Mariners Call Up Top Prospect Colt Emerson for MLB Debut Against Padres

​The Seattle Mariners promoted top prospect Colt Emerson from Triple-A Tacoma on Sunday and placed All-Star utilityman Brendan Donovan on the 10-day injured list with a left groin muscle strain. Emerson, 20, was originally announced in Tacoma's lineup for the Rainiers' home game against Sugar Land, but was scratched shortly before first pitch. Instead, he made the quick drive north to Seattle and will be the youngest Mariners player to make his major league debut since Félix Hernández did so at 19 years old on Aug. 4, 2005. General manager Justin Hollander said the Mariners electing to call up Emerson wasn't on his bingo card Sunday morning, nor was placing Donovan on the IL. "I probably wouldn’t have taken the kids tidepooling in Deception Pass (State Park) this morning," Hollander said with a chuckle. "But, we want to do the right thing for Colt. We also want to do the right thing for the Mariners. We think he’s the best option. This period will get him some runway. This is not a 15 at-bat or 20 at-bat tryout to see if he’s capable of taking the job and running with it for the rest of the year." Hollander confirmed that Emerson, who is viewed as the shortstop of the future in the Emerald City, will primarily see time at third base at the start of his major league career. He started five games at third base for the Rainiers this season. J.P. Crawford, the longest-tenured player on Seattle’s roster, remains the everyday shortstop. Crawford, who started the season on the injured list with a right shoulder injury, is hitting .217 with six homers in 39 games. Hollander said he, manager Dan Wilson and president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto convened Sunday morning and decided it was time to bring up the franchise's top prospect. Emerson signed a $95 million, eight-year contract April 1 – the biggest commitment at the time for a minor leaguer yet to make his major league debut. The Mariners selected Emerson with the 22nd pick in the 2023 draft, and his stock only rose from there. Emerson had a breakout year in 2025, when he hit .285 with an .842 OPS, 16 homers, 28 doubles and 78 RBIs across three levels and established himself as a big league-caliber defender. This season in Tacoma, Emerson has hit .255 with an .816 OPS, seven homers, eight doubles and 26 RBIs. Emerson got off to a slow start to the season as he dealt with a wrist injury, but Hollander said a cortisone shot has allowed him to bounce back at the plate recently. "He looks loose, he looks comfortable, he looks confident up there," Hollander said. "He’s starting to put together quality at-bat after quality at-bat. There’s no reason that can’t translate over to what happens on this field out here." Donovan missed Saturday's game as he continues to be plagued by a left groin injury. Donovan also missed time from April 18 to May 7 with a left groin muscle strain, and dealt with right groin discomfort earlier in the season as well. Hollander said Donovan reaggravated his left groin injury while trying to hit for the cycle in an 8-3 win over the Houston Astros on Thursday. Donovan will receive a platelet rich plasma (PRP) injection for his groin strain, as well as a different injection in his adductor, according to Hollander. There is no timeline yet for Donovan to return to play, but Hollander estimated it could be two to three weeks. Donovan underwent sports hernia surgery in October 2025 shortly after his last season as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals, which Hollander said the Mariners' sports performance team anticipated could make him more susceptible to groin strains and core muscle strains. "Our own internal view was that there would be some days where he didn’t feel good, at least for the first half of the season," Hollander said. "I think the most important thing that we can do is that we’re putting him in position to go out there and feel good every day." Reporting by the Associated Press Read More

Indy 500: Counting Down The 10 Best Finishes In Race History

​The best Indianapolis 500 finish could be subjective, depending on which driver a fan was rooting for to win. It certainly is in the eye of the beholder. So take this list for what it’s worth. One view of the 10 best finishes in Indianapolis 500 history. Of course, it skews to more recent decades when the runs have come a little faster and the finishes have had a tendency to be a little closer. We’ll add one each day to this list of fantastic finishes ahead of the 110th running of the Indy 500 on May 24 (12:30 p.m. ET on FOX). 10. Ericsson outduels O'Ward (2022) After a red flag, Marcus Ericsson held off Pato O’Ward in a two-lap shootout. The shootout didn’t last two laps, though, as there was a crash on the final lap behind them. Ericsson had a comfortable lead when the red flag came out for a crash with four laps to go, a situation where in past Indianapolis 500 races, they likely would have ended the race under caution with Ericsson as the winner. 9. Foyt survives chaos (1967) How does a driver who wins by two laps end up on this list? It’s because the win nearly didn’t happen on the last lap. A big crash with cars and debris littering the frontstretch just ahead of Foyt as he came to the checkered flag forced him to navigate through the wreckage for the win. 8. Sato can't catch Franchitti (2012) This was one of those finishes where the leader holds on for the win, but boy did the leader have to hold on. Takuma Sato tried to pass Dario Franchitti early on the final lap but to no avail and Franchitti sped off for the victory. This was one of those Indy 500s that made you hold your breath all the way to the checkered flag. Read More

4 Takeaways From The Subway Series: Mets Stun Yankees In Drama-Filled Weekend

​CITI FIELD (New York) – The Mets entered the Subway Series red-hot, on the heels of sweeping the Detroit Tigers at home. Meanwhile, the Yankees slumped into the weekend having lost five of their last six games. It was a scenario that, just a few weeks ago, would have seemed preposterous. The tables had turned, and it created a buzz. During a warm and sun-splashed weekend that finally felt like summer was around the corner, fans with different New York alliances traveled to Flushing and packed out the stadium every day of the three-game series. The atmosphere was charged. The stakes felt high. The drama was waiting to unfold. In the end, it was the Mets, the team with one of the worst records in baseball, that stunned the Yankees, the club that’s built to go to the World Series again. The Mets took two out of the three games, winning the first meeting of the season between the longtime crosstown rivals. Here are my takeaways: 1. Worst Gut Punch In A Season Full Of ‘Em Out of all the comebackers that could’ve hurt the Mets, this one burned like no other. Mets right-hander Clay Holmes absorbed a 111 mph line drive off the bat of Yankees rookie slugger Spencer Jones in the fourth inning of Friday’s series opener. It bounced off Holmes’ right leg and broke his fibula. He is expected to pitch again this season, but not for a very long time. A best-case scenario includes Holmes returning to the mound sometime around August. After Friday's game, a 4-0 loss to their crosstown rivals, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza looked devastated. Reliever-turned-starter Holmes entered his Subway Series outing representing the Mets’ most consistent and dominant arm in their rotation. He carried a 1.86 ERA into his ninth start of the year before what he termed "a freak accident" derailed his season. As long as Holmes was churning out ace-level performances every five days, the Mets liked their chances of climbing up the NL East standings. But, without him? This was the toughest gut punch in a season full of them. "It’s tough. Clay is a guy who shows up every day. He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve seen in my career," Juan Soto said on Friday. "It’s really sad what happened to him. We’re going to support him in any kind of way that he needs us. But it just sucks." The Mets are without Francisco Lindor (calf strain), Francisco Alvarez (torn meniscus), Jorge Polanco (Achilles), Luis Robert Jr. (lumbar spine disc herniation), and Ronny Maricio (thumb fracture) for the foreseeable future. None of those position players have a definitive timeline to return. And yet, Holmes’ injury hit the Mets clubhouse the hardest, Mendoza said. On the heels of yet another lifeless loss, it seemed like the final nail in the coffin for their playoff hopes. The best thing about hitting rock bottom? The Mets were left with a blank slate. Even though it’s brutal, the only place to go was up. The only thing left to do was start over. 2. Mets Bullpen Then Shines In An Inspiring Win After deep devastation came a reason for celebration. The Mets showed up to Citi Field on Saturday with a vengeance, refusing to let Holmes’ injury sabotage their season even if it thwarted his. The Mets lineup rallied against the Yankees pitching staff and jumped ahead for a two-run lead that the Bronx Bombers were threatening to erase in the seventh inning. The Yankees loaded the bases with nobody out, thanks in part to a dropped ball from Mets rookie right fielder Carson Benge, when Mendoza turned to his eccentric setup man in the bullpen. Entering an impossible situation, Luke Weaver somehow pulled off the unimaginable against his former team. The wiry right-hander punched out his first two batters, then induced a groundout to end the inning with no runs crossing the plate. Weaver got it all done in just 11 pitches, so the Mets asked him for more. He came back out for the eighth, this time against the top of the Yankees order, and again he faced the minimum. Weaver delivered six king-sized outs for the Mets in a difficult spot. So, of course, he smirked as he walked off the mound. In the dugout after, Soto told Weaver he’s a unicorn. "You feel like there’s a little bit of an injury bug that we’ve had, and it feels never ending sometimes, especially in the midst of what’s going on with us this year," Weaver said on Saturday. "But it’s games like tonight where every day is an opportunity to hit the refresh button." Closer Devin Williams, another former Yankee, picked up some of Weaver’s leftover magic when he took the mound in the ninth inning. Trailing by three runs, Yankees left fielder Cody Bellinger battled Williams but eventually whiffed on the sixth pitch of the at-bat. Williams followed up his toughest matchup by retiring his final two batters with ease, securing his sixth save of the season. After some inconsistency in their first few weeks as Mets, Weaver and Williams have bounced back so far this month. Williams has not allowed a run in his last 8.2 innings pitched (nine relief appearances). He’s given up just one hit and two walks in that stretch, while recording four saves. Weaver, too, has not allowed a run in his last 7.1 innings pitched (six relief appearances) with 11 strikeouts in that span. 3. Rodon’s Outing Was Bad News For Yankees' Fried-less Rotation The Yankees avoided the worst when they learned on Friday that Max Fried’s elbow pain was due to a bone bruise. The left-hander won't need surgery, and in a few weeks the team will re-evaluate whether Fried can resume throwing. In the meantime, the rest of the rotation has some very big shoes to fill. After Cam Schlitter, Fried was their best starter on the staff, helping the Yankees stay afloat until ace Gerrit Cole and southpaw Carlos Rodon returned from their respective injuries. Cole is one or two more rehab outings away from returning to the Yankees rotation for the first time since 2024. And now with Fried down for a while, there is more pressure on Rodon to perform like the 2025 version of himself, when he delivered an All-Star season and finished sixth in American League Cy Young award voting. But Rodon didn’t even make it through the fourth inning against the Mets on Saturday, which was his second start of the season since completing his rehab from left elbow surgery. He lacked command all night, eventually throwing a wild pitch that allowed the Mets to take the lead. Rodon’s erratic performance arrived at the worst time. The Yankees need him to settle in and find consistency as the No. 2 starter in the rotation now, particularly because Fried was a workhorse that saved manager Aaron Boone from having to overuse his bullpen. "I’m never going to make an excuse," Rodon said on Saturday. "I think I should be dialed in right now. It’s frustrating." Given what’s left of New York’s rotation — Will Warren, Ryan Weathers, Elmer Rodriguez, Schlittler, and Rodon — it’s fair to question whether this staff will be able to maintain its strong season. Yankees starters possess the second-best ERA in the AL, and it will be an uphill climb to try and keep it that way. 4. Extra-Innings Drama Returns To Subway Series After the Mets rallied for a victory on Saturday, the Subway Series finale on Sunday afternoon became an intense rubber match. The crosstown rivals were tied at 1-1 through five innings until the Bronx Bombers put up a four-run rally on Mets starter-turned-reliever Sean Manaea in the sixth inning. Boone had emptied his entire bench heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. Then he went to his closer, David Bednar, trusting him to deliver a Yankees win. They were one out away from him doing just that when Tyrone Taylor had other plans on his mind. Taylor, the Mets’ fourth outfielder, executed the swing of his life — slugging a game-tying three-run home run off Bednar to resurrect the Mets back from the dead. He tied the game at 6-6, sending it to extra innings, as Citi Field went berserk. Williams took care of the Yankees again in the top of the 10th inning, expertly stranding the ghost runner at third base before Benge walked it off for the Mets in the bottom of the frame. "Bummed out to happy," Taylor said of his emotions at the plate on Sunday. "Hitting’s contagious." Boone seemed to panic throughout the series finale, over-managing with pinch-hitters early and often until there was no one left to do damage when the Yankees needed it in the 10th. Taylor and the Mets, meanwhile, kept the faith. In the fifth, Taylor came off the bench as a pinch-hitter and ripped a liner that had an expected batting average of .680 to center field, where Spencer Jones made a terrific diving catch to take away an extra base hit. Again, Taylor ran into an unlucky out in the seventh inning on a lineout to left. In the dugout, his Mets teammates encouraged Taylor to keep swinging. When he finally did, he hit the ball so far that no Yankees fielder would get in his way. "I blacked out for him," Benge said of Taylor’s at-bat on Sunday. "Hopefully we can get our at-bats going. Our arms are shoving. We’re trending in the right direction." 4 ½. What’s Next? The Bronx Bombers’ ugly road trip has mercifully reached an end. The Yankees went 2-7 against the Brewers, Orioles and Mets — their first spell of true adversity in what has otherwise been a terrific start to the year. They go home to host the division-rival Blue Jays on Monday. The four-game series is their first meeting against Toronto since the Blue Jays eliminated the Yankees from the playoffs last October. The Mets will try to keep the good times rolling on a quick road trip that holds the best opportunity yet to change the course of their season. Beginning Monday, they face the Nationals and Marlins, also known as the two teams that are ahead of the Mets in the NL East standings. If they can stack up more wins on the road, the Mets have a chance to jump from last place to third in the division. The Yankees (28-19) and Mets (20-26) will meet again on Sept. 11 in the Bronx. Deesha Thosar covers Major League Baseball as a reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar. Read More