Category: MLB

After placing star Francisco Lindor on the 10-day injured list with a left calf strain on Thursday, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza and president of baseball operations David Stearns gave some more insight into the timeline for the shortstop.

Mendoza had said Thursday that Lindor will be "down for a while," but did not share any other information as the team was still reviewing his MRI results. He said Friday ahead of the team's game against the Colorado Rockies that Lindor will wear a walking boot for the next week and be reevaluated in three weeks.

"He's going to be in a boot for the next week," Mendoza said. "So trying to take the pressure off it. And then the other timeline we got is in three weeks we'll do reimaging. So that's the latest that we got here, he's going to be down for a while."

When asked about the best-case scenario for when Lindor could return, Stearns said they will need the full three weeks to determine that. He did note that the progression could be "relatively quick" if the next three weeks go as planned. 

"I can't even answer that right now," Stearns said. "I think we are not going to be able to provide really more substantive information for three weeks, I think we got to see where this is in three weeks. See how the healing goes and then we'll be able to provide hopefully some more clarity.

"From my understanding there, if all goes well, we can see a relatively quick progression there. But we'll see where we are in three weeks."

Mendoza also mentioned that the team did not get a medical grade on his calf injury as they're still determining the location of the strain in the calf. He said Lindor's calf injury is different from Juan Soto's, which was labeled a "minor strain," and caused him to miss 14 games.

"No. We still got a lot of people looking at this, because the location, where it's at, we want to make sure we're not missing anything," Mendoza said. "I asked that question too. They're not saying anything as far as the grades go. It's just the location and just want to be smart, making sure we're not missing anything there."

He added: "It's the tricky part. We knew like with Soto, we knew right away, the trainers, the location of it, we're going to be in a good place here. With Lindor, we're going to have to be careful."

Lindor suffered the injury while rounding third base before sliding into home during Wednesday's game. He said Thursday that he's hopeful on returning to the field "sooner rather than later" and wants to be back before the All-Star break. 

With Soto and Lindor's injuries occurring one after the other, the two superstars have barely played together this season. Stearns acknowledged that injuries happen to all teams, and New York will have to adapt once again with one of it's leaders sidelined for the near future.

"Injuries are part of this. Injuries to good players are part of this. We're certainly not the only team in baseball that deals with this and we just got to get though it."

After snapping a 12-game losing streak, the Mets will look to extend it's two-game winning streak without Lindor on Friday night when they kick off a three-game series against the Rockies.

Texas Rangers lineup for April 24, 2026 against the A’s: starting pitchers are Nathan Eovaldi for the Rangers and Luis Severino for the A’s.

We begin an exciting and no doubt action-packed series against the maybe, eventually Las Vegas A’s tonight. Alejandro Osuna is playing again. I know y’all like him and so I figured you’d be happy.

The lineup:

Nimmo — RF

Pederson — DH

Seager — SS

Burger — 1B

Jung — 3B

Carter — CF

Higashioka — C

Smith — 2B

Osuna — LF

7:05 p.m. Central start time. The Rangers are -140 favorites.

So, we ended up getting some interesting nuggets of news from the pregame press conference that Walt Weiss has before every home game. There’s one bit of concerning news, one bit of hopeful news and then something that seems obvious but it’s good to hear confirmed.

Let’s start with the concerning news, shall we:

Michael Harris II won’t start on Friday after all

There was a bit of an injury scare for Michael Harris II after he had to exit Thursday’s win over the Nationals during the seventh inning as a precautionary move. At first, it seemed like the “All Clear” was here after Harris said that he “expected” to play on Friday and then he was listed in today’s lineup as well.

Unfortunately, they’ve scratched him from today’s lineup and are now listing him as being “day-to-day” with the left quad tightness. You don’t want to expect the worst but when you consider the injury luck that this team has had to deal with in recent years, I think we’re all hoping to the baseball gods above that Money Mike’s quad doesn’t act up on him any further.

Raisel Iglesias could be back ASAP

Now granted, this doesn’t mean that Iglesias’ IL stint is going to be shorter than 14 days but apparently Weiss and the Braves training staff are encouraged with how he’s feeling so far. Weiss did state that Iglesias hasn’t started throwing yet but they aren’t expecting this to be a lengthy IL stint. Again, just like Harris, we’re all hoping that this is strictly just a two-week rest period for Iglesias and that there aren’t any setbacks between now and his anticipated return from the IL. For now, things are looking up in that department and the bullpen won’t have to hold down the fort for any longer than expected during Iglesias’ absence.

JR Ritchie will stick around for a bit

Didier Fuentes received the call-up but went right back down after his short outing on Wednesday night. JR Ritchie was called up instead and ended up delivering a very creditable debut performance in helping the Braves pick up the series win. Clearly the Braves’ brass liked what they saw, since Weiss told the media that Ritchie will be sticking around with the big league ballclub and he now has an opportunity to pitch his way into staying in the rotation.

Obviously, it’d be a pretty huge development if Ritchie ended up being ready for The Show already. It would also bring up some questions about where he’d fit in with the rotation once guys like Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach make their eventual returns from injury. It’s a good problem to have though, as you can never have too much pitching and having a talented young arm like Ritchie’s around would certainly be a positive for the Braves going forward.

Maybe the Giants won’t have such a bad season? That’s certainly on the table. Not just because they humiliated the Los Angeles Dodgers this week, but because they really have been playing slightly better over the past couple of weeks (8-6 since April 7th). And, yes, that’s because some of the key contributors have started to contribute and some surprises have emerged, but there are two key players who will be critical throughout the summer.

Jung Hoo Lee has temporarily hit his way out of the “bust” conversation concerning his free agency by hitting .320/.340/.440 over his last 14 games and 53 PA. It looks even better in a smaller sample, but the point is that for two seasons now he’s basically been an afterthought and the organization never had a contingency for that outcome. They dropped a massive deal on him because they hoped after a year or two of adjusting to the big leagues that he’d blossom into, well, basically a Luis Arraez type — high contact guy who could create traffic on the basepaths.

Lee started off last season on fire, with 43 hits in his first 36 games (151 PA). That triple slash of .312/.364/.507 (.871 OPS) was All-Star reserve-worthy, but the .251/.315/.374 (.690 OPS) he hit the rest of the way (114 games, 466 PA) should’ve had him looking for a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training in the offseason. His current full season line is basically equivalent to those final 466 and so it’s probably safer to assume that this is who Jung Hoo Lee is. But, if the Giants are going anywhere this season, they’ll need him to hit beyond that and closer to what he’s doing now.

Is there any hope of that beyond fanatical wishcasting? Yes!

Crack into that 466 plate appearances block of Jung Hoo Lee’s 2025 and you get something much more relief-inducing: one massive cold streak. There was a 46-game stretch (193 PA) where Lee was among the worst in the sport: .182/.269/.300. There were 6 doubles, 4 triples, a couple of homers, a trio of stolen bases, and 18 walks against just 17 strikeouts in there, but overall, pretty gnarly and, of course, substantial. But from July 2nd until the end of the season (68 games, 273 PA), he was a much more respectable .298/.348/.425 (.773 OPS). If you split it again and just look at his second half, that OPS does drop to about .758, which is now bordering on “not what you paid for,” though still, compared to the rest of the Giants’ typical lineup, not terrible.

So, there is reason to believe that Jung Hoo Lee has the tools to compete in the major leagues. In theory, one thing that JHL does that Arraez can’t do is hit for more power. That plus his ability to at least appear average in the outfield creates a balance in the lineup that otherwise doesn’t exist in his absence. The Giants don’t have anyone of his profile they could plug into right field, as much as we all wish it was Grant McCray. Hopefully, the flashes we have seen and are seeing right now are the things he can build on for the next time the league adjusts to him rather than the brief burp of momentary readjustment on his behalf.

Another strong point in his favor is that against 95+ mph fastballs, he’s hitting .286. He’s right there with the team leaders in that category:

Christian Koss (lol): 1-for-1 (1.000), 6/18 = 95+ (33%)
Daniel Susac: 3-for-4 (.750), 15/85 = 95+ (17.6%)
Jared Oliva: 1-for-2 (.500), 4/27 = 95+ (14.8%)
Jerar Encarnacion: 2-for-5 (.400), 29/119 = 95+ (24.4%)
Luis Arraez: 7-for-18 (.389), 101/391 = 95+ (25.8%)
Heliot Ramos: 9-for-24 (.375), 120/390 = 95+ (30.8%)
Drew Gilbert: 2-for-7 (.286), 28/106 = 95+ (26.4%)
Jung Hoo Lee: 6-for-21 (.286), 72/368 = 95+ (19.6%)
Below .200: Willy Adames (.182), Harrison Bader & Rafael Devers (.154), Casey Schmitt (.125), Patrick Bailey (.111), Matt Chapman (.071), Will Brenan (.000).

So, obviously, the Giants will need Adames, Devers, Chapman, and Heliot Ramos to hit, too, but the point is that having Arraez and Lee also in there does lengthen the lineup and make it more dynamic. The problem is that Lee has been bad enough for long enough that there’s certainly some doubt. And then there’s his injury track record, which is the big thing hanging around the other key player the Giants will need to be perform if the team is going to be good this season.

Landen Roupp is just like Jung Hoo Lee in terms of what he brings to the starting rotation. He lengthens it and makes it more dynamic. After he handled the Dodgers, I wondered if his combination of red ass and pitch repertoire made him the team’s new Ryan Vogelsong — a comparison I felt was apt given Vogelsong’s role as the organization’s roving pitching instructor. But then people pointed out that he doesn’t give up home runs, so, maybe he’s more like Matt Cain? Well, hmm. Maybe there is no 1:1 comparison out there just yet, at least in terms of Giants history.

Today, Roupp’s curveball leads the National League in Run Value (+4), tied with the Angels’ Jose Soriano and Pittsburgh’s Braxton Ashcraft. It’s got a 33% Whiff rate on it and just a 4.8% Hard Hit rate. From a Pitching+ perspective (104), he’s right there with Tyler Glasnow (105) and Tyler Mahle (104). Reminder of Pitching+ (emphasis mine — also, remember that 100 is league average):

Pitching+ is one of three models that, along with Stuff+ and Location+, attempts to look at the process underlying a pitcher’s performance in order to remove some of the noise that can be present when looking at on-field results. […]

Stuff+ looks only at the physical characteristics of a pitch. Important features include, but are not limited to, release point, velocity, vertical and horizontal movement, and spin rate. A pitcher’s secondary pitches are defined based on their primary fastball — with “primary” defined by usage in an outing — and so are judged by velocity and movement differentials along with raw velocity and movement numbers. 

Location+ is a count- and pitch type-adjusted judge of a pitcher’s ability to put pitches in the right place. No velocity, movement, or any other physical characteristics are included in the statistic. A breaking ball should go to different parts of the strike zone in 2-0 and 1-2 counts, and Location+ captures that phenomenon. Stringer-based command statistics that attempt to judge what a pitcher was intending to do with each pitch do not add predictive value to those models, so Location+ only looks at actual locations and implicitly assumes the intent is generally the same across the league in certain counts with certain pitches.

He is a big league pitcher and an above average one by every measure. He is also a late bloomer, having turned 27 last September. There are only 30 right-handed pitchers since 1975 to make 26 or more major league starts and throw 160 or fewer innings before their age-27 season and Roupp is #5 on that list at 157 IP in 26 starts prior to 2026. I think it’s instructive insofar as our hopes and dreams here. Is there a historical comparison to be had?

Trent Thornton leads the list with 160 innings, and that’s in large part from 154 IP and 29 starts made for the Blue Jays in 2019, his age-25 season. He had a 4.84 ERA and 4.59 FIP and would make just 6 starts combined in 2020 and 2021. He made one start in 2023 and that was that: he was a reliever the rest of his career. Adbert Alzolay started 27 games before 27 and most of those came in 2021, his age-26 season (21 starts). After 2021, he never started again. Glen Otto made 33 starts for the Rangers in 2021 and 2022 combined and hasn’t pitched since 2023, when he was used as a reliever in 10.2 major league innings. Jharel Cotton started 29 games between his age-24 & 25 seasons but that was it for him as a starting pitcher despite pitching two more major league seasons (2021 and 2022). More recent examples are Hayden Birdsong (ahem), the Athletics’ Joey Estes, and the White Sox’s Shane Smith. Roupp is basically better than this field, so there’s not really a good comp to be had.

I think we all know why, too: injury! He’s missed time from injury in every year of his pro career with two concerning ones cropping up last year (right elbow inflammation in July and knee inflammation in August). It’s a lot to ask of this #3 starter to get to 180 innings and maybe even 160 innings, but that’s the sort of contribution the team will need from him if 2026 is going to be memorable. Taking his above average performance as a given (which is risky, I admit), the more innings from the starting staff means less work for the bullpen. The Giants’ 837 innings from their rotation last year was just 17th in MLB. The top 10 teams all had winning records, and so figure it’ll take somewhere in the 860s to crack that list.

Every fan has their pet player who they think will be the key to the team’s success in a given season, and that’s fine — sorry to those who thought Bryce Eldridge might be a central figure in this post — but here are two players who the Giants simply can’t play well without. They might be able to get buy with some 0-for-4s from Jung Hoo Lee (who, to be clear, has had a lot of them), but his mere presence in the lineup can sometimes be enough to setup the other guys. Roupp, on the other hand, might be able to have a bad turn through the rotation if the other arms have done well, but otherwise, the Giants need Roupp to be as consistent as a peak Matt Cain or Ryan Vogelsong and simply shove when put in front of an opponent.

And yes, obviously, these two straws can only stir a drink that’s been made. If Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Willy Adames, Luis Arraez, and (long sigh) Rafael Devers don’t approximate their career norms and with the extraordinary caveat of general good health on the roster, then there’s no lineup for Jung Hoo Lee to lengthen or dynamize and no pitching staff for Landen Roupp to prop up.

But without either of these players, the Giants won’t be going far.

Good afternoon everyone, it’s time to dive back into the mailbag and answer some of your questions. Remember to send in your questions for our weekly call by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

Cisforcookie asks:Is Grichuk the odd man out when Volpe returns with Rosario and Cabby both “able” to play in the OF?

He’s in the hot seat, that’s for sure. Randal Grichuk hasn’t delivered in his limited time on the field thus far, failing to make much of a difference in the Yankees’ “lefty killer” lineup that they’ve deployed more recently when faced with a southpaw starter. His Statcast page shows a hitter who is getting a little unlucky on the field, with high percentages of barreled balls and an average exit velo of 90 mph, but that means very little when the sample size is as small as it has been for Grichuk and the actual results are what they are. Being the last-minute addition to the roster and failing to provide a reason to consistently get more chances gives the Yankees an easy out if they so choose.

However, Grichuk is far from the only struggling Yankee in a limited role. J.C. Escarra hasn’t held down the backup catcher role well either, and Paul Goldschmidt is a backup whose main value appears to be a mentorship role more than anything else (more on him in a minute). On top of that, while Amed Rosario and José Caballero “technically” qualify as outfielder options, I’m sure the team would be a lot more comfortable with a tried and true regular outfielder serving as the backup. Similarly, while Ben Rice takes the lion’s share of starts at first and deserves them all with how hot his bat has been this year, but the team hasn’t tested his versatility behind the plate yet. The choice likely comes down to whether they like their chances with Rice serving as a backup catcher or one of the infielders covering a corner, and I’m 50-50 on which one of those is the route they’ll take. It’d be an easier one to make if Rice had played catcher at all this year, as I lean towards letting Grichuk ride things out a bit longer and sending Escarra down, but perhaps the team would rather their budding star not take on the wear and tear that the position holds. The clock is ticking though, and I imagine it’ll be between one of those two when the time comes to go to the chopping block.

ReadingYankee asks:It feels a bit early in the season to look at these division rankings and say this is how it is going to be. I mean, it’s not even 30 games. However, do these numbers really just represent who is good now and who no longer is, despite what we all predicted to be the case? (I.E. Phillies and Mets) Are we really looking at the division races right now in the way they will play out by the end of the summer? Or do these current rankings tend to change a whole lot from this point in the season? What tends to be the case from this point forward?

There’s plenty of time for variance, and the leaders in several divisions will likely flip-flop throughout the summer as teams get hot and start to break away from this conglomerate we’re seeing currently. That being said, the one thing you want to avoid is an ice-cold April, because it’s very easy to get buried and never catch all the way back up. Taking a look at last year’s standings on this date, it was clear to see that some teams like the Twins (9-16 at the time), Braves (10-14), and Orioles (10-14) were in far worse straits than anticipated, and those teams all ended up out of the playoff picture entirely. That’s without even touching the teams we knew were bad and turned out terrible, like last year’s White Sox and Rockies, but the Mets and Phillies treading water in the territory that those teams were in currently is a terrible sign.

Boston, Kansas City, and Houston all look like they belong in that similar category, though Houston is besieged by injuries while the other two are just plain playing bad. There’s the occasional team that can pull themselves out of an early tailspin, a la the 2019 Nats, but even setting their miraculous rise aside the odds of surviving being nearly double-digits games behind by the end of the first month are dire. The exceptions are few and far between, and it’s far easier to blow a big lead than surpass a monumental deficit with so many other teams chasing in-between.

The idiot that said, “Harper is coming” asks: Paul Goldschmidt and Ryan McMahon are doing their best to test the “batting average is not an important statistic” theory, each posting an identical .125 BA as of 4/23. McMahon is obviously going to get the longer leash of the two, but how long a leash are we talking? Should they at least be searching the market now to set up for a later deal? Is there any chance Lombard might be in their plans down the road this season? Is Rosario just gonna be the main guy?

McMahon is finding his footing at third again, looking more and more like the sharp defensive wizard that the team acquired him to be. That alone can carry him far, as long as the offense at least nominally improves. Goldschmidt is the tougher tell, because his limited role in the offense is two-fold: on one hand, it means less if he’s struggling if he isn’t expected to play a significant amount of games, but on the other hand it means it’s going to be even harder for him to get out from under the slump. Goldschmidt started 2025 off on the right foot, but as he ceded playing time he lost more and more from his bat, and it hasn’t looked any better now in 2026. It’s all well and good that he’s a mentor to Rice, and the first baseman has certainly looked a lot more comfortable at the position with the former MVP now actively assisting his development as opposed to competing with him for the starting gig, but how far can a player on the active roster drift into coach status before the team has to make a decision to benefit the overall roster?

We talked last week about where Lombard’s ETA stands, so I won’t dwell on the topic too long, but that isn’t an imminent decision forcing a roster crunch. At best, if Lombard stands out that well all season and the deadline acquisitions the Yankees could make don’t look appealing enough, I could see the move being made, but that’s a lot of qualifiers that have to occur for a bat that’s still in Double-A and yet to see Triple-A. Rosario has impressed in his role and earned a bit more starting time than I imagine the Yankees envisioned for him out of the gate, so trusting in him seems like the short-term solution while they monitor McMahon and the platoons that they’ve built into this lineup. If we’re still talking about McMahon as an automatic out by this time in May, then the conversation drifts towards shaking things up, but if he can pull himself back into the 80-range wRC+ hitter he’s been for most of his career that’ll play.

After yesterday’s injury scare and early exit, all looked well and truly precautionary for Michael Harris II. He was slated to bat fifth and play center in the lineup released by the Braves earlier this afternoon.

Unfortunately, Grant McAuley has reported that Michael Harris II has been scratched and is day-to-day with that left quad tightness.

With this change, everyone will move up a spot to accommodate Eli White getting the start in center and batting ninth. Riley will no longer be batting sixth (the lowest he’d been penciled in this season), but we are still on the lookout… he’s sitting on 499 career RBI. How do we think he’ll drive in #500?

We had hoped to avoid the worst, and it seems like we will. It just feels particularly tragic because Harris II has been an absolute machine at the plate and was rocking a streak of at least 1 RBI in five straight games. 

The Phillies are catching a break – it was five games ago he was a menace on Sunday Night Baseball, where he tallied a homer, two singles and a walk against tonight’s starter Andrew Painter and the relievers that followed.

The Phillies have made some roster changes since we saw them. Catcher JT Realmuto officially hit the IL with back spasms, making Rafael Marchán their primary catcher. They tried it one last time with Taijuan Walker, but even after using an opener his last outing, he struggled and they released him. And making the trip with the team is Zack Wheeler, who will make his season debut tomorrow night. 

Their lineup is only slightly different from the last time they were behind Andrew Painter (more on the pitching matchup here). Garrett Stubbs will make his second start at catcher since being recalled and bat ninth. Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm will swap to bat sixth and seventh, respectively.

Grant’s World Series might be retiring Bryce Harper in any form (Harper has one hit and three walks to make his OPS vs Holmes start with a 2). But Adolis García is also a formidable matchup. Although the Phillies fell to the Cubs in extras yesterday, García did make things interesting with a pinch-hit game-tying home run in the top of the ninth.

A fun note from the Braves comms team… The Braves have not won four straight over the Phillies to open a season since 2007. Could be a nice night for it.

On Friday afternoon just before the Colorado Rockies were scheduled to kick off a three-game series against the New York Mets, it was announced that right-handed pitcher Ryan Feltner is being placed on the 15-day injured list.

Feltner, 29, has been diagnosed with right ulnar nerve inflammation. He had been dealing with discomfort in his right triceps following his start against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 18th. The condition also caused some numbness in his fingers. Feltner was removed from his start against the San Diego Padres on Thursday after pitching just two innings and giving up two earned runs on two hits and a walk.

In a corresponding roster move, the Rockies will recall left-handed reliever Sammy Peralta from the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes.

Peralta, 27, was claimed via waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers earlier this month. In seven appearances with Triple-A Albuquerque he has a 3.72 ERA with seven strikeouts and three walks over 9.2 innings of work. He will be just the second left-handed pitcher in the Rockies bullpen this season, joining Brennan Bernardino.

Peralta will wear no. 57, last worn by Angel Chivilli.

The Rockies will have additional pitching decisions to make over the next week. Kyle Freeland—currently on the injured list with left-shoulder soreness—will be available to return to the active roster on April 28th.

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The Mets shuffled a pair of right-handed pitchers in a Friday afternoon roster move, optioning Christian Scott back to Triple-A Syracuse and promoting veteran pitcher Carl Edwards Jr. to the major league squad.

Scott, who was promoted on Thursday, struggled in his season debut. In 1.1 innings pitched, he allowed one run, five walks, and a hit by pitch. It was the 26-year-old’s first big league start since July 21, 2024, after which he underwent Tommy John surgery.

Edwards was signed to a minor league deal by the Mets in December. The twelve-year veteran had a strong spring training, tossing 8.2 innings with two earned runs, three hits, and four walks to 11 strikeouts. In Syracuse, he hasn’t found the same success, pitching to a 5.29 ERA in 17 innings of work.

It remains to be seen how the Mets will fill the fifth spot in their starting rotation behind Freddy Peralta, Nolan McLean, Clay Holmes, and Kodai Senga. Edwards, David Peterson, Tobias Myers, and Sean Manaea are all candidates to give the Mets multiple innings going forward, regardless of whether any of them are stretched out to be a full-time starter.

Jonah Tong, a candidate for the role later in the season, has had an up-and-down start for Syracuse, throwing three gems on the road (a combined 1.88 ERA in 14.1 innings pitched) and two rough outings at home (a combined 14.21 ERA in 6.1 innings pitched).

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We're looking to head into the weekend on a winning note, with our expert MLB picks looking at two moneylines against struggling teams, as well as a NRFI bet with two underratedly good pitchers on the mound.

See why our MLB best bets for April 24 love the value on the Twins/Rays being quiet early, plus the Halos and ATL to win.

MLB expert picks for today

Pick	Odds
Josh Inglis: LAA ML	+104
Neil Parker: MIN/TB NRFI	-122
Joe Osborne: ATL ML	-138

Prices courtesy of Polymarket.

Josh Inglis' expert pick: Angels moneyline

Price: 49¢ (+104) at Polymarket

Let’s fade the Kansas City Royals, a weak offense that is especially bad against left-handed pitching. Only the Phillies and Rangers rank worse in wRC+ against southpaws, and Yusei Kikuchi is coming off his best start of the year — plus the winds blowing in should provide additional support. What may not be fully priced in is the Los Angeles Angels' edge in the later innings: Kansas City’s bullpen has been putrid all season, but has hit a new low, posting a 7.17 ERA over the last seven days while issuing plenty of walks... and allowing home runs at a high rate. This is a buy to -115.

Neil Parker's expert pick: Twins/Rays NRFI

Price: 55¢ (-122) at Polymarket

Tampa Bay Rays righty Drew Rasmussen has been sharp in three of four starts, sporting a 2.75 ERA and 0.66 WHIP, while holding opposing hitters to a .141 average. The Twins are countering with Taj Bradley, and he’s posted a similarly solid line with a 1.63 ERA and limited opponents to a .276 wOBA. Scoring in the opening frame also hasn’t been a calling card for either club: Minnesota has plated a first-inning run in just 32% of its games — and the Rays are even lower at 29.2%.

Joe Osborne's expert pick: Braves moneyline

Price: 58¢ (-138) at Polymarket

The Atlanta Braves come in red hot, winning eight of nine, while the Philadelphia Phillies have dropped nine straight. Andrew Painter has been average and was rocked in his lone road start this season, plus pitch count issues are a major concern tonight: He’s struggled to work deep into games, which is a dangerous flaw against a Braves lineup that leads the league in scoring and OPS vs. righties over the last two weeks. That puts even more strain on a Phillies bullpen that’s already overworked after using five arms yesterday.

More MLB best bets for today

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.

It’s really hard to write a preview about the Miami Marlins after the San Francisco Giants took two out of three from the Dodgers. That series was the ultimate RETVRN to tradition in that the Giants overcame their longstanding Giantsness to actually dominate the Dodgers for 18 innings of the series. It’s a staggering embarrassment for the previously perfect if not impervious Dodgers, and it’s an early feather in the cap of Tony Vitello. But now he and these confident Giants now host the Marlins, and they have proven to be a thorn in the Giants’ side as long as they’ve existed.

The Giants haven’t won the season series since 2022, and last season, their three-game sweep in San Francisco prompted headlines on here like “Not good enough!” and “So many opportunities, so little made of them” and “Done in by friendly fire.” That series also saw the Marlins register 4 hit by pitches in the first two games of the series, prompting retaliation in the finale (Hayden Birdsong plunked Otto Lopez). Previously, there was the Marlins Death Fog, which I guess — given last year’s sheninghans — remains relevant here.

The Marlins built their modest 12-13 record atop a very soft schedule to open the season, hosting the Rockies and the White Sox (5-1). They’re just 2-7 on the road so far, too. But, they’ve got a middle of the pack lineup (102 wRC+) and middle of the pack pitching staff (+2.7 fWAR 3.59 xERA) on the season and only the lineup has really fell down over the last two weeks (96 wRC+).

In fact, their last two weeks is a good comparison point with the Giants, when most people would agree that the team has started playing better. The Marlins’ team batting average since April 9th is .253, 10th in MLB. Their team OBP has been .330 and they’re slugging .364. They have a 9.4 BB% and 21.5 K%. They’ve scored just 53 runs (24th in MLB). Meanwhile, the Giants have a superior team batting average (.254 — 9th in MLB) but among the dregs of the sport everywhere else: .287 OBP (28th, ahead of only the Phillies & Mets), .366 slugging (24th), 40 runs scored (29th, ahead of only the Mets). And their 4.1 BB% (30th) and 20.7 K% (20th) and .112 ISO (26th) show just how little they produce in a rate sense. Their .292 wOBA (28th) is a key factor in their 84 wRC+ (25th).

The Giants might be a better team on paper, but through the first month of the season, the Marlins have been better. Leading the way are three acquisitions over the past few years: shortstop Xavier Edwards was acquired by Marlins exec Peter Bendix after he left the Rays and is off to a great start (.869 OPS). Otto Lopez, whom the Giants discarded at the end of Spring Training 2024 and the Marlins then grabbed, has a 3:1 strikeouts to walk rate but an .877 OPS to start out (101 PA). And then there’s 2024 Rule 5 acquisition Liam Hicks, a left-handed designated hitter who had a sub-.700 OPS last season but is hitting .321/.368/.513 with 4 homers and 21 RBI to start this season (87 PA).

Their pitching staff remains a work in progress but with two anchors: former Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara, who appears to be rounding back into form just in time for this year’s trade deadline (2.80 ERA plus a shutout under his belt already); but also, 23 year old Eury Perez who received some Rookie of the Year votes back in 2023 after striking out 108 in 91.1 IP.

Anyway, this figures to be a pesky series, but one the Giants should be competitive in, unless that Dodgers series was a complete mirage. The Giants have had the fifth-best team ERA over the past two weeks (3.48) and they’re playing a team that struggles on the road. The Marlins do have a raft of pesky players they can deploy to annoy us this series — Connor Norby, Esteury Ruiz, Owen Caissie, Kyle Stowers (more on him in a moment) — but so do the Giants — Christian Koss, Jerar Encarnacion, Drew Gilbert — so, hopefully, this doesn’t look like Miami’s last visit to Oracle Park.

And just to make sure we’re all a little tense or annoyed, the General Manager of the Marlins working under Peter Bendix is Gabe Kapler and the Marlins DFA’d Austin Slater before they left Miami for San Francisco.

Series overview

Who: San Francisco Giants (11-14) vs. Miami Marlins (12-13)
Where: Oracle Park | San Francisco, California
When: Friday at 7:15pm PT, Saturday at 1:05pm PT, Sunday at 1:05pm PT
National broadcasts: None.

Projected starters
Friday: Sandy Alcantara (RHP 2-2, 3.06 ERA) vs. Adrian Houser (RHP 0-2, 5.40 ERA)
Saturday: Eury Perez (RHP 2-1, 4.15 ERA) vs. Robbie Ray (LHP 2-3, 2.86 ERA)
Sunday: Max Meyer (RHP 1-0, 3.96 ERA) vs. Landen Roupp (RHP 4-1, 2.28 ERA)

Players to watch

Marlins

Kyle Stowers: He was the Marlins’ best hitter last season (25 HR, .912 OPS in 457 PA) but missed the start of this season due to a hamstring strain. He’s 3-for-10 since being activated off the IL, helping the Marlins win two out of the three games in which he’s played. The former Oriole was acquired by the Marlins along with Connor Norby at the 2024 deadline for LHP Trevor Rogers, who is now the apparent #1 starter of Baltimore’s staff. He’s got 2 career homers at Oracle Park in 6 games (23 PA) to go with a .316/.435/.737 line.

Pete Fairbanks: The Marlins didn’t trade him last year and then declined his option after the season which left people scratching their heads as to what was going on with a perfectly serviceable closer (75 saves across the three prior seasons). The obvious answer had to be a health issue. The Marlins signed him to a 1-year $13 million deal and, so far, they’ve been treated to a 7.27 ERA (7 ER in 8.2 IP). But! But… he’s recorded 5 saves in 6 tries, and has just one blown save (a 6-5 loss in Atlanta). His ERA is excused by a 2.34 FIP but also — and most importantly — 3 of the 7 earned runs he’s been charged with came as an opener against the Yankees back on April 5th. So, is he the lights out closer they’re paying for? That’s what Giants fans will find out soon enough.

Owen Caissie: In the offseason, the Cubs traded their #3 prospect at the end of 2025 (per MLB Pipeline) in order to get their hands on starter Edward Cabrera, who’d previously given the Giants some problems (3-0, 1.91 ERA!). He got into 12 games last year with Chicago and this year the Marlins slotted him in as their starting right fielder, and why not? He had a triumphant WBC for Team Canada (7/17 1 HR, 5 RBI, 3 BB). But the results here in the 2026 regular season have been suboptimal: 2 homers, 14 RBI in 23 games (78 PA), sure, but 34 strikeouts to 3 walks. He’s also 5-for-his-last-37, too, with 1 walk and 21 strikeouts! It would be a real shame if this was the weekend he found his swing.

Giants

Rafael Devers: You know what? You don’t have to watch him. He’s been terrible. Unwatchable. Is he washed? Cooked? Finito? Maybe. It’s baseball, after all. Sometimes, players wake up one morning and they’re no longer able to play the game. Devers’ own brand of not being able to play the game is his ability to swing through pitches in the strike zone. On defense, he’s been physically able to stay around the bag but he’s hardly the sturdy defender needed there. In fairness, he’s 7-for-26 going back to the start of the Nats series (6 games), but a .269 average with just 2 extra base hits (doubles) and zero walks to go with 10 strikeouts is simply not the kind of production from Devers one might call “fine.” He’s slugging .320 on the season. He’s off to his worst start ever.

Erik Miller: Ryan Walker’s triumphant return of sorts to the closer role was certainly heartening to see, but in this series, Miami will be flashing some dangerous lefties and it’ll be up to the Giants’ most dangerous lefty to corral them.

Christian Koss: He last got into a game on April 12th. Play him or option him!

Tony Vitello watch

The Marlins have flummoxed many a Giants manager before. Will Vitello be different?

Prediction time

The Giants will win the series.

The AL Central Defending Champs vs. The AL Pennant Defending Champs. Here we go

The Guardians are 14-12, 18th in wRC+ at 98, 27th in baserunning runs above average at -2.4, 10th in Defense at -0.4, eighth in starting pitcher ERA at 3.45 (4.14 FIP), and 24th in bullpen ERA at 4.81 (3.22 FIP).

The Blue Jays are 10-14, 21st in wRC+ at 96, 28th in baserunning runs above average at -2.7, seventh in defense at 3.6, 17th in starting pitcher ERA at 4.12 (3.79 FIP), and 22nd in bullpen ERA at 4.87 (4.32 FIP).

Matchups:

Game One: Friday, 7:07 PM ET: Gavin Williams, RHP 2.12 ERA vs. Max Scherzer, RHP, 7.16 ERA

Game Two: Saturday, 3:07 PM ET: Joey Cantillo, LHP 3.20 ERA vs. Kevin Gausman, 2.54 ERA

Game Three: Sunday, 1:37 PM ET: Slade Cecconi, RHP 6.20 ERA vs. Dylan Cease, RHP 2.10 ERA

It’s the Kevin Gausman Can Kick Rocks Series, folks. After Gausman hit Jose intentionally in the arm/hand last July, Jose went through a three-week slump as he nursed his injury. Gausman must pay with a Guardians six-spot. So let it be written, so let it be done.

When the Washington Nationals picked up Ronny Cruz as part of the return in the Michael Soroka deal, he was seen as a high upside lottery ticket. You could see the upside, but he was very raw and put up middling numbers in rookie ball. However, that upside is being realized and Cruz has had a meteoric rise in the prospect world.

Fangraphs just released their updated Nationals prospect rankings. There were not that many changes with the exception of Ronny Cruz. They ranked Cruz as the Nats number four prospect, ahead of guys like Devin Fitz-Gerald, Gavin Fien and Travis Sykora. The site also noted that Cruz was moving into their top 100 prospect list with the update.

That last part was what really stood out to me. Before the season Cruz was not on anyone’s radar as a potential top 100 prospect. Heck, in July he was only half of a package that landed the Cubs half a season of Michael Soroka. In just 17 games, everything has changed for Ronny Cruz.

Now you could make the case that Cruz is the Nats second best teenage infield prospect, only behind number one overall pick Eli Willits. I actually think that Cruz has a higher ceiling, though he is not as polished of a prospect. For a guy with a wiry frame, Cruz generates an insane amount of power due to his elite bat speed.

Cruz’s bat speed, raw power and twitchy athleticism have led to some lofty comparisons. Geoff Pontes of Baseball America said Cruz looks a lot like Fernando Tatis Jr. did at the same point in their development. Obviously Cruz has a long way to go to become that kind of player, but it shows you what kind of athlete he is and what sort of upside he has.

The fact Cruz was traded early in his career makes the Tatis comparison a bit ironic. Like Cruz, Tatis was traded by a Chicago team for a middling pitcher very early in his development. With Tatis, it was the White Sox who traded him. Hopefully Cruz can haunt the northsiders in the same sort of way.

You have to credit Mike DeBartolo for identifying Cruz and trading for him in his stint as interim GM. The work he did at the draft and the deadline has been aging very well so far. However, it seems like Cruz is his biggest win. Getting a future top 100 prospect for a rental Michael Soroka is brilliant work. He is still in the organization, so hopefully he can help Paul Toboni find more gems like this.

If you want an indication of how much Cruz’s stock has risen since the start of the season, you just have to look at the prospect rankings. Baseball America, the same outlet comparing Cruz to Fernando Tatis, ranked him as the number 26 prospect in the Nationals system. MLB Pipeline had him in a similar range, ranking him 25th. Pipeline had the other piece of the Soroka trade, Christian Franklin ahead of Cruz.

Once they update their lists, I would imagine Cruz will move into a similar range as the one Fangraphs has him in. On a Baseball America podcast, they indicated that Cruz would be in their top 5 once they update the rankings.

While Cruz’s ascent has been about as steep as Mt. Everest, you could see some of this coming if you read the tea leaves. There was a lot of buzz surrounding Cruz during Spring Training. Paul Toboni himself name dropped Cruz a couple times. He said that Cruz was the prospect that impressed him the most this spring during an interview with Grant Paulsen. 

My first real exposure to Cruz was when I went down to West Palm Beach for Spring Training. He actually appeared in one of the big league Spring Training games I went to and proceeded to hit a home run off of JP France, an Astros righty who has pitched in the big leagues.

I also saw him get a couple hits on the back fields as well. After seeing how good his swing looked and the kind of power he could produce, I was impressed. I made a point of including him when discussing the Nats more famous teenage infield prospects like Eli Willits, Coy James, Luke Dickerson and Gavin Fien.

However, he is shattering even my most optimistic expectations this spring. He started the season like a house on fire for the Fred Nats. Cruz hit .333 with 3 homers and a crazy 15 steals in 14 games. He posted an OPS of 1.087 and often looked like the best player on the field for a stacked Fred Nats team.

Despite never playing above rookie ball before this season, Paul Toboni decided to promote Cruz to High-A Wilmington after those 14 games. That decision made me even higher on Cruz because it showed just how much faith the organization has in him. The fact he was promoted before guys like Luke Dickerson and Yeremy Cabrera is telling. Those other two guys were also performing well and had much more Low-A experience, but it was Cruz who got the promotion.

When he got to Wilmington, I figured Cruz would slow down a little bit. If you looked at his underlying data, he was chasing a bit more than you would like and his contact rates were not amazing as well. That, combined with Wilmington being a very pitcher friendly environment led me to believe Cruz would take a few lumps before eventually figuring things out.

It has only been three games, but so far Cruz has disproven my theory. He has homered twice in three games and has taken to the new level like a duck to water. Cruz is 5/14 with an OPS of 1.186 as a 19 year old in High-A. It is absolutely bonkers to see what this kid is doing.

He has gone from a high upside flier to a top 100 prospect in the span of a few weeks. This guy has an incredible level of upside and ability. He has a natural feel for the barrel and does a great job hitting the ball at good angles. That allows him to tap into his impressive raw power. He is also a great athlete who could play all over the field if needed. 

This season he has split time between shortstop, third base and second base. He has spent the most time at third, but could feasibly play at any of those spots. Cruz has good hands and actions on the dirt. That only makes his overall profile even more tantalizing.

Cruz is the real deal and is the Nats breakout prospect of 2026 so far. His plate discipline and hit tool are still a bit raw, but not to the point where it is truly problematic. We have seen so much development in this player already that you can project future growth as well. 

I am curious to see what Cruz does as he sees better pitching. Will he eventually hit a wall as he sees better breaking balls or is this rocket ship only starting its ascent? Only time will tell, but Nationals fans have a new prospect to get excited about and his name is Ronny Cruz.

When I first started writing here about a decade ago, the biggest gripe we had with the institution that is MLB is how scared they were to make changes. Replay review had been instituted but in comparison to the other Big Four leagues, baseball seemed unwilling to challenge the century-old traditions that enveloped it, even to the point of self-harm. Fast forward to 2026 and the game looks very different, and in a good way.

We’re a couple years into the pitch clock era, and pulling up highlights from 2015 make me wonder why it took so long to implement that little change. Larger bases and the pickoff limit have helped incentivize a more athletic, dynamic style of play on the basepaths, one that the Yankees surprisingly finally started to take advantage of this season. The “Ohtani rule”, allowing Shohei to remain at DH even once he’s been taken out as a starting pitcher, helps keep the biggest start in the sport in the spotlight as long as possible — regardless of how you feel about the guy, MLB is truly marketing its marquee attractions, a complaint levied many times in my adult life against the league.

And of course we’re a month into the ABS era, and after the whirlwind of excitement that was the rule’s first week, we’ve settled into a nice rhythm with it. Fans aren’t waiting with quite the bated breath the way that Cincinnati crowd tormented CB Bucknor, and Ben Rice seems to have learned his lesson about challenging, but the ABS challenge itself has simply become another part of the game. Any addition to game time seems marginal — average gametimes so far this year have been two hours, 40 minutes, exactly in line with averages the last couple of seasons — and I haven’t felt any disruption to the “flow” of things, although others may differ.

In short, MLB has been getting it right with their rule changes post-COVID. They have identified areas where tweaks and fixes have been needed, experimented with the right solutions in the minors, and then allowed those solutions to graduate to the majors. That process itself deserves credit, as MLB teams are graduating prospects to the 26-man roster that have already experienced pitch clocks and challenge systems while in the developmental system, so they’re used to the changes before things start to really matter.

Each of these rule changes has also addressed an actual need, and that’s the cautionary tale going forward. You can get far too cute with rulebook tinkering — the way the NBA calls fouls jumps immediately to mind — and that does eventually degrade the product. Instead, MLB wanted to cut down overall game time, keep the most bankable name on the field as much as possible, introduce a faster alternative play style, and clean up the most egregious missed calls. Specific needs, targeted solutions.

Everything we write and talk about with respect to baseball in 2026 is overshadowed by coming labor troubles. Whether we lose games in 2027 or not, this winter is going to be ugly. MLB has had a load of successes come its way, from an emergent dynasty (and dynasties are always good for business) to the World Baseball Classic to the growing international spotlight shone on the game. The rule changes the league has implemented have contributed to that success, both in terms of a higher-quality game and positive coverage.

The game itself is healthy, thriving, and growing, which is not something we’ve been able to say at many points in my lifetime. Squabbling over what exact percentage of a few billion dollars — when the San Diego Padres are worth four billion on their own — will halt all that progress in its tracks. The most acute, appropriate rule changes on the planet cannot undo the harm of a lost season. MLB has made great strides to improve the state of baseball, and keeping that momentum going needs to be the focus, not a salary cap.