MLB Notebook: Munetaka Murakami is breaking records, closer chaos across the league, more

Welcome to a new column I'm doing this season, where I take a bi-weekly look around Major League Baseball to fill you in on the league-wide trends, surging teams, and top individual performances. There will be some highlight clips, some criticisms, and some personal analysis of where I think the game is at and/or going. I hope that, if you've had a busy week or haven't been able to watch as many games as you'd like, this article can be a great way to keep up with what's happening in Major League Baseball.

So, let's stop wasting time and dive right in. ⚾️ Baseball is back on NBC: MLB returns to NBC and Peacock in 2026 ! In addition to becoming the exclusive home of Sunday Night Baseball, NBC Sports will broadcast MLB Sunday Leadoff, “Opening Day” and Labor Day primetime games, the first round of the MLB Draft, the entire Wild Card round of the postseason, and much more.

MLB Injury Report: Andrew Vaughn suffers hamate fracture, Nick Lodolo aims to return next week Jorge Montanez breaks down all of the relevant injury news around the league over the last week. Jorge Montanez , Munetaka Murakami Setting MLB Records During the 2025 MLB season, there was a lot of chatter about which teams were interested in Japanese star Munetaka Murakami. Back in 2022, Murakami had exploded on the international scene when he hit 56 home runs and drove in 134 runs in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) as a 22-year-old.

Even though his 2023 and 2024 seasons were not as prodigious, he still hit 30 home runs in each of those; however, concerns emerged about his contact profile. His strikeout rate exploded to 28% in 2023 and 29. 5% in 2025.