‘I’m not naïve’: Hugh Freeze knows Auburn needs to start winning soon
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Chris Low
AUBURN, Ala. — Jeremiah Wright has experienced a little bit of everything since arriving at Auburn in 2020, just not a lot of winning.
“Four different coaches, COVID, quarantines, a torn ACL, some ups, but a lot of downs, too many downs,” Wright said with a reflective laugh.
“It’s taken a lot of patience.”
And nobody needs to tell Wright, a sixth-year senior offensive guard for the Tigers, that patience is as abundant in the realm of SEC football as flowing streams are in a desert. That’s especially true at a place like Auburn, which is one of just six programs nationally (Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, LSU and Ohio State are the others) to have won at least one national title and played for another over the past 15 years.
It’s also a program, as Hugh Freeze enters his third season as coach, that has suffered through four straight losing campaigns and won more than nine games only once in the past seven years. Auburn has gone more than three full seasons without being ranked in the AP poll, the program’s longest such drought in 47 years. That level of irrelevance doesn’t sit well with anybody on the Plains.
“There may be one feeling outside our complex, but I can tell you there’s a much different feeling inside our complex, what we’re working toward and what Coach Freeze is building,” Wright said. “We’re a lot closer than people think to getting Auburn back to where it’s supposed to be, and that’s winning championships.”
WHEN FREEZE TOOK the Auburn job in 2023, he said it would take three full recruiting classes to get the team’s talent level to a point where it rivaled the upper-tier programs in the league. The Tigers’ last two recruiting classes were ranked in the top 10 nationally by ESPN, and Auburn also scored big in the transfer portal this offseason with the No. 7 class in the ESPN rankings. In the rankings of this offseason’s newcomer classes, combining transfers and incoming freshmen, Auburn was No. 3.
“I feel a lot better than I have about our talent, our size, athleticism and depth,” Freeze told ESPN. “But look, we still had chances to win some big games against some really good teams the past two years and didn’t get it done. That’s the truth of it, and we can’t run from that as coaches. I own it regardless of what the talent was or wasn’t.
“I still believe we need one more [signing] class to get to where we need to be, but I don’t sense any panic.”
In a program in which dysfunction has run rampant at times and the so-called cooks — influential donors and trustees — have thrown their power around in a crowded kitchen, Freeze said he has received nothing but support. Auburn paid its past two head coaches, Gus Malzahn and Bryan Harsin, a combined $36.8 million in buyouts when they were fired.
“The people here at Auburn have been great,” Freeze said. “I mean, there’s nothing that would ever surprise me in this league, but we’ve got to go compete and be good enough to win some of those games this year that we haven’t in the past two.
“I’m not naïve.”
Freeze’s boss, athletic director John Cohen, says he is more focused on what Freeze is building and how he’s building it than his 11-14 record (6-13 against power-conference teams) over his first two seasons. Freeze’s predecessor, Harsin, was 9-12 (4-11 against power-conference teams) before being fired eight games into his second season in 2022, giving way to interim coach Cadillac Williams for the final four games.
From the time Harsin was hired to the start of Freeze’s first season in 2023, 48 scholarship players left, and 10 of the 18 signees from Harsin’s 2021 recruiting class wound up departing — factors not lost on Cohen when he surveys the first two seasons under Freeze.
“There are two ways I evaluate our football program right now: Do we still have the kids in the locker room? And the answer to that was a resounding yes at the end of last year, especially with the way those kids helped in the recruiting process. And No. 2: Are we indeed evaluating and recruiting top-10 classes? And the answer to that is yes,” said Cohen, a two-time SEC Coach of the Year in baseball at Mississippi State before getting into administration.
“If those two things are happening in this league, you are going to have eventual success. I do think we started from behind the eight ball. I’m not being critical of the kids who were here and stuck it out. I’m really proud of that. But we did not have Auburn-type talent here, and it was obvious that something was happening where kids were running in and out of this program. Our elite kids here at Auburn are not leaving the program anymore.”
Auburn had 23 players depart via the transfer portal this offseason, but only a few were expected to be regular contributors for the Tigers during the 2025 season. Bradyn Joiner was a part-time starter at offensive guard a year ago and earned Freshman All-SEC honors. He transferred to Purdue, while Caleb Wooden, who started six games at safety last season, transferred to Arkansas.
Freeze has been more active in the transfer portal after admittedly being slow to adapt to it when he first got to Auburn. That hesitancy was one of the reasons he hired Will Redmond away from LSU to be the program’s general manager of player personnel following his first season with the Tigers. Auburn signed 19 players out of the portal in the 2024-25 cycle, and four are expected to play pivotal roles on offense this season: quarterback Jackson Arnold (Oklahoma), offensive tackle Xavier Chaplin (Virginia Tech) and receivers Eric Singleton Jr. (Georgia Tech) and Horatio Fields (Wake Forest).
“The thing you see is the competition, the way guys go after each other on the practice field and hold each other accountable,” said Singleton, one of the top-rated portal receivers after catching 56 passes a year ago for the Yellow Jackets. “We know what we’re capable of and that we have the talent to beat anybody.”
Singleton grew up watching Auburn football. His cousin, Darvin Adams, was Cam Newton’s top receiving target on the 2010 national championship team.
“I know what this program is about, and that’s putting in the work and then taking it to the field and winning,” Singleton said. “That’s the Auburn I grew up watching, the Auburn I want us to get back to, so being a part of this program means a lot to me. I’m here to help that turnaround.”
A MORE TALENTED roster should help, but Freeze said playing with more efficiency, consistency and discipline will be critical if the Tigers are going to win some of the games they couldn’t finish the past two seasons.
Not that anybody on the Plains needs a reminder, but it took a miracle touchdown pass in the final seconds by Jalen Milroe on fourth-and-31 for Alabama to beat Auburn in the 2023 Iron Bowl, which came just a week after the Tigers suffered an embarrassing 31-10 home loss to New Mexico State. In that same season, Auburn was tied with Georgia late in the fourth quarter, rushing for 219 yards against a stacked Bulldogs defense. But the Tigers couldn’t stop Brock Bowers on Georgia’s 75-yard touchdown drive in the final minutes and lost a 27-20 heartbreaker at home.
Last season, Auburn lost three games by a touchdown or less and was victimized by turnovers. No loss better illustrated the Tigers’ 2024 season than the 27-21 home setback to Oklahoma. Auburn squandered an 11-point lead early in the fourth quarter, and the decisive blow was a 63-yard interception return for a Sooners touchdown on a Payton Thorne pass.
The Tigers finished 120th nationally in turnover margin and lost an SEC-high 22 turnovers. And with regular place-kicker Alex McPherson missing all but one game with ulcerative colitis (he’s healthy and back this season), Auburn was also last against SEC competition in field goal accuracy (8-of-17) and last in red zone offense (16-of-24). The Tigers scored just eight red zone touchdowns in eight SEC games.
Based on ESPN colleague Bill Connelly’s postgame win expectancy, a formula that determines how likely a team was to win based on a game’s key statistics, Auburn should have won about eight games (7.8) instead of five, making it the most underperforming team in the country by that metric.
“We did a lot of the things that get you beat, and yet we still averaged 6.7 yards per play on offense,” Freeze said. “Only four other power-conference teams averaged more.”
Those four teams — Ole Miss, Ohio State, Miami and Louisville — were a combined 43-12.
“And then there was us,” Freeze said.
Despite all that yardage, the Tigers scored 17 or fewer points in six of their 12 games. One of the priorities in the offseason was to strengthen a passing game that put up decent numbers (sixth in the SEC with 251.5 passing yards per game), but failed to produce in key moments and had 13 interceptions in 12 games. Early in the season, the Tigers shuffled back and forth between Thorne and Hank Brown at quarterback, and nine of their 13 interceptions came in the first five games.
Auburn will look to Arnold, ESPN’s No. 3 overall prospect in the 2023 class, for an upgrade at QB. Things didn’t really click for Arnold at Oklahoma. He was benched in the SEC opener against Tennessee last season, and although he returned to the starting lineup nearly a month later, it was a struggle.
The Sooners were decimated by injuries at receiver and allowed 46 sacks, which ranked 132nd nationally. Arnold also had three different offensive coordinators at Oklahoma, and he said coming to Auburn is a much-needed reset. How well he bounces back will go a long way toward determining whether the Tigers are ready to make a move in the SEC.
“I know it didn’t go the way he wanted at Oklahoma, but you watch him spin it and the way he can extend plays, and he’s exactly what we were looking for,” Freeze said.
Freeze plans to spend more time with the quarterbacks on the practice field this fall and said he will call most of the plays (offensive coordinator Derrick Nix will call some). Freeze delegated a lot of those responsibilities when he took over the program as he tried to install his infrastructure.
“I think it’s vital that Jackson and all of the quarterbacks are hearing my thoughts,” said Freeze, noting that true freshman Deuce Knight was extremely impressive this spring. “I like what I’ve seen from Jackson, and we need him to have success early on. I think he could really catapult from that.”
One of the most improved groups on the team should be the receiving corps, and Freeze said Thorne unfairly took the “brunt of the deal” last season over the Tigers’ struggles on offense. To be fair, scoring points has been a problem in both of Freeze’s seasons at Auburn. The Tigers have scored 21 or fewer points in 10 of his 16 SEC games. By comparison, when Freeze had things rolling at Ole Miss in 2014 and 2015, the Rebels scored more than 30 points in nine of their 16 SEC games.
“There were times last year where Payton was ready to pull the trigger on something that should have been there, and we may have been a little young at receiver and didn’t quite run the right depth of a route or the right route,” Freeze said. “The difference I see right now in Malcolm [Simmons], Perry [Thompson] and even Cam [Coleman] is monumental. They’re starting to understand the game and the system. I think Jackson is going to be the beneficiary of that.”
Auburn has spent handsomely on its 2025 roster, in the $20 million range, and Freeze admits to having a better understanding of how it all fits together. Following the 2023 season, the Tigers were in the running for quarterback Cam Ward, who wound up transferring from Washington State to Miami and was one of four finalists for the Heisman Trophy last year.
“I just didn’t know if that was the right thing to do [paying millions to Ward] because it was so new to me,” Freeze said. “So you’re sitting here, and at the time you think you’re working off a certain number, and I wasn’t the type and neither was our collective, to throw things out there that we weren’t certain we could do. I was big on building the class from the high school ranks and chose to really focus on the high school kids and thought we could win with Payton … and we had our chances. But we were a lot more aggressive in Year 2.”
Freeze also is optimistic that some new and younger faces will contribute on defense in 2025. Cornerback Raion Strader (Miami, Ohio) and linebacker Caleb Wheatland (Maryland) are transfers who bring a lot of experience. Three true sophomores — linebacker Demarcus Riddick, cornerback Jay Crawford and safety Kaleb Harris — have All-SEC potential, and Freeze loves what he has seen from his freshman class. Linebacker Bryce Deas, cornerback Blake Woodby, safety Anquon Fegans and defensive tackles Malik Autry and Jourdin Crawford could all make immediate impacts. One of the more improved players on defense, according to Freeze, is senior Keyron Crawford, who will play the hybrid “Buck” outside linebacker position. This was the first spring practice with Auburn for Crawford, who transferred from Arkansas State after the spring last year.
“I like our personnel. We’ve been able to get most of the guys we wanted and keep the guys we wanted,” Freeze said. “The retention part is as important as anything.”
Freeze said the addition of Redmond — who helped build LSU’s roster and was named FootballScoop’s Player Personnel Director of the Year in 2022 — soon after the 2024 winter portal closed has freed him up to coach, not be bogged down in discussions about NIL deals, and be more involved in the day-to-day operation of the program.
“I quit talking to players about money. I was walking out there to practice and looking at them different, coaching them different,” Freeze said. “Now, I’m still in the loop obviously, but I tell the players up front, ‘I don’t care what you make.’
“It’s like the old saying, ‘I don’t care what they paid for the horse, but I’ll decide when the horse runs.'”
Freeze, 55, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in February and said in a lot of ways he sees the bigger picture with more clarity than he once did. His doctors told him that his cancer is a low aggressive type, so Freeze will wait until after the season to decide whether he’s going to have surgery. At that point, doctors will reexamine his condition and plot a course of treatment.
“I’m in a good place, and I feel the same way about our football team,” Freeze said. “It’s the most settled since we’ve been here.”
One of his best players, junior defensive end Keldric Faulk, agrees this is the most stable the program has been since he arrived as a four-star recruit from Highland Home, Alabama. But Faulk, who headed up a defense that finished 27th nationally in scoring a year ago, said there’s a big difference in “being settled” and “settling.”
“We expect a lot out of each other, more than anybody else,” Faulk said. “We want everybody to expect a lot out of us because we’re not scared to get onto each other. But the difference is we all know it’s out of love and pushing each other to get to where we want to get, and not out of hate.
“There’s been too much hate — maybe not hate, but disappointment — in the Auburn family lately, and it’s on us to change that.”
Here comes the American League!
The Detroit Tigers have retaken the No. 1 spot and are one of four AL teams in the top 10 in Week 10 alongside the New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros — who cracked the top 10 for the first time this season.
The National League is still well-represented at the top of our list, with the usual powerhouses battling Detroit for first place.
Meanwhile, a number of clubs have continued their fall down our rankings this week, including the Boston Red Sox dropping to No. 22 and the Arizona Diamondbacks to No. 19, with each at its lowest ranking of 2025. Will they be able to overcome their struggles and bounce back?
Our expert panel has ranked every team based on a combination of what we’ve seen so far and what we already knew going into the 162-game marathon that is a full baseball season. We also asked ESPN MLB experts Jesse Rogers, Bradford Doolittle and David Schoenfield to weigh in with an observation for all 30 teams.
Record: 41-22
Previous ranking: 2
After serving up four home runs to the Rangers on May 10 and seeing his ERA rise to 4.61, Jack Flaherty has reeled off a 2.22 ERA over his past four starts. He is looking much more like the pitcher the Tigers had in the first half of 2024 before they traded him to the Dodgers then re-signed him as a free agent over the winter. In three of those four recent games, Flaherty threw his fastball just over 50% of the time, which he hadn’t done in any of his first eight starts. The Tigers also received consecutive scoreless starts from Keider Montero filling in for the injured Reese Olson. This rotation isn’t just Tarik Skubal. — Schoenfield
Record: 37-25
Previous ranking: 3
The Dodgers’ offense has kept L.A. in its familiar first-place perch despite widespread pitching struggles. The attack might be getting even more potent thanks to the sudden resurgence of Max Muncy, perhaps baseball’s hottest hitter. Muncy capped a seven-game stretch in which he hit .409/.500/1.227 with a game-tying homer in Tuesday’s dramatic extra-inning win over the Mets. It was Muncy’s sixth long ball of that stretch, during which he lifted his season OPS from .653 to .781. For the season, Muncy has a .945 OPS at Dodger Stadium, but an anemic .593 mark on the road. — Doolittle
Record: 39-23
Previous ranking: 6
Ronny Mauricio is back in the big leagues. The former top prospect debuted with the Mets in September 2023, but he tore an ACL in winter ball then had a second surgery last summer, ultimately missing the entire 2024 season. After hitting .515 with three home runs in nine games in Triple-A this year, the Mets called him up to replace the injured Mark Vientos on the roster. He went 0-for-4 on Tuesday while playing third base. The switch-hitter could get time at third, second and DH, although the Mets do have Brett Baty, Jeff McNeil and Luisangel Acuña capable of playing the infield, as well. — Schoenfield
Record: 37-23
Previous ranking: 4
Take 2 for Devin Williams. The Yankees righty is back in his closing role after Luke Weaver went down with a hamstring injury that is expected to sideline him for four to six weeks. Will Williams be better this time around? The Yankees think so after he had a decent run as a middle man. He hadn’t given up a run in 10 of his previous 11 appearances before returning to the closer job. Just as important, Williams walked only one hitter during that time frame while striking out 15. His first test back at closer came on Tuesday. And while he passed — New York beat Cleveland 3-2 — he did give up a run in the ninth. So, stay tuned. — Rogers
Record: 37-24
Previous ranking: 1
After a hot stretch against the Pirates, Rockies, A’s and Braves that saw the Phillies win 11 of 12 games, Philadelphia got swept at home by the Brewers over the weekend, losing the three games by a combined score of 28-11. Jesus Luzardo allowed 12 hits and 12 runs in a 17-7 loss, seeing his ERA climb from 2.15 to 3.58. He became just the 12th pitcher in MLB history to allow as many as 12 runs while pitching 3⅓ innings or fewer. On the bright side, while Ranger Suarez allowed seven runs in his 2025 debut, he has since had three scoreless starts in five appearances (although he picked up a no-decision in a 5-2 loss to Milwaukee as the bullpen blew a 2-1 lead). — Schoenfield
Record: 38-23
Previous ranking: 5
The Cubs are managing just fine without Shota Imanaga (hamstring) and Justin Steele (elbow), but they probably will look to augment their staff via trade come July. Chicago got a huge outing from second-year player Ben Brown over the weekend when he threw six shutout innings against the Reds, giving up just one hit and one walk while striking out nine. It came after the team used lefty Drew Pomeranz as an opener. That trend could continue, as Brown is a two-pitch pitcher who has trouble going through a lineup three times and sometimes gets into first-inning trouble. An opener addresses both issues. — Rogers
Record: 35-25
Previous ranking: 7
As the Padres keep trying to patch up their hole-riddled lineup, Manny Machado continues to put up All-Star numbers in his 14th season. Machado has never hit .300 in a full season (he hit .304 in the shortened 2020 campaign), but he might get there this year as he suddenly has become a line-drive force. He is striking out less than at any time since 2021, yet his average exit velocity is the highest it’s been during that span. Machado is 32, but he shows every sign of graceful aging as he approaches the 2,000-hit milestone for his likely Hall-of-Fame career. — Doolittle
Record: 32-28
Previous ranking: 8
Seattle slipped behind Houston in the AL West since we last convened, but the news out of the Great Northwest is getting brighter. Starter Bryce Miller was activated from the injured list after a three-week stay. Even better, Logan Gilbert was slated for a second rehab start as his recovery from a balky elbow nears completion. If Gilbert is activated soon, the Mariners’ projected five-man rotation — Miller, Gilbert, George Kirby, Luis Castillo and Bryan Woo — will be intact for the first time all season. That Seattle spent so much time in first place despite that fact could portend a happy summer for Mariners fans. — Doolittle
Record: 34-28
Previous ranking: 9
The Giants have slid in the standings and the win-loss column of late, as their robust pitching staff hasn’t been able to carry an increasingly foundering offense. With Wilmer Flores, Mike Yastrzemski and Jung Hoo Lee all slowing after good starts, first-year general manager Buster Posey has started to shuffle the roster, most notably designating LaMonte Wade Jr. for assignment. In the minors, top prospect Bryce Eldridge was moved from Double-A to Triple-A, so perhaps he could help later in the season. For all the shuffling, the key remains free-agent splash Willy Adames, who continues to labor with a sub-80 OPS+. — Doolittle
Record: 33-28
Previous ranking: 12
The Astros returned to the top of the AL West for the first time since the initial few days of the campaign. They accomplished this despite an ongoing plague of pitching injuries and the lingering unavailability of star slugger Yordan Alvarez. Perhaps the biggest reason for the Astros’ ability to remain afloat has been shortstop Jeremy Peña‘s emergence into a top-10 overall player in the AL. The 27-year-old has morphed from a high-strikeout, low-walk power threat to a complete package at the dish. Peña has slashed his whiff rate to elite levels, losing no power in the process while continuing to shine on defense. — Doolittle
Record: 33-27
Previous ranking: 10
The Cardinals are holding steady in the NL wild-card race despite an up-and-down week. But the question continues to linger in St. Louis: Can the Cardinals stay in the race long enough to convince the front office not to trade away their pending free agents? Inside the clubhouse, undoubtedly that answer is yes. It might get to the point that outgoing top decision-maker John Mozeliak decides to add. Why not take one more kick at the can? — Rogers
Record: 34-27
Previous ranking: 11
Chris Paddack is turning into one of the pleasant surprises of 2025. After the Twins acquired him from the Padres in 2022, he underwent Tommy John surgery after just five starts, wiping out nearly two full seasons. He had a 4.99 ERA last year in 17 starts, allowing a .283 average. He allowed nine runs in his first start this year, but he has posted a 2.47 ERA since then. He then enjoyed his best outing of the season on Sunday in Seattle, allowing one run in eight innings with 10 strikeouts while throwing 110 pitches (although he came away with a no-decision in a 2-1 loss). — Schoenfield
Record: 34-29
Previous ranking: 20
Finally. The Brewers are showing some life. An eight-game win streak that ended Tuesday night vaulted them into the playoff picture. Their offensive surge has been led by Christian Yelich — who hit .414 with a 1.1313 OPS during the win streak — but he’s not the only one doing damage. Jackson Chourio and Sal Frelick also had big weeks, contributing to a sweep in Philadelphia for the team’s signature series win so far this season. — Rogers
Record: 33-27
Previous ranking: 14
Jose Ramirez has been on extended hot streak. He had a 21-game hitting streak in May that included 11 multihit outings. After a hitless game on Friday, he followed with three straight two-hit games, raising his average to .330. Ramirez last hit .300 back in 2017, and his current OPS+ would be the second highest of his career, behind only the shortened 2020 season. He might not approach a 40/40 season like last year, when he fell one home run short, but he could be headed for a third 30/30 campaign. He should be the easy All-Star starter at third base for his fourth start in the Midsummer Classic and seventh selection. — Schoenfield
Record: 30-29
Previous ranking: 16
Junior Caminero is heating up, hitting .400 over a 10-game stretch that ended Tuesday. He hit five home runs and drove in a whopping 17 runs during that span, including a two-homer game against Houston over the weekend. He added another blast in Tuesday’s victory over Texas. He has been all over fastballs lately, hitting .292 on the season against them. His bat has helped push the Rays past .500 and back into the AL playoff race. — Rogers
Record: 27-33
Previous ranking: 15
Ronald Acuña Jr. has been terrific in his return from knee surgery, hitting .341/.413/.610 with three home runs in his first 11 games back. But the Braves also need a lift from Spencer Strider — and he hasn’t delivered it just yet. Strider made one start in April in his return from Tommy John surgery, but a hamstring injury caused him to miss a month. In three starts since coming off the IL, he has allowed 10 runs in 14 innings while walking seven batters and hitting three. He also served up three home runs in a loss to Arizona on Tuesday. It hasn’t helped that the lineup continues to scuffle, scoring just one run in each of two losses to the Red Sox. — Schoenfield
Record: 32-29
Previous ranking: 17
After tearing through Double-A and Triple-A, hitting .322 with 15 home runs in 50 games, Jac Caglianone made his highly anticipated MLB debut on Tuesday, going 0-for-5 in a 10-7 win over St. Louis. He hit sixth and served as the DH (after beginning to see some outfield reps in the minors). Despite the hitless outing, Caglianone showed off his potential, as he had four hard-hit balls of 95-plus mph. Three of those were groundouts, and one was a drive into right-center in his first at-bat that Cardinals center fielder Victor Scott II made a fine running catch on. — Schoenfield
Record: 32-29
Previous ranking: 22
Toronto’s offense came to play against the A’s during a four-game sweep last week. The Blue Jays totaled 39 runs, led by Addison Barger, Bo Bichette and George Springer. Each had three home runs during Toronto’s five-game win streak, which ended on Tuesday in a loss to the Phillies. Thanks to the series against the pitching-challenged A’s, Toronto boasted the highest OPS of any team last week. The question is whether it can continue against better opponents. That hasn’t always been the case this season for the Jays; see Tuesday’s 8-3 loss to the Phillies as evidence. — Rogers
Record: 30-31
Previous ranking: 13
The Diamondbacks appeared to be most likely to challenge the Dodgers in the NL West. That could still happen. But for now, Arizona might challenge L.A. for the title of most disappointing starting rotation, at least among expected contenders. Arizona’s 23rd-ranked rotation ERA is bad enough. Then came this zinger: Ace Corbin Burnes, he of the $210 million contract, is on the IL with an elbow problem, the specific diagnosis of which has initially proved to be elusive. Not great. — Doolittle
Record: 29-33
Previous ranking: 21
The Rangers’ up-and-down start to the season has left them almost precisely mediocre, which isn’t exactly what they were shooting for. It has felt like every positive development that’s happened for Texas since Opening Day has been accompanied by an equivalent gut punch. The pattern continued last week, when Marcus Semien showed signs of catching fire after foundering the first two months as one of baseball’s least productive hitters. Alas, ace Nathan Eovaldi hit the IL with triceps fatigue, weakening a rotation big three (Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle) that has kept Texas in the realm of contention. And so on it goes. — Doolittle
Record: 30-33
Previous ranking: 19
TJ Friedl has given the Reds a needed boost at the plate, collecting 10 multihit games since May 19. The 29-year-old outfielder is having a resurgent season after seeing his OPS drop below .700 last year. This year, he has hit more in line with his 2023 campaign, when he smacked 18 home runs and compiled a .352 on-base percentage. He is showing a little less power than two years ago, but his on-base has shot up over .380, and he is hitting over .360 off fastballs. — Rogers
Record: 30-34
Previous ranking: 18
The Red Sox’s offense looks pedestrian without Alex Bregman, who’s been out with a right quad injury since late last month. The team ranks in the bottom third in run scoring during that time frame. Wilyer Abreu and Trevor Story have struggled the most, striking out about six times more than they’ve walked over the past half-month. That’s a recipe for some ugly at-bats. Fortunately, Rafael Devers has picked up the slack, averaging more than an RBI per game during Bregman’s absence. But Boston needs someone else to step up, as Bregman is going to be out for a while. Boston’s record as of late reflects its struggles. — Rogers
Record: 29-32
Previous ranking: 24
The Nationals had a nice road trip, winning two of three in Seattle and in Phoenix as the offense exploded for at least nine runs in four consecutive games. The highlights included a seven-run 10th inning against the Mariners and a 10-run first inning against the Diamondbacks in which the first 11 batters all reached base and five doubles were tallied. During the latter contest, the Nats scored nine runs before an out was recorded, the second most in a first inning since 1961. (The Red Sox scored 10 against the Marlins in 2003.) Luis Garcia had eight hits and six RBIs over the four outings, while the red-hot James Wood homered twice and drove in seven runs. — Schoenfield
Record: 28-33
Previous ranking: 23
The Angels have played the most road games in the majors, which has made their roller-coaster (but encouraging) start that much more impressive. Even better, they’ve played well away from Anaheim, generally remaining on the happy side of .500. The upside of such a road-heavy slate is that, by definition, the rest of their schedule will be MLB’s most home-heavy. For the Angels to take advantage, though, they need to actually start holding down the fort at the Big A, where they’ve gone 10-15. The hitters rank 5th in scoring on the road but 30th at home. That needs to change — Doolittle
Record: 24-36
Previous ranking: 27
Could a weekend sweep of an AL opponent mean the Orioles are back? Not likely, when you consider it was the lowly White Sox who failed to win a game in Baltimore. Even in taking the trio of games, the O’s only scored nine runs; but at least they pitched well, something that has eluded them for most of the season. That carried over to a 5-1 win at Seattle on Tuesday. Charlie Morton also has had a couple of good outings in a row that have led to wins. Perhaps he can right the ship enough to get traded, since it’s still a huge long shot for Baltimore to get back into the playoff race. — Rogers
Record: 23-39
Previous ranking: 28
OK, time for that annual exercise: Who on the Pirates can be unloaded to help other teams come trade season? Veteran infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa comes to mind. Andrew McCutchen, Tommy Pham, Adam Frazier and Andrew Heaney too. In other words, just about anyone this side of Paul Skenes can be had. If the Pirates can acquire even one hitting prospect to pair with Oneil Cruz, it would help. Cruz is their top hitter right now, ranking 40th in OPS in MLB. The next Pirate on the list is the 38-year-old McCutchen, at 81st. — Rogers
Record: 23-37
Previous ranking: 26
The Marlins became the first team to lose a series against the Rockies this season — and then the first to be swept by Colorado after dropping the final game in Miami. Monday’s announced home attendance was 5,894, which was a generous assessment of the actual in-game crowd. Pictures of a nearly empty stadium at first pitch filled social media. The game ended with a 6-4 loss. The Marlins had plenty of scoring opportunities but went just 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position. — Schoenfield
Record: 23-40
Previous ranking: 25
After showing some early signs of respectability and even a possible fringe run at a wild-card slot, the Athletics collapsed like the construct of a Jenga player who’s had one too many. The culprit has been pitching, particularly in the rotation, an area the A’s had hoped would be solid. Since the A’s topped out at four games over .500 (20-16), the starters have gone 3-24 with an ERA around 7.00, which is, unsurprisingly, the worst mark in the majors over that span. Double-digit outputs by the opposition have become the norm — as in 10 times over the Athletics’ past 25 games. — Doolittle
Record: 19-43
Previous ranking: 29
Down on the farm, there have been mixed reviews of Chicago’s highly regarded top five prospects. Hagen Smith had pitched just 25 innings in seven starts with 20 walks (although 42 strikeouts) in Double-A before going on the IL with elbow soreness. Colson Montgomery is hitting .191 in Triple-A. Noah Schultz has a high WHIP in Double-A (47 hits and 28 walks in 46 IP). Kyle Teel has hit well in Triple-A (.287/.389/.483) but has 54 strikeouts in 49 games. Braden Montgomery did earn a promotion to High-A but is hitting .246 there after hitting .304 in Single-A. Teel is most likely to make his MLB debut this year, although there’s little need to rush him with Edgar Quero and Matt Thaiss sharing catching duties. — Schoenfield
Record: 12-50
Previous ranking: 30
When a team is on pace to shatter the all-time loss record, you don’t generally expect any facet of that team to actually be good. However, the Colorado bullpen — despite having precious few leads to protect — has been positively not entirely terrible. (It’s all relative, of course.) For the Rockies, this could be more than a moral victory during a tortuously lost season. As the trade deadline approaches, Colorado might be able to capitalize on the always-busy derby for in-season bullpen help. Sure to attract calls are Seth Halvorsen and Jake Bird. — Doolittle
Ohio State will host Navy in the 2029 season opener for both teams, the schools announced Wednesday.
The Sept. 1, 2029, game will be the first meeting between the teams since 2014 and the sixth overall in the series. The Buckeyes have won all five previous matchups.
The game was one of three changes Ohio State made to future nonconference schedules that will affect the 2029 and 2030 seasons. To add the Navy game, Ohio State and Nevada agreed to move their previously scheduled game on that date to Sept. 7, 2030.
Ohio State also added a nonconference game against Youngstown State, which will be played at Ohio Stadium on Sept. 15, 2029. The Buckeyes have one nonconference game to fill out their schedule over the next five years: the season opener on Aug. 31, 2030.
In the 2014 matchup, a 34-17 Ohio State win in Baltimore, Navy trailed 20-17 in the fourth quarter before Ezekiel Elliott scored on a 10-yard touchdown run to put the Buckeyes up 10 and Michael Thomas scored on a 9-yard touchdown pass from J.T. Barrett that put the game away.
Ohio State would go on to post a 14-1 record and defeat Oregon 42-20 in the Rose Bowl to win the College Football Playoff.
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