Ohio State-Michigan and the 20 most anticipated games in college football history
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Bill Connelly, ESPN Staff Writer
Accusations of spying. Counter-accusations of hiring private investigators. Counter-counter-accusations of … I don’t know … something. Michigan’s recent Spygate adventure, which got Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh suspended for three games, has significantly ramped up what was obviously the most hostile and important game of the 2023 college football season — Ohio State at Michigan. The tension and intensity that followed a complete reversal in rivalry dynamics two years ago — when Michigan suddenly became the rivalry bully, winning two games by a combined 87-50 after losing 15 of the previous 16 — has been amplified by off-the-field shenanigans and message board warfare.
The fact that Harbaugh won’t be on the sideline adds an extra story line to a game that doesn’t need anything else. This was always going to be the biggest game of the season. In the more than two decades between 1997 and 2021, the Wolverines and Buckeyes met as mutual top-five teams just three times. They’re now doing it for the third year in a row. Ohio State heads into the game ranked second in the AP poll and was No. 2 in the most recent CFP rankings; Michigan is third in both. Michigan is first in SP+, Ohio State first in FPI. The winner is nearly assured of a spot in the College Football Playoff, and the loser will need lots of good luck to get there.
For about 117 different reasons, this one’s huge. It’s easily the most highly anticipated game of a 2023 season that featured quite a few big headliners. Is it one of the most anticipated games ever? To gauge that, we have to compare it to the best of the best.
College football has been producing high-stakes, battle-of-the-century type games since the start of its existence. As the hype around the sport itself grew, starting in the late-1920s and 1930s, the hype around its biggest games did, too. Going decade by decade, let’s look at some of the regular-season college football games that had the highest stakes, the most buildup and the most on the line. Let’s set the bar that Michigan-Ohio State has to clear. And let’s see how frequently these games actually live up to the billing. Here are 20 of the most anticipated games in college football history.
The background: Ohio State had built mighty Ohio Stadium in the 1920s and, by the mid-1930s, had built the mighty team to fill it. Coming off of a 7-1 season, the Buckeyes hosted college football’s marquee program, a Notre Dame team that was beginning to rebound after falling into a relative funk following Knute Rockne’s death. The Irish were 6-0, the Buckeyes 4-0; in the year before the AP poll came into existence, these teams might have been No. 1 and No. 2.
The game: It lived up to hype and then some. Ohio State took a 13-0 lead into the fourth quarter, but the Irish charged back. They scored to make it 13-12 in the final minutes, and while the Buckeyes recovered an onside kick, Notre Dame recovered a fumble near midfield. Andy Pliney bulled his way inside the Ohio State 20, suffering a career-ending injury in the process, then Bill Shakespeare threw a game-winning touchdown pass to Wayne Millner for an all-time comeback win.
1943: No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 14, No. 2 Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks 13
The background: College football continued during World War II, but under relatively unique circumstances. A lot of programs fielded mainly freshman teams with upperclassmen enlisted, and many of the enlisted played on teams like Great Lakes Navy or any number of Pre-Flight teams in different states. The best of the wartime squads was the 1943 Iowa Pre-Flight team led by Missouri coach Don Faurot. They were 8-0 with a chance at a national title when they visited South Bend to face a loaded Notre Dame team. Thanks to an affiliation with the Navy, the Irish hadn’t suffered much roster drain. The 1943 team, in fact, featured both the eventual 1943 Heisman winner (Angelo Bertelli) and the 1947 winner (Johnny Lujack). This was a winner-take-all matchup.
The game: In front of 45,000, Faurot’s Seahawks led 7-0 at halftime. With the score 7-7, a Lujack fumble set up a Dick Burk score. Iowa missed the PAT. But however, Notre Dame took a late 14-13 lead that held up after a missed field goal and a late fourth-down stop.
1946: No. 1 Army Black Knights 0, No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 0
The background: Thanks again to wartime rosters and loosened eligibility rules, Army, Navy and Notre Dame fielded the best teams in the country in 1945. Army might have had the best team ever, though, and beat the Midshipmen and Irish by a combined 80-13. A year later, the Cadets still had back-to-back Heisman winners Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis, but Notre Dame was ready for the challenge. Every major sportswriter in the country was among the capacity crowd of 74,121 at Yankee Stadium.
The game: Notre Dame coach Frank Leahy told the media he was predicting a 27-14 Army win. Whether that was earnest or a motivation tactic for his team, his projection was pretty far off the mark. Rainy conditions (and a Lujack injury) turned this into a rock fight — the teams combined for 10 turnovers and six turnovers on downs, and the tie ended up a win for Notre Dame: They would take the No. 1 spot in the final polls after a blowout of No. 6 USC.
The background: The 1950s saw regional powers sprout up, from Michigan State early to Oklahoma, during its famous 47-game winning streak, in the middle of the decade. But with interconference play limited by segregation, we didn’t get all that many marquee matchups. That changed in 1959, when the two best teams in the South peaked around the same time. LSU won the 1958 national title thanks in part to coach Paul Dietzel’s brilliant, multiplatoon system, but by 1959 John Vaught’s Rebels were ready to move from top-15 program to top-two. A chaotic, Halloween night crowd of 67,500 awaited in Baton Rouge.
The game: The Rebels might have had the best team in the country, but LSU had Billy Cannon, who won the Heisman that year. Ole Miss had chances but managed just a field goal before Cannon fielded a fourth-quarter punt at his 11.
0:41
Cannon’s Halloween run
GameDay 100: Billy Cannon’s punt return for a touchdown gave LSU a late victory over Ole Miss.
Ole Miss’ last-gasp drive came up 1 yard short. The Tigers survived in an absolute classic.
1966: No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 10, No. 2 Michigan State Spartans 10
The background: They had 25 All-Americans and 10 future NFL first-round draft picks between them. Four Michigan State players would go in the top 8 of the 1967 NFL/AFL draft. Notre Dame had outscored eight opponents by a combined 301-28. The teams met in late-November in front of 80,011 fans and a national TV audience of 33 million. This might have been the Game of the Century … of the Century.
The game: Michigan State led 10-7 at halftime, but the Irish tied the score early in the fourth quarter despite an injury to quarterback Terry Hanratty. They got the ball one last time deep in their territory, but coach Ara Parseghian played things safe to avoid potential disaster, and they didn’t advance the ball far. Sports Illustrated’s Dan Jenkins, maybe the greatest college football writer ever, dryly raked Parseghian over the coals — “Old Notre Dame will tie over all. Sing it out, guys.” — but the pragmatism paid off when the Irish smoked USC and took the national title over MSU and unbeaten Alabama.
1967: No. 4 USC Trojans 21, No. 1 UCLA Bruins 20
The background: Led by new starting running back O.J. Simpson, USC bounced back from a 7-4 season in 1966 and, freshly named the No. 1 team in the country, stomped Notre Dame in South Bend. A shock loss to Oregon State dropped the Trojans to fourth overall and promoted UCLA, fresh off of a 48-0 humiliation of Washington, to No. 1. Bruins quarterback Gary Beban would beat out Simpson for the Heisman that year. This was the biggest game ever between two of the West’s defining programs.
The game: Early in the fourth quarter, Beban, battling a rib injury but on his way to 301 passing yards, connected with Dave Nuttall to give UCLA the lead, but a missed PAT made it only 20-14. That would loom large when Simpson bolted 64 yards for one of the sport’s most famous touchdowns.
It was a title-winning run. The Trojans would knock out Indiana in the Rose Bowl and finish No. 1.
The background: In terms of hype and anticipation, it’s hard to top “the president announces he’s attending the game and will declare the winner the national champion.” But Richard Nixon did just that (to the dismay of Joe Paterno and unbeaten Penn State). Billy Graham gave the pregame invocation. A record television audience watched at home. It was college football’s 100th birthday, and Fayetteville was the center of the universe.
The game: Arkansas took a 14-0 lead early in the third quarter, but two bold (and analytics-friendly!) decisions by Texas coach Darrell Royal turned the game. First, after a James Street touchdown run, Royal elected to go for two. They converted, making it 14-8. And after a Danny Lester interception prevented Arkansas from putting the game away, Royal elected to go for it on fourth-and-3 in Texas territory with about five minutes left. Street and Randy Peschel connected for 44 yards, Jim Bertelsen scored, Happy Feller made the go-ahead PAT and Tom Campbell made the game-clinching interception in the final minute. Texas was the champ.
The background: Nebraska and OU were clearly the two best teams in the country in 1971, outscoring 23 other opponents by an average of 29 points. The Sooners had the best offense in the country, and the Cornhuskers had the best defense. A packed house in Norman, and 55 million TV viewers at home, took this one in.
The game: One of the most famous plays in college football history — Johnny Rodgers’ epic 72-yard punt return — happened just four minutes into the game, and both teams tried their hardest to one-up that moment for the next 56 minutes.
First, the return:
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Rodgers’ return TD in ‘Game of the Century’
On Nov. 25, 1971, Johnny Rodgers takes the punt, dodges several would-be tacklers and rolls 72 yards for a Nebraska TD.
That would pace an early 14-3 Nebraska lead, but OU charged back to steal a 17-14 advantage at the break. Then came the same dance: NU scores twice to go up 11, and OU scores twice to go up three. But a 33-yard run by NU quarterback Jerry Tagge set up Jeff Kinney’s game-winning touchdown with 1:38 left. Two sacks finished off the win.
1973: No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes 10, No. 4 Michigan Wolverines 10
The background: The fifth game in what would be known as the Ten Year War between Woody Hayes’ Ohio State and Bo Schembechler’s Michigan was the closest and most bitter of them all. The teams entered the game a combined 19-0, and in front of 105,223 fans, then an NCAA record, Ohio State set the tone before kickoff, attempting to tear down the M Club banner Michigan’s players ran under.
The game: Somehow the game topped that buildup. Ohio State took command with a 10-0 halftime lead, but Dennis Franklin’s 10-yard, fourth-down score tied it in the fourth quarter. Franklin was hit and injured on a late drive, but the Wolverines still got opportunities to try a couple of long field goals. Mike Lantry barely missed them both, from 58 and 45 yards, and after the tie, with Franklin’s injury looming large, Big Ten athletic directors voted for Ohio State to attend the Rose Bowl. Schembechler never got over it.
1987: No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners 17, No. 1 Nebraska Cornhuskers 7
The background: By the late-1980s, college football’s balance of power was starting to shift south, toward Miami and Florida State. But while Miami would eventually win the national title in 1987, Barry Switzer’s Sooners and Tom Osborne’s Cornhuskers were the shining lights late in the season. They were a combined 19-0 and ranked 1-2 when OU trekked up to Lincoln on Nov. 21. But with quarterback Jamelle Holieway and fullback Lydell Carr both injured — and with OU coming off of a narrow 17-13 win over Missouri — the Sooners looked vulnerable. After so many close calls, this was another golden opportunity for NU to win Osborne a national title.
The game: OU defensive end Darrell Reed summed it up to the media after the game: “We played a basic offense and a basic defense, and they got a basic butt-kicking.” Fill-in QB Charles Thompson rushed for 126 yards, two other Sooners backs hit triple digits, and two third-quarter scores, including a 65-yard burst from Patrick Collins, charged a 17-7 Sooner win.
1988: No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 31, No. 1 Miami Hurricanes 30
The background: Defending national champion Miami headed up to South Bend to face the first elite Notre Dame team since the 1970s. “Catholics vs. Convicts.” A fight in the tunnel before the game. It was the stuff 30-for-30s were made for https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/3216512.
The game: It was also the stuff instant replay was made for. With Miami down 31-24 and facing a fourth-and-7 midway through the fourth quarter, an apparent Cleveland Gary touchdown was ruled a fumble on the field, and Notre Dame recovered. Then, with under a minute left, Miami’s Andre Brown was given a touchdown even though replay showed he never controlled the pass. But all the controversy led to a classic ending: Pat Terrell breaking up Steve Walsh’s 2-point pass attempt.
#OnThisDay, 3️⃣0️⃣ years ago in 1988, @NDFootball defeated No. 1 Miami at Notre Dame Stadium.
Relive this iconic moment in Irish history as Pat Terrell and Steve Belles talk about the play that changed everything.#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/A8Dtqj9HPn
— The Fighting Irish (@FightingIrish) October 15, 2018
The Irish held on and won the national title 2½ months later.
1989: No. 2 Colorado Buffaloes 27, No. 3 Nebraska Cornhuskers 21
The background: The “rising upstart has to conquer a blueblood to get all the way to the top” genre of big game is one of my personal favorites. The buzz it can create is almost unparalleled. We needed one on this list, and the Colorado-Nebraska rivalry of the late-1980s might have been the best example of it. (Another candidate: Kansas State-Nebraska a decade later.) Bill McCartney had slowly built a powerhouse in Boulder and had pulled a shocking upset to get the Huskers’ attention in 1986, but now the 8-0 Buffaloes harbored national title hopes, and 8-0 NU stood in the way.
The game: The teams traded big-play touchdowns early (including the greatest “option pitch many yards downfield” maneuver you’ll ever see), and CU took a 24-14 lead after a controversial pass interference call in the third quarter. It was 27-21 when CU made a fourth-down stop, then batted down a Hail Mary attempt to prevail.
The background: This was the most hyped game of the most hyped rivalry in the sport at the turn of the 1990s. The Noles began 1991 at No. 1 after four straight top-five finishes, and they were 10-0 with two wins over top-10 teams (Michigan and Syracuse) by a combined 52 points. But other than a close call against Penn State, the 8-0 Hurricanes had been equally dominant. The New York Times called this the most anticipated game since 1971 NU-OU.
The game: Miami went ahead early, but FSU blanked the Canes for the next three quarters. The Noles settled for a number of field goals while taking a 16-7 lead, and Miami cut the lead to 16-10 in the fourth quarter. A 1-yard plunge by fullback Larry Jones made it 17-16 Miami with three minutes left, but after a fourth-down conversion and a pass interference penalty, FSU got into field goal range.
0:58
Wide Right I
On Nov. 16, 1991, Florida State kicker Gerry Thomas missed a potential go-ahead 34-yard field goal attempt, as the No. 1 Seminoles fell to the No. 2 Hurricanes.
It became Wide Right I.
1993: No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 31, No. 1 Florida State Seminoles 24
The background: After also losing via Wide Right II in 1992, FSU finally cleared the Miami hurdle in 1993, and Bobby Bowden seemed poised to finally win his first ring. But unbeaten Notre Dame was ready to win its second title in six years. The unbeaten Irish hosted the top-ranked Noles in their second-to-last regular-season game. It was a big enough game that, for the first time ever, ESPN’s “College GameDay” was on location for the proceedings. (“GameDay” has made just a few more trips since then.)
The game: FSU scored early, but Notre Dame went on a 24-0 run to take a commanding lead into the final 20 minutes. FSU charged back, cutting the lead to 31-24 and getting the ball back in the closing seconds. But on the final play of the game, Shawn Wooden broke up a Charlie Ward pass at the goal line, and the Irish moved to No. 1…
…until the very next week, when they were upset by Boston College. FSU won out and took the national title.
1996: No. 2 Florida State Seminoles 24, No. 1 Florida Gators 21
The background: With Miami fading, Bowden found a new chief rival within the state. Steve Spurrier’s ascendant Gators had enjoyed five straight top-10 finishes and played for the national title the year before, falling to Nebraska. The Noles and Gators were a combined 20-0 and occupied the top two spots in the polls heading into Thanksgiving weekend. The winner was guaranteed a shot at the national title. Huge. Very huge.
The game: “If we didn’t have the best defense in the country,” Bowden said after the game, “we don’t win.” FSU knocked eventual Heisman winner Danny Wuerffel around all game (legally and illegally) and limited him to 23-for-48 passing with three picks. The Seminoles surged to an early 17-0 lead, and it just barely held up. Florida’s Bart Edmiston missed a late field goal wide right, and FSU survived.
Florida didn’t have to wait long for revenge, however. The two teams were paired in the Sugar Bowl, and the Gators blew out the Noles to secure their first title.
2001: No. 3 Nebraska Cornhuskers 20, No. 2 Oklahoma Sooners 10
The background: OU disappeared into the wilderness for part of the 1990s, and Oklahoma-Nebraska lost some luster. But when Bob Stoops’ Sooners surged back into national prominence, so did this rivalry. OU won a surprise national title in 2000, and the Sooners had won 20 games in a row when they traveled to Lincoln. NU, meanwhile, had soon-to-be Heisman winner Eric Crouch and a typically dominant Blackshirts defense.
The game: Nothing came easily for either offense in this one. The Sooners outgained the Huskers but were undone by negative plays and turnovers, and the score was 13-10 when Nebraska opened things up with some fourth-quarter trickeration.
Hard to believe it has already been 15 years… Thanks #HuskerNation for making this moment so special! #GBR #Black41FlashReverse pic.twitter.com/hePzCpRThX
— Eric Crouch (@croucheric) October 27, 2016
Crouch’s long catch and run gave Nebraska a comfortable lead in an uncomfortable game, and despite a late-season loss to Colorado the Huskers would go on to play for the national title. They were shellacked by Miami, however, and haven’t been back to the promised land since.
2006: No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes 42, No. 2 Michigan Wolverines 39
The background: When The Game is big, it just feels like the biggest thing in sports, and in 2006 the Buckeyes and Wolverines had their first ever 1-versus-2 matchup. The teams were absolutely loaded, boasting six consensus All-Americans between them. And on top of everything else, Bo Schembechler died the day before the game, creating an almost unfathomable layer of emotion around the proceedings. The Game drew 105,708 in Columbus and boasted the highest regular-season TV ratings since 1993 FSU-Notre Dame.
The game: These two defenses were outstanding, but the offenses were even better. Michigan scored early, but a 21-0 run helped to give the Buckeyes a 14-point halftime lead. The Wolverines kept charging, but Ohio State kept responding. When Michigan cut the lead to 28-24, Antonio Pittman scored on a 56-yard run. When U-M cut it to 35-31, Brian Robiskie scored. Michigan scored one last time, but Ted Ginn Jr. recovered an onside kick, and the top-ranked Buckeyes prevailed. They couldn’t match these emotional heights in the BCS championship, however, getting blown out by No. 2 Florida.
The background: At the turn of the 2010s, the college football world belonged to the Southeastern Conference. An SEC team won every title from 2006-12 as part of a larger run of 14 titles in the past 20 years. And you could say that the SEC’s aura was never stronger than it was for this game, which pitted two teams with 49 future pros in front of 101,821 and CBS’ largest regular-season TV audience in 22 years.
The game: Over time, an impression has formed that this was an unwatchable rock fight. Absolutely not. The rematch, a dire 21-0 Bama win in the BCS championship, was, and the ratings for that one were poor enough that it finally got us a playoff. But despite the low score, the original meeting was a classic. Alabama constantly threatened on offense, but with help from four missed field goals (OK, that part wasn’t great), LSU constantly held the Tide at bay before winning — via field goal, naturally — in OT. A classic of its own kind.
2016: No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes 30, No. 3 Michigan Wolverines 27
The background: Jim Harbaugh has been Michigan’s coach for nine years, but he’s packed in about three decades’ worth of plots and story arcs. Before a seven-year losing streak to Ohio State really took root, before the back-to-back CFP appearances flipped his reputation 180 degrees, and before Spygate muddied the waters all over again, he was a second-year head coach achieving huge things at his alma mater. The Wolverines hadn’t been in the top 10 in nine seasons before they began 2016 at 10-1, and a win over Ohio State would get them to within one game of a first CFP appearance.
The game: It came down to The Spot.
1:58
Ohio State extends game on fourth-down gain
J.T. Barrett runs for a 1-yard gain to the Michigan 15 for a first down.
Michigan’s 17-7 third-quarter lead almost held up, but the Buckeyes sent the game to overtime with a last-second field goal and won it when, after this spot went the Buckeyes way, Curtis Samuel scored from 15 yards out.
2019: No. 1 LSU Tigers 46, No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide 41
The background: Heading into 2019, Alabama and Clemson had split the past four national titles, playing four times in the CFP in the process. Oklahoma was typically good to make a brief appearance too. We needed a little bit of variety. Ed Orgeron’s LSU Tigers obliged. Fielding one of the best offenses we’ve ever seen, they beat three top-10 teams during an 8-0 start, but surely beating Mighty Bama in Tuscaloosa was too much to ask, right? Another crowd of 101,821 plus CBS’ biggest regular-season audience since the 2011 LSU-Bama game, sure wanted to find out.
The game: All the stars came out to play. Joe Burrow threw three touchdown passes and Tua Tagovailoa threw four. LSU’s Clyde Edwards-Helaire scored four times, and Bama’s Najee Harris and DeVonta Smith each scored two. Fourteen points in 20 seconds allowed LSU to take a 33-13 halftime lead, but Bama cut it to one score three separate times in the fourth quarter. It wasn’t over until Justin Jefferson recovered an onside kick with 1:21 left.
LSU’s monotony-breaking continued as the Tigers rolled to 15-0 and won the national title.
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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David Schoenfield
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.
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Jesse Rogers
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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