The Yankees have recalled right-hander Elmer Rodriguez from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the team announced on Saturday.
The move came as the corresponding move as left-hander Max Fried officially landed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to Thursday) with a left elbow bone bruise.
This will be Rodriguez's second stint with the big league club after making two starts earlier this year. The 22-year-old allowed two runs on four hits and four walks (plus a hit batter) over 4.0 innings in his MLB debut in an April 29 loss at Texas.
A few days later, against the Rangers at Yankee Stadium, he allowed three runs on three hits and four walks (plus a hit batter) in 4.2 innings in a win on May 5. The hard-thrower, who leans on a four-seam fastball that averages 95.4 mph and a sinker that averages 95 mph to complement a 79.8 mph slider, had five strikeouts in his first taste of big league action before he was optioned as Carlos Rodon returned from the IL.
"Better than what I expected. It was always a dream of mine pitching here," Rodriguez said after his start in The Bronx. "I was excited and it was a blast... Ever since I was a little kid, I was dreaming of playing in the big and hopefully play for the Yankees, extremely blessed and thankful for the opportunity to be here and wear pinstripes."
He won’t have to wait very long for his next chance, as the righty told reporters on Saturday that he would start the series finale against the Mets on Sunday. RyanWeathers, who was in line for the start, will be pushed back to Tuesday against Toronto, with Will Warren making his start on normal rest to open the series against the Blue Jays in The Bronx.
Rodriguez made one start while back with the RailRiders on May 10, allowing one run on six hits and two walks (plus a hit batter) while striking out six over 4.2 innings. In 26 innings at Triple-A, Rodriguez has pitched to a 1.38 ERA and 1.038 WHIP with 26 strikeouts to nine walks.
Manager Aaron Boone said he is looking for the youngster to "get settled" at the big league level. "I don't think he's commanded the ball like he will," the skipper said. "But I have a lot of confidence that he's handled things well, he's handled adversity early in outings well, and kinda held his own.
"I have high expectations when he walks out there. It won't surprise me if he goes out there and pitches well."
Boone said there wasn't any thought to having Rodriguez avoid the Subway Series to pitch at home. "No, I mean, we're going home to play division rivals," he said. "We considered it both ways, but we're comfortable with him. We think he'll be fine."
Fried left Wednesday’s outing in Baltimore due to elbow soreness after allowing three runs on five hits and a walk while throwing just 61 pitches (34 strikes) across 3.0 innings of work.
Boone said MRI and CT scans were "in some ways good news" because of a lack of any ligament issues and that "long-term, feel like we're in an ok spot, so we'll just kinda listen to the body here over the next days and weeks and see what ultimately that timeline leads to."
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - MAY 10: Tomoyuki Sugano #11 of the Colorado Rockies during a game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on May 10, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Phillies won 6-0. (Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images) | Getty Images
There’s an alternate universe in which the Colorado Rockies had a very different Friday evening.
The first inning cost the Rockies the game last night. They almost escaped a tumultuous start, but instead the Arizona Diamondbacks successfully challenged the potential third out, loaded the bases, and piled six runs on Kyle Freeland to take the lead and never look back. The Rockies mustered a single run on a Hunter Goodman solo shot, but never threatened.
The Rockies will look to Tomoyuki Sugano 菅野 智之 in their effort to bounce back and even the series. Sugano enters the Saturday afternoon showdown with a 3-3 record across eight starts, with a 4.07 ERA and 1.190 WHIP. Sugano got rocked in his last start, giving up five runs on seven hits and three homers in five innings of work. He’s had some good stretches of games throughout the season and will look to return to form.
For the other side, Arizona will counter with Eduardo Rodriguez. Rodriguez hasn’t taken a loss, bringing a 4-0 record over eight starts into the game, with a 2.25 ERA and a 1.208 WHIP. Rodriguez has performed better at Chase Field than on the road, with a 1.65 ERA at home in four starts compared to a 3.05 ERA in the same number of games away.
Rodriguez has settled in as the season has gone on, giving up just one run in 8.1 innings pitched in his last start against the New York Mets, as well as a scoreless 7.0 innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates before that. Another stat in Rodriguez’s favor: Colorado is 2-7 against left handed pitchers this season.
The Rockies will try to get more out of their offense after being outhit 13-4 on Friday. The Rox left just three runners on base, but only because they couldn’t get them there in the first place. The majority of the lineup went 0-fer as the team struggled to find any rhythm at the plate. Prospect Sterlin Thompson (No. 13 PuRP) subbed in late to make his MLB debut, but couldn’t give the club a jump-start, grounding out on his first pitch faced in the majors. He’ll get his first big league start this afternoon.
The Rockies and Diamondbacks have both struggled against the NL West this year, with 3-9 and 2-4 records, respectively. The Saturday afternoon showdown represents a chance for both clubs to get right in their division matchups.
That’s the 18th time this year, in 45 games (or 40 percent of games) that the Cubs have drawn at least six walks. The season high is 10, in a 7-4 win over the Phillies April 21.
If you’re thinking that’s a lot of walks, you’re right. The Cubs have 210 walks so far this year, which is the most in MLB. Only one other team (Yankees, 204) has 200 or more bases on balls.
That’s 4.67 walks per game. If the Cubs could keep up that pace all season, that would make 756 walks for the year, which would demolish the franchise record. That’s exactly 100 fewer, 656 walks taken by the Cubs in 2016. You remember something else important that happened that year, I’m sure.
In fact, that would set a National League record, currently held by the 1947 Dodgers, who had 732 walks. The MLB record is an astonishing 835, set by the Red Sox in 1949. That Red Sox team had Ted Williams in his prime, with 162 walks, and two others (Johnny Pesky and Vern Stephens) who walked 100 times.
The Cubs haven’t had anyone walk 100 times in a season since Carlos Peña had 101 in 2011. And that was just the fourth 100-walk season by any Cub since 1960 (also Gary Matthews, 103 in 1984 and Sammy Sosa, 116 in 2001 and 103 in 2002).
Ian Happ currently leads the team with 34 walks, which is tied for sixth in MLB with Aaron Judge and Bryan Reynolds. If Happ keeps up that walk pace, he’ll have 122, which would be tied for second-most in team history, with Jimmy Sheckard, who did that in 1912.
Why am I writing about this and why is it important?
Well, for one thing, I hear a lot of criticism of Happ because his batting average is relatively low. For his career, Happ has a .247 BA and right now it’s at .241, right in that range.
But his .381 OBP ranks eighth in the National League and yes, that matters, because that has helped Happ score 35 runs so far this year, and that ranks tied for fourth in the league (with Oneil Cruz). And in the end, runs are what matter most in baseball. Score more runs than the other guy on a consistent basis and you will win a lot of games, which the Cubs are doing this year, as you have likely noticed. The Cubs have scored 230 runs, which ranks third in MLB (Braves, 240 and Nationals, 239). That’s 5.11 runs per game, which extrapolated to 162 games gives a possible 828 runs scored by the 2026 Cubs. The Cubs just missed scoring 800 runs last year (793) and 828 would be their third-most since 1935 (831 in 1998 and 855 in 2008 are the others).
Other current Cubs good at drawing walks are Michael Busch (24 walks, .352 OBP), Nico Hoerner (29 walks, .340 OBP) and Seiya Suzuki (19 walks in 31 games, .382 OBP). The Cubs have six bases-loaded walks this year, including one Friday by Matt Shaw. Only two teams (Rays, Angels) have more as of today.
Sometimes I think people turn their noses up at the humble walk. The old saying “a walk’s as good as a hit” is, in general, true — it’s got pretty much the same predictive run value as a single, if you’re leading off the inning. (Yes, I am aware that walks later in innings don’t have quite the same predictive run value as hits, though they are still valuable.)
So keep up the walks, Cubs. They’re producing value, even if the batting averages don’t seem that good, and they are producing runs — lots of them.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MAY 10: Bryce Elder #55 of the Atlanta Braves delivers to the plate against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on May 10, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Bryce Elder saga continues. At least it’s a happier one than in years past… though what about the MLB-best Braves isn’t, at this point?
Elder got things started on the right foot this year with an altered pitch mix and augmented slider, with three good outings in his first four tries. His collective line in that span (ERA-/FIP-/xFIP-) was 19/68/84. He then kinda-sorta regressed back to what he was before this season — not awful or anything, but this was the downside of the mechanical inconsistency that’s plagued him for two-and-a-half seasons now. In his next three outings, his line was 79/88/111, with his proverbial bacon getting saved by a low HR/FB rate. His last two starts, though, have been the positive end of being inconsistent: 38/78/76, with no HR/FB bacon-saving needed.
In those most recent two outings, Elder morphed into more of a three-true-outcomes guy; his combined strikeout and walk tally in each went into double digits, the first times that’s happened this season, and something that only happened twice last season. Elder is no longer a groundball guy, not really, as his grounder rate has dipped below league average at this point. That’s not surprising given that his four-seamer has actually jumped ahead of his sinker in usage at this point. Meanwhile, his slider’s now-exaggerated downward break has made it a more effective swing-and-miss pitch while shaving off some of the “just rolled over it” contact he used to get.
All in all, Elder’s line on the season is 44/78/92, which is certainly better than his career 101/103/100 line, but you can see that HR/FB is having a much bigger impact on his season than his improvements in and of themselves. He leads the Braves’ staff in fWAR (1.3, to Chris Sale’s 1.2). Among the 147 starters with the most innings in MLB this season, his fWAR ranks 20th, his ERA- ranks eighth, his FIP- ranks 29th, and his xFIP- ranks 50th. Quite a turnaround from his past performance in many ways.
The Atlanta attack in the midst of a brief lull, having scored just seven runs in their last three games, and things won’t necessarily get easier for them as they’ll face Payton Tolle today. (The lull is largely just an artifact of Matt Olson having three hits, all singles, and no walks in his last four games, and Ozzie Albies reaching base just five times in his past nine games, with no extra-base hits, and two of those five instances coming in the same game.) The 50th overall pick in the 2024th MLB draft, Tolle had an okay debut season marred by some terribly poor fortune (142/150/92) across three starts and four relief appearances, and then started 2026 dominating Triple-A hitters before getting the call-up. Since then, he’s dominated major league hitters too, with a 65/67/77 line in four outings. He was dominant in his season debut (11/1 K/BB ratio) but the Red Sox somehow lost the game; he then had a not-so-good outing in Toronto, bushwhacked the Tigers in Detroit, and then had an okay start against the Rays. Basically, he’s got the potential to dominate, but it’s not a fait accompli or anything.
Tolle is an odd duck pitch-wise, as he’s broadly four-seamer, sinker, cutter, curve, in that order. He throws hard (96 mph), gets basically best-in-class extension, and has enough fastball command that he hasn’t needed to sweat much else. His three fastballs (including his cutter) all vary enough in shape and velocity that his hard curve is largely an afterthought… and really, his four-seamer is scary enough that he might do okay by just throwing it and not much else. Hope the Braves bring their hitting shoes and their fastball timing to the park tonight!
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Saturday, May 16, 7:15 p.m. EDT
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
TV: BravesVision, Gray TV
Streaming: MLB.tv — it’s a free weekend, even if you don’t subscribe (though of course you’ll need to be out-of-market to benefit)
In 2021, the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox played the MLB’s first Field of Dreams Game at the infamous movie site in Dyersville, Iowa.
This summer, the Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins will take the stage for the third rendition of the Field of Dreams Game. They won’t be the only teams playing on the renovated field, either.
On Saturday, Joe Doyle of Over-Slot Baseball reported that the MLB High School All-American Game will be played on Wednesday, Aug. 12 at the Field of Dreams.
The prestigious event has previously rotated between MLB ballparks, but with an iconic venue available, some of the nation’s top high school baseball prospects in the 2027 class will get a chance to play in an unforgettable environment.
Last summer’s game featured a slew of prospects that are projected to be taken early in the upcoming 2026 MLB Draft. Shortstop Grady Emerson, SS Jacob Lombard, left-handed pitcher Gio Rojas, LHP Carson Boleman, SS Tyler Spangler, LHP Logan Schmidt and SS Aiden Ruiz are all top-40 overall prospects — per MLB.com — that played in the game last year.
Field of Dreams Game returns this summer
The Field of Dreams Game returns as a part of the MLB’s new partnership with Netflix. The Phillies and Twins will play on Aug. 13, one day after the High School All-American Game.
“Major League Baseball is excited to return to Iowa in 2026 and to deliver a unique experience to the Twins, the Phillies, their players, our two Minor League teams, and fans across the game. We look forward to working with Netflix and creating an event that all sports fans can enjoy,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in the November press release announcing the return of the beloved event.
About the MLB All-American Game
More on the vaunted prospect showcase via MLB.com:
“Showcasing the best high school prospects in the 2026 Draft class to the professional scouting community, the 2025 MLB All-American Game served as the premier kickoff event to the summer scouting season.
The inaugural MLB All-American Game took place in 2019 at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Due to COVID-19, the 2020 event, along with all other All-Star Game events, was canceled. The event returned in 2021, hosted at Coors Field in Denver, in 2022 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, in 2023 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle and in 2024 at Petco Park in San Diego.”
Mar 30, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Leahy (62) pitches against the New York Mets during the first inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
The I-70 series continues Saturday as it’s game 2 of the St. Louis Cardinals playing host for the Kansas City Royals. Kyle Leahy (4-3, 4.31 PCL, 32 SO) will start the Saturday afternoon affair for the Cardinals while Noah Cameron (2-2, 5.55 PCL, 32 SO) will begin the game for the Royals. First pitch is scheduled for 1:15pm at Busch Stadium, but note that the team says the start will be delayed due to weather. The broadcast will be handled by Cardinals.tv. Notice that JJ Wetherholt is not in the lineup today.
UPDATE: Cardinals say expected start time is 2pm central time.
Noah Cameron has done a lot of looking for answers this year | Brad Penner-Imagn Images
The Royals are now in the midst of their second losing streak of at least five games. They only have a single five-game winning streak to counter them. They could start another one of those today, but it’s hard to believe it while they’re losing.
Noah Cameron was surprisingly good for the Royals last year. While some thought there was room for him to be a worse pitcher in 2026, no one expected him to become this bad. Unfortunately, it appears he dropped his arm angle considerably in search of a better fastball shape that has wrecked his control and effectiveness with his other pitches. It’s led to Noah only making it as far as six innings once and giving up 3+ runs in each of his last five starts.
The Cardinals will send Kyle Leahy to the mound. He’s spent his entire four-year career in St. Louis, and he’s been kind of an unremarkable reliever. With the Cardinals leaning into their rebuild over the offseason, they moved him to the rotation, where he has been kind of an unremarkable starter. He throws six pitches at least 10% of the time. None of them grades poorly, but only the sweeper is remarkable. None of them are thrown in the zone particularly often, get very much chase, or generate whiffs. His season xWOBACon – a measure of how well he’s hit when batters do make contact – is also poor. In a way, it’s kind of remarkable that he’s been so unremarkable when he’s not able to do any of the things that generally make a pitcher good.
Lineups
The Royals’ lineup has done a lot of getting on base, but then not really getting guys home on this road trip. They loaded the bases with one out on two different occasions last night and only got one runner home each time. Bases-loaded situations have actually been awful for the team all year, with them slashing .220/.288/.317/.606 in such situations. During the hot stretch, they were getting hits with runners in scoring position, but those problems have reared their heads again on this trip. Hopefully, they can figure it out soon.
PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA - MAY 15: Brandon Lowe #5 of the Pittsburgh Pirates rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run during the fifth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at PNC Park on May 15, 2026 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Pittsburgh Pirates are 24-21 to start the season and everyone thought the pitching would be the true calling card for the Buccos, but it has been the offense stealing the show.
The Pirates offense is averaging five runs per game so far. That would be their highest runs per game since 1936 where they averaged 5.15 runs.
The Bucs have four players who have 25 plus RBIs Oneil Cruz, Ryan O’hearn, Brandon Lowe, and Bryan Reynolds. The only other team in the league with more is the Atlanta Braves with five. As a team, the Bucs have 220 RBIs, which is third behind the Braves and the Washington Nationals.
They have a team batting average of .251, which is sixth in the league and the highest average in the NL Central. Pittsburgh has 393 hits, which is good for fourth in majors behind the Braves, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros. The Pirates are also tied for fifth in the stolen bases with 44.
The offense has been a huge surprise to start the season. There was hope with the new additions like Lowe, O’Hearn and Marcell Ozuna that the power would be better, but I don’t think anyone was expecting this.
The Pirates are only tied for 14th in the league in home runs, but they make up for it with small ball and taking advantage of runners in scoring position.
Despite the 11-9 Friday night loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, the offense still showed out. Marcell Ozuna hit a monster 438ft 2 run home run. While Brandon Lowe had another multiple home run game, hitting one in the third inning then again in the fifth inning. Lowes 12 home runs leads the team with Oneil Cruz is second with 10 home runs.
The Pirates have been really fun to watch on the offensive side so far, but if they want to keep pace with the Cubs and the brewers in the division and make the playoffs the offense needs to be consistent for the whole season.
Mar 27, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Will Klein (61) waves during the World Series ring ceremony before the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
With the Dodgers on a three-city road trip to Anaheim, San Diego, and Milwaukee, here are a few leftover tidbits from the last homestand at Dodger Stadium.
Toast of the town
First, I spoke with reliever Will Klein, who has kept his late-season surge and World Series heroics going in the early part of the season, with a 2.45 ERA and 2.83 xERA with 19 strikeouts and four unintentional walks in 18 1/3 innings.
After last season’s championship parade, Klein was in a scrum with media on the field at Dodger Stadium. I was off to the side talking to another reporter about the right-hander, and said reporter noted Klein’s four-inning effort in Game 3 of the World Series and said he should never have to pay for a drink in this town again. Klein’s wife Carson happened to be standing near us and quipped something like, “You would think, and yet!”
That was only a week after Klein’s gem, so this week I asked him if in fact he has encountered such generosity from fans in the time since.
“It happened to me the first time ever a couple off days ago [in late April]. My wife and I were out eating dinner, after a day game before an off day,” Klein said. “I just had a glass of wine, and then I was going to the bathroom and some guy comes up and goes, ‘Hey Will,’ and that doesn’t happen often. Someone noticed who I am, that’s cool. Then we were getting the bill and they said the table over there got your drinks.”
“That’s the first time I’ve experienced that,” Klein added. “I think people overestimate their ability to spot us.”
Long road back
Another Dodgers reliever is relatively new to the squad, as Wyatt Mills was called up last Sunday, when he pitched his first major league game since 2022 while with the Kansas City Royals. Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2023 and 2024 seasons, and after signing a minor league deal with the Boston Red Sox in 2025 never got called up.
He signed with the Dodgers last August and spent the rest of the season at Camelback Ranch, and was a non-roster invitee in big league camp this spring. After a 3.26 ERA and 36.4-percent strikeout rate for Triple-A Oklahoma City, the 31-year-old Mills got the call back to the majors. His wife and two-year-old daughter were living with him in Oklahoma City, so they packed up and arrived in Los Angeles as a family last Sunday.
I talked with Mills about his return to the majors.
“I’ve been up, and those crazy jitters and nerves weren’t there, like it was in ’21. It was more of like a gratitude. A long road, it’s never a guarantee that you get fully healthy after that. So it was more like a deep breath, kind of peaceful. I felt calm. I put in a lot of work, and my confidence came from that,” Mills said. “Then to get out there, remind myself that I belong here, now we can move forward, rather than sit there for, sometimes five, six, seven days and you don’t play until that specific situation comes up where they need you.”
“It’s not fun. But when you’re in the stretch of 13 in a row, when you know the game is not essentially in the balance or I feel that I’m trying to win the war, not the battle, that’s just kind of the role of certain guys,” manager Dave Roberts said last Monday. “Instead of chasing a loss, because regardless of the score, it’s still just one loss in the loss column. It’s never good to have a guy wear it, and I just want to make sure I’m taking care of their health. But as long as that’s not a compromise, that’s part of it.”
May 15, 2026; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Detroit Tigers left fielder Riley Greene (31) celebrates at second base after hitting an RBI double against the Toronto Blue Jays in the sixth inning at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images | Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images
Detroit Tigers (20-25) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (19-25)
Time/Place: 1:10 p.m., Comerica Park SB Nation Site: Bluebird Banter Media: Detroit SportsNet, MLB.TV, Tigers Radio Network Pitching Matchup: RHP Casey Mize (2-2, 2.90 ERA) vs. LHP Mason Fluharty (2-0, 5.40 ERA)
ATLANTA, GA - MAY 15: Didier Fuentes (72) of the Atlanta Braves pitches during the Friday evening MLB game between the Atlanta Braves and the Boston Red Sox on May 15, 2026 at Truist Park in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The Braves went 9-4 in the first half of May. They were 22-10 through April (.688) and 9-4 is a .692 winning percentage, so… that’s remarkably consistent considering there’s no reason to expect that 13 games will look like the past 32 games, but here we are. It’s a great place to be. Only four teams have done better in May so far — the Brewers have one fewer loss, the Phillies and Cubs have one more win, and the Rays are 11-2. The Braves remain the only above .500 team in the NL East. Their division lead of nine games (over the Nationals and Phillies) is bigger than the division leads in the other five divisions combined. It’s been a good time to be a Braves fan.
For the month so far, the Braves are sixth in position player value, including sixth in hitting outputs, tenth in hitting inputs, and fourth in defensive value. The pitching continues to be “okay” and “defense-reliant” — 16th in fWAR and 19th in FIP-, but it’s actually improved a fair bit, and is ninth in xFIP- with a mark of 90 in May. (They were 15th with a 98 xFIP- in April.)
Game-by-game, going by pregame odds, the Braves “should have” gone something like 7-6 (or maybe 6-7) in the month so far. Naturally, they did much better, against a tough part of the schedule. The win in the middle game of the Los Angeles series was probably their biggest upset so far (and might be something they can’t replicate because there won’t be another game stacked against them in the same way); on the flip side, losing a Chris Sale-Ben Brown-and-Cubs-bullpen matchup was one of their least-expected losses of the year (second, behind the loss to the Athletics early on).
Over this two-week-ish span, the Braves have added another 1.5ish wins to their projected end-of-season win total, which now sits at 94.5 per FanGraphs’ playoff odds page. Their playoff odds continue to approach unity (but probably won’t get there, rounding or not, for a while given that this is still baseball we’re talking about).
How are the Braves doing for the season?
Well, they lead the Rays by a game (two more wins) for best record in MLB. They still project to end the season with the second-best record (Dodgers). They have the best run differential in MLB, and the third-best BaseRuns differential (Dodgers, Yankees).
They’re third in position player value, including third in hitting inputs, second in hitting outputs, and fourth in defensive value. They’ve clambered up to 11th in pitching value, including up to 11th in xFIP-, and still lead the league in ERA- (thanks, defense!). At this point there isn’t too much more to say about that you haven’t already read a few times. The Braves are good, yay.
How are the hitters doing?
The gray-shaded per-600 PA column gets less irresponsible each time, but is still irresponsible.
The first half of May was marked by Drake Baldwin and Matt Olson continuing to be super-awesome, while Ozzie Albies and Mauricio Dubon took a big step back. Fortunately, Austin Riley coming alive and continued good-to-great production from the various role players on the roster essentially made up for the dropoff in Dubon-and-Albies production. The lefty-swinging triumvirate of Baldwin, Olson, and Michael Harris II continues to have some great-to-absurd season-level stats, even after Harris fell off a bit these past few weeks as he recovered from his quad trouble. Dominic Smith hasn’t had any huge season-defining moments recently, but continues to power along with an almost to-good-to-be-true batting line. None of the regulars had a particularly egregious wOBA-xwOBA gap over the last couple of weeks, which is kind of weird in and of itself.
Here’s the wOBA and xwOBA stuff in visual form, for May-so-far:
As you can see, the remarkable-esque thing is that there isn’t much that’s remarkable other than Olson and Baldwin continuing to be awesome, and perhaps that Jorge Mateo is somehow solidly in the upper-right quadrant. If we do the season to date…
Also note that I changed the axis to cap out at 150, since Harris is no longer on a complete rampage that separated him from everyone else.
Mike Yastrzemski didn’t have a great few weeks, but got the hits when it counted. He actually leads the position players in WPA, though that’s partly because Olson has had a rough last few games. On the flip side, Riley is WPA vortexing again (again…) despite an overall improvement in his performance. I’d definitely call Yastrzemski the position player of early-mid May for the Braves given his very direct involvement (even when not starting!) in multiple wins over this period.
How are the pitchers doing?
My ability to do this biweekly for pitchers is getting absolutely destroyed by the fluid-but-well-managed pitching situation. At this point, the Braves have three “starters,” a prospect who is being used as a “starter” because they’re not using him as a flex arm, and then four guys who are or have been used as “starters” but are either not starting anymore, or are effectively becoming not-quite-starter opener-type guys. As a result, I just included everyone who had a start in May in the table below.
Among this sextet, there’s a pretty clear delineation between “it’s working” and “it’s not working,” with Martin Perez kinda hanging out in a weird liminal space. Grant Holmes will likely be limited to one time through the order eventually, but his numbers are suffering in the interim. JR Ritchie’s numbers are really ugly; I’m not sure he’ll be optioned down and honestly I’m not sure that I would option him down to clear up the pitching logjam, either, but that’s an option (pun sorta intended).
Spencer Strider had a rough landing in his season debut, but then bounced back and eviscerated the Dodgers in one of his better post-2023 outings. His most recent start was a mixed bag; as the table above shows, he’ll be great going forward if he can somehow run a tiny HR/FB, but since that’s unlikely, it’d be better if he reined in the walks like he did in Los Angeles. Still, I think over these two weeks, his return was a big boost to the rotation given the other numbers you see above.
As for the bullpen, well, it’s kind of the bulk-pen at this point. Oof slash woof. Dylan Lee was absolutely filthy over the last few weeks; Robert Suarez and Raisel Iglesias also did their thing without many issues. But, the real standout for the pitching staff as a whole in early-mid May was Didier Fuentes: five appearances, 7 2/3 innings, and four shutdowns recorded, to go with a 29/65/91 line. On the flip side, Tyler Kinley has had a miserable time, Aaron Bummer’s performance hasn’t gotten any better, and Reynaldo Lopez is just uncomfortable in many senses of that word at this point. That trio joins Ritchie and Holmes as the arms at replacement level or below for May so far that are still on the roster; Kinley, Bummer, and Holmes were the only guys to get saddled with negative WPA for this period. (Kinley’s -0.52 WPA was disastrous.)
See you at the end of May — and, as always, if there’s something in particular you do want to see covered here, let me know.
San Diego, CA - April 15: Alek Jacob of the San Diego Padres pitches against the Seattle Mariners at Petco Park on April 15, 2026 in San Diego, CA. (Photo by K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)
The San Diego Padres made a roster move on Friday before their first game in the three-game series versus the Seattle Mariners. RHP Alek Jacob was recalled from Triple-A El Paso to join a bullpen that was depleted by the short start (1.2 innings pitched) of starter Griffin Canning on Thursday.
Starter/reliever Matt Waldron has been placed on the injured list with a right Brachialis muscle injury. Waldron started the first game in the recently completed series against the Milwaukee Brewers. He didn’t last long, giving up six runs in 2.2 innings pitched in a 6-4 loss. He also pitched two innings to finish the loss to the Brewers on Thursday. The trio of Ron Marinaccio, Yuki Matsui, and Waldron each pitched two innings in relief of Canning, saving the rest of the bullpen for other games.
Even with that effort, it was expected that a fresh arm would be called up with two of the last three games being mostly carried by the bullpen.
Alek Jacob started the season with El Paso after not making the Padres bullpen out of Spring Training. He was called up on April 14 and pitched one inning on April 15 versus Seattle. He allowed one hit and no runs with a walk and was optioned back to El Paso on April 17.
With the Chihuahuas, Jacob has pitched 17.2 innings with a 4.08 ERA. He has 18 strikeouts to 10 walks. He throws a four-seam fastball at 85 mph, a changeup, a sinker, and a sweeper from a sidearm delivery.
Jun 7, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; A general view is seen of the stadium during the game between the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
Why don’t we score more than two runs?
I have stuff on this morning, but should be back to watch the game by the second inning. But I’m putting together the GameThread the night before, so I don’t have the lineups
They are saying Mason Fluharty will start and Spencer Miles will be second up. I’m hoping Miles can to 3 innings again. On the Tigers side it is Casey Mize (2-2, 2.90)
This is ‘rivalry weekend’ and our rival is, apparently, the Tigers. The Tigers were once our rivals, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But now? I guess someone has to be our rivals. I suppose I would say the Yankees’ are our rivals, but then half the teams in baseball would call them their rivals. But really, why are the Red Sox and Braves rivals?
Really, all baseball wants is a way to hype the Yankees/Mets series. The others aren’t such a big deal.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - JUNE 03: Trevor Story #10 of the Boston Red Sox heads back to the dugout after he struck out swinging in the second inning against the Los Angeles Angels at Fenway Park on June 03, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Just yesterday we told you about how well Nick Sogard was doing down in AAA. Well, now we’ll get a chance to see if he can keep that going in the big leagues. Ahead of tonight’s game against the Braves, the Sox called up Sogard to take the place of Trevor Story, who has been placed on the 10-day IL.
If you’re thinking to yourself, wait… Trevor Story is hurt? You’re not alone. But Chris Cotillo reports that he’s been “battling a groin issue” since late April.
It goes without saying that this groin issue is probably minor, and probably the type of thing he’d keep playing through if he wasn’t literally one of the very worst hitters in baseball this year. But he is, raising the question of whether this this a “phantom IL” stint and, if so, will MLB investigate? My gut says and yes to the former and no to the latter. And, anyway, MLB should probably spend some time investigating Aroldis Chapman’s hat from last night’s game:
Suffice it to say, Trevor Story is not going to be the shortstop on the next great Red Sox team. So it will be interesting to see whether the Sox start the clock on the Marcelo Mayer era at shortstop now, or whether Andruw Monasterio mans the position for the next week or two. Stay tuned.
The Texas Rangers were shut out by the Houston Astros on Friday night, falling 2-0.
However, with Jacob deGrom taking the mound this evening, my Rangers vs. Astros predictions expect the visitors to flip the script at Daikin Park.
Let's dive deeper into my MLB picks for Saturday, May 16.
Who will win Rangers vs Astros today: Rangers (-145)
Jacob deGrom has posted a 2.81 xFIP and 2.60 SIERA in 2026, indicators that he is every bit deserving of his strong 2.61 ERA.
The Texas Rangers' right-hander has not allowed much quality contact, striking out a remarkable 32.8% of opposing batters on the year.
Now, the two-time Cy Young winner has a mouthwatering matchup against the Houston Astros,who rank 23rd in wOBA and own the second-highest strikeout rate vs. right-handed pitching in May.
DeGrom will have his way against Houston's struggling offense, giving Texas a great chance of prevailing.
Generating offense has been a major problem for the Astros, with several key bats missing from the lineup. They have hit their team total Under in 13 of the last 15 games (+10.35 units, 55% ROI), and a date with deGrom is only going to highlight their woes at the plate — especially when it comes to striking out.
The Rangers aren't exactly firing on all cylinders either. They are hitting only .216 in May and own the fifth-highest ground ball rate, leading to a lot of easy outs.
Don't expect fireworks in this one.
Todd Cordell's 2026 Transparency Record
ML/RL bets: 17-10, +3.48 units
Over/Under bets: 11-15-1, -6.41 units
Rangers vs Astros odds
Moneyline: Rangers -145 | Astros +125
Run line: Rangers -1.5 (+115) | Astros +1.5 (135)
Over/Under: Over 8 (+100) | Under 8 (-125)
Rangers vs Astros trend
Texas has hit the game total Under in 17 of its last 25 games (+8.4 Units, 31% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Rangers vs. Astros.
How to watch Rangers vs Astros and game info
Location
Daikin Park, Houston, TX
Date
Saturday, May 16, 2026
First pitch
7:10 p.m. ET
TV
RSN, Space City HN
Rangers starting pitcher
Jacob deGrom (3-2, 2.62 ERA)
Astros starting pitcher
Kai-Wei Teng (1-3, 3.12 ERA)
Rangers vs Astros latest injuries
Rangers vs Astros 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.
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