Aaron Judge homered for the third consecutive game, Clarke Schmidt allowed just two hits over six innings, and the New York Yankees cruised to a 6-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night.

The meat of the 2025 MLB regular season is here and the sample sizes aren't all that small anymore. Contenders and pretenders are establishing themselves, and we're closer to the trade deadline than Opening Day.

Fans only see what the Yankees pitcher does when he takes the mound. He gives The Athletic a window into his other four days of work.

The Royals did manage to score before the game ended, as Salvador Perez launched a two-run homer off Mark Leiter Jr. in the ninth after a routine popup fell in the Yankees’ infield. Leiter then gave away another run with a throwing error.

With the mood around the national team a bit edgy, this game had the feel of a no-win situation for Steve Clarke and his players.Of course they had to win, but they needed a few more positives to come out of it than just that.

Yusei Kikuchi took a one-hit shutout into the eighth inning and Jo Adell homered and drove in three runs to help the Los Angeles Angels beat the Athletics 7-4.