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Listen, I’m gonna be straight with you. I was not looking forward to writing this article. I went to Staten Island yesterday to watch the FerryHawks face off against the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars (named after the Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar, manufactured there back in the mid-20th century) of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. Which, if you haven’t heard of it, is an independent baseball league that’s some sort of partner of MLB. I originally thought it was a collegiate league but I guess not? In any case, I hadn’t been to this stadium since MLB killed the Short Season A-Ball league entirely and the Yankees didn’t copy the Mets and move their High-A team into town (the Brooklyn Cyclones). That game was great, the FerryHawks won, there were an utterly shocking number of left-handed pitchers, I got to see Blake Rutherford hit a home run like it was 2017 all over again (RAB hive rise up!). But the whole time the Knicks were getting absolutely embarrassed in their own house a mere eight and a half miles away.
UNTIL THEY WEREN’T. SWISHLIST WHEN NICK?! SWISHLIST WHEN?! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THE KNICKS!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA LET’S TALK ABOUT BASEBALL. OG ANUNOBY TAKE THE CMS!
Today’s Headlines
What Is This, Walkoff City?
Ok so I was gonna write up these first two regardless because they happened practically on top of each other. First up, we got a San Francisco treat. The Giants entered the eighth inning down 9-1 to the Nats. They scored five in the bottom of the eighth, and the Nats tacked one more on in the top of the ninth. The Giants entered the ninth inning down 10-6. But it turns out that Gus Varland is not the Varland you really want on the mound in that situation. He gave up back-to-back doubles to Luis Arraez and Matt Chapman to get the Giants within three runs. He followed that up with a walk to Rafael Devers and was replaced by Mitchell Parker. Parker gave up a single to Jung Hoo Lee to load the bases. At this point he’s trying to protect a three-run lead with no outs and runners everywhere. It didn’t work out well, courtesy of Bryce Eldridge:
🤖 Alex PavlovicBRYCE ELDRIDGE WALK-OFF GRAND SLAM
— SF Giants Bot (@giantbot.bsky.social) 2026-06-10T23:01:41.449387+00:00
Eldridge takes the title of youngest player in MLB history to hit a grand slam (21 years, 7 months, 22 days), the previous holder of the honor was Roberto Clemente. Good company to be keeping.
Quickly, we zoom down the Pacific Coast Highway at wildly unrealistic and irresponsible speeds, then take whatever the highway is that goes from the end of that to San Diego to watch the Padres, who are entering the ninth tied up 4-4 with the Reds. Chase Petty (jeez, the Reds bullpen is really something these days, huh?) got two outs in the ninth and he just had to deal with ol’ one homer, .335 SLG Fernando Tatis Jr. to force things into extras. Well…
Oh, Nando 👀
— San Diego Padres (@padres.mlbbsky.com) 2026-06-10T22:53:36.000Z
That wasn’t really where you want to hang a slider but wow, what an absolute laser from Tatis. 106.3 mph off the bat at an 18-degree launch angle, whew.
Also when I said they happened “practically on top of each other” I might be underselling it. The first pitch time for the Giants game is listed as 12:46PM with a game time of 3:02. Padres kicked off at 1:11PM with a game time of 2:37. That puts the finish for both games at 3:48PM. That’s rad.
But wait, there’s more!
It’s been a rough stretch for the Cubs, to say the least. But they’re out in Colorado, surely they can get something going against the hapless Rockies, right? Well, almost. They took a 1-0 lead into the eighth when the Rockies scored two to take the lead. Chicago answered right back in the top of the ninth and it was Daniel Palencia on the bump to give the Cubs another chance in the 10th. He walked Troy Johnston and gave up a single to Brett Sullivan to put runners on the corners with no outs and Sterlin Thompson sent ’em home happy:
Well, that’s all…for the nine-inning walkoffs! We have to go back to California to check in on Anaheim, where the Angels are in the tenth inning of a 2-2 game against the Astros. Ryan Zeferjahn avoided letting the Manfred Man score in the top half, and now Nick Madrigal is standing on second base as the Angels’ representative for the position. Donovan Walton singles, and Madrigal advances to third. He’s driven in a batter later by Jose Siri:
Four walkoffs in one day! Two of them happening at the same time! All leading to wins by teams in the West division, 75% of them are NL West teams! That’s…gotta be something, right?
A Big Milestone? For Sure, Sir.
We got a double round-number alert in Toronto on Wednesday. First up is George Springer:
1K career runs for George 👏
— Toronto Blue Jays (@bluejaysbot.bsky.social) 2026-06-11T01:45:56.000Z
1,000 runs puts him at 358th overall in all of baseball history (that’s out of 4500 qualified batters!) but puts him at 11th overall for active players. Not bad!
But for a higher placement on the all-time list, we go to the mound and check in on Max Scherzer:
One of the greatest to ever do it 👏Max Scherzer is the 11th player in @mlbbot.bsky.social HISTORY with 3,500 strikeouts!
— Toronto Blue Jays (@bluejaysbot.bsky.social) 2026-06-10T23:12:55.000Z
The post pretty much says it all, really. Eleventh dude to do it ever. That’s less than have landed on the moon!
AL East Sweeps Week
If you were hoping to get some clarity on who was gonna win the AL East in the early going this week, it’s been a rough time. The Yankees relinquished their early lead in the division to the Rays, who in turn have let the Yankees catch up and tie them atop the standings (with one more win and one more loss than Tampa) and it’s been a dogfight for the last couple of weeks. The Yankees headed out to Cleveland to face the Guardians, who took two of three from New York when they were in the Bronx. This time was different, as the Yankees completed a sweep on Wednesday afternoon behind a solid showing from a trio of lefties:
Southpaws Shoved. #RepBX
— New York Yankees (@yankees.mlbbsky.com) 2026-06-10T20:27:11.000Z
The QS from Carlos Rodón was plenty as the bats came alive against Parker Messick, scoring five runs off of him (four earned) and tacking on another three against the Cleveland bullpen for an 8-4 win.
Alas and alack, it didn’t help them gain any ground on their Tampa-based rivals as the Rays completed a sweep of their own against the Red Sox behind a dominant performance from starter Drew Rasmussen:
Drew Rasmussen (TBR) struck out 13 against Boston over seven shutout innings
— Pitcher List Stats (@pitcherlistplv.pitcherlist.com) 2026-06-10T20:32:47.190Z
Yeah, not bad. Not bad at all. The Tampa bullpen wasn’t as lockdown and Boston did pull within one run in the eighth, but Tampa tacked on an extra two insurance runs in the bottom of the inning and then held on for a 7-5 win.
The Yankees take on Toronto while the Rays head out to face the Angels, so I have a feeling there will only be one team atop the standings come this weekend.
By The Numbers
7 Grand slams hit by the San Francisco Giants over the last 23 games, tying the 2006 Mets and making them the only two teams to ever do it
5 Knicks in
Best Moments From Yesterday
Athletics Ain’t Got No Age
I always wonder how teams pick their ballpeople. And while I don’t know what the criteria is for the Giants, I do know that Lefty has better moves than I do.
77 years old and still got it 😤What a play by the San Francisco balldude!
All We Need Is Pianoman
You’re getting double doses of the Giants and Padres today, huh? Well, have some enjoyable nomenclaturative wordplay:
— Jeff Praught (@jeffpraught.bsky.social) 2026-06-10T21:26:28.061Z
Reynolds Wrap
The Pirates didn’t walk it off on Wednesday, but they did end up winning by one, and that’s at least partially attributable to this incredible HR robbery from Bryan Reynolds:
REYNOLDS ROBBED OHTANI. V⭐️TE B-REY: pirates.com/vote
— Pittsburgh Pirates (@pirates.com) 2026-06-10T23:26:32.196Z
They were also helped by Shohei Ohtani turning in his worst start of the year…which was still 6.2 IP, 6 K, 4 R (3 ER).
Close Encounters Of The Chourio Kind
This might shock you, but somebody hit a home run in Las Vegas in yesterday’s game between the A’s and Brewers. Specifically in this case, Jackson Chourio hit one out to CF that found the camera, literally:
Doink.
Injuries and Other Moves
⚾ The Dodgers have placed Will Smith on the IL due to a lingering neck injury. Dalton Rushing managers are about to see that playing time shoot up.
⚾ Kyle Isbel is going on the IL due to plantar fasciitis in his left foot, which means it’s likely not going to be a minimum stay.
⚾ Pittsburgh has placed Oneil Cruz on the IL with two non-displaced fractures of fingers in his left hand. He’s expected to miss at least a month.
⚾ Boston will be without Garrett Crochet until at least the All-Star Break, it seems. His lat strain is “a lot worse than what we thought,” and he’s still not cleared to throw.
⚾ Atlanta did not avoid an IL trip for Ronald Acuña Jr. who is headed down with a strained left hamstring, his second such injury this year.
⚾ Seth Lugo took a 107mph line drive to the forehead yesterday and is almost assuredly going on the IL as a result. He was able to walk off the field under his own power, thankfully.
Articles You Should Read
Jeff Hoffman and the Worst BABIP of All Time – Davy Andrews, FanGraphs
This is the nastiest pitch in baseball. A new metric proves it. – Mike Petriello, MLB.com
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