Welcome back to the Hot or Not feature series! This week\u2019s recap covers the 13th full week of the season, from June 22-28.<\/p>\n
AL West <\/strong> Not: Angels bullpen gets run over by the Nats<\/em> AL Central <\/strong> Not: Kansas City\u2019s volatility persists<\/em> AL East <\/strong> Not: Tomoyuki Sugano\u2019s <\/em>AL ROY campaign goes awry NL West<\/strong> Not: San Diego\u2019s lineup scrapes out a few runs<\/em> NL Central<\/strong> Not: Paul Skenes loses duel against <\/em>Brewers rookie<\/em> NL East<\/strong> a DAY where kyle said I\u2019LL TAKE THE HR LEAD and THE BUS was like NAH I\u2019LL BE RIGHT BACK and they both went YARD and now they\u2019re TIED and the dugout lost its mind and the scoreboard still hasn\u2019t recovered and that\u2019s just BASEBALL BABY and oh yeah\u2014BRING OUT THE BROOMS pic.twitter.com\/mwyytyuJ16<\/p>\n \u2014 Miami Marlins (@Marlins) June 26, 2025<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Not: Michael\u2019s Harris II continues battling for hits<\/em> Meanwhile, Angels and Royals regress<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":65084,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nHot: Jacob deGrom flirts with a no-hitter<\/em>
\nThere have been a couple of complete games this year, but deGrom has been one of the few starters to come close to pitching a no-hitter. Through seven innings, deGrom kept the Orioles two walks and seven strikeouts before he gave up the first and only hit of the game to Colton Cowser in the eighth. He was immediately pulled, with a close-to-flawless 89-pitch outing. Pitching has been dominant this season, and deGrom\u2019s start underscores this imbalance.<\/p>\n
\nA couple weeks ago they were cruising, but now the Angels have been knocked down a few pegs. Los Angeles\u2019 relievers were steamrolled by Washington, relinquishing seven runs in five innings. Sam Bachman was charged with the loss despite only giving up a run in one frame, but Hector Neris and Hunter Strickland quickly let the game get out of hand, with Strickland turning an 11-9 deficit into a 15-9 runaway within one inning. There\u2019s always next time, Angels firemen.<\/p>\n
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\nHot: Brooks Lee pushes the Twins forward<\/em>
\nLee\u2019s sophomore campaign has been promising, and last week was clear evidence of his improvement. He batted .476 and slugged .667, plating three runs and five RBIs. Lee recorded a hit in Minnesota\u2019s six games to improve his season batting average to .280, and he only struck out once. Consistency has been key for Lee, and his steadfast plate discipline is helping him excel.<\/p>\n
\nJune has been a streaky month for the Royals, mainly filled with more lows than highs. Extending a six-game losing streak, Kansas City\u2019s lineup batted a miserable .154 and hardly slugged .250. Tampa Bay silenced the team at Kauffman Stadium twice during their underwhelming series sweep. Although the entire lineup struggled, Jac Caglianone\u2019s hitless stretch didn\u2019t help matters. With each loss, the Royals are falling out of buying contention far before the trade deadline.<\/p>\n
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\nHot: Tampa Bay\u2019s starters look invincible<\/em>
\nThe Rays rotation was elusive. The starters secured three of five potential wins last week and showcased two quality starts from Shane Baz and Taj Bradley. Baz pitched an eight-frame shutout while striking out nine in the 4-0 Rays win against the Royals, and Bradley held the Royals to two hits and a walk in 6 \u2154 scoreless innings paving the team\u2019s 5-1 rout. With a 0.36 ERA combined, Rays pitching was certainly Ray-ing.<\/p>\n
\nThe course toward AL Rookie of the Year hasn\u2019t run smoothly for Sugano, and his poor outing against Tampa Bay only adds insult to injury. Sugano quickly conceded six of his seven earned runs to the Rays in the second inning from three home runs and an RBI single. He left the game with nine hits and a walk allowed on top of three home runs and seven runs. Sugano hasn\u2019t been the breakout player Baltimore has hoped for, and this latest pummeling was the worst game of his MLB career.<\/p>\n
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\nHot: Eduardo Rodr\u00edguez take control for the <\/em>Diamondbacks
\nRodr\u00edguez happily took advantage of Chicago\u2019s struggles with runners in scoring position \u2014and getting runners into scoring position \u2014 in Arizona\u2019s 10-0 triumph over the second-worst team in the baseball. Rodr\u00edguez only surrendered five hits and two walks while striking out 10 over six innings, raising his strikeout total to 74 and cutting his June ERA to 2.05. Rodr\u00edguez stepped up to secure a should-win game.<\/p>\n
\nThe Padres got lucky last week with such little offense. The bats slashed just .181\/.262\/.290 and recorded a -0.4 WAR. Manny Machado and Fernando Tat\u00eds Jr. batted around .100, taking away plenty of offensive power. Fortunately, the Padres didn\u2019t need to come in with guns blazing, as they took home wins in nearly half of their games. An off-week happens to every team, but in a tight division it\u2019s harder to survive them.<\/p>\n
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\nHot: Bombs away, Spencer Steer<\/em>
\nSteer was a hitting machine against the Padres. In Cincinnati\u2019s 8-1 victory, Steer crushed three home runs in his first three at-bats, compiling 12 total bases and four RBIs in one game. While the MLB record for home runs per game by a single player sits at four, Steer\u2019s three bombs puts him in elite company as a feat that has only been achieved seven other times this year. With his crazy night, Steer raised his June slugging percentage to .560.<\/p>\n
\nUsing the same team in consecutive weeks for a division\u2019s \u201cHot\u201d or \u201cNot\u201d is typically avoided at all costs, but this week it\u2019s worth mentioning Skenes\u2019 imperfect performance. Facing rookie sensation Jacob Misiorowski in Milwaukee, Skenes allowed four hits, four runs, and two walks in a short, four-inning outing. At least he didn\u2019t give up a home run, as the Brewers had already tallied four in the series. For only the third out of 17 times this year, Skenes struggled.<\/p>\n
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\nHot: Miami rides the heat wave<\/em>
\nThe Marlins brought the East Coast heat wave west with their hot hitting. They outscored the Giants, 24-12, in their Bay Area sweep before moving on to trample the Diamondbacks. Miami\u2019s young infielders Otto L\u00f3pez, Connor Norby, and Xavier Edwards each batted better than .350 last week, contributing to a productive lineup slash line of .321\/.369\/.455. The Marlins have jumped the Nationals in the NL East and are on a five-game win streak.<\/p>\n\n
\nAtlanta\u2019s former NL Rookie of the Year in 2022 hasn\u2019t had a great summer. His .215\/.241\/.323 slash line shows a steep decline in hitting from last year\u2019s borderline All-Star-worthy hitting. Harris went 0-for-13 last week, contributing only a run and RBI in Atlanta\u2019s fights against its division rivals. Atlanta has been slowly growing out of a bumpy spring, but Harris hasn\u2019t quite caught up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"