Category: Sports News

Here are the lineups. For the Phillies:

For the Mets:

The Cincinnati Reds slugged four homers in their series opening 7-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Friday, with Spencer Steer responsible for a pair of them. On Saturday, they’ll look to take the series victory as they face off against righty Tomoyuki Sugano.

Sugano’s one of those rare birds who’s actually been a bit better pitching in Coors Field in 2026 than he has in other parks. He owns a 4.14 ERA at home and has held opponents to roughly 50 points lower in terms of OPS, and only 5 of the 16 dingers he has yielded have come in the high altitude of his home park. That said, lefties have slugged .581 off him so far this season, and Elly De La Cruz is red hot at the moment…

Rhett Lowder gets the ball for the Reds as their shuffled rotation takes form in the season’s second half while Nick Lodolo recovers from yet another blister problem. Lowder has pitched in long relief in each of his last trio of outings, his last start coming back on June 30th.

First pitch in this afternoon affair is set for 3:10 PM ET. Here’s how both clubs will line up to start:

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An eventful weekend series between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies continues today, with first pitch moved up to 3:05 p.m. ET in advance of expected thunderstorms.

The Mets won the opener, snapping a three-game losing streak, but Philadelphia is a -169 moneyline favorite and should have the pitching edge by a wide margin.

Read on for my Mets vs. Phillies predictions and MLB picks for Saturday, July 18.

Who will win Mets vs Phillies today: Phillies -1.5 (+119)

Ideally, I'd like to keep those runs, but the moneyline is far too expensive to take the Philadelphia Phillies straight up. It's currently in the -160 range. I'd prefer -120 and would go up to the mid -130s.

The last-place New York Mets have a .377 winning percentage with a -1.2 differential per game against .500+ teams. Against current playoff teams, they're .333, -1.9. The Phillies, meanwhile, are .651 against losing teams.

The Phillies start Jesus Luzardo, who is fourth in MLB in strikeouts and is above the 80th percentile in every major pitching metric except walk rate (62nd) and chase rate (78th).

Play to +100. 

COVERS INTEL: Luzardo has added almost 150 revolutions to his sweeper's spin rate from last season, and batters are now hitting .131 against it.

Mets vs Phillies Over/Under pick: Under 8.5 (-103)

The Mets' four runs on Friday matched their total for the previous three games. New York also saw Juan Soto leave in the eighth with a sore left calf, the same problem that sent him to the IL in April. He's listed as day-to-day.

The Mets start Sean Manaea, who is being showcased as a likely deadline deal to a contender. He's 2-4, 4.56, but is 4.35 with a 1.258 WHIP in his last four starts, 3.75, 1.083 in his last two. Philly has scored 3.5 runs per game in the last 10, nearly a full run lower than their season average.

Play to -110. 

Mets vs Phillies weather

Humid with rain in the forecast. The winds are moderate and blowing out to center field. 

Mets vs Phillies odds

• Moneyline: Mets +156 | Phillies -163
• Run line: Mets +1.5 (-133) | Phillies -1.5 (+127)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 (-108) | Under 8.5 (+104)

Mets vs Phillies trend

The Phillies have hit the F5 team total Over in nine of their last 12 games at home (+5.55 Units / 40% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Mets vs. Phillies.

How to watch Mets vs Phillies and game info

Mets vs Phillies latest injuries

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Too bad the crossroads seem to overlook a cliff on all sides, but which way do you want to go? This reminds me of a trip to Europe years ago in which Siri instructed, calmly, “turn left”. Only we were driving on a mountain road and for as long as the eye could see a left turn sent you plunging off a cliff down a steep embankment. I bring this up because had I just followed Siri’s guidance I would not have had to endure this 3-18 stretch on the heels of a 1-20 free fall last season.

But here we are, alive in some technical sense and wondering which way to turn as the team faces a double-digit losing streak capped by a downright embarrassing 23-4 loss.

I think the absurdity of the A’s pitching failures are summed up by Johnny Doskow’s note on the radio last night when he said, “The 23 runs given up ties a season high for the A’s.” Ties. Not in literally the last 71 years has a team been able to say that — oh and in 1955 it was the Kansas City A’s.

I could emphasize the level of quagmire the A’s are in with stats, but that would be wantonly cruel. OK fine, I will. The A’s now have a home ERA of 6.63 and have surrendered 97 HR in 48 games. They are 15-27 (.357) in West Sacramento. Their -125 run differential is the only one in negative triple digits. Over their past 15 games the A’s are 1-14. Since July 1st they have held a lead for 6 pitches.

But the question in front of the A’s right now, besides “How do we outscore our opponent for a night, or at least for 7 pitches?”, is what direction to go as a team that thought it had transitioned from “rebuild” to “ competitive” only to find itself with the 3rd worst record in the American League?

Option 1 is to attribute much of the problem to injuries, and wait for key players such as Nick Kurtz and Zack Gelof to return, and to hope some of the pitchers like Jacob Lopez, Jeffrey Springs, and maybe at some point Luis Morales, can revert back to their 2025 selves or better.

This is a naive and terrible option, as what has become glaring is that right now the A’s are not 1 starting pitcher, 1 reliever, or 1 position player away from being contenders. Getting guys back will certainly help a lot, but the A’s have gotten to the point where “much improved” would be to go 7-8 instead of 1-14, for the pitchers to give up 5 runs in a game instead of the 8+ they allow 41.6% of the time at home (yes, folks, 20 times in 48 tries).

Option 2 is not just to sell, but to try to sell pieces at the deadline that can bring back a meaningful return. The A’s are in the unfortunate position where most of their players are either essential core pieces or have little trade value due to contract or performance.

The closest thing to a possible “sweet spot” exception is Shea Langeliers, whose name has begun to be bandied about in online trade rumors — but not ones coming from reliable inside sources, just internet chat buzz at this point. There is also a prevailing sense that even if the A’s were open to trading Langeliers the best time to do it would be the off-season, not the trading deadline.

That being said, given that the A’s — still with plenty of their players healthy — are not 38-38 but rather 41-56 and sinking fast with abominable pitching, I think the A’s probably do need to listen on Langeliers especially were a deal to fall into their lap in which they could procure a decent replacement catcher and a top young pitching prospect.

It’s hard to know who is looking for what and then which players they would be willing to move, not to mention which players the A’s scouts believe in as trade targets. So it’s generally foolish for fans to sit suggesting specific deals, but I will offer examples of possible frameworks.

If the White Sox came calling ready to deal Kyle Teel and Hagen Smith (the #5 overall pick in 2024) that might be a worthwhile conversation. (Updated note: I wrote this not realizing Smith is out with a sore shoulder, which changes the landscape.) Same if the Red Sox came calling offering Carlos Narvaez and Connelly Early (whose current IL stint with elbow inflammation might make him a riskier get but also a more possible one). The Yankees could potentially make Carlos Lagrange available along with the excellent defensive catcher Austin Wells, whose bat cratered this season but was much better in 2025. So there are frameworks and specific players who could make sense — but there truly are not many.

As far as other possible trade chips that could bring back value, it doesn’t help that Henry Bolte’s fast start has been followed by a stat-wrecking funk on both sides of the ball, that Lawrence Butler continues to wade in the waters of the Mendoza line, that Jacob Wilson has not been able to stay healthy, or that Colby Thomas’ many shortcomings have been soundly exposed.

Option 3 is probably the most likely one and that is some tepid moves at the deadline that don’t move the needle unless some prospect breaks out far more than expected. Mark Leiter Jr. might draw interest, but the return is not going to be much. The same is true of Jonah Heim, whose most recent transaction was to be dealt for cash.

Option 4 probably came and went with the All-Star break, at least until the off-season, and that is to clean house of more than just one pitching coach and bring new voices and leadership to a still talented group that has veered off course like Columbus trying to find Asia with a broken compass and plays a generally undisciplined and not fundamentally sound brand of baseball.

The front office seems strangely forgiving of and committed to a band of coaches/manager who are best known for epic skids of 21 games and an ability to adjust. Perhaps a lack of sufficient talent on the field, partly due to injuries, is to blame — that seems to be the common refrain. But its mid-July and the quality of at bats, pitch selection and execution, fundamentals, and ability to stop the bleeding has not improved and this should not be summarily excused.

2026 will mark the 5th consecutive season the A’s have fallen out of contention by the All-Star break, and this year it was hard to do given that the AL West leader is 1 game over .500 while 48-48 gets you the 3rd wild card spot.

Without question the plan has been for the A’s to contend in 2027 and so the question becomes: how would you proceed in the next couple weeks in order to further that goal? And then again in the 0ff-season? The team may be at a crossroads, and every turn may take you off a cliff, but the A’s have to do something (doing nothing qualifies as something) and the next test of a chosen direction will be the August 3rd trading deadline.

Got any great ideas?

Here’s the Guardians lineup:

Here’s the Pirates lineup:

Let’s go, Guardians!

The Pittsburgh Pirates are getting underway with the second half of their season and the trade deadline is fast approaching. The Pirates currently sit at fourth in the NL Central division with a 50-47 record, but are only 1.5 games back from a Wild Card berth. The Pirates are in a prime position to add to their squad and the fans at Bucs Dugout echo that, with 90% of the fans voting that the Pirates should buy at the trade deadline this season.

For the first time in a long time it looks like the Pirates may actually add to their roster instead of doing some aggressive house cleaning. With their current record and the deadline coming on August 3, the Buccos should look to add some pieces to put them over the top as the Wild Card race starts to heat up. The Milwaukee Brewers are firmly set in first place for now, but otherwise the division is very much within striking distance for the plucky Pirates.

The question now is would the Pirates try and target in a trade. Brandon Lowe has been a piece that has been brought up in trade rumors all season, but they are especially ramping up after his All-Star snub. With the emergence of Esmerlyn Valdez and Ryan O’Hearn being key contributors, several have speculated if Spencer Horwitz could now be a piece that gets moved. Then of course there’s Carmen Mlodzinski who famously backslid after his move to the bullpen from the rotation and causing some friction in the clubhouse. Does he get moved strictly off of morale and team culture being threatened?

When it comes to who the Pirates should be targeting, a big time reliever would be nearly unanimous in wants and needs from this fanbase. A reunion with Aroldis Chapman was rumored but the Boston Red Sox are surging now and may not be willing to give up that piece like they could’ve been earlier in the year. It would take a complete package but the idea of trading for Mason Miller has circulated online recently, but again the Padres are not in a terrible position themselves. Andrew Filliponi of 93.7 The Fan suggested that the Pirates target some lefty pitching, and threw out names like Kyle Freeland and Jeffrey Springs as possible candidates. Both the Rockies and the Athletics are almost certainly going to be looking to sell at the deadline.

FanDuel SportsBook currently gives the Pirates +245 odds to make the postseason, but also has a line giving the Pirates -345 odds to miss the playoffs altogether. No need to sugarcoat it, these are the best odds for the Pirates to make the playoffs in a decade. The Pirates should be looking to buy and add at the deadline versus cleaning up shop and getting ready for next season.

Who do yinz think the Pirates should try and trade for? Let us know in the comments!

As the All-Star break and MLB Draft are over, the next mission for teams is the trade deadline. Who’s actually looking to buy, sell, or even do a bit of both as the season rolls to the August second deadline.

For a Phillies team that sits 54-44, they’ve established themselves as clear buyers with aspirations for contending given their payroll and previous seasons. The deadline has been both a chance to fill in marginal upgrade or take big swings depending on what’s available. They were able to do both last year, acquiring Jhoan Duran and Harrison Bader in separate trades with the Minnesota Twins that changed the outlook of the Phillies team completely.

Will they get a deadline like that this year? Probably not, but they have some similar issues this year. So, here is a power ranking of their needs as the deadline approaches.

1. A playable outfielder and new direction

Even with Brandon Marsh becoming an all-star and Derek Hill having the best stretch of his career in red pinstripes, the outfield still ranks among the worst in baseball. As a group, they rank 28th in wRC+ at 85, 28th in fWAR at 0.9, and 20th in Outs Above Average at -4. They’re not particularly good at anything and no one should be projected to play way better moving forward.

Getting the Gabriel Rincones Jr and Edmundo Sosa platoon off the field would be a big win by default. Rincones specifically has not impressed since being called up from AAA, hitting just .171 with a .503 OPS in 74 plate appearances. Defensively, he looks more like a future first baseman with some outfield capability rather than someone that should play most days in right field.

Sosa’s .625 OPS looks worse than what is actually happening; he’s been hitting the ball normally hard but has been a victim of a career-low BABIP. However, he is still best served as someone who should stay on the infield, grading out as a plus defender at second and third base while being a negative in left field.

Acquiring some sort of playable outfielder that can remove this platoon situation is probably the bare minimum that needs to be done this deadline. If nothing else happens, try to put a band aid on this wound.

The rest of this outfield cannot carry this issue either. Justin Crawford has a .658 OPS while being a below-average defender in center field, it’s fine given he’s a rookie but he’s still been roughly replacement-level and none of the other internal options have worked either.

Two other things make acquiring a playable outfielder the most important issue to address at the deadline. One is that it’s hard to expect Brandon Marsh and Derek Hill to keep playing the way they are. Marsh has begun slumping with a .483 OPS in July, making his season totals much closer to his normal career line. Hill has been a very nice story, but he has struck out on 23 of his 55 plate appearances as a Phillie with a .538 BABIP. He is a role player, a solid one, on the biggest heater of his major league career.

Two is that the infield is not lifting this group nearly as well. Trea Turner and Alec Bohm have had bad seasons and Bryson Stott has worked up to an 86 OPS+ after a bad start, which is roughly on the low-end of what he is as a hitter. Even with Bryce Harper having a good season (not an elite one), it’s not a group that will lift the outfield’s lack of production. This doesn’t even mention JT Realmuto’s issues this season.

2. A high leverage setup man

If outfield is their biggest need, this might be the best one to shop for given how available bullpen arms tend to be. With Brad Keller’s UCL Tear, the need for it to be a left-handed reliever probably matters less.

Jhoan Duran is Jhoan Duran and they will have to extend him as much as possible in October if they want to win a World Series. That’s just the reality of having someone like him on your roster. Jonathan Bowlan has looked like a really good get this season, giving them a 2.84 ERA with elite swing and miss stuff.

At the lowest point, it would be smart to try and shop for someone that slides after them. Given their starting pitching trio of Cristopher Sanchez, Zack Wheeler, and Jesus Luzardo, it should be easier to funnel high leverage situations into two or three arms over the course of October.

Acquiring one arm would put Orion Kerkering and Jose Alvarado in roles that probably suit how their seasons are going. Kerkering has a 2.43 ERA but has pitched worse under the surface, walking 12.7% of hitters he’s faced with a very bad ground ball rate.

Alvarado is a wild card that the Phillies shouldn’t give up on yet. The 6.82 ERA is very bad, but it is simply not indicative with how he’s pitched. Alvarado is striking out over 29% of batters he’s faced, limited walks, and has been solid quality of contact. His ERA has been as high as it’s been thanks to a .440 BABIP that seems impossible to sustain moving forward.

3. Some kind of non-Alan Rangel fifth starter

This should be the least expensive of their needs given the bar. They are not looking for someone to save the rotation but having an extra starting pitcher for the stretch run would help. It almost certainly will not be what Walker Buehler provided them last year but they could just use a body.

Alan Rangel has looked fine for someone who shouldn’t face more than 18 batters a night but it could tax the bullpen over time and is probably part of why those team totals have been an issue. Aaron Nola has been a lot better his last three starts, but is still a question whether he will finish six innings during a start.

Adding another body would just make pitching plans more flexible for the stretch run. Whether that’s combining him and Rangel in a game if the bullpen has been overworked and needs a day or if they feel the need to run a six man or just something else. More flexibility is generally good to have.

While they sit only 2.5 games back of the NL East as of this writing, they still should be thinking about trying to get this pitching staff healthy and ready for a wild card series. Winning the division is always great but they sit six back of the Brewers for a top-two seed, a much more difficult goal to achieve.

There are at least 576 more innings to go in the regular season, they could use another bulk option to help them get through it.

As the Trade Deadline approaches, Yankees fans have a pretty good idea that the team will be looking to add some bullpen help at the deadline. I can, of course, cite reasons why they should — thanks in large part to Camilo Doval, Jake Bird, and (regrettably) Tim Hill, the team has a combined 15 blown saves (tied for 10th in the league), a pedestrian 22.3 strikeout percentage, and their 82 shutdowns—defined by FanGraphs as “when a reliever accumulates greater than or equal to 0.06 WPA in any individual game”—ranks definitively in the bottom half of the league.

Let’s be honest, though: it doesn’t really matter what the state of the bullpen is: a three-headed monster of Chad Green, Dellin Betances, and Aroldis Chapman didn’t stop Brian Cashman from acquiring Zack Britton in 2018, after all. In fact, in the last 10 years, the Yankees have added a whopping 16 relievers at the Trade Deadline: Tyler Clippard, Adam Warren, David Robertson, Tommy Kahnle, Britton, Lance Lynn (he was supposed to join the bullpen, before the plug was pulled on the Sonny Gray experience), Joely Rodríguez, Clay Holmes, Lou Trivino, Scott Effross, Keynan Middleton, Mark Leiter Jr., Enyel De Los Santos, David Bednar, Bird, and Doval; only in 2019 and the COVID-shortened 2020 did they fail to add one.

In that same stretch, the Yankees have also made a habit of poaching players from the Colorado Rockies, acquiring, to varying levels of success, DJ LeMahieu, Adam Ottavino, Mike Tauchman, Ryan McMahon, Angel Chivilli, and Jake Bird. Might the Bombers go to that well once more, this time for pitcher Antonio Senzatela?

2026 Statistics (Thus Far): 30 games, 49.0 IP, 9-2 W-L, 3 saves, 3.31 ERA (151 ERA+), 3.22 FIP, 4.12 xFIP, 20.8% K%, 7.9% BB%, 1.224 WHIP, 1.1 fWAR, 1.4 rWAR

2026 ZiPS Rest-of-Season Statistics: 12 games (5 games started), 38.0 IP, 2-4 W-L, 5.17 ERA, 4.69 FIP, 14.6% K%, 7.8% BB%, 0.3 fWAR

Signed as an international amateur free agent out of Venezuela, Senzatela made his MLB debut on April 6, 2017, having cracked the Opening Day roster out of spring training. His career to date has been quite a rollercoaster. Senzatela spent most of his rookie season in the starting rotation, being moved to the bullpen down the stretch in order to limit his innings, as he had missed a chunk of the 2016 minor-league season due to injuries. Further such woes and minor-league stints limited him to just 23 games (13 starts) in 2018, while the juiced ball year hit him hard, as he posted an absurd 6.71 ERA — somehow only a 77 ERA+, a sign of how inflated run totals were in that season. Following a strong 2020 and a solid 2021, the Rockies handed him a five-year extension worth $50.5 million. It turned sour in a hurry: a torn ACL ended his season in August 2022, and after just two starts in 2023, he sprained his UCL and, that July, underwent Tommy John surgery. Senzatela returned to the mound for a brief cameo in 2024, making just three starts at the end of the season.

Finally healthy for the first time in years, Senzatela opened the 2025 season in the Rockies rotation … and proceeded to be one of the worst pitchers in the league: his 6.65 ERA was the highest among pitchers with at least 130 innings, and his -0.1 fWAR topped only Jake Irvin and Erick Fedde in the same category. At the end of August, they were finally forced to send him out to the bullpen, where he finished the season strong, posting a 2.86 ERA in 22 innings across seven appearances.

Now, in the bullpen full-time for the first time in his career, Senzatela has excelled. Among the 165 relievers with at least 30 innings, his 1.1 fWAR ranks 14th, and his 2.39 road ERA would rank 35th (his 3.31 ERA is partially the result of a Coors-inflated 4.37 home ERA). He has cut down his arsenal, notably dropping the slider — the breaking ball he threw most often in 2025 — almost completely, deploying it just 21 times this season. Senzatela has also reduced his reliance on the four-seam fastball, throwing it just 38.7 percent of the time, down from 56.9.

To compensate, the two pitches Senzatela threw the least last season, the cutter and the sinker, have become his second- and third-most common pitch, respectively, with the cutter getting significantly more use (29.9 to 11.4 percent). This gives him—much like Cam Schlittler—a three-fastball arsenal to work with, all of which come out of almost identical arm angles: the fastball and sinker at 41 degrees, the cutter at 39.

Senzatela does use his heater very differently than the hard-throwing Yankees ace, though. His four-seamer and cutter are both designed to generate whiffs, especially against righties, albeit in different ways: the four-seamer is thrown up in the zone at high velocity (97 mph), while the cutter averages just under 92 mph and operates more as a fast slider. His sinker, meanwhile, is thrown at a velocity closer to the fastball (96 mph), but is designed to generate soft contact, as it generates whiffs just 2.4 percent of the time and has yet to record a strikeout this season, but boasts an average “launch” angle of -7 degrees. Occasionally, Senzatela tosses in a curveball, mostly against lefties, which has generated whiffs at a very high rate. Almost half of the 11 plate appearances in which he has thrown a curveball this season has ended with a strikeout on said curveball.

That being said, when you look under the hood, there are some areas of concern:

Despite having an above-average xERA, Senzatela doesn’t do anything particularly well besides fastball velocity, although he doesn’t do anything particularly poorly, either. He doesn’t overwhelm you with strikeouts, gets a decent amount of groundballs on the sinker, walks his fair share of batters (but not an overwhelmingly large amount), and gives up some hard contact. Very little of this, however, is barreled.

Similar to Tim Hill, a few meltdowns which have inflated his ERA (in particular, four-run appearances on June 5th and June 29th raised his June ERA to 8.18). Unlike Hill, however, he hasn’t consistently put together shutdown outings between. In fact, after five scoreless outings to start the season, Senzatela has strung together three-straight scoreless outings just once, and two in a row just three times.

In many ways, Senzatela is outperforming the sum of his parts, which makes him simultaneously a prime candidate to be traded—it seems extraordinarily unlikely the Rockies would want to exercise his 2027 player option, but while the front office has changed, it’s the same Rockies ownership, so you never quite know—and the type of player the Yankees probably should avoid. While circumstances will likely mean that he will cost less in prospect capital than someone with a more reliable track record like Luke Weaver or Adrian Morejon, the Yankees already have quite the stable of inconsistent and unreliable arms.

Senzatela probably makes more sense for a team like the Nationals, a team whose offense has been so prolific they have kept a bullpen completely lacking any competent arms in the race, than for the Yankees, who are looking to lower Aaron Boone’s blood pressure, not increase it.