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. The Trade Deadline is like Prospect Christmas … and there were some big presents this year. When you get 35 trades on Deadline day alone, not to mention all the deals leading up to it, prospects are going to be flying all around the league. And for big league stars like Mason Miller, Jhoan Duran and Eugenio Suárez (more on him in a bit) to get traded -- which they all just did -- there are going to be some blue-chip young players heading to new teams. Which there are. You'll want to keep an eye on them. The names in the news today could be the big league stars of the future. Like Leo De Vries. The 18-year-old shortstop is MLB Pipeline's No. 3 overall prospect, and he just got sent from the Padres to the A's as the prize of the Miller deal. De Vries is the second-highest-ranked prospect ever traded since MLB Pipeline began ranking top prospects back in 2004 … and the highest-ranked prospect traded at the Deadline. And there was a lot more than just De Vries. Top prospects like catcher Eduardo Tait (Phillies to Twins), right-hander Mick Abel (Phillies to Twins), right-hander Khal Stephen (Blue Jays to Guardians) and first baseman Tyler Locklear (Mariners to D-backs) were all moved. MLB Pipeline has you covered on that front with the top 25 deals of the 2025 Deadline, ranked. The flurry of trades left some teams with huge prospect hauls. Like the A's, who wound up with five new prospects in their top 30 (headlined by De Vries), or the Twins, who traded a whopping eight players off their Major League roster in seven different trades at the Deadline. Want to know which other teams landed big prospect prizes? Check that out right here. -- David Adler |
As Anthony Castrovince put it in his look at what we learned from the Trade Deadline, "The market revolved around relievers." Back-of-the-bullpen arms dominated the transaction wire -- and fetched the gaudiest prospect returns. But as our attention shifts from the Deadline to the stretch run -- and ultimately to the postseason -- it's worth taking stock of which teams most notably improved their bullpen situations. Take it away, Mike Petriello: In a sport where relievers threw 52% of postseason innings last year, up from 40% a decade earlier and 36% in the first postseason of the 21st century, it's not exactly an open secret that relievers take on added importance in October. Petriello follows that with a ranking of the five contenders who strengthened their relief corps the most during Deadline season. You can probably guess who came in first. (Hint: It's the Deadline's most aggressive buyer.) But the list also includes two teams apiece from both the AL East and NL East, so the question of whose bullpen upgrades reign supreme also could help decide multiple division races. -- Andrew Simon |
PRELUDE TO SPEEDWAY CLASSIC |
If last night's Braves-Reds game was a warmup lap, then racing and baseball enthusiasts should expect the track at the legendary Bristol Motor Speedway, which took a monumental effort to convert for Saturday's MLB Speedway Classic game, to bring the thunder.
With the game tied at 3, Atlanta erupted for five straight hits to begin the frame and make it 7-3 before the Reds could record the first out. Run-scoring knocks by Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies and Sean Murphy made it 11-3, and it appeared as though the rout was on.
Not so fast. The Reds still had plenty of gas left in the tank. Three straight hits, including a three-run homer by Ke'Bryan Hayes in his Reds debut cut the deficit to five. And Cincinnati was just getting revved up. Five more consecutive hits followed -- yes, the first eight batters of the inning reached safely -- with Spencer Steer's three-run shot tying the game at 11, marking just the third time in MLB history that each team had at least eight runs in the same inning, per Elias.
Alas, despite the Reds' late charge, it was the Braves who ended up in the winner's circle, pushing across the 23rd and final run of the game on Marcell Ozuna's sac fly in the 10th for a thrilling 12-11 checkered-flag win.
-- Ed Eagle |
STARS SET TO SHINE AT WRIGLEY IN 2027 |
The All-Star Game is coming to (my kind of) town! Chicago, that is. And it'll be the first one at Wrigley Field in 37 years. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced earlier today that the 2027 All-Star Game will be held at the Federal Landmark at Clark and Addison -- the first Midsummer Classic at the Friendly Confines since 1990. It will be the fourth All-Star Game held at the ballpark, which also hosted the festivities in 1947 and '62. The ceremony for the big reveal included Cubs executive chairman Tom Ricketts, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, each of whom acknowledged the recent passing of Ryne Sandberg in their comments. Fittingly, Sandberg was the NL's leading vote-getter for that 1990 star-studded contest, and he won the Home Run Derby in front of the hometown fans the day before the game. Cubs outfielder Andre Dawson also started for the Senior Circuit, with shortstop Shawon Dunston a reserve. The American League, however, came out on top, 2-0, with Julio Franco of the Rangers named the MVP. The NL mustered only two hits in that pitchers' duel, marking the lowest hit total by a team in an All-Star Game. But the Wrigley winds are fickle, and if they're blowing out on July 13 two years from now, the bleachers will need to prepare for a barrage of All-Star blasts. -- Ismail Soyugenc |
Sometimes, you really can go home again -- but for Eugenio Suárez, the journey to rejoin the Mariners was truly a whirlwind.
As beat writer Daniel Kramer wrote in this entertaining travelogue, Suárez arrived in Sacramento on Wednesday as the D-backs prepared to play the A's, and was promptly traded to Seattle, which had just finished a series against the A's and was preparing to head home. The All-Star slugger, who was a fan favorite with the Mariners in 2022-23, wanted to join them for the flight, but quite a few logistical hurdles had to be cleared. There was luggage to account for, two exhausted kids were involved, there was an Uber ride from one end of the airport to the other and the team's charter flight had to be held on the tarmac for a bit.
But ultimately, Suárez was able to surprise his new teammates after midnight on Thursday with a feel-good reunion on the plane, en route to multiple ovations during his Mariners re-debut in a 6-0 win over the Rangers last night.
"Obviously, it was a special moment to see all my teammates on the plane cheer for me," Suárez said. "And it's something that obviously made me feel really good." -- Bryan Horowitz |
The 2025 Trade Deadline will go down in history for the crazy number of deals. But here's one more deal to consider: Get MLB.TV for $34.99. MLB.TV is your destination to follow all the players who moved during the Deadline and catch their first games with their new clubs.
The busy Padres will welcome new stars Ryan O'Hearn and Mason Miller during a weekend series against the Cardinals (9:40 p.m. ET). And that's just one game of many to watch this weekend -- and all season long. |
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