TODAY’S GAME: The Houston Astros (40-44) and Detroit Tigers (35-47) will play the 3rd game of their 4-game series this afternoon at Comerica Park.

RHP Kai-Wei Teng (4-6, 4.03 ERA) will start for the Astros vs. Tigers LHP Framber Valdez (4-5, 3.91 ERA).

ROAD TRIPPIN: Today is the 6th game (3-2 thus far) of a 7-game road trip for the Astros, They were 2-1 at TOR on the 1st stop of the trip.

Road Recovery: The Astros are 13-8 in their last 3 road trips combined. They are 19-14 on the road since going 1-9 on their 1st road trip of the 2026 season.

ASTROS-TIGERS: The Astros are 3-2 vs. DET this season, having won 2 of 3 games from the Tigers last week at Daikin Park (June 15-17). The 2 clubs will play all 7 of their scheduled games between June 15-28. In 2025, the Astros and Tigers finished with identical 87-75 records, with the Tigers earning the final AL Wild Card spot due to winning the season series vs. HOU.

Recent Success: Since 2022, the Astros are 19-11 vs. DET with an 8-5 record here at Comerica Park.

ABOUT KAI-WEI: Today will be RHP Kai-Wei Teng’s 10th start and 23rd app. overall this season. He was solid in his last start on Sunday vs. CLE, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits in 6.0 IP to earn the win in the Astros 2-1 victory.

Today will be Teng’s 2nd start vs. the Tigers (other was June 15 at Daikin Park, 9-3 loss). He took the loss in that start, but did tally 9 strikeouts in just 3.1 innings of work (9 of the 10 outs recorded were via the punchout).

Daytime Warrior: Teng is 2-1 in 8 daytime app. (3 GS) with a 1.96 ERA (5ER/23IP) and a .188 opp. avg.

Teng was acquired by the Astros from the Giants this offseason in exchange for minor league C Jancel Villarroel. Teng is the 2nd Taiwanese-born player ever to appear with HOU, joining RHP Chia Jen-Lo, who made 19 relief app. with the Astros in 2013.

PITCHING DEBUT: OF Jake Meyers hurled a scoreless 8th inning last night in what was his 1st ML appearance on the mound. While at the Univ. of Nebraska (2015-17), Meyers was 17-4 in 39 appearances (23 starts). Prior to last night, he had 1 pitching appearance as a professional, which was in 2018 while at Buies Creek (1.1 IP, 0 R).

RECENT STROS: The Astros have won 4 of 6, 7 of 10 and 9 of their last 14 games.

WINNING THE CLOSE CALLS: The Astros are 9-4 in 1-run games and 16-10 in 2-run games (4-4 in extra innings).

SERIES-LY SPEAKING: The Astros have won 4 consecutive series for the 1st time in 2026, posting an 8-4 record in those series. The last time that the Astros won that many series in a row was when they won 5 straight, from June 20-July 6 of last season (went 12-3 in that stretch).

THE SLOW TURNAROUND: After a slow start to the season, the Astros are 20-13 since May 21, which is the best record in the AL in that span.

Top Records since May 21 (AL)

1. HOU: 20-13 (.606)

2. NYY: 18-13 (.581)

MVP-CALIBER: Yordan Alvarez has had a torrid 1st half to his season, currently leading all of baseball with a 1.045 OPS. Additionally, he leads the AL in SLG (.619), OBP (.427) and TB (185), is T-1st in HR (25), 2nd in batting avg. (.314) and runs scored (57) and T-3rd in RBI (56).

Alvarez, who was the AL Player of the Month for May, is hitting .349 (29×83) in June with 5 HR and 17 RBI with a 1.033 OPS (.455 OBP/.578 SLG).

ALL-STAR UPDATE: Per MLB’s update on Thursday, Yordan Alvarez’ 2,911,655 fan votes were tops among all DH’s and the 2nd-most overall in the AL. The second phase of fan voting begins Monday, June 29th and features the top two vote-getters at each position.

Phase 2 voting concludes at 12:00 p.m. (ET) on Thursday, July 2nd. Alvarez has been an All-Star 3 times thus far in his career. Since 2017, the Astros’ 37 All-Star selections are tops in the AL in that span.

OH MY FOR IMAI: With his 10 K’s Thursday night, RHP Tatsuya Imai now has tallied 21 strikeouts in his last 2 starts combined. He had a career-high 11 strikeouts in his previous start on June 19 vs. CLE. His 21 K’s in his last 2 starts have come in just 12.0 innings pitched, and make him the 1st Astros pitcher to reach 10 punchouts in back-back starts since LHP Framber Valdez, June 5 and 12 of 2025 (11 K at PIT, 12 K vs. CWS, respectively)….

Solid Stretch: Since May 25, Imai is 4-1 in his 6 starts with a 3.64 ERA (12ER/29.2IP) with 37 K’s in 29.2 IP.

PEN PALS: The Astros bullpen combined for 5.0 scoreless innings last night, continuing a trend of solid pitching over the past 6 weeks. Since May 15, the Astros bullpen has been one of the best in the AL, posting a 2.66 clip (42ER/142P) in that span. The Astros are 23-16 since May 15.

HADERADE: In his 10 appearances since coming of the IL on June 3, opponents are just 2×32 off LHP Josh Hader. For the season, Hader has posted a 0.90 ERA (1ER/10IP) and is 6-for-6 in save opportunities (.063 opp. avg., .040 WHIP).

TODAY IN ASTROS HISTORY: 2002 – Pinch-hitter Gregg Zaun hits a walk-off, grand slam with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th off RHP Byung-Hyun Kim to defeat the Diamondbacks, 7-4, at Daikin Park. Zaun is one of four Astros to hit a walk-off grand slam in franchise history. The others: Milt May (May 22, 1974 vs. SD); Brian Bogusevic (Aug. 16, 2011 vs. CHC); Jose Altuve (June 15, 2021 vs. TEX).

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Saturday, June 27, 12:10 p.m. CT

Location: Comerica Park, Detroit, MI

TV: SCHN

Radio: KBME 790 AM & 94.5 FM HD2; TUDN 102.9 FM HD2 (Spanish)

The Anaheim Angels fired general manager Perry Minasian yesterday afternoon. John Mozeliak, former long-time general manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, has been brought in as a consultant and, per the Angels press release, will be overseeing the baseball operations side of things while the team looks for a new general manager.

The timing of this move is odd, given that the MLB Draft is just two weeks away, though oddness and unusual decisions has been the hallmark of the Angels under owner Arte Moreno. Minasian was hired to replace Billy Eppler, who was the general manager for the Angels from 2015-20. Eppler replaced Jerry DiPoto, who is currently the president of baseball operations with the Seattle Mariners, having taken over for the infamous Jack Z in Seattle after the 2015 season.

Minasian was in the final year of his contract, and there’s already speculation that the Angels will, in a cost saving move, wait until after a new collective bargaining agreement is reached to hire a permanent replacement. The expectation is that there will be another lockout, and given Moreno’s proclivities, the thinking is that he will not want to have to pay a top baseball executive to be executiving while the lockout is going on. First year manager Kurt Suzuki only received a one year deal, with speculation being that this was motivated by a similar desire. Mozeliak reportedly being expected to stay with the organization “through the end of this calendar year” would seem to support the notion that a permanent replacement won’t come until there’s a new CBA.

Minasian got his start with the Rangers, as his father, Zack Minasian the Elder, was the team’s longtime clubhouse manager. Perry and his brothers, Rudy, Zack the Younger, and Calvin were bat boys and clubhouse assistants for the Rangers growing up. Perry was a scout for the Rangers for a number of years before working for the Toronto Blue Jays and the Atlanta Braves. Zack is the general manager of the San Francisco Giants under president of baseball operations Buster Posey. Calvin is the Braves’ clubhouse manager. Rudy is the black sheep of the family, as he’s a lawyer, something all of us here feel is an unsavory and embarrassing profession.

Mozeliak was the general manager and then president of baseball operations of the St. Louis Cardinals from 2007 through 2025, although his departure was under odd circumstances, as Chaim Bloom was hired as an advisor prior to the 2025 season, with it being announced at the time he would take over for Mozeliak after the 2025 season. The Cardinals had won 71 and 83 games the previous two seasons, missing the playoffs both years, and there was some sense at the time that the team needed to move on from the Mozeliak era. Bloom was, per ESPN at the time the hiring was announced, “tasked with reenergizing the team” in the player development department.

The Angels’ last winning season was in 2015, they’ve not won more than 77 games since 2018, and they’ve made the playoffs just once since getting coming two wins away from advancing to the World Series in 2009. After an offseason where the team’s strategy seemed to be to acquire players that were either good a few years ago, or were seen as good prospects a few years ago, but were neither when the Angels scooped them up, Anaheim is currently tied with the Kansas City Royals for the worst record in the American League.

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The Mets play their second game since changing managers on Friday against the Phillies, a team whose season turned around after a similar move earlier in the season.  

The Mets have lost seven straight and yet are somehow favored.

My Phillies vs. Mets predictions and MLB picks take the Phillies as an unlikely but potentially profitable underdog.

Who will win Phillies vs Mets today: Philies moneyline (+116)

It's not unusual for teams to rally after a managerial change, but the New York Mets being favored seems like a gift.

The Philadelphia Phillies have won four straight and six of seven, while New York hasn't won since June 18. They'll win eventually, but getting a plus moneyline for the Phils is a no-brainer.

The Mets start Christian Scott in his first game off the injured list. Scott's offspeed and breaking stuff are both in the bottom third in MLB.

He'll rely on his fastball against Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, who are both among the top 20 fastball hitters in MLB.

COVERS INTEL: Alan Rangel doesn't have enough innings to qualify, but his hard-hit rate, barrel rate and exit velocity allowed would all be in the top 10% in MLB. Batters have a 44% whiff rate against his changeup.

Phillies vs Mets Over/Under pick: Under 8.5 (+106)

New York had Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto both in the lineup for just the 10th time this season and still only managed one run, the fifth time in their losing streak they've scored three or fewer. They're 29th in MLB in OPS.

The Phillies start journeyman Alan Rangel, who looked strong in two bullpen outings and was an effective starter in Triple-A. His stuff isn't overwhelming, but he avoids solid contact.

Philly also has the bullpen ready after only needing them for two innings and 28 pitches on Friday. They have a 2.39 ERA and 0.79 WHIP over the last three.

Phillies vs Mets weather

Notes on the weather and its impact.

Phillies vs Mets odds

• Moneyline: Phillies +117 | Mets -122
• Run line: Phillies +1.5 (-170) | Mets +1.5 (+163)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 (-117) | Under 8.5 (+113)

Phillies vs Mets trend

The Philadelphia Phillies have hit the Game Total Under in 18 of their last 24 away games (+11.50 Units / 44% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Phillies vs. Mets.

How to watch Phillies vs Mets and game info

Phillies vs Mets latest injuries

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In his first 7 games of the season, Slade Cecconi got off to one of the worst starts to a season a starting pitcher could possibly have. He had a 6.56 ERA, a 5.79 FIP, and was giving up 2.02 HRs per 9 innings pitched. In the 9 starts since, his ERA has gone down to 2.96, his FIP to 3.47, and the HR/9 rate is down to 0.74. So, has Slade turned things around? Let’s break it down.

Before getting into some of the changes he’s made, it’s important to look at the information we already have a bit more closely. There’s a natural ebb and flow in a baseball season, as both hitters and pitchers will experience changing conditions in the field. Batted ball distribution, luck, and defensive performance behind a pitcher can fluctuate, and because of that, surface level results can often be cloudy. For example, on the surface, a pitcher putting up an ERA 3.50 runs lower than they had been and a FIP drop of almost 2.50 sound amazing, but if we look at his xERA and xFIP numbers, they tell a slightly different story. For example, look at the following table:

We can see that in those first starts, Slade was actually getting significantly higher than expected results, and in the more recent set of starts we see the opposite. (Granted, the more recent difference is not as extreme.) This leads us to conclude that baseball variance has amplified both ends of this equation. The good news is that even though the degree of the new performance is a little bit overexaggerated by the under and then overperformance relative to expected metrics, we can see there still appears to be a definite improvement that’s happened, even if it’s less of one than we originally might have thought. In order to get to an answer, we’re going to take a look deeper at his more specific quality of contact numbers and see if we can find any differences that would explain this extreme change in results. Let’s start with the following data:

Looking at this, I think we may have a bit of conundrum. Hard-Hit % has stayed the same, but the Average Exit Velocity has gone up, and the Barrel % has plummeted. We also have a modest, but important, uptick in Ground Ball %, and here we can draw a few conclusions. Even though Slade appears to be getting hit slightly harder on average than before, we can see from the Barrel % and the Ground Ball %  that the hard-hit contact is not translating into barrel-level damage nearly as much as before. The Barrel % drop is so significant it’s the clearest signal of improved damaging contact prevention. Another consideration with increases in ground ball outs comes the chance for increases in double plays turned. When we look at that data, we can see there were 3 GIDPs in Slade’s first 7 starts, and 6 in the most recent 9 starts. This could be normal variance, but it is worth mentioning to see if the pattern holds. This modest rise in Ground Ball % may have contributed to reducing the severity of the contact outcomes on Slade’s pitches, but the largest driver of improvement appears to be the overall suppression in  barrel conversion of the hard contact and not a broad reduction in overall hard contact. These factors combined do show some real meaningful improvements beyond potentially noisy surface level results. Next, let’s break down Slade’s pitch mix and see if we can learn anything from that. Here’s some data to take a look at:

There’s a lot to unpack here, but the general trend we can see has been increased usage of the fastball and fastball variant pitches (the 4SFB, the cutter, and the sinker), the addition of the slider and changeup, and the near total removal of the sweeper. We see that the mix before was very 4SFB heavy, with moderate cutter and low sinker usage. Now, we can see the pitches are thrown in a much more balanced distribution.

We can also see the curveball is being used at about the same rate, but the contact quality on it is significantly better. Having multiple different fastball movement profiles may be making his pitches less predictable, and combining that with slider and changeup usage may be what’s opening up the curveball to be weaponized more. We can also see the velocity differences of the pitches give him a few different speed options to potentially help keep hitters off balance, and the slider and the changeup coming in at similar speeds but moving in different ways can make the pitch location harder to discern for the hitter.

The increase in options in the different velocities may be improving deception and timing disruption and ultimately contributing to the ability to miss barrels and get less damaging contact. The increased sinker usage also helps explain the increase in the Ground Ball % we spoke of earlier.

Now that we’ve identified some changes to the pitch mix and how they may have affected Slade’s results, let’s take a look at his command and see if there’s been any changes there.

Initially there’s a lot of good here. Lower walk rate, more first pitch strikes, and more pitches in the ABS strike zone as well (Zone %). The final number in the table (CSW%) stands for “Called Strikes plus Whiffs”, and the idea behind this stat is to show how often the pitcher “wins” the pitch outright either by throwing something in the strike zone that the hitter does not swing at, or by getting the hitter to swing and miss. We can see this number has improved as well. This is a very modest improvement, but still worth mentioning because of the nature of the statistic.

We’ve seen evidence of the pitches getting more favorable contact quality before, and now we can also see Slade is throwing more strikes, and the higher CSW % shows that the increase isn’t just in easy to hit pitches either. 

So we put that all together and what do we see? Honestly, these improvements appear to be very real and tangible. Although the magnitude of the improvements does appear to be magnified by normal baseball variance. We saw that his initial bad start looked worse than it was, and this good stretch looks a bit better than what the surface numbers suggest it is, but it’s still significantly better.

We should probably expect some regression from the recent starts, but overall it seems like Slade has made legitimate adjustments and gotten back on track, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for the Guards.

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Toronto Blue Jays starter Dylan Cease is a strikeout merchant and draws a favorable matchup against this Texas Rangers lineup today, making Over 7.5 strikeouts my favorite play of the day.

Read on for my Blue Jays vs. Rangers predictions and MLB picks for this Saturday, June 27 matchup.

Rangers vs Blue Jays predictions

Rangers vs Blue Jays best bet: Dylan Cease Over 7.5 strikeouts (-120)

Dylan Cease leads all American League pitchers with 118 K’s, while eclipsing this strikeout total in six of his last seven starts.

The Toronto Blue Jays starter owns a 32.4% strikeout rate against this Texas Rangers lineup, while primarily throwing a healthy amount of four-seamers and sliders.

This Rangers squad struggles with the fastball-slider combination, with the third-lowest batting average against that pitch mix and the seventh-worst whiff rate in the majors.

That plays into Cease’s strengths as one of baseball’s premier swing-and-miss pitchers, ranging in the 97th percentile in whiff rate, while suppressing contact with just a 4.8% barrel rate against his pitches.

So the combination of Cease's elite swing-and-miss stuff, coupled with the Rangers’ inability to make contact with his primary pitch mix, makes me confident betting this to -130.

COVERS INTEL: Cease leads the majors with a 13.5 K/9 in 2026, averaging 8.8 strikeouts per game over his last seven starts.

Rangers vs Blue Jays same-game parlay (SGP)

The Rangers have lost in each of the last six outings for Cal Quantrill, who owns a 1.010 OPS against this Blue Jays lineup. With Toronto starting All-Star candidate Cease and a plus matchup against this Rangers lineup, I’ll add the Blue Jays moneyline to the SGP.

Jays outfielder Daulton Varsho profiles well against Quantrill, and has hit the ball well since returning from the IL with a .333 average and a 202 WRC+ over his last five games. He’s also 3-for-4 against Quantrill in his career.

Rangers vs Blue Jays SGP

• Dylan Cease Over 7.5 strikeouts 
• Jays moneyline
• Daulton Varsho Over 0.5 hits

Rangers vs Blue Jays home run pick: Kazuma Okamoto (+255)

Kazuma Okamoto hits the ball harder than any other Blue Jays in the lineup with a 50% hard hit rate, .479 slug-rate, and a team-high 19 home runs this season

He’s been swinging the bat extremely well over his last eight games, too, with four home runs in that stretch, a 57% hard-hit rate, and a 259 WRC+.

However, it’s a bullpen day for the Rangers. Without knowing Okamoto’s exact pitching matchup throughout the game, I’ll make this just a half-unit wager.

Rangers vs Blue Jays odds

• Moneyline: Rangers +136 | Blue Jays -150
• Run line: Rangers +1.5 (-135) | Blue Jays -1.5 (+115)
• Over/Under: Over 8 (+110) | Under 8 (-130)

Rangers vs Blue Jays trend

The Toronto Blue Jays have hit the Game Total Over in 10 of their last 16 games at home (+3.50 Units / 20% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Rangers vs. Blue Jays.

How to watch Rangers vs Blue Jays and game info

Rangers vs Blue Jays latest injuries

Rangers vs Blue Jays weather

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David Peterson was driving home following Wednesday's doubleheader when he received word from David Stearns that he'd been traded to the Chicago Cubs. 

Peterson, the longest-tenured Met, was surprised at first but then looked forward to the new opportunity. 

“Obviously some shock in the moment,” he told reporters Friday. “Drafted by the Mets, spent 10 years there, a lot of great memories, great people, but you kind of move on to the next step -- it’s the business, so I’m excited.”

That next step presents an intriguing change of scenery for Peterson. 

The 30-year-old lefty hasn’t pitched the same since cracking his first All-Star team last year, carrying over his brutal second-half into spring training and the first three months of this season. 

He's been a bit more effective working behind an opener in a bulk relief role, but otherwise has been knocked around, pitching to an ugly 7.71 ERA and 1.95 WHIP as a starter on the year.  

Still, Peterson feels good and is confident he can help Chicago's shorthanded rotation.  

"I went through some things early in the year that we needed to clean up," he said. "I feel a lot better about where we're at now, I feel like myself back in '24, '25 -- I'm excited for the opportunity to start and get the routine back."

One aspect Peterson figures to benefit from is the defensive upgrade behind him. 

The Mets' defense as a whole has been shaky throughout this disappointing season, while the Cubs are among the best in the game in Outs Above Average and runs prevented. 

For a groundball pitcher like Peterson, "it's huge."

“You look at the guys around the infield and the defense as a whole, it’s hard not to be excited," he said. "You see them statistically at the top of every list, so I’m excited to have those guys behind me on the field.”

Peterson's Cubs debut will take place Saturday night in Milwaukee.