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.

With the Trade Deadline one week away, plenty of wheeling and dealing is on the horizon. The Deadline also brings a prospect rankings refresh. 

For the first time, MLB Pipeline gave its club Top 30 rankings an extra midseason update, with an eye toward providing more current information and context when prospects get dealt over the next week. The crew updated all 30 club Top 30 lists, all of which can be found in full on MLB Pipeline.

• 10 teams with prospects to make major moves at Deadline

But for these purposes, we want to provide a snapshot by highlighting the changes for a few teams most likely to make big splashes at the Deadline. You can find each club's most notable Top 30 updates here.

Team: Cubs
Farm system strength: Advanced position players
Biggest mover: INF Pedro Ramirez

The Cubs seem primed to make a splash, with plenty of polished upper-level prospects and not many spots for them on the active roster. Not much changed at the top of their system with this update, as three of their top four prospects -- outfielder Owen Caissie, catcher Moisés Ballesteros and outfielder Kevin Alcántara -- are at Triple-A. Any could be trade bait as the Cubs look to deal from a position of strength. If they want to preserve that talent at the top, they could dip into their depth, where guys like Ramirez are excelling. The 21-year-old infielder hopped from No. 16 to No. 7 on the club’s Top 30 as he competes for the Double-A Southern League batting title.

• Latest trade rumors

Team: Dodgers
Farm system strength: Outfielders
Biggest mover: OF Brendan Tunink

It’s business as usual for the Dodgers, who own one of the best records and rosters in baseball and have talent on the farm to deal as they seek upgrades at the Deadline. Four of their top five prospects are outfielders (all in the Top 100), as are six of their top 12, led by Futures Game MVP Josue De Paula. Still, there is even more depth where that came from. The organization's biggest jump came from Tunink, an eighth-round pick last year. Tunink is a potential future 20-20 center fielder who leapt from being unranked into the Dodgers' Top 30, landing at No. 20 in this latest update.

Team: Mariners
Farm system strength: Talent depth, variety
Biggest mover: RHP Ryan Sloan

The Mariners have eight Top 100 prospects in their Top 30 (that’s a lot) and maybe the most aggressive head executive of his generation, when it comes to trades, in Jerry Dipoto. They’ve got an almost even split of Top 100 prospects at the upper and lower levels, and six of the eight are position players. But their most impressive mover is Sloan (MLB No. 61/SEA No. 5), a 2024 second-round pick who has stood out with 9.99 K/9 at Single-A in his first pro season. That performance lifted him into the team’s top 5 after he began the year in the lower half of the top 10. 

-- Joe Trezza

• Blue Jays @ Tigers (6:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV, MLB Network): Looking at the schedule on Opening Day, be honest, who had this as a battle of first-place clubs? Even a month ago, who would have predicted the Blue Jays might have the upper hand? Led by a resurgent George Springer (1.098 OPS in July), Toronto has rattled off 14 wins in 18 games this month, while the Tigers just got swept in Pittsburgh and are 1-9 in their last 10.

• Padres @ Cardinals (7:45 p.m. ET, FREE on MLB.TV): This is the opener of a vital four-game series for the Redbirds against the team they're chasing (3 1/2 games out) for the final NL Wild Card spot. A good weekend can help St. Louis reverse a 5-13 slide and regain traction in the postseason race, while a bad weekend could seal the Cards' fate as Trade Deadline sellers.

A's @ Astros (8:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV, MLB Network): Could this be Luis Severino's last start for the A's? The right-hander makes his audition for pitching-hungry contenders where he's been most comfortable: the road. Severino's ERA is more than three full runs lower away from home (3.10) than at Sutter Health Park (6.68), where he is 0-9.

Speed is supposed to be a young man’s game. But two 30-something stars are blatantly ignoring Father Time’s stop sign. 

Mike Petriello brought us this observation about Twins center fielder Byron Buxton and Phillies shortstop Trea Turner:

A decade ago, when Statcast first came online in 2015, Buxton (then in his age-21 season) and Turner (22) were the fastest men in baseball. Here in 2025, Buxton (now 31) and Turner (32) are still essentially tied with Bobby Witt Jr. for … being the fastest men in baseball. Take the entire Statcast Era together cumulatively, and Buxton and Turner are similarly tied with Witt for … the fastest men in baseball.

This is not supposed to be the way it works, two players in their 30s, with a lot of mileage on their bodies -- and in Buxton’s case, a lot of injuries in their past -- keeping up with a fresh-legged 25-year-old star like Witt. As Petriello points out, Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor was born the same year as Buxton and Turner and debuted the same year; he’s declined from the 87th percentile in sprint speed as a rookie to the 47th percentile this year. That’s a more typical example of the aging curve that tends to bend players’ careers to its will.

So how have Buxton and Turner fought that gravitational pull? Check out Petriello’s story for some theories and insights.

-- Andrew Simon

Did Sandy Alcantara just make his final home start at loanDepot park yesterday? If so, it was one to go out on, a seven-inning gem against the contending Padres, with just one unearned run allowed, four K's and no walks.

Alcantara's name has been floated in trade rumors all season long, but his overall struggles in his first year back from Tommy John surgery (his ERA sat at 6.66 even after yesterday's start) have depressed his value. A dominant performance like that had to catch the attention of front office decision-makers wondering if the former Cy Young Award winner can find his old form in time to help their teams.

Alcantara has believers, including in the opposing dugout: "He was nasty," said Manny Machado. "He was back to himself."

-- Andrew Werle 

Nationals slugger James Wood and UConn star Azzi Fudd are both doing it up big: Wood just attended his first All-Star Game and competed in the Home Run Derby, while Fudd was Most Outstanding Player at the 2025 Women’s Final Four as the Huskies won the National Title.

As it turns out, they have more in common than their respective breakout seasons. Wood and Fudd were high school classmates in Washington, D.C., and attended the prom together. Fudd also hooped with Wood’s sister, Sydney, and their fathers played against each other in college.

So when Fudd was a special guest at Nationals Park on Monday, the two longtime friends were able to catch up – and Wood was able to coach Fudd a bit before her first pitch. (As she customarily does on the court, Fudd delivered!)

“With James, we are always checking on each other, we're watching each other on TV,” Fudd said. “I think that's just a crazy flex to say, ‘I'm watching my friend, the guy I went to prom with, he’s playing professional baseball, he’s watching me.’ So it's super cool checking on each other, making sure we're doing well.”

-- Bryan Horowitz

Adam Ottavino isn't pitching at the moment, but the longtime reliever is still keeping his head in the game by dishing out MLB analysis and commentary on YouTube.

Ottavino's "Baseball and Coffee" daily live-stream show debuted earlier this month, and Friday he'll take a big step with the production by hosting his first episode on MLB's official YouTube channel. The 15-year veteran will break down the biggest stories from around the Majors starting at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Do you remember John Smoltz’s eight outings (including postseason) for the Cardinals? Then this game is for you! Put your intricate baseball player knowledge to the test with Immaculate Grid. Play FREE >>

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