Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today’s games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Today's edition is brought to you by David Adler.

Aaron Judge's rib injury could have ripple effects across the Major Leagues. One of the biggest: The American League MVP race is wide open.  

For the last five years, the AL MVP has been named either "Aaron Judge" or "Shohei Ohtani." Judge has three of those awards and is the back-to-back reigning AL MVP. 

This year we're primed to get a new name on that trophy. But who's it gonna be? 

Here are five of the top contenders: 

1) Yordan Alvarez 

Alvarez was already the favorite in our latest MVP poll, and now he has a clear path to his first career MVP Award. The Astros' star slugger is leading the AL in batting average (.316), slugging percentage (.649), OPS (1.077) and home runs (21). And he's a Triple Crown threat, because he's also second in RBIs (44), just one behind teammate Christian Walker.

2) Bobby Witt Jr. 

Witt is a perennial MVP contender by now thanks to his electric all-around game. And he's been the most valuable player in the AL so far this season by at least one key metric: The Royals' star shortstop leads the league with 3.8 Wins Above Replacement, per FanGraphs, ahead of Alvarez (3.1 WAR).

3) Ben Rice 

If Judge isn't the MVP this year, his teammate might be. Judge and Rice have been arguably MLB's top hitting duo this season. Rice's 2025 breakout has gotten even bigger in 2026, as he's batting .300 with 17 home runs and a 1.031 OPS. Plus, if Rice can keep the Bronx Bombers rolling in Judge's absence, he'll get a lot of credit.  

4) Nick Kurtz 

The reigning AL Rookie of the Year could take the next step into MVP territory as a sophomore. Kurtz is an on-base machine -- the 23-year-old leads the Majors with a .437 on-base percentage and just got on base in 48 games in a row. Plus, the home runs are starting to come for the A's lefty slugger. Kurtz is up to 11 on the season and has a .937 OPS.   

5) José Ramírez

J-Ram got off to a slow start, but he's really starting to heat up -- and he's taking his team with him. The Guardians are in first place in the AL Central, while Ramírez is tied for the Major League with 22 stolen bases and up to nine home runs. He's on pace for 20-plus homers and 50-plus steals this season, and if Ramírez does that for a playoff team, he'll get MVP consideration. J-Ram has finished in the top five of MVP voting six times, but he's never won. Maybe this will finally be the year.

Other players to watch: Julio Rodríguez, Junior Caminero, Mike Trout

When he's not busy being the most electric pitcher in baseball, Jacob Misiorowski is also Milwaukee's most famous card collector. 

But there are also plenty of Brewers fans out there trying to collect his card. And that's how 7-year-old Aaron Shorey ended up with the story of a lifetime. 

Over Memorial Day weekend, young Aaron went out baseball card shopping with his dad, Ryan. He was looking for a Miz card. Instead, he found … the Miz himself. 

By complete luck, when the Shoreys walked into the card shop, there was Misiorowski. What are the chances? 

Aaron's reaction: "Oh my gosh. I can’t believe that."

But it gets better. Ryan and Aaron introduced themselves to Misiorowski -- and then they made a deal. If Aaron opened a box of cards in front of the Miz and pulled a card of the Brewers star, Misiorowski would sign it for him.

Not only did Good Guy Miz oblige, he insisted on buying Aaron the box. 

And of course, a few packs in, Aaron pulled a Misiorowski card. The Miz signed it for him on the spot.

"Getting to rip the pack and pull myself out of the pack, and then signing in front of him, it was pretty cool," Misiorowski told Milwaukee TV station TMJ4.

Read the whole story of how the Miz made a 7-year-old's day here >> 

We've got the Freeway Series in L.A., more of The Miz and the Yanks-Sox rivalry this weekend. Here are three games to watch, one for each day. 

Today: Angels at Dodgers (10:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV) 

It's Shohei Ohtani vs. Mike Trout as Ohtani hosts his old team. Shohei has crushed the Angels ever since he left -- he's batting .353 with five home runs and a 1.280 OPS in 13 games against them. Also keep an eye on Roki Sasaki on the mound for the Dodgers, who's looked way, way better of late.

Tomorrow: Brewers at Rockies (9:10 p.m. ET, MLB.TV) 

The Miz has become a must-watch every time he takes the mound. He leads the Majors with 108 strikeouts, and he rips dozens of 100 mph fastballs every start. We've never seen anything like it. Can Coors Field neutralize him, or will Misiorowski's Cy Young push keep rolling? 

Sunday: Red Sox at Yankees (1:35 p.m. ET, MLB.TV) 

The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry returns to Yankee Stadium for the first time since the 2025 AL Wild Card Series this weekend. There are plenty of storylines worth monitoring for both the Yanks and the Sox, but we're picking the series finale as the game to watch. That's when Cam Schlittler takes the mound for the Yankees. Have you heard he used to be a Red Sox fan? And he absolutely owns his childhood favorite team. 

Congrats to the University of Texas, who repeated as Women's College World Series champions last night. 

The Longhorns completed a two-game sweep of Texas Tech to win their second straight softball national championship. And they did it by beating Red Raiders star pitcher NiJaree Canady, the No. 2 overall pick in this year's Athletes Unlimited Softball League College Draft.

Texas' own star pitcher, Teagan Kavan, closed out the clincher in relief -- a day after she threw a 115-pitch complete game to beat Texas Tech in Game 1 of the WCWS Championship Series. Yoshinobu Yamamoto-esque, one might say. 

Kavan was named the WCWS Most Outstanding Player … which she also won last year.

Payton Tolle is an inspiration to his fellow pitchers. Jared Jones maybe wishes he wasn't. 

That's because Tolle, who pitches for the Red Sox, seems to have incepted Jones, who pitches for the Pirates, into committing the same kind of balk. 

Let us explain. 

Tolle started it. The fun-loving, fan-favorite, Ron Swanson-lookalike, mustachioed lefty had a humorous brain fart on the mound on Wednesday. Tolle forgot about a runner on first base and tried to pitch from his full windup. When said runner naturally took off for second, Tolle committed just about as big of a balk as you can balk. 

Then, when he was asked about what the heck happened there after the game, Tolle cracked up as he tried to answer, before sputtering out the instant-classic line: "There was no brain there." 

That clip went viral … and it made its way to Jones before he took the mound yesterday. 

Apparently, Tolle's antics got stuck in Jones' head. Because in his start, the very next day, he balked in pretty much the exact same way. (It wasn't as comical as Tolle's balk, but it was still a balk.) 

So of course he pointed the finger at Tolle. 

"I think I watched the Payton Tolle interview this morning, and I guess it just got into my mind a little bit too much and I ended up being just like him," Jones joked after the game.

The first Padres City Connect jersey was colorful and vibrant, a nod to the culture and coastline in San Diego. The 2.0 version followed suit, while leaning into the city's supernatural side and binational fan base by paying tribute to the holiday of Día de los Muertos. 

Now they're dropping the sneaker version. The Padres' new City Connect Air Max 1 shoes keep the same striking color scheme, with "Padres" on the tongue and "San Diego" on the heel counters. And of course, the La Catrina sleeve patch honoring the Day of the Dead makes an appearance on the sockliner of the shoe.

Perfectly suited for both baseball season and spooky season, the shoe is available in limited quantities starting today at select retailers. 

-- Bryan Horowitz

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