Category: Sports News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Major League Baseball proposed a major overhaul to its draft eligibility system Thursday.

The MLB Players Association promptly blasted the idea.

Under MLB’s proposal as part of the ongoing collective bargaining agreement negotiations, high school players would no longer be eligible for the draft, with players instead entering only after their sophomore year of college. The league has discussed shortening the draft from 20 rounds to 12 and cutting the bonus pool from $358.7 million to $200 million.

College baseball has become more appealing in recent years, at least in part because of NIL opportunities. In 2021, 115 high school players were drafted. By 2025, that number dropped to 96.

“We believe these changes will strengthen college baseball and deepen fans’ connection to the next generation of Major League stars,” MLB said in a statement. We look forward to working with the MLBPA throughout the bargaining process to modernize the domestic amateur system in a way that benefits players, clubs, and fans.”

The proposal was not popular with the MLBPA.

“Today, MLB made another set of proposals that are flat out bad for baseball, ones that would cripple the next generation of players and damage the future of our game,” the MLBPA wrote in a statement.

“Players remain committed to bargaining in good faith and leaving baseball better than they found it – the league’s proposals fall woefully short.”

It’s just the newest instance of one side offering a proposal and the other side shooting it down. The current CBA between MLB and the MLBPA will expire at the end of this season, and negotiations are in early stages.

However, there is a growing fear of a work stoppage if a deal doesn’t get done.

The Athletic’s Sam Blum recently conducted a survey of 101 current players, and 80 said “yes” when asked if they believed there would be a work stoppage at the end of the year.

The last lockout lasted 99 days, beginning in the winter of 2021 and ending on March 10, 2022.

In that instance, the start of the regular season was pushed back one week, but no regular season games were missed.

The last time games were affected was in the 1994-95 strike, which resulted in the ’94 World Series being canceled.

With all the traction MLB has gotten in recent months, a lockout that could shorten the 2027 season could have major consequences.

In the last three weeks, the Yankees have gained nine games on the rival Tampa Bay Rays, going from 5.5 games back to a 3.5-game lead atop the AL East. Despite the overwhelming narrative of the June Swoon, the Yankees are 9-4 on the month, while maneuvering a schedule that has included three series against current playoff teams and two divisional series.

After their offense, which is still missing three key pieces, pummeled the White Sox into submission on Tuesday and Wednesday, they’ll look for the series sweep over the resurgent Southsiders tonight in the Bronx, as New York City winds down from a day of celebration down the Canyon of Heroes for its latest champion.

It’s a nice spot for Ryan Weathers to finally get back on track after several rough outings in a row. He’s now allowed five runs in four of his last five starts, including three in a row, buffing his ERA up to 4.36 (96 ERA+) in 74.1 innings. He’s facing a difficult offense, albeit without the injured Munetaka Murakami, so the priority is going to be to keep them off the barrel. Weathers has allowed nine home runs in his last five starts.

Bryan Hudson will be the opener for Chicago. The former Brewer and Dodger is off to a fantastic start to 2026, pitching to a 2.45 ERA in 33 innings across 24 appearances. He similarly opened for them on Sunday against the Dodgers and allowed one run in one inning.

Pitching the bulk for the ChiSox will be Sean Burke, a former third-round pick in 2021 out of Maryland. He was a really solid starter for them last season and has continued his strong work this year, pitching to a 4.15 ERA (104 ERA+) and 4.04 FIP in 73.2 innings with 73 strikeouts across 14 appearances (11 starts). This will be his first career outing against the Yankees.

Burke has been the epitome of average across the board, from his surface-level stats to his peripherals. Pretty much everything is between the 40th and 60th percentile, aside from a poor ground-ball and whiff rate. He’s improved at preventing hard contact since 2025 by embracing his sinker more. He’s primarily a four-seamer and knuckle curve against lefties, but will lean more on his slider and sinker against righties.

Ben Rice will lead off, followed by the red-hot Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, and Jasson Domínguez. Jazz Chisholm Jr. will bat fifth, Spencer Jones will get the start in center field and bat sixth, and José Caballero, Ryan McMahon, and JC Escarra will round out the lineup.

Chase Meidroth gets the nod at leadoff once again for the White Sox, followed by longtime Yankee killer and lefty specialist Randal Grichuk. Miguel Vargas bats third, followed by the two Montgomerys sandwiching Edgar Quero behind the plate. Luisangel Acuña, Junior Pérez, and Tristan Peters round it out.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium — The Bronx, NY

First pitch: 7:05 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, Chicago Sports Network

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY), ESPN Chicago WMVP 1000 AM (CHW)

Online stream: MLB.tv (out-of-market only)

For updates, follow us on BlueSky, Twitter, and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.

The Diamondbacks have had a complete disaster of a season at first-base. The original plan seems to have been to have a platoon there of Pavin Smith and the veteran free-agent Carlos Santana. But injury means that the pair have combined to start just 10 of the 74 games played there. In addition, they have both been underwhelming (and that’s probably being kind) at the plate. The pair have combined to go 4-for-35 while playing first, with two walks, nine strikeouts and one RBI between them. The absence has forced Arizona deep into its depth: we’re not yet at the half-way point in the season, and already, seven different D-backs have started games at 1B.

None of them have done well. Ildemaro Vargas has seen most time (39 starts), but after an incandescent April which won him NL Player of the Month honors, he has completely fallen off a cliff. Since peaking at a .404 (!) average on May 1st, at all positions Vargas has hit .162/.218/.206 over 40 games, for an OPS of just .424. We’ve tried new blood as well: Jose Fernandez (16 starts) made an immediate impression, but subsequently also tapered off. LuJames Groover (7 starts) never hit to begin with, and is 4-for-24 while playing first, with no extra-base hits and one walk. Tim Tawa and Luken Baker each made one start. The latter will be a Sporcle stumper come year end.

The sum total of these endeavors is wretched on a historical level. Over almost three hundred plate appearances, Arizona’s first basemen are batting .215/.249/.312 for a .561 OPS at the position. That is currently the lowest figure at 1B by a major league team in over a century. You have to go all the way back to 1920 to find a lower OPS. That season, the Philadelphia Athletics (.530) and Pittsburgh Pirates (.557) were clearly both having difficulty adapting to the first year of the so-called “live ball” era. [There was still only one man that year who reached twenty home-runs, though on the other hand, eight different batters hit .370 or better.]

By any measure, it has been a disaster offensively. Even with better than average base-running (4th in BsR) and defense (8th in Def) there, it’s no surprise that the Diamondbacks rank dead-last in the majors at overall value from the position. With the trade deadline (this year, on August 3rd) now beginning to loom large, there’s little or no doubt that if the D-backs want to improve, the easiest way is going to be at first-base. It doesn’t need to be a superstar earning eight figures – and, no, we will not be trading for Christian Walker, thank you very much. But there’s almost no argument: something needs to be done.

Before we get to potential trades, is there any help in our own farm system? In Reno, the position has mostly be manned by names we’ve already mentioned. Luken Baker, LuJames Groover and Carlos Santana are three-quarters of those with 50+ innings at first. Groover’s .873 OPS for Reno is the best, and… yeah, we’ve seen what he can do in the majors. The other first-baseman is Tyler Locklear. He flopped in his first time with the D-backs, posting a .529 OPS across 31 games following his trade from Seattle. His Reno numbers overall aren’t great, with a .771 OPS. But they have improved, up to .858 over the last four weeks.

With Santana last seen being a human piñata down in the Arizona Complex League, I wouldn’t be surprised if the team gave Locklear another chance before the deadline, at the very least as a platoon partner for Smith. It might simply be a case of seeing what sticks. But even last year’s dismal performance by Locklear, wouldn’t be much worse than what we’ve been getting. Otherwise? The organization depth chart at 1B and DH makes for pretty dismal reading, with nobody outside the Dominican rookie leagues posting an OPS of better than .781. The team needs a solution, not just for this season, but in the longer term as well.

Of course, the elephant in the room with regard to “long term” is the question of whether or not there will even be a major-league season next year. A poll of players today in The Athletic had almost eighty percent predicting a lockout, though they were more divided on whether or not games would be lost as a result. However, there is definitely an argument to made for exercising caution, say, in trading prospect capital. Getting a player signed through 2028 is not as valuable if the 2027 season ends up being shortened or, worst case scenario, completely missing. We just don’t know what will happen.

What trade targets at 1B might exist? To try and bring some objectivity to our rosterbation, let’s look at the standings and the chart of production at first-base linked above. We can narrow it down to teams in the bottom half of the standings (therefore likely to be sellers at the deadline), but the top half of 1B production. Here are the teams who meet that criteria, and what the chances are of them selling to us.

• Athletics – 36-38, 3.1 fWAR. Nick Kurtz. The reigning AL Rookie of the Year isn’t letting up in his sophomore season. His .440 OBP leads the majors, and he’s hitting .292 with 18 home-runs. Despite not having made the post-season since 2020, the A’s seem more interested in a long-term extension than a trade, having reportedly offered him a nine-figure deal. Likely falls into the “If you have to ask the price, it’s too expensive” category.
• Red Sox – 29-42, 2.5 fWAR. Willson Contreras. He has been among the most consistent of players, worth between 2.5 and 4.2 bWAR every full season since 2017. This year looks likely to push the upper limit, since he’s already at 2.8 bWAR. Under contract through 2027 with a 2028 team option, though does have full no-trade protection. With the Red Sox floundering, could very well be dealt at the deadline, depending how Boston feel about their chances going forward.
• Reds – 35-38, 1.6 fWAR. Spencer Steer. Sal Stewart has been their main 1B, but is behind only the Cards’ JJ Wetherholt in Rookie of the Year betting, so is going nowhere. However, does this perhaps render Steer superfluous to their needs? He’s highly versatile, also starting at 2B, LF and RF this year, and wouldn’t reach free agency until after 2028. With an OPS+ of 106 so far, this right-hander does seem to tick most of the boxes Arizona would want. Steer was recently called “untouchable”, though logic for this was missing.
• Astros – 35-41, 1.3 fWAR. Christian Walker. Old friend alert! As mentioned above, this candidate seems highly unlikely. Everyone drooling over his campaign this year, is conveniently overlooking that his 2025 numbers were terrible: just 0.3 bWAR. Last winter, it was among “the worst-kept secrets in Houston Astros land” that the team wanted to trade Walker. If that’s still the case, the return should be higher. Does have a limited no-trade clause, but whether Arizona are on that list is not known.
• Rockies – 28-47, 1.3 fWAR. TJ Rumfield. Trades among division rivals aren’t common. But there is precedent, with Arizona sending Jake McCarthy to Colorado in January [worth noting: he’s cooled off of late, and is back down to replacement level by bWAR, though fWAR has him at 0.7]. In another rocky Rockies season – they haven’t won even 75 games since 2018, and won’t this year either – rookie Rumfield has been a rare bright spot. The Colorado front-office would be idiots to trade him. I’ll say no more.

So, what do you reckon? Should the team stick with the current options, and hope they return to normal form? Look to promote from within? Or should they trade for a short- or long-term solution – and if so, who? That would be what the poll and comments section below is for…

Blue Jays 4 Red Sox 3

This is going to be a short recap, we’ll talk more about this one tomorrow. But….

Trey Yesavage was terrific. It was too bad about the back-to-back home runs in the eighth, but he was amazing. I feel bad that he didn’t get the win. Over the first seven innings he allowed two hits, one earned, no walks with 6 strikeouts. I am not at all mad about him starting the eighth, he was amazing and our pen was overworked and he was under 90 pitches. No problem at all with leaving him out there. And I didn’t think the two pitches were particularly bad, but such is life. You’d have to have a deep hate for John Schneider to complain about him staying in.

Tommy Nance got the last two outs of the eighth (and got the win). Mason Fluharty got the save in the ninth. He was terrific too. His first save.

We scored:

• One in the first: Vlad homered. I think we were all really glad for him.
• One in the second: Kazuma Okamoto doubles, Brandon Valenzuela singled. Andrés Giménez hit a sac fly.
• One in the seventh: Nathan Lukes homered. It was good to see, because he seemed to be slumping coming into the series.
• One in the ninth: Ernie Clement led off with a single. Nathan Lukes, bunting, popped out. Lukes, who homed earlier, was asked to bunt. I get that it was a great lefty pitcher. But……I hate having him bunt. With how hard Aroldis Chapman throws, a bit of luck and Lukes could hit it out. Okamoto strikeout. Brandon Valenzuela doubled in what turned out to be the winning run. Valenzuela was an incredible find.

Jays of the Day: Valenzuela (0.42 WPA) and Fluharty (0.21)

No one had the number for the Other Award, low mark was Lukes (-0.6 and he homered, most of it was the bunt) and Okomoto (-0.6).

Tomorrow is a day game too….2:20 Eastern. Jays @ Cubs. Gausman (4-4, 3.41) vs. TBD.

For the first time in 2026, the Phillies and New York Mets will square off as the teams begin a three-game series at Citizens Bank Park.

The Phillies will be wearing their powder blue uniforms and will give the ball to Aaron Nola.

The Mets will counter with veteran Sean Manaea. The veteran lefty is 1-2 with a 4.78 ERA on the season.

Game time is 6:40 PM and will be televised locally on NBCSP.

As trade season nears, Phillies' flaws exposed in back-to-back losses originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Phillies have flaws. That’s no secret. The last two games have exposed a couple of them.

Andrew Painter and Aaron Nola have combined to pitch just seven innings the last two games, both losses. That puts pressure on a bullpen. And speaking of the bullpen, the Phillies sent one left-hander, Tanner Banks, to the minors on Thursday while another, Jose Alvarado, saw his ERA swell to 6.58.

Oh, did we mention that right-handed hitting outfielder Adolis Garcia will have surgery on a torn lat muscle next week and is out for the season?

Dave Dombrowski could have a long to-do list when the trade season starts heating up next month. The Phillies, who suffered a 6-4 loss to the New York Mets at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday night, have needs.

In the rotation. In the bullpen. In the outfield.

After getting pounded by Miami in a 12-4 loss Wednesday, Painter was sent to the Triple A to find the life and location on his fastball. The Phils aren’t sure who will take his spot in the rotation Tuesday night in Washington. Meanwhile, it was Nola’s turn to take the ball Thursday night. He wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t particularly sharp, either. Overall, his stuff was up. That was a good thing. He hit 95 mph on the gun. But the right-hander ran a high pitch count (97) and lasted just five innings. He gave up seven hits. Juan Soto took him deep in the first and third innings. Nola finally walked the slugger in the fifth.

Soto’s homer in the first inning came on a 1-2 cutter with two outs after Nola had gotten ahead 0-2 but couldn’t put Soto away. He then allowed a single and an RBI double on a ball that right fielder Brandon Marsh tracked poorly.

It was a 3-3 game entering the top of the seventh when Alvarado was tagged for three two-out runs. He allowed a leadoff single to Carson Benge before a two-out stolen base, a wild pitch and a single by pinch hitter Eric Wagaman gave the Mets the lead. Before Alvarado could get out of the inning, Marcus Semien survived a two-strike foul tip that J.T. Realmuto almost hung on to and tripled home two runs to give the Mets a three-run lead.

Alvarado, the Phils’ top lefty setup man, has allowed four runs in his last two outings. In addition to his high ERA, he has allowed 35 hits in 26 innings and opponents are batting .315 against him.

“The ball is coming out good,” manager Don Mattingly. “It’s not like the velo is down. He just has to put it in good spots.”

Alvarado’s fastball topped out at 99.6 mph.

“I’m happy I’m throwing strikes,” he said. “I’m in the strike zone more than I used to be. But hitters are confident they can hit against me. They see a lot of 100 mph pitches at this level. It’s not surprising anymore.”

The bullpen is already without right-handed setup man Brad Keller, who is out with elbow inflammation. He isn’t expected to be out long, but he’s also been inconsistent in his first year with the club. Bullpen could be an eventual trade deadline item for Dombrowski. On the plus side, right-hander Seth Johnson came up from Triple A on Thursday and looked good. He pitched a perfect sixth inning and struck out two with triple-digit stuff. With limited trade chips, it would be huge for the Phillies if someone from within the system, like Johnson, could step up and help fill a need.

As for starting pitching, Painter’s struggles and his yet unfilled rotation spot, as well as Nola’s inconsistency, have prompted Dombrowski to seek help at the back end of the rotation. It’s not easy to find.

“Most clubs that I talk to don’t have starting pitching depth,” he said before the game. 

Dombrowski chose to focus on the positive.

“We’ve got four that match up with most in baseball and we think (Painter) will be back and help us,” he said.

Those four are Cristopher Sanchez, Zack Wheeler, Jesus Luzardo and Nola.

“It’s tough for us to top our top three at this point and if Nola throws like he’s capable of throwing,” Dombrowski said.

The Phillies are 27-13 when the top three that Dombrowski mentioned – Sanchez, Wheeler and Luzardo – start. They are 13-22 when anybody else starts.

Nola hasn’t made it past the fifth inning in his last four starts — he’s done it just once in his last eight — and has a season ERA of 5.71. The bullpen has been taxed the last two days but it will receive a break Friday as the three-game series against the Mets takes a break to accommodate a World Cup game at Lincoln Financial Field. When the series resumes Saturday, the Phillies will send Sanchez to the mound. Wheeler goes on Sunday.

One day after stroking three hits, Trea Turner was hit on the right calf by a pitch from Mets starter Sean Manaea in the first inning. He ended up leaving the game in the third inning with what was called a contusion. Afterward, Turner said he believed he’d be good to go Saturday night.

The Phillies turned Turner’s plunking into their first run when Alec Bohm smacked a two-run single. The Phils missed a chance to put more runs on the board when they wasted a leadoff triple from Edmundo Sosa in the second. Bohm doubled home a run with two outs in the third and newcomer Derek Hill tied the game with a single in the fourth before Alvarado let it get away in the seventh. The Phils rallied for a run in the ninth and brought Kyle Schwarber, the potential winning, to the plate with two outs. Schwarber hit it hard but right at right fielder Brett Baty. Game over. 

Bohm is up to 41 RBIs, one more than Bryce Harper, and two less than Schwarber, the team leader.

It took until mid-June and Game 75 of the season for the Phillies to see the Mets. Maybe the weekend will go a little better for the local nine.

There’s no Atlanta Braves game today. It’s another opportunity to kick another game to late August when the Braves will be healthier aaaaaaahahahaha. No really, it could happen I guess. The injury beast might be sated for now. But there are other things going on in the meantime.

MLB

Mets (Sean Manaea) vs Phillies (Aaron Nola) at 6:40 ET on MLB.tv/MLB Network

White Sox (Bryan Hudson) vs Yankees (Ryan Weathers) at 7:05 ET on MLB.tv

Cardinals (Matthew Liberatore) vs Kansas City (Noah Cameron) at 7:40 ET on MLB.tv

Angels (TBD) vs Sacramento (Gage Jump) at 9:40 ET on MLB.tv

MiLB

Hill City vs Single-A Augusta Greenjackets at 7:05 ET on BallySport/MLB.tv

World Cup

Canada vs Qatar at 6:00 ET on Fox Sports 1/Peacock/Telemundo

Mexico vs South Korea at 9:00 ET on Fox/Peacock/Telemundo

What else?

The US Open is happening as well. Also, my kid crushed every school metric this year so we have a Nintendo Switch 2 now. Apparently you can get a $20 yearly subscription to get 60 or so retro games. So I’ll probably be knee deep in the original Zeldas pretty soon. We’re loving some Mario Party Jamboree right now. If you want to tell me what else is fun from a family game standpoint, I’m all ears.