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If you’ve been tapped in this week, you have experienced a whirlwind of baseball news and excitement. The stunning Rafael Devers trade, the electric College World Series, Shohei Ohtani’s return to the mound, and much more.

It’s been a fun week, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg here at Just Baseball!

We’re starting to preview and dive into all of the trade deadline buzz around the league. Today, we’ll look at which teams are likely to buy or sell in addition to the rentals available throughout the market.

After a thrilling game last night to set the stage, the College World Series Final between Coastal Carolina and LSU kicks off on Saturday. All of that and more in this newsletter!

Trade Deadline Preview

The trade deadline is one of my favorite times of the year. It brings out the pure passion of some fans and the absolute anger of others.

We’ll be covering every aspect of the trade market leading up to the end of July deadline, as we kicked things off this week with two big deadline pieces.

Buyers and Sellers at the Deadline

Determining who is going to add pieces to their roster and who is going to sell them is a challenge faced by baseball media every year.

Of course, you’ve got the surefire teams that will be adding talent:

Tigers, Yankees, Astros, Dodgers, Cubs, Mets, Phillies, and More

Then, you have the clear rebuilding teams who will sell off any assets they can:

Angels, White Sox, Athletics, Nationals, Marlins, Pirates, Rockies

After that, it gets interesting. Plenty of teams, especially on the American League side, are right on that border of contending and retooling to plan for next year and beyond.

The next month determines so much for teams as they plan accordingly for the deadline. A hot month could lead to an all-in buy by one team while a cold few weeks could result in full scale tear down for another.

Top Rental Players on the Market

Trading away players at the end of their contract is never as simple as it may seem. While in theory teams want to move rentals for future assets and contenders want to add talent for a deep playoff run, finding appropriate value is tough.

Each team has varying degrees of desperation when it comes to moving their rentals or adding talent for the playoffs.

This week, we took a look at all the best rentals across the market could be moving at the deadline.

Starting Pitchers

Plenty of pitchers will be moved like every year, because everyone needs arms! A couple of huge names such as Framber Valdez, Zac Gallen, and Seth Lugo could dictate the market for starters if they’re ultimately shopped on the market. Valdez still seems unlikely with the hot streak Houston is on lately.

Lower-tier veteran arms will definitely be dealt with names like Merrill Kelly, Tyler Mahle, and Zach Eflin headlining the group who will be determined by their team performance.

Position Players

A few big time players may be on the move if their team shifts to selling. Guys like Bo Bichette, Marcell Ozuna, and Rhys Hoskins could get net a real return if their teams go that direction.

Other hitters like Cedric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn of the Orioles should be on the move either way given their status.

Bullpen Pitchers

These arms are the easiest to acquire at the deadline, but the hardest to gauge the consistency of across a full season often. Ryan Helsley and Aroldis Chapman are proven closers, but their teams still haven’t set their direction just yet.

Read all about every top rental on the market in this full breakdown⬇️

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Just Baseball Trivia of the Week

Our newsletter will have a trivia question every week to test and expand the baseball knowledge of our subscribers! The answer to the weekly trivia question will be at the bottom of the newsletter each week.

How many games in a row has Coastal Carolina baseball won heading into the College World Series Final?

A) 22

B) 26

C) 23

D) 17

CWS Final Preview

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the College World Series has been pure chaos to this point. After last night’s thriller between LSU and Arkansas, our matchup is finally set between the Tigers of LSU and the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.

LSU sent home Arkansas last night in one of the largest meltdowns we’ve seen this season, as the Tigers capitalized on multiple mistakes in the bottom of the ninth to push across three runs, ending in walk off fashion on a Jared Jones RBI single.

Arguably the hottest team in baseball in the Chants, who have yet to lose a game this postseason taking on an SEC juggernaut looking for their second National Championship in three years.

If the stage weren’t already large enough, we get an extremely fun storyline, as the last time Coastal Carolina was in a CWS final (2016), they beat Arizona, who’s Skipper was none other than Jay Johnson, who looks to get his revenge at a new school against first year Head Coach Kevin Schnall.

All About the Arms

This Championship matchup is going to feature two of the best pitching staffs in the entire country battling it out including top tier rotation arms, so let’s highlight a few:

Coastal:

Jacob Morrison - 17 GS, 12-0, 2.08 ERA, 104 IP, 102 K, 22 BB, .194 B/AVG

Cameron Flukey - 16 GS, 8-1, 3.29 ERA, 95.2 IP, 109 K, 22 BB, .211 B/AVG

Riley Eikhoff - 17 GS, 3.10 ERA, 7-2, 90 IP, 71 K, 11 BB, .261 B/AVG

LSU:

Kade Anderson - 18 GS, 11-1, 3.44 ERA, 110 IP, 170 K, .218 B/AVG

Anthony Eyanson - 17 GS, 11-2, 2.92 ERA, 101.2 IP, 143 K, .215 B/AVG

Keys to Success

It’s going to sound silly, but the name of the game this weekend is going to be timely hitting. Which both teams have done unbelievably well to this point not just in the regular season, but down the stretch as well.

Coastal this season has ravaged teams due to their high strike throwing percentage as a team, and I believe LSU is going to struggle with this. Paired up with the ability for Coastal to play small ball at a high level while we’ve seen countless blown bunts from the Power Five teams this week, it’s hard not to love what the Chants roll out.

LSU certainly has the edge in the power department on offense, but can they do it against a pesky Coastal staff?

We’ll have boots on the ground in Omaha for the Championship Series so make sure you’re following On the Clock for constant updates, live shows, and more!

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JB Community All-Star Ballot

Our first round of voting for our Just Baseball Discord Community All-Star Ballot wrapped up this past Monday!

The results are in and this is who our community would be starting in the All-Star game as of this week⬇️

Check out the full breakdown of our first round of All-Star voting here!

Other Headlines

• Tampa Bay Rays owner Stuart Sternberg is in advanced talks to the sell the team. More on this to come, but it seems like the Rays could have a new majority owner very soon.

• Shohei Ohtani made his first appearance on the mound since 2023 this week! While it wasn’t his best outing, Ohtani’s return to the mound is still one of the more exciting moments of the week.

• Rafael Devers was traded to the Giants in a shocking deal on Sunday. The former Red Sox star and Boston front office didn’t seem alligned while the Giants have been playing excellent ball and now add another All-Star bat, solidifying their goal this season.

• Our 2025 MLB Mock Draft 2.0 dropped this week! We’ll have more on this next week, but check out our full first round mock here.

Just Baseball Discord

We launched a Just Baseball community on Discord!

Our Discord channel is the ultimate baseball group chat while also providing exclusive access to Peter’s MLB best bets, Aram’s prospect content, giveaways, and direct connection to the entire Just Baseball staff.

Read all the details about our Discord community here.

Trivia Answer: B) 26

If that sounds insane, that’s because it is!!! 26 straight wins for the Chanticleers and they’re two wins away now.

Just Baseball Merch

Our newest line of merchandise features Adidas performance gear!

We have also restocked on all your favorites including our vintage World Series line, hats, hoodies, City Series line, spring line, and much more.

Check out the full collection of Just Baseball swag here!