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. Basestealing isn't only for the speedsters. Just ask the Mets' Juan Soto and the Mariners' Josh Naylor. Neither player is particularly fleet of foot, but both have been making their presence felt on the bases this season. Soto and Naylor are two of the more surprising players who could help MLB set a power-speed record in 2025. As Brian Murphy details here, we're on pace to see the highest total of 20-20 players (20+ homers and 20+ steals) in MLB history. Nineteen players reached that mark in 2023 and '24, matching the all-time record set in 1999. Thirteen players have already done it in 2025, including Soto. The Mets' $765 million man has 27 steals this season, shattering his previous high of 12 and surpassing his combined total from 2022-24 (25). He's added 37 home runs, putting him on track for a rare 40-30 campaign. (So much for that slow start.) |
More predictably, Francisco Lindor (26 HR, 27 SB) is also already at 20-20. If Soto and Lindor both get to 30-30, it would make them the third pair of teammates to join the 30-30 club together, along with Darryl Strawberry and Howard Johnson from the 1987 Mets and Dante Bichette and Ellis Burks from the 1996 Rockies.
Naylor, meanwhile, is one of an additional 20 players who aren't quite at 20-20 yet but have at least 15 homers and 15 stolen bases. Although the first baseman rates as one of the slowest runners in the Majors, he has swiped a career-high 23 bags -- eclipsing his previous high of 10 -- while getting caught only twice. Four more dingers will get him to 20-20.
-- Thomas Harrigan |
- Phillies @ Brewers (7:40 p.m. ET on MLB.TV): If the opener of this series was any indication, the top two teams in the NL are as evenly matched as it gets. The Phillies took Round 1 and need to win each of the next two games to give themselves a chance at the tiebreaker for the top NL seed, should it come down to that. Player of the Month Brice Turang and the Brew Crew are up for the challenge as they continue trying to run down the franchise record of 96 wins.
- Yankees @ Astros (8:10 p.m. ET on MLB.TV, MLB Network Showcase): Two years ago, the Yankees made a blockbuster trade for an outfielder who alone can carry a team with his bat. That man's name is Trent Grisham. And it might be time to start calling him GrishSLAM. The 28-year-old is enjoying a breakout season and just hit his third salami of 2025 last night, giving him a career-best 29 homers … already 12 more than his previous high. The Astros will try to keep him in check tonight by handing the ball to Jason Alexander, who might be resting up for this start as we speak by napping under a desk.
- Giants @ Rockies (8:40 p.m. ET on MLB.TV): Don't look now, but the Giants are a game above .500 and even with the Reds at five games back of the final NL Wild Card spot. That's still a mountain to climb, of course, but they are trending in the right direction having won nine of their last 10. Speaking of mountains, the Rockies lost their 100th game last night but did not go down without a fight. That first-inning fracas began when Kyle Freeland took issue with Rafael Devers watching the flight of his homer, and it ended with Devers finally touching home plate almost 10 minutes later.
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Shohei Ohtani has made it a habit of joining -- or even founding -- some very exclusive clubs. Well, add another one to the list. On Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, Ohtani launched his 100th home run as a Dodger, and as he so often does, he marked the occasion in jaw-dropping style. The reigning NL MVP vaporized a 99.2 mph fastball from Pirates rookie right-hander Bubba Chandler, and if you blinked when he made contact, the ball was in the right-field seats at PNC Park by the time you opened your eyes. At 120 mph off the bat, it was the hardest-hit ball of Ohtani's career, surpassing a 119.2 mph single from last April 27. It also was only the sixth homer Statcast has tracked at 120-plus mph since the system debuted in 2015. Ohtani is the fifth player to reach that threshold, joining Oneil Cruz, Giancarlo Stanton (twice), Ronald Acuña Jr. and Aaron Judge. In a little less than two full seasons, Ohtani now has each of the Dodgers' 12 hardest-hit homers of the Statcast Era and 32 of their top 44. Oh, and sitting at 46 homers, a hot finish to the regular season could have him challenging his own single-season franchise record of 54 set just last year. -- Andrew Simon |
On the topic of single-season franchise records … In a series rife with implications for the AL Wild Card race, the Mariners and Rays have looked to their star sluggers -- Cal Raleigh and Junior Caminero -- to guide them. They're two of MLB's HR leaders this year, and they're also chasing single-season club history down the stretch. So far, it's all coming up Caminero. The 22-year-old phenom was a one-man wrecking crew last night, hitting an RBI single in the first, a game-tying solo homer in the sixth and a go-ahead two-run double in the seventh. The home run made Caminero only the second player in franchise history with 40 long balls in a season; he's just six away from tying the franchise mark set by Carlos Peña, who hit his career-high total of 46 with Tampa Bay in 2007. Raleigh also homered in last night's ballgame, his MLB-leading 51st of 2025, putting him within five of the Mariners' single-season leader, Ken Griffey Jr., who hit 56 in both 1997 and '98. And if you made it this far you already know about Ohtani holding the Dodgers' single-season mark. We've spotted you three, but if you want to try your luck at guessing the single-season HR leader for every team, check out this quiz. -- Betelhem Ashame |
Named after one of the most iconic backdrops in baseball (once reached by a legendary Griffey Home Run Derby blast), the Warehouse Burger – located at the Bleacher Grill in Section 90 – is one of the signature dishes at Camden Yards this season, brought to you by the chefs at Brick & Whistle Food Co. It's a double-cheeseburger topped with queso fundido, fried onions, homemade pico de gallo and Whistle Sauce, served on a pretzel bun. |
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