Yankees ace Gerrit Cole showed no signs of it as he made his second start back Wednesday night following a 569-day recovery from Tommy John surgery.
The dominant right-hander was in complete control all night, mowing his way through the Royals’ lineup to help New York lock up its fourth consecutive win.
“If the first start was the appetizer, this was the main course,” Aaron Boone said. “He had everything going.”
Cole certainly did, as he struck out five of the first seven Kansas City hitters he faced before allowing his first base runner of the night on a one out double in the bottom of the third.
He then received some help from his defense, as Aaron Judge unleashed a perfect throw on a liner to shallow right, gunning down Michael Massey trying to score the opening run of the game.
“All I was thinking was I don’t want this run to score,” Judge said. “Especially with Gerrit in his second game, it was a tight game at the time -- I knew if I was able to stop them there, they probably aren’t scoring the rest of the game.”
And that's exactly how things played out, as Cole threw things in cruise control the rest of the way, completing six-plus scoreless innings of work.
He allowed just four hits, didn't issue a walk, and struck out 10 batters for a franchise-best 28th time as a Yankee.
"We are watching excellence," Boone said. "I don't want to understate or overstate it, it was just an excellent, efficient, surgical outing where he had everything going."
"It's a good night when everything comes together like that," Cole added.
The Yankees' ace has now put together 12.2 scoreless frames over his first two outings back atop the rotation.
Cole himself isn't satisfied yet.
"It's coming along, there's still some stuff to work on," he said. "We moved the ball well around the zone, sometimes maybe didn't quite get through the fastballs as well as we could've, so there's absolutely still stuff to work on."
Cole is lined up to take the ball back home against the Guardians next week.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton has begun running outside after imaging on his ailing right calf left the club feeling good about his recovery, but manager Aaron Boone said it still was unclear when he would be back in the lineup.
Stanton has been sidelined since April 24, after he experienced some stiffness while running the bases in a game against Houston.
“I think he wants it fully clear, and I think we got enough news today that allows us to take that step to hopefully the running goes in line with how he’s feeling, and we can start to ramp up,” Boone said before the Yankees’ series finale against the Royals.
Stanton was off to a good start through the first 24 games of the season, hitting .256 with three homers and 14 RBIs. The availability of the five-time All-Star’s right-handed bat in the middle of the lineup especially is valuable on nights in which Boone has a lineup that is loaded with left-handers, such as Ben Rice, Trent Grisham, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger and Austin Wells.
“Having him in the middle, his presence is massive,” Boone said. “So you know, hopefully not too much longer.”
Jasson Dominguez was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre when Stanton got hurt, only for the young outfielder to join him on the injured list when he strained the AC joint in his left shoulder May 7 while colliding with the outfield wall at Yankee Stadium.
He received an injection in his shoulder on May 11 and has been hitting off a tee for about a week.
The plan for Dominquez is to begin ramping up baseball activities, while the Yankees are completing their series in Kansas City and heading to Sacramento for three games against the Athletics to conclude their six-game, seven-day road trip.
“Hopefully when we get back next week,” Boone said, “there may be some live (batting practice) situations for him.”
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - MAY 27: Willy Adames #2 of the San Francisco Giants is tagged out by Aramis Garcia #35 of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the eighth inning at Oracle Park on May 27, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Team News
Sewald notches 100th save after injuries nearly derailed his career “I wasn’t even healthy enough to throw [much] last year, so a lot of that was just, am I going to get to play again? Because I’m getting older, and I wasn’t healthy,” the 36-year-old said. “So definitely more doubt just that I was going to get to play, let alone kind of be at my peak. I’m just fortunate to be out there pitching, really, is what it comes down to. I’m just excited that I’m healthy enough to go out there.” https://www.mlb.com/dbacks/news/diamondbacks-stay-hot-complete-sweep-of-giants
Diamondbacks sweep Giants for 2nd time in past 10 games
“Crazy inning,” Ginkel said. “It’s a play we’ve worked on in spring training. Now with the PitchCom and stuff, you’re trying to navigate signs and more like, how can we be more opportunistic with our pickoffs? I think with that inning going the way it did, and you didn’t know which way the ball was gonna go, I think that was a great time for it.”
MLBPA makes 1st proposal in collective bargaining negotiations
“The MLBPA’s proposal would reduce the amount transferred to lower-revenue Clubs, weaken the Competitive Balance Tax, and lead to even more payroll disparity than exists today. For example, under the Union’s proposal, the Los Angeles Dodgers would pay less in luxury tax payments, giving them an additional $70 million to spend on payroll.”
MLBPA makes its first CBA proposal, highlights increased minimum salary and new ‘integrity tax’ Here are some of the highlights of the MLBPA’s proposal:
Draft picks and other benefits for low-revenue clubs active in free agency and other signings
Significant increases to 40-man minimums, including a major-league minimum salary of $1.5 million beginning in 2027
A new “Competitive Integrity Tax” applying to clubs that fail to meet minimum payroll benchmarks
Expansion of salary arbitration eligibility
Enhanced compensation and contract guarantees for players in salary arbitration
Increased benefits for lower-revenue clubs who lose players to free agency
Qualified free agency for players with five or more years of service who have reached age 30
“Luxury Tax” threshold increases and removal of non-monetary policies
Expanded draft lottery to further deincentivize tanking
Increased revenue sharing that initially guarantees every small-market club a minimum of $240 million in revenue every season
Five years later, looking at each team’s best 2021 Draft pick D-backs: Chad Patrick, RHP (fourth round) There still might come the day when Jordan Lawlar fulfills the promise he showed as the sixth overall pick and a former Top 100 prospect, but he hasn’t found established big-league success in part due to injuries (the latest being a broken right wrist). We turn instead to Patrick, who signed for $350,000 out of Purdue, was traded twice in 2023 and has found a place on the Brewers pitching staff — first as a starter last year and as more of a swingman in ‘26. Patrick enters Wednesday with a 2.63 ERA this season, 20th-best among 130 Major Leaguers with at least 40 frames.
The most commonly used letter in the English alphabets is E.
The second most common letters are T, A, I, N, and O. The least used letter in the English alphabets is the letter Q.
The majority of plant life is located in the ocean.
There are around a total of 228, 450 known species in the ocean and around 2 million more species are left undiscovered. Most of the plants found in the ocean are kelp, seaweed, seagrass, and algae. Marine plants are divided into 3 categories, euphotic/sunli, dispothic/twilight, and aphotic/midnight.
There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.
The little indents on golf balls aren’t just there to help you differentiate it from other sports balls. The dimples on a golf ball’s surface create a thin turbulent boundary layer of air that clings to the ball’s surface, which affects the overall trajectory of the ball.
When Wigan Warriors selected two players to represent them at a Wembley photoshoot before the Challenge Cup finals on Saturday, they could not have chosen more different characters.
Liam Farrell, the men’s captain, is a veteran who has played for Wigan in five Challenge Cup finals, winning four. Leading his team out at Wembley to face treble winners Hull KR will be a big deal but he has been there before. Representing the women before their final against St Helens was a student who works part-time in the coach’s cafe. By the time Jenna Foubister had started primary school, Farrell had played 100 senior games.
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Josh Inglis' expert pick: Angels/Tigers Under 8.5
Price: 48¢ (+108) at Polymarket
Let’s stay on the getaway angle today, with the Los Angeles Angels going down to Tampa after today’s game, while the Detroit Tigers are also hitting the road for the weekend.
This total feels inflated at first glance, because of the pitching matchup, but Jack Flaherty has at least started to rein in his wild walk rate, and both his BABIP and LOB% help explain why the expected metrics are pointing toward better results ahead.
Grayson Rodriguez is still working his way back after missing all of last season and now draws a Tigers offense that ranks dead last in the American League in OPS over the last 30 days. These are also the No. 28 and No. 29 offenses in wOBA over that same stretch.
On paper, the matchup appears favorable for Chicago’s left-handed bats, but Bradley’s arsenal tells a different story. His high-velocity riding four-seam fastball paired with a well-tunneled splitter consistently forces left-handed hitters out in front, especially when they’re trying to lift the ball for power.
The results back it up: Bradley has held left-handed hitters to a .187 batting average and a .599 OPS this season. Because of that pitching advantage, I think the Minnesota Twins should be priced closer to 49-cent (+104) underdogs in this spot.
Time: 2:10 p.m. ET
How to watch: CHSN, MNNT
Joe Osborne's expert pick: Astros moneyline
Price: 44¢ (+127) at Polymarket
These teams are trending in opposite directions, so I’m backing the underdog with the hotter lineup and starting pitcher. Spencer Arrighetti is having a breakout season, allowing two earned runs or fewer in all seven starts (in which Houston has won six).
That includes a dominant outing against Texas two weeks ago, when he gave up just one hit over 7 1/3 scoreless innings. Nathan Eovaldi has been steady, but he’s now facing a red-hot Houston Astros lineup that ranks third in OPS, with an MLB-best 14 home runs over the past week.
Time: 8:05 p.m. ET
How to watch: RSN/SCHN
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The Montreal Canadiens had an opportunity to tie the Eastern Conference Final when they hosted the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night at the Bell Center, but only one player played like he believed that was a possibility: Jakub Dobes.
From start to finish, the netminder was the Habs’ best player, and he never stopped trying even though the team in front of him looked like it was just going through the motions. On his 25th birthday, the masked man faced another 42 shots and made 39 saves for a .929 save percentage.
Throughout the game, he was the only one who gave the fans in the stands any reason to cheer. Speaking to the media after the game, Lane Hutson said it best when he summarized the game:
The only one that turned up was Dobby […] It was a shitty, shit game.
- Lane Hutson after the 4-0 defeat.
It’s not the first time the Czech netminder is the Canadiens’ best player in a game; it’s been the case in most of the Canadiens’ wins and even in their losses in these playoffs. When the goaltender was asked to comment on the game, he explained:
Yeah, it sucks right now, but tomorrow is a new day. We’re an amazing group full of exciting people. We’ll have a great time on the plane, we’ll go to dinner, we’ll joke around and bring our best hockey for Game 5, we promise. We’ll try our best to bring it home for Game 6.
-
Dobes had every reason to be annoyed about the game and the result. He could have been critical of his team, but he wasn’t. Not once on the ice did his body language show that he was blaming a teammate for a goal. The 25-year-old led by example on the ice, and he also acted like a leader once the game was over. In 18 games in these playoffs, he has a 2.53 goal-against-average and a .912 save percentage.
After Game 7 of the second-round series, when he was asked if he was getting a bit tired, Dobes said he wasn’t and could play another 40 games. Watching him play, it looks like he wasn't kidding. But the same cannot be said for the rest of the team, who simply appear to be running on an empty tank. The Canadiens just don’t have the energy needed to fend off the relentless forecheck of the Hurricanes, who are proving without a shadow of a doubt that they are the best team on the ice in this series.
It’s a shame because Dobes deserved better, and the Canadiens had set up a storybook moment by having Jaroslav Halak be the torchbearer. The Slovak netminder appeared on camera not only bearing the torch but also holding a stop sign with Dobes’ name. It was a wonderful wink to the fact that the goaltender is doing exactly what Halak did in 2010 and is being cherished by the fans just like he was. Unfortunately for the team, it seems history will repeat itself, and the Canadiens will bow out of the Eastern Conference Final in five games, just like they did back then.
NEW YORK — Cincinnati Reds starter Rhett Lowder threw 45 pitches to hitters at Citi Field, the next step in his recovery from a right shoulder injury.
“Feels good,” he said. “I think we got a good grasp on it early.”
Lowder simulated three innings of work against a handful of Reds teammates, including outfielder Will Benson. Provided he comes out of the session feeling healthy over the next few days, Lowder likely would be scheduled to throw about 70 pitches for Triple-A Louisville at Memphis, a St. Louis Cardinals affiliate.
Cincinnati manager Terry Francona didn’t rule out the possibility Lowder could return to the Reds’ rotation after that one minor league rehabilitation start.
“I think there’s a lot of possibilities. Don’t know that we need to put the cart ahead of the horse. Getting him healthy is what’s really important,” Francona said before his team’s series finale against the New York Mets.
“The fact that he almost could keep throwing — I think he was out for only two or three days. That was all it was. So, he’s not building back up. They just really have been stressing and working on like, range of motion, activating the right muscles and trying to re-train that shoulder. Probably the best way I could say it. And he’s done a really good job.”
Lowder exited his May 7 outing against the Chicago Cubs in the fourth inning and was placed on the 15-day injured list May 13, retroactive to May 10, with right shoulder pain.
The 24-year-old rookie is 3-3 with a 5.40 ERA in eight starts this season and 5-5 with a 3.52 ERA in 14 career outings. He was selected seventh overall by Cincinnati in the 2023 amateur draft from Wake Forest.
Lowder made his major league debut in August 2024 and compiled a 1.17 ERA in six starts spanning 30 2/3 innings that year. But he didn’t pitch in the majors last season, missing time because of a right forearm strain and making only five minor league appearances.
May 19, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jesús Luzardo (44) throws a pitch during the first inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images
Quick: name the most valuable Phillies pitcher by Wins Above Replacement.
Well, that wasn’t very difficult, was it? You said Cristopher Sánchez so quick I barely had time to take a sip of my tea. That’s okay. The first question is the warm-up. Now name the second-most valuable.
Did you say Jesús Luzardo? Good/bad news: you’re right/wrong. He’s the second-most/fourth-most valuable pitcher on the Phillies by WAR. Actually, he’s the second-most/only the seventh-most valuable Phillie overall by WAR. Zack Wheeler has been on fire since he returned, but Luzardo still has produced more value/less than half as much value than him.
Don’t adjust your monitor: nothing is wrong with the above paragraph. All of those statements are true, simultaneously. And this isn’t some sort of Schrödinger’s Phillie, where Luzardo is both extremely valuable and somewhat less so until you open the box.
See, there’s two main types of WAR: FanGraphs WAR, or fWAR, and Baseball Reference WAR, or bWAR (sometimes rWAR). And they disagree on Luzardo. The fine folks at FanGraphs have Luzardo at 1.7 fWAR, trailing only Sánchez’s 2.8, and a bit ahead of Wheeler’s 1.4. Meanwhile, the renowned recorders at Baseball Reference have Luzardo at 1.0 bWAR, far behind Sánchez’s 3.7 and Wheeler’s 2.1. A difference of 0.7 WAR in the evaluation of Luzardo may not sound like a lot, but fWAR has him as more valuable than Wheeler so far, and bWAR has him as just about half as valuable. That’s a pretty sizable difference. So what’s going on here?
First, to level-set: this is not a case where either formulation of WAR is wrong. fWAR and bWAR, as we’ll get into shortly, are both setting out to measure the same thing— how valuable a given player is—, but through decidedly different approaches. Neither one is incorrect on Luzardo; they’re just defining value differently. Despite the title of this piece (lamentably straightforward, I was fresh out of puns), we’re not really going to be determining how valuable Luzardo is here. Rather, by taking a look at how the two main forms of WAR ended up disagreeing on Luzardo’s value, we’re going to get a more holistic sense of how he’s performed so far.
So, why do fWAR and bWAR diverge when it comes to Luzardo? It comes down to what inputs they use for assessing pitchers. fWAR for pitchers is based on Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP). FIP tries to eliminate the impact of defense by taking only the plays that are determined solely by the actions of the pitcher and the batter into account: strikeouts, walks, home runs, and hit by pitches (to be technical, FanGraphs treats infield flies as strikeouts when calculating FIP for fWAR purposes, whereas standard FIP doesn’t). bWAR, on the other hand, is based on runs allowed, and innings pitched. There’s more to the calculations than just that, of course. But that information is all we need to explain the variance on Luzardo.
Luzardo has been good to great at most of the things that go into FIP. His 27.7 K% is in the 84th percentile. His walk rate of 6.5% is in the 81st. His 0.73 HR/9 is tied for 21st among qualified pitchers, and the total number of gopher balls he’s allowed (5) doesn’t pop any eyes. He’s hit four batters so far, which is more than most pitchers, but that doesn’t seem to be dragging his FIP down (or up, rather) much. His FIP of 2.82 is ninth-best in baseball, and so it’s no surprise that he’s doing well in the FIP-based fWAR.
But you can see the caveat coming: FIP, and thus fWAR, doesn’t take into account batted balls other than homers. And you can’t tell the story of Luzardo’s season without discussing those. Luzardo has been solid at avoiding homers, but he’s too often been sent into spirals by balls in play. Of all the pitchers in baseball who’ve pitched enough to be deemed qualified for the leaderboards, only one has suffered a worse BABIP than Luzardo: pity the suffering (and wonderfully alliterative) Cade Cavalli. That alone can’t explain Luzardo’s performance so far; Sánchez has the fifth-highest BABIP against in baseball, and he’s doing things that are giving us cause to bring up Grover Cleveland Alexander and Carl Hubbell (not that it’s ever a bad time to discuss the old greats). But hits aren’t the statistic that goes into bWAR. Runs allowed are. Luzardo has stranded 67.1% of the baserunners who reached against him. That puts him at 66 of 76 qualified pitchers; no Phillies pitcher allows a greater proportion of his baserunners to score.
On the whole, Luzardo has allowed 32 runs across 61.2 innings pitched. Hence the relatively unenthusiastic rating of Luzardo by bWAR. Wheeler’s allowed 7 runs in 37.2 innings pitched, and that’s how he surpasses Luzardo in bWAR, even as he posts a lower K% and an only slightly lower BB%.
So, which WAR variant represents the real Luzardo? They both do. Luzardo is a pitcher who strikes out tons of batters and hands out walks like a dentist hands out Halloween candy. He’s also, at least in this campaign, a pitcher who’s prone to allowing runs, who lets a large proportion of his base runners pass Go, collecting their $200 along the way. That run-proneness may not last—his xERA of 3.15 is far lower than his actual ERA of 4.38, suggesting some bad luck—, but if we’re evaluating how he’s done so far, we have to take what actually happened into account.
To focus only on the runs allowed would be to ignore the excellent peripherals that showcase Luzardo’s obvious talent. To ignore them would be to ignore something that is quite obviously rather important to his job performance. “I’ve looked at life from both sides now”, sang Joni Mitchell. She certainly wasn’t referring to bWAR and fWAR. But you ought to follow her example when evaluating Luzardo.
Apr 30, 2021; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; The benches clear after Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher Jos Alvarado (46) struck out New York Mets left fielder Dominic Smith (2) during the eighth inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Kam Nedd-Imagn Images
Earlier this month, MLB held its second annual “Rivalry Weekend,” primarily pairing teams with inter-league geographic rivals. The Mets played the Yankees, the Dodgers played the Angels, the Cubs played the White Sox, the Orioles played the Nationals, and so on and so forth. The Mets will likely face the Yankees during every Rivalry Weekend until the end of time, yet one might begin to wonder…are the Yankees actually the Mets’ biggest rivals?
It’s in the spirit of this question that I’ve attempted to rank all 29 other major league clubs according to the intensity of their rivalry with the Mets, beginning with the most friendly relationships and ending with the most heated. The following countdown is entirely subjective and by no means an exact science, with factors like geographic proximity, postseason history, and regular season competition all playing some role.
Without further ado, here is the list…
TIER 1: Rivalry? We might as well be friends!
29. Mariners The Mariners are like the New York Mets of baseball, as A-Rod might say.
28. Angels The historically less successful, lower-payroll, mishap-prone team in a two-franchise city, with some of the best players in recent memory but not much to show for it? The Angels and the Mets are basically cousins from across the country.
TIER 2: A gentleman’s rivalry for a gentleman’s game
27. White Sox Similar situation to that of the Angels, except comparisons between the Mets and White Sox feel more oriented towards geographic circumstance than team identity.
26. Twins The Twins took a jab at the Mets after beating them at Citi Field in April. That’s about as heated as this match-up has gotten over the years.
25. Guardians Did the Francisco Lindor trade start any sort of rivalry? Not really.
24. Tigers The Mets almost played the Tigers in the 2006 World Series…see entry No. 5 for more.
23. Rays There’s no hint of a rivalry here, but the Rays have to be above the rest of the relatively neutral AL Central because at least one person in the Citi Field stands can reliably be overheard complaining about Tampa Bay and their “analytics” during a given game.
TIER 3: I guess there’s something there
22. Blue Jays The Mets and Blue Jays swapped enough players in the 2010s that their match-ups were certainly intriguing (though not necessarily heated) since someone seemed to always be facing their former team, whether José Reyes or Noah Syndergaard or R.A. Dickey or Marcus Stroman.
21. Rockies One of two out-of-divsion National League teams the Mets have never faced in a postseason series. The Rockies lost both their first game and their first home game to the Mets within the span of one week in 1993, but got their revenge by winning the first game at Coors Field in walk-off fashion against the Amazins’ in 1995.
20. Pirates The Pirates are the other out-of-divsion National League team the Mets have never faced in a postseason series, though the two teams did compete for division titles in the old NL East back in 1973 and 1990.
19. Diamondbacks The Mets eliminated the Diamondbacks in their first-ever postseason series in 1999, but Arizona quickly got over that defeat with a World Series title two years later.
18. Padres A rivalry that briefly sizzled when Buck Showalter approached a shiny-eared Joe Musgrove. If the Mets and Padres were to meet in another postseason series sometime soon, especially with Juan Soto facing his ex-teammates, this one could move up the list.
17. Rangers Between Brandon Nimmo and Jacob deGrom (and Kumar Rocker?), the Rangers have a healthy collection of former Mets. That’s sure to make things somewhat intriguing for at least the next several years.
TIER 4: Memories of a Fall Classic
16. Royals Even as they were ripping apart the Mets’ championship hopes with speed, defense, and an unhittable bullpen, it was difficult to root too hard against the scrappy 2015 Royals.
15. Athletics The A’s ended the 82-win 1973 Mets’ incredible run to the World Series, though the Amazins’ put up a valiant seven-game fight.
14. Orioles “They can take our Polar Bear, but they still can’t hit Jerry Koosman” – some nostalgic Mets fan, moments before their mind dissolves into a psychedelic dream-state with indiscernible technicolor images flashing by. Ron Swoboda parallel to the ground in mid-air. Don Buford running out of room at the fence. Gil Hodges holding a shoe-polished baseball in front of the home plate umpire. Cleon Jones kneeling in the outfield. “Those were the days” – that Mets fan, probably.
TIER 5: Things can get tense
13. Astros It seems like these days every team’s fanbase fashions themselves something of a rival to the Astros, but this ranking is more a result of the tense 1986 NLCS, which concluded with two marathon extra-inning games. Speaking of 1986…
12. Red Sox The enemy of my enemy is my 13th-biggest rival — at least according to this placement, anyway. The Fenway Faithful might not be so kind-hearted after the 1986 World Series, but I still believe Mets fans primarily feel a strange kinship with the staunchest anti-Yankee fanbase. Though they’re still a team from Boston, this is about as friendly as a New York-Boston relationship can get.
11. Brewers Until 2024, the Brewers would have been ranked back in Tier 3 with the Rockies, Pirates, D-backs, and Padres. Things began to change when David Stearns made the switch from Milwaukee to New York. On Opening Day 2024 — the first game of Stearns’ tenure — the Brewers were promptly involved in a benches-clearing incident at Citi Field, and on the Crew’s last day of the 2024 season, Pete Alonso hit a backbreaking home run to eliminate them from postseason contention with two outs left to go before sealing the Wild Card Series.
10. Giants The orange in the Mets’ color scheme and the inspiration behind their “NY” cap logo, the Giants are barely hated in their old home of New York. Sure, the Mets eliminated them in 2000 and got eliminated by them in 2016, but there’s been no prolonged period of drama. Still, the New York history makes these franchises natural competitors for the same reason it makes them natural allies.
TIER 6: Bad Blood
9. Reds If a franchise’s all-time WAR leader punches Bud Harrelson, they can’t be listed any lower than this. Punching Bud Harrelson is an automatic trip to Tier 6.
8. Cubs Between the wild Black Cat division chase in 1969 and the NLCS sweep in 2015, the Mets have upended the Cubs in some pretty pivotal moments over the years.
7. Nationals Ah, the 2010s. A decade when the Mets seemed to get their lunch money stolen by the Nationals every year…except for 2015, when they pulled off memorable win after memorable win against Washington to win the NL East. Even in 2019, a year when neither team won the division, each managed to pull off an absurd comeback against the other down the stretch. Whether it was Yoenis Céspedes and Lucas Duda mashing in 2015 or Daniel Murphy and Bryce Harper treating Citi Field like Coors Field in the following years, the Nats and Mets certainly know how to make fools of one another.
6. Marlins Roses are red, violets are blue, the Marlins will win in Game 162. Three legendary Mets collapses — 2007, 2008, and 2025 — each made complete with a devastating loss to the Fish on the final day of the regular season. The Mets may have bigger rivals, but no one has been a bigger crimp in their plans.
5. Cardinals This pair of superteams battled in the NL East during the mid-1980s, with the Cardinals outpacing the Mets by three games in both 1985 and 1987. But the ultimate dagger came two decades later, when the young duo of Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright combined to shock Shea Stadium in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS. Even 20 years later, I’m not sure Mets fans have come to terms with that night’s events.
TIER 7: All-Out Rivals
4. Dodgers In some ways, the Mets are more of a brother to the Dodgers than the Yankees. So many elements of their identity trace back to the Brooklyn Dodgers, from Citi Field’s Ebbets-esque design to the Mets’ Dodger-blue primary color to the core tenet that fans will stand proud even while enduring disappointment after disappointment. The Flushing Faithful were born from the Flatbush Faithful. But that brotherly cross-country relationship has grown increasingly fraught over the years as the Mets and Dodgers have faced each other in a number of high-octane postseason series, with L.A. keeping a pair of beloved Mets teams away from the World Series in 1988 and 2024 and the Mets eliminating the Dodgers in the 2006 and 2015 NLDS (the latter intensified by Chase Utley’s hard slide into Ruben Tejada). Throw in the newly-cited mantra of becoming the “East Coast Dodgers,” and the big-budget Mets have practically declared open war on the franchise that once called New York City home.
3. Braves It takes a special type of rivalry for an opposing team’s star player to name their kid after your team’s stadium. The Mets and Braves have had a contentious relationship since being re-aligned into the same division in 1995, with the Braves winning the first 11 titles in the new NL East as the Mets fought and failed (at least until 2006) to overcome Atlanta’s dynasty. The ferocity of the rivalry was renewed in 2022, when the Braves broke the Mets’ hearts with a late September sweep, eventually matching New York’s 101-win record and earning the tiebreaker to advance to the Division Series. It’s also been well documented that the Braves’ ballparks, whether the old Turner Field or the new Truist Park, have tended to be a house of horrors in both climate and outcome for the Mets.
2. Yankees There’s just something about New York baseball. Whether it was the Dodgers and Giants battling for pennants or both National League squads attempting to knock off the mighty Yankees in the World Series, the baseball world revolved around New York for the first half of the 20th century (especially in the decade of Willie, Mickey, and the Duke). The Mets and Yankees rivalry is all that remains from that rich history of intra-city competition. It undeniably peaked in 2000 with the first all-New York World Series since 1956, but it proves itself alive and well with every season’s Subway Series games, which manage to produce a playoff atmosphere no matter each team’s respective record. Sure, it’s a one-sided hatred, with more fire and fury coming from the Mets’ side. Sure, it’s interleague play, and most of the games are early-season contests with little larger consequence. Sure, up until the Juan Soto signing the Mets never had a particularly resounding victory over the Bronx Bombers (and even that one played out in a bidding war rather than on the field). But still…there’s just something about New York baseball.
1. Phillies The only rivalry that seems to regularly produce legitimate loathing between players and fans alike. Tension had been bubbling up for decades, with the Phillies barraging the Mets throughout the late 1970s and the Mets handling the Phillies throughout the 1980s. Then, in the mid-2000s, both teams weren’t just competitive at the same time — they were simultaneously elite. Jimmy Rollins called the Phillies the team to beat in the wake of the Mets’ 2006 division title (kicking off a chain reaction of trash talk) and Philadelphia lived up to the title, stunning the Mets after a late-season collapse in 2007 and edging them out in the NL East en route to a World Series championship in 2008. Plus, from Dwight Gooden to Hansel Robles (twice) to Rhys Hoskins to José Alvarado, this match-up has seen its fair share of bad blood over the years. In the words of David Wright: “I love the rivalry. I don’t necessarily love the city or the people. Or the players.”
Franklin Arias of the Portland Sea Dogs is present during a Minor League Baseball game at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater, United States, on May 1, 2026. (Photo by Dan Squicciarini/NurPhoto via Getty Images) | NurPhoto via Getty Images
Jake Bennett’s five-inning start proved yet again that he could be a good spot starter, if for no other reason than to gauge future value as this team may find itself firmly in selling territory as 2026 grows older. Wednesday morning’s start against the Rail Riders (Yankees AAA) was another in a long line of reputable outings, as he struck out seven and recovered extremely well after allowing a first inning home run to George Lombard Jr. And yes, that is the son of the George Lombard, the former Red Sox minor league bench coach and former Braves teammate of Andruw Jones, Greg Maddux and the like. Anywho, after Bennett’s five innings, the bullpen was sharp, not allowing a hit the duration of the game. Meanwhile, the top of Worcester’s lineup shone; Braiden Ward, Nate Eaton and Anthony Seigler, in the one-through-three holes, had seven hits between them and the 7-1 lead they had after four was key in allowing Bennett and his associates to coast the rest of the way.
Blake Wehunt had maybe his best outing of the season. The 6’7” righty out of Georgia (that’s not the Bulldogs but instead the Owls of Kennesaw State) had eight strikeouts, allowing just two hits and a walk in six innings of work. Franklin Arias belted his 12th home run of 2026 and Johanfran Garcia got his seventh homer in the fifth. Add in three runs in the sixth and Portland also coasted to an early afternoon W, their eighth win in nine games. A big factor in that has been Arias, who has 25 total bases in the last five games.
And another coast! Despite some really spotty pitching by Marcus Phillips against Asheville (Astros High-A). Enddy Azocar’s new teammates surely like him, as he had his first home run since being promoted to High-A, and it was a grand slam to answer a run to get Greenville to within neccessity of a save situation. The score was 11-5, and there it’d stay. Ronny Hernandez also contributed three hits, coming within a triple of hitting for the cycle.
The lone loser in the organization, the RidgeYaks fell to Hickory (Rangers A). This shouldn’t have even came down to two Hickory runs in the late going, but it did, but this was overall not a well-played game by Salem outside of a good shutout four relief innings from Luis Cohen. They had two defensive errors and just three hits, two from Kleyvar Salazar and one from Skylar King.
MIAMI, FLORIDA - MAY 20: Chris Sale #51 of the Atlanta Braves delivers during the first inning against the Miami Marlins at loanDepot park on May 20, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Pokemon card king and staff ace Chris Sale will take the mound for the Braves as they seek a second series win (and avoid a second consecutive series loss) over the Boston Red Sox. Sale (7-3, 1.89 ERA) checked off a box with his first win over Miami his last time out, striking out eight Marlins in his seven innings of work. He started the month of May with a 2.14 ERA and has gone at at least six innings in each of his last seven starts. As dominant as he’s been, however, he’s been a victim of not having run support. Sounds familiar…
We’re starting to see a worrying trend with this Drake Baldwin-less offense, and it is runs being at an absolute premium, even when the pitching does its job. With the record we have, it’s greedy to ask for more comfortable wins. But here I am, asking anyway.
You only have to go back to last Saturday for the last time Payton Tolle (2-2, 2.45 ERA) faced the Braves. I was only periodically checking in at a truly beautiful wedding reception celebrating some dear friends. It was a “oh, nice” vibe for most of dinner, “not comfy but a lead’s a lead” during cake cutting, and then “we tried to get Cute about Bryce Elder and the rally fell just short and we lost?” right before dutifully reporting to the dance floor. Upon review of the box score much later, it was truly dismaying to see how Tolle mowed down this Braves lineup, needing 85 pitches to get through eight innings. It is even more haunting when you see that Drake Baldwin was responsible for two of the four hits off Tolle and batted in both earned runs – get better soon, king. (And if you were wondering, José Azócar, who got the start in RF, collected the other two). Yikes! Looking for anyone else who’d like to step up here, especially after being blanked last night.
Tolle also had a quality start versus the Twins since we’ve seen him – he went six, gave up four hits and three earned runs, walked two, and struck out nine. With his run since being called up, it’s wild to think he didn’t make the team out of spring training. Here’s hoping that some familiarity and recency can help the Braves solve him this time to win the series.
Just like that, the waking nightmare that has been consuming the Cubs comes to an end. I don’t know about you, but I have no surprise whatsoever that the streak went away with a thump and not a whimper. The Cubs put 10 runs on the board while running up 14 hits and drawing seven walks. Two batters were hit by pitches and so the Cubs managed to have 23 baserunners. They managed a team hitting line of .341/.460/.561. For one day, the offense played at the level of an MVP candidate.
I said this just a day or two ago. I understand why Ian Happ would get a day off or two given his struggles. Also, any resurgence of this team is almost certainly going to involve Ian so I don’t have a lot of joy seeing him out of the lineup. With his five-RBI outburst that included a homer, Ian continues to lead the Cubs in OPS among qualified hitters. He does so by leading them in slugging percentage and being second in on-base percentage. Until some of his teammates can sustain their production, it is a justifiable choice for Ian to bat in the middle of the lineup where he is typically found. Importantly, he has generally been the Cub who has performed best against right handed pitching through almost his entire Cub career.
The offense was the big story of the night, but there was a subplot. Jameson Taillon in his return to face the team that drafted him had another rough outing. The Cubs are surely approaching a difficult decision with Jameson. I’m not sure that his stuff would play significantly better out of the bullpen, but he doesn’t appear to have the ability to consistently get major league hitters out well enough to justify his spot in the starting the rotation once a few more pitchers get healthy. You hate to see it, but at some point, unless there is something ailing him that can be fixed physically, he may be nearing the end.
The Cub bullpen came through to keep this one on ice. They threw four scoreless innings, striking out five. Jacob Webb led the way with a perfect inning and three strikeouts. Webb appears to have emerged as the Cubs best reliever. Ethan Roberts appears to be a lot of smoke and mirrors, but he did throw another scoreless inning and has an 0.68 ERA that comes almost entirely in low leverage situations. You almost have to consider him for some higher leverage spots.
Speaking of leverage, am I the only one who has noticed how little leverage the Cub bullpen has encountered year to date? I’ve mentioned this in passing a couple of times. But this is the first time I’ve done a deep dive into it. Prior to Wednesday’s games, the Cubs had played 55 games to the Brewers’ 52. So raw stats can be awkward. But check this out. High leverage opponent plate appearances: Cubs 333 and Brewers 353. So 5 or 6 innings difference despite three less games. The Brewers have been really good, so not super wacky I guess. Medium leverage: Cubs 689, Brewers 732. Now you’re at maybe 10 innings difference despite three less games. The Cubs have faced almost 200 more plate appearances in low leverage situations than the Brewers. So it’s not my imagination.
Last thought. Those three games aren’t nothing either. This first half has been a gauntlet. As someone who blogs about every game, the cadence of the games is always front and center. This has felt like an unending line of games. That was a brutal combo with all of the pitching injuries and has surely exacerbated the Cub problems and them running out of gas. The 10-game losing streak is absolutely disconcerting, but I’m not ready to say that the ship has sailed on this Cub team yet.
Nothing like a win to walk me and surely a whole bunch of others back from the ledge a little.
Three Positives:
Michael Conforto came off of the bench and hit a two-run, pinch-hit homer to help put this one on ice. He got to hang around and have a second plate appearance and drew a walk. You have to love a day that measures out to an 838 wRC+.
This was Ian Happ’s night. A two-run single in the first and a three-run homer late to break a tie. He drives in five of the 10 runs on the night.
Six Cubs in all had a night that registered as over 200 wRC+, including Kevin Alcántara, who walked in his only plate appearance. But this spot goes to Dansby Swanson, another beleaguered Cub vet. He had a single, double, walk, stolen base and two runs scored.
Game 56, May 27: Cubs 10, Pirates 4 (30-26)
Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.
THREE HEROES:
Superhero: Ian Happ (.256). 2-6, HR, 5 RBI, R
Hero: Alex Bregman (.119). 2-6, 2B, R
Sidekick: Michael Busch (.085). 1-3, 2 BB, HBP, RBI, R
THREE GOATS:
Billy Goat: Jameson Taillon (-.169). 5 IP, 21 BF, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 ER, 4 K
Goat: Seiya Suzuki (-.113). 1-5, R, DP
Kid: Moisés Ballesteros (-.045). 0-2, K
WPA Play of the Game: Brandon Lowe’s one-out, three-run, game-tying homer in the third inning. (.250)
Cubs Play of the Game: Alex Bregman doubled with a runner on first and no outs in the seventh inning, setting up Ian Happ’s heroics. (.167)
Cubs Player of the Game:
Game 55 Winner: Alex Bregman received 52 of 84 votes.
Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)
The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.
Michael Busch +21
Nico Hoerner +12
Alex Bregman +9.5
Michael Conforto +9
Shōta Imanaga +7
Jameson Taillon/Phil Maton -9
Matt Shaw -10
Dansby Swanson -13
Seiya Suzuki -27.5
Current Win Pace: 86.79 wins
Up Next: The fourth and final game of the series between these two teams. If you haven’t heard, it’s been a few years since the Pirates actually won a home series versus the Cubs. I’m reminded of a game last May 1. Colin Rea faced Paul Skenes in an afternoon game in Pittsburgh. The Pirates staked Skenes to two early runs. But Dansby Swanson, Kyle Tucker and Seiya Suzuki all took Skenes deep and Skenes ended up a loser as the Cubs won 8-3.
Rea comes in with a 4-3 mark and a 4.83 ERA in 54 innings. This will be his ninth start of the season. He hasn’t won since May 1. In four starts since then, he’s allowed 14 runs (13 earned) in 21.1 innings. Last time he started rough but ended up throwing seven innings and allowing just three runs. That was his second quality start (though he technically also had a quality relief behind an opener). Skenes is 6-4 with a 3.00 ERA in 60 innings. This is his 12th start of the year. He’s lost two straight, allowing nine earned runs in 10 innings against the Blue Jays and Phillies.
It’s a tough matchup, but you never know. Maybe the bats are sufficiently awakened to steal one against Skenes and the Pirates.
DENVER — Captain Gabriel Landeskog explained the collapse as an “empty feeling.”
Defenseman Cale Makar described it as “tough,” while Logan O’Connor was even more direct about the season’s end.
“Feels like a waste, to be honest,” the Colorado Avalanche forward said.
The emotions were bitter and raw in the aftermath of the Presidents’ Trophy winners being swept by Vegas. The speed of the Avalanche — their trademark — was neutralized by the Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final. Their power play — shaky all season — was a nonfactor.
Changes appear on the horizon, whether it’s to the coaching staff, roster or playing style. The Avalanche became the seventh No. 1 seed in league history to be swept in a best-of-seven series, according to NHL Stats.
Ask goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, though, and there’s no question the Avalanche should run it back with their core.
“Yeah,” Blackwood said, “because they are freaking amazing players.”
Coach Jared Bednar and his future were a hot topic on social media following the 2-1 loss in Game 4 in which the Avalanche struggled at times to get the puck into the Vegas zone. He has one year left on his contact.
“It takes a little bit of time,” Bednar said of processing the series loss. “I can’t really answer that right now. I think that takes a little bit of time with reflection.”
Going into the postseason, Colorado was a favorite to win the Stanley Cup — with good reason.
This team was No. 1 in the league from Nov. 1 until the end of the regular season. They had a club-record 121 points with Nathan MacKinnon (a career-best 53 goals) and Makar leading the way. The team ranked first in both goals per game (3.63) and goals-against (2.40).
The Avalanche cruised through the first two rounds against Los Angeles and Minnesota with an 8-1 record. Then, Vegas and its swarming defense brought the season to a close. Colorado had seven goals all series against the Golden Knights.
“We said it in training camp, it’s Cup or bust for us,” O’Connor said. “We let down coaches, each other, fans, management. It’s on us as players to be far better than we were. The results speak for itself. Lot of disappointment right now.”
The power play was 1 for 10 in the Vegas series. Not a big surprise, given team struggled with it in the regular season, too. They were 45 of 263 (17.1%) after assistant coach Dave Hakstol was brought in to fix it. The team was at 24.8% on the power play in 2024-25.
Back to the drawing board.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last handful of years, get knocked down, you just get right back up,” Landeskog said. “That’s the only way to do it.”
What the roster looks like going forward
For the most part, Colorado will return a similar roster. One of the big decisions will be Brent Burns, the 41-year-old defenseman who’s trying to win his first Stanley Cup. Burns has appeared in 1,007 consecutive regular-season games, trailing only Phil Kessel (1,064).
Other pending free agents include defensemen Brett Kulak, Nick Blankenburg and Jack Ahcan, along with forward Joel Kiviranta. Jack Drury is a restricted free agent.
“We have a lot of good players that are staying around still,” defenseman Josh Manson said. “As long as we keep building around those guys I think we can be competitive.”
Bumps & bruises
Makar didn’t want to delve into the injuries that caused him to miss the opening two games of the Vegas series. The Norris Trophy finalist was held without a point against the Golden Knights.
“I’m not the type of guy to talk with that,” said Makar, who had 20 goals and 59 assists in the regular season. “Did everything I can to feel good and come back and feel confident in my play, and felt 100% out there.”
MacKinnon also was dinged up after blocking a shot with his right knee in Game 3, but played in Game 4. Valeri Nichushkin, though, was sidelined for the season-ending loss.
“There’s a lot of guys dealing with stuff,” Bednar said. “I’m sure it’s the same on every team.”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 24: Zach Ehrhard #99 of the Los Angeles Dodgers during a spring training game at Dodger Stadium on March 24, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) | Getty Images
No wins for the Dodgers’ minor league affiliates; outscored 21-10. The Drillers saw their matchup with the Naturals postponed and will instead play a doubleheader today.
Player of the day
The job of a leadoff hitter is to set the table, and Zach Ehrhard did that as well as anyone could’ve hoped for in a 5-3 Comets loss. While the four hitters right behind him all went hitless, Ehrhard reached base safely four times and had one of the Comets’ three RBI.
It’s been an outstanding month of May for Ehrhard, who has reached base safely in every single one of his games, including recording a hit in nine of the last 10.
Triple-A Oklahoma City
Colton Gordon came into last night’s game having allowed 16 runs in just three starts this month, but for six innings against the Comets, he was phenomenal. The left-handed starter for the Space Cowboys completely shut down an offense that had just gotten into the double digits the day prior.
Trailing 2-0 at the top of the seventh, the Comets looked to Chuckie Robison to even the score with a two-run bomb against the first reliever out of the Space Cowboys’ bullpen. But Chayce McDermott ran into plenty of issues in the eighth, allowing three runs, making OKC’s comeback effort an unsuccessful one.
Although Robinson had the big hit, one ought to look at leadoff hitter Ehrhard as the Comets’ most productive batter. The center fielder finished the game with nearly half of the Comets’ nine hits, continuously stranded by the heart of the order, unable to score a single run.
Double-A Tulsa
The game was postponed
High-A Great Lakes
Although they led from the top of the second inning all the way through the start of the bottom of the ninth, the Loons came out on the losing end of a 3-2 score despite outhitting their opponent 8-3. One day after a slugfest, this offense let down a terrific effort from its pitching staff, one that saw them induce 18 strikeouts, nine of them by starter Zach Root.
Neither team managed more than a single hit with runners in scoring position, but the Dragons did enough for a rally against Nicolas Cruz in the ninth, an inning that saw the Comets commit an error and a balk and allow multiple hitters to reach base without a hit, including a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
Outfielder Kole Myers had the best performance among Loons hitters, reaching base in all four of his plate appearances with a pair of knocks and a couple of walks as well.
Single-A Ontario
There isn’t a whole lot a manager or even an offense can do when every pitcher that this team keeps sending out there simply fails to record outs consistently. This was the challenge faced by the Tower Buzzers in what ended up a 13-5 defeat at home, allowing nine of those 13 runs unanswered through the game’s first three innings. Starter Hyuk-Seok Jang couldn’t get out of the first, and the first three relievers who came in for him all allowed multiple earned runs.
Offensively, the Tower Buzzers didn’t make it close, as that’d be unreasonable to ask, but they put up enough of a fight by scoring all five of those runs in the back half of this game. Center fielder Jaron Elkins had a four-hit day, just a home run short of the cycle. Speaking of homers, Ontario’s only one came from third baseman Chase Harlan in the eighth, his sixth of the season.
Transactions
The Great Lakes Loons placed catcher Gio Cueta on the injured list and activated righty Josellyn Gonzalez. The Comets activated catcher Zeby Savala and left-handed pitcher Jackson Ferris as Alex Freeland was recalled to the big league club. Meanwhile, the Tower Buzzers activated outfielder Jaron Elkins.
Feb 7, 2026; Ames, Iowa, USA; Baylor Bears guard Tounde Yessoufou (24) shoots over Iowa State Cyclones forward Milan Momcilovic (22) during the second half at James H. Hilton Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-Imagn Images | Reese Strickland-Imagn Images
Wednesday, May 27th was the deadline for college players to withdraw from the NBA Draft and return to school. Several big names who had been floated as potential options for the Dallas Mavericks, especially with picks 30 and 48. With everyone’s decisions now made, let’s run through the list of important guys who are staying and going.
Back to school
Amari Allen (F, Alabama)
This is not a surprise, although Allen would’ve very likely been a first-round player. Back to Alabama he goes, where he’ll have an elevated role and a chance to work on improving even further.
Tounde Yessoufou (G/F, Baylor)
Yessoufou was one of those who declared for the draft while also entering the transfer portal. Last year a Baylor Bear, after withdrawing from the draft he will be playing at Madison Square Garden… for the Johnnies. This is a player I would’ve taken at 30 for Dallas.
Milan Momcilovic (F, Iowa State)
After entering the draft, Momcilovic is also returning to school, where he will apparently be making upwards of $5 million next year. Can’t say I blame him, but losing a 49% three point shooter from this class is a bit disappointing.
Billy Richmond (F, Arkansas)
UPDATE: Billy Richmond has just switched course and will return to Arkansas next season, per his agent Bill Duffy of WME. https://t.co/nLhxOxGIuv
After initially staying in the class, Richmond’s reversal of course sends him back to Fayetteville.
Tyler Tanner (G, Vanderbilt)
One of my absolute favorites, Tanner will return to Vanderbilt as a preseason All-American and one of the five best players in the SEC. While it is a bummer he is no longer in the class, he will be a joy to watch in college one more time.
To the league
Allen Graves (F, Santa Clara)
Graves was an interesting case, as his draft range could be awfully wide. However, instead of taking a large NIL bag from LSU or Duke, the Santa Clara product will head to the NBA as a likely top 25 pick.
There were rumblings that Anderson might enter the portal earlier this offseason, but once that didn’t happen it was pretty clear that he was headed for the NBA. He will likely be a top 25 selection as well.
Koa Peat (F, Arizona)
I talked to 10 NBA executives and got their takes on what these guys should do:
Christian Anderson: 10 (go to NBA), 0 (back to college) Meleek Thomas: 9 (NBA), 1 (college) Allen Graves: 8 (NBA), 2 (college) Tounde Yessoufou: 5 (NBA), 5 (college) Koa Peat: 7 (college), 3 (NBA)…
This was an interesting case, as most NBA executives polled by the Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman said Peat should return to school. Alas, he stays in the class.
Meleek Thomas (G, Arkansas)
While no official announcement was made, ESPN’s Johnathon Givonny reported on Thursday that Thomas is indeed keeping his name in the draft. He is a likely first round pick, and depending on where Dallas goes at pick nine, he’s very much in play for them in the late first.
What’s next
It’s officially workout season for these prospects. As reports surface on who the Mavericks are bringing in, we’ll keep you posted right here at Mavs Moneyball.
