PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Expanded playoffs make it harder to predict whether Tarik Skubal and other choice acquisitions will be dealt before the Aug, 3 trade deadline.
Twenty-three of the 30 teams are within four games of a playoff position heading into the season's second half, which opens Thursday with the back-in-contention Philadelphia Phillies hosting the woeful New York Mets.
“You’ve got a lot of really good teams that were on the bubble that have gotten in and kind of made it,” Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper said. “Anybody that has an opportunity to get in, anything can happen and that’s what makes our sport great.”
Skubal, a two-time Cy Young Award winner who can become a free agent after the World Series, is the most prominent possible trade bait. The 29-year-old left-hander is 2-3 with a 3.62 ERA in six starts for the Detroit Tigers since surgery on May 6 to remove a loose body from his pitching elbow.
He returned to a big league mound on June 13 after Dr. Neal ElAttrache operated with a NanoNeedle scope 2.0, a miniaturized, flexible version of the traditional arthroscope.
Detroit was 22-38 at the start of June — at 16 games under matching the 1914 Braves (12-28) as the most under .500 of a team that rebounded to reach the postseason, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Tigers are 22-14 since and trail by 3 1/2 games for the last AL wild card, needing to overcome six teams. Their performance in 16 games before the deadline will help determine whether they are buyers or sellers.
Minnesota's Joe Ryan and the Mets' Freddy Peralta also could become available. The Mets also could deal left-handed relievers Brooks Raley and A.J. Minter to contenders and San Francisco may try to jettison second baseman Luis Arraez.
Baseball’s only division leads of more than three games are held by the Los Angeles Dodgers (11 1/2) and Milwaukee (five).
“There are some middling teams that are potentially going to finish stronger and some teams that are front-running right now that might fall back to the pack,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s what the fans wanted. It keeps everyone involved through September, as many teams as possible.”
Just seven teams of the 30 teams are more than four games out of a wild-card berth: the Athletics (6 1/2), Cincinnati (eight), Kansas City and the Los Angeles Angels (10 each), the Giants (10 1/2), the Mets (12) and Colorado (13 1/2).
“I think having more teams involved and more fan bases feeling like there’s something to play for later in the season is always good,” said Toronto pitcher Dylan Cease, the All-Star Game winner.
Philadelphia fell to 9-19 when Rob Thomson was fired on April 28 and replaced by Don Mattingly. The Phillies are 44-24 since and trail NL East-leading Atlanta (55-40) by two games.
Harper thinks a key to the turnaround was when Zack Wheeler rejoined the rotation on April 25 after surgery last August for thoracic outlet syndrome. Wheeler is 10-1 with a 2.13 ERA.
“Once we got Wheels back, I think everybody kind of took a deep breath,” Harper said. “That helped a lot of our other starting pitching kind of just fall into place.”
Boston fired Alex Cora after a 10-17 start and the Red Sox are 36-31 under Chad Tracy, ending the first half with their first 9-0 road trip since 1977.
Despite a 46-48 record, the Red Sox trail by just a half-game for the last wild card in an AL that has just five teams with winning records.
“We've done a much better job overall with our approach,” Tracy said. “We’re taking more pitches. We’re seeing more pitches against starters. We are getting starters deep in counts earlier in games. We're scoring runs in the first five innings of the game and letting our starting rotation pitch with a lead.”
If the Red Sox struggle in the next few weeks, closer Aroldis Chapman and starter Sonny Gray could get dealt.
Three of the four teams that had first-round byes last year advanced to League Championship Series: Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Seattle and Toronto. Among the teams emerging from Wild Card Series, only the Dodgers won their Division Series.
Having the bye allows teams to reset their rotations and assure opening the Division Series with their best starters.
Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler thought back to New York losing the AL East title and the bye to Toronto on a tiebreaker last year.
“Every game matters,” he said.
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Boston Red Sox's Sonny Gray pitches during the second inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets Friday, July 10, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Boston Red Sox pitcher Aroldis Chapman throws in the ninth inning during the MLB baseball All-Star Game between the American League and National League, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal reacts to striking out Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Schwarber to end the fifth inning Sunday, July 12, 2026, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers said Kathryn Ruemmler, the former top lawyer at Goldman Sachs and White House counsel to President Barack Obama, was not being truthful Wednesday about her relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, rejecting her testimony that Epstein had merely “used” her.
Ruemmler in her opening remarks told members of the House Oversight Committee that “it was a mistake to deal with” Epstein, but she insisted she never witnessed criminal activity. She said Epstein “used me and other respectable people to legitimize his standing.”
Democrats emerged from questioning Ruemmler saying she was not being forthcoming about her ties to Epstein.
“It is difficult to see how she’s being completely truthful in there with the answers she’s given the committee,” Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the committee, told reporters.
Jennifer Connelly, a spokeswoman for Ruemmler, said in response that Ruemmler had "testified openly and truthfully for six hours and answered every question the committee asked.”
Ruemmler is the latest prominent figure called before the House Oversight Committee as lawmakers investigate the network of powerful people connected with Epstein. The bipartisan inquiry has already included testimony from more than a dozen high-profile witnesses, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former President Bill Clinton, as lawmakers examine how Epstein's wealth and influence may have helped shield him from scrutiny.
Ruemmler served as White House counsel under Obama from 2011 to 2014 and was briefly considered for attorney general. She served as Goldman Sachs’ general counsel for six years before announcing in February that she would step down amid backlash over her correspondence with Epstein. Although she said she would step down on June 30, she remains employed by Goldman Sachs.
Lawmakers have focused on Ruemmler’s close relationship with Epstein in the final years of his life, pointing to affectionate communications between the two.
“For her to deny that there was any type of real relationship there, I just don't buy it,” Garcia said. “And so, again, the fact she is not under oath is very problematic.”
While Ruemmler has tried to downplay their relationship in more recent statements, thousands of documents released by the Justice Department showed that Ruemmler and Epstein had an extensive relationship. The files included personal emails, social plans and gifts that extended beyond formal legal work. Documents showed she had called Epstein “Uncle Jeffrey” in emails and said she adored him.
Ruemmler said in her opening remarks that she first met Epstein in 2014 regarding potentially working with him and Gates “to set up a large donor-advised fund.” Soon after, according to Ruemmler, she learned about Epstein’s 2008 conviction on sex crimes, when he became a registered sex offender.
She said Epstein expressed remorse about it, and that he did not know the women were underaged. She said she “relied on the resolution reached by federal and state prosecutors and validated by a judge as being a proportionate and final resolution of his criminal conduct.”
House Oversight Chair James Comer told reporters Wednesday that the “most concerning” part of Ruemmler's communications with Epstein is how she “tried to rehabilitate his image after he was convicted of solicitation of a minor.”
Comer said Wednesday that Ruemmler is the 18th person to testify as part of their broader investigation.
Billionaire investor Leon Black was subpoenaed last month after lawmakers said he refused to answer some questions about his yearslong relationship with Epstein.
Comer said Wednesday that Black will appear for a formal deposition on Sept. 3 but that he expects to have Black's nondisclosure agreements by “the end of the week.”
The committee has also expressed interest in questioning acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, whose nomination to permanently lead the Justice Department is pending before the Senate. Former Attorney General Pam Bondi identified Blanche as the department’s point person on the release of the Epstein documents, a process that has drawn bipartisan scrutiny.
“Hopefully Blanche will come in as soon as his confirmation is over,” Comer said.
During a lengthy podcast interview with Joe Rogan released Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance said the administration “absolutely” mishandled the communications surrounding the Epstein files and its contents. Vance pointed largely to Bondi, who infamously stated that an alleged “client list” of Epstein’s was “sitting on my desk right now.”
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., arrives for a hearing with former Goldman Sachs senior counsel Kathryn Ruemmler and her ties to Jeffrey Epstein, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, July 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., arrives for a hearing with former Goldman Sachs senior counsel Kathryn Ruemmler regarding her ties to Jeffrey Epstein, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, July 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Goldman Sachs senior counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, center, arrives for a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing regarding her ties to Jeffrey Epstein, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, July 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
