Category: MLB

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The Cleveland Guardians have enjoyed plenty of success at home this season, posting a 13-9 record to date.

My Reds vs. Guardians predictions see Cleveland picking up its fourth consecutive win on home soil Friday night.

Let's get into why with my MLB picks for May 15.

Who will win Reds vs Guardians today: Guardians moneyline (-135)

Andrew Abbott's profile is littered with red flags. He ranks in the 28th percentile in xERA, the 15th percentile in xBA, and the 15th percentile in K%. He's allowing a lot of good contact and not missing many bats, which is a bad combination.

By comparison, Tanner Bibeesits 57th percentile in xERA, xBA, and K%. His xFIP and SIERA are also lower than his ERA, a signal better results are ahead.

Factor in the Cleveland Guardians are a Top-8 offense in average and wOBA vs. lefties and there is a lot working in their favor.

COVERS INTEL: Tanner Bibee has allowed an average of 1.9 earned runs over 20 home starts since the beginning of last season.

Reds vs Guardians Over/Under pick: Under 8.0 (-115)

Bibee has allowed five runs at home through five starts, and seven over his last eight dating back to last season. He is a nightmare to deal with in Cleveland.

His excellent play should continue against a Cincinnati Reds offense that ranks 26th in wOBA vs. righties on the road.

While Abbott is not pitching overly well, he should benefit from playing in a more pitcher-friendly ballpark. He has allowed five runs through three road starts this season – including nearly six shutout innings against the high-powered Cubs.

Reds vs Guardians odds

• Moneyline: Cincinnati +115 | Cleveland -135
• Run line: Cincinnati +1.5 (-175) | Cleveland -1.5 (+150)
• Over/Under: Over 8.0 (-110) | Under 8.0 (-110)

Reds vs Guardians trend

The Cleveland Guardians have hit the Game Total Under in 25 of their last 40 games at home (+9.35 units, 21% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Reds vs. Guardians.

How to watch Reds vs Guardians and game info

Reds vs Guardians latest injuries

Reds vs Guardians weather

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In episode three of this series, I began a two-part exploration of the encounter between Toronto’s George Bell and Boston’s Bruce Kison on June 23rd, 1985. Having visited Kison side of things, we will now consider the life and times of George Bell.

In the late 1970s scouts all around major league baseball began descending upon the Dominican Republic, which had suddenly been identified as highly lucrative territory. The DR was home to countless talented young ball players and those ball players due to the country’s dire economic conditions were highly exploitable.

With the unemployment rate around 40% teams realized they could sign players for a lot less than American prospects asked for. And if those Dominican players did happen to get signed by a major league team, they were sent to the states socially isolated by the language barrier and dependent upon agents who were often crooked and looking to swindle ’em all over again.

A cruel irony recalled by George Bell, one of those young Dominican players, was that while navigating this labyrinth of shameless exploitation, he was the one looked at with suspicion. American players found any reason they could to dislike him. His English wasn’t polished enough, he was too this, not enough that, didn’t play the game the right way.

In 1982, while playing for minor league Syracuse, Bell stepped in against Lynn McGlothen, an 11 year Major League vet pitching in AAA ball in the hopes of one last call up. In a game years earlier while pitching for the Cardinals, McGlothen beamed one New York Mets batter then brushed back another three innings later, then hit that batter too. The intent was so transparently clear that the Mets Dave Kingman charged the mound straight from the dugout.

McGlothen did not hesitate to throw at a batter if he had the inclination and he seemed to resent George Bell for the same superficial reasons everybody else did. Bell was a hotdogger. It was decided. McGlothen drilled him in the face, fracturing his cheek and jawbones. While his teammates stormed the field to exact revenge, Bell arrived on the ground certain that his career in baseball, his one chance at a better life was over.

“He’s dead,” Bell thought of McGlothen, not because Bell would kill him or because his teammates would, but because fate would one day catch up with him.

Two years later, McGlothen lost his life in a fire. His friend was also killed with everyone else escaping the home. Bell who’d fully recovered and made his way to the majors, addressed the tragedy sometime after seemingly unprompted. He expressed his sympathies for the friends and loved ones of those who died then said in McGlothen’s fate, “People like that decide it. They have a bad heart. No way they can stay alive.”

You might find those words to be callous, even cruel. I mean I do. Then again, I doubt either of us have persevered through the circumstances Bell did only for somebody to break his face and potentially ruin his life just for playing baseball with a little bit too much swagger.

Baseball was George Bell’s one and only chance at a better life, the sort of life we’d wish for anybody, and he was fiercely, sometimes even violently protective of that chance.

Interleague play began in 1997, so 2026 will be the 30th season of MLB teams playing outside their own “league.” In reality, Major League Baseball became one league in 1999 when the positions of league president were eliminated and the umpiring crews were merged. The National League and American League still exist, of course, but they are now more like NFL-style conferences than actual separate “leagues.” The names remain because they have more than a century of history each.

The last “merger” was the adoption of the universal designated hitter in 2022.

For the first six years of interleague play, teams played only those in the matching division of the other league. In 2003, that was expanded to include other teams in the opposite league, and now every team plays every other team every year.

The Cubs and White Sox have met every year since that first matchup in 1997. They played one three-game series in each of the first two years, then six games a year split between the North Side and South Side from 1999-2012. In 2013 and 2014 that was reduced to four games. Again the teams played six times in 2015, then four times in 2016 and 2017, six times in 2018 and four times in 2019. In 2020-21, it went back to six, then four from 2022-24, and now it’s back to six.

All of that adds up to 152 games. The Cubs have won 77, the Sox 75. The Cubs have outscored the Sox 719 runs to 693. Most of that advantage has come since 2023 — over the last three seasons, the Cubs are 13-2 against the Sox and have outscored them 83-62 in the 15 games.

Here are 10 notable games from the rivalry, in chronological order.

June 16, 1997: Cubs 8, White Sox 3

This was the first game of the series, and happened at a time when the Cubs were off to a horrible start (27-40). The Sox, expected to contend, were also under .500 at 30-36. It was played on the South Side.

Kevin Foster threw six solid innings and Cubs hitters teed off on ex-Cub Jaime Navarro, scoring six runs in the first three innings. Ryne Sandberg went 3-for-5.

I will never forget sitting in the stands that day. I asked a Sox fan whether he would root for the Cubs when they played Cleveland, the Sox’ division rival. Answer: “Oh no, we could never do that.”

June 5, 1998: Cubs 6, White Sox 5

The Sox took a 2-0 lead off Steve Trachsel in the first, then the Cubs went up 3-2 in the third and made it 5-2 in the fifth on Sammy Sosa’s 17th homer of the year. But the Sox got three more off Trachsel to knot it at 5-all in the sixth and that’s where it stayed until the 12th, when Brant Brown hit a walk-off homer.

This video is from the White Sox broadcast [VIDEO].

June 20, 2006: White Sox 7, Cubs 0

No history of this series would be complete without noting the Michael Barrett/A.J. Pierzynski fight. (Also note that the Cubs lost the game, part of a horrid May in which they would go 7-22.

Here’s the fight:

Collisions at the plate like that are now outlawed in MLB. Good thing, too.

June 21, 2008: Cubs 11, White Sox 7

Jim Edmonds homered twice and Aramis Ramirez and Mike Fontenot also went deep in a nine-run fourth inning that led the Cubs to this win, though manager Lou Piniella had to call on Kerry Wood to save the game in the ninth after the Sox rallied off Bob Howry.

Here’s the entire game:

June 25, 2009: White Sox 6, Cubs 0

Derrek Lee and Carlos Zambrano had to be separated in the Cubs dugout on the South Side after Big Z got torched for four runs in the first inning.

Here’s how it went down [VIDEO].

General manager Jim Hendry put Big Z on team suspension:

“His conduct wasn’t acceptable,” Cubs general manager Jim Hendry said. “His actions toward his teammates and staff were not acceptable.

“He will not be at the ballpark tomorrow. We’ll play with 24. We’ll play with 24 before we tolerate that kind of behavior.”

Asked if there was any doubt in his mind that Zambrano would pitch again for the Cubs this year, Hendry said he “certainly wouldn’t rule it out” and added “the rules of the game usually don’t allow long, long-term suspensions.”

It didn’t last long. Zambrano made his next turn in the rotation July 3, when he held the Brewers to one run in seven innings.

June 13, 2010: Cubs 1, White Sox 0

The Stanley Cup was paraded around Wrigley Field by the Blackhawks, who had just won their first NHL title in 39 years.

Then Ted Lilly took a no-hitter into the ninth inning, when Juan Pierre’s leadoff single broke it up:

Carlos Marmol then entered the game. 2010 was his best year, with 38 saves and a 41.6 percent strikeout rate. But on this night he was wild. He walked Andruw Jones, then balked the runners up a base. After a strikeout, Alex Rios was intentionally walked. Marmol then got Paul Konerko to hit into a 3-2 force play at the plate and Carlos Quentin to fly to short center to end the game. (You can see the rest of the inning after Pierre’s hit in the video above.)

Aug. 27, 2021: White Sox 17, Cubs 13

In a wacky game that lasted more than four hours, the Cubs blew a 6-0 first-inning lead and found themselves trailing 9-6 after three and 13-6 after five. This was a month after the big selloff at that year’s trade deadline and the Cubs pitchers that night were Keegan Thompson, Adrian Sampson, Michael Rucker, Rex Brothers, Trevor Megill, Ryan Meisinger and Manuel Rodriguez. Of those, only Megill is still on an active MLB roster.

But the Cubs mounted a comeback of sorts. Trailing 14-7 going into the eighth, they scored three on doubles by Ian Happ and Jason Heyward. The Sox then matched that with a three-run homer by Yasmani Grandal.

So the Cubs again trailed by seven going to the ninth. The Sox called on Craig Kimbrel, who had not pitched well since they acquired him at the deadline from the Cubs for Nick Madrigal and Codi Heuer.

He did not pitch well on this night, either. With two out, Patrick Wisdom homered, his second of the game. Matt Duffy then walked, and Happ smashed a two-run homer to bring the Cubs within four [VIDEO].

You don’t suppose… Nah. The 2021 Cubs were pretty bad. Kimbrel struck out Austin Romine to end the game. In three appearances for Kimbrel against the Cubs after the trade, he threw 2.2 innings and allowed six hits and six runs, with three home runs, for a 20.25 ERA.

June 4, 2024: Cubs 7, White Sox 6

The Sox came into this game 30 games under .500 at 15-45. The Cubs were at .500 at 30-30.

And the Sox teed off on Shōta Imanaga, scoring five runs in the fourth, in part due to an error on third baseman Christopher Morel.

The Cubs fought back to tie the game 5-5 after six, with Morel and Patrick Wisdom both hitting two-run homers in that inning. But Hayden Wesneski served up a solo homer to Luis Robert Jr. and the Sox led 6-5 going to the bottom of the eighth, when Ian Happ’s two-run double gave the Cubs a 7-6 lead.

Hector Neris was given the save opportunity. He issued a one-out walk to Oscar Colás and the Sox sent in a pinch-runner, a rookie named Duke Ellis, who was making his MLB debut. Ellis promptly stole second, but then Neris picked him off (after a review) [VIDEO].

Neris then got Corey Julks to pop up to end the game.

June 5, 2024: Cubs 7, White Sox 6

Once again, the Cubs fell behind early to this awful Sox team, 5-1 going to the bottom of the fifth. The Cubs scored a pair in the fifth, one on a groundout and the other on a balk, to make it 5-3. Then they scored three in the seventh, on a wild pitch, a sac fly and a single (I told you that Sox team was awful!), to give them a 6-5 lead.

Wesneski, for the second straight night, allowed a key Sox home run, this one by Paul DeJong, that tied the game 6-6 in the eighth.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the ninth. Michael Kopech entered to pitch for the Sox. He threw ball one to Mike Tauchman. And then… [VIDEO]

Mike Tauchman was a fun player to have around for a couple of years.

May 16, 2025: Cubs 13, White Sox 3

On an absolutely gorgeous Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field almost exactly a year ago, this was what we might call the “Pete Crow-Armstrong Game.”

PCA went 4-for-5 with a three-run homer and six RBI as the Cubs demolished the Sox, who actually took a 2-0 lead in the first off Cade Horton, who was making his first MLB start (after a relief outing in his MLB debut following an opener the previous weekend in New York).

PCA’s homer broke a 2-2 tie and keyed a six-run inning [VIDEO].

Here’s to a good weekend of Cubs baseball and some wins on the South Side. The teams will also meet later this year at Wrigley Field, Aug. 17-18-19.

Your 2026 New York Mets: We’ve been through a lot.

“We’ve been through a lot. It feels like when we went through that stretch — every time we got down a couple of runs, the game was over. That was the feeling. Now we’re down three in that first inning, and you still feel good.” -Carlos Mendoza [MLB]

But enough about the 18-25 Mets bad vibes…

“We’re better than that, especially the past couple of days. We needed to be better.” -Carlos Mendoza [MLB]

…let’s talk about the [insert Gerald voice] GOOD VIBES [Note: This is a reference who the only people that will get currently have a young child that they read aloud two ‘Elephant & Piggie’ books every night and use my very specific voice for the Elephant character named Gerald]

“[Regular celebrations in the home clubhouse have followed, featuring pumping music and, as Benge put it,] ‘definitely way better’ vibes.” -Anthony DiComo [MLB]

Speaking of vibes; Swaggy V[ibes] update

“I am always confident at the plate — I feel good right now for sure. I just have to continue to be consistent.” -Mark Vientos [New York Post]

The Mets are [fact checks by looking at data, does math, looks at dictionary] currently on a winning streak

“There’s a lot to like. We won in a lot of different ways. We swung the bat well. We created traffic. We ran the bases well. We got timely hitting. The pitching was outstanding. … Overall, the whole series, I thought we played complete, complete games.” -Carlos Mendoza [MLB]

Especially because the Mets have been, putting it nicely, ‘lackluster’ to start the year; I’m really getting R.A. Dickey vibes where, even if the team is not winning, McLean is just joy to watch every start because of how unique of a pitcher he is

“I’m pretty happy with getting into the seventh today. I just had to find what was working, get creative a couple times and find different pitches that were working.” -Nolan McLean [MLB]

Guys being bros

“I’ve already been treating [AJ Ewing] like a rookie.” -Carson Benge [MLB]

Benge might be a rookie but this is veteran-level response to a reporter asking you to ‘talk about the play where you did bad’…

“It’s baseball. It’s going to happen. It happens to the best of us. So being able to try and get the next play, try and get the next out, the next pitch, just really helps me keep my head on straight.” -Carson Benge [MLB]

…and this is Lucas Duda/Pete Alonso-level [complimentary] responding to be asked how your first big league walk off felt, yeah man, it was ‘definitely a first’…

“[Carson Benge on his first MLB walk off hit] felt amazing. Definitely a first. Indescribable.” -Carson Benge [MLB]

…though Christian Scott might the true new team Lucas Duda/Pete Alonso quote giver

“You’re obviously having a lot more fun when you’re winning baseball games.” -Christian Scott [MLB]

This is catnip for anyone who was into sabermetrics in the aughts

“That’s just part of my identity as a hitter. I’m patient. I see a lot of pitches, and I make pitchers work hard.” -A.J. Ewing [MLB]

I genuinely don’t know a lot about Freddy Peralta, but seems like a good teammate

“It reminds me of my debut and how proud you feel about yourself. I know that [Ewing] feels great about it, and I think that we made him feel better with a win.” -Freddy Peralta [MLB]

My read is this is a very polite and concise way of replacing a response that could be more aggressive, way longer, and include the word ‘runway’ a lot

“We look at [having two rookies in the OF with Juan Soto] and say that could be a really productive outfield for a long time.” -David Stearns

After being constantly burned by squinting at the stats and scouting reports of Mets OF prospects over the years, hoping they become full time >2+ WAR starters (e.g. Lastings Milledge, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, or Nick Evans if in LF), I’m getting my hopes up once again

“I’m confident in my ability. I’m just going to play the same game I’ve been playing and do what I do.” -A.J. Ewing

Jared Greenspan of MLB.com had a really nice post about Christian Scott’s pitch data but tl;dr below

“The stuff is electric.” -Carlos Mendoza [MLB]

Buffalo Bisons 4, Worcester Red Sox 3 (BOX)

Worcester took the lead early in this one against the Bisons (TOR — and here’s your annual reminder that the plural of bison is “bison”) thanks to a solo shot by first baseman Nick Sogard. Sogard is heating up, with four multi-hit efforts in the last six games. Over the past eight games, his slash line is .379/.474/.724 with two home runs and seven RBI. I can think of a team that needs a spark who could use a Nick Sogard. 

The Bison(s) got all of their runs in the second inning off of recently demoted starter Jake Bennett, who allowed seven hits and four runs in 3 ⅓ innings, throwing 70 pitches. Seth Martinez, Noah Song, Tayron Guerrero combined for 4 ⅔ shutout innings.

A Mikey Romero two-run shot in the ninth cut the lead to the final score of 4-3. Sogard and Nate Eaton each had two hit days and Kristian Campbell walked three times. 

Worcester’s starter is TBD at 6:05 on Friday. 

Portland Sea Dogs 5, Hartford Yard Goats 3 (BOX)

Ahbram Liendo had a monster day at the plate for the Sea Dogs on Thursday, hammering his first homer of the season, part of a three hit day with three RBI, and a stolen base. 

Marvin Alcantara also added a solo shot. Blake Wehunt started and went 3 ⅓ innings, striking out seven Yard Goats (COL). Reliever Max Carlson got the win and Cooper Adams a two inning save. 

John Holobetz (1-3, 5.40) will get the ball for the Sea Dogs on Friday at 7:10. 

Bowling Green Hot Rods 5, Greenville Drive 1 (BOX)

The Drive had eight hits on the day against the Hot Rods (TB) but couldn’t get any of them to the plate until a meaningless run in the ninth. Henry Godbout was 3-for-5, and Antonio Anderson had two hits and an RBI on the day. 

Starter Dylan Brown struck out seven in his second start since the promotion to Greenville, allowing two runs in five innings. 

The Drive will send Marcus Phillips (0-2, 7.64) to the mound at 6:45 on Friday. 

Salem RidgeYaks 6, Fredericksburg Nationals 3 (BOX)

Enddy Azocar opened the scoring for the RidgeYaks with a solo shot, his sixth, in the third inning, part of a two-hit, two-RBI day. Azocar has a .279 average and a .846 OPS on the year. 

Skylar King, Ty Hodge, and Avinson Pinto all contributed two-hit games as well for Salem, part of an 11-hit effort in the 6-3 win over Fredericksburg (WAS). 

Starter Barrett Morgan was outstanding, allowing one hit in five shutout innings for the win. Morgan was an 11th-round pick for the Sox a year ago. Jose Bello picked up a four inning save. 

Jason Gilman (0-0, 1.23) will take the bump for Salem at 6:35 on Friday. 

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The Seattle Mariners welcome the San Diego Padres to T-Mobile Park tonight for the beginning of a three-game set. First pitch is scheduled for 9:40 p.m. ET. 

I'm targeting San Diego to grab their fourth straight win against Seattle in my Padres vs. Mariners predictions, with Randy Vasquez on the hill for the visitors. 

Read more in my MLB picks for Friday, May 15. 

Who will win Padres vs Mariners today: Padres moneyline (+120)

The San Diego Padres are starting to turn things around, currently sitting in second place in the National League West. They've compiled a 12-8 record on the road this season, and the Padres swept the Seattle Mariners last month at Petco Park. 

Randy Vasquez pitched in that series, and while he gave up four earned runs in only four frames, the righty has been a mile better away from Petco. Vasquez owns a 1.93 ERA on the road compared to a 3.86 ERA at home. He's only allowed three earned runs across his last two road outings.

Emerson Hancock, meanwhile, gets the ball for Seattle, and he allowed five earned runs last time out against the Chicago White Sox. Hancock gave up only two earned to the Padres last month, but he's surrendered seven earned across his previous three home outings. 

COVERS INTEL: Seattle has lost four of their last six games at T-Mobile Park.

Padres vs Mariners Over/Under pick: Under 7.5 runs (-130)

When these two teams met in April, it was a very low-scoring series. Two of the three games cashed the Under, with just one contest going over seven runs scored combined. Considering the pitching matchup tonight, there is value again in that same play. 

Vasquez continues to show his best when on the road, and he owns a 3.05 ERA overall. Although Hancock can get hit around at times this season, he still has a 3.21 ERA, and the right-hander has allowed more than three earned runs in a start just once in 2026, and that was in his most recent outing. 

Also, we're looking at two very average offenses. The Padres are 24th in runs scored and 30th in average. The Mariners aren't much better, ranking 18th in runs and 24th in team average. Plus, both bullpens are relatively solid. Seattle's pen owns a 3.53 ERA, while San Diego's relievers have compiled an elite 3.03 ERA. 

It won't be a high-scoring series opener at T-Mobile Park. 

Padres vs Mariners odds

• Moneyline: San Diego +122 | Seattle -127
• Run line: San Diego +1.5 (-185) | Seattle -1.5 (+140)
• Over/Under: Over 7.5 (+105) | Under 7.5 (-130)

Padres vs Mariners trend

The San Diego Padres have hit the Moneyline in 22 of their last 35 games (+6.35 Units / 14% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Padres vs. Mariners.

How to watch Padres vs Mariners and game info

Padres vs Mariners latest injuries

Padres vs Mariners weather

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.

The Mookie Betts trade shook the baseball world. A century after dealing away a superstar who helped them win a World Series, the Boston Red Sox did it again. Worse, it seemed as though they didn’t get nearly as much in return as they probably could have for Betts, at that time a four-time All-Star, four-time Gold Glove winner, three-time Silver Slugger, and 2018 American League MVP.

Since then, Betts has gone on to four more All-Star Game appearances and won four more Silver Sluggers, two more Gold Gloves, finished second in National League MVP voting twice, and, most importantly, won three more World Series to add on top of the one he won with Boston in 2018. However, while Betts has continued to pursue a place in Cooperstown (and likely already made enough of a case to be in the Hall of Fame), Alex Verdugo has slowly been pushed out of the major leagues. And in that frame came a brief stint with the Yankees.

Alexander Brady Verdugo
Born: May 15, 1996 (Tucson, AZ)
Yankees Tenure: 2024

Verdugo attended Sahuaro High School in Tucson, where he was drafted in the second round by the Dodgers in 2014. He hit only three home runs in his senior year, but he batted .532 and was a left-handed pitcher for his varsity squad, posting a 2.19 ERA. And after being selected, Verdugo decided to sign with LA rather than play college baseball at Arizona State University, where he had previously committed.

Over the course of three seasons in the minor leagues, Verdugo lit everything up, showcasing why he was considered such an elite prospect. In 2015 alone, he received multiple awards and honors from the Rookie ball Arizona League and was eventually promoted to High-A, hitting .385 in 23 games with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes in the California League. He hit for the cycle in that span as well and was eventually named the organization’s Minor League Player of the Year.

In 2016, Verdugo began the season with the Tulsa Drillers in Double-A. He made the All-Star team and also played for Mexico’s team in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, as his father Joe is originally from Hermosillo, a city in the northwestern part of the country, which made him eligible. Verdugo was then promoted to Triple-A, where he once again showed his prowess at the plate for the Oklahoma City Dodgers, batting .314 over the season, was named to the Pacific Coast League All-Star team, and was selected to represent the Dodgers at the MLB Futures Game.

Verdugo was promoted on September 1, 2017, and played his first game at the ripe age of 21 against the Padres, going hitless with a walk. He would play 14 more games for the Dodgers before his season ended, as he did not perform well enough in the short span to make the playoff roster.

The young Arizonan played more games for the Dodgers in 2018, but he spent most of his time in Triple-A, where he continued to develop. Overall, he played 37 games in a Dodgers uniform that season, slashing .260/.329/.377, a much-improved mark on all accounts, especially in the batting average category, where he was almost 100 points higher in a larger sample size.

Verdugo officially made the Opening Day roster for Los Angeles at 23 years old, and, once again, saw a jump in production as his playing time jumped as well. He only played 106 games due to an oblique injury (that would also keep him out of the postseason). He played 100 games for the first time in his career, and registered 101 hits in the 106 games he played with 44 RBIs and 49 strikeouts. Verdugo’s 113 OPS+ was more than enough to make him look to be an important piece of the puzzle moving forward, but, as we know, a trade would eventually happen that would change the trajectory of his career.

On February 10, 2020, the Dodgers and Red Sox made the trade official. Verdugo, infielder Jeter Downs, and catcher Connor Wong headed to Boston in exchange for Betts, left-handed pitcher David Price, and cash considerations. Although the names they received weren’t chopped liver at the time, the Red Sox seemingly placed a higher priority on moving Betts’ and Price’s contracts than getting the absolute best possible prospects.

With the 2020 season being cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone had to adjust. There were no bodies in the stands, only cardboard cutouts and fake noise pumped in from the sound systems. And in 53 of the 60 games that were played that season by the Red Sox, Verdugo was excellent, batting over .300 for a forgettable Boston team that finished 24-36. But with the Dodgers going on to win the World Series and the Fenway faithful still recovering from the scars of the Betts trade, there were, of course, some hard feelings.

Verdugo continued to produce in a Red Sox uniform, though, despite all of the outside noise. He wasn’t Betts, but he was enough to respectably fill an outfield spot both at the plate and in the field. He had some signature postseason moments for the Sox, too, including a three-RBI game against the Yankees in the 2021 AL Wild Card that was brought to life by a two-run single in the seventh inning that pretty much sealed the game. All of this occurred after he brought the fourth run of the game home for the Red Sox as well.

Verdugo played hero plenty of times in that postseason, specifically, saying to the media:

“I’m not nervous at all. I live for this. It’s still baseball, you know what I mean? The surroundings and fans and the noise outside of it are a lot different, with how much media is on the field before the games and all that, but for me — I just play my game. Baseball is baseball, and let’s not make it more complicated than that.”

Although Boston fell in the ALCS to Houston and missed the next two Octobers, tthe lefty outfielder became a staple on the Fenway grass over the next couple of seasons. In 2022 and 2023, he slashed a combined .272/.326/.413 with an OPS+ of 101, 24 home runs, and 128 RBIs in 294 games. However, 2023 would be the last time he donned a Red Sox uniform, as he was traded to the Yankees on December 5, 2023, as general manager Brian Cashman looked to fill a need both on defense and as a left-handed bat in an almost-strictly right-handed lineup.

However, the plan backfired. The outlook and potential versatility for the Yankees were exciting. And, of course, Yankees fans were thrilled when Verdugo hit a home run on the first pitch he saw back at Fenway following the trade.

Over the course of the season though, Verdugo dealt with lots of ups and downs. He began the season extremely slow at the plate, saying after the season in a quasi-post mortem that he was far too aggressive than he would’ve liked to be, and that he got away from his game. And not only that, but he also had continued issues developing with his hands. He was experiencing skin issues and pain in his hands, a problem that had been continuous since the 2021 season, and that led him to receive an allergy test over the All-Star break. The results showed that he had an allergy to materials in his gloves.

All in all, Verdugo still played in 149 games for the Yankees and slashed .233/.291/.356, and the Yankees were able to make the World Series against Betts and the Dodgers. His defense was good (as Octoberproved), but expectations were higher than an 84 OPS+, especially since he had at least had a league-average bat for Boston in his final two seasons at Fenway. Ultimately, Betts came out on top again, and Verdugo’s performance over the year wasn’t remotely enough to move the needle. It didn’t help that he made the last out of the season too, striking out against Walker Buehler to end the Game 5 collapse in the Bronx. Verdugo entered free agency shortly afterward, and there was little interest in a reunion from the fanbase.

Verdugo ended up joining the Braves in March 2025, where he was sent to Triple-A to get in shape after missing spring training due to his late signing. He would ultimately play 56 games for the Braves before being designated for assignment and released. Verdugo did at least register an impressive four-hit night in his debut, which helped the Braves defeat the Twins 4-3.

After being released, Verdugo was signed to a minor league deal by the San Diego Padres but was eventually released before requiring a season-ending surgery. In fact, that news just broke two days ago. This is unfortunate timing for Verdugo just before turning 30, but that is where the birthday lad’s baseball story ends — for now, anyway.

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

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The Atlanta Braves hope to keep rolling on Friday night when they open a three-game set with the Boston Red Sox.

The Braves have won four of their last five, and their pitching staff has allowed just nine runs in the last five games.

My Red Sox vs. Braves predictions and MLB picks for Friday, May 15 explain why Spencer Strider will keep that trend going.

Who will win Red Sox vs Braves today: Braves (-147)

Spencer Strider overcame a rocky first start back with a dominant performance against the Dodgers last week.

One noticeable change since his return is an increased usage of his curveball, which has induced an eye-popping 81% whiff rate.

The Boston Red Sox have the 10th-highest strikeout rate and fifth-lowest ISO of any club the past two weeks. They’ve also scored just six runs in four games.

Connelly Early has an ERA that is 1.53 runs below expected. He ranks in the 12th percentile in barrel rate and faces an Atlanta offense ranked seventh in SLG at home vs LHP this year.

COVERS INTEL:Boston’s lineup is making poor contact, posting the second-highest ground ball rate (49.3% ) and pull rate (47%) in the majors over the past two weeks.

Red Sox vs Braves Over/Under pick: Under 8.5 (-125)

The Atlanta Braves are still hitting the ball well of late, but the run production is down.

Having the seventh-highest strikeout rate and fourth-lowest walk rate the past two weeks probably doesn’t help.

That’s a main driver behind a run of seven Unders in the last eight games for Atlanta, but it’s not the main reason I’m backing that trend to continue.

Boston’s been baseball’s worst team the past week at bringing in runs, posting a .136 BABIP and a .000 ISO with RISP. That’s led to an abysmal 57 wRC+.

That’s why I’m backing Boston’s seventh straight game under the number.

Red Sox vs Braves odds

• Moneyline: Boston +138 | Atlanta -144
• Run line: Boston +1.5 (-150) | Atlanta -1.5 (+138)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 (+117) | Under 8.5 (-122)

Red Sox vs Braves trend

The Boston Red Sox have hit the Game Total Under in 10 of their last 15 games (+5.60 Units / 34% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Red Sox vs. Braves.

How to watch Red Sox vs Braves and game info

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In an exclusive interview with Federal Baseball, new President of Business Operations Jason Sinnarajah talked about a wide range of issues, including the decline in attendance, beer prices and a potential stadium reboot. Sinnarajah took his new role at the beginning of the year and has his hands full. However, he is working tirelessly to regain the trust of a weary fanbase.

One thing he spoke about that struck me was when he hinted at changes to the stadium itself. I asked Sinnarajah, what do you think will be different about the ballpark experience in like 2 to 3 years once you really make your mark here? In his answer he said, “Without speaking to it too much directly because we are working with our friends in local government to make it happen, but I think the ballpark itself will go through what I would call a tuneup or a change. It is a 19 year old ballpark, and there are areas that need to be refreshed. It needs to be modernized in some areas, our premium areas need to be better, our concession experience needs to be better, our connection to Half Street and the community could be better. People are going to walk in here in a few years and see an experience they can be really proud of”.

This was a newsworthy, and somewhat surprising quote. A so-called ballpark tuneup had not been on my radar, but it is a good idea. As Sinnarajah mentioned, the ballpark is not that new anymore. It is crazy to think about, but Nationals Park is 19 years old now. That is around the time when you see some of these ballparks have a bit of a facelift.

I think Nationals Park could use some refreshing. It is not a bad ballpark, but it is known as one of the more bland stadiums. In a USA Today piece ranking stadiums, they wrote, “It’s a solid, newer stadium. It has amenities but lacks overall character”. Jason Sinnarajah is well aware of that reputation, and is looking to change it. He is still early in his tenure, but he has ambitious goals.

Another thing Sinnarajah is aware of is the Nationals reputation for having some of the most expensive beer in the league. When you go on the internet, you see graphics that list the Nats as having the most expensive beer. So, I asked him what steps the organization has made on the affordability side of things.

Sinnarajah told me that he sees those graphics when he is surfing the internet. However, he told me, “I understand there are people that think we still have beer at $15.75 only. That is not true, we launched $8.99 16 ounce cans of Budweiser and Bud light. Sometimes there are these old habits and hearsay. Like I have been saying since Spring Training, I cannot speak to what happened here before and all the challenges we have had, but what we can do is listen to our fans and hope they come to the ballpark with an open mind. Hopefully they like the experience, and if they don’t we want to hear the feedback so we can get better”.

The Nats are taking steps in the right direction, but sometimes it can take time for those positive changes to translate into results. You can see that in the attendance numbers. On average, about 4,000 fewer fans showed up to the first 16 Nats home games compared to last year. That is the biggest attendance drop in baseball. A lot of that can be attributed to rebuild fatigue, but the ballpark experience plays a role too.

I asked Sinnarajah about these attendance problems. As you would expect from someone in his position, he was well aware of the issues, telling me, “I have obviously noticed that our attendance is down compared to prior years. I go back to the core principles of what we are trying to do. We are trying to listen to our fans, make sure they are being heard, listen and take fan feedback and adjust. We are aware of the attendance, but we feel like we need to continue taking a data driven approach and listen to our fans. We have seen improvements in the Voice of the Consumer metrics, we have seen positive feedback. I hear it from fans”. 

Sinnarajah also acknowledged that the ballpark experience is not where they want it to be yet, though he pointed out it is getting a little bit better with every game. He told me that, “If we can improve every game and every homestand, then we are doing a good job. On the attendance piece, there are all sorts of factors that go into that. What we are doing is we are trying to provide as good of an experience as we can when we come in. The attendance this weekend should be large, so we are excited”. 

Clearly, this is still a work in progress. Just like Paul Toboni did when he took over the baseball side of things, Jason Sinnarajah knew he had to refresh an already existing rebuild. It will be exciting to see the baseball and business side of the team hopefully take off and find their footing at the same time. Both sides of the operation are rebuilding, and I think they have good people in place now.

Sinnarajah came to the Nats after three years with the Royals. When he was with the Royals, the team ranked second in the Voice of the Consumer metric. He helped bring Joe’s BBQ to the ballpark and helped freshen up the ballpark experience at Kauffman Stadium. Sinnarajah hopes to have a similar impact here in DC. 

Another ambitious project that Sinnarajah is trying to pull off is to bring more female fans to the stadium. That is something he did in his previous role in Kansas City that he wants to bring here. Sinnarajah told me, “I believe we need to connect with female fans, especially young ladies. When we played Miami this weekend, they had a Barbie promotion. I have seen a Hello Kitty one. Things that bring people who don’t necessarily watch baseball everyday to the ballpark and try the product. To connect with that demographic would be really cool and we are having those conversations”.

This weekend’s series against the O’s is a time where Sinnarajah and his team can prove themselves. They have several promotions, including a fun hot dog hat and an Alexander Ovechkin bobblehead. Jason Sinnarajah has a lot of big ideas, and this weekend he will show fans what he has got. Hopefully the team can do some winning because that is the biggest key to a good ballpark experience.

The Texas Rangers start a three city road trip today. They play three games in Houston Friday through Sunday, then three in Colorado Monday through Wednesday, are off Thursday, and then have a weekend series at Anaheim.

This trip is notable for a couple of reasons. First, it is one of only three three-city road trips the Rangers have this season. They previously had a three city, ten game West Coast trip in mid-April. Once this stretch is done, the only other three game road trip the Rangers have the rest of the way is a ten game road trip at Miami, Toronto and Cleveland in late June, with the final game of the trip played on July 1.

So the Rangers will be done with long road trips as of the beginning of July, making life easier over the final three months of the season.

Second, the Rangers will be playing the three worst teams in MLB, in terms of current records. The Astros are 17-28, the Rockies are 17-27, and the Angels are 16-28. These three teams are, in fact, the only teams in MLB as of this morning with a winning percentage below .400.

The Rangers have stayed afloat during the first month and a half of the season which had them playing one of the most difficult schedules in the majors. While it wasn’t always easy, they just completed a winning homestand, and are now sitting at 21-22 on the season. A very mid record, to be sure, but one that has them currently just a game back of the A’s in the A.L. West, and tied with the Seattle Mariners for the third Wild Card spot. WC1 and WC2 are currently held by the New York Yankees and the…Chicago White Sox? Really, the White Sox?

Anyway…a team isn’t generally going to gain ground on a lengthy road trip, even if the teams they are facing are of suspect quality. Still, this is the start of a stretch where the Rangers are playing a bunch of teams that are struggling. Between now and June 18, when the Rangers will be finishing up a three game series at home against the Twins, Texas only has six games against teams that, as of today, have a winning record — three games at St. Louis and three games at home against Cleveland.

The Rangers survived their early, difficult stretch of the season. They now have the opportunity to do some damage over the next month against teams that are at the bottom of their divisions.

And once this road trip is done, the Rangers will have 61 home games remaining, compared to 49 road games the rest of the way. When the Rangers return home on July 2 after that last long road trip, they will have 44 home games the final three months, compared to 31 road games.

The road gets easier going forward. Its just up to the Rangers to take advantage of it.

Yeah, I know. Regular season series are only three games long and sometimes four but this is one where you have to take the previous three games into a little consideration once we eventually get into talking about these three games. That’s because the Braves were entering this series against the Chicago Cubs hot off the heels of a big (and rare) series win at Dodger Stadium.

Granted, the Cubs were limping a bit coming into Cobb County after the Rangers blanked them for the final two games of their series in Arlington but at the same time, nobody wants to be the team that a cold team suddenly wakes up for. Fortunately, the Braves were able to extend Chicago’s misery a bit instead of serving as a bounce-back opportunity. Atlanta has now made a big time statement against the depending World Series champions and the current NL Central leaders and now it’s time to take a look at how it all went down.

Tuesday, May 12

Braves 5, Cubs 2

This game started out with Grant Holmes seemingly cruising on his way to a quality start. Then the fourth ining rolled around and Holmes hit the wall hard. He gave up a one-out homer to Alex Bregman to tie the game up at one run apiece and then he walked the bases loaded immediately afterwards. It was honestly a bit of a miracle that Holmes only ended up surrendering two runs in this inning, with the other run coming as a result of a double play.

It also ended up being huge that Holmes only gave up those two runs because that was the complete sum of offense the Cubs would end up mustering up for the entire game. The Braves didn’t wait too long to respond, as they eventually put up a four-spot in the fifth inning. Austin Riley tied things up with a long ball to tie it up again and then Mike Yastrzemski (who put the Braves on the board earlier on) hit his first dinger of the season in order to put the Braves ahead by two. Matt Olson added on an RBI single of his own and just like that, the Braves were up 5-2.

Thanks to Didier Fuentes, Dylan Lee and Raisel Iglesias all being unhittable (with Fuentes being especially impressive in his three innings of work), this ended up being a very frustrating night for the Cubs and an exciting return home for the Braves in the series opener.

Wednesday, May 13

Braves 4, Cubs 1

Shota Imanaga was impressive for the Cubs in this one, as he ended up going seven innings and striking out six batters for Chicago in this one. He did give up two runs though and one of those runs on Imanaga’s line ended up being the winning run for the Braves. The first run for the Braves came on a solo shot from Drake Baldwin that he just muscled over the fence and into the bullpen in right-center for a solo shot that put the Braves into the lead.

Eventually, the game was deadlocked at one run apiece after the sole run that JR Ritchie gave up during his 4.1 innings of work was standing up for the Cubs. Imanaga went back out there for the eighth and sure enough, Michael Harris II was able to get on base with a single to lead off the eighth and force the Cubs to go to their bullpen. Phil Maton got the ball and was immediately greeted rudely by Ha-Seong Kim joining Harris on the basepaths with a single. Mike Yastrzemski then came up huge for the second time in this series with an RBI double that broke the deadlock.

Despite Ha-Seong Kim getting thrown out by a mile at home on Yaz’s double, the opportunity to add on did not go by the wayside. That’s because Mauricio Dubón ended up cracking a dinger of his own to make it 4-1. By that time, Raisel Iglesias was called upon for a second consecutive night of duty and for the second night in a row, he closed things out in order to help give the Braves a series win in front of an electric crowd.

Thursday, May 14

Cubs 2, Braves 0

Things weren’t so electric for the Braves in this one. This was another case of Chris Sale pitching well but not well enough to win because the offense got locked up for the second Sale start in a row. You are not going to sit here and see me complain about another six strong innings from Sale, where he only gave up one run while striking out eight batters as well. This was a perfectly fine night on the mound for Sale and if Atlanta could’ve mustered up anything at the plate, we may have been talking about a sweep right now. Sale was in such a zone that he even forgot how many outs there were at one point!

Instead, Ben Brown and Chicago’s bullpen had redemption on the mind. Brown was extremely effective for the four innings that he pitched and while the Braves did get one hit each on Hoby Milner, Phil Maton, old friend Jacob Webb and Daniel Palencia, those lone hits were all they were able to get. There would be no late rallies or dramatics in this one as the Braves ended up having to settle for the series win after getting shut out for only the second time this season — both times at home, no less.

So while I’d imagine that everybody was hoping and wishing for a sweep after the way the first two games went, I don’t think that anybody is going to complain about a series win — especially considering that it’s two series wins in a row against some of the best that the National League has to offer after a disappointing series loss in Seattle. The Braves are still riding high at the moment and they’re flying higher than any other team in baseball at the moment. The second win of this series pushed the Braves to 30 wins on the year and they’ll be the only team in baseball heading into Rivalry Weekend™ with 30 wins to their name so far. That’s pretty good!

Even with the loss on Thursday, the Braves have to feel good about how their pitching staff performed against this potent Cubs lineup. Going three games against this squad and only giving up four runs (including a one-hitter in the series opener) is very impressive. It’s a crying shame that the best starting performance in this series (Chris Sale’s six innings) ended up being in vain but outside of that, you can’t complain too much about what the Braves got from Grant Holmes and JR Ritchie during this series as well.

The bullpen was also very reliable during these three games as well, which is pretty encouraging to see. Obviously, we’ll have to see the trio of Spencer Strider, Bryce Elder and Grant Holmes (again? maybe?) hopefully go deep against the Red Sox in order to help give the bullpen a bit of a break but for now, you can’t complain about how the pitching has been so far when it comes to the entire staff.

It was also nice to see Mike Yastrzemski start to show some signs of life at the plate and Austin Riley has started to look okay as well. If they can join in on the fun then it’ll certainly be exciting to see going forward and it could also mean good things for the upcoming series as well. The Red Sox may be tricky to deal with due to their pitching but if Atlanta’s lineup can continue to rake and deliver some timely hitting like they have on a somewhat regular basis so far this series then they’ll be fine going forward. Atlanta has been the best team in baseball so far and hopefully we’ll see it continue as they pass the first quarter pole of the season and approach the traditional Summer sign post of Memorial Day soon.

To say Kyle Manzardo got off to a slow start might be considered by many to be a bit of an understatement, but once the calendar flipped to May, the young slugging first baseman has really started to turn things around. Today we’re going to take a look and see if we can figure out how he’s done that.

Kyle Manzardo clobbered 27 home runs and hit for a .768 OPS and a 113 wRC+ in his first full season of Major League Baseball in 2025. With expectations fairly high coming into 2026, it was a shock to many to see him get off to such a slow start. Through his first 28 games to start the season in March and April, he had just 1 home run, a .512 OPS, and a 50 wRC+. But so far in May in just 11 games, he’s already matched his extra base hit total from March and April (3), his OPS is over .200 higher at .740, and he has a 111 wRC+. So what changed?

Well Manzo didn’t get off to a great start from a luck perspective. Through most of March and April, he was one of the unluckiest hitters in Major League Baseball by wOBA – xwOBA difference. In fact, as of writing, he still is the 19th most unlucky hitter in the sport. This is a fairly large part of why the numbers look so bad for him, but if we dig a little deeper we can see some of the changes he’s made that have helped him at the plate the last couple of weeks.

It doesn’t seem like Manzo went deep into the hitting tank, making adjustments to his stance or swing. His depth in the box, distance off the plate, and distance between his feet are all pretty much the same if we go by the Savant measurements. See images below:

Left image is March 26th through April 30th. Right image is May 1st though 10th

So the next thing we’d want to look at is “has the approach changed?” This is where we can see some changes. His Chase % is down from 29.7 in March and April to 26.8 so far in May. Not a massive change, but definitely worth mentioning. The next numbers to look at are his Zone Swing % and his In Zone Contact % (the percentage of pitches in the Zone he’s swung at, and the % of those swings that resulted in contact for the hitter respectively). This is where things get interesting. Manzo is actually swinging at fewer pitches in the strike zone so far in May. The percentage is down from 66.8 to 61.9, but his In Zone Contact % has jumped up drastically from 79 to 97.6! What does this tell us? These three numbers combined show a hitter that is being far more selective of the pitches they want to swing at, and then not missing when they get the pitch they want.

What are the results? Manzo’s Hard-Hit % (the percentage of batted balls with exit velocities over 95 mph) has skyrocketed from 26.4 to a staggering 68 in May, his Barrel % is up from 7.5 to 20, his average exit velo is up 5mph from 87.7 to 92.7, and he’s hitting the Launch Angle Sweet Spot (defined by stat cast as between 8 and 32 degrees) 48% of the time. The patience has rewarded him as well, lowering his K% from 35.1 to just 19.4, and increasing his BBB% from 8.2 to 11.1. These are all great signs. The Barrel % and Hard-Hit % would be top 10 and number 1 in the league respectively if they held, so those rates may not be sustainable for the young slugger, but it’s certainly cause for excitement.

What do we want to watch going forward? The most important thing is going to be continuing to manage the Chase %. If he can continue to keep that Chase % down even just those few % points and hunt the pitches he can damage, the rest of 2026 will go very well for the first baseman. 

It’s worth mentioning as well that Kyle Manzardo came into 2026 with less than 200 MLB games under his belt and only 687 PAs. There’s a lot of adjusting that still goes into a young player at this stage at the MLB level, and it’s very clear he also put a lot of work this offseason into improving his defense. Hopefully, going forward, we will continue to see this version of Kyle Manzardo. If we do, José will have some extra much needed protection in the lineup.

It was only last August when I assured everyone that the Giants would finish ahead of the Athletics, but it would probably be close. That didn’t wind up being the case, as the Giants got to 81 wins compared to teh A’s 76, but there’s something interesting about going back and reading through some of the comments. The vibes tend to bounce between a flippant attitude about any sort of comparison between the two teams and outright churlishness. Are the Athletics a major league team? Not exactly. But that’s why the Giants losing to them is worthy of a story, should it happen.

I think the Giants would find it embarrassing to finish the season behind the franchise they helped kill. The A’s are set to be in the region for one more calendar year, unless there’s a lockout that cancels the 2027 season. That’d be quite a note to go out on. Bragging rights and spite are potent weapons when deployed properly.

But so are talented baseball players, and the nomadic Athletics have a fair amount on their roster. They enter this series sitting atop the AL West at 22-21 thanks to a slightly above average lineup (102 wRC+) buoying a below average pitching staff (23rd in fWAR) and, of course, some general non-competitiveness from the rest of their division. On paper, the Giants can’t really compete with the Athletics’ lineup and it’s only the pitching where San Francisco would seem to have the advantage. But Sutter Health Field is close to Coors Field in terms of park factor which should mean that a more talented lineup has the advantage if the pitching is about equal.

Then again, the Giants have a pretty relevant equalizer there, too, in that Sutter Health Field is also the home of their Triple-A squadron. It was Bryce Eldridge’s home for a time. Trevor McDonald’s. Heliot Ramos and Casey Schmitt’s, too. That’s not nothing, and that will be a fun thing to watch, provided Eldridge actually gets into a game. The Athletics haven’t been all that great there in the season-plus they’ve used it as a homefield. This year, they’re off to a 9-10 start with a -20 run differential.

But the preview here is that the Athletics feature patience (9.7 BB%) and power (.153 ISO) the Giants lack and have used that combination to overcome an even worse start to the season (1-5) than the one the Giants had (2-4).

Series overview

Who: San Francisco Giants (18-26) at The Athletics (22-21)
Where: Sutter Health Field | West Sacramento, California
When: Friday at 6:40pm PT, Saturday at 6:40pm PT, Sunday at 1:05pm PT
National broadcasts: None, but all 3 listed as the MLB.tv Free Game of the Day

Projected starters
Friday: TBD vs. Aaron Civale (RHP 4-1, 2.59 ERA)
Saturday: Trevor McDonald (RHP 1-0, 2.92 ERA) vs. Luis Severino (RHP 2-4, 4.07 ERA)
Sunday: Adrian Houser (RHP 1-4, 5.79 ERA) vs. Jeffrey Springs (LHP 3-3, 4.22 ERA)

Players to watch

Athletics

Nick Kurtz: The 2025 AL Rookie of the Year posted a 1.o02 OPS with 36 home runs in his age-22 season (489 PA). He’s up to a .905 OPS in 193 PA through the first month and a half of the season. 6 of his 7 home runs have come over the past 23 games.

Shea Langeliers: He currently leads the sport in hits with 55 hits along with 12 home runs. He’s a bit off of Cal Raleigh’s 60-home run pace from last season (he had 14 through his team’s first 43 games), but it’s worth keeping an eye on.

Joel Kuhnel & Hogan Harris: You’d think trading Mason Miller would leave the backend of the Athletics’ pen compeltely exposed. That hasn’t totally been the case, and they’ve at least populated it with some quirky characters. First up is soft-tossing journeyman righty Joel Kuhnel, who is doing it with a sinker that simply gets the job done. He has just 6 strikeouts in 15 innings. He got a nice writeup in MLB.com last month. Meanwhile, lefty reliever Hogan Harris is approaching journeyman status (29, despite being drafted by the A’s) and has walked 17 in 23 IP — but has also struck out 21.

Giants

Bryce Eldridge: We can’t consider 104 games spread out across a few years an indication of a home field, but this is where he was getting comfortable before the Giants called him up to sit on the bench. Let’s see if he gets a start or really any playing time in what was his minor league home for a time.

Trevor McDonald: Unlike Eldridge, McDonald will be returning to a place where he did not impress, sporting a 5.40 ERA the past two seasons. As a starter on the mound for the San Francisco Giants, he has been a tough starting pitcher. Will he hold firm to that characterization or lose himself in the West Sacramento of it all?

Daniel Susac: He’s set to be activated for this series and we’ll see if the organization’s favorite catcher can pickup where he left off.

Tony Vitello watch

Like some of the recent River Cats now with the Giants, I imagine there’s a degree of familiarity for Vitello in that Sutter Health Field should feel a lot more like a college stadium than a major league one. But maybe I’m wrong about that!

Prediction time

The Giants will not get swept.

Through four starts, the back of the baseball card numbers look like Zack Wheeler’s numbers. His 2.55 ERA, 2.70 FIP and .193 batting average allowed all rank among the best numbers he’s ever put up.

But he’s getting there in a much different way than he has in the past.

Coming off his thoracic outlet syndrome surgery last year, Wheeler has yet to recover his typical fastball velocity thus far, averaging 94.7 mph on that pitch. That’s down from 96.1 mph a season ago, and about 1 mph lower than the upper 95s he featured from 2022-24.

Perhaps not coincidentally, he’s seen a drop in his strikeout rate too, which sits at 23.2%, well below last year’s 33.3%. He’s simply not able to throw the ball by hitters in the zone right now.

The good news is, he’s not trying to.

Instead, Wheeler has exchanged strikeouts for groundouts, and at a pretty incredible clip. He’s generated a ground ball rate of 48.5%, his highest since 2021. Last year, his ground ball rate was 39.9%. It is one of the reasons he has been so efficient with his pitches this season.

Instead, Wheeler is turning more to his secondary pitches, throwing his fastball 34% of the time in his first four outings, down from 41% in each of the previous two seasons. With six pitches at his disposal, he’s been able to mix things up and keep hitters off balance (numbers from Baseball Savant).

• Fastball: 34%
• Sinker: 19%
• Sweeper: 14%
• Splitter: 13%
• Cutter: 10%
• Curveball: 9%

Without his usual velocity, Wheeler has amped up some of the movement on his pitches, too, specifically, the horizontal movement on his sinker and sweeper.

The top line is his sinker, which has slowly increased in horizontal movement since 2023. His sweeper, a pitch he first started using in ‘23, has seen a dramatic increase in it’s horizontal movement. Both pitches are generating 18 inches of horizontal run.

Folks, that’s a lot.

Those pitches are sweeping through and out of the zone in a way that has allowed Wheeler to remain in the 90th percentile in chase rate in MLB.

So while his fastball velocity, whiff rate and strikeout rate are all middle-of-the-pack right now, there are other areas in which Wheeler is excelling.

Is this a profile that will allow Wheeler to have this kind of success all season? His xERA of 3.51 and xFIP of 3.37 indicate there will likely be some regression. But even if Wheeler’s actual ERA ends up being around 3.50, it should still be seen as a solid contribution for a team that doesn’t require him to be the Cy Young candidate he was even a season ago.

Just be ready for the occasional blowup game where Wheeler’s movement isn’t as crisp or hitters start laying off some of those sinkers/sweepers on days when he doesn’t have his best command. Unless his velocity increases as the weather gets warmer, he’s going to have to be a bit more careful in the zone with his fastball.

Perhaps this is the beginning of a re-invention of Zack Wheeler. Perhaps it’s a one year situation as he recovers from surgery.

Whatever it is, the results have been encouraging.