Burnin’ Daylight

Rough one for the BD Baseball crew: the A’s, Rockies, and Tigers all take Ls, and we start with the injury that ended Zack Gelof’s 24‑game hit streak after Matt Chapman stepped on his hand in San Francisco as Robbie Ray completely shuts down Oakland. Sonny Gray carves the Rockies at Coors, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and the Yankees come back on the Tigers, and Jake McCarthy quietly runs his hit streak to 12 games. From there, it turns into pure chaos. The Astros and Blue Jays play a wild one in Toronto, with Yainer Díaz, Cam Smith, and Taylor Trammell going back‑to‑back‑to‑back before former Jay Joey Loperfido nukes a three‑run homer in the 11th to win it for Houston. The Phillies and Nationals then deliver one of the craziest innings of the season as Philly scores eight runs in the ninth—Brandon Marsh’s game‑tying shot and Bryson Stott’s three‑run go‑ahead blast headline a 14–9 stunner in D.C. We hit Mariners–Pirates, Royals dropping 12 on the Rays behind a Jack Caglianone two‑homer night, the Marlins’ surge with Sandy Alcantara setting the franchise strikeout record, Cubs–Mets turning into an over festival, and Brandon Sproat’s 10‑K gem for Milwaukee. Then it’s today’s card: Royals–Rays again, Tigers–Yankees on Amazon, Phillies–Nats rematch (and why Matt is hammering the over), Astros–Jays, Dodgers–Twins with Shohei vs Joe Ryan, Braves–Padres, A’s–Giants, and more, with first‑five and full‑game totals sprinkled in. Key games discussed: A’s at Giants – Robbie Ray holds Oakland to two hits as Gelof’s streak ends on an injury. Red Sox at Rockies – Sonny Gray strikes out 11 at Coors; Willie Castro and Ezequiel Tovar go deep in a losing effort. Yankees at Tigers – Jazz Chisholm Jr. homers and the Yanks flip a 2–0 deficit; David Bednar picks up save No. 15. Astros at Blue Jays – Astros win 9–7 in 11 on Joey Loperfido’s three‑run revenge bomb after back‑to‑back‑to‑back Houston homers. Phillies at Nationals – Phillies score eight in the ninth to win 14–9. Cubs at Mets, Brewers at Reds, White Sox at Guardians, Dodgers at Twins, D‑backs at Cardinals, Orioles at Angels, Braves at Padres and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Monday, Daylight Burners. I spent Father’s Day doing exactly what I wanted to do: watching baseball and yelling at my kids, and the baseball gods gave us a stupid amount of chaos to talk about. I kick things off with my A’s splitting a four-gamer with the Angels in West Sac – Friday night was pure insanity. The A’s go up early, the Angels rip off 11 straight, Oakland claws back with bombs from Jacob Wilson and Max Muncy, Jonah Heim ties it with a pinch‑hit two‑run shot down to the last strike, and Big Amish walks it off with a bases‑loaded walk after wearing the golden sombrero all night. Then reality hits: a hangover shutout on Saturday and the bullpen coughing it up Sunday with a late Guzmán three‑run shot and yet another Zach Neto dagger to drop the finale 9–7. From there I roll through the Rockies stealing a legit series from the Pirates – including outdueling Paul Skenes 2–1 at Coors, with Tomoyuki Sugano and Jaden Hill slamming the door and Kyle Freeland hitting 1,000 career strikeouts. I give Freeland a big hat tip as a Denver kid who came all the way up through the Rockies system. We talk about the Tigers absolutely needing a weekend like this and getting it: they sweep the White Sox in Detroit behind Tarik Skubal’s second start back from elbow surgery, back‑to‑back “ding dongs” from Dylan Dingler (17th and 18th of the year), and Matt Vierling walking it off in extras. I’ve been hyping Kaider Montero for a while and he shoves seven innings in that series. Around the league I hit all the big series: Cubs hang 16 on the Blue Jays with Carson Kelly’s grand slam and Ben Brown shoving, then Toronto claws back the next day. Reds roll into the Bronx and actually take a series off the Yankees behind Cam Schlittler’s 13‑K gem and Chase Burns’ eighth straight win, only giving up a solo shot to Ben Rice (his 22nd of the year). Rays edge the Nationals, Marlins quietly sweep the Giants in Miami, and the Brewers avoid a sweep in Atlanta with a William Contreras four‑hit day and Robert Gasser’s first win since May 2024. Rangers take a wild set from the Padres, with Wyatt Langford hitting a moonshot into the third deck and Nathan Eovaldi grinding out a win. Astros beat back Cleveland behind Yordan Alvarez’s 25th homer, and I’m cashing in on him on my Spinball lineup. Royals and Cardinals trade blows on I‑70 with JJ Wetherholt going deep twice in a 12–10 St. Louis win. Twins absolutely bury the Diamondbacks 16–8 with a 10‑run fifth, 20 hits, then come back Sunday to take the series behind Josh Bell’s pinch‑hit RBI and a late rally. Red Sox roll into Seattle, win the series, and force the Mariners to lean on a big Logan Gilbert outing to avoid the sweep. Orioles stroll into Dodger Stadium, beat Yamamoto behind seven scoreless from Trevor Rogers, then beat the brakes off L.A. 12–1 on Father’s Day with bombs from Taylor Ward, Colton Cowser, Pete Alonso and Blaze Alexander. Phillies absolutely destroy the Mets: Kyle Schwarber hits three homers on Saturday, adds another on Sunday, and Bryce Harper hits for the first cycle of his career while Christopher Sánchez and Zack Wheeler shove. I close it out with a lap around the standings: Yankees still leading the AL East but wobbling, Cleveland back on top of the Central, Mariners barely clinging to a game‑and‑a‑half lead over my A’s in a West where everybody’s around .500, Braves still on top of the NL East but feeling the Phillies breathing down their necks, Brewers holding serve in the Central, and the Dodgers doing Dodgers things despite dropping a series to Baltimore. Then I look ahead to tonight’s slate: Garrett Cole vs Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown vs Dylan Cease, a Japanese‑on‑Japanese matchup with Shota Imanaga vs Kodai Senga, a big Brewers–Reds set in Cincy, Dodgers at Twins in what might be an “over” special, Guardians–White Sox for the AL Central lead, and more. A’s are off today before heading into San Francisco for a huge three‑game set with Aaron Civale vs Robbie Ray in Game 1, and I lay out why Oakland needs at least two wins there before they see the Angels again. Hope all you dads had a good Father’s Day. I know I did. Don’t let your butt crack show, and move your ass – we’re Burnin’ Daylight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rough day for the BD Baseball crew. The A’s got shelled, the Rockies lost a close one at Wrigley, and the Tigers bats went cold in Houston — so naturally, we had plenty to work through. In this episode of BD Baseball, we run through the full June 17 MLB slate with a little extra attention on the homer teams. The A’s pitching staff got beat up by the Pirates, Ryan O’Hearn drove in six, and Zack Gelof at least kept his hitting streak alive. The Rockies gave up a seven-run inning to the Cubs, but Sterlin Thompson hit the first two homers of his big league career, Hunter Goodman kept swinging it, and Colorado’s lineup still looks a lot more interesting than the record says. On the Tigers side, it was a frustrating one. Detroit only managed three hits against Houston, Peter Lambert shoved, Kevin McGonigle got one off Josh Hader late, and Gleyber Torres heading back to the IL with an oblique issue is a real kick in the teeth. We also get into Andrew Painter getting lit up again and finally sent down, the Shohei Ohtani pitching/DH rule conversation, umpire challenge drama, the Yankees doing Yankee things without Judge, Kyle Bradish punching out 12, the Mariners going to a six-man rotation, and why the A’s need pitching help if they’re going to keep hanging around the wildcard race. It’s a full slate recap, BD Baseball style: straight talk, no filler, and no pretending bad baseball is good baseball. Topics covered: A’s vs Pirates Rockies vs Cubs Tigers vs Astros Zack Gelof’s hitting streak Sterlin Thompson’s first MLB homers Gleyber Torres injury Andrew Painter sent down Shohei Ohtani rule discussion Yankees vs White Sox Blue Jays bullpen shutout Kyle Bradish career-high strikeouts Mariners rotation talk June 17 MLB recap June 18 MLB look-ahead Don’t let your butt crack, and move your ass. We’re burning daylight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The homer teams had themselves a night… well, two of them did, anyway. The A’s absolutely stomped the Pirates 11–2, led by a full‑on manimal performance from Nick Kurtz: three hits, two nukes, five driven in, and a pretty clear “vote me into the All‑Star Game” message to the league. Old man Jeff McNeil – the Flying Squirrel – finally woke up too, with three hits and four RBI out of the bottom of the lineup, turning things over for Kurtz and making the A’s offense look downright dangerous again. On the mound, J.T. Ginn gave me another honest‑to‑God quality start: six innings, one unearned run, worked through traffic, and looked more and more like the ace of a very shaky A’s staff. Meanwhile Lawrence Butler keeps hitting rockets and the hits are finally falling. It was the opposite vibe for the Rockies. They blew a late lead at Wrigley and got walked off on a walk as Pete Crow‑Armstrong hit for the first cycle of the 2026 season and basically beat Colorado by himself. That’s one of those games where you shut the TV off and stand in a cold shower questioning your life choices. In Detroit, though, they’re partying. Colt Keith went deep three times, drove in six, and the Tigers dropped five homers on the Astros in a 9–3 win. We hit the best performances of the night, Dustin May’s one‑hit shutout, the standings, key transactions, and a full rundown of today’s pitching matchups. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back, Daylight Burners. Jake and I are back on BD Baseball and the season is heating up. The A’s got themselves a day off after climbing back toward .500, which is probably a good thing before the Rockies come to town this weekend. The Rockies, meanwhile, had one of those games where the box score tells you they should’ve been in it, and then you look up and they lost by six. Twelve hits, still got beat 9-3, because Seiya Suzuki hit a grand slam and the Cubs did Cubs stuff. And then there’s the Tigers. Detroit went absolutely stupid on Minnesota — six home runs, 11-0 final, and one of those games where you just start laughing at the box score. We’ll get into the A’s, Rockies, Tigers, the rest of Thursday’s MLB slate, the best arms, the best bats, and whatever rabbit holes Jake and I end up wandering down. BD Baseball. Ball talk, homer bias, and box scores that don’t always make a lick of sense. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jake and I break down a wild day in baseball, starting with the homer teams: the A’s taking two out of three from Milwaukee and the Rockies walking off the Cubs. Then we hit the rest of the MLB chaos: the Giants’ ridiculous comeback, Drew Rasmussen punching out 13, the Yankees sweeping Cleveland, the White Sox taking over the AL Central, the Pirates stunning the Dodgers, Max Scherzer reaching 3,500 strikeouts, and Reid Detmers shoving against Houston. A’s win. Rockies win. Cubs lose. Astros lose. Good baseball day. Headline:A’s Win, Rockies Walk It Off, and MLB Gets Weird Subheadline: The A’s took the series, the Rockies stuck it to the Cubs, the White Sox took the Central, and the Giants pulled off one of the wildest comebacks of the year. Post: The homer teams both got it done, so that’s where Jake and I started. The A’s took two out of three from Milwaukee in Vegas, with Alika Williams hitting his first career homer and Carlos Cortes and Lawrence Butler going deep late to flip the game. The bullpen held it together, the defense looked better, and the A’s keep climbing back toward .500. Then the Rockies walked off the Cubs, which is always worth celebrating. Michael Lorenzen gave Colorado a solid start at Coors, TJ Rumfield got them back in it, and Sterlin Thompson finished it in the ninth. After that, the whole MLB slate turned into chaos: the Giants erased a 9-1 deficit, Drew Rasmussen struck out 13, the Yankees swept Cleveland, the White Sox took over the AL Central, the Pirates stunned the Dodgers, and Reid Detmers shoved as the Angels beat the Astros. Good day for the A’s. Good day for the Rockies. Bad day for the Cubs and Astros. Move your ass. We’re burning daylight. Substack Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Well howdy there, daylight burners. This is the Friggin’ Farm & Ranch Report for Wednesday, June 10. All the numbers are from yesterday’s close, because I’m not a breaking‑news guy – I want time to see what the hell we’ve actually got going on. We start on the board and in the barn. Live and feeder cattle were up – August live at 252.50, October at 248.25, feeders up 2–3 bucks across the board – while lean hogs kept bleeding lower around 97.20. Cash cattle are still stout with the 5‑area live in the mid‑250s and dressed over 404, and the sale barns say light calves are gold: 550‑pounders ringing up in the mid‑400s to high‑400s while 8–9 weights are stuck down in the low‑ to mid‑300s. Weight is discounting, lightness is paying, and the better‑managed, tighter pens are still dragging top dollar. On the grain side, July corn’s around 4.20¾, wheat trying to bounce off multi‑year lows, and beans sagging sideways while everyone stares at South America and U.S. weather. Corn is cheap by recent history, but USDA’s balance sheet still screams ‘ample supplies.’ Then we lay that next to energy: Brent in the mid‑90s and national diesel still north of five bucks – AAA and EIA have diesel just over that 5‑dollar mark even after a little pullback. Feed looks manageable on paper, but every gallon of diesel and every pound of fertilizer is still trying to crawl up your back. Then we move to the war reel. A U.S. Army AH‑64 Apache went down near the Strait of Hormuz, off Oman. Both crew members were pulled out and are reported safe, but Trump says Iran shot it down with a Shahed drone and that the U.S. ‘must respond,’ and CENTCOM already answered with strikes inside Iran. For the first time, we had a drone knock down a helicopter and another drone boat help drag the crew out of the water. This isn’t just war porn – it’s the risk premium baked into every barrel that has to squeeze through that chokepoint, and that’s why your diesel and fertilizer don’t come back to earth as fast as the chart says they should. Back home, we hit the New World screwworm update. USDA APHIS first confirmed a 3‑week‑old calf in Zavala County, then a second calf in Zavala, a calf in La Salle County, and a dog out in the Andrews County oil patch – plus another La Salle calf for five confirmed U.S. cases so far. We talk about the 20‑kilometer infested zones, road checkpoints, paperwork on livestock movements, and sterile‑fly drops along the border – and how all of that looks if you’re in South Texas, New Mexico, or buying cattle out of those areas. The bug is a biology problem; the rules they’ll write on top of it are an economic problem. I wrap it up with why packers are still chasing cattle in a short‑cattle, long‑capacity world, how BLM’s new grazing rule and the death of the Public Lands Rule change (and don’t change) public‑land grazing reality, what EPA’s right‑to‑repair guidance actually does for your ability to work on your own iron, and a quick hit on H5N1 in dairy cattle and what that might mean for cull cows going through dairy‑heavy plants. If you make your living on a horse, in a tractor, or with a wrench in your hand – or you just care what screwworms, packers, public land, and a downed Apache mean for your fuel bill and sale‑barn check – this one’s for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Howdy there, I'm Matt McKinley and we're Burnin' Daylight. Today's Friggin' Farm & Ranch Report for June 9, 2026 covers: 🐛 NEW WORLD SCREWWORM — What's really happening in South and West Texas. What the quarantine zones and border closures mean for cattle and trade. Why DC handed screwworm preparedness to a meat-packing and export power broker instead of a parasite nerd or a working cow-calf rep. 📡 VIRTUAL FENCING & SOFT CONTROL — GPS collars, NRCS money, and conservation maps that might save you some fence posts while they quietly write a surveillance log of everywhere your cows ever walked. 📊 MARKETS: BOARD VS BARN — Cash cattle still out-muscling the futures. Sale barns paying up for the right kind of calves. Grains sliding. Diesel camped out around $5.35 as policy and war premium keep squeezing margins. 📅 ON THIS DAY — D-Day, the Bill of Rights, the Antiquities Act, Orwell's 1984, and the USS Liberty incident. Judge governments by their incentives, not their press releases. Full transcript + sources: https://burnindaylight.substack.com We're Burnin' Daylight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Friday, Daylight Burners. Jake is out today, so I’m rolling solo through a lighter MLB slate that still gave us plenty to talk about. I’ve got to start with the A’s, because that one hurt. JT Ginn gave Oakland six innings, two hits, one run, and eight punchouts. That is exactly the kind of start you want. The offense did its job too. Shea Langeliers hit an inside-the-park homer and another shot, Tyler Soderstrom went deep, Jonah Heim joined in, and the A’s put six runs on Shota Imanaga. That should have been enough. It was not. The bullpen gave up six, the Cubs walked it off 7-6, and Wrigley got to celebrate snapping an eight-game home losing streak. The A’s still took two out of three in Chicago, but that was one they had in their pocket. I also get into Zach Wheeler keeping it rolling for the Phillies, Baltimore roughing up Boston, the Yankees edging Cleveland, the Giants and Brewers putting up a football score, Toronto avoiding the sweep in Atlanta, Kansas City’s offense showing signs of life, Pittsburgh beating Houston, and Ketel Marte walking off the Dodgers in Arizona. Then I look ahead to the weekend series that matter: A’s-Astros, Mariners-Tigers, Pirates-Braves, Guardians-Rangers, Reds-Cardinals, Brewers-Rockies at Coors, and the Battle of L.A. The A’s are still hanging around the AL West and wild card picture. The Cubs still look like June swoon candidates to me. The Braves and Dodgers keep looking like monsters. And the NL Central is still the division I’m watching closest. Now move your ass. We’re burning daylight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Solo Thursday BD Baseball — Jake’s out, I’m running the full slate east‑to‑west, then shutting it down to read about New World screwworm instead of doing the farm and ranch report. We hit every game on the board: Marlins–Nats ruining my over, Tigers absolutely cooking the Rays at the Trop behind Troy Melton’s best start yet and Dillon Dingler’s third homer and ninth RBI of the series, and the White Sox offense dragging the Twins through the mud while Sam Antonacci reaches six times. From there it’s Mets ending Seattle’s eight‑game heater, Braves winning their 12th straight on two‑out bombs, Giants–Brewers playing a 1–0 game decided by a rookie’s first homer, Royals–Reds drama, Yankees–Guardians, and an Astros–Pirates game where Houston explodes late and Josh Hader finally closes one for them. In the homer block, the A’s pull a 10‑inning win at Wrigley on a Nick Kurtz RBI and a Colby Thomas rocket off the bench, Rockies get exposed by the Angels as Vaughn Grissom and friends hang 11, and then we zoom out: Cristopher Sánchez’s scoreless streak ends at 50 2/3 but he sets the all‑time lefty record, and Shohei Ohtani throws six scoreless while reaching base five times in a 7–0 Dodgers win. We close with today’s probables — Wheeler, Rodón, Chris Sale, Seth Lugo, JT Ginn, Robleski and more — plus a quick reminder that if you think Ohtani isn’t MVP, I don’t know what you’re watching. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The board had a full‑blown hissy fit today. Fats dumped, feeders slid, and if you’re glued to the screen you’d think the cattle business just died. Out here in the real world, five‑area cash and the sale barns are still paying up, and the country isn’t buying the panic. I walk through the tape, the BDR Sale Barn Pulse runs, and what that ugly futures‑to‑cash spread really means when you’re hauling cattle instead of clicking buttons. Then we hit grains getting kicked lower on fund selling, a little relief on corn and meal, and why it doesn’t feel like relief when diesel, fertilizer, and 8‑percent money are still chewing on your margins. War Reel is hot—missiles and drones in the Gulf, U.S. strikes back, tankers getting hit, crude jumping—and that all shows up in your fuel and fertilizer bill real quick. Plus screwworm creeping north, Theileria in Nebraska, wolves in Washington, drought squeezing the beef cow herd, and fresh noise out of D.C. on MCOOL, cattle price discovery, and WOTUS. Full write‑up, charts, receipts, and the full transcript live over on Substack:https://burningdaylight.substack.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this Friggin’ Farm & Ranch Report for Monday, June 1, 2026, I walk through a day where the board got its teeth kicked in and the barn didn’t blink. June live cattle closed around 240, down over 11 bucks on the day, while the 5‑area cash trade is still printing in the mid‑250s, leaving roughly a $16 gap between paper and real cattle headed to a real kill plant. We talk placements, 11.6 million head on feed, almost 2 million head over 180 days, packer discounts on heavy carcasses, and what that means for feedlot leverage and your fall outlook. On the grain side, Kansas City hard red winter wheat just took a 23‑cent haircut after USDA’s May WASDE printed a 1.56‑billion‑bushel all‑wheat crop with only 15% of Kansas rated good to excellent – disaster numbers that still have to pencil through your hay and grazing plans. Then we hit diesel at the $5.50 floor, fertilizer up 40–47% since February, Iran threatening both Hormuz and Bab el‑Mandeb, screwworm creeping to within about 30 miles of the border, and the latest on Farm Bill, mCOOL, and base‑acre decisions. For the full charts, sale barn runs, and war reel sources, head to burningdaylight.substack.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices