Category: Baseball

Tuesday notes…

• STREAKING, PART 1: The Cubs have won 12 straight games at home. It is their 19th double-digit home winning streak of the Modern Era, which began in 1901, and their 15th at Wrigley Field, their home since 1916. This is their first such streak since they won 14 in a row, May 18-June 22, 2008. A 13-game streak in 2001 and a 10-game streak in 1998 are their only others of the kind since 1970. Their record is 18 straight, Sept. 4-22, 1935, during a surge that lifted them to the pennant. The 2008 streak was one of five of 14 games. The 2001 streak was the only one of 13. They also had a lone streak of 12, in 1927, for a total now of 10 streaks of at least 12 in a row. The 1927 streak was the only one that ended after 12 games, and did so with a thud: a 12-2 loss at home to the Phillies. The Cubs extended the 2001 streak to 13 by beating the Twins, 5-4. Ricky Gutierrez hit a two-run homer and Sammy Sosa added a solo shot. The 13th win in 2012 was by 3-1 over the Dodgers. Derrek Lee homered with one in the first and Aramis Ramirez homered in the eighth. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• STREAKING, PART 2: The Cubs are 16-3 in their last 19 games, their best 19-game record since they also were 16-3 from July 31-Aug. 20, 2016. They were 16-3 in four overlapping spans that season, in two in 2015, in three in 2001, in one in 1977 and two in 1967. They had an even 100 in 1903-45. The Cubs were 19-0 in three overlapping spans in 1935 and 18-1 in 20 spans, many overlapping, in 1906 and 1935. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• FACING THE REDS: This is the Cubs’ 83rd series vs. the Reds at Wrigley Field since 1994, first season of the Central Division. From 1969 through 1993, the Cubs were in the NL East and the Reds, for reasons that defy logic, were in the NL West. It is only the 17th of the 83 series at Wrigley that was scheduled to be more than three games. The Cubs swept four games in 2018. That is the only time they won even the first two games. They went 3-1 in four series, including the most recent before the current one, in 2023. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• SAVING THE DAY:The Cubs have had six different pitchers record saves already this year. In alphabetical order: Ben Brown, Corbin Martin, Hoby Milner, Daniel Palencia, Caleb Thielbar and Jacob Webb. Thielbar leads the team with two. Twelve different pitchers recorded saves for last year’s Cubs. Only five of those pitchers (Brown, Palencia, Rea, Thielbar and Jordan Wicks) are still in the Cubs organization.

Cubs lineup:

See you tonight!

Tune in live on @WatchMarquee. pic.twitter.com/B0YmBUcoHn

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 5, 2026

Reds lineup:

Game two of four in Chicago.

Powered by @PNCBankpic.twitter.com/GxqsPxbY1e

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 5, 2026

Jameson Taillon, RHP vs. Andrew Abbott, LHP

Jameson Taillon has had some good starts this year, some bad, some middling. The last one, last Wednesday in San Diego, was really good — seven innings, three runs, six strikeouts.

Last year against the Reds, he made two starts, throwing 13.1 innings and allowing three runs, with only one home run allowed. More of that would be good. Current Reds are batting .264 (28-for-106) against Jamo with seven home runs, two each by Elly De La Cruz and TJ Friedl. Keep the ball in the yard tonight, please, Jamo.

Andrew Abbott has had three good years for the Reds and has been tough on the Cubs: Seven starts, 2.56 ERA in 38.2 innings.

But this year, Abbott is off to a rough start. He’s allowed four or more runs in three of his seven starts, though the last one, April 30 vs. the Rockies, was pretty good (two runs in six innings).

Current Cubs are batting just .183 (17-for-93) against Abbott, but Seiya Suzuki has homered off him, and Dansby Swanson has taken him deep twice.

Despite a season OPS of .830 vs. LHP this year, the Cubs are just 5-5 vs. LH starters. Hopefully that changes tonight.

Here is the weather forecast for the area around Wrigley Field.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Reds site Red Reporter. If you do go there to interact with Reds fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.

You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game.

The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.

You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Former Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo returned to New York as a visiting player for the first time on Tuesday, and even though he was in the Bronx to face the Yankees, he fielded many questions about his Mets tenure and the current state of the team.

“I want them to do well,” Nimmo said. “I’ve played here before when things aren’t going well, and it’s not fun. I wish the best for them, but also I’m trying to take care of things here and make sure we’re trying to play good baseball here.”

Nimmo, of course, was traded to the Rangers this past offseason in the deal that brought Marcus Semien to the Mets. The trade came just three years into Nimmo’s eight-year, $162 million contract, and he had to waive his no-trade clause to complete the deal. 

Nimmo said that he reached out to a lot of people before making his decision, including Pete Alonso, who told him the Mets hadn’t reached out to him at that point.

“When Pete said they hadn’t even reached out to him, there was definitely a lot of uncertainty as to which direction they were going. But ultimately, I had to make other phone calls and talk to other people and deliberate over it for many more days. So, it wasn’t just his conversation that went into it. I talked to dozens of people. It was just a piece of the puzzle that helped in the decision-making process.”

“I obviously would have loved to have seen Pete retire in a Mets uniform,” he later added. “He’s the Mets’ home run king and has all these titles that go along with it. I think that would have been awesome, but it wasn’t in the cards for what they felt like were the best baseball decisions.”

When president of baseball operations David Stearns traded Nimmo and let Alonso and Edwin Diaz depart in free agency, rumors swirled that there was an alleged rift in the Mets’ clubhouse, particularly between Nimmo and Francisco Lindor. 

Both players have since said there was no truth to those rumors, and Nimmo said again Tuesday that he thought his trade was purely a baseball move.

“I believe it was probably just a baseball decision. Like I said last year and even in these interviews in the spring, I really didn’t see anything wrong with the chemistry between the guys,” Nimmo said. “And if it was happening, I didn’t know about it, so they were keeping it hush-hush, which is kind of tough to do in a clubhouse where you spend most of the day with each other. But from my standpoint, I think it was a baseball decision, and I think it was something that David felt would better the New York Mets and (general manager Chris Young) felt would better the Texas Rangers.”

The Texas Rangers have placed infielder Josh Smith on the injured list with a right glute strain, the team announced today. To take his place on the active roster, the Rangers have recalled infielder Justin Foscue.

Smith, who took over at second base this season for Marcus Semien, has gotten off to a difficult start to the 2026 season, putting up a .217/.324/.239 slash line while also having issues out in the field. In his previous two games he went 4 for 7 with a walk, with those four hits representing 20% of his hit total for the season, but he will now be sidelined for the time being.

Foscue, the Rangers’ first round pick in 2020, is in his fourth season at AAA Round Rock. He has slashed .287/.407/.426, with as many walks as strikeouts. He has split his time between first base, second base and DH this season. He will look to improve on his career major league slash line of .059/.094/.098 while he is up.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone provided updates on a few injured players ahead of Tuesday's series opener against the Rangers...

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Ben Rice's progress

The young Yankees slugger is out of the starting lineup for the second consecutive game after getting hit awkwardly with a Max Fried pickoff attempt in Sunday's matchup with the Orioles.

The Yankees skipper was asked what Rice would need to do to be used off the bench, and Boone said the next few hours will determine the first baseman's availability. 

"He hasn’t really started hitting yet," Boone said. "If he starts doing some light hitting and then can ramp it up even more, and do the things he needs to do to get a swing off, then we’ll have a conversation. We’ll see how the next few hours are here."

Rice has been the Yankees' most consistent hitter and their most dangerous bat alongside Aaron Judge. In 33 games, Rice is hitting .342 with an OPS of 1.214 to go along with his 12 home runs and 27 RBI. 

Carlos Rodon's next start 

Rodon is set to make his latest rehab start with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday night. Boone was asked if everything went well in this start, whether the southpaw's next step will be to return to the Yankees, and the manager confirmed that.

Tuesday will be Rodon's third rehab start since offseason elbow surgery. His first start was with High-A Hudson Valley, where he allowed one hit and one walk over 4.1 innings. His second start saw him dominate Double-A with Somerset. Rodon struck out eight batters and allowed one run on five hits across 5.1 innings on April 30.

 

Aaron Boone says if all goes well with Carlos Rodón's next rehab start, he's expected to make his next start for the Yankees: pic.twitter.com/EBHmKU9cT7

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 5, 2026

Latest on Giancarlo Stanton, Gerrit Cole

Boone was also asked about both Stanton and Cole, and where they both were in their separate recoveries.

On Stanton, Boone revealed that the slugger has started to hit in the cage but is still not running as he recovers from a calf strain. Boone did say the calf injury is lingering a "little bit" but they are taking their time with it.  

"It still feels minor, but not ready to push it yet," Boone said.

As for Cole, Boone was asked if the former Cy Young winner was going to make a couple of more starts before returning to the team. The Yankees skipper tempered expectations, saying Cole is "still a little ways away." 

Cole is set to take the mound for High-A Hudson Valley on Tuesday night. The right-hander has made three previous rehab starts between Hudson Valley and Somerset. In those starts, he's allowed a combined seven earned runs across 14.1 innings (4.40 ERA), allowing 11 hits, one walk and striking out 10 batters. 

 

So, it’s come down to this. With the 2026 Braves’ haven’t-lost-a-series-yet streak on the line, it’s up to Bryce Elder and his teammates to win tonight, and then hopefully win tomorrow as well to keep it rolling.

Elder started off the season in exciting fashion, with three stellar starts and one hiccup. Since then, there hasn’t been much to write home about unless you really enjoy penning missives about his low HR/FB rate. He had a 6/2 K/BB ratio with a dinger given up against the Nationals, then a 2/1 K/BB ratio in seven innings (somehow) against the Phillies, and then a really weird start last time out where he had a 5/3 K/BB ratio and the lowest groundball rate of his career against the Tigers. The Braves lost each of those last two outings.

On the season, Elder has a 46/78/97 line (ERA-/FIP-/xFIP-). Over those last three starts, it’s 78/88/111. For his career, his line is now 102/104/100. For all the changes he’s made, he’s definitely looked, in aggregate, like the same ol’ Bryce Elder… just with all the benefits that come with a much lower HR/FB rate.

Elder’s mound opponent will be George Kirby, who has had a much better career to date, but has a similar-if-you-squint 2026. Kirby was a bit homer-prone (three dingers) but highly effective in his first four outings (83/92/80), but has been more meh and reliant on not giving up homers in three starts since (66/87/107). Even so, the Mariners have won all three of those outings, and four of his starts in a row overall. This game could very well come down to which hurler the HR/FB gods decide to smile on with greater frequency.

Overall, Kirby is a very good 93/82/84 guy for his career, with over 4 fWAR per 200 innings pitched accumulated so far. He had a couple of 4+ fWAR seasons in 2023 and 2024, and could’ve gotten somewhere around there in 2025 had he not gotten a late start due to some inflammation in his throwing shoulder. He’s probably something like a top 20 arm in MLB, though his strikeout rate is seriously diminished this year, which appears to be related to some issues he’s having getting his four-seamer to carry the way it did previously.

Elder has one career start against the Mariners, which came in Atlanta back when he was Good Start of 2023 Elder: a 6/1 K/BB ratio in six innings. Kirby has two career starts against the Braves: one where he dominated them in 2022 in Seattle, and another where he lasted seven innings but took a loss despite a 6/1 K/BB ratio thanks to a dinger and some other well-struck balls back in 2023.

With Raisel Iglesias back in the fold and everyone in the bullpen theoretically available sans Tyler Kinley, who gave up the game-winning homer last night, the Braves could have an opportunity to shorten the game — provided that Elder, HR/FB, and the bats-versus-Kirby cooperate.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, May 5, 9:40 p.m. EDT

Location: T-Mobile Park, Seattle, WA

TV: BravesVision, Gray TV

Streaming: MLB.tv (and Braves.tv if you’re in-market, etc.)

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan

Dodgers minor league right-hander Patrick Copen had a strong 2025 season, and started his 2026 season on a heater. On Tuesday, Copen was named Texas League pitcher of the month for April after a strong start for Double-A Tulsa.

Copen had a 0.96 ERA, 2.72 FIP, and 3.69 xFIP in five starts for the Drillers, allowing six runs (three earned) on 14 hits and 14 walks in his 28 innings, with 37 strikeouts during April. He had two different starts allowing no runs on one hit in 6 1/3 innings with nine strikeouts — April 10 at the Springfield Cardinals (not allowing the hit until the seventh inning), and April 23 at the Frisco RoughRiders. He won Texas League pitcher of the week for the latter start, one of two Tulsa pitchers to earn weekly honors in April along with left-hander Luke Fox.

Last season, Copen made 10 starts for High-A Great Lakes before getting promoted to Tulsa to make 17 more starts in Double-A. In all he posted a 3.59 ERA in 27 starts and led all Dodgers minor league pitchers with 152 strikeouts. Copen only allowed two home runs all last season, one in Double-A, and has yet to allow a home run in 2026.

Copen’s numbers have improved in repeating Double-A so far this season:

• 2025 with Tulsa: 17 starts, 4.52 ERA, 3.98 FIP, 23.1-percent K rate, 16-percent BB rate
• 2026 with Tulsa: 5 starts, 0.96 ERA, 2.72 FIP, 33.6-percent K rate, 12.7-percent BB rate

Copen is scheduled to start next on Wednesday afternoon for the Drillers, on the road to face the Arkansas Travelers, a Seattle Mariners affiliate.

The NHL Draft lottery is set to take place tonight, as all eyes will be on the New York Rangers to see if the ping pong balls will be on their side. 

To close out the 2025-26 season, the Rangers finished 30th in the NHL league standings with a 34-39-9 record and 77 points, which means the Blueshirts have the third-best odds to land the first overall pick. 

At the May 5 draft lottery, the Rangers will have a 11.5% chance to get the first pick, 11.2% chance to get the second pick, 7.8% chance to get the third pick, 39.7% chance to get the fourth pick, and 29.8% chance to get the fifth pick. 

“It's exciting because we can potentially add a high-quality player that could potentially be a New York Ranger for a long time,” Mike Sullivan said. “And so from that standpoint, it's really exciting.”

The last time the Rangers drafted in the top five was in 2020 when they selected Alexis Lafrenière with the first overall pick, and in 2019, the Blueshirts selected Kaapo Kakko with the second overall pick. 

“We’re excited it’s in the top five,” Chris Drury said of the Rangers’ 2026 first-round pick. “Will see on May 5 to where it is.”

The Yankees offense is flying in the first three games against Orioles. They scored 27 runs across that trio of contests, tallying 37 hits include eight home runs. The standout performer in the third game was Jasson Domínguez — getting a chance to carve out a spot on the big league roster with Giancarlo Stanton out injured — and he delivered with a home run, a pair of doubles, and three RBI. It is the first of his hits — the double to lead off the sixth — that I want to look at for At-bat of the Week.

We join Jasson leading off the bottom of the sixth. The score is tied at three apiece, home runs by Ben Rice and Aaron Judge cancelled out by some small ball by the Birds in the third and fourth. To this point in the game, Jasson had grounded out twice from the left hand side against righty starter Trey Gibson. However, with the lefty reliever Grant Wolfram entering the game in the fifth, Jasson gets turned around to bat from the right hand side in this situation.

Five out of the six pitches Jasson saw from Gibson were fastballs. This, combined with the scouting report noting his propensity to chase breaking balls below the zone explains why Wolfram starts this AB with a first pitch curveball.

This pitch catches a lot of the zone. However, Jasson is way out in front swinging as if it’s a fastball. He’s just able to catch a piece of the top of the ball to tap it foul for strike one.

After seeing how early Jasson was with that swing, the obvious choice is to throw another curveball just a little lower than the last one.

Wolfram does exactly that, executing this curveball to a spot about six or seven inches below the one he just threw. Jasson is overmatched, baited into chasing this breaker that looks a lot like the one that immediately preceded it. The swing is early again and the result is a whiff and a very quick 0-2 count.

There is really no reason for Wolfram to deviate his course. Jasson has yet to show that he can recognize curveball out of the hand nor the ability to adjust his swing timing to something that isn’t a fastball. If Wolfram can command a third curve to the same spot as the previous one if not a little lower, he should get the chase and swinging strikeout.

Jasson finally catches on to what Wolfram is trying to do, plus this pitch is probably a little too low to induce a chase in the dirt. All the same, you can see that Jasson is initially tempted to offer before deciding otherwise. The process is sound from Wolfram — keep throwing the breaker a little lower than the previous one — Jasson is just able to adjust his sights in time not to chase.

Now that the hitter has finally shown that he isn’t going to chase a breaking ball below the zone, Wolfram has the situation teed up to climb the ladder with the four-seamer. Jasson’s eye level is firmly fixated on catching out the low breaking ball, so there is no way he should be anticipating the elevated heater.

Of course, you have to execute your pitches to get them to work, this four-seamer sailing at almost eye level for an easy take from Jasson. Once again, the process by the pitcher is sound — throw a four-seamer down a similar tunnel as the initial aiming point as the curveball and maybe you can get the hitter to swing through it late.

After failing to execute that four-seamer by quite a margin, Wolfram instantly returns to the pitch that worked for him in this AB — the curveball. He just needs to land one a little closer to the zone than the one he wasted for ball one and he should get the outcome he desires.

This is such smart hitting by Domínguez. He realizes the purpose of the waste four-seamer — to reset his eye level so he can throw another curveball — and therefore ends up hunting the curve in this count. He is right on time with his swing, roping a liner down the left field line for a double that proves quite timely as Ryan McMahon drives him home with a single as the go-ahead run two batters later.

Here’s the full AB:

With Stanton on the IL with a left calf strain — and the latest report revealing that he is hitting in the cage but hasn’t started running yet — this is an important moment for Domínguez. The Yankees reaffirmed their faith in him by designating Randal Grichuk for assignment and Jasson needs to make the most of this opportunity. Not including his suspect glovework, the question for Domínguez has always been whether he can hit from the right hand side, the switch-hitter a 120 wRC+ hitter vs. righties while only at a 64 wRC+ vs. lefties — an added issue considering southpaws are the pitchers who Stanton typically obliterates.

It sounds like he has been putting in the work to address this platoon gap to allow himself to stick in the majors even after Stanton returns. According to Gary Phillips of the New York Daily News, Domínguez made a minor adjustment to reduce the size of his leg kick when batting from the right hand side. Hopefully this can help with his timing and pitch recognition with fewer moving parts. Not mentioned in the article was the finish to Domínguez’s right-handed swing — a helicopter finish very familiar to Yankees fans from Miguel Andújar’s 2018 season. Domínguez has varied between this finish and a high one-handed finish to his right-handed swing. I’m not certain what advantage either can confer but it’s worth keeping an eye on while tracking his production from the right side.

The Nats are coming off a quiet offensive series against the Milwaukee Brewers, scoring just 4 runs in 3 games. After 2 straight losses, a strong pitching performance from Zack Littell held down the fort for a gritty 3-2 victory in the finale. Washington has kept themself in striking range of .500, and has another chance to even up their record against Minnesota.

The Twins find themself in the same boat regarding their most recent 3-game set, dropping the first 2 games to the Toronto Blue Jays and grinding out a 4-3 win to salvage the series. Their bullpen was taxed with short outings from their starters and an injury scare from Joe Ryan, putting some added pressure on their rotation to hold down a streaky Nationals’ lineup.

Game One – Tuesday 6:45 PM EST

WSH: RHP Cade Cavalli (1-1, 3.82 ERA)

MIN: RHP Taj Bradley (3-1, 2.85 ERA)

Amid the staff-wide pitching struggles the Nats have dealt with, Cavalli has emerged as the main story and star through 7 starts. He’s strung together 3 consecutive solid outings, and his stuff has ticked up in a major way. The 27-year-old looks to be putting it all together after a long road to get to big league success, and has the chance to continue his push to enter the same echelon of the top starters in the National League.

Speaking of putting it all together, Bradley has been a massive win for the Minnesota pitching lab. After a shaky end to his first half-season with the Twins, he’s been nearly untouchable in 2026. With an ERA under 3.00, his fastball and splitter have given hitters plenty of issues. However, if the Nats’ hitters can continue the trend of hitting balls hard off of him, they could get things going early.

Game Two – Wednesday 6:45 PM EST

WSH: RHP Miles Mikolas (0-3, 8.23 ERA)

MIN: RHP Bailey Ober (3-1, 3.55 ERA)

Why Mikolas remains in the rotation at this point in the season is anyone’s guess. He’s been a severe anchor on the back end of the Washington rotation, with any remnants of what once made him effective nowhere to be found. As has been the trend with many of his recent starts, the Nats’ coaching staff has to be hoping for an offensive explosion to offset his struggles.

It’s been smooth sailing for Ober through his first month in 2026, giving up more than 3 runs in just 1 outing. He hasn’t been lights-out, but he’s been a beacon of stability for Minnesota, giving them 6.0+ innings in each of his last 4 starts. He doesn’t strike out many, but the soft contact he induces will be a challenge for the Nats to overcome.

Game Three – Thursday 1:05 PM EST

WSH: Jake Irvin (1-4, 4.93 ERA)

MIN: Simeon Woods Richardson (0-5, 6.49 ERA)

Irvin has had his ups and downs, but over the last 5 starts, he’s looked the part of an adequate back-of-the-rotation starter. A weaker Minnesota lineup bodes well for the veteran, who has, despite some issues, proven he can get outs by both whiffs and easy contact.

Nothing has been going well for Woods Richardson this year, averaging less than 4.5 K/9, and all of his pitches look far below average. Baseball Savant shows that positive regression isn’t a likely outcome at the moment, and the Nats need to strike. Depending on how the first 2 games of the series go, this could be either a great chance to salvage the series or a prime opportunity to win it definitively.

Just a day after getting two of their best hitters back, the Brewers received some unfortunate news on the pitching front: left-hander Angel Zerpa will undergo Tommy John surgery, shelving him for the rest of the 2026 season and likely the start of 2027, too.

Zerpa, 26, was acquired from the Royals back in December, as Milwaukee sent righty Nick Mears and switch-hitting outfielder Isaac Collins to Kansas City. Entering the season with a career 3.97 ERA and 4.13 FIP, it seemed like an odd move as the Brewers lost arguably a better reliever in Mears along with a valuable outfield depth piece.

Zerpa then starred for Team Venezuela in this spring’s World Baseball Classic, making six appearances spanning 5 1/3 innings, allowing no runs on three hits and a walk (one intentional), striking out eight. He got out to a solid start with Milwaukee this season, allowing no runs over his first four appearances, spanning 4 2/3 innings, with three strikeouts.

He then picked up his first career save in his fifth appearance, but things quickly went downhill from there. Over his final eight appearances (including the save), he allowed 11 runs (nine earned) over just eight innings, raising his ERA to 6.39 and FIP to 5.35.

Zerpa hit the IL on April 29 with left forearm tightness, and it was reported over the weekend that he was weighing whether or not to undergo TJS, though the road back seemed lengthy either way. Now, Zerpa will indeed get the surgery, keeping him out through early 2027. In his first arbitration season, Zerpa is making $1.095 million this season; he’ll be eligible for arbitration again in 2027 and 2028.

After entering the season with left-handed pitching as a key area of depth, the Brewers are already without three key arms in Zerpa, Jared Koenig, and Rob Zastryzny for the foreseeable future (Zastryzny and Koenig are both out until at least late May). Still, the Brewers have four lefties — Aaron Ashby, DL Hall, Shane Drohan, and Brian Fitzpatrick — filling half of their bullpen.

Here’s to wishing him a speedy recovery.

Texas Rangers lineup for May 5, 2026 against the New York Yankees: starting pitchers are Jacob deGrom for the Rangers and Elmer Rodriguez for the Yankees.

The Rangers have a game in New York this evening, and have a weird looking lineup.

The lineup:

Carter — CF

Seager — SS

Jung — 3B

Pederson — DH

Duran — 2B

Burger — 1B

Osuna — LF

Jansen — C

McCutchen — RF

6:05 p.m. Central start time. Rangers are +105 underdogs.

Connor Rogers and Joe DeMayo recap a somewhat good, maybe not bad week on the latest episode of The Mets Pod. 

The guys discuss a Mets team that won some games, the shaky status of manager Carlos Mendoza, some offensive production, the ups and downs of Mark Vientos, Francisco Alvarez, Brett Baty, and Carson Benge, plus the ace-like work provided by Clay Holmes. 

Connor and Joe then cover the developing Christian Scott story, the non-development of hitting in the minor leagues the last few years, and answer Mailbag questions about the bullpen, Sean Manaea, and top prospect A.J. Ewing. 

Be sure to subscribe to The Mets Pod at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

After a disastrous 2025 season, Mitchell Parker knew he had to change a lot. That point was driven home even further when the former rotation mainstay was sent to the minors on March 13th. Coming off a season where he posted a 5.68 ERA, Parker had to become a new pitcher to stick around in the big leagues.

The Nationals have made the following roster moves:

Optioned to Triple-A Rochester
-LHP Andrew Alvarez
-LHP Jake Eder
-LHP Mitchell Parker

Reassigned to Minor League camp
-RHP Trevor Gott
-INF Seaver King
-INF Trey Lipscomb
-1B Matt Mervis

— Nationals Communications (@NationalsComms) March 13, 2026

Parker has done just that in 2026, totally changing up his arsenal. Last season, Parker threw his 4-seam fastball 55% of the time and his slider at a 12% clip. This year, he is throwing the slider at a crazy 58% rate and throwing the heater just 31% of the time. Who knows if this will work long term, but Mitchell Parker is a very different pitcher these days.

It is not just the usage that has changed though. The shape of Parker’s slider is also quite different. It is almost 2 mph slower than last year, but has much more break. When you look at the pitch plot, you can see how much Parker subtly manipulates the shape as well.

Despite heavy usage, the slider is really fooling hitters. Parker is generating whiffs almost 40% of the time on the slider, despite using it as his primary pitch. Batters are hitting a decent .259 off the pitch, but their expected batting average is .233. 

The heavy slider usage is also helping Parker’s fastball be more effective. Batters are hitting .167 off his heater and whiffing almost twice as often this year. Parker’s whiff and chase rates this year have been elite, both ranking in the 93rd percentile. While this has only led to a 4.05 ERA so far, his underlying numbers suggest more improvement is in store.

Parker’s FIP and xFIP are 3.43 and 3.44 respectively. Last season both of those numbers were around 5. It is clear that Parker’s changes have made him a better pitcher. However, it is not just those changes that are allowing him to thrive. He is also in a new role as a multi-inning relief arm.

He is only going 2 or 3 innings per appearance. That allows him to spam those sliders without hitters catching on to it. If he used this approach as a starter who is meant to see hitters two or three times, he could be in trouble. However, this new mix and Parker’s experience as a starter makes him perfect as a multi-inning reliever.

Before the season, we talked a lot about the Nats cutting back on fastball usage. After being at the top of the charts for fastball usage last year, the Nats are now bottom 10 in that category. Parker is one of the guys who has benefited the most from that philosophy change. He was throwing a ton of heaters, but his fastball is not an elite pitch.

When Parker got recalled from AAA, you could immediately see his massive changes. In his first outing, Parker threw his slider over 60% of the time and was racking up the whiffs. It was pretty wild to see a pitcher you thought you knew transform that quickly.

Mitchell Parker has four strikeouts in 1 2/3 innings of relief. Here's his pitch mix tonight compared to last season. Six whiffs on 14 swings against his slider. pic.twitter.com/7cBk7mx3Dy

— Andrew Golden (@andrewcgolden) April 15, 2026

Now, these changes are not going to make Parker an ace, or even part of the Nats long term pitching plans. However, it is clear that this slider heavy approach has made him a better pitcher. He now has a clear plus weapon that he can lean on to get big league hitters out. Parker’s slider has good movement and he is commanding it very well. When he does not command it, he is in trouble, but he is doing a great job putting it just underneath the zone.

Before the season, I would not say I was that interested in Mitchell Parker. He was a pretty generic arm with no real out pitch. I figured he would get a couple spot starts here and there, but that he would just be an ordinary arm. With his mix changes, that has changed.

Again, these tweaks have not made him a star, but they could make him a viable big league arm. Last season, Parker was in the big leagues, but was not a big league caliber arm. Now, he is a guy who has a chance to be a nice multi-inning relief weapon for this team.

The Pirates will be down pitcher Chris Devenski for the first two games of the Diamondbacks series and manager Don Kelly for one after Major League Baseball suspended Devenski for intentionally throwing at Cincinnati’s Sal Stewart in the seventh inning of Saturday’s game against the Reds.

The league announced the moves, which are accompanied by undisclosed fines, on Tuesday. Devenski was originally suspended for three games, but a settlement was reached to knock it down to two. Kelly will still be suspended for Tuesday’s game, and bench coach Kristopher Negrón will be the manager.

This all started over disagreement when Sal Stewert stepped outside of the box and messed with the timing of Devenski. There was some arguing going on between the two then Devenski went inside on a pitch and Stewert voiced his frustration over that. 

It was then determined by crew chief Alan Porter that Devenski did it on purpose. The veteran pitcher got replaced by Yohan Ramirez who got Stewert to fly out to right field. 

Personally, I don’t think Devenski did that on purpose at all. This is his 11th season in the Majors and there has been no history of him being a dirty pitcher or a pitcher who likes to throw at batters.  

Devenski said after the game that he had no intentions of throwing at Stewert and that it was just a pitch that missed the spot. Stewart struggled vs the Pirates pitching going 0-13 in the series which also resulted in Cincinnati getting swept.

The timing of this could be a big deal especially with how much the Bucs have been using their bullpen to start the season. Through 35 games, Pirates relievers had worked 143 2/3 innings, which is the sixth-most in MLB.

Kelly being suspended is not a massive deal for the team since he is only slated to miss Tuesday night’s game vs the Arizona Diamondbacks. Kelly will be back to his managing duties Wednesday night with Paul Skenes set to pitch. 

The Phillies return to Citizens Bank Park Tuesday in a much better place than when they left it.

Rob Thomson began last week at the helm of a struggling 9-19 team that had suffered a 10-game losing streak and had lost 11 of 12. Dave Dombrowski reacted and replaced Thomson with his new bench coach, Don Mattingly.

Everyone said the right things in the days after the switch. No one expected Mattingly to magically fix everything just because he was a reasonably successful manager in Los Angeles and Miami.

One week later, the 15-20 Phillies have won two consecutive series and are 6-1 in Mattingly’s first seven games at the helm. They are playing crisper baseball, making fewer mistakes and, by no coincidence, are winning again.

So is it Mattingly Magic, as we discussed on the latest Hittin’ Season podcast from WHYY?

The Phillies are 6-1 under Don Mattingly. Are we witnessing Mattingly Magic? Or are the Phils simply getting back to normal thanks to strong starting pitching and weaker competition? We discussed on an all NEW Hittin' Season, powered by @WHYY!

LISTEN: https://t.co/MQkr7hvjwG… pic.twitter.com/KAA8vVAdPI

— John Stolnis (@JohnStolnis) May 5, 2026

You can listen to the FULL Hittin’ Season podcast here:

It’s almost impossible to say Mattingly himself has radically changed how the Phillies have played, but multiple players have mentioned the firing of Thomson as a wakeup call. To the average fan, it’s bewildering that a team of star players whose lone goal is to win a World Series would need a wake up call like that in the first place, but Bryce Harper appeared to say as much after Monday night’s 1-0 victory in which his solo homer in the second inning was the game’s only run.

“I think we were all just waiting for that ball to drop, waiting for something to happen,” Harper said. “If Topper was going to get fired or he wasn’t, it was just kind of, ‘We need to get over this hump and get through this,’ whatever that looked like. So as a team, I think it’s just coming out, playing our game, understanding that we didn’t play well the first couple weeks of the season.

April’s behind us. We’ve got to step forward and understand that we’re stacking days and playing better and just keep it going, no matter where we’re at, what’s happening in the game or anything. Just stack the days and be where we want to be at the end.”

Perhaps it’s less magic, and more the return of outstanding starting pitching.

Here is how Phils starters have fared over the past week:

• Jesus Luzardo vs. Giants: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 Ks
• Cristopher Sanchez vs. Giants: 6.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 7 Ks
• Bullpen Game
• Zack Wheeler at Miami: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 Ks
• Andrew Painter at Miami: 5 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 7 Ks
• Luzardo at Miami: 6.1 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 10 Ks
• Aaron Nola at Miami: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 Ks

Over the past week, the Phillies piled up 45 strikeouts against 8 walks and gave up a total of 6 earned runs over 37 innings. That’s a 1.46 ERA. That kind of pitching will make any manager look better.

Starting pitching was always supposed to be this team’s strength. That they were so ineffective through the first 28 games was a genuine surprise. Over the past week, the starting five finally began to put together the kinds of performances we were expecting of them.

Were Phils pitchers simply not as dialed in under Thomson? Did they focus more after the managerial change? Did Mattingly unlock some mechanical adjustment that helped them throw more strikes and fewer meatballs over the middle of the plate?

The schedule also provided some needed relief. While the Phillies’ 12 straight games against the Cubs and Braves were challenging, one of the reasons those teams were so “red hot” was in part because they were facing a struggling Phillies team. That being said, there was an obvious drop off in competition against a Giants team that has scored the fewest runs in the Majors, and a Miami team that is obviously less talented than the Phils.

And while the upcoming schedule doesn’t feature a slew of cupcakes, there are three winnable series in a row coming up.

• 3 vs. the Athletics (18-16) at home
• 3 vs. the Rockies (14-22) at home
• 3 vs. the Red Sox (14-21) in Boston

It’s a nice respite ahead of another jump in competition thereafter that will hopefully allow the Phillies to creep close to .500 by the time they leave Beantown.

The defense has also improved over the last week. It’s still not great, but for a team tied for the 7th-most errors (19), in dead last by Defensive Runs Saved (-24) and tied for 26th in Outs Above Average (-10), the Phillies made their first error of the Mattingly Era on Sunday, his seventh game.

Are the players more dialed in? Focusing more? Doing extra drills? Mattingly has talked about stressing more fundamental play, but it’s hard to imagine Thomson didn’t also stress playing fundamentally sound baseball.

At the end of the day, the Phillies are winning games for a multitude of reasons. Bryson Stott and Alec Bohm are suddenly contributing at the bottom of the lineup. Bryce Harper remains hot. The starters have been great, and the bullpen, although shaky at times, has largely held up and will welcome closer Jhoan Duran back to the ‘pen on Tuesday. There have been fewer baserunning gaffes, too.

It’s hard to ascribe the turnaround to any one thing that Mattingly has done, but perhaps the dismissal of Thomson has had the desired, nebulous effect of re-focusing the team on playing better baseball.