Wednesday, July 29
Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today’s games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Today’s edition is brought to you by David Adler.
Here’s the high-octane matchup we have circled for tonight: Munetaka Murakami vs. Cam Schlittler.
When the White Sox and Yankees face off (7:40 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video, MLB Network and MLB.TV), we get both a showdown between two American League playoff contenders and a showdown between two top American League award contenders.
Schlittler is the clear American League Cy Young favorite. Murakami is a Rookie of the Year frontrunner. And this one is going to be firepower vs. firepower.
Schlittler blows hitters away with fastball after fastball. But Murakami? Murakami crushes heaters.
Wait — hold on a second. Wasn’t Murakami supposed to struggle vs. velo like Schlittler’s?
He was. When Murakami was coming to the Majors last winter, one of the biggest questions in the scouting reports was: Could he handle MLB velocity?
For all the home runs he hit in Japan, Murakami didn’t do well against high velo. His contact numbers were not good. And in the Major Leagues, hitters see high velo a lot more often than they do in Nippon Professional Baseball. The average MLB fastball velocity this season is close to 95 mph. Everyone throws hard — all the time.
So that was the concern for Murakami when he arrived in Chicago. Now let’s fast forward to the present. Murakami is an All-Star. He has 22 home runs. And he’s been arguably the best hitter in the entire league against high velocity.
Highest OPS vs. 97+ mph pitches, 2026
Of 144 hitters with at least 30 PA decided vs. 97+ mph velo
- Munetaka Murakami: 1.249
- Yordan Alvarez: 1.142
- Juan Soto: 1.103
Not only is Murakami making contact against high-velocity fastballs, he’s straight-up crushing them. Four of his 22 homers have come against heaters thrown 97 mph or faster. Murakami, Soto and Junior Caminero are the only Major League hitters with four home runs against that level of velocity.
He’s answering all the questions. But the real test is tonight’s matchup vs. Schlittler.
Schlittler throws some variety of fastball — either a four-seamer, sinker or cutter — over 90% of the time. And they are very fast fastballs. Over half his total pitches this season have been 97 mph or faster, the third-highest share among starting pitchers behind only Jacob Misiorowski and Hunter Greene.
So you know Schlittler will bring the heat against Murakami. Can Murakami make him pay? We’ll be watching every at-bat.
See our full breakdown of Murakami mashing high velo here >>
GAMES OF THE NIGHT
Besides Murakami vs. Schlittler, here are a couple of other games to watch tonight.
Royals at Twins (7:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV)
The Twins have won three in a row to get back to .500 and stay within a half-game of an AL Wild Card spot. They’re playing so well that general manager Jeremy Zoll says they’re going to be buyers at the Trade Deadline. That message has to be reassuring to tonight’s starter, ace Joe Ryan, whose name was popping up in trade rumors.
Cubs at Cardinals (7:45 p.m. ET, MLB.TV)
The Cubs have a firm grasp on the top NL Wild Card spot after winning the first two games of this four-game series against their longtime rivals. And with every win, Chicago’s front office becomes more likely to be aggressive at the Trade Deadline. The Cardinals, on the other hand, just fell below .500 for the first time all season. Are they at risk of becoming Deadline sellers?
WHEN WILL OHTANI RETURN TO PITCHING?
Shohei Ohtani’s health is one of the most closely watched storylines in all of baseball right now. Here’s the latest on the two-way superstar.
Bottom line: Ohtani is dealing with both left knee soreness and a right biceps issue, and even though he’s still batting, there is no timetable for his return to the mound.
The Dodgers still expect Ohtani to pitch in the postseason (if not earlier), as they try to defend their back-to-back World Series titles. They also have no plans to take him out of the lineup as a hitter.
One interesting question is whether Ohtani being out of the starting rotation will push the Dodgers to make a move for an arm at the Trade Deadline — especially with Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell also out. Tarik Skubal, anyone?
And with Ohtani’s injury limitations keeping him off the mound, the National League MVP race is also a whole lot tighter, as other top contenders like Pete Crow-Armstrong have stepped up to challenge Ohtani, who’s looking to win his fourth straight award and third straight as a Dodger.
TRADE RUMORS: THE MILLER ASKING PRICE
We’re bringing you the latest trade rumors up to Monday’s 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline. Here’s what’s going on today.
• It’s going to take an exorbitant offer for the Padres to trade Mason Miller. GM A.J. Preller is reportedly telling teams that no one in their organization can be off limits if they want to get the lights-out closer.
• Add the Phillies to the list of teams who could be in the market for Tarik Skubal, who made his final start before the Trade Deadlinethis afternoon. They’ve been scouting Skubal. But the Dodgers look like the favorites to land the ace lefty.
• The Marlins just swept the Phillies, but after their recent 12-game losing streak, a bunch of players could be available for trade, including infielders Otto Lopez and Xavier Edwards, catcher/DH Liam Hicks and outfielder Heriberto Hernández. But Miami seems to want to keep pitchers Sandy Alcantara, Eury Pérez and Max Meyer, and rookie catcher Joe Mack.
• The Orioles have reportedly had trade conversations even about core players like catcher Adley Rutschman, infielder Jackson Holliday and outfielder Colton Cowser. But if a Wild Card spot is still within reach for them, the O’s could even end up buying at the Deadline.
For more of today’s trade rumors, go here >>
TOP 3B PROSPECT LEADS MINORS IN HOME RUNS
If you haven’t been keeping up with Andrew Fischer’s home run binge in the Minors, let us fill you in.
Fischer has now homered in four straight games for Double-A Biloxi. The Brewers’ No. 7 prospect — who’s also the No. 6 third-base prospect in baseball, per MLB Pipeline — leads the entire Minor Leagues with 33 home runs this season.
That’s 33 homers in 86 games, mind you. The 22-year-old is slugging at a pace of 62 homers per 162 games.
Fischer was already the Brewers’ first prospect in 25 years with a 30-homer season in the Minors. And he just keeps on hitting bombs.
Milwaukee’s first-round pick in the 2025 Draft, Fischer made a bit of a name for himself playing for Team Italy at this year’s World Baseball Classic, where he batted .357 with a home run in four games.
With other young Brewers prospects like Cooper Pratt and Luis Lara making an impact for the first-place big league club right now, Fischer might be one of the next names to watch.
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Here’s the news and notes from around the Majors.
• Tarik Skubal notched his 1,000th career strikeout today in Detroit, with the big question looming over his outing: Was this the back-to-back Cy Young winner’s final start as a Tiger?
• Gerrit Cole had one of his best starts of the season last night, pitching six shutout innings with seven strikeouts to beat the White Sox. But the play you have to see is him catching a popup in front of the mound despite some “pass interference” from his own catcher.
• Yordan Alvarez hit one of the loudest home runs you’ll ever hear … and then made the Angels pay for pitching to him in a tie game in the ninth inning, smacking the go-ahead single to lift the Astros to victory. Alvarez continues to lead the American League Triple Crown race, batting .325 with 35 home runs and 80 RBIs.
• The Mariners mashed five home runs to beat the Dodgers for the first time since 2021, including one dinger each by stars Cal Raleigh and Julio Rodríguez and two big ones by Dominic Canzone — one to tie the game, one to give the M’s the lead. Canzone has been carrying the Seattle lineup since the All-Star break.
• The second season of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League brought growth in viewership, attendance and more. The Utah Talons repeated as AUSL champions over the weekend, led by superstar pitcher Montana Fouts.
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RJ Hamster 