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TEMPE, Ariz. — Nick Bjugstad took the ice for the first time at Mullett Arena on Thursday, the college hockey rink that will house the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes for at least the next three seasons.

He noticed its roughly 5,000 seats. The ones fans will pay not less than $100 to occupy, unless they’re part of the 200 to 400 Arizona State University students paying $25 to sit in the arena’s student section.

He noticed the “Fear The Fork” sign on the wall, the Sun Devils logo on the ice and all the other evidence that an NHL team is now sharing a barn with an NCAA Division I college program.

But mostly, Bjugstad noticed how clean and compact it all looked.

“The intimate setting is something we’ll try to use to our advantage. But we still don’t know what to expect,” said Bjugstad, an 11-year NHL veteran. “We’ll show up, play the same game. I mean, we’re playing in the NHL. There are no complaints.”

After 18 years playing in Glendale, the Coyotes play their first game at a temporary home in Tempe on Friday night when they host the Winnipeg Jets (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+). The Coyotes have a contract to play the next three seasons and potentially a fourth at ASU while they hope a new arena in Tempe is approved and constructed.

Their home opener follows six regular-season games and an entire preseason on the road. Mullett Arena — named for a family that has supported the Sun Devils’ Division I hockey program and the inspiration for a hockey mullet giveaway on opening night — officially opened in early October and hosted its first ASU men’s hockey games on Oct. 14 and 15.

“It’s loud. It’s really loud. The atmosphere was as good as anywhere we’ve played in college hockey,” said Greg Powers, head coach of the Sun Devils, who also noted the speed of the ice was and how “bouncy” the boards are.

Many of the Coyotes players have experienced hockey in smaller buildings, whether it was in juniors or in college or in the minor leagues. To have this kind of setting for an NHL game is something they can’t quite process yet.

“We’re excited. We’re curious. If the fans are into it, that will be a unique experience and a lot of emotion out there,” said Andre Tourigny, the Coyotes’ head coach. “I coached for a long time. If you asked me about the great crowds, you would be shocked. Because it would not be Madison Square Garden. It would be small barns where people are on top of you, and there’s emotion and it’s intimidating.”

Since 2009-10, the Coyotes averaged over 14,000 tickets distributed at their former home in Glendale just once — in the 2019-20 season, when they averaged 14,606. Last season, with the team squarely in a rebuild, that average dropped to 11,601 fans.

The crowds will be smaller at ASU, but the enthusiasm could spike. Coyotes president and CEO Xavier A. Gutierrez said it will be “an unprecedented experience” in the NHL.

“It is going to be loud. It’s going to be electric. Right over my shoulder is going to be a student section,” he said, pointing to the concrete bleachers where everyone from a marching band to former Coyote and current TNT analyst Paul Bissonnette are expected to hang. “You’re going to have that youthful exuberance every single night bringing that energy.”

How the Coyotes ended up in this boisterous new barn is one of the wildest journeys in recent pro sports history.


THE COYOTES’ FORMER home went by many names: Glendale Arena, Jobing.com Arena, Gila River Arena and now the Desert Diamond Arena. It was the city-owned facility where the Coyotes played for 18 seasons after moving from America West Arena out to Glendale in 2003. Owner Steve Ellman, a real estate developer, wanted to build in Scottsdale. That didn’t pan out, so it was off to the West Valley.

Ellman sold the team to trucking magnate Jerry Moyes two years later. Moyes eventually put the Coyotes into bankruptcy in an effort to sell the franchise to BlackBerry billionaire Jim Balsillie, who was going to move them to Hamilton in Canada. That led to the NHL stripping Moyes of his authority as an owner and the league running the Coyotes until a new owner could be found.

The next decade saw owners, real and potential, come and go. There was a moment when it looked like the team would relocate to Seattle, years before the Kraken would join the NHL. The ownership carousel stopped in July 2019, when hedge fund manager Andrew Barroway sold his controlling interest to billionaire Alex Meruelo, who owns the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada, and the Sahara Las Vegas in Las Vegas.

Throughout that decade, the relationship between the Coyotes and the city of Glendale fractured beyond repair. Starting in 2016, the team and the city began a series of one-year lease extensions, despite the Coyotes asking for multiyear extensions. In August 2021, Glendale announced that it was terminating the relationship with the team, effectively evicting the Coyotes from their arena.

“With an increased focus on larger, more impactful events and uses of the city-owned arena, the city of Glendale has chosen to not renew the operating agreement for the Arizona Coyotes beyond the coming 2021-22 season,” the city said in a statement.

The Coyotes said they were determined to remain in Arizona. Their focus was on building a new arena and an entertainment district on city-owned land in Tempe. In the meantime, they needed a place to play. They found a temporary home at Arizona State University’s new multipurpose arena, which would be ready — for the most part — by the 2022-23 NHL season. The Coyotes signed a contract to play at ASU’s 5,000-seat arena for the next three seasons, with an option for a fourth.

“Obviously, this is a temporary solution. We always want to be very clear that our goal is about a mile and a half down Rio Salado Parkway for the permanent facility,” Gutierrez said.

ASU’s $134.7 million project required the Coyotes to absorb $19.7 million in add-ons to make the space NHL-ready. That included a 15,000 gross-square-foot annex built next to the arena that would house NHL-quality locker rooms and training facilities for both the Coyotes and away teams. Gutierrez believes that Meruelo’s total investment is much higher than that.

“If you had an owner who spent $30 million for a temporary solution while he is trying to spend $2 billion for a permanent solution, that should show you the commitment, that should show you the resources and that should show you his will to win,” he said.

As the Coyotes open their multiyear run at Mullett Arena, the team will get a definitive answer on their new arena soon. The Tempe City Council voted in favor of a bid last month to move forward on negotiations for the new arena and entertainment district. The Tempe project has been estimated at $1.7 billion.

Gutierrez said there are three public hearings on the calendar for November regarding the Tempe arena bid, and a vote from the city council will come on Nov. 29.

Even if the arena is approved, the Coyotes aren’t sure when shovels will be in the ground.

“The reality is you do have a potential for litigation and you do have the potential for any referendum that could be called for that. But as far as the city of Tempe’s approval process that is the vote to approve it,” Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez has said the team also has alternate plans around the Tempe site for “Plan B and Plan C,” but that it is confident the current project is the right one. One thing the Coyotes have made clear: They plan on remaining in Arizona and have the support of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to continue to find solutions.


WHEN THINGS WERE going sideways in Glendale, Greg Powers heard the Coyotes were inquiring about temporarily moving to Arizona State.

“Personally, I never thought it would happen. The building was designed for Arizona State hockey and college hockey,” the Sun Devils coach said.

He said he wasn’t worried about the impact the Coyotes’ arrival would have on things like scheduling for the Sun Devils.

“It was never a concern. Not to be too contrite, but it’s our building,” he said. “It will always be our building. It was built for us. It was constructed and came into effect because of our donors. So there was never even a doubt that we wouldn’t get scheduling priority in that building. ASU made that abundantly clear to me, from the infant stages of their conversations.”

Powers added that the Sun Devils already have their schedule set for next season as well.

That priority is a reason why the Coyotes have only two Saturday night home games from October 2022 through March 2023, while they have nine Sunday home games.

There was also a conflict about using locker room facilities before the annex is finished. The Coyotes are using the road team dressing room at Mullett Arena, meaning that their first four visiting opponents — the Jets, New York Rangers, Florida Panthers and Dallas Stars — will use a temporary locker room built atop a covered community rink inside the facility. Video of that setup, which includes free standing metal lockers and temporary walls, went viral this week when it hit social media, as other NHL fans mocked the meager arrangement.

Why couldn’t the Coyotes use the Sun Devils’ locker room? Gutierrez said it was NCAA rules compliance, but a source told ESPN that the ASU men’s hockey team simply didn’t want the hassle of moving another team’s gear in and out of their room.

Powers said it was a bit of both.

“There are some compliance concerns with rubbing elbows with [NHL players], literally sharing a locker room,” he said. “But for my standpoint, most importantly, you’re getting into this whole musical chairs thing, and that’s something I’m not interested in. It’s our locker room. All I care about is that our players aren’t displaced in any way. There’s just no good way to do it. I wish there was, but there isn’t.”

Powers is opening the ASU coaches’ offices to Tourigny and his staff before the annex is built.

The annex is one example for why it was a “no-brainer” to have the Coyotes play at ASU, according to Powers. The Coyotes have spent millions on updating the arena technology for replays and video, as well as for television broadcasts. The ice-making system was upgraded to produce an NHL-quality surface.

“They’re not going to take the building with them. When they leave, they’re going to leave behind a beautiful building with two pro dressing rooms and offices, a medical facility and some workout rooms,” he said. “We’ll have the space to maybe add club teams or maybe a women’s program. We can host NCAA regionals. It just enhances the facility in a major way. We have absolutely benefitted from this and will continue to.”

The greatest benefit, according to Power, would be to help keep an NHL team in Arizona.

“Being instrumental in helping to keep the NHL in our market. To assist and give them a temporary home until this thing in Tempe gets done is something we can be proud of,” he said. “We need the NHL. The NHL being in our market has done so much to grow the game. Look at a kid like Auston Matthews. The game has grown at an exponential pace in our market because the Coyotes are here. We want them to stay.”

And while they’re here, Powers would love to use the Coyotes to boost his program’s profile. That’s as clear as the two logos that share center ice.

“I was selfishly excited about what this does for our program. You can’t walk into that arena and not know that it [belongs to] Arizona State,” he said. “Our brand is going to get out there. That’s good for us.”


COYOTES GENERAL MANAGER Bill Armstrong has talked to his players a lot about the Mullett Arena move.

“I always tell the guys that we’re trying to become the new Tampa Bay Lightning in the league,” he said. “They were at the state where they played out of an airplane hangar at one point, and now they’re a premier franchise in the NHL. We’re trying to make that next step.”

The players have also talked to Armstrong, expressing what they wanted out of this arena.

“You know, back in my day, they told you what to do. It’s totally changed. You know, the players on our team are our partners and they’ve got to be on board with this,” he said. “You’ve got to make them a part of the process of building the training facility, dressing rooms and also coming here. We’ve tried to include ’em in every step that we’ve made.

“As I explained to them: It’s all new. There’s some really good things about it. But I told them it’s also temporary. And whenever you have ‘temporary,’ you’re always missing something. So it’s not completely perfect.”

There are small changes for the players. For example, the tickets that they can secure for friends and family at games due to the capacity.

“Yeah, they’re more expensive,” forward Clayton Keller said with a laugh. “But it’ll be a fun atmosphere.”

There are larger changes for the players, too, like the amount of time they’ll have to spend on the road early this season. The Coyotes played six road games, winning two of them, before this four-game homestand. As the annex is completed, they’ll play 14 straight games on the road before returning to Mullett on Dec. 9 to face the Boston Bruins.

“There’s a good way to look at the schedule and there’s a negative way to look at the schedule,” Armstrong said. “The negative is, you know, it’s probably the worst or the hardest schedule in the NHL off the start. But come December, we get the best schedule in the NHL. So our players are excited about that possibility of coming back and getting through the road trips and keep getting a little bit better.”

The Coyotes are a rebuilding team. Their NHL draft lottery odds for phenom Connor Bedard will likely be more compelling than their season point total.

“You know, it’s hard going through the rebuild because your players are on the ice fighting for their lives and they might not be here in three years,” Armstrong said. “So we try to really not focus on the Connor Bedard sweepstakes as an organization.

“That’s the way you have to dive into it because there’s a lot of negativity that losses can occur. It wears down the team. I think our coaching staff’s done a remarkable job at ignoring the noise and focusing in on getting better every single day. When we do that as an organization, we keep our spirit alive and we keep fighting.”

That said, Armstrong knows what a rebuilding team really needs.

“We need a little luck though. Somebody’s got to fix the [lottery] ball,” he said, with a laugh. “The Coyotes haven’t had a lot of luck with that ball dropping. So we’re going to start a new ritual. I’m a little superstitious.”

It’s all part of the Arizona Coyotes experience. A team in a temporary home, hoping for a city to approve a permanent one. A team in a temporary rebuild, hoping for the lottery balls to bounce the right way. Yet also a team in the entertainment business, hoping to turn one of the NHL’s most unique home ices to its advantage.

“It’s similar to Vegas. They came in and their arena was crazy. It’s the toughest arena to play in because it’s so loud. Maybe it’ll be an advantage for us, too,” Bjugstad said. “But it’s kind of on us to give them something to cheer about.”

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Hard-throwing rookie Misiorowski going to ASG

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Hard-throwing rookie Misiorowski going to ASG

Hard-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski is a National League All-Star replacement, giving the Milwaukee Brewers right-hander a chance to break Paul Skenes‘ record for the fewest big league appearances before playing in the Midsummer Classic.

Misiorowski was named Friday night to replace Chicago Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd, who will be unavailable for the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Atlanta because he is scheduled to start Saturday at the New York Yankees.

The 23-year-old Misiorowski has made just five starts for the Brewers, going 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA while averaging 99.3 mph on his fastball, with 89 pitches that have reached 100 mph.

If he pitches at Truist Park, Misiorowski will make it consecutive years for a player to set the mark for fewest big league games before an All-Star showing.

Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander getting ready for his second All-Star appearance, had made 11 starts in the majors when he was chosen as the NL starter for last year’s All-Star Game at Texas. He pitched a scoreless inning.

“I’m speechless,” said a teary-eyed Misiorowski, who said he was given the news a few minutes before the Brewers’ 8-3 victory over Washington. “It’s awesome. It’s very unexpected and it’s an honor.”

Misiorowski is the 30th first-time All-Star and 16th replacement this year. There are now 80 total All-Stars.

“He’s impressive. He’s got some of the best stuff in the game right now, even though he’s a young pitcher,” said Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who is a starting AL outfielder for his seventh All-Star nod. “He’s going to be a special pitcher in this game for a long time so I think he deserved it and it’s going be pretty cool for him and his family.”

Carlos Rodón, Carlos Estévez and Casey Mize were named replacement pitchers on the AL roster.

The New York Yankees‘ Rodón, an All-Star for the third time in five seasons, will replace teammate Max Fried for Tuesday’s game in Atlanta. Fried will be unavailable because he is scheduled to start Saturday against the Chicago Cubs.

In his final start before the All-Star game, Rodón allowed four hits and struck out eight in eight innings in an 11-0 victory over the Cubs.

“This one’s a little special for me,” said Rodón, an All-Star in 2021 and ’22 who was 3-8 in his first season with the Yankees two years ago before rebounding. “I wasn’t good when I first got here, and I just wanted to prove that I wasn’t to going to give up and just put my best foot forward and try to win as many games as I can.”

The Kansas City Royals‘ Estévez replaces Texas’ Jacob deGrom, who is scheduled to start at Houston on Saturday night. Estévez was a 2023 All-Star when he was with the Los Angeles Angels.

Mize takes the spot held by Boston‘s Garrett Crochet, who is scheduled to start Saturday against Tampa Bay. Mize gives the Tigers six All-Stars, most of any team and tied for the franchise record.

Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia will replace Tampa Bay‘s Brandon Lowe, who went on the injured list with left oblique tightness. The additions of Estévez and Garcia give the Royals four All-Stars, matching their 2024 total.

The Seattle Mariners announced center fielder Julio Rodríguez will not participate, and he was replaced by teammate Randy Arozarena. Rodríguez had been voted onto the AL roster via the players’ ballot. The Mariners, who have five All-Stars, said Rodríguez will use the break to “recuperate, rest and prepare for the second half.”

Arozarena is an All-Star for the second time. He started in left field for the AL two years ago, when he was with Tampa Bay. Arozarena was the runner-up to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the 2023 Home Run Derby.

Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen, a first-time All-Star, is replacing Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who is scheduled to start Saturday night at Arizona. Rasmussen is 7-5 with a 2.82 ERA in 18 starts.

San Diego added a third NL All-Star reliever in lefty Adrián Morejón, who replaces Philadelphia starter Zack Wheeler. The Phillies’ right-hander is scheduled to start at San Diego on Saturday night. Morejón entered the weekend with a 1.71 ERA in 45 appearances.

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Midseason grades for all 30 MLB teams: ‘A’ is for Astros, ‘F’ is for …?

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Midseason grades for all 30 MLB teams: 'A' is for Astros, 'F' is for ...?

We’re past due to hand out some midseason grades, so let’s hand out some midseason grades.

As we pass the 90-game mark in the 2025 MLB season, my team of the first half isn’t the well-rounded Detroit Tigers, who do get our highest grade for owning MLB’s best record, or the explosive Chicago Cubs or Shohei Ohtani‘s Los Angeles Dodgers, but a team most baseball fans love to hate: the Houston Astros. They lost their two best players from last season and their best hitter has been injured — and they’re playing their best baseball since they won the 2022 World Series.

Let’s get to the grades. As always, we’re grading off preseason expectations, factoring in win-loss record and quality of performance, while looking at other positive performances and injuries.

Jump to a team:

AL East: BAL | BOS | NYY | TB | TOR
AL Central: CHW | CLE | DET | KC | MIN
AL West: ATH | HOU | LAA | SEA | TEX

NL East: ATL | MIA | NYM | PHI | WSH
NL Central: CHC | CIN | MIL | PIT | STL
NL West: ARI | COL | LAD | SD | SF

Tarik Skubal is obviously the headline act, but the Tigers are winning with impressive depth across the entire roster.

Javier Baez is putting together a remarkable comeback season after a couple of abysmal years and will become the first player to start an All-Star Game at both shortstop and in the outfield. Former No. 1 overall picks Casey Mize and Spencer Torkelson have put together their own comeback stories, while Riley Greene has matured into one of the game’s top power hitters.

Given their deep well of prospects and contributors at the MLB level, no team is better positioned than the Tigers to add significant help at the trade deadline.


I heard someone refer to them as the Zombie Astros, which feels apropos. Alex Bregman left as a free agent, they traded Kyle Tucker, Yordan Alvarez has been injured and has just three home runs, and the Jose Altuve experiment in left field predictably fizzled.

But here they are, fighting for the best record in the majors and holding a comfortable lead in the AL West. They’re getting star turns from Hunter Brown, Framber Valdez and Jeremy Pena, while the risky decision to start Cam Smith in the majors with very little minor league experience has paid off, as he has now become their cleanup hitter.

If we ignore the COVID-19 season, the Astros look on their way to an eighth straight division title.


This could be at least a half-grade higher based on everything that has gone right: Pete Crow-Armstrong‘s attention-grabbing breakout, Tucker doing everything expected after the big trade, Seiya Suzuki‘s monster power numbers and Matthew Boyd‘s All-Star turn in the rotation. The Cubs are on pace for their most wins since their World Series title season in 2016.

There have been a few hiccups, however, especially in the rotation with Justin Steele‘s season-ending injury and Ben Brown‘s inconsistency, plus rookie third baseman Matt Shaw has scuffled, and the bench has been weak aside from their backup catchers.

Still, this is a powerhouse lineup, and the Cubs will seek to improve their rotation at the deadline.


They just keep winning of late, going from 25-27 and seven games behind the Yankees on May 25 to taking over first place from the slumping Bronx Bombers, a remarkable turnaround over just 36 games. They went 27-9 over a 36-game stretch ending with their eighth win in a row on Sunday.

George Springer‘s recent surge has been fun to watch, a reminder of how good he was at his peak, and Addison Barger has been mashing over the past two months.

Some of the stats don’t add up to the Blue Jays being this good — they’ve barely outscored their opponents — but there might be more offense in the tank from the likes of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a healthy Anthony Santander, and the bullpen, a soft spot, is the easiest area to upgrade.


Their success is best summed up by the fact that Freddy Peralta is their lone All-Star, but they have a whole bunch of players who have contributed between 1 and 2 WAR.

Brandon Woodruff looked good Sunday in his first start in nearly two years, so that could be a huge boost for the second half.

I’m curious to see how Jackson Chourio performs as well. While his counting stats — extra-base hits, RBIs — are fine, his triple-slash line remains below last season, especially his OBP. He had a huge second half in 2024 (.310/.363/.552), and if he does that again, the Brewers could find themselves back in the postseason for the seventh time in eight seasons.


The Rays started off slow, with a losing record through the end of April, but then went 33-22 in May and June to claw back into the AL East race — as the Rays usually do, last year being the recent exception.

Two key performers have been All-Star third baseman Junior Caminero, who has a chance to become just the third player to hit 40 home runs in his age-21 season, and All-Star first baseman Jonathan Aranda.

Due to the league wanting the Rays to play more home games early in the season, the July and August slate will be very road-heavy, so we’ll see how the Rays adapt to a difficult two-month stretch, especially since their pitching isn’t quite as deep as it has been in other seasons.


No, they’re not going to be the greatest team of all time. But they might win 100 games — even though Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki, their huge offseason acquisitions, have combined for just two wins in 10 starts.

The lineup, of course, has been terrific, with Ohtani leading the NL in several categories and Will Smith leading the batting race. By wRC+, it’s been the best offense in Dodgers history.

If they can get some combo of Snell, Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow healthy, plus Ohtani eventually ramped up to a bigger workload on the mound, the Dodgers still loom as World Series favorites.


They are on pace for 95 wins, mainly on the strength of Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez, who are a combined 23-7 with 11.8 WAR. Jesus Luzardo‘s ERA is bloated due to that two-start stretch when he allowed 20 runs, but he has otherwise been solid as well.

But, overall, it hasn’t always been the smoothest of treks. The bullpen has imploded a few times and the offense has lacked power aside from Kyle Schwarber. Bryce Harper is back after missing three weeks, and they need to get his bat going. Look for some bullpen additions at the trade deadline — and perhaps an outfielder as well.


The Cardinals have been a minor surprise — perhaps even to the Cardinals themselves. St. Louis was viewing this as a rebuilding year of sorts — not that the Cardinals ever hit rock bottom and start completely over. They had a hot May, winning 12 of 13 at one point, but the offense has been fading of late, with those three straight shutout losses to Pittsburgh and six shutout losses since June 25.

The starting rotation doesn’t generate a lot of swing and miss, with both Erick Fedde and Miles Mikolas seeing their ERAs starting to climb. Brendan Donovan is the team’s only All-Star rep, and that kind of sums up this team: solid but without any star power. That might foretell a second-half fade.


All-Star starting pitchers Logan Webb and Robbie Ray, plus a dominant bullpen, have led the way, although after starting 12-4, the Giants have basically been a .500 team for close to three months now. Rafael Devers hasn’t yet ignited the offense since coming over from Boston, and the Giants have lost four 1-0 games.

These final three games at home against the Dodgers before the All-Star break will be a crucial series, as Los Angeles has slowly pulled away in the NL West.


This was an “A-plus” through June 12, when the Mets were 45-24 and owned the best record in baseball, even though Juan Soto hadn’t gotten hot. Soto finally got going in June, but the pitching collapsed, and the Mets went through a disastrous 1-10 stretch.

The rotation injuries have piled up, exacerbating the lack of bullpen depth. Recent games have been started by Justin Hagenman (who had a 6.21 ERA in Triple-A), journeyman reliever Chris Devenski, Paul Blackburn (7.71 ERA) and Frankie Montas, who has had to start even though he’s clearly not throwing the ball well. The Mets need to get the rotation healthy, but also could use more offense from Mark Vientos and their catchers (Francisco Alvarez was demoted to Triple-A).


At times it has felt like Cal Raleigh has been a one-man team with his record-breaking first half. But he will be joined on the All-Star squad by starting pitcher Bryan Woo, closer Andres Munoz and center fielder Julio Rodriguez, who made it on the strength of his defense, as his offense has been a disappointment.

The offense has been one of the best in the majors on the road, but the rotation has been nowhere near as effective as the past couple of seasons, with George Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller all missing time with injuries. They just shut out the Pirates three games in a row, so maybe that will get the rotation on a roll.


They’re just out of the wild-card picture while hanging around .500, so we give them a decent grade since that exceeds preseason expectations. It feels like a little bit of a mirage given their run differential — their record in one-run games (good) versus their record in blowout games (not good) — and various holes across the lineup and pitching staff.

But they’ve done two things to keep them in the race. One, they hit a lot of home runs. Two, they’re the only team in the majors to use just five starting pitchers. The rotation hasn’t been stellar, but it’s been stable.


The Padres are probably fortunate to be where they are, given some of their issues. As expected, the offensive depth has been a problem.

Not as expected, Dylan Cease has struggled while Michael King‘s injury after a strong start has left them without last year’s dynamic 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation (although Nick Pivetta has been one of the best signings of the offseason). Yu Darvish just made his season debut Monday, so hopefully he’ll provide a lift.

The Padres haven’t played well against the better teams, including a 2-5 record against the Dodgers, but they did clean up against the Athletics, Rockies and Pirates, going 16-2 against those three teams.


For now, the Reds are stuck in neutral. Leave out 2022, when they lost 100 games, and it’s otherwise been a string of .500-ish seasons: 31-29 in 2020, 83-79 in 2021, 82-80 in 2023, 77-85 in 2024 and now a similar record so far in 2025.

The hope was that Terry Francona would be a difference-maker. Maybe that will play out down the stretch, but the best hope is to get the rotation clicking on all cylinders at the same time. That means Andrew Abbott continuing his breakout performance, plus getting Hunter Greene healthy again and rookie Chase Burns to live up to the hype after a couple of shaky outings following an impressive MLB debut.

Throw in Nick Lodolo and solid Nick Martinez and Brady Singer, and this group can be good enough to pitch the Reds to their first full-season playoff appearance since 2013.


The Yankees have hit their annual midseason swoon — which has been subject to much intense analysis from their disgruntled fans — and that opening weekend sweep of the Brewers, when the Yankees’ torpedo bats were the big story in baseball, now seems long ago.

Going from seven up to three back in such a short time is a disaster — but not disastrous. Nonetheless, the Yankees will have to do some hard-core self-evaluation heading to the trade deadline.

The offense wasn’t going to be as good as it was in April, when Paul Goldschmidt, Trent Grisham and Ben Rice were all playing over their heads. So, do they need a hitter? Or with Clarke Schmidt now likely joining Gerrit Cole as a Tommy John casualty, do they need a starting pitcher? Or both?


From the book of “things we didn’t expect,” page 547: The Marlins are averaging more runs per game than the Orioles, Padres, Braves and Rangers, to name a few teams. They’re averaging almost as many runs per game as the Mets, and last time we checked, the Marlins weren’t the team to give Soto $765 million.

An eight-game winning streak at the end of June has the Marlins going toe-to-toe with the Braves for third place in the NL East even though the starting rotation has been a mess, with Sandy Alcantara on track to become just the fourth qualified pitcher with an ERA over 7.00.


Heading into the season, I thought that if any team was going to challenge the Dodgers in the NL West, it would be the Diamondbacks. The offense has once again been one of the best in the majors, but the pitching issues have been painful.

After the aggressive move to sign Corbin Burnes, he went down with Tommy John surgery after 11 starts. Meanwhile, Zac Gallen, Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon Pfaadt each have an ERA on the wrong side of 5.00. Rodriguez was better in June before a shellacking on July 4, while Gallen remains homer-prone, so it’s hard to tell if improvement is on the horizon. Their playoff odds are hovering just under 20%, so there’s a chance, but they need to get red-hot like they did last July and August.


It feels like it has been more soap opera than baseball season in Boston, with the Devers drama finally ending with the shocking trade with the Giants.

If you give added weight that this is the Red Sox, a team that should be operating with the big boys in both budget and aspirations and instead seemed to only want to dump Devers’ contract, then feel free to lower this grade a couple of notches, even if the Red Sox are close in the wild-card standings.

On the field, the heralded rookie trio of Kristian Campbell, Roman Anthony and Marcelo Mayer hasn’t exactly clicked, with Campbell returning to the minors after posting a .902 OPS in April. A big test will come out of the All-Star break, when they play the Cubs, Phillies, Dodgers, Twins and Astros in a tough 15-game stretch.


After last season’s surprise playoff appearance, it’s been a frustrating 2025 — although I’m not sure this result is necessarily a surprise.

There were concerns about the offense heading into the season and those concerns have proven correct. They were getting no production from their outfield, so they rushed Jac Caglianone to the majors to much hype, but he has struggled and might need a reset back in Triple-A. Even Bobby Witt Jr., as good as he has been (on pace for 7.5 WAR), has seen his OPS drop 140 points.

On the bright side, Kris Bubic emerged as an All-Star starter and Noah Cameron has filled in nicely for the injured Cole Ragans, so maybe they trade a starter for some offense.


Coming off a catastrophic 2024 season, nobody was expecting anything from the White Sox. Indeed, another 121-loss season loomed as a possibility. While they’re on pace to lose 100 again, they’ve at least played more competitive baseball thanks to their pitching.

Rookie starters Shane Smith and Sean Burke have shown promise, while rookie position players Kyle Teel, Edgar Quero and now Colson Montgomery are getting their initial taste of the majors.

There has been the mix of calamity: Luis Robert Jr. has been unproductive and is probably now untradable, and former No. 3 overall pick Andrew Vaughn hit .189 and was traded to the Brewers.


The Twins are one organization that might like a do-over of the past five seasons. It feels like they’ve had the most talent in the division, but all they’ve done is squeeze out one soft division title in 2023. Now, the Tigers have passed them in talent and other factors, such as payroll flexibility.

There’s still time for the Twins to turn things around in 2025, but outside of that wonderful 13-game winning streak, they haven’t played winning baseball.


Overall, it’s been yet another bad season, despite Paul Skenes‘ brilliance. Really, do we talk enough about him? Yes, we do talk about him, but he has a 1.95 ERA through his first 42 career starts. Incredible.

Here’s an amazing thing about baseball. The Pirates are not a good team, but they recently put together one of the best six-game stretches in history. That’s not stretching the description. First, they swept the Mets — a good team — by scores of 9-1, 9-2 and 12-1. Then they swept the Cardinals — a good team — with three shutouts, 7-0, 1-0 and 5-0. They became the first team since at least 1901 to score 43 runs or more and allow four runs or fewer in a six-game stretch. And then they promptly got shut out three games in a row, making them the first to win three straight shutouts and then lose three straight shutouts.


Eighteen of our 28 voters picked them to win the AL West before the season, but it’s looking more and more like the 2023 World Series might be a stone-cold fluke in the middle of a string of losing seasons. That year, nearly everyone in the lineup had a career year at the plate, and the pitching got hot at the right time.

This year’s Rangers, though, have struggled to score runs, and while some have pointed to the offensive environment at Globe Life Field, they’re near the bottom in road OPS as well. It’s been fun seeing Jacob deGrom back at a dominating level, and Nathan Eovaldi should have been an All-Star.

Put it this way: If the Rangers can somehow squeeze into the postseason, you don’t want to face the Rangers in a short series. Indeed, if any team looms as an October upset special, it might be the Rangers.


The Nationals received superlative first-half performances from James Wood and MacKenzie Gore, while CJ Abrams is on the way to his best season. But there remains a lack of overall organizational progress, which finally led to the firings on Sunday of longtime GM Mike Rizzo and longtime manager Dave Martinez. A 7-19 record in June sealed their fate, as the rotation has been bad and the bullpen arguably the worst in baseball.

Until the Nationals figure out how to improve their pitching — or, better yet, find an owner who wants to win — they will be stuck going nowhere.


That fell apart in a hurry. Sunday’s loss was Cleveland’s 10th in a row, a stretch that remarkably included five shutouts. Indeed, the Guardians have now been shut out 11 times; the franchise record in the post-dead-ball-era (since 1920) is 20 shutouts in 1968.

There’s nothing worse than watching a team that can’t score runs, so that tells you how exciting the Guardians have been. Last year, the Guardians hit exceptionally well with runners in scoring position, keeping afloat what was otherwise a mediocre offense. That hasn’t happened in 2025 (trading Josh Naylor didn’t help either). Throw in some predictable regression from the bullpen, and this season looks lost.


We can’t give this a complete failing grade due to the emergence of All-Star shortstop Jacob Wilson (the Athletics’ first All-Star starter since Josh Donaldson in 2014) and slugging first baseman Nick Kurtz, who have a chance to finish 1-2 in the Rookie of the Year voting. Plus, we have Denzel Clarke‘s circus catches in center field.

But otherwise? Ugh. The Sacramento gamble already looks like a disaster, three months into a three-year stay. The team is drawing well below Sutter Health Park’s 14,000-seat capacity, with many recent games drawing under 10,000 fans. Luis Severino bashed the small crowds and the lack of air-conditioning.

The A’s had a groundbreaking ceremony for their new park in Vegas, renting heavy construction equipment as background props. Maybe they should have spent that money on more pitching help.


Based on preseason expectations, the Braves have clearly been the biggest disappointment in the National League — fighting the Orioles for most disappointing overall.

What’s gone wrong? They haven’t scored runs, as the offense continues its remarkable fade from a record-setting performance just two seasons ago. The collapses of Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies lead the way, with lack of production at shortstop and left field playing a big role as well. Closer Raisel Iglesias has struggled, and the team is 11-22 in one-run games. Spencer Strider hasn’t yet reached his pre-injury level and Reynaldo Lopez made just one start before going down.

The Braves haven’t missed the playoffs since 2017, but that run is clearly in jeopardy.


The Orioles have a similar record to the Braves but have played much worse, including losses of 24-2, 19-5, 15-3 and two separate 9-0 shutouts.

They will spend the trade deadline dealing away as many of their impending free agents as possible, and then do a lot of soul-searching heading into the offseason. After making the playoffs in 2023 and 2024, will this season just be a blip? While the pitching struggles aren’t necessarily a big surprise, what has happened to the offense? Are some of their young players prospects or suspects?


After two months of Cleveland Spiders-level baseball, it would be easy to make fun of the Rockies. Especially since they recently announced Walker Monfort — son of the owner — was promoted to executive VP and will replace outgoing president and COO Greg Feasel.

On the other hand, the Rockies are doing something right: They just drew 121,000 for a three-game series against the White Sox.

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White Sox unveil Buehrle statue: ‘Well-deserved’

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White Sox unveil Buehrle statue: 'Well-deserved'

CHICAGO — Former White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle was forever immortalized inside Rate Field as the team unveiled a statue in his honor Friday.

Buehrle, 46, played 16 years in the majors, including the first 12 with the White Sox, who he helped win a World Series in 2005. He won 214 games and pitched 200 innings or more in 14 consecutive seasons from 2001 to 2014.

“I can’t put it into words,” Buehrle said after the unveiling. “You don’t play the game for any of this. You never think of number retirements or statues. I can’t even wrap my head around it. It doesn’t make sense.”

The statue is an action shot of him throwing a pitch.

His wife and kids were in attendance and helped pull off the cover to unveil the statue while his 2005 teammates looked on. The event kicked off a weekend reunion for the World Series team which went 11-1 in the postseason, beating the Houston Astros in four games to take home the title.

Buehrle was a five-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner, finishing fifth in Cy Young voting in 2005.

“Well-deserved,” former right fielder Jermaine Dye said of the statue. “Great teammate. Great leader. Definitely someone you want on a ballclub to lead a pitching staff.”

The White Sox rotation — led by Buehrle — threw four complete games in the ALCS against the Boston Red Sox in 2005, missing a fifth complete game by two-thirds of an inning. It’s an unheard of accomplishment in today’s game since starters infrequently go the distance.

Besides being an innings-eater on the mound, Buehrle was a fast worker — a favorite trait of his catcher, A.J Pierzynski. And he wasn’t someone who threw a lot of different pitches. He caught it and threw it without much input from behind the plate.

“He was fast,” Pierzynski said. “We had Jermaine Dye calling pitches from right field some games. We did come crazy things you wouldn’t recommend to people to do nowadays.”

Buehrle is a notoriously low-key guy who hates the spotlight but even he was moved by the team’s decision to honor him with a statue, which joins former slugger Harold Baines in the right-field concourse.

“I joked with him when I saw him,” Dye said. “I told him ‘Man it takes you getting a statue to get you out of the house.'”

Buehrle added: “I was literally nervous as can be today. This is not my comfort zone but by no means am I taking it lightly. This is incredible.”

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