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It was another busy weekend in the MLB, with many brilliant matchups between top teams. Here are the biggest stories from the weekend that was.
Baseball’s Baba Yaga lurks in the shadows, far enough to hide but close enough to jump. This Astros team is quite flawed, much more porous than its predecessors, but only a fool would expect them to quietly fade away. A five-game winning streak, which included a decisive weekend sweep of the towering Orioles, has put Houston four games out of an American League wild-card berth with more than half the season left to play.
Old stalwarts Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman had big weekends against the Orioles, who looked haggard, particularly on the mound, after a stirring series victory last week in the Bronx. Houston still has questions about starting pitching (right-hander Jake Bloss struggled Friday in his MLB debut and then went on the disabled list), but excellent starts from Framber Valdez and Ronel Blanco on Saturday and Sunday were encouraging. Overall, it was a monumental sweep for Houston, which hosts Colorado in town on Tuesday for a quick two-game series.
Cardinals sweep Giants
The Cardinals, with their sweep of the Giants, continued their methodical climb out of the mire of National League mediocrity. After beating San Francisco on Thursday in an emotional night at Rickwood Field, the Birds took both games of the weekend at Busch Stadium. On Saturday, outfielder Alec Burleson hit a pair of home runs, adding seven in June (only three National League players have more this month), to sour Jordan Hicks’ return to St. Louis. Then, Cardinals ace and big free agent addition Sonny Gray pushed on Sunday, allowing just one run in seven frames to lower his season ERA to 2.81.
On opening day, FanGraphs set the Cardinals’ playoff odds at 50.1%. That number, after a putrid April, fell to 10.4% on May 11. St. Louis has bounced back, thanks to impressive stretches from Gray, Burleson and shortstop Masyn Winn. The Cardinals are now 1.5 games safe in a wild card spot, with relatively solid playoff odds of 42.6%. The National League is a horrible fight, but at least the Cardinals are in it, unlike the Giants, who are slowly slipping further and further away from contention.
As expected, stellar outings by Atlanta left-handed aces Chris Sale and Max Fried propelled the Braves to a series win in the Bronx. Each left-hander limited the Yankees to one run, with Sale doing the trick Friday in the opener and Fried shutting down the Bombers on Sunday. Those two have been fantastic 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 issue and then looked terrible upon returning. But Riley has eight extra-base hits in his last nine games, including a big timely fly ball in Atlanta’s win on Friday.
The Yankees, meanwhile, have yet another injury to deal with, albeit an expected one. Giancarlo Stanton injured his hamstring while running the bases Saturday, which landed him on the 10-day disabled list. The mammoth outfielder, who has battled lower-body ailments in recent seasons, has been running remarkably casually so far this year, presumably by order of the club to reduce his risk of reinjury. Still, his trip to Illinois seemed an almost inevitable event. Yet for all the jokes about his clumsy gait, Stanton was in the midst of his most productive season since 2021, on pace for 35 home runs. The Yankees will try to replace his offense with some combination of outfielder Trent Grisham, rookie first baseman Ben Rice and recently acquired third baseman JD Davis.
Guardians sweep Blue Jays
Steven Kwan is an absolute delight. The Cleveland left fielder had four more hits over the weekend, including two home runs, to raise his OPS for the season 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 does not yet have enough plate appearances to qualify because he missed some time due to injury) . He’s catalyzing an offense that, after two straight years in the bottom two in home runs league-wide, has rediscovered the long ball. Cleveland hit six home runs against Toronto, giving the Guardians 87 on the year, tied for ninth in the MLB. They look more real every week and now have a solid 7.5 game lead over the Twins.
Meanwhile, the Blue Jays have won just three non-White Sox series since early May. They are not very good. The big offseason acquisition, Yariel Rodríguez, returned from the disabled list and pitched a stinker on Friday, allowing four earned runs in just 1 1/3 innings of work. José Berrios followed that with one of his worst starts of the season (3 home runs allowed) on Saturday before Yusei Kikuchi allowed four runs in two innings before a rain delay sidelined him on Sunday. To make matters worse, highly touted rookie Orelvis Martinez, who made his MLB debut on Friday, received an 80-game suspension on Sunday after testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Toronto is running out of room to turn things around before the trade deadline; This could get ugly.
Ohtani and the Dodgers take two away from the Angels
Facing his former team for the first time, Shohei Ohtani hit two home runs, because of course. After six years without a postseason with the Angels, the two-way dynamo joined the giant Dodgers for a mountain of money. But Game 1 of this series must have given Ohtani some unpleasant memories: The two-time MVP threw a mega-tank 455 feet, but the Dodgers lost anyway. Such was Ohtani’s life in Angels Land, with feats of majesty marred by mediocrity in the standings.
But these Dodgers aren’t those Angels, and baseball’s most feared squad rallied to win Saturday in a rare two-game weekend between these Southern California rivals. Ohtani ran again in the final to support another masterful start from Tyler Glasnow (10 Ks, 1 ER in 7 IP).
Scherzer delivers on his return to the mound
The 39-year-old Rangers pitcher made his first start of the year after offseason surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back required a lengthy stint on the IL. Scherzer was outstanding in his return, retiring the first 13 batters on his way to five scoreless innings as Texas swept the Royals at home. The defending champions have been disappointing so far this season and desperately need Scherzer to solidify and energize their pitching staff. So far, so good.
Bonus: Men’s College World Series
Game three of the winner-take-all Men’s College World Series is scheduled for Monday after Texas A&M and Tennessee split the first two games over the weekend. The Aggies struck early on Saturday, when star freshman Gavin Grahovac launched an opposite-field blast to start the game. A&M led 7-2 after three and relied on star reliever Evan Aschenbeck to win the opener 9-5 after Tennessee fought back late.
With their season on the line Sunday, the No. 1 Volunteers fought back in Game 2 despite trailing for most of the afternoon. Down 1-0 with one runner and two outs in the seventh, junior outfielder Dylan Dreiling hit a go-ahead two-run shot. Catcher Cal Stark added another two-run mix in the eighth to give Tennessee some breathing room in a 4-1 victory. Monday’s game is one for all marbles, with two historic programs each seeking their first national championship.