Worldwide Sports News

One of the unfortunate side effects that we experience in this current era of prestige TV is that it’s all too easy to forget about a great show after it ends. I’m not talking about the Mad Men and Sopranos types of prestige TV shows, the ones that stick around long enough that they firmly embed themselves in the zeitgeist. I’m talking about the smaller, auteur driven shows that flash across our TV screens for just a short season or two before burning out in a way that would make Neil Young proud. I’m talking about shows like Fleabag,I May Destroy You, and Station Eleven. For a few months they dominate the culture, lapping everything else with their originality and voice. We talk about them at bars and in Slack channels, we read recaps and listen to podcasts with their creators. And then they go away. And a few years later we struggle to remember them at all.

Donald Glover’s Atlanta was one of those shows. I adored it, and I will probably rewatch it someday. But despite how wonderful I found it as it aired, it’s not something I think about with any regularity. I can now barely remember certain plot points or even the names of prominent characters. But, for some reason, one particular and not very eventful scene has stuck in my head. It comes at the end of an early season two episode, when Donald Glover’s Earn has planned a night out at the club only for everything to go wrong. He hasn’t had any fun, he’s barely had anything to drink, and he’s failed to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend as he hoped. And then, just as the night is coming to an end, the universe gives him a chance at redemption: Michal Vick is racing any and all challengers in the parking lot.

… and then the chance at redemption passes him by. Of course it does. It’s Michael Vick.

Tarik Skubal against the 2026 Red Sox is the MLB equivalent of Michael Vick racing drunk strangers in a parking lot. You think you have some momentum coming off a walk-off win? You think putting Andruw Monasterio in the two-hole will shake things up? You think Brayan Bello can put up some zeros a few days after his best start of the year to give the lineup a chance to win the game?

It’s Tarik Skubal.

There are some big league lineups that will give Skubal trouble this year. But the lineup of the 2026 Red Sox — with its glaring dearth of power, balance, and veteran nous — is not one of them. The Sox lost this game as soon as the Tigers’ bus pulled onto Jersey Street. It’s Tarik Skubal.

One Lonely Stud

Jovani Moran: 3 IP, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 H, 3 K

I was going to go with the bullpen as a collective for this. But that would’ve been unfair to Moran, who single-handedly kept his team in the game. Moran hasn’t impressed much in his career so far, but that career has also been marked by injury and bad luck. He could turn himself into an unheralded weapon at the back of the Sox’ roster this year.

Three Duds

Trevor Story: 0-4, 3 K

I’m tempted to warn people that this could be the year that Trevir Story falls of a cliff. But let’s face it: Story’s relationship to cliffs has been Homer Simpson-esque ever since he showed up in Boston.

Brayan Bello: 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 4 K, 1 HR

Bello wasn’t terrible today. But he also wasn’t good. And he’s going to need to figure out how to be good soon, because right now he’s the weak link in the Sox’ rotation and Payton Tolle is punching the route from Worcester to Boston into Google Maps.

Barometric pressure or cold fronts or whatever

I’m tired of watching cold, raw baseball games and I’m calling on OTM weather guru Matt Gross to fix this.

With Freddy Peralta on the mound, the Mets felt pretty good that their long losing streak could come to an end on Saturday afternoon.

And it was looking good at first. Peralta was matching Cubs starter Jameson Taillon pitch for pitch and held Chicago to just one run over the first five innings. However, the game changed in the sixth.

Peralta got the first two batters out before Ian Happ came to the plate. The outfielder had taken Perala deep earlier in the game, so the right-hander was sure to be a bit more careful, but Happ walked on seven pitches. Seiya Suzuki was next, and Peralta got ahead in the count 2-2. However, Suzuki didn't bite on back-to-back sliders low and out of the zone and he walked. 

That spelled the end of Peralta's start.

"I thought I was still competing there," Peralta said of the sixth inning. "Was a very good at-bat from both of them. But I think that I pitched good against Suzuki too. He took a very good at-bat."

Manager Carlos Mendoza brought in Brooks Raley and Cubs skipper Craig Counsell called Carson Kelly to pinch-hit in the spot. Kelly would ambush Raley's first-pitch cutter and deposit a three-run shot into the Wrigley Field crowd. That home run would prove to be the difference in the 4-2 win for the Cubs.

"Tried to move the ball around. Two-out walk to Happ. The Suzuki one, was the one that hurt him," Mendoza said of Peralta's outing. "Ended up costing the game there. He was pretty good, only two walks, and unfortunately, it was the two towards the end there. Overall, I thought he was pretty good, but, again, two outs, two walks ended up costing us." 

"They had a big swing, made a good move putting Kelly in there," Marcus Semien said. "I played with that guy, he can do that. And he did it to us today."

The home run made Peralta the pitcher on record on the losing end. He allowed three runs on three hits and two walks, while striking out three batters across his 5.2 innings pitched. It's the third time in his first five starts this season that Peralta has allowed at least three runs.

Peralta was acquired this offseason to be the ace of the staff, and the stopper of streaks like this. Unfortunately for Peralta and the Mets, his two walks led to their downfall and their 10th straight loss, the franchise's longest losing streak in over 20 years.

The right-hander was asked if he felt extra pressure on Saturday to try and stop the streak, and Peralta disagreed with the notion.

"No, no pressure. I have a commitment to myself and everyone else. Just trying to give my best as always," Peralta said. "I thought I was competing until the last pitch. Sometimes you can’t control some of the stuff that happens in a game."

Mounting pressure or not, the Mets are looking to put together a complete game to finally break the losing streak. The feeling in the locker room, including from Peralta, after Saturday's loss was to flush it and try again tomorrow. 

"We just have to keep preparing. I don’t know how difficult it is [to keep a positive mindset], but we’re professionals," Peralta said. "We have to stay together and win some games."

Game two of four between the Dodgers and Rockies in Denver.

Saturday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Rockies
• Ballpark: Coors Field, Denver
• Time: 5:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

It took a couple extra innings but our A’s came out on top on Saturday afternoon, beating the Chicago White Sox 7-6 to knot up the series and send it to the rubber match tomorrow.

More to come…

The only daytime contest of this four-game series in Denver comes on Sunday afternoon, with Roki Sasaki and the Dodgers taking on Michael Lorenzen at the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field.

Sasaki has struggled with command thus far, with two of his starts lasting four innings and the other a five-inning effort in which he allowed six runs. Five of his 10 walks on the season came last Sunday against the Texas Rangers, after which his seasonal numbers included a 6.23 ERA and 5.31 xERA.

Lorenzen has given up a National League-high 32 hits in his five appearances thus far for Colorado, including four starts. The veteran right-hander has a 8.10 ERA and 6.00 xERA in 16 2/3 innings this season.

Sunday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Rockies
• Ballpark: Coors Field, Denver
• Time: 12:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

DENVER — Shohei Ohtani doesn’t usually stop for autographs when he trots off the field following his on-field pregame workout each day.

But on Saturday, the Dodgers’ two-way star made a sentimental exception.

Shohei Ohtani signs an autograph for a 100-year-old fan, Momoyo Kelly.

(Via: @taroabe0109) pic.twitter.com/iyGUnLtQIj

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) April 18, 2026

Ahead of the second game of this weekend’s series at Coors Field between the Dodgers and Rockies, a 100-year-old survivor of the Nagasaki bombing, Momoyo Kelly, was down on the field during warmups in a wheelchair.

She posed for photos with several players of both teams and chatted for a few minutes with Dodgers manager (and Okinawa, Japan, native) Dave Roberts.

Then, the highlight of the day came as Ohtani returned to the dugout, stopping along the way to sign a ball for her as she stood up and smiled.

The exchange was short, with Ohtani quickly greeting her, scribing his signature onto a ball, then disappearing back into the Dodgers’ clubhouse.

Nonetheless, the moment was “like a dream,” Kelly said later, according to Chunichi Sports.

“He’s the pride of Japan,” she added. “I watch the Dodgers’ games every day.”

Kelly was 19 at the time of the Nagasaki bombing, then eventually moved to the United States after meeting her husband on an American military base in Japan.

She was at Saturday’s game with her daughter and grandchild.

Now, she has a memory that she and her family will never forget.

Ohtani had just finished a pregame throwing session Saturday, in preparation for his next pitching start –– which will likely come during next week’s series in San Francisco against the Giants.

Ohtani entered play Saturday batting .265 with five home runs and 10 RBIs this season; as well as with a 49-game on-base streak dating back to last season.

As a pitcher, he has allowed one earned run over his first three starts with 18 strikeouts.  

Roster moves

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the following roster moves. The D-backs’ 40-man roster is at 39.

• Reinstated from the 10-day injured list: OF Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (recovery from right ACL surgery)
• Designated for assignment: INF Luken Baker

And there we are. Seven months and fifteen days after playing his previous game for the D-backs, and little more than seven months after having surgery for a torn ACL, Lourdes Gurriel has complete his rehab. That’s a solid two months of the expected schedule, which at the time of the surgery was estimated at Lourdes needing 9-10 months before he’d come back. Particularly of interest, he is going straight into the outfield, despite the common belief being that he would start off at designated hitter for a bit. We’ll see how that works out. I’m also a little nervous about his lack of live at-bats. No spring training and nine PAs against Double-A pitching? I’m sure he has got his cage work in, but still…

Meanwhile, Luken Baker makes an early bit to be the low man on the totem-pole, when it comes to the year end roster Sporcle. His five plate appearances will be tough to beat, though I guess there is a chance he makes it through waivers and ends up back in Reno for a bit. It’s interesting this leaves the team with an empty slot on the 40-man roster. I don’t envisage anyone coming off the 60-day IL anytime soon. A.J. Puk is technically eligible, having gone on there in mid-February. But he’s still some way off. It gives the team flexibility though, and with no healthy position players bar the ones on the 26-man roster, that’s definitely useful.

We’re now four times through the rotation. Like we all predicted, Arizona’s rotation is a top-10 staff, with an ERA of 3.42. However, the peripherals there are a bit shaky. The FIP is more than a run above that (4.47), with xERA – which uses exit velocity and other data about balls in play – almost another half-run higher still, at 4.96. The reverse is true for the bullpen, whose FIP (4.09) and xERA (3.94) are both solidly below the actual ERA. Though James McCann and Joe Ross are still dragging that figure down. Ross is the only change to date, and that’s an improvement on last year: by this date, we’d already seen Puk throw his last pitch of the season…

The Cincinnati Reds entered play on Saturday with just 66 runs scored so far this season, the lowest such mark of any team in the game. They also entered play with just 19 doubles (fewest), one triple (five teams have zero), and 86 singles (second fewest), an indicator that they haven’t just struggled to cross the plate, they’ve struggled to hit the ball in the field of play altogether.

Despite their .197 team average (last), they have socked 21 homers – tied for a respectable 12th so far this season. In other words, they have been absolutely dependent upon hitting homers to score their runs in 2026, moreso than any other team out there. So, when they hit the road for Minneapolis this weekend and the temperatures and swirling winds suggested hitting anything over the wall would be near impossible, well, it was hard to muster much hope for this offense’s success given what we’ve seen so far.

It was with that in mind that their rally past the Twins on Saturday looked that much more special.

They trailed 2-0 early as starter Andrew Abbott struggled again with his command, and trailed 4-2 entering the Top of the 7th as Minnesota went to their bullpen. And though they rallied back for the win (thanks to the elite work of Brock Burke, Kyle Nicolas, and Tony Santillan at the back end of the ‘pen when other big names weren’t available), they did not do so with one big 3-run swing.

Instead, they got runners on, over, and in in each of the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings, piecing together singles here, productive outs there, a key sac fly, and even a TJ Friedl sacrifice bunt to move the game’s winning run into scoring position.

It was a series of small-ball miracles, especially given the context of how this offense has operated (or not) through the season’s first 20 games. And, once again, the bullpen managed to slam the door at the end, something they’ve become brilliant with despite being banged up and overworked early on.

There’s a quiet swagger with this club, one perhaps highlighted perfectly at the end of the series with the San Francisco Giants when the Giants barking closer tried to start a ruckus after they won the finale of a series they’d already lost. The Reds, though, weren’t interested in fisticuffs and instead the barking turned into a standoff before a nothingburger. Cincinnati hit the showers, packed their bags, and moved on to the next thing on their docket: a series in Minnesota in poor weather than they knew they were more than capable of winning.

They’ve already won it, now. Next up is a chance for a series sweep on Sunday even though they still haven’t been playing their ‘best’ ball of the year.

Today, I think it’s time for Terry Francona’s first Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game. He’s got this club doing all the right things at the right times even though they still haven’t clicked just yet…and they’re still 13-8 on the season.