Justin Verlander helped the Houston Astros capture a pair of World Series titles, and the club is hoping he can lead them to another championship.
Verlander was traded to the Astros from the New York Mets in a blockbuster deal hours before MLB’s deadline on Tuesday.
The Mets received two minor league outfielders - 22-year-old Drew Gilbert, Houston’s No. 1-ranked prospect, and 20-year-old Ryan Clifford, who was the Astros’ No. 4 prospect.
Verlander signed a two-year, $86.7million contract with the Mets last December, shortly after earning his second World Series title with Houston and third Cy Young Award.
The 40-year-old has been pitching well lately, going 4-1 with a 1.69 ERA in six July starts, but the Mets have been a major disappointment and are tearing down the most expensive roster in major league history.
Fellow three-time Cy Young Award-winner Max Scherzer, who signed a three-year, $130million deal after the 2021 season, was traded to the Texas Rangers on Sunday.
Hours after that deal was officially announced, Verlander became the 49th pitcher in MLB history to 250 victories.
Of those wins, 61 came while pitching for the Astros – tied with Jim Deshaies for the 15th most in club history.
Verlander was first acquired by Houston during the 2017 season from the Detroit Tigers and helped the Astros to the franchise’s first World Series title later that fall.
During his time with Houston, Verlander made 102 starts and posted a 2.26 ERA – the lowest in franchise history among the 46 players with a minimum of 500 innings pitched for the club.
The Astros have won five of the last six AL West crowns and have reached the AL championship series in each of the last four seasons, but enter August one-half game behind the first-place Texas Rangers.
Blue Jays acquire DeJong after Bichette injures knee
The Toronto Blue Jays moved quickly in finding a replacement for Bo Bichette in the event the All-Star shortstop would’ve been sidelined for a while, trading for the St. Louis Cardinals’ Paul DeJong.
Bichette, the AL leader in batting average (.321) and hits (144), exited Monday’s 4-2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles with a right knee injury.
The extent of Bichette’s injury was uncertain early Tuesday, but after trading for DeJong, it was reported that an MRI on the knee revealed no significant structural damage, and he’s considered day to day.
DeJong was considered the top shortstop on the trade market.
An All-Star in 2019, the 29-year-old is batting .233 with 13 home runs, 11 doubles and 32 RBIs in 81 games.
He is also one of the better fielders at his position, registering a .990 fielding percentage – second only to the Minnesota Twins’ Carlos Correa for the best among all qualifying shortstops.
To complete the trade, the Cardinals are getting 24-year-old pitching prospect Matt Svanson from the Blue Jays.
Phillies get All-Star Lorenzen from Tigers
The Philadelphia Phillies have bolstered their rotation, acquiring right-hander Michael Lorenzen from the Detroit Tigers for 20-year-old infielder Hao-Yu Lee.
Lorenzen, who will become a free agent after this season, was named to his first All-Star team this year, going 5-7 with a 3.58 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in 18 starts. He has struck out 83 and walked 27 over 105 2/3 innings.
The 31-year-old began his career as a starter for the Cincinnati Reds in 2015 before spending the next six seasons working out of their bullpen.
He signed with the Los Angeles Angels prior to last season and moved back into the starting rotation, going 8-6 with a 4.24 ERA in 18 outings.
He now joins a Phillies team that reached last year’s World Series and is in possession of the NL’s second wild card.
Marlins bolster lineup with sluggers Burger, Bell
The Miami Marlins added two key bats to their lineup at the deadline, acquiring infielder Jake Burger from the Chicago White Sox and first baseman Josh Bell from the Cleveland Guardians.
The Marlins (57-51) find themselves in rare playoff contention but are hoping to improve their 27th-ranked offence that scores 4.09 runs per game.
Burger, 27, is tied for eighth in MLB with 25 home runs this season but is batting just .214 in 88 games. Of Burger’s 63 hits this season, 41 have gone for extra bases.
Bell, who will turn 31 later this month, was a 2019 All-Star but will be playing on his fifth team since 2020.
In the deals, the Marlins sent pitching prospect Jake Eder to Chicago, while Cleveland added infield prospect Khalil Watson. The Guardians also acquired Jean Segura in the deal but are expected to release the veteran infielder.
AL East-leading Orioles add RHP Flaherty
Enjoying their best season in a decade, the Baltimore Orioles fortified their rotation by acquiring right-hander Jack Flaherty from the St. Louis Cardinals for three prospects.
Leading the AL East with a 65-41 record and with a stacked farm system, the Orioles had the chance to be among the most aggressive teams at the deadline but held on to all eight of their prospects ranked by MLB Pipeline in baseball’s top 100.
Flaherty struggled earlier this season but was 3-1 with a 3.03 ERA in five July starts.
Flaherty put together his best season in 2019, when he was 11-8 with a 2.75 ERA and threw nearly 200 innings.
Injuries have derailed Flaherty’s previous three seasons, but he has made 20 starts this year with a 4.43 ERA and 7-6 record.
Padres are buyers; adding Hill, Choi in trade with Pirates
The San Diego Padres are five games out of a playoff spot but are making moves to get back to the postseason.
The Padres acquired veteran left-hander Rich Hill and first baseman Ji Man Choi from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
This will be the 13th major league team for the 43-year-old Hill, who is 7-10 with a 4.76 ERA in 22 starts in his 19th MLB season.
Choi, 32, is batting .268 with four home runs and nine RBIs in 14 games since coming off the injured list after missing more than two months due to a left Achilles strain.
San Diego, which reached last season’s NL championship series but must pass five teams in the NL wild-card race, sent Pittsburgh three prospects - headlined by lefty Jackson Wolf.
Ohtani, Judge both unanimous picks for MVP awards
Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani were both unanimously selected to win Most Valuable Player Awards in their respective leagues on Thursday.
Judge collected all 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. garnered all 30 second-place votes.
Yankees outfielder Juan Soto finished third with 21 third-place votes.
Ohtani was an unanimous MVP for the third time, receiving all 30 first-place votes and 420 points in voting by the BWAA. New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor was second with 263 points and Arizona second baseman Ketel Marte third with 229.
It is the second AL MVP award of Judge's career after he also won the award in 2022.
Judge led the major leagues with 58 homers, 144 RBIs and 133 walks while hitting .322. He also drew a league-high 133 walks and posted a spectacular 1.159 OPS.
Witt topped the big leagues with a .332 average, hitting 32 homers with 109 RBIs.
With two MVP Awards to his name, Judge is the seventh player in Yankees history to win multiple MVPs. He joins Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Alex Rodriguez.
There was an extended stretch over the summer where Judge was on a pace to reach and possibly break his own single-season home run record (62 in 2022). The same goes for a bid at a Triple Crown.
The stretch that truly defined his season began on April 27. Judge entered play on that day in Milwaukee with a .178 batting average and .674 OPS on the season. He had only four home runs with 35 strikeouts across 27 games.
Over his next 100 games, through August 23, Judge hit .378 with 45 home runs. It was the first time in MLB history a player batted higher than .375 with 45-plus homers in a stretch of 100 games within a single season.
Ohtani was unanimously voted AL MVP in 2021 and 2023 as a two-way star for the Los Angeles Angels and finished second to Judge in 2022 voting. He didn’t pitch in 2024 following elbow surgery and signed a record $700 million, 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers last December.
Ohtani hit .310, stole 59 bases and led the NL with 54 homers and 130 RBIs exclusively as a designated hitter, becoming the first player with 50 or more homers and 50 or more stolen bases in a season. He helped the Dodgers to the World Series title, playing the final three games with a torn labrum in his left shoulder.
Ohtani is the first primary DH to win an MVP. He joins Frank Robinson for Cincinnati in 1961 and Baltimore in 1966 as the only players to win the MVP award in both leagues.
The Japanese sensation is the 12th player with three or more MVPs, joining Barry Bonds (seven) and Jimmie Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Roy Campanella, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Mike Schmidt, Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols and Mike Trout (three each).
Sale, Skubal win MLB's Cy Young Awards
Detroit Tigers left-hander Tarik Skubal and Atlanta Braves lefty Chris Sale were each named the winner of their respective league’s Cy Young Award on Wednesday.
The announcement was hardly a surprise after each ace won their league's pitching triple crown during the 2024 regular season.
This is the first Cy Young for both pitchers.
Skubal, who turned 28 on Wednesday, enjoyed a break-out year in his fourth full MLB season, and was a unanimous winner, receiving all 30 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. The Kansas City Royals' Seth Lugo finished second and Cleveland Guardians relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase finished third in the balloting, which was completed before the play-offs.
Sale received 26 of 30 first-place votes, while Philadelphia Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler finished second, ahead of Pittsburgh Pirates righty Paul Skenes, who was selected as the National League Rookie of the Year on Monday.
The 35-year-old Sale has come close to winning the award before, finishing as runner-up to Cleveland's Corey Kluber in 2017, with five other top-five finishes in voting since his first full season in the majors in 2011.
Since the inception of the Cy Young Award in 1956, there have been 16 pitchers to win his league's pitching crown. And now, every one of them has also won that year's Cy Young.
Skubal and Sale each won an MLB-best 18 games, while Skubal led all pitchers with 228 strikeouts – three more than Sale. Sale's ERA of 2.38 was just a tick better than Skubal's 2.39.
Both were dominant down the stretch in leading their teams to the play-offs, with Sale permitting two earned runs or fewer in each of his final 18 regular-season starts, though he was unable to pitch in the season final or the Braves' NL Wild-Card series loss to the San Diego Padres because of a back injury.
Skubal posted a 1.94 ERA in his final nine outings, and then threw 13 shutout innings in his first two play-off starts in helping the Tigers surprisingly reach the American League Division Series. He ended up going 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA in three post-season starts.
Skubal became the fifth Tiger to win the Cy Young trophy – and first since Max Scherzer in 2017 – and Sale is the fifth Brave to earn the award – and first since Hall of Famer Tom Glavine in 1998.
Despite several close calls in Cy Young voting for Sale, he has dealt with injuries for the past five seasons, and was limited to a total of 151 innings over the past three years for the Boston Red Sox.
In his first season with the Braves, however, he threw 177 2/3 innings and was awarded the NL Comeback Player of the Year Award last Thursday.
Dodgers erase 5-run deficit, beat Yankees to win World Series
The Los Angeles Dodgers won their second World Series championship in five seasons, overcoming a five-run deficit with the help of three Yankees defensive miscues and rallying on sacrifice flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts in the eighth inning to beat New York 7-6 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning, Alex Verdugo’s RBI single chased Jack Flaherty in the second and Giancarlo Stanton’s third-inning homer against Ryan Brasier built a 5-0 Yankees lead.
But errors by Judge in center and Anthony Volpe at shortstop, combined with pitcher Gerrit Cole failing to cover first on Betts' grounder, helped Los Angeles score five unearned runs in the fifth.
After Stanton’s sixth-inning sacrifice fly put the Yankees back ahead 6-5, the Dodgers loaded the bases against loser Tommy Kahnle in the eighth before the sacrifice flies off Luke Weaver.
Winner Blake Treinen escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the bottom half by retiring Stanton on a flyout and striking out Anthony Rizzo.
Walker Buehler, making his first relief appearance since his rookie season in 2018, pitched a perfect ninth for the save.
Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers’ record-setting $700 million signing and baseball’s first 50-homer, 50-steal player, went 2 for 19 with no RBIs and had one single after separating his shoulder during a stolen base attempt in Game 2.
Freddie Freeman hit a two-run single to tie the Series record of 12 RBIs, set by Bobby Richardson over seven games in 1960. With the Dodgers one out from losing Friday’s opener, Freeman hit a game-ending grand slam reminiscent of Kirk Gibson’s homer off Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley in 1988’s Game 1 that sparked Los Angeles to the title.
The Dodgers earned their eighth championship and seventh since leaving Brooklyn for Los Angeles - their first in a non-shortened season since 1988. They won a neutral-site World Series against Tampa Bay in 2020 after a 60-game regular season and couldn’t have a parade because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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