At the splashdown site of NASA's Apollo 13 Command Module (CM), command module pilot Jack Swigert (1931 - 1982) (top) is lifted in a cargo net (to an off-camera helicopter) while an unidentified US Navy underwater demolition team swimmer (in black) waits with mission commander Jim Lovell (1928 - 2025) in a life raft, April 17, 1970. Other Navy swimmers, assisting with the recovery operation, as visible in the water. The splash down, approximately four miles from the recovery ship, the USS Iwo Jima, occurred at 12:07:44 pm CST. (Photo by NASA via CNP/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Later today, the Artemis II crew will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, marking the end of the first manned mission to the Moon in more than half a century. The baseball world has changed so much between then and now, from the introduction of the designated hitter in the American League in 1973 to the introduction of six franchises in the late 70s, 80s, and 90s. To celebrate today’s accomplishment, I decided to hop into the New York Times archives and see what was happening in the baseball world on December 27, 1968, and April 17, 1970 — the days that Apollo 8, the first manned mission to orbit the Moon, and Apollo 13, whose use of a free return trajectory served as the model for Artemis II’s mission, splashed down. Unfortunately, we have nothing quite as famous or as interesting as Gaylord Perry’s famous home run minutes after Neil Armstrong stepped on the Moon, but it’s still an interesting insight into a long gone era.
December 27, 1968
The holiday season has been, historically, a slow time in the baseball world, and as it turns out, 1968 was no exception. In fact, only one small article in the New York Times had anything to do with baseball — a report from Kansas City that Owen Friend, had been hired by the Royals to serve as a scout in the Midwest and as an infield coach during during spring training. This news was so small that the ProQuest Historical Newspapers archive did not list it independently, but rather attached it to the paper’s “Table for High Tide for Waters Adjacent to New York,” which listed the morning and evening high tides, sunrise and sunset, and moonrise and moonset times.
Rather amusingly, there was one other time in the paper that day in which the word “baseball” appeared: the article reporting the astronauts’ health after splash down, which stated that they wore caps “similar to baseball caps” while on the USS Yorktown.
April 17, 1970
Unsurprisingly, the Times had quite a bit more baseball news when Apollo 13 splashed down. The paper posted recaps of four games. In the paper’s dive into college ball, Columbia University’s 6-3 victory over Providence took center stage, with Fred Armenti’s eight inning, 10-strikeout performance the story of the afternoon. Right underneath that article was a brief account of Navy’s 8-3 shellacking of Army to maintain their perfect season, in which Tom Galloway and Denny Losh were the players of the game. Turning to Major League Baseball, Tom Seaver’s complete game shutout and Bud Harrelson’s first career home run that landed over the fence — the 150-pound shortstop had an inside-the-park homer three years prior — powered the Mets past the Phillies by the score of 6-0. Last, and certainly not least, the Yankees downed the Orioles by the score of 4-1 in 11 innings, ending a three-game losing streak and seeing their early-season record improve to 3-6.
The Yankees’ victory was rather unusual, aided by a strange error in the top of the 11th. With runners on first and second and two out, Pete Ward hit a groundball right at Orioles shortstop Mark Belanger, who turned and threw the ball to second baseman Davey Johnson. Inexplicably, however, Johnson did not cover the bag, and was tagged with an E4 because, as George Vecsey wrote, “being on the base is a rather vital part of a force play.” Danny Cater — who according to the reporter had been dealing with a run of bad luck, having cut his hand on a broken bat, was struck in the ankle by an errant throw, and had barely avoided getting hit in the face during batting practice — followed that up with a triple that cleared the bases and gave the Bombers a 4-1 lead.
CINCINNATI, OHIO - JULY 26: Matt McLain #9 and TJ Friedl #29 of the Cincinnati Reds celebrate after scoring runs in the sixth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays at Great American Ball Park on July 26, 2025 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The offense of the Cincinnati Reds has been simply abysmal so far in 2026, ranking dead last in both runs and wRC+ through the season’s first 13 games.
Of particular concern, though, is just how poor the output has been from the leadoff position. So far this year, Reds leadoff hitters have collectively put together just a 46 wRC+, a mark that’s been worsted by only the Miami Marlins (34) and San Diego Padres (17). Reds leadoff men sport an impossible .000 ISO (last, obviously) and .189 slugging percentage (2nd worst), their only saving grace being a .295 OBP that ranks 23rd.
Reds fans know good and well that it’s been TJ Friedl doing most of the lifting at leadoff this year, as he’s been in that spot for the Reds for several seasons now. And, in many of those years, he’s been quite competent at the job – including the 2025 season where he posted a stellar .364 OBP and plenty good enough 102 OPS+. The problem, though, is that Friedl looks like a shell of himself at the moment, and there’s only so much time you can give him to work it out while still manning one of the most important spots in the lineup every day.
Thing is, the other guy who’s gotten some time at leadoff is the guy who normally hits 2nd all year, and that’s Matt McLain. And in this case, simply sliding him up and bumping TJ to somewhere else in the order wouldn’t appear to solve the world’s problems. Cincinnati’s #2 spot hitters have posted just a .582 OPS so far this season (23rd overall), .260 slugging percentage (25th overall), and .060 ISO (28th overall) – numbers that are nearly as poor as what they’ve received from the leadoff spot.
I posed the question to you all earlier in the week about what the Reds should do at the leadoff position. With this context, I probably should not have been surprised that you pretty clearly favor anyone other than Friedl or McLain for the job.
How that would all shake out is a bit of a tangled mess, however.
Elly De La Cruz has all the tools in the world to be a potentially elite leadoff man even though he’s entrenched as part of the heart of the order under Terry Francona. Free him up from driving in runs and he just might steal every base himself – Ronald Acuña, for instance, hits leadoff for Atlanta with much the same goal.
Will Benson, when in the lineup, could be a guy who’d do OK there. When at his best he sees a ton of pitches and can take a walk, though like most of the rest of the lineup right now he’s struggled out of the gate. That’s kind of the rub here, though, as he, Noelvi Marte, Friedl, McLain, Ke’Bryan Hayes, and Spencer Steer are all guys who have some of the skills needed to hit atop the order yet haven’t put them on display at all at the plate so far in 2026.
What is clear, though, is that something is going to have to change with this lineup at some point soon, whether it’s a complete revival of the parties involved or a major shakeup to get it going.
NEW YORK — Major League Baseball said Friday the percentage of Black players on opening day rosters increased in consecutive years for the first time in at least two decades.
MLB said that 6.8% of players on opening day rosters, injured lists and the restricted list were Black, up from 6.2% at the start of the 2025 season and 6.0% at the beginning of 2024.
This year’s 0.6% increase was the most in a season since a 0.7% rise from 2017 to 2018.
The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at Central Florida issued annual studies that showed the percentage was 18% when its reports started in 1991.
Twenty of the 64 Black players had been in programs such as the MLB Youth Academy, Breakthrough Series, DREAM Series, Nike RBI and the Hank Aaron Invitational.
MLB said the total includes 22 players 25 or younger and eight older than 32. The average age of Black players was 27.8 and the overall average 29.25.
In addition, 17 Black players assigned to the minor leagues were on opening day 40-man rosters, including seven from MLB development programs. That group included Milwaukee outfielder Blake Perkins, who was brought up to the Brewers on March 26.
CHICAGO — Seiya Suzuki has rejoined the Chicago Cubs after missing the start of the season with a sprained right knee.
Suzuki was activated from the 10-day injured list before Friday’s game against Pittsburgh. The slugger was in the starting lineup in right field and batting fifth for the opener of the weekend series at Wrigley Field.
Outfielder Dylan Carlson was designated for assignment to make room for Suzuki on the roster. The Cubs also placed reliever Phil Maton on the 15-day IL and recalled right-hander Ethan Roberts from Triple-A Iowa.
Suzuki was one of Chicago’s most productive hitters last year, helping the Cubs reach the playoffs for the first time since 2020. He hit .245 with a career-high 32 homers and 103 RBIs in 151 games.
The Cubs began the day with a 6-6 record after splitting a six-game road trip to Cleveland and Tampa Bay. They managed a total of 11 runs over the first four games before outscoring the Rays 15-4 in a pair of wins.
Suzuki, who is in the final season of an $85 million, five-year contract, got hurt while playing for Japan in the World Baseball Classic. He sprained the posterior cruciate ligament in his knee on a steal attempt on March 14.
The 31-year-old Suzuki hit .429 (6 for 14) with two doubles in five games in a rehab stint with Double-A Knoxville. He is a .269 hitter with 87 homers and 296 RBIs in 532 career major league games — all with the Cubs.
Maton is dealing with some right knee tendinitis. He is 0-1 with a 13.50 ERA in five appearances after signing a $14.5 million, two-year contract with the Cubs in free agency.
With his team’s run-scoring drought sitting at 20 innings, Phillies manager Rob Thomson tweaked the middle of his lineup for Friday night’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citizens Bank Park.
Thomson kept the top three spots in the order – Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper — the same as they had been in the first 12 games of the season, but moved Brandon Marsh up to the cleanup spot while dropping Alec Bohm, who had batted cleanup in the first 12 games, to seventh.
Using Marsh in the cleanup spot behind Schwarber and Harper and ahead of No. 5 hitter Bryson Stott gave the Phillies four left-handed bats in a row, a rare construction that Thomson was willing to deploy because the Diamondbacks do not have a left-hander in their bullpen and were starting a right-hander, Michael Soroka.
The Diamondbacks project to start three right-handers in the series, so Thomson could stick with the lefty-heavy middle of the order through the weekend.
“They don’t have a lefty in their ‘pen so we just stacked our lefties all together at the top,” Thomson said.
Marsh had 54 previous plate appearances and a .901 OPS in the four-hole in his career. He has been one of the Phillies’ most consistent hitters for almost a year. He entered Friday night’s game hitting .300 with an .825 OPS in 127 games since May 1. In 12 games this season, he was hitting .275 with a .727 OPS. He had three doubles, a homer and six RBIs.
Bohm belted a three-run home run on opening day but has otherwise struggled in the young season. He entered Friday night hitting .186 (8 for 43) with just two extra-base hits.
Without big power, Bohm is more suited to hit around sixth or seventh in a lineup. Preferring to use Schwarber and Harper near the top of the lineup leaves Thomson without a traditional cleanup option. Bohm often gets the call because of his ability to make contact. Thomson hopes the lineup move will get Bohm untracked.
“I just want him to be himself and use the whole field,” Thomson said.
That goes for the whole team.
“Guys are trying to do too much, swinging early in the count,” Thomson said. “We want them to work counts, work over pitches, chew up pitches, use the whole field, just keep moving the line.”
WHEELER’S TIMETABLE
Zack Wheeler will make his fourth minor-league rehab start Tuesday night for Double A Reading at Somerset.
He could make a fifth rehab start on Sunday April 19, if need be.
“He doesn’t have to have (the fifth start),” Thomson said. “But he’ll have time on the clock so we might take advantage of it if we can.”
Thomson added, “We’ll look at his stuff, his velocity, see how he feels. We’ll look at the command, all that stuff,” in determining if Wheeler will make one or two more minor-league starts.
Either way, the right-hander is nearing his return to the big-league rotation. Sometime during the Phils’ trip to Chicago and Atlanta (April 20-26) seems likely, unless Sunday April 19 comes into play at home.
Wheeler pitched 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball for Lehigh Valley on Wednesday night. He scattered three hits, walked one and struck out six.
“He touched 94 (mph) a few times, which is good,” Thomson said. “I think that’s pretty much normal for him this time of spring training. I’m not really concerned about (the velocity). I think it’s still going to go up. Adrenaline will kick in when he gets here and that will help. He’s still building some arm strength.”
Dallas, Florida and Tampa Bay: Three Rangers' road stops ahead and then the misery will be over.
And the re-something will begin.
So far "Retool" has had a few hundred different meanings but what it comes down to is this: The ability of Chris Drury to make a major deal – or even a minor one – is slimmer than Brennan Othmann – remember him?
But as it takes two to tango it takes one GM – initials C.D. – to make it work and when all's said and done, he has maybe one iffy-quality player to offer to the crowd.
His face-saving backup plan is to toss all the young'ins into the 2026-27 lineup and hope for the best.
But, as superscout Jess Rubenstein wisely notes, nobody but Gabe Perreault has shown to be capable of a first line role.
ST LOUIS, MISSOURI - MARCH 26: Manager Oliver Marmol #37 of the St. Louis Cardinals chats with St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom prior to a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Tampa Bay Rays on Opening Day at Busch Stadium on March 26, 2026 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Red Sox doubled their win total in 2026 by taking two-out-of-three against the Milwaukee Brewers and, realistically, came within a play or two Monday night from sweeping one of the best teams in the National League. They split the first homestand of the year 3-3 and head off to the midwest for a six-game road trip against the St. Louis Cardinals and Minnesota Twins.
Connelly Early won a rotation spot out of Spring Training and has shown no indication that the Red Sox were asking too much for a young pitcher who has six major league starts to his name. He’s lasted 5.1 and 4. 0 innings which hasn’t been the greatest for the bullpen so far, but is mostly what you’d expect from him at this point. He has 10 strikeouts against 4 walks, 8 hits, and 3 runs in his 9.1 innings this season. His cup of coffee in 2025 certainly helped prepare Early to make the rotation this season. And the pitcher he’s facing is a big part of that. Yes, Dustin May, the reinforcement who wasn’t, is a Cardinal. In his two starts May has given up 6 runs in 4.0 innings and 7 runs in 3.1. He’s struck out 7, walked 3, and given up a whopping 17 hits.
Saturday is a national Game of the Week on FOX and features Ranger Suárez making his third start for Boston. The first two have been mostly forgettable. At 4.1 and 4.0 innings and 4 runs allowed in each, he hasn’t shown the talent he did in Philadelphia. Granted the WBC altered his spring and seems to have slowed down his progress so hopefully things will start clicking into place. Kyle Leahy pitched mostly out of the ‘pen before this season with 62 appearances in 2025 and just a single start. In two starts this year he’s totaled 10.0 innings, 6 runs allowed, 5 Ks and 5 BBs. Like May, he’s right-handed, which for the lefty-heavy Sox is always nice to see. Let those bats heat up!
Sunday afternoon the Red Sox send the frustrating Brayan Bello to the mound. Bello needed to pitch more than 3.1 innings in his last appearance. He never quite got into any type of groove and forced Alex Cora to run out a sub-optimal bullpen. Combined with a shaky defense and Boston has lost both of his starts. There were more strikeouts, 5, than you’d expect from Bello but also 4 walks. In, again, just 3.1 innings. Not even a quality start, but simply 5 innings, hopefully no more 2 runs. He figured it out last year in June, maybe he can get into gear a little earlier. Andre Pallante made 31 starts last season but prior to that split his time with the bullpen, peaking at 62 relief appearances back in 2023. In 2025 he posted a 5.31 ERA/4.68 FIP. This season he’s off to a 1.80 ERA but 4.29 FIP start. His two starts this year have gone OK at 5.0 innings apiece with 0 and 2 runs. However, a 5:7 K:BB ratio is something the Sox can exploit with patience. Even Rafaela took a walk last week. Starting, relieving, Pallante has never posted a K:BB greater than 1.96. And in his career he has allowed over a hit per inning.
Despite being in a rebuild – and also the season being so young – the Cardinals have had one of the most successful offenses in 2026. Their 59 runs scored ties them with the Miami Marlins for 6th in the majors. The Red Sox have scored just 44, 7th from the bottom. That’s largely small sample size – the Reds are last in MLB with 38 runs scored and have an 8-5 record. Jordan Walker has 5 home runs on the year with a big start to his age-24 season but that’s their big offensive star so far. Alec Burelson has 10 walks, Ivan Gerrera 12. JJ Wetherholt has 3 stolen bases.
Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday, April 10: Connelly Early (2.89 ERA / 2.97 FIP) vs. Dustin May (15.95 ERA / 6.46 FIP)
Saturday, April 11: Ranger Suárez (8.64 ERA / 6.19 FIP) vs. Kyle Leahy (3.27 ERA / 2.73 FIP)
Sunday, April 12: Brayan Bello (9.00 ERA / 5.69 FIP) vs. Andre Pallante (1.80 ERA / 4.29 FIP)
HOUSTON, TEXAS - AUGUST 30: Spencer Arrighetti #41 of the Houston Astros pitches in the first inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Daikin Park on August 30, 2025 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Tim Warner/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The latest news on the Houston Astros and from around MLB:
Spencer Arrighetti was dealing in what should be his last start for the Sugar Land Space Cowboys before joining the Houston Astros:
Spencer Arrighetti, new father of twins, went 6 innings of 2 run ball for the Space Cowboys tonight.
6 IP 4 H 2 ER 1 BB 7 K
He won’t be pitching in the Mariners series obviously. He could be lined up for Colorado in Houston though. pic.twitter.com/jjJOSJHz9A
Has ABS finally made the strike zone fair for Jose Altuve?
for his entire career, Jose Altuve has had to fight off an unfairly high strike zone. Until the ABS zone redefinition, that is. On the smallest hitter in the majors suddenly finding himself in a fair fight up in the zone @baseballprohttps://t.co/KdzqaJsjRN
Flashback April 10, 1947. Jackie Robinson is officially a Brooklyn Dodger.
Today In 1947: Branch Rickey issues a historic press release: "The Brooklyn Dodgers today purchased the contract of Jackie Roosevelt Robinson from the Montreal Royals. He will report immediately." #MLB#Baseball#Historypic.twitter.com/in209fKq5k
Fun fact about Dodgers Stadium the day it opened from Vin Scully:
Today In 1962: The Los Angeles #Dodgers hosted their first Opening Day at Dodger Stadium! The great Vin Scully talks about how the team had to use vegetable dye to make the grass look green! #MLB#Baseball#Historypic.twitter.com/j1TVMb2gtw
Tigers finally retired Josh Bell, but Riley Greene and Parker Meadows had a nasty collision running down his fly ball. Cart is on the field for Meadows along with medical personnel. pic.twitter.com/pUBcWw9w5A
"There's a lot of concern for him. When we got out to him, it looked like he bit his lip or the inside of his mouth. There was a lot of blood and he was pretty out of it. We are going to get him checked out for everything. But this one worries me." pic.twitter.com/i2cMCpqwAS
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - APRIL 4: Carmen Mlodzinski #50 of the Pittsburgh Pirates pitches in the first inning during the game against the Baltimore Orioles at PNC Park on April 4, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Pittsburgh Pirates are on the road today against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field looking to grab a win.
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BD community, this is your thread for today’s game against the Cubs. Enjoy!
Apr 7, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Seattle Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh (29) hits an rbi single during the fifth inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images | Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images
The Seattle Mariners didn’t need a copy of Cal Raleigh’s MVP-caliber 2025 to repeat as AL West champions this year. What they *will* need is not to repeat his frigid first foray in the big leagues back in 2021. Hard as it may be to remember (or, all too easy after the first two weeks of this season), Raleigh hit a brick wall in his first big league taste. He went .180/.223/.309 in his first 148 plate appearances across 47 games, a grisly 46 wRC+ with an unseemly 35.1% strikeout rate while walking just seven times in the bigs that year. It wasn’t until his 2022 return that Raleigh solidified himself as a star, in Seattle and then across the sport. Now, those expectations loom even larger, with the Big Dumper mucked up and mired in a .143/.236/.245 over his first 55 PAs this year, a 51 wRC+, and a funny-but-not-ha-ha-funny bad 38.2% punchout rate. He’s hit just one round-tripper, for goodness sake.
So what’s eating the Big Dumper?
Home Run Derby hangover delayed by two-thirds a year? Randy Arozarena’s secret hexes? Insufficient gumption?
All good answers, but color me skeptical. Two weeks offers less data than necessary for many statistical stabilizations. But something we can see and quantify is Raleigh’s literal process at the plate – his swing. With advancements in data tracking and cameras, MLB and Baseball Savant can track and publicize the bat tracking data for each pitch and swing. What I’ve seen this spring has gone from troublesome to troubleshooting, and I believe in the near future to be trouble-shedding.
In eliminating culprits, there seems not to be something physically awry for Raleigh. His average bat speed is in keeping with a season ago, give or take a half tick at 74.7 mph. That’s a strong score, on the higher end of the league as befits Raleigh’s strength and emphasis on elevating pitches with damaging intent. So far as we can measure, Raleigh hasn’t massively altered his mechanics or setup pre-pitch, leaving us scrapping for answers. The best indication I’ve found, beyond the sheer variability of an inch different in contact, stems from an overly uppercut swing, an issue so fundamental to his craft that he began addressing it in the time it took me to put together this article.
Statcast measures swings in a few ways. There’s the vertical angle at which the hitter is impacting the ball at contact (e.g. uppercut to flat or even downswing) which Savant calls “Attack Angle.” Correspondingly, there’s the horizontal angle, which determines the direction into the field the ball is hit (e.g. a bloop single against a yanked laser double) which is “Attack Direction.” Combining those and the speed of the swing allows us to measure the angle of the bat’s path relative to the ground, which Savant judges in the final 40 milliseconds before contact/crossing the path of the pitch to determine “Swing Path Tilt.” Their explainer, data, and visuals are quite good in my estimation, for instance allowing Ryan to recently write on bat speed as it relates to variable temperature for FanGraphs.
What I’m going to focus on is Swing Path Tilt, or just “tilt,” as it combines our pertinent measures here. Raleigh has a steeper-than-average tilt to his swing, with around a 33-35 degree tilt over the past two years between his lefty and righty swings. It’s slowly gotten steeper since 2023, when he was around a 31 degree angle. MLB average is 32 degrees, with the lowest end of the spectrum – a.k.a. the flattest swing – being a trio of Rays: C Nick Fortes (19°), 3B/SS Junior Caminero (23°), and Yandy Díaz (24°). On the high end are OF Riley Greene of the Tigers (43°) and Dodgers regulars 1B Freddie Freeman (42°) and OF Andy Pages (41°), noted upper-cutters. Intuitively, these are some good hitters and some middling ones – there’s not one “perfect” swing path for everyone, and these numbers are impacted by the physical traits of each hitter, the location of the pitch, and enough other factors to make this hard to gauge.
At this season’s outset, Cal was employing a steeper, more uppercut swing than ever before. It’s not clear that this was intentional, and we’re talking about a few dozen swings, but through the first week of the season Raleigh was around a 38°-40° tilt. That looks like this:
Here we can observe the obvious: pitch location has a huge role on all these factors. A key component of Cal’s MVP-caliber season in 2025 was his knack for scooping pitches at the bottom of the zone or below with his steep uppercut and elevating them into the outfield grass or bleachers. So teams adjusted. He’s gotten a steady diet of elevated fastballs and cutters+sweepers in on his hands since late last year, putting the ball where an uppercut either means a swing-and-a-miss or a sawed-off handle. The Guardians and Yankees did this quite effectively, and Raleigh’s initial use of a steeper uppercut ran into issues galore.
Here’s an example of Raleigh a year ago, on a near-identical pitch to that Tanner Bibee offering from the first image and link:
This isn’t everything, but it is Raleigh at his most locked in. June of last year, Cal ran a 191 wRC+ and 1.088 OPS, striking out just 18.6% of the time and following his torrid May with more meteoric play. If I could, I would tie a bow here and say that this is the issue. The Big Dumper needs to dip and rip just a skosh less and boom: problem solved. In fact, over the past several games, this is what he’s doing, with Cal already flattening his swing incrementally by Attack Angle and Swing Path Tilt back towards his norms from a year ago. I do think this is the right move, as such a steep uppercut on elevated offerings especially is a recipe for hard times.
But baseball players aren’t just protractors. Raleigh has struggled because he’s been doing several things poorly. He’s chased pitches more than he did a year ago through this tiny, two week sample. On pitches in the zone, he’s whiffed WAY more. He’s made just 67.1% in-zone contact, down from 81.2% last year – and 69.0% vs. 84.9% on pitches over the heart of the plate. It’s not that Raleigh needs to just make more contact of any sort (and there are players for whom that’s a good goal). He needs better contact, better timing, and better pitch selection. Piece of cake, right?
I suspect the shift to recalibrate his swing path back towards where it was in 2025 is part of that wise correction, but this is the difficulty of drawing conclusions and prescribing adjustments off of 13 games. The clip above (from the game on April 7) isn’t Raleigh looking fully Cal-ibrated, but it looks back in the ballpark of the player Seattle expects to be the heartbeat of their offense. To get back to hitting it out of the ballpark, starting in the ballpark is where he’ll need to be.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - APRIL 08: Taylor Ward #3 and Gunnar Henderson #2 of the Baltimore Orioles celebrate after defeating the Chicago White Sox at Rate Field on April 08, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Orioles fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.
Only a few days ago, the Orioles were limping into a cold road series against the White Sox, looking like they were going to be weighed down by problems they could not solve early in the season the same as last year. What if their woes had continued against the White Sox? What then? With those concerns in mind, in this week’s survey, I asked O’s fans to think about whether the team would be able to get back to .500 this month, something they never did in April 2025 or beyond.
The question was decisively answered before I could even share the results with you since the Orioles went ahead and swept the White Sox in the three-game set played Monday through Wednesday. O’s fans may not have expected it to happen already, but an overwhelming majority expected the team to at least get back to .500 by the end of this month:
Between the time I sent off this question to the survey guy and when I shared it with you, the Orioles had already gotten one of the three needed wins. They picked up the other two on the way to the road sweep.
It must be said that the Orioles did not look particularly good in any of those games and were probably fortunate to get a three-game sweep. There are problems to be solved. At least for now, if they can minimize the damage while they are trying to solve those problems, that should help the team avoid the problem they had last year of falling into an early hole from which there was no chance to recover.
Everybody in the AL East is dealing with problems early on, even the Yankees. Just avoid falling too far behind to catch up. Hopefully the Orioles can continue in the right direction in this weekend’s series against the Giants, who are also scuffling early on.
Apr 9, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees pitcher Ryan Weathers (40) walks to the dugout before the game against the Athletics at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Jones-Imagn Images | John Jones-Imagn Images
After a couple of so-so starts to open his New York Yankees’ career, left-hander Ryan Weathers had his best outing of the young season on Thursday against the Athletics. He completed eight innings, surrendering a single run on seven hits and punching out seven. He didn’t walk anyone, which is particularly encouraging since he entered the game having given away five bases on balls in eight frames.
Now, Weathers’ season ERA stands at a strong 2.81 in 16 innings of work, with five walks and 18 strikeouts. That’ll do.
The Yankees’ offense is not at its finest, but the starting pitching sure is amazing. Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Will Warren, and Weathers have been excellent on the whole, and we haven’t even seen Luis Gil, Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt yet, not to mention top prospects Elmer Rodríguez and Carlos Lagrange, who continue to develop on the farm.
Back to Weathers: we saw him dominate on Thursday despite diminished velocity, at least compared to his previous two games and what he showed in the spring. His four-seamer averaged 95.1 mph, down from 96.6 mph on the season to this point, and touched 97.4 mph. The pitch has flirted with the triple digits at various points this year. Is the decrease something to worry about?
Well, judging by the results and the lack of any post-game comments about his health or any potential issues, it appears to be the pitcher dialing back in an effort to throw more strikes (it also sure was chilly at the stadium on Thursday). And it worked! He peppered the zone with 73 strikes out of his 101 pitches.
According to what he said after the game, Weathers was more relaxed on the mound, and it clearly had a positive effect on the outcome: “Now I know what that feeling is of just being calm on the mound – hopefully I can keep throwing strikes.”
If that was the key, keep the strikes coming! Weathers’ stuff is good enough to trust it to play in the zone. On Thursday, it definitely did, against an Athletics lineup with a number of formidable bats. Weathers earned 12 whiffs, four each with the four-seamer and sweeper, three with the changeup, and one with the sinker. He did allow some hard contact, but never seemed to be overly fazed by the occasion, except for the Max Muncy triple and the subsequent RBI single by Tyler Soderstrom in the seventh.
If we are being fair, that triple he gave up wasn’t a bad pitch location-wise, so credit goes to the batter:
The whiffs were nice to see, but that wasn’t all: Weathers got a healthy amount of called strikes, especially with his sinker (10) and sweeper (eight). He had 19 in total. Additionally, he had first-pitch strikes against 20 of the 30 batters he faced for a solid 67 percent.
Weathers experienced diminished velocity during his outing, toward the late innings. It was likely due to fatigue, as after touching 96.4 mph in the second frame and 97.4 mph in the fourth, he was down to 93.3 mph in the sixth and 93.8 mph in the seventh. By the eighth, he stopped throwing the pitch altogether, dealing with that frame with sweepers and changeups.
After throwing his four-seamer 42.4 percent of the time leading up to Thursday’s start, more than any other offering, Weathers prioritized his sinker (30 percent), sweeper (27 percent), and changeup (25 percent) against the Athletics, with the heater a distant fourth at 18 percent. He earned a lot of strikes with the mix, but it remains to be seen if it will be a permanent shift away from the four-seamer or if it was matchup-based. He even moved away from the fastball as the outing went on, using it 35 percent of the time the first time through the lineup, 16 percent the second time, and eight percent the third time, with the number dropping to zero the fourth time through.
Despite the loss, Weathers did everything in his power to give his team a W. It didn’t happen because the offense didn’t show up to the ballpark, but he pitched a very solid game. He said it himself: throwing strikes appears to be the most important thing for him, and when he trusts his stuff, he will most likely succeed even if he is not hitting 99 mph on the radar gun.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA - APRIL 04: Starter Bryce Elder #55 of the Atlanta Braves pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the fifth inning at Chase Field on April 04, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Diamondbacks defeated the Braves 2-1. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The two teams in MLB that are yet to lose a series will face off in Atlanta this weekend, as the Braves host the Guardians.
Bryce Elder will take the mound in game 1 and the Braves hope he can keep up his hot start to the season. He has been getting the job done to the tune of a 98th percentile pitching run value (in a miniscule sample) with a combination of walk avoidance, ground balls, inducing barrels, and quality strikeout numbers, due in no small part to his elite chase%. He has added a cutter and added substantial depth to his slider, which add some plausible durability to his improved performance, even as it is unlikely that he is suddenly a true talent Cy Young candidate. The Braves will hope he can look like one against this Guardians lineup and contribute to a win in game 1.
On the other side, the Braves’ bats will have to contend with the 33rd pick in the 2020 draft, righty Slade Cecconi. In some ways, Cecconi is similar to Elder, in that he has been sitting in the low-90s with his fastball this season (a tick and a half down from last year) and added a cutter this season. Cecconi has utilized his new cutter much more than Elder though, as it has been his second pitch this season, throwing it 26% of the time. He uses a very slow curve as his breaking ball of choice, but has also swapped his slider for a sweeper this year, which he uses to keep hitters off-balance. Cecconi is not especially good, but gets the job done well enough when he keeps walks down. He doesn’t really miss bats or induce chases though, and he was in the 1st percentile in hard-hit%, 2nd percentile in avg exit velo and 3rd percentile in barrel% in 2025, all with a roughly league average ground ball rate, so to say he can be hit hard would be an understatement. I’ll be looking for the Braves to hammer Cecconi and I’m gonna be bold(ish) and predict that Ronald Acuna finally hits his first homer of the season off of Cecconi.
SURPRISE, AZ- Feb 17: Photo from a Kansas City Royals City Connect Uniform set launch shoot at the team’s Surprise Stadium Complex on Tuesday February 17, 2026, in Surprise, AZ (Photo by Jason Hanna/Kansas City Royals)
The Royals unveiled new City Connect jerseys this week, with mixed reactions from fans. The uniforms, which will be worn Friday evening, include a Royals “R” in a font similar to that used in the city flag with gradient colors celebrates the City of Fountains logo adopted by Kansas City in 1991.
They are one of eight new City Connect jerseys around baseball unveiled this year. The jerseys are an outlet for added creativity, but let’s face it, it’s also a way to move more merch. Here’s a look at some of the other designs.
Atlanta Braves
The Braves have had a number of different jerseys over the years, but they went with a classic baby blue jersey with the 70s era “Atlanta” script across the front.
Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles went with “BMORE” across the chest, with a 1890s Baltimore Baseball Club “B” logo on the cap.
Cincinnati Reds
The Reds really leaned into their name – the jerseys are very, very red. The sleeve graphic features the Tyler Davidson Fountain, a notable landmark in Cincinnati.
Milwaukee Brewers
The Brew Crew design features “Wisco” across the chest and “Forward,” Wisconsin’s state motto, sewn into the collar, and a Barrelman sleeve patch and a wheat/barley braid.
Pittsburgh Pirates
Pirates uniforms include a 1997-era Pirate wearing an eyepatch with a red bandana on the left sleeve, along with 1887 split in half by “PGH” in the same font as the front.
San Diego Padres
Padres uniforms are “bone, obsidian, marigold, aqua, fireberry, and Padres gold” with a sleeve patch honoring Dia de los Muertos.
Texas Rangers
The Rangers spell out “Tejas”, a word rooted in the Caddo language, which has historically been spoken by Native American groups across Texas and Oklahoma, and is “Texas” in Spanish.
Of the new City Connect jerseys, which one is your favorite? Least favorite? Which of the past City Connect jerseys is tops in your book?
Coaches: Will Bolt (7th season, 196-133-1) & Mark Wasikowski (7th season, 317-197)
TV/Stream: All games on B1G+
Radio: All Nebraska games on Huskers Radio Network, Huskers.com, Huskers App
After a tough first 3 weeks of a non-conference schedule, Nebraska has rolled through the easier part of its schedule. Prior to the mid-week game against an impressive Kansas team, only a single game against a hot veteran pitcher stopping them from winning 22 in a row. In baseball, it doesn’t matter what level you are playing, that streak is still impressive (just ask the Back to Back Big Ten Champion teams that struggled in the midweek against South Dakota State and Omaha). Now the team gets to find out if the momentum will carry them against the two best teams remaining on its weekend schedule and secure a top 4 seed AND potentially a home regional.
Oregon rolled through the early part of its schedule, with only a slip up against an average UC Irvine team, and a loss in the baseball version of the Civil War to Oregon State. Since a trip to UC Santa Barbara, the offense which had been mashing the ball (it still leads the Big Ten in home runs and total bases) has stalled a bit. They’ve averaged just 3 runs per game in their last 8 games, which included two mid week losses to Portland sandwiched around the team’s first weekend series loss at Michigan.
It’s hard to imagine a whole team has gone cold for an extended period of time. Then again, Nebraska fans only have to look to last season (sorry for the PTSD) to see how a good offensive team can just go ice cold for a couple stretches. Is the past couple weeks just a blip for the Ducks and they just need some home cooking to regain their power? Or can Nebraska’s strong pitching staff capitalize on their recent woes?
Game 1: RHP Ty Horn (1-1, 4.70 ERA) vs. RHP Will Sanford (4-1, 2.54 ERA)
Game 2: RHP Carson Jasa (6-1, 3.64 ERA) vs. RHP Collin Clarke (5-2, 2.72 ERA)
Game 3: RHP Cooper Katskee (5-0, 2.79 ERA) vs. RHP Cal Scolari (4-0, 2.81 ERA)
For the first time really all season, Ty Horn struggled mightily, and to the point he couldn’t get an out in the 4th inning. His pitches, which have lived at the bottom of the strike zone, just didn’t seem to have a lot of downward bite to them against a substandard Penn State offense. 3 doubles and 2 home runs took advantage of the elevated Horn pitches. Horn always seems to dig deep and be at his best against top competition, and bounces back big time the week after a rough start.
The Carson Jasa experience continues for the Huskers. He set a career high with 11 strikeouts against Penn State. Other than the disasterous Auburn start, he’s struck out at least 8 batters in each start. He is up to 66 strikeouts in 42 innings over his 8 starts. Joba Chamberlain and Shane Komine are the only Husker pitchers with more than 65 strikeouts over their first 8 starts in a season.
As is his custom, Cooper Katskee gave up 2 runs early, then cruised through a season best 7 innings. Michael Anderson got 2 home runs off of him, but really nothing else of consequence came from the Nittany Lions offense against the senior. It was a real luxury to have him go so deep to help make up for the short outing by Horn. The staff has a good balance of different types of starting pitchers that can all potentially get deep into games. It’s been a while since a Husker team could say that.
After a freshman season in which he started and you saw glimpses of greatness, Will Sanford has taken the Friday night baton and run with it. He’s pitched almost the exact same innings (39) as last season, and has dropped his walks from 39 to 23 and increased his strikeouts from 42 to 51. Like Ty Horn, he is coming off his worst start of the season, giving up 6 runs in 2.2 innings at Michigan. He hasn’t really struggled like that at all this year. How will he bounce back?
When Saturday starter Collin Clarke is on, he really has a ton of movement on each one of his pitches. Really looks like Koty Frank (shoutout Frank Koty!) when he was stalking the mound for the Huskers. He eats up innings, having gone 6 innings in all but 2 starts so far, and doesn’t waste pitches. He will be in the zone on nearly every throw. He can get in hitters heads to, he is very demonstrative on the mound. If you can watch the video on the tweet below, he has something to say after nearly every strike thrown.
Collin Clarke (rhp, @OregonBaseball). Very impressive; pitched with an edge. Ended 4-of-6 innings with a punchout. Missed bats with whole arsenal.
The highest ceiling may be Sunday starter Cal Scolari. As a redshirt freshman at San Diego last season (Man, I hate those guys!) he was the West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year. He has 46 strikeouts in just 32 innings. He and Katskee are both undefeated on the year. The series may come down to who gets their first blemish on the year.
Scouting Report
On offense, the Ducks looked to a pair of All-Conference juniors to help replace all the production lost off of last year’s team that belted a conference leading 115 home runs. The two middle infielders who had big time seasons a year ago, have gone in different directions in 2026.
Second baseman and leadoff man Ryan Clooney is taking his game to another level, he is batting .359 and already has as many extra base hits as he did all of 2025. He has 33 runs scored and has 28 RBIs, which is outstanding for a leadoff batter. Cooney is also he biggest threat the Ducks have on the base paths, stealing 11 out 13 bases on the year. His partner, short stop Maddox Moloney is going through his worst season in Eugene. His batting average is down almost 80 points from a season ago to just .235. After hitting 8 doubles and 15 home runs last year, he is at 6 and 5 respectively this season. As D1Baseball’s Burke Granger shows, he has lost the ability to hit the off-speed pitch, batting .225 lower on sliders than last year and .144 lower on change-ups.
Maddox Molony (SS, @OregonBaseball). Struggling after OPSing .969 w/ 15 HR in '25. Disparity vs off-speed year-over-year.
One Duck that has been good his whole career, but really exploded this season is third baseman Drew Smith. He really worked on his swing in the offseason and it seems his batting average speed has really taken off. He is leading the team in batting at .386, home runs, with 10, and RBIs, at 38. His OPS is third in the conference behind Penn State’s Michael Anderson (Sorry for bringing him up again.) and UCLA’s Will Gasparino (Who you will find near the top of nearly every offensive category.). Oh, and by the way he is probably the best defensive third baseman in the Big Ten.
— Oregon Duck Baseball (@OregonBaseball) April 3, 2026
One player who has been slumping recently but is capable of changing the outcome of a series with the power in his bat is Dominic Hellman. Listed at 6’6” and 281 lbs, the senior hit 13 home runs in his first healthy season last year, and despite his recent lack of success still has 7 doubles and 8 home runs on the season, including hitting 4 home runs in an earlier series against Northwestern.
One freshman to keep track of, that may be the next great Oregon player is right fielder Angel Laya. Their top recruit is batting .296, but is second on the team in home runs with 9. He also has 25 runs scored and 28 RBIs.
Oregon has the best bullpen Nebraska has seen in a while. The staff as a whole is 2nd in the nation in WHIP at 1.13. Closer Devin Bell transferred in from D-II Western Oregon. He was the closer there as a freshman and sophomore, before becoming an All-American starter as a junior. He has 7 saves this season, an ERA of 4.26, 11 strikeouts and 5 walks in 12.2 innings.
The guy the Ducks go get to get them out of a jam is sophomore Tanner Bradley. After not seeing the field much as a freshman, with only 4 appearances, he is leading the team with 15 this year. And it’s not hard to see why. In his 25.1 innings, he has struck out 41 batters and walked 8. His 1.42 ERA leads the regular on the team as well.
The other regular out of the pen is former top ranked pitcher out of the state of Nebraska Michael Meckna. The Elkhorn South grad is second on the team with 14 appearances, and has struck out 18 in 17.1 innings.
The Ducks are an elite defensive team, fielding at 98.1% on the season, good enough for 4th in the Big Ten currently, behind Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota.
Series History
This is the first regular season matchup between the Huskers and Ducks. You may remember their only previous meeting, a 7-3 Nebraska win over the top seeded Oregon team in that horrible pool play structure.
On Deck
This is the Huskers’ first weekend series where both teams are ranked since 2015. When #17 Maryland swept #18 Nebraska in College Park, MD.
Former Oregon Duck Mac Moyer is leading the Big Ten in both batting average (.406) and hits (52). He is 3rd in on base % (.500) behind Iowa’s Miles Risley, and former Husker and current Purdue Boilermaker Aaron Manias.
The NU pitching staff is holding opponents to a .215 batting average against, currently besting the previous low this century of .227 in 2005.
