Missouri pitcher Carter Rustad (30) throws a pitch against Vanderbilt during the first inning at Hawkins Field in Nashville, Tenn., Thursday, March 28, 2024.
The Guardians put another big right-handed hitter on the Orioles today, getting right-handed reliever Carter Rustad for Johnathan Rodriguez.
Rusted is 24 years old, about to turn 25, and spent his last season on Double-A for the Orioles, putting up a 3.23 ERA and 3.25 FIP with a 9.51/3.91 K/BB/9 in 53 innings.
Erik Longenhagen wrote him up for FanGraphs here, pointing out he is sitting 94-96 with his fastball, with a high graded sinker, a low 80’s slider and a changeup that looks like a split. He swapped to a reliever role last season, so it seems like there is still some developing to do there. Gaining some additional control would go a long way.
Rustad has above average extension as seen in this metric posted by cdlenthusiast on Twitter from TJStats
Follow Thomas Nestico @TJStats on Twitter for more excellent insights.
Rustad is a solid return for a player who had no position and was blocked by several more promising prospects. Now, to see if the Guardians pitching factory can sprinkle some magic dust on him and get him to take a further step toward fewer walks and a spot in a major league pen.
Rodriguez, we barely knew ye. But, I will always remember you as the worst major league outfielder I have ever encountered. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him be a decent DH for a while at some point, however, and I wish him the best.
At times during the first three games of his Mets tenure, Bo Bichette was unrecognizable at home plate.
The former American League batting champion is 1-for-14. The man who had a better average with runners in scoring position than any player in baseball last year went hitless with one sacrifice fly in six tries this weekend. And the player so tough to strike out that the Mets gave him $42 million not to do it for them struck out eight times in three games, swinging through pitches up and the zone and down at his back foot, alike. He did not, in other words, look much like Bo Bichette.
“I’m not familiar with it either,” he admitted, eye black still pulled across his face after the Mets’ 10-inning loss to the Pirates Sunday. “… I think I’ve just gotta be more committed, more committed in the process. I definitely find myself trying to have a moment out there.”
Who knows where 158 more games will lead Bichette, who also spent this weekend working through growing pains at third base. But it could turn out that Bichette’s first “moment” as a Met came late Sunday afternoon, when the soft-spoken 28-year-old was not shy about an opening weekend so bad for him personally that it led to some Citi Field boos.
“If anything, I thought it took too long,” Bichette said. “I get it. I thought my at-bats were terrible, too.”
In some ways, the fix for Bichette is simple. Instead of chasing a moment, he will need to focus on “being in THE moment,” as he phrased it, and stop chasing pitches he might normally let go.
“I think he’s missing good pitches early in counts, and then they’re making him chase, especially at the top of the zone,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He’s going to swing. He’s going to go up there and he’s going to hack. He’s a good hitter.”
In some ways, settling in will be more complicated. His six-week crash course on third base did not yield a finished product. He is handling reaction plays well, making stops and charging rollers with no signs of inexperience. But on plays that gave him time to set, his throws leaked up the first base line on multiple occasions, though only one resulted in an error.
“Front side, arm angle, footwork, there’s a lot there. It’s a completely different throw, and it’s new for him,” Mendoza said before the game. “He’s going to have to continue to get reps, which he has. I’m not worried about it because of the work ethic. It’s not going to be perfect, but he’s in a good place, but he’ll be out there right now working with our infield coaches.”
Mendoza was wrong: Bichette actually came out to work with the infield coaches a few minutes after his press conference ended. When he did, he worked mostly on routine plays at mid-to-deep third, and he debriefed with third base and infield coach Tim Leiper afterward.
“I rushed a little bit [Saturday] on a play, but overall pretty good,” Bichette said. “So I just have to keep working and getting better.”
Bichette has not been the only new Met to struggle at his new position. Jorge Polanco also wrestled with some hops in his first two games at first base. And in the meantime, having works-in-progress at the corners has made the sturdy double-play combination of Francisco Lindor and Marcus Semien look even more foundational to this team’s defensive fate. While Semien has started slowly offensively, the former Gold Glover has been as solid as advertised so far at second, and Lindor has looked like his usual self at shortstop.
“We do talk. Bo is a little more quiet when it comes on the defensive side,” Lindor said after Sunday’s game. “But it’s been great. He made great plays today … he’s excelling. He’s doing his thing. He looks good.”
Lindor said he understands Bichette’s desire to prove himself to his new team and city right away. He, too, was beloved with the only team he had ever known before becoming a Met.
“[I understand] 100 percent,” Lindor said. “He’s one of the best hitters in the game. He’s going to have a lot of big moments for us. This is only normal.”
Normal, Bichette said, might take some work, at the plate and in the field. He said he started imagining his first big moment as a Met the second he signed, but “didn’t anticipate it would affect the way I played.”
Asked if he thought heading to St. Louis and San Francisco would help ease the pressure, Bichette offered a wry smile.
“Maybe,” he said. “But I’ve gotta figure out how to hit here anyway, so…”
Bichette is right, of course. But what stands out is his willingness to say so. Struggling players often insist they took good swings or swung at good pitches, that they were happy with their approach or are so close to a hot streak. But nothing speaks to confidence like candor. Perhaps Bichette is right to stop chasing his Mets moment. Strange as it sounds, he might have just had one.
Mar 29, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Brewers designated hitter Christian Yelich (22) reacts after hitting a three-run home run in the eighth inning against the Chicago White Sox at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images
Brandon Sproat is likely to be a pretty solid big league pitcher. Especially given how the Milwaukee Brewers organization develops arm talent. Today, however, was not that day, even if a late comeback rescued Sproat from a loss in his first start as a Brewer.
The 24-year-old righthander’s Milwaukee debut registered as something we’re used to out of White Sox prospect debuts: loads of anticipation that gets nipped right in the bud. Nerves may have played a role in the back-to-back walks to Chase Meidroth and Munetaka Murakami to start the game, but the sequence of events that followed was straight out of the White Sox playbook. First, Miguel Vargas blooped a single in to center field that probably would have been caught had the usually excellent Blake Perkins charged in off the bat. When that kind of thing happens to South Side pitching, you just know what’s coming next. Colson Montgomery swung the bat 83 mph and the ball went boom.
Similarly, though, lefthander Anthony Kay had some shakiness of his own to work through in his first major league start since 2021, allowing William Contreras to continue his weekend reign of terror with a double down the line before Gary Sánchez tanked one into the left field crowd.
While I was skeptical of whether Kay’s new arsenal would be good enough to play anything close to as well as it did in Japan, it’s hard to blame him for that one. 98 mph about six inches above the zone? That’s virtually impossible to hit unless you’re looking for that exact pitch. Credit to Gary on that one — Kay made a good pitch, and he was just ready for it.
Kay settled down somewhat nicely after that over the subsequent couple innings, utilizing all parts of his arsenal and generating a nice mix of weak contact and whiffs. One can see why the sinker was his meal ticket to success in Japan. Despite poor command, his pitch showed bowling-ball traits, dropping a healthy amount more than the typical sinker coming from his arm slot, and in combination with his four-seamer and sweeper, it’s tough for lefties to square up.
The real building block, though, was the velocity on his four-seamer, which averaged 96 mph and brushed 98 mph on the afternoon, both of which were easily the highest of his career, Spring Training included. All three of the hits he gave up came against the four-seamer, but with an efficient sinker and the low-90s slider, effectively making up the majority of his other pitches to lefties and righties, respectively, it’s going to be very difficult for batters to get the ball in the air when he’s locating everything.
Unfortunately, Kay had less control today, which is why he only made it through 4 2/3 innings before getting the hook. This is not the pitch chart of a guy who had a particularly astute feel for the strike zone.
The clusters of four-seamers at the top of and above the zone is actually pretty solid, but the spread of sinkers and sliders is way too scattered to keep hitters appropriately off-balance, and the four walks on his final line is not want you want to see from your starter. Kay still wound up whiffing five, and encouragingly, four of those five were against righties.
On the offensive side, the Good Guys weren’t even close to done, continuing to make Sproat’s life difficult. This might be a bit of a deep cut, but you may have heard of the newest lefty in the White Sox lineup, a guy named Munetaka Murakami. After Sproat walked Tristan Peters to lead off the second inning, Murakami continued to show that he’s not going to let MLB pitchers get away with too many mistakes, belting his third homer in as many games.
Murakami is now the fourth player ever to homer in the first three games of his major league career, joining Trevor Story, whose 2016 record of four straight games remains standing, as well as Kyle Lewis in 2020 and Cleveland’s Chase DeLauter just this week.
Also joining the homer parade? Everson Pereira, who recovered from a simply brutal first two regular season games in a Sox uniform to bash his first homer as a South Sider, and the third of his big league career.
The analysts I’ve spoken think Pereira’s swing is just a little too long and unorthodox to consistently work at the big league level, but if he learns to purely hunt the pitches his swing can get to, he may yet have a spot on this roster moving forward.
The game was going smoothly, likely just how the Sox would draw it up, until it wasn’t. Jordan Leasure came on to relieve Kay in the 5th inning, working out of the jam left for him but allowing a run to come home in the 6th, courtesy of a pair of knocks from Sal Frelick and Brandon Lockridge.
Grant Taylor was next in line for the South Siders, working for the second straight afternoon and doing so with a bit more effectiveness than his outing yesterday. Milwaukee hitters didn’t have much of a chance as he worked through the top of their order, striking out Brice Turang and Contreras (and touching 102 mph in the process) before a two-on, two-out punch out of Frelick gave him his first hold of 2026.
Once again, the Sox bullpen looked like it was cruising, that is until the wheels started to fall off. Chris Murphy entered the game to work the 7th and only managed to record one out, retiring just one of five hitters and leaving the bases loaded after a Turang single brought the Crew within three.
Bringing back glimpses of Liam Hendriks’ 2021 heroic efforts, Seranthony Domínguez found himself in a similar situation, attempting to work a five-out save. He managed to get the first out before Luis Rengifo brought the Brewers within a run after driving a two-strike base hit up the middle. That brought erstwhile MVP Christian Yelich up to the plate, pinch-hitting with the tying run on third base. I don’t even feel like talking about it. This is what happened:
Plot twist: The score held, and the While Sox ultimately suffered the 9-7 loss. There’s really no way around it — that sucked; and while I’m not going to re-write the majority of this post to reflect the negativity of the outcome, it’s hard to not feel a sense of futile dejá vu.
Nevertheless! The Good Guys have a fresh start and fresh series in Miami tomorrow, with Davis Martin taking the ball for his first outing of the year. Opposing Martin, Chris Paddack will also make his Marlins debut, more than a decade after being drafted by the organization in the 8th round of the 2015 draft. First pitch is at 5:40 p.m. CT, and we will see you there!
In the top of the third inning, the plastic wrapper of a hot dog was blown onto the field and picked up by the batboy for the Texas A&M Aggies. That drew the biggest cheer of the day from the Mizzou contingent at Taylor Stadium on Sunday who watched the Tigers lose 14-3 in the third straight game where the Aggies took it right to the front door that is the Missouri pitching staff and did so early.
Down by eleven after allowing seven in the top of the third, Missouri (17-12, 1-8 SEC) found themselves in a spot that’s been all too familiar the past three games. More specifically, the third straight game where the Tigers have been trailing by at least eight runs before the fourth inning rolls around.
The clock striking midnight before the halfway point hits hasn’t been a theme that’s been so prevalent up to this point in SEC play for Missouri. Tigers coach Kerrick Jackson has emphasized multiple times in the past, the importance of putting up “zeros” as a pitching staff. As exciting and blistering as the Tigers’ comeback against UIC was, after being down 12-1 past three, it can’t be expected to be the norm once top 25 opposition rolls into town.
Last season, it was the Tigers who rolled into College Station and picked up not only the three-game sweep, but their first SEC wins of the season, capped off by a 10-1 victory in the series finale. A&M well and truly pulled the reversal and in dominant fashion at that, also encapsulating its not sometimes how you finish a game, its how you start.
“We just flush it,” Jackson said. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to look at what we didn’t do well — which this weekend was pitching — and understand what that means. Next week, we have to pitch it better than we did. We’ve proven we’re going to play defense. We’ve proven we can score runs. We’ve proven we can pitch it well at times. We just haven’t had enough games where all three phases are clicking. Getting that figured out and getting all three phases clicking at the same time will put us in a great situation.”
Aggies long ball proves damaging
Eight of the Aggies’ runs on Saturday came via the long ball, as two each were hit by Gavin Grahovac and Nico Partida. The wind at Taylor Stadium blowing out on a sunny Sunday afternoon was a recipe for disaster for the Tigers’ pitching staff that struggled mightily in the three-game series. All in all, five home runs, totaling nine in the past two days for the Aggies.
JD Dohrmann, after being a game time decision for the Tigers on the SEC availability report, acted as the opener, pitching one inning of work while giving up no runs and striking out a batter. Dohrmann was one of two pitchers of the day for Mizzou who put up a zero.
“He just ended up not being healthy,” Jackson said when asked why Dohrmann pitched just the opening frame. “We couldn’t run him back out there, his stuff wasn’t good for where he has been. I think he tried to force it up, and we cautioned him to be honest with us. I think he wanted to go out there and do it, but we couldn’t continue to send him out there when he had below‑average stuff.”
Luke Sullivan came in to replace Dohrmann, after starting earlier in the week on Wednesday against Lindenwood. The Aggies offense got to him early. After a pair of walks and outs, Boston Kellner opened the scoring in the top half of the second with a two-run RBI single.
Gavin Grahovac started off his day-that wasn’t over by a longshot-with a two-run 405 foot shot over the deep center field fence, putting the Aggies up 4-0.
If the third inning was an offense, the fourth was a barnyard explosion. Again, a walk started the baserunning traffic for A&M and one batter later, Blake Binderup, who came a triple short of the cycle Sunday, connected on a two-run shot of his own. For Binderup, it marked his fifth tater shot of the season. That marked the end of Sullivan’s line, six earned runs, two strikeouts and four hits in 1.1 innings pitched.
“Luke, he started against Lindenwood, so that’s a Wednesday start,” Jackson said. “This is the first time he’s gone short‑rested, but we needed to use him. Luke throws strikes, but with some of the pitches we need to execute, he’ll leave stuff over the middle and that’s where we get hurt. But he throws three pitches for strikes, and he’s a true freshman. We’re asking him to grow up at the moment, and that can be tough.”
Ian Lohse, who’s typically played the role of closer this season, came in to stop the bleeding. The A&M offense didn’t have those plans. Jorian Wilson welcomed Lohse to the game with a single and Lohse gave the next two batters free passes with a hit by pitch and a walk.
Bases loaded, up stepped the last person the Tigers needed to face, Grahovac. Four pitches into his at bat, Grahovac continued to tee off as if Taylor Stadium was a local driving range, connecting on a back-breaking grand slam. 10-0 Aggies and the only noise was coming from the pocket of maroon red fans behind the visitors dugout.
In the words of Tom Cruise in a Few Good Men, “the hits just kept on coming.” Caden Sorell hit a follow up solo home run, drawing a mound visit from Mateo Serna to Ian Lohse, draping his arm on the left-hander. Lohse struck out the remaining two batters, ending the inning of 7 runs and four hits.
Fast forward to the top of the seventh, Jake Duer’s solo homer increased the A&M lead to eleven, marking the final run of the game in a fitting way, the long ball. 50 runs in the last five games have been given up by Missouri pitching as a whole.
“At the end of the day, you take the five‑game week, and we had to move McDevitt and Kehlenbrink up, so they were short‑rested,” Jackson said. “Now we’ll be able to go into a situation where they’ll have full rest. We only have four games this week and we’re looking for some other guys to step up and fill in for where JD and Javyn (Pimental) are out. That’s ultimately what it comes down to.”
He continued. “I fully expect next week we’ll get better starts from both McDevitt and Kehlenbrink, because both of their starts this weekend were uncharacteristic. You’re talking about guys who had some of the better numbers in our league in conference play and the short rest with long outings last time didn’t go well for them.”
Peer, Durnin, Ward stand out for the Tigers offense
Kam Durnin continued the kind of weekend that’s reaffirming the why behind the anticipation of his arrival to Jackson’s program. The third‑inning solo shot on Sunday capped off a 6‑for‑12 series that included two doubles, continuing his presence as a reliable bat in the lineup, whether he’s in the leadoff spot or sitting third or fourth in the batting order.
Blaize Ward, reached base all three times for the Tigers and his recent resurgence has come in his eight hits in the last nine games for the freshman, who’s continued to establish himself in the past week.
Kaden Peer’s 3-for-4 day at the plate, three singles and a run scored come as less of a surprise, as he’s been a key bat for Missouri dating back to last season, more encouragingly, he’s shown little reason for concern since coming back from injury on Mar. 3.
UP NEXT
This past weekend might have brought the Tigers a lot of difficulty, this upcoming Tuesday presents them the perfect rebound opportunity. Missouri has the chance to earn what A&M got against them and that was revenge, as the Kansas Jayhawks will come into Columbia for a rivalry clash Tuesday evening. In Lawrence, the Tigers lost 10-0 in run rule fashion; they had the chance to split the season series in the Border War matchup.
“We need to pitch it better and give ourselves a chance to be in that game a little more,” Jackson said. “If we do that, we’ll be just fine.”
After hosting Kansas, the Tigers head back on the road in SEC play to take on No. 19 Kentucky, beginning Friday at 5:30 p.m in Lexhington.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - MARCH 26: Josh Naylor #12 of the Seattle Mariners and Bo Naylor #23 of the Cleveland Guardians stand on first base during the sixth inning at T-Mobile Park on March 26, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images) | Getty Images
After a heartbreakingly close loss last night, the Mariners will look to avoid losing their first series of the season today against Cleveland. Emerson Hancock will make his season debut for Seattle. Thanks to Zach Mason, who accidentally wrote this preview for Hancock when he’s actually recapping Castillo’s start against the Yankees tomorrow. All mine now, baybeeee.
Seattle will hand the ball to Emerson Hancock for his first start of the season. This ought to be Bryce Miller’s spot, but he’s still getting stretched out after missing some time in Spring Training with oblique tightness. Hancock lost his spot as the sixth starter last season to Logan Evans and was eventually relegated to the bullpen. But with Evans out for the year with Tommy John surgery, Hancock returns to the rotation. Three things to watch from Hancock tonight:
He was able to gain some velocity on his fastball when he moved to the bullpen, and he kept most of the gain in three-inning outings this spring. Can he hold the added velo over a full start?
He workshopped his sweeper over the winter and turned it into a pitch that was highly effective in Cactus League play. How effective is it against a legit lineup, and does he use it more than the three-or-so pitches per game he’s used in the past?
He’s had to trade velocity for movement on his slider in years past. This spring, he was able to get both at the same time. Was that a fluke, and, if not, how effective is it now?
Some in-case-you-missed-it reading:
Some background info on the Steelheads, as well as quotes from Mark McLemore and Mike Cameron on the significance of wearing the Steelheads jerseys and lifting up this particular part of Negro Leagues history at this moment in time.
Last night’s loss felt designed in a lab to make me, personally, feel as best as I possibly could about a loss, and after sleeping on it, I tried to explain why.
Lineups:
Back to the usual with a righty on the hill for Cleveland.
The Guardians will send out Slade Cecconi, who was the centerpiece in the trade when the cash-strapped Guardians shipped out Josh Naylor to Arizona. Cecconi is a junkballer (complimentary) who will throw a lot of off-speed at the Mariners to try to disguise his less-impressive heater, so the Mariners’ hitters job will be to not chase after his curve and slider and try to get to the fastball.
Injury Updates:
J.P. Crawford (shoulder) remains with the team; Tacoma has an off day tomorrow and then returns home, so it’s likely he’ll head there on a rehab assignment this week while the team faces the Yankees. Carlos Vargas (lat strain) was in the building today, but no news on where he is in his return from injury. Tomorrow will be Justin Hollander’s weekly update, so look for more info then.
Roster move:
Prior to the game, the Guardians announced they have traded OF Johnathan Rodriguez to the Baltimore Orioles for minor league reliever RHP Carter Rustad.
Today’s Game Information:
Game time: 4:20 PT
TV: NBC Peacock. The broadcast crew for Peacock is Jason Benetti, Rick Manning, and will also include our own Ryan Rowland-Smith.
Radio: 710 AM Seattle Sports, with Rick Rizzs and Gary Hill.
Looking Ahead:
The Mariners start a three-game series against the Yankees tomorrow and you know what? Good. Let’s go ahead and get it out of the way early. Monday night is Hello Kitty night with a HK squish pillow promotion (must purchase ticket special to receive promotion)
The San Diego Padres made an announcement before Opening Day that came as a surprise to no one. Yu Darvish was placed on the restricted list and is likely to miss the entire 2026 campaign following offseason right elbow surgery.
Being placed on the restricted list allows Darvish to rehab on his own timetable, while the Padres retain his rights. The star pitcher has voluntarily forfeited his $16 million salary for this season.
Though retirement rumors are swirling, Darvish will not address his future until next offseason.
Athletes have the will, their bodies don’t have a way
It is a harsh reality of professional sports that most athletes are eager to continue to play, but their bodies can no longer compete at an elite level.
The accumulated years on the mound do take a toll on the human body. It leads to degenerative health conditions, such as persistent pain in the hip, back, and elbow joint.
In Darvish’s case, the mental drive to get batters out remains strong for him. Unfortunately, questions arise about the health of his right elbow and whether it can withstand the physical demands of pitching in games.
Darvish’s historic MLB legacy
For his 13-year major league career, Darvish won 115 games with a 3.65 ERA in 297 starts. He was the No. 1 starter for three different organizations: the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs, and Padres. His performance in the role speaks for itself, as the right-hander was a difference-maker in several notable playoff runs for each franchise.
Unfortunately, the five-time All-Star has struggled to stay healthy in the latter stages of his Padres career. Since 2021, Darvish’s seasons have been interrupted with injury list stints for elbow, neck, and back injuries. There is no doubt that Darvish has reached a breaking point with the amount of missed time.
But the Friar Faithful will not forget Darvish surpassing Hideo Nomo to become the all-time MLB strikeout leader among Japanese-born pitchers. And few Friars starting pitchers have been as dominant as he was in Game 2 of the 2024 National League Divisional Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Darvish gave up only one run on three hits in a 10-2 victory.
Darvish holds all the cards
His time in the majors is very uncertain at this moment. However, there is a glimmer of hope that he may come back for one more season in 2027.
Only Darvish can determine if his arm and body will recover from his recent surgery. Players of his ilk try to conquer every step of the rehab process. But they will step away from their playing career if the physical demands become too much to overcome.
Darvish has earned the right to end his playing career on his own terms.
Mar 28, 2026; Seattle, Washington, USA; Cleveland Guardians, from left, second baseman Daniel Schneemann (10), left fielder CJ Kayfus (2), shortstop Brayan Rocchio (4) and centerfielder Steven Kwan (38) celebrate after a game against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images | Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images
The Guardians will try to win their first series of the year tonight. Here is their lineup:
Mar 29, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Brewers designated hitter Christian Yelich (22) reacts after hitting a three-run home run in the eighth inning against the Chicago White Sox at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images
The Brewers fought back from an early deficit to win their third straight game, scoring six runs in the eighth to complete a sweep of the Chicago White Sox.
Starter Brandon Sproat got lit up in his Brewers debut, surrendering a grand slam before getting an out. After walking the first two hitters he faced, Chase Meidroth and Munetaka Murakami, Miguel Vargas lifted a fly ball to centerfield that should’ve been the first out. Blake Perkins ran back instead of forward, letting it drop to load the bases with still nobody out. That brought up Colson Montgomery, who smacked a first-pitch cutter from Sproat over the centerfield fence for the aforementioned grand slam.
Austin Hays grounded out for the first out of the game, but Andrew Benintendi walked on five pitches — the third walk of the inning. At this point, Grant Anderson was warming up in the Brewers’ bullpen, but Sproat was able to bear down — inducing a pop-up from Everson Pereira and striking out Edgar Quero to keep the game from getting out of hand.
Milwaukee was able to claw back almost immediately, halving the deficit in the bottom of the first. William Contreras doubled with one out, then advanced to third on a passed ball by Quero. Luis Rengifo lined out to Meidroth at second base for the second out, but Gary Sánchez — hitting cleanup for Milwaukee today — launched a home run into left field for the Brewers’ first two runs of the day.
Things didn’t get much easier for Sproat after a nightmare start. He walked Tristan Peters on five pitches to start the second inning before giving up a grounder into the hole at shortstop that very well could have been a hit. Luckily, the Brewers’ middle infield is Joey Ortiz and Brice Turang, who turned a beautiful double play to get Sproat two outs closer to a scoreless inning.
Up next for the White Sox was Murakami, who hit a towering fly ball to right field. Sal Frelick trailed back with the ball, but when he jumped up to try and make the catch the ball bounced off of his glove and over the wall for a solo home run. Anderson proceeded to get loose in the Brewers’ bullpen once again. Vargas then singled and stole second, and Montgomery drove him in with another single.
Brewers manager Pat Murphy left Sproat in the game to face Hays, who struck out on three pitches to end the inning, After two innings, the score was Chicago 6, Milwaukee 2. Sproat made it through the third inning, but not before allowing another solo home run, this time to Pereira. His day ended there, having allowed seven runs, six hits, four walks, and three homers while striking out three.
No doubt about it: Sproat’s Brewers debut couldn’t have gone much worse. Still, it’s too soon to worry. Back in 2019, a guy named Corbin Burnes gave up 11 home runs in his first three major league starts. He turned out fine. It’s also worth noting that catcher Jeferson Quero was making his major league debut, and that Sproat — who never pitched in the Brewers’ minor league system — very likely hadn’t worked with him much prior to today’s game.
After Sproat exited, the Brewers’ bullpen shut down the White Sox and the offense started to claw back. Grant Anderson tossed two scoreless innings and Jared Koenig struck out the side in the sixth. Sal Frelick led off the bottom of the sixth with a double, and Brandon Lockridge knocked him in with his second RBI single in as many days.
Neither team scored again until the bottom of the eighth, when Ortiz — who’s had a hit in every game this season — singled off of reliever Chris Murphy to start the inning. Jake Bauers, who’d come in to pinch-hit for Quero, struck out, but Ortiz was able to advance to second on a wild pitch. Brandon Lockridge beat out an infield single, Blake Perkins walked, and just like that the bases were loaded. The next batter, Turang, ripped an opposite-field single — scoring Ortiz and keeping the bases loaded. Contreras popped out for the second out, and Luis Rengifo went down to his final strike against Murphy. However, on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Rengifo snuck a grounder up the middle to score Lockridge and Perkins.
Just like that, the Brewers had the go-ahead run on first with Christian Yelich walking up to the plate to pinch hit for Sánchez. Yelich took a couple balls, fouled off a couple pitches, then hit a towering moonshot down the right field line that stayed just fair — clearing the bases and giving the Brewers a 9-7 lead.
Yelich’s home run came off the bat at 111.1 mph, making it the hardest hit ball by a Brewer so far this year. He may be getting older, but he’s still got it.
Trevor Megill came in for the save in the ninth and immediately gave up a single to Peters, bringing up the top of the lineup for the White Sox. Meidroth and Murakami both went down swinging, and Vargas lifted a deep fly to the warning track in right field that dropped harmlessly into the glove of Sal Frelick — ending the game and completing the season-opening sweep.
Every Brewers starter recorded a hit today except for Jeferson Quero, who walked in one of his two plate appearances. The bullpen, stretched to six innings today, was once again lights-out. After Sproat exited the game, Milwaukee didn’t allow a run. Anderson and Jake Woodford (who picked up the win) each went two scoreless innings, while Koenig and Megill racked up multiple strikeouts.
The Crew will welcome the Tampa Bay Rays to American Family Field tomorrow for a three-game series. Kyle Harrison, set to make his Brewers debut, will face off against right-hander Nick Martinez. First pitch for the series opener is slated for 6:40 p.m.
Seven of the first eight pitches from Mets right-hander Nolan McLean were outside the zone to start Sunday's series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Citi Field.
McLean, who would walk the first two he faced, managed to overcome the lack of command without walking another man as he pitched 5.0 innings of two-run ball on four hits and a hit batter with eight strikeouts in cool and at times blustery conditions.
“We could see it the first couple of batters he was missing arm side, he didn’t have a good feel for his pitches pretty much 'til the fourth inning,” manager CarlosMendoza said after the Mets fell 4-3 in 10 innings.
The right-hander said that the conditions made it so that he felt like his pitches were “moving a little bit more than they normally do,” and he just had to “pick out the right sight line.”
“At the beginning, the first three innings, especially the secondaries, the spin – the sweeper, the curveball – it was just a ball out of the hand,” Mendoza said.
McLean indicated that the bigger challenge than getting the right feel came from throwing into a headwind.
“Throwing into the headwind is sometimes a little tricky, especially when my stuff's moving a little more dramatically than it normally does,” he said. “I was just trying to find where I needed to start my pitches, and it was a little bit later than I wanted to be in that.
“But once I found it, it felt good.”
And finding it when you don’t have it is what every manager wants to see from a guy who entered his first start of the 2026 season with just 48 big-league innings over eight starts under his belt.
"He was able to go out there and compete, continue to battle, and kept us in the game. Found a way. I thought by the time he got to the fourth inning, he was in a much better rhythm,” Mendoza said, adding later that it just goes to show “that on days that he's not at his best, he's still going to find a way to give you a chance to win and that’s what he did today.”
One adjustment McLean made in the final innings was going to his cutter and changeup more – he got Jake Mangum swinging through a low changeup to end a 1-2-3, eight-pitch fourth – and that helped other pitches come along, too.
“Obviously, I didn’t have much feel early in the game of the sinker, but it started to come back to me later in the game,” the 24-year-old said. “Mixing in some four[-seamers] and some two[-seamers]. Was able to get some quick outs late in the game.”
And the changeup is a pitch McLean is looking to use more, and he was “happy with how it felt in the cold weather.”
“I haven’t thrown it in the cold for a while now, so I was really satisfied with how it played today,” he added.
On the 84-pitch afternoon, he threw six varieties of pitches and got 12 whiffs on 32 swings with 20 called strikes, good for a called strike plus whiff percentage of 38.1 percent.
And it was the changeup (six), curveball (six), and cutter (four) that accounted for half of those called strike plus whiff totals on just 27 offerings.
Before you start complaining about Shōta Imanaga serving up another home run at an inopportune time (with two runners on base), consider that you’re not going to win many games when you get only four hits and three of them are solo homers.
Imanaga started out well, striking out the first two Nats he faced. Then two of them singled ahead of Joey Wiemer smacking a three-run homer. Wiemer, you might recall from his time with the Brewers, but he’s been in four other organizations (Reds, Royals, Marlins, Giants) before the Nats claimed him on waivers in January.
Imanaga threw pretty well after that, too, allowing just three more hits and a couple of walks. He got charged with a run after he left the game. All in all, it wasn’t a terrible outing for Shōta, apart from the homer.
Meanwhile, Jake Irvin, who led all of MLB in home runs allowed last year (38; Imanaga was third with 31), stymied the Cubs for three innings. The only baserunner up to the third was Alex Bregman reaching on an error in the first, but he did not get past first base. The Cubs did hit some balls hard in those early innings, including this hot line drive by Nico Hoerner, caught by Irvin [VIDEO].
That ball was hit 102 miles per hour — tip o’ the cap to Irvin for that catch.
So now it’s 3-2 and the Cubs did get the tying run on base later in that inning when Nico singled with one out. As Carson Kelly struck out for the second out, Hoerner stole second and moved to third on an error, but he was stranded.
The bullpen did all right, though Phil Maton allowed a run to score in the sixth, charged to Imanaga. That made it 4-2, where it stayed until the eighth, when Keibert Ruiz hit a two-run homer off Hoby Milner to make it 6-2.
That was the end of the Cubs offense, unfortunately. As I said — four hits with three of them being solo homers isn’t going to win you too many games. The Cubs did prevent a seventh run from scoring off Daniel Palencia, making his 2026 debut, in the ninth. Palencia had allowed a one-out single, then struck out Brady House.
Overall, I don’t have too many complaints about Imanaga’s game. Yes, he gave up another home run, but he did strike out seven. Here’s more on Shōta’s outing [VIDEO].
So the Cubs begin the season 1-2, losing this series to the Nationals, not the way we’d like to have had 2026 begin. But there are plenty of games remaining and I’m not concerned. I was glad to see Bregman break out and have a two-homer game. I’m thinking there will be more of those to come this year.
A note from BCB’s JohnW53 on this game:
Last season, the Cubs gave up 23 triples, nine of them with nobody out, including six with nobody on base, as happened in the fourth inning today. All six of those runners scored, unlike the runner today. Four of the six did so immediately, two on wild pitches and one each on a double and groundout. The remaining two scored on a one-out groundout and one-out sacrifice fly. The fly turned into a double play.
Also from John, regarding the three solo homers:
Today’s game was the 32nd among the 19,506 that the Cubs have played since 1901 in which they scored three runs, on three homers. The have won nine of them. They finished only one previous game with three homers plus one other hit: a 6-3, 10-inning loss at Brooklyn on July 19, 1957. The hit was a single. They made three homers among five hits in four games: wins at home vs. the Giants in 1910 and at St. Louis in 1979, and losses at home vs. the Rockies in 2004 and Tigers in 2006.
The Los Angeles Angels will visit Wrigley Field for a three-game series (weather permitting, and it might not on Tuesday) beginning Monday evening. In the series opener, Edward Cabrera will make his Cubs debut. He’ll face Angels right-hander Ryan Johnson. Game time Monday is 6:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.
PHILADELPHIA, PA - MARCH 29: Texas Rangers shortstop Ezequiel Duran #20 celebrates during the game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Texas Rangers on March 29th, 2026 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, PA. (Photo by Terence Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Rangers 8, Phillies 3
Way to go, Rangers!
Texas took 2 of 3 in Philadelphia. This is important for a few reasons.
First, 2026 is the first time the Rangers and Phillies have faced off in the regular season and one team has not swept the other since 2014.
Um, wait, 2014 is bad. Hmmmm…
It is the first time the Rangers have won a series in Philadelphia since 2022.
Okay, 2022 was also bad.
Prior to yesterday, the Rangers had only won three games ever in Philadelphia — a two game sweep in 2022, and one game in 2011.
Hey, 2011 was good!
But also, 2011 was kind of bad.
But more good.
Okay, let’s move on.
MacKenzie Gore was as advertised. He looked great at times, and missed bats, striking out seven and generating 15 whiffs on 90 pitches. He also got wild at times, walking three batters and hitting Alec Bohm with the bases loaded in his final pitch of the game.
Gore gave up one well struck ball, a Kyle Schwarber line drive in the first that was snagged. Every other ball in play was either weakly hit or hit at an angle that made it not threatening.
The Phillies didn’t get their first hit until the sixth inning, after being no hit by Jacob Latz for 4-plus innings the day before. That has to have Phillies fans feeling great.
The Phillies got two hits off of Gore in the sixth, one a swinging bunt by Justin Crawford that there was no play on, and one a flare to center by Schwarber after Trea Turner had walked. That loaded the bases for Bryce Harper, who Gore struck out swinging, and you were thinking hey, maybe Gore can get out of this, give the Rangers six full innings.
He then hit Bohm with an 0-1 fastball that, as indicated above, brought his day to a close.
Cole Winn, asked to come in after a sterling effort by a lefty starter for the second day in a row, gave up a smoked sac fly off the bat of Adolis Garcia on the ninth pitch of the at bat before retiring Bryson Stott on a 1-0 comebacker to end the inning.
After Texas regained those two runs in the top of the seventh to make it an 8-2 game, Rule 5 pick Carter Baumler was asked to get some outs. Baumler was the only reliever not to pitch on Saturday (unless you count Kumar Rocker, who was available in the pen as a long man), and thus was the one rested guy Skip Schumaker could turn to. Baumler walked the first two batters he faced before striking out Crawford and getting Trea Turner to hit into a GIDP.
Baumler issued two more walks in the eighth, sandwiched between a Kyle Schwarber fly out and an Adolis Garcia swinging K. A line drive run scoring Bryson Stott single then ended Baumler’s day, with Schumaker turning to Chris Martin to get out of the inning. Martin allowed a 2-0 line drive off the bat off J.T. Realmuto, but it was caught for the third out, easing Rangers’ fans troubled minds.
Every Ranger fan’s favorite reliever Robert Garcia pitched the ninth. After striking out Brandon Marsh he issued a five pitch walk, but ended things by going up 0-2 on Trea Turner before inducing him to hit into another GIDP, this time of the game-winning variety.
I will note that there has to be some concern in regards to Carter Baumler. The stuff is legit. The command, through his first two major league games, has not been. Only 22 of the 43 pitches he threw on Sunday were strikes, and he struggled badly to locate his breaking ball. He has faced 15 batters so far in the majors, and has walked five of them while hitting another. He’s going to have to show much better command if the Rangers are going to be able to keep him on the roster all season.
On the offensive side, things went well. Sam Haggerty, getting the start in place of Evan Carter against the lefty, singled with one out in the third, meaning that when Brandon Nimmo homered two batters later, it was a two run bomb instead of a solo shot. Just an inning later, a Corey Seager walk and a Jake Burger single preceded an Andrew McCutchen home run right down the line in left field, giving the Rangers a 5-0 lead and resulting in booing from the Philly fans.
McCutchen scored the next run as well, smoking a two out double and then coming in to score on Kyle Higashioka’s single. The final two runs in the seventh were from an Evan Carter leadoff walk followed by an Ezequiel Duran double. After a Brandon Nimmo HBP and a Wyatt Langford fielder’s choice, Seager brought Duran home with a sac fly that Nimmo made scarier than it needed to be by advancing to second and just barely beating the throw.
Carter and Nimmo tried to get some more of that action going in the ninth, with Carter working a seven pitch walk off of lefty Kyle Backhus and Nimmo picking up a one out single, but Langford and Seager decided to save some runs for Camden Yards instead.
MacKenzie Gore’s fastball maxed out at 97.3 mph. Cole Winn’s fastest pitch was a 94.6 mph fastball. The fastest pitches for both Gore and Winn were against Adolis Garcia, which is interesting. Or maybe not. Carter Baumler topped out at 96.2 mph. The fastest of Chris Martin’s three pitches was his 94.4 mph fastball. Robert Garcia reached 94.5 mph with his fastball.
Corey Seager had a 106.7 mph line out. Andrew McCutchen’s homer was 105.7 mph. Josh Jung had a 104.0 mph ground out. Brandon Nimmo’s homer was 103.7 mph. Wyatt Langford had a 100.8 mph fielder’s choice.
Now to Baltimore, where Texas will be hoping Jack Leiter can give them a lot of innings on Monday.
Mar 29, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor (12) is tagged out by Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Henry Davis (32) while trying to score on a double by left fielder Juan Soto (not pictured) during the tenth inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images | Brad Penner-Imagn Images
The Mets and Pirates went to extra innings in a low-scoring affair for the second day in a row, but this time there were no walk-off fireworks by the home team, as the Mets fell to Pittsburgh 4-3 in ten innings.
Things got off to a nervy start immediately for Nolan McLean, who had trouble finding the strike zone in the first, walking the first two batters he faced. He bounced back to strike out the next batter, but then Ryan O’Hearn blooped a single to left to put the Pirates on the board. Carmen Mlodzinski got off to a strong start by contrast, striking out the side in the bottom of the first.
But after McLean rebounded with a quick 1-2-3 second, the Mets tied up the game in the bottom of the frame. Luis Robert, striding to the plate to a robust ovation from the Citi Field crowd after last night’s heroics, hit a one-out single past the third baseman Nick Gonzales; the ball was hit sharply right at Gonzales, but he failed to come up with it and it sparked a rally for the Mets. Brett Baty followed with a single up the middle, advancing Robert to third. Marcus Semien then tied the game at one run apiece with a sacrifice fly. The Mets threatened for more, as Jared Triolo bobbled a Carson Benge grounder, allowing him to reach base safely, but Luis Torrens struck out looking to end the threat.
The Pirates immediately jumped back ahead in the third on a solo home run by who else but Brandon Lowe, who has killed the Mets all series long. It was the first home run McLean has allowed to a lefty in the major leagues. Mlodzinski responded to being given a lead to work with by striking out the side again in the third, setting his career-high for strikeouts. McLean countered with a 1-2-3 inning of his own in the top of the fourth. The Mets threatened in the bottom of the fourth thanks to back-to-back one-out singles by Robert and Baty again, but they did not score. The Pirates had a chance to extend their lead in the top of the fifth with a one-out bloop just over Bichette’s head that rolled into foul territory by Lowe that he stretched all the way into a double with some heads up base running. McLean managed to strike out Bryan Reynolds looking for the second out, thanks to some generous calls by the home plate umpire that Reynolds inexplicably chose not to challenge. McLean struck out Ryan O’Hearn as well to end the inning and hold the Pirates to two runs, ending his afternoon after five innings of work, over which he struck out eight Pirates and walked two.
The Mets got McLean off the hook by tying the game in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Francisco Lindor hit a rocket off the wall in right-center that was not far away from leaving the yard and slid into third base safely with a triple. Juan Soto drove him in with an RBI single to tie the game. That ended Carmen Mlodzinski’s day and former Met Yohan Ramírez retired Bo Bichette—who has looked rough at the plate in the early going and looked particularly bad in this game—and Jorge Polanco to stymie the rally.
Huascar Brazobán needed just five pitches to retire the Pirates in order in the sixth and then recorded the first two outs of the seventh as well before making way for Sean Manaea, whose reduced velocity seems to have not yet rebounded. Manaea looked shaky, but ultimately got the job done. He allowed a two-out single to Oneil Cruz and made a throwing error on a pickoff attempt that allowed the go-ahead run to get into scoring position. But Marcus Semien made a nice play on a sharp grounder to second off the bat of Lowe to help Manaea escape the jam. The Mets rallied but failed to score again in the bottom of the seventh, this time against Mason Montgomery. Montgomery proved to be a tough left-on-left matchup for Carson Benge, who struck out to lead off the inning. But Luis Torrens then hit a slow roller down the third base line that stayed fair for an infield single. Lindor then singled and a wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third, but Montgomery struck out Soto and Bichette back-to-back to wriggle his way out of the jam. After striking out the first two batters he faced in the eighth, Manaea walked two consecutive batters, but Nick Gonzales grounded out to end the inning, as both teams maintained their low success rate in the game with runners in scoring position.
Isaac Mattson contributed a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth for Pittsburgh and Luke Weaver worked around a pair of walks to pitch a scoreless ninth for the Mets. Don Kelly turned to his closer Dennis Santana for the third time in as many games and Santana pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to send the game into extras for the second straight day. And for the second straight day the Mets sent Dicky Lovelady to the mound in a tie game in extra innings. It worked yesterday, but it did not work today and Lovelady ended up being the losing pitcher after having been the winning pitcher in yesterday’s thrilling victory. Ryan O’Hearn, the batter Lovelady was likely in there to match up against, singled to lead off the tenth and score the ghost runner. But Lovelady bounced back to induce a double play grounder from Jared Triolo and it seemed—just like yesterday—like Lovelady might just manage to escape the inning having yielded just the one unearned run. Unfortunately, Lovelady walked the next two batters and then Henry Davis laced an RBI single to give the Pirates a 4-2 lead.
That extra run is what would make the difference. The Mets had the top of the order up against José Urquidy in the bottom of the tenth and Francisco Lindor got things off to an encouraging start by drawing a seven-pitch walk. Juan Soto then muscled a double deep into the gap in left-center to plate the Mets’ third run, but Lindor was tagged out at home as the tying run, letting all the air out of what was perhaps building to another come-from-behind victory in extras. Bichette then grounded out to short for the second out and Soto advanced to third base. There was one last spark of hope when Jorge Polanco gave the first pitch he saw from Urquidy a ride to deep right field and for the briefest of moments, it seemed like the Mets may have just done it again, but Billy Cook (in the game as a pinch runner and defensive replacement) secured the ball right up against the right field wall to end the game.
Big Mets winner: Francisco Lindor, +34.5% WPA Big Mets loser: Dicky Lovelady, -41.5% WPA Mets pitchers: -1.2% WPA Mets hitters: -48.8% WPA Teh aw3s0mest play: Francisco Lindor’s leadoff walk in the bottom of the tenth, +23.0% WPA Teh sux0rest play: Ryan O’Hearn’s go-ahead RBI single in the top of the tenth off Dicky Lovelady, -36.7% WPA
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - MARCH 27: A general view of Truist Park prior to the home opener between the Atlanta Braves and the Kansas City Royals on March 27, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The season is finally underway and it’s always fun to talk about a winning series to get things going, right? It certainly beats the stuffing out of the way last season started, right? Anyways, it was truly exciting to be in the building for Opening Night on Friday and it was even more encouraging to see this team pick up a strong series win right out of the gate against a Royals team that does have some real aspirations of making the Postseason heading into this season.
So how did everything go down? It’s time to dive into the first series recap of the season, so join me on this quick journey!
This was about as good of a start to the season as you could ask for as the Braves delivered a complete team victory to get their season off to a winning start. Chris Sale pitched six scoreless innings in this one and even if he wasn’t at his dominant best in this one, it also helped considerably to have some lights-out defense being played behind him. Dylan Lee, Robert Suarez and Tyler Kinley each entered following Sale’s exit and they each clamped down on the Royals in order to make this a shutout win for Atlanta.
Ozzie Albies became the first Braves player to hit a home run during the regular season for the third season in a row and this time, his solo shot that he pulled just barely fair around the left-field foul pole got the Braves out ahead early in the first inning. Ozzie’s dinger was the first of three on the night for the Braves, as Drake Baldwin added a solo shot of his own in the third inning and then Michael Harris II doubled the lead with a two-run shot that made it 4-0 Braves.
Mauricio Dubón then made sure that his debut with the Braves was a successful one as he delivered a two-RBI double in the eighth inning to make it 6-0 and officially put the Braves into cruising territory. As I mentioned earlier, Atlanta was truly firing on all cylinders in this one — the bats were potent, the pitching was reliable, the defense was on point and the base running was effective and aggressive. A truly ideal game of baseball was played by this ball club on Friday night.
This was less ideal but it was certainly more dramatic. The Braves were unable to crack the code that Michael Wacha was offering them in this one, as Wacha ended up going for six scoreless innings while striking out seven Atlanta batters. The good news was that Reynaldo López was going pitch-for-pitch with him and it also turned out that the mechanical issues that plagued López during his final start of spring training appeared to have been fixed and he looked more like his normal self in this outing. López also pitched six strong innings as this one turned into a pitchers’ duel.
Unfortunately, López ended up getting the short end of the stick when it came to the duel, as he ended up giving up a homer to Salvador Perez in the seventh inning in order to break the deadlock. That was the last batter that López faced and things didn’t get a lot better for the Braves in the next inning as Joel Payamps ended up conceding a run to make it 2-0 Royals at that late point in the contest. The game went into the bottom of the ninth inning with that same 2-0 score and that’s when we got our first sign of high leverage magic from the Braves this season.
Before Royals closer Carlos Estévez threw his first pitch, FOX ran two graphics: One that stated that Estévez led all of MLB in saves last season and another that stated that the Royals were 73-0 in 2025 in games where they led after eight innings. I had a strange feeling that the commentator’s curse (Well, the Chyron graphics’ curse) was on and sure enough, Estévez walked Baldwin to lead off the ninth. Matt Olson put runners on the corners with his single and then Mike Yastrzemski marked his Braves debut with an one-out RBI single that cut the deficit to just one. Michael Harris II made it a tie game after he smacked one off of Estévez’s foot. The save was officially blown and now it was time for some magic.
Dominic Smith was also making his Braves debut in this game and with plenty of inspiration guiding him, he took advantage of a full count pitch that crossed the plate right in his sweet spot. Smith sent the ball flying into the Chop House for a walk-off grand slam that sent Truist Park into a complete and total delirium.
With the series in hand, Grant Holmes got the ball to start this one hoping to make it three great starts in a row for the already injury-beleaguered Braves rotation. While Holmes wasn’t horrible, this was definitely the weakest start of the three Opening Series starts for the Braves, as the Royals tacked on one run in the third, fourth, and fifth innings in order to have a somewhat comfortable cushion heading into the later portion of the game.
It didn’t help matters that the Braves had some really bad luck in this one as far as xBA is concerned. Atlanta had the five hardest-hit balls of this contest and four of the five longest-hit balls in this game as well. They also finished with an xBA of .314 to KC’s .196 in this game as well. Usually that results in a win but instead, those long, hard-hit fly balls from the Braves ended up finding gloves instead of the seats while the Royals were able to dink-and-dunk their way into a comfortable lead.
Seth Lugo ended up tossing 6.1 shutout innings in this one and then the Kansas City bullpen came in and did an effective job. An eighth-inning Drake Baldwin home run off of John Schreiber made sure that the Braves didn’t end up getting shut out on a day when they were hitting the ball really well but that was all of the substantial offense that Atlanta ended up getting in this one. Lucas Erceg got a double play ball to wipe out a one-out single from Yaz that could’ve been the start of another magical ninth inning for the Braves. Instead, the dream of 162-0 died in the third game of the season for Atlanta.
It also has to be noted that Didier Fuentes made his 2026 debut during this game. While he did end up conceding a run, he pitched the final four innings of this one and he looked a whole lot more confident in this outing than he did in his initial big league stint, so there’s that.
While you always want to be greedy and pick up a sweep, the Braves still had a lovely start to the season with this series win. The first game in particular was very encouraging, as that game feels like the proof of concept of sorts when it comes to the style of play that Walt Weiss would like to see. I’d imagine that if the Braves are going to be heading back to the Postseason, they’ll have their fair share of wins that look like what happened on Friday night.
They’ll also have their fair share of losses that look like what happened on Sunday afternoon. Sure, it stunk to see Atlanta drop that one when the underlying stats suggest that they were the better team but I’d definitely prefer to go down like that instead of looking completely and totally feeble at the plate like this team did for long stretches of the 2025 season. While you don’t want to see the Braves drop too many games like that where they had everything going for them except the runs being put on the board, it’s the type of loss that makes you think that this is going to be a very, very tough team to put away on most nights.
Lastly, this might be a nit-pick of sorts but there’s still plenty of improvement to be made in the ABS department when it comes to this team picking and choosing the right time for challenges. We saw on Saturday night that the team actually ran out of challenges in the first inning. I’d imagine that both Drake Baldwin and Ronald Acuña Jr. got a bit of a talking-to when it comes to figuring out the right and proper time to pat the helmet and maybe this’ll be something that will be more of a work-in-progress for the Braves than other teams. For now, there’s plenty of space to improve.
That’s my only real quibble for what was a very good Opening Series for the Braves. They won in comfortable fashion, they won in dramatic fashion and they lost in one of the very few ways that you can find comfort in losing. They’ll have a solid chance to keep things going in the right direction too, as they’ll be staying at home for the next three games while the Athletics will be coming into town all the way from Toronto licking their wounds after starting their season off getting swept by the defending American League champions.
If things are going to keep going in the right direction, the bottom of the rotation is going to have to come up big with Bryce Elder and (maybe) Jose Suarez getting the ball before Chris Sale returns to the mound on Wednesday. Things may be fine if the offense continues to swing the bat like they have to start the season but it’s clear that the pitching will need to continue holding up its end of the bargain if the Braves want to really get rolling to kick off the season. Let’s see what happens, y’all.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MARCH 29: Joey Wiemer #21 and Daylen Lile #21 of the Washington Nationals react after Wiemer's three-run home run in the first inning of a game between the Washington Nationals and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on March 29, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Griffin Quinn/Getty Images) | Getty Images
How about the Joey Wiemer led Washington Nationals! The Nats secured a series win in Chicago thanks to the efforts of a new cult hero. Joey Wiemer got on base four times again, and has yet to get out this season. The Nats have now won their first season opening series since 2018.
Final: Nats 6, Cubs 3. Joey Wiemer and Keibert Ruiz homered. Jake Irvin tossed 5 solid innings. Clayton Beeter got the save. The Nationals have won a season-opening series for the first time since 2018 in Cincinnati.
After yesterday’s sloppy and lopsided loss, I would not blame you if you were pessimistic about the Nats chances today. The homer prone Jake Irvin pitching in Wrigley while the wind was blowing out also felt like an ominous sign. However, the Nats showed up and Irvin looked very good.
Irvin was a victim of the wind when he gave up back to back homers in the fourth. Outside of that, the Nats big righty was in command. His four seam fastball velocity was up over a tick from where it was last year and that paid off for him. Irvin got four whiffs on ten swings against the four seamer and hitters had trouble reacting to the pitch.
He got into a lot of deep counts, which meant he threw 93 pitches through five innings. However, the righty did his job and looked very sharp. Last season, Irvin only struck out 6.20 batters per nine innings, but today he fanned seven in five frames. The long ball will always be an issue for him, but his stuff looks more in line with how it did in 2024.
The Nats bullpen was also very good today. PJ Poulin, Gus Varland, Cionel Perez and Clayton Beeter combined to only allow one run in four innings. Varland was the best of the bunch today, showing off a dynamic fastball. The Nats may not have big names in the bullpen, but I think the unit will be better than expected.
However, I think we may be burying the lede here a little bit. The star of the show this afternoon was Joey Wiemer. He has already made himself into a bit of a cult hero in just two games. The 27 year old is 6-6 with two walks. He has yet to make an out this season and is just totally locked in. Wiemer started the party this afternoon with a 3-run homer in the top of the first off a Shota Imanaga splitter.
The athletic outfielder was not done though. He finished the day just a double shy of the cycle. Wiemer was one batter away from getting the chance to hit for that cycle. If only Victor Estevez did not wave Luis Garcia Jr. in the top of the ninth.
Joey Wiemer has been one of the stories of baseball through the first few days of the season. Right now, he is the front runner for NL MVP. Seriously though, this guy is taking amazing at bats. I know the plan has been to play him only against lefties, but with the way he is hitting, you need to get his bat in the lineup every day until he cools off.
Wiemer was not the only Nat to hit a big home run though. Keibert Ruiz’s game got off to a rough start with a pop up in a bases loaded situation and a throwing error. However, he redeemed himself late in the ball game. Ruiz hit a sac fly in the sixth and gave the Nats more insurance in the 8th with a big home run.
That was Ruiz’s first home run since March of 2025. Ruiz has shown flashes with the bat in the past, but has never put it all together yet. This is likely to be his last chance to prove himself as a starting catcher. If Ruiz can hit like he did today, that would go a long way.
Overall, this was a super fun start to the season. The Nats bats have been lively to start the season after a rough spring. They have been led by unexpected heroes, but there are a lot of hitters seeing it well right now. Brady House and Daylen Lile are two other guys who were in the middle of the action for the Nats today.
The boys head to Philly where they will face off against a familiar foe. Will this be a flash in the pan or can the Nats keep the momentum rolling against the Phillies? Foster Griffin will be making his Nats debut tomorrow and hopefully he can keep the good times rolling. It is so much fun to have baseball back, especially with the Nats winning and looking like a fun group.
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI - MARCH 29: Chandler Simpson #14 of the Tampa Bay Rays rounds third base on his way to scoring a run against the St. Louis Cardinals in the second inning at Busch Stadium on March 29, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Rays escaped from St. Louis with a win. Although the Rays offensive production was impressive — 11 runs, 17 hits and 4 walks — there was not one minute when this win felt assured.
The Rays started out with the lead.
After having been no-hit for six innings yesterday, the Rays were able to put up three runs in the second inning on a combination of hard hit doubles and singles. Chandler Simpson got the inning going with a single, he was driven in by Johnny DeLuca’s double. DeLuca scored on a passed ball, and then Carson Williams (double) and Yandy Diaz (single) combined for another run.
Steve Matz, one-time Mets and Cardinals pitcher signed this winter as a free agent, got the start for the Rays. He was perfect, and impressive, for the first two innings. In the third, he gave up a smashed double (115 mph) double to Jordan Walker. Walker scored on what was ruled a single with a throwing error, but it was a slightly bloopy softly hit ball that Palacios had trouble handling. He rushed his throw to first and sent it sailing, which allowed Walker to score, making the score 3-1.
The top of the fourth inning seemed to go quietly for the Rays, with two quick outs. But then Hunter Feduccia drew a walk (even after losing a challenge on a called strike), Red Hot Yandy smoked a left field double to drive him home, and Jonathan Aranda decided to make things symmetrical with a double to right field (Yandy scored) and Cedric Mullins said “that looks like fun” and also hit a run-scoring double, to make the score 6-1.
Things fell apart for Matz rather quickly, however, in the bottom of the fourth inning. A walk and a single didn’t seem too problematic, but then, as the pitch count mounted, Matz threw one too many over-the-plate change ups and Walker smacked the last of those into the stand for a three run homer, making the score 6-4. The Cardinals got two men on base once more in the fifth, but thanks to a double play neither runner scored.
This meant, however, that as of the sixth inning we got the Rays Bullpen Adventure. Kevin Kelly came in and promptly gave up a leadoff double. The runner advanced to third on a fly ball to center, and it was fortunate that Cedric Mullins caught that fly ball at all.
Garrett Cleavinger also allowed a hard hit lead off hit in the seventh, although this one held to a single. He then managed to load the bases — no comfortable, quick inning for our guys! — before getting out of the jam.
The Rays were able to score again in the eighth inning, facing rookie (making his major league debut) Matt Pushard. After a single, a walk, and a wild pitch Yandy was able to drive home a run with a bloop single (I guess he got tired of smoking the ball and decided to try some soft contact). Aranda singled home another run. Run number 9 came courtesy of Mullins’ sac fly to center.
Mason Englert came in, then, with the benefit of a five run lead, and did whatever he did to give it back. A solo home run by Nolan Gorman was followed by a single, followed by a two-run homer and we were back to a two-run lead — which we know is not NEARLY big enough.
The Rays offense, having seen what the bullpen can do, added on in the ninth. After a couple of hits put Simpson on third, Carson Williams put down a perfect bunt hit to score him (for the record, I’m largely a “don’t bunt” person but there’s a “speedy guy on third and needing an insurance run” exception.) 10-7.
Yandy went back the the “hit it soft” approach and his “excuse-me” swing ended up acting as a kind of bunt, scoring Williamson and putting leaving him with an infield single.
That meant the Rays had a four run lead and all we needed was a reliever to who could get three outs. Bonus if he could do it without first loading the bases. And in walks Bryan Baker. Three weak contact outs and, miraculously, the game ended with the Rays lead in tact.
As we savor this win, let’s look at the positives. Matz was really good for three innings. I think he can build on that moving forward. Yandy is red hot — five hits and four RBI today. Aranda and DeLuca had multi hit days, and look locked in.
