NFL

Ichiro Suzuki headlines Baseball Hall of Fame inductees; Aaron Judge injured; Terry McLaurin ends holdout

by
SaC Bot
July 28, 2025

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THE 2025 BASEBALL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

Welcome to Cooperstown, Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia, Billy Wagner, Dick Allen and Dave Parker! Those five legends were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday, the largest class since 2022.

Suzuki leads the way, and Mike Axisa summarized a peerless career:

Axisa: “Despite not making the jump to MLB until age 27, Suzuki played parts of 19 seasons in the show and retired with 3,089 hits. He led the league in hits seven times, including a single-season record 262 hits in 2004. He’s a 10-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner. Suzuki retired as a career .311/.355/.402 hitter and received MVP votes in nine seasons. Ichiro fell one vote short of unanimous Hall of Fame selection and was of course a first-ballot inductee.”

Suzuki cracked plenty of jokes in a heartfelt speech and said “Baseball taught me to make value decisions about what’s important.”

As for the others …

Sabathia also played 19 MLB seasons and also was a first-ballot inductee. His 3,093 strikeouts rank third all-time among left-handers. He won a Cy Young Award with Cleveland in 2007 and a World Series with the Yankees in 2009.
Wagner was born right handed but learned to pitch lefty after breaking his arm as a child. It led him to immortality. Wagner’s 422 saves rank eighth all-time, and his 11.9 strikeouts per nine innings is the best in baseball history (min. 900 innings).
Allen, who died in 2020, and Parker, who died last month, entered the Hall of Fame posthumously. Allen won AL MVP in 1972 and finished his career with 351 home runs. Willa Allen, Dick’s widow, spoke on her husband’s behalf.
Parker won NL MVP in 1978 and won World Series with the Pirates (1979) and Athletics (1989). His son Dave Parker II read his Hall of Fame speech.

Matt Snyder broke down which active players are on a Hall-of-Fame trajectory.

👍 Honorable mentions

⚾ And not such a good morning for …

AARON JUDGE AND THE NEW YORK YANKEES

One would think a win over a very good team would be enough to help a team escape this section.

Not so for the Yankees after Aaron Judge landed on the injured list with a right flexor strain.

Aaron Boone said there’s no damage to Judge’s UCL and hopes Judge misses the minimum of 10 days. Judge struggled throwing and was seen wincing in Friday’s loss to the Phillies, and he was held out of Saturday’s game.
As Dayn Perry writes, losing Judge for any length of time is a “grave blow.” He leads the AL in hits, runs, walks, total bases and slugging percentage and is second in home runs, batting average, on base percentage and OPS. He’s in a heated battle with Cal Raleigh for AL MVP, so individually, this is a bummer for Judge, too.
It also comes at a less-than-ideal time. The Yankees are just 4-5 since the All-Star break and 9-13 since June 30. They are 5½ games behind the Blue Jays in the AL East but still hold the top spot in AL wild card race.

The Yankees did make a pair of moves to help get back on track, acquiring Ryan McMahon from the Rockies and Amed Rosario from the Nationals. Just don’t expect New York to call up top prospect, Spencer Jones, writes R.J. Anderson.

👎 Not so honorable mentions

🏈 NFL training camps: Terry McLaurin ends holdout, Rashawn Slater becomes highest-paid OL

Terry McLaurin is back. Kind of. The Commanders‘ star wide receiver ended his holdout and reported to training camp Sunday, though he was placed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list with an ankle issue.

We probably don’t need to read too much into the injury designation; a new contract would magically make it feel all better, and McLaurin had previously said he likely wouldn’t take the field without an extension.

So really, his holdout has turned into a hold-in, and by reporting — even while not practicing — McLaurin is making his presence known in more ways than one, I wrote from Washington’s practice Sunday.

Pereles: “There’s a thought that ‘holding in’ might be more effective than holding out, and perhaps every signature, every McLaurin No. 17 jersey in the crowd, and every ‘Terry’ chant from the fans — who were in attendance for the first time this training camp — adds to that. McLaurin’s agent, Buddy Baker, was in attendance, too. Ownership and the front office know how popular and how important McLaurin is — general manager Adam Peters has said all the right things — but seeing it and feeling it adds an entire new level, as hundreds of children clamored for autographs.”

As for a guy who did get paid, Rashawn Slater secured a big, big bag. The Chargers gave their stud left tackle a four-year, $114 million extension, making him the highest-paid offensive lineman on a per-year basis ($28.5 million) in NFL history. The deal includes $92 million guaranteed, also a record.

Here are some more guys cashing in:

Here’s more news:

⚾ MLB Power Rankings, trade deadline rumors

With the MLB trade deadline looming Thursday, there’s a new No. 1 in Matt Snyder’s MLB Power Rankings: the Blue Jays!

Snyder: “After a loss on May 27, the Blue Jays were 26-28 and eight games out of first place in the AL East. … Since then, they’ve been an utter wrecking crew. They have gone 37-15 — unsurprisingly, the best record in baseball — with a +70 run differential. They are averaging 5.65 runs per game in that span. … I’ve had some difficult decisions at No. 1 in recent weeks. This time around, it wasn’t difficult at all.”

This was one of 2024’s most disappointing teams. What’s changed? Well …

George Springer is on pace for the best batting average of his career and his best OPS since 2021.
Bo Bichette is back to looking like a franchise cornerstone after a rough 2024.
Alejandro Kirk is batting .304, a 51-point improvement over last year’s .253.
And that’s all without mentioning Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who continues to shine.
After pitching in Korea last season, Eric Lauer has returned to MLB with a sterling 2.60 ERA, and the bullpen has been among MLB’s best.

Here’s what the rest of the top five looks like: