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MLBTR Podcast: Sifting Through The Trade Deadline Deals

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The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams and Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to go over the various deadline dealings, including…

Check out our past episodes!

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff.  Check out their Facebook page here!

Photo courtesy of Chadd Cady, Imagn Images

Cubs Place Michael Soroka On IL With Shoulder Strain

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Aug. 5: The Cubs formally placed Soroka on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder strain and recalled righty Nate Pearson from Triple-A Iowa. The team still has not provided an expected timetable for Soroka’s return, though the diagnosis of a strain (as opposed to “just” inflammation) isn’t especially encouraging.

Aug. 4: Michael Soroka’s debut with the Cubs could hardly have gone worse. The righty only made it through two innings before departing the game with shoulder discomfort. Manager Craig Counsell said postgame that Soroka is headed to the 15-day injured list; the severity of the injury and recovery timeline aren’t clear (relayed by Maddie Lee of The Chicago Sun-Times and ESPN’s Jesse Rogers).

The Cubs acquired Soroka from the Nationals on Wednesday. They sent rookie ball infielder Ronny Cruz and Triple-A outfielder Christian Franklin to Washington in return. Soroka had made his final start for the Nats the night before the trade. That kept him from making his first appearance with Chicago until tonight. Soroka fanned three while allowing a run in his two innings of work against the Reds. Cincinnati starter Nick Lodolo also left in the second inning with an injury — a blister on his throwing hand, in his case.

Shoulder discomfort seems a more significant concern than a blister. Soroka’s fastball was sitting in the 90-91 range. His season average is 93.6 MPH. Soroka’s velocity has plummeted coming out of the All-Star Break. His four-seamer was above 93 MPH in all but one start in the season’s first half. It was down to 91.7 in his first appearance of the second half, then to roughly 91 flat over his final two appearances in a Washington uniform.

Soroka said tonight (via Rogers) that he underwent an MRI before the trade which confirmed he was healthy. He indicated he felt the discomfort tonight when he tried to reach back for a little extra velocity. Soroka has logged his heaviest workload in six years. The Canadian right-hander reached 174 2/3 innings over 29 starts as a rookie with Atlanta in 2019.

Consecutive Achilles tears essentially robbed him of the next three-plus seasons. Soroka also missed time with shoulder injuries in both 2023 and ’24. He spent a good portion of last year with the White Sox in the bullpen, only starting nine of 25 appearances. He reached 79 2/3 MLB innings last season and is up to 83 1/3 frames this year. Tonight was his 17th start, his most since his excellent rookie season.

The Cubs assumed roughly $2.9MM on Soroka’s $9MM salary in the trade. He’ll be a free agent at season’s end. Jameson Taillon isn’t far off his return from a calf strain, but he’s expected to require at least one more rehab start with Triple-A Iowa. In the interim, they’ll probably go with a rotation of Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Cade Horton, Colin Rea and Ben Brown. The Soroka acquisition was meant to push Brown to the bullpen; he tossed four innings of one-run ball tonight in relief.

Twins Claim Brooks Kriske, Designate Darren McCaughan For Assignment

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The Twins announced that they have claimed right-hander Brooks Kriske off waivers from the Cubs. They also announced their claim of Thomas Hatch from the Royals and their reinstatement of Luke Keaschall from the 60-day injured list, moves which were previously reported. To open spots for those three, they optioned outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr. and righty Noah Davis to Triple-A St. Paul while righty Darren McCaughan has been designated for assignment.

Kriske, 31, has 27 2/3 innings of major league experience with an 8.78 earned run average. That ERA was even higher not too long ago, as Kriske has lowered it by throwing six scoreless innings for the Cubs this year. While putting up zeroes is nice, he worked around five walks while striking out four in that time.

It’s a small sample of work but Kriske has been really good in Triple-A this year. In 31 2/3 innings for Iowa, he has a 3.13 ERA, 39.4% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate. Those strikeouts aren’t really new for him but he’s usually paired them with more walks. From 2021 to 2024, he struck out 35.5% of minor league opponents but also gave out free passes at a 13.3% clip. He also spent some time pitching in Japan with a 26.9% strikeout rate and 15.2% walk rate.

The Twins are looking for warm bodies for their bullpen. Ahead of the deadline, they traded Jhoan Durán, Griffin Jax, Louis Varland, Brock Stewart and Danny Coulombe. They have since called up various minor leaguers to fill the void and have also now grabbed Kriske and Hatch. They are both out of options, which led to them ending up on waivers, so the Twins may bump them back off the roster later in the year. But for now, they provide the club with some fresh arms and add some extra depth.

McCaughan, 29, was also one of those fresh arms. The Twins selected him to the big league roster just yesterday. He didn’t pitch in yesterday’s game but the club apparently liked Kriske and/or Hatch better. Since McCaughan is also out of options, he has been bumped off the 40-man spot that he just got a bit more than 24 hours ago.

He now heads into DFA limbo. Since the trade deadline has passed, the Twins will have to put him on waivers. He has 61 1/3 major league innings on his track record with a 6.02 ERA, 16.2% strikeout rate, 8.1% walk rate and 37.7% ground ball rate. He has thrown 72 1/3 Triple-A innings this year with a 5.35 ERA, 20.1% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 34.1% ground ball rate.

Photo courtesy of Lily Smith, Imagn Images

Poll: Who Had The Best Deadline In The NL Central?

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The trade deadline has come and gone. While trade season was slow to get started this year, when all was said and done, there were several dozen trades made in a flurry of movement over the final few days before the deadline arrived. The full impact of these trades won’t be known for years to come, but that doesn’t mean we can’t analyze the deals and decide whose haul looks the best right now. Over the next week-plus, MLBTR will be running a series of polls asking which club in each division had the best deadline. Yesterday, the Phillies came out on top in the NL East with about half the vote. Today, we’ll be taking a look at the NL Central. A look at each of the five clubs, listed from best to worst record in 2025:

Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers have the best record in baseball but had a fairly quiet deadline. Perhaps their most impactful move of the summer came last month, when they traded away Aaron Civale to land former top prospect Andrew Vaughn from the White Sox. Vaughn had struggled in Chicago for years but has caught fire with the Brewers and has proven to be an anchor for a lineup that’s without Rhys Hoskins and Jackson Chourio. Looking at deals made closer to the deadline, Milwaukee swapped out another big league starter to add a hitter when they shipped Nestor Cortes to the Padres alongside infield prospect Jorge Quintana and cash in order to bring in outfielder Brandon Lockridge.

Another unusual trade for Milwaukee was acquiring injured closer Shelby Miller and injured lefty Jordan Montgomery in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. Montgomery won’t pitch this year, so the deal essentially saw the Brewers buy Miller off of the Diamondbacks in exchange for eating some of Montgomery’s salary. Perhaps the only typical buy-side addition was catcher Danny Jansen, who they acquired from the Rays to back up William Contreras. Dealing away Cortes and Civale hasn’t seemed to hurt the team much, but their additions are fairly modest on paper.

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs have fallen behind the Brewers after posting a somewhat pedestrian 29-25 record since the start of June, and entered trade season in clear need of upgrades. Perhaps their most impactful addition was utility man Willi Castro, a switch-hitter who can help take pressure off of rookie Matt Shaw at third base while upgrading the bench to make giving regulars like Dansby Swanson and Ian Happ days off more feasible. Deals with the Orioles and Pirates to acquire veteran setup man Andrew Kittredge and southpaw Taylor Rogers should help bolster a bullpen that had been relying on reclamation projects like Brad Keller and Drew Pomeranz to this point, as well.

Despite those generally solid additions, the Cubs did not substantially address their biggest need this summer: starting pitching. It was no secret that adding rotation help was a top priority for Chicago with Justin Steele done for the year, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad both on the injured list, and both Cade Horton and Matthew Boyd in uncharted territory in terms of innings. Unfortunately for the Cubs, they were unable to find much help in that regard on the market. Michael Soroka was added in a trade with the Nationals in order to pitch in, but his velocity was down in his last few outings with the Nats and now he’s headed for the injured list with shoulder discomfort. While the club’s bench and bullpen additions were solid, it’s unclear if that will be enough to outweigh the lack of impactful rotation help down the stretch.

Cincinnati Reds

The 59-54 Reds currently sit just three games out of a Wild Card spot in the NL, and that was enough to convince them to go for it this summer. They made three trades to round out their roster. They picked up right-hander Zack Littell from the Rays in a three-team deal that sent righty Brian Van Belle to Tampa and lefty Adam Serwinowski to the Dodgers. They added Miguel Andujar to their bench in a deal with the A’s and, most interestingly, they picked up third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes from the Pirates in exchange for Rogers (who was later traded to the Cubs) and shortstop prospect Sammy Stafura.

Littell should provide some depth for an already-strong rotation that has a history of struggling to stay healthy (as was reinforced by Nick Lodolo’s departure from yesterday’s game after just 1 2/3 innings of work). Andujar provides a lefty-mashing bench bat to a club that has struggled badly against southpaws this year, but Hayes is the most interesting addition of the bunch. A former top prospect and Gold Glove award winner at third base, Hayes is one of the most talented defenders in the sport but hit just .236/.279/.290 (57 wRC+) in 100 games with the Pirates this year and has a career wRC+ of just 84. His relatively pricey contract makes bringing him in a gamble, but if he can float a slash line even close to league average, he should be a 3-win player when healthy.

St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals sold at the deadline for the second time in three years, but in doing so they only traded veterans on expiring contracts. Right-hander Erick Fedde was the first domino to fall, as the veteran starter was shipped to the Braves for a player to be named later or cash amid a disappointing season that saw him designated for assignment just before the deal. Veteran setup man Phil Maton netted a pair of prospects from the Rangers, one of whom is now St. Louis’s #26 ranked prospect at MLB Pipeline, and swingman Steven Matz was shipped to the Red Sox in a deal that brought back power-hitting first baseman Blaze Jordan (#18 in the Cardinals’ system, per Pipeline).

The team’s biggest deal this summer, however, was shipping out closer Ryan Helsley to the Mets. Even in the midst of a down season by his standards, Helsley brought back a trio of talented players: infield prospect Jesus Baez (#6 in the Cardinals’ system, per Pipeline), righty pitching prospect Nate Dohm (#15), and right-handed prospect Frank Elissalt (unranked). It’s a solid group of talent to bring in for a handful of rentals on expiring deals and the moves should help set incoming president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom up for success as John Mozeliak departs the club at the end of the season.

Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates also sold off pieces this summer, although their deadline was quiet for a club that entered July with Paul Skenes and Andrew McCutchen as their only two untouchable players. Not only did widely-speculated trade candidate Mitch Keller stay put despite a market starved for controllable rotation talent, but a number of rental players for whom the Pirates have little use did not end up getting cashed in for prospects and/or salary relief. Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Tommy Pham, Andrew Heaney, and Tim Mayza all remain in town. And some deals they did make, such as the David Bednar swap with the Yankees, produced underwhelming returns.

That’s not to say everything about the club’s deadline was disappointing, however. The Pirates did manage to get out from under the Hayes contract, and then flipped Rogers to get an additional prospect from the Cubs. Lefty Caleb Ferguson and infielder Adam Frazier both were successfully cashed in for prospect talent and the Bucs received a return led by intriguing MLB-ready reliever Evan Sisk when they looked to sell on back-end starter Bailey Falter. Some of those young players acquired should help the Pirates going forward, and getting Hayes off the books should make adding offense easier for 2026 and beyond. Even so, it’s fair to wonder if this deadline represents a missed opportunity in Pittsburgh.

The NL Central was one of the quieter divisions in baseball this deadline, with only a handful of non-rental players changing hands and no blockbusters. With that being said, three teams did make an effort to get better for 2025, while the Cardinals and Pirates picked up a number of pieces for their futures. Which club did the best of this quintet? Have your say in the poll below:

Cubs Release Chris Flexen

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The Cubs released righty Chris Flexen, as first reflected on the MLB.com transaction log. Chicago had designated him for assignment last week. MLBTR has learned that Flexen declined an outright assignment, leading to the release. As a player with five-plus years of service time, Flexen will collect the remaining portion of his $1.5MM salary.

Flexen signed an offseason minor league deal and was called up at the end of April. That initially worked brilliantly. The 31-year-old fired 28 innings of 0.65 ERA ball over his first two months. Flexen’s 13.5% strikeout rate and pre-2025 track record suggested he was in line for significant regression. That arrived in July, when opponents blasted six home runs and tagged him for 15 runs (13 earned) through 15 2/3 innings. He allowed multiple runs in each of his final four appearances.

The Cubs pulled the plug last week. Flexen concluded his organizational tenure with a 3.06 earned run average over 43 2/3 innings. Estimators like SIERA, FIP and xERA all felt his true level was closer to allowing five earned runs per nine — essentially a match for the 4.95 ERA he posted over 160 innings for the White Sox a year ago.

Flexen has the ability to log multiple innings out of the bullpen or build back out as rotation depth. That’ll at least get him interest on a minor league contract, and it’s not out of the question that he finds a big league deal. A signing team would only pay him the prorated portion of the $760K league minimum for the final couple months. That’d be subtracted from the Cubs’ commitments.

Yankees Sign Kenta Maeda To Minor League Deal

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5:20pm: New York has made it official, signing the Boras Corporation client to a minor league contract. Maeda has been assigned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

1:35pm: The Yankees are discussing a possible deal with right-hander Kenta Maeda, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Maeda had been with the Cubs on a minor league deal but was released on the weekend, according to his MLB.com transactions tracker.

Presumably, the Yankees would be looking to sign Maeda on a minor league deal as well. The 37-year-old has had plenty of good years but hasn’t been in good form lately. He signed a two-year, $24MM deal with the Tigers going into 2024 but that deal hasn’t worked out. He struggled enough last year to get moved to the bullpen, finishing the year with a 6.09 earned run average in 112 1/3 innings.

Here in 2025, Maeda hasn’t been able to bounce back. He started the year back in the Detroit bullpen but was designated for assignment after he allowed seven earned runs in eight innings. He cleared waivers, elected free agency and signed the aforementioned minor league deal with the Cubs. He has since been pitching out of the rotation in Triple-A Iowa. He tossed 57 1/3 innings over 12 starts with a 5.97 ERA. His 45.7% ground ball rate in that time was decent but his 18.1% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate were both subpar.

For what it’s worth, Maeda has been improving. He allowed four earned runs in two innings in his first start for Iowa. In his second, it was five earned runs in 3 2/3. Then he allowed nine earned runs in just one inning in the third start. At that point, he had a laughable 24.30 ERA through three Triple-A appearances. The Cubs stuck with him and he has since tossed 50 2/3 innings over his nine most recent starts with a 3.55 ERA, 20% strikeout rate and 8.8% walk rate. Over his past five starts, he has a 4.13 ERA and 25.4% strikeout rate. In his last three outings, he has a 3.18 ERA in 17 innings with a 27.5% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate.

That’s a lot of cherry picking to make Maeda look good in small samples, but it perhaps suggests bit of positive momentum now that he’s been back in a regular starting role for the first time in about a year.

It’s risky to bet on such small samples but there’s not much downside for the Yanks in taking a flier. Since the Tigers released him, they’re still on the hook for the majority of what remains of his salary. That means the Yanks would only owe him a prorated version of the league minimum for any time Maeda eventually spends on their roster.

The Yankees are without starters Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt for the rest of the year, both of them having undergone Tommy John surgery. Ryan Yarbrough filled in for a while but he himself has been shelved by an oblique strain. The club was connected to starting pitchers ahead of the deadline but didn’t end up pulling the trigger.

They currently have Max Fried and Carlos Rodón atop their rotation. Luis Gil had spent the entire season on the injured list due to a lat strain until a few days ago. He finally made his season debut yesterday but issued four walks in 3 1/3 innings while allowing five earned runs. Will Warren and Cam Schlittler are also in the rotation but each has an ERA around 4.60. Marcus Stroman was just released to open a roster spot.

Veteran Carlos Carrasco had been in the system as non-roster depth but he was recently flipped to Atlanta for a player to be named later or cash. Prospect Chase Hampton required Tommy John surgery earlier this year. If Maeda is brought aboard on a minor league deal, he could try to position himself as the next man up for a spot start or as an injury replacement.

Photo courtesy of Junfu Han, Imagn Images

Orioles Claim Vidal Brujan, Carson Ragsdale

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The Orioles have claimed infielder Vidal Brujan off waivers from the Cubs and right-hander Carson Ragsdale off waivers from the Giants, according to a team announcement. Brujan is out of options and must be added to the big league roster but has not yet reported. Ragsdale, meanwhile, was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. The Orioles’ 40-man roster now stands at 37, so no corresponding 40-man moves are necessary.

Brujan, 27, was a top-100 prospect in the Rays’ system for many years. He failed to establish himself at the big league level in Tampa, however, and hit just .157/.218/.221 across 99 games (272 plate appearances) between 2021 and 2023 for the club. Prior to the 2024 season, Brujan was shipped alongside reliever Calvin Faucher to the Marlins in a trade and he was able to take on a larger role with a rebuilding Miami club. With regular playing time available to him, his performance modestly improved. He remained a below-average contributor overall, however, with a 73 wRC+ despite a 19.4% strikeout rate and a 9.0% walk rate.

Those solid discipline numbers were outweighed by a complete lack of power, less impressive speed on the basepaths than his days a prospect would’ve otherwise indicated, and a lackluster BABIP. While Brujan was versatile enough to hold onto a bench role for the Marlins, he was shipped to the Cubs last offseason in the Matt Mervis trade. He held onto a bench role with Chicago throughout the first half and had value on paper as a player who could help hold down third base while Matt Shaw developed in the minor leagues while also spelling Pete Crow-Armstrong in center field. Unfortunately, the fit didn’t work out as well in practice as Brujan posted an atrocious 43 wRC+ in 36 games and was designated for assignment just before the trade deadline.

Ragsdale, meanwhile, is a 27-year-old right-handed starter. He was added to the Giants’ 40-man roster last November to protect him from the Rule 5 draft after he posted a strong 3.49 ERA in 14 starts at the Double-A level that year, but a career ERA north of 5.00 at Triple-A in conjunction with a 19.9% strikeout rate against a 13.0% walk rate at the level this year left Ragsdale as little more than a depth starter for a club with a number of viable young arms. San Francisco designated him for assignment to make room for top pitching prospect Carson Whisenhunt on the roster prior to the trade deadline.

Now, both players are ticketed to join the Orioles organization. Brujan figures to join the club’s active roster within the next couple of days and could serve as a versatility utility option for the infield after Ramon Urias was traded to Houston prior to the deadline this past week. Ragsdale, meanwhile, could make his big league debut at some point down the stretch to help the Orioles eat innings amid injuries to key arms like Zach Eflin and Grayson Rodriguez, particularly after Charlie Morton was shipped off to Detroit.

Cubs Designate Brooks Kriske For Assignment

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The Cubs have designated right-hander Brooks Kriske for assignment to make room for recent trade acquisition Michael Soroka on the roster. This marks the second time the Cubs have DFA’d Kriske this year. The righty signed a minor league deal with Chicago over the offseason and was first selected onto the roster in May. He was DFA’d and outrighted back to Triple-A Iowa shortly thereafter, but earned another selection and promotion the weekend before the All-Star break. All in all, he has thrown six scoreless innings for the Cubs this year across four appearances, with four strikeouts and five walks.

Kriske, now 31, began his professional career in the Yankees organization and made his MLB debut for the club in 2020. In parts of two seasons with the Yankees and Orioles from 2020-21, he pitched 15 big league innings over 16 games, giving up 19 runs (18 runs) and seven long balls. Following the 2021 campaign, the Orioles granted him his release, and he inked a deal with NPB’s Yokohama DeNA BayStars not long after.

Kriske briefly returned to affiliated ball in 2023, signing a minor league contract with the Royals in the offseason and eventually appearing in four games with Kansas City before he was optioned and later released to return to Japan. This time, he joined the Seibu Lions, with whom he finished out the 2023 campaign. He then returned stateside in 2024, although he failed to pitch in the majors, spending the year with the Reds’ and Orioles’ Triple-A affiliates.

Thus, Kriske’s 2025 season has been a success story, despite his limited big league playing time and multiple DFAs. He made it back to an MLB mound for the first time since 2023, and dating back to that last appearance for the Royals in June 2023, he has now made five consecutive scoreless appearances at the big league level. Never before had he made more than two. Kriske also pitched to a 3.13 ERA and 2.98 FIP in 31 2/3 innings for the Triple-A Iowa Cubs, striking out an incredible 39.4% of hitters. Even more impressive is his 7.6% walk rate, considering his career-long struggles with control. Perhaps that will convince a team to claim him off waivers. If not, he will have the right to reject an outright assignment and return to free agency.

Cubs Release Ryan Pressly

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August 1: As expected, Pressly has been released, per the MLB.com transaction log.

July 31: The Cubs have designated right-hander Ryan Pressly for assignment, according to The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney.  The move opens up roster space for newly-acquired reliever Taylor Rogers.

Pressly has well over 11 years of MLB service time, so he can’t be optioned to the minors without his consent.  In all likelihood, the DFA will end with the Cubs just releasing the veteran reliever, as he still has roughly $4.5MM in salary owed to him over the remainder of the season.  The Astros are covering $5.5MM of Pressly’s $14MM total 2025 salary, but the bottom line is that any interested new team can sign Pressly to a contract after he is released, and then just owe him a prorated Major League minimum salary while the Cubs or Astros cover the rest of the $4.5MM.

When Chicago acquired Pressly from Houston in January, the thinking was that Pressly would be the favorite for save situations in the Cubs bullpen.  Unfortunately, Pressly’s run as closer was run short by mid-May, with Daniel Palencia eventually emerging as the top choice in ninth-inning situations.

Pressly’s 15.4% strikeout rate was his lowest since 2014, as the K% continued its sharp decline from the righty’s 35.7% career best in 2022.  His 9.3% walk rate was also Pressly’s worst since the 2015 season, and he was near the bottom of the league in hard-contact rate.  The result was a 4.35 ERA over 41 1/3 innings, and while that ERA was inflated by some rough numbers after the All-Star break, the advanced metrics indicated that Pressly’s bottom-line numbers were due for regression.

As a 13-year veteran and two-time former All-Star, Pressly’s resume will get him plenty of looks once he presumably clears waivers and is released.  A return to Houston wouldn’t be out of the question, with the idea that a return to his old stomping grounds could spark a bounce-back.  Any number of other contenders might be willing to take a virtually no-cost flier on Pressly now that the deadline has passed and a few clubs are still in need of bullpen help.

Cubs To Host 2027 All-Star Game

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The 2027 Major League Baseball All-Star Game will be hosted by the Cubs at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, commissioner Rob Manfred announced Friday morning. MLB’s 97th midsummer classic will take place on July 13 that year.

“This is an honor for our team, our city and our state,” Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said in this morning’s press release. “We can’t wait to showcase how we have preserved this iconic ballpark. Wrigley Field means so much to Cubs fans and millions of people who have visited what we believe is a baseball cathedral and one of Illinois’ top tourist destinations. We play in a world-class city that is especially beautiful in the summer and we’re looking forward to hosting the best players in our great game and fans from around the world.”

It’ll be the Cubs’ fourth time hosting the All-Star Game — including their first since 1990. The Cubs also hosted All-Star Games in 1947 and 1962. Wrigley Field now becomes the only active MLB stadium to host the All-Star Game four times. Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium (closed in 1995) and old Yankee Stadium (closed in 2008) are the only other MLB venues to host four All-Star Games.

“I applaud the Ricketts family, the entire Cubs organization, the City of Chicago and the Chicago Sports Commission for presenting an impressive vision for 2027 All-Star Week,” Manfred said in his own prepared statement within this morning’s release. “The hard work put in to transform all of Wrigleyville into an outstanding destination deserves to be celebrated and shared on a national stage. We look forward to bringing the Midsummer Classic back to historic Wrigley Field and working alongside the Cubs, city and state officials, and the local organizing group to bring an extraordinary experience to the baseball fans of Chicago. Most importantly, Major League Baseball and its partners will leave behind a lasting impact on the communities across Chicago through the meaningful initiatives of the All-Star Legacy program.”

Of course, the 2027 All-Star Game is shrouded by the looming specter of a potential work stoppage. The active collective bargaining agreement spans the 2022-26 seasons and concludes on Dec. 1 of next year. With several owners and Manfred himself publicly referencing their desire for a salary cap — and the union’s swift retort that a cap would amount to “institutionalized collusion” — another league-implemented lockout has been widely speculated upon.

Major League Baseball locked out the players in the 2021-22 offseason — a decision which resulted in a 99-day transaction freeze and for months jeopardized the 2022 season. The two parties agreed to an eleventh-hour deal and an abbreviated spring training that allowed a full 162 games to be played. A similar stalemate could play out in the 2026-27 offseason, though if the league is earnest in its desire to steadfastly hold out for a salary cap, that’s expected to be a nonstarter for the union and would more seriously threaten the loss of games in the 2027 season.

Asked today about a contingency plan for Wrigley Field’s All-Star hopes in the event of a 2027 labor stoppage, Manfred replied only: “My contingency plan is to make an agreement with the players and play the 2027 season” (link via ESPN’s Jesse Rogers).

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