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Now, just cause I think of George Springer as an old man, doesn’t mean, in real life, he’s young and can have a growing family. He has two children already, one also named George, the fourth George Springer.
Jonatan Clase is up with the team. Paternity Leave in the MLB is only for up to three days, so Clase won’t be here long.
To file under damning with faint praise:
Today’s Jays lineup. Vlad is back.
Hockey’s version of Bobby Bonilla has come to an end. Shea Weber’s hilarious, legendary contract signed by the Nashville Predators in 2012 expired on Wednesday, 14 years after it was originally signed. Weber has been retired from the NHL for five years, he’s been in the Hall of Fame for three years, and collecting a paycheck all this time.
The genesis of this deal goes back to free agency in 2012. Weber was the 26-year-old captain of the Predators, and one of the brightest young defensemen in the NHL, but he was negotiating with Nashville on a long-term extension as he was poised to enter restricted free agency.
Enter the Philadelphia Flyers, who were in a desperate situation. Legendary defenseman Chris Pronger was the team’s stop-gap solution, but he was on the decline and coming off two injury-shortened seasons, with concerns he was ready to retire (which he ultimately did). Free agency was lacking in talent on the defensive end, the Flyers were an established playoff team trying to keep their window open, and they decided to make an unprecedented move.
The Flyers signed Weber to a staggering 14-year, $110 million offer sheet that they felt was both too rich, and too long for the Predators to dare to match. It was worth it for Philadelphia though, because they felt adding Weber to their roster they would become a legitimate Stanley Cup team.
Nashville stunned the league by matching the offer. The Preds were a good team in their own right, but the assumption was that they would keep their cap flexibility in tact to retool their roster. Instead they were all-in on Shea Weber, which wasn’t neccesarily bad — but it did hamstring the team.
By 2016, the Predators were done with continuing to manage the 14-year contract. The team traded Weber to the Montreal Canadiens for P.K. Subban in a blockbuster deal that exchanged two of the league’s primary defensemen. Two years later Weber was declining in his early 30s, getting hurt, and in 2021 he retired from the NHL at age 35.
Not so fast! His contract was still guaranteed until 2026, so now it became a bizarre poker chip. A retired Weber was traded to the Arizona Coyotes in 2022, then to the Blackhawks in 2025 — all in an effort to make salaries work in other deals. He was never going to return and play for the teams, but just the fact he was owed money made him valuable.
That earned Weber $1M in 2023-24, , $200K in 2024-15, and another $1M in 2025-26. Now it’s all over. Pour one one for Shea Weber’s contract.
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The San Diego Padres hope to snap a four-game losing streak with an upset against the red-hot Chicago Cubs.
Chicago has taken the first two games of the series and has four straight wins heading into what’s expected to be a daytime slugfest at Wrigley Field.
San Diego has a favorable pitching matchup, which could cross up everyone’s expectations. My Padres vs. Cubs predictions and MLB picks have the Padres getting a win on Wednesday, July 1.
The San Diego Padres have struggled, but their last three series have been against playoff contending teams.
They’ll start Walker Buehler, who had a 1.71 ERA and struck out a quarter of all batters he faced in June. He hasn’t allowed multiple runs in five straight.
Padres hitters have not been the problem lately. They’re 28% over league average, with a .272 average and .816 OPS over the last week and 18% over, .268, .790 for the last two weeks.
They’ll face Colin Rea, who had a 5.04 ERA and 1.520 WHIP in June. San Diego as an underdog are a no-brainer today.
COVERS INTEL:Rea’s fastball is in the 9th percentile in MLB and his breaking stuff is in the 44th. He’s finding success with his offspeed pitches, but San Diego has two of the top batters in MLB against the changeup—Gavin Sheets and Jackson Merrill. Plus, Ty France is hitting .433 against offspeed. This might be the largest Over/Under cutoff I’ve seen this season. Yes, balls fly out of Wrigley during the day, and yes, the two teams combined for 16 runs yesterday. However, they also combined for five on Monday.
Buehler has been in All-Star form, and the two Chicago Cubs batters who’ve faced him the most both hit below .154 with .445 OPS against him.
The Padres have been under in five of the last nine with most of those cutoffs being far below 11.5 runs. The Cubs have been hitting but yesterday was their first 12+ run total in the last six games.
The Chicago Cubs have hit the Team Total Under in 13 of their last 19 games at home (+6.60 Units / 30% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Padres vs. Cubs.
| Location | Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL |
| Date | Wednesday, July 1, 2026 |
| First pitch | 2:20 p.m. ET |
| TV | CHSN, MASN |
| Padres starting pitcher | Walker Buehler (5-3, 3.81 ERA) |
| Cubs starting pitcher | Colin Rea (5-5, 4.80 ERA) |
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change.
Not intended for use in MA.
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The Celtics have signed Mitchell Robinson to a 3-year, $47.4 million deal, ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported. Robinson was a crucial part of the New York Knicks’ championship team, particularly as one of the NBA’s premier rebounders. Robinson reportedly has a player option in the third season of his contract.
Last year, the 28-year-old averaged 5.7 points and 8.8 rebounds, shooting 72.3% from the field. In his 8 seasons with the Knicks, he averaged 7.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in just under 24 minutes a game.
Robinson was the Knicks’ longest-tenured player; he was drafted 36th overall in 2018 and has been a key rotation player since. He was one of just two Knicks rotation players on the title team that was drafted by the franchise.
In the playoffs, he averaged 4.8 points and 5.5 rebounds in 13.9 minutes, and secured a key offensive rebound in the closing seconds of the Knicks’ Game 5 championship-clinching win.
Through his career, Robinson has dealt with a slew of injuries, but he appeared in 60 games last season. He appeared in just 48 games in his previous two combined seasons.
Mitchell Robinson immediately bolsters the Celtics’ frontcourt and will be the team’s premier big, alongside Neemias Queta. More than anything, he brings rebounding to a Celtics squad that has heavily valued that skill set. The Celtics now have Robinson, Queta, and Luka Garza all at the center position.
Robinson’s rebounding numbers are ridiculous; he averaged 16.1 boards per 36 minutes per game. Last year, with him on the floor, the Knicks had a 37.9% offensive rebounding percentage, which was in the 99th percentile, per The Ringer’s Brian Barrett.
Robinson’s biggest weakness is free-throw shooting; he shot just 40.8% from the free-throw line last season, a career low. Robinson is routinely and intentionally fouled, and the Celtics will undoubtedly work with him on free-throw shooting to ensure he can stay on the floor. But, he’s one of the NBA’s top rebounding bigs and a true seven-footer, someone who immediately gives the Celtics depth at the big position and becomes the team’s best rebounder.
New York Islanders goaltender David Rittich is testing free agency, according to Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News.
As mentioned this morning, G David Rittich is testing free agency. #Isles
— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) July 1, 2026
This comes as no surprise, as Rittich is a solid NHL backup, one who likely ends up landing a full-time NHL gig.
Islanders' general manager Mathieu Darche publicly declared the plan is for Semyon Varlamov to return to his role as Ilya Sorokin's backup.
As such, Rittich extending on Long Island would've resulted in him starting with the Hamilton Hammers, a non-starter for the NHL veteran.
Rittich, 33, posted a 14-10-3 record in 30 appearances with the Islanders this past season. Rittich added a 2.76 GAA and a .894 save percentage to boot.
This year’s rookie class is quickly endearing itself to Spurs fans, and perhaps none more so than 26th overall pick Tarris Reed. He clearly has the most personality of the bunch and has already produced several memorable moments. For example, as someone who is a weather nerd, I’ve always enjoyed when rookies (or anyone, really) arrives in San Antonio in the summer and is surprised by the heat. It happened with DeJuan Blair back in the day, and it happened again with Reed, who is already overwhelmed by it and appeared exasperated when told it would only get worse.
Sorry, Tarris, but it’s true: this is just the beginning. South Texas summers are notoriously long, hot and humid. The average high will go up another 4-5 degrees (Fahrenheit) across the next few months, and there won’t be any relief until October at the earliest. You may have experienced heat waves growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, but it didn’t have the humidity mixed in for high heat indexes, where 95 degrees can feel like 110. Down here, it’s just a way of life.
Another moment that went viral was on draft night was Reed happened to have a Spurs teddy bear with him, which he said he got when he was 8-years-old while on the phone with someone (presumably Brian Wright or Mitch Johnson).
It was a cute moment (plus the mix-up of hats was funny — I get that it was initially Denver that drafted him, but where did the Boston hat come from?), and he got a chance to elaborate on it his first informal media session following summer league practice yesterday.
He was at Disney World in Orlando with his family (although now he’s saying he was 12 or 13), and they visited some NBA-themed restaurant, where he played the claw machine game and just so happened to win a Spurs teddy bear. He loved it at the time since this was still during the Big Three+Kawhi era, and he happened to notice it in his room when he was preparing for pre-draft workouts a decade later. That made him think how cool playing for the Spurs would be (although he wasn’t counting on it), but his mom still brought the bear to his draft viewing party. Then, low and behold, the Spurs traded up for him. It was as if density had been telling him its plan all along.
Reed isn’t the only player who has had his Spurs moments already. Jayden Quaintance managed to inadvertently make the entire room laugh at his introductory press conference when he said Tim Duncan was his grandfather’s favorite player, making everyone feel old. He was also seen letting his nerdy side out by trying to get Reed hooked on anime. (From David Robinson, to Duncan, Victor Wembanyama and now Quaintance, the Spurs tradition of picking nerdy big men continues.)
With this being the first time the Spurs weren’t in the lottery since 2019, this class’s arrival and getting around San Antonio has been a bit more subdued compared to recent years. However, they have certainly been enjoying themselves, from meeting legends to seeing the practice facility, Frost Bank Center, River Walk and more. If you want a behind-the-scenes view of all their draft night experiences, arrival and tour of San Antonio, check out this video from the Spurs. It’s sure to warm the heart (and provide some entertainment while we wait through what is proving to be a pretty boring free agency period so far, presumably while everyone waits for LeBron James to make a move).
According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, the Buffalo Sabres have signed defenseman Olen Zellweger to a three-year contract with an average annual value around $3 million.
The Sabres just acquired Zellweger from the Anaheim Ducks last week in exchange for Anton Wahlberg and the 45th overall pick of the 2026 NHL Entry Draft. Now, they have locked up the left-shot defenseman to a multi-year contract.
Zellweger appeared in 76 games last season with the Ducks, where he scored seven goals and set new career highs with 15 assists and 22 points. This is after the 22-year-old blueliner had seven goals and 20 points in 82 games with the Ducks during the 2024-25 season.
In 164 games over three NHL seasons, Zellweger has recorded 16 goals, 35 assists, and 51 points.
The Buffalo Sabres are entering the July 1 Free Agent Frenzy in need of replacing the scoring and leadership that departed when Alex Tuch went to Washington last week, but it is unknown what direction GM Jarmo Kekalainen will after 12 Noon on Wednesday. Kekalainen was proactive prior to last weekend’s NHL Draft when he dealt defenseman Bowen Byram to the Chicago Blackhawks, along with winger Jordan Greenway for the fourth overall pick (Daxon Rudolph), a 2026 second round pick (later flipped to Anaheim for Olen Zellweger) and defenseman Louis Crevier.
Byram is in the second year of a two-year, $12.5 million bridge deal. Buffalo GM Jarmo Kekalainen indicated that he was interested in extending him coming off a career-high 42-point season. Still, there have been indicators that he is either looking for a new deal well out of the Sabres price range or that he wanted to go to another team where he could be the #1 defenseman.
Other Sabres Stories
Sabres Emotionally Devastated By Game 7 Overtime Loss
On Wednesday, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that the 25-year-old will sign a six-year, $75 million deal with the Hawks, becoming the top-paid defenseman in the NHL, ahead of Erik Karlsson, Rasmus Dahlin, and Drew Doughty. That distinction may be short-lived because Minnesota is expected to sign Quinn Hughes to a short-term deal and Cale Makar is eligible for an extension, but the point here is that the Sabres were in no position to pay Byram more than Dahlin on a new deal, even if the percentage of the salary cap was lower.
Byram’s new deal comes on the heels of the extension of another former Sabres blueliner in Michael Kesselring. The 26-year-old was sent to the San Jose Sharks, along with the Sabres 27th overall pick for the 20th pick in the first round (Ilia Morozov). On the weekend, the Sharks locked up Kesselring on a three-year, $13.5 million extension ($4.5 million AAV). The deal is a sign of the times in terms of the salary cap going up, and the fact that the Sharks were desperate for defensive help, that they tripled the righty blueliner’s salary coming off a career-worst season in which he had just two assists in 34 games.
Follow Michael on X, Instagram @MikeInBuffalo
Chris MacFarland continues to stay busy on the trade block, acquiring forward Mavrik Bourque and defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin for a 2027 second-round pick and a 2028 third-round pick in a trade with the Dallas Stars on Wednesday.
Bourque packed a punch on the Stars' third line last season, recording 41 points off 20 goals and 21 assists in 82 games. It was his most productive season in the NHL since his first season in 2023-24.
The 5-foot-11, 187-pound righty was selected 30th overall by Dallas in the 2020 NHL Draft. He has reached the end of a 1-year, $950,000 contract and is a restricted free agent.
TRADE 🔄
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) July 1, 2026
We've acquired forward Mavrik Bourque and defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin from Dallas in exchange for a second-round draft pick in 2027 and Vegas' third-round draft pick in 2028. pic.twitter.com/sVOkpfJxIx
He is the scoring boost that the Predators need from the third line and possibly the second line, giving Nashville a scoring edge lower in the lineup.
Lyubushkin is a veteran defenseman at 32-years old and has logged nearly 500 NHL games over his career. In 53 games last season, Lyubushkin had nine points one goal and eight assists and 40 penalty minutes.
The 6-foot-2, 206-pound defenseman has one more year left on a three-year, $9.75 million contract. He will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2026-27 season.
While he may not have the production Nashville needs on the back end, he is a veteran player from whom younger prospects can benefit greatly. Lyubushkin could also have better chemistry in Nashville than in Dallas.
Ten Years Ago Today
The Jays and Cleveland faced off in a marathon 19-inning game, marking the second-longest contest by duration and tying for the most innings the Jays have ever played.
Games like this are unforgettable; I wish we saw more of them.
I’m fairly certain Matt set a record with his recap—these epic games always generate a lot of writing.
We ended up losing 2-1, giving Cleveland their 14th consecutive win. Fortunately, the Jays snapped their streak the next day and won the last two games of the series.
Over the course of the game, the Jays used ten pitchers—well, eight pitchers and two utility infielders.
Unfortunately, we could only manage one run against nine Cleveland pitchers. Our lone score came in the sixth on a Justin Smoak home run. Trevor Bauer, Cleveland’s scheduled starter for the next day, threw the final five innings and earned the win.
In total, we collected just 11 hits over 19 innings. Darwin Barney, who started at second base, had three; Troy Tulowitzki also recorded three, and Kevin Pillar chipped in with two.
Ezequiel Carrera (0 for 7), Josh Donaldson (0 for 6), and Michael Saunders (0 for 7) all went hitless.
Not everything about the game was enjoyable.
Vic Carapazza, the home plate umpire, struggled as usual with calling balls and strikes. Edwin Encarnacion was ejected in the bottom of the first after a polite dispute over the strike zone. Vic, as you may recall… Well, Matt told it better:
Maybe that name seems familiar—Carapazza was behind the plate in Game 2 of the ALDS when the Blue Jays were not too happy with the strike zone. In any event, the 1st was a harbinger of things to come, as Carapazza was very liberal in giving Josh Tomlin the corners at the top of the strike zone. Over the first eight innings, eight Blue Jays were set down looking, only the first and last were clearly the correct call. Besides the one above, there was another bad one to Ezequiel where the pitcher totally missed his spot yet got a very borderline call. The frustration all came to a head with more fireworks in the 13th inning, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
In the 13th:
Donaldson was hit leading off, but a fielder’s choice by Travis brought up Saunders. He was called out on a fastball on the inside corner that he thought was inside, and just barely avoided drawing a line in the dirt which would have surely provoked an ejection. Russell Martin was behind him, and was called for a swing on 1-2 curve on which he he didn’t come close to going around. After an afternoon of having calls go against him, he had a few words for Carapazza, who tossed him, at which point Martin went absolutely ballistic and was barely restrained by DeMarlo Hale and Luis Rivera.
Goins went on the DL the next day with forearm tightness. He hit 90 MPH on his fastball in his inning. Ryan would be out until early August and then was sent to Buffalo until late August. That’s likely why he didn’t come out for a second inning of work. He was surprisingly impressive on the mound.
Schultz would also be sent down to the minors after the game.
From the recap:
Super Jays of the Day: Schultz (+0.595), Chavez (+0.410)
Jays of the Day: Basically all the pitchers, even a fake one. Stroman (+0.156 WPA), Cecil (+0.121 WPA for 3 pitches), Grilli (+0.106), Osuna (+0.137), Biagini (+0.137), RYAN FREAKING GOINS (+0.137). Tulowitzki was the lone hitter (+0.159, 3/6, 2 BB).
Super Suckage: Barney (-0.573, -0.272 as a hitter and -0.301 as a pitcher). I feel bad doing that, since it’s not really his fault he had to pitch. Also, Vic Carapazza. Let’s turn him away at the border next time.
Suckage: Basically, all the hitters. Carrera (-0.395), Saunders (-0.369), Travis (-0.342), Martin (-0.181), Smoak(-0.185), Donaldson (-0.162), Thole (-0.099).
If you want to check out the boxscore, it is here.
With the calendar flipping from June to July, that means that the MLB All-Star Game is now on the immediate horizon along with the MLB Draft as well. The intersection of all of that is the All-Star Futures Game, where some of the most promising prospects in all of baseball get to showcase their skills on the big stage during the All-Star festivities.
The Atlanta Braves will be sending one representative to the Futures Game this season as Cam Caminiti has gotten the nod and will be participating in the big event at Citizens Bank Park. Here’s more on the National League squad as a whole from MLB’s press release:
he National League Futures squad is led by MLB Pipeline’s number one overall prospect Jesús Made of the Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Nationals shortstop Eli Willits, who was the number one overall selection in the 2025 Draft and currently ranks as the third-best prospect in all of Baseball according to MLB Pipeline rankings. The NL roster also features Josue De Paula of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who is ranked fourth by MLB Pipeline and returns for a second consecutive year after claiming the Larry Doby MVP Award last year in Atlanta, along with Pittsburgh’s Seth Hernandez, who was the number five overall pick in last June’s Draft and is currently ranked as the sixth-best prospect by MLB Pipeline. Willits and Hernandez are joined by seven other fellow first round Draft picks on the NL roster, including Colorado’s Charlie Condon (3rdoverall, 2024); Liam Doyle (5th overall, 2025) of the St. Louis Cardinals; San Francisco’s Gavin Kilen (13th overall, 2025); Arizona’s Kayson Cunningham (18th overall, 2025); Atlanta’s Cam Caminiti (24th overall, 2024); San Diego’s Kash Mayfield (25th overall, 2024); and Philadelphia’s Gage Wood (26th overall, 2025).
As evidenced by his selection to this squad, Cam Caminiti has been pretty solid at the High-A level so far this season. He’s produced a 4.48 ERA (ERA- of 97) and a FIP of 4.05 (FIP- of 87) over 14 appearances (13 starts) and 62.1 innings pitched. Caminiti came into this season as a consensus Top 100 prospect and he’s maintained that status with his performances so far this season. He’s also sitting atop Atlanta’s prospect rankings as the consensus No. 1 prospect for the Braves, so it makes all the sense in the world that Caminiti would be flying the flag for Atlanta’s farm system during the Futures Game.
If you’re planning on watching this year’s Futures Game, things are going to be a little different now. The game will take place on Sunday, July 12 at noon ET with NBC televising the game and streaming it on Peacock as well. It’ll be part of All-Star Sunday, which includes the MLBx: All-Star 3-on-3 (whatever that is) and the second day of the MLB Draft. Circle your date and block out your schedule now if you’re interested in watching Cam Caminiti represent the Braves at this year’s Futures Game.
Every day, Pinstripe Alley offers updates on what the Yankees’ top American League opponents are up to through the Rivalry Roundup. The AL East is well-trodden ground there, but with the end of the month upon us, we’re going to take a peek around MLB as a whole and check in with each of the other five divisions. Who’s surprising? Who’s underwhelming? Who’s simply mediocre at the moment? Read on and find out.
In the subheader of the previous edition of this series, John (correctly) identified the AL West as the “league’s most ‘meh’ division”. Although the past month did little to overturn that overall sentiment, there’s been a shakeup in the standings.
Top Position Player: Josh Jung (2.1 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: MacKenzie Gore (2.0 fWAR)
After a magical championship year in 2023, not much has gone the Rangers’ way since. However, things might be looking up for them for the first time in a while, as they’ve overtaken the floundering Mariners for the top spot in the division. Their bats are led by Josh Jung, who has continued to post strong numbers after two consecutive down years. Their other players aren’t pushovers, either; Joc Pederson and Wyatt Langford are having stellar offensive years (though Langford is set to be sidelined through the All-Star break with a lat injury), and former first-round pick Justin Foscue is running a 137 wRC+, albeit in a small sample. This is a fairly deep lineup, with solid to elite gloves in Jung, Langford, Ezequiel Duran, and Evan Carter to boot.
The starting rotation appears to be rounding into form as well. MacKenzie Gore’s 4.05 ERA masks a 3.43 FIP and very strong peripherals; the question with him is, will he be able to avoid the second half slide that marred him in 2024 and 2025. After a rough patch in May, Jacob deGrom has returned to his dominant ways, posting a 3.10 ERA (2.34 FIP) with a 30.8-percent K rate across five June starts. Nathan Eovaldi and Kumar Rocker have been more than serviceable as mid-rotation arms, giving Texas a potent starting four. Meanwhile, led by the leveled-up Jacob Latz, their bullpen owns a 3.81 ERA, fifth-best in the AL. Maybe they’re short on top-end talent, but this is a well-rounded team, and if the Mariners continue to underwhelm, the Rangers should contend for the division lead down the stretch.
Top Position Player: Randy Arozarena (2.2 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Bryan Woo (2.5 fWAR)
Despite entering June with a six-game winning streak, which they extended to eight in the first two games on the month, the Mariners spent the rest of it spinning their wheels, falling to second place in the process. The offense is potent on paper, as seven of their nine current regulars boast wRC+ marks north of 100 (Cal Raleigh is at 70, and Josh Naylor’s is 98). However, for whatever reason, that hasn’t translated into actual run production, as the team’s 348 runs scored puts them at 11th in the AL. It probably doesn’t help that they’re rated the second-worst defensive team in MLB, in front of only the lowly Angels.
On the other hand, pitching, particularly starting pitching, is the Mariners’ strength. Their starters’ WAR total of 9.5 trails only the Brewers for the best in baseball, and it’s not just the usual suspects driving that performance, either. The trifecta of Bryan Woo, George Kirby, and Logan Gilbert are humming right along, but joining them have been Emerson Hancock and Bryce Miller, who have both bounced back in a big way from disastrous 2025 campaigns. The bullpen has been middle-of-the-road, but certainly not a major weakness. It’s up to the offense to hold up their end of the bargain if the Mariners want to repeat as division champs.
Top Position Player: Yordan Álvarez (3.6 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Peter Lambert (0.7 fWAR)
As the saying goes: Never count the Astros out. Despite a brutal 8-18 April, Houston has clawed their way out of that hole and now stand just 2 games out of 1st in the division, and 1.5 games back of the Mariners for the third Wild Card spot. They’re led by their offense, which ranks fifth in the AL with 391 runs scored, and of course, any discussion of the Astro’s bats has to start with Yordan Alvarez. After his 2025 was cut short due to injury, the hulking slugger is back at full strength and raking, with a 179 wRC+ that paces MLB. Elsewhere, strong seasons from Jeremy Peña, Isaac Paredes, and Christian Walker has helped the club weather a down year from Jose Altuve and the loss of Carlos Correa due to an ankle injury (though Peña just hit the IL with a strained calf).
What has held them back is their pitching, or lack of it. Peter Lambert has been their best starter so far, and while his 3.51 ERA makes him look like a legitimate frontline starter, his 4.47 FIP suggests that he’s really more of a back-end guy. However, there have been positive developments in June. The team welcomed back ace Hunter Brown from the 60-day injured list, and he’s been solid in his three starts since rejoining the rotation. Tatsuya Imai has improved markedly of late, and is coming off a six-inning, 10-K, one-walk, scoreless dismantling of the Detroit Tigers in his latest start. If the Astros do get to enjoy some good starting pitching, they’ll be sure to move up the divisional standings.
Top Position Player: Nick Kurtz (3.3 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: J.T. Ginn (1.3 fWAR)
Much like the Astros, the A’s score a bunch of runs but can’t keep them off the board. Their offense has been legitimately good, led by young phenom Nick Kurtz, and flanked by solid-to-stellar performances from Shea Langeliers, Zack Gelof, and Tyler Soderstrom. New faces like Henry Bolte and Carlos Cortes are also hitting well, softening the blow of the disappointing showings from Brent Rooker, Jeff McNeil, and Lawrence Butler. Ideally, you’d like a little more depth, but this lineup can do some damage.
The pitching, however, is…less than ideal. Their team ERA of 5.01 is the worst among MLB teams that don’t play on the Moon (read: excluding the Colorado Rockies). Top prospect Gage Jump has flashed top-of-the-rotation stuff, and J.T. Ginn looks like a solid No. 3 or 4, but that’s about where the positives end. Until the A’s shore up their arms, I won’t really be convinced to see them as contenders.
Top Position Player: Mike Trout (2.4 fWAR)
Top Pitcher: Reid Detmers (2.9 fWAR)
Oh Angels, you poor, poor team. If I had told an Angels fan before the season that Mike Trout would have a bounceback season after a down 2025, and that Reid Detmers would finally realize his tantalizing potential and look the part of a frontline starter, I’m pretty sure that they would have been ecstatic. And yet, in this world where those two things have happened (although Trout is currently sidelined due to a strained hamstring because the beings above really enjoy denying us joy), the Angels find themselves dead last in this otherwise wide open division. Indeed, they just fired GM Perry Minasian, who–even acknowledging the limitations of working for a meddler like owner Arte Moreno–had accomplished very little with this roster since taking over in November 2020.
Looking at the rest of the roster, it’s not hard to see why. On the position player side, Zach Neto has been characteristically solid, and Wade Meckler has been a pleasant surprise, but that’s about where the good news ends. On the pitching side, Walbert Ureña and José Soriano have been competent, but outside of that duo and Detmers, the rest of the Halos’ arms have generated just 0.8 WAR. It’s looking like yet another lost season for the Angels. Maybe interim GM John Mozeliak of old Cardinals fame can salvage it by selling everything not nailed to the floor at the deadline and getting a haul. I doubt it, though — Moreno has also voiced a preference on retaining his best trade chips, so I think the organization lacks both the brains and the guts to do so. MLB’s longest playoff drought will continue with no clear end in sight.
These days, we are blessed with an overabundance of information about professional athletes. Thanks to systemic and easily accessible databases (at least, relative to previous centuries), it’s fairly easy to track down basic information about a player – where and when they were born, where they lived, what schools they attended, and how they became known to professional scouts in the sport of their choosing.
That was not always the case, however. Historians of the late 19th and early 20th centuries regularly have to struggle to piece together even the most basic information about a person, even a renowned professional athlete whose name still sits in the record books a century later. Today, we remember one of those players: a man known to history as Jack Quinn.
Jack Picus Quinn (possibly born Joannes “Jan” Pajkos)
Born: probably July 1, 1883 (Stefurov, Austria-Hungary – modern-day Slovakia)
Died: April 17, 1946 (Pottsville, PA)
Yankees Tenure: 1909-12, 1919-21
There is perhaps no better way to summarize the life and legacy of Jack Quinn than his SABR biography, which opens with the following:
He won 247 games in his 23 seasons in the major leagues, plus dozens more in the minors and as a semipro in a pitching career that spanned more than 30 years. Yet we do not know for certain when or where he was born, the national origin of his forebears, or even his birth name. We know him as Jack Quinn, and the reference books agree that he was born John Quinn Picus, which very likely was not the case. Among four editions of the Baseball Encyclopedia, no two of them gave the same birth date and birthplace. Jack Quinn’s personal life was a mystery and he liked it that way.
For much of the past century, Quinn’s background has been the subject of much debate, with both contemporaries and historians making the case at various points that he was Welsh, Irish, Polish, Greek, Slovak, French, Russian, and even Native American (perhaps a misunderstanding, given the fact that his teammates described the quiet and self-contained Quinn as a “wooden Indian”); the player himself certainly didn’t help, as he himself acknowledged that his mother died when he was very young, that “Picus” (the name he typically went by, except when playing baseball) was a phonetic spelling of his original name, and that he had absolutely no idea what his original nationality was.
Historian Michael D. Scott has put together what is today the most convincing case for Quinn’s background. Cross-referencing records from the former Austria-Hungarian Empire and Pennsylvania, where Quinn spent his childhood, Scott places Quinn’s birth on July 1, 1883, in Stefurov, a city in modern-day Slovakia, but which at the time was under the rule of the Habsburg emperors. Born Johannes Pajkos, Quinn’s family moved to America the following year, taking the SS Suevia in June 1884; his mother, Maria Pajkos (nee Dzjiacsko), died soon after, and his father moved to Hazleton, Pennsylvania, and began to work in the coal mines.
While a young Jack joined his father in the coal mines, lying about his age in order to begin work early, his true passion was baseball, and after almost dying in a mining accident, he hopped the rails and hit the road, heading as far west as Montana. His exact route is unknown, but by 1900, he was back in Pennsylvania, where he was discovered by professional scouts in the most 19th century way possible. Catching a semi-pro game on the Fourth of July, he caught a foul ball; one of the managers was so impressed by the velocity with which he threw the ball back that he was offered a job on the spot.
Armed with a fastball, a “dry” spitter (he used chewing gum, not chewing tobacco, to generate the spit), an unnamed pitch described almost like a knuckleball, and a changeup, Quinn – by this point, he began to play under this name in order to avoid ethnic discrimination – he caught the attention of the New York Highlanders in 1909. Making his MLB debut on April 15, 1909 and in front of the Vice President of the United States, James S. Sherman, Quinn more than held his own. He tossed a complete game in which he allowed just one run on five hits, earning the win.
Quinn spent four seasons with New York, ultimately getting sold to the Rochester minor league team in 1912 due to underperformance and a flaring temper (he was suspended earlier that season for throwing his glove at an umpire, sparking a riot in the stands). He then spent one year with the Boston Braves and two in the Federal League, before becoming the subject of a custody battle between the White Sox and the Yankees in 1918. Due to the United States’ entry into World War I, the league had decided that players from leagues which had been suspended because of the war – which included Quinn, who had been pitching in the independent Pacific Coast League – would be eligible to be signed by teams on an emergency basis. Due to this rule, Quinn was able to spend the latter part of the 1918 season with the Chicago White Sox. That winter, though, the Yankees – who had owned the rights to Quinn – staked a claim for the player, ultimately winning his services in arbitration (over Quinn’s objection).
Quinn spent three seasons with the Yankees, making his first World Series appearance along with them in 1921. Since, in his age-38 season, he was already considered old for a pitcher, the Yankees then traded him to the Red Sox that winter. Unbeknownst to them, however, he was just getting started. Quinn spent three seasons in Boston, then was traded to the Philadelphia Athletics in the middle of 1925. He would go on to spend five and a half seasons there, winning a pair of World Series titles. Moving full-time to the bullpen, Quinn then spent two years as the closer in Brooklyn (although they didn’t give it that title just yet), before finally finishing his Major League career in Cincinnati in 1933 in his age-49 season. He spent the next few seasons bouncing around independent ball, before finally calling it quits for good in 1935.
Over the course of his career, Quinn piled up many accolades. To this day, he remains the American League record holder for oldest player to hit a home run, as he did so in his age-46 season. His record for oldest pitcher to record a win was not broken until Jamie Moyer did so in April 2012, and he is the oldest pitcher ever to start on Opening Day (47 years old). The Baseball Reference Bullpen makes the claim that he is the oldest Major Leaguer in history, as his final game was two days after his 50th birthday, and unlike most other players who played at or near that age, he actually remained a regular all the way to the end: he is one of two players to have at least ten games played in each season from 35 to 50.
Despite these records, though, Quinn was considered a very good, but not great, player, and was not elected to the Hall of Fame. This, though, may be exactly what he would have wanted: after his playing career was over, the quiet Quinn lived a quiet life, getting married in Illinois, then moving back to Pennsylvania after his wife’s death, before himself dying in January 1946 due to an infection in the liver.
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.
Philadelphia (48-38) and Pittsburgh (43-43) are bringing the aces out for their third meeting of a four-game series. The Phillies are 10-2 in Zack Wheeler's 12 starts this season, while the Pirates have lost eight straight when Paul Skenes is on the mound.
The Phillies are coming off an 8-0 win on Tuesday after blowing a 5-0 lead in Monday's 11-7 loss. Philadelphia has alternated wins and losses over the last five games and scored 24 runs in that span. The Phillies offense is cooking lately with a .278 batting average over the last six games (6th), the fourth-most home runs (10), and hits (58).
Over the past week (six games), the Pirates lead the MLB in home runs (14), strikeouts (72), and have the fifth-most walks taken (22). Pittsburgh has averaged six runs per game in that span as the offense hasn't been the problem. In June, the Buccos' pitching staff ranks 26th in ERA (4.98), 24th in WHIP (1.44), and 22nd in OBA (.258). Over the last week, Pittsburgh hasn't improved (5.60 ERA) with 36 runs allowed (35 in the last five).
Let’s dive into the matchup and find a sweat or two.
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2026 stats: 75.1 IP, 8-1, 2.03 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 74 K, 19 BB
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The Philadelphia Flyers have officially missed out on one of their notable forward trade targets: Mavrik Bourque.
The Nashville Predators have acquired Bourque and defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin from the Dallas Stars in exchange for a 2027 second-round pick and a 2028 third-round pick (from the Vegas Golden Knights).
With Bourque being a young skilled center with good upside, it made sense that the Flyers were among the teams that had him on their radar. However, he is now heading to the Predators with this trade.
Bourque just had a breakout year for the Stars in 2025-26, as he set career highs with 20 goals, 21 assists, and 41 points in 82 games. This was after he had 11 goals and 25 points in 73 games as a rookie for the Stars during the 2024-25 season.
With the Stars having limited cap space and Bourque being a restricted free agent, it makes sense that they have moved him. Unfortunately, the Flyers are not the lucky team to get him, and they will need to explore their options elsewhere.