US Open 2021 men’s final: Will Novak Djokovic complete the Grand Slam and beat Daniil Medvedev?
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4 years agoon
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ESPN staff
Novak Djokovic, the No. 1-ranked men’s player in the world, has a chance to make history: complete the calendar-year Grand Slam and break a tie with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who also have 20 major titles, for the most in men’s tennis history.
Daniil Medvedev can spoil Djokovic’s bid to become the first man to win all four majors — the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open — in the same year.
Who comes out on top in Sunday’s US Open men’s final? Our experts break down the magnitude of Djokovic’s run, what makes him so good at 34 years old and what the 25-year-old Medvedev needs to do to pull off the upset.
Djokovic is looking at history and has wavered at times in the tournament, especially in first sets. What weaknesses/areas of opportunity might exist that Medvedev could take advantage of?
Brad Gilbert: Yellow card for stupidity of question. He’s never wavered, and there are no weaknesses in his game than his overhead. That’s a yellow-card question for even saying that he wavered. It’s best-of-five for a reason, and he is great at navigating that. There’s nothing that Medvedev can take advantage of, but it is key for him, if he has any chance, to win the first set and serve tremendous.
Bill Connelly: His return abandoned him against Alexander Zverev in the semis, but Djokovic’s biggest issue has been obvious: He has taken some haymakers out of the gate. He has dropped six sets in this tournament, and he has dropped the first set in four straight matches. He was too dominant from the second set on against Kei Nishikori, Jenson Brooksby and Matteo Berrettini, but dropping the first set to Zverev could have cost him dearly had he not eked out a massive, tight third set. Medvedev is more than good enough to take two of the final four sets if he cashes in on the first.
Alexandra Stevenson: First. I think Djokovic wavers in first sets because he’s measuring his opponent — the hit of the ball, the rhythm of the court. Surely, losing a first set can be considered an opportunity for Medvedev. Look for Djokovic’s serve motion. Does he look strong? When he’s driven back, sometimes he doesn’t move through the forehand and he gets caught with his hit in the net.
The weakness for Medvedev to attack? Go at Djokovic’s all-court consistency. Every pattern. Every ball. Break him down. Can Medvedev get Djokovic thinking about his forehand? Djokovic has shown that his opponents wear down in terms of their physical prowess on court. Like Zverev.
Rennae Stubbs: That Djokovic is not invincible. I think Medvedev would have taken some confidence in knowing Djokovic has shown vulnerability throughout, but he also understands no one is as good as Djokovic over five sets. His focus will be squarely on not letting up if he gets a lead.
Aishwarya Kumar: During the semifinals Zverev tested Djokovic, running him all over the court, particularly in the third and the fourth sets. The match saw some of the longest rallies of the tournament, and Djokovic, who never looks tired, showed signs of slight weariness. If Medvedev is able to move him around the court and challenge him to keep his serve — and consistently at that — he might be able to take a set and put some pressure on the world No. 1.
Ohm Youngmisuk: Djokovic raised his level of play when he had to, especially in the fifth set against Zverev. But he has given his opponents opportunities. No one has been able to take advantage yet. Medvedev has to take this from Djokovic. He’ll have to do more than just get everything back against Djokovic. He will have to be the aggressor. And he also has to hope that the pressure of trying to make history will also wear on Djokovic too.
D’Arcy Maine: It has to start with taking advantage of Djokovic’s recent trend of slow starts and stealing the first set. Beyond that, Djokovic has certainly proved difficult, if not impossible, to beat. However, Medvedev has their clash at the 2020 ATP Finals to look to for guidance as well. In that match, he defeated the world No. 1 with a staggering defensive display and strong serving, essentially beating Djokovic at his own game. The stakes are much higher this time around, and it’s a best-of-five match, but on that day Medvedev had an answer for everything Djokovic tried. Trying to replicate that game plan might be his best hope.
Medvedev has almost quietly made the final. What has been the key to his success?
Gilbert: He has been serving great all tournament and has dropped only one set. A fast start will also be key for Medvedev.
Connelly: He has been serving like crazy. The serve has improved overall this year, and his numbers in these later rounds have been wild. Medvedev has won at least 80% of his first-serve points in five of six matches — to put that in perspective, John Isner is only at 79% for the year, Reilly Opelka 77% — and over the last three rounds he’s landed an especially high percentage of his first serves in. Obviously those numbers will get the stiffest possible test against Djokovic: Medvedev won only 69% of his first-serve points in their Australian Open final meeting, but combined with his increasing willingness to come to the net, Medvedev’s service game overall has improved significantly since Melbourne.
Stevenson: His movement. People can criticize where Medvedev stands — way in the back of the court — but look at where he ends up. His coverage of the court has brought him to the final. He’s going to be a player trying to bust open a no-hitter ball game, only this time, it’s the calendar-year Grand Slam.
Stubbs: Believing in himself and his ability to play on hard court. Because his game transfers so well to this surface, I think he now believes he belongs in the final.
Kumar: While all eyes were on Djokovic, and then the teens making history at the US Open, Medvedev has dominated his end of the draw, dropping just one set in the entire tournament on his way to the final. The key to his success: his serve. He has a stellar first and second serve, and he rarely gets broken. He also gets to every ball, which leaves a lot of his opponents scrambling to pick up the pieces. This, combined with his ability to keep his level up throughout a match, has given him the quiet confidence and the edge to get to his second US Open final and his second Grand Slam final of the year.
Youngmisuk: Medvedev is like a robot. He just grinds and grinds and is like a ball machine. His consistency is a weapon. But he has also had a relatively easy path here, facing just two double-digit seeds on his way to the final. He’ll need fresh legs against Djokovic.
Maine: Considering how much attention Medvedev received during his 2019 run to the final, it’s almost shocking to see how under the radar he is this time around. But make no mistake — that’s by design. He said on Friday he was happy to have had such a “smooth” tournament thus far. He has dropped just one set thus far, and by getting the job done efficiently each match, and with no fireworks or fan interactions, he has been able to simply focus on playing his incredible tennis.
Perhaps nothing better exemplifies his locked-in demeanor than the second set of his match against Felix Auger-Aliassime. Down 5-2 in the second set, and facing two set points at 5-4, Medvedev used his experience to build a remarkable comeback to take the set, 7-5, and win the match in straight sets.
What is the blueprint Djokovic should follow to beat Medvedev?
Gilbert: There is no blueprint. When people ask these questions — every player plays differently. Djokovic is 2-0 head-to-head in best-of-five, and they’re 3-3 in every other match. So, the fact that it’s a best-of-five is a huge advantage to Djokovic.
Connelly: The body-blow blueprint is the best card Djokovic still has to play. His biggest remaining advantage over the rising crop in men’s tennis is his pure best-of-five endurance. It saved him against Tsitsipas in the French Open final, and it saved him against Zverev on Friday night. Medvedev’s hard-court game is as good or better than Djokovic’s at this point — he has won a higher percentage of both service and return points than Djokovic on hard courts over the last year — but Djokovic’s lungs and best-of-five aura have been too much for anyone to overcome.
Stevenson: Djokovic is following his own blueprint. He knows Medvedev. Djokovic will focus on what brought him to the final: his mental acumen, his all-court technical consistency and his functional physical being on the court. If Djokovic brings those three to Arthur Ashe, he’ll make history.
Stubbs: His own. No one knows how to win in these moments more than anyone in the history of men’s tennis.
Kumar: Same as always: Wear Medvedev down. Get him running early on in the match. And then break him when he’s tired and can’t keep up. Simple.
Youngmisuk: Djokovic just has to play his game, block out the pressure of making history and do what he does best: get every ball, wear down his opponent and impose his will. If he plays his game up to his normal level and doesn’t let nerves or the moment get the best of him, he should be hoisting No. 21 at the end of the day.
Maine: Djokovic completely dismantled the red-hot Medvedev in the Australian Open final in February, and that’s as custom-made of a blueprint as he’ll find heading into Sunday. He found a way to disrupt Medvedev’s rhythm with a variety of shots and outlasted him in the long rallies. Perhaps most importantly, Djokovic kept his cool throughout and never seemed fazed. If he can repeat that performance, this could be another quick afternoon.
What has been the most impressive part of Djokovic’s run through this season?
Gilbert: His resilience. His problem-solving. His willingness to adapt his game when he needs to.
Connelly: Honestly, the most impressive part is that he hasn’t been at his most impressive. In both of his previous two incredible runs — winning four of five Slams in 2011-12, winning five of six in 2015-16 — he was more dominant from point to point than he is now. This has been harder, and he has found a way to consistently survive and advance.
Stevenson: Of the many impressive moments in the Djokovic season, I think it is the ups and downs of playing professional tennis during a pandemic, testing positive for COVID-19, fighting for political change on the ATP Tour, standing up for lower-ranked players, working on changing his “villain” moniker, winning when it mattered, understanding history and embracing it for the world to see. Djokovic can look to the president’s box and see Rod Laver, who won the calendar-year Grand Slam twice (in 1962 and 1969). Now that is impressive.
Stubbs: Everything! He is a mental and physical giant.
Kumar: His resilience. We all know how last year ended for him. He was defaulted from the US Open after he hit a woman line judge with a ball toward the end of the first set in the fourth-round match against Pablo Carreno Busta. For him to take a step back, calibrate and have this almost perfect year of tennis — he is 27-0 in Grand Slams this year — is quite an accomplishment.
Youngmisuk: He’s relentlessness. Outside of the Olympic meltdown, Djokovic just keeps grinding down his opponents. Perhaps even more impressive is how he has managed to keep winning with the added weight and pressure of making history.
Maine: Having witnessed his meltdown in Tokyo firsthand, I’m most amazed by what he has been able to do in New York after suffering such a disappointment at the Olympics. He was not shy about his desire for the Golden Slam but left the Games empty-handed and with his reputation somewhat damaged due to his unsavory attitude during the bronze-medal match and after.
He then came back to the US Open — from which he had defaulted last year — and has been able to notch impressive win after impressive win and keep his composure, despite the increasing pressure and a weird trend of losing the opening set in the past four matches. It has been quite the emotional turnaround.
Honorable mention: His semifinal win over Nadal at Roland Garros to secure his spot in the French Open final. To beat the King of Clay — the greatest to ever play on the surface — in Paris in four sets was the stuff of legend.
Prediction time: Who will win and why?
Gilbert: I have wanted to see history since we started thinking about this a lot, and I hate to even talk about a perfect game, because that’s what it is. It’s a perfect game and it’s a jinx to talk about a perfect game, but Djokovic is going to win this match, most likely in four sets. Wouldn’t even be surprised if it was straight sets like in Australia.
Connelly: In the “Djokovic vs. the field” competition, I’ve been picking the field for the last two weeks. He had to overcome decent odds and stiff competition just to get to this point. But he’s here. Medvedev is 3-5 lifetime against Djokovic and is in incredible form, but I’m through picking against Djokovic. He wins in four.
Stevenson: I have to believe what Djokovic said post-match after Zverev to Patrick McEnroe: “I’m going to play this [final] like it’s the last match of my career.”
And when Djokovic sits down on the changeover, always staring straight ahead, think Kevin Costner in “For Love of the Game,” on the bench, by himself. And then he pitches a perfect game. Djokovic has been mentally perfect. Djokovic wins, because he’s that good.
Stubbs: Djokovic in five.
Kumar: Djokovic in three. Djokovic has not lost a Grand Slam match — and they’re played two at the Australian Open — to Medvedev. At the 2021 Australian Open, it took him under 2 hours to win his first Grand Slam of the year, beating Medvedev in straight sets (7-5, 6-2, 6-2). He’s in the best form of his life, and Medvedev is not going to pose any new threats to him in the final of what could be the best moment of his career.
It has been 52 years since the last man (Rod Laver) won a calendar-year slam. And on Sunday, Djokovic is sure to join that club.
Youngmisuk: We will see something that has never been done in men’s tennis. Barring an epic meltdown, Djokovic will make history, win his 21st major and complete the calendar-year Grand Slam as well.
Maine: Medvedev’s time is coming, but it’s not this weekend. Djokovic finds his way into tennis immortality by completing the Grand Slam and winning men’s-record-breaking No. 21 in four sets. He has proven that no matter how tough the opponent, he always has just a little bit more. With so much on the line on Sunday, he will not let this elusive opportunity slip by.
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Hard-throwing rookie Misiorowski going to ASG
Published
9 hours agoon
July 12, 2025By
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Associated Press
Jul 11, 2025, 11:17 PM ET
Hard-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski is a National League All-Star replacement, giving the Milwaukee Brewers right-hander a chance to break Paul Skenes‘ record for the fewest big league appearances before playing in the Midsummer Classic.
Misiorowski was named Friday night to replace Chicago Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd, who will be unavailable for the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Atlanta because he is scheduled to start Saturday at the New York Yankees.
The 23-year-old Misiorowski has made just five starts for the Brewers, going 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA while averaging 99.3 mph on his fastball, with 89 pitches that have reached 100 mph.
If he pitches at Truist Park, Misiorowski will make it consecutive years for a player to set the mark for fewest big league games before an All-Star showing.
Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander getting ready for his second All-Star appearance, had made 11 starts in the majors when he was chosen as the NL starter for last year’s All-Star Game at Texas. He pitched a scoreless inning.
“I’m speechless,” said a teary-eyed Misiorowski, who said he was given the news a few minutes before the Brewers’ 8-3 victory over Washington. “It’s awesome. It’s very unexpected and it’s an honor.”
Misiorowski is the 30th first-time All-Star and 16th replacement this year. There are now 80 total All-Stars.
“He’s impressive. He’s got some of the best stuff in the game right now, even though he’s a young pitcher,” said Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who is a starting AL outfielder for his seventh All-Star nod. “He’s going to be a special pitcher in this game for a long time so I think he deserved it and it’s going be pretty cool for him and his family.”
Carlos Rodón, Carlos Estévez and Casey Mize were named replacement pitchers on the AL roster.
The New York Yankees‘ Rodón, an All-Star for the third time in five seasons, will replace teammate Max Fried for Tuesday’s game in Atlanta. Fried will be unavailable because he is scheduled to start Saturday against the Chicago Cubs.
In his final start before the All-Star game, Rodón allowed four hits and struck out eight in eight innings in an 11-0 victory over the Cubs.
“This one’s a little special for me,” said Rodón, an All-Star in 2021 and ’22 who was 3-8 in his first season with the Yankees two years ago before rebounding. “I wasn’t good when I first got here, and I just wanted to prove that I wasn’t to going to give up and just put my best foot forward and try to win as many games as I can.”
The Kansas City Royals‘ Estévez replaces Texas’ Jacob deGrom, who is scheduled to start at Houston on Saturday night. Estévez was a 2023 All-Star when he was with the Los Angeles Angels.
Mize takes the spot held by Boston‘s Garrett Crochet, who is scheduled to start Saturday against Tampa Bay. Mize gives the Tigers six All-Stars, most of any team and tied for the franchise record.
Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia will replace Tampa Bay‘s Brandon Lowe, who went on the injured list with left oblique tightness. The additions of Estévez and Garcia give the Royals four All-Stars, matching their 2024 total.
The Seattle Mariners announced center fielder Julio Rodríguez will not participate, and he was replaced by teammate Randy Arozarena. Rodríguez had been voted onto the AL roster via the players’ ballot. The Mariners, who have five All-Stars, said Rodríguez will use the break to “recuperate, rest and prepare for the second half.”
Arozarena is an All-Star for the second time. He started in left field for the AL two years ago, when he was with Tampa Bay. Arozarena was the runner-up to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the 2023 Home Run Derby.
Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen, a first-time All-Star, is replacing Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who is scheduled to start Saturday night at Arizona. Rasmussen is 7-5 with a 2.82 ERA in 18 starts.
San Diego added a third NL All-Star reliever in lefty Adrián Morejón, who replaces Philadelphia starter Zack Wheeler. The Phillies’ right-hander is scheduled to start at San Diego on Saturday night. Morejón entered the weekend with a 1.71 ERA in 45 appearances.
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Midseason grades for all 30 MLB teams: ‘A’ is for Astros, ‘F’ is for …?
Published
9 hours agoon
July 12, 2025By
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David SchoenfieldJul 9, 2025, 07:00 AM ET
Close- Covers MLB for ESPN.com
- Former deputy editor of Page 2
- Been with ESPN.com since 1995
We’re past due to hand out some midseason grades, so let’s hand out some midseason grades.
As we pass the 90-game mark in the 2025 MLB season, my team of the first half isn’t the well-rounded Detroit Tigers, who do get our highest grade for owning MLB’s best record, or the explosive Chicago Cubs or Shohei Ohtani‘s Los Angeles Dodgers, but a team most baseball fans love to hate: the Houston Astros. They lost their two best players from last season and their best hitter has been injured — and they’re playing their best baseball since they won the 2022 World Series.
Let’s get to the grades. As always, we’re grading off preseason expectations, factoring in win-loss record and quality of performance, while looking at other positive performances and injuries.
Jump to a team:
AL East: BAL | BOS | NYY | TB | TOR
AL Central: CHW | CLE | DET | KC | MIN
AL West: ATH | HOU | LAA | SEA | TEX
NL East: ATL | MIA | NYM | PHI | WSH
NL Central: CHC | CIN | MIL | PIT | STL
NL West: ARI | COL | LAD | SD | SF
Tarik Skubal is obviously the headline act, but the Tigers are winning with impressive depth across the entire roster.
Javier Baez is putting together a remarkable comeback season after a couple of abysmal years and will become the first player to start an All-Star Game at both shortstop and in the outfield. Former No. 1 overall picks Casey Mize and Spencer Torkelson have put together their own comeback stories, while Riley Greene has matured into one of the game’s top power hitters.
Given their deep well of prospects and contributors at the MLB level, no team is better positioned than the Tigers to add significant help at the trade deadline.
I heard someone refer to them as the Zombie Astros, which feels apropos. Alex Bregman left as a free agent, they traded Kyle Tucker, Yordan Alvarez has been injured and has just three home runs, and the Jose Altuve experiment in left field predictably fizzled.
But here they are, fighting for the best record in the majors and holding a comfortable lead in the AL West. They’re getting star turns from Hunter Brown, Framber Valdez and Jeremy Pena, while the risky decision to start Cam Smith in the majors with very little minor league experience has paid off, as he has now become their cleanup hitter.
If we ignore the COVID-19 season, the Astros look on their way to an eighth straight division title.
This could be at least a half-grade higher based on everything that has gone right: Pete Crow-Armstrong‘s attention-grabbing breakout, Tucker doing everything expected after the big trade, Seiya Suzuki‘s monster power numbers and Matthew Boyd‘s All-Star turn in the rotation. The Cubs are on pace for their most wins since their World Series title season in 2016.
There have been a few hiccups, however, especially in the rotation with Justin Steele‘s season-ending injury and Ben Brown‘s inconsistency, plus rookie third baseman Matt Shaw has scuffled, and the bench has been weak aside from their backup catchers.
Still, this is a powerhouse lineup, and the Cubs will seek to improve their rotation at the deadline.
They just keep winning of late, going from 25-27 and seven games behind the Yankees on May 25 to taking over first place from the slumping Bronx Bombers, a remarkable turnaround over just 36 games. They went 27-9 over a 36-game stretch ending with their eighth win in a row on Sunday.
George Springer‘s recent surge has been fun to watch, a reminder of how good he was at his peak, and Addison Barger has been mashing over the past two months.
Some of the stats don’t add up to the Blue Jays being this good — they’ve barely outscored their opponents — but there might be more offense in the tank from the likes of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a healthy Anthony Santander, and the bullpen, a soft spot, is the easiest area to upgrade.
Their success is best summed up by the fact that Freddy Peralta is their lone All-Star, but they have a whole bunch of players who have contributed between 1 and 2 WAR.
Brandon Woodruff looked good Sunday in his first start in nearly two years, so that could be a huge boost for the second half.
I’m curious to see how Jackson Chourio performs as well. While his counting stats — extra-base hits, RBIs — are fine, his triple-slash line remains below last season, especially his OBP. He had a huge second half in 2024 (.310/.363/.552), and if he does that again, the Brewers could find themselves back in the postseason for the seventh time in eight seasons.
The Rays started off slow, with a losing record through the end of April, but then went 33-22 in May and June to claw back into the AL East race — as the Rays usually do, last year being the recent exception.
Two key performers have been All-Star third baseman Junior Caminero, who has a chance to become just the third player to hit 40 home runs in his age-21 season, and All-Star first baseman Jonathan Aranda.
Due to the league wanting the Rays to play more home games early in the season, the July and August slate will be very road-heavy, so we’ll see how the Rays adapt to a difficult two-month stretch, especially since their pitching isn’t quite as deep as it has been in other seasons.
No, they’re not going to be the greatest team of all time. But they might win 100 games — even though Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki, their huge offseason acquisitions, have combined for just two wins in 10 starts.
The lineup, of course, has been terrific, with Ohtani leading the NL in several categories and Will Smith leading the batting race. By wRC+, it’s been the best offense in Dodgers history.
If they can get some combo of Snell, Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow healthy, plus Ohtani eventually ramped up to a bigger workload on the mound, the Dodgers still loom as World Series favorites.
They are on pace for 95 wins, mainly on the strength of Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez, who are a combined 23-7 with 11.8 WAR. Jesus Luzardo‘s ERA is bloated due to that two-start stretch when he allowed 20 runs, but he has otherwise been solid as well.
But, overall, it hasn’t always been the smoothest of treks. The bullpen has imploded a few times and the offense has lacked power aside from Kyle Schwarber. Bryce Harper is back after missing three weeks, and they need to get his bat going. Look for some bullpen additions at the trade deadline — and perhaps an outfielder as well.
The Cardinals have been a minor surprise — perhaps even to the Cardinals themselves. St. Louis was viewing this as a rebuilding year of sorts — not that the Cardinals ever hit rock bottom and start completely over. They had a hot May, winning 12 of 13 at one point, but the offense has been fading of late, with those three straight shutout losses to Pittsburgh and six shutout losses since June 25.
The starting rotation doesn’t generate a lot of swing and miss, with both Erick Fedde and Miles Mikolas seeing their ERAs starting to climb. Brendan Donovan is the team’s only All-Star rep, and that kind of sums up this team: solid but without any star power. That might foretell a second-half fade.
All-Star starting pitchers Logan Webb and Robbie Ray, plus a dominant bullpen, have led the way, although after starting 12-4, the Giants have basically been a .500 team for close to three months now. Rafael Devers hasn’t yet ignited the offense since coming over from Boston, and the Giants have lost four 1-0 games.
These final three games at home against the Dodgers before the All-Star break will be a crucial series, as Los Angeles has slowly pulled away in the NL West.
This was an “A-plus” through June 12, when the Mets were 45-24 and owned the best record in baseball, even though Juan Soto hadn’t gotten hot. Soto finally got going in June, but the pitching collapsed, and the Mets went through a disastrous 1-10 stretch.
The rotation injuries have piled up, exacerbating the lack of bullpen depth. Recent games have been started by Justin Hagenman (who had a 6.21 ERA in Triple-A), journeyman reliever Chris Devenski, Paul Blackburn (7.71 ERA) and Frankie Montas, who has had to start even though he’s clearly not throwing the ball well. The Mets need to get the rotation healthy, but also could use more offense from Mark Vientos and their catchers (Francisco Alvarez was demoted to Triple-A).
At times it has felt like Cal Raleigh has been a one-man team with his record-breaking first half. But he will be joined on the All-Star squad by starting pitcher Bryan Woo, closer Andres Munoz and center fielder Julio Rodriguez, who made it on the strength of his defense, as his offense has been a disappointment.
The offense has been one of the best in the majors on the road, but the rotation has been nowhere near as effective as the past couple of seasons, with George Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller all missing time with injuries. They just shut out the Pirates three games in a row, so maybe that will get the rotation on a roll.
They’re just out of the wild-card picture while hanging around .500, so we give them a decent grade since that exceeds preseason expectations. It feels like a little bit of a mirage given their run differential — their record in one-run games (good) versus their record in blowout games (not good) — and various holes across the lineup and pitching staff.
But they’ve done two things to keep them in the race. One, they hit a lot of home runs. Two, they’re the only team in the majors to use just five starting pitchers. The rotation hasn’t been stellar, but it’s been stable.
The Padres are probably fortunate to be where they are, given some of their issues. As expected, the offensive depth has been a problem.
Not as expected, Dylan Cease has struggled while Michael King‘s injury after a strong start has left them without last year’s dynamic 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation (although Nick Pivetta has been one of the best signings of the offseason). Yu Darvish just made his season debut Monday, so hopefully he’ll provide a lift.
The Padres haven’t played well against the better teams, including a 2-5 record against the Dodgers, but they did clean up against the Athletics, Rockies and Pirates, going 16-2 against those three teams.
For now, the Reds are stuck in neutral. Leave out 2022, when they lost 100 games, and it’s otherwise been a string of .500-ish seasons: 31-29 in 2020, 83-79 in 2021, 82-80 in 2023, 77-85 in 2024 and now a similar record so far in 2025.
The hope was that Terry Francona would be a difference-maker. Maybe that will play out down the stretch, but the best hope is to get the rotation clicking on all cylinders at the same time. That means Andrew Abbott continuing his breakout performance, plus getting Hunter Greene healthy again and rookie Chase Burns to live up to the hype after a couple of shaky outings following an impressive MLB debut.
Throw in Nick Lodolo and solid Nick Martinez and Brady Singer, and this group can be good enough to pitch the Reds to their first full-season playoff appearance since 2013.
The Yankees have hit their annual midseason swoon — which has been subject to much intense analysis from their disgruntled fans — and that opening weekend sweep of the Brewers, when the Yankees’ torpedo bats were the big story in baseball, now seems long ago.
Going from seven up to three back in such a short time is a disaster — but not disastrous. Nonetheless, the Yankees will have to do some hard-core self-evaluation heading to the trade deadline.
The offense wasn’t going to be as good as it was in April, when Paul Goldschmidt, Trent Grisham and Ben Rice were all playing over their heads. So, do they need a hitter? Or with Clarke Schmidt now likely joining Gerrit Cole as a Tommy John casualty, do they need a starting pitcher? Or both?
From the book of “things we didn’t expect,” page 547: The Marlins are averaging more runs per game than the Orioles, Padres, Braves and Rangers, to name a few teams. They’re averaging almost as many runs per game as the Mets, and last time we checked, the Marlins weren’t the team to give Soto $765 million.
An eight-game winning streak at the end of June has the Marlins going toe-to-toe with the Braves for third place in the NL East even though the starting rotation has been a mess, with Sandy Alcantara on track to become just the fourth qualified pitcher with an ERA over 7.00.
Heading into the season, I thought that if any team was going to challenge the Dodgers in the NL West, it would be the Diamondbacks. The offense has once again been one of the best in the majors, but the pitching issues have been painful.
After the aggressive move to sign Corbin Burnes, he went down with Tommy John surgery after 11 starts. Meanwhile, Zac Gallen, Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon Pfaadt each have an ERA on the wrong side of 5.00. Rodriguez was better in June before a shellacking on July 4, while Gallen remains homer-prone, so it’s hard to tell if improvement is on the horizon. Their playoff odds are hovering just under 20%, so there’s a chance, but they need to get red-hot like they did last July and August.
It feels like it has been more soap opera than baseball season in Boston, with the Devers drama finally ending with the shocking trade with the Giants.
If you give added weight that this is the Red Sox, a team that should be operating with the big boys in both budget and aspirations and instead seemed to only want to dump Devers’ contract, then feel free to lower this grade a couple of notches, even if the Red Sox are close in the wild-card standings.
On the field, the heralded rookie trio of Kristian Campbell, Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer hasn’t exactly clicked, with Campbell returning to the minors after posting a .902 OPS in April. A big test will come out of the All-Star break, when they play the Cubs, Phillies, Dodgers, Twins and Astros in a tough 15-game stretch.
After last season’s surprise playoff appearance, it’s been a frustrating 2025 — although I’m not sure this result is necessarily a surprise.
There were concerns about the offense heading into the season and those concerns have proven correct. They were getting no production from their outfield, so they rushed Jac Caglianone to the majors to much hype, but he has struggled and might need a reset back in Triple-A. Even Bobby Witt Jr., as good as he has been (on pace for 7.5 WAR), has seen his OPS drop 140 points.
On the bright side, Kris Bubic emerged as an All-Star starter and Noah Cameron has filled in nicely for the injured Cole Ragans, so maybe they trade a starter for some offense.
Coming off a catastrophic 2024 season, nobody was expecting anything from the White Sox. Indeed, another 121-loss season loomed as a possibility. While they’re on pace to lose 100 again, they’ve at least played more competitive baseball thanks to their pitching.
Rookie starters Shane Smith and Sean Burke have shown promise, while rookie position players Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero and now Colson Montgomery are getting their initial taste of the majors.
There has been the mix of calamity: Luis Robert Jr. has been unproductive and is probably now untradable, and former No. 3 overall pick Andrew Vaughn hit .189 and was traded to the Brewers.
The Twins are one organization that might like a do-over of the past five seasons. It feels like they’ve had the most talent in the division, but all they’ve done is squeeze out one soft division title in 2023. Now, the Tigers have passed them in talent and other factors, such as payroll flexibility.
There’s still time for the Twins to turn things around in 2025, but outside of that wonderful 13-game winning streak, they haven’t played winning baseball.
Overall, it’s been yet another bad season, despite Paul Skenes‘ brilliance. Really, do we talk enough about him? Yes, we do talk about him, but he has a 1.95 ERA through his first 42 career starts. Incredible.
Here’s an amazing thing about baseball. The Pirates are not a good team, but they recently put together one of the best six-game stretches in history. That’s not stretching the description. First, they swept the Mets — a good team — by scores of 9-1, 9-2 and 12-1. Then they swept the Cardinals — a good team — with three shutouts, 7-0, 1-0 and 5-0. They became the first team since at least 1901 to score 43 runs or more and allow four runs or fewer in a six-game stretch. And then they promptly got shut out three games in a row, making them the first to win three straight shutouts and then lose three straight shutouts.
Eighteen of our 28 voters picked them to win the AL West before the season, but it’s looking more and more like the 2023 World Series might be a stone-cold fluke in the middle of a string of losing seasons. That year, nearly everyone in the lineup had a career year at the plate, and the pitching got hot at the right time.
This year’s Rangers, though, have struggled to score runs, and while some have pointed to the offensive environment at Globe Life Field, they’re near the bottom in road OPS as well. It’s been fun seeing Jacob deGrom back at a dominating level, and Nathan Eovaldi should have been an All-Star.
Put it this way: If the Rangers can somehow squeeze into the postseason, you don’t want to face the Rangers in a short series. Indeed, if any team looms as an October upset special, it might be the Rangers.
The Nationals received superlative first-half performances from James Wood and MacKenzie Gore, while CJ Abrams is on the way to his best season. But there remains a lack of overall organizational progress, which finally led to the firings on Sunday of longtime GM Mike Rizzo and longtime manager Dave Martinez. A 7-19 record in June sealed their fate, as the rotation has been bad and the bullpen arguably the worst in baseball.
Until the Nationals figure out how to improve their pitching — or, better yet, find an owner who wants to win — they will be stuck going nowhere.
That fell apart in a hurry. Sunday’s loss was Cleveland’s 10th in a row, a stretch that remarkably included five shutouts. Indeed, the Guardians have now been shut out 11 times; the franchise record in the post-dead-ball-era (since 1920) is 20 shutouts in 1968.
There’s nothing worse than watching a team that can’t score runs, so that tells you how exciting the Guardians have been. Last year, the Guardians hit exceptionally well with runners in scoring position, keeping afloat what was otherwise a mediocre offense. That hasn’t happened in 2025 (trading Josh Naylor didn’t help either). Throw in some predictable regression from the bullpen, and this season looks lost.
We can’t give this a complete failing grade due to the emergence of All-Star shortstop Jacob Wilson (the Athletics’ first All-Star starter since Josh Donaldson in 2014) and slugging first baseman Nick Kurtz, who have a chance to finish 1-2 in the Rookie of the Year voting. Plus, we have Denzel Clarke‘s circus catches in center field.
But otherwise? Ugh. The Sacramento gamble already looks like a disaster, three months into a three-year stay. The team is drawing well below Sutter Health Park’s 14,000-seat capacity, with many recent games drawing under 10,000 fans. Luis Severino bashed the small crowds and the lack of air-conditioning.
The A’s had a groundbreaking ceremony for their new park in Vegas, renting heavy construction equipment as background props. Maybe they should have spent that money on more pitching help.
Based on preseason expectations, the Braves have clearly been the biggest disappointment in the National League — fighting the Orioles for most disappointing overall.
What’s gone wrong? They haven’t scored runs, as the offense continues its remarkable fade from a record-setting performance just two seasons ago. The collapses of Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies lead the way, with lack of production at shortstop and left field playing a big role as well. Closer Raisel Iglesias has struggled, and the team is 11-22 in one-run games. Spencer Strider hasn’t yet reached his pre-injury level and Reynaldo Lopez made just one start before going down.
The Braves haven’t missed the playoffs since 2017, but that run is clearly in jeopardy.
The Orioles have a similar record to the Braves but have played much worse, including losses of 24-2, 19-5, 15-3 and two separate 9-0 shutouts.
They will spend the trade deadline dealing away as many of their impending free agents as possible, and then do a lot of soul-searching heading into the offseason. After making the playoffs in 2023 and 2024, will this season just be a blip? While the pitching struggles aren’t necessarily a big surprise, what has happened to the offense? Are some of their young players prospects or suspects?
After two months of Cleveland Spiders-level baseball, it would be easy to make fun of the Rockies. Especially since they recently announced Walker Monfort — son of the owner — was promoted to executive VP and will replace outgoing president and COO Greg Feasel.
On the other hand, the Rockies are doing something right: They just drew 121,000 for a three-game series against the White Sox.
Sports
White Sox unveil Buehrle statue: ‘Well-deserved’
Published
9 hours agoon
July 12, 2025By
admin
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Jesse RogersJul 11, 2025, 09:12 PM ET
Close- Jesse joined ESPN Chicago in September 2009 and covers MLB for ESPN.com.
CHICAGO — Former White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle was forever immortalized inside Rate Field as the team unveiled a statue in his honor Friday.
Buehrle, 46, played 16 years in the majors, including the first 12 with the White Sox, who he helped win a World Series in 2005. He won 214 games and pitched 200 innings or more in 14 consecutive seasons from 2001 to 2014.
“I can’t put it into words,” Buehrle said after the unveiling. “You don’t play the game for any of this. You never think of number retirements or statues. I can’t even wrap my head around it. It doesn’t make sense.”
The statue is an action shot of him throwing a pitch.
His wife and kids were in attendance and helped pull off the cover to unveil the statue while his 2005 teammates looked on. The event kicked off a weekend reunion for the World Series team which went 11-1 in the postseason, beating the Houston Astros in four games to take home the title.
Buehrle was a five-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner, finishing fifth in Cy Young voting in 2005.
“Well-deserved,” former right fielder Jermaine Dye said of the statue. “Great teammate. Great leader. Definitely someone you want on a ballclub to lead a pitching staff.”
The White Sox rotation — led by Buehrle — threw four complete games in the ALCS against the Boston Red Sox in 2005, missing a fifth complete game by two-thirds of an inning. It’s an unheard of accomplishment in today’s game since starters infrequently go the distance.
Besides being an innings-eater on the mound, Buehrle was a fast worker — a favorite trait of his catcher, A.J Pierzynski. And he wasn’t someone who threw a lot of different pitches. He caught it and threw it without much input from behind the plate.
“He was fast,” Pierzynski said. “We had Jermaine Dye calling pitches from right field some games. We did come crazy things you wouldn’t recommend to people to do nowadays.”
Buehrle is a notoriously low-key guy who hates the spotlight but even he was moved by the team’s decision to honor him with a statue, which joins former slugger Harold Baines in the right-field concourse.
“I joked with him when I saw him,” Dye said. “I told him ‘Man it takes you getting a statue to get you out of the house.'”
Buehrle added: “I was literally nervous as can be today. This is not my comfort zone but by no means am I taking it lightly. This is incredible.”
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