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LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers swept the New York Mets four weeks ago, their second sweep in four series at Dodger Stadium at that point, running their record to 14-4. It feels like a lifetime ago now.

The Dodgers also won their next game, the series opener at Coors Field for a 15-4 record. They did not win that series. They’ve lost the first two games of this four-game series against the San Francisco Giants, which means they won’t win this series either. The Dodgers have only won two of their last eight series, going just 9-14 since that hot start, including six losses in their last seven home games.

After leaving a four-game series at Coors Field on April 20, the Dodgers have scored only 3.75 runs per game, hitting just .235/.322/.364 with a 96 wRC+, ranking 24th in MLB in slugging percentage during that time and tied for 20th with 18 home runs in 20 games, after hitting 42 home runs in their first 22 games.

“When you’re not really slugging, or you’re not throwing out double-digit hits a night, then the opportunities are few and far between. Our margins on the offensive side are more finite,” manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday. “You get a guy to second base to lead off an inning, you’ve got to get them to third, and then you try to get that point across. We’re just not doing that, on top of not slugging and not creating a bunch of traffic and stress.”

Two losses this week against the Giants have been different, at least offensively. On Monday night the Dodgers had 10 hits and plenty of chances, with just two hits in 10 at-bats with runners in scoring position. On Tuesday, they totaled only four hits against Adrian Houser and company, and did not collect a hit in their all of three at-bats with runners in scoring position. All three of those at-bats were with the bases loaded, in the first and eighth innings, plus a sacrifice fly that brought home the Dodgers’ first run.

“It’s on us to get those runs in when we can, because it’s not easy with the pitching you’re facing in this league,” right fielder Kyle Tucker said. “Whenever you have opportunities in this league, you have to capitalize on it.”

The Dodgers with the bases loaded this season have eight hits, including a home run and double in 39 at-bats with the bases loaded, plus two walks and five sacrifice flies, hitting .205/.217/.308 with a 39 wRC+ that ranks 28th out of 30 teams.

In the Dodgers’ last 13 games, they’ve scored three or fewer runs 10 times, going 4-9 with a pair of four-game losing streaks. With runners in scoring position over those last two weeks, they are hitting .242/.345/.326 with a 92 wRC+ that ranks 20th in the majors, and they are also tied for 20th in total plate appearances in those situations, at just 8.77 per game.

“When you don’t get a whole lot of opportunities, and you don’t cash in on the couple that you do get, you don’t score a lot of runs,” Roberts said.

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The Milwaukee Brewers have now won five in a row after taking the series opener against the visiting Padres.

It promises to be a pitchers’ duel for game two, but Milwaukee has its ace on the mound in Jacob Misiorowski.

It’s tough to imagine San Diego finding answers to its batting slump against the Miz. So, my Padres vs. Brewers predictions and MLB picks call for a Brewers victory on Wednesday, May 13.

Who will win Padres vs Brewers today: Brewers moneyline (-148)

The Milwaukee Brewers’ streak has an impressive level of difficulty. Their opponents in the five wins were all playoff teams with a combined 129-82, .611 record. For the season, Milwaukee has beaten winning teams two thirds of the time.

The San Diego Padres continue to flounder at the plate. They struck out 13 times and managed just eight hits on Tuesday, against a previously winless rookie starter, and their four-run output was above average for the recent stretch.

San Diego has been shut out as many times in the last 10 games as it has reached five runs (two each). Now they face Jacob Misiorowski.

COVERS INTEL:The Brewers pitchers have stepped up their performance against winning teams. They’re more than one run better (2.64 ERA, 1.092 WHIP, 11.6 K/9, .198 average against) compared to losing ones (3.81, 1.313, 9.0, .239).

Padres vs Brewers Over/Under pick: Under 7.5 (-133)

The last thing a slumping offense needs is to face MLB’s strikeout leader. Misiorowski has fanned 70 in 44 innings including 19 in the last 11.1.

He threw the seven fastest four-seamers in the pitch-tracking era in his last start and is 99^th percentile in velocity and strikeout rate, 98^th in swing-and-miss. And his breaking stuff ranks even higher than his fastball.

The Padres start Michael King, who has a 2.76 ERA and allows just 5.5 hits per nine innings. He hasn’t been as dominant as The Miz, but his stuff is in the top 12% of baseball, and his exit velocity and hard hit percentage allowed are both in the top 20%.  

Padres vs Brewers odds

• Moneyline: San Diego +138 | Milwaukee -144
• Run line: San Diego +1.5 (-170) | Milwaukee -1.5 (+163)
• Over/Under: Over 7.5 (+127) | Under 7.5 (-133)

Padres vs Brewers trend

The San Diego Padres have hit the Game Total Under in 16 of their last 25 away games (+7.10 Units / 26% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Padres vs. Brewers.

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We’re a little more than a quarter of the way into what’s shaping up to be a profoundly disappointing season for the Blue Jays. I want to dig a bit into each of the guys who’s on the roster and has received significant playing time this year to figure out what’s going on and whether we might hope for improvement the rest of the way. To keep things simple, as I’ve done the last couple of years I’m going to pick one number that I think represents the arc of each player’s season to date. Today, the hitters.

• Tyler Heineman: 44.9% chase rate. Heineman is always an aggressive hitters, swinging about 52% of the time for his career. That makes sense, as a pretty good knack for contact is his only real offensive asset. This season, though, he’s getting over-aggressive out of the zone without swinging more inside it, and it’s cratered his production.
• Brandon Valenzuela: 3 Framing Runs Above Average. The Jays acquired Valenzuela to be their long term backup catcher because they’re believers in his glove. He’s impressed at the plate so far as well, but that will likely regress. The defense is shaping up to be everything promised, though, with top tier framing grades, an easy plus arm, and good blocking to boot.
• Vladimir Guerrero jr: 9.0% barrel rate. After the pitching staff, Vlad might be the biggest disappointment so far. The reason is that he’s just not squaring it up. His barrel rate is his worst since 2020, hindered by a lower launch angle and fewer hard hit balls. His bat speed looks normal, and his max exit velocity is in line, so he seems healthy, but he’ll need to make an adjustment soon if they have any hope of crawling out of their current hole.
• Ernie Clement: -3 outs above average at second base. Ernie is normally an ace defender, with elite career grades at second and third and solid ones at short, but this year his range appears to be way down for some reason. He’s hitting fine, but he’s here for the glove and something just isn’t working right there.
• Andres Gimenez: 5 home runs. Andres is on pace to set a career high for homers. The underlying stats don’t support that being really in any way, though. He looks like a significant regression candidate, which isn’t great to be saying about a guy with an 87 wRC+
• Kazuma Okamoto: 69.2% contact rate. This one’s really a story of a trend. Through 25 games, Okamoto’s contact rate sat at 67.6%. That’s right on the borderline of what’s viable for an MLB hitter. In the 16 games since, it’s been a much more comfortable 72.6%, and seems to have plateaued there. Oak’s power isn’t in any doubt, his approach looks strong, and he’s sticking at third just fine. He just needs to hit enough to let the rest of his game sing, and it looks like he’s making the adjustments to pass that test.
• Jesus Sanchez: 43.2% fast swing rate. Sanchez isn’t getting his A swing off as often as he usually does (56.6% over the past two seasons). He’s still hit for a little power, but if he gets comfortable we could see a jump in production.
• Nathan Lukes: 1.8% walk rate. Lukes was chasing all over the place early in the season. Perhaps that had to do with the vertigo issues he was battling. Things were trending in the right direction as he found his footing in the six games before he went out with a hamstring injury, so hopefully he’ll be able to be his usual steady self when he returns.
• Davis Schneider: 18.2% pulled air rate. Schneider lives and dies by his ability to pick the right pitch and yank it down the line in the air. Right now, the eye is working (21% walk rate) but the swing isn’t, and he’s delivering those pulled balls in the air about 10% less often than usual. The good news is that he’s always been streaky, and when it clicks he’s liable to go on a tear.
• Yohendrick Pinango: 88.9% contact rate. You can’t say a ton about 34 PAs, but Pinango has proven that he can keep up with MLB pitching already. He’s going to have to work on elevating the ball more for his excellent power to play, but a sub-12% strikeout rate will earn him plenty of time to adjust.
• Daulton Varsho: 27.1 feet per second sprint speed. Varsho hasn’t been running like he usually does, dropping from the 77^th to the 49^th percentile for sprint speed. As a result his defence has been more solid than exceptional so far. He’s also having a weird year at the plate, although not a particularly bad one. The defence is the thing with him, though, and like Clement it just hasn’t been clicking this season.
• Myles Straw: 124 wRC+. Sure. But it kind of looks real! Straw’s lengthened his swing slightly and is swinging harder, while triggering earlier to actually meet the ball farther out front. As a result, he’s pulling it more than he has and elevating more than he has in years, producing a career best ISO that’s supported by the underlying data. He’s doing that while making the most contact of his career and still not chasing much. It’s probably just a hot streak, but Myles Straw: above average MLB hitter is at least on the table now. Baseball is weird.
• George Springer: 24.8% squared up rate. One of the new StatCast bat metrics, squared up rate tracks the percentage of balls in play where the batter got most of the possible exit velocity on the ball given how hard the pitch was and how hard they swung. George was at 32.8% over the past two seasons. His discipline, contact, and bat speed all look fine, which is to say this doesn’t look like a collapse, it looks like he’s close to 2025 Springer but isn’t quite locked in. There’s hope for probably the most disappointing Blue Jay this season.

1957
White Sox pitcher Billy Pierce became the first member of the team (and the first Chicago athlete) to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated, with the headline “Pride of Chicago.” In 1957, the year the magazine cover came out, Pierce went 20-12 with a 3.26 ERA. It was his second straight 20-win season, and he led the league with 16 complete games, four shutouts, two saves, 257 innings and 192 strikeouts.

1959
Future Hall-of-Famer and White Sox manager Larry Doby was purchased from the Detroit Tigers for $30,000. It was Doby’s second stint on the South Side and third under manager Al Lopez, who seemed to carry an irrational distaste for Doby. At 35, the outfielder didn’t have any gas left in the tank, seeing action in just 21 games for the eventual pennant-winners, with a .560 OPS and -0.3 WAR. He was not active for the World Series, and in fact did not play after July 26, when he struck out in what would become his last plate appearance in the majors.

1975
White Sox pitcher Jim Kaat’s 12-game winning streak ended, losing 3-2 in Baltimore. Kaat had won his first five decisions in 1975 to follow his final seven in 1974. He’d become a 20-game winner in both seasons, averaging 290 innings pitched. Kaat made the All-Star team in 1975. 

1982
SportsVision made its debut. The first regional pay cable service devoted exclusively to sports began operations with a game at Comiskey Park vs. Milwaukee. The service was the brainchild of White Sox co-owner Eddie Einhorn and while brilliant, was ahead of its time. The technology wasn’t there, and more importantly, fans weren’t ready to pay for something they had been getting for free all their lives. At its peak, roughly 20,000 fans subscribed to the channel, which also included Bulls, Blackhawks and pro soccer Sting games.

The decision to go to a pay service caused popular announcer Harry Caray to bolt the team for the Cubs after 11 seasons on the South Side, despite a richer offer from the Sox for 1982. SportsVision, in its original version, lasted until the end of 1983, when it was sold to the Cablevision Company and turned into SportsChannel-Chicago. 

The White Sox, to their credit, put on a show for the first SportsVision game, banging out 20 hits to rout the Brewers, 13-2. LaMarr Hoyt went the distance, running his record to 7-0 and keeping the White Sox in first place in the AL West.

1988
Sure, when Harold Baines clubbed a third-inning home run to bring in two runs of an eventual 4-1 win vs. Toronto, it brought the White Sox back to .500 at 16-16. But the real consequence of Baines’ fifth round-tripper of the season was that it was the 155th of his career, passing Bill Melton to reach the top of the team’s all-time home run list. Melton had held the White Sox home run mark for 13 years.

Baines remains No. 5 on the White Sox dinger list, which is now led by Frank Thomas, with 448. Melton is still in the Top 10, ranking No. 9 in White Sox history.

2011
With the A’s trailing the White Sox, 4-3, in the eighth inning, Coco Crisp attempted heroism by stealing home, with southpaw Matt Thornton pitching. Crisp failed, with A.J. Pierzynski applying the tag, as the White Sox end up winning by the same one-run margin.

2025
By curious decree demanded by no one, commissioner Rob Manfred reinstated all players from the ineligible list, employing the logic that death should break any “ban” on them by MLB. Thus the Black Sox were reduced from stain to smudge. Joe Jackson and Ed Cicotte, in particular, are now eligible for the Hall of Fame.

John Ryan Murphy: a name that lives rent-free in my brain. Why? No one knows, other than the fact it sounds more like a nursery rhyme than the name of a former big-league catcher.

Murphy was once on the long list of Yankees right-handed catchers. Remember those days when Francisco Cervelli was the primary catcher, Gary Sánchez was the top prospect, and Austin Romine was viewed as a potential big-league starter and all were in the organization? And that was all shortly after New York traded then-uber-prospect Jesús Montero for 22-year-old Mariners All-Star Michael Pineda. How has all that already been over a decade ago?

John Ryan Murphy
Born: May 13, 1991 (Bradenton, FL)
Yankees Tenure: 2013-2015

Born in Florida, Murphy’s father hailed from the cold streets of Buffalo, New York and his mother immigrated from Cuba. Carolina Murphy spent over thirty years working at the somewhat-infamous IMG Academy in a variety of roles including serving as the tennis coach.

Using the college-like approach to scheduling, that Murphy would develop into an intriguing prospect especially with the bat at IMG. However, his stock skyrocketed after his coaches decided to move him to the catching position for his senior season.

The move paid off as Murphy was selected by the Yankees in the second round of the 2009 MLB Draft, 42nd overall. Murphy signed with New York, forgoing his scholarship to Miami, the only college he had even entertained. It was a move Murphy later said he did not regret and described it as a family decision.

After signing with the Yankees, Murphy—then known in Yankees circles as “J.R. Murphy”—made his professional debut in the Gulf Coast League later that same week in his hometown of Bradenton. Since Murphy was still very new to the position his first few seasons in the minor leagues were spent focusing on refining his skills behind the dish. However, the bat that scouts originally liked was developing with each promotion within the system and earned him a minor-league All-Star selection in 2012.

Murphy put himself on the map for many fans when, as a non-roster invitee, he hit .364 in spring training before the 2013 campaign. Later that year, the 22-year-old was added to the 40-man roster and called up on September 1st. Murphy made his debut the next day pinch-hitting for Robinson Canó.

Perhaps the biggest moment Murphy had in pinstripes came a few weeks later on September 26th when he caught the final pitch legendary closer Mariano Rivera ever threw. It was a moment now forever etched in history: Murphy stood in awe as Derek Jeter and Andy Pettitte came out of the dugout to take the ball from Mo. Murphy has previously confirmed he has a copy signed by all three legends.

The following season, Murphy would ride the Scranton shuttle a few times serving as the backup along with Cervelli for the newly acquired Brian McCann. In the backup role Murphy appeared in 32 games slashing .284/.318/.370 with a .688 OPS (95 wRC+), which are solid numbers off the bench for an above-average defensive catcher. He also got to hit his first career homer, a solo shot at Yankee Stadium on April 26th against the Angels’ Hector Santiago.

Entering the 2015 season the backup catching role behind McCann was up for grabs with Cervelli traded to the Pirates, and a motivated Murphy won the job out of spring training. Murphy stayed at the MLB level the entire season. Following the Midsummer Classic, Murphy found his groove at the plate and finished the season on a hot streak. He finished the season with three home runs, nine doubles, and a .277/.327/.406 slash line with a .734 OPS. Murphy had a much-memed moment during the playoff-clinching celebration and a particularly memorable homer to break a tie in the ninth inning on July 25th against the Twins. Still 24 years old, the bat seemed to have found the footing scouts had identified.

The Yankees would use this performance—and their depth at the catching position with a surging Sánchez—to move Murphy that offseason. In a deal now a touch notorious in the eyes of some fans, Murphy was sent to the Minnesota Twins for erstwhile top prospect Aaron Hicks. The deal shocked Murphy and though he saw the opportunity that opened for him he was never able to find his stride in Minnesota. Over parts of three seasons in the Bronx, Murphy appeared in 115 games for the Yankees. For what it’s worth, this was a steal for the Yankees, as while Hicks lagged in 2016, he was an excellent player for playoff teams in the next two seasons, with 42 homers and 6.6 fWAR in 225 games, along with a 128 wRC+. (The extension is a whole other matter.)

Murphy started the 2016 season on the Twins roster but a long slump at the start of the season saw him demoted to Triple-A. Despite the trials Murphy remained positive. The Twins and his teammates spoke very highly of Murphy’s character and leadership.

After starting the 2017 season in the minors with the Twins, Murphy was traded in July to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Gabriel Moya. Murphy spent parts of the next three seasons in the desert (getting punched out for former batterymate CC Sabathia’s 3,000th career strikeout) before the Atlanta Braves purchased his contract in July of 2019.

Murphy only got into a single game for Atlanta. Following the 2019 season Murphy, was a free agent for the first time. On January 10, 2020 he signed a contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

For the Pirates, Murphy appeared in 25 games during the COVID-shortened season. It still feels odd seeing photos of MLB games with empty seats. Once the season officially ended, Murphy was outrighted off the roster and his playing career was over.

However, Murphy could not stay away from the game for long! In 2023 he was hired by the Philadelphia Phillies as a player development instructor and was then hired by the club full-time for the following season as a position coach for the Clearwater Threshers. Murphy was also enshrined in the IMG Academy’s inaugural Hall of Fame class in November 2025.

In addition to baseball, Murphy lives up to his “Choir Boy” nickname off the field by being very hands-on in his commitment to help others. Murphy is the co-founder of the IamMore Foundation which aims to help children who have been diagnosed with a chronic condition reinvent their self-image. Additionally, Murphy is involved with the Miracle League of Greater Dayton and other causes that support individuals on the spectrum.

Good for you, John Ryan Murphy, and happy birthday too!

See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.

On Tuesday afternoon, the Phillies had some minor league shakeups with their rosters that was akin to rearranging deckchairs. They needed some pitchers here, a few hitters there, but they snuck through a minor league signing that at least had a bit of intrigue.

If the name rings a bell, it probably should. Drafted in 2016 by the Cardinals, Carlson rose through the St. Louis system to become one of their top prospects, a piece considered key to their future. In 2020, he made his debut with the team during the Covid-shortened season, not hitting particularly well, but also not embarrassing himself. The following year, he ended hitting .266/.343/.437 with 18 home runs and 65 RBI, looking every bit the piece of the Cardinals’ outfield of the future.

Since then, it has been a steady downhill slide. He hasn’t approached anything near those numbers, be it through ineffectiveness or through injury. The latter part has been a bugaboo around him with injuries to his hamstring, ankle, oblique, shoulder and thumb. Since being traded by the Cardinals at the 2024 deadline, Carlson has begun the nomadic nontender journey that many players who were once top prospects find themselves on. He has gone to the Rays, then to the Orioles, then this spring training to the Cubs. It’s his release from the Cubs that has landed him here with the Phillies organization, hoping to provide some depth in their Lehigh Valley outfield.

Which brings us to the part that concerns us most: is there really anything interesting about Carlson other than being someone who can stand in the outfield?

The short answer is no.

The longer, more detailed answer is no, not really.

Carlson’s value at the plate comes from a discerning batting eye that saw him having walk rates in the eight, nine and ten percent range. He rarely chases pitches out of the zone, so his best skill is that of patience. Usually, pairing that with power upon contact and there is something a team can work with, even with the below average defense Carlson provides in the corners. Yet this power has never really re-appeared at the major league level. His slugging percentages have fallen in each of the seasons he has played in the major leagues with the major power indicators under the hood dipping with them.

He simply doesn’t impact the ball enough when making contact to make any kind of a difference. Pitchers have made that abundantly clear as they have continually started throwing the ball in the zone more often as he has continued playing in the majors, knowing that even if he hits it, it’s not leaving the yard.

He does pull the ball in the air a lot though!

Listen, the team’s outfield depth is an issue. We can all plainly see that Felix Reyes needs work at the minor league level to continue his development. The issue is that there really isn’t anyone else capable of coming up and doing the job that he currently does. Maybe they decide it’s time to bring back Otto Kemp, maybe they give Carlson a few days to round back into playing shape before giving him a crack at the job.

But if you’re looking for a sneaky minor league signing that could give larger dividends, this probably isn’t it.