Category: Baseball

Detroit Tigers (20-26) vs. 

Time/Place: 6:40 p.m., Comerica Park
SB Nation Site: Covering the Corner
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network
Pitching Matchup: LHP Framber Valdez (2-2, 4.32 ERA) vs. RHP Slade Cecconi (2-4, 5.60 ERA)

Player	G	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	FIP	fWAR
Valdez	9	50.0	18.8	7.6	52.8	4.04	0.6
Cecconi	9	45.0	18.5	8.3	42.8	5.05	0.1

UPDATE: Start time will be delayed by weather.

Due to inclement weather in the area, the start of tonight's Tigers-Guardians game will be delayed. Further updates will be provided when available.

— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) May 18, 2026

Go Rays!

Despite missing out on a sweep, the Nats still had a successful weekend against the O’s. They will look to keep the good times rolling against another rival in the Mets. The first time the Nats and Mets played, the Nationals managed to win two out of three. Now, they will match up for four games against a Mets team that is playing better baseball.

The Nats are making a couple lineup changes to open this series. Jorbit Vivas will replace Nasim Nunez at second base. Drew Millas will also do the catching instead of Keibert Ruiz. Besides that, it will be the same group as yesterday. Jake Irvin has not been great lately, but he will look to right the ship tonight.

https://t.co/iUBDqlACVs

→ https://t.co/iUBDqlACVs (https://t.co/iUBDqlACVs) pic.twitter.com/etjn1usqFg

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) May 18, 2026

The Mets are getting some big contributions from younger players. Carson Benge has settled in after a rough start to his big league career. A.J. Ewing has been fantastic to start his big league career. Those two and Juan Soto have been the heavy hitters in this Mets lineup. Bo Bichette has had a tough start to his Mets career, but we know the talent is there. Christian Scott is on the bump for the Mets tonight.

Tonight's starters in D.C. #LGMpic.twitter.com/0cM8nc5Nrv

— New York Mets (@Mets) May 18, 2026

Game Info:

Stadium: Nationals Park

Time: 6:45 PM EST

TV: Nationals.TV

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

This series is a big NL East clash. After beating the Yankees in the subway series, the Mets are looking to make a move up the standings. The Nats are going to try and hold them off. This will be a very fun four game series to watch. Follow along in the comments down below and let’s go Nats!

The Orioles start a very tough stretch of baseball tonight. Six of their next nine games are against the AL East-leading Tampa Bay Rays, who have the most wins in the American League. You can check out details of the Rays’ season so far in our series preview, but suffice it to say they have been kind of the opposite of the Orioles this year.

This is the first time the Orioles have visited Tropicana Field since 2024, after the Rays spent 2025 at a spring training site while their ballpark was repaired.

Some Orioles batters appear to be heating up, and it would be a nice change of pace if they would actually follow through and stay good. Gunnar Henderson and Coby Mayo are showing signs of life. Tyler O’Neill has started hitting balls harder. Even Colton Cowser hit a home run. Pete Alonso remains ice cold.

Trevor Rogers gets the ball for the Orioles tonight, and it would be another nice change of pace if he could manage to look anything like the Trevor Rogers of 2025. Come on, Trev! We want to believe!

For the Rays, it’s lefty Shane McClanahan. Gulp. He has a 2.27 ERA and an active 21.2-inning scoreless streak. I’m gonna be honest, I don’t feel like the Orioles have a chance against this guy. But maybe I’ll be wrong. That’s why they play the games, as the saying goes.

Orioles lineup

Taylor Ward (R) LF
Gunnar Henderson (L) SS
Adley Rutschman (S) C
Pete Alonso (R) DH
Tyler O’Neill (R) RF
Coby Mayo (R) 1B
Jeremiah Jackson (R) 2B
Weston Wilson (R) 3B
Blaze Alexander (R) CF

LET BASALLO FACE LEFTIES! Also, I can’t wait to see what kind of shenanigans Blaze Alexander gets up to in center field.

Rays lineup

Yandy Díaz (R) DH
Jonathan Aranda (L) 1B
Junior Caminero (R) 3B
Ryan Vilade (R) RF
Jonny DeLuca (R) CF
Chandler Simpson (L) LF
Nick Fortes (R) C
Taylor Walls (S) SS
Carson Williams (R) 2B

Let’s go O’s!

The 20-27 Royals have fallen back into a tie with the Detroit Tigers for last place in the AL Central. The Royals managed to blank the Cardinals in a 2-0 victory yesterday, but that was after six straight losses. This team seems to ping-pong from elation to despair a lot. Right now, there’s a little too much despair.

Hopefully a return to the K can add some hope. After that miserable road trip, the Royals welcome the similarly-despondent 19-27 Boston Red Sox to Kansas City. The Red Sox are also recent losers, having dropped 2 of 3 games against each of the Braves, Phillies, and Rays over the past week+.

Just a few weeks ago, the Red Sox fired manager Alex Cora and a whole bunch of his staff. Wilyer Abreu, Willson Contreras, and Ceddanne Rafaela are about the only hitters having a good season for the Red Sox. Offseason trade target Jarren Duran has scuffled pretty badly to a .183/.243/.305 line. Trevor Story similarly struggled before recently being put on the IL. They’ve had some decent starting pitching but their star – Garrett Crochet – pitched to a 6.30 ERA before also being put on the IL.

The Royals have their own issues, of course. Salvador Perez and Vinnie Pasquantino are similarly struggling in the middle of the lineup. Cole Ragans is on the IL. The bullpen is suspect.

The Royals will put Seth Lugo on the mound to start. He’s somewhat returned to form with a 3.76 ERA, but there are a lot of mixed signals there. His strikeout rate is stable compared to prior years but his walk rate is up. His BABIP is wayyyy up. The key thing is that he has limited home runs – he has somehow given up only 1 homer all season. That will paper over a lot of issues but I doubt that is sustainable.

The Red Sox start Sonny Gray, who is in the final year of a 3/$76M contract. In his older age (Gray is 36), he’s pivoted to being Mark Buehrle. Very low strikeout rate, low walk rate, low homers. Limits damage on contact. Gray has managed a 3.18 ERA doing this. It’s unprecedented for Sonny – this would be the lowest strikeout rate of his career, by a lot.

A stoppable force meets a movable object. Let’s see which team blinks and scurries away.

Keep in mind the original game time was 6:40pm US Central. Apparently because of the possibility of bad weather, the game has been moved up to 6:10pm US Central. You can watch on Royals.tv or listen on 96.5 The Fan or the Royals Radio Network.

Lineups:

Hello again, friends! It’s time to watch the Red Sox flail away once more on a Monday, this time in Kansas City, where the game has been moved up by 30 minutes to hopefully avoid bad weather, now boasting a 7:10 EDT start time. On the bright side, Sonny Gray, one of the team’s best stories this year (not that it’s saying much) takes the mound against Kyle Isbel. On the less bright side, a) the aforementioned weather and b) this is still a lineup that has Mickey Gasper DHing and batting second. Woof. Anyhow:

By contrast, the Royals’ #2 hitter plays shortstop very well and is currently the No. 2 favorite to win the AL MVP award. The wise man bowed and spoke and all that jazz. Here’s the full lineup:

Dat’s all.

The NL East leading Atlanta Braves, who have the highest winning percentage, Division lead, and Swag Level^TM in the league, have made a transaction before tonight’s game with the Miami Marlins.

The #Braves today reinstated OF Ronald Acuña Jr. from the injured list and placed INF Kyle Farmer on the 10-day injured list, backdated to May 16, with a strained right forearm.

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 18, 2026

The Braves have reinstated Ronald Acuña from the 10-day Injured List. Ronald has been recovering from a Grade 1 hamstring strain since May 3rd. Acuña has been taking batting practice and running in the outfield during the last home stand, but have been insistent that he won’t return until he can play the outfield. However, he will not immediately be inserted into tonight’s starting lineup. But with Walt Weiss at the reins, anything could happen. He could start tomorrow on the Miami Marlins’ IBD Day. Well, they do like beaning Ronald. There’s a dad joke in there somewhere that you can write yourself.

To make way for Acuña, Kyle Farmer will join the Injured List with a strained right forearm. It’s tough to tell if this is a “strained right forearm”, or one that will require scans, X-rays and some extended time off. So the listed outfielders tonight will be Acuña, Jose Azocar, Michael Harris, and Mike Yastrzemski, although Mauricio Dubon plays where he wants.

They weren’t kidding around about Tarik Skubal’s accelerated rehabilitation timeline.  

Less than two weeks after having surgery to remove a loose body from his left elbow, the two-time defending American League Cy Young Award winner was back on a mound Monday, May 17 at Comerica Park. Unfortunately for the struggling Detroit Tigers it was the bullpen mound, but it does make a June return seem possible.  

It’s a rare ray of hope for the Tigers, who have gone 2-10 since Skubal went on the injured list May 4.  

Skubal threw long toss in the outfield before rain forced him inside for a bullpen session, according to reports. It was his second mound session since surgery. He is beginning his return to a five-day schedule of throwing.  

MLB POWER RANKINGS: Phillies are so back after firing manager for horrid start

On May 6, Skubal underwent a Nanoscope procedure, a less invasive method than traditional arthroscopic surgery. The Tigers had hoped this would fast-track his return.  

So far, it appears to be doing that, but manager A.J. Hinch refuses to be pinned down on a timeline.  

In seven starts before the injury, Skubal went 3-2 with a 2.70 ERA and a 0.95 WHIP, striking out 45 and issuing just six walks over 43 1/3 innings.  

Over the past two seasons, Skubal went 31-10 with a 2.30 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and 469 strikeouts in 387 1/3 innings. He won back-to-back AL Cy Young Awards and led the AL in ERA both years. In 2025, he posted a 2.21 ERA and a 241-to-33 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 31 starts.  

Skubal, who had Tommy John surgery in college and flexor tendon surgery in August 2022, is in his walk year. He is a free agent after this season and expected to command one of the largest pitching contracts in MBL history.  

The Tigers entered Monday's play at 20-27, battered by injuries and in a wide-open AL Central race.  

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tarik Skubal returns to mound after elbow surgery

Here are the lineups. For the Phillies:

📍 Philly#RingTheBellpic.twitter.com/cKNbgjb4fc

— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 18, 2026

For the Reds:

Back at it in Philly

Powered by @PNCBankpic.twitter.com/mSJgfpTRGP

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 18, 2026

Let’s talk about it.

Tonight’s game between the Red Sox and Royals has already been moved up by 30 minutes, and for good reason. Originally scheduled for a 7:40pm (eastern time) first pitch, we’re not set to go at 7:10pm eastern.

Why you ask? Well, let’s just say Mother Nature is cooking up a whopper in the central Great Plains. By late afternoon, conditions will support numerous severe thunderstorms firing across Kansas and southern Nebraska. And, as you might expect, severe weather in this part of the country in the spring isn’t to be trifled with.

These supercells will be capable of producing large hail, strong winds, frequent lightning, and even some destructive, long-track tornadoes. As the evening progresses, these cells will likely merge into a large squall line that races into northwest Missouri where the Red Sox will be playing the Royals and probably have just fallen to 0-18 with runners in scoring position.

Below is a simulated radar from the HRRR model showing the projected conditions each hour between 6:00pm and Midnight eastern time:

Now, here’s the good news: Kauffman Stadium is located on the southeast side of Kansas City, which should buy a little bit more time before the terrible tempest arrives.

However, the exact speed of the storm is going to depend partially on how fast / if the individual supercells in Kansas and Nebraska form into a solid line as shown on the simulated radar above. If they do, they will move quicker, arrive faster, and of course be a bigger threat to cut the game short.

On the other hand, if the supercells stay separate and don’t form into a big line, they will move slower. But here’s the catch, the separated supercells scenario is also more capable of producing larger hail, and yes, one of those destructive, long-track tornadoes.

In other words, if we get that scenario and this games goes extra innings, somebody might be visiting the land of Oz.

Mets lineup

Carson Benge – RF
Bo Bichette – SS
Juan Soto – DH
Mark Vientos – 1B
Brett Baty – 3B
Marcus Semien – 2B
A.J. Ewing – CF
Tyrone Taylor – LF
Luis Torrens – C

SP: Christian Scott (RHP)

Nationals lineup

James Wood – RF
Luis Garcia – 1B
Brady House – 3B
CJ Abrams – SS
Daylen Lile – LF
Jacob Young – CF
Jose Tena – DH
Jorbit Vivas – 2B
Drew Millas – C

SP: Jake Irvin (RHP)

Broadcast info

First pitch: 6:45 PM EDT
TV: SNY
Radio: Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM, Audacy App, 92.3 HD2

Yankees manager Aaron Boone hit on several topics on Monday ahead of the first game of a three-game series against the Toronto Blue Jays in The Bronx...

---

Gerrit Cole call-up imminent?

With Elmer Rodriguez being optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre following his start Sunday and Yovanny Cruz’s promotion, the focus turns to what that means for Cole’s return from Tommy John surgery and his 2026 season debut. 

“We’ll see, we’re kinda talking about that here today and tomorrow,” Boone said about Cole. “And we’ll make a call one way or the other.”

Boone added that they are going to talk with Cole to see what “makes the most sense” with him moving forward and if his next outing is another rehab start at Triple-A or with the Yanks.

“Just kinda everyone that’s involved from the training staff, Gerrit, just wanting to do the right thing, what’s the right timing?” Boone said. “Again, whatever we do, it’s with the long game in mind. A need doesn't necessarily mean we're bringing him back.

“If we feel like he’s absolutely ready to go and checked all the boxes, then we’ll make that call.”

With that said, he added that Cole’s next start being with the Yankees is "on the table.”

Cole last pitched on Saturday for Scranton, when he allowed one run on six hits and a walk with six strikeouts, which Boone called “mostly excellent.”

“Good, he looks really good,” Boone said of Cole’s start. “I think this outing was a little more with competition in mind, going to get guys out and stepping on it stuff-wise. I think he threw 85, 86 pitches. Finished really strong. I think I’ve watched every single pitch he’s made in rehab. I think it’s gone really well.”

On Cruz’s promotion, the manager said they “felt like we needed the extra arm in [the bullpen] today.”

“We really like the upside, obviously,” Boone said of Cruz. “Really kinda caught our eye at the end of [spring training] with some really strong outings. Obviously, it is the big arm, 100 mph, good slider, has had some success down there, has had some struggles down there. 

“Just felt like we needed the extra coverage today, felt like he was the guy in line.”

On Austin Wells' struggles

For the second-straight day, Wells is not in the Yankees lineup as the catcher is going through it at the plate, batting .164 (10-for-61) with 20 strikeouts to eight walks for a .519 OPS in his last 19 games. The skipper is giving the backstop the day, but it doesn’t seem like this will be a long-term absence.

"Obviously been scuffling this trip,” Boone said of Wells, who is 2-for-14 with seven strikeouts in his last four games. “[Sunday’s] game, the way it turned out with him getting in there for half the game, I just felt like today with the lefty, another good day to have him down."

"It's terrible,” Wells told reporters on Monday. “You can read the numbers. So it's not good."

Boone believes that despite Wells’ struggles of late, he will return to form.

“He’s always been a hitter, and he’s had some inconsistencies certainly at this level, but he’s also hit at this level,” the manager said. “He’s hit 20 homers a couple times, has shown stretches of where he’s a really tough out, there’s some power there, obviously.”

Boone noted that Wells, who won’t turn 27 until July, is “still a fairly young player in the league” and is dealing with a famously difficult position to balance hitting and defense.

“When you’re a front-line catcher, too, and there’s a lot of responsibilities on your plate, as we talk about with a lot of guys, it doesn’t just happen overnight,” Boone said, adding later, "He's catching really well, which is the No. 1 job, right?

“… He’s certainly, I think, established himself as an outstanding defensive catcher and a leader of our staff. So he’s been able to separate the two, which is very important, but I expect more out of him offensively, and we gotta keep working to try and get him on track."

Wells' biggest strength behind the plate is his framing, and he's in the 95th percentile in stealing calls in MLB.

Ben Rice could catch, but with him offering such great production at the plate – leading the league in OPS at 1.077 with 15 home runs in 42 games – and having a hand injury earlier in the month, it doesn’t appear the Yanks want to risk him behind the plate.

Asked if he expects Wells to be back in the lineup Tuesday against Blue Jays right-hander Dylan Cease, Boone said, “We’ll see.”

In the meantime, J.C. Escarra again starts in Wells' place, but his hitting isn't much to write home about either, with a .174/.224/.283 slash line for a .507 OPS in 16 games this year.

Jose Caballero ramping up

Caballero played catch ahead of the game in the first bit of baseball activities since landing on the IL with a broken finger.

“He’ll play some light catch today,” Boone said, adding he’d been taking grounders earlier. “Seems like he’s been improving every day.”

Boone said it “feels like” Caballero’s IL stint will be for the minimum of 10 days, but that is contingent on him continuing to improve.

The Mets have pitched a lot better lately. The high-leverage relievers are in an excellent run of form as a group and with Christian Scott settling in, the rotation seemed to have found some stability. But then the injury bug bit again of course and things will soon be launched back into chaos. But on the whole, this meter is a positive one.

Player	Last week	This week
Huascar Brazobán, RHP
Clay Holmes, RHP
Craig Kimbrel, RHP
Sean Manaea, LHP
Nolan McLean, RHP
Tobias Myers, RHP
Freddy Peralta, RHP
David Peterson, RHP
Brooks Raley, LHP
Christian Scott, RHP
Austin Warren, RHP
Luke Weaver, RHP
Devin Williams, RHP

Clay Holmes had been the Mets’ ace for the first month and a half of the season, but the Mets will now be without him for quite some time, as he was hit with a comebacker on Friday night and fractured his fibula. When the injury happened, he was in the midst of his first start in which he gave up three runs or more all season (which resulted in the Mets’ only loss in the past two series), which speaks to how good he has been. It’s an absolutely massive blow for the Mets.

On the flip side, David Peterson has shown a massive improvement since the Mets have started using an opener ahead of him. Peterson holds a 2.77 ERA in May across three outings and he earned the win in two of those three outings. The third one in Arizona was a game in which he gave up three runs in five innings of work, but none of them were earned. Huascar Brazobán has served as the opener most days when Peterson is slated to pitch and it has worked out well for the most part, but the game in Arizona was not kind to him either. After a clean first inning, he walked two batters to lead off the second and both of them eventually came around to score, charging him with two runs. Brazobán has otherwise been brilliant though with his most impressive outing coming against the Tigers on Wednesday in which he pitched 2 1/3 scoreless frames in a game the Mets would go on to win in extras.

Christian Scott started that game on Wednesday and needed Brazobán to record the final out of the fifth inning. Other than not going deeper into games, Scott has been solid since his horrific first start back from Tommy John surgery. But it makes sense that Carlos Mendoza is not pushing Scott too much in the early going. He’s been perfectly cromulent for what the Mets need him to do, which is help hold the rotation together as the Mets ride out this storm of injuries.

The same can’t be said for Sean Manaea; it’s hard to say what the Mets can do about him at this point because, even though his velocity keeps rising and is getting closer to his average from last season, he has not been effective in any role. The Mets pretty much only use him in low leverage and they were forced into a situation yesterday where they were down, but within striking distance, but because they had used their high leverage guys the day before, Manaea had to come in to pitch the middle innings. He gave up three additional runs (only two of them earned because of the whacky miscommunication between Tyrone Taylor and Bo Bichette in shallow left field) and almost put the game out of reach for the Mets, who were luckily able to come back, but Manaea gave them a much steeper hill to climb. That was the first time Manaea had pitched in a week and he had only thrown 1 1/3 innings in the month of May before that—a scoreless inning in Arizona and a poor, but ultimately inconsequential outing in Colorado in a game where the Mets were up big.

But ultimately the Mets did win yesterday and a gutsy performance from Devin Williams, who has been excellent, helped make it happen. He struck out the first batter he faced and then issued a walk, but then induced a double play grounder off the bat of Austin Wells to strand the ghost runner and set up the walk-off, for which Williams earned the win. That capped off a run of 5 2/3 innings over six games in the past two weeks in which Williams has gone unscored upon. Over those 5 2/3 innings, Williams has struck out seven, walked two, and earned three saves and two wins.

Williams isn’t the only one with a sparkly 0.00 ERA for this meter. Luke Weaver holds that distinction as well and earns a fireball for his incredibly clutch performance on Saturday, in which he inherited a bases loaded, nobody out jam and stranded all three Yankees runners by striking out two consecutive batters and then inducing a groundout to end the inning. He then went on to pitch a scoreless eighth inning as well. Weaver pitched a scoreless inning apiece across three other appearances in the past two weeks.

Weaver inherited that jam from Brooks Raley, who helped David Peterson navigate his way out of the sixth but then had the seventh inning get away from him a bit. But because of Weaver’s heroics, Raley’s 0.00 ERA for this meter was preserved. It was Raley who earned the win in the Mets’ other walk-off victory in the past week, which took place on Wednesday. Like Williams yesterday, Raley stranded the ghost runner in the tenth to set the stage for the walk-off in the bottom of the inning. In total, Raley pitched five innings across five games in the past two weeks and was unscored upon in all five outings. He has been the Mets’ most reliable reliever this season and his season ERA is down to 1.02.

Freddy Peralta was the starter in yesterday’s thrilling come from behind win and battled through not having his best control, limiting the damage to three runs in five innings despite issuing six walks. Peralta has not been flawless, but he has been quite good, as advertised—a pitcher who does not often go deep into the game, but almost always keeps his team in the game. Yesterday’s outing was the worst of the three he’s had so far in May. He pitched five scoreless innings in the Mets’ lopsided win against the Rockies—an impressive feat in Coors Field. He was the beneficiary of a lot of run support again on May 12 in the series opener against the Tigers in which he provided a quality start, giving up just two runs on seven hits in six innings of work while striking out seven batters, earning his third win of the season.

Austin Warren pitched the final two innings in that game against the Tigers and allowed only one hit in the appearance, striking out three batters. Warren is also part of the 0.00 ERA club this time around and what is even more impressive is that all five of his outings over the past two weeks were more than one inning. Though Warren has been ping-ponged back and forth due to the fact that he has options, he has demonstrated that he deserves to stay in the big league bullpen.

The same can’t necessarily be said for Craig Kimbrel, who remains mostly because the Mets have very few other options and they do not want to expose the future Hall of Famer to waivers despite the fact that his best days are long behind him. Kimbrel hasn’t been awful for the Mets, but he’s been inconsistent. Things began on a high note in the series opener in Colorado when Kimbrel pitched a scoreless eighth inning in a close game to set things up for Devin Williams and earned his first hold of the season. But then a few days later in the series finale he gave up a go-ahead grand slam off the bat of Jake McCarthy and took the loss. He bounced back after that and had consecutive scoreless outings in Arizona and against the Tigers on Thursday. But then he yielded an insurance run to the Yankees on Friday in the form of a Ben Rice solo homer.

To be fair to Kimbrel, he wasn’t the only one who fell victim to Coors Field. Tobias Myers had arguably his worst outing of the season in Denver, giving up four runs in the sixth inning before he was pulled after just 2/3 of an inning of work. It didn’t end up costing the Mets the game, but it forced the Mets to use their higher leverage arms in a game they planned to have Myers pitch multiple innings, which had negative downstream effects. Myers redeemed himself after that though. He pitched a scoreless inning in two of the games in Arizona, including a scoreless tenth last Friday to earn the first save of his career. He gave up an inconsequential solo homer but nothing more in Thursday’s victory that secured the Mets’ sweep of the Tigers. He then delivered two scoreless innings of work in Friday’s game to keep the Mets in it.

Myers’ outing on Thursday came in relief of Nolan McLean, who notched a quality start and earned his second win of the season. He gave up six hits across seven innings of work, but limited the damage to just three runs, striking out seven batters and walking three. McLean also delivered a quality start in Arizona in the only game the Mets won in that series—the extra-inning game that Myers saved. In that start McLean gave up just one run on three hits, striking out six and walking just one batter. With Holmes sidelined for a considerable length of time, McLean is now the undisputed ace of the staff and the Mets are going to need him to keep this brilliance up if they can hope to continue clawing their way back to .500, even as the injuries pile up.

Monday notes…

• OUR NEIGHBORS TO THE NORTH: This will be the 72nd series between the Cubs and Brewers at Wrigley Field, where the Cubs are 119-110. They have won 33 series, lost 30 and split 8. They have swept seven series, two of four games and five of three games, most recently a three-game set Aug. 2-4, 2019. The Cubs lost five of the next six series, winning only six of 20 games, capped by four losses, Aug. 10-12, 2021. They are 6-2-1 in series since then, with a record of 20-15. The Cubs are 40-31 in first games of series at home vs. the Brewers. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• AFTER DARK: The Cubs are 16-7 in night games, a winning percentage of .696. They finished last season at .563 (49-38). They are 7-1 under the lights at Wrigley Field so far. Last year, they wound up 21-11. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• PUT RUNS UP EARLY: The Cubs are 10-0 at home this year when they have scored first and 8-5 when their opponent scored first. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• THE BUSCH LEAGUE: Michael Busch, 16 games in May: .315/.465/.556 (17-for-54) with five doubles, a triple, two home runs, 16 walks and 15 RBI.

Cubs lineup:

A new homestand starts today.

Watch the game live on @WatchMarquee. pic.twitter.com/XjtEDVJ2uj

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) May 18, 2026

Brewers lineup:

Big series on deck

📺: https://t.co/eycfmE2vgm
📻: WTMJ#ThisIsMyCrew x @NicoletLawpic.twitter.com/uw7Jfn4WcO

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) May 18, 2026

Shōta Imanaga, LHP vs. Brandon Sproat, RHP

As you’ll recall, Shōta Imanaga’s second half was so bad that the Cubs didn’t use him in the deciding game of the division series in 2025.

Things have changed. Imanaga is 100 percent healthy again and in three starts this month he has been lights-out: 1.35 ERA, 0.950 WHIP, 21 strikeouts and only four walks in 20 innings.

Current Brewers, though, are hitting .329 (25-for-76) against Shōta. In particular, William Contreras has owned him — 5-for-12 with three home runs. Imanaga has been stingy with the long ball this year, just five in 54.1 innings. Keep that up and that’s a recipe for success.

With the wind blowing out tonight, this is a good test for Shōta to keep the ball in the yard.

Brandon Sproat came to the Brewers from the Mets in the Freddy Peralta deal over the offseason.

He’s had some good outings and some rough ones and has issued a lot of walks — 20 in 36 innings, an overall 13 percent walk rate, which is pretty bad. Hopefully the patient Cubs can make something out of that.

Sproat has never faced the Cubs or anyone on their active roster.

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

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.

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

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

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

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

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

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

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

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

Discuss amongst yourselves.