The New York Mets and New York Yankees will have disbursednearly $640m in player salaries by the end of the 2025 season, but money hasn’t bought happiness for either New York City fanbase. After enjoying hot starts to begin the 2025 season, the Yankees are now in third place in the American League East while the Mets are a woeful 11-16since the All-Star Break and 4-11 in the month of August.

Even though both teams would qualify for the postseason if the season ended today, neither of them are meeting their lofty preseason expectations. With under 40 games remaining in the season, what is ailing the teams that enjoyed comfortable first-place leads earlier this season? And is all hope lost as they enter the last quarter of the season?

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The Mets

When the Mets signed Juan Soto to a record-setting 15-year, $765m contract in December, they lured the superstar away from the wealthy crosstown rival Yankees and inherited the weighty expectations that come with a historic signing. When Soto started (relatively) slowly over the first two months of the season, the Mets covered for him with some of the best pitching in baseball (a 2.88 ERA through 31 May) and a strong offensive season from first baseman Pete Alonso.

When Soto found his usual form in June, the Mets started faltering. Since the start of June, Soto has hit 21 home runs and posted a .408 on-base percentage, but the Mets are a dreary 28-36 in that same time span. The month of August has been an ongoing nightmare for their pitching staff: the starting pitching that anchored the team to start the season has a ghastly 6.22 ERA in August, which has taxed a tired bullpen that added two major pieces (Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers) at the trade deadline in July.

The Mets’ bullpen is responsible for eightof the team’s elevenlosses in August. Helsley, a two-time All-Star who led the National League in saves last year with the St Louis Cardinals, was brought in to set up All-Star closer Edwin Díaz. Unfortunately, Helsley has stumbled to a 7.11 ERA in his first eight games with his new team. It’s an uncharacteristically bad stretch for one of baseball’s most dominant relief pitchers, and the Mets need him to find his usual form if they want to compete in a loaded National League playoff race.

Even with their horrendous run of recent form, the Mets remain one of the most talented teams in baseball and a viable pennant contender. Shortstop Francisco Lindor – who finished second to Shohei Ohtani in last year’s NL MVP race – is one of the game’s most admired leaders and consistent producers. Even after battling through two major slumps earlier in the season, Lindor has already hit 20 home runs and stolen 20 bases for the fifth time in his career.

If the Mets want to make their playoffs, they’ll need to play like a postseason team until the end of September. Of their final 38 games, 22 of them will be against teams in the thick of a playoff race (including seven against the division-leading Phillies). For a team that was 21 games over .500 in the middle of June, it would be nothing short of an epic collapse if the Mets were somehow left home in October.

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The Yankees

The Yankees won their first American League pennant in 15 years last season, but their World Series loss to the Dodgers was a bitter end marred by terrible defense and poor hitting in clutch situations. This year’s team has better balance than the 2024 version – they added top starting pitcher Max Fried, former MVP Cody Bellinger and two-time All-Star relief pitcher Devin Williams after losing Soto to the Mets – but the Yankees still suffer from inconsistent relief pitching and sloppy defense.

Aaron Judge is a good bet to win his third MVP award in four years – he leads baseball in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and times on base – and infielder Jazz Chisholm Jr is, like Lindor, one of eight players this season to hit at least 20 home runs and steal at least 20 bases. By the end of the season, shortstop Anthony Volpe might join them as a member of the 20-20 club. The offense hasn’t been the problem: it has the highest slugging percentage (.430) and more home runs than any team in baseball (195). A lineup featuring Judge, Bellinger (22 home runs this year) Giancarlo Stanton (441 career home runs) will terrify any opposing pitcher.

The problem is the pitching staff. Since the All-Star Break, the Yankees have the worst ERA (4.70) of any team competing for a playoff spot and have walked more hitters (110) than any team in baseball in that span. Like the Mets, the Yankees traded for two former All-Star relief pitchers (David Bednar and Camilo Doval), to try to stabilize the struggling staff and push the team into the postseason. While Bednar has adapted nicely (a 2.16 ERA and three saves), Doval has labored to a 6.43 ERA with six walks in eight appearances. General manager Brian Cashman likely envisioned Doval, Bednar, former closer Luke Weaver and Williams vanquishing hitters in the late innings. Instead, the team is experimenting with different roles while trying to fix what is ailing Williams.

After three consecutive seasons with a sub-2.00 ERA in Milwaukee, Williams has endured a nightmare opening season in the Bronx, which has seen him lose the closer job before regaining it, only to lose it again after surrendering runs in five consecutive outings over July and August. In 140 innings pitched from 2022-2024, Williams allowed 26 total earned runs and seven home runs. In 47 1/3 innings this season, he has allowed 28 earned runs and five homers. Whether his issues are mechanical or psychological, Williams has not been the pitcher that the Yankees thought they were acquiring this offseason.

And then there is the defense. Since their notoriously bad performance in Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, the Yankees’ defense is more scrutinized than any other team in baseball. They might not be as bad as some people say – Volpe is a Gold Glove-quality shortstop, Paul Goldschmidt remains a reliable first baseman and Bellinger is one of baseball’s best defensive outfielders – but some embarrassing blunders have kept that conversation alive. Ultimately, it isn’t a trustworthy unit.

The Yankees offense is so good, though, that it’s unlikely they’ll miss the playoffs. The American League is a much weaker overall group than the National League this season, which means the Yankees may very well find their way to a second consecutive pennant. But they’ll need to shore up their pitching and defense if they expect to return to the World Series.

Athletics reportedly promoting top prospect Leo De Vries to Double-A Midland originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Athletics are promoting top prospect Leo De Vries to Double-A Midland after the switch-hitting shortstop’s recent hot stretch with High-A Lansing, MLB.com’s Martín Gallegos reported Sunday, citing a source.

De Vries is the league’s No. 3 overall prospect and was the A’s critical return piece in the deal that sent All-Star closer Mason Miller to the San Diego Padres at the 2025 MLB trade deadline.

At 18 years old, De Vries slashed .249/.354/.426 with 91 hits, 58 RBI and 10 home runs over 97 games between the Padres’ High-A Fort Wayne affiliate and the Athletics’ High-A Lansing team in 2025. He began his professional career with the Padres organization at just 17 years old in 2024, playing 93 games between Single-A Lake Elsinore and the Arizona Fall League’s Peoria.

De Vries will be the youngest player at the Double-A level when he debuts for the RockHounds, according to Baseball America, and will be the 19th player to reach Double-A at 18 years old since 2010.

A’s general manager David Forst told Chris Townsend about his expectations for De Vries on “A’s Cast” on Wednesday — and it was quite the foreshadowing.

“I think Leo De Vries has a chance to be a superstar,” Forst said, adding that “there is a learning curve no matter where you are, but I’d like to think he gets his feet wet in Double-A before the end of the year, starts there next year, and then he’s off and running.”

The A’s have liked what they have seen from De Vries and look forward to seeing him — the equivalent of a high school senior — get his feet wet at yet another big-boy level.

Slammed Diego.

Those pesky rivals from down south staggered away from their weekend stay at Dodger Stadium Sunday with spirits bruised, egos bloodied and Manny Machado flattened.

Canned Diego.

Arriving here shortly after stealing first place, little brother spent the next three days giving it back to a Dodger team that met the moment while the Padres recoiled from it.

Fanned Diego.

It was a sweeping sweep of a sweep, the Dodgers winning their third consecutive game from the Padres Sunday by a 5-4 margin that does not begin to elucidate the difference between these two teams.

The Dodgers now lead the National League West by two games, but it feels like 20. Both teams have 38 games remaining in the season, including three next weekend in San Diego, but any sort of real challenge by the Padres feels fabricated.

The Dodgers are the deeper team. The Dodgers are the more focused team. The Dodgers are the better team.

Read more:Amid a season of struggle, Mookie Betts delivers in Dodgers' sweep of Padres

The final weekend blow was an eighth-inning, game-winning drive into the left-field pavilion by Mookie Betts, but this series wasn’t nearly that close.

The Dodgers did everything right, and the Padres did everything dumb.

The Dodgers charged, and the Padres choked.

“Didn't play as well as we'd like to have, and the series didn't go like we wanted it to,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said. “But ... this team is more than in a great place.”

That would nonetheless currently be second place, which, after this weekend, seems like an appropriate spot.

Meanwhile, for one of the few stretches in this curious summer, the Dodgers behaved like the first-place tenants they are.

“I don’t think anyone in that clubhouse doubted our abilities and how good we can be,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Honestly, it was just good to play a really good series, start to finish.”

Truly, from start to finish. The injury-prone Dodgers starters allowed just three runs in 17 innings, the much-maligned Dodger bullpen finished with just three allowed runs in 10 innings, and the Padres were bad enough that nothing else mattered.

Read more:Plaschke: The 'legend' Clayton Kershaw is legendary again for Dodgers

On Friday, Machado gave the Dodgers a run when he botched a bunt, and later hastily popped out on the first pitch in the eighth inning with two out and the tying and go-ahead runs on base.

On Saturday, the Padres were thrown out attempting to steal three times in the first two innings while center fielder Jackson Merrill added to the madness by dropping a fly ball that cost them two runs.

Then on Sunday, the Padres outhit the Dodgers 10-6 but couldn’t get out of their own way long enough to ever pose a real threat.

In the third inning, Freddy Fermín ran into an out on a single to right-center, Andy Pages nailing him by a mile. Then, with a runner on third and two out, Machado swung at the second pitch and grounded out to first.

Two innings later, Machado stranded two more runners with a groundout, but his humiliation was just beginning. In the seventh, Machado threw his bat and walked toward first on a strike call. After sheepishly returning to home plate amid a taunting roar from the hostile Dodger Stadium crowd, he flied out with a runner on second.

Machado wasn’t done yet. Appropriately, he was the final out of the game, swinging wildly at an Alex Vesia fastball for a strikeout on a foul tip that left the former Dodger one for 12 for the weekend.

“We can blink, and I'm pretty confident within a week or so, we'll be talking and be like, 'Man, Manny's got eight RBIs in the last five days,' so we're not concerned about it,” said Shildt, who claimed his star was stung by bad calls by home plate umpire Jeremie Rehak. “Unfortunately, some pitches that are outside the strike zone got called on him. Which, again, is unfortunate when they're not trying to throw strikes all the time to him. They're taking their chances and to get rewarded on balls that are outside the zone is a little frustrating.”

Before the series, in the wake of four consecutive dispiriting losses, Roberts called on his team to show more focus and urgency. Their final answer, on a day they could have easily shrugged off after winning the first two games of the series, came quickly and dramatically.

Tyler Glasnow, pitching in his biggest game as a Dodger, struck out three in the top of the first en route to eight strikeouts in five innings.

Then, in the bottom of the first against the Padres’ Yu Darvish, Shohei Ohtani singled, Betts walked and Freddie Freeman blasted a home run over the right-center field fence. One out later, Pages homered to left and the tone had been set.

“I think we all know who we are in here, in this team and how good we can be,” said Freeman. “We just gotta play good baseball like we did this weekend ... we know who we are inside. And gotta keep it going.”

Roberts was as good as any of them, doing a masterful job all weekend handling his outmanned bullpen, succeeding again Sunday by listening to his most reliable reliever.

After finishing up an eighth inning during which the Padres tied the game on a Jose Iglesias grounder, Vesia was promptly told he was done for the day, as Justin Wrobleski was scheduled to pitch the ninth.

Read more:Dodgers capitalize on Padres' sloppiness to retake sole possession of first place

But Vesia had a better idea. He told Roberts he wanted the ball if the Dodgers took the lead in the eighth, and when Betts homered, Vesia was ready.

“So I told Doc, I walked up to him and said, 'Hey, like, if we're up, I want it.'" Vesia recalled. “He was like, 'OK, you got it.' Sure enough, Mook, bang, homers. Sweet, let's go.”

Sweet indeed. Vesia’s hitless ninth was symbolic of a bullpen that spent the weekend making every big pitch ... while the Padres missed every big pitch.

“It's the dawg, right?” said Vesia. “We still have that. That doesn't just go away. Every single one of us, we're leaning on each other. And we know as a group how good we are.”

So, too, do the Padres.

Done Diego.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Red Sox to sign first baseman Nathaniel Lowe after Nationals DFA: Report originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

A late-season reinforcement is coming to Fenway Park.

The Boston Red Sox reportedly will sign first baseman Nathaniel Lowe for the remainder of 2025, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported late Sunday night.

Lowe, 30, was designated for assignment by the Washington Nationals earlier this month and went unclaimed on waivers.

The Red Sox have been searching for first base help since losing Triston Casas to a season-ending knee injury in May. Abraham Toro and Romy González have mostly split the role — Toro facing right-handers and González facing left-handers. Lowe could conceivably fill Toro’s spot with his recent struggles at the plate (.163 batting average in August).

The lefty-hitting Lowe has the credentials to make him an appealing flyer — Silver Slugger in 2022, Gold Glove and World Series champion with the Texas Rangers in 2023. But he showed serious regression in D.C. this season, posting career lows in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Lowe hit .216 with 16 home runs and 68 RBIs in 119 games.

Before 2025, Lowe played for the Tampa Bay Rays (2019-2020) and Rangers (2021-2024). He was traded to Washington last December.

The Nationals will pay Lowe most of the remainder of his $10.3-million salary this season, with the Red Sox picking up the prorated portion of the league minimum. Lowe is arbitration-eligible this winter, so Boston can either bring him back in 2026 for more than his 2025 salary or non-tender him to free agency.