Team Liquid swept Cloud9 in the lower-bracket final on Saturday to advance to the grand final in the LCS Spring playoffs in Los Angeles.

LYON await Team Liquid in Sunday’s best-of-five championship round. LYON had pushed Cloud9 to the lower bracket with a 3-0 win on June 7 in the upper-bracket final.

Team Liquid lost to LYON 3-2 in the upper-bracket semifinals on May 24 to open the playoffs. Liquid fought their way back with lower-bracket victories over Shopify Rebellion (3-0), FlyQuest (3-1) and Cloud9 (3-0).

Eight teams competed in the best-of-three matches in the round-robin regular season, with the top six advancing to the playoffs of the League of Legends event. The double-elimination playoffs are all best-of-five matches in a double-elimination format.

The top two teams will qualify for this summer’s Mid-Season Invitational in Daejeon, South Korea, while the winner also gets a trip to the Esports World Cup in Paris in July.

On Saturday, Team Liquid won 32, 24 and 29 minutes on the three maps.

Lim “Quid” Hyeon-seung led Team Liquid with an 11-2-24 kills-deaths-assists ratio, while fellow South Korean Park “Morgan” Ru-han posted a 10-0-14 K-D-A. Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in, also of South Korea, had a 6-2-28. None of the Cloud9 players had a positive K-D ratio.

–Field Level Media

A tantalizing pitching matchup headlines the series finale between Miami and host Pittsburgh, as right-handers Max Meyer of the Marlins and Paul Skenes of the Pirates will face off on Sunday afternoon.

Both Meyer and Skenes have six wins for their squads, with Meyer sharing top honors on his club with teammate Sandy Alcantara.

It’s good timing for Meyer’s turn in the rotation for the Marlins as they look to start anew after their six-game winning streak was snapped on Saturday.

The 27-year-old Meyer hasn’t lost a game so far in 2026, going 6-0 with a 2.85 ERA through his first 14 starts this season. He is 0-0 against the Pirates in his career, posting a 1.42 ERA over 6 1/3 innings in two starts.

Although the team came away with a 10-6 win over Arizona in his last start on Tuesday, Meyer received a no-decision after throwing 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball against the Diamondbacks.

Marlins manager Clayton McCullough singled out Meyer’s execution of pitches in two-strike counts in that start as a possible point of improvement but admitted after the game, “We’re nitpicking Max’s outings now — getting into the sixth, a couple runs — because he’s just so good.

“He’s pitched that way this year that we just expect him to mow through people, but he can find ways to win games now and get through games in a lot of different ways and make pitches when he needs to.”

The Pirates are looking to end a worrying streak themselves, as they have lost each of the last five starts made by their ace Skenes (6-5, 2.84 ERA), the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner and a two-time All-Star in his third season.

Skenes, 24, didn’t factor into the decision in his most recent game, a 12-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday when he gave up two runs in six innings.

He has a 1-0 record and 2.38 ERA in two previous starts against the Marlins.

The Pittsburgh lineup is having to weather the injury bug as center fielder Oneil Cruz (hand) and rookie shortstop Konnor Griffin (elbow) are both on the injured list. The Pirates are looking for contributions to fill the gap from throughout the order.

In their win over the Marlins on Saturday, Tyler Callihan and Jake Mangum each recorded two-hit games from the No. 7 and 8 spots, sparking the key eighth-inning rally with back-to-back two-out singles.

It hasn’t gone unnoticed by Pirates manager Don Kelly.

“Nobody’s going to replace Oneil Cruz’s power or Konnor Griffin’s speed, but they’ve gone out there and been themselves and stayed within themselves to do that — to go the other way, have good at-bats,” Kelly said.

“When we’ve been good, we’re able to stack those together and score some runs — and that’ll lead to wins.”

The weekend series is up for grabs heading into Sunday’s rubber match.

Miami took Friday’s opener 8-3, spreading six runs between the seventh and eighth innings to break a 2-2 deadlock. Pittsburgh then leveled the series with a 3-2 win on Saturday thanks to a go-ahead RBI when Spencer Horwitz was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the eighth.

–Field Level Media

Perhaps before the final out was recorded in the middle contest of a three-game series between the San Diego Padres and host Baltimore Orioles, there was a little spice added in advance of Sunday afternoon’s finale.

The Padres won 9-3 on Saturday to split the first two games of the series, but there was ninth-inning drama. That came after San Diego reliever Ron Marinaccio hit Gunnar Henderson with a two-out pitch.

Marinaccio was ejected and moments later Padres manager Craig Stammen was tossed as well.

“It would have been fine if they just warned everybody,” Stammen said, “and we’d have been fine, and move on from there.”

Earlier in the game, San Diego shortstop Xavier Bogaerts was hit on the helmet by a pitch from starter Trey Gibson. Bogaerts left the game a couple of innings later.

“I get there why they’re mad — ball hit (Bogaerts) in the head, had to come out of the game,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said.

The Orioles were calm for a reason, Albernaz said, after Henderson was struck in the ninth inning.

“It was done the right way, and that’s why there was no gripes from us,” Albernaz said.

San Diego also lost catcher Freddy Fermin to a strange injury during Saturday’s game. He was hit on what appeared to be the side of his head on a warm-up pitch that went into the dirt prior to the bottom of the sixth inning.

The Padres made a move earlier Saturday by calling up utility player Nick Solak from Triple-A El Paso when infielder Miguel Andujar went on the injured list. Solak provided a sacrifice fly Saturday and he’s bound to be in Sunday’s lineup.

“He’s kind of a lefty crusher, so he will get some opportunities against left-handed pitching and see where he fits on defense on the ballclub,” Stammen said.

Left-hander Trevor Rogers (3-6, 6.15 ERA) will start Sunday’s game for the Orioles. He has had two 5 2/3-inning outings this month, allowing a total of four runs in those games. Sunday will mark the sixth home appearance in Rogers’ last eight games.

This will be the third time that Rogers faces the Padres in his career. He has yet to record a decision against San Diego, while his ERA is 0.87 in 10 1/3 innings.

Right-hander Walker Buehler (3-3, 4.33) is listed as the starter for the Padres. He has gone nearly a month without a victory, though he has been solid in June with two starts registering a total of 10 2/3 innings while allowing two runs.

Buehler is 1-1 with a 2.61 ERA in four career starts covering 20 2/3 innings vs. the Orioles.

Despite the margin Saturday, the Orioles managed to save their bullpen, largely because Albert Suarez ate up the final four innings despite surrendering three solo home runs.

Sunday marks Baltimore’s final contest prior to a nine-game road swing to the West Coast. The Orioles had won three in a row prior to Saturday’s result.

The Padres belted five home runs Saturday, including one from ex-Oriole Manny Machado.

Orioles first baseman Pete Alonso also went deep Saturday, giving him five of his 16 home runs in 11 games this month.

–Field Level Media