Category: Baseball

Back in August, I began a series here at Pinstripe Alley where I was going to put together an All-Star Yankee team of players who were born in a given month. Since then, we as a staff have started doing daily posts for the year 2026, highlighting a Yankee from history whose birthday happens to land on that day. So what better way to put a cap on a month’s worth of birthday posts then by using the all-month teams as a way to look back on who we covered? And maybe some we didn’t cover who shared a birthday with someone else?

With that in mind, here are my choices for the All-April Birthday Yankee Team. Also, we haven’t always named a manager to go with these clubs, but April presents a perfect opportunity with Hall of Fame skipper Joe McCarthy.

Pitcher: Catfish Hunter (April 8th birthday post)

There are a couple of decent pitching options for April, including my No. 2 choice Phil Niekro. However, the pitcher for this team probably has to be Catfish. Other than his ridiculous 1975, Hunter’s Yankee tenure didn’t come during his prime, but everyone who played for the team in that era credits him for helping turn the team culture into a championship-winning one by the end of 1970s.

Catcher: Bob Watson (April 10th birthday post)

OK, so Watson only played 10 career MLB games at catcher, and all came well before his stint with the Yankees. However, there’s not a ton of other good option for backstops, and Team April can also rely on him for his front office expertice.

First Baseman: Don Mattingly (April 20th birthday post)

Between Watson and the guy who we’re putting at DH later on, first base for the April team has some pretty good depth. However, there’s only one choice for this team’s starter we can make: Donnie Baseball.

Second Baseman: Spike Owen

We didn’t profile Owen as part of the Birthday Series and he more played on the left side of the infield in his career, but middle infield depth for the April team is pretty shallow. He was a 13-year big-leaguer in the ’80s and ’90s, most notably with the Mariners, Red Sox, and Expos, and in 1993, he was one of the Yankees’ last regulars at shortstop before a guy named Derek came along.

Shortstop: Anthony Volpe

As frustrating as his MLB career has often been, he’s a pretty clear no-doubt pick for April’s shortstop, considering who we picked for second base.

Third Baseman: Wid Conroy (April 5th Birthday Post)

Conroy was a NL pennant-winning player with the 103-win 1902 Pirates, in the final year before the World Series came into existence. He then hopped over to the AL to play with the then New York Highlanders in their first year of existence in 1903.

Left Field: David Justice (April 14th birthday post)

The 2000 trade for Justice deservedly goes down as one of the best midseason deals in team history. He provided a much needed spark to the Yankees’ lineup, allowing them to complete a World Series three-peat.

Center Field: Carlos Beltrán (April 24th birthday post)

OK yes, Beltrán wasn’t much of a center fielder when he finally came to the Yankees, as his three years in the Bronx came in his age 37-39 years. However, he was an excellent center fielder in his prime, which helped him gain election into the Hall of Fame in this year’s class.

Right Field: Aaron Judge(you’ll never believe who the birthday post is for tomorrow – Ed.)

I’ve heard of that guy.

Designated Hitter: Mark Teixeira (April 11th birthday post)

“Tex” probably could’ve been the starting first baseman for a lot of the other month’s teams. However with Mattingly around, we’ll just stick Teixeira over at DH.

There’s my personal picks for April, but less us know how would line up a Yankees’ team with April birthdays.

They couldn’t have announce this before I hit publish on the last post?

Trey Yesavage will make Tuesday’s start for the Jays, against the Red Sox. That doesn’t quite lineup with Max Scherzer’s next start, which would be Wednesday if the rotation stayed the same.

Whoops, now I see that Eric Lauer is being moved to the pen. I’d imagine they will try to hold him to piggy back with Scherzer, but I shouldn’t try to outguess them. Yesavage has been hit pretty hard in his 12 rehab innings, but is throwing as hard as ever.

Lauer, I’d imagine, won’t be pleased to be the one losing his spot in the rotation, but he has done well in the long relief role (or at least what the team considers a long relief role). They do need someone to go three or more innings out of the pen. If they had someone who could have gone three yesterday, it would have helped out.

Welcome back, Trey.

I guess the headline says it, Nathan Lukes hits the IL with a left hamstring strain. Yohendrick Piñango gets the call up. Yimi Garcia was moved to the 60-day IL to make room for Yohendrick.

Piñango is hitting .288/.370/.488 with 3 home runs in 22 games. He is a left-handed batter and also throws left-handed. He’s split time between left and right field, which surprised me because they usually place lefties in right field. I’m interested to see him place. He’s on the bench for today’s game.

Yohendrick is #13 on our top 40 prospects list this year. Tom M wrote:

The return for Nate Pearson at the 2024 deadline didn’t look like much at the time. Pinango signed with the Cubs out of Venezuela in 2018, and while he lit up the DSL the next summer he was pretty unremarkable over the three minor league seasons following the pandemic. A torrid first month of the 2024 season at A+ popped him onto the radar and probably lead to the trade. He bombed in his first 33 games in the Jays system, posting a .518 OPS at AA New Hampshire. It all came together in 2025, though. Pinango torched the Eastern league to the tune of .298/.406/.522, earning a promotion to AAA Buffalo. He cooled down there, but still posted a roughly average line with lots of walks, solid K numbers, and some pop.

Pinango has always been a solid contact hitter, but his breakout was fueled by trading an aggressive approach for a very selective one. He now watches more strikes than would be ideal, but he rarely chases and waits on pitches he can hammer. As for the hammering part, his max exit velocity in Buffalo was over 115mph. Only 30 major leaguers last year could say the same. his 91.9mph average exit velocity and 47.6% hard hit rate were both comfortably plus. The lone offensive knock on him is that while he hits enough fly balls, his best power comes a low angles, producing line drives and hard grounders instead of home runs. If he can fix that, he could be a cleanup calibre hitter, and even if he can’t the combination of patience, contact and strength is enough for a viable offensive profile.

There’s a lot of pressure on the bat, as Pinango is a below average runner whose ugly routes and iffy arm make him a liability even in left field. If it comes together offensively he can be a regular regardless, but anything short and he’s likely a bench bat or not an MLB player.

I hope we get to see him play some.

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Today’s lineup against a lefty. Okamoto moves up.

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Max Scherzer on ‘getting punched in the face’. Really, he can’t say much else, but I don’t know if there is anything left in that arm. The team hasn’t announced if Trey Yesavage will make one more minor league start or if he’ll be put in Scherzer’s (or Lauer’s) spot next time through the rotation.

"You get punched in the face, spit it out, figure out what's wrong and go back out there." – Punched in the face indeed, as Max Scherzer can't get out of the third inning yet again. https://t.co/ggTFI1IzRq

— Rob Longley (@longleysunsport) April 25, 2026

The Detroit Tigers dropped their series opener against the Cincinnati Reds, 9-8, in a walk-off on Friday night after building an early lead and sitting through a two-hour rain delay.

On Saturday, they look to even things up behind right-hander Jack Flaherty. Opposite him on the mound for Cincinnati is fellow righty Brady Singer. Here’s a quick look at how they match up.

Detroit Tigers (14-13) vs. Cincinnati Reds (17-9)

Time (ET): 7:15 p.m.
Place: Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, Ohio
SB Nation Site:Red Reporter
Media: FOX, Tigers Radio Network

Game 28: RHP Jack Flaherty (0-1, 3.47 ERA) vs. RHP Brady Singer (1-1, 5.32 ERA)

Player	G	IP	K%	BB%	GB%	FIP	fWAR
Flaherty	5	23.1	22.2	18.5	30.5	4.60	0.3
Singer	5	23.2	14.5	6.4	40.0	4.58	0.3

FLAHERTY

SINGER

I was wrong.

When the White Sox signed Munetaka Murakami to a two-year, $34-million deal, I immediately jumped to the conclusion that something was wrong with him. A cursory glance at his NPB stats snowballed into a statistical analysis on his hypothetical impact on the 2025 Sox before he even stepped foot in the batter’s box, and ultimately landed on a conclusion that Murakami would be underwhelming.

While my predictions and assessments were grounded in logical projections and modeling, I’ll quote Dodgers and Blue Jays managers Dave Roberts and John Schneider from their latest interview with Jeff Passan: “Baseball happened.”

Murakami’s first 26 games in the big leagues has far exceeded expectations. While he unfortunately has lived up to his expectation of being an all-or-nothing hitter with a 40.3% whiff rate and 32.1% strikeout rate (ranked in the bottom-first and -eighth percentiles), his “all” has been nothing short of historic. Murakami’s healthy .256/.398/.622 slash line and towering 1.020 OPS indicate that he’s already near his ceiling of being the Japanese Babe Ruth.

Before the Sox’s 5-4 win over the Nationals, Murakami’s name was already etched in the history books for tying Shohei Ohtani’s record for most consecutive games with a home run by any Japanese-born player, owning the longest MLB rookie home run streak, and tying the franchise record homering in five consecutive games.

But his 11th home run was different.

Coming off the bat at 104 mph and traveling 415 feet, Murakami’s elegant and seemingly effortless lefty swing on Friday night flipped a switch numerically and emotionally:

MURAKAMI IS NOW TIED FOR THE LEAGUE LEAD IN HOMERS 🔥 https://t.co/RezIEx9y8Lpic.twitter.com/jRi8hyasEj

— MLB (@MLB) April 25, 2026

Murakami is now tied with Houston’s Yordan Alvarez for the most home runs in baseball and ranked among MLB’s Top 10 in wOBA (.430), xwOBA (.433), barrel percentage (25.5%) and hard hit percentage (65.5%). You can’t deny that the stats themselves are impressive, but attitude and passion can’t be boiled down into a single measure. What my math failed to account for is how Murakami’s presence on the team would impact the team’s momentum. 

His Statcast 11 run value, measuring run creation, has rubbed off on his teammates and fueled Chicago’s palpable shift in style and grittiness that hasn’t been felt in years. The Sox have won 11 games before April has concluded, marking the first time since 2021 that Sox have finished with double digits in the win column at this point. And in 2021, the Sox went on to win the AL Central for the first time in 13 years. The excitement radiating off the players is felt by Sox fans who have endured anything but for the last three years, and now the rest of baseball is noticing.

For the next two years, Murakami isn’t just here to trend and collect his cash. He’s here to make a statement about himself and the Sox. Even when he invariably faces tough stretches, Murakami has already earned every penny in his contract by simply giving Sox fans hope that this new chapter is finally here. For that alone, Murakami has soared beyond expectations this spring, and I couldn’t be happier that my calculations didn’t account for this.

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The Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers both feature Top-5 offenses, which were on full display in a 10 run series opener.

My Cubs vs. Dodgers predictions see another high-scoring affair in the cards Saturday night.

Let’s take a closer look at my daily MLB picks for April 25.

Who will win Cubs vs Dodgers today: Dodgers (-140)

Colin Rea has pitched very well for the Chicago Cubs but his two best starts came against an 8-18 Philadelphia Phillies team.

There are also a couple of concerns in his numbers. For one, he ranks 26th among today’s projected starters in soft contact rate. He’s not generating much.

That’s not a great recipe heading into a matchup with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who rank first in hard hit rate against righties this season.

He also ranks 40th percentile or worst in whiffs and K%. He doesn’t miss many bats, and that could lead to problems against a powerful Dodgers offense.

Cubs vs Dodgers Over/Under pick: Over 9.5 (+100)

The Dodgers rank first in average, second in OBP, and fourth in runs per game. They also hit the ball as hard as anybody, and Rea has not induced a lot of soft contact.

Chicago should score plenty of runs as well. They have plated at least six runs in six consecutive road games, and 4+ in eight of 10 away dates this season.

Dodgers starter Roki Sasaki is sporting a 6.11 ERA and allowing more than two homers per nine innings, which doesn’t set up well facing a Cubs team that slots fifth in homers.

Cubs vs Dodgers odds

• Moneyline: Chicago (+130) | Los Angeles (-150)
• Run line: Chicago +1.5 (-145) | Los Angeles -1.5 (+125)
• Over/Under: Over 9.5 (+100) | Under 9.5 (-120)

Cubs vs Dodgers trend

The Los Angeles Dodgers have hit the Moneyline in 35 of their last 50 games (+6.45 Units / 7% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Cubs vs. Dodgers.

How to watch Cubs vs Dodgers and game info

Cubs vs Dodgers latest injuries

Cubs vs Dodgers weather

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The Dodgers offense spent most of the last week wasting an incredible stretch by the starting rotation, coupled with a suddenly vulnerable bullpen having their worst week of the season. That fueled five losses over the last seven games, and now the Dodgers on Saturday turn to Roki Sasaki, the black sheep of the rotation still looking for some semblance of success to build on.

Los Angeles scored eight runs in their last four games, with four of those runs scored on Friday night though none after the fourth inning. The Dodgers inability to tack on runs has cost them dearly during this dismal stretch, which includes three or fewer runs in six of their last 12 games.

Shohei Ohtani is hitless in his last 12 at-bats, has two hits in 20 at-bats since his last extra-base hit, and is 7-for-43 (.163) since his last home run 13 days ago. Teoscar Hernández is also hitless in his last 12 at-bats and two for his last 28. Even Andy Pages after his impossibly hot start has three hits in his last 25 at-bats.

Signing Edwin Díaz was an attempt to improve on a Dodgers bullpen that was mostly a weakness in 2024, but with a diminished Díaz ineffective for two weeks and now sidelined for three months after arthroscopic elbow surgery, the Dodgers are relying on mostly the same cast of characters from last year.

Their four relievers they’ve used in the highest-leverage spots all had their worst games of the season this week. Jack Dreyer got a slider crushed for a three-run home run on Wednesday by Patrick Bailey, who owns a 19 wRC+ this season (and 73 wRC+ in his major league career). Alex Vesia, Blake Treinen, and Tanner Scott coughed up a 4-0 lead in Friday night’s stunning loss to the Cubs.

That’s a recipe for losing games this week that saw Dodgers starters deliver two of the top eight game scores on the team this season — Emmet Sheehan 70 game score (6 1/3 IP, 1 R, 10 K Friday), Ohtani 69 game score (6 scoreless IP, 7 K Wednesday) — plus another seven-inning start by Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Tuesday in San Francisco.

Sasaki has four of the Dodgers’ worst six game scores in his starts this season, and enters his Saturday start on his bobblehead night with a 6.11 ERA and 5.67 xERA. Among the 302 major league pitchers with at least 10 innings this season, Sasaki ranks 256th in ERA, 264th in xERA, and 246th with a 5.9-percent strikeout minus walk rate.

The Dodgers are committed to letting Sasaki figure things out in the majors, with his last start coming the closest with one run allowed through four innings at Coors Field, but he was unable to finish the fifth inning. With Blake Snell likely needing three more minor league rehab starts before returning, and with River Ryan on the minor league injured list with a hamstring issue, the Dodgers don’t really have other options than Sasaki for a little bit.

Sasaki has recorded between 12 and 15 outs in his four starts this season, so Saturday sure feels like a day for Jake Eder to soak up some innings in relief and then get optioned back to Triple-A Oklahoma City to make room for a fresh arm on Sunday with four more games in this stretch of 13 games in 13 days.

Saturday game info

• Teams: Dodgers vs. Cubs
• Ballpark: Dodger Stadium
• Time: 4:15 p.m.
• TV: Fox (Joe Davis, John Smoltz)
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

1951
White Sox slugger Eddie Robinson hit the first rooftop home run by a Chicago player at Comiskey Park. Robinson’s blast was off of Al Widmar of the Browns, in the third inning of an 8-6 White Sox win. It was the eighth all-time home run over the roof.

Robinson hit 29 home runs that year and drove in 117 runs, as the Sox went 81-73-1.

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1968
By losing 3-2 at Minnesota despite outhitting the Twins, 12-3, the White Sox fell to 0-10, the worst 10-game start in franchise history. The scoring would reverse the next day, mercifully snapping Chicago’s losing streak.

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1969
Speaking of roof shots, 18 years later Buddy Bradford put a home run over the roof, capping a four-run first that put the White Sox ahead of the Twins, 4-1. Minnesota battled back ahead, 5-4, but the home team prevailed on a bases-loaded single from Carlos May for a walk-off win. It seems odd to say for a team that would finish 68-90 and fifth of six in the AL West, but the thrilling victory pushed the White Sox to 8-5 and into their only day in first place all season.

The towering shot was Bradford’s only hit of the game. It was the fourth White Sox roof shot ever, and the 18th overall.

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2004
Coming over from the Bulls organization, Brooks Boyer was named White Sox vice president of marketing, replacing the taciturn and aloof Rob Gallas. Boyerimmediately instituted a series of great ad campaigns (including “Sox Pride” and “Win or Die Trying”) that keyed interest, tweaked the Cubs and generated excitement among the fan base. Things have taken a turn since those early salad days, including running popular play-by-play man, lifelong White Sox fan and Chicago native Jason Benetti into the arms of division rival Detroit.

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2005
With a 6-0 win at Oakland, the White Sox improved to 16-4 — topping the 1973 team (15-5) for the best 20-game start in franchise history. Jon Garland moved to 4-0 with a 116-pitch shutout, yielding just four hits and a walk against three strikeouts. The Sox offense jumped on Barry Zito, with Pablo Ozuna (2-for-3, two runs, two steals) and Chris Widger (2-for-4, two-run homer) the unexpected standouts.

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2014
It was the first big moment in what would be a stellar White Sox career for José Abreu. The Cuban native smashed a two-out, walk-off grand slam off Grant Balfour to beat the Rays, 9-6. The rookie tallied three hits and six RBIs in the game.

Abreu would cap off his rookie season by garnering the American League Rookie of the Year award from both The Sporting News and the BBWAA for blasting 36 home runs, with 35 doubles, 80 runs scored, 107 RBIs, a .317 batting average and leading the league in slugging percentage (.581).

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2016
Relief pitcher Matt Albers threw his 30th consecutive scoreless outing, breaking the White Sox record set by Jesse Crain. Albers’ streak dated back to Aug. 5, 2015 and spanned 33 innings. Ironically, Albers’ streak was snapped in a game several days later, on April 30 in Baltimore, when a José Abreu error caused two unearned runs to cross the plate, charged to Albers.

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The Atlanta Braves beat the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday for their ninth win in 10 games, while Philadelphia has lost 10 straight, its longest losing streak since 1999.

The Phillies will get a big boost on Saturday as ace starting pitcher Zack Wheeler makes his first MLB start since last August.

Blood clots forced Wheeler to have a rib removed in September, and it's not clear that he's shaken off the rust and gotten back to 100%.

That's why my Phillies vs. Braves predictions and MLB picks call for a Braves win.

Who will win Phillies vs Braves today: Braves moneyline (-119)

The Atlanta Braves added to baseball's best run differential and have topped five runs in three straight, averaging 6.6 runs over the last five.

The Braves got the win in the series opener, even with their hottest hitter, Michael Harris (.555 in the last seven games), limited to pinch-hitting duty after leaving Thursday's game with quad tightness. 

He may play DH on Saturday.

The Philadelphia Phillies hope Zack Wheeler can keep that Atlanta offense in check, but he had a 5.85 ERA in five spring starts with his highest home run rate since 2018.

Even more troubling, his spin and velocity are down significantly.

Phillies vs Braves Over/Under pick: Under 8.5 (+100)

The Phillies will have Wheeler on a pitch count, but their key relievers should be rested and able to handle the increased workload.

Braves starter Bryce Elder has a 1.50 ERA this season and a WHIP below 1.000. His strikeout rate is at a career high, while his hit, walk, and homer rates are at career lows.

He's throwing his four-seamer and cutter more instead of relying solely on his sinker, and the result has been increased effectiveness of all three pitches.

Opponents are hitting 30 points lower against the sinker and 80 points lower against the four-seamer. He didn't throw the cutter often enough last year to compare, but foes have just a .200 average against it in 2026.

Phillies vs Braves odds

• Moneyline: Phillies -117 | Braves +113
• Run line: Phillies +1.5 (-178) | Braves -1.5 (+170)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 (-108) | Under 8.5 (+104)

Phillies vs Braves trend

The Philadelphia Phillies have hit the Team Total Under in 8 of their last 10 games (+6.10 Units / 53% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Phillies vs. Braves.

How to watch Phillies vs Braves and game info

Phillies vs Braves latest injuries

Phillies vs Braves weather

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Cincinnati Reds slugger Eugenio Suárez was a late scratch from the Friday evening lineup in the team’s series opener in Great American Ball Park against the Detroit Tigers. Nathaniel Lowe – who eventually ended up swatting a walk-off dinger – was moved into the DH spot for the game, and the initial hope was that it would merely be a one-off lineup change.

As it turns out, though, Suárez is going to head to the injured list. The back problem is actually an oblique issue, albeit a hopefully minor one, and that’s going to land Geno on the shelf for at least 10 days. So said Terry Francona to Charlie Goldsmith last night.

Francona said Suarez is going to the IL with a low grade oblique.

— Charlie Goldsmith (@CharlieG__) April 25, 2026

The Reds have not yet announced a corresponding roster move (or Suárez to the actual IL) just yet, but outfielder JJ Bleday was removed from his game with AAA Louisville early on Friday evening. Bleday slugged 20 homers for the Athletics as recently as 2024 and is off to a roaring start in AAA this year (.341/.462/.659 with 6 homers in 104 PA), and as replacements to the offense go, he’s about as good as one can hope for.

Notably, Suárez hitting the shelf removes a corner infield option from the roster, and instead of backfilling with someone with experience there (such as Noelvi Marte), Cincinnati’s front office is apparently turning to Bleday due to the flexibility of the rest of the roster. Spencer Steer has spent more time in the outfield this year that in previous seasons, but he’s got experience all over the infield if need be. Lowe, too, is an accomplished 1B with a Gold Glove under his belt, and his ability to play there regularly would allow Sal Stewart to play more 3B on days when Francona decides they actually need someone who can swing a bat there better than Ke’Bryan Hayes.

That’s the beauty of building a roster with positional flexibility, I suppose. When one player goes down with injury, it allows the front office to select the best offensive option they can instead of having to go glove-first.

My best guess is that you’ll see Lowe in the lineup at DH or 1B every time the team faces a RHP while Geno is on the shelf. That’s a pretty damn good insurance policy, as we witnessed just last night.

Lowe and behold. #ATOBTTRpic.twitter.com/1rKPi87obv

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) April 25, 2026

The Orioles hit so many home runs last night that they put up a message on the video board that there were no more fireworks to be had. This turned out to not be the case in the most literal sense, as the small little post-victory burst of fireworks still went off. It was fun, though. Their challenge for today: Do something almost as fun.

Due to expected rain later in the day, what had been scheduled for a 4:05 start was moved up, with the agreement of both teams and the league, to this 12:05 start time. It’s an early start for an MLB game. If that’s a disruption to anybody’s routine, hopefully it throws off the Red Sox more than the Orioles.

Also hopefully the shift in the start time doesn’t cause any problems for people who were hoping to get their hands on the Orioles hockey jersey giveaway, which seems to be one of the more desired ones on the list in the 2026 season. It looks like a neat one and unique compared to the usual array of shirts and hats with maybe a hoodie mixed in.

This is a reeling Red Sox team. We got to see some of why in last night’s game. The list of the struggling players includes today’s Boston starter, Garrett Crochet. He’s rocking a 7.88 ERA across his first five starts. As this is only year 1 of a five-year, $170 million contract for Crochet, I dare not hope that he will continue to be so bad. The batted ball luck has not been on his side, with a .368 BABIP allowed. That’s likely to come down. He’s still been getting elite numbers of strikeouts.

A win here would put the Orioles back above .500. The 2025 Orioles were never above .500 again after having a 3-2 record through their first five games. At times, this year’s team has felt eerily familiar to last year’s. Other times, they have shown they might be better able to weather their early problems and avoid the collapse that removes any possibility of something good happening later.

Orioles lineup

1. Taylor Ward – DH
2. Gunnar Henderson – SS
3. Adley Rutschman – C
4. Pete Alonso – 1B
5. Tyler O’Neill – RF
6. Jeremiah Jackson – 2B
7. Leody Taveras – CF
8. Coby Mayo – 3B
9. Blaze Alexander – LF

This is an “OK, we’re facing a lefty today” lineup that upsets me a lot less than some of the ones we’ve seen recently, because the only totally out of position guy is Alexander in left field. Hopefully it works out.

The Orioles are sending their own lefty the mound in the form of Trevor Rogers. So far in 2026, he’s not making like it’s 2025 again. I’ve said before and will say again that he was never going to carry a sub-2 ERA over a full season this year. Hopefully he can pitch well enough today to start lowering himself towards a 3.25 or so. If he can hold around there, I think the Orioles would be happy with that.

Red Sox lineup

1. Ceddanne Rafaela – CF
2. Willson Contreras – 1B
3. Wilyer Abreu – RF
4. Trevor Story – SS
5. Andruw Monasterio – DH
6. Jarren Duran – LF
7. Caleb Durbin – 3B
8. Connor Wong – C
9. Isiah Kiner-Falefa – 2B

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Ernie Clement cashed his base total for a sixth time in his last seven games last night, and with a southpaw on the mound for Cleveland today, I’m expecting that trend to continue this afternoon.

Read on for my Toronto Blue Jays vs. Cleveland Guardians predictions and MLB picks for Saturday, April 25.

Guardians vs Blue Jays predictions

Guardians vs Blue Jays best bet: Ernie Clement O 1.5 total bases (+110)

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Toronto Blue Jays infielder Ernie Clement to go Over his base total has been a pretty safe bet over the past week, as he’s 6-1 to the Over in his last seven outings. 

Throughout this seven-game stretch, Clement is averaging 2.57 bases per game with six extra-base hits. 

With a hit rate like that, it’s too much value to pass up his bases total again at plus-money (+110).

Additionally, with Cleveland Guardians lefty Joey Cantillo on the mound, it’s a great matchup for Clement, too. He had a terrific .900 OPS against lefties last season and owns a .317 average against them again so far this year. 

Guardians vs Blue Jays same-game parlay (SGP)

When Kevin Gausman has his splitter dancing, he’s nearly unhittable. This is often the case when facing this lineup, which owns just a .196 average against him with 26 K’s in 92 at-bats.

I’ll take the Over 5.5 strikeouts tonight for Gausman against a team that struggles against the splitter.

I’ll double down on the Gausman strikeout market by taking Guardians' Bo Naylor to strike out. He struggles against Gausman, going 0-5 in his career with three K’s.  

Guardians vs Blue Jays SGP

• Ernie Clement Over 1.5 total bases
• Kevin Gausman Over 5.5 strikeouts
• Bo Naylor Over 0.5 strikeouts

img loading="lazy" width="100%" height="null" src="https://img.covers.com/editorial/2026/jaysmlcbp.jpg" alt="Canada’s best price for Jays"

Guardians vs Blue Jays home run pick: Kazuma Okamoto. (+425)

I’ll make this a half-unit wager.

Cantillo has been prone to giving up quite a bit of power. He ranks in the 31st percentile in hard-hit rate and in the 28th percentile in average exit velocity.

Enter Kazuma Okamoto. 

The Jays third-baseman owns a .571 batting average against lefties who throw him that pitch with a 60% hard hit rate. He also owns a 1.107 OPS over the last seven days. 

Guardians vs Blue Jays odds

• Moneyline: Cleveland +127 | Toronto -140
• Run line: Cleveland +1.5 (-165) | Toronto -1.5 (+145)
• Over/Under: Over 8 (-105) | Under 8 (-115)

Guardians vs Blue Jays trend

The Toronto Blue Jays have hit the Team Total Under in 13 of their last 20 games (+5.50 Units / 24% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Guardians vs. Blue Jays.

How to watch Guardians vs Blue Jays and game info

Guardians vs Blue Jays latest injuries

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Great news — Brent Rooker’s recovery from an oblique strain is way ahead of schedule, so much so that the A’s hinted he could be activated as soon as during this season. With the day off Monday, perhaps the more likely outcome is that Rooker rejoins the team Tuesday when they return home to take on the Kansas City Royals.

Getting Rooker back is definitely a plus for the A’s as he recently hit his 100th HR as an Athletic after just 3+ seasons in the green and gold. He was off to a slow start but was heating up and looking like his old self when he took the fateful swing that landed him on the IL.

Sure Rooker strikes out more than you would ideally like (28.1% for his career) and his slow starts make watching him the first couple weeks of the season painful. But the weakness he brings to a roster is not at the plate where overall you will take him and be glad he’s on your side.

Rooker is not a good fielder, capable of playing the corner outfield but severely limited in his range or overall acumen. His best position is DH, which works well so long as the rest of your players excel in the field. But the 2026 A’s are not built that way. They have multiple players who give back value in the field and you just hope they provide enough offense to make it worthwhile to start them.

The most glaring example is Max Muncy, whom optimists point out is still relatively new to 3B and whom pessimists rebut by noting that his range and his throwing arm have been concerns ever since he turned pro. But now Platinum Glove candidate Denzel Clarke has hit the IL leaving the A’s with outfield decisions to make, and suddenly plus outfield defense is no longer a given.

And there is the matter of Carlos Cortes. Cortes may not wow anyone with his glove but my oh my is he wowing with the bat. With each passing day he is becoming more and more indispensable and his success is looking less and less fluky or driven by small samples.

Cortes’ career body of work is still rooted in “small sample” territory with 161 PAs. Nonetheless, he is currently a career .320/.354/.573 hitter with a 14.9% K rate who only seems to be getting better as he gets more regular playing time.

A glance at Cortes’ Statcast page screams “not a fluke!” and he isn’t even profiling as a platoon player: so far this season Cortes has had 3 plate appearances against LHPs and has produced a single and 2 doubles. He’s 5 for 8 in his career thus far against southpaws.

It seems clear the A’s need to keep Cortes’ bat in the lineup until further notice, at least against RHPs, even though his recent work in RF in Seattle was frighteningly shaky and might have cost the A’s a chance to sweep the series. Right now his bat is so good you have to find a spot for him — even if the ideal one is about to be rightfully claimed by Rooker.

Options do abound for solving this conundrum, they just come with caveats of which we must be emptor. Here are some of the options for a primary alignment:

1. Rooker DH, Soderstrom LF, Butler CF, Cortes RF

This one feels likely and comes at a great cost: Butler is a poor defensive CFer (worse than you might think as he doesn’t get to balls that look like maybe they just weren’t reachable, but which most CFers catch thanks to a better read, route, and speed), and Cortes is certainly worse than Butler in RF. How much is not yet clear — he’s probably much better than he looked in the Seattle dome but he’s slow and a bit awkward in the field. So you have to sacrifice a fair amount of defense to get all 4 bats in the lineup, and one of them, Butler, isn’t even hitting so far this season.

2. Rooker DH, Soderstrom LF, Gelof CF, Cortes RF

This one might best balance keeping your outfield sufficiently speedy and athletic with finding spots for 3 of your best hitters. It also assumes Gelof is as solid as he looks so far in CF, and more significantly it assumes the A’s are willing to sit the outfielder they committed to, just a year ago, with a significant contract extension.

3. Rooker DH, Soderstrom LF, Gelof CF, Butler RF

This one feels unlikely since it puts 2 questionable hitters in the outfield and their best hitter, so far in 2026, on the bench. But Cortes was no more than a 4th outfielder coming into the season and this gives you the best defensive look, so it’s on the table as a “defense first” option that presumes Gelof and Butler might hit far better than they have in the recent past. Certainly both are talented and have shown, over a half season, flashes of brilliance at the plate.

You can find other iterations if you put Rooker in the outfield, but the A’s aren’t going to do that because he is pretty clearly the worst fielding outfielder of the bunch (-22 DRS/-18 OAA career). Cortes is clearly superior so no point in flipping them.

Does one of these 3 options feel to you like the best one, and if so does it seem realistic the A’s might choose it as their most common alignment on the upcoming homestand? Or is there a 4th option you favor, and think might be realistic?

One way or the other the A’s are going to faced with some difficult decisions around how they employ Butler and Cortes, how much they commit to Gelof, and whether they emphasize hitting or outfield defense. It’s a really nice problem to have to get Rooker back in the lineup — and it still creates problems that don’t have obvious or foolproof solutions.

What to do, what to do?

If I asked you to name a great single season from a player in Yankees’ history, you can probably come up with a few strong options. That player will probably also be a legend in franchise history. Feats like Joe DiMaggio’s 1941 with his 56-game hitting streak, Aaron Judge’s 62 homers in 2022, and Ron Guidry’s Cy Young 1978 probably come to mind first. Hell, any one of a number of Babe Ruth campaigns could be your answer.

The thing about individual seasons as opposed to great careers is that it’s possible to have an outstanding season and then somewhat fade back in obscurity. You’re more likely to be a pretty good player overall if you put up a great season, but random successes aren’t unheard of.

In Yankees history, Russ Ford had a couple solid campaigns in general, but then also had one of the best single pitching seasons in franchise history — despite being someone whose name you might not know. With today being his birthday, let’s look back on the original Ford pitching standout and his unbelievable 1910 season.

Russell William “Russ” Ford
Born: April 25, 1883 (Brandon, Manitoba, Canada)
Died: January 24, 1960 (Rockingham, NC)
Yankees Tenure: 1909-13

Born in 1883 to Walter and Ida Ford — the latter of whom was a second cousin of soon-to-be U.S. president Grover Cleveland — Russ Ford was born in Manitoba, Canada. In his childhood, the Ford family — which also featured Russ’ older brother and fellow future big league pitcher Gene — emigrated to the United States and eventually settled in Minneapolis.

While there, he caught the eyes of some teams, and began to pitch in the minor leagues after his schooling. Ford started off his baseball career with the Springfield Senators in 1905. He played the next couple season with them, the Cedar Rapids Rabbits, and the Atlanta Crackers. It was with Atlanta in 1908 where he figured something out that would forever change him as a pitcher.

One day in Atlanta in 1908, Ford was warming up before the game on what had been a rainy day. He was a little bit wild, and one pitch got away from the catcher and struck an upright on the stands which they had been throwing under. After the ball was returned to him, Ford started to notice some odd movement on his next couple throws. He examined the ball and noticed that it had been scuffed up a bit where it had hit the upright. He then started to grip the ball opposite the scuff, and suddenly began to see some severe movement, as he had discovered what was set to take him to the big leagues.

The then-New York Highlanders picked up Ford after the 1908 season, and he ended up making the roster out of spring training for 1909. Tabbed for his MLB debut in the 11th game of the season, Ford ate some innings after Highlanders starter Jack Quinn got knocked out early by the Red Sox. Ford went four innings that day, allowing six runs. Shortly after that, he was assigned to the minor leagues, joining the Jersey City Skeeters. He had a good season there, experimenting with using an emery board to scuff up the ball, leading to him returning to the big leagues for 1910, when he would have his legendary season.

With his emery pitch, Ford hit the ground running when he returned to the big leagues in 1910. After coming out of the bullpen once, he was given his first major league start on April 21st. Tasked holding down that year’s World Series champions, the Philadelphia Athletics, Ford fanned nine batters en route to a complete-game shutout victory. Of Ford’s first nine MLB starts, only one didn’t end in a Yankees win, as he racked up 51 strikeouts across them.

Arguably the most impressive outs of Ford’s rookie season came on July 19th. Facing off against the St. Louis Browns, Ford’s defense behind him let the pitcher down, as an error allowed St. Louis to score a run in the top of the first. After that, Ford was dominant, at one point retiring 19 hitters in a row. As the offense took and grew a lead, Ford continued his dominance, and still had allowed no hits as the game moved to the ninth inning.

After issuing a walk and then getting the first out of the inning, Ford allowed a blooper hit by Danny Hoffman that was headed towards shortstop. However, Highlanders shortstop Roxey Roach misjudged the fly ball, allowing it to gently drop in for a Browns hit. Ford got out of the inning after that, finishing with a one-hitter, but came incredibly close to a no-no, which would’ve been the first in Highlanders/Yankees franchise history.

In total, Ford finished his rookie season with a 26-6 record, a 1.65 ERA (160 ERA+), a 1.87 FIP, 209 strikeouts, and would’ve led the league with just 5.8 H/9, had that been a stat calculated at the time. MLB awards didn’t exist back then, but Ford would’ve been in strong consideration for several of them. He almost certainly would’ve been a Rookie of the Year lock, and while this was the Walter Johnson Era and a Cy Young would’ve been a longshot, he would’ve earned some down-ballot consideration for that and the MVP. Ford’s 26 victories that season also set an AL rookie record, which still stands and will likely never be broken.

From 1911-13, Ford was still somewhere between good and very good, but he never quite matched 1910 again. He dealt with arm fatigue in 1913, which led to the Highlanders/Yankees’ contract offer for 1914 including a sizeable pay cut. That led him to leave the team and jump to the newly founded Federal League with the Buffalo Buffeds. He looked the part in 1914, leading the FL in a number of pitching stats.

However, the leagues all began to ban the use of the emery ball, and that plus Ford’s injury issues led to a massive drop-off in 1915. The Federal League also disbanded after 1915, and no AL or NL team were interested in the pitcher. He played in the minors before a few years but could never get back to close to his best. He eventually left baseball and move to his wife’s native North Carolina, where he passed away in 1960. Years later, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame honored the Manitoba-born Ford by inducting him in 1989.

Ford was not remotely good enough for long enough to merit induction to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, but that one season in 1910 is a better single season than many Hall of Famers have ever had.

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

Game time was moved up due to inclement weather. Can this be the shakeup that begins to turn things around for the Sox? We’ll just have to see how this plays out.

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A Saturday matinee. pic.twitter.com/8lXQowQY5T

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) April 25, 2026