Happy Monday, everyone, and believe it or not… the last week of May. I’m not quite sure where this year is going, but somehow we are two full months into this baseball season, and unfortunately for some teams, that means it’s time to take a really long, serious look at what they plan to do for the remainder of the season. Predicted contenders may soon become wholesale trading houses (looking at you, Detroit Tigers), while some underdogs are on top of the heap (who saw the Tampa Bay Rays coming?)
Speaking of the Rays, they played an unexpectedly pivotal role in helping Aaron Judge this weekend, as the Yankees’ MVP slugger has been experiencing a home run drought lately. That all ended in a game against the Rays, though.
In other baseball news, the Blue Jays have suffered a spate of new injuries, one of them season-ending. Yankees’ ace Gerrit Cole is back in action, and we’ll look at what it took to get him there, and Chris Taylor retired twice this weekend.
Let’s get right into it.
- Jose Berrios will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the rest of the 2026 season. Story by Dan Szymborski.
- Aaron Judge has ended his home run drought in the most dramatic way possible. Story by Bryan Hoch.
- Stephanie Apstein spotlights the long and often difficult road of getting Gerrit Cole back to the majors.
- Tim Capurso then looks at Cole’s first game back with the Yankees.
- Zack Meisel and Cody Stavehagen take a look at the Cleveland Guardians, who are currently dominating the AL Central. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- Are the Dodgers still the World Series favorites? (SI)
- Tyler Kepner spotlights Orioles great Al Bumbry, who will be honored in Cooperstown. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- Down by 7, but at least they’re having fun.
- Some things Ben Clemens liked or disliked over the last week of baseball.
- Zach Worden shares the details of a hard bargain driven by a young fan to give back a milestone home run to a Pirates’ rookie.
- Kyle Koster looks at the one stat that is working against the Giants the most.
- Buster Olney looks at some trade deadline factors to keep an eye on.
- Eno Sarris explains why some great batters have been struggling, and it has a lot to do with the pitchers they’ve faced. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- I have a lot of questions, but the most important one is: why is it dirty?!
- A look at the Dodgers’ bullpen’s scoreless streak. Story by Jackson Stone.
- Rhett Bollinger reports that Chris Taylor retired, then unretired, then officially officially retired for real this weekend.
- Karl Rasmussen explains why Fernando Tatis Jr. will have to put 10% of his earnings directly into an investment fund.
- The Blue Jays lost Dylan Cease and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the same game. TBD what their long-term status will be. (AP)
- Updates for Tigers’ injured second baseman Gleyber Torres are less promising as he has had to stop swinging in order to continue his healing progress. (AP)
- Joey Votto is truly living his best post-baseball life, according to Jayson Stark. (The Athletic subscription required.)
- This is wild.
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.
