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USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Pete Alonso ties New York Mets home run record as former Florida Gators shine across MLB
Former Florida baseball players continue to make noise across Major League Baseball as the season moves deeper into August. This past week brought a mix of power surges, defensive gems and a few bumps in the road for several ex-Gators. Pete Alonso delivered one of the week's biggest moments in the majors, belting his 252nd career home run to tie Darryl Strawberry for the New York Mets' franchise record. Brady Singer had a hiccup after back-to-back dominant starts, but his recent stretch still shows promise. Wyatt Langford cooled off after a strong run at the plate, while Harrison Bader continued to bring his Gold Glove-caliber defense to Philadelphia. Jonathan India has been searching for consistency but found ways to contribute, and Jac Caglianone remains sidelined as the Royals await his return. With each player navigating the grind of the second half, the Gators' impact on MLB rosters remains undeniable. Pete Alonso: First Baseman, New York Mets Last 7 Games: .286 AVG | .276 OBP | .571 SLG | 2 HR | 7 RBI 2025 Season: .264 AVG | .350 OBP | .511 SLG | 26 HR | 93 RBI Alonso's bat came alive this week, and he delivered a moment Mets fans will never forget. With his second homer of the series in Milwaukee, the former Gator launched No. 252 of his career, tying Strawberry for the most in franchise history. It's a milestone that underscores his place among the greatest power hitters in Mets history—and he's not slowing down. Seven RBI over his last seven games have helped keep New York in the postseason mix, and his recent surge is coming at exactly the right time for a team chasing October baseball. Wyatt Langford: Outfielder, Texas Rangers Last 7 Games: .174 AVG | .345 OBP | .217 SLG | 0 HR | 1 RBI 2025 Season: .238 AVG | .321 OBP | .405 SLG | 15 HR | 45 RBI After showing signs of heating up earlier this month, Langford's production dipped over the past week. He still managed to get on base at a solid clip thanks to six walks, but the extra-base hits weren't there. If he can pair that plate discipline with his usual gap-to-gap power, the Rangers could see a quick turnaround from one of their most dynamic young hitters. Jac Caglianone: Outfielder, Kansas City Royals Status: 10-Day Injured List (Hamstring) 2025 Season: .147 AVG | .205 OBP | .280 SLG | 5 HR | 10 RBI Caglianone remains sidelined after a left hamstring strain late last month. Before the injury, the rookie slugger had been showing flashes of his raw power despite overall inconsistency. Kansas City is eager to get him back healthy, knowing his bat could make an impact down the stretch. Harrison Bader: Outfielder, Philadelphia Phillies Last 7 Games: .150 AVG | .261 OBP | .300 SLG | 1 HR | 3 RBI 2025 Season (MIN/PHI): .251 AVG | .333 OBP | .430 SLG | 13 HR | 41 RBI Bader's full week in a Phillies uniform featured more defensive highlights than offensive fireworks, but he did manage to add a home run and three RBI. His ability to track balls in the gap, make efficient routes and throw with accuracy keeps run production down for opponents. Philadelphia's front office valued him for exactly these traits at the trade deadline and if the bat heats up alongside the glove, Bader could be one of the more underrated pickups of the summer. Jonathan India: Infielder, Kansas City Royals Last 7 Games: .148 AVG | .281 OBP | .259 SLG | 1 HR | 4 RBI 2025 Season: .236 AVG | .321 OBP | .339 SLG | 6 HR | 36 RBI India has been in a funk at the plate, but he's still finding ways to help the Royals. His four RBI this week included a go-ahead homer, and his defensive flexibility has allowed Kansas City to plug him into multiple infield and even outfield spots when needed. For a team fighting to stay competitive, having a player who can grind out at-bats, work counts and move around the field is invaluable. Brady Singer: Starting Pitcher, Cincinnati Reds Last Outing (Aug. 7 @PIT): 3.2 IP | 6 H | 4 ER | 4 BB | 2 SO 2025 Season: 9-9 | 4.53 ERA | 119.1 IP | 113 SO | 1.35 WHIP Singer's most recent start was a step back after two straight gems, as control issues led to four walks and an early exit in Pittsburgh. Still, his prior outings against Atlanta and Tampa Bay showed how effective he can be when his sinker-slider combo is working. If he can regain that sharpness, the Reds will have a reliable arm to lean on in the final stretch of the season. Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Bluesky, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
Fox Sports
4 hours ago
- Fox Sports
Last Night in Baseball: The Mets, Like Everyone Else, Cannot Stop the Brewers
Major League Baseball Last Night in Baseball: The Mets, Like Everyone Else, Cannot Stop the Brewers Published Aug. 11, 2025 10:51 a.m. ET share facebook x reddit link There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to follow themselves. Don't worry, we're here to help you by figuring out what you missed but shouldn't have. Here are all the best moments from the weekend in Major League Baseball : Brewers win again (and again, and again) The Brewers are at it again. Following a sweep of the Mets over the weekend, Milwaukee now has three separate winning streaks in 2025 of at least eight games. The first is what kicked off their rapid recovery in the standings and began their ascent to where they are now, from May 25 through June 2, totaling eight wins. The second stretched from July 6, went into the All-Star break, and continued out the other side through July 21, giving the Brewers 11 wins in a row. And after sweeping New York this weekend, they're now at nine-straight, and have a record of 73-44, with the most wins and best run differential (+132) in the majors. They also defeated the Mets on Sunday with a dramatic comeback. New York scored in each of the first five innings of the game — a pair of runs in the first, then one more in each frame afterward. They were up 3-0 before Milwaukee started to respond: after the conclusion of the fifth, the Mets were up 6-5. The Brewers would tie it up in the eighth, with their bullpen holding New York scoreless from the time they entered the game in the fifth in relief of starter Quinn Priester, and then, in the ninth. Well, take a look: Isaac Collins, who was already 2-for-4 on the day with a run scored and a double, wasted no time in sending the fans home happy. The leadoff batter in the inning took a 2-2 slider deep to right field, and just like that, the Brewers had won, and notched their ninth-straight dub. They now have a commanding six-game lead on the Cubs in the NL Central. While there's still plenty of season left for Chicago to narrow that gap once more, we're talking about a team that's been mediocre for months – the Cubs are 31-28 since June 1 — against the one that's on a 121-win pace since May 25. ADVERTISEMENT The Mets, meanwhile, slipped to 5.5 games behind the Phillies, as Philadelphia swept the Rangers in Texas. New York is now just 1-8 in the month of August, which, you know. Not where you want to be. Raleigh's big weekend Cal Raleigh has hit more homers than anyone in 2025, but he isn't always consistent about when they're hit. It's been in bunches most of the time — he clearly gets in a zone, and woe be to any pitcher who throws him a strike in those stretches. Like over the weekend, when Raleigh hit a home run in every single game of the Mariners' series against the Rays. Raleigh's MLB-leading 43rd homer came off of Tampa Bay reliever Griffin Jax, who was acquired from the Twins before the trade deadline. He left an 87-mph offering at the bottom of the zone, and Raleigh golfed it out from the left side of the plate with that dangerous looping swing of his to put Seattle up 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth. On Saturday, with the Mariners already up 2-1 in the bottom of the third, Big Dumper would do it again, this time off of Joe Boyle, once again from the left side of the plate. Boyle might have thrown it 100 mph, but he did so with a flat offering left in the outside-middle of the plate, and Raleigh had no problem sending it the other way with authority for his second 3-run homer of the weekend. Raleigh's last blast of the weekend came on Sunday in the first inning, with one runner on. Again, he was batting left-handed, and again, a fastball was left a little too flat in the zone. This time it was middle-in, but there wasn't enough movement on it to fool Raleigh, and at 96 he was able to whip his bat around it and pull it into the stands. Three different locations, three different swings — and the same result on all three. His power just comes so easy when he's on, and he has been on more often than not in 2025. Raleigh has a huge lead in the AL home run race now, 45 to Aaron Judge's 37, and is four up on the best of the NL, as well. Mariners win 7th straight As for the Mariners, thanks in no small part to Raleigh's display of well-paced power, they were able to sweep the Rays. Raleigh's homer on Friday provided Seattle's only offense, but it was enough to win, 3-2. On Saturday, they won by three runs, 7-4, with his second three-run shot of the weekend nicely slotting in there, arithmetic-wise. And on Sunday, Raleigh struck first with a two-run shot, in a game Seattle would eventually win 6-3. They've strung together seven Ws in a row now, putting them just half-a-game behind the Astros for the AL West lead. Seattle is also 3.5 up in the AL wild card race, leading the Red Sox by a game for the top spot, while sitting four up on the Guardians and six up on the Rangers among the closest teams still chasing one of the three wild cards. The Mariners are 22-13 since the start of July, with this win streak being a major part of that, and they take on the Orioles and the struggling Mets in their two series this week. Ohtani goes yard twice Big Dumper wasn't the only one racking up homers over the weekend. Shohei Ohtani hit No. 40 of the year on Saturday against the Blue Jays in a 9-1 Dodgers' victory. This marked the fourth season of at least 40 dingers for Ohtani, and which he's managed in four of five years since he truly became a full-time player in the majors. Ohtani wasn't done, either, as he picked up his 41st of the year on Sunday, albeit in a 5-4 defeat. Ohtani is leading the NL in homers — he's tied with Kyle Schwarber, who went deep on Friday — and in OPS+ at 177. He's batting .288/.388/.620, with that slugging and his 1.008 OPS also leading the Senior Circuit, and he's tops in the majors in total bases with 282. That third-straight MVP is looking pretty likely, especially if he keeps up his recent performance on the mound — on top of all the offensive accolades, Ohtani has a 2.37 ERA in his eight starts. Speaking of Dodgers' pitching On Saturday, Blake Snell made his second start since returning from the IL, and looked a lot like the pitcher that the Dodgers signed this offseason — meaning, the one that has already picked up two Cy Young wins in his career. That Los Angeles beat down Toronto 9-1 might make you notice the offense first, but Snell's performance played into the lopsided win just as much. While he threw just five innings — this is Blake Snell we're talking about — he also struck out 10 batters against three walks, and scattered three hits, allowing no runs in the process. Tyler Glasnow has a 2.37 ERA since he returned from the IL in July. Ohtani is getting stretched out more and more in the rotation, and has been excellent since his return to the mound. Now the Dodgers have Snell looking a lot like the pitcher they signed to a five-year, $182 million contract in the offseason: their postseason rotation seems to be rounding into form just in time after a summer full of injuries and struggles. How?! No, really. How did Adolis García manage to make this catch happen? Usually on this kind of whoopsie where the ball pops out of the glove, it goes up, giving a player at least a little bit of time to react to it and snag it again. Here, though, it pops up and out… but at García, bouncing off of him in the process. And yet! What a stunning grab. It didn't help the Rangers in the end — again, they were swept by Philly — but it sure is impressive to watch and watch again. Pawol makes history, twice On Saturday, in a game between the Marlins and Braves in Atlanta, Jen Pawol became the first woman umpire in a regular season MLB game. On Sunday, she called balls and strikes behind home plate — do the math there, and she's obviously the first-ever woman ump to handle those duties in an MLB game, as well. Players and coaches from both teams had nothing but positive things to say about Pawol's presence in these momentous moments, as well as her performance. And Braves' pitching coach Rick Kranitz even intentionally kept a conversation going on the mound long enough for Pawol to have to come out to speak with the assembled Braves, giving the crowd a chance to give her an ovation. Hey, it's not often fans have a reason to cheer an umpire, but Pawol certainly merited their acknowledgment in those moments. Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! FOLLOW Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience Milwaukee Brewers Major League Baseball share
New York Times
4 hours ago
- New York Times
Mets and Yankees both slumping, but you gotta see these two catches
The Windup Newsletter ⚾ | This is The Athletic's MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox. Hot town, summer in the city; the Yankees and the Mets playing hurt and … uh, bad. Plus: Let's check in on the AL Cy Young race, the Guardians are red-hot and we have two catches you gotta see. I'm Levi Weaver. Ken Rosenthal is off this week. Welcome to The Windup! Since the All-Star break: I mean, Mariano Rivera ruptured his achilles tendon playing center field at the old-timers game. It's bad times. For the Mets, it's even more bleak than the above numbers. After they signed Juan Soto away from the Yankees, this was meant to be the year they became the best team in New York. So much for that. Advertisement They've lost 12 of their last 13, They led 5-0 yesterday and still lost. The starting pitching has struggled so mightily that you have to wonder if one of their prospects in Triple A — Nolan McLean or Brandon Sproat — might be a better option. Jonah Tong was just promoted from Double A to Triple A, so there are options coming. But are they ready to play saviors of a season in peril? For that matter, is it even possible to rebound from a stretch like this? Meanwhile, the Yankees' Texas-two step has been particularly brutal for Devin Williams, who was responsible for another loss over the weekend, this one at home against the Astros. Austin Slater and Amed Rosario — two of their position-player trade deadline additions — are on the IL, and 35-year-old Giancarlo Stanton is playing the outfield for the first time since 2023. They still believe they can turn things around. But they might be running out of time. More Mets: One silver lining: Pete Alonso hit his 252nd home run, tying him with Darryl Strawberry for the franchise record. More Old-Timers Game: It was the first one the Yankees held since 2019. But a longer absence was ended this year: Graig Nettles was back in uniform after a 14-year absence. Obviously, Detroit's Tarik Skubal is the favorite to win the AL Cy Young. By the 'old' stats, he's 11-3 with a 2.35 ERA in 145 1/3 innings. By the 'new' stats, his 5.4 bWAR trails only Paul Skenes (5.7) among pitchers, and is seventh-highest in the game. But over his last two starts, he has allowed seven earned runs in 11 2/3 innings (5.40 ERA). It's an incredibly small sample size, but has it opened the door to other contenders? OK, maybe not. But here's who is knocking on the door, should Skubal's rough patch turn into a full-blown slump. Garrett Crochet, Red Sox: 13-4, 2.24 ERA, 148 1/3 ip, 4.8 bWAR. Crochet probably has the strongest case. That's more wins and a lower ERA than Skubal (his 2.24 mark leads the AL). The separator for Skubal? Crochet has allowed 39 walks to Skubal's 21. And Crochet's 1.072 WHIP (while still extremely good) isn't particularly close to Skubal's .860. In short, neither one is allowing many runs, but Crochet is allowing a few more runners to reach base. Advertisement Nathan Eovaldi, Rangers: 10-3, 1.38 ERA, 111 ip, 4.3 bWAR. Eovaldi doesn't have a case … yet. But it's only because he missed a month with triceps tightness. That's the only reason he doesn't lead the ERA race at 1.38 (Paul Skenes leads the sport at 1.94 — read Jayson Stark on Skenes here). It's also the only reason Eovaldi's .838 WHIP doesn't technically lead the league, ahead of Skubal. He should be a qualifier after his next start, though, which is when the debate begins in earnest. Eno Sarris has more on Eovaldi's season here. Hunter Brown, Astros: 9-5, 2.51 ERA, 136 1/3 ip, 4.5 bWAR. Joe Ryan, Twins: 11-5, 2.79 ERA, 132 1/3 ip, 4.6 bWAR. Both Brown and Ryan have been extremely good. But Ryan doesn't lead the league in any major category, and the only thing Brown has been best at is fewest hits per nine innings (6.2). That's not nothing, especially given the injuries the Astros rotation has faced this year. The fact that Houston still leads the AL West by a half-game is very much a credit to Brown and Framber Váldez. For Ryan, I'm not sure how much it matters when a player's team isn't contending, but the Twins … aren't. Honorable mentions: Jacob deGrom (Rangers), Váldez (Astros), Max Fried (Yankees), Kris Bubic (Royals) We were blessed this weekend by two otherworldly catches in the outfield. First up: Jurickson Profar, who robbed Agustin Ramírez of a home run with this bit of art: I couldn't help but recall Denzel Clarke's catch earlier this year. The smooth jump, catch, swoop and roll back over the wall. Brilliant, both of them. But it has been a while since I've seen anything like this catch from Adolis García yesterday: Off the glove, off the shoulder, barehanded just before it touched grass. They reviewed it and everything. Unreal. If the Guardians have snuck up on you, you're not alone. They've also been sneaking up on the rest of the American League. Cleveland hit the All-Star break at three games below .500 (46-49), and were less than two weeks removed from trailing the AL Central by 15.5 games. That's not quite the definition of toast, not in this expanded-playoffs era, but it's pretty close. Since then, they're 15-7, and (paired with cold stretches of varying lengths from the Tigers, Yankees and Rangers) they're now six games back in the division — and a half-game out of the third AL wild-card position. Advertisement Zack Meisel has a good by-the-numbers here to explain the hot streak. The short version: the offense hasn't been dominant, but it has been getting timely hitting, which is how you score runs in bunches. Kyle Manzardo has rounded into form, cresting the 20-homer mark with an .808 OPS. Meanwhile, the pitching has been getting significant contributions from Gavin Williams and a cast of less-recognizable names. Kolby Allard entered the year with a career ERA of 5.99 with the Braves (twice), Rangers and Phillies. This year? 2.54 in 25 games (two starts). And hey — no Emmanuel Clase? No problem. Nic Enright and Erik Sabrowski have stepped up in a huge way. I'll add this: Cleveland ranks sixth on FanGraph's team-wide Def stat. Hitting? Pitching? Defense? Check, check, check. OK I guess we're starting this up again… Brewers win-streak counter: nine games. Jen Pawol's debut was a success — David O'Brien has the full story from the game, while Britt Ghiroli has more context on the historical significance. 12 teams are in playoff spots. Six others are within five games. Who has the toughest (and easiest) path to the postseason? Stephen Nesbitt and Chad Jennings break down the schedules. What makes a good teammate? Rustin Dodd caught up with Jeff Francoeur, who was widely considered one of the best. How is Carlos Correa learning to play third base? He's studying the league's best. The biggest measure of success for Trevor Story in Boston this year? Staying on the field. Hey, so… the Twins have a winning record since the trade deadline, and have won five of their last seven games. One big reason: rookie sensation Luke Keaschall. The NL West starting pitching is getting healthy again: Michael King is back with the Padres, and Blake Snell with the Dodgers. Have you ever seen a switch-throwing position player? Carlos Cortes of the A's played right field left-handed, then moved to third base, where he played right-handed. Advertisement And we had a couple of round-number benchmarks over the weekend: Jose Altuve hit his 250th home run, while Justin Verlander notched his 3,500th strikeout. Most-clicked in our last newsletter: The latest Weird and Wild by Jayson Stark, of course. 📫 Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic's other newsletters. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
