Cruz is expected to miss at least one month, reports Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. It’s a massive loss for the Pirates and fantasy managers, as Cruz was putting together a monster campaign, slashing .264/.350/.472 with 14 homers, 44 RBI and 21 steals in 283 plate appearances over 64 games. He’s still striking out a ton, but has made some serious strides against left-handed pitching, evolving into an upper-echelon fantasy contributor in the process. There isn’t an official timetable from the Pirates, but fantasy managers should anticipate Cruz remaining sidelined until after next month’s All-Star break.

All signs point to Smith hitting the injured list later this week. He’s sitting out his fourth consecutive game on Wednesday night against the Pirates while he continues to deal with neck stiffness. The Dodgers are obviously prioritizing the postseason over everything else, which is why they would rather give their 31-year-old star backstop some additional time off to put the issue to bed rather than take any chances. It’ll be Dalton Rushing handling the bulk of the catching duties in his absence, which is a definite short-term boost to his fantasy appeal.

Scherzer returns to take the ball for Wednesday’s series finale against the Phillies at the Rogers Centre following a six-week absence recovering from a forearm strain. The 41-year-old future Hall of Famer’s durability remains his biggest obstacle to sustained fantasy value at this stage of his career, but he’s been an effective starter, when healthy. A wait-and-see approach seems like the best route given his struggles in five early-season starts, but he’ll offer some streaming appeal if he’s feeling right from a physical standpoint again.

The encouraging development here is that Emerson was able to resume swinging a bat and is optimistic he’ll avoid a trip to the injured list. The 20-year-old top prospect is sitting out his third consecutive game due to back tightness with Cole Young drawing another start at shortstop. Emerson is presumably day-to-day heading into Thursday’s series finale in Baltimore.

Braves manager Walt Weiss said late Tuesday that Acuña was day-to-day and that they didn’t think the injury was as severe as the previous hamstring injury that kept him out for 17 days last month. However, an MRI today must have told a different story. Acuña will miss at least the next 10 days, and potentially longer, since the Braves have a comfortable lead in the NL East and will want to make sure their star player is healthy. Soft tissue injuries tend to recur, and Acuña has also had two knee surgeries, so even though he has 15 steals already this season, there is a chance that the collection of lower-body injuries may keep him from reaching the heights we saw in 2023. Eli White should see regular starts in the outfield while Acuña is sidelined.

Montgomery also had an RBI single in the fourth, but obviously that’s not the headline. The 23-year-old came to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the tenth and the White Sox trailing by one, and he connected on his first MLB roundtripper to give Chicago the walk-off win. Montgomery is one of the best outfield prospects in the sport, and while fantasy managers have to be prepared for ups and downs from the outfielder in his rookie campaign, the talent is obvious. He’s absolutely worthy of roster consideration right now.

Braves manager Walt Weiss told reporters afterwards that Acuña is day-to-day and will undergo an MRI to to determine the severity of the issue, which will determine whether he’ll require a trip to the injured list. The 28-year-old fantasy superstar came up limping following an attempt to beat out a fourth-inning chopper up the third-base line. A definitive update on his status should arrive prior to Wednesday’s showdown in Chicago.

Rutschman sat out his second consecutive contest on Tuesday night. It doesn’t sound like a potential injured list situation at the moment, but the Orioles can’t really afford to take any chances with Samuel Basallo playing through a wrist injury. Sam Huff has handled the catching duties in back-to-back games. There should be some additional clarity on his status heading into the final two games of the clubs’ current series against Seattle.

Caglianone also stole a base, and he also singled and added a walk for good measure. Both homers were tape-measure shots and came off Nathan Eovaldi, and it gives the 23-year-old eight homers and 18 RBI on the campaign. Caglianone has massive offensive upside, and while it hasn’t always been on display, the improvement he’s made in 2026 has been readily apparent.

Freeman collected the 2,500th hit of his career with a run-scoring single to center field, doing so during the Dodgers’ 10-run seventh inning in which 15 batters came to the plate. The 36-year-old first baseman is the majors’ active leader in hits and the first to reach the milestone since Robinson Canó in 2019. He’s in the middle of an extended hot streak at the dish, batting .345 (20-for-58) with four homers and 13 RBI over his last 15 games.