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. Jen Pawol will make history this weekend as the first woman to be an umpire in a regular-season MLB game.
Pawol will ump three games during this weekend's Marlins-Braves series in Atlanta, including both ends of Saturday's doubleheader and the series finale on Sunday, when she will be behind home plate. The doubleheader necessitated adding a fifth umpire to the crew, since each home plate umpire skips the other game they're not working.
Pawol has steadily climbed the umpiring ranks since beginning her pro career in Rookie ball in 2016. She reached Triple-A in 2023, becoming the first female umpire at that level in 34 years. She was the home-plate ump for the Triple-A Championship that September. In 2024, Pawol became the first female umpire in a Spring Training game since Ria Cortesio in 2007. She was a Triple-A crew chief in '24 and worked more Spring Training games in 2025.
"For me, personally, I just love doing the job," Pawol said in 2016. "I'm passionate about it, and it's just part of who I am."
Read more about Pawol's trailblazing path to baseball history here, and watch her enter the record books this weekend on MLB.TV. -- Brian Murphy |
ANTHONY STICKING WITH SOX FOR LONG HAUL |
The last two months have been charmed for the Red Sox (more on that below), and the club's long-term outlook got even brighter with this afternoon's news that rookie outfielder Roman Anthony has agreed to an eight-year extension that will keep him in Boston through 2034. The club has not confirmed the extension, which is pending a physical and will ultimately be worth between $130 million and $230 million.
The 21-year-old Anthony, back in the lineup today after missing a couple games with back tightness, has shown veteran poise since his June 9 callup, posting an .828 OPS and 1.6 fWAR through 46 games. |
- Cardinals @ Dodgers (4:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV, MLB Network): Shohei Ohtani makes his eighth start of the season on the mound for Los Angeles after stretching out to 53 pitches over three innings his last time out. Ohtani left that start with cramping in his right hip, but the Dodgers are confident the issue won't linger. As a hitter, Ohtani hasn't homered since July 26, but he's batting .421 over his five-game hit streak.
- Royals @ Red Sox (7:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): Anthony's Red Sox have won seven straight and 10 of their last 12 to leapfrog the Yankees in the standings and claim the top AL Wild Card spot. Lanky right-hander Dustin May makes his Sox debut after arriving in a Deadline trade from the Dodgers looking to finish a sweep of Kansas City.
- Brewers @ Braves (7:15 p.m. ET, MLB.TV, FS1): Spencer Strider steps in front of the runaway freight train that is the Milwaukee Brewers, owners of MLB's best record, the biggest division lead in the NL and a five-game win streak. Strider hasn't faced the Brewers since before he became a starting pitcher, hurling seven total scoreless frames in relief against them in 2022.
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If you take a peek at the 2025 AL ERA leaderboard, here are two names that won't catch your eye: the Rangers' Nathan Eovaldi and the Mariners' Bryan Woo.
The former is not there at all. Because he missed most of June with right elbow inflammation, Eovaldi (111 IP) fell four innings short of the qualifying standard entering Wednesday. The latter does appear, but down in ninth place, at 3.02, just a tiny bit ahead of Boston's Brayan Bello.
Look closer, though, and these two AL West right-handers both are having incredible seasons in their own right, and they deserve some more shine.
Eovaldi was just about unhittable on Tuesday night in a big matchup against the Yankees, allowing just a bloop double over eight scoreless innings. The 35-year-old, now in his 14th season, owns a 1.38 ERA, which would lead the Majors by a substantial margin if he qualified. (Tarik Skubal is closest, at 2.18). Eovaldi's previous career best in ERA? A 3.39 mark, which came over 18 starts for the 2013 Marlins. It's been a fascinating career for the one-time 11th-round Draft pick (Dodgers, 2008), who has accrued far more value in his 30s (16.4 bWAR and counting) than he did in his 20s (9.1).
Woo also was superb on Tuesday night against a White Sox team that has been feisty of late. He gave up a solo homer to the second batter he faced but no runs after that, striking out nine and walking none. He also went seven innings, extending his franchise record to 22 straight starts completing at least six. That sort of consistent workload truly stands out given modern usage trends, with Yu Darvish (23 in 2022) the last pitcher to hold a streak that long within a single season. Something to watch: No pitcher in the last 10 years has surpassed 25 straight starts of six-plus innings within a season -- Zack Greinke went 32-for-32 in 2015. -- Andrew Simon |
It can seem impossible to hit Mason Miller's fastball. The new Padres fireman averages 101.2 mph on his four-seamer, the fastest heater in the Majors. He's responsible for 13 of the 14 fastest pitches hurled in the Majors this year, and four of them came last night, including a blistering 104.2 mph fastball, the single speediest pitch of the season.
But if you can catch up to it, it can go a long way. Just ask Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who faced Miller last night with two outs in the eighth and the D-backs down by two runs. He fouled off four pitches as he timed up Miller's stuff, including a 104.1 mph fastball at 1-2.
The next pitch was a blazing 103.9 mph, but it caught too much of the plate and Gurriel was waiting for it. He crushed it 439 feet to left-center for a game-tying two-run blast. It was the fastest pitch hit for a home run in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008), breaking a record set by the Cubs' Ian Happ on a 103.2 mph Miller fastball last Sept. 17.
"You know, it's not that easy," Gurriel said postgame, some of the enthusiasm sapped after the Padres scored five in the 11th. "I just reacted to it." -- Andy Werle |
How have the newcomers acclimated to their new surroundings? Who will have the biggest impact by the end of the season? Who will come out on top in their respective divisions? It might be too early to tell, but it's never too late to catch every minute of the action. During our Trade Deadline Sale, get MLB.TV for $34.99. This deal, like the actual Deadline, won't last forever. Act now before this offer ends tomorrow night at 11:59 ET. |
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