When the Yankees announced their probables for their weekend series against the Braves in Atlanta, Max Fried was noticeably absent.

Fried last pitched on July 12 against the Cubs, where he allowed three earned runs in three innings but was removed due to a blister on the index finger of his throwing hand. The Yankees' southpaw had already pulled out of the All-Star Game to prepare himself for the second half of the season, so New York is skipping his spot in the rotation.

Speaking with the media before Friday's series opener in Atlanta, Fried said he's "hopeful" to pitch in the crucial series with the Blue Jays in Toronto starting Monday. Fried said that he and the Yankees wanted to give their ace more time to heal from the blister and that it is improving. He's been playing catch with no issue and the next step is to throw a bullpen, which he has yet to do.

It makes sense for the Yankees to skip Fried in the rotation for two reasons. The first, as previously mentioned, is to give Fried's finger time to heal. Fried has spent time on the IL four times in his career due to blisters, most recently in September 2023.

The second is that it lines up the Yankees' best starters for Toronto. If Fried is good to go, he, along with Carlos Rodon, will start two of the three games against the Blue Jays.

New York enters the weekend series 2.0 games behind the Blue Jays for first place in the AL East.

Justin Verlander's lack of ‘putaway' pitch dooms Giants in loss to Blue Jays originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

For the twelfth time in sixteen games during the 2025 MLB season, the Giants lost a Justin Verlander start.

In what has become an unfortunately common occurence for the Giants this season, a familiar scene unfolded early in San Francisco’s 4-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night at Rogers Centre.

Verlander, the three-time Cy Young Award winner who has a spot in Cooperstown reserved for him, once again got rocked early.

Verlander escaped first-inning trouble after the Blue Jays had runners on first and second with one out, coaxing a double-play ball that allowed the Giants to return to the visiting dugout unscathed. The former MLB MVP wouldn’t be so fortunate in the second inning.

Six of the first seven batters Verlander faced in the second inning reached base, allowing Toronto to jump out to a 4-0 lead which would be more than enough with San Francisco’s anemic offense crumbling in every clutch situation they faced in Friday’s loss.

Coming off a few days to reset during the MLB All-Star break, Verlander took the mound with a chance to put a rough first half behind him and send a strong message that even at 42, he still has what it takes to dominate opposing hitters. Instead, it was much of the same in what has been an outlier season for a pitcher that will go down as one of the game’s greats when all is said and done.

Verlander didn’t record a single strikeout against the Blue Jays, the first time this season the nine-time All-Star failed to log at least one punch out during the 2025 season.

“Typically he has got something to get a swing-and-a-miss, didn’t get any strikeouts,” Giants manager Bob Melvin told reporters after Friday’s loss. “Actually, he limited the damage for the amount of base runners he had in less than three innings, but a couple key hits off him and just really didn’t have a putaway pitch today.”

Verlander’s name is one that long has been synonmous with “putaway pitch,” ranking No.10 on MLB’s all-time strikeout leader list with an eye-popping 3,483 punchouts during his decorated career.

While the lack of a putaway pitch allowed the Blue Jays to string together the game’s decisive inning, Melvin noted that the Giants’ offense hasn’t done Verlander any favors with run support this season.

“The fact we haven’t given him much run support,” Melvin said when asked why he believes Verlander can turn things around. “I mean there have been some games where we’ve been behind early on, but it would be nice to give him a nice lead and let him do his thing. The overall numbers aren’t horrible at this point, it’s just we don’t give him much run support and it seems like there are a few games like tonight where we’ve gotten behind early.”

Verlander was blunt while assessing his own performance today, but remained optimistic the mechanical adjustments he has made recently are showing tangible results that should lead to positive regression back toward the player baseball fans have grown accustomed to seeing during his 20-year MLB career.

“Stuff-wise, still fairly optimistic, but had a tough one today, obviously,” Verlander told reporters after Friday’s loss. “They found a way to put a lot of balls in play. Found a lot of holes and the ones they did hit hard found corners, it’s a tough one. But still optimistic thinking about how the mechanical adjustments have helped my stuff. The velocity is better, I think the breaking balls are sharper, all in all.”

Friday’s loss was the 10th time this season the Giants have been shutout, reflecting a season-long trend of San Francisco’s offense failing to give its robust pitching staff the support it so desperately needs in games like these.

Even with Verlander’s struggles, the Giants still boast arguably the league’s best pitching staff across the board. If San Francisco sneaks into the MLB playoffs, they have the kind of arms in their arsenal that have a long-standing track record of being the key recipe to making deep postseason runs.

The unfortunate reality? None of those hypotheticals will matter if Verlander and San Francisco’s offense can’t get on the same page down the stretch run over the next couple of months.

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Mets manager Carlos Mendoza provided injury updates on four players ahead of Friday night's series opener against the Cincinnati Reds to start the second half of the season.

On the designated hitter front, Starling Marte (knee) is nearing a return to action as he continues to do baseball activities, the manager said, adding that while he wasn't sure about timing, he suggested the veteran could be back in around three to five days.

"He's gonna run the bases at high intensity, sprinting, hitting velo machine," Mendoza said of Marte. "But he's definitely progressing."

Jesse Winker will need a bit more time as he received an epidural on Friday, as his back ailment had not been responding as the club had hoped, and they "decided to be a little more aggressive" with the injection, which will shut him down from any activities for another seven to 10 days.

Mendoza said that as far as he knows, there hasn't been any change in the injury, but "he's still a ways away."

Winker sustained the back injury last Thursday, just two games after he returned from an extended time on the IL with an oblique issue.

Injury issues have struck both DHs this year, limiting Marte to 58 games and Winker to just 26. Both have been decent at the plate, posting .739 and .709 OPS, respectively.

The news was not good for reliever Max Kranick,who will undergo Tommy John surgery for a second time in his career.

"You feel for the guy," Mendoza said. "You saw how important he was for us the first couple of months in a pretty important role out of the bullpen, and it just sucks for him and for us, too, honestly.

"Wish him the best, and obviously, we do our best to get him back on the field as quick as possible. It's not ideal."

The righty posted a 3.65 ERA in 37 innings over 24 games in his first big league action since the 2022 campaign.

Jose Siri has not resumed running or baseball activities as he continues to recover from a broken leg he sustained in his 10th game of the season in April before having a setback in his rehab in June. "He's feeling better, but as far as running and all that goes, nothing yet," the manager said, estimating that it could be another week or two before he could resume baseball activities.

Earlier on Friday, the Mets activated left-handed reliever Brooks Raley off the 60-day injured list as he makes his return from Tommy John surgery.

Shohei Ohtani is already well-known as a pitcher and a slugger.

The Dodgers superstar has recently taken on another role: children's book author.

Ohtani's dog, Decoy, is already known as the cutest Nederlandse Kooikerhondje on the planet (and quite possibly the only one to be immortalized in bobblehead form).

Read more:How high are the prices for a Shohei Ohtani, Decoy bobblehead? A seller wants it to fetch $69,420

He has also recently taken on a new role: lead character in a children's book.

Ohtani and HarperCollins Children’s Books announced Thursday the upcoming publication of "Decoy Saves Opening Day," which is available for preorder and will be released on Feb. 3.

Ohtani wrote the book with Michael Blank. Fanny Liem illustrates the story of Decoy's adventures as he races home to find his lucky baseball in hopes of making it back to the stadium in time to throw out the opening pitch.

The cover art indicates Decoy might have been successful in his mission, as it shows illustrated versions of Ohtani and his pooch (with ball in mouth) sharing a happy moment on the diamond with the stands full of cheering fans behind them.

Read more:Dodgers Dugout: Is pitching again hurting Shohei Ohtani at the plate?

“Decoy has been by my side through so many meaningful moments, and I’m excited to share a story that celebrates what makes him so special,” Ohtani said in a press release from HarperCollins. “I hope it brings joy to young readers.”

The book may be a work of fiction, but at least one part of it is based on real life — Decoy actually has "thrown" a ceremonial first pitch before.

Decoy and Shohei with the cutest first pitch you've ever seen. 😭 pic.twitter.com/fEoFRxMOH4

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 29, 2024

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Phillies back from the break: Middleton speaks, Nola update, Trout's homecoming originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Phillies returned from the All-Star break rested and energized for a 66-game stretch run that will determine whether the club repeats as NL East champions. They currently hold a half game lead over the second place Mets in the division.

“I liked the energy in the clubhouse today,” manager Rob Thomson said prior to Friday’s series opener against the Angels. “I feel good about where we’re at. We’re pretty healthy and we’re getting healthier. I think we’re in a good spot. You’re always happy to be in first place coming out of the break.”

“A lot of good, a lot of bad in the first half but we’re leading the division,” shortstop Trea Turner said. “We talk early in the year about ‘it’s early, it’s early’ but once you hit that All-Star break it’s time to go. Got to get it off to a good start today and try to finish this thing off and win the division.”

The owner speaks

Phillies Managing Partner and CEO John Middleton met with reporters before Friday’s game to discuss the excitement over bringing the 2026 All-Star Game to Philadelphia.

“I’m really excited,” Middleton said. “The excitement has been building for us for years… but now we’re in a sprint. It’s a marathon but we’re sprinting the marathon.”

The Phillies unveiled the 2026 All-Star Game logo on Friday afternoon and held a pregame ceremony featuring Phillies’ All-Stars past and present.

Middleton acknowledged the All-Star Game as an opportunity to showcase the franchise as well as Citizens Bank Park and mentioned the impact it will have on the entire city.

The conversation turned to the 2025 All-Star Game, namely Kyle Schwarber’s heroics in the ‘swing-off’ that delivered a victory to the National League and earned Schwarber All-Star Game MVP honors.

Might that performance provide extra motivation to keep the soon-to-be free agent in a Phillies uniform after this season?

“No,” Middleton said flatly. ‘We need no motivation whatsoever when it comes to Kyle Schwarber. He’s great. We thought he was great when we signed him (four) years ago. We thought he’s great consistently during the years. There’s nothing Kyle does that surprises us. He’s a great person in the clubhouse. We love him. We want to keep him. We don’t need any motivation whatsoever.”  

Middleton was also asked if he expects Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski to be aggressive leading up to the July 31st trade deadline.

“He’s always aggressive,” Middleton said. “He doesn’t have another gear besides aggressive. I know he will be.”

What’s the update on Aaron Nola?

The longest tenured Phillie is inching closer towards returning to the Phillies starting rotation. Aaron Nola, who has been sidelined since mid-May with ankle and rib injuries, will throw live batting practice on Saturday.

Thomson said Nola will throw two innings (capped at 35 pitches) of live BP.

“If that goes well, then he’ll have a bullpen (session) probably on Tuesday,” Thomson said. “If that goes well, there’s a chance he goes out (on a rehab assignment).”

Nola hasn’t pitched since May 14th. He is 1-7 with a 6.16 ERA in nine starts this season. Nola had been the picture of durability for the previous eight seasons. So this extended absence has weighed on him.

“Absolutely,” Thomson said. “A guy like that who hasn’t been on the IL for a long time, there’s a tendency to get bored and itchy. He’s motivated. I can see that in him right now.”

Mike Trout’s homecoming

11-time All-Star and three-time AL MVP Mike Trout is the Angels designated hitter for Friday’s game.

The Millville, New Jersey native discussed returning to his hometown for this three-game series against the Phillies.

“To be able to see family, friends, faces I haven’t seen in a while, it’s awesome,” Trout said. “I respect the (Philadelphia) fan base. I know how they are, how they support their teams. That’s how I was growing up. The passion they have, you can see it.”

A large portion of that fan base hasn’t given up hope that Trout will someday play for the Phillies.

It’s a sentiment that he’s well aware of.

“Oh I see it all the time,” Trout said. “Especially when I go to Eagles games. I think just being a South Jersey kid, I’m always going to get it. This was my sports team growing up. Right now I’m enjoying myself with this team. These guys come to the ballpark every day and play hard.”

Trout turns 34 next month. Injuries have cost him significant chunks of the past several seasons, including a month-long IL stint this year due to a knee injury. He’s hitting .238 with 17 home runs and 41 RBI in 70 games this season.