{"id":856632,"date":"2026-08-13T13:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T13:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/856632\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T13:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T13:42:09","slug":"the-opener-bregman-rays-field-of-dreams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/856632\/","title":{"rendered":"The Opener: Bregman, Rays, Field Of Dreams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman<\/a> is reportedly doing well after a scary tumble into the visitors\u2019 dugout on Wednesday against the Royals (video link<\/a> via Foul Territory on X). The veteran initially stayed in the game, but was soon replaced by a pinch hitter. Freeman told reporters he would suit up in the series opener against the Brewers.<\/p>\n

1. Bregman goes deep three times<\/p>\n

The Cubs had been stifled for four innings by Nationals lefty Jackson Kent<\/a> in his big-league debut. The young starter ran into trouble in the fifth inning, with Chicago rallying for four runs. Third baseman Alex Bregman<\/a> capped the scoring with a three-run homer. He was far from done adding to the Cubs\u2019 lead. Bregman once again punctuated a five-run rally in the sixth inning with a two-run blast. He homered for a third time in the eighth inning to finish the scoring for Chicago. It was Bregman\u2019s first three-homer game of his career. He has a massive 1.123 OPS with five home runs and 14 RBI in August.<\/p>\n

2. Rays sweep entire road trip<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay opened August with a series loss against the White Sox. The club then headed out for a cross-country road trip that saw them visit Colorado, Seattle, and Sacramento. The Rays now come home having not lost a game. They swept the Rockies, Mariners, and A\u2019s for a perfect 9-0 road trip. Tampa Bay now has the best record in the league at 74-46, a half-game ahead of the Brewers. The team stretched its lead to six games over the Yankees in the AL East.<\/p>\n

3. Field of Dreams game<\/p>\n

The Phillies and Twins will head to Dyersville, Iowa, to play near the site of the movie Field of Dreams tonight. The tradition began in 2021 with a game between the Yankees and White Sox. Recently retired<\/a> shortstop Tim Anderson<\/a> famously won the inaugural matchup with a walk-off homer into the cornfields. The Cubs and Reds met the following season in Iowa. That was the most recent edition of the game, which ended in a 4-2 win for Chicago. Philadelphia and Minnesota will revive the tradition on Thursday. The game will be aired on Netflix.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Geoff Burke, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman is reportedly doing well after a scary tumble into the visitors\u2019 dugout on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":856633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,462,82],"class_list":["post-856632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=856632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}