Yet another Framber Valdez blunder. Plus: Biggest MLB surprises so far.

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When Framber Valdez hit free agency last winter, decision-makers around the league faced a dilemma. On one hand, Valdez was coming off a six-year stretch in which he went 73-44 with a no-hitter, a 3.23 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP, setting an MLB record in 2022 with 25 consecutive quality starts. On the other, there was that cross-up. And if that incident — in which Valdez appeared to intentionally throw a different pitch than catcher Cesar Salazar called, resulting in a 93 mph sinker to the backstop’s chest — was a standalone incident, it might have been easier to believe the official explanation: “I hit him by mistake.” It wasn’t, though. Early in his career, Valdez was more or less defined by his tendency to unravel in tough game situations. After working with sports psychologist Dr. Andy Nuñez, Valdez did truly appear to improve. But the signs of relapse were evident in recent years. When once Valdez would untangle, now there appeared to be some questionable decision-making once frustration mounted. There was the 2024 issue with not following the game plan with then-new catcher Yainer Díaz. Then last year’s public questioning of the Astros’ defensive positioning. Then the fateful cross-up in September. Valdez’s agency was in damage-control mode this winter, releasing a 20-minute video that focused primarily on the pitcher’s upbringing, painting him in a personable light. The league didn’t buy it. A year after Max Fried — Valdez in age and numbers — signed an eight-year, $218 million contract with the Yankees, Valdez got two years and $70.65 million with the Tigers. So there’s the context. Now the event: After giving up back-to-back home runs to fall behind to the Red Sox 10-2, Valdez hit Trevor Story squarely in the back with a fastball. The benches cleared. Valdez was ejected, later calling it “unfair,” while his manager said “it didn’t feel good, being out there (as the benches cleared).” Hitting a batter out of frustration is a wretched look, no matter the circumstance. Only slightly less bad is hitting a batter because you think they’re stealing your signs (which was the theory offered up by former big-leaguer Eric Hosmer). Either way, on a Tigers team with 10 pitchers on the IL (including ace Tarik Skubal), risking a suspension is not the move. More of … the same: I’m willing to give Gerrit Cole a little more slack, since I haven’t seen anything like this from him in the past. But it’s only fair to point out that in Cole’s rehab start for the High-A Hudson Valley Renegades last night, a similar situation unfolded, facing the Winston-Salem Dash (White Sox). After (reigning South Atlantic League player of the week!) Caleb Bonemer hit a home run and a single off Cole in his first two at-bats, his third plate appearance went like this: Ninety-seven mph up and in on the first pitch. It’s not big or clever in High-A, either. Today, we have an excerpt from our weekly MLB mailbag, which kinda worked in reverse: We asked readers what they thought was the biggest surprise of the 2026 season so far. Here’s one that caught my eye, along with some additional insight from Chad Jennings and Andrew Marchand: Surprised about the quality of this year’s “Sunday Night Baseball” matchups. I feel like under ESPN it used to be the two most premier teams playing, and now under NBC it’s more random. — Gabi J. This is a good week for this observation, because this past Sunday’s slate included Dodgers at Cardinals, Orioles at Yankees, Astros at Red Sox and Mets at Angels — popular, recently successful franchises playing in major markets — but the “Sunday Night Baseball” game on Peacock was Rangers at Tigers, a lower-profile matchup of two legitimately interesting teams. This coming Sunday night game again features the Tigers, but on the road against the Royals (honestly, a missed opportunity because the Dodgers and Braves are playing that afternoon). So, is this just random chance? I checked in with my old friend Andrew Marchand, who covers sports media for The Athletic. Here’s what he said: “You have a good eye. When MLB made its new deals with NBC and ESPN, each team’s number of national-window games remained the same, but ESPN still had the rights to some of them. That has made Peacock/NBC’s games not as attractive. They also have structured the Sunday night games so the best ones are when NBC has the national telecast, along with Peacock. At the moment, the NBA still occupies that Sunday window on NBC, if there is a playoff game.” (For the rest of your big surprises, click here.)  Coincidentally, Jennings’ mailbag drops on the same day that our flagship newsletter writer Chris Branch asked me a similar question for The Pulse: What are the two biggest surprises so far — one you think will stick, and one that is just small-sample-size noise? The Phillies, Mets, Astros and Red Sox have been disasters, while the Rays, Cardinals, A’s and Pirates are — to varying degrees — good?! No chance I could limit it to two if we’re talking about win-loss records. So here are the two I gave Chris, fleshed out a little further for our baseball-centric audience here at The Windup: 1. Might last: Chris Sale has won a Cy Young award (2024) and finished in the top 10 on seven other occasions. His 2.14 ERA was, going into last night’s games, the eighth-best among qualified pitchers. Would you like to guess how many combined Cy Young votes — votes, not awards — the other nine have? Hint: It’s the same number of home runs you or I have hit in the big leagues. The reason I think his streak might last? There are a lot of ace-type starters on the injured list right now. I don’t think it will stay exactly like this — a few of the NL guys are going to matriculate up the leaderboard. But of the 10 pitchers to get at least one vote in the AL last year, half (including the top three) are now on the IL. 2. Probably won’t last: Ildemaro Vargas has been such a great story this year, after satellite-orbiting Arizona since his 2017 debut with the Diamondbacks -> Twins -> Cubs -> Pirates -> Diamondbacks -> Nationals -> Diamondbacks -> released by the Diamondbacks -> signed with the Diamondbacks AGAIN. And now he’s hitting .374. which is about 30 points better than anyone else in the league. You don’t usually get a breakout season at age 34 that sticks, not after a nine-year career with a sub-.700 OPS —  but it’s been a lot of fun, and I hope I’m wrong? There’s a four-way tie for second-most walk-off wins this year: The Cardinals, Mariners, Padres and Phillies each have three. The Cubs had that many by April 28. After back-to-back walkoffs on Monday and Tuesday, they’re now up to five this season, after just 35 games. That puts them on pace for 23 such wins this season, which would utterly obliterate the previous record of 18 (set by the 1959 Pittsburgh Pirates). I’ve always been curious about the significance when a team has a larger-than-usual number of walk-off wins. To the optimist, it means a team has a great approach, a slow heartbeat — the ability to perform at its best under pressure. To the pessimist, it means it’s not dominant enough to beat teams more decisively. My opinion? Who cares; they’re fun. And the 24-12 Cubs are having a lot of fun right now. It doesn’t hurt that the last two have come against the Reds, who had been in first place in the NL Central for most of the first month of the season. On that note, let’s talk about the other side of those walk-off wins: walk-off losses. The Reds only have the two (quite a few teams have three, and the Angels have four). But last night’s was extra awful: Closer Emilio Pagan threw just one pitch before collapsing to the ground with a hamstring injury. He was carted off, and will definitely be on the IL for a while. Hey everyone, welcome our new Braves writer Jesús Cano, who joins us with a story on how Raisel Iglesias’ return will impact Atlanta’s bullpen. No longer under New York’s microscope, but not yet to the level of a Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom is quietly making for an interesting Hall of Fame case, says Cody Stavenhagen. One step forward and two steps back in Houston. The good: Peter Lambert delivered a much-needed seven scoreless innings, outdueling Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers for a 2-1 win. The bad: Carlos Correa appears to have sustained a significant left ankle injury, and Tatsuya Imai’s second rehab start was, again, not great. Jim Bowden identifies the starting pitchers who could be traded at this year’s trade deadline on Aug. 3. Most-clicked in our last newsletter: This week’s Power Rankings, which has a brand new duo at the bottom. 📫 Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic’s other newsletters. Spot the pattern. 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