Category: MLB

Roki Sasaki’s path in the big leagues has tested the resolve of a player who, before coming to the US, had known nothing but absolute success in his career. Something has clicked during the course of the season, though, for the right-hander to turn a corner in the last month, finishing May with a 3.18 ERA and a sub-1.00 WHIP. In his last start, Sazaki showed up with increased velocity, sitting at 98.5 MPH on his four-seam fastball, nearly a tick and a half above his season average. The increased velocity helped Sasaki induce more whiffs on his four-seamer, something he hasn’t done particularly well this season, with a whiff rate slightly below league average on the pitch.

As well as Sasaki pitched against the Phillies in a game the Dodgers ended up losing thanks to late hiccups from Tanner Scott, much like in Thursday’s defeat against the D-backs—it pales in comparison with what Sasaki accomplished the last time he faced the Angels. Sasaki was marvelous in seven innings of one-run ball against the Angels with eight punchouts, keeping Mike Trout in the yard, the number one goal for any pitcher facing the Halos.

On the other side, the Dodgers sit in the dark on what to expect from opposing starter Reid Detmers and the Angels. They’ll be facing a starting pitcher who, in the month of May alone, managed to walk six batters, strike out 14, and give up eight earned runs, all in separate starts. When he is on, Detmers can dominate a lineup, but that’s not the case very often. Historically, the Dodgers have punished Detmers quite regularly with 19 runs in just 29 innings against the southpaw.

Friday’s game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Angels
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
• Start time: 7:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

The offense the Phillies have been trotting out this season has been putrid at worst, average at best. You know this is something that can be state with almost factual intent when people get excited about the team scoring six runs on Wednesday. There have been a few spurts here and there of competence, most notably the games that followed the firing of Rob Thomson. Even in those games, the lineup was mostly reliant on Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber going nuclear for a few weeks in a row. In most of the other games this season, the help received by those two has mostly come in the form of Brandon Marsh. Nary a helper can be found with any regularity.

It’s quite jarring to use leaderboards for different offensive categories and see where the Phillies are ranking. After Wednesday’s game, the top of the National League leaderboard did see this trio mixed in. There’s Kyle Schwarber, sixth in the NL in wRC+ (157). Hey, there’s Harper, hanging around the top fourteen names (140). Look, scroll just a hair further and you can find that junkyard dog in Marsh (132), mixed in with names that, preseason, you’d have never put him with, names like de la Cruz and Freeman.

It’s not that trio that have been the problem. It is the supporting cast that has let the team done. One could argue that a lot of the blame could be placed on one or two players, but it truly has been a collective effort of badneess on the two thirds of the lineup not producing. Take that same wRC+ leaderboard mentioned up top and flip it so that the lowest numbers are at the top and you will find not one, not two – not even three – Phillies names there. You’ll find FIVE Phillies regulars among the very bottom of the league in wRC+ – Adolis Garcia (66), Alec Bohm (67), Trea Turner (73), Justin Crawford (78), and Bryson Stott (78). Adjust the qualifications a bit to lower the required plate appearances to 110 – hi, J.T. (71)!

That’s not just horrid, that’s downright….offensive.

In fact, it could also be something unprecedented. The other day, our very own John Stolnis wrote about how bad the team has been at the plate and put it into a more historic sense:

The Phillies’ offense is off to a historically terrible start. Coming into Tuesday’s three-game series against the Padres at Citizens Bank Park, their .224 team batting average is 2nd-worst in MLB (Padres, .218). Even in a season in which offenses throughout baseball are generally struggling, it is particularly terrible.

But even worse, their .224 average is the worst, through any team’s first 59 games in franchise history, of all time.

Folks, when you’re mentioned with wartime Phillies teams, that’s company that needn’t be kept. The unprecedented part is how bad it might get should these same players continue being this bad. In baseball history, there has only been one team that has had 5 or more players with 375 or more plate appearances and an OPS+ of 76 or less: the 1950 St. Louis Browns. As of right now, the Phillies have six regulars with an OPS+ less than 77.

It is just bad right now, the outburst on Wednesday notwithstanding.

The question becomes, can they change anything to make it better? Outside of radical personnel changes, that answer is probably no. Instead, the best change they can make is making sure the players that are hitting best are hitting the most often. That means having a lineup change imminent. As resistant as certain players are to do doing that, the struggle they have to score runs should have them lean towards doing as much as possible to take advantage of what they have working now.

Kyle Schwarber was the obvious choice to move into the leadoff spot, but he has a .609 OPS from that spot, a number that is almost 400 points lower than his accustomed second spot. On the flip side, Trea Turner has been better hitting second, clocking in with a .730 OPS from the spot. It’s unlikely the team would move Bryce Harper from his preferred third spot in the order, making Marsh the best option to hit behind him since he’s really the only one hitting well. It might be time to consider yet another move, this one maybe a bit more stark.

1. Marsh
2. Turner
3. Harper
4. Schwarber
5. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
6. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
7. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
8. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
9. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Marsh is not your typical leadoff hitter, yet drastic times, drastic measures, yada yada. He’s hit in the position a few games in his career, but mostly with the Phillies, he has been relegated (often rightfully so) to the second half of the lineup. The idea here is: if he’s on a career best hot streak this long into the season, why not ride it as long as possible? Sure, that bumps Schwarber all the way down to the cleanup spot, taking away the idea that a team should give their best hitters as many cracks at the plate as possible, but again – the team isn’t scoring runs often. Something different should be on the table.

If nothing else, it reinforces the dire need for a middle of the order right handed bat the team needs to add as soon as possible. The lack of production from Bohm, Garcia and Realmuto has made this doubly tough as it forces the team to shuffle deck chairs with the lineup card. Don Mattingly can rotate whoever he wants, wherever he wants, but if the team is going to continue to not hit, does it really matter?

Will they consider a lineup change? Probably not. There has been a lot of confidence emanating from the coaching staff that the players struggling will turn things around. There is plenty of time and history to indicate that might actually happen. Yet with a National League that has a surprising number of teams thinking they can get into the playoffs, banking wins now with a lineup constructed to better fit what they need could lead to a more secure playoff spot down the line.

As I said before, drastic times, drastic measures.

Last night I went to a trivia night contest at a local bar and one of the questions was – what number are the three uniform numbers retired by the Royals all divisible by? (answer below*) Retired numbers are reserved for the greatest in club history. But we all have our favorites that weren’t necessarily Hall of Famers, All-Stars, and sometimes they’re not even starting players.

One of my favorite Royals of all-time was Joe Randa. Nicknamed “the Joker” for his wide smile while he batted, Randa was a sure-handed third baseman and a doubles machine who seemed to have a knack for clutch hitting. He was a bit quiet and unassuming, modest, and hard-working – and fans loved that. He returned the love, calling Kansas City his home, even after he was traded away early in his career. He returned and become a solid starter and key to one of the best offenses in club history. He never made an All-Star team, but he’s one of my favorite players – I was fortunate enough to write his biography for the Society of American Baseball Research.

I have had some other favorites that never even reached the fame of Randa. Rey Palacios, Rusty Meacham, Esteban German, Justin Huber, Nori Aoki, Tim Collins, and of course, Kila Kaaihue were all guys I rooted for to make it.

Who was your favorite under-the-radar Royals player of all-time?

*-Five. (#5 George Brett, #10 Dick Howser, #20 Frank White)

Today marks the 36th anniversary of the Blue Jays’ first game at the SkyDome.

The stadium officially opened a couple of days earlier with a gala event featuring Oscar Peterson and comedian Andrea Martin. On June 8, Rod Stewart performed the first concert at the venue. I wonder if he has changed his setlist since then?

I have a story about that first game. Thirty-two years ago, I was a much younger Blue Jays fan. Some of the Jays’ games aired on CTV, but locally, they decided to join the game in progress after the evening news. You can imagine my disappointment. After the news finally ended, instead of switching to the game, they aired a half-hour feature about the construction of Skydome and a tour highlighting the ballpark’s modern features—hot and cold running water, vintage popcorn from the first Exhibition Stadium game, quirky details like that.

By the time the broadcast finally switched to the game, it was already an hour and a half underway. Naturally, I was not pleased.

The Jays lost 5-3 to the Brewers. Jimmy Key pitched a complete game, allowing 9 hits and throwing 141 pitches—yes, 141 pitches in a loss. Cito Gaston wasn’t one for pitch counts. In Key’s next start, he lasted only 3 innings and allowed 5 earned runs. The bullpen had already logged 19 innings over three games in Boston prior to this one, so Key took one for the team.

To be fair to Cito Gaston, this was the only game that season in which a Blue Jays starter topped 140 pitches. Across MLB in 1989, there were 39 games where a pitcher reached that mark—Nolan Ryan led the way with seven, Roger Clemens had four, and Bobby Witt had two. No other pitcher had more than one such outing. John Farrell, a familiar name, threw 159 pitches against the Jays in a Cleveland loss. Unsurprisingly, 1989 was the last year Farrell would throw more than 100 innings. The highest single-game pitch count that season belonged to Nolan Ryan, who threw 164 pitches on September 12 against the Royals—and didn’t even finish the game.

Gary Sheffield drove in the game’s first run in the opening inning, scoring Paul Molitor—who notched the first hit—on a groundout.

The Blue Jays’ first runs and home run at SkyDome came courtesy of Fred McGriff, who launched a two-run shot that also brought home George Bell.

Our batting order was (what a terrific lineup):

Junior Felix RF

Tony Fernandez SS

Kelly Gruber 3B

George Bell LF

Fred McGriff 1B

Lloyd Moseby CF

Ernie Whitt C

Rance Mulliniks DH

Nelson Liriano 2B

Bell and McGriff hit homers. Kelly Gruber went 2 for 4 with a double.

After that game, the Jays sat at 23-32, sixth in the AL East and nine games behind the Orioles. Despite the slow start, the team rallied for a remarkable 76-41 run to capture the division title. That was the year Cito Gaston took over from Jimy Williams after 36 games and a 12-14 record, guiding the club to a 77-49 finish. A trade deadline acquisition of Mookie Wilson also energized the roster.

The new ballpark delivered a major revenue boost, with luxury suites starting at $150,000 and SkyClub seats fetching between $2,000 and $4,000.

SkyDome was met with rave reviews from both players and fans. Ernie Whitt even dubbed it the eighth wonder of the world.

Anne Murray performed the national anthems, just as she did for the inaugural Blue Jays game at Exhibition Stadium.

What are your memories of the early days of SkyDome?

Prior to the 2025 season, one of my bold predictions was that DJ Herz was poised to have a breakout season. Back in 2024, Herz showed swing and miss stuff, while throwing more strikes than expected. However, after a rough Spring Training, it was revealed that Herz had to undergo Tommy John Surgery.

Since then, the left hander has faded out of the picture and has become a forgotten piece of the Nats future. That is going to change really quickly though because Herz is back on the mound. This afternoon the 25 year old lefty made his first rehab start in Rookie Ball. Herz overwhelmed the FCL hitters he faced, throwing two perfect inning with four strikeouts.

Outside of just getting back on the mound, the most important thing out of this outing is that Herz did not walk anybody. In his minor league career, Herz had serious control problems. He has walked 5.88 batters per 9 innings in his MILB career. However, that did not stop him from being a successful pitcher because his stuff is so good.

In case you forgot, Herz has a dynamic arsenal. His fastball averaged 93.5 MPH but it plays way above the velocity. This is due to his deceptive delivery, his big extension down the mound and the elite shape of his fastball. In 2024, the whiff rate on his fastball was over 30%, which is bonkers for a heater that is only in the low to mid 90’s.

However, he was not known for his fastball in the minors. As Herz rose through the ranks, scouts buzzed about his changeup. The pitch has 10 MPH of velocity separation from his fastball and has great downward movement. It looks like the fastball most of the way before falling off the table.

That changeup got good results, but did not play like an elite pitch. Sometimes Herz would slow down his arm when throwing the changeup, which tips off the hitters. When he sells the pitch well, the changeup can be devastating. Herz’s third pitch is a slider which is not a special pitch on paper, but plays well off of the fastball and changeup.

When DJ Herz had his best stuff, he was absolutely electric to watch. There was an outing against the Marlins in 2024 where he struck out 13 and walked nobody. I think it was the most dominant outing from a Nats pitcher since Max Scherzer left DC. He had the Marlins hitters on a string.

The flashes of elite stuff is what made me so excited about Herz entering 2025. It also made his injury such a bummer. He has been out of the picture for nearly a year and a half now. However, now that he has started a rehab assignment, that puts the Nats on the clock. Pitchers rehab assignments can only be 30 days long. After the 30 days, the team will have to make a decision to either call Herz up to the big leagues or send him to AAA for more reps.

If Herz continues throwing the ball like he did today, that will become an interesting decision. At worst, I think Herz could be electric in that multi-inning relief role that Brad Lord and Mitchell Parker have been in. Herz would be an immediate upgrade over Parker in that role.

With Herz coming back from a serious injury, I do not think the Nats will throw him right back in the rotation. He will probably be eased in either in the minors or the bullpen. This is the first step of his rehab assignment, and we will see what is next. I would assume his next rehab start will either be in Low-A or High-A, unless the Nats like having him in the confines of West Palm Beach. Herz should steadily throw more pitches as he builds up, and will eventually face tougher competition.

This is something Nationals fans should be really excited about. If Herz can keep his walk rate in the 9-10% range that it was in 2024, he will be a piece of the Nats rotation moving forward. His 27.7% strikeout rate when we last saw him in the big leagues was elite, and would give this Nats pitching staff a new element. Herz can blow fastballs by hitters in a way most of these Nationals pitchers cannot.

As he continues his rehab assignment, I will be watching the walk numbers and the velocity once it is available. Those are the two things that will tell you how close Herz is. We did not see the velocity today, but Herz not walking anybody is a very encouraging sign. It shows that he is already feeling sharp, which is awesome to see in his first time back in game action.

The Nats pitching this season has not been great, but there is help on the way. Between Herz, Jarlin Susana and Travis Sykora, there are a lot of young arms on the mend right now. Herz will be the first to make an impact, and if he is at his best, that impact could be loud.

With the MLB collective bargaining agreement set to expire on Dec. 1, the possibility of a lockout before the 2027 season looms. And early negotiations between the league and the union have not been promising. 

On May 28, the league proposed a hard salary cap, which would be the first hard cap in MLB history and kick in for the start of the 2027 campaign.

Under the proposal, the hard cap would be $245.3 million, with a salary floor of $171.2 million. The floor would also be an MLB first.

Unsurprisingly, that proposal was a non-starter for the union.

Although it was just an opening proposal, a hard cap of $245.3 million feels quite low, given that the current CBT tax kicks in once a team crosses $244 million in yearly salary. 

There are currently eight teams that project to be above (with a handful well above) the luxury tax at the end of the 2026 season -- the Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Blue Jays, Braves, Cubs, and Padres.

The Mets' current payroll is roughly $379 million, with the Dodgers leading the pack at around $416 million. Expecting teams to get under a figure of $245.3 million for 2027 borders on fantasy. Even something $100 million or so higher would be a very difficult ask for teams like the Mets and Dodgers. 

Juan Soto, who signed the biggest contract in MLB history a few offseasons ago, recently weighed in on the labor talks.

"I don’t think that’s right, to have a cap," Soto told Will Sammon of The Athletic. "Baseball is doing great. We’ve been increasing every year. It’s been great for baseball. We are in the best moment in baseball right now in all kinds of ways. Why should we have a cap?"

While the $245.3 million cap number MLB proposed seems quite low, the floor of $171.2 million also feels like a level at least a handful of small-market owners would balk at, even though it should be easily doable.

The last labor negotiations -- in 2022 -- dragged out until the middle of March, with the season starting on April 7 as a result.

The Atlanta Braves were not able to get a sweep of the reigning AL champion Toronto Blue Jays yesterday, but they did win the series and look to take that momentum into the weekend series against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pirates are having somewhat of a surprising season this year with a .540 record, and a run differential of plus thirty-seven. They had Paul Skenes to build off of and went and added some bats in the off-season, but it would be hard for someone with a straight face to say they predicted this outcome so far this season.

Martín Pérez will be taking on the Pirates offense that has currently scored only four less runs than the Braves ranking them fourth in MLB. Unfortunately for Pérez, he has not faced many of these hitters much in his career. He has only seen six of the hitters on the Pirates’ current roster and none of them have more than nine at-bats against him. Brandon Lowe has those nine at-bats and Pérez has struggled a bit allowing a .333 average and .788 OPS against him. Old friend Marcell Ozuna has seven at-bats and has definitely had the edge in the matchup with a .571 average and 1.700 OPS.

On paper Pérez has been fantastic this year and has been way better than likely most expected with an ERA of 2.79. If his season ended today, that would be his best ERA in a season in his career. His strikeout rate of 20.5 would be his second best in a season. For his career he has averaged 16.5 percent. Interestingly, he has been able to do all of this with a fastball that averages 90.0 MPH, which is unheard of in today’s game.

The down side for Pérez is that his ERA is likely unsustainable. Players are hitting the ball hard against him 42.0 percent of the time which is far higher than his career 36.1 percent and ranks in the bottom 29.0 percent of MLB. He has also been aided by a BABIP against of .226 and a strand rate of 84.4 percent. All of this combined shows his expected ERA (xERA) to be 4.34. This xERA is not terrible for a fifth starter. In fact, it is the best he has had in a season since 2022. However, it is important to note that regression is likely coming and he is facing a potent offense tonight.

The Pirates will bring Mitch Keller to the mound that some would say has been an underrated pitcher for most of his career. He is not elite by any means, but he has gotten the job done many times and has been a steady arm for the Pirates for years.

Coming into this game Keller sports an ERA of 4.35, and a what is interesting is his xERA is almost exactly the same at 4.36. Basically, what you see is what you get with him. In 2024 he had the exact same ERA and xERA.

The Braves as a team have faced Keller quite a bit. Eight different players have faced him between eight and nineteen times. Of these players, the Braves core lineup has mostly had great success. Ronald Acuña has nineteen at-bats against Keller and has three HRs and 1.371 OPS in that span against him. Matt Olson has the exact same OPS as Acuña against Keller in twelve at-bats, and Austin Riley has an OPS of 1.055 in ten at-bats against him. Mauricio Dubón has also had success in ten at-bats with a .400 average and .955 OPS.

Michael Harris has struggled to a .500 OPS, and Ha-Seong Kim is hitless in eleven at-bats.

The key for the Braves today will be to get to the Pirates bullpen as soon as they can because their bullpen is a clear weakness with an ERA of 4.29, which is in the bottom twelve teams in MLB.

First pitch is at 7:15 EDT.

Game Info

Game Time: Friday, June 5th, 7:15 pm EDT

Location: Truist Park, , Atlanta, GA

Watch: BravesVision

Radio/Audio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan

The San Francisco Giants head to the Windy City today to begin a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be left-hander Robbie Ray, who enters today’s game with a 4.45 ERA, 5.40 FIP, with 59 strikeouts to 31 walks in 62.2 innings pitched. His last start was in the Giants’ 19-6 win over the Colorado Rockies on Sunday, in which he allowed three runs (one earned) on five hits with six strikeouts and two walks in four innings.

He’ll be facing off against Cubs right-hander Edward Cabrera, who enters today’s game with a 4.00 ERA, 4.46 FIP, with 47 strikeouts to 20 walks in 54 innings pitched. His last start was in the Cubs’ 5-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on May 20th, in which he allowed four runs (one earned) on four hits with two strikeouts and two walks in three innings.

Game #64

Who: San Francisco Giants (25-38) vs. Milwaukee Brewers (37-22)

Where: Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois

When: 11:20 a.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM

The Yankees’ season changed dramatically Thursday evening, when the team announced that Aaron Judge has a stress fracture in his rib and will likely be out until after the All-Star break. Given that speculation around his injury evolved to include thoracic outlet syndrome, a stress fracture that just needs rest qualifies as a relief. But given that Judge is as crucial to his team’s fate as any player in baseball, it also qualifies as a problem.

We all have questions about exactly how the Yanks will cope with losing the best right-handed hitter of his generation. So let’s take a stab at a few of them now...

Cashman at the least has to call the Angels to see if their CFer might be willing to waive his no-trade, right? -- @kenwhitehepflc

I mean, I certainly would. I have long operated under the assumption that if Mike Trout was willing to be dealt, he would have been by now. But after the show Trout put on when the Angels were in town last month, the idea of adding him to the Yankees’ outfield mix is certainly enticing. I don’t think it will happen. I don’t think the Yankees need to go big replacing Judge. 

But I will say, Giancarlo Stanton is only under contract through next year if the Yankees do not pick up his 2028 option, and Trent Grisham is a free agent again this winter. They will have more outfield at-bats to give the next few years than they have in some time. So I think it’s fair to dream.

Have to tread water until he gets back, and the defense, situational ball - imagine? - and bullpen have to be sharp. -- @SMD_LS

Exactly. And the defense and ability to play situational baseball are why I think this team is better equipped to handle life without Judge than teams past. Though the advanced metrics do not reflect this, they are far peskier on the bases than slugging Yankees teams normally are. Only three teams have stolen more bases.

Aaron Boone indicated this week that they will probably be more aggressive on the bases with Judge out in order to create runs. In Jose Caballero, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger,and others, they have personnel with the speed and know-how to make their running game a difference maker.

The bullpen being sharp is less of a sure thing, though the fact that the Yankees will add to it feels like one. 

And as for treading water, Jasson Dominguez is nearing his return from injury and will likely get some run in the outfield. Based on his play in spring training and during his brief major league stint, he looks like a capable producer. If Stanton continues his progress and can return, say, a week or so from now, that combination should be more than capable of keeping New York afloat until Judge and his power return to help them set sail again.

I think they’re now a 90-92 win team, which should easily be enough to secure a wildcard (perhaps the top WC). Come October, a healthy Judge + elite rotation + upgraded bullpen will definitely be a World Series contender. -- @BartAcocella1

Agreed. This is why I don’t think they need to make a big deal to replace Judge. As is, with that pitching staff and Max Fried on the way back, they are more than capable of surviving two months of less offensive firepower. I still think they will probably pursue an offensive upgrade behind the plate, and maybe now that happens sooner than it would have if Judge were healthy. But bullpen help should – and I’m sure will – be more of a priority than interim offensive help.

This team is built for October. The key is getting there healthy. If that’s as the first Wild Card instead of a division champion, fine. Their pitching is more than good enough to survive a short series if they have to play one. 

Even a few months without Judge do not necessarily change their potential. If they were going to get an injury to their superstar, I think this is one they would sign for: bones heal, soft tissue injuries linger. Stress fractures can be tricky, but I still think that, based on everything we know now, this injury does not ruin what is one of the more promising Yankees seasons of Boone’s tenure.

The Mariners had their eight-game win streak snapped on Wednesday, but they maintained their 2.5 game lead over the Athletics with the series win over the Mets. Now the team embarks on their longest road trip of the season, a 10-day affair that will take them through Detroit, Baltimore, and Washington DC.  Thanks to this extended stretch of play without an off day, Seattle will be reinserting Bryce Miller and Luis Castillo into a six-man rotation.

The Tigers entered the season as the favorite to win the AL Central. With two straight playoff appearances, a competitive showing in the ALDS against the Mariners last year, a bolstered starting rotation, and one of the top prospects in baseball ready to make his debut, it really looked like Detroit was ready to ascend to the top echelon of the AL. Things haven’t exactly gone to plan. Through the end of April, the team was hovering around .500 but battling for the lead in their division. Then, on May 4, Tarik Skubal was placed on the IL with bone spurs in his throwing elbow. Since then, the Tigers have gone 7-21 and have fallen all the way to the bottom of the standings in the AL.

While the injury to Skubal has gotten all the headlines, it’s actually the offense that can be blamed for a lot of the team’s struggles this year. The Tigers scored just 2.89 runs per game in May and scored more than five runs in a game just three times last month. Riley Greene, Dillon Dingler, and Kevin McGonigle have been the lone bright spots. Greene is in the midst of his best offensive season yet, though his BABIP is an unsustainable .439 and his power output has concerningly subsided. Dingler should be getting more attention if it weren’t for Shea Langeliers’ breakout overshadowing Dingler’s big step forward. The young catcher has already blasted 14 home runs and has already accumulated 2.5 fWAR. McGonigle has performed extremely well in his first taste of the majors and is currently the favorite to win the AL Rookie of the Year award. Detroit did just activate Gleyber Torres and Kerry Carpenter off the IL last weekend which means the lineup is pretty close to full strength now.

Probable Pitchers 

Updated Stuff+ Explainer 

• Stuff+ scores for Mariners starters

A familiar foe from his time in Houston, Framber Valdez signed a huge free agent contract with the Tigers this offseason. The idea was that he’d form a formidable one-two punch atop Detroit’s starting rotation with Skubal, though that hasn’t exactly played out as planned. Valdez has struggled a bit to start the year, though a 10-run meltdown against Boston is doing a lot of heavy lifting propping up his high ERA. Still, his strikeout rate and his groundball rate are the lowest they’ve ever been. Those were his two calling cards during his time with the Astros. For whatever reason, he’s allowing a bunch more contact, and the majority of it is in the air.

Keider Montero has been pressed into service as a core piece of the Tigers rotation this year. He’s spent most of the last two years bouncing between starting and relieving, but he’s performed admirably as a replacement for the injured Justin Verlander this year. He won’t overpower batters with stuff; instead he utilizes a deep repertoire well enough and manages to induce a lot of weak contact. His changeup is nearly impossible to square up, though it’s not good enough to induce swings and misses. Instead, batters pop it up or mishit it leading to lazy flyballs.

Jack Flaherty lives and dies by the feel for his breaking pitches. His fastball is decent enough, but when he can’t command his curveball or slider, it’s very easy for batters to focus on his heater and do damage. That’s been his issue to start this season. Through his first nine starts of the year, he was walking 15.9% of the batters he faced. Over his last four starts, he’s walked just three total. The other issue is that his breaking pitches just aren’t enticing as many chases out of the zone or as many swings and misses overall. All those issues have combined to balloon his ERA over five.

The Big Picture:

Both the Athletics and the Rangers won their respective series this week to keep pace with the Mariners. The Astros dropped their series against the Pirates and fell to 5.5 games back in the division. The A’s and Astros meet in Houston while the Rangers host the Guardians this weekend.

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All 30 MLB teams take the field today, and there's no better time to lock in some MLB picks!

Headlined by the Washington Nationals taking care of business on the road, our baseball experts have you covered with their favorite predictions for Friday, June 5.

MLB expert picks for today

Prices courtesy of Polymarket.

Jon Metler's expert pick: Nationals moneyline

Price: 45¢ (+122) at Polymarket

If you’re going to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, it starts with finding a way to slow down Corbin Carroll, who currently leads the National League in fWAR and serves as the engine of their offense.

That’s why I like this matchup for left-hander Foster Griffin and the Washington Nationals. Griffin has been excellent against left-handed hitters this season, holding them to a .178 batting average and a .624 OPS. He also benefits from a familiarity edge, as he has never faced this Diamondbacks lineup before, which is typically an advantage for a starting pitcher.

The Nationals are trading at 45 cents on the moneyline, but I make them much closer to 50 cents in this matchup. With Griffin well-positioned to neutralize Arizona’s biggest offensive threat, I’m willing to back James Wood and the Nationals at this price.

• Time: 9:40 p.m. ET
• How to watch: Nationals.TV, Dbacks.TV

Neil Parker's expert pick: Guardians/Rangers NRFI

Price: 58¢ (-140) at Polymarket

With Texas Rangers right-hander Kumar Rocker pitching a scoreless first inning in three of his past four starts and holding hitters to an overall .159 batting average, I’m anticipating him taking care of a Cleveland Guardians lineup that ranks 26th in wOBA against righties in the opening frame.

Meanwhile, Cleveland southpaw Parker Messick hasn’t allowed a first-inning run all season, holding opposing hitters to a minuscule .371 OPS.

The Rangers are also 28th in wOBA against lefties, and this NRFI hits the break-even mark at -140.

• Time: 8:15 p.m. ET
• How to watch: Apple TV

Jason Wilson's expert pick: Rays moneyline

Price: 56¢ (-127) at Polymarket

Tampa Bay Rays righty Drew Rasmussen gives enough of an edge over Miami Marlins opener Ryan Gusto that this is an automatic buy at -127.

Gusto threw 40 pitches on Tuesday and is pitching on two days of rest. Even if he finds some success, he won't be long for this game.

While it's tempting to take the Under 7.5 at +113, I'll grab the visitors to win straight up behind Rasmussen.

The Rays rank Top 10 in wRC+ against right-handers, and Gusto's small sample size of work in 2026 doesn't magically make me forget about his 5.67 ERA and 22nd-percentile xERA, 11th-percentile hard-hit rate, or 14th-percentile average exit velocity from 2025 over 101 2/3 innings. 

I'd happily take the Rays all the way to -150 tonight.

• Time: 7:10 p.m. ET
• How to watch: Rays.TV, Marlins.TV

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

I might be jumping the line here to comment on the farm system review by Brendan Gawlowski posted to FanGraphs this morning, as Brady does such a great job covering the minor leagues for McCovey Chronicles already and friend of the site and former contributor Roger Munter has had the corner covered for years via his There R Giants site, but I’m compelled to offer the prospect skeptic’s perspective.

The San Francisco Giants have traditionally, historically had a bad farm system, with the type of success that’s on par with a broken clock being right twice a day. The “broken clock” bit is my description, but I don’t think it’s only a matter of opinion to say that except for the late-60s, mid-80s and definitely the 2010s, the Giants haven’t done much in player development. Except for those little hiccups, it’s vacillated between afterthought or laughingstock. But even now, I think I have to admit that Randy Winn might be the sort of classy, special sauce the farm system needed. The success this season is undeniable (basically every level has a winning record and, overall, is 151-97).

The idea that the system’s luck (or skill, even!) could be turning is worth investigating. Is the FanGraphs piece more evidence of a turnaround?

Let’s look at the piece itself, which offers 14 players with Future Values of at least 45 (Low End Regular or Platoon Player). Five of these are a cut above that:

5. SP – Keyner Martinez (50 FV — Average Everyday Player)
4. SS – Luis Hernandez (50 FV)
3. 2B – Jhonny Level (50 FV)
2. SS – Josuar Gonzalez (50 FV)
1. 1B – Bryce Eldridge (55 FV)

That’s a fun group, and it’s great to see a young pitcher in the top 5. I know of Hernandez and Gonzalez and obviously Eldridge, but I, personally, haven’t heard of Keyner Martinez because, again, in my lifetime, the Giants have been pretty bad at developing prospect and I’ve stayed focused on the funny-in-its-own-right major league team.

Martinez was the 10th-ranked prospect in the Giants’ system by the McCovey Chronicles community back in November despite missing the 44-player list entirely in the previous season. Brady wrote:

Martinez was a slightly older international signee from Venezuela, as he signed in 2023 but didn’t debut until 2024, his age-19 season. He skipped the DSL and made his debut in the Arizona Complex League, where his results were very mediocre.

But he transformed over the offseason, and took the ACL by storm in 2025, posting a 1.90 ERA and a 2.70 FIP, with a staggering 67 strikeouts against just 10 walks in 47.1 innings. At the end of the ACL season he joined Low-A San Jose’s roster, where he continued to shine, posting a 2.86 ERA and a 3.96 FIP, while striking out 30 batters in 22 innings, with 11 walks.

Just as, if not more importantly, is the way it looked. Martinez earned hype from any and all prospect hounds covering the ACL and Cal League, and even rose up to the No. 6 spot in the recently-released Giants prospect rankings at Baseball America.

Brendan Gawlowski sounds like one of Martinez’s hype men.

He was my favorite pitcher on the Arizona complex last summer, and I’m inclined to stay aggressive on his projection even as he’s battled through a few growing pains in the Cal League. […]

He’s well built, he moves well, the delivery flows, and I think he’ll clean up the control and eventually ascend into a big league rotation. Martinez was a Pick to Click for me in the offseason, and Eric and I have seen enough to bump him into the Top 100. He projects as a mid-rotation starter.

But Jhonny Level? I’ve been hearing about him for at least a year. The prospect hounds and amateur scouts love the kid. I’m glad to see him moving up and up and up the lists.

Gawlowski’s writeup paints a pretty picture for we prospect-averse Giants fans out there:

Level is advanced for his age. On the lighter side, he’s strong for his build and has a mature feel for when he can turn it loose and drive a pitch to the pull side from both sides of the plate. His bat is quick, and while he’ll sometimes expand on spin — particularly with two strikes — he’ll also show you good zone control and pitch recognition on the right day. A lot of guys who chase as youngsters tend to keep chasing as they get older, but in Level’s case, he looks more discerning than the numbers indicate.

AWOOGA. HUMMINA HUMMINA. PANT, PANT. I was trying to avoid getting my hopes up, but now I’m even more excited than when I first heard people talking about him last year.

Of course, let’s focus on the two other big middle infield prospects. The FanGraphs writeup affirms the Giants’ scouting of the plaeyrs. Regarding Hernandez:

Even for a player widely seen as advanced beyond his years, it was still something of a surprise when the Giants had him skip the Dominican complex and sent him straight to Scottsdale for spring training this year.

It was the right call, as Hernández has been awesome on both sides of the ball. 

The Josuar Gonzalez capsule is a little more concerning with the injury aspects, but he maintains:

Gonzalez ultimately has a very strong heuristic profile as a switch-hitting up-the-middle player with power, and he has All-Star ceiling if his hit tool is average or better.

This is all very encouraging to read. At the same time, it’s tough to ignore the echoes of from the past. Your Marco Luciano report here, a Luis Matos capsule there. Indeed, let’s go back a bit in time.

2019

FanGraphs gave 8 Giants at least a 45 FV grade, but two stood out with 55 FVs: Joey Bart and Marco Luciano. Heliot Ramos was right behind them with a 50 FV, and there’s Logan Webb at #5 with a 45+ FV. Hunter Bishop was between Ramos & Webb with a 45+.

2021

Seems only fair to skip the year when the minor league season was canceled. Of course, the Giants’ farm system still managed to produce something just slightly less depressing than a global pandemic: failed prospects. Marco Luciano led FanGraphs’ ranking with a 60 FV. Joey Bart fell to 50, Heliot Ramos stayed at 50 and — oh, what’s this? — Luis Matos cracked the top 5 with a 50 FV. Prodigal pitcher Gregory Santos moved up to #5 and Patrick Bailey and Kyle Harrison were 6th and 8th, respectively, with 45+ FVs.

2022

Their end-of-season updated report for the year gave us 9 Giants with 45 Future Values, Gregory Santos Heliot Ramos’s stars having fallen into this range (6th and 8th on the list). Averson Arteaga was 5th with a Future Value of 45. The top 4 is a splash of cold water: Luciano (55), Matos (50), Harrison (50), Bart (50).

2023

By the time we get to this update, the top prospect is Kyle Harrison (55 FV) and Luciano has fallen even further (50). Rayner Arias is #3 with a 45+ FV and the Giants only have 6 more to crack 45 — though, debuting at #9 is Bryce Eldridge.

2024

The top prospect is Carson Whisenhunt? A 50 Future Value and 78th on FanGraphs’ top 100. Bryce Eldridge is #2 in the system, per FanGraphs, with the same Future Value and 85th in their top 100. Only four other players have Future Values of 45: Rayner Arias, Joe Whitman, Reggie Crawford, and James Tibbs III. Wow, stupendous work, Farhan Zaidi and co. This is a failed farm system.

2025

Bryce Eldridge is the #16 prospect in their top 100, #1 in the Giants’ system and has a 55 Future Value at the updated prospects report on FanGraphs. Josuar Gonzalez is #2 with a 50 FV and Carson Whisenhunt is #3 with a 50 FV, too. Blade Tidwell checks in with a 45+, and the Giants have four more with 45 FVs: Gavin Kilen, Drew Gilbert, Jhonny Level, and Trevor McDonald.

With 14 players carrying Future Values of 45 or more, this is the best prospects list the Giants have had in at least 7 years. But let’s go back as far as the list goes: 2017. I want to see something. Here are all the Giants prospects who’ve made it to the majors (though, not necessarily with the Giants):

• Christian Arroyo (#1 in 2017)
• Tyler Beede (#2 in 2017)
• Bryan Reynolds (#3 in 2017)
• Ty Blach (#4 in 2017)
• Andrew Suarez (#5 in 2017)
• Steven Okert (#6 in 2017)
• Chris Stratton (#9 in 2017)
• Matt Krook (#10 in 2017)
• Chris Shaw (#11 in 2017)
• Steven Duggar (#14 in 2017)
• Dan Slania (#15 in 2017)
• Reyes Moronta (RIP) (#17 in 2017)
• Sam Coonrod (#21 in 2017)
• Joey Bart
• Heliot Ramos
• Marco Luciano
• Shaun Anderson
• Alexander Canario
• Sean Hjelle
• Gregory Santos
• Jake Wong
• Aramis Garcia
• Ray Black
• Logan Webb
• Camilo Doval
• Mauricio Dubon (#7 in 2019)
• Luis Matos
• Joe McCarthy (#13 in 2019)
• Tristan Beck (#20 in 2019)
• Prelander Berroa (#21 in 2019)
• Kai-Wei Teng (#22 in 2019)
• Tyler Fitzgerald (#25 in 2019)
• Mike Gerber (#30 in 2019)
• Grant McCray (#33 in 2019)
• Jaylin Davis (#34 in 2019)
• Jose Marte (#37 in 2019)
• Trevor McDonald (#38 in 2019)
• Caleb Kilian (#40 in 2019)
• Will Wilson (#7 in 2020)
• Casey Schmitt (#21 in 2020)
• Luis Basabe (#29 in 2020)
• Jose Siri (#33 in 2020)
• Caleb Baragar (#35 in 2020)
• Patrick Bailey
• Kervin Castro (#24 in 2021)
• Carson Ragsdale (#28 in 2021)
• Jason Vosler (#44 in 2021)
• Cole Waites (#46 in 2021)
• Dedniel Nunez (#47 in 2021)
• Carson Whisenhunt (#5 in 2022)
• Keaton Winn (#9 in 2022)
• Mason Black (#12 in 2022)
• Ford Proctor (#14 in 2022)
• Landen Roupp (#25 in 2022)
• Tristan Peters (#27 in 2022)
• Thomas Szapucki (#28 in 2022)
• Randy Rodriguez (#29 in 2022)
• Ryan Walker (#47 in 2022)
• Wade Meckler (#7 in 2023)
• Spencer Miles (#17 in 2023)
• Victor Bericoto (#21 in 2023)
• Hayden Birdsong (#22 in 2023)
• Erik Miller (#28 in 2023)
• Bryce Johnson (#44 in 2023)
• Nick Avila (#28 in 2024)
• Bryce Eldridge
• Blade Tidwell (#4 in 2025)
• Drew Gilbert (#6 in 2025)
• Jesus Rodriguez (#13 in 2025)
• Jonah Cox (#15 in 2026)
• Daniel Susac (#21 in 2026)** — does this count? I don’t think so.

That’s 70 or 71 players across 10 seasons, and not all of them for the Giants. Many of them not even good, but if we’re to say the jury’s out on Hayden Birdsong, Victor Bericoto, Eldridge, Tidwell, Gilbert, Jesus Rodriguez, Jonah Cox and Daniel Susac (though, he probably shouldn’t be counted as he’s Rule 5), how many “good” players are in this bunch? Well, here are all the ones who’ve had positive fWAR in the majors:

1. Logan Webb, 25.4 fWAR
2. Bryan Reynolds, 20.0
3. Patrick Bailey, 10.2
4. Mauricio Dubon, 7.9
5. Jose Siri, 6.8
6. Chris Stratton, 4.5
7. Camilo Doval, 4.2
8. Joey Bart, 3.3
9. Tyler Fitzgerald, 3.3
10. Heliot Ramos, 3.3
11. Landen Roupp, 3.2
12. Ryan Walker, 2.8
13. Steven Okert, 2.3
14. Tyler Beede, 2.0
15. Ty Blach, 2.0
16. Randy Rodriguez, 2.0
17. Reyes Moronta (RIP), 1.8
18. Casey Schmitt, 1.8
19. Tristan Peters, 1.1
20. Steven Duggar, 1.0
21. Dedniel Nunez, 1.0
22. Trevor McDonald, 0.9
23. Gregory Santos, 0.9
24. Keaton Winn, 0.8
25. Christian Arroyo, 0.6
26. Erik Miller, 0.6
27. Tristan Beck, 0.5
28. Bryce Johnson, 0.5
29. Wade Meckler, 0.5
30. Kai-Wei Teng, 0.5
31. Sean Hjelle, 0.4
32. Spencer Miles, 0.4
33. Andrew Suarez, 0.4
34. Caleb Baragar, 0.3
35. Kervin Castro, 0.2
36. Prelander Berroa, 0.1
37. Hayden Birdsong, 0.1
38. Sam Coonrod, 0.1

And how many of these ought to even be considered Giants prospects — Siri, Dubon, and Susac certainly feel like cheats, and if you wanted to include Bryan Reynolds that’d make sense. Of course, if you were to compare farm systems, maybe the Giants don’t seem so unusual. I’m not sure of that, though, because I can pick apart this list pretty easily, and that’s why I have remained a prospect skeptic where the Giants are concerned for so many years. I just think it’s a bad situation when a young baseball player gets drafted by them.

Reynolds, Dubon, and Siri did their best work away from the Giants. Tyler Fitzgerald’s success is based entirely on a 6-week stretch. Patrick Bailey was traded away. I don’t know what it means that only 2 of the top 10 prospects over the past 10 seasons are still with the Giants and that most had success with other teams. It doesn’t seem like it speaks well of the Giants’ situation.

But what the minor league affiliates’ success and this FanGraphs ranking supposes is that it’s a system on the rise. Maybe we’ve seen some version of this idea before, but this time it does feel a little different. A little pre-2010, if you know what I mean…

Does that mean it’ll all work out and we’ll get a parade out of this? No. Baseball is hard. But maybe the Giants are getting a little bit better at developing players?

Stop me if you’ve heard this before over the course of this excellent season, so far: The Atlanta Braves have won another series. Sure, they were definitely favorites to take another two-out-of-three games against a Toronto Blue Jays squad that had been spinning its wheels in the mud for a bit but the remarkable consistency of this team is truly something to behold. They’ve taken care of business with nearly every opportunity that they’ve had so far this season and the expectations remained the same as Atlanta returned home from another productive road trip.

Still, this could’ve been a tough series for the Braves. The Blue Jays have had some strong pitching and a lineup that was seemingly itching to return to the level of production that helped propel them to the AL pennant in 2025. If any team currently has a target on their back based on current performance, it’s Atlanta. Toronto was surely looking to use this series as a way to get their season on track but as we’ve seen on numerous occasions, the Braves have no intentions of letting off of the proverbial gas pedal. So let’s take a look at how this series turned out.

Tuesday, June 2

Braves 4, Blue Jays 3

As we’ve gotten used to seeing lately, the Braves got off to a quick start in this one as the plated two runs to start things off. Ronald Acuña Jr. didn’t homer this time but his walk did help matters as Michael Harris II immediately followed it up by driving one deep into center field for an RBI double that sent Acuña racing from first to home. Ozzie Albies eventually brought home Money Mike with a sacrifice fly and it was 2-0 Braves to get things going.

Toronto did respond immediately, though. Kazuma Okamoto has hit the ground running since moving over from NPB to MLB and his two-run dinger off of Bryce Elder tied things up in the second. Considering that the Blue Jays had Kevin Gausman going, it sure felt like runs would be at a premium and it was totally feasible to imagine that this thing could’ve stayed 2-2 until both teams dipped into their bullpen.

As it turned out, the Braves weren’t done scoring off of Gausman. Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies got the job done with two outs on the board against Gausman in the third inning as Olson’s double and Albies’ subsequent RBI single put Atlanta back in front. Toronto knotted it back up with a sacrifice fly from Daulton Varsho in the sixth inning but the sixth ended up being the end of the line for Gausman. That was when Matt Olson hit a skyscraper shot out towards the Chop House that just about made it into the grass in home run territory to lead off the sixth in order to put Atlanta back in front by a lone run.

From that point forward, it was on the pitching staff to make sure that that single run from Olson’s blimp shot held up. Elder ended up winning the duel against Gausman by pitching into the seventh before passing the baton to the dynamic back-end duo of Robert Suarez and Raisel Iglesias. The tying run for Toronto did make it into scoring position against Iglesias in the ninth inning but a harmless pop up from the bat of Jesús Sánchez fell into Austin Riley’s glove to end the game and allow the Braves to set the tone in yet another series.

Wednesday, June 3

Braves 7, Blue Jays 3

This time, it was Toronto who got off to a fast start as they plated a run in the first inning to go ahead. It could’ve been a lot worse, though, as they loaded up the bases with nobody out against Grant Holmes. Fortunately, Holmes was able to get out of that jam with just the one run allowed and that ended up being a huge development considering how the rest of the game ended up going. Atlanta responded in the second inning with a bloop RBI single from Ha-Seong Kim (who badly needed something like that to go his way for once) to tie the game up at one run apiece.

Nathan Lukes ended up having a very solid series and you know it was good for him because he smacked his first dinger of the season in the third inning to put Toronto back in front. Fortunately for us Braves fans, that was as good as it got for the Blue Jays in this one as the Braves forged ahead from that point forward. Mauricio Dubón came up to the plate in Atlanta’s half of the third inning with two men on and two outs and Dubón proceeded to make some more two-out magic happen as he sent one out to the home bullpen in right-center for a three-run bomb off of Patrick Corbin that put Atlanta back in front.

Thanks to Grant Holmes throwing six steady innings and Atlanta’s bullpen clamping down on Toronto from that point forward (outside of a ninth inning moonshot from Brandon Valenzuela off of Tyler Kinley), the Braves were able to eventually pull away. Ozzie Albies essentially put the game to bed in the seventh inning as he bopped one out off of the scoreboard below the Hank Aaron Terrace in left field for Atlanta’s second three-run dinger of the night. Two innings later, the Braves were celebrating their 17th series win of the season — it’s still just June, mind you.

Wednesday, June 4

Blue Jays 7, Braves 2

Well, when you consider how the xBA results went for the first two games (Blue Jays lost the first game despite winning the xBA battle .211 to .188 and lost by four runs in the second game while only losing the xBA battle by .11), it kind of felt inevitable that the Blue Jays would eventually see something go their way in a tangible matter during this series. That was the case in this one, as they racked up sixteen hits (10 of which came off of Chris Sale) and never trailed on their way to salvaging the series with a 7-2 win.

A three-run third inning where Sale really had to labor to get out of it was the early pivotal point of this contest and it sure helped Toronto’s chances when the debuting Chad Dallas managed to escape the bottom of the third by only giving up one run on a Matt Olson sacrifice fly. That one run was all the Braves could muster up against Toronto’s pitching staff until the eighth inning, which is when Mauricio Dubón fired up everybody in the ballpark (particularly the large “Tarps Off” contingent in the 400 level) with a solo shot that cut the deficit to just one run.

Any hopes of a fantastic finish were quashed following the ninth inning, though. Reynaldo López made his first appearance since May 31 and reader, it wasn’t a good one. He got dinged for four runs on five hits and a walk and those four runs essentially made it so that Toronto could breathe a bit easier on their way to completely thwarting any hopes the Braves had of pulling off a comeback win for a sweep.

The Atlanta Braves are currently experiencing some real baseball first-world problems. “Oh no, they’ve won 17 out of 20 series but only two of those were sweeps.” “Oh no, the bullpen had a rare off night.” “Oh no, the star offseason signing is struggling, I guess they’ll have to choose between two perfectly capable replacements on any given night.” Basically, if these are the quibbles that your team has to deal with at any given time, then things are going quite alright.

It was especially nice to see the Braves take the two games where Chris Sale didn’t start. It’s certainly a rare occasion to see Sale give up so many hits and have to deal with so many baserunners in any given start so it’s good that this off-night of sorts came when the Braves already had the series in hand. Bryce Elder continues to simply find ways to get the job done and Grant Holmes showed some real resilience in his start to make sure that he didn’t fall victim to the same pratfalls that have tripped him up in recent starts.

Plus, the offense just continues to keep on raking. Mauricio Dubón had a bit of a blip at the plate but he appears to be determined to prove that he can get the job done with the bat as well as his glove. Ronald Acuña Jr. didn’t carry over his supernova form from the road trip but he’s definitely looked a lot more productive as he starts to find some steady form again. Matt Olson continues to be, well, Matt Olson and Ozzie Albies has been continuing to undergo a resurgence of his own. Despite the wobble on Thursday, Atlanta’s entire pitching staff is still rolling along and doing a great job of limiting any damage that they may sustain so that this offense can keep on having opportunities to change the game with any given at-bat.

So yeah, life continues to be good for the Atlanta Braves during the 2026 season. The Pirates will be coming into this weekend’s series playing some pretty good baseball so it’s not like Atlanta’s going to be getting any type of respite when it comes to the competition. Still, when a team is running as hot as the Braves have been, it’s hard to really bet against them slowing down until it actually happens. We’ll see if that’s the case on the weekend or if the Braves will continue to steamroll over anybody who happens to be in their way on the schedule.