A TRIPLE PLAY was turned (batter: Jose Altuve) — happens two or three times a season.
Nightly briefing
Baseball last night
Kyle Schwarber has struck out 152 times, projecting to 241. Mark Reynolds' record is 223. That pace would be the most strikeouts in any season since 1901. But he's doing damage too: he is 2nd in MLB in home runs (33) — one every 11.1 at-bats. The strikeouts are the price of the power.
The AL Central is a coin flip: Guardians (54-48) and Sox (53-47) are even in the standings — zero games back. The COL single-season record is 49 home runs, set by Larry Walker in 1997. Hunter Goodman projects to 49 and projects to tie it.
History movers: Corbin Carroll, after homering — Triples: 11 now, pace 18, record 36 (Chief Wilson) · CJ Abrams, after a two-homer night — RBI: 76 now, pace 121, record 191 (Hack Wilson).
Lines of the night: Zac Thornton earned his FIRST career win ▶︎ watch; Marco Gonzales earned his FIRST career save.
Milestones reached last night: Chandler Simpson reached 100 hits; CJ Abrams reached 75 RBI; Ben Rice reached 30 HR; Ben Rice reached 100 hits; Trea Turner reached 100 hits.
The .400 chase: Otto Lopez went 0-for-3 last night and saw his average slip 3 points to .332. The gap to .400 is now .068.
The so-what: through 103 team games, Yordan Alvarez sits 13 HR behind Bonds' 73-homer pace (46 at this point). That's the number that decides whether this season becomes a chase or a footnote.
Batter Strikeouts
NEGATIVE HISTORY
Kyle SchwarberPHI
Kyle Schwarber is on pace for 241 strikeouts
Kyle Schwarber has struck out 152 times, projecting to 241. Mark Reynolds' record is 223. That pace would be the most strikeouts in any season since 1901. But he's doing damage too: he is 2nd in MLB in home runs (33) — one every 11.1 at-bats. The strikeouts are the price of the power.
Mark Reynolds struck out 223 times in 2009, a mark that has survived the highest-strikeout era in history.
98History score
- Current
- 152
- Projected
- 241
- Record
- 223 Mark Reynolds · 2009
Triple Crown (AL)95
Yordan AlvarezHOU
Yordan Alvarez ranks 1/1/1 in the AL in AVG/HR/RBI. He leads all three.
Win Streak89
Red SoxBOS
Record 22 · Cleveland Indians▲ 3
Red Sox carry a 15-game win streak. The modern record is 22 (2017 Indians).
Fastest Pitch89
Misiorowski, Jacob
Record 105.8 · Aroldis Chapman
Misiorowski, Jacob's 105.5 mph 4-Seam Fastball on 2026-06-26 is the fastest pitch of 2026.
Runs81
James WoodWSH
149 projectedRecord 177 · Babe Ruth
Needs 26 more to reach 120.
Team Wins79
BrewersMIL
102 projectedRecord 116 · 1906 Cubs / 2001 Mariners
36 wins from a 100-win season.
Team Wins79
DodgersLAD
102 projectedRecord 116 · 1906 Cubs / 2001 Mariners▲ 1
36 wins from a 100-win season.
Longest Ball79
Fernando Tatis Jr.
A 474-foot home run on 2026-07-21 — the longest ball of the season.
Hardest-Hit Ball78
Oneil Cruz
Record 122.4 · Giancarlo Stanton
A 119.0 mph double on 2026-04-16 — Stanton's tracked record is 122.4.
Pace through history
A
Yordan Alvarez versus the great home-run seasons
Yordan Alvarez has 33 home runs through 103 team games, 11 behind Barry Bonds's 2001 pace at the same checkpoint (44). Comparable chases finished with a median of 44; 14.2% reached 50 and 1.7% reached 60 (n=120).
If the pace holds
A
A projected top-20 season
If James Wood finishes at the current projection of 149, it would rank No. 20 among all seasons since 1901 — only 19 finished higher.
Franchise pressure
A
A franchise record is under pressure
The COL single-season record is 49 home runs, set by Larry Walker in 1997. Hunter Goodman projects to 49 and projects to tie it.
The environment matters
A
This is an unusual batter-strikeout climate
MLB teams are averaging 8.40 batter-strikeout events per team game. The last completed season at least this high was 2021. The stored historical peak is 8.81 in 2019.
Under the surface
Deep signals
Tonight's stakes
What to watch today
The .400 burndown: Otto Lopez carries a .332 average into today; a .400 finish takes a .517 clip the rest of the way (119-for-230). That is .009 harder than yesterday. A 3-for-4 tonight lowers the requirement to .513; an 0-for-4 raises it to .527.
The hot hand: Ben Rice brings a 13-game hitting streak into tonight. Streaks get interesting at 20 and historic at 30.
Tightest race: the AL Central — Guardians (54-48) and Sox (53-47) are even in the standings, zero games back.
Year-over-year: the Sox are 53-47 — 17 wins ahead of where they stood on this date last season (36-65).
Behind the plate: Erich Bacchus called the best zone last night (99.1% on 107 calls); Nick Mahrley the roughest (89.0%). Worst call: a strike 16.3" off the zone.
Rookie watch: Kazuma Okamoto has 22 HR and 62 RBI in 98 games — the top rookie power line in baseball.
Streak ladder: the Sox have won 15 straight — 5 shy of the 2002 Moneyball A's (20); 7 shy of the 2017 Indians (modern record) (22).
Clean gloves: the TEX have played 5 straight errorless games.
From nowhere: Junior Caminero is now 5th in MLB in home runs — he wasn't in the top 30 a month ago.
From nowhere: Nick Gonzales is now 5th in MLB in batting average — he wasn't in the top 30 a month ago.
30/30 watch: Pete Crow-Armstrong sits at 21 HR / 25 SB — 9 homers short and 5 steals short of a 30/30 season, projecting to 34/40.
How to read the site
The chase, in plain English
Otto Lopez leads MLB at .332, but .400 is still a mountain. He would need 45 straight hits to get there today, or roughly a .517 average the rest of the way (119-for-230) to finish at .400.
Every chase gets a 0–100 History Score against the record book, allowing home-run pace, streaks, Statcast extremes, and even negative history to share one radar.