The San Francisco Giants head to Missouri today to take on the Kansas City Royals.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be right-hander Trevor McDonald, who enters tonight’s game with a 5.02 ERA, 4.05 FIP, with 54 strikeouts to 21 walks in 66.1 innings pitched. His last start was in the Giants’ 3-1 loss to the Colorado Rockies on July 12th, in which he allowed one run on three hits with four strikeouts and a walk in seven innings.

He’ll be facing off against Royals right-hander Michael Wacha, who enters tonight’s game with a 3.77 ERA, 4.00 FIP, with 96 strikeouts to 34 walks in 119.1 innings pitched. His last start was in the Royals’ 7-3 loss to the New York Mets on July 9th, in which he allowed six runs on six hits with five strikeouts and three walks in four and two thirds innings.

Game #100

Who: San Francisco Giants (42-57) vs. Kansas City Royals (40-60)

Where: Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri

When: 4:40 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

Chicago White Sox @ Texas Rangers

Monday, July 20, 2026, 7:05 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / Rangers Sports Network)

The Shed

RHP Erick Fedde vs. RHP Jacob deGrom

Go Rangers!

Dodgers return to a park they last visited during that historic 2025 postseason campaign.

Monday’s game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Phillies
• Ballpark: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia
• Start time: 4:10 p.m. PT
• TV: ESPN
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

The Atlanta Braves and their red hot offense will be facing another top ten offense in the month of July in the San Diego Padres. Both teams will be bringing in starters who have struggled as of late on the mound.

The Braves have scored the most runs in MLB over the month of July, but Bryce Elder, who is starting tonight, has an ERA of 11.00 in his last four starts. The Padres have been a top ten in runs scored as well, and are in a similar situation with their starter. JP Sears made his season debut four starts ago, against Atlanta, and has a an ERA of 5.03 thus far this season.

This game has the makings of an offensive shootout. Here is to hoping the Braves come out on top.

Follow along in the comments. First pitch is at 7:15 EDT.

Lineup

Preview

I’m past hoping for wins. I’d just like it to look like the Jays are trying. I understand that you can try and have it not look like you are, but…..please put in an effort today. Maybe more than 5 hits….let’s go for 8 hits with at least one being for extra bases.

And let’s keep it to a one-possession game. Keep it to a field goal. Or a grand slam, if you want to use baseball type terms.

Let’s shoot for three hits with RISP. That doesn’t seem like asking too much. If you get two I’ll give you a passing mark.

Try Jays Try.

Well, let’s forget that yesterday ever happened. The Royals now continue their NL West tour of duty. Today, one of the other California teams, the San Francisco Giants, comes to Kansas City for a three-game series. At 42-57, the Giants are not much better than the 40-60 Royals.

The Royals have a slightly better group of position players – the Royals sit at 16th in batter fWAR, while the Giants are at 21st. But as you might expect, the Giants make up that difference (and then some) with their superior pitching. That’s not to say their pitching is *good*, but it’s certainly better than the dead-last-in-fWAR staff of the Royals. The two teams are actually pretty close in starter fWAR; the Royals bullpen is just so atrocious. Again, the Giants bullpen is also bad! The Royals are just in their own league of bad.

Because they are required to have a starting pitcher, the Royals will put Michael Wacha on the mound to pitch. He’s the innings leader for the Royals and sports a 3.77 ERA / 4.00 FIP. You know, Michael Wacha things. Just like…the same stuff he’s been doing for years. I feel like I’ve had Wacha on Mondays quite a bit this season, and there’s not much to say about him. He was an All-Star.

The Giants are countering with Trevor McDonald, a 25-year-old right-hander, who by K%/BB% is very nearly a clone of Wacha. The main difference is that he’s a heavy ground-ball pitcher (56.2%!) – if I set the leaderboard threshold down to 60 innings pitched minimum, McDonald ranks 3rd among all pitchers in ground-ball rate. He has an inflated ERA due to a low strand rate. I’m not sure how real this is, given the sample size, but he seems to fall apart if anyone gets on base. His K%/BB% get significantly worse. He’s just as good as Wacha, if not better, with the bases empty.

The game starts at 6:40pm US Central. You can watch on Royals.TV and listen on 96.5 The Fan/The Royals Radio Network.

Lineups:

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s go time.

The Orioles and Red Sox square off at Fenway Park tonight for the opener of what’s become a crucially important three-game series. The O’s have won seven games in a row entering the night, while the Red Sox boast a 13-game winning streak. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it’s only the fifth time since 1961 that two teams with 7+ game winning streaks have gone head-to-head. They can’t both keep them going. Something will have to give.

The pessimist in me says there’s no way that the Orioles, despite their recent surge, can take down the scalding hot Red Sox, especially with so many key hitters out of action. Blaze Alexander is on the IL and won’t return for weeks. Samuel Basallo is out of the lineup after leaving Sunday’s game early with a right shoulder injury. And Adley Rutschman is the latest member of the walking wounded, landing on the 10-day injured list earlier today with left wrist inflammation. It’s Rutschman’s third IL stint of the year, which is really putting a damper on his otherwise resurgent season at the plate. For now, the O’s will have to rely on a catching tandem of Sam Huff and newly recalled Chadwick Tromp until Basallo is ready to return. It’s not pretty.

The Orioles’ lineup against lefty Payton Tolle in the opener is unconventional, to say the least. With lefty swingers Basallo, Jackson Holliday, and Colton Cowser on the bench, it’s a right-handed heavy lineup that features Tyler O’Neill, Coby Mayo, Jeremiah Jackson, and Christian Encarnacion-Strand. And for the O’s fans who have been complaining about the struggling Gunnar Henderson always batting first or second, don’t worry, he’s been moved down…to third. Not exactly a solution to the problem, there. Pete Alonso will bat second for the first time as an Oriole; his previous 100 starts had all been batting third or cleanup.

Shane Baz will make his first start of the second half for the Orioles. He’s been perfectly fine for the Birds, with a basically league-average 101 ERA+, but I feel like he hasn’t yet delivered an especially memorable, signature outing. Tonight would be the perfect time to do so.

Here goes nothing.

Orioles lineup:

LF Taylor Ward
1B Pete Alonso
SS Gunnar Henderson
RF Tyler O’Neill
DH Coby Mayo
CF Leody Taveras
2B Jeremiah Jackson
3B Christian Encarnacion-Strand
C Sam Huff

RHP Shane Baz

Red Sox lineup:

2B Anthony Seigler
CF Ceddanne Rafaela
RF Wilyer Abreu
1B Willson Contreras
DH Masataka Yoshida
3B Caleb Durbin
LF Jarren Duran
C Connor Wong
SS Tsung-Che Cheng

LHP Payton Tolle

Mets lineup

A.J. Ewing – RF
Juan Soto – LF
Bo Bichette – 3B
Francisco Lindor – SS
Jorge Polanco – DH
Jared Young – 1B
Luis Robert – CF
Brett Baty – 2B
Francisco Alvarez – C

SP: Freddy Peralta – RHP

Brewers lineup

Christian Yelich – DH
Jackson Chourio – LF
Brice Turang – 2B
William Contreras – C
Garrett Mitchell – CF
Andrew Vaughn – 1B
Jake Bauers – RF
Cooper Pratt – SS
Joey Ortiz – 3B

SP: Jacob Misiorowski – RHP

Broadcast info

First pitch: 7:40 PM EDT
TV: SNY
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2

Here’s the good news: noted ‘professional hitter’ Gleyber Torres is back. His rehab from his second oblique injury of 2026 has progressed to minor league games, and he recently cracked a home run in his second Single-A game on Saturday. That was enough apparently, but more to the point, the Tigers are running out of time. The veteran second baseman was returned to the active roster today in exchange for part-time catcher Eduardo Valencia. The 26-year-old depth catcher and sometime first baseman filled in admirably while Dillon Dingler was recovering from a hand injury but ultimately doesn’t have the defensive chops to work behind the plate regularly.

Here’s the bad news: the MLB Trade Deadline is on August 3rd, only 14 days away, and the Tigers’ playoff odds are still hovering around 30%. Detroit will only have two weeks with their lineup at full strength before the deadline. We learned in an article a few weeks back that the Tigers are 23-20 with Torres in the lineup (.539 winning percentage) and 23-33 without him (.411). Over the course of a full season, that’s the difference between 87 and 66 wins, but only one or two over a 13 game sprint to the deadline. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for Scott Harris to evaluate how the team works with Torres back in the lineup, nor does it leave the team a lot of time to capitalize on Torres’ return with a prolonged hot streak.

That said, we know Torres will help. His season stats are a bit imbalanced, but a .280/.395/.395 slashline, 128 wRC+ and average 2B defense add up to 1.0 fWAR in only 43 games. This is a veteran, baton-passing, top of the lineup tablesetter that Detroit has missed for more than half of their season. He’s also clearly the second-best right handed hitter on the roster after Dingler’s breakout, and a competent righty bat would help balance a lineup that hasn’t punished left handed pitching the way they need to. Ideally, Torres coming back sparks a winning streak into the deadline and forces Harris to add some help at the back of the bullpen.

By optioning Valencia, the team keeps both 2B/3B Hao-Yu Lee and OF Ben Malgeri on the active roster. That makes sense as Lee is the ideal platoon candidate for Colt Keith. His wRC+ against lefties is 105, which doesn’t really stand out, but it’s a much more threatening 197 during his second stint in the majors. This is a much more under control version of Lee, and while he won’t run a .476 BABIP against lefties forever, he’s making a lot of good line drive contact across the field. Now that he isn’t forced into fulltime second base duties, AJ Hinch can use Lee in a more aggressive platoon capacity without sacrificing too much defense later in games. I’d expect Lee to basically fulfill Jahmai Jones’ role from 2025 as the Tigers chase every edge they can get.

Malgeri is also fairly important to balancing out this lineup. He’s a more patient hitter than Lee and adds much-needed outfield stability while Matt Vierling and Kerry Carpenter struggle. It’s a walk-and-contact heavy profile with limited power, but when paired with good enough corner defense, it plays well at the bottom of the lineup. He’s fairly platoon-neutral, however, which can make getting him into a game a bit tricky. He’ll never be a bad option, but he won’t be the best one, either. His role should be a bit more limited moving forward as Hinch funnels Lee more platoon at-bats, but there’s still room for him in a reserve capacity or to shield either James Outman or Carpenter from left handed starters and provide a defensive upgrade when the Tigers hold a lead in the late innings.

As noted previously, the roster casualty is Valencia, who hit well, but needs a lot more work as a catcher or a first baseman to hold down a long term roster spot in the majors. He went 1 of 6 cutting down baserunners on stolen base attempts and posted a 0:4 BB/K ratio in his limited MLB stint. His two home runs in only 6 games showed the upside, but for now, he’ll head back to Toledo and try to make himself a more well-rounded asset. Getting more comfortable at first base is going to be mandatory, but the Tigers continue to give the majority of reps to Jace Jung, even thought they won’t use him either, rather than trying to develop Valencia instead.

With Torres back, the lineup lengthens to a solid top 7; Spencer Torkelson and Carpenter haven’t been great so far, but I’d much rather they get at-bats than, say, Zack Short or Gage Workman. If the Tigers are going to earn the right to buy at the deadline, they’ll need this group to take care of business over the next two weeks. Torres churning out long at-bats, walks, and clutch knocks, with Lee turning into a matchup-based threat, is the best chance they have of making a playoff push. There’s no more hitting help coming off the IL soon, so this will have to be enough.

Tonight is the hundredth game of the Yankees’ season. Appropriately for a team exiting the All-Star Break, they will continue their homestand by facing their third consecutive National League team. The Dodgers took two of three against the Yankees, as is their habit against, well, most teams, to be frank. Now New York prepares for a three-game set with a team which is no World Series favorite, but is no slouch either: the Pittsburgh Pirates.

These Pirates aren’t the same walkovers of the past few seasons; it appears they’re finally starting to put things together under first-year manager Don Kelly. The Bucs are tied with the Cardinals for third place in the NL Central, sitting four games over .500. I was told the small market teams simply can’t compete, but here’s one of them making noise in the NL playoff hunt. They’ve got a bit of a top-heavy lineup, but it’s packed with a good combo of contact and power; youth and experience.

Ryan Weathers will be the man to face these Allegheny County upstarts, after his scheduled start against the Dodgers was rained out on Saturday. Weathers has navigated his own struggles while also dealing with poor infield defense behind him and routinely bad run support. Both were obstacles he nonetheless navigated well in a 5.1-inning effort against Washington to close out the first half. Additionally, as Jeff Middleton pointed out in our series preview, the Pirates represent a potentially advantageous matchup for him: they’ve struggled to a 71 wRC+ against left-handed pitching away from PNC Park.

Paul Skenes is the obvious star of their pitching staff (the Yankees won’t see him this series), but he’s not devoid of help in the rotation this year. Braxton Ashcraft has been his most capable co-star, pitching to a 3.49 ERA across 19 starts. Ashcraft replaced Skenes in the All-Star Game but also didn’t pitch—this will be his first work since the break. He features high-90s heat and two excellent breaking balls: a curve that batters whiff on 40 percent of the time as well as a slider that averages low-90s velocity and bends away from righties.

By the way, just wanted to show this off. Baseball Savant recently released a new player comparison tool, and I think it’s pretty neat! Here’s a look at one of those comparisons with tonight’s starters. Note Ashcraft’s scary 96th-percentile chase rate; maintaining discipline against this righty will be a daunting task.

I know this is not going to be a popular sentence, but the Yankees’ lineup tonight is probably the best they can muster with their current roster—yes, even with Austin Wells catching. He’s batting eighth ahead of José Caballero, who will serve as sort of a double-leadoff hitter. As an occasional double-leadoff hitter for my rec league softball team, I know how valuable that can be.

Anyway, the actual leadoff hitter is Trent Grisham, who has continued to be this team’s heartbeat at the dish. Ben Rice hits second and gets the DH spot, with Paul Goldschmidt hitting third. Cody Bellinger will hit cleanup, as he looks to finally end a power outage which has lasted over a month. Late-night hero Jazz Chisholm Jr. bats fifth, while Jasson Domínguez bats sixth and plays right field. Ryan McMahon will play third and bat seventh ahead of Wells and Caballero.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium — Bronx, NY

First pitch: 7:05 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, SportsNet Pittsburgh

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280; Sports Radio 93.7 KDKA The Fan (PIT)

Online stream: MLB.tv

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Here’s the Twins’ lineup:

Here’s the Guardians’ lineup:

Let’s go, Guardians!

Luis Robert Jr. didn’t expect to miss much time when he first landed on the IL. 

The oft-injured slugger had been progressing well in his recovery, but his neck didn’t respond to treatment how the Mets had hoped, leading to an extended absence. 

Robert, sidelined since late-April, landed on the 60-day IL. 

After weeks of building himself back up in the minors, though, he was finally deemed ready and was activated prior to Monday night’s series opener against the Brewers. 

“The process, it’s no secret it was a long one,” he said through a translator. “It was difficult and frustrating -- but now I feel good thank God, and I’m just here and ready to go play my game.”

Before being sidelined, Robert stood alone as the Mets’ everyday centerfielder. 

Top prospect A.J. Ewing filled in admirably in his absence, though, sliding right in as a regular atop New York’s lineup and in the middle of their defense. 

Now with Robert back, it’ll be interesting to see how the playing time shakes out. 

Interim manager Andy Green said pregame that the initial plan is for the 28-year-old to play two-out-of-three days for now, and then they’ll reevaluate things in a few weeks. 

Robert is expected to spend most of his time in center, pushing Ewing over to a corner spot.

That’s how things shake out Monday, as he slides between Ewing (RF) and Juan Soto (LF) while Carson Benge sits against Brewers ace righty Jacob Misiorowski.

Green will mix-and-match as he sees fit, but this plan could also change in the next two weeks if the Mets are able to find someone willing to take on Robert ahead of the trade deadline.