It’s the leftover economy headed into July 4 grilling season.
“There’s more going on than just consumers focusing on leftovers. We see a big convergence right now. Consumers seeking value but also health and wellness. And it’s really creating a lot of growth opportunity for McCormick,” McCormick (MKC) CEO Brendan Foley said on Yahoo Finance’s Opening Bid (watch above).
Foley added that consumers are looking for value in flavor products and buying bigger sizes. They’re also purchasing more meat and produce to make meals at home.
“They’re making more trips to the grocery store, maybe putting a few items fewer in the basket. But largely they’re still exploring with flavor, and they still need flavor,” he said.
With shoppers battling higher prices for everything from sneakers to snack foods in part due to tariffs, growth continues to be a tough slog for packaged food players such as McCormick.
McCormick’s second fiscal quarter sales rose 1% from the prior year. Adjusted earnings per share was unchanged year over year but beat analyst estimates by $0.04.
Sales for the consumer segment rose 2.9%, powered by demand for hot sauce and mustard.
The flavor solutions segment, which supplies products to restaurants, remained under pressure. Sales for the segment dropped 1.3% from a year ago.
“Broad weak CPG and QSR trends remain a watch-out in the Flavor Solutions business, but despite the softer environment, margin progression remains on track,” Stifel analyst Matthew Smith wrote in a note.
Smith maintained a Hold rating on McCormick shares.
For the full fiscal year, McCormick forecasts sales to range from flat to up 2% year over year. Adjusted operating profits are expected to jump 3% to 5% as the company pushes through price increases.
This week, fellow food player General Mills (GIS) warned that more-cautious shoppers are pressuring sales of cereal and snack foods. The company missed profit estimates and had an underwhelming earnings call.
Investors have generally soured on Big Food stocks amid the various headwinds on the business and relatively high valuation multiples, which are partly driven by their often-defensive business models in times of weak economic growth.
McCormick shares are up 1.7% year to date relative to a 4.5% advance for the S&P 500 (^GSPC). Campbell’s (CPB) shares are down 26%, and Kraft Heinz (KHC) is off by 16%. PepsiCo’s (PEP) stock is hovering near a 52-week low after a 15% decline this year.
I just tried on five different outfits in about 10 minutes — or at least my AI lookalike did. That’s all thanks to Doppl, a new app that Google is testing, which I used to create AI-generated clips of myself wearing outfits that I found across the web. It mostly works, but it has clear issues putting pants on photos of me wearing shorts, and it even replaced my mismatched socks with AI-generated feet in one instance.
Using the app is pretty simple. All you need is a screenshot of the outfit you want to try on — whether it’s from Pinterest, Instagram, or another online source — along with a full-body photo of yourself in bright light, a natural pose, and no hat. Once you upload both, you can have Doppl generate a still image of you wearing the outfit. It takes a little while to generate, but once it does, you can hit the animate icon to add a random animation, which could show you tossing up the peace sign, smiling and waving to the camera, or striking another type of pose.
I uploaded a simple photo of myself wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and socks. For my first try-on session, I selected one of Google’s sample outfits. The app portrayed the white and blue striped shirt pretty accurately, but it gave me red shorts instead of skinny jeans and wrapped what should’ve been jeans around my calves, as if I were wearing leg warmers. Another outfit I screenshotted included a pair of distressed jeans. Once again, Doppl only included the button half of the pants, while making my shirt extra long and ending around where my shorts do in real life.
Things got even weirder when I fed Doppl an outfit that showed someone from the knees up, wearing a striped button-down shirt and long, striped shorts. Instead of generating a similar outfit, it made the shorts even shorter and gave me a pair of somewhat convincing fake feet.
Even though some of the other outfits I uploaded to Doppl didn’t show the wearer’s shoes, it still generated some kind of footwear for those looks. (Who knows, maybe Google’s AI just thought the outfit would look good with bare feet?)
During my testing, I found that Doppl wouldn’t allow me to upload pictures of more revealing outfits I found on the web, like someone wearing a bikini. It also wouldn’t let my colleague, Marina Galperina, upload an image of President Donald Trump. Those guardrails might make it more difficult for someone to create fake images of public figures or generate explicit images of a person.
However, a strange pattern emerged when Marina and I uploaded mirror selfies of ourselves to the app to virtually try on outfits. Instead of staying relatively close to what we look like in real life, Doppl made both of our lookalikes thinner, to the point where we resembled bobblehead figures. The problem didn’t appear when I used other full-body photos of myself that were taken by someone else.
Google has had a virtual try-on feature for a couple years now, but it expanded that earlier this year by allowing you to upload a photo of yourself and use AI to put you in a shirt, dress, skirt, or a pair of pants that you come across in Google’s search results. Doppl is an even bigger leap, as it lets you try on even more kinds of clothes from different sources around the web and can turn it into a video, too. If Google can fix some of the tool’s quirks, I can see it being a handy way to imagine yourself in an outfit you find online.
You can try out Doppl now by downloading the app on Android or iOS.
Dan Wetzel is a senior writer focused on investigative reporting, news analysis and feature storytelling.
The most convincing argument against expanding the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments from 68 teams is pretty simple.
Almost no one is asking for it.
There is no groundswell from fans. There are no massive ratings for the current First Four (i.e., play-in) games that suggest consumer demand. There have been no teams legitimately cheated out of a bid — they had 30 regular-season games to make their case. There is no obvious competitive reason for it.
Outside of a few coaches and athletic directors, most of whom stand to earn healthy bonus money in having their teams reach March Madness, there isn’t anyone speaking out in favor of this.
And yet, as ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported this week, possible expansion to 76 schools remains on the table with a “decision … to come in the next few weeks.” To echo so many who treasure college basketball in general, and the tournament in particular … please don’t.
If anything, 68 is four too many, requiring clunky play-in games on Tuesday and Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio, before the main event begins Thursday.
Look, innocent people won’t die if there is more basketball each March. So, yes, there are more pressing issues in the world. Still, why mess with sporting perfection? Just to placate a few more middling teams and pick up a few more bucks from television?
Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.
For decades, the NCAA has possessed something special — and nearly impossible to attain. It owns two full days on the sports calendar — the first Thursday and Friday of the NCAA tournament.
These are pseudo national holidays, complete with people skipping work and school while tuning in at the office or during well-timed lunches. It produces a groundswell of activity and excitement that draws in casual fans who eagerly fill brackets with teams, including many they’ve never watched.
That engagement is what makes March mad and has turned this uniquely American event into an iconic slice of Americana that has survived even as general interest in the sport has waned.
It should be protected at all costs.
The decision to expand from the perfect 64 to 65 teams in 2001 and then 68 in 2011 were the original sins here. It began as a response to the Western Athletic Conference splitting in two, creating the Mountain West, and meant starting the tournament before Thursday. You could compare it to opening gifts on Christmas Eve, but not nearly as enjoyable.
Fortunately for the NCAA, America has mostly ignored the doubleheader games on Tuesday and Wednesday (two of them featuring 16 seeds playing each other). Thursday has maintained its magic.
Yet by expanding by eight more teams, Tuesday and Wednesday would now feature six games each, likely stretching across the day. The potential impact on fan interest or confusion over a watered-down week is perilous.
This spell can be broken. The formula can fall apart.
For what purpose? There isn’t a good one.
Division I college basketball has grown through the years, with 355 teams eligible for the tournament last year. At just 19.1%, that makes it challenging to get a bid.
Yet, the numbers deceive. Growth has come almost exclusively because small, one-bid leagues have added members from Division II and III. While the champions of those leagues get an automatic bid, it has zero effect on whether a quality team capable of a run earns one of the 37 at-large bids.
In 2025, the so-called Power 5 leagues (ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC) secured 33 of those 37 at-large selections. The Mountain West (3) and West Coast (1) earned the others. No good team is being squeezed here. The Northeast Conference could expand to 30 teams and still be a one-bid operation.
As for a chance to “play into” the tournament, it’s already available.
Every conference has a tournament of its own, with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the Big Dance. Virtually every conference allows all of its teams to participate. That means a team such as the Citadel — which went 5-25 on the season and 0-18 in the Southern Conference last year — had a chance to win four league tournament games and get in (and then even win six or seven more and be crowned national champs).
If you consider the conference tournaments a play-in round of its own — which it is — the NCAA tournament is already over 300 teams strong. Almost everyone already has a second chance.
To offer eight more teams a third chance defies logic when the tournament’s rhythm is so ingrained in the American sports consciousness.
This is about money, although not so much money in terms of additional television revenue as most would expect. First Four games generally average only 2 million to 3 million viewers — with no other tournament competition — and are relegated to TruTV. It’s not like fans are begging for more. Crowding the window with multiple games isn’t likely to create a windfall.
No, this is about performance bonuses for eight more coaches and eight more athletic directors.
If you are one of those people, then maybe this makes some short-term sense. If you step back though, there is little to nothing to be gained and so much to be lost.
Speculation that the couple had tied the knot mounted after Allison casually referred to Alexander, 42, as her “husband” while discussing how they juggle parenting son Arlo, 3, and traveling for their careers.
“I would be in a puddle on the ground if we didn’t have the nanny that we have, who is the reason my husband is shooting in London right now and I’m here,” the Girls alum told The Guardianin an interview published June 23. “None of this is possible without her, and we’re so grateful.”
The couple—who met on the set of Horizon Line in 2019, the same year that Allison separated from her husband of four years Ricky Van Veen—shared news of their engagement after stepping out together for the premiere of her film M3GAN in December 2022.
Four fire engines and an aerial platform are being used to tackle the fire on a vessel at Albert Dock in Hull
Crews from Humberside Fire and Rescue are tackling a blaze on a ship docked in Hull.
The service said it was called to Albert Dock at 10:22 BST and four fire engines, an aerial platform, Hull Coastguard Rescue Team and an ambulance are in attendance.
The fire started in the cargo hold of the vessel, which was carrying scrap metal, and people were on board but have all been accounted for, a spokesperson for the fire service added.
Local residents and businesses have been advised to keep their windows and doors closed. A plume of smoke is visible across the city centre and shops and roads have been closed.
Dale Baxter/BBC
Crews from Humberside Fire and Rescue, HM Coastguard and Humberside Police are in attendance
Associated British Ports, which runs Albert Dock, said: “We are currently aware of a fire on a vessel in the location of a tenanted area, and we are assisting the fire service with the response.”
Dale Baxter, a BBC reporter at the scene, identified the vessel as the Altay – a bulk carrier which has been docked in the city since 23 June.
He said: “It is quite remarkable. There is an enormous plume of smoke pouring from the ship.
“It looks like it is coming from near the bridge and the wind direction is pushing it towards the city centre.
“The smell is awful.”
According to Vessel Finder, a website that tracks the status of ships, Altay was built in 2006 and flies under the flag of the Marshall Islands.
Dale Baxter/BBC
Humberside Fire and Rescue said the fire started in the cargo hold of the vessel
Humberside Police has confirmed English Street, Wellington Street, Humber Dock, Kingston Retail Park, Marina and Jackson Street have all been closed as a result of the incident.
Tina Riches, managing director of HVM Van Hire, said her business had been closed after she heard “sirens going off and a warning alarm at the dock” earlier.
“We’ve had to contact our customers that they won’t be able to get here and the police say we might have to be evacuated,” she said.
BBC reporter Charlie O’Loughlin lives a few streets away from the marina and described “really thick smoke” more than five hours after the incident started.
She added: “The smell of burning rubber is super strong inside my house.”
Phillip Norton/BBC
Tina Riches, who owns a van hire company, said her business was forced to close after the roads near the premises were cordoned off
Hull City Council confirmed events for the Big Malarkey Festival being held at East Park had been evacuated as a precaution.
The authority confirmed 355 people were on site.
The children’s literary festival has been holding sessions for local schoolchildren ahead of public events on Saturday and Sunday.
Dale Baxter/BBC
Residents and businesses in the city are being advised to keep windows and doors closed due to smoke
Becki Bowden/BBC
The fire service said all people on board the ship have been accounted for
Amber Gash/BBC
Humberside Police has closed roads in the immediate vicinity of the fire
Amber Gash/BBC
Shops at Kingston Retail Park have been closed as a result of the smoke coming from the nearby Albert Dock
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday took a victory lap over the Supreme Court ruling that allowed for President Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship to go into effect in some areas of the country.
“Today, the Supreme Court instructed district courts to STOP the endless barrage of nationwide injunctions against President Trump,” Bondi said on X.
She continued, “This would not have been possible without tireless work from our excellent lawyers@TheJusticeDept and our Solicitor General John Sauer. This Department of Justice will continue to zealously defend @POTUS’s policies and his authority to implement them.”
The high court’s decision found that three federal district judges went too far in issuing nationwide injunctions and limited blocks on implementing Trump’s birthright citizenship ban only in states that have filed challenges against it.
In the other states however, the ruling allows the Trump administration to resume developing guidance to implement the order, though it must wait 30 days before attempting to deny citizenship to anyone.
The ruling though does not yet definitively resolve whether Trump’s restrictions on birthright citizenship are constitutional.
But the case will have significance for legal battles beyond birthright citizenship, as the Trump administration fights nationwide injunctions in other cases blocking their policies.
The Trump administration has railed against the use of nationwide injunctions, fuming that district court judges have the power to block implementation.
“GIANT WIN in the United States Supreme Court!” Trump posted on Truth Social Friday morning. “Even the Birthright Citizenship Hoax has been, indirectly, hit hard. It had to do with the babies of slaves (same year!), not the SCAMMING of our Immigration process. Congratulations to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Solicitor General John Sauer, and the entire DOJ.”
But what the Trump administration has called judicial activism, Democrats and legal challengers argue is a reflection of the illegality of multiple Trump policies.
Democrats argue that Trump — who has already issued more than 100 executive orders during his second term — has far surpassed his predecessors in seeking to shape policy through executive orders that go beyond the scope of his powers.
His policies have been struck down by judges of both parties, including some of his own appointees.
The use of nationwide injunctions has grown over recent decades, spurring louder calls to limit judicial power. The House earlier this year passed a bill limiting the ability of district court judges to impose nationwide injunctions, though it has not yet been taken up in the Senate.
Trump signed an order on his first day in office thatcurbs birthright citizenship for children born on U.S. soil if they don’t have at least one parent with permanent legal status, which would upend the conventional understanding of the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause.
Before Friday’s high court decision, every other court to directly confront the legality of Trump’s order so far has found it likely unconstitutional. The administration went to the Supreme Court on its emergency docket to narrow nationwide injunctions issued by federal judges in Greenbelt, Md., Seattle and Boston.
In the birthright citizenship case, Democrats have argued that nationwide injunctions make sense to protect a right afforded to all regardless of where they are born.
Steve Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown University, told lawmakers earlier this year that applying relief in such a narrow way wouldn’t make sense.
“Consider the birthright citizenship cases. Do we really think that parents should have to challenge that policy one child at a time? Would it make any sense at all, even on a broader scale, for the scope of birthright citizenship to differ in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, simply because those three states fall into three different circuits?” he asked.
“Any time a court invalidates a state or federal law on its face, rather than as applied to the specific plaintiffs, it is necessarily providing relief to non-parties, since the law can no longer be enforced against anyone.”
BofA analyst Michael Ryskin raised the firm’s price target on Waters (WAT) to $375 from $370 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. The firm is updating its price targets for stocks under its coverage in the Life Sciences & Diagnostic Tools, LSTs, sector, the analyst tells investors. The firm notes LSTs remain under pressure as uncertainty persists with the macro environment and U.S. government policies. Recent weeks, however, have seen some signs of improvement as tariff concerns have cools slightly, the firm adds.
Published first on TheFly – the ultimate source for real-time, market-moving breaking financial news. Try Now>>
The refund itself may not arrive until next year for new applicants.
Eligible Fortnite players who felt bamboozled into making unwanted purchases have been given a second chance to request a refund. The Federal Trade Commission has reopened applications to receive refunds from the $245 million settlement that Epic Games reached with the agency until July 9th, after previously closing requests in February.
The agreement was announced in 2022 as part of a broader $520 million FTC settlement over privacy violations and alleged use of design tricks that duped players into accidentally buying in-game items. The first wave of 629,344 refunds was issued in December 2024, with the FTC now announcing that it sent out 969,173 new payments on Wednesday and Thursday, bringing the total amount of refunds to nearly $200 million.
You can apply to receive a refund by visiting www.ftc.gov/fortnite. Specific details about eligibility are also available on the site, but the FTC says you can submit a claim if:
You were charged in-game currency for items you didn’t want between January 2017 and September 2022.
Your child made charges to your credit card without your knowledge between January 2017 and November 2018.
Your account was locked between January 2017 and September 2022 after you complained to your credit card company about wrongful charges.
Applications are limited to Fortnite players in the US who are aged 18 or over, otherwise, the FTC says a parent must apply on your behalf. The FTC says it expects additional payments to be sent out in 2026 “after we have reviewed and validated all claims.”
In a season when offense has often been hard to find — when 20 qualified pitchers have an ERA under 3.00 and 27 relievers with at least 20 innings have an ERA under 2.00 — New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge and Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh have produced history-crunching numbers that would stand out in any era, but especially in 2025.
Judge’s season isn’t unexpected. He hit 62 home runs in 2022 and 58 in 2024, when he became the first player to slug .700 since Barry Bonds, but he is putting up numbers that exceed the lofty totals of those seasons. He’s hitting .364/.464/.724 with 28 home runs and is on pace for 11.9 bWAR — a figure only five position players have achieved or surpassed. And he has done all this despite a six-game slump in mid-June when he went 2-for-22.
Raleigh’s season, on the other hand, is one of the most unexpected MVP-level campaigns in recent memory. The 28-year-old is hitting .275/.380/.651 and leads all of MLB with 69 RBIs and 32 home runs, just the 24th time a player has at least 30 homers through 81 team games. And though he has hit 30 home runs before — he’s just the fourth catcher with at least three 30-homer seasons — he’s already two from his career high … and we’re still in June. It, of course, feels impossible that he’ll continue his current 65-home run pace, but he’s in a position to finish with one of the greatest offensive seasons by a catcher. His 4.3 bWAR puts him on pace for 8.9, which would top Mike Piazza’s 8.7 in 1997 as the highest for a catcher.
With the Yankees and Mariners playing their 81st games Friday — the halfway point of the season — let’s dig into some of the greatest power seasons from past first halves to put into perspective what Judge and Raleigh are doing.
Note: All stats will be through 81 team games rather than the more traditional first-half totals listed on Baseball-Reference, which vary in terms of games played based on when the All-Star Game took place.
Greatest power half-seasons ever
Most home runs through 81 games
Here are the top six sluggers on the list — and the number of home runs they finished with:
Barry Bonds, 2001 Giants: 39 (73)
Mark McGwire, 1998 Cardinals: 37 (70)
Babe Ruth, 1921 Yankees: 35 (59)
Reggie Jackson, 1969 A’s: 34 (47)
Babe Ruth, 1928 Yankees: 33 (54)
Jimmie Foxx, 1932 A’s: 33 (58)
Ruth and Foxx played when the schedule was 154 games, so they didn’t have those eight extra games the others did. A 23-year-old Jackson, in just his second full season in the majors, was on pace to break Roger Maris’ then-record of 61, but he tired down the stretch, hitting just five home runs in August and two in September.
Raleigh is part of a group that includes five others with 32 home runs — Ruth (1930), Maris (1961), Ken Griffey Jr. (1994), Sammy Sosa (1998 and 1999) and Luis Gonzalez (2001). Ruth tailed off and finished with 49 home runs, and the strike interrupted Griffey’s season in August, leaving him with 40 home runs with 50 games to go (a 58-homer pace).
The last player with at least 30 home runs through 81 games: Shohei Ohtani … but in 2021, not 2024. That was the season he had that amazing stretch of 16 home runs in 21 games before the All-Star break, but he tailed off in the second half and finished with 46.
Can Raleigh avoid the fate so many others with high early home run totals have met? As you would expect, that group of players who hit at least 30 home runs in the first half tailed off, averaging 32 home runs in their first 81 games but 19 the rest of the way, for a season average of 51. But four of those 23 seasons came in the 154-game era, three others came in the strike-shortened 1994 season (Griffey, Frank Thomas and Matt Williams) and two came from players who suffered injuries that limited their playing time in the second half (Jose Canseco in 1999 and McGwire in 2000).
None of them were catchers, though.
Best power/average totals through 81 games
Let’s start by looking at a list of the highest OPS figures through 81 games:
Barry Bonds, 2004 Giants: 1.414
Babe Ruth, 1921 Yankees: 1.374
Barry Bonds, 2001 Giants: 1.357
Barry Bonds, 2002 Giants: 1.342
Babe Ruth, 1930 Yankees: 1.338
OK, you get the idea. In terms of raw OPS, Ruth also owns three of the next five spots. He and Bonds dominate all these leaderboards, whether it’s over half a season or a full season. Judge ranks 25th with his 1.202 OPS.
However, Judge is doing this in a lower-scoring era — that’s why his adjusted stats such as wRC+ or OPS+ rank among the best ever. His wRC+ of 221 would rank seventh all time — behind three Bonds seasons, two Ruth seasons and one from Ted Williams, and just ahead of Judge’s 2024 season. His OPS+ of 226 ranks 10th, behind seasons from those same three players, who are widely considered the greatest hitters.
Still, Judge’s combination of power with a high batting average is unique for any era. He is one of just nine players hitting .360 or higher with at least 28 home runs through 81 team games (assuming he remains above .360 after the Yankees play on Friday night):
Babe Ruth, 1921 Yankees: .372, 35 HRs
Jimmie Foxx, 1932 A’s: .383, 33 HRs
Babe Ruth, 1930 Yankees: .374, 32 HRs
Mickey Mantle, 1956 Yankees: .371, 30 HRs
Frank Thomas, 1994 White Sox: .373, 30 HRs
Babe Ruth, 1927 Yankees: .366, 29 HRs
Lou Gehrig, 1927 Yankees: .397, 28 HRs
Tony Perez, 1970 Reds: .363, 28 HRs
Aaron Judge, 2025 Yankees: .364, 28 HRs
These are some of the greatest hitting seasons of all time. Ruth set the record for total bases in 1921. Foxx hit .364 with 58 home runs and 169 RBIs in 1932. Mantle won the Triple Crown in 1956 when he hit .353 with 52 home runs and 130 RBIs. Yes, that’s Ruth and Gehrig from the same season when Ruth blasted 60 home runs and Gehrig hit 47, with Ruth’s total topping every other American League team … You get the gist.
Judge’s average is remarkable given the overall AL average is just .243. When Ruth and Gehrig tore apart the AL in 1927, for example, the league average was .286. The lowest average from this list was Mantle’s 1956 season, when the non-pitcher average was still .264. Looking at Judge’s season from this perspective makes his power/average combo one of the most impressive 81-game first halves we’ve seen, even aside from the era-adjusted analytics.
What it means for Judge and Raleigh
Is this the greatest season from a catcher we’ve seen?
Raleigh has hit 29 of his 32 home runs as a catcher (he has a 1.116 OPS while catching compared with .659 in 17 games as a DH). There are a couple of ways to look at the single-season home run record for catchers. The list for primary catchers — at least 50% of their games behind the plate — looks like this:
Bench added another 40-homer season in 1972 while Piazza had two 40-homer seasons. Perez hit just 33 as a catcher in 2021, with his other 15 coming as a DH. Lopez is the leader for home runs hit while playing the catcher position with 42.
Raleigh has been a low-average power hitter in his first three-plus seasons in the majors — he hit .220 with 34 home runs last year — but now he’s hitting for more power and a higher average. Sifting through his Statcast metrics, there aren’t obvious changes in his approach or swing patterns. Like Bryce Harper, he has always combined an above-average walk rate with a below-average chase rate, although he hasn’t been as extreme in his chase rate as Harper (although he has had higher strikeout rates than Harper).
There have been a few slight improvements across the board from 2024: His chase rate has improved 3 percentage points; his strikeout rate is down 3 percentage points; his fly ball rate is up about 4 percentage points; but his pulled fly ball rate, however, is up over 11 percentage points.
That last one is the big number. That has helped Raleigh to a few more wall scrapers. He is tied with Michael Busch and Paul Goldschmidt with 12 “doubters” — home runs that would be out of just one to seven parks based on distance.
But there’s another reason for Raleigh’s improvement: As a switch-hitter, he has always been much better from the left side, but this season, he’s mashing from the right side, hitting .319 with 11 home runs against left-handers after hitting .183 with 13 home runs against them last season. His “fast swing” percentage (swings of 75-plus mph) from the right side has gone way up, from 39.3% to 48.5%.
Raleigh is also not missing mistakes. Check his results on middle-middle pitches (ones thrown over the center of the plate, both horizontally and vertically) that he puts in play:
2024: .315 average, .795 slugging, 11 HR in 73 AB 2025: .515 average, 1.576 slugging, 11 HR in 33 AB
Can he keep it going? The big question might be how he’ll hold up in the long run. Raleigh has started 78 of Seattle’s first 80 games and pinch hit one other time (he hit a game-tying, two-run single in the ninth inning). He played 153 games last season and has the luxury of some DH games, but this is still a huge workload for a catcher. Last Saturday, he caught all nine innings of a three-hour game in 94-degree heat at Wrigley Field. He was in the lineup Sunday as the DH and back behind the plate the next two nights.
He’s obviously vital to the Mariners — although Seattle’s often maligned lineup is second in the majors in road OPS (but 25th at home). For now, with the Mariners fighting for a wild-card spot after being overtaken by the Houston Astros atop the AL West, manager Dan Wilson has to ride his hot hand; given the Mariners’ unexpected rotation issues, they need all the runs they can get.
Can Judge stay this dominant?
In one sense, we already know the answer to this: No. When Judge was hitting .432 on May 3, his BABIP was .512. Since then, it’s a still-lofty .383, but that is more in line with the .367 mark he had last season, when he finished with a .322 average. He has also avoided prolonged droughts; even when he homered just once in a 20-game stretch in April, he still hit .425. Indeed, it feels about time for Judge to launch into another of his patented home run tears. Yankees manager Aaron Boone, like Wilson with Raleigh, is riding the momentum of his star player: Judge hasn’t missed a game, although Boone has started him 18 times at DH.
As for the MVP race between these two AL sluggers, we’ll leave that for deeper into the season. Both players have a higher WAR figure on FanGraphs — where it looks like a tighter race: 6.1 for Judge, 5.6 for Raleigh — than Baseball-Reference. (FanGraphs incorporates catcher framing into its evaluation, a plus for Raleigh, who won the AL’s Platinum Glove last season as best overall defender.) It would be quite the debate: an all-time great season for a hitter against maybe the greatest power season from a catcher (and a good defensive one at that).
Does Tammy Slaton’s family support her relationship with Andrea Dalton?
Tammy’s family has been supportive of her relationship with Andrea. When Tammy revealed she was in a relationship with a woman on 1,000-lb. Sisters, she admitted she was worried how her family would react.
“I haven’t told my family because my family’s gonna have something to say about it,” Tammy admitted in a confessional. “I think my family probably has more opinions than the world has a–holes because they be farting so much.”
She admitted, “I don’t know how my family’s gonna react when I tell them I’m seeing a woman.”
However, Tammy’s family immediately came around to her new romance. In fact, her older sisters Misty Wentworth and Amanda Halterman were very supportive.
As Misty told Tammy after she broke the news, “It don’t matter to me.”
And Amanda concurred.
“I don’t care as long as she treats you right,” Amanda told her sister. “So for her to pop off and say, ‘Well I know y’all probably don’t agree with me dating a woman,’ I was completely taken aback by it. It really surprised me.”
For more couples who have taken the next step in their relationship, keep reading…
