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  • Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff WriterDec 2, 2024, 08:00 AM ET

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      Dave Wilson is a college football reporter. He previously worked at The Dallas Morning News, San Diego Union-Tribune and Las Vegas Sun.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Last time Brandon Grant set foot in Kyle Field, he was tasked with preserving a piece of sacred history.

Grant was part of the Texas equipment staff during the Longhorns’ 2011 victory over Texas A&M, the last game before the rivalry was shelved when the Aggies departed for the SEC. Late in the fourth quarter, his boss called the staff over before Justin Tucker lined up to attempt a field goal on the game’s final play with Texas trailing 25-24.

“Get down there under the goalpost,” Grant recalled him saying. “If that ball goes through and y’all don’t come back with it, you’re walking back to Austin.”

Tucker’s 40-yard kick sailed through the uprights, giving the Longhorns the win and the “eternal scoreboard,” as coach Mack Brown called it. Meanwhile, Grant and his crew barreled up the steps, elbowing their way through a sea of Aggies before spotting a maroon-clad fan who had a football-shaped bulge under his jersey. The stadium police helped Grant’s colleague, Trent Norwood, get the ball from the fan. Norwood tossed it to Grant, who immediately threw it down to another staffer on the field, who locked it away in a trunk for safekeeping on its way out of College Station.

On Saturday night, Grant was back at Kyle Field for the first time since that night. After a decade as an assistant football coach at high schools in the Austin area, Grant, now 34, was happy to watch as a civilian as the Aggies and the Longhorns resumed one of the greatest rivalries in college football, with his Longhorns pulling out a 17-7 win.

“I’m just glad the rivalry is back,” Grant said. “I was glad to be able to have a chance to be on the bookend experience of both. It’s still passionate and bitter, but it’s not angry and hateful, at least from what I saw. The fans were cordial.”

After 118 years, the will-they-or-won’t-they game, known as the Lone Star Showdown, returned as an SEC matchup. And with national implications: a spot in the SEC championship was at stake.

“This game represents the state of Texas from almost the beginning,” singer Lyle Lovett, Texas A&M Class of 1979, said at the game. “Texas A&M and the University of Texas were both created at the same time by the same legislative act. It’s been a sibling rivalry since the very beginning. The rivalry continued even without the game. The game just makes it that more special. It really is one of the great traditions in our state.”

ON FRIDAY, THE Aggies moved their traditional Midnight Yell Practice, which started before the 1931 Texas game for students to gather at Kyle Field the night before home games to rehearse yells, to 5:30 p.m. so that coach Mike Elko and the entire Texas A&M team could make an appearance. Fans filled up one side of the stadium, wrapping around into the end zones.

Matt Krehbiel, a 2023 Texas grad, was the rare Longhorns fan to be at Yell Practice, a guest of the family of his fiancée, Abby Dean, a 2021 A&M graduate. He said he’s the only Longhorn in the family.

“Her brothers, her parents, grandparents, all of them are Aggies,” he said. But he still stood his ground, throwing the Horns up on the track at Kyle Field as an entire fan base stared at him, and he was met with a traditional A&M greeting: The Aggies don’t boo, they hiss.

“I survived the onslaught of hisses,” Krehbiel said. “I think it was worse on [my fiancée] than me. Her face was beet red. I totally respect what they got going on there, but definitely prefer the ways of the burnt orange, that’s for dang sure.”

These lines blur all across the state.

“The thing about Aggies and Longhorns, believe it or not, they marry each other,” said former Texas A&M women’s basketball coach Gary Blair, who won a national championship for the Aggies alongside assistant Vic Schaefer, an Aggie who’s now the women’s head coach at Texas. “I’m not sure Auburn and Alabama do that.”

Sam Torn understands the complication of family dynamics. In 1969, he was the head Yell Leader at A&M, and went on a blind date with a Texas student. After four dates, he had fallen for her, but he got a letter from her saying she had a boyfriend at Texas and had just been seeing Torn to make him mad.

“When I got selected head Yell Leader, I said, we’re going to create a new yell,” he said. The result is the Aggies’ iconic “Beat The Hell out of t.u.” yell (the Aggies refer to Texas as lowercase texas university, rather than the University of Texas), and the hand sign to communicate it to the student body, which is akin to an “up yours” gesture, where you put your arm in your elbow and bend it upward.

At the first Yell Practice since its hiatus, Torn was on the very front lines, watching his yell echo through Kyle Field over and over.

“It was the biggest rivalry, the biggest two schools, the biggest state, and it meant a lot to a lot of people,” Torn said on the field. “It’s very emotional for me for it to return. I don’t like them, they don’t like me, but there’s a part of me that’s just very joyful.”

The Texas student who dumped him has been Torn’s wife for 54 years now. He and Susan have three children who are Aggies, and his two sons, Scott and Chris, were both Yell Leaders.

Some people were even conflicted, just among themselves. Eryn Lyle wore a sweatshirt she sewed together that was half maroon and half burnt orange.

“I was a Texas A&M undergraduate, then I betrayed my family, betrayed A&M and went off to UT to go to law school. So I am a person divided,” she said. “I am so excited. I didn’t get to see it while I was in school because the Aggies hadn’t played against Texas in several years. I don’t know who to cheer for. I think I’ll be rooting for the offense.”

The anticipation for the game made it the most expensive ticket in regular-season college football or NFL history, according to Forbes. Vivid Seats said resale tickets averaged $1,025. Despite the massive investment, Texas fans Ryan and Ingrid Crow couldn’t resist. They kept waiting and waiting, hoping prices would go down, but finally pulled the trigger this week, at the low, low cost of $4,200 for two tickets on the third row at the 45-yard line. And still found it worth it.

“We won!” Ingrid said.

“After 13 years, how can you not go to a game like this?” her husband added. “We could not miss this game.”

Being at the game is a family tradition for Tim Wiley of Austin, who hasn’t missed an A&M-Texas game since 1957, when the game was played, per tradition, on Thanksgiving. His dad, who died while the rivalry was on hiatus, had been at every once since 1944.

“I didn’t know what Thanksgiving was,” Wiley said. “It wasn’t eating turkey, it was usually eating a pimento cheese sandwich, tailgating when my mother made them.”

Grant and his father, Mike, in their orange, were guests of the maroon-clad Wileys at their family tailgate. Underneath the tent, they talked about their mutual appreciation for being back together.

“[This] is an iconic rivalry because most families have both schools in their family,” Wiley said. “I’m just glad that most families have an Aggie in there so there’s some formal education in their family.”

A lot has changed in College Station since the last time the Longhorns visited. Kyle Field underwent a $484 million renovation that brought capacity to more than 102,000 and opened in 2015. Aggie Park, a $36 million, 22-acre privately funded project across the street from Kyle Field, is the new tailgating epicenter, and also the site of “College GameDay” which made a visit during the big rivalry weekend.

The park was bursting at the seams on Saturday. Aggies linebacker Taurean York said there were “probably 300,000 people here in the vicinity of Kyle Field,” adding that it was “the biggest game of a lot of people’s lives.”

THERE WERE SIDESHOWS everywhere. On Saturday evening, before kickoff, the Texas A&M Police account tweeted that “a man & his dog were riding a longhorn” around campus.

That’d be Moe Taylor, of Elgin, Texas, who brings his longhorn, Ben, to Texas sporting events along with his dog, Damit.

“We were on campus for probably an hour before they found us,” Taylor said, incredulous that of all places, you can’t ride a steer in College Station. “But we can’t argue. We don’t wanna get in no trouble. We went down to the Dixie Chicken.”

At the Dixie Chicken, the legendary bar in Texas A&M’s Northgate district, Ben took photos with fans.

“We had a blast. The fans were all hyped up,” Taylor said. “Ben really enjoyed it. He doesn’t get mad or anything, he just lets people get on and off. He takes it well.”

Back in Aggie Park, former Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum, who attended his first A&M-Texas game in 1959 and coached in 30 rivalry games between the Aggies and Longhorns — he likes to note that he came out the winner in 16 of them — made his way through the packed park. He welcomed every Longhorns fan he saw back to College Station while absorbing attaboys at every turn from Aggies who were thrilled to see the winningest coach in A&M history mingling with the common folk.

“I’m glad that Texas is in the SEC,” Slocum said. “All Aggies don’t feel like that. Maybe all Texas fans don’t feel like that, but to me, this big state to have two SEC teams … makes sense to me. And it adds, really, to both of our values.”

Still, he did his part to rally the faithful before they played the Longhorns. The “Aggie War Hymn” implores listeners to “saw Varsity’s horns off,” and Slocum did just that.

Slocum’s friend, John Jones, decided to cook some “Texas-raised beef” in Aggie Park to serve to tailgaters. Instead of steaks or hamburgers, he opted for a bigger statement.

“I thought it’d be just a great thing to do since we’ve had such an extended stay between our rivalries to actually cook something that is great food and sort of resembles a mascot of another team,” Jones said.

So he roasted an entire Longhorn, horns and all. And along came Slocum to fulfill his destiny, sawing the horns off the thing with a miniature chainsaw as a crowd of Aggies cheered.

As Slocum waited for his turn, he waved over some Aggies fans he noticed in the crowd. So along came Drew Brees with his sons, Baylen, Bowen and Callen, all wearing maroon.

Brees, an Austin native, is the nephew of Marty Akins, an All-American quarterback for the Longhorns in the 1980s. But his parents are both Aggies — his father, Eugene “Chip” Brees, played basketball at A&M — and he was captured on video on Saturday night telling Johnny Manziel on the sideline that he “always wanted to be an Aggie.” But he wasn’t recruited by the Aggies or Longhorns, so he went to Purdue and threw for more than 10,000 yards over his four years with the Boilermakers.

Slocum posed for photos with the Brees boys and turned to an assembled crowd and announced that when anyone asks his biggest recruiting regrets, Brees is always the big one that got away.

“This is one of the greatest rivalries in all college football,” Brees said. “You don’t understand how upset I was when this thing went away. It was the dumbest thing ever for the state of Texas. This rivalry always needs to exist. I don’t care what conference these teams are in or I don’t care where the egos are. They always need to play this game for the fans.”

They played the game, and Horns stayed intact. The Texas defense held the Aggies’ offense scoreless, and the Longhorns ran the ball for 240 yards to control the game from start to finish for a 17-7 win, a bitter disappointment to the partisan crowd of 109,028, the third largest ever to watch a game at Kyle Field.

Kevin Eltife, the chairman of the UT System, expressed his relief on the field afterward that the first game of the revival is over and the Longhorns came away with another win.

“This is as sweet as it gets. They said we couldn’t compete in the SEC, and look baby, we’re heading to the SEC championship,” Eltife said. “Hats off to the Aggies. We have nothing but respect for Texas A&M. They’re a phenomenal school and football program, and for us to leave here with a victory is huge. I’ve been a nervous wreck the whole week. I couldn’t eat Thanksgiving, so now I’m going to go home and have a real damn Thanksgiving.”

The scoreboard may not be eternal this time, but the Aggies will have to wait until next year’s game in Austin, where they won in 2010, to get their next shot.

Slocum, 80, is a cancer survivor and was thankful to be back at Kyle Field for the game amid the pageantry and is looking forward to a holiday tradition returning.

“I walked in with their band,” he said. “For most of my life, this weekend has been a special weekend.”

Grant didn’t have to harangue any Aggies to retrieve any keepsakes this time, and came away thrilled with the experience.

“The atmosphere there was a lot better than I remember,” he said. “I think the new stadium has a pretty big impact on the level they can get that place. I couldn’t imagine sitting where we sat and having the same experience with OU or Texas Tech. It was still that brotherly rivalry where you hate but you love ’em at the same time, or you love the people that are there.”

And after years he lost in the rivalry’s absence, he’s excited to make new memories like the ones he made with his father, who went to Texas to play baseball in the 1970s. Grant’s son Gray is 3, and he said he wakes up from naps singing the Texas fight song.

“I look forward to my son growing up the same way I grew up, down the street from one of his best friends that is an Aggie and going back and forth,” he said. “Yeah, I’m glad it’s back for sure.”

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Who has the edge for MVP, Cy Young and more? MLB Awards Watch at the All-Star break

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July 16, 2025

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Who has the edge for MVP, Cy Young and more? MLB Awards Watch at the All-Star break

  • Bradford DoolittleJul 16, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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      • MLB writer and analyst for ESPN.com
      • Former NBA writer and analyst for ESPN.com
      • Been with ESPN since 2013

Judge. Ohtani. Skubal. Wheeler.

A little more than halfway home, four of baseball’s titans have established themselves as the front-runners in the major awards races, at least according to ESPN BET. A lot can happen between now and the balloting late in the season, but when you have established stars and perennial awards favorites atop the leaderboard, their competitors can’t count on any kind of a drop-off.

In other words: Barring a major injury to Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Tarik Skubal or Zack Wheeler, it’s going to take a strong second half by anyone hoping to overtake them. It can happen, and if any of these races tighten up, it’ll be something to behold.

Awards Watch agrees with many of the assessments made by the betting markets, but if the season ended today, there would be a few disagreements, according to AXE. That doesn’t mean the voters would fall in line with the numbers, but the debate would be robust.

As we check in with our midseason Awards Watch, let’s see how things stack up for the favorites.

Most Valuable Player

American League

Front-runner: Aaron Judge, New York Yankees (162 AXE)

Next nine: 2. Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners (148); 3. Bobby Witt Jr., Kansas City Royals (138); 4. Jeremy Pena, Houston Astros (134); 5. Byron Buxton, Minnesota Twins (133); 6. Jose Ramirez, Cleveland Guardians (130); 7. Ceddanne Rafaela, Boston Red Sox (129); 8. (tie) Randy Arozarena, Mariners, J.P. Crawford, Mariners (124); 10. Julio Rodriguez, Mariners (122).

Leader trend: Judge has retained a comfortable lead in this category all season. Raleigh drew fairly close in late June, but the gap has since widened again. That’s not Raleigh’s fault; it’s just Judge being Judge. At the time of our last Awards Watch, Judge had a 1.234 OPS. Since then, he has managed a meager 1.141. Yeah, that’s still pretty good.

The shape of Judge’s numbers has changed a bit. When we convened in late May, he was hitting .395, and he has posted a mortal .297 average since. But he has picked things up in the slugging category. Last time, he was mashing homers at the rate of 54 per 162 games. Since, that number is 66. Raleigh might be having the greatest catcher season of all time, and it’s possible that if there is any kind of Judge fatigue among the voters, that could impact the ballot. But what isn’t likely is any kind of prolonged drop-off by Judge.

Biggest mover: Buxton wasn’t in the top 10 last time out, but he has entered the top five based on several weeks of elite production and good health. During an 11-year career marked as much by injury as spectacular play, the first half featured Buxton at his best and most available, putting him on pace for his first 30/30 season at age 31. It keeps getting better: Since the last Awards Watch, Buxton has a 1.025 OPS with rates of 48 homers and 39 steals per 162 games.

Keep an eye on: Last time, there were two Red Sox in the top 10. Both have dropped out, with Alex Bregman hitting the IL and Rafael Devers hitting the airport for a flight to join his new team in San Francisco. But Boston is still represented by the overlooked Rafaela. No, he isn’t going to overtake Judge in the MVP race, but one of baseball’s most unique players deserves a little run.

After splitting time between shortstop and center field in 2024, Rafaela has played almost exclusively on the grass this season, and his defensive metrics have been off the charts. That’s driving this ranking, but Rafaela also has made tremendous strides at the plate. After entering the season with a career OPS+ of 83, he has upped that number to 118 in 2025 and is on pace for a 20/20 campaign.

National League

Front-runner: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers (144 AXE)

Next nine: 2. Pete Crow-Armstrong, Chicago Cubs (143); 3. Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego Padres (136); 4. Kyle Tucker, Cubs (135); 5. James Wood, Washington Nationals (134); 6. Will Smith, Dodgers (131); 7. (tie) Pete Alonso, New York Mets, Juan Soto, Mets (129); 9. Elly De La Cruz, Cincinnati Reds (128); 10. Francisco Lindor, Mets (127).

Leader trend: Crow-Armstrong just won’t go away. He has lurked behind Ohtani on the AXE leaderboard for most of the season, but a quiet series from Ohtani in Milwaukee paired with another outburst from Crow-Armstrong flipped the top spot. Ohtani is still the favorite — the leaderboard flipped again over the weekend and, besides, he’s Ohtani — but at this point, we have to come to grips with the reality that Crow-Armstrong can mount a legitimate challenge.

Like Rafaela, Crow-Armstrong’s defensive metrics are top of the charts and, in fact, those two are in a duel for the MLB lead in defensive runs saved metrics among outfielders. But Crow-Armstrong’s bat continues to fuel his rise to superstar status. He entered the break on pace for 42 homers and 46 steals.

Ironically, if the offensive numbers between Ohtani and Crow-Armstrong are tight, it could come down to very different forms of run prevention. Crow-Armstrong is at 15 defensive runs saved as a center fielder. Meanwhile, Ohtani is at three runs above average during his nine innings on the mound. As the pitching side of Ohtani’s record grows, that gap might narrow considerably.

If that happens and it comes down to a straight-up comparison at the plate, it’s going to be tough for Crow-Armstrong, whose 140 OPS+ currently is dwarfed by Ohtani’s 174.

Biggest mover: Wood continues to cement his arrival as a right-now star player, and his pace has been accelerating even after an excellent start. Despite a subdued week before the break, Wood has a .908 OPS and 162-game rates of 42 homers, 127 RBIs, 19 steals and 100 runs since the last Awards Watch. Overall, he has a .381 OBP and is on pace for 100 walks, so those numbers aren’t driven by a short-term power surge. At 22, Wood simply is already an all-around offensive force.

Keep an eye on: Tucker overtook Crow-Armstrong for the No. 2 slot (and the Cubs’ team lead) in AXE late in June, before Crow-Armstrong reasserted himself. But Tucker’s production is metronomic: His AXE at the last Awards Watch was 130, and he is now at 135. Tucker has an .839 OPS at Wrigley Field as compared to .905 on the road, where 12 of his 17 homers have been hit. But if warmer weather and outward-blowing winds become consistent in Chicago, a Tucker power surge could be in the offing. If that happens, look out.

Cy Young

American League

Front-runner: Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers (151 AXE)

Next nine: 2. Garrett Crochet, Red Sox (149); 3. (tie) Framber Valdez, Astros, Joe Ryan, Twins (138); 5. Hunter Brown, Astros (137); 6. Nathan Eovaldi, Texas Rangers (136); 7. Kris Bubic, Royals (134); 8. Max Fried, Yankees (133); 9. Jacob deGrom, Rangers (132); 10. Bryan Woo, Mariners (126).

Leader trend: Skubal was fourth in AXE among AL pitchers last time out, though he was still the clear front-runner to repeat as AL Cy Young. A few more weeks have brought AXE in line with reality, as Skubal has gone to that magical place few pitchers ever reach.

Skubal’s blastoff actually began when we posted the last Awards Watch, as he was coming off a complete-game, two-hit shutout against Cleveland. Perhaps the most impressive part of that outing is that he recorded 13 strikeouts on just 94 pitches. Well, since then, Skubal did the same thing to Minnesota: 13 whiffs on 93 pitches on June 29.

In eight outings following the last Watch, Skubal has gone 5-1 with a 1.89 ERA, thrown at least seven innings five times and posted an absurd ratio of 61 strikeouts to nine walks. This race isn’t over, but it’s clearly Skubal’s to win.

Biggest mover: DeGrom missed the top 10 last time, but since then, he has shown every indication of ramping back up to his historic level of stifling run prevention. He’s doing it a little differently than he did in his Mets heyday, emphasizing pitch efficiency to a greater extent.

DeGrom’s 26% strikeout rate is his lowest in nearly a decade, and he has reached double digits in whiffs just once this season. But he has a sparkling 2.32 ERA and has been at 2.20 over eight starts since the last Awards Watch. He had a string of five straight starts when he threw at least six innings, reaching seven twice, all without hitting the 90-pitch mark.

Keep an eye on: Crochet has been coming on like gangbusters, as has the team around him. He finished his first half with a complete-game, three-hit shutout of Tampa Bay, closing the AXE gap between him and Skubal. Crochet leads the AL in innings pitched (129⅓), strikeouts (160) and ERA+ (185). We’ve seen Skubal do this for a full season; now, it’s up to Crochet to prove he can match the reigning Cy Young winner start for start in what’s shaping up as a great race.

National League

Front-runner: Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates (150 AXE)

Next nine: 2. Zack Wheeler, Philadelphia Phillies (148); 3. Cristopher Sanchez, Phillies (143); 4. MacKenzie Gore, Nationals (135); 5. Nick Pivetta, Padres (133); 6. Ranger Suarez, Phillies (132); 7. (tie) Andrew Abbott, Reds, Freddy Peralta, Milwaukee Brewers (131); 9. Logan Webb, San Francisco Giants (130); 10. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers (128)

Leader trend: The numbers between Wheeler and Skenes are so close, it’s hard not to fixate on the disparity in the win-loss columns: Wheeler is 9-3, while the criminally under-supported Skenes is 4-8. Recently, I re-pitched the notion of a revised win-loss record based on game scores, so that’s worth taking a fresh look at to see if the difference in the traditional records is misleading.

Well, it is and it isn’t. Skenes has suffered a string of hard-luck game score losses of late and now sits at 11-9 by that method. Wheeler, meanwhile, is an MLB-best 16-3. Wheeler also has a solid edge in average game score at 65.2, as compared to 63.2 for Skenes. For now, Wheeler has the edge.

Will it last? Consider another byproduct of that game score work: pitcher temperature. You win a game score matchup, the temp goes up. You lose, it goes down. Each starter begins his career at the average temperature of 72 degrees, and it goes back and forth from there. The hottest starter in baseball by this method: Wheeler, at 127.2 degrees. Because of his recent bad run, Skenes has cooled to 68.7 degrees.

Biggest mover: For now, Sanchez has seized the spot just behind Wheeler, which of course makes him a mere No. 2 in his own rotation. Sanchez was overlooked when the NL All-Star rosters were released, and it was a true oversight. Like Wheeler, Sanchez has been fiery hot, with a string of excellent outings since the last Awards Watch. Over nine starts during that span, Sanchez has 1.77 ERA and 2.11 FIP, while pitching seven innings or more six times.

Keep an eye on: Let’s just stick with our Phillies theme and keep our eyes on their whole rotation. Wheeler (second), Sanchez (third) and Suarez (sixth) are entrenched in the top 10. Meanwhile, Jesus Luzardo (126 AXE), who led this category last time out, just missed giving the Phillies four rotation members in the top 10. Philadelphia leads the majors in average game score and is second in the NL (behind Cincinnati) in game score win-loss percentage.

Rookie of the Year

American League

Front-runner: Jacob Wilson, Athletics (121 AXE)

Next nine: 2. Carlos Narvaez, Red Sox (120); 3. Cam Smith, Astros (116); 4. Noah Cameron, Royals (115); 5. Nick Kurtz, Athletics (108); 6. Jake Mangum, Tampa Bay Rays (107); 7. (tie) Mike Vasil, Chicago White Sox, Will Warren, Yankees, Jasson Dominguez, Yankees (106); 10. Roman Anthony, Red Sox (105)

Leader trend: Wilson has come back to the pack on the AXE leaderboard, perhaps inevitably after his remarkable start to the season. He was hitting .348 at the last Awards Watch then went out and pushed that number to .372 on June 8. Since then, Wilson has hit just .222 and has just three extra-base hits over 24 games. Wilson’s quick beginning turned enough heads to get him voted as the AL’s starting shortstop in the All-Star Game. But he has been replaced by Smith as the AL Rookie of the Year favorite at ESPN BET.

Biggest mover: Smith has mashed his way into prominence, but he’s proving to be a well-rounded young hitter despite just 32 games of minor league experience. Alas, his surprising .277 batting average is driven by a .378 BABIP that doesn’t seem likely to hold up. However, Smith has just seven homers, and if his game power starts to match his raw power, he can easily replace any loss in average with a gain in slugging.

Keep an eye on: Kurtz has been picking up the pace, especially in the power category, manifesting what was his calling card prior to reaching the majors. Kurtz hit the IL with a hip injury on the day the last Awards Watch went out. He had just started to drive the ball before getting hurt, and he has gone right on slugging since he came back. After homering just once over his first 23 games, Kurtz has since gone deep 16 times in 35 contests while slugging .713 in the process.

National League

Front-runner: Caleb Durbin, Brewers (113 AXE)

Next nine: 2. (tie) Chad Patrick, Brewers, Drake Baldwin, Atlanta Braves (112); 4. (tie) Hyeseong Kim, Dodgers, Isaac Collins, Brewers (109); 6. (tie) Jack Dreyer, Dodgers, Brad Lord, Nationals (105); 8. (tie) Liam Hicks, Miami Marlins, Lake Bachar, Marlins, Yohel Pozo, St. Louis Cardinals (104)

Leader trend: The race remains tepid. One of those players tied for second — Patrick, the leader in this category last time out — is back in Triple A, joining Logan Henderson (not listed here, but who ranks 11th) in the rotation at Nashville. It’s not because of failures on their part, though, it’s just because Milwaukee is so flush with starting pitching. Speaking of which …

Biggest mover: Jacob Misiorowski had yet to debut when we last convened, but he has since become a must-watch big league starter and, amazingly, an All-Star.

He won his first three starts while posting a 1.13 ERA, then put up his first stinker in a loss to the Mets. He followed that with a head-turning six innings of dominance against the defending champion Dodgers, whiffing 12 L.A. batters and beating future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw. The end result: Misiorowski has become ESPN BET’s new front-runner for top NL rookie.

Keep an eye on: Kim has been as good as advertised for the Dodgers, matching the elite defense and baserunning we knew he had with a surprising 137 OPS+ over 119 plate appearances. Now, in the wake of Max Muncy‘s knee injury, Kim should be more of a lineup fixture, at least for a few weeks.

Manager of the Year

American League

Front-runner: A.J. Hinch, Tigers (112 EARL)

Next four: 2. Joe Espada, Astros (109); 3. Ron Washington, Los Angeles Angels (108); 4. John Schneider, Toronto Blue Jays (107); 5. Dan Wilson, Mariners (103)

Overview: It’s bittersweet to see Washington on the leaderboard now that we know he won’t be back this season because of a health issue. That leaves a pretty good battle between Hinch and Espada, his bench coach with the Astros. The Tigers’ historic pace with such a young team has Hinch in front. But Houston’s surge despite injuries and underperformances is the kind of thing that will catch a voter’s eye.

National League

Front-runner: Pat Murphy, Brewers (108 EARL)

Next four: 2. (tie) Oliver Marmol, Cardinals; Bob Melvin, Giants (106); 4. (tie) Craig Counsell, Cubs; Clayton McCullough, Marlins (105)

Overview: This is a hard race to read. Marmol is a classic candidate, guiding a low-expectation team to a good record and playoff contention. But the Cardinals might be on the verge of dropping back. Meanwhile, the Brewers have become the NL’s hottest team, nudging Murphy, last year’s NL Manager of the Year, into the lead at the break. But in both manager categories, these stories are very far from being written.

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MLB betting: Top storylines for the season’s second half

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July 16, 2025

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MLB betting: Top storylines for the season's second half

Coming off his second American League MVP season in 2024, New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge opened as the favorite to repeat for the award. He has only helped his argument by posting the AL’s best average (.355) as well as its second-most home runs (35) and RBIs (81) at the All-Star break. However, as excellent as his season has been, a stunning breakout campaign from Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh is closing the gap in the odds.

Judge currently shows -600 odds to win the AL MVP in 2025, a major improvement from his leading +300 at the start of the season, according to ESPN BET lines. However, Raleigh now has the second-best odds +325, a remarkable shortening from his opening 100-1 price.

Judge’s short odds all season — which reached an incredible -1,000 in mid-May — dictated that he was never going to be an attractive option for bettors, with BetMGM reporting 5.2% of the bettors backing him for the award, fifth best in the market.

Raleigh, on the other hand, made a slow progression up the odds board, allowing bettors to take advantage of his long plus-pricing for some time. Caesars Sportsbook baseball lead Eric Biggio said many of the sportsbook’s customers grabbed the Mariners backstop at 90-1 back in early May. Judge’s excellence actually helped keep Raleigh at a long price, according to another bookmaker, since Judge’s extremely short price needed to be balanced.

BetMGM said Raleigh holds a leading 33% of the handle for AL MVP, the book’s largest liability in the market. His laidback attitude, Home Run Derby win and amusing nickname could continue to fuel his MVP narrative … and make trouble for sportsbooks.

“As much as I like him, as much as I enjoy rooting for the Big Dumper, he’s a pretty big liability for us,” Biggio told ESPN. “We’ve got some pretty big tickets on Raleigh to win the MVP and for the home run leader.”

The latter market is also an intriguing one: Even as Raleigh (38) holds a three-homer lead over Judge, the Yankees slugger is still the solid favorite to sock the most dingers this season, showing -140 odds to Raleigh’s +130 at ESPN BET. Los Angeles Dodgers DH Shohei Ohtani holds +800 odds to accompany his 32 home runs.

“If Raleigh wins either one of those two awards, we’re not going to be in as good of shape with him as we are with those other two guys,” DraftKings Sportsbook director Johnny Avello told ESPN.

Ohtani is also the solid favorite for National League MVP at -700, but Chicago Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong is putting some degree of pressure on him at +750. BetMGM reports PCA as its biggest liability in that market.

World Series favorites

Ahead of the 2025 season, the Dodgers were an astounding +160 to win the National League pennant and +275 to win the World Series, per ESPN BET lines — the shortest odds to win MLB’s championship since the 2003 Yankees. At the All-Star break, not a whole lot has changed, with L.A. now a +140 favorite to take the NL crown and a +240 favorite for the World Series.

Things have not gone as expected on the American League side, however. After opening the season at +1200 to win the AL and +3000 to take the World Series, the Detroit Tigers now display the best record in baseball, bringing their pennant odds to a favorite’s +250 and their championship odds to +700, tied with the Yankees for second best.

The underdog story resonated with the betting public, who began backing the Tigers at the first indications that they could make some noise not only in the AL Central, but in the league at large. Biggio said Detroit is Caesars’ second-largest liability, behind only the San Francisco Giants.

“We had some longer prices, and the public spotted it early that they’re a legit squad,” he said. “So some big prices on the Tigers to win it all, and they are for real.”

“They’ve become a popular futures selection, now our second-most bet World Series winner by total bets, and third-most popular pick by handle,” ESPN BET’s VP of sportsbook strategy and growth Adam Landeka said via email. “Given their relatively longer price earlier in the season, we already know we’ll be a fan of almost any team the Tigers face in the postseason.”

While Detroit’s concern will be coaching its relatively inexperienced core to a postseason run, L.A.’s will be staying healthy. Bookmakers remark that the Dodgers’ ability to keep winning games despite several significant injuries is a testament to their depth, thus keeping them a favorite in the long run.

Young arms

The eyes of the baseball world turned to Milwaukee for a seemingly random matinee game June 25. It was the first head-to-head matchup between Pittsburgh Pirates ace Paul Skenes and Milwaukee Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski, two of the brightest future pitching stars in baseball. It would prove to be significant for at least one of them.

Prior to his MLB debut on June 12, Misirowski was +2500 to win NL Rookie of the Year. That day he moved to +1000, then to +175 after his second start, before finally becoming the odds-on favorite at -120 after getting the better of Skenes, according to ESPN BET’s Landeka. At the break, “The Miz” is -220 to take home the award. Sportsbooks were able to stay on top of his rapid ascendancy, limiting their liability.

“We were able to move this guy pretty quickly,” Avello said. “That’s one that didn’t get hit, could have had some good value there. We’re in pretty good shape with him actually.”

Skenes, meanwhile, is having another remarkable season after taking home ROY honors last year, but his disappointing record (4-8) for a dismal Pirates team could be keeping him from being the NL Cy Young favorite. He currently shows -105 odds at ESPN BET, trailing Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler at -130.

It’s largely a two-man race — Wheeler’s teammate, Cristopher Sanchez, is next closest in the odds at +2000 — but sportsbooks aren’t too worried about liability given the short prices on Skenes and Wheeler all season.

“We’ve seen comparable action on both, but as it stands now Skenes would be a better result for us,” Landeka said.

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NHL schedule release: Bruins, Penguins, Maple Leafs and more lead top reveals

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July 16, 2025

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NHL schedule release: Bruins, Penguins, Maple Leafs and more lead top reveals

The 2025-26 NHL season is slowly approaching and teams checked another offseason box on Wednesday by revealing their schedules for the upcoming campaign.

Creativity abounded as squads looked to show off their upcoming calendar in distinctive ways. The Boston Bruins enlisted comedian Bill Burr to help unveil their schedule. The Pittsburgh Penguins went with a hospital theme. Dogs were brought in to help out the Toronto Maple Leafs with their reveal.

Headlined by those and more, here’s a look at the social media schedule release posts from each NHL team.

Boston Bruins

Pittsburgh Penguins

Toronto Maple Leafs

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