Stay updated on everything baseball with our morning MLB News & Moments articles. We’ve got you covered to keep you in the know.
Wednesday was not the crispest day for fundamentals, as in addition to the below Mets/Cubs and O’s/Angels games, the Blue Jays and Red Sox both also managed to lose their games due to errors in the late innings that let their opponents take the lead from them. As a Yankees fan, I can’t complain too much about that, though, I suppose.
Today’s Headlines
Dansby Loves A Doubleheader
Dansby Swanson has driven in ELEVEN RUNS in the @Cubs doubleheader 🤯
11 RBI in a single day from one player is the most since Mark Whiten did it back in 1993 (hat tip to PL Pro member div3rse for letting me know about this one!) But Dansby Swanson wasn’t just on a heater for Wednesday’s doubleheader, he’s been on one for the entire series with the Mets:
Dansby Swanson is the 18th instance of a player with 15+ RBI in a series, since RBI official (1920). 12th of those in a series of 4 or fewer games Others in last 45 years:2016 Danny Espinosa2008 Cody Ross
— Sarah Langs (@slangsonsports.bsky.social) 2026-06-25T02:22:26.828Z
(Danny Espinosa! Remember his incredible moustaches?!)
It was very much a day to forget for the Mets, losing both ends of the doubleheader, 10-3 in the afternoon and then 10-5 at night, but the second game of the set was a real low point for the Amazin’s infield:
"I mean, what do you say at this point? I mean, this team is in the depths of despair, can't get starting pitching to hold the other team at bay, struggling with their offense, and now the defense falls apart. SIX infield errors. Unprecedented." – Gary Cohen pulls no punches on the lifeless Mets.
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing.bsky.social) 2026-06-25T02:20:58.649Z
Every infielder managed to pick up an E, with Marcus Semien and Mark Vientos picking up a pair each. Bad day to be a Met Mark/c, I guess. One person who is happy to see it is Shota Imanaga, who walked away with the win in the nightcap game but did give up three home runs, for a total of seven in the month of June so far, after giving up an even ten in May. A worrying trendline.
With that dropped doubleheader, the Mets have now lost five games in a row, and they’ve lost their last six games against the Cubs.
As if all of that wasn’t enough, they followed it up with a late-night trade:
Trade news: The Chicago Cubs are acquiring left-hander David Peterson from the New York Mets, sources tell ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) June 25, 2026
Has David Peterson been good this year? No, absolutely not. But the Cubs need anybody with a pulse and an intact UCL (and hamstrings) they can get right now.
Samuel Baseballo
From one standout offensive day to another, we go to Anaheim, where Samuel Basallo had himself a nice time at the plate, with a double-dong day against the Angels.
As you can hear on the broadcast, that’s the first XBH that José Soriano has given up on his splitter all year. In both his defense and as a criticism, I will say that this probably isn’t the ideal way to locate back-to-back splits against anybody, much less a slugger like Basallo:
Basallo’s second HR came on a center-cut four-seam FB and as you can see in the video, it just hit off of the top of the HR line out in right field. It was an absolute laser, coming off the bat at 112.5 mph and would have gone out in 17 ballparks, but I must again register my distaste for the way the Angels simply drew a line halfway up the actual outfield wall and declared anything above it a homer. Dingers should have to leave the field of play! But ground rules is ground rules, and congratulations to Sammy Baseball on his first career multi-HR game.
Things may have started out pretty strongly for the Orioles, but the Angels got the last laugh. They scored first in the first inning via a two-run Jorge Soler homer:
The O’s pulled ahead thanks to the aforementioned Basallo homers plus an RBI double from Pete Alonso. Anaheim tied it back up in the eighth inning thanks to singles from Vaughn Grissom and Wade Meckler, scoring one and two runs, respectively. The score remained tied through the ninth, and things got a little wild in the tenth. Baltimore pulled back into the lead, thanks again to Alonso, this time coming through with an RBI single. It looked like that would be enough as Keegan Akin got two quick outs in the bottom half of the inning, although Manfred Man Oswald Peraza moved to third base on a fly out. Then this happened:
That man definitely runs like a first baseman. And while that’s gotta be one of the wildest ways to tie a game, four pitches later Logan O’Hoppe gave us something even wilder:
Official scorer’s decision: Single.
Mr. 3C
It was a milestone night for Mookie Betts on Wednesday, as he hit his 300th career home run with a solo shot in the second inning in Minnesota:
Mookie’s had a down year at the plate so far, going into yesterday’s game with a .218/.281/.385 slash line and only eight home runs. He’s definitely turned things around lately, though: over the last seven days he’s slashing .379/.438/.655 and number 300 was his second home run over that period. He was suitably demure about the whole thing post-game:
Apparently the Dodgers decided to line up Shohei Ohtani’s starts with my nights working the News & Moments desk, so I am once again here to bring you a ridiculous pitching line courtesy of the man.
Solid night from Shohei.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@dodgersbot.bsky.social) 2026-06-25T01:47:40.000Z
He’s now 8-2 with a 1.58 ERA. Just out here foolin’ around and gunning for a Cy Young, huh? (Honestly, I think we’re all being a little too aloof about Shohei’s CY chances and it does a disservice to Cristopher Sánchez and Jacob Misiorowski, who both have stronger cases right now.)
By The Numbers
15 year age difference between Paul Goldschmidt and Jasson DomÃnguez, who both homered in Detroit last night (Paul had two!)
15 feet of total distance on Logan O’Hoppe’s walkoff single.
Best Moments From Yesterday
Mr. Met, We Ride To Valhalla!
Folks who trekked out to Willets Point yesterday didn’t have much to cheer about on the field, but a huge contingent of Norwegian soccer fans made sure that those in attendance had a good time nonetheless.
Norge Mr. and Mrs. Mets
— Will Harris (@sandwichpick.bsky.social) 2026-06-24T20:42:25.212Z
These little field trips from the various World Cup groups have been a total hoot to see, and hopefully a bunch of those rowers go home and support the Norsk Baseballiga.
Phweeeeeeee!
It’s been a stressful but rewarding couple of days for the Phillies, who won two games against the Nats without much margin for error:
This is the first time in at least the expansion era (1961) the Phillies have won consecutive games despite trailing with two outs in the final scheduled inning or later in eachh/t @EliasSports
— Sarah Langs (@slangsonsports.bsky.social) 2026-06-25T04:46:28.412Z
Those wins have helped them cut the deficit in the NL East to just 4.5 games back from Atlanta, and it looks like that division may end up a bit more exciting than we might have thought not that long ago…
Wardrobe Malfunction
Tarik Skubal gave up a trio of home runs en route to a 4-2 loss to the Yankees, but his worst moment of the day seemed to come as he struck out Austin Wells in the third inning:
Someone gotta get Skub some baggier pants 😂
I know we all wanna be like Robbie Ray, but maybe size up a little? I also cannot imagine how hard it was for Benetti to hold it together long enough to finish the story about the Make-A-Wish kid.
Hey, look at that, I finally got to write about the guy in the header image!
Injuries and Other Moves
âš¾ Mick Abel is set to undergo arthroscopic elbow surgery. MRIs have shown no damage to his flexor or UCL, but setbacks and continued discomfort led to the recommendation for surgery from Dr. Keith Meister. The exact surgery date is still TBA, as is the recovery timetable. I am not hopeful he will return this season, though.
âš¾ Atlanta is considering moving Reynaldo López back in the rotation for a Friday start, but he may remain there long-term.Â
âš¾ The Mets, meanwhile, are moving Kodai Senga out of the rotation and into the bullpen.
âš¾ The Cubs are losing yet another pitcher, as Ben Brown is going on the IL with a neck strain. There’s no timeline for a return at this time, although in “good” news, the IL stint is backdated to June 21st.
âš¾ In addition to trading for Peterson, the Cubs have also claimed Bryse Wilson off of waivers from Philadelphia. The hunt for arms never stops!
Articles You Should Read
Bryce Eldridge Is Breaking The Mold – Nate Schwartz
Cedric Mullins Is Elevating And… Oh No. Oh No, No, No, No, No. – Davy Andrews, FanGraphs
More Than 100 MLB Players Ranked the Best and Worst Organizations: Inside Our Anonymous Poll – Dennis Lin, The Athletic (gift link)
Fantasy Baseball Coverage
