Category: Baseball

In the final three games against the San Francisco Giants, the Mets allowed five total runs en route to three wins to culminate a 4-3 road trip. Even in their losses, New York allowed three runs or fewer in two of them and for the most part has gotten superior starting pitching two times through the rotation.

On Sunday, it was Kodai Senga's turn to deliver a quality outing and the right-hander handed in five scoreless innings before getting tagged for two runs in the sixth where only one ball was hit particularly hard.

Senga finished his outing by going 5.2 innings and allowing two earned runs on five hits, two walks and striking out seven on 88 pitches (55 strikes). Early on, he even struck out five in a row and looked great for a second straight start, this one on four days rest.

"It wasn’t perfect today, but good enough to make the game winnable," Senga said after the game through an interpreter.

It's the same kind of mentality that Senga used to have with himself when he was going good, often being hyper critical of things that he could improve on and fix for the next one.

Still, manager Carlos Mendoza was much more effusive of the right-hander's performance, saying "he pretty much dominated that lineup… Overall I think he was outstanding."

Senga is the latest of Mets starters to pitch well, following Clay Holmes' seven scoreless innings on Saturday and Nolan McLean's five hitless innings on Friday. As a unit, New York's starting rotation has a 3.13 ERA, eighth in MLB and third in the NL.

What's also encouraging? The Mets rank third in total innings pitched by their starters at 54.2 -- a year after their staff was routinely unable to go deep into games. As the season progresses and the temperature gets warmer and pitchers become more stretched out, hopefully that number continues to go up as well.

"I think it’s a really strong group," Senga said of the starting rotation. "As long as we stay healthy, stay out on the mound, we can be a stabilizing force for the team. That goes for everybody and myself. I don’t want to be the one lagging behind, I want to be up there with them."

Of course, after his incredible first half last season, Senga returned from a hamstring injury and had a dreadful end to the year. It became such a problem that New York sent him down to the minors to try and restore his stuff and his confidence. 

The team even entertained trading the 33-year-old during the offseason but decided to keep the right-hander who then rewarded the Mets with a strong showing in spring training that has continued into the regular season.

It's obviously still very early into the season, but the signs are good for Senga and if he's able to keep it up he can certainly be a part of a Mets staff that has all the makings of a top rotation in baseball and be that stabilizing force that he was talking about.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. was back in the lineup Sunday after his mental gaffe at second base in Saturday’s win, when he turned a routine grounder into a single in the top of the ninth.

Otto Lopez reached on the play and scored before David Bednar and the Yankees held on for the victory.

Boone said Sunday he spoke with Chisholm following Saturday’s game “a little bit.”

“He laid back on the ball,” Boone said. “Fundamentally, he was fine with it. He’s just got to be a little more aware of the guy getting down the line. It’s a play we’ve got to make.”

Chisholm — also slumping at the plate — came through with a two-run double in the bottom of the ninth in Sunday’s 7-6 loss to Miami.

He acknowledged his mistake from Saturday, with the caveat that plays like that are going to happen.

“We all know how I play baseball,’’ Chisholm said. “The guy caught me with my head down and [made] a good play. I do it to other teams all the time. Someone caught me. It’s no big deal.”

He also was in a 4-for-31 rut before his double.

Chisholm isn’t the only infielder struggling, as José Caballero made another error at shortstop and has been invisible on offense.

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“He’s swinging through some pitches,’’ Boone said, adding of his recent throwing issues: “He’s so good at getting rid of it… We trust him.”

Carlos Rodón reported some soreness Sunday after throwing a side session Saturday.

Boone called Rodón’s discomfort “to be expected” as the left-hander rehabs from offseason elbow surgery.

His comeback has been delayed a bit by right hamstring tightness he experienced last week, but it didn’t stop Rodón from throwing.

Boone said he’s expected to throw another side session “early in the week.”

Gerrit Cole, coming back from last spring’s Tommy John surgery, is scheduled to throw a simulated game Monday.

The Yankees missed on a pair of automated ball-strike system challenges again Sunday, leaving them with none during their ninth-inning rally.

Boone said he doesn’t want them to lose their aggressiveness, even as it’s cost them in recent games.

“We’re gonna trust our knowledge of it,’’ Boone said. “There are gonna be games you don’t have them at the end.” … The Yankees recorded 30 walks in their series against the Marlins, their most in a three-game series in franchise history.

After a promising start to the season, Camilo Doval has pitched poorly in his past two appearances, retiring just three batters and allowing five hits, four earned runs and a walk.

Boone noted Doval has faced some “really tough left-handed hitters” and not executed well or been able to put batters away.

That’s resulted in lefties reaching base in five of 10 plate appearances against Doval, who is expected to serve in a setup role to David Bednar.

As for the closer, Boone said he’s not comfortable working Bednar as much as he has in his past two appearances, when Bednar threw 40 and 33 pitches.

He picked up the save in both appearances.

“We don’t want him throwing 30-40 pitches [each outing],’’ Boone said.

SAN FRANCISCO — Jared Young didn’t know for sure he would be in the Mets starting lineup Sunday, but took the approach that it was best to think in those terms.

He knew that Brett Baty’s left thumb was barking following a dive into second base a day earlier. Baty was scheduled to start the series finale against the Giants, but Young was Plan B.

“It was kind of like, ‘Let’s come in today and prep like I’m going to play,’” Young said. “It’s always easier to wind down than it is to ramp up.”

It was Plan B the Mets exercised, going to Young for the start in left field as Baty took a day to rest his thumb.

Young’s 3-for-3 performance offensively and strong defense were a significant component in the team’s 5-2 victory at Oracle Park that gave the Mets a winning series and road trip.

Young’s running catch on Patrick Bailey’s line drive in the third stood out, along with his play off the carom on Jerar Encarnacion’s shot that hit the left field fence in the fifth. Young threw out Encarnacion attempting to stretch a single into a double.

The three-hit performance was the first of Young’s career, as was the outfield assist. Most of Young’s major league playing time has come as a first baseman.

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“Not only the at-bats for Jared, but his ability to play the outfield the way he’s doing it, he just adds more to it,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It’s not only a pinch hitter or a guy that can play first, now you feel good with him playing the outfield as well.”

Mendoza’s original lineup before Baty was scratched had Carson Benge in left field and Baty in right. The manager said the decision to move Benge from right was based on Benge’s overall familiarity playing the various outfield positions compared to Baty, who is a converted infielder.

Baty is expected to be available for starting duty Tuesday.

Mendoza indicated nothing had changed with Juan Soto, who will be reevaluated before the Mets begin their next homestand Tuesday. The All-Star outfielder is dealing with what he’s termed a “minor” right calf strain and the Mets face a decision on placing him on the injured list.

The Mets had a third straight game with at least 12 hits. The franchise record is five straight such games, established in 1976 and tied in 1990.

Luis Robert Jr. stole two bases, giving him multiple steals in a game for the first time since May 4 of last season with the White Sox.

Luis Torrens is in his ninth season in the league and his third with the Mets. During that time he has not been known for his offense and has played the role of backup catcher for most of his career.

Yet, on Sunday against the San Francisco Giants, with New York down 2-1 in the eighth inning but threatening, Torrens was called upon as a pinch-hitter against a left-hander.

The move was a bit surprising. Not only was Torrens replacing Jared Young who was already 3-for-3 on the day, albeit against right-hander Logan Webb, but with a thin bench the Mets could ill afford to lose their backup catcher should the game go to extra innings or anything unforeseen happening.

But according to manager Carlos Mendoza who spoke after the game, that was the exact moment the Mets were hoping to use Torrens.

“I gotta give credit to [bench coach] Kai Correa there,” Mendoza said. “...He brought it up to me way before the game started – like in a big spot, Luis Torrens against one of those lefties… Sure enough, the situation presented itself and we [used] him and he was ready to go from the very beginning and he executed it.”

Facing LHP Erik Miller with one out and runners at second and third, Torrens fell behind in the count but fouled off some pitches and was able to work the count full. On 3-2, Torrens got a changeup off the plate that would’ve been ball four, but the catcher swung at it and poked it down the right-field line for a two-run double that put New York ahead, 3-2.

The Mets scored twice more in the inning and went on to win 5-2 thanks to the four-run eighth inning, but the big hit came from Torrens who had been ready for that scenario since before the game even started.

“For me, to put the ball in play there I was prepared even before the game,” Torrens said through an interpreter. “Mendy told me there might be a situation where I come in, but for me it’s about being focused and trying to execute in a situation like that.”

Torrens continued: “I really appreciate to be told that earlier on in the game or even before the game just because I’m able to prepare myself the way that I know that I can prepare myself and with whatever situation arises in the game, I’ll be prepared and do my job.”

So, why specifically Torrens, a career .228 hitter, in that moment?

“He slows the game down, he’s got the ability to use the whole field, he’s not afraid to go the other way, he’s not afraid to work counts,” Mendoza said. “He gets to two strikes and you feel good that he’s going to put the ball in play, he’s gonna take what the pitcher is giving him.

“This is a guy that’s been in baseball for quite a bit now, a lot of winter ball. So I was happy for Luis in that situation.”

A nine-year veteran (as a catcher no less), Torrens has used all of that experience to his advantage. It’s why the Mets have loved having him around for the past three years. In fact, even though he isn’t known for his bat, the 29-year-old is now batting .352 in 54 at-bats as a pinch-hitter, one of the most difficult jobs to do in baseball.

On top of that, Torrens is and continues to be elite at stopping the running game, even throwing out a runner trying to steal second base in the bottom of the ninth inning.

It’s plays like that, his hit in the eighth and the communication between him and the coaches before the game that had Mendoza commending “the small details” New York made on Sunday that resulted in an impressive win and taking three out of four in San Francisco.

“That speaks to how we prepare as a team,” Torrens said. “I think every single one of us before the game, during the game are all preparing ourselves to do the best that we possibly can and I think that speaks volumes to the group that we have here.”

After a rough stretch offensively to start the season, the Mets have completely turned it around, scoring 24 runs over their last three games. Almost all of that has been without Juan Soto, too.

“It’s special,” Mendoza said. “We’ve got good players, up and down. Dealing with a few guys there with injuries and you still feel really good with not only the guys that are in the lineup or who are getting the opportunity to play more, but [with] what’s on the bench as well and we saw it today.

“There’s a lot of versatility. There’s a lot of things that we could do because of the flexibility. It goes to show you that it’s a deep roster and it’s fun.”

New York will look to keep the good times rolling back at Citi Field starting on Tuesday when it hosts the Arizona Diamondbacks for a three-game set.

The Yankees acquired Ryan McMahon last year because of his glove — not his bat.

The third baseman’s plate production is becoming an issue.

Even after an offseason tinkering with his swing, McMahon hasn’t slowed his swing and miss and the occasional power the Yankees hoped he’d flash has mostly been absent.

Despite a high-powered top half of the lineup, McMahon is one of several players slumping at the bottom, along with José Caballero and Austin Wells.

He had a couple of hard-hit balls on the West Coast trip, as well as one in Saturday’s win over Miami, but it was on the ground.

He finally snapped an 0-for-22 skid with a single in the sixth inning of Sunday’s 7-6 loss to Miami and walked in the eighth.

Those free passes have offset some of McMahon’s struggles, but not all of them.

And most distressing has been McMahon’s strikeout rate.

McMahon whiffed 40 percent of the time heading into Sunday’s game, higher than his 32.3 percent career mark.

A year ago, his 32.3 percentage was the highest among qualified hitters.

Boone pointed to some positive signs in recent games, but acknowledged the slump.

“I like the ball he hit to left and his at-bats were better than we saw in Seattle, [when] I felt like he was in-between a lot,’’ Boone said. “I thought his intent was good on his swings on a couple of fastballs [by Eury] Pérez. … Hopefully he builds on that.”

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McMahon narrowed his stance before the season to reduce his swing-and-miss rate.

It hasn’t worked, and he also seems to have lost power.

“He’s a little bit in-between,” Boone said. “He doesn’t want to chase or make bad decisions, which is great, but you’ve also got to go up there and let it rip. It’s an early-season scuffle. He’s really talented, [has] pop [and] does know the strike zone.”

The Yankees don’t have a clear alternative at third base, since they prefer Amed Rosario to play more of a utility role — especially with Caballero playing shortstop every day due to Anthony Volpe being sidelined following offseason shoulder surgery.

But there’s also no getting around the fact that McMahon — who singled in his first plate appearance of the season Opening Day in San Francisco — didn’t have another hit until Sunday.

With the Yankees having won eight of their first nine games before Sunday’s defeat, they could live with McMahon finding his way at the plate, but that won’t last forever.

SAN FRANCISCO — Kodai Senga, on normal rest, didn’t show signs of fatigue Sunday.

The Mets right-hander was strong into the sixth inning, positioning his team to rally for a 5-2 victory over the Giants at Oracle Park.

It was only the fifth time in his career that Senga pitched on the fifth day following a start. He’s usually been afforded at least the sixth day.

“Whatever the pitching schedule is, whether it’s regular rest or an extra day, as long as I know ahead of time and I am able to live on that schedule, then it’s no problem,” Senga said through an interpreter.

If the Mets rotation remains in order, Senga’s next turn will be Saturday against the Athletics at Citi Field. Senga and the others in the rotation will be pitching on extra rest because of Monday’s off-day.

On this day, Senga allowed two earned runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks over 5 ²/₃ innings. He allowed two bloop singles in the sixth that factored into the two runs scored against him. Matt Chapman’s loud double was the other hit in the inning.

It was a continuation of what the Mets saw from Senga in his season debut against the Cardinals on Tuesday, when he struck out nine over six innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits.

“When you look at [Sunday’s] outing, only two hard-hit balls,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Other than that, he pretty much dominated that lineup. The fastball, the cutter was a good pitch, the forkball to put hitters away and to steal strikes when he needed to. I think overall, he was outstanding.”

It follows a second-half meltdown last season that concluded with Senga agreeing to a minor league assignment. He spent September pitching for Triple-A Syracuse in an attempt to get on track mechanically.

“The biggest thing [Sunday] was I was able to throw healthily, and I was able to get out of it healthy,” Senga said.

He received help defensively, particularly from Jared Young, who fielded Jerar Encarnacion’s shot off the left field fence in the fifth inning and threw out Encarnacion attempting to reach second.

“It was amazing,” Senga said.

Pre-game

The Cardinals enter their April 5th, 2026 matchup vs the Tigers in Detroit with the 10th highest runs per 9 scored in the NL, but their 5.38 average runs allowed per game is the 4th worst in all of baseball. Prior to the game, the Cardinals were tied with the Cubs at the bottom of the NL Central.

Both the Tigers and the Cardinals have .500 records. If the Cardinals avoid the sweep, they will be the team with the winning record. If the Tigers sweep our redbirds, we will have went from 4-2 on the young season, to 4-5. That would take some wind out of the sails, momentum from the series wins vs Tampa Bay Rays and NY Mets. Kyle Leahy took the mound tonight vs Keider Montoro. I would describe Montoro as a back-of-the-rotation starter who relies on his good changeup to get outs. ERA probably will be mid 4s range. Leahy relies a lot on a sweeper that makes some batters chase pitches outside the zone. Leahy can also rely on trying to induce ground balls, and hopefully come up with some gidp. The verdict is still out on Leahy, but he appears to be a back-of-the-rotation starter experiment so far. What it is.

The Tigers have a better offense than the Cardinals, who are more of a mediocre offense so far compared to the Tigers, who have the 4th best team OPS in the AL. So far, the Cardinals offense has scored the same amount of runs as the two Chicago teams, and the Mariners. Which puts them middle of the pack.

If Leahy has a good start, the Cardinals have a good lineup to defeat Montero. If Leahy gives up 5 runs or more, I think it’ll be a total crapshoot. The game was streamed through the new Sunday night game-of-the-week host, Peacock, so if you have a Cardinals.TV subscription, the game was blacked out. So does MLB just expect everyone to subscribe to watch one game on a streaming site, or go out to a bar to watch the game? I guess so!

Cardinals 45.7% chance of winning

Kyle Leahy R

0-1 7.20 ERA 5 IP 1 SO

• 1.JJ Wetherholt L 2B
• 2.Iván Herrera R DH
• 3.Alec Burleson L 1B
• 4.Jordan Walker R RF
• 5.Nolan Gorman L 3B
• 6.Thomas Saggese R SS
• 7.Nathan Church L LF
• 8.Pedro Pagés R C
• 9.Victor Scott II L CF

Tigers 54.3% chance of winning

Keider Montero R

• 1.Colt Keith L DH
• 2.Kevin McGonigle L 3B
• 3.Gleyber Torres R 2B
• 4.Kerry Carpenter L RF
• 5.Riley Greene L LF
• 6.Dillon Dingler R C
• 7.Parker Meadows L CF
• 8.Spencer Torkelson R 1B
• 9.Javier Báez R SS

Well there you have it, I guess the Cardinals are the underdog in this matchup. But it could be a good game.

Top 1

To begin what looked like a chilly night in Detroit, JJ Wetherholt, a masked Ivan Herrera (looking almost ninja-like), and Alec Burleson were retired quickly by Keider Montero. 1-2-3

Bottom 1

Kyle Leahy was aggressive going up against the Tigers leadoff hitter Cole Keith, and struck him out to start the game. Leahy definitely needed to up his K rate there. Vs McGonigle, Leahy lost the battle; McGonigle worked it to a full count and then walked. Leahy recovered and then struck out Gleyber Torres! To complete an impressive first inning, Kyle struck out Kerry Carpenter.

Top 2

Jordan Walker lead off the 2nd with a single to right field, hitting cleanup. Nolan Gorman, another possible cleanup hitter batting fifth, popped up just outside the infield after fighting off a bunch of pitches. 1 out. Then Saggese flew out to right field. Walker’s hit had better placement, but similar nonetheless. Nathan Church was not up to the challenge, ending the top of the inning with a groundout.

Bottom 2

Kyle Leahy was looking good in the second until he started putting runners on base. Runners at first and second, Leahy faced bottom of the order Javier Baez with two outs. The escape artist, escaped unscathed.

Top 3

The Cardinals offense just wasn’t getting it done, but both teams had 1 hit at this point in the game. Baseball gonna baseball, would not have guessed these two pitchers would be having a pitcher’s duel, but Detroit in early April at night isn’t usually that conducive to hot hitting.

Bottom 3

Holt lead off the 3rd with a hit through the infield between 2nd and short. Leahy then struck out McGonigle with a filthy pitch that McGonigle could not connect with. However, the next batter Kerry Carpenter took Leahy deep to center during the next at bat. 2-0 Tigers. When Leahy gets hit, he gets hit hard. JJ Wetherholt almost made a super rangey, amazing play where he needed to slide and throw, making a play close that should not have been. The Tigers offense was dialing in on Kyle Leahy. But Kyle left the inning with only 2 runs allowed.

Top 4

Ivan Herrera lead off the 4th for the Cardinals and struck out on an ABS challenge. The rest of the Cardinals offense also appeared to be frozen in place in the freezing Michigan night.

Bottom 4

Leahy gave up a double to Spencer Torkelson to start out the 4th. Not a good start. Leahy however was able to retire two batters in a row, Torkelson advanced to third on a shattered bat. If nothing else, Leahy’s changeup looked real good tonight. He was just throwing too many pitches down the middle. Luckily, sometimes even when you throw a meatball, the hitter just pops out to center. Stil 2-0 Tigers.

Top 5

Finally the Cardinals got on base somehow, Nolan Gorman sharply hit a liner that bounced off the diving first baseman’s glove. Gorman on first with Saggese at the plate. Thomas worked the count to 3-2, then walked. There were 2 on nobody out for Nathan Church. Could Church save Easter Sunday for the Cardinals? 1-0. Foul, behind on the fastball. 1-1. 2-1 on another ball outside. It looked like Church had hit into a double play but the Tigers did not execute on the throw to second, which still got 1 out for them. Pedro Pages was up with 1 out, runners at first and third… it was quickly 0-2 for Pages. But, Pedro came up with a clutch RBI single! Nathan Church, absolutely flying around the bases, advanced all the way to third somehow. This moment knocked Montero out of the game.

Cardinals were down 2-1 with a runner at third base and 1 out when Victor Scott II layed down a bunt that actually worked out splendidly, because it scored a run and turned into VSii making it to first base. JJ Wetherholt popped out but moved Pages over to third. Then Ivan Herrera knocked in 2 runs byt hitting an opposite field lining looper which landed in right. Burleson was up with two outs and Herrera at first base, and grounded out up the middle. The damage was done though, Cardinals 4-2!

Bottom 5

Leahy continued with this 3rd MLB start of his career. Out #1 was an insanely high pop out to deep right center. McGonigle just missed a dinger. He retired Gleyber Torres. Kerry Carpenter up again, Leahy looked really good and went to 1-2 with another nasty changeup. 2-2 after a pitch missed low. 3-2 on a pich way outside. And Leahy just could not find the zone vs Carpenter, who walked to first. Kyle lost control of that at bat. Could Leahy retire Greene? He threw 3 straight balls. The wheels were coming off for Leahy. Finally a strike. Leahy quickly improved the count to two strikes. On the full count, Riley Greene hit one deep to center field and Victor Scott II pulled it in for the out.

Top 6

Jordan Walker was up at the plate. He struck out on a pitch way outside the zone, looking like the bad version of Jordan Walker. Nolan Gorman was up vs DeJesus on Easter Sunday and hit a dribbler up the middle. He almost beat it out because the ball moved slowly under the pitcher’s glove. Thomas Saggese was up and hit a deep one to right field but the outfielder was able to reign it in.

Bottom 6

Tigers down 4-2 still. George Soriano took over for Kyle Leahy. He threw 3 balls then a strike. Then another one missed low and Dingler walked. Leadoff hitter on base. Soriano did not have it tonight. Hsi slider ended up towards the middle of the zone, which got hit advancing the runner to third. Nobody out. This was the bullpen’s game to take. What would happen next? Tigers stole a base, runners at second and third. Pages with a terrible throw that bounced in the grass. Soriano battled back and it was 0-2 vs Torkelson. Then he threw one into the dirt which was blocked nicely by Pages. 2-2 count. Torkelson worked a full count by checking his swing at one in the dirt. Soriano walked the bases loaded, almost was a wild pitch. Pedro went out to the mound to calm down the vibes.

The Tigers got a run on what was in effect a sacrifice fly and Marmol decided to bail on his George Soriano plan for the 6th. There was 1 out with runners on first and second, leadoff man Jones was up with Romero. Saggese botched the double play but JoJo got an out. Cards up 4-3 with two outs, runners on first and third. It was McGonigle vs Romero… JoJo got wild and went 3-0! And then missed inside! Bases were loaded. Gleyber Torres was up and was 0-3 on the day… could he do anything? Romero threw a strik and two balls, 2-1 count. This time Saggese was able to make up for his botched DP, tossing the ball to second base for the out.

Top 7

The game felt far from over. Cardinals at bat. Church could not buy himself a hit tonight, or even a walk. One down on DeJesus striking out Church. Pedro Pages also struck out vs DeJesus. Buinting expert Victor Scott II flew out to left field this time. 1-2-3

Bottom 7

Romero was back out and quickly got a deep fly out to right field. 1 down. Riley Greene was up vs JoJo. JoJo struck him out! Two outs. Dillon Dingler which is one of the dumbest names I’ve ever heard… was up at the plate. Romero threw one low that he lost control of. But then Torres just ended up having a bad day and JoJo steamrolled through the Tigers offense like it was warm butter.

Top 8

JJ Wetherholt lead off the 8th inning for the Cardinals. He got a hit vs DeJesus! Who you might be surprised was still in the game. This hit knocked him out though. It was Herrera vs Seabold. Herrera took 3 balls in a row, and then four for the walk. Two on nobody out! Burly was up, having a no hit night. He took a strike, then whiffed on a pitch that dropped down out of the zone. Seabold threw another one outside the zone, which Burleson popped up to center field. Wetherholt was able to advance on this pop-out though, so it was not an entirely unproductive at bat.

One out for Jordan Walker, he held off on an away sweeper. Three balls in a row again, Walker thought he had a walk, but Seabolt caught the top of the zone. The next pitch was some junk down low though, so Seabolt walked the bases loaded, 1 out. Nolan Gorman was up at the plate. Took a ball inside that looked more like a nasty strike, but the Tigers didn’t challenge it. 1-1 count to Gorman. 2-1, then a nasty changeup fooled Gorman, making it 2-2. 3-2… Gorman popped out to left field, but it worked as a sacrifice fly. 5-3 Cardinals with Wetherholt scoring! Saggese struck out to end the inning. Not a very good day for Thomas Saggese.

Bottom 8

Ryne Stanek was in for the 8th. It was an 0-2 count vs Meadows. Then he threw 2 balls, 2-2. Meadows popped out. Stanek got a gift from the ump with a ball up in the zone, Tigers no challenge. 1-1 on an outside pitch. Stanek through a ball high, 2-2. Did he attack the zone? No, he threw it into the dirt. 3-2. Then he walked him, nibbling around the zone, but too wild. With a runner at first, Baez was up. Urias was brought in as a defensive replacement for Gorman at the beginning of the inning, by the way.

Stanek was able to strike out Baez on a nasty breaking ball just outside the zone. 2 outs. Top of the order, Jahmai Jones up. Stanek took the count to 1-2, then threw some slop in the dirt making it 2-2. Stanek tried to throw it by Jones, up in the zone, but he fouled it off. Then Ryne Stanek struck out Jones!

Top 9

It was 5-3 Cardinals. Seabold was still in pitching for the Tigers. Church had a chance to get his first hit of the day. He swung at some junk outside the zone and tapped out to the pitcher. Pages, first pitch swinging, grounded out to first. Victor Scott II was up! He got a single past second base! This brought up Wetherholt again… however Victor tried to steal and was barely thrown out. You just knew he was going to try to steal there.

Bottom 9

Closer apparent Riley O’Brien got the ball to try and shutdown the game with a 2 run lead. Quickly, O’Brien got the leadoff hitter with a nasty sinker! Gleyber Torres was 0-4 on the day, O’Brien looking good. But then he threw one into the dirt that Pages blocked with his body, spinning out of control. Riley was looking wild, 3-1 count… another sinker sunk the count to full. O’Brien blew away Torres with another sinker higher up. Nasty high heat. Vierling was up to bat, trying to make something happen… strike. Then a wild pitch. 1-1. The game ended with a weak flyout to the outfield.

Post-game

The Cardinals manufactured a win with some small ball, good pitching, and some defense. JoJo Romero gets my nod for player of the game, he really swayed the outcome and locked down some key outs. Kyle Leahy only gave up 2 runs today, which was another key to the game. The only poor pitching performance came from George Soriano, who otherwise has been good this year. The Cardinals pitchers looked to be struggling a bit with the cold, issuing 7 walks today. But the effectively wild “tactic” worked. Sometimes an MLB team is just tough to sweep, and the Cardinals were up to the challenge of not getting swept on the road by a pretty good team.

Ivan Herrera was your player of the game on offense, providing 2 of the 5 RBI today. He was 1-3 with a walk and a strikeout tonight. Burleson, Saggese, and Church all could not hit tonight, so it is somewhat surprising we scored 5 runs. Nolan Gorman, Pedro Pages, and Victor Scott II all had an RBI each. Teamwork gets the job done sometimes. Gorman and Walker were both 1-3, Jordan taking a walk so a .400 OBP is nice, eh? 15 total strikeouts between both teams.

The Cardinals go to Washington DC next and face the Nationals tomorrow night at 5:40pm!

A day after the Tigers secured the series victory — but lost Justin Verlander to the Injured List with a hip problem — they went for the series sweep on a chilly, breezy Sunday night. A costly throwing error by a Tigers pitcher against the Cardinals (déja-vu, anyone?) undid an early lead and sent Detroit to a 5-3 loss.

Verlander was originally slated to start, on somewhat-national television (I think it was streaming on the BlorgNet app or something); the Tigers even had a special ticket promotion going, including a t-shirt commemorating his true homecoming. Well, instead, they got everyone’s favourite sixth starter, Keider Montero, who’s in his third season… I hesitate to say “with the Tigers,” because he’s spent half of the past two seasons in Toledo. He made a dozen starts and eight relief appearances for the Tigers last year, and he was part of the WBC-winning Venezuela team earlier this spring.

Facing the Tigers tonight was Kyle Leahy, who spent the previous two years in the Cardinals’ bullpen, transitioning to a starting role this year. He had a decent 2025 in a relief role, with an ERA just above 3, a WHIP of 1.227, and while he doesn’t usually strike everybody out, he only gave up five home runs in 88 innings. He’d been a starter from the time he was drafted in 2018 through the 2022 season in the minors; he saw some action in AAA before the Cardinals made the decision to convert him to a reliever.

The game started off with both starting pitchers well in command, but the Tigers got a mini-threat going in the bottom of the second: Parker Meadows hit a sharp single and Spencer Torkelson walked, but Javier Báez hit a sharp grounder to third to end the inning. Meanwhile, Montero was only giving up soft contact, with a bloop single in the second being the sum total of the traffic on the basepaths for the Cardinals, and getting strikeouts on his sinker.

Kerry Carpenter opened the scoring with his second home run in two days; Colt Keith led off the bottom of the third with a single, went to second on a groundout, and with two outs Carpenter launched a mighty blast to straightaway centre for a 2-0 lead.

Montero, who was on a pitch count and so wouldn’t go too deep in this one, allowed a single and walked a guy to start the fifth; a groundout to second got the out at second. A single to left scored a run and ended Montero’s day, with Enmanuel De Jesus taking over. A comebacker bunt saw De Jesus fielding it and throwing it away, getting a run home to tie the game and putting runners on second and third. A single to right scored those two runs to put St. Louis up 4-2, and well, that was all pretty lousy.

But in the sixth Dillon Dingler — the master of the ABS system, apparently — walked to lead off, and he scooted over to third with a Parker Meadows single. Meadows then stole second to put a pair in scoring position, then Torkelson walked to load the bases. Báez hit a liner to left which was deep enough to score Dingler and narrow the lead to 4-3. Pinch-hitter Jahmai Jones hit a grounder to second which got Báez out at second, leaving runners on the corners with two outs. Kevin McGonigle drew a walk to re-load the bases, but Gleyber Torres grounded out to shortstop to end the inning. That felt like a squander to me, and was probably the thing that ultimately did the Tigers in tonight.

De Jesus righted the ship in the seventh with a 1-2-3 inning, and after giving up a leadoff single in the eighth, Connor Seabold took over. After a walk, a flyout and another walk, the Cardinals had the bases loaded with one out and Seabold was clearly having trouble finding the strike zone. A sacrifice fly pushed the Cardinals’ lead back to two runs, and after a strikeout the inning was mercifully over.

With one out in the eighth Torkelson walked again, but Báez flailed at an outside slider and Jones foul-tipped a high fastball into the catcher’s mitt. So much for that.

Riley O’Brien — tell me he shouldn’t have an auto-parts store named after him, I dare you — came on for the ninth and got three quick outs and everyone went home for hot cocoa.

Final score: Cardinals 5, Tigers 3

That got outta here in a hurry

Anything travelling that far oughtta have a darn stewardess on it.

(Catch the slightly-cleaned-up movie reference there?)

Notes and Observances

• Look, you can make all the age-related quips you want about Justin Verlander injuring his hip. Goodness knows I already have, amongst my BYB colleagues. Did this joke involve a reference to a Werther’s Original? I won’t tell.
• All joking aside, I’m older than Verlander, and I once had my back seize-up by getting out of my car in the parking lot at work. So for those of you younger than Verlander — a spry 43, merely a spring chicken — age is going to come for you, too, pal.
• Did you see that Jo Adell of the Angels, playing right field, went over the fence to rob the Mariners of three home runs? And that the game ended up a 1-0 Angels victory? Holy mackerel! Do yourself a favour and go find that video clip. Hold on, here it is, and you are very, very welcome.
• You really should be following the Artemis II mission around the Moon, and not just because one of the astronauts is from small-town southwestern Ontario like me.
• On this day in 1974, Stephen King’s first novel, Carrie, was published for the first time. I think he’s done pretty well for himself in the ensuing years.

The Colorado Rockies are now through 12 games of the 2026 season. While we are clearly still working with small sample sizes in terms of performance data, which offseason MLB acquisition do you think has been the most successful so far?

Consider some of the choices:

• Valente Bellozo
• Brenan Bernadino
• Willi Castro
• Michael Lorenzen
• Jake McCarthy
• Troy Johnston
• Edouard Julien
• José Quintana
• T.J. Rumfield
• Tomoyuki Sugano 菅野 智之
• Brett Sullivan

This is probably a question we’ll return to as the season unfolds, but let us know in the comments what you think.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

Listen, I’m not saying it was destined, but you go up against a team called the Angels on Easter, and you’re probably gonna lose. A simple coincidence? Probably, but I think the much more likely scenario is that this game took place inside the halo for the Angels at the Big A. It’s no secret the Mariners have never been highly favored by those persnickety baseball gods, and this game was no exception. Every time the Mariners seemed to get an edge or get out in front, the Angels would manage to pull it back.

Coming into the game, the Mariners are coming off a rough shutout from last night that featured Jo Adell having the defensive game of his career. Unable to shake the bad vibes from yesterday, today’s game started and remained equally frustrating.

Zach “Mariner Killer” Neto immediately gets the trouble started with a lead-off double to add to his two extra-base hits from last night. So far this series, Neto’s bat appears to be blessed with a prodigious level of power this series, and today was obviously not going to be an exception; it is their day after all. After advancing to third on a groundball to first from Trout and scored on a single from Jorge Solar, putting the Angels up 1-0 in the first.

However, the Mariners have been showing some fight early in the year, and do not go away easily. Our M’s roared back in the second against George Klassen, making his MLB debut. Klassen is a highly touted prospect for the Angels, though if his command issues persist as they did today, it’s hard to see the Angels being able to rely on him for innings this season. The young pitcher certainly had some moments, including his first career strikeout against Julio Rodriguez, but also lasted just 2.2 innings, issuing five walks.

Klassen certainly looked the part of the anxious rookie on the hill today. He started the second inning with a walk to Randy Arozarena, and then with one out issued back-to-back walks to Cole Young and Mitch Garver, loading the bases. A nice little Leo Rivas bloop single drove in both Arozarena and Young, and the Mariners took the lead 2-1 going into the third inning.

Clearly, the Mariners’ hubris was offensive, though, because the Angels almost immediately tied it up again. Trout doubled to lead off the inning and moved to third on a Nolan Schanuel groundout to first base. Jorge Soler then singled into left field to bring Trout home and take away the Mariners’ first lead of the day.

Thankfully, before things can get much worse, the inning is brought to an end in part thanks to a nice play by Cole Young. The young second baseman certainly seems to be settling in well to Seattle, as you shall see a little further down.

Up to this point, it was a good competitive game; seemingly, it could go either way, and then the fates stepped in. Unwilling to see the Mariners win this game, or at least win easily, they started causing trouble for the Mariners in the 4th inning. First, Luis Castillo, usually very solid, especially early in the year, logged an uncharacteristic HBP on Josh Lowe. Castillo followed that with a walk of Logan O’Hoppe (OH-Hop-e, appropriate for today). A sac bunt from former Mariner Adam Frazier put both runners in scoring position. Of course, this brought Neto to the plate, and he did what Zach Neto does, which is put the ball in play. A hard grounder to third and Leo Rivas couldn’t handle it: the ball ricocheted off his glove into foul territory and allowed both runners to advance, giving the Angels a 3-2 lead.

To make matters worse, on the next play, J.P. Crawford got a seemingly routine ground ball and overthrew Naylor at first, pulling him off the bag, allowing O’Hoppe to score from third, and putting the Angels up 4-2.

BUT, faithful reader, this version of the Mariners has something that other teams of the past have lacked: tenacity, stick-to-it-iveness, the ability to never really go away, and today it showed. Mariners’ young lion Cole Young stepped to the plate in the 5th inning with Arozarena on second after a HBP, and JP Crawford on first after drawing a walk. Feeling no fear or pressure, Young coolly stepped into the box, facing Brett Suter, who is roughly twice Young’s age. In a disgusting display of lefty on lefty violence, Young launched his second home run of the year to put the Mariners up 5-4. That Cole Young 25 home run season prediction isn’t looking so outlandish at this point.

However, playing the Angels on Easter is bound to end with their victory; it’s one of the few perks the team has! Certainly not a working HVAC system. (Note that this is not based on any empirical evidence, more just vibe science.) Jeimer Candelario reminded us he’s still playing in MLB in the bottom of the fifth with a lead-off double, and then Jo Adell immediately punished a mistake pitch from Jose Ferrer (sinker in the lefty loop zone) and followed it up with a single to tie the game again.

Adam Frazier continued to haunt the Mariners with a single of his own to drive in Adell and put the Angels up 6-5. Someone get that man out of the AL West.

For many teams, that would be the end, the back of the team being broken by former players and teammates dicing them up, and Jo Adell having a great defensive game and then continuing to assault the Mariners with his skills at the plate. But not these Mariners, embued with the spirit of the Easter Bunny, these Mariners keep bouncing back!

In the 9th, down to their last out, Cal Raleigh stepped to the plate. With the struggles he’s had so far this season, you could be forgiven for thinking game over, and yet it’s not. Raleigh muscled a dying seagull down the left field line and hustled for a double, bringing up the equally struggling Julio Rodríguez, again potentially as the last chance of the game. Not to be outdone, Julio lined a single into left center to bring Cal around to score and tie up the game. We’re going to extras, baby!

The Mariners stayed hot in the tenth, like a candy-fueled two-year-old after church, surging into the lead with the assistance of the Manfred runner. A single from Randy brought around Julio to score, and the Mariners lead 7-6 going into the bottom of the 10th.

The Angels, however, have the power of the heavens on their side on today of all days. Bryce Teodosio bunts over Jo Adell on second to third. A sac fly from O’Hoppe O’Hopped him home, and we are all tied up again! But the Mariners didn’t have enough left in the tank, as if experiencing a mighty sugar crash. Though they mustered baserunners in the top of the 11th, it’s not meant to be. With the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the 11th, Cal Raleigh couldn’t play hero again, striking out swinging to end the inning.

The Mariners attempted to stop the inevitable, an intentional walk to Neto to start the bottom of the 11th and set up the double play. Neto has been killing them, so I understand. But a sac bunt by Oswald Peraza put runners on second and third, so all it took was a simple sac fly from Nolan Schanuel and the game is over as Adam Frazier (of course) crosses the plate; Mariners lose 8 – 7.

A sad end to an otherwise good game, if you ignore all the runners the Mariners left stranded, and because it’s a holiday for many people we are going to. Though it didn’t work out the way I would have liked, both Julio and Cal had some big hits, so the hope is that this game can at least help get the Mariners back on track to start the season.

WASHINGTON, DC. – Roki Sasaki has lost his signature pitch. 

He’s lost his forkball.

The role that luck played in his grotesque pitching line in the Dodgers’ 8-6 victory over the Washington Nationals on Sunday can’t be understated, but neither can his transformation into a diluted version of himself.

Here he was pitching against an unimposing opponent, throwing a fastball that was a tick or two slower than usual while mixing in a ho-hum slider because he didn’t have a feel for his out pitch. 

What Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called improvement looked more like an identity crisis for the 24-year-old Sasaki, who bore minimal resemblance to the Japanese-league fireballer considered the world’s No. 1 pitching prospect.

There was always an element of unpredictability with Sasaki’s forkball, which tumbles like a knuckler because of its extremely low spin rate. But Sasaki has started missing badly with the pitch with greater frequency. He threw one against the Nationals that was so off the mark that it ended up in the middle of the plate and was clobbered for a three-run homer by James Wood in a four-run fourth inning for the Nationals. 

To be fair to Sasaki, Wood wouldn’t have come up if not for spectacular misfortune. With two outs in the inning, Keibert Ruiz hit an unthreatening grounder at Freddie Freeman. Before the ball reached Freeman’s glove, however, it hit the bag, popping up over the first baseman’s head and bouncing into right field for a run-scoring single. Two batters later, Wood homered.

Sasaki regrouped to retire the side in the following inning to give manager Dave Roberts the five frames he wanted from him. But Sasaki departed the game with a 6-1 deficit after giving up five hits, including two homers, and three walks. If this counted as progress, it was only because he was even worse in his previous start.

Sasaki’s improved fastball command came at the expense of velocity, which dropped from an average of 97.6 mph in his last start to 96.6 mph. Sasaki has refuted the idea that the arm action required to throw his slider has negatively affected his forkball, but the truth is that he’s never thrown both pitches well at the same time.

What is Sasaki without an overpowering fastball and wipeout forkball? How effective can he be as a fastball-slider pitcher?

As he did after his previous start, Sasaki pushed back when questioned about his forkball. He said he hadn’t lost confidence in the pitch and the reason that he didn’t throw it as much was because he was following the lead of catcher Dalton Rushing.

“I’m not the one deciding,” Sasaki said in Japanese.

But Rushing, at very least, expressed some apprehension about Sasaki’s trademark offering.

“It’s just inconsistent,” Rushing said. “It’s a pitch that if you can’t strike it, it starts to give the opposing team the opportunity to just lay off of it every time you throw it. Maybe there’s a couple technique things we can figure out in his delivery to strike it a little more, or maybe it’s just a mindset (that) you don’t have to throw your best splitter every pitch.”

As for the 0-2 forkball on which Wood homered, where did Rushing want Sasaki to throw it?

“I wanted it in the dirt,” the backup catcher said. “He could have bounced it in the grass, I don’t care. Look, it’s part of pitching. You’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to lose a couple, but at the same time, it’s a maturity thing and hopefully he learns from it. You usually try to take advantage of 0-2 counts, especially with a guy that’s been struggling with plate discipline.”

Roberts tried to present a more positive outlook of Sasaki’s start.

“Roki getting through the fifth inning was big,” Roberts said. “Some people are going to look at the line score, but if that ball doesn’t hit the bag and the inning’s over, it could have been a different outing for him.”

What else was Roberts going to say?

The front office has shown no interest in sending Sasaki to the minor leagues, meaning he will probably remain in the rotation until Blake Snell returns from the injured list. 

Snell isn’t expected back until late May.

An interminable rain delay before Sunday’s game at Yankee Stadium was far from the ugliest part of the day for a team that entered as hot as any in the sport.

The Yankees blew a three-run lead to the Marlins in a 7-6 defeat, as a bullpen filled with question marks imploded in the eighth inning and the lineup mostly disappeared after the third.

Down by three runs in the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees rallied with walks by Cody Bellinger and Ben Rice.

Giancarlo Stanton struck out looking before Jazz Chisholm Jr. doubled in the gap to right-center to get the Yankees to within a run.

After an intentional walk to Austin Wells, J.C. Escarra pinch hit for José Caballero and struck out to end it.

“We don’t think the game is over until the last out,” Chisholm said of the late drama.

The defeat was surprising, but what caused it wasn’t, as even with the Yankees winning eight of their first nine games — and four in a row entering Sunday — there were some lingering questions.

At the forefront was the pen, filled with pitchers with lackluster résumés.

And the lack of production from the bottom of the lineup has been alarming.

Both were on display in the loss.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

Jake Bird and Ryan Yarbrough gave up run-scoring hits in the decisive eighth inning, but they weren’t the only culprits.

The game began well enough, as the Yankees brushed off an early run allowed by Max Fried — his first of the season — with Rice’s three-run homer in the bottom of the inning.

It was Rice’s third home run in his past four games.

The 410-foot blast into the second deck in right came against Pete Fairbanks, who opened the game because he had to return to Miami for his wife’s induced labor Monday.

The bizarre strategy backfired early, as Fairbanks was terrible in the first, but Yankees hitters hardly did anything once he left.

They scraped together an unearned run in the third to make it 4-1 against Miami’s scheduled starter, Chris Paddack.

And with Fried on the mound — having pitched 13 ¹/₃ shutout innings to open the season — that seemed like it would be enough.

But Fried wasn’t sharp and lamented the three walks he issued, as he allowed three runs in 6 ²/₃ innings.

Miami got a run back in the fourth and inched closer in the sixth, as the first three runners reached — including on a throwing error by Caballero on Heriberto Hernández’s grounder to short.

Fried picked off Hernández at first and then Caballero made up for his miscue by throwing out Lopez at the plate on Connor Norby’s ground ball.

Home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez missed the call despite Wells clearly tagging Lopez’s elbow, but a replay review overturned it to preserve the Yankees lead.

But the game came apart in the eighth.

With the bullpen short after being used heavily, the Yankees went to Bird with one on and one out in the eighth.

Bird walked Lopez, hit pinch hitter Griffin Conine and then gave up a two-run, go-ahead double to pinch hitter Graham Pauley.

“I have to bear down and I didn’t do my job,” Bird said. “Just not a good day.”

Down a run, the lefty Yarbrough entered and allowed a single to Xavier Edwards to make it a three-run game.

It proved to be too much for the Yankees to come back from.

By the time this is published, three series will be in the books, and it’s been the best of times and the worst of times. Initial thoughts on the whip lash?

James: The team’s lack of overall depth is staring them straight in the face. Paul Sewald is still a head-scratching signing by the front office. Loaisiga is pretty much just who we all thought he would be when he signed the make-good minor league deal. He’s likely working his way into becoming the team’s primary closer the way Shelby Miller did last season. The team needs to find some consistency in the offense. Right now, Marte, Perdomo, and Carroll are largely carrying the team. Lawlar was just really starting to shape up before he got hurt. The currently rostered alternatives to Lawlar are not encouraging. Santana and Arenado need to find some sort of fountain of youth, at least for a few months. The current Eduardo Rodriguez is the one we all thought we were getting starting 1.5-2 years ago. Zac Gallen is starting to look like the “better” version of Gallen from last season, the post deadline version. Someone needs to get into the bullpen and work with Ryne Nelson on his pitch shape. His four-seam is not moving quite like it did last year and he is getting punished as a result.

Overall, the team is basically playing to the level expected, even if a closer examination has those results coming in a way other than expected. Mostly, the team cannot afford any further significant injuries. The roster is already being held together with bubble gum and bailing wire. One more injury to a starter or primary bullpen arm and this season could get ugly in a damn hurry.

Makakilo:  With a little bit of serendipity, the Diamondbacks could have won Friday’s game (tied after 8 innings), and they could have won two games against the Dodgers (each lost by 1 run).  Their record would have been 6-2!  So far, the Diamondbacks have not yet reached their potential to be a playoff team.  It could happen!

Spencer: I’m not sure what to make of it. Expecting a win against LA would be foolish. But expecting to sweep the Tigers would’ve been similarly foolish going in. And we pulled the worst of Atlanta’s pitching yet receive no offense….? Let’s talk at the end of May and see what’s up. 

1AZfan1: It’s been a rollercoaster, for sure, but I’m going to follow along with Mak’s comment and say that we’ve been blown out twice and in each other loss we’ve either lost by 1 or we were tied going into the 9th inning. Finishing about .500 in 1-run games is about what you should expect so sitting at 2-2 in those contests seems fair. The only disappointment with our current record is that we swept the Tigers instead of the Dodgers. It stinks losing to the Dodgers.

ISH95: Pretty crazy start to the season. There have definitely been positives. The offense got off to a great start, then switched to ice cold. E-rod has been great to see, Gallen’s been decent in total, but Nelson has been a concern. If this is how it’s going to be all season, we’re all going to have more grey hairs by the time it’s finished.

Which is more likely to continue: Rodriguez’ hot start of Nelson’s cold one?

James: I think Rodriguez’s hot start is the more likely for two reasons. First, this version of E-Rod is pretty much the pitcher the team was expecting to get all along. Over the previous two seasons he has shown flashes of this, but was constantly battling nagging injuries. A nick here, a knock there and he was rarely ever pitching at his best. Now, he’s in better shape after new conditioning and he was made ready earlier in the spring to pitch for Venezuela, which has helped him be in mid-season form in April. The second reason I pick E-Rod is that Ryne Nelson has had some ridiculously bad luck. The first four hits he surrendered this season all left the yard. Even Brandon Pfaadt bounced back from a similar stretch earlier in his career and he doesn’t have as high a ceiling. I’ve never been one convinced that Nelson had TOR stuff, but he does have the makings of a solid #2/3 pitcher if he can correct his current four-seam issue and continue to develop his secondaries.

Makakilo:  Two reasons that Nelson will bounce back before Rodriguez regresses.

• This season through Friday, Rodriguez’s FIP was 2.60 and Nelson’s FIP was 9.18. Nelson’s FIP is unbelievably different from his career FIP.  Rodriguez and Nelson have career FIPS that are not that much different (3.95 vs 4.25).  
• Nelson is 28.2 years old and Rodriguez is 33.0 years old.  Rodriguez has the experience needed to stay consistent. 

Spencer: Rodriguez’. Nelson is still young and the league has been adjusting to him. Plus he’s only been a full time starter for…what like months not even years at this point because of Yo-Yo Hazen? Rodriguez has a history of a great season every few years. 

1AZfan1: I’m expecting regression to the mean from both, but I don’t have faith in ERod to keep this going much longer. Maybe he really is the pitcher we had always hoped he was when we initially signed him, but it’s been a whole lot of disappointment over the last 2 years that have scarred me to the point that I’m just waiting on the other shoe to drop and he’s back to our old 5 ERA pal. I hope I’m wrong, of course.

ISH95: The constant hard contact that Nelson is giving up scares me. His last start saw 9 balls hit over 100 miles per hour while he was in the game and he was responsible for eight of them. That’s not a recipe for success, and if they don’t figure that out, he’s going to have a long season.

Bigger loss: Pavin Smith or Jordan Lawler?

James: Lawlar by a country mile. Pavin Smith is little more than a placeholder player in the 26-man roster anymore. He is entirely mediocre in the field, both at first and in right. Even without signing Santana, I wondered just how much time Smith would actually get as a starter. Yes, he puts together decent at-bats. But he doesn’t find the production of someone like Perdomo, despite his reputation for his discernment at the plate. On the other hand, this is basically Jordan Lawlar’s big make or break season. And right now, he is on the shelf with a significant break. Jordan Lawlar still looks to have a bright future in the desert, albeit in left instead of at short. This is likely Pavin Smith’s last season in Arizona

Makakilo:  Lawlar’s injury was the bigger loss because the outfield has significant uncertainty about which outfield players will exceed pre-season expectations.  After the injury, it looks like Carroll and Tawa have the best chances to exceed pre-season expectations.

Spencer: Lawlar because he needs healthy reps and was finally showing why judging a prospect with ~100 plate appearances is bad analysis. But don’t sleep on the effect of losing Smith. Santana’s leash just got a lot longer since we have basically no 1B depth. That’s going to have a big impact too. Positive behind the scenes (hopefully) and negative on the field. 

1AZfan1: Lawlar is the popular answer for all the reasons everyone mentioned above and I agree with it. Among players with at least 20 PA on the D-backs, he leads in OBP, wOBA and wRC+ and he’s second (to only Corbin) in SLG, xwOBA and fWAR. Pavin’s loss hurts because Santana is now our only first baseman, but I’m happy to see Fernandez getting reps there just to find him a spot in the lineup.

ISH95: At the start of the season, I’d have said Pavin Smith because Carlos Santana: Only First Base Option is the stuff of nightmares, but Fernandez has shown very strong early returns that might mitage that disaster a bit more. Plus I wasn’t really expecting a whole lot from Lawler in his first real season. But Fernandez and Lawler’s start has switched that around for me.

How has the first few games of ABS gone in your opinion? Has it changed anything about your game experience?

James: I don’t mind it. I think it is helping to drive home just who the worst of the worst umpires are. Mostly, I will be glad when ABS has been around long enough that I don’t get 5-10 minutes of explanation about the ABS system in every MLB game I watch. Overall, I think it is shaping up to be a net positive. That will only become more so once the early days negatives start to fade away.

Makakilo:  I like it!  Even a few corrected calls give the players more control over the game outcome, which is a great thing! 

Spencer: I’ve been singing its praises since I first saw it in AAA years ago. Full Robo Calling can’t come fast enough for me. Human action changes everything else about the game, why limit the one thing you can fully automate to create a level playing field? (We all know the actual answer: the ump union would be furious and mlb gets free marketing from bots and incels tweeting about wrong calls constantly…)

1AZfan1: I think on the whole it’s been a success, but I don’t think it’s made as much an impact on the game as the pitch clock did. I still feel there are too many missed opportunities by our hitters and catchers. To that point, our 4 ABS challenges by hitters is the least amount in the league, per FanGraphs (catchers are middle of the pack in total challenges). I hope our hitters get more comfortable challenging soon.

ISH95: Love it. And one thing I’ve been particularly happy to see is that my general reaction to a call being overturned against the Diamondbacks has been fairly neutral. I’m sure that will change as the season progresses and the stakes get higher.

What’s one topic that you could give a 15 minute Ted Talk on with no prep time?

James: I was a chef for 30 years before becoming a scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature, Tolkien, and fairy tales. So I have two knowledge bases that I can pretty readily draw from for anything from a 30 second explainer all the way up to a 90 minute lecture. None of those subjects are particularly Ted Talk type material though. I would probably have to settle for something like the value of art or something related.

Makakilo:  My journey from Diamondbacks fan to writer.  Along the way, I learned how to use statistics websites, improved my writing, and developed my own writing style. And I had a lot of fun!  I overcame several bumps in the road.  My writing moves between Microsoft Office Software, Google Docs, and the WordPress Editor.  The editor shows that I currently have 555 posted articles.

Spencer: Personal security in Big Brother America. More necessary than ever and yet rarely allowed. 

1AZfan1: My professional training is in maintenance management, but that’s not a very TED Talk friendly subject, so it would likely be on the value of utilizing history in organizational leadership. The Navy is huge on history and heritage and learning to leverage that has helped me tremendously as a leader. Maybe that doesn’t play too well outside the military, though.

ISH95: I’d always argue that history and heritage is important as a leader. What that history and heritage looks like, however, would differ from path to path. For me, I could probably give a pretty decent TED talk on how to improve the financials of a restaurant or how to train and develop younger people to get to where they want to be. That’s a huge part of my job as a fast casual/fast food restaurant manager, and, as much as I may complain about them kids sometimes, something I actually find very rewarding.