Category: Baseball

Free of charge for the discerning reader.Happy birthday toKing Cole and a mighty host of others, plus more baseball stories, like the Babe turning into THE Babe, Jackie Robinson debut, Hank’s first hit, and California baseball.

Today in baseball history:

• 1911 – At the age of 24, Grover Cleveland Alexander makes his major league debut, losing a 5-4 decision to the Rustlers on an unearned run in the tenth inning at Boston’s South End Grounds.
• 1915 – Rube Marquard of the New York Giants no-hits the Brooklyn Robins, winning, 2 – 0.
• 1918 – The American League season opens with Babe Ruth pitching a four-hit, 7 – 1, victory over the Philadelphia Athletics. Boston Red Sox manager Ed Barrow will start Ruth’s conversion to slugger later that season by working him into 72 games in the outfield and at first base.
• 1947 – 28-year-old Jackie Robinson makes a historic debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first African-American to play in either the National League or the American League in the 20th century. Robinson goes 0 for 3 in his debut, but scores the deciding run in a 5 – 3 victory over the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field. He handles 11 chances at first base, a new position for him. Robinson is the first black player to appear in a predominantly white major league since 1884.
• 1954 – Hank Aaron collects the first hit of his major league career. The Milwaukee Braves‘ rookie goes 2 for 5 in a 7 – 6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
• 1958 – Major League Baseball comes to California as the transplanted Giants and Dodgers play the first game on the Pacific Coast. The Californian contest at San Francisco’s Seals Stadium sees Ruben Gómez blanking Los Angeles and Don Drysdale. Daryl Spencer hits the first home run and Orlando Cepeda also homers in the Giants’ 8-0 victory in front of 23,448 fans.
• 2000 – In the 2,800th game of his career, Baltimore Orioles infielder Cal Ripken, Jr. lines a base hit off Minnesota Twins pitcher Hector Carrasco to become the 24th major leaguer to reach the 3,000 career hit milestone. The single also makes Ripken only the seventh player to get 3,000 hits and 400 home runs in major league history.
• 2009 – Ian Kinsler of the Texas Rangers goes 6 for 6 and hits for the cycle in a 19 – 6 win over the Baltimore Orioles. It had been 119 years since Farmer Weaver had been the last big leaguer to go 6 for 6 and hit for the cycle in a nine-inning game.
• 2009 – On a night of milestones in Seattle, Ken Griffey hits his 400th home run as a Mariner – the 613th long ball of his career – and Ichiro Suzuki hits a grand slam off Jason Bulger for his 3,085th hit as a professional, tying the Japanese record held by Isao Harimoto.

Cubs Birthdays:Trey Wingenter, Milton Bradley, Jeromy Burnitz, Mike Diaz, Ted Sizemore, Ed Bailey, King Cole*, Elmer Sutcliffe.

Today in history:

• 1493 –Christopher Columbus is received by the Spanish monarchs Isabella I and Ferdinand II in Barcelona upon his return from the New World. Columbus presents kidnapped Taínos indigenous people, plants and items collected from the Caribbean.
• 1862 – American poet Emily Dickinson first corresponds with author and future literary mentor Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a relationship that lasts the rest of her life.
• 1874 – First Impressionist art exhibition opens in Paris, features Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro and Berthe Morisot.
• 1877 – World’s first home telephone is installed in Somerville, Massachusetts at the house of Charles Williams Jr.
• 1892 – General Electric Company formed by merger of Thomas Edison‘s General Electric Company with Thomson-Houston Electric Company, arranged by J. P. Morgan and incorporated in NY.
• 1948 – F. H. Thornton observes a flash of light in crater Plato on the Moon.
• 1955 – Ray Kroc opens the first McDonald’s Inc. fast food restaurant in Des Plaines, Illinois.
• 2010 -Volcanic ash from the eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland leads to the closure of airspace over most of Europe.

*pictured.

Interesting decision last night by the official scorer when he assigned an error to Bryson Stott instead of Tim Mayza in the sixth inning. A low throw by Mayza was probably supposed to be caught by Stott, which is likely why they charged it to Stott in the first place, but that felt a little tough. I’d bet we see that changed in the coming days.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• Alec Bohm filed an injunction to get some money back from his parents. And he also fired Scott Boras amidst all this ($).
• Veterans Stadium had a player’s lounge where all the famous stars hung out and signed a concrete brick ($). A really cool story here.
• Griff McGarry is now going to the Dodgers in a small trade, which means we can start his Cy Young presentation in 2029 soon.

MLB news:

• One of the things that has gone away lately is having a paper ticket to a baseball game. Now, some fans are fighting back against that, wanting them to return ($).
• Players! They’re just like you and me! They use all the social apps and group messaging apps that we do ($)!
• The White Sox brought up their top pitching prospect Noah Schultz to make his major league debut last night.
• Orioles manager Craig Albernaz will need to eat baby food for a while after having his jaw broken on a foul ball.

Maryland baseball entered the bottom of the eighth inning of its midweek bout against Towson down by one run. 

That was when junior Brayden Martin notched his second RBI of the game, bringing in the tying run. Just two pitches later, sophomore Paul Jones II launched a two-run RBI double that came off the bat at 108 mph to extend Maryland’s lead.

After another batter was walked, Towson put in its second pitcher of the inning with the bases loaded and one out. Left-handed pitcher Ben Nugent proceeded to walk five Terps in a row — each brought in a run. 

It was a late demolition for the Terps as they strolled to a 15-7 victory over Towson Tuesday at the Bob. 

Right-handed pitcher Nic Morlang started the game for the Terps and recorded three total strikeouts. However, he allowed three hits, allowing the Tigers to take an early 2-0 lead. Morlang closed out the first inning by striking out Towson’s best hitter, Brian Heckelman.

Martin got on base and stole second in the bottom of the first, but he was ultimately stranded after freshman Ty Kaunas popped out to third and Jones II grounded out to second.

After Maryland’s defense recorded its 33rd double play of the season in the top of the second inning, the Terps got an RBI from Aden Hill to halve the deficit, but two runners were left on base.

Towson extended its lead in the third inning after following up a single with three consecutive doubles, bringing in three more runs. Right-handed pitcher Andrew Koshy stepped up to the mound for Morlang with one on and no outs. 

A throwing error by second baseman David Mendez brought in another run for the Tigers before the inning ended after a strikeout and two pop-ups. 

Mendez quickly redeemed himself, though, launching a breaking ball on the 2-1 count over the left center wall. His sixth home run of the season brought in three runs for Maryland, making the score 6-4 Towson.

“It was really helpful for me being able to pick up my guys,” Mendez said. “We knew we weren’t out of the game, so I knew that big swing was what we needed in that moment to take over the game.”

Maryland’s bullpen was able to hold the Tigers until the eighth inning, recording six more strikeouts and not walking a single batter. 

In the bottom of the fourth, Martin’s sacrifice fly brought in another run for the Terps. Kaunas brought in the tying run with a solo home run shortly after. 

Just one run was scored between the fifth and seventh innings — a sacrifice fly by Jones II in the bottom of the sixth gave Maryland a one-run lead.

In the top of the eighth, Towson’s catcher Coy Allman reached first on a throwing error by right-handed pitcher Jake Yeager, who had relieved Koshy two innings previously. The error allowed a run to score, tying the game once again. Sophomore right-hander Ryan Bailey entered the game and kept the Tigers scoreless for the remainder of the contest.

“We’re really going through it injury wise,” head coach Matt Swope said. “It was really good for those guys to try and stabilize that after not the best start.”

Maryland didn’t allow the tie to last for long, exploding for seven runs.

Towson went through three pitchers throughout the bottom of the eighth inning — Nugent was relieved by the Tigers’ third pitcher of the inning, who allowed a Martin sacrifice fly that brought in the Terps’ eighth run of the inning before recording the last out.

The Tigers only recorded one strikeout while throwing 58 pitches and walking eight Terps — five while bases were loaded — to give Maryland an eight-run lead.

“If you’re disciplined at the plate and you don’t swing at balls, you will be in college baseball games,” Swope said. “It’s my number one thing we’ve been good with all year.”

Bailey recorded one strikeout in the top of the ninth, while Martin and center fielder Nate Hawton-Henley claimed the remaining two to take the 15-7 victory.

Three things to know

1. Easy bases. Maryland recorded 15 RBIs on Tuesday — its third most this season and most since March 31 against Richmond. The Tigers out-hit the Terps 11-8, but it wasn’t enough, as two of Maryland’s hits were home runs and the remaining six brought in a run. Tuesday also marked the most walks the Terps have been dealt (12) since the Richmond contest, which also ended with 12 walks.

2. Base robber. Martin stole two bases Tuesday, bringing him to a season total of 16 stolen bases in 17 attempts — the most in the Big Ten. The junior also ranks first on the team and the Big Ten with the most walks (36), while Maryland ranks first in the Big Ten with 233 walks.

3. Support in the stands. The Bob was packed Tuesday, with the football, softball, field hockey, gymnastic, cheer, and women’s soccer teams coming out to show support. There were over 1300 fans in attendance for the midweek match.

“I love it. This is a lifestyle for me, it’s not a job,” Swope said. “I appreciate those guys coming out.”

The Pittsburgh Pirates’ top pitching prospect, Seth Hernandez, is looking strong in his first season of professional baseball with the Bradenton Marauders

Hernandez was drafted sixth overall by the Pirates in 2025 as the top high school pitching prospect in the class. He was named the California Gatorade Baseball Player of the Year, The Los Angeles Times Player of the Year and the Enterprise Varsity Player of the Year. He decided to forgo his commitment to Vanderbilt and signed with the Pirates for $7.25 million. 

2025 only saw Hernandez get time with the Florida Coast League Pirates, so this is his first year of pitching in the minor leagues. With Low-A Bradenton the 19-year-old righty has made two starts so far this season, with both being very impressive. In his first career start against the Dunedin Blue Jays Hernandez largely dominated the opposing hitters. In just three innings pitched he accumulated eight strikeouts. He would give up one earned run and allow three hits, but for his first professional start, it doesn’t get much better.

Pirates 2025 first-round pick Seth Hernandez looks UNHITTABLE right now 😳

His first two starts at Single-A: 7 IP, 1 ER, 15 Ks 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/Rl5pGad7Vf

— MLB (@MLB) April 13, 2026

Against the Palm Beach Cardinals on April 10, Hernandez was once again dictating the pace from the mound. In four innings Hernandez struck out seven batters, while not allowing any hits or earned runs while he was pitching. Bradenton would go on to lose the contest and the series to Palm Beach, but it certainly wasn’t because of Hernandez.

Hernandez was given a prospect rating of 55 overall, with a 70 graded fastball and a 60 graded curveball. At 6’4” he has an athletic build which will bode well for a power pitcher, but he also has incredible body control to repeat his delivery on the mound consistently. He has a lot of potential given his physical skills and the fact that he has great stuff, working with a solid four pitch mix. Hernandez is in line to be another great velocity focused starter in the Pirates rotation.

Seth Hernandez is ranked as the Pirates’ second overall prospect and is ranked 24th in the top 100.

April 15 is celebrated across Major League Baseball as a commemoration of the day that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. And for the Los Angeles Dodgers — the team that Robinson debuted went onto play his entire 10-year career with — that day always carries a little more weight.

Every year on Jackie Robinson Day, a hold a pregame moment of reflection is held with both the Dodgers and the visiting team (in this year's case, the New York Mets) gathering at the eponymous player's statue in the centerfield plaza at Dodger Stadium.

"This is not a one-day situation," Roberts said at last year's ceremony. "It's Jackie Robinson's day for breaking the color barrier, but this is like an everyday sort of mindset, appreciation."

MORE: LA Dodgers are MLB's melting pot, with complex history to show

42 forever. #Jackie42pic.twitter.com/1kGkH1Mju9

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) April 16, 2025

Members of the Robinson family and other invited guests usually attend as well; NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar spoke at the gathering in 2025. This year's scheduled guests include Jackie Robinson Foundation scholars and Robinson's granddaughters, Sonya Pankey and Ayo Robinson, along with Negro Leagues Baseball Museum president Bob Kendrick.

In addition to wearing Robinson's iconic No. 42 like all 29 other clubs, the Dodgers take it a step further by swapping out their interlocking LA for the Brooklyn B on their hats.

Among other plans for the game itself, the UCLA women's basketball team — fresh off their national championship and a record six players selected in the WNBA draft — will throw out the first pitch with their trophy in hand. A commemorative 42 jersey will also be given out to fans in attendance.

Even the Dodgers' opponent on Wednesday, the Mets, holds significance as they were created to fill a void left after two former New York teams — Dodgers and Giants — relocated to the West Coast in the 1950s.

MORE: How Dodgers continue to invest in Jackie Robinson legacy

How to watch the Dodgers vs. Mets on Jackie Robinson Day

The finale of the Dodgers' homestand vs. Mets will be televised nationally on ESPN on Wednesday, April 15 at 7:10 p.m. PT. In another cool wrinkle for Jackie Robinson Day, the game will be called by Joe Buck, who left FOX Sports to helm the "Monday Night Football" booth at ESPN in March 2022.

Here's how to watch the Dodgers play the Mets on Jackie Robinson Day:

• Location: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California
• Time: 7:10 p.m. PT (10:10 p.m. ET)
• TV channel: ESPN
• Streaming: ESPN Unlimited, Fubo

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Los Angeles Dodgers' plans to celebrate Jackie Robinson Day

Mark Walter and his ownership group bought the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012. Not long after, he called Rachel Robinson, widow of Dodgers legend Jackie Robinson, said Della Britton, president and CEO of the Jackie Robinson Foundation.

“Literally Mark supported us from day one when he bought the Dodgers,’’ Britton told USA TODAY Sports. "One of the first meetings he had, he called Rachel and Rachel and I went out to Los Angeles (from New York) and he said, ‘I want you to know this is part of your legacy and I very much feel the importance of this legacy to the team's history. We're partners...''

MORE: LA Dodgers are MLB's melting pot, with complex history to show

Jackie Robinson Day (Wednesday, April 15) will help spotlight the partnership between the Dodgers' current ownership group and Robinson's legacy.

In December, Walter and Thomas Tull, director of the movie "42" about Jackie Robinson, announced a $20 million to the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which along with the Jackie Robinson Museum is in New York.

“I remember Mark calling me,’’ Britton said, “and saying, 'Della, what do you need? You’ve worked so hard on this museum. We're so proud. Can we be helpful?'"

The Jackie Robinson Museum opened in 2022. When Walter learned a bridge loan on the museum project needed to be paid off, he came through, according to Britton. She also said Walter believes in a key part of Jackie Robinson’s story – the power of sports.

“It's an amazing equalizer, but it can also be an amazing force for change, for good,’’ Britton said. “And that's another thing that Mark Walter talks about, how he realizes how important sports is to bringing people together and for implementing the whole notion of egalitarianism.’’

'A bigger celebration'

On Wednesday, Rachel Robinson plans to be at the Jackie Robinson Museum, where she celebrated Jackie Robinson Day last year, too.

Britton planned to be at Dodger Stadium for the league-wide commemoration Major League Baseball started in 2004.

Jackie Robinson died in 1972. But Rachel Robinson has been around for all of the league-wide Jackie Robinson Day tributes held in honor of her late husband and Rachel Robinson's work, too.

She is 103 and lives in New York, home of the Jackie Robinson Foundation and the Jackie Robinson Museum. Of the foundation, Britton said, "We're a 53-year-old college scholarship program that Rachel started the year after Jackie died.’’

The Dodgers Foundation has supported dozens of Jackie Robinson scholars, according to Britton, who also said Walter hired some “very smart Jackie Robinson scholars.’’

Major League Baseball also supports the scholarship program, and preparation for Jackie Robinson Day has been underway, according to Britton.

“So it would start with the 30 teams,’’ she said, noting that Major League Baseball also has donated “generously’’ to the museum. “Each team, thanks to Major League Baseball by the way, supports a Jackie Robinson scholar..."

Several teams will honor scholars at the ballpark on Wednesday. Then there are the Dodgers.

“First of all, they embrace the fact that they support 10 Jackie Robinson scholars and they invite them all to the game and they put them on the field at the beginning,’’ Britton said. “So they have a big celebration. But then throughout the game, the Jumbotron gives stats and figures about not just Jackie Robinson, but also the foundation, his living legacy, if you will. So it's a bigger celebration. … It's wonderful.’’

(Editor's note: In an earlier version of this story, the name of Thomas Tull was misspelled.)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Dodgers continue to invest in the Jackie Robinson legacy

Jackie Robinson made history when he took the field at Ebbets Field in his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947.

His is a legacy that continues in perpetuity, 79 years later, as MLB commemorates the anniversary of the day Robinson broke baseball's color barrier.

The tradition itself, in an official sense, is more recent than you might think; Jackie Robinson Day was first celebrated on April 15, 2004 and the practice of all on-field personnel — every player, manager, umpire and bat and ball boy — wearing Robinson's No. 42 didn't become firmly established for another five years after that.

MORE: LA Dodgers are MLB's melting pot, with complex history to show

But according to the Jackie Robinson Museum website, it was tap dancer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson who inaugurated it almost 80 years ago.

At the end of Robinson's rookie season, on Sept. 23, 1947, Bojangles led an on-field ceremony at Ebbets Field as a way for New York's Black communities to show their appreciation for Robinson and support for desegregation in the big leagues. Robinson was gifted a new car, TV set, gold watch and a fur coat for his wife, Rachel, through donations solicited by the New York Amsterdam News, a local Black newspaper.

Fifty years later, MLB rang in the 50th anniversary of Robinson's debut by unilaterally retiring No. 42 across the league. Ken Griffey Jr. temporarily switched his number from 24 to 42 on that day to honor Robinson and a decade later, he asked Rachel Robinson and then-MLB commissioner Bud Selig if they could temporarily unretire the number so he could wear it once again in tribute to Jackie Robinson.

The idea took off around the majors and on April 15, 2007, over 100 players — including four entire teams — took the field with No. 42 on their backs.

Did you know it was Ken Griffey Jr.’s idea to have every player wear No. 42 on Jackie Robinson Day? pic.twitter.com/VOkfGqYtKU

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 31, 2026

That number tripled for 2008, according to the Jackie Robinson Museum, and by 2009, every player, manager and umpire wore the number.

"To have everybody do it, I didn't think it was going to go that far," Griffey said in an interview with MLB Network's Harold Reynolds. "I wasn't thinking that big, but it's been an unbelievable thing since day one."

In 2022, the tradition took another step when MLB decided to have 42 on every jersey in a block Dodger blue font, with blue socks, regardless of the team's colors or number style.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why MLB players are wearing No. 42 for Jackie Robinson Day

The Dodgers are too good, and too rich. If the owners of other major league teams ultimately deem that combination so objectionable that they shut down the sport this winter because of it, they will risk a rupture in one of the greatest fan bases in American sports history.

The four million tickets the Dodgers sold last season tells one part of the story. Here is an arguably better one: For decades, the Dodgers and Lakers have dominated Los Angeles sports and left every other team far behind in popularity.

For now, after back-to-back World Series championships, the Dodgers have left even the Lakers far behind in popularity, and every other team in town even further behind.

In a Loyola Marymount survey asking Los Angeles County residents to identify their favorite among the 12 pro sports teams within the local media market, nearly half picked the Dodgers.

Read more:Whatever happened to Julio Urías? 'Teams ask me about him all the time,' agent says

The Dodgers’ lead over the Lakers — 43% to 28% — represented the largest gap between the teams in the nine editions of the survey, first conducted in 2014 by the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles.

The Rams ranked third, at 7%, followed by the Kings at 5% and the Angels at 4%.

The two women’s teams — Angel City FC and the Sparks — tied for last, each with less than 1% of the vote. Even when the study separated votes by gender, the two women’s teams each got less than 1% of the vote from women.

As recently as 2018, five teams beyond the Dodgers and Lakers — the Angels, Clippers, Galaxy, Kings and Rams — attracted at least 4% of the vote. In this year’s survey, only the Rams did.

“I’m a big Rams fan,” said Fernando Guerra, the center’s director, “and I still put the Dodgers first.

“I love all these teams. But, when you have to choose one, it’s the Dodgers.”

Dodgers president Stan Kasten pointed to the popularity and excellence of the players, the cherished ballpark and the generational fan support as factors contributing to the top ranking.

“If you have a lot of good elements but you don’t win, you’re not going to be as high,” Kasten said. “And, if you win but you don’t have the other elements, you’re not going to be as high.

“I think, right now, we’re as close as you can be to clicking on all cylinders.”

Beyond the winning, Guerra cited Shohei Ohtani as a driving force behind the Dodgers’ popularity, and not just as a tourist attraction, merchandise driver, and the foremost product endorser in sports.

In 2018, Ohtani’s debut season with the Angels, 8% of fans that identified themselves as Asian picked the Angels as their favorite team and 34% picked the Dodgers — a terrific showing for the Angels, since the study polls residents in L.A. County, not Orange County.

That demographic this year: 4% picked the Angels, 47% picked the Dodgers.

In their 10 years since returning to Los Angeles, the Rams have made seven playoff appearances and two Super Bowl appearances, winning one. All that, and a half-century in their previous run in L.A., and their membership in the most popular sports league in America, and the best they could do was 7%.

“It’s just tough to break the Lakers’ and Dodgers’ hold,” Guerra said. “It’s not like we don’t love the Rams or the others. It’s just not your top priority.”

The Lakers and Dodgers have combined to win 20 championships in Los Angeles. The other 10 teams that call this market home have combined to win 16.

In the 13 seasons since Mark Walter and Co. bought the Dodgers, the team has won 12 division titles, made five World Series appearances, and won three championships. In the same time, the Lakers have won three division titles, advanced past the first round of the playoffs twice, and won one championship.

Walter bought a controlling interest in the Lakers last year. He has installed Lon Rosen, formerly the Dodgers’ executive vice president and chief marketing officer, as the Lakers’ president of business operations.

“When the Lakers are winning a lot of championships, they’re No. 1,” Rosen said. “When the Dodgers are, they’re No. 1.

“It’s a good position to be in, since we control both teams, and both teams are highly successful.”

Read more:Luka Doncic rejoining Lakers after getting injury treatment in Europe

In this moment, the Dodgers are highly successful.

“The Lakers and Dodgers are going to be neck and neck very soon,” Rosen said. “The Lakers will 100% be champions again soon.”

The Dodgers do not concede the days of neck and neck will return. Kasten, remember, said the Dodgers were as close as they could be to clicking on all cylinders.

“We don’t take that for granted,” he said. “We know we can do even better.”

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Ten percent of the season is in the books. Does Major League Baseball play any differently after three weeks of the automatic ball-strike challenge system?

Perhaps. Certainly, it is a nascent and evolving niche within the game, filled with trial and error, hot hands and teachable moments all in the name of trying to gain an edge – 0.1% of an edge, even – on the corners of the strike zone.

While things will certainly change, and something resembling normalization will occur over the rest of the season, there are a few hard and fast maxims about ABS that we feel comfortable rolling with. A look at six truths the so-called “robot umps” have yielded so far:

Games are longer

It’s true: The average nine-inning game is averaging 2 hours, 42 minutes, longest in the four years of the pitch-clock era. (The first three seasons produced nine-inning averages of 2:39, 2:36 and 2:38).

Certainly, there are plenty of factors that contribute to game time beyond the 30 or so seconds every ABS challenge takes. Teams are using 4.34 pitchers per game, the highest mark since 2021 and possibly a function of the early-season glut of off days enabling managers to more liberally deploy relievers.

Pitchers are also issuing 3.8 walks per game, the highest mark since 2000 and perhaps one that will normalize as the year proceeds and time is shaved off of games. So is it all the challenge system spiking game times?

Nope. But it’s certainly a contributing factor.

Catchers are king

As one might have anticipated.

Nobody has the vantage point of a catcher, able to see exactly where a ball crossed the plate and, like machine learning, eventually figure out, most importantly, what the Hawk-Eye tracking system believes is a strike.

Accordingly, catchers are successfully challenging at a rate of 62% entering games of Tuesday, April 14. They account for 501 of the 522 attempts by fielders, though pitchers, emotional beings that they are, aren’t faring too poorly – they’re 10-for-21 so far.

As for hitters?

Consider them the foolishly aggrieved party. Helmet-tappers are successfully challenging at a rate of just 47%, with Ronald Acuña Jr. (2 for 6), Nolan Schanuel and Hunter Goodman (each 1 for 5) the most erratic.

Dillon Dingler is the ABS whisperer

So, who’s the best at this thing?

We’ll give an early nod to the Detroit Tigers’ Dillon Dingler. He’s currently 9-for-10 in getting balls overturned for his pitcher, the best rate for a catcher with more than five challenges. Victor Caratini (8-for-10) is right on his tail, while veteran J.T. Realmuto is perfect in five challenges so far.

Managers are working harder to get thrown out

Yep, arguing balls and strikes – traditionally the surest ticket to an early shower – is much harder to do with a pair of replay challenges in a manager’s back pocket.

Yet are skippers still getting tossed? You bet.

Eight managers have been ejected so far, and the intent hasn’t changed much in the ABS era: Six of the eight got the heave-ho when their teams were trailing and, maybe, the manager saw fit to light a fire under the lads. Alas, none of the six clubs came back to win after their manager was ejected, though perhaps the histrionics proved whatever point the manager hoped.

One ejection did occur in an ABS situation: Derek Shelton, tossed with one out in the top of the ninth inning  after an overturned ball, just as the Minnesota Twins were about to lose to the Baltimore Orioles. Runner’s interference resulted in two ejections, while a balk call, a disputed quick-pitch, a pair of check swings and an overturned out call at first accounted for the others.

The Twins are winning both sides of the ball

OK, so we won’t correlate ABS challenge success with on-field record just yet. Still, it’s hard to ignore that the Twins – consensus picks to finish last in the AL Central – are 10-7 and tied with Cleveland for the AL’s best record.

And they’ve won more batter’s challenges – 14 – than any team in the majors and lead the AL with 19 successful defensive challenges.

Sure, maybe the games have simply played out that the Twins have had a ton of chances to air a grievance. Either way, they’ve clearly chosen a path of aggression, as they lead in batter challenges (29) and are second to the Marlins with 28 defensive challenges.

Their percentages aren’t elite – they rank 15^th among batters with a 48% success rate and 10^th defensively at 68%.

But shooters shoot, as they say, and nobody’s gotten more calls overturned.

Umpires have gotten … worse?

So this is a tricky one.

There’s plenty of ways now to measure umpire aptitude, and we tend to lean on the very means-tested Umpire Scorecards as our metric of choice. Within that, we can look at correct ball-strike percentage or other methods of accuracy.

For this exercise, we’ve chosen to highlight how many umpires rank in the positive for what they call “accuracy above expected,” or the difference between actual accuracy and expected accuracy given the web site’s “machine learning approach to estimating an umpire’s performance relative to their peers.”

Fair enough.

For what it’s worth, 76 of 91 umpires – or 83.5% - finished above 0 in accuracy above expected in 2025. This year? Just 54 of 83 – or 65% - rank in the positive.

Keep in mind: This is an extremely small sample size. A vast majority of umpires have had three or fewer plate assignments so far. Perhaps the accurate calls heat up with the weather, etc.

And maybe the umps’ confidence will level up when they realize ABS confirms that they were right a lot of times, too.

Perhaps that’s the ultimate truism: That humans can go toe-to-toe with robots just fine.  

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB ABS system stats: Challenge results, 2026 robo ump takeaways

FanGraphs | Dan Szymborski: An 8-2 start had the Yankees in the driver’s seat early in the AL East, but a 1-5 run after that has helped settle down the division odds. Now, while the Yanks still boast the best odds of any team in the East to make the playoffs, they’re smack dab in the middle of the division projections with the Orioles and Blue Jays. The silver lining may be that these adjusted ZiPS projections don’t seem to favor the Red Sox at all, which may take the division down from a four-way knife fight to merely a three-sided knife fight.

Yankees PR: Hopefully, none of you were too invested in the return of Yerry De los Santos to the Yankees’ bullpen. Called up yesterday to replace the struggling Jake Bird, De los Santos is already heading back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in exchange for a to-be-named fresh arm. The Yankees had him soak up a couple innings of the ugly 7-1 loss to the Angels, allowing one run on three hits. As his pitch count rose to 44, it became clear that his stay in the Bronx would be short. Angel Chivilli and Kervin Castro are both 40-man roster candidates to tag in for Yerry, though Chivilli is more likely since Castro pitched for Scranton last night and the former last appeared for the RailRiders on Sunday.

CBS Sports | Matt Synder: Jazz Chisholm Jr. has taken his share of criticism early in the 2026 season, from this author included. While his onfield play does merit some of those critiques, Synder makes a fair point about how we wish athletes were more open about their play and how they feel about their play, when someone like Jazz expresses his challenges playing in cold weather, we jump on him for his honesty. This doubles down when you do the modicum of analysis to see that Jazz really does better as the weather warms, and as we turn toward summer, hopefully that performance starts to tick up.

New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: For one night, Trent Grisham got some validation. The Yankee center fielder has experienced a bit of a power outage so far this season, but got it back on Monday with a dynamite two-homer game, including the game-tying dinger in the ninth. Grisham had been hitting the ball hard and in the air, but to the big part of the field where outfielders run those balls down. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the key for Grisham’s power is pulling the ball, exactly what he did in game one of the Angels series.

New York Post | Dan Martin: Aaron Judge continues to carve himself into Yankee history, with another multi-home-run game on Monday night. With his fifth and sixth home runs of the year, Judge notched his 47th career multi-dinger performance, passing Mickey Mantle for second on the Yankee all-time list. Only Babe Ruth, with 68, is now above Judge.

Angel Martinez’s continued possible breakout put the Guardians up 5-2 in the top of the 8th. The Guardians always win when they lead 5-2 in the top of the 8th.

Following an RBI double by George Valera that made it 3-2, Martinez added one of his own that brought 2 more runs in. But in between, Stephen Vogt made a move that cost him the game. Valera was replaced by the even slower Juan Brito on the bases, because the team…… doesn’t trust Valera to…… not hurt himself running? I guess? (Leave him in AAA for another few days then, guys.)

Erik Sabrowski gave up two thirds of that lead in the bottom of the inning which made it 5-4. Then in the bottom of the 9th, Cade Smith retired the Cardinals 1-2-3. Oh, that’s right, I said Vogt cost the team the game. So how did that happen if there was a 1-2-3 ninth? Brito botched the third out, a routine ground ball, and then Yohei Pozo tied it. Brito’s fielding was a major issue in Goodyear, and it’s been a problem this month, too.

David Fry was also catching because he hit for Bo Naylor, and did not make any of the tough plays that an elite catcher makes some of.

Around baseball

• The Cubs and Padres are interested in LGFT Lucas Giolito.

• If you want to see Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal talk about pitching for 45 minutes, this is a link for you. Mentioned: Austin Hedges. Not mentioned: Will Wilson.

• Yesterday was the 19th anniversary of a person with a Patriots logo on their torso throwing something accurately. No, not that guy.

The Astros overcame an early 3-0 deficit with a Christian Walker home run and a six-run third inning, then hold on for a 7-6 win over the Rockies at Daikin Park.

It didn’t go according to plan in any manner, except the end result.

Making his first start of the season for the Houston Astros, Colton Gordon struggled and couldn’t make it out of the fourth inning. The beleaguered bullpen had to come up with another 6.1 innings, and they were just good enough to hold a 7-3 lead for a 7-6 victory.

Gordon got the first two outs of the game before giving up a solo homer to Hunter Goodman:

Hunter Goodman rocket launch 🚀 pic.twitter.com/YtZrUGRVYt

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) April 15, 2026

He closed out the inning with a strikeout on the next batter.

In the second inning, Gordon again got the first two outs before allowing back-to-back singles to Jordan Beck and Kyle Karros. Jake McCarthy then laced a bases-clearing triple to give Colorado a 3-0 lead.

McCarthy comes through 🙌 pic.twitter.com/AxuOhCY2bp

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) April 15, 2026

In the bottom of the second, the Astros would answer. With one out, Christian Walker hit one 422 feet on to the train tracks.

Man on fire.#ChaseTheFightpic.twitter.com/ggpGlZtpry

— Houston Astros (@astros) April 15, 2026

In the top of the third, Gordon allowed a leadoff single to Brenton Doyle, and then got a pair of strikeouts. Doyle was then cut down trying to steal by Christian Vazquez to end the inning.

In the bottom of the third, the Astros would break the game open with some big hits and some brutal Rockies defense.

Vazquez led off with a double. It was his 4th double of the season. Jose Altuve then popped up on the infield for should have been an easy out, but Rockies 2B Willi Castro dropped the ball, giving the Astros two on and no out.

Yordan Alvarez then obliterated a baseball at 114.2 MPH for a 2 run double.

Tie it up! pic.twitter.com/E6KDvb7tNo

— Houston Astros (@astros) April 15, 2026

Isaac Paredes would follow with a walk. Carlos Correa would bounce into a force play, with Paredes forced out at second. Christian Walker would then hit a ground ball to third. Kyle Karros fielded the ball and threw home, trying to get Alvarez at the plate. The throw beat him but the catcher Goodman couldn’t apply the tag in time, and Yordan scored to give the Astros a 4-3 lead.

Cam Smith would then rip a single the other way to right to drive in Correa to make it a 5-3 game.

Making things happen! pic.twitter.com/pcvGO10SMV

— Houston Astros (@astros) April 15, 2026

Joey Loperfido came to bat next, and he would reach on an error by 2B Castro, his second error of the inning. Walker would score to make it 6-3 Houston.

After Brice Matthews struck out, Vazquez would bounce one through the hole into left field to score Smith and make it 7-3 Astros going to the 4th inning.

In the top of the fourth, Gordon would again get the first two outs before finding himself in trouble. This time, he gave up a solo homer to Jordan Beck to make it a 7-4 game.

After the home run, Gordon then allowed back to back singles, and then hit a batter to load the bases, and that would be all for Colton Gordon. He finished the night with 3.2 IP, 4 ER, 8H, 0 BB, 5K, 2 HR.

A.J. Blubaugh was summoned to get Houston of the jam. With Blubaugh (a RHP) replacing Gordon (a LHP), the Rockies pinch hit Mickey Monial for Brenton Doyle. Blubaugh would get Moniak to pop to short to end the inning and the threat.

In the top of the 5th, Hunter Goodman led off with his 2nd homer of the game and 4th of the season to make it a 7-5 game.

Things in the 6th and 7th would be quiet for the first time in the game, but in the 8th the Rockies would make some noise.

Kai-Wei Teng walked 2 of the first 3 batters to face him in the 8th. Joe Espada would go to his bullpen and summon lefty Bryan King. The Rockies would then counter by having Troy Johnston pinch hit for Jake McCarthy.

McCarthy would line an RBI single to center to make it a 7-6 game. King then got a strikeout and a pop-up in the next two batters to quell the rally.

Things then got a little dicey in the 9th. Bryan King, who came on to get out of a mess in the 8th, would open the 9th and get a pair of quick outs.

Then the trouble started. King allowed back to back hits to TJ Rumfield and Ezekiel Tovar. That would be all for Bryan King.

Enyel De Los Santos came on to get the final out and finish the job, and did so with a 5 pitch strikeout.

Wednesday, the Astros will hope to keep things going in Game 2 of their 3 game series with Spencer Arrighetti.

With the Mets riding a six-game losing streak and struggling to produce runs, Francisco Lindor's leadoff home run on Tuesday night against Los Angeles Dodgers star Yoshinobu Yamamoto provided a glimmer of hope for what could be a breakout game for the offense.

Instead, it was more of the same as Yamamoto shut down New York's bats for the rest of the night, handing them a 2-1 defeat for their seventh straight loss.

The Mets are now 7-11 on the year after starting 7-4 and have scored more than two runs just once (11-6 loss to Athletics on April 11) during their skid. After the game, Lindor was asked if the team is feeling desperate to get back in the win column, saying they understand the current urgency level and believe it can turn around.

"The desperation level? The urgency level is really high," Lindor said. "I don't think no one here is desperate, but we understand we have to win; it's a must-win. We're not going to sit here and just say, 'We'll get 'em, we'll get 'em, we'll get 'em.' It's everybody here has a sense of urgency and we're all trying to win. It's just a matter of time; we have to get it done.

"We're still in the middle of April and we have the opportunity to finish the month on the positive side. Everyone here understands that the task is winning and we're all going for it."

Lindor accounted for two of the team's four hits against Yamamoto, finishing the game 2-for-4 with the HR (his first of the year and his first RBI) and a strikeout. He was asked if it's been challenging for the group not to be pressing at the plate while they've been struggling, reminding everyone that you need to have a short memory in baseball, whether the result has been good or bad.

"It's human nature to get mad, to get frustrated, to say, 'You know what, this has got to end,' it's human nature," Lindor said. "But, in baseball, you get an opportunity the next day. So you got to learn from it, you got to turn the page as quick as you can and come back tomorrow. 

"Tomorrow we face [Shohei] Ohtani. You can't just sit here and dwell on it for a very long time. We got to come back tomorrow and face another ace. That's it. Bottom line: when you win, short-term memory; when you lose, short-term memory as well."

Lindor noted he felt the intensity of the team's at-bats was improved compared to previous games. He knows they'll need to carry the same approach against Ohtani on Wednesday, but it'll be quite the challenge, as the reigning two-time NL MVP is 1-0 over two starts (12.0 IP) with a 0.00 ERA and 0.75 WHIP this season. 

"It felt like just the conversations, the engagements, and felt like every at-bat we were going to get a hit," Lindor said. "Alvy [Francisco Alvarez] took great at-bats, took good pitches. We took good pitches, you know, Yamamoto was throwing splits 92 miles per hour and executing the location. 

"It's one of those where as the game goes on, you see the at-bats, you see the way guys take pitches. It looked really good. Hats off to Yamamoto. Tomorrow we got to bring it again."

Nolan McLean continues to impress with every outing, but Tuesday night's matchup against the defending World Series champion Dodgers was arguably his best start yet.

Going up against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, McLean held the vaunted Dodgers offense to just one run on two hits across seven innings while striking out eight. Unfortunately for the Mets, Yamamoto held their lineup to just one run on four hits before the Dodgers lineup scratched a run across on New York's bullpen to pull out the 2-1 win. 

"They were both awesome," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of the pitcher's duel. "Yamamoto was pretty nasty, but Nolan was pretty nasty too. They went head-to-head. It was inning after inning, batter after batter, pitch after pitch. They made it tough on hitters. Sucks losing that one, especially when you get that type of outing. But they were both on their game today."

It's tough for any pitcher to pitch on the road in Los Angeles, let alone against a lineup that features Shohei Ohtani among other future Hall of Famers, but the moment wasn't too big for McLean. 

The 24-year-old has been lauded for his even-keel demeanor and competitiveness since he was called up late last year and that shone through on Tuesday. McLean was asked about whether he had some "extra juice" pitching against the Dodgers, and the right-hander made it seem like any other start.

"Maybe a little bit, but like I’ve said before, I try to treat every start the same, no matter who's standing in the box or where I’m at," McLean said after the game. "I just want to win every time I go out there. I grew up a baseball fan, and getting to watch some of these guys on TV growing up, it’s cool to compete against them."

And compete he did. 

The only run the Dodgers scored off of McLean came in the first inning, but not off a home run or extra-base hit, but on a groundout.

After Francisco Lindor gave McLean and the Mets the early 1-0 lead on a leadoff homer, the Dodgers scratched across the tying run in the first. A one-out walk to Kyle Tucker came back to bite McLean after Will Smith doubled to put him in scoring position and Freddie Freeman's dribbler allowed Tucker to scamper home. The Dodgers wouldn't get close to scoring a run again off McLean. 

"Outside of the walk in the first inning, I felt like I filled the zone up and was attacking guys," McLean explained. "Once I got it to two strikes, it was much easier to pitch with two strikes than behind in the count. I was comfortable getting there and I was happy with the way I was getting two strikes."

That emphasis on throwing first-pitch strikes helped McLean pitch seven innings for just the third time in his career, including Tuesday. It's the first time he's done it this season. 

McLean says that whether hitters put the ball in play or get a strike called on the first pitch he throws, they are both wins for him, so it's worth it to use his fastball to get ahead in counts. Of the 95 pitches he threw, 49 of them were either the four-seam or sinker (51 percent), and 37 of his 68 strikes were from those two pitches.

And once he got ahead, McLean used any of his six pitches to get the Dodgers bats out.

"Not only on Shohei, but some of their hitters [like] Freddie Freeman... that first at-bat and some of the swings he was taking, he pretty much dominated one of the best lineups in the league," Mendoza said. "That goes to show you how good of a pitcher Nolan is when he’s at his best. And today was one of those nights."

And the Mets needed McLean at his best. Although they outhit the Dodgers, the Mets could only push across one run and didn't capitalize on opportunities like in the eighth when Yamamoto was out of the game and they had runners on second and third and two outs. 

Over the last seven games (all losses), the Mets have scored a combined 10 runs. 

"He kept us in the game. He did a really good job," Lindor said of McLean's outing. "Gave us quick innings, chances for us to score. Gave us the momentum and we didn’t capitalize on it. It’s one of those where you wish you got it done for him. He pitched his butt off today. Even though he gave us momentum every single inning. We gotta do our best to win games like this."

The Mets will look to snap their losing streak without McLean on the mound when they take on Ohtani and the Dodgers in the final game of their three-game set on Wednesday. 

No one expected a high scoring game when the San Diego Padres hosted the Seattle Mariners for the first game of a three-game series at Petco Park on Thursday. Michael King was on the mound for the Padres and Bryan Woo was pitching for the Mariners so both offenses knew opportunities to score would be limited. In the end, it was the San Diego lineup that made the most of the success it had against Woo, which resulted in a 4-1 win over Seattle.

King and Woo battled back-and-forth through the sixth inning, but it was the Mariners who would allow their starter to pitch into the seventh inning. The Padres had a 3-1 lead after six innings and the bullpen was set and ready to follow the winning blueprint with Adrian Morejon handling the seventh inning, Jason Adam taking the eighth inning and Mason Miller closing in the ninth to take earn their sixth win in as many games.

You know what? Heck yeah. pic.twitter.com/7eqRacrVsU

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 15, 2026

The San Diego offense got to Woo in the bottom of the third inning after King allowed a run in the top of the second. With Seattle leading 1-0, Ramon Laureano hit a one-out triple off the base of the wall in right field. He scored one batter later when Fernando Tatis Jr. singled up the middle to ties the game, 1-1. Jackson Merrill followed with another single to move Tatis Jr. to third. The Padres had runners on the corners with two outs after Manny Machado popped out for the second out of the inning.

Merrill stole second base to put runners at second and third for Xander Bogaerts, who came through once again with a big hit. Bogaerts singled to center field which allowed Tatis Jr. and Merrill to score to give San Diego a 3-1 lead. Gavin Sheets followed with a flyout to shortstop to end the inning, but the Padres had a lead they would not relinquish.

Slight work for Xander. pic.twitter.com/r7L1Ff4Hk1

— San Diego Padres (@Padres) April 15, 2026

San Diego tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning after Merrill doubled to start the inning off Seattle reliever Casey Legumina. Machado hit a deep flyball out to left field, which allowed Merrill to move to third base. Bogaerts came through once again with his third RBI of the game which came on a single to right field to give the Padres a 4-1 lead. Miller trotted into the game from the bullpen in the top of the ninth and recorded outs against all three Mariners he faced.

King finished his day on the mound after allowing one run on four hits through six innings. He also recorded five strikeouts and allowed just two walks. Woo was taken out of the game after completing seven innings. He allowed three runs on eight hits with one walk and three strikeouts.

Merrill and Bogaerts led the offense for the Padres with three hits each. Merrill scored two runs and Bogaerts recorded three RBI.

San Diego plays the second game of the series against Seattle on Wednesday at 6:40 p.m.