Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today’s games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Thanks for being here.

Look, as appreciators and sometimes admittedly overzealous users of puns in this newsletter, we have to acknowledge the good ones when we see them elsewhere. So thank you to Maria Guardado for getting the inside story on how the burgeoning Jung Hoo Lee fan club, affectionately called the “Hoo Lee Gans,” came to be. 

It all started with a group of self-described “word nerds” who were tossing around sports-related puns for fun (Must be nice! When some people do this it is met with only eye rolls), when they came up with the term. There were T-shirts made and fire wigs crafted, and suddenly there was this new section of fans at Oracle Park entirely dedicated to rooting for Jung Hoo Lee. 

They’ve had a lot to get excited about when it comes to Lee, who has been a revelation for the Giants – and a big reason why they are hanging with the big dogs in a stacked NL West – coming off a disappointing injury-shortened first season in 2024. He’s tied for the NL lead with 11 doubles and is slashing .319/.375/.526, all while holding down Oracle Park’s cavernous center field. He’s quickly become a fan-favorite, beyond just the Hoo Lee Gans, the type who can make a kid’s day at the ballpark.

The founder of the viral fan club, Kyle Smeallie, at first thought this would all be just a one-time deal, but the cheering section received such notoriety that the Hoo Lee Gans look here to stay. They’ve attracted attention across the globe, most prominently in Lee’s native Korea, where the group received a featured spot on the nightly news. 

“We want to create a community,” Smeallie said. “We want to be just like a group of fans that love the team, that love the player. But on another level, we want to create a space for folks to be happy and joyous in a community together.”

Though the group’s initial membership was set at 51, a nod to Lee’s jersey number, the Hoo Lee spirit cannot be contained. That number is expected to grow next time the Hoo Lee Gans appear at Oracle Park, with the Giants beginning a homestand tonight against the Rockies, and their impact and reach across the baseball world should only grow with it. 

That, dear readers, is the power of the pun. It’s mightier than the sword.

-- Scott Chiusano

With the bases loaded and the Phillies clinging to a one-run lead in the eighth inning on Tuesday night, reliever José Alvarado was locked in. He wasn’t the only one. 

The Phillies broadcast showed a young fan in the stands mimicking Alvarado’s motion, taking some calming deep breaths just like the pitcher. “I want to know that kid,” Alvarado later told our Phillies beat reporter Todd Zolecki.

That kid is 12-year-old Prince Bailey, who was attending his first Phillies game and celebrating his birthday with his grandpa, and Prince’s genuine love for the game and feel for that moment amazed Alvarado and the many others who saw it. The Phils flamethrower ended up striking out the side to get out of that jam, and Prince and his grandpa left the ballpark shortly after, feeling the game was in hand. They were listening to the radio in the car as the Phillies gave up the lead in the ninth and then quickly took it back on a walk-off wild pitch. 

“[They] scored and Prince says, ‘Pop Pop, did I help them win?” Troy Bailey said. “I said, ‘Yeah buddy, you helped them win.’”

• Red Sox @ Blue Jays (7:07 p.m. ET, FREE on MLB.TV): After surging from down 6-0 to win on a 10th-inning walk-off last night, Toronto has now taken four of six against Boston, and half of their matchups have gone to extra innings. Expect another hard-fought battle between these AL East rivals, with the Red Sox hoping Alex Bregman, who is batting .400 during an active 10-game hitting streak, can carry the lineup to a series victory.

• Tigers @ Angels (9:38 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): Casey Mize has been showing the Tigers exactly why they took him with the No. 1 overall pick back in 2018. He hasn’t allowed more than one run in four of his five starts, and he pitches tonight on his 28th birthday, so maybe he’ll be joining this list of best b-day performances. For the Angels, everything right now is secondary to getting good news on Mike Trout. 

• Rockies @ Giants (9:45 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): The Rockies have a chance to do something tonight they have not done all season, which is win a second game in a row. They turn to their seasoned veteran Kyle Freeland, who’s seen the highs and lows in Colorado since 2017, to help them get there. The only issue is they are opening this series at Oracle Park, where they have lost 12 in a row against the Giants. 

Here’s a Draft prospect everybody should be keeping a watchful eye on. That’s because he’s a high schooler who can touch 100 mph … and because his name is Jack Bauer. You might remember that name from the hit show “24,” featuring the terrorist-thwarting character made famous by Kiefer Sutherland. Our prospect expert Jim Callis notes that Bauer is the first high school left-hander to record a triple-digit fastball, reaching as high as 102. Bauer, of course, wears No. 24 on the back of his jersey, and he’s currently ranked the No. 32 Draft prospect on MLB Pipeline’s Top 150. We can only hope he continues to rise and then settles at 24. 

Can you Beat the Streak? Try to top Joe DiMaggio's record hitting streak of 56 games by selecting a player each day to record a hit. If you get to 57, you can win $5.6 million. Plus, new for this year, a chance to win unique weekly prizes.

The aforementioned Alex Bregman could be a solid pick tonight, but sticking with the Red Sox, Jarren Duran is 9-for-18 in his career against tonight’s Toronto starter, José Berríos. Play Free >>

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