Category: Baseball

Though by no means a pleasant or enjoyable topic, an undercurrent of the 2026 MLB campaign will be the upcoming labor negotiations upon season’s-end—especially as they apply to economic affairs. As someone who has always been fascinated by baseball’s competitive balance, it is a subject I may return to a time or two this summer as the opportunity presents itself.

I recently saw this article from Sportico (decent chance you’ll hit a pay wall—but I somehow got one free crack at it) regarding their estimated MLB franchise values. Here are the (literal) bullet points:

• All 30 MLB squads together are worth an estimated $95 billion. That’s an average of $3.17 billion—a 12% jump from the previous year (the largest upward mobility since Sportico started evals in 2001).

• As one would expect, the New York Yankees ($9.4 billion) & the Los Angeles Dodgers ($9.05 billion) raked in the most cash-ola. On the other end of the spectrum: the Miami Marlins (a paltry $1.45 billion).

Clearly, no matter how poor owners cry, the best of them are Scrooge McDuck-ing into piles of loot while the worst of them are still sitting on a billion-dollar asset.

Key figure #1: The percentage difference between the top and bottom team 2026 evaluations is 146.54%.

This got me wondering how things have changed in this regard over time, so I picked a nice anniversary—25 years back—and found these 2001 franchise $$$ evals from Forbes:

• Start spreadin’ the news—the Yanks were #1 at $635 million

• The Montreal Expos brought up the rear at $92 million (though no gloating here—our Minnesota Twins were second-worst at $99 million)

Key figure #2: The percentage difference between the top and bottom team 2001 evaluations was 149.38%.

The take-home points from this Baseball Economics 101 lecture…

1. Major League Baseball clubs make money. Period. Full stop. If anyone says otherwise, they are either lying or incompetent as businesspeople.
2. Despite these franchises going up, up, and away in valuations, the difference between the Elon Musk-class (high end) franchise and your general, everyday billionaire-owned franchise (low end) remains about the same over the past 25 years.

Without a doubt, disparity has always hounded the national pastime. Population-density alone guarantees the big coastal cities fuller ballparks and more lucrative media deals. But MLB—unlike the salary-capped NFL—allows its owners to self-police their oligarchical, antitrust-exempted setup. Sadly, those police officers are more Barney Fife than Joe Friday.

Despite a lot of big checks being cashed on the back of baseball, the gap between the top and bottom earning clubs remains unchanged in a quarter-century.

Roman Anthony had the weight of the world thrown on his shoulders by the Red Sox and the front office’s failure to construct a contending lineup around him.

Last June’s trade of Rafael Devers and the subsequent free-agent departure of Alex Bregman left little to fear in Boston’s offense. Anthony did produce at a high level in 2025 before his September oblique injury. That doesn’t mean it’s smart to immediately force him into the role of the primary offensive weapon in his age-22 season. 

Whether it’s pressure, the flow of the early weeks or just a plain slump, Boston’s young star simply hasn’t hit like one so far. His lone home run came in a pinch-hit at-bat in Houston, though the swing was impressive with an opposite-field blast against Astros closer Bryan Abreu. 

Anthony holds just a .686 OPS through his first 22 games. He also missed the final two games of the series loss to the New York Yankees with a back issue. Not great news given his injury last fall. 

His struggles are among the many reasons for gutted belief in the team after a 9-16 start. 

Want a little bit to believe in? 

Anthony continues to show progress in the areas that built his offensive profile: he’s hitting the ball hard (89th percentile average exit velocity) and still takes his walks (91st percentile walk rate). 

Not to mention that he already showed once in 2026 that he can get hot quickly. Former Red Sox infielder and Team USA hitting coach Sean Casey got an up-close view of that run during the World Baseball Classic in March. 

“I like the way he works in the cages,” Casey told OverTheMonster.com in a recent interview. “I like how he was really driving the ball in the gaps in batting practice, really trying to work that left center gap. You can tell he was really working the middle of the field. So I just love the way he worked. I think sometimes it takes years to develop a really good routine. And I feel like he has a good routine. He has a good feel of what he’s trying to do and a good feel of what his strengths are.”

We’ve all seen Anthony unload on some pull-side blasts over the last year, from his Spring Breakout rocket to his 497-foot grand slam in Worcester and his Yankee Stadium second-deck shot in August. With that said, Casey sees Anthony’s ability to join elite left-handed hitters and find a new gear with pivots to the opposite field. 

“Your best hitters, their approach is out over the plate,” Casey explained. “For Roman Anthony, I was waiting to see what he said, but I think the best hitters are trying to drive the ball to left center. He was saying center, left of center; which I liked. And he was like, ‘I try to stay in the middle of the field. That’s when I’m at my best.’ And I was like, ‘Man, that’s a great approach for anybody.’ But for a 21 year old kid and seeing how his approach was, I could understand why he’s such a great player.”

The conventional thinking for optimizing offense at Fenway Park is to load up on right-handed power. That’s valid and the Red Sox must build offenses around that trend for years and years to come. At the same time, the wall can kill slumps for the adaptable lefties who can embrace it. 

“He’s gonna get hot. He’s gonna get hot and put up some damage numbers,” Casey said. “The thing about Roman, he’s got big-time power so he could put up five homers in a week and drive in a bunch of runs.”

Casey continued: “I think the biggest thing for him is really to use that Monster. He’s got a really good left center approach. I think the Monster can get you hot quickly. I saw Big Papi do it when I played with him in 2008. For years watching him, I always felt like when he got in trouble, he’s like, gotta get off that monster and everything would open up. I think Roman’s gonna learn that if he can really use the dimensions of Fenway to help him out. But the biggest thing is, he’s gonna get hot. I mean, that’s the bottom line.” 

His abilities at the plate will spark great seasons. His humility and personality will make him a perennial All-Star and an impeccable teammate. Those qualities may be Casey’s greatest takeaways from his time with Anthony last month. 

“That was probably one of my first impressions,” Casey recalled. “Like man, this guy feels like a veteran. It feels like a veteran the way he handles himself. But just such a great kid, man. Just a nice guy, hard worker. You know, one thing I loved about talking to him as the hitting coach was just asking him what his approach was and what he’s thinking in the box, what he’s thinking about in practice. What his work looks like. You know, he had some great answers about what he does and what he’s thinking and what he’s working on in the cages.”

Everybody knows the story of Anthony’s “rookie” responsibilities on Team USA of purchasing and lugging around the team’s massive speaker from workouts to bus rides and everywhere in between. Obviously vibes are different in WBC settings, rather than the exhausting grind of the season, but Casey watched this job bring Anthony into a core role in a star-studded clubhouse. 

“These guys, these guys all have that swagger about them in a confident way, you know, not cocky, but a confident way,” Casey said. “There’s an air about him and something about Roman that he has.”

Alex Cora challenged Anthony when he left camp to soak up as much experience from as many teammates as possible, not just his friend and mentor in Bregman. Thus, the Red Sox outfielder quickly earned the respect of Aaron Judge, who will challenge him for years to come in the current state of baseball’s most historic rivalry, with a quick turnaround following a tiring travel day to Miami for knockout rounds in the WBC. 

“The coaches go and we’re getting BP going,” Casey shared. “And I think Roman was in group two. And so he was behind the cage with me on the turtle and Judge says, ‘Hey, Roman. Good to see you’re on the other bus.’ And then, Roman says to Judge, ‘Hey, if there was a 7:30 (AM) bus, I would have been on it.’ And I was like, that’s awesome. You know, like you got these guys, the WBC is the best of the best, but you got Roman Anthony at 21.” 

“They needed a rookie on the WBC team and he was kind of the guy and he really embraced it. It was kind of a fun thing and it endeared me to him more,” Casey added. 

On the field, Anthony lived up to manager Mark DeRosa’s request to be ready to play every day. He joined Judge, Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber as the only four USA players to play in all seven WBC games. Anthony hit .280 with a .920 OPS for the tournament and his clutch home run against the Dominican Republic helped vault the Americans back to a third-straight finals appearance. 

“There were some pretty big environments there,” Casey said. “Felt like the moment wasn’t too big for him. You know, I felt like he believes in himself. He’s very confident. And, you know, I think that was one thing that really stuck out like, man, this guy’s not overwhelmed with anything. … When he came up with that big hit against the D-R, the big homer, you’re like, man, that’s huge right there. That place was basically an away game for us. I mean, so it was a pretty raucous environment, which is really cool.” 

Anthony clearly made the strongest of impressions on the hitting coach, 12-year big-league veteran and MLB Network analyst. Casey kept Anthony in an elite class of young talent with names like Konnor Griffin and Bobby Witt Jr. with blindingly-bright futures as they rack up games under their belts. 

That’s why it’s only a matter of time for Anthony’s resurgence if you ask “The Mayor.”

“You can’t teach experience,” Casey said. “I think for a guy like Roman Anthony, I don’t think the stage of Boston rattles him in the big leagues. I think it’s more about him getting settled in and getting hot pretty soon. Really feeling himself and then getting going.” 

PHOENIX — The debates are raging on the Chicago airwaves:

Who will the Bears draft? Who should the Bulls hire? Will the Blackhawks ever win again? Are the Cubs are built for October?

Meanwhile, ever so quietly on the South Side of town, one of the best stories in all of baseball is materializing.

The name is Munetaka Murakami, and the Chicago White Sox slugger has burst onto the scene as one of the game’s premier home-run hitters in the infancy of the 2026 season.

Murakami has already hit 10 home runs – one shy of the MLB lead – and tied a White Sox franchise record by homering in five consecutive games. He also has the most homers by a Japanese-born player in the first 25 games of a career, 42 games earlier than four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani in his 2018 rookie year.

If you care to dream, Murakami heads into the White Sox’s homestand beginning tonight at Rate Field against the Washington Nationals on pace to hit 65 homers with 123 RBIs and 136 walks this season.

“I’m really enjoying myself," Murakami told USA TODAY Sports. “I’m getting more comfortable every day. I’m getting used to the different rules and different playing styles in the major league. Everything has been great."

The White Sox, stunned themselves when Murakami fell into their laps this winter with a modest two-year, $34 million contract coming from Japan, couldn’t be more thrilled.

He has been everything the White Sox could have imagined, and much, much more. Everyone knew his power, breaking the single-season home-run record in Japan with 56 homers. You don’t win two MVPs without talent. But he’s making much more contact than talent evaluators predicted, hitting .253 with a .394 on-base percentage and .992 slugging percentage. He looks much better defensively at first base than the scouting reports indicated. He’s even got speed, beating out two infield singles this week on ground balls in Arizona.

And he has a whole lot of teams kicking themselves why they severely underestimated Murakami’s skills and didn’t make an offer.

You don’t think a team like, oh, say the New York Mets, could use him right about now?

“Obviously, there weren’t teams that raised their hands when I came over,’’ Murakami said, “but I’m really glad and happy that the White Sox picked me up. …. I love the team very much. All my teammates are very open to communication. They are really just good teammates overall. Staff, coaches, I love them very much."

The feeling, needless to say, is quite mutual.

“I'm running out of things to say," White Sox manager Will Venable said. “When he hits it, he hits it really hard. Even the singles he's hitting, he's hitting hard. And obviously the damage is incredible, too.

“It's impressive to watch."

Certainly, he has played a major factor in their surge. The White Sox have 32 homers this year, ranking third in the American League and sixth in MLB. A year ago, they were next-to-last, with only the Kansas City Royals hitting fewer.

“He’s a game-changer," White Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi said. “He’s impacted this whole lineup. I love hitting in front of him. I see more balls in the zone, and especially heaters.

“I just hope the wind starts changing in Chicago so you’ll see him hit more balls. I mean, he’s got unbelievable power."

Murakami hit 2,156 feet worth of homers in his five-game barrage, including a 451-foot blast Wednesday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He already has three homers that have traveled at least 113 mph off his bat, leading MLB.

Really, the person probably least impressed is Murakami himself. He expects this. And a whole lot more as the season progresses.

“My swing is pretty good overall,’’ Murakami says. “It’s still early in the season, so I still have to keep adjusting to the pitchers, but right now I’m swinging really well. If the stats do come up as all good, that will be wonderful."

The White Sox’s young players have been mesmerized by Murakami since his arrival. They marvel at his meticulous preparation. The way he takes batting practice. The way he grinds tape. There’s a genuine purpose to everything he does from the moment he enters the clubhouse.

“Just watching him go about his day-to-day business and the detail that he puts in and the amount of time he puts in," said White Sox catcher Kyle Teel says, “it’s just awesome to see. He’s very detail oriented. The details he puts in is just fantastic.

“So, when the game starts, the success doesn’t surprise me because he just works so hard. He competes the way way every single at-bat, no matter what the score of situation. He never gets down on himself. I just love that."

And, oh, yes, there’s that work ethic.

“When we’re on the road, it’s mostly the rehab guys that get on that early staff bus to get here early, and he’s on it," said Teel, recovering from a strained hamstring during the WBC. “I’m not going to lie, I didn’t even know players were allowed to take the staff bus until I got hurt."

Said Benintendi: “He’s got a routine, and he sticks to it every day. We were joking already that he’s a lot more disciplined than a lot of us in here. He gets his work in, and he’s a process-oriented guy for sure."

The White Sox also are learning that despite the language barrier, the dude can be a comedian. He’ll crack jokes. He’ll go along with pranks. And he’ll even sing, picking up the tunes and learning the words from the “Party Apple Peel," an alternative rock cover band in Chicago.

The White Sox players still are laughing about the time he took the mic on the team bus and belted out a few tunes, much to their pleasure as part of his rookie initiation.

“He’s got a great sense of humor," White Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery said. “Actually, he’s hilarious. You pull back the layers after first meeting someone, and you find out he’s one the boys."

“Every day, you find out something new talking to him, but the biggest surprise is that sense of humor. I can’t wait until he starts picking up more English, then I think you’ll really see that personality come out."

Murakami has been a smash hit with the media, too. He’s available to talk virtually every day, and has spoken to reporters upon request after he has homered. It’s a little different on the South Side, with only a handful of Japanese reporters covering him on a daily basis, than ten times that number covering the Dodgers with Shohei Ohtani and company. But this small media gathering suits him just fine.

“I don’t really know what the Dodgers are like,’’ Murakami says, “but I like the media over here. I’m all good. It doesn’t really affect me at all or change who I am.’’

It also works out quite nicely that on the North Side of town the Cubs have Japanese stars Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga to provide plenty of tips for dining, shopping or just hanging out. And if he needs any hitting advice, hey, he’s got Ohtani’s digits on his cell phone too.

“A lot of different Japanese baseball players across the country have reached out and helped me," Murakami said. “They’ve all given me good advice."

Now, the scene is set for Murakami to perhaps even become the first White Sox player to win the American League home-run title in more than a half-century. The White Sox, even having sluggers like Frank Thomas, Jim Thome, Albert Belle, Ken Griffey Jr, Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn over the years, have not had a home-run champion since Hall of Famer Dick Allen hit 32 homers in 1974.

“I definitely think it’s becoming much-see TV," said White Sox analyst Steve Stone, the former Cy Young winner, “because even though we’re not winning the World Series this year, we are entertaining. I remember [former White Sox owner] Bill Veeck said to me, “If you’re playing on short money, always error on the side of offense, because offense is exciting.’’’

So, if Murakami keeps hitting homers, does he create enough of a frenzy to become a bigger gate attraction than a Pope Leo hat giveaway?

“There’s no doubt about it that fans will show up if that’s the case,’’ Stone said. “We’ll see what happens. I know fans love the long ball.

“And I have no doubt they’ll love Mune, too."

Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Munetaka Murakami stats look insane for White Sox slugging rookie

At 14-10, few (if any) saw this kind of start to the 2026 season. Pre-season predictions were somewhat gloomy. Many people feared a near-100 loss season. Few had the temerity to stretch beyond a prediction of 81-81, although the boldest thought 85 wins within reach. Personally, I was thinking just under .500 (say, 78 +/-), with the roughest part being the first third or perhaps first half of the season.

But 14-10 to start? What is with that? Let’s look a little bit at who they played.

The Strength of Schedule

I am admittedly not a strength of schedule proponent when it comes to forecasting future outcomes. I rarely care if there is a seemingly tough stretch of games coming up. There is always a tough stretch coming up. To me, off-days, long travel, day games after night games, pitching match-ups, trends, and health matter more than the reputation of the upcoming opponent. But in the backcast, it can pay to look at who they played and the context around those games and series.

At time of publication (I’m writing this as the Cardinals close out the Marlins series), the Cardinals will have completed 8 series. Right now, they have won five of those series, with one sweep in the mix. If my math is working tonight, that means they have lost three series.

The series’ wins have come against Tampa Bay, New York, Washington, Cleveland and Houston. The series losses have come at the hands of Detroit, Boston and now Miami (sigh). What can we see about these opponents in the aggregate?

If I rank all MLB teams by Win PCT, I can see that the Cardinals have not played a team in the top 10, and only 2 teams in the top half.

How about the pitching they have faced? Houston, Washington and Tampa are in the bottom 20th percentile in Runs Allowed (RA). In other words, we caught them at a time when they have serious pitching woes. On the other hand, the series’ losses were to teams in the top half of RA.

But how about the offenses they faced? Interestingly, of the teams they faced, only the Mets and Red Sox are really having trouble scoring. Houston and Washington are top 4 in MLB in Runs Scored (RS). Everyone else is in the top half of MLB offensively, thus far. I suppose one could say the Cardinals pitching helped them get there…

How’d they do against the better (ie. > .500 teams)? Cleveland and Tampa are over .500 (the Cardinals won those series). They have not lost a series to an over .500 team. So, 4-2 against over .500 teams, 10-8 against the .500 and under teams.

The pitching

On the Cardinals side of run prevention, the Cardinals RA is not so hot either, meaning even in the series they have won, their pitching got beat around a bit (particularly the bullpen). The Cardinals are 26th in MLB in the Runs Allowed (RA) department. Just ahead of such luminaries as Houston, Washington, Chicago (White Sox) and … Philadelphia(??). I would have though Philly’s pitching would be top 3, alongside LA and Pittsburgh. That goes to show you what I know.

The relatively young Cardinal pitching staff portended some ups-and-downs but I think most expected better than 26th in MLB. Given the offensive strength of the opponents thus far, some improvement may organically occur as the Cardinals face more offensively challenged opponents.

The Offense

The Cardinals themselves are 11th in MLB is Runs Scored. Who featured the Cardinals would be top half in baseball in HRs? Way beyond pre-season expectations, what with what appeared to be an offense distinctively lacking in power. The difference? The entirety of the improvement rests on Jordan Walker’s broad shoulders. 8 HR is probably 7 HR more than people expected. 7 less HR would put the Cardinals in the bottom third of MLB, where they projected. Suffice to say, this offense looks decidedly different with Jordan Walker hitting for power.

The brightest spot in this early season is the change of narrative. Jordan Walker hitting for power was something many didn’t think possible before the start of the season. Now the question has evolved from “possible?” to “sustainable?”. We shall see.

Given the relative lack of pitching strength their opponents have displayed to-date, the Redbirds would seem likely to regress to the bottom half over time as they encounter teams with stronger pitching. Looking at the line-up coming out of Spring Training, this would not be a shock.

The Defense

One thing stands out that isn’t necessarily all that related to catching the opponent at the right or wrong time. Defense would seem to be somewhat immune to how the other team is doing. Houston’s pitching problems didn’t really affect how the Cardinals defense played. Looking at DEF, the Cardinals are 6th in MLB with 6.8 DEF. The top team? The Cubs.

From an opponent standpoint, Tampa, Detroit, Houston and Washington have played poorly defensively, all coming in well below 0 DEF. The other four Cardinal opponents are top half, positive DEF teams, so a pretty even distribution. If you subscribe to the theory that defense doesn’t slump, it appears the Cardinals have an edge in this arena that will carry forward in almost any series they play.

Schedule Peculiarities

The Cardinals are scheduled to play almost 1/3 of their games against NL Central opponents. They will already have played 1/6 of their season before they get their first look at an NL Central team (they go to Pittsburgh for a four game set next week). Stated another way, 40% of their remaining games come against NL Central opponents. How they stack up against those teams at the time they play them will certainly steer the direction of the season.

The NL Central Opponents

Pittsburgh, Chicago and Milwaukee are ahead of the Cardinals in Runs Scored. More worrisome is that while the Cardinals are 25th in MLB in Runs Allowed, every other NL Central team is top 10 in same category. That is a pretty good gap to make up. Of course, how that pitching plays out when they actually meet might not reflect how it has played out in the early part of the season.

Overall

So, the Cardinals have played most of their games against teams that are struggling in the early going, but they have held their own against teams playing well. Some of the poor performers were expected (no one expected Washington to be good), some are surprises (who expected complete collapses for the Mets and Astros?). Overall, I’d say the Cardinal’s early season “strength of schedule” how shown to be weaker than would have been expected. Cause or effect?

Probably the key variable that the early season provides few clues on is … how well do they Cardinals stack up against the other NL Central teams. Going in, each seemed like they’d be better than the Cardinals, but flawed enough that rays of hope pierced the fog of rebuilding. Suffice to say that the Cubs rate higher in each of hitting (RS), pitching (RA) and defense (DEF) than the Cardinals do, so they clearly have an edge. The others? It may be a bit of a dog pile.

An oddity

Last year, it seemed like the Cardinals were vulnerable to lefty pitchers, with the bulk of their productive line-up being LH hitters. From that line-up, they lost Donovan and Contreras. The effect? So far this year, against LHP, the Cardinals enjoy a 113 wRC+. Against RHP, they lag at 95 wRC+.

The Detroit Tigers continue the interleague portion of their early schedule this weekend with a trip to Ohio for a three-game series with the Cincinnati Reds starting on Friday night.

The Motor City Kitties are coming off a series win over the Milwaukee Brewers at home. After getting spanked in the opener, 12-4, they bounced back to win the next two, 5-2 and 5-4, respectively.

The Reds enter the weekend with the third-best record in the majors, having taken two of three from the Tampa Bay Rays on the road before returning home. However, they left Florida on a losing note, dropping the finale on Wednesday, 6-1.

Getting the start for Detroit on Friday night is left-hander Framber Valdez, who has proven to be a solid addition to the rotation after his first five starts. Believe it or not, this will be the southpaw’s first appearance against Cincinnati in his eight-year MLB career.

Opposite him will be fellow lefty Andrew Abbott, a fourth-year hurler who finished eighth for the NL Cy Young Award last season. He, too, will be facing the Tigers for the first time ever.

Detroit Tigers (12-10) vs. Cincinnati Reds (16-9)

Time (ET): 6:40 p.m.
Place: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, Ohio
SB Nation Site:Red Reporter
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network

Game 27: LHP Framber Valdez (2-1, 3.30 ERA) vs. LHP Andrew Abbott (0-2, 5.84 ERA)

VALDEZ

ABBOTT

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

Even an off day didn’t give the Orioles a break from the relentless injury news. Dean Kremer is the latest injured Oriole, just two starts into his major league season, as the club placed him on the 15-day injured list yesterday with a right quad strain. The O’s called up Brandon Young from Triple-A Norfolk to take Kremer’s rotation spot.

It never seems to end. We’re less than a month into the season and the O’s now have 13 players on the injured list, including six on the 60-day IL. Other than Félix Bautista, all of these injuries have occurred since the start of spring training, robbing the Orioles of a slew of players they expected to be contributors this season. That kind of attrition is hard for any team to overcome. The O’s front office did a somewhat better job of building the Birds’ depth this offseason compared to last year, but they probably weren’t expecting it to be put to the test quite this early.

Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg have yet to play a major league game this year, and the latter might miss the whole season. Zach Eflin made a grand total of one appearance before his season ended. In some cases, the Orioles have shown remarkable resilience to overcome key absences. The bullpen in particular has outperformed expectations without late-inning relievers Andrew Kittredge and Keegan Akin (not to mention Bautista), thanks to lesser-known names like Rico Garcia, Anthony Nunez, and Grant Wolfram stepping up. Jeremiah Jackson has superbly replaced Holliday at second base, to the point that I’m not totally sure what the O’s are going to do with Holliday once he’s healthy.

Other injuries have led to some less-than-stellar replacements. Coby Mayo has gotten everyday duty at third base in Westburg’s absence and has been better than expected with the glove but miserable at the plate, his two long homers in Kansas City notwithstanding. And Ryan Mountcastle and Tyler O’Neill, while not pivotal members of the team, were at least expected to boost the Birds against left-handed pitching. With that duo out of commission, the O’s have cobbled together lineups against southpaws that include Johnathan Rodríguez and Blaze Alexander in the outfield, with dismal results. And now the Kremer injury, on the heels of Eflin’s surgery, has further stretched the Orioles’ pitching depth.

For now, it’ll be up to Young to try to prove himself as a capable replacement. He’ll take the mound tonight as the Orioles begin a six-game homestand against the Red Sox and Astros, two teams who were expected to contend but who currently sit in last place in their respective divisions. You love to see it. The O’s went 3-3 on their first homestand, then 3-3 on their first road trip, then 3-3 on their next homestand, then 3-4 on their next road trip. There’s simply no way to guess how many games they’ll win during this homestand.

Links

Jon Meoli: Adley Rutschman returned to the Orioles without missing a beat. Having his ‘comfortable’ swing helps. – The Baltimore Banner

Last year around this time I declared that Adley was so back, only for him to spend the rest of the season being injured and/or ineffective. But this time? Adley is so back.

Will Orioles ever retire Mike Mussina’s No. 35? | MAILBAG – BaltimoreBaseball.com

I know what the answer should be. But Rich Dubroff’s answer probably isn’t the one you want to hear.

Leody Taveras has been the O’s MVP so far. Here’s how – MLB.com

File this under “Orioles Headlines I Never Expected to Read This Year.”

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! And happy 33rd birthday to former O’s ace John Means. The lefty hasn’t pitched in the majors since May 2024, when he underwent his his second Tommy John surgery, and likely won’t pitch this year after rupturing his Achilles this offseason, but he signed a two-year deal with his hometown Royals in hopes of returning in 2027. Good luck to Means in his recovery. The other ex-Oriole with an April 24 birthday is catcher Welington Castillo (39).

On this day in 1965, the O’s reunited with an original Oriole, acquiring veteran right-hander Don Larsen from Houston. Larsen had pitched for the inaugural 1954 Orioles, coming over with the franchise from St. Louis, but went 3-21 that season before joining the Yankees, where he eventually threw a perfect game in the World Series. Larsen’s second stint with the Birds in ’65 was as a reliever, where he had a 2.67 ERA in 27 games.

Random Orioles game of the day

On April 24, 1996, the Orioles beat the Royals in an 11-8 barnburner at Kauffman Stadium. The O’s pounded out 18 hits in the game, led by Cal Ripken’s 4-for-5 performance. Chris Hoiles bashed two home runs while Ripken, Brady Anderson, and Mike Devereaux each went yard as well. O’s starter Kent Mercker got the win despite giving up six runs in five innings, and closer Randy Myers stranded the bases loaded after a hairy ninth in which he walked three and gave up a hit. The win snapped the Orioles’ six-game losing streak.

One week ago, I opened up the links by noting that the results of the Braves series would have a major impact on the mood of the fanbase. The same can be said today. Let us hope that this series will turn out better than the last.

Onto the links.

Phillies news

Taijuan Walker’s time with the Phillies has come to an end.

Michael Baumann of FanGraphs surveys Jesús Luzardo’s season, and concludes he needs an exorcism. ($)

Asked about the losing streak, Harper says the team has to “weather the storm”.

MLB news

The Mets ended their losing streak, but their streak of bad luck continues: Francisco Lindor has hit the 10-day IL with a calf injury.

Sandy Koufax has been awarded a well-deserved lifetime achievement award.

This probably won’t make you happy, but for your information: Braves pitching prospect JR Ritchie impressed in his debut.

Free of charge for the discerning reader.Happy birthday toWelington Castillo* and a mighty host of others, plus more baseball stories, like “NEWS ALERT”: The HOF and BBWAA have always been stupid entities, and world stories, such as Sir Paul is still kicking.

Today in baseball history:

• 1917 – George Mogridge of the New York Yankees pitches a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox, 2- , at Fenway Park. Mogridge strikes out three batters and walks three as he becomes the first Yankee pitcher to actually win a no-hit game: in 1910, Tom Hughes had pitched nine no-hit innings against Cleveland, but lost the game after giving up a hit in the 10th and five runs in the 11th.
• 1926 – Unfazed by Forbes Field‘s ample dimensions, St. Louis Cardinals player-manager Rogers Hornsby leads by example, slugging his team to a 9-3 thrashing of the Pirates. He goes 3 for 3 with a single, double, sacrifice fly and tape-measure inside the park home run for a total of five RBI.
• 1931 – Three days before his 35th birthday, Chicago’s player-manager Rogers Hornsby again has a great game at Forbes Field as he hits three consecutive home runs to beat the Pirates, 10-6.
• 1946 – Former major leaguers Jesse Burkett, Frank Chance, Jack Chesbro, Johnny Evers, Clark Griffith, Tommy McCarthy, Joe McGinnity, Eddie Plank, Joe Tinker, Rube Waddell and Ed Walsh are inducted into the Hall of Fame. This comes as a result of the BBWAA having once again failed to elect anyone: clearly overstepping its mandate, the Old Timers Committee walks into the breach and elects a boatload of players, many of which are under active consideration by the baseball writers.
• 1957 – The Chicago Cubs set a National League record by walking nine batters in the fifth inning of a 9-5 loss to the Cincinnati Redlegs. Moe Drabowsky walks four batters, Jackie Collum issues three free passes, and Jim Brosnan two during the wild inning.
• 1958 – Lee Walls hits three home runs and drives in eight runs as the Cubs rout the Dodgers, 15-2, at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
• 1962 – Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers strikes out 18 Chicago Cubs in a 10-2 victory at Wrigley Field. Koufax ties the record of 18 strikeouts in a single game, matching the mark set by Bob Feller with the Cleveland Indians.
• 1978 – Nolan Ryan of the California Angels strikes out 15 batters for the 20th time in his career, but leaves in the 9th inning without a decision. The Seattle Mariners prevails over the Angels, 6-5, in the 12th.
• 1998 – Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza ties a major league record hitting his third grand slam of the month. The blast highlights a nine-run second inning which leads Los Angeles to a 12-4 victory over the visiting Chicago Cubs.
• 2012 – Chipper Jones homers on his 40th birthday (off Aaron Harang) as the Braves beat the Dodgers, 4-3. He becomes the fifth player in major league history to do this, following Bob Thurman, Joe Morgan, Wade Boggs and Tony Phillips.
• 2014 – David Ortiz breaks Harold Baines‘ record for games played at Designated Hitter (1,644); Ortiz already held records for hits, homers and RBI as a DH. Ortiz goes 0 for 1 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch before leaving early in a 12-5 Boston loss to the Yankees.

Cubs Birthdays:Willi Castro, Steven Souza Jr., Welington Castillo*, Will Cunnane, Herman Segelke, Glen Hobbie, Ken Penner. Also notable: Carlos Beltrán HOF. Chipper Jones HOF. Andy Cooper HOF.

Today in history:

• 1184 BC – The Greeks enter Troy using the Trojan Horse (traditional date).
• 1459 – Fra Mauro completes his Map of the World in Venice for King Alfonso V of Portugal – largest known world map from Medieval Europe and the first to show Africa as a free-standing continent.
• 1833 – Jacob Evert and George Dulty patent the first soda fountain.
• 1895 – Canadian-American adventurer Joshua Slocum sets sail from Boston, Massachusetts on a solo around-the-world voyage aboard ‘Spray’, an 11.2-m oyster sloop, 46,000 miles.
• 1908 – Mr & Mrs Jacob Murdock and their children depart Los Angeles in a Packard Thirty, endeavoring to become the first family to travel across the United States by car. They arrive in NYC 32 days, 5 hours and 25 minutes later.
• 1945 – Miles Davis makes recording debut with the Herbie Fields Orchestra, backing singer “Rubberlegs” Wilson, at Savoy Records Studio, Newark, New Jersey.
• 1953 – Winston Churchill knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
• 1969 – Paul McCartney says there is no truth to rumors he is dead (and he’s still not dead).
• 1989  – Massachusetts declares today “New Kids on the Block Day”.
• 2018 – Streaming music services overtake worldwide sales of CDs and vinyl for the first time according to IFPI.

*pictured.

Greetings, Brew Crew Ball community. The Brewers bounced back nicely on their road trip against the Marlins and Tigers, and they’re now back in Milwaukee to host Paul Skenes and the Pirates this weekend. In some scary news, team No. 2 prospect and MLB No. 21 prospect Luis Peña reportedly collapsed in the dugout late in High-A Wisconsin’s game on Wednesday night. We’ll keep you posted as we learn more.

Feel free to use this thread to chat about (almost) anything you want: video games, food, movies, non-baseball sports, the Brewers, you name it. As long as it’s appropriate and is allowed by our moderators, it’s fair game here.

You know the drill.

This is now an open thread:

Is there anything better than a sweep in Boston? The Yankees kept the good times rolling yesterday, rallying late to support Cam Schlittler, who tossed eight stellar innings for his oart. Up next are the Astros, another struggling rival off to a very poor start. The Yankees would do well to shove more dirt on Houston, just as they just did with the Red Sox.

On the site today, Sam reviews last night’s American League action, and also looks ahead to the upcoming three-game series with the Astros. Later, Matt remembers Carlos Beltrán’s brief time in pinstripes on the occasion of Beltrán’s 49th birthday. Meanwhile, Josh argues that MLB can’t afford to forfeit the momentum they’ve generated with recent rules changes by instituting a damaging lockout next year, and Andrés examines another great start from top prospect George Lombard Jr.

Today’s Matchup

New York Yankees at Houston Astros

Time: 8:10 p.m. EST

Video: YES Network, Space City Home Network

Venue: Daikin Park, Houston, TX

Questions/Prompts:

1. Is there a pitcher that you’re more excited to watch than Cam Schlittler right now?

2. As we head to Houston, how worried are you that the Astros will be able to shrug off this slow start and return to prominence by season’s end?

The Athletic | Chris Kirschner: Cam Schlittler has been one of the biggest surprises in recent Yankee history, coming onto the major-league stage in the most impressive way in less than a year. Part of his repertoire of success has been a shiny new cutter he unveiled in his final regular-season start, a cutter taught to him by no less than Gerrit Cole. Cole himself adopted the breaking fastball in his 2023 Cy Young season, and if that’s the pedigree that Schlittler is learning under, the sky is the limit for the young righthander.

MLB.com | Jared Greenspan: Alongside that cutter, Schlittler features a four and two-seam fastball, throwing those three pitches more than 85 percent of the time in 2026. This flies in the face of current pitching trends, where guys are offering more breaking and offspeed pitches than ever before. This old-school approach may be part of what takes MLB hitters by surprise when facing Cam, but all three heaters are also legitimate, big-league caliber pitches.

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: We move from the pitcher’s mound to the batter’s box, where Amed Rosario has carved out a prominent spot for himself in the Yankee lineup. The onetime top prospect drove in all four Yankee runs in Wednesday’s win, and entering play yesterday had a sterling 137 wRC+. The righty credits an offseason change since re-signing with the Yankees over the winter, adding more uppercut to his swing and inducing more fly balls. His big home runs this year have been a direct symptom of that change — pulled fly balls do much more damage than shortening up and hitting the ball the other way.

New York Post | Mark W. Sanchez: When you’re rolling, these are good problems to have, but Aaron Boone does have to fill out a lineup card every day. Giving Ben Rice a day off will have Yankee fans grinding their teeth, and you need to balance out the new offensive upside Rosario has shown with the fact that Ryan McMahon really is a diamond defender at the hot corner. For now, Boone is pulling the right strings, although we’ll certainly hear about it if his luck starts to change.

In an attempt to remake a starting rotation expected to lose a two-time All-Star, the Astros traded two prospects from a barren farm system to acquire Mike Burrows from the Pittsburgh Pirates last December. 

An 11^th round pick by the Pirates in 2018, Burrows finally made his Major League debut in 2024 and put himself on the map by posting a 3.94 ERA with a 24.1 percent strikeout rate and a 7.7 percent walk rate, both better than league average. Burrows emerged as an above-average starting pitcher, and with five years of club control it’s the type of high-ceiling move smart clubs make.

So far, the trade has been a flop.

Burrows is 1-3 with a 6.75 ERA in his first five starts with the Astros. His walk rate has dipped slightly from last season, but his strikeout rate is down to 20.5 percent. He has finished the sixth inning just once and allowed three runs or more in all but one start. 

Burrows arrived in Houston regarded as having one of baseball’s best changeups. While it hasn’t been quite as effective this season, opponents are batting just .188 with a 37.1% whiff rate against it. His biggest problem has been his fastball getting crushed.

Lefties are 8 for 16 with three home runs against Burrows’ four-seam fastball, while righties are 8 for 20 with a homer against his two-seam. Burrows didn’t throw the two-seam often with the Pirates, so it’s not surprising he’s experiencing some early growing pains with it, but the four-seam needs to be better. Left-handed hitters batted .270 with two homers against it in 2025.

But there are reasons for optimism.

For 14 batters against the Cardinals on Sunday, Burrows looked like the pitcher the Astros thought they were getting. He retired all 14, seven via strikeouts, before Masyn Winn singled through the left side of the infield. The next four batters also reached, and Burrows couldn’t finish the fifth inning despite starting the game 14 up, 14 down.

“I don’t want to take away from how well he pitched those first four innings,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “I think the fifth doesn’t speak for how well he threw the ball. He had his stuff working.”

There are two main reasons the Astros should be confident that Burrows can make the first 14 batters from his last start more the norm than the final five.

There is always an adjustment after changing teams. Aside from the obvious change of leaving the only organization you’ve ever known, your new team is going to ask you to tweak certain aspects of your game. The Astros have been no different with Burrows. 

The Astros have overhauled Burrows’ pitch usage. His two-seam fastball, which has produced poor results, is now his primary pitch against right-handed hitters after being used less than 10 percent of the time last season. They’ve also lowered his arm slot from 48 degrees to 39.

Burrows has also been somewhat unlucky so far this season. His FIP is nearly two runs lower than his ERA, and his BABIP is almost 90 points higher than league average despite a lack of hard contact. Opponents have a 33.8 percent chase rate against him, more than six percentage points higher than a season ago.

Per Baseball Savant, no pitcher has been hurt more by his defense. Through Sunday’s start, the Astros are at -4 runs prevented with Burrows on the mound and -5 outs above average.

Burrows hasn’t lived up to the high expectations the Astros had for him when he was acquired last winter, but they didn’t make the trade for five starts. The Astros traded for Burrows because they thought he could help lead their rotation for the next five seasons, and there are still reasons to think that could still be the case.

Carson Benge has had a bit of a rough start to his big league career. 

The young slugger put together a much-needed big night at the plate on Thursday, though, helping the Mets pick up their second straight win over the Twins. 

Benge opened his showing jumping on a first pitch Joe Ryan fastball up in the zone, ripping it 95 mph off the right-center fence for a one out double. 

He came around to score a few batters later on a sacrifice fly. 

The lefty did even more damage against Ryan his next time up, this time leading off the fourth by lifting a second-pitch splitter 388 feet over the right field fence.

This one left the bat at a whopping 105.7 mph. 

Benge struck out in his next plate appearance, then Tommy Pham pinch-hit for him when a lefty was brought in to the game with two on in the bottom of the eighth. 

Pham, of course, drew a walk and then Bo Bichette delivered his first big knock as a Met with a go-ahead bases-clearing double into the left-center gap. 

The 23-year-old finished 2-for-3, with the knocks being his second double and second homer of the season. 

“He was just getting the barrel though the hitting zone and hitting balls to the pull-side,” Carlos Mendoza said. “The first off the wall and then the homer, overall I think it’s just shorter and more direct to the ball.”

Benge is still hitting just .159 on the season, but it was encouraging to see him show off some of that pull-side pop. 

BOSTON — In his 38th career plate appearance as a pinch hitter, Cody Bellinger tripled his RBI total.

After starting Thursday’s game on the bench, Bellinger entered in the seventh-inning with the bases loaded and the Yankees trailing by a run and came through with a two-run single that sent them to a 4-2 win over the Red Sox, completing a sweep at Fenway Park.

Bellinger only had one career pinch-hit RBI before Thursday, but picked a clutch spot for his next two, coming against righty reliever Greg Weissert to help get Cam Schlittler the win in his first hometown start.

“It’s a hard thing to do,” Bellinger said. “But we got a bunch of guys in here, a lot of success this year [pinch hitting] and I just want to continue doing that. You really just prepare as much as you can and when your name’s called, I stick within myself and my plan and take my swing.”

Aaron Boone, who said he told Bellinger, “Nice off-day,” said he was not surprised to see him deliver.

“I mean, that’s Cody. He’s getting paid handsomely because he’s good at that,” Boone said of the outfielder who re-signed on a five-year, $162.5 million contract in January. “Just a really good at-bat, smoking the ball the other way and putting us in a great spot. He’s a great player, simple as that.”

Gerrit Cole made his second rehab start Thursday with High-A Hudson Valley, building up to 52 pitches across 4 ¹/₃ innings in which he gave up two runs and five hits while striking out four.

The ace is expected to use most, if not all, of his 30-day rehab clock as he finishes off his comeback from Tommy John surgery.

“[My arm] is feeling good,” Cole said, according to video provided by the Hudson Valley Renegades. “It’s responding good to all the new stimulus, so we’ll keep plugging away.”

Carlos Rodón will make his first rehab start Friday with Hudson Valley, and Boone reiterated that the left-hander is “closer” to a return than Cole. Rodón is expected to make at least three rehab starts.

Gerrit Cole strikes out the side! Got him swinging 4 Ks tonight for Cole pic.twitter.com/9wiEDP4FvS

— Hudson Valley Renegades (@HVRenegades) April 23, 2026

Anthony Volpe had Thursday off from his rehab assignment at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, but he is expected to play nine innings at shortstop Friday and Saturday and then DH on Sunday, at which point the Yankees will reevaluate whether he is ready to return to the big leagues.

Boone declined to say whether Volpe could be in play for the Yankees series against the Rangers that begins Monday in Arlington, Texas, though it would not be surprising if they waited to activate him until they return home next Friday for a series against the Orioles.

“He’s getting close,” Boone said. “As this weekend unfolds, we’ll get a better idea.”

Ben Rice, Schlittler, Will Warren and Boone went to Boston Children’s Hospital this week to visit patients including Walker, a 7-year-old Westchester native who is awaiting a heart transplant.

He made a sign that read “Play like a [heart] warrior today” that the Yankees hung up in their clubhouse at Fenway Park on Thursday.

“It was awesome,” Boone said. “Grateful I got to go do that, to meet him and a few of the other kids over there. Walker’s family was awesome. He’s got a lot of personality and super upbeat. Just fun hanging with him. I know he’ll be yelling, ‘Let’s go Yankees’ around six o’clock over there. Hoping we hear it from the hospital.”

The league told Boone that Ryan Yarbrough’s balk against the Angels last Thursday — which ultimately led to the manager getting ejected for arguing the call — was not actually a balk.

The Savannah Bananas game scheduled for Saturday at Yankee Stadium has been moved to Friday at 7:30 p.m. because of the threat of inclement weather.

BOSTON — There were the three victories. There were the three losses for the Red Sox. There was pitching excellence. There were timely hits.

During a sweep at Fenway Park that included virtually only positives for the Yankees, among the club’s most encouraging developments was a possible breakthrough from Jazz Chisholm Jr.

The talented second baseman went his first 21 games without a multihit game. Against the Red Sox, he went 2-for-3 in multihit games.

Chisholm did not launch a home run in his first 23 games, but in the series finale, he wrapped a shot around the Pesky Pole, allowing him to exhale.

In three games, he spiked his OPS from .498 to .556. And in the final game, he felt as if he found what had been troubling him by backing away from the plate and assuming a more closed-off stance.

“I feel like I’ve been opening a little bit, and I feel like that helped me close up a little bit and just backing off [the plate],” Chisholm said after the stance tweak immediately paid off in the 4-2 victory Thursday.

A day prior, Chisholm felt his more open stance and crowding the plate was leading him to flare balls to left rather than drive them.

After the adjustments, the lefty swinger pulled an inside fastball from lefty Payton Tolle and snuck it around the right field pole in the fifth inning.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST MLB STANDINGS AND YANKEES STATS

In the seventh, he singled hard to center against lefty Danny Coulombe. In the eighth, he grounded into a 103.8 mph force-out against lefty Tyler Samaniego.

“Probably his best group of at-bats, especially off some tough lefty matchups there,” manager Aaron Boone said of Chisholm, who went 2-for-4 with a strikeout and two runs scored. “So good to see that.”

Asked if the lack of home runs was on his mind, Chisholm smiled and said, “I wouldn’t say home runs was on my mind — it would be hits.” But he was not overly concerned because it is still only April.

Nonetheless, Chisholm is hitting .188, and his one home run in 24 games does not put him on pace for the 50 he has said he wants to hit by the end of the season. During a walk year, he and the Yankees would have preferred a better start.

But Chisholm’s April last season was his worst month of what became an All-Star season. Perhaps he takes time to get going. Perhaps he needed a couple tweaks to get going.

“I tend to have a couple problems early in the season,” Chisholm said. “But at the end of the day, it feels good to finally get one [homer] in there.”