Category: MLB

The Dodgers had four off days through the first three weeks of the regular season, including a Sunday off plus three Thursdays in a row without a game. Their longest stretch thus far has been six days in a row with games. But the schedule is about to get much busier.

The Dodgers have four games at Coors Field in Denver beginning Friday night, before completing the road trip in San Francisco for three games. Then comes a homestand against the Chicago Cubs and Miami Marlins. That’s 13 days in a row with a game.

Get ready for the pitching carousel to really get moving. Going into the trip, the Dodgers bullpen is about as well set up as possible, outside of concerns about Edwin Díaz. Dodgers starters in three games against the New York Mets pitched 21 2/3 innings, leaving a well-rested bullpen going into this weekend. Dodgers relievers this season have pitched 58 1/3 innings in 18 games, the second-smallest workload in MLB.

That said, playing 13 days in a row will be taxing on any pitching staff. If anything goes awry, that could have a ripple effect over a few games. Reinforcements will be needed, and fresh arms will be required. You can count on it.

Last season, the Dodgers had five stretches of at least 10 game days in a row, and here are all the pitchers they added to the active roster during those times.

May 2-11

10 days, 3 additions

J.P. Feyereisen was called up, with Yoendrys Gómez designated for assignment. Then Feyereisen was optioned the next day to call up Landon Knack. Evan Phillips went on the injured list and Matt Sauer came up.

May 30-June 11

13 days, 9 additions

Noah Davis was called up when Luis García went on the injured list. Will Klein was acquired from the Mariners and Davis was optioned. Ryan Loutos was called up and Chris Stratton was designated for assignment. Klein was optioned after one day with José Ureña signed to a major league deal. Justin Wrobleski was called up with Knack optioned. Chris Stratton was re-signed with Loutos designated for assignment. Michael Kopech and Kirby Yates were activated off the IL, with Tony Gonsolin landing on the IL and Stratton designated for assignment again. Sauer was called up and Ureña was designated for assignment.

June 13-22

10 days, 3 additions

Emmet Sheehan was activated off the IL, and Sauer was optioned. One day later, Sheehan was optioned and Jack Little called up. Little was sent down one day later with Klein recalled.

August 15-27

13 days, 4 additions

Paul Gervase was called up with Alexis Díaz sent down. Gervase was optioned one day later with Sauer called up. Sauer was also optioned after one day with Tanner Scott returning from the injured list. Yates returned from the IL with Blake Snell going on paternity leave. Snell was activated three days later with Alex Vesia placed on the injured list.

September 12-21

10 days, 1 addition

Kopech was placed on the injured list, and Klein was recalled.

The September stretch came when active roster limits allow for 14 pitchers instead of 13, making it easier to absorb heavier workloads. But last season during the period with 13 active pitchers, the team had four stretches of playing at least 10 days in a row, and added at least three pitchers to the active roster during each stretch.

Having Shohei Ohtani fully stretched out now, and him not counting against the 13-pitcher roster limit, will mitigate the need for coverage somewhat, but pitching roster moves still seem inevitable for this stretch of games over the next 13 days.

Today’s question is how many pitchers will the Dodgers add to the active roster from April 17-29?

Garret Anderson, one of the greatest and most beloved players in Los Angeles Angels history, has died at the age of 53, the team announced April 17.

Anderson, a three-time All-Star who helped lead the Angels to the 2002 World Series championship, played the majority of his 17-year career with the Angels. He holds franchise record for games played (2,013), hits (2,368), runs scored (1,024), RBIs (1,292), and total bases (3,743). He ranked second behind only Hall of Famer Derek Jeter for the most hits from 1997-2003.

Anderson, the 2003 All-Star Game MVP and Home Run Derby winner, had been working for the Angels as a broadcaster.

“The Angels organization is mourning the loss of one of our franchise’s most beloved icons," said Angels owner Arte Moreno in a statement.  “Garret was a cornerstone of our organization throughout his 15 seasons and his stoic presence in the outfield and our clubhouse elevated the Angels into an era of continued success...

"Garret will forever hold a special place in the hearts of Angels fans for his professionalism, class, and loyalty throughout his career and beyond. His admiration and respect for the game was immeasurable. We extend our deepest condolences to Garret’s wife Teresa, daughters Brianne and Bailey, son Garret ‘Trey’ Anderson III, and his entire family.”

Your 2026 New York Mets: Hello darkness, my old friend…

“It’s not a good showing right now. They’re pissed, frustrated, obviously not happy about it. And I want them to be pissed.” -Carlos Mendoza [The Athletic]

…I’ve come to talk with you again

“If we don’t score runs, it’s hard to win.” -Francisco Lindor [The Athletic]

Because a vision softly creeping

“It’s surprising, but you go through these things — maybe this is a bit extreme, probably. I don’t really got much to say other than we can’t explain it, and we’ll keep on working to figure it out.” -Bo Bichette [The Athletic]

Left its seeds while I was sleeping

“We’re not doing damage on pitches in the strike zone, guys are being passive, guys are getting ahead of us, and then we’re chasing and hitting the ball on the ground. Right now it’s just quick innings.” -Carlos Mendoza [The Athletic]

And the vision that was planted in my brain

“Each April I’ve been here has been pretty similar, where we don’t score as many runs as we’d like and then the weather warms up and balls start flying out of the ballpark. We probably haven’t scored quite as many runs as we’d like, but that’s a pretty talented position player group that’s going to get going. We’re going to score runs.” -David Stearns [The Athletic]

Still remains

“Guys have got to start playing better. It’s as simple as that. They’re too talented. But right now, we’re not seeing anything on the field.” -Carlos Mendoza [MLB]

Within the sound of silence

“It’s weird because that’s not [Francisco Lindor]. It’s hard to explain. And he’ll be the first one. He’ll tell you that he’s got to be better. But yeah, never seen some of those plays that he’s just out of position at times.” -Carlos Mendoza [ESPN]

In restless dreams I walked alone

“Not sure. I feel like I’m locked in. I feel like I’m in the game. It just happens. Got to be better.” -Francisco Lindor [ESPN]

Narrow streets of cobblestone

“[Francisco Lindor’s] the same guy. He shows up. He prepares. He works as hard as anybody. He wants to win. I don’t think it’s got anything to do with who’s in the lineup and who’s not. It’s weird.” -Carlos Mendoza [ESPN]

‘Neath the halo of a street lamp

“I went after the ball and Marcus was there and didn’t make it to second base and we didn’t turn the double play.” -Francisco Lindor [New York Post]

I turned my collar to the cold and damp

“The biggest thing was I wasn’t able to control very many pitches near the strike zone or over the plate.” -Kodai Senga [New York Post]

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light

“It wasn’t a bad pitch, but I’ve seen [Nick Kurtz before]. He has a very good swing. He is a power hitter. He is a tall guy. He did what he needed to do with that pitch. I tip my hat to him.” -Freddy Peralta [MLB]

That split the night

“I know we are way better than this. We have a great team. We believe in each other and I know that we are going to do better… I know there are a lot of people who want us to win. We want to win, too. Sometimes this is baseball. We have to get through this.” -Freddy Peralta [MLB]

And touched the sound of silence

“Honestly, when you’re out there, you don’t really feel the score. At least in my opinion, you’re just out there trying to execute each pitch. Obviously at any given moment, somebody can clip you for a home run, or things can get haywire. But you’re just trying to execute each pitch.” -Nolan McLean [MLB]

“You wish we could have gotten it done for [McLean] — and for everyone else here. But it’s one of those where he pitched his butt off today. Even though he wasn’t feeling the best probably at the beginning of the game, then all of the sudden he gave us the momentum every single inning. We’ve got to do our best to win games like this.” -Francisco Lindor [MLB]

“I played hard, I played with passion every single day. I’m a fiery guy, but you know I cared. I wanted to win, I wanted to do well. I think the fans knew that. I want to be known as a player who played the game the right way, gave it his all, and enjoyed being in the Mets organization.” -Jeff McNeil [Twitter]

“Biweekly” is kind of a dumb word. It means both “twice a week” and “once every two weeks,” and apparently, there’s no effort to create a new word to mean one of those, so that “biweekly” can be reserved for the other. To be clear, by “biweekly” here, I mean “every two weeks.”

In the offseason, someone suggested that we do a more regular check-in on the Braves and their players. I used to do monthly recaps, but those weren’t really ever a “check in,” and there were only six of them a year. (Plus, I didn’t do the September one sometimes.) On the flip side, doing a very frequent check in series can feel a bit like whiplash, because baseball is a game of accumulation of marginally different rates of stuff happening over long-ish periods, so talking about what happened in one week feels weird. So, there you go, that’s how I got to biweekly. Hopefully this fulfills the request for a “check in.” If there’s something you want to see in this pseudo-review, let me know.

How are the Braves doing?

Through mid-April, the Braves are, nominally, doing pretty well. They’re 12-7, which pro-rates out to a 102-win season if kept up over the entirety of the campaign.

• They have baseball’s third-best record.
• They lead the division by three games (over the Marlins and Nationals).
• They have baseball’s second-best run differential and BaseRuns differential. (BaseRuns is basically just the set of outcomes possible at the plate — walks, singles, doubles, outs, etc., weighted by how valuable they are. BaseRuns differential is basically just the difference between the different types of outcomes the batters have collected, and what the pitching and fielding have allowed to opposing batters.)
• They’re top five in pretty much every position player thing (fWAR, fielding value, offensive outputs, offensive inputs).
• The pitching is a little iffier: they have the league’s best ERA-, but the eighth-best FIP- and 12th-best xFIP-. The defense, and some luck, are going a very long way to making this team look like it has elite run prevention, even though it’s probably somewhat worse than that (but still above-average).

One very amusing consideration is whether you feel the Braves are doing great or not probably depends on your expectations. If you were emotionally pummeled by 2025 (and maybe even by 2024 for whatever reason), 2026 might feel awesome so far. But, the Braves were projected to be a solid team this year, so a 12-7 stretch across a fairly easy schedule (by my estimate, only four teams have had an easier schedule so far) has had very limited impacts on the Braves’ expected end-of-season wins or playoff fortunes. As of April 16, they are projected (FanGraphs Steamer/ZiPS blend, point estimate) for 90 wins, with playoff odds of 84 percent; preseason, it was 90 wins and playoff odds of 79 percent. So, on the one hand, yeah, woo, go Braves — still undefeated in series. On the other hand, this is probably what they should’ve been doing.

A few other considerations:

• If you go game-by-game in terms of odds, the Braves should’ve been somewhere between 10-9 or 11-8. Their “best” win (lowest pregame odds) was the rubber game in Anaheim (8-2), while their “worst” loss was the Athletics game where they started Jose Suarez. So, nothing that weird happened in these first few weeks in terms of specific games.
• The Braves are substantially underperforming their run differential and BaseRuns differential. If they weren’t, then I think everyone would be impressed by their record. But, on the flip side, they’re actually not underperforming their xwOBA offensively for once, which is why I can title this post “so far, so good” and not “welp the increased drag on the balls is killing them once again, hope it improves in the summer.”

How are the hitters doing?

Alright, enough text.

It’s a little irresponsible to include that last column, hence the grayscale, but I wanted to keep it to show how these will change over time. The trio of Drake Baldwin, Matt Olson, and Dominic Smith are killing the ball, with results even better than their inputs. Mauricio Dubon is almost there, but his inputs are notably worse — though much improved from when he was just getting a bunch of hits with almost no oomph very early in the season.

Actually, let’s do a different view:

This should be fairly self-explanatory, but in case it isn’t, bubble size is scaled based on PAs so far. Really, three things to note here beyond much of the team raking: Mike Yastrzemski is sad, Ozzie Albies is lucky, and Michael Harris II is unlucky.

Only one player (Josh Naylor), has both more PAs than Harris, and a bigger xwOBA underperformance. Harris’ inputs are fairly close to say, Olson’s — but their outputs so far are worlds apart. On the flip side, only Yandy Diaz has more PAs than Albies and a bigger overperformance (though a lot of guys are close in terms of PAs and overperformance). It’s not weird to have these sorts of things be true for any few-week stretch, but Albies has a history of overperformance and Harris has a history of underperformance so… watch this space?

Context-less stats are all well and good, but these guys are playing games where they come up in specific situations. We all know about Smith’s heroics — his 1.12 WPA so far is actually seventh in MLB among position players right now. His game-winning double against the Marlins resulted in the third-highest WPA game for a batter so far this season. That said, I also want to give a shoutout to Olson, who currently leads the team with six games with a WPA above .06. He hasn’t had that huge hit yet, but his consistent production has made big hits unnecessary in many games, as well. And, of course, there’s Austin Riley, whose challenges with the WPA vortex are well-documented at this point. I won’t dwell on it too long, but Riley’s -0.78 WPA is just barely outside the bottom ten in baseball right now, with the biggest insult layered on top of insult coming from the fact that his worst WPA game so far was supposed to be a day off, and instead he ate -0.18 WPA after coming in late and making two outs in key situations.

How are the pitchers doing?

We’re very much in small sample land here:

Bryce Elder has been killing it. Chris Sale was killed in one start, so his through-four-starts line is very un-Sale-like. Grant Holmes and Reynaldo Lopez are somewhat concerning, but it’s only been a few outings, and maybe they find their footing — they were both better in their most recent starts, despite the Marlins sprinkling BABIP all over their box score lines. Still, each of these guys have had positive WPA so far (in large part thanks to the stellar defense behind them) — even if Elder is the unquestionable rotation MVP of these first few games of the season.

I’m not going to bother with reliever stuff at this point because, well, the bullpen innings leader right now is Osvaldo Bido, who just got DFAed. That said, I do want to note that Raisel Iglesias is currently second on the team among pitchers in fWAR with 0.4 — a far cry from his terrible start that kind of doomed the Braves before they ever got going last year. He’s been nearly perfect, and has four of the team’s ten shutdowns (which is a relief appearance with +.06 WPA or more). Among the “steady” relievers that are expected to stay on the roster, only Aaron Bummer has had a rocky start, but we’re still talking just like five innings here.

Anyway, that’s what I got. What else would you like to see (or not see) in future biweekly updates (remember: that means every two weeks here!)?

Major League Baseball just received its most startling data point in a year that will be defined by them.

The San Diego Padres are a (nearly) $4 billion franchise.

Forget existential crises, attention economies, disparate and increasingly complex TV situations and, dare we say, salary caps and luxury tax thresholds. If the industry - and that includes owners, players and fans - ever needed a crystal clear sign that the game is healthy, that spending some money might actually make you a little money in the end, the impending purchase of the Padres will be it.

Private equity baron Jose E. Feliciano - and that's apparently a career prerequisite for owning a ball club these days and wife Kwanza Jones - are on the verge of a $3.9 billion transaction to buy the club from the Seidler family trust, the Wall Street Journal reported.

It is a staggering amount, not just because it's a 62.5% increase on the record $2.4 billion Steve Cohen spent to buy the New York Mets in 2020. Hey, inflation is a bear and franchises appreciate. It happens.

Just not like this, and not for a club like the Padres.

We've heard the two to three strikes against them for years: San Diego is bordered by the Los Angeles region (and its two MLB franchises) to the north, Mexico to the south and the desert to the east. The Padres were also the very first team whose local broadcast situation collapsed to the point MLB had to take over production and distribution, way back in 2023.

So just how did the Padres, their TV model collapsing, their geographic situaton no better, go from a $600 million valuation when the club was last purchased in 2012 to nearly twice the purchase price of the Mets, who have their own lucrative TV network and a position in the game's largest media market?

Well, sometimes when you spend a little money, you can make it back.

The Padres' ownership group - Ron Fowler and then the Seidler family, with the late patriarch Peter Seidler still talked about reverentially around Petco Park - has been on one for the last eight years. It started with a slow drip - a nine-figure contract in 2018 for first baseman Eric Hosmer, an overpay that let the world know San Diego was open for business.

The latest news on the Houston Astros and from around MLB:

It’s a good thing the Astros went and acquired all that starting pitching depth:

Starting pitching woes have led to the Astros leaning harder on their bullpen than any team in baseball:

Are the Astros missing their chance to extend Cam Smith?

While Astros pitchers are having big trouble with walks, they aren’t the only ones:

There is a strategy to challenging. The Astros lost both their challenges early and it cost them later in the game with some bad calls to their hitters:

What has teams signing young prospects to big extensions earlier than ever?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2026/04/15/kevin-mcgonigle-contract-extension-mlb-biggest/89626582007/

Bob Nightengale takes at look at MLB’s biggest surprises and disappointments this season:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2026/04/16/mlb-biggest-surprises-disappointments-mets-giants-red-sox-twins/89638120007/

Mike Trout is hitting .246 but he has 7 HR, several of the tape measure variety. Time for the Hype Train:

The San Diego Padres are about to be sold to a private equity firm owner for a record-setting price:

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7203881/2026/04/17/san-diego-padres-sale-jose-e-feliciano/

Mets GM taking heat for their bad start punctuated by an 8-game slide.

Jon Heyman on Mets manager, Padres Fernando Tatis Jr, FA SP Lucas Giolito, and Yankees pitching logjam:

At 37, there may not be much left in the tank for Mark Canha, but can’t blame him for trying:

Happy Friday. It’s been a long week in Blue Jays land, and a long week here in Calgary for that matter. It snowed sideways yesterday, about eight inches. Other Tom is enjoying 21 degrees and cherry blossoms in Tokyo, not that I’m bitter.

Anyways, in Jays news, Jose Berrios pitched in Dunedin yesterday. The surface stats were ugly, five runs on five hits and a walk over 2.2 with three strikeouts. Some of the pitches that got hit were definitely left way too much out over the plate. Probably more importantly, though, he was sitting 93 and 94 with his sinker and four seamer, respectively, which is better than he managed last year by about a mile an hour, and was getting all his pitches over. He was allowed to throw 47 pitches, so he’s well into stretching out, but I would imagine we’ll need to see him handle 30+ more pitches and look significantly sharper in a minor league game before he’s back in Toronto, which probably makes early May the target at this point.

Tonight will be a big test for how much of a problem the wait is, as Eric Lauer makes his first start since (hopefully) fully recovering from the stomach flu that sapped his stuff and lead him to getting rocked his last two times out. Tomorrow, we’ll hopefully see Max Scherzer bounce back from a couple of ugly outings as he’s dealt with forearm tendinitis. If one or both can look at least serviceable, the Jays have a hope of getting through this stretch until Trey Yesavage and Berrios make it back. If not, it’s going to be a rough ride.

More optimistically, although not for 2026, Nolan Perry took the ball for the next five innings and allowed just one hit. He also punched out a dozen, somehow only needing 60 pitches to do it. It took about one inning of seeing Perry this spring for me to realize he should have been on the main prospect list, but at least Matt was smart enough to feature him prominently on his pref list. He’ll definitely feature in our midseason update, and not at the bottom. Other early standputs among lower ranked prospects in the farm system include Daniel Guerra, a 22 year old righty who struck out 11 in five hitless innings for the Vancouver Canadians last night to bring his early K total to 23 in 14.1 innings, Charles McAdoo, who’s showing a better eye and making more contact at AAA than he did last year at AA and posting a .900 OPS because of it, and the New Hampshire trio of Eddie Micheletti jr, Sean Keys and Jayce Bohrofen, who’ve combined for 11 home runs so far with improved underlying data.

That’s it for Jays news. On a happier note, here’s Mike Trout hitting a 450 foot tank as the Angels beat the Yankees in New York:

You have to remember to find joy where you can.

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The Detroit Tigers have had a miserable time away from Comerica Park, losing eight of 10 road games this season.

My Tigers vs. Red Sox predictions and MLB picks expect those struggles to continue in Boston on Friday, April 17.

Who will win Tigers vs Red Sox tonight: Red Sox (-130)

Ranger Suarez has had a difficult start to his Boston Red Sox career, but that coincides with very tough competition.

He has faced the Astros, Padres, and Cardinals. The Astros sit fourth in runs per game while the Padres sit 11th, and the Cardinals rank seventh in wRC+ against left-handed pitchers.

Suarez should get a little bit of relief against the Detroit Tigers. They've hit just .213 off lefties and rank 22nd in wRC+.

While most of the Red Sox top bats are lefties, they do have some good righties — most notably Willson Contreras and Ceddanne Rafaela — who could cause problems for Casey Mize.

COVERS INTEL: Ranger Suarez has induced soft contact 22.7% of the time, best among today’s projected starting pitchers.

Tigers vs Red Sox Over/Under pick: Under 8 (-120)

Suarez owns a 3.74 xFIP, which is well below his 5.02 ERA. He hasn’t pitched as poorly as the results suggest — and I’ve already highlighted the difficult competition he faced.

The Tigers are hitting .216 with a .083 ISO on the road and cold weather is expected, making this a good spot for Suarez to get back on track.

Mize owns a solid 3.85 xFIP and has done a good job of neutralizing left-handed bets, setting him up for a quality start against Boston.

Both bullpens are also well-rested, so the managers will have plenty of options to help limit runs.

Tigers vs Red Sox odds

• Moneyline: Detroit +122 | Boston -127
• Run line: Detroit +1.5 (-186) | Boston -1.5 (+178)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 (+117) | Under 8.5 (-122)

Tigers vs Red Sox trend

The Red Sox have hit the Under in 14 of their last 22 games at home (+6.45 Units / 27% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Tigers vs. Red Sox.

How to watch Tigers vs Red Sox and game info

Tigers vs Red Sox latest injuries

Tigers vs Red Sox 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.

Another day of minor league baseball is in the books. See the results below.

AAA: Sugar Land Space Cowboys (10-7) POSTPONED

AA: Corpus Christi Hooks (6-6) lost 9-4 (BOX SCORE)

The Hooks got some runs early getting an Austin solo HR in the first and an Encarnacion RBI single in the 2nd. Hicks got the start and was solid allowing 2 runs over 5 innings of work. The Hooks got 2 more runs in the 4th on an error. The Hooks held a 4-2 lead but the pen struggled allowing 7 runs and the offense was quiet the rest of the way as they fell 9-4.

Note: Austin has a .898 OPS this season.

• Trevor Austin, 3B: 1-for-4, R, HR, RBI
• Lucas Spence, LF: 0-for-3, BB, SB
• Yamal Encarnacion, 2B: 1-for-4, RBI

• James Hicks, RHP: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
• Alex Santos, RHP: 1.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
• Railin Perez, RHP: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K
• Ramsey David, RHP: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

A+: Asheville Tourists (4-8) lost 11-8 (BOX SCORE)

Hertzler started for Asheville and was solid allowing 1 run over 3 innings. He was relieved by Rodriguez who struggled allowing 7 runs over 1.2 innings. The Asheville offense battled getting a Rosario 3 run HR in the 6th and a 2 run single from Hernandez in the 7th. The bullpen allowed another 3 runs as the Dash extended their lead. In the 9th, the offense got 3 runs on a Hernandez RBI single and Frey 2 run single but the comeback fell short as they lost 11-8.

Note: Hernandez is hitting .500 this season.

• Caden Powell, CF: 2-for-5, 2 R
• Ethan Frey, DH: 1-for-5, 2 RBI
• Hemmanuel Rosario, C: 2-for-3, R, HR, 3 RBI
• Max Holy, SS: 3-for-3, 2 R, BB
• Drew Brutcher, 1B: 1-for-4, R
• Cesar Hernandez, LF: 2-for-2, R, 3 RBI

• Cole Hertzler, RHP: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K
• Raimy Rodriguez, RHP: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
• Jose Guedez, RHP: 2.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
• Eurys Martich, RHP: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K

A: Fayetteville Woodpeckers (2-10) lost 6-3 (BOX SCORE)

The Woodpeckers got on the board first scoring 2 runs in the first inning on Diaz and Ramirez RBI singles. Perez got the start and was pitching well but allowed a 3 run home run in the 5th. He finished with 6 strikeouts over 5 innings. The offense tied it in the 6th scoring a run on an error. Weber relieved Perez and allowed 3 runs in relief and the offense was quiet the rest of the way as the Woodpeckers fell 6-3.

Note: Diaz is hitting .344 this season.

• Anthony Huezo, CF: 2-for-4, R, 2B, 3B, BB
• Camilo Diaz, 1B: 1-for-4, R, RBI
• Juan Sierra, RF: 1-for-3, BB
• German Ramirez, SS: 1-for-3, R, RBI
• Hector Salas, 3B: 2-for-3

• Javier Perez, RHP: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 6 K
• Charlie Weber, RHP: 3.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

Today’s minor league starters:

SL: Miguel Ullola – 7:35 CT

CC: Brandon McPherson – 7:05 CT

AV: TBD – 5:30 CT

FV: TBD – 6:05 CT

Through the first 19 games of the 2026 Orioles season, they are once again disappointing us. It is not a lot of comfort that many teams in the American League are off to a start where they are muddling along around .500. That’s mostly because a lot of these problems feel familiar and it’s frustrating that they’ve had an offseason to try to resolve them and so far they haven’t.

How much blame does Mike Elias deserve for all of this? To some degree, he deserves all blame for all of the Orioles problems, because he is the man in charge and he makes the decisions. I find this not a wholly satisfying perspective, since it’s also the players who take the field and have to actually make the plays. Many struggling Orioles have had previous MLB success that it was reasonable to believe they could do again this year. It’s too early to make final judgments about whether certain guys stink or not in 2026.

In this completely subjective survey of early 2026 Orioles problems, I consider each of the problem players, whether this is likely to prove a durable problem, and whether Elias deserves the blame if the problem is durable.

For my money, there are five problem hitters, four problem pitchers, problems with the defense in general, and injury problems. The list goes in order of players as they appear while scrolling down on the Baseball Reference 2026 Orioles statistics page.

Pete Alonso

• Am I worried? No

Alonso has hit 34 home runs or more in each of the five seasons before this. He is not hitting them yet, or hitting much at all yet. I think it is reasonable to believe that the home runs and hitting in general will arrive. He is even playing better defense than expected so far. We can all find more productive uses for our anxious energy than to project concerns about Chris Davis from years beyond the end of his playing career onto Alonso.

Coby Mayo

• Am I worried? Yes
• Should Elias be blamed? Yes

Unlike some of the early struggling Orioles, there is nothing you can look at in Mayo’s batted ball profile that points to better things coming. He is a mess up there. He isn’t hitting the ball hard and the result is he’s not hitting the ball much at all. The only small saving grace is that his defense, the thing everyone was worried about in spring training, is fine.

Elias went out of his way to hold on to Mayo, rather than trading him for a pitcher before or during any of the 2023, 2024, or 2025 seasons, points when he had a lot of value as a prospect. All of this was so that he could step up now. He’s not given much reason to show that his success from last September can be repeated.

Samuel Basallo

• Am I worried? No

In contrast to Mayo, you can find a decent amount of red on Basallo’s Statcast profile. He is swinging the bat fast and hitting the ball hard, though he doesn’t yet have much to show for it. Although he’s chasing a lot of pitches out of the zone, he’s also drawing a lot of walks. This is a 21-year-old player who should be given some allowance for growing pains as a player. That doesn’t mean the Orioles have to bat him 4th or 5th every game while he sorts it out. I blame Elias for that one.

Blaze Alexander

• Am I worried? No, if only because there’s no point worrying about a player like this
• Should Elias be blamed? Yes

Alexander played in 135 games with the Diamondbacks across the previous two seasons and gave indications that he would be a guy whose bat is just on the right side of “not bad” as long as he is able to provide decent defensive value at multiple positions. With his .542 OPS so far this year, he’s hitting much worse than that. This was the guy Elias went out and got once the injuries started to mount in his infield before spring training even began. Expected batting stats point to a turnaround coming for Alexander. Hopefully that bears out.

Dylan Beavers

• Am I worried? Yes
• Should Elias be blamed? Yes

Pretty much nothing is going right for Beavers so far other than that he isn’t swinging out of the strike zone much or swinging and missing much. He isn’t hitting the ball well, or hard. Maybe the most disheartening to me is how bad he’s looked in the field, coming in at 4th percentile in range despite also having 96th percentile sprint speed. This is a fast player who is getting no defensive value even with that speed. Elias went out of his way to call up Beavers later last year to preserve his rookie eligibility and maybe have a shot at contending for Rookie of the Year this year. So far, that looks like a joke.

Colton Cowser

• Am I worried? Yes
• Should Elias be blamed? Yes

The thing with Cowser and swinging and missing at nearly every changeup that he sees is beyond parody. That’s a comic second-tier character in a Major League-type movie, except in the movie he would actually overcome the flaw as the team improves thanks to some absurd training regimen. Maybe Cowser should try to figure out if he can break his changeup curse by building a very specific Lego set while blindfolded or with one hand tied behind his back.

Cowser is also Elias’s guy. The Orioles reached to draft him in the first round in 2021. We saw in his rookie season some signs of a perennial pretty good player. He has not been able to follow up on this. I don’t blame Elias entirely for this, but I do think he needed a better “what if Cowser keeps struggling” backup plan ready and he didn’t have one.

Shane Baz

• Am I worried? Not really
• Should Elias be blamed? If the problems continue

It doesn’t feel good that the Orioles gave up four prospects plus a draft pick for this guy, then gave him a $68 million extension before he’d ever thrown a pitch for the team, and after four starts he has a 4.91 ERA. He’s having rotten batted ball luck (.364 BABIP) that may be real bad luck or may be about the defense behind him. I’m willing to believe that things may still click for him. I understand the frustrations in the meantime. It’s one more Elias move from the offseason that’s bearing no immediate fruit.

Kyle Bradish

• Am I worried? No
• Should Elias be blamed? No

Bradish looked like he would be able to pick up close to where he left off before his Tommy John surgery in six starts after returning last year. That hasn’t carried forward into 2026; Bradish has battled command problems and he’s getting rocked in a way we haven’t seen from him since the bad days of his early career.

Even moreso than Baz, I think you can point to the defense behind him costing him a lot. Take away the two earned runs from Weston Wilson’s botch being scored a triple on Sunday and Bradish’s ERA shaves down to 4.58. That still doesn’t feel good, but it would feel better than 5.49. The Fielding Independent Pitching metric, an ERA analogue that tries to take defense out of the equation, has Bradish at 3.22 so far. We could live with Bradish at a 3.22 ERA.

Chris Bassitt

• Am I worried? Yes
• Should Elias be blamed? Yes

Elias could have invested real money in a starting pitcher in free agency this offseason and instead he went for two one-year guys, Bassitt and Zach Eflin. Obviously, Eflin is done already and that sucks; I don’t blame Elias for an elbow injury. That could have happened to any other pitcher he signed.

Bassitt, through three starts, is on the Charlie Morton path. When you have to try to feel good about, “Well, he only gave up one earned run in 4.2 innings,” that’s a bad place to be. It’s early and he’s only got to make like two good starts in a row to quiet some of the doubters. He’s got to actually do it. If he never does, this is a big strike against Elias. Building a consistently good rotation has proved elusive for him.

Tyler Wells

• Am I worried? Yes
• Should Elias be blamed? Yes

One of my observations about the Orioles over the years is that just about every season, there’s one reliever who you don’t expect to suck who suddenly is no good. The year-to-year volatility of relievers is one of those trends of the modern game. It looks a lot like Wells is that guy this year. I think the Orioles constructed their roster assuming that Wells would be able to take the eighth or ninth inning. If he flames out spectacularly, that’s a big evaluation failure.

If other players are able to step up, maybe Elias won’t have to shoulder too much blame for this. Indeed, as far as the bullpen goes, there’s not a lot of blame to shoulder so far: The Orioles bullpen is ninth in ERA at 3.52, even with Wells plus a couple of clunkers in Yaramil Hiraldo and Nick Raquet.

The defense

• Am I worried? Yes
• Should Elias be blamed? YES

You will probably not be surprised to learn that the Orioles are a bottom five defense in the league so far, as measured by Statcast’s Outs Above Average. Quite unexpectedly, the only places they’ve been okay are the infield corners, first and third base. The whole outfield is in the negatives. Second base and shortstop are negative.

This was one area of the roster where anyone should have been concerned heading into the season. A regular outfield alignment of Taylor Ward, Cowser, and Tyler O’Neill was always going to be bad. Ward has made people happy with his hitting so far, but he showed his poor defense on Opening Day and that’s not changed. He’s slow and he can’t make plays an average left fielder would make. Beavers struggling in the field early on was an unexpected problem.

If you wrangled a genie and used up one of your wishes on having the opportunity to ask Mike Elias questions to which he must give truthful answers, I think that genie-compelled Elias would admit that he always expected some defensive problems this year. There were supposed to be other trade-offs to make up for that defensive weakness, particularly guys hitting dingers. The bad defenders who are annoying you the most are not hitting dingers. Nor is anyone other than Gunnar Henderson and Jeremiah Jackson. Other than Ward, the offenders for bad defense aren’t hitting much at all.

The injuries

• Am I worried? Yes
• Should Elias be blamed? Eh

The Orioles are once again among the league leaders in players who are on the injured list. That feels like a problem, and if a problem exists then someone should be blamed for it. Whether the Orioles are doing something problematic in their strength and conditioning that is leading to being a more injury-prone team is beyond the knowledge of any fan.

There are some real freak injuries in the assortment. Dietrich Enns with a foot infection? Tyler O’Neill gave himself a concussion from passing out from dehydration while sick? Ryan Mountcastle broke a bone in his foot while running the bases? Jackson Holliday broke his hamate bone while swinging just before spring training even started?

It is up to a general manager to assemble depth that is competent to handle some unexpected problems. Elias probably thought he had this. I’m sure he knew O’Neill would hit the IL some time this year: That would have meant easier playing time for Beavers, and Leody Taveras is around to back things up too. Taveras has been great so far. Beavers has not.

Elias went and got Alexander when he learned about Jordan Westburg’s injury, and Jeremiah Jackson was around when Holliday was hurt. Mayo was in the mix. Even the Adley Rutschman injury, theoretically that would mean, okay, it’s Basallo’s time to shine. Which isn’t happening yet. Elias has two of his projected bullpen guys on the IL in Keegan Akin and Andrew Kittredge.

I think the Orioles should have probably signed another real reliever other than Helsley, probably instead of re-acquiring Kittredge, but guys are stepping up in the bullpen so far. Anthony Nunez has looked great. Rico Garcia is also off to a strong start. Even Yennier Cano has rediscovered something positive in the early results.

**

If the Orioles don’t make the playoffs this year, I think that’s a sign that Elias’s plan has failed and he should be fired. In that event, it would be clear that he does not have it in him to build a sustained talent pipeline and supplement that internal pipeline with useful players from outside the organization.

We are 19 games into the season and there is no certainty that the Orioles will remain on their current path. All of this feels worse because many of their problems do feel like they’re carrying over from last year, this despite having a new manager, new hitting coaches, and a decent amount of roster turnover. It should have been better than this, and so far it’s not. That’s not fun. Elias at the top is the big constant here.

Still, it’s early to give up on the team. The 2014 Orioles were below .500 as late as May 30, 53 games into their season. They finished 96-66. There is plenty of time for things to still come together for the 2026 Orioles. Of course, there was plenty of time for things to come together for the 2025 Orioles at this time a year ago, and we know that they never did.

The San Diego Padres erased the memories of the season-opening homestand where they got off to a 2-4 start against the Detroit Tigers and the San Francisco Giants with a perfect second homestand that saw them get back-to-back sweeps of the Colorado Rockies and the Seattle Mariners. The Padres have won games throughout the season in multiple ways which have been nerve wracking and exciting at the same time. The win against the Mariners on Thursday neither – it was just a solid baseball game with a good start from Walker Buehler, a competent offensive approach and a stingy bullpen anchored by Mason Miller, who moved into second place in San Diego franchise history with 30 2/3 innings without allowing a run, which resulted in a 5-2 victory. The Padres go on the road today to face the Los Angeles Angels at 6:38 p.m.

Padres News:

• Luis Campusano has been a key contributor throughout the seven-game homestand. His recent success and his 2026 season overall appear to be a credit to the confidence his manager Craig Stammen has in him and his reformed approach to the game.

• Griffin Canning appears to be getting closer to making his season debut with the Padres after another rehab start in El Paso.

• Sung-Mun Song was activated off the IL and was optioned to Triple-A El Paso. It is understandable that San Diego would not want to shake up the lineup that is in the midst of an eight-game winning streak.

• Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune says MLB and ABS inadvertently helped the Padres offense by shrinking the strike zone, leading to an improved offense.

Baseball News:;

• The Angels and New York Yankees engaged in a heavyweight fight throughout their series, which resulted in both sides hitting home runs at an impressive rate and superstars Mike Trout and Aaron Judge captivating fans on both sides.

• Parker Messick takes no-hitter into the ninth to help the Guardians get a 4-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles.

• The St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants completed their tense series with the benches clearing following the final out.

Bowling Green Hot Rods 9, Greenville Drive 8 (BOX)

Unfortunately, the story of the day in this one was Juan Valera’s elbow. After beginning to pop up on top-100 MLB prospect lists, Valera left the game after one inning with inflammation in his pitching elbow. Chris Cotillo has more detail here. Valera was off to an electric start, with 17 strikeouts in 9 1/3 innings to start the season. He also missed more than half the season a year ago with an elbow injury.

After his departure, the Hot Rods (TB) pulled out a wild back-and-forth affair on Thursday night in Greenville.

Last year, I made my pitch for the movie Hot Rod being rather underrated. This year, I’m pushing for professional athletes to go back to the nickname “Hot Rod”. There was Rodney “Hot Rod” Hundley who was the first overall pick in the 1957 NBA draft, played his whole career for the Lakers, and was a broadcaster after retirement. John “Hot Rod” Williams played in the NBA from 1986-1999, mostly for the Cavaliers.

We’re long overdue for a lightning-fast MLB player who points finger-guns into the air after sliding in for an extra-base hit.

For the Drive in the loss, Yoeilin Cespedes went yard twice on the day, with both coming off another 80-grade name in pitcher Gary Gill Hill. Yophery Rodriguez homered twice as well, knocking in five runs on the day.

Henry Godbout and Mason White each contributed two hits.

Kyson Witherspoon (0-1, 6.14) will get the ball on Friday night at 6:45.

Portland Sea Dogs 7, Altoona Curve 0 (BOX)

The Altoona Curve (PIT) are 0-12 to start the season, and Thursday’s game was more of the same. Sea Dogs starter Eduardo Rivera struck out nine batters over 5 2/3 innings, allowing three hits to get the win in his second straight strong start. Joe Vogatsky got the ever-popular three-inning save (plus one out), preserving the shutout.

On the offensive side, Max Ferguson had the biggest blast of the night on a grand slam.

Marvin Alcantara also added a solo shot, part of his three-hit day.

Portland has not announced a starter for 6:00 ET this evening.

Hickory Crawdads 14, Salem RidgeYaks 5 (BOX)

RidgeYaks pitching got hit early and often yesterday by the Crawdads (TEX), beginning with starter Dylan Brown, who allowed 11 baserunners and six runs in 3 1/3 innings.

Offensively, right fielder Andrews Opata had three RBIs, including a solo home run.

Madinson Frias (0-0, 12.60) will take the bump on Friday at 7:00.

Worcester Red Sox at Nashville Sounds (Suspended, 0-0, Top 4^th inn.)

Starters Jake Bennett for the Woo Sox and Thomas Pannone for the Sounds (MIL) each threw three shutout innings before the game was suspended in the top of the fourth inning.

The game will be continued, followed by the regularly scheduled game, at 7:05 ET on Friday, with pitching matchups yet to be determined.