See things others don’t!

I went into Thursday’s Mets vs. Orioles doubleheader feeling optimistic that the Mets could sweep both games and keep pace with the Phillies in the National League East. Unfortunately, the offense was very disappointing against Baltimore starters Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sogano and completely useless against the Orioles bullpen. The Mets had a chance to score early on Morton in the first game when a passed ball by Jacob Stallings in the first inning allowed Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor to reach second and third base with no outs. However, Morton struck out both Juan Soto and Pete Alonso before Jesse Winker popped up to strand both runners.

The Mets scored in the fifth when Brett Baty walked and stole second base before being driven in by a rare Tyrone Taylor double, but New York still found a way to disappoint by making three outs without scoring Taylor. One more time in the sixth, the Mets had a runner on second with nobody out and couldn’t bring him around. So that was four runners in scoring position with no outs that the Mets left stranded. It almost didn’t matter because of how good David Peterson was in this game, but Ryne Stanek relieved him in the eighth and gave up a script-flipping, two-run bomb to Gunnar Henderson. As if that wasn’t enough, Stanek then walked the bases loaded and let Baltimore add a run on a sac fly to make the score 3-1. If only the Mets had scored some of those available runs from before, they might have held on to win.

Gunnar gives us the lead!! pic.twitter.com/ZnnsLvxxmP

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) July 10, 2025

The story was a little different in the second game, since this time both Nimmo and Lindor scored in the first inning after getting on base. Unfortunately, there was no Peterson to pitch a gem in this one. Brandon Waddell started the game and let three runs in during the second inning thanks to a double by Alex Jackson and a home run from Jordan Westburg. the Mets caught up in the fourth with a clutch RBI single by Brett Baty, but Justin Hagenman could not keep Baltimore off the board in the fifth. Colton Cowser hit an RBI single with two outs and Ramon Urias drove in another thanks to an error by Baty. The Orioles added two more runs in the sixth and ran away with a 7-3 win with the Mets offense doing very little after the fourth inning.

One of the only bright spots of the second game was Rico Garcia shutting down the Orioles for their final two and two thirds innings at the plate. In typical Mets fashion, Garcia was designated for assignment today to make room for Kodai Senga’s return to the rotation. Obviously, someone had to be bounced to make room for Senga, but there are guys like Alex Carrillo and Waddell who have options left in the back of the bullpen. Why send away Garcia when he has been effective so far?

Anyway, the Mets are in Kansas City starting tonight for the final three games before the All-Star break. Hopefully it won’t be a total disaster with Senga, Frankie Montas, and a mystery starter (should be Clay Holmes but Mindless Mendoza is probably babying him).

The Yankees still haven’t lost since the Mets let them off the hook on Sunday. This time, they beat the Mariners 6-5 despite going without a hit for the first seven innings of the game. They finally broke through against Bryan Woo with a pair of singles by Jazz Chisholm and Ben Rice to lead off the eighth. Austin Wells hit a sac fly to get the Bombers on the board and Giancarlo Stanton homered off of Matt Brash to make the score 5-3.

Wells in the clutch 🔥 pic.twitter.com/nMo3AIO58N

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 11, 2025

In the ninth, the Yankees rallied against Seattle closer Andres Munoz, who was apparently tipping his pitches. Wells came up big with a two-run single and then Aaron Judge hit a walk-off sac fly in the 10th following a great job by Devin Williams to strand the ghost runner. It is a little painful watching the Yankees come to life knowing that the Mets could have killed their season a few days ago.

Over in London, Taylor Fritz blew a chance to force a fifth set with Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic was swept by Jannik Sinner. The announcers were treating the aging Djokovic like a dog that needs to be put down, but he was looking pretty good in this tournament before facing the top player in the world. He can still play for a while longer if he’s okay not winning grand slam events, but not might not be the case.

Ugh. The Mets were rained out on Wednesday night, so they’ll have to play twice against Baltimore today before jumping on a plane to Kansas City, where they’ll play on Friday night roughly 24 hours after the doubleheader ends. David Peterson is pitching for the Mets in the first game against Charlie Morton, who got off to a miserable start this season but has been better lately with just six runs allowed over his last four outings. The second game, which is scheduled for 5:05 PM, will allow the Mets to tee off on Tomoyuki Sugano with a mystery starter on the bump for New York. It will probably be some combination of Justin Hagenman and Austin Warren, who was just called up to be the extra man for the doubleheader.

Luisangel Acuña is back. The Mets recalled him from Triple-A today and designated Travis Jankowski for assignment.

Reliever Austin Warren is also up as the Mets' 27th man for their doubleheader.

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) July 10, 2025

I don’t know why Acuna is back in the majors so quickly. The infield is already crowded with Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, and Ronnie Mauricio in the mix and Acuna needs to play every day. Travis Jankowski hadn’t been getting much playing time as the utility guy. Anyway, let’s check out what else happened in sports on Wednesday.

The Yankees designated DJ LeMahieu for assignment. He was extremely productive for the Bombers when they signed him as a free agent in 2019 and then he hit .364 and won the batting title in the short pandemic season. However, his play has fallen off a cliff since then and he was almost impossibly bad in 2024, hitting .204/.269/.259 in 228 plate appearances. He hasn’t been nearly that awful this season, but the Yankees felt it was time to say goodbye with Jazz Chisholm playing well at second base and infield prospect Jorbit Vivas showing posting a .409 on-base percentage at Triple-A.

There was happier news for the Yankees on the field, as they beat Seattle 9-6 for their third straight win. That’s right, it was the Mets who got the Yankees going on Sunday by letting them off the hook with sloppy play. Now it appears that the Bombers have righted their ship with Cam Schlittler striking out seven in his big league debut and picking up the win thanks to Chisholm’s two home runs.

Absolutely destroyed. pic.twitter.com/EevePIph4a

— Kansas City Royals (@Royals) July 10, 2025

In Kansas City, Jack Caglianone hit a total monster bomb that measured 466 feet to center field. Salvador Perez also homered twice, including a solo shot that gave his team the lead in the eighth inning, and the Royals beat Pittsburgh 4-3 to finish off a series sweep.

Jesus Luzardo was splendid for the Phillies. He pitched seven shutout innings while the bats unloaded for seven runs in the eighth inning to give Philly a 13-0 victory in San Francisco.

In tennis, Ben Shelton was taken down by top seed Jannik Sinner in straight sets during their Wimbledon quarterfinal. It was a promising tournament for Shelton, but we’ll have to settle for Taylor Fritz being the only American man in the semifinals. For Sinner, it was a return to his dominant self after he was bailed out of an upset scare in the round of 16 by an injury to Grigor Dimitrov.

Meeting Sinner in the semifinals will be the arguable GOAT, Novak Djokovic. He dropped the first set to Flavio Cobolli but then one three straight to prove that he’s still got it. It seems that Djokovic has already passed the torch of greatness to Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, but now he has a chance to yank it back for one more run at a grand slam title.

On the women’s side, Belinda Bencic upset the Russian prodigy Mirra Andreeva in just two sets, although both went to a tiebreaker. It’s matches like those that make you wonder what would happen if the women had to win three sets in a match like the men. Would Bencic beat Andreeva in a third set with such thin margins? We’ll never know. Meanwhile, Iga Swiatek beat Liudmila Samsonova 6-2, 7-5 and will face Bencic later today.

"The moment of this young woman's life" 👏

Amanda Anisimova completes an extraordinary semi-final to defeat No.1 seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and book her spot in her first ever #Wimbledon final 💥

Take. A. Bow. ♥️ pic.twitter.com/WexH4VL2k2

— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 10, 2025

Right before publishing time, the women’s semifinals began and Amanda Anisimova has upset the number one Aryna Sabalenka! She has looked vulnerable at Wimbledon and finally dropped a set in the quarterfinals to Laura Siegmund before bouncing back for the win. Sabalenka lost the first set and won the second again vs. Anisimova, but the American showed great resilience in the third set. Even after blowing a match point with the serve and allowing Sabalenka back on even footing, Anisimova rebounded right away and won the match with a break point. The United States has now put a woman in the final of the last four grand slam tournaments. The last two, Coco Gauff and Madison Keys, both won the title.

Something amazing happened last night. The Mets fell behind by four runs in the seventh inning, and instead of withering like a tulip the moment autumn arrives, they battled back and won the game! Jackson Holliday appeared to put the game away with his solo shot off of the newest Mets scrap-heap pickup Alejandro Carrillo, but Baltimore’s 6-2 lead would only last a few minutes. Brandon Nimmo opened the eighth inning with a single and was driven in by Francisco Lindor’s two-run bomb to center field. That worked so well that Juan Soto and Pete Alonso decided to replicate the sequence, and all of a sudden we were tied 6-6 with just two innings to play. Shout out to Bryan Baker. He has been a solid reliever for the Orioles this season, but he looked like he was throwing batting practice on Tuesday night.

THIS GAME IS TIED! 🐻‍❄️ pic.twitter.com/ICkSyuZf0j

— New York Mets (@Mets) July 9, 2025

The game ended up going into extra innings, and Soto quickly gave New York the lead with a leadoff base hit to get the ghost runner Lindor home from second. Alonso followed with a single of his own, and the Mets had a great chance to add a second run, but Luis Torrens struck out looking with the bases loaded after a Travis Jankowski bunt and an intentional walk to Jeff McNeil. At one point during the Torrens at-bat, it looked like the Mets would score on a passed ball by backup catcher Alex Jackson, but the ball bounced off the umpire and stayed within Jackson’s reach.

Fortunately, that break for Baltimore would not end up ruining the Mets’ evening, and neither would Carlos Mendoza’s questionable managing of the bullpen. Although a well-rested Edwin Diaz only threw 10 pitches in the ninth inning, Mendoza declined to bring him out for the 10th, even though Jordan Westburg, Gunnar Henderson, and Ryan O’Hearn were due up. Instead, it was up to Huascar Brazoban to pitch to the trio that gave Baltimore the lead in the sixth inning with consecutive base hits following Clay Holmes hitting Holliday on the foot with an 0-2 pitch. Brazoban has not been consistent lately, but he was at his best when it counted in this one and set down the Orioles in order to end the game.

The top four batters in the Mets’ order did almost all of the damage in this one, but we saw encouraging signs at the bottom when Ronnie Mauricio homered in the sixth to get New York on the board and help put an end to what was becoming a dominant outing for Brandon Young. Brett Baty followed with a double and would score to give the Mets the lead on Nimmo’s double.

The Mets are back at it tonight in Baltimore with David Peterson on the mound against Tomoyuki Sugano. Sugano has been getting shelled lately with five home runs and 13 runs allowed in his last two starts. Peterson was having a rough time at the end of June, but he appeared to right the ship with just one earned run allowed in six and two thirds innings vs. Milwaukee last week.

That great Mets comeback capped off an awesome day in sports for me. After weeks of rumors, Penn State officially secured the commitment of the top NHL Draft prospect for 2026, Gavin McKenna.

The kind of player who doesn't follow history, he makes it.#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/99AhzScRNr

— Penn State Men’s Hockey (@PennStateMHKY) July 9, 2025

You usually don’t see elite Canadian prospects play college hockey before heading to the NHL, but the NIL money is changing all that. Penn State’s rabid fan base, financial backing, and great hockey facilities combined to convince McKenna to become a Nittany Lion for a year. Expectations for this program were already high since it was coming off of its first Frozen Four appearance, but with McKenna on board, the bar has been raised. I will be disappointed if Penn State doesn’t win the national championship.

The Mets pulled off a fourth straight win on Saturday afternoon, defeating the Yankees 12-6 to move 14 games over .500 and remain a half game back from Philadelphia in the National League East. The Mets jumped all over Carlos Rodon in the first inning with Starling Marte leading off with a double and Brandon Nimmo hitting his second grand slam of the week following walks by Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso.

Frankie Montas helped the Mets maintain their advantage through the first five innings by pounding the strike zone and allowing a solo home run to Jazz Chisholm and another to Austin Wells. I’m fine with allowing solo shots when your offense spots you a four-run lead, and Montas made sure to make the Yankees earn their runs with zero walks on the day. The Yankees broke through with a crooked number in the sixth on Cody Bellinger’s two-run double, but by then the Mets had expanded their total to seven runs on Pete Alonso’s first home run of the day, an opposite-field smash that scored Francisco Lindor.

That ball was CRUSHED 😤 pic.twitter.com/XdBhMZnGRE

— New York Mets (@Mets) July 5, 2025

Alonso hit a three-run bomb in the seventh to put the game out of reach, but that didn’t stop Carlos Mendoz from using both Ryne Stanek and Edwin Diaz in a six-run game. For both relievers, it was their third appearance in four games, which made them unavailable for Sunday’s series finale. That’s a pretty big issue to begin with, but it’s even a bigger deal when your rotation has been decimated by injuries and you’re counting on guys like Chris Devenski, Zach Pop, and Brandon Waddell to keep the Yankees off the scoreboard.

Devenski pitched surprisingly well to open the game on Sunday, but Pop and Waddell combined to give up five runs, with the last two coming on a two-run blast by Aaron Judge in the fifth inning. The Mets battled back with four straight singles in the bottom of the frame that yielded two runs, but they could have scored more if Starling Marte’s drive to deep center field had resulted in a double. Jeff McNeil was trying to tag up from second base on the play, so he only advanced to third even though the ball got all the way to the wall. That meant that Hayden Senger had to stop at second from first and Marte had to stop at first. When Lindor came up next with a single up the middle, it scored McNeil and Senger when it should have scored Senger and Marte.

The Mets rallied again in the sixth with three straight singles following Brandon Nimmo getting hit by a pitch, but their output was limited by Senger hitting into a double play with the bases loaded and nobody out. You have to wonder what Carlos Mendoza was thinking in that spot letting Luis Torrens stay on the bench. Senger had just singled the inning before, but Torrens is the more reliable bat, and he ended up pinch-hitting in the ninth inning anyway.

Un-Belli-evable.

Cody with a huge catch and dart to first 🔥 pic.twitter.com/QFI85jvJjM

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 6, 2025

After the Yankees added a run in the seventh on a Judge sac fly, the Mets looked to threaten again when Lindor led off with a hit-by-pitch. Juan Soto followed with a line drive to left field that appeared to be a base hit, but Cody Bellinger made an incredible shoestring catch and threw to first to double off Lindor. If only the All-Star shortstop had slid into first, the Mets might have been able to continue the inning after Alonso’s walk and Nimmo’s ground out.

Even though the Mets had a bullpen game on Sunday against the Yankees’ ace Max Fried, it will felt like the Mets let the game get way because of all those missed opportunities between the fifth and seventh inning. The “you can’t win them all crowd” is just happy that the Mets won two of three while the Yankees fans were saved from total humiliation. I don’t think most Mets fans realize how close we were to crippling morale in the Bronx.

Now that the Subway Series is through, it’s time to focus on the National League East. The Mets are just one game back of Philadelphia and finish the first half of the season with a road trip to last-place Baltimore and middling Kansas City. Meanwhile, the Phillies have a tough west coast swing in San Francisco (where they lost on Monday) and San Diego. Time to take back first place!

Happy 4th of July! Today is the day that we celebrate our independence in the United States of America with hot dogs, fireworks, and baseball. The baseball part went especially well with my Mets defeating the Yankees in a home run slugfest. 10 of the game’s 11 runs were scored on dingers, and the game’s deciding blast came off the bat of Jeff McNeil in the bottom of the seventh. He drove in two runs with one big swing to turn the Mets’ 5-4 deficit into a 6-5 lead.

SECOND DECK.@JeffMcNeil805 for the lead! pic.twitter.com/QE0rFuSOkw

— New York Mets (@Mets) July 4, 2025

McNeil also helped the Mets preserve the lead with his awesome defensive play in the top of the ninth that turned DJ LeMahieu’s infield blooper into a big out and prevented Aaron Judge from getting another at-bat. Judge had already homered in the first inning, and the Yankees would end up with three long balls off of Mets starter Justin Hagenman, but Huascar Brazoban and Reed Garrett got some redemption by keeping the Bombers off the scoreboard for the final three innings.

The Mets needed Brazoban and Garrett badly today since Edwin Diaz and Ryne Stanek had both pitched in consecutive games, making them ineligible for the July 4 contest due to the Mets’ baby rules that turn Carlos Mendoza into a Little League manager. Fortunately, the boys came through even though they have been pitching pretty poorly lately.

It’s also time to put some respect on Jeff McNeil’s name for what he is doing this season. He’s looked more like his vintage self and he’s making great plays in center field as well as at second base. McNeil’s batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage are all higher than Francisco Lindor’s in 2025.

OH, JEFF! pic.twitter.com/sbVDTrkdM3

— New York Mets (@Mets) July 4, 2025

With the Mets handling baseball and fireworks, it was up to Joey Chestnut to take care of 4th of July hot dogs, and he delivered with 70 and a half hot dogs and buns to reclaim his Mustard Belt. It was great to see Chestnut return to Coney Island for the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest after skipping the event last year due to a sponsorship dispute.

The Mets constantly getting on my nerves has distracted me from the Knicks and Rangers making some big moves recently. The Knicks have a chance to reach the NBA Finals in 2026 with two of their key rivals having star players suffer serious Achilles injuries during the 2025 Playoffs. The Pacers will probably be without Tyrese Haliburton for the entire season and the same goes for the Celtics and Jayson Tatum. That left the Knicks with the second best odds to win the East, but they were also missing an important piece since Tom Thibodeau was surprising fired following the disappointing loss in the Eastern Conference Finals.

BREAKING: The New York Knicks are expected to land on two-time NBA Coach of the Year Mike Brown as the franchise's next head coach, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/LOXb74LFe4

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 2, 2025

The Knicks are a little more whole now that they’ve found a veteran head coach to lead the team in the new season. That man is Mike Brown, and while he may not have an NBA title as a head coach like my preferred candidate Mike Malone, he does have plenty of experience and a history of success. Brown burst onto the scene as a head coach in 2005, and he led LeBron James and the Cavaliers to 50 wins in his debut season. Cleveland reached the NBA Finals in Brown’s second year at the helm, but the next three years featured disappointing playoff exits against the eventual conference champs.

Brown left Cleveland when James did and joined the Lakers a year later after Phil Jackson retired. The Lakers were eliminated in the second round of the Playoffs in 2012 and Brown was fired just five games into the next season. Brown sat out for a couple seasons before joining the Warriors as an assistant under Steve Kerr for six years. He reemerged as a head coach in 2022 and led the Kings to two playoff appearances in two seasons before shockingly being let go after a slow start this past winter.

In a nutshell, the Knicks hired another coach who knows how to win a lot of regular season games and has a history of disappointing exists from the Playoffs. What is even the point?

Thank you, Key.

Best of luck in Carolina! pic.twitter.com/83gYbn1zCN

— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) July 1, 2025

At least with the Rangers we have some idea of the purpose of their actions. They are trying to rebuild without bottoming out, which is an admirable strategy even if it might not technically be the smartest thing. Tanking isn’t fun, and it shouldn’t be a thing in a league that properly rewards winning and punishes losing, but it can be more effective in the long term than trying to win every year.

Hopefully not tanking works out well for the Rangers. They already traded away one key member of their 2024 Presidents Trophy team in Chris Kreider, and now K’Andre Miller is out the door as well. It would be cool if general manager Chris Drury didn’t send Miller to division rival Carolina, but it was cool to get back a 2026 first round draft pick, a 2026 second round pick, and young defenseman Scott Morrow. I’m a hocky casual, but that seems like a decent return for a guy who has seen his points decline for the past two campaigns, even if Miller is still only 25 years old.

What I’m still trying to figure out is why the Rangers dealt away Miller’s eight-year, $60 million and then immediately signed veteran Russian defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov to a seven-year, $49 million deal. That is only a difference of half a million dollars on a per-year basis, and Gavrikov is four years older than Miller. Gavrikov is not a more productive offensive player, so I’m going to convince myself that he’ll improve the Rangers’ defense to help me sleep at night.

I thought that the Mets had a much better chance to win Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader than Game 2, so of course they ended up dropping the early game 7-2 before pulling off a surprising 7-3 win in the nightcap. New York might have even swept the pair of games from the Brewers if not for a Reed Garrett meltdown that allowed Milwaukee to come from behind in Game 1. The Mets were in control of that one after five innings with Clay Holmes having settled down after allowing a leadoff home run to Sal Frelick back in the first. There was even some competent offense on display by the home team with Luis Torrens executing a beautiful hit-and-run that put Jeff McNeil in position to score on a Brett Baty sac fly in the third. An inning later, Juan Soto stole second base following a leadoff walk and scored on Pete Alonso’s single up the middle.

JOEY ORTIZ GRAND SLAM pic.twitter.com/cZRQMvTVm3

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) July 2, 2025

All that proved to not be enough, though, since Reed Garrett allowed the first four batters he faced in the sixth inning to reach base. The streak culminated with Joey Ortiz and his sub-.600 OPS hitting a grand slam to instantly turn the game into a Brewers rout. Garrett had a great first two months of the season, but he has been unreliable lately.

Huascar Brazoban is another reliever who Mets fans have lost faith in lately, but he did a good job opening the second game of the doubleheader and pitching a scoreless inning to set the stage for Blade Tidwell. The strategy allowed Tidwell to last longer than four innings for the first time in the majors, but that seemed to be too much for him as Christian Yelich and Jackson Chourio began the sixth inning with back-to-back home runs. Fortunately, the Mets had already built a nice cushion thanks to their two-out rally off of Jacob Misiorowski in the second.

First pitch grand slam for @You_Found_Nimmo! 💣 pic.twitter.com/u6z7Adt7TH

— New York Mets (@Mets) July 2, 2025

It had to be one of the most unlikely rallies of the season with Brett Baty and Ronnie Mauricio both walking before Hayden Senger reached on an infield single. Brandon Nimmo took advantage with a grand slam and Francisco Lindor pulled out of his slump with a solo shot to give the Mets a five-run frame. Lindor added two more RBI with a single in the sixth and a double in the eighth while Richard Lovelady, Ryne Stanek, and Edwin Diaz shut down Milwaukee for the final three innings.

If the Mets can defeat the Brewers again on Thursday night, they’ll win a series for the first time since their sweep of Washington in mid-June. Speaking of sweeps, the Yankees are in danger of being swept out of first place by the Blue Jays. Toronto has won three straight over their rivals to pull into a tie atop the American League East, and they play one more on Thursday night. Wednesday was nearly a triumphant victory for the Bombers, as they fell behind 8-0 in the first three innings before coming back to tie the game 9-9 in the eighth on a dramatic home run by Aaron Judge. However, the Jays regained the lead in the bottom half on a two-out wild pitch by Devin Williams and held on for the win.

The United States Men’s National Team also went ahead early and held on for a big win. Diego Luna scored twice in the first 15 minutes to give the US the edge in its Gold Cup semifinal match against Guatemala. The underdogs got on the board in the 80th minute, but it wasn’t enough to stop the US from coming away with a 2-1 win. We’ll probably play Mexico in the final unless El Tri chokes against Honduras.

Welp. The Mets were supposed to be back to playing baseball tonight after one day off. Instead, they are rained out and will play a split doubleheader on Wednesday. They’ll try to pull out of their tailspin that appeared to be over when they beat the Braves in two straight games last week. The Pittsburgh Pirates were supposed to be a soft landing spot, but instead the Mets played their worst ball of the year and were outscored 30-4 while being swept in the three-game set.

Up next are the Milwaukee Brewers who have quickly become a Wild Card rival of the Mets. Despite losing 13 of their last 16 games, the Mets are still on top of the National League Wild Card race, but they are only a half game in front of Milwaukee. If the Mets don’t start winning consistently soon, they could fall out of the Wild Card race altogether with teams like San Diego and San Francisco nipping on the heels of the current three Wild Card holders.

New York will send Clay Holmes to the bump in one of the games on Wednesday. He faced Atlanta in his two most recent starts and combined to allow four runs in nine and two thirds innings, but he needed 200 pitches to complete those innings thanks to a very poor ratio of seven strikeouts to 10 walks. With Mets starters struggling to get deep into games lately, the key for Holmes will be to throw strikes and generate ground balls to greatly increase his pitch efficiency.

By the way, with Holmes pushed to Wednesday, the Mets don’t have a pitcher for the series finale vs. the Yankees on Sunday. They should have at least made an effort to play on Tuesday.

The Brewers will have their ace Freddy Peralta on the mound. He has won his last three decisions, but in each of the last two he only pitched five innings while allowing three earned runs. Those two games featured three of the 12 home runs that Peralta has given up all season, so maybe the Mets can pop a few over the wall and get the offense going.

Here’s what the lineup was supposed to look like on Tuesday night.

Back home. #LGM pic.twitter.com/8WeT60Dd8M

— New York Mets (@Mets) July 1, 2025

Brett Baty has been a bit of a bright spot for the Mets’ struggling offense. He has nine hits in his last seven games, while Mark Vientos has struggled since coming off the injured list with just one hit in 13 at-bats and five strikeouts with no walks. There’s room for both guys in the lineup with Jeff McNeil playing center field, but that leaves Ronnie Mauricio on the bench, and he’s a developing player who should be in the lineup every day, no matter if that is in the majors or at Triple-A.

No player took the league by storm in June like @Jmisiorowski9 #ThisIsMyCrew x @MLBPS_US pic.twitter.com/EkzVGauxnF

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) July 1, 2025

The Mets better win the Holmes vs. Peralta matchup, because the other game on Wednesday will feature Jacob Misiorowski for Milwaukee and Blade Tidwell for New York. Misiorowski is one of the most exciting young pitchers in baseball, and he’s lived up to the hype so far with just two runs allowed in his first three MLB starts, spanning 16 innings. While all three of Misiorowski’s outings have gone at least five frames, Tidwell has yet to complete a fourth inning in his two starts and one relief appearance for the Mets. Tidwell has looked overmatched when he faces a lineup for the second time, and he’s allowed 12 runs in 10.2 innings this season. On a day when the bullpen will already be stretched due to the doubleheader, Tidwell will likely be asked to go deeper into a major league game than he’s ever gone before. Hopefully he’ll be up for the challenge.

NBA free agency is in full swing and the moves have been coming fast with all 30 teams trying to bring themselves a little closer to where the Oklahoma City Thunder are at the top of the mountain. One of the biggest transactions of the summer came when LeBron James opted into his $52.6 million player option with the Lakers. It wasn’t a surprise that James would want to return to Los Angeles and pursue a championship alongside Luka Doncic, but then James’ agent Rich Paul made some comments that made me think maybe we should have been surprised that he opted in.

Rich Paul: “He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of the partnership that we’ve had for eight years with Jeanie [Buss] and Rob [Pelinka] and consider the Lakers as a… https://t.co/tgyeCxRQZm

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 29, 2025

That sounds like a guy who wants to be traded from a rebuilding team to a contending team. Why not opt out then? Probably because James and Paul think that they can have their cake and eat it too. James might not get $50 million if he chose free agency, but he thinks that if he can engineer a trade from the Lakers, he can choose a new team while keeping his mega salary. He’s LeBron James, so he’ll probably get what he wants, but it’s stuff like this that makes James less likable than the guy he’s constantly compared to, Michael Jordan.

I think James is the best to ever play basketball. He may only have four championships, but his victory with Cleveland over Golden State in 2016 is an accomplishment that Jordan never had the chance to match because he didn’t go against a team that was close to as good as those Warriors. James is also going to compile more stats than Jordan and James was robbed of Finals MVP in 2015 because nobody had the stones to give it to a player on the losing team. The GOAT debate in basketball can go on forever, but one thing is for certain: Jordan is a lot cooler than James will ever be.

Jordan was almost universally admired, didn’t fire off dumb political takes, and didn’t change teams during hiss prime. James might be the better player, but Jordan wins the aura argument every time. I think that aura gap would only increase if social media was prominent in the 1990s like it is today.

Maybe I’ll change my tune on James if he helps the Knicks win a title before he retires, but that doesn’t seem likely. Someone who is helping the Knicks is Jordan Clarkson, as he’s expected to join the team on a veteran’s minimum contract after negotiating a buyout from Utah. Clarkson should give the Knicks some much-needed depth and scoring off the bench.

Over in Brooklyn, the Nets made a big move by acquiring Michael Porter Jr. from Denver in exchange for Cameron Johnson. The Nets also get an unprotected first-round draft pick from Denver in 2032. Good job by Brooklyn going seven years into the future with that request because it’s hard to imagine the Nuggets being in the lottery anytime soon. On the other hand, everyone on both teams could be fired by then, so what is even the point?

It’s hard to imagine the Mets’ season getting to a lower point, but then again they are still 48-37 and just two losses behind Philadelphia in the National League East. It’s possible this gets a lot worse before it gets better, but it’s also possible that the Mets make a couple of trades to help the pitching staff and get the offense ramped up again before any hope of the Postseason melts away in the summer sun. Which fate will the Mets become? We don’t know, and that’s why we watch.

This weekend was a Frank the Tank rage tweet come to life with the Mets deciding that it wasn’t enough to lose 9-1 to the last-place Pirates on Friday night or to lose again 9-2 on Saturday. Carlos Mendoza’s squad had to let go of the rope and fall 12-1 on Sunday afternoon to maximize despair. The 30-4 aggregate score was the worst run differential that the Mets have ever suffered in a three-game series, and it happened to a “good” Mets team against the second-division Pirates. That’s baseball, Suzyn.

Frankie Montas appeared to be on his way out of the first inning when Brett Baty made a great snag on a Spencer Horwitz line drive to keep two runs off the board, but Montas let those runs in anyway when Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a two-out, two-RBI single. Based on Hayes’ overall stats and his stats against the Mets, I’m starting to think that he doesn’t have a hit against any other team this season. Anyway, Oneil Cruz and Tommy Pham followed Hayes’ knock with back-to-back home runs to make the score 5-0 Pittsburgh after one.

ONEIL CRUZ 💥 pic.twitter.com/diyiG6jOcD

— Pittsburgh Pirates (@Pirates) June 29, 2025

As has been the case recently for the Mets, they couldn’t do much on offense against the opposing starting pitcher. Mike Burrows and his 4.15 ERA limited New York to just one run on a Luis Torrens solo shot in four and a third innings. Former Met Genesis Cabrera followed up with a scoreless frame and Carmen Mlodzinski kept the Mets off the scoreboard for the final three and two thirds innings.

Montas would last four innings and give up just one additional run, but more than enough damage had already been done. Richard Lovelady, who just rejoined the Mets today after the team designated him for assignment a few days ago, gave up a pair of runs in the fifth. Dedniel Nunez also let in two runs on Cruz’s second home run of the day, which led to Travis Jankowski pitching in the eighth. Gotta save the bullpen before an off day!

I’m sad that Lovelady failed to redeem himself after allowing two runs against the Braves on Tuesday as “Dicky” Lovelady, his name during his first brief stint with the Mets. Maybe the team will stick with Lovelady for longer than a day this time around instead of giving him the shaft.

Madness in Minneapolis. pic.twitter.com/QXc3Z3AzFH

— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) June 30, 2025

There was some good sports news on Sunday as the United States Men’s National Team defeated Costa Rica to advance to the Concacaf Gold Cup semifinals. USA appeared to be in control of the game when Diego Luna and Max Arfsten scored goals on either side of halftime to give their team a 2-1 lead. However, Costa Rica drew level on Alonso Martinez’s goal in the 71st minute after the US missed multiple opportunities to take a two-goal lead. The game went to penalty kicks after 90 minutes before the Gold Cup is a Mickey Mouse tournament, but at least it was exciting. US keeper Matthew Freese was incredible and stopped three of Costa Rica’s six kicks. That allowed the US to triumph on Damion Downs’ match-sealing strike despite missing two of our first five kicks.