Issue #699
The goal with The Baseball Buffet series is to provide the best daily dose of relevant baseball info in a smart brevity format (mostly short bullets, getting to the point, with quick analysis/insights.) Think of it like what baseball fans of a certain age would look forward to in their morning newspaper’s sports section each day!
⚾ Welcome! ⚾
Last evening we had the 2026 All-Star Game, and it ended up being stronger in pitching and defense than in hitting. Here are a few highlights from the action:
PHI SP Cristopher Sánchez, pitching in his home ballpark in Philadelphia, struck out Mike Trout to lead things off.
But then HOU Yordan Alvarez singled and ATH Shea Langeliers walked. TBR Junior Caminero grounded out but advanced both runners.
KCR Bobby Witt Jr. walked to load the bases, and then NYY Cody Bellinger hit a 2-run single, followed by his teammate NYY Ben Rice hitting a single that drove in Witt. AL 3, NL 0
In the bottom of the first inning, TOR SP Dylan Cease struck out three (PHI Kyle Schwarber, NYM Juan Soto, and WSH CJ Abrams), only allowing LAD Freddie Freeman to get on base with a walk.
Ten other AL pitchers held the NL to only three hits, as NYM Juan Soto, MIA Otto Lopez, and CHC Pete Crow-Armstrong each had singles.
LAD Justin Wrobleski, not usually a big strikeout pitcher, struck out the side in the seventh (CLE Travis Bazzana, BOS Ceddanne Rafaela, and TBR Yandy Díaz), then allowed a HR to CWS Miguel Vargas in the eighth, before striking out two more (DET Kevin McGonigle, CWS Tristan Peters). AL 4, NL 0
For more on the All-Star Game, see these articles from MLB:
In City of Brotherly Love, AL rides 3-run 1st to win All-Star Game, by Anthony Castrovince
Key stats and facts from the 2026 All-Star Game, by Sarah Langs, Brent Maguire, Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru, and Theo DeRosa
Today’s Trivia Question
Which team so far this year is leading all of baseball in batting average, and which two teams are tied for the most runs per game?
(Trivia answers are provided for paid All-Star subscribers of the Baseball Buffet.)
Standings
Here are the current MLB standings, with thanks to the website Plain Text Sports for the formatting. (See also the official, more detailed standings at MLB here.)
🎂 Today’s Birthday Boys 🎉
Bill Byrd, Dan McGann, Donn Clendenon, Bubbles Hargrave
Currently active players who were born on July 15 include SDP Ramón Laureano, BOS Masataka Yoshida, BAL Jhonkensy Noel, WAS Cole Henry, and LAD Landon Knack.
Baseball Quote of the Day
One of today's Birthday Boys is Donn Clendenon, so here is a good quote from him after winning the 1969 World Series MVP Award: "There is no most valuable player on this team—we've got lots of them. It was just spectacular to see these young kids mold themselves into winning combinations, those kids did not believe they could lose."
Get more baseball goodness for less than 10 cents a day!
What you see in this issue of The Baseball Buffet is an abridged version. All-Star subscribers receive the following, every day of the week:
Game summaries for every game
Current MLB standings
Notable player transactions… injuries, call-ups, free agent signings, trades, etc.
Rotating statistical leader lists
Current hitting streaks of seven or more games
On this day in baseball history…
Career summaries for each of The Birthday Boys
Daily Hitter Watch and Pitcher Watch lists - who has historically done well or poorly against their matchup today?
Good Reads… my favorite recent baseball articles from other writers
… and the answers to the daily trivia questions!
… and during the offseason I still publish every day, covering trades, free-agent signings, and other hot-stove season news!
Become an All-Star subscriber to The Baseball Buffet today for $7 a month, or just $35 a year—that’s right, get 12 months for the price of only 5. That is less than 10 cents a day for maximum baseball goodness delivered to your inbox every morning!
⚾ I hope you enjoyed the newsletter today! ⚾
Did you know? I wrote a 600+ page book with the same title as this newsletter/blog? Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports. It is available at Amazon and most other major booksellers.
This newsletter was produced with beehiiv.
New to Now Taking the Field? Become a subscriber and get each article in your email inbox so that you don’t miss anything!