Following another successful road trip in the second half, the Los Angeles Dodgers are aiming to regroup within their own stadium on Thursday as they initiate a 10-game homestand against the Colorado Rockies. Having achieved an 11-4 record on the road in the latter half of the season, the Dodgers secured a 2-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday. However, their performance at home has been less impressive, standing at 5-4 since the All-Star break. The Dodgers are welcoming back a reliable member of their pitching rotation, as experienced left-hander Clayton Kershaw (10-4, 2.55 ERA) is scheduled to make his return on Thursday after recovering from a shoulder injury. Kershaw, a 10-time All-Star, last pitched on June 27, when he held the Rockies to just one hit over six scoreless innings in Denver.

Dude is slept on hard. Might be a top 3 prospect for us maybe even higher

In an upcoming game, the Houston Astros (-189) are the favored home team against the Colorado Rockies (+160). The scheduled starting pitchers are Brandon Bielak (3-4) for the Astros and Kyle Freeland (4-8) for the Rockies. In their most recent game, the Astros emerged victorious with a close score of 12-11 against the Rangers. Bryan Abreu claimed the win as the pitcher, delivering a solid performance of one inning without conceding an earned run on one hit. Offensively, Kyle Tucker shone by going 4-for-4 with a double, a home run, and four RBI. On Tuesday, the Rockies suffered a defeat of 14-9 against the Tigers. Randal Grichuk led the Rockies' offensive efforts, contributing a 2-for-4 performance with a home run and an RBI in the loss. On the pitching side, Connor Seabold took the loss, pitching five innings and allowing eight earned runs on seven hits while striking out four batters.

Back in spring training, I ranked the six divisions. After putting the AL East first (correctly), I thought the easiest thing was to put aside the two Central divisions for the last two spots. Again, correctly. It's fun when things pan out like that, huh? I'm always accountable for my bad predictions, so I'll also toot my own horn when nailing it like this. And, boy, are the two Central divisions terrible. Just as a quick illustration on the AL Central, the last-place Red Sox of the AL East would be in first place further west. Since they aren't anywhere near the Central, though, the Twins at 36-36 hold first by 2 1/2 games over the Guardians. The Tigers are trying to tank, but sit five games out. The White Sox are 11 games under .500 and still within striking range. Right now, this is just bad. There isn't really much way to spin it.

With only six weeks remaining until Major League Baseball's August 1 trade deadline, it's time for another prognostication on which teams will be buying and which teams will be selling. But instead of simply offering up a boring "buyer" or "seller" designation for each team, we're taking it old school by asking a Magic 8 Ball whether each team will be a buyer at the trade deadline.

This is not a joke. h/t @TheGhostofMarv https://twitter.com/TheGhostofMarv/status/1221700608622657537

Jenny Cavnar interviews Story, Dahl, Freeland and Bud Black

In what has to be an incredible honor, Kyle Freeland's high school alma mater, Thomas Jefferson in Denver retired his number 21 jersey in a school-wide assembly on Monday afternoon. AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain's Taylor McGregor was there to capture the special moment.