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It’s no secret that stolen bases have boomed across major league baseball over the past few years.

Spurred by rule changes increasing the size of the bases and limiting the amount of times pitchers can throw over to first base, stolen bases increased by nearly 41% between 2022 and 2023 when these new rules were enacted.

They rose again last season and it marked the first time since 1988 and 1989 that at least 50 players stole 20 bases in consecutive seasons. Stolen bases are officially back.

Stolen bases are an exciting part of the game and I’m thrilled they’re back. Also, with more steals in the league, it means we need to accumulate more steals on our respective teams to keep pace with these rising numbers.

So I’m going to be here every Wednesday tracking stolen base trends around the league to let you know who’s stealing a lot of bases, who they stole them off of, and if there are any trends we can spot as to who will steal more coming up.

2025 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Bobby Witt Jr., Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge lead Top 300 rest of season ranks

Mookie Betts has bounced back from illness, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. is in a great spot with the Yankees.

• Matthew Pouliot,

• Matthew Pouliot,

First, here’s the stolen base leaderboard through six whole days of the season.

Oneil Cruz didn't steal his fifth base last season until June! This season, he did so before April. He's also stolen 25 consecutive bases in the regular season without being caught, dating back to last April. It appears as if base stealing has clicked for Cruz.

Now, here are players that disappointingly haven’t stolen a base yet.

Next, here are four trends you should be watching to get more stolen bases on your fantasy teams.

Pirates Running Wild

The Pirates lead the league with 17 stolen bases already! That’s a ridiculous number led by Cruz with five, Isaiah Kiner-Falefa with four, and three more players with two apiece.

A whopping 15 of those total stolen bases game in Pittsburgh’s three-game set with the Marlins to open the season.

First on Thursday, they stole four off Sandy Alcantara and then two more off relief pitcher Jesús Tinoco. Base stealers were successful in 17 out of 20 attempts against Alcantara back in 2023, which was on the high-end of stolen base attempts against any starting pitcher in the league that season.

Then, the Pirates successfully stole two more on Friday off starter Connor Gillispie and then a whopping six bases on Saturday, all with relief pitchers on the mound.

In each game – Thursday and Saturday – where the Pirates stole six bases, Nick Fortes was the catcher. He allowed the second most stolen bases against last season despite starting fewer than 100 games behind the plate.

Francisco Lindor stole a base off the Alcantara/Fortes battery on Monday as well.

On Sunday, they attempted two more off Max Meyer and were only successful in one of those two. Then Monday, against the Rays and Drew Rasmussen, they stole two more bases.

The Pirates are ready to run wild this season and teams will be aggressive against the Marlins. This wound up as a perfect storm for stolen bases.

Pick on the Braves?

The Padres ran all over the Braves in their four-game sweep to begin the season. Overall, they stole nine bases in 10 attempts but nine of those 10 attempts came in just two games.

First, on Opening Day when they stole five. Three of which came against Chris Sale and then two more off reliever Aaron Bummer. Just 12 bases were stolen successfully against Sale last season on 16 attempts, so the Padres tendency to run Thursday was a surprise.

Perhaps because rookie Drake Baldwin was making his first career start behind the plate. Manny Machado and Fernando Tatís Jr. each swiped two bags and of those four total steals, three of them were of third base. There was a bit of a feeling they were pickling on the rookie.

However, the Padres stole four more bases on Sunday after attempting just one steal on Friday and Saturday combined when Chadwick Tromp was behind the plate rather than Baldwin. Nevertheless, they seemed very comfortable running with rookie A.J. Smith-Shawver on the mound.

This could all be moot when Sean Murphy – who is already out on a rehab assignment – returns from injury. But I will be paying close attention to this moving forward.

Run on the Rangers

The Red Sox stole eight bases against the Rangers over the weekend. Two of those came against Jacob deGrom, who’s notorious for allowing stolen bases, while four more came against relief pitchers, and two against Jack Leiter. They were never caught.

It seems like Jonah Heim and Kyle Higashioka will split catchers’ duties pretty evenly with the Rangers this season. Neither of them are particularly good in the run game with both having well below average pop times and Heim allowed the most stolen bases against in the league last season.

Between those two behind the plate and a handful of pitchers slow to the plate, it seems like teams will have success running on the Rangers.

Target Yainer Diaz

Diaz is expected to catch more often than he did last season when he started 99 behind the plate, 11 at first base, and 38 at DH.

Christian Walker will be the everyday first baseman this season and the Astros have been adamant about Yordan Alvarez playing the outfield less often, leaving fewer opportunities for the Astros to keep Diaz in the lineup with him starting at catcher.

Through five games this season, Walker and Alvarez have been at first base and DH every game while Diaz has caught four out of five. So, it seems like they weren’t lying.

Diaz’s value comes from his bat, where he profiles as one of the best offensive catchers in the league, rather than his defense. He saw the seventh-most stolen base attempts against him last season despite playing less frequently than many of the other starting catchers in the league.

He was better than average throwing out 24 of 105 would-be base stealers, but he seems like a catcher other teams will target.

The Mets rarely reached base during their opening series against the Astros, so there was no data from that series to speak of.

Then, on Monday, the Giants swiped three bases off the batter of Diaz and Ronel Blanco. Mike Yazstremski, Matt Chapman, and Heliot Ramos were the culprits. None of those three are any type of speed demon or big stolen base threat.

Also, base stealers were successful in just seven out of 10 attempts against Blanco last season. It seems like the Giants were more so running on Diaz and were successful doing so.

Its Wednesday, April 2 and the Mets (2-3) are in Miami to wrap up their series against the Marlins (4-2).

Clay Holmes is slated to take the mound for New York against Connor Gillispie for Miami.

Last night, Sandy Alcantara pitched five innings of three-hit ball and earned his first win in over a year as the Marlins too down the Mets, 4-2. Miami picked up just three hits but it was enough as the Mets' offense could not get on track against the Cy Young winner and the Marlins' bullpen.

Lets dive into the series finale and find a sweat or two.

We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.

Follow Rotoworld Player News for the latest fantasy and betting player news and analysis all season long.

Game details & how to watch Mets at Marlins

• Date: Wednesday, April 2, 2025
• Time: 4:40PM EST
• Site: loanDepot Park
• City: Miami, FL
• Network/Streaming: SNY, FDS

Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.

Odds for the Mets at the Marlins

The latest odds as of Wednesday:

• Moneyline: New York Mets (-200), Miami Marlins (+166)
• Spread:  Mets -1.5
• Total: 8.0 runs

Probable starting pitchers for Mets at Marlins

• Pitching matchup for April 2, 2025: Clay Holmes vs. Connor Gillispie
  
  • Mets: Clay Holmes (0-1, 3.86 ERA)
    Last outing: 3/27 @ Houston - 4.2 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 4 Ks
  • Marlins: Connor Gillispie (0-1, 5.40 ERA)
    Last outing: 3/28 vs. Pittsburgh - 5.0 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 4 Ks

Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!

Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Mets at Marlins

• Aside from their 10-run explosion to close out March, the Mets have scored just 7 runs in 4 games
• The Mets have won 6 of their last 10 games against Miami
• Miami is now 4-2 on the Run Line this season
• Francisco Lindor (.067) picked up his 1st hit of the season Tuesday night

If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!

Expert picks & predictions for tonight’s game between the Mets and the Marlins

Rotoworld Best Bet

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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.

Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.

Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Wednesday's game between the Mets and the Marlins:

• Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the New York Mets on the Moneyline.
• Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Mets -1.5.
• Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 8.0.

Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC

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NEW YORK — Major League Baseball’s average salary broke the $5 million barrier on opening day for the first time, according to a study by The Associated Press.

The New York Mets, with Juan Soto’s record $61.9 million pay, led MLB for the third straight opening day with a $322.6 million payroll, just ahead of the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers at $319.5 million. Those two teams each spent roughly five times as much as the Miami Marlins, who at $64.9 million ended the Athletics’ three-year streak as the lowest spender.

Still, the Mets were down from their record high of $355.4 million in 2023.

The average rose 3.6% to $5,160,245. That was up from a 1.5% increase last year but down from an 11.1% increase in 2023.

Adding Blake Snell, Michael Conforto, Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates, the Dodgers boosted payroll by a big league-high $69 million from opening day last year. Baltimore hiked spending by $66 million, followed by Arizona ($55 million), San Diego ($47 million), Philadelphia ($41 million) and Detroit ($39 million).

Los Angeles’ payroll figure was held down by deferred payments. Shohei Ohtani’s $70 million salary was discounted to a present-day value of $28.2 million because it won’t be paid in full until 2035, causing him to be listed as the 18th-highest-paid player. Other Dodgers with deferred payments include Mookie Betts, Tommy Edman, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernández, Scott, Will Smith and Snell.

Following their record 121-loss season, the Chicago White Sox cut payroll by $60.8 million, San Francisco by $39.1 million, Miami by $31.7 million and St. Louis by $31.6 million. The American League champion Yankees dropped by $18.5 million.

Just five teams were under $100 million, with the Marlins joined by the A’s ($74.9 million), Tampa Bay ($79.2 million), the White Sox ($80.9 million) and Pittsburgh ($87.9 million).

Soto broke the previous high of $43.3 million shared by pitchers Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander under deals they agreed to with the Mets.

Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler is second at $42 million, followed by Texas pitcher Jacob deGrom and Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge at $40 million each.

Of 953 players in the major leagues on opening day, 526 had salaries of $1 million or more, 55%, and down from 532 last year and 546 in 2023.

There were 15 players at $30 million or more, a drop of two; 66 at $20 million, up from 66; and 177 at $10 million, an increase from 166.

A total of 35 players made the $760,000 minimum.

The top 50 players make 29% of the salaries, the same as in the prior two years, and the top 100 earn 48%, up from 47%.

Baseball’s median salary, the point at which an equal number of players are above and below, dropped to $1.35 million from $1.5 million and well below the record high of $1.65 million at the start of 2015.

Average and median salaries decline over the course of the season as veterans are released and replaced by younger players making closer to the minimum. The AP’s average was $4.98 million at the start of last season; MLB calculated the final average at $4.59 million and the players’ association at $4.66 million.

Because they started the season in the minor leagues, Baltimore pitcher Kyle Gibson ($5.25 million), Detroit pitcher Jason Foley ($3.15 million) and Dodgers second baseman Hyeseong Kim ($2.8 million) were among the players not included in the opening day payroll figures.

The AP’s figures include salaries and prorated shares of signing bonuses and other guaranteed income.

Payroll figures factor in adjustments for cash transactions in trades, signing bonuses that are the responsibility of the club agreeing to the contract, option buyouts and termination pay for released players.

LOS ANGELES — Dustin May took the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers a changed man.

Making his first major league start since May 17, 2023, he allowed just one hit and an unearned run over five innings in the Dodgers’ 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Braves. He struck out six and walked three.

“Even if it would have went bad I still would have been having a good time just being back on a big league mound,” May said. “It literally meant the world to me just to be back on the mound because eight months ago I didn’t know if I would be.”

May spent all of last season rehabbing from a torn flexor tendon in his right arm and a life-threatening esophageal tear after eating a salad at dinner with his wife in Arizona. A piece of lettuce got caught in his throat and May sipped some water trying to clear it.

He felt a painful sensation in his throat and stomach, and later learned the lettuce had perforated his esophageal tube.

“It’s kind of one of those stories you just make up but it was actually true,” teammate Mookie Betts said. “God was just working his magic.”

May underwent emergency surgery that same night, with doctors later telling him he had sought medical attention just in time.

“After the esophagus thing happened it was like a total reset,” he said. “There’s nothing I can do at the moment, so playing baseball was at the very back of my mind. I was just trying to get healthy, get home and be able to see the next morning.”

The 6-foot-6 right-hander nicknamed Big Red closed his eyes and tilted his head toward the darkening sky before warming up.

“I was thanking the Lord for the opportunity to be back,” he said. “There’s been a lot of praying and a lot of devotion to him in the last two years of my life and I attribute all of my success to him.”

May’s first pitch was a 96 mph sinker to Braves leadoff hitter Michael Harris II for a strike. He again leaned his head back and looked skyward. Harris struck out looking.

Up came Austin Riley, who went down swinging on five pitches. Matt Olson was next and he took a called third strike. May skipped off the mound and was greeted with high-fives from his teammates in the dugout.

“It means the world knowing that my stuff still plays,” he said. “It was good to actually get big league hitters out in a big league game.”

The noisy crowd of 50,182 welcomed him back.

“That felt great,” he said.

May appeared to induce an inning-ending double play with two on in the second, but Betts bobbled the ball and threw it away at first to let a run score. It was Betts’ first error at shortstop this season.

“I didn’t get a good grip on it,” Betts said. “Just a dumb play.”

May’s emotions used to run as hot as his flowing red hair when he first came up to the majors.

“Every pitch everything would be super high or super low,” he said.

Cheating death calmed him down.

“Just being able to stay a little bit more level-headed throughout life in general has been one of my biggest things probably in the last six months,” he said.

In 2023, May was 4-1 in nine starts with a 2.63 ERA, 34 strikeouts and 16 walks before having Tommy John revision surgery.

Little did he know that would be the least of his troubles. And never did he think eating a salad would threaten his life.

“There wasn’t really a very bright light at the end of the tunnel at the time,” he said. “I had to scratch and claw my way out and find my way back.”