Happy Monday, everyone! We hope you had a restful weekend and are ready to take on the week ahead. We’ve got lots of fun little news bites from over the weekend to ease you into your Monday grind. On the good news side of things, Shohei Ohtani and his wife Mamiko Tanaka welcomed their second child and announced the birth over the weekend. In true Ohtani fashion, he then his a massive home run on Father’s Day Eve to help the Dodgers win.
The Phillies continue to have an unprecedented resurgence that
should honestly make any team that has struggled in recent months (not naming names…) realize that there is room to turn things around still. This time, they did it with crazy performances from Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper. On the less cheerful side of things, Justin Verlander was scratched from his scheduled Sunday start due to a hamstring injury and will be heading right back to the injured list.
We’ve got all that and more below, so let’s get right into it!
- Michael Baumann looks at the Tigers’ strange and perhaps misguided use of their bench players when it comes to pinch-hitting.
- Matt Martell weighs the ins and outs of whether or not to use the ABS challenge.
- Rafael Devers tried to wave away a pinch-runner and the Giants were forced to respond after the fact. Story by Perla Paredes.
- Making some bold trade deadline predications. (SI)
- Justin Verlander was meant to make his return to the majors this weekend, but his start was scratched after a hamstring issue appeared during a bullpen session. It now appears he’ll be out several more weeks. (ESPN)
- Oh what a night! Kyle Schwarber hit two home runs in an inning and Bryce Harper hit for the cycle. Remember when the Phillies were struggling? Because they don’t. (AP)
- Matt Gelb looks at whether it was a heavier bat that helped Harper pull off that cycle. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- Some sweet Father’s Day insights from MLB dads.
- Dan Szymborski looks at some interesting potential call-up candidates.
- Shohei Ohtani just became a dad for the second time, and wasted no time at all celebrating that fact with a massive home run. On Father’s Day Eve no less. (MLB)
- Kenley Jansen may be the MLB active saves leader, but that doesn’t mean he was chill when it came to his best friend setting a saves record for the World Cup. Story by Jason Beck.
- Robert Gasser is feeling great after his first win since 2024. (AP)
- Eric Koreen has a touching post about what his father’s love of the White Sox taught him about baseball and life. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- Weird stats gonna do their weird stat thing.
- Michael Baumann assesses whether the end has finally arrived for Salvador Perez.
- Martin Gallegos offers a contender for the catch of the year.
- Got beef? Tarik Skubal and Mike Vasil got into a verbal altercation this weekend, now we have more details on what went down. Story by Tim Capurso.
- The Marlins have DFA’d the struggling Christopher Morel. They also moved Liam Hicks to the IL. (AP)
- Ken Rosenthal looks at what all the suitors for Tarik Skubal have in common. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- I don’t care if we shared this in a million posts, it’s the best thing ever and I’m subjecting you to it again.
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.
