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. Thanks for being here. The Dodgers and Giants meet for the first time this season tonight, with NL West supremacy at stake. There also might be a long-standing friendship at stake. We're exaggerating a little, but at least for this weekend, longtime teammates in Korea and good friends Jung Hoo Lee and Hyeseong Kim will enter uncharted territory as rivals. They were drafted and starred together in the KBO for the Nexen/Kiwoom Heroes from 2017-23; Lee then made the jump to MLB with the Giants, signing the largest contract for a Korean-born player. Two years later, Kim joined the Dodgers, and this clash has been circled on both their calendars from the moment he signed. The pair came to MLB with suitcases full of hardware from their KBO days -- an MVP and two batting titles for Lee, four Golden Glove Awards for Kim -- but they also arrived with two of the best nicknames in baseball. "Grandson of the Wind" vs. "The Comet": It's made for a boxing marquee. Lee inherits his moniker from his father, a speedy KBO standout known as "Son of the Wind," while Kim's is a direct translation of his first name. "The Comet" even hit his first stateside homer while playing for the Comets in April. |
In a relatively short time in the bigs, Lee and Kim have already become fan favorites. The Hoo Lee Gans are now a staple at Oracle Park, and Kim has electrified Dodger Stadium in a reserve role with his speed and glovework, not to mention his streak of reaching base in nine straight plate appearances back in May. They are carrying on a proud tradition of Korean players who have made the jump to the U.S., beginning with trailblazer Chan Ho Park. And either Lee or Kim could join a list that has become relatively lonely since 2001 for Byung-Hyun Kim, the only Korean-born World Series winner to date. That's because both of their teams currently look like World Series contenders, and this highly anticipated three-game set could provide the first bit of clarity in a crowded NL West race. The Giants enter having won seven of their last eight and sit just a game behind the Dodgers in the standings. It's shaping up to look something like 2021, when these rivals went blow for blow up to the very last day of the season, with San Francisco finally clinching the division crown to interrupt Los Angeles' streak of eight straight NL West titles.
Since then the pendulum has decisively swung back to the Dodgers, but the Giants have a chance this weekend to prove they are for real, starting tonight at 10:10 p.m. ET on MLB.TV and MLB Network. At the center of it all will be Grandson of the Wind and The Comet, two friends turned rivals breezing and blazing their ways around the basepaths.
-- Scott Chiusano |
Pick one of the day's games, open up your board and see if you can get bingo with these baseball occurrences. Play free >> |
SOFTBALL STARS IN THE CARDS |
The inaugural AUSL season began last weekend, and a few of the league's biggest stars have already gotten the Topps treatment. Bri Ellis, Sam Landry and Sierra Sacco are all part of the first set of AUSL trading cards, announced yesterday. Landry began her pro career for the Volts only a week after her collegiate career came to a close with Oklahoma in the semifinals of the Women's College World Series. She made her debut with 4 1/3 strong innings against the Blaze, allowing just one earned run on three hits. Ellis, who was the most feared slugger in college softball this past season, had two hits and an RBI in her first three pro games, and Sacco made history by hitting the league's first home run on Saturday.
There's lots more AUSL action on tap this weekend, starting tonight with Sacco's Talons taking on the Blaze at 6:30 p.m. ET, streaming free on MLB.com, MLB.TV and the MLB App. For the full schedule and how you can watch every game, click here.
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• Blue Jays @ Phillies (6:45 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): It's flown under the radar a little bit, but the Blue Jays have been one of the hottest teams in the sport over the past couple weeks, winning 12 of their past 14 games and having a lot of fun while doing it. One of the two losses in that stretch came against the Phillies, who have fallen on some hard times of late with Bryce Harper and Aaron Nola both on the injured list. |
• Yankees @ Red Sox (7:10 p.m. ET on MLB.TV, MLB Network): The Rivalry moves to Fenway after Boston took two out of three in the Bronx a week ago, and the Red Sox have their ace Garrett Crochet on the mound. Baseball's No. 1 prospect, Roman Anthony, will be getting his first taste of the bitterness that is Yankees-Red Sox after debuting on Monday. Fellow heralded young talent Marcelo Mayer is coming off the first multihomer game of his career, and those two could be a potent 1-2 punch in Boston for a long time to come. |
• Padres @ D-backs (9:40 p.m. ET, Apple TV+): You already know the top two teams in the NL West begin a big series tonight. This one is of equal implications for San Diego and Arizona, in third and fourth place respectively, who are also meeting for the first time in 2025 and are both trying to stay in the race with the Dodgers and Giants. The D-backs just swept the Mariners to get back to .500, and the Padres could really use a big series from Fernando Tatis Jr. to help their offense get back on track. |
Sometimes a celebrity first pitch goes viral for the wrong reason. It's just tough to look away from the bad ones. Like when 50 Cent nearly took out a cameraman. So we appreciate when celebrities actually give it their best shot, and sometimes that just … doesn't pan out. Such was the case for WWE star Tiffany Stratton, who delivered a very 50 Cent-inspired performance off the same mound at Citi Field. Perhaps she was thrown off-kilter by the heavy Mets-branded title belt around her waist. If they ever meet, Tiffy and Fifty have something to talk about. |
Your dad probably has a bunch of ties in his closet or a mug that's collecting dust in the cupboard. Why not get him something he can use for the rest of the year? An MLB.TV subscription. During the Father's Day Sale from now until Tuesday, an MLB.TV Yearly subscription is half off at $59.99, bringing you every out-of-market regular-season game, live or on demand. You can thank us later for the idea when he's done streaming his 10th game of the day. |
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