Category: Baseball

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.

Pittsburgh Pirates' pitcher Chris Devenski has been suspended three games for intentionally throwing at Cincinnati Reds infielder Sal Stewart during Saturday's game at PNC Park, MLB announced May 5.

Chris Devenski was ejected without warning following this pitch in the 6th ⬇️😨 pic.twitter.com/8Fxkt4Xj71

— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) May 2, 2026

Though the pitch missed Stewart, multiple umpires determined that the pitch was meant to hit him. Devenski was ejected from the game.

In addition, Pirates manager Don Kelly will serve a one-game suspension for his involvement in the incident.

Stewart has been one of the biggest reasons for the Reds' early surge to a 20-15 record. He is currently slashing .252/.338/.504 with nine home runs in 35 games. That is good for a 129 OPS+, the second-highest of any Red with at least 25 games played this year (Elly de la Cruz, 147).

When will Chris Devenski's suspension begin?

Devenski's suspension will begin May 5 as the Pirates begin a road series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Kelly will also serve his suspension during the same game.

Sal Stewart's comments on Chris Devenski

Following the May 2 game, Stewart was asked about the incident, to which he said he was glad someone (the umpires) still cared about his safety. He said he was glad the umpires took care of it.

"It was pretty blatantly obvious," Stewart said. He added, "Literally, I have no clue [why]. No one said anything."

"I saw that there was 17 seconds [on the pitch clock], so I just waited a second, you know, called time. Next thing you know, ball was just running through my ribs. I really don't know what happened."

MLB suspensions this year

Since the start of the MLB season, only one other situation has led to suspensions. An early April scuffle between the Los Angeles Angels and Atlanta Braves wound up getting pitcher Reynaldo Lopez and slugger Jorge Soler suspended for seven games each.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chris Devenski suspended three games for throwing at Reds' Stewart

Cincinnati Reds righty Chase Burns is fresh off a brilliant outing Sunday against the Pittsburgh Pirates. In it he pitched through a career-best 7.0 IP, held the Bucs scoreless, and lowered his season ERA to a tiny 2.20. He owns a 201 ERA+, 1.024 WHIP, and is striking out a wonderful 10.1 batters per 9 innings pitched.

When the stats were tallied by Baseball Reference overnight and run through their supercomputer’s extensive modeling system, it turns out that Burns currently sits atop the National League leaderboard for WAR accrued by pitchers so far in 2026 at 1.8.

It’s a testament to Burns, obviously, who at just 23 years of age seems to be putting all his immense tools together and lead this rotation. It’s also a testament to the Reds themselves, who have spent the entire season so far without ace Hunter Greene and rock-solid starter Nick Lodolo yet still boast a starting pitcher who’s atop the Wins Above Replacement leaderboard in their league.

The fun part is that I feel quite confident that this won’t be the last time we get a leaderboard update that has Burns atop the list in WAR. He’s got every tool needed to completely dominate this sport, and we’re getting an early glimpse of it right now despite him still having just 15 career starts under his belt.

Keep crushin’ it, Chase!

I asked y’all in the FEED about who has impressed you so far this season and the LL hive mind did not disappoint! Thanks to everyone who weighed in. Since there were many similar answers, I’m going to start with the top three players that were named and then I’ll break it down a bit more with my Trademarked Mariners Hot Take Ranking System:

Okay let’s break it down by the numbers here.

Your third most popular response for which Mariners starter has impressed you so far is….

A two-way tie between George Kirby and Randy Arozarena!

Two mainstays of the team that had sorta down seasons in 2025, Kirby in particular, but are now off to very positive starts in 2026. Randy is leading the team in fWAR with Kirby right behind him. Kirby is running a HR/9 rate and BABIP in line with his 2022-2024 seasons and is certainly the team’s most reliable starter at this moment given Woo’s recent volatility and Gilbert’s very bad slider issues.

Randy, occasional defensive and base running lapses aside, has quietly been very reliable at the plate. He’s walking more and striking out less than the last 2 seasons and is currently running his highest wRC+ (130) since he joined the Mariners. And occasionally he’ll make a catch like this one:

Next up, your second most popular response for which Mariners starter has impressed you so far is….

Emerson Hancock!

What a blessing our boy Emerson Hancock has been this season. With Bryce Miller out for a still undetermined amount of time, Hancock stepped into the rotation and has pitched like a dad 3 beers deep mowing down 8-year-olds in wiffleball. Just racking up K’s with movement previously thought impossible from this lad. He also got Felix’d for the first time this past Saturday on Randy Johnson number retirement night, chucking 14(!!!) K’s and getting a no-decision, which was all sorts of poetic. Hancock is truly a Mariners starting pitcher now. Welcome to the party, pal.

And now, your most popular response for which Mariners starter has impressed you so far is….

Cole Young!

I need to fill out an apology form for Yung Cole because given what I saw from him last season, I never saw this coming. Perhaps I was too quick to judge, and people smarter than me (Kate, et al) were all aboard the Cole-Train coming into the season and they were right! There have been many games this season so far where I was suddenly only looking forward to Cole Young at-bats because he was the most reliably professional and patient hitter in the lineup many nights. He doesn’t swing out of his shoes, he takes pitches, and he’s hitting for average and slugging .375, too. Delightful!

Now to highlight some other assorted takes!

Poster qrtqrt2 says: “All right. My real take: Rob Refsnyder. Initially I couldn’t warm to him. His name sounded too much like Rob Schneider who I don’t like. And Refsnyder? Sounded like someone jammed referee and John Schnider’s name together. Then he started saying nice things about the fans. And talking about the difficulties adjusting to a platoon role. And hitting home runs. And now he’s just “Ref” to me and I’m rooting for him to become another favorite son on this team on their way to a World Series win.”

Rob Schneider does suck and has never actually been funny. But our guy, Ref? By all accounts he’s a great teammate, nice person, takes the game very seriously, and knows his time in MLB is nearly up and is trying his damnedest to stay afloat. Did you see how the dugout reacted to his home run that only happened because he correctly challenged a pitch? That’s the clearest sign that Ref being an occasional contributor will produce a vibes boost of immense volumes. I rate this take an Iwakuma because there’s a lot of truth here, but he’s ultimately an underdog with an uphill battle.

Poster chicagomariner says: “Yes, Cole — hoorah, Emerson — and Randy has been a rock. But you want a scalding hot take? Julio! He has shaken off the offseason rust quicker than usual, and I predict we’ll get ¡Julio de agosto en mayo!”

Yesssss, Julio Haters are in SHAMBLES as our guy has been quietly smacking the ball all over the field and into the stands. “But what about his declining defense?!?!” Hey. Shut up. He’s still young, he’ll bounce back. A grounder through the 5-hole is unfortunate but very fixable. I rate this take as BRASH because it’ll incense every fan who thinks just because Julio has a “large” contract that he should be hitting like steroids-era McGwire and fielding like early to mid 90’s Ken Griffey, Jr.

Poster wishfuleephus says: “I was impressed by Cole Young in spring training and a believer from then. But I’d like to give some love for Jose Ferrer. After a start with some bad luck, he’s stepped up to be a reliable reliever in middle or even late innings. If Brash goes on the IL, I think it will be Ferrer who takes his place and has been played as Brash’s left-handed role counterpart already.”

This was posted before Brash went on the IL and so Ferrer has definitely seen more higher-leverage spots since then. His bad BABIP luck has unfortunately continued, but I think he will regress to his normal level of production soon. New team, no longer in the NL, no longer pitching for a team no one was watching…it’s all a big adjustment. I rate this take (sadly ironically) as BRASH because while I think Ferrer will get better results going forward, they will not be on the level of Matt Brash and honestly few pitchers are.

All right, thanks for all the participation, friends! I’ll be back with another prompt in the FEED soon. Go Mariners.

Six years ago, I embarked on a Star Wars Day tradition, diving into the historical archives to discuss the close relationship between the New York Yankees and arguably the most famous villain in science fiction history, the Evil Empire. That year, I looked at the term itself, and sought to find when it was first used to refer to the baseball team from the Bronx. The following year, I considered the rising payroll parity within the sport and posed the question, “Can the Yankees still claim to be baseball’s Evil Empire?” 2022 saw me complete the trilogy by looking at how the Evil Empire years shaped how people have viewed the sport and how its shadow contributed to the most recent lockout.

After a three-year hiatus, I channeled the spirit of George Lucas and opted to write a prequel, returning once more into the archives to study the history of previous Yankees nicknames. To begin, we looked at the story behind Murderers’ Row, and how either a prison in New York City or a street in Soho created the nickname, which was then applied to power-hitting lineups for New York baseball teams before being enshrined forever as the name for the ‘27 Yankees. Murderers’ Row, however, is not the only nickname to come out of those Babe Ruth/Lou Gehrig squads. At some point during this time, the Yankees became known as the Bronx Bombers.

These days, the Bronx Bombers nickname is so intertwined with the New York Yankees that the Wikipedia page “List of baseball team nicknames” does not even cite a source for the Bronx Bombers — something that, technically speaking, isn’t supposed to happen in encyclopedias such as Wikipedia, but occasionally can happen when a particular fact is so well-known that it is considered common knowledge.

Unfortunately, as anyone who has studied history knows, historical facts that are “common knowledge” can be difficult to track down, and the origin of the Bronx Bombers is no exception. The BR Bullpen has the following entry on the term:

The Bronx Bombers is a nickname commonly given to the New York Yankees. The name dates back to the 1920s and refers to the location of Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx section of New York City, and to the team’s line-up laden with power hitters such as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

The nickname has stuck through the years and is still commonly used in the 21st century.

That’s it: no sources cited, no references, no nothing. On what authority do they say the term dates to the 1920s? While I generally tend to trust the Bullpen, in this instance, their version of events isn’t the only one out there. A website called The Forkball, for example, claims the nickname dates back to a boxing match at Yankee Stadium in 1936, in which boxer Joe “the Brown Bomber” Louis fought. Meanwhile, Frank Thomas, writing for FanGraphs’ The Hardball Times, refused to take a stand on the issue in 2013, saying only “For sure it wasn’t before Yankee Stadium opened in 1923” — because, you know, the team played in Manhattan until then. Writing for The Ithacan (Ithaca College’s student newspaper) back in 2016, Angela Weldon investigated the origins of Ithaca College’s Bomber nickname, dating their nickname to 1938 and suggesting that it may have come when the college’s baseball team “people compared the college team to the New York Yankees.”

Faced with such a disparate set of popular discussions, I did the only thing a historian with access to the New York Times archives can do: head into the archives, and search for “Bronx Bombers.” And the first instance of the newspaper using the term comes from September 30, 1936, in an article about betting on the World Series matchup between the Yankees and the Giants. Within, writer Roscoe McGowen uses the term just once, saying, “Even so, the Bronx Bombers were a jovial lot on the even of hostilities.”

So what we have here is a terminus ante quem for the use of Bronx Bomber in relation to the Yankees. But we can also conclude from this that, even if this is the first use in the Times, this is not the origin of the term. McGowen does not explain the term, and already has it capitalized, suggesting that his audience would have been familiar with the term. If we expand our search from just the New York Times to all historical newspapers from the state of New York (shoutout to Andrew Mearns for having access to that database), we get two earlier uses of the term “Bronx Bomber.” The first, in 1930, refers to a boxer from the Bronx named Al Singer. More interestingly, the second use — on August 7, 1935, in The Glens Falls Times — refers to… Detroit Tigers first baseman Hank Greenberg, who was born in Greenwich Village, attended James Monroe High School on East 172nd St., attended NYU after rejecting a contract offer from the Yankees (who already had Lou Gehrig manning first), and ultimately signed with the Tigers after the Giants opted not to give him a contract.

This would mean that the term predates the Joe Louis fight, but that its first use was unrelated to the Yankees, which ultimately means we can’t disprove the theory, but it does cast some doubt on it. It does, though, make the BR Bullpen account seem unlikely, as it seems hard to believe that, given how the term Murderers’ Row was treated, a nickname associated with those dominant squads would have been transferred to a player who never played for the Yankees.

So where does this leave us? Unfortunately, it seems that we can’t truly find the origin of the Bronx Bomber name, at least using the online databases that I have been able to gain access to. This is, alas, the reality of history as a field: sometimes, the evidence only exists after something comes into existence, not at its moment of creation. We can use the evidence we found to limit the parameters — the term could not have existed before 1923, exists in the baseball world in 1935, may or may not have ties to boxing, and is a known nickname of the Yankees by the 1936 World Series. But to get any more specific than that? Well, if you find anything, by all means, please let us know!

Chris Clarke had gone the traditional route, pitching for three years at USC after starring at Newbury Park High, then toiling for six more seasons in the Chicago Cubs' minor league system after being a fourth-round draft pick in 2019.

But his big-league dream abruptly became a wake-up call last August when the Cubs released him a week before his wife gave birth to their first child. No more paychecks. No more health insurance.

So imagine how jarring it was for Clarke to take the mound in front of a record 102,000 fans in the Texas A&M football stadium Saturday, which had been converted to accommodate (sorry Dodgers) the most popular team in baseball: the Savannah Bananas.

"It was surreal," Clarke said. "In fact, it was so incredible, I didn't feel anything. My body went numb. There was a moment in the third inning when everybody was screaming. I couldn't hear myself talk."

It was the most people ever crammed into Kyle Field, the nation's fourth-largest college stadium, trailing only Michigan (107,601), Oregon (106,572) and Ohio State (102,780).

Texas A&M is ROCKING hours before the Savannah Bananas and Texas Tailgaters start the game at 8pm ET pic.twitter.com/FoY7ydGuwN

— Banana Ball (@BananaBall_) May 2, 2026

Clarke pitched for the opposing team, the Texas Tailgaters, one of five squads created by Bananas founders Jesse and Emily Cole that serve as touring partners to face the yellow-clad star attraction. All six teams practice at a complex in Savannah, Ga.

The game in College Station attracted the largest crowd in the Bananas' six-year history, and Clarke shined, striking out five in four innings. He also entertained, as all players in the Banana Ball Championship League are cheerfully required to do.

"The amount of joy it brings to fans and even people online, it's really something," Clarke said. "There definitely is a winner and a loser — which holds some weight — but for the most part, fans are there because it's a really good show."

Clarke, a 6-foot-7 right-hander, was the third overall pick in the inaugural Banana Ball draft held in November. Tailgater coaches contacted him beforehand to gauge his interest and he told them, "Pick me."

That level of bold fits right in. Banana Ball is fast-paced, hilarious and maximizes fan engagement. It features innovative rules: Fouls caught by fans count as outs, for example, and batters who walk get to run the bases until all nine defensive players have touched the ball. Choreographed dances, acrobatic tricks, a pitcher on stilts and other antics keep the entertainment flowing.

"I like to think of every game as a stepping stone to the next show," Clarke said. "Whether it goes well or is terrible, we will make it better for next time. Banana Ball is a relaxed culture, so when it comes to the entertainment stuff, there is no fear of failure. We are seeing what works and what doesn't."

Read more:Going bananas: Why Savannah Bananas tickets cost more than a Dodgers-Yankees rematch

Guest stars are frequent and on Saturday, the Bananas sent Texas-grown YouTube sensation Tyler Toney, a member of the sports comedy troupe Dude Perfect, to the plate as a pinch-hitter. Clarke struck him out on four pitches: a called strike, a swinging strike, a ball Clarke purposely launched high into the stands for laughs, then strike three swinging on a cut fastball.

It was a rare humbling moment for Toney, who, with fellow Dude Perfect members Cody Jones, Garrett Hilbert, and twins Cory and Coby Cotton, generates more than $20 million annually from YouTube, merchandise and tours.

Clarke had watched Dude Perfect videos religiously when he was at USC and was starstruck to meet them in person.

"Dude Perfect is the reason I failed econ twice," he said. "I watched every single Dude Perfect video. To meet them and shake their hands was fun. It was the only moment in my life where I was a fanboy."

He's also a breadwinner again for his family. The burgeoning popularity of Banana Ball has made the gig more lucrative than playing in the minor leagues.

Read more:Banana Ball gets 'biggest partnership to date' with ESPN and Disney, including a trip to Disneyland

"I'm making five times as much and playing half the time," Clarke said. "My contract is also for 12 months of the year. In affiliated baseball, it's only six months. So, there's that. I've never met anyone in baseball who has had the luxury to spend time with a newborn child. To come to Banana Ball and actually feel like there is respect, a culture and guidelines, that was something I hadn't experienced."

It is also giving him notoriety. Twenty-five Banana Ball games this year are being streamed on the ESPN app and Disney+, with select games airing across ESPN networks and ABC. The first Bananas broadcast on ABC will take place at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore., June 27 and 28. The games have been sold out since October.

Highlights from Saturday's game flooded social media and traditional outlets alike. Family friends and former teammates reached out to Clarke. What was it like pitching in front of 100,000 people? Are you improving your dance moves?

"The entertainment side of it takes pressure off performance," he said. "Performing well is still very much there, but there is a level of relaxation that makes it easier."

Clarke admits he thinks back to USC and the 2019 season, when he posted a stellar earned-run average of 1.03. He also occasionally misses the heightened competition and quest to make the major leagues of affiliated baseball.

He pitched two seasons in triple A and is only 27. Would he leave Banana Ball next year if an MLB team offered him an invite to spring training?

"I'm not in a situation to close any doors," he said. "That's the mindset that got me here. I wanted to investigate Banana Ball and I told them I'd give them a full year for us both to evaluate it. Either way, I think it's a win. Just comes down to what's best for my family."

Meanwhile, more games in packed stadiums await. In addition to a handful in football stadiums against the Bananas, the Tailgaters will play three games a week against other Banana Ball League teams throughout the summer, mostly in minor league baseball stadiums from Tulsa, Okla., to El Paso, Texas, to Nashville, Tenn., to Charlotte, N.C.

Exponentially larger crowds than those venues are accustomed to are a given.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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The Boston Red Sox will look to make it two in a row as they continue their road series against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night.

Framber Valdez takes the mound for Detroit, and I’m counting on him to give his team the edge in my Red Sox vs. Tigers predictions below.

Read on to see my full analysis and get my free MLB picks for Tuesday, May 5.

Who will win Red Sox vs Tigers today: Tigers -1.5 (+137)

The Detroit Tigers are struggling with injuries to their pitching staff, but they still have a healthy Framber Valdez to take the mound tonight.

Valdez is a solid 2-1 with a 3.35 ERA so far in his first season in Detroit, and the Tigers are 5-2 in his starts this season.

The Boston Red Sox will use open Jovani Moran tonight. And while that’s fine on the surface, the fact that Brayan Bello (1-4, 9.12 ERA) will try to pick up the bulk of the innings is concerning given his struggles so far this season.

With a massive advantage on the mound at home, I’m taking Detroit to cover the run line.

Red Sox vs Tigers Over/Under pick: Under 8.5 (-115)

The Red Sox have struggled to score runs all season long. At 3.86 runs per game, Boston is one of just five teams in the majors averaging less than four runs per contest, and its .671 OPS ranks 27th in the league.

If Valdez can handle his business against the Red Sox, it will come down to Detroit to carry this total. But the Tigers have averaged only 4.28 runs per game over their last seven games, so it’s far from certain they’ll put up huge numbers tonight either.

The total of 8.5 runs is close to correct, but given reason trends, the Under is my play.

Red Sox vs Tigers odds

• Moneyline: Boston +140 | Detroit -155
• Run line: Boston +1.5 (148) | Detroit -1.5 (+134)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 (+105) | Under 8.5 (-116)

Red Sox vs Tigers trend

The Tigers are 4-1 overall in Valdez’s last five starts. Find more MLB betting trends for Red Sox vs. Tigers.

How to watch Red Sox vs Tigers and game info

Red Sox vs Tigers latest injuries

Red Sox vs Tigers weather

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.