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In an exclusive interview with Federal Baseball, new President of Business Operations Jason Sinnarajah talked about a wide range of issues, including the decline in attendance, beer prices and a potential stadium reboot. Sinnarajah took his new role at the beginning of the year and has his hands full. However, he is working tirelessly to regain the trust of a weary fanbase.

One thing he spoke about that struck me was when he hinted at changes to the stadium itself. I asked Sinnarajah, what do you think will be different about the ballpark experience in like 2 to 3 years once you really make your mark here? In his answer he said, “Without speaking to it too much directly because we are working with our friends in local government to make it happen, but I think the ballpark itself will go through what I would call a tuneup or a change. It is a 19 year old ballpark, and there are areas that need to be refreshed. It needs to be modernized in some areas, our premium areas need to be better, our concession experience needs to be better, our connection to Half Street and the community could be better. People are going to walk in here in a few years and see an experience they can be really proud of”.

This was a newsworthy, and somewhat surprising quote. A so-called ballpark tuneup had not been on my radar, but it is a good idea. As Sinnarajah mentioned, the ballpark is not that new anymore. It is crazy to think about, but Nationals Park is 19 years old now. That is around the time when you see some of these ballparks have a bit of a facelift.

I think Nationals Park could use some refreshing. It is not a bad ballpark, but it is known as one of the more bland stadiums. In a USA Today piece ranking stadiums, they wrote, “It’s a solid, newer stadium. It has amenities but lacks overall character”. Jason Sinnarajah is well aware of that reputation, and is looking to change it. He is still early in his tenure, but he has ambitious goals.

Another thing Sinnarajah is aware of is the Nationals reputation for having some of the most expensive beer in the league. When you go on the internet, you see graphics that list the Nats as having the most expensive beer. So, I asked him what steps the organization has made on the affordability side of things.

Sinnarajah told me that he sees those graphics when he is surfing the internet. However, he told me, “I understand there are people that think we still have beer at $15.75 only. That is not true, we launched $8.99 16 ounce cans of Budweiser and Bud light. Sometimes there are these old habits and hearsay. Like I have been saying since Spring Training, I cannot speak to what happened here before and all the challenges we have had, but what we can do is listen to our fans and hope they come to the ballpark with an open mind. Hopefully they like the experience, and if they don’t we want to hear the feedback so we can get better”.

The Nats are taking steps in the right direction, but sometimes it can take time for those positive changes to translate into results. You can see that in the attendance numbers. On average, about 4,000 fewer fans showed up to the first 16 Nats home games compared to last year. That is the biggest attendance drop in baseball. A lot of that can be attributed to rebuild fatigue, but the ballpark experience plays a role too.

I asked Sinnarajah about these attendance problems. As you would expect from someone in his position, he was well aware of the issues, telling me, “I have obviously noticed that our attendance is down compared to prior years. I go back to the core principles of what we are trying to do. We are trying to listen to our fans, make sure they are being heard, listen and take fan feedback and adjust. We are aware of the attendance, but we feel like we need to continue taking a data driven approach and listen to our fans. We have seen improvements in the Voice of the Consumer metrics, we have seen positive feedback. I hear it from fans”. 

Sinnarajah also acknowledged that the ballpark experience is not where they want it to be yet, though he pointed out it is getting a little bit better with every game. He told me that, “If we can improve every game and every homestand, then we are doing a good job. On the attendance piece, there are all sorts of factors that go into that. What we are doing is we are trying to provide as good of an experience as we can when we come in. The attendance this weekend should be large, so we are excited”. 

Clearly, this is still a work in progress. Just like Paul Toboni did when he took over the baseball side of things, Jason Sinnarajah knew he had to refresh an already existing rebuild. It will be exciting to see the baseball and business side of the team hopefully take off and find their footing at the same time. Both sides of the operation are rebuilding, and I think they have good people in place now.

Sinnarajah came to the Nats after three years with the Royals. When he was with the Royals, the team ranked second in the Voice of the Consumer metric. He helped bring Joe’s BBQ to the ballpark and helped freshen up the ballpark experience at Kauffman Stadium. Sinnarajah hopes to have a similar impact here in DC. 

Another ambitious project that Sinnarajah is trying to pull off is to bring more female fans to the stadium. That is something he did in his previous role in Kansas City that he wants to bring here. Sinnarajah told me, “I believe we need to connect with female fans, especially young ladies. When we played Miami this weekend, they had a Barbie promotion. I have seen a Hello Kitty one. Things that bring people who don’t necessarily watch baseball everyday to the ballpark and try the product. To connect with that demographic would be really cool and we are having those conversations”.

This weekend’s series against the O’s is a time where Sinnarajah and his team can prove themselves. They have several promotions, including a fun hot dog hat and an Alexander Ovechkin bobblehead. Jason Sinnarajah has a lot of big ideas, and this weekend he will show fans what he has got. Hopefully the team can do some winning because that is the biggest key to a good ballpark experience.

Another day of minor league baseball is in the books. See the results below. Check out the previous days recap here.

AAA: Sugar Land Space Cowboys (19-23) lost 4-3 (BOX SCORE)

Sugar Land got on the board in the 2nd inning on a Biggio solo home run. They got another run in the 6th inning on a Biggio RBI single. Gordon got the start and was solid allowing 2 runs over 5.2 innings with 7 strikeouts. VanWey allowed 2 runs in relief as Tacoma took the lead. Biggio added a sac fly in the 8th inning but that was it as Sugar Land fell 4-3.

Note: Alexander has a .899 OPS this season.

• CJ Alexander, LF: 1-for-2, 2 R, 3 BB, SB
• Carlos Perez, 1B: 1-for-4, BB
• Cavan Biggio, DH: 2-for-3, R, HR, 3 RBI

• Colton Gordon, LHP: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K
• Logan VanWey, RHP: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
• Roddery Munoz, RHP: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

AA: Corpus Christi Hooks (16-20) lost 6-1 (BOX SCORE)

The Hooks got on the board in the second inning on a Guillemette RBI single. Hicks got the start and went 4 innings allowing 3 runs, 2 earned. The pen allowed 3 more runs as the Sod Poodles extended their lead. The offense was unable to score the rest of the way as the Hooks fell 6-1.

Note: Bush has a .802 OPS this season.

• Will Bush, C: 1-for-4, 2B
• Garret Guillemette, 1B: 1-for-3, RBI

• James Hicks, RHP: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K
• Amilcar Chirinos, RHP: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
• Trey McLoughlin, RHP: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 K
• Railin Perez, RHP: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

A+: Asheville Tourists (8-28) lost 18-4 (BOX SCORE)

Asheville got on the board on a Schiavone solo home run in the first inning. In the third inning, Schiavone added another home run, this time a three run shot. Hertzler got the start and allowed 1 run over 4.2 innings, with another run scored after he was pulled. The bullpen really struggled allowing 16 runs as Asheville found themselves down 18-4. The offense was unable to score again as Asheville dropped the game last night.

Note: Hertzler has a 2.95 ERA this season.

• Justin Thomas, CF: 1-for-5, R, 2B
• Jason Schiavone, C: 2-for-3, 2 R, 2 HR, 4 RBI, BB
• Kyle Walker, 3B: 1-for-4

• Cole Hertzler, RHP: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K
• Raimy Rodriguez, RHP: 1.1 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 1 K
• Nate Wohlgemuth, RHP: 2.0 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
• Keduar Trujillo, RHP: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 0 K

A: Fayetteville Woodpeckers (15-21) won 6-3 (BOX SCORE) 

The Woodpeckers got on the board in the 6th inning scoring 2 runs on a wild pitch and a groundout. The offense added another run in the 7th on a Huezo RBI single. In the 8th inning, the Woodpeckers got some insurance on a Vasquez RBI single, Newman RBI double and Forrester RBI single. Perez started for the Woodpeckers and was phenomenal tossing 8 scoreless innings while striking out 7. He only threw 67 pitches. Rosario came on for the 9th and allowed 3 runs but held on for the 6-3 win.

Note: Perez has a 2.15 ERA this season.

• Anthony Huezo, CF: 1-for-3, R, RBI, 2 BB, 2 SB
• Nehomar Ochoa, 1B: 1-for-4, R, SB
• Arturo Flores, C: 0-for-4, R, BB
• DJ Newman, LF: 1-for-4, R, 2B, RBI
• German Ramirez, 3B: 0-for-2, R, 2 BB, SB
• Brandon Forrester, 2B: 1-for-4, RBI

• Javier Perez, RHP: 8.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K (WIN)
• Leomar Rosario, RHP: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 0 K

Today’s minor league starters:

SL: Ethan Pecko – 9:05 CT

CC: Nic Swanson – 7:05 CT

AV: Parker Smith – 5:35 CT

FV: TBD – 6:05 CT

Through four starts, the back of the baseball card numbers look like Zack Wheeler’s numbers. His 2.55 ERA, 2.70 FIP and .193 batting average allowed all rank among the best numbers he’s ever put up.

But he’s getting there in a much different way than he has in the past.

Coming off his thoracic outlet syndrome surgery last year, Wheeler has yet to recover his typical fastball velocity thus far, averaging 94.7 mph on that pitch. That’s down from 96.1 mph a season ago, and about 1 mph lower than the upper 95s he featured from 2022-24.

Perhaps not coincidentally, he’s seen a drop in his strikeout rate too, which sits at 23.2%, well below last year’s 33.3%. He’s simply not able to throw the ball by hitters in the zone right now.

The good news is, he’s not trying to.

Instead, Wheeler has exchanged strikeouts for groundouts, and at a pretty incredible clip. He’s generated a ground ball rate of 48.5%, his highest since 2021. Last year, his ground ball rate was 39.9%. It is one of the reasons he has been so efficient with his pitches this season.

Instead, Wheeler is turning more to his secondary pitches, throwing his fastball 34% of the time in his first four outings, down from 41% in each of the previous two seasons. With six pitches at his disposal, he’s been able to mix things up and keep hitters off balance (numbers from Baseball Savant).

• Fastball: 34%
• Sinker: 19%
• Sweeper: 14%
• Splitter: 13%
• Cutter: 10%
• Curveball: 9%

Without his usual velocity, Wheeler has amped up some of the movement on his pitches, too, specifically, the horizontal movement on his sinker and sweeper.

The top line is his sinker, which has slowly increased in horizontal movement since 2023. His sweeper, a pitch he first started using in ‘23, has seen a dramatic increase in it’s horizontal movement. Both pitches are generating 18 inches of horizontal run.

Folks, that’s a lot.

Those pitches are sweeping through and out of the zone in a way that has allowed Wheeler to remain in the 90th percentile in chase rate in MLB.

So while his fastball velocity, whiff rate and strikeout rate are all middle-of-the-pack right now, there are other areas in which Wheeler is excelling.

Is this a profile that will allow Wheeler to have this kind of success all season? His xERA of 3.51 and xFIP of 3.37 indicate there will likely be some regression. But even if Wheeler’s actual ERA ends up being around 3.50, it should still be seen as a solid contribution for a team that doesn’t require him to be the Cy Young candidate he was even a season ago.

Just be ready for the occasional blowup game where Wheeler’s movement isn’t as crisp or hitters start laying off some of those sinkers/sweepers on days when he doesn’t have his best command. Unless his velocity increases as the weather gets warmer, he’s going to have to be a bit more careful in the zone with his fastball.

Perhaps this is the beginning of a re-invention of Zack Wheeler. Perhaps it’s a one year situation as he recovers from surgery.

Whatever it is, the results have been encouraging.

It was only last August when I assured everyone that the Giants would finish ahead of the Athletics, but it would probably be close. That didn’t wind up being the case, as the Giants got to 81 wins compared to teh A’s 76, but there’s something interesting about going back and reading through some of the comments. The vibes tend to bounce between a flippant attitude about any sort of comparison between the two teams and outright churlishness. Are the Athletics a major league team? Not exactly. But that’s why the Giants losing to them is worthy of a story, should it happen.

I think the Giants would find it embarrassing to finish the season behind the franchise they helped kill. The A’s are set to be in the region for one more calendar year, unless there’s a lockout that cancels the 2027 season. That’d be quite a note to go out on. Bragging rights and spite are potent weapons when deployed properly.

But so are talented baseball players, and the nomadic Athletics have a fair amount on their roster. They enter this series sitting atop the AL West at 22-21 thanks to a slightly above average lineup (102 wRC+) buoying a below average pitching staff (23rd in fWAR) and, of course, some general non-competitiveness from the rest of their division. On paper, the Giants can’t really compete with the Athletics’ lineup and it’s only the pitching where San Francisco would seem to have the advantage. But Sutter Health Field is close to Coors Field in terms of park factor which should mean that a more talented lineup has the advantage if the pitching is about equal.

Then again, the Giants have a pretty relevant equalizer there, too, in that Sutter Health Field is also the home of their Triple-A squadron. It was Bryce Eldridge’s home for a time. Trevor McDonald’s. Heliot Ramos and Casey Schmitt’s, too. That’s not nothing, and that will be a fun thing to watch, provided Eldridge actually gets into a game. The Athletics haven’t been all that great there in the season-plus they’ve used it as a homefield. This year, they’re off to a 9-10 start with a -20 run differential.

But the preview here is that the Athletics feature patience (9.7 BB%) and power (.153 ISO) the Giants lack and have used that combination to overcome an even worse start to the season (1-5) than the one the Giants had (2-4).

Series overview

Who: San Francisco Giants (18-26) at The Athletics (22-21)
Where: Sutter Health Field | West Sacramento, California
When: Friday at 6:40pm PT, Saturday at 6:40pm PT, Sunday at 1:05pm PT
National broadcasts: None, but all 3 listed as the MLB.tv Free Game of the Day

Projected starters
Friday: TBD vs. Aaron Civale (RHP 4-1, 2.59 ERA)
Saturday: Trevor McDonald (RHP 1-0, 2.92 ERA) vs. Luis Severino (RHP 2-4, 4.07 ERA)
Sunday: Adrian Houser (RHP 1-4, 5.79 ERA) vs. Jeffrey Springs (LHP 3-3, 4.22 ERA)

Players to watch

Athletics

Nick Kurtz: The 2025 AL Rookie of the Year posted a 1.o02 OPS with 36 home runs in his age-22 season (489 PA). He’s up to a .905 OPS in 193 PA through the first month and a half of the season. 6 of his 7 home runs have come over the past 23 games.

Shea Langeliers: He currently leads the sport in hits with 55 hits along with 12 home runs. He’s a bit off of Cal Raleigh’s 60-home run pace from last season (he had 14 through his team’s first 43 games), but it’s worth keeping an eye on.

Joel Kuhnel & Hogan Harris: You’d think trading Mason Miller would leave the backend of the Athletics’ pen compeltely exposed. That hasn’t totally been the case, and they’ve at least populated it with some quirky characters. First up is soft-tossing journeyman righty Joel Kuhnel, who is doing it with a sinker that simply gets the job done. He has just 6 strikeouts in 15 innings. He got a nice writeup in MLB.com last month. Meanwhile, lefty reliever Hogan Harris is approaching journeyman status (29, despite being drafted by the A’s) and has walked 17 in 23 IP — but has also struck out 21.

Giants

Bryce Eldridge: We can’t consider 104 games spread out across a few years an indication of a home field, but this is where he was getting comfortable before the Giants called him up to sit on the bench. Let’s see if he gets a start or really any playing time in what was his minor league home for a time.

Trevor McDonald: Unlike Eldridge, McDonald will be returning to a place where he did not impress, sporting a 5.40 ERA the past two seasons. As a starter on the mound for the San Francisco Giants, he has been a tough starting pitcher. Will he hold firm to that characterization or lose himself in the West Sacramento of it all?

Daniel Susac: He’s set to be activated for this series and we’ll see if the organization’s favorite catcher can pickup where he left off.

Tony Vitello watch

Like some of the recent River Cats now with the Giants, I imagine there’s a degree of familiarity for Vitello in that Sutter Health Field should feel a lot more like a college stadium than a major league one. But maybe I’m wrong about that!

Prediction time

The Giants will not get swept.

To say Kyle Manzardo got off to a slow start might be considered by many to be a bit of an understatement, but once the calendar flipped to May, the young slugging first baseman has really started to turn things around. Today we’re going to take a look and see if we can figure out how he’s done that.

Kyle Manzardo clobbered 27 home runs and hit for a .768 OPS and a 113 wRC+ in his first full season of Major League Baseball in 2025. With expectations fairly high coming into 2026, it was a shock to many to see him get off to such a slow start. Through his first 28 games to start the season in March and April, he had just 1 home run, a .512 OPS, and a 50 wRC+. But so far in May in just 11 games, he’s already matched his extra base hit total from March and April (3), his OPS is over .200 higher at .740, and he has a 111 wRC+. So what changed?

Well Manzo didn’t get off to a great start from a luck perspective. Through most of March and April, he was one of the unluckiest hitters in Major League Baseball by wOBA – xwOBA difference. In fact, as of writing, he still is the 19th most unlucky hitter in the sport. This is a fairly large part of why the numbers look so bad for him, but if we dig a little deeper we can see some of the changes he’s made that have helped him at the plate the last couple of weeks.

It doesn’t seem like Manzo went deep into the hitting tank, making adjustments to his stance or swing. His depth in the box, distance off the plate, and distance between his feet are all pretty much the same if we go by the Savant measurements. See images below:

Left image is March 26th through April 30th. Right image is May 1st though 10th

So the next thing we’d want to look at is “has the approach changed?” This is where we can see some changes. His Chase % is down from 29.7 in March and April to 26.8 so far in May. Not a massive change, but definitely worth mentioning. The next numbers to look at are his Zone Swing % and his In Zone Contact % (the percentage of pitches in the Zone he’s swung at, and the % of those swings that resulted in contact for the hitter respectively). This is where things get interesting. Manzo is actually swinging at fewer pitches in the strike zone so far in May. The percentage is down from 66.8 to 61.9, but his In Zone Contact % has jumped up drastically from 79 to 97.6! What does this tell us? These three numbers combined show a hitter that is being far more selective of the pitches they want to swing at, and then not missing when they get the pitch they want.

What are the results? Manzo’s Hard-Hit % (the percentage of batted balls with exit velocities over 95 mph) has skyrocketed from 26.4 to a staggering 68 in May, his Barrel % is up from 7.5 to 20, his average exit velo is up 5mph from 87.7 to 92.7, and he’s hitting the Launch Angle Sweet Spot (defined by stat cast as between 8 and 32 degrees) 48% of the time. The patience has rewarded him as well, lowering his K% from 35.1 to just 19.4, and increasing his BBB% from 8.2 to 11.1. These are all great signs. The Barrel % and Hard-Hit % would be top 10 and number 1 in the league respectively if they held, so those rates may not be sustainable for the young slugger, but it’s certainly cause for excitement.

What do we want to watch going forward? The most important thing is going to be continuing to manage the Chase %. If he can continue to keep that Chase % down even just those few % points and hunt the pitches he can damage, the rest of 2026 will go very well for the first baseman. 

It’s worth mentioning as well that Kyle Manzardo came into 2026 with less than 200 MLB games under his belt and only 687 PAs. There’s a lot of adjusting that still goes into a young player at this stage at the MLB level, and it’s very clear he also put a lot of work this offseason into improving his defense. Hopefully, going forward, we will continue to see this version of Kyle Manzardo. If we do, José will have some extra much needed protection in the lineup.

Yeah, I know. Regular season series are only three games long and sometimes four but this is one where you have to take the previous three games into a little consideration once we eventually get into talking about these three games. That’s because the Braves were entering this series against the Chicago Cubs hot off the heels of a big (and rare) series win at Dodger Stadium.

Granted, the Cubs were limping a bit coming into Cobb County after the Rangers blanked them for the final two games of their series in Arlington but at the same time, nobody wants to be the team that a cold team suddenly wakes up for. Fortunately, the Braves were able to extend Chicago’s misery a bit instead of serving as a bounce-back opportunity. Atlanta has now made a big time statement against the depending World Series champions and the current NL Central leaders and now it’s time to take a look at how it all went down.

Tuesday, May 12

Braves 5, Cubs 2

This game started out with Grant Holmes seemingly cruising on his way to a quality start. Then the fourth ining rolled around and Holmes hit the wall hard. He gave up a one-out homer to Alex Bregman to tie the game up at one run apiece and then he walked the bases loaded immediately afterwards. It was honestly a bit of a miracle that Holmes only ended up surrendering two runs in this inning, with the other run coming as a result of a double play.

It also ended up being huge that Holmes only gave up those two runs because that was the complete sum of offense the Cubs would end up mustering up for the entire game. The Braves didn’t wait too long to respond, as they eventually put up a four-spot in the fifth inning. Austin Riley tied things up with a long ball to tie it up again and then Mike Yastrzemski (who put the Braves on the board earlier on) hit his first dinger of the season in order to put the Braves ahead by two. Matt Olson added on an RBI single of his own and just like that, the Braves were up 5-2.

Thanks to Didier Fuentes, Dylan Lee and Raisel Iglesias all being unhittable (with Fuentes being especially impressive in his three innings of work), this ended up being a very frustrating night for the Cubs and an exciting return home for the Braves in the series opener.

Wednesday, May 13

Braves 4, Cubs 1

Shota Imanaga was impressive for the Cubs in this one, as he ended up going seven innings and striking out six batters for Chicago in this one. He did give up two runs though and one of those runs on Imanaga’s line ended up being the winning run for the Braves. The first run for the Braves came on a solo shot from Drake Baldwin that he just muscled over the fence and into the bullpen in right-center for a solo shot that put the Braves into the lead.

Eventually, the game was deadlocked at one run apiece after the sole run that JR Ritchie gave up during his 4.1 innings of work was standing up for the Cubs. Imanaga went back out there for the eighth and sure enough, Michael Harris II was able to get on base with a single to lead off the eighth and force the Cubs to go to their bullpen. Phil Maton got the ball and was immediately greeted rudely by Ha-Seong Kim joining Harris on the basepaths with a single. Mike Yastrzemski then came up huge for the second time in this series with an RBI double that broke the deadlock.

Despite Ha-Seong Kim getting thrown out by a mile at home on Yaz’s double, the opportunity to add on did not go by the wayside. That’s because Mauricio Dubón ended up cracking a dinger of his own to make it 4-1. By that time, Raisel Iglesias was called upon for a second consecutive night of duty and for the second night in a row, he closed things out in order to help give the Braves a series win in front of an electric crowd.

Thursday, May 14

Cubs 2, Braves 0

Things weren’t so electric for the Braves in this one. This was another case of Chris Sale pitching well but not well enough to win because the offense got locked up for the second Sale start in a row. You are not going to sit here and see me complain about another six strong innings from Sale, where he only gave up one run while striking out eight batters as well. This was a perfectly fine night on the mound for Sale and if Atlanta could’ve mustered up anything at the plate, we may have been talking about a sweep right now. Sale was in such a zone that he even forgot how many outs there were at one point!

Instead, Ben Brown and Chicago’s bullpen had redemption on the mind. Brown was extremely effective for the four innings that he pitched and while the Braves did get one hit each on Hoby Milner, Phil Maton, old friend Jacob Webb and Daniel Palencia, those lone hits were all they were able to get. There would be no late rallies or dramatics in this one as the Braves ended up having to settle for the series win after getting shut out for only the second time this season — both times at home, no less.

So while I’d imagine that everybody was hoping and wishing for a sweep after the way the first two games went, I don’t think that anybody is going to complain about a series win — especially considering that it’s two series wins in a row against some of the best that the National League has to offer after a disappointing series loss in Seattle. The Braves are still riding high at the moment and they’re flying higher than any other team in baseball at the moment. The second win of this series pushed the Braves to 30 wins on the year and they’ll be the only team in baseball heading into Rivalry Weekend™ with 30 wins to their name so far. That’s pretty good!

Even with the loss on Thursday, the Braves have to feel good about how their pitching staff performed against this potent Cubs lineup. Going three games against this squad and only giving up four runs (including a one-hitter in the series opener) is very impressive. It’s a crying shame that the best starting performance in this series (Chris Sale’s six innings) ended up being in vain but outside of that, you can’t complain too much about what the Braves got from Grant Holmes and JR Ritchie during this series as well.

The bullpen was also very reliable during these three games as well, which is pretty encouraging to see. Obviously, we’ll have to see the trio of Spencer Strider, Bryce Elder and Grant Holmes (again? maybe?) hopefully go deep against the Red Sox in order to help give the bullpen a bit of a break but for now, you can’t complain about how the pitching has been so far when it comes to the entire staff.

It was also nice to see Mike Yastrzemski start to show some signs of life at the plate and Austin Riley has started to look okay as well. If they can join in on the fun then it’ll certainly be exciting to see going forward and it could also mean good things for the upcoming series as well. The Red Sox may be tricky to deal with due to their pitching but if Atlanta’s lineup can continue to rake and deliver some timely hitting like they have on a somewhat regular basis so far this series then they’ll be fine going forward. Atlanta has been the best team in baseball so far and hopefully we’ll see it continue as they pass the first quarter pole of the season and approach the traditional Summer sign post of Memorial Day soon.

The Texas Rangers start a three city road trip today. They play three games in Houston Friday through Sunday, then three in Colorado Monday through Wednesday, are off Thursday, and then have a weekend series at Anaheim.

This trip is notable for a couple of reasons. First, it is one of only three three-city road trips the Rangers have this season. They previously had a three city, ten game West Coast trip in mid-April. Once this stretch is done, the only other three game road trip the Rangers have the rest of the way is a ten game road trip at Miami, Toronto and Cleveland in late June, with the final game of the trip played on July 1.

So the Rangers will be done with long road trips as of the beginning of July, making life easier over the final three months of the season.

Second, the Rangers will be playing the three worst teams in MLB, in terms of current records. The Astros are 17-28, the Rockies are 17-27, and the Angels are 16-28. These three teams are, in fact, the only teams in MLB as of this morning with a winning percentage below .400.

The Rangers have stayed afloat during the first month and a half of the season which had them playing one of the most difficult schedules in the majors. While it wasn’t always easy, they just completed a winning homestand, and are now sitting at 21-22 on the season. A very mid record, to be sure, but one that has them currently just a game back of the A’s in the A.L. West, and tied with the Seattle Mariners for the third Wild Card spot. WC1 and WC2 are currently held by the New York Yankees and the…Chicago White Sox? Really, the White Sox?

Anyway…a team isn’t generally going to gain ground on a lengthy road trip, even if the teams they are facing are of suspect quality. Still, this is the start of a stretch where the Rangers are playing a bunch of teams that are struggling. Between now and June 18, when the Rangers will be finishing up a three game series at home against the Twins, Texas only has six games against teams that, as of today, have a winning record — three games at St. Louis and three games at home against Cleveland.

The Rangers survived their early, difficult stretch of the season. They now have the opportunity to do some damage over the next month against teams that are at the bottom of their divisions.

And once this road trip is done, the Rangers will have 61 home games remaining, compared to 49 road games the rest of the way. When the Rangers return home on July 2 after that last long road trip, they will have 44 home games the final three months, compared to 31 road games.

The road gets easier going forward. Its just up to the Rangers to take advantage of it.

The six-game series for the Ohio Cup in 2026 begins tonight. Everything is on the line. Or something like that.

The Reds are 23-21 with a -14 run differential (even after just winning by 14 runs yesterday, wow!), 21st in wRC+ at 94, 13th in baserunning runs above average at 1, 17th in Defense at -7.9, 22nd in ERA at 4.65 (4.80 FIP), and 23rd in bullpen ERA at 4.61 (4.95 FIP).

The Guardians are 24-21 with a +4 run differential, 19th in wRC+ at 96, eighth in baserunning runs above average at 1.5, 15th in Defense at -6.8, seventh in starting pitcher ERA at 3.72 (4.04 FIP), and 14th in bullpen ERA at 3.95 (3.91 FIP).

Right now, the Reds look like a bad team that has been playing over their skis (not unusual for Terry Francona teams, of course), and the Guardians look like a ballclub becoming a good team on paper. Let’s see how that plays out over the next few days.

Matchups:
Friday, 7:10PM ET: Andrew Abbott, LHP 4.47 ERA (4.38 FIP) vs. Tanner Bibee, RHP 4.17 ERA (4.39 FIP)
Saturday, 6:10PM ET: Chris Paddack, RHP 7.63 ERA (4.97 FIP) vs. Gavin Williams, RHP 3.74 ERA (3.85 FIP)
Sunday, 1:40PM ET: Brady Singer, RHP 5.79 ERA (6.18 FIP) vs. Joey Cantillo, LHP 2.98 ERA (4.12 FIP).

The Reds are led by JJ Bleday who in a limited sample size has a 224 wRC+, Elly De La Cruz with a 144 wRC+, Nathaniel Lowe at 131 wRC+, Sal Stewart at 118 wRC+ and Spencer Steer at 117 wRC+. Of course, they also have Will Benson who has an 94 wRC+ right now but for his career against his former team has a 226 wRC+ with 4 homers in 37 plate appearances. Would really appreciate our catching savants devising a plan to keep him from repeating that this weekend.

The Guardians are led by Chase DeLauter at 146 wRC+, David Fry at 133 wRC+, Daniel Schneemann at 128 wRC+, Travis Bazzana at 117 wRC+, Angel Martinez at 114 wRC+, Rhys Hoskins at 110 wRC+, Brayan Rocchio and Austin Hedges both at 108 wRC+, and Jose Ramirez at 101 wRC+. Kyle Manzardo since May 1st has a 111 wRC+, a trend that really needs to continue for the offense to thrive.

The Reds have some hitters so the Guardians really need to score some runs off some favorable pitching matchups to win this series. And keep Will Benson from exacting a horrific revenge yet again.

Team News

The Zac Gallen Situation is Getting More Dire By the Dayhttps://www.si.com/mlb/diamondbacks/onsi/zac-gallen-situation-more-dire-diamondbacks

3 Diamondbacks Players Who Are On Fire This Month

https://www.si.com/mlb/diamondbacks/onsi/3-diamondbacks-players-may-rodriguez-garcia-arenado

Rockies Pose a Much Bigger Threat to Diamondbacks Than You’d Expecthttps://www.si.com/mlb/diamondbacks/onsi/rockies-pose-bigger-threat-diamondbacks-expect

Other Baseball

Rays, local officials reach tentative deal for ballpark in Tampahttps://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/48772516/rays-local-officials-reach-tentative-deal-ballpark-tampa

Tampa Bay Rays and local officials announce a tentative $2.3B deal for a new ballparkhttps://sports.yahoo.com/articles/tampa-bay-rays-local-officials-220919661.html

Mariners’ Cal Raleigh (oblique) lands on IL for first timehttps://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/48770453/mariners-cal-raleigh-oblique-lands-il-first

Rivalry Weekend has arrived! Here are the most intriguing clashes
https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-rivalry-weekend-biggest-series-2026

Previewing this year’s Rivalry Weekend matchups
https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-rivalry-weekend-preview-2026

The Top 100 Prospects list has been updated, and there’s a new No. 1
https://www.mlb.com/rangers/news/updated-top-100-prospects-list-may-2026?t=mlb-pipeline-coverage

We have a new record for most ABS challenges in a game
https://www.mlb.com/athletics/news/athletics-cardinals-set-record-for-most-abs-challenges-in-game

‘Lower the stigma’: Kwan hosts chess tourney for mental health awarenesshttps://www.mlb.com/guardians/news/steven-kwan-hosts-chess-tournament-for-mental-health-awareness

Anything Goes

This day in history:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/may-15

This day in baseball:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/May_15

300 million cells die on your body every minute.

Don’t worry, though: We also make 10 to 50 trillion cells per day.

Mustache shields were a thing in the Victorian Era.

You’ve heard of post-mortem photo opps and cocaine toothache drops, but another peculiar Victorian Era thing is the mustache shield.  Patented in 1876 by Virgil A Gates, the mustache shield was designed to keep facial hair out of the way when eating and drinking.

The thumb nail grows the slowest, the middle nail the fastest, nearly 4 times faster than toenails.

Fingernails grow about 3.5 millimeters per month while toenails grow 1.6 mm on average. 

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The Houston Astros have dropped five of their last six games and been outscored 32-11 in the process.

My Rangers vs. Astros predictions expect their losing ways to continue against a Texas team that has hit very well on the road.

Let's dive deeper into my MLB picks for Friday, May 15.

Who will win Rangers vs Astros today: Rangers moneyline (-110)

Houston Astros starter Spencer Arrighetti owns a 4.64 xFIP and ranks in the 16th percentile in xERA, yet his actual ERA sits at 1.88. 

He's heading for significant regression, and the Texas Rangers are capable of forcing the issue. 

The Rangers rank Top 5 in batting average, OBP, OPS, wOBA, and hard hit rate against right-handed pitching on the road.

Jack Leiter, whose xFIP (3.57) is well below his ERA (4.85), should build on nearly five innings of shutout ball against an injury-plagued Astros offense.

COVERS INTEL: Arrighetti's ERA-FIP of -1.78 ranks dead-last among today's projected starters, a signal he is undeserving of his strong results.

Rangers vs Astros Over/Under pick: Under 8.5 (-105)

Leiter has allowed five hits or fewer in three of his past four starts, and is coming off his best outing of the season against the Cubs.

He's in a good spot to build on that performance vs. the Astros, who have cluster injuries on offense and rank 29th in runs scored since May 3. Even if Leiter can't give the Rangers a lot of length, their bullpen ranks first in ERA.

The Rangers are well-equipped to keep the Astros to a low number, which could mean six or seven runs are needed to go Over the total.

Rangers vs Astros odds

• Moneyline: Rangers -110 | Astros -110
• Run line: Rangers -1.5 (+150) | Astros +1.5 (-175)
• Over/Under: Over 8.5 (-115) | Under 8.5 (-105)

Rangers vs Astros trend

The Astros have hit their team total Under in 14 of the last 19 games (+7.7 units, 32% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Rangers vs. Astros.

How to watch Rangers vs Astros and game info

Rangers vs Astros latest injuries

Rangers vs Astros weather

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The 2026 MLB Rivalry Weekend is here, and I’ve got a trio of NRFI/YRFI bets to kick-start the action.

My top MLB picks begin with an American League showdown between the Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers on Apple TV and wrap up with a Windy City clash between the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox.

Best NRFI/YRFI bets today

Pick	Odds
/ NRFI	-120
/ NRFI	-120
/ NRFI	-120

Blue Jays at Tigers: NRFI (-120)

The Detroit Tigers rank 25th in wOBA over the past two weeks, and Toronto Blue Jays righty Trey Yesavage has pitched a scoreless opening frame in four of his six career starts.

So, with the wind forecasted to be blowing in at Comerica Park, Yesavage is positioned to blank the bottom half of the first inning.

Turning to Tigers righty Ty Madden, he’ll be making his first start of the season and has held the 21 right-handed hitters he’s faced this season to a .095 on-base percentage and .076 wOBA.

Not only do the Blue Jays have a righty-heavy top of the lineup, but they’re also tied for the seventh-highest percentage of games not scoring in the first inning (74.42%).

• Time: 6:45 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: Apple TV

Brewers at Twins: NFRI (-120)

The Milwaukee Brewers are turning to Chad Patrick to start Friday, and he’s pitched a scoreless opening frame in four of five starts while holding opposing hitters to a .599 OPS.

Minnesota Twins righty Joe Ryan has also tossed three consecutive scoreless opening innings to improve to 7-2 this season while holding opposing bats to a similar .587 OPS. 

Additionally, Milwaukee and Minnesota rank 21st and 20th, respectively, in the percentage of games in which they’ve scored a run in the first inning.

• Time: 7:10 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: MNNT, BREW

Cubs at White Sox: NRFI (-120)

The wind is forecasted to be blowing in at Rate Field, and Chicago Cubs righty Edward Cabrera has spun eight consecutive scoreless opening innings while allowing just four hits to start 2026.

So, with the Cubs also tied for the third-lowest percentage of games scoring in the first, I expect Chicago White Sox righty Sean Burke to blank the opening frame for a sixth consecutive game.

After all, Burke has only allowed four first-inning baserunners since his season debut.

• Time: 7:40 p.m. ET
• Where to watch: CHSN, MARQ

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