It was another busy weekend in MLB, with plenty of brilliant clashes between top teams. Here are the biggest stories from the weekend that was.
Baseball’s baba yaga is lurking in the shadows, far enough to hide but close enough to strike. This Astros team is deeply flawed, much more porous than its predecessors, but only a fool would expect them to quietly disappear. A five-game winning streak, which included a decisive weekend victory over the towering Orioles, has propelled Houston to within four games of an AL wild-card spot with more than half the season remaining.
Aging outfielders José Altuve and Alex Bregman had big weekends against the Orioles, who looked dejected, especially on the mound, after a rousing series win last week in the Bronx. Houston still has starting pitching questions — right-hander Jake Bloss struggled Friday in his MLB debut and then went on the IL — but excellent outings from Framber Valdez and Ronel Blanco on Saturday and Sunday were encouraging. Overall, it was a monumental sweep for Houston, who welcomes Colorado to town on Tuesday for a quick two-game set.
Cardinals beat Giants
The Cardinals, with their sweep of the Giants, continued their methodical rise out of the mire of National League mediocrity. After defeating San Francisco on Thursday in a thrilling night at Rickwood Field, the Birds won both games over the weekend at Busch Stadium. On Saturday, outfielder Alec Burleson hit two homers, giving him seven in June (only three NL players have more this month), to undermine Jordan Hicks’ return to St. So, the Cards’ ace and big addition of Free agent Sonny Gray shoved Sunday, allowing just one run in seven frames to lower his season ERA to 2.81.
On opening day, FanGraphs estimated the Cards’ playoff chances at 50.1%. That number, after a putrid April, dropped to 10.4% on May 11, but St. Louis rebounded, thanks to impressive stretches from Gray, Burleson and shortstop Masyn Winn. The Cards are now 1.5 games safe in a wildcard position, with relatively strong playoff odds of 42.6%. The NL is a horrible mud fight, but at least the Cardinals are in it, unlike the Giants, who are slowly slipping further and further away from contention.
Predictably stellar outings from Atlanta’s left-handed aces Chris Sale and Max Fried propelled the Braves to a series victory in the Bronx. Each lefty limited the Yankees to one run, with Sale doing the action on Friday in the opener and Fried closing out the Bombers on Sunday. These two have been great all year, but one new and absolutely crucial development for the Braves is the resurgence of Austin Riley. Atlanta’s two-time All-Star third baseman missed a stretch in mid-May with a rib muscle issue and then looked terrible upon his return. But Riley has eight extra-base hits in his last nine games, including a huge fly in Atlanta’s win on Friday.
The Yankees, in turn, have another injury to deal with, although it is expected. Giancarlo Stanton strained his hamstring while running the bases on Saturday, placing him on the 10-day IL. The hulking outfielder, who has battled lower-body ailments in recent seasons, has run noticeably casually so far this year, likely on club orders to reduce the risk of re-injury. Still, his trip to IL seemed like an almost inevitable development. Still, for all the jokes about his lumbering walk, Stanton was in the midst of his most productive season since 2021, on pace for 35 home runs. The Yankees will try to replace their offense with some combination of outfielder Trent Grisham, rookie first baseman Ben Rice and recently acquired third baseman J.D. Davis.
The Guardians sweep the Blue Jays
Steven Kwan is an absolute delight. The Cleveland left fielder recorded four more hits over the weekend, including two home runs, to increase his season OPS to 1.023. Only Aaron Judge (1.117) and Shohei Ohtani (1.031) have a higher OPS among hitters with at least 200 plate appearances (Kwan doesn’t yet have enough plate appearances to qualify because he missed some time due to injury). He’s catalyzing an offense that, after two consecutive years among the league’s bottom two homers, has rediscovered the long ball. Cleveland smoked six home runs against Toronto, giving the Guardians 87 on the year, tied for ninth in MLB. They look more real every week and now have a hefty 7.5 game lead over the Twins.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jays have won just three non-White Sox series since the beginning of May. They are not very good. Big offseason acquisition Yariel Rodríguez returned from the IL and threw a stinker on Friday, allowing four earned runs in just 1 1/3 innings of work. José Berrios followed that up with one of his worst starts of the season (3 HR allowed) on Saturday before Yusei Kikuchi gave up four runs in two innings before a rain delay knocked him out on Sunday. To make matters worse, rookie Orelvis Martinez, who made his MLB debut on Friday, was suspended for 80 games on Sunday after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Toronto is running out of runway to turn things around before the trade deadline; this could get ugly.
Ohtani and the Dodgers take two of the Angels
Facing his former team for the first time, Shohei Ohtani scored twice, because duh. After six years without a postseason with the Angels, the two-way dynamo joined the juggernaut Dodgers for a mountain of money. But Game 1 of this series must have given Ohtani some unpleasant flashbacks: The two-time MVP threw a 455-foot megatank, but the Dodgers lost anyway. Such was Ohtani’s life in Angels Land, with feats of majesty tempered by mediocrity in the standings.
But these Dodgers are not those Angels, and baseball’s most fearsome squad rallied to win on Saturday in a bizarre two-game weekend between these SoCal rivals. Ohtani went to the yard again in the final to support another masterful start from Tyler Glasnow (10 Ks, 1 ER in 7 IP).
Scherzer negotiates his return to the mound
The 39-year-old Rangers pitcher made his debut for the year after offseason surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back required an extended period of IL. Scherzer was excellent in his return, retiring the first 13 batters on his way to five scoreless frames as Texas defeated the Royals at home. The defending champions have been unimpressed so far this season and desperately need Scherzer to solidify and energize their pitching staff. So far so good.
Bonus: Men’s Collegiate World Series
The winner-take-all Game 3 of the Men’s College World Series is set for Monday, after Texas A&M and Tennessee split the first two games over the weekend. The Aggies struck early Saturday when star freshman Gavin Grahovac launched a blast into the opposite field to start the game. A&M led 7-2 after three and relied on reliever Evan Aschenbeck to win the first game 9-5 after Tennessee struggled late.
With the season on the line Sunday, the No. 1 Volunteers fought back in Game 2 despite trailing most of the afternoon. Trailing 1-0 with a runner on and two out in the seventh, junior outfielder Dylan Dreiling hit a go-ahead two-run shot. Catcher Cal Stark added another two-run scramble in the eighth to give Tennessee some breathing room in a 4-1 victory. Monday’s game is for all marbles, with two historic programs each looking for their first National Championship.
