Arizona Diamondbacks infielder Ildemaro Vargas (undisclosed), who was starting at first base on Thursday in the series finale against the division-rival Los Angeles Dodgers, left the game early after colliding with Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy in the fifth inning during a play at first base, according to Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports. Both players were removed from the game and looked to be in plenty of discomfort on the ground before trainers came out to check on them. Vargas was helped to the dugout and appeared to be holding his leg, although it's unclear exactly what his injury is. He went 0-for-2 at the plate before being replaced at first base by Pavin Smith. The 34-year-old Venezuelan veteran was one of the hottest hitters in baseball early in the 2026 season, but he has come back down to Earth lately, going 5-for-48 (.104) with a double, six RBI, two runs scored, three walks, and five strikeouts in 14 games going into Thursday's series finale at Chase Field. At the very least, Vargas will probably sit out of Friday's series opener against the Washington Nationals, but fantasy managers should consider him day-to-day until we know more.UPDATE: Manager Torey Lovullo said that Vargas is day-to-day with a bruised left thigh and rib cage, according to Jose M. Romero of The Arizona Republic.

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Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio doubled his home run total for the season in Thursday's 12-9 loss to the visiting San Francisco Giants at American Family Field, going 3-for-4 at the plate with two home runs, four RBI, four runs scored, a walk, and a strikeout to raise his season average to .308 and his OPS to .878. It was the 22-year-old's first multi-homer game of the 2026 season and the third of his career. The Venezuelan outfielder got a late start to the year due to a broken hand, and he hasn't shown much power on the year until Thursday night, but otherwise, he has been productive for the Brew Crew in his third year in the big leagues. Chourio came into Thursday's tilt with a .291/.354/.437 slash line, .791 OPS, only two home runs, 12 RBI, five stolen bases, and 15 runs scored across 25 games and 113 plate appearances. His big game on Thursday extended his current hitting streak to six games, and he now has three multi-hit games during that span. It's safe to say that Chourio is heating up now that the calendar has flipped to June.

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Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers, who was serving as the designated hitter in Thursday night's contest at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs, went 2-for-4 at the plate with two home runs and three RBI in a 7-6 loss on the road. Langeliers boosted his season average to .289 and his OPS to .915 in the losing effort, with his second homer of the night being an inside-the-park variety when Chicago center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong lost the ball in the lights. The 28-year-old slugging catcher came into Thursday's tilt on the North side with a .118 average (6-for-51) with two homers, three doubles, three RBI, six runs scored, four walks, and eight strikeouts in his last 13 games, dating back to May 19. Fantasy managers are hoping that Langelier's two-homer showing on Thursday will get him going at the dish again. The two-homer game was Langelier's ninth multi-homer game of his career and already the third of the 2026 season. He remains one of the best sources of power at the catching position in fantasy baseball.

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Chicago Cubs right-hander Edward Cabrera (finger) is now scheduled to come off the 15-day injured list to start in Friday's series opener at Wrigley Field against the visiting San Francisco Giants, according to MLB.com. Cabrera was initially expected to come off the IL to start in Game 2 of the series on Saturday, but they will instead move him up a day and push right-hander Ben Brown back. The 28-year-old Dominican hurler didn't allow more than three runs in a start in his first year in Chicago until May 9, and he'll return from the IL with a 3-2 record, 4.00 ERA (4.45 FIP), and 1.35 WHIP with 47 strikeouts and 20 walks in 54 innings pitched across his first 10 starts in 2026. He wasn't exactly great in May, allowing 15 runs (12 earned) on 23 hits (five homers) while walking eight and striking out 18 in 18 2/3 innings over four starts. Cabrera's velocity is down this year, and he's sporting a career-low 20.7% strikeout rate, making him a shaky fantasy streamer with the Cubbies. He'll face a Giants squad in the middle of the pack in team OPS (.703) this year.

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Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy (head) left Thursday's series finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks early with shortness of breath and to rule out a concussion, the team announced. Muncy collided at first base in the fifth inning with D-backs infielder Ildemaro Vargas, and both players were pulled from the contest. It sounds as though Muncy may have avoided a serious injury, but he will probably be held out of the Freeway Series opener on Friday night back in L.A. against the visiting Los Angeles Angels. Fantasy managers should consider Muncy day-to-day until we hear more on Friday. Before being pulled, Muncy went 1-for-2 at the plate for the Dodgers. The 35-year-old veteran and two-time All-Star came into Thursday's tilt slashing .251/.346/.513 with an .859 OPS, 14 home runs, 22 RBI, and 40 runs scored across his 187 at-bats. Muncy won't ever be a great source of average in fantasy, but he gets on base plenty and will continue to have RBI opportunities in the heart of the Dodgers' stacked lineup as long as he can stay healthy.

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Chicago Cubs infielder Nico Hoerner has not looked like himself at the plate lately. Hoerner is normally one of the most consistent hitters at his position, but has struggled over the last few weeks. Coming into Thursday's game, Hoerner is slashing .212/.293/.250 with zero home runs and three RBI over the last 14 days. It's worth noting that Hoerner has recorded a hit in four straight games coming into Thursday's contest against the Athletics. This is hopefully a sign that Hoerner is beginning to snap out of his cold streak at the plate. Fantasy managers should continue to stick with Hoerner through his struggles, as he could be turning the corner very soon.

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Colorado Rockies relief pitcher Juan Mejia has hit a rough patch lately. Mejia was pitching well in a high-leverage role for the Rockies, but might've pushed himself down on the depth chart lately. Over the last five outings, Mejia has allowed eight earned runs and has only thrown one clean inning. The right-hander currently holds a 5.79 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, and a 31:16 K:BB ratio with three saves in 25 appearances. It has been a struggle for Mejia lately, but a few quality outings could quickly put him back on the closer radar. Fantasy managers should keep an eye on Mejia as a possible saves candidate in the near future.

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New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (rib) has been diagnosed with a stress fracture of his first rib on his right side. The Yankees have announced that Judge is going to be sidelined 4-6 weeks because of this issue. The superstar slugger needs a rest period before the team can do more imaging. Judge will head to the Injured List, which is obviously going to be a huge blow to this lineup. He's going to need time to ramp back up as well, so fantasy managers should expect to be without Judge for an extended period of time. The MVP slugger is irreplaceable, but the assumption is that Max Schuemann, Jose Caballero, and possibly Spencer Jones will get a look in right field while Judge is sidelined. As mentioned, Judge needs a recovery window before more tests can be done, so fantasy managers will need to stay tuned for more updates on his status in the coming weeks.

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Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Jake Bennett could be back on the big league roster soon. According to Ian Browne, Bennett could return to the starting rotation as early as Tuesday. The Red Sox need another starting pitcher after optioning Brayan Bello on Tuesday. The 25-year-old is the No. 6 prospect in the Red Sox farm system. He has already made two starts for the team this season. Bennett has pitched extremely well in the minor leagues and has earned another chance at the big league roster. He'd be worth a look in deep leagues if he does receive the call back to The Show next week.

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Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Brayan Bello is being optioned to Triple-A Worcester, according to Mac Cerullo. Bello has been putting together a miserable season, and it continued on Thursday. The right-hander allowed eight earned runs on seven hits while walking three batters across five innings of work in the loss to the Baltimore Orioles. After that outing, Bello holds a 6.34 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, and a 44:24 K:BB ratio across 12 appearances this season. The organization is hopeful that he can work out these issues in the minor leagues. The team hasn't announced who is coming up in his place, but Jake Bennett is believed to be the favorite to take over the roster spot.

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Los Angeles Angels first baseman Nolan Schanuel (ankle) is scheduled to begin a minor league rehab assignment with Single-A Rancho Cucamonga on Friday. Schanuel is currently working his way back from a left ankle injury that he suffered in late May. If everything goes well, Schanuel should be able to return to the Angels lineup by the weekend. This season, Schanuel is slashing .262/.313/.387 with four home runs, 24 RBI, and 13 walks across 208 plate appearances. He's someone worth considering stashing in deep leagues with his return on the horizon.

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Athletics outfielder Brent Rooker (knee) is out of the starting lineup for Thursday's game at Wrigley Field against the Chicago Cubs because he is dealing with some knee soreness, according to Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. Manager Mark Kotsay said Rooker is day-to-day. "This is more caution just to get him a day to see if we can get ahead of it as opposed to continuing to go in the wrong direction," Kotsay said. Catcher Shea Langeliers is serving as the designated hitter on Thursday and will hit third, with Jonah Heim doing the catching for right-hander J.T. Ginn and batting sixth against Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga. The knee soreness for the 31-year-old Rooker could be the reason why he's still hitting under the Mendoza Line at .196 (32-for-163) as we start June. Rooker has added eight home runs, 26 RBI, 16 runs scored, and two stolen bases with an ugly .277 on-base percentage and .362 slugging percentage through 43 games. Fantasy managers will want to check back on Friday to see if the right-handed slugger is available to play for the series opener in Houston against the division-rival Astros.

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The Athletics are currently using a closer-by-committee approach to the ninth inning, but left-handed reliever Hogan Harris might deserve some more consideration off the waiver wire from fantasy managers in need of saves going forward. The 29-year-old southpaw has been a reliable late-inning option for the A's this year and picked up his third win of 2026 in Wednesday night's 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, throwing a hitless and scoreless inning with no walks and two strikeouts. Justin Sterner ended up with the save in the ballgame, but Harris, Mark Leiter Jr., and Scott Barlow are still the best ninth-inning options for manager Mark Kotsay. Since blowing his first save of the year on April 28 against the Kansas City Royals, Harris has tightened things up with three earned runs allowed, seven walks, 16 strikeouts, four saves, three holds, and a win in 15 appearances for the A's. He has not allowed a run in 12 of his last 13 appearances. Fantasy managers should jump on Harris now, and he's only rostered in 11% of Yahoo leagues.

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Infielder George Lombard Jr. is the team's top overall prospect, per MLB Pipeline, and he could be on track to make a much earlier than expected debut in the big leagues in 2026. Lombard was promoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at the end of April after hitting .312 (24-for-77) with four home runs, 10 RBI, 18 runs scored, and four stolen bases in just 20 games with Double-A Somerset. The 21-year-old is already considered major-league-ready in terms of his glove, so he might not be far off from getting the call to the Bronx. The former 26th overall pick in 2023 out of Gulliver Preparatory School in Florida has played in 31 games at Triple-A and has gone 22-for-114 (.193) with two homers, 12 RBI, 23 runs, and six stolen bases in 149 plate appearances. Lombard has a patient approach and a maturing power profile, but he'll need to make more consistent contact to help fantasy managers down the road in the average department. With the expectation that Lombard has a good shot to make his MLB debut in 2026, fantasy managers in deeper leagues may want to get ahead of their league mates and stash him now. Lombard is rostered in just 4% of Yahoo leagues right now.

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Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged that two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani (finger) is dealing with a "small" blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand, according to Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register. Ohtani was seen picking at his blister during his start on Wednesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, but it's a "non-issue" for his pitching starts going forward, per Roberts. The 31-year-old four-time MVP wasn't really bothered by the blister during his outing in Arizona, as he gave up just two hits in six shutout innings with six strikeouts to earn his sixth win of the year. The Dodgers are giving the Japanese superstar a day of rest on Thursday as a hitter in the series finale in the desert, but it has nothing to do with his blister, and he should be back in action as the designated hitter for L.A. for the start of the Freeway Series on Friday against his former team, the Los Angeles Angels. Ohtani is now hitting over .300 after a slow start at the plate, and the four-time All-Star is firmly in the National League Cy Young race with a 6-2 record, 0.74 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, and 67:18 K:BB in 61 innings over his 10 starts in 2026.

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Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte (back, hamstring) is starting at second base and batting leadoff for Thursday's series finale against the division-rival Los Angeles Dodgers and left-hander Justin Wrobleski, according to MLB.com. The D-backs kept Marte out of the lineup as a precaution for Wednesday's game due to minor back and hamstring injuries, but he's back in action just a day later. The 32-year-old Dominican switch-hitter should be returned to all starting fantasy lineups in traditional leagues against Wrobleski, whom he has never faced in his career. Marte enters Thursday's action with a .259/.315/.456 slash line, .771 OPS, 10 home runs, 36 RBI, and 36 runs scored across 57 games and 251 plate appearances this year. Fantasy managers will be hoping he can turn things around after going just 1-for-18 with a homer, four RBI, two runs, four walks, and three punchouts in his last five games. Marte has hit better against lefties in a smaller sample size, going 19-for-65 (.292) and with three of his 10 homers on the year.

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The Kansas City Royals announced on Thursday that they placed right-hander Stephen Kolek (personal) on the family medical emergency list and selected the contract of infielder Josh Rojas from Triple-A Omaha in a corresponding move. Kolek could be away from the Royals for anywhere from three to seven days while he deals with a personal matter. It's unclear if he'll be back with the team in time to make his next scheduled start on Tuesday at home in a plus matchup against the Texas Rangers. The 29-year-old isn't much of a strikeout artist, leaving his fantasy ceiling rather low, but he has pitched well in 2026 in his first full year with the Royals, going 4-1 with a career-best 3.32 ERA (4.10 FIP) and 0.97 WHIP with 27 strikeouts and only eight walks in 38 innings across his six starts. Kolek had a quality start his last time out in a no-decision against the Cincinnati Reds, spinning seven innings with only two earned runs allowed, two walks, and a season-high eight strikeouts. He allowed six runs (four earned) with one walk and five K's in five innings in a loss on May 29 in his first meeting with the Rangers on the road.

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Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager (back) is expected to return from the 10-day injured list this weekend, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Rangers entered Wednesday ranked 23rd in runs per game and two games below .500, so they desperately need both Seager and outfielder Wyatt Langford (forearm) back in their lineup. The 32-year-old Seager started a minor-league rehab assignment on Tuesday and should be good to go by the weekend, barring a setback. The five-time All-Star and two-time World Series MVP has gotten off to a bad start to the 2026 season, slashing just .179/.286/.353 with a .638 OPS, but he did have seven home runs in 156 at-bats before injuring his back. Seager has had trouble staying healthy at various points in his career, but the Rangers need him to stay on the field the rest of the year to have any chance at getting into the postseason. In fantasy, Seager's buy-low window remains open if you're willing to take on the risk that he cannot overcome his slow start.

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Tampa Bay Rays pitching prospect Brody Hopkins' season-long stats for Triple-A Durham don't look so good on the surface (3.56 ERA, 5.00 FIP, 1.54 WHIP), but progress can be seen in his five May outings, where he pitched to a 1.77 ERA (3.89 FIP) and 1.38 WHIP while opponents hit just .143 against him. The main issue has been the walks, which have persisted even throughout May, as the right-hander carries a Triple-A-worst 20.2 percent walk rate (minimum 30 innings pitched), which has almost canceled out a solid 25.8 percent strikeout rate, giving him a paltry 5.6 K-BB% for the year, while he's also delivered the second-most wild pitches (eight) among Triple-A hurlers. A 35.8 percent whiff rate (88th percentile) shows what kind of swing-and-miss stuff the Rays' top pitching prospect has, and if he can get the command under control, there is plenty of strikeout upside there. The 24-year-old walked just one while striking out nine in his latest appearance, and if he can continue that trend, the Rays might find a role for him on the big league club later this season, and with his stuff, Hopkins could end up being a stash target for fantasy.

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Minnesota Twins outfield prospect Walker Jenkins (shoulder) was gaining momentum for a promotion to the major leagues before suffering a Grade 2 AC joint sprain in early May. The Twins' top-ranked prospect was 9-for-21 (.429) with four doubles, a home run, a 6:4 BB:K, and two steals during a six-game hit streak before hitting the injured list. The oft-injured former first-round draft pick was slashing .256/.396/.389 with a pair of home runs, five steals, and more walks (19) than strikeouts (18) through 25 games before injuring his shoulder. The left-handed slugger is expected to start a rehab assignment next week, per Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll, and should he get rolling again, he will find himself in the mix for a major league debut in the second half of the season. The talented 21-year-old has the skills to be an impactful fantasy player once he gets a shot in the majors, but with a debut likely more than a month away, he's not a must-stash at the moment.

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