The reigning MVP and Cy Young Award winners in the American League are both on the injured list.
One is on his way back, the other went on the IL just in the last few days.
Aaron Judge has a stress fracture in a rib that will keep the slugging outfielder out of the lineup for the New York Yankees for a while. The Detroit Tigers have been without ace Tarik Skubal for over a month, but he threw five innings in a rehab appearance for Class A West Michigan on Sunday.
Even though Skubal might be back soon, you'd rather be the Yankees than the Tigers right now. New York has taken advantage of a Tampa Bay slump and now trails the Rays by percentage points atop the AL East. Detroit, meanwhile, is 12 games under .500. The amount of mediocrity in the AL means the Tigers are by no means out of postseason contention, but they are tied for last in the AL Central even after winning five of their last six.
The last time Skubal pitched was April 29. Since then, Detroit is 12-23.
Judge has played at least 148 games in four of his last five seasons. The one time he didn't — 2023 — the Yankees missed the playoffs. They've lost three of their last five without him this month.
While Yankees and Tigers fans anxiously await the chance to watch Judge and Skubal again, here are a few other significant injuries that could affect postseason races:
— Cal Raleigh, Mariners. After his 60-homer season last year, Raleigh is batting just .161 with seven home runs in 2026, and he's been out since May 13 because of a right oblique strain. Raleigh has been doing pregame work but will likely need a rehab assignment before returning. Seattle still leads a weak AL West without him.
— Elly De La Cruz, Reds. The star shortstop went on the IL last Monday with a right hamstring strain. The timeline to return was 2-4 weeks. Cincinnati is in last place in the NL Central but just 2 1/2 games out of a wild card.
— Francisco Lindor, Mets. New York's shortstop is out with a left calf strain and hasn't played since April 22. The Mets have been better of late but are still five games out of a wild card.
Philadelphia's Cristopher Sánchez pushed his consecutive shutout innings streak to 50 2/3 before it was snapped against San Diego on Wednesday night. Orel Hershiser holds the record with a 59-inning run in 1988.
Hershiser was also facing the Padres when he broke Don Drysdale's mark. How many scoreless innings did he throw in that game to reach 59?
Detroit's Dillon Dingler hit two homers, a double and a single Monday night in a 10-9 win over Tampa Bay.
Houston scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth to beat Pittsburgh 11-9 on Wednesday night. The Astros trailed 8-3 in the seventh.
Isaac Paredes hit a two-run homer for Houston in the seventh, but with the score 9-5 in the eighth, Pittsburgh's win probability was up to 98.1% — according to Baseball Savant — after the first two Houston batters struck out.
Then the decisive rally began: Nick Allen and Christian Vázquez hit back-to-back doubles. After Jeremy Peña walked, Yordan Alvarez and Christian Walker hit consecutive RBI singles. The tying run then came home on a wild pitch before Cam Smith hit a two-run triple to put Houston ahead.
Hershiser was able to break Drysdale's record because his final start of 1988 went to extra innings. He threw 10 scoreless frames in that game against the Padres on Sept. 28, 1988.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal winds up to throw in a rehab start for the West Michigan Whitecaps against the Dayton Dragons in Comstock Park, Mich., Sunday, June 7, 2026. (Isaac Ritchey/The Grand Rapids Press via AP)
New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) looks on from the dugout during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians, Tuesday, June 2, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
MADRID (AP) — Pope Leo XIV met Monday with six survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Madrid and vowed to consider their suggestions for how the Catholic Church can improve its response to the crisis, the Vatican said.
The meeting, which followed in the tradition of popes meeting with abuse survivors during their foreign trips, lasted about an hour and took place at the Vatican embassy in Madrid, the Vatican said in a statement.
Spain’s Catholic hierarchy has only recently begun reckoning with its legacy of abuse and cover-up after long dismissing the severity of the scandal that came to light thanks to reporting by the newpaper El País.
In 2023, the Spanish government’s ombudsman delivered a damning 800-page report estimating there were hundreds of thousands of possible victims in Spain over decades — based on a survey of 8,000 people. The report also examined 487 known cases.
Spain’s bishops rejected the estimate, saying its own investigation had uncovered 728 sexual abusers within the church since 1945.
During Monday’s meeting, the survivors told the pope their stories and recommendations for how the church should better respond, the Vatican said. Victims in Spain and elsewhere have long complained that the church’s response to the scandal was often retraumatizing, with victims often accused of only seeking money or to harm the church.
“The pope listened with affection and attention, assured them of his closeness — and that of the entire church community — and pledged his commitment to ensuring that the suggestions received serve as a foundation for further efforts, so that the church may truly be a safe and spiritually healthy place where wounds find comfort and healing,” said a statement from Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.
The encounter marked the first known time Leo had met with victims while on a foreign visit, but it by no means was his first time hearing first-hand from survivors.
As a bishop in Chiclayo, Peru, the former Robert Prevost was in charge of listening to victims as the point of reference for the Peruvian bishops conference. In that capacity, he became intimately aware of the abusive practices in the powerful Peruvian group, Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, which Pope Francis formally suppressed last year.
As pope, Leo has insisted on the need to listen to victims but he has also demanded that the rights of accused priests be upheld.
In his recent encyclical, he said the journey for justice for victims included “just reparation” and he included not only victims of sexual abuse but also spiritual, economic, institutional and power-based abuse, as well as abuses of conscience.
Ahead of the expected meeting with Leo, several groups representing survivors that were not included said they were left in the dark about the encounter, and held a small protest outside the Vatican’s embassy in Madrid.
“Our associations are pleased that a group of victims from the reparation plan can be heard by the pope, but they do not represent all the victims, and deep down they are being used by the church, by the bishops conference, to clean up the image of a Spanish church that has never been able to live up to its victims,” said Juan Cuatrecasas, a spokesperson for the Robbed Childhood association.
Before the meeting, Leo told Spanish bishops that they must offer reparations to survivors and that the entire church community should have an "ever more determined commitment to prevention and a culture of care.”
“Faced with this scourge, the ecclesial community is called to respond with listening, truth, justice, reparation," Leo said. “Every wounded person must be able to find sincere listening, welcome, protection and real paths to healing.”
Amid public outrage over the abuse crisis, Spain launched a reparations system earlier this year for clerical abuse cases too old to be prosecuted that requires the participation of the Catholic Church and the Spanish government.
Other countries and churches have set up reparations mechanisms to compensate survivors and provide therapy, but the Spanish one is unusual in that it gives the government a strong role in the process and the final say in payouts.
The system, which is not legally binding, has drawn praise and some skepticism from advocacy groups and survivors. It gives people a year to apply.
Leo also reaffirmed the right of the Catholic Church to maintain secrecy involving the sacrament of confession, amid efforts in Europe and elsewhere to force Catholic priests to report abuse that they learn about during the one-to-one conversations.
Independent investigations into clergy abuse around the world have identified the seal of confession as a major impediment to exposing and preventing abuse, and called for it to be abolished. The investigations have documented how abusers used the confessional to solicit sex from minors and then relied on the seal of confession to keep it secret.
In his speech to the Spanish parliament Monday, Leo framed the right of the church to keep priest-penitent conversations confidential as a matter of freedom of religion.
“To protect it legally, as is done in a similar way in some professions, means preserving a sacred space of inner freedom, where the believer can open his or her soul to God without fear of external pressures,” he said.
Pope Leo XIV, right, attends a prayer and devotion to our Lady of Almudena at the Cathedral of Holy Mary of Almudena in Madrid, Spain, Monday, June 8, 2026 (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV, left, arrives at the Spanish parliament in Madrid, Spain, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Pope Leo XIV waves in Madrid, Spain, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)
Pope Leo XIV leaves after meeting with Spain's bishops at the Spanish Episcopal Conference in Madrid, Spain, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)
Pope Leo XIV leaves after meeting with Spain's bishops at the Spanish Episcopal Conference in Madrid, Spain, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)
Pope Leo XIV meets with Spain's bishops at the Spanish Episcopal Conference, in Madrid, Monday, June 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
