The Buzz · July 20, 2026
The Buzz — Monday, July 20
Sunday's slate produced two franchise records, a walk-off bat toss, and one pitching absence that has Dodger fans holding their breath. Five names today, each with a number underneath that settles the argument or keeps it alive.
Shohei Ohtani
The take Knee irritation shelves Ohtani pitching for some time, still DHs
The crowd has the right read. The knee is real, and the pitching absence is not a short delay — Dave Roberts said so plainly: 'it's not going to be a day-to-day thing.' The left knee first flared June 11, he received a lubricating Orthovisc shot during the All-Star break — missed the game itself — and catch play this week showed enough discomfort that the club pushed back his Wednesday start without testing a bullpen. The two-way role is temporarily a one-way role. What the panic skips is what was working before the pause: 14 starts, an 8-2 record, a 1.79 ERA, 95 strikeouts in 85 2/3 innings. The arm was fine; the knee is the problem, and only when he pitches. He is still hitting because hitting lands on the back knee, and the Dodgers expect him back on the mound this season. This is a club with a strong record choosing to manage wear-and-tear in July rather than push through inflammation that the torque of pitching makes worse every start. The knee is real; the season is not in doubt.
Shohei Ohtani cards on eBay →(paid link)
William Contreras
The take Walk-off 3-run HR plus epic bat toss seals sweep
A pinch-hitter who entered in the seventh does not usually end a game in the ninth, but that is what William Contreras did — he turned a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 Brewers win by taking Pete Fairbanks 399 feet with two on in the bottom of the ninth. It was his 10th home run of the season and the second walk-off home run of his career, and the bat toss that followed — high, slow, held — is the part the timeline will keep replaying. The sweep ran Milwaukee to 62-37 and kept them alone atop the NL Central. The temptation with a moment like this is to inflate it: one swing, even a walk-off, is one swing. But this was a catcher who came off the bench cold, faced the other team's closer, and delivered the blow that reversed the only run his own staff had given up all night. The highlight is real. The All-Star season behind the plate is what made the moment possible.
William Contreras cards on eBay →(paid link)
Hunter Goodman
The take Rockies catcher's second three-homer game and power surge
No Colorado Rockie had ever hit three home runs in a game twice in one season — not Larry Walker, not Todd Helton, not Carlos González. Hunter Goodman has. His second three-homer game came July 19 against the Reds, when he hit Nos. 28, 29, and 30 in a 9-6 Rockies loss. He sits third in the majors in home runs behind Kyle Schwarber (33) and Yordan Alvarez (31), and the Coors Field reflex is automatic — the altitude, the carrying ball, the park that inflates everything. Except Goodman also leads in road homers, which is the fact that dismantles that argument. He is a two-time All-Star with a power profile the league has not solved, and the three-homer game broke a drought — no homers since July 1 — that only underscores how much damage he does when the bat reconnects. The road homers settle it.
Hunter Goodman cards on eBay →(paid link)
Drake Baldwin
The take Braves catcher Baldwin 5-for-5 two HRs clinches series
This is not a breakout. It is a recovery, and the distinction matters. Drake Baldwin came back from a nearly month-long injured list stint for a right oblique strain and spent his first weeks back looking like a player whose body had healed but whose timing had not. Over the weekend, the timing arrived. He went 5-for-5 with two home runs, two RBI, three runs, and a stolen base in an 8-5 series-clinching win over the Rangers — the first five-hit game by a Braves catcher since Johnny Estrada on May 15, 2004, and the first Braves player with two homers in a five-hit game since Ozzie Albies in 2021. But the single game was the loud version of a series-long return: 10-for-14 (.714), three home runs, eight RBIs across three games. Walt Weiss said he was on an 'MVP-type trajectory' before the injury, and what the Rangers series looked like was a hitter whose bat speed had finally caught up to his health. The 21st series win tied Atlanta's 2025 total, and the Braves hold a three-game lead in the NL East. If this is who Baldwin is when the oblique is behind him, the second half has a different shape in Atlanta.
Drake Baldwin cards on eBay →(paid link)
Foster Griffin
The take Nats ace sets franchise run-prevention streak amid ROY buzz
Eight consecutive starts allowing one run or fewer. That ties Pedro Martinez for the longest streak in Nationals/Expos history and breaks the franchise record for the modern era (2005-present) — a franchise that employed Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg. Foster Griffin is 11-2 with a 2.68 ERA through 20 starts, and the numbers underneath are just as stubborn: entering the break, he led the majors with a 1.25 ERA since June 5, with a 1.02 WHIP, a .210 opponent average, and 109 strikeouts. He is 30 years old, he arrived from the Yomiuri Giants on a one-year, $5.5 million deal, and he retains rookie eligibility because his prior MLB service was too brief to disqualify him. The Rookie of the Year chatter sounds like a rule-book quirk until you look at the streak — eight straight starts, one run or fewer. The question with any arm who arrives from NPB and immediately handles the league is when the second look arrives, when hitters have seen the repertoire enough times to adjust. Through 20 starts, there is no sign of it. The streak is the verdict.
Foster Griffin cards on eBay →(paid link)
Which one follows you into August
Three catchers sit on this list, and all three had days worth circling — but Baldwin's is the one with October teeth. If the oblique is behind him and that post-injury slump was just timing coming back, the Braves just got a middle-of-the-order bat for a club that already clinched its 21st series and holds a three-game NL East lead. Ohtani's knee will resolve on its own schedule; Baldwin's return could settle a division.