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Well, last night was rough. But it’s a new day! The A’s get a chance to get back in the win column this afternoon in the middle game of their weekend series hosting the Chicago White Sox. Gotta win today if we want a chance to get the series win this weekend.

Getting the ball today for his fourth start of the year will be Luis Severino. The veteran right-hander has been up and down so far this year. Overall he has a 5.59 ERA through 19 1/3 innings worked and is coming off a tough start last time out. Back at home he got tagged for four runs against the Texas Rangers, continuing a trend of Severino having major troubles at home. Well, he has another home start this afternoon against the White Sox, who just put up a crooked number last night. Things aren’t boding well for Severino in that regard but the veteran can begin righting the ship with a big outing for his team this afternoon.

The A’s lineup for this beautiful day in sunny Sacramento:

Mostly the same lineup as last night, save for a couple tweaks. Shea Langeliers remains in the #2 hole but will not be behind the dish this afternoon. Instead it’ll be Austin Wynns catching Severino this afternoon. Soderstrom returns to left field after DH’ing last night, Lawrence Butler slides over to center field, and Carlos Cortes takes right this afternoon, meaning Denzel Clarke will be on the bench to begin today’s game. He went 1-for-3 last night, but also had two strikeouts. Is an option to Las Vegas in the cards if this continues?

That lineup will be facing Chicago righty Erick Fedde. The veteran right-hander signed a modest one-year deal with the White Sox to be a stabilizing force for them in a young rotation, and the early returns have been positive for them. The 33-year-old has made three appearances (two starts and a “bulk” outing) and has a solid 3.38 ERA through his first 16 innings in a White Sox uniform. Shockingly, in his nine-year MLB career Fedde has only once ever pitched against the Athletics, getting roughed up for six runs in 2 2/3 innings way back in 2022 when he was still a member of the Washington Nationals. Ready for Round 2, Fedde?

The Chicago starting nine for this afternoon looks like this:

And mostly the same lineup for Chicago as well, with a tweak here and there. Why would they mess with a good thing? They just scored nine runs last night. It’d be foolish to mess with a good thing.

But we got this, right A’s fans? We have fallen to third place in the division but a win today (and some help from Seattle and San Diego) and we’re right back at the top of the division. Time to get back in the win column. Let’s go A’s!

Many things have not felt quite right for the Atlanta Braves over the past two years. Injuries and inconsistency have plagued the club since its 104-win season of 2023.

Perhaps no single player personifies those struggles more than third baseman Austin Riley.

A two-time All-Star and key member of Atlanta’s World Series championship team, Riley established himself as one of the best third basemen in Major League Baseball by averaging 36 homers and 99 RBIs to go along with a .286/.354/.525 slash line and 5.4 fWAR per season from 2021-2023.

As a result, Riley was rewarded with the largest contract in franchise history in 2023, a 10-year, $212 million extension that runs through 2032. That deal carried with it expectations he has yet to fulfill, due in no small part to events out of his control.

Riley was dealt season-ending injuries each of the past two seasons – a broken right hand in 2024 and a sports hernia in 2025 – both robbing him of at least 50 games and leaving Riley with final numbers that were a far cry from his established norms.

The drop in production and lost time propelled a motivated Riley into this past winter looking to regain the form that made him one of the cornerstones of the franchise. In order to do that, Riley needed to solve the swing issues that plagued him throughout 2025 in particular.

“The offseason was more about just getting back to what I know I’m capable of doing,” Riley said. “The offseason before, I was in a cast for 14 weeks and didn’t really get to start hitting until January. This offseason was like a normal offseason.”

Injuries were a large part of the story, but the past two years were not without moments and stretches where Riley looked and played like the better version of himself. Producing those results consistently was the prevailing issue.

Through his first 54 games of 2024, Riley slashed just .220/.288/.330 with three homers and 20 RBIs. This was easily Riley’s worst extended slump since the final 50 games of his 2019 rookie season, when he hit just .170 with seven homers and 17 RBIs in 169 plate appearances.

Over his final 57 games of 2024, Riley seemed like a completely different hitter. He produced in a .292/.354/.588 slash with 16 home runs, 16 doubles and 36 RBIs before his season was cut short after being hit in the right hand by a pitch on August 18.

Riley’s 2025 was a somewhat baffling year both statistically and physically. His final numbers lined up with the previous year, but his walk rate dropped to its lowest level since his rookie season while his strikeout rate spiked to its highest rate since 2019 as well.

Throughout the course of last season, Riley dealt with a nagging lower abdominal issue which eventually required surgery to correct. When he was on the field, he lamented not being able to adequately adjust his swing path. He described the main problem as being “too steep” through the zone, an issue which negatively affected the quality of his contact and sapped his power numbers.

One thing that has not slipped at any point is Riley’s bat speed.

Since the start of 2023 – when MLB began tracking it – Riley owns the 15^th highest average bat speed in all of baseball at 75.7 mph. That trails only teammate Ronald Acuña Jr. (76.7 mph) for the fastest on the club and underscores that Riley’s ability to create hard contact remains intact despite injuries and a drop in production.

Elite bat speed is just one of many factors that comprise a good swing, however.

With plenty of data points to analyze, Riley got to work with Braves hitting coach Tim Hyers over the winter. Among the things Riley wanted to address were issues with his stride that could help him be on time at the point of contact and consistently drive the ball to all fields again.

“I actually started hitting a little bit earlier than normal, right around November, and working on a few things with my lower half that are able to put me in a spot to give myself more room for error and just be in the zone earlier and longer,” Riley said of his winter work. “The offseason went well, working with Tim (Hyers). It led into spring, where I felt really good.”

Riley’s spring training numbers were strong. He batted .357 with five home runs and 13 RBIs while posting a .451 on-base percentage and slugging .786 in 17 games. Unfortunately, those results did not carry over into the regular season. Riley was homerless and hitting just .212 with a .564 OPS through 18 games.

After that slow start, Riley clubbed his first home run of the year and added a double during Wednesday’s 6-3 win over the Miami Marlins. He followed up with a two-homer game against the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday as Atlanta claimed a 9-0 victory.

Those results were due not only to the lower-half adjustments Riley was striving to make over the winter but also owe to honing his approach over the first couple of weeks this season.

 “I feel like I am in a better spot when I land (my front foot) to be able to pull the trigger,” Riley said. “Early on, I think I was over-aggressive, then tried to tone it down a little bit. I got soggy with the front side and was trying to find that happy medium.”

Those adjustments can take time to follow a hitter into the game itself. While the work behind the scenes can be focused and methodical in that controlled environment, the paradigm shifts when facing the arsenal of major league pitchers who paid to get hitters out.

Having done so before, Riley understood the degree of difficulty and dedication required to complete the process of incorporating changes at the plate at this level.

“It’s tough because a lot of the stuff I’m working on is stride length and where I’m at (in my swing) when I land (my front foot),” Riley said. “You get in the game with 40,000 fans, adrenaline is rushing, and you’re trying to just slow the game down.”

While his first home run of the season was what many if not most took away from Wednesday’s game, Riley was more enthused about the double to right center field which caromed high off the bricks at Truist Park. That outcome is an indicator that his swing is where it needs to be.

“Staying on the pitch,” Riley said of what felt best about the double. “The last year or year and a half, the way the swing path has been, I was pulling a lot more balls. Obviously, when I’m at my best, I’m driving to the big part of the field. Being able to stay on a slider and hit it with some authority was nice.”

Riley was clearly well aware of where he was hitting the ball a year ago, when his pull percentage on fly balls jumped to a career-high 24.2 percent. Back in 2023 – his most recent 30-homer campaign – Riley was pulling the ball in the air just 16.6 percent of the time versus 23.2 percent to center and 19.2 percent to right field.

Through his first 84 plate appearances this season, Riley’s pull percentage on flyballs is a career-low 13.8 percent, compared to 20.7 percent straight away and 27.6 percent the opposite way.

As Riley rightly pointed out, when he feels his best, driving the ball to center and right field consistently is often the result. His teammates agree with that assessment.

“I’ve watched it since I first got called up and when he’s driving balls to right center, look out,” Braves pitcher Bryce Elder said.

Braves manager Walt Weiss has been on the Atlanta coaching staff for the entirety of Riley’s eight-year career. He’s seen his third baseman navigate the ups and downs of establishing himself as an everyday major leaguer as well as deal with the injury challenges of the past two years.

Weiss is not only encouraged by the recent results but also noted that Riley’s swing is suddenly right where it needs to be, when it needs to be – a dangerous combination.

“Riley’s coming around,” Weiss said. “Austin looks on time to me. The other night, he hit an upper-90s fastball and hooked it into the corner for a double. That’s a really good sign and it just means that he’s more on time. He’s not late. When you’re late, you’ve got to rush and make bad decisions. He just looks more on time to me.”

For his part, Riley has no shortage of motivation to turn this recent success into the type of consistency that he’s been searching for since the start of the 2024 season.

“All the preparation, being hurt the past couple of years, the work I did this offseason, the good spring, you just want to hit the ground running,” Riley said. “Obviously, I hadn’t, but (this is) good momentum to build on.”

It’s no secret that Masyn Winn is an elite defender. The Gold Glove trophy on his mantle is proof, but how much offense does he need to produce to become a part of the St. Louis Cardinals core? You need look no further than Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith as he and Masyn share a similar trajectory and challenge.

Masyn Winn’s first full season in the majors in 2024 was an impressive one offensively as he had 15 home runs and a respectable .267 batting average with 57 RBI’s. He regressed in 2025 with 9 home runs, 51 RBI’s and a .253 average. The fall back was attributed to a nagging knee injury which he had arthroscopic surgery on during the offseason. For the first 19 games of the 2026 season, Masyn only has 10 hits in 53 at-bats with a .189 average. Yes, the 2026 sample size is still very small, but it doesn’t take a math genius to understand that Winn is trending the wrong way offensively.

If you look at St. Louis Cardinals legend Ozzie Smith’s career, you will see a similar first few seasons. His rookie season with the San Diego Padres had a respectable offensive line of 152 hits and a batting average of .258 in 1978. In the 3 seasons that followed, Ozzie’s production dipped to batting averages of .211, .230 and .222. His trajectory took an immediate jump in 1982 when Smith was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. Why? Answer – Whitey Herzog’s approach to small ball. Herzog felt that Ozzie Smith was trying to do too much. Whitey knew that Ozzie would never be a power threat so he made a wager with him for the 1982 season. Herzog would pay Smith $1 for every ground ball he hit. Smith had to pay Herzog $1 for every fly ball he hit. Ozzie’s average in 1982 jumped up to .248. By 1985, Ozzie Smith’s average was .276 followed by .280 in 1986 and .303 in 1987.

Does this mean that Masyn Winn should take Whitey Herzog’s approach of adjusting his swing for more ground balls? Absolutely not. In 1982, Busch Stadium was artificial turf and Whitey was able to create a speed offense that took advantage of that surface. In my opinion, the life lesson is that Masyn Winn may be trying to do too much. Friday night’s game against the Houston Astros was a great example of how Masyn could contribute more offensively adding to his already stellar defensive value. With the bases loaded, he was able to guide a seeing eye single through the left side of the infield giving the Cardinals 2 very valuable runs. Baseball Reference shows that Masyn’s pull rate is up significantly in 2026 compared to his previous 2 seasons. I have to wonder what his results would be if he would start utilizing a line drive approach to all fields.

It’s difficult to compare Ozzie Smith and Masyn Winn’s eras since they’re so different, but I believe the principle of not trying to do too much with your abilities is universal. Now that his knee is healthy, I’d love to see Masyn Winn’s offensive production rise to a level where he can be a solid part of the St. Louis Cardinals lineup. Whitey Herzog used to say that Ozzie Smith’s defense took away 2 hits per game from the opposition which made him more valuable than most hitters. I would not say anyone has the defensive capabilities of Ozzie Smith, but Masyn Winn is already a Gold Glove defender. He doesn’t need much more offense to establish himself as a part of the team’s core moving forward. All he needs to realize is that he doesn’t need to do too much with the bat.

It hasn’t exactly been pretty, but after losing six in a row, the Brewers are on a three-game win streak, which they’ll look to extend this afternoon in Miami.

Milwaukee almost gave away last night’s game after they led almost the whole way, but managed to pick up a win in extra innings. In the second game of this three-game set with the Marlins, we will see a marquee matchup of two pitchers who are still somewhat in the recovery phase from long injury layoffs: Brandon Woodruff takes the hill for Milwaukee, while Sandy Alcantara will pitch for the Fish.

Woodruff last pitched on Sunday versus the Washington Nationals, and pitched quite well. In six innings (for which he needed only 70 pitches), Woodruff allowed just three hits, two walks (one of which was intentional), and two runs, one of which was unearned. He left with a 3-2 lead, but the bullpen couldn’t hold it and the Brewers lost that game 8-6. Regardless of the team’s result, it was a nice bounce back for Woodruff, who struggled in his previous outing in Boston. In three starts this year, Woodruff has a 4.32 ERA and 4.29 FIP, and he has typically kept his walks low (just three unintentional walks in 16 2/3 innings). He is striking out about one batter per inning.

Alcantara, who missed the entire 2024 season after Tommy John surgery, is finally starting to look like the pitcher who won the 2022 NL Cy Young Award. Always a workhorse, Alcantara made 31 starts in 2025 but he struggled to be effective and had an ERA of 5.36 in almost 175 innings. Some of that was attributable to bad luck and/or defense (his FIP was better, at 4.28), but either way, the Alcantara we saw in 2025 was a far cry from the Alcantara of 2022 (though not that much different, in many ways, than the Alcantara of 2023). He is still only 30, so the fact that he’s performing quite well thus far in 2026 shouldn’t be a shock: in four starts, Alcantara leads the league with 30.1 innings pitched and owns a 2.67 ERA and 3.68 FIP.

Like Woodruff, Alcantara has traditionally kept his walks low, and he’s doing that better this season than in any other season of his career (just 1.8 per nine innings). But Alcantara’s strikeouts are also down to just 6.5 per nine innings; he has never been a big strikeout pitcher, but that’s still down significantly from his peak seasons. Of course, the lack of strikeouts serve to help Alcantara’s efficiency, contributing to the fact that he’s pitched over 170 innings in each of his last five full seasons. Efficiency and his traditional workhorse attitude make it not all that surprising that Alcantara owns the only shutout in baseball this year, which he did on April 1st against the White Sox—on just 93 pitches.

Milwaukee also made a move today, though maybe not the expected one. After his excellent performance in yesterday’s game, Coleman Crow was optioned back to Triple-A Nashville, as Milwaukee needs another bullpen arm. That bullpen arm wasn’t Robert Gasser, though, as many expected after he did not make a scheduled appearance for the Sounds last night. Instead, Carlos Rodriguez has been recalled. Rodriguez, who is still only 24, has appeared in seven games over the past two seasons and has a career ERA of 6.95 in 22 innings. In 10 1/3 innings for Nashville this season, Rodriguez has allowed 10 earned runs. Not what you want! This move makes some sense if the Brewers want to keep Gasser (and Logan Henderson) on regular starter rest, but especially when Jake Woodford can’t get into a game, I’d have preferred someone who might actually be given the opportunity to help in a close game.

The Brewers return almost the same lineup this afternoon as they used last night, except with Brandon Lockridge in place of Greg Jones and Joey Ortiz in place of David Hamilton. I’m looking forward to getting some injured players back.

It’s a matinee Saturday game today, with first pitch coming at 3:10 p.m. Catch the game on Brewers TV and the Brewers Radio Network.

The last time the Dodgers lost to a National League team was 192 days ago. That was Game 3 of the Division Series, a 3-2 game entering the eighth that turned into a blowout with Clayton Kershaw wearing it during a second inning of work when Tanner Scott wasn’t available.

After that came a thrilling 11-inning NLDS clincher, followed by a stunning sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS, and now the Dodgers are 10-0 against NL teams to open the 2026 season (plus 5-4 against American League opponents).

Ten straight wins against National League teams ties the Dodgers’ best streak ever to start a season. Brooklyn in 1955 started the season 10-0 (and 22-2) en route to their first World Series championship, and the 1940 team was right behind them at 9-0 to open the year.

Counting last year’s postseason, the Dodgers have won 15 games in a row against NL teams. Their longest overall winning streak in franchise history is 15 games, by Brooklyn from August 25 to September 6, 1924. So the Dodgers on Saturday have a chance to have their longest-ever win streak against National League teams.

At 15-4 overall, the Dodgers are tied with the Brooklyn 1940 team for their third-best start to a season in franchise history, behind only the 1955 team and the 1977 pennant winners in Los Angeles, who started 17-3.

Against NL teams, the Dodgers have scored 68 runs and allowed only 29. There have been three one-run victories (March 27-28 vs. the Arizona Diamondbacks, Tuesday against the Mets), plus three wins by six runs, and one each by seven, five, four, and two.

This current road trip includes three more games in Denver against the Colorado Rockies, then over to San Francisco to face the Giants. After an early slate of interleague games, the Dodgers don’t play another American League team until May 4. Which means plenty of chances to keep racking up wins against the National League.

Saturday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Rockies
• Ballpark: Coors Field, Denver
• Time: 5:10 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

Well the Braves were able to absolutely cruise to a game 1 victory in Philly behind Martin Perez and Jose Suarez, who combined for 9.0 shutout innings. The offense broke out for 9 runs and Austin Riley hit 2 homers, a very promising sign.

Beating up on Taijuan Walker is one thing, but we will have a very different level of pitching matchup today, as two of the most effective pitchers of the last few seasons will face off. This battle of lefty aces perhaps favors Atlanta from a platoon split perspective, as Atlanta has hit the ball pretty well off lefties, while Philadelphia has been absolutely brutal at the plate facing southpaws. While there is certainly some small sample size theatre involved in these stats, Chris Sale isn’t an easy pitcher to hit from either side of the plate, so any platoon advantage he may see, particularly against Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber can only help. Austin Riley seems to be finding himself at the plate, which is huge for this Braves team in general, but especially in adding a bigtime right-handed bat for a team with a ton of left-handed hitters.

Cristopher Sanchez will be taking the ball for Philly and he is a formidable matchup. Sanchez has been one of the best pitchers in baseball since the beginning of 2024. Sanchez boasted an xFIP of 3.19 over 181.2 innings in 2024 and 2.77 over 202.0 innings in a monster 2025. He has had a strong record of avoiding walks in his career, but dramatically improved his strikeout rate from below average to above average last year and has carried that into this young season. He pitches primarily with a sinker and changeup, with his slider in distant third in terms of usage. Sanchez has solid mid-90s velocity on his sinker, but has elite extension from the left side that makes it that much harder for hitters to pick up his pitches. All of his pitches lean towards the arm-side, as compared to average movement for the pitch types. His slider is very vertical, but his changeup and sinker have exceptional arm-side run and drop. This pitch-mix produces an elite ground ball rate, so getting the ball in the air against Sanchez may be a challenge for Braves hitters. The Braves could really use some production from Acuna, Riley, and Albies from the right side of the plate to plate some runs against Sanchez.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Saturday, April 18, 7:15 p.m. EDT

Location: Citizens Bank Ballpark, Philadelphia, PA

TV: FOX

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan