Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today's games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Today's edition is brought to you by David Adler.
Today's the type of day we might look back on at the end of the year and say, "Hey, that was the signature moment of a Cy Young season."
But whose signature moment is it gonna be?
Today we get Jacob Misiorowski vs. Chris Sale to kick off Players' Weekend. The two National League Cy Young frontrunners go head-to-head in the Brewers-Braves series opener (4:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV).
So who ya got?
- Misiorowski: 12-5, 1.75 ERA (1st in MLB), 210 K's (1st in MLB)
- Sale: 12-8, 2.16 ERA (2nd in MLB), 160 K's
Both Miz and Sale are the aces of NL juggernauts -- the Brewers are MLB's best team at 79-49, with the NL East-leading Braves not far behind at 75-53.
It's a battle of generations, too. Sale, who already has a Cy Young Award and is fast approaching 3,000 strikeouts, is one of the great aces of his generation. Misiorowski could be one of the great aces of the next generation. Sale was even one of Miz's idols growing up.
And both of them have a signature pitch that will surely be on display this afternoon -- Sale's wipeout sidearm slider, Misiorowski's explosive triple-digit fastball.
So this is as marquee as a marquee pitching matchup gets. But Sale and Miz are just the headliners today. A whole bunch of the other top dogs in the Majors take the mound later:
What a start to the weekend.
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It's time for Players' Weekend. If you need a refresher on what that means (you're going to see players rocking a lot of custom gear…), we've got you covered with everything to know about Players' Weekend 2026.
But here are three of the big highlights when it comes to the games:
1) The Little League Classic is Sunday
Players' Weekend ends with a bang: the Little League Classic, presented by New York Life, on Sunday night in Williamsport, Pa.
This year's Little League Classic will feature the Brewers and Braves -- and pay homage to Hank Aaron, who played for both teams in his legendary career. The Brew Crew's former Little Leaguers are already looking forward to the full-circle moment.
The series finale between the two playoff contenders at Historic Bowman Field in Williamsport -- the city where the Little League World Series is played every summer -- is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.
This is the ninth annual Little League Classic, and there have been some awesome moments along the way. See the top 10 moments in Little League Classic history here.
2) Devers' return to Boston
The Giants' series against the Red Sox at Fenway this weekend will be Rafael Devers' first time playing in Boston since the blockbuster trade that sent him to San Francisco last June.
Devers was a three-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger and 2018 World Series champion with the Red Sox. He's had his ups and downs so far in San Francisco but overall is having a solid season in 2026, with 25 home runs, 69 RBIs and a 121 OPS+.
3) AL East rivalry series with both Cy Young favorites going
You'll also want to keep an eye on the Yankees-Blue Jays series in the Bronx. We just missed out on a pitchers' duel between Cam Schlittler and Dylan Cease, but the two AL Cy Young favorites are at least pitching on back-to-back days to start the series.
Schlittler (10-6, AL-best 2.19 ERA, 189 strikeouts) gets the ball tonight for the Yanks -- more on him in a sec -- and Cease (7-5, 2.42 ERA, AL-best 201 strikeouts) starts tomorrow for the Jays.
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CY YOUNG FAVORITE HAS A NEW TOY |
As if Cam Schlittler needed another weapon.
Already the AL Cy Young favorite, Schlittler has magically unveiled a new-look curveball in the second half. A curveball that gets up to 90 mph.
That is the pitch we'll be watching for when the Yankees ace takes the mound against the Blue Jays tonight (7:05 p.m. ET, MLB.TV).
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When Schlittler came out of the All-Star break and started firing 90 mph curves past Munetaka Murakami, we were extremely interested. After all, Schlittler's whole thing when he first stormed out to the lead in the Cy Young race was that he was throwing basically only fastballs.
Schlittler has three really awesome fastballs -- a four-seamer, a sinker and a cutter -- which are so awesome that he was throwing them over 90% of the time in the first half.
It's kind of crazy to think about a starting pitcher dominating in the big leagues … let alone potentially winning a Cy Young … without really even throwing a breaking or offspeed pitch. But that was Schlittler in a nutshell.
Except now, all of a sudden, he's ripping one of the hardest curveballs in the league. We had to know what was up. So we asked him.
"The harder you can throw it, the better it can be," Schlittler told us at Yankee Stadium last week. "Who wouldn't want a 90 mph curveball with [12 inches of depth]?"
But there's more to it than that. Schlittler gave us a bunch more insights into how he upgraded his curve. Read our full story here >>
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Bryan Horowitz has a cool feature today on how an ex-big league pitcher is changing the game, one pair of custom cleats at a time. Let him explain …
Anyone who has had plantar fasciitis knows it’s not something you want any part of. Vaughn Grissom found that out firsthand last season, when the debilitating foot injury prematurely ended his season.
“I used to not, after games, be able to almost make it to the training room because I was in terrible pain,” he told MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger.
Grissom found his solution in a whole other sport. With the help of Custom Cleats, which is owned by ex-MLB pitcher Jeremy Guthrie, he now wears thick-soled basketball shoes converted to spikes that he credits in part for his solid performance in 2026.
“I’m in a whole different spot,” Grissom said.
The Angels infielder is merely one big-time success story for Custom Cleats, which has a few hundred MLB clients and will be seen on plenty of feet during Players’ Weekend for both athletic and aesthetic reasons. Read more about Guthrie and Custom Cleats here.
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250 FOR 250: BEST BALLPARK TRADITIONS |
We highlighted our ongoing 250 for 250 series in this newsletter yesterday, and today we have a couple more top 10 lists for you to send you into the weekend.
First, if you just want to watch some electrifying highlight-reel plays, check out the top 10 baserunning exploits in MLB history, where we've got Jackie stealing home, Javier Báez tricking the Pirates, Deion's inside-the-parker and more.
Then, for something a little more whimsical, our latest 250 for 250 ranks the top 10 stadium traditions, from "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" to Roll Call to mascot races.
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