Category: Sports News

Following a 5-3 victory on Tuesday night, the Minnesota Twins wasted no time adding insult to injury for the New York Mets, who suffered their 12th consecutive loss.

The Twins seized the moment with a witty social media post. On X, the team's official account shared a celebratory photo from the game with the tongue-in-cheek caption: “Things that you can get in a dozen: Eggs, Roses, Mets losses.”

New York Mets fans haven't had much to cheer about this season, especially during the team's current 12-game losing streak. But help is on the way.

Star outfielder Juan Soto is set to return from a calf strain that has sidelined him since April 4. During that time, the Mets have fallen from first place in the National League East division to the worst record in the majors.

Soto, who finished third in the 2025 NL MVP voting in his first season after signing a 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets, is skipping a minor league rehab assignment and is expected to be back in the lineup Wednesday, April 22, for a home game against the Minnesota Twins.

Essentially, the lab is a place where we can test what we see. That is what statistics are ultimately for. The whole goal is to explain mathematically what we are seeing and feeling. Sometimes we can explain it mathematically and sometimes we aren’t really seeing what we think we are seeing. It might seem like we are throwing a lot of pasta at the wall to see what sticks, but I am a firm believer in the idea that the more numbers we get that say the same thing the more likely we are to be accurate in our assumptions.

This brings us to real offensive value (ROV) and bases per out (BPO). Before we dive into these numbers we should define them, how they are calculated, and what they are looking for. Real offensive value is the easiest one to calculate. The idea behind it is the combine elements like batting average with elements that include everything but batting average. It includes two numbers that can easily be found at baseball-reference.com. Simply put, you add batting average to secondary average and divide by two.

Essentially, secondary average calculates everything a player does that does not include batting average. For most of us in the stats game, that would include isolated power, isolated patience, and stolen bases. A league average secondary average tends to mirror the league average in batting average, so a real offensive value can be interpreted the same way as batting average. A .250 ROV is probably close to big league average although early returns might be different this season.

BPO essentially measures the same thing in a different way. It is calculated by adding total bases, walks, hit by pitches, and stolen bases and dividing it by the total number of outs. Unfortunately, baseball-reference.com does not calculate either ROV or BPO, but the components are all there to do it by hand. While seasons vary, the league average tends to range between .650 and .700.

The first thing we are going to do is clean up our disclaimers and particulars. These are the numbers at the conclusion of Monday night’s game. Obviously, no two numbers will ever have a perfect 100 percent correlation. That is particularly true early in the season. ROV and BPO measure most of the same things, but there are some subtle differences. For instance, ROV does not penalize you for grounding into double plays, but bases per out does. On a long enough timeline, those things won’t matter as much, but in the span of 24 games it all matters a great deal.

These numbers confirm a couple of important things and highlight an area where we may have overlooked something. On the first count, Yordan’s numbers are just stupidly good. You’d have to track the best seasons of Barry Bonds, Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, or maybe Lou Gehrig to find numbers that would even approach that for a full season. For reasons that will hopefully be obvious, we won’t do that yet, but if this trend continues we will definitely look at those comparisons.

Secondly, Diaz has been historically awful both offensively and defensively (as Patrick pointed out yesterday). Again, this is about finding as many different ways to show the same thing over and over. It seems repetitive, but it also confirms something we are seeing with our eyes. This is one of those areas where Patrick has done the heavy lifting for me. It would be easy to look at Vazquez’s numbers and Diaz’s numbers and simply assume that Vazquez should be the starter from here on out.

That may turn out to be the case, but nothing is ever that simple. Vazquez’s underlying hitting numbers point to regression. We are looking at things like expected batting average, expected slugging percentage, and exit velocity. Vazquez will not be an all-star catcher when all is said and done. If we are lucky he could be the equivalent of a mediocre regular catcher when all is said and done. The good news is that he doesn’t have to be.

A baseball season is a 162 game marathon, but within that marathon there are multiple parts. Each player has good parts and bad parts. The trick is to maximize the good parts and minimize the bad parts. Vazquez is hot and Diaz is cold. That will likely change within a few weeks, but Joe Espada might as well take advantage of the hot streak now. If he and the Astros are lucky, Diaz will recover at about the same time that Vazquez begins to falter. In the meantime, you milk as much as you can out of Vazquez and minimize the damage Diaz is currently doing.

The surprise in the numbers comes in the fact that Brice Mathews doesn’t look like hot garbage when looking at those numbers. Many of the Astros young hitters are cut from the same cloth. They bring power, patience, and speed to the offense. They also bring a ton of swing and miss. The outfield will provide Espada with opportunities to mix and match. Center field might be an interesting spot for a platoon when Jake Meyers comes back. A lefty/righty platoon between Trammel and Meyers could be intriguing.

Similarly, a lefty righty platoon between Joey Loperfido and Mathews might also be interesting in left field. Obviously, Yordan will play there some as well as they try to fit Isaac Paredes into the every day lineup. The point is that lackluster pitching might give this team some freedom to experiment with guys in a lower pressure situation. If the playoffs are not riding on the outcome, you can use a couple of spots to test younger players to see if they can be a part of the picture moving forward. We will definitely revisit this as the year goes on. Is there anything that surprised you?

Happy Wednesday, everyone! Just a light general news post for the day, where we look at Dillon Dingler’s incredible zone awareness, just how good Kevin McGonigle has been to start his rookie season, and in a more broad strokes look at baseball news we get a preview of the All-Star Week events, Craig Counsell calls Shohei Ohtani “bizarre” (well, not really), and we dabble into hot topics about pitching.

So let’s just jump right into it!

Detroit Tigers News

• That Dingler kid knows his strike zone.

• Guess the Tigers are feeling pretty good about this extension.

• Prospects on the move.

AL Central News

• Munetaka Murakami has been exactly what the White Sox hoped he’d be: a heavy hitter.

MLB News

• A Dodgers player, injured? Edwin Diaz is heading for surgery.
• Can the 2026 Mets still turn things around?
• Yordan Alvarez has been a real bright spot for the Astros this season.
• A first look at the MLB All-Star Week schedule.
• Is the NL Central the best division in baseball right now?
• Craig Counsell wasn’t shy about calling Shohei Ohtani’s roster flexibility “bizarre.”
• Where does Mason Miller’s scoreless streak rank among relievers?
• I’m sorry but this catch is absolutely insane.
• One Red Sox fan decided to bypass coffee for Monday’s early game and went right to drinking beer out of his shoe.
• What’s going wrong for the Phillies?
• What could the sale of the Padres mean for other small-market teams?
• Will Benson made a fun baseball oddity, scoring twice in one game without ever seeing a pitch.
• Is “lab-grown” pitching changing baseball? (Also a good reminder to read “Unhittable” in preparation for our May 1 book club!)
• Speaking of pitching, Jeff Passan looks at the rise of the 100mph fastball.
• The Blue Jays had to get between game cities by good old-fashioned bus recently after their plane was grounded.
• Jake Mangum, MVP

• A new Mets curse?

• I suppose those outfield lawns are good for something after all.

Michael Busch has been in a season-long slump.

Hopefully, his bases-l0aded two-run single that broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth inning will help him get back to who he was last year. The Cubs also got home runs from Nico Hoerner and Seiya Suzuki and rode yet another outstanding outing from Shōta Imanaga to a 7-4 win over the Phillies on a warm April evening at Wrigley Field. It was the team’s seventh straight win, their longest winning streak since an eight-game run from July 21-29, 2023. It was also the Phillies’ seventh consecutive loss.

Let’s begin at the beginning. Imanaga breezed through the first four innings, allowing just a leadoff walk to Trea Turner and a fourth-inning single to Félix Reyes. Help came, as usual, from the defense. Matt Shaw made this nice grab in foul territory in the first [VIDEO].

The Cubs, though, could not break through in that four-inning stretch, despite having multiple baserunners in multiple innings. They stranded two runners in the second and had the bases loaded in the third with one out when Alex Bregman and Ian Happ walked and Suzuki was hit by a pitch. But Carson Kelly popped up and Busch grounded out.

Stranding runners was going to become a theme in this game.

Dansby Swanson led off the fourth with a walk and one out later was on third after a single by Pete Crow-Armstrong. But he ended the inning right there, on third base.

The Cubs finally got on the board in the fifth. Another walk to Happ was followed by a single from Suzuki. The next two Cubs were routine outs, but they loaded the bases on a walk to Swanson.

Moisés Ballesteros was sent up to bat for Shaw. With the crowd standing, he walked to force in a run [VIDEO].

Look how close that pitch was! (Pitch 7)

Ballesteros, who won numerous ABS challenges while catching during Spring Training, clearly has excellent strike zone judgment.

Scott Kingery was sent in to run for Ballesteros. This move would come back to hurt the Cubs, a bit, later in the game. Craig Counsell was making moves in the fifth inning that a team wouldn’t normally make that early.

PCA, unfortunately, grounded out to end the inning and the Cubs left the bases loaded for the second time.

Kyle Schwarber homered off Imanaga with one out in the sixth to tie the game. It was Imanaga’s only real mistake in seven strong innings. Shōta has allowed just three home runs in 29 innings so far this year, a huge improvement over 2025. He also currently has the best WHIP in MLB at 0.724 and 32 strikeouts in the 29 innings. Imanaga struck out just one in this game, but got 11 ground-ball outs. Here’s more on Shōta’s evening [VIDEO].

A few more notes on Imanaga’s start, from BCB’s JohnW53:

Imanaga is just the fourth Cubs pitcher in the Live Ball Era to start each of his first 59 career games. The first three were Kerry Wood, in 1998-2001; Mark Prior, in 2002-04; and Kyle Hendricks, in 2014-16.
Prior had the lowest ERA of the three, 2.99. Imanaga’s is 3.19. Hendricks’ was 3.31; Woods’, 4.06.
…..
Prior’s also is the lowest among 18 Cubs who made at least 50 starts among their first 59 career games. Rick Reuschel is second, at 3.10 in 56 starts, then Imanaga, Hendricks, Burt Hooton (3.39 in 55), Mike Harkey (3.47 in 58) and Moe Drabowsky (3.50 in 52).

Greg Maddux (55 starts) is tied with Dick Ellsworth (50) for 13th, at 4.05. Jamie Moyer had the highest ERA, 5.01 in 56 starts.

The Cubs broke the tie in the bottom of the sixth. Nico led off with a single. Bregman hit a line drive right at Turner for the first out. Happ singled, but Suzuki struck out. Another walk, drawn by Carson Kelly, loaded the bases.

That brought up Busch [VIDEO].

Busch has actually started to hit, a little, over the last week or so. He’s 8-for-30 (.267) over his last eight games, with four walks giving him a .353 OBP in that span. There’s no power, unfortunately — all eight hits are singles. Hopefully the power will come soon.

Anyway, after Busch’s single, Swanson walked — for the third time! — re-loading the bases. Kingery flied to right to end the inning. If you’re counting, that’s the third time the Cubs left the bases loaded in this game.

The Cubs broke the game open in the seventh. Nico led off with his fourth home run of the year [VIDEO].

Bregman walked and Happ followed with a fly ball to right.

That brought up Suzuki, who had not hit much so far this year. In this at-bat, he absolutely crushed one — to Waveland! [VIDEO].

That ball was hit really hard and went a long, long way:

Here’s where Seiya’s ball went:

Bryce Harper hit a two-run homer off Riley Martin in the eighth, the first runs Martin has allowed since he came to the Cubs. I still like what Martin brings to the team; no shame in giving up a home run to Harper. That made the score 6-3.

The Cubs extended the lead to 7-3 in the eighth. Busch led off with a walk. That was the 10th walk drawn by the Cubs in this game. From John:

The Cubs’ 10 walks were their most since they had 11 at home vs. the White Sox in a 7-3 win on May 17 of last season. Their last game with exactly 10 was on March 31 of last year, while routing the Athletics, 18-3, in the first big league game played in Sacramento.

One out later, Kingery singled — his first hit as a Cub — and PCA laid down a nice bunt to load the bases yet again. A wild pitch scored Busch to make it 7-3. After that, Hoerner was hit by a pitch to re-load the bases, but Bregman hit a line drive comebacker and Happ flied to center to end the inning, so the Cubs left the bases loaded for the fourth time on the evening. They had 12 hits, 10 walks and two batters hit by pitches for a total of 24 baserunners, stranding 17 of them. About that, from John:

Since 1901, the Cubs had played only one previous game in which they had left at least 17 runners on base in a nine-inning game, as they did Tuesday.

They stranded 17 while beating the Reds, 3-1, at Wrigley Field on July 3, 2010. The Cubs made 10 hits, received nine walks and had a batter hit by pitch.

It should be noted that in both those games, since they were both at home, the Cubs left 17 runners while batting in only eight innings! The MLB record for LOB in a nine-inning game is 20, by the Yankees Sept. 21, 1956 against the Red Sox. The Yankees lost that game 13-7 — the Cubs won both the games in which they stranded 17.

Anyway, with the game not in a save situation, Jacob Webb entered to finish. And he might have, if not for the second throwing error of the game by Kingery. This was the risk Counsell took by removing Shaw from the game after just five innings. With a four-run lead in the ninth, I think Counsell should have taken Bregman out of the DH spot and put him at third base for defense.

In any case, the Phillies were thus able to score on a sac fly to make it 7-4, and when Brandon Marsh followed that with a single, Counsell had to call on Caleb Thielbar to finish up. He got Edmundo Sosa to pop up and ended the game with another popup, by Turner [VIDEO].

Here are some postgame comments from Counsell [VIDEO].

And Taylor McGregor talks to Suzuki about his first home run of 2026 [VIDEO].

During the seven-game winning streak, the Cubs have outscored the opposition 51-18 and the 51 runs are the most in MLB over that span. (And they scored seven in the game before the winning streak in a 13-7 loss to the Phillies.) Everything seems to be working well right now so, at least for this game:

Tuesday’s victory also gave the Cubs four wins over the Phillies this year, which clinches the season series. Who knows, maybe that will be important come October. Also with this win and the Pirates loss Tuesday, the Cubs are tied with the Cardinals for second place in the NL Central at 14-9, 1.5 games behind the Reds.

The Cubs will go for eight straight wins, as well as a win of this series, Wednesday evening at Wrigley Field. Matthew Boyd will be activated from the injured list to start Wednesday’s game. The Phillies are starting left-handed reliever Kyle Backhus, likely as an opener with Taijuan Walker set to follow at some point as the “bulk guy.” Game time is 6:40 p.m. CT and TV coverage will be via Marquee Sports Network.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers hope to break out of a funk as Shohei Ohtani takes the mound for Game 2 of their series against the San Francisco Giants. 

Tony Vitello’s built some much-needed momentum with a series-opening victory, however, and his squad is laser-focused on this rivalry series as a turning point in the young season.

My Dodgers vs. Giants predictions and MLB picks are backing the underdog on Wednesday, April 22.

Who will win Dodgers vs Giants today: Giants (+186)

The odds indicate that this is supposed to be a squash match for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Shohei Ohtani’s pristine 0.50 ERA stands in stark contrast to Tyler Mahle’s (7.23), so the market expects a bounce-back from L.A. after Tuesday’s 3-1 defeat. 

Mahle’s due for positive regression, however, as he pitched to a 2.18 ERA across 16 starts a year ago and will benefit from the confines of pitcher-friendly Oracle Park. 

Ohtani’s control (94 Location+) hasn’t come back to bite him yet, but that and his unsustainable .158 BABIP indicate his pretty ERA will creep up eventually.

COVERS INTEL: Tyler Mahle has found success against some of L.A.’s best hitters in the past. He’s held Ohtani, Kyle Tucker, and Max Muncy to six hits in 29 at-bats (.207 AVG) with 10 strikeouts.

Dodgers vs Giants Over/Under pick: Under 7.5 (+108)

The first game of this series flew Under the total in a low-scoring 3-1 San Francisco Giants win, and a similar result could be in store during a chilly Wednesday night in San Francisco. 

Temperatures in the high-50s for most of this contest will benefit both starting pitchers as well as the two Top-10 bullpens behind them (LAD 3.49 SIERA in relief; SFG 3.59). 

L.A. is in a bit of a slump, dropping three of its last four games while missing Mookie Betts and Tommy Edman in the lineup. San Francisco, meanwhile, has yet to get the bats going against right-handed pitching (79 wRC+).

Dodgers vs Giants odds

• Moneyline: Dodgers -200 | Giants +190
• Run line: Dodgers -1.5 (-120) | Giants +1.5 (-105)
• Over/Under: Over 7.5 | Under 7.5

Dodgers vs Giants trend

The Dodgers have dropped three of their last four games, costing one-unit bettors a 5.75 unit loss. Find more MLB betting trends for Dodgers vs. Giants.

How to watch Dodgers vs Giants and game info

Dodgers vs Giants latest injuries

Dodgers vs Giants weather

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MLB.com’s Anne Rogers talks to the Kansas City Royals leadership following a terrible start to the 2026 season.

“You look back two months ago, month ago, no one in here would believe we’re technically the worst team in baseball,” Bobby Witt Jr. said. “We believe in each and every one in here. And that’s how we got to go about it. We got to get better every day and try to just improve.”

This is the answer the Royals continue to state no matter how bad things look on the field. General manager J.J. Picollo expressed outward confidence in his club Monday afternoon in his usual homestand-opening scrum with local media, acknowledging that the group is pressing some but that the only way out of it is to keep moving forward and trust the process just 23 games into the year.

“We all know how long the season is,” Picollo said. “If you break the season up in bunches, short bunches, it doesn’t take much to turn something around. But if we get too focused and caught up in what’s happened over the last couple of weeks, we’re not going to be able to move forward. You get one big hit, the energy changes. The excitement changes. That may lead into the next night, and now all of a sudden the mentality changes. That’s something that we need to have happen.”

That was not all Picollo had to say, especially when it came to sticking with manager Matt Quatraro.

Once again, the Royals find themselves stumbling out of the gate in the first full month of the season. The Royals have lost eight straight games following Monday night’s 7-5 defeat to the Orioles in 12 innings, and they have the worst record in baseball at 7-16. Some fans have called for a change, but Royals general manager J.J. Picollo on Monday met with the media and expressed confidence in manager Matt Quatraro. The reason for Picollo’s faith? He looked back at Quatraro’s first year as Royals manager in 2023 when the team lost 106 games. But the following season, they were in the playoffs. “That’s ultimately going back to ‘23 when you go through a really tough year, and the composure that he kept through ‘23, the positivity, the way we played in August and September of that year, where we played a lot better, led into ‘24,” Picollo said of Quatraro. “I think his steadiness is what allows us to do things well and right the ship.” That ship is currently taking on water.

Where is the Royals’ new stadium actually going to be located? Probably not Washington Square Park, apparently.

Johnathan Duncan, city councilman for the 6th District, told The Star the stadium footprint “that will be briefed tomorrow is not Washington Square Park.” The city has notably been referring to the project location as a combination of Washington Square Park and neighboring Crown Center. While the Royals have not publicly unveiled their vision for the area, Duncan’s suggestion would illustrate a remarkable shift in at least the public perception of the stadium plan. The City Council passed an ordinance Thursday authorizing City Manager Mario Vasquez to negotiate with the Royals a stadium deal up to $600 million. The financial framework has occupied the conversation over the ensuing week, but Duncan said, “there’s a lack of clarity about the site.” The Royals could provide that clarity during a planned Wednesday morning announcement at a Crown Center restaurant.

Win or lose, the Royals have a big announcement Wednesday.

The Kansas City Royals are scheduled to announce an “important update” about the team’s future in Kansas City on Wednesday, a long-awaited decision that could mark the culmination of the team’s stadium hunt. Royals Chairman and CEO John Sherman will make the announcement alongside Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe and Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas at 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to a release from the team on Tuesday. TOP VIDEOS The video player is currently playing an ad. The announcement is expected to center on a new Royals downtown stadium, according to two officials scheduled to attend the press conference and an email invitation sent to City Council members on Tuesday. That invitation references a “Bring the Crown Downtown Ballpark Celebration.”

David Lesky did not mince words after the Royals’ Monday night loss.

At some point, the hole is just too deep to get out of, but that point generally doesn’t come quite so early in the season. And yet, here we are after another Royals loss, their eighth in a row. The Royals had a gut-punch loss in the second game of the season when they blew a 2-0 lead in the ninth. They had another gut-punch loss just a few days ago when they came back from five down to take a lead into the ninth, but blew that. Last night may be worse than either of those. But having three examples to choose from in 23 games might be the bigger problem than any single game. The fact that I would have been shocked if they didn’t blow it last night is just sad.

There were 18 players who appeared for the Royals last night. Four of them carry zero blame of an ugly, ugly loss.

Lesky was not the only one who felt this way, after Royals fans made their feelings heard during Monday’s loss.

There were boos throughout the night. The Royals (7-16) own the worst record in Major League Baseball and have lost eight consecutive games. TOP VIDEOS The video player is currently playing an ad. You can skip the ad in 5 sec with a mouse or keyboard Royals star Bobby Witt Jr. addressed the situation postgame. He felt the Royals’ fan base deserved a better product on the field. “Yeah, it sucks,” Witt said. “But if you’re the worst team in baseball, you might deserve to get booed every once in a while. It should motivate us to get better. Just motivate us to go out there and just lay it all on the field each and every night. Give it all every night, and so just go from there.”

Just in case you forgot the pain that was Monday’s loss, here is a good reminder from Vahe Gregorian.

Somehow, though, the Royals outdid themselves Monday night with a nauseating defeat — one that conjured the immortal wisdom of former Royals manager Buddy Bell. Following a 10th straight loss in 2006, he alertly said, “I never say it can’t get worse.” At least that losing streak ended after one more L. These Royals should only be so fortunate after the 7-5 loss in 12 innings against Baltimore extended the losing streak to eight — their longest since a 10-game string in 2023 on the way to a 56-106 season. Instead of being the fresh start they desperately need, this game was somewhere between a microcosm and fusion of all that’s been going awry all season: Again with the stupefying inability to produce with runners in scoring position, underscored by leaving 16 men on base. Fresh evidence that the bullpen that was such an asset last season no longer is slamming the door but … a trap door; in this case, it squandered Seth Lugo’s seven innings of one-hit, scoreless work into the eighth loss of the season by relievers after Alex Lange gave up five runs in the 12th.

Royals Keep says it is time to hit reset on our expectations for the 2026 Royals.

Is it Time to Rethink the 2026 Royals?
Yes. No big league team is or can be perfect, but Kansas City’s imperfections are glaring. Perhaps general manager J.J. Picollo found the offseason price of a new big bat too high and settled for less than he wanted and his club needed. Perhaps Perez is running out of gas. Maybe some of the club’s talent is overrated, and was from the start.

Improvement is needed. And sooner, not later; the club can’t wait for the midsummer trade deadline. But the history of this typically conservative franchise suggests no new, truly impactful major league hitter will arrive this season, and hoping the rotation and bullpen pick up the slack all season is too much to ask.

Although it’s still early, this club is in trouble.

The Royals minor-league affiliates are staying competitive to start the season, and one Omaha reliever is standing out from his peers.

On the pitching end, Chazz Martinez had a solid week, allowing no runs on two hits and three walks while striking out six in three innings of work. For the season, Martinez is posting a 41.7% K% and 20.8% K-BB% in six innings of work. While the TJ Stuff+ metrics aren’t great (98 overall), he’s done an excellent job limiting hard contact while generating solid whiff and chase rates, as seen below.

The four-seamer is an interesting pitch with crazy horizontal break (18.3 HB), and it generates a decent amount of chase (26.9%) and whiff (31.8%) as well as weak contact (.241 xwOBACON). As a result, the four-seamer has a 102 TJ Stuff+ and a 57 grade. Unfortunately, his other offerings don’t rate as well stuff-wise, with his sweeper having a 30 grade and changeup sporting a 47 grade.

Still, Martinez could be an Evan Sisk type who simply can generate chase and whiff effectively due to his arm angles, even if he may not have the most overpowering stuff profile.

All five of Kansas City’s starters are in The Athletic’s top 100 starting pitching rankings following the April update.

Labor negotiations. legacy, and more are in question as people react to the upcoming San Diego Padres sale.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan’s book The Arm is one of the game’s best works on modern pitching, but the insider talks to today’s young pitchers about the chase for triple-digit velocity.

Padres reliever Mason Miller is in a historic scoreless streak, but he is still chasing Wade Davis’ mark, among others.

Do you still have hope the Royals can turn things around? Bleacher Report shows just how dire things can get before a team gets better.

Chris Bzozowski wonders if the Philadelphia Phillies are running out of time to turn things around.

Who is winning the ABS race after an abnormal weekend?

The Texas Rangers find a home for the controversial “One Riot, One Ranger” statue at GlobeLife Field.

Teams are starting to respond to baserunners increasing their average leads with first basemen doing the same.

Is there a new Elder statesman for the Atlanta Braves?

Boston Red Sox starter Sony Gray hits the IL with a hamstring strain.

The Minnesota Twins reinstated oft-injured youngster Royce Lewis from the IL.

Braves reliever Rasiel Iglesias hits the IL with right shoulder inflammation.

Check out the NFL Draft boards from Ryan Clancy and Daniel Harms.

Find someone who loves you as much as Stanford athletics loves winning national championships.

Caddies should and are getting some more love in golf.

New Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Justin Fields is embracing his new role.

New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel is still dealing with the fallout of photos showing him with reporter Dianna Russini.

Basketball coach Billy Donovan resigned from his head coaching post after six seasons with the Chicago Bulls.

Hey, a date for that Riverfront KC Extension!

Unexpected Blooms in Kansas City turns recycled flowers into a way to nurture the next generation of florists.

What is the legacy of abolitionist icon John Brown in Kansas?

Alan Osmond, the eldest member of the Osmonds, passed away at 76.

Your song of the day is Rush with Tom Sawyer.

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The three-game series is up for grabs when the Baltimore Orioles meet the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium this afternoon.

Royals starter Michael Wacha’s peripherals point to regression, and my Orioles vs. Royals predictions and MLB picks are backing the underdog Orioles. 

Who will win Orioles vs Royals today: Baltimore Orioles (+115)

Michael Wacha’s 1.00 ERA looks dominant, but it’s misleading. His 3.95 xFIP suggests he hasn’t pitched nearly that well, and regression is coming. 

The Baltimore Orioles lineup is already rolling, scoring 12 runs in this series, and the Kansas City Royals' bullpen, ranked 26th in baseball, is unlikely to slow them down. The Orioles also hold a clear bullpen edge, and that matters once the starters exit.

The Royals are 8-16 for a reason; outside of Carter Jensen and Bobby Witt Jr., their sticks have been too inconsistent, and I'll take the plus-money Orioles today.  

COVERS INTEL:This Orioles bullpen strikes out the second-most batters per nine innings (10.38) with a third-best 3.26 SIERRA.

Orioles vs Royals Over/Under pick: Under 9.5 (-126)

Wacha may be outperforming his metrics, but his 23.5% strikeout rate and 33% chase rate are legitimate, and Baltimore's lineup punches out 25% of the time against right-handers. 

That's a dangerous combination. 

Kansas City's bullpen may be a disaster, but they won't be tested much if Wacha deals deep into the game. Kansas City's lineup will swing early and often against Bassitt, and its 23.5% strikeout rate should help the struggling Orioles starter.

With two pitchers doing just enough against two aggressive lineups, runs might be hard to come by. Take the Under.

Orioles vs Royals odds

• Moneyline: Orioles +113 | Royals -122
• Run line: Orioles +1.5 (-170) | Royals -1.5 (+163)
• Over/Under: Over 9.5 (+113) | Under (-117)

Orioles vs Royals trend

The Royals have cashed the Under in 29 of their last 50 games for +6.20 units and an 11% ROI. Find more MLB betting trends for Orioles vs. Royals.

How to watch Orioles vs Royals and game info

Orioles vs Royals latest injuries

Orioles vs Royals weather

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There have been a lot of words spilled about the Mets and the Giants and the Blue Jays and the Red Sox potentially ending their October dreams, well, already. Seeing things like “only 3% of teams playing this poorly have gone on to make the playoffs” makes it sound like a done deal. But for most of baseball history making the playoffs was hard. Really hard. And the Red Sox are making it as hard as possible as they open the season going 9-14.

Until 1968 only two teams made the postseason. They played in the World Series. When the Yankees talk about “27 rings” remember that 20 of those were won via a single round of postseason play. (Yes that applies to the Red Sox too, but no other team is chanting their total titles.) The winner of that series won the World Series. No random chance 84-win team sending their ace in a coin-flip game. No Wild Card Series. No Division Series. No Championship Series. There was none of that when Cy Young, pictured above, was pitching in October, which was in fact, September in the beginning.

The 1951 New York Giants finished with a final record of 98-59. They started the season 9-14, just like the 2026 Red Sox. If the ‘51 Giants sound familiar to you it’s because they, like the 2026 Mets, lost 11 straight. During the opening 23 games. At least the Sox haven’t combined their record this year with the Mets losing streak. It’s partially sequencing, of course, as the Mets have only been a tad worse (7-16) than Boston so far, but it does feel better to know there is, like the Sarlacc pit, a new definition of pain and suffering.

Those Giants are the only team to start 9-14 and make the playoffs in this era. But keep in mind these were the two-team, straight-to-the-World-Series years.

From 1969 until 1993 the playoffs doubled in size from two to four teams. With expansion to 24 teams (12 and 12) and splitting each league into two divisions the playoff push became more difficult. But double the teams entered the competition! The 1969 Mets and 1979 Pirates even win the World Series after their slow starts. The 1984 Royals, 1987 Tigers, 1989 Blue Jays all make it into the playoffs, losing in their Championship Series to the Tigers, Twins, and Athletics, respectively.

This is not even half as much time as the World Series era but the slow starting 9-14 teams have five playoff appearances just by going from two to four teams.

Before the 1994 strike canceled the end of the season and the playoffs, baseball was set to debut a new postseason format. Expanding from two division into three with East, Central, and West divisions in the American and National leagues, MLB added two new playoff seats as each divisional champion would receive an invitation. And as they said in the As Seen on TV Ads of the ‘90s but wait there’s more! Two new Wild Cards – one per league – would be added as well. The team with the best record that wasn’t a division winner, across the entire league, would also make the playoffs. From four teams to eight.

The first team to go 9-14 and make the playoffs? The 2005 Yankees. The 2006 Twins, 2007 Rockies, 2007 Yankees, and 2009 Rockies would all go on to do this as well. That ‘05 Yankees team won 95 games! The Twins won 96. The ‘07 Yankees won 94.

Outcomes can be unlikely but still possible. Heck, just look at batting averages. It’s cliche but it’s true.

2012 would bring another tweak: the Wild Card would become a one-game playoff. We’re now at ten teams or one-third of the league. There will be a one-year sixteen-team playoff tournament in 2020 due to, well, everything. And then from 2022 to at least 2026, a twelve-team bracket. In all of these Wild Card expansions there has been only one slow starting team in October: the 2014 Pirates. They started at 9-14 but finished at 88-74. The 2014 Mariners would go on to win 87 games but not make the playoffs.

Since then the slow starters have maxed out at 82-80, the 2025 Kansas City Royals.

But the takeaway is not that it’s impossible or that it’s likely to happen. But that over time, as MLB expands the playoffs, teams can make bigger mistakes, start slower, and not necessarily be punished. It doesn’t’ matter that 3% of teams doing X, Y, or Z made the playoffs from 1901 until 2025. What really matters is from 2022 onward. In four seasons, yes, there hasn’t been a team that started 9-14 in the playoffs. And last year’s Royals finished 5.0 games back from even the expanded Wild Card. But the Tigers made it in with 87 wins. Not starting 9-14, but the Cincinnati Reds made it into the Wild Card with 83 wins. 83!

The Red Sox are frustrating. But it’s not over yet. Maybe 90 wins is impossible. But if they win 87 and Garret Crochet is healthy and cruising, Roman has 20 home runs, and Chapman has a pile of saved games, do you think that team couldn’t win 2 out of 3 in the postseason? Or 3 out of 4? I’m not sure I really want mid-or-low-80s teams to have a possibility of the playoffs, even if it’s my team, but in a 12 team bracket that’s possible. The longer MLB runs with 12 teams (or more!) in the postseason the more likely it is that these “no team has ever” records fall away.

Meet the Mets

The Mets lost their twelfth-straight game 5-3 to the Twins, despite a three-run home run from Francisco Lindor and a strong start by Nolan McLean.

Choose your recap: Amazin’ Avenue, MLB.com, Newsday, New York Daily News, New York Post, The Athletic

Plenty has been said about who or what may be at fault for the Mets’ losing ways, but the Mets offense has been the worst in the league during their eleven game skid.

It’s only April, but questions have already been being raised about whether or not the 2026 Mets can be salvaged.

Kodai Senga’s start will be pushed back, with Christian Scott being called up to start Thursday instead, and David Peterson will remain in the bullpen.

Juan Soto will be activated for today’s game, but his workload will be managed in his return.

Soto may have more than just the Mets record on his back in his return—he could be responsible for his manager’s job security as well.

The Mets are breaking new ground for early season disappointment, at least when it comes to hyper-specific records.

Around the National League East

MLB and the Phillies revealed the festivities for All-Star Week, which coincides with the celebration of America’s semiquincentennial.

The Braves made a bevy of moves, with pitcher Raisel Iglesias landing on the injured list and Sean Murphy and Spencer Strider having their rehab assignments moved.

Zack Wheeler will be making his much anticipated (and needed) return to the Phillies rotation on Saturday against the Braves.

The Marlins fell to the Cardinals 5-3, with Chris Paddack giving up all five runs in 4.2 innings, with eight hits and seven strikeouts.

The division leading Braves were smacked around in an 11-4 loss to the Nationals. Reynaldo López lasted just one inning, giving up four runs on five hits and three walks.

The Cubs continued their hot streak against National League East teams, beating the Phillies 7-4. Jesús Luzardo pitched well for the Phillies, giving up just one run in 4.2 innings.

Around Major League Baseball

Craig Counsell criticized the two-way hitter designation with regards to Shohei Ohtani, and Dave Roberts responded.

MLB has no plans to have the ABS call every ball or strike…yet.

Recently released Met Luis Garcia found a new home, signing with the Mets current opponent, the Minnesota Twins.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

It’s been about a month of minor league baseball, and as such Steve Sypa delivered the fourth 2026 group of Mets Minor League Players of the Week.

Linus Lawrence looked back on the worst losing streak in Mets history, which was unsurprisingly in 1962, losing 17 straight from late May to early June. We’re getting closer!

This Date in Mets History

56 years ago, Tom Seaver received his 1969 Cy Young Award plaque and proceeded to strike out 19 batters in a 2-1 win over the San Diego Padres.

Rangers 5, Pirates 1

• Hey, that was fun!
• Texas got down two batters into the game. Oneil Cruz had a leadoff single, stole second and ended up on third when Danny Jansen’s throw ended up in center field, and scored on a Ryan O’Hearn single.
• Oh no!, we all thought, Kumar Rocker doesn’t have it today! We are going to have to use Cal Quantrill for multiple innings!
• Kumar Rocker did have it, though. As you can infer by the final score, no more Pirate runs scored the rest of the way. And after those first two leadoff singles, Rocker allowed just two hits and one walk. Rocker logged a Quality Start, striking out five. Way to go, Kumar!
• There is, however, a huge asterisk on that final line. An Evan Carter shaped asterisk.
• After the O’Hearn single, Rocker faced thirteen straight batters and got thirteen outs, with the one single he allowed erased on a double play ball. With one out in the fifth, Rocker was cruising.
• Jake Mangum then hit a first pitch single. Konnor Griffin hit a grounder in the hole at shortstop. Corey Seager was only going to have one play, at first, but he ended up bobbling the ball, resulting in two on, one out. A Henry Davis (hey, remember him?) tapper in front of the plate moved the runners to second and third with two outs, bringing up Oneil Cruz with the Rangers up 2-1.
• Here’s what happened next:

• Evan Carter made a spectacular leaping catch at the wall, stealing a go-ahead homer from Cruz.
• When Carter was going back to the wall, I was sure the ball was gone. I just knew that Carter would get there, leap, and the ball would be five feet over his glove. The Pirates had taken the lead.
• But no…Carter got there, timed it perfectly, and made the catch of the year for the Rangers.
• The Rangers added onto their lead in the bottom of the fifth, and things never felt in doubt after that. The Pirates didn’t get a runner past first base over the final four innings, with Cole Winn, Jacob Latz and Jakob Junis all responsible for an inning apiece.
• I thought Latz would be asked to finish things out when he came into the game for the eighth inning, though with Robert Garcia day-to-day with a sore left shoulder, Latz appears to be late inning lefty #1 right now, and thus limited to shorter outings.
• The bats put up crooked numbers in the second and the fifth. A Joc Pederson single, Josh Jung double, and Evan Carter single tied the game, with Josh Smith hitting a sacrifice fly to give the Rangers a lead that they would never surrender.
• If Game Winning RBIs were still a thing, Josh Smith would have gotten one for that.
• The other three runs came in the fifth when, energized by Evan Carter’s catch, the Rangers chased Pittsburgh starter Carmen Mlodzinski thanks to a Smith double, an Ezequiel Duran double, and a Corey Seager single. A Jake Burger single and a Joc Pederson walk loaded the bases up, and we all hoped the suddenly super-hot doubles machine that is Josh Jung would blow things open. We settled for an RBI groundout.
• Duran, incidentally, was in the game in place of Wyatt Langford, who walked and stole a base, but left the game due to forearm soreness he felt swinging the bat in his second plate appearance. Langford is getting an MRI on Wednesday, and hopefully, he is fine. If not, well, I guess it is Alejandro Osuna Time.
• Kumar Rocker’s sinker topped out at 95.5 mph, averaging 93.9 mph. Cole Winn hit 96.2 mph with his fastball. Jacob Latz reached 96.1 mph with his fastball. Jakob Junis topped out at 91.7 mph with his sinker.
• Joc Pederson had a 109.4 mph single. Corey Seager had a 109.0 mph groundout. Josh Smith had a 108.1 mph double. Brandon Nimmo had a 106.8 mph fly out. Jake Burger had a 104.9 mph single. Josh Jung had a 103.5 mph double and a 101.0 mph groundout. Evan Carter had a 103.3 mph single and a 100.6 mph groundout.
• Texas started the homestand off on a good foot. Let’s keep it going.