The incredible never-before-told story of the home run ball that turned Derek Jeter into ‘Mr. November’
FOR NEARLY A quarter century, one of the most famous home run balls in baseball history sat on a shelf inside a case in Neil Dunleavy’s bedroom closet gathering dust. Every so often he would retrieve it and gaze with admiration: the gold lettering, the round black smudge where the bat struck it and the signature that had faded to the point that it was imperceptible to the naked eye, save for one clue: “#2.”
Dunleavy grew up on the outskirts of New York City, but he was raised at Yankee Stadium. His father, John, worked there as a vendor for 57 years. All three of John’s sons did the same, including Neil, who on Oct. 31, 2001, hopped in his car and drove the five hours from Georgetown University, where he was a sophomore, to the Bronx.
College had cut into the number of games Dunleavy could work, but he was not going to miss Game 4 of the 2001 World Series, forthcoming organic chemistry test be damned. Less than two months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the New York Yankees were trying to win their fourth consecutive World Series, and even if it meant selling $10 programs, Dunleavy simply wanted to be inside the stadium, to soak in the mystique and aura of the place and the moment.
As the clock neared midnight on Nov. 1, Derek Jeter stepped to the plate. Arizona Diamondbacks closer Byung-Hyun Kim was laboring. The Diamondbacks had won two of the first three games and were primed to take a commanding 3-1 series lead until Tino Martinez ambushed Kim for a ninth-inning home run that sent the game into extra innings. With two outs in the 10th, Jeter dug himself an 0-2 hole. He fought — ball, foul, foul, ball, ball, foul — before Kim’s 61st pitch of the game caught too much of the outside corner.
Jeter lofted the ball to the opposite field. It kept carrying and snuck over the fence just to the left of the 314-foot marker under the right-field foul pole, where Dunleavy happened to be standing. As a man to his right flipped over the railing and those to his left jumped with joy, Dunleavy pounced on the ball, securing it with his right arm amid the chaos.
The ball is a time machine to the heyday of the Yankees, baseball’s last great dynasty, and even more than that a relic of the career of The Captain. For all the indelible moments in his career — the Jeffrey Maier home run, the dive into the stands, the 3,000th-hit home run, the flip — the ball that gave Jeter the “Mr. November” nickname is perhaps the most iconic, a fact Dunleavy gladly shares with his three children.
“If someone mentions it,” Dunleavy said, “they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s the ball Daddy cares so much about.'”
Never has Dunleavy spoken publicly about the ball and how he came into its possession. In recent months, though, he decided to sell it, and with the auction ending June 14, he spoke with ESPN about that magical night — and how even if he’ll no longer have the physical memento of it, he’ll forever own something even more valuable.
“I’m selling the ball,” Dunleavy said. “I’m not selling the story.”
WHEN HE ARRIVED at Yankee Stadium on Halloween night, Dunleavy figured he would spend his evening at a merchandise stand with his father and brothers, selling hats and pennants and their best-selling item, shirseys with Jeter’s No. 2 on the back. The Yankees needed someone to peddle programs that night, though, and because he was the youngest, Dunleavy drew the short straw.
Hawking programs wasn’t the worst assignment. They cost $10, which meant Dunleavy wouldn’t need to fumble with change or prepare an item like hot dog vendors. Programs were a high-volume business. He got to meet cool people — Dunleavy said he gave programs to Adam Sandler and John Travolta gratis — and hand hundreds of people keepsakes of what he hoped would be a memorable night.
But by the 10th inning, Dunleavy was gassed. He had walked miles around the stadium lugging reams of programs. He knew Jeter was coming up to bat and asked a nearby security guard if he could park himself in the front of the right-field stands and count his money — just in case the game were to end there.
“Wouldn’t it be awesome if he hit a home run right to us now?” Dunleavy asked the security guard.
Dunleavy knew how Jeter operated. At 27, Jeter already had cemented his legacy with four World Series wins. His inside-out swing had won them plenty of games, including Game 1 of the 1996 American League Championship Series, when 12-year-old fan Jeffrey Maier pulled a ball over the right-field fence for a tying home run in the days before replay review. The Yankees went on to win their first World Series in nearly two decades.
“I’m in the right-field corner, and I know Yankees history, obviously,” Dunleavy said. “I know Jeffrey Maier, and I know why the guard who is standing next to me is there in the first place: to prevent Jeffrey Maier incidents from happening.”
Dunleavy reached into his apron and grabbed hundreds of bills, preparing to organize them, when he heard the crack of the bat. As Arizona right fielder Reggie Sanders tracked the ball, it was fading toward the corner — right at Dunleavy. He played baseball in high school and is certain he would have caught the ball if not for the wads of cash in his hands. It bounced to his left and caromed in front of Dunleavy. He dropped the cash and went for a different type of treasure.
He landed hard on the ball, bruising his ribs. He held it tight as others dove toward him hoping it would squirt free. The man who had gone inverted over the barricade, Jimmy Brunn, said: “It came right to me. My fingers were on it. And he pulled it away. There were about 50 people on top of us.”
When the pile receded, Dunleavy stood up, looked around and panicked. Not a single dollar remained on the ground. Maybe the ball would be worth more than the money he had procured that night, but his first thought was: “My dad’s going to kill me.” Then Dunleavy’s eyes gravitated toward a security guard, who, he said, had “a soccer-ball-sized wad of crumpled-up 20s and 10s.” When he counted the money, all $2,120 worth of programs he had sold was accounted for.
Dunleavy celebrated by standing on a security guard’s chair and holding the ball in the air, much to the delight of the fans still high off the win — including Brunn, who handed Dunleavy his business card and told him he wanted to buy the ball.
“The New York kid in me,” Dunleavy said, “realized, ‘OK, I just told 5,000 people I’ve got a very famous ball already. I better get the hell outta here.'”
On the walk back to his father’s stand, Dunleavy started thinking about what he wanted to do with the ball. He could sell it to Brunn or the highest bidder. He could keep it. Neither seemed right. Jeter had provided so many incredible moments for Yankees fans. This was Dunleavy’s opportunity to repay him.
“We all wanted to be Jeter,” Dunleavy said. “So I’m thinking, he hit it, I’m going to give it to him. And hopefully he’ll appreciate it.”
He returned to Yankee Stadium early the next day, ball in hand, and went to right field, where he posed for a photo with the ball. “I thought I was giving the ball away forever, that I’d never see it again,” Dunleavy said. He met with Joe Lee, a batboy he knew, and asked him to bring the ball to Jeter. He was hopeful that Jeter would emerge from the clubhouse, shake his hand, maybe even give him a signed ball or bat.
Lee returned without Jeter — and with a ball in his hand. Dunleavy noticed the black smudge. It was the Mr. November ball, only emblazoned with a faint signature, date (“11-1-01”) and the No. 2.
“Had I known I was going to get it back,” Dunleavy said, “I would’ve given him a better pen.”
DUNLEAVY RETURNED TO Georgetown and regaled his friends with the tale of the Mr. November ball. It became a go-to story at parties. His future wife, Annemarie, heard about the ball within the first 30 minutes of meeting Dunleavy.
The ball stayed at his parents’ house as he finished undergrad and remained there during his time in medical school. When Dunleavy moved into his own place during his residency in New York City, it joined him. It went to Chicago when work took him there and eventually back to Connecticut, where he settled and today works as an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in knees and shoulders.
Dunleavy, now 43, still loves the Yankees and baseball. It taught him how to do math, provided hours of entertainment pouring through Beckett Baseball Card Monthly, filled his early adulthood with memories of his dad and brothers.
“It just hit me,” Dunleavy said. “Time’s passing. I kind of thought maybe I’d give it to [my children] when I’m old and gray. One day, my wife and I are at home, looking at this ball. Literally the case is collecting dust in the closet. We’ve not, like, featured this prominently in our house because the kids could take it and throw it in the mud. I’m like, ‘You know, there’s got to be something better I can do with this.'”
Dunleavy’s daughters are 11 and 9, his son 5, and he acknowledges that “someday, of course, there is that chance that they’re like, ‘What did you do that for? We would’ve wanted it.’ But I don’t think so.” So he connected with the auction house Goldin, which sent it to the authentication company JSA. An analysis using a video spectral comparator clearly showed Jeter’s signature and the date, even after the ink faded, and the ball was deemed authentic. With a week left, the bidding was up to $110,000. Dunleavy said he plans to donate a portion of the proceeds to Jeter’s Turn 2 Foundation.
Even though the Yankees lost the World Series in heartbreaking fashion in 2001, it did nothing to lessen the meaning of that ball and that moment. The time around Sept. 11 was devastating, and baseball offered something around which the country could coalesce. Ten days after the Twin Towers fell, Mike Piazza’s go-ahead home run for the New York Mets brought a sliver of normalcy and hope. The Yankees represented the strength of New York and the game’s meaning to the city and country.
Those feelings, and not the ball itself, are what endure for Dunleavy, who all these years later wants to thank Jeter for his inadvertent influence on Dunleavy’s life.
“Please tell him I told this story to my wife and we are celebrating 17 years of marriage next week,” he said. “That changed my life, you know? And she says it didn’t [convince her to date him], but who the hell knows, right? Maybe it did. Maybe she saw my enthusiasm in telling a story and liked it.
“I owe this moment a lot. I have always been able to make everybody smile when I tell this story. I can tell this story to people who don’t care about baseball, don’t care about sports. No one can take the story away.”
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
CLEVELAND — Shane Bieber promised himself after undergoing Tommy John surgery last April that he would be honest about his rehabilitation process.
Even though the Cleveland Guardians ace is going through his first setback, Bieber is trying to remain optimistic.
Bieber is in the middle of a seven-day pause from throwing after experiencing soreness in his right elbow following his first rehab start on May 31 and a bullpen session on Tuesday.
The right-hander was scheduled to make his second rehab start with Double-A Akron on Friday before being shut down.
“My mind went back to a very close buddy of mine said a few weeks or a few months back when I was starting bullpens. He was like, ‘Just don’t freak out. If you get a setback, everybody gets at least one,'” Bieber said before Saturday’s game against the Houston Astros. “I was hoping to be that anomaly, but at the same time, maybe it’s just part of the process and I’m trying to listen to my elbow and my body and do what’s best for myself and the team in the long term.”
Bieber will be checked again the middle of next week before the team’s medical staff and specialist Dr. Keith Meister decide the next steps.
Bieber threw 21⅓ scoreless innings in an Arizona Complex League game on May 31, which was his 30th birthday. The 2020 American League Cy Young Award winner faced nine batters, allowed one hit and struck out five while throwing 42 pitches.
“I’m a little frustrated with the timing of it as I get out here to Cleveland and join the team, but unfortunately, these rehab processes aren’t exactly linear,” Bieber said. “I’ve had a fantastic progression up to this point. A small hiccup, but hopefully we’ll just keep it at just that.”
Bieber — who agreed to a one-year, $14 million contract last fall with a $16 million player option for 2026 — appeared to be on pace to return to the Guardians’ rotation in late June, but that could be delayed until after the All-Star break.
Cleveland (33-29) went into Saturday 7½ games behind Detroit in the AL Central, and a half-game out of a wild-card spot.
Guardians starters have the sixth-highest ERA in the American League (4.11).
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