Category: Baseball

Orioles are league leaders.

Tonight the Diamondbacks will be starting the first game of a series that will wrap up their East Coast trip. After meeting the Mets in Flushing (I used to live on a 10 minute drive from Vlissingen, which is the Dutch village it was named after – just to provide you with some interesting useless information -) and the Phighting Phils in Philadelphia (that the Dutch king is visiting today – just to provide you with even more interesting useless information -), the Snakes will enter Baltimore (that has Dutch Rotterdam as its sister city – I had to look up this useless information -).

After achieving some good wins against our NL East foes, the Diamondbacks will be looking forward to do the same against a team from the AL East, and go at least 3 games over .500.

But who will they be playing?

The Orioles started their seaston with an opening series win over Minnesota, but then entered a tiny slump, losing a series against Texas before getting swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Last week they were able to work on their 3-6 record and are now at 8-7 after sweeping the Chicago White Sox and beating the San Francisco Giants, the latter result for which we are always grateful.

In the always competitive AL East, that has suddenly made them joined leader, where Yankees and Rays are also at 8-7, with the Blue Jays and Red Sox 2 wins behind. They will probably be happy with that, though they probably had expected a bit more from a couple of players.

Cold Polar Bear.

Entering the 2025 season after a 91–71 record the year before, the Orioles were one of the favourites in a competitive AL East. However, things didn’t click. Manager Brandon Hyde was ousted in May with a 15-28 record but it didn’t prevent an underperforming team with too many injuries from ending dead last with a 75–87 record. So, Baltimore said goodbye to those they no longer needed and who were on an expiring contract and tried to make some serious splashes on the free agency market.

They resigned starting pitcher Zach Eflin (1 year, $10MM), signed Chris Bassitt from the Blue Jays (1 year, $18.5MM), made a big jump adding Ryan Helsley to the bullpen (2 years, $28MM) but surprised everyone with the signing of Mets icon and slugger Polar Bear Pete Alonso (5 years, $155MM).

Early results on those signings are not terrific: Eflin pitched in just 1 game and completed 3.2 innings before requiring TJ surgery. He is done for the season. Bassitt has not completed the 4th inning in any of his 3 starts and has pitched to a 9.00 ERA. Ryan Helsley has achieved 4 saves, but has been a rollercoaster Fernando Rodney ride in each of his closing performances. Alonso had a .819 OPS in his first 6 games of the season, but achieved just 2 hits in the next 8 games, only to double that again in his latest appearance. A .190 batting average, .518 OPS and just 1 homerun is probably not what Oriole Park was expecting to see.

The bad news hasn’t stopped there. Recently star catcher Adley Rutschman (150 OPS+) went on the IL with an ankle injury, just like outfielder Tyler O’Neil (105 OPS+). Both will be unavailable for the series against the Diamondbacks. Talented outfielders Jordan Westburg and Heston Kjerstad don’t have a timetable yet for their return.

Good news is that star player Jackson Holliday (hamate surgery) and reliever Andrew Kittredge (shoulder) should be both close to return. It’d be the season debut for both.

The Orioles are, like their win-loss record suggests, a team that has difficulties to win but is also hard to beat. Their starting pitching, according to xFIP, is amongst the worst in the league, though just a tad lower than the Diamondbacks’, just like the relief pitching. Their offense is one of the better ones in the league, though it has the 3rd highest BABIP in the entire league. With the injury of Rutschman it took a hit and now relies on Gunnar Henderson, Leody Taveras and Taylor Ward, until the Polar Bear warms up.

In 2025 the Diamondbacks were victorious over the Orioles (2-1), in 2024 it was the other way around (1-2). All-time record is 18-12 advantage for Arizona.

Matchups.

Game #1 Mon 04/13 3:35 PM MST, Ryne Nelson (ARI) vs TBD.

• Ryne Nelson. 3 GS, 15.0 IP, 1 W-1 L, 4.20 ERA, 6.21 FIP, 1.07 WHIP, 12/6 K/BB.
• TBD.

After a bad outing against the Dodgers and an abysmal one against the Braves, Ryne stepped up against the Mets and limited them to just 1 run (5 hits) in 5.2 innings. That is good to see, because with Pfaadt still deciding whether he is major league starting material, his good outing against the Mets became just in time, before the activation of Kelly and the removal of one of the current starting pitchers.

Nelson faced the Orioles one time, in 2024. He had to swallow 10 hits and 3 runs in 4.2 innings, but was backed up by 4 Diamondback runs. Arizona would eventually lose that game in extra innings, after a blown save from Ginkel and Jarvis taking the loss in the 11th inning.

Game #2 Tue 04/14 3:35 PM MST, Merrill Kelly (ARI) vs Trevor Rogers (BAL).

• Merrill Kelly. Season debut.
• Trevor Rogers. 3 GS, 19.0 IP, 2 W-0 L, 1.89 ERA, 2.62 FIP, 1.05 WHIP, 14/5 K/BB.

Merrill Kelly makes his season debut after pitching a couple of bullpen sessions and a rehab start in Reno. Last season he got a win against Baltimore, 6 innings, giving up 3 runs.

Trevor Rogers faced the Diamondbacks three times as a starter, from 2021 to 2023, as a member of the Miami Marlins. After some so so seasons, he took a big step forward in 2025, pitching to a 1.81 ERA in 18 starts, enough for getting votes in the Cy Young race. He is pitching to similar results in 2026 so far and will thus be a tough nut to crack. Rogers added a sweeper to his arsenal and that 5th additional pitch, beside improving his command, has brought him success.

Game #3 Wed 04/15 9:35 AM MST, Eduardo Rodriguez (ARI) vs Kyle Bradish (BAL).

• Eduardo Rodriguez. 3 GS, 18.0 IP, 1 W-0 L, 0.50 ERA, 3.48 FIP, 1.00 WHIP, 11/5 K/BB.
• Kyle Bradish. 3 GS, 13.2 IP, 1 W-2 L, 1.50 ERA, 3.58 FIP, 1.69 WHIP, 17/9 K/BB.

If E-Rod keeps to pitch like this, he will be one of the Cy Young candidates and we will be hoping for a yearly World Baseball Classic. As a former Red Sox and AL pitcher, E-Rod is familiar with the opponent, though probably less with the players. With a 2.73 lifetime ERA against the Orioles and a .737 winning percentage, this will obviously another cross in the win box for our Venezuelan buddy.

Bradish was originally drafted by the Angels and went to Baltimore in a Dylan Bundy trade. He made his major league debut in 2022 and became one of the top starters of the team in 2023, with a 2.83 ERA over 30 starts, ending 4th in the Cy Young voting. However, injuries, a TJ amongst them, have limited Bradish since then. Whenever healthy he has lived up to those 2023 numbers, though sporadically, with just 14 starts in the last two seasons. In 3 starts this season he has struggled with his command and is still looking for his groove. Hopefully he doesn’t find it against Arizona.

This is not solely a piece to bash Jazz Chisholm Jr. I think he’s a very good player, and I am currently watching him relay signs while standing on second base, both to help his own hitters and mess with Rays’ starter Drew Rassmussen. I think he brings an energy to the club that they’ve needed for a little while.

And then, there’s stuff like this:

This is not solely a piece to bash Jazz, but I think he’s illustrative of a problem the Yankees have had for a number of years now. For all the very real talent they boast, they’re constantly getting into their own way. Chisholm Jr. is a genuine perennial All Star type of talent. but if you’re going to brag about a 50/50 season, you can’t have a 42 wRC+ in the season’s first two weeks, and you definitely can’t be admitting you don’t know the rules.

In the same vein, the team that went so viral for being “savages in the box”, and pushes to the public how much their hitters own the strike zone, you can’t be the fourth-worst in the game in hitter ABS challenges — giving away strikes and the limited number of reviews you can ask for. Funny enough Jazz is one of nine players tied for just a 25 percent challenge success rate, the worst mark in the game. Ben Rice, one of the few Yankees that have really shown up this year, has just now joined Jazz at 1-4. Of course there was reporting just this weekend that José Caballero had to be pulled aside by Aaron Boone and have the importance of getting challenges right re-asserted in a one on one meeting.

Pair that weakness with the fact that a team built around working counts and wearing down opposing pitching has possibly taken all that too far, to the point where they’re downright passive. Swinging at strikes just 62.7 percent of the time, the Yankees are only more…judicious (to put it charitably) than the Red Sox and Diamondbacks, and last year while they were the best offense in baseball they were offering at pitches in the zone five points higher, still selective while not allowing themselves to give up even more free strikes.

Part of this is just being reactive to the first rough patch of the season. The team managed a series win against the Marlins by the skin of their teeth, before dropping a trap series to the Athletics and not playing well at the Trop, none of those things in isolation would mean all that much. All of baseball is sequencing, putting together 14 hits in a game doesn’t mean much if they’re spread evenly across all nine innings — you need an inning or two with four or five hits to do real damage. If the Yankees went to Tropicana Field in July while in first place in the division and didn’t play well, that’d be annoying, and if Jazz was hitting to his level while making a moronic play defensively we’d all have a “Jazz being Jazz” kind of attitude — the kind of attitude that has built more than one Hall of Very Good career.

Instead it comes when it comes, at this confluence of events where it looks like the Yankees have tied their own shoelaces together. We don’t know yet if this is some bump on the road we’ll forget about when the club’s in the division hunt in September or an early harbinger of the risk of “running it back because we’re good enough”. In the meantime though, let’s learn how double plays work.

The concept of a team captain isn’t all that important and fans will typically project their favorite player as the face of the franchise, but with Brandon Belt Celebration Day just 12 days out, it got me thinking, “Who is the captain of the Giants?“ Like, if we had to pick and Tony Vitello wasn’t an option (sorry, Tony!), who would it be?

When Netflix and Major League Baseball promoted Opening Night, it was Aaron Judge and the Yankees take on Rafael Devers and the San Francisco Giants. Frequently, national broadcasts will default to Matt Chapman as the team’s leader when discussing the state of the organization. But neither of those players performs or carries themselves in such a way that you would automatically think, “He’s the face of the team.” That distinction goes to Willy Adames.

Maybe all of this goes without saying as he’s the recipient of the richest contract offered in team history, but other factors make a compelling and straight forward case for the Giants’ shortstop.

The camera loves him

We’ll start with superficial because this is a good factor. He’s smiling at least half the time the camera catches him and his face always lights up when he does, which means he’s an electric screen presence. Not only someone you want to watch, but someone you seek out. That’s a great quality in a marquee player and a leader.

Should this discussion even matter when the team is trying to claw back to relevancy? Sure, why not? It’s early enough in the season to still make predictions and over the summer the team will need leadership to get through the rough patches. Cutting to Adames smiling as the team runs off the field during a half inning is a simple pleasure we don’t have to overthink and needn’t overlook.

His teammates love him

When the Giants signed him, Susan Slusser gathered quotes from former coaches and teammates as well as Matt Chapman’s intel gathering about him and the consensus is that he makes everyone around him better when he’s not being a model player himself.

“I couldn’t be more excited,” [Chapman] said. “No one has a bad word to say about him, and I love the way he goes about his business. He plays the right way, he plays for the team — he has a lot of the qualities I’d like to think I have. He wants to set the tone every day, too.”

They selected him to be the 2025 Willie Mac Award recipient. In the offseason, he traveled with Tony Vitello — who he nicknamed Rookie — to South Korea to partner up with Jung Hoo Lee for some cultural immersion and Giants propaganda.

The trip was also a pretty big signal that the team loves him, too. He’s a great Giants ambassador.

He broke the 30 home run season drought

Adames has been as much of a help to his teammates by simply being a positive guy as he has a leader by example. The Giants hadn’t had a 30 home run hitter since 2004. He did it by playing in 160 games and overcoming a horrendous start to the season (.680 OPS in the 1st half, .828 OPS in the 2nd half).

He’s going to be here through 2031

Longevity is a factor in this, I think, and even though Rafael Devers is signed through 2033, we have to take the work already done to this point. Matt Chapman has been the quiet performer. Devers is the aloof talent guy. Adames is a merging of the two personalities.

After slaying the 30 home run drought monster, he’s still got some things left to do in his career. Despite receiving MVP votes in 2021 and 2024, he has never been named to an All-Star team. As Steven Kennedy noted in his player review, “Disappointing might be an apt way to ultimately describe Adames’s first year as a Giant, but it wasn’t a disappointment.“ He’s already off to a great start in year two, playing in all 16 games and hitting a league-leading 9 doubles to go with a pair of homers. A triple slash of .258/.313/.500 — fantastic if he can sustain it over a full season (he probably won’t as he’s never slugged .500 in a full season), but mainly, it’s heartening to see after a career where he’s been notorious for slow starts.

He’s been a fantastic addition to the Giants roster as well as its culture. The exact shot in the arm the team has been looking for in its post-championship wandering through a desert of mediocrity. Willy Adames might just lead them back to the land of success.

But if Buster Posey cornered you in an elevator at Oracle Park or if a beat writer solicited your feedback for a piece they were working on and demanded you name the team’s captain, who would you select?

Well, we know why Shane Bieber picked up his player option. This morning, the Jays moved him to the 60-day IL. There’s no indication of a specific setback, and this morning Ben Nicholson-Smith reported that he’s been throwing off a mound in his round-up of Jays injury timelines. So it may be more that they’re just belatedly admitting what the timeline has always been rather than moving the timeline back, but from the outside we can’t really say. What’s certain, now, is that the Biebs won’t be a factor in the Jays’ rotation until the last week of May at the absolute earliest.

They turned around and used the 40-man roster spot created by the move to exchange Jordan Rich and a player to be named later or cash for the White Sox’ Lenyn Sosa. Rich, last year’s 17th round pick, signed for $150,000 out of American Heritage High School in Plantation, Florida (alma mater of Jays prospect Brandon Barriera, plus Eric Hosmer and a host of other big leaguers). Rich hasn’t made a professional appearance yet, so we don’t have much to go on, but given that he lasted until the 17th round and didn’t require dipping into the top 10 round bonus pool to sign the indication is that the trade cost was not major.

Comrade Lenyn is off to a rough start, but he was a league average hitter last year and his underlying data is modestly promising. He swings at everything, but makes an above average amount of contact and has above average power. It’s the offensive profile of a poor man’s Lourdes Gurriel jr. He’s right handed, and while he isn’t bad against same handed pitchers he’s probably the short side of a platoon in a decent lineup. Defensively, he’s a poor but playable defender at either second or third. His speed is fringe average, so he could probably also make it work in left field. He’s a useful MLB player but not a starter on a competitive team.

How he fits on the Blue Jays is kind of unclear to me. His ideal roster role is kind of Davis Schneider shaped, but the Jays have a player whose role is exactly Davis Schneider shaped. It’s Davis Schneider, and he’s better basically across the board. A 26-man roster move hasn’t been announced, but as he’s out of options one will presumably follow soon. My guess is that he’ll take Tyler Fitzgerald’s active roster spot, offering an offensive upgrade to offset a defensive downgrade. Once Addison Barger is back, which doesn’t seem like it’ll be that long, it might be Nathan Lukes who ultimately loses. He’s been awful to start the season, and Myles Straw continues to hit enough to hold down the utility outfielder role with his better speed and glove. Carrying a right handed infielder would allow them to play him at second and Clement at short with Schneider in left to maximize the platoon advantage against good left handed starters, while Lukes doesn’t offer as much platoon value because the starting outfield are all left handed. I’ve been a Lukes booster, but he’s never been a good roster fit this season and his first 29 PA have not helped the cause.

Finally, one more small note, the Jays have re-signed Josh Fleming to a minor league deal. Fleming was claimed on waivers amid the rotation chaos last week and made one appearance as a Jay, giving up four runs over three innings on the sixth. He started for Buffalo yesterday and will presumably stay in that rotation until Kevin Gausman is hypnotized into believing he’s a chicken or something next week.

The Atlanta Braves take on the Miami Marlins this evening after riding the high of having yet another offensive explosive game. The Braves are now the only team in MLB left to have not lost a series yet. The Guardians were the other, and thanks to the Braves, that is no longer the case.

It is crazy to think that the Braves and Marlins are the two teams fighting for first place after what happened last season.

Grant Holmes will hope to continue his hot start to the season tonight when he faces a Marlins’ offense that is surprisingly in the top half of MLB in runs scored per game with 4.38.

Holmes has limited his opponents to a pristine 2.55 ERA so far this season while maintaining a 1.08 WHIP over 17.2 innings. His strikeout to walk ratio is fourteen to eight so it is not elite, but he has limited hard contact well. His 28.6 percent hard-hit rate is good for the top 17.0 percent of all MLB pitchers. He also has an expected ERA (xERA) of 3.20 which shows that although he has been a bit lucky, he has still been very good.

His biggest weakness is when he has to face a hitter for the third time in a game. The first time he faces a hitter, they hit .091/.259/.227, the second time they hit .192/.222/.346, but the third time through they hit .214/.313/.286. An OPS .598 against him the third time through is not bad at all, but it is clear that he walks hitters more in that scenario. Holmes has been a shining light in a rotation that has been through the ringer with injuries.

Only five Marlins have faced Holmes before, but in small samples. Xaiver Edwards leads the team with seven at-bats, but has struggled to a .393 OPS. Otto Lopez and Liam Hicks each have a hit off of Holmes in two at-bats each.

Fireballer Eury Pérez has been the opposite side of the coin for the Marlins so far. He has not been able to keep runs off the board despite his fastball averaging 98.3 MPH. He had high hopes from Marlins fans after his 3.23 xERA last season, but he currently sits at a 5.056 ERA and 4.98 xERA. Despite his fastball having an elite velocity he has struggled with command and only has a chase rate of 26.4 percent overall. Hitters are also hitting the ball hard 42.9 percent of the time, which is good for bottom 35.0 percent of MLB pitchers.

Even though Pérez plays for the Marlins, no Braves hitter has more than six at-bats against him. Dominic Smith and Matt Olson lead the team in at-bats and have been successful with an OPS of .833 and .762 respectively. Drake Baldwin has four at-bats and two of those resulted in a HR, while Albies and Acuña both have a HR against him as well.

Michael Harris will also be back from paternity leave, and likely will get the start tonight.

First pitch is at 7:15 EDT at Truist Park.

Game Info

Game Time: Monday, April 13th, 7:15 pm EDT

Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, Ga.

Watch: BravesVision

Radio/Audio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan

As if the Nats did not already have enough problems in their bullpen, they have now been hit with the injury bug. Two Nats relievers are now on the shelf, with Cole Henry and Ken Waldichuk hitting the IL. Waldichuk going on the IL was not much of a surprise to anyone who watched him leave the other day, but Henry hitting the shelf is a bit more surprising.

Things looked really bad for Ken Waldichuk when he left the game yesterday. Leaving the game while grimacing in pain and pointing at your elbow is never a good sign. For now at least, the injury is just listed as forearm tightness. Hopefully Waldichuk avoided anything serious and can come back sooner rather than later.

Waldichuk had a Tommy John in 2024, and the recovery was bumpy to say the least. He did not look like himself when he returned in 2025. That led to the southpaw bouncing around the waiver wire until he found a home in DC. Before he got hurt, Waldichuk was having his best outing of the season, which made the injury sting even more.

For Henry, you have to hope this injury is not too serious and is just a case of the Nats wanting to give him a re-set. After Waldichuk went down, Henry came in and blew the Nats lead. Now, he is on the shelf with a rotator cuff injury. 

For a guy with a lengthy injury history that includes surgery for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, a rotator cuff injury sounds ominous. We will have to hear about what the severity of that injury is before we jump to conclusions. Henry got off to a great start in the big leagues last year, but faded down the stretch and did not have a good start to this season.

To replace these two, the Nats have turned to a couple familiar faces. Of the pair, I am the most excited about Orlando Ribalta. The results have not been there for Ribalta in his 26 career big league outings, but I like his stuff. Ribalta has a mid-90’s heater with real life, as well as a slider and a changeup that can both look very good at times.

The big thing for Ribalta is control and keeping the ball in the yard. He has struggled with both as a big leaguer, walking over 6 batters per nine and allowing nearly two homers per nine. However, he does have swing and miss stuff, as well as a track record of success in the minors. In his six outings for Rochester, Ribalta has been very solid this season with a 3.38 ERA and a WHIP of 0.75.

Jackson Rutledge was the other pitcher the Nats called up. Rutledge was a first round pick for the Nats back in 2019, but has not yet solidified himself as a big leaguer. He made 63 appearances last year, and looked good at times, but his 5.77 ERA for the season left a lot to be desired. 

Rutledge has not looked great in AAA to start this year either. He has a 5.40 ERA in five innings, with five walks to just one strikeout. Rutledge’s fastball, slider and splitter combo can look good at times, but it is inconsistent. Despite solid velocity, the fastball does not play well. When he has a feel for his secondary pitches, he can have success, but when he does not, things can get ugly.

Overall, this is just more musical chairs for a bullpen that is light on difference makers. I like Ribalta’s upside and Rutledge can look good in flashes, but both need to find consistency. For the bullpen, the Nats need to keep giving guys chances and see who can stick around.

The White Sox pulled the trigger on another early-season shuffle, packing off Lenyn Sosa to Toronto for outfielder Jordan Rich and the usual bag of mystery cash or future guy.

Sosa, 26, leaves the South Side after five seasons of fits and starts. Signed as a kid out of Venezuela in 2016, up for air in 2022, and never quite sticking. He flashed some pop but never found a glove that fit and got lost in the White Sox infield traffic jam.

He finally broke out in 2025: .264 average, 22 bombs, 75 driven in over 140 games. Not bad. But 2026? Back to the bench, just 12 games, squeezed out as the Sox tried every other infield flavor.

Now he heads north, a Band-Aid for the Blue Jays with Addison Barger shelved. Toronto hopes Sosa’s pop plays, even if he’s just a plug-and-play bat off the bench.

Coming back to the White Sox is Jordan Rich, 18, a 2025 17th-rounder who hasn’t played a pro inning. He’s fast, he walked a lot in high school, and that’s about all we know.

With the swap, the Sox clear the infield logjam, and Sosa gets a shot at relevance, and everyone moves on.

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We're kicking off the week with a smaller MLB slate — just 10 games on the board — but there's still plenty of value to be found courtesy of Polymarket, which allows baseball fans across the country to get in on the action.

We've got some MLB picks from our baseball experts, along with some more MLB best bets from the Covers staff, to fill up your card for Monday, April 13. 

MLB expert picks for today

Pick	Odds
Josh Inglis: BOS/MIN o7.5	+104
Jon Metler: PHI ML	-170

Prices courtesy of Polymarket.

Josh Inglis' expert pick: Red Sox/Twins Over 7.5

Price: 49¢ (+104) at Polymarket

THE BAT projects this number closer to 8.5 total runs, as even with Garrett Crochet on the mound, the Boston Red Sox are capable of doing damage against Bailey Ober, who is a flyball pitcher that isn’t missing bats this season (4.61 K/9). His starts have also trended towards high scoring for the Twins, with results of 8–6 and 10–4. There’s also some uncertainty around Crochet’s workload amid potential weather concerns and a possible delay, with a 65% chance of rain.

Jon Metler's expert pick: Phillies moneyline

Price: 63¢ (-170) at Polymarket

The Philadelphia Phillies are trading as a 63% favorite on Polymarket, and that’s a number I’m willing to back — I price them closer to a 67% favorite in this matchup against the Chicago Cubs. The wind is blowing out to right field at Citizens Bank Park at 15 mph, but that’s much less of a concern for Cristopher Sánchez than it is for Javier Assad. Sánchez is one of the best left-handed pitchers in the game and excels at generating ground balls, which helps neutralize the impact of the ballpark conditions. Assad, on the other hand, is more vulnerable in these conditions, and the wind blowing out to right field could significantly work against him.

More MLB best bets for today

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

After missing the last two games of the series against Cleveland, Michael Harris II will return to the Braves a presumably proud papa.

We’ll hope that in addition to getting enough sleep, something about the addition to the Braves family changes Harris’ luck. Harris is rocking a yummy-yum-yum .401 xwOBA, but a very sad .287 wOBA. That gap is the seventh-most-woeful in MLB among anyone with 32+ PAs and is almost entirely due to ball flight/ballpark dimension stuff. Harris has the league’s seventh-best xSLG, but the third-biggest underperformance of said xSLG. Anyway, the point is: he’s a father now, universe — let his homers be homers, thanks.

As for Luke Williams, well, the roster barnacle will likely continue to barnacle. This is the nth time he’s been DFAed in his career, and second by the Braves. I think he was outrighted by the Braves three times in 2025 alone. Williams pinch-hit late yesterday and drew a walk.

As you know, the Cubs are off to a rough start this season.

But then, so are the Phillies. The teams enter this series with identical 7-8 records, and the Phillies have lost four of their last five, scoring a total of just 11 runs in those five games.

Here’s more on the Phillies from Ethan Witte, manager of our SB Nation Phillies site The Good Phight.

The Phillies begin this series in a rut. They aren’t scoring consistently, having not scored in 68 of their last 76 innings, looking rather futile while doing so. However, when they do put together scoring runs, those runs tend to come in bunches. Bryce Harper has been swinging a hot bat of late, getting his season line up to .273/.375/.527 with three home runs. However, his production has been balanced by the lack of production from Alec Bohm, who is 0 for his last 16. The starting pitching has been decent of late, helped by a bullpen that has also been especially stingy. However, everything will be determined by how well the offense is playing, which is hasn’t been encouraging lately.

Fun facts

The Cubs will play at Philadelphia today through Wednesday, then host the Phillies for four games next Monday through Thursday. The final game will wrap up the season series between the teams, on April 23.

That is the second-earliest date on which they have finished playing each other. In 2001, they met at Philadelphia for three games on Apr 6-8, then played three at Wrigley Field on April 17-18, with a doubleheader the second day.
…..
The second game this year will be the 2,400th in the rivalry, which began in 1883. The Cubs have a .524 winning percentage against the Phillies, with 1,248 wins, 1,132 losses and 18 ties. They have won 138 more than they have lost at home, but have lost 22 more than they have won at Philadelphia. Their next loss there will be their 600th. They have won 577.

(Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

Probable pitching matchups

Monday: Javier Assad, RHP (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.529 WHIP, 3.15 FIP) vs. Cristopher Sánchez, LHP (1-1, 1.65 ERA, 1.347 WHIP, 1.06 FIP)

Tuesday: Colin Rea, RHP (0-1, 3.18 ERA, 1.147 WHIP, 3.59 FIP) vs. Aaron Nola, RHP (1-1, 3.63 ERA, 1.096 WHIP, 3.90 FIP)

Wednesday: Shōta Imanaga, LHP (0-1, 2.81 ERA, 0.813 WHIP, 2.21 FIP) vs. Jesús Luzardo, LHP (1-2, 6.23 ERA, 1.154 WHIP, 2.34 FIP)

Times & TV channels

Monday: 5:40 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network, FS1 (outside the Cubs and Phillies market territories)

Tuesday: 5:40 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network, TBS (outside the Cubs and Phillies market territories)

Wednesday: 5:40 p.m. CT, Marquee Sports Network

Prediction

I picked two of three the last time the Cubs were on the road and was right! (Rays series.) So… why not do that again?

Up next

The Cubs have Thursday off, then return to Wrigley Field for a three-game series against the New York Mets beginning Friday afternoon.

As the corresponding move for Tommy Pham joining the team ahead of the series with the Dodgers, Ronny Mauricio has been optioned to Triple-A Syracuse.

Mauricio was called up to the majors on April 6, when Juan Soto was placed on the Injured List for a calf strain. Since his call up, Mauricio collected a extra inning, game winning RBI in walk-off fashion against the Diamondbacks and went 0-3 in a game where he played third base against the Athletics.

Mauricio was always a little bit of a square peg on this roster, as they already have Bo Bichette, Marcus Semien, and Francisco Lindor locking down Maruicio’s most natural positions, as well as Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, Jared Young, and Jorge Polanco all getting reps at first base as well. As our Steve Sypa said in our 2026 Season Preview, Mauricio has been a Mets’ farmhand for a long time, but there’s no clear path for him to spend significant time in the majors:

Where the 25-year-old begins the season is most likely dependent on factors beyond his control. Francisco Lindor’s surgery to correct a hamate injury may or may not cost the All-Star some time at the beginning of the season. If he is unable to start the year on the active roster, Mauricio is one of a handful of shortstop options the Mets have to fill-in for the injured Lindor, perhaps the most appealing, as he is a young, homegrown player that has more potential upside than the Jackson Cluffs, Vidal Brujans, Christian Arroyos, and Grae Kessingers of the baseball world. If Lindor is fully healthy and ready to go when the season begins, it will likely be in Mauricio’s best interest to begin the year in Triple-A, so that he can get regular at-bats. At the same time, his bat from the left-side would be useful off the Mets’ bench, as he posted a .265/.336/.447 in 132 at-bats, good for a 121 wRC+. On one hand, being used irregularly in certain situations might not be the best use for Mauricio’s development as a baseball player. But then again, Mauricio has long showed us that this is who he is, so perhaps why not?

Since Pham signed after spring training and was not working out with a club before his signing, it appears that Mauricio was simply an extra bat off the bench until Pham was ready. Pham’s contract included an opt-out as of April 25th if he wasn’t called up to the majors. The deal can be worth as much as $3.1 million if all goes well.

Pham has been a more or less replacement level player over the past few years, racking up season OPS+s of 95, 92, 11, and 85 over the past four seasons.

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The Houston Astros can’t get home soon enough. 

The team has not only struggled on its current 10-game road trip, but this away swing seems cursed. Injuries are piling up for Houston as it plays its final stop against the Seattle Mariners this afternoon.

Houston, which has one win in the first nine games of this trip, is desperate to avoid a sweep in Seattle. It could have bodies back in the infield and provide right-hander Mike Burrows with support on both sides of the plate.

Our Astros vs. Mariners predictions tell Seattle to put away the brooms with my MLB picks hopping on Houston.

Who will win Astros vs Mariners today: Astros moneyline (+156)

The Houston Astros took a 6-1 beating on Sunday but were without SS Jeremy Pena and 3B Carlos Correa. 

Correa is expected to return, while Pena has been placed on the injured list. But getting Correa back is a boost, providing solid hitting in the middle of the order, as he ranks in the 95th percentile in expected batting average and the 91st in strikeout rate. 

Houston needs to show up for starter Mike Burrows, who's been serviceable in his last two outings, with five earned runs on 13 hits over 10 1/3 innings.

The Seattle Mariners are hitting well vs. Houston, especially in the later frames, with 14 of 23 runs coming from the fifth inning onward. However, I expect regression from a Mariners lineup that sits near the bottom of most batting stats to start 2026.

COVERS INTEL:George Kirby has allowed a home run in each of his three starts, and Houston is second in slugging (.454) and third in home runs per outing (1.19).

Astros vs Mariners Over/Under pick: Over 7.5 (+100)

Given the state of the Astros’ injury-plagued bullpen, Houston needs plenty of run support to escape Seattle without a brooming. 

The Astros lineup scored 13 runs in the opening two games of the series — both went Over — and Monday’s finale could see Houston hitting hard early and Seattle surging late. 

The Astros have been a red-hot Over bet to start 2026, with an 11-5 O/U record. Game models are calling for at least eight runs this afternoon.

Astros vs Mariners odds

• Moneyline: Astros +156 | Mariners -163
• Run line: Astros +1.5 (-138) | Mariners -1.5 (+133)
• Over/Under: Over 7.5 (+100) | Under 7.5 (-104)

Astros vs Mariners trend

The Houston Astros have gone Over the total in 11 of their last 14 games (+7.60 Units/ 9% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Astros vs. Mariners.

How to watch Astros vs Mariners and game info

Astros vs Mariners latest injuries

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Phillies notes: Jonathan Bowlan goes on injured list, Wheeler set for Tuesday originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Phillies made a roster move before Monday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs, sending right-handed reliever Jonathan Bowlan to the 15-day injured list with a right groin strain.

Reliever Seth Johnson, who appeared in 11 games with the Phillies the last two seasons, was recalled from Triple A Lehigh Valley to take Bowlan’s place.

The Phillies acquired Bowlan from Kansas City in an off-season trade for lefty Matt Strahm. Bowlan allowed three runs in seven innings while striking out eight and walking just one in his first seven appearances for the Phils. He felt tightness and discomfort in his groin after pitching Sunday.

“It’s very mild,” manager Rob Thomson said. “We just want to be cautious. We think he’ll be ready to go after 15 days.”

Johnson, a hard-throwing right-hander, was off to a good start at Lehigh Valley. He gave up two runs in six innings, walked three and struck out 11.

Wheeler on Deck

Zack Wheeler will make his fourth minor-league rehab start Tuesday night when he pitches for Double A Reading at Somerset. Wheeler is expected to throw 80-85 pitches. He is scheduled to pitch again for Reading on Sunday. That would likely be his last rehab start before rejoining the Phillies.

Wheeler had surgery to alleviate thoracic outlet syndrome in September.

Round Rock express pitcher Cal Quantrill has been named the Pacific Coast League Pitcher of the Week, it was announced today.

Quantrill, 31, was one of the Rangers’ final cuts this spring, but agreed to stay with the team rather than exercise his right to opt out of his minor league deal. His first start of the season for Round Rock went poorly, as he made it just two innings while giving up seven runs and, uncharacteristically, walking four batters. He followed that up with a five inning, three hit, no walk, four K shutout appearance, and then last week went seven innings while allowing just two hits, one run (on a solo homer), and no walks, striking out six.

Quantrill was signed as rotation depth for the Rangers, though so far, the team has not had to dip down to AAA for rotation reinforcements as of yet. He would probably be the top candidate to be called up if the Rangers needed to fill a spot in the minors, though the presence of Jacob Latz in the bullpen currently makes it less likely the Rangers would have to go that way for a rotation filler.

Quantrill was once a top prospect, taken 8th overall by the San Diego Padres out of Stanford in 2016 despite recovering from Tommy John surgery. He went to Cleveland in the nine-player trade at the 2020 trade deadline that sent Mike Clevinger to San Diego. Quantrill had a couple of good seasons for Cleveland, in 2021 and 2022, but even in those seasons his peripherals were weaker than his ERA would suggest.

Quantrill was traded to Colorado after the 2023 season for minor league catcher Kody Huff — who is not, incidentally, related to Sam Huff, though both went to high school in Arizona — and had a decent year for the Rockies. He made 24 starts for Miami in 2025 and two for Atlanta, combining for a 6.04 ERA and 5.76 xERA, which helps explain why he had to settle for a minor league contract this year.

Quantrill does not have the sort of stuff you’d expect to play as a short reliever, so if he were to come up at some point in a role other than as a spot starter, he’d likely be a long reliever — you could see him getting the nod to replace Latz in the bullpen if a Ranger starter were to go on the injured list and Latz was filling in for more than a one-off start. Otherwise, given the state of arms around the majors, if Quantrill continues to have the sort of success he’s had the last couple of times out, I imagine some team in need of a body for their rotation may look to sign him to eat some innings.

Last week, we got the news that Sean Murphy would be beginning his rehab assignment on Friday with the Gwinnett Stripers. That rehab stint ended up getting postponed for a while after Murphy had some family matters to attend to before he could focus on baseball.

The good news is that things appear to have settled down for Murphy now, which means that he now has the opportunity to get things going when it comes to his rehab assignment. As it turns out, he won’t be heading to Gwinnett after all. Plans have changed and now Murphy will be starting his rehab assignment with the High-A Rome Emperors.

Rome Emperors broadcaster Gavin Brooks went on to report that the tentative plan for Murphy is to start on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday — all against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws of the Phillies organization. If you’re a fan in the Rome area, Thursday night appears to be the night to go since you’ll be getting to see Sean Murphy in action while the Emperors wear those sweet ‘70s-inspired throwback-style uniforms.

That’s a digression on my part, though. The most important part is that Sean Murphy will be beginning his rehab stint shortly and that things appear to be on track for him to make a return in the near future. Here’s hoping that things go well in the rehab stint so that we’ll see Murphy get back to action and hopefully form a very formidable and dynamic catching duo with Drake Baldwin behind the plate for the big league Braves.