It’s impossible to tell the story of the 2026 Orioles without mentioning injuries. The same can be said about the 2025 Orioles, the 2024 Orioles, and really every other team. Injuries are always part of baseball, but sometimes they play a larger role than others.

Jordan Westburg will miss the entire 2026 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery on May 13. Zach Eflin made only one start before undergoing the same procedure on May 8. These two will not recover in time to make an impact this year, but other Baltimore players will. Can any of those players give this team the boost it needs to make a real playoff push?

There’s a few banged up players that (hopefully) do not fall into the long term category. Adley Rutschman made his way to the 7-day injured list after a freak play in Seattle. Rutschman will be eligible to return this weekend. It’s unclear whether he’ll come of the injured list as soon as possible, but the Orioles obviously need a healthy Rutschman to achieve any of their goals this season.

Blaze Alexander has been red hot since May 1. Alexander and Jackson Holliday are both considered day-to-day but have yet to hit the IL.

The true candidates for this exercise have missed a significant chunk of the first half. Dean Kremer and Cade Povich qualify, and both started rehab appearances last weekend.

In a surprising move, the Orioles left Kremer off the Opening Day roster to make room for Eflin and Chris Bassitt in the rotation. Kremer made his season debut on April 13, and he delivered a quality start against Cleveland in his second outing. Unfortunately, Kremer went down with a right quad strain. The righty eventually made his way to the 60-day IL and remained on the shelf for two months. Kremer limited his opponent to one run on two hits, two walks and five strikeouts over 3.2 innings for Triple-A on Sunday.

Povich also failed to make the roster out of camp, but the Orioles recalled the lefty in early April after Eflin and reliever Yaramil Hiraldo went down. Povich made his first appearance out of the bullpen with 5.2 innings of bulk relief in Pittsburgh, but he tossed a gem a week later. Povich held San Francisco to one run over 6.2 innings before returning to Norfolk. He rejoined the Orioles at the beginning of May and made two short starts before suffering from elbow inflammation.

Povich tossed 3.1 innings of one-hit ball for Double-A Chesapeake on Sunday.

Could either of these two be our guy? Shane Baz, Kyle Bradish and Trevor Rogers are all cemented in the rotation. Brandon Young has pitched his way into some job security with a phenomenal first half, but there’s still room in the rotation right now. Trey Gibson appears to have the chops to make it as a major league pitcher, but the rookie holds a 5.81 ERA through six appearances. Gibson has yet to complete six innings in a big league start, and it feels like the Orioles are treading water on days that he takes the mound.

When healthy, Kremer should replace Gibson as the fifth starter. Kremer holds a career 4.26 ERA over seven seasons. He may not wow anyone, but he’ll raise the floor of the rotation. With the Orioles currently sitting under .500, every game counts. Kremer should provide stability and some much needed length to help a struggling bullpen.

Speaking of the ‘pen, the Orioles could use Povich down there. The front office may decide to keep Povich in Norfolk’s rotation, but don’t rule out the club working the lefty into its mix of relievers.

The same can be said for Bassitt whenever he returns. Bassitt didn’t exactly ingratiate himself to Orioles fans in his first season with the club. The 37-year-0ld holds a 5.27 ERA through 12 appearances, and the O’s have yet to provide a timetable for the veteran after he went down with back tightness on June 5. Bassitt played a significant relief role for the Blue Jays team on their way to a World Series appearance last season. A healthy Bassitt would bump Gibson from the rotation, but the team could decide to roll with Kremer moving forward.

What about the offense? The Orioles are somehow carrying three catchers right now even without Rutschman. With respect to Sam Huff and Chadwick Tromp, there’s room for some better bench bats.

Dylan Beavers is working his way back from a right oblique strain. The rookie began a rehab assignment at Double-A last week and is currently at Triple-A. Beavers holds a career .354 on-base percentage over his first 213 at bats. Colton Cowser has come on over the last month, but Leody Taveras is trending down. There’s definitely room for Beavers bat in this lineup, and the 27-year-old could provide a spark from the bottom half of the order.

While we’re mentioning struggling outfielders, the Orioles used Tyler O’Neill as its designated hitter last night. O’Neill is slashing .186/.276/.271 this season, and he’s the guy the Orioles designated to hit. With respect to O’Neill and his 55 OPS+, almost any healthy player would represent an improvement.

Ryan Mountcastle fits that profile. The Orioles kept Mountcastle around after signing Pete Alonso, but the first baseman broke his foot on April 11. Mountcastle isn’t expected back until July or later, but the slugger could make an impact as a bench bat and occasional DH after the All Star break.

The real wild card is Félix Bautista. The Orioles closer underwent surgery last August to repair a torn rotator cuff and torn labrum last August. Bautista was scheduled to throw his first bullpen yesterday, but confirmation had yet to be provided by the time of this writing. The Mountain has a long way to go before rejoining the team, but it’s incredibly exciting to think about what Bautista could add to the bullpen late in the season.

Bautista holds the highest ceiling of any of the injured players, but don’t underestimate what shoring up the rotation could do for this team. The offense could benefit from another quality bat, and the bullpen could use some help with middle relief.

Which injured Orioles player do you think will make the biggest impact this season? Let us know in the comments below.

After waiting since Saturday to play baseball. the Cubs had themselves an eventful game in the opener of a four-game series against the Mets at Citi Field.

The Cubs won the game 9-6 (and the game wasn’t really that close), but now have apparently lost starter Edward Cabrera for an extended period due to a leg injury suffered while covering first base.

I’ll get to that, but let’s begin at the beginning.

After a quiet first inning, the Cubs put five on the board in the second. Seiya Suzuki walked, Ian Happ singled and Matt Shaw was hit by a pitch. Bases loaded, nobody out. Now I know what you’re thinking here: “In what soul-crushing yet entertaining fashion will they fail to score in this situation?”

Friends, the Cubs did a lot better than that in this inning. After Nico Hoerner struck out, Carson Kelly drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 1-0. Dansby Swanson followed with this sacrifice fly [VIDEO].

Pete Crow-Armstrong was next. Boom! It’s 5-0 [VIDEO].

If you’re counting, the five runs scored over a span of just seven pitches. Efficient!

For PCA, that was his 17th home run of the year, his sixth in his last eight games, and his 10th in June (with eight games remaining).

Edward Cabrera had a rough second inning in which he threw 40 (!) pitches and gave two of the five runs back to the Mets. It could have been worse, as the Mets had the bases loaded with two out and Bo Bichette at the plate. Cabrera struck out Bichette to end the inning.

The Cubs got those two runs back in the fourth. With one out, Kelly walked and Swanson hit his ninth home run of the season [VIDEO].

Swanson is showing signs of coming out of his horrific slump. Last four games: .429/.500/1.000 (6-for-14) with two doubles, two home runs — and NO strikeouts. Let’s hope this continues.

The game was still at 7-2 Cubs going to the bottom of the fifth. With Cabrera over 90 pitches it was pretty clear he’d be lifted after five innings. With two out and two on, this happened [VIDEO].

That was Cabrera’s 99th pitch of the game. He stretched to take Nico’s throw and this was the result:

I’m pretty sure we all knew that about the pitching staff. That injury looked pretty bad — I’d think this will put Cabrera out at least a month, perhaps more. So, once Matthew Boyd returns to the rotation, Colin Rea will have to step up yet again. And this makes Jed Hoyer’s quest to find a starter by trade even more urgent.

That’s a topic for another time, though. Back to the game: Phil Maton was touched up for a Mets run in the seventh, but the Cubs put two more on the board in the eighth. Matt Shaw singled with one out but was picked off (after a review). Hoerner then doubled, and that was followed by a Kelly double to make it 8-3 [VIDEO].

Swanson then had his second extra-base hit of the game, a double, that made it 9-3 [VIDEO].

With a six-run lead in the ninth, Craig Counsell turned to newcomer Jayden Murray and it did not go well. Murray threw 26 pitches and allowed three runs, including a two-run homer by Bichette. Finally he struck out Mark Vientos to end the game [VIDEO].

Before I wrap this one up, I wanted to talk about a weird play involving PCA. He led off the top of the seventh with a walk.

One out later, he took off for second as Michael Busch was drawing a walk. Then this happened [VIDEO].

The call here isn’t wrong. Even on a walk with a runner on, the runner isn’t automatically entitled to second base. He’s got to hold the base. The ruling, apparently, is that PCA was tagged when he wasn’t in contact with second. The thing is, I don’t really see that in the clip.

You might remember a nearly identical play from 19 years ago involving Ronny Cedeno. This video should be cued to the right place but if not, scroll to 3:29:25:

That was a much more important play in context. The Cubs trailed the Cardinals 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth. Cedeno clearly came off the base and was tagged. The Cubs would have had the tying run in scoring position with one out; instead they had one on and two out and lost the game 2-1. In the situation Tuesday night in New York, the Cubs led by five at the time of the play and it didn’t have any real impact of the game. The call Tuesday was probably correct, though it wasn’t as clear as the one from 2007.

Anyway, here’s PCA talking after the game — but not about that play, mostly about his home run and his recent hot streak [VIDEO].

Here are Craig Counsell’s postgame comments, including remarks about Cabrera [VIDEO].

Here’s Cabrera on the injury [VIDEO].

One last note on Cabrera’s game from BCB’s JohnW53:

Edward Cabrera’s final pitching line was 5.0 innings, two runs, three hits, four walks and four strikeouts.

No previous Cubs starter since 1901 had fashioned that exact line.

Eight had two runs, three hits and four walks, but a different number of strikeouts: Kerry Wood, 10, in 2002; Don Cardwell, six, in 1960; Rich Harden, five, in 2008; Rich Nye, in 1967, and Rich Hill, in 2008, three; Steve Trout, two, in 1984; and Ed Reulbach, in 1907, and George McConnell, in 1916, one.

And one more on this win from John:

The Cubs’ win improved their record to just 10-26 on anniversaries of The Sandberg Game of June 23, 1984 — and only 5-20 on the road.

They had lost their last three, two of them on the road, and eight in a row on the road overall, since a 2-1 win at the South Side over the White Sox in 2007.

They had dropped 13 straight on June 23 outside Chicago, since a 3-0 win at St. Louis in 1997.

The Cubs, as you know, have a split doubleheader today. The first game will be at 12:10 p.m. CT. The game preview here will post at 10:30 a.m. CT. The Cubs do not yet have pitchers officially listed for the doubleheader, though it should be Shōta Imanaga for one game and Javier Assad for the other. The Mets are going with Nolan McLean for the day game and Sean Manaea for the night game, which will be at 6:10 p.m. CT. Both games will be on Marquee Sports Network.

As usual, the Cubs will be allowed a 27th man for the doubleheader, and I’m guessing that will be the just-optioned Gavin Hollowell. As always, we await developments.

It’s been just under two weeks since Derek Hill left the Windy City and joined the City of Brotherly Love. Since then, he’s played in nine games for the Phillies. That’s not enough to get a particularly accurate picture of his performance. But it is enough to get a first impression, and you know what they say about those: you only get one, and also they are absolutely as valid as the more statistically precise impressions formed by larger sample sizes.

Well, nobody actually says that second part, and with good reason.

Still, it’s worth an early check-in. Today’s question is: what’s your early impression of Derek Hill?

To set some context: the Braves have a 5.5-game lead in the division, playoff odds north of 96 percent, and MLB’s third-best record. They don’t need to chase wins.

But, in the same vein, they didn’t need to chase wins in 2025 (although it wasn’t ever quite as comparable, as playoff odds dipped below 90 percent after their poor start), with playoff odds well above 50 percent through much of April and May. Except, eventually, that period of not needing to ran out, and by the time they did need to, they were playing catchup while the roster was depleted from injuries and the like.

So, you’d think they wouldn’t make this mistake again. And maybe they think the difference is that they aren’t the ones playing catchup, at least not right now. But, we’ve seen this story before. We saw it at times in 2022-2023, though the team was so good that it didn’t matter, which perhaps informs the current feelings of potential overconfidence. We saw it in 2024, in which the Braves were ultimately vindicated, albeit on a bit of a razor’s edge. And then we saw it last year, with awful results.

Which, I thought, informed the new philosophy we saw in April and May of this year. Walt Weiss even said, “chasing wins.” Last night, Walt Weiss said they had to get through the entire game with four pitchers, two of whom were JR Ritchie and Carlos Carrasco. That’s apparently why Ritchie was left in for 100 pitches despite another mediocre outing that actually improved after he and the defense turned a four-run lead into a one-run deficit, and why Carrasco was left in to blow a lead in the seventh… but to be very clear: when you are in a position that you’ve decided that only four pitchers, including Ritchie and Carrasco, are available to help you win a game, you have already decided, before first pitch, that you aren’t chasing this particular win.

On the flip side, we got to see the ultimate in win chasing from the other dugout. The Padres used three pitches to get their first six outs of the game. They used an opener, something the Braves just don’t care about doing despite their unsettled rotation situation and a bunch of guys that could probably use the help. When their listed bulk guy struggled, they just pulled him, and put in a different guy. To be very clear: the Padres went to another pitcher already down 3-0, while leverage was still medium-high, because they presumably wanted to try to win this game. And then, they used Mason Miller for two innings — something they hadn’t done since acquiring him, because again, they presumably actually wanted to win this game.

So, are the Braves done chasing wins? We know they were chasing them earlier, both from what we saw and from the things they actually said. But these days, we’re seeing the 2022-2025 approach to pitching management, and the post-game sound bites are all about availability instead of, “Hell yeah, let’s try to win a game.”

Last year, I kept having to add text like, “Even if it’s not right now, the Braves are eventually going to try to win as hard as they can, or else their margin for not doing so will completely evaporate.” And then I stopped, because they imploded with a bunch of close losses in June and that was that. I don’t want to do that again, but if they keep acting this way, there won’t be much of a choice.

The playoffs are nothing more than a distant dream. But most of us sickos who follow this team aren’t going anywhere. It’s summer, it’s the Red Sox, we’ll be watching.

This morning, Mike makes a great case that Nate Eaton of all people is giving us a reason to watch, and that he’s arguably the most interesting player in the lineup right now. The question of what’s interesting about this team is, uhh, interesting. So as we embark on three months of meaningless baseball, what player on this roster intrigues you the most? Who are you tuning in to see every night? Ceddy as he battles to develop into a complete player? Caleb Durbin as he battles to prove he belongs in an MLB starting lineup? One of the young arms?

For me, Payton Tolle is an easy answer, but that only applies every five days. Otherwise it’s Ceddy. I don’t think he’ll ever consistently figure it out at the plate; he’s going to battle his chase rate for his whole life. But I do think he’ll figure it out often enough that he’s going to put up a monster, top-15-player-in-all-of-baseball type season at some point in his career, and I want to be able to say that I saw it coming.

Talk about whatever you want and be good to one another.

Rangers 6, Marlins 4

• This was not a game one was feeling terribly optimistic about beforehand.
• And it was a game that the Rangers lost.
• It was a winnable game. The offense had three baserunners in the first, and the bases loaded with no one out in the second, and scored just one run.
• Combined with the late comeback, which saw Texas bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth, it was an opportunity lost.
• The middle innings were the Rangers’ downfall.
• Cal Quantrill started what was effectively a bullpen game for the Rangers, facing nine batters over two innings and allowing a single run, to former Ranger farmhand, and key piece in the Nathaniel Lowe trade, Heriberto Hernandez.
• Hernandez is one of five former Rangers (or Ranger minor leaguers) who is a member of the Marlins, along with John King, Tyler Phillips, Liam Hicks, and the Accountant, Pete Fairbanks.
• The funny thing about it is that Miami didn’t acquire any of those players directly from the Rangers. Some other team acquired each of those five players from the Rangers, and then the Marlins ended up getting them for, essentially, nothing.
• The Marlins got Phillips from the Philadelphia Phillies for cash. Hicks was a Rule 5 selection, taken from the Tigers. King, Fairbanks and Hernandez were all free agent signings.
• King and Hernandez were traded by the Rangers in trades that worked out very well for Texas, and contributed to their World Series title.
• Fairbanks and Hicks were traded by the Rangers in trades that did not work out for Texas. The Fairbanks for Nick Solak swap was a coup for the Rays, though the Nathaniel Lowe deal more or less balanced that out.
• Hicks was traded, along with Tyler Owens, to the Detroit Tigers at the deadline for Carson Kelly in 2024. The 2024 team finished below .500 and Kelly didn’t play well for the Rangers. That said, the Rangers weren’t going to add Liam Hicks to the 40 man roster that offseason, and so would have been lost to the Marlins in the Rule 5 Draft anyway, unless there was something very Tigers-specific that happened once Hicks got to Detroit that wouldn’t have happened if he were playing the final month and a half of the 2024 season with the Roughriders that prompted Miami to want to select him.
• Hicks has been a very good 1B/DH/third catcher for the Marlins this season, and you know, the Rangers could use someone like that on their roster right about now.
• That said, I don’t think anyone expected Hicks to hit like he has this year (or even last year, when he had a 693 OPS in 390 plate appearances). Certainly Detroit didn’t, or else they wouldn’t have left him exposed in the Rule 5 Draft.
• I’d probably be more irked about losing Hicks if he’d been with the Rangers when the Marlins took him in the Rule 5 Draft. I’m not sure that makes sense logically, but then, what’s logical about sports fandom?
• Getting back on topic, Quantrill was followed by Jose Corniell, newly called up and making his second major league appearance.
• In Corniell’s first major league appearance, in the final game of the 2025 season, he pitched a scoreless inning against the Guardians, and then gave up a walkoff homer in the next inning, resulting in the Rangers going 81-81 instead of 82-80 on the year.
• Corniell, I regret to inform you, now has two major league appearances and two “L”s. The second batter he faced, catcher Joe Mack, homered off of him, giving the Marlins the lead.
• He then had a Very Unfortunate Fifth Inning. Two outs, a runner at first, Xavier Edwards hits a grounder up the middle that you think is a ball that will be the third out, but instead goes into center for a base hit.
• Thus setting the stage for Owen Caissie to thump a ball over the fence in right field for the most momentum shifting play in baseball.
• At that stage, it was 5-1, Marlins, and the game felt over. Hernandez doubled and Mack singled to make it 6-1, and this felt like the kind of game that would result in double digit runs being given up and Nicky Lopez pitching the bottom of the eighth.
• That didn’t happen, though. Corniell got out of the inning with no more damage being done, allowed a double and got a fly out to start the sixth, and then was replaced by Joe Ross, who went the rest of the way and kept the Marlins off the scoreboard.
• And it almost mattered! The Rangers threatened late, got back into the game, could’ve made Joe Ross a hero!
• Or, at least, the winning pitcher.
• That said, the Rangers played a game in June in the Year of Our Lord 2026, and the three pitchers they used were Cal Quantrill, Jose Corniell, and Joe Ross.
• If you were a time-traveler and came back from the past and looked at the box score and saw that, you’d say…

• But no, someone killed that fish. You know who you are.
• On the positive side, Quantrill, Corniell and Ross allowed the rest of the bullpen to have the day off. Jakob Junis and Robby Ahlstrom were probably not available after pitching the previous two days, and Jacob Latz had thrown 31 pitches the day before and so ideally would not have been used, which meant the Rangers’ pen was pretty thin for the game to start with.
• The offense had opportunities, but did little with them until it was late. An underwhelming 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position. That’s not going to win you many games.
• A pair of singles in the first were followed up by a Brandon Nimmo double play ball. Josh Jung walked to put runners on the corners, but an Ezequiel Duran pop out ended things.
• The second featured an Alejandro Osuna single, a Jarred Kelenic walk, and a Kyle Higashioka bunt single to load the bases with no one out. And with offensive catalyst Nicky Lopez coming to the plate, we were feeling good.
• We were getting hyped. We were getting crunk. We were on fleek.
• Lopez did get a run home, on a U3 groundout that put runners on second and third. Osuna was thrown out at home on a Pederson fielder’s choice for the second out, and Wyatt Langford flew out to end the inning and lead ominous posts about how the Rangers were going to regret their misses opportunities.
• Texas did a whole bunch of nothing until the late innings, after Sandy Alcantara left the game. Brandon Nimmo homered to start the eighth to make it 6-2. Then in the ninth, against the Accountant, whose debits and credits have been out of balance this season, Pederson hit a two out homer, Langford reached on a HBP, and Nimmo tripled…
• And suddenly it was 6-4! And Josh Jung, who has been great this season, was at the plate as the tying run!
• Alas, twas not to be. Jung flew out. The game was over. The Rangers had lost.
• Cal Quantrill reached 95.7 mph with his fastball. Jose Corniell topped out at 95.9 mph with his fastball. Joe Ross’s fastball touched 95.2 mph.
• Brandon Nimmo had a 110.5 mph triple and a 105.9 mph home run. Joc Pederson’s homer was 106.7 mph. Kyle Higashioka had a 103.8 mph groundout. Ezequiel Duran had a 101.6 mph ground out. Josh Jung had a 101.1 mph groundout, a 101.0 mph groundout and a 100.0 mph groundout, with his ninth inning fly out being 97.1 mph.
• Two down, eight to go.

The Mets continue a four-game series against the Chicago Cubs in Game 2 of a doubleheader at Citi Field on Wednesday at 7:10 p.m.

Mets Notes

• Since moving back into the rotation, Sean Manaea has a 3.18 ERA in 11.1 innings while striking out 11
• Following the conclusion of their series against the Cubs on Thursday, the Mets host the Phillies for a three-game series

Today's Lineups

The Pittsburgh Pirates made waves in the offseason when they signed Ryan O’Hearn to a 2-year $29 million contract in January. That signing was the largest ever handed out to a free-agent hitter in franchise history and was the first free-agent signed to a multi year contract by the club in a decade. Despite the big splash signing that it was at the time and what the left-handed hitter has done to this point in the season, O’Hearn finds himself on the outside looking in with regards to All-Star voting.

O’Hearn has quietly been exactly what the Pirates needed for their young team. O’Hearn provides a veteran presence for what is a very young clubhouse and has gracefully embraced that role since signing with Pittsburgh. Although his role in the clubhouse is usually attached to a player that’s over the hill, this couldn’t be further from the truth in the case of O’Hearn.

Not only does O’Hearn provide the steady mindset as a veteran player off the field, he also provides that on the field. The 32-year-old lefty has been one of the consistent performers in manager Don Kelly’s lineup that has completely transformed this offense. 2025 saw Pittsburgh as bottom dwellers for homers and runs scored, but 2026 has seen the club completely flip the script and suddenly the bats have awakened. O’Hearn has been a catalyst in that way. It hasn’t been flashy or over the top, but it’s been a steady driving force. On the year O’Hearn is slashing .274/.333/.447 with a .780 OPS. At the plate O’Hearn has gathered 11 homers, 65 total hits and 41 RBIs. He knocked in a career high six runs against the Athletics on June, 17.

Despite the model of consistency that O’Hearn has been, he finds himself not in the top percentage of players receiving All-Star votes. He’s made significant impacts for the team at first base, right field and as a designated hitter, but still is not receiving the votes that teammates like Oneil Cruz (outfield) and Spencer Horwitz (first base) are receiving. Even with the time Cruz has spent on the injured list, he’s still in the top 20 of votes for outfielders while O’Hearn is nowhere to be seen.

O’Hearn has been named to the All-Star team once in his career. Last season as a member of the Baltimore Orioles, O’Hearn was named to the American League All-Star team as the starting designated hitter. O’Hearn is currently on pace to replicate those same numbers that made him an All-Star just a season ago.

At the time of his signing, Kelly was very impressed with O’Hearn’s career path and said he could be a game changer for the Pirates.

“The resiliency that he showed in that moment of going from being DFA’d to starting in the All-Star Game, that’s what Pittsburgh is all about, is that toughness and that grit,” Kelly said. “Really excited to add him to the organization.”

Pittsburgh and O’Hearn seem to already be a match made in heaven as he really seems bought in to changing the organization and delivering a winner to the city. Even if he doesn’t make it on the National League’s All-Star roster, O’Hearn has more than impressed to this point as a Pirate and could end up being one of those special signings that the Buccos have made in recent history. O’Hearn has made his confidence in the team known since the minute he was signed.

“I couldn’t be anymore excited to be a Pirate,” O’Hearn said. “I love the stadium, I love the city, what it’s about. I did my research before I made a decision, and it’s a team that can pitch and just seemed like one or two pieces away from being a legit contender.”