The St. Louis Cardinals game vs the Arizona Diamondbacks game Thursday night has been postponed because of weather and will be made up on July 23.
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Five Atlanta Braves positions players have advanced to the second round of 2026 All-Star Game voting. Catcher Drake Baldwin, first baseman Matt Olson, outfielders Ronald Acuña, Jr. and Michael Harris II and second baseman Ozzie Albies all moved to the next round of voting, which begins on June 29, 2026, by finishing in the top two at each position, per league, in the first round of fans voting. The top six outfielders advanced.
Those two top players per positions – and top six outfielders – will go head-to-head to gain the starting assignment in this year’s All-Star Game in Philadelphia. The exceptions are the top vote-getters in each league, who automatically advance as starters. Shohei Ohtani led the National League at the designated hitter position and Ernie Clement led the American League and draws the starting assignment at second base.
Pitchers are not part of the voting process.
Here are the match-up for each of the Braves players in the next round, which includes players from three of Atlanta’s top rivals:
Catcher: Baldwin vs. Will Smith (Dodgers)
First base: Olson vs. Freddie Freeman (Dodgers)
Second base: Albies vs. Bryson Stott (Phillies)
Outfield: Harris II and Acuña, Jr. compete with Andy Pages (Dodgers), Juan Soto (Mets), Brandon Marsh (Phillies) and Teoscar Hernández (Dodgers)
Voting ends on July 2 and can be done here.
The possibility of a Major League Baseball season in 2027 could be dwindling.
MLB proposed a five-year maximum contract length for players signing with new teams via free agency during a Thursday negotiation with the MLB Players Association on the league’s next collective bargaining agreement, the league confirmed via X on Thursday afternoon.
Beginning in 2027, teams would also be able to re-sign their own players to deals of up to six years under the league’s proposed “Cornerstone Player” provision, which MLB likened to the NBA’s “Bird Rights” clause that gives teams an advantage in retaining their own free agents by allowing them to exceed the salary cap and offer larger contracts.
Free agents joining a new team would be allowed to sign a maximum deal of five years, $202 million, while the “Cornerstone Player” clause would top out at six years, $265 million.
The proposal would also eliminate deferred contracts, much like the ones utilized by the Dodgers, including for stars Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker.
Thursday’s meeting also saw the league accept MLBPA’s proposal to grant free agency to players who are 30 years old with five years of MLB service — marking a potential shift from the longstanding post-1976 standard that has generally granted free agency after six years — and eliminate the qualifying offer system, which effectively penalizes teams for signing certain free agents by attaching draft-pick compensation.
MLB also proposed what it called a “historic” increase to the league minimum salary, raising it from $780,000 to $1 million for players with at least two years of service and guaranteeing players with less than two years of service $1 million in total compensation if they accrue a full year of service.
“Every other major U.S. sport has tackled this problem, and every year more small-market teams in those leagues have a chance to win. The salary cap and floor proposal levels the playing field, allowing us greater flexibility to address longstanding player priorities while sharing baseball revenue with the players 50/50,” MLB spokesperson Glen Caplin said.
“Today, in addition to proposing the largest ever increase in the minimum salary, earned by over half of MLB players, we accepted two landmark changes to free agency that have been in place for 50 years. We agreed to both the MLBPA’s proposal to provide earlier access to free agency, and their proposal to eliminate the qualifying offer system, a provision players view as a drag on free agency.”
MLBPA blasted Thursday’s negotiations and proposals as “misleading” and part of an agenda that would lead to “suppressing player salaries and maximizing club profits.”
“These misleading offers are designed to look like ‘improvements’ but are of little or no value, given they are expressly conditioned on agreement to the league’s cap system which eliminates the free market, and ensures gains for one player only come at the expense of another,” the union said in a statement.
The latest round of negotiations comes a week after MLBPA ripped the league over a proposed overhaul of the draft, which would remove high school players from draft eligibility until after their sophomore year of college and cut the draft from 20 rounds to 12 while reducing the bonus pool from $358.7 million to $200 million.
Late last month, MLB formally proposed a hard salary cap that would require every MLB team to maintain a payroll between $171.2 million and $245.3 million. It would force several big market teams, including the Mets, Dodgers and Yankees, to significantly cut their spending.
The league’s push for a salary cap has been met with fierce resistance, and MLBPA interim executive director Bruce Meyer put the onus on MLB to avoid a lockout in 2027.
“As I said in the past, it’s highly, highly likely that they’re going to lock us out again,” Meyer said Thursday, noting that another meeting is expected ahead of the July All-Star break, per The Athletic.
“Ultimately, that’s up to them.”
This was no Giannis Antetokounmpo "let's drag this out over months and years" situation — discussions of LaMelo Ball being available in a trade popped up after the second round of the NBA Draft Wednesday night, and by Thursday morning, the deal was done.
It's a big swing by both teams, but who were the winners and losers from this massive trade? Let's break it down, but first is a reminder of exactly what this trade looks like:
Minnesota receives: LaMelo Ball, Josh Green
Charlotte receives: Naz Reid, 2033 unprotected first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, 2030), three second-round picks (2029, 2032, 2033)
Minnesota president Tim Connelly and the entire organization stepped back and made an honest assessment of the past three seasons: This is a good team. Just not good enough. They made two Western Conference Finals and have a superstar entering his prime in Anthony Edwards, but they also see Oklahoma City and San Antonio and realized their team, as constructed, had reached its ceiling.
So they swung for the fences.
Julius Randle and Naz Reid are gone (as was Nickeil Alexander-Walker a year before them), and in comes LaMelo Ball and his dynamic offensive game. Minnesota has shifted philosophy from a defensive team with hopefully enough offense to an offensive team with hopefully enough defense.
Best of LaMelo Ball — 2025-26 Highlights pic.twitter.com/68kHgBCjRf
— Not Locked On Fantasy Basketball (@MaarkyBoy) May 8, 2026
The potential upside of having Anthony Edwards and Ball share the offensive load is obvious — this could be one of the most entertaining and potent offensive teams in the league. Ball has become an offense unto himself, one of the on-off gods ine. If one thing is sure, these Timberwolves are going to be a highlight factory and a League Pass favorite.
For the past couple of years, Minnesota has clearly needed another shot creator to play with Edwards. Now with Ball and just re-signed Ayo Dosunmu, it has two guys next to him who can score from all three levels. Minnesota is now running its offense through two good and one elite passers, three forces in transition, and with a little more shooting around them this will be nearly an impossible offense to stop.
There are risks here. That starts with Minnesota needing Ball to continue down the path he did a year ago of deferring more, making the right read and trusting his teammates. Your old-school coach would say he was "playing the right way." Ball did much better with that last season, the Timberwolves need that trend to continue.
Minnesota is going to lean heavily on Jaden McDaniels and especially Rudy Gobert in the paint to shore up the defense. This trade also is a big get on LaMelo's health, he played 70 games last season but no more than 47 the previous 3. Minnesota needs him on the court.
But if it all comes together, this is a Minnesota team that is a bigger threat to Oklahoma City and San Antonio than it was 48 hours ago. The potential upside for this team is now higher.
Things can all click into place at the right time, and a team can go on a magical postseason run — we just saw the New York Knicks ride that all the way to a title.
That is also not the norm. Ball and Edwards both have three full seasons on max contracts locked in, the Timberwolves have a little time to figure everything out around them, but they don't have the assets to make another big swing. Minnesota has traded away its picks and financial flexibility to get here. This has to work.
In the short term, they have gone small with Ball, Edwards and Dosunmu playing 1-3, Jaden McDaniels now is the four with Rudy Gobert the five (they will miss Donte DiVincenzo this season as he recovers from a torn Achilles). Terrence Shannon Jr. and Josh Green have to step up, as does young big Joan Beringer.
There's a reason that both Brooklyn (in the Julius Randle trade) and Minnesota wanted their picks further down the line, there is a conviction in league circles that Edwards is going to move on from Minnesota after this contract. That speculation isn't fair to Edwards, the Timberwolves or the team's fans, but it's also very real.
If the goal was to win over Edwards long-term, this trade feels like a huge roll of the dice, one more likely to come up snake eyes.
The instinct here is to say Charlotte was a dynamo last season, going 18-9 after the All-Star break and winning 44 games, its most in a decade. Why not build on that? Why break it up and trade away the biggest star on your team?
However, Charlotte also saw the play-in games. Their red-hot team needed overtime to beat Miami then get run out of the building by Orlando. This Hornets squad had incredible highs but was not a genuine threat. And then there are the concerns about LaMelo staying fully healthy for another season (he hadn't the previous three).
So Charlotte bet that it could sell high on Ball (and that Anthony Edwards would not be in Minnesota when many of the picks and swaps are conveyed).
The Hornets have set out to build something more stable, constructed around Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller. They now also have Coby White at the point and Nas Reid at the four — that's a lot of shooting and floor spacing — and Moussa Diabate at the five.
The Hornets' offense likely takes a step back next season, but their defense should improve, and they gained flexibility for the future. They have a $40.7 million trade exception (the largest in NBA history) plus cap space, and they added a first-round pick that can be traded later if needed.
Charlotte may not be better next season, they might even be a little worse. However, in the long term, they are better set up to build a genuinely threatening team in the East.
Minnesota has needed a high-level secondary shot creator for years. Consider the point guards Anthony Edwards has played next to in Minnesota: Ricky Rubio, D'Angelo Russell, Patrick Beverley and Mike Conley. Not exactly an offensively dynamic group.
Now Edwards gets to play next to an offensive force in his own right in LaMelo Ball. Edwards can spend time working off-ball in some matchups, and can take over a game in the clutch if needed. Throw in Dosunmu and this is a group that is going to be entertaining, and we could see Edwards put up the best numbers of his career.
Will this make him happy long-term? That depends on how much they win. But in the short term at least, Edwards is a winner.
There are 74 million reasons White is a winner.
Part of what made this trade possible, from Charlotte's perspective, was that they could lock up White to come in at the point without taking a massive step backward. White is not LaMelo, but he's a good starting-level point guard who can be dynamic, and he's got scorers around him in the backcourt in Knueppel and Miller.
White is getting paid — he just re-signed for three years and $74 million — and getting handed the ball to run a team. That's the definition of a win.
It is nearly impossible to overstate how popular LaMelo Ball is with fans of a certain age across the nation, and especially in Charlotte. For a generation who often view the NBA through highlight packages on Instagram and TikTok, LaMelo is a legend. He has swagger, style, and a game with flair that is a perfect social media fit.
Those fans are going to be crushed by this move.
Ball next to Edwards is still going to be a highlight factory, but for those young fans in Charlotte, it will not bear with their team. It will be a heartbreaking day — they will not care that this trade can not only be defended but called a win in basketball terms. Their favorite player is gone, and that sucks. (It sucks when it happens to any of us.)
I feel for those fans. I could say "give the new team a chance," but I understand that might take a little time. They can take all the time they need.
The Mets had at least something go right for them, as Juan Soto avoided the injured list and was back in the lineup for the series finale against the Cubs after exiting Tuesday’s game with back tightness.
Carlos Mendoza hoped pregame that Soto — who also missed time earlier this season with a calf injury — would be able to play, prompting the Mets to release their starting lineup later than expected until they received some clarity.
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Try it freeHe hit third and served as the designated hitter, with MJ Melendez in left field.
Mendoza, who didn’t have any clarity on when Soto could return to the outfield, was satisfied that Soto even wanted to play — as opposed to just being available as a pinch-hitter after missing both games Wednesday.
“That’s a good sign,” Mendoza said.
A trip to the IL would’ve been another nightmare for the Mets in a season full of them.
Soto, who entered Thursday’s game with a .299 average, .965 OPS and 17 homers, has been one of the only pieces of their lineup to produce.
Francisco Lindor just returned from his calf strain Wednesday and Luis Robert Jr. (lumbar spine disc herniation), Jorge Polanco (left Achilles bursitis, right wrist contusion) and Marcus Semien (left hip flexor strain) are all on the injured list.
And the Mets’ hope that Soto was only day-to-day turned out to be accurate.
He avoided another stint on the IL after missing 15 games in April. The Mets, for once, caught an injury break.
For the sixth time in his MLB career, Shohei Ohtani has been selected to the All-Star Game.
While the rest of this year’s All-Star rosters won’t be announced until next week, Ohtani was able to punch his ticket early on Thursday, courtesy of receiving the most overall votes in the initial round of fan balloting.
By garnering more than 3.3 million selections from fans, Ohtani easily outpaced all other National League players, ensuring he will be the starting DH in the Midsummer Classic.
His total was also more than 100,000 greater than Blue Jays infielder and top American League vote-getter Ernie Clement, who earned the automatic spot in the AL starting lineup.
Ohtani, a four-time MVP, has now been to the All-Star Game in all three of his seasons with the Dodgers and each of the last six going back to his first MVP season with the Angels in 2021.
The two-way star should have plenty of fellow Dodgers teammates heading with him to Philadelphia, as well.
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The club had six other players advance to the second round of voting: catcher Will Smith, first baseman Freddie Freeman, third baseman Max Muncy, shortstop Mookie Betts and outfielders Andy Pages and Teoscar Hernández.
They could have a couple pitchers make the team, as well, most notably Yoshinobu Yamamoto and potentially Justin Wrobleski.
The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 40.
A fair bit to unpack here, though none of the moves are a particular surprise. Interesting to see Bratt sent right back down. He won’t be eligible to come up again for a bit, so we’ll need a different arm to start Monday’s game, back at Chase against the Giants. Will that be Brandon Pfaadt? Probably not. He hasn’t pitched since the 20th, and only threw 52 pitches. There’s no time to get another start in and then have him pitch again on Monday, except on very short rest (he’s not starting tonight for the Aces either). Oh, well. That’s an issue for Mike Hazen to figure out. We just report things.
Nelson goes to the 60-day IL, confirming what we largely knew, that he won’t be back until late August at the very earliest. That opens up the 40-day spot for Kepler, who replaces Tawa on the active roster. I find myself in two minds about the new arrival. Of course, he’s a Diamondback and I want him to do well. But he’s also a convicted PED user, and doesn’t seem to have made even the token noises about it. So I also want him to go into a slump of Fernando Tatis Jr.-esque proportions. Be also get the return of Juan Burgos, who kinda sucked last year, after coming over from Seattle at the trade deadline. A 6.59 ERA this year in Reno isn’t exactly encouraging.
The weather for this one looks distinctly iffy, so may be interrupted or not completed. Jack wrote earlier, “Looking at the radar from 6:45-8:00 it looks like VERY heavy rain with more coming in behind that” Given it’s a Zac Gallen start, perhaps “pray for rain”, as the old proverb went, might be the best option. Him going three innings, and the game being called as a no-content, sounds like a plan. If it needs rescheduled, common off days for the two teams are Thursdays July 23, August 13, September 10 + 17, and Monday September 21. September 10 might work: Arizona would be coming back from Kansas City and St. Louis from San Francisco. August 13 (AZ going to Atlanta, STL at home) is another possibility.
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Warriors star Jimmy Butler gave his honest opinion on rookie Yaxel Lendeborg, whom the team drafted Tuesday with the No. 11 overall pick in the NBA draft.
“I know that guy be speaking his mind. I like that,” Butler said to reporters at Thursday’s media session. “I respect that. I’ve seen him play. One of my really good friends, Mike Smith, did a year at Michigan. I played with some Michigan cats. I think he’s going to be very good.
“He plays tough. He is tough. He’s going to come in and be able to help right away. He’s going to fit in. He’s got the mold to do everything and do everything well. I think he’s going to come in and help and be very comfortable.”
Lendeborg gives the Warriors size and defensive versatility on the wing for the 2026-27 season. As Butler noted, the 23-year-old should make an immediate impact in Golden State.
Lendeborg already has a friendly rivalry with two-thirds of the Warriors’ core. The Michigan product was asked whether he would take No. 23 from Draymond Green after wearing the number in college, with the caveat of having to sport Michigan State gear for the rest of the year.
Lendeborg immediately said no.
Steph Curry also got in on in the lighthearted jabs with the rookie. Lendeborg told reporters he was a massive Kyrie Irving fan in 2016 when the Cavaliers faced the Warriors in the NBA Finals. In a comment on his Instagram post, Curry told Lendeborg he would work hard to become his favorite player.
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“He’s on one. He gotta cross that bridge at one point in time, though. So, it’ll be fun for them to get ahold of them,” Butler said of the early rivalries.
The Golden State Warriors have joined forces with IREN Limited on a multi-year sponsorship deal.
The AI Cloud provider will be featured on the team’s jersey with a sponsor patch, starting with the 2026-27 season.
It is expected to be the richest sponsorship in the history of North American team sports at an average of more than $50 million per year, according to Sportico. The Warriors are owned by Joe Lacob, who purchased the team in 2010 for $450 million. The team brought in $877 million in revenue in 2025.
NEWS: The Warriors signed a new jersey patch deal with AI cloud firm Iren. The multi-year agreement is the richest sponsorship in the history of North American team sports at an average of more than $50 million per year. pic.twitter.com/dA6cC6qyQr
— Kurt Badenhausen (@kbadenhausen) June 25, 2026
“The Warriors jersey badge is our most visible global platform, and finding a partner that shares our vision for both innovation and community engagement was paramount,” said Mike Kitts, the Golden State Chief Commercial Officer.
The company will also have prominent visibility throughout Chase Center and will serve as the presenting sponsorship of the Warriors’ annual City Edition platform.
IREN Limited branding will also be featured on Golden State Valkyries player warm-ups and Santa Cruz G-League jerseys.
The Warriors and IREN will also collaborate on a series of initiatives focused on expanding access to educational opportunities, advancing AI and STEAM literacy, and creating lasting community impact in the Bay Area.
The Warriors’ Community Foundation will also join IREN’s community investment efforts to support youth programming and refurbish basketball courts in the community. They will also distribute 10,000 Warriors jerseys each year to underserved youth.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Warriors new patch deal just shattered history at $50 million a year
SAN FRANCISCO — Landen Roupp was in line for his first win since April 26, and the Giants were positioned to complete their first sweep of the season.
It all fell apart, like so much else this season, thanks to their bullpen.
Roupp limited the Athletics to two runs over six innings and Jung Hoo Lee delivered a bases-clearing triple that, combined with Victor Bericoto’s two-run blast that followed, gave San Francisco a four-run lead.
The problem was that they needed the bullpen to protect it for three innings.
“Yeah, it wasn’t good,” manager Tony Vitello said a short while later. “I mean, we gave up a touchdown in the last three innings.”
Ryan Walker, Erik Miller and Dylan Smith allowed the A’s to cut into the lead in the seventh and eighth innings, and it evaporated once and for all in the ninth against closer Caleb Kilian.
The result: a 9-6 loss in the series finale that they led 6-2 when the bullpen took over. A 26th series they failed to sweep. And a 10th consecutive start in which Roupp failed to earn a win. Roupp’s winless streak is the longest the Giants have gone without winning in one pitcher’s starts since 2008.
The A’s scored in each of the final three innings, totaling seven runs against the Giants’ bullpen.
“You could talk about some balls finding the hole or a broken-bat hit, things like that,” Vitello said. “But the bottom line is we need to do better.”
Kilian, named the closer earlier this month, never recovered after speedy leadoff man Henry Bolte beat out an infield single to the opposite side that Casey Schmitt was shaded.
A wild pitch put the potential tying run on second base with nobody out, but Kilian retired Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers to make it through the meatiest part of the A’s order.
Then, he issued a two-out walk to Tyler Soderstrom and didn’t record another out.
Jonah Heim, Lawrence Butler and Max Muncy singled home four runs off Kilian before Matt Gage finally recorded the third out of the inning, with a one-run lead now a three-run deficit.
The blown save was Kilian’s second in seven chances, the Giants’ 10th as a team in 26 save opportunities and San Francisco’s fifth loss in 34 games it has led after eight innings. Their five losses when leading after eight are tied for fourth most in MLB.
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The seven runs allowed by the Giants’ relievers raised their ERA in June to 6.38. Their 5.09 mark dating back to the start of May ranks as fifth worst in the majors.
Kilian, however, hadn’t been part of the problem, boasting nine scoreless outings in a row when he emerged from the bullpen.
So much for that streak — and the Giants’ hopes of breaking out the brooms.
Roupp turned in his second consecutive quality start, limiting the A’s to two runs over six innings with six strikeouts to only one walk, but will still have to wait to get into the win column again.
What a couple days it’s been for Bericoto.
The Giants left fielder was in the starting lineup Wednesday for the first time since June 10 and spent the entire game trying to find out if his family was OK following two massive earthquakes in his native Venezuela, also home to Luis Arraez and injured reliever Jose Butto.
That was on his mind when he fired a 93 mph laser beam to nab a runner at home plate and when he crushed the 445-foot walk-off home run in the 2-1 win.
Bericoto, it turned out, wasn’t done.
He unleashed another throw on the money from left field in the fourth inning Thursday. This one (clocked at 94.2 mph — the hardest by a Giants outfielder since 2018) went to second base, where Soderstrom was dead to rights trying to extend a single into a double leading off the inning.
Practically replicating his game from a day before, Bericoto followed up his throw with an almost identical homer — also 445 feet to center field — to drive in the final two of five runs in the sixth.
Bericoto, as well as benchmate Jonah Cox, each got rare starts the past two games because lefties were on the mound for the A’s. Maybe Vitello will try to mix in more playing time moving forward.
Kurtz presented the biggest threat in either lineup this series.
Turns out, there was nothing to fear.
The A’s slugging first baseman came up 13 times over the three games and didn’t record a hit. The major-league RBI leader, with 61 entering the series, drove in only one run. He beat out a would-be double play with runners on the corners in the fifth.
He struck out in his first two tries against Roupp, including with two on and one out in the third, and earned a hat trick by going down swinging with the tying run on second in the ninth.
The Giants see the Braves again after winning both games the teams played in between downpours last week in Atlanta. It will be Trevor McDonald against Reynaldo Lopez in the series opener Friday night, with first pitch set for 7:15.
It’s draft season, so there are some moves and the Devils made a couple of them, first acquiring 23-year-old center Amadeus Lombardi from the Detroit Red Wings for the Devils 4th round selection in the 2026 NHL entry draft.
Lombardi has been nearly a point-per-game player for the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL for the past two seasons. My initial reaction is this is a smart gamble. Fourth round picks rarely materialize and clearly the Devils see something in Lombardi, who would be competing for a bottom 6 center role in camp this year. The Devils need center depth and they obtained that in this move for minimal cost.
Dobber Prospects had this to say about Lombardi in August 2025:
[Lombardi] has consistently posted strong play-driving results in all three zones and is known for his two-way play and attention to detail. Still only 21, he continues to fly under the radar in fantasy circles, though that will change when he starts to see reps in a Red Wings uniform in the near future.
All good things. Welcome to the Devils, Amadeus.
For a good read on Lombardi’s statlines, please check out Andrew Streitel’s article reviewing his season on Grand Rapids Griffin’s site.
Later in the day, the Devils also acquired left-handed defenseman Declan Chisholm for a 2027 fourth round pick.
The 26-year-old defender scored a goal and six assists in 26 games for the Capitals last season. Chisholm has played a combined 125 NHL games for the Capitals, Wild, and Jets over the past several seasons.
What do you think? Post your comments below.
This evening, MLB announced the results of the first phase of All-Star voting on MLB Network. Aaron Judge, Ben Rice, and Cody Bellinger earned enough votes to advance to Phase 2.
The top overall vote-getter in the American League was Ernie Clement (that a decent player like Clement leads the voting brings into question what exactly it is that we’re doing here, but that’s a story for another day), meaning that he has already earned a starting spot on the AL squad. The top two vote-getters at every (top six in the case of outfielders) now advance to the second phase of voting, with the exception of Clement’s position of second base. Vote totals are reset after Phase 1, so the slate will be swept clean before Phase 2 begins, and the winners at each position will go on to start the All-Star Game.
Despite the rib injury that has kept him out for a few weeks now, Judge leads the way for the Yankees, his 2,567,404 votes the most for New York and the most among AL outfielders. Mike Trout, in the midst of a resurgent season but also unfortunately injured, finished second. In third is Byron Buxton, and in fourth is Cody Bellinger, whose excellent all-around contributions have helped the Yankees thrive even without Judge. More Blue Jays, Daulton Varsho and Jesús Sánchez, round out the top six among outfielders; the top three vote-getters in Phase 2 will start across the outfield in the All-Star Game.
Also advancing to Phase 2 is Rice, who finished second at first base but should have finished first, his 2026 campaign easily outstripping that of the actual first-place finisher Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Rice has morphed into one of the game’s finest hitters, and his OPS+ dwarfs that of Vladito (167 to 98). Now, Rice has a shot to start at first if he can defeat Guerrero in Phase 2, but he has work cut out for him, with Canada doing its best to vote for their Blue Jays.
The top vote-getters across the rest of the field are as follows:
Jazz Chisholm Jr. was on the fringes of contention, but he had little chance against the juggernaut that is Clement, ultimately finishing fourth at second base. Otherwise, the only other Yankee to finish in the top five at their position was Giancarlo Stanton, who came in fourth at DH.
Voting in Phase 2 will begin on Monday, June 29th, and lasts until noon ET on July 2nd.
Game one of four with the Godless Texas Rangers.
Lineups:
The Columbus Blue Jackets are on the board with their first trade of the summer, acquiring veteran winger Valeri Nichushkin from the Colorado Avalanche for three draft picks a day before the 2026 NHL Draft.
Nichushkin, 31, was acquired for a 2026 second-round pick (43rd overall) plus the Blue Jackets' 2027 third-round pick and 2028 fifth-round pick. The Russian winger, who is 6 feet 4 and 210 pounds, has experience playing a top-six role and helped the Avalanche win the 2022 Stanley Cup.
He has also totaled 357 points in 627 career games with 154 goals and 203 assists for the Avalanche (2019-26) and Dallas Stars (2013-19). Nichushkin has also scored 41 career power-play goals, 24 game-winning goals and six short-handed goals while averaging 16:25 in ice time.
This past season, he finished with 17 goals, 32 assists and 49 points in 72 games with a +9 plus/minus rating in 17:44 of ice time per game.
"Valeri is a big, strong forward who skates exceptionally well, can score goals, win puck battles and doesn’t shy away from playing in the hard areas,” Blue Jackets president/general manager Don Waddell said in a statement. “He is an accomplished two-way player who competes at a high level and we are very excited to welcome him to the Blue Jackets family."
Nichushkin didn't cost Waddell a first-round pick, so he could still package the 14th overall pick in this year's draft to add another experienced forward while preparing to lose captain Boone Jenner and left wing Mason Marchment as free agents.
The risk with the Nichushkin is off the ice, where personal issues have landed him in the NHL Players' Association Player Assistance Program twice, including the second stint reaching Stage 3 on May 13, 2024 to prompt a minimum six-month suspension without pay for violating terms of his treatment plan established in Stage 2 earlier the same season.
The Stage 3 suspension was revealed by the NHL and NHLPA prior to Game 4 of the Avalanche's second-round series, which they trailed 2-1 against the Stars. Neither the league nor NHLPA revealed the cause for the suspension, but it triggered the third of only four stages to the jointly run program.
Should Nichushkin violate the terms of his Stage 3 treatment plan, Stage 4 includes a mandatory one-year suspension without pay and does not include a guarantee of reinstatement to play. While suspended, players in the NHL/NHLPA program still count toward the NHL's salary-cap system unless they're placed on long-term injured reserve for a separate reason.
Nichushkin was also involved with an off-ice issue prior to Game 3 of the Avalanche's 2023 playoff series against the Seattle Kraken. He missed the final five games for what the team described as "personal reasons," but a report by The Athletic cited a Seattle police report that said an Avalanche team physician discovered a highly intoxicated woman in Nichushkin's hotel room.
It was determined the woman was too intoxicated to leave the hotel via taxi or ride-share service, so she was taken to a hospital by ambulance. Nichushkin's agent, Mark Gandler, was quoted in the article and denied his client's involvement, but Nichushkin was the only Avalanche player listed by name in the police report.
That incident didn't lead to Nichushkin re-entering the NHL/NHLPA program, but he did miss the remainder of that series. In the past two years, Nichushkin hasn't triggered Stage 4 of the treatment program and has maintained a significant role in Colorado's lineup.
He has four years left on a contract with a $6.125 million cap charge and 12-team, no-trade clause. Should he steer clear of trouble and arrive in Columbus motivated, Nichushkin could provide a boost to the Blue Jackets' possession metrics, power play and scoring.
patch Blue Jackets reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets land Valeri Nichushkin from Colorado Avalanche
The Cubs needed to make a move for a starting pitcher after losing two in the last week, and when Mets southpaw David Peterson became available, the deal was done.
Cubs president Jed Hoyer said Peterson's name was someone they've been talking about as a potential trade target for "quite a while," and his manager echoed those sentiments when talking about the team's newest acquisition.
"This is something we’ve been talking about for a while. And from a timing perspective, we have some needs," Craig Counsell said ahead of Thursday's series finale. "But we’re hopeful we can get a starting pitcher that can solidify some things in a time of need for us and hopefully give him a fresh start and get back to some of the success he’s had."
A fresh start is something Peterson and the Mets needed. After struggling earlier this season, Peterson found himself yo-yoing between the rotation and bullpen as the Mets tried to cobble together viable starters. Through 16 games (eight starts), Peterson is 3-6 with a 6.09 ERA after being an All-Star a season ago. With Peterson set to take the mound for Chicago this weekend in Milwaukee, Counsell and the Cubs are hopeful they can unlock that All-Star caliber pitcher.
When asked how the Cubs' infield defense can help, Counsell boasted his team's skill in that department.
"This is a pitcher among the league leaders of getting the ball on the ground. The ball is going to be in play and that’s something we’re good at," Counsell said. "This is the strength of our team, is playing defense and converting balls into outs. He’s the type of pitcher who benefits most from defense."
This season, Peterson has a 53 percent groundball percentage, which is in the 89th percentile in MLB, according to Baseball Savant. The Cubs are an MLB-best 37 OAA -- the Mets are 20th with -8. The Cubs have committed 31 errors, tied for the fifth-fewest in MLB, while the Mets have committed 51, tied for the fourth-most in baseball.
Those numbers were inflated after the Mets' six-error game in the second of their doubleheader on Wednesday night.
"There’s always going to be some tweaks that you try to make," Counsell said when asked how the Cubs can help Peterson. "Baseball is a team game. One of the ways that we think we can help him is to provide something that is important to him that we do pretty well."
The Cubs entered Thursday with a 0.5-game lead over the Padres for the third and final Wild Card spot.
