This week, Red Sox rookie Hunter Dobbins riled up the Yankees, and Aaron Judge made him pay; you can add gun possession to the charges Wander Franco is facing; and Paul Skenes is starting to understand what it means to be a Pirate – Ws are hard to come up regardless of how well you pitch. Other Fantasy baseball stories we’re following include…

Manny Machado Has Been Massive

The San Diego Padres have alternated making the playoffs and missing them over the last five years, and with this being an odd year, they are projected to be on the outside looking in again if the trend holds true.

But don’t try to tell them this news because after a solid 6-4 mark over the last 10 games, the Friars have pulled within one game of the NL West leading Dodgers. One of the keys to San Diego’s season to date has been its excellent strikeout rate vs. right-handers; at 18.5 per cent, the team ranks fourth in the NL in this department.

Helping drive this dynamic is veteran contact hitter supreme Manny Machado, who is fanning just 16.1 per cent of the time, his lowest rate since 2021. He played the hero on Sunday with his 425-foot home run providing the game’s only scoring in a 1-0 win over the Brewers that earned the Pads a series win.

Machado is heating up, hitting safely in six straight while going yard in three of the last four. He didn’t hit very well in April, but turned things around last month (.340 BA) and is piling up the counting cats early in June. Power-wise, Machado got off to a sluggish start, but his recent run has him back on pace for 25 homers, which would still be a bit of a disappointment. However, he’s made up for that with career bests in BA, OBP and wRC+ (155) so far, so we’ll let the slight power dip ride.

Among the keys to his season has been health. He’s managed to play 64 of 67 games so far after remaining relatively healthy last season as well (playing 152 games, although not completely avoiding injury).

Formerly ticketed to be a perennial All-Star shortstop, he’s settled in at the hot corner, and if Machado can stay healthy going forward, some believe he has a chance to be a top five third baseman of all time.

Alec Bohm’s Lack of Productivity

Staying at the hot corner, Alec Bohm is on the opposite side of the spectrum, enduring one of the worst seasons of his career. Considering he’s flirted with 100 RBI in back-to-back seasons (despite missing a combined 36 games), what do you think the odds are that he’d still be working his way to 25 RBI over two-fifths of the way through 2025?

You may recall that Bohm enjoyed 1B qualification for a couple of years, and with nine games there already, he could regain eligibility, which would take some of the sting out of what’s been an underwhelming performance to date.

After taking an 0-fer on Sunday, he’s stuck in a 3-for-21 skid over the last five games, which really is a kick in the ass after it looked like he was turning things around last month (five homers, .324 BA). Bohm’s BA has been quite steady over the last four years, but the power has been dipping since hitting a career high 20 jacks in 2023 (15 last year, and on pace for just a dozen this season). Without the high RBI count, that’s not going to cut it for a corner infielder, so small wonder he’s getting dumped in some shallow formats.

Usually a reliable and productive hitter, Bohm’s RBI count has clearly been affected by a disproportionate amount of singles among his hits (almost 77 per cent after just 60 last year). His owners can only hope he has a bigger second half, but that’s not generally the way things go for him.

Waiver Wire Pick of the Week

Christian Encarnacion-Strand, 1B, Cincinnati Reds (ESPN: 7.8 per cent; CBS: 52 per cent): Wow, has CES ever been a tear since returning from a back injury. He’s gone yard in all three games since being activated, posting multi-hit efforts in each contest. In fact, Encarnacion-Strand became the first player this season to have seven or more hits, three or more homers, six or more RBI and a walk-off hit in a three-game series. It’s been an amazing turnaround after Encarnacion-Strand hit so poorly in April before getting hurt. After dealing with a broken hand that cost him most of last season, CES should blow past his at-bat count from 2024 in short order. His modest speed has waned since he debuted in 2023, but if he keeps mashing like this, no one’s going to complain about that.

RotoRob Tune of the Day

By the mid-’80s, Depeche Mode had established itself as a key player in the electronic and alternative scenes. A decade later, they released their ninth album, Ultra, which included a hidden track, “Junior Painkiller,” on the U.S. CD and digital releases.