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The stage is set as the Atlanta Braves look for a second win in this four-game series against the San Diego Padres.

Mike Yastrzemski has been added to the lineup after being reactivated coming off a forearm injury.

Against San Diego’s Walker Buehler, Yastrzemski averages a .646 OPS and .240 batting average. But, if he takes advantage of Buehler’s constant struggles at landing his pitches in the zone, Yastrzemski, along with the rest of the Braves’ offense, have the tools to come out with a win.

Matt Olson, Michael Harris II and Austin Riley have previously put up some good numbers against Buehler, all averaging over an .800 OPS, but will need to be consistent in striking while the iron’s hot. The silent bats won’t cut it, if they want to put the game away early with a qualified offensive production.

As for the Padres’ offense, they might not be as dominant as the Braves, but they sure have a variety of players on the roster who love hitting against Reynaldo López.

López’s last start against the St. Louis Cardinals wasn’t a great showing, but he does have a knack for consistency. If he can get ahead early with run-support to back him up, he’ll manage just fine.

Tune in at 7:15 p.m ET for first pitch.

The Dodgers conclude the second stop on their three-city road trip on Wednesday night, taking on the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

Eric Lauer starts for the Dodgers, who have won all seven games in which he’s pitched for them.

Aaron Nola starts for the Phillies..

Wednesday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Phillies
• Ballpark: Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia
• Start time: 3:40 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

It’s been somewhat less than a great season for the San Francisco Giants, who seem determined to alienate their supporters of all stripes. The players created a Pride Night controversy and pissed off local fans. Prospect watchers don’t love how the team has actively blocked some of the best young hitters. Old-school traditionalists hate how many defensive and base running mistakes the Giants make. Fans of musicals aren’t thrilled with the team’s purchase of the Curran Theatre. The front office hired a college baseball coach and alienated, well, mostly just Joe Maddon.

So instead of focusing on which hatemongering pitcher blew the most recent game, or which highly-paid infielder looked at strike three with the bases loaded, or how much Buster Posey’s lip quivered while facing basic questions from the media, let’s look at some of the other wonders of baseball. Namely, the incredible strikeout production of Cincinnati Reds third baseman Eugenio Suarez, who is chasing history this season.

Suarez is one of the most prolific home run hitters of his generation, smacking 49 dingers in both 2019 and 2025. He has 337 career home runs, 10th among all active players and 117th all time. But where he really shines is as one of the most prolific whiffers of all time.

Sunday, Suarez passed the century mark for the season, striking out for the 100th and 101st time this season. He moved into a tie for 16th on the all-time strikeout list with Giants legend Andrew McCutchen. Look, he still hits the ball a long way when he does connect, like this 9th-inning bomb one strike away from defeat last month.

But it’s exciting to see him chasing so many strikeout legends, too. He started the season in 27th place, one strikeout ahead of should-be Hall of Famer Manny Ramirez. Since then, he’s moved past this illustrious list of players:

Dave Kingman (442 home runs, three strikeout titles)

Derek Jeter (Hall of Fame, struck out on unanimous induction by one vote)

Bobby Abreu (good career K numbers, unimpressive strikeout peak)

Ryan Howard (two-time strikeout champ, five seasons of 180+ whiffs)

Chris Davis (two seasons leading the league in strikeouts, two 200+ seasons and five above 190)

Tony Perez (Hall of Fame, racked up strikeouts through his age-44 season)

Fred McGriff (Hall of Fame, promoted defensive drills videos that never mentioned contact hitting)

Mike Schmidt (greatest third baseman of all time, led the league in homers eight times, walks four times, strikeouts four times)

Mike Cameron (led the league in K’s, 2002)

He’s surging this season, sitting only one whiff behind Curtis Granderson and Nelson Cruz with 63 games to play. Next is strikeout prodigy Mark Reynolds, who led the league for four straight seasons from 2008-11, setting the single-season record with 223 in 2009.

Suarez is likely to pass Alameda’s own Willie Stargell, along with Oakland Bash Brother Jose Canseco. It’s going to be tough to break into the top 10 by passing Justin Upton (1971), sitting just shy of the 2K-K club.

9th place is Andres Galarraga, who had 110 strikeouts and 19 homers in two stints in San Francisco, notching his 2,000th career strikeout in a Giants uniform. Should the Giants have added Eric Young to their postseason roster so he could pinch-run for J.T. Snow, instead of a 43-year-old man? Maybe, but that would have prevented Galarraga from notching his 20th playoff strikeout.

Why is it important to pay attention to Suarez now? Because he’s been one of the worst players in baseball this season, slashing .208/.280/.392 and playing below average defense at third base. Suarez is beloved by fans and clubhouses alike, but age 34, this could be his last chance at extending playing/strikeout time.

The World Cup showed us it’s important to appreciate greatness while it’s still in front of us. Eugenio Suarez is making history this season. Plus, if you’ve watched Giants baseball all season, you’re used to seeing a ton of strikeouts.

Suarez is striking out for the record books. He already owns the single-season record for strikeouts by a right-handed hitter. If Geno can hit just a few more dingers this season, he’ll have a chance at another contract, and a chance to chase down Miguel Cabrera (2,105 Ks). He deserves a chance to fulfill his swing-and-miss destiny.

The MLB Draft was just over a week and a half ago at this point, and the good news for the Yankees is that they’ve already signed all 20 of the players they selected. All information on the signing details, player backgrounds, and bonuses can be found in the linked tracker.

The most eyes were on the draft in Day 1 on Saturday, July 11th, when the Yankees made their first four picks: Arkansas southpaw Hunter Dietz, Canadian prep lefty Sean Duncan, Oklahoma catcher Brendan Brock, and Cal State Fullerton outfielder Paul Gutierrez-Contreras II. When that day came to a close, we put out a poll in the Feed asking fans to grade it.

The results were probably about as high as Yankees fans have been on a draft class in years:

The “A” grade nearly earned an outright majority, settling for a still-great 47-percent plurality. And 41 percent still gave the Yankees a “B,” meaning that only 12 percent thought this was a middling class or worse.

We also had a separate poll asking fans to just grade the Dietz first-round selection alone, and a commanding 70 percent gave him an “A,” with not a single respondent hitting him with a “D” or “F.” The talented Razorback earned acclaim from draft experts around the sport, as the consensus opinion was that he was normally the kind of arm who would’ve gone within the first 20-30 picks, and the Yanks landed him at No. 35. And while part of the reason for his fall was that a stress fracture had limited his college experience prior to 2026, that’s a different beast than Tommy John or shoulder surgery.

Check out some of the fan responses on Pinstripe Alley to the Dietz pick:

Some other fans debated the Dietz pick with a popular name that had occasionally been linked to the Yankees in mock drafts around this spot: Georgia catcher Daniel Jackson, who won both the Dick Howser Trophy and the Golden Spikes Award as college baseball’s best player. He ended up going to the Rockies at No. 37 overall.

As ultramod2 noted, Jackson might be the flashier name, but the Yankees’ third-round pick was another college catcher who should be no slouch.

Although Brock has some questions about his bat, he did just help lead the Sooners to their first national championship in 32 years, and the Yankees have a reputation around MLB for developing backstops who make it to The Show. They ended up getting another well-regarded college catcher in the fifth round as well, Bear Harrison of Texas A&M, giving New York two of the top nine catchers selected in the entire draft. It should be interesting tracking all three of these players to see who ends up having the best career — though all may end up in the shadow of Georgia Tech’s Vahn Lackey, who the Twins took with the third overall pick.

BetweenthePinstripes thought the Yankees’ overall draft strategy was sound, praising the team’s willingness to make sensible rolls of the dice while perhaps not deviating too much from conventional wisdom (à la Trey Sweeney):

Finally, a few community members bantered about scouting director Damon Oppenheimer, who has largely had autonomy from general manager Brian Cashman in running most of the team’s drafts for the past couple decades. It can be a tough assignment, given changing draft bonus rules and the Yankees always picking beyond the first 10 selections. Has he been as good about uncovering diamonds in the rough as, say, Zach Fitzpatrick and Billy Gasparino with the Dodgers? No, but the Yankees have done a fair job at finding prospects who have either become All-Star names (Aaron Judge, Ben Rice, Cam Schlittler) or who developed into key trade chips (Drew Thorpe, Ken Waldichuk, Josh Smith).

The San Diego Padres took plenty of momentum into their series opener against the Atlanta Braves after beating the Kansas City Royals, 19-2, on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough. The club fell short versus the Braves despite Manny Machado and Ty France slugging two solo shots against Atlanta.

Multiple poor decisions by manager Craig Stammen regarding the pitching staff hurt the Padres in their eventual one-run loss. Starter JP Sears was taken out after five stellar innings. He had thrown just 55 pitches to that point and seemed ready to enter the sixth. Instead, Wandy Peralta came in and gave up the eventual game-winning run on an Ozzie Albies homer to right field. Stammen has had plenty of question marks surrounding the remaining length of his tenure in San Diego. Moves like that only exacerbate the problem for the Friar Faithful. 

Taking the mound

Reynaldo López (ATL) v. Walker Buehler (SD)

López has been one of the most consistent starters in all of baseball this season. The veteran right-hander owns a 3.50 ERA through 61 2/3 innings pitched this season. The righty has missed some time due to injury as well as his suspension earlier this season. But the Padres will still be facing a formidable opponent tonight.

That said, the Friars have had some success against him in the past. Chief among them is Jackson Merrill, with a career .375 batting average in eight at-bats. Other stars like Fernando Tatis Jr. and Machado? Not so much. The two have a combined .222 average against López.

Buehler has yet to find a cure for his July woes. After a ridiculously good June that saw the righty post a 1.71 ERA across five starts, Buehler has surrendered 20 runs in his last three starts. That would mean something if he had pitched six innings in each, but he’s only pitched 11 innings in total. It’s been an historic decline for Buehler.

Thankfully, none of the Braves have much experience against the right-hander. Hopefully, that will give Buehler a slight edge when facing them today. If he can get through five or six quality innings of work, San Diego can consider that a rousing success for their starter.

Batter up!

Despite some pop from France and Machado, the offense fell short against Atlanta starter Bryce Elder. The club went 0-for-3 with RISP, failing not only to create scoring opportunities but not capitalizing on the few they did have. With the Trade Deadline looming, every game is must-win for San Diego. They’ll need more from their offense to earn the win tonight.

1. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
2. Jackson Merrill, CF
3. Manny Machado, 3B
4. Ty France, 1B
5. Gavin Sheets, DH
6. Xander Bogaerts, SS
7. Jake Cronenworth, 2B
8. Luis Campusano, C
9. Luis Rengifo, LF

Rengifo came on as a pinch-hitter for Sheets in yesterday’s game. He went 2-for-2 and played left field quite competently. Since joining San Diego, the veteran has gone 5-for-9 across three games. If he can help spark this offense back to life, it would be a major turning point for the Friars.

Relief corps

Apart from Peralta’s lone mistake pitch, the bullpen locked it down. Bradgley Rodriguez and Kyle Hart pitched two scoreless innings to close it out, giving San Diego a chance to come back. Unfortunately, they never did. 

But that usage will leave the Friars primed for a bullpen duel tonight. San Diego has Yuki Matsui, Mason Miller, Adrian Morejon, Randy Vásquez and Matt Waldron to turn to in Game 2. Vásquez and Waldron are starters who have been working out of the bullpen but should be making a start sooner rather than later.

Joe DeMayo and a returning Connor Rogers drop the latest episode of The Mets Pod, which talks trade deadline possibilities and second half of the season scenarios for the Mets. 

The guys cover Freddy Peralta, Luke Weaver, Clay Holmes, and what they think should be their returns in any potential trades, while also making a pitch for both Francisco Alvarez and Luis Torrens to stay put. 

Later, Connor and Joe go Down on the Farm to check in on Jack Wenninger and Ryan Clifford, then answer Mailbag questions about the Mets' organizational issues overall, and the idea of trading Devin Williams.

Be sure to subscribe to The Mets Pod at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.