Thursday, August 13

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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. Today’s edition is brought to you by David Adler.

We always love seeing the custom gear players rock for special events — so we’re all-in on Bryson Stott’s cleats for tonight’s Field of Dreams Game. They’re pure cinema.  

When the Phillies face the Twins in a few hours for the third edition of MLB at Field of Dreams, presented by John Deere (7:30 p.m. ET on Netflix), their special retro uniformswon’t be the only fashion statements on the field in Dyersville, Iowa.

Check out these beauties Stott will be sporting:

Those cleats are an ode to both the classic 1989 movie and the Phillies franchise. 

On one side is “Field of Dreams” on a cornfield backdrop, just like the film’s title card. On the other is a portrait of six late Phillies legends — Tug McGraw, Roy Halladay, Darren Daulton, Robin Roberts, Richie Ashburn and Harry Kalas — who are walking out of the corn a la Shoeless Joe Jackson & Co. in the movie.

Stott’s cleats were designed by Ryan Stevens of NXT LVL Customs — the team behind most of Stott’s custom gear. The portrait was painted by artist Stephen Hatala.

See, this type of thing has become something of a Stott specialty. The Phillies infielder used a No. 2 pencil bat at the 2023 Little League Classic. He wore personalized Elmo cleats for his daughter, Braxtyn, on Players’ Weekend last year. He once used a bat with teammate Brandon Marsh’s face on it. And the list goes on.

We’ll also have our eyes peeled for Bryce Harper — who tends to go with a Phillie Phanatic theme for games like these — and the rest of the Phils and Twins. Stott almost certainly won’t be the only player to unveil some unique Field of Dreams gear tonight. 

 

GET READY FOR MLB AT FIELD OF DREAMS

We have everything you need to get ready for MLB at Field of Dreams tonight: 

• See our FAQ for the game here — including when and how to watch, the pitching matchup, lineups and more.

• There will be more than 25 Hall of Famers at the Field of Dreams Game to take part in today’s festivities — including the biggest icons from both the Phillies and Twins. More on that here. (Another Phillies icon is on the scene, too.)

• Relive the best Field of Dreams Game moments — so far — right here, like the one-of-a-kind “stalk-off” home run in 2021 and a memorable father-son catch in 2022. 

• Wondering where “Field of Dreams” lands among the best baseball movies of all time? Check out our top 25 rankings.

• And don’t forget to set yourself a Netflix reminder for the game. 

THE NUMBERS BEHIND BREGMAN’S TURNAROUND

Our Cubs reporter Jordan Bastian has a pretty cool story on how watching video of himself at Double-A 10 years ago helped Alex Bregman slug his way to his first career three-homer game. 

But Bregs was already pretty darn hot before he did what he did last night. Since July 27 (when he borrowed Dansby Swanson’s batand finished a triple shy of the cycle), Bregman is batting .388 with six homers and a 1.222 OPS. 

The Cubs are also 12-4 in that stretch and have built a 6 1/2-game lead over the Padres for the top National League Wild Card spot.

We just want to highlight a few of the things powering Bregman’s hot stretch … 

He’s hitting the ball a lot harder. 

Bregman isn’t known for elite exit velocities — he’s more of a “pull the ball in the air” type guy when it comes to generating his power — but his average exit velocity is up from 87.9 mph before July 27 to 90.9 mph since. His hard-hit rate is up from 36% before to 51% since. That’s a big difference. 

He’s teeing off on breaking balls. 

Breaking balls are usually the nastiest pitches a hitter faces. Before July 27, Bregman was batting .185 and slugging .331 against them, with five home runs in 149 plate appearances ending on a curveball, slider, sweeper or the like. Since July 27, he’s batting .526 and slugging 1.211 against breaking pitches with three homers in 19 plate appearances.

He’s closed off his batting stance.

Bregman always bats with a slightly “closed” stance (as in, his feet are angled toward first base, instead of square to the pitcher or “open” toward third base). But he’s gotten extra closed during his hot streak, with his batting stance angle going from 4 degrees closed to 7 degrees closed. The only hitter with a more closed stance than Bregmansince July 27 is the Blue Jays’ Kazuma Okamoto at 8 degrees closed. 

 

10 YEARS AGO, THE FIRST JUDGIAN BLAST

Today is the 10-year anniversary of Aaron Judge’s MLB debut … and the first bit of home run history the superstar slugger ever made. 

You probably remember what happened on Aug. 13, 2016: Judge and Tyler Austin, two Yankees prospects debuting on the same day, hit back-to-back home runs in their first career at-bats. They were the first pair of teammates ever to both hit home runs in their first Major League at-bats in the same game. 

“I was ecstatic on deck [seeing Austin’s home run] and I was like, ‘I’ve just got to make contact now,'” Judge said after the game. “What a day. That’s all I can really say.”

Judge’s first homer was, of course, a Judgian blast — 446 feet to dead center field at Yankee Stadium. 

We’ve seen plenty of those since, from Judge’s 52-homer Rookie of the Year season in 2017 to his historic 62-homer season in 2022 and right up to the present. Judge has 385 home runs now, and he could have some major milestones in his future, but that first one will always be something special. 

“Probably my biggest home run was my first one in the big leagues,” Judge said earlier this year, reflecting on his debut in pinstripes. “You finally make it to The Show, and you don’t know if you’re good enough or not. No matter what happened after that day, I could say I hit a homer in the big leagues.” 

THE MOST ICONIC WINDUPS OF ALL TIME

For today’s 250 for 250, we’re ranking the top 10 pitching windups in MLB history.

Funky windups are becoming something of a lost art in baseball these days. But these guys will be remembered forever for the unique ways they delivered the baseball. 

Hideo Nomo had a windup with so many twists and turns it was nicknamed “The Tornado.”

El Duque’s leg kick was so high that his chin could’ve touched his knee.

And you definitely didn’t want to be in the way of the D-Train when it was coming down the tracks.

There’s a lot more where that came from. Watch every windup from our top 10 list here >> 

 

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