The year is 1997. Liván Hernández takes the mound for the Marlins in Game 5 of the NLCS against the Braves. Little did the Braves, the fans in attendance, and those tuning in know that they were about to witness one of the most outrageous displays of home plate umpiring in MLB history.

Granted, Greg Maddux also benefitted from this… liberal interpretation of the strike zone, but it really felt like Eric Gregg was on a one-man mission to get home ahead of the traffic.

It’s the era of the sinker. For an entire generation of baseball players and fans, this is pretty close to the norm. Before there were umpire audit accounts and later the ABS system, pitchers learned to weaponize the East-West strike zones of umpires around the league. They knew they could steal strikes often as much as a half-foot off the plate on either side, so horizontally running pitches reigned supreme.

Fast forward almost 30 years and we’ve entered a new age. It actually started on the hitting side with the launch angle revolution, hitters increasing the angles of their swings to lift all those pesky sinkers low in the zone. This precipitated a reaction from pitchers, starting with former Astros pitching coach Brent Strom, the paradigm shifted to high-spinning four-seamers whose late riding life at the top of the zone effectively neutralized the proliferation of steep swings. Aided by advances in pitch tracking and biomechanic technology and the strike zone going from East-West to North-South (as well as some sticky foreign substances), we saw this transition from sinker to four-seamer take place almost overnight.

As with many things in life, patterns and trends emerge and then ebb away in cycles. Now it appears that we’re reaching — if not an end — then at least an inflection point in this cycle of fastball usage, and the Yankees are at the forefront of the reemergence of the sinker.

There are several factors which I feel are influencing the current movement back toward the sinker. The league-wide crackdown on Spider Tack and other foreign substances in 2021 was the catalyst, many pitchers finding themselves robbed of the RPMs and induced vertical movement that were making their four-seamers so unhittable. Over the following couple years, research into the effects of seam-shifted wake and its ability to increase the downward movement of pitches, particularly the sinker, provided further impetus for pitchers to dust off their old sinkers and tinker with seam orientation until they found the perfect combination to achieve maximal downward break.

Then in 2024 and 2025, much of the research in the pitching realm zeroed in on the benefits of starting pitchers throwing multiple different types of fastball. On the surface, it makes intuitive sense that having a more expansive arsenal gives you more weapons to make it deeper into games. Digging a litter farther, we now understand how the divergent movement profiles of four-seamers, sinkers, and cutters are interacting to fool hitters. All three types of fastball look the same coming out of the pitcher’s hand, meaning three pitches that look exactly the same can end up in three different locations once they get to home. The best hitters are able to use certain cues to identify pitch type out of the hand — think the dot made by the rotating seams of a slider, or the upward pop of a curveball out of the pitcher’s hand — but with fastballs it is almost impossible to discern four-seamer from sinker from cutter.

Starting in the second-half of 2024, I’ve been mulling over how I want to explore this topic with our readers. Now, I am very excited to use this as the introduction for a series that I’m really looking forward to jumping in to. Over the course of the season, I would like to pick out individual Yankees pitchers who have not only increased their sinker usage, but also improved the raw characteristics (velo, movement, etc.), especially those pitchers who’ve recently joined the Yankees and saw immediate changes to their sinker deployment. Matt Blake, Sam Briend, and the rest of the Yankees pitching department are constantly looking for ways to innovate, and I am intrigued to learn about their process in disseminating the sinker across pretty much the entire Yankees pitching room. From Max Fried to Carlos Rodón to Cam Schlittler and many others, I can’t wait to share what I’ve observed with all of you, so stay tuned!

It’s our second early game of the week, but thankfully this one wasn’t so early we needed coffee to get through it. The Tigers were hoping to come away with a series win, and with Tarik Skubal on the mound, that could only help their case. They had a great game on Wednesday night, and just needed to ride that high into today. They’d be facing off against Brandon Sproat for the Brewers.

In expected Tarik Skubal fashion, he got the Brewers out in order in the first. In the home half, Kevin McGonigle hit a leadoff double. On two subsequent outs, McGonigle was able to advance to third, then a Riley Greene home run brought two runs in. Great way to get the game going. Dillon Dingler singled as well, but the Tigers would need to settle for just the two runs.

Skubal was dialled in, getting another 1-2-3 inning in the second. The Tigers, however, did the same in the bottom of the inning, keeping the game moving at a good clip. Speaking of a good clip, the same thing happened in the third, with both teams going quickly through the order.

While Skubal managed to get through the first eleven Brewers in order, he couldn’t get a fourth shutout inning in a row. With two outs, William Contreras doubled, followed by a Gary Sanchez double to bring in the first Brewers run of the game. In the home half, Riley Greene got a leadoff walk, but one out later he was eliminated in a force out off the bat of Kerry Carpenter. One more out followed to end the inning with one man left on the bases.

Skubal was clearly annoyed with his fumble in the fourth, because he turned around in the fifth to just devastate the Brewers in another 1-2-3 outing. With one out in the home half, Javier Baez singled. He was probably hoping to avoid a repeat of the running drills he had to do in a similar situation last night. It turned out worse as McGonigle hit a long fly out and Baez got tagged out at first for a truly odd double play to end the inning.

In the sixth, the Brewers were back at their nonsense, with David Hamilton getting on with a soft bunt. Then they had the audacity to do it again, this one down the first base line by Brandon Lockridge, putting two on safely. A force out off the bat of Brice Turang got Lockridge out at second, but left men at the corners. A double play was exactly what the team needed, and that’s exactly what they got. Skubal induced a ground ball on a 3-0 count and the inning was suddenly done, the threat over. With one out in the home half, Colt Keith walked, and that was it for Sproat, who was replaced by Aaron Ashby. Riley Greene singled, sending Keith to third, then Dingler hit into a force out, eliminating Greene at first, but scoring Keith to give the Tigers another run. Matt Vierling came out to pinch-hit and drew a walk. The Brewers went back to their bullpen, this time for Grant Anderson, who came out and got the final out of the inning.

The Brewers opened the seventh with back-to-back singles from Gary Sanchez and Luis Matos. A Blake Perkins double right to the warning track brought in two runs and tied the game up at 3-3 after a lengthy battle against Skubal. That was it for Skubal, who went 6.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K on 94 pitches. The game started incredibly strong for him, save one rough inning. It wasn’t until the seventh that he really started to falter, and it’s a shame to see his game end that way. Tyler Holton came out in relief. After getting the first out of the inning, Holton gave up a single to Joey Ortiz. A David Hamilton single then brought one more run in to break up the tie and give the Brewers the lead. Lockridge walked, the first Brewers walk of the game, loading the bases with still just the one out. It was a bad situation for the Tigers until a rare 3-2-2 double play ended the inning. Gotta love it.

Trevor Megill was next out of the Brewers pen in the bottom of the seventh. He got the Tigers out in order on three consecutive groundouts.

Burch Smith came out for the Tigers in the top of the eighth making his Tigers debut. What the team needed was a clean inning, and Smith gave them just that, getting the Brewers out in order. Angel Zerpa was the new Brewers pitcher, and with one out, Jahmai Jones took him yard, hitting a home run to left center. Two outs followed but the Tigers had tied things up again.

Sal Frelick singled to start the ninth. Then, a Rengifo bunt (these guys and their bunts, I swear), saw him out at first but got Frelick to second. Ortiz walked, and Smith was replaced by Brant Hurter. Hurter came in and induced a double play to end the inning. The Tigers headed into the bottom of the ninth hoping to eke out a win and avoid extra innings. Abner Uribe was in for the Brewers. And with one out, last night’s home run hero Spencer Torkelson did it again with a walk-off home run to wrap up the series and game with a win.

Final: Tigers 5, Brewers 4

JR Ritchie’s major league debut couldn’t have started much worse.

He gave up a home run on very his first pitch.

From there, though, he certainly looked like he belonged.

The 2022 first-round pick, called up to close out the Braves’ road trip in Washington Thursday afternoon, didn’t just excel in his debut. He set the tone in Atlanta’s 7-2 win over the Nationals, which clinched the team’s fifth straight series win and completed a 6-1 road trip.

Atlanta’s No. 2 prospect bounced back from the challenging first pitch to get through an efficient seven innings on 89 pitches, allowing two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks. His seven strikeouts are tied for the third-most by a starter in his debut in franchise history, behind only David Hale (2013), Bob Dresser (1902) and Kenshin Kawakami (2009).

He’s the first pitcher in franchise history to throw seven-plus innings, allow no more than two runs and strike out seven batters in his major league debut.

Ritchie’s two walks came in the final innings. His two runs allowed came on solo homers, a middle-middle fastball to Wood and a changeup below the zone which CJ Abrams still managed to power out.

The debutant got an assist from Washington in the second inning, when the Nats put on an ill-advised delayed steal to run their way out of an inning when it had runners on the corners. From there, Ritchie didn’t face much more traffic, never again allowing multiple baserunners at the same time.

It wound up being quite important that Ritchie settled in so well as Atlanta’s offense was largely held down by Washington starter Cade Cavalli.

The majority of their damage against him came in a four-hit fourth which Matt Olson and Austin Riley started with back-to-back doubles. The pair scored on an Ozzie Albies sacrifice fly and a Michael Harris II RBI single, respectively, to stake Atlanta to a 2-1 lead.

Cavalli finished his first start against the Braves allowing two runs on seven hits with no walks and a career-high 10 strikeouts.

Once the starter was out, though, Atlanta got to Washington’s bullpen. After failing to score with two in scoring position and one out in the six, the Braves broke a 2-2 deadlock with a four-run seventh to take control.

After a leadoff strikeout, Drake Baldwin walked, Olson singled and Riley walked to load the bases. Baldwin gave the Braves the lead when he scored on a wild first pitch from Gus Varland. The next pitch was hit to right by Albies for a two-run single to make it 5-2.

Harris capped the big inning with an RBI double to right-center to cap off a 3-for-4 day at the plate. However, he was removed from the game after the inning with what the Braves called left quad tightness in a brutal bit of timing given the torrid run he’s been on at the plate.

For good measure, Albies added a run in the top of the ninth on a solo homer, his fifth of the season. Albies finished the day 3-for-4 as well with four RBIs and two runs.

The Braves bullpen again protected a lead with minimal stress. Dylan Lee struck out two in a 1-2-3 eighth and Carlos Carrasco, also called up on Thursday, delivered a 1-2-3 ninth in his season debut.

The Braves return home and kick off their second straight weekend series against the Phillies, this time at home, Friday night.

The New York Mets placed shortstop Francisco Lindor on the 10-day injured list with a calf injury, the team announced.

Lindor was injured during the fourth inning of Wednesday's game against the Minnesota Twins at Citi Field, when he rounded third base and slid into home safe on Francisco Alvarez's RBI double. He was removed from the game and did not return, as New York broke a 12-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory.

Lindor, who is batting .226 with two home runs and 5 RBI, was starting to heat up at the plate, with seven hits in his last 17 at-bats before Wednesday's game.

He was injured in the same game as Juan Soto returned from his own stint on the injured list with a right calf strain. Soto missed 15 games, and the Mets went 3-12 in his absence.

Taking Lindor's place on the roster is infielder Ronny Mauricio, who was recalled from Triple-A Syracuse. Mauricio is in tonight's lineup against Minnesota and will bat 8th in the lineup.

Mets Record after losing streak

Entering tonight's series finale against the Twins, the Mets are 8-16, tied for the worst record in the National League.

During their 12-game losing streak, New York hit .161 with runners in scoring position, and have scored a pitiful 2.67 runs per game since April 3.

Their next six games in the homestand after the Minnesota series are against the Colorado Rockies and Washington Nationals, who are a combined 21-30 (.412)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Francisco Lindor injury update is bad news for beleaguered Mets

Dodgers offense has nowhere to go but up in this series.

Thursday game info

• Teams: Dodgers at Giants
• Ballpark: Oracle Park, San Francisco
• Time: 12:45 p.m. PT
• TV: SportsNet LA
• Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)

The San Francisco Giants wrap up this three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers this afternoon from Oracle Park.

Taking the mound for the Giants will be right-hander Logan Webb, who enters today’s game with a 5.10 ERA, 3.41 FIP, with 27 strikeouts to 11 walks in 30 innings pitched. His last start was in the Giants’ 10-5 win over the Washington Nationals on Friday, in which he allowed four runs (three earned) on seven hits with six strikeouts and two walks in six innings.

He’ll be facing off against Dodgers right-hander Tyler Glasnow, who enters today’s game with a 3.24 ERA, 2.58 FIP, with 29 strikeouts to six walks in 25 innings pitched. His last start was in the Dodgers’ 7-1 win over the Colorado Rockies on Friday, in which he allowed one run on two hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in seven innings.

Game #25

Who: San Francisco Giants (11-13) vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (16-8)

Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California

When: 12:45 p.m. PT

Regional broadcast: NBC Sports Bay Area

National broadcast: n/a

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

If you are a MLB team, you’ll have fallow stretches. Let’s consider the 2025 season:

The World Series winning Los Angeles Dodgers went 10-14 in the month of July, but still secured their division with a 93-69 record en route to MLB’s first repeat title winner in 25 years.

April 10-May 7 saw the Toronto Blue Jays go 8-15, en route to a 94-68 record, the AL East crown, and American League Pennant.

From June 30-August 5, the 94-68 New York Yankees went 12-19, a .387 win percentage.

MLB’s best regular season club, the Milwaukee Brewers, were 97-65 overall but went 8-14 from April 23-May 17th.

Twice, the 96-66 Philadelphia Phillies fell 5.0 games back in the NL West in a year they’d wear its crown by 13 games. The first time came after a five-game losing streak including a sweep at the hands of the Mets, part of a 5-10 stretch from April 10-25th. The second was more dire, a 2-10 run from May 29th thru June 10th which saw them swept by the Brewers and their intrastate competitors in Pittsburgh. They dropped 7.0 games from their original standing in the divisional race in under two weeks.

If that final stretch scratched a particular itch for you, it may be its rhyme with the Seattle Mariners of 2025. Those 90-72 M’s went 4-13 from May 24th-June 11th, crumbling against several subpar clubs after dropping two of three to the Astros and converting a 2.5 game AL West lead into chasing 4.0 games, eventually stretching to 7.0 at early July’s sneaky nadir.

This isn’t inherently predictive. These 2025 clubs all recovered for playoff seasons. The Astros, Orioles, Braves, Mets, and Diamondbacks all entered 2025 with better-than-coinflip odds of making the playoffs according to ZiPS, with Houston, Baltimore, and Atlanta outright favored to win their divisions. Every one had at least one stretch as bad or worse than Seattle’s 10-15 start (blessedly now 11-15) to 2026. Every one missed the playoffs.

It’s easier to point to the reasons why in those instances. Baltimore, Atlanta, and Houston saw major stars and/or their entire pitching staffs evaporate due to injury. Arizona suffered from the loss of Corbin Burnes after 11 brilliant starts as well as a cartoonishly stars and scrubs affair in their order. And of course, the Mets continued their interminable immersive performance, hidden secretly in their founding deed, condemning them to draw new generations closer to the works of Camus.

Seattle’s only endured some moderate injuries in 2026, with Bryce Miller ably spelled by Emerson Hancock. Brendan Donovan’s absences have hurt the lineup, but defensively Seattle was always going to be atrocious on the infield, which is the localization of “Angels In the Outfield” in the Stygian realms. Not a single member of Seattle’s front office expected nor counted on full healthy seasons from Victor Robles nor Miles Mastrobuoni.

But health isn’t the only factor. Those unfortunate clubs also saw a their rivals feast on their corpses, as well as those of others. Atlanta and New York finished more than a dozen games behind Philly, as did Arizona of the Dodgers. Baltimore and Houston had not only their own troubles, but gauntlets to face in the form of their divisional rivals. Houston got elbowed out by these M’s, while the O’s were feasted upon by an AL East that sent three clubs to the playoffs.

As it stands, Seattle is in fine shape. Ryan wrote recently on this subject of good teams sometimes having bad stretches, and vice-versa. He noted in his bullet points the hitting being great, except the most important players who receive the most plate appearances and have previously demonstrated the strongest capabilities and track records. In their series with the Athletics, Seattle’s stars finally flared, with Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez, and Josh Naylor all securing 6+ hits and some massive boosts to their season numbers.

But just as vitally, the closing point today is how little the rest of the AL West has done to strike upon Seattle’s exposed early struggles. FanGraphs places Seattle’s playoff odds at 70.1% entering Thursday’s off day, tops in the division comfortably, with Texas now a bit better than a coin flip and the ostensible leaders in Sacramento at a 32.8% clip. PECOTA is bolder, seeing the M’s still as division favorites by majority over plurality, and averaging an 87.9% playoff odds.

Unless you believe Seattle to be fundamentally far worse than they were expected to be a few weeks ago, the rest of this season shouldn’t be scuttled from sitting 1-2.5 games back of three flawed clubs. The way the standings sit at present, the American League West is the only division with just a single >.500 team, with the 13-12 Athletics the worst division-leading club around. Their -15 run differential doesn’t endorse them ringingly, and the rest of the 12-12, 12-14, and 10-16 opponents are between where they were expected to be and worse. If Seattle was off to a scalding start, the way the division looks might have a repeat AL West crown looking like fait accompli. As it is, we can still settle for it looking likelier than not.