Apr 8, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Detroit Tigers designated hitter Gleyber Torres (25) looks on after striking out during the eighth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Johnson-Imagn Images | Jordan Johnson-Imagn Images
Detroit Tigers vs. Boston Red Sox
Time/Place: 1:35 p.m., Fenway Park SB Nation Site: Over the Monster Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network Pitching Matchup: LHP Framber Valdez (1-1, 3.75 ERA) vs. LHP Garrett Crochet (2-2, 7.58 ERA)
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON - APRIL 18: Luke Raley #20 of the Seattle Mariners reacts after scoring during the eighth inning against the Texas Rangers at T-Mobile Park on April 18, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Olivia Vanni/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Luke Raley sat in front of the assembled media postgame for the first time in this young season after the third game against the Astros, a decisive 6-1 win where Raley fell just a homer short of the cycle. For a split second after sitting down at the podium, he seemed overcome by emotion, maybe struck by how long it had been since he’d last had an opportunity to sit in that spot, after losing most of his 2025 season battling injuries.
Three days later, Raley would record the first four-hit game of his career. Three days after that, he’d add another home run to his season total, already surpassing the number of home runs he hit in all of 2025.
“He’s putting together really good at bats,” said Dan Wilson late this spring, back when Raley began his campaign of terrorizing opposing pitchers. “It’s great to see, especially coming off what he went through last year. It was a difficult year for him with the injuries. But his intent all spring, his intent here in the beginning of the year, is to get back to who he is.”
“And wow, he’s really done it.”
Raley has been showing what he can do as a fully-operational battle station since spring training, where he announced his return to health, slugging his way through the Cactus League. When the bright lights came on, Raley packed his thunderous bat along with him from Arizona. Raley currently ranks in the top 20 in MLB for barrels per plate appearance, right behind Kyle Schwarber and slightly ahead of Bryce Harper.
There’s an argument to be made that not only is Raley set to return to his 2024 form – a campaign where he was worth 2.3 wins – but to improve upon that version of himself. 2024 Luke Raley ranked in the 68th percentile for average exit velocity; currently Raley’s average exit velocity of 93 mph puts him in the 88th percentile. He’s hitting balls harder more regularly, but he’s also hitting balls harder, period. Raley’s second homer of the season, a frozen rope off a Tanner Bibee slider, came off the bat at 113.8 mph, which is currently the twentieth-highest max exit velocity in MLB this season.
That’s just .5 slower than Raley’s max exit velo last season, and 1.6 mph slower than his career-best max exit velocity. As we know from Rob Arthur, for every mile per hour above 108 [maxEV], a hitter is projected to gain about six points of OPS relative to their predicted number. ZiPS projected Raley for an OPS this year of .743; that would create about a thirty-five point push for Raley, to .778, which would put him almost exactly in line with his OPS in 2024. Raley’s current OPS is a robust .971, currently good for fifteenth-best in MLB.
That shiny OPS is due for some dinging. Raley is an imperfect player; those big hits also come with big strikeouts, and he doesn’t walk quite enough to be a real three true outcomes player. But the underlying quality of contact metrics portend a fully-healthy Raley to be at least as good or better than his 2023-24 selves, when he was worth 2.4 and 2.3 fWAR, respectively. Add in Raley’s near-pathological love of getting free passes via hit by pitches and some positive regression in the form of walks returning to his career numbers (can’t walk when you’re hitting dingers) and cromulent outfield defense, and Raley’s pre-season ZiPS projection of 1.2 wins (1.0 WARP at Baseball Prospectus) feels shatteringly low.
It’s been a long journey for Raley, who spent last year fighting his body at seemingly every turn, first with a right oblique strain, and then with related back spasms. For Raley, the specific nature of the injury was irritating, as obliques are notoriously difficult to rehab, as Bryce Miller could tell you (Raley did offer Miller some advice on rehabbing his own oblique injury). An oblique injury can feel fine up until it doesn’t.
“I was always like, is it going to hurt me on this swing?” said Raley. “It was just no fun to deal with. I’d never dealt with it before, and it’s just one of those things that, until you actually go through with it, you don’t know what it feels like.”
The impact of the injury can have knock-on effects, too, explained Raley.
“You lose a little bit of your bat speed or whatever the case may be, and then your contact point changes, and it just means you’re basically relearning how to hit a baseball at this point. So it just becomes really tough.”
Raley did lose some of his bat speed as he tried to return from his oblique injury last season – from 75 mph down to 73 – but moreover, he just never looked fully comfortable and connected in the box. Really, he never got a chance – he was back from a two-month-long IL stint for about a month in July and then went back on the IL with back spasms for most of August.
But Raley’s comeback season isn’t fueled just by reps in the weight room to increase his core strength (although he’s done that) or hours on the Trajekt machine (although he’s done that too).
“I feel like more than anything, the biggest thing is just changing my mindset. We talk about it a lot, myself and the coaching staff. I’m really hard on myself. And sometimes it’s not a great thing to be so hard on yourself in a 162 game season.”
Raley, who isn’t satisfied with his effort in a game until his uniform is more dirty than it is clean, has had to learn to balance his intense style of play with the demands of the long season. Never a showcase star or D1 top-rated prospect, Raley decided early in his career that his path to being a professional player would be to give unrivaled effort in all phases of the game, literally putting his body on the line by wearing pitches to earn free passes (he ranked third in baseball in HBPs in 2024, with the same number as his jersey number: 20). But that grinder mindset took a mental toll, as well as the physical one.
While he was on the IL in 2025, Raley spent significant time talking with Mariners mental skills coach Adam Bernero about how to respond when effort failed him.
“Just being better about letting a bad game go in the past, and showing up the next day as the same person I came in as the day before. Good or bad, just trying to stay the same.”
Raley said it’s been helpful to have a role models of that mindset in his clubhouse: one in his skipper, Dan Wilson, and the other in first baseman Josh Naylor. Naylor, especially, has been a model of consistency, even throughout some early-season struggles.
“I’m sure Naylz would tell you that he’s not overly happy with the start of his season,” said Raley. “But the way he shows up and continues to grind and play and jokes around, having a good time, it’s a reminder how blessed we are to play this game, and you can’t take it for granted.”
“I’ve actually thought about that a lot with this team. Everyone pulls for each other so hard, it’s so easy to be—you know, however you do doesn’t necessarily matter, as long as the team’s doing well. That’s what you want, teammates that are there for you through good and bad, and you feel like their success is your success, and vice-versa.”
“We spend so much time together. These are all my brothers in here, and you have to pull for one another. You never forget, whether you’re doing good or bad, just how hard this game is, and you just have to keep backing each other and support each other day in and day out.”
Luke Raley is healthy now—mind and body—and it is going to be everybody’s problem, because in this clubhouse, everybody’s problem is also everybody’s solution. Right now it’s Raley leading the charge, pouring back into his teammates all the support they gave him when he was struggling last season. Soon it will be someone else – but hopefully not too soon for Raley, who has certainly earned this moment in the sun.
Sep 28, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Justin Wrobleski (70) reacts in the ninth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
The Dodgers finish off their long weekend series against the Colorado Rockies with one more game on Monday night at Coors Field, the only wraparound series of the season for Los Angeles.
Justin Wrobleski is coming off the best start of his career, on six days rest after throwing eight scoreless innings last Monday against the New York Mets. He’s done pretty well in his previous three appearances at Coors Field, with a 2.89 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 9 1/3 innings, but those were all in relief. This will be his first start in Denver.
Left-hander Jose Quintana starts the series finale for the Rockies.
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 08: Cole Henry #99 of the Washington Nationals is relieved by manager Blake Butera #10 in the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Nationals Park on April 08, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images) | Getty Images
As we all know, the Nationals pitching staff has been a major problem. The team ERA is nearing 6, and the Nats have a real shortage of reliable arms. Sometimes stats can get inflated one way or the other in April, but it does not feel like the Nats are suffering from bad luck. The Nats 5.92 team ERA does not seem very inflated.
One way to see if pitchers are getting unlucky is to look at the underlying numbers. Numbers like FIP and xERA are a good way to measure a pitcher’s true skill level. The Nats FIP of 5.75 and xERA of 5.52 are the worst in baseball. While the Astros have a worse team ERA, their FIP is 5.41 and xERA is 4.49. That suggests they should improve a bit. The Nats are not really in line for that improvement.
Another number that is really poor is their fWAR. Nats pitchers have combined for -2.2 fWAR, which is by far the worst in the league. Back in 2022, Nats pitchers had a 0 WAR for the season. That was the worst mark of this decade. Do not be surprised if this group is in the negatives.
When I said the Nationals had "quite possibly the worst pitching staff of the decade", I may have been too nice. They look worse than the Washington's pitching in 2022 that put up 0.0 fWAR
It is tough to blame too much of this on coaching either. The Nats are just at a real talent deficit on the mound. They just do not have many pitchers who are even average big leaguers. The Nats are filled with young guys trying to prove themselves, journeymen trying to find a home in the big leagues, and arms who are over the hill.
For me, the two biggest problems are walks and home runs. Lately, the walks have not been as bad, but the home runs are out of control. Nats pitchers have allowed 39 home runs, which is five more than the next closest team and 12 more than the team in third place. It is tough to be effective as a staff when you are allowing 1.85 home runs per 9 innings.
I don't know the exact number of relievers since 2022 who have either walked or given up a homer to their very first batter faced as a member of the Nationals, but it's high. Very high.
The bullpen has drawn most of the fans ire, but they have been showing more signs of life lately. I think the bullpen is a slightly easier problem to solve. Guys like Cionel Perez, Gus Varland and PJ Poulin have been throwing the ball better lately. We also saw good things from Richard Lovelady last night.
I have a little bit of faith that the Nats can cobble together a bullpen that is not as bad as last year still. In the past couple weeks, the unit has been better. Even though they blew a 5-2 lead, the unit was good besides Mitchell Parker. My bigger concerns are with the starting rotation.
A Nats starter has only gone 6 innings once this season. That was Cade Cavalli against the Phillies a few weeks ago. Length has been a real issue for this staff. They are struggling to even get through five innings. The quality is also poor with a starter ERA over 6.
Outside of Foster Griffin, the whole unit has been really disappointing. Miles Mikolas was supposed to be an innings eater, but he barely even goes three innings anymore. Zack Littell has just been too hittable so far. Jake Irvin’s stuff looks better, and I think he could improve, but his ERA is still over 6.
For me, Cade Cavalli has been the biggest disappointment. He was supposed to be the staff ace, but has only completed five innings once. The stuff is sharp, but his command and pitch selection leaves so much to be desired. He should get the season to try and figure things out, but eventually, he might have to be moved to the bullpen.
Unfortunately, help is not really on the way. Andrew Alvarez is decent, and just got called up. However, he is a 5 and dive guy who’s pure stuff is not great. Maybe he could be like Foster Griffin, but I am not as high on him as some. Riley Cornelio could be a solution, but he is not very proven. Luis Perales has a lot of pedigree, but I think he is a reliever.
The Nats offense has really been carrying the load right now, yet the team is still 9-12. I worry about what could happen if the offense cools off. Things could get really ugly. This pitching staff has been very bad, and there are not many reasons to believe things will get better. Hopefully this staff can help improve guys, but they do not have a lot to work with.
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - APRIL 4: Konnor Griffin #6 of the Pittsburgh Pirates looks on during batting practice before 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 at home today against the Pittsburgh Pirates looking to grab a win against the Tampa Bay Rays.
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IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME COMING: With their win yesterday, the Cubs now are exactly .500 — 9,199 wins, 9,199 losses and 81 ties — since Opening Day of 1908! (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
IT’S BEEN A WHILE (NOT AS LONG AS ABOVE, THOUGH): The Cubs have not won five consecutive games since March 31-April 5 of last year. Today’s game will be their 162nd, a full season, since then. They have won 96 and lost 65. Their current streak is their fifth of four wins since their last five-game streak. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
AND ABOUT TIME TO DO THIS AGAIN: The Cubs have not swept a series at home against the Mets since they won three games April 20-22, 2021. They had gone 5-8 in four series since then. They swept three at New York in 2022. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
BEAT THE METS: The Mets’ current 10-game losing streak is the longest April losing streak in their franchise history. (Previous record: They lost the first nine games they played as a franchise in April 1962.)
Javier Assad has made one really good start and one really bad one so far this year.
He has not faced the Mets since April 30, 2024 and a lot of those guys aren’t on the Mets anymore.
No current Met has more than seven career at-bats against Assad (Francisco Lindor, 3-for-7, a home run).
Hopefully, this afternoon is a good one for Javier.
Originally, David Peterson was going to make this start for the Mets, but since he’s posted an 8.79 ERA and 1.954 WHIP and allowed eight walks and 14 earned runs in his last 14.1 innings, the Mets decided to pivot to Tobias Myers.
We’re familiar with Myers from his time with the Brewers. In fact, he came to the Mets in the same deal that brought Freddy Peralta to New York.
Myers is not really stretched out to start and this article from The Athletic says the Mets hope to get around 30 pitches from him and once through the batting order. After that, the article says, Peterson might be available out of the bullpen.
Myers made two relief appearances against the Cubs last year, throwing three scoreless innings.
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ATLANTA, GEORGIA - MARCH 27: Cole Ragans #55 of the Kansas City Royals pitches against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning of the home opener at Truist Park on March 27, 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Another afternoon tilt in New York for the Royals today as they try to salvage one win on what has been a truly demoralizing road trip. Two new faces have joined the team for today’s game. Elias Diaz will be catching; the veteran has been in the big leagues since 2015 but has never played for Kansas City. Joining him will be Mason Black in the bullpen as the team continues to cycle arms through there to see if anyone can stick.
Cole Ragans gets to try and play stopper and will hopefully end the losing streak at six. After the scary exit in the first inning at Cleveland, his start on Tuesday went well, but was uncharacteristic with very few strike outs and several walks. This is a situation for the ace of the staff to show why he gets that moniker.
Opposite Ragans will be Ryan Weathers who is 0-2 with a 4.29 ERA through his first four starts. He has allowed a decent number of base runners so far this season, so the Royals will attempt to take advantage of lefty. Here are the lineups for today:
KANSAS CITY, MO - APRIL 09: Dustin Harris #37 of the Chicago White Sox hits a single in the second inning during the game between the Chicago White Sox and the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on Thursday, April 9, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Sydney Schneider/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The Houston Astros claimed OF Dustin Harris off waivers from the Chicago White Sox.
He has appeared in six major league games for Chicago this season, hitting .250 (3×12) with a .438 OBP.
He has joined the Astros and will wear 37.
The Astros also recalled RHP Jayden Murray from Triple-A Sugar Land and have placed OF Joey Loperfido on the 10-day IL with a right quad strain (retro to April 18).
Houston has also acquired IF Braden Shewmake from the New York Yankees in exchange for minor leaguer RHP Wilmy Sanchez.
Shewmake has played his entire 2026 season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the Yankees minor league system.
The Yankees announced a trade prior to Sunday's game against the Kansas City Royals.
The club has acquired minor league right-handed pitcher Wilmy Sanchez from the Houston Astros in exchange for minor league infielder Braden Shewmake.
Sanchez, 22, began the season in Double-A ball, pitching to a 1.29 ERA in five games. He has a career 3.80 ERA across five minor league seasons.
Shewmake, 28, was claimed off waivers by the Yankees from the Royals in February. He hit .176 for the Yankees during spring training, but showed off a decent glove.
He slashed .250/.314/.313 with five runs, two doubles, one RBI and one stolen base in 10 games with Triple-A Scranton/Wilke-Barre this season.
Angels outfielder Garret Anderson watches the ball after hitting a two-run homer against the Toronto Blue Jays on July 4, 2008. (Mark Avery / Associated Press)
Garret Anderson was a Hall of Fame-caliber major league baseball player who never made the Hall of Fame. Baseball is a numbers game, and GA didn’t have enough of them.
When he finished his career and was eligible for the vote in 2016, he got just one vote. That represented 0.2% of the total. It also meant that he wasn’t even on the ballot the next year.
So, when he died Friday, way too soon at age 53, it presented an interesting twist. Had he lived into his 80s or 90s, there would have been few still around to remember anything about him but statistics. Now, the memory of his underrated greatness remains. What he did and how he did it is still in the frontal lobe of those who watched and those who wrote and broadcast about him.
He was the quiet man who played for various versions of the Angels for 15 seasons — the California Angels, the Anaheim Angels and the Los Angeles Angels. Right there, you have a Hall of Fame problem. A team struggling so hard to find its own identity does not attract the deep and passionate interest of the bulk of the writers/voters who live in time zones whose bed time is the same as game time in Anaheim.
It should have mattered that GA delivered the most important hit in Angels’ history, the game-winner in the 2002 World Series. It was Game 7, it was at Angel Stadium and the opponent was the San Francisco Giants, who had superstar slugger Barry Bonds and his line drives that created dents in outfield fences, except when they flew over them, which was often.
Anderson came to the plate in the third inning. The bases were loaded and Anderson took a shoulder-high fastball, slapped it down the right-field line and three runs came home. The Angels won 4-1 and haven’t come close to a World Series title, much less a World Series, since then. That at least got Anderson into the Angels Hall of Fame in 2016.
Mike Scioscia was the manager then and the most effective the team has had. He is the one who, Saturday, called Anderson’s Game 7 hit the greatest in team history.
“I remember looking out there when he went to the plate with the bases loaded,” Scioscia said, “and thinking he is exactly the guy I want there right now.”
Scioscia called Anderson’s death “a punch in the gut.” He said the player everybody called GA, didn’t have to be managed. “He was a resource for me,” Scioscia said. “He had an incredible inner drive. He was one of the most talented players I have been around. I’d call him a superstar.”
Scioscia, reminded that his “superstar” didn’t make baseball’s Hall of Fame, said, “Sometimes, great players slip through the cracks.”
Anderson’s not-quite-Hall-of-Fame performances included three All-Star game appearances. He was the game’s MVP in 2003 and also won the home run derby that year. He beat out Albert Pujols, then of the Cardinals. His career batting average was .293, he hit 287 home runs and had 1,365 runs batted in. He went to the plate to hit, not to watch. He never drew more than 38 walks in a season and never struck out more than 100 times.
Yet the statistic he felt gave him the best chance for the Hall of Fame was number of hits. Getting 3,000 hits would make him almost an automatic choice. He ended with 2,529, and near the end of his career with the Angels, he sat down with a reporter to discuss just that, plus one other thing.
Garret Anderson, left, talks with Jackie Autry, widow of Angels team owner Gene Autry, as he is inducted into the Angels Hall of Fame on Aug. 20, 2016. (Reed Saxon / Associated Press)
It was uncharacteristic for Anderson to have this sort of conversation with anybody outside of his teammates, or maybe his family. It was lunch at Zov’s in Tustin and the question was how this voting system works and could maybe 200 more hits get him in. Could 2,750 do it? He wasn’t a big ego guy by any stretch of the imagination, but the Hall of Fame seemed to be dangling there and any baseball player who could see that for himself in the distance had to be intrigued.
There was no discussion of the intangibles, no consideration of the Angels being the Angels and what effect that will always have. Do voters even look much at other stats, such as his 24 walks and 35 home runs in the same season? The reporter wasn’t a great help. He wasn’t even a voter. Anderson wasn’t really stressed out over the Hall of Fame premise, just kind of fascinated. The reporter was probably more encouraging than realistic. Zov’s food was good, the company great.
Eventually, Anderson got to the second issue that had prompted the lunch: How to deal with Times columnist TJ Simers. He asked because the reporter was once Simers’ boss. Simers tended to probe and kid and seek to stir up things, but Anderson also recognized that he could be highly accurate, perceptive and even fun. Anderson, as a team star, was bracing for frequent visits. How should he handle it?
The answer was simple: Don’t lie to him. Don’t hide from him. If he is being a jerk, tell him so. He will accept that. If he is wrong, tell him that and tell him how. If he insults you, insult him back. He loves that.
Tim Mead, former director of public relations, when asked for his thoughts on Anderson, said that his perspective or quotes would not be as telling or as meaningful as simply watching the tape of Anderson’s three-run double that won the 2002 World Series for the Angels.
“Just watch it, just watch his reaction when he gets to second base,” Mead said Saturday.
And so we did. Anderson slaps his hit down the right field line, just fair. Angel Stadium goes crazy. Anderson stops at second base, claps his hands four times, then stands there quietly. Little emotion. Little hoopla. No contortions for "SportsCenter." He has done his job. He has done what was expected of him. There are six more innings left. Let’s celebrate when it is truly over.
That was Garret Anderson, GA to his friends, a Hall of Fame player in all the ways that numbers don’t show.
MIAMI, FL - APRIL 08: Brady Singer #51 of the Cincinnati Reds pitches during the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Miami Marlins at loanDepot park on Wednesday, April 8, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Lucas Casel/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The Cincinnati Reds have leaned in to winning games by the thinnest of margins so far this season, their threadbare offense somehow coming up with particularly good timing while their bullpen pulls out all the stops to hold on. The results, so far, have been impeccable, with the Reds sporting a 13-8 record that has them atop the National League Central division.
It’s been precisely that recipe this weekend in Minneapolis, too. The Reds squeezed out a 2-1 win on Friday in lefty Brandon Williamson’s homecoming, and they backed it up with an inch-by-inch comeback win in 5-4 fashion. Now, they head to Target Field on Sunday with a chance to sweep aside the Twins.
Brady Singer will get the start, and he’ll do so fresh off his best outing of the year so far. He fired 6.0 IP of 1 ER ball against the San Francisco Giants last time out, even though his peripherals (just a lone K) didn’t exactly jump off the page the way he’d prefer. Perhaps he’s still dealing with the residual effects of that blister issue – velocity, pitch selection, etc. – but another five-days removed will hopefully see him progress even more back to the guy he was in 2025.
The Reds will be up against righty Bailey Ober. First pitch is set for 2:10 PM ET.
Here’s how the Reds will line up to begin this one:
Oklahoma City's Ryan Ward (10) throws to first for an out during the minor league baseball between the Oklahoma City Comets and the Tacoma Rainers a the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, April, 16, 2025. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman was placed on the paternity list on Sunday, as he and his wife Chelsea are expecting their fourth child, their first daughter to join their three sons.
That opened the door for Ryan Ward, at age 28, to get called up to the major leagues for the first time and is starting at first base on Sunday against the Colorado Rockies, batting seventh. At 28 years, 55 days old, Ward will be the oldest Dodgers draft pick to debut with the team. Geoff Zahn, a pitcher drafted in 1968 who debuted with Los Angeles at 27 years, 257 days in 1973, held the previous mark.
Paternity leave in Major League Baseball is a minimum of one day and a maximum of three days, so this window for Ward will likely be short.
Ward picked right up where he left off last season in winning Pacific Coast League MVP, hitting .324/.432/.588 with a 165 wRC+ this season in Triple-A, with four home runs, six doubles, and 14 RBI in 18 games while splitting time between first base and left field.
Drafted by the Dodgers in the eighth round in 2019 out of Bryant, Ward methodically made his way through the minor leagues, one level per season — except for bypassing Class-A after the 2020 minor league season was canceled — to reach Oklahoma City in 2023.
Playing so long in Triple-A has Ward at or near the top of many Oklahoma City modern career records — from 1998 to present, at their current ballpark — including 94 home runs and 322 runs batted in. During his 2025 MVP campaign, Ward also set Oklahoma City record for hits (164), home runs, RBI, and runs scored (113).
Ward is an older version of Michael Busch, who also won PCL MVP but was a man without a path to playing time with the Dodgers, with Shohei Ohtani at designated hitter, Freddie Freeman at first base, and Max Muncy at third base. Freeman and Ohtani also blocked Ward’s easiest path to playing time in Los Angeles, and in 2025 when they needed outfielders the club opted for better defensive players in Esteury Ruiz and Justin Dean instead.
Minor league free agency beckoned for Ward this offseason, but the Dodgers tossed one more lifeline his way the day before free agency, adding him to the 40-man roster on November 6.
The Braves will look for a sweep in Philadelphia on Sunday night. The punchless Phillies have lost four straight, scoring a total of seven runs — including a total of one run in back-to-back losses to visiting Atlanta.
The Phillies start promising rookie Andrew Painter, but Atlanta has Grant Holmes, who has had a better April so far, on the mound.
My Braves at Phillies predictions and MLB picks have the Braves completing the sweep on April 19.
Who will win Braves vs Phillies today: Braves (+104)
The Atlanta Braves are tied for the most runs scored in MLB. And now Austin Riley, who had struggled, is heating up.
Riley has nine hits in his last 26 at-bats (.346), and he is four for 10 with two homers and five RBIs in this series. Fourteen of Riley’s last 20 balls hit into play have been hard hit (over 95 mph exit velocity). Ten have topped 100 mph.
Catcher J.T. Realmuto, one of the few Philadelphia Phillies who’s been hitting, left Saturday’s game with back trouble — the second time this month that’s happened. He’s already been declared unlikely for Sunday’s game.
COVERS INTEL: More than half of the swings against Holmes’ slider this season have missed. He has a 53.3% whiff rate on the pitch. Painter isn’t far behind with a 47.6% whiff rate on his slider.
Braves vs Phillies Over/Under pick: Under 8.5 (-125)
It’s not the marquee pitching matchup of Saturday’s Chris Sale vs. Cristopher Sanchez, but Andrew Painter against Grant Holmes is underrated. Holmes has leaned harder on his slider and four-seamer this season, throwing those two pitchers 80% of the time. Opponents are hitting .121 against those two pitches.
Painter has yet to allow a home run in three MLB appearances. He’s striking out a quarter of all batters he’s faced, and his hard-hit percentage is in the 92nd percentile among pitchers. He’s even better in Philadelphia with a 1.74 ERA, 0.871 WHIP, and 13.1 strikeouts per 9 in home games.
Shawn Krest's 2026 Transparency Record
ML/RL bets: 6-7, -1.42 units
Over/Under bets: 8-9, -1.19 units
Braves vs Phillies odds
Moneyline: Braves +104 | Phillies -108
Run line: Braves +1.5 (-194) | Phillies -1.5 (+186)
Over/Under: Over 8.5 | Under 8.5
Braves vs Phillies trend
The Atlanta Braves have hit the Moneyline in 24 of their last 35 away games (+15.00 Units / 37% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Braves vs. Phillies.
How to watch Braves vs Phillies and game info
Location
Citizens Bank Park, Philadelphia, PA
Date
Sunday, April 19, 2026
First pitch
7:20 p.m. ET
TV
Peacock
Braves starting pitcher
Grant Holmes (1-1, 3.32 ERA)
Phillies starting pitcher
Andrew Painter (1-0, 3.77 ERA)
Braves vs Phillies latest injuries
Braves vs Phillies weather
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. Not intended for use in MA. Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
An empty Yankee Stadium for the home opener against the Boston Red Sox on Friday, July 31, 2020, in New York. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, no fans will be allowed at major league baseball games this season. Yanks Home Opener
Entering play on Sunday, April 19th, the American League only has five of its 15 teams with a positive run differential. Normally, a small number like that means there’s a great likelihood of it being a top-heavy league, but that’s not necessarily the case. In fact, for all the potential flaws that the Yankees have displayed so far, the teams predicted to be their main rivals for American League supremacy have struggled far more, seemingly opening a path for the Yankees to not only take control of the American League East, but the AL as a whole.
Not simply due to the fact that they faced off in last year’s ALCS, but for everything they did on the path to it and afterwards, the Blue Jays and Mariners opened the season as the two strongest adversaries the Yankees could face. Through these first 20+ games, both of these teams have encountered more than their fair share of issues, some far more concerning than anything the Yankees have had to deal with.
Starting off with the Mariners, you have key players struggling for different reasons, everything from the continuance of Luis Castillo’s steady decline over the past few seasons to core hitters unable to match last year’s career-high numbers. While it’s too early to pass judgment on the numbers of Cal Raleigh, Josh Naylor, and Julio Rodríguez, the former two, particularly Raleigh, went out of their way to carry the load for this lineup last season. Just how much of those 2025 numbers they can replicate remains to be seen. Furthermore, the M’s were only a 90-72 team last year with a healthy number of breaks going their way — it’s reasonable to ponder if too much time was spent projecting potential marginal improvements and not enough on the steps back that were just as likely.
Moving over to a more well-known rival and the responsible party for the Yankees’ demise last season, the Jays have been the biggest disappointment of the AL and maybe all of baseball early on — even managing to get swept by the White Sox at one point. The Blue Jays had a better season than the M’s last year, winning 94 games, but they both shared the same Pythagorean win-loss record of 88-74. Assessing how the Jays got to that win total, there are some warning signs, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. may be the star, but who unequivocally ran the show last year was George Springer, a 36-year-old who experienced a resurgent and surprisingly healthy season. He is currently sidelined with an injury, and it’s unrealistic to expect something close to those numbers he put up in 2025, especially playing as many as 140 games. The impact of losing Bo Bichette and indirectly replacing him with Kazuma Okamoto, with some infield shuffling, is going to be felt throughout the whole campaign. Current injuries to Addison Barger and Alejandro Kirk also lower this offense’s floor, but even at full strength, it may not be quite as imposing as it was a year ago.
The boost of adding Dylan Cease has been nullified early on by the absence of the injured Trey Yesavage. Speaking of injured players, as much as that quote-unquote excuse can be used to address some of the struggles the Jays have had early on, if you look at a team like the Yankees, there is a clear pathway of improvement from that department.
If you look at the Yankees’ Opening Day payroll, a healthy chunk of that is tied up with Carlos Rodón and Gerrit Cole, by all accounts two-thirds of the top three in this rotation. Yes, he was out last year, but even counting on Cole’s imminent return in 2026 — something that was factored into how they built their staff — the Yankees had a very real excuse for a bit of a slow start pitching-wise, and yet, they’ve flourished in that department.
The smart money is on both the Jays and Mariners finding their stride as the year moves forward, but whether they figure out their problems or not the Yankees can gaze at the American League picture right now and foresee a path for dominance.
Jacob Misiorowski, slated to start later today against the Marlins, just turned 24 but is already one of the most exciting arms in the league. Through four stars, we’ve seen both sides of Miz — he has a 3.32 ERA and 4.04 FIP with 33 strikeouts but nine walks and two hit batters in 21 2/3 innings.
The good news?
Misiorowski’s last start against the Blue Jays featured zero walks. While the Brewers ultimately lost in extra innings, Miz went 5 1/3 innings in that one, allowing two runs (both solo homers), five hits, and no walks with five strikeouts. Let’s hope he can repeat that performance against Miami.
In honor of the Brewers new City Connect uniforms — which, I’m slightly upset to admit, are beginning to grow on me — Breaking T created a new Nobody Beats the Miz shirt in those colors.
COVERS INTEL: More than half of the swings against Holmes’ slider this season have missed. He has a 53.3% whiff rate on the pitch. Painter isn’t far behind with a 47.6% whiff rate on his slider. 
