Category: Sports News

Diamondbacks News

(The Denver Post) Rockies waste Zach Agnos’ brilliant start, get walked off by D-backs

Colorado’s demise on Thursday began ominously when reliever Juan Mejia walked Moreno to open the frame. Mejia also walked Ketel Marte to move Moreno into scoring position. All told, Colorado pitchers issued eight free passes.

The Rockies, who were 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position, wasted a brilliant start from usual mid-game reliever Zach Agnos. Making his first start since high school, Agnos pitched five shutout innings, giving up one hit, striking out four and walking just one.

(SI.com) Corbin Carroll’s Walk-Off Winner Puts Diamondbacks in New Territory

But despite the surprisingly-meager crowd of just 14,761 (the lowest since May 8 of 2023), the cheers rang out around Chase Field as Carroll shot a single through the first base gap with two outs in a 1-1 game, scoring Gabriel Moreno from second base. It was Carroll’s fourth career walk-off hit.

But the hit stood for more than just an exciting Thursday night. With that win, the Diamondbacks are suddenly in new territory: a five-game winning streak. That is their longest win streak of the season, and their longest since June 9-14 of 2025. Arizona has not had a six-game win streak since August of 2024.

(Arizona Sports) Corbin Carroll walks off Rockies, Diamondbacks win 5th straight

This was the second walk-off win of the week for the Diamondbacks and third of the year. Ketel Marte hit a game-winning home run on Tuesday, as Arizona’s top two hitters have come through in the clutch during this homestand.

The Diamondbacks have won five straight games (season high) to improve to 26-23, starting this Rockies-Giants-Rockies-Giants stretch of the schedule 6-1.

(SI.com) Diamondbacks’ Strange Attendance Drop is Starting to Raise Concerns

Through the first 24 games of 2025, the D-backs had drawn 32,607 fans per game. So far in 2026 that number in the same amount of games is all the way down a whopping 5,413 per game. That is by far the biggest numerical drop of any team in the league. The second-highest drop is the Kansas City Royals, down 2,527 fans per game.

MLB News

(Yahoo! Sports) A’s $2B Las Vegas Strip stadium on schedule to open before 2028 season, officials say

“The lower-suite level is progressing substantially,” said Tyler Van Eeckhaut, project director for contractors Mortenson-McCarthy. “We’re starting to see a lot of rooms taking shape and a lot of that environment has really started to become a component of the stadium.”

Buttress work has been completed to mark a significant milestone, and the upper deck began going up in April. A parking garage on the southeast side will be phased in with 1,500 lots initially available and 2,500 by the time construction is completed.

(Battery Power) Ronald Acuña, Jr. leaves game with thumb issue; is day-to-day (Updated)

When getting ready to take the field in the bottom of the fifth, Acuña, Jr. lingered near the dugout while his thumb was examined before jogging back to right field. Acuña, Jr. had singled in two runs in the top of the inning.

(CBS Sports) A’s pitcher J.T. Ginn loses no-hitter and then the game vs. Angels in span of four pitches

Major League Baseball still hasn’t seen a no-hitter since Sept. 4, 2024. J.T. Ginn of the Athletics strongly flirted with snapping the drought on Monday evening in Anaheim against the Angels. In fact, he took the no-hitter to the ninth inning with a 1-0 lead. But instead of making history, he came out on the wrong side of a walk-off loss.

The game was actually tied, 0-0, heading to the ninth, and a small rally gave the A’s the lead and set the table for Ginn. Adam Frazier singled to start the ninth inning for the Halos. Three pitches later, Zach Neto hit a walk-off home run to center field.

(NBC Sports) Tarik Skubal takes ‘great step’ in recovery from elbow surgery, throws third bullpen session

Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Stubal threw another bullpen session, his third since his rehab program from elbow surgery began.

The two-time American League Cy Young Award winner underwent a non-invasive procedure on his left pitching elbow on May 6 to remove a loose body. He threw his latest bullpen session prior to Detroit’s home game against Cleveland.

Manager A.J. Hinch called it a “great step” but stopped short of saying when Skubal might return to action.

It was a huge day at the plate for Alex Lodise, who seems to be coming around for Augusta following a two home run performance for them. With that effort Lodise tied for the team lead in home runs, and the top three in the lineup sit 1-2-3 on the team in home runs. Elsewhere Cam Caminiti made another start and had some struggles, giving up a lot of damage to Hub City in a loss in which the offense largely didn’t give him much help to work with.

(27-21) Gwinnett Stripers 7, (24-24) Charlotte Knights

Box Score

Statcast

• Jim Jarvis, SS: 2-3, 2B, 2 BB, 3 RBI, .301/.408/.422
• Rowdy Tellez, DH: 2-4, BB, .262/.358/.518
• Elieser Hernandez, SP: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 5.36 ERA

Adam Zebrowski hasn’t had many chances to make a mark in Gwinnett in his career, but in his first call to Triple-A this season he made the biggest contribution to the game for the Stripers. Zebrowski launched a 412 foot opposite field home run in the second inning, giving the Stripers a 2-0 lead early in the game. He would add on later in the game with a bases loaded walk to again put the Stripers in the lead, and Gwinnett would never trail again. Jim Jarvis, a much less surprising major contributor to this game, drew a walk behind Zebrowski to force home a run as part of his three RBI day that included two hits and two walks. Jarvis sealed the game in the eighth inning with a long drive to right field, bouncing off of the wall for a two-run double that exploded the Stripers lead from 4-3 to 6-3. He scored on a Luke Williams single on the next play to cap the scoring effort for both sides. Jarvis has fallen into a nasty slump this month, but has shown some signs in the past week of digging his way out of it. Jarvis has more walks than strikeouts in his past five games and a four game hitting streak with two extra base hits, by far his best stretch of play so far this month. His first month was absolutely unsustainable statistically, but he hit the ball hard today and is actually hitting the ball harder this month than he was last month. He just has far more ground balls which has led to fewer barrels and less overall impact.

It was a scary outing for Elieser Hernandez, who got a bit fortunate to escape this game without major damage. He was giving up slews of hard hits balls, and more importantly hard-hit fly balls, and he wasn’t really missing bats to make up for it. He managed to escape the game without giving up and home runs, however, so despite allowing seven hits and two walks the Knights were mostly held at bay and only scored two earned runs against him. The Stripers bullpen was excellent, particularly Hunter Stratton who has been quite impressive for them after a rough opening outing this season. Stratton’s walk rates this season are being inflated by a couple of poor outings, but as the season goes on he appears as if he is going to settle in and be significant depth for the major league roster. Ian Hamilton is having a crazy year in terms of his ability to throw strikes, setting behind a history of not being a great control pitcher. He only has three walks in 15 innings this season (though we’re also dealing with the opposite end of the small sample spectrum to Stratton’s) and that has allowed him to be a dominant reliever for the Stripers. Hamilton’s velocity this game was a tick over his season average, but he is still below where he sat at his peak with Yankees a few years back.

Swing and Misses

Elieser Hernandez – 7

Hunter Stratton – 3

Ian Hamilton – 3

(20-21) Columbus Clingstones 4, (21-21) Pensacola Blue Wahoos 3

Box Score

• Lizandro Espinoza, CF: 1-4, RBI, .283/.401/.517
• David McCabe, DH: 1-4, .254/.341/.559
• Patrick Clohisy, RF: 0-3, BB, .265/.338/.436
• Julio Robaina, SP: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 2.79 ERA

This game came down to the shakiest of ninth innings, and the tightly-puckered affair ended with the defense of the Clingstones coming through in a big spot. These two teams traded runs back and forth in this game, but there was little on the offensive end that stood out for either side. The Clingstones were able to get mild contributions from all parts of the lineup, starting with a Luke Waddell double that led to the first run of the game for them. Trailing again in the sixth inning the top of the batting order got involved with the game when Patrick Clohisy led the inning off with a walk and stole second base. This set the stage for a Lizandro Espinoza single, who roped one into left field to score Clohisy easy. Espinoza then went wild on the bases and stole his way around to third base, where Waddell lifted a sacrifice fly to give Columbus their first lead of the game. That lead lasted little time as the Blue Wahoos tied it up in the bottom of the sixth inning, but in the seventh the impact swing turned the game in Columbus’s favor for good. Ethan Workinger hit an absolute nuke out to left field, the defender only taking a couple of steps as the ball sailed into the bay to give Columbus a 4-3 lead.

Workinger’s impact extended beyond his contributions with the bat. It was a mediocre day on the mound for Julio Robaina, who didn’t pitch horrible but didn’t really show the stuff to get a ton of whiffs in the game. As a result he had a lot of contact, and that contact turned into a huge fifth inning home run and traffic on the bases that added up to three runs against Robaina. Yet the score could have been worse without an incredible effort by Workinger in the third inning. The leadoff hitter in the inning lifted a slow curve deep out to left field, and Workinger drifted back up to the track and the wall. Workinger went up the wall and reached over to bring back a solo home run, saving an early run that proved critical in the final score of the game. Where Robaina was okay on the mound the relievers struck fear into the Clingstones’s dugout, though they ultimately tip-toed around damage, starting with Blayne Enlow. Enlow allowed two walks in the seventh inning, but the hardest hit ball he allowed sunk right into the glove of Espinoza in center field. Enlow then picked off the runner at second base to end the inning, stopping a potential rally in its tracks before handing the ball to Blayne Abeyta. Abeyta shut down the side in order in the eighth inning, but Tyler LaPorte had no such luck in the ninth. He issued a leadoff walk and then made a throwing error, causing his own jam to start the inning. After a sac bunt and an intentional walk LaPorte found himself staring down a bases loaded situation in a one run game, but the baseball gods shone on him. A hard grounder up the middle found its way directly into Luke Waddell’s glove, and he and Ambioris Tavarez turned an easy double play to close the game and a hard-fought win for the Clingstones.

Swing and Misses

Julio Robaina – 8

Blane Abeyta – 3

Blayne Enlow – 3

(23-19) Rome Emperors 3, (23-18) Hub City Spartanburgers 4

Box Score

• Isaiah Drake, LF: 0-4, BB, .274/.357/.457
• John Gil, SS: 0-2, 3 BB, .268/.380/.430
• Eric Hartman, DH: 2-4, 2B, RBI, .320/.397/.660
• Cam Caminiti, SP: 6.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 5.19 ERA

Results this season have been mixed for Cam Caminiti, to say the least, and his last three outings serve as a disappointing set of games after a terrific opener to the month. Most of that is regression in his slider relative to last year. While he had a fair amount of success locating his fastball in this game, which shows up in his low walk total, his mechanics on his slider are all over the place. He was not able to find a consistent release point and often that led to the slider staying up in the strike zone where hitter could either get good swings or at least foul the ball off. Right handed hitter in particular seem to be getting a really good look at him and are not fooled when the slider comes. This is one of those things for Caminiti that he’s just going to have to grind through over the summer, making those little adjustments to get back on track. We’ve still seen flashes of the guy that was dominant last season and his fastball command may even be a tick better than it was in 2025, he just hasn’t found consistent location to finish at bats. I am far from the point that I would consider this stretch of play anything to fear for a guy so much younger than his competition, and Caminiti has shown the aptitude to make necessary adjustments in the past. He even seemed to settle in late in this game and get better at keeping pitches down and away from the contact zone of hitters.

Offense was tough to come by for Rome in this game. They were held scoreless through seven innings, and they didn’t seem to be making a major threat at the plate at all. The team had a total of 12 strikeouts and early in the game the only one who seemed locked in was John Gil, who was able to work three walks in the game. Their big break came in the eighth inning, when Isaiah Drake and John Gil drew back-to-back walks to bring up Eric Hartman. Hartman is exactly the guy they would want at the plate in this spot, and he delivered. He hit a missile into the right field corner for a double, a ball hit so hard that it got the wall too quickly for Gil to score from first base. That did, however, push home Isaiah Drake, and with one out the inning the Emperors were cooking with the tying run on second base. Will Verdung had a chance with the bases loaded and two outs, and he came up with a clutch single. He slapped a sharp grounder through the right side and Hartman was off on contact, using his speed to score without a throw from right field and tie the game at three runs apiece. In the bottom of the ninth inning the Spartanburgers created a threat with a runner on second base and two outs, bringing up their nine hole hitter. He came through with a hit to right field, but a terrific throw from Isaiah Drake made it a close play at the plate. Unfortunately Mac Gusette dropped the throw, and the runner scored to walk the game off.

Swing and Misses 

Cam Caminiti – 11

David Rodriguez – 7

(24-18) Augusta GreenJackets 5, (18-24) Columbia Fireflies 4

Box Score

• Tate Southisene, DH: 1-4, .288/.425/.484
• Alex Lodise, SS: 3-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI, .259/.340/.431
• Luis Guanipa, CF: 0-4, .308/.350/.522
• Landon Biedelschies, SP: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 8.49 ERA
• Luis Arestigueta, RP: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 6.20 ERA

It has been an interesting season for Alex Lodise, with plenty of rough days at the plate but others where he looks like the best player on the field. Thursday was the latter of those performances, as he went deep twice to tie Luis Guanipa for the team lead with eight home runs on the year. Neither of his home runs left any doubt in the mind when they came off of the bat. Following a Tate Southisene leadoff single Lodise got a fastball at 90 mph on the inner half of the plate and he hit it a mile down the left field line, hooking inside the foul pole and into the apartments to give Augusta a two run lead. His second home run looked much the same – an inside fastball at 93 mph that he obliterated to left field for a two-run bomb. He added another hit in the seventh inning, this one a single, giving him his first three-hit game since back on April 7th. It’s been six games since he had an extra base hit, so this broke him out of a short slump that hasn’t been particularly deep. Lately Lodise has been drawing more walks and making more contact, he just hasn’t seen the hits fall quite as often despite positive signs at the plate. Luis Guanipa saw his hitting streak snapped with an 0-4 performance, but it’s not one you can chalk up to a bad day at the plate. Guanipa hit the ball hard all four times at the plate, particularly in his last two at bats, but sprayed the right at defenders where they were easily snagged for outs. The outputs may have trailed the inputs this game, but there is zero doubt that Guanipa is still locked in a the plate and if he makes contact like this in future games he’s going to have even more big days at the plate.

Landon Beidelschies needed a day where things went right for him on the mound, and that came to fruition for him on Thursday with his best outing of the season. Beidelschies still isn’t missing very many bats, but importantly he had solid command of his slider which allowed him to keep hitters off of his fastball and force some weak contact. He did have stretches where he elevated the slider but that wasn’t a consistent problem, and against the left handed hitters in the order he had some success at getting strikeouts. His only trouble in the game came courtesy of his own errors. Beidelschies is in a weird spot on the mound. There has been a steady improvement in his execution of his fastball and if the slider follows suit that will make a massive difference in his results moving forward. Still, he hasn’t shown a breaking ball that has the quality needed to miss bats consistently and that has to be a point of emphasis for his development. It’s a bit early to say that Luis Arestigueta has turned a corner, but after finishing strong two outings ago and looking good last week he came in and had one of his best days of the season. That is by far the most consistency he has shown to date, and he was ripping his fastballs today. Possibly it’s because he knew he only needed to cover two innings after Beidelschies was able to pitch deep, but Arestigueta was up around 95 for this game and for the most part was commanding the ball well. There are occasions that his arm slot drops and drags behind him leading to bad misses, but he has been so much better at staying high and more compact and it’s made a huge difference in how often he can land fastballs and get ahead in the count. His slider was as sharp as I’ve seen it in a GreenJackets uniform, and he even dropped in a couple of changeups to keep lefties honest. His fastball lacks the carry that would get him a ton of whiffs up in the strike zone, but he still has room to add muscle and velocity to his frame to give even more projectability to a profile that has made a jump in the past 12 months. It’s hard not to be happy with how Arestigueta has looked lately and while I have my doubts as to whether the changeup will ever come along enough to get him another shot in the rotation, the fastball-slider is a big league quality combination.

Swing and Misses

Luis Arestigueta – 6

Landon Biedelschies – 5

At the beginning of May, the Orioles got their butts kicked for four straight games by the Yankees and they needed to act immediately to prevent the season from spiraling out of control. The O’s managed to do this in winning two of the next three series, including getting some revenge against the Yankees. A struggle of a series facing a poor Nationals pitching staff and a sweep at the hands of the Rays later and the Orioles are back in a tailspin that could prove fatal to their hopes of being able to eventually go somewhere good this year.

If you are reading this hoping to feel better about the Orioles, I am probably not your guy. I am feeling bad about this team. It’s looking increasingly like, for a second consecutive year, they ain’t got it. They should have it. Some of their weaknesses should be their strengths instead. Other things among their weaknesses are going worse than even most pessimists would have predicted. Who to blame for all of this and what to do about it are the subjects of daily argument. Nobody with influence to change things seems to know how to make that happen.

Perhaps at least this weekend will go better for the Orioles. One thing working in their favor is that they are back at Camden Yards, where they are playing at a .500 clip so far this season. Another is that they are playing the Tigers, one of the teams with an even worse record than the O’s themselves have. Detroit has lost its last six games and 14 of its last 16. They were above .500 before this began and now they’re 20-31.

The story of Detroit’s season seems to be the disappointment from its offense, even though they have two great young hitters. 25-year-old outfielder Riley Greene is currently on pace to have the best-hitting year of his five MLB seasons. They debuted a top infield prospect, Kevin McGonigle, early this season, who is already worth 2.7 bWAR in 49 games of his rookie season. That’s basically the guy we wanted Jackson Holliday to be, and unlike Holliday, McGonigle has just showed up and he is doing great. That’s a good start to a good offense.

The problem is nearly every other Tigers hitter. There are some brutal batting splits kicking around, with several Tigers position players among the worst that MLB has to offer so far this season. This includes former Oriole Jahmai Jones, former #1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson, outfielder Wenceel Pérez, and utilityman Zach McKinstry. The best OPS of the players I just named is Torkelson at .681. The others are far worse; they’d fit in with the biggest Orioles strugglers like Tyler O’Neill and Colton Cowser. Pérez is kind of impressively already at a -1.1 bWAR.

Things are going better for Detroit’s pitching staff. Orioles fans looking at the team’s 4.97 ERA have got to be envious of the Tigers having a team ERA nearly a full run lower. How much of this is difference is an “invisible” gap in defensive quality is not something I can say because I don’t watch the Tigers.

They’ve had their share of pitching problems even through the overall quality. Two-time Cy Young Tarik Skubal is out due to surgery for loose bodies in his elbow. The feel-good late-career reunion with Justin Verlander halted after one terrible start. Free agent addition Framber Valdez has a 4.58 ERA through ten games. We’ll see him in this series. Some of their bullpen guys suck. But then, some of every bullpen’s guys suck.

Like the Orioles, this team probably “should” be better than it is. It’s not. One team may come away from this series feeling a little better about itself. Unless the weekend’s weather forecast leads to the teams playing only two games right now and they split the two games they actually play. That wouldn’t do much to feed into anybody’s narrative.

Game 1 – Friday, 7:05

• BAL starter: Chris Bassitt – 5.44 ERA, 4.74 FIP, 1.698 WHIP in 43 IP
• DET starter: Jack Flaherty – 5.77 ERA, 5.03 FIP, 1.603 WHIP in 43.2 IP

Note: This game is on Apple TV. No other TV broadcast will be available.

A theme I return to a lot when I think about these Orioles is that even pessimists could not have predicted these specific outcomes. I mentioned it above and here as I think about Bassitt it is on my mind again. I didn’t like the signing because I thought the Orioles needed to aim higher than stabilizing their back end. Yet even for that, a mid-5s ERA heading into Memorial Day weekend would have surprised me. I figured he might slide into the 4.5 range.

Maybe that’s where he’ll end up by season’s end. Maybe it’s the defense’s fault that he’s not there right now. I don’t know. What I do know is that his strikeout rate has been cut by close to a third compared to a year ago, while at the same time his walk rate has increased by about a third. That’s a tough combination, so even though his BABIP is crazy high (.352) and that’s probably not all his fault, there’s a lot that he could be doing to help his own cause that he’s not doing. Currently not looking like a great use of $18.5 million or a roster spot.

For the Tigers starter Flaherty, that’s a familiar-feeling ERA if you remember his short tenure here. He is failing in a different way than he did with the Orioles. The 2025 issue for Flaherty is that he’s walking way too many guys, handing out one walk roughly every seven batters. Whether Orioles who are not named Taylor Ward can take advantage of this may be one of the keys to success for the game.

Game 2 – Saturday, 4:05

• BAL starter: Brandon Young – 4.25 ERA, 5.23 FIP, 1.483 WHIP in 29.2 IP
• DET starter: Framber Valdez – 4.58 ERA, 4.07 FIP, 1.400 WHIP in 55 IP

At the end of spring training, if you had told me that Young would already have six starts with more coming, I wouldn’t have had a hard time picturing a disaster regarding the Orioles rotation. It has indeed been disastrous, but to be fair to Young, he hasn’t been one of the disastrous parts up to this point. Most likely he’s getting lucky. That’s a big gap between the ERA and the FIP. His strikeout/walk ratio is bad. Still, if he was the fifth-best Orioles starter, this season would probably be going fine. The problem is he’s the second best by ERA so far.

If you checked in on Valdez’s stats at the end of April, when he had a 3.35 ERA, you were probably quite upset that the Orioles didn’t sign him. He got socked in his first May start and hasn’t pitched well enough yet to recover a lower ERA. For the curious, Boston’s Ranger Suárez has a 2.40 ERA and Dylan Cease of the Blue Jays is at a 2.98. Adding either one of these guys to the Orioles rotation wouldn’t solve all of the problems they’ve had so far, but it would solve at least one.

Game 3 – Sunday, 1:35

• BAL starter: Trevor Rogers – 6.87 ERA, 4.35 FIP, 1.658 WHIP in 38 IP
• DET starter: TBD

No one should have believed that Rogers was just going to come out and drop another sub-2 ERA. I don’t think anyone believed that. Here’s another one for the “Not even the pessimists…” category. An ERA that rounds up to 7? Really? You could have thought that relying on Rogers at the top of the rotation was foolish and that the Orioles not acting to bolster the front of the rotation was a bad decision. Many people thought that and they certainly look like they were right.

Still, after last year, of course the 2026 Orioles rotation plan included Rogers in some capacity. That was always going to be the case. And like so many other guys who are undershooting even pessimistic projections, here he is. Put him at Brandon Young’s 4.25 ERA and he’s still massively disappointing after last year, and he’s more than two and a half runs worse than that.

There was no way to plan for that possibility, and at this moment, with even Cade Povich and Dean Kremer on the injured list, there’s not much way to adapt to it by kicking Rogers from the rotation even if that was an unquestionably good idea on its own merits. Everyone involved just has to hope for magical improvement.

As of this writing, it’s TBD for Detroit. TBD will probably not turn into Casey Mize, who pitched in Thursday’s game. That’s good news for the Orioles in that Mize is the best of the active Tigers pitchers. He’s sporting a 2.47 ERA across eight starts.

**

Here is another time where they have to make a stand. The Tigers are reeling. The Orioles need to make that continue. If they can’t even capitalize on that opportunity, how are we supposed to believe that they will do anything good with the season beyond Memorial Day? There’s also the basic math aspect of it. Even if they turn things around later, losing two of three this weekend would put the team at 22-31. As with last year, that’s a deep hole to escape over the remainder of the season.

How do you think this series will go? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

One of the benefits of waiting until late May to look at statistics is that individual games have less of a difference on overall numbers. In April, it looked like the Astros hitting coaches were the toast of the town. The team was leading the American League in runs scoring. They were taking more pitches. They were taking more walks. It felt like there was a new message being delivered to hitters and they were listening. Of course, not we have gone most of the way through May (May 19th as of these numbers) and those gains may have slowed.

We have been looking at bases per out now for a couple of different articles. We looked at the catchers and we will look at the infield and outfield eventually, but this time we are looking at the offense as a whole. For comparisons sake, we will take a look at the 2025 numbers since those numbers were probably the numbers that got the past two hitting coaches sent out of town.

Now that the offense has seemingly come back to earth it bears asking whether there were any meaningful and lasting changes in the Astros offense. With one very notable exception, the players are basically the same. That exception is Yordan Alvarez as he spent most of 2025 on the shelf and wasn’t himself for most of the time when he was healthy. Is that enough to explain the difference?

Keep in mind that we will add BPO+ for reference sake. In case you missed our primer article, the major league BPO in 2025 was .670. The BPO so far this season is .663, Last year Daikan Park was perfectly neutral while this year it is playing one percent above average. Given that information let’s see if we have seen in real gains from 2025 to 2026.

That’s not an insignificant improvement. Of course, those gains might be short-lived as the Astros will live without Jose Altuve for a month and Carlos Correa for the remainder of the season. That doesn’t even mention any parts and pieces that will be bartered off before the August 3rd trade deadline. However, if we assume that forces will remain constant (never a good assumption) then we can note where the gains have occurred.

If we note where the gains have occurred then we can possibly isolate those gains down to either hitting talent or hitting approach. Keep in mind that the BPO formula is made up of four components. Total bases is obviously the biggest driver and one probably more dependent on hitting talent. The smaller components are walks, hit by pitches, and stolen bases. Walks are the main component tied to hitting approach.

Before we dive into the numbers, we have to acknowledge the impact of usage. This is why we will break down the infield and outfield in subsequent labs. Those numbers tell us who should play and how often they should play. Naturally, some of that is dependent on availability, but some of that is in the hands of the manager. A statistic like BPO can tell us more about damage than traditional numbers like batting average or more crude sabermetrics like OPS.

The Astros are 49 games into the season, so we will not look at the totals for these four components. Instead we will look at the per game averages to see where if any growth we see in the numbers. 30 BPO points is pretty significant, but as you will see the per game totals might be more subtle. It shows you how small tweaks can have a pretty significant impact on the numbers.

Seeing the numbers expressed this way also helps us understand the relative impact of each metric. The best team in baseball history in steals may have averaged 1.50 steals per game. So, an extra base per game is all you would get out of that exchange. However, as you can see, the 2026 is walking nearly 0.6 times more per game than the 2025 outfit. The impact of hit by pitches is also negligible.

So, the bulk of the difference will come from total bases and walks. The combined additions there equal almost one more base per game. That is the difference between a below average offense and an above average offense. Two total bases would probably take you from below average to elite. So, we aren’t really talking about huge differences this year.

The question then comes down to how we explain the improvement. It is an overall hitting approach improvement or are we talking isolated improvements in personnel. So far, Alvarez has not missed a game and has hit like expected, It turns out that 2025 might be the anomaly there. Otherwise, it looks like Christian Walker is the only significant hitter to show considerable improvement from 2025 to 2026. Can that be attributed to the hitting coaches? I suppose anything is possible.

it should be noted that Jake Meyers and Jeremy Pena have done very little and they were solid and very good respectively last season. There is still a ton of time for them to look more like they looked last year and that could further boost the numbers we are seeing. A more productive Yainer Diaz could also give a little boost to the lineup. Nothing is ever fixed in the middle of a season. So, given these numbers do you lean more on the hitting coaches being the reason for improvement or is it because of individual performances?

Mason Miller joined the San Diego Padres at the 2025 trade deadline, and his acquisition came at a steep price. The top prospect in the San Diego organization, Leodalis De Vries, had to be in the return for Miller and left-hander JP Sears. Padres president of baseball operations and general manager A.J. Preller paid the price for one of the top closers in MLB with four-plus years of control, but the move was questioned by many. To his credit, Preller banked on MLB experience, which Miller had, and took a risk that the loss of De Vries, as vaunted a prospect as he is, may not hurt too bad in the future. He also saw an opportunity for Miller to become an even better closer under the tutelage of pitching coach Ruben Niebla. So far, Miller has made the trade a success. Prior to a throwing error on a pickoff attempt in the second game against the Los Angeles Dodgers this week, Miller coming into the game was a winning recipe for the Padres. He did not enter in a save situation, but manager Craig Stammen believed that Miller could get through the top of the ninth with the game tied, which would give San Diego a chance to win it in the home half of the inning. That opportunity was lost and so was the game, but it was not because Miller could not throw strikes, he rushed a throw to first base and Ty France could not bring it in, which put the runner at third with one out. He later scored on a sacrifice fly and that was all the Dodgers needed. Miller is looking for an opportunity to erase that memory and he may get the chance over the next three days against the Athletics. It is not a sure thing we see Miller in one of these games, but for now he is the biggest piece of the trade between the two teams that has any chance at making an impact at the MLB level. That may change when De Vries finally makes his debut, but that will not be this week or any time soon.

Padres News:

• The Padres offense has struggled to find its stride this season, and that is in large part due to the stars like Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill getting off to slow starts. That has not affected the defensive play of Tatis, who has returned to the infield dirt and has assumed the role of starting second baseman.

• It was a tough day for San Diego minor league affiliates with El Paso and Fort Wayne taking losses.

• Preller is not waiting for the trade deadline to start looking to improve his team. It may come as somewhat of a surprise that the Padres general manager is looking at improving the team’s biggest and most consistent strength – the bullpen.

Baseball News:

• The New York Yankees were held to just three hits by five Toronto Blue Jays pitchers in a 2-0 loss.

• Yankees send Spencer Jones back to minors.

• The Cleveland Guardians got a 3-1 win to complete a four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers.

• Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, who had surgery two weeks ago, is throwing bullpens and his velocity is already near game speed.

• The Atlanta Braves beat the Miami Marlins, 9-3 but their superstar Ronald Acuna Jr. left the game early with a thumb injury.

• Corbin Carroll gets walk-off hit to lead the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Colorado Rockies, 2-1.

• The Athletics got a comeback win over the Los Angeles Angels and Jose Soriano.

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We're starting early with our favorite MLB picks for Friday, taking a side in the lone afternoon game on the MLB schedule.

Read on to see why our baseball experts like the Cubs to hold down the fort at Wrigley, while we also have plays in Dodgers/Brewers and Rockies/Diamondbacks — plus more picks coming this morning!

MLB expert picks for today

Pick	Odds
Josh Inglis: LAD/MIL o8.5	+100
Neil Parker: CHC ML	-138
Joe Osborne: ARI -1.5	+113

Prices courtesy of Polymarket.

Josh Inglis' expert pick: Dodgers/Brewers Over 8.5

Price: 50¢ (+100) at Polymarket

On a bad-weather slate loaded with rain concerns and heavy winds blowing in, let's target an Over 8.5 that appears as the best spot on the board. THE BAT is projecting 10.10 runs, with a fair price of -137. The pitching matchup looks appealing, if you’re only staring at the ERAs, but shaky BlastContact numbers suggest regression appears to be coming for both starters — Logan Henderson is stranding 98% of his runners over his last two starts, while Justin Wrobleski is carrying a .223 BABIP that feels due for some correction.

• Time: 7:40 p.m. ET
• How to watch: BREW/SNLA

Neil Parker's expert pick: Cubs moneyline

Price: 58¢ (-138) at Polymarket

Jameson Taillon is holding opposing hitters to a well-below-average .300 wOBA, leading a tidy 3.28 ERA across 250 innings at Wrigley Field since signing with the Chicago Cubs in 2023. I give the North Siders a sizable edge on both sides of the dish, especially with Astros righty Spencer Arrighetti headed to the bump, who sports a career 5.15 ERA on the road.

• Time: 2:20 p.m. ET
• How to watch: Apple TV

Joe Osborne's expert pick: Diamondbacks -1.5

Price: 47¢ (+113) at Polymarket

The Arizona Diamondbacks have dominated the Rockies at home, winning 10 of the last 11 meetings in the desert. Michael Soroka has been outstanding in Arizona, with a 1.59 ERA across five home starts, and allowing one earned run or fewer in four of those outings. That’s a tough matchup for a Colorado lineup sitting at 27th in OPS vs. RHP over the past two weeks. Meanwhile, Tomoyuki Sugano faces a D-backs offense that leads MLB in runs scored over the last week. Arizona also holds a major bullpen advantage, ranking sixth in bullpen ERA over the last two weeks, while Colorado is 23rd.

• Time: 9:40 p.m. ET
• How to watch: ARID/COLR

More MLB best bets for today

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

Here are five things to watch and predictions as the Mets and Marlins play a three-game series in Miami starting on Friday at 7:10 p.m. on PIX11.

5 things to watch

The starting rotation is in flux

With Clay Holmes out long-term, New York is patching things together in the rotation.

Against the Nationals in Washington, D.C., the four games were started by Christian Scott, Nolan McLean, Zach Thornton (in his MLB debut), and David Peterson (without an opener in front of him, as had become routine lately).

In Miami, Tobias Myers will start on Friday night, but he is not stretched out. That means he'll likely not go much beyond 35 or 40 pitches, and that the Mets will need plenty of length behind him. That length could come in the form of Jonah Tong, who has been held out in Triple-A just in case. Or, New York could possibly turn to Sean Manaea, who has been struggling.

The plan beyond Friday is unknown, though it will almost certainly include Freddy Peralta and one of Scott or McLean. 

Bo Bichette is heating up

Bichette went off during the series against the Nats, smacking three homers and driving in nine runs.

Over his last five games, Bichette is hitting .348/.375/.783.

Despite his prolonged slump to start the season, a rebound from Bichette wasn't hard to see coming. During his struggles, Bichette's BABIP was well below his career level despite similar metrics to his career norms.

In addition to Bichette, Carson Benge has been on fire -- and his tear dates back roughly a month.

Since April 23, Benge is slashing .347/.385/.469 (.854 OPS). He has hit safely in 10 of his last 11 games, with six multi-hit games during that span.

Juan Soto is also scorching, with a 1.357 OPS and five homers over his last eight games.

How will Nolan McLean bounce back?

McLean had a rough night against the Nats on Tuesday, allowing nine runs (six earned) on eight hits in 5.2 innings.

There were some caveats, though.

Four of the six earned runs against McLean came on an inside-the-park home run by James Wood that caromed off the glove of left fielder Nick Morabito. It was a tough play, but one that could've been made.

Beyond that, there was some concern after the game that McLean was tipping his pitches. 

If McLean doesn't pitch on Sunday in Miami, he'll likely get the ball at Citi Field on Monday against the Reds. 

The Marlins have been sinking

Miami had a nice start to the year, racing out to a 5-1 record. But it's been a slog since then.

The Marlins are 6-12 since May 3, and have lost seven of their last 10 games -- including a three-game sweep at the hands of the Braves earlier this week.

Their offense has been feast or famine, with 16 runs over their last seven losses and 31 runs in their last three wins.

Miami's starting pitching remains solid, though, and will feature Eury Perez and Max Meyer this weekend, with Sunday's starter TBD. 

Otto Lopez is having a huge season

If there's one standout for the Marlins on offense, it's Lopez. 

Lopez had a .686 OPS in parts of four seasons before 2026, but a switch has flipped for him.

The infielder is leading the majors with a .342 batting average and 68 hits, getting on base at a .373 clip, and slugging .487. 

Lopez has been an extra-base hit machine, with 13 doubles, four homers, and two triples, and has also swiped eight bags.

Predictions

Who will the MVP of the series be?

Juan Soto

Soto has been absolutely locked in since breaking out of a mini-slump about a week ago. 

Which Mets pitcher will have the best start?

Freddy Peralta

Peralta will be looking to bounce back after an uneven start last weekend against the Yankees.

Which Marlins player will be a thorn in the Mets' side?

Jakob Marsee

Things haven't come easily for Marsee in his second season, but he's one of the most talented bats in Miami's lineup.

You know your team’s season is going badly when … Oh, here’s a surefire one: in-organization fights start to erupt about why the team is playing badly.

One erupted this week, as beloved MASN broadcaster and former pitcher Ben McDonald unleashed an on-air rant about the O’s overreliance on analytics. Following the O’s 5-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, McDonald vented as follows:

We can talk about analytics and what could happen and what should happen if you hit the ball hard. But … I don’t care if you hit it hard and you hit it to somebody. You’re out. I don’t care how hard you throw ball four. I don’t care what your spin rate was on your breaking ball if you bounce it three feet in front of home plate. I don’t care. What I care about is, do you make plays? Do you make pitches? Do you get hits when it matters? And that’s what the Orioles are struggling to do right now. … So, all this nonsense is eyewash to me about this analytical stuff. You either do or you don’t. And right now, the Orioles don’t.

It would appear Big Ben has a point. The Orioles (21-29) entered today tied for the second-highest average exit velocity in MLB (90 mph), but their offense ranked just 17th, scoring 4.3 runs per game. Adding insult to injury, the first-place Rays (33-15), who swept Baltimore this week in three games, own the sport’s lowest average exit velo, sitting at 87.6 mph.

This is not a totally new story. Last season, the Orioles were a thoroughgoing offensive disappointment, expected to contend but ultimately finishing tied for 24th in MLB in batting average (.235), 21st in OPS (.699), and 24th in runs scored (677). Injuries played a real role: Jordan Westburg, Adley Rutschman, Colton Cowser, Ryan Mountcastle, Heston Kjerstad and Tyler O’Neill each missed fifty games or more, the latter earning himself the nickname “General Soreness.”

The organization didn’t just sit and take these body blows: instead, they took action (a pun!)—namely by firing the entire hitting staff. Coaches Sherman Johnson and Tommy Joseph were shown the door, and with new manager Craig Albernaz came Dustin Lind as lead hitting coach, who brought experience building the Giants’ and Phillies’ hitting programs.

Have these showy moves made much difference? The truth is: not really, at least not yet. Last season, the Birds hit .235 with a 42.2% hard-hit rate and a 24.2% strikeout rate. This season, they’re hitting .233 with a 42.5% hard-hit rate and a 24.7% strikeout rate. (Cue the Spiderman meme here.) If anything, they’re swinging for the fences a bit more and the contact is slightly worse.

Broken down by pitch type, the pattern becomes easy to see. Against fastballs, the Orioles own a .266 average, .379 wOBA, and a hard-hit rate of nearly 50% of balls in play. All are above average. They’re better, too, than in 2025, when the Birds hit heaters to the tune of a .244 average, .334 wOBA, and 49% hard-hit rate.

The trouble, like the old saying goes, is with the curve. As of early May, pointed out a Baltimore Sports and Life piece (appropriately titled “At some point, someone’s gotta hit a curveball”), the O’s were hitting just .182 with a .250 wOBA and a 35.4% strikeout rate (league average is 29%)—among the worst numbers in baseball. (Last season, those numbers were .206, .272 and 32.1%, so the team is now appreciably worse.) That shouldn’t be surprising given some garish individual performances you already know about: Colton Cowser has two hits off a breaking ball all year; Coby Mayo boasts a 41% strikeout rate against curveballs.

Is it the exit velocities? I’m not sure. What I can say is that exit velocity does not correlate with offensive excellence—otherwise, the Mets and the Red Sox would be contenders this year. For that matter, these five teams are the best at hitting curveballs: LAD, SEA, CLE, PHI, MIL. In exit velocity, Philadelphia ranks fourth, LAD fifth, Seattle eighth, Milwaukee 28th and Cleveland 29th. I’m no statistician, but I think it seems like average exit velocity and hitting curveballs should have nothing to do with each other. I don’t know.  But I do think the Orioles should start to give press conferences explaining why they’re so bad at hitting curveballs.

One more trend that sticks out: the terrible splits against lefties. Last year the team batting average splits against lefty/righty starters were .230/.236. This year, it’s .210/.240. That’s pretty bad. The main offenders: Leody Taveras (.156 BA against LHP), Colton Cowser (.200), Gunnar Henderson (.211) and Jeremiah Jackson (.231).

Which brings us back to Ben McDonald. He’s right that hard-hit rates and spin rates don’t matter if you’re not producing. He’s right, too, to question whether there’s too much of an emphasis on hitting the ball hard, which seemingly has little to do with offensive excellence in general.

But it seems like the curveball problems are a different thing, and so are the roster construction problems that explain why this team is so outmatched by lefties, and why the young draft classes aren’t popping like other youngsters like Bobby Witt Jr., Corbin Carroll, and Konnor Griffin.

Can all the Orioles’ struggles be laid at the feet of GM Mike Elias, wondered Steve Melewski the other day. No, he said, given the bad injury luck and underperformance. Can they be laid on the coaches? I’m inclined to think that yes, in part.

But regrettably, it feels like the blame has to go around: players, coaches, scouts, management. Losing in myriad ways, in such convincing fashion, is unfortunately a team job.

Good morning, LSB.

The Rangers were off yesterday.

Evan Grant’s off day column details the life of the meticulous Brandon Nimmo.

Grant also writes that the Rangers have a golden opportunity this weekend against the crappy Angels.

MLB Pipeline lists a pleasantly surprising prospect from every team, and I have indeed been pleasantly surprised with the Rangers pick.

And finally former Ranger Marcus Semien is the coverboy of Jim Bowden’s piece on struggling MLB veterans. Woof.

That’s all for this morning. The Rangers start up a series against the lowly Angels at the weirdly specific time of 8:38 tonight. Jacob deGrom pitches for Texas.

Happy Friday!