After Jack Leiter breezed his way through the first two innings, Rice was able to break through, crushing a first pitch fastball the other way to deep left-center.
The blast left the bat at a whopping 106.9 mph and traveled 404 feet to the deepest part of the park.
“Man, that ball was pummeled,” Boone said.
“I didn’t think it was going to go out so I was running hard, but it was cool to see one go out that way,” Rice added.
The 27-year-old lefty continued his spectacular start to the season, pushing him into a tie with Judge for second in the league and the team-lead for homer, though it was short-lived.
Judge regained the advantage over his slugging teammate just five pitches later, as he laced a 3-2 curveball 113 mph over the right-field fence for his 11th homer and the Yanks first back-to-back jacks of the season.
It was Judge’s eighth blasts over his last 15 games.
“I couldn’t let him catch me,” the captain joked. “I had to make sure I got one after that.”
“Just trying to keep him honest, keep him motivated,” a smiling Rice added.
Friendly competition aside, the two entered some prestigious company, joining Yogi Berra and Mikey Mantle as the only pair of teammates in franchise history with 10+ homers in the first 29 games of the season.
They are also just the third duo in MLB history to reach that mark during the month of April.
We already know what Judge is capable of, but having the scorching-hot Rice hitting around him only makes this Yankees lineup even scarier moving forward.
“Hitting right behind him now, it makes my job easier,” Judge admitted.
“I enjoy hitting in the order with him,” Rice added. “Whether I’m in front of him or behind him, I think there’s different scenarios where either way works, but anytime I could be near him in the lineup is a good one.”
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - APRIL 17: Bo Bichette #19 and manager Carlos Mendoza #64 of the New York Mets lookon prior to the game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field on April 17, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Hey, 13-15… that’s… not so bad, right? The past decade or so of Giants Baseball has — except for that one time — basically conditioned us to expect and embrace mediocrity and here we are, paired again with a familiar friend. That’s actually preferrable to the vibes — nay, the objective reality — that followed the first week of the season, when it looked like everyone in the organization was in over his head. The Giants are basically playing a lot closer to expectations now and, well, even if you don’t agree with what those were heading into the season, perhaps you’d admit that it’s a far better place to be than where some other teams are right now.
In the offseason, the New York Mets drastically retooled their roster and the results have been disastrous: 9-19 with a 12-game losing streak. The Phillies basically stood pat and the results have been disastrous: 9-19 with a 10-game losing streak. The Royals tried to build off their nice 2025 with some tinkering at the margins and the results have been disastrous: 11-17 with an 8-game losing streak. The AL pennant winner Blue Jays are 12-15 and the Boston Red Sox, primed to be a top team this season, are just 11-17 and on Sunday they liquidated their entire coaching staff. Finally, the Houston Astros have far too many pitching injuries to list to go with an 11-18 record.
On the other side of surprise ledger, there are the Reds at 18-10 and the Pirates 16-12 while the Padres are not just holding strong in second place but pushing the Dodgers for the top of the NL West with their 18-9 record.
That’s 9 teams that are not where people expected them to be before the season. The Giants, though, are pretty much rolling along according to plan. For the purposes of the postseason race, would you take the Giants against this field going forward?
There are plenty of compelling reasons to answer YES:
Willy Adames, the notorious slow starter, is off to merely a slow-ish start.
Rafael Devers will almost certainly hit better than this going forward, even if that might be closer to the 10-20% better than league average range.
Logan Webb will almost certainly get rolling and solidify that top of the Giants rotation.
If I list out the bullpen, it suddenly doesn’t sound all that bad: Erik Miller, Keaton Winn, Caleb Kilian, Ryan Walker, Blade Tidwell, Matt Gage. If you want to list R**n B*r*ck* here along with that group, go right ahead, but I will not participate in such perversion.
Luis Arraez is hitting and fielding like an All-Star second baseman.
Casey Schmitt is either real, real hot, or excellent trade bait.
Jung Hoo Lee and Landen Roupp look like the sort of load-bearing players every good team needs. Think the 2026 versions of 2010’s Andres Torres and Jonathan Sanchez.
The Giants’ pitching staff is much closer to being a top 15 pitching staff than a bottom third, according to the advanced metrics. They’ve got 65 more home games to really goose those numbers and create better luck for stronger W-L results.
Speaking of W-L records, I had tormented you all with a couple of posts about the history of Giants teams that have started 3-7 or 8-12, and I’m here to deliver slightly better news in that regard: 13-15 teams have usually wound up okay. The 2024 squad was 80-82, sure, but the 2011 team went 86-76 and before that the 1988 team was 83-89. The worst results were in 1979 (71-91) and 1956 (67-87).
But if you remain skeptical of the Giants this season — or, really, just believe that a lot of these surprisingly bad teams will be able to turn things around just as the Giants did already in April — there are perfectly valid data points to support the position.
The top 10 most difficult remaining schedules belong to National League teams, so, it’s going to be a tough summer no matter how you slice it. Even the Rockies might prove a challenge going forward.
The Giants are essentially one injury away from having a bad bullpen, a bad rotation, or a bad lineup, which puts a lot of pressure on the aforementioned prospect depth to perform at or better than the level of player they’re replacing. Sure, maybe Carson Seymour could be better than Adrian Houser, but how much better? He seems better suited as a reliever. Bryce Eldridge would almost certainly be an upgrade over Rafael Devers today, but over the rest of the season? Not sure about that. Will Bednar or Wilkin Ramos or Sam Hentges or Gregory Santos might be solid Blade Tidwell fill-ins if he gets bumped to the rotation at some point, but it’s iffy.
Besides, it’s highly unlikely that the field remains in their present state. Obviously, the focus here is on the Giants and who they’re competing with for a postseason spot, but just taking the notion on its face, is it likely that all of the Royals, Blue Jays, Astros or Red Sox will remain big stinking losers over the next five months? Doubtful. At least a couple of those teams will turn things around (Boston is already 2-0 with their new coaching staff). It seems unlikely that the Mets and Phillies turn around their seasons, but you know, stranger things have happened. Although, seriously, 9-19s in the first 28 games has happened 118 times in MLB history and only 7 times has one of those teams had a winning season:
1925 Detroit Tigers: 81-73-2
2001 Chicago White Sox: 83-79
1996 Boston Red Sox: 85-77
2024 Houston Astros: 88-73 (Division Champ)
1974 Pittsburgh Pirates: 88-74 (Division Champ)
1965 Pittsburgh Pirates: 90-72
1914 Boston Braves: 94-59-5 (Won World Series)
Then there are the teams right there in the middle with the Giants: will the Marlins be spoilers all year long? How about the Rockies? Is the NL Central for real? All five teams have winning records. That includes the perennial losers the Pittsburgh Pirates along with the rebuilding St. Louis Cardinals.
It’s not that the field is wide open so much that there’s a lot more uncertainty in the system than we might’ve expected even at this point in the season. Last year on this exact date, the Mets were 19-9 and the Giants were leading the NL West at 19-10. Only 2 of the 5 NL Central teams had winning records. And, by the way, the Brewers, who racked up the most wins last season, were just 14-15 (they’re 14-13 today)
So, it’s still early, but the Giants have shown a bit more gumption and perseverance than some other teams with even greater expectations. The Giants have played their way back into a decent spot for competing over the next five months. They still don’t have the most talented bunch when compared to a lot of teams out there, though, so, given that, if you had to make a final decision today, would you rather be in a position of one of the other teams (who aren’t the Dodgers, Yankees, or Cubs) or roll the dice and see if the Giants really have righted the ship?
HOUSTON, TEXAS - APRIL 26: Aaron Judge #99 of the New York Yankees motions after hitting a solo home run in the sixth inning against the Houston Astros at Daikin Park on April 26, 2026 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Maria Lysaker/Getty Images) | Getty Images
While the Yankees’ Monday night game in Texas was never a blowout, much of it felt like it was trending towards a fairly comfortable Bombers win. Ben Rice and Aaron Judge continued to be stalwarts in the Yankees’ lineup, each going deep to help build up a lead. Meanwhile on the mound, starter Max Fried was pretty stellar. He ended up going six innings, keeping the Rangers off the board, having allowed four hits and two walks. One of the runners he allowed even ended up the victim of one of his trademark pickoffs.
However, after Fried departed, the bullpen let things get way too close for comfort, as is they tend to do. In both the eighth and ninth innings, Texas brought the tying run to the plate. In the ninth, they even had the winning run up.
Eventually though, the bullpen got the required outs, as the Yankees picked up yet another victory on their road trip, downing the Rangers 4-2.
After getting kept off the board in the first two innings, it seemed like the Yankees had missed a chance in the third when José Caballero got caught trying to steal second for the second out of the inning. However, Trent Grisham kept the inning alive with a single that deflected off pitcher Jack Leiter and to safety. Rice and Judge then went back to back, drawing first blood on the game.
Rice’s blast tied Judge for the team lead with 10, and amusingly, the dead heat lasted only a couple moments because Judge followed with his own clout.
The following inning Jazz Chisholm Jr. got in on the action and continued his recent run with another homer.
Fried exited after six innings, as the Yankees went to the bullpen to start the seventh. That was also where the shutout ended. Camilo Doval came in and allowed a one-out solo home run to Joc Pederson for Texas’ first run of the game.
Tim Hill came in for the eighth and ran into some trouble. He issued walks to Ezequiel Duran and Josh Jung, allowing the Rangers to bring the tying run to the plate. Said tying run came up in the form of Corey Seager, who Hill got to ground out, but it was a bit of a hot shot.
With David Bednar on the hill, the ninth then got off to another scary start. Jake Burger reached on what was ruled a single to start the inning, after Chisholm got to a grounder but didn’t have much of a play on and threw wide. Pederson then seemingly also reached in not unsimilar circumstances, but Chisholm successfully threw to first on that play and on review, it turned out that the throw beat Pederson to the bag.
Bednar than came back and struck out Kyle Higashioka, but things got even closer after that.
After Josh Smith hit yet another grounder to Chisholm, the second baseman committed an error after booting it. Alejandro Osuna came up next and dinked a single into center. That scored one run and brought the potential winning run to the plate. Bednar finally managed to finish things off there, inducing a grounder to short that José Caballero safely fielded and threw to second for the final out.
With that, the Yankees bounced back from their Sunday loss and have now won nine of their last ten. They’ll try to keep that going tomorrow, when the Yankees and Rangers will continue their series tomorrow night at 8:05 pm ET. Cam Schlittler and Jacob deGrom are expected to be the starters for that one.
The Yankees will officially be without Giancarlo Stanton for the next few games.
The slugger is hitting the IL with a low-grade calf strain, Aaron Boone announced following Monday's win.
Boone had said pregame that the team wasn't sure if Stanton would have to be forced to the sidelines, as they were still awaiting results from an MRI on that right calf.
Those tests appear to have confirmed the prognosis, and he'll now be down at least 10 days.
Boone wasn't ready to put an exact timeline on a potential return to the lineup just yet, but he did share that the team is optimistic Stanton shouldn't miss too much time.
"Doesn't look too serious, but enough to to not want to wait a couple more days," he said. "We'll see what we have as the week unfolds -- hopefully not too long, but we'll see."
For now, recently recalled youngster Jasson Dominguez figures to have a massive opportunity to show he deserves to stick back up with the big-league club.
Dominguez has been on-fire to start the season down in Triple-A, and he carried over that success on Monday, picking up a knock in four at-bats in his first game back in the majors.
He's set to start the next two games in Texas with righties on the mound, then Boone will take it from there.
While Dominguez served as the DH on Monday, the skipper expects to get him some outfield reps during the week.
"You call up a guy like Dominguez who can DH, play some outfield for us, it's gonna be huge," Aaron Judge said. "He's been raking in Triple-A. He's a guy who upset not making the team out of camp, and I think he's gonna show up here ready to prove some people wrong and kind of send a message, so I'm excited about it."
Apr 27, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Jack Leiter (22) throws to the plate during the first inning against the New York Yankees at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images
The Texas Rangers scored two runs but the New York Yankees scored four runs.
In the span of four hitters between the third and fourth innings, the Yankees hit three home runs off an otherwise cruising Jack Leiter, two of them with two outs in the third and one to lead off the fourth.
Suddenly and without warning it was a 4-0 game and it seemed quite unlikely that they’d score more than that against Max Fried (and they didn’t) so here we are with the Rangers below .500.
I don’t want to research how many runs the Rangers have allowed with two outs because I’m not donating more time to them tonight but it surely feels like it’s been like 90%.
Anyway, Leiter adjusted and eventually had an otherwise decent outing to give Texas six innings of work, but you know, turning the game into the Home Run Derby for a spell probably won’t get you many wins and certainly not when you need the Rangers to score you more than a couple of runs in Arlington.
Player of the Game: Joc Pederson hit a baseball with the barrel of his bat for the first time this season which produced a home run for Texas’ only extra base hit on the night.
Also, hat tip to Peyton Gray who came in and absorbed two more scoreless innings as his big league ERA remains all zeroes.
Up Next: The Rangers and Yankees will be back at it tomorrow night with RHP Jacob deGrom set to make the start for Texas opposite RHP Cam Schlittler for New York.
The Tuesday evening first pitch from The Shed is scheduled for 7:05 pm CDT and will be carried on the Rangers Sports Network.
The Yankees opened the series with a 4-2 win over the Rangers on Monday night at Globe Life Field.
Here are some takeaways...
- Jack Leiter started his night retiring five of the first six batters he faced, but the Yankees jumped all over him the second time through the order. After Trent Grisham legged out a two-out infield single, Ben Rice crushed his 10th homer of the season to the deepest part of the ballpark, then Aaron Judge immediately followed that with a solo shot.
- Rice's homer was his 10th of the season, and it put the Yankees' new dynamic duo up there with some pretty prestigious company, as they joined Yogi Berra and Mikey Mantle as the only pair of teammates in franchise history with 10+ homers over the first 29 games of the season.
They were also just the third pair of teammates in MLB history to reach that mark in April.
- New York would add on against Leiter just a few batters later, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. led off the top of the fourth with a towering solo homer of his own. The blast, which left the bat at a whopping 106.7 mph, traveled 406 feet deep into the seats in right and is Chisholm's third over his last seven games.
The lefty slugger has been scorching, hitting .370 with a 1.118 OPS over that span.
- Max Fried pitched well against a Rangers lineup that's struggled against lefties all season. He worked around hits in the first and second, before putting together his first clean inning after being handed the lead in the third. Fried gave up a leadoff hit in the fourth, but immediately erased him with his 38th career pickoff, the most in baseball since 2018.
The southpaw needed just six pitches to breeze his way through an seamless fifth. He gave up a leadoff single in the sixth, but Brandon Nimmo smoked a double-play ball right at Jose Caballero to help Fried end his night on a hight note. He gave up just four hits and walked two while striking out five over six scoreless innings.
Fried has now completed six innings in all but one of his seven outings on the season.
- Texas was able to get on the board against Camilo Doval in the bottom of the seventh, as Joc Pederson came off the bench and smashed a solo shot the other way to deep left-center. Doval's ERA is up to 6.97 and he's allowed homers in three of his last four outings.
- Tim Hill was a bit shaky, issuing a pair of walks in the eighth, but he was able to get Corey Seager to sharply groundout to second representing the tying run at the plate.
- David Bednar struggled in the ninth as well, as Texas brought in their second run of the game after a Chisholm error prolonged the inning. Ezequiel Duran came to the plate at the winning-run, but the Yankee closer got him to groundout and locked down his eighth save of the season.
- Judge reached safely in all four of his plate appearances on the night. He was hit by a pitch in the first, lifted the homer behind Rice in the third, then doubled his next two turns up. The captain is now hitting .294 with eight home runs, 12 RBI, and a 1.298 OPS over his last 15 games.
- Jasson Dominguez struck out then grounded out in his first two at-bats back in the big leagues, but he worked a full count before lacing a one out single the other way in the top of the sixth. With righties on the mound, the youngster is expected to start all three games this series.
- Ryan McMahon pushed his hitting streak to four games with a two out single against Leiter in the fourth.
Game MVP: Aaron Judge
The captain was right in the middle of things for New York, reaching four times in the victory.
Two of the American League's top arms to start the season face-off, as Cam Schlittler (3-1, 1.77 ERA) takes the ball against Jacob deGrom (2-0, 2.13 ERA) on Tuesday at 8:05 p.m.
Apr 27, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Seattle Mariners catcher Mitch Garver (18) hits a RBI single against the Minnesota Twins in the fifth inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images | Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images
The old saying in baseball is you win 50, lose 50, and it’s what you do with the rest that counts, but what the adage doesn’t take into account is the number of games that are Cursèd. For the Seattle Mariners, those Cursèd Games seem to usually happen in spring in the Midwest, or in Angel Stadium. Tonight’s game might have started on time, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t start Cursèd.
Luis Castillo did not do anything to beat the warm-weather-pitching allegations, surrendering seven runs, although not all of them were entirely his fault; the Twins got their first run on a wacky send of slow-footed Josh Bell from first after Rob Refsnyder couldn’t get a clean handle on the soggy ball, which had rolled itself under the padding in right field. A good relay from Cole Young almost had Bell out at the plate, but Mitch Garver couldn’t get the tag down cleanly, putting the Twins ahead 1-0.
The damage could have been much worse, as Castillo ran into trouble after that; he gave up back-to-back free passes to load the bases, once that wasn’t his fault (Matt Wallner leaning his pantleg into a slider) and once that was (walking the nine-hole hitter Tristan Gray), but got Byron Buxton to pop out to strand the bases loaded. But that aforementioned worse damage came in the third inning. Julio Rodríguez misplayed a ball hit deep to center, allowing a one-out triple to Trevor Larnach, and then Castillo walked Bell despite having him in a 1-2 count. Ryan Jeffers singled to bring home Larnach, and then Kody Clemens, my least favorite Twin and that includes both Winklevosses, turnt-and-burnt on an inside fastball for a three-run home run.
The beatings would continue but morale would not improve with a two-run homer from Byron Buxton in the fourth. Castillo managed to scrape through one more scoreless inning to at least give the bullpen a slightly smaller elephant to eat, but the hole was well and thoroughly dug.
Meanwhile, the offense struggled against Twins rookie Connor Prielipp and his dastardly slider; he took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, when his command finally flagged and the Mariners were able to small-ball a couple of runs off him with the bottom of the order once again producing. Shoutout to Mitch Garver, who quietly had a very good game on both sides of the ball, once again winning a clutch ABS challenge that turned into a strikeout and maybe bought Castillo an extra inning of work. The Twins bullpen, which is Not Good, took over from there, but the Mariners hitters were punchless against Andrew Morris in the sixth and seventh.
Cole Wilcox, still putting in his time in the former Eduard Bazardo role, drew the first assignment out of the ‘pen for multi-inning mop-up duty, and just in case you had forgotten this game was Cursèd, what should have been an inning-ending groundout instead bounced off the bag at second base for an RBI infield single instead, making it 8-2. As Angie pointed out on the broadcast, J.P.’s face was all of our faces after that.
Wilcox came back out for the seventh but issued a leadoff walk (bad Cole!) and a one-out infield single (not his fault on this rice paddy of an infield), and for some reason Dan Wilson decided that this was the moment to deploy Alex Hoppe for his big-league debut, and once again: you must hand it to Dan. In a rare feel-good moment for this game, Hoppe came out and demolished the first two big-league hitters he faced; Matt Wallner was so flummoxed by Hoppe’s vicious stuff he blew the Twins’ last challenge challenging Alex Hoppe’s first thrown MLB pitch, only to go on to strike out, which is the appropriate punishment for such tacky behavior. Hoppe then struck out Tristan Gray to end the inning.
The vibes threatened to turn positive after that, as the Mariners hitters finally got to Morris: Rob Refsnyder singled (yay Rob!) and Cal Raleigh checked in with his seventh homer of the season, a towering blast to right field:
But that’s all the fun this game had to offer. Hoppe wasn’t as sharp in his second inning of work despite becoming the first Mariners reliever in team history to open his Mariners career with three straight strikeouts and gave up a couple more runs; Hoppe’s command remains a work in progress, but hey, he’s not learning anything on the bench, so at least this game offered an opportunity for his debut. Unfortunately, this might be another case of bad sequencing for the Mariners, as the Twins send their ace Joe Ryan to the mound tomorrow, matching up against Logan Gilbert. Just keep the field dry and maybe pass a little black tourmaline over the mound pregame.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - APRIL 27: Minnesota Twins infielder Kody Clemens (2) celebrates his three-run home run with Minnesota Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers (27) during the third inning of a MLB game between the Minnesota Twins and Seattle Mariners on April 27, 2026, at Target Field in Minneapolis MN. (Photo by Nick Wosika/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
It was a dark and stormy night when a dark plague descended upon downtown Minneapolis. A plague of losses, a plague of runs, never leading at any point in a game in nearly a week. But our hero Kody Clemens emerged from one blogger’s hate-filled game preview with a single goal: score.
Thanks, Kody. I’ll trade being wrong for a Twins win any day. Now back to your regularly scheduled posting.
For the first time in way too long, the Twins struck first. Josh Bell hit a lead off single and was stuck there for the next two batters. Then, struggling Luke Keaschall came to the plate and delivered a line drive to right field. It took a Neo-esque slide from Bell to avoid being tagged out at home, but after a replay review the Twins led 1-0.
The Twins added plenty more runs from there, thanks in large part to home runs from Byron Buxton and, of course, Kody Clemens. Clemens’ three-run dong gave him his first three of five total RBIs on the evening. Rain be damned, these boys were here to hit the ball.
Connor Prielipp, meanwhile, was dealing through the first four frames. He threw 4 scoreless, hitless frames with the only baserunner coming on a walk. He ran into trouble in the 5th after walking the first two batters of the inning. An RBI single from Twins legend Mitch Garver and Cole Young sac fly netted the M’s their first two runs, but Prielipp buckled down and struck out the final two batters he faced to get out of the jam with a healthy 7-2 lead.
It’s only two starts, but the Twins have to be very encouraged from the early returns of their top pitching prospect. He got himself into trouble with the walks, but only allowed a single hit and has plenty of stuff to pitch himself out of those jams. He’s still limited to 80-85 pitches after two elbow surgeries in the past four years, but he’s doing everything he can to ensure he stays up when Mick Abel returns in a few weeks.
Andrew Morris came in to piggyback off of Prielipp’s stellar start and did what he typically does. That is, pitch two excellent innings and then struggle in the third. A two-run blast allowed to Cal Raleigh brought Seattle within striking distance, closing the lead to 8-4.
Luckily, the Twins had a few more runs in them. After rookie Alex Hoppe struck out the first three batters of his career (between two separate innings), he walked the next two to put a couple of runners on base for the middle of the lineup. Josh Bell SMOKED a line drive to right field at 108 MPH, but it landed right in Rob Refsnyder’s glove. Luckily, Ryan Jeffers delivered his second RBI single of the night, stole a base, and then let the titular hero Kody Clemens deliver the kill shot.
Apr 27, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Luis Castillo (58) delivers a pitch against the Minnesota Twins in the first inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images | Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images
Twins 11, Mariners 4
Sasha Hoppe: Mitch Garver, .08 WPA
Challenging the first pitch of a player’s career/stealing up 5 runs in a blowout/walking up to the Rocky theme/other assorted acts of Midwest tackiness: Luis Castillo, -.29 WPA
DENVER, COLORADO - MAY 10: Detail of the scoreboard of the San Diego Padres against the Colorado Rockies in the ninth inning at Coors Field on May 10, 2025 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) | Getty Images
On Sunday, in the second game of a doubleheader — and when the bullpen had to cover 3.2 innings in Game 1 — Chase Dollander threw seven shutout innings to help the Rockies shut out the Mets 3-0. The result was Colorado’s first shutout of 2026.
In 2025, the Rockies only held opponents scoreless three times. The first was on July 23 with a 6-0 win over St. Louis at Coors Field. The second came in St. Louis on Aug. 12 when the Rockies won 3-0. The last came on Sept. 5 when Colorado blanked the Padres 3-0 in Denver.
On the other side, the Rockies were shut out by opponents 18 times last year. I suppose that’s to be expected with a -424 run differential. Colorado put up goose eggs in three games in 2025 by April 13 alone.
This year, it’s been a totally different story. The Rockies have only been held scoreless once this season, and that came on April 21 in a very un-Coors Field-like 1-0 loss to San Diego.
Having the Rockies first shutout almost three months earlier than last season and being held scoreless only once so far is another indicator of why baseball is more fun in 2026.
It also raises an interesting question: would you rather see the Rockies pitchers hurl more shutouts or the Colorado offense get shut out fewer times? As a fan, what is more satisfying?
Apr 25, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Chicago Cubs pitcher Vince Velasquez (not pictured) throws a wild pitch to catcher Miguel Amaya (9) against Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) during the sixth inning at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images | Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images
The Dodgers and the Marlins meet for the first time in 2026.
Apr 27, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays left fielder Davis Schneider (36) dives to catch a fly ball hit by Boston Red Sox left fielder Jarren Duran (not shown) in the sixth inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images | Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Red Sox 5 Blue Jays 0
Any game where your team only gets one hit is not going to be a good game. Jesús Sánchez had our hit, a double. That and Davis Schneider’s walk, gave us two base runners on the day. Whoops make that three base runners, Daulton Varsho doubled in the ninth, pinch hitting.
Ranger Suarez was terrific.
Dylan Cease wasn’t great, either. The first three innings went well, but he kind of lost his delivery in the fourth and would give up four runs in his last 2.2 innings. In all, 5.2 innings, 7 hits, 4 earned, 3 walks and 5 strikeouts. He also made an error on a pick off throw to second. I’d love to check this out, but my feeling is there are as many errors on pick offs at second as there around pick offs of the runner. I hate the play.
Our bullpen gave up one run in 3.1 innings:
Joe Mantiply got 3 outs, with 1 hit and 2 k.
Chase Lee got 4 outs, giving up a home run with one strikeout.
Tommy Nance got 3 outs, with a walk.
It really was one of those night’s that make you wonder why you like baseball. But the GameThread was fun.
No Jays of the Day, though Davis Schneider deserves an honourable mention for a terrific catch in left field.
Other Award: Cease (-.14 WPS) and Tyler Heineman (-.09) for an 0 for 3. Of all the guys on the IL, I think we miss Kirk the most.
Tomorrow we have lefty Payton Tolle making his second start of the season for the Red Sox. And Trey Yesavage making his first start of the season for the Jays. It almost has to be better than this one.
Apr 27, 2026; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Ranger Suarez (55) delivers a pitch against the Toronto Blue Jays in the second inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images | Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
It was Ernie Clement hockey sweater night in Toronto, and the Sox won 5-0. Sorry to Ernie Clement, but you stink now. Them’s the rules. Ranger Suarez doesn’t. He is good. He is very good! And there was much rejoicing.
Three Studs
Ranger Suarez
This was an incredible performance. Eight innings, no runs, one walk, 10 K’s.
Marcelo Mayer
Had the game-winning RBI in the fourth inning, and that was that.
TEMPE, ARIZONA - MARCH 13: Travis Bazzana #72 of the Cleveland Guardians runs across the field during the Spring Training game against the Los Angeles Angels at Tempe Diablo Stadium on March 13, 2026 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Editor’s Note: Today’s analysis is brought to us in a guest post from Always the Jake “a Guardians Twitter account run by a fan just like you—if you were twice as irreverent and three times more reactionary while watching baseball.” Follow them at @JacobsFieldRBW. We thank them for their time and effort on this excellent piece!
The only problem with Travis Bazzana is your expectations
Last week while being broiled against my will by the hot sun and repulsed by the stench of my own B.O., I was so ticked off I could barely answer the questions a customer service rep was asking me over the phone.
My family and I were out on our first boondocking trip in our new RV, and thanks to a faulty generator and water pump, we had no air conditioning and no shower. I was livid. This is what I get for all the money I spent on this thing?
At the risk of spoiling the ending to this story, I’m going to admit to you that I was being unreasonable. Turns out, my anger was the result of irresponsible expectations that I had set for myself haphazardly.
I’ll explain more about that later on, but let’s be real: you came here for baseball opinions, and it would be pretty embarrassing for me to lose your attention because I rambled about a camping trip for too long. So let’s talk about how this relates to Travis Bazzana.
What should a reasonable fan expect from a #1 overall pick?
To be fair, the Guardians franchise has never picked first overall in the draft, so maybe we should offer some grace to fans who genuinely just never knew what to expect. That said, I feel obligated to point out that a large fraction of the fan base appears to have set expectations for themselves that were, much like my expectations as a first-time RV owner, pretty unreasonable.
Let’s talk about some of those expectations:
Unreasonable Expectation #1: The first overall pick should turn out to be the best player from that draft.
This is rare. In fact, it almost never happens.
Assuming the image below is accurate (h/t: the Reddit user at this link), I can’t find a single instance in the past twenty-five years in which the player taken number one overall had the consensus best career of everyone in his draft class.
Even for some of the biggest success stories on this list, at least one player picked later had a more productive career. Take Gerrit Cole, for instance. Francisco Lindor has put up 14 more fWAR and was taken seven picks later. Bryce Harper? Great career. Chris Sale’s has been slightly better, and he was taken 12 picks later. David Price? Nah, Freddie Freeman will end up with almost twice as much career fWARand wasn’t picked until the second round.
If you’re still not convinced, consider that Stephen Strasburg was seen as a generational pitching talent and was the consensus number one overall draft prospect in 2009. By 2012, the Nationals (and nearly two dozen other teams) were no doubt kicking themselves for not taking Mike Trout, who remained on the board until pick 25.
Ready for the crazy part? Drafting the best player isn’t even necessarily the goal for an MLB team. A smart club’s goal is simply to get good value relative to where they’re picking. That means weighing each player’s ceiling, floor, injury risk, signability, character, and ten thousand other factors before making a selection.
It’s tough because what so many guys behind him are doing it raises the expectations even more of a first overall pick
The player drafted #1 overall never ends up being the best in his class. More realistically, a first overall pick who isn’t a total bust usually ends up posting at least 30 fWAR across his career. If you didn’t know this when you set your expectations, that’s okay. I didn’t know that first-time RV owners usually camp in their driveway for a few nights to test out the systems before taking it on its maiden voyage. We all learn the hard way sometimes.
Reasonable Expectation #1: The first overall pick should ideally be a successful major leaguer who produces at least 30 fWAR during his career.
Unreasonable Expectation #2: The GM should be fired if the #1 overall pick doesn’t pan out as expected.
No matter how good scouts are, or how modern an organization’s analytics department might be, nobody can predict the future. Case in point, nearly 40% of all #1 overall picks end up producing less than 3 fWAR during their entire career—in layman’s terms, they end up being busts.
2024 MLB Draft Class going to be one of the best classes in history and Guardians took “Travis Bazzana” 1.1. Someone needs fired https://t.co/ufHwW7DK8x
If you’re expecting anyone to get fired over a draft slot that’s got nearly a 50/50 shot to bust, you’re going to be disappointed. But rather than go any deeper down that path, let’s take one big step back into the world of rational behavior for a second and acknowledge something: if you’re already putting Travis Bazzana in “bust” territory, you’re trying to be miserable.
Bazzana sucks..look at his AAA numbers and overall minor league numbers and stop calling for him..hes a bust.
While I’m writing this, Bazzana currently owns a .287/.422/.511 batting line in AAA while walking nearly as often as he strikes out. He hit a 110 MPH laser over the right field fence last week. Most importantly, he hasn’t even played a game in the big leagues yet. Turns out, tonight is his first! It seems like bare minimum due diligence to let him have a career before calling for the head of the GM who drafted him.
It’s unreasonable to call Bazzana a bust. And even if it somehow turns out that way down the road, nobody is losing their job over it. Number one overall picks bust all the time—much like new RV parts bust all the time. Turns out they’re made with light materials to reduce the vehicle’s weight, and are mass produced cheaply to make RVs affordable for people like me. That’s why they issue a warranty to replace faulty parts! Who knew?
Reasonable Expectation #2: It’s impossible to know whether any #1 overall pick will be a bust, and if he is, nobody will be fired over it because drafting is hard.
Unreasonable Expectation #3: A college hitter drafted first overall should be close to MLB ready.
A pro scout in the Rays organization once told me “the path to the big leagues is not a racetrack”. That simple phrase has lived rent free in my head for years. There’s no award for reaching MLB faster than your peers. Would you rather have Jackson Holliday, who debuted in April of 2024, or Roman Anthony, who was picked in the same draft class but debuted over a full year later?
You do not get a whole lot of grace when you are a college bat selected #1 overall.
The same applies to college players. The Royals promoted Jac Caglianone on June 3rd of last year, only to be the second-worst player in all of baseball that season (-1.6 fWAR). Sources tell Always the Jake that he still has not received his gold trophy for being first in his draft class to make his MLB debut. Fellow 2024 draftee Konnor Griffin has also struggled since being promoted earlier this year.
Skeptics will point to guys like Nick Kurtz, Chase Burns, and JJ Wetherholt, all of whom have had varying degrees of success as major leaguers. I will point to my butt and tell them to kiss it. I don’t care. I care about what Bazzana does during the 6-7 years that he wears a Cleveland Guardians uniform.
It’s a consensus among industry experts that making the jump from AAA to the majors is tougher for players than it’s ever been. Consider what that means for a player trying to get there from college baseball, and you’ll probably realize that the expectation of a “quick rise” from D1 to MLB is unreasonable. Not as unreasonable as my expectation that I could skip straight to a week of boondocking in a brand new RV, but unreasonable nonetheless.
Reasonable Expectation #3: A college hitter will reach the majors on his own timeline.
Unreasonable Expectation #4: A first overall pick’s development should be linear.
This one deserves the most emphasis because it trips up even some of the most avid and well-researched fans I’ve met. What worked for a kid in college is almost never going to work for him in the bigs. So young players fail, learn, make adjustments, and repeat that cycle about three dozen times before finally getting a chance to fail, learn, and make adjustments indefinitely at the MLB level.
Fans have more data available to them than ever before. That’s awesome, but it comes with a curse: they don’t always know how to interpret it rationally. Too often, fans will spot a hole in a prospect’s swing, a flaw in his contact profile, or struggles against a certain pitch type, and lunge for the panic button.
A few well-known Guardians fan accounts, run by people for whom I have a great deal of respect, have in recent weeks taken to Twitter to ring the alarm bells. Some of their tweets on Bazzana offer us proof of why high draft picks can be a trap even for some of the smarter people you know. Hitting the panic button is not a sound reaction to a top prospect adjusting to AAA pitching in the first two weeks of the season.
Then again, I didn’t have a sound reaction to the struggles of my last camping trip, either. So I definitely have no right to point fingers.
Reasonable Expectation #4: Even a first overall pick will have ups and downs as he makes adjustments to prepare for The Show.
Your expectations are more powerful than you realize. I’m embarrassed to admit that last week I spent several hours of a beautiful vacation being irrationally angry about issues with my RV—issues that were apparently not uncommon and that were covered by the unit’s warranty.
But the shame of my silent tantrum dives even deeper. For nearly a decade, my wife and I have taken our son camping with a hand-me-down tent and some cheap foldout chairs. Even without water and electricity, our proud new family purchase was an upgrade over what we’d been able to afford in years past. We had gotten this great new vessel in which to create memories, at a great price, and all it needed was a few minor, common warranty claims. Why did I let myself waste moments of a precious experience with my family being angry when I should have spent it being grateful for what I had?
Anger is a product of unmet expectations. Happiness is a product of met or surpassed expectations. We as human beings have the power within us to set expectations, which means we have power over our own happiness. Cool, right?
Two years ago, the odds that the Cleveland Guardians would even get the first overall pick in 2024 were just 2%. Today, we have a top prospect debuting for oue team who is excited to play for our city, and who is likely to become a very, very good hitter.
TEMPE, ARIZONA - MARCH 13: Travis Bazzana #72 of the Cleveland Guardians stands in the dugout during the Spring Training game against the Los Angeles Angels at Tempe Diablo Stadium on March 13, 2026 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Zack Meisel of the Athletic is reporting that the Guardians are promoting top prospect Travis Bazzana:
Source: The Guardians are calling up Travis Bazzana, the No. 1 overall pick from two years ago.
In the middle of a three-game losing streak, Guardians fans can hope that the former #1 overall draft pick from Australia can provide a needed spark for the team. The roster is currently at 39 players so no accompanying move is necessary to add Bazzana to the active roster.
Bazzana will undoubtedly replace Juan Brito, whose debut with the club was… in a word… disastrous. I hope Brito goes to Columbus and works on left and right field. I am not out on him as a hitter but I was definitely wrong in thinking he could be playable at second base as a defender.
Bazzana currently has a 152 wRC+ in Columbus with a 21.2/17.9 K/BB%. He will take time to adjust to the big league level as he has at every previous level so far. But, he will bring an immediate bust of speed, competitive fire and plate discipline. As Brayan Rocchio establishes himself as a gold glove-level defender at shortstop with a bat that looks to be league average, I think we can be optimistic this will be our middle infield until Angel Genao is ready.
In the meantime, I wonder if Daniel Schneemann begins to get more games in centerfield to help Steven Kwan find himself. He may also find himself in left field on occasion with George Valera scuffling. It is hard to imagine taking Schneemann out of the lineup the way he is currently swinging the bat.
This is an exciting night, but I hope Guardians fans are ready to be patient as the Bazzmanian Devil finds his way. Welcome to Cleveland, Travis!
