Category: Sports News

The first month of the 2026 season is in the book. The main priority for the San Diego Padres is still rectifying their starting rotation. Injuries have made it impossible to figure out the rotation beyond Michael King and Randy Vasquez in the top two spots.

The next order of business is deciding the future of Walker Buehler, German Marquez, and, to a lesser extent, Matt Waldron. None of them has been consistent at all to claim the third starter role and complement King and Vasquez.

Performance does matter.

A Canning and Giolito sighting could be coming to Petco Park

With the order of the rotation still up for grabs, the front office has some sorting out to do. Reinforcements like Griffin Canning and Lucas Giolito are working their way back to the majors.

Canning is close to making his season debut after rehabbing a ruptured left Achilles tendon suffered last June. He has made four starts with the Padres Triple-A affiliate, El Paso Chihuahuas. 

Canning has a 1-1 record with a 3.60 ERA. He has struck out 18 batters in 15 innings pitched. Circle the second week of May for him to become a viable starting-pitching option.

Newly signed Lucas Giolito will need approximately 25 days to get his arm and body ready to pitch in the majors. All of Giolito’s training will take place with the Friars Single-A affiliate, Lake Elsinore Storm. 

In his first start, he exited the contest after being hit by a comebacker to the mound. Giolito is reported to be fine with a bruised pitching hand and will make his next start. Before Giolito left the game, his velocity was between 90 and 91 mph, which was lower than expected but not alarming. The Friar Faithful can expect him to be available to start by the third week in May.

Canning and Giolito offer plenty of value in a starter role because of their high-end pitching repertoire when healthy. The Friars do not need them to be elite with an under 1.00 WHIP, but each must stay consistent on the mound to keep the Padres close in every game.

Will a starter move to pen?

The decision on who stays or leaves the organization may hinge on which pitcher can work out of the bullpen. The candidate must be able to warm up quickly and pitch successfully in situational baseball. 

Their role is to go against only two or three hitters in an opposing lineup, but recording those outs could be the difference in a victory. Buehler, Marquez, and Waldron have all worked out of the bullpen at some point in their major league career, but are primarily known as starting pitchers. 

The one negative with this possible move is that none of them throw a high-90s pitching arsenal, which is essential to becoming an effective reliever. 

The rotation will remain in order at least through the interim. It gives Marquez and Buehler another chance to state their case to remain on the roster. Padres manager Craig Stammen wants to be put in a tough situation because his starting pitchers are performing well.

Ultimately, performance on the mound will dictate whether the starting rotation needs changes. The Padres need more consistent starting pitching to remain in contention for a postseason berth.

Next month could usher in a different look for the rotation. 

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Following an ugly 10–17 start to the season for the Boston Red Sox, manager Alex Cora and his staff were dismissed on April 25.

The Red Sox offense has dried up in 2026, ranking 24th in runs per game as of May 1. They also sit 29th in wRC+ and 28th in wOBA. 

This is a lineup averaging 0.83 fewer runs per game year-over-year — the worst drop in MLB.

Conspiracy Hour🕵️‍♂️

There are a few theories as to why the bats have gone cold, and some point to a lost edge tied to the Red Sox's base coaches.

Buster Olney brought this to light earlier this week, suggesting Boston’s dip in run production might be correlated to the recent implementation of coaches’ box rules:

One of the interesting theories about the struggling Red Sox offense in rival front offices is that Boston has been impacted significantly by the enforcement of the coaching boxes. The Red Sox were regarded by some other teams as being extraordinary at ascertaining grips/relaying…

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) April 30, 2026

The theory suggests that prior to 2026, Red Sox coaches were relaying signs to hitters, taking advantage of loose enforcement around the coaches’ box. Reading pitcher grips and passing that information along would provide a meaningful edge.

Baseball, more than any sport, rewards those edges — margins are tight, and anything within the rules gets exploited. With MLB now enforcing coach positioning more strictly, that edge may be gone, and the offensive drop-off reflects it.

Cora's Checkered History🗑️

The timing isn’t exactly shocking. Cora was the bench coach for the Houston Astros during the 2017 trash can scandal, and the Red Sox were also tied to a sign-stealing controversy involving Apple Watches that same year.

Yahoo’s Zach Coe also referenced a 2025 incident between the Los Angeles Angels and Red Sox, where tensions flared involving then first-base coach José David Flores, with sources suggesting sign-stealing concerns.

It adds context when you consider why a left-handed pitcher like Tyler Anderson would be that upset with a first-base coach:

Coaches and players chirping before the game. Everything is going great at Fenway. pic.twitter.com/TAMQZUvjYC

— Section 10 Podcast (@Section10Pod) June 4, 2025

Call it bending the rules or finding an edge, but Cora might be the most creative manager at increasing expected value.

However, like any good bettor, Cora knows those edges aren’t infinite, and he is running out of outs.

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

Cincinnati Reds vs. Pittsburgh Pirates, May 1, 2026, 6:45 p.m. ET

Location: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, PA

Broadcast: KDKA AM/FM, Apple TV

Pitching Matchup: Brady Singer (2-1, 4.97 ERA) vs. Mitch Keller (2-1, 3.18 ERA)

The Pittsburgh Pirates are at home hosting the Cincinnati Reds this evening at beautiful PNC Park looking for a win.

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BD community, this is your thread for today’s game. Enjoy!

Coming off a sweep of the Giants at home, the Phillies will take their first road trip under new manager Don Mattingly. They’ll visit LoanDepot Park to take on the Miami Marlins in a rare Friday-Monday four-game series.

Zack Wheeler will make his second start of the season. In his first outing after coming back from surgery, Wheeler gave up two runs in five innings, while striking out six.

The Marlins will turn to Eury Perez. In his third season, the righthander is 2-2 with a 4.60 ERA.

Game time is 7:10 PM and will be televised locally by NBCSP.

Texas Rangers @ Detroit Tigers

Friday, May 1, 2026, 5:40 PM CDT (105.3 The Fan / Rangers Sports Network)

Comerica Park

LHP MacKenzie Gore vs. RHP Jack Flaherty

Go Rangers!

The San Diego Padres have had a streakier bullpen than usual lately.

The two runs they combined to give up on Wednesday afternoon ended up costing the Friars incredibly in their 5-4 loss to the Chicago Cubs. It was their first series loss in the entire month of April.

And here’s the thing. As much as we talk about the Padres like they aren’t a good team, as much as we bring up that the big three (Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill) aren’t producing, the team has raced to a 19-11 record for second place in the NL West.

San Diego has had an incredible start to 2026. If the Padres can keep it up with their series this weekend against the Chicago White Sox, it would be great momentum heading into their upcoming road trip.

Taking the mound

Noah Schultz (CWS) v. Germán Márquez (SD)

The rookie lefty Schultz has flashed some great stuff so far with the Sox. He’s pitched to 3.52 ERA and 1.11 WHIP marks. Across 15 1/3 innings he’s only allowed eight hits. That’s translated to a .151 opponent batting average in his first three starts of the year.

If Schultz can do the same against this Padres lineup, it would spell disaster for a club who has started to flounder lately. San Diego will need to build on the slug they showed in Wednesday’s series finale.

Márquez, on the other hand, is a battle-tested veteran fighting for a rotation spot with San Diego. With Griffin Canning and Lucas Giolito coming up soon to the major-league club, Márquez could be the odd man out in this group if he doesn’t make his case soon.

He’s started off the season with an uninspiring 4.38 ERA, but he’s pitched three wins for the Friars. That’s been due to the Padres’ offense showing out when he’s taking the mound. If Márquez pitches the way he has, he’ll need San Diego to put some runs on the board.

Batter up!

After Ramón Laureano was out of the lineup in Wednesday’s game (aside from pinch-hitting in the ninth), he’ll likely be back batting leadoff today. The lineup will look pretty typical after that:

1. Ramón Laureano, LF
2. Fernando Tatis Jr., RF
3. Jackson Merrill, CF
4. Manny Machado, 3B
5. Xander Bogaerts, SS
6. Gavin Sheets, 1B
7. Miguel Andujar DH
8. Luis Campusano, C
9. Jake Cronenworth, 2B

Machado has been hot lately after a torrid stretch to begin the year. He’s batted .310 with two home runs over his last seven games.

Campusano has been on a similar hot streak, batting .333 with two homers in his last seven. He’s been one of the Friars’ best hitters this year, slashing .326/.380/.674 with a 1.054 OPS.

Relief corps

Waldron’s mostly solid start on Wednesday saved San Diego from a true bullpen game. That being said, they still used four of their relievers to make it through the game.

Adrian Morejon, Bradgley Rodriguez, Jason Adam and Mason miller combined to cover four innings, giving up two runs that ended up making the difference in the eventual loss to Chicago.

That group is rounded out by Kyle Hart, Ron Marinaccio and Wandy Peralta. That group especially has been spotty lately. The off day may offer the ’pen a reset on that front.

With the off day yesterday, San Diego will have all of their relievers available. David Morgan was optioned on Thursday night to Triple-A. In a corresponding move, the Padres reinstated Jeremiah Estrada from the 15-day injured list.

Estrada just finished a short rehab stint in Triple-A after an inconsistent start to the year. The stint will hopefully act as a reset for the right-hander as well, allowing Estrada to return to his dominant self.

The Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Nationals open a three-game set in the nation’s capital tonight, three weeks after the Nats swept the Brewers in three games in Milwaukee. The Brewers will obviously be looking for different results this weekend, and they’ll get things started tonight by sending Jacob Misiorowski to the mound to take on Washington’s Jake Irving.

But first, we’ll cover today’s roster news: after the concerning dip in velocity that forced the Brewers to remove Brandon Woodruff after just 1 1/3 innings on Thursday, he’s been placed on the 15-day injured list. The news, though, is mostly encouraging. You can see Woodruff talk about what happened yesterday at the link, but imaging revealed nothing more than minor inflammation and nothing major appears to be wrong. Woodruff doesn’t sound like a guy who expects to be out long, so considering how alarming Thursday’s game was, it’s pretty close to a best-case scenario. Woodruff will be replaced for now on the roster by Easton McGee but expect someone else (Logan Henderson?) when Woodruff’s rotation spot comes up in a few days.

We also got a small update on Luis Peña, who collapsed in the dugout during the eighth inning of the Timber Rattlers’ game on April 22. Matt Arnold told reporters that all tests on Peña, who hasn’t played since then, have come back normal, though he is scheduled to see a neurologist on Monday. The fact that all the tests have been normal is encouraging, though his visit to see a neurologist suggests that the Brewers are going to make darn sure that there’s nothing wrong with him before letting him get back on a baseball field.

As for tonight’s starter, Misiorowski’s last start continued a season-long trend: he’s pitched quite well and showed some real signs of progress but hasn’t quite been able to put together a full-length, dominant start yet. Against the Pirates in Milwaukee on Saturday, Miz struck out nine and walked only one, but the Pirates got him for three runs, all of which came in innings in which he plunked the leadoff hitter. The Brewers lost that game in 10 innings. Miz missed the Nationals when they were in Milwaukee (and didn’t face them last year), so it’ll be the first time that Washington gets the experience of facing one of the most electric starters in the league.

Washington counters with the 29-year-old right-hander Jake Irvin, who faced the Brewers on April 10. Washington won that game, but Irvin didn’t factor into the decision; he was wild and walked five batters but allowed only two hits and was able to limit the damage to three runs in five innings. Irvin had his best start of the season his last time out against the White Sox, when he allowed no runs on four hits and no walks while striking out nine in 5 2/3 innings. The bullpen blew Washington’s lead, but they won in extras. For the season, Irvin has a 4.85 ERA but more encouraging 4.11 FIP, and he’s striking out 10.3 batters per nine innings, easily a career best.

Milwaukee’s streak of not using the same batting lineup twice yet this season continues today, as Blake Perkins comes in for Greg Jones in left field. Garrett Mitchell, Brice Turang, and William Contreras remain at the top of the lineup.

Sort of an odd start time tonight, as first pitch comes at 5:45 p.m. CT. The game can be found, as usual, on Brewers TV and the Brewers Radio Network.

Braves manager Walt Weiss said the team plans to use Michael Harris II primarily as a designated hitter for this upcoming nine-game road trip, which begins Friday against the Colorado Rockies, to allow his lingering quad injury a chance to heal.

But Harris will actually start the road trip on the bench as he’s not in Atlanta’s starting lineup for Friday night’s series opener in Denver.

It’s the second straight day Harris is out of the starting lineup, although he pinch hit in Sunday’s loss to the Tigers.

Instead, Drake Baldwin will get a day as designated hitter after the travel turnaround while Jonah Heim starts behind the dish and hits eighth.

With Harris not in center, Mauricio Dubon will start there and hit fifth, ahead of the slumping Austin Riley, who was bumped further down to sixth in the lineup. Eli White gets the start in left field and will hit seventh against Colorado left-hander Jose Quintana, and Jorge Mateo is at shortstop and will bat ninth.

Rockies starter Jose Quintana has struggled mightily in his career against the Braves. In 11 starts, he has a 4-6 record and 6.39 ERA — his second-worst against any team — and his 1.740 WHIP is his worst against any team.

His last start against Atlanta in 2025 with the Brewers wasn’t bad, however. He worked six innings, allowing three runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts and no walks.

On the whole, this Braves roster hasn’t had a ton of success against the journeyman left-hander. Ronald Acuña Jr. is 3-for-19 (.158) against him with a solo homer, Matt Olson is 6-for-27 (.222) with 11 strikeouts and Michael Harris II is 3-for-16 (.188) with a double.

Ozzie Albies, though, has been a Quintana killer. He’s 9-for-19 (.474) with three homers and two doubles for a ridiculous 1.553 OPS. Given his recent form, this could be a favorable matchup for Albies to continue his power surge.

The Rockies are deploying their traditional lineup against right-handed starters, going with Edouard Julien and Mickey Moniak in the top two spots after both were not in the lineup Sunday against Reds lefty Andrew Abbott.

Braves starter Grant Holmes has not had great success early in his career against the Rockies. He has a 5.56 ERA over 11 1/3 innings after starting against them each of the last two seasons, his worst ERA against any team he has made multiple starts against.

His previous start at Coors Field had a lot to do with that. In his third career start, he allowed five runs on six hits over five innings at Colorado in August of 2024, striking out eight and walking three.

The current Colorado roster, though, has not found success against him. Brenton Doyle (1-for-5) is the only Rockies player with a hit against him, a two-run homer, but he’s not in the lineup Friday. The Rockies are a combined 1-for-19 against the right-hander with 14 strikeouts and two walks.

The New York Mets are returning to the scene of their last in-season firing of a manager. Yet, it appears Carlos Mendoza will survive this three-game series in Anaheim, California, unlike Willie Randolph.

Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns told MLB.com that the 10-21, last-place Mets "don't view this as a manager problem, and don't intend to make a change."

That will surely come as at least a temporary relief for Mendoza, their third-year manager who has parried numerous inquiries about his job security as the Mets' season continues deteriorating. The club lost six of nine games against Minnesota, Colorado and Washington, a homestand that figured to serve as a referendum on Mendoza, given the opponents' mediocrity.

But no, Mendoza made the flight to California and figures to accompany the club through the rest of its nine-game trek to Arizona and Colorado.

Yet what about after that?

Pete Alonso will have to wait a bit longer to make his highly-anticipated return to Citi Field, but the slugger is back in the Big Apple for the first time this weekend as the Orioles visit the Yankees for a four-game set. 

Prior to Friday's series opener, the big man described it to reporters as a bit of a trip down memory lane.

“There’s a lot of things to think about being here for so long,” he said. “My first taste of professional baseball was playing for the Cyclones and then working my way up from there -- a lot of memories here for my family and I. 

“Last time we were here, I remember going to Mount Sinai with my wife and coming out a family of three, so it’s special because you look down memory lane -- there’s a lot of great baseball memories and personal ones too.”

Alonso appreciated his time and the memories while with the Mets, but he’s excited to represent Baltimore.

“I’m extremely stoked to be where I’m at,” he said. 

The slugger has gotten off to a slow start at the plate this season, but the Orioles have been playing much better baseball of late as a team, taking home two of three series to close April.

As far as his old squad, though, things continue to trend south. 

The Mets, of course, closed April with a 3-6 homestand, putting them in sole possession of MLB's worst record. 

While things are going poorly now, Alonso still thinks they can turn it around. 

“Every team goes through ups and downs,” he told SNY’s Michelle Margaux. “Every person on the planet wrote off the 2024 Mets until we made it happen -- there’s tough times everywhere, but there’s more of a microscope in New York.

“It sucks in the now, but they have talent and they’ll be just fine.”