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I am not at all jealous of any of the teams who had to play in the northeast on Wednesday. The heat index in Baltimore and Philadelphia hit 108 in the afternoon and barely got back below 100 by 9PM. As somebody who had to commute to and from the office here in New York City (we topped out at 102 on the heat index), I can tell you that it was not enjoyable to be outside at any point.
Today’s Headlines
23 Skidoo
It was around 93 degrees when the Padres and Cubs started their game in Chicago yesterday, but the Cubs bats were considerably hotter even than that. They absolutely shellacked the Padres to the tune of a 23-3 victory, and to make it even weirder, Chicago only had 17 hits. “Only” 17 hits. Relativity is a heckofa thing.
The Cubs scored early and often, the fourth and seventh innings were the only times they were kept off the board, and they put up three runs in the first. It was a real team effort from Chicago, with five batters driving in multiple runs, although two names are worth highlighting. First up is Seiya Suzuki, who collected his 100th MLB home run in the first, accounting for all three of the runs that inning.
SAVE THAT BASEBALL!Seiya crushes career home run No. 100! 👏
— Chicago Cubs (@cubsbot.bsky.social) 2026-07-01T18:37:18.000Z
That makes him the fourth Japanese-born player to pass the century mark for MLB dingers, joining Hideki Matsui (175 HRs), Ichiro Suzuki (117 HRs) and Shohei Ohtani (298 HRs…and counting.) He is, however, the first Japanese right-handed batter to hit 100 homers, which is really what stuck out to him, as he told MLB’s Casey Drottar:
“Those are all legends in the game. I’m not even close to that at all,” Suzuki said via interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “I think one thing that I can take away that means a lot to me is the fact that I’m the first right-handed [Japanese-born] hitter to get a hundred homers.
“For me, that allows other players coming from Japan who are right-handed, that could be their goal. It just shows them that you can do it, and I think that makes me the happiest.”
The biggest force in Chicago’s win, however, was none other than Dansby Swanson, who has been absolutely unconscious for the back half of June:
Dansby Swanson's season line on June 16:.175/.281/.306 (68 wRC+), 7 HR, 28 RBIDansby Swanson's season line now:.210/.300/.431 (102 wRC+), 16 HR, 57 RBI
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@cespedesbbq.bsky.social) 2026-07-01T21:02:47.574Z
He went 3-for-5 on Wednesday, but all three of those hits were dingers, good for 8 RBI. The Cubs have now won three straight series and 15 of their last 19 games. Dansby’s batted in 26 runs in the last ten games, which is a franchise record for the Cubs. (Their eight home runs on the day as a team tied a franchise record, as well.) As you can see from the Cespedes post above, he more than doubled his season RBI total in two weeks, and currently has the 10th most RBI in the sport. I dunno how much longer he’ll be hitting in the nine spot at this rate…
If you want to watch all 23 runs condensed into under four minutes, MLB has you:
Junior Senior
Dansby isn’t the only left-side-of-the-infielder who is currently rocking an incredible hot streak, as Junior Caminero has now homered in six straight games, the most recent being this absolute tank for a pair of runs in the first against KC:
(I’m not sure why the Rays TV booth sounds like they’re calling in from an underwater payphone in that clip, but I’ve noticed that on a few broadcasts lately. I don’t care for it.)
Caminero accounted for half of the runs Tampa scored in their 4-0 victory, and Cedric Mullins accounted for the other two with a solo homer of his own in the sixth plus an RBI single in the eighth. Caminero’s season line is up to .293/.383/.561 (157 wRC+) for the year, and he’s more than doubled his walk rate over 2025. There were some reasonable questions about how last year’s performance would translate given that he’s not playing in a literal Spring Training stadium for half of the season but I’m not sure any of us picked the “He’ll actually get much better” option here. Six games in a row ties the franchise record set all the way back in 2010. That’s Tampa’s seventh win in a row as they are the first AL team to hit the 50-win mark and currently sit 3.5 games up on the Yankees, who are mired in a seven-game losing streak.
A-A-Ron Can’t Stop Winning
The Brewers beat the Reds by a score of 4-2 on Wednesday, and the winning pitcher was none other than Aaron Ashby, who threw an inning and a third, giving up no runs on one hit and striking out two. That is his twelfth win of the season, giving him two more wins than second-place Cristopher Sánchez. Ashby collecting dubs has become something of a “Yeah it’s a day that ends in Y” type of thing this season, but he’s on a historic run. With 12 wins on July 1st, he becomes the third pitcher to have that many wins before his team’s 85th game since 1900, he’s currently tied with the incredibly named Roy Face for second place. Ashby is currently on pace for 21 wins and man it would be absolutely incredible if he got there.
How does he do it
— Milwaukee Brewers (@brewersbot.bsky.social) 2026-07-02T03:25:05.000Z
He’s clearly got some kind of mojo going with the Brewers offense, maybe he should let the starters in on the secret?
By The Numbers
2 stolen bases for Ketel Marte last night, tripling his season total.
55% sweeper usage from Max Meyer against the Rockies last night.
1 trade made between the Orioles and Nationals since the latter franchise moved to DC in 2005 with a depth move yesterday.
Best Moments From Yesterday
Roundtrip Of The Mack
What’s better than an inside-the-park HR? An inside-the-park pinch-hit HR hit by a catcher. Especially if it’s Joe Mack, who has 26th percentile sprint speed:
It’s also one of those very fun and rare inside-the-parkers that doesn’t feature an egregious and/or obvious misplay, that’s just a real tough angle off the wall and oh so much outfield grass there in Denver.
Yee HA’s
The A’s of Sacramento have a giveaway coming up, it’s paisley cowboy hats, and the TV booth modeled them for us on Wednesday:
Not sure if the team will insist fans also wear them over headphones, but it’s a very avant-garde look.
Happy Holiday!
And as the US stocks up on hot dogs and grilling fuel for the weekend, let’s not forget the true reason for the season:
Bobby Bonilla gets a check every July 1 from the New York Mets for $1.19 million. And will continue to get them until 2035.
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports.usatoday.com) 2026-07-01T20:30:28Z
And even more importantly, don’t forget that the reason the Bobby Bonilla contract is funny is that the Wilpons took all of that money they saved and gave every cent of it to Bernie Madoff.
Injuries and Other Moves
⚾ San Francisco has placed Matt Chapman on the IL due to an abdominal strain that he suffered on a play Tuesday. The severity is “mild” and there’s hope he could be back before the All-Star Break.
⚾ Brent Rooker is slated to undergo season-ending surgery to repair cartilage damage in his left knee. It’s a rough turn for a guy who played all 162 games last season and a disappointing end to a down year.
⚾ The Tigers have placed Will Vest on the IL due to inflammation in his pitching elbow. Vest hasn’t been great this year and I would imagine we’ll have a clearer idea of what’s going on when some imaging has been taken.
⚾ Corey Seager is back on the IL due to a back issue. This is his third IL stint this season, he only just came back from a concussion last week.
⚾ While Boston has placed Connelly Early on the IL, manager Chad Tracy said that right now it looks like it’s just inflammation in his pitching elbow rather than anything structural.
⚾ The Dodgers scratched Mookie Betts from last night’s game due to wrist soreness. As of right now, it sounds like he’s DTD.
⚾ In off-field personnel news, Steve Cohen has apparently donned a metaphorical “I’m not firing David Stearns for two more years” t-shirt, which should stop people from asking him questions that have already been answered by his shirt.
Articles You Should Read
The Baseball Behaved Differently in June. Could Manufacturing Mistakes Be the Cause? – Evan Drellich and Eno Sarris, The Athletic (gift link)
Dr. Dingler’s Strike Trap – Matthew Trueblood, Baseball Prospectus (sub req’d)
Fantasy Baseball Coverage
