The Buzz — Sunday, August 2

Ceddanne Rafaela

The take Rafaela multi-homer night in Dodgers win trending

Batting .400 over his last seven games — 12-for-30 with 4 home runs and 11 RBI — Rafaela is in the middle of a week that most players don't string together in a month. The two solo shots on August 1 were only the second multi-homer game of his career, his first since May 31, 2024, and they came against the two-time defending champions to clinch a series at Dodger Stadium.

That's why the highlight packages are everywhere. He's at 14 home runs now on a Red Sox team that has won eight straight series. The streak is real; whether it's a peak or a new floor is a question seven games can't answer.

Ceddanne Rafaela cards on eBay →(paid link)

Tarik Skubal

The take Blockbuster Skubal trade Tigers to Dodgers dominates deadline

The deal is done, and the cost tells you what the Dodgers think they bought. A two-time reigning Cy Young winner with a 2.79 ERA, 116 strikeouts against 14 walks in 96⅔ innings — and Los Angeles gave up Zyhir Hope, River Ryan, and Brady Smith without touching the major-league roster. Skubal is the first reigning Cy Young winner traded in-season since Justin Verlander in 2023.

Detroit sold a pending free agent rather than risk losing him for nothing. Skubal said he's ready to chase three championships in a row — which is exactly why a rental costs three prospects. He walks into Los Angeles as a Game 1 starter on a team already chasing a three-peat, and the 2026 numbers say the elbow procedure didn't cost him a thing.

Tarik Skubal cards on eBay →(paid link)

Hunter Goodman

The take multi-homer Saturday game hyped in MLB recaps

Goodman broke the Rockies' single-season franchise record for home runs by a catcher on Saturday — his 32nd of the year, a three-run shot in a six-run third — then added No. 33 in the seventh for his sixth multi-homer game of the season. He finished 4-for-5 with five RBI in a 12-6 win. The trade-deadline noise is natural, but he's under club control through 2029 and the Rockies have no reason to move a cornerstone for anything less than an overpay. The highlight is real. The trade talk is premature.

Hunter Goodman cards on eBay →(paid link)

Lane Thomas

The take Braves just got him from Royals in deadline deal

Anthopoulos said it plainly: Thomas's strength is hitting left-handers, and the plan is not the same everyday center-field job he had in Kansas City. That framing matters more than the .232 average the crowd will see first. Thomas carries an .800 OPS against lefties this season and a career .288 mark against them — the specific need the Braves bought, a right-handed bat for a team that has faced its share of lefty openers.

He's a $5.25 million rental on an expiring deal, and the Royals flipped him for Lucas Braun and Carter Holton while they could. Thomas is a platoon piece who fills a real hole, not an everyday upgrade — and the Braves paid for the matchup, not the name.

Lane Thomas cards on eBay →(paid link)

Max Clark

The take Rookie's first MLB homer in game two hyped

The first career home run is the clip that will follow Max Clark for years. It came in his second major-league game — a two-run shot to right-center off Jack Perkins that pushed the Tigers ahead 6-2 in an 8-6 win. But the homer is the postcard, and the debut was the story. On July 31, Clark went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, two runs scored, and an RBI in a 13-1 Tigers win. That's a 21-year-old — drafted third overall in 2023, MLB Pipeline's No. 13 overall prospect — whose first two games say the bat traveled with him from Triple-A Toledo.

Two multi-hit games in your first two major-league appearances is not a fluke or a hot streak — it's a player arriving ready. Clark and teammate Kevin McGonigle became the first pair of Tigers age 21 or younger to homer in the same game in franchise history, which sounds like trivia and is actually a window into what Detroit is building: two premium prospects arriving together, at the same age, in the same lineup.

Max Clark cards on eBay →(paid link)