The Guardians lost a frustrating game 6-5 yesterday. You probably know that by now.

In lieu of much further news, I am going to offer some takes for you to react to in the comments below:

-The cheapness of Guardians’ ownership is not showing up in their offense. I believe their offense will be fine. It is showing up in the bullpen. Knowing that Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz (who would have been either a serviceable back of the rotation starter or a good reliever) would not be with the team, a sensible ownership group would have spent to shore up that unit. I saw many people calling for Tyler Rogers – 19 innings, 1.86 ERA with Toronto, for a reunion with Jakob Junis – 1.89 ERA in 19 innings with Texas, with Brad Keller – 3.15 FIP in 18 innings with the Phillies, and, God forbid, they could have spent some actual money and got Ryan Helsley who landed a $28M 2-year deal with the Orioles and has put up a 2.53 ERA in 10 innings so far. Playing cheap and gambling they could shore things off of the Rule-5 and waiver wires was a silly way to cut corners. I am sure they will look to improve things at the deadline and we will all hope not to lose too many more games like yesterday.

-Peyton Pallette needs to go back to the White Sox when Sean Armstrong is healthy enough to return. Pallette is the perfect kind of player to carry on a rebuilding team or even a fringe playoff team. Cleveland needs to act like this is THEIR division to win to go on a playoff run and stop running an island for misfit relievers. Pallette throws the ball hard, yep. He has zero extension and can’t locate his secondaries. If he makes it through this season in Cleveland, they’ll immediately option him to Columbus next year, which should tell you all you need to know.

-Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz can kick rocks. Forever.

-I do not condemn Stephen Vogt for batting Steven Kwan leadoff. Managers across baseball will believe in their all-stars for at least 2-3 months of the season. He is not blind. He can see it is harming offensive production, and that’s why the move was made in the lineup tonight to put him in the sixth spot. I do wonder if it would be wise to let Kwan – still wearing a wrist brace – to see if some time on the IL would allow his wrist to regain some strength. This would allow the team to let Kahlil Watson get his first taste of the big leagues out of the way, and to move Travis Bazzana to the top of the lineup. For good. Because Kwan, except for 2024, has always been a #6 of #7 hitter in a good lineup.

-I am trying not to freak out about pushing Gavin Williams’ start back a day. I don’t think that happens unless he’s “feeling something.”

-I got a lot of pushback for tweeting about this, but the Guardians really need to do better in the fan experience at Progressive Field, especially for kids. Despite an entire offseason to work in an indoors, heated area, the lower level of the kids’ clubhouse is under construction. Until kids get off college, their wiffle ball tent is not set up. The place is barely staffed. And, the entire stadium feels… dirty. A significant portion of live concession workers have been replaced by automated machines, which feels icky, not that there were even enough concession workers. Even with all the renovations, much of the stadium feels like it is run by an entitled ownership group that just expects people to show up and makes no significant effort to make the ballpark THE place to be. But, they’ll surely remind you that attendance is the reason they couldn’t afford to sign Ryan Helsley.

-Jose Ramirez had a great night last night and Kyle Manzardo looks back to his old form. Travis Bazzana put up insanely good at-bats. Hopefully, this is all a good sign for days ahead.

Hopefully the Guardians win tonight to make me feel better. That’s what’s important, after all.

AROUND MLB:
The Tigers won, but the White Sox, Royals and Twins all lost.

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The Seattle Mariners look to even their series with the San Diego Padres when the teams meet at T-Mobile Park tonight.

My Padres vs. Mariners predictions and MLB picks key in on Seattle right-hander Logan Gilbert having a dominant outing on Saturday, May 16.

Who will win Padres vs Mariners tonight: Mariners -1.5 (+126)

Home runs seem to be the only way hitters can get to Logan Gilbert. The Seattle Mariners starter has allowed only five earned runs in his last three starts, all coming via solo bombs.

Since the start of April, Gilbert has posted the third-lowest walk rate of any qualified SP while stranding runners at the sixth-best rate. He will dominate a San Diego Padres lineup ranked 27th in xSLG, 29th in xwOBA, and 29th in K% over the past month.

Meanwhile, Walker Buehler has been a glorified BP pitcher for the Padres, owning a 10.13 ERA in three road starts. Seattle will punish him early and win easily.

COVERS INTEL: Although the Padres are 8-1 in Randy Vasquez’s nine starts this season, they have gone 18-17 in their other 35 games.

Padres vs Mariners Over/Under pick: Under 7.5 (-124)

Once Buehler is gone, the San Diego bullpen will take over and help keep the scoring low. Over the past month, their relievers lead the majors in xERA while ranking second in xFIP and GB%.

The Mariners' lineup also performs better outside of T-Mobile Park, posting a .347 wOBA on the road vs. just .320 at home the past month — and their bullpen has the fifth-best home in the majors the past two weeks, while ranking ninth in K%.

The Under is 7-2 in San Diego’s last nine and 8-2 in Seattle’s last 10, and that trend will continue.

Padres vs Mariners odds

• Moneyline: Padres +144 | Mariners -172
• Run line: Padres +1.5 (-152) | Mariners -1.5 (+126)
• Over/Under: Over 7.5 (+102) | Under 7.5 (-124)

Padres vs Mariners trend

San Diego has hit the team total Under in 18 of its last 25 games (+10.45 Units / 36% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Padres vs. Mariners.

How to watch Padres vs Mariners and game info

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There’s an alternate universe in which the Colorado Rockies had a very different Friday evening.

The first inning cost the Rockies the game last night. They almost escaped a tumultuous start, but instead the Arizona Diamondbacks successfully challenged the potential third out, loaded the bases, and piled six runs on Kyle Freeland to take the lead and never look back. The Rockies mustered a single run on a Hunter Goodman solo shot, but never threatened.

The Rockies will look to Tomoyuki Sugano 菅野 智之 in their effort to bounce back and even the series. Sugano enters the Saturday afternoon showdown with a 3-3 record across eight starts, with a 4.07 ERA and 1.190 WHIP. Sugano got rocked in his last start, giving up five runs on seven hits and three homers in five innings of work. He’s had some good stretches of games throughout the season and will look to return to form.

For the other side, Arizona will counter with Eduardo Rodriguez. Rodriguez hasn’t taken a loss, bringing a 4-0 record over eight starts into the game, with a 2.25 ERA and a 1.208 WHIP. Rodriguez has performed better at Chase Field than on the road, with a 1.65 ERA at home in four starts compared to a 3.05 ERA in the same number of games away.

Rodriguez has settled in as the season has gone on, giving up just one run in 8.1 innings pitched in his last start against the New York Mets, as well as a scoreless 7.0 innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates before that. Another stat in Rodriguez’s favor: Colorado is 2-7 against left handed pitchers this season.

The Rockies will try to get more out of their offense after being outhit 13-4 on Friday. The Rox left just three runners on base, but only because they couldn’t get them there in the first place. The majority of the lineup went 0-fer as the team struggled to find any rhythm at the plate. Prospect Sterlin Thompson (No. 13 PuRP) subbed in late to make his MLB debut, but couldn’t give the club a jump-start, grounding out on his first pitch faced in the majors. He’ll get his first big league start this afternoon.

The Rockies and Diamondbacks have both struggled against the NL West this year, with 3-9 and 2-4 records, respectively. The Saturday afternoon showdown represents a chance for both clubs to get right in their division matchups.

First Pitch: 1:10 p.m. MDT

TV: Rockies.TV

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM; KNRV 1150 (Spanish)

Diamondbacks SB Nation Site:AZ Snake Pit

Lineups:

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The Yankees have recalled right-hander Elmer Rodriguez from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, the team announced on Saturday.

The move came as the corresponding move as left-hander Max Fried officially landed on the 15-day injured list (retroactive to Thursday) with a left elbow bone bruise.

This will be Rodriguez's second stint with the big league club after making two starts earlier this year. The 22-year-old allowed two runs on four hits and four walks (plus a hit batter) over 4.0 innings in his MLB debut in an April 29 loss at Texas.

A few days later, against the Rangers at Yankee Stadium, he allowed three runs on three hits and four walks (plus a hit batter) in 4.2 innings in a win on May 5. The hard-thrower, who leans on a four-seam fastball that averages 95.4 mph and a sinker that averages 95 mph to complement a 79.8 mph slider, had five strikeouts in his first taste of big league action before he was optioned as Carlos Rodon returned from the IL.

"Better than what I expected. It was always a dream of mine pitching here," Rodriguez said after his start in The Bronx. "I was excited and it was a blast... Ever since I was a little kid, I was dreaming of playing in the big and hopefully play for the Yankees, extremely blessed and thankful for the opportunity to be here and wear pinstripes."

He won’t have to wait very long for his next chance, as the righty told reporters on Saturday that he would start the series finale against the Mets on Sunday. RyanWeathers, who was in line for the start, will be pushed back to Tuesday against Toronto, with Will Warren making his start on normal rest to open the series against the Blue Jays in The Bronx.

Rodriguez made one start while back with the RailRiders on May 10, allowing one run on six hits and two walks (plus a hit batter) while striking out six over 4.2 innings. In 26 innings at Triple-A, Rodriguez has pitched to a 1.38 ERA and 1.038 WHIP with 26 strikeouts to nine walks.

Manager Aaron Boone said he is looking for the youngster to "get settled" at the big league level.
"I don't think he's commanded the ball like he will," the skipper said. "But I have a lot of confidence that he's handled things well, he's handled adversity early in outings well, and kinda held his own. 

"I have high expectations when he walks out there. It won't surprise me if he goes out there and pitches well."

Boone said there wasn't any thought to having Rodriguez avoid the Subway Series to pitch at home. "No, I mean, we're going home to play division rivals," he said. "We considered it both ways, but we're comfortable with him. We think he'll be fine."

Fried left Wednesday’s outing in Baltimore due to elbow soreness after allowing three runs on five hits and a walk while throwing just 61 pitches (34 strikes) across 3.0 innings of work.

In speaking with reporters before Friday's win, Fried added that the ligament "looks good," and they are going to let the elbow "calm down." 

Boone said MRI and CT scans were "in some ways good news" because of a lack of any ligament issues and that "long-term, feel like we're in an ok spot, so we'll just kinda listen to the body here over the next days and weeks and see what ultimately that timeline leads to."

The Bryce Elder saga continues. At least it’s a happier one than in years past… though what about the MLB-best Braves isn’t, at this point?

Elder got things started on the right foot this year with an altered pitch mix and augmented slider, with three good outings in his first four tries. His collective line in that span (ERA-/FIP-/xFIP-) was 19/68/84. He then kinda-sorta regressed back to what he was before this season — not awful or anything, but this was the downside of the mechanical inconsistency that’s plagued him for two-and-a-half seasons now. In his next three outings, his line was 79/88/111, with his proverbial bacon getting saved by a low HR/FB rate. His last two starts, though, have been the positive end of being inconsistent: 38/78/76, with no HR/FB bacon-saving needed.

In those most recent two outings, Elder morphed into more of a three-true-outcomes guy; his combined strikeout and walk tally in each went into double digits, the first times that’s happened this season, and something that only happened twice last season. Elder is no longer a groundball guy, not really, as his grounder rate has dipped below league average at this point. That’s not surprising given that his four-seamer has actually jumped ahead of his sinker in usage at this point. Meanwhile, his slider’s now-exaggerated downward break has made it a more effective swing-and-miss pitch while shaving off some of the “just rolled over it” contact he used to get.

All in all, Elder’s line on the season is 44/78/92, which is certainly better than his career 101/103/100 line, but you can see that HR/FB is having a much bigger impact on his season than his improvements in and of themselves. He leads the Braves’ staff in fWAR (1.3, to Chris Sale’s 1.2). Among the 147 starters with the most innings in MLB this season, his fWAR ranks 20th, his ERA- ranks eighth, his FIP- ranks 29th, and his xFIP- ranks 50th. Quite a turnaround from his past performance in many ways.

The Atlanta attack in the midst of a brief lull, having scored just seven runs in their last three games, and things won’t necessarily get easier for them as they’ll face Payton Tolle today. (The lull is largely just an artifact of Matt Olson having three hits, all singles, and no walks in his last four games, and Ozzie Albies reaching base just five times in his past nine games, with no extra-base hits, and two of those five instances coming in the same game.) The 50th overall pick in the 2024th MLB draft, Tolle had an okay debut season marred by some terribly poor fortune (142/150/92) across three starts and four relief appearances, and then started 2026 dominating Triple-A hitters before getting the call-up. Since then, he’s dominated major league hitters too, with a 65/67/77 line in four outings. He was dominant in his season debut (11/1 K/BB ratio) but the Red Sox somehow lost the game; he then had a not-so-good outing in Toronto, bushwhacked the Tigers in Detroit, and then had an okay start against the Rays. Basically, he’s got the potential to dominate, but it’s not a fait accompli or anything.

Tolle is an odd duck pitch-wise, as he’s broadly four-seamer, sinker, cutter, curve, in that order. He throws hard (96 mph), gets basically best-in-class extension, and has enough fastball command that he hasn’t needed to sweat much else. His three fastballs (including his cutter) all vary enough in shape and velocity that his hard curve is largely an afterthought… and really, his four-seamer is scary enough that he might do okay by just throwing it and not much else. Hope the Braves bring their hitting shoes and their fastball timing to the park tonight!

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Saturday, May 16, 7:15 p.m. EDT

Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA

TV: BravesVision, Gray TV

Streaming: MLB.tv — it’s a free weekend, even if you don’t subscribe (though of course you’ll need to be out-of-market to benefit)

Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan

The Cubs drew six walks in Friday’s 10-5 win over the White Sox.

That’s the 18th time this year, in 45 games (or 40 percent of games) that the Cubs have drawn at least six walks. The season high is 10, in a 7-4 win over the Phillies April 21.

If you’re thinking that’s a lot of walks, you’re right. The Cubs have 210 walks so far this year, which is the most in MLB. Only one other team (Yankees, 204) has 200 or more bases on balls.

That’s 4.67 walks per game. If the Cubs could keep up that pace all season, that would make 756 walks for the year, which would demolish the franchise record. That’s exactly 100 fewer, 656 walks taken by the Cubs in 2016. You remember something else important that happened that year, I’m sure.

In fact, that would set a National League record, currently held by the 1947 Dodgers, who had 732 walks. The MLB record is an astonishing 835, set by the Red Sox in 1949. That Red Sox team had Ted Williams in his prime, with 162 walks, and two others (Johnny Pesky and Vern Stephens) who walked 100 times.

The Cubs haven’t had anyone walk 100 times in a season since Carlos Peña had 101 in 2011. And that was just the fourth 100-walk season by any Cub since 1960 (also Gary Matthews, 103 in 1984 and Sammy Sosa, 116 in 2001 and 103 in 2002).

Ian Happ currently leads the team with 34 walks, which is tied for sixth in MLB with Aaron Judge and Bryan Reynolds. If Happ keeps up that walk pace, he’ll have 122, which would be tied for second-most in team history, with Jimmy Sheckard, who did that in 1912.

Why am I writing about this and why is it important?

Well, for one thing, I hear a lot of criticism of Happ because his batting average is relatively low. For his career, Happ has a .247 BA and right now it’s at .241, right in that range.

But his .381 OBP ranks eighth in the National League and yes, that matters, because that has helped Happ score 35 runs so far this year, and that ranks tied for fourth in the league (with Oneil Cruz). And in the end, runs are what matter most in baseball. Score more runs than the other guy on a consistent basis and you will win a lot of games, which the Cubs are doing this year, as you have likely noticed. The Cubs have scored 230 runs, which ranks third in MLB (Braves, 240 and Nationals, 239). That’s 5.11 runs per game, which extrapolated to 162 games gives a possible 828 runs scored by the 2026 Cubs. The Cubs just missed scoring 800 runs last year (793) and 828 would be their third-most since 1935 (831 in 1998 and 855 in 2008 are the others).

Other current Cubs good at drawing walks are Michael Busch (24 walks, .352 OBP), Nico Hoerner (29 walks, .340 OBP) and Seiya Suzuki (19 walks in 31 games, .382 OBP). The Cubs have six bases-loaded walks this year, including one Friday by Matt Shaw. Only two teams (Rays, Angels) have more as of today.

One of those bases-loaded walks was Busch’s against the Reds May 6 [VIDEO].

Sometimes I think people turn their noses up at the humble walk. The old saying “a walk’s as good as a hit” is, in general, true — it’s got pretty much the same predictive run value as a single, if you’re leading off the inning. (Yes, I am aware that walks later in innings don’t have quite the same predictive run value as hits, though they are still valuable.)

So keep up the walks, Cubs. They’re producing value, even if the batting averages don’t seem that good, and they are producing runs — lots of them.

In 2021, the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox played the MLB’s first Field of Dreams Game at the infamous movie site in Dyersville, Iowa.

This summer, the Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins will take the stage for the third rendition of the Field of Dreams Game. They won’t be the only teams playing on the renovated field, either.

On Saturday, Joe Doyle of Over-Slot Baseball reported that the MLB High School All-American Game will be played on Wednesday, Aug. 12 at the Field of Dreams.

The prestigious event has previously rotated between MLB ballparks, but with an iconic venue available, some of the nation’s top high school baseball prospects in the 2027 class will get a chance to play in an unforgettable environment.

Last summer’s game featured a slew of prospects that are projected to be taken early in the upcoming 2026 MLB Draft. Shortstop Grady Emerson, SS Jacob Lombard, left-handed pitcher Gio Rojas, LHP Carson Boleman, SS Tyler Spangler, LHP Logan Schmidt and SS Aiden Ruiz are all top-40 overall prospects — per MLB.com — that played in the game last year.

Field of Dreams Game returns this summer

The Field of Dreams Game returns as a part of the MLB’s new partnership with Netflix. The Phillies and Twins will play on Aug. 13, one day after the High School All-American Game.

“Major League Baseball is excited to return to Iowa in 2026 and to deliver a unique experience to the Twins, the Phillies, their players, our two Minor League teams, and fans across the game. We look forward to working with Netflix and creating an event that all sports fans can enjoy,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in the November press release announcing the return of the beloved event.

About the MLB All-American Game

More on the vaunted prospect showcase via MLB.com:

“Showcasing the best high school prospects in the 2026 Draft class to the professional scouting community, the 2025 MLB All-American Game served as the premier kickoff event to the summer scouting season.

The inaugural MLB All-American Game took place in 2019 at Progressive Field in Cleveland. Due to COVID-19, the 2020 event, along with all other All-Star Game events, was canceled. The event returned in 2021, hosted at Coors Field in Denver, in 2022 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, in 2023 at T-Mobile Park in Seattle and in 2024 at Petco Park in San Diego.”

The Royals are now in the midst of their second losing streak of at least five games. They only have a single five-game winning streak to counter them. They could start another one of those today, but it’s hard to believe it while they’re losing.

Noah Cameron was surprisingly good for the Royals last year. While some thought there was room for him to be a worse pitcher in 2026, no one expected him to become this bad. Unfortunately, it appears he dropped his arm angle considerably in search of a better fastball shape that has wrecked his control and effectiveness with his other pitches. It’s led to Noah only making it as far as six innings once and giving up 3+ runs in each of his last five starts.

The Cardinals will send Kyle Leahy to the mound. He’s spent his entire four-year career in St. Louis, and he’s been kind of an unremarkable reliever. With the Cardinals leaning into their rebuild over the offseason, they moved him to the rotation, where he has been kind of an unremarkable starter. He throws six pitches at least 10% of the time. None of them grades poorly, but only the sweeper is remarkable. None of them are thrown in the zone particularly often, get very much chase, or generate whiffs. His season xWOBACon – a measure of how well he’s hit when batters do make contact – is also poor. In a way, it’s kind of remarkable that he’s been so unremarkable when he’s not able to do any of the things that generally make a pitcher good.

Lineups

The Royals’ lineup has done a lot of getting on base, but then not really getting guys home on this road trip. They loaded the bases with one out on two different occasions last night and only got one runner home each time. Bases-loaded situations have actually been awful for the team all year, with them slashing .220/.288/.317/.606 in such situations. During the hot stretch, they were getting hits with runners in scoring position, but those problems have reared their heads again on this trip. Hopefully, they can figure it out soon.