Good morning! Sunday split cleanly down the middle of our coverage map. In Los Angeles, Blake Snell threw six shutout innings as the Dodgers swept Pittsburgh 4-0 for their sixth straight win — and Fredo Cervantes makes the case that what’s assembling in that rotation should frighten the rest of baseball. In San Diego, Fernando Tatis Jr. went 4-for-5 with two homers as the Padres swept the Twins 8-1. Then the news out of Nevada: Ashton Jeanty went down at Raiders camp with an apparent right knee injury, and the Aces lost NaLyssa Smith to a left knee injury in the third quarter of a win. Let’s get into it.
🚨 HEADLINES
🏈 Jeanty goes down. The Raiders’ featured back left practice unable to put weight on his right leg — Derek Hegna in Las Vegas.
⚾ Something terrifying. Snell’s six shutout innings completed a sweep, and Glasnow and Ohtani are still coming — Fredo Cervantes at Dodger Stadium.
⚾ Tatis takes over. Four hits, four RBI, two homers as San Diego swept Minnesota — Eric Evelhoch at Petco Park.
🏀 A win and a wound. A’ja Wilson’s 27 points weren’t the story — NaLyssa Smith’s knee was — The Sporting Tribune in Vancouver.
⚾ Shut down in Arlington. Cal Quantrill blanked the Angels as Texas climbed into a tie atop the AL West — The Sporting Tribune at Globe Life Field.
⚽ Anderson from the spot. Angelina Anderson’s late penalty save earned Angel City a point against the league leaders — David Martinez at BMO Stadium.
🏈 New No. 1. Bishop Gorman took the top ranking in the country from St. John Bosco — Arion Armeniakos at Fertitta Field.
See what else is trending at The Sporting Tribune.
📋 SCOREBOARD — SUNDAY
⚾ MLB: Dodgers 4, Pirates 0 · Padres 8, Twins 1 · Rangers 5, Angels 3
🏀 WNBA: Aces 88, Tempo 78
⚽ NWSL: Angel City 0, Gotham FC 0
⚾ THE DODGERS ARE BUILDING SOMETHING TERRIFYING
There is a point every season when a contender stops looking talented and starts looking inevitable. Fredo Cervantes argues from Chavez Ravine that the Dodgers may have reached it.
The sweep of Pittsburgh finished 4-0 on Sunday — a sixth straight win, an 11th shutout of the season, and an 80-51 record. But the number that matters is the one still arriving. Yoshinobu Yamamoto started Friday. Tarik Skubal went Saturday. Snell closed it out Sunday with six shutout innings, two hits, six strikeouts on 94 pitches, 62 for strikes, in his third start back from the injured list.
Then he said this: “I gotta be better. Seeing their gameplan against me, I should’ve adjusted quicker.”
“He’s on a mission, I see it,” Dave Roberts said. “I’ve talked to him and he’s putting in the work.”
And the Dodgers aren’t finished. Tyler Glasnow returns Tuesday in Atlanta after more than three months out with lower-back spasms — he was 3-0 with a 2.72 ERA before the injury and posted a 1.32 ERA with 20 strikeouts in 13⅔ rehab innings at Oklahoma City. Shohei Ohtani could be back on the mound sooner than expected; he throws another bullpen in Atlanta, and the plan is to build him up an inning at a time with Eric Lauer piggybacking behind him.
Glasnow. Yamamoto. Snell. Skubal. Roki Sasaki. Ohtani.
“It’s daunting as an opposing offense to look at the probables,” Roberts said, “and you see Glasnow, Yamamoto, Snell, Sasaki and then potentially Shohei.”
Alek Thomas, called up when Andy Pages fractured his hand, has now watched Skubal and Snell from center field on back-to-back days. “I’ve seen it first hand in the batter’s box,” he said. “For me to see it from a different perspective in the outfield, it’s pretty special.”
For once the question in Los Angeles isn’t whether there’s enough pitching. It’s how to find innings for all of it.
GO DEEPER
› Fredo Cervantes: Dodgers are getting healthy and building something terrifying (The Sporting Tribune)
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⚾ TATIS AND MERRILL KEEP BLASTING
For the second straight game, San Diego hung a four-run inning on the Minnesota bullpen. Eric Evelhoch’s account from Petco has the Padres (71-60) pulling away for an 8-1 win and a sweep — their eighth consecutive home victory.
Tatis did it in three acts. A second-pitch slider from Bailey Ober into the second basket of the Western Metal Supply Co. building in the third. A two-run single in the sixth. A solo shot off Taylor Rogers in the eighth for his 17th. Four hits, four RBI, and his 14th extra-base hit of August, nine of them home runs.
The sixth was where it turned. Kody Funderburke walked Luis Campusano and pinch-hitter Austin Hays. Jeff Hoffman came in and walked Xander Bogaerts on a full count. Luis Rengifo yanked a first-pitch slider down the line for a two-run double, and Tatis followed with two more. Jackson Merrill added a 414-foot homer in the seventh — his second in as many games, tying Tatis with 11 since the All-Star break — and Bogaerts drove in another.
Walker Buehler gave San Diego six innings for the third straight start: four hits, one run, four strikeouts, no walks, improving to 8-6.
“Ever since the All-Star break, he needed that little breather, and ever since then he’s been the Walker Buehler we saw in the month of June,” manager Craig Stammen said. “I think he smells the postseason.”
The Padres stay two back of Philadelphia in the wild-card race and keep a two-game cushion on Arizona for the third and final spot. Robbie Ray (11-7, 3.20) opens against Pittsburgh tonight, still chasing his first win at Petco in brown and gold.
GO DEEPER
› Eric Evelhoch: Tatis and Merrill keep blasting, Padres punish Twins bullpen again for sweep (The Sporting Tribune)
🍔 THE DODGERS WON, SO YOU EAT
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🌮 El Portal, Pasadena — $12 combination plates and $7 house margaritas. Dodgers win. Order online for pickup.
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🥤 Mountain Dew — free 20-oz Baja Blast. Two home runs traveled 420-plus feet Sunday: Kyle Schwarber’s 459-footer in Philadelphia and Elias Díaz’s 421-footer in Arlington — the one off Kikuchi that helped beat the Angels. Wallet pass at OTC Network stores.
Not active today: the McDonald’s Dodgers nuggets deal needed six runs and they scored four; Habit Burger’s Double Char needed a double play the Dodgers never turned; and the McDonald’s Angels fries deal needed a win in Texas.
⚾ QUANTRILL SHUTS DOWN THE ANGELS
Yusei Kikuchi had not pitched in a major league game since April, when left shoulder inflammation sent him to the 60-day injured list. He got the ball Sunday in Arlington and lasted five innings, giving up five runs on seven hits and falling to 0-4.
Two swings did most of it. Ezequiel Durán turned on a 1-2 slider for his 14th homer, his first since August 3. Elias Díaz put a 1-2 fastball into the second deck in the fifth for a 4-0 lead. Cal Quantrill answered with six scoreless innings, six strikeouts and no walks to improve to 6-4, and Anaheim’s late push died in a 5-3 loss that sent Texas into a tie atop the AL West.
The result matters less than the arm. The Angels need to know what they have in Kikuchi for 2027, and one outing back from a four-month shoulder absence is a data point, not a verdict. Cleveland is in tonight.
GO DEEPER
› Quantrill shuts down Angels as Rangers climb into tie atop AL West (The Sporting Tribune)
🎰 A HARD DAY IN LAS VEGAS
Derek Hegna was at Raiders practice Sunday when the season changed shape. On a passing play, Ashton Jeanty got tangled with defensive back Darien Porter while diving for the ball and went down. The team knelt in prayer while trainers worked. Jeanty eventually came off the field unable to put pressure on his right leg.
There is no update yet on severity. What is known is the cost if it’s serious: Jeanty, the sixth overall pick in 2025, was built into Klint Kubiak’s offense as the featured back. Mike Washington Jr. is next on the depth chart. A camp that had been the most optimistic in Las Vegas in years turned in a single snap.
Hours later and 1,200 miles north, the Aces got their win over Toronto in Vancouver and lost something anyway. NaLyssa Smith came down after catching a high pass in the third quarter and her left knee buckled. She left the floor unable to bear weight, and the club offered no update afterward.
“The emotions are what they’re going to be but, obviously, when you lose a sister to an injury,” A’ja Wilson said. “You never want to see that happen to anyone. Lyss is a soldier.”
Wilson, herself questionable beforehand with a back injury, finished with 27 points, seven rebounds and seven assists — passing 100 career games of 25 or more points and moving into second all-time in 20-point games. Jackie Young added 21. Las Vegas forced 15 turnovers and took 11 steals. On any other night that’s the story.
GO DEEPER
› Derek Hegna: Raiders training camp takes dark turn with Ashton Jeanty injury (The Sporting Tribune)
› Derek Hegna: Aces win the day over Tempo, but NaLyssa Smith’s injury looms large (The Sporting Tribune)
⚽ ANDERSON DENIES GOTHAM FROM THE SPOT
Angel City has now drawn four in a row, and David Martinez writes that this one was earned rather than settled for. With four minutes left at BMO Stadium, Angelina Anderson guessed right on a Gotham penalty and dove to her right to keep the game level — her second saved spot kick of the season and her sixth clean sheet.
Moments later Sam Kerr struck one from 20 yards that beat Anderson and hit the crossbar. The point kept the league leaders from taking three out of Los Angeles, though Gotham still extended its unbeaten run to nine.
GO DEEPER
› David Martinez: Angelina Anderson denies Gotham from the spot to secure a point for Angel City (The Sporting Tribune)
📺 WATCHLIST — MONDAY, AUGUST 24
🏀 WNBA: Dream at Sparks — Crypto.com Arena — 6:00 p.m. — Peacock
⚾ MLB: Guardians at Angels — Angel Stadium — 6:38 p.m. — ABTV
⚾ MLB: Pirates at Padres — Petco Park — 6:40 p.m. — Padres TV
The Dodgers are off. They open at Atlanta on Tuesday at 4:15 p.m. PT with Tyler Glasnow making his first start since May 6.
🎟️ GOING TO A GAME?
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🏀 Dream at Sparks — Crypto.com Arena — $11
⚾ Guardians at Angels — Angel Stadium — $3
⚾ Pirates at Padres — Petco Park — $26
🌴 TST TRIVIA
Sunday’s 4-0 win was the Dodgers’ 11th shutout of the season — and their first since the Fourth of July. Who did they blank that day, and by what score?
Answer at the bottom.
🎧 THE SPORTING TRIBUNE TODAY
Today’s episode: the rotation the Dodgers are assembling and why the rest of baseball should be losing sleep over it, Fernando Tatis Jr. carrying San Diego to a sweep, Yusei Kikuchi’s difficult return in Arlington, and a hard Sunday in Las Vegas for Ashton Jeanty and NaLyssa Smith. Hear it on the radio across Southern California, Las Vegas and Hawaii via Westwood One Sports, The Bet Las Vegas, Hawaii Sports Radio Network and KIRN in Los Angeles.
› Listen to the latest episode
Trivia answer: The Padres, 3-0.
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