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. Have you filled out your 2025 PRO SPIRIT MLB All-Star Ballot? Even if so, keep voting! You have less than 24 hours to make your voice heard before the end of Phase 1 voting arrives at noon ET on Thursday.
In Phase 1, the overall leading vote-getter in each league will receive an automatic spot in their team's starting lineup while the top two vote-getters at each position (and the top six outfielders, unless an outfielder is that league's overall vote leader) advance to Phase 2 to see who will fill out the starting lineups. If you really want your vote to count, look no further than second base in the American League. In the latest balloting update on Monday, the Tigers' Gleyber Torres was well out in front at the keystone. He looks like a lock to be one of the two top vote-getters there. But what about that second spot at second? It appears to be a neck-and-neck battle between youth and experience. A former No. 1 overall Draft pick and top prospect vs. an almost overlooked amateur free agent. A lefty-hitting 21-year-old with seemingly limitless potential vs. a righty-hitting 35-year-old who is making a very strong case for Cooperstown. We're talking about the Orioles' Jackson Holliday vs. the Astros' Jose Altuve. Baltimore's burgeoning star was only about 11,000 votes in front of the face of Houston's franchise in Monday's update. Considering that the two had received a combined total of 1.6 million votes, 11,000 is a relative drop in the bucket. Your votes -- you can submit up to five ballots per day -- could make a difference in this race. After a rough 2024 debut when he was MLB's No. 1 prospect, Holliday has found his footing in the big leagues this year with nine homers and a .727 OPS through 72 games. He hit just five home runs and logged a paltry .565 OPS as a rookie. While Holliday is looking to earn his first All-Star selection, Altuve is looking to earn his 10th. He could become the third active player -- joining Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw -- with double-digit All-Star Game nods on his ledger. (Royals catcher Salvador Perez and Giants pitcher Justin Verlander also have nine selections.) The Astros shifted their three-time batting champ and former MVP to left field during Spring Training, but he has continued to see playing time at his old position as well. Altuve scuffled at the plate through the season's first couple of months, but since May 22, he is slashing .315/.372/.574 over 121 plate appearances. Which player will you choose? -- Brian Murphy |
- Blue Jays @ Guardians (6:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): Nearly three months since he made his debut with the Blue Jays, Max Scherzer is back after rehabbing from a right thumb injury. How he performs from now until July 31 could impact how the Blue Jays approach the Trade Deadline. But first, the team is just happy to see one of its offseason acquisitions return to the mound.
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- Yankees @ Reds (7:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV/MLB Network): The Yankees' lead in the AL East has been sliced to one game, and depending on tonight's results, there could be a tie atop the division. New York will look to Max Fried -- who is 7-1 with a 1.03 ERA in nine starts after losses this season -- to do what he does best: be the stopper and deliver a much-needed win. The Reds, on the other hand, after watching an electrifying debut from Chase Burns, are climbing up the standings and are only 4 1/2 games back of first in the NL Central.
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- Dodgers @ Rockies (8:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): Behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Dodgers will look to become the first NL team to reach 50 wins. Yamamoto has struggled in June, going 0-3 with a 5.23 ERA, but with an offense that produced its 30th comeback win of the season last night, he should have plenty of support in the Mile High City.
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THE 'HIDDEN' REASON THE TIGERS ARE SO GOOD |
The Tigers were one of the feel-good stories of 2024, when they came seemingly out of nowhere to fall just one win short of reaching the AL Championship Series. But did anyone outside of the Motor City predict that Detroit would be the first to 50 wins in the big leagues this year? So, how are they doing it? They have reigning AL pitching Triple Crown and Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal leading a staff that ranks fourth in the league with a 3.50 team ERA, and Riley Greene, with his 149 OPS+, taking the next step to superstardom for a club that ranks second in the Junior Circuit with a .746 OPS.
But what really separates the Tigers from the rest of the pack is their baserunning. Despite ranking dead last in the big leagues with only 28 stolen bases and possessing overall team speed that is in the middle of the pack, they take the extra base more than any other team has … in the past 50 years!
We'll just skim the surface with the numbers here, but I highly recommend that you take the time to read Mike Petriello's deep dive into the numbers.
In essence, no other team is nearly as aggressive at going from first to third on a single, scoring from first on a double or scoring from second on a base hit. Overall, they take the extra base 54.1 percent of the time, with the Brewers ranking a distant second at 48 percent. The big league average is just 42%.
Perhaps most importantly, this aggressiveness has given the Tigers a mindset advantage over their opponents, who are often on their heels on defense while waiting to see if they'll need to make the high-pressure throw (or throws) to cut down a runner that normally wouldn't have even tried to test them.
"I don't really care about safe or out," manager A.J. Hinch said at the start of Spring Training, "as much as we do the identity: 'This is how we play.'"
-- Ed Eagle
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When the 2025 MLB Draft starts on July 13, some of the top picks will be high school prospects born in (get ready to feel old) 2006. For example, MLB Pipeline's No. 2 Draft prospect, right-handed pitcher Seth Hernandez, was born on June 28 of that year. Consider that, then consider this: Rangers prospect Sebastian Walcott, Pipeline's ninth-ranked prospect, was born just three months before Hernandez. Oh, and he's a 6-foot-4 shortstop with big-time power and a big-time arm -- one who is more than holding his own at Double-A, as a teenager. As Pipeline prospect expert Sam Dykstra points out, Walcott's offensive production given his age and level of competition puts him on par with the likes of Manny Machado, Giancarlo Stanton and Jackson Chourio. And that's one reason why Walcott has a chance to become the next big thing.
Machado isn't just a statistical comp for Walcott, who told Dykstra that he models his game after the Padres' star third baseman. It's not yet clear whether Walcott will outgrow shortstop and move to third (like Machado) or right field (like Fernando Tatis Jr.). Either way, it may not be long before he joins the Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. as the only MLB All-Stars born in the Bahamas.
-- Andrew Simon |
Can you guess today's mystery player using clues like age, league, division, position and place of birth? You'll have nine tries to get it right. Good luck! Play here >> |
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