Category: Baseball

As I write this, late at night on an irksomely chilly May 13, in a year where (like every year now) spring seems reluctant to arrive, the Chicago White Sox are a .500 ballclub. The cold, sun-shy temps can make a person think we’re just at the start of a season, where they might be sitting at 3-3 in a still-formless barely-born year, but the calendar gives lie to that. 

We’re 42 games in. A bit more than a quarter-way through the 2026 season, and the Sox are officially mediocre. And that’s a cause for minor joy, which might be slightly sardonic but is neither muted nor insincere. 

It’s been a long time coming. Last season, the high-point was 2-2. In 2023, they were as good as 3-3 before the wheels came off. In 2024 the White Sox started strong, at 0-0, but quickly went downhill. 

In fact, the last time the Sox had a .500 record this late in the season was 2022. If you remember that year, we were perpetually .500. They hovered a game or two on either side of middling for most of the year. In a nice piece of tuneless harmony, they were never more than five games under or over .500, and even the eight-game losing streak that wrecked any hope at returning to the playoffs was balanced by going 5-2 to finish a pointless 81-81. 

It is that part — the chance of returning to the playoffs, in a weak AL Central just there for the taking — that made 2022 so brutal, and so emotionally different than this by-standings unremarkable year. Despite getting trounced by Houston in the 2021 playoffs, the defending division champ White Sox were hot preseason picks to win the World Series. Injuries, bad management, regression and terrible roster construction led to a season that never got started, until it came to a thudding finish. It’s weird and unsettling to think how not very long ago there was optimism, before the bottom fell completely out. 

It’s also strange to think that there have only been three years completely in the wilderness — and you might even say that we began to leave the wilderness last year. So the years of wandering weren’t that long, it is just that the wilderness was so thorny and snake-filled and parched and really not very pleasant to look at. Not a photogenic wilderness. More of a superfund site than a wilderness, really. 

There’s a chance that metaphor got away from me, just like the excitement we have over a .500 club could be seen as our emotions getting away from us. After all, there are a lot of negative signs, including a run differential of -12, which leads to an x-W/L of … 20-22. So only one game. But even that minor blip can be chalked up to an early-season bout of looking really bad in losses and like a normal baseball team in the wins. 

And that’s what the Sox are right now: a normal team. Not a good one, but not a bad one. Certainly not a historically bad one, as we’ve been. Not a World Series contender, but in a terrible year for the AL in general and the AL Central in particular, a goofily fringe playoff hopeful. 

Being normal when you’ve been intensely abnormal is a good feeling. It’s qualitatively different from being frustrating and mediocre when you expect more. There isn’t the agony of expectation, just the silly joy of thinking that you might, one day, have those agonized expectations again. 

If the season ended today, the Sox would be in the playoffs. It doesn’t end today, of course. But at the very least, it feels like something else might just be beginning. And no matter what the temperature is outside, no matter how unnatural our seasons might be, that feeling of a new bloom is proof that you can never hold back spring. 

1907
The lead-up to the first weekend game of the new season was full of pomp and circumstance, and the White Sox celebrated their World Series win over the crosstown Cubs. But after the parade into the park, as the pennant itself was being raised, the wooden flagpole at South Side Park snapped in half.

The heavy winds that ruined the climax of the pennant ceremony portended trouble for the day’s scheduled game against the Senators, as rains washed the action out after just four Washington batter.

The ill omen did not, in fact, spell a bad season for the White Sox. While the South Siders failed to repeat their AL pennant win, they finished 87-64-6 and led the AL for the majority of the season before falling to third place. At the time of the deluge that wiped out the game after the aborted ceremony, the White Sox were 17-8 and up by three games in the pennant race.

1914
White Sox starter Jim Scott threw a no-hitter, with one problem — the game against Washington remained tied, 0-0, through nine. To start the 10th, future Black Sox ringleader Chick Gandil broke up Scott’s no-hitter with a single, and the game was lost when the next batter, Howie Shanks, tripled Gandil home.

The game marked the first of three nine-inning no-hitters Ray Schalk caught during his 17 seasons with the White Sox.

1940
For the second time, Jimmie Foxx hit a home run over the Comiskey Park roof. It was the fifth roof shot in Comiskey history, all so far coming from opponents, and Foxx became the first player to accomplish the feat twice.

Foxx had two homers in the game, the first being the roof shot, that came in the second inning. The slugger also homered in the top of the 10th inning, the eventual game-winning margin of a 7-6 Boston win. Both home runs came off of Sox starter Johnny Rigney, who went 9 1⁄3 innings and surrendered all seven Bosox runs.

Before home plate was moved up eight feet in the 1980s, only two players every put two homers over the roof: Foxx, and his teammate in this 1940 game, Ted Williams.

1943
Buck Ross threw a one-hitter at the Yankees, giving up a single to Nick Etten with one out in the second inning but shutting New York down from there. The White Sox kept the outcome in some suspense, failing to crack onto the scoreboard until the seventh inning, when Wally Moses and Jimmy Grant tapped out run-scoring singles.

Ross would end up 11-7 in 1943 — his only winning record in 10 MLB seasons. Despite seven complete games and a 3.19 ERA, the righthander would earn just 1.1 WAR in the pitching-rich 1943 season.

1963
White Sox pitcher Ray Herbert fired his fourth consecutive shutout, beating the Tigers, 3-0, at Comiskey Park. Herbert allowed six hits and struck out seven. His shutout streak began on May 1, when he blanked the Orioles. That was followed by shutouts over the Senators and the Yankees. In the shutout stretch, Herbert only allowed 15 hits in 36 innings, with 22 strikeouts.

In the previous season, Ray won 20 games and was the winning pitcher for the American League in the second 1962 All-Star Game, played at Wrigley Field.

1967
White Sox pitching great Gary Peters authored his second career one-hitter, beating the Angels, 3-1, at Comiskey Park. It was the nightcap in a doubleheader sweep. Peters allowed only a second-inning home run to former Sox first baseman Bill “Moose” Skowron (traded to California by the White Sox just eight days earlier), and struck out 10. This was also the final win of a 10-game personal winning streak for Peters.

Peters made the All-Star team for the second time in his career that season, going 16-11 with a 2.28 ERA over 260 innings pitched.

1977
The White Sox hammered Cleveland, 18-2, in a game that started at 10:30 a.m. in connection with a promotion for the McDonald’s Egg McMuffin sandwich. First baseman Jim Spencer tied the franchise mark with eight RBIs on the day, going 3-for-3 with two home runs, including a grand slam along with a two-run shot and a two-RBI single. Spencer drove in eight runs in a game again later that season, against Minnesota.

Only four other players have driven in eight runs in a game for the White Sox, and if it needs be said, Spencer was the only one to do it twice — and fewer than two months apart, at that!

1998
Greg Norton became one of only 13 players to hit two home runs in the same game off of Randy Johnson. Norton homered in the third and fifth innings of a 5-3 win at Comiskey Park, going 2-for-3 in the game, with three RBIs.

2005
White Sox speedster Scott Podsednik became just one of eight players in White Sox history to swipe four bases in a game, doing so against the Orioles at U.S. Cellular Field. Just a week earlier, he grabbed four bases at Toronto. And in almost one year’s time, on May 1, 2006, Podsednik would accomplish the feat for a third time. Scotty Pods is the only player in franchise history to steal four bases in a game twice, much less three times.

2017
As part of an eight-run eighth inning against the Padres, White Sox third baseman Todd Frazier scored from third on an infield pop-up! Tyler Saladino popped up a bunt attempt, which was caught by San Diego’s Wil Myers near first base. Myers then turned his back and hesitated, and when Frazier saw that, he broke for the plate. The return throw was off-line and high, and Frazier slid in toscore. It delighted the White Sox home crowd, as part of a 9-3 win.  Fifteen White Sox players batted in the big inning, racking up four hits, five walks, a hit batsman and an error.

On Tuesday, radio ratings connoisseur Mike Felger dropped this whopper as it pertains to Mike Trout and the Red Sox:

The best part of the clip comes right in the middle, when Felger rattles off the reasons his slippery source believes a blockbuster trade of this magnitude is possible. All are significant enough for a bullet point:

• The Red Sox think Trout’s a better leader than Bregman
• He’ll hit a bunch of home runs at Fenway Park
• The Angels like Jarren Duran and Brayan Bello

That first point is a massive peek behind the curtain into the Civil War between Alex Cora’s people and Craig Breslow’s people. If you’re like me, and you believe that Alex Cora drove both Bregman pursuits, the comparison between Bregman and Trout as leaders should get your antenna up.

When Felger mentions this nugget, he’s reading from his source, meaning somebody went out of their way to make that comparison. Is it possible they’re plugged into the Breslow side of the operation and those guys aren’t pleased they had to bend to Cora’s way of thinking for a year and a half on that front? Remember, the Red Sox were on the verge of trading for Nolan Arenado in February of 2025 when John Henry swooped in at the last moment with his cigar and ponied up the funds for Bregman. Could this have been a Cora victory over Breslow that some in the organization still aren’t happy about?

But before I get lost down that wormhole, I want to turn back and address bullet point No. 3, because that’s the one directly tied to the money, which is what really matters here.

If the Angels really are interested in Jarren Duran and Brayan Bello, then we’re well on our way to a match because those are guys with limited surplus value going forward. You need guys like this in play because the immediate issue with any Trout trade talk is the enormous negative value that comes attached with his contract. He’s getting paid $37.1 million per year all the way through the end of 2030, which means there’s about $175 million to go prorated out as of mid May 2026.

Now consider that Mike Trout’s games played over the last five seasons look like this:

2021: 36

2022: 119

2023: 82

2024: 29

2025: 130

YIKES!

In short, any deal involving Mike Trout is going to require the Angels picking up a hefty portion of his remaining contract. It’s just a matter of how much. But additionally, it’s also one of the reasons the Angels may be motivated to move Trout right now. His hot start in 2026 could easily be their last best chance to get out from under the final few seasons of his mammoth deal, which again, kind of gives the timing of this rumor legs. (The Angels having the worst record in baseball at 16-28 and just a 1.1% chance to make the playoffs according to Fangraphs should also get conversations moving.)

It gets even better, though, when you consider the Red Sox have Masataka Yoshida on their books. He not only represents dead money in the short-term, but he also happens to be one of the five players in the current outfield / DH logjam that’s making Breslow look like a fool on a daily basis. And the fact that we’re talking about the short-term here is key, as that the timeframe the Angels would be more willing to take on some dead money, while Craig Breslow needs to get rid of it on his books to improve his job security.

In other words, Yoshida represents the possibility to cut into how much money the Angels have to eat in a complex deal. And interestingly enough, the framework of this type of exchange has history. In 2015, when the Blue Jays traded for Troy Tulowitzki, all of the following factors were in play:

• The Blue Jays were getting an injury prone superstar with five more years left on his contract.
• Toronto demanded the Rockies take back Jose Reyes in the deal because he was dead money and that was going to offset some of Tulowitzki’s contract the Rockies didn’t want to pay. (Sound familiar?)
• The 2015 Blue Jays were severely underachieving (under .500 into July) before the Tulowitzki trade helped them catch fire and win 93 games (and the AL East).
• The 2015 Blue Jays were run by Alex Anthopoulos, who, like Craig Breslow, had his job on the line and needed to make a big splash to shake things up. He went after the waning superstar player who had spent his entire career in one organization, and it turned out to be a spark that helped Toronto go to the ALCS in back to back seasons.

So against that backdrop, let’s take Duran’s money, Bello’s money, and Yoshida’s money and compare it to Trout’s year by year. For the table below, I assumed a salary for Duran of $10 million in 2027 and $13 million in 2028. We don’t know those exact figures yet because of how the MLB arbitration process works, but we have to put some sort of ballpark figures in there for the exercise to work.

Anyway, here they are added up and then compared to Trout’s total each year:

For the first three years, we’re really, really close! You’re only talking a difference of about $12 million total between now and the end of 2028, which, when you’re dealing with a mega contract like Trout’s, is peanuts.

I have no idea if Felger’s source is legit, but I can tell you this much: When you add Yoshida to the conversation, they got the math right. All of this is to say, I don’t think they’re totally pulling this rumor from their rear end.

But of course, even if they’re not, there are so many other hurdles to jump through on a project like this. The Tulowitzki deal referenced above took months of discussions before the sides aligned. Any potential Trout deal would still need to iron out the money in 2029 and 2030, the exact mix of secondary players, and the fact that Trout — unlike Tulowitzki — has a no-trade clause in place.

But while we’re this deep down the rabbit hole, it’s worth it to take a moment to dream. Jumping back up to that second bullet point in Felger’s clip, Trout would indeed hit a bunch of home runs at Fenway Park. Despite those ugly games played numbers over the last handful of years, if you extrapolate out Trout’s home run totals since the start of 2020 (130 in 491 games), they average out to 43 over 162 games. He’s exactly the the type of big right-handed stick the Sox need in the middle of this lineup.

Also, take a look at these spray charts below from Fangraphs. Trout’s renaissance in 2026 has come with increased slugging to the pull side, which makes me extra curious as to how Felger’s source phrased “he will hit a bunch of home runs at Fenway Park.” Are they referring to his spray chart in 2026 in addition to his raw power? Almost all of Trout’s extra base hits in 2026 have gone to the pull side whereas he’s been more of an all fields power guy throughout his career. Here’s just 2026 compared to the last five years mixed together.

There are also other benefits to a theoretical Trout trade, including how it completely fixes the outfield / DH logjam overnight. Instead of figuring out how you get Wilyer Abreu, Roman Anthony, Jarren Duran and Masataka Yoshida all in the lineup from the left side, you all of a sudden have four guys in Trout, Abreu, Anthony and Rafaela who fit perfectly into the three outfield / one DH arrangement, and all of them are under your control for the rest of the decade. Two guys batting from the right side, two guys batting from the left side, and Trout can spend more time at DH, which will probably help prolong his career at this stage.

Then there’s the lineup. Can you imagine some combination of Anthony, Trout, Abreu and Contreras batting in the top four slots of the lineup each night? I’m sorry, but opening the first inning with Roman Anthony and Mike Trout every game would be the biggest asses-in-seats move this franchise has made this decade.

Additionally, I also believe that if Trout moves somewhere, his new team is going to to see a bump in his production. Remember how, over the last couple of offseasons, much of the fanbase bemoaned the idea of Nolan Arenado possibly coming to Boston because he bat is cooked? Well, since moving to Arizona, Nolan Arenado is hitting .274 with a .781 OPS. Both are his highest marks in four years. (He also hit a clutch double for the D-Backs in the ninth inning last night and continues to contribute in key spots.)

The point here is that both guys are veterans closer to the end than the beginning who have never seen deep playoff success. They’re going to be some of the hungriest wolves in the pack if you put them in an environment where they have a real chance to win.

Lastly, from a pure theater perspective, how awesome would it be to have Mike Trout and Aaron Judge in the same division on the Red Sox and Yankees? You’re talking about two of the greatest right handed hitters of all time who are both 34-years-old and have each never won a World Series. The sense of legacy altering urgency on the line for both guys would inject something deeply significant into the rivalry we haven’t seen in a while.

And at the end of the day, this is the magic of a Mike Trout trade fantasy. It allows John Henry and the Red Sox to move the needle with real, palpable buzz in ratings, tickets sales, and team interest while not having to part ways with any of the high upside, young whippersnappers fans are already growing quite fond of here. It’s just a matter of figuring out if this is one of those times to pull the trigger in the real world when the formula in the spreadsheet says you shouldn’t.

Here's what happened in Mets Land on Wednesday, in case you missed it...

• Carson Benge committed a costly error, but came through with his first career walk-off hit, scoring A.J. Ewing in the 10th
• Manager Carlos Mendozapraised the "resilient" Benge for not letting the early miscue define his night
• Christian Scott didn't have his best stuff, but "fought" as the bullpen came up huge
• Benge and Scott spoke about the Mets' "indescribable" comeback, extra-innings win
• X-rays on Juan Soto's foot come back negative, and he's 'day-to-day' after fouling a ball off his foot
• Francisco Alvarezlanded on the IL with a right meniscus tear
• Mendoza called it a "big blow" to lose the catcher to surgery and weeks on the shelf
• WATCH: Down on the farm, Mitch Voit, Jacob Reimer, Eli Serrano III produced highlights
• WATCH: Ewing reflects on big league debut in an exclusive interview with Steve Gelbs

We’re going to try something a little different this time around on Sequence of the Week. Normally, we select a single at-bat or plate appearance from a given game to highlight the sequencing and execution from a Yankees pitcher. However, there were two encounters from the Yankees’ most recent win against the Orioles on Tuesday that stood out as the combined most pivotal moment from that game. Will Warren Houdini’d himself out of a huge jam by getting Taylor Ward to fly out and Adley Rutschman to ground into the inning-ending double play, so I thought we could look at the back-to-back ABs in a single analysis.

We join Warren with no outs in the bottom of the third. The offense just spotted him a 6-0 lead after scoring five in the top half of the frame, but some lousy defense is on the verge of handing it all back. Coby Mayo drew a leadoff walk, and consecutive throwing errors on ground balls by Jeremiah Jackson and Gunnar Henderson resulted in the bases being loaded with no outs — Ward and Rutschman the next two batters due up. We’ll start with Ward.

After getting traded from the Angels to the Orioles in the offseason, Ward transformed from a 36 home run power hitter into the most passive hitter in MLB. He generally will not swing unless a pitch is over the middle of the plate, which has led to Ward placing in the 100th percentile in walk and chase rates. The flip side of this extreme selectivity is that you can steal quite a few called strikes on either side of the plate as the opposing pitcher. Warren tries to leverage this tendency with a first pitch sinker. If Warren can start a sinker down the middle, he should bait Ward into swinging, allowing the pitch’s break down and in to move the ball away from the barrel and induce weak contact if not a whiff.

Unfortunately for Warren, he starts this pitch too low — an aiming point that isn’t going to tempt Ward into a swing. Ward leaves the bat on his shoulder as the sinker falls harmlessly below the zone for ball one.

Warren and Wells stick with a similar process of setting up down the middle and allowing the pitch’s movement to do the work. This time, they opt for a sweeper — if Warren can adjust his aiming point a little higher, they might be able to fool Ward into swinging this time, only for the pitch to break in the opposite direction as the previous sinker.

Instead, this pitch exits Warren’s hand aimed in off the plate meaning Ward decides not to swing early, only to watch the absurd foot-and-a-half of glove-side break sweep the pitch all the way across the plate to whisper across the outside edge for a called strike.

Given the execution of the previous pitch, Warren chooses to double up on the sweeper. Perhaps if he can start this one a little more over the plate, he’ll be able to extract a very rare chase from Ward.

Warren throws a pretty similar pitch to the prior sweeper, this one just a little higher and farther outside. However, given that it exits his hand looking like a ball above the zone, Ward once again eliminates the pitch early and earns the ball two call.

By this point, it seems like Warren and Wells have caught onto the fact that Ward simply is not going to offer at anything except something down the middle. It appears they change tack from getting Ward to swing to trying to pepper the fringes of the zone for called strikes. The first selection of this new strategy is to try backdooring a four-seamer for strike two.

Warren is just a couple inches away from the perfect pitch, but this four-seamer doesn’t quite have enough arm-side run to bring it back into the zone and the result is ball three.

Warren is one ball away from walking in a run. Ward and everyone else in the ballpark know what is coming here — a fastball in the zone. However, even with the count leverage firmly in Ward’s favor, Warren knows that if he can land a heater in the zone but away from the heart, it should result in a called strike.

That’s exactly what transpires, Warren dotting the inside edge of the zone for strike two. He once again uses Ward’s selectivity against him. Whereas other hitters might look to pull this pitch, Ward leaves the bat on his shoulder as it exits Warren’s hand aimed inside rather than down the middle.

Warren has done well to work his way back to a full count. He and Wells look to replicate the previous pitch and punch Ward out looking.

Instead, Warren throws the first meatball of the encounter, and Ward finally swings. Luckily for Warren, Ward is a little late and works underneath this four-seamer, sending a lazy fly out to right too shallow to get the runner in from third. This is where Warren’s offseason work to improve the shape of his four-seamer pays off. Last season, this pitch would have fallen off its vertical plane and likely resulted in an opposite field extra-base hit. However, with Warren adding induced vertical break to the four-seamer, this pitch holds its plane above the barrel of Ward’s bat and thus avoids damaging contact.

Here’s the full sequence:

That’s the all important first out, but Warren still has his work cut out for him. Stepping to the plate is the resurgent Rutschman, back to his best after two years in the wilderness. He’s the Orioles’ best player at the moment and spells double trouble for Warren given he can bat from the left side as a switch hitter.

The book on Rutschman says that you can reliably steal a first pitch called strike. Since his debut in 2022, Rutschman has the second-lowest first pitch swing rate in MLB behind only Steven Kwan at a paltry 12.7 percent. Particularly if you start him off with a breaking ball that begins as a ball, you’re pretty much guaranteed strike one.

Wouldn’t you know it, that’s exactly what Warren does here. He starts a sweeper aimed at the opposite batter’s box, Rutschman gives up early, and the glove-side movement breaks it pretty much to the middle of the zone for a backdoor called strike one.

One of the core tenets of pitching is to make strikes look like balls and balls look like strikes. Warren employed the former approach with the first pitch sweeper and now goes to the latter approach with this 0-1 changeup.

It’s a perfect pitch, looking like a fastball down Broadway before its late downward movement drops it off the table. Rutschman swings early and over the top, pounding the changeup on the ground to second for the desperately needed inning-ending double play to strand the bases loaded.

Here’s the full sequence:

I love how these two sequences showcased the homework that Warren, Wells, and I’m sure the rest of the Yankees pitching room does before every game. They exploited the Ward’s general selectivity and Rutschman’s passivity on the first pitch to get into better counts. With Max Fried departing Wednesday’s start early with elbow discomfort and Carlos Rodón and Gerrit Cole coming off elbow surgery rehabs, the Yankees need all the starting pitching depth they can get. Warren has been a top-20 pitcher in the league by FIP so far, giving the Yankees not only depth but a bona fide impact starter in the rotation.

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It’s the rubber match of what’s been a very competitive three-game set between the NL West-leading San Diego Padres and the host Milwaukee Brewers, who sit second in the NL Central. 

The Padres put an end to Milwaukee’s five-game win streak last time out, and now seek their fourth win in five games.

However, my Padres vs. Brewers predictions and free MLB picks gives the edge to the home team, particularly with the matchup on the mound.

Who will win Padres vs Brewers today: Brewers moneyline (-138)

The Milwaukee Brewers will look to win the series on the strength of lefty Kyle Harrison, who’s 3-1 with a 2.41 ERA.

Harrison has been solid for the Brew Crew, having allowed two earned runs or less in all seven starts this season.

That’s a big advantage against San Diego Padres righty Griffin Canning, who was rocked in his last start, chased after 4 1/3 innings against the Cardinals after surrendering seven hits and six earned runs.

Milwaukee is eighth in runs scored, while San Diego ranks Bottom 7 in baseball. The Friars have been even less potent of late, scoring just 15 runs across their last six games.

COVERS INTEL: Harrison has been brilliant in day starts in 2026, posting a stellar 1.56 ERA in 17 1/3 innings while holding opponents to a .186 average.

Padres vs Brewers Over/Under pick: Under 8.5 (-115)

These teams have combined for nine runs or more just three times in the last 10 meetings, with the Under cashing in six of the last eight contests.

The Brewers have hit the Under with frequency, posting a 7-2-1 record in their last 10 overall. Not to be outdone, the Padres have an Under record of 8-2 over their last 10 tilts.

These trends make sense, given Milwaukee is 20th in OPS on the year while San Diego is 28th.

Padres vs Brewers odds

• Moneyline: Padres +133 | Brewers -138
• Run line: Padres +1.5 | Brewers -1.5
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 | Under 8.5

Padres vs Brewers trend

Each of San Diego’s last six games after playing the previous day have hit the Under. Find more MLB betting trends for Padres vs. Brewers.

How to watch Padres vs Brewers and game info

Padres vs Brewers latest injuries

Padres vs Brewers weather

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The Dodgers offense, something still to be talked about in negative tones.

After the second consecutive World Series win, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told his wife that could alleviate some stress in April and May. His wife didn’t believe him, and his theory has not panned out so far this spring.

“I should’ve gotten it before”, he told Maddie Lee and the L.A. Times on Tuesday.

“What we know for a fact is every guy is going to have ups and downs,” Friedman said. “And this is some of the randomness of baseball. Sometimes those happen spread out, which allows your offense to thrive, and sometimes they happen concurrently, and that’s when you go into some real offensive lulls. And I feel like that’s more random than anything.”

Random or not, it has been a rough watch. Shohei Ohtani homered on Tuesday, but was out of Wednesday night’s lineup, and is expected to be out of Thursday’s lineup too. Manager Dave Roberts said the homer didn’t change his mind about the week going forward.

“I don’t like the bait and switch,” Roberts said. “Sometimes that might’ve been something where, you know you get a couple days off of hitting, and it might have freed him up [Tuesday]. You just never know. To go back on a pact or decision that we came upon or I came upon, I don’t like that.”

Former Dodger Jason Heyward has joined the team as a special assistant. Heyward recently retired, and stated that in his last few years of playing, he really became interested in the front office side of the game.

“As I came down the stretch over the last few years, it was watching different roles, having to make bullpen moves, having to make lineup matchups and things like that,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Let’s continue to have conversations on those and see what I can bring as a former player to that side of things.’”

For now Heyward’s role is fluid, although he was with the Dodgers team on Wednesday. Jack Harris of the California Post has more details on the hire here.

Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic also has some notes on Heyward’s rejoining the organization. Heyward is expected to be with the big-league club though the weekend and will be spending time with some of the Dodgers affiliates. He also could work with some of the young outfielders in the organization as he is expected to be on the field at times.

“He’s got the clubhouse part covered,” manager Dave Roberts said. “So part of it is working with the front-office guys and getting to see the other side of things and how it operates. (It’s) going to be very helpful for his growth and also for the organization.”

Below is a loop of this morning’s HRRR weather model simulating conditions over the northeast U.S. between Noon and Midnight:

As you can see, there’s going to be a strong southerly fetch of moisture off the Atlantic into eastern New England for several hours during the afternoon and early evening. However, around sunset, the orientation of the ocean fetch begins to change, and as it gradually gains more of an easterly component, the swath of rain will pivot and shift north.

The big question for today is does this shift occur quickly enough for the Red Sox and Phillies to wait out a bunch of rain and play the rubber match of their series tonight. The Red Sox are certainly hoping that’s the case as they have the pitching advantage on paper with Ranger Suarez going up against Jesus Luzardo, but as of now I’m thinking it’s more like than not the game gets postponed. There’s just way too much opportunity for banding to keep reforming over eastern Massachusetts over and over again this evening.

If the game does get rained out, the clubs will have to burn a mutual off day as the Phillies are not scheduled to come back to Fenway Park again this season. Interestingly enough though, they actually have one next Thursday, May 21st.

Talk about this and whatever else you’d like as the day unfolds, and as always, be good to one another.

SNY | Alex Smith: The Yankees lost for the sixth time in their last eight games on Wednesday, and that’s not even the worst news: left-hander Max Fried had to leave the game after three innings with left elbow posterior soreness. The pitcher himself told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com that it felt like a hyperextension and revealed that the injury made it difficult to warm up before each inning. Despite vowing to make his next scheduled start, this looks like an injured list situation. Stay tuned.

ESPN | Jorge Castillo: Aaron Judge is once again putting up numbers that would appear incredible for others, but seem pedestrian to him. But having recently celebrated his 34th birthday a few weeks ago, the amount of times he’ll be able to lead the charge in a championship run is dwindling. He’s aware of this, but even as the team outwardly displays more urgency than they have in years with their aggressive roster decisions, Judge insists that the level of urgency is the same as its ever been, and will be so long as he plays.

CBS Sports | Rotowire: Giancarlo Stanton, currently out with a calf strain, hasn’t been cleared to start running as the MRI he recently underwent didn’t show enough healing in the area. The slugger has been swinging the bat, but he won’t be able to return unless he can run, and he’s not there yet. He was replaced by Jasson Domínguez on the roster, but since the ‘Martian’ also went down, Spencer Jones has been playing in their place and figures to continue to do so until Stanton regains full health.

NJ.com | Randy Miller ($): Speaking of Domínguez, his return isn’t imminent, but there is some good news to report. He received a PRP shot in his ailing left shoulder, which he hurt last week while crashing against the wall while making a catch, and has shown no concussion-like symptoms whatsoever. He’s still a few weeks away, though.

The Giants beat the Dodgers 29-2 on Wednesday, with their two best players combining to hit 8-8 with a home run, four doubles, four walks, and a stolen base.

Unfortunately, that was in the Arizona Complex League. In the slightly more competitive, and slightly more meaningful Major League Baseball game, the Giants lost to the Dodgers 4-0.

It was a game where San Francisco got up to all their old tricks: feckless at-bats, wasted opportunities, heaps of strikeouts, and, of course, amateur hour blunders.

They wasted no time putting on that ugly show that we’ve seen so many times this year. In the first inning, Heliot Ramos drew a two-out walk against Shohei Ohtani (who is apparently the best pitcher in the world now), and Rafael Devers smacked a single to put runners at the corners.

But Bryce Eldridge, with the unenviable task of playing sporadically and seemingly only against aces, struck out on three pitches. It was the first out made with runners in scoring position for the Giants, and they would repeat that feat six more times. They would not get any hits.

From there, Ohtani mostly dominated the Giants. He retired the side in order in the second, and again in the fourth, and again in the fifth. The second of those two occurrences featured three strikeouts and just 12 pitches.

But the authentic sign that this was the Real Giants, and not those pesky imposters who somehow entered the day with four wins in five attempts against the defending champs, came in the seventh inning. The Giants already trailed 4-0, so they weren’t looking to erase the lead so much as get back into the game, so they’d have a chance against whatever non-Ohtani pitchers awaited them.

They gave themselves a chance, when Willy Adames smacked a one-out single, and Matt Chapman followed with one of his own, putting runners at first and second with just one out. Ohtani’s pitch count had crested triple digits, and the Giants were knocking on the door.

But they wouldn’t be the Giants if they didn’t do something silly, and not just in the outfield celebration way. Today’s brand of silliness? Adames forgetting how many outs there were, and taking off with reckless abandon when Drew Gilbert toasted a ball to Andy Pages, who could have jogged the ball back to the infield and still turned the double play.

Inexplicable.

Adames did not shy away from blunder, telling reporters after the game that, “That obviously is a mistake that can’t happen. That mistake is probably the most ashamed that I would feel in a game. I know that that can’t happen. It was my fault. That’s on me.”

Mistakes happen, but it’s hard not to read too much into it when the mistake is one of that level, from a player of that stature. It feels a touch emblematic for a season that has spent more time going off the rails than coming back on them. And given everything else that has happened this season — and what we know of the ship Buster Posey likes to run — it’s hard not to notice the optics here.

Meanwhile, Robbie Ray’s meatballs proved a tonic for LA’s struggling offense. Namely, for the players who have been struggling the most. The scoring began in the third inning when, a day after Giants ninth-spot hitter Eric Haase hit a pair of dingers, Dodgers ninth-spot hitter Santiago Espinal went deep, on a 2-1 fastball that could not have caught more of the heart of the plate if it’s name was “tee.” And with that, Espinal rounded the bases in a slow trot for the first time in 21 months.

Four pitches later, in the exact same count, Ray threw the exact same pitch, this time to Mookie Betts. The future Hall of Famer has, shockingly, been one of baseball’s worst hitters this year, and if he breaks out in the coming weeks, we’ll be able to look back at this moment as why. It was a home run derby pitch, and a home run derby outcome.

Los Angeles would score their other two runs just an inning later, when Kyle Tucker led off with a double and scored on a single by Teoscar Hernández who, in keeping with the theme, is having a career-worst year at the plate. In doubling down with the theme, Hernández moved into scoring position on a passed ball by not-Patrick Bailey, and took third when Miguel Rojas hit a single, his first hit since April 26. Hernández would then score on an Alex Call sacrifice fly.

In all, Ray would make it through just 4.2 innings on the night, ceding seven hits and two walks, while only striking out two. He simply wasn’t fooling anyone, and the lone bright spot of the game was how strong the pitching was once Ray left the mound, as Joel Peguero and Tristan Beck handled the rest of the game with ease.

But other than that, it was as ugly as ugly can be. And the way the season has gone, it just might stay that ugly until Josuar González and Luis Hernández save them in a handful of years…

Until then, though, there’s a series to win tomorrow. And that would be a nice thing.

During their weeks-long slump as an offense, the Dodgers’ primary problems were simple.

They weren’t slugging the ball, and they weren’t capitalizing on situational opportunities.

In a 4-0 win over the Giants on Wednesday, they finally found a way to do both.

On a night Shohei Ohtani continued his dominant start to the season as a pitcher –– spinning seven scoreless innings with eight strikeouts to lower his ERA to 0.82 –– the Dodgers’ Ohtani-less lineup found a way to supply him with plenty of support.

In the third inning, Santiago Espinal and Mookie Betts hit back-to-back home runs, marking just the second time this year the Dodgers had gone deep in consecutive at-bats.

Then, in the fourth, they doubled the lead with a couple of manufactured runs, getting an RBI single from Teoscar Hernández and a sacrifice fly from Alex Call.

It wasn’t exactly a breakout performance from the Dodgers’ offense, which was the primary culprit behind the team’s 9-14 skid entering Wednesday.

But it didn’t need to be given the way Ohtani pitched, with the two-way star turning in his best performance on the mound in a season that has included nothing but gems (he has gone at least six innings, and given up no more than two earned runs in all seven outings this year).

What it means

At a bare minimum, the Dodgers (25-18) avoided what would have been a season-long five-game losing streak, snapping their second four-game skid in the last two weeks with the kind of solid all-around performance that has evaded them too often lately.

The team is still in second place in the National League West, a half-game behind the San Diego Padres.

They are still nowhere near playing the kind of baseball they expect, either, as they failed to score in their final four trips to the plate Wednesday.

But, Wednesday could nonetheless be a start, preserving their chance to salvage a four-game series split against the Giants (18-25) this week while dialing down some of the simmering frustration that had accompanied their recent skid.

Who’s hot

Since dropping him out of the two-spot in the batting order, the Dodgers are finally starting to see the version of Kyle Tucker they expected when they signed him to a $240 million contract this offseason.

On Wednesday, Tucker doubled in each of his first two at-bats, the latter helping spark the club’s two-run rally in the fourth.

Over his last 19 games (coinciding with his move down to the middle of the order), he is now batting .297 with 10 doubles and a .910 OPS.

Who’s not

Any lineup that has to face Ohtani right now.

The Giants became the latest victims, struggling to even put the right-hander under stress during his season-high 105-pitch, four-hit outing.

Instead, Ohtani attacked them with triple-digit heaters (topping out at 100.6 mph). He put them away with a flurry of wicked sweepers (they went 1-for-11 against the pitch with four strikeouts).

And then, as if he needed any help, they even gifted him the final out of his night, when Willy Adames (apparently forgetting how many outs there were in the seventh) got doubled off at second base on a routine fly ball for an inning-ending double-play.

Ohtani’s 0.82 ERA remains the best in the majors, and is the second-lowest by a Dodgers pitcher seven starts into a season; trailing only Fernando Valenzuela’s 0.29 mark to begin his historic 1981 campaign.

Up next

The Dodgers will try to keep the momentum going in Thursday’s series finale, when Emmet Sheehan (2-1, 4.79 ERA) squares off against San Francisco right-hander Landen Roupp (5-3, 3.09 ERA).

For the second night in a row, the D-Backs turned to a starting pitcher looking to return to form. Last night, that strategy worked out poorly and introduced more questions than answers. Tonight, it went substantially better as Ryne Nelson worked seven strong innings of three-run ball on just four hits. Nelson was inarguably the team’s ace last season, compiling 3.4 bWAR in 23 starts with a 3.39 ERA and 1.071 WHIP. There was probably a little regression/good luck hidden inside those top line numbers as evidenced by a 3.71 FIP and 3.93 expected ERA, but I’d defy anyone to prove to me that they expected the kind of nightmarish start Nelson has turned in so far. Entering play tonight, he had compiled -0.7 bWAR in 8 starts with an unsightly 5.68 ERA and 1.263 WHIP. There’s a worthwhile deep dive to be done on what’s causing his struggles, but that can be saved for another time. Tonight, he looked like the pitcher from last year, managing not to walk a single batter in his outing – a major issue for him so far this year. His other bugaboo emerged though – allowing home runs – as all three of his runs came on one swing from Jake Burger who just snuck a ball on the right side of the right field foul pole to open the game’s scoring in the fifth.

The bigger struggle continues to be the sputtering Arizona offense. They had absolutely no trouble in creating traffic on the basepaths with 10 hits and 8 walks. There were just two innings when the D-Backs’ offense was retired in order in the entire game. The trouble came when they tried to convert those baserunners into runs as the offense was a woeful 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position and stranded an astounding 13 baserunners for the game. That dynamic was the dominant storyline heading into the top of the ninth inning as Arizona was 1-for-11 entering the inning while trailing by a single run. But the offense finally found their swing at the end of the game with Carroll immediately putting himself into scoring position with a leadoff double and then taking third on a passed ball by Danny Jansen. Geraldo Perdomo earned a walk and Nolan Arenado worked one of the at-bats of the year by seeing eight pitche before punching the ninth into the left-center gap to score Carroll and put both Perdomo and himself into scoring position. Ildemaro Vargas then broke up his 0-for-4 day by dunking a ball into shallow left field to plate both runners and give the D-Backs their first lead of the game.

This whole night felt like it had the makings for a season-altering momentum shift. Nelson had his best outing of the year, the offense finally found some late-inning magic with runners in scoring position, and there were plenty of positive signs for individual players like Marte. And then the bottom of the ninth inning happened. Paul Sewald, who I’m contractually obligated to mention was a perfect 9-for-9 in save opportunities so far this season, entered and quickly retired both Seager and Carter, sandwiched around a Jung single to put him and the team on the precipice of a series win. Sadly, the game and inning quickly unraveled as Sewald hung a sweeper in the middle of the plate to Duran that plated Jung, walked Osuna on five pitches, and then left a sweeper over the heart of the plate for Burger to deliver the final nail in the blown save by scoring Duran. That was evidently enough torture for Torey Lovullo who opted to bring in Juan Morillo to try and force extra innings, but Jansen, the backup catcher hitting just above his weight rocketed the first ball he saw past the dive of Arenado to walk it off for the Rangers.

So, instead of a much-needed series win that might act as a successful blueprint moving forward, the team is left with even more questions than answers. It seems as if no amount of lineup tinkering or prospect call-ups has been able to shake the Arizona offense out of its malaise and the team’s pitching (both in the bullpen and in the rotation) have significant question marks themselves. It’s difficult not to be disappointed in the team’s record to this point. There have been some imminently winnable games that have escaped them that could really come back to haunt them by the end of the season as we saw last year. There will be plenty of time to think on all of those questions on the long plane ride to Colorado and tomorrow’s off day. Here’s hoping they’re able to find some answers at altitude this weekend.

The past 24 hours have delivered the full Shohei Ohtani experience: a home run at the plate on Tuesday followed by dominance on the mound on Wednesday.

The back-to-back National League MVP took advantage of having the next two days off from hitting, throwing a season-high 105 pitches over seven scoreless innings in which he allowed just four hits with eight strikeouts, giving the Dodgers bullpen a much-needed reprieve in their 4-0 win over the San Francisco Giants. The victory snapped a four-game losing streak for the Dodgers.

Ohtani's ERA is now 0.82 — the best in the big leagues — through his seven starts this season.

Shohei Ohtani. Gr8tness. pic.twitter.com/lOTiNZdWmX

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 14, 2026

Ohtani's sweeper was particularly effective throughout the outing as he used it for half of his strikeouts on the night and drew 17 total strikes on it for a called strike + whiff rate of 41%.

"The sweeper felt pretty good," Ohtani told reporters postgame through interpreter Will Ireton. "Even if the hitter is sitting on it, it's not necessarily something that I don't throw. But overall, just the quality of it was pretty good."

The Dodgers offense also broke out of its recent woes to give Ohtani some run support. It started in the third inning with Mookie Betts launching a 414-foot moonshot that landed halfway up the left field pavilion seats off of a fastball down the middle from Giants starter Robbie Ray. It was Betts' first home run since returning from the IL on Monday. That homer was a follow-up to Santiago Espinal's solo shot, his first of the year.

Kyle Tucker later scored on an RBI single from Teoscar Hernández, who then came home himself on a sac fly by Alex Call in the bottom of the fourth.

Here's Ohtani's final line from Wednesday's 4-0 win over the Giants:

Shohei Ohtani pitching stats vs. Giants

• Innings pitched: 7.0
• Hits allowed: 4
• Runs allowed: 0
• Earned runs allowed: 0
• Walks: 2
• Strikeouts: 8
• Pitches thrown: 105
• Strikes thrown: 71
• ERA: 0.82

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Shohei Ohtani pitching stats, Dodgers vs. Giants highlights

The Mariners got one key player back from injury, but perhaps lost another.

Bryce Miller returned from the injured list Wednesday with his best-ever velocity and posted a solid outing overall. But the Mariners lineup struggled to get him much support and eventually lost in extras 4-3 in a long, bizarre, often frustrating game. The biggest news of the day was Cal Raleigh exiting in the ninth inning after a few awkward plays left him grabbing at his hip. The Mariners win streak against the Astros was snapped at nine games, but they will go for a series victory in game four on Thursday.

Miller was activated from the injured list earlier in the day, having missed the first quarter of the season with a sore oblique. Miller hasn’t pitched much over the last year-plus, spending most of 2025 on the IL with bone spurs in his elbow. There was some question before the game about what his velocity would like on return, as that was the key sign of his poor health last year.

He answered that question early and often on Wednesday. Miller had never thrown a pitch harder than 98.0 mph in a major league game, and in the first inning he touched pretty much every decimal between 98.1 mph and 99.1 mph. He didn’t quite maintain that velocity throughout, but he did average at least 97.0 mph in each of the six innings he worked, ultimately finishing at 97.6 mph on his fastball — by far his hardest throwing day as a major leaguer.

Maintaining that velocity is an encouraging sign. I wrote in his 40 in 40 that he had one of the 10 largest drops in velocity in the majors last year, and it kept him from working deep into games with much effect.

The velocity didn’t quite translate to total dominance, but Miller was still good overall. He worked 5 1/3 innings, walked one, and got three strikeouts on eight whiffs. I don’t think the lack of swing-and-miss was too concerning, as he relied exclusively on the fastball on the the first turn through the order, before mixing it up on each successive turn. Once he got to those secondaries, especially the slider and sweeper, the whiffs trickled in. Like this one: 

Regardless, most of the contact Miller allowed was soft and non-threatening, and he did well to keep the Astros off balance. The only real trouble he ran into was in the fifth inning. He gave up a pair of leadoff singles and, after a sac bunt, faced runners on second and third with one out. He got Jose Altuve to strikeout, intentionally walked Yordan Alvarez to load the bases, and got Isaac Paredes to pop out, escaping the jam.

That’s when things got strange. At just 68 pitches, Miller returned to work the sixth with a 2-0 lead. He gave up a leadoff home run to Christian Walker. It was actually a pretty good pitch — an upper 90s fastball on the black up and away — but Walker got just enough of it to avoid Luke Raley’s awkward leap. Miller then got a groundout and worked the next batter, Braden Shewmake, to a 1-2 count. Shewmake chased a fastball way inside but was able to get a piece of it, fouling it back straight into the face of home plate umpire, Roberto Ortiz.

Ortiz had to leave the game, starting a 15-minute delay while an emergency umpire got ready. When the game resumed, Shewmake poked a single and Brice Matthews followed with another. Dan Wilson turned to his bullpen and Miller’s day was done. Cooper Criswell entered and gave up another single to load the bases. He then walked Alutve to tie the game at 2-2.

The game progressed to Eduard Bazardo in the eighth, still tied at 2-2. Shewmake leadoff with a single. Matthews tried to bunt him over, but sent it right back to Bazardo, who scooped and fired into center field. Julio Rodríguez scrambled for the ball and fired right back toward home plate. No runner advanced, so Josh Naylor cut the throw. But while getting in position to field the throw, Raleigh made an awkward shuffle, appearing to tweak the “general soreness” he’s been battling in his side and winced in considerable pain. He stayed in the game for the moment.

Bazardo then hit Zach Cole to load the bases with nobody out. Christian Vázquez followed with a hard chopper to J.P. Crawford at short, who looked to start a double play with a strong throw home. But while attempting to make the turn, Raleigh’s leg gave out from underneath him, stumbling to the ground with the ball still in hand. Raleigh would exit after the inning.

Altuve followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Astros a 3-2 lead.

The Mariners offense didn’t quite struggle in this one, but they couldn’t seem to string their hits together. Crawford leadoff the game with a solo homer, and Luke Raley added another solo homer in the sixth. There were plenty of walks and singles and doubles throughout, but never that big, bases clearing knock.

They did fight back in the ninth. Rob Refsnyder came off the bench and walked. Mitch Garver came off the bench and walked (Garver replaced Leo Rivas and later stayed in the game to catch with Raleigh removed). Crawford chopped a single that died in the infield grass to load the bases with two outs. Julio then walked to plate a run and tie the game at three. Josh Naylor nearly the gave the Mariners a lead with another chopper and a bang-bang play at first, but replay showed he was out by a lace.

Andrés Muñoz looked terrific in the bottom of the ninth, with three strikeouts and eight whiffs on 10 swings. He was simply brilliant, throwing almost exclusively sliders while avoiding his slumping fastball. If there is a highlight from this game, it was Muñoz in perhaps his best outing of the season.

Alex Hoppe would eventually allow the Manfred Man to score on a single in the 10th to win 4-3.

Raleigh’s health status is unclear at the moment. Wilson told The Seattle Times, “He’s fine… It was just, again, kind of precautionary at this point, and we’ll know more tomorrow.” Raleigh recently sat for several days while dealing with “general soreness” in his side and has struggled mightily since returning. He snapped an 0-for-38 streak with a pair of singles in last night’s game, but he’s clearly been off with his timing and swing. Jhonny Pereda was removed from the game in Tacoma and will presumably be in Houston ahead of Thursday’s game, if Raleigh should need a trip to the injured list.