’s what the Rangers were up against with a chance to exit this series two games better in the standings than when they entered it while trying to avoid sliding back on neutral terms with just a half game lead over Seattle.

Turn out, Texas’ secret weapon against Kirby was Joc Pederson. The jovial DH appeared dead set on avoiding failure and ending Kirby’s rule over the Rangers. Leading off, Pederson hit a home run to put the Rangers up 1-0. After the M’s tied the game in the top of the second, Kirby ran into some trouble in the bottom of the inning when he hit No. 9 hitter Elias Diaz to bring up Pederson with two out and two on.

That was a big mistake. Pederson promptly parked a first pitch sinker that didn’t sink, a ball that seemed to drift forever until Mariners right fielder Dominic Canzone — ironically the man who hit the momentum-shifting dong for Seattle yesterday — ran out of real estate.

Suddenly the Rangers were up 4-1 on George Kirby. He is mortal after all. He can bleed. If he can bleed, the Rangers could kill him.

After the Mariners got another run on the board in the top of the third, the Rangers did indeed deliver the killing blow the next half inning as Ezequiel Duran took Kirby deep and then, following a Evan Carter double, Jake Burger blasted off on Kirby for a two-run shot that put Texas up 7-2.

By that point, Kirby had collected seven outs and had allowed seven runs. He had previously allowed 11 earned runs total in 223 career outs against the Rangers.

With Seattle’s trump card crumpled, and with Texas keeping Seattle off the board again until a run with two outs in the ninth, the Rangers did indeed earn that series win. As a bonus, they also claimed the season series with this being their seventh win over Seattle in the 13 games that they will play this season.

After defeating Kirby and the Mariners, any tiebreaker between these teams will go to Texas.

Player of the Game: Perhaps any other day Kumar Rocker would occupy this space after throwing 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball on just four hits, two walks, and with seven strikeouts. He was excellent and deserves praise.

Today is not that day, however, because Pederson bullied Kirby out of the building with two home runs in the first two innings, including the two-out, three-run back-breaker that was gracefully lofted over the right field fence. Those were the only two hits of the afternoon for Pederson but they were the tone setter for the Rangers in the win.

Up Next: The Rangers can’t rest on their successes in this series as they immediately travel to St. Pete to take on the American League-leading Tampa Bay Rays beginning tomorrow evening. Neither team has listed a starting pitcher as of yet.

The first pitch in Tuesday’s opener from the new and improved (?) Tropicana Field is scheduled for 5:40 pm CDT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.

In the most recent edition of Rangers Reacts, we asked how you thought the Texas Rangers’ 2026 regular season would end — winning the division, missing the playoffs, or one of the Wild Card berths.

The voting was close for the top spot…

…but there were slightly more folks who think the Rangers will win the division than think the Rangers will miss out on the playoffs altogether. When including those who think the Rangers will claim one of the Wild Card spots, 59% of respondents think the Rangers will make the playoffs, which is pretty close to the Rangers’ actual playoff odds right now (57.4% before Monday’s game, per Fangraphs).

On the national voting, 85% of fans think Justin Verlander is a first ballot Hall of Famer, and I would like to think the other 15% mis-read the question or are trolling. Verlander is about as clear a first ballot Hall of Famer as you’re going to see for a starting pitcher in the 21st century.

Despite Verlander’s longevity and his playing primarily for very good teams in his career, he currently has “just” 266 career wins. The last pitcher notch his 300th win was Randy Johnson, who won his 303rd career game in 2009, his final season in the majors.

The only other active pitcher, besides Verlander, with at least 200 wins is Max Scherzer, with 222. And while Scherzer hasn’t announced he is retiring at season’s end, like Verlander has, getting another 78 wins seems pretty much out of reach for him.

The only other pitchers with at least 150 wins are Gerrit Cole and Chris Sale. They each have 156 career victories, and just getting to 200 will probably be difficult for either of them. Then there’s 36 year old Sonny Gray, at 137 wins, 36 year old Zach Wheeler, at 123 wins, and Kevin Gausman (35) and Michael Wacha (34), who are tied at 116 wins.

The highest win total for a pitcher who is under the age of 30 is 75, for the 29 year old Logan Webb. Tarik Skubal, born two days after Webb, is next, at 61. Logan Gilbert (who turned 29 in April) notched his 55th career win yesterday against the Rangers, tying him with Brady Singer, who turns 30 next week.

As the greatest musician to ever walk this earth, Prince Rogers Nelson, once said, “forever…that’s a mighty long time,” and so I hesitate to ever say never. That said, with the way the game is currently played, I don’t see there being a 300 game winner again unless the rules (either on-field or scoring) change significantly.

This has been brought to you by FanDuel.

The Wild Card Race

The following table shows my view of the Wild Card Race, updated Sunday morning. It shows the Diamondbacks are on track to win the third Wild Card in the NL. Another positive is that they have chances to overtake the Phillies for the second Wild Card in the NL. Most importantly, the table shows that if the Diamondbacks win this series, it will positively impact making the playoffs.

The Pirates have not reached the playoffs since 2015, when they lost a wild card game to the Cubs. Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta threw a complete-game four-hit shutout. Last season, their playoff chances were ended on 16 September per Grokipedia.

The Pirates are very motivated to add at the trade deadline so they can reach the playoffs. It is fortunate that the Diamondbacks play them now, before they add at the deadline.

UPDATE on Monday morning. The Nationals have moved into contention. The Diamondbacks lost on Sunday, but they are still on-track to reach the playoffs. Updated table follows:

Moved on From Santana.

The Diamondbacks moved on from Carlos Santana, while the Pirates moved on from Dennis Santana. 

Carlos Santana.  This season for the Diamondbacks, he played eight games at first base.  “Finally, Carlos Santana never made it back off the injured list, the team opting to DFA him rather than require a 40-man roster move to make room for him.” — Jim McLennan, SB Nation

Dennis Santana.  This season for the Pirates, his ERA was 6.05.  He earned 2 saves in 4 opportunities.  “2026 proved to be Santana’s worst year in the majors and [he] derailed multiple close games the Pirates had chances of winning.” — Austin Bechtold, SB Nation

Let’s compare the teams.

Offense. The Pirates offense made a big step upward from last season’s 3.60 runs scored per game.  This season through 24 July, the Pirates averaged more runs scored per game (5.24 vs 4.51 runs per game). 

Runners Left On Base. This season through 24 July, the Diamondbacks left fewer runners on base per game (6.63 vs 7.46).

Defense. This season through 24 July, the Diamondbacks had much better defense (36 vs negative 11 OAA, 22 vs 4 DRS)

Bullpens. The Pirates bullpen is below average. This season through 24 July, the Diamondbacks bullpen had a better ERA (4.04 vs 4.40) and had more shutdown performances (101 vs 98).

Starting Pitcher Matchups.  In this series, the starter matchups are either equal or advantage Diamondbacks. Of the Pirates’ six starting pitchers, the Diamondbacks are fortunate this series to face the two with the lowest ERA+’s (Chandler and Keller).  

Pirates Player to Watch.

In case a starting pitcher injured, Khristian Curtis could be recalled to the Majors.  In his MLB debut, 18 July, he entered in the second inning, then pitched 5 scoreless innings!  Curtis is a nice-to-have pitcher waiting in AAA.

“Curtis did not simply survive his first major-league appearance. He controlled it. The 24-year-old attacked with a five-pitch mix, landed his cutter for strikes and used his slider to finish hitters. After allowing consecutive hits during his second inning of work, he escaped the threat and struck out the side in the next frame. His ability to adjust and continue working deep into the game looked more like a starter’s outing than a short-relief audition.”  — Colin Witte

Pitching Matchups.

Monday, 3:40 PM MST.

Merrill Kelly vs Mitch Keller.This season, Chandler had a slightly better ERA (4.43 vs 5.12), but more importantly, Kelly had more quality starts (7 vs 2).

This matchup is very slight advantage Diamondbacks.

Tuesday, 3:40 PM MST.

Brandon Pfaadt vs Bubba Chandler.  This season, their ERAs were nearly the same (4.43 vs 4.47).  Although Chandler had more quality starts (3 out of 19 starts vs 2 out of 8 starts), Pfaadt had a higher percentage of quality starts.

This matchup is equal.

Wednesday, 9:35 AM MST.

Eduardo Rodriguez vs Jared Jones.  This season, Rodriguez had a much better ERA (2.64 vs 3.72) and many more quality starts (13 vs 2).

This matchup is big advantage Diamondbacks.

The Cubs might be facing the Cardinals at exactly the right time. While St. Louis has been in free fall over the last three weeks, the Cubs are 10-6 since they lost to the Cardinals on the Fourth of July.

For more on the Cardinals, here’s Doc Holliday, manager of our SB Nation Cardinals site Viva el Birdos.

The team is in a tailspin with almost zero offensive production. The Cardinals are 3-7 since the All-Star break and 6-13 since they defeated the Cubs at Wrigley Field in that foggy game July 4.

There are some bright spots on the pitching staff. Andre Pallante, Kyle Leahy and Michael McGreevy (minus his last outing) have all been strong. Hunter Dobbins had a stellar outing against the Angels right after the break. Matthew Liberatore either needs to go to the bullpen or Memphis. Much of our community would pick the second option. Dustin May just completed a strong start that the Cardinals gave no run support to, so he’ll almost certainly be gone before the trade deadline.

The trade deadline is likely to be the big focus for the Cardinals as it’s likely that Lars Nootbaar, JoJo Romero, Dustin May and maybe even some other regulars get moved by President of Baseball Operations, Chaim Bloom. There are potential stars lurking in Memphis and I expect Bloom to make room for many of them while also stockpiling future talent.

The Cardinals are still technically in the Wild Card hunt, but it’s not real. As much as it pains me to say it, the Cubs will be playing St. Louis at the perfect time (for the Cubs).

Fun facts

The Cubs played 102 games between visits to St. Louis from their second trip last season and the first this year from May 29-31. The Cubs lost, 6-5; won, 6-1; and lost, 5-1, in that May series.

Since then, the Cubs have played 53 games, three of them vs. the Cards on July 3-5 at home, where they lost, 17-1 and 3-0, before winning, 5-4.

Last year, the Cubs were 3-4 at Busch Stadium, splitting a four-game series and losing two of three. They were 1-1 and 2-2 in 2024. They last won a series, 3-1, July 27-30, 2023.

The Cubs have not swept a series at St. Louis since Sept. 13-15, 2010. This is their 41st series there since then. They have been swept in 10 of the previous 40, most recently Sept. 2-4, 2022. One of the sweeps was four games and another was two.

The Cubs’ 2,532 total games vs. the Cardinals are their second most against any opponent, after 2,631 vs. the Pirates. In all those games, the Cubs have outscored the Cards by exactly two runs, 11,064 to 11,062. They lead the rivalry, 1,283 wins to 1,230, but are 567-677 at St. Louis. The 677 losses are their second most on the road, after 715 at Pittsburgh.

(Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

Probable pitching matchups

Monday: David Peterson, LHP (2-1, 5.57 ERA, 1.286 WHIP, 5.06 FIP in four starts with Cubs; 5-7, 5.97 ERA, 1.562 WHIP, 4.14 FIP overall) vs. Matthew Liberatore, LHP (5-7, 5.18 ERA, 1.515 WHIP, 4.83 FIP)

Tuesday: Colin Rea, RHP (7-7, 4.85 ERA, 1.420 WHIP, 4.94 FIP) vs. Michael McGreevy, RHP (4-8, 3.07 ERA, 1.128 WHIP, 4.23 FIP)

Wednesday: Matthew Boyd, LHP (6-1, 3.81 ERA, 1.237 WHIP, 3.63 FIP) vs. Dustin May, RHP (5-7, 4.59 ERA, 1.317 WHIP, 3.16 FIP)

Thursday: Shōta Imanaga, LHP (7-8, 3.72 ERA, 1.099 WHIP, 4.40 FIP) vs. Andre Pallante, RHP (11-6, 3.77 ERA, 1.211 WHIP, 3.81 FIP)

Times & TV channels

Monday: 6:45 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network

Tuesday: 6:45 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network, TBS (outside the Cubs and Cardinals market territories)

Wednesday: 6:45 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network, Peacock (streaming, outside the Cubs and Cardinals market territories)

Thursday: 1:15 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network

Prediction

I’m going to go out on a bit of a limb here. The Cubs are (relatively) hot and the Cardinals are not. The Cubs could really use a series where they take three of four, so I’m going to predict that.

Up next

The Cubs return to Wrigley Field for a three-game series against the New York Yankees beginning Friday afternoon.

There is distance growing between the first-place White Sox and those pesky Cleveland Guardians. A series victory in Arlington mixed with a singule win against the Astros created a 2 1/2-game division lead for the Good Guys. This, helped by the fact that Cleveland has now lost five in a row, created some much-needed breathing room as the club stares down the Yankees and the Rays this upcoming week.

After taking two of three in Arlington against the Rangers, I can confidently say the White Sox have figured out how to win on the road. They have not dropped an away series since they were swept in Detroit in June. The club landed in Texas and immediately made a statement.

For the majority of the series opener, it was tight. The White Sox came up to bat in the top of the ninth inning and flipped the script, scoring five runs and doubling the night’s total. There was not a single home run hit to get to the double-digit scoring output. Instead, it was a night full of four doubles. Miguel Vargas led the way with two RBI doubles, the first getting the White Sox on the scoreboard and the second starting the ninth-inning rally.

The game was made even sweeter because Jacob deGrom was on the mound, and even though he may be ancient for a MLB pitcher, he still is throwing 97 mph. The Texas starter kept Chicago in check for four innings but did not make it out of the fifth, pulled with two outs after giving up a bases-clearing double to Andrew Benintendi. It was a bullpen day of sorts for the White Sox: Erick Fedde made it through four innings, giving up two runs, walking none and striking out six. The only blemish for the bullpen was a solo home run given up by Seranthony Domínguez to old friend Jake Burger.

Wins are sweet, but there was a bitter side to this one: Kyle Teel sprained his ankle and is going to be out for 6-12 weeks. It appears the front office might now need to be on the lookout for a veteran catcher on the trade market. It was being talked about this week that the solution for many catcher-needy teams could be Shea Langeliers, but he is now out for what looks like the remainder of the season with a torn meniscus. It is time for Chris Getz to get creative.

Tuesday was a completely different story for the pitching staff. It was like the clubs switched roles for the evening. Noah Schultz’s ERA continues to balloon, making its way past six after giving up five runs on 11 hits. The lefty was pulled after only 3 2/3 innings, and the bullpen could not keep the game within reach. Trevor Richards gave up two runs in his two-thirds of an inning and Tyler Schweitzer couldn’t keep his hot streak going, giving up three earned runs over 2 2/3 innings. The only pitcher in the entire game not to give up a run? Luisangel Acuña.

All was forgiven on Wednesday, when the team bounced back and took the series with a 4-2 win. The Rangers had a planned bullpen day, starting with former friend Tyler Alexander and ending with Jacob Latz. The left-handed opener gave up an RBI single to Chase Meidroth for the first run of the game and his only run given up in two innings of work.

Cal Quantrill, who you might remember from his few seasons with Cleveland, took the bulk innings and the loss, giving up two runs on a pair of RBI singles to Meidroth and Benintendi. The fourth and final run for Chicago was surrendered by Jakob Junis. There was a theme for this game, and that was singles. Benintendi picked up his second RBI of the day to give the pitching more room to work with. It was room they needed after Anthony Kay gave up two runs over five innings. The elite portion of the bullpen (Jordan Hicks!) was deployed to keep the game where it was. Hicks, along with Grant Taylor and Bryan Hudson, kept the Rangers quiet and secured the victory.

Everything is bigger in Texas, but they do say if you go big you have to go home. That is exactly where the White Sox headed to take on the weaker of the two teams from the Lone Star State. I say weaker, but as you will quickly discover, looks can be deceiving. In what should have been at least two victories, the team dropped both Friday and Saturday’s matchups to the Astros.

Friday’s game was very much in reach. The squad scored three runs in the first inning to take an early lead and give Davis Martin some run support. They scored their runs the old fashioned way: a sacrifice fly, RBI single, and hit-by-pitch. In the fifth inning, Chicago tacked on two more thanks to a wild pitch and a Meidroth double. Then the wheels fell off.

Martin entered the fifth inning with the best intentions, but rather than be well on his way to his 10th win of the season, he loaded the bases and allowed a run on a LaMonte Wade Jr. single to right field. Will Venable saw enough after 88 pitches, and brought in Hudson to get a handle on things. He did not. The lefty let things get out of control in his two-thirds of an inning pitched, giving up a bases-clearing double to score the runners Martin was responsible for. Before he turned over the bases loaded with two outs to Domínguez, Hudson gave up a two-run shot to Cam Smith. This homer officially blew the lead for the White Sox and earned Hudson the loss. Dominguez Domínguez gave up no runs in his outing, but he allowed the hits that scored the last two runs of the inning. This was a game best forgotten.

Sean Burke had an incredible outing on Saturday, the type of outing that warrants a win. The righthander threw a quality start, going six innings, giving up three runs, and striking out 10. It was an unfortunate error in right field that put the Astros well on the scoreboard: Issac Paredes singled to Braden Montgomery but instead of fielding it cleanly and only allowing one run, Braden didn’t have his body in front of the ball and it took a hop over his glove. This allowed Houston to clear the bases and take a 3-0 lead.

Paredes singled again in the eighth inning, Braden fielding it cleanly this time, to pick up his third RBI of the game and Houston’s fourth run. The lone run for Chicago was scored in the bottom of the ninth, when Colson Montgomery helped his team avoid being shut out for the second time in the week by driving in Vargas on a single to right.

The good news is, the Guardians lost every night as well, so no lead was lost in the division race. And Sunday was yet another opportunity to take advantage of the Cleveland skid. It was Munetaka Murakami bobblehead day at the ballpark, and Mune’s parents were in town (they even threw out the first pitch). Thankfully, the first baseman put on a show for his parents.

The Pale Hose scored a massive 12 runs in the series finale, and Murakami was responsible for driving in half of them. There were five home runs hit by the ballclub this week — all hit on Sunday. Meidroth, Vargas, and Junior Perez each homered in the game, but Mune had to be special and hit two dingers. His shot in the bottom of the first inning was his first home run since returning from the IL:

It also gave the team its first lead of the day. The second traveled nearly 400 feet and made it a dozen in the scorecard. As if two home runs weren’t enough, he also knocked in a run on a ground out in the third and a pair of runs on a single in the bottom of the seventh. His total of six RBIs were the most he’s had in his young major league career. Fingers crossed that this got the rust off the home run machine:

When all is said and done, the White Sox had a .500 week and grew their lead in the AL Central. When you put it like that, it doesn’t seem terrible, but when you dig a little deeper the club has some clear weaknesses. Chicago has a need for pitching, starters and relief alike. The pitching staff ranks 11th in the league in team ERA so far this season. Three of those teams are still worse than .500. The bullpen has also been presented with 48 save opportunities and only converted 28 of those. There is a lack of consistency, and an arm or two might help to mend the cracks that have shown.

The trade deadline is coming up, and how teams perform in the next week is going to say a lot about who is buying and who is selling. It is also going to say a lot about what kind of talent Chicago is going to go after. And the games heading into the deadline will be a challenge, as the Yankees are in town for a four-game set followed by a trip to Florida to play the AL-leading Rays.