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As Alex Weiner noted last night, the D-backs after 91 games have exactly the same 45-46 point they had after 91 games in both 2024 and 2025. Of course, in neither of the previous season did Arizona end up making the playoffs. But things the rest of the way went rather different. In 2024, the D-backs had the second-best record in the National League from this point on, going 44-27. Unfortunately, the New York Mets were almost as good, and their 45-28 mark proved sufficient to bring them into a three-way tie with the Diamondbacks on 89 wins, and that infamous double-header against the Braves which saw both side win the tie-breaker against us.

In 2025, however, the mediocrity continued. They were a mere 35-36 thereafter, on their way to eighty wins. However, the bar was considerably lower to reach the post-season. A mere 83 wins was sufficient for the Reds to make the playoffs – ironically, it was the Mets turn to lose out on the tiebreaker. The D-backs could have been involved as well. In their penultimate series, they walked off the Dodgers to move to 80-77: winning three of their last five contests would have had them finish on 83 wins as well (though they dropped the season series to the Reds anyway). But they lost all five contests, and were eliminated after Friday night’s loss in San Diego.

Which way will things break over the remainder of 2026? Only time will tell. We don’t know if the team will buy or sell, and that could well be a factor. Or maybe not. After all, Mike Hazen sold last year, but the D-backs then went on a bit of a tear to keep things interesting into the final week. Meanwhile, the 2024 team bought A.J. Puk and Josh Bell, and after 140 games were 2.5 games clear. But they played below .500 ball the rest of the way, going 10-12, and that ended up costing them. So it’s very hard to predict. But as the chart above shows, the rest of the way we can’t possibly find ourselves with the same record as 2025 and 2024 again!

Perhaps they should rename Comerica Park to Rogers Center after Jake Rogers’ pinch performance helped the Tigers beat the A’s 6-1.

The Tigers have been pretty good lately, 7-3 for their last 10 games, and as we know, performing well against teams with much better records than theirs. So naturally, against another fourth-place team, they’re going to potentially struggle. However, they did take the first game of the series against the A’s, so how this series will play out is anyone’s guess. The Tigers had Troy Melton on the mound up against Jeffrey Springs for the A’s.

The A’s went 1-2-3 in the top of the first. The home half took considerably longer to work through. With one out, Dillon Dingler singled and was able to advance to second on a throwing error by the A’s third baseman. Kevin McGonigle walked, then Spencer Torkelson walked. Springs was having a heck of a time finding the zone, and that didn’t change when Riley Greene came up to bat, and both Greene and the catcher challenged pitches, both of them balls, before Greene singled to score Dingler and put the Tigers on the board first. Two outs followed, but they had certainly worn Springs down early.

After the first out of the second inning, there was a pause in play. A foul tip hit Dingler in his exposed hand, and while he stayed in through the top of the inning, he did ultimately leave the game. No current status updates. With two outs in the second, Lawrence Butler doubled. Then Joshua Kuroda-Grauer (a challenger for the Isiah Kiner-Falefa crown of making me struggle to spell their names right) singled. A final out ended the inning and the threat. In the bottom of the inning, Nick Kurtz was out of the game for the A’s after two, citing illness, so a rough game all around. Zach McKinstry got a one-out single. Then, with two outs and pinch-hitting for Dingler, Jake Rogers came in and hit a home run. Now that’s how you step in with style.

The A’s went 1-2-3 in the top of the third. The Tigers, likewise, went down in order in the bottom of the inning.

In the top of the fourth things got rough for Melton for the first time all game. Tyler Soderstrom got a one-out double. Jacob Wilson then reached on a fielding error by McKinstry, which allowed Soderstrom to score. With two outs, Kuroda-Grauer singled. Melton managed to get out of the jam, though, with only the one run scored. In the home half, the Tigers went down in order once again.

Melton struck out the side in the fifth, though Jeff McNeil really fought him for the final out of the inning, and then when he finally did strike out, he had a good scream at himself.

In the bottom of the inning, Rogers continued to have himself a heck of a game with a leadoff single, then hustled all the way to third when McGonigle singled. He was looking a little breathless after that, so Spencer Torkelson decided to give him a break and hit a three-run homer to clear the bases.

Riley Greene walked, which was the end of the game for Springs. He was replaced by Justin Sterner. Sterner came in and got the final two outs of the inning. The Tigers were up 6-1 after five innings.

In the top of the sixth, Soderstrom walked with one out. Melton’s day was done at that point with a final line of 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 E, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K on 91 pitches. Keider Montero came in to replace him, and gave up a walk to Jacob Wilson. Two outs followed to get the Tigers out of the inning, no harm done. Mason Barnett was the new A’s pitcher in the home half. With one out, McKinstry walked. McKinstry was then eliminated by a force out off the bat of Matt Vierling. Rogers drew a walk, putting him on base for every one of his at-bats for the evening. The Tigers ultimately left their baserunners stranded, unfortunately.

Carlos Cortes got the A’s going in the seventh with a leadoff single. With two outs, McNeil singled, so maybe he can be a bit nicer to himself later. Montero got out of the inning, though. José Suarez came in to pitch for the A’s in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Greene singled. However, two outs followed to leave another baserunner stranded.

In the eighth, Montero was replaced by Tyler Holton, who got three outs in a row. The Tigers also went three-up, three-down. Now they just had to get the final outs of the game to lock it down.

Beau Brieske was the man the Tigers turned to for the ninth. Kuroda-Grauer singled to get things started. With two outs, he took second on defensive indifference. It was Rogers who caught the final out of the inning, a cherry on top of an incredible evening for him.

Final: Tigers 6, A’s 1

I don’t want to write this recap.

The Mariners lost 2-0 to the Marlins on Wednesday. It was a very boring game. George Kirby pitched well, in the way that George Kirby often pitches well, but not in the way that he pitched so well as to be newsworthy. The Mariners lineup hit poorly, in the way that the Mariners lineup often hits poorly, but not in the way that they hit so poorly as to be newsworthy. The Marlins stadium on television is ugly and empty and fills me with an unseasonal depression. I don’t want to write this recap.

The Mariners offense was bad today. Five hits, two walks, one hit by pitch, no runs. They distributed this modest sum with a base runner in each the first four innings; they didn’t get another base runner until Josh Naylor singled with one out in the ninth. It never felt like they were going to score. I don’t even remember who pitched for the Marlins, because whatever it is about LoanDepot Park renders everything into an ocular Lorem Ipsum. Again, it was very, very boring to watch. The most interesting thing that happened for the Mariners on offense was Naylor swung and missed so hard at an 0-1 pitch in the sixth inning that he fell over and needed a few moments to recover. I chose to believe he simply fell asleep mid swing.

Kirby was good again. He threw six innings and struck out seven with 12 whiffs. He walked nobody and didn’t give up a ton of grounders, so it felt almost like a vintage Kirby outing, rather than the still pretty decent but definitely new version of Kirby we’ve seen much of this year.

The Marlins got the only run they’d need with a solo homer from Kyle Stowers to lead off the second. In the third, Javier Sanoja hit a lead off double. He was later erased after Luke Raley made a nice, not-so-boring diving catch, tossing to second for an easy double play. Unfortunately, the Marlins followed later in the inning with a single and a triple to make it 2-0, increasing their lead over the Mariners by infinity.

In the fourth, Heriberto Hernández got a double. Jakob Marsee hit a rocket grounder to short that nearly hit Hernández. In his attempt to get out of the way, Hernández strayed too far from the bag, and Colt Emerson raced him back to second and tagged him with a dive.

In the fifth, Otto Lopez doubled with two outs. The Marlins nearly scored again on an Xavier Edwards single, but Victor Robles fielded and fired home to Cal Raleigh, who made a great snag and tag for the final out.

Well, those last three things weren’t that boring. The Mariners actually played pretty solid defense on Wednesday, which is closer to a miracle that it is boring. Frankly, if the Mariners had won this game, I would have called it “solid” or “necessary” or maybe even “rugged.” But, well, they didn’t. With two outs in the ninth and Naylor on third, Cole Young watched the final strike three on a pitch that was well outside. It seemed he, too, was so bored that he didn’t bother to challenge. The Mariners lost 2-0.

After striking out 17 times in each of the first two games of this series, the Yankees managed to rein in the whiffs today. However, this more contact-oriented approach brought far worse results than their five runs in the opener and four runs last night. They found themselves shut out for the sixth time this season as they managed just six hits and didn’t draw a single walk. Yandy Díaz was a perfect 4-for-4, Jonathan Aranda drove in all three runs, and Shane McClanahan tossed 6.1 scoreless as the Yankees went down without much resistance, 3-0.

Paul Goldschmidt might be mired in the worst stretch of his career. After improbably powering the offense in the first half of June, the regression monster caught up all at once with the 38 year old. He entered this game amid a career-worst 0-for-30 skid, and with his strikeout in the first had struck out in eight straight plate appearances. He’d finish the day 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, which ties him for the second-longest hitless streak in franchise history at 34 ABs, just two behind Gil McDougald’s 0-for-36 in 1959.

Gerrit Cole’s fastball velocity and command at the bottom of the zone looked just as good as it did last time out against the Twins, averaging 97 mph and collecting four of his six strikeouts. However, he just fell victim to some pesky hitting by the first two hitters in the Rays lineup and exactly zero run support from his offense. In the third, Yandy Díaz reached on a two-out double that came close to leaving the yard and Jonathan Aranda singled him home to open the scoring. In the fifth, Nick Fortes and Díaz reached on a pair of one-out singles, a double from Aranda driving Fortes home, though José Caballero made a nice snap throw home to gun down Díaz on a Junior Caminero grounder to avoid further damage in the frame.

The Yankees tried a sequence of small ball to open the scoring in the second, but just barely got beat out in the fundamentals department by the Rays. Jasson Domínguez reached on a one-out swinging bunt single and then went first to third after getting a good read on an Anthony Volpe bloop jam-shot to the opposite field. They then attempted the safety squeeze on the very first pitch to Max Schuemann, but Domínguez didn’t quite get a wide enough lead off third, Schuemann didn’t quite bunt the ball far enough down the third base line, and a perfect scoop and glove toss from McClanahan and an excellent, legal plate block and tag by Nick Fortes at home got Domínguez by a step, Austin Wells then popping out to strand a pair.

All the air went out of the Yankees’ balloon upon that failure to capitalize, McClanahan retiring 11 in a row starting with the out at home. They had to wait until the sixth inning for their next baserunner, José Caballero leading off with a bunt single. That got erased in a hurry, Caballero getting thrown out at second on a strike-em-out throw-em-out double play that resulted in both Aaron Boone and Brad Ausmus getting thrown out of the game by home plate umpire Doug Eddings after he ruled they took too long to challenge the play and refused to send it to the replay center.

Rosario led off the seventh with a single, and after McClanahan retired Cody Bellinger, Kevin Cash emerged from the dugout to retrieve his starter at the end of a season-long outing of 6.1 scoreless innings allowing four hits and no walks while striking out five. Domínguez collected his second infield single of the day to put a pair on with one out, but a Volpe strikeout and Trent Grisham pinch-hit fly out stranded them in place.

Cole also completed 6.1 innings, departing with a runner on first in the seventh after Taylor Walls drew a leadoff walk. Fernando Cruz inherited his runner and surrendered a single to Díaz — his fourth hit of the day — to put runners on the corners for Aranda, his sac fly to center driving in his third run of the day to give him 61 RBI on the year — 3rd-most in the AL. It was a start that in many ways mirrored his outing against Minnesota, Cole leaning on the four-seamer as he struggled to find a consistent release point for the slider and changeup. Too many of his secondaries were either over the heart of the plate or complete waste pitches to be able to fool the Rays hitters. His final line saw him allow three runs on seven hits and a walk with six strikeouts in 6.1 innings.

The Yankees went quietly in the final two innings. They were put down in order in the eighth, and after a Ben Rice single to lead off the ninth, Bryan Baker struck out the next three batters to slam the door on a game that took just over two hours and fifteen minutes — 3-0, Rays your final score.

New York will look to salvage a series split tomorrow afternoon. They have not announced the starter who will face off against Yankee killer Drew Rasmussen. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. ET with the broadcast returning to YES.

Box Score

Despite getting completely and totally blanked for the first six innings of this contest, the Atlanta Braves eventually broke through and ended up pulling off a 3-0 victory in an excellent pitching performance from Grant Holmes and Atlanta’s bullpen.

It would be an understatement to call this one a pitchers’ duel, as both starters were dominant for the period of time where they were out there. Grant Holmes successfully navigated his way through two trips through the order as he finished with just three hits allowed and one walk conceded across five innings of work and five strikeouts. The slider and cutter were both working pretty effectively for Holmes — everything was working, really, as Holmes picked up two strikeouts on the four-seamer and three on the slider.

The only time that Holmes ran into trouble was in the third inning, which is when he found himself with two runners in scoring position with two outs after he led off the inning hitting Henry Davis and then gave up a two-out single to Bryan Reynolds. Fortunately, Holmes was able to get Esmerlyn Valdez to pop up on a four-seamer and that was that for the scoring chance. That was as close as Pittsburgh got to scoring off of Holmes before he eventually exited the game with 90 pitches after five innings.

As good as Homes was, Jared Jones was better. Jones was just about untouchable against the Braves tonight, as he struck out eight batters without giving up a hit or a walk through six innings of work. Atlanta’s lineup couldn’t handle him at all, which is why it was probably a huge relief for the Braves once they saw Mason Montgomery walk out for the seventh inning.

The crowd in Pittsburgh disagreed with the decision and they voiced their disapproval after Ozzie Albies ended the combined perfect game bid with a looping single out to left to give the Braves their first hit and baserunner of the game. While Jones has been kind of easing back into things following elbow issues, it certainly took a lot of the neutral intrigue out of the game once it was clear that the Pirates weren’t going to let him go for the perfect game.

Either way, the Braves were unable to do anything with the baserunner in the seventh inning as Montgomery sat down the Braves in short order after the hit. However, Atlanta’s fortunes improved once the eighth inning rolled around and an old friend of Pittsburgh’s got a chance to do some damage against his old club.

Earlier in the game, Joey Bart came the closest to getting the Braves on the board after he hit a deep fly ball in the third inning that only made it to the warning track. The funny part is that despite the hard contact, Bart busted it out of the batter’s box because he knew this ballpark and knew that he probably didn’t get enough of it for a dinger. This time in the eighth inning, he did, in fact, get enough of it. Bart followed up Mike Yastrzemski’s double off the wall in right field with a 422-foot shoot to left-center in order to finally break the deadlock and put the Braves in the lead.

Thanks to Didier Fuentes and Dylan Dodd keeping the Buccos quiet once they entered in relief of Grant Holmes, that set the stage for Dylan Lee to enter the game and deliver another strong performance out of the bullpen. That set the stage for the Braves to add on some more insurance as Michael Harris II led off the ninth with a double and then Drake Baldwin cashed in Money Mike with an RBI knock to make it 3-0.

With the lead at three runs, it was now up to Raisel Iglesias to make it stick and get a tiny bit of redemption following his rare blown save on Monday. The first batter for Iggy is always crucial and this time, Iglesias struck out Esmerlyn Valdez to get the inning started on the right track. While Iglesias did end up walking a batter, the Pirates weren’t able to even get the tying run aboard and the Braves ended up taking the 3-0 shutout victory.

For a while, this sure seemed like teh Braves were going to be on the wrong side of history for a second night in a row. Instead, Atlanta took advantage of the pitching change and did enough damage to Pittsburgh’s bullpen while the Braves’ bullpen was back in great form as well. Grant Holmes pitching five great innings sure helped matters as well and the Braves were able to snap their losing streak at the earliest point to where you could call it a losing streak.

It’ll be a quick turnaround for everybody involved as the rubber match takes place tomorrow afternoon at 12:35 p.m. ET. The Pirates will turn to Mitch Keller while Bryce Elder will be making his return to the rotation for the Braves. Hopefully he can pick up where Grant Holmes and the rest of Atlanta’s pitching staff left off and we’ll see the Braves pick up a much-needed series win after a nice win on Wednesday evening.

The Colorado Rockies have a rare opportunity as they try to win a series on the road against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rockies’ offense has been troublesome for the best team in baseball throughout the series, and after a narrow extra-inning loss on Monday and a comeback victory on Tuesday, Colorado looks to do it again tonight.

Gabriel Hughes (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will make his first career start after debuting against the San Francisco Giants last Friday. Hughes was excellent against the Giants in his debut, firing three scoreless innings to secure a save. He will have a tougher challenge this time out as he faces a dangerous Dodger offense. In nine starts in the minors this year, Hughes has a 4.71 ERA over 36.1 innings of work in that role. He has done excellent work pounding the zone, as evidenced by his 44 strikeouts against 12 walks. He’ll need to be mindful of hitting his spots and utilizing all of his pitches to challenge the Dodgers and avoid getting behind hitters, thus leaving mistakes over the plate.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers will send out Roki Sasaki (3-5, 5.40 ERA). It’s been a tough second season for Sasaki as he has experienced an up-and-down ride. He had one of his worst outings last Thursday when he gave up six runs on seven ‌hits in a season-low three innings against the San Diego Padres. Sasaki has excellent stuff that can result in strikeouts, but he has struggled with his command and given up a lot of contact. He has been hit by the long ball lately, giving up seven home runs over his last four starts.

And now to the details.

First Pitch: 8:10 pm MDT

TV: Rockies TV

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM; KNRV 1150 (Spanish)

SB Nation site: True Blue LA

Lineups:

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Arizona Diamondbacks (45-46) at San Diego Padres (45-46), July 8, 2026, 7:10 p.m. PST

Watch: ESPN

Location: Petco Park – San Diego, Calif.

Listen: 97.3 The Fan

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Marlins 2, Mariners 0

Josh Naylor, +0.20 WPA
Cole Young, -0.34 WPA

Game thread comment of the day:

Gerrit Cole pitched into the seventh but the Yankees did not give him run support in their 3-0 loss to the Rays on Wednesday night.

The Yankees had six hits, all singles, and just could not string together enough hits against Tampa's pitchers. After striking out 17 times in the last two games, the Yankees struck out 11 times. 

New York is now 5.0 games behind the Rays for first place in the AL East. 

Here are the takeaways....

-The Yankees had a chance in the second. With runners on first and third and one out, Max Schuemann laid down a safety squeeze, but Jasson Dominguez didn't get a good jump and the bunt was hit too hard back at Shane McClanahan. Dominguez was called out at the plate and the Yankees would not score. 

Their next best chance came in the seventh. With runners on first and second and one out, Anthony Volpe struck out and a pinch-hitting Trent Grisham flew out to end the threat. New York was 0-for-4 with RISP and left four on base. 

-Unlike the Yankees, the Rays did capitalize on an early opportunity. Yandy Diaz hit a one-out double that was nearly a homer in the third. Jonathan Aranda hit a single to Dominguez in right, but the outfielder's throw home was off the line, allowing Diaz to score. An on-target throw would have likely got Diaz out at the plate. 

Aranda would drive in the game's second run with a one-out double in the fifth with two runners on. Gerrit Cole worked out of trouble to limit the damage, but allowed a third run in the seventh on an Aranda sac fly off of Fernando Cruz -- the runner on third was Cole's responsibility.

-Cole gave the Yankees exactly what they needed. He pitched 6.1 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out six batters. This is now two straight good starts for Cole after he allowed two runs across five innings on July 3 against the Twins. He tossed 97 pitches on Wednesday, his most since returning from Tommy John surgery. 

-Paul Goldschmidt's struggles continued. He finished 0-for-4 and his hitless streak is now a career-worst 0-for-34. Volpe went 1-for-3 starting at short while Jose Caballero was also 1-for-3, and started at second. 

-Manager Aaron Boone was tossed for the third time this season in the sixth. Home plate umpire Doug Eddings tossed bench coach Brad Ausmus first, and then Boone was thrown out for defending Ausmus. It seemed like the Yankees were miffed when they were not allowed to challenge an out call when Caballero was thrown out at second on a steal attempt. 

Game MVP: Jonathan Aranda

Aranda drove in all three of the Rays' runs

What's next

The Yankees and Rays complete their four-game set on Thursday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1:10 p.m.

The Yankees have yet to announce a starter, while the Rays will send Drew Rasmussen (7-4, 2.78 ERA) to the mound.