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.

The Dodgers’ title defense has gotten an unexpected boost from a familiar source: Mookie Betts, who has flipped the script on what once looked like a lost season.

Betts’ rocky 2025 campaign reached its nadir on Aug. 4, when an 0-for-4 game dropped his batting line to .231/.302/.355. Since then? He’s hitting .352 with seven homers and a .987 OPS over his past 32 games. 

Wednesday marked one of Betts’ biggest performances of the year, as he went 4-for-5 with a grand slam -- his fourth homer in seven games -- against the Rockies at Dodger Stadium. As the great Sarah Langs noted, Betts entered Thursday with multiple RBIs in five straight games, one shy of the Dodgers record held by Hall of Fame catcher Roy Campanella.

Betts is one of the top stars of his generation, so we can’t be too shocked about his recent success. At the same time, few could have seen this coming, given how bad things were going for the former American League MVP as recently as last month.

Below are three numbers that sum up Betts’ turnaround. You can also get a deeper look at Betts’ surge here, courtesy of our own David Adler.

174: Betts’ wRC+ since Aug. 5, the eighth-best figure among qualifying hitters during that time. The shortstop’s 83 wRC+ through Aug. 4 tied for 142nd among 157 qualifiers. Betts hasn’t produced a wRC+ below 131 in a single season since 2017, when he finished with a career-low 107.

19.4%: Betts’ barrel rate in September, an indication of how well he’s been hitting the ball. The outfielder already has seven barrels, batted balls with an optimal combination of exit velocity and launch angle, this month. He ranks seventh in MLB (minimum 25 batted balls) in this statistic since Sept. 1, a massive increase from his 4.5% barrel rate through the end of August.

79 points: The increase to Betts’ overall OPS during his hot streak, from .657 on Aug. 4 to .736 after Wednesday’s huge game. If he keeps it going tomorrow against the Giants, he’ll take his place next to Campy in the record books.

-- Thomas Harrigan

• Tigers @ Yankees (7:05 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): The Tigers certainly looked like the AL's best team during the first two games of this set, outscoring the Yankees 23-3, with 19 of those runs coming after New York's starters exited. Those struggles continued a trend for the overhauled Yankees bullpen, which ranks 28th in the Majors in ERA since the beginning of August. A win tonight would give Detroit just its third Bronx sweep in the Expansion Era (since 1961).

• Mets @ Phillies (7:15 p.m. ET, MLB.TV and FOX): It seemed at the end of last week that the Brewers, with a 5 1/2-game hold on the NL's top seed, wouldn't face much of a challenge for that spot. Just a few days later, the Phils have trimmed that margin to 2 1/2 games after three straight wins to open this set. Phillies outfielder Harrison Bader has tormented his former team this year, hitting .548 with six RBIs in eight games.

• Angels @ Mariners (9:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV and MLB Network): The last five weeks have been a rollercoaster for the Mariners, who followed an eight-game winning streak with skids of five and four games before starting their current run of five straight Ws. Deadline pickup Josh Naylor has sparked the latest streak, hitting .421 with three homers and a pair of steals in those five games. If Toronto can win its finale with Houston today (live on MLB.TV), Seattle will have a chance to pull into a tie atop the AL West tonight.

At a time when triple-digit fastballs have become increasingly common among relievers, Austin Slater went in the opposite direction Wednesday night.

The Yankees outfielder took the mound in the top of the ninth against the Tigers after reliever Luke Weaver allowed a three-run homer to Detroit's Colt Keith that put New York down by 10. Slater got out of the inning without allowing further damage, but that's not important.

What's important: Slater got the final out in historic fashion with three eephus pitches to Javy Báez that would have a hard time getting a speeding ticket. The first two offerings each registered at 36.4 mph -- the slowest pitches by a Yankee ever tracked in the Statcast Era (since 2015). 

Slater apparently reached back for a little extra on the last pitch, which was recorded at a blistering 38.3 mph and resulted in a grounder to short and a forceout at second base to end the inning.

It was Slater's second career pitching appearance, but his first in four years. His ERA? A pristine 0.00.

-- Jason Foster

After going from a 100-game loser to a 100-game winner in two years and earning playoff berths each of the past two seasons, the Orioles entered 2025 feeling pretty good about their chances to make a legitimate run at the franchise’s first pennant since 1983. Instead, the O’s dropped 28 of their first 43 games, costing manager Brandon Hyde his job, and then never really recovered.

However, with arguably the most talented young group of position players in the big leagues under contract for at least the next two seasons, front office executives from around the game recently told Mark Feinsand that the Orioles still have plenty of room for optimism in 2026 -- if president of baseball operations Mike Elias can shore up the roster in a few key areas.

“The Orioles are still in great shape organizationally,” a National League executive said. “They have talent at the Major League level and a deep farm system. They do need to improve their defense and continue to stockpile pitching depth; if they can do that, they should be right back in postseason contention next year.”

One exec suggested that, with top prospect Samuel Basallo signed to an eight-year, $67 million extension, fellow catcher and franchise centerpiece Adley Rutschman could be a potential trade chip.

“I wouldn’t be surprised to see them move Adley to add some pitching,” said an NL executive.

-- Ed Eagle

One of baseball's best-kept secrets is about to start its 33rd season on Oct. 7. The Arizona Fall League has sent more than 3,000 players to the Majors since it began play in 1992, including Hall of Famers Roy Halladay, Todd Helton, Derek Jeter and Mike Piazza and current stars Mookie Betts, Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, Francisco Lindor and Julio Rodríguez.

The AFL announced its initial rosters for the 2025 season yesterday, and they're as loaded as ever. The AFL squads possess 13 of MLB Pipeline's Top 100 Prospects, headlined by shortstops Kevin McGonigle (No. 2, Tigers/Scottsdale) and Sebastian Walcott (No. 4, Rangers/Surprise). The last time two of baseball's four best prospects graced the developmental circuit was in 2011, when Harper and Mike Trout teamed up on the Scottsdale Scorpions.

Each of the six AFL clubs represents five different big league teams, each of which sends eight prospects (five pitchers) to Arizona. All told, 94 different players ranked on MLB Pipeline's organizational Top 30 Prospects lists are headed to the Fall League.

The biggest highlights on the Fall League calendar are the Fall Stars Game at Mesa's Sloan Park on Nov. 9 and the AFL Championship Game at Scottsdale's Salt River Fields on Nov. 15. Both games will be broadcast live on MLB Network and streamed on MLB.com and the MLB app.

-- Jim Callis

Sunday is lining up to be an incredible sports day for fans in San Francisco, who can start their morning watching the 49ers visit the Saints at 10 a.m. local time, and then head right over to Oracle Park at 1 p.m. PT to see the Giants continue their postseason push against the rival Dodgers. But the back-to-back nature of those events doesn’t appear to leave much time for a costume change.

Don't worry, we’ve got you covered! Saturday night’s contest against Los Angeles features a 49ers Baseball Jersey Giveaway that is perfect for pivoting between the gridiron and the diamond. First pitch is at 6:05 p.m. PT, but plan to get there early: The first 15,000 through the gates get jerseys.

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