Category: Baseball

It’s hard to demand a better start to the Yankees’ 2026 campaign than this 5-1 season-opening West Coast road trip. It’s tempting to be greedy and wish that they hadn’t been walked off in Seattle on Monday, but they lost a tough game in an opposing ballpark to a team that fell a win shy of the World Series in 2025 on a walk-off hit by the AL MVP runner-up. It happens. No one’s undefeated, anyway, and only the Brewers and Marlins have matched the Yanks’ 5-1 start; note that both of them got to play the White Sox.

The Yankees will face those Fish on Friday in the Bronx for the Yankee Stadium home opener. Until then, we wait. In the meantime, what do you think was the best moment from this strong start? There’s no shortage of contenders, as it’s been a well-rounded attack. Is it Max Fried’s Opening Night gem by the Bay? David Bednar’s great escape last night in Seattle to secure the series win? Cam Schlittler’s dazzling work? Aaron Judge sparking the offense with homers in the last two San Francisco games? Ben Rice blistering doubles?

Because I am nothing if not a Giancarlo Stanton enthusiast, I will lean toward him going 414 feet at Oracle Park on Friday shortly after Judge’s tank. Stanton’s been scorching hot with multi-hit games in each of his first five contests (before resting yesterday) and his approach hasn’t exclusively been long-ball reliant … but boy those dingers are still fun. Great developments from 36-year-old Big G.

Today on the site, Peter breaks down his Sequence of the Week, Madison runs through the Rivalry Roundup, and Nick celebrates the birthday of a great one-year Yankee in righty Jon Lieber. Later, Michael previews Double-A Somerset’s season, Andrés examines a few small tweaks that have helped Jake Bird get off to a much better (early) start in pinstripes than he did after coming over from the Rockies in 2025, and Sam chips in some thoughts of his own

Today’s Matchup

Offday

NJ.com | Randy Miller: Yesterday, it was reported that Yankees starter Carlos Rodón, who began the year on the injured list due to offseason surgery, was dealing with right hamstring tightness. Although the left-hander did throw a bullpen session yesterday, it appears that, although the Yankees believe the injury is a “minor thing,” the start of Rodón’s rehab assignment has been pushed back slightly.

ESPN | Associated Press: Yankees No. 5 starter Luis Gil, who was not named to the Opening Day roster because the Yankees only need a four-man rotation until April 11th, reported to Triple-A Scranton yesterday. According to manager Aaron Boone, Gil will have his next bullpen day and make his next start with the RailRiders, before making his season debut with the big league club at Tampa Bay next Saturday.

MLB.com | Jim Callis: MLB has officially informed all of its teams about each respective slot values and combined available bonus pool money for the upcoming 2026 draft. The pick values are up by 2.5 percent from 2025. The Yankees will have a total of $7,342,800 at their disposal for draft bonuses this July, with their top pick (35th overall) worth $2,826,700. As a reminder for those unfamiliar, teams can choose to distribute the combined bonus pool money however they want and are not obligated to go by each pick’s official designation. They can also outspend their total pool by zero to five percent and only be taxed an extra 75-percent on the overage. Outspending beyond that carries future draft pick penalties, which have never been incurred in the 14-year history of this system.

MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: It’s only been a week, but early indications suggest that the Yankees will be both one of the most aggressive and one of the most successful teams when it comes to challenging balls and strikes via the new ABS challenge system. Heading into action yesterday afternoon, New York led the league in challenges with 10, including eight successful, and the team’s catching tandem of Austin Wells and J.C. Escarra had been a perfect four-for-four. According to the players, this has been a deliberate strategy, as the team had what Aaron Judge jokingly called “too many meetings” to gameplan for the new wrinkle.

Front Office Sports | Ryan Glasspiegel: Former Yankee reliever Adam Ottavino continues to build his post-playing media career, adding a gig with ESPN as an MLB analyst to a busy schedule that includes work as a studio analyst with the YES Network, Sunday Night Baseball with NBC Sports, and his own YouTube channel. Ottavino joins an analyst team that has undergone extensive turnover this winter.

If you look at the current Diamondbacks’ win-loss record, you could say that the season is going according to expectations, although, all truth told, the Diamondbacks do not necessarily have an easy start of the season with the World Series champions in our first series, a 2025 play-off team in our second series and a traditional contender like the Braves, who missed out on the play-offs in 2025 for the first time in 7 years, in our third series of the season.

Not entering April until just yesterday, the season is still very young, but sweeping the Tigers is a mighty statement from our side. What is there to say about our opponent beside the fact that we had their number last year, going 4-2?

Familiar faces.

The Braves have an okay start of the season, nothing spectacular. They beat the Royals in their opening series of the season at home and had a similar kind of matchup with the Athletics in their second series, winning both series 2-1. They will arrive at Arizona going 4-2.

They do so with quite a familiar team and lineup: Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies and Austin Riley are familiar faces on the dirt. So are the now healthy Ronald Acuña Jr and Michael Harris II in the outfield. Former Giant Mike Yastrzemski is nowadays manning left field, after being signed to a 2-year $23MM contract, while Mauricio Dubón, a utility gold glover whom the Braves acquired from the Astros for Nick Allen, is currently the fixed name at short stop.

Dubón should have lost that position to Ha-Seong Kim, were it not that the former Korean Padre injured his hand in Korea during the off-season and will be out until May-June. It puts another remarkable note to Kim’s career thus far in the major leagues. Injured during the final months of the 2024 season, he missed the play-offs with the Padres and surprisingly decided to decline an $8MM player option. Boras got him signed by the Rays, who stepped out of their comfort zone by offering $29MM over 2 years. He was injured for most of the year and only played from July to August, before getting injured again. The Rays put him on waivers and the Braves claimed. After a good showing in a small sample size in September, once again Kim surprised and decided to opt out of his final year and $16MM. Many jaws dropped when the Braves signed him again to a 1-year contract worth $20MM, supposedly declining a 4-year $48MM offer from the Athletics. That signing, right now, might have cost the Braves more than just money, because they could have allocated funds to areas that are in more need of improvement.

Have the Braves improved?

While we won’t see Kim, and apart from former foe Yastrzemski, there are a couple of other notable free agent signings: hard throwing Robert Suarez, well known from the Padres, was signed to a three year deal worth $45MM. Relievers Raisel Iglesias and Tyler Kinley also returned, respectively on 1 year $16MM and $4.25MM deals. Former friend Joel Payamps and veteran Martin Perez were also added to deals, the latter one as swingman between bullpen and starting rotation. On the depth chart we can find known names as Kyle Farmer (with the Rockies in 2025), Jorge Mateo, catcher Jonah Heim, and Dominic Smith (with the Giants in 2025).

On paper they seem to have become better, with Marcell Ozuno being the only 1+ fWAR player to have left the organization. As we probably know, former Padre and “Koninkrijk” buddy of mine Jurickson Profar is suspended for the entire season after testing positive again for PEDs, forfeiting around $15MM.

In 2025, the Braves’ offence and starting rotation were middle of the pack. Atlanta is surely banking on better production from Ozzie Albies (89 OPS+ in 2025), Michael Harris II (88 OPS+ in 2025) and Austin Riley (106 OPS+ in 2025 compared to 130 OPS+ in 2023) and a full season of Ronald Acuña Jr (95 games in 2025).

The rotation is lead by ace Chris Sale, who seems unstoppable ever since joining Atlanta, and we might be lucky he won’t pitch in this series. Spencer Schwellenbach makes for a fine 2nd, though is currently injured, he too is out for this series. Spencer Strider struggled in 2025, his first full season after returning from TJ, and also sustained an injury recently and is ruled out for this series too, so the number 2-3 now looks to be Reynaldo López. After him the starting rotation looks cloudy for the moment with Bryce Elder and Grant Holmes, though the first had a good start of the season. Prospects JR Ritchie and Didier Fuentes might be on the lookout for showing off what they have on the highest level in the first months of the season.

The weakest link in 2025 for Atlanta was the bullpen. They were better than Arizona’s, which isn’t that hard you’d say, but FanGraphs rated it as one of the worst in the league. Understandable that they went hard for Robert Suarez and were keen on bringing back valuable 2025 pieces Kinley and Iglesias. Together with lefties Dylan Lee and Aaron Bummer and new acquisitions Martin Perez and Joel Payamps, they should make for a stable relief corps, and thus could aspire a play-off spot once again.

All of that is lead by a new manager. After years of Brian Snitker, the manager wasn’t keen to commit and doubts about the 2025 performance by both sides resulted to bench manager Walt Weiss to be promoted to head coach. Weiss was the head coach of the Colorado Rockies from 2013 to 2016 and will look to improve on his highest total of 75 wins in that final season.

As normal, the Braves arrive with a team that will be tough to beat.

Matchups.

No confirmed starters as of writing.

Game #1 Thu 04/02 6:40 PM MST, Ryne Nelson (ARI) vs Reynaldo López (ATL).

• Ryne Nelson. 1 GS, 4.2 IP, 0 W-1 L, 7.71 ERA, 8.98 FIP, 1.07 WHIP, 4/3 K/BB.
• Reynaldo López. 1 GS, 6.0 IP, 0 W-0 L, 1.50 ERA, 5.36 FIP, 0.83 WHIP, 3/2 K/BB.

He deserves to be the Opening Day starter! That was what many of us said, including me, about Ryne Nelson. After that disappointing first performance we might be a bit less vocal now, and above all hope Nelson bounces back as soon as possible.

Opposite is Reynaldo López, who surfaced as an interesting bullpen piece in 2022 on the Chicago White Sox, after some anonymous years on that same team the years before. He followed that up with a good 2023 season in relief for White Sox, Angels and Guardians only to become an All Star as a starting pitcher on the 2024 Atlanta Braves. Unfortunately, he suffered a back injury after that and didn’t return until the end of the 2025 season. The hopes are high again in 2026, though it remains to be seen if Lopez can reach his 2024 heights. The righty, if fully healthy, normally sports a 95 mph fastball, a slider, changeup and curve.

López never faced the Diamondbacks as a starter, Nelson faced the Braves for the last time as a starter two years ago.

Game #2 Fri 04/03 6:45 PM MST, Eduardo Rodriguez (ARI) vs Grant Holmes (ATL).

• Eduardo Rodriguez. 1 GS, 5.0 IP, 1 W-0 L, 0.00 ERA, 2.40 FIP, 1.20 WHIP, 5/2 K/BB.
• Grant Holmes. 1 GS, 5.0 IP, 0 W-1 L, 5.40 ERA, 5.40 FIP, 1.40 WHIP, 4/2 K/BB.

E-Rod was lights out in his first appearance and we all hope he continues to perform that way in his second appearance of the season, opposite Grant Holmes.

Holmes debuted in 2024 and pitched in 22 games last season, providing 115.0 valuable innings with a 3.99 ERA until he went down late July with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament and was done for the year. Instead of undergoing TJ, he opted to rehab the elbow and thus far has ducked surgery and avoided a long absence. Holmes had a great Spring, and had two good opening innings against Kansas before giving up a run in each of the next 3 innings. The righty has a good slider and curve, but his 94 mph fastball is one of the weakest in the league.

Holmes faced the Diamondbacks twice in his career, both of the times last season. It were two no-decisions, though he gave up 3 runs in 3.1 innings on June 5 and 6 runs in 5.2 innings on April 26. In the April matchup the Diamondbacks blew a 6-2 lead and lost after 10 innings (8-7). In the June outing the Diamondbacks rallied for 7 runs in the 9th inning, beating the Braves 11-10.

Rodriguez faced the Braves twice in his career, the last time in 2021, when he was still with the Red Sox.

Game #3 Sat 04/04 4:15 PM MST, Michael Soroka (ARI) vs Bryce Elder (ATL).

• Michael Soroka. 1 GS, 5.0 IP, 1 W-0 L, 0.00 ERA, -0.20 FIP, 1.00 WHIP, 10/1 K/BB.
• Bryce Elder. 1 GS, 6.0 IP, 1 W-0 L, 0.00 ERA, 2.03 FIP, 1.00 WHIP, 5/1 K/BB.

We surely hope the Canadian will continue his good work in his second outing, where he will face Bryce Elder, who wasn’t as good as Soroka was in his first matchup, but completed 6 innings without giving up a run. Bryce Elder was an All Star in 2023, but has lost his shine ever since that 2023 All Star break, last season pitching to a 5.30 ERA. The league seems to have adjusted to him, though he kept the Royals off the board in his first serious outing of 2026. Elder is a soft-tosser with a 91 mph sinker and needs his off-speed pitches to work, but his changeup was his worst pitch in 2025.

Soroka has faced the Braves just once in his career, in 2024, and got a no-decision. No-decisions were also the outcome for Elder’s starts against the Diamondbacks, one in 2024 and the first one in 2023.

Game #4 Sun 04/05 1:10 PM MST, Brandon Pfaadt (ARI) vs TBD (ATL).

• Brandon Pfaadt. 1 GS, 6.0 IP, 0 W-0 L, 7.50 ERA, 2.70 FIP, 1.17 WHIP, 3/1 K/BB.
• TBD.

Atlanta’s starter is a question mark. This spot in the rotation was given to Jose Suarez but the Venezuelan had a short start of 3.2 innings, giving up 4 runs. He could get another start, but the odds are good that the Braves might give the starting job for this matchup to veteran Martin Perez or one of the rookies, like Didier Fuentes. That might give Pfaadt the chance to get his first win of the season and forget about his tough 3rd inning against Detroit.

At home, Pfaadt has faced the Braves twice in his career, getting two wins, the last time on April 27 in 2025. The last time he faced the Braves, he gave up 6 runs in 3 innings in Atlanta, but it was that June game where the Diamondbacks went on to rally for 7 runs, so he got to avoid a loss.

Maybe Jeff McNeil was trying to exorcise his early-season demons. 

The former Met let out an expletive into a hot mic after he struck out in the top of the ninth that was so loud that the astronauts on the Artemis II could have heard it in space. 

McNeil let out a massive “F–k!” after he tipped the ball into the glove of the Braves catcher Drake Baldwin who held on to the catch with his bare hand after it popped up during the Athletics’ 5-1 loss in Atlanta on Wednesday.

Warning: Adult language

Come for the Drake Baldwin highlight, stay for the McNeil hot mic https://t.co/kKpIYtF7T3pic.twitter.com/54Q6RRb70J

— jxke. (@cantguardjake) April 1, 2026

The A’s second baseman had been taking a swing at a 2-2 slider from Braves closer Raisel Iglesias, which led to the ball getting clipped and landing in the glove of the catcher.

After that, McNeil made the outburst that was clearly picked up on the broadcast. 

It’s a safe bet that the expletive was directed beyond just the lone out, as he’s struggled in the first few games with his new team since the 2026 season began. 

McNeill is batting .077 through his first five games of the season and has just one hit in 13 at-bats. He went hitless in two at-bats as a pinch hitter on Wednesday.

Additionally, the club has struggled out of the gate, winning just one of its first six games, with the lone victory coming against the Braves on March 31. 

McNeill is known for playing with fiery passion, and Wednesday was not the first time he was caught using an expletive after being struck out. 

Last September, while still with the Mets, McNeil was caught on the field mic shouting, “F-K YOU, GOD DAMNIT!”

That incident occurred during a game against the Rangers at Citi Field when he struck out in the bottom of the fourth inning. 

The comment was directed toward the home plate umpire and McNeil was quickly ejected from the game. 

McNeil, a two-time MLB All-Star, was traded to the Athletics during the offseason in a deal that sent pitching prospect Yordan Rodríguez to Queens. 

There’s always a worry that a team will come out flat the day after an emotional victory like last night’s come-from-behind win. That’s why it’s important to have a strong performance from your starting pitcher – particularly with this team’s bullpen – and Zac Gallen delivered exactly what the team needed. Unfortunately, he was lined up against the two-time Cy Young winner in Tarik Skubal who continues to show why he’s one of the best starters in the game right now. It’s rare that Opening Day starters square off outside of what should be a national holiday, but that was the case today across the league. And we were treated to a taut, well-played, defensive and pitching masterclass that the D-Backs narrowly took.

Thankfully though, Skubal wasn’t perfect. One of the few mistakes he made all afternoon opened – and closed – the scoring when Corbin Carroll launched a fastball above the zone that just snuck over the centerfield fence to give the D-Backs a 1-0 lead in the very first inning. The D-Backs created plenty of traffic throughout the game – there were only two innings where they didn’t have at least one baserunner – but they failed to capitalize on any of them. Instead, Skubal did what any starting pitcher would like to do: he induced weak contact and allowed his defense to work behind him by dialing up three separate double plays that extinguished rallies before they even started.

For his part, Gallen was up to the pitching duel, matching Skubal’s scoreless innings step for step. He leaned a little more heavily on his knuckle curve over his slider to great effect, collecting a pair of whiffs on the pitch. But even better, Gallen also leaned on his defense – far from a team strength the last two years – as he had just two strikeouts across his six innings. In fact, there were only eight strikeouts total from each team, landing in the lower-third of strikeout totals for games so far this season. Instead, there were defensive gems on both sides that kept the offense off the board. Crucially, Gallen ended his outing with an incredible show of athleticism and quick thinking. With the tying run at third after a one out triple from Kevin McGonigle, Gleyber Torres smacked a ball ticketed for right field that Jose Fernandez snagged out of the air and immediately threw to third to double up McGonigle and end the inning. It was a heads up play that you can’t always expect from a player who’s in his second career big league game, but Fernandez has already shown a level head for big moments and demonstrated it again today.

In classic baseball fashion, after a deflating sweep at the hand of the hated Dodgers to open the season, the D-Backs returned home to sweep the AL Central favorites with a dynamic offense, excellent defense, and just enough pitching to make it all hold up. It’s easy to live and die with the results of each game and I’m certainly prone to that kind of vacillating feeling throughout the season, but it’s always worth remembering to take a deep breath and remind yourself that it’s a long season and your confidence can change drastically on a day-to-day basis.

It was a fun day for the Clippers. We saw Kahlil Watson go 2-4 with a 413 foot bomb off of a 98 mph fastball. Stuart Fairchild also hit two HRs of his own. Juan Brito continues to destroy AAA pitching. After his 2-4 performance today, he is now hitting .400 with a 1.085 OPS on the season thus far. He should probably get an opportunity with the big league club soon.

It was a great day for the Clippers pitching staff as well. Trent Denholm struck out 8 batters in 6 innings while allowing just one run on two hits. We also got to see Daniel Espino and Franco Aleman throw scoreless innings.

This will be the last minor league recap that features just one team, as Thursday, April 2nd will be opening day for all the Guardians affiliates. I cannot wait to watch some minor league baseball this season.

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers have gotten off to a good start because they are 4-2, but in spite of a an offense that has been unable to get off to good starts in games.

They have yet to score in the first or second innings this season, and the first time through the batting order through six games have just nine hits in 49 at-bats, with a home run, double, and five walks, hitting just .184/.259/.265.

“We haven’t gotten off to a good start. In a majority of our games, the opponent has scored first. It just seems like the first three innings, we’re not getting much production, and nothing much going on. Then as we get into the game, we start to threaten a little more,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Maybe we get on the road and get a chance to strike first.”

The Dodgers trailed 2-0 in all three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks but managed to win all three. They trailed 4-0 in the first and last games against the Cleveland Guardians, falling to score until the ninth inning of both losses.

The Dodgers put up three four-run innings against the Diamondbacks in their first 11 innings of the season, but in the 39 innings since, they only scored 11 runs. Gavin Williams struck out 10 in seven scoreless innings for Cleveland on Wednesday night, keeping with a recent theme. Over the last four games, the opposing starting pitchers have allowed only two total runs, one earned to the Dodgers, with 24 strikeouts in 22 innings.

“The amount of strikeouts is a little concerning,” Roberts said. “We’re striking out at quite a clip. But I think it will level out, it will balance out.”

Andy Pages had three of the five Dodgers hits in Wednesday’s loss, and is off to a great start, hitting .429/.429/.619. His nine hits are most on the team by far. Freddie Freeman, whose home run in the ninth inning was the only run on Wednesday, and Teoscar Hernández, are tied for second on the team with five hits thus far, through six games.

“Andy’s been great, since spring training. He’s one of the guys who’s carried us,” Freeman said. “He looks great, on both sides of the ball. Hopefully the rest of us can join him on Friday.”

The Dodgers are off Thursday, then play the Washington Nationals to start a six-game road trip.

“Offensively most of our guys are struggling,” Roberts said. “It’ll be good to get on the road, get an off day, and go from there.”

“I think you could talk to every one of us, and say we wish we had a better offensive first week, but I think our offense is inevitable,” Freeman said. “Anytime anyone goes into that box, anything can happen. We have a really good lineup, we’re just not hitting yet. It’s a long season, it’s just the first week. We’ll be fine.”

We were reminded of three people we are lucky to have on Wednesday: Chris Sale, Drake Baldwin, and Matt Powers. Chris Sale wasn’t his best self and had a major velocity dip to start the game, but he worked through 6.0 innings of 1 run ball to deliver a series victory for Atlanta. Drake Baldwin continued his torrid start to the season at the plate as he is having something closer to a sophomore surge than a sophomore slump early on in the season. Meanwhile, Matt Powers continues to be a tremendous asset to Braves fans as our very own draft expert, writing up an absurdly extensive and thorough update on college draft prospects who might be of interest for the Braves in the first three rounds and how they have performed so far in the first half of the college system.

Braves News

Our in-house draft expert Matt Powers gave a Braves-centric look at college draft prospects about halfway through the college season.

Chris Sale completed his flu game with 6.0 innings of 1 run ball, sealing a series victory at home against the Athletics.

Atlanta hasn’t blown the doors off to start this season, but they have taken care of business and won their first two series.

MLB News

The Royals placed Carlos Estevez on the IL with a foot contusion from being hit by a Michael Harris comebacker before giving up six runs to allow a Braves comeback.

Baseball’s top prospect Konnor Griffin is reportedly deep in talks with the Pirates on an extension.

Fangraphs’ Ben Clemens took a self-described nerdy look at the ABS system early in the season.

SEATTLE — Yankees first basemen of all ages delivered the thump to make sure they got out of T-Mobile Park with a series win.

On a day when Cam Schlittler dominated again before the bullpen made things hairy late, Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt each homered and combined to drive in all five runs to secure a 5-3 win over the Mariners on Wednesday afternoon.

Rice started and ended the scoring, ripping an RBI double in the first inning before crushing a 427-foot blast in the ninth for his first home run of the year.

The lefty slugger reached base eight times in the three-game series, continually in the middle of rallies.

“His at-bats have been outstanding,” manager Aaron Boone said. “This whole series — really the entire trip, but especially this series, I feel like, man, the patience, not missing his pitches, he’s found a couple holes and then really good swing on that last changeup to extend the lead for us on a no-doubter to right-center. He feels dialed in to me and obviously we know what he’s capable of.”

Rice acknowledged a “couple bounces went my way down the line, but I think the quality of at-bat overall has been good.”

As has his quality of contact, as his three batted balls Wednesday came off the bat at 108.2 mph, 102.5 mph and 98.9 mph.

The 27-year-old was starting at DH for Giancarlo Stanton, which allowed Goldschmidt to get into the lineup for the second time this season, this time against righty George Kirby.

The Mariners hurler got Goldschmidt to strike out looking in each of his first two at-bats before the veteran got a 97 mph fastball down the middle in the sixth inning and did not miss, clobbering it for a three-run shot that put the Yankees ahead 4-0.

“He’s such a big part of that group in there — one of the heartbeats in there,” Boone said. “He’s been great for our culture ever since he walked in the doors last year. When he hits that ball, everyone gets a little extra excited because they want it for him because they know how much he gives to that room.”

The 38-year-old Goldschmidt, a lefty crusher, only hit three home runs off righties all last season in 366 plate appearances.

But he made the most of his start against Kirby while adding a few picks at first base to save his defense.

“I knew coming back here that we had Benny at first and G DHing,” Goldschmidt said. “So I knew this wasn’t going to be a place, unless somebody got hurt, that I would be playing every single day. But I love these guys in this lineup, I love being a Yankee and just have so much fun here. Obviously a great team that has a chance to win. I knew what I was going to be doing, so I’m happy to do whatever they need me to do.”

The bottom third of the Kansas City lineup has taken care of business for the second consecutive game, but in much more spectacular fashion tonight. Scoring started in the second with two out and no one on when Jac Caglianone hit a 110.1 mph rocket to center for a double. Collins hit the next ball 110.9 mph to top Jac and bring him home on another double followed by a Kyle Isbel RBI single. He then stole second and Maikel Garcia hit a hard to field ball off of Brooks Lee’s glove at short to score the third run on the inning. That was just the beginning.

Another run scored in the 3rd on a popup to third by India that the fog hid from Royce Lewis.

And another came the next inning after Cags, Collins, and Isbel all reached again and Garcia hit a sac fly. The rain really got going as KC batted 11 in the 6th. Walks, HBPs, errors, and a Jonathan India grand slam brought seven more runs and a $25,000 Sonic Slam winner. The rest of the game was hampered significantly by the weather but without any extended stoppage of play. At 12-1, it looked like the Royals would cruise to victory.

Jac, Isaac, and Kyle combined to go 8 of 11 with a BB and HBP reaching base in all but 3 of their 14 plate appearances. Isbel tacked a solo shot on in the 7th to finish the dominant performance off for the bottom of the order. All of the starting 9 at least reached base with Carter Jensen sneaking a single in during the 8th to join in on the fun, but it was the back of the lineup that carried the load today.

On the pitching side, Noah Cameron was very sharp to begin the night, especially the first two innings. He through a first pitch strike to each of the first six Minnesota batters but did seem to lose some command in the 4th and 5th innings. He got through that 5th despite giving up a lot of hard contact and was pulled with a final line of 5IP, 4H, 1BB, 1ER, and 5K and the win. That is a solid start to his sophomore campaign.

Daniel Lynch, Alex Lange, and Brady Falter all struggled to find the zone a bit with Lynch giving up 3 runs in the 7th, Lange 2 in the 8th before Cruz came in and finished the inning, and Falter 3 in the 9th. There were a lot of walks and hit batters from both teams due to the wet baseballs, so I would not read too much into their less than spectacular performances. It did make the game look closer than it felt and even ended up in a save situation that brought in Lucas Erceg to seal the deal.

There were also a ton of ABS challenges, 9 out of 11 were overturned and the Royals only went one for two. Since the game was not very close, none of these mattered all that much in the end. Still, it was a busy day for the new system and a very high success rate.

In the end, the Royals move to 3-2 on the year. They are above .500 and going for sweep against the Twins tomorrow. There is a bit more rain in the forecast again and that 1:00 pm start time is definitely in jeopardy.

Gavin Williams was unbelievable today. I could end the recap right here and pretty adequately sum up the events of tonight’s rubber match. He was in full control of the game for basically all seven innings. This performance from Gavin vindicates all of us loyal Gavin Williams believers who truly know that this domination is what he can do every single time he takes the mound. I have no notes for his performance which, if you’ve read any of my articles before, is rare. He had every single pitch working for him, and completely silenced the best lineup in baseball. He kept his fastball in the upper half, and sequenced it beautifully with his cutter & breaking pitches. He was getting his sinker to jump into the outer-third against righties all night. He was getting chase, and generated 16 (SIXTEEN) swings and misses. Truly a spectacular performance from him. This is exactly what I want him to do (within reason) every night. This performance showcases exactly why he can be not just a Cy Young finalist, but a legitimate contender to win it. Just look at this beautiful chart (obtained from the lovely Thomas Nestico, @TJStats on X, as always).

To the offense! Daniel Schneemann got the fun started with a true do-it-yourself run. He doubled, then stole third and, on a throwing error from Will Smith, waltzed home. Arias followed that up with a missile to center.

It was more-or-less quiet until the 8th, when our sleeping giant finally woke up.

(By the way, why on EARTH did Dave Roberts bring in a lefty for Jose? With Manzardo right behind him, why would you pitch to the guy who notoriously nukes lefties. I get it’s Tanner Scott, but why even take the risk?)

Anywho, Shawn Armstrong got himself into some trouble in the 8th, giving up a single and double to Hernandez and Pages, respectfully. He struck out Alex Freeland for the second out, and was then replaced by Erik Sabrowski to face Shohei Ohtani. Erik Sabrowski, if you weren’t already aware, is an unbelievable talent. On the majority of teams in MLB, he would be their best reliever. He came in and got Ohtani out on three pitches, two of which were out of the zone.

For reference, Sabrowski has generated whiffs on 46.2% of pitches this year (per @TJStats). FOURTY-SIX. Insanity. He’s a monster.

Cade Smith came on in the 9th and, well, wasn’t as sterling as is expected of him. Gave up back to back barrels to Freddie Freeman and Will Smith. Freeman’s, unfortunately, left the park. That was the Dodgers’ only run tonight. Cade has been a little iffy to start the year, but hopefully he gets back on track when the team comes back to Cleveland on Friday.

If you haven’t already (and are able), get tickets to watch the Guardians this homestand. Among the highlights: Opening Day festivities on Friday, Chase DeLauter’s (regular season) Cleveland debut, and last, but not least, Jose has a chance to sit atop the Guardians’ franchise games played leaderboard on Monday if he plays every game. A lot to watch for, so please turn out.

By the way, 4-3 against two World Series contenders to start the year.

Pretty good.

See you on Opening Day!

When the key moment arose in the bottom of the sixth inning Wednesday night, the Dodgers had what they wanted. 

Two runners on and nobody out. Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Tucker due up to the plate.

On paper, those two sluggers are the best (or, at least, highest-paid) hitters in the team’s star-studded lineup. 

However, during an anemic opening week from the entire Dodgers offense, they’ve also been among many swinging an ice-cold bat.

That didn’t change in an eventual 4-1 loss to the Cleveland Guardians, which cost the Dodgers this three-game series and ended their opening homestand on a sour note.

Ohtani bounced into a rally-killing double play, rolling over on a first-pitch cutter Cleveland starter Gavin Williams threw right down the middle.

Tucker ended the inning a pitch later on a flyout to right, missing on yet another dead-red cutter Williams left over the heart of the plate.

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So goes things for the Dodgers (4-2) through the first six games of the season. Their pitching has been stout. They have more wins than losses. But their biggest stars have not yet begun to hit.

Not even close.

“I think right now, offensively, most of our guys are scuffling,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s obviously a very talented lineup. And right now, it just seems like a lot of guys are in-between.” 

That includes Ohtani, who is now batting .167 after a 0-for-3 performance Wednesday that followed a rare session of on-field batting practice pregame.

It includes Tucker, whose average is down to .174 following a 0-for-4 clunker and nine total strikeouts in his last five games.

And it includes Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Will Smith, who went a combined 1-for-11 in the loss to the Guardians (4-3) to finish the night hitting .136, .208 and .200, respectively.

All five of those big names also have an OPS of .700 or worse.

“I think you can talk to every single one of us,” said Freeman, who had the lone hit of the group with a shutout-negating home run in the ninth, “and say we wish we had a better offensive first week.”

Much credit Wednesday, of course, goes to Williams. Entering the night, the right-hander had a 13.03 ERA in three career games against the Dodgers. This time, he spun seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts –– outshining Yoshinobu Yamamoto in his six-inning, two-run, two-strikeout grind of an outing.

Still, questions about the Dodgers offense are nonetheless starting to surface.

They won’t go away until their superstars start to hit.

“I know we’re looking for some answers here, but we’re still OK,” Freeman insisted. “We’re 4-2. We have not played well yet as an offense. We’ll get it going.”

What it means

For now, the Dodgers hope very little.

Six games, after all, is a minuscule sample size. Eventually, their expectation is for performances across-the-board to rise.

“There’s going to be guys that we’re talking about that are off to slow starts, and then a series later, the article is going to be ‘He’s off to a hot start,’” Roberts argued pregame, already trying to head off any early-season concern. 

“It could change in two days. So it’s certainly overblown. I completely understand it, but the guys that have been around a long time understand that you can’t let that affect you.”

Afterward, he doubled down on that message.

“You still got to give credit to the guys making pitches,” he said. “I think that we’ll get our groove.”

Who’s hot

The one exception to the team’s glaring hitting woes: Andy Pages.

The third-year outfielder went 3-for-3 Wednesday with a double, giving him a .429 batting average so far with nine total knocks –– four more than anyone else on the team.

All spring, the Dodgers raved about the 25-year-old slugger, with both Roberts and teammates repeatedly praising the quality of his at-bats and the maturation of his daily approach.

So far, it is all paying off; evidenced not only by his big opening-week production, but the fact he has struck out only two times in his first 21 trips to the plate.

“He’s controlling the zone,” Roberts said. “And he’s hitting to all fields.”

Who’s not

There are plenty of candidates here, so let’s go with something broader.

Entering the season, the Dodgers expected to have a relentless approach from the entirety of their lineup. This week, they got an opposite set of results.

In their three games against the Guardians, the team struck out 29 times while drawing only six walks. For a club that was supposed to count “quality of at-bats” as its primary calling card, even Roberts acknowledged that was the one part of this week that was  “a little concerning.”

“I think that guys trying to find their swings is one thing,” he said. “But … We’re striking out at quite a clip.” 

Up next

The Dodgers are off Thursday, before beginning their first road trip of the season on Friday. They will start in Washington with three games against the Nationals, then head to Toronto next week for a World Series rematch with the Blue Jays.

Sure, it’s very early. Maybe that’s why all Dodgers’ batters seem to be hitting is the snooze button — snoozing and, on Wednesday, losing 4-1 to the Cleveland Guardians.

Only Andy Pages has looked alert in the Dodgers’ super-imposing lineup, which would have been shut out before a crowd of 45,556 at Dodger Stadium if not for Freddie Freeman’s two-out home run in the ninth inning.

Before Freeman’s 407-foot blast, Pages had the only two hits off Guardians starter Gavin Williams. Cleveland’s 6-foot-6 right-hander had Dodgers hitters scuffling for seven innings, striking out 10 as the Guardians won for the second time in the three-game series.

Read more:Shohei Ohtani battles through the rain to throw a one-hit gem in Dodgers' win

Otherwise, the Dodgers only seriously threatened when reliever Shawn Armstrong was on the mound in the eighth inning and they got runners on second and third, as Pages doubled over Teoscar Hernández, who had singled.

But then Shohei Ohtani struck out on three pitches to end the inning.

A day off and a road trip are now just what Doc ordered: manager Dave Roberts suggested a day to reset and some hostile crowds in Washington and then Toronto, where the Dodgers won last season's epic, seven-game World Series against the Blue Jays, could help get his club’s juices flowing.

Freeman, too, said he’s confident the Dodgers will wake up soon.

“Our offense is inevitable,” said Freeman, smiling as though amused by the puzzle baseball has delivered Dodgers hitters to start a season in which they’re trying to three-peat as World Series champions.

“Hopefully, maybe tomorrow, with an off-day, the coldness will go away and we'll heat up.”

Despite struggling at the plate, the Dodgers are 4-2 to start the season, “so that's a good thing,” Roberts said.

And their pitchers have given up only 17 runs, with an ERA of 2.83 that ranks fourth best in baseball. “We’re pitching well,” Roberts added. “So that’s a really good thing.”

“But yeah,” he acknowledged. “It's obviously a very talented lineup, and right now, it just seems like a lot of guys are in-between.”

They’ve struck out 44 times and walked 17. They’ve scored only 23 runs — 19th among MLB’s 30 teams. And they’ve consistently been plagued by slow starts, digging themselves a too-familiar hole again by falling behind 2-0 for the fifth time in six games.

But this time, they couldn’t conjure up clutch hits to help them climb out of it — including not by Ohtani, who is three for 18 with seven walks and no extra-base hits.

After telling reporters Tuesday night he felt his swing was “a little off,” Ohtani took a rare on-field batting practice Wednesday — just as he had before his epic three-home run game that he also pitched and struck out 10 to close out last season’s NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Watching home runs fly through the fresh air didn’t prove an effective remedy this time, though.

After Ohtani’s first-inning walk — which extended his overall on-base streak to 37 games — the Dodgers’ sensational leadoff man went 0 for 3 at the plate, including being called out on a challenge that resulted in a double play in the sixth inning.

“I was a little surprised because he doesn't do that very often,” Roberts said. “I think he was looking for some feel, the flight of the baseball. Sometimes when he doesn't feel well, he likes to change up his routine and get on the field and see the flight. So, yeah, I was surprised.

“[And he] took a walk, but had a couple other tough at-bats.”

That was the story of the game — and of the season so far for the Dodgers.

The Guardians scored twice in the third inning on miscues by Yoshinobu Yamamoto and catcher Will Smith. Daniel Schneemann hit a leadoff double to right field, got a good jump, stole third base and then jogged home after Smith’s errant throw wound up in left field. Yamamoto then let Gabriel Arias get hold of a curveball for a 407-foot home run to straightaway center field.

But those were the only runs Cleveland scored against Yamamoto, whose start was historic because it made the Dodgers the first team in MLB history to start three consecutive Japanese-born pitchers. Yamamoto followed Roki Sasaki and Ohtani, who pitched Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

And in six innings, Yamamoto gave up four hits, struck out two, walked a batter and hit Angel Martínez.

Read more:C.B. Bucknor's week gets worse: Umpire leaves game with injury days after ABS and replay reversed his calls

Yamamoto (1-1) didn't have his typical pinpoint command, but he did enough, Roberts said. “He gave us six innings, gave up two runs, so obviously gave us a chance to win the game.”

But yet again, Yamamoto didn't get help from his friends. Ranking in the bottom five in run support last season, the Dodgers couldn’t drum up runs for their ace of aces, either.

Williams, conversely, was pin-prick sharp, confounding the Dodgers (4-2) with the exception of Pages, the Dodgers' No. 8 hitter, who finished 3-3 to improve to nine for 21 on this young season.

The Guardians (4-3) extended the lead to 4-0 in the eighth inning, when José Ramírez hit a two-run home run off Tanner Scott.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.