Last season the A’s endured a baffling 1-20 stretch that turned a team that was 2 games over .500 into one that, by early June, was buried in the AL West. In the post-mortem, A’s GM David Forst expressed regret that the A’s had waited so long to address the bullpen (a huge part of the meltdown) and other flawed areas (Denzel Clarke was summoned on May 23rd to end the JJ Bleday Experience in CF).

Fast forward to May, 2026 and the A’s find themselves with a worse record than the 22-20 they held when the über-swoon started but also in a better position in the standings: though only .500 at 18-18 they stand alone in 1st place in a division mired in mediocrity so far.

It won’t last, though. 81 wins is not going to win the AL West or even the 3rd wild card. The cream will rise and the sludge will fall and it is incumbent upon the A’s not to reprise their role of sludgemasters in May-June 2026. So far they are 1-4 in May, but they don’t have to sit around and do nothing again for too long hoping it isn’t the beginning of a contention-ending skid.

Already we have seen some minor signs of the A’s willing to be more proactive. Jonah Heim has been brought in, presumably to replace Austin “.077/.143/.077” Wynns as the back up catcher. The bullpen carousel is spinning but only so far to the tune of replacing one wild reliever, Tyler Ferguson, with another, Brooks Kriske.

The question is whether the A’s will choose now — relatively early, but last year showed it’s easy to wait too long and effectively end your season with 100 games still to play — to make some bolder moves. Here are some choices…

1. Take the plunge with Lawrence Butler

The A’s have committed to Butler long-term and clearly believe in his abilities, but the reality is that by and large Butler is falling apart and it’s not good for him or the team for him just to continue spiraling. He had a week or so where he made better contact, unfortunately with particularly terrible batted ball luck, but mostly he has just really struggled.

He is now at .176/.276/.284, 56 wRC+ for the season, and that’s on the heels of a disappointing .203/.268/.351, 70 wRC+ last season after the 2025 All-Star break. That’s a 91 game sample with about a 65 wRC+ thanks to around a .190 BA and .271 OBP. He has also made a habit of getting picked off and running the bases like he doesn’t know how many outs there are — his head is not in the game and that’s part of the spiral.

In the outfield, Butler is simply badly miscast as a CFer. When he plays RF he’s fine, actually even above average, but in CF he gets terrible reads and jumps, takes poor routes, and simply does not have the sprint speed to overcome. Last night the A’s gave away the first run as a result of having Butler in CF and it’s just the latest example. This is not his fault, it’s just a reality: he’s a RFer, period.

The problem is, the A’s have a LH batting RFer who is producing at three times the level of Butler and that’s Carlos Cortes. Even with his 0 for 3 last night, Cortes enters play today batting a robust .372/.437/.615, 191 wRC+ with impressive BB and K rates of 9.2% and 8.0% respectively.

“The plunge” here would be to option Butler to AAA, getting him out of the spotlight, giving him a reset, and asking him to work on and address weakness, opening up an opportunity for the A’s to improve their outfield both offensively and defensively. How? Here’s how:

2. Call up Henry Bolte to play CF

Recent performance suggests Bolte might be ready for a call up. Bolte’s biggest issue has been strikeouts, but in May so far he has struck out just 3 times in 25 plate appearances. His other vice has been an inability to pull fly balls with success, but last night he not only launched a HR to LF it was, apparently, the longest HR of the season, anywhere.

For the season now Bolte, 22, is batting .295/.376/.518 which, in the hitter-friendly PCL, gives him a 115 wRC+. But his hitting performance comes with benefits: he is an elite base stealer, 15 for 16 this season, 44 for 46 last season. He would add a speed element to the A’s lineup that they generally lack.

As for Bolte’s CF defense, it’s hard to pinpoint where he’s at. Grady Fuson recently opined he was better suited to the COF, whereas Bolte told me in spring training CF was where he felt most comfortable. He makes too many errors and has a plus throwing arm, and his scouting report on MLB Pipeline says, “Bolte’s elite speed translates both on the basepaths and in the outfield, where he’s viewed as a strong defender with a good arm and capable of handling all three spots well.”

My sense? If you’re ranking defensive CFers from 1-10 where JJ Bleday is a 1 and Denzel Clarke is a 10, Butler is maybe a 3 and Gelof perhaps a 7, and Bolte likely would settle in as around a 5 or 6. Offensively, one would expect him to struggle out of the gate (as Clarke did) but he has far more potential with the bat than Clarke comes with.

This would give you a regular outfield of Soderstrom-Bolte-Cortes, with Clarke (when he returns) coming in for late inning defense to replace Cortes (Bolte moving to RF). Colby Thomas can still platoon against LHPs, maybe starting half the time for Soderstrom and half the time for Cortes.

The additional benefit of this outfield arrangement is it frees up Zack Gelof to play 3B, where he could be the every day starter or eventually give way against some LHPs to Max Muncy. If Gelof can hit even at league average level — which the recent indicators suggest might be possible — then as a steady defender (with a weak arm) he becomes an upgrade over the Muncy-Hernaiz options.

Now you have a solid defensive outfield and a solid defensive infield, and this primary lineup looks pretty solid (I lead off Kurtz because I know the A’s will, not because it’s smart):

Kurtz – 1B
Langeliers – C
Soderstrom – LF
Rooker – DH
Cortes – RF
Wilson – SS
McNeil – 2B
Gelof – 3B
Bolte – CF

Bench: Thomas, Muncy (when back) or Hernaiz, Clarke (when back), Heim

Could Gelof and Bolte be black holes at the end of the lineup? Possible. Should we expect to roll our eyes at a string of strikeouts as Bolte acclimates to big league pitching? Yes, that’s liable to happen whenever he’s first called up. But this is a solid defensive unit with plenty of hitting and much more speed and athleticism. And arguably Butler needs anything from a breather to a wake-up call.

3. Fortify the bullpen with proper pieces

The A’s have two glaring problems right now in the bullpen. One is that they lack a LH reliever who excels at getting LH batters out. This is a significant deficit considering how many teams have a pair of LH batters who are among the team’s best hitters but who are not as strong against LHP. On the A’s that’s Nick Kurtz and Tyler Sodesrtrom, on the Phillies it’s Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, and on most teams it’s two batters whom a LH specialist will face in a 3 batter span.

The other problem is that one of the few relievers throwing well is Luis Medina, but he is cast as the team’s long reliever, which means the A’s are hesitant to use him in high leverage situations for fear they will need a long reliever the next day. Calling up a true “long man” allows the team to play around with Medina in higher leverage, be it a 2 inning bridge role or even finding his calling as a set-up man. Right now his usage is also so sporadic it’s not helping with his already known control difficulties: he has walked 7 in 12.2 IP but he has also only thrown 12.2 IP all season.

I don’t know what the A’s see in Brooks Kriske (32 BB in 39.1 career MLB innings), but if they want someone who is too wild but also strikes out a ton of hitters and is a lefty specialist, they should swap Kriske out for Matt Krook (9.2 IP, 15 K at AAA).

A long man is not hard to identify as it can be any SP you are willing to have sit around a bit rather than getting a start every week at AAA. Candidates would be Mason Barnett, Joey Estes, or Kade Morris (not currently on the 40 man). Or if bumped from the rotation, Jacob Lopez or JT Ginn.

Note: I’m not suggesting any of these moves have to happen today. What I am suggesting is that they may need to happen before June 1st because as we know, you can’t win a post-season berth in May but you sure as hell can lose one.

1927
The Comiskey Park upper deck officially opened to fans, as 37,000 fans streamed in to watch the New York Yankees crush the home team, 8-0. The upper deck added 23,200 seats to the ballpark’s capacity. It was a tight contest until the ninth inning, when Lou Gehrig capped a six-run frame for the Bronx Bombers by christening the upper deck with a grand slam to mark the first-ever home run in the new seats.

The crowd of 37,000 set a new White Sox and Chicago city record for attendance for a game. That record wouldn’t last long.

1941
For the sixth time in Comiskey Park history, a player homered over the roof. Again, as the first five, it was an opponent: Ted Williams. And in a rarity, the clout made a big difference in the game: Williams clubbed his homer with one out in the top of the 11th, giving the Boston Red Sox a 4-3 lead and eventual win.

1949
The White Sox sent Don Kolloway to the Tigers for Earl Rapp. Despite playing for eight seasons on the South Side (missing two years serving in the military, Kolloway was shockingly mediocre, never once reaching the 2.0 WAR mark of an MLB regular in spite of three full-time seasons at second base; he ended his Chicago career with 2.8 WAR over 683 games. Kolloway would be no better in Detroit, and by his career’s end five of his 12 seasons were sub-replacement (negative WAR) level.

Rapp was terrible in right field for the White Sox over the next month (-0.1 WAR), but arguably the trade was a Chicago win just in getting Kolloway off of the books (Nellie Fox would be taking over second base in 1950, anyway). The White Sox shipped Rapp to Oakland of the PCL in June as a player to be named later afterthought; he scraped back into the majors for the Giants, Browns and Senators in 1951-52, playing about as well as Kolloway would.

1975
After Dick Allen refused to report to Atlanta after the White Sox traded him there prior to the 1975 season, the Braves shipped the slugger and Johnny Oates to Philadelphia for Jim Essian, Barry Bonnell, and cash. Eight days later, without having played a game for the Braves, Essian was sent to the White Sox as a player to be named later in a prior deal.

What was the prior deal? Why, it was the Allen-to-Atlanta deal back on Dec. 3, 1974, which yielded the White Sox cash and a PTBNL.

While not unheard of, this trade was odd in that the player received by the White Sox from Atlanta for Allen (Essian) wasn’t even on the Braves at the time of the original deal!

1989
Groundbreaking ceremonies were held for the start of construction on the new Comiskey Park, across the street from the original stadium built in 1910. Dignitaries from the state, city and White Sox franchise were on hand for the occasion.

1991
Sammy Sosa became the first Sox player with a “walk-off” home run at new Comiskey Park, when he beat Milwaukee with a blast leading off the 12th inning. The final score was 2-1. Sosa hit his game-winner off of Brewers relief pitcher Mark Lee.

1999
White Sox outfielder Carlos Lee homered in his first at-bat in the majors, becoming the first player in team history to hit a home run in his first major league at-bat.

Lee connected off of Oakland’s Tom Candiotti, in the second inning of a 7-1 White Sox home win.

2023
The White Sox scored 11 runs in the second inning of a 17-4 romp in Cincinnati, triggered by a two-run homer from Hanser Alberto. The White Sox sent 14 batters to the plate and rang up three walks, five singles, a triple and two homers in the assault. In the inning the Sox went 5-for-6 with runners in scoring position. Gavin Sheets’ three-run homer bookended the scoring in the frame.

It was the most runs ever scored in a second inning in White Sox history, and tied for the second-most runs ever by the White Sox in a single inning.

Only a 13-run outburst in the fourth inning at Washington on Sept. 26, 1943 beat this day’s output.

Backed by that kind of support, Michael Kopech pitched six innings and got the easy win.

The 17-run game is tied for 32nd-most in White Sox history. Despite playing relatively few games in their history in Cincinnati (interleague play being a mostly-21st Century concept), the Pale Hose also put up 17 runs at the Reds in a 17-12 win on June 6, 2000.

Jasson Dominguez’s tough luck continues. 

The young Yankees outfielder is officially in concussion protocol, he and will be monitored and evaluated over the next several days after a hard collision with the LF fence knocked him out of Thursday's game in the top of the first. 

Dominguez is also undergoing an MRI on his right shoulder at New York Presbyterian. 

The 23-year-old raced back on a Brandon Nimmo liner to deep left, and he went down in significant pain after crashing his head/shoulder hard into the outfield fence. 

He remained face down for several moments as the training staff rushed out. 

Dominguez was eventually able to get back up to his feet, and trainers did some testing on his shoulder/neck before he walked over to the cart under his own power. 

This is just the latest tough blow for the youngster, who has been hampered by the injury-bug early in his career. 

Dominguez was finally able to stay healthy last season and put together a strong showing, but he ended up in the minors to begin this year with no spot for him on the depth chart out of camp. 

He didn't let the demotion get to him, as he got off to a scorching hot start to the Triple-A season, and was called up at the beginning of the month with Giancarlo Stanton landing on the IL. 

He's been able to carry over that success, lifting a double and two homers over his first eight games back with the Yanks, but now will be forced to the sidelined for some time. 

Jasson Dominguez makes a tremendous catch but leaves the game on a cart after hitting the wall HARD

Ryan McMahon enters the game at 3B, Amed Rosario goes from 3B to RF and Cody Bellinger goes from RF to LF pic.twitter.com/OkaTwAUvtC

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) May 7, 2026

The Nats bats responded in a big way last night after getting crushed 11-3 on Tuesday, dropping 15 of their own en route to a 15-2 victory. Miles Mikolas made his deepest start of the year, going 5 1/3 innings and allowing 2 runs, before handing it off to Mitchell Parker and newest National Zak Kent to finish it off. 4 Nationals went yard, beginning with a 2-run shot from Drew Millas in the 5th, a 2-run bomb from Brady House in the 7th, a grand slam from CJ Abrams in the 8th, and a solo shot by Jose Tena in the 8th as well.

Blake Butera isn’t messing with the lineup that scored 15 runs last night, keeping it the same aside from Keibert Ruiz swapping in for Drew Millas behind the dish. Getting the ball as the Nats look for the series win and an even homestand is Jake Irvin, who has gone at least 5 innings and allowed 3 or fewer runs in 6 of his 7 starts this season.

As for the Twins, while the names in the lineup remain roughly the same, with Austin Martin and Victor Caratini in for Josh Bell and Ryan Jeffers, the construction of the lineup is heavily shaken up, with new faces in the 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8 spots of the lineup from yesterday. The pitcher for the Twins in the rubber match is Simeon Woods Richardson, who has allowed at least 4 runs in 4 of his last 5 starts and has an ERA north of 6 on the year.

Game Info:

Stadium: Nationals Park

Time: 1:05 PM EST

TV: Nationals.TV

Radio: 106.7 The Fan

After a 1-3 start to the homestand, winning the final two games and at least going even would be a big morale boost for a Nats club that has played much worse at home than on the road. It would also put them back to just 2 games under .500, with a chance to climb over the .500 mark this weekend in Miami. Follow along in the comments below and let’s go Nats!

Today’s roster move: Here

Thursday notes…

• DEFEATING THE WINNERS: In each of the Cubs’ eight consecutive wins, their opponent has had a winning record going into the game. This is the Cubs’ 60th winning streak of at least eight games since 1901. Only once before did a streak include eight straight wins over opponents that were above .500: Sept. 16-27, 1935. Those were the final nine of 21 straight wins, still the National League record. During their recent 10-game winning streak, the Cubs won only one game vs. an opponent that was above .500: the last game, at Los Angeles vs. the Dodgers. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• STREAKING, PART 1: The Cubs have won 14 straight games at home. A win this afternoon will make it their second-longest such streak since 1901. They won 18 straight, Sept. 4-22, 1935, during a surge that lifted them to the pennant. They have had six previous streaks that ended after 14 games, most recently May 18-June 22, 2008. The earlier ones were in 1906, 1910, 1928, 1932 and 1936. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• STREAKING, PART 2: The Cubs are 18-3 in their last 21 games, their best 21-game record since they also were 18-3 from July 27-Aug. 18, 2016. That is their only span of 18-3 or better since they went 18-3 on June 30-July 18, 1945. They were last 19-2 on June 4-26, 1936. They were 20-1 in 12 overlapping spans in 1906 and four in 1935. They won 21 in a row, still the National League record, Sept. 4-27, 1935. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• CUBS vs. REDS:This is the Cubs’ 83rd series vs. the Reds at Wrigley Field since 1994, first season of the Central Division. It is the 17th of the 83 that was scheduled to be more than three games. The Cubs have swept four games just once, in 2018. The current series is the only other in which they won the first three games. They went 3-1 in four earlier series, including the most recent before the current one, in 2023. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)

Cubs lineup:

Reds lineup:

Shōta Imanaga, LHP vs. Rhett Lowder, RHP

Shōta Imanaga has just been excellent this year. A couple of starts have been not-great, but overall his numbers are outstanding, especially regarding long balls, considering his issues with them last year. He has allowed just three home runs in 41.1 innings. Keep that up!

Shōta did okay vs. the Reds last year: two starts, 3.18 ERA, three home runs in 11.1 innings, 11 strikeouts. If he can keep the ball in the yard today — and thank heavens Cubs nemesis Eugenio Suárez is out right now! — good things should follow.

Rhett Lowder was the Reds’ No. 1 pick (seventh overall) out of Wake Forest in 2023. He made his MLB debut in 2024 and threw five shutout innings vs. the Cubs Sept. 28, 2024 at Wrigley Field. Then he missed all of last year (except for a handful of rehab starts) with elbow and oblique issues.

This year he has made seven starts and was doing pretty well until his last outing, last Saturday in Pittsburgh, when he didn’t make it out of the second inning and was part of the Reds tying a MLB record with seven straight walks (he had four of those).

The Cubs are a pretty patient hitting team, so perhaps they can use that to their advantage.

Here is the weather forecast for the area around Wrigley Field.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. It’s also on MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Reds market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Reds site Red Reporter. If you do go there to interact with Reds fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.

You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game.

The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.

You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Let’s think about the horizon for the St. Louis Cardinals. Is it too early in the rebuild to do this? Yes, of course. Are there more ups and downs coming than a prairie dog in the summer? No doubt. But, isn’t this what it is to be a fan? I love a numbers deep dive that reveals something about a player’s approach that has changed in some way. That’ll always be the bulk of my writing for Viva El Birdos. There will be numbers here, too. But, I’d like to think philosophically about the larger forces that will shape the franchise over the next few years.

Let’s consider the future of Rainiel Rodriguez. The readers of this site are legendarily plugged in to this team, so it’s not like you need an introduction. He’s the all-world 19 year old catching prospect in single-A that’s rocketing up national prospect lists all over the place. How’s he doing so far this season? Well, I’m glad I can set up a straw man question to answer whenever I want. In short, he’s lighting the world on fire. 

It’s early (Can we just all caveat this until June? We all know it is, so let’s just all know it inherently together!), but Rodriguez (R-Rod? Rainman? Something else?) is torching the Peoria environs to the tune of a .307/.440/.557 slash line, good for a 157 wRC+. He’s walking nearly as much as he’s striking out and hammering balls all over the yard for a .249 ISO. He’s also adjusting, at least according to the inimitable coverage of Kyle Reis.

Did I mention he’s 19 years old and will be the entire season? He’s the youngest player in single-A as of this writing. MLB.com has him ranked 31st in their pipeline and if he continues this type of offensive pace, he’s surely going to rise on that list. He’s a precocious hitter. So much so that I compared his 18 year old season to Juan Soto’s for a site that you’re not going to like (before I joined VEB!) and found his batting line to be comparable, but Rodriguez hit for more power at age 18. Is this exciting? Um, was Ozzie Smith good at defense? (I’m not going to answer that – you’ve got this!)

To me, this is where things get interesting. There are several issues that present themselves here about the future of Rodriguez, and those questions overlap to a stunning degree with the questions about the future of the franchise. Alas, Rainiel Rodriguez is a catcher. That’s an interesting position for a top prospect to have to begin with, but especially in a franchise that has two (flawed) catching prospects older than him and an awkward middle school dance with Ivan Herrera and his future at the position. Obviously, we have no idea if Jimmy Crooks or Leo Bernal will work out at the position, but my concerns run deeper than the stockpile of catchers the franchise has. 

A study published at fangraphs compared the top position players at each position in their careers and found catchers to be noticeably lagging.

Granted, these are the ten highest WAR players of all time at each position, but it’s not a massive logical leap to tell you that trend would continue down the player value spectrum. So, let’s assume for this argument that Rainiel Rodriguez’s career will be shorter and his offensive production will be lower if he stays at catcher. It’s not like his production will crater at the position, but there’s a clear indication that catching is going to cost some offensive value.

Here’s where R-Rod’s (I’m just going to start trying out nicknames casually until one feels right) ascent through the minors crashes headlong into the Cardinals trajectory. In case you weren’t aware, the Cardinals are in a rebuild (ok, don’t call it a rebuild – but it’s a rebuild!). However, ss of this writing, they are winning at a pace that no one really expected. What if that…keeps up? I have doubts about the ability of the pitching staff to continue to support wins at this rate, but let’s consider a path where the Cardinals contend quicker than anyone expects.

Do the Cardinals consider moving Rodriguez off of catcher? Decoupling the bat from the onerous position would certainly speed his movement through the minors. What if you could add a solidly above average bat as soon as late next season? What if it’s a monster bat? Where do you play him? You already have Herrera soaking up lots of DH appearances. Burly is a solidly above average major league hitter at first base. Can the Rainman even play anywhere else? He’s listed at 5’10”, not a traditional first baseman by any stretch. Is it even worth changing his position? What if you just have Samuel Basallo on your hands? That’s an incredibly valuable commodity!

It’s really only an odd situation if the Cardinals decide to hit the gas pedal. I do not believe that’s the plan from Chaim Bloom and Co, but I’ve been thinking lately about the scenario in which the team makes Bloom hit the gas a little and contend. I’m not talking about selling the farm for vets – I don’t think that will ever happen. But I do wonder if, because of the unique position the Cardinals franchise is in with the catchers they have, and due to the nuclear nature of Rodriguez’s bat, the Cardinals would consider moving him off of catcher for his long term offensive benefit and a potential accelerator pedal on the rebuild.

This is all premature. No doubt. But, I just let my mind wander down this path. I’ve also had some compelling conversations about this IRL and wanted to write this into the universe. The Cardinals will likely do a smarter version of Mo’s path of least resistance (sorry for the unexpected Mo drop). As for me, due to the unique nature of the current franchise and R-Rod’s skills, I’d be looking for a secondary position for him (he’s played some 1B already this year) at a minimum. Flexibility is always good when it comes to a roster.

It’s worth watching how they handle this 19 year old wunderkind if he continues to produce at such high levels. There are lots of legitimate positions to stake out on this issue – let me know what path you see in the comments. And, as always, thanks for reading!