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The start of the 2025 MLB season has been a roller coaster for many teams, but few have begun their campaign quite like the Los Angeles Angels. In the latest episode of "Baseball Bar-B-Cast," hosts Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman dive in to how the Angels have managed to capture the baseball world's attention. 

The Angels are the only team yet to lose a series this season.

"I don't believe in this franchise," Mintz said. "And yet, so far this season, this team, at the very least, has provided reasons for optimism."

"Let us recall that this season began for the Angels with Nicky Lopez pitching on Opening Day against the White Sox," Shusterman noted. "And we were like, all right, here we go again. We're on our way to 100 losses. This is the most embarrassing franchise in baseball." 

And yet, through two weeks, the Angels stand out with their surprising achievement: They've won all four series they've played, albeit without sweeping any of them. Despite their success, the 8-4 Angels find themselves trailing the 9-4 Texas Rangers by a half-game in the AL West.

A standout story for the Angels is the unforeseen rise of Kyren Paris, who boasts an impressive 1.485 OPS, a 1.000 slugging percentage, five home runs and four steals so far. Paris, 23, was drafted by the Angels out of high school in the second round of the 2019 MLB Draft.

As Mintz noted, "None of this is sustainable for even the godliest of men, but there does seem to be something interesting brewing here with Kyren Paris."

Paris' journey through the minors was fast-tracked, as the Angels like to do, and then he struggled massively upon arriving in the big leagues in 2023. 

"And then last year, it's even worse," Shusterman explained. "He hit .167 in 60 minor-league games. He had some injuries. They were still putting him in the big leagues for some of it. He hit .118 in 21 big-league games.

"He was 22, so it's not like you were dooming him forever. But this seemed like a case of, 'Oh, the Angels. They got too aggressive with one of their players that seemed to be on a decent track, and now he's paying the price.'"

But starting this spring, Paris has looked like a different player. As the hosts noted, Paris worked in the offseason with Aaron Judge's personal hitting coach, Richard Schenck, and has made some apparent adjustments to his stance in the batter's box, which are clearly paying off.

"Which is most compelling because Kyren Paris is not a big dude, you know?" Shusterman said. "To see kind of applying some of the same methodology, the same physical moves that have helped Aaron Judge — it's not a perfect replica, but it is maximizing and making the most of athleticism that Kyren Paris has always had."

Will Paris slug 1.000 for the rest of the season? Almost definitely not, but as the hosts pointed out, he also brings defensive versatility that will continue to benefit the Angels.

What else is going right in Anaheim? The hosts took a look at the rest of the lineup, highlighted by new right fielder Mike Trout, who has also hit five home runs. And the Angels have seen some improvements in their starting pitching, thanks to Kyle Hendricks and Jose Soriano stepping up early in the season. Lastly, the Angels have Kenley Jansen anchoring the bullpen and closing out games.

Shusterman summed it up well: "We're talking about 12 games, and when you have a couple good starting pitchers and an offense that's hitting a bunch of homers, you're going to win a decent number of games."

It's important to note that the Angels have played the Rays, White Sox, Guardians and Cardinals — not exactly the most daunting slate of opponents. Also, the Angels have started strong through April a few times in the past few years, yet they've always fallen off before the second half. 

As such, the hosts aren't buying this Angels team quite yet.

"I'm glad they're playing well right now," Shusterman said. "I am loving the Kyren Paris breakout. I'm loving Mike Trout. But they would just need to be doing it for so much longer and so many other ways for me to believe."

To listen to the full episode and more, tune in to "Baseball-Bar-B-Cast" on Apple, Spotify or YouTube.

Jeff McNeil got into an actual game on Friday evening with Port St. Lucie, and the Mets infielder had a successful rehab start.

Starting at second base, and leading off, McNeil went 1-for-2 with a walk and a run. He played the field for five innings before being subbed out.

The former NL batting champion is hoping to continue his form from the second half of last season, which allowed him to salvage his 2024 campaign. After a dreadful start, McNeil finished the year with a .238 batting average after hitting .216 in the first half of the season. His second half saw him hit a respectable .289.

"It’s a tricky injury with the oblique but the fact he’s already playing in-game, that’s a good sign," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Friday. "He’ll play today, then he’ll play Sunday, play Tuesday and then we have to get him to play back-to-back games. How he’s going to respond to that and then we’ll check with him if he needs more at-bats or not. He got more at-bats than Alvarez did in spring training so that’s good there but we’re going to play it by ear."

The Mets skipper said McNeil's next rehab game will be with St. Lucie on Sunday before eventually going to Triple-A Syracuse to continue getting at-bats.

Jeff McNeil gets a single, Francisco Alvarez battles from down 0-2 to work a walk, and Drew Gilbert brings them all home with a 3-run homer for St. Lucie! pic.twitter.com/YfD3qsFLuX

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) April 11, 2025

Latest on Francisco Alvarez 

As for Alvarez, he started at catcher hitting behind McNeil in Friday's game at Port St. Lucie.

The Mets backstop caught seven innings going 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. It's Alvarez's second rehab start after catching five innings on Wednesday.

Mendoza said the plan for Alvarez is to play one more game at St. Lucie on Sunday before heading back to Citi Field on Monday to check in with the doctors. And then he'll head up to Syracuse for a game on Tuesday.

Update on Paul Blackburn

Mendoza also detailed what the next steps for Blackburn are.

"He threw a live BP today, one inning," he said. "Depending on how he feels the next couple of days, the next step will be another live BP on Tuesday, two ups live BP and then we’ll go from there. He threw in Brooklyn today."

Luis Severino was hoping to return to the Mets this offseason. 

The hard-throwing right-hander was coming off a bounce-back campaign in which he stayed healthy for the first time in a long time and returned to the dominant form he showed during his early days with the Yankees. 

The two sides had discussions on a potential reunion during the winter -- and Severino told the Mets that he’d be willing to accept a two-year deal worth $40 million to stay, but as things played out they had other plans.

The 31-year-old told reporters Friday that New York was only willing to offer him the two-year, $34 million pact that they signed Frankie Montas to this offseason, which ultimately led to them going their separate ways. 

“I was told I had a chance,” Severino said. “I was trying to stay with the Mets. I asked for less money to stay there but, like I said, I wasn’t in their plans. At the beginning I was shocked but at the end, I knew it was business, and they need to take care of themselves.”

While things didn’t quite go as planned, all worked out well for Severino -- as he ended up signing with the Athletics on a three-year, $67 million deal, the largest guarantee in franchise history.

“I’m proud of him,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He was really good for us. I had a really good relationship with him even when we were both with the Yankees. I’m proud that he got a nice contract, the work paid off.”

Severino received interest from numerous clubs before he signed with the A’s -- and while they aren’t exactly in the most ideal of circumstances at the moment -- he felt they were a perfect landing spot.

“The last two offseasons I’ve had a meeting with my agent and discussed what I’m looking for. At the end, [the Athletics] was the closest to what I was looking for. Having a young team that has talent and wants to go out there and play baseball.

“Last year nobody thought we were going to the playoffs and we made it. I’ve played for a lot of teams that had something to show and I feel this is one of those teams.”

The Mets will get their first look at that young and hungry team this weekend. 

Severino, who has thrown six or more innings in each of his first three starts, is lined up to face Kodai Senga in the series finale on Sunday -- a tough matchup that he certainly is looking forward to. 

“I'm really happy to see those guys, they were like family to me," he said. "Even though it was one year I feel like I was there for a long time -- so yeah, it's going to be fun. I’m going to bring my best, best of luck to them.”

Phillies' reconfigured lineup gets shut out but Thomson not pulling the cord yet originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

ST. LOUIS — Coming off a marathon rain delay in Thursday’s extra-inning loss in Atlanta, the Phillies arrived at their hotel in St. Louis at quarter to 4 a.m. Friday and the fatigue showed in their weakest offensive performance of the young season, a 2-0 loss to the Cardinals.

The Phils were held completely in check by right-hander Andre Pallante, reaching base just four times in his seven innings with two singles and two walks.

Pallante had faced the Phillies six times before but was never this effective. His fastball cut in to lefties and Kyle Schwarber said it was difficult to lift.

The Phillies’ only real scoring chance was in the first inning when Bryce Harper walked, Kyle Schwarber singled and the new-look 3-4 hitters executed a double steal. “Thought we had something going,” Thomson said. Nick Castellanos flied out to medium-deep right field and that was that.

The Phils put another runner in scoring position with one out in the fifth inning of a tie game, only for Rafael Marchan to ground out on a 3-1 count and Bryson Stott to strike out swinging.

One last opportunity arose in the ninth inning when Trea Turner led off with a single against Cardinals closer Ryan Helsey, but Harper, Schwarber and Castellanos were retired in order.

The lineup change didn’t work, at least on this night. Manager Rob Thomson moved Stott (0-for-4) up to the leadoff spot and hit Schwarber cleanup, behind Harper, in an attempt to better protect the Phillies’ first baseman. Harper was intentionally walked twice in Thursday’s loss and both times, Castellanos followed with a strikeout. Entering Friday night, the player directly after Harper in the lineup was batting .120 for the season.

The Phillies face another righty on Saturday in Miles Mikolas so the same lineup structure could be used even though the first game resulted in a shutout loss.

“I don’t think you pull the cord on that yet,” Thomson said of Schwarber hitting behind Harper.

There are obvious benefits to batting Harper and Schwarber consecutively. It will put immense stress on pitchers in leverage spots, it will make opposing managers think twice about pitching around Harper, and the duo has the chance to hit back-to-back homers any cycle through the lineup. They also both walk a ton, meaning it will be crucial that the five-hole hitter does damage behind Schwarber.

“That’s very challenging,” said Aaron Nola, who’s glad he doesn’t have to face them. “They’re two different guys that can do a lot of different things. They can hit the longball, they don’t miss the ball in their hot zone too much. Especially those guys back-to-back, if you have guys on base for them late in the game, you’ve always got a good chance. We’ve got a great lineup overall, wherever those guys hit.”

Castellanos batted fifth on Friday and Alec Bohm was seventh for the second straight game. Bohm’s 0-for-3 night made him 4-for-his-last-43. He’s been through a lot in his time as a Phillie but this is probably as trying a period as he’s experienced given all the offseason noise.

Nola did not have sharp command for a third straight start to begin his season. He put the leadoff man on base and in scoring position in four of his five innings, and though he stranded three of them, the Cardinals scored twice in the fifth. The first run came across on a double by nine-hole hitter Yahel Pozo, who entered as an injury replacement in the second inning and ended up with three hits. The second scored on a rare bases-loaded walk by Nola, just the second of his career.

Nola did not allow a home run but walked four after issuing only one free pass in his first 11⅓ innings. He’s 0-3 with a 5.51 ERA and said his priority next time out is strike one and out one. Things are so much more difficult when you’re pitching out of the stretch with nobody out.

“He doesn’t have his good fastball yet with the finish to it,” Thomson said. “I’ve seen that before early in the year and he’ll get that as it warms up, I believe.”

The Phillies are 8-5 and have lost three of their last four. They’ve had eight consecutive games decided by one or two runs.

If there was any silver lining to Friday night, it’s that they finally avoided having to use any of their late-game relievers. Jose Ruiz pitched the sixth inning, Carlos Hernandez had the seventh and Tanner Banks the eighth. All three of Matt Strahm, Jose Alvarado and Orion Kerkering should be well-rested and ready to go the rest of the weekend.

Cristopher Sanchez is on the bump for the Phillies Saturday afternoon. Mikolas goes for the Cardinals, who lost all four times he faced the Phils in 2023 and 2024.