Seiya Suzuki and Busch hit consecutive homers off Zac Gallen in the second inning. It was Busch’s fifth homer. The late Justin Turner addition ruined Busch’s chances of opening this season as a full-time player, but he hasn’t been sulking as a platoon guy; he’s hitting .316/.381/.618 in 84 plate appearances. It’s helped lately that the Cubs have faced nine straight right-handers.

The 26-year-old has been lights out at Triple-A for the Astros, pitching to a 2.55 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, and 43 strikeouts in 42 1/3 innings. Gordon doesn’t have tremendous velocity on his fastball, but he has a low release point, which allows his fastball to seemingly rise at the top of the zone. He pairs that with a good sweeper that is primarily effective versus lefties. With Ryan Gustro struggling on Monday, there’s a chance for Gordon to stick in the rotation for a bit if he pitches well on Wednesday.

Pérez threw three scoreless innings for Low-A Jupiter on Sunday and will not start work with the Marlins’ pitching development team to analyze his pitch shapes and movement and start honing his pitch mix. This is a positive step for the 22-year-old. The first rehab outings were mainly about health and rhythm, so Pérez can now start taking more deliberate steps towards getting back onto an MLB mound.

It was a scary scene for the Angels’ 3rd-ranked prospect, but he seems to have avoided major injury. He will undergo further testing before there is any timeline for his return to the mound. After emerging as a top-tier pitching prospect for the Phillies, Klassen was traded to the Angels last year in a deal for Carlos Estévez. He has a 4.97 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, and 36 strikeouts in 29 innings at Double-A this season.

The NFL appears keen on spotlighting Jayden Daniels and the Commanders after their stunning run to the NFC title game last season. Daniels will lead the hyper-efficient Washington offense into Madrid for the last of the seven 2025 international regular season games. It could be an exciting back-and-forth affair between a high-powered Commanders offense — now with Deebo Samuel — and a Miami offense led by Tua Tagovailoa, De’Von Achane, and Tyreek Hill.

They will be the first team to play back-to-back weeks in different countries outside the United States. The Vikings will face off against the Steelers in the first-ever NFL regular season game in Dublin on Stepember 28, then play the Browns in London the following weekend. It could be a tough travel schedule for the Vikings, though the Jaguars have played back-to-back international games in recent years. Those games were in the same country, however. The Vikings-Steelers game could be intriguing if Aaron Rodgers is under center for Pittsburgh after trying and failing to generate interest for his services in Minnesota this offseason.

Pickens, who was traded from the Steelers to the Cowboys last week in exchange for draft pick compensation, won’t function as the primary wideout in Dallas. Pickens’ ability to challenge secondaries deep is something the Cowboys have “sorely missed” in recent seasons, Nguyen said. “In Pittsburgh, opposing defenses often doubled Pickens or shaded a safety to his side,” he said. “With the Cowboys, if defenses choose to put a safety over the top of Pickens, Lamb will have more space to work with in the middle of the field. You would expect teams to continue doubling Lamb, which means Pickens could see a huge uptick in one-on-one coverage.” Pickens, according to Nguyen, will only improve the Dallas passing attack if he gives consistent effort. The moody Pickens became widely known for taking plays off — and sometimes giving little effort for an entire game — during his three years with the Steelers. More single coverage, however, could mean more explosive plays for the new Cowboys WR2. In the Steelers’ run-first scheme last season, Pickens was third in targets of more than 20 yards downfield and second in receiving yards on downfield receptions. Pickens had just one drop on 30 downfield looks in 2024.