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.

On May 25, Tigers ace Tarik Skubal punctuated one of the best pitching performances in recent memory with a 102.6 mph fastball for a game-ending strikeout.

That set the record for the fastest K pitch thrown by a Major League starter since pitch tracking began in 2008. And that record might fall tonight.

That’s because the Brewers are calling up right-hander Jacob Misiorowski — MLB Pipeline’s No. 68 prospect and Milwaukee’s No. 4 — from Triple-A Nashville to make his big league debut in a start against the Cardinals at American Family Field (7:40 p.m. ET on MLB.TV).

Just keep your eyes peeled on the radar gun when the 6-foot-7 hurler is on the mound (but first, be sure to bone up on other height-gifted big leaguers). Sure, he has a plus curveball and slider, but an 80-grade four-seamer is Misiorowski’s calling card. It averages 97.7 mph, and it gets on hitters in a blink because of that velo combined with his 7.4 feet of extension, which would be tied for third most in the Majors.

Triple-A hitters have been understandably overpowered by Misiorowski’s fastball this year, batting just .173 with a .209 slugging percentage in 136 plate appearances ending on that pitch. They have recorded just two barrels in 73 batted balls. No wonder the man nicknamed “Miz” goes to his best offering about 65% of the time.

• What to expect from Misiorowski in the Majors

He has also thrown 68 tracked four-seamers this season at 100 mph or greater. To put that in perspective, the Reds’ Hunter Greene (134) is the only MLB starting pitcher to fire even 10 such pitches this season. Misiorowski topped out at 103.0 mph in an impressive start for the Nashville Sounds last month, and that came on a strikeout to close the sixth inning.

So, yeah, Skubal’s reign atop the fastest strikeout by a starting pitcher leaderboard might be very short-lived because of a rookie who will definitely be bringing the heat.

— Brian Murphy

One year ago today, the Citi Field mound was visited by an amorphous purple blob. Nobody knew, at the time, that Grimace would become something of a deity to which Mets fans genuflect, but here we are 365 days later still discussing him.

That’s because the numbers really don’t lie. Since that day, the Mets have gone 105-60, which at a .636 winning percentage is by far the best mark in baseball in that time span (the Padres are a distant second at 95-63, .601).

Mets players have mostly said they prefer to leave the Grimace era in the past, but that doesn’t mean we can’t pay due respect to His Purpleness on this day, perhaps even for years to come.

• Tigers @ Orioles (6:35 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): Over his past three starts, Tarik Skubal has gone at least seven innings in each and allowed one run total, striking out 26 without walking anybody. That’s the type of guy the Tigers are happy to have on the mound any day, but especially after a sluggish 10-1 loss last night to the O’s, who probably won’t be putting up those offensive numbers against Skubal. But at least they’ve shown signs of their lumber waking from a near season-long slumber with some reinforcements back in the lineup.

• Yankees @ Royals (7:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV, MLB Network): The Yankees have made quick work of the Royals in the first two games of this series and have a chance tonight to complete a season sweep. Aaron Judge has homered in three straight and reached base in 54 consecutive road games, a streak only three Yankees have bested. You may have heard of them: Babe Ruth, Derek Jeter and Lou Gehrig. Judge’s teammate Clarke Schmidt summed up best what the slugger is doing right now: “I think it’s getting out of hand at this point.”

• White Sox @ Astros (8:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): Houston may not boast the same papal support (see below) as tonight’s opponent, but the Astros have been blessed by a recent run that has them once again atop the AL West. Tonight they turn to Framber Valdez, who has provided them with length and consistency, going at least seven innings in five of his past six starts with a 1.84 ERA in that span.

Pope Leo XIV’s White Sox fan bona fides have been roundly confirmed by this point – cheering on the team at the 2005 World Series was proof enough, honestly. But rocking a Sox cap at Vatican City, as the pontiff did on Wednesday? That is decidedly next level.

In terms of cultural ubiquity, the White Sox cap is nearly unparalleled, right up there with the Yankees and Dodgers thanks to a highly successful rebranding campaign in the early ’90s. This got us thinking, though: How high does the Pope’s show of fandom land in the zeitgeist?

We polled the experts — or more accurately, anyone on staff who happened to be working today — and here’s how nine of us voted.

5. Billie Eilish, wore Jake Peavy jersey on SNL (average score: 4.8)
The chart-topping singer-songwriter cracks this list because of the lasting significance of Saturday Night Live, plus the bizarre specificity of wearing the Peavy jersey. As Peavy gushed: “Huge street cred. All the street cred with the younger crowd.”

4. Barack Obama frequently, most notably first pitch at 2009 ASG(average score: 3.2)
The 44th President gets cred for tipping his Sox cap to Negro Leagues greats.

3. Dr. Dre in “Nuthin’ But a ‘G’ Thang” video (average score: 3.1)
The White Sox cap was everywhere in hip-hop in the early 90’s, from Ice Cube to Snoop Dogg to Eazy-E. But Dr. Dre in particular was all over MTV every afternoon repping the Gothic Sox logo.

2. Michael Jordan playing baseball (average score: 2.3)
The shock value and cool factor of seeing our greatest athlete swap sneakers for cleats can’t be overstated.

1. The Pope in Vatican City (average score: 1.6)
Yes, there’s some recency bias at play here. But what more can you say? Even with Jordan involved, it’s hard to get bigger than the Pope!

— Bryan Horowitz

When most fans think about the legendary Roberto Clemente, they likely think of his 3,000 career hits, four batting titles, a cannon of an arm in right field that led to 12 Gold Gloves and, of course, the humanitarian efforts that tragically cut his life short at just 38 years old.

What probably doesn’t come to mind as much are home runs. But until this week, his 240 long balls ranked third all-time for a Pirates franchise that has been around for more than 130 years.

The team’s most recent franchise icon, former NL MVP Andrew McCutchen, who is now in Year 3 of his second tour of duty with the Bucs, passed The Great One yesterday with a three-run shot in a 5-2 win over the Marlins. Cutch’s 325th career homer was his 241st with Pittsburgh.

McCutchen, who won the Roberto Clemente Award in 2015, now trails only two Hall of Famers who very much were known for their prodigious power numbers with the Pirates: all-time franchise leader Willie Stargell, with 475, and Ralph Kiner, with 301.

— Ed Eagle

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.

If you’re looking for a quick pick tonight, it’s hard to go wrong with Judge, for all the reasons we laid out above (he’s hitting .394, after all). But for a bit of a sleeper, consider a slugger on the other side, Vinnie Pasquantino, who is hitting .380 over a 26-game on-base streak. 

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