Worldwide Sports News

As you read the rest of this piece and remember the rest of this crazy game on a Thursday night before the Phillies head to Citi Field tomorrow, it is fair to ask what Nationals manager Blake Butera is supposed to do? Nothing worked. Nothing worked for the entire series as the Phillies paraded dingers and base runners all over the Nationals putrid bullpen to take three out of four on the road.

The craziness of Thursday night’s game began right away, when Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper reached on a single and walk. After Brandon Marsh hit a groundball, Alec Bohm could not handle Nationals starter Cade Cavalli, going down on a 98.5 mph fastball to strand the runners.

In the bottom half of the first, the Nationals, like they have all series, attacked early. Curtis Mead was sitting on an inside sinker and got one, blasting it right over Marsh’s head in left field and into the stands for an early lead.

Andrés Chaparro then was hit by a backfoot slider and Dylan Crews punched a single into right to put two runners on. Daylen Lile then slapped a changeup right under Bryson Stott’s glove that brought in a second run.

With runners on first and third, Jacob Young was able to record a run on a groundout. With two outs and a runner on second, Nasim Nuñez capped off the inning with another single that gave the Nationals their fourth run of the inning.

In the bottom of the third, the Nationals clawed their way for a fifth run with some small ball. Crews chopped an infield single and then stole second base. After a Lile strikeout, Jacob Young was able to punch another single past Stott to score a run.

But since this is a Nationals Phillies series in the year 2026, things are not going to end normally. Even if Cristopher Sánchez could only slog through five innings, it was obvious this game wasn’t over.

The Phillies’ rally to a 10-5 win began in the sixth, as Cavalli cruised through five innings, facing the top of the order a third time is a different challenge.

After a Harper single, Cavalli’s changeup missed by maybe a few inches and that was all Marsh needed to elevate it for a homer.

In the seventh inning, Blake Butera, desperate for something to work, calls for Mitchell Parker against the bottom of the Phillies order. After a Derek Hill strikeout, Justin Crawford took a fastball to left field to start a rally.

On the very next pitch, Trea Turner punches a fastball to a vacated hole in right field to put runners on first and second with no one out.

Parker threw eleven pitches to Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper before his night was over. Only three of them were strikes, and that was only because Harper chased a couple of breaking balls. After being unable to find the plate, and walking in a run to make it 5-3, Butera had to try someone else.

Clayton Beeter was that someone else and he immediately walked Brandon Marsh to force in another run. Alec Bohm stepped up, worked a two-two count but chopped a fastball into the ground. Luckily, it’s -40 degree launch angle deadened the ball enough that the only play second baseman Jordan Vivas had was a tagout to Marsh and the game was tied.

Gus Varland began the eighth with Butera’s plan being to have him finish the game because the Nationals have tried everything else. He gave up a single to Derek Hill but was able to get out of the inning after a strikeout, throw out double play.

Varland returned for the ninth after the Nationals’ offense stranded a leadoff double but once again, nothing worked. After a Schwarber single, Bryce Harper lifted an imaginary lid off Nationals Park by taking a rare Gus Varland changeup to left field.

It was Varland’s inning, no matter what happened, the damage was probably done but the Phillies put more salt on everyone’s wounds. With two outs, JT Realmuto smoked a double right over Dylan Crews in center field that brought Marsh home to score.

To put a true exclamation point on the night, Derek Hill decided that he wanted to hit another ninth inning home run, this time off a righty, catching a hanging slider and drilling it to the bullpen in left field.

It’s fair to remember that the Nationals were not supposed to be a team trying to win games and make the playoffs. They traded multiple pitchers in the off-season to begin a rebuild and will probably continue selling off whatever they can to build for the future.

Paul Toboni looks like a great hire for them with the entire organization making multiple players better. Just on the major league level, CJ Abrams might make the all-star game, James Wood is a superstar, Curtis Mead looks to be living up to his top prospect potential, and Keibert Ruiz is having the best year of his career.

But tonight, and this entire series, should tell everyone just how far they are from truly competing. The Phillies walked in, looked sluggish early, and feasted on a Nationals bullpen that has been costing them games all season.

Now, onto the New York Mets.

There’s just over one month to go until this season’s August 3rd trade deadline, but the time for moving players around might have already started. Late last night, the Chicago Cubs—desperate for pitching after another two starters landed on the injured list—acquired left-handed pitcher and Colorado native David Peterson from the New York Mets.

The rebuilding Rockies will be judged on what they accomplish at the trade deadline. However, it would likely benefit them to start seeking out deals now that the first domino has fallen.

From expiring contracts to crowded position groups to players who simply just aren’t part of the future in Colorado, the Rockies have plenty of players they could look to ship out.

The Athletic even had multiple Rockies on their top 50 trade board:

RHP Antonio Senzatela

After being converted to the bullpen last season, long-time Rockies pitcher Antonio Senzatela is enjoying one of the best seasons of his career. In 23 appearances he has eight pitcher wins, three saves, a 2.13 ERA over 42.1 innings, and is worth 2.0 wins above replacement per Baseball Reference. Quite simply, the 31-year-old’s value has never been higher.

Senzatela has a $14 million club option for 2027, which the Rockies seem unlikely to pick up.

OF Mickey Moniak

Former first overall pick Mickey Moniak has become a fan favorite in Colorado and seems to have finally found a home after his time with the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Angels. Moniak is hitting .282/.335/.596 with nine doubles, two triples, and 12 home runs this season and was a potential All-Star candidate before being sidelined for a month with right ankle tendonitis.

But is Moniak really a part of the Rockies’ future? The 28-year-old is part of an extremely crowded outfield group that has multiple prospects vying for playing time. He’s also only produced against right-handed pitching.

2B Willi Castro

The Rockies signed switch-hitting Puerto Rican second baseman and utilityman Willi Castro to a two-year deal this off-season. After a somewhat slow April, Castro has turned into both a solid second baseman and effective hitter for the Rockies. Through the first 81 games of 2026 he has hit .282/.356/.411 with 13 doubles and six home runs—including a grand slam—and is worth 1.1 wins above replacement per Baseball Reference. Castro still has a year left on his deal, and the Rockies don’t really have big league ready options at second base. However, it might be worth exploring trades involving Castro when his value is potentially at it’s peak right now.

Final Thoughts

The Rockies have potentially valuable pieces for the trade market this season, but the deadline is still weeks away. Should they start making trades now? Who would you want to see the Rockies trade? Who should be considered untouchable?

We want to hear your predictions in the comments!

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

The Texas Rangers scored six runs while the Toronto Blue Jays scored five runs.

After a disappointing last few games in Miami, the Rangers arrived in an entirely different country where leadoff hitter Joc Pederson immediately made an impact by battling Jays starter Kevin Gausman for an eleven pitch at-bat that concluded with a leadoff dong, his 12th of the season.

The Rangers weren’t finished beating up on Gausman as in the third inning they got home runs from Wyatt Langford and Jake Burger to pad their lead. Langford’s dinger was of the three-run variety to put Texas up 4-0. It was his fifth home run in the last eight games as he’s gone nuclear here in late June.

Burger meanwhile hit his lead-leading 14th of the year, a two-run shot that put the Rangers up 6-0 and followed a walk from the returning Corey Seager.

With a big lead in the early innings, MacKenzie Gore was able to chew through some much-needed innings. Though he ran into some trouble in the fifth, allowing three runs to halve Texas’ lead, the left-hander ultimately went seven innings and allowed just those three runs on four hits and a walk. Gore also struck out five as he picked up his first win of the month.

Jakob Junis handled the eighth and then Jacob Latz survived a two-run Kazuma Okamoto homer to make us sweat out for his 15h save of the year. With the 81st game in the books, we’ve reached the halfway point of the 2026 season with Texas on the wrong side of the .500 mark but looking to surge ahead.

Player of the Game: Gore enjoyed a quality start and Langford’s three-run blast was the biggest hit of the night but Pederson set the tone with his long at-bat that ended in a leadoff home run to flip the script on how the first inning had often gone for Texas in the first half.

In addition to the solo home run to begin the game, Pederson also singled ahead of Langford’s dong and walked twice.

Up Next: The Rangers and Blue Jays are back at it tomorrow evening with RHP Nathan Eovaldi expected to make the start for Texas opposite Rangers’ inning-eating hero from a season ago, LHP Patrick Corbin for Toronto.

The Friday night first pitch from Rogers Centre is scheduled for 6:07 pm CDT and will be aired on the Rangers Sports Network.

When Craig Counsell spoke to David Peterson over the phone Thursday morning, the Cubs manager could sense it in his newest pitcher’s voice. This was a lot to take in. Peterson had only known one team throughout his MLB career — and he was the longest-tenured Met. Just Wednesday night, during the second game of a doubleheader between the teams, Peterson was in the home dugout.

But that changed shortly before midnight, after the Mets sent the struggling lefty to Chicago in exchange for infield prospect Cole Mathis. Instead of spending the rest of his final season before free agency trying to fix what has gone wrong in Queens, Peterson was expected to start this weekend in Milwaukee for another team, potentially even flying with it after the series concluded at Citi Field and Peterson got everything in his personal life situated.

“Nobody tells you when you’re gonna be traded,” Counsell said. “They call you into the office or they call you on the phone and say, ‘You’ve been traded.’ That’s the warning you get. That’s shocking news for anybody. So I think he’s feeling the effects of that, and that takes a little while.”

And for the Mets, who entered play with a five-game losing streak and in the basement of the National League East, it marked the first move in what could be a summer filled with change to the current roster. Peterson’s deal could be just the initial trade. This is the reality for a spiraling team. After being an integral piece of the Mets’ improbable run to the NLCS in 2024 and after making the All-Star Game in 2025, Peterson’s trajectory stalled, with struggles forcing him to become a bullpen piece and bulk-inning reliever this season as a result.

“It’s sad to see him go,” Bo Bichette told The Post. “He’s been a great teammate so far in my time here and obviously spent a lot of time here, so yeah, I think it definitely sends some shock waves through the clubhouse.”

Mendoza said Peterson’s reaction to his role didn’t play a factor in the deal. He praised the 30-year-old’s ability to adapt to whatever the Mets needed. Peterson, a first-round pick in 2017 who debuted three years later, had collected a 6.08 ERA through 16 appearances — and eight starts — this season, with the latest clunker unfolding Sunday against the Phillies.

On a Mets team with so many rotation questions, Peterson was among the most puzzling. He pitched to a 2.41 ERA across the final two months of the 2024 regular season. He collected a 2.83 ERA across his first 20 starts the next campaign, too, and cracked the first All-Star roster of his career. He was supposed to be the constant. A source of stability in a 2026 rotation filled with inconsistencies (such as Kodai Senga) and unproven young pitchers (such as Nolan McLean).

“And then kinda everything went the other way,” Mendoza said.

After a three-start stretch where he allowed 14 earned runs in 14 ¹/₃ innings, Peterson was demoted to the bullpen. He made four starts after the demotion while also logging bulk innings in other outings.

“It’s a tough one,” Mendoza said. “because obviously, you understand this is a business. But especially from my end, I had a really good relationship with [Peterson]. … But it got to a point where needed the flexibility on the roster. Talking to David [Stearns], we already have Kodai in the pen and just continue to have starters in the bullpen, it’s just not gonna be sustainable.”

So in the visiting dugout pregame, Counsell talked about how he felt the Cubs could get the most out of Peterson and a fresh start. About how Chicago’s defensive strength — the opposite of a team like the Mets, who committed six errors Wednesday night — could benefit a pitcher who tends to induce plenty of ground balls. About how the Cubs were able to fill a need with five weeks still remaining until the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

The Mets, though, were left with a void. They were left with a new longest-tenured player. They were left with another subtle reminder that this could happen over and over again before the deadline arrives, even if Bichette, when asked about whether there’s a pressure to win before then, downplayed that reality.

“I mean, we’re just focused on winning as many games as we can,” Bichette said. “We can’t really focus on all that kinda stuff. We just have to focus on what we can do today.”

After a disappointing series loss to the Yankees featuring two very close defeats, the Tigers looked to right the ship in the opener of a four-game weekend series at home against the Houston Astros — and, yes, the Tigers just played them last weekend, who the heck is making this schedule anyway? Despite some incredible starting pitching, the Tigers couldn’t solve Houston’s pitching and dropped the series opener 2-1 on Thursday night.

Making his sixth start of the year for the Tigers was Troy Melton, who has been good-to-great so far this year. His last start featured six innings of one-run ball against the White Sox in the midst of that lovely sweep last weekend. Curiously, while his ERA is a sterling 2.56, his FIP (fielding-independent pitching; essentially ERA with average fielding behind him) is a bizarrely-high 5.41. But he also has a walks-plus-hits-per-inning-pitched (WHIP) of a sensational 0.947, so I can honestly say I have no idea what the heck is going on there.

Tatsuya Imai, in his first season in North America after a few excellent years in Japan, has been up-and-down. He still strikes out a lot of batters like he did in Japan, but his walk rate is an astronomical 5.3 per 9 innings. His previous start saw him strike out 11 in six innings, but in the one before that he didn’t get out of the first inning. Much was written about Imai describing how he was having trouble “adjust[ing] to the American lifestyle” and how that might have contributed to some arm fatigue early in the spring. (Remember, Japanese starting pitchers throw in about a game a week.)

A fun thing happened on the first pitch of the game: the pitch was delivered and called a ball, “Marshall” Dillon Dingler immediately challenged it, and the call was overturned. That guy, man — not only does he hit dingers, but he’s one of the best in MLB at getting calls overturned.

Both pitchers were crusing early on, and Melton’s fastball was really sizzling, touching 98 mph (44 m/s) early on. He mixed in cutters and sliders, and he also featured a much sharper splitter in this one to keep hitters honest. The whiffs and strikeouts are starting to arrive for Melton. Imai’s splitter-ish slider was used pretty heavily, and he certainly made Hao-Yu Lee look quite the fool on a third-inning strikeout.

The first hit of the game for either side appeared with two out in the bottom of the fourth, with Riley Greene poking a single to right field; Colt Keith lined out sharply to centre for the third out of the inning.

Through five innings Melton hadn’t allowed a baserunner and had struck out six, but was at 75 pitches. If he was going to, youuu knoooow, he needed some quick innings.

However, after retiring the first 16 hitters in a row, Melton hung a slider to Taylor Trammell in the sixth and he hit it a long way over the right-field fence for a 1-0 Houston lead. After a two-out single to Jeremy Peña, Melton got the dangerous Yordan Alvarez to fly out harmlessly to Greene in left field on one pitch.

Kyle Finnegan took over for Melton to start the seventh; Melton’s fantastic final line was 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K. Finnegan’s been no slouch himself recently: in the middle game of the Yankees series he pitched 1 1/3 innings and struck out all four batters he faced. Tonight he had a pleasantly uneventful seventh inning: groundout, flyout, strikeout.

The eighth brought Tyler Holton to the mound, and he’s been good lately too. Coming into tonight he’d had seven straight scoreless appearances (although he did allow an inherited runner to score in the Yankees series). He gave up a harmless single but otherwise had a clean sheet, to borrow a soccer term.

With two outs in the eighth, Lee punched a single into centre against AJ Blubaugh, bringing Kevin McGonigle up to the plate, but he grounded out to first and we were on to the ninth.

Kenley Jansen, who’s been pretty solid lately, came on for the ninth; he gave up a leadoff single to Peña, who stole second. Let’s just say that, if there are ten things on Jansen’s mind on a mound, holding runners close ain’t one of ’em — and that would prove to be very important, as Alvarez hit a grounder to second that advanced Peña to third with one out. Isaac Paredes hit a fly ball to score Alvarez and push the lead to 2-0, and that lack of attention to a runner may have ultimately cost the Tigers the game.

As he has done lately, Dingler put the team on his back and blasted a home run to centrefield with one out in the ninth to narrow the gap to 2-1.

Greene followed with a single to give the Tigers hope, but Keith hit a hot grounder right to first base — exactly where Christian Walker was, as he was holding Greene on. Walker threw to second, the throw came back to first, and that was the ball game.

Final score: Astros 2, Tigers 1

Notes and Whatnot

• Let’s talk about Dillon Dingler. His batting average (and OPS) by month: .247 (.800), .206 (.743), .361 (1.093). Whoa, he really likes June! (And so have the Tigers.)
• Another fun statistic about Dingler: coming into tonight he had led off an inning 65 times so far this year. In those plate appearances he’s hit five home runs, two doubles and two triples (amongst his 20 hits), walked five times and has an OPS of an astronomical 1.172. I know that’s a small sample, but holy mackerel, those are some numbers, small sample size or not.
• I’m not the only one who’s sweet on this Dingler fellow; Fangraphs likes him too.
• Catalonian architect Antoni Gaudí was born on this day in 1852. If you’ve ever been to Barcelona, you’ve definitely seen his work: the Sagrada Família cathedral, which has been under construction for about a century, was his design. He also designed Park Güell, which looks like it came out of a psychedelic drug-fueled dream, and is stupdendously cool.

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Arizona Diamondbacks fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.

We asked you earlier in the week how the D-backs should approach the trade deadline. Of course, it’s something which is very much in flux. Even since the poll took place, the D-backs unexpectedly won a pair of games on the road, against a team ahead of them in the standings. They currently sit two games out of a wild-card spot, but it’s very much in a state of flux, as I noted in the original. Going into play today, only four games cover the eight teams who occupy between fourth and eleventh place in the standings. A good week could catapult anyone into a wild-card spot. Conversely, a bad week could drop you like a stone.

So, I’ve a feeling the answer to this question could change – probably multiple times – between now and the trade deadline on August 3. I imagine Mike Hazen and the Arizona front office will certainly wait until the All-Star break, and see how a potentially tricky section of the schedule plays out. But for now, here’s what you responded.

Brought to you by FanDuel

Caution seems to be the order of the day, with the two “weak” options combining for 56% of the votes. “Buy” just edged out “Sell” there, though there’s a case to be made for both directions. Here are some comments from the poll thread which do just that, or go for the option in the middle.

• Sneeks – “I selected “weak sell” because I’m just not sure if we are a trade or two away from being a playoff team. I really wish we were. We show flashes, but against better teams, those flashes seem to occur fewer and fewer. … I also selected “weak sell” because… we just don’t have a lot of interesting pieces to shop?”
• LeftFieldCorNWer – “Weak buy for the right player at the right price. Not sure it makes sense to spend a lot for this season. They keep having to scramble to stay around .500. The only sustained success so far was that stretch against the cellar dwelling teams.”
• DbacksEurope – “Stand pat. Buying wouldn’t be wise. It is impossible to turn this mediocre team into a contender unless we somehow are able to get 3 ace starting pitchers, a complete new bullpen and we get 3 guys that can actually hit, and not just this season. No one is going to net a valuable return, look Suárez and Naylor. E-Rod would be a salary dump. The only situation I see is to just sit it out.”

Interestingly, enthusiasm for a strong anything was considerably more skewed towards the sell than the buy, at 24% vs. 10% (strong buy isn’t shown, but I did the math!). The fringey nature of the team’s status as a contender, plus perhaps concerns about the status of the 2027 season, may be a factor against the team pushing in all their chips right now. Which makes sense: it doesn’t feel like this team is a player or two from being a credible threat to the likes of the Yankees or Dodgers come October. Though you might have said the same thing at the start of the 2023 post-season as well…

Shohei Ohtani was the first Dodger to be named a 2026 All-Star, after leading the majors in Phase 1 voting for the All-Star game on July 14 in Philadelphia. Six other Dodgers were finalists through the fan ballot, giving them a chance to claim starting spots in Phase 2 of voting.

Ohtani locked down the starting DH spot for the National League squad, with 3,341,257 votes. The top vote-getters in each league bypass Phase 2. Second baseman Ernie Clement of the Toronto Blue Jays was the top vote-getter in the American League, with 3,232,932 votes.

Ohtani was the expected choice, despite a slow offensive start. His red-hot June boosted him up the leaderboards. He entered Thursday with the second-highest OPS in the National League (.963), barely trailing Mets outfielder Juan Soto (.965).

Read more:Shohei Ohtani takes control of Dodgers' win after miscommunication with Dalton Rushing

Pitchers aren’t chosen through the fan vote — hurlers and reserves have to wait for the player ballot (which includes votes from players, coaches and managers) and commissioners picks. But Ohtani has been just as impressive on the mound this year.

He has a 1.58 ERA, the fourth-best mark among NL pitchers who have thrown at least 50 innings this season.

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman (2,666,008 votes), third baseman Max Muncy (2,890,181) and outfielder Andy Pages (2,158,664) also led their respective NL position groups in voting. Other Dodgers finalists, who advance to voting Phase 2, include catcher Will Smith (1,871,805), shortstop Mookie Betts (1,762,343 ) and outfielder Teoscar Hernandez (1,569,932).

The vote totals reset for Phase 2, which runs from next Monday through Thursday. The remainder of the All-Star starters are set to be announced on July 4 on Fox Sports.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.