Category: Baseball

It turned out to be a sign of things to come when Shohei Ohtani hit a homerun on the first pitch from Randy Vasquez to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 1-0 lead over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. The Dodgers would go on to add three more runs to their total, while the Padres were held without a run in a 4-0 loss.

Vasquez was not as sharp as the Friar Faithful have come to expect and when facing not just Ohtani the hitter, but also the sub-one ERA Ohtani on the mound, the start from Vasquez proved costly. The San Diego right-hander allowed three runs on six hits over 4.1 innings with three walks and no strikeouts. It was the shortest outing for Vasquez since April 15 when he lasted just four innings against the Seattle Mariners.

The Padres offense was held to just five hits. Three came off Ohtani who completed five scoreless innings with two walks and four strikeouts. The other two hits came off reliever Kyle Hurt who pitched a scoreless innings despite the hits. Fernando Tatis Jr., Gavin Sheets, Ramon Laureano, Nick Castellanos and Bryce Johnson each had a hit in the game. Johnson came into the game in the top of the fifth inning to replace Jackson Merrill in center field after he appeared to be experiencing some discomfort in his torso following an attempt to rob the first inning home run by Ohtani.

San Diego dropped the third game of the series and lost the series to Los Angeles, 2-1. The Padres have an off day on Thursday and will return to action on Friday against the Athletics at Petco Park at 6:40 p.m.

Padres News:

• Alex Verdugo had a short-lived tenure with the San Diego organization and was released by the team earlier this week.

• Lucas Giolito made his first start for the Padres and his velocity was down compared seasons past. He said he expects that to change as he gets more starts under his belt.

• Infielder Jose Miranda looked like he had a legitimate chance to make the San Diego roster out of Spring Training, but he struggled in the minors which resulted in him being released by the team.

Baseball News:

• Kyle Harrison and the Milwaukee Brewers dominated the Chicago Cubs in win.

• Trey Yesavage leads Toronto Blue Jays to 2-1 win over New York Yankees.

• The Tampa Bay Rays scored four runs in the eighth inning to win and get their sixth sweep of the season.

• Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte lead his team past the San Francisco Giants, 6-3.

• Texas Rangers get ninth inning win over Colorado Rockies.

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The Los Angeles Angels hope to avoid a sweep as they host the Athletics tonight in Anaheim.

My A’s vs. Angels predictions see the Halos grabbing a much-needed win with ace Jose Soriano on the bump. Read on for more analysis of tonight’s game with my MLB picks below.

Who will win A's vs Angels today: Angels moneyline (-108)

Jose Soriano has been flat-out one of the most effective starting pitchers in baseball, taking the leap from solid rotation piece to bona fide ace. 

The right-hander has a 2.41 ERA through 10 starts primarily thanks to his elite swing-and-miss stuff. He rides a 93rd percentile whiff rate en route to a 28% strikeout rate. 

When he’s not striking batters out, he’s doing the next-best thing — inducing soft-contact (75th percentile in hard-hit rate) grounders (81st percentile in ground ball rate).

The Los Angeles Angels are a different team with their flamethrower on the hill, winning 70% of his starts.

COVERS INTEL:The A’s hit the ball to the opposite field more than any other team (31.7% in May). That’s not typically a viable approach against Soriano, who has the seventh-lowest Oppo% (16.6%) among qualified starters.

A's vs Angels Over/Under pick: Under 8.5 (-115)

One thing about betting on the Angels is that it’s difficult to count on much run support from the lineup, which has a league-worst 54 wRC+ against RHP this month. 

Luis Severino allows too many baserunners (1.57 WHIP) for me to rely on him to lead his team to victory, but he could help keep this a low-scoring game against the Angels.

His 107 Stuff+ ranks 12th among qualified starters, and this is the second consecutive season in which he’s been more effective on the road (3.56 ERA). The A’s have an uninspired 93 wRC+ in away games.

A's vs Angels odds

• Moneyline: A's -110 | Angels -110
• Run line: A's -1.5 (+135) | Angels +1.5 (-180)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 (-115) | Under 8.5 (-110)

A's vs Angels trend

The A’s are 6-16-1 O/U in their last 23 road games. Find more MLB betting trends for A's vs. Angels.

How to watch A's vs Angels and game info

A's vs Angels latest injuries

A's vs Angels weather

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We step outside the lab again today to take a look at the argument for an Astros tear down. There are two main reasons why a rebuild makes a ton of sense. So, we should take a look at what that looks like and the whys and what fors for a decision as seemingly rash as this. Isn’t this giving up on the season? Indeed it would be and that is the first thing we should take a look at.

In a previous post, I looked at the Astros current math problem. They sit at 20-30 as I write this. In order to win 85 games they would need to finish 65-47. That’s assuming that 85 wins sneaks you into the playoffs. That’s a 94 win pace over a full season. I don’t think any of my colleagues picked them to win that many games. I had them pegged at 85 wins and that was assuming good health for guys like Hunter Brown. I just don’t see .580 baseball as very likely from here on out.

However, the Astros usual course is to continue trying to win and then adjusting for the next season on the fly. If it means that players depart for free agency then so be it. You get your compensation pick (when you tender them a qualifying offer) and hope that your farm system can pick up the pieces. Framber Valdez took the spot of Gerrit Cole. Jeremy Pena took Carlos Correa’s place. Kyle Tucker replaced George Springer. You get the idea.

Reason One: The farm system is barren

You cannot expect someone to come up and replace the stars. In the span of another year plus, you are on pace to lose Jeremy Pena and possibly Hunter Brown (more on that later). There isn’t anyone in the farm system there to take their spots. So, you are essentially just losing guys for the sake of losing them. This dive bombs us into the real reason why a rebuild is necessary. Simply put, you are on a hamster wheel and there is no good way to get off.

Even if you could re-sign Jeremy Pena or Hunter Brown then you would be committing all of your resources to keeping a team together that is not currently good enough to win. Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa are going to continue to get older and less effective as that nucleus gets older. The younger guys behind them will also continue to get more expensive.

There are only two ways around that hamster wheel. The first is to spend money like the Dodgers. We aren’t even sure what the CBA will look like after the season and if that will even be legal. However, it is nearly impossible to envision Crane spending upwards of 300 million on the roster. The other way to get through it is to fill enough holes with young players that you can compete. Neither of those scenarios seems likely.

Reason two: You aren’t likely re-signing Hunter Brown or Jeremy Pena

It just isn’t likely for any multitude of reasons. For one, both are in line for one of the long-term megadeals that the Astros simply don’t pay. For another, we aren’t even sure that they would deserve that kind of pay day even if we were willing. Given the recent history of the Astros, I seriously doubt they would sign any pitcher to a contract beyond two or three seasons. This could be an industry wide thing.

Pena has the look of a three or four win player moving forward. Fangraphs would peg that as worth between 25 and 30 million a season, but it is hard to see the Astros giving a deal beyond five seasons at that kind of money. I personally would not blame them. If that is a given then playing them until they are free agents is a foolish option. As we saw with Kyle Tucker, you could get as many as three useful players for a player with one year left until they become a free agent.

Imagine having more than a season. Teams that make deals at the deadline can demand a king’s ransom because the acquiring team gets them for two pennant drives. You could then get between six and eight players if you deal them separately, If you dealt them together you could demand multiple top 100 overall prospects and probably some current big league talent.

A roster without Pena and Brown would likely not compete in any circumstance. So, you might as well trade the likes of Paredes, Walker, Abreu, Hader, and Meyers. If you managed to jettison all of them you could be looking at between five to ten additional prospects. That is a total of 10 to 16 prospects between all of those players. The coup de gras would be Yordan Alvarez, If you got a Juan Soto type deal you could see another four or five prime prospects coming. We are talking a total of 20 prospects.

The Cash considerations

If you traded all of the players listed you would be looking at upwards of 120 million in player salary savings. Between 1998 and 2000 the Seattle Mariners dealt or allowed three of their stars to walk. They won 114 games in 2001. Obviously, that is the absolute ceiling of what we are talking about here, but the blueprint is there. You cannot just consider the players you get back for those players. You must also consider the financial savings from cutting their salaries from your roster.

Those Mariners used the money to sign good but not great players that made that roster deeper. No, they did not win the World Series that season and they were never THAT good again, but they were constantly above .500 and in the hunt even though they dealt three Hall of Fame level players. The St. Louis Cardinals dealt all of their expensive players away this past season and they currently sit at 28-19.

The difference between this and a traditional rebuild is that Crane has shown he is willing to spend up to the current tax line. If you couple the right prospects with 120 million worth of free agents then you could return to competitiveness immediately. You also restart the clock on star level players so that you aren’t necessarily churning veterans every year. You could build something.

I’m not sure Dana Brown is up to this task. That is the downside. However, if you couple these moves with another solid draft then your farm system goes from being one of the bottom five to one of the top five. It’s time to start building the next great era of Astros baseball. This one is winding down. It has happened to all dynasties before. The 1990s Braves feels like the most compelling comparison point. Those Braves got old. These Astros are getting old. No one wants to sit around and watch the 2010-2014 Astros again. A teardown would prevent that kind of prolonged pain if handled correctly. What do you think? Is it time to start the teardown?

Yesterday’s loss to the Reds featured a rather lackluster performance from the Phillies bullpen. Tim Mayza, Orion Kerkering, Brad Keller, and José Alvarado combined to allow 5 runs in 4 innings and doom the Phillies’ chances of mounting a comeback. So naturally, let’s take this off day as a chance to re-assess the trust level for each member of the bullpen.

Jhoan Duran is probably the only reliever with absolute trust right now. The Phillies closer has been dominant since returning from the injured list, allowing only one run on 3 hits and 5 walks, with that run and three of the walks coming in his first appearance back after forgoing a rehab assignment. Duran’s struck out 13 of the 26 batters he’s faced in his six appearances over that span and converted all three of his save opportunities.

However, after Duran is where things get complicated. Chase Shugart has been the most consistently good of the rest of the Phillies relievers, but as Ethan Witte pointed out earlier this week, Shugart has been deployed in almost exclusively low leverage situations, and his pristine 1.53 ERA doesn’t tell the full story. Orion Kerkering has good numbers at first glance with a 2.60 ERA, but he’s still having trouble getting whiffs. Tim Mayza has pitched the most innings out of the bullpen with 22.2 and has been mostly effective, but he now sports a 4.04 ERA after being charged with two runs yesterday. Tanner Banks has regressed heavily from his strong 2025 with a 6.75 ERA and a WHIP over 2. Free agent signing Brad Keller has been uneven and trade acquisition Jonathan Bowlan has been mediocre. José Alvarado has not yet shown that he can recapture his form from before his suspension and injury and has been one of the biggest disappointments on the pitching staff, as he owns a 6.11 ERA after surrendering a two-run homer that was the final nail in the Phillies’ chances yesterday.

As a whole, the Phillies bullpen entered yesterday ranked 14th in ERA (3.88) and 15th in WHIP (1.32). However, they were ranked second in fWAR (2.5) thanks in large part to a strong FIP (3.40) that ranks fourth and an expected ERA (3.12) that ranks second. Their second worst BABIP (.318) does back up that they are due for some positive regression in the more traditional bullpen rankings.

So, what is your trust level in each of the Phillies relievers? On a scale of 1-5 with 5 being absolute trust and 1 being completely untrustworthy, how would you rank the current relievers?

Ha, this isn’t really even a question, except in the rhetorical sense. I just wanted to have an appreciation post for Dominic Smith, so this is it.

It would’ve been enough for Smith to have those two big April hits and then fade into obsolescence. Two huge game-swinging mashes for a guy signed to a split deal with a $1.25 million salary in the majors would’ve been plenty. As I did in an earlier post about him, that would’ve been reminiscent of Pablo Sandoval, and it would’ve been fine. We still remember Pablo Sandoval.

But that’s not what Smith has done at all. He’s kept raking. His rolling 100-PA xwOBA hasn’t been below league average since the start of April, and it hasn’t even been below .350 since April 14. Nor is he egregiously outhitting it: a .370 wOBA and .378 xwOBA is both really good and nothing to sideeye for any reason.

It’s easy to say that Smith has never had a season quite like this one, except in 2020. He was crazy-good that year, and he’s still got a ways to go this year before matching his PA total from that shortened season (106 so far, 199 in 2020). But in every other year, he really didn’t do much: in his other eight seasons, he had an xwOBA in the .320s four times, and something lower the other four times. In other words, in a non-shortened season, his career-high xwOBA was .325.

Since I lured you in here with a question that presumably has an answer, I’ll give you a brief, non-nuanced version.

• Smith is swinging at everything. While it’s not the highest z-swing rate of his career, it’s the highest in quite a few years. His chase rate is egregiously high, not just for him, but for anyone. He’s swinging at nearly half of first pitches he sees; previously he was much closer to a quarter, while the league is about one-in-three. He’s not walking, but he’s also not striking out, because he’s up there to hit the ball.
• He’s hunting and destroying four-seamers. There’s nothing special about Smith and non-fastballs, he’s still struggling against them. He’s not even hitting sinkers all that well. But, he has a .560 xwOBA (el-oh-el) against four-seamers thus far.
• He’s not hitting it on the ground. It’s important to know, I guess, that Smith isn’t swinging any harder, nor did he adopt any Braves-esque approach of trading contact for power and trying to hit a dinger on every swing. He’s actually moved back in the box, and his swing is slightly shorter, with no emphasis on swinging harder or anything like that. He’s hunting fastballs, but giving himself a chance to survive the other stuff.

Put these things together, and, well, I think it’s safe to say that part of the reason he’s doing it is because pitchers haven’t adjusted. He’s getting a lot of pitches in the zone, probably too many for anyone that can do what he does. He’s still getting a bunch of four-seamers, which doesn’t have to be the case. Lastly, a lot of his xwOBA is driven by flares; though he’s dropped both ground- and air-based not-useful contact, a lot of the corresponding increase has been in bloops or hard choppers, rather than in good contact and/or barrels. All that said, though, we’re more than halfway through May, and he’s still doing the same stuff he’s been doing in terms of beating up on opposing pitching, so maybe he’ll continue to fly under the radar and rack up awesomeness for a while yet.

Remember yesterday, when I brought out the old line: “No team is as bad as it looks when it’s on a long losing streak”?

I dunno. Maybe I’m wrong about that. The Cubs sure looked that bad in losing to the Brewers 5-0 Wednesday evening at Wrigley Field, being swept by their division rivals and now on a five-game losing streak.

The Brewers both dominated the Cubs pitching-wise and schooled them in several aspects of the game.

Edward Cabrera got out of the first inning scoreless despite allowing two hits. Nico Hoerner then led off the bottom of the first with a double.

I mean, I really could just stop this recap right there because the rest of the game was all Brewers and not Cubs. The thing about Nico’s double is — he took a really wide turn around second, thinking “triple,” but then had to quickly scoot back to first. I guess he really wanted third base because then he tried to advance on a medium-deep fly ball to left-center.

Hoerner was called safe, but it was overturned on review [VIDEO].

If you did not see this game — that was the only time the Cubs had a runner past first base.

In the second, the Brewers played that annoying kind of baseball that has made them good and drives us nuts. First, they got a catcher’s interference call on review [VIDEO].

Then Cabrera walked Joey Ortiz.

And then this happened [VIDEO].

I dunno. (I think I’ve said that before.) I’m obviously not in Pete Crow-Armstrong’s head and have no idea what’s on his mind or what he was thinking there, but something is clearly off with him. If it’s still the incident with the Sox fan, well, that’s in the past and gotta move on from it. PCA always wears his heart on his sleeve and his intensity level is something we don’t see from too many players. Often, that intensity serves him well. Recently, it has not. Honestly, given everything that’s happened to him this year, maybe Craig Counsell should have given him Wednesday off, which would have given him two full days (with today’s off day) for a reset.

PCA talked about all this after the game, and listening to this clip, he didn’t sound real good [VIDEO].

If Joe Maddon were managing this team, I think he’d tell PCA to take the off day and not think about baseball at all.

Anyway, that play made it 3-0 Brewers, and you’re thinking this is 20/20 hindsight but honestly my first thought after that play was, “This game is over.”

And it was. The Cubs had just three more baserunners the entire game — walks to Seiya Suzuki in the second and Michael Busch in the eighth, and a single by Alex Bregman in the seventh. Busch was erased on a double play, and that along with the DP on Nico in the first meant that Brewers pitchers faced just two over the minimum. Starter Kyle Harrison struck out 11 Cubs and reliever DL Hall added two K’s. It’s like the Cubs were just going through the motions after that Little League home run in the second. I’d like to hope I’m wrong about that.

And to top all that off, Cabrera left the game with a blister [VIDEO].

Obviously, the last thing the Cubs need is another starting pitcher injury. Fortunately, blisters aren’t serious and perhaps he won’t even miss a start. Cabrera threw reasonably well; the error on PCA made all three of the runs that scored on that play unearned.

Cubs relievers, with one notable exception, threw well. Trent Thornton, Hoby Milner, Ryan Rolison and Daniel Palencia combined for 5.1 shutout innings, allowing two hits and two walks, with six strikeouts.

And then there was Phil Maton, who allowed Milwaukee’s fifth run in the seventh, giving up two hits and a walk and wild-pitching in the run [VIDEO].

At this point, I’ve got to think maybe there’s some other injury to Maton that can put him on the IL again and get someone in the pen who can actually get outs. Who would that be? Here’s the Cubs’ 40-man roster, maybe you can figure it out. And I know this has become a meme but… maybe the Cubs really should stop signing former Astros relievers.

Here, let me show you one positive Cubs highlight. Nico made a nice stop and jump throw for an out in the seventh [VIDEO].

Here are postgame comments from Counsell [VIDEO].

A “sad note,” as he called it when he sent it to me, about this game from BCB’s JohnW53:

This was the 305th regular-season game since 1901 in which the Cubs made two or fewer hits — one of every 64 played.

It was the 49th since July 31, 2012, the last time the Cubs made no more than two hits and committed three errors. They made one hit and three errors that day, in a 5-0 loss at home to the Pirates.

They made one hit and two errors in a 5-0 loss at home to the Dodgers on May 31, 2016.

They made two hits and two errors in losses at Washington by 4-1 and 6-1, on June 13, 2016, and June 27, 2017.

They also made two and two in a 9-0 loss to the Reds at home on May 6, 2023.

Back to that line I quoted at the top of this recap… No, of course no team is as bad as it looks during a long losing streak. We know this Cubs team is better than that. Hopefully they begin looking that way starting Friday.

Even with this losing streak and being swept, the Cubs are just 1.5 games behind the Brewers, in a virtual tie with the Cardinals for second place in the NL Central (three percentage points behind). The team will certainly enjoy this off day, their first after playing nine days in a row, and then will begin a three-game series against the Astros Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field. Jameson Taillon is the Cubs’ listed starter for Friday. At this time the Astros don’t have a starter listed. Game time Friday is 1:20 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be on Apple TV (how to watch).

Here’s something I’ve tweeted in recent days, but it’s also a good conversation to have here.

The collapse of batting average across MLB is astounding! As of yesterday, there are more qualified hitters batting under .200 (17) than there are guys batting .300 or better (15). These are not the scrubs pinch hitting a couple times a week; these are the everyday players! 

Compare this to 30 years ago (1996) and there were 48 guys batting .300 or better. Meanwhile, the guy with the lowest qualified batting average in the entire sport in 1996? Delino DeShields, and he hit .224, a full nine points worse than the next guy. 

Batting average has correctly been minimized in importance over the last couple of decades, but Dear Lord has the pendulum swung too far in the other direction (and this is coming from a full blown nerd!). So what do you think OTM? With more guys hitting under .200 than over .300, does MLB need to make rule changes in the next CBA to incentivize contact?

Talk about this and whatever else you’d like in this thread, and as always, be good to one another!

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The Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals wrap up a three-game series this afternoon with the rubber match at 1:15 p.m. ET at Busch Stadium. 

My Pirates vs Cardinals predictions are eyeing Pittsburgh to grab another victory in the finale with Braxton Ashcraft on the hill. 

Read more in my MLB picks for Thursday, May 21. 

Who will win Pirates vs Cardinals today: Pirates moneyline (-122)

The Pittsburgh Pirates shut down the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday, winning 7-0 behind a four-hit game from rookie Konnor Griffin. The Bucs' pitching staff allowed just five hits, containing a Cards offense that has struggled with consistency. Braxton Ashcraft takes the mound today for the visitors, and he's been impressive. 

The right-hander owns a 3.09 ERA, and that lowers to 2.16 on the road across four outings. Coincidentally enough, all six earned runs he's allowed away from PNC Park were to the Cards last month in a tough start. But Ashcraft has improved immensely since that outing, compiling a 2.11 ERA across three May appearances. His last road start was a seven-inning, one-run outing against the San Francisco Giants. 

As for the Cards, they hand Dustin May the ball. He owns a 4.50 ERA at home this season, and Pittsburgh's lineup has hit him around. They're batting .400 across 40 at-bats, and the Pirates are one of the top offensive ball clubs in the big leagues, averaging 4.9 runs per game. The visitors will keep it rolling here. 

COVERS INTEL: May owns a BABIP of .338 so far this season, compared to .298 in 2025. 

Pirates vs Cardinals Over/Under pick: Over 7.5 runs (-108)

Four of the last five meetings between the Pirates and Cardinals have cashed the Over, and Wednesday's matchup finished just below today's total. While I do expect Ashcraft to have a solid outing, the Cards have hit him around before, and they could do some damage. 

As for May, he's had minimal luck against Pittsburgh's lineup, with several key players swinging it well against him. The right-hander also has a career-worst 52% hard-hit rate, and the Bucs have scored 13 runs across their last two contests. 

The St. Louis bullpen has also been poor, compiling a 4.53 ERA, and it surrendered four earned runs on Wednesday. 

Pirates vs Cardinals odds

• Moneyline: Pirates -122 | Cardinals +117
• Run line: Pirates -1.5 (+138) | Cardinals +1.5 (-144)
• Over/Under: Over 7.5 (-108) | Under 7.5 (+104)

Pirates vs Cardinals trend

The Pittsburgh Pirates have covered the Run Line in 28 of their last 45 away games (+8.20 Units / 13% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Pirates vs. Cardinals.

How to watch Pirates vs Cardinals and game info

Pirates vs Cardinals latest injuries

Pirates vs Cardinals weather

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Worcester: L, 2-7 (F/11) (BOX SCORE)

This game fell apart in extras, namely the eleventh, and to be honest, the WooSox should have had it won earlier than that. The pitching was solid throughout the night, starting with Jake Bennett striking out eleven Red Wings (Nationals AAA) and allowing one run. Bennett’s pitch count was only at 73 so he could have conceivably gone longer, but the bullpen was fine throughout the night and recorded 8 more Ks.

Worcester lacked an extra base hit besides Matt Lloyd’s solo shot and also went hitless in eight chances with runners in scoring position. But they played with their food for too long and, by virtue of Wyatt Olds allowing five runs (four earned) in the eleventh, the food got all over them. Bennett is suffering from being a young minor league option… or should I say young with options (ba dum tiss) behind one of the best rotations in baseball. It’s good to know he’s mowing them down consistently in Triple-A.

Portland: W, 9-4 (BOX SCORE)

Catastrophic news as Franklin Arias’ OPS is about to dip under 1.000 with another hitless night (he did, though get on base with a walk). The horror! To be honest, though, behind the rest of the lineup and a good five innings out of Hayden Mullins, a guy who’s becoming the dependable workhorse of Portland’s rotation, the Sea Dogs didn’t need Arias to put away the Fightin Phils’ (Phillies AA). Johanfran Garcia got his sixth home run of the season in the fifth inning and Nelly Taylor had two doubles. This was a feel good win where everyone contributed: even though every single batter struck out at least once on the night, everyone aside from the nine-hole hitter got on base once, as well. The result was a 7-0 lead after two and a game that the Sea Dogs could coast through.

Greenville: L, 4-6 (BOX SCORE)

After losing most of the month, the Drive won two consecutive games for the first time since late April Sunday and Tuesday. That did not continue on Wednesday against Frederick (Orioles High-A). This was more like a defensive death by a thousand cuts, as the Keys got the Drive for 17 hits but just six runs, and the Drive couldn’t match that output by a long shot, gathering just five. Yoelin Cespedes got the game within striking distance with a two-run shot, his eighth of the year, in the ninth inning, but it was too little, too late.

Salem: : W, 8-3 (BOX SCORE)

After getting taken for sixteen runs by the Howlers (Guardians A) on Tuesday, the RidgeYaks came back and allowed just three hits, and just one extra-base hit. Salem had another productive lineup as eight of their nine hitters got a knock and even the one that didn’t got a walk. They also got a home run to clinch the game (albeit all the way back in the fourth inning) out of Andrews Opata. Opata also swiped his twentieth bag of the season. This game was really never within losing distance for Salem.

Have a…. uh… thermodynamic Thursday?

Meet the Mets

Zach Thornton’s major league debut didn’t go as well as hoped when he put the Mets in a hole early. The team did attempt to come back, led by two Juan Soto home runs, but the bullpen put the game out of reach and the Mets dropped their second straight to Washington.

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

Zach Thornton paid tribute to his partially-paralyzed dad, who made it to the stadium to watch his son pitch in his first major league game.

David Peterson will start the finale against the Nats without an opener.

Despite struggling in Triple-A, the Mets are considering calling up Jonah Tong to start against the Marlins.

A.J. Minter will make one more rehab appearance in Triple-A, and he could rejoin the team next week if all goes well.

To make room for Thornton on the roster, Daniel Duarte was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse.

Around the National League East

The Braves took down the Marlins 9-1 behind a dominant performance by Chris Sale.

The Marlins optioned Braxton Garrett to Triple-A after his poor appearance against the Braves.

Aaron Nola struggled in the Phillies’ 9-4 loss to the Reds.

Kyle Schwarber is hitting home runs at an historic pace, but how many home runs will he end up with at the end of the season?

CJ Abrams spoiled yet another pitcher’s major league debut.

Around Major League Baseball

Blue Jays starter José Berríos underwent Tommy John surgery and will be sidelined until the 2027 season.

Shirtless fans have taken over sections of stadiums around the league, but what is behind this new “Tarps Off” trend?

Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. has yet to hit a home run this season, which might be due to his new closed batting stance.

Cubs starter Edward Cabrera exited his start in the fourth inning with a blister issue on his middle finger.

There are quite a few prospects who have been pleasant surprises for their teams so far this season.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Steve Sypa profiled Zach Thornton ahead of his debut.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 2005, Mets starter Dae-Sung Koo doubled off Randy Johnson in just his second major league at-bat.

The last three games have been an adventure with the Yankees bullpen, and not a particularly fun one either. Yes, they secured the win in two out of three, but boy have David Bednar and Camilo Doval put Yankees fans through the wringer in the ninth inning against the Mets and the first two against Toronto. Doval’s final out to secure the save against on Tuesday night is the moment we’ll look at this time on Sequence of the Week.

We join Doval with two outs in the ninth. The back of the Yankees bullpen is short following Bednar and Fernando Cruz’s exertions in the previous two games, leaving Doval as the lone remaining option to close out this game. It’s been far from smooth sailing for the flame throwing righty, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. cutting the Yankees’ lead to one with a sac fly after Doval gave up an Andrés Giménez walk and Ernie Clement single to open the frame. After the Vlad Jr. sac fly, Daulton Varsho reached on an infield single when Doval forgot to cover first base on the grounder to the right side, putting runners on the corners and bringing the Blue Jays’ team leader in home runs Kazuma Okamoto to the plate.

Renowned during his San Francisco days for his triple digits cutter, Doval instead starts Okamoto off with a sinker — a pitch he has been working on behind the scenes with Matt Blake and the rest of the Yankees pitching coaches.

This is pretty close to a perfect pitch — a 100-mph sinker right on the bottom shelf of the strike zone. It’s a called strike if Okamoto doesn’t swing, but commanded to a location where it’s almost impossible to do damage. It’s honestly impressive that Okamoto recognizes it as a strike — given it started off the plate away before tailing back into the zone — and is able to catch a piece and tap it foul.

Following the excellent execution of the first pitch sinker, Doval tries to keep the muscle memory of that release point by targeting the same location with the same pitch.

He manages to achieve the same lateral release point, but this sinker is elevated relative to the previous one. This makes it a more hittable pitch, but it appears that Okamoto is in fight-off mode, perhaps hunting a pitch inside, and he fires a late, off-balance swing and fouls it off to the right.

Doval is now just one strike away from locking down the save. Just one more decent execution of a pitch away from sending all those of a Yankees persuasion home happy. After showing Okamoto a pair of in-breaking sinkers, Doval looks to put him away with a cutter that moves away from the hitter, Austin Wells setting a target low and away.

The key to throwing a good cutter is staying behind and through the ball, something which Doval fails to do here. He almost slings this pitch rather than finishing out in front, causing the pitch to sail wildly inside as it backs up rather than cuts, and Okamoto has to spin out of the way to avoid getting hit.

After mis-executing that cutter so poorly, Doval immediately scraps the pitch and goes back to the sinker. He still has the feeling of having executed two good ones to open the AB, he just has to find that release point again and it should be game over.

Instead, Doval makes a mistake releasing this pitch a hair too early, and it ends up middle-middle. Fortunately for him and his teammates, Okamoto has never quite figured out the correct swing path to match up against Doval’s sinker, and though he is right on time and clubs this ball at 103 mph, he impacts the top of the baseball sending a routine grounder to Anthony Volpe for the game-ending ground out. That is the margin of error that being able to throw over 100 mph affords the pitcher, allowing Doval to get a ground out on a mistake pitch.

Here’s the full sequence:

There is a lot to like from this sequence from Doval. For starters, he managed to find the zone with all three of the sinkers he threw — no small feat considering how much walks have tended to hurt him in his career. They surprisingly haven’t been as big of an issue this year, but his general wildness this campaign has seen him fall behind in counts and then cough up a home run as he is forced into the middle of the zone. I was also impressed by Doval’s ability to immediately flush the previous play when he forgot to cover first. It would be easy to let that moment linger and impact his concentration against Okamoto, but he turned the page quickly and focused fully on this AB.

Finally, I am intrigued by Doval’s progress with this new sinker — a pitch that went from a 12.2-percent usage rate in 2025 to his most used pitch so far in 2026 at a 41.7-percent usage rate. Doval is perennially among the league leaders in ground ball rate and this gives him another weapon to maintain those levels. It’s a pitch I’m excited to analyze more deeply in my new series about the Yankees bringing the sinker back into vogue, so stay tuned! While I’m certainly not ready to say that I trust Doval in spots as high leverage at this, it’s a positive first step toward re-earning the trust to pitch in late-game situations.

Dodgers utility man Tommy Edman is a step closer to being a step closer to returning from the injured list after offseason ankle surgery, thanks to a few more steps closer to full speed in the last week.

Manager Dave Roberts told reporters Wednesday at Petco Park in San Diego that Edman could face hitters at Camelback Ranch in Arizona in the next week, then potentially start a minor league rehab assignment after that.

Edman had right ankle surgery in November, after being hampered by said ankle on and off throughout his time with the Dodgers. When the Dodgers acquired Edman from the Cardinals at the 2024 trade deadline, he was already on the injured list after wrist surgery the prior offseason, but his rehab with St. Louis was hampered by a sprained right ankle. In 2025, Edman was twice on injured list due to the right ankle, missing a combined 49 gamesduring the two stints. The ankle injury also limited his mobility in the field, such that 125 1/3 of his 146 1/3 postseason innings (85.6 percent) came at second base, with only three games in center field.

After the surgery, Edman’s offseason work was limited, with his right leg in a walking boot up until mid January. He was slow-played during spring training, gradually working up, and explained the methodology at Dodgers Fan Fest during the offseason.

“I’m really hopeful I’ll be able to put the ankle injuries of the last couple of years behind me. It’s something I kind of dealt with throughout ’24 and ’25, and I feel like it affected the way to play the game I normally would be able to,” Edman said in January. “The timetable is more of as I progress, so it’s kind of hard to say when I’ll be able to hop back into a major league game again. … I want to make sure I’m a full go, and don’t have to worry about [the ankle] again the rest of the year.”

At the beginning of the regular season, Roberts guestimated Edman would return some time in late May, though that has since been pushed back. Edman has been working out off and on at Dodger Stadium at various times this season, but hadn’t really progressed much until recently. He was moved to the 60-day injured list on May 9, though that does not affect Edman’s timeline at all, as those 60 days will have already expired by the time he is ready to return.

For a comparison of how long Edman’s rehab assignment might take, look no further than Kiké Hernández, who is in his third week of games with Triple-A Oklahoma City and is eligible to be activated off the injured list as early as this Sunday. Hernández is coming off left elbow surgery in November and was initially thought to be out until around midseason but made strides in April to essentially leapfrog Edman in the return timeline pecking order.

So many things have gone wrong with the Detroit Tigers already this season that it’s hard to know where to even start unpacking it all. After a third straight loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Wednesday, they hold a 20-30 record, 10 games under .500. In all of baseball history, only one team in the modern era has been that deep underwater in mid-June and still made the postseason, and that sets the parameters here. They are out of time to pick themselves up off the mat and start closing the gap or the season is over. If they lose a few more series in late May and early June, it’s already time to hang a for sale sign out front. Some might argue we’re already there.

The only team to pull off such a comeback outside of the dead ball era was the 2022 Seattle Mariners. They were 10 games under .500 on June 19 of that year and pulled it together enough to win a Wild Card berth. That’s it. Of course, the Wild Card is still a relatively new invention, but still only one team has taken advantage of it from that far behind in mid-June. So the Tigers have to be a lot closer to .500 by mid-June to even maintain the faintest shred of hope.

Certainly the incredible amount of injuries have been a factor, but it’s also important to remember that the team was quite healthy until late April and they weren’t exactly piling up the wins then either. Part of the reason they’re in this shape is that they didn’t build themselves any cushion by playing .500 ball when they had their roster almost exactly as planned on Opening Day. The bullpen cost them several games when the offense was stronger, and the pitching staff has actually held up decently through this 2-8 losing stretch while the offense and defense have been atrocious. Despite some good news on the injury front, and the host of players the Tigers should get back over the next few weeks, they’re already uncomfortably close to losing any realistic chance of even a wild card run. It’s strange to say in mid-May, but the season is already hanging by a thread.

The pitching is no longer the problem. Troy Melton looks good and is due to return soon. Tarik Skubal’s rehab is proceeding at breakneck speed. The problem is that the team has only a couple of good hitters with Spencer Torkelson and Kerry Carpenter basically non-factors this season. And, instead of the group of roughly average platoon players that filled out the lineup last year, half the lineup is shot full of holes leaving opponents with only a couple of hitters to even concern themselves with. Add to that a defensive group that has been downright atrocious without Parker Meadows, Javier Báez, or even their primary utility option in Toledo, CF/SS Trei Cruz, to shore up the middle of the field, and there are just way too many weak points in the position player group right now to turn things around signficantly.

There’s no one coming to rescue the Tigers the offense for at least another week or two. Unfortunately this leaves the responsibility for turning things around on a lot of guys the Tigers shouldn’t be depending on too much in the first place.

Wenceel Pérez is supposed to be the Tigers first depth outfielder in the minor leagues. He’s posted league average run production number for two straight seasons, though he remains too mistake prone to love him in the outfield on a regular basis. But more to the point, he isn’t doing anything at the plate hitting left-handed. Inexplicably, his contact has just fallen apart, and so despite the lowest strikeout rate on the team, he’s not hitting enough line drives and hard fly balls and grounders to stay above the Mendoza line, let alone showing off the average home run power we saw from him last season.

Zach McKinstry is now 31 years old and a career utility player. Hopefully few bought into his outstanding 2025 season at this point in his career, but the Tigers could really use just mediocre production from him to help lengthen their extremely short lineup. Instead he’s approaching 100 plate appearances this season and holds a 32 wRC+ this year. He’s also dealt with tearing a muscle off his pelvic bone, which he probably returned from as soon as possible.

Matt Vierling will be 30 in a few months, and like McKinstry is a journeyman utility outfielder who is probably just past his already modest prime. After a brief run as a quality platoon player in 2024, he tore up his shoulder and missed most of 2025. His defense in center field has been acceptable, and he does hold an 88 wRC+ so he hasn’t been atrocious, but he’s not making much impact anywhere either.

Finally, Jake Rogers has been a terrible hitter for years now. You can get away with having a good defensive catcher who doesn’t hit, but that requires that the rest of the roster be pretty solid. The Tigers have also had opportunities to upgrade and decided to keep the status quo, perhaps because Rogers is the closest thing to a clubhouse leader the team seems to have beyond Tarik Skubal. Now you have Dillon Dingler catching most days, and DH-ing on a lot of his off days, which is only going to hurt his long-term effectiveness this season.

Of course, McKinstry, Vierling, Jahmai Jones, Rogers, these are all pretty fungible role players in the first place. There is just too much being asked of them right now, and it isn’t their fault the Tigers are in this shape.

If there’s one player who was supposed to be capable of helping carry the offense, it’s Spencer Torkelson. Below average offensive production from a first baseman is just unacceptable. A year after putting together his first fairly consistent season of getting on base and hitting for power, Torkelson is doing little of either on pace for 23 home runs with a .309 on-base and a strikeout rate of 33.5 percent.

Beyond that you have Lee, Gage Workman, Zack Short…these aren’t guys who are capable of giving you anything like average production. I like Hao-Yu Lee, but he just needs more time to work on his game. You see the flashes of what he can do and it’s well worth sticking with him for a year or two to see if he can take the next step. Workman is a perfectly fine Triple-A utility player with strong enough secondary tools to help in a pinch, but he’s not expected to work out playing regularly. Finally, Zack Short brings something close to an average glove at shortstop, but has never hit at the major league level. These guys get zero blame in my book.

So, we know what is happening, and generally why, but who gets the blame will be the question for much of the rest of the season. The obvious, and accurate answer is the injuries, as the Tigers have had more than anyone, and that will be the case president of baseball operations Scott Harris, and GM Jeff Greenberg are pleading with ownership should no miraculous recovery of the season come to pass. But growing criticism of Harris’ inability to add talent other than potentially through the draft is entirely justified. It’s hard to have any confidence in his ability to sell off the Tigers assets for young talent with his track record if it comes to that point.

Of course, baseball is also just a weird game. Just as current Tigers’ examples, Rlley Greene is on pace for a 6 WAR season and somehow has only four home runs on May 21. Wenceel Pérez has a 13.9 percent strikeout rate and a .168 batting average. That’s almost impressively weird. Hopefully you know that ERA means squat for relievers, particularly prior to the All-Star break, but Kyle Finnegan has walked more batters than he’s struck out and has a 1.66 ERA.

There are a lot of teams woefully underperforming in the American League alone, and they don’t have the Tigers’ injury excuses. Many good national analysts thought very highly of the 22-27 Boston Red Sox. The Seattle Mariners were arguably the best team in baseball in the second half of last year and made a pretty good run at the ALCS last year and they’re 23-27 with Cal Raleigh hitting .161/.243/.317 with seven home runs after hitting 60 last year. The Royals were a popular choice to push the Tigers and Guardians atop of the AL Central this season, and they’re 20-30 as well, sitting with the Tigers in the cellar despite no particular injury trouble other than their ace Cole Ragans missing two starts and woefully underperforming.

Still the facts are the facts. You can already make a case that the Tigers should be shopping a pitcher like Casey Mize for young pitching talent. If they happen to fall a few more games below .500? It’s time to sell anyone who isn’t tied down long-term and is performing well immediately, and keep that attitude all season long. Frankly, I will be very surprised if either Scott Harris or AJ Hinch are fired.

Even more frankly, the best thing for this franchise is probably to fall a few more games back into June and really have no choice but to sell. That’s the nature of the spot they’ve put themselves in so far this season. It will already take a heck of a run to get that back into serious contention by mid-July. There are 97 games total games this season until the All-Star break. They’ve played 50 already. Can the Tigers go from 20-30 now to 54-43 and get a game over .500 by that point?

Because injuries have been a signficant problem, and just by the weird nature of baseball, it wouldn’t be that surprising if the Tigers played much better baseball from June through September. It just isn’t going to help them if they slip much further back over the next 2-3 weeks, and it may not help them anyway. Even so, should the Tigers sell a few pieces and admit defeat, and then get healthier in a few spots and play decent baseball the rest of the year? The case that this is really just a cursed year with injuries and there is nothing to be done about it is going to be a pretty easy one to make for the front office and for AJ Hinch and his coaching staff.

So not to be melodramatic, but the Tigers season is right on the brink of disaster here. Troy Melton, Gleyber Torres, Javy Báez, Kerry Carpenter, Tarik Skubal…getting those players back will certainly change the equation, but until that happens in full, they’re going to remain under siege and on the brink of collapse. And there’s a good argument that would be the best thing for the franchise. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but there it is. Get swept by the Guardians today? Lose two of three series in Baltimore, versus the Angels at home, or on the south side against the plucky young White Sox? The math surrenders to faith as justification alone.

Let’s say they split their next 12 games. The Tigers will be 26-36. Can they go 60-40 the rest of the way to get to 86 wins and have a quality shot at a wild card? Winning 60 percent of 100 games isn’t out of the question if healthy perhaps, but it’s certainly a longshot as things stand. Right now, just playing .500 ball for a few weeks might earn them some time to find out if getting some players back turns things around. But iff they can’t at least split these next 12 games? Forget about it. No one is coming to the rescue. The guys on this roster right now have to get off the mat for a few weeks and earn the right to find out if getting healhier will make a difference.

The 2024 Chicago White Sox lost the second most games (121) in baseball history. Fast forward 19 months to mid-May 2026, the team on the south side of Chicago is over .500 and in a wildcard position in the America League.

Regardless of whether they end up keeping up this pace for the full season or not, this is an incredible turnaround from one of the worst ever teams.

Are there any lessons the Rockies, coming off their own historically bad season, can take from how this White Sox roster was built?

Finding undervalued markets

This offseason, the market for players coming to MLB from NPB and KBO was more tepid than it had been in recent years. The White Sox, having just seen success in that market when signing Erick Fedde prior to 2024, were ready and willing to pounce on what they perceived as undervalued players.

In early December, they made a modest two year $12 million commitment to left handed starting pitcher Anthony Kay but he was not the only import from NPB that the White Sox brought in this offseason.

After hitting 246 home runs in NPB before he turned 26 years old, Munetaka Murakami was one of the most polarizing free agents this year. The power in his bat was hardly questionable, however, concerns about strikeouts and his ability to hit high velocity was enough to make most teams pass on him. While MLB Trade Rumors predicted an eight year deal worth $180 million when the offseason began, the market for a long-term deal never materialized.

That’s where the White Sox swooped in and offered a short two-year $34 million deal that would allow Murakami a chance to prove his doubters wrong and retest free agency before his age 28 season. For that amount of money the White Sox saw little risk. The reward, however, appears to be immense.

Murakami has already hit 17 home runs and sports a .240/.382/.557 line that would make him a middle of the order hitter in any MLB lineup. It’s still early, we’ll need to see if opposing hitters can adjust to him, but so far the signing looks incredible. The White Sox have two years of a young star and then will either look to extend him or trade him for a haul as a rental.

For the Rockies, the lesson is not simply to throw money at the next risky-profile potential star out of NPB (though they shouldn’t rule that out), it’s to be willing to zig when other teams are zagging. This is not a new concept but it is one where the applications are constantly changing and it would behoove the Rockies to try and be the first to find the next one.

Patience with growing pains

Some of the contributors to this early season surge were also there in Chicago contributing to the past few years of losing. Now, however, the teams patience with these formerly struggling players appears to be paying off.

On the mound, Davis Martin spent his first 250 big league innings with an ERA and FIP both in the mid-fours while walking over three per nine innings. He was the definition of a bottom of the rotation starter who did not have the prospect pedigree to give much hope he’d ever be more than that.

Then he added a “harder gyro-action slider” to his repertoire and has performed like a top of the rotation arm to start this season. In nine starts, Martin has a 1.61 ERA backed up by a 2.40 FIP and a WHIP of 0.98.

Some of that run prevention is likely to regress as his sequencing luck has been abnormally good (he’s stranded 89.2% of runners), but his component skills do appear to have meaningfully improved. He’s striking out 9.48 per nine and walking only 1.61, both of which are significantly better than his career averages.

On the hitting side, there’s the curious case of Miguel Vargas. The headlining piece in the return from the much maligned Erik Fedde deal at the deadline in 2024, Vargas looked entirely lost in his first calendar year in Chicago to the tune of a 17 wRC+ in his 42 games following the trade.

That poor play largely continued until the second half of last season where he turned in a 123 wRC+ after the All-Star break. That breakout has continued into 2026 where his already solid plate discipline has suddenly been backed up by an increase in bat speed. The end result of this is a .132 year-over-year increase in OPS that is backed up by an impressively red Baseball Savant page.

The White Sox had plenty of time, and reason, to cut bait on these players but they stuck with them and are now seeing that patience pay off. For the Rockies, this could mean that bearing with the poor performance of young players like Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle may be in the teams long term interest.

Focused on home-grown players

Other than those mentioned above, the majority of players fueling this currently competitive White Sox team were either drafted by them or traded for while they were still prospects.

On the pitching side that includes Sean Burke, Noah Schultz, and Grant Taylor. Each of these arms was entirely home grown and now are being leaned on by White Sox manager Will Venable. While Burke and Schultz are holding their own in the rotation, it’s Taylor who has been a revelation in the bullpen.

So far in 2026 the White Sox rank 23rd in ERA from relief pitchers at 4.57. This comes after the front office had tried to bolster the bullpen this offseason with free agent pickup Seranthony Domínguez but have instead seen him walk 13.3% of the batters he’s faced as the teams closer.

Grant Taylor, the White Sox second round pick in 2023, has been working out of the bullpen this year in order to build his innings up before a planned conversion to the rotation next year. That conversion, however, may not happen given how integral he has become to the bullpen unit with his 1.78 ERA and 13.5 k/9 in 25.1 innings of work. Taylor picked up his first save of the season on Tuesday night and looks poised to be the first name up in high leverage situations moving forward.

On the hitting side, the other key cogs on the 2026 roster are Sam Antonacci, Chase Meidroth, and most well known Colson Montgomery. While Meidroth came to the White Sox as a part of the prospect package acquired for Garret Crochet last offseason, both Antonacci and Montgomery were White Sox draftees that made stops at every minor league affiliate before cracking the big league roster.

Montgomery, the White Sox first round pick in 2021, has blossomed into arguably their best player. The 24 year old has a very three true outcomes style slash line of .228/.327/.503 with 13 home runs while also recording seven outs above average at shortstop. The White Sox developmental staff has been able to help him access his power at the major league level despite consistently running a strikeout rate hovering around 30%, and to improve his defense enough that he will stick at short for the foreseeable future.

For the Rockies there isn’t much that is directly transferrable other than the obvious: It’s good to draft and develop well.

It does seem noteworthy, however, just how much of this White Sox roster is already homegrown just two seasons after they hit rock bottom in 2024. They do not appear to have clogged up their roster with tons of veteran one year trade-bait style contracts. Instead, they are letting their former prospects play at the big league level and it seems like it may be paying off sooner than expected. This is something the Rockies could look to mimic possibly as soon as the trade deadline passes later this season.

On the Farm

Triple-A:Albuquerque Isotopes 6, Las Vegas Aviators 5

This was essentially two games: The first eight innings and then the final one.

In the first eight, the Isotopes failed to string any hits together instead scattering a handful of isolated singles and doubles in different frames. Carson Palmquist (No. 19 PuRP) and Blake Adams combined to pitch seven innings between them and allowed four runs on eight hits. It looked like the Isotopes would go down quietly… then came the top of the ninth.

Singles from Adael Amador and Charlie Condon (No. 1 PuRP), along with walks from Brian Serven and Vimael Machín, were all cashed in by a Cole Carrigg (No. 4 PuRP) double and a Nic Kent home run. Suddenly the Isotopes were leading and it was the bottom of the ninth. Joey Meneses walked with two outs and Cade Marlowe slapped a line drive into right center field that was intercepted by a diving Nic Kent to end the game.

Double-A:Hartford Yard Goats 10, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 8

Aside from one blemish, in the form of Sam Weatherly allowing seven runs while recording only a single out, the Yard Goats trounced the Fisher Cats. Eiberson Castellano got the start and completed seven innings on only 84 pitches while collecting eight strikeouts.

At the plate Zach Kokoska had three hits including a double, and both Bryant Betancourt and GJ Hill launched home runs, but the real star was Benny Montgomery. After a difficult start to the season, Montgomery would be hard-pressed to have a better game than this one in which he scored two runs, walked, stole a base, and hit two home runs.

High-A:Spokane Indians 5, Vancouver Canadians 7

A relatively listless game from Spokane until the seventh inning. Jordy Vargas (No. 21 PuRP) got the start and managed four and two thirds innings wherein the only runs scored were as a result of a homer from Alexis Hernandez. Vargas, however, wasn’t efficient enough with his pitch count to go any deeper and the lineup had not provided him with any run support.

Once the Candians’ starting pitcher Nolan Perry was no longer on the mound the Indians attempted a late comeback. They scored three runs in the seventh before Jacob Humphrey hit an absolute rocket into right center field in the eighth. It was, however, too little too late for Spokane.

Low-A:Fresno Grizzlies 10, Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 5

While no one stood out on the mound (the closest being Dylan Crooks with a scoreless ninth to close out the game), the lineup brought enough firepower for the Grizzlies to earn a convincing win.

As a whole, Grizzlies batters collected fourteen hits, seven of which were for extra bases. Cameron Nelson earned three walks and a stole a base from the leadoff spot, Tanner Thach continued his torrid start to the season with three hits including a home run, and Roldy Brito (No. 11 PuRP) matched him with three hits and a homer of his own. As a group they struck out a whopping thirteen times but that certainly did not stop the Grizzlies from scoring runs.

2026 Colorado Rockies Top 30 Prospects May Update | Baseball America ($)

Matt Eddy details what has changed in Baseball America’s assessment of the Rockies farm system since their pre-season rankings. There are a handful of prospects that have broken into their top 30, highlighted by Andy Perez who they now rank 12th in the system. The biggest riser is 18 year-old outfielder Cristian Arguelles, who the Rockies signed out of Venezuela in 2024. Arguelles has rocketed up from the 20th spot all the way to 8th in Baseball America’s estimation.

Johnston making his mark attacking the breaking ball | MLB.com

Thomas Harding talks to Troy Johnston about what has led to his success to begin the season. Johnston goes into how his time at Gonzaga led to him getting more looks at breaking balls than folks in other environments would have at that age. According to Johnston, his ability to sit breaking ball first has started to pay dividends in a league where pitchers become less fastball reliant each year.

20th & Blake: Rockies should consider TRADING stalwarts| Mile High Sports

Drew Creasman and Mark Knudson sit down for their weekly podcast where they recap all the recent news from the Rockies. This week they focus on both a breakdown of potential trade candidates that they think the front office should consider shopping ahead of the august deadline (including Kyle Freeland) as well as a check-in on how the Rockies top prospects are performing down on the farm.

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