Category: MLB

Series Preview

#20 Nebraska Cornhuskers (31-10, 15-3 B1G) at Illinois Fighting Illini (20-19, 8-10 B1G)

Location: Illinois Field, Champaign, IL

Dates: April 24-26th

Times (all CDT): Friday @ 6pm , Saturday @ 3pm, Sunday @ 1pm

Coaches: Will Bolt (7th season, 201-136-1) & Dan Hartleb (21st season, 617-462-1)

TV/Stream: All games on B1G+

Radio: All Nebraska games on Huskers Radio Network, Huskers.com, Huskers App

“You broke their hearts, now go and take their souls!” That was the final phase of the Huskers’ team meeting Friday night after a big comeback win, exclaimed by pitching coach Rob Childress. And that really epitomized the approach the team took the remainder of the biggest weekend in at least 11 years at Hawks Field. That propelled the Huskers up the RPI ladder, where they now sit at 13. That puts them right in the thick of the battle to host a regional, one of the major goals for Will Bolt each year. Taking care of business with nothing like the 2021 Rutgers sweeping them at home, should mean we see June baseball in Lincoln.

Coach Dan Hartleb (somehow in his 21st season) and Illinois are stuck in the middle of the slog of the Big Ten. They sit at 8th with an 8-10 record, with 6 teams either tied in wins or within a game of them in the standings. They’ve basically won the series against the teams they should have (Minnesota, Rutgers, and Penn State) and have lost to the teams you’d expect them to (USC, Purdue, and Oregon).

The major thing the Illini have going for them is that they are finishing up a 3 week home stand, and Nebraska has been living on a bus since the USC series ended. But they are only 5-4 in the home stand against some “meh” teams, other than Oregon. They are going to be striving to not drop close to the 12 spot and be in danger of missing the Big Ten Tournament field.

Pitching Preview

Game 1: RHP Cooper Katskee (5-0, 4.02 ERA) vs. LHP Regan Hall (5-4, 5.37 ERA)

Game 2: RHP Carson Jasa (7-1, 3.93 ERA) vs. RHP Mitch Dye (1-0, 5.35 ERA)

Game 3: RHP Gavin Blachowicz (3-1, 3.02 ERA) vs. TBD

It’s safe to say Cooper Katskee’s first Friday night start didn’t go as planned. 5 earned runs on 6 hits and 5 walks in 3 innings against an average USC offense put Nebraska in a hole against the best pitcher in the conference. Katskee admitted he may have been a little too excited to start his first Friday night game in scarlet and cream, and may have overdone his preparation, which was also on a shorter week with the move from Sundays. Let’s see how a normal week lets him rebound.

From the first inning, Carson Jasa was in control against USC. He was hitting 97 mph on his fastball with ease, and had his big 12-6 curve working maybe the best it has all season to mix with his slider and cutter. He struck out 7 and didn’t give up a run until the 7th and final inning. He gave up both of his runs and 3 of his 5 hits on the day in that inning. He’d obviously run out of gas, but with some big arms doing lots of work Friday night, powering through for a complete game was a huge help to the bullpen.

In his return to the Sunday slot, Gavin Blachowicz also had a rough start, walking the bases loaded, tossing a wild pitch, and giving up back to back home runs in the 2nd inning. With the bullpen fully rested, the coaches wasted no time in going to new long reliever Ty Horn to steady the ship. Sweeping a ranked team despite 2 starters only tossing a couple innings each is beyond difficult and just shows the resolve of this team.

Regan Hall has been the Friday night ace for the Illini all season and has pulled off some big victories, including against Coastal Carolina. However, his last outing against Oregon makes Katskee and Blachowicz USC lines look like they were Roger Clemons and Pedro Martinez. Hall gave up eleven (ELEVEN!!!) runs on 11 hits with 2 doubles, a triple and 3 home runs by the Ducks in only 3.2 innings. His ERA jumped from 3.83 to 5.37. Woof. Hall has struck out 49 and only walked 11 in 55 innings. So he is coming right at you.

After being a lights out reliever for the first month and a half of the season, Mitch Dye was inserted into the starting rotation. He had gone 4 straight appearances without allowing a run, and in his first start against Minnesota, only gave up a single run in 4.3 innings. Since then his ERA has gone from 2.31 to 5.35. But injuries and ineffectiveness of other starters force him to remain in the weekend starting role. The Sunday slot is not yet declared, as the team weighs going with

Scouting Report

The Illini offense is nothing like it was in 2024 when they won the Big Ten regular season crown by just mashing the ball all over, and out of, the yard. They are in the bottom half of nearly every offensive statistic. One thing they do is take a ton of pitches, trying to both draw walks and get a team to its bullpen. They are only 13th in the B1G in batting average at .269, but tied for 3rd in walks. You have to attack them.

The player that has been the most steady performer on offense has been a freshman first baseman, AJ Putty. Putty has worked himself into being the team’s cleanup batter, leading the team with a .338 batting average. He also leads the team in extra base hits with 20 (11 doubles, a triple and 8 home runs), and RBIs with 43. He really looks to be the guy they can build around in years to come, if they can hang on to him. He is an home grown Illinois kid, so its not out of the question.

Leadoff batter and outfielder Nick Groves is one of the harder outs to get on the team. He is batting .320, but adds a team leading 30 walks to push his OBP to .451. The Senior outfielder loves to show off his speed. He is a team best 11 for 15 on stolen bases and also leads the team with 3 triples on the year. He currently has an on-base streak of 42, good for 4th in Illinois history. The team’s Director of Player Development Cam McDonald is the program record holder at 63.

The best power bat in the Illinois lineup is outfielder Collin Jennings. At 6’5” 215 lbs, he is an imposing centerfielder. He led the team in home runs and slugging last year, and is leading in home runs again this year. He currently has 10 home runs, and is second on the team with 31 RBIs.

The Illinois bullpen is fairly average. They have decent numbers that that are around the middle of the Big Ten teams, except for their walks. The staff as a whole only averages 3.5 walks per 9 innings, which is 3rd in the Big Ten behind UCLA and Michigan State at 3.2 and 3.4.

Reed Gannon is the top option in the bullpen. He leads the team with 16 appearances, and 3 saves. He can go multiple innings, having gone 5 innings against Penn State earlier in the season. He has 25 strikeouts and 6 walks in 32.1 innings of work on the year. Expect him to get a lot of work if one of the games still seems in the mix.

Sam Reed is another oft used left handed reliever. His ERA is only 3.27, but his other numbers suggest that should be higher. He only has 13 strikeouts to go with 8 walks in 22 innings of work. Batters are hitting .253 against him, which is very high for someone with that ERA. He makes up for that with only having allowed 6 extra base hits. He is quite the enigma with all of his numbers.

The young arm that seems to have the most upside is sophomore Sam Mommer. He is a transfer from Wisconsin-Parkside a D-II school where he won the conference freshman of the year last year before transferring to Illinois for this year. He has made 12 appearances, including 3 starts, with a bullpen best 2.45 ERA. He has 23 strikeouts and 11 walks in 25.2 innings on the year.

Illinois has a very good defense, fielding the ball at 97.8%.

Series History

Illinois owns a 16-15 all time record against Nebraska (Illinois claims it is 18-15). Nebraska won the last series in 2023. The last time the teams met in Champaign, you might remember the 5 hours worth of weather delays during the series finale. Nebraska was making a late season push to try and make the Big Ten Tournament, so was willing to stay as late as possible to try for a win, but gave up a run in the bottom of the 9th to lose 5-4. Then they would get tarp-ed the next week by Purdue. #NeverForget

On Deck

• Drew Grego, current Big Ten co-Player of the Week and Freshman of the week, has 33 RBIs on the season. Thats 6th most by a freshman this century. He is 1 behind Brice Matthews (2021), and 4 behind Pat Kelly (2012).
• Dylan Carey and Mac Moyer are tied for 2nd in the Big Ten with 65 hits, and Nebraska is the only team in the country with 2 players over 65 hits.
• The 36 runs Nebraska scored in the USC series, is its second highest total in a Big Ten series. Against the team that led the conference in ERA.
• Carson Jasa has 77 strikeouts on the year, 5th most in Nebraska’s Big Ten era, and 3 behind Emmett Olson (2023).

If you haven’t been a watcher of the cinematic recaps that the athletic department puts out, check out one of the best ones, the recap of the USC series.

Columbus Clippers 5, Buffalo Bisons 6 (F/10)

Clippers fall to 12-12

Columbus should have pulled this game off. The Clippers rallied for four runs in the top of the ninth inning to take a 5-4 lead, but Cody Heuer picked a terrible time to surrender his first run of the season in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extra innings.

Then in the 10th inning, after Columbus failed to score, Franco Aleman, who also had not allowed an earned run all season, kept his streak alive — although the ghost runner scored to lose the game.

Kahlil Watson had the lone multi-hit game, going 2-for-5 with a stolen base. Milen Tolentino walked twice and stole a base and Petey Halpin tripled and walked.

Travis Bazzana’s hot streak continued as well, as he went 1-for-4 with a home run, a walk and a stolen base. He continues to look like he’s right on the verge of a call-up should Juan Brito continue to struggle on defense.

Akron RubberDucks 2, Bowie Baysox 5

RubberDucks fall to 11-7

Akron had no business losing this game.

The RubbereDucks collected nine hits and walked eight times, but managed just two runs because they went a putrid 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

Angel Genao led the way, going 2-for-3 with two walks. Jacob Cozart also had a great game, going 2-for-4 with a two-run home run and a walk, accounting for all of Akron’s scoring on the day.

Christian Knapczyk went 2-for-5 with a double while Alex Mooney went 1-for-2 with two walks and Guy Lipscomb walked twice.

Starting pitcher Cam Favors was decent, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits with six strikeouts and a walk in 6.0 innings.

Carter Rustad added 2.0 innings, allowing an unearned run with three strikeouts.

Lake County Captains 7, West Michigan Whitecaps 1

Captains improve to 9-9

Braylon Doughty was the story of this game as his spectacular start to the 2026 season continues. Doughty was flat out impressive, allowing one run on five hits in 5.0 innings with eight strikeouts and zero walks.

The bullpen didn’t give up a run over the remaining four innings.

Offensively, Maick Collado had himself a game, going 2-for-5 with a home run and a double. Ryan Cesarini also went 2-for-5 with a home run.

Other standouts included Jaison Chourio, who went 2-for-4 with a double and a walk and Dean Curley, who went 2-for-4 with a double and a walk. Catching prospect Bennett Thompson went 1-for-2 with a double and three walks.

Hill City Howlers 4, Hickory Crawdads 6

Howlers improve to 10-8

Joey Oakie was good, not great, but he pitched well enough to give the Howlers a chance to win before a late bullpen blowup cost Hill City.

Oakie allowed one run on two hits in 4.0 innings, but he walked five batters while striking out two.

Jervis Alfaro also pitched 4.0 innings. His first three innings were great, but then he got lit up in the eighth inning for five runs.

Robert Arias remains scorching at the plate. The 19-year-old blasted his third home run of the season, also his third in the last five games, while going 2-for-4 with a stolen base. If he keeps this up, he skyrockets up my prospect rankings into not just the top 10, but possibly the top five.

No one else had a multi-hit game, although Anthony Martinez went 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk and Dauri Fernandez doubled.

Okay, I don’t have a great title for this one, but this is probably less a question post than a thoughts post, just masquerading as a daily question post.

With the best record in baseball, the Braves are surprising to probably everyone, except maybe themselves. I thought they’d be good, but not best-team-in-baseball good. Sure, a good team can play like the best team for a month (a bad team can play like the best team for a month), but it’s still surprising when it happens. Component-wise, coming into the season, the most common complaining refrain was about the rotation. I thought the rotation would be fine — maybe not great, but above-average. Through the Braves’ first 26 games, the rotation is instead, “funny” moreso than anything else: 78/106/99, ranking 23rd in FIP-, 16th in xFIP-, but third in ERA- thanks to the defense behind the arms. I’m not sure who, if anyone, was right about the rotation at this point, and it’ll work itself out in one way or another in the coming months, anyway.

My bigger concern was the middle infield. Ha-Seong Kim needed a bounceback, even before he (re-)injured himself in the offseason. Mauricio Dubon was a great get as a utility fill-in that could play a realistically good shortstop, but would be stretched as a quality regular. And then, we come to Ozzie Albies, whose career had been petering out. I won’t rehash the whole thing here (see his player review for 2025 if you want more), but Albies finished 2025 with a career-low 87 wRC+, a sub-.300 xwOBA (.299), below-average defense at second base for the third time in three years, and just 1.3 fWAR despite getting 667 PAs. Oh, and on top of that, he fractured his hamate bone late in the season, an injury that’s known to sap power for a long duration even after the player returns to the lineup.

Well, Kim is still injured, and we’ll get to Dubon another time. But Albies? At a surface level, joke’s on me: his career looks resuscitated. He has a 126 wRC+, the lowest strikeout rate of his career, and 0.7 fWAR, i.e., paced at 3.8 fWAR per 600 PAs (or 4.4 for 162 games). Albies is back, right? Maybe he’ll even get another extension to hang around and produce for the team in his 30s, which would be more aesthetically pleasing than tearing apart the Ronald Acuña Jr.-Albies BFFship, right?

Well… not so fast, maybe. Despite Albies’ fantastic plate results so far, he’s rocking a .296 xwOBA. His average exit velocity is down over two mph from last year, which was already about a mph off from 2023-2024. He’s posting a career-low barrel rate, and his xwOBACON is below .300, which is something I haven’t seen from anyone over three-four weeks, maybe ever. While he’s historically really only hit fastballs, his performance against non-fastballs is even worse now than ever before. On top of this, he’s making less contact while not generating any power. Inputs-wise, essentially, he does look like a logical progression from a poor 2025 while coming off a hamate bone injury. Which is sad, because we all want Albies to stick around and succeed, but…

If there’s one positive, it’s that Albies seems to have improved defensively, reversing the trend of him being a minus at the keystone. It’s a tiny sample, and his arm strength is still getting worse, now to the point where it’s essentially the worst throwing arm for an fielder that has to make throws in baseball. But, in the 2023-2025 stretch, he only had five positive defensive months at second, and 2026 has started off with one so far, as part of a teamwide defensive showcase. So, it’s not all bad.

Bottom line, Albies remains in an awkward position. The only thing that’s not awkward is that the vibes (and outputs) are approaching immaculate. So long as the team keeps winning, there won’t be many complaints; so long as he’s massively outhitting his xwOBA (a top ten overperformance), nothing’s gonna happen. But, we know these things don’t last, not even for habitual xwOBA overperformers like Albies, so… I dunno. Is Ozzie Albies on the rebound? I’ll still hope so, but it isn’t looking that way right now.

(I didn’t fit it in here, but Albies stopped hitting lefties well last year, and he’s continuing to have an issue there this year, with a sub-.250 xwOBA against them that he’s also massively outhitting.)

Happy Friday, everyone! Extra happy that the Tigers do not need to play the Brewers today. Their exceptionally short trip back to Detroit is over and they’re on their way to Cincinnati to play the Reds this weekend. We’ve got some fun news bites to keep you occupied until tonight’s game. We’ll break down the numbers on Kevin McGonigle’s contract, see the broadcast crew do their best lip sync routine, and in one of the best things the Tigers have released on social media recently, we figure out what kind of fish each Tigers player is.

Let’s just jump right into it.

Detroit Tigers News

• This is so fun, I hope they do more of these.

• An overview of the Kevin McGonigle extension.

• A quick reminder of one of the more baffling moments in last night’s game where a home run suddenly became two balls.

• Daniella Bruce getting the guys to let loose.

• If Skenes starts today, it’s going to be a rare treat for the Brewers after their game against Skubal last night.

AL Central News

• The Royals are teaming up with Hallmark, and it’s not for a seasonal sports-themed Christmas movie, but rather for a new stadium.

MLB News

• How playing the piano kept Max Scherzer from quitting baseball.
• How many fastballs does Cam Schlittler have? Too many.
• Brice Turang keeps getting better every year. How is he making it possible?
• Shohei Ohtani’s ERA is a mere 0.38 so far this season.
• Jesus Luzardo has been good, so why don’t his numbers show it?
• Just how bad are the poor season starts by the Mets and Phillies? Let’s check the standings.
• Will Klein’s glove is sure to make any Pokémon fan jealous.
• Garrett Crochet’s rough season is only the start of Boston’s problems.
• The Mets finally ended their 12-game losing skid, but an injured Francisco Lindor means the hits just keep coming.
• Nolan McLean might be the one true bright spot in the Mets’ miserable season.
• That’s one way to get a run I suppose.

• Do you want to feel especially smart today?

• In baseball, you see something new every day.

The Orioles came into the 2026 season talking about rotation depth, and for once with actual justification. The team had failed to sign a big-name ace in the offseason, but they did have six starters for five spots (Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, Shane Baz, Chris Bassitt, Zach Eflin, Dean Kremer)—seven, even eight, if you counted sometime starters Albert Suárez, Tyler Wells, and Cade Povich. The team even had, in theory, something in scant supply last season: health. Kyle Bradish was back from Tommy John, Zach Eflin was recovered from back surgery and reportedly feeling better than ever, Shane Baz was ready to go a full year. The Norfolk shuttle would be for prospect call-ups, not emergencies.

Then the season started, and it’s been going a little like Mike Tyson’s observation about everybody having a plan until you get punched in the face.

Ace Trevor Rogers has looked fallible, with five and four earned runs in his last two starts, respectively. Bradish, meanwhile, is not inspiring full confidence: his velocity is pretty much normal, but his two-seamer and slider are markedly less effective weapons. Eflin had a great spring, then exited his very first start on March 31 due to right elbow discomfort, underwent imaging and a second opinion, and ultimately had Tommy John surgery. He is gone for the year and possibly beyond. As for Kremer, who didn’t even make the rotation out of spring training, he was recalled after other injuries, pitched competently, but just went back on the 15-day IL with a strained right quad.

And that’s how we ended up turning to Brandon Young, called up Thursday to start against the Boston Red Sox on Friday night. Not even the team’s eighth-best choice for the starting rotation back in spring, it’s now looking like he might be sticking around for a while.

Brandon Wayne Young’s path to the majors has been long and interrupted. An undrafted free agent, he signed with the Orioles in 2020, missed that year entirely due to COVID, showed promise in 2021, then underwent Tommy John surgery in 2022 after just three starts at Double-A. He spent 2023 bouncing between four affiliates while working his arm back. In 2024, he put it together: over 27 appearances between Bowie and Norfolk, he posted a combined 3.57 ERA and 132 strikeouts in 111 innings. It was enough to push him onto the Orioles Top 30 prospects list for the first time, appearing at No. 19.

From undrafted to sort-of top prospect, Young made his MLB debut the following year, in 2025. Interestingly, as now, it was injuries to Zach Eflin (a right lat strain then, Tommy John now) that vaulted Young into the O’s rotation. Cool opportunity, but results-wise, his season was mixed, at best. Over 12 starts and 57.2 innings, he went 1-7 and posted a 6.24 ERA. Yet amid those struggles, he produced two performances that ranked among the season’s best moments. On July 9 against the Mets, he threw an immaculate inning: nine pitches, nine strikes, three strikeouts, getting whiffs from Jesse Winker and Jeff McNeil on his changeup before blowing a 96 mph fastball past Luis Torrens. And then, on August 15 in Houston, he tossed a career-high eight innings, allowing only one hit, becoming the first Oriole rookie to throw eight scoreless innings while allowing one or zero hits since Chris Waters in 2008. He came within four outs of a perfect game. A hamstring strain ended his season shortly after.

Cut to 2026. Once again, Brandon Young didn’t figure to be central to the Orioles’ pitching plans, but intervening circumstances dictated otherwise. The big Texan began the season down in Norfolk, and his performance there started to turn heads. In three starts totaling 16.2 innings, he allowed just two runs and struck out 19. With a 1-0 record and 1.08 ERA, 0.54 WHIP and .111 opponent average, he was named International League Pitcher and Player of the Week, a fitting tribute to his strong start. Even better: on April 6, he was called up to the big leagues, where he threw five scoreless innings with two hits against the lowly White Sox, showing a command and ability to miss bats that was often absent from his 2025 work. Now, given another chance to start for the O’s, he’ll try his luck against Sox of a different color.

Is there reason to think something has genuinely changed for Brandon Young? Cautiously, because it’s been very little time, but yes. It seems last season he had some bad luck on contact, to judge by his xwOBA against (.320) was meaningfully better than his actual wOBA (.372), and for ERA (6.24 actual, 4.27 expected). This spring he’s simplified his pitch mix and cut down on walks, and for now, his fastball is generating more swings and misses than it did last season, with a positive run value. A pitcher with four good pitches who throws strikes is better than one who sort-of commands six. The sample is still small, but the underlying indicators point in the right direction.

The ceiling remains much what we expected (although in fairness, who saw that near-perfect game coming last year?). The Young four-seamer sits in the 92-95 mph range: it’s a solid pitch when he locates it at the top of the zone, and it plays up because everything comes out of the same delivery window. He’s upped the use of his splitter, his best swing-and-miss weapon, and replaced a hard-to-locate curveball with a slider. Fewer moving pieces to mess up here.

We’ll see what happens on Friday night, but I’m being obvious when I say that the Orioles could use good news on the pitching front. The rotation they built has already been significantly depleted, and this team has real offensive talent that deserves consistent support from the mound. Young is not a top-of-rotation arm, and his hold on a roster spot may be temporary once others get healthy. But given a chance to pitch, he may prove an unexpected asset. There were glimpses of this last season. This year, he may be ready to make the most of the opportunity.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Hickory starter Kamdyn Perry went three innings, allowing three runs, striking out three and allowing a homer. Jormy Nivar struck out three in five shutout innings.

Paulino Santana drew three walks. Dewar Tovar was 2 for 3 with a homer and a walk. Esteban Mejia had a hit, three walks and a stolen base. Josh Spring was 2 for 4 with a double. Yolfran Castillo had a hit. Hector Osorio was 2 for 4.

Hickory box score

Hub City continues to put its early season offensive woes behind them, exploding for 16 runs in its win over the Dash on Thursday.

J’Briell Easley allowed one run in 2.2 IP, striking out three. Bubba Hoopii-Tuionetao threw 1.1 scoreless innings.

Paxton Kling was 3 for 6 with two doubles. Gleider Figuereo was 2 for 3 with a walk. Yeison Morrobel was 3 for 6 with a double. Rafe Perich was 2 for 5. Ben Hartl was 2 for 3 with a homer.

Hub City box score

Winston Santos’ difficult start to the 2026 season continued, as he got the start for Frisco but was pulled with two outs in the first after 31 pitches. He allowed one run and one hit, walked two, struck out two and hit a batter.

Bryan Magdaleno’s impressive rebound from his awful 2025 season continued, as he struck out three in 1.1 scoreless innings, walking two. Wilian Bormie struck out three and walked one in two shutout innings.

Frisco box score

Round Rock played two (and won two).

In Game One, Josh Stephan struck out six in four innings, walking one and allowing a two run homer. Rehabbing Carter Baumler allowed a run in an inning of work. Michel Otanez walked two and struck out one in a scoreless inning. Robbie Ahlstrom struck out two and walked one in a scoreless inning.

Cam Cauley was 2 for 4 with a walk. Justin Foscue was 2 for 4 with a walk. Michael Helman had a hit and a walk.

In Game Two, Ryan Brasier struck out two in a scoreless inning. Dane Acker struck out three and walked two in 2.1 IP, allowing three runs. Emiliano Teodo threw 31 pitches (18 for strikes) in 1.2 IP, walking one, striking out four and allowing a run. Josh Sborz allowed a solo homer and struck out two in an inning.

Cam Cauley homered, walked three times, and stole a base. Aaron Zavala homered, walked twice and stole a base. Justin Foscue drew a pair of walks. Michael Helman was 1 for 4 with a walk.

Round Rock Game One box score

Round Rock Game Two box score

Rangers 6, Pirates 1

• See, that was much better than the previous game.
• A couple of big innings early to get a comfy lead, and good pitching throughout.
• A 10 strikeout game from Jacob deGrom, his first double-digit K game since May 10, 2025. Just one walk. Just one run, when Oneil Cruz once again sent a ball into the stratosphere. I’m glad to see Oneil Cruz leave town.
• A very impressive 21 whiffs from deGrom in the game — nine on his fastball, six on his slider, four on his changeup and two on his curve.
• That’s tied for the fourth most swings-and-misses in a game this season. Shota Imanaga and Dylan Cease have each had a 24 whiff game, and Jacob Misiorowski had a 22 whiff game.
• Interestingly, Nathan Eovaldi and Jack Leiter are the only two pitchers this year in the majors to generate 20 swings and misses in a game.
• The one walk was on a 3-2 pitch to Ryan O’Hearn with two outs in the sixth. That was the last batter deGrom faced, as the Rangers continue to be cautious with his pitch count (deGrom ended the night with 89 pitches) early in the season.
• Gavin Collyer was summoned to finish out the sixth and while he maintained his perfect ERA he scared us in the process, hitting Nick Gonzales with a pitch and then issuing a four pitch walk to Spencer Horwitz before getting Konnor Griffin to ground out to end the inning.
• Jalen Beeks and Jakob Junis each pitched a scoreless inning before Peyton Gray came in for the ninth in his major league debut. He retired all three batters he faced, with the final out coming on a Griffin strikeout, which was Gray’s first major league strikeout.
• So a day after both the starter and the pen had problems, the starter and the pen were very good for Texas.
• Texas threatened early against Pirates starter Bubba Chandler, loading the bases in the first on a Brandon Nimmo single, a Corey Seager single, and a Josh Jung HBP before Evan Carter got called out on strikes on a 2-2 pitch to end the inning. Carter challenged the K call, and it was close, but the pitch just nicked the zone.
• Chandler wiggled out of a two on, two out situation in the second after Alejandro Osuna singled and Nimmo walked, with Joc Pederson hitting one deep the opposite way, but not deep enough.
• Not deep enough in the Shed, at least. Per Statcast, it would have gone out at Fenway, at the Juice Box, at Petco, at the Rogers Centre, at Citizens Bank Park, and at Rate Field.
• It was fun-having time in the third, though, as, after a Josh Jung single, Evan Carter hit a blast to right center that caromed off the wall and resulted in an inside-the-park home run. Look!

• The inside the park home run is, I think, the most fun play in baseball. I still remember, as a kid, watching Toby Harrah and Bump Wills hit back-to-back inside the park home runs off of Ken Clay at Yankee Stadium. Its one of the most memorable Rangers moments of my childhood.
• The Rangers turned a small lead into a big lead in the fourth. Josh Smith walked and stole second. Alejandro Osuna walked. After Brandon Nimmo fanned, Joc Pederson singled home Smith. Corey Seager followed that up by yanking a 1-0 Bubba Chandler changeup down the right field line and into the stands for a three run bomb. That made it 6-0 Rangers, and the offense at that point decided to save the rest of the runs they might have scored for the weekend.
• Incidentally, regarding Pirates pitcher Bubba Chandler…Bubba is not an acceptable name for a pitcher. If you are named Bubba you need to be a position player. Probably an outfielder, but maybe a big beefy first baseman.
• Bubba Chandler does throw really hard, at least. If you’re a pitcher named Bubba, you should at least be bringing the gas.
• I feel like the nickname Bubba has gone out of style of late. When I was younger it seemed like there were lots of Bubbas around. I had a teammate named Bubba on my little league team. He was the best player on the team, and I think if you’re a little leaguer you don’t get to be called Bubba unless you’re one of the best players on the team. You can’t be named Bubba and be bad. Kind of like the rule that, if you are a baseball player and your uniform number is “1,” you should be a small guy, but you have to be a good small guy. You can’t be a bad small player and wear “1.”
• Also, if you are named “Bubba,” you kind of have to have an edge to you. Like, I was thinking about who on the Rangers would be the best one to be nicknamed “Bubba,” and I was thinking about Evan Carter, but he seems to nice to be a “Bubba.”
• My preferred bubble gum as a kid was Hubba Bubba. I don’t know if they still make that. I’m kind of out of the chewing gum game.
• Someone offered Ben’s four year old son Tibsy a piece of gum the other day, and Ben’s mom said he was too little to have it. Tibsy said he could have gum when he was old like daddy, because then he won’t have any hair for the gum to get stuck in.
• Jacob deGrom maxed out at 98.7 mph on his fastball, averaging 97.5 mph. Gavin Collyer hit 98.1 mph with his fastball. Jalen Beeks reached 95.2 mph with his fastball. Jakob Junis’s sinker touched 92.5 mph. Peyton Gray’s fastest pitch was his first major league pitch, a 92.5 mph fastball.
• Alejandro Osuna had a 106.0 mph ground out. Corey Seager had a 104.7 mph home run. Brandon Nimmo had a 102.3 mph double. Evan Carter’s homer was 99.3 mph.
• Rangers are tied for first place in the American League West with the A’s of Northern California, who are rolling into town for three games.

After a rivalry showdown in Fenway Park, the Yankees keep with the theme and head to another rival’s outpost in Houston. The Astros have had what can safely be described as a bad start to the 2026 season, despite a valiant effort from a Bondsian Yordan Alvarez. The Yankees will look to take advantage of their lulling AL West rival this weekend. The Bombers won’t have the front end of their rotation in line for this three-game set, so the offense may have to carry a bit more weight down in Texas.

Friday: Will Warren vs. Lance McCullers Jr. (8:10 pm ET)

The opening game will see Will Warren taking the bump, who has gotten off to a terrific start in 2026. The right-hander, who co-led the Yankees in starts last season, is managing would-be career-best 2.49 ERA and 3.06 FIP marks, and is coming off of one of his better efforts on the year. Notably not pitching deep in many games, Warren completed seven innings last weekend against the Royals, racking up 11 strikeouts (tied a career-high) while giving up a pair of runs. He’ll look to build on one of the more impressive starts in his young career.

Opposite of Warren will be Lance McCullers Jr. Once an exciting young pitcher, the now 32-year-old has spent years in injury purgatory. Since 2022, he hasn’t pitched more than 55.1 innings in a season, and that includes entire missed seasons in 2023 and ‘24. Despite a hot start, McCullers has allowed 13 earned runs in his last three starts, in part due to some tough luck (3.98 FIP). He’ll try to get back on track Friday.

Saturday: Ryan Weathers vs. Mike Burrows (7:10 pm ET)

Similar to Warren, Ryan Weathers has also enjoyed a very good start to the year. The lefty is coming off his best start in pinstripes to this point, where he tossed 7.1 scoreless innings and struck out eight against the Royals. The Ryan Weathers experience has been an up-and-down one to this point, but we could be on an upswing now, with the lefty racking up 18 strikeouts in his last two starts.

Mike Burrows will toe the rubber on Saturday for the ‘Stros, a newer member of Houston’s squad acquired in a trade from the Pirates. The right-hander brings a four-pitch changeup-heavy mix to the bump, but is coming off some forgettable starts. The Astros get decent length out of Burrows, but he’s allowed ten earned runs in his last two starts (10.2 IP)

Sunday: Luis Gil vs. Spencer Arrighetti (2:10 pm ET)

In the finale, Luis Gil will make his fourth start of the season for New York. He too is coming off of his finest effort this far, in which he allowed just two hits across 6.1 scoreless innings against Boston. His strikeouts have been down to this point in the year, as he’s managed just two Ks in two of his three starts this year. His 13.8 percent K-rate is close to half of his rookie season, so it’ll likely correct a bit, a trend the Yankees would like him to kick off on Sunday.

Sunday will see Spencer Arrighetti on the Hill for the Astros, who’s looking to bounce back after a mostly lost 2025 season. He looked promising in a 145-inning rookie season in ‘24, but made just seven starts last year. Arrighetti has made two appearances this year, and is off to a good start, allowing just three earned runs in 11 innings of work. In his season debut against Colorado, he racked up double-digit strikeouts. He last faced the Yankees back in that rookie season, when he allowed a trio of homers and five earned runs in May of that season.

On Wednesday night, the Dodgers suffered their first shutout loss of the year by falling 3-0 to the San Francisco Giants. On Thursday, the Dodgers returned the favor and shut the Giants out by the exact same final score.

Only Luis Arraez could break through Tyler Glasnow on Thursday, as the right-hander dominated through eight shutout innings allowing just one hit and one walk— both to Arraez— while striking out a season-high tying nine hitters. It was the first time in two years that Glasnow completed eight innings, and he and Tanner Scott helped the Dodgers narrowly avoid being swept by San Francisco and dropping five of seven games on the road trip.

It’s been an amazing start to the season for Glasnow, who now holds a 2.45 ERA on the season with a 0.70 WHIP, 38 strikeouts and seven walks over 34 innings through his first five starts. Glasnow has only allowed one run and three hits over his last 15 innings on the mound, and Dave Roberts commended him following Thursday’s contest for his insurgency as the Dodgers head back home off the heels of a shutout victory, per Kirsten Watson of SportsNet LA.

“He just knew we needed to win, and I think all three of our guys that went out— as far as starters— did a great job. Today we were kind of on a little funk offensively, and he set the tone… He helped the ‘pen, got us a win, and like I said before, this is who he is, and so for me this is not surprising.”

Links

Thursday was a much needed offensive boost for Kyle Tucker, as in his first game demoted to cleanup in the starting lineup on Thursday, he went 2-4 with a double and a run scored after going hitless in the first two games against San Francisco.

The plan for the “foreseeable future,” as noted by Sonja Chen of MLB.com, is to have Tucker keep hitting cleanup while Freddie Freeman will hit behind Shohei Ohtani at second in the lineup.

“I think it’s more of just trying to give Kyle a different look. I think that he’s obviously going through it right now and not feeling great at the plate,” Roberts said before the game. “So sometimes, the different visual, letting the game come to you a little bit before jumping in there in the two, changes your outlook and potentially the results.”

Tucker spoke with Watson postgame about the lineup adjustment, to which the outfielder insisted that his main goal is to produce no matter where he’s hitting.

“Being there is fine. Wherever I am in the lineup, I’m trying to help this team win, and I’ll do it. It’s kinda been a little bit of a grind, but we got a couple knocks today.”

As the Dodgers head home with a 5-4 record over their last nine games, they host a Chicago Cubs team that has rattled off nine straight victories, fresh off a four-game sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies that sent them to their eighth consecutive loss. At the helm for Chicago is the brief former Dodger Craig Counsell, who had some choice words to say about MLB’s Shohei Ohtani rule, per Patrick Mooney of The Athletic.

“I’ve never understood it,” Counsell said. “It’s an offensive rule, essentially. It’s a rule to help offense, more than anything, if you ask me. And then there’s one team that’s allowed to carry basically one of both, and he gets special consideration, which is probably the most bizarre rule. For one team.”

The rule does indeed apply to every team in baseball. It just so happens that the Dodgers have the only incarnation of Babe Ruth in the game today.

Meet the Mets

It wasn’t the sharpest game of baseball, but the Mets won their second-straight game by beating the Twins 10-8.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, MLB.com, Newsday, New York Daily News, New York Post

Before the game, the Mets got bad news, as Francisco Lindor is expected to miss significant time because of his left calf strain. David Lennon writes that the injury might be the Mets’ breaking point.

Anthony DiComo provided as many details as possible about Lindor’s injury.

The Mets managed to embarrass themselves in the win, as Huascar Brazobán returned to the field for the ninth inning as Devin Williams started to come in from the bullpen while the Citi Field light show happened.

Tim Britton and Will Sammon write about the Mets’ awkward roster and whether or trades will be necessary to get to a point that the pieces are a better fit.

Jon Heyman says that the Mets’ struggles shouldn’t be blamed on Carlos Mendoza.

Around the National League East

The Phillies lost their ninth-straight game in an 8-7 loss to the Cubs. Bryce Harper is miffed, and the Phillies released former Mets pitcher Taijuan Walker yesterday after his latest bad outing.

The Braves beat the Nationals for their fifth-straight series win.

Around Major League Baseball

The Tigers beat the Brewers in walk-off fashion.

The Rangers beat the Pirates by a 6-1 score.

The Yankees completed a sweep of the Red Sox. Here’s how Cam Schlittler became a better pitcher after talking to Gerrit Cole.

Tyler Glasnow finished the Dodgers’ road trip with a strong start as his team beat the rival Giants.

Andrew Benintendi led the White Sox to victory over the Diamondbacks.

The Rockies had a series win within their grasp, but that fell apart as they lost to the Padres.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 1962, Casey Stengel was fined five hundred bucks for appearing in an beer advertisement while wearing his uniform.

Triple-A: Memphis Red Birds (STL) 5, Norfolk Tides 2

Levi Wells pitched four innings of one-run baseball. He gave up just three hits but also walked three in the short outing. The lone run came in the third inning on back-to-back doubles from the Red Birds, the second from former Orioles farmhand César Prieto.

Wells took the loss because they were down 1-0 when he exited, but the bullpen was worse than he was. Jeisson Cabrera and Enoli Paredes allowed two runs apiece.

The Tides had six hits, and three of them came off the bat of leadoff hitter Jud Fabian. That includes his fifth home run of the year, a solo shot. Fabian’s OPS is .894 after 23 games. Their other run scored in the bottom of the ninth on a single by Christian Encarnacion-Strand. Encarnacion-Strand reached base three times in the game with a single and two walks. Enrique Bradfield did not play.

Box Score

Double-A: Chesapeake Baysox 5, Akron RubberDucks (CLE) 2

Luis De León started the game with three shutout innings. The lefty allowed two hits with two walks and struck out four. He threw 67 pitches, which is not ideal. His relief, Cohen Achen, also pitched two scoreless and was awarded the win. The RubberDucks scored both of their runs in the ninth.

The Baysox had just seven hits in the game but they managed to score five runs anyway. Anderson De Los Santos had three hits and scored three runs. He was a triple short of the cycle. Griff O’Ferrall had one hit; his batting average early on is just .104. The top three batters in the lineup, Brandon Butterworth, Aron Estrada, and Ethan Anderson, were hitless.

Box Score

High-A: Frederick Keys 10, Wilmington Blue Rocks (WAS) 9

The Keys were ahead 6-3 before allowing the Blue Rocks to score five runs in the fifth inning, but they came back and scored three in the bottom of the ninth to get the walk-off win.

JT Quinn had an off night, with six runs allowed in 4.1 innings. He allowed three runs, with a home run, in the top of the first. He put together three scoreless innings, then gave up three more runs with another homer to start the fifth. He ended the game eight hits and five strikeouts. But no walks, so that’s something?

Despite being down 3-0 immediately, the offense started fighting back right away. They scored six runs in the second through fourth innings, thanks in part to back-to-back homers from RJ Austin and Nate George. Both Austin and George had two-hit games. Vance Honeycutt reached base twice and stole twice, including home.

In the bottom of the ninth, down by two, the Keys loaded the bases on a single and two walks. Braylin Tavera singled in one run to make the score 9-8. Pinch-hitter Ike Irish came through in the clutch, lining a single to center field to knock in both the tying and winning runs.

Box Score

Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 7, Wilson Warbirds (MIL) 3

It was a good night for starting pitcher Esteban Meija. He struck out eight batters in four shutout innings with just three hits and a walk. It was the best start for Meija so far this season, who walked an unimaginable eight batters in his previous start on April 17th. Meija was replaced by Brandon Downer, who was awarded the win with three innings and one run allowed.

The offense took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back. DJ Layton continued to lay waste to Carolina League. He had two doubles and a walk as the leadoff batter, and his OPS is 1.076. Delmarva had three two-run innings and even scored one run on a steal of home for extra fun. Jordan Sanchez tripled and walked, and four Shorebirds had multi-hit games.

Box Score

Today’s Schedule

• Triple-A: Norfolk vs Memphis, 6:35. Starter: Cameron Weston
• Double-A: Chesapeake vs Akron, 7:05. Starter: Sebastian Gongora
• High-A: Frederick vs Wilmington, 7:00. Starter: Juaron Watts-Brown
• Low-A: Delmarva vs Wilson, 7:05. Starter: Caden Hunter

Good morning.

• Some teams are off to a hot start to the season. Others are not. Those are the ones were interested in right now. Dayn Perry gives a “panic meter” rating to the struggling teams and he thinks the Phillies should be more worried than the Mets.
• Michael Baumann explains on what is going wrong with the Phillies in general and takes a special look about how worried should Philadelphia be about lefty Jesús Luzardo in particular.
• The Phillies also released right-hander Taijuan Walker. The Phillies still owe Walker $15 million.
• The Mets have now won two in a row after losing 12 straight. But they got bad news as star shortstop Francisco Lindor will miss “quite a bit” of time with a left calf strain.
• Ben Clemens is very impressed with Mets right-handed starter Nolan McLean and he’ll tell you why.
• In surprising news, the Dodgers and Giants still hate each other and Dalton Rushing seems to be the one stirring the pot. Maria Guardado and Sonja Chen report.
• Ryan Phillips has more on Rushing’s general jackassery.
• Jordan Schusterman examines what the Dodgers options are now that expensive closer Edwin Díaz is out for much of the season.
• Former Athletics owner Lew Wolff blasted the Giants as “despicable” for blocking the teams move to San Jose, which led to a move to Las Vegas instead. (Free The Athletic reg. req.)
• Chris Kirschner reports on how Yankees ace Gerrit Cole helped turn Cam Schlitter into an elite pitcher. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• For some reason this has been big news. Bryan Hoch reports that the Yankees players are pushing for the team to adopt a road alternate uniform. They’re calling for the team to wear their Spring Training uniforms in selected road games this year.
• Aaron Judge made the point that the tradition of the Yankees’ two iconic uniforms has already been defiled by an advertising patch on their sleeve. (Free The Athletic reg. req.)
• Chris Kirschner argues that for the Yankees to take an alternate uniform would be a near-fatal blow to the hallowed traditions that make the Yankees special. (The Athletic sub. req.) Or something like that.
• In any case, Brendan Kuty reports that while the Yankees will consider the players’ request, no decision on the matter is coming anytime soon. (Free The Athletic reg. req.)
• Ben Clemens looks at the numbers behind White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami’s hot start to his major league career.
• Dayn Perry also looks at the metrics on Murakami and is a little more pessimistic on his long-term outlook.
• Jordan Schusterman looks at how Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez got even better this year.
• Michael Baumann wonders how Brewers second baseman Brice Turang keeps improving year after year.
• The Royals announced plans for a new $1.9 billion stadium in downtown Kansas City. (Free The Athletic reg. req.)
• Eight early season statistics to play attention to, according to the staff at ESPN dot com.
• Walks are at a 75-year-high this year and players are saying that the Automatic Ball/Strike system is responsible.
• The Padres signed free agent Lucas Giolito to a one-year, $3 million deal with incentives.
• Dan Szymborski examines what the Padres are getting in Giolito.
• Josh Jacobs explains what is powering the surprisingly-good Cardinals offense this year.
• Thirty-year-old Peyton Gray made his major league debut for the Rangers after eight years in the minor leagues.
• Braves rookie JR Ritchie’s first major league pitch was hit for a home run by James Wood. But he righted the ship and allowed just one more run over seven innings to get his first major league win.
• Ken Rosenthal reports on how Walt Weiss’ relationship with the Braves players hasn’t changed since his promotion to team manager. (The Athletic sub. req.) Weiss also admits he wasn’t ready to be a manager when he took over the Rockies.
• Max Scherzer tells Bob Nightengale that playing the piano has rescued his major league career. Basically, playing the piano until his fingers are sore is the only kind of physical therapy he’s found that’s solved his issues with his sore thumb.
• There was a big scare this week when top Brewers prospect Luis Peña collapsed in a minor-league dugout. The game was called and Peña was rushed to the hospital. Fortunately, he appears to be fine now after treatment for overheating.
• The MLB Pipeline gang has the pitching prospect with the best fastball in each team’s system.
• Stephen J. Nesbitt gets players to answer questions about what life is like on the road. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Oneil Cruz hit a home run that bounced off the top of the foul pole at Globe Life Field.
• And finally, in a happy follow-up to a story on Monday, Alicia Funderburk, the wife of Twins reliever Kody, gave birth to a healthy baby girl on Monday. The birth was complicated by Alicia being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma during the pregnancy.

The Rockies’ top offensive performers last season — Mickey Moniak and Hunter Goodman — were not only bright spots in a 119-loss season, but also had the best seasons of their young careers.

With breakout seasons in the rearview mirror, one of the big questions heading into this season was whether or not they could repeat their success or if the seasons were a one-off. Even though the Rockies are only 26 games into the season, or 16% of the way in, it seems like a good time to see if Goodman and Moniak are on track to put up numbers like they did last season.

In 2025, Goodman led the Rockies with 31 homers, 91 RBI, 28 doubles, 150 hits, and hit .278/.323/.520 with an OPS of .843 to earn the Rockies lone All-Star and Silver Slugger nods. Last season, Moniak led the Rockies with eight triples, was second in homers with 24 and RBI with 68, tied for third with 117 hits, finished fifth in doubles with 20 and hit .270/.306/.518 and an .824 OPS.

While some numbers are down, most are on track or even better for Goodman and Moniak. 

Through Thursday’s action, Goodman is leading the team in runs (17), is second in homers (6), third in hits (23), and tied for fifth in RBI (9). He’s hitting .264/.340/.540 with an .880 OPS. Here’s how his numbers look from Baseball Savant.

Goodman is trying to take on the extra challenge of more playing time this year, which means DHing on the days when he’s not catching. He’s played in 24 of the Rockies 26 games so far, including eight where he played all or part of the game as DH. His power numbers are about the same, which is a great sign. Unfortunately, his strikeouts are much worse.

Moniak — despite missing the first six games of the season with a sprained finger from spring training — leads Colorado with eight homers, which is tied for fifth-most in MLB, and he is tied for most RBI (15) on Colorado’s roster. He is second in runs (14) and fourth in hits (22) and doubles (5). Moniak is hitting .324/.347/.750 and has an OPS of 1.097.

It’s easy to see why he has had so much production early, thanks to Baseball Savant.

Moniak’s consistency is huge for the Rockies, especially considering he was a former No. 1 MLB draft pick and seemed to be a bust after not taking off in Philadelphia. It seemed even worse after being traded to and later released by the Angels in March of 2025. The Rockies picked him up, and that bet on Moniak is paying off.

His homers are ahead of where he was at in 2025, even if he’s striking out a little more and walking less.

Outside of swinging a hot bat, the Rockies also win more often when Moniak is in the lineup. Through Thursday, the Rockies are 8-11 when Moniak plays and 2-5 when he doesn’t (10-16 overall). When asked what Moniak provides outside the stats after Thursday’s game, Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer explained Moniak’s value.

“Behind closed doors — just what he does. He’s part of keeping everything around her loose and keeps everybody ready to play. What he provides off the field is just as big as what he’s providing on the field,” Schaeffer said. “But he’s in a really good place offensively too.”

The season is still early, but all signs point to Goodman and Moniak continuing their impressive performances swinging the bat. With more support from hitters like TJ Rumfield and Troy Johnston, and the quality of pitching keeping the Rockies in more games, it’s no wonder the Rockies are off to a better start. The Rockies took 60 games to win 10 games in 2025 compared to 25 this year.

The MLB season is long. Anything can happen. Last year, Goodman and Moniak combined for 55 homers. They could be on track to beat that this year. Will they? Will it help the Rockies increase their win total this year?

Let us know what you think in the comments.

On the Farm

Triple-A: Sacramento River Cats 12, Albuquerque Isotopes 10

Vimael Machín hit an RBI single to score Adael Amador in the ninth inning, but it wasn’t enough to help the Isotopes come back on Thursday night in Sacramento. Albuquerque was outhit 15-10 and was hurt by three fielding errors. Amador hit a two-run homer and Drew Avans and Cole Carrigg each added two-run singles to help the Isotopes take a 6-0 lead in the second inning, but Sacramento answered back with an eight-run third to take a 9-6 lead. Albuquerque came back to tie it with a two-run homer from Zac Veen and an RBI from Chad Stevens in the fifth. Sacramento regained the lead with a three-run inning of its own in the seventh. Machín, Amador and Veen led the offense for the Isotopes with two hits each.

Double-A: Portland Sea Dogs 5, Hartford Yard Goats 4 (10)

The Yard Goats blew a 4-2 lead as the Sea Dogs scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to send it to extra innings and then won it on a walk-off single by Max Ferguson in the bottom of the 10th. Andy Perez had two hits for Hartford and stole a base, which led to a run in the fifth on an error. The Yard Goats scored their first run when Dyan Jorge led off with a single and came around to steal home on a double steal. In the sixth, Roc Riggio hit an RBI single and Jorge drew an RBI walk. Konner Eaton had a solid start for Hartford, giving up two uns on six hits in five innings, but Carlos Torres blew the save in the ninth and Cade Denton took the loss by pitching in the 10th.

High-A: Everett Aquasox 11, Spokane Indians 3

The Indians rallied back from a 3-0 deficit to tie the game in the fourth inning on a Caleb Hobson RBI single, but Everett put up four-run frames in the fifth and seventh to come away with a win on Thursday. Hobson hit an RBI single in the second inning too, as did Tommy Hopfe, to account for Spokane’s scoring. Jordy Vargas gave up five runs on five hits in 4.1 innings to take the loss.

Low-A: Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 9, Fresno Grizzlies 2

The Quakes jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second and never looked back on Thursday night. Fresno cut the 2-1 lead in half when Matt Klein hit an RBI single to score Lucas Ramirez, but Rancho Cucamonga answered back to take a 7-1 lead by the end of the fifth. Tanner Thach plated Clayton Gray, who had two hits on the night, on a fielder’s choice in the fifth for Spokane’s second and final run.

Feltner, Castro leave Thursday’s game early with injuries | MLB.com

Feltner left after two innings with right triceps tightness and Willi Castro was forced from the game with right knee soreness. The severity of either is currently unknown, but the moves appear to be precautionary.

MLB’s Top 10 Most Likely Trade Candidates Before 2026 Deadline | Bleacher Report

There is a Rockie on the list at No. 7. Bleacher Report believes that the arm of Jimmy Herget, aka the Human Glitch, will be in high demand at the trade deadline.

MLB Power Rankings Week 4: Who are the top teams one month in? | ESPN.com

Despite improvement from 2025, the Rockies are still coming in at No. 30 on this list.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Good morning, baseball fans!

The San Francisco Giants welcome the Miami Marlins to town today for a three-game series. So let’s take a look at what Oracle Park has on deck for fans attending the games this weekend.

First up, we’re calling CalBear to the front on this one because tonight is Cal Night. Fans with special event tickets will receive a roped hat with the Giants and Cal logo, as well as a Giants flag in the school’s colors that features the school’s iconic bear mascot.

Saturday is Brandon Belt Celebration Day! I feel like I’ve been waiting a year for this. The first 20,000 fans in attendance will receive a Brandon Belt Aloha Shirt giveaway. There will also be a Junior Giants donation drive, where fans can receive a Brandon Belt captain hat pin for donations of $30 that will go towards gloves for the kids. Fans will want to be in their seats well before first pitch to enjoy the festivities for the Captain.

As with all Saturday home games this season, it will also be a Fiesta Gigantes game, with celebrations throughout the park.

Sunday will be Youth Baseball Day at the park. The first 11,000 fans age 14 and under will receive a pair of Youth Flip-Up Sunglasses as a giveaway! A perfect outing for the kids and their teammates.

If you’re headed to the park this weekend, have fun and make sure to share pictures down in the comments!

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants and Marlins play game one of the series tonight at 7:15 p.m. PT.

At Fangraphs, Brendan Gawlowski makes his “Kansas City Royals Top 36 Prospects” list:

6. Luinder Avila

Avila has been in Kansas City’s system for eight years, but it wasn’t until a velo breakout a couple of seasons back that he really popped onto the radar. He has a live arm and has sat 95-97 while touching 98 with both fastballs in starts this season. His high slot limits his ability to generate swing and miss, but hitters have to respect the velocity and the different ways he can make the ball move, which helps his secondaries play up. He has great raw feel for spin, and both his slider and curve flash plus, but he doesn’t always finish or execute them. At times he’s shown a decent changeup, but it has become increasingly peripheral and he only threw one in his first big league start.

With an off day, there was a pair of stories in The Star about the stadium news.

Kacen Bayless wrote about the timeline:

Sherman, in his remarks to the crowd, expressed a desire to break ground on the stadium project in 2027. But his comments — and a press release put out by the team — fell short of confirming the aggressive timeline emphasized by Lucas and other city officials. Lucas’ chief of staff confirmed to The Star on Thursday that Opening Day — or the spring of — 2030 was still the mayor’s target.

Sam McDowell talks about a different kind of timeline, looking backward:

Sherman said Don Hall Jr., chairman of Hallmark’s board, floated Crown Center for the stadium “months ago” before “we spent a lot of time together thinking through it with architects and land planners thinking about conceptually what we could do here.”

As for passing along those talks, Sherman said Wednesday, “We told them we were coming to Crown Center a while ago.”

On the baseball side of things, Jaylon Thompson looks at the good, bad, and ugly from the first 25 games. It was heavy on the last two, which is to be expected for a last-place team at 8-17.

The ability to finish games is also a problem. A few times, the Royals have run themselves out of key spots on the basepaths. Guys have been picked off by opposing teams or failed to advance when taking the extra base.

Royals catcher Elias Diaz was thrown out at home plate against the New York Yankees as he attempted to score from first base. And Thomas was tagged out trying to reach third base against the Orioles.

The Royals worked on their baserunning in spring training. It was an emphasis after similar troubles haunted them last season. But it continues to be a concern in the biggest moments.

At MLB.com, Anne Rogers asks if Vinnie is out of his early-season slump:

Pasquantino knows things are going well for him when he’s not striking out. That’s why his 21.1% strikeout rate this year is alarming, well above the 15.7% mark he posted last year. His walk rate is up to 10.1% after back-to-back years of 7.2%. He’s working to get back to the reputation he had as a Minor Leaguer, when he was known as a hitter with a keen understanding of the zone.

More stadium stuff? At Fox 4 KC, Jonathan Ketz talked to Kansas City manager Mario Vasquez:

“I will tell you in November, I get a freaked out phone call from somebody that says, ‘Hey, the Royals, it’s a done deal, in Overland Park,’” Vasquez said. “I was like, ‘It can’t be, there’s no way. There are too many pieces already locked up to think that that can be a done deal.’ Plus, at the time, Leawood and Overland Park were not necessarily in love with having baseball at that location. That said, I said, ‘Alright, let me make a contact,’ and I contacted somebody in the organization, and I said, ‘Where are we? I mean, are we going to have an opportunity to talk about this?’ The response back to me was, ‘Let’s keep talking.’”

Also from Fox 4 KC, Kristen Stokes writes about the connection between the Royals and Hallmark and Our Lady of Sorrow Catholic church:

According to Father Leonard Gicheru, the founder of Hallmark JC Halls frequented Our Lady of Sorrows in downtown Kansas City. “What I’ve heard is that JC Halls…used to come here in this church for quiet moments in prayer,” Ghicheru said. “The crown being the centerpiece of our church somehow inspired him to think about the logo of his company.”

Ghicheru has been the priest at Our Lady of Sorrows for six years and said the Royals moving in their backyard is a full circle moment for the church and Hallmark.

In renderings by Populous, the stadium will be directly behind the church. But the church isn’t going anywhere. It will continue to stand at the corner of 26th and Gillham. Ghicheru said he’s confident this change will bring more people to the church.

Blogs?

Craig Brown wrote about the new stadium plan at Into the Fountains:

With Sherman and the ownership group set on leaving The K for greener pastures, I do think this Crown Center solution is loaded with potential. It is much better than just the Washington Square Park site on its own. I’m also intrigued by this partnership between Hallmark and the Royals. This could solidify a corridor that runs down Main Street from the River Market area to the Plaza. Assuming the owners of the Plaza make good on their promises of improvements. It could be, pardon the pun, a crown jewel in the heart of the city.

As did Kevin O’Brien at Royals Keep:

Only the Braves and Rangers were farther away than the Royals. However, the Rangers and Braves had developments around their respective ballparks, unlike the Royals, whose ballpark is surrounded by industrial buildings and a highway. 

If you were visiting from out of town and you wanted to go to a baseball game? You will need a car or be prepared to pay a sizeable amount for an Uber/Lyft, especially if you are staying in the downtown Kansas City area. It’s worth it for a one-time visit, but it definitely deters visitors without vehicles from going to multiple games in a series.

In its proposed location? Fans can get to the ballpark on the Streetcar, whether from the UMKC area or the River Market. Furthermore, fans can take the Amtrak from out of town to Union Station and go immediately to a baseball game. Not a lot of ballparks have that luxury.

Blog Roundup:

• Darin Watson at U.L.’s Toothpick: This Date In Royals History–1976 Edition: April 23 – Paul Splittorff and the bullpen make a slim lead stand up as the Royals beat the Yankees.

• Jeff Wayman at The Diamond Chronicles: Down on the Farm – searching for happiness in the Royals organization

• Jacob Milham at KOK: Michael Wacha’s first blowup amid sensational season raised some red flags

• Caleb Moody at KOK: Juan Soto’s return might’ve just killed an ex-Royal’s comeback story

Big thanks again to Connor for filling in last week! My home internet was down and I was working off of my phone – not ideal for making a Rumblings.

So, back to our regularly scheduled programming. Two weeks ago we did the CPBL preview. This week is the KBO. And next week is NPB.

It’s always a little intimidating writing about the KBO and NPB. For the CPBL, there aren’t a lot of English-speaking fans. The subreddit is mostly dead, Twitter only has a couple of fans, and I could completely make up things and odds are you wouldn’t know the difference. Heck, those few English-speaking fans could be making stuff up and I may be passing along the baseball equivalent of Bigfoot stories and no one would be the wiser. But the KBO and NPB have numerous fans here and abroad. And they all know way more about those respective leagues than I do. I calm my fears by reminding myself that no one reads these anyway.

KBO – Korea Baseball Organization

Country: South Korea

Opening Day:March 28

International Players: Notable names include Yonny Chirinos, Chris Flexen, Drew VerHagen, Mitch White, Daz Cameron, Harold Castro, Matt Davidson, Austin Dean, Guillermo Heredia, Sam Hilliard, and Víctor Reyes. I’m not sure how many of those are actually “notable,” but those are the five-year (or more) MLB veterans in KBO. Matt Davidson had a couple of 20-homer seasons for the White Sox and always seemed to pummel the Royals. Just yesterday, Yasiel Puig, who was in the KBO last year, signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the Canadian Baseball League. Also, there seems to be a disproportionate number of former Oakland Athletics, and I’m not sure what to make of that. Full list from MyKBOStats

Former Royals: While he never played for Kansas City, the aforementioned Harold Castro got over 400 ABs in Omaha last year and triple slashed .307/.354/.538 at age 31. There are a pair of former Royals relievers of recent vintage in the league. Matt Sauer is on the KT Wiz. He was a low-leverage arm from the early months of 2024 who was fine-ish in April until his FIP caught up to his ERA in May and was released. You might remember Anthony Veneziano. He was drafted by the Royals in 2019 and was perpetually on the lower end of prospect lists, working his way through the system. He never could get walks under control and only threw two games for the Royals in September of 2023. He’s on the SSG Landers.

Rooting Interest: Back when Max did the official RR guide for the KBO in 2020, the Hanwha Eagles best fit our rooting interest. Since 2008, the team had only made the playoffs once and they lost quickly. The franchise has existed for 40 years and has only won one Korea Series (1999). Since we’ve been rooting for them, they’ve finished 10th, 10th, 9th, and 8th. But last year, the pitching staff was lights out. Former Pittsburgh Pirate Cody Ponce won the league MVP, going 17-1 with a 1.89 ERA. Former Royals farmhand Ryan Weiss went 16-5 with a 2.87 ERA. They led the Eagles to 2nd place and an automatic berth in the KBO equivalent of the LCS. There, they dispatched the Samsung Lions before losing to the LG Twins in the Korea Series. Ponce and Weiss are in the MLB this season, the former with the Blue Jays and the latter with the Astros. It feels like it’s back to business as usual with the Eagles. But last year was fun for their fans.

Last Season: I already spoiled the playoffs, mentioning that the Twins won the Korea Series, the Eagles finished second, and the Lions third. Iconic closer Seung-hwan Oh (nicknamed “Stone Buddha” and “Final Boss”) announced his retirement. He is the only KBO player to ever get above 300 saves, retiring with 427. And that’s even with playing 4 years in MLB and another 2 in NPB.

World Baseball Classic: South Korea was in Pool C along with Japan, Taiwan, Australia, and Czechia. They took care of business against Czechia in their opener. Next up was Japan and the game was tied 5-5 going into the 7th, but Japan pulled away for a win. A couple of weeks ago, we talked about Taiwan’s dramatic 5-4 extra-inning win against Korea. This meant that Korea’s final game against Australia would rely on tiebreakers to determine who advanced from the group. Normally, Hyun Min Ahn’s sacrifice fly in the 9th to make the game 7-2 wouldn’t have meant much. But that final run advanced Korea into the knockout stages and sent Australia home.

This marked South Korea’s first trip to the elimination round since the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Back then, they lost the finals in 10 innings to Japan. This year, they did not go as far. In the quarterfinals, they were run-ruled by the undefeated Dominican Republic team: 10-0 in 7 innings.

Random Nuggets:

• We listed all the MLB players in KBO. To flip this around, only one Korean player started the season in MLB. Giants outfielder and Korea WBC captain Lee Jung-hoo. Two others started the season on the injured list: Atlanta Braves shortstop Kim Ha-seong and San Diego Padres infielder Song Sung-mun. Three others start in the minors: Kim Hye-seong (Dodgers), Go Woo-suk (Tigers), and Bae Ji-hwan (Mets)
• One of the big stories this offseason was a gambling controversy… only it’s not what you think. “The league suspended Lotte Giants outfielder Kim Dong-hyeok for 50 games while handing down 30-game bans on three of his teammates, Go Seung-min, Kim Se-min and Na Seung-yeup.” Was it for throwing games or shaving points? Nope! It was for visiting a casino while they did Spring Training in Taiwan. Oops: “It is illegal for Korean nationals to gamble overseas, and the four players are currently under police investigation.”
• We’re already a couple of weeks into the season now. Want a quick spoiler on how it’s going for our rooting interest? Headline: “Eagles achieve dubious KBO record for most combined walks, HBPs allowed in game”. In case you were curious, the record is now 18: 16 BB and 2 HBP. “With a sellout crowd of 17,000 on hand, the Eagles led 5-1 entering the top of the eighth inning, but the Lions rallied with five runs in the final two frames. They scored the tying run and the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth without the benefit of a hit.” Our team is back, baby!

Links:

• http://eng.koreabaseball.com/ – The Official KBO site has some parts translated into English
• https://www.reddit.com/r/KBO/ – KBO Reddit
• https://mykbostats.com/ – Good English stats website with a clean interface and lots of data
• https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/sports – The Korea Times sports section usually has a number of KBO stories mixed in with other sports news

Last week* (two weeks ago), we did an NES game that we hadn’t used in a while. How about some more 8-bit fun?