Category: Sports News

Good morning, baseball fans!

It’s a new week of San Francisco Giants baseball, so it’s time to take a look ahead at what’s on deck for this week.

First up, the Giants have an off-day today before heading to Cincinnati to begin a three-game series against the Reds. After that, they head to the nation’s capitol to start a three-game series against the Washington Nationals.

Honestly, I have a hard time picking which of these series I have more interest in. Considering I tend to forget that the Reds exist every year until this exact moment in the season.

Meanwhile the Nationals evoke bittersweet feelings from me. I got to cover their majestic 2019 World Series run, which is one of my favorite writing memories that doesn’t include a local team. But then they haven’t been particularly good since then, placing last in their division in five of the last six seasons since.

But I can’t ask y’all to pick one without doing the same, so I’m going to go with the Reds, who are the much more competent baseball team.

Which series are you most interested in this week?

What time do the Giants play today?

The Giants are off today, but they’ll be back at it in Cincinnati tomorrow afternoon.

It feels unbelievable to say, but we are already almost halfway through April, and what’s more, we are almost three weeks into this season. We’ve been seeing a lot of injuries, which is nothing new, and also still the case this week. We’re also seeing baseball teams having a very short leash with struggling players.

In our news bites today, we look at some big stories from over the weekend. First, the unveiling of an Ichiro Suzuki statue in Seattle went terribly wrong. Then Shohei Ohtani continues to build his legacy, of course. And in an “it can only happen in baseball” story, the White Sox announced they would be honoring their most famous fan with a Pope-themed promo night.

All that and more below, so let’s get right into it!

• Ben Clemens breaks down what he liked (and didn’t) last week in baseball.
• Phil Garner, former MLB manager, has passed away at age 76. Story by Brian McTaggert.
• Todd Zolecki looks at how Andrew Painter was scratched for his Sunday start, but still ended up pitching out of the bullpen.
• Madison Williams spotlights a cinematic moment for the Padres just ahead of Gavin Sheets’ walk-off home run.
• Is Mason Miller unhittable? Ryan Phillips thinks he might be.
• Dennis Lin agrees, as he argues that Miller might be in contention for the Cy Young Award. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• The Angels have optioned struggling rookie George Klassen to Triple-A. (AP)
• We love insane choices by new managers. (Here’s a direct link to the BlueSky post for those reading on Apple News)

• David Laurila looks at the wild variety of pitches A’s prospect Braden Nett brings to the table.
• Shohei Ohtani extends his on-base streak to 45 games. Story by Courtney Hollmon.
• Martin Gallagos shares the wild and somewhat scary new home run celebration from the A’s.
• Jazz Chisholm Jr. is on team “don’t play in the cold in April” as he blames his rough start to the season on the chilly weather (Ryan Phillips). However, he can’t blame the weather for his major gaffe on Saturday, which it turns out was due to him simply not knowing a basic baseball rule. (Karl Rasmussen)
• Jayson Stark tries to determine if Jo Adell had the greatest defensive games in all of baseball history. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• The White Sox are meeting fan demand with a Pope-themed night to celebrate their most famous fan. (AP)
• Jorge Castillo reports on some unexpectedly slopping playing from Francisco Lindor.
• Eno Sarris looks at how some MLB pitchers are making adjustments to their arsenals this season. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Bit of a snafu unveiling then new Ichiro statue in Seattle.

• Ryan Phillips has more on this major boo boo.
• Tim Stebbins reports that Jose Ramirez has become the first player in Guardians history to collect a home run against all 29 other teams.
• Oliver Marmol played the baseball version of an UNO reverse with his challenge of a challenge. Story by Brendan Schaeffer.
• Blake Snell admitted he needed to watch his language after his colorful response to criticism. Story by Fabian Ardaya. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• Ryab Phillips shares that MLB salaries have reached an all-time high ahead of a looming labor dispute.
• George Springer left a game early due to a broken toe. His status is still pending. (AP)
• The Athletic staff do their best to rank all the newly unveiled City Connect uniforms. (The Athletic subscription required.)
• If you get this joke, you either have kids or are chronically online. If you DON’T get this joke, you should consider yourself lucky.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster. Make it so.

Well here we are, folks — our Atlanta Braves are 16 games deep into this season and they are in a pretty solid groove. They’ve dropped at least one game to every team that they’ve played this season but they’ve also taken two games off of every team that they’ve played so far. That was also the case for their opponents this past weekend in the form of the Cleveland Guardians. Something had to give, as these were the last two teams in baseball who had yet to drop a series.

Let me tell you, it would’ve been a crying shame if the Braves were the ones who ended up dropping this series. I’m not saying that based on any type of underlying data or anything like that but I’m saying that because the vibes have been impeccable at Truist Park and The Battery since the new City Connect uniforms were officially unveiled on Thursday morning. Friday was 80s Night, Dale Murphy got some shine, T.I. was in the building on Saturday and the team was on prime time network television on Sunday. There were a lot of eyes on this series and this was a chance for the Braves to really show off for their home crowd. It’s time to get into just how the Braves fared during what ended up being a very fun weekend series.

Friday, April 10

Braves 11, Guardians 5

Atlanta debuted their clean new City Connect uniforms in stylish fashion, as a huge sixth inning in in this game and two more run-scoring innings following that allowed the Braves to pull away in this contest. It took a while for the Atlanta lineup to figure Slade Cecconi but once they did, it led to some real fireworks before the post-game Friday Night Fireworks in Cobb County.

It all started with Ronald Acuña Jr. hitting an absolute bomb for his first dinger of the season. As it turned out, that was the first of three homers in this inning alone and the shortest one of them all. Matt Olson put Acuña’s shot to shame as he hit a two-run dinger that landed on top of the Chop House. Michael Harris II’s moonshot with two outs made sure that the Braves left the inning leading by five after they entered it trailing by one.

Ozzie Albies and Dominic Smith both delivered RBI singles in the eighth inning to extend the lead and then Drake Baldwin and Austin Riley (with help from an error) made sure that any hope that the Guardians had after a three-run eighth inning of their own was snuffed out immediately. The bats had a major impact in this game and it made for some fun viewing on a special night at the ballpark.

Saturday, April 11

Guardians 6, Braves 0

If Friday night was a peak for the Braves then Saturday night was certainly a valley in terms of performance. Credit is due to the now-DFA’d Martín Pérez, who recovered from a first-inning homer from José Ramírez to go five innings while only giving up one run in the process.

That was about it for highlights as far as this game is concerned. Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a triple but outside of that, the Braves had nothing to deal with Guardians starter Parker Messick and the rest of the Guardians pitching staff on this particular night. A disastrous ninth inning which saw the Guardians add on three runs was the icing on a poison-laced cake for the Braves in this one.

Sunday, April 12

Braves 13, Guardians 1

This was more like it from the Braves, as Atlanta’s first appearance on Sunday Night Baseball in 2026 felt like a bit of a statement game from the guys in powder blue. The pitching matchup was a strong one as Chris Sale was tasked with keeping Cleveland quiet while the Braves had to figure out a way to take down Tanner Bibee.

As you can tell by the gaudy scoreline above, the Braves ended up taking Bibee and the rest of the Guardians’ pitching staff out behind the woodshed. This was Atlanta’s night nearly from the words “Play Ball,” as the Braves plated three runs in the second inning thanks to RBI doubles from Mauricio Dubón and Ronald Acuña Jr. and a Jorge Mateo RBI single sandwiched in there as well. Mateo drove in Dubón to make it 2-0 — just like we all predicted back in February, right?

The fun was nowhere near over after that second inning outburst. There were still a few more outbursts to come — Dominic Smith cracked a dinger to make it 5-0 in the fourth inning and then Atlanta pushed four more runs across the plate in the fifth inning with two runs on the board.

Bibee ended up with eight runs conceded off 11 hits and one walk allowed and things didn’t get much better for our old friend Kolby Allard, either. The Braves tagged him for five runs, with four of those coming in the eighth inning. Things really got out of hand at that point, as Atlanta loaded up the bases with nobody out to start the inning and took full advantage of it in order to bring them to their final tally of 13 runs on the night.

While the Braves were busy battering Bibee, Chris Sale went cruising as he eventually finished with six innings (including his 2,600th career strikeout) and just one run allowed. The Guardians put some traffic on the baepaths with eight hits against Sale but any time that they came close to getting something going, Sale would put the clamps down on Cleveland in order to keep the door shut. Cleveland went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and also left five runnings in scoring position throughout. The only breakthrough for the Guardians was a solo homer for Rhys Hoskins but all that did was make it a 9-1 game for the Braves at that point. outside of that, this was a dominant display from the Braves in front of a national audience on network television. Boom.

That’s about as comprehensive of a series win as you can get without it being a sweep. The Braves were clearly the better team across the course of three games and that’s even including the loss where the offense got completely blanked. Parker Messick’s brilliant start was essentially the exception rather than the rule for Cleveland in this series, as the Braves were otherwise locked in at the plate. Ronald Acuña Jr. racked up six hits across the three games with three of them being of the extra-base variety, no less. Austin Riley collected four hits in this series as well — those are two players who the Braves need to get rolling and if they both end up going on a tear in the near future, this could be the point in time that you could look at as being the genesis of it all.

The offense coming alive was huge since this wasn’t a completely pristine performance from the pitching staff. Chris Sale did a great job of limiting the damage that the Guardians threatened to do on Sunday night and Martín Pérez did well to cover five innings on Saturday evening. Outside of that, it was a bit of a shaky weekend for the pitching. Bryce Elder was lifted up by his lineup as he only made it through 4.2 innings on Friday night and the bullpen had a lot of work to do during the first two games of this series. It was mostly good work though and for what it’s worth, this staff as a whole has earned the benefit of the doubt to be less-than-perfect for a series after getting off to a fantastic start to begin the season. I’m not complaining too much since it’s not like the Braves had a disasterclass during this series on the mound but it’s also something to keep a close eye on going forward in terms of quality.

Outside of what feels like nitpicking, this was a fantastic series for the Braves. They’re now one of only three teams with 10 wins so far this season with the other two being the Dodgers (because, duh) and the Padres (who got off to flying start last season as well). Atlanta’s rough start to the 2025 season is a thing of the distant past as this Braves team. appears determined to make sure that whatever momentum they have lasts for as long as possible. They still have yet to drop a series but this upcoming week could be another tricky one. Atlanta will be hosting the Marlins up next and while they’ve slowed down and gone 3-7 over their last 10, this squad would love nothing more than to trip up the Braves early on. Once the Braves get done with Miami, they’ll be traveling to Philadelphia for the weekend and that’s always a tough trip in any given season.

The Braves will certainly have their work cut out for them when it comes to maintain this series winning streak but with the way this team has looked to start the season, would you wager against them keeping it going through this next week? We’ll have to see what happens but right now, this is a team that looks like it means business going forward. The uniforms look clean as well. Everything’s looking really spiffy right now, folks.

Michael Wacha was in control all night in a win on Saturday, writes Anne Rogers.

Since joining the Royals in 2024, Wacha has recorded a quality start in all seven outings against the White Sox. He’s pitched to a 1.31 ERA in that stretch, and has tossed seven scoreless frames in four of those seven starts.

“The efficiency was what was most impressive,” Quatraro said. “He was in control the whole game. Curve, changeup, putting the fastball where he wanted. That was a masterclass right there.”

Jaylon Thompson also writes about Wacha.

“I knew kind of going into it the stuff was moving good,” Wacha said. “I had some good command. Had a good game plan going into hit, me and Sal (catcher Salvador Perez). He was pressing the right buttons.”

He also writes about how Maikel Garcia is brimming with confidence these days.

“Maikel has been aggressive early in the count starting games …” Quatraro said. “If you are going to be ready to go and you get a good pitch to hit, let it rip.”

Garcia could be on his way to another All-Star nomination. And the big moments don’t faze him. He takes it all in stride — in large part due to his routine.

It works for him. Just as the Royals hoped it would. “I’m doing my routine and having confidence,” Garcia said. “I think that’s the key.”

He also talked to White Sox pitching coach Zach Bove about coming back to Kansas City, where he once coached.

Preston Farr takes a closer look at the offense.

The Royals are essentially in the same place as they were a year ago in runs scored, but there is some promise here in the underlying offensive metrics. The walk rate is the clear standout here. Only once (1973) have the Royals finished a season with a walk rate north of ten percent. 2002 was the last time the team even finished with a walk rate over 8%. Will it last all season? Only time will tell, but the Royals’ 15-game mark last season only finished 0.2% better than the team’s full-season mark (7.2%).

The barrel rate was highlighted as a concern early last season, but Kansas City has done well there thus far. The Royals rank fourth in that regard, behind only the Dodgers, Yankees, and Braves. 

Vahe Gregorian writes that the focus of the stadium search is on downtown, as it should be.

Plenty more pieces still need to be put in place to frame this one properly, of course.

Most of all, a clearer picture of the funding and just how the Royals would create more tangible benefits to the community.

Those would be essentials for both the city and Royals to prioritize and communicate, especially because a significant construction project there will mean years of inconvenience to nearby institutions before it comes to fruition. And just because the city and the Royals have sought to avoid a public vote doesn’t mean they don’t have a duty to be transparent and accountable. In fact, that seems all the more critical in this context if they want buy-in.

But at least the downtown-site part of the original premise is back in focus, and that’s where it should stay.

Thomas Friestad at the KC Business Journal writes that Mayor Quinton Lucas wants an aggressive timeline.

Mayor Quinton Lucas set a “very” aggressive goal to get a Kansas City Royals ballpark open at Washington Square Park by Opening Day 2030….

“There is time pressure,” he said. “This is the right way to get a deal done, looking at basically incentive tools, economic activity redirections, that sort of work to do it. And I think that’s why we’re saying now is the right time to make sure we can get this done. Fortunately, this gets us started on this before the World Cup kicks off.”

Charlie Keegan at KSHB has a bit more on potential transportation upgrades for a new ballpark.

Lexy French at Fox 4 has fan reactions to the idea.

Former Royals pitcher Hunter Harvey is back on the Injured List.

The Tigers sign former Royals outfielder Tyler Gentry.

Christian Yelich exits with a hamstring injury.

George Springer lands on the Injured List and the Blue Jays add Eloy Jimenez to the roster.

41-year-old Justin Turner signs with a team in the Mexican League.

What young stars are next to get a long-term contract extension.

Shohei Ohtani breaks Ichiro’s record for Japanese players with a 44-game on-base streak.

Zach Eflin looks to 2027 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

Astros pitcher Tatsuya Imai has arm fatigue.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. admits he didn’t understand baseball rules why trying to turn a double play.

Former MLB infielder and manager Phil Garner dies at the age of 76.

The Kansas Jayhawks baseball team wins their tenth in a row to take over first place in the Big 12.

The Indiana Fever re-sign Sophie Cunningham and Kelsey Plum is returning to the Sparks in a flurry of WNBA moves.

Why do we always remember how to ride a bike?

How Kodak is trying to turn things around after teetering on bankruptcy.

The New York Times looks at whether memes have already nuked our culture. [$]

Your song of the day is Mr. Big with Wild World.

Antonio Senzatela and Chase Dollander are two very different pitchers, but both have found themselves transitioning from starting to long relief over the last year.

For Senzatela, the move came after struggles over the last few seasons that saw him returning from a variety of health challenges, including Tommy John surgery. Finally in August, the Rockies re-envisioned his role as a pitcher and moved him to the bullpen. He had a chance to regain his spot in the rotation this spring, but was ultimately returned to the bullpen because he was not stretched out after his participation for Team Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic.

Although Dollander did not experience Senzatela’s physical challenges, he struggled in 2025 to be an effective MLB pitcher. In the spring, he battled against Ryan Feltner for the fifth opening in the starting rotation. Feltner ultimately won the job, and Dollander was kept on the roster as another long reliever. The Rockies see him as a starter long-term, but felt like this was the best way to allow him to progress. 

“We want Chase to develop at the big-league level, too, and feel like facing big-league hitters on a consistent basis is going to lead to his development better than it would in Triple-A at this point,” manager Warren Schaeffer said of the move at the time.

So far, through 15 games, both players have been thriving in different ways and are adjusting to their 2026 roles. Senzatela has made four appearances and has thrown nine innings while allowing just two hits with three walks and 12 strikeouts. Dollander has also made four appearances, allowing seven runs (all earned) on 14 hits with three home runs, four walks and 14 strikeouts over 13.2 innings.

“It’s different, for sure,” Dollander said. “When that phone rings, your heart gets pumping pretty quick. I mean, you have an idea of when you’re going to pitch, but you don’t have a definite clue of, ‘Hey, I’m pitching today’ It’s so funny when the phone rings because everybody’s just looking over at [Matt Buschmann] to see if it’s them being called.”

Senzatela has experience in the bullpen both from last season and from the WBC, but is feeling more comfortable.

“(The WBC helped) for sure,” Senzatela said. “Even last year, I threw a couple innings as a bullpen guy. I’m out there with the high-leverage situations, it gives my heart a little bump. So right now, it feels really good being in the bullpen and having that experience.”

And he has made some adjustments to his routine, knowing what his role is on this team.

“(I’ve made) different changes, because right now I have to be ready for any game everyday,” he said. “So I do like working and doing some stuff before heading out. It’s different, but it’s good. I’m feeling great right now.”

Additionally, Senzatela has made some sweeping changes to his arsenal – something that’s been limited for most of his career. Historically, Senzatela has used his four-seam fastball more than half the time. Now, he has six pitches and uses his four-seamer about one-third of the time instead.

“I was working in the (Push Performance) facility in Arizona,” he said. “We added two pitches, and we’re still working on it, but so far so good.”

Dollander hasn’t made a lot of changes, but he’s been getting good advice from Buschmann throughout the game.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “He and I have had some really good conversations, just whether it’s just about life or if it’s about, ‘Hey, this is what your routine needs to look like’ or if he has suggestions as to what I should do to get warmed up for the game, or if he thinks that I’m going to be in the game today or not. He’s really smart with that kind of stuff.”

And Dollander and Senzatela have turned to each other since they’re both in the same boat of being starters-turned-long-relievers.

“We’ve talked a little bit,” Dollander said. “We’ve both said it’s very different from starting, but at the same time, it’s a lot more fun. Well, not more fun – starting is really fun and being in the bullpen with all the guys is really fun, too. There’s definitely different aspects of it, but I think we’re both just trying to have fun with it, to be honest.”

“I just started (saying) we need to be ready for any time,” Senzatela said. “We’ve enjoyed time together out there and we’re just trying to be the best we can on the mound so we can have another opportunity.”

Schaeffer has noticed a change in Dollander so far in his new role, and he likes what he sees.

“I think any big spot that you’re going to see Chase in and you see results like that, and he continues to attack the zone, I think is maturation for sure,” Schaeffer said last Saturday. “The other part that I liked with him tonight is the consistent one line to the plate. I mean, that’s a different Chase to enter this year.”

And specifically, he doesn’t see these long relievers as ‘eating innings’ – he sees them as an important part of the entire pitching staff.

“I think it’s huge, specifically in April in Coors Field,” Schaeffer said. “It takes a load off of our bullpen to be able to do that and to have guys go out there and attack the strike zone. Hopefully we see a more rested bullpen in August and September because of this. But it’s not just eating innings with these guys. Those were high-leverage innings for Chase. That’s not eating, he’s out there to get a win.”

In addition, Dollander is learning important lessons in the bullpen that he can take back with him to the rotation.

“I think for me, it’s going to be just the mindset of staying on the attack and being aggressive,” he said, “because when you come out of the pen, it’s like, ‘all right, you have this many innings to work with and you need to get through those innings.’ So I have to come out with my best stuff and I’m going to be aggressive with it.”

But most importantly, “last year, obviously, is what it is and you can’t change it. But this year, I’m very, very much more confident in my abilities and myself just because of all the work that I’ve put in this offseason.”

There hasn’t been any indication of when Dollander will return to the rotation, but both he and Senzatela have made the most out of their opportunities and will hopefully continue to do well in their current roles.

On the Farm

Triple-A:Albuquerque Isotopes 19, El Paso Chihuahuas 12 (F/10)

While the Rockies had an anemic offense in San Diego, the Isotopes had the opposite. They racked up 19 runs on 17 hits against the Chihuahuas’ 12 runs on 13 hits. Cole Carrigg (No. 4 PuRP) went 3-for-5 with a home run, three runs scored and four RBI. Ryan Ritter went 1-for-6 with a home run, two runs scored, two RBI and two strikeouts. Zac Veen (No. 9 PuRP) went 2-for-6 with two runs scored, one RBI and one strikeout. Charlie Condon (No. 1 PuRP) continued his torrid Triple-A affair, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored, three RBI, one walk and one strikeout. He also hit a three-run homer, his fourth in 10 games. On the pitching side, Sean Sullivan (No. 8 PuRP) went six innings and allowed five runs (two earned) on seven hits with four strikeouts and two home runs. Welinton Herrera (No. 17 PuRP) ended up with the win, though, after he pitched two innings with nothing but three strikeouts.

Double-A:Reading Fightin’ Phils 6, Hartford Yard Goats 3

The Yard Goats came up short against the Fightin’ Phils. Aidan Longwell, Conner Capel and Andy Perez all recorded two hits, and Capel also had an RBI (as did Skyler Messinger). The third run was scored on a throwing error in the first inning. On the pitching side, only Cade Denton pitched unscathed. Granted, he only pitched 0.1 innings, but the other three pitchers all gave up at least one run (Eiberson Castellano and Alberto Pacheco each gave up multiple).

High-A:Hillsboro Hops 5, Spokane Indians 2

The Indians also came up short against the Hops, going 1-for-9 with RISP and leaving 12 men on base. Jacob Humphreys and Alan Espinal each recorded two hits, while Robert Calaz (No. 6 PuRP), Kevin Fitzer and Kelvin Hidalgo each recorded one. The worst thing, though, is that the Indians struck out 17 times. The Indians used two pitchers — LHP Everett Catlett and RHP Hunter Mann — and neither escaped unscathed.

Low-A:Fresno Grizzlies 11, Stockton Ports 1

The Fresno Grizzlies were outstanding last night. The pitching staff combined for just five hits and 13 strikeouts without walking a single batter and only allowing one run. Angel Jimenez gave up the run — a single in the third to Bobby Blandford — but Ethan Cole and Austin Emener shut things down. Emener in particular pitched two innings without allowing a single hit while striking out four. On the offensive side, Jack O’Dowd and Matt Klein each home runs. Roldy Brito (No. 11 PuRP) hit a triple and Luis Mendez hit a double. Brito, Klein and O’Dowd also each had two RBIs. Offensively, they struck out seven times.

Rockies’ Kyle Freeland wears 10 years of pitching at Coors Field with pride | Denver Post ($)

Patrick Saunders profiles Kyle Freeland in his 10th season with the Rockies not only through his own eyes, but also through the eyes of some Rockies alumni — Aaron Cook and Jason Jennings.

Monfort brothers confronted a break-up before selling 40% stake to Broncos owners | Denver Gazette ($)

Dick and Charlie Monfort surprised a lot of folks when they sold 40% of the Rockies to the Penner Sports Group on Friday. Mark Kiszla details some of the behind-the-scenes things that led to this moment.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

We’ve spent plenty of time talking ourselves into hope. Convincing ourselves that this rebuild will be different, that this time the plan will actually resemble a plan, that the next good White Sox team won’t just be a two-year window duct-taped together with waiver claims and good vibes.

But let’s be honest, hope is fragile on the South Side. And if there’s one thing this fan base knows better than anyone, it’s how quickly things turn from optimism to open disdain.

So, today’s question is simple: Who is the South Siders’ biggest rival — and which team do you hate the most?

Is it the Cubs, the natural crosstown foe, where every game feels less like baseball and more like a referendum on the city itself? Is it the Twins, who somehow always seem to have things figured out just enough to be annoying? Or maybe it’s a newer kind of resentment for a team that’s crossed the Sox one too many times recently, building a grudge that didn’t exist a decade ago.

And then there’s the second part, which isn’t necessarily the same answer. Rivalries are supposed to be competitive. Hate? That’s really personal.

Is it the team whose fans you can’t stand? The one that always seems to get the call, the bounce, the breakout season? The one that turns every series into a slow boil?

Or, and be honest, is it the White Sox themselves? Because sometimes the most exhausting rivalry is the one between expectation and reality.

Let it out. Your grievances, fresh wounds, all of it. Because if there’s one thing Sox fans know how to do, it’s hold onto a grudge like it’s a retired number.

So, who’s your biggest rival, and who do you truly hate?

As most of you know, I was lucky enough to be invited to attend Winter Warmup as a reporter. Last year, I used that experience to write several season previews. Due to the late start of the top 20 prospect series (caused by waiting for Brendan Donovan to be traded), my Winter Warmup stories have been pushed to now instead of at the beginning of spring training. Thus technically, these could also be called season previews, but there’s a good chance I write a couple of these after the season has already started. I’ll try to pick stories that are not outdated for the ones during the season.

Coming into the season, the infield looked fairly strong, the bullpen looked like it should be competent, and the starting rotation, well that took a bit more hoping, but each individual member was fully capable of being average or better and there’s a good amount of depth for when things went wrong. Average rotations have certainly been built on flimsier material.

Outfield though, that took some imagination. The kind of imagination that would get you labeled a homer who was incapable of looking at things objectively. Too much had to go right and nobody was a safe bet. There were only two sure starters and both gave you reason to doubt them. Victor Scott can’t hit and Jordan Walker can’t really do anything. As for that third spot, hope things don’t go too badly and pray Lars Nootbaar gets back quickly.

Two weeks into the season, the biggest homer in the world wouldn’t dare predict what Jordan Walker has done. It’s almost inconceivable, which is itself kind of a crazy thing to think for a man once considered a top 10 prospect in the game. Of course, he was capable of this. It just doesn’t usually happen after 1,000 plate appearances of failure. Obviously, that affected him.

“When you go into the MLB, you know there are gonna be struggles,” Walker said.  “I knew that as a rookie coming up.  I didn’t think everything was gonna go my way immediately and that it was always gonna go my way.  But it’s still tough to deal with.”

Walker began his journey to this point by starting at Driveline. Interestingly, Driveline seems to be getting all the credit (as judged by an MLB Network clip, which also erroneously seemed to suggest he’s now successful because of more consistent playing time), but if I’m hearing his quote correctly, he instituted his changes at a different sports performance facility.

“At the beginning of the season, I went Driveline and did the whole body analysis thing, how I move and I brought that program over to Cressey,” Walker said. “We took that Driveline program and I incorporated it to the movement and workouts at Cressey.”

I’m pretty sure he meant offseason, but he definitely did say season. If I were an actual reporter, I would contact Walker to clarify, but I don’t have his number and I’m not going to change a quote based on an assumption. It’s not the point anyway. He gave a special shout-out to Shane Olive and Max Rios at Cressey as people he worked closely with. He didn’t mention their last names, but they do have a website, so it wasn’t hard to find.

But they didn’t start from the vantage point of let’s increase the launch angle.

“To be honest, it was really how forward I was coming when I was hitting and what we learned is that when I’m hitting off my backside, I’m driving the ball in the gaps way more consistently,” Walker said. “I’m not rolling over, I’m not getting that topspin on the ball.  The focus is really how far back I’m onto my hip and how I’m hitting on my backside rather than me focusing on launch angle.”

Essentially, he doesn’t need to focus on launch angle. Launch angle is more of a consequence of smart, effective changes.

“If I’m moving correctly, then the launch angle and exit velo and driving it where I want to will come up with it,” Walker said.

That is certainly a sentiment that Nathan Church would agree with. Though in a different spot and with different expectations, his career did hang in the balance because of a concern about power. It’s just that his power was lacking in the minor leagues. He reached AA in 2024, but only managed a .106 ISO, which also happened to be his professional high at the time. After starting 2025 injured, he then suddenly had power en route to a surprise debut in the MLB.

“A lot of it is not really trying to put up power numbers to be honest,” Church said.  “A lot of it is just trying to get stronger in the gym and knowing how my body moves correctly is kind of the main thing.  The numbers kind of spoke for itself.  Put all the work in the gym and the training room and the cage kind of shows out in the field.”

I realize that Walker went to outside sources to improve his hitting, but the verbiage both use suggest the Cardinals are also preaching this. Both reference that if their body moves correctly, the power will naturally come. That cannot be a coincidence. Joshua Baez, in the organization since he was drafted in 2021, thinks the coaching has improved since he got here.

“It’s been going upwards every single year,” Baez said.  “They’re really involved with the players, they want to know about them, what they’re doing, their routine, to help them prepare for spring training and the season.”

And yes, if you’re good at math, if he is indeed correct about it being better every year, it means things were improving before Chaim Bloom even got there. Probably a consequence of him getting better instruction as he rose through the system, but I thought I’d point that out. But he did get more specific in how things are different now.

“It was just a more personalized program for me,” Baez said. “They know me better now, it was more about me and not so much comparing or saying ‘maybe this could work for you.’  Going by experience and just try to find things that will continue to make me better.”

Baez could commiserate with Walker on struggles, albeit he got a lot less attention for them. Nonetheless, he was a high draft pick, a somewhat highly rated prospect, and the road has probably been bumpier than he thought it would be.

“Going through the down times, yeah it definitely questions you,” Baez said. “Being drafted high, having all these expectations, then just hitting that brick wall, it just builds character.  I just found a way to get up and keep going every time.”

Is there a more character-building sport than baseball? My experience is on a far smaller scale and not specifically about baseball, but when I first came onto this blog, I spammed the fanpost section with recaps back when the fanpost was considered sacred and I got roasted here in the comments and I soon learned on Twitter and I was an 18-year-old trying to skip a few steps, so it wasn’t entirely unjustified, but it definitely hurt me.

But it was character-building. Didn’t matter who it was, I used to take criticism so personally. But after that, a random person on social media doesn’t affect me at all. So on the larger, more public scale that Baez and Walker had to deal with, I’m guessing it’s significantly easier to remain confident even when slumping after their struggles. And confidence is not seen in the advanced stats, but we’re all human and it’s going to affect play.

And to again relate to my own experience: that experience also made me a better writer and a better baseball fan. It’s why I bothered to learn about advanced analytics, which only made me love the sport more. Walker, who has previously been somewhat hesitant to change a swing he was comfortable with, became someone ready to make changes.

“He has had a better, more engaged and more communicative offseason than any than I think people can remember from him,” POBO Chaim Bloom said. “Obviously, the proof will be in the pudding.  But I’m encouraged by where his head is at in terms of understanding what the adjustments need to be for him to have consistent success at this level.”

Bloom followed that up with a quote that may have been scoffed at in spring training, especially in the middle of it, but seems like the most obvious statement ever given how Walker has started his season.

“You don’t have to squint to see why the upside is worth staying with him,” Bloom said.

What’s funny is that at the time he said that, some may have argued that you do actually have to squint. But you really don’t have to squint now. It’s smacking you right in the face.

“I still have the same mentality,” Walker said.  “I want to come here, I want to win a spot, and I want to have a crazy year.”

So far, so good.

After a rough start to the season for the non-Dodgers teams in the National League West, the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks had strong weeks to build on from April 6-12.

Arizona was break-even after a week and a half, but last week won a pair of road series against postseason hopefuls, winning two of three against both the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. But the Padres turned things up a notch with six wins in seven games, including the last five in a row.

Game of the week

Thursday night at Petco Park saw the Padres and Colorado Rockies in lockstep with each other all night. The each scored one run in the third inning, then nothing else through nine innings. Then they each scored single runs in both the 10th and 11th, and left a combined eight runners on base in those four half-innings.

After the Rockies left two more on in a scoreless top of the 12th, Colorado opted to intentionally walk both Jackson Merrill and Manny Machado to load the bases. Xander Bogaerts made them pay with a walk-off grand slam.

Division news & notes

• The next night after Bogaerts, Gavin Sheets played hero, snapping a 2-2 tie with a walk-off three-run blast for San Diego.
• D-backs shortstop Geraldo Perdomo finished fourth in National League MVP voting last year, but is off to a rough start to 2026, hitting just .157/.286/.255 thus far.
• The San Francisco Giants have lost the final game of four of their five series. They are also having trouble closing out at-bats and innings.
• The Monforts sold 40 percent of the Colorado Rockies, the latest step in what appears to be actual turnover for the division’s worst franchise.

NL West standings

Dodgers 11-4, – –
Padres 10-6, 1.5 GB
D-backs 9-7, 2.5 GB
Rockies 6-10, 5.5 GB
Giants 6-10, 5.5 GB

The week ahead

• Dodgers: vs. Mets, at Rockies (4-game wraparound)
• D-backs: at Orioles, vs. Blue Jays
• Padres: vs. Mariners, at Angels
• Rockies: at Astros, vs. Dodgers (4-game wraparound)
• Giants: at Reds, at Nationals

Only one divisional matchup this week, with the Dodgers at Coors Field to play the Rockies for four games beginning Friday night.

If there’s anything that I learned over the past week of watching the Red Sox, it’s that baseball can—believe it or not—be fun! God, remember what it was like to actually enjoy this team’s play?

After many in Red Sox Nation (myself included) started to worry about the trajectory of the 2026 season, Boston has won two straight sets against NL Central clubs. A series win against a very good Brewers team got things going, and a two-outta-three swing in St. Louis immediately afterwards helped get the club back on track (relatively). Just like that, guess who’s two games back of the Yankees (some other teams as well, sure, but I think that narrative more) while posting a positive run differential?

The bats have woken up (more on that in a few paragraphs), the defense looks far better, and starters are actually pitching into the fifth inning—or, hell, even later! By the time we sit here next week, we could be back north of .500 after some existential questions regarding this project were being asked. Granted, we could also be right behind the eight ball again if we fail to take care of business against the Twinkies and the Motor City Kitties in the coming days.

Weird game, baseball.

Regardless, I’m just happy to see some quality play at long last. So let’s talk about some of that while we still can.

It’s Monday Morning Brushback time, y’all.

Have to wake up bats

No way to sugar coat it: the Red Sox’s offensive output in the first few weeks of the season was subpar. After dropping the first game to the Cardinals on Friday, Boston ranked 25th in the league in total team OPS; not a great sign for a team that plays half of its game at a hitter-friendly park and has played at other yards that allow for more offense such as Cincy and Houston.

However, an interesting tweet from Thomas Nestico (great follow) crossed my desk this weekend—one that certainly caught me by surprise. That post pointed out that the Red Sox’s hard hit rate has actually been pretty good so far this season, ranking within the top 10 across MLB prior to the start of play on Friday.

Again: those hard hit numbers don’t account for the crooked numbers our guys put up on Saturday and Sunday to secure their second consecutive series win. Entering play Sunday, the Sox’s hard hit percentage went up by just over a percentage point to 42.7% per Savant. What it looks like after Sunday’s victory…….I’m not sure, since I don’t believe that the site has been updated, but the trends are positive for us!

That information did give me some relief from what we’ve seen in terms of the run output thus far. Yeah, the offense has looked anemic at points, but the offensive profiles I had been optimistic about before the season still remain. Prior to Sunday’s finale, a total of nine Red Sox hitters had a hard hit rate that ranked within the 50th percentile league-wide or better. A good cohort of those same guys rank within the top half of MLB in other under-the-hood metrics; xwOBA, expected slugging, barrel rate, all that fun stuff.

One name notably not towards the top of those metrics: Roman Anthony, who’s been slow out of the gates when compared to the expectations many had for him at the season’s start. To reemphasize the point about profiles, though, that’s not someone I worry about. I still think he’s gonna come around in 2026 and be a great bat at the top of the order. I still think Willson Contreras projects to be a key part of this lineup (and you’ve really seen that come to fruition over the last few games). While he won’t keep up with the incredible pace he’s had to start the year, I think Wilyer Abreu’s breakout is here in earnest.

The skeleton of a solid (maybe not incredible, granted) offense is there, and the underlying metrics show it. During an entire season, those quality-of-contact traits should start to win out. This offense was never going to be as bad over the course of 162 games that we saw in the first 10. Perhaps this weekend was the shot in the arm this lineup needed to really get things cookin’. Or, maybe they’ll keep up with the backbreaking strikeouts and revert right back to their old ways. Who knows?

I’m willing to stick my neck out for the former, though. I’m not saying this is the ‘27 Yankees, and there are still fair questions to ask (Trevor Story and Caleb Durbin, let’s get some more consistent production with the lumber please) but I like enough of the pieces here in Boston and believe we’ll see a competitive lineup this season.

Suarez steps up

After a couple of false starts, let’s just go ahead and declare Saturday as the true start of the Ranger Suarez era! Best we just forget those first two appearances, right?

In all seriousness, nice job by the newest member of the rotation to bounce back following a pair of bad outings to start his tenure in Boston. Across six shutout innings in the Gateway City, Suarez struck out six Cards while surrendering just a trio of hits and a pair of walks. Things seemed like they were going to get hairy early on, but after a prolonged first inning he was able to lock in and efficiently work his way to a quality start.

It isn’t a secret as to how Ranger was able to produce a nice start in St. Louis, because it’s the thing that got him a nine-figure deal in the first place. He could make for a great real estate agent, because Suarez’s game comes down to three words: location, location, location.

According to FanGraphs, Suarez’s Location+ metric (“Location+ is a count- and pitch type-adjusted judge of a pitcher’s ability to put pitches in the right place”) was 111 in the prior two seasons; 100 is always average for these plus stats, in case you weren’t aware. That’s the second-best mark out of pitchers who threw at least 300 total innings across 2024 and 2025; only Paul Skenes (!!!!!) had him beat. It’s a huge reason as to why he posted ERAs below 3.50 in both of those campaigns: his location and his pitch mix is his bread and butter.

And yet, we really didn’t get to see that bread and butter until Saturday. I’m glad we eventually saw the blueprint for what works for Suarez, though! After having Location+ figures of 97 and 102 in his first two starts, that mark jumped up to 107 in Ranger’s third—and so far, best—outing.

He threw five offerings on at least seven occasions across his 84 pitches over the weekend, putting an added emphasis on the sinker (which he threw 46% of the time compared to the 31% usage of that pitch on the year) while notably logging three whiffs with his changeup. All of that success starts with the command, as Tommy Bennett points out below.

You can read more about Suarez by taking a look at the great Matthew Gross’ article that was posted onto OTM the other day, but Ranger’s charmed me with this most recent appearance. Once more, this is the profile of a pitcher that I’m not worried about long term. That’s the word of the day—profile—because I still trust in him to be a strong deputy to Garrett Crochet in the pitching staff considering his track record. Suarez isn’t the type of demon that can mow batters down like it’s nothing thanks to an incredible ability to miss bats, like Crochet, but he doesn’t have to.

Locate that junk and mix up the pitches. That’s how we win, Ranger.

For Whom The Bell Tolles

A quick word on southpaw prospect Payton Tolle to wrap things up, as all accounts show that he’s been cooking down in AAA and could be knocking on Boston’s door once again for a call up soon.

With the WooSox this weekend, Boston’s top prospect logged six punch outs across five innings and 75 pitches. He gave up three hits and issued only one free pass, while he initiated whiffs on 25% of his pitches. The piglet to Crochet’s pig, indeed.

What’s interesting about this stat, to me, is the amount of times he threw his cutter: 20 times, to be specific, so just over a quarter of the time. For reference, Tolle threw his cutter 42 total times (a rate of nearly 14%) in his 16.1 innings of MLB ball in 2025.

I think we all knew that the secondary offerings had to come before Tolle could be fully entrenched within Boston’s pitching staff. The four-seamer is incredible, yes, but he was throwing it about two-thirds of the time during his cup of coffee. Something with glove-side movement and a change of pace like that cutter, along with the breaking curve and the arm-side bite of a sinker, can keep batters honest. It’s simple analysis, but it seems to be coming to fruition.

I forget what date for a call up would guarantee the Red Sox another year of team control for Tolle, but I think it’s approaching in a matter of weeks. I’m sure we’ll be seeing him soon enough.

And if the pitching thing doesn’t work out, at least Tolle can fall back on his history teaching as a career option.

Song of the Week: “Going Shopping” by The Strokes

The boys are back, baby.

Same time and same place next week, friends! Go Sox.