Worldwide Sports News

Tuesday night’s series opener against the Orioles followed the exact same script that we’ve seen the last several weeks with the Yankees. A comatose offense, an elite pitching staff, a close game late, and a battle of the bullpens where every run matters. In the seventh inning, when the Yankees ultimately found the go-ahead runs with a two-run single by Trent Grisham, I thought about some things at the start of the rally.

Spencer Jones started it with a single off Shane Baz, representing the go-ahead run. With the team’s innate struggle to score runs of late, I immediately thought of the possibility of the guy who is regarded as the fastest player on the team being put in motion to give you three cracks at a runner in scoring position. Instead, over the next two at-bats, Jones stayed put, only advancing to second on George Lombard Jr.’s single.

This wound up not mattering due to Grisham’s heroics, but what if he didn’t come through against the lefty? While trying not to fall victim to Michael Kay’s fallacy of the predetermined outcome, if Jones ran on a relatively poor thrower in Carlos Narvaez and got to second, he would’ve scored easily on the slow grounder through the left side.

It’s not the first time I’ve felt something like this watching the Yankees (try to) hit. As much as the optics look bad when you mess up on the basepaths, the Yankees are just not good enough offensively to trust themselves to get runners over and hit them in right now. With the most athletic roster they’ve had in quite a long time, the Yankees need to lean into their speed and use it to push the envelope offensively, even if it means risking more outs on the bases.

For much of the season, it was part of the Yankees’ identity to leverage their speed. Through the Fourth of July, the Yankees were second in all of baseball in stolen bases with 92, leading all American League teams by at least 10. They had a teamwide Baserunning Runs (BsR) of 5.8, which was already their highest since 2017 while at the season’s halfway mark. It was a stark reversal from years past, when baserunning was perhaps the least important aspect of the game to them.

Fast forward six weeks, and things have changed. Since July 5, they’ve slowed their pace of stolen bases to eighth in baseball with 28, but the more stark decline is going from one of the best baserunning teams in baseball to the worst, recording -1.6 BsR in six weeks, a number that rivals the old, unathletic Yankees teams we saw a few years ago. This is coming with the most athletic roster the team has ever had, particularly with Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton on the shelf due to injury.

There have been times when the Yankees are not as willing to push the envelope on the basepaths, likely due to the game situation. With the offensive struggles, they don’t want to risk giving away outs, which might make them intuitively less aggressive in certain situations. This doesn’t stop the speedy guys who get great jumps from stealing, but it tries to eliminate risk. Despite this, the team’s success rate has declined from a rate of 77.9 percent to just 70 percent while attempting just 1.08 stolen bases a game, compared to 1.34 before. Declining both efficiency and quantity is a no-go.

The decrease in BsR may also be correlated with the flip side, being too aggressive to try and steal a run. Two recent examples include Ryan McMahon attempting to advance to third last week against Seattle on a botched relay to ensure Jazz Chisholm Jr. scored, and this near-perfectly executed play by José Caballero to stay in a rundown long enough to get Chisholm to score an insurance run.

Both of these plays symbolize a team that wants to ensure they can get a singular run, at the expense of a larger rally, due to their current capabilities, but the second one was significantly wiser than the first and is the sort of thing you want to see. Not only did Charles McAdoo get the tag on by only a millimeter, but if Caballero didn’t slip on the rundown, he would’ve been safe at second while simultaneously scoring Chisholm. These are the kind of plays and the kind of players that you want to do this with.

The Yankees don’t have baserunning savants that can make slower players threats on the bases like Antoan Richardson did with Juan Soto last year in Queens, but they do have speed. On any given night, they boast at least three plus-plus runners: Chisholm, Caballero, Jones, and Lombard. These guys have some problems getting on base, for sure, but there have been situations almost nightly where they can contribute.

Getting thrown out trying to steal a base is brutal, especially for an offense that is struggling to score, but the upside is tremendous. One of these fast players leading off an inning with a walk or single and immediately getting into scoring position gives you three opportunities with RISP. Chisholm leads MLB in steals of third base, where the Yankees as a team are the best in baseball at (24-for-27). Those are especially valuable with less than two outs.

There’s also a formula that shows it’s worth it to have some risk attached. Look at the AL East-leading Rays. They almost always lead the league in outs on the bases and currently sit fifth this year while also being picked off a league-high 16 times. They get thrown out at home more than anyone but the Nationals. For a team that’s seen as the beacon of fundamental baseball, they make these mistakes way more often than the Yankees, but they do it with a method of aggressiveness that overall makes them a net positive.

Baseball Savant has more complex baserunning stats that show another side to this. The most aggressive teams in the sport at taking the extra base are among the best in their version of Baserunning Runs, while teams that are more passive are towards the bottom. The only thing that really stands out here with the Yankees is that they have -4 BsR on steals of second, which tracks with their mediocre 73 percent rate of successful steals. Part of that is likely dragged down by Cody Bellinger’s struggles this year (9-for-15) and Caballero’s propensity to overslide and get picked off.

All of this is an exercise in measuring risk. Is the benefit of trying to take the extra base and maximize RISP opportunities for an offense that consistently strands them worth the downside of giving away outs in an already perilous situation? For at least the time being, it just might be.

The National League Most Valuable Player award race is going stupid hard right now. It is the definition of a dead heat, with Pete Crow-Armstrong and Shohei Ohtani vying for every inch of territory for an award that most (myself included) had already declared for Ohtani in early June. We have walk-off home runs, questions about how much half a season of pitching matters and ESPN features interviewing MLB players about what they think. It’s an NL MVP industrial complex, and I’m here to add my two cents. Maybe three, and (spoiler alert) I don’t think this race is as close as people are making it out to be.

Buckle up, because this will be a distillation of a number of personal passion points in baseball analytics and discourse. Frankly, I think Ohtani is obviously the MVP, and I reject the arguments being made in PCA’s favor. And I’m going to convince you I’m right with the fire of 1000 suns.  

If I wanted to bet my two cents instead of putting them in writing, Crow-Armstrong (-165) and Ohtani (+140) are essentially tied on FanDuel, with only a narrow edge for PCA because of a recent, visible surge (all these stats are current as of Wednesday morning). Ohtani’s odds have tailed off because he hasn’t been pitching lately, but he did rack up 3.0 pitching WAR with a 1.79 ERA before his injury in early July and has thrown down a .949 OPS just for fun; because, ya know, he’s Shohei Ohtani. 

The fact that Crow-Armstrong is even in this race is astounding, given that a player who is essentially Yordan Alvarez and Paul Skenes rolled into one should really never not win the MVP award. But Ohtani not even pitching 90 innings this year has apparently flipped things in favor of PCA, whose centerfield defense has captured the imagination of millions and whose chase for 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases has vaulted him narrowly above Ohtani. So has voter fatigue, given Ohtani has won the last three NL MVP awards, and PCA giving him a challenge is bound to give him bonus points.

You could argue that a 40-40 season, of which there have only been six in MLB history, should automatically grant you the MVP award, but you’d be surprised. Ohtani won it with his 50-50 2024, Ronald Acuña Jr. did too in 2023 with his 40-70 campaign and Jose Canseco won it in 1988 with the first ever such season. But the middle three: 1996 Barry Bonds (fifth in MVP voting), 1998 Alex Rodriguez (ninth in MVP voting) and 2006 Alfonso Soriano (sixth in MVP voting) all didn’t even come close. A-Rod and Bonds led their leagues in WAR those seasons too, but it didn’t matter at the time.

This might just be me, but I don’t think a 40-40 season (which PCA does not have yet, mind you) is more impressive than half a season of Cy Young pitching and a 155 wRC+ Silver Slugger-tier masterclass. Stolen bases are a supremely overrated statistic in baseball, and PCA’s 30+ stolen bases have only added about TWO runs for the Cubs all year. Ohtani added 21 runs as a pitcher in 82 ⅔ innings. 

Now, you will retort, PCA plays some of the best centerfield defense we’ve ever seen, and you’d throw my run value crap right back at me and say “PCA has racked up 24 fielding runs above average!” You will also say that, because of this fielding prowess and because Ohtani does not play in the field, PCA’s WAR (we’re using fWAR for all of this because I like it better) blows Ohtani out of the water, with PCA’s 8.4 beating Ohtani’s 7.1 and running away fast — Ohtani is not accumulating any pitching WAR while PCA continues to farm fielding stats.

Here’s the thing about fielding stats, though: PCA is obviously a generational centerfielder, all you have to do is watch one single Chicago Cubs game to know that, but these metrics leave a lot to be desired. I need you to trust me through this next part and not fall asleep: 

fWAR, which we’re using (and which the recent ESPN article about this debate used, weirdly, since ESPN’s own leaderboards use bWAR) is based on Outs Above Average (OAA, which PCA leads the league by far in). bWAR, the other flavor, has Ohtani closer to PCA because it is based on Defensive Runs Saved (DRS), which PCA is 10th in the majors in, behind two other centerfielders: Ceddanne Rafaela and Andy Pages. 

OAA really just measures how a defensive player turns batted-balls into outs. DRS, calculated by the Fielding Bible, supposedly measures a whole lot more than that, but they also do not make it easy to check their work given we have an idea of how their formula works … but it also isn’t actually published anywhere. Still with me? Okay. What that all means is that PCA is maybe the best defensive player in the league. But it’s definitely not a slam dunk, and I think pro-PCA arguments cherry-pick fielding data that fits their agenda. 

Ohtani, meanwhile, has no such fielding data to cherry-pick. He is disadvantaged by his position, given that you have to be a better hitter as a DH than you do as a CF to accumulate WAR, and these metrics aren’t built to parse that Ohtani is literally a pitcher as well. That reality is flying completely under the radar in this discussion.

PCA and Ohtani are both having roughly equal hitting seasons. Crow-Armstrong is indeed a much more impactful baserunner and fielder, and Ohtani (again) is a pitcher who just hasn’t pitched in a while. This whole debate boils down to your opinion about which thing is more valuable: half a season of godlike pitching or elite centerfield defense and baserunning? Even ignoring underlying contact-quality stuff that suggests Ohtani is actually a much better hitter and would lead me to believe he will have a better final month-and-a-half, I will take half a season of godlike pitching, please and thank you.

Finally, there’s the conceptual argument, which I will briefly make because I think it hammers the Ohtani case home. Is it humanly possible to disagree more about the definition of a word than sports fans disagree about what “valuable” means, specifically as it pertains to “most valuable player” awards? 

Some smart alecks will tell you that “valuable” just means “the player with the most value to their team,” but that is probably best defined by trade value, or the guy who would command the largest return in a trade. That is not how MVP awards have ever been doled out, and a far better title would be “Best Player” or, if you want to be needlessly verbose (I usually do), “player who had the best season.” 

Put simply: I don’t think it’s possible to be prime Jacob deGrom for half a season and peak Paul Goldschmidt for a full season AS ONE SINGULAR PERSON and not have “the best season.” I mean that with all due respect to PCA, but 82 ⅔ innings of that pitching just knocks everything else out of the picture for me. Ohtani is, for all the stats, the most unique, the most impressive, the most completely ridiculously impossibly stupidly good. The most, say it with me now, valuable.

Edwin Diaz’s time with the Los Angeles Dodgers has not been what any of the parties had hoped for. Diaz on Tuesday went on the IL for neck inflammation, his second stint on the IL with his new team so far this season.

On Wednesday, Diaz went for neck imaging, and the MRI showed the “best case scenario”, according to manager Dave Roberts. He went on to say that the injury seems to be more muscular than nerve related.

“I think he’d been feeling the tightness in his neck,” Roberts said. “But I think where it went to the other night, he hadn’t felt that sensation. So that’s what really checked him up.”

Roberts surmised that the closer would not be shut down very long for throwing, that it could only be a couple of days.

Maddie Lee of the L.A. Times has more information on the injury here.

Patrick Saunders of MLB.com also covers the Diaz injury, as well as who will be the closer while he is out. That man is Tanner Scott.

“His stuff, right now, today, is as good as it’s been all year,” manager Dave Roberts said Wednesday before the finale of a three-game series against the Rockies at Coors Field. “Right now, it’s easy to say that he’s our best reliever and most consistent reliever. I certainly see him as our closer.”

Scott already has the team-high saves for the season with 17, in 19 opportunities.

“Man, Tanner doesn’t complain,” the skipper said. “He’s always ready, wants to pitch, wants to help his teammates, his team, and certainly, given how last year went, for him to come back and right the ship.”

Hunter Feduccia was out of the Dodgers lineup on Wednesday, after he left Tuesday’s game early feeling ill.

“We’re just trying to hydrate him,” Roberts said after Tuesday’s game. “He’s got this stomach bug or food poisoning, something like that. He was scuffling all game, and he went as long as he could go. Obviously, he’ll be down (Wednesday). But he gave us a great effort.”

With Feduccia out and a lefty on the mound, the Dodgers did a little lineup shuffling. Freddie Freeman was moved down to the four slot, and Max Muncy and Tommy Edman were both given the day off, although both were available off the bench.

Owen Perkins of the OC Register covers some more details on Diaz as well as other updates to the lineup here.

On paper last night’s loss to the Giants wasn’t the worst loss of the season. Emotionally, morally, and spiritually it certainly felt like one of the worst. The Guardians offense decided to take the day off again, going 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. Messick got the loss after pitching a 6.2 inning gem. Messick gave up one run on six hits and struck out ten batters without a walk. Jake has the well written recap of this unfortunate loss here.

It is hard to have optimism for the remainder of this season, and I applaud any one who is able to see a route to the playoffs in this teams future. Unfortunately I cannot bring myself to give up on the team until they are statistically eliminated, but it is becoming hard to believe in their post season chances. The Guardians currently sit in third place in the AL Central, 5.5 games back from the first place Chicago White Sox. The Minnesota Twins are 4.0 games back in second place and the Detroit Tigers are staying neck and neck with the Guardians. The Wild Card race is not going in Cleveland’s favor with the Guardians sitting 3 spots and 1.5 games back from the Twins for the final Wild Card spot.

David Fry was recalled from Triple-A Columbus. Rhys Hoskins was placed on the 10-Day Injured List due to low back inflammation. Since being sent down, Fry has been hitting .294 with a 1.169 OPS. In 34 ABs he has 6 home runs and 18 RBIs.

Quincy had a nice write up about Angel Genao and his major contributions in his short time in the league.

Around the League

The Chicago Cubs picked up Gabriel Arias off of waivers after he was DFA’d by the Mets earlier this week.

The Tigers gave up two runs in the bottom of the ninth, losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Triple-A: Norfolk Tides 7, Nashville Sounds (Brewers) 5

Trey Gibson gave up a lead off homer to rehabbing big leaguer Sal Frelick to begin the game, but then sailed through the first four innings with no other damage. He ran into more trouble in the fifth, where he allowed another run, and then served up three more in the fifth. His final line (six innings, five runs, 10 hits, one walk, seven strikeouts) isn’t great, but it was enough for the win. Luis De Léon made his first relief appearance of the year and managed to toss a scoreless inning despite issuing three walks. Codi Heuer took the save after tossing two shuout innings.

Brandon Butterworth gave the Tides an early lead with his three-run homer in the bottom of the second inning, his first long ball at Triple-A. Their other four runs all came in the third inning, when they sent all nine baters to the plate and benefitted from three errors by the Sounds. Jud Fabian and Payton Eeles had two hits each. Fabian’s night included a double, an RBI, and two runs scored. Rece Hinds also doubled and scored a run. Enrique Bradfield Jr., Creed Willems, and Heston Kjerstad each went hitless and walked once.

Double-A: Richmond Flying Squirrels (Giants) 7, Chesapeake Baysox 4

Have you heard of Joseph Dzeriwa? He’s pretty good! Tossed five innings here and allowed just one run on two hits, a walk, and three strikeouts. His Double-A ERA is down to 1.89 across 76.1 innings. Gerald Ogando may have been even more impressive in relief, striking out five in his two shutout innings. Tyson Neighbors, on the other hand, had a tough night, giving up three runs without recording an out. Jeisson Cabrera came on as a fireman and allowed two of the inherited runners to score before ending the inning. Alex Pham was called on to keep things tied in the ninth inning, but was unable to do so. He gave up three runs on two hits (including a home run) and a walk.

Fernando Peguero led the Chesapeake offense with a 3-for-4 night that included a two-RBI single in the eighth inning, plus a stolen base. Vance Honeycutt, playing in his second game at Double-A, went 1-for-3 with a double, a walk, an RBI, a run scored, and a stolen base as the DH in the game. Griff O’Ferrall added two hits and an RBI. Tavian Josenberger doubled, walked, stole two bases, and scored twice. Wehiwa Aloy went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts.

High-A: Frederick Keys 12, Wilmington Blue Rocks (Nationals) 9 – Game 1 – F/7

The Keys scored 12 runs on 18 hits and four walks in just seven innings of baseball. Enddy Azocar outpaced everyone with four hits, including a home run, and three runs scored. Jordan Sanchez had two hits, two RBI, and three runs scored. Leando Arias led the team with four RBI, three of which came in on his second-inning home run. DJ Layton doubled, walked three times, and scored twice. Ethan Anderson, on a rehab assignment, had two hits. Braylin Tavera had three hits. Both Colin Yeaman and Yasmil Bucce hit two doubles. Bucce also drove in four runs.

There was less good news on the pitching side of things. Christian Rodriguez allowed four runs across his five innings of work. Brendan Parks worked one inning and allowed one run, but also struck out three. Chandler Marsh took the ninth inning and gave up four runs before wrapping up the game.

High-A: Wilmington Blue Rocks (Nationals) 8, Frederick Keys 4, – Game 2 – F/7

Randal Diaz, who didn’t play in the first game of the day, was Frederick’s most productive hitter in the night cap. He had two hits, a home run and a double, drove in two runs, and took a walk. Azocar singled, walked, stole two bases, and scored a run. Arias had an almost identical line, but stole just one base. Braylon Whitaker went 1-for-2 with a double and a walk. Layton walked and stole a base.

Evan Yates started on the mound. He went five innings but also allowed six runs (five earned) on six hits, two walks, and four strikeouts. His ERA jumped up to 4.30 on the year. Ben Vespi worked the final two innings in which he gave up two runs but neither was earned.

Low-A: Delmarva Shorebirds 9, Hickory Crawdads (Rangers) 5

Delmarva had plenty of runners on base in this one. As a team they collected 11 hits and six walks, which presented them with 14 at-bats with runners in scoring position. Jaiden Lo Re led the team with three RBI as part of his 2-for-5 performance that included a double. Stiven Martinez left the park with his 11th home run of the year, a solo shot in the fourth inning. He also walked twice and scored twice. Ty Head had two hits, a stolen base, a run scored. Eric Booth Jr. went 1-for-4 with a single, a walk, an RBI, a run scored, and two strikeouts.

The Shorebirds starter, Holden deJong, severed up four runs on five hits, three walks, and six strikeouts over 4.1 innings during his up-and-down start. Jake Dykhoff took the win by giving up just one run (unearned) on four hits, a walk, and one strikeout over 4.2 innings.

Box Scores

Thursday’s Schedule

Norfolk: vs Nashville, 12:05. Starter: Juaron Watts-Brown (1-0, 5.14 ERA)

Chesapeake: vs Richmond, 6:35 pm. Starter: Anthony Eyanson (6-0, 2.01 ERA)

Frederick: at Wilmington, 6:35 pm. Starter: Stephen Still (0-1, 3.45 ERA)

Delmarva: at Hickory, 7:00 pm. Starter: Harrison Kreiling (0-2, 14.73 ERA)

Before the comeback last night, Jac Caglianone left the game with a sore ankle.

That hot streak continued in the first inning of the Royals’ 9-7 win over the Athletics, as Caglianone collected an infield single. Two innings later, Caglianone was hit by a pitch. But in the fifth inning, John Rave unexpectedly pinch-hit for Caglianone, who the Royals later announced had right ankle soreness. Manager Matt Quatraro said the issue first bubbled up over the weekend when the Royals played the Angels.

With new stadium renderings out, there is an interesting thing going on with Crown Vision in the new ballpark.

Eric Hosmer shared a rather cool story about his final game as a Royal.

The Royals scored 7 in the bottom of the 8th inning last night to collect win 9-7 over the Athletics.

The 108.9 mph single Vinnie Pasquantino hit off the top of the right-field fence was hit so hard that it literally made a dent in the padding, a physical reminder of the mark the Royals’ first baseman left on Wednesday’s game.

Inches shy of his second homer of the night, the single still represented one of the three hits Pasquantino logged in the Royals’ 9-7 win over the A’s at Kauffman Stadium, their second consecutive late-game comeback win following Tuesday’s walk-off victory. The Royals have now won four straight dating back to Sunday — one vs. the Angels and three against the A’s — ahead of Thursday’s series finale.

Preston Farr looks into what happened to recently demoted Royals reliever Lucas Erceg.

Philip Ruo of Royals Keep argues why the Royals won’t compete in 2027.

On the other hand, Cory Moen of Royals Keep argues WHY the Royals will compete in 2027.

Pete Alonso hit a go-ahead homer last night, but that’s not what replay said. You be the judge.

Aaron Nola dominated the Marlins last night, continuing his recent resurgence.

The Minnesota Twins move into WC spot after sweeping Braves. WHAT?

Matt “Tugboat” Wilkinson (awesome nickname) threw two scoreless innings in his debut yesterday in Cleveland.

Brewers’ prospect’s father catches first pro homer after saying it would happen.

Here is your song of the day Upside Down by Jack Johnson

It’s not controversial to say that the past few seasons of Colorado Rockies baseball have not featured a good offense. A team doesn’t lose more than 100 games based purely on an inability to pitch. It has also failed to score runs.

Watching the 2026 team, however, the offense has seemed different.

At this point in mid-August, the sample size is large enough to make meaningful comparisons between seasons and determine if that anecdotal understanding is backed up by the data.

To start, the obvious number to consider is runs scored. At the very fundamental level, the only thing that really matters for the offense is if it scored runs. Everything beyond this is just a building block describing how a team is trying to score runs.

Earlier this season, I wrote about the gap between Rockies run scoring at home vs. on the road and how it was smaller than it had ever been in franchise history. What I failed to mention in that piece is the simple fact that the 2026 Rockies are scoring more runs overall than their recent counterparts, a point illustrated by considering the Rockies runs per game.

The 2026 Rockies are scoring 4.81 runs per game, which is a full run more than they did in 2025 (3.69). What’s more, this jump in runs needn’t be caveated by a shift in the overall league offensive environment. The league-average runs per game last year was 4.45 and has slightly increased this year to 4.48 (so far).

The bottom line is this: The Rockies have made undeniable improvement in their ability to score runs this season. If you wanted to stop reading now and just move on with your day, secure in your knowledge that the Rox lineup is actually improved, you’d be fine to do so.

The more interesting question, though, is what parts of the Rockies profile are fueling this improvement?

That answer isn’t easily encapsulated in one graphic. Rather, it is encompassed by a variety of positive trends.

Consider first the Rockies offensive events per game.

The most notable thing about the chart above is the steep decline in the orange line as it reaches 2026. That orange line represents Rockies hitters’ strikeouts per game.

That’s right, Rockies hitters are striking out much less this year.

For all three of the club’s previous 100-loss seasons, their hitters’ strikeout numbers had been hovering somewhere between nine and ten per game, while the league average had hovered around eight and a half. Addressing this strikeout issue has been the stated goal of seemingly every Rockies hitting coach this decade. We have written about it many, many times here at Purple Row.

At long last, Brett Pill and the Rockies lineup appear to have made a tangible dent in the problem. This year, Rockies hitters are striking out 8.57 times per game on average, which is only a smidge above the league rate of 8.35.

Hallelujah!

Less stark than the reduction of strikeouts, is the uptick in all of walks, hits, extra base hits, and even stolen bases per game.

Where the league as a whole has seen slight decreases in all of those categories, other than walks, the Rockies have seen slight increases in all of them.

You read that correctly.

The Rockies went from below league average in every category in 2025 to either at or above league average in all of them this season — again, other than walk rate, which is just below league average.

The caveat to every conversation about Rockies offense, however, is Coors Field.

Raw totals of events like hits and runs are obviously inflated by playing at Coors. The Rockies being roughly league average in raw totals indicates that they are still below average in terms of true talent if one were to adjust for their home ballpark.

wRC+ is an attempt to take the full offensive package of a player or team, including park adjustments, and compare that to an anchored league average figure (100). If we take a look at Fangraphs team stats, we can filter by just the Rockies and compare their past few seasons. Consider, then, the Rockies’ wRC+ over the last decade.

All of the improvements to component parts have added up to a Rockies offense that is much improved over last season. In just one year, they’ve gone from an unthinkable 26% below league average to just nine percent below average.

What’s more, the league run environment adjustments accounted for in wRC+ indicate that this could be the best Rockies offense since 2016. That’s not to say that their lineup has been more valuable in total — the defensive prowess of those late-teens Rox is hard to understate — but at the plate, the 2026 Rockies may be roughly in the same range as the last playoff teams this franchise fielded.

The main takeaway from all of this is just that the numbers back up what we’ve been seeing: Practically every facet of the team’s offensive profile has improved a little bit. Taken as a whole, the Rockies lineup is significantly improved over from where it was a year ago.

Now let’s all ponder what this front office and coaching staff can do with another full offseason to have their developmental changes really sink in. The Rockies aren’t likely to continue improving at this rate, but they only have a small hole to dig themselves out of instead of the gaping crater that they did just last year.

On the Farm

Triple-A:Las Vegas Aviators 12, Albuquerque Isotopes 8

Pacific Coast League baseball at it’s finest was on display in this slugfest.

Four pitchers took the mound for the Isotopes and none of them went unscathed. Valente Bellozo started the game and had the best performance of the night having allowed only three runs in his three innings of work. He was relieved by Mason Green, Jeff Criswell, and Evan Shawver each of whom allowed two runs or more in fewer than three innings each.

The Isotopes hitters had much more fun as they collected 14 hits among them and walked nine times. All told each of Ryan Ritter, Edouard Julien, Sterlin Thompson (No. 16 PuRP), Chad Stevens, and Drew Avans reached base at least three times. Oh, and Roc Riggio (No. 13 PuRP) hit his first Triple-A home run after his promotion last week. The lineup accomplished all of that and still the Isotopes were outscored by four runs. That’s just how the PCL works.

Double-A:Somerset Patriots 10, Hartford Yard Goats 4

When Hartford starting pitcher Stu Flesland III exited the game before the eighth inning the Yard Goats were winning this game.

Flesland III only allowed two runs on five hits and two walks in his seven innings pitched but saw the lead evaporate with eight Patriot runs scoring in the final two innings. The first three of those were allowed by Nathan Blasick in the eighth and the final five by Victor Juarez in the top of the ninth to put it out of reach.

All the way back in the first inning a three run homer by center fielder GJ Hill had put the Yard Goats ahead. From that point forward the only other run they were able to scrape by came from a sacrifice fly from Cole Messina in the bottom of the sixth. All the while the Patriots were chipping away at the lead until that eventual late inning outburst that sealed the Yard Goats loss.

High-A:Hillsboro Hops 5, Spokane Indians 2

Spokane lost this game due to the combination of Everett Catlett struggling to find the strike zone in his four innings of work and the Indians lineup failing to record a hit with runners in scoring position.

By the time Catlett was relieved by Case Williams the damage had already been done. Catlett allowed four runs on five hits and five walks on 93 pitches in his four innings. The Spokane bullpen did it’s best to keep the game close with the only other run coming on a ninth inning double allowed by Ismael Luciano but the lineup was not able to mount a comeback.

In terms of the offense, the obvious standout was second baseman Wilder Dalis (Pre-season No. 24 PuRP) who reached base four times but was never able to come around to score. Spokane managed to load the bases with two outs in both the bottom of the sixth and the bottom of the ninth and failed to cash in any of the baserunners. In the sixth, Robert Calaz (No. 26 PuRP) grounded out to end the inning and strand all three runners and then in the bottom of the ninth Ethan Hedges did the same.

Low-A:Fresno Grizzlies 10, Stockton Ports 2

Fresno took an early lead in the bottom of the first when Ports pitcher Corey Braun walked Juan Martinez with the bases loaded and then allowed Daniel Jackson to score on a wild pitch. Even after the Ports were able to stop escape the first without any more runs crossing the plate, the Grizzlies held onto the lead for the remainder of the game.

Fresno pitchers combined to allow only six hits and three walks while striking out eight over nine innings. No Grizzlie pitched more innings than starter Sandy Ozuna who managed to get through four with a solo home run to Alex Sosa being his only substantial blemish. Ethan Cole got finished the final three frames of the game for Fresno and only allowed a single hit.

At the plate almost everyone had a pretty good day, partially due to Ports pitchers failing to find the strike zone. Martinez walked a total of three times, Jack Natili (No. 20 PuRP) and Daniel Jackson (No. 12 PuRP) both walked twice themselves alongside collecting two hits, Landyn Vidourek and Cristian Arguelles each had a couple hits and stole a base, and Sebastian Blanco hit his first Low-A home run.

All told, a good day for the Grizzlies.

All-Star catcher Goodman (shoulder strain) placed on IL | MLB.com

In case you missed the news on Tuesday, Hunter Goodman was officially placed on the injured list after having missed the past several games. The shoulder strain was originally thought of as something that would just need a couple days of rest but as those days started to add up Warren Schaeffer could no longer wait to have a second catcher on the roster. Thomas Harding doesn’t indicate that the diagnosis has changed substantially so ideally Goodman can return after the requisite 15 day period.

Rockies’ Zac Veen, Cole Carrigg bring fire to Colorado rebuild as versatile spark plugs | The Denver Post ($)

I know you can’t get enough of Cole Carrigg and Zac Veen so here’s another piece on the pair of Rockies rookies from Kyle Newman. It compares the excitement and talent both bring to the field with the contrasting paths they’ve taken to reach this point as well as their mindset going into games. Especially interesting is Carrigg’s quotes on attempting to harness his emotions a bit more without losing the competitive fire that comes with them and Veen’s efforts to not take this opportunity for granted given the challenges he’s overcome to get here.

Romano revives career with help of old friend | MLB.com

While it was surprising to see the Rockies give Jordan Romano a dedicated closer entrance so soon after he joined the team, this isn’t the first time he has been an effective late inning reliever. This piece from Thomas Harding takes a look back through Romano’s whirlwind past twelve months that has seen him pitch for three different organizations.

Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!

The San Francisco Giants conclude this three-game road series against the Cleveland Guardians this morning.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be right-hander Landen Roupp, who enters today’s game with a 4.31 ERA, 3.62 FIP, with 128 strikeouts to 60 walks in 129.1 innings pitched. His last start was in the Giants’ 5-2 loss to the Colorado Rockies on Friday, in which he allowed four runs on five hits with five strikeouts and three walks in five and two thirds innings.

He’ll be facing off against Guardians right-hander Gavin Williams, who enters today’s game with a 3.74 ERA, 3.59 FIP, with 190 strikeouts to 45 walks in 149 innings pitched. His last start was in the Guardians’ 7-5 loss to the San Diego Padres on Friday, in which he allowed five runs on seven hits with five strikeouts and four walks in four and a third innings.

Game #127

Who: San Francisco Giants vs. Cleveland Guardians

Where: Progressive Field, Cleveland, Ohio

When: 10:10 a.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

Radio: KNBR 680 AM/104.5 FM, KSFN 1510 AM