Category: Baseball

Walker Buehler was not sharp, but he was not terrible either. He allowed two runs on three hits and left the game after 4.2 innings with the score tied, 2-2. Kyle Hart came in from the bullpen to help Buehler and the San Diego Padres get out of the inning without allowing a run, but that was where the positives on the night came to an end for the San Diego relievers. The normally steady bullpen, which has been a bit shaky recently, allowed six runs and the Padres dropped the second game of the series to the Chicago Cubs, 8-3 at Petco Park on Tuesday night. Hart returned to the mound for the top of the sixth inning and faced three batters. Two of them reached base and he was replaced by David Morgan. The right-hander uncorked a wild pitch, which allowed the runners to advance to second and third with one out. Morgan then recorded a strikeout for the second out of the inning and gave the Friar Faithful hope that he would strand the inherited runners — he did not. Morgan allowed a two-run double to Nico Hoerner on an 0-1 pitch that put the Cubs in front, 4-2. He got out of the inning one batter later and the Padres responded in the bottom of the inning with a run to cut the deficit to one run. Morgan started the top of the seventh inning but allowed a leadoff walk, which resulted in Padres manager Craig Stammen replacing him with Wandy Peralta. That move did not pay off as the left-hander allowed a two-out pinch-hit RBI single to Alex Bregman that gave the Cubs a 5-3 lead. San Diego fell further behind when Peralta allowed a three-run home run to the next batter Pete Crow-Armstrong that put Chicago in front 8-3. The Padres’ offense did not put up much of a fight in the final innings of the contest, sending three batters to the plate in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.

Padres News:

• Manny Machado got the day off following his early exit from the game on Monday night. Jake Cronenworth made the start at third base in Machado’s absence and Fernando Tatis Jr. filled the role at second base.

Baseball News:

• It has been a rough week to be an MLB manager. The second team to fire their manager was the Philadelphia Phillies who parted ways with Rob Thomason. Don Mattingly will be the interim manager for the remainder of the season.

• New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler outdueled Texas Rangers ace Jacob DeGrom to help the Yankees get a 3-2 win.

• Trey Yesavage made his season debut for the Toronto Blue Jays and led them to a win over the Boston Red Sox.

• The New York Mets scored seven runs on the fourth inning en route to an 8-0 win over the Washington Nationals.

• Los Angeles Angels ace Jose Soriano proves he is human and allows three runs in a 5-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox.

• Shohei Ohtani struck out nine batters, but it was not enough to lift the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Miami Marlins.

Late April is, in many ways, one of the most fun times to look at stats. Now that the season is a month old and can officially be considered “in full swing,” we’ve got just enough data that we have a true representative sample to begin analyzing, but not so much that weird beginning-of-season quirks haven’t fallen away completely. With that in mind, I feel this is a perfect opportunity to dive into the Statcast data and take a look at what we see in order to find some fun, but ultimately meaningless, stats from the first month of 2026.

Death Star Ignitions

We start by introducing the new stat I made up which inspired me to do this piece in the first place, the Death Star Ignition. As you probably know, every time a Yankees pitcher reaches a two-strike count when there are two outs at home, the Stadium plays the Death Star siren. After a rough introduction a couple of years ago, during which time David Cone referred to it as a pregnant whale, it has become a staple in the Bronx, and while not quite as iconic as the P.C. Richard’s whistle after a strikeout, the siren is well on its way to this status, especially among younger fans.

Of course, whenever a team does this sort of visual or audio cue to indicate that there are two strikes on a batter, it makes a subsequent strikeout all the more aesthetically pleasing. And so, I decided to dive into the Statcast data to figure out which Yankees pitchers have been able to most often record the inning-ending strikeout. For this exercise, I divided these strikeouts into two categories: single-reactor ignitions (inspired by the destruction of Jedha City and the military installation on Scariff in Rogue One) occur when a pitcher fails to strike out the batter on the next pitch, but is able to eventually record the K, while a full reactor ignition (such as the one in the original movie) represents a strikeout on the next pitch.

It probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the pitchers who have the highest rate of firing the Death Star this season are among the team’s leaders in strikeouts…with a catch, though. Fernando Cruz, whose 35.7 strikeout percentage heading into action last night leads the team, has struggled to get an inning-ending strikeout while at home. Well, you know what they say: that’s baseball, Suzyn.

Batted Ball Shenanigans

Of course, since we’re already on Statcast, let’s also see what players have been given gifts by the baseball gods (have lucked into a hit on a softly batted ball) and who has been cursed by them (a hard-hit ball straight into a glove).

Right now, the three softest hits by a Yankee this season — at 40.3, 35.4, and 28.6 mph off the bat — shouldn’t really count for this exercise, as they are bunts, although I do want to give props to Austin Wells for reaching on a bunt single. Outside of these, then, the softest hit on the year heading into action last night belongs to Randal Grichuk, whose single past a diving Caleb Durbin on April 21st clocked in at just 49.6 mph.

On the flip side of that, the hardest batted ball to become an out comes off the bat off, perhaps unsurprisingly, Aaron Judge, whose ground out to Trevor Story on April 22nd was 112.4 mph off the bat — just, unfortunately, straight down.

For the pitchers, Max Fried on April 11th is the beneficiary of some good luck, as Junior Caminero’s ground ball to Jazz Chisholm came off the bat at 111.1 mph — beating, by just one tenth of a mph, Jac Caglianone’s flyout on the 18th off Will Warren.

Note: Although if you want to get technical, Bobby Witt Jr.’s double on April 19th was technically hit harder, but since the out came at the plate, not on the batted ball, I didn’t count it.

Former Yankees prospect Agustín Ramírez, meanwhile, has the softest hit against any Yankee pitcher this season, dropping a soft grounder into No Man’s Land between third base and the pitcher’s mound at a whopping 48.6 mph.

Note: technically speaking, this was the fifth-softest ball, with the first four being bunts by members of the Tampa Bay Rays, three of which came off the bat of burgeoning Yankees Killer Taylor Walls.

Some final fun facts

Last, and certainly not least, we’ve got a rundown of some basic fun facts that don’t require much explanation, but are nonetheless amusing:

1. Last season, Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm invented a new stat: home runs plus stolen bases. So which Yankee currently leads this stat, affectionately called the Jazz Chisholm? What a surprise — it’s Aaron Judge, whose 11 home runs and 5 stolen bases give him a grand total of 16 Jazzes on the season. Behind him, we’ve got José Caballero’s 14 (3 HR + 11 SB), Jazz Chisholm’s 12 (3 HR + 9 SB), and Ben Rice’s 11 (10 HR + 1 SB).
2. Heading into action last night, Caballero and Rice were tied atop the team in Win Probability Added at 1.4. In two appearances against the Yankees this year, Jordan Romano has -1.7 Win Probability Added — yes, that means that Romano has contributed more to Yankees victories than anyone else this season.
3. Despite being the second fastest runner on the team according to sprint speed (behind only, checks notes, Amed Rosario?), Caballero has grounded into the most double plays so far this season (five).
4. While Trent Grisham’s overall performance at the plate has been below expectations, as he’s slashing .165/.321/.341 prior to last night’s game, he trails only Rosario and Paul Goldschmidt when it comes to getting runners in: 22.2 percent of runners on base score when he comes to the plate.
5. Brent Headrick and Tim Hill have yet to allow an inherited runner to score.

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The St. Louis Cardinals have jumped out to a 2-0 series lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the NL Central rivals will play the third of four games at PNC Park on Wednesday, April 29.

My top Cardinals vs. Pirates predictions and MLB picks call for Pittsburgh to crawl back into the series tonight with a high-scoring win.

Who will win Cardinals vs Pirates today: Pirates moneyline (-142)

St. Louis Cardinals starter Andre Pallante hits the mound with a 4.26 ERA, 4.91 xFIP and an alarming 18.7% blast-contact rate. Add him sporting negative pitch values on two of his three most frequent offerings, and I’m expecting the Pittsburgh Pirates to rough up the righty.

The Bucs sport a ninth-ranked on-base percentage against right-handed arms for the year, and their 45.2% hard-hit rate (per FanGraphs) is second in baseball during their current 3-5 slide.

I’m anticipating statistical correction kicking in at the dish against Pallante for the Pittsburgh lineup.

COVERS INTEL: St. Louis Cardinals rank 26th in bullpen ERA while sporting the second-lowest strikeout percentage in the majors.

Cardinals vs Pirates Over/Under pick: Over 8.5 (-110)

The Over 8.5 is my favorite bet in this game because Bucs righty Bubba Chandler has also started the season slowly, and the wind is forecasted to be blowing out at a decent clip at PNC Park.

Chandler checks in with a 4.88 ERA and 5.30 xFIP alongside a below-average 35.0% squared-up contact rate.

So, with St. Louis and Pittsburgh both sporting a league-average 102 wRC+ against righties this season, I expect nine or more runs tonight.

Cardinals vs Pirates odds

• Moneyline: Cardinals +125 | Pirates -145
• Run line: Cardinals +1.5 (-155) | Pirates -1.5 (+135)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 (-110) | Under 8.5 (-110)

Cardinals vs Pirates trend

The St. Louis Cardinals have hit the Over in 28 of their last 50 away games (+6.90 Units / 13% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Cardinals vs. Pirates.

How to watch Cardinals vs Pirates and game info

Cardinals vs Pirates latest injuries

Cardinals vs Pirates weather

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The Detroit Tigers opened up their three-game weekday series against the Atlanta Braves after a disappointing 5-2 loss at Truist Park on Tuesday night. Adding insult to… um, injury, was losing Casey Mize to right groin tightness and Javier Báez to a bum right ankle.

Both will undergo MRIs prior to Wednesday night’s game to assess the extent of their respective injuries.

Speaking of Wednesday, the Motor City Kitties have a chance to even up the series behind their ace lefty, Tarik Skubal, who is once again on pace for another superlative campaign. So far, the 29-year-old hurler has gone at least six innings in five of his starts and allowed just one run in four of them; the two others saw him cough up four, including his last outing against the Milwaukee Brewers.

It has been a while since Skubal has seen the Braves, with his last appearance coming in Atlanta on June 19, 2024. He did not fare too well in that matchup, giving up five runs (four earned) on seven hits (two home runs) while walking two, hitting two and striking out seven over four frames of work in the loss.

The home team will send rookie JR Ritchie, who has just one major league appearance under his belt so far, to the bump to battle the Tigers. The former first-round pick’s ERA to FIP gap certainly raises an eyebrow but his overall peripherals look pretty tidy coming into the matchup.

Take a look at what each starter brings to the table on Wednesday.

Detroit Tigers (15-15) vs. Atlanta Braves (21-9)

Time (ET): 7:15 p.m.
Place: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia
SB Nation Site:Battery Power
Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network

Game 31: LHP Tarik Skubal (3-2, 2.72 ERA) vs. RHP JR Ritchie (1-0, 2.57 ERA)

SKUBAL

RITCHIE

Sometimes, it pays to put the numbers down and take a deep historical look at things. Teams fire managers in the season nearly every year, but it is fairly rare to see teams fire their manager before the halfway point in the season. In fact, coming into the season it had only happened six times since 2000. However, the Philadelphia Phillies were the second team this season to fire their manager on Tuesday morning. The Boston Red Sox also fired Alex Cora last week.

This is obviously pertinent since many in Astros nation are calling for the head of Joe Espada. Thoughts usually go back to 2004 when the Astros fired Jimy Williams after the midpoint of the season and Phil Garner led them to the NLCS. However, that one doesn’t count because Williams had made it through the halfway point. We can break these six situations down to see if success should be predicted with a change here in Houston. Obviously, every situation is different, so past results are not a guarantee of future results, but it pays to look at the history of these things.

The Marlins Can Everyone

The Marlins make the list three times since 2000. What we want to do with all of these is look at the record before and after the change to see if there was general improvement. Like I have said many times, our memories often play tricks on us.

2001: John Boles (22-26)
Tony Perez (54-60)

Those winning percentages are almost identical. So, at best the move would be ineffectual and Perez did not continue to manage long after taking the job. As you can see, the Marlins did this again just a couple of years later. It would be fair to assert that few teams are run more shoddily than the Marlins.

2003: Jeff Torberg (16-22)
Jack McKeon (75-49)

This is obviously probably the historical example people will go back to. The Marlins won the wild card and went on to beat the Yankees in the World Series. This was a veteran laden team that seemingly needed a kick in the pants. They may have turned around on their own. I suppose we will never know.

2011: Edwin Rodriguez (32-39)
Jack McKeon (40-50)

So, lightening does not strike twice. The Marlins tried it again with the aging McKeon and the team did not get any better and eventually finished in fourth place in the NL East. When doing a longitudinal study one can look at the aggregate or simply go situation by situation. In two out of the three situations, the team’s fortunes were not improved.

The Phillies Have Done This Before

All that is old is new again. Rob Thomson was the beneficiary of this move in 2022 and that story should seem familiar since that was the team the Astros beat to win their second World Series title. Like with the Marlins, the Phillies were beneficiaries of the wild card as they were not able to overtake the Braves in the NL East, but got hot at the right time.

2022: Joe Giradi (22-29)
Rob Thomson (65-46)

An 87 win team usually does not get very far in the playoffs and it is nothing to write home about. The Phillies got hot at the right time to be sure. Was that Thomson? Who the heck knows? Giradi had been a playoff manager with the Yankees and Phillies prior to that, so there is reason to believe he could have righted the ship on his own. Now, the Phillies will try to have lightening strike twice with Don Mattingly.

2025 May Have Started a Trend

Two teams did this last season as well. It is important to note what the objective is. If you fire a manager that early in the year you are trying to turn things around. Maybe you think you have an outside shot at the playoffs or maybe you are so far out of the hunt that you just want to get an earlier look at a managerial candidate.

2025: Bud Black (7-33)
Warren Schaeffer (36-86)

I can’t call Schaeffer a failure per se. His winning percentage was better than Bud Black’s because can you really be that much worse a .175 clip over 40 games. They won 43 games, but this is one of the worst teams statistically in baseball history. Schaeffer deserves extra credit for avoiding what the White Sox had achieved before them. However, the further you get away from it, the more it looks like you are just spinning your wheels.

2025: Ron Washington (36-38)
Ray Montgomery (36-52)

I’ve never been a Washington fan, but this one was more due to health concerns than anything else. The Angels obviously tabbed Kurt Suzuki this year, so Montgomery was not particularly impressive. This might be the only case where the interim manager performed significantly worse than the initial manager. I suppose at least any team thinking of doing this could hang their hat on that.

Putting It All Together

Simply put, most teams either performed about the same or worse before and after firing their initial manager. The 2003 Marlins and 2022 Phillies were notable exceptions. Obviously, every situation is different and the lab is not a place to recommend moves necessarily. Simply put, if history is our guide then it is more likely than not that any interim manager this year would fare about as well as Joe Espada has. However, I suppose there is always a chance it would work.

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Our MLB best bets are scattered across the board today, both in terms of bet types and start times, based on some great prices available at Polymarket.

See why our expert MLB picks for April 29 like the Cubs early, some evening offense at GABP, and the Royals to end the night with a dub.

MLB expert picks for today

Pick	Odds
Josh Inglis: COL/CIN YRFI	+100
Neil Parker: CHC ML	-104
Joe Osborne: KC ML	+108

Prices courtesy of Polymarket.

Josh Inglis' expert pick: Rockies/Reds YRFI

Price: 50¢ (+100) at Polymarket

Tomoyuki Sugano has been circled yet again. He continues to run hot, but a matchup against the red-hot Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park is another tough test. He’s coming off a 101-pitch outing — the second-highest total of his MLB career — and could be vulnerable early. The Reds are in position to get to him quickly and cash a YRFI bet that has a fair price around -120. On the other side, Brandon Williamson has also struggled this year and can give it up early, especially with 11 mph winds blowing out.

Neil Parker's expert pick: Cubs moneyline

Price: 51¢ (-104) at Polymarket

The Chicago Cubs are rolling at the dish during their 14-6 heater, with the highest wOBA in baseball and an average of 6.2 runs per game. Facing San Diego Padres righty Matt Waldron shouldn’t be too high a hurdle this afternoon, either: He sports a career 5.19 ERA and 4.53 xFIP across 201 1/3 innings in the majors. I also particularly value the sustainable surface of the Chicago offensive success, with the Cubbies sporting the fifth-highest walk rate and fifth-lowest strikeout percentage during this 20-game stretch.

Joe Osborne's expert pick: Royals ML

Price: 48¢ (+108) at Polymarket

I love the underdog spot for a Kansas City Royals team that’s riding its first wave of momentum of the season with four straight wins. The bats lead MLB in OPS over the past week, putting up 27 runs across their last three games, making it a tough matchup for Luis Severino, who’s been getting hit hard in Sacramento — a carry-over from last season's 6.01 home ERA. Meanwhile, Michael Wacha has been steady, with two ERs or fewer in four of five starts, and is backed by a bullpen hitting its best stretch of the season.

More MLB best bets for today

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For Hickory, Aneudis Mejia struck out five in 4.1 scoreless innings, walking one.

Marcos Torres homered twice. Dewar Tovar was 2 for 6 with a homer. Paulino Santana drew a pair of walks. Yolfran Castillo had a double and three walks. Josh Spring had a hit. Daniel Flames had a pair of hits. Esteban Mejia had a pair of hits.

Hickory box score

Hub City starter Aidan Curry went 4.1 innings, striking out four, walking five and allowing two runs. Andrew Susac allowed a three run homer in 1.2 IP, striking out one and walking one. Kai Wynyard allowed seven runs in 1.2 IP, including four home runs.

Malcolm Moore had a double and a walk. Maxton Martin had a walk and a stolen base. Paxton Kling had a hit.

Hub City box score

Frisco starter Josh Trentadue’s difficult 2026 continued, as he allowed five runs in four innings, walking three and striking out one. Ryan Lobus threw a scoreless inning. Eric Loomis walked two and struck out one in a scorleess inning.

Ian Moller doubled. Keith Jones II had a hit. Dylan Dreiling drew a pair of walks.

Frisco box score

For Round Rock, Dane Acker allowed a run in 1.2 IP, striking out three and walking two. Robbie Ahlstrom struck out one in 1.1 scoreless innings. Carter Baumler went 0.2 IP, walking one and striking out one. Ryan Brasier struck out one in 1.1 scoreless innings. Michel Otanez walked two and struck out one in a scoreless inning.

Justin Foscue had a double. Cam Cauley had a pair of hits. Aaron Zavala had a hit.

Round Rock box score

Last night, and for the first time since June of 2022, the Phillies took the field without Rob Thomson in charge. After four seasons, 355 wins, two National League East titles, and one National League pennant, Topper’s tenure as the manager has come to an end.

Some will remember him mainly for those successes, for his presiding over an era that had the Phillies in the playoffs in every season and saw Citizens Bank Park’s playoff frenzy become the envy of the baseball world. Others will focus on the fact that his tenure did not feature the longed for parade down Broad Street. All, though, will remember that he represented the team with a sportsman’s dignity and good nature.

Today’s question is: how will you remember Thomson’s tenure?

The Cubs got the bats going in San Diego for the second straight night, highlighted by Pete Crow-Armstrong’s three-run homer that broke the game open in the seventh inning. That, plus some solid pitching from Edward Cabrera, Hoby Milner and Ryan Rolison, gave the Cubs an 8-3 win over the Padres, breaking their three-game losing streak.

The Cubs got on the board first, in the top of the second. Ian Happ and Michael Busch walked. After Carson Kelly struck out, Dansby Swanson doubled both runners in [VIDEO].

Swanson then stole third, but was stranded. When the bottom of the second began, Swanson was out of the game, with Nico Hoerner moving to short and Nicky Lopez taking over at second. Here’s what the Cubs said about that a couple of innings later:

There were no updates on Swanson postgame, but this doesn’t sound too serious. I’d think Swanson might sit out of today’s game and, with Thursday’s off day, be ready to go on Friday.

Xander Bogaerts homered off Cabrera in the bottom of the second to make it 2-1.

The Padres tied the game up in the bottom of the fourth. Bogaerts walked to lead off the inning, and I want to show you two (!) pitches he got overturned in that at-bat.

First, a strike 2 call was overturned to ball 1 [VIDEO].

Then, Bogaerts was called out on strikes and he got that one overturned, too [VIDEO].

I mention these because both of those pitches were almost in the exact location of the pitch that got Bogaerts called out on strikes in the ninth inning of Game 3 of the Wild Card Series last October at Wrigley Field. You have to believe Bogaerts has not forgotten that — and that the Cubs were very lucky that ABS challenges were not available for that game.

Anyway, Bogaerts then stole second and was singled in by Ty France to make it 2-2.

The game stayed that way until the sixth, in part because of this nice sliding catch in the fifth by Seiya Suzuki [VIDEO].

Then the Cubs took that two-run lead back in the top of the sixth. Kelly singled. Lopez tried to sacrifice him to second, but Kelly was forced. PCA walked and after a pitching change, reliever David Morgan wild-pitched both runners up a base.

One out later, Nico Hoerner doubled in Kelly and Lopez [VIDEO].

In the bottom of the sixth, Cabrera got in trouble on a single, hit batter and RBI single by Luis Campusano that made it 4-3. Cabrera was removed and wasn’t happy after that RBI hit [VIDEO].

Milner entered the game and got out of the jam by striking out Bryce Johnson [VIDEO].

Overall, though, I thought Cabrera had a nice outing. He struck out seven [VIDEO].

Here’s more on Cabrera’s outing. As usual, he relied mostly on that devastating changeup [VIDEO].

The Cubs put the game away with a four-run seventh. Seiya Suzuki led off with a walk. One out later, Michael Busch was hit by a pitch, and had to be checked out by trainer Nick Frangella. Ultimately Busch stayed in the game [VIDEO].

Kelly followed with a ground ball. Busch was forced at second, but Kelly beat the relay throw, putting runners on first and third with two out. Craig Counsell sent Alex Bregman up to bat for Lopez. Bregman had not started this game to try to give him a bit more rest from the sore foot he had after being hit by a pitch in Los Angeles on Sunday. If it seems like the Cubs have been hit by pitches a lot, they’re in the middle of the pack with 16 HBP. The Angels and Cardinals lead MLB with 24.

Anyway, Bregman singled, with Suzuki scoring [VIDEO].

PCA was the next hitter and he hit this baseball a very, very long way [VIDEO].

That made the score 8-3 and, as that home run was off a left-hander, I thought you might be interested in seeing that PCA has had strong reverse splits so far this year.

PCA vs. RHP: .215/.261/.292 (14-for-65) with two doubles, one home run, four walks, 20 strikeouts
PCA vs. LHP: .277/.370/.404 (13-for-47) with a double, a triple, a home run, five walks, 17 strikeouts

You’d think that eventually he’ll hit RHP as he did last year (.271/.315/.523 with 24 home runs) and will have the year everyone expects from him.

The Cubs shut down the Padres the rest of the way. Ryan Rolison, who’s been a real find for this team, threw two shutout innings, retiring all six batters he faced, striking out two. He’s allowed just three of the 19 batters he has faced this year to reach base and hasn’t walked anyone. Perhaps it’s early for this declaration, but could Rolison be this year’s Drew Pomeranz? Rolison was once a first-round draft pick (Rockies, 2018) so… maybe?

In any case, here’s the final out of the game [VIDEO].

This win was a milestone for Counsell, the 900th of his managing career.

Here’s PCA talking about his home run and about the team offense in general [VIDEO].

PCA talked about all the walks the team is drawing in that clip. The Cubs have 136 walks in 30 games, 4.53 per game. That’s second in MLB to the Yankees, who have 137, and that pace would shatter the franchise record, which is 656, set in 2016. And the eight-run outburst gave them 164 runs for the season, 5.47 a game, a pace for 886. The 164 runs is third in MLB behind the Dodgers (165) and Braves (171).

The Cubs will go for the series win, which would give them a 3-3 road trip, Wednesday afternoon in San Diego. Jameson Taillon will start for the Cubs and Matt Waldron goes for the Padres. Game time is 3:10 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network

Columbus Clippers 8, Toledo Mud Hens 6

Clippers improve to 15-13

It was a big day for the Clippers offense as five different players had multi-hit games, led by Kody Huff and Maick Collado, who both had three hits, with Collado collecting two doubles and a walk.

Kahlil Watson also went 2-for-3 with two walks and a stolen base while Dom Nunez went 2-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base. Milan Tolentino stayed hot, going 2-for-4 with a double and a walk.

Austin Peterson made his 2026 debut, tossing 3.0 scoreless innings with four strikeouts and a walk on two hits. It’s great to see him back.

Jack Leftwich had 2.0 scoreless innings of relief, but Will Dion got absolutely blasted for six runs in just 1.1 innings. Thankfully, Tanner Burns and Cody Heuer followed with 1.2 innings of scoreless relief and the offense responded with four runs to retake the lead. Burns also did allow both of his inherited runners to score.

Akron RubberDucks 0, Harrisburg Senators 3

RubberDucks fall to 13-9

Akron had a rough day on offense. Ralphy Velasquez was the lone player who reached base safely twice, going 1-for-3 with a walk. Jake Fox stole a base.

The lack of offense ruined a decent start from Josh Hartle, who allowed two runs on five hits in 5.1 innings. He struck out four and walked one.

Lake County Captains 9, Beloit Sky Carp 10

Captains fall to 11-11

Lake County’s rally fell just one run short in the ninth inning as Beloit took advantage of 15 walks from Lake County pitchers to score more runs than it had hits on the day.

Offensively, Bennett Thompson continues to stay hot, going 2-for-4 with a double, a stolen base and a walk, raising his OPS to 1.228.

Aaron Walton went 1-for-4 with a home run and a walk while Nolan Schubart continues to heat up, going 1-for-3 with a home run, a stolen base and two walks, also scoring three runs.

Esteban Gonzalez went 3-for-5 with a stolen base while Dean Curley went 1-for-3 with two walks and a stolen base.

Fresh off his best start of the season, Jackson Humphries allowed a pair of runs on two hits in 3.0 innings with a whopping six walks and four strikeouts.

Cam Walty walked three more, then Connor Zsak walked four more in the next 1.2 innings combined. The walk parade finally ended with a strong showing from Kendeglys Virguez, who struck out six batters in 2.0 innings of work.

Hill City Howlers 17, Delmarva Shorebirds 1

Howlers improve to 13-9

Hill City’s offense went ballistic on Tuesday as the team reached base safely a whopping 29 times.

Robert Arias went 3-for-7 with a double, Juneiker Caceres went 2-for-6 with a hit by pitch, Riley Nelson went 1-for-2 with four walks, Anthony Martinez went 1-for-3 with three walks, Luis De La Cruz went 2-for-5 with a walk and a stolen base, Jonathan Martinez went 2-for-5 with a triple and aa walk, Ty Howard went 2-for-4 with two walks and Yelferth Castillo went 1-for-3 with a walk. Dauri Fernandez also went 1-for-6 with a double and a walk.

Aidan Major was outstanding in his start, tossing 5.0 shutout innings of three-hit ball with seven strikeouts and a walk.

Zane Petty added 3.0 scoreless frames, but the shutout was blown in the ninth by Wes Burton, who walked four batters. Keegan Zinn got the final out.

A simple one this morning. There are many pitchers in baseball. Is Tarik Skubal the best?

A reason to say yes: he has the highest projections for a single pitcher across Steamer and ZiPS. He also (barely) led Paul Skenes in fWAR last year, and finished second to Chris Sale in fWAR in 2024.

A reason to say no: well, I’m not going there. I think definitively saying he isn’t is too tough a sell. He is not the pitching fWAR leader right now, trailing both Cam Schlittler (and his ridiculous video game numbers through seven starts) and Max Fried of the Yankees. That said, he’s still top five in FIP- and top seven in xFIP- among anyone that’s thrown 20 innings so far (142 pitchers), and he actually has one fewer start than Schlittler and Fried, so…

Anyway, what say you? Tarik Skubal, currently the best pitcher in MLB? If not, who is.

And yeah, the Braves get to face him today.

So, what’s wrong with Chase DeLauter? This has been a pretty hotly debated topic, at least online. He started the season scorching hot, putting up a 200 wRC+ in the first two series of the year. He, notably, finished his regular season debut with 2 homers, one off Andres Munoz. Since then, he’s been in a weird spot. To many, it looks like a slump. A weird slump, though.

He’s not chasing more than usual, not whiffing more than usual. None of the telltale signs of a slump. No pressing, no (repeated) poor swing decisions. Through the home opener, where he went 3/4 against the Cubs with a homer and 3 RBI, he had a slashline of .346/.370/.923, good for a 250 wRC+. Since then? .206/.321/.324 (85 wRC+). But, he’s walking 14.8% of the time and striking out just over 6% of the time. He hasn’t homered once since the home opener, although he’s tallied 7 extra base hits (half of his total hits since then).

He’s gotten unlucky, yes. But, I’m not sure that’s telling the whole story. Over his last 50 plate appearances, his rolling xwOBA has crept below league average, sitting, now, around .300. His savant page is, still, bright red, and it shows that he’s underperforming his xwOBA, albeit only by a few points (.359 to .366).

So, what’s wrong with him? DeLauter has hit at every level, and was considered one of the safest hitting prospects the Guardians have ever produced. But, he doesn’t seem to be slumping, at least in the stereotypical way. I decided to look at something that I thought might provide some answer as to what’s going on with him. If he’s not pressing and setting himself up repeatedly in bad counts, what’s going on?

As we all know the topline of almost every story about DeLauter, throughout his professional career, has been his injury history. Since being drafted, he’s never playued more than 60 games in a minor league season. So far this year, he’s played in 27 of the Guardians’ first 30 games. So, here’s a graph of his bat speed, labeled with, at least what I think, are notable points on the graph that should be explained. Disclaimer, before you look at it, is that most players are going to have somewhat drastic bat speed fluctuations throughout the year, and usually the continued stretch of games in which a player’s bat speed is higher than usual are the ones in which the player does the best. Bat speed correlates extremely strongly with a number of metrics (wOBA, xSLGCON, Barrel%, Hard-Hit%, Average Exit Velocity), so I thought it might explain why he’s been performing more poorly recently, even when he’s walking over twice as often as he’s striking out.

Again, disclaimer, this is a small sample size. You’d, ideally, like at least 60 games of a sample to determine whether or not his bat speed correlates with the amount of playing time he’s getting. But, I don’t want to wait that long, so we’ll try to work with what we have. As you can see, the majority of the low points on the graphs correspond with games in which he’s played multiple games in a row, in which he’s mostly played the field. I’ve noticed that DH’ing doesn’t necessarily always mean he’s going to perform better (.830 OPS in RF, .782 OPS as DH), but you’d think it might help the strain off of a player’s body throughout an extremely strenuous 162 game stretch, or even a stretch in which a team plays 13 straight games in 3 different cities. He’s strangely been siginificantly better on the road (.878 OPS vs .762 OPS), but that is most likely buoyed by his torrid stretch in Seattle during opening weekend.

If you can remember last season, when there were constant rumors about DeLauter being called up over the summer, Chris Antonetti’s response seemed to always sound something like “We’re very excited about Chase, but we want to see him built up with his conditioning to be able to withstand an 162-game season”. DeLauter last year in the minors never played more than 3 games in a row, and rarely played 3 games in a row. This season? He’s played >3 days in a row *4* times. Now, the guy who (even now) is still one of your best hitters is of course going to force himself into the lineup more often than not. But, at a certain point, you have to ask yourself whether the ends justify the means. That is, if his performance keeps slipping when he’s playing multiple games in a row, is it worth it to have him in the lineup just to have him in the lineup? Wouldn’t he be more valuable with more days off, so that when he’s in the lineup, he’s actually productive? On days in which he’s played at least 3 days in a row, he’s slashing .200/.286/.320 (.606 OPS). On all other days, he’s slashing .261/.350/.551 (.901 OPS).

So, what’s the solution? The Vogt Punt Game™, as I like to call it. In every game that precedes an off day, keep him out of the lineup. Punt it. We’re all too familiar with these punt games, perhaps the most infamous of which was that horrid Sunday morning Roku game against Tarik Skubal, where he madduxed the Guardians (1 of 2 madduxes twirled against the Guardians in 2025). Don’t pinch-hit, don’t pinch-run, don’t bring him in as a defensive replacement. Leave him out of the lineup. His bat is far too important to this team, and you have to do whatever necessary to give him the best chance to succeed. Obviously it’s early, and his body isn’t used to this amount of stress. He might acclimate to the season, and he might only do that if you play him more often. Regardless, the learning curve should be far less steep than it is now. Ease him into 5/6 games a week.

There is, of course, more to this slow stretch than just the things I mentioned. Any rookie who starts their season the way that DeLauter did is bound to get adjusted to far more quickly than your average player. The zone in which he was doing the most damage (inside), is getting attacked far differently than it was before. Before his slump, he was crushing inside fastballs. Since then, the league has adjusted. They’ve stopped throwing him sinkers and cutters (.548 xwOBA, 1.014 xwOBA) inside, and have started attacking him with breaking pitches. This has, in turn, hurt his numbers on inside 4-seamers. Seeing more spin inside has gotten him off 4-seams, going from a .440 xwOBA on those pitches to a .251.

To say the least, there’s a lot going into this slump from DeLauter. The league adjusted to him — he has to adjust back. But underneath all of this, the Guardians have to put him in the best position to succeed. To be blunt, they need to bubble-wrap him. No more 3 days in a row. While the DH option is there, it doesn’t seem to be helping. He needs to have more rest to be able to be the best hitter possible.

Yankees 3, Rangers 2

• This not scoring many runs things is getting old.
• You had Jacob deGrom give up just one run in six innings! You let down Jacob deGrom!
• In six innings, deGrom allowed three hits. Unfortunately, two of the three hits came in the first inning, when an Aaron Judge two out single was followed up by a Cody Bellinger double that barely missed leaving the park.
• As a side note, I was looking at exit velocity and launch angle data during yesterday’s game and comparing it to similar EV/LA combos from this season around MLB, and while the ball has generally not carried well once again in 2026 at the Shed, the ball did seem to be carrying well to right field on Tuesday.
• The Bellinger double, for example, was 97.5 mph off the bat, with a 25 degree launch angle, and was measured by Statcast at 383 feet. There have been 12 other balls in the majors this year hit between 97 and 98 mph with a 25 degree launch angle, and three-fourths of them were between 337 feet and 348 feet, with the others being 371 feet, 372 feet and 381 feet. So Bellinger’s double carried farther than any other ball at that EV/LA in the bigs this year.
• Also, the entire rotation appears to have contracted Dane Dunning Disease this year. Texas has allowed 23 runs in the first inning of games, including 11 home runs. That’s 21% of all runs allowed by the Rangers this season, and 30% of all homers. They’ve also allowed 23 runs in the fifth inning, weirdly, though on just 5 homers. Otherwise, from the second through the seventh innings, the pitching staff hasn’t allowed more than 10 runs.
• The pitching staff has allowed 12 runs in the 8th and 15 in the 9th, though.
• Jalen Beeks allowed a solo homer to Austin Wells in the 7th. It was just the fourth run allowed, and the second homer, in the 7th inning by the Rangers this year. It was also to right field, and carried slightly more than average for its exit velocity (97.5 mph) and launch angle (31 degrees). Maybe the Rangers turned the air conditioning on high.
• Cole Winn allowed a homer in the ninth, to Aaron Judge, which, you know, its Aaron Judge. That’s three homers Winn has allowed this year, though, which matches his total for all of 2025. That’s less than ideal.
• The other two homers Winn has allowed were to Shea Langeliers and Jacob Wilson, both on Tax Day in Sacramento. In case you’re interested.
• You’re probably not.
• The offense once again had baserunners but didn’t get them in. Seven hits, four walks, an HBP and an E5, and Texas only pushed two runs across, with both of those not coming until the ninth.
• Texas was 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position, and left ten runners on base.
• Texas was pretty helpless for most of the game against Yankees starter Cam Schlittler, who has been dominant this year. But they had plenty of opportunities late, and didn’t convert.
• Brandon Nimmo singled and Josh Jung walked to start the sixth inning, but didn’t advance.
• Sam Haggerty had a pinch hit single to lead off the seventh, with Danny Jansen then walking with two outs, but they were left on first and second at inning’s end.
• The eighth was perhaps the most vexing part of the evening for the offense. Josh Jung singled and Corey Seager walked, putting runners on first and second in what was then a 2-0 game. That brought up Joc Pederson, who…bunted.
• Now, you may say, Joc Pederson is terrible, he might as well bunt, but you’d be wrong. Pederson is slashing .224/.346/.328 this year, good for a 102 OPS+. Since starting the season going 0 for 14 in his first six games, Pederson has been slashing .283/.406/.415. He homered the night before.
• One can argue that, well, it almost worked out. Pederson laid down a good bunt, and it took a great play by Yankees’ pitcher Fernando Cruz to get Jung at third base:

• Skip Schumaker challenged the play, which was upheld.
• It appears Pederson was bunting for a hit there, not trying to lay down a sac bunt, given that he bunted it towards third, rather than first. But still, behind Pederson you had Jake Burger, who has been struggling. After Burger was Haggerty, who had pinch hit for Carter, and who doesn’t hit well against righthanders (and who was lifted for pinch hitter Ezequiel Duran). After Haggerty was Josh Smith, who is doing an early season Marcus Semien imitation, only without the Gold Glove defense.
• I think I’d rather have Joc Pederson swinging away in that situation.
• As a side note, the aggressively pinch hitting for Evan Carter when the opposition brings in a lefthanded pitcher before the eighth or ninth is becoming problematic, because you end up in a situation like this one, where whoever pinch hit for Carter is now facing a righthanded pitcher later in the game, and you’d rather have Carter up there.
• That’s before getting into the fact that the various pinch hitting machinations resulted in the Rangers running an outfield of Andrew McCutchen in left, Brandon Nimmo in center, and Ezequiel Duran in right in the ninth inning.
• Texas did manage to avoid the shutout in the ninth, with McCutchen reaching on a one out E5, then scoring on a Danny Jansen triple. A Brandon Nimmo HBP and a Josh Jung single brought Jansen home, putting the tying and go ahead runs on base for Corey Seager, who had the opportunity to be a hero.
• Sadly, Seager hit into a 4-6-3 GIDP, and that was ballgame.
• I want the Rangers to start scoring some runs, dammit! Lots of runs!
• Jacob deGrom hit 98.5 mph with his fastball, averaging 97.1 mph. Jalen Beeks’ fastball reached 94.9 mph. Jakob Junis touched 92.7 mph with his fastball. Cole Winn’s fastball maxed out at 96.2 mph.
• Corey Seager had a 109.3 mph double. Josh Jung had a 106.1 mph single and a 103.4 mph fly out. Sam Haggerty had a 105.5 mph single. Jake Burger had a 101.5 mph fly out. Joc Pederson had a 101.1 mph fly out.
• Okay, let’s try to avoid the sweep, and not going into the off day on a losing note.

Good morning! The Phillies — wanting to get in on some of that sweet, sweet dysfunction — copied the Red Sox by firing their own manager yesterday. Rumors immediately swirled that Alex Cora would reunite with his old boss, Dave Dombrowski. But those rumors were quickly quashed when it was revealed that interim manager Don Mattingly would be given the rest of the season (a level of job security that Craig Breslow did not give to Chad Tracy). As it turns out, though, the rumors were based solidly in fact. From Chris Cotillo:

Within 24 hours of his dramatic firing by the Red Sox on Saturday, Alex Cora received a new job offer from a familiar boss.

Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski confirmed Tuesday that he tried to hire Cora in the immediate aftermath of his firing Saturday night. Despite still having a manager (Rob Thomson) at the time, Dombrowski made an overture to Cora on Sunday. Cora declined, citing a desire to spend the rest of the season with family, and Dombrowski pivoted, firing Thomson and replacing him with interim manager Don Mattingly before Tuesday’s game.

Cora is free to sit on his couch for the rest of the season and keep collecting paychecks from the Sox (about $7.5 million worth of them) which sounds pretty good to me. But Rob Thomson is not going to be the last manager fired this year, and the rumors will keep coming. So what do you think, will we see Cora back in the bigs this year? Would you want to work or would you take the cash and spend the summer roadtripping to music festivals or something? Talk about that and whtever else you want and, as always, be good to one another.

Often, we hear about those who contributed to the New York Yankees’ best years in franchise history. Those names are etched not just on the walls of Yankee Stadium, but also on some in Cooperstown through the Baseball Hall of Fame and, of course, in the videos of their work in the biggest moments.

But quite a few who departed the organization prior to their winning ways would help them reach greatness in a roundabout fashion. And we’ll talk about one of those players today, who not only left before the best years of the club, but also found the best years of his career along the way with another.

Sterling Alex Hitchcock
Born: April 29, 1971 (Fayetteville, NC)
Yankees Tenure: 1992-95, 2001-03

Sterling Hitchcock was born in North Carolina and attended Armwood High School in Seffner, Florida. Selected in the ninth round of the 1989 MLB Amateur Draft by the Yankees out of Armwood, despite initially committing to the University of South Florida to play ball he signed with the club instead, earning himself a $50,000 signing bonus.

Hitchcock had a quiet confidence about him, and scouts loved the lefty’s approach, ultimately earning him multiple appearances on Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects list. He worked his way up the ranks of the minor leagues before jumping from Double-A Albany-Colonie straight to the majors, making his MLB debut in pinstripes at the age of 21 on September 11, 1992. He tossed six innings against 39-year-old George Brett’s Kansas City Royals, allowing six hits, one walk, and three earned runs, though he only fanned a couple batters and took the loss. That was one of three games he pitched for the Yankees that season, and the other two didn’t go nearly as well. Hitchcock only saw seven innings across the two, giving up 12 earned runs in 13 total innings pitched with six walks and six strikeouts to his name. He finished with an 0-2 record and an 8.31 ERA.

Hitchcock spent most of 1993 at Triple-A Columbus and was only solid, but he did have a much better showing when he was tapped for another look at the big-league level. In 31 innings pitched, he struck out 26 batters and walked only 14 with an ERA of 4.65 in the six starts — including shutting out an up-and-coming Cleveland lineup through seven in his season debut on August 26th.

By overall ERA, Hitchcock’s 1994 was better, but it was honestly a year he’d probably have preferred to forget. He got himself in hot water by criticizing the Yankees’ organizational development strategies in spring training, and while he did appear in 18 games for New York in the first half, they were all out of the bullpen. Hitchcock never fully found his rhythm as a lefty reliever and was eventually optioned to Triple-A with a 6.27 ERA. At Columbus, he built back up as a starter, and he did have a 2.93 ERA across five starts for New York when given another chance in late July, but the players’ strike cut that season short on August 11th with the rebuilding Yankees holding the AL’s best record.

Manager Buck Showalter entrusted Hitchcock with a rotation spot in 1995, and he acquitted himself nicely at age-24, starting 27 games with 168.1 innings of league-average ball, recording 2.2 bWAR. He shined brightest down the stretch when the Yankees couldn’t really afford to lose any games as they desperately hunted down a Wild Card berth with a 22-6 final month. Hitchcock threw a complete game in a 2-1 victory over the Blue Jays on September 20th and followed it with seven innings of two-run ball in a win in Milwaukee on September 26th.

Given the ball for the regular-season finale in Toronto on October 1st, Hitchcock knew that if the Yankees won, then his team would snap its 14-year postseason drought. Rubén Sierra and Pat Kelly helped give him a 4-0 lead by the bottom of the second, and the lefty made it hold up with 5.1 innings, striking out six while allowing one run on five hits and two walks. He ran into some jams but mostly escaped them, and reliever Bob Wickman induced a double-play ball to escape his last hurdle in the sixth. The bullpen kept the Jays at bay and the Yanks — and Don Mattingly — finally had their playoff spot.

Alas, there was no room for Hitchcock in the playoff rotation, thanks to former Cy Young Award-winning starters David Cone and Jack McDowell, the surging Scott Kamieniecki, and another young southpaw by the name of Andy Pettitte, who outpitched him. Hitchcock was ineffective in relief in both of his ALDS appearances, and the Seattle Mariners won a New York heartbreaker in five games.

Following the 1995 campaign, the Yankees underwent some upheaval on and off the field and Hitchcock was deemed expendable for the right cost. Indeed, he was traded to those same Mariners as part of a package that brought over a legend of the late ’90s Yankees: Tino Martinez. He started 35 games for the M’s and racked up a 5.35 ERA before Seattle sent him to the San Diego Padres in a deal for Scott Sanders, a right-handed pitcher. The 1997 season was somewhat forgettable for the left-hander, but it was 1998 when Hitchcock really shone, not just in the regular season but in the playoffs as well.

Hitchcock pitched in 39 games (and started 27) for the pennant-winning Padres in 1998. He threw 176.1 innings and finished with 158 strikeouts and a 3.93 ERA, the lowest of his career for one season where he pitched at least 10 games with one team. But in the postseason, he received his flowers. Hitchcock not only won both of his starts in the NLCS with a 0.90 ERA, but also overall in the 1998 playoffs, he was 3–0 with a 1.23 ERA and 32 strikeouts. (As an amusung aside, whenever Hitchcock struck anyone out, the fans at Qualcomm Stadium would hang Alfred Hitchcock silhouettes instead of K’s.) He was awarded the National League Championship Series MVP Award as a result of his heroic performance against a favored, All-Star-filled Atlanta Braves team.

In an absolute David vs. Goliath matchup in the Fall Classic against Hitchcock’s old club, the Padres were swept by the Yankees. Hitchcock gave it his best effort in Game 3 in San Diego, going pitch-for-pitch with former teammate Cone and only really getting burned by eventual World Series MVP Scott Brosius (as did Trevor Hoffman).

Hitchcock pitched for the Padres up until 2001. He dealt with injuries, including Tommy John surgery in June of 2000 when he only threw 11 games for the team. Shortly after returning to the team the next season, he was dealt back to the Yankees for a couple of minor-league players. New York wanted better rotation depth and was interested in seeing what the 30-year-old had to offer. His 4-4 record belied how he actually pitched (6.49 ERA) across 10 games, and once again he ended up near the back of the Yankees’ playoff depth chart.

Unfortunately, Hitchcock had rejoined the Yankees just in time to see their championship run come to a close, Luis Gonzalez’s World Series Game 7 heroics ending dreams of a fourth consecutive title. Hitchcock, at least, could lightly console himself with the fact that he’d won one of the games during the Yankees’ furious mid-series comeback in New York. After Brosius’ ninth-inning heroics tied Game 5 against Byung-Hyun Kim, the Yankees and Diamondbacks battled into the night. Manager Joe Torre called on Hitchcock in the 12th, and he smoothly retired the side in order on 10 pitches.

Rookie Alfonso Soriano walked it off in the home half of the 12th, and Hitchcock got the win to give New York a 3-2 series lead. If only it wasn’t the Yankees’ last of 2001.

Re-signed to a two-year deal that December, the Yankees ultimately decided in a hurry that they weren’t actually that interested in Hitchcock. A lower back injury delayed the start of his 2002 campaign, and he wasn’t given a spot in the rotation upon his return — only occasionally being given spot starts. Acknowledging that it’s hard to find consistency when you’re not pitching much, Hitchcock didn’t earn time either. In 47 games from 2002-03, he had a 5.46 ERA across 89 innings.

Hitchcock was traded to the Cardinals down the stretch in August 2003, and though he was solid in St. Louis, a swan song in San Diego turned sour in 2004. He hung up the spikes that September after just four MLB appearances. Hitchcock has appeared at Yankees Old-Timers’ Day in retirement but has otherwise led a pretty quiet life away from the game. We hope that includes a happy 55th birthday!

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.