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.

It’s just about the start of the holiday weekend (or maybe yours has already begun – we won’t tell your boss), so we decided to do something different this afternoon by getting you ready for a great slate of baseball games over the next few days.

It begins with a rematch of last year’s NLCS between the Mets and Dodgers tonight at Citi Field (7:10 p.m. ET on Apple TV+), with Clayton Kershaw making his second start of 2025. When last these teams saw each other, the Dodgers were celebrating a trip to the World Series, but they meet now at something of a crossroads.

Los Angeles has been ravaged by injuries to its pitching staff, though its offense has kept it afloat, while the Mets’ pitching has been their saving grace with the lineup in a bit of a rut. That includes much-discussed star Juan Soto, who was of course not with the Mets for that NLCS but did face these Dodgers in the World Series as a member of the Yankees.

Keeping with the Yankees, they head to Colorado to open a series with the 8-42 Rockies tonight (8:40 p.m. ET on MLB.TV). This will be Aaron Judge’s first experience playing in the Mile High City, so we’re mostly concerned here with how many homers he might hit over the course of this three-game set. Or how far he might hit them. The longest of his career is a 496-foot shot at Yankee Stadium in 2017 (interestingly enough, he just hit his shortest one at 326 feet), so perhaps a 500-footer is in play?

If you’re more into pitchers’ duels than colossal tanks, tune in for tonight’s Freddy Peralta-Paul Skenes clash in Pittsburgh (6:40 p.m. ET on MLB.TV). Peralta has been his steady self in the Brewers’ rotation with a 2.59 ERA, and Skenes is coming off his first career complete game, albeit one that came in a 1-0 defeat.

Over in the ultra-competitive AL Central, two big series are on tap this weekend – an ALDS rematch between the Guardians and the MLB-best Tigers and a battle between the other contenders for the division, the Twins and Royals. Make sure to catch Tarik Skubal for some brunch baseball on Sunday (11:35 a.m. ET on Roku), and then stick around later in the afternoon (2:10 p.m. ET on MLB.TV) for a different southpaw surging his way into Cy Young contention – the Royals’ Kris Bubic, who has allowed one run over his past four starts.

Look out for a couple of streaks still in progress as of this writing: The Phillies have won seven in a row and travel to West Sacramento to take on the A’s, as have the suddenly rolling Angels, who face the Marlins at home. The Halos stretch is in large part thanks to the hottest hitter in baseball right now, Taylor Ward, who has recorded an extra-base hit in eight straight games for the Angels, including a go-ahead grand slam on Thursday.

And yet, the biggest thing happening this weekend might actually be the return of this superstar …

— Scott Chiusano

As the rest of America celebrates the unofficial start of summer this holiday weekend, for Braves fans, it must feel more like Christmas.

At long last, five-tool superstar outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. is back!

After being sidelined for almost exactly one year by the second major knee surgery of his career, the 27-year-old four-time All-Star and unanimous 2023 NL MVP is expected to be in the starting lineup tonight for the opener of the Braves’ three-game home series against the Padres.

Acuña went 6-for-15 (.400) with a pair of homers in six Minors rehab games and was a healthy scratch Thursday night with Triple-A Gwinnett once it was determined that he was ready to head back to Atlanta.

“The knee’s fine, it’s about the rest of his body,” Braves manager Brian Snitker told reporters Thursday. “He’s in great shape. He’s lean.  … The biggest thing was to hear from him, how his body feels. After last night, he said his body felt great.”

Just in case you somehow forgot what kind of impact Acuña could make to Snitker’s lineup, in 2023, the power-speed dynamo became the first player to hit at least 40 home runs and steal 70 or more bases in the same season, along with a .337/.416/.596 line and a 8.4 bWAR.

— Ed Eagle

Pitching around the most fearsome hitters is a tale as old as time. Barry Bonds was once intentionally walked with the bases loaded, you might recall. That story is especially relevant for the best power hitter in all of college softball right now, Arkansas slugger Bri Ellis.

She leads all Division I hitters in homers, and hurlers across the country want no part of facing her. Catchers will set their target in the opposite batters’ box to minimize the chances of coming anywhere near the plate.

In the first round of the SEC tournament earlier this month, though, Ellis came to bat with the bases loaded with the score tied at 1 in the bottom of the seventh inning. There was nowhere to put her; they couldn’t even give her the Bonds treatment. Ellis took the first pitch of the at-bat for a ball, the 10th pitch she had seen that day without needing to take the bat off her shoulders. The next one came in slightly low but she unloaded, launching it for a walk-off grand slam.

There’s much more crushing to be done for Ellis, who was the No. 2 pick in the inaugural AUSL college draft and is playing in the NCAA Super Regionals this weekend against Ole Miss. Whether anybody dares to throw her a strike will be something to watch.

You can keep up with all the Super Regional action here. The winners of the eight Super Regionals will advance to the Women’s College World Series beginning May 29 in Oklahoma City.

Since we’re all about games to watch, let’s add another one to the list.

Tonight in Washington, the Nationals will have four prospects from the Juan Soto trade all on one field: MacKenzie Gore on the mound, CJ Abrams at short and James Wood and Robert Hassell III in the outfield.

The latter made his big league debut last night for the club and scored the game-winning run.

“I kind of blacked out,” Hassell said. “I didn’t know if I should throw my helmet or do whatever. But as soon as I touched home plate, I knew we won and I was hype, for sure.”

Right-hander Jarlin Susana, who is ranked 66th overall by MLB Pipeline, was the fifth prospect in the deal and is honing his craft at Double-A. Might we see another player from that deal in the bigs?

Enjoy the long weekend everyone, The Pregame Lineup returns on Tuesday.

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